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Somali bomb victims: Searching for clues - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A Facebook page is helping to identify those killed or missing in Somalia's deadliest terror attack in a decade.
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Africa
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A Facebook page has been set up to help identify the victims of Somalia's deadliest terror attack in a decade as well as those still missing.
A lorry full of explosives destroyed hotels, government offices and restaurants at a busy junction in the capital, Mogadishu, killing at least 281 people and injuring another 300.
Somali authorities are struggling to identify the dead - leaving relatives helplessly searching for news.
A group of young people have been raising money for relatives and posting pictures of the missing under the Facebook banner, Gurmad252. Gurmad means "Come and help each other" while 252 refers to Somalia's telephone code,
The Gurmad252 team has set up operation near the scene of the bombing
Photos are accompanied by brief information about where the person was last seen with a number to call should anyone have information.
The team, which has the backing of the government, is also posting the names of those who are being treated in hospital.
It is unlikely we will ever know the identities of everyone who died in the 14 October Mogadishu attack. But this is what we know so far.
A medical student at Benadir University in Mogadishu, Maryam Abduallahi, 25, was preparing to graduate on Sunday.
Her father, who lives in the UK, had travelled especially to Somalia for her graduation, but ended up attending her funeral.
Maryam's sister Anfa'a Abdullahi Mohamed told the BBC Somali Service that she had tried to reach her sister after the explosion.
"I called her number after the explosion, no-one answered.
"I called back and a young man answered and said, 'Your sister is dead and her body is at Safari Hotel. May Allah have mercy on you.'
"Our family is saddened. My parents are most distressed. May God make their hearts strong," she said.
Her older sister had been a role model who liked helping people at the hospital where she worked and at the university, she added.
"She was planning to start training at a mother and baby clinic after her university graduation. She had ambition."
Fa'iso Hassan Ali, 24, had a shop next to Safari Hotel, which was destroyed in the explosion.
Her family have been looking for her since Saturday.
Omar Haji Mohamed has appealed for information about two of his children, a son and daughter, who are thought to have died in the explosion.
Omar Haji Mohamed has been unable to find son and daughter
They were at the family's shop in Soobe, the area where the attack happened, and have not been seen since.
Mr Mohamed has been moving between hospitals and help centres, but has not found them amongst the injured.
A public transport conductor, Suleiman Nuur Ali, 29, had been at work on Saturday in Soobe.
He has not been seen since the attack.
"Please if you get him dead or injured, contact us," a message from his family says.
Bureeqo Abdullahi Adan, 17, was known to be travelling on a bus when the blast happened.
Her relatives are asking for any information.
Abdi Abiid was also last seen in Soobe. The area is near Somalia's CID headquarters and foreign ministry.
His family have not heard from him since Saturday.
According to the director of a Mogadishu ambulance service, 15 primary school children were among those who died.
Abdulkadir Adam told the Associated Press news agency that they had been on a school bus when the lorry exploded.
Freelance cameraman Ali Nur Siad was killed while working for Voice of America, the news agency has said.
"On behalf of the entire agency, my deepest condolences go out to Mr Siad's family," said VOA Director Amanda Bennett.
VOA reporter Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulle was among those wounded in the attack. He suffered a broken hand, widespread burns and shrapnel wounds to his head and neck. He is receiving medical care in Turkey, the agency said.
Amid all the sorrow and despair, Gurmad252 has found some good news to share. A young woman who had been reported missing has been found alive.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Gurmad252 This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41652817
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'How I got my children back' - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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When Archie was taken into care, the Family Drug and Alcohol Court sought to reunite him with his father.
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UK
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John was devastated when his son Archie was taken into care
When John's son was placed into care at birth he was distraught - his drug abuse had been the cause. But with the help of a family court focused on reuniting children with their parents, his life began to change.
"Not only was I using heroin, I was using crack, I was using prescription drugs, I was using alcohol - and I was homeless."
John, who is 49, is candid when it comes to talking about his past addictions.
He started experimenting around the age of 14, and continued the habit during the birth of his two children - both with women who were also addicts.
It meant he didn't see his first child Daniella for long periods of time - at one stage as much as two years.
He says he and the mother "really tried to do normal life, but it didn't really work.
"It was a combination of the drugs and the lifestyle that went with that. Trying to be a parent, hold down a job - it wasn't doable," he explains.
Archie was taken into foster care from birth
When Daniella was 10, John found himself preparing for the birth of another child - his son, Archie, with another addict who had already had several children put into care.
He began looking for a place to live - having been homeless at the time - but failed to tackle the underlying drug problem.
After Archie was born, he was monitored in hospital to see if he had grown dependent on the heroin substitute his mother had taken during pregnancy. Then, he was immediately placed into foster care.
As John recalls this devastating period, he asks for a moment to compose himself, leaving his chair as he wipes away the tears.
Once he's ready to continue, he says it was seeing his son enter the care system that made him realise how out of hand his own life had become.
"That's when I knew this is serious, really serious."
John was assigned to a type of family court specifically designed to help parents keep their children, known as the Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC).
Its aim is to place parents at the centre of the process - speaking to them directly rather than through lawyers, and having regular two-week sessions with the same judge.
Social workers and psychiatrists, as well as experts in substance misuse, domestic violence, finance and housing, are also available.
Watch Catrin Nye's full film about the Family Drug and Alcohol Court on the Victoria Derbyshire website.
It was founded in 2008 by Judge Nicholas Crichton after years of seeing families being broken up by court rulings.
"I often think it must be terrifying for a parent to have to come to [a traditional] court knowing at the end of the proceedings they may well lose their children," he says.
FDAC's task can, however, be substantial.
"I have seen mothers who have been heroin addicted from the age of 10, children who sleep on urine-sodden beds, where no-one has bothered to bath them or feed them properly," Judge Crichton explains, running through some of the cases he has seen.
Dr Mike Shaw says the effect FDAC can have by reuniting families justifies the cost of the service
For John, this approach made "total sense" - helping him to tackle "the problem that was right at the front".
FDAC helped him to arrange detox classes to combat his addiction, followed by a day programme.
The court is now receiving a further £6.2m of government money over seven years, through a complex financing structure - something called a "social impact bond" or "pay-for-success financing".
Private investors will pay the upfront costs and if the process works they make a profit - being paid back by the local authority and the government.
If it fails, they will not receive that money.
Dr Mike Shaw, a child psychiatrist and co-director of FDAC National Unit, concedes that it makes the process more complex, but says it will ensure the service strives for the best outcome.
But its work does come at an inflated price.
Each intervention costs around £13,000 a year, he suggests, compared to £5,000 for standard care proceedings.
He says, however, that the overall cost of care proceedings might in some cases be as much as £100,000.
Minister for Sport and Civil Society, Tracey Crouch, says the additional FDAC funding will "benefit some of the most vulnerable people in society" and "achieve real results in communities across the country".
At one stage, John went as long as two years without seeing his daughter Daniella
John's intervention lasted around 16 months - at which point he estimates he had been clean for a year.
His son Archie, now aged eight, lives with him permanently, and he says he's rebuilding his relationship with Daniella - who's now 18.
A 2016 study by the University of Lancaster, commissioned by the Department for Education, suggested that others have successful outcomes from FDAC too.
It found 37% of families were reunited or continued to live together at the end of proceedings - compared to 25% of those who go through ordinary family courts.
However, the sample group was relatively small - 240 families in all.
John says he is now "trying to make up for lost time" with Daniella, who smiles as he says it.
He is grateful for the opportunity.
"I've got two children, I work, I pay my bills, I do lots of fun stuff," he says.
"The way I live my life today is totally different from who I was nearly eight years ago."
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/uk-41633731
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Bodyform advert replaces blue liquid with red 'blood' - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Bodyform has ditched the blue liquid, saying it wants to confront the taboos about periods.
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BBC News Services
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Bodyform has become the first brand in the UK to feature sanitary pads stained with red liquid, rather than blue, in its adverts.
Parent company Essity said it wanted to confront taboos surrounding periods.
The firm says research found 74% of people wanted to see more honest representation in adverts.
Bodyform's video campaign, #bloodnormal, shows a woman in the shower with blood running down her thigh and a man buying sanitary towels.
It follows a 2016 advert where sportswomen were shown muddy and bloodied while doing activities like bike riding, boxing and running.
With the slogan "no blood should hold us back", it featured a sanitary towel on a TV advert for the first time.
The new advert features a woman in the shower
Sanitary brands and adverts have traditionally opted to use blue liquid in order to represent how much moisture their pads can hold.
The new campaign has been mostly well received.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Nyla This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Sophie Weaver This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Essity, the company which makes Bodyform, said it wanted to "challenge the stigma around periods".
Tanja Grubna said: "We believe that like any other taboo, the more people see it, the more normal the subject becomes."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41666280
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The winemaker who battles temperatures as low as -25C - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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How Canadian winemaker Norman Hardie is able to make award-winning wines, despite winter temperatures so cold it can kill his vines.
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Business
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How the wines of Canadian winemaker Norman Hardie are winning fans around the world.
With winter temperatures regularly dipping below -25C at his vineyard, winemaker Norman Hardie definitely didn't choose an easy place to grow his grapes.
"Minus 25 is the absolute death knell for vitis vinifera [the common grape vine], we actually have to bury our vines in the winter [to protect them]. It's a huge job," says the 51-year-old.
"And then we can get snap spring frosts that can quickly ruin a crop. We lost more than 80% in 2015."
While most of us associate winemaking with warm countries, Mr Hardie has since 2004 been making wine in… Canada.
Norman Hardie Winery is currently continuing with its 2017 harvest
Based in picturesque Prince Edward County, Ontario, a two-hour drive east of Toronto alongside Lake Ontario, the summers are more often glorious.
The winters, on the other hand, are harsh, which means that the team at Norman Hardie Winery face a race against the cold weather every November.
"I have 80,000 plants today, so that is almost a quarter of a million canes [the vine's branches] that we have to tie down by hand, and then cover with a mound of earth," says Norman.
"Before we then carefully open up and untie in the spring."
If that wasn't labour intensive enough, come April and May Norman and his team have to light fires and position wind turbines to try to drive away late frosts. But sometimes, such as in 2015, they just aren't that successful.
Norman Hardie says that Canada's cool weather helps him to make excellent wine
Up against such challenges, you might question why Norman ever chose to plant vineyards and build a winery in Ontario. He says that despite the challenges, the combination of cool weather and the clay and limestone soil of Prince Edward County allow him to make world class wines.
"The great wines are always made on the edge, and we're certainly on the edge," says South African-born Norman, who prior to going into winemaking had been a sommelier (wine waiter) in Toronto.
"I'd rather be here than anywhere else in the world because the flavours we get out of these soils are unique."
While many wine regions around the world have cold winters, they aren't as cold as Canada's
Primarily making white wines from chardonnay and red wines from pinot noir, Norman Hardie's wines now have a cult following in Canada, and are even said to be the favourite tipples of Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau.
But from day one, Norman - who studied winemaking in Burgundy, Oregon, California, South Africa, and New Zealand prior to establishing his own winery - wanted his wines to be sold internationally.
This brought his next big challenge - how to persuade a sceptical world to take Canadian wine seriously, when even Norman admits that 30 years ago the country made "terrible wine".
Norman's solution was to turn himself into a travelling salesman, and build up his wine's global reputation "one top sommelier one top buyer, and one top wine journalist, at a time… flying around the world, pounding the pavement, speaking to people, changing people's ideas about Canada".
So attending wine fairs, visiting wine importers, and knocking on the doors of Michelin-star restaurants, he started to slowly build up export orders.
This is the first feature of a new 20-week series called Connected Commerce, which highlights companies around the world that are successfully exporting, and trading beyond their home market.
Focusing particularly on the UK and New York, Norman says his personal, face-to-face approach enabled him to let some of the most influential people in the global wine world "understand what we're doing, why we're doing it, and how we are doing it".
He adds: "You can only do that with face time, and once you have them they are your evangelists."
From selling 6,000 bottles in 2004, Norman Hardy Winery produced 240,000 in 2016. From that 6,804 bottles were exported across eight countries - China, Denmark, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK, and the US.
And he still is regularly overseas promoting his wines, including spending five to six days every year in the UK.
Back at the winery, there are now six year-round employees, rising to 50 in the busy summer months and at harvest time in late September and October. The business now has annual revenues of 4.1m Canadian dollars ($3.3m; £2.5m).
John Downes, a London-based wine expert, who has the top master of wine qualification, says that Norman was right to recognise the fact that as Canada is such a little known wine region he had to do a lot of marketing work to "stand out" on the global stage.
Prince Edward County is now home to 40 wineries
Mr Downes adds: "A lot of people in wine don't tell stories, they say 'here's my wine what do you think about it?'.
"But they don't tell the story behind the wine, and that gives the picture of the wine to the consumer. Norman does that very well."
While exporting wine is not without its challenges, such as the need to produce different labels for each country, Norman says that building up a vibrant export business has also boosted his sales in Canada.
Now preparing to bury the vines for another winter, Norman says: "That credibility, that international credibility, says you're doing something right."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41167977
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What Sean Hughes wanted to happen after his death - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The comic, who died on Monday, wrote a poignant poem about his own death back in the 1990s.
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Entertainment & Arts
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A poem about death written by comedian Sean Hughes 23 years ago has resurfaced on social media as a poignant tribute.
The poem, published in Sean's Book in 1994, is titled Death and lays out a list of things he wanted to happen after he passed away.
He said he wanted people at his funeral to "have a laugh, a dance, meet a loved one". He also said he wanted people to say: "I didn't know him but cheers".
The former Never Mind the Buzzcocks captain died on Monday aged 51.
One fan dug out the poem from his book and posted it on Twitter after Hughes's death.
I know how boring funerals can be
I want people to have free drink all night.
I want people to patch together, half truths.
I want people to contradict each other
I want them to say 'I didn't know him but cheers'
adding more pain to their life.
I want the Guardian to mis-sprint three lines about me
or to be mentioned on the news
Just before the 'parrot who loves Brookside' story.
I want to have my ashes scattered in a bar,
on the floor, mingle with sawdust,
Will trample over me… again
Taken from Sean's Book by Sean Hughes, published by Pavilion Books
Sean appeared on Pointless Celebrities last year with Rhona Cameron
The London-born Irish comedian died in hospital in London. He was a team captain on BBC Two's Never Mind The Buzzcocks between 1996 and 2002.
He became the youngest winner of the Edinburgh Festival's Perrier Award (now known as the Edinburgh Comedy Award) in 1990 at the age of 24.
Comedians including Jack Dee, Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves), Sarah Millican, Katy Brand and Richard Herring were among those to pay tribute to him on Monday.
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-41651280
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Tesco to start selling green satsumas and clementines - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Supermarket says it will cut food waste by selling the green citrus fruit instead of rejecting them.
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Business
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Tesco has announced it will start selling green satsumas and clementines, as part of plans to cut food waste.
The supermarket chain says the green oranges are "perfectly ripe" and will be as sweet as orange-coloured ones.
Higher early season temperatures in Spain have slowed down the natural process by which the skin of the fruit turns orange.
Other UK supermarkets have also branched out to sell less-than-perfect produce.
In the past, retailers have been criticised for being too fussy. This has led to farmers throwing away large amounts of perfectly edible fruit and vegetables.
Satsumas and clementines actually grow as green fruit to begin with, and the skin only turns to orange as summer wanes and the nights cool.
However, in recent years, warmer temperatures during the early growing season for satsumas in September and October have continued to remain high into the autumn, thus delaying the natural process by which the fruit turns orange.
Tesco launched the Perfectly Imperfect range in March 2016, which features apples, pears, potatoes, parsnips, cucumbers, courgettes, strawberries and frozen mixed berries.
Don't be put off by the colour - Tesco says these satsumas are just as ripe as orange-coloured ones
Tesco's aim is that no food safe for human consumption will go to waste from its UK outlets by the end of 2017.
"Key to encouraging consumers to buy these is communicating - for example, prominently at the point of sale - that the satsumas are ripe and shoppers can expect the same taste they are used to, perhaps even by offering tasters," Kiti Soininen, Mintel's head of UK food and drink research, told the BBC.
"From international examples, the success stories for initiatives to cut food waste by embracing 'ugly' fruit and vegetables have been the ones helping shoppers understand what to expect from the taste and quality of the food, and reassuring them that 'ugly' doesn't mean that the fruit and vegetables wouldn't still taste great."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41665946
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Trump's latest travel ban blocked by second federal judge - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A judge says the policy "suffers from precisely the same maladies as its predecessor".
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US & Canada
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A woman (middle) travelling from Jordan on a Yemeni passport arrives in Los Angeles, California
US President Donald Trump's latest bid to impose travel restrictions on citizens from eight countries entering the US has suffered a court defeat.
A federal judge slapped a temporary restraining order on the open-ended ban before it could take effect this week.
The policy targets Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea, as well as some Venezuelan officials.
Previous iterations of the ban targeted six Muslim-majority countries, and were widely referred to as a "Muslim ban".
The state of Hawaii sued in Honolulu to block Mr Trump's third version, which was set to go into effect early on Wednesday.
Hawaii argued in court documents that the revised policy was fulfilling Mr Trump's campaign promise for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States", despite the addition of North Korea and Venezuela.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
It also argued the president did not have the powers under federal immigration law to impose such restrictions.
US District Judge Derrick Watson, who blocked Mr Trump's last travel ban in March, issued the new restraining order.
The president's controversial travel bans have each been frustrated by the courts to some degree:
In Hawaii, Judge Watson decided that the new policy "suffers from precisely the same maladies as its predecessor".
He said "it lacks sufficient findings that the entry of more than 150 million nationals from six [of the] specified countries would be 'detrimental to the interests of the United States'".
His decision temporarily blocks the ban on all targeted countries except North Korea and Venezuela.
The ban is also facing court challenges from Maryland, Washington state, Massachusetts, California, Oregon and New York.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement the latest court order was "dangerously flawed" and "undercuts" efforts to keep Americans safe.
"These restrictions are vital to ensuring that foreign nations comply with the minimum security standards required for the integrity of our immigration system and the security of our nation," she said.
She said the White House was confident the president's "lawful and necessary action" would eventually be upheld by the courts.
As it stands, the Supreme Court has delayed its consideration of the case from October, asking all parties to resubmit briefs to the court accounting for the changes made between the second and third versions of the order.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41659724
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Emile Cilliers trial: Parachute 'sabotage' possible in five minutes - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Army sergeant Emile Cilliers denies attempting to kill his wife by tampering with her parachute.
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Wiltshire
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Video shown in court to display how accused man could have tampered with wife's parachute
Jurors in the trial of a man accused of tampering with his wife's parachute have been shown videos of how the alleged sabotage could have taken place in a toilet in just over five minutes.
Victoria Cilliers, 40, suffered multiple injuries in a 4,000ft fall at Netheravon Airfield, Wiltshire in 2015.
Emile Cilliers, 37, denies attempting to murder his former Army officer wife.
Two videos of a parachute expert showing how the sabotage could be done were played at Winchester Crown Court.
Prosecutors allege Mr Cilliers, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps in Aldershot, twisted the lines of his wife's main parachute and removed two slinks - which attach lines to the harness from a reserve chute - on the day before her jump.
The army fitness instructor is also accused of a third charge of damaging a gas valve at their home a few days earlier, in the second allegation that he attempted to kill his wife. He denies all three charges.
The army fitness instructor denies attempting to murder Victoria Cilliers in April 2015
The court has heard that Mr Cilliers allegedly took his wife's packed parachute into the hangar's toilets where he is accused of tampering with it.
The jury asked if they could be shown a demonstration of how this might have been done in the tight space of the toilet cubicle.
Mark Bayada, the chief instructor at Netheravon and expert witness for the prosecution, carried out the filmed demonstration using two different parachutes.
Mr Cilliers allegedly took his wife's packed parachute into the hangar's toilets where he is accused of tampering with it
He used one which was the same size as that used by Mrs Cilliers on the day of her near-fatal jump and another slightly larger parachute.
The court heard both sabotage demonstrations were completed in just over five minutes.
Mr Bayada said the tampering carried out would not be noticed in a pre-jump flight line visual check.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-41671630
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YouTube star Casey Neistat criticises video site's leaders - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Award-winning vlogger Casey Neistat claims video creators could leave the service en masse.
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Technology
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Mr Neistat suggests YouTube's community of creators acts as a defence against online competitors
One of YouTube's most influential vloggers has chastised the service's leaders, claiming they are failing many of their most popular video creators.
Specifically, Casey Neistat criticised the way the platform had made it impossible for some videos to generate advertising revenue, without clearly explaining the rules to its community.
One of his own videos - an interview with Indonesia's president - was temporarily "demonetised" last week.
YouTube has said it is listening.
"We watched Casey's video and appreciate him and the wider community voicing their concerns," a spokeswoman told the BBC.
"We know this has been a difficult few months, and we're working hard to improve our systems. We're making progress, but we know there is a lot more to do."
Mr Neistat has more than eight million subscribers on YouTube, who have signed up to be alerted when he posts. He has also struck a multi-million-dollar deal to create content for CNN on the platform.
He is normally viewed as being one of the leading champions of the site.
But in a video posted on Tuesday, he said he felt compelled to speak out because the level of upset among creators posed an "existential threat to YouTube's entire business".
Mr Neistat's vlog from Indonesia was demonetised until he appealed against the decision
The Google division began stripping some videos of adverts earlier in the year after several major brands suspended YouTube campaigns because their marketing clips had been attached to extremist content.
To address the problem, YouTube introduced an algorithm that determines which clips are "family friendly" and thus allowed to continue making money for their creators.
But Mr Neistat said the decision-making process had been badly communicated.
"There are no answers anywhere, and there's no-one telling you what's going on," he said.
"The thing that was most troubling for me... was the lack of communication, the lack of transparency on the part of YouTube."
"People are... putting the same amount of work, the same amount of energy and the same amount of expense into the content they're creating, but now they're getting paid only a fraction of what they did."
A recent decision to demonetise creators' videos about the Las Vegas shootings had caused particular ire, Mr Neistat said, since a video featuring the chat-show host Jimmy Kimmel discussing the same incident had been allowed to continue featuring ads.
"It sort of reeks of hypocrisy, and again the community felt like a second-class citizen," he said.
As a rule, YouTube prevents adverts from running on videos about tragedies.
But this does not apply to clips posted by select partners - including Mr Kimmel's employer, ABC - who are allowed to sell ads themselves rather than relying on Google to do so.
A recent clip of Jimmy Kimmel discussing a mass shooting in Las Vegas was allowed to show adverts
"In the specific case of tragedies, like the one in Las Vegas, we are working to not allow such partners to sell against such content," a YouTube spokeswoman said last week.
"We have not completed this work yet, but will soon."
Mr Neistat suggested a better alternative would be to give creators more control over whose adverts appeared alongside their clips.
The video-maker is far from being the first YouTuber to complain about the issue. But one industry-watcher said his intervention carried weight.
"People look to Casey to be not just an inspiration but also a voice for the community - he's very well respected and people do listen to what he says and follow his lead," said Alex Brinnand, editor of TenEighty magazine.
"The fact that he has put out this video... will help ensure his audience is aware of the issue and becomes as equally unhappy as he is."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: Other YouTubers told the BBC about their frustrations last month
Mr Neistat highlighted that Twitter's rival video-based social network, Vine, had collapsed after its managers had disappointed several of its leading clip creators and suggested YouTube could face a similar exodus.
"When you think about Netflix or Amazon or Hulu or any of these other digital distribution platforms right now, they've all got money, they're all willing to spend money, and they're trying to figure out how to diversify their audience," he said.
He added that Amazon's Twitch service - which currently focuses on video-games-related live feeds - had already tempted some.
Twitch began allowing users to upload pre-recorded videos a year ago and may unveil new features at its annual TwitchCon event, which begins on Friday.
However, Mr Brinnand questioned whether the service had done enough to lure away YouTube's biggest names yet.
"For creators like Casey, I don't think at the moment that Twitch is a viable option," he said.
"It's a lot more geared to live or as-live content, so doesn't cater to the same audience the vloggers have with their more packaged, produced videos.
"But Twitch has laid the foundations for the future - it already offers very appealing revenue streams - and could be a contender if it develops a stronger platform for standard video."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41666049
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Jennifer Lawrence: I was placed in 'nude line-up' - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Oscar-winning actress also said she was told to lose weight at Elle's Women in Hollywood event
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Entertainment & Arts
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Jennifer Lawrence speaking at Elle's Women in Hollywood event in Los Angeles
Jennifer Lawrence has said she was made to stand in a nude line-up and told to lose weight by film producers at the start of her career.
Speaking at Elle's Women in Hollywood event, the 27-year-old said she felt she didn't have any power in the situation as an unknown actress.
She said she found that fame protected her from assault as her career went on.
"I will lend my voice to any boy, girl, man or woman who doesn't feel like they can protect themselves", she added.
The actress, who won an Oscar in 2013 for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, told the audience about auditioning for a film and being asked by a female producer to stand in a nude line-up.
She described the experience as "degrading and humiliating", as she was put next to girls she says were thinner than her.
Jennifer Lawrence speaking to Laura Dem at the Elle celebration
"When I was much younger and starting out, I was told by producers of a film to lose 15 pounds in two weeks.
"One girl before me had already been fired for not losing the weight fast enough," she told an audience including Kristen Stewart, Margot Robbie and Ashley Greene.
"During this time a female producer had me do a nude line-up with about five women who were much, much, thinner than me. We all stood side by side with only tape on covering our privates."
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Lawrence said the producer then told her she should "use the naked photos" of herself as "inspiration" for her diet.
She then went to complain to another producer about being called out over her weight.
"He said he didn't know why everyone thought I was so fat," Lawrence told the crowd, adding that he had commented that he thought she was attractive enough to sleep with.
The actress said she felt "trapped" by the experience and allowed the harassment to happen because she "didn't want to be a whistleblower" and thought it was what she had to do to further her career in Hollywood.
She told the audience: "In a dream world, everyone is treated with the exact same level of respect.
"But, until we reach that goal, I will lend my ear. I will lend my voice to any boy, girl, man, or woman who does not feel like they can protect themselves."
Jennifer Lawrence with Harvey Weinstein at the GLAAD Media Awards in 2013
Lawrence's speech comes after the sexual harassment and assault accusations against film producer Harvey Weinstein, which has lead to a growing narrative on the mistreatment of women in the film industry and Hollywood in particular.
Lawrence worked with Weinstein on Silver Linings Playbook. She released a statement last week in response, which said: "This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting.
"I worked with Harvey five years ago and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations."
Lawrence said in her speech it was time for people in Hollywood to "stop normalising these horrific situations."
On Tuesday, Weinstein resigned from the board of directors of his eponymous film production company.
He has been accused of rape, sexual assault and harassment, but has "unequivocally denied" any allegations of non-consensual sex.
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-41664809
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Xi Jinping: 'Time for China to take centre stage' - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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The president tells the Communist Party congress it is time for China to "take centre stage".
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China
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. BBC China editor Carrie Gracie has a look at the Communist Party messages all over Beijing
China has entered a "new era" where it should "take centre stage in the world", President Xi Jinping says.
The country's rapid progress under "socialism with Chinese characteristics" shows there is "a new choice for other countries", he told the Communist Party congress.
The closed-door summit determines who rules China and the country's direction for the next term.
Mr Xi has been consolidating power and is expected to remain as party chief.
The congress, which takes place once every five years, will finish on Tuesday. More than 2,000 delegates are attending the event, which is taking place under tight security.
Shortly after the congress ends, the party is expected to unveil the new members of China's top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, who will steer the country.
Mr Xi addressed the delegates at the start of the week-long meeting
Listing China's recent achievements in his three-hour speech, Mr Xi said that "socialism with Chinese characteristics in this new era" meant China had now "become a great power in the world", and had played "an important role in the history of humankind".
The Chinese model of growth under Communist rule was "flourishing", he said, and had given "a new choice" to other developing countries.
"It is time for us to take centre stage in the world and to make a greater contribution to humankind," he added.
Since Mr Xi took power in 2012, China's economy has continued to grow rapidly. But correspondents say the country has also become more authoritarian, with increasing censorship and arrests of lawyers and activists.
Xi Jinping is a much more assertive leader than his recent predecessors. In a long and confident speech, he looked back on his first five years in office, saying the party had achieved miracles and China's international standing had grown.
But the most striking thing in his mission statement was ideological confidence. Recently Party media have talked of crisis and chaos in western democracies compared to strength and unity in China.
Today Xi Jinping said he would not copy foreign political systems and that the Communist Party must oppose anything that would undermine its leadership of China.
In his speech, Mr Xi also:
He also introduced measures to increase party discipline, and touched on his wide-reaching corruption crackdown that has punished more than a million officials, report BBC correspondents in Beijing.
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Beijing is decked out in welcome banners and festive displays for the congress.
However, the capital is also on high alert. Long queues were seen earlier this week at railway stations due to additional checks at transport hubs.
The congress has also affected businesses, with some restaurants, gyms, nightclubs and karaoke bars reportedly shutting down due to tightened security rules.
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An austerity drive, instituted by Mr Xi, has meant a more pared down congress, with reports this week of delegates' hotels cutting back on frills such as decorations, free fruit in rooms and lavish meals.
Meanwhile, state media have said the Party is expected to rewrite its constitution to include Mr Xi's "work report" or political thoughts, which would elevate him to the status of previous Party giants Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
Some see Mr Xi as accruing more power than any leader since Mao, and the congress will be watched closely for clues on how much control now rests in the hands of just one man, says the BBC's John Sudworth.
Mr Xi has tightened control within the Party and also in Chinese society, but continues to enjoy widespread support among ordinary citizens.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-41647872
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MI5 boss Andrew Parker warns of 'intense’ terror threat - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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Andrew Parker says there is "more terrorist activity coming at us" and it can be "harder to detect".
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UK
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. MI5 chief Andrew Parker: 'Over 3,000 extremists in the UK'
The UK's intelligence services are facing an "intense" challenge from terrorism, the head of MI5 has warned.
Andrew Parker said there was currently "more terrorist activity coming at us, more quickly" and that it can also be "harder to detect".
The UK has suffered five terror attacks this year, and he said MI5 staff had been "deeply affected" by them.
He added that more than 130 Britons who travelled to Iraq and Syria to fight with so-called Islamic State had died.
MI5 was running 500 live operations involving 3,000 individuals involved in extremist activity in some way, he said.
Speaking in London, Mr Parker said the tempo of counter-terrorism operations was the highest he had seen in his 34-year career at MI5.
Twenty attacks had been foiled in the last four years, including seven in the last seven months, he said - all related to what he called Islamist extremism.
The five attacks that got through this year included a suicide bomb attack after an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in May, killing 22.
Five people were also killed in April during an attack near the Houses of Parliament, while eight people were killed when three attackers drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge and launched a knife attack in Borough Market.
A man then drove a van into a crowd of worshippers near a mosque in north London in June, while a homemade bomb partially exploded in tube train at Parsons Green station last month, injuring 30 people.
In some cases, individuals like Khuram Butt - who was behind the London Bridge attack - were well known to MI5 and had been under investigation by the security services.
People left flowers in Manchester city centre after the Manchester Arena attack
Mr Parker was asked what was the point of MI5 surveillance when someone who had made "no secret of his affiliations with jihadist extremism" had then been allowed to go on to launch a deadly attack.
He said the risk from each individual was assessed on a "daily and weekly basis" and then prioritised "accordingly".
"One of the main challenges we've got is that we only ever have fragments of information, and we have to try to assemble a picture of what might happen, based on those fragments."
He said the likelihood was that when an attacked happened, it would be carried out by someone "that we know or have known" - otherwise it would mean they had been looking "in completely the wrong place".
And he said staff at MI5 were deeply affected on a "personal and professional" level when they did happen.
"They are constantly making tough professional judgements based on fragments of intelligence; pinpricks of light against a dark and shifting canvas."
Mr Parker said they were trying to "squeeze every drop of learning" from recent incidents.
In the wake of attacks in the UK, there had been some, including some in the Home Office, who questioned whether the counter-terrorist machine - featuring all three intelligence agencies and the police, and with MI5 at its heart - was functioning as effectively as previously thought.
However, there was no indication of a fundamental change in direction in his remarks, with a focus on the scale of the threat making stopping all plots impossible.
"We have to be careful that we do not find ourselves held to some kind of perfect standard of 100%, because that is not achievable," he said.
"Attacks can sometimes accelerate from inception through planning to action in just a handful of days.
"This pace, together with the way extremists can exploit safe spaces online, can make threats harder to detect and give us a smaller window to intervene."
Many Britons still fighting in Syria and Iraq may not now return, Andrew Parker said
He renewed the call for more co-operation from technology companies.
Technology was "not the enemy," he added, but said companies had a responsibility to deal with the side effects and "dark edges" created by the products they produced.
In particular, he pointed to online purchasing of goods - such as chemicals - as well as the presence of extremist content on social media and encrypted communications.
He said more than 800 individuals had left the UK for Syria and Iraq.
Some had then returned, often many years ago, and had been subject to risk assessment. Mr Parker revealed at least 130 had been killed in conflict.
Fewer than expected had returned recently, he said, adding that those who were still in Syria and Iraq may not now attempt to come back because they knew they might be arrested.
Mr Parker stressed that international co-operation remained vital and revealed there was a joint operational centre for counter-terrorism based in the Netherlands, where security service officers from a range of countries worked together and shared data.
This had led to 12 arrests in Europe, he added.
In terms of state threats, Mr Parker said the range of clandestine activity conducted by foreign states - including Russia - went from aggressive cyber-attack, through to traditional espionage and the risk of assassination of individuals.
However, he said the UK had strong defences against such activity.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41655488
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The big cases Crimewatch helped solve - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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After 33 years on our screens, the BBC programme helped solve numerous police investigations.
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UK
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The team on Crimewatch have been working with the public to solve cases for 33 years
After 33 years of appeals and reconstructions, Crimewatch will be hanging up its phone lines for the last time as the BBC axes the ground-breaking programme.
The BBC One institution called on the public to help solve some of the UK's biggest crimes and people would call in their droves with anything they thought could help.
And help they did, with some very high profile cases being solved thanks to the prime time programme.
We take a look at some of the most prominent stories featured on Crimewatch and how its viewers helped secure convictions.
James Bulger was two-years-old when he was murdered by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson in 1993
Two-year-old James Bulger was snatched from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, on 12 February 1993 whilst out with his mother.
He was taken by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who were just 10 years old themselves.
CCTV showed the pair leading James away by his hand. Soon after, they beat him with bricks and iron bars, before leaving his body on a railway line.
It took two days before police discovered the toddler's body.
After the footage was shown on Crimewatch, the two boys were identified by viewers, and convicted of James' murder in November 1993.
Sarah Payne disappeared when walking back from her grandparents' house in 2000
The disappearance of eight-year-old Sarah Payne on 1 July 2000 led to 16 days of frantic searching before her body was discovered.
Sarah had been walking home from her grandparents' house through a field in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex, when she went missing, and was never seen alive again.
Crimewatch carried out two appeals and in both rounds, Roy Whiting was named as a prime suspect.
Fibres from a patterned curtain were found on Sarah's shoe and a viewer recognised the fabric, as she had left it in a van her boyfriend sold to Whiting.
In 2001, Whiting was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The motorway surrounding the capital became the focus of a manhunt in 2001 and 2002 when a number of attacks were carried out on women.
The incidents took place in Kent, Surrey, London and the Thames Valley, and included a victim as young as 10.
An e-fit picture was shown on Crimewatch in October 2002 to try to track down the serial sexual attacker.
A viewer recognised the face and directed police to Antoni Imiela.
He was originally called the Trophy Rapist, as he took items of clothing from the victims as souvenirs.
The 50-year-old was sent to prison for a minimum of 99 years for his crimes, which included seven rapes, kidnap, indecent assault and attempted rape.
Lin Russell (left) and her daughter Megan were killed when Michael Stone attacked them with a hammer in 1996
Lin Russell was on a walk in Nonington, Kent, with her two daughters - nine-year-old Josie and six-year-old Megan - when they were attacked by a man with a hammer on 9 July 1996.
Josie was left for dead, but managed to survive. However, her mother and sister were both killed.
Crimewatch showed a reconstruction of the attack in September and presented the public with an e-fit of the perpetrator.
A year on from the crime, the programme made a further appeal for people who worked in mental health who might have been able to help.
Among 600 calls from the public, one proved to be the key to solving the case and Michael Stone was arrested before being convicted of both murders.
Julie Dart was just 18 when she was murdered in Leeds by Michael Sams
Estate agent Stephanie Slater suffered an horrific ordeal in January 1992 when showing someone around a house.
The 25-year-old was attacked before being blindfolded and hidden in a coffin for eight days in Newark, Nottinghamshire.
A ransom was paid for her release.
After hearing her describe her attacker, the police believed he may have had links to the murder of teenager Julie Dart the year before in Leeds.
Crimewatch broadcast a recording of the kidnapper's voice, which was heard by his ex-wife. She came forward.
As a result, Michael Sams was arrested and convicted for both the kidnapping and murder.
The murder of TV presenter Jill Dando in 1999 remains unsolved
For all of Crimewatch's success stories, there are still cases that remain unsolved, and perhaps none as closely linked to the show as that of Jill Dando.
The TV presenter had been working on the programme since 1995 and gained high praise, including being awarded the BBC Personality of the Year award in 1997.
But in 1999, the 37-year-old was shot in the head on her doorstep in Fulham, west London.
Her case was then featured on the show she had presented for four years.
Local man Barry George was convicted of her murder in 2001 and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, his conviction was quashed after he appealed against it for the third time, and a second trial ended in his acquittal.
The question of who murdered Ms Dando has remained unanswered.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41649334
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Lady Somerleyton loses heirloom pendant in Morrisons supermarket - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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The emerald and diamond pendant was being worn by Lady Somerleyton on the day she visited the supermarket.
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Suffolk
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The pendant was lost after its owner went shopping at Morrisons and visited a nearby town
A "family heirloom" has been lost after its aristocrat owner wore the emerald and diamond pendant on a shopping trip to a Morrisons supermarket.
Lady Somerleyton returned from buying groceries at the store in Pakefield near her Somerleyton Estate home in Suffolk on 9 October when she noticed the Art Deco style jewellery was gone.
She had also visited the village of Henstead on the same day.
The pendant was attached to a 46cm (18in) chain, the family said.
Lara and Hugh, Lady and Lord Somerleyton, said they were "devastated" by the loss of the pendant
"My wife and I are devastated to have lost the pendant which is a family heirloom, and therefore I have decided to offer a cash reward for its safe return, should someone find it," Lord Somerleyton said in a statement.
Lady Somerleyton had visited the supermarket on the day she lost the pendant
A Morrisons spokesman said the lost pendant had been reported to staff who were "keeping their eyes peeled".
"We have our fingers crossed that it turns up," he added.
Suffolk Police also confirmed it had been informed of the lost item.
Lord and Lady Somerleyton's family home Somerleyton Hall, near Lowestoft lies within a 5,000-acre (2,023 hectare) estate.
The value of the pendant and the value of the reward have not been disclosed by the Somerleyton family.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-41666690
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The artist making 'new' Warhol paintings, 30 years after his death - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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Paul Stephenson has used exactly the same methods and materials - so can they be called Warhols?
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Entertainment & Arts
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Paul Stephenson working on his recreation of Warhol's Chairman Mao portrait
Is it possible to create new paintings by Andy Warhol, 30 years after his death? Warhol got other people to do most of the work first time around - and now a British artist has recreated some of his most famous works using exactly the same methods and materials.
There was a reason Andy Warhol called his legendary 1960s New York studio The Factory.
It housed something resembling an assembly line of assistants working on his famous screenprint paintings of icons like Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy.
On occasion, his assistant and his mother even signed the paintings on his behalf.
"I think somebody should be able to do all my paintings for me," Warhol told interviewer Gene Swenson in 1963.
"I think it would be so great if more people took up silk screens so that no-one would know whether my picture was mine or somebody else's."
Warhol wanted to remove any trace of the artist's hand in his art
More than 50 years on, Paul Stephenson has done that - and ignited a debate about what can be done after an artist's death.
Stephenson has made new versions of Warhol works by posthumously tracking down the pop artist's original acetates, paints and printer, and recreating the entire process as precisely as possible.
Stephenson's project began when he bought 10 original Warhol acetates - the enlarged photographic negatives of those icons that Warhol used to create his screenprints.
While Warhol's assistants did many parts of the physical work, the artist, who died in 1987, was the only one who worked directly on these acetates, touching up parts of the portraits to prepare them for printing.
Stephenson took the acetates to one of Warhol's original screenprinters in New York, Alexander Heinrici, who offered to help use them to make new paintings.
The real deal - this 1973 Warhol of Mao sold for $11m in April
Those paintings - of Chairman Mao, Jackie Kennedy, an electric chair and a self-portrait of Warhol himself - are going on show at the Buy Art Fair in Manchester at the end of October. He's titled the series After Warhol.
"I'm not saying they're Warhols," Stephenson says. "It's a forced collaboration because the original author doesn't know anything about it."
He may not claim the new paintings should be considered posthumous Warhols, but Rainer Crone, one of the leading Warhol authorities and the first to catalogue the artist's work, said they could be.
Crone died in 2016 but he saw Stephenson's recreations and sent him an email saying "paintings made with these film positives under described circumstances and executed posthumously by professionals (scholars as well as printers) are authentic Andy Warhol paintings".
Stephenson's paintings are not identical to Warhol's originals, but are near enough.
Stephenson has recreated portraits of Jackie Kennedy, Mao and Warhol himself
Stephenson says he's simply asking a question: "If the world-leading Warhol scholar says it's a Warhol, and you do everything in the mechanical process that the original artist did, and the original artist said 'I want other people to make my paintings', which he did - what is it?
"I don't know the answer to that question."
There are other examples of works being made in an artist's name after their death.
The estates of Degas and Rodin have made bronze sculptures using their original designs. They are sold as posthumous works, with lower prices to match.
The fact the price tags for Paul Stephenson's recreations are missing a few zeroes - they will be on sale for £4,000 and £10,000 - is proof that he's not expecting anyone to regard them as authentic Warhols.
Warhol expert Richard Polsky, who offers a service authenticating Warhol works, says Stephenson's paintings shouldn't be regarded as posthumous Warhols.
"I like the fact that he's honest - he's not claiming Andy made these, he's claiming he made them," Polsky says. "I also notice he's priced them very modestly. All that's good.
"It sounds like he's trying to extend Warhol's career, so to speak, even though he's dead. There's a charm to that, but it just seems so shallow."
There's a key difference between someone else making a Warhol painting in his Factory during his lifetime and someone else making one now, according to Jessica Beck, curator at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
"He was always involved in that final product in some way," she says, explaining that the artist oversaw everything at the Factory and did get involved in other ways after the inception.
"This idea of taking his screens and recreating new Warhols without being in dialogue with him - obviously, because he's now dead - that's problematic."
But Stephenson's works may still appeal to people who want to impress their friends by appearing to have a Warhol on their wall, but without spending millions.
Buy Art Fair runs from 27-29 October in Manchester. A documentary titled Business of Making Art, featuring Paul Stephenson, will be screened at the fair on 28 October.
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-41634496
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Trump cites chief-of-staff Kelly's dead son to attack Obama - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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Mr Trump suggests his predecessor failed to call John Kelly's family after their son was killed.
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US & Canada
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Mr Kelly's son was a Marine who died in Afghanistan in 2010
US President Donald Trump has suggested that President Barack Obama did not call his chief of staff's family when their son was killed in Afghanistan.
Mr Trump alluded to General John Kelly's son while defending his claim that his predecessor neglected to call the loved ones of fallen soldiers.
Gen Kelly's son, Robert, 29, was a first lieutenant in the Marines when he stepped on a landmine and died in 2010.
The president's claim has sparked outrage among Mr Obama's former aides.
"You could ask Gen Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?" Mr Trump said in an interview with Fox News Radio's Brian Kilmeade on Tuesday.
"I don't know what Obama's policy was. I write letters and I also call," he contended, adding that he has called "virtually everybody" during his time in office.
Gen Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, has avoided speaking publicly about his son's death, according to US media reports.
However, White House visitor logs show Gen Kelly attended a breakfast Mr Obama had hosted for families of those killed in action six months after his son died, the Associated Press news agency reported.
The president's remarks came a day after he falsely said that Mr Obama and other presidents did not call the families of soldiers who were killed in action.
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Mr Trump made the claim as he was asked by a reporter at the White House on Monday why he had not yet contacted the families of four US soldiers who were killed in Niger on 4 October.
The president slightly backtracked on his assertion later in the same press conference.
"I don't know if he did," he said of Mr Obama. "I was told that he didn't often, and a lot of presidents don't. They write letters. I do, I do a combination of both."
He said he had written letters to the families and planned to call them soon.
Later on Tuesday, the White House said he had spoken to the families, but did not say when.
President Trump "offered condolences on behalf of a grateful nation and assured them their families' extraordinary sacrifice to the country will never be forgotten," said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.
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The comments prompted backlash from some Obama administration aides.
Alyssa Mastromonaco, the former deputy chief of staff for operations under Mr Obama, fired back in a tweet, calling Mr Trump a "deranged animal" for making the claim.
A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, Brian Gabriel, said Mr Trump had told "a totally irresponsible and disgusting lie".
Gen Kelly has yet to comment on the president's latest remarks.
But Ned Price, a former spokesman for Mr Obama, called on Mr Kelly to stop "this inane cruelty".
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Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie has died at 53 - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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The Canadian band's singer passes away at the age of 53 after a battle with terminal cancer.
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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. Justin Trudeau: "We lost one of the very best of us"
Canadian rock band Tragically Hip's frontman Gord Downie has died following a battle with brain cancer. He was 53.
The gifted lyricist - who was dubbed the country's unofficial poet laureate - had been diagnosed with an incurable glioblastoma in May 2016.
His family said in a statement he passed away quietly surrounded by friends and relatives.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau led the national mourning for the star with a tearful public statement.
"He loved every hidden corner, every story, every aspect of this country that he celebrated his whole life," Mr Trudeau said, his voice breaking, on Wednesday.
"We are less as a country without Gord Downie in it. We all knew it was coming, but we hoped it was not."
Gord Downie revealed his cancer diagnoses in May 2016
Despite his diagnosis, Downie continued to tour with Tragically Hip and produce music in the last years of his life. He recorded a solo double-album called Introduce Yerself in January 2017, which will be released on 27 October.
The band said in a written statement: "Gord knew this day was coming - his response was to spend this time as he always had - making music, making memories and expressing deep gratitude to his family and friends for a life well lived, often sealing it with a kiss... on the lips."
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Downie's lyrics often referenced Canadian culture and mythology, which endeared the band to fans who were used to seeing Canadian musicians "Americanise" their music to appeal to an international audience.
The Tragically Hip's first full-length album, Up to Here, was full of the kinds of blues-tinged party songs like New Orleans is Sinking that helped make the band one of Canada's most in-demand live acts across the country.
But it was the band's subsequent albums, infused with obscure references to Canadian history and hockey and experimental song structures like Fireworks and Bobcaygeon that truly defined the sound of the Tragically Hip.
The band never made it big in the US - a fact that didn't seemed to bother Downie or his band too much.
At home, they regularly sold out stadiums, but south of the border, they could often be found playing small-town bars, mostly filled with Canadian fans who had made the trek just to see them.
Far from a sign of failure, their lack of international fame only helped seal their reputation at home as a national treasure. Nine out of the band's 13 studio albums went to number one on Canada's music charts, and all of them cracked the top 10.
When news of Downie's death broke, Canadians went online to share their own personal stories about times they had met the singer, or how his music had touched their lives.
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Shortly after Downie announced his cancer diagnosis last year, the band went on a sold-out nationwide summer tour, which helped raise C$1m ($800,000; £600,000) for brain cancer research.
The tour culminated in a final show in Kingston, Ontario, the band's hometown, that was broadcast live across the country.
Hundreds of public screenings of the broadcast were held, serving as a kind of living memorial for Downie.
In addition to music, Downie was a renowned activist for environmental and indigenous causes.
In the final year of his life, he released a solo album and graphic novel titled The Secret Path, inspired by the true story of an indigenous boy who died while trying to escape a residential school.
For his work on reconciliation, Downie was awarded an Order of Canada by Mr Trudeau.
He was also bestowed an eagle feather by the Assembly of First Nations and an aboriginal name, Wicapi Omani.
In Lakota it means "man who walks among the stars".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41669610
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Divorce numbers for opposite-sex couples highest since 2009 - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The number rose 5.8% in 2016 among opposite-sex couples - the biggest year-on-year jump since 1985.
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UK
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The number of divorces last year in England and Wales was the highest since 2009, official figures show.
There were 106,959 divorces of opposite-sex couples in 2016 - an increase of 5.8% from 2015. It was the biggest year-on-year rise since 1985, when there was a jump of 10.9%.
Of 112 divorces of same-sex couples in 2016, 78% involved female couples.
Charity Relate said rising levels of household debt and stagnating wages could be putting a strain on marriages.
For those in opposite-sex marriages, the divorce rate was highest for women in their 30s and men aged between 45 and 49.
Overall, there were 8.9 divorces per 1,000 married men and women.
ONS spokeswoman Nicola Haines said: "Although the number of divorces of opposite-sex couples in England and Wales increased by 5.8% in 2016 compared with 2015, the number remains 30% lower than the most recent peak in 2003; divorce rates for men and women have seen similar changes."
2016 was only the second year that same-sex divorces have been possible.
The most common reason for divorce was "unreasonable behaviour", with 51% of women and 36% of men citing it in their divorce petitions. Unreasonable behaviour can include having a sexual relationship with someone else.
Overall, women initiated proceedings in 61% of opposite-sex divorces.
Commenting on the figures, Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the relationship support charity Relate, said: "It is unclear as to why there was a slight increase in divorces in 2016 and as to whether this rise will continue or not.
"We know that money worries are one of the top strains on relationships and it may be that rising levels of household debt and stagnating pay growth could be contributing factors."
However, he stressed that the overall trend over the past few years had been downward.
He added: "Divorce is not something that people tend to take lightly but our research suggests that many people could have saved their marriage and avoided divorce with the right support.
"That is why we would encourage anybody experiencing relationship issues to access support such as counselling at the earliest possible stage."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41669400
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Bill on emergency workers assaults passes first stage - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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MPs consider private members' bills - the first is a bill designed to create a specific offence to attack emergency workers which passes its first stage in the Commons.
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Parliaments
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The Parental Bereavement Bill is given its second reading - MPs do not divide but show their approval by voicing "aye".
The House moves onto the Health and Social Care (National Data Guardian) Bill which is proposed by Conservative MP Peter Bone.
There is little time to discuss the bill, however, and at 2.30pm, MPs move on to the adjournment debate, which is on memorial plaques to World War I servicemen, from Conservative MP David Morris .
That's where we'll leave our coverage of the week's business in Parliament.
We'll be back on Monday afternoon, when the Commons and Lords meet at 2.30pm.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-parliaments-41637032
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Ed Sheeran cancels Asia tour dates after cycling accident - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The star calls off seven dates in Asia after suffering multiple fractures in a bicycle accident.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Sheeran headlined Glastonbury earlier this year, and is due to play four dates at Wembley Stadium next summer
Ed Sheeran says he is "unable to perform live concerts for the immediate future" after breaking his arm in a cycling accident.
The star came off his bike, reportedly after being struck by a car, at the weekend.
"A visit to my doctors confirmed fractures in my right wrist and left elbow," he said on Instagram, alongside a picture of his arm in a cast.
So far, dates in Taipei, Osaka, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong have been affected.
"I'm waiting to see how the healing progresses before we have to decide on shows beyond that," the star said.
"Please stay tuned for more details."
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The 26-year-old has a further eight dates scheduled this year, including sold-out concerts in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
He then has a three-month hiatus - coinciding with the Grammys and Brit Awards - before resuming his tour in Australia next March.
The concerts are in support of his multi million-selling third album Divide, which was released earlier this year.
Sheeran famously plays his concerts solo - using just a guitar and a loop pedal to layer up songs like Thinking Out Loud, Sing and Shape of You.
Losing the use of his right arm would make such a set-up impractical - but, speaking to BBC News earlier this year, Sheeran said he would never consider playing with a backing band.
"I don't feel like there's anything interesting or new about seeing a singer-songwriter with a band behind them," he said.
"I don't feel like if I suddenly got a band, everyone would go, 'Wow!' - I actually feel it'd take away from me."
The singer headlined Glastonbury earlier this year, and is due to play stadium dates in the UK and Ireland - including four nights at Wembley Stadium - next summer.
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-41663800
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Dyslexia link to eye spots confusing brain, say scientists - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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Experts say the findings are exciting but unlikely to explain the causes for all dyslexia.
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Health
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People with dyslexia have difficulty learning to read, write or spell
French scientists say they may have found a potential cause of dyslexia which could be treatable, hidden in tiny cells in the human eye.
In a small study they found that most dyslexics had dominant round spots in both eyes - rather than in just one - leading to blurring and confusion.
UK experts said the research was "very exciting" and highlighted the link between vision and dyslexia.
But they said not all dyslexics were likely to have the same problem.
People with dyslexia have difficulties learning to read, spell or write despite normal intelligence.
Often letters appear to move around and get in the wrong order and dyslexic people can have problems distinguishing left from right.
Human beings have a dominant eye in the same way that people have a dominant left or right hand.
In the University of Rennes study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, scientists looked into the eyes of 30 non-dyslexics and 30 dyslexics.
They discovered differences in the shape of spots deep in the eye where red, green and blue cones - responsible for colour - are located.
In non-dyslexics, they found that the blue cone-free spot in one eye was round and in the other eye it was oblong or unevenly shaped, making the round one more dominant.
But in dyslexic people, both eyes had the same round-shaped spot, which meant neither eye was dominant.
This would result in the brain being confused by two slightly different images from the eyes.
Researchers Guy Ropars and Albert le Floch said this lack of asymmetry "might be the biological and anatomical basis of reading and spelling disabilities".
They added: "For dyslexic students, their two eyes are equivalent and their brain has to successively rely on the two slightly different versions of a given visual scene."
Prof John Stein, dyslexia expert and emeritus professor in neuroscience at the University of Oxford, said having a dominant spot in one eye meant there were better connections between the two sides of the brain and therefore clearer vision.
He said the study was "really interesting" because it stressed the importance of eye dominance in reading.
But he said the research gave no indication of why these differences occurred in some people's eyes.
He said the French test appeared to be more objective than current tests, but was unlikely to explain everyone's dyslexia.
Dyslexia is usually an inherited condition which affects 10% of the population, but environmental factors are also thought to play a role.
"No one problem is necessary to get dyslexia and no one problem is behind it," Prof Stein said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41666320
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Parsons Green Tube stabbing: Victim named as Omid Saidy - BBC News
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2017-10-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Omid Saidy was fatally wounded in the attack outside Parsons Green Tube station.
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London
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Omid Saidy was stabbed to death outside Parsons Green Tube
A man killed outside Parsons Green Tube station was stabbed after confronting a drug dealer, Scotland Yard has said.
Omid Saidy was fatally wounded and two others were injured in the attack on Monday night.
The 20-year-old from Fulham died after confronting a drug dealer and another man who was with him, the Met confirmed.
The injured 16-year-old was discharged from hospital and arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.
A 20-year-old man suffered serious but non life-threatening injuries.
Two men were taken to hospital after the incident, one of whom has been arrested
After confronting the drug dealer, the victim chased the two suspects in the direction of Beaconsfield Walk, police said.
When he caught up with the pair, he was fatally stabbed.
A 20-year-old man who was a friend of the deceased came to his aid and was also stabbed.
One of the suspects, described as a black male dressed in dark clothing, fled down Harbledown Road in the direction of Fulham Court.
The second suspect, a young white male, ran into Beaconsfield Walk.
Police believe he called for an ambulance a short time later for his own injuries.
Det Ch Insp Noel McHugh said: "A young man has tragically lost his life for simply asking a drug dealer to move on.
"I urge anyone who can assist our investigation to come forward without delay."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41655350
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Newspaper headlines: No deal Brexit plans and 'rip-off' mobiles - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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David Davis is planning for no deal on Brexit talks, and millions overcharged for mobiles feature on Friday's front pages.
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The Papers
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Editors offer a different view of the Brexit talks with their choice of photographs.
The Daily Telegraph's front page shows Theresa May, flanked on either side by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.
They face Mrs May with their hands cupped over their mouths. "The whispering campaign," the paper calls it.
A similar picture appears in the Times under the label "crunch talks".
Many other papers show the three politicians all smiling. The Sun adds the caption "Give me summit to work with". The Daily Mail says: "Merkel finally gives Theresa news to smile about".
In the Guardian, the former Labour education minister, David Lammy, highlights his concerns about Oxbridge admissions and what he calls "social apartheid".
The paper reports that one in three Oxford Colleges didn't accept any black A-level students in 2015, and none was taken at six Cambridge colleges.
Mr Lammy notes that almost 400 black students got three As or more at A-level but few are attracted to Oxbridge. Both universities tell the paper they're working to improve the figures.
They are not the only institutions facing diversity issues. The Financial Times reports that MPs on the Treasury committee have warned that they could refuse to endorse high-level appointments at the Bank of England because there are too many white men.
A Treasury spokesperson tells the Guardian the recruitment process is fair and open.
Responding to Scotland's plan to ban smacking, the i reports that the UK's four children's commissioners want the other home nations to follow suit.
The Guardian says the case has also been made by the NSPCC. But the Sun says English MPs have vowed to resist such calls.
Scott Macnab suggests in the Scotsman that there's an "enthusiasm among MSPs for imposing bans" - "from smacking to fracking". He calls it "worrying" and a "wider erosion of personal liberty".
The increase in recorded crime is analysed by several papers. The Mirror headlines its report "not safe on our streets," and calls it a "damning indictment" on Theresa May's policing cuts.
The paper urges her to recruit more officers. The Daily Mail says burglars get away with nine out of 10 break-ins.
The Daily Telegraph suggests the police have been "side-tracked" by "other questionable priorities."
Among these it includes the investigation of thousands of historic sex allegations.
It also says counter-terrorism is stretching the Metropolitan Police. The paper proposes passing responsibility for terrorism to the National Crime Agency.
Beseeching puppy eyes stare out of several papers to explain how, as the Guardian puts it, "dogs turn on the charm for humans."
Researchers suggest that dogs have learned that widening their eyes elicits sympathy and affection in humans.
What they don't know, says the Daily Telegraph, is whether they aware that they look sad.
The i says it seems their expressions are doggy attempts to communicate. Although the paper says the scientists don't yet know if dogs can truly understand us or whether it's a learned response to seeing a face.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41689097
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Five reasons Trump's widow story stings - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The BBC's Anthony Zurcher assesses the damage to Donald Trump in the condolence row affair.
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US & Canada
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Sgt Johnson's widow with his coffin at Miami International Airport
The Donald Trump condolence-call story is a White House headache that shows no signs of abating.
It started badly for the president, as he responded to a question about US military casualties in Niger by questioning how his predecessors dealt with the families of war dead. It got worse, as the story morphed into one of an allegedly callous presidential call to Myeshia Johnson, a grieving widow of one of the US soldiers killed in Niger.
Now it's devolved into a he-said, she said debate, with Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson - who knew the slain soldier - and Ms Johnson and her family claiming the president mishandled the call, while Mr Trump and chief of staff John Kelly insist everything went smoothly.
Needless to say, arguing with a war widow is a no-win situation, regardless of who has facts on their side. President George W Bush notably withstood harsh criticism from some bereaved families during the Iraq War without swiping back.
This president is different, which should come as a surprise to no one at this point. His choices could come at a political high price, however. Here are five reasons why.
Mr Trump campaigned on being a defender of the US military and, in particular, US veterans. Time and again he said those in the armed services weren't being treated well and railed against ongoing evidence of bureaucratic bungling in the veterans' health system.
As a candidate and as president, he has boasted of how much the military loves him and regularly surrounded himself with soldiers and martial symbolism - a way of burnishing his credentials as a strong commander-in-chief. He appointed ex-generals to his administration and lined his redecorated Oval Office with flags.
Now he has to deal with accusations that he is dishonouring the memory of service member who died on his watch. Questions are already swirling about why these soldiers were put in harm's way and whether enough was done to ensure their safety.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson: "How insensitive can you be?"
Reporters are digging into other contacts Mr Trump has had with the families of slain soldiers. One widow has released a recording of her call with the president.
According to The Atlantic, at least 11 of the 46 families had received neither a letter nor a call from the president. One father told the Washington Post Mr Trump had promised him a personal cheque for $25,000 (£18,900) but hadn't delivered. The White House has since announced the money is on the way.
Some families who have heard nothing said they were angry. The next time the president surrounds himself with soldiers, the public might be reminded of this - and become angry, too.
An important job of a modern US president is to serve as "consoler-in-chief"; a stable, reassuring voice in times of national distress or tragedy. This can take place on a large scale - when visiting the site of a natural disaster or high-profile accident - or small, in comforting a family member grieving over their loss.
It's a skill that successful politicians learn early on - the human touch - and anti-politician Trump is having a difficult time with it.
In the days after Puerto Rico was struck by a massive hurricane, he was tweeting about the territory's pre-existing financial mismanagement and escalating a feud with San Juan's mayor.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Donald Trump said Mrs Khan had nothing to say, as David Willis reports
In the hours after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville led to violent clashes and the death of a counter-protester, Mr Trump gave a statement about how there was blame on both sides.
Mr Trump responded to the militant attack on London Bridge by criticising the city's mayor. He's responded to other attacks, foreign and domestic, by claiming they vindicated his policy proscriptions.
The president has also developed a reputation for getting embroiled in petty disputes. His counter-puncher mentality, while it has served him well against his presidential rivals, also has led him into spats with a former beauty queen, celebrities, sports stars, major companies, prominent journalists, members of his own party and the parents of a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq.
That last one seems pretty relevant at this point.
It's worth remembering that this whole swirling story started because Mr Trump was asked why four US soldiers had died in Niger and why it took him so long to respond.
In fact, it had been 12 days and the president had issued no statement - tweet, comment or White House release - about the incident whatsoever.
Mr Trump defended himself by taking an (inaccurate) shot at his predecessors for not making similar calls. Although he later backed away from such a sweeping statement, the following day he told a reporter to ask his chief of staff, John Kelly if he had received a call from President Obama.
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Mr Kelly's son had been killed in Afghanistan, and the ex-general has been reluctant to publicly discuss details of his grief.
The White House said he hadn't been called, but it was later revealed that he attended an event for Gold Star families - parents of slain soldiers - hosted by the Obama administration.
Then the president called Johnson's widow, and ... didn't help the situation.
Now he's in a war of words with a sharp-tongued Democratic congresswoman over a story that, however one slices it, does not paint the president in a good light.
When Mr Kelly defended the president later that week, he insisted the president handled a difficult call well - although he confirmed that Mr Trump did say the slain soldier "knew what he signed up for".
Since then, the president has seemingly enjoyed trading barbs with Congresswoman Wilson, calling her "wacky" and a "disaster" for Democrats.
When Ms Johnson insisted in a television interview that Ms Wilson's account was correct - and that the president didn't even know her husband's name - the president took to Twitter within hours to say she was incorrect.
Mr Trump once again has shown that he doesn't believe in the Law of Holes - that when you're in a hole, you stop digging. Instead he seems to think that if he keeps digging long enough, he'll come out on the other side.
This story could have been nipped in the bud early, with some sort of presidential statement of condolence shortly after the 4 October Niger incident.
In fact, according to Politico, a release had been drafted and circulated within the National Security Council on 5 October - but it never saw the light of day.
During Wednesday's White House press conference, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that there were administration protocols that had to be followed before the names of slain US servicemen could be released - but that wouldn't have applied to the draft statement responding to reports, which didn't mention the soldiers' names.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Gold Star Mother Christina Ayube: "We don't need to be reminded of that on the way to receiving the body"
"Somebody screwed up here, OK?" Leon Panetta, who served as defence secretary and CIA chief in the Obama administration, told The Washington Post. "You don't let that amount of time pass when our men and women in uniform have been killed."
Compounding matters was that it appears Mr Trump went into the conversation with Johnson's widow without a clear script. It's not outside the realm of possibility that while Mr Trump's intentions were good, his preparation was poor - and he misspoke or made comments open to misinterpretation.
Since Mr Trump first brought up his contacts with the Gold Star families, the White House has reportedly been scrambling to send out presidential letters of condolences to those who had not yet received them.
According to a leaked Pentagon document, the administration didn't even have a current list of slain military personnel when the president told reporters he had spoken with "virtually" all of them.
All of this could have been avoided with more careful planning.
This is a big month for Mr Trump. If he wants to see Congress pass a tax cut before the end of the year, the coming weeks will be when it gets off the ground.
Democrats are pushing hard to paint the proposal as an unaffordable sop to the rich - and Republicans need to get their message out before public opinion is solidified.
Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have a lot of work ahead of them this month
The president also took a high-risk gamble in ending cost-sharing subsidies that help insurance companies provide affordable policies to less affluent Americans. Without congressional action, some premiums could skyrocket. If Mr Trump isn't vigorous in defending his decision, he'll be the one that takes the brunt of the blame.
The federal budget process is heating up as well. Although the day of fiscal reckoning was pushed back to the end of December thanks to a deal with the Democrats, that deadline is growing closer every day. If the president wants to see funds for his priorities, like the Mexican border wall, he'll need to be fully engaged in congressional negotiations.
Speaking of negotiations, talks with Mexico and Canada to modify the North America Trade Agreement are hanging by a thread. If they fall apart, the president may have to make the case to the public that pulling out of the deal won't do lasting harm to the US economy.
All the oxygen in Washington is being sucked up by the condolence-call story, however.
Although Mr Trump likes to tout his presidential accomplishments, his record so far is bereft of legislative victories. Recent events have done little to help his cause.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41674735
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Crime figures: Is violence rising? - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Crime statistics are regularly disputed so here's what the numbers mean.
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UK
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Whether crime is rising or falling is hugely important. It can affect how much is spent on policing and other related services, even how people vote. But working out what is happening is not an exact science.
When we talk about crime rates in England and Wales we usually look at two things:
And those two sources often throw up quite different results.
For example, in recent years police records have shown significant increases in crime while the survey has suggested crime is falling.
Despite this difference, neither source is wrong - they just measure different things.
The more difficult question is which best represents how much crime is actually being committed.
We're talking about England and Wales only, because Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate criminal justice systems.
According to the most recent survey, which is conducted face-to-face and asks individuals about their personal experiences, levels of crime in the year to September 2018 remained pretty stable compared with the year before.
Crimes recorded by the survey have been falling for years, so this represents a slowing of improvements.
There was no change in the overall number of violent offences - the only significant change was seen in the category of "computer misuse" (generally fraud and financial crimes), which went down by a third.
On the other hand, police records suggest crime went up by 7% in the past year and violent crime went up by 19%. Violence that actually resulted in injury or death went up by 7%.
So which of these two very different pictures - one showing no change to the levels of violence people are experiencing and one showing it going up quite considerably - should we trust?
The crime survey is generally considered a good measure of crime experienced by individuals because it is not affected by changes to how crime is recorded.
It also includes crimes that have historically been under-reported to the police.
However, it has some limitations. It does not cover crimes against businesses or people living in communal residences like care homes, prisons or student accommodation. It is also excludes crimes where there is no victim to interview, for example murders and drug possession or dealing offences.
And there is a time-lag in the survey, so the figures are older than police figures. This means the survey is very good for looking at long-term trends but less good at spotting emerging ones.
The trouble with police records is they can sometimes be a measure of police activity rather than of crime itself. They're by definition not good at capturing offences that people under-report to the police, such as petty theft or sexual offences.
They are skewed by police priorities - that is, focused efforts from police to tackle certain crimes can also lead to higher levels being recorded.
And police-recorded crime is sensitive to changes in recording practices, for example, the number of crimes described as "violence against the person" went up considerably in recent years, after two new harassment offences were added to the category. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this didn't reflect a genuine increase in crime.
Police recorded crime had its designation as a national statistic removed in 2014.
But, that being said, police-recorded crime is very good measure of what's happening to well understood and well reported crimes such as burglary.
Those figures suggest there have been genuine increases in less common but more serious crimes such as weapons offences over the past couple of years.
Helen Ross from the ONS's centre for crime and justice, said: "In recent decades, we've seen the overall level of crime falling - but in the last year, it remained level."
"Burglary, shoplifting and computer misuse are decreasing but others, such as vehicle offences and robbery, are rising.
"We have also seen increases in some types of 'lower-volume, high-harm' violence, including offences involving knives or sharp instruments."
But, the statistical body says, this should be seen in the context of an overall fall in crime over the past decade, adding that the crime survey "provides the best measure of trends for overall violent crime".
"The survey covers crimes that are not reported to or recorded by the police and so tends to provide the better measure of more common but less harmful crimes."
Scotland has a similar survey on perceptions of crime that runs every two years. In the most recent survey, for 2016-17, crimes committed against adults were down 34% since 2008-09 and 16% since the previous survey, in 2012-13.
Crimes recorded by the police in Scotland are at their lowest level since 1974.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41149778
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Universal credit: My five-year-old searched bins for food - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Some people are left near-destitute due to flaws in the benefits system, the Victoria Derbyshire programme is told.
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UK
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Anna says she had to visit a food bank after the changes to her benefits left her without any money.
MPs voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to back a Labour demand for the controversial universal credit scheme to be put on hold but Tory MPs abstained. The Victoria Derbyshire programme has been told some people are being left near-destitute due to flaws in its design.
Without any income for two weeks, Anna was unable to buy food for her five-year-old daughter.
She was waiting for her first instalment of the new benefit.
"Last weekend her last food was school dinners. On Saturday we were walking down the street and she was searching in bins for food, she was starving. She was ripping McDonald's bags to see if there were any chips or anything on the floor. It was awful, broke my heart," she says.
"You take her to bed but her tummy's rumbling. You're just giving her water but she wants food and you can't. She had no food Saturday, Sunday, went to school really, really, hungry."
Anna, from Hammersmith in west London, says she was told to apply online and the first payment would take up to three months to arrive. This was despite the government's expectation that claimants should be paid within six weeks - a target which has itself attracted criticism.
The government says universal credit, which rolls six working-age benefits into a single payment, is designed to make the system simpler and ensure no-one faces a situation where they would be better off claiming benefits than working.
Anna says all of her current benefits were stopped - child benefit, child tax credit, income support, council tax and housing benefits - whilst she waited for them to be grouped under the new system.
Senior Labour backbencher Frank Field told the Victoria Derbyshire programme claimants were being "pushed into destitution". He called on the government to temporarily halt the "disastrous" roll-out.
"What we're seeing is increased numbers who are hungry, increased numbers of people who can't pay their rent, and an increase in the number who are without fuel or light in their houses… those numbers [of people in destitution] are rising," he said.
Anna says she had to go to a food bank for supplies - otherwise they would still be hungry.
"I can't go to the shop and steal. It's awful. I can't keep asking neighbours for food, I shouldn't have to live like this," she says.
"I don't know if I am going to still have my house, as I need to pay my rent, my council tax is due. What do I do next? Beg on the street to get some milk and bread?"
The Trussell Trust says its network of 400 food banks may be unable to cope with the rise in demand resulting from the introduction of universal credit.
"We're genuinely worried that with the combined demands of winter and [the fallout from universal credit] we might not be able to feed everyone who comes through our doors," says Gareth Lemon, from the charity.
The government has said anyone in financial distress can apply for advance payments. But these payment are only a type of loan, which claimants have to pay back from subsequent instalments.
For some, the requirement to pay back an advance, has itself resulted in them slipping into debt.
Brendan said his sisters helped him buy food after problems with his benefit payments
Brendan, 51, from West Yorkshire, who has a range of disabilities and is awaiting bariatric surgery, says the failure to be paid the housing element of universal credit has left him thousands of pounds in arrears and facing eviction.
He took an advance while waiting for his first instalment but is now paying that back, exacerbating his debt problems.
"It probably lasted me about two weeks and then left me with nothing. Then you're hoping that what you have in is enough, which it wasn't. I've got a good family who have helped me out a lot. Without my sisters I'd be absolutely on my knees," he says.
Brendan says he went without food for three days, until his sister took him shopping and gave him some money. "She said, 'If you're ever like this again, phone me'. But I won't because it's embarrassing," he adds.
"I've never struggled like this before in my life I've never been in this situation where I could lose my home. I'll die on those streets if I do get evicted, I don't know what I'll do. I don't know where to go for help."
Ed Boyd, managing director at the Centre for Social Justice, which designed the policy, insisted that the government should be congratulated for introducing universal credit, saying that it is far better than the system it replaces. He said the old system disincentivised work and trapped people on benefits.
"When universal credit is fully rolled out you will have 250,000-to-300,000 more people in work and the effect this will have on families across the country, taking people out of poverty, is really significant," he says.
The Department for Work and Pensions says its latest data, from last month, indicates 81% of new claimants were paid in full and on time at the end of their first assessment while 89% received some payment.
Cases of non-payment, it said, were due to claimants either not signing paperwork, not passing identity checks or facing "verification issues," such as providing details of their earnings, housing costs and childcare costs.
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/uk-41651684
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Theresa May to scrap universal credit helpline charges - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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But PM rejects Labour's calls to pause the new benefit's roll-out as she loses symbolic Commons vote.
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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. Speaking in September 2017, claimants told the BBC about the problems they faced
People will be able to call the government's universal credit helpline without being charged, within weeks.
Prime Minister Theresa May said she had listened to criticism of the charges, which can be up to 55p a minute, and decided it was "right" to drop them.
But she again rejected calls by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to "pause" the roll-out of the controversial benefit amid fears it is causing hardship.
In a symbolic vote, MPs backed a pause after Tory MPs were told to abstain.
The opposition won by 299 votes to 0 with one Conservative - Totnes MP Sarah Wollaston - defying her party by siding with Labour.
The outcome is not binding on the government although Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said ministers must "act on the clearly expressed will of Parliament" and halt its roll out.
Commons Speaker John Bercow advised ministers to take account of the vote and "show respect for the institution" by indicating what they intended to do.
Universal credit, which rolls six working-age benefits into a single payment, is designed to make the system simpler and ensure no-one faces a situation where they would be better off claiming benefits than working.
But it has faced a backlash from Tory MPs, who fear payment delays risk pushing families into destitution.
Explaining her decision to rebel, Dr Wollaston said the length of time people were waiting to be paid - in many cases more than six weeks - was a "fundamental flaw" that must be addressed.
She told the BBC she wanted to "see a much stronger commitment" from government "that they'll do that immediately".
At Prime Minister's Questions earlier, Mr Corbyn said he was glad the PM had "bowed to Labour pressure" by scrapping the hotline charges.
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But he added: "The fundamental problems of universal credit remain - the six week wait, rising indebtedness, rent arrears and evictions.
"Will the prime minister now pause universal credit and fix the problems before pressing ahead with the roll-out?"
Mrs May prompted cheers from Labour MPs as she began her reply with "yes", before urging them to "listen to the whole sentence I was going to make".
She said universal credit was "a simpler system", that "encourages people to get into the workplace - it is a system that is working because more people are getting into work".
The universal credit hotline will become free to use "over the next month", the government has said, and that would be followed by all DWP helplines by the end of the year.
The government says it makes no money from the 0345 number. It is charged at local rate and is included as a free call in many landline and mobile phone packages but can cost some mobile phone users as much as 55p a minute.
Universal Credit has been introduced in stages to different groups of claimants over the past four years, with about 610,000 people now receiving it.
Almost a quarter of all claimants have had to wait more than six weeks to receive their first payment in full because of errors and problems evidencing claims.
But the government recently approved a major extension of the programme to a further 45 job centres across the country, with another 50 to be added each month.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The PM appears to give a surprising initial answer when asked to pause the national rollout of universal credit.
Labour's Frank Field told MPs a food bank in his Birkenhead constituency needed to order five tonnes of extra food to deal with hardship caused by the roll-out of universal credit over Christmas.
He asked Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke if his constituents should ignore the food bank's warnings, or give it extra donations as a result of the minister's "inability to deliver a scheme that works".
Mr Gauke had earlier accused Labour of attempting to wreck the new benefit rather than taking a constructive approach to reforming it.
The SNP's Mhairi Black said the offer of advance payments made matters worse for some claimants because they had to be paid back.
She accused the government of acting like a "pious loan shark - except that instead of coming through your front door they are coming after your mental health, your physical well-being, your stability, your sense of security."
The Department for Work and Pensions says its latest data, from last month, indicates 81% of new claimants were paid in full and on time at the end of their first assessment while 89% received some payment.
BBC Newsnight's political editor Nick Watt said he understood ministers were giving "serious thought" to cutting the initial waiting period for payments from six to four weeks around the time of next month's Budget.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41659504
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'Handful of changes' make cancer - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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It takes between one and 10 mutations to turn a healthy cell cancerous.
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Health
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British scientists have worked out how many changes it takes to transform a healthy cell into a cancer.
The team, at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, showed the answer was a tiny handful, between one and 10 mutations depending on the type of tumour.
It has been one of the most hotly debated issues in cancer science for decades.
The findings, published in the journal Cell, could improve treatment for patients.
If you played spot the difference between a cancer and healthy tissue, you could find tens of thousands of differences - or mutations - in the DNA.
Some are driving the cancer's growth, while others are just along for the ride. So which ones are important?
The researchers analysed the DNA from 7,664 tumours to find "driver mutations" that allow a cell to be more selfish, aggressive and cancerous.
They showed it could take:
Dr Peter Campbell, one of the researchers, told the BBC News website: "We've known about the genetic basis of cancer for many decades now, but how many mutations are responsible has been incredibly hotly debated.
"What we've been able to do in this study is really provide the first unbiased numbers.
"And it seems that of the thousands of mutations in a cancer genome, only a small handful are responsible for dictating the way the cell behaves, what makes it cancerous."
Half the mutations identified were in sets of genetic instructions - or genes - that had never been implicated in cancer before.
The long-term goal is to advance precision cancer treatment.
If doctors know which few mutations, out of thousands, were driving a patient's cancer, it could allow drugs that specifically targeted that mutation to be used.
Drugs such as herceptin and Braf inhibitors are already used to attack specific mutations in tumours.
The researchers were able to pick out the mutations that were driving the growth of cancer by turning to Charles Darwin and evolutionary theory.
In essence, driver mutations should appear more often in tumours than "neutral" mutations that do not make the cell cancerous.
This is because the forces of natural selection give an evolutionary advantage to mutations that help a cell grow and divide more readily.
Dr Nicholas McGranahan, from the Cancer Research UK and the UCL Cancer Institute, said the approach was "elegant".
He said: "Cancer is a disease that evolves and changes over time, and it makes sense to use ideas like this from species evolution to work out the genetic faults that cause cancer to grow.
"But as this study focuses on one part of cancer evolution, it can only give us insight into part of the puzzle.
"Other components such as how DNA is packaged into chromosomes are also key in how a tumour progresses and will need to be looked at to give us a clearer picture of how cancer evolves."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41644020
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Warning over stag selfies with Wollaton Park deer - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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A wildlife photographer says one man posed behind a stag's antlers at Wollaton Park in Nottingham.
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Nottingham
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Wollaton Park said it is "extremely dangerous" to approach the deer
Visitors to a park have been warned they are putting themselves in danger by posing for selfies with deer.
The herd of 80 red deer and 120 fallow deer roam freely in Wollaton Park, Nottingham.
Wildlife photographer Ted Shillitto said he saw people "getting close to what are potentially very dangerous animals".
He said one man posed behind a stag's antlers, while a woman attempted to put her child on a stag's back.
A spokesman for Wollaton Park said it was mating season and "any person or animal invading their space at any time may be attacked as the stags will defend their group".
"They are very large and could inflict a lot of damage."
The deer at Wollaton Park roam freely throughout the grounds
Mr Shillitto said the deer are "dangerous animals and not pets".
"It was ridiculous how close and how many were coming along. When somebody has done it, then others think that's great, we'll do it.
"One of them actually got a hold of the stag's neck as he was down on the floor and was posing between his antlers."
The photographer said one woman at the park "picked her child up and it looked like she was going to put it on the stag's back".
Charles Smith-Jones, of the British Deer Society, said deer parks recommend people stay at least a distance of 165ft (50m) away from the animals.
"In a park, the deer are used to people and they seem tame and people are fooled into thinking they are tame," he added.
"But the red deer rut is going on and the males are full of adrenalin and testosterone and are competing for breeding rights."
Last month, a woman was gored in a deer park in Richmond, London, after taking a video of deer.
Londoner Yuan Li, who suffered thigh injuries, said she thought she was going to die.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-41682441
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Bletchley Park quiz - Are you a codebreaker? - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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As a Bletchley Park book of brainteasers is released, test your knowledge of the home of WW2 codebreakers.
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England
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One of the successful stocking-fillers of last Christmas was the GCHQ puzzle book, which allowed mere mortals to wrestle with fiendish conundrums produced by the folk at the intelligence and security organisation. Jumping on the brilliance bandwagon this year is Bletchley Park Brainteasers.
Try our combination of trivia and twisters to find out if you would have been welcomed at the home of the World War Two codebreakers.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41609763
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White House chief of staff John Kelly defends Trump over widow remarks - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Gen John Kelly says he is "broken-hearted" by a lawmaker's criticism of Mr Trump's condolence call.
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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.
The White House chief of staff has launched an impassioned attack on a "selfish" congresswoman who said President Trump made a war widow cry.
General John Kelly said he was "broken-hearted" by the Democrat's criticism of the president's condolence call to Sgt La David Johnson's wife.
Sgt Johnson was one of four killed in Niger by Islamist militants this month.
Gen Kelly also said he did not receive a call from President Barack Obama when his son died in Afghanistan in 2010.
The chief of staff, a former Marine Corps general, said in the White House briefing room that Representative Frederica Wilson was "an empty barrel".
Sgt Johnson's widow with his coffin at Miami International Airport
The Florida Democrat said on Wednesday that she had overheard Mr Trump telling bereaved Myeshia Johnson of her slain husband: "He knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway."
Ms Wilson said the president's alleged remarks, shortly before Sgt Johnson's coffin arrived by aircraft in his home city of Miami, made Ms Johnson break down in tears.
President Trump said the congresswoman had "totally fabricated" the comments, but the soldier's mother later backed up Ms Wilson, saying he had disrespected the family.
On Thursday, Gen Kelly said he was so "stunned" by Ms Wilson's attack that he spent more than an hour walking among soldiers' graves at Arlington National Cemetery, just outside Washington.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson: "How insensitive can you be?"
The chief of staff said he had advised the president not to call the loved ones of the four American servicemen killed in Niger, telling him: "There's nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families."
Gen Kelly described such a task as "the most difficult thing you can imagine".
"There is no perfect way to make that phone call," he added.
He also discussed the death of his own son, Robert Kelly, a 29-year-old Marine first lieutenant who died when he stepped on an Afghan landmine.
Gen Kelly said: "He [President Trump] asked me about previous presidents. And I said, 'I can tell you that President Obama, who was my commander-in-chief when I was on active duty, did not call my family.'
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Gold Star Mother Christina Ayube: "We don't need to be reminded of that on the way to receiving the body"
"That was not a criticism. That was just to simply say, I don't believe that President Obama called. That's not a negative thing.
"I don't believe President Bush called in all cases. I don't believe any president, particularly when the casualty rates are very, very high, that presidents call."
The controversy began on Monday when a reporter asked Mr Trump at the White House why he had still not called the families of the four soldiers killed in the fatal ambush in Niger on 4 October.
The president provoked outrage by suggesting that his predecessor, Barack Obama, and other former US presidents did not call the relatives of dead service members.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump ratcheted up the row by stating that President Obama did not call Gen Kelly's family.
Mr Kelly also said the Pentagon was investigating the details of the deaths of Sgt Johnson and the other servicemen in the west African country.
But Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was not being given any details, adding that he could issue a subpoena for the information.
Asked by reporters what information he still lacked, he said "everything".
And asked if the White house had been forthcoming, he responded: "Of course not."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41688684
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One in four people 'trapped in low paid jobs' - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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The Social Mobility Commission says low pay is "endemic" in the UK.
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Business
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In Britain, a lot of low paid workers are permanently stuck in poorly paid jobs
A quarter of low paid workers are permanently stuck in poorly paid jobs in the UK with little chance of earning more, according to new research.
The Social Mobility Commission said low pay was "endemic" in the UK, with women more likely to get stuck on low pay.
It found just one in six low paid workers had managed to escape from poorly paid jobs in the last decade.
The report defines low pay as hourly earnings below two-thirds of the median hourly wage, which was £8.10 last year.
The median hourly wage for an average person across the entire British workforce was £12.10 per hour in 2016, according to the report.
"This lack of pay progress can have a huge scarring effect on people's lifetime living standards," Conor Darcy, a senior policy analyst with think tank Resolution Foundation, which carried out the research, said.
He called for "a more comprehensive response from business and government" to help people earn more.
Think tank IPPR said wealth inequality was growing in the UK
On average, people stuck on low pay have seen their hourly wages rise by just 40p in real terms over the last decade, compared to a £4.83 pay rise for those who have permanently "escaped", said the report.
The report found that low pay was a particular issue for women in their early 20s and said a lack of "good quality, flexible work" for those with child caring responsibilities was to blame.
The industries with the lowest paid jobs are retail and hospitality, the report said.
Although some employers in the hospitality and retail industries try to keep overheads down with low-paid jobs, Mr Darcy said this solution would not work in the long term, as employment costs are likely to go up.
A Business Department spokesman said it had made progress on low pay: "We have more people in work than ever before, taken 1.3 million people out of income tax altogether since 2015 and the national living wage has delivered the fastest pay rise for the lowest earners in 20 years."
A separate report from think tank IPPR said inequality was growing in the UK with young people particularly affected.
It said the richest 10% of British households had an average of £1.32m in net property, pension and financial wealth.
In contrast, the average wealth of the bottom 50% of households was £3,200, it said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41669991
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Reality Check: Is it legal to tax old people more? - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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The chancellor is tipped to include measures to help young people in his budget, at the expense of older taxpayers.
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UK
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In November, the man who holds the UK's purse-strings will announce how the nation's money will be spent in the year ahead. And rumours have begun flying about potential cuts and giveaways in the pipeline.
Among these, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is rumoured to be planning a reduced rate of National Insurance for young people, while cutting older people's pension relief.
The plans to redistribute wealth across the generations were mooted by Whitehall sources, according to The Telegraph.
Pension relief is a system in which the more you pay into a pension, the more money you can get back as a tax relief from government.
We don't know exactly how this policy - were it to be announced - would work, or which ages would benefit.
But at BBC Reality Check, we wanted to know - can you make someone pay more tax just because they're older?
The short answer is yes - there are lots of instances of people paying more or less tax, based on their age.
It may be discrimination, but it's not illegal.
Until last year, people over the age of 65 were allowed to keep more money tax-free, and it's still the case that UK workers reaching state pension age no longer have to make National Insurance contributions.
You can also be paid a lower minimum wage if you are younger. There are four different minimum wages depending on your age, from £4.05 an hour for under-18s, increasing to £7.50 for over-25s.
These variations don't count as age discrimination in law, and are allowed in the UK system of tax and earnings.
It wouldn't be too difficult to implement either.
But does it make sense to do so?
There is very little economic justification for allowing young people to pay a reduced National Insurance rate according to a spokesman for independent think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
The IFS says government usually has one of two main aims when reducing taxes for a particular group:
If the aim is to change behaviour - in the case of National Insurance contributions, probably to encourage people to enter or stay in the workplace - certain groups are more "responsive" to tax cuts than others.
Tax cuts for people nearing retirement age, or mothers with school-age children, are more likely to get them to stay in work, according to the IFS.
But young people without dependants are less likely to work more because they are being taxed less.
If changing how the wealth of the country is distributed is the aim, this is a very blunt tool, the IFS says.
It would be better to address the root problems facing young people like the housing market or student debts, according to Julian Jessop at the Institute for Economic Affairs.
He says this system could mean young City workers on six-figure salaries could pay less tax than NHS workers in their 50s.
It could also create an unfair system whereby women who take career breaks when they are younger in order to have children don't benefit from tax breaks in their 20s, but end up paying more tax later in life.
Instead of putting more money in young people's pockets via tax cuts, government could introduce a new form of pension tax relief favouring the young, according to Tom McPhail, head of policy at financial services company Hargreaves Lansdowne.
This could mean the government "tops up" young people's pensions by a larger amount than older people's pensions.
But this may not have the same political capital as a giveaway for young people that they can feel immediately in their pay packets.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41656117
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Newspaper headlines: PM pledge and FA chiefs 'urged to resign' - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Theresa May's promise to let EU nationals stay and questions over the future of the FA's bosses feature on the front pages.
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The Papers
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A year on from the Brexit referendum, says the Financial Times, the government has still not spelled out what that will mean for the economy.
The paper sees division in the two main parties, the House of Lords, and across the UK.
If things turn nasty, it thinks the government should resist the "petulant and reckless" option of walking out.
But the Sun tells Theresa May "the time for niceties is over."
It says the PM has now assured every EU citizen here that they can stay, come what may - and it's time for other EU leaders to be "equally forthcoming".
And four former Conservative cabinet ministers tell the Daily Telegraph that she should walk away if the EU won't move on to discussions about trade and the future.
The Daily Mail and the Daily Express both see signs that Germany, at least, might want a comprehensive free trade accord.
Several of the papers are struck by - and concerned about - the figures showing how many people are financially exposed.
Millions of people, says the Financial Times, have to borrow from friends and family "to make ends meet."
"More than four million people are living on the brink of financial meltdown," says the Daily Mail, "figures that add up to a crisis."
The i believes half the adult population are at risk, with 15 million of them failing to pay anything into any kind of pension.
A headline in the Times calls that a "retirement timebomb ticking for millions".
The switch to universal credit, says the Guardian, was a sensible idea "on paper".
But in practice, the paper argues, it has been anything but.
The old system, it believes, "was baggier and more accommodating" - for all its flaws - and the new one just doesn't take account of the actual circumstances of many claimants.
The paper fears that pressing on with the change "will leave families to celebrate Christmas on the contents of a food parcel".
The Mirror says Mrs May is "still pig-headedly making life worse for struggling individuals".
The Times is concerned by the limitations which have been imposed on free speech at several universities since the start of the academic year.
And it therefore commends the Universities minister, Jo Johnson, for telling higher education institutions that they will face penalties if they deny a platform to people whose views might upset some.
The paper says free speech is central to what universities do.
The Daily Mail wonders whether Prince Harry's girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has already had a meeting with the Queen.
It says the actress appears to have been whisked into Buckingham Palace a week ago - in a Ford Galaxy with blacked out windows.
The paper says she spent almost an hour with the Queen having tea and cake. The Palace declined to comment.
The Times reports that "the tree that first brought Bramley apples to the world is dying."
The 200-year-old tree, at Southwell in Nottinghamshire, has an incurable honey fungus infection.
Scientists, says the Daily Express, believe they can save it.
The Daily Telegraph hopes they succeed - saying "if Eden's apple gave the world sorrow, Southwell's brought it only wholesome delight".
The Express thinks their mission is a "project with core a-peel."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41674515
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Northern Ireland boss admits drink-driving in Edinburgh - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Michael O'Neill is banned and fined for the offence, after police found him to be three times the Scottish legal limit.
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Scotland
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. O'Neill's lawyer said it had been an "error of judgement"
Northern Ireland football manager Michael O'Neill has pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to drink-driving.
The court heard he was caught by police in the early hours of 10 September at three times the Scottish drink-drive limit.
He had been stopped while driving on the outskirts of the city.
Sheriff Thomas Welsh QC fined O'Neill £1,300 and banned him from driving for 16 months.
Prosecutor Chloe Shoniwa told the court that police officers had "reason to stop" O'Neill as he drove on the A720 Edinburgh city bypass between Lothianburn and Straiton.
O'Neill was breathalysed and he was found to have a breath alcohol level of 65mcg - the legal limit in Scotland is 22mcg.
Solicitor James Mulgrew, representing O'Neill, told the court: "This was simply a bad error of judgement on the part of Mr O'Neill."
O'Neill, who lives in Edinburgh, is currently preparing Northern Ireland for the World Cup play-offs - a two-legged home and away tie against Switzerland next month.
In a statement last month, the Irish Football Association (IFA) said it was "aware of an alleged drink-driving incident involving Michael O'Neill".
During his playing career, O'Neill won 31 caps for Northern Ireland and scored four international goals.
The midfielder started out playing for Irish League club Coleraine and went on to play for Newcastle United, Dundee United and Hibernian.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41678999
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Norway massacre: 'We could hear the gunshots getting closer' - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Lisa Marie Husby recalls the day Anders Breivik opened fire as she sat with students attending a summer camp in Norway.
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Scotland
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Lisa was one of 650 people on Utoya island when Breivik came ashore
When Anders Breivik opened fire on youngsters attending a summer camp on the Norwegian island of Utoya, he carried out a massacre that to this day remains the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman anywhere in the world.
Among those taking part in the Labour Party youth camp was 17-year-old Lisa Marie Husby.
She was one of 650 young people gathered on the tiny island on 22 July 2011, when Breivik appeared dressed as a police officer and began shooting.
However, minutes before he arrived, Lisa had been on the phone to her mother in the wake of an explosion that had killed eight people in the centre of Oslo.
Lisa had been telling her mother that she was safe and that there was no need to worry because she was miles away from the Norwegian capital.
She said: "I wanted to tell her that I was far away from Oslo and I was safe. But as I talked to her, I heard the police cars leaving our part of Norway to go and help in Oslo and I told her this and she said 'I think you guys are the next target'.
"She just had a gut feeling and I said 'there's no way, we're on an island, we're safe' and then I hung up.
"Then a couple of minutes later I heard what I thought were fireworks."
Far right extremist Breivik went on to kill 69 youngsters, 33 of whom were under the age of 18. In total, he murdered 77 people that day, including those in Oslo.
Speaking to Stephen Jardine on Radio Scotland's Kaye Adams programme, Lisa said in the hours before the shooting began, people had been considering going home because of the weather.
She said: "It was very rainy and usually the island is beautiful, but this day it was flooding.
"A lot of people were thinking about maybe going home, because we were sleeping in tents, and a lot of rain is not good for that.
"But everyone was in good spirits and we had the first female prime minister of Norway coming to see us and later we were going to have a disco so everyone was happy and having a good time."
Then news of the terror attack in Oslo started to filter through to those in the camp.
Lisa said: "Some people wanted to go back to Oslo because they couldn't reach their family back there.
"But we realised it wasn't possible to go back to Oslo at that point because everything was closed - no buses, no trains or anything. We said the best thing to do was stay."
It was then that Lisa spoke to her mother and tried to reassure her about their position on the island.
She was with a group of a few dozen people, sheltered by a forest, who were about 50m (164ft) away when Breivik arrived on the island claiming to be there for security.
Locals gathered boats near the island to try and help those jumping into the water to escape
Then she began hearing what she thought was fireworks.
"Everyone was in shock at first, and I think we thought this is a horrible joke, this is too early to try and scare us.
"But then I realised seeing everyone who actually saw the gunman fleeing, that this was actually not a joke."
Lisa said her group were standing next to their tents looking confused by the sound of gunfire.
She said: "I don't think they understood what was going on. A lot of the people who actually saw what happened were fleeing, but this group were sheltered and they couldn't see what was happening, so they were just standing there not knowing what to do."
She added: "This island is very small. You can walk across it in 10 minutes. It's a lot of cliffs and trees everywhere. At the time, I didn't even think that I could get off the island by swimming, I didn't even think that I was on an island - I just thought I have to run and hide."
Lisa gathered the group and then ran through the forest to a cabin that had previously been used as a medical base.
She said: "By the time we got to the cabin, they had actually prepared for attack. They had had a drill earlier that week in case of attack so they had already barricaded the doors and blocked the windows by the time we got into the cabin.
"We managed to get in, but then I got completely shocked and scared and thought I needed to get back out.
"They said: 'if you go we will lock the door behind you', but I still kept running.
"And then I saw this girl who was shot and I decided to go back in because I realised how serious things were then."
Terrified youngsters hid in the woods, with some jumping into the water to escape the hail of bullets.
In total, 47 students, including Lisa, barricaded themselves into the cabin, hiding as best they could.
"At this point there was so many gunshots because of the automatic gun he was using, so we thought there was more than one shooter.
"We just hid under beds and tried to get into the small rooms inside the cabin and shelter ourselves from what was going on outside. We could hear the gunshots getting closer and further away and then suddenly they were very close."
Lisa and the other students heard Breivik try the door. When he could not get in he fired two shots through the window before walking off.
"We didn't know how long it would take the police to get to the island," Lisa said. "We could hear boats outside, but that turned out to be civilians helping out the people who had fled or who had tried to get out by swimming.
"And we could also hear helicopters, but that turned out to be news helicopters."
The 47 students spent more than four terrifying hours inside the cabin.
During that time they were receiving frantic calls from their families, who had warned them that the gunman was reportedly posing as a police officer.
Breivik shot 69 people dead on the island of Utoya during his rampage
The group had also decided that if Breivik entered the cabin they would lie still and pretend to be dead.
Lisa said: "The last message that I got from my family at the time was 'don't trust the police they say online that he's dressed as the police so don't trust anyone who says that they're from the police'.
"When we were just waiting, it got very quiet and the gunshots stopped.
"People started to come out from their hiding places because it got very, very quiet."
Lisa said that at this point the police suddenly stormed the cabin.
She said: "They told us to get on the floor with our hands above our head. We thought these people are here to kill us."
Lisa said she later learned that officers stormed the cabin unaware whether or not Breivik was inside with hostages.
"After the police came in we thought we were dead, we said our goodbyes. Then they asked is he here and I thought 'who's here - it's the terrorist' and then we understood they're not here to take us, they're actually looking for him."
As soon as he was confronted by officers, Anders Breivik immediately surrendered.
He was later jailed for 21 years following a trial that Lisa decided to attend.
She said she was struck by how small Breivik appeared in the dock and how sad it was that such a person could cause so much harm.
Lisa now studies at the University of St Andrews after being shown around the town by her partner Richard
For two years following the massacre Lisa tried to continue her life in Norway.
However, in 2013 her ordeal finally took its toll.
She said: "Something this traumatic is not going to leave you ever.
"So trying to go back to being a normal teenager again was very, very difficult.
"It started off with nightmares, a lot of flashbacks to the day. My nightmares sometimes got really, really bad where I woke up in the middle of the night actually believing that I was shot."
Lisa said she developed a sense of being on auto-pilot and of being an observer in her own life.
She then spent a year in intensive treatment, during which she learned to talk about her experiences and their aftermath.
She developed a sense of determination that "this one day in July wouldn't define my entire life."
Months later, Lisa met her partner Richard in Norway and she began to put her life back together.
She said: "He took me to St Andrews to show me around one day and I just completely fell in love.
"I said 'maybe this is what I need. I need to get out of Norway and try and study abroad' and that's always been a dream."
In 2016 Lisa began studying at the University of St Andrews in Fife and has since become an advocate for raising awareness about issues relating to mental health.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41678010
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Sunwing flyer sues because he got sparkling wine not champagne - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The plaintiff says champagne was promised in the brochure; the airline calls the lawsuit "frivolous".
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US & Canada
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A Canadian man has filed a lawsuit against Sunwing Airlines for promising a champagne service and instead serving sparkling wine.
Daniel Macduff booked a holiday to Cuba through Sunwing that advertised a complimentary on-board champagne toast.
Mr Macduff, from Quebec, said he received a cheaper bubbly instead - and only on the outgoing flight.
The airline said it believes the lawsuit "to be frivolous and without merit".
Mr Macduff's lawyer says the class action hinges on misleading marketing and not the quality of the wine served.
"It's not about the pettiness of champagne versus sparkling wine," said Montreal-based lawyer Sébastien Paquette.
"It's the consumer message behind it."
Mr Paquette said references to real champagne - a sparkling wine variety made specifically in the Champagne region in France - was front and centre in Sunwing's marketing materials.
In an emailed statement, Sunwing said the terms "champagne vacations" and "champagne service" were used "to denote a level of service in reference to the entire hospitality package" and not to describe the in-flight beverages.
The airline says it still offers sparkling wine to all its passengers on flights to southern vacation destinations, but are no longer referencing "champagne service" in active marketing campaigns.
Sunwing said it has always described these services as including "a complimentary welcome glass of sparkling wine" and announce it as such on the aircraft.
The airline added the inflight service has been "consistently been well-received by customers".
The class action has yet to be certified by the courts, but seeks compensation for the monetary difference between the actual wine served and a glass of champagne as well as punitive damages.
Mr Paquette said about 1,600 other plaintiffs have come forward in Quebec to join the lawsuit.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41669611
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Is Jennifer Lawrence's nude line-up common practice? - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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A casting director says Jennifer Lawrence's experience is not representative of the acting industry.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Jennifer Lawrence spoke out about her early career at the Elle Women in Hollywood Celebration
Many were shocked when Jennifer Lawrence revealed she was forced to stand in a "nude line-up" as part of a film casting.
She described the experience as "degrading and humiliating".
The actress spoke in light of recent allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of rape, sexual assault and harassment.
He has "unequivocally denied" the claims against him and said all sexual relationships he had were consensual.
Casting director Brendan McNamara said a nude casting call is "not a normal process"
But Lawrence's revelations raise questions about whether her casting experience is commonplace in Hollywood and the wider film industry.
Brendan McNamara, who worked as a casting assistant on The Bourne Supremacy, described Lawrence's ordeal as "an awful situation", which "isn't representative of the industry as a whole".
He now has his own casting company and makes British independent films, and said his job is to "make actors feel as comfortable as possible to get the best performance for our directors and producers".
"We want to put them in a position where they can give us their best and not feel awkward," he told BBC News.
"I've never had to do anything that might be risque, but if I did, we would contact their agent beforehand to make the actor fully aware and make sure they are comfortable with what we are doing.
When asked about standing naked in a line-up with other women at a casting and being told to lose weight by a casting director, McNamara added: "I don't think that's a normal process at all".
"It just seems horrible and cruel.
"It's not a casting director's job to say how someone looks or tell them to lose weight, it's our job to find someone who's right for the role."
McNamara's films include Treacle Jr which starred Tom Fisher and Game of Thrones' Aiden Gillen
He added that on his low-budget indie British films he now works on, "we try to treat everyone with the upmost respect and all these stories coming out are awful".
"I'm sure the Weinstein stories are not isolated, these people are in positions of power where they take advantage of those that are vulnerable."
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-41668106
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Ex-England captain Terry Butcher 'devastated' by son's death - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Terry Butcher said his son Christopher's life had been "tragically cut short".
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Suffolk
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Terry Butcher, left, said the life of his son Christopher, right, was "tragically cut short"
Former England football captain Terry Butcher has said he is "devastated" by the death of his son, Christopher.
The ex-army captain, who had served in the Royal Artillery and in Afghanistan, died on Monday morning, aged 35.
Suffolk Police said his death was not being treated as suspicious.
The former Ipswich Town and Rangers defender said his son's life had been "tragically cut short" while a family statement described him as a "formidable leader and soldier".
"Chris was a larger than life character whose personality, laughter and compassion touched the hearts of all who were fortunate to know him," it said.
"He always put others before himself and was a true and trusted brother-in-arms.
"His life has been so tragically cut short, but we will cherish and treasure the memories we all shared, forever."
The family thanked people for the "overwhelming number of messages" which they said were "a testament to how much love and respect surrounded Chris".
Their statement added: "We are all devastated by his loss and thank you now for allowing us some time to ourselves, to grieve and come to terms with his passing."
Butcher, now 58, won 77 caps for England and appeared at three World Cups during his career.
He also played for Ipswich Town where he made more than 250 appearances in the 1970s and 1980s, and has managed several clubs including Sunderland, Motherwell and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-41673276
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Badger discovered asleep in cat bed in Linlithgow - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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The badger entered the house through a cat flap and helped itself to cat food before going to sleep.
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Edinburgh, Fife & East Scotland
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The badger ate all the cat food in the kitchen before settling down
A sleepy badger was caught napping in a cat bed in a house in Linlithgow.
The badger entered the kitchen through a cat flap and filled up on cat food before going to sleep in the soft bed.
The Scottish SPCA was called to the house at Beecraigs Country Park on Wednesday and an officer was able to persuade the badger to leave of its own accord.
The charity said it was unusual behaviour for badgers, which are usually shy animals, to enter a home.
The Scottish SPCA officer had to slide the cat bed towards the door before the badger would leave
Animal rescue officer Connie O'Neil said: "I got a surprise when I arrived at the property and saw a badger having a nap.
"He had gotten in through the cat flap and had eaten all the cat food before going for a sleep on the cat bed.
"I don't think it realised it was going into a house - it just smelled the food and wanted somewhere to have a wee nap.
"When I got there I pulled the badger's bed round so I could see him properly and he just looked at me.
"It was then that the badger noticed the back door was open so made a run for it."
Mike Flynn, chief superintendent at the Scottish SPCA, said: "It is highly unusual for a wild badger to enter a house and we would urge anyone to immediately contact our animal helpline on 03000 999 999 should they find one in an unusual place.
"Like all wild animals badgers can be aggressive when injured or cornered so we would advise not to go near or touch them without giving us a call first."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-41683405
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Santiago Maldonado: Body found in search for Argentine activist - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Argentina's political parties suspend election campaigning as experts work to identify the body.
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Latin America & Caribbean
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Santiago Maldonado has been missing since 1 August
Major political parties in Argentina have suspended election campaigning after the discovery of a body thought to be that of a missing activist.
Santiago Maldonado, 28, was last seen in August during a confrontation between police and indigenous rights activists at a protest in Patagonia.
Mr Maldonado's disappearance caused a national outcry and has since become highly politicised.
The news comes ahead of Argentina's congressional elections on Sunday.
Both governing and opposition parties have suspended campaigning as the body is transported to Buenos Aires for identification.
Forensic experts have been assigned and a post-mortem will take place at the request of the Maldonado family.
Prosecutor Silvia Avila said the body, discovered in a riverbed just a few hundred metres from where Mr Maldonado was last seen, was found with clothing that resembled those belonging to the missing activist, AFP news agency reports.
In a statement, the Maldonado family said that the true identity of the body and cause of death would not be known until "experts have completed their work".
They added: "We are asking that our privacy be respected at this difficult time."
Witnesses say Mr Maldonado was last seen after he was arrested at a demonstration for the rights of the Mapuche indigenous group in southern Argentina on 1 August.
On the day that he disappeared, border police clashed with protesters while dismantling a roadblock that had been erected on Route 40, the main road crossing Argentina from north to south.
Human rights campaigners, union leaders and left-wing groups had called on the government of Mauricio Macri, which has denied allegations of a cover-up, to do more to find him.
President Macri's government then offered a reward of almost $30,000 (£23,000) for information on his disappearance.
Meanwhile Mr Maldonado's brother, Sergio, has called for an independent investigation outside police authority.
In September, thousands of Argentines marched in the capital Buenos Aires to protest the activist's disappearance.
The rally was one of many protests in cities across Argentina.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-41674565
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Millions miss bills as finances bite - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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More than four million people face difficulties over domestic or credit bills, says a major study.
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Business
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An estimated 4.1 million people are in financial difficulty owing to missed domestic or credit bills, a major study has found.
These consumers - most likely to be aged between 25 and 34 - have failed to pay bills in three or more of the last six months.
The findings come as part of a survey of 13,000 people by the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
It suggests 25.6 million consumers could be vulnerable to financial harm.
This means that they display at least one of a series of issues, such as lack of internet access or an overdraft, so their finances would be at an increased risk if something went wrong.
The Financial Lives research, the first of its kind by the regulator, revealed a range of concerns among consumers at a time of weak wage growth, but also low-cost credit.
It concluded that 15 million people had low levels of resilience to a bill shock, that eight million were struggling with debt, and 100,000 had used an illegal money lender in the last 12 months.
One in six (17%) of those with a mortgage or who are paying rent, an estimated five million people, said that they would struggle if monthly payments rose by less than £50.
A rise in interest rates, heavily hinted by policymakers at the Bank of England, could affect many of these people - especially if the Bank rate rose rapidly.
Rent, car loans, mortgages, credit cards, pay day loans, unsecured credit, overdrafts - with real wages falling, the amount of debt we are taking on is rising and the pressure we are under is increasing.
For many, a savings cash buffer to deal with shocks and rising prices is non-existent.
When it comes to the build up of debt, this is a classic story of supply and demand.
The digitisation of financial products - making many loans little more than a mobile phone swipe away - has meant that supply has become broader and easier.
Historically low interest rates have also made products cheaper, meaning that taking on debt appears to be low cost, in the short term at least.
In the same week as the BBC News Money Matters series revealed worrying levels of debt among young adults, the FCA report highlights the issue again for 25 to 34-year-olds.
Its findings show that 23% of consumers of this age were "over-indebted", the highest proportion of any age group.
The report also found that this group were most likely to be in difficulty (13%) or just surviving with their finances.
"This [research] exposes the story around the scale of those who are potentially in difficulty in the younger generation," said Christopher Woolard, executive director of strategy and competition at the FCA.
He added that there were "challenges" faced by every age group and that flexibility was required to ensure that these various issues were tackled.
Gareth Shaw, from consumer group Which?, said: "That such a high number of people in middle-age have not properly considered how they will manage in retirement should be cause for concern.
"The current complex pensions system is leading to disengagement, leaving consumers vulnerable through the real lack of information, support and tools needed to empower consumers to make informed decisions about their financial futures.
"Today's figures should spur on the FCA to take action to deliver a consumer-friendly pensions system that everyone can engage with."
The FCA said that the survey would provide a "wealth of information" that would be used when deciding how to protect vulnerable consumers in the future.
A Treasury spokesman said the government had tightened rules "to ensure that money can only be lent to people who can afford to repay".
"We have also cracked down on pay day loans, saving borrowers over £150m a year, and are introducing an energy cap to help people with household bills," he added.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41655915
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Brexit: EU leaders seek Brexit talks progress - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Leaders gather for a crunch summit as the UK faces EU calls to do more to break the deadlock.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Theresa May: I want 'urgency' on citizens' deal
EU leaders have urged Theresa May to do more to break the deadlock in the Brexit negotiations as they gather at a crunch Brussels summit.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte said "a lot more clarity" on the UK's financial offer was needed before talks could progress.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there were "encouraging" signs but that progress so far was "not sufficient" to open trade talks.
However, Mrs Merkel suggested this could happen in December.
Mrs May, who has called for "urgency" in reaching agreement on the issue of citizens' rights, will address EU leaders at the summit later.
At a meeting on Friday, at which the UK will not be present, the 27 leaders are expected to conclude officially that "insufficient progress" has been made on the first topics for discussion to move onto the second phase of trade discussions.
These topics are citizens' rights, the UK's financial obligation and the border in Northern Ireland.
The UK prime minister spoke of her desire for a future partnership with the EU as she arrived in Brussels, but added: "We'll also be looking at the concrete progress that has been made in our exit negotiations and setting out ambitious plans for the weeks ahead.
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"I particularly, for example, want to see an urgency in reaching an agreement on citizens' rights."
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Rutte said he welcomed the PM's recent speech in Florence, where she set out what she has described as a "bold and ambitious agenda".
But he said she needed to make "absolutely clear" what she was offering to do in relationship to the UK's financial obligations towards the EU.
"Maybe it's not possible now to name a number but at least to come up with a methodology, a system, a complete proposal to solve this issue," he said.
"As long as that is not happening I don't see how we can move forward."
Theresa May chatted to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron at the EU summit
The October summit was always the first date in the EU calendar on which a gathering of the 27 heads of government could declare themselves satisfied with the Brexit divorce negotiations and agree to start talking about trade.
It's been clear for weeks that they won't do that - but they will offer the UK some encouragement by starting internal discussions about future trade with the UK - ready for any breakthrough at the next summit in December.
Theresa May isn't expected to make any big new proposal in her after-dinner remarks but to underline the quality of the financial offer made in her speech in Florence - worth around £20bn.
The EU side wants more though - more money as well as further movement on citizens rights and the Irish border.
There are almost as many predictions about what happens next as there are diplomats in Brussels; one has suggested that the prospects of a December breakthrough are no better than fifty-fifty but an official close to the talks said the signal on Brexit from this summit would be fundamentally positive.
Before leaving for Brussels, Mrs May used a Facebook post to offer further assurances to the three million or so nationals of other EU countries living in the UK and uncertain about their future after Brexit.
In the open letter, which was also mailed to 100,000 EU nationals, she said those who already had permanent residence would be able to "swap this" for settled status in as hassle-free a way as possible.
The process of applying for permanent residency, for which EU nationals are eligible after five years, has long been criticised as cumbersome and overly bureaucratic. At one point, it involved filling out an 85-page form.
Theresa May says the future of British and EU nationals has always been her "first priority"
In simplifying it, Mrs May said she was committed to putting "people first" in the negotiations and expected British nationals living on the continent to be treated in the same way.
"I know both sides will consider each other's proposals with an open mind and with flexibility and creativity on both sides, I am confident we can conclude discussions on citizens' rights in the coming weeks," she said.
Nicolas Hatton, of the 3million pressure group formed to fight for the rights of EU nationals in the UK, described the PM's statement as "very positive", but said its timing was "a bit more dubious".
"We should have received that letter maybe 12 months ago so we would not have felt so anxious about our future" he said, adding: "I think the letter was actually addressed to EU leaders."
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Meanwhile a group of pro-Brexit Tory and Labour politicians - including former Chancellor Lord Lawson, former Conservative minister Owen Paterson and Labour MP Kate Hoey - is urging Mrs May to walk away from negotiations this week if the EU does not accommodate the UK's wishes.
In the event of no progress at Thursday's meeting, the letter, organised by the Leave Means Leave campaign, says Mrs May should formally declare the UK is working on the assumption it will be reverting to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules on 30 March 2019.
Mr Paterson told the Today programme the UK should not be "terrified" of leaving the EU without a deal in place, saying this appeared "inevitable at the moment" due to the EU's "complete obsession with money" - the so-called Brexit divorce bill.
But Labour's Brexit spokesman, Sir Keir Starmer, said it would be "irresponsible" to threaten to walk away with the talks only at "phase one".
He added that Labour was not "duty bound" to support any deal the PM secures with Brussels.
Sir Keir and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn are also in Brussels for their own talks with EU officials.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41672097
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Storm Brian: Strong winds set to hit British Isles - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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The Atlantic storm is due to hit parts of the UK and the Republic of Ireland on Saturday morning.
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UK
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An Atlantic storm, which is due to hit parts of the UK and the Republic of Ireland this weekend, has been named Brian, the Irish Met office has said.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for strong winds and potential flooding in parts of southern and western England and Wales on Saturday.
Met Éireann issued an orange warning, of potentially "significant" impact, for parts of the Irish Republic.
It is the second named storm to hit the UK this winter, after Storm Aileen.
The storm - which could bring gusts of wind of up to 70mph (112kmph) - is likely to hit parts of south-west Ireland in the early hours of Saturday morning.
It is then forecast to affect parts of southern England and southern and western Wales later in the morning.
The Met Office's warning is in place from 04:00 BST (03:00 GMT) on Saturday.
It warned some coastal areas in the UK could be affected by large waves, with the potential for flooding.
Some transport disruption was "likely", with delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport all possible, the warning added. Short term loss of power and other services is also possible, it said.
The Met Office's chief forecaster Dan Suri said the worst of the storm was likely to be felt in Ireland.
"At the moment, we don't expect the same level of impacts for the UK," he said.
"Gusts exceeding 50mph are expected widely within the warning area, with gusts of around 70mph along exposed coastal areas. These are expected to coincide with high tides, leading to locally dangerous conditions in coastal parts."
The Met Office said it currently has no plans to issue an amber warning for any part of the UK, but the situation was "under continual review".
Met Éireann said there was a risk of coastal flooding in some areas of the Irish Republic.
Under storm naming guidelines, the Met Office and its partner agency Met Éireann name any storm with an amber - or orange - wind warning.
A storm - the tail end of Hurricane Ophelia which travelled across the Atlantic Ocean from the Azores - caused significant damage to the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and north Wales last week.
The Met Office and Met Éireann do not rename the remnants of storms that have moved across the Atlantic, if they have already been named.
On Monday, three people in Ireland died in the storm. Thousands of people were also left without water and power.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41684485
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Is Narendra Modi losing his mojo? - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Rising discontent about the economy and a lack of jobs have taken the sheen off India's powerful PM.
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India
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India is in the throes of an economic slowdown and a jobs crisis under Mr Modi's leadership
One of the reasons why Narendra Modi swept to victory with a historic mandate in 2014 was his combative and upbeat oratory. Three years on, the Indian prime minister is beginning to sound unusually defensive.
Many say Mr Modi's characteristic bluster and bombast have begun to wane. In recent speeches, he has described his critics as doomsayers, blamed the previous Congress government for India's economic ills, painted himself as an "outsider" and said he was "willing to drink poison" for the good of the country. Has the victor turned victim?
"A small number of people weaken us," Mr Modi told a gathering of company secretaries recently. "We need to recognise such people."
So is Mr Modi beginning to lose his mojo? Three years ago, when he won his landslide, he promised reforms and jobs. But under his leadership - and at a time when the world economy appears to be taking off - India is looking like a sorry outlier, battling an economic slowdown and a jobs crisis.
Banks are struggling with mountains of bad loans, which in turn has choked credit and hurt domestic investment. "India's economy is grounded," says economist Praveen Chakravarty.
Mr Modi's response has been criticised as piecemeal and clumsy. A controversial currency ban last November, politically sold as a crackdown on the illegal economy, ended up halting growth and causing a lot of misery.
The Goods and Services Tax was criticised for the way it was introduced
July's introduction of a much-lauded countrywide Goods and Services Tax (GST) to help India move towards a common market has caused widespread business disruption because of what is seen as shoddy execution.
In cities and towns, traders are upset over the grinding tax bureaucracy engendered by the GST. In villages - nearly half of Indians are engaged in agriculture - farmers are complaining of income insecurity as they believe the government isn't paying them enough for their produce.
Also, for the first time since winning power, Mr Modi's government is under attack.
A senior functionary from Mr Modi's party, the BJP, recently blamed his government for the economic slowdown. "The prime minister claims that he has seen poverty from close quarters," former finance minister Yashwant Sinha wrote. "His finance minister is working overtime to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters."
And Mr Modi is taking flak from the opposition too for a change. His main political rival, Rahul Gandhi, of the once mighty Congress party, appears to be suddenly re-energised and has been taking on Mr Modi more aggressively than ever before.
Added to this, the son of Amit Shah, Mr Modi's closest aide, is accused of corruption. Jay Shah denies the allegations and has threatened to sue non-profit news website The Wire over the story.
Thus far since taking office, Mr Modi has been greatly helped by four unrelated things.
Low oil prices - India imports most of its crude - helped boost growth and tame inflation. Second, a chunk of the domestic mainstream media which depends on government advertising has been largely uncritical of his government. Third, Mr Modi faces no leadership challenge from within his party, which he and Amit Shah dominate. Lastly, and most importantly, a political opposition largely in disarray has failed to offer aspirational Indians an alternative - and persuasive - narrative of hope.
Still, there's "something in the air", as Shekhar Gupta, editor of The Print news site, says.
One indication is that even Mr Modi's fiercely pugnacious supporters are markedly subdued on social media these days. On the other hand, social media is awash with memes making fun of the prime minister.
Mr Modi's politics are also causing discontent. By whipping up what many say is hysteria over the sale and consumption of beef and pandering to Hindu radicals, observers say his party has begun to frighten off many young people and urban folk.
To make matters worse, his party appointed a controversial Hindu religious leader known for anti-Muslim rhetoric to run the political bellwether state of Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP won a decisive mandate in March. About a fifth of Uttar Pradesh's 200 million people are Muslim.
In 2014, Mr Modi secured the overwhelming majority of the young votes. But is support from this quarter waning? BJP-supported student unions have lost elections in three major universities in Delhi and Hyderabad. Last month's unrest in a leading university in Mr Modi's constituency in Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, where police beat female university students protesting against an alleged sexual assault, will not endear him and his party to young voters.
On the economy, Mr Modi clearly seems to have overplayed his hand and questions are being asked over whether he can fulfil expectations. In June, the Economist said Mr Modi was "not the radical reformer he is cracked up to be". The magazine said he had few big ideas of his own - the GST, for example, had been initiated during the previous, Congress, regime.
Critics say despite running India's most powerful government in recent history, he has achieved little in creating functioning markets for land and electricity, and reforming labour laws. On his politics, they say, Mr Modi appears to be hostage to the party's ideological fountainhead, the right-wing Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteers' Organisation), known for what many say are visions of Hindu glory and achievement.
Economists such as Dr Chakravarty believe Mr Modi still has time to revive the economy by exploiting the buoyant stock market, which is flush with money from foreign institutional investors. Money could be raised by divesting stakes in state-run companies and used to recapitalise and clean up the ailing banks, so that they can begin lending again.
Also the rupee could be depreciated to boost exports, the GST simplified further to help small businesses and interest rates lowered to spur growth. Growth will also depend on social stability, but it is not clear whether Mr Modi will be able to rein in the radical hotheads.
However, Mr Modi is a redoubtable fighter. It is too early to say the tide is turning against him decisively. One opinion poll in August indicated he would win handsomely if elections were held. But then again, a month can be a long time in politics. State elections in BJP-ruled Gujarat in December will offer some clues - a recent survey by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) suggested people were "unhappy with GST". Nobody expects the BJP to lose, but the margin of victory will be closely watched.
Among his supporters, Mr Modi enjoys a reputation of being a hardworking and honest prime minister. "What has helped in stopping this wind of dissatisfaction from turning into a strong hurricane are two factors - the absence of a viable alternative, and the personal credibility of Mr Modi," says political scientist Sanjay Kumar.
"The only question that remains is: how long will Mr Modi be able to hold down this wave of resentment with his own image and credibility?" And right now that answer is blowing in the wind.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-41563751
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SA football boss Danny Jordaan 'raped singer Jennifer Ferguson' - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Jennifer Ferguson says the #MeToo campaign convinced her to break her silence after nearly 24 years.
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Africa
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Danny Jordaan is a prominent member of the governing ANC party
South African singer and ex-MP Jennifer Ferguson has accused the country's football boss Danny Jordaan, 66, of raping her nearly 24 years ago.
He "overpowered" her and "painfully" raped her in a hotel in Port Elizabeth city, she has alleged in a blog.
Mr Jordaan, who organised the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Now living in Sweden, Ms Ferguson said she had been moved by the #MeToo campaign on social media to speak out.
She said the attack took place when she was "high and happy" following her unexpected nomination by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) party to serve in South Africa's first democratically elected parliament in 1994.
Mr Jordaan, a prominent member of the ANC and president of the South African Football Association, came to her hotel suite after she had given a performance at a dinner.
"He overpowered me and painfully raped me. It must have been over in about 20 seconds although it felt like a lifetime," she alleged.
"He left immediately without saying a word."
Jennifer Ferguson says she wants rape survivors to "begin to heal"
Ms Ferguson said she had been "bewildered" and in a state of "complete shock".
"Not sure what to do, I washed and left the hotel and began to walk. I reached the beach and sat there a very long time trying to process what had happened," she said.
"The thought of going to the police felt intolerable. What would I say? Should I have screamed louder? Fought him off harder? Had I been complicit in some way? All these questions raged in my mind. I wept."
She accused the football boss of using her as "an object for his sad need for power and twisted gratification".
"I am not speaking out to get revenge on Danny Jordaan or a million South African men like him. I am doing this so we can help each other be courageous, speak out and begin to heal as we find we are not alone," she added.
Ms Ferguson campaigned against military conscription during white-minority rule in South Africa.
State radio banned her songs, including Letters For Dickie, sung in the form of letters from a girl to her boyfriend who was a conscripted soldier on the border.
Mr Jordaan was widely praised for spearheading South Africa's 2010 football World Cup bid. It was the first time that the tournament was played in Africa.
In 2015, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alleged that South Africa had paid a $10m (£6.5m) bribe to host the tournament. Mr Jordaan and the government strongly denied the allegation.
Mr Jordaan was mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, which includes Port Elizabeth, until 2016, when the opposition took control of it in elections.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41678057
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Trump sends family $25,000 after claim of broken promise - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The father of a soldier killed in action said the president did not keep his word to send $25,000.
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US & Canada
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Cpl Dillon Baldridge was killed over the summer by a rogue Afghan commander he had been training
The White House says President Donald Trump has sent a personal cheque to a dead soldier's family after they said he had not kept his promise to do so.
The father of a soldier killed in Afghanistan said Mr Trump offered $25,000 (£19,000) of his own money during a June phone call.
The White House said it was "disgusting" that the media would exploit the issue.
The dispute came as Mr Trump denied being insensitive to a war widow.
On Wednesday, the president rejected a claim that he had told the wife of a soldier killed in Niger this month her husband knew what he signed up for.
Later that day, the Washington Post reported on a phone call that bereaved father Chris Baldridge said he had received from the president.
His 22-year-old son Cpl Dillon Baldridge was killed over the summer by a rogue Afghan commander he had been training.
Mr Baldridge said that during the call he vented frustration to Mr Trump about a US military survivor benefits programme.
To his surprise, he said, the president offered to send a personal cheque and set up an online fundraiser.
But the family told the Post they are still waiting for the money.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson: "How insensitive can you be?"
"I was just floored," said Mr Baldridge, of Zebulon, North Carolina.
"I wish I had it recorded because the man did say this.
"He said, 'No other president has ever done something like this,' but he said, 'I'm going to do it.'"
White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told US media hours later: "The cheque has been sent.
"It's disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognised as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the media's biased agenda."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Gold Star Mother Christina Ayube: "We don't need to be reminded of that on the way to receiving the body"
Jessie Baldridge, stepmother of the slain soldier, told local media the family feels no resentment towards Mr Trump over the delay.
"We just thought he was saying something nice," she told WTVD, a local TV station, in North Carolina.
"We got a condolence letter from him and there was no cheque, and we kind of joked about it."
A White House official said the payment "has been in the pipeline since the President's initial call with the father".
"There is a substantial process that can involve multiple agencies anytime the President interacts with the public, especially when transmitting personal funds", the official said.
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"The President has personally followed up several times to ensure that the cheque was being sent. As stated earlier, the cheque has been sent."
Mr Trump is not the first president to be accused of breaking his word to a grieving family.
In 2016, President Barack Obama was prodded into sending a donation by cheque to a foundation set up by the family of slain US hostage Kayla Mueller.
The White House acted after an ABC News report that the private presidential promise was unkept.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41683708
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Norfolk Police could axe all PCSOs - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Norfolk Police said the "radical plans" were an attempt to improve efforts to tackle violent crime.
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Norfolk
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Some PCSOs will take on new roles within the force
A police force could be the first to axe all of its community support officers amid falling budgets and an "unparalleled growth in complex crime".
Norfolk Constabulary will scrap 150 PCSOs if its proposals are approved.
Chief Constable Simon Bailey said "an average police constable" costs only slightly more to employ and would be more useful in "high risk, high harm" cases.
Unison official Caren Reeves said it was "a life-altering day" for Norfolk.
The news comes as the Office for National Statistics said the numbers of crimes recorded annually in England and Wales had risen by 13%.
With the £1.6m saved by ditching PCSOs, the chief constable is proposing to appoint an extra 81 officers and 16 staff members.
Seven front counter services and seven police stations would also be shut under the plans.
Mr Bailey said the "radical" measures came at a time when the police service was facing "unparalleled growth in complex crime" alongside "reduced policing budgets".
He said the force had seen a large increase over the past three years of serious crimes such as "rape, sexual offences, adult and child abuse, indecent images, drugs and serious violence as well as cyber crime".
He said they were "high risk, high harm" cases and needed "a workforce that is able to deal with that".
Mr Bailey added: "When you compare the cost of a PCSO, and the average cost of a PC, there's only a difference of £1,800.
"Police officers are fully flexible, fully warranted powers, and I'm able to do a lot more with them than I am with my PCSOs, so it's a tough decision."
PCSOs were first introduced in England and Wales in 2002 to tackle the fear of crime and provide back-up to forces.
They do not have powers of arrest, cannot interview prisoners or carry out the high-risk tasks of police officers.
They can give someone a fixed-penalty notice, for instance for littering, demand the name and address of someone accused of being anti-social, and take alcohol off a person aged under 18.
They can also provide support at special events, direct traffic and make house-to-house inquiries.
Some critics of the role have previously described them as "plastic policemen" because they do not have as many powers as PCs.
The number of PCSOs in England and Wales has been in decline since 2010, when there were 16,918.
By March 2017 there were 10,213.
Norfolk has seen one of the biggest declines in PCSOs, a fall of 46%, from 275 in 2010, to 149 as of March 2017, but it is Essex that has seen the biggest drop, down 78% from 445 to 96.
London's two forces, the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police, saw a combined fall of 69%.
The Home Office figures are "full-time equivalent" and will count two or more part time PCSOs as one full time officer.
This comes alongside a decline in the number of police officers from 144,273 in 2009 to 123,507 in 2017.
Ms Reeves, branch secretary of Norfolk Police Union, said: "I believe these losses are a direct result of the ongoing unreasonable and insurmountable government cuts to police budgets.
"Not only is this a life-altering day for my members, my colleagues and their families, but also for the good people of Norfolk and the visitors to our safe and beautiful county."
Chairman of the Police Federation, Andy Symonds, said he feared the PCSO workload would transfer to officers left behind and there would also be an impact from the length of time it took to train a police officer.
There will now be a 45-day formal staff consultation on the proposals.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-41678177
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Chief Constable Hamilton investigated by ombudsman - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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The chief constable and two senior officers deny allegations of misconduct in public office and criminality.
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Northern Ireland
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Three of Northern Ireland's most senior police officers are under investigation for alleged misconduct in public office and criminality that could amount to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Chief Constable George Hamilton and his deputy Drew Harris are being investigated by the Police Ombudsman.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton is also under investigation.
In a statement, the PSNI said they "completely refute the allegations".
Mr Hamilton said he was "absolutely confident" there would be no findings of misconduct against him or the other officers.
The inquiry focuses on concerns about how the Police Service of Northern Ireland conducted an investigation into allegations of bribery and fraud in 2014.
It includes allegations that entries in police notebooks and journals were changed.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton said he was confident no misconduct would be found
In a statement to the BBC, the ombudsman's office confirmed "a number of allegations" had been made against a range of officers.
BBC News NI has established that those under investigation include:
The nature of the complaints and the seniority of those under scrutiny make this investigation unprecedented.
In terms of current policing issues, it's considered to be the most serious investigation the Ombudsman's office has undertaken.
The investigation was launched after the Police Ombudsman, Dr Michael Maguire, received complaints from seven people questioned as part of an investigation into allegations of bribery and misconduct in public office in the awarding of PSNI vehicle contracts.
They included retired PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland, and the former Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, Mark Gilmore.
George Hamilton was appointed PSNI Chief Constable in May 2014 - he was previously Assistant Chief Constable
They were questioned in June 2014. Eighteen months later, the public prosecution service informed them that none would face any charges.
The Police Ombudsman has established a dedicated team of six investigators to examine the allegations about the PSNI investigation.
"They include allegations of criminality and misconduct in how this investigation was undertaken," added the Ombudsman's statement.
It's understood the alleged criminality being investigated includes claims that entries in police notebooks and journals were changed.
There are also claims that the PSNI didn't follow proper procedures to obtain warrants.
A solicitor for those who lodged complaints said he believed there were a number of serious flaws in the way the PSNI conducted the investigation against his clients.
"It is our contention that there is evidence of serious criminal activity on the part of members of the PSNI," said Ernie Waterworth.
"It's an extremely serious allegation and I have to say my clients thought long and hard before going down this road."
Mr Hamilton told the media that he was confident the Police Ombudsman would "vindicate" him and the other officers.
"I've got confidence in the Police Ombudsman, let them do the job, let them vindicate us rather than me saying this because actually that's the way it's supposed to work," he added.
The PSNI normally does not comment in detail on live investigations by the ombudsman, but on this occasion has robustly rejected the allegations.
"The Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable and other officers completely refute the allegations made against them and are strongly of the view that these complex investigations into the complainants were conducted with professionalism and integrity," said its statement.
It said the PSNI "acknowledges and supports the need for office of the Police Ombudsman to investigate these allegations and all officers are co-operating fully with the investigation".
Explaining its unusual decision to give a more detailed response, the statement said media coverage of the investigation "has the potential to negatively impact on public confidence in policing".
Sources have told BBC News NI that the PSNI consulted a number of external criminal justice agencies throughout the 2014 investigation, which it was fully satisfied was conducted properly.
The ombudsman has declared the investigation a "critical incident".
That means it's considered a matter that "could have a significant impact on the person making the complaint, on the police or on the wider community".
The PSNI said it had "full confidence" in the ombudsman to complete a thorough investigation, adding that he should be allowed to do so "without ongoing public commentary".
The investigation is expected to take more than a year to complete.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-41666235
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Whiff of foreboding about Brexit talks - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Whatever the spin and expectations management, the process is significantly behind schedule and Thursday's summit is unlikely to change that reality.
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UK Politics
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Let me be the first to make the bad joke, to use the predictable metaphor.
There will be a sour mood over the EU summit in the next couple of days, and that's not just because of the problem with the drains that sent toxic fumes into the atmosphere at the summit building forcing the talks back to the old premises next door. (Sorry)
It will also be the sense of frustration in the air, maybe even of exasperation, and likely too a whiff of foreboding about the whole situation.
On both sides there will be spin. On both sides there is already expectation management.
Here are a few things, however, that are currently true and will probably still be true by Friday lunchtime, with the slim but real chance of course that it could all get turned upside down.
First, the UK-EU talks are significantly behind. The UK hoped that by autumn we'd be able to move onto trade talks properly. That's not going to happen, underlining the change since those heady days when Brexiteers promised it could be straightforward.
Second, there is not likely to be any answer to the main bind on Friday. The UK does not want to put any more cash on the table, beyond the 20bn euros implied by Mrs May's Florence speech.
The strongest voices in the EU, although not every country agrees, think the UK ought to have to wait for the next phase of talks unless it is willing to offer hypothetical extra cash.
Whatever else is said or briefed privately, this is the fundamental issue. And until the PM feels she is in a political situation where it's possible and desirable to budge it's hard to see how they will move on as certainly, there is no appetite on the EU side for a shift.
Third, something will have gone very badly wrong, however, if there is not a nudge towards moving on.
Sources say foreign ministers agreed the draft version of the conclusions of the summit yesterday that are not likely to change much.
They don't exactly give a green light to the next phase, but they do at least give a bit of a push in that direction - although not quite as clearly as the UK had hoped.
Fourth, the EU is still concerned that the UK government is yet to present a clear picture of what it really wants the long-term relationship to be. And it's still the case, sources tell me, that the full cabinet is yet to have a proper discussion that tries to find that answer.
Sounds extraordinary but given how divided the party is, arguably the lack of discussion is what keeps things even vaguely calm. With guns drawn in the Tory party there is no temptation for Theresa May to fire a shot.
And there's nothing in the next couple of days, or even the next couple of months, that's likely to change that or to answer that much more fundamental question.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41674721
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Pussycat Dolls deny prostitution claims - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The pop band respond to former member Kaya Jones, who claims the group was a "prostitution ring".
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Entertainment & Arts
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The Pussycat Dolls have recently reformed, after a break of seven years
The Pussycat Dolls have issued a joint statement denying allegations that the pop group was a "prostitution ring".
Kaya Jones, who left the band before they became famous, claimed that she and other members were regularly subjected to sexual abuse.
"We are all abused," she said on Twitter, claiming the group were made to "sleep with whoever they say".
The band, led by Nicole Scherzinger, said they "were not aware of Kaya's experiences" and offered her support.
However, they firmly denied that the remaining members had been abused.
"We cannot stand behind false allegations towards other group members partaking in activities that simply did not take place," they said.
Kaya Jones says she walked away from the band to escape abuse
"To liken our professional roles in The Pussycat Dolls to a prostitution ring not only undermines everything we worked hard to achieve for all those years but also takes the spotlight off the millions of victims who are speaking up and being heard loud and clear around the world," the statement continued.
"We stand in solidarity with all women who have bravely spoken publicly of their horrific experiences of abuse, harassment and exploitation."
Jones's original accusations came in a string of Tweets last Friday:
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In their statement, The Pussycat Dolls said: "While we were not aware of Kaya's experiences that allegedly took place during her short time working with us, before the group signed a recording contract, we can firmly testify that we were not privy to any misconduct taking place around us.
"If Kaya experienced something we are unaware of then we fully encourage her to get the help she needs and are here to support her."
The Pussycat Dolls were founded by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a burlesque dance troupe. Their shows attracted a huge following in Hollywood, with stars like Britney Spears, Pink and Brittany Murphy joining them on stage.
In 2003, Antin decided to reinvent the troupe as a pop group, and held open auditions to find new singers and dancers.
Kaya Jones joined the band at this point, but had left by the time they released their debut single, Don't Cha, in 2005 and does not appear on any of their recorded output.
The Pussycat Dolls in 2008 (L-R): Melody Thornton, Kimberley Wyatt, Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts and Jessica Sutta
Speaking to The Blast on Monday, Antin called Jones's accusations "disgusting, ridiculous lies" and claimed the singer was "clearly looking for her 15 minutes".
Jones responded by warning the media not to "discredit the victim" by reporting Antin's denials, describing her as a "predator".
"You don't have to believe me," she added. "I lived it.
"It's now about helping other people in the world scared to stand up to their abusers."
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-41678697
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'How I got my children back' - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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When Archie was taken into care, the Family Drug and Alcohol Court sought to reunite him with his father.
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UK
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John was devastated when his son Archie was taken into care
When John's son was placed into care at birth he was distraught - his drug abuse had been the cause. But with the help of a family court focused on reuniting children with their parents, his life began to change.
"Not only was I using heroin, I was using crack, I was using prescription drugs, I was using alcohol - and I was homeless."
John, who is 49, is candid when it comes to talking about his past addictions.
He started experimenting around the age of 14, and continued the habit during the birth of his two children - both with women who were also addicts.
It meant he didn't see his first child Daniella for long periods of time - at one stage as much as two years.
He says he and the mother "really tried to do normal life, but it didn't really work.
"It was a combination of the drugs and the lifestyle that went with that. Trying to be a parent, hold down a job - it wasn't doable," he explains.
Archie was taken into foster care from birth
When Daniella was 10, John found himself preparing for the birth of another child - his son, Archie, with another addict who had already had several children put into care.
He began looking for a place to live - having been homeless at the time - but failed to tackle the underlying drug problem.
After Archie was born, he was monitored in hospital to see if he had grown dependent on the heroin substitute his mother had taken during pregnancy. Then, he was immediately placed into foster care.
As John recalls this devastating period, he asks for a moment to compose himself, leaving his chair as he wipes away the tears.
Once he's ready to continue, he says it was seeing his son enter the care system that made him realise how out of hand his own life had become.
"That's when I knew this is serious, really serious."
John was assigned to a type of family court specifically designed to help parents keep their children, known as the Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC).
Its aim is to place parents at the centre of the process - speaking to them directly rather than through lawyers, and having regular two-week sessions with the same judge.
Social workers and psychiatrists, as well as experts in substance misuse, domestic violence, finance and housing, are also available.
Watch Catrin Nye's full film about the Family Drug and Alcohol Court on the Victoria Derbyshire website.
It was founded in 2008 by Judge Nicholas Crichton after years of seeing families being broken up by court rulings.
"I often think it must be terrifying for a parent to have to come to [a traditional] court knowing at the end of the proceedings they may well lose their children," he says.
FDAC's task can, however, be substantial.
"I have seen mothers who have been heroin addicted from the age of 10, children who sleep on urine-sodden beds, where no-one has bothered to bath them or feed them properly," Judge Crichton explains, running through some of the cases he has seen.
Dr Mike Shaw says the effect FDAC can have by reuniting families justifies the cost of the service
For John, this approach made "total sense" - helping him to tackle "the problem that was right at the front".
FDAC helped him to arrange detox classes to combat his addiction, followed by a day programme.
The court is now receiving a further £6.2m of government money over seven years, through a complex financing structure - something called a "social impact bond" or "pay-for-success financing".
Private investors will pay the upfront costs and if the process works they make a profit - being paid back by the local authority and the government.
If it fails, they will not receive that money.
Dr Mike Shaw, a child psychiatrist and co-director of FDAC National Unit, concedes that it makes the process more complex, but says it will ensure the service strives for the best outcome.
But its work does come at an inflated price.
Each intervention costs around £13,000 a year, he suggests, compared to £5,000 for standard care proceedings.
He says, however, that the overall cost of care proceedings might in some cases be as much as £100,000.
Minister for Sport and Civil Society, Tracey Crouch, says the additional FDAC funding will "benefit some of the most vulnerable people in society" and "achieve real results in communities across the country".
At one stage, John went as long as two years without seeing his daughter Daniella
John's intervention lasted around 16 months - at which point he estimates he had been clean for a year.
His son Archie, now aged eight, lives with him permanently, and he says he's rebuilding his relationship with Daniella - who's now 18.
A 2016 study by the University of Lancaster, commissioned by the Department for Education, suggested that others have successful outcomes from FDAC too.
It found 37% of families were reunited or continued to live together at the end of proceedings - compared to 25% of those who go through ordinary family courts.
However, the sample group was relatively small - 240 families in all.
John says he is now "trying to make up for lost time" with Daniella, who smiles as he says it.
He is grateful for the opportunity.
"I've got two children, I work, I pay my bills, I do lots of fun stuff," he says.
"The way I live my life today is totally different from who I was nearly eight years ago."
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/uk-41633731
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Bodyform advert replaces blue liquid with red 'blood' - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Bodyform has ditched the blue liquid, saying it wants to confront the taboos about periods.
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BBC News Services
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Bodyform has become the first brand in the UK to feature sanitary pads stained with red liquid, rather than blue, in its adverts.
Parent company Essity said it wanted to confront taboos surrounding periods.
The firm says research found 74% of people wanted to see more honest representation in adverts.
Bodyform's video campaign, #bloodnormal, shows a woman in the shower with blood running down her thigh and a man buying sanitary towels.
It follows a 2016 advert where sportswomen were shown muddy and bloodied while doing activities like bike riding, boxing and running.
With the slogan "no blood should hold us back", it featured a sanitary towel on a TV advert for the first time.
The new advert features a woman in the shower
Sanitary brands and adverts have traditionally opted to use blue liquid in order to represent how much moisture their pads can hold.
The new campaign has been mostly well received.
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Essity, the company which makes Bodyform, said it wanted to "challenge the stigma around periods".
Tanja Grubna said: "We believe that like any other taboo, the more people see it, the more normal the subject becomes."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41666280
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Brexit: How are the talks really progressing? - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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After five rounds of talks, the two sides are making competing claims about progress. How much has really been made?
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UK Politics
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So it's come down to money. Who would have thought it?
After five rounds of negotiations on Brexit, the EU remains insistent: there will be no discussions with the UK on a transition period, or on future relations, until financial commitments have been clarified.
So what exactly is it about the money that is proving so difficult to resolve?
It comes down to the detail (or lack of it) contained in Theresa May's carefully crafted speech in Florence.
Overall, the speech was greeted across the EU with a considerable sense of relief. It suggested that progress was at least possible at a time when some countries were beginning to fear the worst.
The prime minister opened the door for the UK to contribute roughly €20bn (£17.9bn) to the EU budget in 2019 and 2020, so that no-one else would be out of pocket.
And - crucially - she went on to say that "the UK will honour commitments we have made during the period of our membership".
But EU negotiators - under clear instructions from the member states - want to know exactly what that means in practice.
The prime minister said the UK would "honour commitments"
Looming large in the background is something called the Reste à Liquider (RAL) - EU money that has already been committed to projects in the long-term budget but has not yet been spent.
The RAL is currently running at an eye-watering €239bn, which could mean a UK share of more than €30bn.
Much of it is due to be spent on big infrastructure or development projects that have been delayed. There are also pensions and contingent liabilities, such as loans to other countries, to consider.
The EU isn't asking for a figure to be agreed - but for a guarantee within the negotiating process, probably in writing, that "honouring commitments" means "all commitments."
The UK position, on the other hand, is that the prime minister made a substantial gesture in her Florence speech, and it is in no position to move further unless it gets something in return.
"They are using time pressure to get more money out of us," the Brexit Secretary David Davis told the House of Commons this week. "Bluntly, that is what's going on."
It sounds like deadlock, but that's not necessarily the case. Three more rounds of negotiation have been suggested between this week's summit and another one in December.
The hope is that a way will be found to move forward, even if it takes a moment of crisis to get there.
"The EU27 don't believe the UK is too far off 'sufficient progress'," says Mujtaba Rahman, the managing director for Europe at the political consultancy Eurasia Group.
"They want Mrs May to be able to leave Brussels with a win that will enable her to strike a deal by December."
That's why both sides have said they want to accelerate the negotiating process, and prepare for discussions about the future.
If the language of the current draft of the summit's conclusions doesn't change much, the EU27 will agree to begin internal discussions about a transition period and the nature of a future relationship.
They won't talk directly to the UK about these issues until December at the earliest. And only then if "sufficient progress" has been made on all the "divorce" arrangements, including money.
It doesn't sound like much. But it's a start, and it is seen in Brussels as a carrot for the UK negotiating team.
So what might the EU be likely to decide in internal discussions over the coming weeks?
For EU officials involved in the negotiating process one thing about transition is clear: the more you keep things the same, the easier it will be to agree.
That's why the internal deliberations among the 27 on transition could be concluded very quickly. They will probably offer to prolong all existing EU rules and regulations (the body of law known as 'the acquis') - or, to put it another way - to extend the status quo.
That means that after Brexit - for "about two years" (ie for the length of a transition period) - the UK would be outside the EU's political institutions, but inside its economic arrangements.
It also means the UK would have to accept EU budget payments, EU regulations and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
To put it in the formal language of the European Council's Article 50 negotiating guidelines: "Should a time-limited prolongation of Union acquis be considered, this would require existing Union regulatory, budgetary, supervisory, judiciary and enforcement instruments and structures to apply."
The details of what that means are difficult for some Brexit supporters in the UK to stomach. But the prime minister, in her Florence speech, has already accepted that the framework for any transition (she prefers to call it an implementation period) would be "the existing structure of EU rules and regulations".
Problems would arise, however, if the UK tried to argue for exemptions or exceptions. Take, for example, one idea that has been floated (forgive the pun): leaving the Common Fisheries Policy at the same time as the UK leaves the EU in March 2019.
That doesn't really tally with the kind of transition that EU officials have in mind. Once you start unpicking the offer, all sorts of complications begin to arise. So it's not quite take it or leave it. But it's not far off.
Unpicking the agreement, such as leaving the Common Fisheries Policy, could lead to further complications
There are other potential problems with a transition period that will need to be resolved. What, for example, does it mean for trade agreements with third countries, when it makes a difference whether products (or parts of products) are manufactured in the single market or not?
But agreeing upon the terms of a transition will be much easier for the EU27 than agreeing on the outline of a final deal - on everything from trade to security. The 27 member states are a little more nervous about those discussions because differences of opinion are bound to emerge between them.
Many countries have obviously been thinking hard about this already. One internal German government paper has been reported here.
But there is another issue that overshadows debate about Brexit in capitals across the EU - what exactly is it that the UK wants? Every change of emphasis in London adds to the confusion.
As Finland's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Samuli Virtanen, put it this week: "It seems that at the moment the EU 27 is more unanimous than the UK 1. And that is one of the main problems here."
But it all rests on finding a compromise on money. And that really has to happen before the end of this year. Otherwise time is going to start running out.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41657248
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The winemaker who battles temperatures as low as -25C - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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How Canadian winemaker Norman Hardie is able to make award-winning wines, despite winter temperatures so cold it can kill his vines.
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Business
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How the wines of Canadian winemaker Norman Hardie are winning fans around the world.
With winter temperatures regularly dipping below -25C at his vineyard, winemaker Norman Hardie definitely didn't choose an easy place to grow his grapes.
"Minus 25 is the absolute death knell for vitis vinifera [the common grape vine], we actually have to bury our vines in the winter [to protect them]. It's a huge job," says the 51-year-old.
"And then we can get snap spring frosts that can quickly ruin a crop. We lost more than 80% in 2015."
While most of us associate winemaking with warm countries, Mr Hardie has since 2004 been making wine in… Canada.
Norman Hardie Winery is currently continuing with its 2017 harvest
Based in picturesque Prince Edward County, Ontario, a two-hour drive east of Toronto alongside Lake Ontario, the summers are more often glorious.
The winters, on the other hand, are harsh, which means that the team at Norman Hardie Winery face a race against the cold weather every November.
"I have 80,000 plants today, so that is almost a quarter of a million canes [the vine's branches] that we have to tie down by hand, and then cover with a mound of earth," says Norman.
"Before we then carefully open up and untie in the spring."
If that wasn't labour intensive enough, come April and May Norman and his team have to light fires and position wind turbines to try to drive away late frosts. But sometimes, such as in 2015, they just aren't that successful.
Norman Hardie says that Canada's cool weather helps him to make excellent wine
Up against such challenges, you might question why Norman ever chose to plant vineyards and build a winery in Ontario. He says that despite the challenges, the combination of cool weather and the clay and limestone soil of Prince Edward County allow him to make world class wines.
"The great wines are always made on the edge, and we're certainly on the edge," says South African-born Norman, who prior to going into winemaking had been a sommelier (wine waiter) in Toronto.
"I'd rather be here than anywhere else in the world because the flavours we get out of these soils are unique."
While many wine regions around the world have cold winters, they aren't as cold as Canada's
Primarily making white wines from chardonnay and red wines from pinot noir, Norman Hardie's wines now have a cult following in Canada, and are even said to be the favourite tipples of Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau.
But from day one, Norman - who studied winemaking in Burgundy, Oregon, California, South Africa, and New Zealand prior to establishing his own winery - wanted his wines to be sold internationally.
This brought his next big challenge - how to persuade a sceptical world to take Canadian wine seriously, when even Norman admits that 30 years ago the country made "terrible wine".
Norman's solution was to turn himself into a travelling salesman, and build up his wine's global reputation "one top sommelier one top buyer, and one top wine journalist, at a time… flying around the world, pounding the pavement, speaking to people, changing people's ideas about Canada".
So attending wine fairs, visiting wine importers, and knocking on the doors of Michelin-star restaurants, he started to slowly build up export orders.
This is the first feature of a new 20-week series called Connected Commerce, which highlights companies around the world that are successfully exporting, and trading beyond their home market.
Focusing particularly on the UK and New York, Norman says his personal, face-to-face approach enabled him to let some of the most influential people in the global wine world "understand what we're doing, why we're doing it, and how we are doing it".
He adds: "You can only do that with face time, and once you have them they are your evangelists."
From selling 6,000 bottles in 2004, Norman Hardy Winery produced 240,000 in 2016. From that 6,804 bottles were exported across eight countries - China, Denmark, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK, and the US.
And he still is regularly overseas promoting his wines, including spending five to six days every year in the UK.
Back at the winery, there are now six year-round employees, rising to 50 in the busy summer months and at harvest time in late September and October. The business now has annual revenues of 4.1m Canadian dollars ($3.3m; £2.5m).
John Downes, a London-based wine expert, who has the top master of wine qualification, says that Norman was right to recognise the fact that as Canada is such a little known wine region he had to do a lot of marketing work to "stand out" on the global stage.
Prince Edward County is now home to 40 wineries
Mr Downes adds: "A lot of people in wine don't tell stories, they say 'here's my wine what do you think about it?'.
"But they don't tell the story behind the wine, and that gives the picture of the wine to the consumer. Norman does that very well."
While exporting wine is not without its challenges, such as the need to produce different labels for each country, Norman says that building up a vibrant export business has also boosted his sales in Canada.
Now preparing to bury the vines for another winter, Norman says: "That credibility, that international credibility, says you're doing something right."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41167977
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'Death Island': Britain's 'concentration camp' in Russia - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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British soldiers opened the first concentration camp in Russia in 1918, during World War One. To locals it was known as "Death Island".
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Magazine
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Marina Titova lays a carnation in memory of her great-great-uncle who died on Mudyug
When British soldiers were sent to Russia after the Russian Revolution their main enemies were the Germans - their opponents in World War One - but they also found themselves fighting and imprisoning Bolsheviks. In the process they opened what Russians regard as the first concentration camp in their country.
The boat sails down the River Dvina past onion-domed churches, lumber yards and logs floating in the water. Finally it reaches the open sea and an hour later a brown smudge appears on the horizon.
Getting closer, I can make out a lighthouse and a few radio towers. As my companions and I jump off the boat and walk along a deserted beach a pack of dogs surrounds us, barking furiously. They are not used to visitors. The only people who live on this remote spot today are border guards and a couple of meteorologists.
Back in the Soviet era, boatloads of day trippers came to the island of Mudyug to visit a museum. It was located among the remains of a prison camp - one very different from the scores of old Gulag outposts scattered across the Russian north and Siberia. For one thing, it was set up as far back as 1918. Even more remarkably, the people in charge were were British and French.
My colleague Natalia Golysheva, who grew up in the regional capital, Arkhangelsk - Archangel as it used to be known in English - says the place had a fearsome reputation. Locals called it Death Island.
"When I was little, people said if you don't behave, the Whites will come and take you to Mudyug," she says. "I didn't understand but when I tried to ask questions - 'What is Mudyug? Who are the Whites?' - my grandmother just said shush and turned her face away, meaning the conversation was over."
The Whites were the anti-Bolshevik forces that emerged after the October Revolution in 1917. They got the name from the cream-coloured uniforms worn by higher ranks in the Tsarist army. Some were reactionary military officers who wanted to bring back the monarchy, others were moderate socialists, reformers, tradesmen, fishermen or peasants.
When the Bolsheviks seized power in the autumn of 1917, Russia was still fighting in World War One, allied with Britain, France and the US against the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary and their Ottoman allies.
However, Lenin had come to power promising supporters not only bread to eat and a share of the aristocrats' land, but also peace. When he signed a peace treaty with Germany, Western governments acted rapidly to re-open this eastern front.
British and French troops lining up in Arkhangelsk in 1919
Within months, tens of thousands of soldiers from Britain, the United States, France, Canada, Australia and other countries were ordered to Russia in what became known as the Allied Intervention. Some went to the south and far east of Russia and 14,000 troops under British command were sent to Arkhangelsk, near the Arctic Circle. The men were told their mission was to protect military stores and stop Germany from establishing a submarine base.
But the foreign troops also took the side of the Whites in Russia's nascent Civil War. Some European politicians, such as Winston Churchill, worried about Communism spreading across Europe.
Soon after the Allies docked in Arkhangelsk on 2 August 1918, they began locking people up. "They didn't know who to trust or the difference between the Reds and Whites - so they decided to incarcerate anyone who seemed suspect," says Liudmila Novikova, a Moscow-based historian who has become an expert on the post-revolutionary period in the Russian north.
Since the main prison in the town was overcrowded, potential troublemakers were shipped to the island of Mudyug, 70km (45 miles) away. The first batch of inmates had to build their own prison camp in this desolate, windswept place.
Bolshevik prisoners in the prison camp on Mudyug island
We walk along the beach past a rickety watchtower before taking a path through a pine forest. It leads to some wooden barracks with rusty barbed wire on the windows.
The door opens with a creak and we are inside a long dormitory with hundreds of beds, divided by panels of wood. Each seems as narrow as a coffin.
Marina Titova, a young museum guide from Arkhangelsk who has joined us on the trip, sits on one of the beds, lost in thought.
Her great-great-uncle Fyodor Oparin, a roofer, had been at the front fighting the Germans in World War One. He was only briefly reunited with his wife and small daughter before he was arrested and sent to Mudyug, accused of recruiting the men in his village into the Red Army.
With few washing facilities and no change of clothes, inmates soon became infested with lice. Typhus spread like wildfire. Overall, about 1,000 people were imprisoned here and up to 300 died - either as a result of disease, or because they were shot or tortured to death.
When we visit it is a muggy summer afternoon and the air is thick with midges. I dread to think what it would be like here during an Arctic winter when temperatures can reach -30C (-22F). Signs from the now abandoned museum point out the "ice cells", left open to the elements, where rebellious prisoners were punished and either perished or lost limbs to frostbite.
Pavel Rasskazov, a radical journalist, spent several months on Mudyug. In his Prison Memoirs, which became a well-known and much-studied text in the Soviet era, he documented the appalling conditions and the lack of food.
He describes how, when dried bread was distributed in the morning, "starving, angry men with greedy eyes crawled all over the filthy, damp floor, full of spit, picking up each and every crumb".
Rasskazov managed to survive this place, unlike Marina's relative, Fyodor Oparin. According to one account, he tried to escape but was too weak to move fast and was shot as he ran. In another version of events, he was caught and executed the following day, along with 13 other prisoners.
Under some fir trees Marina has found a commemorative plaque to the men killed trying to escape. As she places two red carnations on the crumbling stone, a cloud of mist swirls through the trees and a soft rain falls.
"Perhaps it was just a coincidence," she says later. "But it seemed like a greeting from the past, and maybe those prisoners who suffered here, who tried to survive, could see that they were being remembered."
In Soviet times these men were remembered more often. On a small hill by the camp, there is a 25m-high obelisk adorned with a red star and hammer and sickle. Some chunks of granite have fallen off but you can still read the inscription which says it was built "in honour of patriots tortured to death by the Interventionists".
"This monument could be seen by all the ships sailing past," says historian Liudmila Novikova. "Foreign sailors who came to Arkhangelsk were often taken to Mudyug to remind them of all the atrocities their fellow countrymen and governments committed here."
Schoolchildren and factory workers also came on visits.
Near the monument, we find a run-down hall with dusty glass cases, peeling red posters on the walls and photographs of the "martyrs who gave their lives for the Revolution" or died here on the island, which is described in the inscriptions as a concentration camp.
There are pictures of Gen Edmund Ironside, the British commander of all the Allied troops in the region. Novikova says he would have known what was happening on the island even if he never visited.
This is confirmed by an entry in the leather-bound notebooks he kept in Russia, now in the possession of his 93-year-old son.
"Scurvy seems to be beginning among the Russian prisoners on Mudyug Island… and as it is a difficult place to get to, rations have been pinched," the general writes.
If the British established the camp and some of those in charge were French, many guards seem to have been local men. "We cannot have a scandalous camp," he writes. "I am responsible that the Russians treat their people well. I am always after them over the state of the prison."
But Novikova says improving conditions on Mudyug was hardly a priority for Ironside. "For him it was just a necessary security measure, and after all people were fighting and dying every day on all the fronts. So if prisoners in the rear were dying from bad conditions, that was just a drop in the ocean of suffering here."
The treatment of prisoners on Mudyug horrified one man who would later play a devastating role in northern Russia. A prominent Bolshevik close to Lenin, Mikhail Kedrov, was sent to Arkhangelsk after the October revolution and later became became a fanatical regional head of the Cheka - the secret police.
Alexander Orlov, a fellow Chekist who later defected to Canada, recalls Kedrov as a tall handsome man with ragged black hair. He writes that his eyes were often "gleaming like burning coal… possibly these were the sparks of madness".
Soviet citizens were encouraged to visit the Mudyug prison camp
While the Red Terror was not mentioned in the USSR for decades, the crimes of the White forces were endlessly listed in official propaganda. Atrocities were committed on both sides, says historian Liudmila Novikova, but the scale was different.
"The Whites and Allies who supported them were mainly pragmatic. They wanted to kill those who undermined their effort, troops who rebelled or members of the Bolshevik underground - they didn't care about eliminating their enemies totally. It was quite different on Red side because they were waging a war against the old regime - the bourgeoisie, Tsarist officers and whole classes were perceived as enemies who had to be liquidated," she says.
Lucy Ash tells the story of the forgotten war fought by Western troops in Arctic Russia in The Red and the White, on the BBC World Service
Click here for transmission times, or to listen online
Mikhail Kedrov set up a number of death camps in the North, including the first one of its kind, in Kholmogory, an hour's drive from Arkhangelsk.
Somewhere between 3,000 and 8,000 people were imprisoned and killed at a 17th Century convent. Many were White Army officers and sailors from the Kronstadt naval fortress near Finland who had rebelled against the Bolsheviks. But others had nothing to do with the military. Some were clergy, some were ordinary people who for some reason had been labelled "counter-revolutionaries".
At Kholmogory, where much of the convent is now held up by scaffolding and wrapped in corrugated iron, I met Elena, a parishioner who sings in the convent choir. She says people in the area sometimes find skulls when they dig pits to store potatoes over the winter.
Elena says the priest and volunteers collected some human remains in sacks and buried them under a marble cross on one side of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration. Each year they sing a requiem for those who died.
It's hard to pinpoint but there is an oppressive atmosphere which clings to this place, like the cold to the refectory walls when Elena invites us inside for a cup of tea.
Locals use the path through the garden as a shortcut across the town but Elena says few know - or care - about Kholmogory's terrible history.
Does she believe the Allied Intervention was the catalyst for Russia's devastating civil war, as Lenin and others have often claimed?
"I remember in my childhood hearing stories from my granny," she says. "I was a Young Pioneer and I told her the Reds were good and the Whites were bad and the Intervention troops were bad. And my granny said 'What are you talking about? The English came to our village, they brought us white flour, they gave the children sweets.' And I said: 'Granny - that is impossible they are our enemies!'"
Elena shakes her head. "They were not our enemies and to say they were responsible for the civil war is wrong. Of course not! We had enough of our own scoundrels without the intervention troops."
The radical journalist, Pavel Rasskazov, who documented his ordeal on Mudyug island, describes a French-Russian officer and former businessman from Moscow, a man "of medium height, stout, with a round, flabby face, like a bulldog".
Ernest Beaux was actually a perfumer who concocted scents for the tsar's family - such as the "Bouquet de Napoleon". But in 1918 he was working as a counter-intelligence officer on Mudyug, interrogating Bolsheviks captured by the White Russian and Allied armies.
By the end of the year, Beaux had emigrated to France, where a cousin of Nicholas II introduced him to the couturier, Coco Chanel. He has gone down in history as the man who invented Chanel No5. According to some accounts he wanted to capture the essence of snow melting on black earth and as inspired by his time in the "land of the midnight sun" - the Russian Arctic.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41271418
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Tesco to start selling green satsumas and clementines - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Supermarket says it will cut food waste by selling the green citrus fruit instead of rejecting them.
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Business
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Tesco has announced it will start selling green satsumas and clementines, as part of plans to cut food waste.
The supermarket chain says the green oranges are "perfectly ripe" and will be as sweet as orange-coloured ones.
Higher early season temperatures in Spain have slowed down the natural process by which the skin of the fruit turns orange.
Other UK supermarkets have also branched out to sell less-than-perfect produce.
In the past, retailers have been criticised for being too fussy. This has led to farmers throwing away large amounts of perfectly edible fruit and vegetables.
Satsumas and clementines actually grow as green fruit to begin with, and the skin only turns to orange as summer wanes and the nights cool.
However, in recent years, warmer temperatures during the early growing season for satsumas in September and October have continued to remain high into the autumn, thus delaying the natural process by which the fruit turns orange.
Tesco launched the Perfectly Imperfect range in March 2016, which features apples, pears, potatoes, parsnips, cucumbers, courgettes, strawberries and frozen mixed berries.
Don't be put off by the colour - Tesco says these satsumas are just as ripe as orange-coloured ones
Tesco's aim is that no food safe for human consumption will go to waste from its UK outlets by the end of 2017.
"Key to encouraging consumers to buy these is communicating - for example, prominently at the point of sale - that the satsumas are ripe and shoppers can expect the same taste they are used to, perhaps even by offering tasters," Kiti Soininen, Mintel's head of UK food and drink research, told the BBC.
"From international examples, the success stories for initiatives to cut food waste by embracing 'ugly' fruit and vegetables have been the ones helping shoppers understand what to expect from the taste and quality of the food, and reassuring them that 'ugly' doesn't mean that the fruit and vegetables wouldn't still taste great."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41665946
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Grammar school A-level row head suspended - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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The head of a school where some pupils were stopped from taking A-levels, is suspended.
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Family & Education
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Head teacher Aydin Onac has been suspended by the high-achieving grammar school
The grammar school head teacher at the centre of a row about pupils not being allowed to stay on to take A-levels has been suspended.
Aydin Onac, head of St Olave's in Orpington, has been suspended by the school's governors.
Parents had threatened legal action after some pupils were told to leave the school before the upper sixth year.
It raised questions about schools boosting their league table rankings by restricting who could take A-levels.
St Olave's, in the London borough of Bromley, is one of England's top-performing grammar schools.
But in August it was caught up in a high-profile dispute when some of its pupils were told they would not be re-admitted for their final year.
Parents began legal proceedings that claimed that removing pupils between Year 12 and 13 - the lower and upper sixth - would have been a form of unlawful exclusion.
The parents challenged whether the school could stop pupils returning because of their expected A-level grades.
St Olave's reversed its decision and allowed the pupils to return for upper sixth - and the planned court hearing did not take place.
But the school's governors have now decided that the head teacher, Mr Onac, should be suspended.
The governors say that the local authority is carrying out its own investigation into the A-level controversy.
St Olave's was at the centre of a controversy over pupils being removed from the school before A-levels
The St Olave's dispute began a wider debate about whether schools should be able to stop pupils progressing in this way - and whether filtering out academically-weaker pupils ahead of exams was being used to artificially boost results and league table rankings.
Other schools were forced to review their procedures on whether to allow pupils to continue into the final year of A-levels.
A statement from the chair of governors, Dr Paul Wright, said: "I have been informed that the London Borough of Bromley will be conducting an investigation of St Olave's Grammar School in respect of concerns that have been raised over recent weeks.
"In light of this, and in order to protect the integrity of the investigation, Mr Onac has been suspended from all of his responsibilities as headmaster of the school."
"Please remember that this suspension is without prejudice and does not presume any particular outcome. We are committed to full transparency and will be co-operating fully with the local authority in this matter."
Bromley Council confirmed "that there will be an investigation into concerns raised".
This year's A-level results at St Olave's saw 75% of all grades being awarded at A* or A and 96% were at A* to B grades, far above the national average.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41683012
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UK banks 'exposed to money laundering in South Africa' - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Lord Hain says up to £400m may inadvertently have been laundered by HSBC and Standard Chartered.
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Business
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Many protesters are highly critical of the Gupta family
UK financial regulators and the Serious Fraud Office are to review if banks HSBC and Standard Chartered are linked to a South Africa corruption scandal.
It comes after Lord Peter Hain said the banks may "inadvertently have been conduits" for laundered money.
The Labour peer told the House of Lords that up to £400m of illicit funds may have been moved by the banks.
His concerns relate to links between South Africa's President Jacob Zuma and a wealthy business family, the Guptas.
The peer has written to the Chancellor Philip Hammond, telling him a whistle-blower had indicated the banks "maybe inadvertently have been conduits for the corrupt proceeds of money".
Lord Hain told the BBC he named 27 people in the letter, in addition to companies, adding that any person or firm linked to alleged corruption in South Africa is "going to be badly contaminated".
The Treasury has referred Lord Hain's letter to regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority, and the SFO.
A Treasury spokesman said: "We take allegations of financial misconduct very seriously, and have passed Lord Hain's letter on to the Financial Conduct Authority and relevant UK law enforcement agencies, including the National Crime Agency and Serious Fraud Office, to agree the right action."
The BBC's correspondent in Johannesburg, Andrew Harding, said Lord Hain's letter was "a new twist in a giant corruption scandal that is shaking the South Africa state, and damaging the reputations of a number of global companies".
Mr Zuma and the Guptas strongly deny wrongdoing, and say they are victims of a "politically motivated witch-hunt".
But leaked emails and official investigations have fuelled claims that the Guptas have bought influence in government in order to loot state enterprises.
In South Africa, the scandal has already ruined British public relations company Bell Pottinger and damaged auditors KPMG, which removed its top executive team in the country.
A spokeswoman for the FCA said it was already in contact with the banks named by Lord Hain and would "consider carefully further responses received".
Standard Chartered said: "We are not able to comment on the details of client transactions, but can confirm that following an internal investigation accounts were closed by us in 2014." HSBC declined to comment.
Lord Hain, a leading anti-apartheid campaigner who grew up in South Africa, urged UK authorities "to track that stolen money down and make sure that British financial institutions help return it to South African taxpayers".
It is claimed that money was taken out of South Africa via Hong Kong and Dubai.
Lord Hain, a former Northern Ireland secretary, alleged in his letter to the chancellor that the issue was "a result of the corruption and cronyism presided over by President Zuma and close allies the Guptas".
During his Lords statement, the peer asked what steps the government was taking to prevent money laundering through UK banks.
The minister, Lord Bates, said the UK is "committed" to fighting money laundering and is "concerned" at the allegations. He added that the high commission in South Africa is "monitoring the issue closely".
Meanwhile, the Financial Times on Thursday reported that the FBI had opened an investigation into possible links between the Guptas and "individuals, bank accounts, and companies in the US".
The Gupta brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta have interests in computer, mining, media, travel, energy and technology and employ about 10,000 people through their company Sahara Group.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41672793
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British Airways apologises for bed bugs on Canada flight - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Canadian passengers complained they were nibbled by bed bugs on a Vancouver to London flight.
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US & Canada
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British Airways said reports of bed bugs were extremely rare (file photo)
British Airways has apologised to a Canadian family after they were bitten by bed bugs on an overnight flight.
Heather Szilagyi was flying from Vancouver to London with her eight-year-old daughter and fiancé earlier this month, CTV reported.
After spotting the bugs, Ms Szilagvi complained to the flight attendant but was told she could not change seats.
She said she and her daughter woke up the next morning covered in bug bites.
British Airways offered an apology to the family.
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"We have been in touch with our customer to apologize and investigate further," an airline representative said in a statement.
"British Airways operates more than 280,000 flights every year, and reports of bed bugs on board are extremely rare.
"Nevertheless, we are vigilant and continually monitor our aircraft."
Ms Szilagvi said that as someone who has worked in the hotel industry, she easily spotted several on the seat in front of her during the flight.
She said she had alerted the flight attendant, but was told nothing could be done.
"She was like, 'Oh ok, sorry about that. We're sold out. We don't have anywhere to move you'," Ms Szilagyi told CTV Vancouver.
Once they landed, Ms Szilagvi said she and her daughter were covered in bug bites. She phoned customer service to alert them to the problem and to ask that they not be on the same plane going home.
After several attempts to get through to customer service failed, she posted pictures of the bites on Twitter.
The airline then reached out to apologise, and offered them an upgrade to business class for their flight home.
"We were not asking for a refund. All we were asking for was a flight on a different plane, to make sure it was a different plane, to make sure that the plane that was infested with bed bugs was taken care of," she told CTV.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41685266
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Sir Tom Jones: Abuse is common in music industry too - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The singer tells the BBC an encounter early in his career made him feel "terrible".
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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. Sir Tom said: "What's tried on women is tried on men as well"
Sir Tom Jones has said the abuse and harassment alleged to have taken place in Hollywood is also widespread in the music industry.
The singer was discussing the allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein in an interview with the BBC.
"Things have always happened in the music industry as well," he said.
"There's been people complaining about publicists and different things they've been expected to do to get a record contract, just like a film contract."
Asked on BBC Radio 5 live's Afternoon Edition whether it was something he'd experienced, Sir Tom replied: "Yes. At the beginning, yes.
"There were a few things like that. But you avoid it. You just walk out... But what's tried on women is tried on men as well."
Sir Tom said the encounter early in his career made him feel "terrible".
"But then you think, 'Well, I've got to get away from this person and it can't be like this.'
"You should know that yourself, you don't do things just because you think, 'I should do this.' Your own mind will tell you that. Not just in showbusiness, but in any thing you're in."
He added: "There's always been that element there that people with power sometimes abuse it, but they don't all abuse it, there are good people."
Sir Tom is currently a coach on ITV's The Voice
Asked further about his own experience, he said: "It wasn't bad, just somebody tried to pull... it was a question and I said 'No thank you.'"
The singer was asked about the number of allegations against major figures in the film industry that have come out in recent days.
He replied: "Things happen in showbusiness, and sometimes things are covered up and then they come to light and other people come forward - it's like taking the cork off of a bottle.
"Things come out that maybe should've come out years ago, who knows. But that's the way it is with showbusiness, you are in the public eye, and that's it, you have to take the good with the bad.
"But justice will out. If you've done something wrong you've got to pay for it, or prove that you haven't done anything wrong."
Earlier this week, music manager Sarah Bowden told the Victoria Derbyshire programme the treatment and sexual exploitation of women in the music industry is "as bad, if not worse" than in Hollywood.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Music manager: 'He exposed himself to me'
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-41672902
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Russia socialite Ksenia Sobchak declares presidential bid - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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The Kremlin welcomes her candidacy while commentators say it may split the opposition.
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Europe
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Ms Sobchak said her candidacy was motivated by her desire to be "a mouthpiece for those who cannot be candidates"
Russian socialite Ksenia Sobchak is to stand in the country's presidential election in March, when Vladimir Putin is widely expected to run again.
Ms Sobchak conceded she was an unlikely candidate and said she supported opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is barred from standing.
However he had warned her not to stand and some commentators now predict an opposition split.
The Kremlin welcomed her candidacy, saying it was fully constitutional.
Mr Navalny is currently serving a 20-day prison sentence for his role in organising "unsanctioned" protests.
He is banned from the election due to a fraud conviction which he says was fabricated.
This announcement was a long time rumoured, so Alexei Navalny made his views clear last month shortly before his latest arrest.
The anti-corruption blogger dismissed Ksenia Sobchak as a Kremlin stooge, a "liberal laughing stock" and an opposition "caricature", brought in to lend legitimacy to a sham vote. He scorned her as a showbiz celebrity, only seeking more social media "likes" and followers.
Ms Sobchak herself denies she is a spoiler, saying she will step down if Mr Navalny himself is allowed to run for president. That scenario looks highly improbable though.
Mr Navalny has been seen as the biggest political threat to Mr Putin
So the socialite-turned-journalist has promised to be a "loudspeaker" for those fed up with the lies, theft and corruption of their leaders. It is language that she borrows quite heavily from Mr Navalny.
She would be the first woman candidate in 14 years, a point which her campaign video in a kitchen underscores. But Ms Sobchak also has the "Marmite" effect: she is as unpalatable to as many people as she attracts.
And crucially, it's not clear how far she'd actually go in criticising Vladimir Putin himself, a close family friend since her childhood.
Ms Sobchak, a journalist and TV presenter, called for the bar on him standing to be lifted.
She said she wanted to be "a mouthpiece for those who cannot be candidates".
"I am against revolution but I am a good middleman and organiser," Ms Sobchak wrote in a letter published on the website of Vedomosti business daily.
Russia's election campaign starts around 7 December, when political parties are expected to hold congresses to nominate their candidates.
A Russian citizen not backed by a political party has the right to register as an independent presidential candidate provided he or she collects at least 300,000 signatures.
President Putin, who first took office as president in 2000, has not announced yet whether he will stand again.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41669676
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YouTube star Casey Neistat criticises video site's leaders - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Award-winning vlogger Casey Neistat claims video creators could leave the service en masse.
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Technology
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Mr Neistat suggests YouTube's community of creators acts as a defence against online competitors
One of YouTube's most influential vloggers has chastised the service's leaders, claiming they are failing many of their most popular video creators.
Specifically, Casey Neistat criticised the way the platform had made it impossible for some videos to generate advertising revenue, without clearly explaining the rules to its community.
One of his own videos - an interview with Indonesia's president - was temporarily "demonetised" last week.
YouTube has said it is listening.
"We watched Casey's video and appreciate him and the wider community voicing their concerns," a spokeswoman told the BBC.
"We know this has been a difficult few months, and we're working hard to improve our systems. We're making progress, but we know there is a lot more to do."
Mr Neistat has more than eight million subscribers on YouTube, who have signed up to be alerted when he posts. He has also struck a multi-million-dollar deal to create content for CNN on the platform.
He is normally viewed as being one of the leading champions of the site.
But in a video posted on Tuesday, he said he felt compelled to speak out because the level of upset among creators posed an "existential threat to YouTube's entire business".
Mr Neistat's vlog from Indonesia was demonetised until he appealed against the decision
The Google division began stripping some videos of adverts earlier in the year after several major brands suspended YouTube campaigns because their marketing clips had been attached to extremist content.
To address the problem, YouTube introduced an algorithm that determines which clips are "family friendly" and thus allowed to continue making money for their creators.
But Mr Neistat said the decision-making process had been badly communicated.
"There are no answers anywhere, and there's no-one telling you what's going on," he said.
"The thing that was most troubling for me... was the lack of communication, the lack of transparency on the part of YouTube."
"People are... putting the same amount of work, the same amount of energy and the same amount of expense into the content they're creating, but now they're getting paid only a fraction of what they did."
A recent decision to demonetise creators' videos about the Las Vegas shootings had caused particular ire, Mr Neistat said, since a video featuring the chat-show host Jimmy Kimmel discussing the same incident had been allowed to continue featuring ads.
"It sort of reeks of hypocrisy, and again the community felt like a second-class citizen," he said.
As a rule, YouTube prevents adverts from running on videos about tragedies.
But this does not apply to clips posted by select partners - including Mr Kimmel's employer, ABC - who are allowed to sell ads themselves rather than relying on Google to do so.
A recent clip of Jimmy Kimmel discussing a mass shooting in Las Vegas was allowed to show adverts
"In the specific case of tragedies, like the one in Las Vegas, we are working to not allow such partners to sell against such content," a YouTube spokeswoman said last week.
"We have not completed this work yet, but will soon."
Mr Neistat suggested a better alternative would be to give creators more control over whose adverts appeared alongside their clips.
The video-maker is far from being the first YouTuber to complain about the issue. But one industry-watcher said his intervention carried weight.
"People look to Casey to be not just an inspiration but also a voice for the community - he's very well respected and people do listen to what he says and follow his lead," said Alex Brinnand, editor of TenEighty magazine.
"The fact that he has put out this video... will help ensure his audience is aware of the issue and becomes as equally unhappy as he is."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: Other YouTubers told the BBC about their frustrations last month
Mr Neistat highlighted that Twitter's rival video-based social network, Vine, had collapsed after its managers had disappointed several of its leading clip creators and suggested YouTube could face a similar exodus.
"When you think about Netflix or Amazon or Hulu or any of these other digital distribution platforms right now, they've all got money, they're all willing to spend money, and they're trying to figure out how to diversify their audience," he said.
He added that Amazon's Twitch service - which currently focuses on video-games-related live feeds - had already tempted some.
Twitch began allowing users to upload pre-recorded videos a year ago and may unveil new features at its annual TwitchCon event, which begins on Friday.
However, Mr Brinnand questioned whether the service had done enough to lure away YouTube's biggest names yet.
"For creators like Casey, I don't think at the moment that Twitch is a viable option," he said.
"It's a lot more geared to live or as-live content, so doesn't cater to the same audience the vloggers have with their more packaged, produced videos.
"But Twitch has laid the foundations for the future - it already offers very appealing revenue streams - and could be a contender if it develops a stronger platform for standard video."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41666049
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Alarm over decline in flying insects - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Flying insects have declined by more than 75% in 30 years in German nature reserves, alarming ecologists.
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Science & Environment
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Losses of rare insects are well documented, but there is little research on insects as a whole
It's known as the windscreen phenomenon. When you stop your car after a drive, there seem to be far fewer squashed insects than there used to be.
Scientists have long suspected that insects are in dramatic decline, but new evidence confirms this.
Research at more than 60 protected areas in Germany suggests flying insects have declined by more than 75% over almost 30 years.
And the causes are unknown.
"This confirms what everybody's been having as a gut feeling - the windscreen phenomenon where you squash fewer bugs as the decades go by," said Caspar Hallmann of Radboud University in The Netherlands.
"This is the first study that looked into the total biomass of flying insects and it confirms our worries.''
The study is based on measurements of the biomass of all insects trapped at 63 nature protection areas in Germany over 27 years since 1989.
The data includes thousands of different insects, such as bees, butterflies and moths.
Scientists say the dramatic decline was seen regardless of habitat, land use and the weather, leaving them at a loss to explain what was behind it.
They stressed the importance of adopting measures known to be beneficial for insects, including strips of flowers around farmland and minimising the effects of intensive agriculture.
And they said there was an urgent need to uncover the causes and extent of the decline in all airborne insects.
"We don't know exactly what the causes are,'' said Hans de Kroon, also of Radboud University, who supervised the research.
''This study shows how important it is to have good monitoring programmes and we need more research right now to look into those causes - so, that has really high priority.''
The finding was even more worrying given that it was happening in nature reserves, which are meant to protect insects and other living species, the researchers said.
''In the modern agricultural landscape, for insects it's a hostile environment, it's a desert, if not worse,'' said Dr de Kroon.
''And the decline there has been well documented. The big surprise is that it is also happening in adjacent nature reserves.''
The loss of insects has far-reaching consequences for entire ecosystems.
Insects provide a food source for many birds, amphibians, bats and reptiles, while plants rely on insects for pollination.
The decline is more severe than found in previous studies.
A survey of insects at four sites in the UK between 1973 and 2002 found losses at one of the four sites only.
Dr Lynn Dicks, from the University of East Anglia, UK, who is not connected with the study, said the paper provides new evidence for "an alarming decline" that many entomologists have suspected for some time.
"If total flying insect biomass is genuinely declining at this rate (around 6% per year), it is extremely concerning," she said.
"Flying insects have really important ecological functions, for which their numbers matter a lot."
The research is published in the journal Plos One.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41670472
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'He hid in a cupboard - we just couldn't get him to school' - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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When Evelyn and Tony adopted Ryan at the age of seven, his special needs were not immediately apparent.
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Family & Education
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The pressures of school life can be tough for a lot of kids, but for a child who's experienced abuse, neglect and years in care, the strain can be even greater.
When Evelyn and Tony adopted Ryan at the age of seven, his special educational needs were not immediately apparent.
Ryan is smart, bright and eager to please - every teacher's dream. But the trauma of his early years meant the day-to-day expectations of mainstream school were too much for him.
Evelyn: Ryan came to us with a history of abuse and neglect - domestic violence, drugs and alcohol, not getting enough food, inadequate clothing, extremely poor hygiene - but nothing actually diagnosed as being any particular special need.
He used to hide a lot when we first had him, so if you even very slightly raised your voice, or there was even a slight sign of disapproval - the slightest - he would hide behind a curtain or under the bed and shake and ask you if you were going to hit him.
He'd been in multiple schools before he came to us and when he came to us we were advised that he only went in for a couple of hours per day for the first few weeks.
I think he did very well with that. He integrated in the beginning very well because the pressure isn't so much in Year 2 and in Year 3. He coped quite well then.
Tony: It was more Year 5 and 6. That's when it really started to hit. He found it more of a struggle, the work was harder and he couldn't cope with it.
When he was in Year 6 we stopped all homework because when we tried to do homework with him he couldn't cope with it. He threatened to self-harm and to harm us, as well.
Evelyn: Especially then with Sats tests in Year 6. The anxiety got worse and worse. His sleep became much worse, he became much more anxious. He started not being able to go in in the morning, feeling really sick. There were days when we couldn't get him in to school. It was dreadfully stressful.
Tony: Plus he wouldn't sleep very well, so we were trying to help him to sleep. We were often up 'til one or two in the morning. Both ends of the day were a problem.
Evelyn: We repeatedly asked the primary school to have an educational psychologist come in and make an assessment and we were constantly told: "No, there's not enough need. He's intelligent". So we got absolutely nowhere.
The subsequent move to a comprehensive school proved highly stressful for Ryan and, after a term and a half, he dropped out.
Evelyn: The Senco (special educational needs co-ordinator) seemed not to have much experience around trauma and attachment issues.
When he met Ryan on the first day, we felt as if he was suggesting that we were lying, because he didn't outwardly appear to be anxious and he was very good at trying to fit in and looked good, looked smart and didn't look like a child with special needs.
Unfortunately because they didn't adequately understand him - because it is mainstream education - they couldn't provide for his needs.
Tony: Things slowly got worse and worse and he started school-refusing. We tried all sorts of things to help him and talked to the teachers.
That worked for a little bit, but eventually he just couldn't cope. He couldn't cope with the large classrooms, he couldn't cope with certain teachers, any teacher that shouted, and eventually he just hid in a cupboard for a couple of days and wouldn't come out. We just couldn't get him to school.
Evelyn: And when he wasn't in school anymore, he became quite agoraphobic, he became very isolated and his mental health was even worse because he wasn't in any form of education.
Desperate for help, Evelyn and Tony turned to the adoption agency Family Futures and to a specialist children's hospital. These organisations assessed Ryan and reported that he did have specific needs.
Evelyn: The Family Futures report came out telling us that Ryan had developmental trauma, sensory modulation difficulty, generalised anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
We also went to the attachment and trauma team at the children's hospital and they did assessments, as well. So between the two places, that was the diagnosis and this gave us all the evidence we needed for getting our EHCP [education, health and care plan], which we triggered ourselves.
Tony: Luckily we got that EHCP and that helped us secure Ryan's education - to go to a special needs school.
Evelyn: But none of the schools in our local authority [area] met his needs. We were then advised that we'd have to look beyond our own borough to try and find something. So we searched the internet and we found a local therapeutic provision for education. He was offered a place and started this September.
His new school is much smaller, with much smaller classes. It's individually tailored to each child's needs and there's much more encouragement. It's about building him up, meeting his needs - it's not about getting him nine GCSEs; it's about trying to help him survive.
For two weeks he went part-time. He's full-time now and he loves it. In fact, tonight he said to me: "Thank you for fighting for me. If I ever win the Oscars, I'll get you on stage to celebrate with me."
In spite of their battles, Evelyn and Tony have no regrets, but wish the authorities were more honest with, and supportive of, adoptive families.
Evelyn: We've had a lot of people in education look at Ryan and say: "But there's nothing wrong with him, he looks completely normal." And I think that, as adopters, when we adopted him, we thought exactly the same.
I don't think that we had any idea that he had this level of special need and when you finally get these diagnoses, in some ways it's quite shocking. It's quite a relief but it's also a shock because you do feel they did know or they could have really guessed that there would be some degree of need in this way - but they don't tell you and it would really help if you did know.
Tony: It would be much better if the authorities were able to give a lot more help, because without so much of a battle it would be great. Sometimes it is just really hard work and it seems like you're constantly having a wall to climb each time to get help, which there really shouldn't be.
We don't have any regrets at all. To anyone who's thinking about adopting I'd say you've got to go in with your eyes open, getting as much information as you can and realising that lots of the children that get adopted will have special needs in some way, or need extra help in their life, and that's a battle sometimes - but it's worth it.
All names have been changed. Produced by Katherine Sellgren, BBC News family and education reporter
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41655026
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Penny Lancaster says she was sexually assaulted - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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The model and wife of Rod Stewart says her attacker was someone she worked with as a teenager.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Lancaster said she didn't feel she could tell her parents at the time
Model Penny Lancaster has said she was sexually assaulted as a teenager by someone she worked for.
Lancaster, who is married to rock singer Rod Stewart, told ITV's Loose Women that she had her drink spiked.
She said she found herself being attacked on a bed and "can't remember much of what happened".
"I just know he was on top of me and enjoying the experience but I certainly wasn't. I don't really remember much more. I was too afraid to tell anyone."
Lancaster, now 46, said she had been a virgin at the time of the assault, which she said happened after she went to the house of a man who had promised to take her to an event where she could make work contacts.
"I was like, 'Oh, someone will be interested, I might get some more work,'" Lancaster said.
"So I went with him. And he said: 'Oh, I have to stop at my apartment.'"
She said he gave her a drink "and unfortunately the next thing I knew... I found myself face down on a bed with him on top of me".
The model, who was in tears as she spoke, said: "I couldn't tell my mum and dad because I thought they would be saying to me, 'What on earth were you doing going back to his house?'
"But he was a guy that I had worked with and he promised me to meet other people and so I was naive and I trusted him."
She said she wanted to speak out so young girls in a similar situation could understand it was "not their fault".
"They are not guilty. The other person is. And they need to be brave enough to tell the authorities."
Lancaster was speaking out during a discussion on the chat show about the #MeToo campaign social media started by survivors of sexual harassment and assault, which followed the recent allegations about Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
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-41685301
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Hundreds of families block organ donation - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Legally, consent lies with the deceased, but in practice, relatives' wishes are always respected.
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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. Rachel wants to be an organ donor
Organs from 505 registered donors could not be made available for transplant in the last five years because of objections from relatives.
BBC 5 live found that almost a third of families blocked organ donation because they felt the process took "too long".
The law states that consent lies with the deceased, but in practice, relatives' wishes are always respected.
The NHS wants to reduce the number of "overrides" by encouraging prospective donors to talk to their relatives.
In England, NHS figures showed that 457 people died last year whilst waiting for an organ transplant.
Rachel, 17, from Stoke-on-Trent, wants to be an organ donor, but is concerned that her family do not support her wishes.
She told 5 live: "I wasn't aware when I signed up that your family had to be supportive of your decision. It seems like, well, what's the point of signing up if it could be overruled anyway?
"It does worry me because, if I died now, my mum does make the main decision. I hope I can trust her to make the right one."
When somebody dies who is on the Organ Donation Register, specialist nurses from NHS Blood and Transplant work with their family.
If relatives object, nurses will encourage them to accept their loved one's decision, and make it clear that they do not have the legal right to override it.
However, in practice, if a family still refuses, the donation does not go ahead.
Ben Cole, a specialist nurse for organ donation working in the Midlands, said it was "frustrating" when families say no.
"We understand that families are approached about donation at a very difficult time, and it can come as a shock to find out their relative had made the decision to donate.
"I had one family whose son had joined the Organ Donor Register, but they found it hard to believe because he'd never spoken about it.
"Another family said their dad would have ticked any box, and so weren't convinced he'd signed up intentionally.
"The relationship we build with a family at this time is so important, particularly as they can provide vital information about their relative before donation.
"If they are strongly opposed to donation, we would not want to upset them further."
Other reasons relatives gave for refusing consent include that they thought "the patient had suffered enough", they "didn't want surgery to the body", or the family were divided over the decision.
Anthony Clarkson, assistant director of organ donation and transplantation for NHS Blood and Transplant, said: "Although the number of blocked transplants is declining, a number of families each year feel unable to support their relative's decision to be a donor.
"As a result hundreds of opportunities for potentially life saving transplants are being missed every year."
There are currently 6,406 people on the transplant waiting list across the UK.
Jess Harris, 29, from London, needs a pancreas and a kidney. She thinks it's a "crazy system" that gives families the final say.
"Why isn't it like your will? Why don't they have to honour your wishes?" she told 5 live.
"I don't know why anyone would be against donating organs - one person can save up to eight lives and you're not going to need them when you're dead."
But Dr Rebecca Brown, a research fellow in practical ethics at the University of Oxford, supports families having the final say.
She says: "There's an implication that these families are selfish or unreasonable, but I don't think that's the case.
"Losing a loved one, in sudden circumstances, is very traumatic and forcing them to go along with organ donation when it is something to which they feel strongly opposed, would be very distressing.
"This is a relatively small number of families and going against their wishes would be frankly awful for them and would create all sorts of problems."
In 2016/17 the total number of deceased donors was 1,413. In the same year, families blocked the donations of 91 people who had signed the register.
In December 2015, Wales adopted an opt-out system of organ donation, but families can still have the final say over their loved one's donation. Last year, nine people in Wales who had signed up to the organ donation register were blocked from donating their organs.
Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to introduce presumed consent for organ donation in England and a consultation will be held before the end of the year.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41671600
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Cambridge Uni students get Shakespeare trigger warnings - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Cambridge University students are given "trigger alerts" that they might be upset by some text.
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Cambridgeshire
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Violence in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus might be "upsetting", students have been warned
Shakespeare contains gore and violence that might "upset" you, Cambridge University students have been warned.
The "trigger warnings" - red triangles with an exclamation mark - appeared on their English lecture timetables.
Lectures including Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus contain "discussion of sexual violence, sexual assault", the BBC's Newsnight programme has learned.
The university said the warnings were "at the lecturer's own discretion" and "not a faculty-wide policy".
The lecture timetables were issued to this term's students by the university's faculty of English.
"Any session containing material that could be deemed upsetting (and it is not obvious from the title) is now marked with a symbol," they say.
Among those considered "upsetting" is a lecture on "violence" - which includes a discussion of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and Sarah Kane's play Blasted.
Alongside the warning symbol, students are told to expect discussion of sexual violence and sexual assault.
Shakespeare's play includes mutilation, murder and violent rape with similar topics, plus torture and genocide covered in Kane's play.
Parts of this term's English lecture timetable for Cambridge students include "upsetting" themes
Also singled out for a warning is a lecture on "inhabiting the body" which includes a discussion on dismemberment.
Included in this is the Greek playwright Euripides' The Bacchae, which features scenes of women tearing cattle and humans to pieces.
Cambridge University said it was at the lecturer's own discretion to flag up upsetting material
Asked about the warnings, one Cambridge academic who did not wish to be named, said their "duty as educators was to prepare students for the world not protect them for three years".
Prof Dennis Hayes from Derby University's education faculty said: "Once you get a few trigger warnings, lecturers will stop presenting anything that is controversial... gradually, there is no critical discussion".
Cambridge University said the English faculty "does not have a policy on trigger warnings", but added: "Some lecturers indicate that some sensitive material will be covered in a lecture... this is entirely at the lecturer's own discretion and is in no way indicative of a faculty-wide policy."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-41678937
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Brexit: Talk of deadlock is exaggerated, says Donald Tusk - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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EU leaders say there is not enough progress to start trade talks yet, but they hope to begin in December.
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UK Politics
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Reports of deadlock over Brexit negotiations may have been exaggerated, European Council President Donald Tusk has said after a Brussels summit.
Progress was "not sufficient" to begin trade talks with the UK now but that "doesn't mean there is no progress at all", he said.
EU leaders will discuss the issue internally, paving the way for talks with the UK, possibly in December.
Theresa May said there was "some way to go" but she was "optimistic".
Speaking at the end of a two-day summit, Mr Tusk told reporters: "My impression is that the reports of the deadlock between the EU and the UK have been exaggerated."
The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, described the talks as deadlocked earlier this month.
Mr Tusk said he was not at odds with Mr Barnier, but his own role was to be a "positive motivator for the next five or six weeks".
He said he felt there was "goodwill" on both sides "and this is why I, maybe, in my rhetoric, I'm, maybe, a little bit more optimistic than Michel Barnier, but we are also in a different role".
The so-called divorce bill remains a major sticking point in talks with the EU.
French President Emmanuel Macron said there was still much work to be done on the financial commitment before trade talks can begin, adding: "We are not halfway there."
Theresa May declined to say in a press conference after the summit what the UK would be prepared to pay, saying the "final settlement" would come as part of a "final agreement" with the EU.
The UK prime minister did not name any figures but refused to deny that she had told other EU leaders the UK could pay many more billions of pounds than the £20bn she had indicated in her Florence speech last month.
"I have said that ... we will honour the commitments that we have made during our membership," she said. But those commitments were being analysed "line by line" she said, adding: "British taxpayer wouldn't expect its government to do anything else."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Three key points about how the Brexit talks are going
There are whispers that Theresa May has privately reassured the other leaders that she is willing to put a lot more than the implicit 20 billion euros (£17.8bn) on the table as we leave.
Number 10 doesn't deny this, Mrs May didn't deny it when we asked her in the press conference today, nor did she reject the idea that the bill could be as high as 60 billion euros.
If she has actually given those private reassurances though, there's not much evidence the other EU leaders believe her or think it's enough.
But if she is to make that case more forcefully she has big political problems at home.
She said the two sides were within "touching distance" of a deal on other issues - particularly on citizens' rights.
"I am ambitious and positive for Britain's future and for these negotiations but I know we still have some way to go," she said.
The UK is due to leave the EU in March 2019, following last year's referendum result.
It had hoped to move onto phase two of negotiations - covering future trade arrangements - after this week's summit.
But EU leaders took just 90 seconds to officially conclude that not enough progress has been made on the issues of citizens' rights, the UK's financial obligation and the border in Northern Ireland, but "internal preparations" would begin for phase two.
The prime minister made a personal appeal to her 27 EU counterparts at a working dinner on Thursday night, telling them that "we must work together to get to an outcome that we can stand behind and defend to our people".
BBC Europe editor Katya Adler said all EU leaders knew Mrs May was in a politically difficult situation and did not want her to go home empty-handed, so had promised they would start talking about trade and transition deals among themselves, as early as Monday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there were "encouraging" signs of progress in Brexit negotiations and the process was progressing "step by step".
And European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he hoped it would be possible to reach a "fair deal" with Britain.
"Our working assumption is not the 'no-deal' scenario. I hate the 'no-deal' scenario. I don't know what that means," he said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41684111
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Afghan army base destroyed by Taliban suicide bombers - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Bombers in Humvee vehicles kill 43 soldiers while police are under siege in a separate attack.
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Asia
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A soldier at a checkpoint leading to the Maiwind district of Kandahar, where this attack took place
At least 43 Afghan soldiers have been killed and nine wounded after two suicide bombers in Humvee armoured vehicles destroyed a military base in the southern province of Kandahar.
Six are still missing and 10 militants are also said to have died.
Separately, two members of the security forces died in a siege of police headquarters in the eastern province of Ghazni.
The Taliban said they were behind the early morning bloodshed.
The attacks are the third and fourth major assaults on Afghan security forces this week.
Only two soldiers are known to have survived the Kandahar attack without injuries, AFP news agency reports.
"Unfortunately there is nothing left inside the camp," defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said. "They have burned down everything they found inside."
It happened in the Chashmo area of Maiwand district.
Afghanistan's army and police suffered heavy casualties this year at the hands of the Taliban, who want to re-impose their strict version of Islamic law in the country. This week, more than 100 people died in four attacks.
On Tuesday, Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen killed at least 41 people when they stormed a police training centre in the eastern Afghan city of Gardez.
About 150 people were injured in the violence. The local hospital, in Paktia province, said it was "overwhelmed" and issued an urgent appeal for blood donors.
The same day, at least 30 more people died in car bombings in Ghazni province. Armoured Humvee vehicles filled with explosives were detonated near the provincial governor's office before gunmen moved in.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41676626
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Dyslexia link to eye spots confusing brain, say scientists - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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Experts say the findings are exciting but unlikely to explain the causes for all dyslexia.
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Health
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People with dyslexia have difficulty learning to read, write or spell
French scientists say they may have found a potential cause of dyslexia which could be treatable, hidden in tiny cells in the human eye.
In a small study they found that most dyslexics had dominant round spots in both eyes - rather than in just one - leading to blurring and confusion.
UK experts said the research was "very exciting" and highlighted the link between vision and dyslexia.
But they said not all dyslexics were likely to have the same problem.
People with dyslexia have difficulties learning to read, spell or write despite normal intelligence.
Often letters appear to move around and get in the wrong order and dyslexic people can have problems distinguishing left from right.
Human beings have a dominant eye in the same way that people have a dominant left or right hand.
In the University of Rennes study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, scientists looked into the eyes of 30 non-dyslexics and 30 dyslexics.
They discovered differences in the shape of spots deep in the eye where red, green and blue cones - responsible for colour - are located.
In non-dyslexics, they found that the blue cone-free spot in one eye was round and in the other eye it was oblong or unevenly shaped, making the round one more dominant.
But in dyslexic people, both eyes had the same round-shaped spot, which meant neither eye was dominant.
This would result in the brain being confused by two slightly different images from the eyes.
Researchers Guy Ropars and Albert le Floch said this lack of asymmetry "might be the biological and anatomical basis of reading and spelling disabilities".
They added: "For dyslexic students, their two eyes are equivalent and their brain has to successively rely on the two slightly different versions of a given visual scene."
Prof John Stein, dyslexia expert and emeritus professor in neuroscience at the University of Oxford, said having a dominant spot in one eye meant there were better connections between the two sides of the brain and therefore clearer vision.
He said the study was "really interesting" because it stressed the importance of eye dominance in reading.
But he said the research gave no indication of why these differences occurred in some people's eyes.
He said the French test appeared to be more objective than current tests, but was unlikely to explain everyone's dyslexia.
Dyslexia is usually an inherited condition which affects 10% of the population, but environmental factors are also thought to play a role.
"No one problem is necessary to get dyslexia and no one problem is behind it," Prof Stein said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41666320
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Channing Tatum pulls Weinstein Company sexual abuse film - BBC News
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2017-10-19
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The actor says he will never again work with the company, which has now fired disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Channing Tatum has stopped making his film with The Weinstein Company
Channing Tatum has halted the development of a film about sexual abuse, which he had been making with Harvey Weinstein's company.
The Oscar-winning producer was fired as chairman of The Weinstein Company last week, when the allegations emerged.
"The brave women who had the courage to speak their truth about [Mr] Weinstein are true heroes to us," said Tatum.
"They are lifting the heavy bricks to build the equitable world we all deserve to live in.
"Our lone project in development with The Weinstein Company (TWC) - Matthew Quick's brilliant book, Forgive Me Leonard Peacock - is a story about a boy whose life was torn asunder by sexual abuse.
"While we will no longer develop it or anything else that is property of TWC, we are reminded of its powerful message of healing in the wake of tragedy.
"This is a giant opportunity for real positive change that we proudly commit ourselves to.
"The truth is out - let's finish what our incredible colleagues started and eliminate abuse from our creative culture once and for all."
The project would have seen Tatum starring in the film and also directing for the first time, alongside Reid Carolin.
Harvey Weinstein pictured at the Marchesa New York Fashion Week show in September 2017
Meanwhile, Mr Weinstein's chauffeur Mickael Chemloul has told French TV channel BFMTV he had to drive around "tearful aspiring actresses for him".
"We were all afraid of him," he said.
"When he came back angry, he was unmanageable, agonising. He was suffocating."
Mr Chemloul, who worked for the producer in Cannes from 2008 to 2013, said: "I had the feeling of driving poor innocent people, innocent girls, to the jaws of the wolf, and I could not say to them, 'Be careful where you're heading - it's dangerous'.
"When they left Weinstein's place, there was sadness; they were melancholy.
"I didn't know what had happened, but I had to console them - offer them water, or a cigarette."
Robert Lindsay also added to the debate, saying his Hollywood film career was halted after a run-in with Mr Weinstein meant he was scrapped from a role in Shakespeare in Love.
Lindsay was working with Molly Ringwald in romantic comedy Strike it Rich and said on Simon Mayo's Radio 2 show he had a row with Weinstein over a title change for the film and says this incident halted his career.
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Game of Thrones actress Lena Headley and Beautiful Girls star Lauren Holly have also come forward to say they were abused or harassed by Mr Weinstein.
And, on Wednesday, Harvard University said it would be stripping him of the Du Bois medal awarded to him in 2014 for his contributions to African-American culture.
Jennifer Lawrence spoke out about her early career at the Elle Women in Hollywood Celebration
Meanwhile, at an Elle event in Los Angeles, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Lawrence both shared stories of sexual abuse and harassment earlier in their careers at the hands of other producers and directors.
Mr Weinstein's two companies, Miramax and The Weinstein Company, have made some of the biggest films in Hollywood.
He has admitted his behaviour has "caused a lot of pain" but has described many of the allegations against him as "patently false".
His representative 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.
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-41681629
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Leicester space scientist wins BBC Two astronaut show - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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Suzie Imber, who beat 11 people to the prize, is "excited" she could "one day end up in space".
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Leicester
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Suzie Imber will now get a recommendation to join the European Space Agency
A Leicester scientist has said she is "excited" she could "end up in space" after winning a BBC Two show.
Suzie Imber, 33, was revealed as the best candidate for space on "Astronauts: Do you have what it takes?" on Sunday.
The University of Leicester associate professor said the experience was "incredible" but "really tough".
Dr Imber, who triumphed over 11 other people, will now get a recommendation to join the European Space Agency.
Former astronaut Chris Hadfield (r) was the first Canadian to walk in space
Former astronaut Chris Hadfield and his team put the candidates through a series of gruelling tests as part of the show, to find out who had the qualities to be an astronaut.
Dr Imber, associate professor of planetary science at the university, said: "Staying focused and being able to cope with the degree of testing over a time period was hard.
"It was really hard to prepare for tests, like the ability to take my own blood.
"And being strapped into a capsule and lowered into water, so it fills up, and then spun around so you have to hold your breath and feel disorientated."
The scientist has been interested in space from a young age and her current research looks at Mercury's magnetosphere.
Dr Imber said she was "utterly shocked and surprised" when her name was announced.
"The process has taught me that you don't have to be the best at everything," she said.
"You have to be consistently good over a broad range of skills and perhaps that's why I might have got a slight edge on the others.
"[Winning] has made me more excited and enthusiastic to apply, and who knows, it's possible that I could one day end up in space."
Dr Imber added she made "incredibly valuable life-long friendships" with those she met on the six-week programme.
Suzie Imber is also a good climber as can be seen here on Denali, the highest mountain in North America
Professor Paul Boyle, president of the university, said: "For an intrepid explorer, who is used to scaling mountains, she has surpassed herself by achieving new heights of success.
"She has done herself, her family and loved ones and the university very proud indeed.
"We hope she continues to go from strength to strength in her application to become an astronaut."
• None Astronauts- Do You Have What It Takes
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-41460122
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Chicken supplier 2 Sisters suspends operations - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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It comes after allegations that workers had changed slaughter dates at one if its sites.
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UK
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One of the UK's largest supermarket chicken suppliers has suspended operations after an investigation allegedly exposed food safety breaches.
The 2 Sisters Food Group said staff at its site in the West Midlands will need to be "appropriately retrained" before it starts resupplying customers.
It comes after allegations that workers had changed slaughter dates to extend the shelf life of meat.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has also been investigating the claims.
The Guardian and ITV News claimed an undercover reporter witnessed workers changing the "kill dates" on chickens.
They also allegedly saw meat of different ages being mixed together and codes on crates of meat altered.
In a statement, the company said an internal investigation had shown "some isolated instances of non-compliance" at its plant in West Bromwich.
"We have therefore decided to temporarily suspend operations at the site to allow us the time to retrain all colleagues, including management, in all food safety and quality management systems."
All staff will remain on full pay and take part in training on site, it added.
"We will only recommence supply once we are satisfied that our colleagues have been appropriately retrained."
Marks & Spencer, Aldi, Lidl and The Co-op have stopped taking chickens from the site while investigations take place.
The company also supplies Tesco and Sainsbury's, which are looking into the allegations.
2 Sisters said the FSA had visited the site every day since the allegations came to light and had "not identified any breaches".
It went on: "We continue to work closely with the FSA and our customers throughout this period."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41462549
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The man who built a drinks empire... twice - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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Greg Steltenpohl founded one of America's best-known smoothie brands, but almost lost everything after a major corporate crisis.
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Business
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Greg Steltenpohl was a pioneer of the whole foods movement
Greg Steltenpohl was a pioneer of the "whole foods" movement in the 1980s. But he almost lost everything after his first company faced a major corporate crisis.
After creating not one but two highly successful natural drinks companies, Greg Steltenpohl is "not one for regrets".
However, the former jazz musician does rank the sale of his first business, Odwalla, to Coca-Cola back in 2001 as a "pretty big disappointment".
He co-founded the firm, now one of America's best-known juice and smoothie brands, with some friends back in 1980, simply as a way to support his career as a musician.
It became an early pioneer of the "whole foods" movement, priding itself on its all natural ingredients, quirky branding and independent ethos.
But after an outbreak of E. coli was associated with one of its juices in 1996, sales dried up.
The founders had to take on new investment to stay afloat and lost control of the board.
Within five years Mr Steltenpohl had quit, and Odwalla was sold to Coke for $181m (£134m).
"I'm not evangelising against 'evil corporate empires'," the genial Californian says over coffee in London.
"But these big firms tend to target smaller ones like Odwalla because they can't innovate those ideas internally.
"The problem is they end up destroying what make those brands unique."
The 62-year-old is trying to set the record straight with his latest venture, the plant-based food company Califia Farms.
Launched in 2010, its main line is in almond and coconut milks, which come either plain, or in flavours like matcha green tea, or ginger and turmeric.
The Los Angeles-based firm also sells bottled coffees and natural juices, with all its products low in sugar, dairy free and ethically sourced.
Whereas Mr Steltenpohl's first company was launched at time when natural and organic foods were a novelty, the sector is now well established, with industry-wide sales of $69bn in the US alone last year.
Large food companies are also losing market share to smaller ones that offer more artisanal, niche products.
Califia already has sales of more than $100m a year, and is the number one premium bottled coffee brand in the US.
However, Mr Steltenpohl says big corporations have been "jumping into" the whole foods market, and smaller companies like his face competition.
"They have much better supply chains, distribution and marketing. At the moment we're just a fly on the back of an elephant."
Califia Farms makes more than $100m in sales annually
Mr Steltenpohl fell into the drinks business by chance after studying at the Creative Music Studio, a renowned music school in upstate New York, in the late 1970s.
He and two friends moved to Santa Cruz, California to seek fame and fortune with their "avant garde jazz" band The Stance. But they quickly ran out of money.
"We were broke and we weren't that good! So I came up with this idea that we could squeeze fresh orange juice every morning, sleep during the day, and play music all night."
The juice company took off, and the music tapered out. Under the brand Odwalla - named after a song by experimental jazz group Art Ensemble of Chicago - the trio started selling to restaurants and health food shops, but were soon stocking grocery stores across the US.
By 1996 Odwalla was listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange and sales were approaching $100m a year.
A child died and scores were sickened after drinking a batch of the firm's apple juice; Odwalla had to issue a huge product recall, and its sales dived by 90%.
Jeffery Kline, editor of drinks industry website Bevnet, says Mr Steltenpohl has been "very open about how painful the experience was".
Mr Kline adds: "People in the industry believe Greg acted respectably throughout the crisis. And he never talks about it in terms of what he went through, but in fact what an incredibly devastating impact it had on others."
Within two years Odwalla had rebuilt its reputation, thanks in part to its loyal customer base. The problem, says Mr Steltenpohl, was the new backers wanted a "quick return" on their investment by selling the firm.
More The Boss features, which every week profile a different business leader from around the world:
"In hindsight I think we could have found investors who shared our values and stayed independent. But we had to move fast to protect people's jobs."
Not long after Coca-Cola swooped, and Odwalla soon "lost its ethos", he says.
"We were a local brand, but Coke shut our plant and shifted the main staff to Atlanta. It also replaced the key managers with their internal people who all had two year rotations, and you can't run a passion brand that way."
A spokeswoman for Coca-Cola says it is keen to nurture new brands, and Odwalla remains an "important part" of its natural health drinks portfolio.
Mr Steltenpohl says he has learnt from the experience, as well as from several other unsuccessful ventures he launched after leaving Odwalla.
He now wants to keep Califia Farms "independent" for as long as possible. But is that realistic?
Phil Howard, an associate professor at the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University, says that only a "small number" of values-driven firms manage to stay independent and be successful.
"As big distributors and retailers consolidate it becomes difficult to compete, so many smaller firms sell up to multinationals," he explains.
"And a lot depends on the small firm's ownership structure, for instance whether they need to repay investors."
Califia Farms has already sold a minority stake to a private equity firm, but Mr Steltenpohl says the investor fully shares its values. Califia is also majority owned by the farm that produces its oranges, while Mr Steltenpohl is its boss and a founding shareholder.
Tellingly, he has hired people with experience of working in bigger firms to help guide the business.
These include a plant manager who trained at Danone, and a head of human resources who worked for Virgin boss Richard Branson.
Mr Steltenpohl says he is determined to strike a better balance between keeping the firm on track, and upholding his "starry eyed" ideals than he did at Odwalla.
That said, he hopes business culture is changing to accommodate different notions of success.
"It is partly the fault of the business media and business schools," he says, "but we tend to celebrate a firm's growth and quarterly reports above all else.
"But wouldn't it be great if we were saying, 'Wow, they managed to stay independent for 20 years, stayed true to their values, and they grew their sales too.'"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41390704
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Newspaper headlines: Referendum riots and 'Tory infighting' - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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The Catalan poll descending into violence, and division in the Conservative Party make headlines in Monday's papers.
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The Papers
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Several of the front pages have a picture of a Spanish policeman clad in armour brandishing a baton as he confronts protesters in Barcelona.
"Spain torn apart," says the headline in the Times, "as 850 are hurt in referendum riots".
The Financial Times warns that the vote threatens to trigger one of the gravest political and constitutional crises in Spain's 40-year old democracy.
For the Daily Telegraph, the clashes have "plunged the EU into a new crisis" - because of a failure by Brussels to criticise the Spanish government's violent response.
The Sun describes the scenes as "Helldorado".
Elsewhere, the i is among those reporting a backlash among senior Tories against Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson over his recent interventions in the Brexit debate. Some are said to have warned "nobody is unsackable".
The Daily Mail sounds of note of exasperation, with the headline: "What a time to be squabbling".
Nevertheless, according to the lead in the Daily Express, Theresa May is "winning the Brexit battle".
It highlights claims by the prime minister on Sunday's Andrew Marr show that a string of European leaders have personally praised plans for the UK's departure - laid out in her recent Florence speech.
The Daily Mirror claims an exclusive with a report that the captain of a nuclear submarine has been relieved of his duties as military chiefs investigate an alleged inappropriate relationship with a female officer.
It believes senior naval officers have been sent to the vessel, in international waters, to sort things out.
The MoD confirmed an investigation was taking place but gave no details.
The Daily Mail reports a study suggesting half of all NHS dentists plan to leave the health service within five years.
A survey carried out by the British Dental Association found 58% want to go private, move overseas, retire or quit the profession.
NHS Engand tells the paper there are 3,800 more dentists offering NHS care than a decade ago, with no significant increase in the number leaving.
And finally, there are pictures all over the papers of Prince Harry apparently kissing Meghan Markle in public for the first time.
The Sun says it has "sparked a frenzy of engagement speculation".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41463594
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Tory members vent about the mismanaged election campaign - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Many worry that unless changes from Eric Pickles' new report are implemented, the party will disappear
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UK Politics
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"Why would anybody, let alone a normal person, want to become a member of the Conservative Party?"
"I'm beginning to lose the will to live."
This was some distance from the slick choreography you can become inured to at party conferences.
This was a public post-mortem in a marquee.
A brutally honest dissection of humiliating failure at the general election.
The Conservative Home website hosted a discussion for party members to say it as they saw it - and the room festered with irritation, anger and a forest of raised hands.
For more than an hour, the criticisms came.
The outspoken John Strafford, from the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, predicted Armageddon for the Tories.
Party membership, he said, had been allowed to decline below 100,000 nationally and 300 constituency associations had no more than 100 members - and no more than 10 of them were up for doing stuff or were activists.
It was Mr Strafford who said this was "an utter, total disgrace".
"Eventually there will be no members left, and that will be the end, goodbye," he claimed.
A visibly angry Sir Eric Pickles, who has written a report on the party's failure at the election, sarcastically congratulated him on "getting tomorrow's headlines".
The room by now crackled with irritation - as members set out what they saw as a range of structural, organisational and practical reasons that contributed to the party's failure to win an overall majority.
The party's losing candidate in Halifax in West Yorkshire, the marginal seat where the party published its now widely derided manifesto, was highly critical of the national party.
Labour's Holly Lynch increased her majority in Halifax following June's general election
Chris Pearson said his team had been threatened with disciplinary action if they didn't follow central dictat about the areas of the constituency they targeted, despite what he saw as their superior local knowledge.
"Everything does seem to be quite predominantly London," he added, about the party's organisation and staffing.
It was a party member from Cambridge who questioned why anyone would want to sign up to join the party right now.
Sir Eric Pickles said: "We can't have the manifesto being written quietly in a corner," and insisted "someone should be unambiguously in charge of the election".
His report, complete with 126 recommendations, suggested there was "a clear campaigning deficiency" and a need for more young people and members of ethnic minorities to join and support the Conservatives.
Paul Goodman, the editor of Conservative Home, fretted that unless someone was charged with ensuring Sir Eric's ideas were implemented over the next 10 years, many could fall by the wayside.
"We will be in such a mess if we don't push this through," Sir Eric said.
Two contributors from the floor said the Tories could learn from Momentum, the grassroots movement inspired by the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The Tory MP Nusrat Ghani agreed: "One of the ways it recruits is pinpointing local campaigns. A local school, a local hospital, to nudge people along to get involved. A bottom-up approach is absolutely key."
Graham Brady says the Tories must work harder to ensure more public sector workers would vote for party
The former minister Edwina Currie, reflecting on everything she had heard, said the meeting left her "losing the will to live".
But she was furious that "blithering idiots" from party headquarters had sent her and fellow canvassers to addresses in Derbyshire which had been picked out to target because the occupiers earned relatively high salaries.
What Central Office hadn't realised, she said, was that in her patch many of the best paid were public sector workers with Labour posters in the windows.
Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, said it was time the party "tried to convince primary school teachers of the benefit of the free market" and work harder to ensure more public sector workers would consider voting Tory.
But when Mrs Currie complained about the number of white men in senior roles within the party, Mr Brady joked: "There is nothing I can do about being white or being a man. Nothing I'd wish to do anyway!"
As this public inquest rolled into its second hour, hands were still popping up: passionate activists with questions, observations and irritations about an election that went badly wrong.
• None May: We 'listened' on student fees
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41461057
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Match of the Day 2: Newcastle subtitle error leaves BBC red-faced - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Subtitling software misunderstood the word "comma" and inserted "scum" into the text.
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Tyne & Wear
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An "unfortunate error" in subtitling led to Newcastle United being labelled "black and white scum" during the BBC's Match of the Day 2 programme.
Commentator Guy Mowbray said Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge had scored five goals against the black and whites.
But software confused the word "comma", spoken by a subtitler, and put "scum" into the on-screen text.
The BBC said the error was spotted and corrected immediately.
It was noticed by football writer Paul Brown, who tweeted a screenshot from the show on Sunday night, saying "MOTD2 subtitler evidently not a Newcastle fan."
During the commentary Guy Mowbray said: "Sturridge has scored in all four of his previous Premier League starts at Newcastle. For the Reds against the black and whites, he boasts five goals in five appearances."
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Football commentary is re-voiced for subtitles by someone known as a "respeaker".
A BBC spokeswoman said: "Our live subtitling service is normally very accurate and makes our content much more accessible, but there are times when unfortunate errors occur.
"On this occasion the error was spotted and corrected immediately."
The Magpies went on to draw 1-1 in the Premier League home game.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-41473443
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Justin Welby: I hope I do not oversee Queen's funeral - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Archbishop of Canterbury says the event would be "the most extraordinary historic moment".
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UK
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The Archbishop of Canterbury has said he hopes he does not have to carry out the Queen's funeral.
The Most Rev Justin Welby said it would be an "enormous" public event and "the most extraordinary historic moment".
In an interview for British GQ, he described the Queen as "one of the most extraordinary people I have ever met".
The archbishop also told the magazine he was unable to "give a straight answer" to the question on whether gay sex is sinful.
Interviewed by former Labour communications director Alistair Campbell, Mr Welby - who took up his current post in 2012 - was asked whether he loses sleep thinking he might have to preside over the Queen's funeral.
"I don't lose sleep and I do hope I don't have to do that," he said.
"It's enormous, whoever does it - God willing someone else - because it is an enormous public event. But as a parish priest, at every funeral you think about the enormity of it."
He added: "I don't want to get into details because it is not something I want to talk about, but the Queen is the most extraordinary person, one of the most extraordinary people I have ever met, in every possible way."
As the Queen is the supreme governor of the Church of England, it might be expected that the church's most senior clergyman would carry out the duty of leading her funeral when that time comes. But her 65-year reign has already outlasted Mr Welby's six previous incumbents in the post.
During the interview, for the November issue of the magazine, the archbishop is also asked if gay sex is sinful.
"Do you know, we have done religion, we have done politics, why am I surprised we are on to gay sex?" he said.
"You know very well that is a question I can't give a straight answer to. Sorry, badly phrased there. I should have thought that one through."
When asked why, he went on: "Because I don't do blanket condemnation and I haven't got a good answer to the question.
"I'll be really honest about that. I know I haven't got a good answer to the question.
"Inherently, within myself, the things that seem to me to be absolutely central are around faithfulness, stability of relationships and loving relationships."
The Church of England's stance on sexuality was in the spotlight earlier this year, when the church's ruling body voted against a controversial report that said marriage in church should only be between a man and a woman.
Current rules ban the marriage of same-sex couples in the Church. Services of blessing for civil partnerships are also prohibited, but informal prayers are allowed.
In July, the archbishop said the Church of England would spend three years on a document outlining a new stance on sexuality.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41460222
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Who's that girl? GCSE student wows at conference - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Lauren Stocks, 16, on public speaking, trolls and her political ambitions for the future.
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UK
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Newly-reformed GCSEs are leaving teenagers 'spaced out and stressed out', Lauren Stocks tells Labour delegates
It was a moment that caught the Labour party conference off-guard.
Sixteen-year-old Lauren Stocks had just received her GCSE results and wanted to talk about the toll that changes to the exams had taken on her and her classmates.
In a passionate speech, she articulated the scale of the mental health problems that blight her generation.
"There's a statistic we were shown when I was about 13 or 14 that told me three in 10 people in every classroom suffer with a mental illness.
Using strong language, she denied that to be the case. "It's a good half.
"I could've walked into any food tech, history, art, maths classroom and just watched seas of spaced-out, stressed-out, depressed kids, in a battlefield where they can't afford pens and paper," she said, gulping hard.
"It is a disgusting sight," she told delegates, and urged parents of teenagers with newly-reformed GCSEs ahead of them to make sure they know they are loved.
In under three minutes, Lauren delivered a speech conveying the impatience of youth. ("I didn't make notes before I came on stage and my thoughts will be fairly scattered, so please go easy on me.")
Her audience were on their feet, cheering Lauren for a speech that's since been shared thousands of times on social media.
Lauren has been a Labour party member since the age of 14
"It felt pretty weird," she tells the BBC. "I was kind of in my own little world.
"To see everyone stand up - I really appreciated it."
And the plaudits didn't stop there. "My Snapchat blew up," she says. About 30 people from her old school contacted her to say they were really glad she had spoken up for them.
"I have suffered with many a mental health issue. I was worried it was just me but the response was overwhelming."
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Some social media users though, with characteristic brutality, were less than warm, criticising her choice of hair dye and appearance.
The impact of these negative comments is something her mum, Sarah Hilton, worries about a lot but Lauren less so.
"They're saying: 'That's not a girl'.
"When I checked last night, I was definitely female," she says, laughing it off.
She also diplomatically brushes off the inevitable parallels being drawn with a famous 1977 Conservative conference speech by another 16-year-old, which was watched by a smiling prime minister-in-waiting - Margaret Thatcher.
"I haven't seen the speech but I have studied William Hague," she says. "I don't have the best opinion of him."
Lauren's mum, Sarah Hilton, says her daughter has been educating her about politics
Despite her years, Lauren is no stranger to public speaking. Now under-19 representative for North West Young Labour, she has been an activist for two years.
Her interest in politics was first piqued at 12 as she idly watched YouTube videos of people discussing left-wing ideas.
After a brief dalliance with the Greens, she joined the Labour party on 3 August 2015. "I remember if as if it were yesterday," she says, almost wistfully.
A few weeks later, Lauren received an email asking people to attend a Manchester food bank that leader Jeremy Corbyn would be visiting.
"I asked mum if I could go. I'd never been into Manchester alone before.
"My mum dropped me off at the food bank and after that they kept me involved," she says.
After her experience of sitting the new GCSEs, she says students should be empowered and told what they can achieve, not threatened that if they fail, they'll be left watching Jeremy Kyle all day.
This year's GCSE students in England were the first to sit exams which were numerically graded and tougher than in the past.
The changes, introduced by former education secretary Michael Gove, resulted in a dip in results, but schools minister Nick Gibb said pupils and teachers were rising to the challenge.
Exam regulators said the new qualifications had allowed students to better demonstrate their abilities and had better prepared them for further study.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We recognise there are challenges facing the profession including a more demanding curriculum and higher expectations for pupils. Where staff are struggling we trust head teachers to take action to tackle the causes of stress and ensure they have the support they need.
"The government has also taken steps to reduce the burden of exams on young people including removing multiple, pointless resits and investing £1.4 billion in children's mental health services".
Conference was, Lauren admits, a fast-paced eye-opener but also a chance to meet her heroes, Dennis Skinner ("soon-to-be Sir"), writer and activist Owen Jones ("I love him so much") and Laura Smith ("a rising star who I hope to see in Cabinet").
For all her enthusiasm for politics and its people - and despite lobbying from her mum - she is not certain that's where her future lies.
Lauren is now studying history, sociology and politics at college, and plans to stand for council in 2019.
But beyond that, she says she has no political ambitions. "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41401263
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Clare Balding denies Saga interview 'diva' claims - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The BBC presenter was accused of wanting to make changes to a magazine interview.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Clare Balding was the cover star of Saga Magazine
Clare Balding has denied claims that she demanded changes were made to a magazine interview and replaced quotes with her own "self-promoting words".
Journalist Ginny Dougary branded Balding an "insecure diva" in an article in The Guardian about her experience interviewing the presenter for Saga magazine.
But the BBC presenter tweeted that she "did not have copy approval".
She said it was the editor of Saga that had asked for changes.
Saga magazine issued a statement saying that Dougary was "mistaken in thinking that copy approval was given. It was not."
It said it had edited the interview "with the full involvement of the writer".
Dougary said she had asked for her byline to be removed from the article after a number of changes were made to her copy, claiming these were due to requests from the BBC presenter and her agent.
The journalist also said Balding had added quotes about hosting the women's European football championships as well as a "shameless puff" for her own children's book.
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Saga said it was the magazine editor's view that the "original article did not cover the wide range of issues that Clare holds dear" and the writer "suggested we add lines ourselves".
It said it was the editor's decision alone to edit any article that is "not exactly right" for the magazine and that they do "not defer that decision to PRs or interviewees".
It's not at all clear what changes or approval - if any - the broadcaster Clare Balding (or those around her) sought for her interview in Saga. I don't know the specifics of the case, and therefore couldn't pass judgement.
But in general, copy approval transgresses a fundamental principle of journalism. By in effect granting the interviewee final say in what is published, it gives them the right to shape what enters the public domain.
No journalist should be willing to cede control in that manner. When setting up interviews, it is reasonable for journalists to give a general outline of the subject matter to be discussed. But it is foolhardy to give final say to the interviewee.
In general, it is the most powerful people who have most to gain from copy approval. Given the basic job of journalists is to scrutinise power, that is all the more reason for journalists to resist such a move.
"Saga Magazine does not offer copy control, and interviews that require it are declined. In this case, quotes were checked for accuracy alone. New quotes were sourced to rebalance the article against deadline," they said.
The Guardian article was widely shared on social media with a number of journalists tweeting their agreement with Dougary.
Balding did not comment until after Saga's statement was published, revealing she had to stop herself from responding earlier in the day.
"Re the Saga saga, today has been an exercise in self-restraint," she said.
Among Dougary's claims was that she had been asked to say how "lovely" Balding was.
"I would certainly never ask anyone to call me 'lovely'. Gorgeous maybe - but never lovely!", Balding tweeted in response.
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-41468111
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Banbury murder probe: Two bodies found in Newland Road - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A 52-year-old man is being questioned after the bodies were found on Sunday night.
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Oxford
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The men's bodies were found at a property in Newland Road
Two men have been found dead at a home in Oxfordshire, prompting a murder investigation.
Police were called to Newland Road, Banbury, at 18:45 BST on Sunday. It is understood the bodies were found in a lower flat at the property.
A 52-year-old Banbury man was later arrested on suspicion of murder.
Thames Valley Police said the crime was an "isolated incident" and added that officers believe the men were known to each other.
One of the victims was in his 20s and the other was in his 30s. A cordon is in place at the address and is likely to remain for several days.
The back of the property in Banbury
Neighbours said the person living there had only been at the address for a few months.
Daniel Smau-Mare, a local resident, said: "Yesterday evening I heard banging on the door. I think it was the police.
"They were yelling to open the door but no-one did, so they smashed the door. I presume this is what they did because I heard noise, really bad noise."
Appealing for witnesses, Det Ch Insp Craig Kirby, of Thames Valley Police, said: "I understand that there will naturally be some concerns in the community, but I would like to reassure people that a full investigation is now taking place."
The men's next of kin have been informed but formal identification and a post-mortem examination are yet to take place, police added.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-41463989
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Macklemore's Same Love takes centre stage at Sydney grand final - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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There were calls to ban the song Same Love from the NRL final amid Australia's gay marriage vote.
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Australia
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Macklemore: "No freedom 'til we're equal, damn right I support it"
American artist Macklemore sang in support of gay rights at one of Australia's biggest annual sporting events during the country's vote on same-sex marriage.
The singer performed a set ahead of kick-off in the National Rugby League (NRL) grand final in Sydney.
Opponents had called for the song Same Love to be left out of the show to stop the event becoming "politicised".
But Macklemore said it "was one of the greatest honours of my career".
Australians are in the middle of a postal vote on whether gay marriage should be introduced. The poll is non-binding for the government, but has been deeply divisive.
Seattle native Macklemore - whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty - had previously told Australia's Channel Nine he would donate his portion of the proceeds from the song's sales in Australia to the Yes campaign.
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The song had rocketed to the top of Australia's charts on the iTunes digital music store.
Among its lyrics are: "I might not be the same, but that's not important / No freedom 'til we're equal / Damn right I support it."
A petition asking the NRL to ban what it called an "LGBTIQ anthem", started by former rugby league player Tony Wall, gathered thousands of signatures in the lead-up to the final on Sunday.
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Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was among those calling for the song - one of Macklemore's biggest hits - to be excluded.
But the song, accompanied by rainbow pyrotechnics, was the centrepiece of his set in front of 80,000 stadium spectators and was televised around the world.
While the music played, the stadium's large screens displayed the NRL logo with the message: "We stand for equality."
The postal ballot runs for two months, ending on 7 November. Opinion polls have suggested a majority of Australians support same-sex marriage.
After Macklemore's performance ended, Melbourne Storm handily defeated their rivals the North Queensland Cowboys 34-6 to win the grand final.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41461003
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Body clock scientists win Nobel Prize - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Understanding how our bodies keep time has "vast implications" for health, say Nobel committee.
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Health
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Three scientists who unravelled how our bodies tell time have won the 2017 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine.
The body clock - or circadian rhythm - is the reason we want to sleep at night, but it also drives huge changes in behaviour and body function.
The US scientists Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young will share the prize.
The Nobel prize committee said their findings had "vast implications for our health and wellbeing".
A clock ticks in nearly every cell of the human body, as well as in plants, animals and fungi.
Our mood, hormone levels, body temperature and metabolism all fluctuate in a daily rhythm.
Even our risk of a heart attack soars every morning as our body gets the engine running to start a new day.
The body clock so precisely controls our body to match day and night that disrupting it can have profound implications.
The ghastly experience of jet lag is caused by the body being out of sync with the world around it.
In the short term, body clock disruption affects memory formation, but in the long term it increases the risk of diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
"If we screw that system up we have a big impact on our metabolism," said Prof Russell Foster, a body clock scientist at the University of Oxford.
He told the BBC he was "very delighted" that the US trio had won, saying they deserved the prize for being the first to explain how the system worked.
He added: "They have shown us how molecular clocks are built across all the animal kingdom."
Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young have won the highest accolade in science.
The trio's breakthroughs were on fruit flies, but their findings explain how "molecular feedback loops" keep time in all animals.
Jeffrey Hall and Michael Rosbash isolated a section of DNA called the period gene, which had been implicated in the circadian rhythm.
The period gene contained instructions for making a protein called PER. As levels of PER increased, it turned off its own genetic instructions.
As a result, levels of the PER protein oscillate over a 24-hour cycle - rising during the night and falling during the day.
Michael Young discovered a gene called timeless and another one called doubletime. They both affect the stability of PER.
If PER is more stable then the clock ticks more slowly, if it is less stable then it runs too fast. The stability of PER is one reason some of us are morning larks and others are night owls.
Together, they had uncovered the workings of the molecular clock inside the fly's cells.
Dr Michael Hastings, who researches circadian timing at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, told the BBC: "Before this work in fruit flies we really didn't have any ideas of the genetic mechanism - body clocks were viewed as a black box on a par with astrology."
He said the award was a "fantastic" decision.
He added: "We encounter the body clock when we experience jet lag and we appreciate it's debilitating for a short time, but the real public health issue is rotational shift work - it's a constant state of jet lag."
2016 - Yoshinori Ohsumi for discovering how cells remain healthy by recycling waste.
2015 - William C Campbell, Satoshi Ōmura and Youyou Tu for anti-parasite drug discoveries.
2014 - John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser for discovering the brain's navigating system.
2013 - James Rothman, Randy Schekman, and Thomas Sudhof for their discovery of how cells precisely transport material.
2012 - Two pioneers of stem cell research - John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka - were awarded the Nobel after changing adult cells into stem cells.
2011 - Bruce Beutler, Jules Hoffmann and Ralph Steinman shared the prize after revolutionising the understanding of how the body fights infection.
2010 - Robert Edwards for devising the fertility treatment IVF which led to the first "test tube baby" in July 1978.
2009 - Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak for finding the telomeres at the ends of chromosomes.
• None 'Arrogance' over need for sleep
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41468229
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Australian boy fatally crushed by gym weights - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The 15-year-old had been attempting to bench press almost 100kg (220 lb), local media said.
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Australia
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The teenager was lifting weights (not pictured) when he was crushed
An Australian teenager has died after being crushed by weightlifting equipment at a gym.
Ben Shaw, 15, was attempting to bench press almost 100kg (220 lb) when the accident happened in Brisbane on Tuesday, local media said.
He was found by staff and taken to hospital, where he died on Saturday. It is not known how long he was trapped.
"Ben passed away yesterday afternoon with his family and friends around him," his family said in a statement.
"Ben was able to leave a legacy and donate his organs and tissue, giving life to others."
Authorities said it was too early to say whether charges would be laid, but they would conduct a thorough investigation.
According to rules at the Police Citizens Youth Club gym, people under 16 must be supervised when lifting weights.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41464134
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Wimbledon station commuters flee train in 'Bible' panic - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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People climbed on to tracks after being "panicked" by a man reading verses aloud from the holy book.
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London
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Some passengers forced open the doors of train
Passengers forced open the doors on a busy rush-hour train and climbed on to tracks after becoming "panicked" in the carriage.
It happened outside Wimbledon station in south-west London at 08:30 BST as a man apparently began reading lines aloud from the Bible.
Commuters became scared when the man also began saying "death is not the end", a passenger said.
Rail power lines were cut as passengers "self-evacuated", police said.
Trains on the route were disrupted for nearly 12 hours, but are now running normally.
Ian, who was on the train, said the man's Bible-reading led to a "commotion" and a "crush".
He said someone then asked the man to stop speaking "as he was scaring people" and "the guy stopped and stood there with his head down".
The train had been travelling between Shepperton and London Waterloo. British Transport Police (BTP) said no arrests had been made.
A Network Rail spokesperson said no passengers or train staff were injured but "significant delays" would continue on services in and out of Waterloo.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41466140
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Las Vegas shooting: As it happened - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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At least 58 people are dead and more than 500 taken to hospital after Las Vegas shooting - police.
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US & Canada
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Crystal from California was at the concert with some of her family. She describes helping three people with gunshot wounds.
"I could see the bullets ricocheting off the gravel on the floor, so we ran. We ran to our pick-up truck which wasn't far away.
"As we tried to make our way out of the parking lot a security guard flagged us down. He had two gunshot victims with him.
"We got them in the back of the truck. One had been shot in the head the other in the ankle, both were conscious.
"We tried to get out of the area as fast as possible but it was chaos, people were running everywhere and into the road."
Read more about how average Americans responded to the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-41466148
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Five-year-old girl 'misses' Muslim fosterers, court hears - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Tower Hamlets Council says the five-year-old girl's foster family gave "warm and appropriate care".
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UK
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A Christian girl said to have been fostered by a Muslim family had a "warm and appropriate" relationship with the carers, a family court has heard.
The five-year-old, who is now living with her grandmother, was placed into the family's care in March by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
The judge, Khatun Sapnara, said the girl expressed "she misses the foster carer and wants to see her again".
She said the council was happy the family care was "warm and appropriate".
Judge Sapnara said Tower Hamlets produced an "interesting and robust defence" to the media's reporting of the case - following claims reported in the Times that the family did not speak English and that the girl had not been allowed to wear a crucifix.
She said: "The local authority has satisfied itself that the foster carer has not behaved in any way which is inconsistent with their provision of warm and appropriate care for the child."
The council will be allowed to publish an "agreed narrative of events" in the coming days, Judge Sapnara added.
The court also heard that the child, who was taken from her mother after police became concerned for her welfare, would be taken to her maternal grandmother's country of origin if a permanent order was made to grant her care of the girl.
The girl holds dual nationality of both the UK and that country, which cannot be named to protect the child's identity.
The judge said allowing Tower Hamlets to make a statement about the child would quell "frenzied speculation" around the case and allow the child a degree of privacy.
She said the court would not make a finding about newspaper reporting of the case, adding: "It is simply about providing balanced information in the public domain."
Judge Sapnara disclosed in August that the child had been removed from her mother, who has problems with substance abuse.
The case will conclude in a final hearing in December.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41476357
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BBC Three's Overshadowed: The vlogging drama tackling anorexia - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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"I don't think I've seen anything on television like this before," says lead actress Michelle Fox.
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Entertainment & Arts
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BBC Three drama Overshadowed is a little different to most TV shows - it's made up entirely of the vlogs of its lead character, Imogene. It's through these videos that her followers begin to notice all is not well in her life.
"I don't think I've seen anything on television like this, I think it's a new kind of concept," says Michelle Fox, the actress who plays the teenage central character of Overshadowed.
Michelle plays Imogene, a young vlogger who uploads videos every day - recorded in her bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, at school... even while out jogging.
But, over the course of eight 10-minute episodes, viewers gradually see her start to show signs of anorexia.
"Basically, Imogene decides to share her life with the world, and the world sees more of her life than she does, with the outside force of the eating disorder," Michelle explains.
"It's an insight to Imogene's life and how anorexia is affecting it.
"In the first couple of episodes, she seems like a really normal teenager, and she's lovely, embarrassing, funny, and I think it's not until the end of episode one that you get a snippet that something is not right."
The show's title, Overshadowed, is a reference to Imogene feeling that there's an outside force literally standing over her, compelling her to skip meals and count calories.
This external force is presented as an on-screen character - Anna (a reference to anorexia) - who constantly pushes Imogene to eat less and exercise more.
"When someone is going through a mental health crisis or eating disorder, often people blame the person, 'Why can't you just stop? Why can't you see what's going on?'" Michelle says.
"And by showing the eating disorder as a separate entity, you remove the control, you can see the person trying, but there's this outside control overshadowing them. It's not this person's fault, they're not doing it in a malicious way."
Tackling such a serious subject would be a tall order for any TV show, let alone one which is doing it via a series of vlogs - a relatively new format.
"I think this is a good way to tell a story," Michelle says.
"The way I like to watch things as a viewer is I like to be a bit ahead, and be in on the secret, on what's going on.
"But with a vlog, it's blunt, it's instant, people say how they feel, and as an audience member it feels real, like you're right there with the person, especially because they're talking to you directly.
"Imogene is speaking to herself but she's also speaking to a camera, so it puts the viewer in an awkward and horrible position, like the struggle with mental illness is really in your face."
The slightly unusual format was what helped Michelle get the part.
The Irish actress graduated from Bristol Old Vic drama school last summer and was appearing in the theatre's production of Medea when she heard about Overshadowed.
"My agent called and she said the casting director wanted to see me, so as well as recording a traditional audition tape, I sent in tapes which I filmed myself on my phone, because I had a feeling the series might all be shot handheld.
"So I sent in two different copies, and the casting director really liked that, and I got cast off the tape [i.e. without meeting the casting director in person], which was really surprising."
Overshadowed is certainly one of the first TV dramas to be told through vlogging, so producers will be watching closely to see how the audience reacts.
But Michelle says: "I think this could be the first of many."
Overshadowed is available to watch now on BBC Three.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
• None 8 things to know about YouTuber Joe Sugg
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41404054
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Why don't I want to have sex with the man I love? - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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At first Stacey thought she wasn't normal, then she thought she might be ill. Finally she discovered she was actually asexual.
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Magazine
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It is thought that between 1-3% of the population is asexual, meaning they do not feel any sexual attraction to other people. For years Stacey was puzzled about why she never wanted to sleep with anyone, even her husband. As she explains here, it was her doctor that told her the truth.
For a really long time I thought I was broken mentally or physically in some way, I thought it wasn't normal to not want to have sex with people.
Friends of mine would be talking about boyfriends they'd had or celebrities they'd like to bed, and I just didn't think about anybody in that very specific, sexual sense.
When I was in my early twenties I really started noticing it, but I didn't talk to anybody about it because I just thought, "They're going to think I'm well strange," so I just kept quiet.
Asexuality has quite a spectrum so although I might not be sexually attracted to people I do get very romantically attracted to people.
I'd met my boyfriend - who is now my husband - when I was 19, and I didn't know what asexuality was then, so I just thought I was bonkers or really behind the curve or something.
I was thinking, "I absolutely love this man, and if he proposes to me I will 100% say yes because I know I want to spend the rest of my life with him, so why don't I want to sleep with him? That's crazy."
Stacey spoke to BBC Radio 4's iPM, the programme which starts with its listeners. If you want to contact the programme, please send an email.
We sort of went on a bit of journey of discovery together, me and the hubby. He was very much, "I am in love with you. I will wait as long as it takes, if it ever happens."
He was really supportive and never tried to make me do anything I wasn't comfortable with.
Societal norms suggest that sex and children are the way forward in a relationship and all my friends were going off and getting married and having babies. I thought, "Oh God, there's this expectation that I should be sleeping with my husband and having children."
I started having a recurring nightmare that my husband was going to leave me for somebody who looked exactly like me but who would actually sleep with him, and I got to a point where my own anxieties were making me almost unbearable.
I thought, "Do you know what? I've got to sort this out, I've got to find out what's going on."
By this point I was probably 27 or 28.
I made the massive mistake of searching the internet for medical reasons that might cause low sex drive. That was a mistake, an absolute mistake. There were lots of little things that were easily fixable like dodgy hormone levels, but the one that caught my eye was brain tumours.
I was like, "Oh no, I'm dying of a brain tumour."
I went to my doctor and I said, "Look, is it serious? Am I going to die?"
She was like, "Calm down, you're probably just asexual."
I was like, "What's that? What?"
So she pointed me towards some websites - and it was like I'd found my people, it was so exciting.
I'd never heard the term "asexual" before.
I did some more research and I started feeling a lot more comfortable in myself, so I spoke to my husband about it and I said, "This label does kind of take things off the table permanently."
And he pretty much just said, "Well, I'd kind of assumed that anyway, so it's fine."
He's been absolutely great, he's been so understanding. I like to think it's because of my shining personality that he thinks, "I've got to hold on to that one."
I've never felt what most people would describe as horny and if I ever do feel any slight inkling of that it's very, very small, like an itch that I need to scratch.
It's a very biological process for me rather than an arousal kind of thing, if that makes sense, and I don't want to involve other people, not even my husband.
It's like, "Yeuch, here's this feeling, I'll go deal with that."
I almost disassociate from it.
"I'm 60 years old and have never knowingly met another person who is asexual. I had never even heard it publicly acknowledged." - Lucy
"When I first discovered that I was asexual, I tried to come out to a few people, and while some were very open to it, I've had some very negative reactions. A group of team mates from my university sports team decided to arrange a night out for me to 'help' me get laid, when they discovered that I hadn't had sex, not caring that it was due to my asexuality." - Scott
"I have been met with scorn, disbelief and disgusted looks when I have shared my asexuality with other people. People have told me that 'it's not a real thing' and that 'I'm making it up for attention.' I have only now begun to think of myself as a whole human being, with no 'missing pieces'." - Anonymous, 14 years old
"I don't have a problem with physical contact. It's just I don't see any others as sexual prey… Even though I have never discussed this with my wonderful mum, she is not blind to the fact that I live happily alone, child-free and have no interest in dating. She has even been on the brink of tears, concerned that - and I quote - 'It might be something I did that made you... not normal.'" - Dani
Asexuality is a spectrum and there are a lot of asexual people who, once they've built up a relationship with a person, feel comfortable having sex with them. But for me, any time I've ever got close, my whole body's been like, "No, no thank you, stop that now, not having it."
It's just the kids thing - people that I tell almost always immediately say, "Oh my god, but how are you going to have kids, though?"
Well, there are a lot of ways that I could have kids if I wanted them, it's not completely out of the realms of possibility.
I've only been aware about asexuality for about three or four years. I like the label ACE [short for "asexual"]. I find it almost comforting, and it has really helped me understand who I am, how I behave and how my mind works.
I do celebrate being ACE, I'm quite proud of it, and I do like to talk about it because I would like more people to understand it and not judge people for not wanting to have sex. I think if I'd known what asexuality was back when I was 18 or 19 my mental health could have been a whole lot better for most of my twenties.
Funnily enough, before I discovered asexuality my husband used to call me Stace Ace.
For more information on sex and relationships you can visit BBC Advice.
You can listen to iPM on Radio 4 at 05:45 on Saturday 7 October, or catch up later on the BBC iPlayer
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41469511
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Detective Leanne McKie death: Husband charged with murder - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Detective Leanne McKie was discovered in the water at Poynton Park, Cheshire, on Friday.
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Manchester
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Det Leanne McKie had worked at Greater Manchester Police since 2001
The husband of a serving police detective who was found dead in a lake has been charged with her murder.
Mother-of-three Leanne McKie, 39, was discovered in the water at Poynton Park, Cheshire, on Friday.
Det McKie joined Greater Manchester Police in 2001 and worked in the force's serious sexual offences unit.
Darren McKie, 43, from Burford Close, Wilmslow, who is also a police officer, is due before South and East Cheshire Magistrates' Court in Crewe on Tuesday.
He was arrested in the early hours of Friday.
Leanne McKie joined Greater Manchester Police in 2001 and "worked tirelessly to provide support and seek justice for victims" according to Chief Constable Ian Hopkins.
Earlier Cheshire Police said they are keen to speak to four people who were seen walking along A523, London Road North, towards Stockport at about 00:15 BST on Friday.
They also want to speak to anyone who may have seen Det McKie's car - a red Mini with the registration number DA12 DFO - between Thursday afternoon and the early hours of Friday.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41473750
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Six graphics that sum up Puerto Rico disaster - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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As Trump says the recovery cannot go on "forever", only 10% of the population has electricity.
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US & Canada
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Many interior roads are still heavily damaged, as officials prioritised mending coastal roads
The island of Puerto Rico was devastated by the worst hurricane in its history over three weeks ago.
Parts of the Caribbean island - home to 3.4 million US citizens - remain isolated, and phone networks have been catastrophically ruined, making it difficult to confirm the picture on the ground.
US President Donald Trump, who visited the island two weeks after Hurricane Maria hit, has pledged a quick recovery but experts say it could take months to complete.
Meanwhile - three weeks after the disaster - only about 10% of Puerto Ricans have electricity and many are fleeing for the mainland United States.
What does Puerto Rico's recovery look like three weeks after Maria?
Part of the reason Puerto Rico's recovery has been slowed is the island's reliance on air and sea ports to bring fuel, water and food. Runways needed to be cleared of debris and supplies were stuck in the island's ports because of a US law that limits shipping between parts of the US to US-flagged vessels.
Puerto Rico pressed the US to lift the act, and President Trump waived the act for 10 days to help with the recovery.
Mr Trump has also blamed local truck drivers for not getting back to work delivering supplies more quickly.
Among the most lingering dangers of the hurricane is the lack of clean water on the island, which has forced residents to gather from natural springs and ponds wherever possible.
Public health experts worry that this problem will make the recovery even more deadly as sanitary conditions worsen.
The USNS Comfort hospital ship, which arrived on 3 October, came bearing 500 medical personnel and 250 hospital beds onboard.
Puerto Ricans have been gathering water anywhere they can
While agriculture is no longer a primary driver of Puerto Rico's economy, the destruction of the vast majority of crops on the island means growers in the coffee, plantains and other popular agricultural industries have lost their entire livelihoods in a single storm.
Loss of crops also means Puerto Ricans will need to import more of their food, an effort made more complicated by the nearby exporting countries in the Caribbean who have also been hit by hurricanes.
The storm knocked much of Puerto's Rico communications infrastructure, splitting a crucial link between family members that live in the continental US and on the island, as well as mobile phone networks that could be used to organise the recovery response.
Rebuilding the mobile phone network is expected to take many months.
Residents of Puerto Rico are American citizens, although they have no voting representative in Congress and cannot send electors to vote in US presidential races.
Only about half of mainland Americans in a recent poll know Puerto Ricans are fellow Americans. In a survey, knowledge of their citizenship meant respondents were slightly more likely to support relief aid.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41447184
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Is Kamal Haasan India's next movie star-turned-politician? - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Kamal Haasan, an actor known to his fans as "hero of the world", has said he wants to tackle corruption.
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India
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Indian movie star Kamal Haasan, 62, has said he wants to enter politics.
The stage seems set to witness the arrival of a new political leader in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu - Kamal Haasan.
And unsurprisingly, he's a film star. Three of Tamil Nadu's chief ministers until the recent past have been actors.
Haasan, 62, whom his fans call "Ulaga Nayagan" or "hero of the world", has said that he will enter politics and work towards becoming chief minister to right the wrongs of corruption and communalism in public life in Tamil Nadu.
He has also said that the people of Tamil Nadu must change and become more socially and politically aware.
That's a tall order given that Tamil Nadu has been wracked by political uncertainty since the death of its previous chief minister Jayaram Jayalalitha in December 2016.
Tamil Nadu has been wracked by political uncertainty since the death of its previous chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December 2016.
Hassan's announcement that he will enter politics has led to intense speculation that he will float his own party and rejuvenate the moribund politics of Tamil Nadu.
If the state held assembly elections in "the next 100 days I will be there", said Haasan, who has been meeting politicians across the country in the last month.
In interviews following meetings with Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party, he has indicated that he is talking to politicians from different political parties for possible coalitions in the future.
Unlike his friend and rival, reigning Tamil superstar Rajnikanth, Haasan has, through the years, openly spoken of his affiliation for liberal politics. Rajnikanth said he would enter politics in May.
Haasan, however, has said that the two are friendly rivals who would behave like gentlemen in politics, and not resort to personal attacks like Tamil politicians have done in the past.
Rajnikanth is the reigning star of Tamil films
Haasan's public persona has been that of a right-thinking individual in a state rife with corruption, and sectarian and caste hostilities.
His profile as a liberal who challenges caste orthodoxies on public platforms and in his movies, and his call for humanism over religion in his films, marked a cultural shift from the cult of hero worship that stars such as Rajinikanth and MG Ramachandran (who later became the Tamil Nadu chief minister) enjoy.
Given the current vacuum in political leadership, Haasan's foray into politics has not been unwelcome despite what sceptics say.
Unlike Rajnikanth, who has more than 50,000 fan clubs, and a larger fan base that also constitutes a vote bank, Hassan's fan base of about 500,000 is seen as a lesser but well-organized, community-minded task force.
Haasan's fan clubs, known as Narpani Iyyakam or "movement for good deeds", have been associated with social welfare measures, and are not prone to the frenzy and cult-style worship that Rajnikanth commands.
A recent statement from the fan clubs read, "Kamal is not like the average politician who pretends before people, but has done a lot for society through the Iyyakkam".
Tamil film stars enjoy a special kind of adulation among the population. Three chief ministers came from the film industry.
His interviews in support of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign) and currency ban raised eyebrows.
"While he tends to be articulate, he has always been known to make obfuscating statements that rarely appeal to common folk", says a senior journalist in Chennai, the southern Indian city where Haasan lives.
"He's clever and articulate unlike Rajinkanth but his habit of speaking in riddles often sends mixed signals (which are) difficult to read by the average voter", says one political commentator.
Experts familiar with politics in Tamil Nadu point out that Haasan is also known to be a blunt speaker, often lacking the diplomacy that the tricky world of politics demands.
He is yet to list his ideas about how he would work on education, economics and employment in the state, or even clarify his plans to float a party of his own.
Haasan has been meeting politicians across the country, including state chief ministers
Haasan hails from an upper class Tamil Brahmin family of lawyers which has already thrown up two other National Award winning actors - Hassan's elder brother, Charuhasan, and his niece, Suhasini Maniratnam.
His accomplishments in the last 50 years are proof of his extraordinary talent. He made his first movie appearance as a child in 1960 and has since acted in more than 200 movies in many Indian languages, winning several prestigious national and international awards.
He has alternately been called a genius and an obsessive maverick.
He's skilled in Indian classical dance (Bharatanatyam) and music (Carnatic), and has sung in his own movies as well. A poet and a writer, he has also produced, acted, directed and written scripts for films.
Haasan's films have often courted controversy. He has explored themes from the war against terror (Vishwaroopam) to Muslim identity (Hey Ram) to humanism and the question of faith (Anbe Sivam, Dashavataram).
Can his appeal as an actor-turned-saviour bring him votes? Will the creative genius work his magic on the politics of the state? He certainly has confidence enough to announce his intentions, no small feat in an expectant state.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-41411712
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My work as a prostitute led me to oppose decriminalisation - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Sabrinna Valisce worked as a prostitute for 25 years and long campaigned for decriminalisation. Now she describes herself as an "abolitionist".
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Magazine
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For most of her life in prostitution in New Zealand, Sabrinna Valisce campaigned for decriminalisation of the sex trade. But when it actually happened she changed her mind and now argues that men who use prostitutes should be prosecuted. Julie Bindel tells her story.
When Sabrinna Valisce was 12 years old her father killed himself. It changed her life completely. Within two years, her mother had remarried and the family had moved from Australia to Wellington, New Zealand, where her life was miserable.
"I was very unhappy," says Valisce. "My stepfather was violent, and there was no-one to talk to."
She dreamed of becoming a professional dancer and set up a lunchtime ballet class at her school, which proved so popular that a well-known dance group, Limbs, came to run lessons.
But within months she found herself on the streets, selling sex to survive.
Walking through the park on her way home from school, a man offered her $100 for sex.
"I was in school uniform so there was no mistaking my age," she says.
Valisce used the money to run away to Auckland, where she checked into the YMCA.
"I tried ringing someone to ask for help in the phone booth which was outside the hostel, but it was engaged, so I waited," she says.
"The police stopped and asked what I was doing. I said, 'Waiting to use the phone'."
The officers pointed out that no-one was using the phone, so there was no need to wait. They thought they were being "terribly clever" Valisce says - but didn't seem to understand when she explained that it was the telephone she was calling that was engaged.
"They searched me for condoms thinking I was a prostitute because the YMCA was behind Karangahape Road, the infamous prostitution area.
"Ironically, that was what gave me the idea to go get some money. The police scared me but I knew I was going to be on the streets if I didn't get cash, and the act of leaning against a wall was all it took to be searched and threatened anyway, so I figured it made no difference if I was or wasn't."
Karangahape Road pictured in 2003, shortly after the law legalising prostitution was passed
Valisce walked over to Karangahape Road and asked one of the women working there for advice.
She pointed out two alleyways where Valisce could work. "She also gave me a condom, told me basic charges and advised me to make them fight for services I was prepared to do, to avoid fighting against services I wasn't prepared to do. She was very nice. Samoan, too young to be there, and clearly been there for too long already."
In 1989, after two years working on the streets, Valisce visited the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC) in Christchurch.
"I was looking for some support, perhaps to exit prostitution, but all I was offered was condoms," she says.
She was also invited to the collective's regular wine and cheese social on Friday nights.
"They started talking about how stigma against 'sex workers' was the worst thing about it, and that prostitution is just a job like any other," Valisce remembers.
It somehow made what she was doing seem more palatable.
She became the collective's massage parlour co-ordinator and an enthusiastic supporter of its campaign for the full decriminalisation of all aspects of the sex trade, including pimps.
"It felt like there was a revolution coming. I was so excited about how decriminalisation would make things better for the women," she says.
Decriminalisation arrived in 2003, and Valisce attended the celebration party held by the prostitutes' collective.
When prostitution was legalised in 2003, job adverts appeared in the New Zealand press
But she soon became disillusioned.
The Prostitution Reform Act allowed brothels to operate as legitimate businesses, a model often hailed as the safest option for women in the sex trade.
In the UK, the Home Affairs Select Committee has been considering a number of different approaches towards the sex trade, including full decriminalisation. But Valisce says that in New Zealand it was a disaster, and only benefited the pimps and punters.
"I thought it would give more power and rights to the women," she says. "But I soon realised the opposite was true."
One problem was that it allowed brothel owners to offer punters an "all-inclusive" deal, whereby they would pay a set amount to do anything they wanted with a woman.
"One thing we were promised would not happen was the 'all-inclusive'," says Valisce. "Because that would mean the women wouldn't be able to set the price or determine which sexual services they offered or refused - which was the mainstay of decriminalisation and its supposed benefits."
Aged 40, Valisce approached a brothel in Wellington for a job, and was shocked by what she saw.
"During my first shift, I saw a girl come back from an escort job who was having a panic attack, shaking and crying, and unable to speak. The receptionist was yelling at her, telling her to get back to work. I grabbed my belongings and left," she says.
Shortly afterwards, she told the prostitutes' collective in Wellington what she had witnessed. "What are we doing about this?" she asked. "Are we working on any services to help get out?"
She was "absolutely ignored", she says, and finally left the prostitutes' collective.
Until then, the organisation had been her only source of support, a place to go where no-one judged her for working in the sex trade.
The English Collective of Prostitutes also campaigns for decriminalisation
It was while volunteering there, though, that she had begun her journey towards becoming an "abolitionist".
"One of my jobs at NZPC was to find all of the media clippings. There was one thing I read: it was somebody talking about being in tears and not knowing why, and it wasn't until they were out [of the sex trade] that they understood what those feelings were.
"I had been through that for years [thinking], 'I don't know what's going on, why am I feeling like this?' and realised when I read that: 'Oh God, that's me.'"
For Valisce, there was no turning back.
She left prostitution in early 2011 and moved to the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, seeking a new direction in life, but was confused and depressed. When her neighbour tried to recruit her into webcam prostitution, she politely declined. "I felt like I had 'whore' stamped on my forehead. How did she know to ask me? I now know being female was the only reason", says Valisce. Afterwards the neighbour hurled insults at Valisce whenever she saw her.
Valisce began to meet women online, feminists who were against decriminalisation and described themselves as abolitionists - the abolitionist model, also currently being considered by the UK's Home Affairs Select Committee, criminalises the pimps and punters while decriminalising the prostituted person.
Valisce set up a group called Australian Radical Feminists and was soon invited to a conference. Held at the University of Melbourne last year, it was the first abolitionist event ever to be held in Australia, where many states have legalised the brothel trade.
Melbourne itself has had legal brothels since the mid-1980s, and although there is a lot of vocal support for the system, there is also a growing movement against it.
One Melbourne bordello floated on the stock exchange in 2002
She describes this period, when she became a feminist activist against the sex trade and began to feel free of her past, as "the start of my new life".
"I exited first emotionally, then physically and lastly intellectually," she says.
After the conference Valisce went to a doctor and was diagnosed with PTSD.
"It was as a result of my time in prostitution - it had affected me badly, but I was good at covering up the effects," she says.
"It takes a long while to feel whole again."
For Valisce, the best therapy is working with women who understand what it's like to go through the sex trade, and those who also campaign to expose the harm prostitution brings.
She is also determined to ensure that the women who are usually silenced by their abusers have a voice.
"It's not my goal to trap people in the industry or tell anyone to go get out," she says. "But I do want to make a difference, and that means speaking out as much as I can, in order to help other women."
Julie Bindel is the author of The pimping of prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41349301
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Appeal over Poynton lake death detective Leanne McKie - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Police are asking people who may have seen Leanne McKie's car before she died to come forward.
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Manchester
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Det Leanne McKie had worked at Greater Manchester Police since 2001
Detectives investigating the death of a police officer whose body was found in a lake are appealing for anyone who saw her car to come forward.
Mother-of-three Leanne McKie was discovered in the water at Poynton Park, Cheshire, on Friday.
Anyone who saw the 39-year-old's red Mini between Thursday afternoon and the early hours of Friday is urged to contact Cheshire Police.
A man, 43, from Wilmslow, remains in custody on suspicion of murder.
The mother-of-three's body was found in Poynton Park on Friday
The force has also appealed for dashcam footage from drivers on the A523 in Poynton and the A5149 Chester Road toward Wilmslow, between 23:30 BST on Thursday and 03:30 on Friday.
Det McKie joined Greater Manchester Police in 2001 and worked in the force's serious sexual offences unit.
Its Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said she had "worked tirelessly to provide support and seek justice for victims".
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41461143
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Portishead shooting: Dead man named as Spencer Ashworth, 29 - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The man was shot dead by police near Bristol last week near junction 19 of the M5.
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Bristol
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Officers opened fire on a car on the A369 Portbury Hundred near junction 19 of the M5 on Wednesday
A man who was shot dead by police near Bristol last week has been named.
He was 29-year-old Spencer Ashworth, whose last known address was in Portishead, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said.
Officers opened fire on a car on the A369 Portbury Hundred near junction 19 of the M5 on Wednesday morning.
The IPCC said information indicated officers had responded to a report of a man travelling on the M5 with a handgun who had threatened another motorist.
A commission spokesman said it had also been informed of an earlier incident in which a similar report was received by West Mercia Police.
Authorised firearms officers from Avon and Somerset Police were involved, and a number of shots were fired by four officers. A non-police issue firearm found at the scene was undergoing ballistics and forensic tests.
The IPCC said it would not now be investigating Gloucestershire Police or West Mercia Police after the forces referred themselves to the organisation over how they dealt with information received from a member of the public before the incident.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-41474518
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Boy, 17, charged over M3 closure - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The road was shut for 11 hours after a "potentially hazardous material" was dropped from a bridge.
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Hampshire & Isle of Wight
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There were lengthy delays for motorists in the Winchester area
A 17-year-old boy has been charged after "potentially hazardous material" forced the closure of the M3 motorway.
Thousands of people were stuck in queues for 11 hours on 23 September between junctions nine and 11.
The teenager, from Winchester, faces two counts of arson with intent to endanger life and two of causing danger to road users, Hampshire Police said.
He will appear before Basingstoke magistrates on Monday over incidents on the M3 on 16 and 23 September.
The discovery of the partly-ignited substance, dropped from a bridge, led to military bomb disposal experts being called to the motorway near Winchester.
The road was closed shortly before 04:00 BST and had fully reopened by about 15:30.
At the time of the incident, police revealed they were also investigating a similar case on the same bridge at about 04:00 BST on 16 September, when an object was dropped on to the carriageway.
On that occasion officers found "a quantity of broken glass" but no fire.
No-one was hurt on either occasion.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41460551
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Demi Lovato on dating and disappointment - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The pop star talks about disastrous dates, and how once she had a crush on a famous friend.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Demi Lovato: "I know I have a platform and I want to make the biggest change in the world that I can"
"Five, four, three, two, one!"
Pop star Demi Lovato is doing her best impression of Nasa's mission control as she records an insert for a forthcoming TV show.
Standing in an alcove of BBC Broadcasting House, as staff mill around with laptops and coffee cups, she's really giving it some welly - which is impressive considering she has literally no idea what she is counting down from, or to.
"Yeah, I don't know what that was for," laughs Lovato as she sidles into a seat to chat about her new album, Tell Me You Love Me.
It's the 25-year-old's sixth record since she began her career as a child actress on the TV show Barney and Friends. Since then, she's starred in Camp Rock alongside the Jonas Brothers, appeared as a judge on The X Factor USA, and become a fierce advocate for anti-bullying and mental health campaigns.
That's partly because she's had to face her own problems - including cocaine use, bulimia, self-harm, and bipolar disorder - culminating, in 2012, with a year-long stay in a sober living facility.
The star was going to take 2017 off, but was inspired to go back into the studio after a Grammy nomination for her last album, Confident
She addresses some of those issues for the first time on her new record, in particular on You Don't Do It For Me Anymore, which describes giving up drugs in the form of a break-up ballad.
The album also dwells on the end of her six-year relationship with actor Wilmer Valderrama (Lonely); and the lasting effects of her birth father's absence (Daddy Issues).
But there's also space for a few of her trademark party anthems and, on the title track, the vocal performance of her career.
With the countdown out of the way, Demi spills the beans on the stories behind the songs - and the time she almost killed a Beatle.
I know it's a cliche, but this feels like your most personal album yet. Was that the goal?
It just came out in the writing. I would go into the studio with an idea based off of a personal experience… Like one of the songs, Games, I went on a bad date and I wrote a song about it.
Oh! I'd rather not say. But just being disrespected. This guy just treated me really poorly, and was playing games the whole time.
Is it harder to date when you're in the public eye?
It's easy and it's difficult, too.
But it's kind of nice because if you find somebody attractive, you can just hit them up or, like, slide into their DMs [direct messages] and be like, "Hey, what's going on?"
The star's hits include Sorry Not Sorry, Cool For The Summer and Heart Attack
One of the songs on the album, Ruin The Friendship, is about making a move on a close friend. It's almost a comedy of errors...
A lot of people read the title and think it's about animosity - but it's a very sexy song.
Have you ever been tempted to hook up with a friend?
Yes! That's what I wrote the song about! A certain friendship that I have with someone - and I want to ruin that with them.
How long have you kept it secret?
I think it's been a long time coming.
I actually ended up sending this song to the person. And it turned out they had a song they wrote about me! So we, like, exchanged songs, which was funny.
So did that lead to something romantic, or did you just laugh about it together?
OK... On Concentrate, you sing about listening to Coldplay while you're in bed with someone. I can't imagine a less sexy band...
Oh really? I think his voice is sexy! But also - I didn't write the song.
So what would be your baby-making music?
I once asked Usher if he knew of any babies that been conceived to his music, and he said "yes, my son".
Oh. Wow. That's creepy. I can't say I listen to my own music while I'm… I'm doing it!
The singer says she is looking forward to performing her new album live
You employ a huge range of vocal colours and tones across the album. What's your favourite?
My favourite is to sing very soulfully. I think Tell Me You Love Me is my ideal, because I really get to sing in it.
I didn't write that one - but when I recorded it I was going through a break-up, and it said exactly what I was wanting to tell that person. I wanted to hear them tell me that they loved me. So I really related to that song when I recorded it.
Does Lonely refer to the same relationship?
Yeah. I didn't write on that one either, but I definitely related to it.
Daddy Issues has one of the most cutting lyrics I've heard this year: "You're the man of my dreams because you know how to leave."
That was a lyric that I came up with. When you grow up with an absent father, you have relationship issues - and sometimes you go for the type of person who feels familiar. So that lyric was about something that felt familiar.
It's about anticipating disappointment and almost thriving off it.
Yes, feeling comfortable with it. Sometimes it's more comfortable to feel pain when that's all you've known in certain situations.
Lovato has remained close friends with her Camp Rock co-star Nick Jonas, and toured with him last year
You've just been named a mental health ambassador by Global Citizen. What does that involve?
I partnered with Save The Children and Global Citizen, for the HEART programme [Healing and Education through the Arts], which is going to help displaced children and refugees in Iraq.
It started when I went over there last year, just see how I could help - and I talked to a bunch of Isis victims. I asked one girl, "What is it that you want?" and she said, "I want to be happy again."
I realised there was so much PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] that they deal with - so we're starting a pilot programme to try to help, using art therapy.
You've spoken quite candidly about your own mental health issues in the past. How do you keep on top of that when you're in the middle of promoting and touring a record?
I maintain a very healthy lifestyle, so I eat very clean, I get a lot of sleep and I set aside some time to myself every day.
What do you do in that time? Meditation?
I make sure that I work out. And that's like an hour-and-a-half of me devoting to myself.
An hour-and-a-half a day? That's tough. I manage to run about half an hour a week.
Mixed Martial Arts. [She has a blue belt in Jiu-Jitsu]
So don't get on the wrong side of Demi Lovato.
Yes - don't mess with me!
The singer shows her fun side in the video for Sorry Not Sorry
Speaking of which, is it true you once nearly ran over Paul McCartney?
Yes, but it's not as dramatic as I made it sound! He was standing in a parking space I was trying to get into and I honked the horn because someone was in my way. Then he turned around and it was Paul McCartney!
Did he give you the thumbs-up?
He turned around and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry" and I was like, "Don't worry about it! You're a Beatle!"
You realise no-one's honked their horn at Paul McCartney in years…
You know, I don't remember if I honked the horn, or if I just kept inching up so he would move…
Oh God, you could have crushed a Beatle!
Yes, it would have been a very bad headline! And the headline's bad enough already.
Demi Lovato's album, Tell Me You Love Me, is out now on Polydor records.
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-41441941
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The Olympic cost of Theresa May's tuition fees proposal - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Chris Cook, Newsnight's policy editor, assesses the implications of the government's planned changes to student tuition fees.
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UK
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There has been a fair amount of sniggering that the government has announced a freeze in tuition fees - something the Telegraph heralded as part of a "revolution".
That will matter within the sector.
But it is unlikely to change Britain's electoral dynamics.
There is, however, one enormous and expensive change that is worth unpicking in all this: Theresa May also told the Telegraph that the government is going to raise the student loan repayment threshold from £21,000 to £25,000.
This has two big effects.
First, all graduates earning above the old threshold will now repay less in any given year.
A person earning, say, £30,000 a year would pay 9% of their income above £25,000 - not £21,000. So their flow of annual repayments would drop from £810 to £450.
Second, the interest rates charged on the outstanding balance for each student is tied to how far they are above the repayment threshold.
As a result, moving this threshold will also reduce the flow of interest accruing to the Treasury that might eventually be payable by ex-students.
There are good reasons for doing this.
Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert, has been campaigning for the threshold to rise - it was, after all, promised.
And this change reduces the pinch on young people's pay very directly: it feels like a very targeted tax cut to some young graduates.
But, to channel the spirit of the Treasury, it is very expensive. Not in the short term, when I'd expect it would make a pretty small impact. But definitely in the longer term.
Demonstrations against the interdiction of tuition fees were held in 2010
Back in 2012, when the current student finance system took effect, the £21,000 threshold was supposed to rise steadily over time, but it was later frozen in nominal terms to save money.
The reason for the freeze was that the loss rate on student loans issued after 2012 was estimated to be around 45p in every pound lent out - higher than originally budgeted for. The freeze cut the cost and, combined with a few changes to how the cost is estimated, took the estimate down to about 30p.
By eye, I would estimate that this change would increase the cost by at least 10p in the pound. The losses would be over 40p in the pound. That is potentially a lot of money.
How much? This affects the so-called "Plan 2" debt pile, which stood at £44bn in the last debt statistics release.
This category is currently accruing at a rate of about £13bn a year. So with fees at current levels, it is heading to about £120bn at the end of this Parliament.
Even with the most conservative assumptions, we are talking well over £10bn of losses on the value of that debt by 2022.
That loss won't appear in any debt statistics in 2022 - but the losses will be there, and will slowly get added to the national debt between now and the 2050s.
It will happen subtly, but this is a "putting on the Olympics" level of outlay.
The politics of this are baffling, too.
The interest charge on outstanding debt - now at 6.1% for higher-earners and students still studying - was a major issue.
They could have gone for that without making the whole student finance system a lot more expensive.
This measure is a boon for current and recent students - but this looks like progress for Labour. It makes it harder for the government to defend the status quo by making it much dearer.
• None May: We 'listened' on student fees
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41459727
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Marseille attack: Two young women stabbed to death - BBC News
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2017-10-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The attacker was shot dead at the scene and the French anti-terror prosecutor is investigating.
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Europe
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The attack took place outside the train station in the southern French port city
Two young women have been stabbed to death at Marseille's main train station in a suspected terrorist attack.
Soldiers on guard at the station shot dead the attacker, who police described as of North African appearance and aged about 30. Witnesses said he shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest).
So-called Islamic State (IS) said the attacker was one of its "soldiers".
One victim had her throat slit and the other was stabbed in the stomach. They were both aged 20.
President Emmanuel Macron said he was disgusted by the "barbarous act" and paid tribute to the soldiers and the police officers who responded.
The attack took place by a bench outside the southern French city's Saint Charles train station.
Interior Minister Gérard Collomb told reporters that the attacker had fled after the first murder but returned to kill again.
Soldiers were already in the station as part of Operation Sentinelle, which sees combat troops patrol streets and protect key sites amid France's ongoing state of emergency.
IS claimed it was behind the attack via its Amaq news outlet. The group regularly claims responsibility for militant attacks it believes are inspired by its ideology.
IS recently released a tape purportedly of leader Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi in which he urged supporters to step up attacks.
Police are treating this as a terrorist attack, but there are plenty of question marks about the man and his motivation.
French media report that the killer was in his 20s with a police record for petty offences.
If so, that fits in with a steady pattern of recent attacks in France, carried out by individuals who seem to have a deep hatred of French authority, aggravated by exposure to Islamist ideas.
Update 12 October 2017: This article has been amended to give the correct age of one of the victims.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41461107
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