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Taxpayer-funded drugs 'too expensive for patients’ - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Campaigners say UK taxpayers "effectively pay twice" for medicines, increasing NHS budget pressures.
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Health
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Taxpayer-funded medical research is producing medicines which are increasingly unaffordable for patients who need them, says a new report.
Campaigners claim that the NHS spent more than £1bn on drugs developed from publically funded research in 2016.
A government spokesperson said it wanted the UK to be a global leader in research and development".
But NHS England said it was concerned about price "anomalies", and questioned whether regulatory action was needed.
It said that was essential that drug companies price their products responsibly.
It added: "Although the responsibility for the how prices are set for medicines lies with the Department of Health, and in general the system delivers value for money for patients, we are concerned about pricing anomalies at a time when the NHS needs to make significant savings which suggests further regulatory action may be needed."
The government said that it was committed to ensuring patients could access the effective medicines they needed, at a price that represented value for the NHS and for taxpayers.
A new report, seen by 5 live Investigates, claims that UK taxpayers and patients worldwide are being denied the medicines they need, despite the public sector playing a pivotal role in the discovery of new medicines.
The report, published by campaign groups Global Justice Now and Stop Aids, says that even when the government has part-funded the research and development, there is no guarantee that patients will be able to access the medicines at an affordable price.
It says: "In many cases, the UK taxpayer effectively pays twice for medicines: first through investing in R&D, and then by paying high prices for the resulting medicine once ownership has been transferred to a private company."
It claims the high prices of new medicines are "unsustainable for an already underfunded NHS".
Industry representatives counter that the situation is not that straightforward.
They say that turning scientific discoveries into medicines takes years of scientific trials and costs billions of pounds, and the process is risky, so not every drug they test will make it to market.
However, campaigners say drug companies are generating huge private profits from public funds.
Emma believes drug companies should reduce the price of cancer drugs
Emma Robertson, 35, has incurable breast cancer and is taking the drug, palbociclib.
This drug was originally developed using work carried out by publicly funded Cancer Research UK scientists in the 1980s, for which they won the 2001 Nobel Prize.
In February, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) made a provisional decision not to recommend the drug because the cost was too high in relation to its potential benefits.
However Ms Robertson is receiving the drug through a free trial provided by the drug company Pfizer.
A full course of treatment with palbociclib costs £79,650, which campaigners say means the manufacturer is vastly overpricing the drug.
They claim it could be made and sold for a profit for £1 per pill, but say in fact it is currently sold for 140 times more.
"Pfizer needs to dramatically reduce the price that it wants to charge for this drug," Ms Robertson says.
"We need to be asking some really serious questions about how drugs are researched and developed," she adds.
It told the BBC that it took more than 20 years to build on the work of the Cancer Research UK scientists.
Turning scientific discoveries into medicines takes "billions of pounds of investment, millions of hours of science and thousands of clinical trials," the firm explained.
There are around 45,000 new diagnoses of breast cancer each year in England.
Meanwhile, health bosses estimate that around 5,500 people in England would be eligible for treatment with palbociclib.
Richard Sullivan, professor of cancer and global health at Kings College London, said that while some drug companies price their drugs correctly, others "vastly overprice" their drugs.
"Many of these drugs are extremely profitable", he said, "but there is absolutely no link between the price set and with the returns on the research - it's a complete myth."
"When a drug is refused by Nice there's only one reason it's refused - the company has knowingly overpriced the drug."
Professor Sullivan told the BBC that the public sector had contributed anywhere between "30% and up to 90% of the overall research intellectual input" in the development of drugs.
"The public sector is essential for developing new medicines for cancer patients," he added.
The Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry responded by saying that the suggestion that companies intentionally overpriced drugs "doesn't make sense" because their overall objective is to ensure that the drugs are approved by Nice and then used by patients.
In 2015, the UK government spent £2.3bn on health research and development and the relationship been public funding and profits is complex.
Campaigners say more needs to be done to reform the system and that research and development should not be linked to sales revenue.
Instead, campaigners argue, companies should be rewarded for their research in exchange for limiting the price of drugs.
However the pharmaceutical industry says it provides thousands of jobs and the current system is crucial to encouraging drug development.
5 live Investigates is broadcast on Sunday 22nd October 2017 at 11am BST. If you've missed it you can catch up on the iPlayer.
Have you got something you want investigating? We want to hear from you. Email us.
• None Drug firms go to court over cost limits
• None NICE - The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41693246
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Will Australia's 'miracle economy' keep on winning? - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The "wonder from down under" has been free from recession for more than a quarter of a century.
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Australia
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It was the year Australia went to war in the Gulf, when Monica Seles and Boris Becker won tennis grand slams in Melbourne, and The Simpsons was first shown on Aussie television, while a swooning Bryan Adams was a hit with love-struck teenagers ("Look into your heart, baby").
It was 1991, and the last time Australia tasted the bitter economic taste of recession, defined in these parts, at least, as two or more back-to-back quarters of negative growth in real gross domestic product, or the value of all services and goods.
Since then, Australia has sidestepped the worst effects of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and its more destructive big brother that hammered global markets a decade or so later.
Australia's economy - the "wonder down under" - has somehow dodged the unstoppable forces that sent other wealthy countries tumbling into reverse.
For this, a nation of 24 million people must thank not only sound judgement by those in charge but also good fortune, according to Shane Oliver, chief economist at financial services company AMP in Sydney.
"I certainly don't see Australia as being a miracle," he says. "It has had a bit of good luck and good management, but it would be dangerous to assume that it is never going to have a recession again."
The economy is growing by about 1.9% per year, according to the Reserve Bank. In 2012, that figure was 3.7%. Weaker growth means that pay packets are shrinking for many workers when adjusted for the rising cost of living, and near-record levels of underemployment are stifling wage increases.
In August, retail sales posted their biggest retreat in about four-and-a-half years, falling by 0.6%, with cafes and restaurants reporting declining turnovers.
Rocks, coal and demand from China insulated this country from the global financial meltdown in 2008, as a red-hot mining industry delivered unprecedented wealth.
Surging commodity prices fuelled the bonanza in Western Australia and Queensland, which propped up under-performing states in the south-east, where most Australians live.
Shane Oliver says the situation has now "been turned on its head" and Australia is once again in transition.
The mining boom has faded, but areas that once struggled have bounced back in part because of record low interest rates that have unleashed a frenzy into the housing market.
Meanwhile, eye-watering wads of public money have poured into infrastructure projects, which are redefining parts of New South Wales, the most populous state.
There was another critical factor that helped Australia to largely avoid the ravages of the global financial crisis - unprecedented spending by the Labor government that boosted public expenditure by a whopping 13% in an attempt to stimulate growth.
It was a classic Keynesian economic manoeuvre to use billions of dollars to sustain household spending, demand and employment.
Australia loves to win. Here international cricket matches are akin to "wars" and Olympic gold medals - or a lack thereof - are greeted with congratulatory back-slapping - or hand-wringing.
If there was a podium for economic success, this is a country that would be bending forward to accept the award. More than 25 years of uninterrupted growth is a remarkable achievement, although there is debate about the competition.
Some commentators believe the recent economic prosperity enjoyed by the Netherlands lasted for (only) 22 years, putting it firmly into silver medal position behind the Aussies.
Tim Harcourt, an economics fellow at the University of New South Wales, believes Australia deserves the plaudits.
"This time the 'lucky country' made its own luck.
"The Hawke-Keating [government] reforms of the 1980s and 1990s - the currency float, tariff changes, and embrace of Asia - set up us up for a quarter of a century of growth.
"Australia found itself in the right place at the right time and embraced the Asia century," he argues.
But as the economy has soared, some Australians have been left behind. At almost 13%, youth unemployment is more than twice the national average.
Labouring work had left 21-year-old Mohammad Al-Khafaji, the son of an Iranian refugee, with endless back pain and homelessness soon followed.
"I was just trying to apply for jobs online, and then people were just putting me down saying 'you are never going to get that job', so I just stopped trying," he says.
Mohammad is now employed by a hire car company in Sydney, and has ambitions to one day be the boss.
He works with Shiv Dhingra, an Indian migrant from Punjab. They are proof that much of Australia's economic might is down to immigration.
"I am the only one working in my family," Shiv explained. "I am the main financial support they have. I am working seven days a week for the last year. I've got plans for my own business."
Both young men were helped by Charity Bounce, a Sydney-based non-profit organisation that uses basketball to reach out to the disadvantaged and long-term unemployed, who, according to chief executive, Ian Heininger, also deserve a slice of Australia's prosperity.
"We find a lot of the young people are desperate to find work," he says, "desperate to find an opportunity that is going to get them into a place where they are contributing back to the world."
But will they be part of an ever-expanding economy? Mr Oliver thinks Australia's luck will eventually run out, but not for a while.
"The Aussie economy is probably going to continue muddling along, not fantastically strong as housing slows and consumer spending remains a bit weak," he predicts.
"We are probably going to go for at least another few years before we have that recession some people say is inevitable."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41643147
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Nuneaton bowling alley siege: Man arrested - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Two hostages were held by a suspected gunman in an incident police say was not terror-related.
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Coventry & Warwickshire
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Megan Westwood: "We got evacuated one by one"
A suspected gunman was arrested after police ended a four-hour siege at a bowling alley in Nuneaton.
Officers were called to MFA Bowl in Bermuda Park at around 14:30 BST on Sunday after reports a man with a shotgun had taken two hostages.
A 53-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill after police stormed the building at about 18:30 BST.
The suspect was treated for minor injuries. Two other men were uninjured.
Ch Supt Alex Franklin-Smith, from Warwickshire Police, said officers brought the incident to "a peaceful resolution".
The siege was "unconnected" to terrorism, he added.
Police said at about 19:00 BST that the cordon at the retail and leisure complex had been lifted and advised people they could now and any vehicles left there overnight.
The gunman reportedly walked into MFA Bowl and yelled "game over" before ordering people to get out.
About 40 or 50 people were said to be inside the complex at the time.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Eyewitness: "The guy ran up to the door with a gun"
Both of the hostages - a duty manager and a bowling lane host - were unharmed but treated for shock.
Chris Clegg, operations director of MFA Bowl, said: "It's obviously not an everyday situation. The ambulance, police were checking them and making sure they were OK."
The firm's chief executive Mehdi Amshar said he understood the man was known to a member of staff at the bowling alley.
Specialist firearms officers and police negotiators were sent to the scene, and used flash bangs - which create a loud noise and bright light - to enter the premises.
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 WMAS 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.
Warwickshire Police said officers were called to reports of a man - described by eyewitnesses as "in his 40s" with a gun "slung" over his shoulder - with a firearm at 14:30 BST.
One witness, Chris Turner, told the BBC he was walking past the front entrance to the bowling alley when the man "ran up to the door".
He had "a gun in his hand" and told him to "get out of the area", he said.
Mr Turner said the man shouted at a crowd of people outside to leave, saying: "I've already told you once."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'We were trying to keep all the kids together'
Eyewitnesses also spoke about how they fled the bowling alley, while others hid in toilets, as the gunman brandished a weapon above his head.
Alex Mulholland said he was bowling when he looked up to see a man holding a gun over his head.
"He was saying 'game over, game over', everyone was shouting, screaming, panicking, trying to get out and I didn't know what to make of it, really," he said. "I ran, got my things as quickly as I could and got out of there."
Other businesses in the leisure park, including a children's soft play centre and restaurants, were put into lockdown.
Families inside the soft play centre told the BBC they barricaded the front door with tables and chairs.
Warwickshire Police said the incident was unconnected to terrorism
A number of ambulances were dispatched to the area around the bowling alley
Kelly Perrett, who was at the Frankie and Benny's restaurant, told the BBC she was "hiding in the toilet with about 20 people".
"It looks like police have got the bowling alley surrounded. The police told me that the gunman is near the door with a hostage," she said as the incident unfolded.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Footage posted on social media showed police officers at the scene in Bermuda Park
Megan Westward said she was about to leave a children's soft play centre when staff told her to move away from the windows.
"There are quite a few bullet proof vans," she said. "We've just seen an air ambulance take off, there are ambulances and there are police in full body suits with guns."
She was then evacuated to a nearby hotel.
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 Warwickshire Police 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.
Following the conclusion of the siege, forensics officers were examining the scene and a red Peugeot 307 car was removed by police on the back of a vehicle transporter.
Are you in the area? If it is safe to do so, share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-41714114
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Storm Brian: Gale-force winds and high seas hit UK coast - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Some flood warnings remain in place, although disruption was not as bad as had been feared.
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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.
Storm Brian has eased after the UK saw gale-force winds and high seas, although disruption was not as bad as had been feared.
Gusts of 78mph were recorded in Capel Curig and Aberdaron, north Wales, with 84mph recorded on the Isle of Wight.
The Environment Agency said three properties had been flooded in the upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire.
There are Red and amber flood warnings in much of northern England and people are urged to "take immediate action".
There are also flood warnings in place in the South West and Wales, while the south of England and London were under yellow wind warnings.
The storm comes after three people were killed and hundreds of thousands of people - mostly in the Irish Republic - were left without power after the remnants of Storm Ophelia battered the British Isles after weakening from its earlier hurricane force.
Strong winds and high seas first reached the western coast of Ireland overnight on Friday.
Gusts hit 80mph (130km/h) in the country, said Irish weather agency Met Éireann, and there was flash flooding in several Irish cities, including Limerick.
A race meeting at Fairyhouse was cancelled and the Cliffs of Moher tourist attraction in County Clare was closed.
Flooding was caused by the storm in Limerick, Ireland
In Wales, trains and ferries were cancelled and seafront roads closed as a result of the weather.
Natural Resources Wales said the coastline was likely to be "extremely dangerous this weekend".
A lifeboat was sent to help a person in difficulty at Skrinkle, while Porthcawl RNLI warned people to watch the storm waves on its live feed, after people were spotted taking photographs from the harbour wall.
Ceredigion council also warned people to "keep away" from seafronts and "be careful" on low-lying land where coastal flooding was possible.
Flood barriers have been put up in Cornwall to protect costal towns
The Environment Agency has issued 30 flood warnings - meaning flooding is expected - in the north-west and south-west of England.
Flood barriers have been put in place in areas including Fowey in Cornwall, but Frank Newell, from the Environment Agency, said the surge had been lower than forecast.
"In terms of impact, we've had spray overtopping quaysides, but we don't have at the moment any reported property flooding," he said.
In Wales and southern England, fallen trees and other debris on railway tracks caused cancellations and disruption on some lines.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Waves crash into the seafront in Aberystwyth, Wales, as Storm Brian hits the UK
The Environment Agency's national flood duty manager, Ben Lukey, warned people against posing for photos during the hazardous conditions.
He said: "We urge people to stay safe along the coast and warn against putting yourself in unnecessary danger by taking 'storm selfies' or driving through flood water - just 30cm (11in) is enough to move your car."
Waves crashed over Mullion Harbour in Cornwall on Saturday
Have you been affected by Storm Brian? If it is safe to do so, share your pictures, video and experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41704779
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Shinzo Abe wins resounding victory in Japan, exit polls say - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The prime minister has kept his "super-majority" and says he will deal firmly with North Korea
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Asia
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition has won a resounding victory in Sunday's general election, according to exit polls.
On hearing of his victory he said he would "firmly deal with" threats from North Korea.
The public broadcaster NHK put Mr Abe's Liberal Democratic Party-led (LDP) coalition at 312 seats, allowing it to retain its two-thirds "super majority".
This is vital to his ambition to revise Japan's post-war pacifist constitution.
Mr Abe has pushed for a shift in Japan's defence policy, calling for formal recognition of the military in the constitution.
He said he would try to "gain support from as many people as possible" for the task.
He said on Sunday: "As I promised in the election, my imminent task is to firmly deal with North Korea.
"For that, strong diplomacy is required."
Mr Abe announced the election on 25 September, saying he needed a fresh mandate in order to deal with the "national crises" facing Japan.
The crises include North Korea, which has threatened to "sink" Japan into the sea. Pyongyang has also fired two missiles over Hokkaido, the northernmost island in Japan.
A win in the election raises Mr Abe's chances of securing a third three-year-term as leader of the LDP when the party votes next September.
That would give him the opportunity to become Japan's longest serving prime minister, having been elected in 2012.
Japan went to the polls on Sunday as Typhoon Lan lashed parts of the country. The category four storm brought strong winds and heavy rain to the south of the country, causing flights to be cancelled and rail services to be disrupted.
It is expected to blow into the Tokyo area early on Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Speaking to the BBC, one observer described voting for Mr Abe's Liberal Democratic Party as TINA, or "there is no alternative".
The snap election was called a year ahead of schedule
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41711369
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Archbishop calls for cut to universal credit delays - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Archbishop of York criticises "grotesquely ignorant" six-week delay for payments.
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UK Politics
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The six-week waiting time for universal credit must be cut as the idea that people have a nest egg to fall back on is "grotesquely ignorant", the Archbishop of York has said.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Dr John Sentamu said ministers must take a "courageous" look at the benefit.
Addressing the delay must be a priority, he said.
The government said it was determined to ensure people would not face hardship.
Changes recently announced to the system of advanced payments meant people could access these as soon as they got into the system, a spokesman said.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Holly Sargent has had to sell her possessions because of problems receiving universal credit
Since it began rolling out four years ago, almost a quarter of the 610,000 claimants receiving the benefit have had to wait for a month and a half for the first payment.
Although Dr Sentamu praised the concept of a single welfare payment, he wrote that the current system "seems to assume that everyone has a nest egg that will tide them over as they wait a minimum of 42 days for payouts".
"That assumption is grotesquely ignorant, because millions of people, especially those in need of support, are already in debt and have nothing to fall back on," he said.
Dr Sentamu added that the UK's poorest were at risk of falling into a downward spiral of debt, with some taking out expensive loans to bridge the 42-day benefit gap, so that the repayment of loans or of interest "becomes the first call on any payment they receive".
He wrote: "In the Bible, the hardest-pressed of all poor people were summarised as 'widows and orphans' for they were the group most at risk and with least support.
"Our concern should be for their present-day successors whose essential outgoings are costing more and more and their incomes standing still or going down."
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has warned that an additional 340,000 people will be in poverty by 2022 because of cuts implemented by former Chancellor George Osborne to the universal credit work allowance.
The independent charity claimed that a lone parent working full-time on the national living wage will be £832 a year worse off because of the cut. The equivalent figure for couples with a single breadwinner working full-time is £468, it said.
Last week, Prime Minister Theresa May agreed to scrap premium rate charges for phone calls to the universal credit helpline, which can be up to 55p a minute.
However, she refused to pause the roll-out of the scheme despite a non-binding vote by the opposition backing the move. Tory MPs were ordered to abstain from voting.
Stephen McPartland, a Conservative MP who threatened to rebel, told BBC Radio 4's Week at Westminster that he thought a resolution to the issue was close.
He would like a reduction in the delay to four weeks and said: "I think the Secretary of State [David Gauke] has found it very difficult to justify inside the parliamentary party why they need to defend a six-week wait."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41712312
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Newspaper headlines: Budget 'ambush' and transition deal plea - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Some Tories seemingly want the chancellor out, while business leaders call for urgent Brexit action in Monday's papers.
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The Papers
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The Daily Mirror leads with a claim that 50 children a week are now referred to gender realignment clinics - some as young as four.
A gender dysphoria expert and a clinical psychologist tell the paper the rise in cases could be the result of a growing acceptance of gender issues.
However, another gender expert cautions that it could be be "a fad among parents who indulge their children".
Elsewhere on Monday, business leaders take to the Financial Times to "sharply criticise the state of capitalism".
A panel of more than 50 leading figures in finance, business and policymaking describe capitalism as in need of reform, as "management greed, corporate tax dodging and investor short-termism" have caused it to "lose its way", focusing too much on delivering for shareholders, rather than increasing productivity.
The Times reports that US President Donald Trump's dismissal of so much of the media as "fake news" has led to a rise in young Americans paying for newspaper subscriptions.
Online payments for news have gone up 7% in the past year in the United States.
The Times says Mr Trump's "tirades" have persuaded millennials that print media is cool again.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the paper argues that investment in quality journalism is needed now more than ever.
"No mercy for the jihadis", declares the Daily Express, as it welcomes the suggestion by government minister Rory Stewart that the "only way" to deal with British fighters for the Islamic State group is to kill them.
In its comment piece, the paper says it is "refreshing to hear a government minister speak forthrightly" on the issue.
"Those we spare will not hesitate to return to our shores and murder us," it goes on, adding: "They have forfeited any right to mercy."
As the government brings in measures to tackle so-called health tourism in the UK, the Daily Telegraph reports that there has been a trebling in the past three years in the number of British nationals seeking healthcare overseas.
The paper says record waiting times prompted almost 144,000 people to go abroad for treatment last year, compared with 48,000 in 2014.
In other news, the Queen and Prince Philip are keeping their platinum wedding anniversary celebrations low key by refusing to hold a national celebration to mark the event next month, according to the Daily Express.
The paper says they will be the first Royal couple in Britain to celebrate 70 years of marriage.
But it points out they have a little way to go to beat the world record for the longest Royal marriage: Japan's Prince Mikasa and Yuriko, Princess Mikasa, were together for 75 years.
Finally, the tabloids offer up some grim weather prospects for the coming season.
The Daily Mirror warns of the potential for 120mph (193km/h) winds.
The Daily Star predicts there will be a calm before the storm - a mini-heatwave later this week, with temperatures of 21C (70F).
And the Daily Express forecasts a "choppy winter of discontent", with 11 more potentially damaging storms between now and the new year.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41716863
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Fox renewed Bill O'Reilly deal despite harassment suit - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Twenty-First Century Fox knew O'Reilly had settled a harassment allegation when he was rehired.
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US & Canada
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O'Reilly is known to have settled at least six sexual harassment suits
Former Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly was handed a new contract in January, despite the network's parent company knowing he had recently settled a sexual harassment case.
The $32m (£24m) settlement was paid to former Fox legal analyst Lis Wiehl, according to the New York Times.
In a statement, parent company 21st Century Fox said was aware of the settlement, but not the sum, when it signed a $25m-a-year contract renewal.
He was forced to resign in April following a raft of sexual harassment allegations.
The settlement with Wiehl - which was "extraordinarily large" for such cases, according to the Times - is one of six involving O'Reilly that are in the public domain, totalling $45m.
Several of those suits also involved former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, who stepped down in 2016 amid accusations of harassment.
Wiehl had worked for Fox for 15 years at the time of the settlement with O'Reilly and appeared regularly on his show The O'Reilly Factor. She left at the time of the settlement.
"When the company renewed Bill O'Reilly's contract in February, it knew that a sexual harassment lawsuit had been threatened against him by Lis Wiehl, but was informed by Mr O'Reilly that he had settled the matter personally, on financial terms that he and Ms Wiehl had agreed were confidential and not disclosed to the company," 21st Century Fox said in a statement.
The company signed a $25 million-per-year deal with the commentator, but added corporate protections against future allegations of harassment against him.
O'Reilly denied the allegations to the New York Times. "I have never mistreated anyone," he said, adding that he had resolved matters with Wiehl privately because he wanted to spare his children from controversy.
The commentator was forced to resign in April after a string of smaller settlements was reported by the Times and advertisers pulled out of his programme.
In a statement to Reuters, Mark Fabiani, a spokesman for O'Reilly, criticised the Times for printing "leaked information... that is out of context, false, defamatory, and obviously designed to embarrass Bill O'Reilly and to keep him from competing in the marketplace".
He also denounced the newspaper for not printing what he said was an affidavit signed by Wiehl withdrawing her allegations following the settlement.
The disclosure of the Wiehl settlement follows a string of sexual assault allegations against Hollywood film mogul Harvey Weinstein, including accusations of rape, that sparked a international conversation about harassment in the film industry and beyond.
Weinstein, 65, who was sacked by his own production firm, The Weinstein Company, and suspended by the board of the Oscars, has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41712527
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More posters from London Underground's forgotten designers - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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An exhibition marks the work of unrecognised female artists whose work has adorned London.
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England
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We recently revealed some of the posters that have adorned London's transport system for more than 100 years. Here's more from the women who have shaped the way people see the city.
Female graphic designers have been producing artwork for the Underground since 1910, yet many remain largely unrecognised.
Some of their work was published under the name of an advertising agency, others were unsigned, and more still simply used their initials.
The Poster Girls exhibition at the London Transport Museum is showcasing the pieces.
Unlike many of the designers, Mabel Lucie Attwell was a well-known illustrator, famous for her wide-eyed depictions of children.
The Underground Group started to use her designs to advertise specific events at off-peak times, such as pantomimes. A 1912 poster advertising a country fair to raise money for an animal charity is one of the earliest uses of a female artist on the underground.
A butcher's daughter, Attwell was born in 1879 - the ninth of 10 children. She never finished formal education, yet the first pictures she gave an agent sold overnight.
By 1911 she was producing hugely popular postcards and greetings cards featuring chubby toddlers based on her daughter Peggy.
Working in watercolour and ink, she was a commercial success, although her work was looked down upon by some critics for "sentimentalising" childhood.
The Dorothy Dix work, The Hop Gardens of Kent, was used in 1922 to promote travel to the country by bus. The image depicts an oast house on a hop farm - a familiar sight in the Kent countryside.
She was an accomplished painter and exhibited two paintings at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition; Evening in a Cotswold village (1931) and Winter cheer (1947).
Mary Koop was the designer of the 1925 artwork Summer Sales Quickly Reached. Little is known of Koop, other than that she studied at the Croydon School of Art and the London School of Art.
A print of her torrent of umbrellas sold in 2012 for nearly £9,000, and the image has been widely reproduced, including on real umbrellas and postage stamps.
Arnrid Banniza Johnston was Swedish by birth and the daughter of a corn and grain merchant.
She first made her name as a sculptor, before branching out into poster design. Her 1930 Regents Park zoo poster, which switches the role of animals and spectators, was meticulously researched and led her into the book illustrating industry.
She died in 1972, and one obituary said of her: "Her many friends found her robust generous personality as characterful as her animals".
Anna Katrina Zinkeisen and her sister Doris were privately educated at home before they both won scholarships to the Royal Academy Schools.
In 1935, they were commissioned by the Clydebank shipbuilders John Brown and Company to paint murals on the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary. Their work can still be seen, in the Verandah Grill room, on the ship now permanently moored in Long Beach, California.
Anna was also working on illustrations for books and magazine covers as well as designing posters, such as a promotion for the Royal Tournament at Olympia.
During World War Two she worked as a medical artist and nursing auxiliary at St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington. After completing a day's shift working on a ward as a casualty nurse, Zinkeisen would use a disused operating theatre as her studio to work on her paintings.
Carol Barker's psychedelic London for Children poster was used in 1973.
Barker used a variety of techniques and media in her works, including combining fragments of clothes, vintage photographs and knitted lace to create a nostalgic scrapbook image of London's past.
She also illustrated children's books - H. E. Bates wrote the text of Achilles the Donkey specifically to go with her images.
Ruth Hydes' poster for Epping Forest echoes earlier images designed to tempt Londoners out of the city and was part of a set she designed in 2015 celebrating London's open spaces.
She said she is inspired by "buildings, colour, pattern, random objects and natural history".
The exhibition is on until January 2019.
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Titanic letter sells for world record price at auction - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Passenger's letter home, written a day before the ship hit an iceberg, fetches £126,000 at auction.
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Northern Ireland
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The letter was written by Oscar Holverson to his mother
One of the last known letters to have been written on the Titanic has sold for a world record price at auction.
The letter, written by American businessman and Titanic passenger, Oscar Holverson, fetched £126,000.
It was sought-after because he wrote it on 13 April 1912 - the day before the Belfast-built ship hit an iceberg.
It is the only known letter, on headed Titanic notepaper, to have gone into the Atlantic and survived.
The sea-water stained document was sold to a British buyer, whose bid to the auction in Wiltshire came in via phone.
The auctioneer, Andrew Aldridge, described the anonymous customer as someone "who collects iconic items from history".
Mr Holverson, a successful salesman, wrote the letter to his mother while travelling on the ill-fated ship with his wife, Mary.
The couple boarded the Titanic in Southampton and planned to travel back to their home in New York.
In his note, the writer seems in awe of his surroundings, telling his mother that "the boat is giant in size and fitted up like a palatial hotel".
Mr Holverson, who has an idiosyncratic style to his syntax, also writes about seeing "the richest person in the world at that time" - John Jacob Astor - on the ship, accompanied by his wife.
"He looks like any other human being even tho (sic) he has millions of money," he adds. "They sit out on deck with the rest of us."
The letter had a reserve price of between £60,000 and £80,000.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's sale, Mr Aldridge said that "even if the letter was virtually blank, it would still rank as amongst the most desirable, such is the nature of the paper, its markings and history".
Having been an auctioneer of Titanic memorabilia for 20 years, he said that its content takes it to another level, "because of its date, the fact it went into the Atlantic and the observations it contains".
One prophetic entry in Mr Holverson's letter never came true, when he wrote: "If all goes well we will arrive in New York Wednesday AM."
When the Titanic sank, Oscar Holverson, along with JJ Astor, died along with more than 1,500 people.
Her husband's body was recovered and, inside a pocket book, the letter was found.
It still bears the stains of the sea water and the water mark of the White Star shipping line.
The letter eventually made its way back to his mother.
Mr Aldridge said that makes it "possibly, the only onboard letter written by a victim that was delivered to its recipient without postage".
The letter still bears the stains of the sea and the water mark of the White star shipping line
Mr Holverson was buried in Woodlawn cemetery in New York, unaware that, 105 years later, his unposted letter would generate such interest.
Mr Aldridge, who has auctioned everything from a set of Titanic keys for £85,000, to a violin that was played as the ship sank, for £1.1m, said he was also excited to see the letter.
He said it was "one of the most iconic and important items from the Titanic ever offered at auction and shows that interest in the ship and its passengers remains incredibly strong".
Other items in Saturday's auction included a set of keys belonging to a steward in the Titanic's First Class, which fetched £76,000.
Two previously unpublished photos of the Titanic went for £24,000.
The previous world record for a Titanic letter sold at auction was £119,000, set in April 2014, for a letter written a few hours before the ship hit the iceberg.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-41696084
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Labour demands changes to Brexit repeal bill - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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The party wants six changes to the repeal bill, including Parliament approval of the exit agreement.
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UK Politics
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Sir Keir Starmer wants six changes to the government's repeal bill
Labour will back Conservative rebels over Brexit unless the prime minister accepts changes to its repeal bill, the party's shadow Brexit secretary says.
Sir Keir Starmer wants six changes to the bill, which aims to transfer EU legislation into British law.
If these are not accepted Labour will back Tory rebels in an attempt to force a vote on the final EU deal, he said.
The government said it would listen to MPs about possible improvements to the bill but would not let it be "wrecked".
The loss of the government's Commons majority in the June general election means a relatively small revolt by Conservative MPs could derail the legislation.
Hundreds of amendments to the bill have already been tabled by Tory rebels, as well as opposition MPs.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Sir Keir said the government had withheld the legislation from the House of Commons for two weeks running because it fears defeat on at least 13 amendments at the hands of Tory rebels.
He said it was "clear" that ministers could not proceed with the bill as it stands and threatened to "work with all sides" to get his changes made - unless ministers adopted them and end the "paralysis".
The shadow Brexit secretary wrote: "I believe there is a consensus in Parliament for these changes.
"And there is certainly no majority for weakening rights, silencing Parliament and sidelining the devolved administrations.
"There is a way through this paralysis.
"Labour will work with all sides to make that happen."
Theresa May is due to update the Commons on the progress made on Brexit at the European Council meeting
Sir Keir's intervention comes days after EU leaders agreed to begin scoping work on trade talks.
But they also made clear Britain must make further concessions on its divorce bill to unlock talks on a future trading relationship.
Brexit Secretary David Davis will travel to Paris for Brexit talks on Monday after France appeared to emerge as the most hardline EU member state on the exit bill.
The prime minister is due to update the Commons on Monday on the progress made during the summit on Thursday and Friday.
Mrs May is expected to say that while negotiations on Brexit are "deeply technical" she has never forgotten that millions of people are at the heart of the process and they remain her "first priority".
She will also say that the millions of European citizens living in the UK make an "extraordinary contribution" to our society and that "we want them to stay".
A government spokesman said the repeal bill was "essential" to deliver on the result of the referendum while ensuring the maximum possible legal certainty for businesses and citizens.
The UK is due to leave the EU in March 2019, following last year's referendum result.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41711337
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Why more people are running marathons in all 50 US states - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Why are more people running marathons in all 50 states - and what does it say about modern America?
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US & Canada
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Steve and Paula Boone have run more than 1,000 marathons between them
Why are more people running marathons in all 50 states - and what does it say about modern America?
In 1988, Steve Boone was a computer systems designer who played football in his spare time.
One of his customers was training for the Houston Marathon. He bet Steve - a 39-year-old who had never run 26 miles - that he couldn't finish the race.
It's safe to say Steve won that bet.
He finished the 1988 Houston Marathon, and has returned to the race every year since. The 2018 event will be his 31st in a row, and his 700th marathon in total.
"It was a principle bet," says Steve. "No money at stake."
In 1997, Steve was at the Boston Marathon, waiting outside a hotel for a bus that didn't turn up.
By this point, he had run more than 100 marathons, including one in all 50 states. He had the idea after running in San Francisco. "It was one of those obsessions," he admits.
While waiting for the bus, he got talking to one of his fellow runners, Paula. "By the time we walked back to the hotel we were best friends," he says.
They were married 18 months later.
In 2001, the Boones decided to start a club for people who had run - or wanted to run - marathons in all 50 states. They began with 82 members; Steve thought they might get 400 or 500 total.
At the last count, there were 4,326 members. In total, more than 1,500 have finished all 50 states.
Of the finishers, more than a third are female, and almost all come from the US, although there are members from Brazil to Bermuda.
But the interesting thing isn't where they come from. It's why they run in the first place.
50 State Marathon Club: The rules (or some of them)
She ran her first, in her home state of Utah, a year earlier while "getting in shape after having my two kids". But after meeting Steve the pace picked up.
By 2003, she too had run a marathon in all 50 states. She now has 330 marathons in total, including at least four in each state.
"Steve was a really bad influence," she says.
Paula - who's 51 and lives with her husband in Humble, Texas - says she isn't an elite athlete. Her last marathon took seven hours, although she ran her first in three hours and 59 minutes.
So if she's not breaking records, or winning races, why does she keep going - step after step, state after state, more than 8,000 miles and counting?
"The actual running is really difficult," she says. "But I love to travel, that's my favourite thing to do. It's really the best way to see the country."
For example - one race took Paula to Minot, North Dakota, a town that's not in many travel brochures. "The middle of nowhere in the middle of nowhere," she says.
There's also the social side. Jody Reed, a 58-year-old lawyer from Ashburn, Virginia, ran her first marathon in 1987 and has now done 152 - including at least one in every state.
"At this point, it's the friends [that keep me going]," she says, speaking from Milwaukee where she's about to run another race. "I'm here with a friend who I met last fall. We've done several races together since then.
"It would be a very unusual marathon where I'm not with people I know. And not just people I know - friends."
But while camaraderie is important, Paula thinks there's a deeper reason why people run.
"Most of us have pretty cushy jobs," she says. "We're not out there sweating, and as humans we like to have some sort of striving, some kind of drive.
"The marathon fulfils that. We want to work towards some kind of goal; [to have] some kind of stress and strain."
So running marathons is a counterforce to the comfort of modern life?
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. London Marathon: An inspirational end to the Marathon for two runners
"I think so," says Paula.
"The people who join our club are from every walk of life - people who are very poor, people who are very rich, and everything in between. The one thing that ties everybody together is they all strive. They are all self-driven.
"The mountains have all been climbed, everything has been discovered, but this is manageable - while being out of your comfort zone."
Ross Brennan, a 57-year-old from Washington, DC, ran his first marathon in 1990. Back then, he says, marathon running "was just becoming a thing - it was still a little bit exotic".
Now, marathons are certainly a thing. During the weekend of October 21-22, at least 26 cities in the US and Canada will host one according to marathonguide.com. There are 15 the weekend after and 24 the weekend after that.
There are a number of reasons for that, says Ross. More people keep fit; the internet makes it easier to find races; and technology has made running "less boring".
"You can nerd-out on the IT stuff," he says. "There are heart rate monitors, you can listen to tunes. In the 80s you couldn't do that."
And, like Paula, Ross thinks modern life makes marathons more appealing.
"From time to time, it's kind of primal," he says. "It's me and a pair of shoes, I'm not thinking about work, I'm not doing a PowerPoint presentation, and I've still got it.
"You can think 'my job sucks, I feel like crap, I'm getting old' but once in a while you show up and still do 26 goddamn miles."
But - while that may explain running marathons - it doesn't explain doing one in every state.
"Oh, I'm a total geography nerd," admits Ross. "I love travelling in the US. It's so heart-warming to turn up in a small town. The whole place welcomes you and it's wonderful.
"There are banners, free ice creams at the ice cream parlour, a party in the city park... I need that reality check. It's so much part of why I do it."
At first, Ross didn't realise he was collecting states.
He ran on holiday. He ran during work trips. But it was only when looking at his spreadsheet - all runners have a spreadsheet, it seems - he noticed he was covering the country, slowly but sorely.
Ross was helped by the rise of "series marathons", when races are organised back-to-back over a week or so - often for people who want to complete all 50 states.
"The most I did was five in a week," he says. "It was the Riverboat Series - Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, I think - four of which I hadn't done before."
Ross told his wife he wanted to run in 50 states only three years ago. "I did it in quite a subtle way," he says. "It was like: 'Here's this thing I'm doing...'"
But when he flew to Hawaii to complete the set, his family came to watch him cross the line.
The date was 26 June 2016; his time was just under five hours. A journey that began 26 years earlier, 5,000 miles east, had ended.
He has now run 71 marathons and there are no plans to stop. "Even if I'm not planning to run, I'll log onto Marathon Guide and see what's out there."
While that may be "eccentric", as Ross says, it's nothing compared to some members of the 50 State Marathons Club.
"I remember being on a shuttle bus in a race in Montana, or somewhere," says Ross. "This guy said to me 'It's number 11.'
"I said 'Cool - are you going to do all 50 states?' He replied 'No - I've done all 50 states. This is the 11th time round.'"
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Trump says he will allow scheduled release of JFK files - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Classified files relating to the assassination of John F Kennedy are due to be released in days.
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US & Canada
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President John F Kennedy was given a state funeral, after hundreds of thousands of people viewed his casket
Donald Trump has said he plans to allow the opening of a trove of long-classified files on the assassination of former president John F Kennedy.
The president tweeted to say he would allow the release "subject to receipt of further information".
The files are scheduled to be opened by the US National Archives on 26 October, but the president is entitled to extend their classified status.
Kennedy was shot dead by a sniper on 22 November 1963 in Dallas, Texas.
The National Archives has already released most documents related to the assassination but a final batch remains under lock and key.
"Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened," Trump said in a tweet.
Congress ruled in 1992 that all JFK documents should be released within 25 years, unless the president decided the release would harm national security.
The archive contains more than 3,000 previously unreleased documents, and more than 30,000 that have been released before but with redactions.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. JFK at 100: 'His life was not as glamorous as you think'
It is unclear whether Mr Trump intends to allow the release in full or with redactions.
Kennedy assassination experts do not think the last batch of papers contains any bombshells, according to a Washington Post report.
But the files may shed more light on Lee Harvey Oswald's activities in Mexico City just months before the assassination.
Oswald was arrested in Dallas on the day of the shooting and charged with the president's murder. He denied the charges, claiming he was a "just a patsy".
He was gunned down by nightclub owner Jack Ruby while in police custody two days later, and the plot to kill Kennedy became the most powerful conspiracy theory in American history.
"The American public deserves to know the facts, or at least they deserve to know what the government has kept hidden from them for all these years," Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of a book about Kennedy, told the Associated Press news agency.
"It's long past the time to be forthcoming with this information."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41708854
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Home-buying to be 'faster and less stressful' following review - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Communities Secretary Sajid Javid floats idea of borrowing more to help boost housing construction.
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Business
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Home-buying and selling in England and Wales could be "faster and less stressful" under plans to simplify sales and tackle gazumping.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid launched an eight-week review, saying he wanted to "hear from the industry" on how to streamline home-buying.
Ways of locking in deals and stopping sellers accepting higher offers at the last minute will be considered.
But Labour said the plans were "feeble" and "smack of political diversion".
"This is a government out of touch and out of ideas," said Shadow housing secretary John Healey. "After seven years of failure, ministers still have no plan to fix the housing crisis."
The current 'call for evidence' follows proposals announced this month to look at new ways to protect leaseholders and tenants from "rogue agents" - both part of a drive by Mr Javid to modernise and improve the housing market.
Although a million homes are bought and sold in England every year, a quarter of sales fall through, wasting hundreds of millions of pounds.
Gazumping - when a seller accepts a higher offer from a new buyer, having previously accepted a lower offer - is among the most contentious of house-buying practices.
Ministers will look at schemes such as "lock-in agreements" as a means of building confidence in the housing chain, which often collapse leaving those involved disappointed and out of pocket.
The review will also look at ways of speeding up the process of home-buying, and will consider how to advise home buyers and sellers so they are sale-ready.
Mr Javid called on estate agents, mortgage lenders and solicitors to share their experiences of the housing market - in order to "help save people money and time so they can focus on what matters - finding their dream home".
He said: "Buying a home is one of life's largest investments, so if it goes wrong it can be costly. That's why we're determined to take action.
"We want to help everyone have a good quality home they can afford, and improving the process of buying and selling is part of delivering that. "
Alex Neill, of consumer magazine Which?, described the house-buying process as "outdated and flawed".
"Buying a home can be one of the most stressful experiences in life, with sales often taking too long or falling through, with some consumers losing substantial sums of money.
"The government must put consumers first, ensuring that estate agents deliver a better service for both home-buyers and sellers and that the conveyancing process is simplified."
Mark Hayward, of the National Association of Estate Agents Propertymark, agreed there was "scope to improve the process for home buying and selling".
But the estate agent Robert Red from Wright Marshall estate agents said stopping gazumping was difficult to avoid because it was a legal obligation to pass on an offer to a client.
"No matter how distasteful I might find it, I have to, by law, report [an increased offer] to my client, and my client will make the decision about that offer, and I have to carry out their instructions via the legal process," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
In a government survey of more than 2,000 people who have bought or sold a home recently, nearly half (46%) of sellers had concerns about a buyer changing their mind after making an offer.
The survey found a quarter (24%) of sellers said they would use a different estate agent if they had to go through the process again, while almost a third (32%) of sellers and 28% of buyers were dissatisfied with the other party's solicitor.
Have you ever been gazumped or affected by the issues raised in this story? Please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experiences.
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Brexit: Expats given 'no disruption' pledge by Spanish government - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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The Spanish foreign minister seeks to assure Britons worried about no Brexit deal being reached.
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UK Politics
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Spain is the most popular destination for Britons living in other EU countries
Britons living in Spain will not have their lives "disrupted" after Brexit - even if there is no UK-EU deal, the Spanish foreign minister says.
The two sides are yet to reach an agreement about how the rights of expats will be protected after Brexit.
Theresa May has called for "urgency" from the EU side in finding a solution.
And speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Alfonso Dastis sought to reassure more than 300,000 Britons living in Spain.
"I do hope that there will be a deal," the minister said.
"If there is no deal we will make sure that the lives of ordinary people who are in Spain, the UK people, is not disrupted.
"As you know, the relationship between the UK and Spain is a very close one in terms of economic relations and also social exchanges.
"Over 17 million Brits come to Spain every year and many of them live here or retire here and we want to keep it that way as much as possible."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. British expats sum up Brexit in one word
According to the Office for National Statistics, Spain is host to the largest number of British citizens living in the EU (308,805), and just over a third (101,045) are aged 65 and over.
Citizens' rights are one of the first subjects being negotiated in the first round of Brexit talks - which have moved so slowly there has been increased talk of no deal at all being reached between the two sides.
The role of the European Court of Justice in guaranteeing the rights of EU nationals in the UK has been a sticking point. The EU argues this must continue, but ministers say the EU court will no longer have jurisdiction in the UK after Brexit.
Ahead of last week's Brussels summit, Mrs May said the two sides were "in touching distance" of finding an agreement.
On Monday she is expected to tell MPs she will "put people first" in the "complicated and deeply technical" negotiations.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41714435
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Church of Scientology opens Birmingham HQ - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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The controversial group bought the Grade II listed Pitmaston House for £4.2m in 2007.
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Birmingham & Black Country
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The building was officially opened in an extravagant ceremony
The Church of Scientology has opened a £4.2m HQ in Birmingham.
Grade II listed Pitmaston House, in the Moseley suburb, was snapped up in 2007 by the group, which was founded by science fiction author L Ron Hubbard.
There was a heavy security presence around the building during an opening ceremony, at which senior church figures gave speeches.
A request for an interview about the new "Ideal Org", or headquarters, was turned down.
The church claims the building, which is the second of its kind in the UK, will house a training centre and a chapel.
A huge blue rosette and ribbons were draped across the front of the building ahead of the opening ceremony, while lighting and camera equipment could also be seen.
Speeches were played back on two large screens erected on either side of the main entrance.
Groups of protesters, including ex-church members, gathered outside during proceedings, according to the Birmingham Mail.
There was a heavy security presence outside the building
People take courses of dianetics counselling, known as auditing, in the hope of ridding themselves of destructive influences from their current or past lives.
Scientologists say it is a religion, but a string of defectors have accused it of being a dangerous cult. They allege physical and emotional abuse, brainwashing and unethical fundraising, which the church has always strongly denied.
It has a number of celebrity followers, including Tom Cruise and John Travolta.
A promotional video released by the church claimed the new HQ would provide "community programmes for the betterment of Birmingham".
It claims to have had a dedicated following in the area since the 1980s.
Plans to convert Pitmaston House met with some opposition when they were approved in 2013, although a local community group said its main worry was an increase in traffic.
Coaches and other vehicles obscured views of the proceedings
The church's promotional video says the centre will serve western and central England
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-41697303
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Brexit: Business lobby groups call for transition deal clarity - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Britain's five biggest business lobby groups unite to call for swift action on transition plans.
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Business
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David Davis is holding Brexit talks in Paris on Monday
The UK risks losing jobs and investment without an urgent Brexit transition deal, Britain's five biggest business lobby groups have warned.
In a joint letter being sent to Brexit Secretary David Davis, the groups including the CBI and Institute of Directors, say time is running out.
The head of the CBI said firms wanted an agreement on the transition period by the end of the year.
A government spokesman said the talks were "making real, tangible progress".
The other lobby groups backing the letter are the British Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, and the EEF manufacturers' body.
CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn told the BBC: "One of the big messages from firms is 'get on with it' on both sides.
"This is real, this is urgent and a transition agreement by the end of the year would help enormously to keep investment and jobs in the country," she said.
Theresa May has suggested a transition period of about two years, with the UK and EU trading on broadly similar terms to now and payments to Brussels to meet Britain's budget commitments.
Firms in the City of London are drawing up Brexit contingency plans
But although EU negotiators have agreed to start preliminary work on a future relationship, they still want more concessions on the UK's so-called "divorce payment" before starting talks on trade and transition.
The five business bodies - which together represent firms employing millions of people - are calling for more urgency, with less than a year and a half left until the UK leaves the European Union.
Concern about the loss of UK jobs and investment was underlined last week when the boss of investment banking giant Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, tweeted that he will be "spending a lot more time" in Frankfurt.
Earlier this month, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Sam Woods, warned that the UK and the EU must agree a transition deal by Christmas or companies would start triggering contingency plans.
And in a survey released on Monday, the EEF said that Brexit uncertainty was holding back the plans of manufacturing firms to invest in new plants and machinery.
Mr Davis is holding Brexit talks in Paris on Monday after France appeared to emerge as the most hardline EU member state when it comes to the divorce bill.
The prime minister is also due to update the Commons on the progress made during last week's summit of EU leaders in Brussels.
It is thought that Mrs May will say that negotiations are "deeply technical", but she has not forgotten that the lives of millions of people are at the heart of the process.
A spokesman for the Department for Exiting the European Union said the prime minister proposed a strictly time-limited implementation period in her Florence speech.
He said: "We are making real and tangible progress in a number of vital areas in negotiations. However, many of the issues that remain are linked to the discussions we need to have on our future relationship.
"That is why we are pleased that the EU has now agreed to start internal preparatory discussions on the framework for transitional arrangements as well as our future partnership."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41716284
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Former US presidents gather for hurricanes fundraiser - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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The five living former US presidents have raised more than $31m (£23.5m) for victims.
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US & Canada
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The five living former US presidents have gathered for a concert in aid of victims of the hurricanes which ravaged the US this year.
Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, George HW Bush and Jimmy Carter appeared in Texas on Saturday.
The three Democrats and two Republicans came together behind The One America Appeal, set up to help those caught up in the devastating trails of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
It has raised $31m (£23.5m) so far.
The politicians launched the appeal in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, which caused billions in damage after it made landfall in Texas in August.
However, it has since been expanded to include the communities in Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands which were hit by the storms which followed.
"As former presidents, we wanted to help our fellow Americans begin to recover," Mr Obama explained to concertgoers in a pre-recorded message.
His immediate predecessor added: "People are hurting down here but as one Texan put it, we've got more love in Texas than water."
All five presidents appeared on stage for the anthem, before taking their seats to watch acts including Lee Greenwood, who opened with Proud to be an American, and Lady Gaga.
The One America Appeal was launched after Hurricane Harvey
They were not joined by sitting President Donald Trump, who sent a message ahead of the show praising their "wonderful" work and expressing his "deep gratitude".
Both Mr Obama and the younger Mr Bush have made speeches in the last week which have been seen as veiled criticism of the former reality TV star's tenure in the White House.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41711576
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Czech election: Billionaire Babis wins by large margin - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Andrej Babis' party has secured almost triple the vote share of its closest rivals
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Europe
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Mr Babis and his colleagues celebrated their poll-topping performance
Populist billionaire candidate Andrej Babis and his party have won the Czech Republic's general election.
Mr Babis, 63, is the country's second-richest man and campaigned on an anti-establishment and Eurosceptic platform.
With all votes counted, his centrist movement ANO (Yes) collected a share of almost 30% - nearly three times that of its closest rival.
The centre-right Civic Democrats and the Pirates Party came second and third with more than 10% each.
The Pirates will make their debut in parliament with 22 seats, the news agency AFP reported.
Mr Babis is now set to become prime minister after coalition negotiations. However, he told news agency Reuters that while he had "invited everyone for talks", he was not prepared to "cooperate" with either the far-right, anti-EU Freedom and Direct Democracy party or the Communist Party.
The 63-year-old made his estimated $4bn (£3bn) fortune in chemicals, food and media - but he has also faced numerous scandals including a fraud indictment and accusations he was a communist-era police agent.
He says he would not bring the Czech Republic in to the eurozone but he wants the country to stay in the EU, telling Reuters he would propose changes to the European Council on issues like food quality and a "solution to migration".
The ANO's current coalition partner, the ruling centre-left Social Democrats (CSSD), saw its share of the vote tumble to become the sixth-largest party, and has talked down the possibility of another coalition.
The Civic Democrats have also ruled themselves out of governing alongside Mr Babis.
Far-right and anti-establishment groups made gains in the election. The largest parties now include:
The BBC's correspondent in Prague, Rob Cameron, said the SPD's performance was particularly noteworthy, as the far-right party wants to ban Islam in the Czech Republic. Its leader has urged Czechs to walk pigs near mosques.
Andrej Babis has long decried what he says is a "campaign" against him by a self-serving political establishment.
He sees the hand of this shadowy deep state everywhere; the media, the Czech prosecutor's office, the Slovak Constitutional Court, even the EU's anti-fraud unit. A host of enemies ranged against him in a vast anti-Babis conspiracy.
Well, if there was such a conspiracy, it's failed.
His message to voters - that he alone could heal the ills of the Czech political and economic system, that he alone could decapitate the hydra of corruption, that he alone could defend Czech national interests - appears to have been heard. They have given him a convincing mandate. He has truly crushed his rivals.
He still needs friends - 78 seats is far from enough in a 200-seat lower house to do much of anything, let alone the sweeping constitutional changes he dreams of.
With eight other parties in parliament - from centre-left to far-right - he has a bewildering choice of coalition partners. It's a choice that will determine the future course of the country.
The country's outgoing leader, Social Democrat Bohuslav Sobotka, headed a coalition formed with Mr Babis's party after a 2013 snap election.
But in May, Mr Sobotka submitted his government's resignation because of a disagreement with Mr Babis, who was serving as finance minister at the time.
He was unhappy about alleged unexplained business dealings involving Mr Babis.
On seeing the rise of the SPD Mr Sobotka was shocked, saying; "How is it possible that in the Czech Republic, in a situation when the country is doing very well, when we are a stable, safe country, we have achieved many things in the social sphere in the past four years, people are increasingly in favour of extreme views?"
The Social Democrats' tally of 7.3% was their worst result since the Czech Republic split from Slovakia in 1993.
Outgoing leader Bohuslav Sobotka (R) has had a turbulent relationship with Andrej Babis (L)
After the vote, Mr Babis thanked his voters and said he had not expected the result after "lies" in a "massive, massive disinformation campaign against us".
"I`m glad you did not believe that, that you gave us the confidence to get a chance to form a government," he said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41708844
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Catalonia independence: Spain's unfathomably delicate task - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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The prime minister has meandered through previous crises but that won't work now, says Tom Burridge.
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Europe
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But his message to Catalonia's devolved government, which spearheads the pro-independence movement, was blunt. He said Madrid would remove its leaders and impose direct rule.
Mariano Rajoy is conservative by party, and in his political style.
He has meandered his way through other crises; a financial one for his country; a corruption scandal that tainted his party. His "keep calm and carry on" strategy worked each time.
But Catalonia today is a completely different ball game.
This Spanish region has enjoyed a high degree of autonomy since the 1980s - only the Basque Country has more.
It's also important to note that in cultural terms, Catalonia is arguably the most distinct of Spain's regions.
The Catalan language is widely spoken and from the folkloric dance of Sardana to human towers, there is a long list of cultural traditions here, which enforce the sense of Catalan identity.
And a large part of Catalan society will see Madrid's planned takeover as an affront to their whole way of life.
Competitions to build tall and elaborate human towers are a common sight at Catalan regional festivals
The word among the pro-independence camp is that, in the coming weeks, peaceful direct action will be the order of the day.
The Spanish government has outlined a clear strategy, couched within a legal framework.
Advisers close to the prime minister emphasise that the decision to intervene was not taken lightly but they also argue that Mr Rajoy was left with no choice.
At stake, they say, is Spain's entire system of governance; no other Western government would allow a regional administration to ride roughshod over its constitution and laws.
Catalonia's independence, or a legitimate vote on the matter, has never been and never will be an option, they exclaim.
But over the next days Mariano Rajoy's government faces an unfathomably delicate task.
It must now reassert Madrid's authority in Catalonia.
The practicalities of that won't be straightforward.
Some within Catalonia's civil service will be die-hard supporters of independence. Others will simply hate the concept of Madrid being ultimately in charge.
Catalonia's regional police force, Mossos, insists it remains impartial. "We are policemen, not politicians," Inspector Albert Oliva told me.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Police inspector: 'We are not politicians'
But he admits that his force is in the middle of a "political hurricane." Over the coming weeks the loyalties of Catalan police will be tested to the absolute limit.
Before we reach that point, the Spanish senate will have to approve Madrid's proposals. That could take days.
In the meantime, the soon-to-be-sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont will try and convene the regional parliament, before it is stripped of powers.
If that happens, he will probably make a more emphatic declaration of independence.
The vast majority of Spaniards will, in turn, declare that meaningless.
But every twist and turn from now will play into an already febrile political atmosphere.
Every time I speak to a taxi driver or an old lady pushing her shopping trolley down the street, be it in Catalonia or in the neighbouring region of Aragon, people's views, on both sides, have hardened.
To the naked eye of a tourist, Spain is a country at ease, a country of sun, sea, beautiful buildings and friendly people.
Scratch below and there are deep political divisions.
And in Catalonia the situation is becoming fractured beyond belief.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41714662
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Man dies in Leicester fire engine crash - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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The 26-year-old was taken to the Leicester Royal Infirmary, where he died shortly afterwards.
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Leicester
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One 26-year-old has died and another has been taken to hospital
A man has died in a crash involving a car and a fire engine.
The silver BMW collided with the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service on southbound carriageway of the A563 Lubbesthorpe Way at 05:00 BST
The 26-year-old BMW driver was taken to the Leicester Royal Infirmary, where he died shortly afterwards.
A passenger, also 26, is being treated at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire for non life-threatening injuries.
Pictures from the scene of the crash show extensive damage to the car.
The road was closed by police in both directions, with a diversion put in place.
The crash involving the BMW and a fire engine happened at about 05:00, police said
A passenger in the BMW has been taken to hospital with injuries police said were not life-threatening
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-41714226
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Boy, 15, missing in London is found - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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The teenager went missing in Covent Garden while on a family trip to London.
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England
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A 15-year-old boy who had been missing in London has been found.
Benjamin Moorcroft, from Shrewsbury, had been separated from his family while they were on a trip to the capital on Saturday evening in Covent Garden.
He was found shortly before 07:30 BST on Monday in the Waterloo area.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police thanked a member of the public who spoke to the teenager and called police.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41717365
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Macron's dog Nemo filmed peeing on Elysée fireplace - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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French TV was filming the president chatting with junior ministers when Nemo stole the scene.
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Europe
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Local television catches Nemo the dog in the act
Video has emerged of French President Emmanuel Macron's dog Nemo urinating on a fireplace at the Elysée palace.
The footage shows the black Labrador-Griffon cross relieving himself in the background as Mr Macron talks with three junior members of his government.
"I wondered what that noise was," says the junior minister for ecology, Brune Poirson, who had previously been talking, as they all laugh.
Mr Macron then says that Nemo has done something "quite exceptional".
The incident was captured by French TV station TF1, which was recording the discussion.
Junior minister for planning Julien Denormandie asks if this is something that "happens often".
Nemo appeared in Mr Macron's entourage in August, continuing a tradition of French presidents having a "first dog".
Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte reportedly bought him from an animal rescue centre for €250 (£225).
It is not the first time a French first dog has caused trouble for its master. French investigative website Mediapart reported that Nicolas Sarkozy's dogs damaged valuable furniture in the palace that cost thousands of euros to restore.
Meanwhile Jacques Chirac's miniature white Maltese, Sumo, became unhappy at having to leave the Elysée with its spacious garden and began attacking Mr Chirac, the Guardian reported.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41716115
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Bird hunters risk steep cliffs to catch gannets - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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On just one night a year Faroese men can hunt gannet chicks, considered a delicacy. It involves a dangerous climb down steep cliffs.
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Magazine
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The Faroe Islands are home to an impressive array of seabirds but there is only one colony of gannets, located on the most westerly island, Mykines. The young birds are considered a delicacy by the islanders. So, once a year, hunters abseil down the cliffs to catch the birds.
It takes eight fit men to carry the 150m of thick rope which will form the essential lifeline for the bird catchers.
As thick as a man's wrist, it has to be lugged along a cliff-top path and then across a narrow gorge to the adjoining island of Mykinesholmur.
Oscar Joensen lays out the long rope needed for the climb
Skirting a colony of chattering puffins outside their burrows, I followed the men for an hour towards the gannet cliffs, 150m high, and dropping almost vertically into the Atlantic swell.
Carrying the rope out to the bird cliffs takes a strong team
As dusk fell I could see the ghostly white shapes of the adult birds, cruising silently above the darkening ocean.
About 50 men had taken the small ferry out to the island to help with the hunt, essential now that Mykines's single village only has about a dozen full-time residents.
On a steep grassy incline we stopped to rest. In the half-light, food supplies were shared - bread and skerpikjot, fermented legs of lamb, which the men carved with sharp hunting knives at their belts.
Once it was dark, the final climb to the cliff edge where the birds nest began.
Nesting gannets can be seen on the northerly cliffs of Mykinesholmur
One by one the men stepped into a simple harness cushioned with sheep's wool, and abseiled backwards down the rock face.
The drop is sheer and within seconds they were out of sight. Once on a suitable ledge below, each of them removed the safety harness and the rope was hauled back up for the next man.
Men from the rope team are needed to pull the hunters back up the cliffs
"Hiva! Hiva!" came the cry to pull together.
Once about a dozen men had been deposited on ledges out of sight, the rest of us could only wait, and in my case imagine the slaughter going on below.
The constant wind chilled me to the bone, and groups of men lay in the grass through the darkest hours talking about the hunt, wondering how many sula, as they are called locally, would be caught. They seemed impervious to the cold, bred in a country where even in summer it rarely gets above 16C (60F).
The hunters were sanguine about the process.
"We look forward to the gannet hunt," a young man named Johannus explained.
"The seabirds, the sheep and even the pilot whales which we catch occasionally are all part of the traditional Faroese diet. That's our culture," he insisted.
"We don't want to depend on imported food from plastic packets and eat animals kept in captivity all of their lives."
This young gannet still has down rather than feathers, so it will be spared
At around 04:30 in the morning a watery dawn light crept across the sea, and we returned to the rope.
Slowly and with much effort, hundreds of dead birds tied by the neck in bunches were hauled up. These chicks, just a day or two away from flying for the first time, were large, over 4kg (8lb) in weight and perhaps 80cm (30in) tall.
And then the men came. They were an extraordinary sight, faces and hands sometimes as black as if they had been down a coalmine. Reeking of the oily, fishy smell of gannet guano, many had scratched hands and ripped clothes, caused by the birds' spear-like beaks.
A gannet's nostrils are inside, rather than outside, its beak
The last man up was Espern, the island's chief gannet catcher. Extraordinarily fit and strong he walked up the vertical cliff with the rope in one hand and two live gannets held by the neck in the other. A swift expert cut to the back of the neck and in a second the great grey creatures hung lifelessly from a beefy human hand.
But the night's work was not over.
Now the birds had to be thrown from the cliffs into the sea to be picked up by a small fishing boat which would deliver them to the village jetty. Otherwise, in rougher weather, the men would have to carry the rope and climbing equipment as well as around 500 birds, all the way back to the village.
A boat waits at the bottom of the cliffs to collect the birds
Later, after a hearty serving of soup, we were allowed to choose two birds each, as a reward for helping raise and lower the rope during the long cold night.
We had all been up for the best part of two days and a night, but everyone was in a good mood.
"Now you know what to do, you must come again next year," said Johannus. "And maybe try going down the cliff next time."
It was a generous offer. But I know I'm simply not brave enough.
Athaya Slaetalid with husband Jan and their son Jacob
There's a shortage of women in the Faroe Islands, so local men are increasingly seeking wives from further afield - Thailand and the Philippines in particular. But what's it like for the brides who swap the tropics for this windswept archipelago?
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41698293
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Newspaper headlines: May's 'climbdown' and gambling sites curbed - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Theresa May's "climbdown" and a crackdown on British gambling companies are among the stories to lead the newspapers.
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The Papers
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Spain's decision to take control of Catalonia - and remove its separatist leaders - features in many of the papers
Spain's decision to take control of Catalonia - and remove its separatist leaders - makes the lead in the Observer.
It says Catalan separatists are preparing for a war of attrition against direct rule from Madrid, amid growing anger at the inability of either side to swallow their pride and take a step back.
The Sunday Times says the announcement prompted vows of resistance from independence supporters, who are planning a peaceful campaign of civil disobedience.
One activist is quoted as saying they would deploy "walls of people" against police to prevent them from occupying Catalonia's institutions.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, Theresa May is on the brink of a major climbdown over Universal Credit payments.
The paper detects a significant change of tone. It says ministers are believed to be looking at ways of cutting the six-week waiting time faced by many claimants, with backbenchers pushing for a one-month limit.
One of the MPs who has raised concerns is said to believe a resolution is very close.
The Sunday Times gives front-page coverage to the warning from Labour's Brexit Secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, that his party will unite with Tory rebels to force a binding Commons vote on a final deal with the EU.
The paper says the threat is a blow to the government, which is trying to quell a potential backbench rebellion on the EU Withdrawal Bill.
In its main story, the Mail on Sunday claims that Army recruits caught taking drugs are - for the first time - being allowed to remain in the military.
The paper says drug abuse among would-be soldiers is rife.
And throwing out recruits who failed a drugs test would mean cutting numbers when the Army was desperately short of troops.
The Army has responded by insisting there has been no relaxation of its zero-tolerance policy on drug misuse.
In its main story, the Sunday Times claims victory for the removal of online gambling games which attract children.
The paper says its investigation exposed the fact that the gambling industry was targeting children with cartoon characters and other images.
Though most of the games are free, the paper says they provide an introduction to casino games for young people and a route into gambling.
The Gambling Commission, it says, has acted with a commendable alacrity.
The Sunday Telegraph says trainee surgeons have complained that an endemic culture of bullying among senior colleagues is putting patients' lives at risk.
The paper says some surgeons have reported being assaulted during operations for raising safety concerns, and an atmosphere of fear is said to be leading to failures in concentration that directly harm patients.
The online newspaper the Independent says the prime minister's plan to cap energy bills has been thrown into doubt.
It says there is evidence that Whitehall officials are laying the ground for the scheme to be scrapped next year.
According to the paper, energy investors have already been told that PM Theresa May's draft proposal will be ditched, if the big power firms do enough to tackle high bills.
Plans to make the buying and selling of homes faster and cheaper in England and Wales get a general welcome.
The Sunday Express says buying a house is the biggest financial commitment most of us will ever make - and it is important to get it right.
"Dump the Gazump" is the headline in the Sunday Mirror.
The Sunday People says Britain is not building enough homes - but making the buying and selling process quicker and easier is a welcome start to tackling the housing crisis.
The Observer says Britain is enjoying a remarkable apple boom, as hundreds of new community orchards revive lost varieties and contribute to a thriving heritage market.
One expert believes there are possibly thousands of varieties that are not recorded but grown by farmers, smallholders and households.
The paper lists some of its favourites, including the Colwall Quoining, which has angular ridges, the Pig's Nose Pippin and the Ten Commandments, which has 10 red spots around its core.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41711319
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Borrow more to boost building, says Sajid Javid - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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The cabinet minister says a lack of affordable housing is the "biggest barrier to social progress".
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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. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid: 'We are looking at new investments'
The government should borrow money to fund the building of hundreds of thousands of new homes, a cabinet minister says.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said taking advantage of record-low interest rates "can be the right thing if done sensibly".
Housing charity Shelter said his comments suggested the government was "going in the right direction".
Labour said spending on new affordable homes had been "slashed" since 2010.
It comes as Mr Javid launched an eight-week review of housing, in which he has called on the industry to offer solutions to the home-buying and selling process.
The government has admitted house-building in the UK is failing to keep up with demand, and has described the current market as "broken".
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Mr Javid said successive governments had failed to build enough homes, and that the housing crisis Britain faced was "the biggest barrier to social progress in our country today".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Want to buy a house? Under 25? Watch this
He said between 275,000 and 300,000 homes a year - a level of house-building not seen since the 1960s - were needed in England alone to help tackle the shortage in affordable housing.
"We are looking at new investments and there will be announcements," he said, saying these would come in next month's Budget.
Asked about the change in tone from the Tories' previous approach to borrowing, Mr Javid said a distinction should be drawn between "vitally important" deficit reduction and "investing for the future" in housing and infrastructure.
"So for example... you borrow more to invest in the infrastructure that leads to more housing - take advantage of some of the record-low interest rates that we have. I think we should absolutely be considering that," he said.
Not so long ago, ministers would repeat at every opportunity the need to "balance the books".
Austerity was necessary to cut the deficit - to eliminate the gap between the amount the government spent and how much it received through taxes.
Now though, a cabinet minister openly suggests borrowing more money to fund a major policy.
The economic impact of the Brexit vote means the chancellor's catchphrase is the politically more convenient but far less catchy "commitment to fiscal discipline".
Not unlike Labour's "fiscal credibility rule", the Conservatives now seem comfortable with borrowing large amounts to fund long-term investment projects.
The government will be hoping that as well as new homes, it will get support from voters in return.
Recent announcements by the government include a pledge by Theresa May at the Conservative Party conference this month of an extra £2bn to build an additional 25,000 social homes.
Earlier this year, the government unveiled a new housing strategy for England, which included giving councils powers to pressurise developers to start to build on land they own, and building more affordable homes to buy and rent.
And last month Mr Javid promised a "top-to-bottom review" of social housing in the UK.
Kate Webb, of Shelter, said: "What the government are now talking about is exactly what they should have been talking about all along."
At a time of low interest rates, borrowing for housing was a "good investment" for the government, she said, but the key would be the types of houses that are actually built.
These have to be affordable to, for example, a teaching assistant or a shop worker, she added.
Councillor Martin Tett, of the Local Government Association, called for councils to be given the power and funding to build houses.
Labour's housing spokesman John Healey said there had already been plenty of "hot air" from ministers on house-building.
"Any promise of new investment is welcome, but the reality is spending on new affordable homes has been slashed since 2010, so new affordable house-building is at a 24 year low."
He promised Labour would build 100,000 "genuinely affordable" homes per year.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41714128
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Italy referendums: Lombardy and Veneto 'back greater autonomy' - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Central government says the polls are unnecessary but they are permitted under the constitution.
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Europe
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"Yes" posters in the Veneto region
Two of Italy's richest northern regions have voted for more autonomy, according to their leaders.
More than 90% of voters in Lombardy, home to Italy's financial capital Milan, and the Veneto region around Venice, voted yes in the non-binding referendum, their presidents claimed.
Both men are members of the Northern League, which has long argued that the north is subsidising the poorer south.
The regions together account for about 30% of Italy's national wealth.
Critics of the polls call them a stunt to bolster the right-wing Northern League before a general election next year, while the central government in Rome says the polls are unnecessary although they are permitted under the Italian constitution.
They contrast sharply with the crisis in Spain where one of the richest regions, Catalonia, held an referendum on independence on 1 October, despite the country's constitutional court ruling it illegal. In response, Spain's government plans to impose direct rule.
But President Roberto Maroni, who leads Lombardy, where voter turnout was about 40%, has sought to distance the Italian vote from the situation in Spain.
"We are not Catalonia," he told Reuters news agency in Milan.
Roberto Maroni is a leading member of the Northern League
"We remain inside the Italian nation with more autonomy while Catalonia wants to become the 29th state of the European Union. We, no. Not for now."
One of the regions' main complaints is that they send much more in taxes to Rome than they get back in public spending, and want to roughly halve their contribution.
Lombardy, Mr Maroni says, annually pays out €54bn (£48bn; $64bn) more than it receives while for Veneto, where voter turnout was higher, at between 57% and 61%, this figure is said to be about €15.5bn.
"Our taxes should be spent here, not in Sicily," Giuseppe Colonna, 84, told AFP news agency in Venice.
But critics object to millions of euros being spent on referendums when all regions already have the constitutional right to negotiate directly with Rome.
"Once you open up the issue of what the northern regions pay, then I expect a backlash in southern Italy," Giovanni Orsina, history professor at Rome's Luiss-Guido Carli University, told Reuters.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41712263
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Dubai Scot jailed for three months for public indecency - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Jamie Harron was arrested after touching a man's hip in a Dubai bar.
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Tayside and Central Scotland
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Jamie Harron was convicted of public indecency over the incident in a Dubai bar
A Scottish man has been sentenced to three months in jail for touching a man's hip in a Dubai bar.
Jamie Harron, from Stirling, was arrested in July and charged with public indecency.
He claimed he had simply been trying to avoid spilling his drink when he touched the man.
The 27-year-old electrician had already been sentenced to a month in jail for drinking beer and still faces further court proceedings.
The businessman who made the complaint against Mr Harron later withdrew it, but prosecutors in Dubai continued with the case.
News of the three-month sentence was released by campaign group Detained in Dubai, which has been supporting Mr Harron.
Mr Harron was on a stopover break in the United Arab Emirates when the incident happened
The group said lawyers acting for him would appeal and they would be pursuing a civil action against his accusers.
A statement from the group said: "Today Jamie Harron was sentenced to three months imprisonment for accidentally brushing the hip of an Arab customer at the Rock Bottom bar in Dubai.
"Key witnesses to the incident were not called upon to testify to discredit the allegations.
"Jamie will appeal the verdict, though this will prolong his increasingly difficult circumstances in Dubai, and compound the enormous financial losses he has suffered as a consequence of the ongoing case."
Detained in Dubai's chief executive Radha Stirling said Mr Harron was "understandably distraught".
She added: "Now Jamie has been sentenced to three months, there is no telling whether a judgment on appeal will be better or worse.
"He has already suffered tremendously as a result of these allegations, and now faces the likelihood of incarceration.
"His family was unable to visit him during this critical time because they faced a very real risk of imprisonment themselves under the UAE's cybercrime laws which forbid criticism of the government.
"At this point, Jamie will definitely be pursuing civil action against his accusers when he does eventually return home, as it appears that he will not be able to find justice in the UAE.
"He is angry, disappointed, and dreads what may happen next. He feels betrayed and exploited by the system, which did not investigate the reports of key witnesses in his defence and led him to believe that the case would be dropped."
Mr Harron, who worked as an electrician in Afghanistan, was on a two-day stopover in the United Arab Emirates at the time of the incident on 15 July.
He is still to face court on two other charges stemming from the case - one of consuming alcohol, and one for allegedly making a rude gesture.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-41713718
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British woman reported dead in boat accident in France - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Four others were injured when the boat hit a warning beacon, throwing the woman into the Rhone.
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UK
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The incident happened near the town of Avignon
A British woman has died after a boat accident in southern France on Saturday night.
The 27-year-old was thrown overboard when the boat she was on collided with a warning beacon on the river Rhone.
Her body was found six metres underwater, firefighters near Avignon told the AFP news agency.
Five other people, including one Briton, were injured and taken to hospital. Two of them are in serious but not life threatening condition.
"Everyone is in shock," local police said.
An investigation has been launched to determine the circumstances of the incident.
Eight friends, four French and four British, aged between 20 and 30, were on the boat, along with the captain.
They were on the river near the popular tourist town of Avignon.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41715194
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Everything Everything on how they've turned a 'nightmare' into pop music - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Everything Everything on how their new album was inspired by the "surreal, nightmarish" news cycle.
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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. Everything Everything perform Can't Do at BBC Music Introducing Live 2017
"There's a tide and it's coming in now," sings Jonathan Higgs on Night Of The Long Knives, the latest single from Everything Everything.
The title refers to Hitler's bloody purge of the Nazi party in 1934, drawing a parallel to the rise of the right-wing politics in the last two years.
Only Higgs isn't convinced that fascism will sweep everything in its path.
"They're saying it's a wave but it feels like a dribbling mouth," he sneers in the single, questioning whether the alt-right are a powerful force, or just a bunch of idiots.
"And the answer is both," says the singer, sitting down to discuss the album with BBC News at the Brixton Academy.
"It depends how we react to it. If everyone [panics and] says, 'Oh God!' the next thing you know, they're the prime minister.
"But if you go, 'Ha, ha, ha, you're idiots,' well... they'll probably still become prime minister. But you have to keep your head about it."
It's surprising to hear Higgs make a plea for perspective. After all, this is a man whose last album, Get To Heaven, was a "wretched and anxious" response to Islamic State militants, beheadings, mass shootings and political corruption.
"I was in a dark place," he told the BBC on its release. "I was essentially trying to inhabit the minds of the [extremists] and that's a really horrible thing to face."
Everything Everything's new album dials back on the paranoia and dread - partly because Higgs thinks the world has caught up with him.
"I'm not less in that headspace, but I think everyone else is in it more," he says.
"But the album's a bit more abstract, a bit more personal. Away from politics and all that stuff, it's about the human relationships we all have."
The album is called A Fever Dream, a reference to the "surreal, nightmarish things happening, day after day" - especially the absurdity of modern politics.
It's there in Big Game, a pomposity-pricking parable about Donald Trump ("Even little children see through you"), and it's there in Run the Numbers, a song that explores Michael Gove's comment that "people in this country have had enough of experts".
"Is it the first song to be inspired by Michael Gove? Yes, and it should be the only one. Let's leave it at that."
A Fever Dream reached number five when it was released in August - the band's best chart position to date
Higgs is smart enough to be aware that he comes from a position of privilege, and his liberal views are out of step with the prevailing political climate.
There's a song on the album called Ivory Tower, where people threaten to "come and crush me in the Waitrose aisle". On the title track, he sings: "I hate the neighbours, they hate me too / The fear and the fury make me feel good."
"It's admitting that I sort of enjoy arguing," he explains. "I think we all do on some level. It's certainly popular."
"With anonymity you can go much further than you ever could in real life," Higgs continues.
"People become very extreme very quickly. It feels good to give yourself over to that emotion."
This leads to a discussion of the fake news stories that spread in the wake of this month's mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Everything Everything are named after the first two words on Radiohead's Kid A album
"I just can't begin to find a way into that mindset," says Higgs. "But the whole idea about what's true has been thrown up in the air: Who do we trust? Why do we trust our journalists? Is it just because we're used to it?"
"There are codes of practices in place, right?" interjects his bandmate, Jeremy Pritchard. "But does the Daily Mail care? Does Fox News care? I don't think so."
Higgs says keeping up with the news "feels like a bad dream - sometimes it's scary and frightening and sometimes it's electrifying and exciting".
He adds: "That's why there's a reference to being asleep or dreaming or waking up in every single song. There's a feeling of 'is it real, or is it not?'"
If this all sounds pretty heavy, it's worth noting that Everything Everything have always dressed up their angst in a cathartic explosion of melodic pop.
That's how they sneak songs like Cough Cough (about greed for oil), My Kz Ur Bf (airstrikes) and Night Of The Long Knives onto daytime radio.
"Musically, A Fever Dream's a bit more electronic but also heavier with guitars and riffs," says Pritchard (second left)
In concert, this results in fans bellowing out the lyrics to No Reptiles - a song about feeling passive and useless and alienated from society.
There's something bizarre, I observe, about hearing 3,000 people chanting: "It's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair."
"We're always surprised by what people's favourites are," adds Pritchard. "And we're still towards the beginning of that process on this album.
"We've written them, we've recorded them and now we're seeing what works in the live arena - where the energy is, how to play it."
But the "fat child in a pushchair" remains the bassist's favourite part of the set, every night.
"I don't have to play anything at that point in the song," he says, "So I always take my earphones out and listen to the crowd. It's incredible."
A Fever Dream is out now.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41692363
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Brexit: Why a transition period may not buy more time for talks - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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David Davis says a transition period won't happen unless a final Brexit deal is in place.
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UK Politics
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So the focus of the Brexit talks has shifted slightly as a result of the EU leaders' summit in Brussels.
There is still plenty of tough bargaining ahead in the next few weeks, especially on the question of money.
But there is also going to be more and more talk about preparing for a transition period - for what happens immediately after the UK leaves the EU in March 2019.
Plenty of people see transition as a way to buy a little more time to sort things out - to finalise negotiations on a future trade deal. But the UK government prefers to calls the transition phase a "period of implementation".
It is not entirely clear what would be implemented.
But the Brexit Secretary David Davis warned this week that without a final deal on a future partnership with the EU - at least in principle - the government would not want to trigger any kind of transition at all.
Does it mean the two sides view the prospects for transition very differently?
The EU27 - the other member states without the UK - have now agreed to start working on new guidelines for their negotiators.
And both the EU and Theresa May (in her Florence speech) have said that any transition/implementation period would take place under "the existing structure of EU rules and regulations".
There will be plenty of technical challenges: what happens, for example, to the UK's role in EU trade agreements with third countries? Those third countries might have their own opinions about that.
But there is also the question of what happens during a transition period itself?
It could mean roughly two more years to continue negotiations on the details of a future partnership with the EU on trade, security and a host of other issues.
The Confederation of British Industry, for example, argues that in order to avoid a "cliff-edge" Brexit, negotiations on a trading agreement should continue during a transition.
But UK government policy is rather different. It still argues that a deal on our "final relationship" with the rest of the EU can be completed before the UK leaves the EU at the end of March 2019.
Most observers are convinced that, for practical reasons, that will not be possible - there is simply too much to do.
But Mr Davis insisted in the House of Commons this week that if the broad outlines of a permanent deal are not in place when the UK leaves, a transition period will not be triggered.
Asked by Conservative MP Rishi Sunak for reassurance that "what is meant to be a transitory state of affairs does not become a permanent bridge to nowhere", Mr Davis said: "We will try to get the nature of the implementation phase agreed as soon as possible, so that businesses can take that into account."
He added: "But he's right that such a transition phase would only be triggered once we've completed the deal itself, we cannot carry on negotiating through that - our negotiating position during the transition phase would not be very strong."
In other words, Mr Davis is saying - in stronger language than the government appears to have used before - that if there is no final deal by March 2019, at least in principle, then the UK would not want to trigger a transition period.
The words "at least in principle" contain a fair amount of wiggle room. And the EU itself would be delighted if the outlines of a future agreement could be agreed so quickly.
It says only that a withdrawal agreement (as opposed to a future trade agreement) has to be finalised in order for there to be a transition. And Article 50 simply says the withdrawal agreement must "take account of the framework for a future relationship".
But Mr Davis appears to be upping the ante. "No final deal" equals "no transition" equals "hard Brexit".
As a negotiating tactic, it may be designed to keep the pressure on. But it may not be what many business leaders want to hear.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41700039
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Man charged with murdering Teresa Wishart in Kirkby - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Teresa Wishart was found with head injuries at her home in Kirkby, police say.
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Liverpool
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Teresa Wishart was found with head injuries at her home
A man has been charged with the murder of an 80-year-old woman at her home.
The body of Teresa Wishart was found in Changford Close in Kirkby, Merseyside, on Thursday. She had suffered head injuries.
Charles Stapleton, 51, from Watts Close, Kirkby, is accused of murder and burglary.
He is due to appear at Liverpool, Knowsley and St Helens Magistrates' Court on Monday morning.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-41716994
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Brexit: Emily Thornberry predicts no deal with the EU - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Emily Thornberry predicts the UK's "intransigence" will stop agreement being reached with Brussels.
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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. Emily Thornberry: "I think we are heading for no-deal Brexit"
Brexit negotiations with the EU are heading for a "no deal" scenario, Labour's Emily Thornberry has warned.
Shadow foreign secretary Ms Thornberry said the PM's failure to control her party was causing "intransigence" on the UK side, which was a "serious threat to Britain" and its interests.
But International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said a failure to agree a deal was "not exactly a nightmare scenario".
The UK was preparing "mitigation" measures for such an outcome, he said.
Meanwhile, the Spanish foreign minister said the lives of UK expats in Spain would not be "disrupted" - even if no Brexit deal is agreed.
Theresa May will update MPs on Monday on the progress made at last week's Brussels summit, where EU leaders agreed to begin scoping work on future trade talks while asking for more concessions from the UK on the opening phase of negotiations.
These talks, covering the UK's "divorce bill", the rights of expats after Brexit and the border in Northern Ireland, have failed to reach agreement so far - leading to a focus on what happens if nothing is put in place by the time the UK leaves the European Union in March 2019.
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Ms Thornberry said: "I think what we may be seeing is the Europeans trying to make it clear that it is not their fault that there are these difficulties - the intransigence does not come from their side, it comes from Theresa May's side.
"And in the end I think the reality is the intransigence is on Theresa May's side, because she doesn't have the strength or the authority to be able to control her backbenchers, let alone her cabinet. And I think we are heading for no deal, and I think that that is a serious threat to Britain and it is not in Britain's interests for that to happen.
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
Labour is seeking to work with Tory rebels to amend a key plank of Brexit legislation - the EU Withdrawal Bill - so that Parliament has the power to reject whatever the outcome of the negotiations turns out to be.
Following last week's summit, European Council President Donald Tusk said that although not enough progress had been made to begin trade talks, reports of deadlock may have been exaggerated.
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."
Speaking on ITV's Peston on Sunday, Mr Fox said a final figure for the UK's financial settlement with the EU cannot come "until we know what the final package looks like", later in the negotiation process.
He also dismissed President Macron's suggestion that "secondary players" in the UK were "bluffing" about the possibility of a no deal outcome, saying this was "completely wrong".
Mr Fox, who is responsible for striking global trade deals after Brexit, said he would prefer a "comprehensive" arrangement to be agreed - but was "not scared" of what would happen if this was not possible.
And he said trade talks would only be complicated if the "European elite" tried to "punish Britain for having the audacity to use our legal rights to leave the European Union".
He said he hoped "economic sense" would prevail, as opposed to the "near-theological" pursuit of closer EU integration.
When she addresses MPs on Monday, Mrs May is expected to reaffirm her commitment to EU nationals living in the UK, saying she will "put people first" in the "deeply technical" talks.
Speaking on the Marr show, Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said expats would be allowed to continue living in Spain even if no Brexit deal was reached.
"I do hope that there will be a deal," he said.
"If there is no deal we will make sure that the lives of ordinary people who are in Spain, the UK people, is not disrupted.
"As you know, the relationship between the UK and Spain is a very close one in terms of economic relations and also social exchanges.
"Over 17 million Brits come to Spain every year and many of them live here or retire here, and we want to keep it that way as much as possible."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41713533
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How Wim Wenders put the snap back into Polaroids - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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The movie-maker shows off his eclectic collection of self-snapped prints taken over many decades.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Wim Wenders chose himself as a subject for some of his photos
Wim Wenders became a major film-maker when, in the 1970s, German cinema became cool around the world. His hits included The American Friend and Paris, Texas. But Wenders was privately experimenting with one of the most straightforward of visual technologies - the Polaroid stills camera. Thousands of those shots were thrown away - but now a selection of surviving images has gone on display in London.
Wenders says when he started taking Polaroid pictures in the mid-1960s it had nothing to do with art.
Wim Wenders says taking snaps was useful to his film-making and it was fun
"It was just part of my life. I would photograph things to do with movies I was making, or when I travelled. It was useful and fun - which I think is what Polaroids were for most people."
Instant photography - doing away with a separate and lengthy process of developing film outside the camera - arrived commercially in 1948. It was the creation of Polaroid's founder Edwin Land. In the early years the images were black and white.
The big step forward was the arrival of the Polaroid sx-70 camera in the early 1970s.
"It was science fiction and nobody had seen anything like it. You pointed the camera and took the picture and then it came out - an empty, blank bit of white paper.
"And before your eyes it slowly turned into the image you had shot a few moments before. It was exhilarating in its colours and brightness.
New York is given the Wim Wenders treatment
"You have to remember that at this time people didn't have even VHS tape - we were in a simpler, analogue world. So to be able to create and record a visual image almost immediately seemed extraordinary."
Now some 200 of the images are on display in London, under the title Instant Stories. Some of them show well-known people the director worked with such as the actor Dennis Hopper. Others are landscapes or pictures of odd corners in places Wenders visited such as New York or Sydney.
There are also close-up images of a TV set showing the 1956 film The Girl Can't Help It, with appearances from Eddie Cochrane and Gene Vincent.
"It's still my favourite rock and roll movie. And suddenly with a Polaroid you could photograph something you enjoyed and you had it in front of you to hold, almost at once. At the time it was extraordinary.
"The other great thing is that if friends were in the image you could give it to them - and that's what happened to many of the pictures I took.
"I'd had traditional cameras since I was six or so and I enjoyed using them. But there was a whole new spontaneity with the Polaroid which I think some people are now starting to rediscover the way they've rediscovered music on vinyl.
"Everyone says, 'oh the kids aren't interested in physical objects any more: they don't want a book or a newspaper or a CD.'
"But the kids will regret it when they're older: if you're 25 you have to realise that the phone which seems so great now will one day be yesterday's technology and lots of the digital images we all have will be hard or even impossible to look at."
Dennis Hopper invented the selfie in the Wenders movie The American Friend, says the director
But doesn't a modern smartphone produce images far more sophisticated than any Polaroid camera did 40 years ago? Wenders says the basic character of the technology was part of the appeal.
"I think people who look at the images will find a sort of beauty here. The colours the process produced are great, though the monochrome images are attractive too."
The director points out a particular black and white picture. "It's the Hoboken Terminal in New York and I was shooting a film 30 years ago there called Lightning Over Water. These places are mainly gone."
For a long time the pictures just went up on Wenders' refrigerator and then were stored away in cigar boxes.
"But they remain unique: they only existed once and there's no negative and you can't duplicate it. Forty years later they seem quite precious."
Wenders remembers that at the time a new Polaroid model or a big technical development was the equivalent of an Apple launch today.
"So when the sx-70 came out we were delighted to get hold of it early to use in the film Alice in the Cities (1974)."
The new show in London plays on a loop the scene from The American Friend in which, says Wenders, "Dennis Hopper invents the selfie with a Polaroid camera."
There was something "sacred" about the instantaneity of the Polaroid, says Wenders
There was also a use behind the camera. "So at this time there's no video playout and you only see your rushes three days later. The Polaroid camera can be a real help setting up a shot."
But in the 1980s Wenders abandoned Polaroids entirely. "I was starting to take stills photography more seriously and I started to use large-size cameras".
But he retained one of his old Polaroid cameras and only recently gave it to Patti Smith to replace one she was having problems with.
Wenders thinks digital photography is now so problem-free and so cheap that a lot of the creativity has gone.
"It's so easy for a professional photographer to take hundreds or even thousands of pictures of a particular face or of a scene and of course a few of them will be good and the rest are wiped. It can be an impersonal, industrial process.
"The Polaroid was instant but it was still connected to the original idea of photography. There was always something sacred about the act of stealing an image from the world."
Instant Stories: Wim Wenders' Polaroids is at the Photographers' Gallery in London until 11 February 2018.
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Raqqa: US coalition 'wiped city off Earth', Russia says - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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Moscow accuses the West of sending aid to the Syrian city to cover up evidence of crimes.
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Middle East
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The BBC's Feras Kilani was in Raqqa with anti-IS troops
Russia has accused the US-led coalition of bombing the Syrian city of Raqqa "off the face of the earth" during the fight against so-called Islamic State.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, took Raqqa last week.
Pictures suggest much of Raqqa is in ruins, and Moscow compared it to the Allied destruction of the German city of Dresden in World War Two.
The US-led coalition says it tried to minimise risks to civilians.
Russia has itself been accused of committing war crimes for its bombardment of Aleppo last year.
UN war crimes investigators in June that there had been a "staggering loss of civilian life" in Raqqa.
Syrian activists say between 1,130 and 1,873 civilians were killed and that many of the civilian casualties were the result of the intense US-led air strikes that helped the SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, advance.
A Russian defence ministry spokesman said the ruins evoked the destruction of Dresden.
"Raqqa has inherited the fate of Dresden in 1945, wiped off the face of the earth by Anglo-American bombardments," Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said.
He said the West now appeared to be hurrying to send financial aid to Raqqa as a way of covering up evidence of its crimes.
Allied bombing destroyed most of Dresden in 1945
The US-led coalition said it had adhered to strict targeting processes and procedures aimed to minimise risks to civilians.
The SDF declared victory in Raqqa last week after a four-month battle to retake the city from IS, which had ruled it for three years.
They say they have since taken the al-Omar oilfield, Syria's largest and a significant source of revenue for IS.
The SDF's fight against the militants is now focused on their last stronghold in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour.
The Syrian army, supported by Russian airpower and Iranian-backed militias, is also attacking the extremist group.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41714754
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Aberdeenshire man 'kidnapped' in Vietnam is found safe and well - BBC News
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2017-10-22
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He was with a group of friends who got out of a taxi which apparently sped off before Mr Leslie could step out of the car.
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NE Scotland, Orkney & Shetland
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Connor Leslie was in Vietnam on holiday with a group of friends
A 23-year-old British man feared kidnapped in Vietnam has been found safe and well, relatives have said.
Connor Leslie, from Newtonhill in Aberdeenshire, was last seen at about 02:30 local time (21:30 BST on Friday) in Hanoi.
He was in the city with a group of friends who got out of a taxi which apparently sped off before Mr Leslie could step out of the car.
The Leslie family said he was fine and would continue his holiday.
It is understood he managed to make his own way back to his companions.
Friends and family could not contact him on his mobile after he went missing and his cousin said on Saturday afternoon that his messaging app had been offline for about 17 hours.
Members of Mr Leslie's family had shared information about his disappearance on Facebook after he was last seen at Tay Ho 395 on Lac Long Quan.
Mr Leslie's brother Ross told BBC Scotland his brother was fine other than having blisters on his feet.
Connor Leslie was last seen at Tay Ho 395 in northern Hanoi
His cousin Scott Leslie earlier said the whole family had been "absolutely terrified" waiting for news of Mr Leslie.
"He was in a taxi and his friends were getting out. Connor was the last to get out and the taxi driver just sped off before Connor could get out of the car," he told BBC Scotland.
It is understood that the group may have had an argument with the taxi driver about money.
Mr Leslie added: "It's fantastic news that he's been found."
Connor Leslie, who works in the oil and gas industry, was with a group of friends who were just starting their holiday in Vietnam.
His family said he would now continue with the holiday.
The group is expected to travel to Australia next.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-41707291
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Director James Toback accused of sexual harassment - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Oscar-nominated film-maker James Toback denies allegations made by almost 40 women.
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Entertainment & Arts
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James Toback has been a writer and director since the 1970s
Oscar-nominated Hollywood film-maker James Toback has been accused by nearly 40 women of sexual harassment.
The Los Angeles Times said 31 of the women had spoken on the record about their experiences, which span the last 30 years.
Toback has denied the allegations and said he had never met any of the women in question or, if he did, it "was for five minutes and have no recollection".
The writer and director was nominated for best screenplay for 1991's Bugsy.
The mobster film starred Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. He has also directed Robert Downey Jr in three films, including Black and White and The Pick-Up Artist.
His latest film, The Private Life of a Modern Woman, premiered at the Venice Film Festival last month and stars Sienna Miller.
The women interviewed by the LA Times have accused Toback, 72, of masturbating in front of them, rubbing himself up against them, asking inappropriate questions of a sexual nature and asking them to perform sexual acts.
One said that after an alleged encounter, she "felt like a prostitute, an utter disappointment to myself, my parents, my friends", adding: "And I deserved not to tell anyone."
Toback told the LA Times that for the past 22 years, it had been "biologically impossible" for him to engage in the behaviour described, saying he had diabetes and a heart condition that required medication.
LA Times writer Glenn Whipp, who broke the story, tweeted that since the story was published on Sunday, the number of women who originally contacted him - 38 - had doubled.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41720154
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Hunt for fugitive conman suspect Mark Acklom focuses on family - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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A wealthy divorcee described how Mark Acklom pretended to be a spy before disappearing with her savings.
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Bristol
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Mark Acklom is likely to be with his wife Maria Rodriguez, police say
Detectives hunting a man accused of conning a wealthy divorcee out of her life savings have released details of his family in an attempt to find him.
Mark Acklom, 44, was named among the 10 most wanted British fugitives living in Spain, last October.
A woman with whom he had a relationship said he posed as an MI6 agent before disappearing with £850,000 she had lent him.
Avon and Somerset Police have released a photograph of Mr Acklom's wife.
Police believe Maria Yolanda Ros Rodriguez, 47, is likely to be with him and could be assisting him, although she is not the subject of a European Arrest Warrant.
Mark Acklom was apparently photographed in Geneva in May
Det Insp Adam Bunting said: "We believe he'll be with his wife Maria Rodriguez and their two young daughters, who we know up until last year's appeal, were enrolled in El Limonar International School in the Murcia area of Spain.
"In the days following the appeal he removed his children from the school and, together with his wife, he disappeared.
He said there were "significant concerns" about the children's wellbeing due to them being "uprooted, with no notice, from their school, friends and family".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Carolyn Woods talks about how Mark Acklom convinced her he was an MI6 agent
"It's highly likely Acklom will have placed his children in another fee-paying school," he added.
A spokesman said police particularly want to hear from British expats with children in a private international school abroad, who may have noticed the recent arrival of a family from Spain, with daughters aged six and eight.
They said Ms Rodriguez may be using the aliases Yolanda Ross, Maria Long or Mary Moss, and may be teaching or attending yoga classes.
Det Insp Bunting added: "We also have information linking him to Dublin and Italy, but he could be anywhere in Europe. It's possible he may have travelled outside the EU."
In May this year Mr Acklom was apparently photographed in Geneva, Switzerland, but has not been sighted since.
Earlier this year Carolyn Woods, who was working in a boutique in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, when she met him, criticised police for not doing enough to catch Mr Acklom.
She described how he told her he was a wealthy Swiss banker and MI6 agent before disappearing with her life savings in 2012.
Ms Woods said she gave evidence to Avon and Somerset Police, in July 2015, that Mr Acklom was in custody in Spain, but by the time they had got a European Arrest Warrant a year later he had been released.
Carolyn Woods met Mr Acklom when he walked into the shop where she worked in Tetbury
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-41719564
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Japan PM Shinzo Abe promises to handle North Korea threat - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Shinzo Abe pledges strong "counter-measures" against Pyongyang after a decisive election win.
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Asia
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Shinzo Abe called the snap election in September, and said the results were a "vote of confidence"
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised strong "counter-measures" against North Korea, after winning a decisive victory in Sunday's election.
Mr Abe had called an early election for a greater mandate to deal with "crises", including the growing threat from Pyongyang, which has fired missiles over Japan in recent months.
His ruling coalition has retained a two-thirds majority in parliament.
This paves the way for Mr Abe to amend Japan's post-war pacifist constitution.
The prime minister has previously called for the existence of the country's armed forces to be formalised, a controversial move which he says is needed to strengthen Japan's defence but which critics say is a step towards re-militarisation.
Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, Mr Abe said his coalition's win was a "vote of confidence" from the public, and based on that "we would dramatically show counter-measures against the North Korea threat".
He said he would discuss these measures with US President Donald Trump, who is visiting Japan next month, as well as with other world powers such as Russia and China.
He said they would exert "stronger pressure" on North Korea, adding: "I will make sure the Japanese public is safe, and safeguard our nation."
Mr Abe saw his popularity plummet in recent months while embroiled in political scandals, but enjoyed a sudden recovery after North Korea fired two missiles over the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo says Mr Abe's pledge of tough diplomacy with North Korea is rhetoric that would play well with the Japanese public, but it is unclear what it means in concrete terms.
Tokyo has no diplomatic or economic relations with North Korea, and has poor relations with Pyongyang's closest ally China, so the most Mr Abe can do is strengthen Japan's defences and stick closely to the US, our correspondent adds.
Turnout on Sunday was estimated at about 53.7%
Mr Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) coalition with the Komeito party has won 313 of the 465 seats in the lower house of Japan's parliamentary Diet - which gives them the power to table a revision to the constitution.
Mr Abe had previously announced he wanted to revise a clause which renounces war, known as Article 9, to formally recognise Japan's military, which is known as the "self-defence forces".
He had set a deadline of 2020 to achieve this highly contentious task. But on Monday he appeared to ditch this target, saying it was "not set in a concrete schedule".
He said he hoped to "form a strong agreement" on the issue among parties in parliament, and "gain trust" from the Japanese public.
Even if an amendment to the constitution is passed and approved by both houses in the Diet - which Mr Abe's coalition controls - it still needs to be put to a public vote in a referendum.
Mr Abe two years ago successfully managed to push for a re-interpretation of the constitution to allow troops to fight overseas under certain circumstances, which attracted widespread protests.
Our correspondent says Mr Abe's victory is also in large part due to the chaos of Japan's opposition parties.
In the lead-up to the snap election, all eyes were on the recently-formed conservative Party of Hope led by the charismatic Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, with some speculating that it would make significant gains.
Ms Koike said she took responsibility for the result
But in the end it was overtaken by the centre-left Constitutional Democratic Party which emerged as the biggest opposition party, and which opposes Mr Abe's plan to amend Article 9.
Ms Koike, who was in Paris for a business trip during the election, told reporters she was personally taking responsibility for the result. Japanese media quoted her as saying her "words and deeds" had caused "displeasure" to voters.
Mr Abe's election win also raises his chances of securing a third three-year-term as leader of the LDP when the party votes next September.
That would give him the opportunity to become Japan's longest serving prime minister, having been elected in 2012.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41717219
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Brexit: Theresa May says 'important progress' made at EU summit - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says the PM's update sounds like "Groundhog Day".
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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: We are in touching distance of a deal
Theresa May has said "important progress" on Brexit was made at last week's EU summit - but Jeremy Corbyn said it sounded like "Groundhog Day".
The PM said she had a "degree of confidence" of making enough progress by December to begin trade talks.
She also said there would be no "physical infrastructure" on the border in Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, the EU Commission president dismissed a German newspaper's account of his dinner with the PM.
"Nothing is true in all of this," Jean-Claude Juncker said, rejecting the article's claims Mrs May "begged for help" when they met and seemed tired and politically weak.
After five rounds of UK-EU talks, there has been no breakthrough in the first phase of negotiations between the UK and the EU.
At the summit, the other 27 EU leaders decided progress on the Brexit separation issues had not been "sufficient" to open talks on future trade relations with the UK yet - but they did agree to discuss future arrangements amongst themselves, paving the way for talks with the UK to possibly begin in December.
Businesses are calling for urgent agreement in setting up temporary transition arrangements after the UK's departure date in March 2019.
But some pro-EU MPs expressed concern that the UK could leave without one in place, after Mrs May suggested it was dependent on details of the final "partnership" being clear.
"The point of the implementation period is to put in place the practical changes necessary to move to the future partnership," she said as she updated MPs on last week's summit.
"In order to have that, you need to know what the future partnership is going to be."
Mrs May also said the question of citizens' rights after Brexit remained her "first priority", with a deal within "touching distance", and pledged that EU nationals living in the UK would not face "bureaucratic hurdles" after March 2019.
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Her "clear commitments" on another sticking point, the UK's financial settlement, had helped moved talks forward, she said.
In response, Mr Corbyn compared Mrs May's updates to 1993 comedy Groundhog Day, where the lead character played by Bill Murray lives the same day over and over again.
"Well, here we are again after another round of talks," he said, saying it was "no clearer" when future talks would begin or what the UK had agreed to so far.
Talks have reached an "impasse" with no progress abroad or at home, he said, adding that the citizens' rights issue "could have been dealt with 16 months ago".
Just before the PM got to her feet in the Commons, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker denied leaking an unsourced account of his dinner with the PM published in German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Juncker: Theresa May was in good shape, she was not tired
The account, largely written from the perspective of EU officials, suggested Mrs May appeared "anxious, despondent and disheartened" and had spoken of her limited room for manoeuvre back at home.
"Everyone can see: the prime minister is marked by the struggle with her own party," the article stated, according to a translated version quoted by a number of British newspapers.
"She has deep rings under her eyes. She looks like someone who doesn't sleep at night."
But asked by the BBC if he had spoken to the German press, Mr Juncker said: "No, never. I am really surprised - if not shocked - about what has been written in the German press.
"And of course repeated by the British press. Nothing is true in all of this.
"I had an excellent working dinner with Theresa May. She was in good shape, she was not tired, she was fighting, as is her duty, so everything for me was OK."
In the Commons, Tory MP Bernard Jenkin said anyone suggesting Mrs May was weak "seriously underestimates" the PM and the Conservative Party, urging her to "stick to her guns".
The apparent leak of what happened at the dinner follows a similar incident in April, when Mrs May accused some in the EU of "meddling" in the general election campaign after details of a dinner between her and Mr Juncker in Downing Street appeared in the German press.
Downing Street said it had no comment on the latest reports and pointed out that both sides were of the view that the recent get-together had been "constructive and friendly".
Martin Selmayr is a key figure in the European Commission
Earlier Nick Timothy, who was the PM's chief of staff until he quit after the general election, suggested the disclosure had all the hallmarks of coming from the European Commission.
In a reference to EU official Martin Selmayr, he tweeted: "After constructive Council meeting, Selmayr does this. Reminder that some in Brussels want no deal or a punitive one."
But Mr Selmayr said the claim was "false" and neither he nor Mr Juncker had any "interest in weakening" Mrs May.
He tweeted: "I deny that 1: we leaked this; 2: Juncker ever said this; 3: we are punitive on Brexit. It's an attempt 2 frame EU side & 2 undermine talks."
The European Commission said it was working for a fair Brexit deal and had "no time for gossip".
"Some people like to point at us to serve their own political priorities," a spokesman said.
"We would appreciate if these people would leave us alone."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41720244
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Actress Rosemary Leach dies after 'short illness' - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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The actress, best known for roles in films A Room With A View and That'll Be The Day, was 81.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Rosemary Leach played the Queen in Margaret, a BBC drama about Margaret Thatcher
Actress Rosemary Leach, best known for her roles in the films A Room With A View and That'll Be The Day, has died, her agent has said.
Leach, who also played Grace in episodes of the sitcom My Family, died in hospital after a "short illness", Caroline de Wolfe said in a statement.
The stage and screen actress, 81, won an Olivier Award in 1982 for her part in the play 84 Charing Cross Road.
She was also twice nominated for a Bafta award as best supporting actress.
Leach is survived by her actor husband, Colin Starkey.
Rosemary Leach appeared alongside Ronnie Corbett in Now Look Here, in the 1970s
She again starred alongside Corbett in the 1974 series The Prince of Denmark
Leach again played Queen Elizabeth II in the 2005 series Tea with Betty
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41714112
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Stephen Hawking PhD readers crash Cambridge University website - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Stephen Hawking's PhD thesis, written as a 24-year-old, was made available to the public on Monday.
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Cambridgeshire
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Stephen Hawking's handwriting can be seen on the document
Demand for Stephen Hawking's PhD thesis intermittently crashed part of Cambridge University's website as physics fans flocked to read his work.
Prof Hawking's 1966 thesis "Properties of expanding universes" was made freely available for the first time on the publications section of university's website at 00:01 BST.
More than 60,000 have so far accessed his work as a 24-year-old postgraduate.
Prof Hawking said by making it available he hoped to "inspire people".
He added: "Anyone, anywhere in the world should have free, unhindered access to not just my research, but to the research of every great and enquiring mind across the spectrum of human understanding.
"It's wonderful to hear how many people have already shown an interest in downloading my thesis - hopefully they won't be disappointed now that they finally have access to it!"
Professor Hawking is still working at Cambridge University at the age of 75
The 75-year-old's doctoral thesis is the most requested item in Cambridge University's library.
Since May 2016, 199 requests were made for the PhD - most of which are believed to be from the general public rather than academics. The next most requested publication was asked for just 13 times.
Previously, to read Hawking's PhD in full, people had to pay £65 to the university library to scan a copy or physically go to the library to read it.
Because of the popularity of the 134-page work the website has, at times, struggled to cope with the volume of users on Monday.
But thousands have still been able to read the document by the man who would go on to write A Brief History of Time, one of the most influential scientific works ever.
The abstract of his PhD begins: "Some implications and consequences of the expansion of the universe are examined".
The opening page of Stephen Hawking's PhD, when he was a 24-year-old studying at Trinity Hall
Dr Lauren Cadwallader, deputy head of scholarly communications at Cambridge University, said when Prof Hawking was asked whether he wanted to make his PhD available to all he agreed almost immediately.
Dr Cadwallader added she hoped it would be a "great example for academics writing their theses now that maybe in 51 years' time they'll be having theirs still read".
Cambridge University said it now hoped to encourage its other former academics to make their work available to the public, like Prof Hawking has.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-41721585
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Partition 70 years on: When tribal warriors invaded Kashmir - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Witnesses tell the BBC how men with sticks and axes started one of the world's longest conflicts.
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Asia
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A view of Muzaffarabad, where the Neelum River divides the main city from hillside settlements
Towering some 550 metres (1,800 ft) above the Pakistani town of Garhi Habibullah to the west, and the Kashmiri city of Muzaffarabad to the east, Dub Gali looks serene on a cool October morning.
Some two dozen shops sit quietly on both sides of a security barrier that marks the border between Kashmir and the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
There is nothing to suggest that hordes of militant Pathan tribal warriors who invaded Kashmir exactly 70 years ago to start one of the world's most enduring territorial conflicts actually broke into the region through this very point.
But a local villager, Mohammad Hasan Qureshi, 86, clearly remembers those stormy days.
"A week before the Pathans came, there were rumours that Kashmiri Sikhs [who had a significant population in this area] were planning to attack Muzaffarabad," he says.
"A couple of days later, we heard that Pathans were coming."
Mohammad Hasan Qureshi says he saw hundreds of Pathans with axes and swords
Such rumours were natural, coming as they did amid a series of upheavals that shook the princely state of Kashmir when the so-called 3 June Plan was announced.
Under the plan, British India, a Hindu-majority colony, was to be partitioned to create the Muslim state of Pakistan.
The fate of Kashmir, a princely state with a Muslim majority but a Hindu ruler, hung in the balance.
Muslims in the western districts of the state revolted against the ruling maharaja in June and there were anti-Muslim riots in southern Kashmir in September. There were also reports of a leaked Pakistani plan for raising a tribal column of 20,000 fighters to attack and annex Kashmir.
Mr Qureshi remembers the evening of 21 October, when he and some friends climbed a ridge to have a view of the western valley. They saw trucks carrying Pathans drive down the Batrasi hills into Garhi Habibullah.
"We stayed up all night, waiting. They came in the morning - just before daybreak. There were hundreds of them. Most of them carried axes and swords. Some had muskets, others just sticks. The Maharaja's guards at the barrier had vanished."
First clashes took place on their way down to Muzaffarabad, some 8km (5 miles) of steep descent.
This 1947 picture shows Pathan tribesmen waiting for trucks and more ammunition as they prepare to go into battle
Gohar Rahman, a World War Two veteran from Battagram, 80km north-west of Garhi Habibullah, was in the column that crossed from Dub Gali.
"We knew the area so we led one group through this shorter route, on foot," he says.
"The bulk of the Frontier tribesmen - Wazir, Mahsud, Turi, Afridi, Mohmand, the Malakand Yusufzais - went via the longer but easier Lohar Gali route in lorries and trucks."
Around 2,000 tribesmen stormed Muzaffarabad that morning and easily scattered the Kashmir state army deployed there. Military historians estimate it was just 500-strong at the time and had also suffered defections by Muslim soldiers.
Flushed with victory, the tribesmen got down to wanton looting and arson.
"They plundered the state armoury, set entire markets on fire and looted their goods," Mr Rahman says.
"They shot everyone who couldn't recite the kalima - the Arabic-language Muslim declaration of faith. Many non-Muslim women were enslaved, while many others jumped in the river to escape capture."
The streets were littered with signs of mayhem - broken buildings, broken shop furniture, the ashes of burnt goods and dead bodies, including those of tribal fighters, state soldiers and local men and women. There were also bodies floating in the river.
The raiders spent about three days in Muzaffarabad before sense prevailed and the leaders urged them to move on towards Srinagar, the state capital some 170km to the east.
From here, one column drove in trucks down the Jhelum river, breezing past Uri and reaching Baramulla where another round of looting and arson ensued.
Gohar Rahman says the tribesmen shot non-Muslims when they stormed Muzaffarabad
Mr Rahman was part of the column that headed north on foot to Teetwal from where they turned east and went past Kupwara to arrive at the outskirts of Srinagar, a journey of well over 200km.
They did not face any resistance. The maharaja's army had scattered, and Hindus and Sikhs had fled the villages. They only met Muslims on the way.
"Muslim women would sometimes offer us food but the Pathans were reluctant to accept, thinking it may be poisoned. They would instead capture those people's goats and sheep, slaughter them and roast the meat on fire."
One night the fires attracted aircraft that dropped bombs, killing scores of them. "Bodies were strewn over a large area in a forest."
Unbeknown to them, the maharaja had by then signed an instrument of accession with India. Between 26 and 30 October, the Indians flew in enough troops to Srinagar to tilt the balance against tribal fighters.
The tribesmen still had numerical superiority but they were more adept at guerrilla war than infantry-style battles.
At that point, Pakistan's attempt to launch a formal attack on Srinagar in aid of the tribesmen was frustrated due to opposition from the British joint command of the as-yet-undivided militaries of India and Pakistan.
By November's end, the tribesmen had mostly pulled back to Uri, where the Jhelum gorge becomes narrower and easy to defend. Soon the winter snows arrived and put an end to the Indian advance towards Muzaffarabad.
It was here that the line that divides Kashmir between the Indian and Pakistani parts stabilised. Pakistani forces formally arrived on the scene in the spring of 1948 to reinforce this border.
Hussain Gul, a resident of Shalozan village in the Kurram tribal region who was then a soldier of the paramilitary Kurram Militia, was part of that force.
"We were there to attack and recapture [the 2,800-metre] Pandu ridge which the Indians had occupied during autumn," he says.
"It was a good victory. We were able to occupy a considerable part of Kashmir but we still lost most of it. It made one feel sad, like when you lose a part of your house,"
His father, who went in with a band of friends to fight during the previous season, "came back defeated".
"They brought back war booty though; gold and some women," he chuckles.
Hussain Gul holds the rifle he used in the battle for Pandu ridge
In his mid-90s now, and with a fading memory, he is not sure what happened to the women. As for gold, "they were cheated out of it by Majoor", an ethnic Hazara businessman in Parachinar, the central town of Kurram.
Gohar Rahman returned to Garhi Habibullah when the first winter snows came. With him were many other tribesmen.
"They had returned with war booty," he says.
"Some had brought cattle, some horses. Most of them had brought arms, and many brought women. One Afridi tribesman walked back with two women in tow. They wept incessantly and just wouldn't stop. A local feudal lord took pity on them and forced the Afridi man to release them."
The invasion not only traumatised a previously well-settled and peaceful Kashmiri society, it also set a disastrous pattern for India-Pakistan relations.
Major-General Akbar Khan, an army officer who is widely believed to have played a pivotal role in starting the invasion, emerged as "the architect of (the) philosophy of armed insurrection by aiding non-state actors as state proxies", writes a military historian, Major (Retd) Agha Humayun Amin, in his book , The 1947-48 Kashmir War: The War of Lost Opportunities.
Pakistan repeated this strategy in Kashmir in 1965, during the Kashmir insurgency of 1988-2003, as well as in the Kargil War of 1999. It also used non-state actors in Afghanistan.
But instead of liberating Kashmir or taming Afghanistan, it has led to the weakening of political processes, and has militarised society not only in Kashmir and Afghanistan, but also in Pakistan.
3 June 1947: The June Plan, also called the Mountbatten Plan, is approved in a meeting. It culminates in the Independence of India Act 1947 which partitions British India into independent states of India and Pakistan. The Act receives royal assent in July.
15 June: Agitation in the form of a No-Tax campaign starts in Poonch, an internal principality of Kashmir state.
15 August: Killings are reported from Bagh in Poonch principality when pro-Pakistan groups try to hoist a Pakistani flag to mark independence and clash with the state police.
12 September: Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan holds a meeting with military and civilian officials where a go-ahead is reportedly given to two plans: raise a tribal force to attack Kashmir from the north and arm the rebels in Poonch.
4 October: Rebels clash with state forces at a place called Thorar, and go on to besiege state forces in Poonch.
22 October: Tribal bands attack Muzaffarabad, then move eastwards to capture Baramulla. Some of the fighters reach the outskirts of Srinagar.
24 October: Sardar Ibrahim, a pro-Pakistan landlord from Poonch principality, announces the founding of the government of Azad (free) Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) at a place called Palandri, and appoints himself as its head.
26 October: The Maharaja of Kashmir, earlier inclined to stay independent due to the demographic composition of his state, accedes to India, presumably under duress.
27 October: Indian air and ground troops start landing at Srinagar, tilting the balance against tribal invaders and leading to the partition of Kashmir along the line that more or less exists today
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41662588
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Will Australia's 'miracle economy' keep on winning? - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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The "wonder from down under" has been free from recession for more than a quarter of a century.
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Australia
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It was the year Australia went to war in the Gulf, when Monica Seles and Boris Becker won tennis grand slams in Melbourne, and The Simpsons was first shown on Aussie television, while a swooning Bryan Adams was a hit with love-struck teenagers ("Look into your heart, baby").
It was 1991, and the last time Australia tasted the bitter economic taste of recession, defined in these parts, at least, as two or more back-to-back quarters of negative growth in real gross domestic product, or the value of all services and goods.
Since then, Australia has sidestepped the worst effects of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and its more destructive big brother that hammered global markets a decade or so later.
Australia's economy - the "wonder down under" - has somehow dodged the unstoppable forces that sent other wealthy countries tumbling into reverse.
For this, a nation of 24 million people must thank not only sound judgement by those in charge but also good fortune, according to Shane Oliver, chief economist at financial services company AMP in Sydney.
"I certainly don't see Australia as being a miracle," he says. "It has had a bit of good luck and good management, but it would be dangerous to assume that it is never going to have a recession again."
The economy is growing by about 1.9% per year, according to the Reserve Bank. In 2012, that figure was 3.7%. Weaker growth means that pay packets are shrinking for many workers when adjusted for the rising cost of living, and near-record levels of underemployment are stifling wage increases.
In August, retail sales posted their biggest retreat in about four-and-a-half years, falling by 0.6%, with cafes and restaurants reporting declining turnovers.
Rocks, coal and demand from China insulated this country from the global financial meltdown in 2008, as a red-hot mining industry delivered unprecedented wealth.
Surging commodity prices fuelled the bonanza in Western Australia and Queensland, which propped up under-performing states in the south-east, where most Australians live.
Shane Oliver says the situation has now "been turned on its head" and Australia is once again in transition.
The mining boom has faded, but areas that once struggled have bounced back in part because of record low interest rates that have unleashed a frenzy into the housing market.
Meanwhile, eye-watering wads of public money have poured into infrastructure projects, which are redefining parts of New South Wales, the most populous state.
There was another critical factor that helped Australia to largely avoid the ravages of the global financial crisis - unprecedented spending by the Labor government that boosted public expenditure by a whopping 13% in an attempt to stimulate growth.
It was a classic Keynesian economic manoeuvre to use billions of dollars to sustain household spending, demand and employment.
Australia loves to win. Here international cricket matches are akin to "wars" and Olympic gold medals - or a lack thereof - are greeted with congratulatory back-slapping - or hand-wringing.
If there was a podium for economic success, this is a country that would be bending forward to accept the award. More than 25 years of uninterrupted growth is a remarkable achievement, although there is debate about the competition.
Some commentators believe the recent economic prosperity enjoyed by the Netherlands lasted for (only) 22 years, putting it firmly into silver medal position behind the Aussies.
Tim Harcourt, an economics fellow at the University of New South Wales, believes Australia deserves the plaudits.
"This time the 'lucky country' made its own luck.
"The Hawke-Keating [government] reforms of the 1980s and 1990s - the currency float, tariff changes, and embrace of Asia - set up us up for a quarter of a century of growth.
"Australia found itself in the right place at the right time and embraced the Asia century," he argues.
But as the economy has soared, some Australians have been left behind. At almost 13%, youth unemployment is more than twice the national average.
Labouring work had left 21-year-old Mohammad Al-Khafaji, the son of an Iranian refugee, with endless back pain and homelessness soon followed.
"I was just trying to apply for jobs online, and then people were just putting me down saying 'you are never going to get that job', so I just stopped trying," he says.
Mohammad is now employed by a hire car company in Sydney, and has ambitions to one day be the boss.
He works with Shiv Dhingra, an Indian migrant from Punjab. They are proof that much of Australia's economic might is down to immigration.
"I am the only one working in my family," Shiv explained. "I am the main financial support they have. I am working seven days a week for the last year. I've got plans for my own business."
Both young men were helped by Charity Bounce, a Sydney-based non-profit organisation that uses basketball to reach out to the disadvantaged and long-term unemployed, who, according to chief executive, Ian Heininger, also deserve a slice of Australia's prosperity.
"We find a lot of the young people are desperate to find work," he says, "desperate to find an opportunity that is going to get them into a place where they are contributing back to the world."
But will they be part of an ever-expanding economy? Mr Oliver thinks Australia's luck will eventually run out, but not for a while.
"The Aussie economy is probably going to continue muddling along, not fantastically strong as housing slows and consumer spending remains a bit weak," he predicts.
"We are probably going to go for at least another few years before we have that recession some people say is inevitable."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41643147
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Nuneaton MFA bowling alley siege: Man in court - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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David Clarke, of Nuneaton, is charged with false imprisonment and possession of a samurai sword.
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Coventry & Warwickshire
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A man accused of taking two people hostage during a four-hour siege at a bowling alley has appeared in court.
David Clarke, 53, was arrested on Sunday after the stand-off at MFA Bowl in Bermuda Park, Nuneaton.
He is charged a number of offences, including false imprisonment and being in possession of a samurai sword and a sawn-off shotgun.
Mr Clarke of Ryde Avenue, Nuneaton, was remanded into custody and will appear before Warwick Crown Court next month.
The 53-year-old has been charged with the following offences:
Appearing at Warwickshire Justice Centre, Mr Clarke spoke only to confirm his name, age and address.
About 40 or 50 people were said to be inside the leisure complex at the time of the incident.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-41730360
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Man 'stabbed five times' outside St Leonards school - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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He was found on the ground bleeding outside a primary school in St Leonards-on-Sea, police say.
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Sussex
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The man has been taken to hospital and the road is closed
A man was stabbed repeatedly outside a primary school and found bleeding on the ground, police have said.
He was found in the Tower Road area of St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, at about 11:30 BST with multiple stab wounds.
A witness who lives near the scene said he overheard paramedics say the victim had been stabbed five times.
The witness said the attack happened outside Christ Church Primary School.
South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) said crews had taken a man to hospital at about 11:30 BST after a serious assault outside the school.
A spokesman for Secamb said the attack was not on school premises.
The school's calendar says it is currently closed for half term. The BBC was unable to contact anyone for comment.
Insp Ed Neve, from Sussex Police, said: "We have officers working in the area to find the suspect and we are asking anyone who saw what happened to get in touch with this information.
"Tower Road is currently closed while officers are on scene."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-41724271
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Nuneaton bowling alley siege: Man arrested - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Two hostages were held by a suspected gunman in an incident police say was not terror-related.
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Coventry & Warwickshire
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Megan Westwood: "We got evacuated one by one"
A suspected gunman was arrested after police ended a four-hour siege at a bowling alley in Nuneaton.
Officers were called to MFA Bowl in Bermuda Park at around 14:30 BST on Sunday after reports a man with a shotgun had taken two hostages.
A 53-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill after police stormed the building at about 18:30 BST.
The suspect was treated for minor injuries. Two other men were uninjured.
Ch Supt Alex Franklin-Smith, from Warwickshire Police, said officers brought the incident to "a peaceful resolution".
The siege was "unconnected" to terrorism, he added.
Police said at about 19:00 BST that the cordon at the retail and leisure complex had been lifted and advised people they could now and any vehicles left there overnight.
The gunman reportedly walked into MFA Bowl and yelled "game over" before ordering people to get out.
About 40 or 50 people were said to be inside the complex at the time.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Eyewitness: "The guy ran up to the door with a gun"
Both of the hostages - a duty manager and a bowling lane host - were unharmed but treated for shock.
Chris Clegg, operations director of MFA Bowl, said: "It's obviously not an everyday situation. The ambulance, police were checking them and making sure they were OK."
The firm's chief executive Mehdi Amshar said he understood the man was known to a member of staff at the bowling alley.
Specialist firearms officers and police negotiators were sent to the scene, and used flash bangs - which create a loud noise and bright light - to enter the premises.
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Warwickshire Police said officers were called to reports of a man - described by eyewitnesses as "in his 40s" with a gun "slung" over his shoulder - with a firearm at 14:30 BST.
One witness, Chris Turner, told the BBC he was walking past the front entrance to the bowling alley when the man "ran up to the door".
He had "a gun in his hand" and told him to "get out of the area", he said.
Mr Turner said the man shouted at a crowd of people outside to leave, saying: "I've already told you once."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'We were trying to keep all the kids together'
Eyewitnesses also spoke about how they fled the bowling alley, while others hid in toilets, as the gunman brandished a weapon above his head.
Alex Mulholland said he was bowling when he looked up to see a man holding a gun over his head.
"He was saying 'game over, game over', everyone was shouting, screaming, panicking, trying to get out and I didn't know what to make of it, really," he said. "I ran, got my things as quickly as I could and got out of there."
Other businesses in the leisure park, including a children's soft play centre and restaurants, were put into lockdown.
Families inside the soft play centre told the BBC they barricaded the front door with tables and chairs.
Warwickshire Police said the incident was unconnected to terrorism
A number of ambulances were dispatched to the area around the bowling alley
Kelly Perrett, who was at the Frankie and Benny's restaurant, told the BBC she was "hiding in the toilet with about 20 people".
"It looks like police have got the bowling alley surrounded. The police told me that the gunman is near the door with a hostage," she said as the incident unfolded.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Footage posted on social media showed police officers at the scene in Bermuda Park
Megan Westward said she was about to leave a children's soft play centre when staff told her to move away from the windows.
"There are quite a few bullet proof vans," she said. "We've just seen an air ambulance take off, there are ambulances and there are police in full body suits with guns."
She was then evacuated to a nearby hotel.
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Following the conclusion of the siege, forensics officers were examining the scene and a red Peugeot 307 car was removed by police on the back of a vehicle transporter.
Are you in the area? If it is safe to do so, share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-41714114
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More acidic oceans 'will affect all sea life' - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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The eight-year study finds infant sea creatures will be especially harmed by more acidic oceans.
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Science & Environment
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Cold water corals should be more resilient
All sea life will be affected because carbon dioxide emissions from modern society are making the oceans more acidic, a major new report will say.
The eight-year study from more than 250 scientists finds that infant sea creatures will be especially harmed.
This means the number of baby cod growing to adulthood could fall to a quarter or even a 12th of today's numbers, the researchers suggest.
The assessment comes from the BIOACID project, which is led from Germany.
A brochure summarising the main outcomes will be presented to climate negotiators at their annual meeting, which this year is taking place in Bonn in November.
The Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification report authors say some creatures may benefit directly from the chemical changes - but even these could still be adversely affected indirectly by shifts in the whole food web.
What is more, the research shows that changes through acidification will be made worse by climate change, pollution, coastal development, over-fishing and agricultural fertilisers.
Ocean acidification is happening because as CO2 from fossil fuels dissolves in seawater, it produces carbonic acid and this lowers the pH of the water.
Mesocosms ("giant test tubes") allow scientists to study acidification effects on real-world organisms
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the average pH of global ocean surface waters have fallen from pH 8.2 to 8.1. This represents an increase in acidity of about 26%.
The study's lead author is Prof Ulf Riebesell from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel.
He is a world authority on the topic and has typically communicated cautiously about the effects of acidification.
He told BBC News: "Acidification affects marine life across all groups, although to different degrees.
"Warm-water corals are generally more sensitive than cold-water corals. Clams and snails are more sensitive than crustaceans.
"And we found that early life stages are generally more affected than adult organisms.
"But even if an organism isn't directly harmed by acidification it may be affected indirectly through changes in its habitat or changes in the food web.
"At the end of the day, these changes will affect the many services the ocean provides to us."
Since 2009, scientists working under the BIOACID programme have studied how marine creatures are affected by acidification during different life stages; how these reactions reverberate through the marine food web; and whether the challenges can be mitigated by evolutionary adaptation.
Some research was done in the lab but other studies were conducted in the North Sea, the Baltic, the Arctic, and Papua New Guinea.
A synthesis of more than 350 publications on the effects of ocean acidification - which will be given to climate delegates at next month's summit - reveals that almost half of the marine animal species tested reacted negatively to already moderate increases in seawater CO2 concentrations.
Early life stages were affected in Atlantic cod, blue mussels, starfish, sea urchins and sea butterflies.
But an experiment with barnacles showed they were not sensitive to acidification. And some plants - like algae which use carbon for photosynthesis - may even benefit.
Organisms that use calcium carbonate to build their bodies will likely struggle
Dr Carol Turley, an ocean acidification expert from Plymouth Marine Labs in the UK described the BIOACID research as enormously important.
She told BBC News: "It's contributed enormous insights into the impacts that acidification can have on a wide range of marine organisms from microbes to fish.
"It's also explored how in combination with ocean warming and other stressors it might play out at the ecosystem level and affect human society.
"On the lead-up to the UN climate change negotiations in Bonn this November it is clear that the ocean and its ecosystems should not be ignored."
The conference is being held in Germany but it is being chaired by Fiji, which wants delegates to give due prominence to the effects of CO2 on the ocean.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41653511
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Newspaper headlines: Budget 'ambush' and transition deal plea - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Some Tories seemingly want the chancellor out, while business leaders call for urgent Brexit action in Monday's papers.
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The Papers
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The Daily Mirror leads with a claim that 50 children a week are now referred to gender realignment clinics - some as young as four.
A gender dysphoria expert and a clinical psychologist tell the paper the rise in cases could be the result of a growing acceptance of gender issues.
However, another gender expert cautions that it could be be "a fad among parents who indulge their children".
Elsewhere on Monday, business leaders take to the Financial Times to "sharply criticise the state of capitalism".
A panel of more than 50 leading figures in finance, business and policymaking describe capitalism as in need of reform, as "management greed, corporate tax dodging and investor short-termism" have caused it to "lose its way", focusing too much on delivering for shareholders, rather than increasing productivity.
The Times reports that US President Donald Trump's dismissal of so much of the media as "fake news" has led to a rise in young Americans paying for newspaper subscriptions.
Online payments for news have gone up 7% in the past year in the United States.
The Times says Mr Trump's "tirades" have persuaded millennials that print media is cool again.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the paper argues that investment in quality journalism is needed now more than ever.
"No mercy for the jihadis", declares the Daily Express, as it welcomes the suggestion by government minister Rory Stewart that the "only way" to deal with British fighters for the Islamic State group is to kill them.
In its comment piece, the paper says it is "refreshing to hear a government minister speak forthrightly" on the issue.
"Those we spare will not hesitate to return to our shores and murder us," it goes on, adding: "They have forfeited any right to mercy."
As the government brings in measures to tackle so-called health tourism in the UK, the Daily Telegraph reports that there has been a trebling in the past three years in the number of British nationals seeking healthcare overseas.
The paper says record waiting times prompted almost 144,000 people to go abroad for treatment last year, compared with 48,000 in 2014.
In other news, the Queen and Prince Philip are keeping their platinum wedding anniversary celebrations low key by refusing to hold a national celebration to mark the event next month, according to the Daily Express.
The paper says they will be the first Royal couple in Britain to celebrate 70 years of marriage.
But it points out they have a little way to go to beat the world record for the longest Royal marriage: Japan's Prince Mikasa and Yuriko, Princess Mikasa, were together for 75 years.
Finally, the tabloids offer up some grim weather prospects for the coming season.
The Daily Mirror warns of the potential for 120mph (193km/h) winds.
The Daily Star predicts there will be a calm before the storm - a mini-heatwave later this week, with temperatures of 21C (70F).
And the Daily Express forecasts a "choppy winter of discontent", with 11 more potentially damaging storms between now and the new year.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41716863
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Minimum alcohol price law unveiled in Wales - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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It is claimed one life a week could be saved in Wales if cheap alcohol sales are banned.
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Wales
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A law to set a minimum price for selling alcohol in Wales has been unveiled.
Ministers believe tackling excessive drinking could save a life a week and mean 1,400 fewer hospital admissions a year.
Pricing is seen as a "missing link" in public health efforts, alongside better awareness and treatment.
Under a 50p-a-unit formula, a typical can of cider would be at least £1 and a bottle of wine at least £4.69.
A typical litre of vodka, for example, would have to cost more than £20.
The Welsh Government has not yet decided what the price will be, however.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A 30-second guide to how the minimum price for alcohol is worked out
Alcohol experts from Sheffield University have studied the health picture, drinks market and consumption patterns in Wales.
The research has helped produce a formula based on the percentage strength of the alcohol and its volume to develop the minimum unit price (MUP).
While alcohol consumption levels have been falling in recent years, health officials are concerned that:
Cheap drink in supermarkets and other licensed stores is the main target and the law will also address the issue of special offers in its fine detail.
Alcohol sold below 50p per unit makes up 72% of the beer sales in Welsh shops and supermarkets, 78% of the cider sales, 42% of the wine and 66% of the spirits.
The research suggests that although high-risk drinkers make up only a quarter of people who drink alcohol, they drink 72% of all alcohol consumed and account for 65% of all spending.
"There is a very clear and direct link between levels of excessive drinking and the availability of cheap alcohol," said Public Health Minister Rebecca Evans.
"So we need to take decisive action now to address the affordability of alcohol, as part of wider efforts to tackle alcohol-related harm."
It has been claimed it could:
Chief Medical Officer Dr Frank Atherton said they were not the "fun police" or the "nanny state" but they could not wash their hands of a significant public health issue.
"It will have a small impact on moderate drinkers," he added.
"The most substantial effects will be experienced by harmful and hazardous drinkers, who are more likely to consume cheaper and higher-strength alcohol products."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Alex Loveland, who supports people with alcohol problems, said they might be put under strain
But Alex Loveland, a recovering alcoholic who supports people with dependency, is worried that it will not help them.
"They're going to try to get alcohol by any means necessary and I think it will put more strain on very underprivileged people," he said.
The Welsh Retail Consortium has also expressed concern that minimum price may hit less affluent, moderate consumers of alcohol "whilst not necessarily having the desired impact on problem drinkers".
UKIP Wales leader Neil Hamilton AM said it was another example of the Welsh Government "sticking its nose into people's private lives".
"The problem is not alcohol but anti-social behaviour," he said. "The laws on public drunkenness need to be strictly enforced, as they used to be."
But Prof Mark Bellis, director of policy at Public Health Wales, said it would reduce opportunities for young people to buy alcohol "at pocket money prices".
Dr David Bailey, chair of the BMA's Welsh Council said it was behind measures "to ensure that alcohol cannot be sold below cost - in effect, making it cheaper than water to purchase".
Addictions charity Cais said although the law would not solve alcohol problems on its own it was an "important day for Wales" and stressed that it would save lives.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Rebecca Evans emphasised that it was not a tax but would be tackle problem drinking
The legislation is back on the table five years after the Welsh Government first looked at introducing it.
The measure had been removed from the most recent Welsh public health law as Scotland faced court challenges to its own legislation.
The Supreme Court is expected to give its judgement within weeks to an attempt to block Scotland's minimum price legislation from being introduced.
Ms Evans told BBC Radio Wales that the Welsh Government had moved "quickly" to introduce its own legislation because the powers to do so will be removed next April under the terms of the 2017 Wales Act.
"If we are going to act on this area it has to be now, even though we realise that there's a difficult legal context that we are working in," she said.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ian Hunt of Filco Supermarkets says it could be seen as a charge on the poor
Ministers in Wales hope it will become law by summer 2018.
Councils would enforce the legislation through their existing inspection and trading standards regime - with powers of entry, prosecution and the issue of fixed penalty notices.
Talks have been held with local government about funding towards its initial introduction.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41682666
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Why more people are running marathons in all 50 US states - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Why are more people running marathons in all 50 states - and what does it say about modern America?
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US & Canada
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Steve and Paula Boone have run more than 1,000 marathons between them
Why are more people running marathons in all 50 states - and what does it say about modern America?
In 1988, Steve Boone was a computer systems designer who played football in his spare time.
One of his customers was training for the Houston Marathon. He bet Steve - a 39-year-old who had never run 26 miles - that he couldn't finish the race.
It's safe to say Steve won that bet.
He finished the 1988 Houston Marathon, and has returned to the race every year since. The 2018 event will be his 31st in a row, and his 700th marathon in total.
"It was a principle bet," says Steve. "No money at stake."
In 1997, Steve was at the Boston Marathon, waiting outside a hotel for a bus that didn't turn up.
By this point, he had run more than 100 marathons, including one in all 50 states. He had the idea after running in San Francisco. "It was one of those obsessions," he admits.
While waiting for the bus, he got talking to one of his fellow runners, Paula. "By the time we walked back to the hotel we were best friends," he says.
They were married 18 months later.
In 2001, the Boones decided to start a club for people who had run - or wanted to run - marathons in all 50 states. They began with 82 members; Steve thought they might get 400 or 500 total.
At the last count, there were 4,326 members. In total, more than 1,500 have finished all 50 states.
Of the finishers, more than a third are female, and almost all come from the US, although there are members from Brazil to Bermuda.
But the interesting thing isn't where they come from. It's why they run in the first place.
50 State Marathon Club: The rules (or some of them)
She ran her first, in her home state of Utah, a year earlier while "getting in shape after having my two kids". But after meeting Steve the pace picked up.
By 2003, she too had run a marathon in all 50 states. She now has 330 marathons in total, including at least four in each state.
"Steve was a really bad influence," she says.
Paula - who's 51 and lives with her husband in Humble, Texas - says she isn't an elite athlete. Her last marathon took seven hours, although she ran her first in three hours and 59 minutes.
So if she's not breaking records, or winning races, why does she keep going - step after step, state after state, more than 8,000 miles and counting?
"The actual running is really difficult," she says. "But I love to travel, that's my favourite thing to do. It's really the best way to see the country."
For example - one race took Paula to Minot, North Dakota, a town that's not in many travel brochures. "The middle of nowhere in the middle of nowhere," she says.
There's also the social side. Jody Reed, a 58-year-old lawyer from Ashburn, Virginia, ran her first marathon in 1987 and has now done 152 - including at least one in every state.
"At this point, it's the friends [that keep me going]," she says, speaking from Milwaukee where she's about to run another race. "I'm here with a friend who I met last fall. We've done several races together since then.
"It would be a very unusual marathon where I'm not with people I know. And not just people I know - friends."
But while camaraderie is important, Paula thinks there's a deeper reason why people run.
"Most of us have pretty cushy jobs," she says. "We're not out there sweating, and as humans we like to have some sort of striving, some kind of drive.
"The marathon fulfils that. We want to work towards some kind of goal; [to have] some kind of stress and strain."
So running marathons is a counterforce to the comfort of modern life?
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. London Marathon: An inspirational end to the Marathon for two runners
"I think so," says Paula.
"The people who join our club are from every walk of life - people who are very poor, people who are very rich, and everything in between. The one thing that ties everybody together is they all strive. They are all self-driven.
"The mountains have all been climbed, everything has been discovered, but this is manageable - while being out of your comfort zone."
Ross Brennan, a 57-year-old from Washington, DC, ran his first marathon in 1990. Back then, he says, marathon running "was just becoming a thing - it was still a little bit exotic".
Now, marathons are certainly a thing. During the weekend of October 21-22, at least 26 cities in the US and Canada will host one according to marathonguide.com. There are 15 the weekend after and 24 the weekend after that.
There are a number of reasons for that, says Ross. More people keep fit; the internet makes it easier to find races; and technology has made running "less boring".
"You can nerd-out on the IT stuff," he says. "There are heart rate monitors, you can listen to tunes. In the 80s you couldn't do that."
And, like Paula, Ross thinks modern life makes marathons more appealing.
"From time to time, it's kind of primal," he says. "It's me and a pair of shoes, I'm not thinking about work, I'm not doing a PowerPoint presentation, and I've still got it.
"You can think 'my job sucks, I feel like crap, I'm getting old' but once in a while you show up and still do 26 goddamn miles."
But - while that may explain running marathons - it doesn't explain doing one in every state.
"Oh, I'm a total geography nerd," admits Ross. "I love travelling in the US. It's so heart-warming to turn up in a small town. The whole place welcomes you and it's wonderful.
"There are banners, free ice creams at the ice cream parlour, a party in the city park... I need that reality check. It's so much part of why I do it."
At first, Ross didn't realise he was collecting states.
He ran on holiday. He ran during work trips. But it was only when looking at his spreadsheet - all runners have a spreadsheet, it seems - he noticed he was covering the country, slowly but sorely.
Ross was helped by the rise of "series marathons", when races are organised back-to-back over a week or so - often for people who want to complete all 50 states.
"The most I did was five in a week," he says. "It was the Riverboat Series - Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, I think - four of which I hadn't done before."
Ross told his wife he wanted to run in 50 states only three years ago. "I did it in quite a subtle way," he says. "It was like: 'Here's this thing I'm doing...'"
But when he flew to Hawaii to complete the set, his family came to watch him cross the line.
The date was 26 June 2016; his time was just under five hours. A journey that began 26 years earlier, 5,000 miles east, had ended.
He has now run 71 marathons and there are no plans to stop. "Even if I'm not planning to run, I'll log onto Marathon Guide and see what's out there."
While that may be "eccentric", as Ross says, it's nothing compared to some members of the 50 State Marathons Club.
"I remember being on a shuttle bus in a race in Montana, or somewhere," says Ross. "This guy said to me 'It's number 11.'
"I said 'Cool - are you going to do all 50 states?' He replied 'No - I've done all 50 states. This is the 11th time round.'"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41659960
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Is this the most influential work in the history of capitalism? - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The father of double-entry bookkeeping wrote the definitive guide in 1494.
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Business
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Renaissance mathematician Luca Pacioli is seen as the father of double-entry bookkeeping
In 1495 or thereabouts, Leonardo da Vinci himself, the genius's genius, noted down a list of things to do in one of his famous notebooks.
These to-do lists, written in mirror-writing and interspersed with sketches, are magnificent.
"Find a master of hydraulics and get him to tell you how to repair a lock, canal and mill in the Lombard manner." "Draw Milan." "Learn multiplication from the root from Maestro Luca."
Leonardo was a big fan of Maestro Luca, better known today as Luca Pacioli.
Pacioli was, appropriately enough, a Renaissance Man: - educated for a life in commerce, but also a conjuror, a chess master, a lover of puzzles, a Franciscan Friar, and a professor of mathematics.
Today he is celebrated as the most famous accountant who ever lived.
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy highlights the inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the economic world in which we live.
Pacioli is often called the father of double-entry bookkeeping, but he didn't invent it.
The double-entry system - known in its day as "bookkeeping alla Veneziana," or "in the Venetian style" - was being used two centuries earlier, around 1300.
The Venetians had abandoned as impractical the Roman system of writing numbers, and were instead embracing Arabic numerals.
Venice in the 1300s - when Marco Polo set off on his famous travels to the Far East - was already a sophisticated crossroads of trade and ideas
They may have also taken the idea of double-entry book keeping from the Islamic world, or even from India, where there are tantalising hints that double-entry bookkeeping techniques date back thousands of years.
Or it may have been a local Venetian invention, repurposing the new Arabic mathematics for commercial ends.
Before the Venetian style caught on, accounts were rather basic. Early medieval merchants were little more than travelling salesmen. They had no need to keep accounts - they could simply check whether their purse was full or empty.
But as the commercial enterprises of the Italian city states grew larger, and became more dependent on financial instruments such as loans and currency trades, the need for a more careful reckoning became painfully clear.
We have a remarkable record of the business affairs of Francesco di Marco Datini, a merchant from Prato, near Florence, who kept accounts for nearly half a century, from 1366 to 1410.
They begin as little more than a financial diary, but as his business grew more complex, he needed something more sophisticated.
We can see how Datini tracked his increasingly intricate financial transactions
Six months later the sheep are shorn. Several months after that, 29 sacks of wool arrive in Pisa, via Barcelona. The wool is coiled into 39 bales. Of these, 21 go to a customer in Florence and 18 go to Datini's warehouse, arriving in 1396, over a year after the initial order. They are then processed by more than 100 separate subcontractors.
Eventually, six long cloths go back to Mallorca via Venice, but don't sell, so are hawked in Valencia and North Africa instead. The last cloth is sold in 1398, nearly four years after Datini's original order.
Fortunately, he had been using bookkeeping alla Veneziana for more than a decade, so was able to keep track of this extraordinarily intricate web of transactions.
So what, a century later, did the much lauded Luca Pacioli add to the discipline of bookkeeping? Quite simply, in 1494, he wrote the book.
"Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita" was an enormous survey of everything that was known about mathematics - 615 large and densely typeset pages.
Amidst this colossal textbook, Pacioli included 27 pages that are regarded by many as the most influential work in the history of capitalism. It was the first description of double-entry bookkeeping to be set out clearly, in detail and with plenty of examples.
Pacioli's book was sped on its way by a new technology: half a century after Gutenberg developed the movable type printing press, Venice was a centre of the printing industry.
His book enjoyed a long print run of 2,000 copies, and was widely translated, copied, and plagiarised across Europe.
Double-entry bookkeeping was slow to catch on, perhaps because it was technically demanding and unnecessary for simple businesses. But after Pacioli it was always regarded as the pinnacle of the art.
As the industrial revolution unfolded, the ideas that Pacioli had set out came to be seen as fundamental to business life. The system used across the world today is essentially the one that Pacioli described.
First, he describes a method for taking an inventory, and then keeping on top of day-to-day transactions using two books - a rough memorandum and a tidier, more organised journal. Then he uses a third book - the ledger - as the foundation of the system, the double-entries themselves.
Every transaction was recorded twice in the ledger. If you sell cloth for a ducat, you must account for both the cloth and the ducat.
The double-entry system helps to catch errors, because every entry should be balanced by a counterpart, a divine-like symmetry which appealed to a Renaissance Man.
It was during the industrial revolution that double-entry bookkeeping became seen not just as an exercise for mathematical perfectionists, but as a tool to guide practical business decisions.
One of the first to see this was Josiah Wedgwood, the pottery entrepreneur. At first, Wedgwood, flush with success and fat margins, didn't bother with detailed accounts.
Josiah Wedgwood used the insight gleaned from detailed accounts to weather a severe recession
But in 1772, Europe faced a severe recession and demand for Wedgwood's ornate crockery collapsed. His warehouses began to fill with unsold stock and workers stood idle.
Wedgwood turned to double-entry bookkeeping to understand where in his business the profits were, and how to expand them.
He realised how much each piece of work was costing him - a deceptively simple-sounding question - and calculated that he should actually expand production and cut prices to boost business.
Others followed, and the discipline of "management accounting" was born - an ever-growing system of metrics and benchmarks and targets, that has led us inexorably to the modern world.
But in that modern world, accounting does have another role.
It's about ensuring that shareholders in a business receive a fair share of corporate profits - when only the accountants can say what those profits really are.
Here the track record is not encouraging.
Enron's collapse in 2001 was the biggest in US corporate history
A string of 21st century scandals - Enron, Worldcom, Parmalat, and the financial crisis of 2008 - have shown us that audited accounts do not completely protect investors.
A business may, through fraud or mismanagement, be on the verge of collapse. Yet we cannot guarantee that the accounts will warn us of this.
Accounting fraud is not a new game. The first companies to require major capital investment were the British railways of the 1830s and 1840s, which needed vast upfront investment before they could earn anything from customers.
Investors poured in, and when railway magnates could not pay the dividends that the investors expected, they simply faked their accounts. The entire railway bubble had collapsed in ignominy by 1850.
Perhaps the railway investors should have read up on their Geoffrey Chaucer, writing around the same time as Francesco Datini, the merchant of Prato.
Accountancy did not protect Chaucer's Shipman character from an audacious con
In Chaucer's Shipman's Tale, a rich merchant is too tied up with his accounts to notice his wife being wooed by a clergyman.
Nor do those accounts rescue him from an audacious con.
The clergyman borrows the merchant's money, gives it to the merchant's wife - buying his way into her bed with her own husband's cash - and then tells the merchant he's repaid the debt, and to ask his wife where the money is.
Accountancy is a powerful financial technology - but it does not protect us from outright fraud, and it may well lure us into complacency. As the neglected wife tells her rich husband, his nose buried in his accounts: "the devil take all such reckonings!"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41582244
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Patients need rest, not antibiotics, say health officials - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Health officials say many illnesses get better on their own and patients don't need prescriptions.
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Health
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More patients should be told to go home and rest rather than be given antibiotics, according to health officials.
Public Health England (PHE) says up to a fifth of antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary as many illnesses get better on their own.
Overusing the drugs is making infections harder to treat by creating drug-resistant superbugs.
PHE says patients have "a part to play" in stopping the rise of infections.
Antibiotics are vital in cases of sepsis, pneumonia, bacterial meningitis and other severe infections.
But PHE says antibiotics are not essential for every illness.
Coughs or bronchitis can take up to three weeks to clear on their own, but antibiotics reduce that by only one to two days, it says.
Prof Paul Cosford, medical director at PHE, told the BBC: "We don't often need antibiotics for common conditions.
"The majority of us will get infections from time to time and will recover because of our own immunity."
He said patients should not go to their doctor "expecting an antibiotic".
Instead, for infections that our body can handle, the advice is to:
Prof Cosford said: "A doctor will be able to tell you when an antibiotic is really necessary.
"The fact is if you take an antibiotic when you don't need it then you're more likely to have an infection that the antibiotics don't work for over the coming months."
The Keep Antibiotics Working campaign will also see patients handed leaflets explaining how long it normally takes to recover and the warning signs of serious illness.
Bacteria are incredibly cunning - once you start attacking them with antibiotics, they find ways of surviving. People have died from bugs resistant to all antibiotics.
England's chief medical officer, Prof Dame Sally Davies, has already warned of a "post-antibiotic apocalypse".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Antibiotics 'may be lost' through overuse, says chief medical officer
If the drugs fail, then not only do infections become harder to treat, but common medical procedures such as caesarean sections and cancer treatments could become too risky.
The most serious drug-resistant infections are sent to PHE's laboratories at Colindale, north London, for analysis.
Prof Neil Woodford, the site's head of antimicrobial resistance, said the most potent antibiotics, like carbapenems, were failing more often.
He told the BBC: "If we go back to 2005/07, we were seeing these bacteria in maybe two to four cases per year.
"Last year we confirmed these resistant bacteria in over 2,000 cases."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41696236
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Emile Cilliers trial: Accused 'texted lover as wife in surgery' - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Emile Cilliers asked his lover to clean in the nude while his wife was in hospital, court hears.
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Wiltshire
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The army fitness instructor denies attempting to murder Victoria Cilliers in April 2015
An Army sergeant accused of tampering with his wife's parachute contacted his lover as his spouse underwent surgery after a 4,000ft fall, a court was told.
Jurors were read messages sent between Emile Cilliers and Stefanie Goller in the hours after Victoria Cilliers' fall at a Wiltshire airfield in 2015.
In one, Winchester Crown Court heard, the defendant asked Ms Goller to clean for him in the nude.
Mr Cilliers, 37, denies attempting to murder his former Army officer wife.
In another message, the Army fitness instructor told Ms Goller he would repay her services with "hugs and kisses", the court was told.
The court was read WhatsApp messages the lovers exchanged after Mrs Cilliers, 40, was hurt in a jump with the Army Parachute Association at Netheravon, Wiltshire, on Easter Sunday, 2015.
After telling Ms Goller that his wife was undergoing surgery, Mr Cilliers, of the Aldershot-based Royal Army Physical Training Corps, wrote: "One day we might have a family of our own."
In a later exchange, Ms Goller told him: "I love you in uniform ;)", to which he replied: "You going onto salute me?" and Ms Goller responds "I guess sometimes I will have to obey you ;)"
He then asked her: "Will you call me your Mr Grey?"
During the messages sent over several months, the pair appear to plan a future together as well as a summer holiday in Honduras.
The court has heard Mr Cilliers was also continuing a sexual relationship with his ex-wife Carly Cilliers and half-an-hour after making arrangements to meet her on March 29 2015, the defendant was exchanging sex messages with Ms Goller.
The court heard Emile Cilliers messaged his ex-wife and his lover for sex within minutes of each other
The court was read messages from Victoria Cilliers describing her "joking" fears that the defendant had tried to kill her by tampering with the gas fitting at their home.
Prosecutors allege Mr Cilliers twisted the lines of his wife's main parachute and removed two slinks - which attach lines to the harness from a reserve chute - the day before her jump.
He 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.
Jurors were previously told the defendant had debts of £22,000 and believed he would receive a £120,000 life insurance payout on his wife's death.
The prosecution also claim Mr Cilliers lied to Ms Goller that he was leaving his wife because she was having an affair and he was not the father of one of their children.
Mr Cilliers denies all three charges and the trial continues.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-41682118
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Netflix to raise another $1.6bn to finance new films and shows - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The streaming service expects to spend up to $8bn next year on new content.
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Business
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Netflix's Stranger Things has been one of the company's big hits
Netflix is raising another $1.6bn (£1.2bn) from investors to finance new shows and possibly make acquisitions.
The video streaming service plans to spend up to $8bn on content next year to compete with fast-growing rivals.
Netflix will issue bonds to investors, although the interest rate it will pay has yet to be decided, the company said in a statement.
Netflix plans to release 80 films next year, but some analysts are wary about its cash burn and debt interest costs.
The company's latest debt fundraising is its largest so far, and the fourth time in three years it has raised more than $1bn by issuing bonds.
Earlier this month, Netflix said it would raise prices in countries including the UK and US for the first time in two years.
The price rises come as Netflix faces growing competition from Amazon and other sites such as Hulu and Disney in the US.
Netflix has spent heavily on original programming such as The Crown, Stranger Things and House of Cards.
One movie, Mudbound, was described by Variety as "an epic about race and poverty in the 1940s Mississippi Delta", and stars Mary J. Blige and Carey Mulligan.
Some critics say it is a contender for the Academy Awards and would be the first Netflix feature to be in the Oscars race.
Netflix's share price has risen more than 50% this year on the back of subscriber growth that has beat expectations. The company now has more than 109 million subscribers globally, adding 15.5 million so far this year.
The move to take on more corporate debt comes amid expectations that borrowing costs may increase in coming months. The US Federal Reserve is weighing another rate hike by the end of 2017.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41729434
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Swansea 'unflattering mugshot' man sentenced for assault - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Wayne Esmonde asked police to change an "unflattering" mug shot used in a social media appeal.
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South West Wales
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Wayne Esmonde was wanted by South Wales Police in connection with an assault
A man who asked police to remove his mugshot from a wanted appeal because it was unflattering has been sentenced for assault.
South Wales Police posted the photo of Wayne Esmonde, 35, from Swansea, on social media when he was wanted for attacking his then-partner.
He had an eight month sentence suspended for 18 months after pleading guilty at the city's crown court.
The court heard he head butted and threw a bottle at his victim.
He had written on the force's Facebook page: "I am him. Not a very flattering mugshot.
"I'd appreciate it if you'd take this post down. Innocent until proven guilty and all that."
The court heard on Monday how he accused his then-partner of cheating, pushed her off a doorstep and on to the ground before carrying out the attack.
Prosecutor Janet Gedrych said he had previously admitted a harassment charge and was subject to a three-year restraining order.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-41721263
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Gunpowder: Guy Fawkes TV drama's violence sparks complaints - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Viewers voice dismay at the "grotesque" violence in BBC One's new Guy Fawkes drama.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Tom Cullen and Kit Harington play Guy Fawkes and Robert Catesby respectively
A BBC drama about the gunpowder plot has drawn criticism for its violence.
One viewer labelled an execution scene in Gunpowder "grotesque and completely unnecessary", while another called it "one of the most painful things I've ever witnessed on TV".
The drama, starring Game of Thrones' Kit Harington, tells of the 1605 plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
The BBC said the offending scenes were "grounded in historical fact" and reflected what took place at the time.
The first episode, shown on Saturday, showed a woman being pressed to death and a priest being disembowelled.
"I'd been really looking forward to #Gunpowder but just had to turn off during the first episode," tweeted one viewer.
But another Twitter user said the drama had to be "graphic & gory... for us to understand the depth of persecution, and why [Robert] Catesby & co did what they did".
The first episode showed a woman being stripped naked and tortured to death
The drama began at 21:10 BST, just after the watershed, and was preceded by a warning.
In a statement, the BBC said: "The scenes aired after 9.30pm with a clear warning given to viewers before the episode started. The methods depicted are grounded in historical fact and reflect what took place during the time of the gunpowder plot."
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom said it had received seven complaints. The corporation would not confirm how many direct complaints it had received.
In an interview with Radio 1 Newsbeat, Harington - who plays his ancestor Robert Catesby in the three-part drama - said the violence was justified by the context.
"It was important for the story because right from the start we need to know why Catesby embarks upon this very, very violent act," the actor said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41719440
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Dolly Parton's nine-to-five approach to music - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The country music star has taken a business-like approach to her career and says other artists should do the same.
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Business
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Dolly Parton is known as much for her business acumen as her song-writing skills
Even when she's talking about cold, hard cash, Dolly Parton manages to seem down to earth.
She's promoting her new children's album "I Believe in You" and is in top, self-deprecating form, talking to the BBC.
"It's hard for me to spend money on tonnes of stuff because I'm going to look the same, no matter what I wear. If I wear diamonds I'm still going to look like a rhinestone," she tells me.
Still, if Dolly was inclined to buy diamonds, she could afford them. She's known as much for her business acumen as her song-writing skills.
At the start of her career she took lessons from her dad, she says: "Even though he wasn't an educated man, he wasn't able to read and write, daddy had a great sense of business.
Dolly Parton at Glastonbury - in the past year she's earned some $37m
"He said, 'Don't let other people take advantage of you, keep your mind on your business.' So when I got into the music business I thought of it as a business."
Early on she launched her own publishing company and hung on to the rights to her songs, and she says that other artists should do the same.
"As soon as you start making money, you should invest and get into other businesses that you can fall back on if you don't make it big, or if you make it big and you fall on hard times."
That attitude has served her well over the years and continues to do so, according to Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100 list.
It claims Dolly earned $37m (£28m) in the year to June 2017, with most of this coming from her Pure and Simple concert tour and income from her Dollywood theme park in Tennessee.
Brian Warner, founder of website CelebrityNetworth.com, estimates her total fortune to be $500m (£379m) but says this is conservative.
"We think that Dollywood alone is worth around $200m; $100m for the land itself and $100m for the brand - you could class it as an intangible asset.
"On top of that she makes a lot of money from touring and has had a 50-year career in which she's sold millions of records and has also written songs for other artists."
Mr Warner says "I will always love you", a hit Dolly wrote and recorded in 1973, has made her more than $20m in total.
He explains that although individual music contracts may vary, "as the writer of a song you might be keeping 50% of the revenue or more and as a writer and performer you could be getting 80%".
Dolly's own version of "I Will Always Love You" was a big commercial success, topping the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart twice, in 1974 and 1982.
Whitney Houston made the song a hit all over again when she recorded a version for the 1992 film The Bodyguard. It was number one for 10 weeks in the UK charts and for 14 weeks in the US. The song had another resurgence in 2012 after Ms Houston's death.
More The Boss features, which every week profile a different business leader from around the world:
The proceeds from Dolly's latest album won't be adding to her fortune, though; instead they'll be going to the Imagination Library.
Set up in 1995 it aims to improve child literacy by distributing free books to children in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia.
Dolly says her own impoverished childhood in Tennessee inspired the library and has shaped her attitude to money in general.
"Being brought up poor means I don't take things for granted, and no matter how much money I make, I'll always count my blessings quicker and more often than I count my money.
She has "always realised the value of a dollar", too.
"Even now if I go in a store it's hard for me to pay a huge amount of money for one item. I say 'good Lord', what could mummy and daddy have done with that!"
At 71 years old, Dolly's career has spanned more than five decades and following her Glastonbury performance in 2014 she's reached a whole new audience. So what's the secret of her longevity?
"I think a lot of people can relate to me, because of my upbringing and because I'm from a big family. I think people see me as an aunt, an older sister or a cousin. I've been around so long I'm part of their family."
Dolly will be hoping that this loyal fan base will support ambitious plans to expand her empire.
The DreamMore hotel at Dollywood, opened in 2015, is "doing well" and she is thinking of franchising it. She'd also like to do more kids projects and launch a line of wigs, cosmetics and clothes.
"I've still got a lot to do... I'm going to be an old lady before I get it done but at least I'm going to be working till I fall over dead!"
Dolly Parton is a force of nature and a tremendously successful one at that; it's hard to imagine her ever stopping.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41665701
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T-Charge: New London traffic charge comes into force - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The cost of driving in central London will almost double for some motorists under the new scheme.
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London
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The T-charge aims to cut pollution in the capital
Drivers of older, more polluting vehicles now have to pay almost twice as much to drive in central London.
Mayor Sadiq Khan's £10 T-Charge, which mainly applies to diesel and petrol vehicles registered before 2006, has come into force.
It covers the same area as the existing congestion charge zone, bumping up the cost to £21.50 for those affected.
Opponents said the scheme would "disproportionately penalise London's poorest drivers".
The measure is the latest attempt by Mr Khan to improve air quality in the capital and, according to the mayor's office, will affect 34,000 motorists a month.
Speaking on the Today programme, Mr Khan said: "We've got a health crisis in London caused by the poor quality air.
"Roughly speaking each year more than 9,000 Londoners die prematurely because of the poor quality air - children in our city whose lungs are underdeveloped, with adults who suffer from conditions such as asthma, dementia and strokes directly caused by poor quality air."
However, Simon Birkett, from the campaign group Clean Air London, does not believe the move goes far enough.
"The mayor has pledged in his manifesto to restore London's air quality to legal and safe limits and that means he has to do a whole lot more.
"We want him to take steps which are bigger, stronger and smarter."
Mr Khan has described the introduction of the T-Charge as "part of a package of measures" being undertaken.
Many people have taken to social media to express their views on the new levy.
Daniel McGuiness said on Twitter: "T-Charge, it's a start but there's still a long way to go in tackling the public health emergency that is our filthy air. #CleanAir".
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While David Smith said: "With the introduction of the new T-Charge, it'll be the poorest who will be paying the most... again."
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From Monday 23 October, there is a £10 daily fee for those who drive more polluting vehicles in the congestion charging zone, on top of the existing £11.50 congestion charge.
Vehicles that do not comply with the Euro IV exhaust standard must pay the £10 charge.
The standard defines emissions limits for cars, vans, buses, coaches and lorries. Most vehicles registered before 2006 are likely to exceed these limits.
The zone will operate between 07:00 and 18:00, Monday to Friday.
You can find out if your car is affected with TfL's T-Charge checker.
The T-Charge is the first of a series of new rates being introduced in London.
It is due to be replaced by a stricter Ultra-Low Emission Zone in 2020, although Mr Khan is consulting on bringing this forward to 2019.
This will mean diesel cars registered before September 2015 and petrol cars registered before 2006 will face a £12.50 charge in addition to the £11.50 congestion charge.
The mayor hopes to expand the area covered for cars and vans up to the North and South Circular roads in 2021.
City authorities in Birmingham, Leeds, Southampton, Derby and Nottingham have also been advised to impose charges for some polluting diesel vehicles by 2020, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.
To tackle air pollution, Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council proposed a ban on petrol and diesel cars in the city centre from 2020.
Paris, Grenoble and Lyon introduced an emission sticker scheme in January which splits vehicles into six different groups depending on their Euro Emissions standard.
Vehicles deemed too polluting - which includes petrol and diesel-powered cars registered before 1997 - are not granted a sticker, banning them from driving in the city during certain times.
The mayor has launched a poster campaign to highlight pollution
Sue Terpilowski, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "The introduction of the T-Charge comes at a time when small and micro-businesses in London are already facing astonishingly high property, employment and logistics costs.
"There is a fear that this will be the final straw that closes businesses and takes jobs."
Shaun Bailey, Conservative environment spokesman at the London Assembly, said: "As an asthmatic I'm well aware of how critical an issue this is for London but we need policies that actually deliver progress.
"By boasting about a policy that so disproportionately penalises London's poorest drivers and puts jobs at risk, the mayor is simply blowing more smoke into the capital's already polluted atmosphere."
Friends of the Earth air pollution campaigner Jenny Bates said: "Clearly, the last thing individuals want is a new charge for moving around, but the grim reality is that nearly 10,000 early deaths are caused in London each year by the capital's toxic air, so the mayor is right to try to dissuade drivers bringing the oldest, dirtiest vehicles into central London.
"It's only one small step towards clean air though - we urgently need a programme of meaningful financial assistance to help drivers of the dirtiest vehicles switch to something cleaner, and bold policies to cut traffic overall."
The mayor is also seeking new powers to ban wood burning in the most polluted areas of the capital.
When asked if wood-burning stoves would be banned entirely, Mr Khan told the Today programme the problem was with the material that was being burnt and a lack of maintenance rather than the stoves themselves.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41695116
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Newspaper headlines: Lords expenses 'scandal' and Brexit 'leaks' - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Peers are accused of being "at it again", while Theresa May "shrugs off" claims she begged for help from Brussels.
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The Papers
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The Times reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is furious about the alleged leak from a dinner in Brussels, which claimed Theresa May begged for help with Brexit.
Mrs Merkel is said to be concerned that further hostility from Brussels could lead the talks to collapse, which could in turn bring about the fall of Mrs May's government.
The Daily Telegraph believes the leak amounted to a character assassination. The Sun comments that every time Theresa May extends the hand of friendship to Brussels, they pull her close, only to stab her in the back.
The Daily Mirror says that whatever the truth over who said what, the prime minister isn't an inspiring leader in the most important negotiations to engulf the country for nearly half a century.
In other news, the Times claims that Catalan separatists are threatening mass civil disobedience if Madrid carries out its threat to depose their leaders.
The paper says civil servants, fire-fighters, teachers and students are preparing to resist direct rule. It also highlights a warning from a senior Spanish cabinet minister, who says Catalan police would be used to quell protests.
The Guardian warns that the Catalan crisis is getting more volatile and dangerous. The paper calls for an honest broker to help the two sides back from the brink.
Buzzfeed News, meanwhile, says women are coming forward in increasing numbers to report sexual assaults on the London Underground.
It says data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows that transport police recorded more than 1,700 reported assaults in the past two-and-a-half years. That's more than in the previous four years put together. Police still estimate that 90% of incidents go unreported.
New pension freedoms are funding some retired workers alcohol and gambling addictions, according to the Financial Times
The Financial Times reports that some retired workers have used new "pension freedoms" to fund alcohol and gambling binges, and are then falling back on benefits.
Rather than manage their pension pots wisely, the paper says some have frittered away substantial amounts.
A written submission to a Commons committee revealed that one man released £120,000 from his pension pot and spent every penny on drink, betting and a car.
The Daily Express uses its front page to launch a campaign for cuts in foreign aid, saying the money should go to help the health service and old people in the UK.
The paper says Whitehall sources believe International Development Secretary Priti Patel has worked hard to eliminate some of the more spurious schemes funded by taxpayers, but says critics believe the government should go further.
Humans are hardwired to fear spiders, according to the Times
Finally, scientists have found proof that humans are hardwired from birth to find spiders scary, according to the Times.
The researchers found that six-month-old babies who were shown pictures of spiders showed signs of stress by dilating their pupils. In contrast, other studies have suggested that fear of animals like rhinos and bears has to be learned, and babies don't associate images of them with fear.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-41730090
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Brexit: Business lobby groups call for transition deal clarity - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Britain's five biggest business lobby groups unite to call for swift action on transition plans.
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Business
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David Davis is holding Brexit talks in Paris on Monday
The UK risks losing jobs and investment without an urgent Brexit transition deal, Britain's five biggest business lobby groups have warned.
In a joint letter being sent to Brexit Secretary David Davis, the groups including the CBI and Institute of Directors, say time is running out.
The head of the CBI said firms wanted an agreement on the transition period by the end of the year.
A government spokesman said the talks were "making real, tangible progress".
The other lobby groups backing the letter are the British Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, and the EEF manufacturers' body.
CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn told the BBC: "One of the big messages from firms is 'get on with it' on both sides.
"This is real, this is urgent and a transition agreement by the end of the year would help enormously to keep investment and jobs in the country," she said.
Theresa May has suggested a transition period of about two years, with the UK and EU trading on broadly similar terms to now and payments to Brussels to meet Britain's budget commitments.
Firms in the City of London are drawing up Brexit contingency plans
But although EU negotiators have agreed to start preliminary work on a future relationship, they still want more concessions on the UK's so-called "divorce payment" before starting talks on trade and transition.
The five business bodies - which together represent firms employing millions of people - are calling for more urgency, with less than a year and a half left until the UK leaves the European Union.
Concern about the loss of UK jobs and investment was underlined last week when the boss of investment banking giant Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, tweeted that he will be "spending a lot more time" in Frankfurt.
Earlier this month, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Sam Woods, warned that the UK and the EU must agree a transition deal by Christmas or companies would start triggering contingency plans.
And in a survey released on Monday, the EEF said that Brexit uncertainty was holding back the plans of manufacturing firms to invest in new plants and machinery.
Mr Davis is holding Brexit talks in Paris on Monday after France appeared to emerge as the most hardline EU member state when it comes to the divorce bill.
The prime minister is also due to update the Commons on the progress made during last week's summit of EU leaders in Brussels.
It is thought that Mrs May will say that negotiations are "deeply technical", but she has not forgotten that the lives of millions of people are at the heart of the process.
A spokesman for the Department for Exiting the European Union said the prime minister proposed a strictly time-limited implementation period in her Florence speech.
He said: "We are making real and tangible progress in a number of vital areas in negotiations. However, many of the issues that remain are linked to the discussions we need to have on our future relationship.
"That is why we are pleased that the EU has now agreed to start internal preparatory discussions on the framework for transitional arrangements as well as our future partnership."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41716284
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George Michael heading for posthumous number one - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The re-release of the late singer's Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 leads this week's album sales.
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Entertainment & Arts
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George Michael is on course to top the UK album chart this Friday, 10 months after his death.
Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 spent a week at number one when it was originally released in 1990.
It has now been reissued with a bonus disc including the singer's 1996 MTV Unplugged session.
It leads this week's album chart race, outselling Niall Horan's solo debut by almost 25,000 copies after three days, the Official Charts Company said.
The Listen Without Prejudice re-release coincides with the airing of a documentary about the ex-Wham! singer's career, which he had been working on before his death on Christmas Day last year.
George Michael: Freedom was shown on Channel 4 last week and focused on the period leading up to and following the original release of Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1.
The album, which includes hits like Freedom '90 and Praying For Time, is currently ahead of Niall Horan's debut album Flicker.
The One Direction singer announced his album release with a note about how "proud" he was of the record.
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The 24-year-old told fans on Twitter he was "really nervous", particularly because he had written some of the songs as long as 18 months ago.
Last week's number one, Beautiful Trauma by Pink, is currently ranked third.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41723491
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Catalonia independence: Spain's unfathomably delicate task - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The prime minister has meandered through previous crises but that won't work now, says Tom Burridge.
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Europe
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But his message to Catalonia's devolved government, which spearheads the pro-independence movement, was blunt. He said Madrid would remove its leaders and impose direct rule.
Mariano Rajoy is conservative by party, and in his political style.
He has meandered his way through other crises; a financial one for his country; a corruption scandal that tainted his party. His "keep calm and carry on" strategy worked each time.
But Catalonia today is a completely different ball game.
This Spanish region has enjoyed a high degree of autonomy since the 1980s - only the Basque Country has more.
It's also important to note that in cultural terms, Catalonia is arguably the most distinct of Spain's regions.
The Catalan language is widely spoken and from the folkloric dance of Sardana to human towers, there is a long list of cultural traditions here, which enforce the sense of Catalan identity.
And a large part of Catalan society will see Madrid's planned takeover as an affront to their whole way of life.
Competitions to build tall and elaborate human towers are a common sight at Catalan regional festivals
The word among the pro-independence camp is that, in the coming weeks, peaceful direct action will be the order of the day.
The Spanish government has outlined a clear strategy, couched within a legal framework.
Advisers close to the prime minister emphasise that the decision to intervene was not taken lightly but they also argue that Mr Rajoy was left with no choice.
At stake, they say, is Spain's entire system of governance; no other Western government would allow a regional administration to ride roughshod over its constitution and laws.
Catalonia's independence, or a legitimate vote on the matter, has never been and never will be an option, they exclaim.
But over the next days Mariano Rajoy's government faces an unfathomably delicate task.
It must now reassert Madrid's authority in Catalonia.
The practicalities of that won't be straightforward.
Some within Catalonia's civil service will be die-hard supporters of independence. Others will simply hate the concept of Madrid being ultimately in charge.
Catalonia's regional police force, Mossos, insists it remains impartial. "We are policemen, not politicians," Inspector Albert Oliva told me.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Police inspector: 'We are not politicians'
But he admits that his force is in the middle of a "political hurricane." Over the coming weeks the loyalties of Catalan police will be tested to the absolute limit.
Before we reach that point, the Spanish senate will have to approve Madrid's proposals. That could take days.
In the meantime, the soon-to-be-sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont will try and convene the regional parliament, before it is stripped of powers.
If that happens, he will probably make a more emphatic declaration of independence.
The vast majority of Spaniards will, in turn, declare that meaningless.
But every twist and turn from now will play into an already febrile political atmosphere.
Every time I speak to a taxi driver or an old lady pushing her shopping trolley down the street, be it in Catalonia or in the neighbouring region of Aragon, people's views, on both sides, have hardened.
To the naked eye of a tourist, Spain is a country at ease, a country of sun, sea, beautiful buildings and friendly people.
Scratch below and there are deep political divisions.
And in Catalonia the situation is becoming fractured beyond belief.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41714662
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Boy, 15, missing in London is found - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The teenager went missing in Covent Garden while on a family trip to London.
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England
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A 15-year-old boy who had been missing in London has been found.
Benjamin Moorcroft, from Shrewsbury, had been separated from his family while they were on a trip to the capital on Saturday evening in Covent Garden.
He was found shortly before 07:30 BST on Monday in the Waterloo area.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police thanked a member of the public who spoke to the teenager and called police.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41717365
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Macron's dog Nemo filmed peeing on Elysée fireplace - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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French TV was filming the president chatting with junior ministers when Nemo stole the scene.
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Europe
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Local television catches Nemo the dog in the act
Video has emerged of French President Emmanuel Macron's dog Nemo urinating on a fireplace at the Elysée palace.
The footage shows the black Labrador-Griffon cross relieving himself in the background as Mr Macron talks with three junior members of his government.
"I wondered what that noise was," says the junior minister for ecology, Brune Poirson, who had previously been talking, as they all laugh.
Mr Macron then says that Nemo has done something "quite exceptional".
The incident was captured by French TV station TF1, which was recording the discussion.
Junior minister for planning Julien Denormandie asks if this is something that "happens often".
Nemo appeared in Mr Macron's entourage in August, continuing a tradition of French presidents having a "first dog".
Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte reportedly bought him from an animal rescue centre for €250 (£225).
It is not the first time a French first dog has caused trouble for its master. French investigative website Mediapart reported that Nicolas Sarkozy's dogs damaged valuable furniture in the palace that cost thousands of euros to restore.
Meanwhile Jacques Chirac's miniature white Maltese, Sumo, became unhappy at having to leave the Elysée with its spacious garden and began attacking Mr Chirac, the Guardian reported.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41716115
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British IS fighters 'must be killed', minister says - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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"In almost every case", that is the only option, Foreign Office minister Rory Stewart says.
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UK Politics
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The "only way" to deal with British IS fighters in Syria is "in almost every case" to kill them, the minister for international development has said.
Rory Stewart said converts to so-called Islamic State believed in an "extremely hateful doctrine" and had moved away from any allegiance to Britain.
They can expect to be killed because of the "serious danger" they pose to the UK's security, he said.
The government said his comments were in line with the UK's stated position.
Mr Stewart made the remarks after Brett McGurk, a top US envoy for the coalition fighting IS, said his mission was to ensure every foreign fighter in Syria dies there.
Asked about the comments on BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics, Mr Stewart, a former diplomat, said they were "very difficult moral issues".
He said: "They are absolutely dedicated, as members of the Islamic State, towards the creation of a caliphate.
"They believe in an extremely hateful doctrine which involves killing themselves, killing others and trying to use violence and brutality to create an 8th Century, or 7th Century, state.
"So I'm afraid we have to be serious about the fact these people are a serious danger to us, and unfortunately, the only way of dealing with them will be, in almost every case, to kill them."
Mr Stewart's comments contrast with the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, who recently told the BBC that Britons who join IS through "naivety" should be spared prosecution if they return home.
Max Hill QC said UK authorities should instead look at reintegrating such people.
When the question of rehabilitation was put to Mr Stewart on the BBC Asian Network, he said that his original comments referred to fighters still on the ground in Syria and Iraq.
"If they came back to the UK they need to be arrested and tried in accordance with normal British law," he said.
"And then you need to work with them as you work with anyone else."
A government spokesman said Mr Stewart's remarks were consistent with the position set out by Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon on 12 October.
Sir Michael said British IS fighters in Syria and Iraq had made themselves "a legitimate target" who could end up on "the wrong end of an RAF or USAF missile".
His comments came after it was reported that British IS recruiter Sally-Anne Jones had been killed in a US drone strike in Syria in June.
The head of MI5 revealed this month that more than 130 Britons who travelled to Iraq and Syria to fight with the terror group have died.
Mr Stewart also said British authorities had made it "very clear" that people should not be volunteering with militia groups to fight against IS.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41717394
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Bird hunters risk steep cliffs to catch gannets - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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On just one night a year Faroese men can hunt gannet chicks, considered a delicacy. It involves a dangerous climb down steep cliffs.
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Magazine
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The Faroe Islands are home to an impressive array of seabirds but there is only one colony of gannets, located on the most westerly island, Mykines. The young birds are considered a delicacy by the islanders. So, once a year, hunters abseil down the cliffs to catch the birds.
It takes eight fit men to carry the 150m of thick rope which will form the essential lifeline for the bird catchers.
As thick as a man's wrist, it has to be lugged along a cliff-top path and then across a narrow gorge to the adjoining island of Mykinesholmur.
Oscar Joensen lays out the long rope needed for the climb
Skirting a colony of chattering puffins outside their burrows, I followed the men for an hour towards the gannet cliffs, 150m high, and dropping almost vertically into the Atlantic swell.
Carrying the rope out to the bird cliffs takes a strong team
As dusk fell I could see the ghostly white shapes of the adult birds, cruising silently above the darkening ocean.
About 50 men had taken the small ferry out to the island to help with the hunt, essential now that Mykines's single village only has about a dozen full-time residents.
On a steep grassy incline we stopped to rest. In the half-light, food supplies were shared - bread and skerpikjot, fermented legs of lamb, which the men carved with sharp hunting knives at their belts.
Once it was dark, the final climb to the cliff edge where the birds nest began.
Nesting gannets can be seen on the northerly cliffs of Mykinesholmur
One by one the men stepped into a simple harness cushioned with sheep's wool, and abseiled backwards down the rock face.
The drop is sheer and within seconds they were out of sight. Once on a suitable ledge below, each of them removed the safety harness and the rope was hauled back up for the next man.
Men from the rope team are needed to pull the hunters back up the cliffs
"Hiva! Hiva!" came the cry to pull together.
Once about a dozen men had been deposited on ledges out of sight, the rest of us could only wait, and in my case imagine the slaughter going on below.
The constant wind chilled me to the bone, and groups of men lay in the grass through the darkest hours talking about the hunt, wondering how many sula, as they are called locally, would be caught. They seemed impervious to the cold, bred in a country where even in summer it rarely gets above 16C (60F).
The hunters were sanguine about the process.
"We look forward to the gannet hunt," a young man named Johannus explained.
"The seabirds, the sheep and even the pilot whales which we catch occasionally are all part of the traditional Faroese diet. That's our culture," he insisted.
"We don't want to depend on imported food from plastic packets and eat animals kept in captivity all of their lives."
This young gannet still has down rather than feathers, so it will be spared
At around 04:30 in the morning a watery dawn light crept across the sea, and we returned to the rope.
Slowly and with much effort, hundreds of dead birds tied by the neck in bunches were hauled up. These chicks, just a day or two away from flying for the first time, were large, over 4kg (8lb) in weight and perhaps 80cm (30in) tall.
And then the men came. They were an extraordinary sight, faces and hands sometimes as black as if they had been down a coalmine. Reeking of the oily, fishy smell of gannet guano, many had scratched hands and ripped clothes, caused by the birds' spear-like beaks.
A gannet's nostrils are inside, rather than outside, its beak
The last man up was Espern, the island's chief gannet catcher. Extraordinarily fit and strong he walked up the vertical cliff with the rope in one hand and two live gannets held by the neck in the other. A swift expert cut to the back of the neck and in a second the great grey creatures hung lifelessly from a beefy human hand.
But the night's work was not over.
Now the birds had to be thrown from the cliffs into the sea to be picked up by a small fishing boat which would deliver them to the village jetty. Otherwise, in rougher weather, the men would have to carry the rope and climbing equipment as well as around 500 birds, all the way back to the village.
A boat waits at the bottom of the cliffs to collect the birds
Later, after a hearty serving of soup, we were allowed to choose two birds each, as a reward for helping raise and lower the rope during the long cold night.
We had all been up for the best part of two days and a night, but everyone was in a good mood.
"Now you know what to do, you must come again next year," said Johannus. "And maybe try going down the cliff next time."
It was a generous offer. But I know I'm simply not brave enough.
Athaya Slaetalid with husband Jan and their son Jacob
There's a shortage of women in the Faroe Islands, so local men are increasingly seeking wives from further afield - Thailand and the Philippines in particular. But what's it like for the brides who swap the tropics for this windswept archipelago?
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41698293
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Canadian man fined for loudly singing Everybody Dance Now - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Montreal's Taoufik Moalla says he is contesting the ticket for "screaming in a public place".
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US & Canada
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A screengrab from the 90s hit Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
A Canadian man is contesting a C$149 ($118; £90) ticket for "screaming in a public place" after being caught singing in his car.
The tune that got him grooving - and in trouble - was C+C Music Factory's 90s smash hit Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).
Taoufik Moalla, 38, was driving near his suburban Montreal home on 27 September when police pulled him over.
Police asked him for identification and whether he had been screaming.
"I said, 'No, I was singing,'" Mr Moalla told the Montreal Gazette. "I was singing the refrain 'Everybody Dance Now,' but it wasn't loud enough to disturb anyone."
The Montreal man had been on his way to the grocery store to buy a bottle of water when the 90s dance track started playing in his CD player.
Police checked the inside of his car along with his licence and registration. They handed back his documents along with the fine.
Mr Moalla told CTV News that he was shocked by the ticket. He did not think his singing merited a fine.
"I understand if they are doing their job, they are allowed to check if everything's okay, if I kidnapped someone or if there's danger inside, but I would never expect they would give me a ticket for that," he told CTV.
Montreal police said they do not comment on individual tickets handed out to the public.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41726495
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Feeling isolated as an asexual in a sexualised society - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Readers share their experiences of what it is like to be asexual in a sexualised society.
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Magazine
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When Stacey wrote about her experience of not wanting to sleep with anyone, even her husband, dozens of readers sent emails saying that they too were asexual. Many described feeling isolated in a sexualised society. Here is a selection of their stories - and a response from an asexual activist about the importance of joining a community.
I am in my sixties and have had two failed marriages, but I have never initiated or enjoyed sex with another person. As a teenager it was easy to refuse sex, it was expected of a "good" girl, but family pressure meant that I was married at 21 and suddenly had no more excuses. I loved my husband and wanted to please him, but I felt no sexual desire and hated the experience of a physical relationship. I never initiated sex with him, and was almost glad when he eventually had affairs because the pressure was no longer on me to satisfy his needs. I felt overwhelming guilt for being so cold and took all the blame for my first marriage ending. I couldn't understand how I could love someone so much but dislike being touched by them... I married an older man 10 years ago who had led me to believe that he also was past sexual desire. Unfortunately this wasn't the case and he took my reluctance to have sex with him very badly. He forced me to perform sexual acts and I ended up hating him for it. We are going through an acrimonious divorce. In hindsight I should never have married again. Gill, London
I am a 35-year-old man, and have only just realised I am asexual. I have always been attracted to people, form romantic feelings very quickly and have always dated. I would fancy someone, enjoy the kissing and physical contact, but when it came to sex, my body would just switch off. I thought it could have been performance issues and I kept trying - it caused huge embarrassment and destroyed my confidence for years. I am desperate for a relationship and had completely resigned myself to being alone and childless forever. But recently I have seen a lot of articles about asexuality, and I can't begin to describe the relief that I am now able to label what it is about me that is different. I can even begin to dream about finding someone who could understand. Matt
I only discovered that I am asexual a few months ago when a therapist suggested it to me. Until then I had no idea what to call myself. I became sexually active when I was 17 and in college, I had a steady boyfriend and was in love with him, but I never felt sexually attracted to him. At first I thought it was due to lack of experience, but as time went on nothing changed. After we broke up I began questioning my sexuality a lot more, considering if I was a lesbian, and if that led me to feel this way. I noticed my body could become aroused, but it's like my mind isn't connected to it any more, it doesn't feel anything. Sex isn't painful for me, it doesn't repulse me, I just don't get pleasure from it. I discovered the Asexual ACES group and page on Facebook and am pleased to have found people who feel the same - or similar - ways as me. But I do worry that I'll never have a romantic partner. I am open to the idea of sex to please the other person, but the fact that I do not enjoy it seems to be a huge barrier for people. I feel very much like I will be alone for my whole life. Devi, Kent
Being asexual I feel irrelevant to a culture which is all about coupling: how much of daily life (fashion, recreation, entertainment) is about attracting or pleasing a partner? I'm not averse to having a partner, but feel excluded from the possibility, because who would invest time and effort into a relationship that isn't going to get them any sex? In a way, passing through the world as a sort of invisible extra is a privilege - you get more of an objective view of human relations when out of the throng yourself - but too much reflection and you start to see how you're surplus to requirements. Maybe someday I'll accept that, but I haven't got there yet. Sarah, Cambridge
It's possible to feel all alone, to feel like, "I'm too weird to get a partner," or "I'm not normal." But asexuality is just a sexual orientation, it's part of the normal spectrum of human sexuality, there's nothing pathological about it - and that goes a long way to helping people understand themselves as asexual.
People who think they identify as asexual who are feeling isolated or lonely should join an asexual community - whether online or offline (see examples at the bottom of the page). Having a label really helps and finding a community definitely helps.
The internet has really given asexuality its impetus as a movement. Of course, there were always asexual people around but it was very hard for them to find each other - it's not something that easily comes up in conversation and there was no obvious way for people to come together.
Asexuality still isn't really an option that's talked about. People think if you're not straight you're probably gay or you might be bi. So even though there has been more awareness of asexuality in recent years it is still a relatively young movement, and there is still a long way to go.
I've known that I wasn't like everybody else since I was 13. I tried to pretend and even went out with a few mates just to see I was just being a bit slow on the uptake. It wasn't until I was 15 that I came across the term asexual and knew then that was what I am. I would never tell my parents or family. They wouldn't understand. There is a huge generation gap of knowledge between us and none of them would have heard about it or understand it. These issues are not a new thing, they have been around for a very long time but many older people are saying that it's a new fad. They are just hearing about it for the first time because of the wonders of the internet. But the fact that you can now find a community of people online who feel like you, and who can help you come to terms with the fact that you are not a broken person, is so important. Tabitha, Bristol
I am a 52-year-old guy who has been repulsed by sex for as long as I can remember. In my younger days I was always sexually active, but I never got any satisfaction from it. Other than seeing my partner receiving pleasure, I pretty much hated it. I have been in a few strong, loving relationships through my life, and even happily married once, but they all failed as a result of one thing, my total disinterest in sex. While I was still in love, and very happy to be cuddled up in bed or on the sofa, I always found the thought of sex repulsive and this eventually ended the relationships. I've now been single for 11 years and, although I don't particularly enjoy being so, it is far easier than trying to find one of the other 1-3% of people who are the same as me. I just hope that more young people become aware of and open about their asexuality so they can find a similar person and enjoy a normal, loving, non-sexual relationship. Jon, Runcorn
At 28 years old, even having known about asexuality for about five years and knowing that is what I am, I am still struggling to come to terms with it. This is partly due to the overwhelmingly negative and dismissive attitude that people have demonstrated when I have tried to tell them that I am Ace. They always tell me, "Oh, you just haven't met the right person yet," or "You're a prude then." This has damaged my self-image, and undermined my confidence in being asexual in a modern world which revolves almost exclusively around sex. Living as part of a generation who has been constantly bombarded with sex from the media has left me feeling extremely isolated and backwards. I honestly live in fear of dying alone because I am unable to have sex. I am happy with what I am, but the world around me is not, and as such I am increasingly becoming a social hermit, because it easier than living with the disdain of an over sexualised world. Lucy, Cornwall
I'm a 42-year-old man, and it's only recently I've realised what asexuality is and how well I slot into the concept. I used to keep diaries as a teenager, full of the usual angst, but it was interesting that all my feelings and thoughts towards (exclusively) girls were almost entirely romantic, bordering on platonic, rather than the horny, sex-laden fantasies that teenage boys are stereotypically supposed to have. I never really enjoyed my first sexual encounters, though they were interesting as a kind of fact-finding mission. Pretty much every encounter since, regardless of my relationship with the person in question, has been unsatisfying to the point of unfulfilling. I tend to only get even slightly aroused in positions where I'm completely passive, where I'm not in control. I've tried most positions, largely to experiment, and most of them don't work for me, I don't enjoy them and consequently nor does the person I'm with at the time. I do have a long-term partner at the moment. I call her my partner because it doesn't really feel right describing her as a "lover" or "girlfriend" as we're not, by normal standards. Although we regularly share a bed we don't even kiss never mind do more intimate stuff. I don't think she's ever quite got to grips with my lack of sexuality and tends to assume I'm gay. Ian, Nottinghamshire
The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) hosts the world's largest online asexual community as well as a large archive of resources on asexuality
My Umbrella is a volunteer-led support group for the lesser known LGBT+ identities
For more information on sex and relationships visit BBC Advice
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
• None Why don't I want to have sex with the man I love?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41569900
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MP Jared O'Mara quits equalities committee over homophobic remarks - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Sheffield Hallam Labour MP is "deeply ashamed" of remarks he made before entering Parliament.
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Sheffield & South Yorkshire
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Labour MP Jared O'Mara has quit the Commons equality committee over online homophobic comments he made before being elected to parliament.
Mr O'Mara also made misogynistic remarks, joked about having an orgy with members of Girls Aloud and posted degrading comments about fat people.
The Sheffield Hallam MP, 36, was elected in June, unseating ex-deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.
Mr O'Mara resigned from the Women and Equalities Committee after apologising.
In posts made on the Drowned in Sound music website in 2004, Mr O'Mara claimed singer Michelle McManus only won Pop Idol "because she was fat" and said it would be funny if jazz star Jamie Cullum was "sodomised with his own piano".
The posts were first reported by the Guido Fawkes website, which has since revealed that two years earlier Mr O'Mara made homophobic remarks on an internet forum.
The MP has also apologised for these comments and said he was "deeply ashamed" of his actions.
The Labour leadership described Mr O'Mara's online remarks as "horrendous" and "vile" but sources said he would not be suspended from the parliamentary party, BBC political correspondent Chris Mason reported.
Mr Mason said he understood Mr O'Mara addressed his colleagues at a meeting of Labour MPs and made "a full and very personal apology" for his remarks.
The @LGBTLabour group tweeted that it was "deeply concerned" by the MP's comments.
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Lib Dem peer Lord Scriven, former leader of Sheffield Council, said: "It seems like a nasty pattern of sexist language and misogyny is developing from the Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam.
"He clearly isn't fit to sit on the Women and Equalities Committee. He must stand down from that committee immediately and if he doesn't, Jeremy Corbyn must take action to remove him."
Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, added she had asked for a meeting with Mr O'Mara to discuss his comments.
However Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North, who was at the meeting earlier, said: "He offered what seemed to be a heartfelt and genuine apology and admitted that these are views he once held, which took guts.
"The battle for equality is a battle for hearts and minds and that must surely mean that people are allowed to change their views and therefore must also be offered a second chance.
"I hope I don't end up eating my words and that he demonstrates his commitment to equality as a new MP. I think we owe him that chance."
Girls Aloud were the subject of one of Mr O'Mara's online comments
In a statement, Mr O'Mara said he had been "wrong to make" the comments.
"I understand why they are offensive and deeply apologise for my use of such unacceptable language."
"I made the comments as a young man, at a particularly difficult time in my life, but that is no excuse."
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Before his resignation from the committee, LGBT Labour said: "Whilst we recognise that these comments were made some time ago, that doesn't excuse such ignorance and bigotry.
"We expect a full and public apology from Mr O'Mara and ask that he meets with members of the LGBT Labour committee in order to understand the inequality many LGBT people face."
• None The only MP who wears a T-shirt in Parliament
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-41724540
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Dubai Scot jailed for three months for public indecency - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Jamie Harron was arrested after touching a man's hip in a Dubai bar.
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Tayside and Central Scotland
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Jamie Harron was convicted of public indecency over the incident in a Dubai bar
A Scottish man has been sentenced to three months in jail for touching a man's hip in a Dubai bar.
Jamie Harron, from Stirling, was arrested in July and charged with public indecency.
He claimed he had simply been trying to avoid spilling his drink when he touched the man.
The 27-year-old electrician had already been sentenced to a month in jail for drinking beer and still faces further court proceedings.
The businessman who made the complaint against Mr Harron later withdrew it, but prosecutors in Dubai continued with the case.
News of the three-month sentence was released by campaign group Detained in Dubai, which has been supporting Mr Harron.
Mr Harron was on a stopover break in the United Arab Emirates when the incident happened
The group said lawyers acting for him would appeal and they would be pursuing a civil action against his accusers.
A statement from the group said: "Today Jamie Harron was sentenced to three months imprisonment for accidentally brushing the hip of an Arab customer at the Rock Bottom bar in Dubai.
"Key witnesses to the incident were not called upon to testify to discredit the allegations.
"Jamie will appeal the verdict, though this will prolong his increasingly difficult circumstances in Dubai, and compound the enormous financial losses he has suffered as a consequence of the ongoing case."
Detained in Dubai's chief executive Radha Stirling said Mr Harron was "understandably distraught".
She added: "Now Jamie has been sentenced to three months, there is no telling whether a judgment on appeal will be better or worse.
"He has already suffered tremendously as a result of these allegations, and now faces the likelihood of incarceration.
"His family was unable to visit him during this critical time because they faced a very real risk of imprisonment themselves under the UAE's cybercrime laws which forbid criticism of the government.
"At this point, Jamie will definitely be pursuing civil action against his accusers when he does eventually return home, as it appears that he will not be able to find justice in the UAE.
"He is angry, disappointed, and dreads what may happen next. He feels betrayed and exploited by the system, which did not investigate the reports of key witnesses in his defence and led him to believe that the case would be dropped."
Mr Harron, who worked as an electrician in Afghanistan, was on a two-day stopover in the United Arab Emirates at the time of the incident on 15 July.
He is still to face court on two other charges stemming from the case - one of consuming alcohol, and one for allegedly making a rude gesture.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-41713718
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British woman reported dead in boat accident in France - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Four others were injured when the boat hit a warning beacon, throwing the woman into the Rhone.
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UK
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The incident happened near the town of Avignon
A British woman has died after a boat accident in southern France on Saturday night.
The 27-year-old was thrown overboard when the boat she was on collided with a warning beacon on the river Rhone.
Her body was found six metres underwater, firefighters near Avignon told the AFP news agency.
Five other people, including one Briton, were injured and taken to hospital. Two of them are in serious but not life threatening condition.
"Everyone is in shock," local police said.
An investigation has been launched to determine the circumstances of the incident.
Eight friends, four French and four British, aged between 20 and 30, were on the boat, along with the captain.
They were on the river near the popular tourist town of Avignon.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41715194
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Doctor Who: Bradley Walsh among three new cast members - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Jodie Whittaker's Time Lord will be joined by Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Jodie Whittaker will be joined by Mandip Gill, Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole
Doctor Who's first female Time Lord will be joined by three new regular cast members, the BBC has announced.
Jodie Whittaker, who takes over as the 13th Doctor next year, will be joined by Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill, as well as Sharon D Clarke in a returning role.
Walsh will star as Graham, Cole will play Ryan and Gill will play Yasmin.
Walsh said he was looking forward to being part of the show - some 50 years after first becoming a fan.
This is just another interesting career move for the man with one of the most varied CVs in showbusiness.
Walsh is best-known for hosting game shows like The Chase and Wheel of Fortune, and will be familiar to Coronation Street fans for playing Danny Baldwin between 2004-06.
He started out as a professional footballer for Brentford FC and launched a music career last year - notching up the biggest-selling debut album of 2016 by a British artist.
This isn't his first experience of the world of Doctor Who - Walsh says he's watched the show for 50 years and even briefly appeared as a villain in spin-off show Sarah Jane Adventures in 2008.
He said: "I remember watching William Hartnell as the first Doctor. Black and white made it very scary for a youngster like myself."
Gill, who has worked in film, theatre, radio and television, got her first major TV role in 2012 when she was cast as Phoebe McQueen in Hollyoaks.
She was on the soap for three years before her character was killed by an infamous murderer. She has also popped up in Doctors, Cuckoo and Casualty.
And she will soon be seen in Kay Mellor's new BBC drama Love, Lies and Records.
Gill said she was "over the moon" to join the "iconic" Doctor Who, adding: "Certain roles seem unattainable and this is one of those, so much so I didn't believe it to be true for the first few weeks."
Cole is no stranger to the world of sci-fi as he's already appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens with a speaking role as a member of the Red Squadron.
He will now join the elite group of Warwick Davis, Dave Prowse and Felicity Jones who have starred in both Doctor Who and Star Wars.
Cole has also had roles in EastEnders spin-off E20 and Hollyoaks, so has already worked with Mandip Gill.
"I'm grateful and excited to be a part of this journey with the team," Cole said of his casting. "I'm looking forward to jumping in this Doctor Who universe."
Chris Chibnall, the show's new head writer, described the trio as "three of Britain's brightest talents".
He added: "The new Doctor is going to need new friends."
The BBC also confirmed the series will have a 10-week run of 50-minute episodes in autumn 2018, starting with a special hour-long show for the launch.
No details about the new characters beyond their names have yet been revealed.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jodie Whittaker was revealed as the next Time Lord in July
Whittaker was revealed as the next Time Lord in July. The Broadchurch star succeeds Peter Capaldi, who took over the role in 2013 and leaves in the forthcoming Christmas special.
The reaction to Whittaker's casting was mostly positive - but some fans protested that the Doctor shouldn't be played by a woman.
The appointment also sparked a war of words between two former Doctors.
Peter Davison, who played the character from 1981 to 1984, said he felt "a bit sad" that the character might no longer be "a role model for boys", but his comments were dubbed "rubbish" by his successor Colin Baker.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41716877
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The Houses of Parliament - a building catastrophe? - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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What does the state of the Palace of Westminster tell us about our politics?
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UK Politics
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This autumn, MPs are due to debate whether they will have to leave the Houses of Parliament while it undergoes essential repairs. But could they be forced out of their iconic building by a potentially messy blockage?
Turn on a gas alarm as a precaution, open a substantial iron gate and head down into a basement. The hum of machinery grows louder - and the smell grows stronger. Impressive but distinctly old-fashioned cylinders and pumps appear.
An engineer accompanying me explains that these are "sewage ejectors", dating from 1888.
An enterprising Victorian technology museum, you might be assuming, with working exhibits? But this is in fact the basement of the Palace of Westminster. And these Victorian antiques are all that stand between Parliament and an almighty stink.
The engineer is Andrew Piper, design director for Parliament's Restoration and Renewal programme, which is planning a project lasting several years and will cost billions of pounds.
The original steam engine, once used to power the sewage ejectors, is still in working order
He explains that "everything from the toilets, the rainwater outlets - it all comes down to this point" - before being ejected out to the main London drain. The ejectors were installed to stop London's sewage invading the buildings after heavy rainfall.
And there they still are, working away, almost 130 years later. But, adds Mr Piper "we can't rely on these sorts of systems for much longer".
So what happens if they suddenly fail?
"If you can't use the toilets any more a building quickly becomes unusable. The end result would be potentially shutting the building down."
The sewage system is just one of several growing hazards. Mr Piper and his basement maintenance team struggle with constant fire dangers. There are modern electrical cables crammed next to older asbestos-covered steam pipes. And a system of vents that could carry smoke or flames swiftly through the building.
Flooding in the basement of the Palace of Westminster in June 2017
The building that's meant to represent the British constitution is a kind of national monument to make do and mend, with lots of bits from different eras bolted on to each other and much left unwritten - like where all these cables and vents end up, and what they actually do.
The Palace of Westminster, one of the best known buildings in the world, is in a truly terrible state.
Some have known this for years. A joint committee, including MPs and peers, published a report last year which warned that the palace "faces an impending crisis which we cannot responsibly ignore".
"There is a substantial and growing risk of either a single, catastrophic event, such as a major fire, or a succession of incremental failures in essential systems."
So how has this happened? And what does the state of Parliament say about the state of our politics?
Firstly, there's the belief that the building represents political stability. Maintenance has long been limited by MPs' insistence that nothing must stop them from sitting there. So any repairs have been crammed into recess times.
And there's another layer to this psychological attachment, says Dr Caroline Shenton, historian and former parliamentary archivist. The palace, with its bars and restaurants, gym and post offices, becomes a kind of home from home for MPs and peers, giving a "daily sense of continuity and security".
Add to that anxiety - in this increasingly angry, anti-politics era - about what public opinion and headline writers will say as the multi-billion cost of renewal emerges.
Sheffield University's Prof Matthew Flinders, chair of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom, who has closely followed the Restoration and Renewal programme, says this failure to take a decision is a classic example of what political scientists call "elite blockage".
The palace, he says, "casts a spell" on many who use it. It represents a kind of politics with "low expectations of public engagement" which "locks in by its design not only a two-party system but also a very masculine, adversarial kind of politics".
Those who benefit leave it to others to take tough unpopular decisions in the future. Meanwhile "the building can't take it any more - we've reached a crunch point."
The Palace of Westminster's cast iron roofs are 160 years old
He would like the current problems to be seen as an opportunity - to open up the building and change the way we do politics. Public access could be greatly improved, especially for disabled people who currently struggle to enter.
Others say a renovated palace would prove a huge asset as Brexit Britain tries to reinforce its international reputation.
MPs are due to debate the latest restoration and renewal plan at some point this autumn. But those who have watched years of delay and disagreement don't expect swift action.
So will it take a catastrophe - like the 1834 fire which destroyed the palace's predecessor - to force a change?
"It's starting to look like that," says Dr Shenton. It might be that "the whole place just grinds to a halt".
"In terms of British pride," warns Prof Flinders, "if we wait for a catastrophe to close down Parliament, it's going to be an absolute disaster."
And as for the failure of those sewage ejectors - that would create an "elite blockage" like no other.
Chris Bowlby presents Parliament - A Building Catastrophe? on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 23 October 2017 at 20:30 BST. You will be able to listen via the Radio 4 programme website or download the programme podcast.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41650215
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Harvey Weinstein: Company faces harassment inquiry - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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The investigation in New York follows sexual assault allegations made against Harvey Weinstein.
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US & Canada
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Harvey Weinstein insists any sexual relations he had were consensual
New York prosecutors are investigating the company co-founded by Harvey Weinstein following allegations of sexual assault made against the film producer.
The civil rights inquiry seeks to identify employees who have been subject to harassment.
"If sexual harassment or discrimination is pervasive...we want to know," the attorney general's office said.
Company documents will be seized as part of the investigation.
The Weinstein Company, which is based in New York, has come under intense pressure over the scandal and fired Mr Weinstein from its board earlier this month.
More than two dozen women - among them actresses Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rose McGowan - have made a number of accusations against Mr Weinstein.
In a statement, New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman said: "No New Yorker should be forced to walk into a workplace ruled by sexual intimidation, harassment, or fear."
"If sexual harassment or discrimination is pervasive at a company, we want to know."
A source familiar with the investigation told the BBC that prosecutors would subpoena documents as part of the inquiry. These include documents relating to complaints about sexual harassment and how such complaints were handled.
Harvey Weinstein, whose films have received more than 300 Oscar nominations, has "unequivocally denied" any allegations of non-consensual sex.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. On some red carpets, Harvey Weinstein is not a welcome subject
Elsewhere, Los Angeles police announced its first investigation involving Mr Weinstein in California.
"The Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery Homicide Division has interviewed a potential sexual assault victim involving Harvey Weinstein which allegedly occurred in 2013," LAPD spokesman Sal Ramirez told the BBC.
In London, police say Mr Weinstein is accused of assaulting three women in separate incidents in the late 1980s, 1992, 2010, 2011 and 2015.
Officers are looking into claims they were attacked in Westminster, Camden and west London.
No arrests have been made over any of the allegations, police say.
Meanwhile, the actor Matt Damon said he became aware of Harvey Weinstein's alleged harassment of Gwyneth Paltrow in 1999.
Speaking to ABC News, he said: "I knew the story about Gwyneth [Paltrow] from Ben [Affleck], because he was with her after Brad [Pitt], so I knew that story."
In the same interview George Clooney, whose big-screen break was a Weinstein film, said it is "beyond infuriating" that "predator" Harvey Weinstein was "out silencing women".
On Monday, at a film premiere in Los Angeles, he spoke about the need to believe women who speak out about sexual assault.
"Maybe this is the watershed moment, where we believe women, where they feel safe that they can talk about what they're experiencing", he said.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Tom Hanks: "Everybody has stories about some aspect of the so called casting couch"
George Clooney and Matt Damon join the list of Hollywood stars who have spoken out to condemn Harvey Weinstein.
Last week, the actor Tom Hanks told the BBC that he sees no way back for the film producer.
"His last name will become a noun and a verb. It will become an identifying moniker for a state of being for which there was a before and an after", he said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41726134
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Everything Everything on how they've turned a 'nightmare' into pop music - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Everything Everything on how their new album was inspired by the "surreal, nightmarish" news cycle.
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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. Everything Everything perform Can't Do at BBC Music Introducing Live 2017
"There's a tide and it's coming in now," sings Jonathan Higgs on Night Of The Long Knives, the latest single from Everything Everything.
The title refers to Hitler's bloody purge of the Nazi party in 1934, drawing a parallel to the rise of the right-wing politics in the last two years.
Only Higgs isn't convinced that fascism will sweep everything in its path.
"They're saying it's a wave but it feels like a dribbling mouth," he sneers in the single, questioning whether the alt-right are a powerful force, or just a bunch of idiots.
"And the answer is both," says the singer, sitting down to discuss the album with BBC News at the Brixton Academy.
"It depends how we react to it. If everyone [panics and] says, 'Oh God!' the next thing you know, they're the prime minister.
"But if you go, 'Ha, ha, ha, you're idiots,' well... they'll probably still become prime minister. But you have to keep your head about it."
It's surprising to hear Higgs make a plea for perspective. After all, this is a man whose last album, Get To Heaven, was a "wretched and anxious" response to Islamic State militants, beheadings, mass shootings and political corruption.
"I was in a dark place," he told the BBC on its release. "I was essentially trying to inhabit the minds of the [extremists] and that's a really horrible thing to face."
Everything Everything's new album dials back on the paranoia and dread - partly because Higgs thinks the world has caught up with him.
"I'm not less in that headspace, but I think everyone else is in it more," he says.
"But the album's a bit more abstract, a bit more personal. Away from politics and all that stuff, it's about the human relationships we all have."
The album is called A Fever Dream, a reference to the "surreal, nightmarish things happening, day after day" - especially the absurdity of modern politics.
It's there in Big Game, a pomposity-pricking parable about Donald Trump ("Even little children see through you"), and it's there in Run the Numbers, a song that explores Michael Gove's comment that "people in this country have had enough of experts".
"Is it the first song to be inspired by Michael Gove? Yes, and it should be the only one. Let's leave it at that."
A Fever Dream reached number five when it was released in August - the band's best chart position to date
Higgs is smart enough to be aware that he comes from a position of privilege, and his liberal views are out of step with the prevailing political climate.
There's a song on the album called Ivory Tower, where people threaten to "come and crush me in the Waitrose aisle". On the title track, he sings: "I hate the neighbours, they hate me too / The fear and the fury make me feel good."
"It's admitting that I sort of enjoy arguing," he explains. "I think we all do on some level. It's certainly popular."
"With anonymity you can go much further than you ever could in real life," Higgs continues.
"People become very extreme very quickly. It feels good to give yourself over to that emotion."
This leads to a discussion of the fake news stories that spread in the wake of this month's mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Everything Everything are named after the first two words on Radiohead's Kid A album
"I just can't begin to find a way into that mindset," says Higgs. "But the whole idea about what's true has been thrown up in the air: Who do we trust? Why do we trust our journalists? Is it just because we're used to it?"
"There are codes of practices in place, right?" interjects his bandmate, Jeremy Pritchard. "But does the Daily Mail care? Does Fox News care? I don't think so."
Higgs says keeping up with the news "feels like a bad dream - sometimes it's scary and frightening and sometimes it's electrifying and exciting".
He adds: "That's why there's a reference to being asleep or dreaming or waking up in every single song. There's a feeling of 'is it real, or is it not?'"
If this all sounds pretty heavy, it's worth noting that Everything Everything have always dressed up their angst in a cathartic explosion of melodic pop.
That's how they sneak songs like Cough Cough (about greed for oil), My Kz Ur Bf (airstrikes) and Night Of The Long Knives onto daytime radio.
"Musically, A Fever Dream's a bit more electronic but also heavier with guitars and riffs," says Pritchard (second left)
In concert, this results in fans bellowing out the lyrics to No Reptiles - a song about feeling passive and useless and alienated from society.
There's something bizarre, I observe, about hearing 3,000 people chanting: "It's alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair."
"We're always surprised by what people's favourites are," adds Pritchard. "And we're still towards the beginning of that process on this album.
"We've written them, we've recorded them and now we're seeing what works in the live arena - where the energy is, how to play it."
But the "fat child in a pushchair" remains the bassist's favourite part of the set, every night.
"I don't have to play anything at that point in the song," he says, "So I always take my earphones out and listen to the crowd. It's incredible."
A Fever Dream is out now.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41692363
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Possible serial killer 'terrorising' Florida neighbourhood - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Police warn residents to be on high alert after three people were shot dead within 10 days.
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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. Florida police search for suspect in connection with three murders
Florida police have said they are searching for a possible serial killer believed to have fatally shot three people over the last two weeks.
Officials believe the murders, which happened blocks apart, were committed by the same gunman who may have chosen the victims at random, police say.
The latest victim was an autistic man who was shot while walking home from work after getting on the wrong bus.
Local residents have been advised not to walk alone after dark.
"Now we have someone terrorising the neighbourhood," said interim Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan, who added that there is "no doubt" that the crimes are linked.
Anthony Naiboa, 20, was found gunned down on 19 October in the central Tampa neighbourhood of Seminole Heights.
The autistic charity worker was shot to death around 20:00 local time (00:00 GMT), less than a mile away from where two others were shot and killed.
Officers heard the gunshots that killed Mr Naiboa, but the suspect had fled before they arrived on scene, according to Chief Dugan.
"You can imagine the frustration of these officers to hear gunshots and not be able to find this person," Chief Dugan said.
Benjamin Mitchell, 22, was alone at a bus stop after dark when he was shot dead on 9 October.
Monica Caridad Hoffa, 32, was walking to meet a friend when she was fatally shot. She was found in a vacant lot on 13 October.
Police say the killings could be connected based on the proximity of the murders and time frame, but Mr Dugan said he was cautious about using the term serial killer.
The FBI are helping local police in the investigation and have released a photo of a possible suspect, but a motive is still unclear.
Police say the murders are probably linked due to the proximity and time frame of the murders
Local police are accompanying students to bus stops in the wake of the murders, department spokesman Steve Hegarty told the Tampa Bay Times newspaper on Monday.
Officers first began escorting residents during a vigil held after dark on Sunday.
A crowd of more than 100 marched to the scenes of the murders and chanted: "Whose streets? Our streets."
The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay have offered a $25,000 reward (£19,000) for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the murders.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41725218
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'One-off' £1.5m supercar damaged in crash at Tangmere - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Police believe the Pagani Zonda had been in a convoy of supercars when it hit a crash barrier.
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Sussex
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The blue Pagani Zonda crashed on the A27 at Tangmere
An extremely rare £1.5m supercar was badly damaged after it smashed into a crash barrier in West Sussex.
The Pagani Zonda, which has a top speed of more than 200mph (322kmph), crashed on the A27 at Tangmere on Saturday shortly after 07:30 BST.
Sussex Police said the driver was not injured but the "one-off" Italian-made car was left with "significant damage".
It is thought the car was travelling in a convoy of sports cars at the time and police have appealed for witnesses.
"We are hoping someone would remember as it is so distinctive," PC Peter De Silvo said.
Police believe it was travelling from Worthing to Chichester with several other sports cars
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-41725938
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Bradford toddler window fall murder case: Woman remanded in custody - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Emergency services were called to a block of flats in Bradford on Saturday evening.
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Leeds & West Yorkshire
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Gemma Procter spoke only to confirm her name, age and address
A woman has appeared in court charged with the murder of an 18-month-old boy who fell from a sixth-floor flat window.
Emergency services were called to the Newcastle House block of flats in Bradford city centre at 17:10 BST on Saturday after Elliot Procter fell.
West Yorkshire Police said it "quickly became apparent" the boy had died by the time officers arrived.
At the city's magistrates' court, Gemma Procter was remanded in custody.
Ms Procter, 23, of Barkerend Road, Bradford, spoke only to confirm her name, age and address to district judge Michael Fanning.
She is due to appear at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday.
The seven-storey Newcastle House is in Bradford city centre
Enquiries into the "extremely traumatic" incident remain ongoing, a force spokesperson said.
Newcastle House, which is in the city centre, is a seven-storey block of flats with shops on the ground floor.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-41720061
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Man charged with murdering Teresa Wishart in Kirkby - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Teresa Wishart was found with head injuries at her home in Kirkby, police say.
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Liverpool
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Teresa Wishart was found with head injuries at her home
A man has been charged with the murder of an 80-year-old woman at her home.
The body of Teresa Wishart was found in Changford Close in Kirkby, Merseyside, on Thursday. She had suffered head injuries.
Charles Stapleton, 51, from Watts Close, Kirkby, is accused of murder and burglary.
He is due to appear at Liverpool, Knowsley and St Helens Magistrates' Court on Monday morning.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-41716994
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Russian radio presenter Felgengauer stabbed in neck - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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A top Russian broadcaster is seriously ill in hospital after a man stabbed her in the neck at work.
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Europe
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Tatyana Felgengauer is seen here posing in a team photo of Ekho Moskvy presenters
One of Russia's top radio presenters has had surgery after being stabbed in the neck by a man who broke into her newsroom at broadcaster Ekho Moskvy.
Tatyana Felgengauer is in a medically-induced coma in a Moscow hospital but her life is not said to be in danger.
A male suspect is under arrest. His motive is not clear, though police say it appears to be a personal grudge.
Ekho Moskvy, an independent station, often broadcasts views critical of the Kremlin.
The knifeman reportedly sprayed a gas into the face of a security guard as he broke in.
According to Ekho Moskvy, the alleged attacker's name is Boris Grits. It describes the attacker as an Israeli, citing "informed sources".
Russian police described him as a 48-year-old foreigner. "Initial findings show that personal dislike was the motivation," police told Interfax news agency.
The Moscow police have released a video clip of the suspect under arrest, in which he claims that Felgengauer had "sexually harassed me through telepathy".
A blog apparently published by Boris Grits also contains posts vilifying Felgengauer.
Blood was spattered on the floor as police tackled the intruder
A Russian state TV channel recently accused Ekho Moskvy ("Moscow Echo" in English) of working with the West to produce anti-Russian propaganda, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Moscow.
Just last month, another of its journalists, Yulia Latynina, left the country after she was sprayed with faeces and her car was set on fire.
This photo of the suspect was published by Ekho Moskvy after the attack
Staff at the radio station say the man did not shout anything before he stabbed Tatyana Felgengauer on the building's 14th floor.
She is deputy chief editor at Ekho Moskvy and has worked there for more than 10 years. She is the daughter of Pavel Felgengauer, a prominent journalist with military expertise.
A photo of the suspect was published by the radio station's website editor, Vitaly Ruvinsky, on Facebook.
One of the broadcaster's security guards was injured as the knifeman was being overpowered.
Ekho Moskvy is a major broadcaster, respected for its independent stance
Most Russians rely on TV for their news and the main channels are either directly state-controlled or run by companies with close links to the Kremlin.
There have been many attacks on investigative reporters and other journalists who have challenged Russia's powerful vested interests.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41720828
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Charges dropped against Scot accused of public indecency in Dubai - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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The Emirate of Dubai ruler intervenes after the man was sentenced to prison for public indecency.
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Tayside and Central Scotland
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Jamie Harron had been unable to leave the country since July
A Scottish man accused of public indecency in Dubai has had the charges against him dropped after the ruler of the Emirate of Dubai intervened.
Jamie Harron, 27, from Stirling, had been sentenced to three months in jail for touching a man's hip in a bar.
Detained in Dubai, the group representing Mr Harron, said he had been exonerated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
It said Mr Harron had his passport returned and is free to leave Dubai.
Mr Harron's mother Patricia declined to be interviewed, but told BBC Scotland that the family were "ecstatic" at the news.
Mr Harron had also been accused of drinking alcohol and making a rude gesture towards the businessman who made the complaint.
Detained in Dubai spokeswoman Radha Stirling said: "The cases against him have been dismissed, and the sentence imposed by the court yesterday has been nullified.
"We wish to express our deepest gratitude to Sheikh Mohammed for his personal intervention in this case, and for exonerating Jamie at long last.
"It has now been established that the allegations against Jamie were entirely unwarranted, defamatory, and meritless."
Ms Stirling said Mr Harron was now considering a civil action against the businessman and his employers.
Mr Harron was arrested in July and charged with public indecency.
He claimed he had simply been trying to avoid spilling his drink when he touched the man.
The man who made the complaint against Mr Harron later withdrew it, but prosecutors in Dubai continued with the case.
Mr Harron, who worked as an electrician in Afghanistan, was on a two-day stopover in the United Arab Emirates at the time of the incident.
He said he lost his job and has spent more than £30,000 in expenses and legal fees as a result of the case.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-41722204
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Raqqa: US coalition 'wiped city off Earth', Russia says - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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Moscow accuses the West of sending aid to the Syrian city to cover up evidence of crimes.
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Middle East
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The BBC's Feras Kilani was in Raqqa with anti-IS troops
Russia has accused the US-led coalition of bombing the Syrian city of Raqqa "off the face of the earth" during the fight against so-called Islamic State.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, took Raqqa last week.
Pictures suggest much of Raqqa is in ruins, and Moscow compared it to the Allied destruction of the German city of Dresden in World War Two.
The US-led coalition says it tried to minimise risks to civilians.
Russia has itself been accused of committing war crimes for its bombardment of Aleppo last year.
UN war crimes investigators in June that there had been a "staggering loss of civilian life" in Raqqa.
Syrian activists say between 1,130 and 1,873 civilians were killed and that many of the civilian casualties were the result of the intense US-led air strikes that helped the SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, advance.
A Russian defence ministry spokesman said the ruins evoked the destruction of Dresden.
"Raqqa has inherited the fate of Dresden in 1945, wiped off the face of the earth by Anglo-American bombardments," Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said.
He said the West now appeared to be hurrying to send financial aid to Raqqa as a way of covering up evidence of its crimes.
Allied bombing destroyed most of Dresden in 1945
The US-led coalition said it had adhered to strict targeting processes and procedures aimed to minimise risks to civilians.
The SDF declared victory in Raqqa last week after a four-month battle to retake the city from IS, which had ruled it for three years.
They say they have since taken the al-Omar oilfield, Syria's largest and a significant source of revenue for IS.
The SDF's fight against the militants is now focused on their last stronghold in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour.
The Syrian army, supported by Russian airpower and Iranian-backed militias, is also attacking the extremist group.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41714754
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How Wim Wenders put the snap back into Polaroids - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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The movie-maker shows off his eclectic collection of self-snapped prints taken over many decades.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Wim Wenders chose himself as a subject for some of his photos
Wim Wenders became a major film-maker when, in the 1970s, German cinema became cool around the world. His hits included The American Friend and Paris, Texas. But Wenders was privately experimenting with one of the most straightforward of visual technologies - the Polaroid stills camera. Thousands of those shots were thrown away - but now a selection of surviving images has gone on display in London.
Wenders says when he started taking Polaroid pictures in the mid-1960s it had nothing to do with art.
Wim Wenders says taking snaps was useful to his film-making and it was fun
"It was just part of my life. I would photograph things to do with movies I was making, or when I travelled. It was useful and fun - which I think is what Polaroids were for most people."
Instant photography - doing away with a separate and lengthy process of developing film outside the camera - arrived commercially in 1948. It was the creation of Polaroid's founder Edwin Land. In the early years the images were black and white.
The big step forward was the arrival of the Polaroid sx-70 camera in the early 1970s.
"It was science fiction and nobody had seen anything like it. You pointed the camera and took the picture and then it came out - an empty, blank bit of white paper.
"And before your eyes it slowly turned into the image you had shot a few moments before. It was exhilarating in its colours and brightness.
New York is given the Wim Wenders treatment
"You have to remember that at this time people didn't have even VHS tape - we were in a simpler, analogue world. So to be able to create and record a visual image almost immediately seemed extraordinary."
Now some 200 of the images are on display in London, under the title Instant Stories. Some of them show well-known people the director worked with such as the actor Dennis Hopper. Others are landscapes or pictures of odd corners in places Wenders visited such as New York or Sydney.
There are also close-up images of a TV set showing the 1956 film The Girl Can't Help It, with appearances from Eddie Cochrane and Gene Vincent.
"It's still my favourite rock and roll movie. And suddenly with a Polaroid you could photograph something you enjoyed and you had it in front of you to hold, almost at once. At the time it was extraordinary.
"The other great thing is that if friends were in the image you could give it to them - and that's what happened to many of the pictures I took.
"I'd had traditional cameras since I was six or so and I enjoyed using them. But there was a whole new spontaneity with the Polaroid which I think some people are now starting to rediscover the way they've rediscovered music on vinyl.
"Everyone says, 'oh the kids aren't interested in physical objects any more: they don't want a book or a newspaper or a CD.'
"But the kids will regret it when they're older: if you're 25 you have to realise that the phone which seems so great now will one day be yesterday's technology and lots of the digital images we all have will be hard or even impossible to look at."
Dennis Hopper invented the selfie in the Wenders movie The American Friend, says the director
But doesn't a modern smartphone produce images far more sophisticated than any Polaroid camera did 40 years ago? Wenders says the basic character of the technology was part of the appeal.
"I think people who look at the images will find a sort of beauty here. The colours the process produced are great, though the monochrome images are attractive too."
The director points out a particular black and white picture. "It's the Hoboken Terminal in New York and I was shooting a film 30 years ago there called Lightning Over Water. These places are mainly gone."
For a long time the pictures just went up on Wenders' refrigerator and then were stored away in cigar boxes.
"But they remain unique: they only existed once and there's no negative and you can't duplicate it. Forty years later they seem quite precious."
Wenders remembers that at the time a new Polaroid model or a big technical development was the equivalent of an Apple launch today.
"So when the sx-70 came out we were delighted to get hold of it early to use in the film Alice in the Cities (1974)."
The new show in London plays on a loop the scene from The American Friend in which, says Wenders, "Dennis Hopper invents the selfie with a Polaroid camera."
There was something "sacred" about the instantaneity of the Polaroid, says Wenders
There was also a use behind the camera. "So at this time there's no video playout and you only see your rushes three days later. The Polaroid camera can be a real help setting up a shot."
But in the 1980s Wenders abandoned Polaroids entirely. "I was starting to take stills photography more seriously and I started to use large-size cameras".
But he retained one of his old Polaroid cameras and only recently gave it to Patti Smith to replace one she was having problems with.
Wenders thinks digital photography is now so problem-free and so cheap that a lot of the creativity has gone.
"It's so easy for a professional photographer to take hundreds or even thousands of pictures of a particular face or of a scene and of course a few of them will be good and the rest are wiped. It can be an impersonal, industrial process.
"The Polaroid was instant but it was still connected to the original idea of photography. There was always something sacred about the act of stealing an image from the world."
Instant Stories: Wim Wenders' Polaroids is at the Photographers' Gallery in London until 11 February 2018.
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UK diver swims to safety after Australia shark scare - BBC News
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2017-10-23
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John Craig says he was initially "followed" before making his way to safety in Australia.
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Australia
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A British man has told the BBC how he swam over four miles to safety after being "followed" by a tiger shark.
A British diver says he swam 7.5km (4.5 miles) to safety off the coast of Australia after losing sight of his boat and being "followed" by a shark.
John Craig, 34, had been spear-fishing underwater in Western Australia on Friday when he surfaced and could not see the boat, being crewed by a friend.
Mr Craig said he noticed a shark as he called and splashed for help.
He then began a long swim back to shore before reaching land and walking for another 30 minutes until he was seen.
The Sunderland man, an experienced diver who moved to Australia two years ago, said the shark had appeared to be a tiger shark about 4m in length.
"It was extremely close and curious and kept approaching me from different angles. It was trying to work out what I was and whether I could be on the menu," he told the BBC.
"It was terrifying. I thought I was just going to be eaten out here in the middle of nowhere... this shark is just not leaving me alone."
Mr Craig said he placed his spear gun between himself and the shark as it swam around him in Shark Bay, about 800km north of Perth, the state capital.
He then decided to swim towards the Francois Perron National Park after spotting a red cliff "very low on the horizon".
But Mr Craig said he was followed by the "curious" shark for about 15 minutes.
The diver said he was thankful he was able to complete the swim
"At this point I thought I was gone - 4 nautical miles out to sea with a huge tiger shark following me - I thought this was it, this is how I am going to die," he said.
"I would look back and see its head come out of the gloom and at my fins, keeping pace with me."
He said he felt almost like the shark was "escorting" him to shore, but after a time it disappeared.
Mr Craig estimated he swam for another three hours before reaching land, where he noticed an air and sea rescue effort was under way.
Unable to gain anyone's attention, Mr Craig began walking towards a campsite until a plane spotted him about 30 minutes later.
"I could not believe that someone could swim that far in such a short period of time," said Glen Ridgley, from Shark Bay Volunteer Marine Rescue.
"I guess where there's a shark besides you spurring you on... it's like a trainer."
Mr Craig was reunited with his wife aboard one of the rescue boats. He has praised the quick response of the area's search and rescue authorities.
His original boat had experienced mechanical issues but his friend was OK, Mr Craig said.
Tiger sharks are responsible for the second-highest number of reported attacks on humans, according to the International Shark Attack File.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41717024
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Kim Jong-nam murder: Suspects revisit Malaysia airport - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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The women accused of killing the half-brother of North Korea's leader visit the scene.
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Asia
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. CCTV footage shows the alleged attack at the airport in February
Two women charged with killing Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, are revisiting the crime scene in Malaysia.
Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong were at Kuala Lumpur airport on Tuesday.
The pair are accused of rubbing the highly toxic VX nerve agent on Mr Kim's face as he waited for a flight.
They have pleaded not guilty to murder, saying it was a TV prank and they were tricked by North Korean agents.
Pyongyang has denied any involvement in the 13 February killing, but four men - believed to be North Koreans who fled Malaysia on the day of the murder - have also been charged in the case.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport was packed with journalists awaiting the women on Tuesday morning.
The women arrived at the airport soon afterwards, and were seen wearing bulletproof vests.
Policewomen held the arms of Doan Thu Huong (centre) as they walked into the terminal
Journalists at the scene said Siti Aisyah (centre) looked overwhelmed at one point
They were escorted by dozens of armed police officers wearing body armour.
Halfway during the visit, Ms Aisyah burst into tears while Ms Huong also appeared unwell, reported AFP news agency.
The women were given wheelchairs and officials pushed them around the terminal for the rest of the visit.
They were accompanied by their lawyers and the judge presiding over the trial. The visit was aimed at giving those involved in the case a better understanding of the events.
The group visited an airport cafe at one point during the visit.
They were also taken to the check-in hall where Mr Kim appeared to have been attacked, and the medical centre where he sought assistance.
If found guilty, the women face the death penalty. Their defence lawyers are likely to argue that the real culprits are North Korean agents who fled Malaysia.
Mr Kim, who was in his mid-40s, was the estranged older half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
At the time of his death, he was believed to have been living in self-imposed exile in Macau and was thought to have had some links to China.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41731238
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Paddington 2: Producer hopes to sever connection with The Weinstein Company - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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Producer of sequel David Heyman wants The Weinstein Company name "nowhere near" Paddington 2.
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Entertainment & Arts
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The producer behind Paddington 2 says he wants to cut all ties with the Weinstein name.
David Heyman told Deadline that The Weinstein Company had distribution rights but had nothing to do with the financing or making of the film.
Heyman said his hopes are that, ultimately, "The Weinstein Company name is nowhere near Paddington 2".
It follows fresh allegations against Harvey Weinstein and claims his assistant was paid for her silence.
David Heyman at the premiere of Paddington in 2014
Heyman, who is also behind the Harry Potter movies, spoke about his unease at being involved with The Weinstein Company.
"It's very sad and deeply frustrating that Paddington, who's been around for more than 50 years, and is always looking for the good in people... could have any association" with the ongoing scandal, he said.
After Weinstein was sacked by his production company, younger brother Bob had said The Weinstein Company's involvement in Paddington 2 would continue.
But Heyman said he had received many calls from distributors offering to replace The Weinstein Company, saying: "I'm sure all options will be explored."
Paddington 2, which stars Hugh Bonneville, Peter Capaldi and Ben Whishaw, will be released in the UK on 10 November.
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Paul Weitz: Skylab and shuttle astronaut dies aged 85 - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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US astronaut Paul Weitz, who helped save a Nasa space station after it was damaged during launch, has died aged 85.
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Science & Environment
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US astronaut Paul Weitz, who helped save a Nasa space station after it was damaged during launch, has died aged 85.
Mr Weitz, who died at a retirement home in Flagstaff, Arizona, also served as the first commander of the space shuttle Challenger.
He was a naval aviator before joining Nasa in 1966.
He was the pilot on the first mission to Skylab, the US space station which orbited Earth from 1973 to 1979.
The orbiting laboratory had been launched without crew on 14 May 1973. But a shield to protect the station from collisions with small meteorites had torn loose during lift-off.
Skylab was America's first and only space station
A replacement sunshield for Skylab is sewn together in Houston
Weitz mans the control and display console of the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) on Skylab in 1973
The shield also protected Skylab against extremes of temperature, and without it, the station began to overheat.
Mr Weitz and his fellow crew members Pete Conrad and Joseph Kerwin were supposed to launch on 15 May. But Nasa delayed the flight so that the crew could practice repairs on the ground.
The astronauts eventually launched on 25 May and approached Skylab in their Apollo command module. Positioning their spacecraft near a jammed solar panel on Skylab, Weitz opened the Apollo module's airlock and extended a 3m (10ft)-long pole designed to free the component.
He tugged hard at the solar panel, while Joe Kerwin held him by the ankles.
"We thought maybe we'd just break it loose. So we got down near the end of the solar array and I got a hold of it with the shepherd's crook," Mr Weitz said in an interview with Nasa in 2000.
"But what we really hadn't thought about was, in heaving on it, trying to break the thing free, what I was doing, in effect, I was pulling the command module... in toward [Skylab]."
"Also, surprising in a totally weightless environment, I was moving [Skylab] some, too, because we could see its thrusters firing to maintain its attitude... So it made for some dicey times."
It was clear that the array wasn't going to budge, so the astronauts went back inside the command module.
The crew of STS-6, the first Challenger shuttle flight, pose for a photo. Commander Paul Weitz is seated second from the left
The astronauts deployed a satellite from Challenger and carried out a spacewalk during the five-day mission
After several failed attempts to dock with the command module, the astronauts finally entered Skylab and successfully deployed a replacement sunshade to lower temperatures inside the lab.
Weitz's second flight was in April 1983 as the first commander of the space shuttle Challenger. He was then at the relatively advanced age (in those days) of 51.
During their five-day mission, the four crew members successfully deployed a satellite from Challenger and carried out a spacewalk.
Just three years later, the shuttle was destroyed in an accident on lift-off which killed all seven astronauts on board.
If the Apollo programme had not been cancelled in the early seventies, Mr Weitz might have flown to the Moon - possibly on Apollo 20.
Paul J Weitz was born on 25 July 1932 in Erie, Pennsylvania.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41740076
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Google phone hit by 'burn in' problems - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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The search giant's flagship device has suffered several issues, including complaints about screen quality.
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Technology
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A faintly burned-in area, underneath the emergency text, is something only usually seen in older, worn out devices
Google’s new flagship smartphones have been hit by complaints about the quality of the screens.
Tech reviewers, who have had the larger of the two devices for about a fortnight, noticed “burn in” on its display. Others noted “muddy” discolouration on the screen.
Google said it was investigating the issue, which it took “very seriously”.
Google’s new line, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, are its attempt to take a bigger share of the smartphone market.
Last year’s Pixel was well-received by reviewers, but sold poorly. It accounted for just 0.5% of the global market.
The Pixel 2 was made by HTC, while the Pixel 2 XL was made by LG.
A Pixel 2 XL review unit provided to the BBC by Google suffered from mild burn-in - the term given to when a screen is permanently marked by images that have been on screen for an extended period of time.
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Burn-in is typical of old screens, but should not happen on a new high-end smartphone.
On the Google device, the navigation bar that is often at the bottom of the screen could be seen faintly when it should not have been visible.
“We take all reports of issues very seriously, and our engineers investigate quickly,” said Mario Queiroz, Google’s vice president for the Pixel range.
“We will provide updates as soon as we have conclusive data.”
The worst case scenario for Google would be a halt to production of the Pixel - which has already seen shipping delays of up to a month - and potentially a recall for devices already shipped.
"Not a great start for sure,” said Carolina Milanesi, a Silicon Valley-based analyst for Creative Strategies.
“This was Google's big step into really going for the devices market, broadening the breath of the products. It raises the question of whether they can actually take on this much.”
The news follows complaints over a separate Google product, the Google Home Mini voice assistant.
It was discovered to have been listening in to conversations without users’ knowledge because of a faulty button. Google has since disabled the feature.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41730636
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Teenager's life 'ruined' by Live.me and Twitter 'trolls' - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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Victoria says her face was superimposed on pornographic images shared on social media.
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England
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Victoria, whose full name the BBC has chosen not to use, says her face was superimposed on pornographic images shared on social media
A teenager claims internet trolls "ruined her life" by superimposing her face on pornographic messages that were shared on social media.
Victoria, from Leeds, was told to "go kill yourself" on the Live.me streaming app and her home address was shared on Twitter as a "house to burgle".
Figures obtained by BBC Yorkshire show reports of malicious communication have almost doubled to more than 200 a day.
There were 79,372 offences recorded in 2016, up from 42,910 the year before.
Police forces in England and Wales were asked to provide the data, with 38 out of 43 responding.
West Yorkshire Police said investigations into Victoria's case were ongoing
Victoria, 18, had open profiles on Live.me, Twitter and Instagram, where she had thousands of followers.
She said she was sent pornographic images that featured her face and had photographs of her house shared online, while another message to her simply said "die".
"I'm on anxiety tablets now. It's knocked my confidence. I don't even go out of the house that much," she said.
"There's still that thought in the back of my mind, where you never know if they are going to be there while you are out.
"At the end of the day, this has legit just ruined my life. I used to be an outgoing person. I'm just trying to get back to my old self."
Victoria went to the police about the malicious communication - defined as sending a letter or electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety - but no arrests were made.
She said: "Sometimes I feel like it's my fault. But it's easier for people to get targeted because they're putting themselves out there on the internet, which I thought was just fun, to make new friends.
"I never thought it would turn out like this."
Supt Mat Davison said West Yorkshire Police was investigating Victoria's case and new lines of inquiry would be acted on.
"Officers have been in regular contact with the victim and members of her family and provided them with updates on the progress of the investigation," he added.
The Times recently reported nine people are arrested each day for posting offensive material online, sparking criticism from human rights groups about "over-policing" of the internet.
However, Essex Police Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh said the rise in malicious communication was "the tip of the iceberg".
Twitter plans to impose new restrictions on pornographic and hateful imagery to tackle abuse
The chairman of the Digital Policing Board, which deals with digital crime nationally, said social network providers should do more to protect online users.
"I think as policing and society changes in to the digital age this is only going to increase," Mr Kavanagh said.
"Providers, government, law enforcers and users all need to get ready how we protect people more effectively, and how we bring criminals to justice."
Dr Michelle Newberry, senior lecturer in forensic psychology at Sheffield Hallam University, said there was a correlation between how much we use social media and the increase in trolling.
She said: "It is very unusual for people not to have their phone with them. We just have that instant access these days."
Twitter previously said it planned to impose new restrictions on pornographic and hateful imagery to tackle abuse.
A spokesperson for Live.me said: "Our goal at Live.me is to create a safe and friendly environment for all of our users which is why it's always heartbreaking to hear stories of users being harassed or bullied.
"We have strict protocols for our moderators to address any community violations, and our automatic software detection and human moderators are on call 24-hours a day, seven days a week, working to combat cyber-bullying, indecent behaviour, or threats of self-harm."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41693437
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Brexit: Theresa May says 'important progress' made at EU summit - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says the PM's update sounds like "Groundhog Day".
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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: We are in touching distance of a deal
Theresa May has said "important progress" on Brexit was made at last week's EU summit - but Jeremy Corbyn said it sounded like "Groundhog Day".
The PM said she had a "degree of confidence" of making enough progress by December to begin trade talks.
She also said there would be no "physical infrastructure" on the border in Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, the EU Commission president dismissed a German newspaper's account of his dinner with the PM.
"Nothing is true in all of this," Jean-Claude Juncker said, rejecting the article's claims Mrs May "begged for help" when they met and seemed tired and politically weak.
After five rounds of UK-EU talks, there has been no breakthrough in the first phase of negotiations between the UK and the EU.
At the summit, the other 27 EU leaders decided progress on the Brexit separation issues had not been "sufficient" to open talks on future trade relations with the UK yet - but they did agree to discuss future arrangements amongst themselves, paving the way for talks with the UK to possibly begin in December.
Businesses are calling for urgent agreement in setting up temporary transition arrangements after the UK's departure date in March 2019.
But some pro-EU MPs expressed concern that the UK could leave without one in place, after Mrs May suggested it was dependent on details of the final "partnership" being clear.
"The point of the implementation period is to put in place the practical changes necessary to move to the future partnership," she said as she updated MPs on last week's summit.
"In order to have that, you need to know what the future partnership is going to be."
Mrs May also said the question of citizens' rights after Brexit remained her "first priority", with a deal within "touching distance", and pledged that EU nationals living in the UK would not face "bureaucratic hurdles" after March 2019.
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Her "clear commitments" on another sticking point, the UK's financial settlement, had helped moved talks forward, she said.
In response, Mr Corbyn compared Mrs May's updates to 1993 comedy Groundhog Day, where the lead character played by Bill Murray lives the same day over and over again.
"Well, here we are again after another round of talks," he said, saying it was "no clearer" when future talks would begin or what the UK had agreed to so far.
Talks have reached an "impasse" with no progress abroad or at home, he said, adding that the citizens' rights issue "could have been dealt with 16 months ago".
Just before the PM got to her feet in the Commons, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker denied leaking an unsourced account of his dinner with the PM published in German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Juncker: Theresa May was in good shape, she was not tired
The account, largely written from the perspective of EU officials, suggested Mrs May appeared "anxious, despondent and disheartened" and had spoken of her limited room for manoeuvre back at home.
"Everyone can see: the prime minister is marked by the struggle with her own party," the article stated, according to a translated version quoted by a number of British newspapers.
"She has deep rings under her eyes. She looks like someone who doesn't sleep at night."
But asked by the BBC if he had spoken to the German press, Mr Juncker said: "No, never. I am really surprised - if not shocked - about what has been written in the German press.
"And of course repeated by the British press. Nothing is true in all of this.
"I had an excellent working dinner with Theresa May. She was in good shape, she was not tired, she was fighting, as is her duty, so everything for me was OK."
In the Commons, Tory MP Bernard Jenkin said anyone suggesting Mrs May was weak "seriously underestimates" the PM and the Conservative Party, urging her to "stick to her guns".
The apparent leak of what happened at the dinner follows a similar incident in April, when Mrs May accused some in the EU of "meddling" in the general election campaign after details of a dinner between her and Mr Juncker in Downing Street appeared in the German press.
Downing Street said it had no comment on the latest reports and pointed out that both sides were of the view that the recent get-together had been "constructive and friendly".
Martin Selmayr is a key figure in the European Commission
Earlier Nick Timothy, who was the PM's chief of staff until he quit after the general election, suggested the disclosure had all the hallmarks of coming from the European Commission.
In a reference to EU official Martin Selmayr, he tweeted: "After constructive Council meeting, Selmayr does this. Reminder that some in Brussels want no deal or a punitive one."
But Mr Selmayr said the claim was "false" and neither he nor Mr Juncker had any "interest in weakening" Mrs May.
He tweeted: "I deny that 1: we leaked this; 2: Juncker ever said this; 3: we are punitive on Brexit. It's an attempt 2 frame EU side & 2 undermine talks."
The European Commission said it was working for a fair Brexit deal and had "no time for gossip".
"Some people like to point at us to serve their own political priorities," a spokesman said.
"We would appreciate if these people would leave us alone."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41720244
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FBI agent reveals life infiltrating extremist groups in America - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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The American Muslim is an active FBI agent who befriends key figures plotting jihadist attacks.
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US & Canada
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An active FBI undercover agent has revealed details of his work infiltrating Islamic extremist groups.
Tamer El-Noury - one of the agent's many false identities - talked to the BBC about his covert attempts to gain the trust of those planning attacks.
He was instrumental in foiling the plot to derail the New York City to Toronto train route four years ago.
He has published a book about his work, saying he wants Americans to understand his work as a Muslim operative.
"The fact is that these jihadists - these radicals that are popping up - are lost souls," he told the BBC in an interview. "They latch on to hatred, and an evil that seems to give them purpose."
"I am a Muslim and I am an American, and I am appalled at what these animals are doing to my country while desecrating my religion," he said.
The son of Egyptian immigrants to the US, Mr El-Noury joined the police in New Jersey, where he worked to break up drug distribution networks.
Later, he was recruited by the FBI who realised they were desperately short of Arabic speakers.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "Tamer El-Noury" spoke to the BBC's Frank Gardner about his undercover life
One of his undercover operations involved a plan to kill as many people as possible by derailing the New York - Toronto rail route.
Tunisian migrant Chiheb Esseghaier, one of the key figures in the plot, was befriended by Mr El-Noury in a "chance encounter" arranged by the FBI.
He was eventually recruited by Esseghaier, becoming a part of the plot.
He posed as a wealthy American of Arabic origin who held a deep personal grudge - a persona, he said, he tried to keep close to the truth.
"None of my legends - none of my cover stories - have ever really drifted far from reality," he said.
"When you're travelling the world with an ideological extremist individual, and you're spending days - weeks - along with them, your true colours eventually come out when you get exhausted."
The long weeks spent with extremists, acting as confidant and close friend, "is the hardest part," he said.
El-Noury's book has been carefully vetted by the FBI
"My job is to put my arms around a bad guy. And of course, all these atrocities that we are planning are sickening to me."
"The only way that I can be good at my job and have it believable is I try to latch on to whatever part is human... how well he speaks to his mother, how well he financially takes care of his siblings."
During a trip to New York Esseghaier began planning a future attack on Times Square in New York City on New Years' Eve, to take place after the train derailment, El-Noury told the CBS Sixty Minutes programme.
During the same trip, the pair visited the site of the Twin Towers, where Esseghaier said the US "needed another 9/11". El-Noury told CBS he "saw red" and almost blew his cover over the remark.
But none of the schemes ever came to fruition - both Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, a Canadian resident of Palestinian descent, were arrested in 2013 and sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on the back of El-Noury's investigation.
Mr El-Noury's story offers an extraordinary insight into the dark and dangerous world of going undercover as an agent, says the BBC's Security Correspondent Frank Gardener.
The FBI initially insisted on listening in on the telephone interview to ensure its active agent was protected, he said.
The nature of the agent's work is deceptive - but he said that any accusation of being a traitor was something he considered a badge of honour.
"These traitors, these radicals are the ones desecrating my religion. I am proud to be a patriot, i am proud to be an American Muslim fighting the war on terror."
His account of life undercover - American Radical - is published on 23 October by Penguin Random House.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41718964
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Dentist fines: Mistakes over addresses hitting thousands - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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Spelling and postcode mistakes have triggered thousands of wrongly issued fines, a watchdog says.
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Family & Education
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The NHS is going to launch an awareness-raising campaign to reduce the level of incorrect fines
Many fines incorrectly imposed after dental treatment are because of mistakes over patients' addresses, says a health watchdog.
The latest figures show 385,000 fines were issued in the last financial year - and dentists say tens of thousands of £100 fines have been wrongly applied.
Healthwatch in Kirklees says problems with address records are a big factor.
The NHS accepts this accounts for some of the incorrect fines and says it is planning an information campaign.
The British Dental Association (BDA) last week called for urgent action to tackle a wave of £100 fines being wrongly applied to dental patients who had free treatment, with particular concerns about confusion among vulnerable people.
They had been fined following checks designed to stop people from fraudulently using free dental treatment when they should be paying.
The BDA's research claimed as many as nine in 10 fines that were challenged were subsequently overturned, suggesting that many penalties were being wrongly applied.
Figures from a wider range of NHS fines suggest that the rate for withdrawing penalties after they were found to be incorrect is closer to 50%.
Healthwatch, which represents people using health services, has been researching the reasons behind this problem and says many mistakes seem to be caused by how patients' addresses are recorded.
Director Rory Deighton says differences in spelling, variations in how addresses might be presented or mistakes in postcodes could be misinterpreted as being a different identity.
When addresses do not match information held in databases used for checks, penalty fines could be triggered, he says.
The NHS Business Services Authority, which oversees the fining system, says there is also a difficulty with patients not updating their addresses, leading to discrepancies between their current addresses and addresses held in databases.
The agency says it will improve the information available to patients and make forms easier to complete, after concerns there was confusion about which benefits made people eligible for free treatment.
A spokeswoman said the NHS wanted to make sure that patients and staff "understand the rules around eligibility for free treatment and the consequences of claiming incorrectly", but she admitted there is "still a lot of confusion".
Mr Deighton said: "There is something intuitively wrong about an NHS organisation sending out incorrect penalty charge notices.
"Thousands of people every month receive these notices, increasing stress in households all over England.
"All we are asking for is a simple system, where eligibility for free treatment is clear to everyone. The current system is unclear and unfair on patients."
Mr Deighton suggested that where there were uncertainties about addresses, checks should be made before any fine was issued.
In response to growing concerns about the fines, the Dental Defence Union (DDU) has warned dentists to alert patients to rules about payment exemptions.
"Patients are often aggrieved by being fined when they believed they were exempt," a DDU spokesman said.
"A large number of complaints of this sort come from the fact that patients feel they were either given poor advice or misinformation when they were filling out the exemption form."
An online checking tool is available and there is more online information about eligibility for free dental treatment.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41726385
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Donald Tusk: EU must stay united or face Brexit 'defeat' - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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Donald Tusk says the talks are the bloc's "toughest stress test" and the EU cannot become divided.
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UK Politics
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The EU will be "defeated" in Brexit negotiations unless it maintains absolute unity, European Council president Donald Tusk has said.
The ex-Polish prime minister told the European Parliament the UK's departure was the EU's "toughest stress test" and it must not be divided at any costs.
"If we fail it then the negotiations will end in our defeat," he told MEPs.
But one German MEP said the EU's stance was "illogical, dangerous and unfair" and UKIP accused the EU of "extortion".
The UK is due to leave the European Union at the end of March 2019 and until Mr Tusk's comments both sides have sought to avoid talking about victory, defeat and winners and losers in the negotiations.
In an update following last week's Brussels summit where the Brexit process was discussed, Mr Tusk said he was "obsessed" with preserving the unity of the other 27 members.
Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty allows the UK and the EU to negotiate an orderly withdrawal, a transition period and the shape of the future relationship within a two-year window.
Mr Barnier plans to complete the withdrawal agreement by the autumn of 2018 so it can be ratified by the European Council and the European Parliament.
So we could know the outlines of the future relationship by then.
But under EU law, a trade deal would have to be signed when the UK became a so-called "third country" and it is this that would likely have to be ratified by Parliaments in the member states.
"We must keep our unity regardless of the direction of the talks," Mr Tusk said. "The EU will be able to rise to every scenario as long as we are not divided."
"If we fail it then the negotiations will end in our defeat," he told MEPs.
He added: "It is in fact up to London how this will end: with a good deal, no deal or no Brexit. But in each of these scenarios we will protect our common interest only by being together."
Responding to suggestions that the UK might choose to stop its withdrawal, a Downing Street spokesman said: "Brexit is not going to be reversed."
So far, the Brexit negotiations have focused on the three "separation" issues of how much the UK has to pay to "settle its accounts" when it leaves, what happens to EU citizens in the UK and Britons elsewhere in the EU after Brexit, plus what happens with the Northern Ireland border.
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The EU says it will only move on to discuss the UK's future relations with the EU after "sufficient progress" has been made on these three issues.
At last week's summit EU leaders decided more work was needed on these items before trade talks could begin with the UK - although the remaining 27 EU members have agreed to talk about the future options among themselves. The UK wants the second phase to start as soon as possible.
On Monday, Theresa May told MPs she had a "degree of confidence" of making enough progress by December to begin trade talks.
Meanwhile, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier has suggested negotiations on a UK-EU trade deal could take three years if they begin in December.
He told the Belgian newspaper L'Echo that the process would not be "without risks" because national parliaments in all the 27 remaining states would "have to give their approval" to any deal.
A spokesman for Mr Barnier confirmed the remarks but stressed anything was possible and it was not a definitive statement that a deal would be done by December 2020.
Speaking in Tuesday's debate, Conservative MEP Syed Kamall, who heads the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, called for more pragmatism and less idealism from the EU in their approach to the talks.
"There needs to be an understanding from the EU 27 where the British people are coming from," he said.
And Hans-Olaf Henkel, a German MEP from the Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament, urged Mr Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to demonstrate more of the "British values of fairness" asking "whether you would agree a price on something you don't know or what you buy for".
For UKIP, MEP Ray Finch warned that the UK would "remain subservient to the EU legally and financially" if talks continued on their current trajectory.
Referring to demands for the UK to pay a so-called divorce settlement, he said: "This extortion will poison UK and EU relations for years to come," adding that the two sides should "shake hands and walk away" now.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41733429
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EastEnders: Tamzin Outhwaite to return as Melanie Owen - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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The actress is coming back to Albert Square after more than 15 years away from the soap.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Melanie Owen will be seen in Albert Square in the new year
Tamzin Outhwaite is returning to EastEnders after more than 15 years away from the show.
She's returning to Albert Square in her role as Melanie Owen, having made her first appearance in 1998.
An EastEnders spokeswoman confirmed she was coming back to the soap as a regular character.
Outhwaite, seen most recently in New Tricks, said: "EastEnders is in my DNA and I always knew deep down that someday I would revisit Mel."
Her first scenes will be broadcast in the new year.
EastEnders creative director John Yorke promised an "incredible storyline" that will "awaken a lot of old ghosts, some great memories, and a whole new series of adventures too".
One of Mel Owen's storylines focused on her relationship with Ian Beale, played by Adam Woodyatt
He added: "We're thrilled and flattered to have Tamzin back and we can't wait to reveal just where she's been, and just who Melanie Owen is now."
Outhwaite said it was an "honour" to be asked back by Yorke, saying he "created Mel's most memorable storylines".
She added that her character is "a strong independent woman with lots more stories to tell.
"To be stepping back into Mel's shoes nearly twenty years after I first started feels just perfect."
Viewers last saw Mel in April 2002 when she left Walford following the death of her husband Steve Owen - played by Martin Kemp. She faced a prison sentence but then fled the country after Phil Mitchell put up £30,000 bail money.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41740782
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Nuneaton MFA bowling alley siege: Man in court - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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David Clarke, of Nuneaton, is charged with false imprisonment and possession of a samurai sword.
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Coventry & Warwickshire
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A man accused of taking two people hostage during a four-hour siege at a bowling alley has appeared in court.
David Clarke, 53, was arrested on Sunday after the stand-off at MFA Bowl in Bermuda Park, Nuneaton.
He is charged a number of offences, including false imprisonment and being in possession of a samurai sword and a sawn-off shotgun.
Mr Clarke of Ryde Avenue, Nuneaton, was remanded into custody and will appear before Warwick Crown Court next month.
The 53-year-old has been charged with the following offences:
Appearing at Warwickshire Justice Centre, Mr Clarke spoke only to confirm his name, age and address.
About 40 or 50 people were said to be inside the leisure complex at the time of the incident.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-41730360
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Lonely Planet tells the world to visit cheap Britain - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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The travel publisher says the slide in sterling has made the UK one of the best-value destinations.
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Business
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The weak pound has made the UK one of the world's best-value travel destinations, according to publisher Lonely Planet.
Sterling has fallen sharply against the dollar and the euro since last year after ongoing Brexit uncertainty.
Lonely Planet, which is owned by US firm NC2 Media, is urging tourists to "reap the benefits" of a weak pound.
It also ranked Belfast and the Giant's Causeway coast as the world's number one region to visit in 2018.
Lonely Planet says the UK is seventh on its list of best value destinations, with Estonian capital Tallinn at the top, followed by Lanzarote in the Canary Islands and the US state of Arizona.
Prices in the UK have become relatively cheaper for overseas visitors due to the pound's 11% fall against the dollar and 14% slide compared with the euro since June last year.
James Smart, Lonely Planet's Britain and Ireland destination editor, said the decline "has been a great boost for people looking to visit the UK, and we expect this to continue next year".
International visitors can "make the exchange rate work even harder by aiming for Devon, Cornwall, and big-ticket cities such as Bath, York and Edinburgh", he added.
In July the number of overseas visitors to the UK topped four million for the first time, the Office for National Statistics said.
The ONS does not have data about people's motivation to visit the UK, but speculates that the boost in visitor numbers could be linked to the exchange rate.
Tourism promotion agency VisitBritain has previously said that an increase in airline capacity, particularly for visitors from China and the US, has also boosted tourism numbers.
The agency's chief executive, Sally Balcombe, said: "The UK is offering great value for visitors right now ... on every budget."
In the first seven months of the year, the number of overseas visits to the UK rose 8% to 23.1 million compared with the same period last year, VisitBritain said.
It forecasts that the total will hit 39.7 million by the end of 2017, with visitors spending about £25.7bn.
Figures from ForwardKeys, which tracks flight booking data, indicates that international arrivals to the UK for October to December are 7% higher than last year.
Olivier Jager, its chief executive, said long-haul bookings to the UK for the first three months of 2018 are 15% ahead of their level this time last year.
Bookings from Australia are 29% higher, 16% up from Brazil and 13% higher from the US.
Meanwhile, Belfast and the coast around the Giant's Causeway was ranked by Lonely Planet the world's top region to visit in 2018.
"Dynamic Belfast has put its troubled past behind it and is a city transformed, its streets packed with buzzing bars and great stories, while the coastline beyond boasts spectacular scenery and plenty of great diversions," Mr Smart said.
"The region may be famous for Game of Thrones but its many scenic filming locations are just the start."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41736420
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Why Zimbabwe has a 'Minister of WhatsApp' - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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The creation of a cyber security ministry has both amused and alarmed Zimbabweans.
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Africa
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Zimbabweans jokingly refer to the newly appointed cyber security tsar as the "Minister of WhatsApp"
A spoof government notice hit social media as soon as President Robert Mugabe announced he had set up a new ministry responsible for Cyber Security, Threat Detection and Mitigation.
Zimbabweans reacted with customary humour to the letter, which faked the signature and letterhead of the newly appointed cyber minister - Patrick Chinamasa - and instructed all WhatsApp group members to register with the ministry by November.
The letter was signed "By The Cyber Powers Vested In Me".
But the jokes have since subsided, and Zimbabweans are now considering what the new ministry will mean for their civil liberties - especially freedom of speech.
Zimbabwe's government has been uneasy about social media after pastor Evan Mawararire spearheaded the #ThisFlag movement last year.
Using platforms like Twitter and Facebook it organised a stay-at-home demonstration, the biggest anti-government protest in a decade.
President Robert Mugabe's spokesperson, George Charamba, says Mr Mugabe came up with the idea of a new ministry to deal with an "emerging threat to the state... a threat founded on abuse and unlawful conduct".
Social media is possibly the primary platform Zimbabweans use to communicate and receive news. It is thriving despite restrictive laws governing freedom of expression.
Over the last 16 years, internet usage in the country has grown from 0.3% penetration to 46%, data from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) shows.
Several TV stations and online publications, some operating from the diaspora, use the internet to disseminate news out of the reach of the government.
When petrol stations ran out of fuel last month, there were dramatic scenes of long queues at supermarket as Zimbabweans stocked up, anticipating food shortages.
Worried by these events, the government blamed social media messages for spreading panic.
"Social media was abused to create a sense of panic, thereby creating some sort of destabilising in the economy," says Mr Charamba.
The new cyber security minister, Mr Chinamasa, agrees. He commented at the time, before his appointment, that "the cause basically was social media".
"It means it's a security issue," he adds. "It is also a political agenda, a regime change agenda. We are going to look at what exactly happened with a view to take corrective measures in the security arena."
But others say the government's stance is a threat to civil liberties.
One communications rights group, the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute for Southern Africa (Misa), says this new scrutiny of social media goes against the spirit of the constitution and freedom of expression.
"These unfortunate threats have resulted in self-censorship by [individuals] when engaging on topical issues affecting the country," it said in a statement.
It also criticises censorship of Zimbabwe's media, "who have on occasion been chastised for incorporating citizen opinion as expressed online in their reportage".
Going a step further, Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the government's new cyber threat ministry is a means for government to spy on its people.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai also believes that the ministry has been created to curb free speech in time for the 2018 polls.
"Mugabe... will do whatever it takes to control and muzzle social media in order to suppress public discontent against his regime," he said.
"However the good news is that the regime has no capacity to suppress the use of social media."
Many Zimbabweans have reacted wryly to the news of the creation of a cyber minister, referring to Mr Chinamasa as the "Minister of WhatsApp".
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Some say the ridicule shows a lack of understanding about the global threat of cyber crime.
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Others see a link between the government's scrutiny of online communication and the forthcoming elections.
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Zimbabwe already has several pieces of legislation which rights groups say curb freedom of expression.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights says that since 2010, it has assisted more than 100 people arrested under a law which makes it a jailable offence to "insult the president" and "undermine his authority".
Ordinary people have been arrested and charged for calling the 93-year-old leader "old", "a donkey" and even for accusing him of ruining the country.
The Zimbabwean government has said new legislation will not stifle freedom of expression and will protect the public from new threats such as revenge pornography and cyber attacks.
Presidential spokesperson Mr Charamba says Zimbabwe will look closely at how other nations have dealt with the threat of cybercrime - including Russia, China, and South Korea "who have faced similar challenges".
While several countries around the world have anti-cyber crime departments and agencies, Zimbabwe is among the first to create an entire ministry.
Meanwhile on social media, ominous warnings have begun circulating.
One is from a "Mr Chaipa", urging Zimbabweans only to share content on social media that they would be able to defend in court.
Mr Chaipa said it was easy for the government to monitor online messages, and gave a list of online activities that could be classified as criminal offences.
"In the coming months a lot of people will be arrested and used as examples to deter people from 'abusing' social media towards the elections," he warns. "Don't be made an example."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41693676
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The man keeping the world's lighthouses shining - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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How an Australian is preserving the legacy of Black Country glassworks.
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Birmingham & Black Country
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Tim Nguyen's team restores lighthouses all over the world
For more than 150 years, glassmakers in one of England's landlocked regions gave light to the seafarers all over the world. It has fallen to one man on the other side of the planet to preserve their legacy.
Shining a fresh light on the forgotten past of the Midlands-based Chance Brothers is Tim Nguyen, who has dedicated himself to restoring their work in 2,000 lighthouses across the globe.
The Australian's quest to restore their optics using original parts and methods is unmatched by anyone.
He has spent 20 years honing his craft and hopes he will soon find a skilled glassblower to complete the team in Melbourne and recreate the traditional techniques used by the original Black Country firm.
Chance Brothers Glassworks in Smethwick manufactured glass used in everything from glazing the Houses of Parliament and Crystal Palace to the production of novelty ashtrays.
"If it was made in glass then Chance Brothers made it," said Ray Drury, the firm's final chief engineer, on its 150th anniversary.
When the company was founded in 1824, the world was changing rapidly. The booming shipping industry meant wrecks became a regular occurrence as more ships had to navigate treacherous coastlines, according to historian Malcolm Dick.
In response to this, Chance Brothers created optic lenses for lighthouses that were sent around the world, illuminating coasts and saving thousands of lives.
But since shutting its doors in 1981, the number of their lighthouses has dwindled and with it, the traditional skills needed to produce their hallmark glass.
Workers at the glass firm made prisms for the lighthouses
The Chance Brothers factory in Smethwick closed its doors in 1981
Mr Nguyen has no attachment to the original company, which employed 3,500 people at its height.
But his team, which adopted the name Chance Brothers Lighthouse Engineers, has dedicated itself to restoring and repairing lighthouses using traditional methods and original parts and has done so at more than 100 sites.
Travelling the world, they gather broken parts and repair them and now have enough to be able to fix any lighthouse without replacing anything with modern technology.
Tim Nguyen says his team are the only people taking on the preservation work of lighthouses
Although he repairs lighthouses around the world, including this one in the US, Mr Nguyen said the work made him feel closer to the West Midlands
Mr Nguyen said: "We travel the world to assist in restoration and salvage parts.
"Basically, we're like a car-wrecker. That's how we work until one day when we team up with a glassblower who can make crown glass - then we can make anything."
Crown glass is the original type of glass used in Chance Brothers' optics.
But new production methods mean that the colour and composition of modern glass would not match the original glass if it was added now.
Lighthouses made in the Midlands saved thousands from shipwrecks as the shipping industry boomed
Mr Nguyen has so far not been able to find anyone with the glassblowing skills in Australia to replicate the Chance Brothers' methods.
"We've looked everywhere and can't find anyone that can cast crown glass," he said.
"I believe some people in England can probably do it. If we have a chance of finding someone who can do it, it'll be there."
This lighthouse in south Wales also has an original foghorn made in Smethwick
Mr Nguyen said with a crown glassblower on the team, they would be able to recreate the Chance Brothers' original workshop and even return it to Smethwick.
"One day, when we have this operational workshop we would like to move it back to the Black Country," he said.
"We're trying to do this project on our own, which isn't easy - but I believe it will be done in my lifetime.
"The community over there, their jaws would drop if we brought it back."
There are about 2,300 lighthouses around the world with lenses that were made in the Black Country
Regional heritage projects and plans to redevelop the factory site go some way to ensuring the past is not forgotten, but Mr Nguyen wants to go further.
"Archives preserve the documents, the restoration will preserve the buildings, but nobody is trying to preserve the techniques," he said.
"We are here to preserve and carry on the engineering side, because if we don't it'll be lost. After doing this work for 20 years, that knowledge is too valuable to be lost.
"Basically, we're the only ones doing this work."
But is Mr Nguyen vainly fighting the tide of modernisation?
Nash Point lighthouse switched to a more modern bulb in 1998
Like many others, Nash Point lighthouse, near Marcross in south Wales, made the change to a new automated lens several years ago.
Attendant Chris Williams said the new 150 watt lens has a "much smaller bulb" but is "more reliable and stays brighter for longer".
The original Chance Glass optic, which typically contained a 1,500 watt bulb, was left on display but out of use.
The original optics at Nash Point are no longer in use, but remain on display
"Generally speaking, traditional optics are being phased out because new technology is so much more efficient," according to David Taylor from the Association of Lighthouse Keepers.
"Restoring a glass optic is hugely expensive. Within 15-20 years there probably won't be any left."
Regardless, Mr Nguyen persists, so keen is he to preserve this slice of history. But he's not the only one with an interest in keeping the tradition alive.
The small team based in Melbourne travel the world preserving lighthouse optics
Mark Davies founded Chance Glass Works Heritage Trust after stumbling across a Chance Brothers lighthouse, purely by happenstance, in Australia.
The group plans to regenerate the original factory site in Smethwick and build a 30m tall lighthouse to teach people about the area's industrial legacy, which Mr Davies says is "our best-kept secret".
"The story started at the top of a lighthouse in Australia. I saw the manufacturer's plate and it said 'Made in Smethwick' and it stunned me.
"I was born four miles away and I didn't know about it myself. Outside Sandwell, there aren't many people that know about Chance Brothers."
The Black Country's history of light, it seems, needs a spotlight itself.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-40887830
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Labour investigates MP Jared O'Mara - BBC News
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2017-10-24
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Mr O'Mara says a constituent's allegations of offensive language in March 2017 are "untrue".
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UK Politics
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Labour says it is investigating allegations about the "comments and behaviour" of its MP Jared O'Mara.
Mr O'Mara has already apologised for homophobic and misogynistic remarks he made online in 2002 and 2004 and quit the Commons equalities committee.
But he denies subsequent allegations of offensive language to a constituent in March this year.
Labour said it was investigating the more recent claims, which were made on BBC Two's Daily Politics.
"The party is investigating Jared O'Mara MP in relation to comments and behaviour which have been reported from earlier this year," it said.
Sophie Evans told the BBC's Daily Politics she had met Mr O'Mara on a dating app and there had been "no hard feelings" when things didn't work out between them.
But in an incident in March 2017 Mr O'Mara, who was DJing in a nightclub, made comments to her that "aren't broadcastable" and called her an "ugly bitch", she said.
Mr O'Mara, the MP for Sheffield Hallam, said this was "categorically untrue".
Rival parties have attempted to put pressure on the Labour leadership over Mr O'Mara, who unseated ex-Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg in June's general election.
In a letter to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Justine Greening, the Education Secretary and Equalities Minister, asked how Mr O'Mara had been selected as a candidate.
"Violent, sexist and homophobic language must have no place in our society, and parliamentarians of all parties have a duty to stamp out this sort of behaviour wherever we encounter it, and condemn it in the strongest possible terms," she wrote.
"It is time you step forward, as leader of the Labour Party, and send a message that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated."
Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable called for Mr O'Mara to have the whip removed and urged Labour to review its general election selection process.
Mr O'Mara's apology came after online posts from 2004 were published by the Guido Fawkes website. In them, he claimed singer Michelle McManus only won Pop Idol "because she was fat" and said it would be funny if jazz star Jamie Cullum was "sodomised with his own piano".
More comments, involving homophobic language, then emerged dating back to 2002.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sophie Evans on Jared O'Mara comments: "I just thought wow, he is not a very nice man"
Mr O'Mara apologised to Labour MPs for these remarks at a meeting at Westminster on Monday evening.
His speech, which was described by sources as "emotional" and "heartfelt," was met with applause by Labour MPs.
He then told online magazine Huck he had been "through a journey of education".
He added: "I've stood down from the Women and Equalities select committee too - I think it's the right thing to do. I don't think I can continue on that committee when I feel so deeply ashamed of the man I was 15 years ago."
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: "He has apologised for what we knew yesterday. He issued a profuse apology.
"Any language like that we know is unacceptable and I'm hoping he will apologise for that."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41738594
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