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Three Chinese students injured in car attack in Toulouse - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | There is no suggestion of terrorism and the driver had previous drugs offences, police say. | Europe | The three victims have been taken to hospital
A driver has ploughed into a group of pedestrians near the French city of Toulouse, injuring three Chinese exchange students.
A 23-year-old woman was seriously injured, and two men aged 22 and 23 were also hurt, police said.
The incident occurred outside a college in the suburb of Blagnac.
The 28-year-old driver "purposefully hit" the group on a crosswalk, Toulouse prosecutor Pierre-Yves Couilleau said.
The victims are students at the ICD-Toulouse International Business School. The woman's life is not in danger, police said.
The driver was arrested immediately afterwards. Police said he had several previous minor convictions, some drugs-related.
Unconfirmed reports say he had a history of mental illness including acute schizophrenia. La Dépêche du Midi newspaper quoted him as telling police he had heard voices telling him to harm someone.
Mr Couilleau visited the scene of the accident and said there was no suggestion the incident was an act of terrorism.
"What matters in this case is the psychiatric profile of the person," he said.
The man "had been planning this act for a month", Mr Couilleau added.
Toulouse Mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc tweeted (in French): "Very shocked by the aggression towards the students in Blagnac. We offer all our support to them and their loved ones." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41948298 |
In pictures: Armistice Day around the world - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Countries around the world have been marking 99 years since World War One. | Europe | In France, one town was not only remembering the end of World War One, but the loss of one of its citizens, Chloe Boissinot, killed in the jihadist attacks on Paris two years ago. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in France in 1919, imposing harsh terms on Germany. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41954408 |
Lebanon in crosshairs as Saudi-Iran tensions soar - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | As Saudi-Iranian tensions soar, Lebanon finds itself at the centre of a dangerous power struggle. | Middle East | There is heightened anxiety in Lebanon after the prime minister's resignation
The Middle East is entering what many analysts see as a dangerous new phase. With the Islamic State group on the brink of defeat, the long-simmering rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran threatens to boil over, with Lebanon in the crosshairs.
It was a resignation like no other and it is still sending shockwaves through the region.
He made his announcement not from Lebanon but in Saudi Arabia, the country that acts as his political backer. Many Lebanese believe he was pushed into the decision by Riyadh.
It is still not clear when, or if, Mr Hariri will return home.
The spectacle of the missing prime minister is being seen as part of the wider regional struggle between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shia-dominated Iran.
For now, Lebanon is uncomfortably centre stage - it is after all where proxy wars have been fought in the past.
Iran backs the Shia movement Hezbollah here. Its supporters believe Mr Hariri's resignation was orchestrated by the Saudis in order to weaken their influence in the country.
Hezbollah has been accused of operating a "state within a state". Its armed wing is more powerful than the Lebanese army and it leads a bloc which dominates the cabinet.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies further ratcheted up the pressure by urging their citizens to leave Lebanon, sending a clear signal of a toughening up of its policy towards the country.
"The Americans, the Saudis, the Israelis are all trying to prevent Hezbollah from maximising its gains from the wars in Syria and Iraq," says Hassan Ileik, an editor at the pro-Hezbollah newspaper, Al Akhbar.
"What is happening in Yemen is also related to the Lebanon situation. Hezbollah and its allies have achieved enormous success. But they're now facing huge pressure because of this."
Saudi Arabia has accused Hezbollah of firing an Iranian-made missile at it from Yemen, where Riyadh says Iran is also equipping Shia rebels it is leading a long war against. Iran denies the claim.
Basem Shabb is a Lebanese parliamentarian from Mr Hariri's political bloc. He says that the influence of Iran and its allies need to be checked.
"As the situation in Syria comes to an end the regime has the upper hand," he says. "Iran and Hezbollah are seeking dividends in Lebanon for the role they played in Syria."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Saudi Arabia accuses Hezbollah of firing a missile at Riyadh from Yemen
"Because this has a regional dimension the solution is not going to come from within Lebanon. The more powerful actors who are interested in stability will need to intervene with the local players to help us maintain stability."
Meddling in Lebanon's affairs by great powers is nothing new. But the fear is a misstep now could trigger something far graver.
"In the last few decades, we've never been so close to the precipice," warns Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center think-tank.
"The threat of a regional war has never been this real where a conflict would involve a variety of different countries."
And that is why what happens in Lebanon matters to us all.
The so-called Islamic State group is all but defeated. What is happening now though - the growing rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran - could be even more dangerous for the region and beyond. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41942867 |
Naomi Campbell: Abuse in fashion 'a big problem' - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | null | British supermodel Naomi Campbell says she's saddened by stories of abuse within the fashion industry. | null | British supermodel Naomi Campbell has said she's saddened by stories of abuse within the fashion industry.
She told the BBC's Arts Editor Will Gompertz that it was "just the beginning" as "the lid's now been opened". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41950387 |
Ed Westwick: BBC shelves drama after rape allegations against actor - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A major drama is removed from the Christmas schedule after actor Ed Westwick was accused of rape. | Entertainment & Arts | A BBC drama has been taken out of the Christmas schedule after Ed Westwick, one of its stars, was accused of rape.
Agatha Christie's Ordeal by Innocence, which was due to be on BBC One, will not be broadcast "until these matters are resolved", the BBC said.
And the former Gossip Girl star has "paused" filming on the second series of BBC Two comedy White Gold.
Westwick has vehemently denied the allegations, which have been made by two women.
One of the accusers has made a complaint of sexual assault to the Los Angeles Police Department.
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A BBC spokesperson said: "These are serious allegations which Ed Westwick has strenuously denied.
"The BBC is not making any judgement but until these matters are resolved we will not include Ordeal by Innocence in the schedules.
"The independent production company making White Gold has informed us that Ed Westwick has paused from filming while he deals with these allegations."
The three-part Ordeal By Innocence, adapted from the Agatha Christie novel of the same name, also stars Bill Nighy, Eleanor Tomlinson and Anna Chancellor. It was expected to be one of the BBC's key festive dramas.
BBC One tweeted a photo from the drama on Tuesday, before it was pulled from the schedule.
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Meanwhile, filming had begun on the second series of White Gold, in which Westwick stars as an Essex double glazing salesman.
The actor wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: "It is disheartening and sad to me that as a result of two unverified and provably untrue social media claims, there are some in this environment who could ever conclude that I have had anything to do with such vile and horrific conduct.
"I have absolutely not, and I am co-operating with the authorities so that they can clear my name as soon as possible."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41941904 |
Riyadh's night of long knives and long-range missiles - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Three events in Saudi Arabia's capital that were not directly linked signal another seismic shift. | Middle East | Saad Hariri said he feared an assassination plot, accusing Iran and Hezbollah of breeding strife
A night of long knives and long-range missiles in Riyadh has provoked another seismic shift across a volatile Middle East and nervous uncertainty over what salvos will follow next.
Three events that happened suddenly on Saturday in the Saudi capital were not directly linked. But, all told, they pack a powerful punch at a time when Saudi Arabia and its key partners, including the United States, are showing ever greater resolve to confront their arch rival, Iran.
The first, and potentially most explosive, salvo for the region was Saad al-Hariri's shock announcement from Riyadh that he was stepping down as Lebanon's prime minister. Informed observers say he was summoned from Beirut, then "sacked" by his Saudi allies.
"It wasn't his own language," was how an Arab government minister described Mr Hariri's televised address to me.
Looking visibly distressed, Hariri spoke of fears for his life in his own country. He pointed an accusing finger at Iran for spreading "disorder and destruction". And he charged that its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, a major Shia militia and powerful political force, with building a "state within a state".
"Saudi Arabia launched a 'fire-and forget-missile,'" said Yezid Sayigh, a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. Its main target was not Lebanon but what Riyadh and its allies view as Tehran's deeply destabilising actions across the region.
The political projectile jolted Lebanon first. A finely balanced government of national unity, which includes Hezbollah and Hariri's Sunni faction, collapsed.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of forcing Mr Hariri to step down
Hours after Mr Hariri's declaration, a real long-range missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels was intercepted near Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport. It heightened pronounced Saudi fears of what it sees as Iran's reach to its border, and now beyond.
"That missile is just the beginning," insisted Ali Shihabi, executive director of the Arabia Foundation, who shared his views with me in the margins of a forum in the United Arab Emirates last weekend. "If this situation is left as it is for another five years, there'll be 40,000 missiles to hit Riyadh."
As a political buzz sizzled across the region and far beyond on Saturday night, a third astonishing bombshell dropped just as midnight approached: dozens of princes, billionaires, and former ministers were rounded up, and some sacked, in a spectacular anti-corruption purge.
It was the boldest signal yet of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's drive to consolidate his control over a new course for the kingdom at home and abroad.
"It was a message that no one is above the law, or more precisely above his law," said one senior Arab official in the region as he explained the lightening sweep by the 32-year-old future king.
A meeting between Mr Hariri and Ali Akbar Velayati (C) reportedly angered Saudi Arabia
Saudi sources said Riyadh had grown increasingly impatient with Saad Hariri over the past year as he struggled to contain Hezbollah's sway over Lebanon's fragile unity government.
Last year's hard-fought deal on the creation of a 30-member cabinet had broken years of political deadlock. It was meant to help ease tensions magnified by the war in neighbouring Syria where Iran and Saudi Arabia, and their allies, back opposing sides.
"By his actions, Hariri created a veneer of respectability for a state which in reality is captured by Hezbollah," said Ali Shihabi.
The final straw appears to have been Mr Hariri's meeting in Beirut on Friday with Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Lebanese and Iranian media highlighted Mr Velayati's praise for the "great success" of the Lebanon's coalition government. Shortly afterwards, according to accounts by Hariri's close aides, he was a harried man in a hurry.
"He told us to cancel his appointments on Friday and Saturday and then he left," one of them said.
There's been intense speculation since then as to whether Hariri, who holds Lebanese and Saudi citizenship, has also been caught up in the anti-corruption purge.
Mr Hariri met Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Monday, a day after announcing his resignation
The big question now is: "What next?"
"Saudi Arabia has started something in Lebanon but it doesn't control all the levers of power there," said Yezid Sayigh.
One Western diplomat with long experience in the region highlighted possible next moves: withdrawal of major Saudi bank deposits; trade embargo; action by the Lebanese military, which the US and UK has long helped train and build in an effort to provide a national counterweight to Hezbollah's military might.
Just last month, the US House of Representatives endorsed the imposition of new sanctions against Hezbollah as part of the Trump administration's drive to exert greater pressure on Iran.
The measures, which have yet to become law, include a resolution urging the European Union to designate Hezbollah's political wing, and not just its military wing, as a terrorist organisation.
Eyes too are on Israel, which shares Riyadh and Washington's fixation with Tehran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on an official visit to London last week, immediately called it a "wake-up call for the international community to take action against Iran's aggression that is trying to turn Syria into Lebanon 2."
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, seeking to calm nerves in a shaky Lebanon, urged "patience and calm" after what he described as a Saudi decision "imposed" on Hariri.
From Iran also came accusations of plots to create tensions in the region.
As always in a volatile neighbourhood beset by all too many crises, the greatest worry is not just the risk of war, but an accidental tumbling toward a confrontation.
"Hezbollah knows its red lines, and every Israeli general will caution against military action," said Jean-Marie Guenhenno of the International Crisis Group. But, he added: "You can't be sure what politicians will do."
Lebanon's president said he was waiting to hear from Mr Hariri on his return to Beirut
For now, every move is being watched carefully after this sudden crescendo.
"The crown prince should have postponed the arrests inside Saudi Arabia once the Lebanon crisis blew up," commented an Arab government minister. "There are too many balls in the air now."
"Better to do it all in one night and then it's done with," said a Saudi observer. "There's just been a constant drip, drip, drip."
And, like the events of that decisive day last week, they all add up to something much bigger. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41893694 |
Trump and Putin 'agree to defeat IS in Syria' - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The two leaders agreed a statement after a brief meeting at the Asia-Pacific summit. | Middle East | Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump had kept the world guessing about whether they would formally meet in Vietnam
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to fight so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria until its defeat.
A statement was prepared by experts after the leaders met briefly on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam on Saturday.
In total, they had three encounters within 24 hours at the summit.
During one conversation, Mr Trump said Mr Putin had denied allegations of meddling in the US 2016 election.
Questions over Mr Trump's ties to Moscow have dogged his presidency, with key former aides under investigation for alleged collusion with Russia.
The two stood side by side in matching shirts for a group photo on Friday
A formal bilateral meeting between the two presidents had been widely expected at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in the port city of Da Nang, but Mr Putin later said scheduling issues had got in the way.
The pair met for the first time in July at the G20 summit in the German city of Hamburg.
A statement released by the Kremlin on Saturday said the leaders had "agreed that the conflict in Syria has no military solution".
They also confirmed their "determination to defeat Isis [another term for IS]" and called on all parties to take part in the Geneva peace process.
According to Russia's Interfax news agency, they promised to maintain existing Russian-US military channels of communication to prevent "serious incidents involving the forces of partners combating IS".
Russia has been the Syrian government's main ally in the six-year-long civil war. The US meanwhile has been backing Syrian Arab and Kurdish rebels on the ground, and since 2014 it has led a coalition carrying out air strikes against IS in Syria.
The jihadist group has been pushed out of its main strongholds in Syria in recent months by a combination of offensives involving the Syrian army and the Kurdish and Arab coalition.
Last month the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared they were in full control of Raqqa, a city that became the headquarters of IS's self-styled "caliphate" in 2014.
Mr Trump and President Putin posed side by side for a photo in custom-made blue shirts for the summit on Friday. They also shook hands as leaders sat down for talks on Saturday morning and later exchanged a few words before a "family photo" of attendees.
The two men were seen chatting as they joined a larger group shot of attendees at the summit
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also met his US counterpart Rex Tillerson earlier the same day, a source from the Russian delegation told Interfax news agency. The Kremlin said the two had co-ordinated the statement on Syria especially for the meeting in Da Nang.
Questions over whether the two leaders would formally meet or not were raised after conflicting statements from the White House and the Kremlin on Friday. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41953110 |
Iran and Saudi Arabia: Friends and foes in the region - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Who the key players are and where they stand in the growing tension between the regional rivals | Middle East | Iran and Saudi Arabia have long been regional rivals, but tensions between the two have recently soared.
Each has its own powerful allies, and enemies, in the region. Here is where the key players stand:
The Sunni-dominated kingdom is home to the birthplace of Islam and contains the most important sites in the Islamic world. It is one of the world's top oil exporters and among its wealthiest countries.
Saudi Arabia fears Iran wants to dominate the Middle East and is opposed to the Shia-led power's growing involvement and influence in the region.
Its belligerence towards Iran appears to have been emboldened by US President Donald Trump's equally tough position.
The young and increasingly powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is waging a long war against Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen. The Saudis say the rebels are materially supported by Iran, a claim Tehran denies.
Saudi Arabia leads a coalition that has attacked the Houthis in Yemen and blockaded the country
Saudi Arabia also backs rebels in Syria and wants to remove its president, Bashar al-Assad, who is a key ally of Iran.
Saudi Arabia has one of the best-equipped militaries in the region and is among the biggest arms importers in the world. It has an estimated 227,000 troops.
Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979, when the monarchy was overthrown and clerics assumed political control under supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini.
The vast majority of Iran's 80m-strong population are Shia Muslims, and the country is the leading Shia power in the region. Current leader Ali Khamenei has the final say on major foreign and domestic policy issues.
Iran's influence has grown considerably in the past decade, especially after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Iran has supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his fight against opposition groups and the so-called Islamic State (IS). Its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been instrumental in advances against Sunni jihadists in Syria as well as in Iraq.
Iran also believes Saudi Arabia is trying to destabilise Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Shia movement Hezbollah is part of the government.
Iran considers the US its main adversary.
The IRGC is a major military, political and economic force in Iran
Iran is reported to have some of the most advanced missile systems in the region.
It has over 534,000 personnel in active service, which includes the regular army and the IRGC.
US-Iran relations have been strained to say the least. Key events affecting them have included the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of Iran's prime minister in 1953, the Islamic revolution in Iran, and the taking of hostages at the US embassy in Tehran in the 1980s.
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has always been a US ally, though relations were strained under Barack Obama's administration, particularly given its engagement policy with Iran.
President Trump vowed to take a harder line on Iran - and he has, disavowing the landmark nuclear deal Iran signed under the Obama administration.
In contrast, the White House and Saudi royals have rolled out the red carpet for each other.
The US has long been a key backer of Saudi Arabia
Neither Mr Trump nor his administration have criticised radical Islam in the Kingdom in the same way they link Iran to terrorism. Nor are Saudis on the list of foreign nationals on his controversial travel ban.
Donald Trump's first trip abroad as president was to the Middle East, where he met Saudi and Israeli leaders, who have a common desire to stem Iran's regional influence.
Saudi Arabia is the primary destination for US arms sales.
Russia is an ally of both Saudi Arabia and Iran, having close economic ties with each. It has also sold advanced weaponry to both countries.
Russia appears not to have taken a particular side in the crisis between Tehran and Riyadh, indicating instead that it is ready to act as a mediator.
Moscow's involvement in the Middle East goes back to the Cold War times, when the Soviet Union provided arms and training for Syria's military officers.
Its influence in Syria and in the region in general subsided after the fall of the Soviet Union but Moscow has striven to increase it of late.
Russia's air offensive in the Syrian war helped turn the tide in Bashar al-Assad's favour, and the Iran-backed fighters supporting him.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Syrian and Russian forces have liberated over 90 per cent of the country's territory
Turkey has trod a fine line between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the fast-moving military and political developments in the Middle East.
Ankara has become more involved in regional matters since the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party came to power in 2002.
Turkey, a Sunni power, has established strong ties with Saudi Arabia over their sectarian kinship and mutual opposition toward the Syrian government.
Despite a deep mistrust of Iran, Turkey also recently forged an alliance with it against the growing Kurdish influence in the region, which both countries perceive as a threat.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also backed Qatar in its row with Saudi Arabia
The state of Israel was declared in 1948 with a majority Jewish population but, in the Arab world, only has diplomatic relations with Egypt and Jordan.
Iran and Israel are arch-foes. Iran rejects Israel's right to exist and calls for it to be eradicated.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strongly urged the international community to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and has also called for the annulment of Iran's landmark nuclear deal to curb what he calls its "aggressive" policy in the region.
He has said there is a level of co-operation with some Arab countries in the region to counter Iran's growing influence. Saudi Arabia has denied reports in Israeli media that a high-level Saudi prince secretly visited Israel for talks in September.
Egypt has often played a central role in Middle East politics and has historically had better relations with Saudi Arabia than Iran, particularly after the Islamic revolution.
Saudi Arabia also supported the Egyptian army's removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
However, there have been occasions of rapprochement between Egypt and Iran, such as when Iran sponsored an Egyptian-Iraqi oil deal after Saudi Aramco halted its oil exports to Egypt in October 2016.
Amid recent heightened tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi called for "avoiding escalation of tension in the region, but not at the expense of the Gulf's security and stability".
"Gulf national security is Egyptian national security. I have faith in the wise and firm leadership of Saudi Arabia," Mr Sisi has said.
The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad strongly sides with Iran in its standoff with Saudi Arabia.
Iran has traditionally backed the Syrian leadership and has been providing military and personnel support to the Syrian army in its fight against rebels and jihadist groups.
Iran sees Mr Assad, a member of the heterodox Shia Alawite sect, as its closest Arab ally. Syria is also the main transit point for Iranian weapons shipments to the Shia group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to back the Syrian government. Correspondents say that due to its training and equipment, the group is now viewed as a fully-fledged army rather than a semi-amateur militia.
The Syrian government often accuses Saudi Arabia of adopting subversive policies in the Middle East.
Syrian forces have slowly but surely been recapturing territory from IS
Lebanon's stance on the Saudi-Iran standoff is mixed.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who announced his resignation from Saudi Arabia a few days ago, has very good relations with the Saudi government and sides with it against Iran.
The Lebanese prime minister resigned recently, while on a visit to Saudi Arabia
On the other hand, Lebanese Hezbollah is an ally of Iran, which provides it with considerable support. Its leader Hassan Nasrallah has often attacked the Saudi government.
The Gulf States of Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait have had friendlier ties with Saudi Arabia than Iran in the past.
But Qatari-Saudi ties have suffered since Qatar defied a demand from Saudi Arabia for it to curb ties with Iran earlier this year.
Saudi Arabia says it wants Qatar to do more to combat extremism and terrorism
After Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain imposed a blockade on Qatar in July, Iran sent five planeloads of food to Qatar to help it over food shortages.
In August, Qatar and Iran restored full diplomatic relations which had previously been dropped over attacks on two Saudi diplomatic facilities in Iran.
Bahrain and Kuwait lean toward Saudi Arabia though.
Bahrain's Sunni king and his family hold the main political and military posts there but about 70% of the country is Shia.
Bahrain has accused Iran of training "terrorist cells" to operate inside the country to overthrow its government. It also accuses the Shia opposition of maintaining links with Iran.
The government said in October that "it is one of the countries most affected by the expansionist policy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards".
Although Kuwait is not imposing a blockade on Qatar, its government has shifted from an earlier stance of siding with Iran, to siding with Saudi Arabia.
In February, it called for improving Arab-Iranian relations and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited for the first time since he was elected in 2013 to discuss Iran-GCC tensions.
Kuwait's emir also offered to mediate in talks between Doha and Riyadh
Following the Saudi-Qatar crisis, however, Kuwait expelled 15 Iranian diplomats and shut down related military, cultural and trade missions in the country.
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41945860 |
Lebanon Hariri crisis: President Aoun demands Saudi answers - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | President Aoun speaks out amid claims that Lebanon's prime minister is being held in Riyadh. | Middle East | President Michel Aoun (L) has expressed concern over the well-being of Saad al-Hariri (R)
The Lebanese president has asked Saudi Arabia to clarify the situation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who announced his resignation in Riyadh.
Michel Aoun has not accepted the shock resignation of a week ago, suggesting words attributed to Mr Hariri should be treated with caution.
Iran and its Lebanese ally, the militant group Hezbollah, accuse Saudi Arabia of holding Mr Hariri hostage.
The US has warned other countries not to use Lebanon for proxy conflicts.
There is growing concern that Lebanon is becoming drawn into spiralling sectarian tensions between the region's biggest Shia Muslim power, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, which is mainly Sunni Muslim.
Mr Hariri, a Sunni leader and businessman, was nominated to form Lebanon's government by Mr Aoun in November 2016.
The announcement of his resignation on 4 November sent shockwaves through the region.
"The obscurity surrounding the condition of Prime Minister Saad Hariri since his resignation a week ago means that all positions and actions declared by him or attributed to him do not reflect the truth," President Aoun said.
An unnamed senior Lebanese official, quoted by Reuters news agency, said President Aoun had told a group of foreign ambassadors on Friday that Mr Hariri had been "kidnapped" and should have immunity.
However, the remarks have not been officially confirmed. French Foreign Minister Yves Le Drian said on Friday that "we think he's free to move and he has to make his own choices".
In his televised remarks from Riyadh a week ago, Mr Hariri said that he was stepping down because of an unspecified threat to his life.
He accused Iran and Hezbollah, a Shia group, of taking over Lebanon and destabilising the wider region.
He has not spoken publicly since then.
"We are all Saad," posters of the missing prime minister have appeared across Beirut
On Friday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he had received assurances that Mr Hariri was free and he encouraged him to return to Lebanon.
He expressed concern about how the crisis might affect the stability of Lebanon's fragile coalition, and warned countries in the region against using Lebanon as a "venue for proxy conflicts".
Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of declaring war on Lebanon.
The international community has also weighed in on Mr Hariri's absence, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warning that a new conflict in the region would have "devastating consequences".
On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron paid an unscheduled visit to Saudi Arabia, to emphasise to Saudi leaders the importance of stability in Lebanon. He spoke to Mr Aoun by phone on Saturday.
Mr Hariri (R) was seen meeting the Saudi king on Monday
France has historical ties with Lebanon, as the former mandate power before independence.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies ordered their citizens in Lebanon on Thursday to leave the country immediately.
Riyadh accused Iran of "direct military aggression", saying it had supplied a missile which it says was fired by Hezbollah at Riyadh from Yemen the same day as Mr Hariri's resignation.
Iran dismissed the Saudi allegations as "false and dangerous". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41955798 |
Women's Ashes 2017: Ellyse Perry hits record double century as Australia dominate England - BBC Sport | 2017-11-11 | null | Ellyse Perry becomes only the seventh woman to hit a Test double century as Australia take control of the Women's Ashes Test against England. | null | Women's Ashes Test, North Sydney Oval (day three of four):
Ellyse Perry became only the seventh woman to hit a Test double century as Australia took control of the day-night Women's Ashes Test against England on day three at the North Sydney Oval.
The 27-year-old, also a football international, made an unbeaten 213 as Australia declared on 448-9, taking a first-innings lead of 168.
England's openers survived to finish on 40-0 at close of play.
Australia will retain the Ashes if they can force victory on the final day.
But a draw may be the likeliest outcome after only four wickets fell on a day when bat dominated ball,
It would take an almighty turnaround for England, who trail 4-2 in the points-based multi-format series, to find a winning position, given that their first target would be the 168 they need to make Australia bat again.
However, a more positive approach from openers Tammy Beaumont and Lauren Winfield in the final hour may encourage them to believe they can save the game.
A draw would keep the series alive with Australia leading 6-4 - but barring washouts, England would still need to win all three Twenty20 internationals to regain the trophy.
• None Relive the third day of the Test
Perry goes large - at last
While Perry's chanceless innings will rightly take its place in the pantheon of women's cricket, it was all the more remarkable - given her undoubted talent - that 10 years after her international debut, it was the first time she had reached three figures in Australian colours.
A sporting prodigy, Perry had made her full debut for Australia at both cricket and football while only 16 - and attempted to have a dual career for a while, featuring at World Cups in both sports, although cricket has taken precedence in recent years.
Since the start of 2014, she has passed 50 in 23 of her 35 one-day international innings, averaging a shade under 80 - but had not converted any of them to a century.
But while she was trending worldwide on Twitter by the end of the day's play - no mean achievement given the profile of women's Test cricket, which averages one match every two years - she was indebted to century stands with Alyssa Healy (45) and Tahlia McGrath (47).
Australia had resumed on 177-5, with Perry unbeaten on 70, but it was Healy who showed more attacking intent in the early stages, and was the first player in the match to clear the ropes, hoisting Anya Shrubsole over mid-wicket just before the drinks break at the end of the first hour.
Former England captain Charlotte Edwards, now a BBC Test Match Special summariser, has watched Perry's rise through the international game - and was confident enough to pledge before play that she would eat her hat if Perry did not hit a century.
And Edwards' faith was repaid soon after that opening hour as Perry helped Laura Marsh down the leg side before removing her helmet and jumping for joy.
After Healy was caught at mid-on for 45, McGrath survived being dropped by Heather Knight off her first ball and showed no signs of debutant nerves as she took the lead in their century stand.
Perry seemed to adopt a safety-first approach between 100 and 150 - going more than two hours without hitting a boundary, but racking up the singles.
McGrath was out just before the dinner interval, but after Jess Jonassen and Amanda-Jade Wellington fell in quick succession, Perry was seven runs short of her double ton and running out of partners when number 11 Megan Schutt arrived.
Schutt was nearly out twice before Perry, on 194, launched Laura Marsh high into the night sky - and with the crowd cheering a six, Perry ran to celebrate her achievement, only for the third umpire to rule that the ball had bounced just in front of the rope.
Thankfully for Perry, she drove Sophie Ecclestone for four next over to pass the landmark, and had time to launch another six before Rachael Haynes declared.
Considering England do not play any multi-innings cricket at domestic level, it would have tested their stamina, both physical and mental, to be out in the field for a mammoth 166 overs.
Given that the second new ball was only five overs old at the start of the day, it was a surprise the tourists did not begin with their regular pace duo Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole - instead using Sophie Ecclestone's left-arm spin in the early stages.
But while they had been able to strangle Australia with spin on day two, England were unable to exert the same level of control on Saturday, serving up too many loose deliveries.
Healy and Perry served early notice of their intentions by hitting Ecclestone for three fours in her first two overs, while fellow spinner Laura Marsh had only conceded 28 runs in 23 overs on Friday, but day three saw her plundered for 81 in 21.
Brunt (1-44 from 22 overs) was their most economical bowler, while Knight gave McGrath a life when she hit her first ball from Georgia Elwiss straight to extra cover, only for the England skipper to shell the chance.
By mid-evening, the pink ball appeared increasingly ragged - giving the appearance that it had been chewed by a dog between overs - but although England were in the field long enough to have the option of a third new ball after 160 overs, it was not taken, for fear that a new ball might disappear to the boundary even quicker.
Even one of the three wickets they did take came from a full toss from Elwiss, which McGrath obligingly chipped to mid-wicket.
Having played conservatively and got bogged down in the first innings, England's openers can take credit for the way they batted in the final hour, Beaumont in particular showing some of the fluency with which she batted in the World Cup.
But England will need to draw on all their reserves of grit and determination on the final day, with leg-spinner Wellington already showing glimpses of the occasional sharply turning delivery like the one which dismissed Beaumont in the first innings.
'Why not celebrate twice?' - what they said
Australia wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy on Perry's innings: "England bowled really well yesterday but fortunately Ellyse did brilliantly. It was very special for me to be there, I was fist pumping more than her when we were running down the wicket!
"She went up another gear when we needed and full credit to her. She is a very special player. She was very embarrassed about [celebrating early] but it's not often you get to celebrate a double century, so why not do it twice!"
Perry on the premature celebration: "That's the second most embarrassing thing I've done in this match, after taking that catch after the ball hit me - the crowd tricked me as they were cheering as though it went for six. Their support was just incredible."
England pace bowler Anya Shrubsole told BBC Test Match Special: "We came up against someone who played a sublime innings. I don't remember her giving a chance. She's obviously got a really good technique and she batted brilliantly. We really stuck at it, but sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say 'well batted'."
Ex-England captain Charlotte Edwards on TMS, on Australia's chances of victory: "It's going to be really difficult. The ball's not moving off the straight - it depends on whether Amanda-Jade Wellington can get any turn. England can just bat and bat. But you wouldn't put anything past Ellyse Perry at the moment." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/41953372 |
What will happen in Syria following IS defeats? - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A number of foreign countries are set to become key players in the country's future. | Middle East | Civil wars that spread devastation and suffering across a whole country have no real victors. But one war in Syria - that against the Islamic State (IS) group's so-called caliphate - is well on the way to being won.
Earlier this week IS's last urban bastion in eastern Syria, Deir al-Zour, hard up against the Iraqi border, fell to Assad government forces. IS will remain in some form or another as an insurgency and source of ideological inspiration but as a territorial entity or physical caliphate, it is finished.
But what of Syria's other war, the uprising against the Assad regime and its efforts - aided by Iran and Russia - to crush the opposition?
The current situation on the ground means that forces from the above countries will be in close proximity to United States troops, who are supporting some of the anti-Assad groups.
Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and professor at Oklahoma University, summed it up in simple terms. "Assad has won the Syria war militarily," he told me. "He has defeated the original uprising or revolution. The rebel groups that remain have been pushed to the margins of Syria.
"The international community has all but abandoned them as a lost cause. The rebel militias," he argues, "still have some teeth in defence, but cannot mount a credible offensive against Assad's military."
Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, and another close watcher of Syria, has a slightly more cautious assessment. "President Assad," he notes, "sits more comfortably in Damascus than at any time since 2011."
But having said that, he argues that "it would be inaccurate to suggest Assad had won the war. He's simply avoided losing it."
"The Assad regime has a stated intent to recapture every inch of Syria. If that goal is to ever be met, we're talking years at least," he explained.
But the crucial take-away from all this is that Syria is entering a new phase of conflict. The territorial defeat of IS, says Charles Lister, "will throw an awful lot of potential sources of hostility up into the air and nobody really knows right now how they'll land".
What is emerging is a new strategic map with Syria divided into different zones: One controlled by the Assad regime (with the support of Russia and Iran), another controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (an amalgam of Kurdish, Arab and other groups supported by the US), and others run by various elements of the Syrian opposition, backed to varying degrees by Turkey and Jordan.
Having helped Assad restore his control over a significant part of the Syrian population, Moscow has also manoeuvred itself into holding the best cards in the putative diplomatic end-game.
As Joshua Landis told me, the Astana peace process, led by the Russians, "is the only one worth anything at the moment.
"The Geneva process, led by the US," he notes, "has been about grandstanding and sticking to talking points that no longer have any relevance on the ground, such as demanding that Assad step aside and that democratic elections be held in Syria. Everyone knows this will not happen."
With the demise of IS, Syria's future will continue to be determined by a variety of external players, fighting out their own strategic battles and seeking local advantage.
The four key actors are the US, Russia, Turkey and Iran.
Special forces from Western countries, including the US, have supported Kurdish-Arab forces in Syria
Its initial half-hearted efforts to galvanise a democratic opposition to defeat the Syrian regime failed dramatically. Its focus has largely been on the defeat of the IS caliphate.
But now, Joshua Landis says, Washington must make a decision: "Will it stay in Northern Syria to defend the gains of the Syrian Democratic Forces that it has armed, trained and propelled to victory in Raqqa and the region north of the Euphrates River?"
The difficulty, as Charles Lister told me, is that "beyond fighting IS, it is sadly very hard to determine whether the US really has a Syria policy."
And he says that what policy there is is full of contradictions. For example, Washington continues to say Assad must leave and that his days are numbered, and yet the US has ceased all support to anyone opposed to Assad.
Turkish President Erdogan's main concern is with the Kurds
If US policy could be said to be in a mess, so too could that of Turkey.
Ankara's goal, says Joshua Landis, is to retrench. "It seriously overreached in Syria," he told me, "almost to the point of destabilising Turkey."
He believes that President Erdogan "must make sure that the Kurdish question in Turkey does not lurch toward civil war. He will increasingly normalise relations with Assad in order to contain the independence of Syria's Kurds." Turkish troops have moved a small way into northern Syria to achieve this goal.
Indeed, after posing as a champion of the opposition against the Assad regime, Charles Lister says, that "at times, Turkey has directly betrayed the opposition groups it had stood by for so long, merely to secure a more favourable position against the Kurdish YPG, which it views as a terrorist organisation.
Shia militias, backed by Tehran, have played a prominent role in the campaign against IS
In backing the Assad regime (and offering significant support to the Shia-dominated government in Iraq) Tehran has had one clear goal - to secure its hegemony in the northern Middle East: the lands stretching from Lebanon through Syria and Iraq, all the way to Iran's own borders.
"This," says Joshua Landis, "is the new security architecture that Iran has fought so vigorously for and it is within its reach today. This means that Iran can counter-balance Israel. It means that Iran can establish oil pipelines running to the Mediterranean coast, trade routes, highways, and pilgrimage routes."
This, he says, means "Iran is no longer cut out of the Middle East."
And Tehran has troops to back up its position. Charles Lister notes that Iran "commands tens of thousands of Shia militiamen inside Syria, which gives Tehran more influence than any other actor, bar none."
Russian troops have been on the ground in Syria
Russia, after Iran, is the other great winner from the Syrian conflict, reviving its role in the region, securing important military bases, and making itself a key diplomatic player.
It wants to "solve" Syria on its terms and with its favoured actors ending up the victors and it seems to be well on the way to achieving this goal.
But the growing proximity of Russian and Iranian-backed pro-regime forces and those backed by the US raises the possibility of some dangerous encounters. The US and Russia can agree on the need to defeat IS but on little else. Moscow's "side" has the military and diplomatic advantage on the ground.
Will the US seek to bolster its position in Syria, perhaps as part of a broader policy to "roll back" Iranian influence, as US conservatives are hoping? This may be easier said than done and might require many more resources and boots-on-the-ground than the Trump administration is prepared to put in harm's way.
• None What should happen to IS fighters? | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41849778 |
Sepp Blatter: Hope Solo accuses ex-Fifa president of sexual harassment - BBC Sport | 2017-11-11 | null | US goalkeeper Hope Solo accuses former Fifa president Sepp Blatter of sexual harassment at the 2013 Ballon d'Or awards. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
US goalkeeper Hope Solo has accused former Fifa president Sepp Blatter of sexual harassment.
The World Cup winner, 36, says the incident happened at the 2013 Ballon d'Or awards, before she went on stage to present an award.
In an interview with Portugal newspaper Expresso, Solo - who has 202 caps - said: "I had Sepp Blatter grab my ass."
Blatter, 81, denied the incident took place, with his spokesman telling BBC Sport: "This allegation is ridiculous."
Solo, when asked why she has not spoken out on the incident before, added: "I was nervous for the presentation. It was the Ballon d'Or I was presenting.
"After that I didn't see him and that was kind of bad. I didn't get to tell him directly 'don't ever touch me'. That's the way I've always handled things - directly."
A growing number of public figures have been accused of sexual harassment in recent weeks, sparked by multiple women speaking out against the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Solo, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, says the issue is "rampant" in women's football.
"I've seen it throughout my entire career," she said. "It's not just in Hollywood.
"For years, in the past, female players date and end up marrying their college coaches, which obviously a coach should not be doing, especially with a young player.
"I've seen it not just with coaches, I've seen it with trainers, doctors, and our press officers. I've seen it among players in the locker room. I don't know why more players don't speak out against it."
Blatter was head of the world football's governing body for 17 years, until a corruption scandal in 2015.
Fifa subsequently banned the Swiss official from the sport for eight years, a term later reduced to six years after appeal. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41950198 |
Venus and Jupiter conjunction: Sky-watchers witness dawn display - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Enthusiasts across the UK share their photos of the two brightest planets appearing together. | UK | Jupiter and Venus were photographed here above Brighton Pier
Jupiter and Venus - the two brightest planets - have appeared together in the morning sky.
The planetary conjunction was visible to the naked eye across much of the UK, with the time before dawn being the best to catch the spectacle.
Experts said the planets were so close as to appear almost on top of each other.
One astronomer said it would probably be "decades rather than years" before they appeared as close together.
While the planets have been visible to the unaided eye, viewers with a telescope have also been able to see Jupiter's four Galilean moons.
People in the UK have taken to social media to share their photos of the planetary display.
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Viewed from London, the planets began appearing shortly before 06:00 GMT with the conjunction occurring just after.
Those on high ground with a clear view of the eastern horizon had the best chance of witnessing the planetary display.
This image of the planetary display was captured by Alexandra Palace in London
The planets were spotted here in the Merseyside skyline
The conjunction of the planets looks like a bright star
In 2004, the planet Venus could be seen crossing the Sun as a small black dot
Mark Thompson, an astronomer and former presenter on the BBC show Stargazing Live, said conjunctions occur when planets line up in such a way that they appear from Earth to be next to each other - despite in this case being hundreds of millions of miles apart.
Mr Thompson told the BBC the cloudy atmospheres of the two planets made them appear bright to the naked eye.
He said the event was not uncommon - Venus and Jupiter appeared together in 2015 and 2016, also on 13 November - but it was much rarer for them to appear so close to each other.
"There have certainly been cases where they've been close in the sky but they've not been this close in recent years, certainly the last couple of planetary conjunctions.
"This is actually quite a good conjunction because they're so close, and over the next few years they'll pass each other and be close but not this close…
"One as close as this, you're probably looking decades rather than years."
The conjunction can also be seen in countries in the mid-northern latitudes, including parts of the US.
Those who missed the event will be able to see the two planets again on Tuesday morning, but they will not be as close together.
According to Nasa, stargazers will be treated to another planetary pairing later this month, when Saturn will meet Mercury on the western horizon at dusk on 24 and 28 November. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41956191 |
Egypt drugs case: Briton to face criminal trial - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Laura Plummer is being held on drug smuggling charges over what she says is an innocent mistake. | UK | A British woman held in Egypt on drug smuggling charges has been referred to a criminal court for trial.
Laura Plummer, 33, was arrested last month accused of entering the country with 300 Tramadol tablets, a painkiller legal in the UK but not in Egypt.
She will remain in custody at a police station in the resort of Hurghada.
The shop assistant from Hull told the BBC she had "no idea" the painkillers she was carrying were banned in the country.
But local police said that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Her lawyers had hoped to apply for bail on Saturday, but a custody hearing was cancelled.
Laura Plummer said the prescription pills were for her partner Omar Caboo
Ms Plummer's mother, Roberta Synclair, had waited at the courthouse in the Red Sea resort hoping to see her daughter granted bail on Saturday.
She told the BBC Ms Plummer was in "very bad spirits" when she last saw her a few days ago.
"It's absolutely heart-breaking because your daughter's there and you can't bring her home with you," Ms Synclair said.
It is unclear when the first hearing for the trial will be.
This is a blow for Laura Plummer and her lawyers. Instead of being granted bail - as they had hoped - she has now been referred to a criminal court.
Being sent for trial was always a possibility after the shop assistant was charged with the serious offence of drug smuggling.
Police investigating the case have stressed that she had a large quantity of the banned drug Tramadol - about 300 tablets.
Laura Plummer insists she had no idea that the painkiller is banned here and that she brought it for her Egyptian boyfriend, who has a bad back. Her lawyers say he has medical certificates which could help her case.
This could be the beginning of a lengthy legal process. In Egypt, defendants can be kept in custody for up to two years before a trial.
For now she remains in an overcrowded cell at a police station in Hurghada.
Drug smuggling can carry the death sentence in Egypt.
Tramadol is legal in the UK with a prescription but banned in Egypt, where many are addicted to the opiate.
In a phone call from her cell, Ms Plummer told the BBC she was given the tablets by a colleague for her Egyptian partner, Omar Caboo, who she says has back problems.
She said the colleague put them in a chemist's bag, which she put in her suitcase.
"I didn't even look in the bag," she said. "I can't tell you how stupid I feel."
Ms Plummer is being held in the Red Sea beach resort of Hurghada
Ms Plummer told the BBC her cell in a police station was the size of her bedroom in the UK, but she was having to share it with 25 other women.
Her shared cell was claustrophobic, she said, and it was sometimes hard to breathe. Although her fellow prisoners were trying to look after her, none of them spoke English.
Her family have said Ms Plummer was "unrecognisable" after four weeks in custody in Egypt.
Ms Plummer's local MP, Karl Turner, says she has never been in trouble at home.
"She's never had so much as a parking ticket in the UK," he said.
"This is a woman who's definitely, clearly, done wrong, but she, in my view, absolutely had no knowledge of what she was doing to be illegal, and we need to be mindful of that." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41950987 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Iran's take on Johnson's remarks - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | null | The British foreign secretary had commented on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is in jail in Iran. | null | This is how Iran's media reported comments made by the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Mr Johnson said the British-Iranian charity worker had been training journalists in Iran, where she has been imprisoned.
He has since said the government has "no doubt" she was on holiday "and that was the sole purpose of her visit". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41952339 |
Spain Catalonia: Barcelona rally urges prisoners' release - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A protest against Spain's detention of leading separatists drew 750,000 people, police say. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Three-quarters of a million people have rallied in Barcelona to protest against Spain's detention of Catalan independence leaders, police estimate.
They shone phone torches in unison at sunset as calls were made to free eight regional ministers and two grassroots campaign leaders being held on remand.
Some of the detainees will be included on the list of a Catalan separatist party at next month's snap election.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is to visit the city on Sunday.
In another development, Barcelona's mayoress has condemned pro-independence leaders.
The Catalan parliament declared independence last month following an unrecognised referendum on independence from Spain.
Madrid responded by dissolving the parliament and calling a regional election on 21 December.
Since the crackdown by Madrid, Catalonia's sacked President Carles Puigdemont has gone into self-imposed exile in Belgium, and his top allies have been prosecuted.
The pro-independence movement has proven its ability to mobilise large numbers of demonstrators. Many came to this latest protest from small towns and villages in Catalonia - a sign of the movement's reach.
Their immediate aim is to call for the release of the eight politicians and two activists remanded in custody on charges of sedition and rebellion. The authorities in Madrid insist that the case is purely a matter for the courts, but the detention of politicians and activists does have a political impact. Imprisonment may have served to increase their popularity. It may galvanise the pro-independence movement as the regional election approaches.
The pro-independence camp wants to win a clear parliamentary majority. That would allow their side to have another go at trying to break away from Spain. But the pro-union camp, which represents the other half of Catalan society, will also campaign vigorously.
Protesters marched behind a banner declaring "We are a republic" and carried placards declaring the 10 detainees political prisoners.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Here's what protesters in Catalonia are singing about
The sacked former ministers are being investigated for alleged rebellion and sedition, while the two activists were arrested over a mass protest before the referendum.
There were performances and speeches to the crowd. Protesters chanted "Puigdemont for president" and a cellist played a traditional Christmas carol, The Song of the Birds, which is associated with Catalans driven into political exile.
The left-wing ERC party, a key ally of Mr Puigdemont, has announced that some of the prisoners, including party leader Oriol Junqueras, as well as some of the sacked ministers who also went to Belgium, will stand on its electoral list.
However, the ERC has rejected a call from Mr Puigdemont to fight the election as part of a single pro-independence bloc with other parties - as they did in 2015.
Mr Rajoy was mocked as the Devil on this recent placard in Barcelona
The Spanish prime minister is to make his first appearance in Catalonia since implementing direct rule two weeks ago.
He is expected to address a meeting of supporters of his centre-right Popular Party, who firmly want Catalonia to remain a part of Spain.
Ada Colau, who was elected mayoress in 2015 on an anti-capitalist platform and whose party (a merger of left-wing parties) is standing in the regional parliamentary election for the first time, said leaders of the independence movement had "tricked the population for their own interests".
Ms Colau, seen here kissing her baby, has kept her distance from both separatists and unionists
"They've provoked tensions and carried out a unilateral independence declaration which the majority do not want," she told a meeting of her Catalunya en Comú (English: Catalonia in Common) party. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41956909 |
Louis CK admits sexual misconduct allegations are true - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The US comedian say the "stories are true" in a frank statement addressing allegations against him. | Entertainment & Arts | Louis CK has won six Emmy Awards and had 39 nominations
US comedian Louis CK has admitted that sexual misconduct allegations made against him by five women are true.
He said he had "wielded power irresponsibly" and could hardly wrap his head around the "scope of hurt" he had caused them.
Four of the accusers told the New York Times he masturbated during interactions with them and a fifth said he had asked to do so.
The allegations led to the release of his new movie being scrapped.
I Love You Daddy - a comedy about an ageing film director, played by John Malkovich, who has a reputation for getting embroiled with young women - was due to have been released in the US on 17 November.
"These stories are true," Louis CK said in his statement, which is reproduced in full at the bottom of this article.
"The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly."
The comedian added that he regretted the hurt he had inflicted on people he worked with, including his manager Dave Becky, his family, his friends, his children and their mother.
In Thursday's New York Times report, four comediennes - Dana Min Goodman, Julia Wolov, Rebecca Corry and Abby Schachner - and a fifth woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, made allegations about the entertainer.
Actresses Julia Wolov (left) and Dana Goodman in Hollywood in 2011
Goodman and Wolov said Louis CK stripped naked and masturbated after inviting them to his hotel room during the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, in 2002.
Schachner said she called Louis CK in 2003 to invite him to one of her shows and was dumbfounded to realise during their phone conversation that he was masturbating. "I felt very ashamed," she told the New York Times.
A fifth woman, who did not want to be named, told the newspaper of alleged incidents involving the comic in the late 1990s, while she was working in production on The Chris Rock Show.
Louis CK, who was a writer and producer on the show, repeatedly asked her to watch him perform a sex act, she said. "He abused his power," she said.
Abby Schachner told the New York Times she felt "very ashamed"
Louis CK's planned appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was cancelled and HBO announced it would purge Louis CK's past projects from its On Demand service.
The cable TV network also said the comic would no longer participate in a charity comedy special, Night of Too Many Stars, later this month.
On Thursday, a Los Angeles County district attorney Jackie Lacey announced a task force of veteran sex crimes prosecutors to address "the widespread allegations of sexual abuse in entertainment industry".
"I want to address the stories told to the New York Times by five women named Abby, Rebecca, Dana, Julia who felt able to name themselves and one who did not.
"These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first, which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn't a question. It's a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.
"I have been remorseful of my actions. And I've tried to learn from them. And run from them. Now I'm aware of the extent of the impact of my actions. I learned yesterday the extent to which I left these women who admired me feeling badly about themselves and cautious around other men who would never have put them in that position.
"I also took advantage of the fact that I was widely admired in my and their community, which disabled them from sharing their story and brought hardship to them when they tried because people who look up to me didn't want to hear it. I didn't think that I was doing any of that because my position allowed me not to think about it.
"There is nothing about this that I forgive myself for. And I have to reconcile it with who I am. Which is nothing compared to the task I left them with.
"I wish I had reacted to their admiration of me by being a good example to them as a man and given them some guidance as a comedian, including because I admired their work.
"The hardest regret to live with is what you've done to hurt someone else. And I can hardly wrap my head around the scope of hurt I brought on them. I'd be remiss to exclude the hurt that I've brought on people who I work with and have worked with who's professional and personal lives have been impacted by all of this, including projects currently in production: the cast and crew of Better Things, Baskets, The Cops, One Mississippi, and I Love You Daddy. I deeply regret that this has brought negative attention to my manager Dave Becky who only tried to mediate a situation that I caused. I've brought anguish and hardship to the people at FX who have given me so much The Orchard who took a chance on my movie. and every other entity that has bet on me through the years.
"I've brought pain to my family, my friends, my children and their mother.
"I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41950043 |
Ellen Page: I was 'outed' by director Brett Ratner - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The actress claims Brett Ratner outed her in public before she had fully realised she was gay. | Newsbeat | Ellen Page says Brett Ratner was homophobic and abusive
Ellen Page is the latest actress to speak out against director and producer Brett Ratner.
She claims he outed her in public before she herself had fully realised she was gay.
She says it happened on the set of X Men: The Last Stand when she was 18 years old.
The director has yet to respond to Ms Page's accusation. He has recently been accused of harassment, assault and rape - claims he denies.
He is suing a former employee who says he forced himself on her.
Ellen Page was 18 when she made X Men: The Last Stand
Ms Page has written a lengthy Facebook post, which contains explicit language, describing what she says happened when the cast and crew met before filming started.
She describes how the director pointed at her and told another woman she should sleep with her "to make her realise she's gay".
The actress explains that she had not come out to herself at the stage: "I knew I was gay, but did not know, so to speak."
She says she felt "violated" and that no-one spoke out to defend her.
She describes it as a "public, aggressive outing" that left her feeling ashamed.
Olivia Munn describes Brett Ratner is the "bully at school who just won't quit"
Brett Ratner is one of the most successful film-makers in Hollywood and has produced or directed The Revenant, Jersey Boys and the Horrible Bosses movies.
Six women including Natasha Henstridge and Olivia Munn have accused him of harassing them.
His lawyer Martin Singer said: "I have represented Mr Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment.
"No woman has ever requested or received any financial settlement from my client."
Newsbeat has tried to contact Mr Singer, but he has not replied.
But Ms Page's account has been supported by one of her X Men co-stars, Anna Paquin.
She tweeted: "I was there when that comment was made. I stand with you."
Ms Page's post tells how she has been working since she was 10. She says she has met "respectful collaborators" during her career.
But she also talks about abusers who "want you to feel small, to make you insecure, to make you feel like you are indebted to them, or that your actions are to blame for their unwelcome advances".
She describes another director fondling her leg when she was 16 and telling her to "make the move" on him.
She adds: "I was sexually assaulted by a grip months later. I was asked by a director to sleep with a man in his late 20s and to tell them about it. I did not."
She also criticises people in Hollywood who know that people are being harassed and "choose to look the other way".
Now she says there must be "a long awaited reckoning".
She explains: "I want to see these men have to face what they have done. I want them to not have power anymore.
"I want them to sit and think about who they are without their lawyers, their millions, their fancy cars, houses upon houses, their 'playboy' status and swagger."
She calls for other people to speak out, saying: "You are breaking the silence. You are the revolution."
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat | http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articles/41953710 |
Davis stands firm on Irish border issue - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | After "frank discussions" with EU negotiators, the Brexit secretary rejects idea of a new UK border. | Northern Ireland | The future operation of the Irish border is one of the most sensitive Brexit issues
There were "frank discussions" about the Irish border in the latest round of Brexit talks, David Davis has said.
The Brexit Secretary was speaking in Brussels after a meeting with chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier.
Mr Davis said any solution for the border could not be at the expense of the constitutional integrity of the UK.
The EU tabled a paper which suggested Northern Ireland will have to continue to follow many EU rules after Brexit if a hard border is to be avoided.
The paper hinted that Northern Ireland may need to stay in the EU customs union if there are to be no checks at the border.
That is something which the Conservatives and DUP have said they cannot accept as it would effectively create a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
Britain and the EU say they are committed to ensuring Brexit does not undermine the Good Friday agreement.
Neither want Brexit to lead to the emergence of a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.
"Let me be clear, we cannot have anything resulting in a new border being set up with in the UK," said Mr Davis after the sixth round of UK-EU talks on citizens' rights, the Irish border, and the UK's "divorce bill".
"We remain firmly committed to avoiding any physical infrastructure.
"We respect the EU desires, but they cannot come at the constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom."
Mr Davis said the EU and UK teams had drafted joint positions on the common travel area, as well as joint principles and commitments for the second phase of talks.
The EU leaked paper stops short of saying a hard border can only be avoided by the UK or Northern Ireland staying in the single market or customs union.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was attending the British-Irish Council in Jersey
However, it brings the commission closer to the European Parliament position which "presumes" that the UK or Northern Ireland will have to stay in the internal market and customs union.
It is also the clearest indication that the commission has accepted the Irish position on Brexit and the border issue.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said the only way of avoiding a hard border in Ireland after Brexit is for the whole of the UK, or Northern Ireland, to follow the rules of the customs union and single market.
Speaking at a meeting of the British-Irish Council in Jersey, Mr Varadkar said his proposal would not mean the UK or Northern Ireland had to be members of the customs union and single market, but "it would mean continuing to apply the rules".
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has given the UK two weeks to clarify what it will pay to leave the EU
DUP Parliamentary leader and North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds rejected the suggestion that a hard border can only be avoided if the UK or Northern Ireland continue to abide by the rules of the single market and customs union after Brexit.
He said the paper shows the EU is unwilling to engage in negotiations on the border issue in a "meaningful fashion".
"Northern Ireland will not be separated from the rest of the UK as a result of Brexit," he said.
"Brussels must realise this and accept that progress will not be achieved through bully-boy tactics."
The DUP's Nigel Dodds said Brussels must accept progress will not be achieved through bully-boy tactics
Meanwhile, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said talk of individual countries vetoing a move to the next stage of Brexit negotiations is "unhelpful", but progress still had to be made on the border issue.
"There is a way to go between the two negotiating teams to be able to provide credible answers and sufficient progress in the context of the Irish border before we can move on to Phase Two," he told Irish state broadcaster, RTE.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Bertie Ahern tells BBC Newsnight a hard border would be a "huge setback" for the peace process
Former Irish Taoiseach and Good Friday Agreement signatory Bertie Ahern told BBC Newsnight that a hard border would be a "huge setback" for the peace process and that a physical border across the island of Ireland would give a "huge incentive" to those that want to cause mischief. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-41936931 |
Shooting lynx has 'broken' Borth Wild Animal Kingdom owner - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | null | The shooting of a lynx has "broken" the owner of the zoo it escaped from. | null | The shooting of a lynx has "broken emotionally and physically" the owner of the zoo it escaped from.
Lilleth, the Eurasian lynx, had escaped from Borth Wild Animal Kingdom but Ceredigion council said on Friday that she had been "humanely destroyed".
The council said despite "exhaustive efforts" to recapture her, it received advice that the risk to public safety had "increased to severe".
The zoo's co-owner Dean Tweedy has condemned the killing, saying he wanted to see her darted instead.
Ceredigion council said it would carry out an inspection of the zoo, which has been closed since Lilleth's escape, later this month. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41955935 |
Iran building permanent military base in Syria - claim - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Satellite images of activity at a compound south of Damascus come amid worsening regional tensions. | Middle East | Iran is establishing a permanent military base inside Syria, a Western intelligence source has told the BBC.
The Iranian military is said to have established a compound at a site used by the Syrian army outside El-Kiswah, 14 km (8 miles) south of Damascus.
The report comes amid growing tensions over Iranian influence in Syria and across the region.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu recently warned that Iran wanted to establish itself militarily in Syria.
"Israel will not let that happen," he said.
Satellite images commissioned by the BBC seem to show construction activity at the site referenced by the intelligence source between January and October this year.
The images show a series of two dozen large low-rise buildings - likely for housing soldiers and vehicles.
In recent months, additional buildings have been added to the site. However, it is impossible to independently verify the purpose of the site and the presence of the Iranian military.
An official from another Western country told the BBC that ambitions for such a long-term presence in Syria would not be illogical for Iran.
Its adversaries have accused Iran of seeking to establish not just an arc of influence but a logistical land supply line from Iran through to the Shia Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.
With so-called Islamic State (IS) suffering major defeats on the battlefield and losing its last strongholds, attention is increasingly turning to what comes next and the new map of power and influence in Syria.
Iran has been a consistent backer of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Photographs published on social media in the past few days also showed a senior Iranian general in Deir al-Zour shortly after IS was driven out of the town.
The photos show Maj Gen Qasem Soleimani, head of the Quds force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) alongside members of a militia.
With a significant number of IRGC fighting - and in some cases dying - in Syria, there has already been a significant presence in the country but the question is now whether they are preparing to remain in the long term.
The images of the base do not reveal any signs of large or unconventional weaponry which means if it was a base it would most likely be to house soldiers and vehicles. One source said it was possible that senior Iranian military officials may have visited the compound in recent weeks.
Independent analysis of the images commissioned by the BBC says the facility is military in nature. The analysis also suggests there are a series of garages that can hold six to eight vehicles each.
The analysis suggests new buildings have been constructed and other buildings renovated in the past six months although the exact role of the new structures cannot be determined.
However, it is not clear whether the facility is currently occupied. Shia fighters from other countries - including Pakistan and Afghanistan - are also alleged to be operating in Syria under the control of the IRGC and it is possible the base could be used by them. Analysts estimate up to 500 troops could be based at the site.
The presence of Iranian forces in Syria has been reported for some time but the claim of a potentially more permanent Iranian base raises the possibility of military action by Israel which has repeatedly warned it will not tolerate such a development.
The Lebanon-based Shia group Hezbollah is backed by Iran
The base lies about 50 km (31 miles) from the Golan Heights - Syrian territory occupied and then annexed by Israel and where it now has a significant military presence.
"As Isis [IS] moves out, Iran moves in," Mr Netanyahu tweeted on Sunday.
"Iran wants to establish itself militarily in Syria, right next to Israel. Israel will not let that happen," he added.
In an interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr show on the same day he said Iran wanted to bring its air force and submarines as well as military divisions right next to Israel.
Israel has raised further concerns of Iran seeking to use Syrian ports and bases for its submarines. When asked whether Israel would use military force to stop such developments, Mr Netanyahu told the BBC: "You know, the more we're prepared to stop it, the less likely we'll have to resort to much greater things. There is a principle I very much adhere to, which is to nip bad things in the bud."
However, international pressure is likely to be the first avenue pursued by Israel. Other countries have also raised concerns over potential long-term Iranian presence in the region.
The issue of potential Iranian military bases is likely to have been raised by Israeli officials with Syria's ally Russia.
In October, Russia's defence minister was in Jerusalem and was told by Mr Netanyahu that Israel would not allow the Iranian military "to gain a foothold in Syria", according to reports at the time.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iran in the past week and Russian media suggested Syria - including Iran's influence in the country - would be on the agenda.
In recent years, the Israeli air force has struck targets in Syria a number of times which it has linked to Hezbollah. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41945189 |
Mum wins legal review over police keeping son's naked photo details - BBC News | 2017-11-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The boy's mother fears that police keeping her son's name on file could "hang over him" for life. | Manchester | Police logged details of the boy's action under the heading "Obscene Publications"
The mother of a schoolboy who sent a naked photo of himself to a girl has won the right to a judicial review over a police force's refusal to delete his name from its records.
The boy, aged 14 at the time, was not arrested or prosecuted by Greater Manchester Police.
His mother said she was concerned police could release the information to potential employers when he is older.
The boy sent the naked photograph over social media to a girl at his school.
The girl then shared the image, sent two years ago, with others.
The boy's mother said she was "in complete shock" when she heard what had happened, but "this had all happened in the privacy of his own bedroom".
She said even though "he was young, he was naive, he was silly" she believes the subsequent sharing of the photo by others was "malicious".
Police took no action against him other than to record on their database that he had taken and forwarded an "indecent" image of himself, logged under a section entitled "Obscene Publications".
Greater Manchester Police has refused to delete the boy's name from its files, a decision his mother is contesting at the High Court.
She said: "It's going to be held there infinitum, so for all his adult life it hangs over him."
Shauneen Lambe, chief executive of Just For Kids Law which is supporting the family, said a generation of children was being "penalised" by a law that was supposed to protect them.
Home Office policy is understood to be that police have to record such incidents but whether their name is included is at the force's discretion, which may have implications for future job applications especially if working with children.
Ms Lambe said the real fear about discretion was that it creates uncertainty, as one chief officer might take one view while another might take the opposite.
Olivia Pinkney, the chief constable of Hampshire who is lead officer on the National Police Chief's Council (NPCC), expressed concern two years ago that the policy was not consistently applied and said she was "worried for today's young people". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41945498 |
Police chief 'was told of Damian Green pornography claims' - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Sir Paul Stephenson says he was told material was allegedly found on Damian Green's computer in 2008. | UK Politics | Former Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said the allegations against Mr Green showed "no criminality"
A former Scotland Yard chief was aware pornography had allegedly been found on Damian Green's office computer during a 2008-9 police probe, he has said.
Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner between 2009-11, said he was briefed about the claims but regarded them as a "side issue".
The allegations were first made public last week by former Met Assistant Commissioner, Bob Quick.
First Secretary of State Mr Green said his accusers had "ulterior motives".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Porn was allegedly found to have been viewed on Mr Green's office computer after police raids in 2008
Mr Green, who is Prime Minister Theresa May's second-in-command, said: "I reiterate that no allegations about the presence of improper material on my parliamentary computers have ever been put to me or to the parliamentary authorities by the police.
"I can only assume that they are being made now, nine years later, for ulterior motives."
But Mr Quick, who led the investigation into Home Office leaks which saw Mr Green's Commons office being searched, says pornography was found on a computer there.
Both Sir Paul and Mr Quick gave evidence to a Cabinet Office inquiry into Mr Green's conduct last week, led by senior Cabinet Office official Sue Gray.
The inquiry, which is being held behind closed doors, is also looking at a separate claim that Mr Green, made inappropriate advances towards a female Conservative activist in 2015. He also denies that allegation.
Damian Green denies claims police found pornography on a computer in his office
Speaking to the BBC, Sir Paul said he thought the claim about Mr Green "wasn't relevant to the criminal inquiry" into Home Office leaks, which began in October 2008.
Mr Green's home and office were searched as part of that probe and he was briefly arrested in November that year, but the then shadow immigration minister faced no further action.
A review of the police inquiry found that "less intrusive methods" could have been used.
Referring to the pornography allegations, Sir Paul said: "I regret it's in the public domain.
"There was no criminality involved, there were no victims, there was no vulnerability and it was not a matter of extraordinary public interest."
Sir Paul added that it was not Scotland Yard's role to "police the workplace".
The Met declined to say whether it was helping the Cabinet Office investigate the claims, but said in a statement: "As this is not our inquiry the MPS does not believe it is appropriate to comment upon it." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41958392 |
Trump trades 'short and fat' barb with N Korea's Kim - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The US president hits back at Kim Jong-un, then offers his services as mediator in an Asian dispute. | US & Canada | Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump have previously called each other mad
President Donald Trump has again traded barbs with North Korea, shortly before offering to mediate in a heated regional dispute.
He took to Twitter to complain he would never call North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "short and fat", after its foreign ministry called him "old".
It was one of a series of remarks he made on social media before volunteering his services over maritime claims in the South China Sea.
"I'm a very good mediator," he said.
China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing claims to territory in the South China Sea.
Tensions with China have been high in both Vietnam and the Philippines, inflamed by the formers island-building and naval patrols.
A framework for a code of conduct was agreed in August, but this is still only an outline, with more negotiations due to take place before it can be legally binding.
Mr Trump, who has long styled himself as a dealmaker, suggested his expertise could aid the process.
"If I can help mediate or arbitrate, please let me know," Mr Trump told his Vietnamese counterpart, Tran Dai Quang, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hanoi.
Mr Trump offered to help his Vietnamese counterpart, Tran Dai Quang (pictured together)
Mr Trump's own dispute with North Korea continues to escalate, at least in the insults traded across Twitter and in official statements.
On Saturday, North Korea denounced Mr Trump's Asia trip, calling it a "warmonger's visit" and again described the president as a "dotard" - a centuries-old insult for an elderly person.
Mr Trump responded with a passive aggressive tweet, suggesting he would never call Mr Kim was "short and fat", and complaining: "Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!"
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 Donald J. Trump 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.
As the president took to social media, three US aircraft carriers were taking part in a military exercise in the Western Pacific, in a show of strength aimed at North Korea.
US Pacific Fleet commander Scott Swift said the triple-carrier drill was the first in the region since 2007.
South Korean and Japanese ships were also due to take part in the exercises, which began on Saturday and will continue until Tuesday.
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President Trump has not ruled out friendly relations with North Korea.
Asked at a news conference in Vietnam if he could see himself being friends with Mr Kim, the president said: "That might be a strange thing to happen but it's a possibility.
"If it did happen it could be a good thing I can tell you for North Korea, but it could also be good for a lot of other places and be good for the rest the world.
"It could be something that could happen. I don't know if it will but it would be very, very nice."
The Vietnamese leg of Mr Trump's five-nation Asia tour was met with protests. Mai Khoi, a singer and dissident, said police confined her to her home and threatened her with eviction, after she defied a ban on protests.
Ms Khoi, who was barred from standing for parliament last year, said she was escorted home after she flashed a sign insulting the president as his motorcade passed by.
She said she was protesting against Donald Trump's attitude to women and his failure to meet with human rights activists in Vietnam.
Mr Trump will travel to Manila later on Sunday for the final stop on his Asia tour, before flying back to the US.
• None Why the Philippines matters to the US | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41958553 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe loses final Iran jail appeal - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The British-Iranian charity worker has been jailed under secret charges since last year. | UK | Iran's supreme court has upheld a five-year prison sentence given to a British-Iranian woman for security offences.
Charity worker, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, was arrested at Tehran Airport in April 2016 while visiting family in Iran with her daughter.
The 38-year-old, who maintains her innocence, has lost the final stage of her appeal against the sentence.
Her husband said there were no more legal options to overturn the sentence.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the charity the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was imprisoned for five years in September and then lost an initial appeal against her sentence in January.
She was accused of allegedly plotting to topple the government in Tehran, but the official charges against her have not been made public.
Iran refuses to recognise dual nationals and denies them access to consular assistance.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has said it is "deeply concerned" by the latest court decision.
The British ambassador to Iran visited Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's two-year-old daughter Gabriella last year, who has been placed in the care of her Iranian grandparents, after the Iranian government confiscated her passport.
A spokesman for the FCO said: "Iran continues to refuse the UK access to her. The prime minister and foreign secretary have both raised Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case with their counterparts in Iran.
"We continue to press the Iranians for access and for due process to be followed, and are ready to help get her daughter back safely to the UK if requested."
But speaking from the UK, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband, Richard, said he would continue to put pressure on the UK government.
"We've had a year, the legal process is finished, so I think the government needs to step up, find a way to visit her, say that she's innocent and call for her release publicly," he said.
"As her husband, I can say Nazanin is innocent until I am blue in the face. I have spent a year doing it.
"But it makes a clear difference that the government hasn't. It indulges the whispers."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Speaking to the BBC in January 2017, Richard Ratcliffe recalls the moment he realised his wife would not be returning to the UK.
Monique Villa, CEO at Thomson Reuters Foundation, said she was "entirely convinced" of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's innocence and called for her immediate release.
She said: "This extinguishes the last hope we have had of legally overturning a punishment where the crime remains a mystery.
"Nazanin was given no court hearing for this final judgement. She is not a spy but an innocent mother who travelled to Iran only to show her baby to her parents."
Ms Villa added that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has never had dealings with Iran in her professional capacity at the Thomson Reuters Foundation. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39697016 |
Catalan crisis: Spain's Rajoy vows to end 'separatist havoc' - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Mariano Rajoy makes a first trip after imposing direct rule in response to a push for independence. | Europe | PM Mariano Rajoy (L) joined the leader of his PP party in Catalonia for campaigning on Sunday
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said regional elections next month in Catalonia will help end "separatist havoc" in the north-eastern region.
He addressed a campaign event on his first visit there since imposing direct rule on the region a fortnight ago.
Defending his decision in Barcelona, he said he had "exhausted all roads" after the Catalan government's unilateral declaration of independence last month.
Several key Catalan leaders are currently being detained over the move.
Some 750,000 people protested in Barcelona on Saturday against the arrests, local police estimated.
The crisis was sparked by a disputed referendum held in Catalonia in October, which had been declared illegal by the Spanish courts.
Catalan officials said the independence campaign won 92% of the vote, from a turnout of 43%. Many of those who were against independence did not cast votes, refusing to recognise the legitimacy of the referendum.
The Catalan government subsequently declared independence. In response, the Spanish government dissolved the region's parliament, imposed direct rule and called a snap regional election on 21 December.
Protesters shone their mobile phone torches during Saturday's rally in Barcelona
Speaking at a campaign event in Barcelona for his Popular Party (PP) on Sunday, Mr Rajoy called on the participation of the "silent majority" to "convert their voice into a vote".
"We must reclaim Catalonia from the havoc of separatism," he added, saying: "With democracy, we want to reclaim Catalonia for everyone."
He told PP supporters that the right result would boost Spain's economic growth next year to above 3%.
He called on companies not to leave the region, after hundreds of firms moved their headquarters away amid uncertainty over the region - which accounts for a fifth of Spain's economy. He also urged people in Spain to continue buying Catalan products.
For a short while, the man who ultimately runs Catalonia was in Catalonia. But Mariano Rajoy's advisors made sure he would not run into vocal pro-independence opponents.
Instead, he spoke to the party faithful. Mr Rajoy's main campaign event was held inside a hotel ballroom, in front of mostly older supporters.
Spain's prime minister came here in order to win the regional Catalan election he's called for 21 December. His People's Party doesn't command widespread support in this region.
Mr Rajoy's supporters waved flags left for them on their seats
But the pro-Spain movement as a whole makes up about half the population of Catalonia. An election victory for this sector would make it much harder for pro-independence forces to make another attempt to break away from Spain.
After speaking for 25 minutes, Mr Rajoy posed for pictures and made his way out of the hotel amid a crush of supporters.
"Will you meet your opponents?" I asked him. "Yes," he said. But he didn't say where or when.
Since the crackdown by Madrid, Catalonia's sacked President Carles Puigdemont has gone into self-imposed exile in Belgium, and many of his top allies have been remanded in custody.
Thousands took to the streets of Barcelona on Saturday calling on Spain to free the ministers, as well as two grassroots campaign leaders being detained.
They marched behind a banner declaring "We are a republic", and carried placards that said the detainees were political prisoners.
The sacked former ministers are accused of alleged rebellion and sedition, while the two activists were arrested over a mass protest before the referendum.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Here's what protesters in Catalonia are singing about
The left-wing ERC party, a key ally of Mr Puigdemont, has announced that some of the prisoners, including party leader Oriol Junqueras, as well as some of the sacked ministers who also went to Belgium, will stand on its electoral list.
However, the ERC has rejected a call from Mr Puigdemont to fight the election as part of a single pro-independence bloc with other parties - as they did in 2015.
Mr Rajoy's PP won just 8.5% of the vote in the last regional elections two years ago.
Mr Rajoy was mocked as the Devil on this recent placard in Barcelona
In another development, the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, condemned Catalonia's pro-independence leaders.
Ms Colau, who was elected in 2015 on an anti-capitalist platform and whose party is standing in the regional parliamentary election for the first time, said leaders of the independence movement had "tricked the population for their own interests".
However, her party has also voted to break a pact with the Socialist party in Barcelona in protest at its support for the national government's decision to invoke Article 155 of the constitution, imposing direct rule on Catalonia. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41958204 |
EU preparing for possible collapse of Brexit talks - Barnier - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Chief negotiator Michel Barnier says "everyone needs to plan" in case Brexit talks fail. | Europe | Michel Barnier says "everyone needs to plan" for the possible collapse of Brexit negotiations
The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, says he is planning for the possible collapse of Brexit negotiations with the UK.
Mr Barnier was talking to French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche days after giving the UK a two-week deadline to clarify key issues.
Failing to reach an agreement was not his preferred option, he stressed.
The UK's Brexit Secretary David Davis has said it is time for both sides "to work to find solutions".
On Friday, Mr Davis insisted good progress was being made across the board, and that the negotiations had narrowed to a "few outstanding, albeit important, issues".
Discussing the likelihood of the talks collapsing, Mr Barnier said: "It's not my option, but it's a possibility. Everyone needs to plan for it, member states and businesses alike. We too are preparing for it technically.
"A failure of the negotiations would have consequences on multiple domains."
Mr Barnier has asked the UK to clarify its stance on its financial obligations to the EU if future trade talks are to go ahead in December.
But Mr Davis has made conflicting remarks, suggesting the UK would not have to give a figure for a financial settlement before it could move on to talks about a future trading relationship.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, he said: "In every negotiation, each side tries to control the timetable. The real deadline on this is, of course, December."
Mr Davis was referring to the next EU summit which will take place in Brussels in December.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. David Davis says there cannot be a new border within the UK
He said British taxpayers "would not want me to just come along and just give away billions of pounds".
He added: "We've been very, very careful, and it's taking time and we will take our time to get to the right answer."
His comments followed a sixth round of talks between Mr Davis and Mr Barnier in Brussels.
Speaking after the talks on Friday, Mr Davis said any solution for the Irish border could not be at the expense of the constitutional integrity of the UK. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41961412 |
Young people 'most interested in' Remembrance Day - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | null | Canadian Millennials are the mostly likely generation to attend a Remembrance Day celebration. | null | A new poll suggests millennials in Canada are the mostly likely generation to attend a Remembrance Day celebration. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41895792 |
Rebel Wilson reveals sexual harassment experience - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The actress complained to the film studio about the "disgusting" encounter with a male star. | Entertainment & Arts | Rebel Wilson says a male star repeatedly asked her to perform an obscene act
Australian actress Rebel Wilson is the latest Hollywood star to reveal her experience of sexual harassment in the entertainment industry.
In a series of tweets, she alleged that "a male star in a position of power" had repeatedly asked her to perform an obscene act.
"I refused. The whole thing was disgusting," she said.
Wilson said the unnamed star's male friends had attempted to film the incident before she left the room.
She complained to the film studio about the encounter, but says she was later "threatened by one of the star's representatives".
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The Pitch Perfect actress also recounted a second incident which she described as a "hotel room encounter with a top director".
"Nothing physical happened because the guy's wife called and started abusing him over the phone for sleeping with actresses... I bolted out of there immediately," she said.
Wilson added: "If I witness this behaviour, whether it happens to me or someone I know, I will no longer be polite."
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A growing number of sexual misconduct allegations have been made against public figures in recent weeks.
The allegations have been sparked by multiple women speaking out against the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, and a subsequent campaign encouraging victims to share their stories of sexual harassment under the #metoo hashtag..
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Margot Robbie wants "something positive" to come out of the Harvey Weinstein allegations | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41955113 |
Brazilian Grand Prix: F1 'needs to do more' to keep teams safe, says Lewis Hamilton - BBC Sport | 2017-11-12 | null | Lewis Hamilton says Formula 1 'needs to do more' after members of his Mercedes team were robbed at gunpoint in Sao Paulo on Friday night. | null | Last updated on .From the section Formula 1
Lewis Hamilton says he was "upset" by news that personnel from his Mercedes team were robbed at gunpoint in Sao Paulo on Friday night.
A van of Mercedes workers was held up on the road away from the Interlagos track. No-one was hurt in the incident.
Hamilton said: "Gun shots fired, gun held at one's head. This is so upsetting to hear.
"It happens every single year here. F1 and the teams need to do more. No excuse."
• None Hamilton starts from back after crash as Bottas takes pole
Hamilton added: "Please say a prayer for my guys, who are here as professionals today even if shaken."
A Mercedes spokesman said: "Valuables were stolen but most importantly everybody is safe and uninjured."
Other F1 personnel had near-misses on the same road, which is notorious for robberies.
A gunman approached a car containing officials from governing body the FIA and tapped his weapon on the window, but the vehicle was armoured with bulletproof glass and they escaped.
A car containing Williams team members was behind the FIA car and was approached by a gunman but managed to leave the scene safely.
They are the latest in a series of incidents affecting F1 personnel at the Brazilian Grand Prix in recent years.
Former F1 driver Jenson Button escaped a similar attempted robbery in 2010 when his driver, again in an armoured car, charged through stationary traffic to get away. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/41954941 |
'Bullying and toxicity' in Welsh Government, says ex-aide - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The behaviour of some was "pure poison", claims a former adviser to Wales' first minister. | Wales politics | Fresh claims about bullying in the Welsh Government have been made by a former adviser to Wales' first minister.
Steve Jones said he agreed with former cabinet minister Leighton Andrews, who has described a "toxic" atmosphere at the top of the administration.
They spoke out following the death of sacked former communities minister Carl Sargeant who was found dead on Tuesday.
The Welsh Government said it did not recognise Mr Jones's claims.
Mr Sargeant was found dead at home four days after being sacked by First Minister Carwyn Jones over allegations of improper conduct towards women.
Before leaving the Welsh Government in September 2014, Steve Jones was a media adviser for the first minister and also worked on his Labour leadership campaign.
In a statement, he said he agreed entirely with Mr Andrews's description of "toxicity" in the government and said that the behaviour of some was "pure poison".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mr Jones, speaking to BBC Wales Today via Skype, claims there was "constant undermining" of ministers
"Ministers were undermined by senior advisers playing power games and seeking to exert unreasonable control over government and the first minister himself," he said.
Some ministers, including Mr Sargeant, "would have their diaries unreasonably monitored and questioned, their policy proposals shelved and direct access to the first minister blocked".
"It went way beyond any 'office politics' or personality clashes," he said.
Mr Jones said at one stage he intended to resign because of the effect on his wellbeing but changed his mind when the first minister urged him to reconsider.
"Things improved for a few months, then the poison returned and it began to engulf others - advisers and ministers alike.
"It was clear that all this was getting Carl down.
Mr Jones added: "It became increasingly obvious that Carwyn was either unwilling or unable to address the culture that existed within his office. He allowed it to develop, fester and grow."
Carwyn Jones has ordered an independent inquiry into how he handled allegations against Carl Sargeant
The Welsh Government said: "We do not recognise these comments. All complaints regarding staff and special adviser conduct are taken seriously and dealt with accordingly."
Former communities secretary Mr Sargeant was being investigated over claims of "unwanted attention, inappropriate touching or groping" and was also suspended by Welsh Labour.
The first minister has said he will order an independent inquiry into his handling of Mr Sargeant's dismissal.
On Sunday, Wales' health secretary Vaughan Gething said he did not believe Mr Jones would resign following anger and criticism of his actions.
But Bernie Attridge, a lifelong friend of Mr Sargeant and the deputy leader of Flintshire council, has called on the first minister to step aside. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-41962751 |
'I'm dealing with life-threatening situations - but I'm not a clinician, I'm a mum' - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Children with life-limiting illnesses are being denied out of hours care, according to a new report. | Health | "She can have up to 40 seizures a day - potentially each one could be dangerous."
Her cerebral palsy, chronic lung disease and epilepsy mean she needs 24-hour care at their home in Liverpool.
It is estimated there are 40,000 children like Holly living with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions in England alone.
Many of them need palliative care round-the-clock, which is largely provided at home by their families but with the support of community children's nurses and community paediatricians.
Hayley says: "I have a community matron and a community physio. They work Monday to Friday, 9am till 5pm. They are great."
But when it comes to out-of-hours and weekends, Hayley says she is left without any support.
"We don't have anyone through the night, we don't really have anyone at the weekend.
"I'm dealing with life-threatening situations, and if I make the wrong decision that could have a serious impact on Holly.
"I feel like I'm trying to do a job, but I'm not given the right tools to do the job, and I feel quite isolated and alone and scared sometimes.
"I'm not a clinician, I'm a mum. To have that support, it's like when somebody gives you that hug and says, 'it's going to be ok.'
"Sometimes we need that - it shouldn't be a luxury - it's a necessity."
Holly with her mum Hayley and dad Gary
Hayley is not alone. BBC Radio 5 live Investigates has seen a new report by the charity Together for Short Lives which describes the commissioning of children's palliative care as 'patchy and inconsistent'.
The charity submitted Freedom of Information requests to every Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in England asking what services they commission for children who need palliative care.
In all, 199 (94%) CCGs provided data. It revealed that, while nearly all CCGs commission community children's nursing teams, just two-thirds (67%) could say that they commission them to provide care out-of-hours and at weekends.
If this support isn't in place, families say they have to call an ambulance or go to A&E.
"We know how much it disrupts Holly to take her into hospital because she's so comfortable at home," said Hayley.
"Also, because she is so immunocompromised, going into a hospital environment potentially brings more risk to her."
Liverpool CCG said it couldn't comment on individual cases, but that it did offer out-of-hours access to very high quality children's palliative care. Services are provided by Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust.
Alder Hey said: "The community children's nursing team is commissioned to provide an extended hours seven day service, but not 24/7.
"The community paediatricians do not provide a 24/7 service except for safeguarding."
Liverpool CCG added: "It would not be appropriate for us to discuss details about an individual's care, but we would urge the family to raise any issues about their care with their provider in the first instance, or with us as a commissioner if they would prefer."
Following a review in 2015 into end-of-life care the government said that, where possible, children should be cared for at home with the support of community services.
But this new research shows that only a third of CCG's in England could say they are implementing this commitment.
Barbara Gelb, chief executive of Together for Short Lives, said the government should undertake a review of children's palliative care as a matter of urgency:
"It is not a nine-to-five job. A child's condition can deteriorate very quickly, and being able to call on a community service in the middle of the night is crucial to help families cope at these times. "
A spokesperson for NHS Clinical Commissioners, the membership organisation for CCGs, said it was encouraged that the report showed improvement in some aspects but acknowledged there was more work to be done.
It added, "Commissioners are having to make really difficult decisions on a daily basis about how to use the finite funding they have been allocated".
The Department of Health has said it will look at the report's recommendations closely. A spokesperson said the NHS is expected to provide "a personalised and dignified service" that takes account of families' wishes.
They added "We recently published the government's end of life care commitment so that by 2020 there will be significant progress in patient choice, increased personalisation of care and improved quality and availability of services".
5 live Investigates is broadcast on Sunday 12th November 2017 at 11am GMT. If you've missed it you can catch up on the iPlayer.
Have you got something you want us to investigate? We want to hear from you. Email us.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41927703 |
Cannabis plants found in seven bin bags by side of road - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Police appealed to the owner tweeting, "if it's yours come and speak to us at Harrogate Police station". | York & North Yorkshire | Police tweeted about the haul, which was found on Saturday night
Seven bin bags full of cannabis plants have been found at the side of a road in North Yorkshire.
The plants were found by council officers on the A59 in Blubberhouses near Harrogate early on Sunday morning.
PC Amanda Hanusch-Moore tweeted: "If it's yours come and speak to us at Harrogate Police station, we're more than happy to discuss!"
Anyone with information is being urged to contact North Yorkshire Police.
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 Amanda Hanusch-Moore 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.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-41960757 |
Armistice Day: Two minutes' silence marks remembrance - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Big Ben chimed at 11:00 GMT for the first time since August to remember the war dead. | UK | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Millions of people have fallen silent to remember the nation's war dead, as the UK marked Armistice Day.
Big Ben, which has been silent since August while repair work is carried out, chimed at 11:00 GMT.
Events have been held around the country to mark the 99th anniversary of the end of World War One.
And the Queen and other members of the Royal Family have taken part in a Royal Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Prime Minister Theresa May, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cambridge were among those at the event, run by the British Legion and featuring performances from Emeli Sande, Tom Odell, Melanie C, Alfie Boe and the Band of HM Royal Marines.
The service marked the centenaries of the women's service in the regular Armed Forces, the Battle of Passchendaele, the creation of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the 100th birthday of Dame Vera Lynn.
There was also praise for service personnel and civilian services who came to the aid of the injured in this year's terrorist attacks in London and Manchester.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Les Cherrington said thinking about his fallen comrades made him very emotional
Earlier, the Western Front Association held its annual service of remembrance at the Cenotaph, in Whitehall, central London, where a two-minute silence was observed.
And the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire hosted an outdoor service of remembrance within the walls of the Armed Forces Memorial.
People observe a two minute silence at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire
The Western Front Association's annual service of remembrance at the Cenotaph, Whitehall
The Duke of York and Duchess of Cambridge were among those attending the Royal Festival of Remembrance
They were joined by the Queen and Prince Philip
In Brighton, the world's tallest moving observation tower, the British Airways i360, is turning red to mark the event.
The Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey
On Sunday, Prince Charles will lay a wreath at the Cenotaph on his mother's behalf.
It will be the first time, as head of state, that the Queen will observe the ceremony from a nearby balcony, where she will be joined by the Duke of Edinburgh.
People gathered at the Cenotaph on Whitehall to observe a two minute silence
A service of remembrance was held at the Edinburgh Garden of Remembrance
Elsewhere, Australians have observed a minute's silence to remember their war dead.
The country's Sydney Opera House was lit up with red poppies.
The sails of the Sydney Opera House are seen illuminated with red poppies
Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull joined his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, in Vietnam - where the Apec summit is taking place - to attend a service of remembrance.
"We remember every ANZAC serviceman and woman who has made the supreme sacrifice to keep our two countries free," he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron lays a wreath in front of the statue of Georges Clemenceau in Paris
Armistice Day is a national holiday in France and Belgium. French president Emmanuel Macron has laid a wreath in front of the statue of Georges Clemenceau - the prime minister of France during World War One.
Princess Anne paid tribute during the Last Post ceremony at Ypres Memorial in Belgium
Armistice Day falls each year on 11 November to mark the day in 1918 when the fighting in World War One was stopped.
The Allies and Germany signed an armistice in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiegne in France at 05:00. Six hours later, at 11:00, the conflict ceased.
King George V announced that a two-minute silence would be observed in 1919, four days before the first anniversary of Armistice Day. The silence continues to be observed every year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Watch the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance on BBC One on Saturday at 21:00 GMT. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41952990 |
Warsaw nationalist march draws tens of thousands - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Marchers lit flares and carried Polish flags as they took part in an independence day rally in Warsaw. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. These were the scenes in 2017 when a nationalist march and counter-protest took place in Warsaw
Tens of thousands of people joined a nationalist march in Warsaw on Saturday, organised to coincide with Poland's independence day.
Marchers chanted religious slogans such as "God, honour, country" and some called out racist chants including "Pure Poland, white Poland".
Police estimated that 60,000 people took part in the main march.
It attracted far-right agitators from elsewhere in Europe, including Tommy Robinson from the UK and Roberto Fiore from Italy.
Kamil Staszalek, 30, said he was there to "honour the memory of those who fought for Poland's freedom".
"I'd say some people here do have extreme views, maybe even 30% of those marching, but 70% are simply walking peacefully, without shouting any fascist slogans," he told the AFP news agency.
Supporters of the country's governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party took part in the annual march, which takes place alongside other events.
"We are proud that so many Poles have decided to take part in a celebration connected to the Independence Day holiday," he said.
Andy Eddles, a British language teacher who has been living in Poland for 27 years, said he was "shocked that they're allowed to demonstrate on this day".
"It's 50,000 to 100,000 mostly football hooligans hijacking patriotism," the 50-year-old, who joined the counter-protest, told AFP.
"For me it's important to support the anti-fascist coalition, and to support fellow democrats, who are under pressure in Poland today," he said.
The nationalist marchers carried Polish flags and threw red smoke bombs. Pawel, 21, from the southern city of Rzeszow told AFP it was "important because religion is important in our country and we don't want Islamisation, of Europe or especially Poland".Other events were also held in the city for Independence Day, which marks the country regaining independence 123 years after it was carved up by Tsarist Russia, Prussia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
An official ceremony was hosted by President Andrzej Duda.
All living former Polish presidents attended, as well as the European Union president Donald Tusk.
European Council President Donald Tusk lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
"Independence Day has always been and will continue to be a celebration of all Poles and not just one party. No politician in Poland has ever had nor will ever have a monopoly on patriotism," Mr Tusk said as he arrived at the airport in Warsaw.
Poland was the only EU country to vote against Mr Tusk's reelection as EU president in March.
The conservative tack taken by the country's ruling PiS party, including anti-migrant and pro-logging reforms, has put it increasingly at odd with Brussels. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41958199 |
Charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran are 'absurd' - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The husband of a British mother detained in Iran since April says the idea she was plotting to overthrow the regime is "nonsense". | UK | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
The husband of a British mother detained in Iran has said the idea she could be involved in trying to overthrow the regime is "absurd".
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 37, is due on trial on as yet unspecified charges after being arrested in April.
Speaking to the BBC on the couple's seventh wedding anniversary, Richard Ratcliffe, from north London, said his wife was "a proud and loyal Iranian".
Prime Minister Theresa May raised the case with Iran's president last week.
The British-Iranian charity worker was arrested while she was at an airport with her daughter Gabriella while visiting her family on holiday.
Richard's only contact with his daughter is via Skype
Mr Ratcliffe told the BBC's Caroline Hawley her arrest was "so absurd", adding: "The idea that anyone with a baby could be busy overthrowing the regime is obviously nonsense."
He said his wife had been under "intense interrogation" for the first two months of her imprisonment and was kept in solitary confinement.
She lost a lot of weight and became very weak, he said, adding: "When she came out of solitary that was when she couldn't walk without blackouts and her hair was falling out."
Mr Ratcliffe believes his wife is being used as a pawn in a larger dispute.
"There is definitely a political game going on between different parts of the Iranian government and the Iranian regime, so the revolutionary guard versus the government, and she's caught up in that.
"There have been various attempts by the Iranian government to improve relations with the West and this is almost as provocative as possible to stop that happening."
Mr Ratcliffe said his wife had been caught up in a "political game"
His daughter has had her passport confiscated and is currently being taken care of by relatives in Tehran, he said.
"There's a picture in Nazanin's parents' living room of our wedding and she'll go and point to the wedding photo if she wants to speak to daddy or if she wants to speak to mummy," he added.
"But, of course, she associates where she sees them, so she knows she sees mummy at prison at the moment. She knows that she sees daddy on the telephone."
He admitted being away from his daughter was "tough" and said "online parenting" was not the same as watching your daughter grow up.
However, he said it was a "small mercy" she was with relatives in Iran.
He welcomed the involvement of Mrs May - who "raised concerns" about Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other cases of detained nationals during a phone call with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.
"We are still at the stage where we are not clear what is going on or how the process is working," Mr Ratcliffe added.
"Certainly the fact that Theresa May has raised Nazanin's case, and that it has reached that level - that can only help the situation."
A Downing Street spokeswoman said the PM had "stressed the importance of resolving these cases as we worked to strengthen our diplomatic relationship".
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, travelled to Iran on an Iranian passport.
She is being prosecuted in Tehran's Revolutionary Court and her case is to be handled by judge Abolghassem Salavati. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37077128 |
Sexual harassment claims are 'no witch hunt', says Harman - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Labour MP Harriet Harman says change is "overdue" following sexual abuse allegations in Westminster. | UK Politics | Labour MP Harriet Harman has told BBC News that the string of allegations of sexual abuse and harassment against MPs is not a witch hunt.
She said: "There are a lot of men saying this has been blown out of all proportion, it's a witch hunt. No, it's not a witch hunt, it's long overdue."
Her comments follow the suspensions of a Conservative and a Labour MP.
Meanwhile, SNP MSP Mark McDonald has quit as a Scottish government minister over "inappropriate" behaviour.
In a statement he said it had been brought to his attention that some of his "previous actions have been considered to be inappropriate".
"I apologise unreservedly to anyone I have upset or who might have found my behaviour inappropriate," Mr McDonald, who represents Aberdeen Donside at Holyrood, said.
Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke and Labour's Kelvin Hopkins were suspended from their parties on Friday, while Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon resigned earlier this week.
On Saturday morning, Sir Roger Gale, Conservative MP for North Thanet, urged people "not to rush to judgement", telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he believes the scandal is turning into a "witch hunt".
"I don't think there's anybody who would seek to defend rape or sexual abuse in the context there's no proof that I can see yet of any wrongdoing. How does a member of Parliament refute that?"
On Friday, the Conservatives published a new code of conduct and are immediately adopting a new complaints procedure.
Mrs May is also meeting opposition party leaders on Monday to discuss proposals to bring forward a new grievance system for Westminster staff and MPs.
Ms Harman, the former Labour deputy leader, said that she thought Prime Minister Theresa May took "very bold action" in relation to Sir Michael's resignation.
Sir Michael, who quit office on Wednesday saying his general conduct fell short of expected standards, has "categorically denied" allegations over his conduct.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The scandal is turning into a "witch hunt", says Tory MP
Ms Harman told BBC Radio 4's Week in Westminster that Mrs May's actions have made her "hopeful" that the parties can work together to change standards.
She said people were put off from making complaints for fear of being disloyal to their party and "helping" the other side. But now, she said, "there's a bigger fight".
"We're all tribal beasts, that's why we're there [in parliament] and that has dampened down any ability to speak out," she said. "I think that's changed after this week."
Ms Harman said that Parliament has a "sea change opportunity" to address the issue - and to help those who speak out.
She added: "If you point your finger at a powerful man, they won't just sit there, they will fight back. So there will be some backlash about this amongst the corridors [of Westminster]."
On Friday, Charlie Elphicke, a former party whip who has been the Conservative MP for Dover since 2010, was suspended by the party after "serious allegations" were referred to the police.
Denying any wrongdoing in a post on Twitter, the married 46-year-old wrote: "The party tipped off the press before telling me of my suspension. I am not aware of what the alleged claims are."
Labour MPs Clive Lewis and Kelvin Hopkins are being investigated by the party over allegations about their behaviour.
But Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale told BBC Radio 4: "We're in danger of getting into a situation where nobody half bright, half sensible, half decent, will want to go into the House of Commons - and that will not be good for democracy.
"We should look at the facts...by all means throw book at them, but don't throw the book at them until the case is proven."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. I was groped and flashed at - Emily Thornberry
Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, told BBC Breakfast that the House of Commons has "no real structure" for complaints.
She said it is "the most unusual workplace" where the rules around sexual harassment are "lax if not non-existent".
"In this sense it needs to get into line. Other big companies have a sexual harassment policy, they have a staff handbook. All those things do not exist for MPs", she said.
On top of that, she added, "you've got a whole political culture which has thrived on favours and bullying" as well as partisan "one-upmanship" where people are "incredibly loyal to their parties".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Labour's shadow chancellor says Parliament must 'give women the confidence to work in safety'
Alongside the new code of conduct and complaints procedure, the Conservatives have set up a a hotline for reporting potential breaches and a more detailed investigatory process.
Labour has introduced a new complaints procedure, while the Liberal Democrats continue to review their complaints procedures.
Labour's shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said any complaints system has to apply to all political parties, and must be "fair and objective".
"There should be an element of independence [in the system], particularly for support as well, so people can feel confident about where they can report these things and at the same time how it can be dealt with."
Mrs May said Parliament must do its bit as well as the individual parties - as it was not fair to expect potentially vulnerable people to "navigate different grievance procedures according to political party".
Lord Bew, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, told the Today programme that the "burning issue" at stake is the reputation of parliament.
He said it was vital that cases were not dealt with internally by the parties, but by those outside parliament who could "give some reassurance to the public that this is not just another cover-up". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41870120 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Husband fears for her health - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband says she has found lumps in her breasts and is close to breakdown. | UK | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband said "she was just a mum on holiday"
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman being held in Iran, has seen a specialist after finding lumps in her breasts, her husband has said.
Richard Ratcliffe also expressed concern that his wife appeared to be "on the verge of a nervous breakdown".
She was arrested during a visit to Iran in April 2016, accused of trying to overthrow the regime, which she denies.
Cabinet ministers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have been accused of bungling the UK's handling of the case.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's family have issued a statement about her condition, saying she had been "complaining of sharp stabbing pains in her breasts" for more than a year.
They said she had been given a mammogram by the prison's gynaecologist, which gave an inconclusive result.
After insisting on seeing an outside specialist, the family said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was then taken to hospital for an ultrasound on Saturday.
They said although the doctor thought the lumps were likely to be benign, he did note her family having a history of breast cancer.
She was given anti-inflammatory medication and vitamin pills and was to be seen by the specialist again next week to see whether there was any improvement or whether she might need surgery, the family said.
The full details of the allegations against Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe have never been made fully public.
She maintains the purpose of her trip to Iran was to visit family and for her daughter to meet her grandparents but speaking in Westminster on 1 November, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appeared to contradict her account when he wrongly said she had been training journalists there.
Four days later, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was recalled to court in Iran and his remark cited as evidence against her, prompting fears her five-year sentence could be extended.
However, her family say there have been no developments on new charges against her since her court appearance. Her lawyer also says he has not been contacted by the Iranian judiciary.
In the statement her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, describes his earlier phone conversation with Mr Johnson and says the minister is trying to find time to meet him "in the next few days".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michael Gove says Richard Ratcliffe was the person who would know what his wife was doing in Iran
It came after Environment Secretary Michael Gove told the BBC he did not know what Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been doing in Iran when she was arrested.
He later said he would "take her husband's assurance" that she was on holiday.
Amid calls for his resignation over the matter, the foreign secretary earlier this week clarified that the UK government had "no doubt" that a holiday was the sole purpose of her visit to Iran.
Mr Ratcliffe said his wife had been angered by Mr Johnson's initial remarks and Iranian media coverage of her case.
But he restated his belief that it was not in Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's interests for anyone to resign. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41963159 |
Women's Ashes 2017: England keep series alive with draw against Australia - BBC Sport | 2017-11-12 | null | Captain Heather Knight leads a rearguard action as England force a draw against Australia to keep the Women's Ashes series alive. | null | Women's Ashes Test, North Sydney Oval (day four of four):
Captain Heather Knight led a stubborn rearguard action as England forced a draw against Australia to keep the multi-format Women's Ashes alive.
Australia would have retained the trophy if they had won this inaugural day-night Test, but needed to bowl England out on the final day in Sydney.
England began on 40-0, 128 runs behind, but after losing their openers, Knight (79 not out) added an unbroken 117 with Georgia Elwiss (41 not out) to keep Australia at bay before a draw was agreed with the tourists on 206-2.
Australia now lead the series 6-4 on points, meaning - barring intervention from the weather - England need to win all three Twenty20 internationals in order to regain the Ashes trophy.
Ellyse Perry's sparkling double century on day three had left the hosts in the ascendancy, but neither side were helped by a lifeless North Sydney Oval pitch which gave no assistance to the bowlers, and it must be a concern that the T20 series begins on Friday at the same ground - with the same pitch reportedly set to be reused.
• None Relive the fourth day of the Test
After the excitement of Perry's unbeaten 213 the previous day, Sunday's action will have tested the patience of even the most committed fan of women's cricket.
With the unrealistic prospect of an England victory out of the window, the only possible results were an Aussie win to clinch the series, or a draw to keep it alive.
It meant England had to take a safety-first approach, but openers Tammy Beaumont (37) and Lauren Winfield (34) continued their positive start from the previous night, adding 71 for the first wicket.
For the second time in the match, Beaumont was dismissed by a superb leg break bowled by rookie Amanda-Jade Wellington.
Having been caught at slip in the first innings, here she was bowled by a delivery which drifted into the right-hander, pitched on leg stump and turned sharply to take the top of off stump.
In terms of an Australian leg-spinner dismissing an England batsman renowned as a good player of spin in an Ashes Test, it even drew comparisons with Shane Warne's "ball of the century" to Mike Gatting in 1993.
Knight, who had scored a painstaking 157 from 330 balls in the 2013 Ashes Test at Wormsley, then led from the front as she compiled her second half-century of the match, her unbeaten 79 coming from 220 balls but containing 11 fours.
Elwiss, making her first appearance since the group stage of the World Cup, vindicated her selection as the extra batter with 41 from 190.
She rode her luck at times - shouldering arms to spinner Jess Jonassen and nearly losing her off stump, while she was nearly run out when Knight called her for a quick single - but England were ultimately good value for their draw.
So does women's Test cricket have a future?
While men's Test cricket's future as a five-day match has been recently questioned, the women's game remains a four-day contest, with faster over-rates allowing 100 overs to be bowled in a day.
More than 12,000 fans entered the North Sydney Oval across the four days, showing that the increased profile of women's cricket - aided by a successful World Cup and the growth of Australia's Women's Big Bash League and England's Super League - means there is an audience for it.
Players from both sides have also been insistent that they would love to play more Test cricket, rather than one game every two years or so.
But commentators have agreed that the game does itself no favours when pitches such as this one are used, after only 21 wickets fell in 387 overs.
The track was devoid of grass, offering little or no pace or swing for the seamers. Even after four days, it had not deteriorated to aid the spinners, who were forced to bowl with a pink ball which scuffed up very quickly.
"There's been no life in it from day one, and it's been very hard for the players to get wickets," ex-England captain Charlotte Edwards said on BBC Test Match Special.
"It's been too flat and too slow. I said on the first day, that if we're going to play women's Test cricket, the pitch has got to have more pace in it."
By mid-evening, Australia captain Rachael Haynes had resorted to using three part-time bowlers, including herself, in a fruitless attempt to break the deadlock.
'The pitch destroyed the pink ball' - what they said
England captain Heather Knight on TMS: "It's been a long few days, but for the girls to come back today and make the game safe was pleasing. It was disappointing we couldn't force a win as Ellyse took the game away from us yesterday.
"We're not used to playing multi-innings games but batting with Georgia was brilliant. She's a mentally strong player and she knows her game really well. It was attritional at times but that's the game we had to play. It was difficult to take 20 wickets but we can only play in the conditions we're given."
Australia captain Rachael Haynes on TMS: "Our goal was to win - we were happy to get a couple of early wickets but the England batters shut us out. Given that our Tests are played over four days, perhaps that track was too flat as it made it tough for the bowlers once the ball got old."
England coach Mark Robinson on TMS: "It was challenging on that wicket with a slow outfield, but it was a nice rearguard action to keep it out for a draw. We had to show some good backbone. But we need pace on the ball in women's cricket, the pitch was grassless and destroyed the pink ball.
"But to have nearly 4,000 there yesterday was a tremendous effort by Cricket Australia and we saw a tremendous innings by a special player, so I don't want to sour it by talking about the pitch."
TMS commentator Charles Dagnall: "England have done the job they were here to do. They've saved the Test match. The fact that the scoring rate on days one and two was only just over two an over tells you everything - the pitch ain't good enough." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/41959648 |
Priti Patel 'overwhelmed' by support after quitting cabinet - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The MP's comments came at her first appearance since quitting the cabinet over the Israel meetings row. | Essex | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Priti Patel says she has been "inundated" with support since resigning over unofficial meetings in Israel
Priti Patel has made her first public appearance since resigning as UK international development secretary after a row over unauthorised meetings.
Ms Patel, 45, attended the Armistice Day service in her Witham constituency in Essex on Saturday.
Earlier this week, she was summoned to Downing Street and quit her cabinet post over her meetings with Israeli officials.
After the service, she said she had been "inundated" with support.
Ms Patel quit her post on Wednesday, admitting unauthorised meetings with Israeli officials had "lacked transparency".
Ms Patel said she had been "overwhelmed" by people's support
Last week the BBC revealed how she had arranged a number of meetings with business and political figures during a family holiday to Israel in August, without telling Downing Street or the Foreign Office.
It later emerged that after Ms Patel's visit to Israel she asked her officials to look into whether Britain could support humanitarian operations conducted by the Israeli army in the occupied Golan Heights area.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Priti Patel left the back entrance of 10 Downing Street after quitting
The Conservative MP did not take any questions during her visit to Saturday's service, but told the BBC: "I've been overwhelmed with support from colleagues across the political divide.
"Of course, nothing is more humbling than the support I've received from my constituents.
"I look forward to returning to Parliament on Monday where I will continue to be a strong voice for Witham and Britain."
The Conservative MP for Portsmouth North Penny Mordaunt has taken over Ms Patel's post.
Like her predecessor, she had also backed Brexit in last year's referendum.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-41954049 |
Omagh alert 'attempt to disrupt Remembrance Day' - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | PSNI's Chief Constable says a strong line of enquiry is that dissident republicans are responsible. | Northern Ireland | An Army robot at the scene of the alert on Sunday
A security alert that postponed a wreath-laying ceremony in Omagh earlier was caused by a viable pipe bomb type device, police have said.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable George Hamilton said police were following a "strong line of enquiry" that dissident republicans were responsible.
The alert began after the discovery of a suspicious object on Drumragh Avenue.
The rest of the Remembrance Sunday service was able to go ahead.
Cordons were in place at Drumragh Avenue, Mountjoy Road, Sedan Avenue, George Street and High Street. The alert has now ended.
The PSNI Chief Constable said that the device was "left to cause maximum disruption" to the commemorations and described it as "sickening and appalling".
"This is the action of a small and callous group of violent people who have nothing to offer our communities other than fear and intimidation," he said.
"Whilst our investigation into the incident is at a very early stage, one strong line of enquiry is that violent dissident republicans are responsible.
"Their actions today have demonstrated the disregard and disrespect they have for this community, which has already suffered so much pain and hurt at the hands of terrorists."
DUP MLA Tom Buchanan said he believed the planting of the pipe bomb was a "re-run" of the Enniskillen Poppy Day bomb 30 years ago that resulted in the deaths of 12 people.
"Innocent men, women and children's lives were taken and maimed with a similar type of device at that particular time," he said.
"And, again, I find it very difficult to get words strong enough to condemn those that are responsible for planning and pre-meditating such an attack."
Ulster Unionist councillor Chris Smyth said those responsible were cowards.
"It's always going to hurt an awful lot when people come to remember their dead and they come with wreaths, they come with a very clear idea of what they want to do," he said.
"Then, because of the actions of a few very sick and very cowardly individuals, they're stopped from doing that."
The Sinn Féin MP for the area, Barry McElduff, said everyone had the "unfettered right" to remember their dead.
"Whoever decided to leave a package in this area, a suspicious package, obviously has shown complete disregard for everyone in the community," he said. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-41960294 |
Saad Hariri: Lebanon return from Saudi Arabia 'within days' - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Lebanon's Saad Hariri says he is free in Saudi Arabia, and that he resigned to protect himself. | Middle East | Hariri's resignation has sent shockwaves through Lebanon and the region
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri says he will return home "in days" to formally submit his resignation.
Mr Hariri spoke to Future TV from Riyadh, his first public remarks since he announced he was stepping down last week.
His cabinet allies say he is being held captive, but Mr Hariri denied this.
He has blamed the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement for his resignation, citing concerns over his and his family's safety.
The US and UK have warned other countries not to use Lebanon for proxy conflicts.
Mr Hariri, a Sunni leader and businessman, was nominated to form Lebanon's government in November 2016.
"I have resigned. I am going to Lebanon very soon and I will resign in the constitutional manner," he said in the TV interview.
Under Lebanese law the prime minister has to submit his resignation to the president, who must accept it for it to take effect.
However, Mr Hariri also held out the prospect that he might reconsider resigning if Hezbollah stopped intervening in neighbouring countries.
"If we want to go back on the resignation, we have to return to the policy of distancing ourselves" from regional conflicts," he said, according to the Associated Press.
"I am not against Hezbollah as a party, I have a problem with Hezbollah destroying the country," he said.
The main problem for the region, he said, was "Iran interfering in Arab states".
A sombre Mr Hariri recognised that he did not resign in the "usual way" but said he wanted to give his country a "positive shock".
"My resignation came as a wake-up call for Lebanon," he said.
Posters of Mr Hariri have appeared across Beirut. This one says: "We are all Saad"
Iran and Hezbollah have accused Saudi Arabia of holding Mr Hariri hostage.
But Mr Hariri insisted that he was free to travel as he pleased in the country. "I am free here. If I want to travel tomorrow, I will," he said.
Observers noted the journalist who interviewed Mr Hariri made an effort to demonstrate that the event was live, rather than pre-recorded, though there were several moments which raised suspicions about the conditions under which the interview was held, the Associated Press reported. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41961058 |
Rugby League World Cup: England 36-6 France - BBC Sport | 2017-11-12 | null | England set up a World Cup quarter-final against Papua New Guinea next weekend by easing past France despite a mixed performance in Perth. | null | Last updated on .From the section Rugby League
England set up a World Cup quarter-final against Papua New Guinea by easing past France in Perth.
Although Wayne Bennett's side won by a comfortable 30-point margin, the Australian head coach will be concerned by another disjointed showing.
England effectively ended the contest after just nine minutes by scoring three quick tries courtesy of the impressive Gareth Widdop, Stefan Ratchford and James Graham.
Centres Mark Percival and John Bateman both went over but French forward Benjamin Garcia's brilliant dummy allowed him to touch down from close range before half-time.
Jermaine McGillvary took his tally to nine tries from nine games by scoring twice in a scrappy second half, but the team failed to add further points to the scoreboard.
England will face Papua New Guinea in Melbourne next Sunday (kick-off 05:00 GMT), live on BBC TV, radio and online.
• None We can fix mistakes, says coach Bennett
Bennett made five changes to his team to give the fringe players a run in the competition, but the Australian now has a selection headache for the next game in the knockout stages.
Veteran Kevin Brown showed his experience by directing the play from stand-off and was heavily involved in England's free-flowing attacking play in the first 40 minutes, combining superbly with half-back partner Luke Gale and Widdop.
St George Illawarra Dragon Widdop was switched to full-back from stand-off, and his support play from the back of the field provided a constant threat to the France defence and he opened the scoring by breaking clear in the opening two minutes.
It was Widdop's speed and quick offloads that set up tries for Percival and McGillvary, while he also added eight points with the boot.
Former Great Britain full-back Jonathan Davies said on BBC Two: "Widdop is going to play in the quarter-final next weekend, but where is he most beneficial? I think it is full-back. He has got great vision, a great kicking game and he is a finisher."
St Helens full-back Jonny Lomax, who is recovering from injury, may well be the man to miss out again while Ratchford was tried out on the wing against France.
England's leading forward Sam Burgess said he is fit to return after a knee injury sustained against Australia kept him out of the games against Lebanon and France.
England defended well in their defeat by Australia and win against Lebanon but had been incoherent at times in attack.
Bennett had asked for "a mistake-free game" against France and will be annoyed he did not get this.
His side made 13 handling errors in the match, 10 of which came in a largely disappointing second half, and missed a total of 20 tackles.
Assistant coach Denis Betts told BBC Sport: "It was a great first half, just a very disjointed, sloppy second half.
"I was happy we did not concede another try, keeping them to six, but the completion rate was not good enough, the ball control was really poor and the decision-making and options were not good enough.
"It is hard to put a finger on why. I have got to highlight how clinical we were at the start and some of the attacking skills were outstanding but we have got to do that for 80 minutes."
McGillvary, allowed to play after being cleared of biting in the previous game, dropped a simple high kick and from the resulting set Tom Burgess tried to anticipate Garcia's pass, but the Frenchman threw a dummy and burrowed in from close range for their try.
Although Huddersfield's McGillvary scored twice in the second half, his efforts came 20 scoreless minutes apart in which his side failed to complete sets and dropped balls when they should have converted.
Castleford forward Mike McMeeken took his eye off the ball and spilled a pass close to the line, while prop James Graham gave the ball away when attempting to offload - and was fortunate his error went unpunished as Lucas Albert ran 70 metres to score, but referee Phil Bentham adjudged a forward pass in the move.
Tonga's surprise 28-22 victory over 2008 champions New Zealand on Saturday was a result that had a significant impact on the rest of the tournament and England in particular.
Bennett's side face Papua New Guinea - the only country in the world which classes rugby league as their national sport - after they emerged top of Group C ahead of Ireland and Wales.
More interestingly for England, they will avoid holders Australia and the Kiwis in the semi-finals if they progress - and the way the draw has panned out means those two sides will not contest the final for the first time since 1995.
• None Sign up for live match notifications on the BBC Sport app | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/41959801 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: 'Boris should resign' says Sadiq Khan - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | null | The London mayor calls for the foreign secretary to resign over comments about a woman held in Iran. | null | Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called for Boris Johnson to resign over comments he made about a British-Iranian woman being held in Iran.
The foreign secretary caused consternation when he told a group of MPs that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been "training journalists" in Iran.
Her family say Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran visiting family, | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41959523 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Jailed woman's husband 'to speak to Boris Johnson' - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is to speak to the foreign secretary on Sunday, he tells the BBC. | UK | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife is in jail in Iran, wants to go there with Boris Johnson
The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman being held in Iran, will speak to Boris Johnson tomorrow, he has told the BBC.
He also wants to meet the foreign secretary in the coming days, he said.
The BBC understands the Foreign Office agreed Mr Ratcliffe would meet Mr Johnson the week after next at a meeting with families involved in dual nationality cases.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was in Iran visiting family, is accused of spying.
It is also understood the Foreign Office is reviewing Mr Radcliffe's latest request, made this morning on BBC Breakfast, to meet next week.
He has also asked to join Mr Johnson on his next visit to Iran, which he says will hopefully be in the coming weeks.
The foreign secretary caused consternation earlier this week when he told a group of MPs that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been "training journalists" in Iran.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This is how Iranian media reported Boris Johnson's remarks about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Soon after those comments, Iran moved to double her prison sentence. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41956588 |
Russia-Trump: Who's who in the drama to end all dramas? - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | It was just like House of Cards. Or maybe Game of Thrones. Trump-Russia was the only drama that mattered. | US & Canada | It was more gripping than any box set we could get our hands on.
Over two years, the investigations into Russian interference in the US election, and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin, delivered daily developments and drama worthy of anything seen in House of Cards.
In the end, 35 people and three companies were charged by Robert Mueller, the special counsel who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Here's our guide to the main characters in the four seasons of the only political drama that mattered.
This was the season in which Donald Trump, the reality TV star, took centre stage in his own political drama by launching a presidential campaign. He was supported by his family and got the attention of the Russians. The season ended with a cliffhanger - could Trump the outsider actually win?!
It's been a while since all of this happened, so let's remind you of the key players in this season.
Who was he? Donald Trump, the billionaire candidate (who by Season Three is the 45th president of the United States). If you really need a refresher, here's his life story.
Key plot line As Donald Trump was busy traversing the country canvassing for votes in Season One, Russia hacked into the emails of his Democratic rivals, investigators later said.
The question is why? Was the Kremlin trying to alter the outcome of the election, and what did Trump and his campaign know?
Skip forward to the end of Season Four and Mr Trump stood triumphant before reporters in a Florida airport, celebrating what he called "a complete and total exoneration".
But in between, there was no shortage of drama or tension.
Who was he? He was Trump's campaign chairman before being forced to quit over his ties to Russian oligarchs and Ukraine.
Key plot line He was one of the biggest dominoes to fall. When he ended up being arrested, it was a big season-ending shocker.
Manafort hung around a bit in Season One, but then disappeared from view for a while.
He quit the campaign after being accused of having links to pro-Russian groups in Ukraine. He also sat in on a crucial meeting with a Russian lawyer who may have been trying to feed the Trump team classified information (more on that later).
After an FBI raid on his home in Season Three, Manafort was found guilty on eight charges of tax fraud, bank fraud, and failing to disclose foreign banks accounts and is sentenced to 47 months in prison.
In Season Four, he agreed to co-operate with a special counsel inquiry in exchange for a reduced prison term. But then, in a twist - prosecutors claimed he breached his plea bargain by repeatedly lying to the FBI.
Read more: The man who helped Trump win
Who was he? The president's eldest child, who it emerged met some questionable Russians.
Key plot line Donald Trump Jr's role in this unfolding saga all came down to a meeting he had with a Russian lawyer, which was set up by a music publicist (the full details of which come out in Season Three). If it sounds random, then in many ways it is.
The publicist, Rob Goldstone, offered Trump Jr a meeting with lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, promising him dirt on Hillary Clinton.
This meeting was the key to much of our plot line because it raised several key questions. Did this amount to the campaign colluding with a foreign government? Why did he agree to the meeting?
What happened at the meeting was the scene investigators played over and over again as they tried to work out if there was any impropriety. In the end, no collusion charges were brought.
Donald Trump confounded his critics by winning the presidency. But the transition was as gripping as the season before it as Trump picked his cabinet, introducing key characters to the mix.
The season ended with Trump taking the oath of office on a cold January morning - but there were more twists to come.
Who was he? The granite-faced former general who later became the shortest-serving member of Donald Trump's cabinet. He resigned after not being honest about his contact with a Russian official - and was later charged with making false statements to the FBI.
Key plot line Flynn was appointed national security adviser just days after the election, against the advice of then-President Obama, who warned Trump not to hire him. Flynn's starring role came in December 2016, just before Trump was sworn in, when he spoke to the Russian ambassador, Sergei Kislyak.
The Washington Post and New York Times said the men discussed Russian sanctions, and that Flynn later lied to the Vice President Mike Pence about the conversation (Mr Kislyak says the men discussed only "simple things").
The substance of those talks eventually led to Flynn being prosecuted as part of the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
At the end of Season Three, in December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to making "false, fictitious and fraudulent statements" to the FBI about what he and Kislyak discussed.
With that, the investigation reached Trump's inner circle.
Read more: Out after 23 days - who is Michael Flynn?
Who was he? Many roads in this drama led back to Sergei Kislyak, the jolly and charismatic figure, who up until July 2017 was the Russian ambassador to Washington.
Key plot line Kislyak's role in this drama remained unclear up to the end - but many of the players in this drama had meetings with him, and that put them in awkward spots.
The key questions for investigators were: why were they drawn to him, and what was said? The Russian ambassador spoke to both Flynn and Attorney-General Jeff Sessions - meetings which both Trump officials didn't initially acknowledge took place.
Anything else we should know? Well, Russia fiercely fought back against claims on CNN that Kislyak was a "top spy and recruiter of spies".
Who was he? Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III hovered in the background during Season One, when he was an Alabama senator and a trusted Trump adviser, but we really got to know him during Season Two, when he became Trump's nominee for attorney general, a job he kept for almost two years.
Key plot line Sessions was one of several Trump aides to meet Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak, and question marks emerged over the nature of those meetings.
When the FBI investigation focused on the Trump campaign, Sessions stood down from the inquiry, much to Trump's irritation.
That decision to step down dogged him to the end, and he was written out of the series close to the end of Season Four, when Trump forced him to resign.
That move put control of the Mueller investigation into the hands of a Trump loyalist.
Read more: An attorney general dogged by scandal
This was where the drama really picked up and all the plot lines came together. A lot of the background characters we saw in Season One came back with a vengeance and the infighting got nasty - and this is when the police started circling.
Who was she? A Russian lawyer with a fearsome reputation who fought against US restrictions on Russia. But was she a Kremlin stooge?
Despite earlier denials, she admitted in April 2018 to being an "informant" for Russia's prosecutor general.
Key plot line Hers was a small but crucial role - she's the one who Manafort, Trump Jr and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner met in June 2016, the details of which begin trickling out a year later in a flashback sequence.
She said the meeting was to discuss adoptions - but those who helped set it up said she was offering dirt on the Democrats and Hillary Clinton's campaign.
While the meeting became a central plot point, whatever happened inside never actually led to any charges.
That meeting would never have happened without...
Who were they? Emin Agalarov is Azerbaijan's biggest pop star, of course. Have you not heard Love is a Deadly Game? Emin helped bring Donald Trump's Miss Universe competition to Russia and the two are close enough to send each other birthday messages. His dad, Aras, is a billionaire who mixes in the highest circles of influence in Moscow.
Key plot line Again in a flashback scene, we met Emin as he set the wheels in motion on that Trump Jr meeting.
An email sent to Trump Jr suggested Emin was offering information on the Democrats (Emin said he wasn't). The email also said Aras Agalarov had apparently met the "crown prosecutor" of Russia - a role that weirdly didn't exist - and got information on Hillary Clinton.
Who was he? He became deputy attorney general under Jeff Sessions. In the TV drama of the Russia scandal, this is the sort of role that would go to a solid Broadway actor you recognise but can't put a name to.
Key plot line When Sessions stood down from leading the main investigation into the Trump-Russia ties, it fell to Rosenstein to do that job. In a major plot development, he appointed a special investigator - not a popular move with the White House.
Read more: Who is Rod Rosenstein?
Who was he? Married to Trump's daughter, Ivanka, Kushner was the character who was seen but very rarely heard.
Key plot line Amid cries of nepotism, he was given a plum White House job as senior adviser to the president with a wide-ranging portfolio. It was his contacts with the Russians during the election campaign and beyond that led investigators to circle him.
In June 2016, Kushner attended THAT meeting with Donald Trump Jr and the Russian lawyer. He said he was so bored he messaged his assistant to call him so he could leave.
Kushner was also another character who had repeated contact with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak - contact that he initially failed to disclose.
Read more: The son-in-law with Trump's ear
Who was he? A British former tabloid journalist, with a penchant for selfies in silly hats, was perhaps an unlikely addition to the cast, but in most good dramas there's always room for the slightly out-of-place eccentric.
Key plot line Rob Goldstone found his way into Donald Trump's circle of trust thanks to his connections with Russian pop star Emin Agalarov.
Goldstone managed the pop star, and it was he who contacted Donald Trump Jr on behalf of his client to set up that now-infamous meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016. Goldstone sent an email to Trump Jr promising dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Read more: The Music Man with a love for hats
Who was he? At 6ft 8in, James Comey was a towering figure, the character who gave little away about himself personally but had a huge role in this story.
Key plot line He first entered this drama in Season One, when as head of the FBI he reopened the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails - just weeks before the election. Democrats blamed him for her loss, Republicans hailed him a hero. That, we thought, was the last we'd seen of him.
Jump ahead to Season Three, when months into the Trump presidency, Comey was fired by the new president. In true television drama style, he learned of his sacking as he was watching TV news during a trip to LA. Up to then, Comey was heading up an investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Even by the end of the series, whether this amounted to obstruction of justice by the president remained an unresolved plot point.
Comey's testimony to the Senate was one of the most set-pieces in the series up to this point, as - under oath - he told politicians he was asked to pledge loyalty to the president, but refused.
Read more: The FBI director who took centre stage
Who was he? A former election adviser to Trump, although you'd be forgiven if you didn't remember the face. He was in only a few scenes in Season Two, but he had a massive role to play in Season Three, becoming the first person to plead guilty as part of the investigation.
Key plot line In late October 2017, court documents emerged showing Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the timing of meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia.
After lying to the FBI, he deleted an incriminating Facebook account and destroyed a phone.
His guilty plea and co-operation with the investigation had the potential to damage the US leader because it related directly to his campaign - but in the end, it didn't do so.
Who was he? The man who held the fate of the Trump presidency in his hands.
Key plot line Some characters wielded a lot of power, but didn't have a starring role, such as Robert Mueller, the tall chiselled figure who was appointed as "special counsel" to take over the Russia investigation after the dismissal of James Comey. Mueller came from the same stock as Comey - both were former heads of the FBI.
There were no showboating scenes and powerhouses speeches from Mueller in this series - we only ever saw him studiously working in his office.
There were reports that the president considered firing Mueller at one point - but Mueller stayed in the background doing his job until the very end of the series.
After Season Three ended with the first charges being laid down by Robert Mueller, things really sped up in Season Four. The president's fury with the special counsel investigation increased and he fired his Attorney-General. But the series ended with no charges laid against the president and a sense of victory in the White House. Might we see a spin-off series...?
Who was he? OK, he wasn't Putin's chef by this point, but he once was. In Season Four, he was the man accused of spearheading Russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 election.
Key plot line A little out of the blue, Mueller announced charges against Prigozhin and 12 other Russians, accusing them of tampering with the US election by (among other things) organising and promoting political rallies in the US.
In one surreal flashback sequence, we even see the Russians trying to buy a cage large enough to hold an actress dressed as Hillary Clinton in a prison costume.
Read more: Seven key takeaways from indictment
Who was he? The man who once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump - but who instead turned against him.
Key plot line Cohen, as Trump's long-time personal lawyer, lingered around the edges of the plot for the first three seasons, but became the big player of the fourth.
When Mueller's team began looking into Cohen's finances, they passed on their concerns to investigators in New York.
Then the plot took an unexpected new turn: Cohen, a long-time Trump loyalist, flipped and began co-operating with investigators. Not only that, but he ended up giving them a lot of help in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Cohen ended up admitting violating campaign finance laws, committing tax evasion and lying to Congress.
The last shot of the entire series was a mournful Cohen being locked into his jail cell.
Who was he? A long-time Washington political operative who acted as an informal adviser to the Trump campaign. He called himself an agent provocateur, and once defended his actions by saying: "One man's dirty trick is another man's political, civic action."
Key plot line Stone was one of those memorable bit-part characters in Seasons One and Two - a colourful character known for his fiery tongue, sharp suits and the Richard Nixon tattoo spread across his back.
Towards the end of Season One, he appeared to let the cat out of the bag, hinting on Twitter that there was damaging information coming out on Hillary Clinton. Soon after, that information (that we later learned was found by Russia) was made public.
After a bit of a lull in the middle of Season Four, investigators indicted Stone on seven counts of witness tampering, obstruction and false statements, although he wasn't charged with co-ordinating with Russia.
All the way through, he denied any wrongdoing. He, like the president, called the investigation a "witch-hunt" and once said the accusations of collusion with Russia were "a steaming plate of bull".
Text by Rajini Vaidyanathan and Roland Hughes; illustrations by Gerry Fletcher | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40709270 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Prisoner caught in Iran power struggle - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is first and foremost a story of terrible personal suffering. | UK | The case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is first and foremost a story of terrible personal suffering for a young woman, her husband and their baby girl.
Eighteen months into a five-year sentence, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces the prospect of up to 16 years in an Iranian jail.
It is also, however, a story of an internal power struggle in Iran, as well as of the nation's deeply difficult relationship with the UK.
To understand how she fits into this, the first thing to examine is the timing of her arrest. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in April 2016, a few months ahead of the first anniversary of Iran's historic nuclear deal.
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The accord, on which President Hassan Rouhani had staked his reputation, was bitterly opposed by elements of the powerful Revolutionary Guards.
They had often benefited financially from the sanctions regime. They were adamant that the nuclear deal must be seen as a failure, that it had changed nothing and that compromise with the West was a fruitless exercise.
Arrests of a number of Iranians with dual nationality came about in this context:
Iran is in the grip of an ideological power-struggle, with two competing world views.
President Rouhani came to power promising to open Iran up to the world; the supreme leader, the Revolutionary Guards and the judiciary have a far more hardline position, both in relation to how the country should be run as well as its foreign relations.
All the arrests were seen as an attempt by the Revolutionary Guards to undermine not just the president, but the very process of thawing relations with the West.
Of the three dual-national prisoners arrested after the deal was agreed, only one has since been released: Ms Hoodfar was sent home a few months later on what the Iranians called "humanitarian grounds".
The only significant difference between her case and Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's was their nationalities: one was half-Canadian, the other half-British.
To Iranian minds, the UK is viewed with almost unique suspicion. Indeed, in 2009 the supreme leader said that of all the world's "arrogant powers", the UK was the "most evil".
To understand why, one must go back to the 1953 coup-d'état that overthrew nationalist Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, returning the autocratic Shah to power. Behind it were the British and American intelligence agencies.
Almost 300 people were killed in the streets of Tehran after protesting against the prime minister's removal in a US- and British-organised coup in 1953
This led to deep-rooted suspicions of the West's intentions; once the Shah was ousted by the Islamic Revolution of 1979, those suspicions became open hostilities. Relations have never really recovered.
Over the years there have been a number of key points, notably the 1989 fatwah calling for the death of British author Salman Rushdie. His book, The Satanic Verses, was denounced as blasphemous by the supreme leader; he called on Muslims around the world to try and kill Rushdie. The controversy led to a severing of diplomatic ties, which were not repaired until 1998.
In 2007, 15 British Royal Navy personnel were detained off the South Coast of Iran. They were paraded on TV, a show of power by Tehran, but ultimately released under diplomatic pressure.
The 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was followed by peaceful street protests, which the supreme leader accused the West of encouraging. A number of staff at the British embassy were arrested and forced to sign confessions.
In November 2011, relations deteriorated further. After the UK increased sanctions on Iran, the parliament voted to expel the British ambassador. Before he could pack his bags, members of the hardline Basij militia ransacked the British embassy in Tehran. It did not re-open until 2014.
But, it is not just the British government that has been viewed with great hostility. Western media, most notably the BBC's Persian Service, has long been regarded with deep distrust, fear and often hatred by the hardline Iranian establishment.
For years Persian Service journalists have been harassed and intimidated by the Iranian authorities. Two months ago all the assets of 150 BBC staff, former staff and contributors were frozen for "conspiracy against national security".
And here we come to the final part of the story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Many years ago, she worked for BBC Media Action, the charitable wing of the BBC. Although it has no direct connection to the BBC's Persian service, it has been used as evidence that she was in Iran for political reasons.
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It is, therefore, for this reason that the recent comments by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson were so controversial, and potentially damaging.
By stating that she was involved in "training journalists", he has given ammunition to those elements of the establishment who view her as just another example what the supreme leader described as "an infiltration project" by the West.
All the while, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe languishes in Tehran's Evin jail. Her daughter, who has now forgotten how to speak English, can only see her for an hour-and-a-half a week. Meanwhile her husband Richard suffers in London.
The future of a family, half-British, half-Iranian, has been torn apart by the suspicion and distrust caused by their own countries' pasts. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41907892 |
Armistice Day: WW2 veteran 'emotional' over fallen pals - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | null | Les Cherrington, 99, describes his tank coming under fire in north Africa - and his emotions over his friends who were killed. | null | Millions of people have fallen silent to remember the nation's war dead, as the UK marks Armistice Day.
Among those paying tribute at the National Memorial Arboretum was 99-year-old World War Two veteran Les Cherrington.
Speaking to the BBC's Phil Mackie, he described his tank coming under fire in north Africa - and his emotions over his friends who were killed. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41956181 |
Bell ringers to mark 100 years since the end of First World War - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Some 1,400 people will be recruited to ring church bells on Armistice Day next year. | UK | Some 1,400 bell ringers are to be recruited in 2018 to mark 100 years since World War One ended.
They will represent the 1,400 bell ringers who died in the conflict.
Bells in churches and cathedrals will ring out on 11 November next year and Big Ben will also strike to mark the centenary of Armistice Day.
Church bells were rung in celebration when armistice was declared in 1918, after having been restricted during the four-year war.
Culture Secretary Karen Bradley said: "On November 11, 1918, the ringing of church bells erupted spontaneously across the country, as an outpouring of relief that four years of war had come to an end.
"I am pleased that to honour that moment."
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said it was a priority to "keep the history of the First World War alive for generations to come".
On Saturday, events were held around the UK to mark the 99th anniversary of Armistice Day with Big Ben chiming for the first time since August.
The centenaries of women's service in the regular Armed Forces, the World War One battle of Passchendaele, the creation of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the 100th birthday of Dame Vera Lynn are also being marked this year. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41957521 |
In pictures: Armistice Day around the world - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Countries around the world have been marking 99 years since World War One. | Europe | In France, one town was not only remembering the end of World War One, but the loss of one of its citizens, Chloe Boissinot, killed in the jihadist attacks on Paris two years ago. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in France in 1919, imposing harsh terms on Germany. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41954408 |
Damian Green and Bob Quick quizzed by Cabinet Office inquiry - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Damian Green denies allegations about his conduct and that pornography was found on his office computer. | UK Politics | Damian Green's conduct is being investigated by the Cabinet Office
First Secretary of State Damian Green gave evidence to a Cabinet Office inquiry into his conduct earlier on Tuesday, the BBC understands.
The inquiry, which is being held behind closed doors, quizzed former senior police officer Bob Quick on Monday.
It is examining Mr Quick's claims pornography was found on a computer in Mr Green's Commons office during a police investigation in 2008-09.
Mr Green has denied the allegations saying they were a "political smear".
The inquiry is also looking at a separate claim that Mr Green, who is Theresa May's second-in-command, made inappropriate advances towards a female Conservative activist in 2015.
He also denies that allegation and has provided the inquiry with text messages between the pair as part of his evidence, BBC Home Affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said.
No timescale has been set for how long the inquiry will take but it's thought that it will be quite short, added our correspondent.
Bob Quick led the investigation into Home Office leaks which saw Mr Green's office being searched
Mr Green was briefly arrested in 2008 during what was a controversial inquiry into Home Office leaks. His Commons office and home were also searched but no charges of any kind were brought.
Mr Green has said the police never told him at the time that any improper material had been found on a parliamentary computer, condemning the claims as "disreputable political smears" which "amount to little more than an unscrupulous character assassination".
He has suggested Mr Quick, who was forced to resign as the UK's top anti-terror officer in 2009 following a security blunder which compromised a potential operation, was a "discredited" figure but the former officer is standing by the claims.
Mr Quick, Scotland Yard's former assistant commissioner, told MPs in 2009 the leak inquiry had been "complicated by the existence of private material on the computer removed from Mr Green's parliamentary office". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41893746 |
Education agent recruits bogus students at private college - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | null | Undercover investigation reveals how a recruitment agent is helping bogus students cheat the student loan system. | null | A BBC Panorama investigation has uncovered evidence of abuse of the government's student loan system in one of the biggest private colleges in England.
The Greenwich School of Management (GSM) and its students receive around £66m a year in maintenance and tuition fee loans.
Panorama sent undercover reporters into GSM to investigate. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41963557 |
Two more teenagers charged over London park stabbing - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The teenagers, aged 14 and 17, take the total number charged with the murder of Michael Jonas to four. | London | Michael Jonas died of stab wounds to the chest after he was attacked in Penge, south east London
Two more teenagers have been charged with murdering a 17-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in a park.
Michael Jonas was fatally attacked in Betts Park, Penge, south-east London on 2 November.
The Met Police said a 14-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy had been charged and will appear at Bromley Magistrates' Court on Monday.
Two other teenagers, aged 17 and 16, have already appeared in court in connection with the stabbing.
The Met said it was called to reports of an attack at the park at around 19:20 GMT and found Michael with multiple stab wounds.
He was pronounced dead at the scene just under an hour later.
A post-mortem examination at the Princess Royal University Hospital confirmed the cause of death as stab wounds to the chest and haemorrhage.
Michael was the 16th teenager to be stabbed to death in the capital this year.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41958542 |
Nature reclaims US battleship graveyard - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | null | How what is potentially the largest group of WW1 shipwrecks in the world could become a nature sanctuary. | null | Mallows Bay, on the Maryland side of America's Potomac River, hosts potentially the largest group of World War One shipwrecks anywhere in the world.
A century since the United States entered the conflict, the BBC Travel Show has been to see how the vessels are being reclaimed by nature.
The Travel Show can be seen on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41951057 |
Borth zoo lynx killing defended by Ceredigion council - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Using a tranquiliser was "not an option", insists Ceredigion council. | Mid Wales | Lilleth went missing some time in the last three weeks
A council which ordered an escaped Eurasian lynx to be shot dead by a marksman has defended its decision.
Ceredigion council said it sought expert advice before ordering Lilleth be 'humanely destroyed' on Friday.
She escaped from Borth Wild Animal Kingdom, near Aberystwyth, three weeks ago and on Saturday the zoo's owners said they were "outraged".
Meanwhile, Dyfed-Powys Police said it was investigating threats against the marksman.
In a statement on Sunday evening, the council said Lilleth was "not afraid of humans" and had entered a populated area.
They said that the shooting had been approved beforehand by the police, the Welsh government and the chief veterinary officer for Wales.
A council spokeswoman said: "It was not possible to assess the condition or temperament of the lynx but there were concerns about its likely behavioural response if it was startled or inadvertently confronted by a member of the public, especially by a young child.
"It must be remembered that the lynx is classified in legislation as 'dangerous and wild' and the authorities were dealing with an unmanaged escape situation."
She added that using a tranquiliser instead was "specifically discussed" but the terrain and vegetation in the area meant they were told it was "not an option".
She said: "On other occasions and in different circumstances it may be fitting to attempt to tranquilise an escaped animal but, based on the factors involved with this incident, it was decided that it was not appropriate."
Flowers have been left outside the zoo in tribute to Lilleth
The council has been investigating the animal's escape "to establish whether there have been any breaches of the operating licence and other related matters".
She is believed to have escaped after making a "giant leap" over an electrified fence.
There had been a number of sightings but she evaded capture and was at one point thought to be hiding in bushes near the zoo.
Ceredigion council and Dyfed-Powys Police said they had tried a "range of measures" to capture the Lynx, including baited traps.
The local authority has previously said it would carry out an inspection of the zoo later this month. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-41963330 |
ATP Finals: Roger Federer beats Jack Sock, Alexander Zverev defeats Marin Cilic - BBC Sport | 2017-11-12 | null | Six-time champion Roger Federer and third seed Alexander Zverev win the opening matches at the season-ending ATP Finals in London. | null | Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two, Red Button, BBC Sport website and mobile app, listen on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and follow text updates online.
Six-time champion Roger Federer opened with a straight-set win over Jack Sock at the ATP Finals in London.
The 36-year-old Swiss, making his 15th appearance at the season-ending event for the top eight players in the world, won 6-4 7-6 (7-4) at the O2 Arena.
American Sock was making his tournament debut, having qualified by winning the Paris Masters a week ago.
Alexander Zverev beat Marin Cilic 4-6 6-3 6-4 in Sunday's second round-robin match in the Boris Becker Group.
German third seed Zverev broke serve in the opening game with a deft volley and took the first set, but Croatian fifth seed Cilic grew stronger as the match progressed and looked set for victory at 3-1 up in the decider.
However, 20-year-old Zverev showed why he has won two Masters titles this year as he reeled off five of six games, breaking serve to love to clinch victory.
"For the most part of the second and third sets he was the better player, I was just happy to come back and get the win," said Zverev.
The Pete Sampras Group starts on Monday, with Dominic Thiem taking on Grigor Dmitrov at 14:00 GMT followed by Rafael Nadal against David Goffin at 20:00. Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares begin their doubles campaign at 12:00.
Defending champion Andy Murray, five-time winner Novak Djokovic and three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka are among a number of players who chose to end their seasons early to recover from injuries.
'I got off to a great start' - Federer
Federer lost just four points behind his first serve as he came through an entertaining match without facing a break point.
Sock, 25, never looked like causing an upset after dropping his opening service game but clung on impressively in the second set before the pressure eventually told.
Federer served out the opener after 36 minutes but could not close it out in the second as five break points slipped by across the seventh, ninth and 11th games.
For the first time in four meetings. Sock managed to take the 19-time Grand Slam champion to a tie-break, but a double fault from the American at 4-5 handed Federer a match point that he clinically converted.
"I got off to a great start, my big hope was I was going to be able to play a bit more freely after that," said Federer.
"The second set was tight, I missed some opportunities, the breaker could have gone either way and in the end he helped me with some double faults and some mistakes.
"I'm really happy that I got through somehow."
Federer last won the season-ending title back in 2011, but he is the favourite to add a seventh victory to his extraordinary CV at the end of a year when he has won two more Grand Slam titles.
It is a far cry from 12 months ago, when the Swiss was absent through injury, while Murray and Djokovic - themselves missing this year - battled for the year-end number one ranking.
"It's wonderful to be back, especially after missing last year with injury," said Federer.
"It was tough not to be here but at the same time I really enjoyed the battle for number one between Andy and Novak."
Nadal, 31, has had a similarly spectacular return to form in 2017, winning the other two major titles and ending the year as world number one.
Receiving a trophy on court following the opening match, the Spaniard said: "It has been a fantastic season, a very emotional one after all of the things I have been going through in the last couple of years with injury.
"To have this trophy again is something I never thought was possible." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/41961931 |
Remembrance Sunday: UK events mark the nation's war dead - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Queen has not laid a wreath at the annual Cenotaph ceremony in London but watched from a balcony. | UK | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Prince Charles lays Remembrance Sunday wreath as the Queen watches from a balcony
Politicians, members of the Royal Family and veterans are commemorating those who lost their lives in conflict as the UK marks Remembrance Sunday.
A two-minute silence was held across the country and wreaths were laid at memorials.
Prince Charles attended the annual ceremony at the Cenotaph in London and Big Ben chimed at 11:00 GMT.
The Queen did not lay a wreath but instead watched from the Foreign Office's balcony.
The only other occasions when she has not laid the wreath were when she was pregnant or abroad.
At the Cenotaph on Whitehall, the Last Post was played shortly before the Prince of Wales laid the wreath.
The royals were joined by Prime Minister Theresa May, other senior politicians, religious leaders and dignitaries from around the Commonwealth.
Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also paid their respects
The Queen watched the ceremony with Prince Philip and the Duchess of Cornwall from a nearby balcony...
...as did the Duchess of Cambridge and other royals
The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry also laid wreaths
As part of services being held across Scotland, more than 100 wreaths were laid at Edinburgh's City Chambers. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon attended the service.
In Wales, a service was held at the Welsh National War Memorial and a field of remembrance at Cardiff Castle featured more than 10,000 crosses.
At the Cenotaph in Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar laid a green laurel wreath, 30 years after an IRA bombing there killed 12 people.
In Omagh, a wreath-laying ceremony was postponed after a suspicious object was found.
Meanwhile, bell ringers are being sought for 2018 to honour the 1,400 ringers who died in World War One.
Veterans gathered for Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph in Whitehall
Sir Stuart Peach, chief of the defence staff, told the Andrew Marr show that the day was one of remembrance and reconciliation.
"Today we mark and remember over a million British and Commonwealth soldiers who died in both world wars. So it is about remembering the sacrifice they made so that we can enjoy the freedom and liberty that we have today," he said.
"It's also very important to understand that this is about reconciliation. That nations move on."
The new Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, said: "We must not forget the continued sacrifices our armed services make, right across the globe serving in 30 countries, making sure that this country remains safe - and that the freedoms that we have today continue to be protected."
On Saturday, events were held around the UK to mark the 99th anniversary of Armistice Day with Big Ben chiming for the first time since August.
The evening saw a Festival of Remembrance held at Albert Hall. Members of the Royal Family watched as Emeli Sande, Tom Odell and other stars performed alongside the Queen's Colour Squadron and The Band of HM Royal Marines.
The event was held by the Royal British Legion and hosted by the BBC's Huw Edwards. It commemorated all the British military personnel killed in combat since World War One. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41957783 |
Brussels riot after Morocco World Cup qualifier win - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Football fans smash glass and loot shops after their team qualifies for the World Cup. | Europe | More than 20 police officers were injured in Brussels when celebrations over Morocco's qualification for football's World Cup turned violent.
The Moroccan national side qualified for the 2018 tournament in Russia with a 2-0 victory away to Ivory Coast on Saturday, topping their group.
Belgium has a large Moroccan community and fans hit the capital's streets after the game.
One witness posted video to Twitter of water cannon being used on a crowd. Police said it was used on a group of about 300 people, some of whom were throwing stones.
Calm had returned by 21:30 local time (20:30 GMT), a reporter for the AFP news agency said.
Belgium's Interior Minister Jan Jambon condemned the riots, tweeting (in French) that they constituted "unacceptable aggression in the centre of Brussels".
He added: "Living together means respect, also for the police who are committed to our safety day and night."
In the Netherlands too, large groups of fans from Morocco or of Moroccan background celebrated in the streets. Some celebrations there turned violent, with the police in The Hague tweeting (in Dutch) that some people threw things at officers.
In Rotterdam, dancing fans set off flares in red and green, Morocco's colours.
Meanwhile in Morocco itself thousands of fans celebrated in the streets of Marrakesh, Casablanca and other cities.
Owners of businesses in the centre of Brussels woke on Sunday to damaged shop fronts
Exuberant fans hit the streets of Amsterdam too
Most celebrations - like this one in Marrakesh - were peaceful | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41961801 |
Brexit: Environment watchdog planned says Gove - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Minister Michael Gove insists environmental standards won't be sacrificed. | UK Politics | Some MPs are concerned Brexit poses a risk to UK wildlife and habitats
A new environment watchdog to protect UK wildlife, land, water and air once Britain leaves the European Union is being planned by the government.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the body would hold the powerful to account and deliver a green Brexit.
The plans come amid concerns that environmental regulations enshrined in EU law could be lost after Brexit.
Mr Gove told the Andrew Marr Show standards would not be sacrificed as part of a potential US free trade deal.
Mr Gove wants the watchdog to be independent of government - able to speak its mind freely, he said, with clear legal authority.
Writing in The Telegraph, he said the watchdog would have "real bite" but did not outline exact planned powers.
He said it was important that environmental enforcement and policymaking remained bound to a clear set of principles once Britain leaves the EU.
He added that the watchdog would make a national policy statement to ensure policymakers protect the environment, and remain grounded by rigorous scientific evidence.
Speaking to Andrew Marr, Mr Gove rejected suggestions from US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that the UK may relax its policies to secure an agreement post-Brexit.
"While we do want a trade deal with the United States, we will not lower environment or animal welfare standards," he said.
"Free trade is a good thing, but free trade flounders on the rocks of public opinion if it is used as a Trojan horse for lowering environmental standards, so we're not going there."
Some MPs are worried Brexit poses a risk to UK wildlife and habitats - with the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee calling for the creation of new environmental protection law.
Labour's Mary Creagh, chair of the committee, told BBC News earlier this year: "European law protects huge amounts of the UK's environment, farming and countryside."
The government has said the EU Withdrawal Bill - which goes before MPs for debate this week - will incorporate many of these regulations.
Mr Gove also outlined his vision for British agriculture and wildlife once Britain leaves the EU.
Describing British farmers as the "best in the world", he said he wanted to "help support farmers produce food in a sustainable and productive way".
Mr Gove told Marr that in the event of a no deal scenario, British food would still be "increasingly in demand worldwide".
"The trend overall globally is toward greater quality and British farmers are in the best position to meet that," he added.
He also revealed plans to plant 11 million trees over the next decade, and encourage a "wider range of species".
"I want the number of birds to increase - particularly farmland birds," he concluded. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41958801 |
Lebanon Hariri crisis: President Aoun demands Saudi answers - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | President Aoun speaks out amid claims that Lebanon's prime minister is being held in Riyadh. | Middle East | President Michel Aoun (L) has expressed concern over the well-being of Saad al-Hariri (R)
The Lebanese president has asked Saudi Arabia to clarify the situation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who announced his resignation in Riyadh.
Michel Aoun has not accepted the shock resignation of a week ago, suggesting words attributed to Mr Hariri should be treated with caution.
Iran and its Lebanese ally, the militant group Hezbollah, accuse Saudi Arabia of holding Mr Hariri hostage.
The US has warned other countries not to use Lebanon for proxy conflicts.
There is growing concern that Lebanon is becoming drawn into spiralling sectarian tensions between the region's biggest Shia Muslim power, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, which is mainly Sunni Muslim.
Mr Hariri, a Sunni leader and businessman, was nominated to form Lebanon's government by Mr Aoun in November 2016.
The announcement of his resignation on 4 November sent shockwaves through the region.
"The obscurity surrounding the condition of Prime Minister Saad Hariri since his resignation a week ago means that all positions and actions declared by him or attributed to him do not reflect the truth," President Aoun said.
An unnamed senior Lebanese official, quoted by Reuters news agency, said President Aoun had told a group of foreign ambassadors on Friday that Mr Hariri had been "kidnapped" and should have immunity.
However, the remarks have not been officially confirmed. French Foreign Minister Yves Le Drian said on Friday that "we think he's free to move and he has to make his own choices".
In his televised remarks from Riyadh a week ago, Mr Hariri said that he was stepping down because of an unspecified threat to his life.
He accused Iran and Hezbollah, a Shia group, of taking over Lebanon and destabilising the wider region.
He has not spoken publicly since then.
"We are all Saad," posters of the missing prime minister have appeared across Beirut
On Friday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he had received assurances that Mr Hariri was free and he encouraged him to return to Lebanon.
He expressed concern about how the crisis might affect the stability of Lebanon's fragile coalition, and warned countries in the region against using Lebanon as a "venue for proxy conflicts".
Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of declaring war on Lebanon.
The international community has also weighed in on Mr Hariri's absence, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warning that a new conflict in the region would have "devastating consequences".
On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron paid an unscheduled visit to Saudi Arabia, to emphasise to Saudi leaders the importance of stability in Lebanon. He spoke to Mr Aoun by phone on Saturday.
Mr Hariri (R) was seen meeting the Saudi king on Monday
France has historical ties with Lebanon, as the former mandate power before independence.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies ordered their citizens in Lebanon on Thursday to leave the country immediately.
Riyadh accused Iran of "direct military aggression", saying it had supplied a missile which it says was fired by Hezbollah at Riyadh from Yemen the same day as Mr Hariri's resignation.
Iran dismissed the Saudi allegations as "false and dangerous". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41955798 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Gove under fire for comments - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Michael Gove is criticised for saying he did not know what Iranian-British woman was doing in Iran. | UK Politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michael Gove says he does not know why Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran
Michael Gove has come under fire for saying he didn't know what Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing in Iran when she was arrested in 2016.
Mr Gove told Andrew Marr he would "take her husband's assurance" that the British-Iranian citizen was on holiday.
He was defending the foreign secretary, whose own comments have caused concern that her sentence could be extended.
Labour said he "was more interested in protecting (Boris) Johnson's job" than Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's liberty.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett said Mr Gove had "compounded" Mr Johnson's "cavalier approach to international diplomacy".
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran airport with her 18-month-old daughter in April 2016, one of several Iranians with dual nationality to be detained over a period of months.
She was accused of trying to overthrow the Iranian regime - charges she has always denied - and sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
She says she was on holiday in Iran so relatives could meet her young daughter.
The arrests were seen as part of an attempt by Iran's Revolutionary Guards to undermine President Hassan Rouhani and the process of thawing relations with the West.
Last week UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was criticised for suggesting she had been training journalists on the trip - causing concern it could cause her sentence to be lengthened.
Mr Johnson has since said the government has "no doubt" she was on holiday "and that was the sole purpose of her visit".
Asked on Sunday by Mr Marr what she had been doing in Iran, Mr Gove replied: "I don't know" adding there was "no reason Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe should be in prison in Iran so far as any of us know".
He went on to say her husband was the person who would know and he would take his assurance that she was on holiday.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sadiq Khan: "If Theresa May was a strong prime minister, she'd have sacked him a long time ago"
He said: "We make a big mistake if we think the right thing to do is to blame politicians in a democracy who are trying to do the right thing for the plight of a woman who is being imprisoned by a regime that is a serial abuser of human rights."
"Who is in the dock here? Iran. It should be the actions of their judiciary and the revolutionary guards."
He added the UK should not "play their game".
Meanwhile, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have both called for Mr Johnson to resign for putting Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe at risk.
Mr Corbyn told the Observer Mr Johnson should be sacked as foreign secretary for "undermining our country" and "putting our citizens at risk".
And Labour's Tulip Siddiq, who is Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's MP, told the BBC that she had repeatedly raised the details of the case in Parliament
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband said "she was just a mum on holiday"
"For Michael Gove to go on TV today and say he wasn't sure ... he should know that Nazanin was on holiday and in compounding the lie that was told about training journalists, he is only going to make life worse for my constituent."
It is understood that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard spoke to the foreign secretary on Sunday. Mr Ratcliffe told the BBC he hoped he might be able to travel to Iran with Mr Johnson to meet his wife and see his daughter, who he has not seen in person since the arrest. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41960006 |
Venus and Jupiter conjunction: Sky-watchers witness dawn display - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Enthusiasts across the UK share their photos of the two brightest planets appearing together. | UK | Jupiter and Venus were photographed here above Brighton Pier
Jupiter and Venus - the two brightest planets - have appeared together in the morning sky.
The planetary conjunction was visible to the naked eye across much of the UK, with the time before dawn being the best to catch the spectacle.
Experts said the planets were so close as to appear almost on top of each other.
One astronomer said it would probably be "decades rather than years" before they appeared as close together.
While the planets have been visible to the unaided eye, viewers with a telescope have also been able to see Jupiter's four Galilean moons.
People in the UK have taken to social media to share their photos of the planetary display.
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Viewed from London, the planets began appearing shortly before 06:00 GMT with the conjunction occurring just after.
Those on high ground with a clear view of the eastern horizon had the best chance of witnessing the planetary display.
This image of the planetary display was captured by Alexandra Palace in London
The planets were spotted here in the Merseyside skyline
The conjunction of the planets looks like a bright star
In 2004, the planet Venus could be seen crossing the Sun as a small black dot
Mark Thompson, an astronomer and former presenter on the BBC show Stargazing Live, said conjunctions occur when planets line up in such a way that they appear from Earth to be next to each other - despite in this case being hundreds of millions of miles apart.
Mr Thompson told the BBC the cloudy atmospheres of the two planets made them appear bright to the naked eye.
He said the event was not uncommon - Venus and Jupiter appeared together in 2015 and 2016, also on 13 November - but it was much rarer for them to appear so close to each other.
"There have certainly been cases where they've been close in the sky but they've not been this close in recent years, certainly the last couple of planetary conjunctions.
"This is actually quite a good conjunction because they're so close, and over the next few years they'll pass each other and be close but not this close…
"One as close as this, you're probably looking decades rather than years."
The conjunction can also be seen in countries in the mid-northern latitudes, including parts of the US.
Those who missed the event will be able to see the two planets again on Tuesday morning, but they will not be as close together.
According to Nasa, stargazers will be treated to another planetary pairing later this month, when Saturn will meet Mercury on the western horizon at dusk on 24 and 28 November. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41956191 |
Celtic sued by family of fall death fan Nathan McSeveney - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Nathan McSeveney, 20, from Ayrshire, died after falling in a stairwell at Celtic Park in November 2014. | Glasgow & West Scotland | Nathan McSeveney died after falling in a stairwell at Celtic Park in November 2014
The family of a football fan who died after falling in a stairwell at an international match at Celtic Park are suing the club.
Nathan McSeveney, 20, from Cumnock in Ayrshire, died after Scotland's Euro 2016 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland in November 2014.
Lawyers for his family said they believed Celtic FC had "failed in its duty of care to protect" Mr McSeveney.
Celtic said it did not accept liability for the accident.
Mr McSeveney was taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary from Exit 33 of the stadium on 14 November 2014 but died from his injuries.
The family's lawyers, Thompsons Solicitors, said it was "a tragic case that has devastated a family".
Partner Patrick McGuire added: "It is our firm belief that the football club failed in its duty of care to protect this young man leading to this awful accident.
"The fact that they have now taken the obvious measure to make the area in question safer by erecting safety nets proves this.
"We will be fighting hard to make sure they family receive the justice they deserve."
A spokesman for Celtic said: "Celtic Football Club has considerable sympathy with the McSeveney family for their terrible loss following this tragic accident.
"However, and while the club's sympathy is in no sense diminished, the club does not accept liability for the accident.
"Celtic Park is a very safe environment and complies with all applicable building standards.
"Celtic Park is regularly inspected and certified as safe by the relevant authorities, including an investigation immediately following the accident."
The spokesman added: "The matter is in the hands of the club's insurers and solicitors and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-41960811 |
Hull's giant puppet parade attracts thousands - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The procession marked the end of year-long City of Culture community arts projects in the city. | Humberside | The parade featured larger-than-life puppets of giants and mythical beasts
A parade of street performers dressed as giant creatures weaved its way through Hull on Saturday as part of the City of Culture 2017 arts festival.
Thousands of people lined the Old Town streets to watch The Land of Green Ginger Unleashed procession, which began on Saville Street at 18:30 GMT.
Produced by Irish arts company Macnas, it included large puppets of giants, woodland creatures and mythical beasts.
It has produced similar experiences in China, Australia and the United States.
Thousands of people gathered in the Old Town on Saturday evening
The procession marked the end of a year-long project inspired by a Hull street, curiously named Land of Green Ginger, and was aimed at reaching audiences which are traditionally harder to engage in the arts.
Previous "Land of Green Ginger" events have included storytellers running tours of city streets, a bonfire and a model city.
The show was inspired by a street in Hull called Land of Green Ginger
The show travelled through Humber Street in the city
Performers drew inspiration from the idea of parallel worlds
Katy Fuller, Executive Producer of Hull 2017, said: "Hull provided a glorious stage for Macnas and the reaction has been truly overwhelming."
Each Act had its own identity and was created by a different artist
Noeline Kavanagh, Artistic Director of Macnas, said: "We were blown away by the reception from the people of Hull - such a warm and generous audience."
One of the central characters was a giant puppet which walked the streets
The parade made its way along Guildhall Road, Lowgate and High Street before finishing at Humber Street at about 21:00 GMT.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-41943613 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: More charges for mum in Iran - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is serving five years for alleged security offences. | UK | Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has served 19 months of her five-year sentence
A British-Iranian mother being held in Iran faces two more charges in relation to her alleged involvement in trying to overthrow the government.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 38, has served 19 months of a five-year term for alleged security offences.
The charity worker was arrested at Tehran Airport in April 2016 while visiting family in Iran with her daughter.
She rejects the charges, which carry an extra 16 years in prison if proven.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has worked for the charity the Thomson Reuters Foundation and the BBC, lost her final appeal in April 2017.
Under the previous charges, which have not been made public, she was accused of plotting to topple the regime in Tehran.
The latest charges allege Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe joined organisations which specifically worked to overthrow the government.
She is also accused of attending a demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in London - it is claimed a photo was found during a search of her private email account.
Her family has paid bail to stop her being put back in solitary confinement and a date for the full trial has not been set.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Speaking to the BBC in January 2017, Richard Ratcliffe recalls the moment he realised his wife would not be returning to the UK
Iran does not recognise dual nationals and denies them access to consular assistance.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was seeking more information from the Iranian authorities and both the prime minister and foreign secretary had raised the case with Tehran and at the UN General Assembly.
Middle East minister Alistair Burt has met Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's family both in London and in Tehran to discuss her case, and hopes to meet with them again later this month.
A spokesman for the FCO said: "We continue to be concerned for the welfare for Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and have repeatedly raised this with the Iranian authorities, urging them to provide all necessary medical assistance.
"We will continue to raise all our dual national detainees, including Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case with the Iranian government at every available opportunity."
Richard Radcliffe has said he believes his family is being used as a "bargaining chip" over UK-Iran politics
Speaking from the UK, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband, Richard, said the UK and Iran need to look after its citizens.
"The Iranian Ambassador and the UK government need to stand up, and say they will protect British Iranians.
"It is not enough just to focus in public on their business deals, and to keep a silent pretence. It looks like heads in the sands."
Monique Villa, CEO at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said the accusation Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was trying to overthrow the regime is a "complete invention".
"The Thomson Reuters Foundation doesn't work in Iran and has no programme or dealings with Iran.
"We continue to assert that she is 100% innocent and that these ludicrous charges must be dropped immediately."
She added the charity worker was subject to "inhumane treatment" which had already caused "irreparable damage". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41558956 |
Egypt drugs case: Briton to face criminal trial - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Laura Plummer is being held on drug smuggling charges over what she says is an innocent mistake. | UK | A British woman held in Egypt on drug smuggling charges has been referred to a criminal court for trial.
Laura Plummer, 33, was arrested last month accused of entering the country with 300 Tramadol tablets, a painkiller legal in the UK but not in Egypt.
She will remain in custody at a police station in the resort of Hurghada.
The shop assistant from Hull told the BBC she had "no idea" the painkillers she was carrying were banned in the country.
But local police said that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Her lawyers had hoped to apply for bail on Saturday, but a custody hearing was cancelled.
Laura Plummer said the prescription pills were for her partner Omar Caboo
Ms Plummer's mother, Roberta Synclair, had waited at the courthouse in the Red Sea resort hoping to see her daughter granted bail on Saturday.
She told the BBC Ms Plummer was in "very bad spirits" when she last saw her a few days ago.
"It's absolutely heart-breaking because your daughter's there and you can't bring her home with you," Ms Synclair said.
It is unclear when the first hearing for the trial will be.
This is a blow for Laura Plummer and her lawyers. Instead of being granted bail - as they had hoped - she has now been referred to a criminal court.
Being sent for trial was always a possibility after the shop assistant was charged with the serious offence of drug smuggling.
Police investigating the case have stressed that she had a large quantity of the banned drug Tramadol - about 300 tablets.
Laura Plummer insists she had no idea that the painkiller is banned here and that she brought it for her Egyptian boyfriend, who has a bad back. Her lawyers say he has medical certificates which could help her case.
This could be the beginning of a lengthy legal process. In Egypt, defendants can be kept in custody for up to two years before a trial.
For now she remains in an overcrowded cell at a police station in Hurghada.
Drug smuggling can carry the death sentence in Egypt.
Tramadol is legal in the UK with a prescription but banned in Egypt, where many are addicted to the opiate.
In a phone call from her cell, Ms Plummer told the BBC she was given the tablets by a colleague for her Egyptian partner, Omar Caboo, who she says has back problems.
She said the colleague put them in a chemist's bag, which she put in her suitcase.
"I didn't even look in the bag," she said. "I can't tell you how stupid I feel."
Ms Plummer is being held in the Red Sea beach resort of Hurghada
Ms Plummer told the BBC her cell in a police station was the size of her bedroom in the UK, but she was having to share it with 25 other women.
Her shared cell was claustrophobic, she said, and it was sometimes hard to breathe. Although her fellow prisoners were trying to look after her, none of them spoke English.
Her family have said Ms Plummer was "unrecognisable" after four weeks in custody in Egypt.
Ms Plummer's local MP, Karl Turner, says she has never been in trouble at home.
"She's never had so much as a parking ticket in the UK," he said.
"This is a woman who's definitely, clearly, done wrong, but she, in my view, absolutely had no knowledge of what she was doing to be illegal, and we need to be mindful of that." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41950987 |
In pictures: Britain marks Remembrance Sunday - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | People across the UK, as well as soldiers deployed abroad, pay tribute to the nation's war dead. | UK | It was the first time Her Majesty marked Remembrance Day from the balcony of the Foreign Office. She was alongside her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Duchess of Cornwall. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41960762 |
Spain Catalonia: Barcelona rally urges prisoners' release - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A protest against Spain's detention of leading separatists drew 750,000 people, police say. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Three-quarters of a million people have rallied in Barcelona to protest against Spain's detention of Catalan independence leaders, police estimate.
They shone phone torches in unison at sunset as calls were made to free eight regional ministers and two grassroots campaign leaders being held on remand.
Some of the detainees will be included on the list of a Catalan separatist party at next month's snap election.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is to visit the city on Sunday.
In another development, Barcelona's mayoress has condemned pro-independence leaders.
The Catalan parliament declared independence last month following an unrecognised referendum on independence from Spain.
Madrid responded by dissolving the parliament and calling a regional election on 21 December.
Since the crackdown by Madrid, Catalonia's sacked President Carles Puigdemont has gone into self-imposed exile in Belgium, and his top allies have been prosecuted.
The pro-independence movement has proven its ability to mobilise large numbers of demonstrators. Many came to this latest protest from small towns and villages in Catalonia - a sign of the movement's reach.
Their immediate aim is to call for the release of the eight politicians and two activists remanded in custody on charges of sedition and rebellion. The authorities in Madrid insist that the case is purely a matter for the courts, but the detention of politicians and activists does have a political impact. Imprisonment may have served to increase their popularity. It may galvanise the pro-independence movement as the regional election approaches.
The pro-independence camp wants to win a clear parliamentary majority. That would allow their side to have another go at trying to break away from Spain. But the pro-union camp, which represents the other half of Catalan society, will also campaign vigorously.
Protesters marched behind a banner declaring "We are a republic" and carried placards declaring the 10 detainees political prisoners.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Here's what protesters in Catalonia are singing about
The sacked former ministers are being investigated for alleged rebellion and sedition, while the two activists were arrested over a mass protest before the referendum.
There were performances and speeches to the crowd. Protesters chanted "Puigdemont for president" and a cellist played a traditional Christmas carol, The Song of the Birds, which is associated with Catalans driven into political exile.
The left-wing ERC party, a key ally of Mr Puigdemont, has announced that some of the prisoners, including party leader Oriol Junqueras, as well as some of the sacked ministers who also went to Belgium, will stand on its electoral list.
However, the ERC has rejected a call from Mr Puigdemont to fight the election as part of a single pro-independence bloc with other parties - as they did in 2015.
Mr Rajoy was mocked as the Devil on this recent placard in Barcelona
The Spanish prime minister is to make his first appearance in Catalonia since implementing direct rule two weeks ago.
He is expected to address a meeting of supporters of his centre-right Popular Party, who firmly want Catalonia to remain a part of Spain.
Ada Colau, who was elected mayoress in 2015 on an anti-capitalist platform and whose party (a merger of left-wing parties) is standing in the regional parliamentary election for the first time, said leaders of the independence movement had "tricked the population for their own interests".
Ms Colau, seen here kissing her baby, has kept her distance from both separatists and unionists
"They've provoked tensions and carried out a unilateral independence declaration which the majority do not want," she told a meeting of her Catalunya en Comú (English: Catalonia in Common) party. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41956909 |
Ambulance parking notes 'pretty normal' - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | null | A note left on an ambulance windscreen told paramedics not to block a driveway. | null | A paramedic says an incident in which a note was left on an ambulance windscreen criticising alleged blocking of a driveway is not uncommon.
A handwritten message tweeted by West Midlands Ambulance Service telling paramedics not to park their "van" in a "stupid place" while seeing to a critically ill patient on Friday went viral. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-41961763 |
Remembrance Sunday: UK falls silent to remember war dead - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | null | For the first time the Queen watched from a balcony during the Cenotaph service on Remembrance Sunday. | null | A two-minute silence was held across the country and wreaths were laid at memorials to those who died in conflict.
For the first time the Queen watched from the Foreign Office's balcony, as Prince Charles laid her wreath. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41960243 |
Shooting lynx has 'broken' Borth Wild Animal Kingdom owner - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | null | The shooting of a lynx has "broken" the owner of the zoo it escaped from. | null | The shooting of a lynx has "broken emotionally and physically" the owner of the zoo it escaped from.
Lilleth, the Eurasian lynx, had escaped from Borth Wild Animal Kingdom but Ceredigion council said on Friday that she had been "humanely destroyed".
The council said despite "exhaustive efforts" to recapture her, it received advice that the risk to public safety had "increased to severe".
The zoo's co-owner Dean Tweedy has condemned the killing, saying he wanted to see her darted instead.
Ceredigion council said it would carry out an inspection of the zoo, which has been closed since Lilleth's escape, later this month. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41955935 |
Oil pipeline explodes in Bahrain - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | null | An explosion ripped through the pipeline near the village of Buri in northern Bahrain. | null | An explosion ripped through an oil pipeline near the village of Buri in northern Bahrain.
Bahrain's interior minister, Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, said in a statement that the blast was "the latest example of a terrorist act" and blamed Iran. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41959522 |
Ilford murder: Man 'beaten to death with baseball bats' - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The man was found injured in High Road, Ilford, east London, in the early hours of Sunday morning. | London | The man was found injured in High Road, Ilford, in east London
A man was beaten to death by attackers thought to be wielding baseball bats.
The Metropolitan Police said they had started a murder inquiry after the attack on the man in High Road, Ilford, east London, in the early hours of Sunday.
The man, who was found injured, was taken by ambulance to an east London hospital but died at about 04:30 GMT.
No arrests have been made. Police say they are keeping an open mind regarding a motive for the attack.
Local road closures have been put in place and buses have been re-routed
The Met added inquiries were under way to identify the man and a post-mortem examination would be arranged in due course.
Local road closures have been put in place and buses have been re-routed.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41959503 |
TV coverage of Remembrance Sunday - BBC News | 2017-11-12 | null | Politicians, members of the Royal Family and veterans attend the ceremony at the Cenotaph. | null | Politicians, members of the Royal Family and veterans honour those who lost their lives in conflict. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41959961 |
Traffic lights to be installed on M6-M62 link road - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Traffic lights could be rolled out on link roads across the country if the M6-M62 scheme is successful. | Manchester | The traffic lights will be on the link roads between the M6 and the eastbound M62
Traffic lights are to be placed on two busy link roads between the M6 and the eastbound M62 under plans to ease motorway congestion.
Testing has begun on the system, near Warrington in Cheshire, and it will be turned on fully in December, according to Highways England.
A spokesman said if the £7m trial was successful, it could be rolled out on motorway link roads across the country.
Previously, traffic lights have only been installed on motorway slip roads.
Highways England said electronic information signs and variable mandatory speed limits on the M62 will also be used to "provide smoother traffic flows".
The aim is to ease traffic at the Croft Interchange, where Junction 21A of the M6 meets Junction 10 of the M62.
The Highways England spokesman said it was "an opportunity to combine existing technology and traffic management systems in a novel way" to provide "lower journey times during peak hours and smoother, more reliable journeys".
He added the system would be monitored for a year before any national roll-out took place.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41967961 |
Theresa May accuses Vladimir Putin of election meddling - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The PM says Russia is trying to "undermine free societies" in the West and "sow discord". | UK Politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Russia 'tries to sow discord in the West'
Theresa May has launched her strongest attack on Russia yet, accusing Moscow of meddling in elections and carrying out cyber espionage.
Addressing leading business figures at a banquet in London, the prime minister said Vladimir Putin's government was trying to "undermine free societies".
Mrs May said it was "planting fake stories" to "sow discord in the West".
While the UK did not want "perpetual confrontation" with Russia, it would protect its interests, she added.
Her comments are in stark contrast to those of US President Donald Trump, who last week said he believed his Russian counterpart's denial of intervening in the 2016 presidential election.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is due to visit Russia next month.
In a major foreign policy speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet at London's Guildhall, which Mrs May described as a "very simple message" for President Putin, she said he must choose a very "different path" from the one that in recent years had seen Moscow annex Crimea, foment conflict in Ukraine and launch cyber attacks on governments and Parliaments across Europe.
Russia could be a valuable partner of the West but only if it "plays by the rules", she argued.
"Russia has repeatedly violated the national airspace of several European countries and mounted a sustained campaign of cyber espionage and disruption.
"This has included meddling in elections and hacking the Danish Ministry of Defence and the Bundestag among many others."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What Boris Johnson told MPs about Russian meddling in UK elections
"We know what you are doing and you will not succeed. Because you underestimate the resilience of our democracies, the enduring attraction of free and open societies and the commitment of Western nations to the alliances that bind us."
She said as the UK left the EU and charted a new course in the world, it remained absolutely committed to Nato and securing a Brexit deal which "strengthens our liberal values", adding that a strong economic partnership between the UK and EU would be a bulwark against Russian agitation in Europe.
There are some countries in Europe that believe the West should engage more closely with Russia.
They argue the European Union and the United States should better understand Russia's point of view, its belief that it is threatened from all sides.
And that more should be done to accommodate this sense of vulnerability, by softening Nato's approach and reducing sanctions.
Well, not Theresa May. In a speech in the US in February, the prime minister spoke of the need to "engage but beware" of Russia. She has now switched the order and the focus is very much on beware.
She believes that President Putin should be called out for the threat she believes he poses both internationally and in the UK.
The Electoral Commission is investigating claims that Russia used social media to meddle in the Brexit referendum.
So Mrs May is willing to engage with Russia - she is sending the foreign secretary to Moscow next month.
But she also wants Russia to know that Mr Johnson will come with a clear message that its destabilising activities will no longer be tolerated.
Mr Johnson, who will be making his first trip to Russia since becoming foreign secretary in December, has said the UK's policy towards Moscow must be one of "beware but engage" following a decade of strained relations.
He told MPs earlier this month that he had not seen any evidence of Russia trying to interfere in British elections or the 2016 Brexit vote, in which Moscow has insisted it remained neutral.
"We will take the necessary action to counter Russian activity," Mrs May added.
"But this is not where we want to be and not the relationship with Russia we want.
"We do not want to return to the Cold War or to be in a state of perpetual confrontation.
"As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia has the reach and the responsibility to play a vital role in promoting international stability.
"Russia can, and I hope one day will, choose this different path. But for as long as Russia does not, we will act together to protect our interests and the international order on which they depend."
Responding to Mrs May's speech, former Labour cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw - who has been raising the issue of Russian interference in UK elections for nearly a year - tweeted: "Asking why May suddenly acknowledging Russian interference now having stonewalled for months."
"The international system of rules must be saved not from Russia but from the advocates of intervention, coups and regime change. Russia will not accept those 'rules'," he tweeted.
"The world order that suits May, with the seizure of Iraq, war in Libya, the rise of IS and terrorism in Europe, has had its day. You can't save it by attacking Russia."
In Mrs May's speech, she also said the authorities in Myanmar - formerly known as Burma - must take "full responsibility" for what "looked like ethnic cleansing" of the Rohingya people in Rakhine province. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41973043 |
Arthur Collins guilty over Dalston nightclub acid attack - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Arthur Collins threw acid over revellers in a packed east London nightclub in April. | London | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
A man has been found guilty of carrying out an acid attack in a packed London club which left 22 people injured.
Arthur Collins, the ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann, threw the corrosive substance at revellers in Mangle E8 in Dalston on 17 April.
The 25-year-old admitted throwing the liquid but had claimed he believed it was a date rape drug.
He was convicted at Wood Green Crown Court. Andre Phoenix, who was accused of helping him, was found not guilty.
Twenty-two people were injured, 16 of those suffering serious burns, when Collins sprayed acid over revellers inside the busy east London venue at about 01:00 BST.
One man suffered third-degree chemical burns to the left side of the face and required a skin graft. Others had eye injuries.
Arthur Collins had denied knowing the substance he threw was acid
Phoebe Georgiou, who had been celebrating her 23rd birthday in the club that night, said she still suffers from night terrors and anxiety about being in crowded places having been hit by the substance.
When she was taken to hospital she said she "saw my reflection in the shower hold, which was so shocking because my whole chest looked like it had been ripped apart and I could see the inside of my chest and my arm".
"I have a life sentence to deal with, with scars and mental injuries," she said.
A solicitor for two of the other victims said Collins' "despicable crime" had "changed the lives of so many people in the club that night".
Twenty-two people were injured when acid was thrown in the Mangle E8 nightclub
CCTV shown in court showed clubbers clutching their faces and running off the dancefloor as they were hit with the liquid.
Victims told the jury their skin began "blistering straight away" and described a burning smell. The liquid was later found to have a rating of pH1, equal to strong acids such as those used in battery acid.
Collins told the court during the trial he had been at the club celebrating the news of Ms McCann's pregnancy, which the couple had revealed to her family the previous day.
He was seen on CCTV getting into a confrontation with a group of men in the club before he sprayed liquid from a bottle over the crowd.
Andre Phoenix (left) was acquitted earlier on Monday of helping Arthur Collins (right) carry out the attack
Following the trial the Met said Collins had grabbed the bottle "from the back pocket of an unidentified man".
Collins, of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, had claimed in court he had taken the bottle from that group and thought it was a date rape drug.
However, the jury found him guilty of five counts of GBH with intent, and nine counts of ABH against 14 people.
Collins will be sentenced on 19 December.
The attack happened in Mangle E8 in Dalston on 17 April
He was not arrested for several days after the attack and was eventually detained when officers Tasered him after he tried to flee by jumping from an upstairs window of a house in Northamptonshire.
Scotland Yard said he answered no comment to all questions put to him after he was detained.
Det Ch Supt Simon Laurence said Collins had intended to "inflict serious harm" on a large number of people in a "barbaric and cowardly act".
Collins sent a message to his sister reading: "Tell mum to mind that little hand wash in my car acid"
The court heard Collins had sent a text to his sister a week before the attack, reading: "Tell mum to mind that little hand wash in my car acid".
Collins claimed he was referring to hair-thickening shampoo which contained amino acid, which he needed for his hair after having two hair transplants.
He had said he kept the shampoo in his car so his girlfriend did not find out about his hair loss.
Lily Saw, London CPS reviewing lawyer, said the prosecution had "proved this acid attack was no accident".
"Acid can be as much of a weapon as a knife with equally damaging consequences," she said.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41973161 |
Hollywood holds #MeToo march against sexual harassment - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | #MeToo hashtag creator Tarana Burke leads march down Hollywood Boulevard after Weinstein revelations. | US & Canada | The march was led by Tarana Burke, who started the #MeToo hashtag (centre)
Hundreds of people have marched in Hollywood in support of victims of sexual assault and harassment, inspired by the #MeToo social media campaign.
The march follows a torrent of assault and harassment allegations against public figures, set off by revelations about the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
The marchers started on Hollywood Boulevard and walked along the "Walk of Fame" to CNN's headquarters.
They were predominantly women but many men attended.
Tara McNamarra, 21, of Los Angeles, told Reuters news agency that the march felt cleansing after years of not being taken seriously about abuse.
"I've been sexually assaulted multiple times throughout my life," she said. "It's affected me in every aspect of my life."
Marchers hold placards on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on Sunday
The #MeToo hashtag was first used by social activist Tarana Burke and popularised by actress Alyssa Milano in the wake of the Weinstein allegations.
Ms Burke led Sunday's march. "For every Harvey Weinstein, there's a hundred more men in the neighborhood who are doing the exact same thing," she wrote on Facebook ahead of the event.
"What we're seeing, at least for now, is a unity of survivors, a community of survivors that have grown out of this #MeToo viral moment, that I'm just hoping and praying that we can sustain."
The actor Kevin Spacey and comedian Louis CK are among the high-profile figures accused of sexual harassment over the past few weeks.
Louis CK published an apology on Friday, admitting after years of denials that the allegations were true.
"The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly," he wrote.
The New York Times reported in October that Weinstein, 65, had settled out of court with eight women who had accused him of sexual harassment and unwanted physical contact.
Weinstein has also been accused of rape, but said through a spokesperson that he "unequivocally denied" any allegations of non-consensual sex. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41964399 |
Tim Gudgin: Former voice of BBC football results dies aged 87 - BBC Sport | 2017-11-13 | null | Tim Gudgin, formerly the voice of BBC television's Saturday tea-time football results, dies aged 87. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Tim Gudgin, formerly the voice of BBC television's Saturday tea-time football results, has died aged 87.
Gudgin retired in 2011, a week before his 82nd birthday, to end a career lasting more than 60 years.
He had joined Grandstand in 1976, reading out the horse racing and rugby results until 1995, when he became the second person - after Len Martin - to read out the football results.
During his time at the BBC, he also worked for Radio 2 and Radio 4.
Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said: "Tim was a much-loved member of the BBC Sport team for more than three decades and became one of the most familiar voices in the nation every Saturday afternoon. He was always the ultimate professional and will be remembered fondly by all those who worked with him."
Gudgin, known for his distinctive rising and falling intonation, started his broadcasting career while on National Service in Germany in 1949 at the age of 20.
He managed to beat 200 others to secure one of four newsreading jobs in Hamburg, before returning home and joining the BBC.
When he retired, Gudgin said: "It is a triple reason why I am going - age, distance - I am down on the south coast and the team is going to be up in Salford, and my granddaughter's wedding in Australia, which I have to be there for."
Gudgin died peacefully at his home on 8 November, his family said. His funeral will be held at Chichester Crematorium on Monday, 20 November.
• 1950: Following a three-year period of National Service, Gudgin joined BFN Radio in Germany as a newsreader and occasional sports reviewer.
• 1952: Moved back to the UK and became studio manager for BBC European Service, also working as newsreader. When his boss moved to network radio, Gudgin joined him on a six-month attachment - and stayed for 10 years.
• 1965-71: Worked as a freelancer presenting shows such as Housewives' Choice, Midday, Out & About, Saturday Night on the Light, Treble Chance, Today, Late Night Extra, Home This Afternoon, Top of the Form, Listen on Saturday, Music Box, Family Favourites, Y.A.T.N.A.M, Friday Night is Music Night, Marching & Waltzing, Night Ride, Melody Hour and Swingalong.
• 1973-76: Worked as a public relations consultant in the Isle of Man.
• 1976: Returned to the UK and sports programme Grandstand, where he read out the horse racing and rugby results in the final score segment of the programme.
• 1995: Following the death of Len Martin, he became only the second person to read out the football results for BBC television on Saturday afternoons. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41966183 |
Geldof hands back Dublin honour in protest against Aung San Suu Kyi - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | null | He returned his Freedom of the City of Dublin in protest against Aung San Suu Kyi. | null | He returned his Freedom of the City of Dublin in protest against Aung San Suu Kyi. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41973916 |
Second lynx at Borth Wild Animal Kingdom dies - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Another lynx, belonging to a zoo where one escaped and was shot, has died following a "handling error". | Mid Wales | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Tracy Tweedy, of Borth Wild Animal Kingdom, said staff were horrified by the death of the two lynx.
A second lynx, belonging to a zoo where one escaped and was later shot, has died following a "handling error".
The news comes after Lilleth the lynx was "humanely destroyed" on Friday after escaping from Borth Wild Animal Kingdom, Ceredigion.
In a statement, the zoo confirmed an investigation was under way after the death of the second lynx, Nilly.
The Lynx UK Trust called for the zoo to be closed, saying the deaths were "unacceptable".
Ceredigion council said it was investigating this second death.
Owner Tracy Tweedy said staff had given Nilly mouth to mouth after she became twisted in a catch-pole as staff tried to move her into a different enclosure ahead of a council inspection.
She said she also rubbed her heart and added staff were horrified by the deaths.
"I don't regret buying this place because I know that despite all this we will make it what it should be," she said.
"It is a sanctuary for animals and they should be here and be safe and the fact that we have let down two of our precious lynx is just horrific. There is no excuse."
Flowers have been left outside the zoo in tribute to Lilleth
Paul O'Donoghue, a scientific adviser at the Lynx UK Trust, which is trying to reintroduce them in the UK, said he had visited the zoo at the weekend.
"To have two die, it's unacceptable on every level. Serious questions need to be asked about the husbandry at this zoo," he said.
The trust has started a petition calling for the zoo's closure which has been signed by more than 1,400 people.
The zoo's owners said they had been "working hard to make vast improvements" over the summer and plans were in place to build a new lynx enclosure.
Ceredigion council said the death of Nilly was brought to its attention "the day after the animal had been inadvertently killed".
The council spokesman added: "Due to an ongoing investigation, we are unable to provide further comment."
Meanwhile, the council has defended its decision to have a marksman shoot Lilleth, prompting a backlash from the owners who had been trying to capture her with bait traps.
The council said despite "exhaustive efforts" to recapture her, it was necessary to act because she had strayed into a populated area and "the safety of the public was paramount".
Lilleth is believed to have escaped after making a "giant leap" over an electrified fence.
Among those to criticise the council's decision to shoot Lilleth was TV presenter Ben Fogle who tweeted that "dogs cause more injury to sheep and people".
The Farmers' Union of Wales said the killing "was long overdue" given the danger to people and livestock.
Dean and Tracy Tweedy took over Borth Wild Animal Kingdom less than six months ago.
They said the zoo would remain closed until further notice. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-41964094 |
Iraq country profile - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Provides an overview of Iraq, including key dates and facts about this Middle Eastern country. | Middle East | Iraq, home to some of the earliest known civilisations, has been a battleground for competing forces since the US-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The mainly Shia-led governments that have held power since have struggled to maintain order, and the country has enjoyed only brief periods of respite from high levels of sectarian violence.
Instability and sabotage have hindered efforts to rebuild an economy shattered by decades of conflict and sanctions, even though Iraq has the world's second-largest reserves of crude oil.
Rashid was elected as president in October 2022, replacing Barham Salih. He can serve a maximum of two four-year terms in the largely ceremonial post.
He is opposed to the normalization of diplomatic relations with Turkey as long as there continue to be border violations.
Under an informal agreement between political parties, the presidency is reserved for Kurds, the premiership for Shia Arabs, and the post of speaker of parliament for Sunni Arabs.
Mohammed Shia al-Sudani became prime minister in October 2022 after more than a year of political paralysis, though critics say he is struggling to deliver on his promises.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2023, he defended the presence of United States troops in his country, saying they were needed to hep Iraq's security forces defeat ISIS.
This contradicts the stance of several Iran-aligned groups that in part make up the Shia-dominated Coordination Framework, the political bloc that nominated him as prime minister.
There are hundreds of publications and scores of radio and TV stations. But political and security crises have resulted in an increasingly fractured media scene.
Television is the main medium for news. Many media outlets have political or religious affiliations.
The partly-reconstructed Ziggurat of Ur, which was first built over 4,000 years ago in what is now southern Iraq
c.5500-2270BC - Sumerian civilisation flourishes in southern Iraq: Along with nearby Elam, Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, Caral-Supe, and Mesoamerica it is one of the cradles of civilization. The world's earliest known texts come from Uruk and Jemdet Nasr.
2334-2154BC - Akkadian Empire under Sargon the Great and his successors exercises influence across Mesopotamia, the Levant and Anatolia, sending military expeditions as far south as the Arabian Peninsula.
c.1792-1750BC - Hammurabi, ruler of Babylon, issues the Code of Hammurabi, a law code which is among the first to establish the presumption of innocence.
911-609BC - Neo-Assyrian Empire based in northern Iraq dominates the Near East, most notably under Ashurnasirpal II and Shalmaneser III.
620-539BC -Neo-Babylonian Empire dominates the Levant, Canaan, Arabia, Israel and Judah, and defeats Egypt under Nebuchadnezzar II.
539BC - Persians under Cyrus the Great defeat the Babylonians and region becomes part of the Achaemenid Empire.
330BC - Macedonians under Alexander the Great conquer the region.
632-654 - Muslim conquest of what is now Iraq and Iran.
750-1258 - Abbasid Caliphate founds the city of Baghdad - under the caliph Al-Mansur - which becomes a centre of science, culture and invention in what is known as the Golden Age of Islam.
1257-58 - Mongol armies under Hulagu Khan sack and destroy Baghdad, burning its extensive library. Estimates of those killed range from 200,000 to a million.
1508 - Iraq comes under control of Safavid Iran.
1639 - Treaty of Zuhab sees Iraq become part of the Ottoman Empire.
1914 - World War One. Ottoman Turkey sides with Germany and Austria-Hungary.
1915-16 - British troops invade and initially suffer a major defeat at the hands of the Turkish army during the Siege of Kut.
1920 - Following the end of World War One, the League of Nations approves the British mandate in Iraq, prompting nationwide revolt.
1921 - Britain appoints Feisal, son of Hussein Bin Ali, the Sherif of Mecca, as king.
1941 - Britain re-occupies Iraq after pro-Axis coup during World War Two.
1958 - The monarchy is overthrown in a left-wing military coup led by Abd-al-Karim Qasim. Iraq leaves the pro-British Baghdad Pact.
1963 - Prime Minister Qasim is ousted in a coup led by the pan-Arab Baath Party.
1963 - The Baathist government is overthrown, but seizes power again five years later
1990 - Iraq invades and annexes Kuwait, prompting what becomes known as the first Gulf War. A massive US-led military campaign forces Iraq to withdraw in February 1991.
1998 - US and British Operation Desert Fox bombing campaign aims to destroy Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes.
2003 - US-led invasion topples Saddam Hussein's government, marks start of years of violent conflict with different groups competing for power.
2006 - Saddam Hussein is executed for crimes against humanity.
2022 - 2,500 US. troops remain in Iraq as part of anti-ISIS operations despite the formal end of the US combat mission there in 2021.
US marines toppled the statue of Saddam Hussein shortly after the invasion in 2003. Years of instability followed | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14542954 |
Brexit threat to car finance - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Ford highlights the Brexit threat to its car finance arm if a passporting deal is not hammered out. | Business | Four in ten Ford cars sold in the UK rely on financing supplied by Ford's financing arm.
Ford Credit Europe is essentially a bank offering loans to car buyers, and like other banks relies on its ability to operate throughout Europe on the UK's membership of the EU and the so-called "passport" to operate throughout the bloc.
Chancellor Philip Hammond has said the UK is aiming for a "bespoke" deal for banks and the finance sector in the EU.
If that did happen Ford would be able to keep its current structure offering finance across Europe from its base in the UK.
Ford Credit Europe recently opened a new headquarters in Manchester, serving eleven markets across Europe.
Buried in written submissions to the Business Energy and Industrial Skills Select committee - released today - is the following from Ford:
"A loss of access to the single market would also affect our UK-headquartered captive finance arm, Ford Credit Europe.
"This currently operates a branch network across the single market on the basis of an EU Capital Requirements Directive passport for the provision of banking services.
"Outside the EU and the EEA, FCE as a UK-regulated bank will lose access to the passporting regime as currently designed.
"FCE's sole purpose is to finance the sale of Ford motor vehicles and Ford cannot afford any kind of disruption to FCE's continuity of financing."
The car industry has already been very clear that it would be super sensitive to any introduction of tariffs on cars or components as it relies on the frictionless, just-in-time delivery of components from around the EU.
In fact, cars produced in the UK are 25% to 42% "made" of UK components (it differs from manufacturer to manufacturer).
Once outside the EU, the UK would fail current "rules of origin" tests required to strike new trade deals with third parties - even those with whom we currently have deals by virtue of our membership of the EU.
In its own submissions, Honda makes it clear that any introduction the tariffs applicable in a no-deal scenario would render vehicle production in the UK "uncompetitive" thanks to additional costs (4.5% on components, 10% on finished vehicles) that Honda says it cannot afford to absorb.
Car manufacturing executives have already been in to see the Chancellor and the Prime Minister in the last two weeks to press the urgency of their case.
They will face MPs on the BEIS Select Committee on Tuesday, and on this written evidence, will have plenty to say about the clear and present danger to UK car manufacturing if a preferential trade deal with the EU is not agreed. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41935554 |
Why David Davis's Brexit vote announcement matters - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | It matters because the Brexit deal that shapes the future of the country will now be the subject of a specific new Act of Parliament that MPs and Lords will have to approve in early 2019, before we leave the EU. | UK Politics | I know this doesn't sound that exciting unless you are as much of a nerd as I am. However, the Brexit secretary's announcement in the House of Commons in the last few minutes really matters.
It matters because the Brexit deal that shapes the future of the country will now be the subject of a specific new Act of Parliament that MPs and Lords will have to approve in early 2019, before we leave the EU.
It matters because Parliament will now be given specific votes, therefore, on the deal itself once the broad outlines have been agreed (Remember, the thrust of it is expected in about a year's time, although that feels hard to believe sometimes.)
It matters because the decision is a big concession to the Tory rebels and Labour MPs who were threatening to vote against the government, in part, because of ministers' refusal to promise a new set of laws.
And it matters because it demonstrates that the government was unlikely to be able to persuade enough of their own side to vote with them to keep the show on the road this week.
A confident government wouldn't have conceded like this the day before the Brexit debate was due to come back to the Commons in earnest.
This climbdown does not remotely mean that other grievances over the existing Brexit legislation will disappear.
It doesn't mean that the next few weeks will suddenly become plain sailing. And if there isn't a withdrawal deal with the rest of the EU, well, then there can't be a bill that covers the withdrawal bill.
It's only in the coming days that the government will know if they have done enough to get the existing plans through.
And the move also of course adds to a massive load of complicated Parliamentary business that has to be cleared before we actually leave.
P.S. The signs in the last few hours about David Davis' attempt at a concession have not been good.
Sources have told the BBC about a "stormy" meeting between the new Chief Whip Julian Smith and a group of Tory rebels this afternoon. In politics that's code for pretty grim and probably with shouting.
MPs have said the offer was "insulting", "disappointing" and warned the "government should be worried" .
But remember, this is going to be a long process of Parliamentary moves. The concession may have not moved much sentiment tonight, but both sides of the Tory Party know they are in this for the long haul, and the most troublesome votes are further down the track. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41974583 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe case: Diplomatic protection 'one option' - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | It is an option being considered to secure Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release from an Iran jail, says No 10. | UK | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband tells Today he doesn't think Boris Johnson should resign
Offering a British-Iranian mother in prison in Iran diplomatic protection is "one of the options" being considered in the case, Downing Street has said.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a visit to Iran in April 2016 and accused of trying to overthrow the regime there - a charge she denies.
Her husband Richard Ratcliffe has criticised the UK's response and said it could offer diplomatic protection.
Number 10 said it was working to find the "most beneficial" course of action.
In a phone call, Mr Ratcliffe asked Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to consider diplomatic protection for his wife, which under international law is a way for a state to take diplomatic action on behalf of a national.
Taking such a measure would effectively escalate the case from an individual consular matter to a formal legal dispute between Britain and Iran, BBC diplomatic correspondent James Landale said.
Asked about the possibility, Downing Street said it was an option, adding: "I think what we need to look at is what will work best and what can be most beneficial in this case."
The government "will look" at Mr Ratcliffe's comments "very closely" and decide the "best course of action to secure her release", the Number 10 spokesman added.
Mr Johnson and fellow cabinet minister Michael Gove have been accused of bungling the UK's handling of the case.
The foreign secretary told MPs last week that he believed Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been teaching in Iran before she was arrested, while Mr Gove told the BBC he did not know what Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been doing in Iran.
Her family have always maintained she was on holiday with her daughter.
Asked about the government's official position, Downing Street said: "The government's position on this is clear. She was there on holiday. It wasn't for any other purpose.
"The foreign secretary reiterated that in his conversation with the Iranian foreign minister last week."
The spokesman said Prime Minister Theresa May had been involved in Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case "from the outset" and was treating it as "a priority".
She had raised it with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on at least two occasions, he added.
When a British citizen is jailed overseas, they normally get basic consular help from the local embassy.
This could include anything from contacting family to legal support to medical help. But if the UK were assert its diplomatic protection over a British citizen, that would change things significantly.
This would be a signal that the UK is no longer treating the case as a consular matter but a formal, legal dispute between Britain and that country.
That's because diplomatic protection is a mechanism under international law that a state can use to help one its nationals whose rights have been breached in another country.
The broad legal principle is that British diplomats would no longer be representing the interests of a citizen but the interests of their state.
Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme earlier, Mr Ratcliffe said he had written to the Foreign Office following remarks made by Mr Gove.
He said Mr Johnson "did promise to consider whether she'll be eligible for diplomatic protection" which "gives a different push" to what the government can do for his wife.
"I'm reassured that it is the position of the government," Mr Ratcliffe said.
Asked about his conversation with Mr Ratcliffe, Mr Johnson told the BBC Foreign Office officials were working "very, very hard" on the case.
"On Iran - and on consular cases generally - they are all very sensitive and I think the key thing to understand is that we are working very, very hard and intensively and impartially on all those cases," he added.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe - who has a three-year-old daughter, who is being cared for by family in Iran - was arrested and jailed in Iran in April 2016.
The full details of the allegations against her have never been made fully public.
But speaking in Westminster on 1 November, Mr Johnson appeared to contradict her own account when he wrongly said she had been training journalists.
Four days later, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was recalled to court in Iran and Mr Johnson's remark cited as evidence against her, prompting fears that her five-year sentence could be extended.
Labour have since called for the foreign secretary's resignation, but Mr Ratcliffe has said he believes it is not in his wife's interests for anyone to resign.
The UK government's policy for dual British nationals arrested abroad, is that UK authorities "won't get involved if someone's arrested in a country for which they hold a valid passport, unless there's a special humanitarian reason to do so".
Iran, however, does not recognise dual nationality, and so does not allow consular assistance from the foreign office or the British embassy.
Should Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe be granted diplomatic protection, the UK government could make representations at a political and diplomatic level instead.
Mr Ratcliffe says a call for his wife's release from the United Nations last month had not been endorsed by government.
In October, José Antonio Guevara Bermúdez, chair-rapporteur of the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and Ms Asma Jahangir, special rapporteur on human rights for Iran, called for Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's immediate release.
She had been "deprived of her liberty", they said.
"The UK didn't endorse that call," Mr Ratcliffe said. "It hasn't ever acknowledged a violation of her rights, which I find staggering."
But he still hopes his family will be reunited by the end of the year.
"I think the best chance Nazanin has of coming home this side of Christmas is all of the weight of the Foreign Office and the foreign secretary being focused on doing that," he said. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41966412 |
EU preparing for possible collapse of Brexit talks - Barnier - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Chief negotiator Michel Barnier says "everyone needs to plan" in case Brexit talks fail. | Europe | Michel Barnier says "everyone needs to plan" for the possible collapse of Brexit negotiations
The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, says he is planning for the possible collapse of Brexit negotiations with the UK.
Mr Barnier was talking to French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche days after giving the UK a two-week deadline to clarify key issues.
Failing to reach an agreement was not his preferred option, he stressed.
The UK's Brexit Secretary David Davis has said it is time for both sides "to work to find solutions".
On Friday, Mr Davis insisted good progress was being made across the board, and that the negotiations had narrowed to a "few outstanding, albeit important, issues".
Discussing the likelihood of the talks collapsing, Mr Barnier said: "It's not my option, but it's a possibility. Everyone needs to plan for it, member states and businesses alike. We too are preparing for it technically.
"A failure of the negotiations would have consequences on multiple domains."
Mr Barnier has asked the UK to clarify its stance on its financial obligations to the EU if future trade talks are to go ahead in December.
But Mr Davis has made conflicting remarks, suggesting the UK would not have to give a figure for a financial settlement before it could move on to talks about a future trading relationship.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, he said: "In every negotiation, each side tries to control the timetable. The real deadline on this is, of course, December."
Mr Davis was referring to the next EU summit which will take place in Brussels in December.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. David Davis says there cannot be a new border within the UK
He said British taxpayers "would not want me to just come along and just give away billions of pounds".
He added: "We've been very, very careful, and it's taking time and we will take our time to get to the right answer."
His comments followed a sixth round of talks between Mr Davis and Mr Barnier in Brussels.
Speaking after the talks on Friday, Mr Davis said any solution for the Irish border could not be at the expense of the constitutional integrity of the UK. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41961412 |
Moment Iran-Iraq quake hits Darbandikhan Dam control room - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | null | There a fears the Darbandikhan Dam could burst following a 7.3-magnitude earthquake which hit the northern border region between Iran and Iraq. | null | CCTV captured the moment the earthquake in the Iran-Iraq border region shook the control room of the Darbandikhan Dam. A huge boulder could be seen crashing onto the road outside.
Authorities initially feared the dam might burst, but now say it has withstood the 7.3-magnitude earthquake without major cracks, AFP reports. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41973049 |
EU business leaders press Theresa May for Brexit deal - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | UK and EU business groups tell Theresa May that a "no deal" Brexit must be avoided. | Business | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The CBI chief says business wants the UK and Europe to speed up Brexit negotiations
European and UK business leaders have told Prime Minister Theresa May of their Brexit concerns.
At a meeting in Downing Street on Monday, representatives from groups including the CBI and BusinessEurope pressed for a transitional deal that preserves the status quo after Brexit.
The CBI chief, Carolyn Fairbairn, said all those at the meeting reiterated the damage "no deal" would do to trade.
A German lobby group also warned that no deal would cost their economy dear.
The head of the German chambers of commerce, Martin Wansleben, told a newspaper the car industry alone would face annual tariffs of more than €2bn if trade between the UK and the EU falls under World Trade Organisation rules.
Emma Marcegaglia, president of BusinessEurope, said: "Business is extremely concerned with the slow pace of negotiations and the lack of progress only one month before the decisive December European Council.
"Business aims to avoid a cliff edge and therefore asks for a 'status quo-like' transitional arrangement with the UK staying in the customs union and the single market, as this will best provide citizens and businesses with greater certainty."
The business groups met Mrs May at No 10, as well as Business Secretary Greg Clark, Brexit Secretary David Davis and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Barclay.
The CBI and the Institute of Directors were represented, along with business organisations from France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic and Belgium.
There are concerns that future trade talks could collapse ahead of December's EU summit.
EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned that the talks will only go ahead if the UK first clarifies its financial obligations to the EU.
Mr Davis has said the UK was "ready and willing" to engage with Brussels "as often and as quickly as needed".
Earlier, Ms Fairbairn, CBI director-general, told the BBC a CBI survey found that 10% of companies had already activated their contingency plans.
The pace of planning by firms was picking up, she added, with about 60% of companies saying they would implement contingency plans by the end of next March.
Bernard Spitz, a director of Medef, France's biggest business lobby group, said agreement on a transition deal was important for both UK companies as well as those "across the European Union".
"We know that for us, especially for the French, the relationship with the UK is absolutely key, but if business continuity is important, what is even more important is the integrity of the European market," he said.
Michel Barnier has warned of the possible collapse of Brexit talks
Property developer Richard Tice, co-founder of Leave Means Leave, said if a trade deal appeared unlikely, "then actually we would be better to give certainty to everybody that actually we're going to do a different type of deal which is to go to WTO [World Trade Organization rules]".
BBC business editor Simon Jack says some UK business leaders in favour of Brexit are concerned that a transition period maintaining the current arrangements will delay and frustrate Britain's attempts to strike new independent deals. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41962813 |
Trevor Sinclair in drink-drive and PC assault arrest - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The ex-England footballer was first arrested on suspicion of drink-driving after a woman was hit by a car. | Lancashire | BBC pundit Trevor Sinclair, who was held on drink-driving charges, has been further arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.
Police were called after a woman was hit by a car in Lytham, Lancashire, on Sunday, suffering minor injuries.
The former England footballer, 44, was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving, common assault and criminal damage.
He is also suspected of a public order offence and has been released while inquiries continue, police said.
Officers responded at 20:45 GMT to a disturbance at a home on Victory Boulevard in Lytham, said Lancashire Police.
A man had already left the property in a car.
A police spokesman added: "A short time later, officers found the vehicle which had been involved in a collision with a woman pedestrian on Clifton Drive. She received minor injuries."
The London-born winger, who grew up in Manchester, played 12 times for England including four caps in the 2002 World Cup.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-41968683 |
Anzac soldier 'reunited' with brothers killed in WW1 - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | null | Harold Beechey was one of five brothers killed in WW1 who have been remembered as part of a symbolic reunion. | null | Harold Beechey was one of five brothers killed during World War One. He was blown up by a German shell on a French battlefield after surviving conflict in Gallipoli and Egypt.
Crosses made of Lincoln limestone have been placed around the world to reunite Harold symbolically with his four brothers. His cross is at the Anglican Cathedral in Perth, Western Australia. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-41946945 |
Gun surrender: Parents' emotional plea over weapons - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | null | The parents of a teenager shot dead in Liverpool make an emotional plea over gun violence. | null | The parents of a teenager shot dead in Liverpool have urged people to hand over their guns to police.
Yusuf Sonko was 18 when he died from a gunshot wound to the head in June last year. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41968322 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Husband fears for her health - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband says she has found lumps in her breasts and is close to breakdown. | UK | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband said "she was just a mum on holiday"
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman being held in Iran, has seen a specialist after finding lumps in her breasts, her husband has said.
Richard Ratcliffe also expressed concern that his wife appeared to be "on the verge of a nervous breakdown".
She was arrested during a visit to Iran in April 2016, accused of trying to overthrow the regime, which she denies.
Cabinet ministers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have been accused of bungling the UK's handling of the case.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's family have issued a statement about her condition, saying she had been "complaining of sharp stabbing pains in her breasts" for more than a year.
They said she had been given a mammogram by the prison's gynaecologist, which gave an inconclusive result.
After insisting on seeing an outside specialist, the family said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was then taken to hospital for an ultrasound on Saturday.
They said although the doctor thought the lumps were likely to be benign, he did note her family having a history of breast cancer.
She was given anti-inflammatory medication and vitamin pills and was to be seen by the specialist again next week to see whether there was any improvement or whether she might need surgery, the family said.
The full details of the allegations against Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe have never been made fully public.
She maintains the purpose of her trip to Iran was to visit family and for her daughter to meet her grandparents but speaking in Westminster on 1 November, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appeared to contradict her account when he wrongly said she had been training journalists there.
Four days later, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was recalled to court in Iran and his remark cited as evidence against her, prompting fears her five-year sentence could be extended.
However, her family say there have been no developments on new charges against her since her court appearance. Her lawyer also says he has not been contacted by the Iranian judiciary.
In the statement her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, describes his earlier phone conversation with Mr Johnson and says the minister is trying to find time to meet him "in the next few days".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michael Gove says Richard Ratcliffe was the person who would know what his wife was doing in Iran
It came after Environment Secretary Michael Gove told the BBC he did not know what Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been doing in Iran when she was arrested.
He later said he would "take her husband's assurance" that she was on holiday.
Amid calls for his resignation over the matter, the foreign secretary earlier this week clarified that the UK government had "no doubt" that a holiday was the sole purpose of her visit to Iran.
Mr Ratcliffe said his wife had been angered by Mr Johnson's initial remarks and Iranian media coverage of her case.
But he restated his belief that it was not in Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's interests for anyone to resign. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41963159 |
Theresa May warns rebels as Brexit talks set to resume - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The PM outlines plans to set the UK's EU departure date and time in law, ahead of a new round of talks. | UK Politics | Theresa May has outlined plans to set the UK's departure date and time from the EU in law, warning she will not "tolerate" any attempt to block Brexit.
She said the EU Withdrawal Bill would be amended to formally commit to Brexit at 23:00 GMT on Friday 29 March 2019.
The bill will be scrutinised by MPs next week - but the PM warned against attempts to stop it or slow it down.
Mrs May was writing in the Daily Telegraph as a fresh round of Brexit negotiations are due to begin later.
The UK is due to leave the European Union after 2016's referendum in which 51.9% of voters backed Brexit.
The prime minister said the decision to put the specific time of Brexit "on the front page" of the Brexit bill showed the government was determined to see the process through.
"Let no-one doubt our determination or question our resolve, Brexit is happening," she wrote.
"It will be there in black and white on the front page of this historic piece of legislation: the United Kingdom will be leaving the EU on March 29, 2019 at 11pm GMT."
The draft legislation has already passed its second reading, and now faces several attempts to amend it at the next part of its parliamentary journey - the committee stage.
Mrs May said most people wanted politicians to "come together" to negotiate a good Brexit deal, adding that MPs "on all sides" should help scrutinise the bill.
She said the government would listen to MPs if they had ideas for improving the bill, but warned against attempts to halt the process.
"We will not tolerate attempts from any quarter to use the process of amendments to this Bill as a mechanism to try to block the democratic wishes of the British people by attempting to slow down or stop our departure from the European Union."
MPs have previously been told there have been 300 amendments and 54 new clauses proposed.
David Davis is due to take part in a fresh round of Brexit negotiations
The PM said the "historic" bill was "fundamental to delivering a smooth and orderly Brexit" and would give "the greatest possible clarity and certainty for all businesses and families across the country".
Labour MP and remain campaigner, Chuka Umunna, said many experts believed the March 2019 leaving date did not give much time for negotiations.
He told BBC Radio 5 live: "Lord Bridges said he could not see the government being able to negotiate the transition arrangement, like the bridge to us leaving, and the divorce bill, by 2019. So we may actually need more time."
Lord Kerr, the former diplomat who helped draft Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - the mechanism the UK has used to exit the EU - said putting the Brexit date on the bill did not mean the withdrawal process was irreversible.
The cross-bench peer told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that decisions such as these were being made in Westminster, and "had nothing to do with the treaty, and they have nothing to do with the views of our partners in Brussels".
But the Conservative MP and leave campaigner, Peter Bone, welcomed the decision to enshrine the leaving date in law, saying it was a "really big, important step".
It comes as a leaked account of a meeting of EU diplomats this week suggested that Northern Ireland may have to abide by the EU's rules on the customs union and single market after Brexit - in order to avoid the introduction of border checks.
Both Britain and the EU say they are committed to ensuring that Brexit does not undermine the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement or lead to the emergence of hard-border with the Republic of Ireland.
However, BBC correspondent Adam Fleming said the commission's suggestion appeared to be at odds with comments made by the Northern Ireland Secretary, James Brokenshire, this week.
Mr Brokenshire said it was "difficult to imagine" Northern Ireland remaining in either the customs union or the single market after Brexit. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41936428 |
Saad Hariri: Lebanon return from Saudi Arabia 'within days' - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Lebanon's Saad Hariri says he is free in Saudi Arabia, and that he resigned to protect himself. | Middle East | Hariri's resignation has sent shockwaves through Lebanon and the region
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri says he will return home "in days" to formally submit his resignation.
Mr Hariri spoke to Future TV from Riyadh, his first public remarks since he announced he was stepping down last week.
His cabinet allies say he is being held captive, but Mr Hariri denied this.
He has blamed the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement for his resignation, citing concerns over his and his family's safety.
The US and UK have warned other countries not to use Lebanon for proxy conflicts.
Mr Hariri, a Sunni leader and businessman, was nominated to form Lebanon's government in November 2016.
"I have resigned. I am going to Lebanon very soon and I will resign in the constitutional manner," he said in the TV interview.
Under Lebanese law the prime minister has to submit his resignation to the president, who must accept it for it to take effect.
However, Mr Hariri also held out the prospect that he might reconsider resigning if Hezbollah stopped intervening in neighbouring countries.
"If we want to go back on the resignation, we have to return to the policy of distancing ourselves" from regional conflicts," he said, according to the Associated Press.
"I am not against Hezbollah as a party, I have a problem with Hezbollah destroying the country," he said.
The main problem for the region, he said, was "Iran interfering in Arab states".
A sombre Mr Hariri recognised that he did not resign in the "usual way" but said he wanted to give his country a "positive shock".
"My resignation came as a wake-up call for Lebanon," he said.
Posters of Mr Hariri have appeared across Beirut. This one says: "We are all Saad"
Iran and Hezbollah have accused Saudi Arabia of holding Mr Hariri hostage.
But Mr Hariri insisted that he was free to travel as he pleased in the country. "I am free here. If I want to travel tomorrow, I will," he said.
Observers noted the journalist who interviewed Mr Hariri made an effort to demonstrate that the event was live, rather than pre-recorded, though there were several moments which raised suspicions about the conditions under which the interview was held, the Associated Press reported. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41961058 |
CCTV of acid attack in London club - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | null | CCTV shows Arthur Collins throwing liquid at revellers in Mangle E8 in Dalston on 17 April. | null | A man has been found guilty of carrying out an acid attack in a packed London club which left 22 people injured.
Arthur Collins, the ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann, threw the corrosive substance at revellers in Mangle E8 in Dalston on 17 April.
Footage released by police shows the moment Collins aimed the bottle of liquid at the crowd. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41973617 |
Omagh alert 'attempt to disrupt Remembrance Day' - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | PSNI's Chief Constable says a strong line of enquiry is that dissident republicans are responsible. | Northern Ireland | An Army robot at the scene of the alert on Sunday
A security alert that postponed a wreath-laying ceremony in Omagh earlier was caused by a viable pipe bomb type device, police have said.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable George Hamilton said police were following a "strong line of enquiry" that dissident republicans were responsible.
The alert began after the discovery of a suspicious object on Drumragh Avenue.
The rest of the Remembrance Sunday service was able to go ahead.
Cordons were in place at Drumragh Avenue, Mountjoy Road, Sedan Avenue, George Street and High Street. The alert has now ended.
The PSNI Chief Constable said that the device was "left to cause maximum disruption" to the commemorations and described it as "sickening and appalling".
"This is the action of a small and callous group of violent people who have nothing to offer our communities other than fear and intimidation," he said.
"Whilst our investigation into the incident is at a very early stage, one strong line of enquiry is that violent dissident republicans are responsible.
"Their actions today have demonstrated the disregard and disrespect they have for this community, which has already suffered so much pain and hurt at the hands of terrorists."
DUP MLA Tom Buchanan said he believed the planting of the pipe bomb was a "re-run" of the Enniskillen Poppy Day bomb 30 years ago that resulted in the deaths of 12 people.
"Innocent men, women and children's lives were taken and maimed with a similar type of device at that particular time," he said.
"And, again, I find it very difficult to get words strong enough to condemn those that are responsible for planning and pre-meditating such an attack."
Ulster Unionist councillor Chris Smyth said those responsible were cowards.
"It's always going to hurt an awful lot when people come to remember their dead and they come with wreaths, they come with a very clear idea of what they want to do," he said.
"Then, because of the actions of a few very sick and very cowardly individuals, they're stopped from doing that."
The Sinn Féin MP for the area, Barry McElduff, said everyone had the "unfettered right" to remember their dead.
"Whoever decided to leave a package in this area, a suspicious package, obviously has shown complete disregard for everyone in the community," he said. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-41960294 |
Church of England issues transphobic bullying guidance - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Church of England issues new transphobic and biphobic bullying guidance to schoolteachers. | UK | Primary schoolchildren should be free to dress up in a tiara or superhero cloak without comment from teachers or pupils, the Church of England has said.
In bullying guidance issued to its schools, the Church said pupils should be free to explore "who they might be".
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said the guidance would help schools spread the Christian message "without exception or exclusion".
LGBT charity Stonewall said the advice would help to prevent bullying.
The advice comes as polling for the Anti-Bullying Alliance showed that two in five children "hide aspects of themselves" for fear of being bullied.
Of 1,600 eight to 16-year-olds questioned for this week's Anti-Bullying Week:
The Church, which educates one million pupils in nearly 5,000 schools, first issued guidance about homophobic bullying three years ago, but it has now been updated to cover transphobic and biphobic bullying.
In his foreword to the advice, the Most Reverend Justin Welby said: "We must avoid, at all costs, diminishing the dignity of any individual to a stereotype or a problem".
He said sexual orientation should never be the grounds for bullying or prejudice, adding that "significant progress" had been made since homophobic bullying guidance was issued in 2014.
The report, Valuing All God's Children, said children should be able to play with "the many cloaks of identity" without being labelled or bullied - "sometimes quite literally with the dressing-up box".
Nursery and primary school in particular is a time of "creative exploration", it said, where young people should be able to pick a tutu, tiara and heels - or a helmet, tool belt and superhero cloak - "without expectation or comment".
The Archbishop of Canterbury said no one should be diminished to a "stereotype or a problem"
The guidance recognised there is a "breadth of views" among Christians and people of all beliefs towards same-sex marriage, sexual orientation and gender identity.
But it added: "The aim of this guidance is to prevent pupils in Church of England schools and academies from having their self-worth diminished or their ability to achieve impeded by being bullied because of their perceived or actual sexual orientation or gender identity."
Stonewall, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights group, said the guidance gave "clear advice" to teachers on recognising and combating bullying in Church schools.
A spokesman said: "Our research shows that nearly half of lesbian, gay, bi and trans pupils are bullied for being LGBT at school: a situation that desperately needs to change."
Anti-Bullying Alliance national co-ordinator Martha Evans said the guidance struck a chord during anti-bullying week, "when we are shining a light on needing to celebrate what makes us all different and equal".
"Schools have duties under law to ensure they do not discriminate against a pupil or prospective pupil by treating them less favourably because of their gender or sexual orientation.
"It is so important children are able to be themselves without fear of bullying." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41964542 |
Sex unlikely to cause cardiac arrest, study finds - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Sudden cardiac arrest is linked to sexual activity far more often in men than women, a study finds. | Health | Sudden cardiac arrest is associated with sexual activity far more often in men than women, research suggests.
But sex is a rare trigger for sudden cardiac arrest.
Only 34 out of the 4,557 cardiac arrests examined occurred during or within one hour of sexual intercourse and 32 of those affected were men.
Sumeet Chugh, of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, said his study is the first to evaluate sexual activity as a potential trigger of cardiac arrest.
The research was presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association.
A cardiac arrest happens when the heart malfunctions and suddenly stops beating. It causes someone to fall unconscious and stop breathing and unless treated with CPR, it is fatal.
This differs from a heart attack, where blood flow to the heart is blocked.
It is known that sexual activity can trigger heart attacks, but the link with cardiac arrest was previously unknown.
Dr Chugh and his colleagues in California examined hospital records on cases of cardiac arrest in adults between 2002 and 2015 in Portland, Oregon.
Sexual activity was associated in fewer than 1% of the cases. The vast majority were male and were more likely to be middle-aged, African-American and have a history of cardiovascular disease.
The study also found CPR was performed in only one-third of the cases, despite them being witnessed by a partner.
Dr Chugh said: "These findings highlight the importance of continued efforts to educate the public on the importance of bystander CPR for sudden cardiac arrest, irrespective of the circumstance."
He said it shows the need for people to be educated about how to administer CPR.
Another study presented at the conference showed children as young as six can learn it.
After a heart attack or surgery, the British Heart Foundation suggests patients should typically wait four to six weeks before resuming sexual activity.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41929167 |
TV channel live on air during Iraq-Iran earthquake - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | null | A Kurdish channel was live on air when Sunday night's earthquake hit the northern border regions of Iraq and Iran. | null | A Kurdish channel was live on air when Sunday night's earthquake hit the northern border regions of Iraq and Iran.
At least 200 people were killed and hundreds more injured in the 7.3-magnitude quake. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41967091 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Prisoner caught in Iran power struggle - BBC News | 2017-11-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is first and foremost a story of terrible personal suffering. | UK | The case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is first and foremost a story of terrible personal suffering for a young woman, her husband and their baby girl.
Eighteen months into a five-year sentence, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces the prospect of up to 16 years in an Iranian jail.
It is also, however, a story of an internal power struggle in Iran, as well as of the nation's deeply difficult relationship with the UK.
To understand how she fits into this, the first thing to examine is the timing of her arrest. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in April 2016, a few months ahead of the first anniversary of Iran's historic nuclear deal.
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The accord, on which President Hassan Rouhani had staked his reputation, was bitterly opposed by elements of the powerful Revolutionary Guards.
They had often benefited financially from the sanctions regime. They were adamant that the nuclear deal must be seen as a failure, that it had changed nothing and that compromise with the West was a fruitless exercise.
Arrests of a number of Iranians with dual nationality came about in this context:
Iran is in the grip of an ideological power-struggle, with two competing world views.
President Rouhani came to power promising to open Iran up to the world; the supreme leader, the Revolutionary Guards and the judiciary have a far more hardline position, both in relation to how the country should be run as well as its foreign relations.
All the arrests were seen as an attempt by the Revolutionary Guards to undermine not just the president, but the very process of thawing relations with the West.
Of the three dual-national prisoners arrested after the deal was agreed, only one has since been released: Ms Hoodfar was sent home a few months later on what the Iranians called "humanitarian grounds".
The only significant difference between her case and Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's was their nationalities: one was half-Canadian, the other half-British.
To Iranian minds, the UK is viewed with almost unique suspicion. Indeed, in 2009 the supreme leader said that of all the world's "arrogant powers", the UK was the "most evil".
To understand why, one must go back to the 1953 coup-d'état that overthrew nationalist Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, returning the autocratic Shah to power. Behind it were the British and American intelligence agencies.
Almost 300 people were killed in the streets of Tehran after protesting against the prime minister's removal in a US- and British-organised coup in 1953
This led to deep-rooted suspicions of the West's intentions; once the Shah was ousted by the Islamic Revolution of 1979, those suspicions became open hostilities. Relations have never really recovered.
Over the years there have been a number of key points, notably the 1989 fatwah calling for the death of British author Salman Rushdie. His book, The Satanic Verses, was denounced as blasphemous by the supreme leader; he called on Muslims around the world to try and kill Rushdie. The controversy led to a severing of diplomatic ties, which were not repaired until 1998.
In 2007, 15 British Royal Navy personnel were detained off the South Coast of Iran. They were paraded on TV, a show of power by Tehran, but ultimately released under diplomatic pressure.
The 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was followed by peaceful street protests, which the supreme leader accused the West of encouraging. A number of staff at the British embassy were arrested and forced to sign confessions.
In November 2011, relations deteriorated further. After the UK increased sanctions on Iran, the parliament voted to expel the British ambassador. Before he could pack his bags, members of the hardline Basij militia ransacked the British embassy in Tehran. It did not re-open until 2014.
But, it is not just the British government that has been viewed with great hostility. Western media, most notably the BBC's Persian Service, has long been regarded with deep distrust, fear and often hatred by the hardline Iranian establishment.
For years Persian Service journalists have been harassed and intimidated by the Iranian authorities. Two months ago all the assets of 150 BBC staff, former staff and contributors were frozen for "conspiracy against national security".
And here we come to the final part of the story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Many years ago, she worked for BBC Media Action, the charitable wing of the BBC. Although it has no direct connection to the BBC's Persian service, it has been used as evidence that she was in Iran for political reasons.
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It is, therefore, for this reason that the recent comments by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson were so controversial, and potentially damaging.
By stating that she was involved in "training journalists", he has given ammunition to those elements of the establishment who view her as just another example what the supreme leader described as "an infiltration project" by the West.
All the while, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe languishes in Tehran's Evin jail. Her daughter, who has now forgotten how to speak English, can only see her for an hour-and-a-half a week. Meanwhile her husband Richard suffers in London.
The future of a family, half-British, half-Iranian, has been torn apart by the suspicion and distrust caused by their own countries' pasts. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41907892 |
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