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Daryll Rowe guilty of infecting men with HIV - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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After sex with some of the men, Daryll Rowe texted mocking messages, including "I have HIV LOL. Oops!"
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Sussex
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Darryll Rowe told one of his victims 'I got you. Burn, you have it'
A man has been convicted of trying to infect 10 men with HIV in a "campaign" to infect as many as possible.
Daryll Rowe infected five men he had unprotected sex with and sabotaged the condoms of another five in Brighton and Northumberland.
After sex with some of the men he texted mocking messages, including "I have HIV LOL. Oops!" and "I'm riddled".
During the trial hairdresser Rowe, 27, claimed to believe months of drinking his own urine cured him of the virus.
He was convicted at Lewes Crown Court of five counts of causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) and five of attempted GBH.
Daryll Rowe met his partners on dating app Grindr, jurors at Lewes Crown Court were told
During the six-week trial the prosecution described Rowe's actions as a "campaign" to infect as many men as possible over a four-month period starting in October 2015 across the Brighton area.
He had relations with eight men he met on dating app Grindr, before moving to Northumberland and having unprotected sex with another two men later in 2016.
Speaking after the verdict, Nigel Pilkington, deputy chief crown prosecutor in the South East, said he believed there "may well be more men out there" who had fallen victim to Rowe, of no fixed address.
Throughout the case Rowe was described as a "control freak" who would shift between being charming and "jealous".
Mr Pilkington said he was a "cruel and callous man" whose crimes were "akin to stabbing or shooting somebody".
Mr Pilkington added: "The absolute deliberate infection of other men by a man, is not something I've ever come across in 25 years as a prosecutor and I don't expect to ever come across a case like it again.
"This is a man who, after the event, having known what was he was doing, sent mocking and abusive texts to some of his victims. It must have been traumatic."
Deborah Gold, chief executive of the National Aids Trust (NAT), said Rowe's behaviour was "utterly exceptional and vanishingly rare".
She added that the majority of HIV transmissions are by people who are unaware they have the virus.
Speaking after the hearing, one of Rowe's victims, whose biological parents both had HIV and later died, said the news of his condition drove him to a suicide attempt.
"I was always so careful," he said.
"My dad was a junkie and she was a very young mother. I was always trying to run away from that lifestyle, That's why I always insisted on condoms."
He added it was a "reminder of my past".
"I feel it's come full-circle, and has made this my new life, which is very unfair," he added.
"[Rowe] called me over and over. He admitted to ripping the condom.
"He said, 'I got you. Burn, you have it' and he was laughing at me. There was menace in his voice, it was an insane conversation. It was horrific to hear. I was in a dark place.
"It's a violation. I could only describe it as feeling like you've been raped, not the physical side of it, but the mental side."
Rowe will be sentenced on 29 January.
Det Insp Andy Wolstenholme of Sussex Police said: "Daryll Rowe was consistent in lying to his victims about having HIV, he was persistent and aggressive in wanting unprotected sex in order to infect people, and when he didn't get what he wanted, he deliberately damaged condoms to achieve his aim.
At the end of the trial it emerged two dock officers were sacked after falling asleep while evidence was being given.
Loud snoring disturbed the hearing on 5 October and they were both removed from the proceedings.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-41928938
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Mental health trusts restrain patients 'every 10 minutes' - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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More patients and staff are being injured during incidents of restraint, according to new figures.
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England
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Mental health trusts in England are restraining patients on average every 10 minutes, figures have revealed.
They show the number of incidents of restraint has increased each year since 2013.
Former health minister Norman Lamb said use of force was "endemic" in many units.
The Department of Health said it was working with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to ensure the use of restraint is minimised.
Figures from 40 mental health trusts in England revealed patients were restrained 59,808 times in 2016-17, equivalent to between six and seven incidents an hour.
This compares with 46,499 times in 2013-14.
The figures, released to the Liberal Democrats under the Freedom of Information Act, also showed an increase in injuries to patients and staff
However, use of the most extreme restraints, where patients are forced to the ground, fell 9% across 33 trusts.
Mental health trusts say they have improved their reporting of their use of restraint, which may have contributed to some of the rise.
Physical restraint is classed as "any direct physical contact where the intention is to prevent, restrict, or subdue movement of the body (or part of the body) of another person".
The Department of Health says there must be "a real possibility of harm to the person or to staff, the public or others" for restraint to be used.
Liz Rotherham believes it was unnecessary to restrain her
Liz Rotherham suffers from psychotic episodes and said she has been restrained in hospital on three occasions.
She claimed it happened at the The Linden Centre in Chelmsford and The Lakes in Colchester. The most recent was in 2013.
"I don't know why they felt the need to it," said the 46-year-old from Essex. "I wasn't throwing things around, I wasn't being abusive or anything like that.
"They actually hurt me, which wasn't very nice. I had six people holding me down on a crash mat. They pulled down the side of my knickers and injected me."
She said that a female police officer attending the unit once told her "don't be a wuss".
"I will never, ever forget that. I felt like I was being treated like an animal."
Ms Rotherham said she believed someone could have sat down and talked to her without the need for restraint.
The Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospitals, said it could not comment on an individual patient's case.
Dr Sridevi Kalidindi of the Royal College of Psychiatrists said the data showed some trusts were making progress but consistent improvements were not being seen across the board.
"The increase in the number of restraints recorded is concerning," she said. "Cuts to bed numbers and community care programmes mean you now have to be more ill to be admitted to a mental health unit."
Dr Kalidindi said increasing use of agency staff meant fewer permanent staff trained to de-escalate situations were available.
Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "Many inspiring units have demonstrated how you can very significantly reduce the use of force, training staff in de-escalation.
"This can avoid situations which lead to stress and conflict. This needs to be given much greater priority by the Government."
Vicki Nash of mental health charity Mind, said: "Physical restraint can be humiliating, terrifying, dangerous and even life-threatening.
"There is currently a Private Members' Bill going through parliament which, if it becomes law, has the opportunity to increase transparency and accountability around the use of force in mental health settings."
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "Physical restraint should only be used as a last resort and our guidance to the NHS is clear on this.
"We want patients to be treated and cared for in a safe environment and we are actively working with the regulator, the Care Quality Commission, to ensure the use of restraint is minimised."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41914555
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UK government funds Matthew Herbert's Brexit Big Band - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Musician Matthew Herbert hopes to tour Europe to heal "huge divisions" caused by Brexit - helped by a UK government grant.
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UK Politics
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Matthew Herbert destroyed some instruments on BBC Radio 3's Between the Ears
A musician who wants to tour Europe to heal the "huge divisions" caused by Brexit has been given a grant by the UK Department for International Trade.
Matthew Herbert said he wanted to correct the impression created by Leave campaigners that the UK was "retreating into an absurd little enclave".
He said he wanted to get the message out: "We are still listening, we want to be friends, we want to collaborate."
Herbert has also set Article 50 to music and plans Brexit-themed concerts.
The experimental musician, who also gets funding from the British Council, is one of 12 artists sharing £181,944 grant money from the department headed by Liam Fox, who was one of the key campaigners for a Leave vote in the UK's 2016 EU referendum.
So far the department - which aims to promote international trade and is seeking to agree free trade agreements after Brexit - has handed out £2.4m to support British acts in their bid to "become the next Adele or Ed Sheeran".
As well as Matthew Herbert, the twice Mercury prize-nominated Ghostpoet and Public Service Broadcasting have also been named as the latest recipients of the grants under the Music Export Growth Scheme, although the department would not say how much each has received.
Herbert, who was last year commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to deconstruct Beethoven - see the tweet below for how he did it - is known for his use of sampled sounds. On one previous album he chronicled the life cycle of a pig through the noises it made.
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 BBC Radio 3 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.
In a recent performance at The Barbican, in London, the percussion for one song was provided by ripping up copies of the Daily Mail, according to the Politico website.
He told the website: "I want to create something that's the opposite of Brexit - about collaboration, about creativity, about love rather than hate."
He launched his Brexit Big Band project earlier this year with a website that allows anyone to upload three seconds of Brexit-themed noise to form part of a "sonic petition".
He has also set Article 50, the treaty clause taking Britain out of the EU, to music and plans a series of Brexit-themed concerts and workshops culminating in the release of an album at the same moment Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.
Writing on the Brexit Big Band website, Herbert said: "The message from parts of the Brexit campaign were that as a nation we are better off alone.
"I refute that idea entirely and wanted to create a project that embodies the idea of collaboration from start to finish."
Ghostpoet is among the 12 artists to be awarded grant money
Grants under the Music Export Growth Scheme are decided by a panel of music industry executives.
Each artist receives least £5,000, according to the criteria set out by the BPI, which administers the scheme.
Applications are judged on their individual merits, "not political views", the department says, and must "show traction in the UK and their target market as well as having a robust plan for making a success of the international activity".
Trade and export minister Baroness Fairhead, a former chair of the BBC Trust, said: "The UK is a world leader in music exports and recognised for its exceptional home-grown talent around the globe.
"Through the music exports scheme, we help to nurture the talent of the future to explore new global markets."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41996872
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How UK-Zimbabwe relations went sour - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The relationship between a former imperial power and its ex-colony is a complex one, says our diplomatic correspondent.
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UK
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Tony Blair pulled out of talks to fund Robert Mugabe's controversial land reforms in 1997
Britain's relationship with Zimbabwe has always been complex.
A former imperial power can feel torn between a responsibility towards its ex-colony and a reluctance to interfere in what is now an independent state. And a freshly minted nation can feel resentment towards its former ruler while also hoping to maintain longstanding trade and cultural links.
Thus it has been for London and Harare.
Take, for example, President Mugabe. For years, he has railed against Britain and its political leaders as they opposed his disastrous land reforms, his persecution of white farmers and his calamitous management of Zimbabwe's economy.
But Mr Mugabe is also an Anglophile who loves cricket, the Royal Family and Savile Row suits.
He developed a surprising friendship with Lord Soames, the last British governor of what was then Rhodesia, whose son, Nicholas, the Conservative MP, he saw only a few weeks ago.
And when Mr Mugabe's cabinet colleagues were celebrating the fall of Margaret Thatcher in 1990, he rebuked them, reportedly saying: "Who organised our independence? Let me tell you - if it hadn't been for Mrs Thatcher none of you would be here today. I'm sorry she's gone."
Zimbabwe began life as a colony of the British South African Company in the late 19th Century, run by the British empire-builder, Cecil Rhodes.
In the 1920s, Southern Rhodesia, as it was then known, was annexed by the United Kingdom but with an element of self-government. The white minority ruled for decades, but were increasingly challenged by nationalist campaigners.
Eventually, in 1965, the government led by Ian Smith unilaterally declared independence from Britain. UDI, as it was known, prompted international outrage and sanctions.
Years of guerrilla warfare in the bush led to pressure for a negotiated settlement in Rhodesia, and, in 1979, Britain hosted all-party talks at Lancaster House in London. And from this process emerged a peace agreement, a new constitution and a former guerrilla fighter and leader called Robert Mugabe - the first prime minister of a newly independent Zimbabwe.
Robert Mugabe has said he trusted Margaret Thatcher - in contrast to Tony Blair
Even then, Britain's relations with Mr Mugabe were ambiguous.
Politicians and diplomats at the time placed a huge amount of faith in him as exactly the kind of strong, pro-western leader that Zimbabwe would need to embed its new-found independence and democracy. But he nevertheless was still able to wind them up.
Lord Carrington, Britain's foreign secretary who chaired the Lancaster House talks, described him as "devious and clever, he was the archetypal cold fish". On a dull moment in the talks, Lord Carrington rejoiced with glee when he discovered that Mugabe reads backwards as "E ba gum".
Lord Hurd, another British foreign secretary, told The Africa Report that: "Mugabe was one of those people the British Empire created who specialised in knowing how to twist the British government's tail. He was well-trained in the art of annoying the British if he needed to. He knew our ways."
At first, Britain was hopeful about Zimbabwe's prospects. And normal relations were maintained.
The Princess of Wales visited Mr Mugabe in Harare in 1993. The England cricket team, led by Michael Atherton, played Zimbabwe in Harare in 1996.
But over the decades of Mr Mugabe's rule, as the country slipped into greater autocracy and economic decline, relations deteriorated.
In 1997, Tony Blair's government pulled out of talks to fund Mr Mugabe's controversial land reforms. The Zimbabwean president accused the British of meddling in his country's affairs by funding his political opponents.
Britain began to withdraw development aid and sanctions were imposed on the president and his inner circle.
Campaigners such as Peter Tatchell would protest regularly against Mr Mugabe's homophobia outside the hotel in St James' where the president stayed on his frequent visits to London.
Yet through all this, Mr Mugabe still hoped Britain might help revive his country's ailing economy. As he told a crowd a few years ago when he was celebrating his 90th birthday: "The British, we don't hate you, we only love our country better."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42003217
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Uber London licence appeal 'could take years' - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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TfL deemed Uber unfit to run a taxi service and refused to renew its licence in September.
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London
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Some 3.5m passengers and 40,000 drivers use the Uber app in London
Uber's appeal to renew its licence in London could take years, the mayor of London has said.
Sadiq Khan said the appeal process against a decision by Transport for London (TfL) to strip the taxi app of its operating licence could "go on for a number of years".
TfL deemed Uber unfit to run a taxi service and refused to renew its licence in September.
Uber previously said it was "determined to make things right".
When asked about how long the appeals process could last at a monthly question session, Mr Khan said: "My understanding is that it could go on for a number of years."
TfL's concerns include Uber's approach to carrying out background checks on drivers and reporting serious criminal offences.
Some 3.5m passengers and 40,000 drivers use the Uber app in London.
Uber's licence expired in October but its drivers can continue to operate in the capital while it pursues an appeal.
A spokesman for the company said: "Uber continues to have constructive discussions with TfL in order to try to reach a resolution, even though we have filed our appeal."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-42012719
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Rotherham child sex abuse case: Three men jailed - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The trial is the first to come out of an investigation into child sexual exploitation in the town.
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Sheffield & South Yorkshire
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(L-R): Sajid Ali, Zaheer Iqbal, and Riaz Makhmood were found guilty of a total of 15 counts of indecent assault
Three men have been jailed following the first trial to come out of the National Crime Agency's inquiry into historical sex abuse in Rotherham.
Sajid Ali, 38, Zaheer Iqbal, 40, and Riaz Makhmood, 39, were convicted of a total of 15 counts of indecent assault on a teenage girl.
The men plied the girl with alcohol and encouraged her to perform sex acts.
She told Sheffield Crown Court their actions had ruined her teenage years.
This trial is the first to come out of Operation Stovewood, the National Crime Agency's (NCA) investigation into child sexual exploitation and abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
Sentencing the three men, Judge David Dixon said: "The offences involved the exploitation and abuse by all three of you together of what at the time was a young and vulnerable girl.
"She was groomed, coerced and intimidated, she was called abusive names and she was treated like a thing, a thing that you passed around among yourselves."
The girl, who cannot be named, said she was 12 years old at the time the abuse began in the mid 1990s.
She told the court she had not been popular at school when she started spending time with Ali, Iqbal and Makhmood, who she knew as 'Sos, Booty and Raz', but they had made her feel "wanted".
The trial took place at Sheffield Crown Court
The girl said she believed Ali was her boyfriend but within weeks of meeting them they began to talk about sex.
She told the court she had not been forced to do anything but the men, who were teenagers at the time, had made her feel that she should.
Reading a victim impact statement, prosecutor Sophie Drake said the abuse had led the girl to suffer from eating disorders, anxiety and depression.
Her statement said: "I've tried everyday to put these things behind me and while I manage most of the time they still haunt me."
All three men had denied the offences, with Ali claiming not to know the girl at all, saying that it would not have happened in the close knit community in which they lived.
Ali, of James Street, Masbrough, Rotherham, was convicted of seven counts of indecent assault and jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
Iqbal, of St John's Avenue, Masbrough, was found guilty of five counts of indecent assault and given a seven-and-a-half year prison sentence.
Makhmood, of Falding Street, Masbrough was convicted of three counts of indecent assault and jailed for six years and nine months.
Paul Williamson, from the NCA, said: "Our mission is to make Rotherham a hostile environment for anyone who has committed child sexual exploitation during the period of our operation."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-42003948
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Extreme weather 'could kill up to 152,000 a year' in Europe by 2100 - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Weather-related deaths could surge by 2100 if nothing is done to curb climate change, scientists say.
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Europe
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Heat waves will cause most weather-related deaths if measures are not taken, the study says
Extreme weather could kill up to 152,000 people yearly in Europe by 2100 if nothing is done to curb the effects of climate change, scientists say.
The number is 50 times more deaths than reported now, the study in The Lancet Planetary Health journal said.
Heat waves would cause 99% of all weather-related deaths, it added, with southern Europe being worst affected.
Experts said the findings were worrying but some warned the projections could be overestimated.
If nothing is done to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to improve policies to reduce the impact against extreme weather events, the study by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre says:
The research analysed the effects of the seven most dangerous types of weather-related events - heat waves, cold snaps, wildfires, droughts, river and coastal floods and windstorms - in the 28 EU countries as well as Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
The team looked at disaster records from 1981 to 2010 to estimate population vulnerability, and combined this information with predictions of how climate change might progress and how populations might increase and migrate.
They assumed a rate of greenhouse gas emissions that would lead to average global warming of 3C (5.4F) by the end of the century from levels in 1990, a pessimistic forecast well above targets set by the Paris Agreement on tackling climate change.
Low levels of the Po River near Pavia in northern Italy
"Climate change is one of the biggest global threats to human health of the 21st century, and its peril to society will be increasingly connected to weather-driven hazards," said Giovanni Forzieri, one of the authors of the study.
"Unless global warming is curbed as a matter of urgency and appropriate measures are taken, about 350 million Europeans could be exposed to harmful climate extremes on an annual basis by the end of the century."
Flooding near the Bavarian village of Deggendorf in southern Germany in 2013
Fire rages through an area of woodland in Artigues in south-eastern France
On Friday, the United States issued its first written notification to the UN of its intention to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
US President Donald Trump drew international condemnation in June when he first announced his decision, saying the deal would cost millions of American jobs.
The Paris Agreement saw nearly 200 countries agree to keep warming "well below" the level of 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5C
Experts from South Korea's Seoul National University warned that the study's results "could be overestimated".
"People are known to adapt and become less vulnerable than previously to extreme weather conditions because of advances in medical technology, air conditioning, and thermal insulation in houses," they wrote in a comment piece published in the same journal.
Paul Wilkinson, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the study, said the findings were "yet another reminder of the exposures to extreme weather and possible human impacts that might occur if emissions of greenhouse gases continue unabated.
"It adds further weight to the powerful argument for accelerating mitigation actions to protect population health."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40835663
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Winter Olympics 2018: Russian boycott would damage athletes - Wada - BBC Sport
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2017-11-16
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A Russian boycott of the 2018 Winter Olympics would "damage athletes wishing to compete", says Wada president Sir Craig Reedie.
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Last updated on .From the section Winter Sports
A Russian boycott of February's Winter Olympics would "damage athletes", says World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) president Sir Craig Reedie.
Wada said on Thursday that Russia remains non-compliant with its code, but clean Russians may compete in Pyeongchang under a neutral banner.
It has been claimed President Vladimir Putin would not allow them to do so.
"Boycotts, in my view, never really work. All they do is damage athletes," Reedie told BBC Sport.
"The Olympic movement was plagued with boycotts 20, 25 years ago and it has got over that issue. I hope that people come and compete."
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will make the final decision on Russia's participation in South Korea from 9-25 February at its next board meeting from 5-7 December.
• None Life on the run for Russian whistleblower
Last year, an independent report commissioned by Wada found evidence of state-sponsored doping in the country.
Wada told BBC Sport last week that the "best solution" is for Russia to "work with them" after receiving new intelligence.
Russia's sports minister said their anti-doping agency (Rusada) have "fulfilled all of their obligations" to get the ban - implemented after an initial Wada report in 2015 - lifted.
However, Wada says two criteria remain outstanding: granting access to the Moscow laboratory suspected to be the hub of the operation, and a public acceptance that senior sports ministry figures were complicit in an organised cover-up.
Reedie said Wada and the Russian authorities "seem to have very different definitions" of what is deemed state-sponsored doping.
"Their definition seems to be that state sponsored means from the very top of state down to the very bottom of state," he said. "In the western world it would be different.
"If it comes down to a situation where we're one letter apart then I'm sure we could resolve that.
"There would have to be a will to do it. At the moment there are still feelings that we shouldn't."
Kuwait, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritius were also found non-compliant by Wada's independent compliance review committee on Thursday.
Russian authorities have never acknowledged any involvement in doping, and President Putin has suggested the allegations were an attempt to sow discontent in the build-up to the presidential elections.
Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov, who said in September he expected the country to have a team at the Winter Games, reiterated the state's innocence and said Wada's latest judgement "cannot be accepted".
"We accept the fact our national anti-doping system has failed [but] we absolutely deny a state-sponsored doping system," said Zhukov, who added that unconditional recognition of the McLaren report "is impossible".
Sports minister Pavel Kolobkov said the criteria for reinstatement have a "political character".
"I got the impression that the decision was made in advance," he told TASS news agency after Wada's announcement, made on the recommendation of its independent compliance review committee.
"[The] committee has been inventing reasons not to reinstate Rusada; the accusations are simply a joke."
This is important news as it will heap pressure on the IOC to ban Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics when it meets in early December.
IOC president Thomas Bach has been weighing up a compromise, such as a hefty fine. But now the pressure to allow only Russians who can prove they are clean to compete as neutral athletes will intensify.
Insiders believe that, with an election in March looming, this may mean President Putin will boycott the Games and order his athletes to stay away rather than compete as neutrals. We are a step closer to the first major boycott of an Olympics since 1984.
Russia was suspended from track and field events by the International Association of Athletics Federations in November 2015 following the publication of the independent Wada report.
Former sports minister Vitaly Mutko apologised for Russia's failure to catch the cheats, but stopped short of admitting the scandal had been state-sponsored.
However, an independent report commissioned by Wada and completed by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren suggested senior figures in Russia's sports ministry were complicit.
The report implicated the majority of Olympic sports in the cover-up and claimed Russian secret service agents were involved in swapping positive urine samples for clean ones.
As a result, Wada recommended all Russian athletes be banned from competing in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The IOC chose not to impose a blanket ban, instead leaving decisions on whether Russians could compete to individual sporting federations. In total, 271 Russians competed in Rio.
"While it's another sad moment in this entire sordid affair, there was really no other outcome, based on their unwillingness to admit what the flood of evidence proves, said the US Anti-Doping Agency's Travis Tygart. "Now clean athletes are watching anxiously to see if the IOC similarly will take action to finally stand up for their rights or not."
Some figures from the world of winter sport have come out in support of Russia.
Bob Storey, former president of the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation, said: "These issues are not just in Russia, and not without resolution over time.
"Now many innocent athletes, who have worked a lifetime to earn Olympic status, are in limbo because of the interminable squabble over past doping transgressions. Those athletes wait while sport politicians and technocrats decide whether or not they can compete at Pyeongchang.
"I have never met an Olympic competitor who wants to win through technical disqualification of clean competitors. Banning clean athletes from future games or from competing under their country's flag serves no sporting or Olympic purpose."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/41996128
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Children join people with dementia in interactive light game - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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The game sees images projected on to a table that residents and children can interact with.
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School children have been playing a new light game system with people with dementia at a care home in Saffron Walden, Essex.
It is called the Tovertafel Magic Table and projects images on to a table that people can interact with.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-42005497
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Brexit: Ministers see off EU Withdrawal Bill challenges - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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After a second day of debating the EU Withdrawal Bill, the government is yet to lose a vote.
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UK Politics
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MPs took part in Prime Minister's Questions before embarking on a second day of debate
The second day of debate in the Commons over the EU Withdrawal Bill has ended with the government winning every vote.
Amendments had been put forward by Labour regarding issues such as employment rights and environmental legislation after Brexit.
However, the government managed to win five votes during the course of the day - despite its majority falling as low as 12 at times.
The dates of six more debating days in the Commons will be confirmed later.
If passed, the withdrawal bill will bring existing EU law into UK law and allow the government to use so-called Henry VIII powers to change it without full parliamentary scrutiny.
The powers have been criticised by members on both sides of the House, and one of Labour's amendments called for full debates before changes to any EU laws.
Shadow Brexit minister Matthew Pennycook said the powers could be used to "chip away at rights, entitlements, protections and standards that the public enjoy and wish to retain".
Conservative former Attorney General Dominic Grieve agreed with Mr Pennycook, saying that laws of "very considerable importance" to the public would be brought to the "lowest possible status" without full scrutiny.
But Ken Clarke was the only Tory MP to vote for the amendment and it was defeated by 311 votes to 299 - with nine DUP MPs and two former Tories sitting as independents voting with the government.
Six more days of debates are required before completing the committee stage of the bill.
Commons leader Andrea Leadsom is expected to confirm the dates later.
Solicitor general Robert Buckland said: "The Brexit process will in no way whatsoever be used to undermine or curtail the rights of workers that have been enshrined both in domestic law and in law by virtue of the EU."
He also hinted that concessions may be made at the next stage in the progress of the bill - the report stage - when it returns to Parliament.
During Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Theresa May said the government was "listening carefully to those who wish to improve the bill".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42006021
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Leonardo da Vinci artwork sells for record $450m - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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A painting of Christ believed to be by Leonardo da Vinci has been sold for a record $450m (£341m).
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A 500-year-old painting of Christ believed to have been painted by Leonardo da Vinci has been sold in New York for a record $450m (£341m), after fees.
The painting is known as Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World).
It is the highest auction price for any work of art and brought cheers and applause at the packed Christie's auction room.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42006584
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WW2 Spitfire pilot Joy Lofthouse dies aged 94 - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The 94-year-old was one of the first female pilots to fly a Spitfire during World War Two.
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Gloucestershire
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. In 2015, Joy Lofthouse returned to the skies, taking control of a Spitfire 70 years after last flying in one
Veteran pilot Joy Lofthouse, who flew Spitfires and bombers for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during World War Two, has died at the age of 94.
Mrs Lofthouse joined the ATA in 1943 after spotting a notice in a magazine calling for women to learn to fly.
She was one of only 164 female pilots, known as the Attagirls, who flew aircraft from factory to airfield.
The Royal International Air Tattoo said she was an "amazing character with even more amazing stories".
The ATA was formed in 1940 when, despite some male opposition, women were allowed to fly military trainer and communications aircraft.
Mrs Lofthouse, from Cirencester in Gloucestershire, learned to fly before she learned to drive.
Joy Lofthouse was one of the first female pilots to fly a Spitfire during World War Two
In an interview last year, she said: "I saw this caption in the Aeroplane magazine that said the ATA had run out of qualified pilots and were training. So I applied and I was in."
Trained at Thame in Oxfordshire, she learnt to fly all types of single-seater aircraft but without a driving licence, she said she found "taxiing much more difficult than flying".
"We had nine days of technical training - it wasn't very technical - no navigation, just map reading," she said.
"After about 10 hours [of flying], they sent you off solo. My first solo flight I think you're only afraid if you're going to find the airfield again."
Last summer, she was guest of honour in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, where she received an ovation from the centre court crowd
In 2015, she returned to the skies, taking control of a Spitfire 70 years after last flying in one
The auxiliary suffered 156 casualties, mostly due to bad weather, but Mrs Lofthouse said when you are young "you don't think about the danger".
"It was just part of the war effort. I felt very lucky that I was allowed to do something so rewarding," she said.
In 2015, she returned to the skies, taking control of a Spitfire 70 years after last flying in one.
Last summer, she was guest of honour in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, where she received an ovation from the centre court crowd.
And last November, she and fellow ATA pilot Mary Ellis were honoured in front of members of the Royal Family at the annual Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In all, she flew 18 different types of aeroplane across her career but the "wonderful" Spitfire remained her favourite.
"It's the nearest thing to having wings of your own and flying," she said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-42012740
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Gay Times editor suspended over offensive tweets - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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Josh Rivers' old tweets have surfaced, which have been called transphobic, sexist and anti-Semitic.
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Entertainment & Arts
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The newly appointed Gay Times editor Josh Rivers has been suspended over offensive tweets he posted in the past.
The tweets, some of which have now been deleted, have been described as racist, transphobic, homophobic and anti-Semitic.
Mr Rivers, who has since apologised, also made remarks about obese people and children with disabilities.
The magazine said the tweets "do not align with the values of Gay Times, or any of our employees".
It added: "Josh has been suspended with immediate effect while we investigate the facts. Appropriate action will be taken in due course."
Rivers was appointed editor in October. In a statement he said: "I have long taken steps to address the issues that prevented me from treating people with the respect and kindness I value so dearly now.
"It is because of my past and my own awakening that I've since pivoted everything in my life towards supporting and empowering our community."
He expressed sadness that "the damage I caused before has now resurfaced to cause more pain".
Benjamin Cohen, Chief Executive of LGBT news organisation PinkNews, told the BBC: "I am frankly appalled at the litany of offensive Twitter posts that Josh Rivers made over a number of years.
"It is beyond surprising that the level of inappropriate and hurtful comments were not uncovered by Gay Times during the recruitment process for the appointment of the key role of editor.
"As someone who for many years wrote a column for Gay Times, I'm saddened that what was a great institution has had its brand so recklessly damaged by someone who was in office for just a few weeks."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42000700
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Zimbabwe: Did Robert Mugabe finally go too far? - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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Zimbabwe's military could force President Mugabe to resign - but they won't want to humiliate him.
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Africa
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President Mugabe's ties to the military date from the liberation struggle
Zimbabwe's military says its actions do not amount to a takeover. It still refers to Robert Mugabe as the commander-in-chief of the country's defence forces. But practically speaking, Mr Mugabe is not in charge if his forces can step in to usurp his authority.
This is not a coup d'état in name, but it appears to be in action.
The military takeover of the national broadcaster, the presence of troops on the streets and major access points, and even forced entry into the presidential palace are traits of a military takeover - at least as we have seen them in Africa.
One thing that is lacking is that the constitution has not been suspended.
The cementing of democracy across Africa has led to a general regional and continent-wide aversion to violent takeovers of government.
Even in the past, coup-stagers often promised a quick handover to civilian government through elections or a negotiated transition.
The military says it has not taken control of the country
So far in Zimbabwe, the military is not showing any intention of assuming a governing role.
However, it has someone it would prefer to do that. Emmerson Mnangagwa, the recently sacked vice-president, is held in high regard in Zimbabwean military circles.
He was involved in the struggle for independence, and in 1980 created the Zimbabwe National Army by fusing the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (Zipra) and Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (Zanla) with the remnants of the former Rhodesian security forces.
He was seen as the natural successor for the top office.
President Mugabe sacked Mr Mnangagwa last week at the prompting of the First Lady Grace Mugabe, who has political aspirations and has publicly opposed the former vice president, but does not have support within a military where the liberation legacy is held in high esteem.
The top military officials were part of the liberation struggle, like their comrade and president Mr Mugabe, so they have supported his government over the years because he has served their interests.
They did not act this way in 2014, when Mr Mugabe sacked his previous Vice President Joice Mujuru, a former independence fighter, in a similar power struggle.
This time though, there is a sense the president might have gone too far.
Gen Chiwenga said that the military would not allow the purging of leaders with a liberation background from the governing party
Earlier this week, the commander of Zimbabwe's Defence Forces, General Constantino Chiwenga, warned the Zanu-PF governing party to stop the purge against independence war veterans.
Following his dismissal and escape to South Africa, Mr Mnangagwa promised to return to regain control of the ruling party from the Mugabes.
This suggested his confidence in the support he had from the military.
So the next step would be to negotiate his return ahead of the party congress in December, where he could be affirmed as the president's successor.
At worst, the military will force Mr Mugabe to resign - but they will not want to humiliate him further because of the history they share.
They will also extend the courtesy to Grace Mugabe, in spite of her recent actions.
Prior suggestions that the armed forces were divided have not been revealed so far this week.
The rise of an opposing faction would probably be bloody, and not something Zimbabweans would like to see, regardless of how tough life has been in recent years.
The end of the Mugabe era would be a relief to many, but Mr Mnangagwa is not necessarily popular in all parts of the country.
Under his tenure as security minister in the early 1980s, government forces crushed a rebellion in the Midlands and Matebeleland province, and allegedly killed thousands of civilians.
There is still bitter resentment among people from the affected regions.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41995751
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Nasa forecast: Which cities will flood as ice melts? - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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A forecasting tool reveals which cities will be affected as different portions of the ice sheet melt, say scientists.
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Science & Environment
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Which cities might suffer as the ice melts
A forecasting tool reveals which cities will be affected as different portions of the ice sheet melt, say scientists.
It looks at the Earth's spin and gravitational effects to predict how water will be "redistributed" globally.
"This provides, for each city, a picture of which glaciers, ice sheets, [and] ice caps are of specific importance," say the researchers.
The tool has been developed by scientists at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Their findings are published in the journal Science Advances.
Senior scientist Dr Erik Ivins said: "As cities and countries attempt to build plans to mitigate flooding, they have to be thinking about 100 years in the future and they want to assess risk in the same way that insurance companies do."
And this new tool provided a way for them to work out which ice sheets they should be "most worried about".
It suggests that in London sea-level rise could be significantly affected by changes in the north-western part of the Greenland ice sheet.
While for New York, the area of concern is the ice sheet's entire northern and eastern portions.
Sea level changes in Sydney, the forecast shows, are "very strongly influenced" by ice changes that occur along the north-northeast and north-northwest coasts of Antarctica.
Dr Eric Larour, the lead developer on this project from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explained that three key processes influenced the "sea-level fingerprint", or pattern of sea-level change around the world.
"These [ice sheets] are huge masses that exert an attraction on the ocean," said Dr Larour.
"When the ice shrinks, that attraction diminishes- and the sea will move away from that mass."
As well as this "push-pull influence" of ice, the ground under a melting ice sheet expands vertically, having previously been compressed by the sheer weight of ice.
The forecasting tool provides a fingerprint showing, in red, the area of concern for sea level rise in a particular city. This map of the Antarctic ice sheet was generated for Cape Town.
The last factor involves the rotation of the planet itself.
"You can think of the Earth as a spinning top," said Dr Larour.
"As it spins it wobbles and as masses on its surface change, that wobble also changes.
"That, in turn, redistributes water around the Earth."
By computing each of these factors into their calculations, the researchers were able to build their city-specific forecasting tool.
"We can compute the exact sensitivity - for a specific town - of a sea level to every ice mass in the world," Dr Larour told BBC News.
"This gives you an idea, for your own city, of which glaciers, ice sheets and ice caps are of specific importance."
Another member of the team, Dr Surendra Adhikari, said: "People can be desperate to understand how these huge, complicated global processes impact on them.
"With this tool, they can see the impact on their own city."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41986163
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Emmerson Mnangagwa: The 'crocodile' who snapped back - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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The man who took over from Robert Mugabe as Zimbabwe's president wants to legitimise his rule.
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Africa
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Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, the man known as "the crocodile" because of his political cunning, achieved a long-held ambition to succeed Robert Mugabe as Zimbabwe's president in November last year.
He has now won a disputed presidential election to legitimise his rule, promising voters his efforts to woo foreign investors will bring back the economy from the brink of collapse.
Mr Mugabe resigned following a military takeover and mass demonstrations - all sparked by his sacking of Mr Mnangagwa as his vice-president.
"The crocodile", who lived up to his name and snapped back, may have unseated Zimbabwe's only ruler, but he is also associated with some of the worst atrocities committed under the ruling Zanu-PF party since independence in 1980.
One veteran of the liberation struggle, who worked with him for many years, once put it simply: "He's a very cruel man, very cruel."
But his children see him as a principled, if unemotional, man. His daughter, Farai Mlotshwa - a property developer and the eldest of his nine children by two wives - told BBC Radio 4 that he was a "softie".
As if to reinforce this softer image of the new leader, a cuddly crocodile soft toy was passed among the Zanu-PF supporters who welcomed him back to the country after Mr Mugabe's resignation.
Emmerson Mnangagwa is known as "Ngwena", the Shona word for crocodile
And what he lacks in charisma and oratory prowess, he makes up for in pragmatism, says close friend and Zanu-PF politician Josiah Hungwe.
"Mnangagwa is a practical person. He is a person who recognises that politics is politics but people must eat," he told the BBC, adding that reforming Zimbabwe's disastrous economy will be the focus of his leadership.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Emmerson Mnangagwa: Who is the man known as the ‘crocodile’?
The exact year of Mr Mnangagwa's birth is not known - but he is thought to be 75, which would make him nearly 20 years younger than his predecessor who left power aged 93.
Born in the central region of Zvishavane, he is a Karanga - the largest clan of Zimbabwe's majority Shona community.
Some Karangas felt it was their turn for power, following 37 years of domination by Mr Mugabe's Zezuru clan, though Mr Mnangagwa was accused of profiting while under Mr Mugabe.
According to a United Nations report in 2001, he was seen as "the architect of the commercial activities of Zanu-PF".
This largely related to the operations of the Zimbabwean army and businessmen in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Zimbabwean troops intervened in the DR Congo conflict on the side of the government and, like those of other countries, were accused of using the conflict to loot some of its rich natural resources such as diamonds, gold and other minerals.
More recently military officials - many behind his rise to power - have been accused of benefiting from the rich Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe, with reports of killings and human rights abuses there.
Despite his money-raising role, Mr Mnangagwa, a lawyer who grew up in Zambia, was not always well-loved by the rank and file of his own party.
A Zanu-PF official posed an interesting question when asked about Mr Mnangagwa's prospects: "You think Mugabe is bad, but have you thought that whoever comes after him could be even worse?"
The opposition candidate who defeated Mr Mnangagwa in the 2000 parliamentary campaign in Kwekwe Central, Blessing Chebundo, might agree.
During a bitter campaign, Mr Chebundo escaped death by a whisker when the Zanu-PF youths who had abducted him and doused him with petrol were unable to light a match.
Those who fought in Zimbabwe's war of independence have long monopolised power
Mr Mnangagwa's fearsome reputation was made during the civil war which broke out in the 1980s between Mr Mugabe's Zanu party and the Zapu party of Joshua Nkomo.
As national security minister, he was in charge of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), which worked hand in glove with the army to suppress Zapu.
Thousands of civilians - mainly ethnic Ndebeles, seen as Zapu supporters - were killed in a campaign known as Gukurahundi, before the two parties merged to form Zanu-PF.
Among countless other atrocities carried out by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade of the army, villagers were forced at gunpoint to dance on the freshly dug graves of their relatives and chant pro-Mugabe slogans.
Mr Mnangagwa has denied any role in the massacres, but the wounds are still painful and many party officials, not to mention voters, in Matabeleland might find it hard to back Mr Mnangagwa.
He does enjoy the support of many of the war veterans who led the campaign of violence against the white farmers and the opposition from 2000.
They remember him as one of the men who, following his military training in China and Egypt, directed the fight for independence in the 1960s and 1970s.
He also attended the Beijing School of Ideology, run by the Chinese Communist Party.
Mr Mnangagwa's official profile says he was the victim of state violence after being arrested by the white-minority government in the former Rhodesia in 1965, when the "crocodile gang" he led helped blow up a train near Fort Victoria (now Masvingo).
"He was tortured, severely resulting in him losing his sense of hearing in one ear," the profile says.
"Part of the torture techniques involved being hanged with his feet on the ceiling and the head down. The severity of the torture made him unconscious for days."
As he said he was under 21 at the time, he was not executed but instead sentenced to 10 years in prison.
"He has scars from that period. He was young and brave," a close friend of Mr Mnangagwa once said, asking not to be named.
"Perhaps that explains why he is indifferent. Horrible things happened to him when he was young."
His ruthlessness, which it could be argued he learnt from his Rhodesian torturers, is said to have been seen again in 2008 when he reportedly masterminded Zanu-PF's response to Mr Mugabe losing the first round of the president election to long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
The military and state security organisations unleashed a campaign of violence against opposition supporters, leaving hundreds dead and forcing thousands from their homes.
Mr Tsvangirai then pulled out of the second round and Mr Mugabe was re-elected.
Mr Mnangagwa has not commented on allegations he was involved in planning the violence, but an insider in the party's security department later confirmed that he was the political link between the army, intelligence and Zanu-PF.
He was seen as Mr Mugabe's right-hand man - that is until the former first lady Grace Mugabe became politically ambitious and tried to edge him out.
Their rivalry took a bizarre turn when he fell ill in August 2017 at a political rally led by former President Mugabe and had to be airlifted to South Africa.
Grace Mugabe (right) bit off more than she could chew by taking on Mr Mnangagwa
His supporters suggested that a rival group within Zanu-PF had poisoned him and appeared to blame ice cream from Mrs Mugabe's dairy firm.
In his first words to cheering supporters after Mr Mugabe's resignation, he spoke about this plot and another plan to "eliminate" him.
He has also blamed a group linked to the former first lady for an explosion in June at a Zanu-PF rally in Bulawayo in which two people died.
But in a BBC interview, he said the country was safe, told foreign investors not to worry and sought to dispel his ruthless reputation: "I am as soft as wool. I am a very soft person in life."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mnangagwa: Criminal will be hounded down, but Zimbabwe is safe
His youngest son, a Harare DJ known as St Emmo, blames his reticence for his fearsome reputation.
"He was a good father, very very strict. He doesn't say much and I think that's what frightens people - like: 'What is he thinking?'"
Nick Mangwana, Zanu-PF representative in the UK, accepts that the Zimbabwe's new leader is "not the most eloquent".
"He's not pally-pally but more of a do-er, more of a technocrat."
But in his six months in power he has fully embraced Twitter and Facebook - after the Bulawayo blast he posted a message reiterating the strength his Christian faith gives him.
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Fixing the economy is what is paramount now. Zimbabweans are on average 15% poorer now than they were in the 1980s.
British journalist Martin Fletcher, who interviewed Mr Mnangagwa in 2016, does not see him a reborn democrat.
"He understands the need to rebuild the economy if only so that he can pay his security forces - and his survival depends on their loyalty," he said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41995876
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Tax disc: Car tax evasion triples after paper version scrapped - BBC News
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2017-11-16
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The government potentially lost out on £107m from 755,000 unlicensed vehicles in the past year, data shows.
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Business
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The number of unlicensed vehicles on the road has tripled since the paper tax disc was abolished, government figures show.
The data, published every two years, shows that the government potentially lost out on £107m from 755,000 unlicensed vehicles last year.
The RAC said the decision to get rid of the paper tax disc three years ago has proved "costly".
The measure was meant to have saved the Treasury £10m a year, the RAC said.
Figures from the Department for Transport show that 1.8% of vehicles were unlicensed in 2017 compared with 0.6% on 2013.
"The principle of abolishing the tax disc to introduce greater efficiencies has, so far, evidently failed," said RAC public affairs manager Nicholas Lyes.
"It appears that having a visual reminder was an effective way to prompt drivers into renewing their car tax - arguably more drivers are now prepared to try their luck and see if they can get away with not paying any vehicle tax at all, or are simply forgetting to tax their vehicle when they are due to."
When the abolition of the paper tax disc was announced by then-Chancellor, George Osborne, the Treasury said it showed government was moving "into the modern age".
Officials said the disc, introduced in 1921, was no longer needed with the DVLA and police relying on an electronic register.
However, there is clear evidence that it has led to confusion, mistakes or open flouting of the rules by drivers.
The RAC said a third of untaxed vehicles had changed hands since September 2016, indicating that many drivers were not aware that tax does not carry over when ownership changes.
The DVLA also said that it was running a campaign warning the rising number of people still driving cars that had been declared as off the road to tax their vehicles.
The seller receives a refund of any full months of remaining tax while the new owner must tax the vehicle immediately.
Just over half had been unlicensed for two months or less, suggesting some of these drivers had forgotten about their renewal date, although reminders are sent before the expiry date by the DVLA.
The highest levels of evasion were in the West Midlands (2.1% of vehicles) and the North West of England (2%).
The East of England had the lowest rate at 0.8%, with all other areas ranging between 1.6% and 1.8%.
These results are based on where vehicles were seen in traffic by enforcement officers or cameras, not where they are registered.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42009111
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Trump attacks Senator Al Franken after grope allegation - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Mr Trump takes aim at the Democratic senator but remains silent on allegations against Roy Moore.
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US & Canada
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President Donald Trump has criticised Senator Al Franken on Twitter after the Democrat apologised for a photo of him appearing to grope a woman.
Mr Trump called him "Al Frankenstien" - a misspelled reference to the undead monster - and mocked his previous advocacy for women's' rights.
Mr Franken apologised to his accuser, but disputed "forcibly" kissing her.
Mr Trump has yet to publicly comment on sexual misconduct allegations against Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore.
Franken said the photo "was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't"
"The Al Frankenstien picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words," Mr Trump wrote in a pair of tweets late on Thursday.
Los Angeles radio host Leeann Tweeden claims the now-Minnesota senator "aggressively" kissed her while they rehearsed a scene during a 2006 tour to entertain US troops in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
He also had a photo taken of him appearing to touch her breasts while she slept onboard a military plane, she said.
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"And to think that just last week he was lecturing anyone who would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women", Mr Trump said in a follow-up tweet.
Mr Trump has yet to comment on a string of sexual misconduct allegations against Republican US Senate candidate Roy Moore.
The former Alabama Supreme Court judge denies has repeatedly denied the allegations and has resisted calls from his own national party to quit the US Senate race.
Hours before the tweets, White House President Secretary Sarah Sanders said the president found the allegations against Mr Moore "very troubling" and that "the people of Alabama should make the decision on who their next senator should be".
Mr Trump has himself denied numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against him. During the second presidential debate, he was asked if he had ever grabbed anyone's genitals or kissed them without consent.
"Women have respect for me. And I will tell you: No, I have not," he replied.
Later, when asked to explain the distinction between the allegations against Mr Trump and Mr Franken, Mrs Sanders said: "Senator Franken has admitted wrongdoing, and the president hasn't. That's a very big distinction."
In an article for KABC, a Los Angeles radio station where Ms Tweeden now works, she recalled feeling victimised by Mr Franken during her ninth tour of the Middle East.
"You knew exactly what you were doing," she wrote. "You forcibly kissed me without my consent, grabbed my breasts while I was sleeping and had someone take a photo of you doing it, knowing I would see it later, and be ashamed."
The former comedian issued an initial statement saying he did not recall the rehearsal, but sent his "sincerest apologies to Leeann".
"As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't. I shouldn't have done it," he added.
A Pentagon photo of the 2006 Hope & Freedom Tour in Kuwait show the two performing a skit
Mr Franken later issued a second, longer statement following a backlash from critics who accused him of a non-apology and demanded his resignation.
"I respect women. I don't respect men who don't. The fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed," he said.
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Of the photo, he added: "I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself... It's obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture."
In Mr Trump's tweets on Thursday night, he also mentioned the "Lesley Stahl tape", which refers to a New York magazine story about a Saturday Night Live writers discussion in which Mr Franken suggested a joke about raping the CBS 60 Minutes correspondent.
Mr Franken was quoted as saying: "And, 'I give the pills to Lesley Stahl. Then, when Lesley's passed out, I take her to the closet and rape her.' Or, 'That's why you never see Lesley until February.' Or, 'When she passes out, I put her in various positions and take pictures of her.'"
Al Franken has been married to his wife, Franni (R), for more than 40 years and they have two adult children
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called for the chamber's Ethics Committee to investigate Mr Franken, saying: "Sexual harassment is never acceptable."
The Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell echoed the call and Mr Franken said he would "gladly co-operate".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42018154
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Sarah Clarke is first female Black Rod in 650 years - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Boss of the Wimbledon tennis championships Sarah Clarke gets ancient Parliamentary job.
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UK Politics
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Sarah Clarke is championship director of the All England Lawn Tennis Club
Black Rod - a Parliamentary role that can trace its origins back 650 years - is to be a woman for the first time.
Sarah Clarke is currently in charge of organising the Wimbledon tennis championships.
She will be known as The Lady Usher of the Black Rod when she starts her new job early next year.
Black Rod is best known for the State Opening of Parliament, knocking on the door of the House of Commons to summon MPs for the Queen's Speech.
As well as organising ceremonial events, Black Rod, who can earn up to £93,000 a year, manages a team of 30 staff involved in the day-to-day running of the House of Lords.
Ms Clarke, who has previously worked in senior roles at four Olympic Games, the London Marathon and UK Sport, replaces current Black Rod, David Leakey, who is retiring.
She said: "I am both deeply honoured and delighted to be invited to take up the role of Black Rod."
Black Rod is best known for summoning MPs to hear the Queen's Speech
She said the House of Lords was "a place where the smallest detail is as important as the big picture and the depth of heritage and tradition is second to none," adding: "I am truly looking forward to starting work."
Lord Fowler, who as the Speaker of the House of Lords advised the Queen on the appointment, said it was an "historic moment".
He said Black Rod played an important role behind the scenes "in organising addresses to Parliament by visiting heads of state and other state events, as well as ensuring we have appropriate plans in place to keep the important work of the Lords going in a crisis".
He added: "Sarah's fantastic record at Wimbledon and elsewhere shows she is the right person for the task."
Black Rod summons MPs to the Lords to hear the Queen's Speech but has the door to the House of Commons slammed in his face, and has to knock three times to gain entry.
He is the monarch's representative in the House of Lords and the routine is symbolic of the House of Commons' independence from the Crown.
The earliest known reference to the role of Black Rod as the Usher to the Order of the Garter is in letters patent from 1361 - there are thought to have been 60 holders of the position since then, all men.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42025131
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Jesse Jackson diagnosed with Parkinson's - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Civil rights activist says he began to notice symptoms three years ago but was only recently tested.
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US & Canada
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Jesse Jackson has remained an activist in later life
US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
"My family and I began to notice changes about three years ago," Mr Jackson, aged 76, wrote in a statement.
"After a battery of tests, my physicians identified the issue as Parkinson's disease, a disease that bested my father."
Parkinson's is an incurable neurological disease that can cause tremors and affect coordination.
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"Recognition of the effects of this disease on me has been painful, and I have been slow to grasp the gravity of it," Mr Jackson said.
He said the diagnosis was "not a stop sign but rather a signal that I must make lifestyle changes and dedicate myself to physical therapy in hopes of slowing the disease's progression".
Mr Jackson fought for civil rights alongside Martin Luther King Jr in the 1960s. He was twice a candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, in 1984 and 1988, and his son Jesse Jr is a former US congressman.
He has remained an activist into later life, and spoke up last year in the wake of a spate of police shootings of black men, saying they were just one expression of a "mean-spirited division" taking hold of the country.
About 60,000 new Parkinson's diagnoses are made every year in the US, where the disease affects an estimated one million people.
"I am far from alone," Mr Jackson said.
"God continues to give me new opportunities to serve. This diagnosis is personal but it is more than that. It is an opportunity for me to use my voice to help in finding a cure for a disease that afflicts seven to 10 million worldwide."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42030565
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Jamie Oliver bans daughter, 14, from posting selfies - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The TV chef says some 13 to 14-year-olds share "porno sort of" photos which he finds "frightening".
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UK
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TV chef Jamie Oliver has said he has banned his 14-year-old daughter from sharing selfies, describing them as the unhealthy "sugar of social media".
"We ban Daisy from doing selfies and mainly she doesn't, but a couple slip up," the father-of-five told the Lifestyle News Hound podcast.
Oliver, 42, says he is among the first generation of parents learning to deal with children sharing photos online.
He and wife Jools regularly post family photos on their own Instagram pages.
But Oliver, a prominent campaigner for healthy eating, described teenage girls' use of Instagram as "frightening".
He said: "I'm going to generalise massively here, but from my observation so far, at 13 to 14, the kind of pictures that girls are putting up, just from what I've seen, split off 50:50.
"[There's] normal young girl, and then this weird hybrid of - dare I say it - quite porno sort of luscious kind of pouty lips, sort of pushing boobs out."
He said he did not "even want to look" at photos of other girls that 14-year-old Daisy had shown him.
"I'm like really? Are their parents not over that like a rash?"
However, Jamie and Jools Oliver are not against Instagram itself - and frequently post snaps of family holidays and days out that they are happy to share with the public.
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Oliver added: "Because of the 'like' thing, it's kind of almost the sugar of social media.
"It's a quick way to get some kind of pat on the back or love."
The NSPCC charity has told parents it is vital to spot inappropriate behaviour online - and has a Net Aware guide to social media sites young people are using.
The charity identified a number of risks for children using Instagram, including strangers following them and people taking screenshots and sharing photos without their permission.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42028944
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Endris Mohammed trial: Dad guilty of murdering son and daughter - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Endris Mohammed killed his son and daughter by smothering them with a petrol-soaked rag.
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Birmingham & Black Country
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Saros and Leanor Endris were killed in October last year
A father has been found guilty of murdering his two young children who he smothered with a petrol-soaked rag before setting fire to the family home.
Saros Endris, eight, and his sister Leanor, six, were found dead at their house in Birmingham in October 2016.
Their father Endris Mohammed, 47, also tried to kill his wife by attempting to cause a gas explosion.
Paying tribute to her children, Penil Teklehaimanot, Mohammed's wife, said they had brought joy to her life.
She said their deaths had "had a profound effect and changed my life forever".
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A two-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court was told Mohammed appeared normal in the run-up to the deaths.
He was found guilty of two counts of murder and one of attempted murder after the jury deliberated for under 30 minutes.
Mrs Teklehaimanot said in evidence that she was woken by a smoke alarm at her home in Holland Road, Great Barr and initially thought her children were asleep when she was unable to wake them.
Mohammed had denied the murders, claiming diminished responsibility allegedly caused by a depressive disorder.
Police said he was found sitting in his car in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, with severe burns after setting fire to himself (some may find the picture below distressing).
The court heard Mohammed told a psychiatrist he intended to take his own life and had smothered the children after becoming depressed and deciding they "would be better off dead".
However, Det Insp Justin Spanner, of West Midlands Police, said there was no previous history of mental illness.
"As part of our investigation we spoke to people who were in his taxi on that day and they say he was happy, chatting and he seemed very normal," he said.
Mohammed will be sentenced on Monday.
Endris Mohammed suffered burns when he set his car on fire
Trial judge Mr Justice Gilbart, addressing the jurors after the verdicts, told them: "You've just dealt with a very important case.
"It's an important public service. You've earned the thanks of the public for the vital work you've done."
Paying tribute to the children, Mrs Teklehaimanot said: "They seem too full of life and all the promise of things to come. Their futures stretched out before them - like a book waiting to be read."
She added that Saros "was the most polite well-mannered child", while Leanor "was a wonderful, mature girl".
Jurors were told Mohammed carried out the killings during a "sleepover" in the lounge
Mrs Teklehaimanot said the pair met in 2006 in Kent, after they both came to Britain from East Africa as asylum seekers.
She told the court he was a "gentle, quiet man" and his personality had not changed in any way since 2006.
Mohammed did not give evidence during his defence case but argued through his legal team that he was depressed about his future amid money worries.
Jurors heard Mohammed, who was an Uber driver, claimed he had decided to end his own life because his "hopes for a good life in England" had failed.
He told police in a statement handed to officers in January that he had no money.
Mrs Teklehaimanot told the court she was not in debt and that the couple's rent payments were not in arrears.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-42026040
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Brexit talks: Parallel universes of UK and EU negotiators - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Reactions, interpretations and declared intentions suggest big disparities between the UK and the EU, says the BBC's Katya Adler.
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Europe
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Mrs May is holding bilateral meeting with EU leaders in Gothenburg
Following the different reactions, interpretations and declared intentions of both the EU and the UK over the last months, I've become ever more convinced the two sides are wearing fantastically different opera glasses as this Brexit drama unfolds around them.
How else do you explain the wildly divergent expectations of Theresa May's bilateral meetings with EU leaders on the margins of talks in Sweden on Friday, or the (for the EU) eyebrow-raising assertions made by UK Brexit secretary David Davis during a speech in Berlin on Thursday?
First to Theresa May, who firmly believes she's on a charm offensive ahead of the EU leaders' December summit. Her goal: to schmooze her European counterparts into agreeing that the never-specifically-defined-by-the-EU goal of "sufficient progress" on Brexit divorce issues has now been attained, so that negotiations should imminently widen to include the UK-favoured topics of trade and transitions deals.
This is not the view of Mr and Mrs European leader. They see these bilateral meetings as a way to impress - again - on the British prime minister that "sufficient progress" on the key issues of Ireland and, most of all, the Brexit bill is still a small universe away.
The Irish prime minister says he remains an optimist but, let's be honest, he was being polite.
Behind the scenes, Ireland is frustrated beyond belief with the British government. It is particularly worried about the future of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which put an end to the Northern Ireland conflict, if a solution to avoid reintroducing a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland remains elusive in the long term.
Protests have been held against a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, who represents all EU leaders in Brussels, let his message be known even before his meeting with Mrs May: "There's more work to be done and time is short," he said.
Note that he didn't say time had run out to make the December summit deadline, but the UK government knows only the magic words "yes, we'll pay" will open the EU door to those widened negotiations.
Annoyed as it may make Ireland, the European Commission believes, as the UK does, that a solution to the border problem is more likely to be found in stage two of Brexit negotiations when future EU/UK relations including customs are discussed.
This means money remains the main sticking point. The third key divorce issue, citizens' rights, is not entirely sorted but good progress has been made.
On money, Brussels sees it as a long-awaited step forward that the British government is now planning to haggle down the final figure the EU insists the UK must pay to honour past financial commitments.
"We're used to smoke-filled rooms and horse-trading," one EU contact told me, "But that hasn't been possible on [the Brexit issue of] money until now because the UK refused to discuss the individual sums involved."
Mr Tusk has said: "There's more work to be done and time is short"
So perhaps then we're inching towards the next act in the Brexit drama.
Maybe it's still possible that a heady mixture of British charm and cash will galvanise EU hearts to opening talks of an EU/UK future as of mid-December. But my rather gloomy bet is that'll throw the differences between the two sides into even sharper relief.
Take, as a taster, UK Brexit lead negotiator David Davis' speech on Thursday night to that group of mainly business leaders in Berlin.
British frustration with what is viewed as EU intransigence when it comes to Brexit prompted Mr Davis to warn: "Don't put politics above prosperity."
The German business leaders were too polite to snort but, in fact, that is how much of the EU sees Brexit and the decision to leave the European single market: as an obvious act (to them) of putting politics above prosperity.
And when Mr Davis went on to insist that now, more than ever, was a time to fight "in a co-ordinated manner" for common values and interests, one German journalist piped up: "So why are you leaving the EU?"
And here we come back to my different-lensed opera glasses in the EU and UK.
I could go on, especially when it comes to Mr Davis. In an interview with my colleague Laura Kuenssberg he said that the UK had already made so many compromises that now it was surely the EU's turn.
This is to fundamentally misunderstand the EU perspective.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. David Davis: "Nothing comes for nothing" in negotiations
The EU insists that if the UK wants to leave the group yet maintain a relationship, it can only do so in accordance with club rules.
The heads of EU institutions, like Jean-Claude Juncker, like to repeat that the UK is the one who has decided to go. The EU club won't change its rules (such as single market regulations), so the EU argument goes, just to appease a departing party.
In his BBC interview on Friday, Mr Davis also had a parting shot at Germany and the other EU powerhouse France, identifying Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain among a cohort of countries keen to start talks on trade and transition while Berlin and Paris drag their respective Schuhe and chaussures (shoes).
However, my talks with key representatives across EU countries suggest that, in the face of potential threats from North Korea and Russia, unsure of President Trump's US, following on from the EU migrant crisis and after the Brexit vote, European leaders are more convinced than ever that there is safety in numbers.
It's true that Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands have traditionally been the UK's closest EU allies and they are still very sad indeed to see Britain go, but this stagnant, bad-tempered Brexit process has worn friendships pretty thin.
Before Mr Davis next names the Netherlands as the UK's best buddy in the face of German and France stubbornness, he should perhaps bear in mind that the Dutch parliament's Committee on European Affairs has just warned MPs to prepare for what it called a chaotic Brexit.
Blame was thrown squarely at the feet of the British government and what its Dutch neighbours described as the UK's "unrealistic expectations".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42028259
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Budget 2017: Chancellor Philip Hammond 'to target housing and NHS' - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Philip Hammond will use the Budget to "attack problems" that lost the Tories votes, a former minister tells Newsnight.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Stephen Hammond: Money in Budget 'for housing and health'
Chancellor Philip Hammond plans to use "headroom" in the public finances to target spending on housing and health, a close friend has told the BBC.
Stephen Hammond - a former transport minister - said the chancellor wants to use next Wednesday's Budget to "attack problems" that contributed to the Tories' poor election performance.
The chancellor said in March he had "headroom" - available cash - of £26bn.
Labour says he needs to tackle what it calls the squeeze in living standards.
The chancellor will lay out the government's financial plans on 22 November.
He is also expected to call for evidence on whether a tax on the use of the most environmentally damaging single-use plastics, such as takeaway boxes and bubble wrap, would help tackle to problem of plastic waste.
The £26bn was dubbed a "war chest" - designed to help him navigate the economy through Brexit.
Stephen Hammond, who has known the chancellor for more than 20 years, told BBC Two's Newsnight that the chancellor was planning to use the Budget to reach out to voters who had abandoned the Tories.
The party lost its overall parliamentary majority in June's election, with voters in every age group up to their late 40s preferring Labour. Housing was cited as a key concern by younger voters.
Stephen Hammond told Newsnight: "I think what the chancellor will be doing is saying, 'Look it would be silly to throw away all the good work we've done in getting down the deficit level, we're about to turn the corner on debt but yes of course I am listening.
"'In my autumn statement I created some headroom... and I will be looking at what... ways that headroom could be used to attack the problems that so many people have spoken to me about.'"
The former transport minister predicted a strong focus on housing in the Budget.
"I am absolutely convinced that he'll be looking at some housing ideas.
"And there are some really creative ones about looking at loan guarantees for small builders and things in that sort of area. But also he knows that we need to build more social housing and affordable housing. I think he'll be looking at ways he can encourage that."
Nick Boles, a former housing minister, told Newsnight the Conservatives would be writing themselves out of the election script unless they do more to help people without mortgages.
The Financial Times reported last month that about two-thirds of the chancellor's "war chest" may have been wiped out in light of what Treasury officials described as a "bloodbath" in the public finances.
The warnings came on the eve of a report by the Office for Budget Responsibility highlighting poor productivity.
Amid this background, Stephen Hammond predicted that the chancellor would not abandon his reputation as a cautious figure. He said the chancellor would not deviate from his fiscal rule which is to reduce the budget deficit to below 2% of national income by 2020-21.
The former minister said: "It's a bit like running a marathon getting to the last half mile and saying, oh hell - I'll turn round and go back to the start. Philip isn't going to do that.
"It would be absolutely madness to give up on getting the economy and the finances back into a good shape."
Anneliese Dodds, the shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, said the chancellor should outline ambitious plans to tackle income inequality. A government source said the chancellor would adopt a balanced approach on his Budget.
• None The Budget: What we know already
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42034392
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Brexit: David Davis says the EU must compromise too - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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David Davis tells the BBC "nothing comes for nothing" and France and Germany need to give ground too.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. David Davis: "Nothing comes for nothing" in negotiations
David Davis has said the EU must be willing to give ground too if further progress in Brexit talks is to be made.
He told the BBC the UK has "been offering some creative compromises and not always got them back", insisting that "nothing comes for nothing".
Many EU countries want to move on in the talks because they can see how important it is to their economies, he told political editor Laura Kuenssberg.
But he said this needed support from 27 nations, including Germany and France.
The EU says negotiations cannot move on to trade until questions about the UK "divorce bill", citizens' rights and Northern Ireland are resolved.
Theresa May is set to discuss Brexit with EU Council president Donald Tusk later on the margins of a jobs summit in Sweden amid growing pressure for a breakthrough before the end of the year.
Downing Street has insisted an earlier meeting with Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar had been "constructive" despite the two countries appearing to be no closer to bridging the differences between them.
Dublin wants binding guarantees there will be no return to a hard border with Northern Ireland after the UK's exit and Mr Varadkar has indicated he is prepared to "wait for further concessions".
Arriving for the event in Gothenburg, he said the UK's verbal assurances that there would be no physical infrastructure at the border were not sufficient.
Despite the smiles, Leo Varadkar and Theresa May have real differences over the Irish border
"I think it would be in all of our interests that we proceed to phase two in December," he said. "But...sometimes it doesn't seem like they've thought all of this through."
UK Brexit secretary David Davis said he had already made concessions in areas such as the right of EU citizens to vote in local elections in the UK among other things.
In a speech in Berlin on Thursday, he warned against "putting politics above prosperity" in Britain's post-Brexit relationship with the EU.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Mr Davis's speech was delivered politely but implied "pretty significant frustrations on the UK side with the EU's attitude".
The Brexit Secretary, she added, had not offered anything specific - including on what the EU regards as the vital issue of money - in his speech to "move things on".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Davis: Other countries see the "big benefit" in future Brexit deal.
Asked about reports Germany and France were standing in the way of the next phase of talks, Mr Davis said they clearly had the most influence but it was a decision for all 27 and "many of them do want to move on".
"It is very important to them, countries like Denmark, countries Holland, like Italy and Spain, countries like Poland can see there are big benefits in the future deal we are talking about."
He suggested there needed to be more give-and-take from the other side. "I want them to compromise, surprise surprise, nothing comes for nothing in this world," he said. "But so far, in this negotiation, we have made a lot of compromises. On the citizens' rights front, we have made all the running."
As he met his British counterpart Boris Johnson in Dublin, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said the two sides were "not in place right now" to begin talking about future relations.
The Dutch are among those who want trade talks to begin, the UK has said
Mr Coveney has floated the idea of a post-Brexit transition period of four or five years to allow both sides to adjust to the changes required.
This would be twice as long as that envisaged by the UK government - which wants an implementation phase of around two years.
Mr Johnson said while he understood the need to give maximum reassurance to businesses, he thought "it was possible to do this within a much shorter timescale", adding that "we want to get on as fast as possible with the meat of the negotiations".
After a week dominated by talk of a potential Tory rebellion against attempts to fix the precise time of Brexit in the EU Withdrawal Bill, Mr Davis has suggested he will listen to concerns before it is voted on next month.
Up to 20 Tory MPs are reported to be opposed to the move as they fear it could tie the hands of British negotiators if talks drag on to the last minute.
Mr Davis told the BBC that setting the exact moment of Brexit - 23.00 GMT on 29th March 2019 - in law was a "good idea" but he would not pre-empt what "form" this would take.
"The whole of this bill is going to be debated through the House," he said. "And there are parts which will change as we go through, undoubtedly. We'll debate it, we'll see where we go."
But No 10 suggested it would not back down, urging all MPs to support a move which it said would "provide certainty over our position that we are leaving the EU".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42023765
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Sky Bet extends English Football League sponsorship deal - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The online gambling operation has extended its multi-million pound deal with the English Football League.
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Business
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Sky Bet has extended its multi-million pound sponsorship deal with the English Football League until the summer of 2024.
The gambling operation is the headline sponsor for the Championship, League One and League Two football divisions.
It gets its logo on shirts, and rights for "Bet and Watch" for some matches.
Sky Bet says it will try to discourage problem gambling through messaging on shirts, and that clubs will benefit through more money.
The deal, which is worth tens of millions of pounds, has been in place since 2013.
Sky Bet said it would be paying 20% more than it has done so far to extend the agreement from 2019 to 2024.
This will make the 11-year deal one of the longest in professional sport, the firm said.
The Leeds-based operation, which includes sites such as Sky Vegas and Sky Bingo, is owned by private equity group CVC Capital Partners . Broadcaster Sky holds a 20% stake in the firm.
The betting industry has been under increasing scrutiny from the government, and from the regulator, the Gambling Commission.
Earlier this year the Football Association, English football's governing body, announced it would end sponsorship deals with gambling firms.
However, competition organisers, and the clubs themselves, are free to take sponsorship from gambling firms.
The money from the Sky Bet deal will be divided among the 72 clubs in the English Football League, which covers the three divisions below the Premier League.
The chief executive of Sky Bet, Richard Flint told the BBC's Wake up to Money podcast that the English Football League used the revenue generated to help them run their day-to-day operations.
He said: "Without sponsorship from the betting industry there aren't a great number of sponsors willing to get involved in football."
However, there are fears that increasing numbers of young fans are being exposed to gambling adverts.
One of the findings of the BBC's annual Price of Football survey was that more young football fans bet on games than play the sport.
About 95% of TV ad breaks in live football matches feature at least one gambling advert, the BBC found in October.
In some matches, 40% of the adverts were for gambling.
Mr Flint told the BBC that Sky Bet and the English Football League were actively promoting awareness about problem gambling as part of the "When the fun stops. Stop" campaign.
"From the play offs and including next season every shirt will have a responsible gambling message on the shirt sleeve and we're tying that into a responsible gambling campaign starting today, which includes a TV advert and perimeter boards at EFL games," he said
The "When the fun stops. Stop" campaign is orchestrated by the Senet Group, which was established in 2014 by some of Britain's leading bookmakers in response to public concerns about gambling and gambling addiction.
The head of the GambleAware charity, Marc Etches, said that while it welcomed a commitment to do more to promote safer gambling, "the messaging needs to be much more explicit about the risk involved than what the gambling industry currently proposes".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42019349
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Tax disc: Car tax evasion triples after paper version scrapped - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The government potentially lost out on £107m from 755,000 unlicensed vehicles in the past year, data shows.
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Business
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The number of unlicensed vehicles on the road has tripled since the paper tax disc was abolished, government figures show.
The data, published every two years, shows that the government potentially lost out on £107m from 755,000 unlicensed vehicles last year.
The RAC said the decision to get rid of the paper tax disc three years ago has proved "costly".
The measure was meant to have saved the Treasury £10m a year, the RAC said.
Figures from the Department for Transport show that 1.8% of vehicles were unlicensed in 2017 compared with 0.6% on 2013.
"The principle of abolishing the tax disc to introduce greater efficiencies has, so far, evidently failed," said RAC public affairs manager Nicholas Lyes.
"It appears that having a visual reminder was an effective way to prompt drivers into renewing their car tax - arguably more drivers are now prepared to try their luck and see if they can get away with not paying any vehicle tax at all, or are simply forgetting to tax their vehicle when they are due to."
When the abolition of the paper tax disc was announced by then-Chancellor, George Osborne, the Treasury said it showed government was moving "into the modern age".
Officials said the disc, introduced in 1921, was no longer needed with the DVLA and police relying on an electronic register.
However, there is clear evidence that it has led to confusion, mistakes or open flouting of the rules by drivers.
The RAC said a third of untaxed vehicles had changed hands since September 2016, indicating that many drivers were not aware that tax does not carry over when ownership changes.
The DVLA also said that it was running a campaign warning the rising number of people still driving cars that had been declared as off the road to tax their vehicles.
The seller receives a refund of any full months of remaining tax while the new owner must tax the vehicle immediately.
Just over half had been unlicensed for two months or less, suggesting some of these drivers had forgotten about their renewal date, although reminders are sent before the expiry date by the DVLA.
The highest levels of evasion were in the West Midlands (2.1% of vehicles) and the North West of England (2%).
The East of England had the lowest rate at 0.8%, with all other areas ranging between 1.6% and 1.8%.
These results are based on where vehicles were seen in traffic by enforcement officers or cameras, not where they are registered.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42009111
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Moment quake hit South Korea - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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The 5.4 magnitude tremor hit the port city of Pohang, and was followed by dozens of aftershocks.
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The 5.4 magnitude tremor hit the south-eastern port city of Pohang in the afternoon, and dozens of aftershocks have occurred since.
More than 1,000 buildings, homes and vehicles have been destroyed or damaged.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-42018424
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Gaia Pope case: Third murder suspect is released - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Police say Gaia's family have confirmed clothing found matched what she was believed to be wearing.
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Dorset
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "Every minute we were away from Swanage was torture"
A 49-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder following the disappearance of teenager Gaia Pope has been released while inquiries continue.
Paul Elsey, confirmed as the suspect to the BBC by his father, is from Swanage.
Murder detectives are focusing their forensic investigations on homes, cars and an area near a coastal path where women's clothing was found.
Miss Pope's family confirmed the clothing matched what she was believed to be wearing the day she went missing.
Gaia Pope was last seen in Swanage on 7 November
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Search teams have scoured land on the Dorset coast
Mr Elsey is the third person to be arrested in the inquiry.
He is believed to be known to 19-year-old Miss Pope, who went missing from Swanage on 7 November.
Mr Elsey lives with his mother Rosemary Dinch, 71, who, along with her 19-year-old grandson, Nathan Elsey, was arrested on suspicion of murder on Monday.
The pair were released on Tuesday while inquiries continue.
Forensic investigations are continuing at two properties in Manor Gardens, where those arrested are believed to live. Police have also seized three vehicles.
Land close to where the items of clothing were found is being extensively searched
A black jacket Miss Pope was wearing in CCTV images taken at St Michael's Garage, Swanage, on the last day she was seen was recovered from an address in Manor Gardens.
Search activity involving coastguard teams and Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue's Technical Rescue Unit is focused on several fields nearby.
Det Supt Paul Kessell, of Dorset Police, said: "The clothing located south of Priests Way appear to be Gaia's and her family have confirmed they match what she was believed to have been wearing the day she went missing."
In a statement posted on the Let's Find Gaia Facebook group, her mother Natasha Pope said she was "holding on to hope".
"I believe in this community and I believe miracles can happen," she said.
"My eternal thanks to everyone who is out there searching for my little girl. Please come out over the weekend and do what you can."
A search is being carried out on land surrounding the coast path on the Purbeck coast
Miss Pope's cousin, Marienna Pope-Weidemann said the family were "desperate for answers" and urged people to "get out there looking for her".
"It's been a profoundly shocking 24 hours. Obviously the discovery of those clothes was incredibly distressing for the whole family," she said.
Search volunteer Ian Messenger, who works at Swanage Dairy, said people were "pulling together".
"It's just been surreal," he said. "The town seems sort of subdued at the moment, it's usually quite vibrant.
"Everyone's out searching at night, early in the mornings. We at the dairy, we've handed out over 1,000 leaflets to all of our customers with our milk."
Marine teams have been searching the foot of the Purbeck cliffs
Nico Johnson, editor of the local Purbeck Gazette, said the search effort was "phenomenal".
"We've got people walking for miles and miles in teams, they've covered towns, rural areas, gone door-to-door in coordination with police. A lot of information has been brought forward," she said.
"Purbeck is a really strong community, when something happens they are fully behind each other. People are getting to the point of exhaustion - they just want to find Gaia now."
Miss Pope, who is from Langton Matravers, has severe epilepsy and is thought to have gone missing without her medication.
Earlier this week, her mother urged people to look in vans, garages and houses in case she was being kept against her will.
7 November: Miss Pope is driven by a family member from Langton Matravers to Swanage. At 14:55, she is seen on CCTV inside St Michael's Garage buying ice cream and at 16:00 her last confirmed sighting is at an address in Manor Gardens on Morrison Road
8 November: Her family make a personal plea through the police for her to get in contact. Ch Insp Steve White, of Dorset Police, says the force is "becoming increasingly concerned"
9 November: Dorset Police renews its appeal to find the 19-year-old. Searches have been carried out in the Swanage area, with support from the coastguard and police helicopter. Miss Pope's family release a statement saying they are "frantic with worry"
10 November: CCTV footage is released of Gaia on Morrison Road, Manor Gardens, at 15:39 on 7 November.
13 November: Search warrants issued at two addresses in Swanage. Rosemary Dinch and Nathan Elsey are arrested on suspicion of murder and later released under investigation
14 November: Searches continue with the coastguard and volunteers from Dorset Search and Rescue and Wessex 4x4
15 November: CCTV images of Miss Pope at St Michael's Garage are released. Searches continue to concentrate inland, supported by neighbouring police forces
16 November: Paul Elsey is arrested on suspicion of murder. Women's clothing is discovered in a field near Swanage and a police cordon is set up
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-42025046
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US Navy: Penis in sky drawn by jet trail was 'unacceptable' - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The phallic outline over an airbase in Washington State provoked mirth, but not everyone was amused.
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US & Canada
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The Navy aircraft involved was an EA-18G Growler
US Navy officials have said it was "absolutely unacceptable" that one of their pilots used a jet's contrail to draw a penis in the sky.
The phallic outline over Okanogan County in the western US state of Washington provoked much mirth online.
But commanders at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island did not see the funny side and have ordered an inquiry.
A spokesman for the airbase confirmed that the aircraft involved was one of its Boeing EA-18G Growlers.
WARNING: Some viewers may find images below offensive.
The jet specialises in electronic warfare and can travel at nearly twice the speed of sound.
Spokesman Thomas Mills told the BBC: "From a Navy standpoint, we do hold our aircrew to the highest standards and this is absolutely unacceptable.
"It has zero training value and the aircrew is being held accountable."
The Federal Aviation Administration, a government agency that regulates US airspace, told local TV station KREM 2 that the manoeuvre did not appear to pose a safety risk and they "cannot police morality".
Plenty of onlookers on the ground were amused by Thursday afternoon's sky doodle.
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Ramone Duran told the Seattle Times newspaper: "After it made the circles at the bottom, I knew what it was and started laughing."
But one householder told KREM 2 she was upset about having to explain to her children what the vapour trail's shape represented.
It is not the first aircrew to pull such a stunt.
In August this year, an RAF fighter pilot drew a 35-mile penis on radars monitoring skies over Lincolnshire, England.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/42032629
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Brexit: Can 'bad cop' David Davis reboot talks? - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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David Davis is in no mood for compromise over Brexit talks but is he pointlessly digging in?
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. In full: My interview with David Davis
Negotiations, compromise, give and take, mutual understanding and cooperation.
The Brexit secretary this morning seemed not to be up for much of that.
Speaking to us in Berlin, where much of the future of the talks between the whole EU and UK will be decided, David Davis warned the other side they will get "nothing for nothing", and said that the UK had already done much of "the running".
And, for good measure, he hit out at Germany and France, the "powerful players", who have been taking a hardline approach, in contrast to countries like Denmark, and Holland who want to move the talks on to the next phase.
Davis's message: It's not me that needs to compromise, it's you, now get on with it.
It is not without risk that to try to single out different countries in this way when the EU 27 have been extremely effective so far in maintaining public unity, and are absolutely determined to keep doing so.
At the same time Davis was speaking to us in Germany, other EU leaders were telling Theresa May the exact opposite, repeating what has been the solid consensus across the continent that unless the UK gives a firmer and more explicit commitment to put more cash on the table the prospects for the talks are grim.
The Irish PM even went as far as claiming of Brexiteers in Britain "it's 18 months since the referendum, it's 10 years since people have wanted a referendum started agitating for one. Sometime it doesn't seem like they've thought all of this through".
While it might feel like the two sides are in completely parallel universes, as we discussed yesterday, there is an awareness in the UK that there are going to have to be further moves on the EU (Withdrawal) bill, whatever Boris Johnson may say.
But alongside that, at some point, particularly Germany, along with France, will have to take a political decision as to whether the UK appears sufficiently willing.
What's less clear is whether David Davis playing the bad cop today will really help broker this stage of the talks.
For his critics it seems just that he is pointlessly digging in, refusing to listen to the every growing line-up of EU leaders who say it's Britain that has to budge.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42025126
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Benedict Allen: UK explorer flown out of Papua New Guinea jungle - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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Benedict Allen became disorientated with fever while trying to reach a remote tribe in Papua New Guinea.
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UK
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. In a recent documentary Benedict Allen described his experiences of living in Papua New Guinea
British explorer Benedict Allen has been flown out of the jungle in Papua New Guinea and is expected home on Sunday.
Mr Allen became disorientated with fever while trying to reach a remote tribe and missed his flight home, the BBC's Frank Gardner said.
The 57-year-old had taken no means of communication with him, prompting his family to mount a search on Monday.
He was spotted "alive and well" on Thursday near a remote airstrip.
Mr Allen, who had been looked after by Christian missionaries after trekking large distances, was flown by helicopter to the Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby on Friday.
His agent, Jo Sarsby, said he was feverish with suspected malaria.
"Benedict looks forward to being reunited with his family and friends but will need some time to get back to full health," the statement added.
"He would like to send thanks for all the kind messages he has received."
Mr Allen's wife, Lenka, told the Daily Mail: "It is such a relief. I'm so happy, it's amazing."
BBC correspondent Frank Gardner with Benedict Allen in Papua New Guinea last year
The father-of-three had been travelling on his own to try to find the reclusive Yaifo tribe, whom he first met 30 years ago.
In a blog post from September, he wrote: "Just like the good old days, I won't be taking a sat phone, GPS or companion. Or anything else much. Because this is how I do my journeys of exploration."
Before setting off, Mr Allen told the BBC he was hoping to make contact with the tribe, who were high up in a cloud forest.
He said he was unsure how they would receive him this time. His last text message read: "What could possibly go wrong?".
The explorer, from London, has previously crossed the Amazon Basin on foot and in a dug-out canoe, and participated in a six-week male initiation ceremony in which crocodile marks were carved onto his body.
He has filmed a number of his adventures for BBC documentaries and written books on exploration.
First solo adventure: To the Amazon at 22, during which he was shot at by two hitmen
Tough time: An initiation into manhood in Papua New Guinea. He was kept in a "crocodile nest" with 20 others, and repeatedly cut with bamboo blades to leave scars that looked like crocodile scales
Low moment: Eating his own dog to survive
Travel habit: Always keeps loo paper in a back pocket. "You know how it is," he tells the Lonely Planet.
Philosophy: "For me personally, exploration isn't about conquering nature, planting flags or leaving your mark. It's about the opposite: opening yourself up and allowing the place to leave its mark on you."
Career: Six TV series for the BBC, author, motivational speaker
• None Search under way for missing UK explorer
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42022776
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Serena Williams marries Alexis Ohanian in star-studded bash - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Eva Longoria were among the A-list guests in New Orleans.
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Newsbeat
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Serena Williams has married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in one of the biggest showbiz weddings of the year.
A-listers including Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Eva Longoria were at the star-studded bash which took place in New Orleans on Thursday.
The event had a Beauty and the Beast theme and included 200 people on the guestlist, according to media reports.
An entire block of the city was sealed off for the event which was held at the Contemporary Arts Center.
The roads were closed around the wedding venue in New Orleans
The wedding reportedly cost more than $1m (£760,000) and guests were asked not to bring their mobile phones because of an exclusive deal with Vogue.
Photos of the Tennis legends Beauty and the Beast themed wedding have since been shared on social media.
The couple announced their engagement in December last year after dating for 15 months.
They made the news public by sharing a poem on Reddit which was titled: "I said Yes".
Serena gave birth to their daughter, Alexis Olympia, two months ago.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articles/42022406
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Chris Coleman leaves Wales role for Sunderland job - BBC Sport
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2017-11-17
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Chris Coleman leaves his job with Wales after almost six years to take over at Championship club Sunderland.
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Last updated on .From the section Wales
Chris Coleman has left his job as Wales manager to take over at Championship club Sunderland.
Coleman will succeed Simon Grayson, who was sacked after 18 games in charge.
The Football Association of Wales (FAW) confirmed: "Regretfully, Chris Coleman has resigned from his position with immediate effect."
Ex-defender Coleman, 47, succeeded the late Gary Speed in 2012 and guided them to an historic appearance at Euro 2016, where they reached the semi-finals.
Disappointment followed as Wales failed to reach the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.
Coleman's assistant Kit Symons has also left his role of Wales coach.
Ex-Wales winger Ryan Giggs and West Bromwich Albion's Welsh manager Tony Pulis were among bookmakers' early favourites to succeed Coleman.
• None Sunderland would be better off in League One - Jenas
FAW chief executive Jonathan Ford said: "We are extremely disappointed to see Chris' tenure as Wales manager come to an end.
"The FAW and Wales as a nation will be eternally grateful for the job he has done over the last six years as national team manager, from travelling the length and breadth of Wales outside of the media spotlight to talk to players and supporters, to guiding us to the semi-finals of the European Championships.
It is understood the Football Association of Wales made significant improvements in their offers to Coleman on Friday and were ready to accede to his demands over backroom staff
"We wish Chris the very best of luck for the future as he returns to club management, a desire for which he has always been honest and open about."
After Wales' qualifying campaign for the 2018 tournament ended in defeat by the Republic of Ireland, Coleman's last two games in charge were a 2-0 loss to France and 1-1 home draw against Panama in November, 2017.
Negotiations between Coleman and the FAW continued after the game against the Central Americans.
Those talks ended with Coleman leaving. He had often spoken about hoping to return to the day-to-day demands of club management amid a career that has included being in charge of Fulham in the Premier League.
Ex-Wales defender Danny Gabbidon told BBC Sport Wales: "I'm gutted, really disappointed. I know all the fans will be, the players will be as well.
"I know how much they thought of the manager - he was more than just a manager.
"There was a kind of player relationship between the squad and the manager so they'll be gutted hearing that news as well."
Coleman's reign began with Wales 48th in Fifa's world rankings and it ends with them in 14th place.
He will take over at Sunderland, who are bottom of the Championship with one win, seven draws and eight defeats so far this season.
Sunderland are aiming to confirm a deal with Coleman by Sunday.
There is an expectation at the Stadium of Light he will be in charge for their away game against Aston Villa on Tuesday night.
Despite speculation over Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill, Coleman was the club's number one target and no offers were made to other candidates.
Coleman wanted the FAW to employ head of performance Ryland Morgans and psychologist Ian Mitchell on full-time contracts.
The FAW also offered to spend £500,000 on upgrading training facilities.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42033068
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Apology after Japanese train departs 20 seconds early - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Management on the Tsukuba Express line "sincerely apologised for the inconvenience" caused.
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Asia
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Japan has one of the world's most reliable railways and is known for its Shinkansen bullet trains (pictured)
A rail company in Japan has apologised after one of its trains departed 20 seconds early.
Management on the Tsukuba Express line between Tokyo and the city of Tsukuba say they "sincerely apologise for the inconvenience" caused.
In a statement, the company said the train had been scheduled to leave at 9:44:40 local time but left at 9:44:20.
Many social media users reacted to the company's apology with surprise.
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The mistake happened because staff had not checked the timetable, the company statement said.
"The crew did not sufficiently check the departure time and performed the departure operation," it said.
It added that no customers had complained about the early departure from Minami Nagareyama Station, which is just north of Tokyo.
The Tsukuba Express line takes passengers from Akihabara in eastern Tokyo to Tsukuba in about 45 minutes.
It is rare for trains in Japan, which has one of the world's most reliable railways, to depart at a different time to the one scheduled.
The country's Tokaido line, which runs from Tokyo to the city of Kobe, is by far the world's busiest and carries nearly 150 million passengers a year.
Impressed railway users worldwide tweeted the story to their local train operators - particularly in Britain, where rail services are often delayed.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-42009839
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Sandbach house fire: Mother 'could not go on' without son - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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An inquest hears Kelly-Anne Carter killed herself two weeks after her son Lucas died in a house fire.
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England
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A woman whose eight-year-old son died in a house fire killed herself because she could not go on without him, an inquest has found.
Kelly-Anne Carter, 35, suffered serious burns in the fire at the family home in Sandbach, Cheshire, on 30 October 2016.
Lucas Carter died shortly after he was rescued from the blaze which was not treated as suspicious.
Miss Carter's friend told the court the mother had described herself as a "dead woman walking".
The inquest at Crewe Municipal Buildings on Thursday heard Miss Carter's partner found her hanged at his home on 12 November 2016.
Sarah Blakey, Miss Carter's friend who was with her the night before she died, told the court: "She didn't want to be here without Lucas, she couldn't forgive herself.
"He was her world. To her he was her greatest achievement and he was lovely, he was an absolute credit."
A verdict of suicide was recorded by coroner Claire Welch.
The fire in Sandbach was not treated as suspicious by police
Ms Welch said: "I can't imagine the distress and trauma that she must have been going through at this time, having gone through such a traumatic experience and lost her only child."
The coroner for Cheshire also paid tribute to the "dignity and calmness" showed by Miss Carter's sister Gemma Williams during the inquest.
"To have lost Lucas and then Kelly in such short succession is unimaginable from my point of view so my heartfelt condolences really do go out to you and all your family," she said.
The inquest heard medical notes recording Miss Carter's comments telling staff she would hang herself or overdose once she was home were not passed on when she was transferred to Macclesfield Hospital.
But Ms Welch said the mistake did not cause or contribute to her death.
She said she was satisfied that at the time of her discharge it was considered more appropriate to allow Miss Carter to be with her family and to plan Lucas's funeral.
An inquest into Lucas's death has not yet been held.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42010578
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Glitter banned by Dorset children's nursery chain - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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The art material is a "dangerous" microplastic which can enter the food chain, the nursery chain says.
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Dorset
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Group manager Harriet Pacey said their nurseries already avoid a lot of single-use items
Glitter has been banned by a chain of children's nurseries because of the "terrible damage" it does to the environment.
The art material is washed into the water system and can end up in the food chain, Tops Day Nurseries insisted.
It added glitter was a microplastic which was "almost impossible to remove from the environment".
The Marine Conservation Society welcomed the nurseries' "proactive approach" towards reducing pollution.
Glitter is "almost impossible to remove from the environment", the company said
The nursery chain said it had only recently become aware of the "dangers" of glitter.
Managing director Cheryl Hadland said "You can see when the children are taking their bits of craft home and there's glitter on the cardboard, it blows off and into the air.
"There are 22,000 nurseries in the country, so if we're all getting through kilos and kilos of glitter, we're doing terrible damage."
Ms Hadland, who runs nurseries in Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Somerset and Wiltshire, said she "loved glitter" but was trying to source an alternative material from suppliers.
Plastic waste in the oceans allows the material to enter the food chain, marine biologists say
Nursery group manager Harriet Pacey said most parents would back the change.
She said: "I can imagine that, yes, initially it's going to be a bit of a 'what?' but I think they're going to be behind us."
Sue Kinsey from the Marine Conservation Society said most microplastics in the sea came from other products.
She said: "While glitter is only a small part of the microplastic load getting into watercourses and the sea, steps like these will all add up to something greater."
The United Nations has estimated that there are 46,000 pieces of waste plastic per square mile of sea.
The international body's environment agency, UNEP, said plastic waste in the ocean was allowing the material to enter the food chain.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-42023245
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Peter Kay's Car Share to make surprise return - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The comedian announces a surprise finale to show what happened between John and Kayleigh.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Will John (Peter Kay) and Kayleigh (Sian Gibson) finally have a happy ending?
Fans of Peter Kay's sitcom Car Share thought it had ended for good - but the comedian has announced there will be two more episodes.
Kay said he wanted to "quit while you're ahead" after series two ended earlier this year.
But he's announced a "special finale" to show what happened between John, his character, and Sian Gibson's Kayleigh.
It will follow Car Show Unscripted, an improvised episode. Both will be screened on BBC One next year.
Gibson and Kay revealed the plans on Children In Need
The second series ended in May with Kayleigh declaring her love for John but walking out of his car and his life when he refused to say how he felt.
The lack of a twist bringing the two characters together at last surprised and disappointed many viewers who had convinced themselves the show was building up to the perfect romantic finish.
"People have been very angry that the series ended in that way," Kay said.
"But [now] there is a series finale explaining what happened the next day, after the big argument.
"We've also done another episode called Car Share Unscripted, which is half an hour of us basically making the script up and improvising. It's nothing to do with the story - just us having a laugh."
After the series ended, he said there would be no third series or Christmas specials because he was worried about running out of ideas.
"There's only so much you can do in a car and the last thing you want to do is ruin it, because I think it's a lovely thing," he said.
Kay announced the new episodes on Children In Need on BBC One on Friday.
He has long been a supporter of the charity, fronting a fund-raising single that went to number one in 2009. This year, he has raised more than £633,000 by auctioning 100 tickets to an intimate live show in Blackpool.
Car Share won two Bafta TV Awards in 2016 - best scripted comedy and best male performance in a comedy programme for Kay.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42034344
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Waddesdon helicopter crash: Aerial shots show crash scene - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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The crash happened at about 12:00 close near to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
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A plane and helicopter have crashed in mid-air close to Woodesdon Manor, near to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-42032892
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Brexit: EU gives May two weeks to act on divorce bill and Ireland - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Theresa May is told to put more money on the table and address Irish border concerns within two weeks.
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UK Politics
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Mr Tusk said progress on citizens' rights had not been mirrored in other areas
Theresa May has been told she has two weeks to put more money on the table if the EU is to agree to begin Brexit trade talks before the end of the year.
EU Council President Donald Tusk said he was "ready" to move onto the next phase of Brexit talks, covering future relations with the UK.
But he said the UK must show much more progress on the "divorce bill" and the Irish border by early next month.
Mrs May said "good progress" was being made but more needed to be done.
The talks are currently deadlocked over the UK's financial settlement, citizens' rights and Ireland with Irish PM Leo Varadkar accusing the UK of not "thinking through" the implications of Brexit for his country.
A week ago, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier informed his UK counterpart David Davis he had a fortnight to spell out in more detail what he was prepared to pay the EU to "settle its accounts" and to clarify how trade between the Republic and Northern Ireland and security across the 310 mile border would be preserved after the UK leaves the single market and customs union.
After holding talks with Mrs May on the margins of a jobs summit in Sweden, Mr Tusk repeated the message, saying "much more" progress was needed on these two issues if he was to recommend to EU leaders at their next meeting on 14 December to give the green light to the next phase of talks.
He said he would meet Mrs May in a week's time to assess progress but warned time was running out for a breakthrough before the end of 2017.
"We will be ready to move on to the second phase already in December," he said.
"But in order to do that we need to see more progress from the UK side.
The UK needs the approval of all 27 EU nations if it is to begin the next phase of talks
"If there is not sufficient progress by then, I will be ... not be in a position to propose new guidelines on transition and the future relationship at the December European Council....I made it very clear to the Prime Minister May that this progress needs to happen at the beginning of December at the latest."
Before leaving the event in Gothenburg, Mrs May said that the two sides had to "work together" to reach a point where the EU believed sufficient progress had been made to open up trade discussions.
She rejected claims that the talks were in limbo and restated her priority was to talk as soon as possible about her goal of a future "deep and special" trade and economic partnership.
"We're clear and I'm clear that what we need to do is move forwards together," she said.
The UK has said it will honour its existing financial obligations by ensuring no EU nation is worse off during the current budgetary period ending in 2020, a sum reported to be in the region of £20bn.
But the EU wants the UK to go further and contribute to what they say are longer-term liabilities, such as regional development spending and pension payments for British officials working for the EU and retired staff.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. David Davis: "Nothing comes for nothing" in negotiations
Asked whether Mrs May had to stump up more money to pave the way for trade talks, Swedish PM Stefan Lovren said Britain "needs to clarify what they mean by their financial responsibility".
French President Emmanuel Macron said the unified position agreed by all 27 other EU members earlier this year had not changed and talks on future relations would not commence "until the divorce has been settled".
Mr Varadkar, who also held a bilateral meeting with his British counterpart, said he was prepared to wait until next year for "further concessions" from the UK in a number of areas.
He said he wanted binding guarantees that there would be no physical checks at the border after the UK leaves in March 2019, dismissing as inadequate verbal assurances that technological advances will help ensure the continued free and safe movement of people.
"What we want to take off the table before talking about trade is the idea that there would be any hard border, physical border, or border resembling the past in Ireland," said the Irish PM.
"I think it would be in all of our interests that we proceed to phase two in December," he added.
"But it's 18 months since the referendum. Sometimes it doesn't seem like they've thought all of this through."
Some Tory MPs believe the UK should flex its muscles and walk away from the talks unless the EU is more accommodating, arguing the EU has as much to lose as the UK from not agreeing a trade deal.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42027859
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Yemen crisis: Where power cuts threaten babies' lives - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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Hospitals in Yemen could run out of fuel in three weeks. The BBC reports from one of them.
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The UN said this week that hospitals in Yemen could run out of fuel in three weeks.
The Saudi-led coalition has imposed a blockade on Yemen's borders, ports and airports since 6 November in response to a missile attack by Houthi rebels that hit near Riyadh.
Clive Myrie reports from the city of Aden.
Watch the full report on Yemen: The Plight of the Children
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-42021075
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Paloma Faith on childbirth and motherhood - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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Why the singer wants everyone to be more honest about childbirth and parenthood.
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Paloma Faith thinks parents should all be a lot more honest about the realities of childbirth and their experiences of looking after their babies.
That's why the singer and new mum is so keen to share her own "terrible birth" with Woman's Hour, along with some of the things that surprised her most in those early months.
Paloma, -who's back this month with her first album since returning to work, The Architect - also revealed the best and worst parenting advice she's received so far.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42030749
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Fireball in Finland sky 'probably a meteorite' - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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The suspected meteor shook buildings when it raced through the sky in Lapland.
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The suspected meteor was said to cause buildings to shake when it raced through the sky in Lapland.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42033792
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Ann Maguire inquest: Pupil 'winked' before stabbing teacher - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Ann Maguire was stabbed seven times by the 15-year-old at a school in Leeds.
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Leeds & West Yorkshire
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One of the key issues for the inquest is why none of the other children reported what they had been told
A teenager winked and smiled at a fellow pupil before he stabbed a teacher to death in her classroom in Leeds, an inquest has heard.
Will Cornick showed the boy a kitchen knife just before he killed Ann Maguire at Corpus Christi Catholic College, Wakefield Coroner's Court heard.
Mrs Maguire was stabbed seven times by the 15-year-old in April 2014.
In a statement the boy said Cornick asked if he wanted to touch the blade.
He said Cornick got the large knife out of his bag and asked "if I wanted to see how sharp it was".
In a statement, he said the 15-year-old tried to hide the knife up his sleeve but said it was "too visible, too obvious" and changed his mind.
The teenager explained that he and Cornick were working in the room next to Mrs Maguire just before the incident.
Will Cornick was jailed for life for Ann Maguire's murder in April 2014 and was told he must serve a minimum of 20 years
He said then Cornick "just winked and smiled at me as he left the room".
The boy said he then heard noises next door but said he was "in shock" and did not immediately report that Cornick had a knife.
"I did not really know what to do," he said.
"I know I should have told someone, but in the room I was in there weren't any teachers supervising us."
The jury heard how Cornick told a number of children on the morning of the tragedy what he planned to do to Mrs Maguire and two other teachers.
Nick Armstrong, the barrister representing Mrs Maguire's husband and their four children, has said how one of the key issues for the inquest is why none of these children reported what they had been told.
Cornick, who was 15 years old at the time of the incident, admitted murdering Mrs Maguire.
He was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years in custody.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-42030220
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Ireland demands border promise before Brexit trade talks - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Leo Varadkar wants talks stalled until there is commitment to no physical barriers at Irish border.
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Northern Ireland
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Irish PM Leo Varadkar was speaking at an EU summit in Sweden
The Irish government has said Brexit trade deal talks should not proceed until there is a firm commitment to preventing a "hard" Irish border.
Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar said the assurance must be written down before the talks move on.
"Before we move to phase two talks on trade, we want taken off the table any suggestion that there will be a physical border," Mr Varadkar said.
He was speaking at a European summit, attended by Prime Minister Theresa May.
Mrs May's spokesperson said both leaders had agreed to work together to find solutions ensuring there is "no return to the borders of the past".
But Sammy Wilson from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) accused the Irish government of trying to "keep the UK chained to the EU".
Earlier, Mr Varadkar's message was echoed by Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, who held talks with his UK counterpart, Boris Johnson, in Dublin.
Mr Coveney said there was "a sense of jumping into the dark" for Ireland, as the future operation of its border with Northern Ireland had not been agreed.
Mr Coveney added: 'We simply don't see how we can avoid border infrastructure'
"Yes, we all want to move onto phase two of the Brexit negotiations, but we are not in a place right now that allows us to do that," the foreign minister said.
The UK is due to leave the EU in March 2019, but Mr Coveney suggested the exit process could take up to five years.
In response, DUP MP Sammy Wilson claimed the Irish government was "fully signed up with the European establishment to thwart the referendum result in the UK to leave the EU."
In a statement, the MP accused Irish ministers of "trying to block the UK moving on to substantive negotiations about leaving the EU, and then suggesting that an interim or transitional period of five years is going to be needed before we can leave".
Sammy Wilson accused the Irish government of trying to thwart the UK referendum result
"The objective is quite clear; keep the UK chained to the EU until after the next election, when the Irish government hope that Corbyn's Brexit-breaking MPs might be in power," Mr Wilson added.
He said it seemed like the Irish government were content to involve themselves in the affairs of another state.
The MP for East Antrim said that the DUP will support the passing of legislation which would mean "deal or no deal, the UK will exit the EU in March 2019".
Despite cordial exchanges between the two foreign ministers, one thing was clear: Ireland and the UK are still at odds about whether enough progress has been made in the EU-UK divorce talks to allow the two sides to move onto discussions about future relationships.
Despite British assertions that there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland, Dublin doesn't see how that position can be married with the UK leaving the customs union and the single market.
Nor does Dublin think a two-year transitional deal for business to adjust to Brexit is long enough.
With Taoiseach Leo Varadkar delivering the same message to Theresa May in Sweden, there is a sense that "make-your-mind-up time" for all sides is fast approaching.
During his talks in Dublin, Mr Johnson said it was necessary to move on to the second stage of negotiations, where issues raised by Mr Coveney would be thrashed out.
"Now is the time to make haste on that front," the UK foreign secretary said.
Mr Coveney said he understood the British "aspiration" to avoid a hard border, but more clarity was needed about the future.
Mr Coveney said: 'We simply don't see how we can avoid border infrastructure'
"We are in the heat of the negotiations right now and, of course, we want to move on to the negotiations on trade, but there are issues that need more clarity," he said.
"This is a very fundamental change in the relationship between Ireland and Britain and Britain and the EU and it will require significant adjustment.
"The appropriate timetable is closer to four or five years than it is to two."
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Mr Coveney added: "We simply don't see how we can avoid border infrastructure.
"Once standards change it creates differences between the two jurisdictions and a different rule book.
"When you have a different rule book you are starting to go down the route of having to have checks."
Asked whether the government was constrained by its confidence and supply arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party, Mr Johnson said that was "not at all an issue".
The DUP agreed to support Theresa May's minority government after June's election in return for £1bn of extra funding for Northern Ireland.
European leaders say talks can only progress if enough progress has been made on the Irish border, citizens' rights and Britain's EU budget contributions.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. David Davis: "Nothing comes for nothing" in negotiations
Meanwhile, Ken Clarke has said the UK remaining in the single market and customs union is vital for peace and stability in Northern Ireland.
It is the obvious solution as no-one wants physical border controls, the former chancellor and now Conservative "rebel" told BBC NI's The View.
"The border problem in Northern Ireland, the supreme importance of keeping the settlement in place, retaining peace in Northern Ireland is probably the single biggest, most important reason why it would be preferable for the United Kingdom as a whole to stay in the single market and the customs union," he said.
"If the Brexiteers, these right-wing nationalists, won't allow us to do that then the best solution after that, I agree with the taoiseach actually, is to have a border down the Irish Sea."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-42019697
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Robert and Grace Mugabe: What next for Zimbabwe? - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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We look at some of the options for Zimbabwe, its president, and his wife after the military takeover
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Africa
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Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party is planning to support impeachment proceedings against Robert Mugabe, after he ignored a deadline to stand down as president.
Zimbabweans - and many watching around the world - were astounded on Sunday night when Mr Mugabe addressed the nation and said that far from stepping down, he was going to stay on and preside over the ruling party's congress in December.
So with Mr Mugabe defiant, and the army insisting that it has not carried out a a coup, what are the options for getting him to vacate his position?
Here are five possible scenarios:
Zanu-PF members sang and danced as they sacked Mr Mugabe as leader
Zanu-PF says it will launch impeachment proceedings against Mr Mugabe when parliament convenes on Tuesday.
Impeachment is the process of removing a president via parliament.
Both the National Assembly and the Senate can begin proceedings to remove the president if both pass simple majority votes against him.
A two-thirds majority is needed in both houses in order for impeachment to succeed.
Zanu-PF has a two-thirds majority in the House of Assembly, but not the Senate.
The formal process is expected to start on Tuesday but it is not clear how long it would take.
The benefit of this process for the military is that it allows the generals to say the removal of the president was done in accordance with the constitution, in keeping with their statement that this is not a coup.
The downside for them is that it does not guarantee that the man widely thought to be their favourite for president will get the top job straight away.
People in Harare celebrated Zanu-PF sacked Robert Mugabe as their leader
Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking prompted the military's action, could not immediately take over from Mr Mugabe, because constitutionally it is the current vice-president who should fill the vacancy.
At the moment that person is Phelekezela Mphoko - a man whose sympathies are known to lie with Grace Mugabe, and who was expelled by Zanu-PF on Sunday.
Whether the army can persuade Mr Mugabe to appoint their preferred candidate as vice-president before stepping down remains to be seen.
Some analysts have argued that this may be what the generals were discussing with him - and it may also be his trump card.
But given how difficult it has been to get Mr Mugabe to step down, the chances of getting him to concede further ground look increasingly slim.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Robert Mugabe: "The congress is due... I will preside over its processes"
President Mugabe was defiant when he made his televised address on Sunday.
Despite having been sacked by Zanu-PF, he said "the party congress is due in a few weeks and I will preside over its processes".
He suggested that he was willing to forgive the military action, and said "whatever the pros and cons of how they [the army] went about their operation, I, as commander-in-chief, do acknowledge their concerns".
It had been reported that Mr Mugabe had agreed to resign.
It is unclear whether he changed his mind, or if these reports were incorrect. But BBC Africa editor Fergal Keane says it makes the military look weak.
Some suggest that there may be grounds within Zanu-PF's own rules which might allow Mr Mugabe to reject his sacking by the party.
President Mugabe is known for both being shrewd and stubborn. So he may well have another ace up his sleeve.
There is growing speculation over the whereabouts of Grace Mugabe
Initially it had been thought that the military was trying to reach a deal which would allow President Mugabe to stay in Zimbabwe once he had stood down.
But the current stalemate makes that look less likely.
From the point of view of Mr Mugabe, and his wife, there is a fear that even if he were to be promised immunity from prosecution now, that could be removed by a future government.
So it might mean that Mr Mugabe is forced into exile.
Until recently, neighbouring South Africa would have been a natural place for him to go.
Mr Mugabe enjoys a high level of respect there, in large part because of his support for the fight against apartheid rule.
Indeed, the opposition EFF party has called on the government to "prepare to welcome President Mugabe for political asylum".
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The Mugabes are reported to have a number of properties in South Africa.
The sticking point would be what happens to Grace.
She was granted diplomatic immunity after allegedly assaulting a model in a hotel room in Johannesburg in August.
But model Gabriella Engels is trying to get the diplomatic immunity order set aside. If successful, it would mean Mrs Mugabe could face prosecution should she go to South Africa.
So if not South Africa, then where?
Other possible options are Singapore and Malaysia, where the Mugabes also have properties.
The leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai (MDC-T) party is back in Harare after receiving treatment for cancer in South Africa, fuelling speculation about negotiations for a unity government.
This is the scenario that many in the West, and of course the opposition, would prefer.
Another opposition leader, Tendai Biti, has said that he would join a national unity government if Mr Tsvangirai was also in it.
But the military takeover was not a change of regime. It was an internal dispute within Zanu-PF, and that party is still very much in power.
The military is to a large extent the armed wing of Zanu-PF.
And the man it supports as leader - Emmerson Mnangagwa - helped Robert Mugabe carry out some of his most controversial policies.
Emmerson Mnangagwa is the man the military wants to take over
He is also, some say, more ruthless.
So it is far from clear that the ousting of Mr Mugabe would improve the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42011059
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Gaia Pope case: Man held on suspicion of murder - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The man is believed to be known to the teenager, who has been missing from Swanage since 7 November.
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Dorset
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Det Supt Paul Kessell said the 49-year-old is believed to be known to Gaia
Police investigating the disappearance of teenager Gaia Pope have arrested a 49-year-old man on suspicion of murder.
Paul Elsey, confirmed as the suspect to the BBC by his father, is from the Swanage area of Dorset.
Mr Elsey, the third person to be held in the inquiry, is believed to be known to 19-year-old Gaia, who went missing from the town on Tuesday, 7 November.
A search is continuing in an area where items of women's clothing were found earlier, Dorset Police said.
Mr Elsey lives at the same property as his mother Rosemary Dinch, 71, who along with her 19-year-old grandson, Nathan Elsey, were arrested on suspicion of murdering Ms Pope on Monday.
The pair were released on Tuesday while inquiries continue.
Gaia Pope was last seen in Swanage on 7 November
Det Supt Paul Kessell said the clothing was found on land near the Dorset coast path and "a number of vehicles" had also been seized.
The officer said it was not clear who the clothes belonged to but they were "similar" to those which Gaia was wearing.
Forensic officers are working in the area where items of clothing were found
He added Gaia's family had been informed of the developments and were being supported.
She was last seen nine days ago by family friend Ms Dinch in Swanage.
Since Gaia's disappearance, extensive searches have been carried out in and around the resort, involving police, coastguard teams and local volunteers.
Asked why the latest suspect had been arrested on suspicion of murder, Mr Kessell said: "As you would expect, we have been conducting this inquiry for two weeks and it is our responsibility to investigate every avenue of inquiry that's open to us.
"In doing that, we continue to investigate whether Gaia has come to harm through an act of crime or whether she is missing and we will continue to do so."
He appealed directly to the public to come forward if they have any information or have had any contact with Gaia since she went missing.
Police cordoned off an area of land, north of the coast path after items of women's clothing were found
Gaia, who has severe epilepsy, is thought to have gone missing without her medication.
Earlier, her father Richard Sutherland told the BBC the support from the community in the search had been "heart warming".
"It's been beautiful, it keeps us going. To feel that strength of everyone helping us - every bit of help is gratefully received and she's worth every bit of it," he said.
On Wednesday police released CCTV images of Gaia at a petrol station shortly before she went missing.
CCTV shows Gaia at a petrol station on the afternoon she went missing
Officers have also been searching Swanage for any signs of missing Gaia
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42017190
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Air crash: Four die as plane and helicopter collide - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Police say an investigation has been launched into the cause of the crash over Buckinghamshire.
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Beds, Herts & Bucks
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Four people have died after a plane and a helicopter crashed in mid-air over Buckinghamshire.
Two people were killed in each aircraft, Thames Valley Police said.
Police and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said they have launched a joint investigation to establish the cause of the collision just after midday at Waddesdon Estate, near Aylesbury.
A Wycombe Air Park spokesman said both aircraft came from the airfield.
Supt Rebecca Mears, from Thames Valley Police, said she could not give any details of the identity or the genders of the victims at this stage and her "first priority" was the next of kin.
She said it was "too early to tell" what might have caused the crash.
The AAIB said the plane involved was a Cessna.
Emergency services were called to Upper Winchendon, close to Waddesdon Manor, at 12:06 GMT.
Mitch Missen, an off-duty firefighter, witnessed the crash from his garden.
He said: "I looked up and saw as both collided in mid-air, followed by a large bang and falling debris.
"I rushed in to get my car keys and en route called the emergency services, who I continued to give updates as to its whereabouts.
"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to locate the actual crash site but directed police, fire and ambulance as best I could. Once they were on the scene, I returned home."
Andy Parry, a teacher in Aylesbury, said he was with students at Waddesdon Manor at the time of the crash.
He said they heard a "massive bang" and saw debris in the sky.
Roads in the area were closed off for a number of hours
There were a number of road closures following the crash but they have since been lifted.
Seven fire vehicles from Aylesbury, Haddenham, Oxfordshire and Berkshire were sent to the scene.
A spokesman for Bucks Fire and Rescue Service said 30 members of staff in fire engines and urban search and rescue vehicles attended.
He added: "I understand it is in a wooded area near the manor."
The Thames Valley air ambulance, two ambulance crews, two ambulance officers and a rapid response vehicle were also sent to the scene.
The crash happened close to Waddesdon Manor, near Aylesbury
Hayley O'Keefe, from The Bucks Herald, said on Twitter a "plume of smoke" could be seen close to Waddesdon Hill after the crash.
The Rev Mary Cruddas from St Mary Magdalene Church, Upper Winchendon, said she had been to the site to see if she could be of any help.
She said: "The area where it happened is off road and difficult to get to."
When I got to the scene it was frantic, as media across all outlets, local and national, assembled.
You cannot see the crash site as the woodland is so dense but as the light dimmed, you could see light coming from where the AAIB and police were standing.
The police presence has been very visible throughout the day, with a large cordon in place and roads closed.
A spokesperson for the National Trust-owned Waddesdon Manor said the crash had not happened in its grounds, but staff helped direct the emergency services to the scene.
Wycombe Air Park, also known as Booker Airfield, is about 20 miles (32km) away from the site of the crash and offers flight training.
The crash site is in dense woodland
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-42024712
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St Olave's Grammar School row head resigns - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Aydin Önaç, head of St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington, will leave at Christmas.
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Family & Education
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The head of a grammar school at the centre of a row about pupils being forced to leave before their A-levels has resigned.
Aydin Önaç, headmaster of St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington, south-east London, will leave his post at Christmas, a letter to parents said.
Mr Önaç was suspended by the school's governing body last month.
Parents began legal action over the A-level exclusions but the school later backed down and let the pupils return.
St Olave's is one of England's top-performing grammar schools, with pupils selected on academic ability.
In September, a group of sixth-formers who did not get high enough grades at AS-level were told they would not be allowed to return to do their A-levels.
In the letter to parents, sent late on Friday afternoon, acting head Andrew Rees said the headmaster was departing for "personal reasons".
"He leaves, with great sadness, a school which is now regarded as one of the nation's most outstanding schools and one in which parents and pupils can have great pride and confidence.
"Mr Önaç would like to thank all those governors, staff, parents and students who have supported him over the last seven years and extends his very best wishes to them for the future."
Parent Andrew Gebbett, who has two sons at the school, expressed relief at Mr Önaç's decision to leave.
"The school can now move on," he said.
St Olave's was at the centre of a controversy over pupils being removed from the school before A-levels
Debbie Hills, chair of the school's parents' association, who remained in post despite her son deciding to leave after being among those excluded, described the resignation as "a first step to it being put right".
The parents' association first sought Mr Önaç's resignation at a meeting in September.
Another parent in a similar position said: "There will be a lot of people who will be breaking open bottles of champagne tonight."
The parent, who asked not to be named, said it was appropriate that the school's motto was "'to right the wrong' - and that's what's been done".
Tony Wright-Jones, a parent and former governor of the school, said: "We want to know as parents and governors what exactly went on".
This year's A-level results at St Olave's saw 75% of all grades being awarded at A* or A and 96% were at A* to B grades, far above the national average.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-42033702
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WW2 Spitfire pilot Joy Lofthouse dies aged 94 - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The 94-year-old was one of the first female pilots to fly a Spitfire during World War Two.
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Gloucestershire
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. In 2015, Joy Lofthouse returned to the skies, taking control of a Spitfire 70 years after last flying in one
Veteran pilot Joy Lofthouse, who flew Spitfires and bombers for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during World War Two, has died at the age of 94.
Mrs Lofthouse joined the ATA in 1943 after spotting a notice in a magazine calling for women to learn to fly.
She was one of only 164 female pilots, known as the Attagirls, who flew aircraft from factory to airfield.
The Royal International Air Tattoo said she was an "amazing character with even more amazing stories".
The ATA was formed in 1940 when, despite some male opposition, women were allowed to fly military trainer and communications aircraft.
Mrs Lofthouse, from Cirencester in Gloucestershire, learned to fly before she learned to drive.
Joy Lofthouse was one of the first female pilots to fly a Spitfire during World War Two
In an interview last year, she said: "I saw this caption in the Aeroplane magazine that said the ATA had run out of qualified pilots and were training. So I applied and I was in."
Trained at Thame in Oxfordshire, she learnt to fly all types of single-seater aircraft but without a driving licence, she said she found "taxiing much more difficult than flying".
"We had nine days of technical training - it wasn't very technical - no navigation, just map reading," she said.
"After about 10 hours [of flying], they sent you off solo. My first solo flight I think you're only afraid if you're going to find the airfield again."
Last summer, she was guest of honour in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, where she received an ovation from the centre court crowd
In 2015, she returned to the skies, taking control of a Spitfire 70 years after last flying in one
The auxiliary suffered 156 casualties, mostly due to bad weather, but Mrs Lofthouse said when you are young "you don't think about the danger".
"It was just part of the war effort. I felt very lucky that I was allowed to do something so rewarding," she said.
In 2015, she returned to the skies, taking control of a Spitfire 70 years after last flying in one.
Last summer, she was guest of honour in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, where she received an ovation from the centre court crowd.
And last November, she and fellow ATA pilot Mary Ellis were honoured in front of members of the Royal Family at the annual Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In all, she flew 18 different types of aeroplane across her career but the "wonderful" Spitfire remained her favourite.
"It's the nearest thing to having wings of your own and flying," she said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-42012740
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Children in Need raises record on-the-night total of £50.1m - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Strictly and EastEnders featured in the fundraising show for disadvantaged children and young people.
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Entertainment & Arts
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video has been removed for rights reasons
Children in Need raised a record-breaking £50.1m during Friday's show, which featured a Blue Peter Strictly Come Dancing special.
The five-hour programme also included a Weakest Link celebrity special, a singing EastEnders cast, and a teaser of the Doctor Who Christmas edition.
Tess Daly, Graham Norton, Mel Giedroyc, and Ade Adepitan presented the show, which was broadcast on BBC One and Two.
Left-right: Mel Giedroyc, Rochelle and Marvin Humes, Graham Norton, Ade Adepitan and Tess Daly are the faces of Children in Need 2017
The show began on BBC One at 19:30 GMT with Daly and Adepitan hosting, and included some of the children and young people whose lives have been changed through support from Children in Need.
During the evening, Car Share co-stars Peter Kay and Sian Gibson announced that the comedy series would return in 2018 with two new episodes.
"It's been a very tough secret to keep," said Kay.
Hosts Norton and Giedroyc took over presenting duties later on, followed by Marvin and Rochelle Humes.
Viewers were given a first look at this year's Doctor Who special, which included Peter Capaldi, in his last appearance as the 12th doctor, alongside a return from first doctor David Bradley and Mark Gatiss as a First World War officer.
Anne Robinson presided over the Weakest Link special. with celebrities John Thomson, Love Island winner Kem Cetinay and actress Chizzy Akudolu - the eventual winner - facing her questions.
Six current and former Blue Peter presenters are competing for the Strictly glitterball
EastEnders stars sang their way around Albert Square
Former Blue Peter presenter Mark Curry lifted the Pudsey glitter ball trophy in the Children In Need Strictly Come Dancing special after impressing judges with his high kicks.
Five other current and former Blue Peter presenters also donned Strictly's sequins - Diane-Louise Jordan, Anthea Turner, Tim Vincent, Konnie Huq and Radzi Chinyanganya.
EastEnders fans saw their favourite characters sing popular numbers from classic West End musicals early in the show.
The cast of Countryfile also had a go at their own medley, opting for hit country tunes from John Denver, Dolly Parton and Nancy Sinatra.
There was also music from Rita Ora, The Vamps and Jason Derulo, while Joanna Lumley presented the Sir Terry Wogan Fundraiser of the Year award to people who "go above and beyond to raise money".
Children in Need is the BBC's UK corporate charity and raises money for disadvantaged children and young people around the country.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42023889
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Grenfell Tower final death toll stands at 71 - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Metropolitan Police says it believes all those who died in the blaze have now been identified.
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UK
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Seventy one victims of the Grenfell Tower fire have been formally identified and police believe that all those who died have now been recovered.
The number of victims includes baby Logan Gomes, who was stillborn in hospital on 14 June, the day the 24-storey blaze broke out.
The final two victims to be formally identified have been named as Victoria King and daughter Alexandra Atala.
The Met said it was providing "every support we can" to the bereaved.
Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy said: "I have been clear from the start that a priority for us was recovering all those who died, and identifying and returning them to their families.
"Specialist teams working inside Grenfell Tower and the mortuary have pushed the boundaries of what was scientifically possible to identify people.
"After the fire was finally put out, I entered Grenfell Tower and was genuinely concerned that due to the intensity and duration of the fire, that we may not find, recover and then identify all those who died.
Victoria King, pictured, died in the flat alongside her daughter Alexandra Atala
"I know that each and every member of the team has done absolutely all they can to make this possible."
In June, the Met had a list of 400 missing people - some of whom were reported a number of times under different names or spellings, with one person in particular recorded 46 separate times.
The work to investigate and locate all those reported as missing was only concluded in the last few weeks, the Met said.
The family of Ms King, 71, and Ms Atala, 40, said they were "devastated" to learn of the pair's fate, adding that the mother and daughter were "devoted to each other".
The original missing persons list was also made higher by fraudulent cases, police said, with some individuals attempting to benefit financially from the tragedy.
There are a number of ongoing fraud investigations, and earlier this month one man pleaded guilty to fraud after claiming that his wife and son had both died in the fire.
The Met is also investigating alleged thefts from seven flats at Grenfell Tower, although no perpetrators have yet been identified, according to BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw.
Commander Cundy told BBC News: "There was only one way in and out of the tower and [CCTV] footage shows 223 people came out and survived."
He said not all 223 people were residents, some were visitors, and some residents were not in the tower at the time.
While the final stage of the search operation is not expected to conclude until early December, the Met said in a statement: "Based on all the work carried out so far and the expert advice, it is highly unlikely there is anyone who remains inside Grenfell Tower".
Specially trained officers from the Met, City of London Police and British Transport Police have been involved in the search and recovery operation, thoroughly searching every single flat on every single floor.
Officers have examined 15.5 tonnes of debris on each floor, helped by forensic anthropologists, archaeologists and forensic dentists or odontologists.
• None Grenfell Tower fire: Who were the victims?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42008279
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Tesla unveils first truck - and roadster - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Elon Musk springs a surprise with a new roadster as he launches the company's first electric truck.
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Technology
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: See the new Tesla Semi and Roadster
Tesla has unveiled its first electric articulated lorry, designed to challenge diesel trucks as king of the road.
The long-anticipated Tesla Semi has a range of 500 miles on a single charge.
Tesla says the vehicle - known in the US as a semi-trailer truck - will go into production in 2019.
Chief executive Elon Musk also unexpectedly revealed a new Roadster, which he said would be "the fastest production car ever" made.
The red sports car was driven out of the trailer of the electric lorry during Tesla's presentation on Thursday.
The Roadster will have a range of close to 1,000km (620 miles) on a single charge and will do 0-100mph in 4.2 seconds.
Mr Musk described it as "a hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars".
He said riding in traditional cars would be like driving "a steam engine with a side of quiche". The new Roadster becomes available in 2020.
The Tesla Semi will achieve 0-60mph in 20 seconds when pulling 36,287kgs (80,000lbs), the maximum allowed on US roads.
Speaking on stage at Tesla's facility in Los Angeles, chief executive Elon Musk said: "It's not like any truck that you've ever driven."
However, the charismatic Mr Musk faces continued pressure from investors and customers as the firm struggles to meet demand for its Model 3 car.
The Model 3 is behind schedule due to factory delays, a situation Mr Musk described recently as “production hell”.
The 46-year-old had been camping at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, to oversee battery production for the new cars. However, while the company had predicted it would make 1,500 Model 3 cars in the third quarter of 2017, in reality it only managed 260.
Tesla said it won't reach its production target of 5,000 Model 3 cars per week until 2018
Depending on your opinion of Mr Musk, launching a new truck at this time is either a bold statement of belief in his technology, and business as usual, or a foolish distraction from Tesla’s main goal of making its Model 3 a mainstream, affordable car.
There are elements of the Model 3 in the Tesla Semi. Each of its wheels is powered by a Model 3 motor, and the cab features two of the touch screens displays found in the Model 3.
With Tesla Semi, Mr Musk enters a competitive, demanding market. There are an estimated 3.5 million truck drivers in the US, the vast majority of whom drive diesel-powered engines. Tesla will not be able to compete on diesel’s range, and battery specialists doubt Tesla can produce a powerful enough battery at a reasonable price.
“Which is much higher than a diesel-powered semi-truck, which costs about $120,000, on average, for the entire vehicle.”
Mr Musk said the Tesla Semi would be able to travel 643km (400 miles) after 30 minutes of charge at one of Tesla's new mega-chargers.
As for cost, the company said that per mile the Tesla Semi would work out cheaper than a diesel equivalent when fuel and other maintenance is taken into consideration - but did not share the cost of an individual truck.
The Diesel Technology Forum, a non-profit trade group that promotes the use of diesel, said Tesla’s announcement needed to be "evaluated in the context of reality”.
"Diesel is the most energy efficient internal combustion engine,” Allen Schaeffer, the forum's executive director.
"It has achieved dominance as the technology of choice in the trucking industry over many decades and challenges from many other fuel types.
"Still, today, diesel offers a unique combination of unmatched features: proven fuel efficiency, economical operation, power, reliability, durability, availability, easy access to fuelling and service facilities, and now near-zero emissions performance."
As well as coming up against diesel incumbents, Tesla also faces other electric rivals. Concept electric big rigs have been unveiled by Daimler, Volkswagen and Cummins - though all fall short on range, and none are currently on the roads.
Where Tesla believes it can bring an added advantage is with on-board safety and comfort.
A statement from Tesla boasted that “jackknifing is prevented due to the Semi's onboard sensors that detect instability and react with positive or negative torque to each wheel while independently actuating all brakes".
"The surround cameras aid object detection and minimise blind spots, automatically alerting the driver to safety hazards and obstacles.
"With Enhanced Autopilot, the Tesla Semi features Automatic Emergency Braking, Automatic Lane Keeping and Lane Departure Warning.”
Autopilot is Tesla’s autonomous driving function that offers several self-driving features, most importantly guiding the vehicle to stay within the lines on the road, and slowing down in keeping with traffic up ahead.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42021713
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Who to believe on Zimbabwe social media remains unclear - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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Various social media accounts claim to represent the ruling party of Zimbabwe. It is far from clear which do.
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BBC Trending
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On social media there are several accounts claiming to be the mouthpiece of Zimbabwe's governing Zanu-PF party, but it's unclear which, if any, are official, and what links they have with those currently in charge.
News networks across the world have been reporting on the seizure of power by military generals in Zimbabwe.
Many media outlets, including the BBC, reported posts by the unverified Twitter account @zanu_pf which claims to be "the only official handle" for the Zanu-PF party.
But it's far from clear who is in control of the account and what their connection to the party is.
The account was described as a fake by PRI in 2012, and has previously adopted a tone at odds with what might be expected from official accounts.
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Its Twitter history is full of rants and proclamations about pornography, eggs Benedict and imperialism.
Several journalists in Africa, or specialising on African issues, quickly derided the reporting on the Zanu PF account.
Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Africa reporter at the Wall Street Journal referred to it as a "parody account," but said she, too, had earlier mistakenly retweeted its content.
Alastair Jamieson, from NBC News' London office, tweeted he was trying to establish whether the account was not to be trusted, but could not find the evidence.
The confusion about who's running the account isn't limited to outside observers. At times Zanu-PF officials have publicly wondered who is running the account.
In 2013 another account, reported to be that of a spokesman for the Zanu-PF party, tried to "urgently" establish contact with the person running the @zanu_pf handle.
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It is not known what contact was made between the account @zanu_pf and the Zanu-PF party.
In a surreal turn of events, the unverified account was accused of being a fake in 2016 by a parody account mocking Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
In the post the fake Mr Mugabe claimed the "official party account" was @ZANUPF_Official.
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The @ZANUPF_Official account is another which has seen a popularity boost after recent events in the country.
It had slightly over a thousand followers in 2013, a few thousand on Wednesday morning, and over 10,000 by Thursday morning. Again, it's unclear what connection the account has, if any, with the party leadership.
It has tweeted infrequently - just 535 times since 2013. Unusually for a party account claiming to be official, it did not post at all during 2014 or the first half of 2017.
The account became active again in August with a post stating that it, and not the other account - @zanu_pf - was the real deal.
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, social media users replied expressing their confusion and questioning the legitimacy of both @zanu_pf and @ZANUPF_Official.
"Look at these jokers," posted one Harare resident. "Both from the same tree."
"Get verified so we know which one is real," suggested a business analyst from East Zimbabwe.
And "now we don't know which one is the fake one," joked a third user from South Africa.
The lack of clarity over who is running these political accounts extends to another Twitter account, one claiming to be the youth wing of the party.
Posting between 6 and 14 November, the account @YLZANUPF1 was highly critical of former vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa and General Constantino Chiwenga, and supportive of Grace Mugabe's bid for the vice-presidency.
However, since the military seized power on Wednesday morning the tone of their posts had radically changed. It sent out tweets praising the "gallant Zimbabwean Army" which was "professionally and peacefully carrying out the National Democractic Project". Some have been left questioning if control of this account has changed hands.
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But why has there been such confusion over Twitter accounts? Some see it as a symptom of a wider problem in the representation of African users on social media.
Chipo Dendere took aim at Twitter for "not verifying African accounts", arguing a lack of verification causes confusion.
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Replying to Sally Hayden, one of the first journalists to raise the alarm over the citing of the @zanu_pf account on Wednesday morning, fellow journalist Caelainn Hogan asked: "If there was more credence and respect given to nameless 'journalists in Africa', or better yet Zimbabwean journalists and researchers, maybe this wouldn't be such an issue?"
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The online confusion reflected the foggy situation on Wednesday morning, with Zimbabwe's media not covering the takeover until the lunchtime news and organisations involved avoiding the term "coup".
Other media outlets have run footage from September, believing it to be showing armoured vehicles approaching Harare on Tuesday.
Several newspapers and websites claimed Emmerson Mnangagwe had returned to Harare from exile, using a still from a video filmed in August of the former vice-president arriving at Manyame Air Force Base to support this claim.
This image was tweeted by Fadzayi Mahere, advocate of the High Court and Supreme Court of Zimbabwe, of people being detained by the army
Multiple accounts, some switching their messages, many accused of parody, international journalists uncertain which can be dismissed, local journalists hesitant, and a lack of verification on African Twitter: Who to believe on Zimbabwean social media remains unclear.
You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-42001262
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Zimbabwe: Did Robert Mugabe finally go too far? - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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Zimbabwe's military could force President Mugabe to resign - but they won't want to humiliate him.
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Africa
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President Mugabe's ties to the military date from the liberation struggle
Zimbabwe's military says its actions do not amount to a takeover. It still refers to Robert Mugabe as the commander-in-chief of the country's defence forces. But practically speaking, Mr Mugabe is not in charge if his forces can step in to usurp his authority.
This is not a coup d'état in name, but it appears to be in action.
The military takeover of the national broadcaster, the presence of troops on the streets and major access points, and even forced entry into the presidential palace are traits of a military takeover - at least as we have seen them in Africa.
One thing that is lacking is that the constitution has not been suspended.
The cementing of democracy across Africa has led to a general regional and continent-wide aversion to violent takeovers of government.
Even in the past, coup-stagers often promised a quick handover to civilian government through elections or a negotiated transition.
The military says it has not taken control of the country
So far in Zimbabwe, the military is not showing any intention of assuming a governing role.
However, it has someone it would prefer to do that. Emmerson Mnangagwa, the recently sacked vice-president, is held in high regard in Zimbabwean military circles.
He was involved in the struggle for independence, and in 1980 created the Zimbabwe National Army by fusing the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (Zipra) and Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (Zanla) with the remnants of the former Rhodesian security forces.
He was seen as the natural successor for the top office.
President Mugabe sacked Mr Mnangagwa last week at the prompting of the First Lady Grace Mugabe, who has political aspirations and has publicly opposed the former vice president, but does not have support within a military where the liberation legacy is held in high esteem.
The top military officials were part of the liberation struggle, like their comrade and president Mr Mugabe, so they have supported his government over the years because he has served their interests.
They did not act this way in 2014, when Mr Mugabe sacked his previous Vice President Joice Mujuru, a former independence fighter, in a similar power struggle.
This time though, there is a sense the president might have gone too far.
Gen Chiwenga said that the military would not allow the purging of leaders with a liberation background from the governing party
Earlier this week, the commander of Zimbabwe's Defence Forces, General Constantino Chiwenga, warned the Zanu-PF governing party to stop the purge against independence war veterans.
Following his dismissal and escape to South Africa, Mr Mnangagwa promised to return to regain control of the ruling party from the Mugabes.
This suggested his confidence in the support he had from the military.
So the next step would be to negotiate his return ahead of the party congress in December, where he could be affirmed as the president's successor.
At worst, the military will force Mr Mugabe to resign - but they will not want to humiliate him further because of the history they share.
They will also extend the courtesy to Grace Mugabe, in spite of her recent actions.
Prior suggestions that the armed forces were divided have not been revealed so far this week.
The rise of an opposing faction would probably be bloody, and not something Zimbabweans would like to see, regardless of how tough life has been in recent years.
The end of the Mugabe era would be a relief to many, but Mr Mnangagwa is not necessarily popular in all parts of the country.
Under his tenure as security minister in the early 1980s, government forces crushed a rebellion in the Midlands and Matebeleland province, and allegedly killed thousands of civilians.
There is still bitter resentment among people from the affected regions.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41995751
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Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe makes first public appearance - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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The president makes his first public appearance since Zimbabwe's army took over the country.
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President Robert Mugabe has made his first public appearance since Zimbabwe's army took over the country on Wednesday.
He attended a graduation ceremony, wearing blue and yellow robes and a mortarboard hat.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42025796
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Eviction threat over complaints about crying baby - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A family renting in London are threatened with eviction after complaints over a crying baby.
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Family & Education
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The Wurth family were told they might be evicted because their baby was crying
A family renting in London have been threatened with eviction after complaints that their baby was crying.
They were warned by the management firm that if the noise went on they could be given "two weeks' notice to vacate".
The parents, with a 15-month-old daughter and a three-year-old son, say it is "horrible discrimination" against families renting with children.
The management firm said neighbours were being disturbed by noisy children and "other noise nuisance".
Neighbours had complained "on a daily basis" and the other tenants had a right not to be troubled by noise, the company said.
Attila and Ildiko Wurth, with their two young children, are living in a privately rented top-floor flat in a converted house in Hammersmith, west London.
They say they were shaken to receive an email from the managing agent, saying there had been a "complaint stating that at 5.30am this morning a baby was crying and stamping and then further noise starting again at 6.45am, which woke one of the other tenants in the property".
"We have subsequently liaised with your landlord and are instructed that we are to agree arrangements with you to vacate the property as soon as possible."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Attila Wurth says the family was shocked and upset by the idea of being evicted
Attila says they were shocked by this "heartless and harsh" attitude and deeply upset by the idea of being thrown out of their home.
Another email said there had been further complaints and "if this continues we will have no choice but to issue a Section 8 notice, which will give you two weeks' notice to vacate".
The Wurths were told: "Please ensure to keep all movement and noise to a minimum."
Uncertain about what to do next, they sought advice and were directed towards a housing helpline, which they said was always engaged.
In the end it was social media that got them some support, putting their problem on to Facebook.
"We felt so scared. We didn't know what happens next. Will we come home and find our things in the road?"
Rising numbers of families are now living long-term in rented accommodation.
While once couples with children might have bought their own place, more are renting into their 30s and 40s - and the case highlights the pressures facing "generation rent".
Attila works as a vet, but says the couple can't afford to buy in London.
"We pay our own way, but we have no more to spare.
"You have to be extremely rich to have children in London," he says.
The local authority, Hammersmith and Fulham, says that about a third of the residents in the borough are private renters.
This year it extended a licensing scheme to try to give private renters more protection and to ensure their legal rights.
The email to the Wurths warns of a "Section 8" eviction - referring to the Housing Act of 1988, which would allow a landlord to remove tenants before the end of their tenancy agreement.
The housing charity Shelter says this would require grounds such as not paying rent, anti-social behaviour or a breach of the tenancy agreement.
More families like the Wurths are staying in rented accommodation
This could include being a "nuisance" to neighbours - but a court would have to decide whether such claims were reasonable.
"We have been very careful about noise," says Attila. But if landlords rent to a family with young children, he says, it is unrealistic to think that a baby won't cry sometimes.
"We don't even have a stereo or a TV to make noise with - and we have avoided making any noise with household activities," says Attila.
The managing agent, Sheraton Management Ltd, says the Wurths "were in breach of contract as they were causing disturbance to the other occupants of the building... not only relating to noisy children, but also other noise nuisance".
The agent says there had been "banging, stamping, loud footsteps".
"Reluctantly, as there was no remission in the problem, it was on this basis that we advised Mrs Wurth that we may be left with no alternative but to serve a notice for possession," it says.
The management company says it has a responsibility to other tenants in the building - and to claims "that their contractual right to quiet enjoyment has been breached".
Sheraton's statement says: "We manage numerous properties lived in by families, some with very young children. Our policy is always to avoid the necessity for repossession proceedings."
The Wurths are waiting to hear what will happen next.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41996972
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Illustrator Chris Riddell accuses John Lewis over Christmas ad - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Chris Riddell accuses the retail giant of copying one of his characters in its Christmas advert.
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Entertainment & Arts
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John Lewis has been accused of copying a 1986 book by former Children's Laureate Chris Riddell in its latest Christmas advert.
Writing on social media, the illustrator accused the retail giant of "helping themselves" to his book Mr Underbed in its festive campaign.
Both feature a small boy who discovers a giant cuddly monster under his bed.
John Lewis responded by insisting "the main thrust" of its advert's story was "utterly different to Chris Riddell's".
It said: "The story of a big hairy monster under the bed which keeps a child from sleeping is a universal tale which has been told many times over many years.
"Ours is a Christmas story of friendship and fun between Joe and Moz the Monster, in which Joe receives a night light which helps him get a good night's sleep."
Riddell's story features a small boy whose attempts to find another place for Mr Underbed to sleep lead to the discovery that he shares his bedroom with various other hidden creatures.
Writing on Tumblr on Thursday, Riddell said it was "very generous of John Lewis to devote their Christmas advertising campaign to my 1986 picture book... in this age of shrinking publicity budgets".
The author and illustrator said he was not interested in "a protracted and arcane legal action" but was merely concerned with having "the issue of accreditation" highlighted.
"Going forward, it's important that young creative people have their work credited in the proper way," he told BBC News.
The writer conceded that the advert's plot was "different to the underlying story in Mr Underbed" but still said he felt there were clear parallels.
"What piqued my interest was that the actual premise was remarkably similar," he said. "There are similarities there and I was just pointing that up."
His accusations attracted support from fellow author Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who likened John Lewis to "grinches [that] nick something from under the spreading tree of other people's creativity".
The John Lewis advert was created by advertising agency adam&eveDDB, is directed by Michel Gondry and features a cover version of The Beatles' Golden Slumbers by Elbow.
Brighton-based Riddell was the ninth Children's Laureate, holding the post between 2015 and 2017.
The 55-year-old is the creator of the award-winning Goth Girl novels, a three-time winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration and The Observer's political cartoonist.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42024235
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2 Sisters chicken supplier problems 'not one-off', say MPs - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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Supermarket meat supplier 2 Sisters had a "far from pristine" track record at one of its sites, MPs say.
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UK
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MPs said their inquiry should act as a "wake-up call" for the wider food industry
Problems at a major UK chicken supplier forced to suspend operations over hygiene concerns were "not a one-off", MPs have claimed.
A site run by the 2 Sisters Food Group in the West Midlands had a "far from pristine" past record, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said.
Its month-long inquiry also raised concerns about how the production plant was being monitored by authorities.
2 Sisters, which has 12 UK sites, said it took safety "extremely seriously".
Marks & Spencer, Aldi, Lidl and The Co-op stopped taking chickens from the West Bromwich site after the Guardian and ITV News claimed workers were changing the slaughter dates to extend the shelf life of meat.
Undercover reporters also alleged workers were repackaging chicken portions that had been returned by supermarkets - before sending them out to other retailers.
MPs said their investigation looked at the "apparently patchwork" nature of the industry's accreditation process and how the 2 Sisters site had been checked for quality, rather than whether it breached food standards.
MPs also looked at the role and performance of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), Sandwell Metropolitan Council and other bodies.
Committee chairman Neil Parish said the inquiry should act as a "wake-up call" for food accreditation firms to "improve their processes".
He said: "Food supply chains are sensitive and easy to disrupt when retailers and consumers lose confidence in food quality or safety.
"Large producers and retailers have a responsibility to protect, rather than undermine, the UK's food producers."
The report said it was easy for processors to "game the system and hide infractions" from inspectors - for example by opting out of unannounced visits by accreditors.
MPs said even unannounced visits were not truly a "surprise", because workers were given about 30 minutes and so they tend to be on their "best behaviour".
The inquiry found that Assured Food Standards, which licenses the Red Tractor quality mark, did not "immediately and especially" inform the FSA when it briefly suspended the 2 Sisters accreditation between 2 and 9 October.
Ranjit Singh Boparan, chief executive of 2 Sisters, gave evidence to MPs last month
Ranjit Singh Boparan, 2 Sisters' chief executive, wrote to MPs, promising that he would make a number of changes - including placing a full-time FSA inspector at all plants.
He also invited the committee to visit a 2 Sisters Food Group plant, unannounced if members wished.
He said he would install CCTV with complete coverage in all plants within 120 days, and put "mystery workers" into all factories by the end of January 2018.
The committee's report concluded: "The problems identified at the 2 Sisters plant at West Bromwich were not a one-off."
It added: "The past record of the 2 Sisters Food Group is far from pristine and there are valid questions to be asked of its corporate governance structure."
The FSA's own investigation into the firm has been widened to 2 Sisters' poultry operations across England and Wales, which process about six million chickens a week, with Food Standards Scotland looking at its Coupar Angus site.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42013168
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Senators: Kushner 'withheld WikiLeaks and Russia emails' - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Senators say Mr Kushner received emails about WikiLeaks in 2016 that he forwarded to the Trump team.
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US & Canada
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White House senior aide Jared Kushner failed to disclose emails he received about WikiLeaks and "a Russian backdoor overture" in 2016, senators have said.
Two senators sent Mr Kushner a letter demanding additional documents as part of an ongoing investigation into Russia's alleged election meddling.
The lawmakers said they became aware of the documents through other witnesses.
A lawyer for Mr Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, said he was "open to responding to any additional requests".
Senate Judiciary committee chairman Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican, and Senator Diane Feinstein, top Democrat on the panel, wrote that the emails were omitted from documents Mr Kushner was asked to turn over last month.
"We appreciate your voluntary cooperation with the Committee's investigation, but the production appears to have been incomplete," they wrote in a letter on Thursday to his attorney, Abbe Lowell.
Mr Lowell said in a statement his client provided "all relevant documents that had to do with Mr Kushner's calls, contacts or meetings with Russians during the campaign and transition, which was the request".
The pair claim Mr Kushner, who is married to President Trump's daughter Ivanka, received emails concerning WikiLeaks as well as "documents concerning a 'Russia back door overture and dinner invite'", which he forwarded to other campaign officials.
The Senate panel said there are "several documents that are known to exist" because other witnesses provided documents which Mr Kushner was copied on, but did not disclose.
They claim Mr Kushner omitted some documents that mentioned individuals who were connected to the Russia inquiry. The senators are also are seeking his phone records.
"If, as you suggest, Mr Kushner was unaware of, for example, any attempts at Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, then presumably there would be few communications concerning many of the persons identified," the senators wrote.
The letter also asked for any communications between Mr Kushner and ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign in February after he admitted to lying to Vice-President Mike Pence about a meeting with a Russian envoy.
The two leaders discussed the Russian interference allegations at an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam
Mr Kushner's lawyer has until 27 November to fulfil their request.
The two senators said Mr Kushner has yet to hand over promised transcripts from his interviews with both the Senate and House intelligence committees, which are also investigating Russia's role in last year's election and allegations of collusion involving Mr Trump's campaign.
US intelligence agencies believe Russia tried to help Mr Trump win the presidency by hacking and releasing emails damaging to his opponent, Hillary Clinton. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied the charges.
But the letter comes after Donald Trump Jr revealed that he had direct communication with WikiLeaks through private Twitter messages during the campaign.
Special counsel Robert Mueller is also leading an independent investigation into whether there were any links between Russia and the Trump campaign. Both deny there was any collusion.
Last month, former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to having lied to the FBI about the timing of meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia.
Mr Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and an associate were also placed under house arrest on charges of money laundering as a result of the Mueller inquiry, but the charges do not relate to the election.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42019835
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Sylvester Stallone denies sexually assaulting 16-year-old fan - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Reports say a 16-year-girl told police the actor and his bodyguard assaulted her in the 1980s.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Stallone's spokeswoman said the story was "categorically false"
Actor Sylvester Stallone has denied reports that he and a bodyguard sexually assaulted a 16-year-old fan in Las Vegas in the 1980s.
The Mail Online has published what it says is a police report dating from 1986, which detailed the allegations.
The young woman did not press charges, the report said, because she was "humiliated and ashamed", as well as being "scared". No action was taken.
The Rocky star's spokeswoman said the story was "categorically false".
Michelle Bega described the allegation as "ridiculous", adding: "No one was ever aware of this story until it was published today, including Mr Stallone.
"At no time was Mr Stallone ever contacted by any authorities or anyone else regarding this matter."
The alleged victim said she became intimidated and frightened when the star's bodyguard became involved in the incident in a hotel room, according to the 12-page police report.
The report says the girl alleged they met in July 1986 in what was then the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel when she got an autograph from Stallone, then 40.
She claimed a bodyguard gave her keys to a hotel room, where she later had sex with both men.
The officer wrote: "She said that after she got dressed, Stallone made the comment to her that they were both married men and that she could not tell anybody about the incident and if she did, that they would have to beat her head in."
A separate report from the sexual assault unit stated the men then laughed, "and she took it as a joke also", but after the alleged victim left the room she "became very distraught and frightened, and wasn't sure that that threat had been a joke after all".
It added that she said she was not physically forced to have intercourse but felt "intimidated".
Stallone was in Las Vegas at the time making the film Over the Top. His bodyguard, Mike de Luca, was shot dead by police in California four years ago.
The allegations were previously published by the Baltimore Post-Examiner last February. Ms Bega declined to comment further when asked if Stallone was aware of them.
The Mail said retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department detective sergeant John Samolovitch vouched that "the copy of the police report is in fact a true copy of the original report". The force is yet to comment.
Stallone's denial comes in the wake of allegations made against key Hollywood figures including Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Louis CK.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42023885
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Zimbabwe yearns for change of any kind - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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In the depths of an economic abyss, the political crisis now offers hope to many Zimbabweans.
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Africa
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A man sells watermelon in the capital a day after the military moved against Mr Mugabe
Driving around Zimbabwe, one can hardly tell the country is in the middle of the biggest political crisis since independence.
In one town, a man in his 20s invites me to his shop and tries to convince me to buy a silver necklace. "It costs $20 [£15]," he says. "But for you I can make that $15."
He offers the discount rather half-heartedly.
"You see, people don't want to spend money on thing like these; the economy is really doing badly."
The once-promising African country has sunk into an economic abyss.
The government was forced to abolish the country's currency in 2009 because of hyperinflation, and introduced more stable foreign currencies such as the US dollar.
Annual inflation reached 231 million per cent in central bank figures reported in July 2008 - officials gave up reporting monthly statistics when it peaked at just under 80 billion per cent in mid-November 2008.
On Wednesday this week, the government published the latest inflation rate showing a 2.24% year-on-year rise for the month of October. Some economists, however, say the new figures are a gross underestimate.
It is no surprise then that many Zimbabweans almost instantly warmed to the military's move to take control of the country, and confine President Robert Mugabe to his official residence.
"The military has done a good thing," says one bookseller. "They will ensure we get a transitional government."
He is firmly convinced that Mr Mugabe's 37-year rule is coming to an end.
There has been a sudden change of tone in the country, and the sense is that many Zimbabweans have been yearning for change.
Any change, it seems, would do.
At the market, traders hope this means their fortunes will change.
Many of them passively watch shoppers walk past their shops, resigned to the idea that most people are struggling to make ends meet.
So when a middle-aged tourist buys souvenirs, the rest of the traders suddenly swarm around her as they invite her to view their merchandise. She thanks them, but politely declines the invitation and walks away.
Traders working in a troubled economy hope that change will improve their fortunes
The traders believe their economic situation will improve once Mr Mugabe's rule ends.
But there is still political uncertainty surrounding the succession.
The once-vibrant opposition has begun to speak out, and the former Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, is now back in the country. He has demanded that President Mugabe steps down.
What started as a split within the ruling Zanu-PF party could well develop into a broader crisis with politicians from across the divide angling to take over from Mr Mugabe.
But the president still commands a lot of respect as an independence icon.
The same respect does not seem to be extended to his wife, Grace, who was thought to be his preferred successor.
Her openly extravagant lifestyle has been widely criticised.
What is clear is that the events of this week have dented - if not ended - any chances she had of succeeding her husband.
In the midst of political uncertainty, Zimbabweans remain hopeful. Change is coming, in whatever form.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42016705
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Women's Ashes: Australia thrash England to retain trophy - BBC Sport
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2017-11-17
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Australia retain the Women's Ashes with a six-wicket victory over England in the first Twenty20 international in Sydney.
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Last updated on .From the section Women's Cricket
Australia retained the Women's Ashes with an emphatic six-wicket victory over England in the first Twenty20 international in Sydney.
Victory gave the holders an 8-4 lead in the points-based series, meaning England can only draw 8-8 if they win the final two T20s.
England lost Heather Knight second ball and were 16-4, but Dani Wyatt's maiden fifty helped them to 132-9.
Beth Mooney hit 86 not as Australia raced home with 25 balls to spare.
Having won the 50-over World Cup in fine style at Lord's in July, England's preparations for the Ashes were hampered by the two warm-up matches being washed out and they found themselves 4-0 down in the series after losing the first two one-day internationals.
A draw in the one-off Test kept the series alive into the T20s, but there was a bizarre start at the North Sydney Oval after Australia chose to field.
• None Listen: Commentator sings about Bradman as Perry walks to crease
Knight edged to wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy, who also took off the bails, but was temporarily reprieved as the umpires consulted, only to be sent to the pavilion again when the method of dismissal had been determined.
Key batter Sarah Taylor was adjudged lbw in the next over, with no review process in place to question whether the ball might have gone over or missed leg stump.
Ellyse Perry, international footballer and double centurion in the Test, was on a hat-trick in the fifth over after two more catches from Healy, with one outstanding effort millimetres from the turf at full stretch.
But Wyatt gave the innings much-needed impetus with some clean hitting down the ground.
However, the 26-year-old was halfway down the wicket when sent back by Fran Wilson in the 16th over and could not regain her ground.
England mustered a further 32 runs after her dismissal, but Mooney set the tone for Australia's chase with a four and a six in an opening over from Katherine Brunt that cost 14.
Wyatt gave England a glimmer of hope when she raced around the mid-wicket boundary to pouch Healy's hook in the fifth over.
But Mooney continued to dominate with a second six off Brunt and the fluent left-hander made the highest score by an Australian on home soil in women's T20 matches, striking the winning runs in style with her 11th four.
The series concludes with two T20s at the Manuka Oval in Canberra, on Sunday at 03:35 GMT and Tuesday 21 November at 08:10.
'We were always playing catch-up' - what they said
England captain Heather Knight: "We were always playing catch-up. I am really proud of Dani Wyatt and how she fought to get us back in the game.
"Credit to Australia. Beth Mooney played an outstanding innings and took the game away. Everything we tried we couldn't get her out."
Australia skipper Rachael Haynes: "It was so nice for the team to come out and play like that. We started well with the ball but fell away. For Beth Mooney to come out and make a statement like that was fantastic.
"I couldn't watch. I was pretty nervous, the most nervous I have been watching cricket. There was a lot composure in the middle and Mooney took control of that."
Former England seamer Isa Guha on BBC 5 live sports extra: "Australia have won the big moments - that's something England haven't been able to capitalise on when they've been on top."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/42022738
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The 10-year-old Liberian girl dreaming of Real Madrid - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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Jessica Quachie was spotted by an academy and now plays international tournament football against boys.
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Ten-year-old Jessica Quachie grew up in a slum in the Liberian capital Monrovia.
But her life changed after she was spotted by a football academy.
Now she's getting an education on and off the pitch, and has played international tournament football against boys.
For more special content linked to launch of this year’s BBC African Footballer of the Year award, head to bbc.com/africanfootball, where you can take part in the vote.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42015544
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Brexit: 'Don't put politics above prosperity', Davis urges EU - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Brexit Secretary David Davis says the UK wants "the freest possible trade" with the EU.
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UK Politics
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Mr Davis laughed off a question about the UK being prepared to pay 60bn euros for financial obligations
David Davis has warned against "putting politics above prosperity" in Britain's post-Brexit relationship with the EU.
In a speech in Berlin, the UK's Brexit Secretary outlined his hopes for a deal that "allows for the freest possible trade in goods and services".
He also said he thought it "incredibly unlikely" there would be no deal.
The EU says negotiations cannot move on to trade until questions about the UK "divorce bill", citizens' rights and Northern Ireland are resolved.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Mr Davis's speech was delivered politely but implied "pretty significant frustrations on the UK side with the EU's attitude".
In a question and answer session following the speech, a German interviewer got a round of applause for suggesting the UK government looked to be "in chaos".
Mr Davis replied: "One of the issues in modern politics is that all governments have periods of turbulence.
"This is a period of turbulence, it will pass."
In his speech to an economic conference organised by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, he said trade between Germany and the UK was worth 176bn euros a year or "more than a thousand euros to every man, woman and child in each of our countries".
He said the "close economic ties" with the EU "should continue, if not strengthen" after Brexit, and he warned: "Putting politics above prosperity is never a smart choice".
The UK was seeking a "deep and comprehensive free trade agreement" of a scope the EU had never seen before as well as "continued close co-operation in highly regulated areas such as transport, energy and data", he said.
Britain would use an independent trade policy to lead a "race to the top on quality and standards" rather than engage in a "race to the bottom" that would mean lower standards, he told the audience.
He said the EU and UK needed to "think creatively" about their post-Brexit relationship but stressed the need for a "time limited transition period" to implement the new arrangements.
"And that would mean access to the UK and European markets would continue on current terms. Keeping both the rights of a European Union member and the obligations of one, such as the role of the European Court of Justice.
"That also means staying in all the EU regulators and agencies during that limited period. Which would be about two years."
He added that tariff-free trade should be maintained and there must be an "effective dispute mechanism" for any disputes that may arise, that should be neither the UK courts, nor the European Court of Justice.
"It must be appropriate for both sides so that it can give business the confidence it needs that this partnership will endure."
In a question and answer session following his speech, Mr Davis laughed off a question about whether the UK would be prepared to pay 60bn euros to settle its financial obligations.
He said the UK's aim was that "nobody will have to pay more ... nobody will receive less" but would not give a figure that the UK would be prepared to pay.
Asked if he thought the Brexit negotiations would end in "no deal", he said: "I think that's incredibly unlikely."
While the UK government has not put a figure on the amount it is prepared to pay to settle the UK's obligations but it has been estimated at 20bn euros (about £18bn).
The Sun newspaper reported on Thursday that the prime minister was preparing to offer an additional £20bn to the EU to clear the way for talks about a transitional and future trade deal. Downing Street described that as "yet more speculation".
EU sources told the BBC last week that the UK had only two weeks left to make progress on the so-called withdrawal issues, including the amount the UK will pay as it leaves and Mr Davis's EU counterpart Michel Barnier said "time is pressing" to get agreement on the bill.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42020008
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Zimbabwe crisis: Reality Check debunks false rumours and fake photos - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Reality Check looks at the fake news shared online after the military takeover in Zimbabwe.
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Africa
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After reports emerged of the military seizing control in Zimbabwe, social media was full of stories about what was happening during a stunning 24 hours, but not all were accurate.
Robert Mugabe, the country's leader for more than three decades, was put under house arrest, and he wasn't the only government figure to be swept up in the military's action.
The Finance Minister, Ignatius Chombo, had also been detained, a government source told the Reuters news agency.
And it's been reported that one Zimbabwean MP told al-Jazeera that $10m (£7.5m) had been recovered from Mr Chombo's house.
This claim of a vast stash of cash in the home a politician in poverty-stricken Zimbabwe sparked anger in some corners of the online press, but it also led to the use of incorrect photos.
This Facebook post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Facebook The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Facebook content may contain adverts. Skip facebook post by Zimbabwe Today This article contains content provided by Facebook. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Facebook 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. Facebook content may contain adverts.
While we do not have confirmation of whether the money was found at the home of Mr Chombo, the suitcases displayed in the Zimbabwe Today post definitely weren't.
That photo was taken after a police raid in Brazil earlier this year, as reported by Bloomberg.
Some Twitter users found the incident quite amusing.
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A second pile of money also featured in some of the news reporting of the raid, but that wasn't in Zimbabwe either.
The same photo appeared in a CNN story from April about a discovery made by an anti-corruption unit in Nigeria.
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There was also a case of mistaken identity after one user wrongly identified Mr Chombo. The following photo isn't Mr Chombo, it's the former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, in 2011.
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Meanwhile, the British embassy in Harare was also flagging up "fake news" having noticed an image of a letter purportedly from the UK Border Agency circulating on some Zimbabwean WhatsApp groups.
Despite containing spelling errors and inappropriate language for an official document, it has still been widely shared.
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The British High Commission in Zimbabwe says this letter is "fake news" and should be ignored
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42016464
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Mistakes in benefits claims could cost up to £500m - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Around 75,000 claimants were underpaid by mistakes made in assessing the main sickness benefit.
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UK
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. ESA claimant Peter Cartwright: 'People need this money to live'
Mistakes in paying out benefits claims could cost up to £500m to put right, the BBC has learned.
The errors identified by the Department for Work and Pensions affect the main sickness benefit, the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
The BBC understands that assessors wrongly calculated the income of around 75,000 claimants.
Ministers say that they are aware of the problem and that repayments have begun to be made.
The department, which says it discovered the mistakes last December, is understood to have contacted about 1,000 people so far.
It says it is still trying to understand the scale of the problems with ESA, which is paid to about 2.5 million people, and will contact anyone affected.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mr Field said people had been 'wrongly impoverished' as a result of the errors
Frank Field, chairman of the Commons work and pensions select committee, said the problem was on a scale of "historic proportions".
He said: "I'm still gobsmacked at the size and the nature and the extent and the coverage of people that have been wrongly impoverished by the department getting it wrong."
The BBC understands that the errors affected people who applied for ESA between 2011/12 and 2014/15 - claimants after that date are understood to have had their benefit correctly assessed.
On top of money to be paid back, the Treasury will have to pay for the staffing and processing of repayments.
This extraordinary error is the latest problem to beset a troubled benefit.
When Labour introduced ESA in 2008, they claimed the change would move a million people off sickness benefit and save the Treasury £7bn.
The coalition embraced the benefit with open arms, again hoping to save money by moving people off incapacity benefit and onto ESA faster than planned.
Little has changed. Back in 2006/07, 2.7 million people were receiving the main sickness benefit at a cost of £12bn. In this financial year, ministers estimate 2.4 million people will get ESA - at a cost of £15bn.
For claimants, the changes have meant undergoing health assessments to prove their illnesses, which some say has created stress and anxiety.
Mistakes began in 2011 when the government started moving benefits recipients onto ESA - which is paid to those with long-term health conditions that are not going to improve.
ESA was introduced by the Labour government in 2008 to replace incapacity benefit.
At the time of that migration, an independent expert working for the Department for Work and Pensions, Professor Malcolm Harrington, urged ministers not to proceed until he was certain the system was robust.
The department said it only became aware of the problem in December 2016 after the Office for National Statistics published fraud and error figures for the social security system.
Peter Cartwright, who was one of those moved from incapacity benefit to ESA due to mental and physical health problems, said the errors were "disgusting".
"People need this money to live," said Mr Cartwright, who does not yet know if he was underpaid.
"It's not as if you can go and get loads of luxuries when you're on this benefit."
The 54-year-old from County Durham said people on benefits often had to make the choice between food and heating, adding: "If people are getting underpaid that means they're not getting through."
The DWP said it was "currently reviewing the historical benefit payments of claimants"
Many of those eligible for ESA may also need to apply for universal credit - a benefit for people with a health condition or disability which prevents them from working.
Universal credit is already experiencing its own problems - with reports of IT issues, overspending and administrative errors.
Successful applicants for ESA are paid the benefit either on the basis of having made enough National Insurance claims, or because they are on a low income.
In calculating how much income a claimant is entitled to, benefit assessors have to work through a variety of factors, such as what other benefits someone might be on, how much they earn from any work or whether there is any other income coming into the household.
In a statement, the Department for Work and Pensions, said it was aware of the issue and "currently reviewing the historical benefit payments of claimants".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42012116
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Hero dog Mali receives highest award for gallantry - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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Eight-year-old Mali has been given the Dickin Medal for serving in Afghanistan.
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Eight-year-old Mali has been given the PDSA Dickin Medal for serving in Afghanistan.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42032269
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Updates: Mid-air crash in Buckinghamshire - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Live updates after an aircraft and helicopter crashed in mid-air over Buckinghamshire.
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Beds, Herts & Bucks
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As we've been reporting, police say it is "too early to tell" what caused an air crash on the Waddesdon Estate in Buckinghamshire.
Supt Rebecca Mears from Thames Valley Police said: "Our priority has to be with the next-of-kin, speaking to them and letting them know.
"We anticipate being here until about Monday morning, potentially longer. We do not rush these things - it's really important we do a meticulous investigation and really thorough to get to the bottom of what's happened here."
Forensic tents (pictured) have been put up by police at the scene.
The Press Association reports that a Notice to Airmen had been issued to warn pilots the Wycombe Air Park's air traffic control services would be closed during three 30-minute periods on selected days between 7 - 30 November, due to a "staff shortage".
The crash occurred about half an hour after the latest closure was due to end, it said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-42030439
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Credit card limits 'need control' - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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More than a million credit card users have had their limits increased without asking.
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Business
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More than a million credit card users who are struggling financially have had their credit limits increased without asking, a charity has said.
Such borrowing could make their financial problems worse, so Citizens Advice is calling for a ban on unsolicited increases in credit card limits.
It wants Chancellor Philip Hammond to include such a move in the Budget.
But providers say protection is being improved.
Citizens Advice said its research, based on a sample of 1,300 people with credit cards, suggested as many as six million cardholders may have had their credit limits put up without their consent in the last year. Some 1.4 million of those would be struggling financially.
Providers have agreed to a voluntary code being developed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the City regulator, which would see restrictions and choice on credit limits.
They will start asking new customers for their consent before raising limits, and give them the option to carry on receiving uninvited increases. Existing customers will be given the option to ask their lender to require their consent.
But Citizens Advice is calling for the chancellor to impose a clear ban on increases which customers have not even requested.
Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: "Rather than credit card holders seeking to take on more debts, lenders are actively pushing it on people without enough consideration as to who can afford to pay and who can't.
"Few consumers support unsolicited increases and our research shows that they make people's debt problems worse. The chancellor must step in."
Richard Koch, head of cards at UK Finance, which represents card companies, said providers were "thoroughly committed" to the new agreement.
"All our members undertake a thorough risk and affordability assessment of a customer's finances whenever they apply for credit. This degree of rigour continues throughout the relationship, with ongoing monitoring of how the customer uses the credit product," he added.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42009118
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Zimbabwe army takes on Mugabe - as it happened - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Reaction after Zimbabwe's military seizes power leaving the future of President Mugabe uncertain.
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Africa
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To get to President Robert Mugabe's rural home, you drive along the Robert Mugabe Highway.
It is probably one of the most well-maintained roads in Zimbabwe. It is like driving on a carpet.
Along the way you are greeted by a plaque erected in his honour.
Kutama Village is home to the 93-year-old. It is a small and tightly connected village where everyone knows each other.
You cannot really tell if they have been rattled by the current political crisis.
As we arrived, there was an air of uncertainty.
Mr Mugabe is respected here. To many, he is a father and a friend.
Speaking to me at his compound, a 65-year-old neighbour told me:
Quote Message: He's kind, he's a good man and he understands people's plight."
The man goes to St Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church with Mr Mugabe, a devout Christian, whenever he visits.
Quote Message: He never demands special treatment. He visits people to check on their welfare." He never demands special treatment. He visits people to check on their welfare."
Nevertheless, he supported the intervention by the army to remove Mr Mugabe from office, saying it is meant to correct a broken system:
Quote Message: If his term goes out then there's nothing wrong." If his term goes out then there's nothing wrong."
When I approached other villagers, I attracted immediate suspicion. They were not keen to talk.
But it seems to me that Mr Mugabe is seen as a hero in the village. It is easy to spot people wearing clothes emblazoned with his face.
Police officers are patrolling the area around Mr Mugabe's home.
You can't really peep inside the compound because of tight security.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-africa-41994362
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Donald Trump Spitting Image puppet unveiled - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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The rubber caricature was designed by one of the creators of satirical TV show Spitting Image.
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A rubber caricature of US President Donald Trump has been designed by one of the creators of satirical TV show Spitting Image.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-42025898
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Yemen's industrial-scale prosthetic limb factory - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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Inside one of Yemen's only prosthetic limb factories.
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The Orthopaedic and Prosthetic Centre in Taiz offers hope for the seriously injured in Yemen’s war.
The BBC's Clive Myrie saw inside one of the few places in the country that can produce prosthetic limbs.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-42006159
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Police pay: Senior officers' salaries revealed - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Wide variations in the earnings of top officers in England and Wales are revealed by the Home Office.
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UK
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Wide variations in the way police chiefs are paid have been revealed, as the pay, allowances and expenses of senior police officers in England and Wales are published for the first time.
The statistics, for 2015-16, show salary payments ranging from £7,622 to £278,563.
Meanwhile, benefits range from none at all to £32,521 in one case.
The Home Office, which compiled the data, also set a limit on the amount of annual leave chief constables can take.
Salaries for chief constables and deputy chief constables are determined by rank, the size of their force and the area's population.
The publication is part of an attempt to increase transparency across forces.
The figures show that some earned thousands of pounds in "benefits in kind", while a small number claimed large sums in expenses, and others received nothing but their salary.
Nick Gargan, who resigned from Avon and Somerset police following a misconduct inquiry, was given £39,000 for what is described as "compensation for loss of office".
Mick Creedon, who was in charge of Derbyshire police, received a "retention" payment and money for a medical scheme of almost £34,000 on top of his £142,000 salary, the data shows.
An assistant chief constable for Dyfed Powys received £30,139 for "relocation expenses".
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing.
Nick Gargan resigned from Avon and Somerset police following a misconduct inquiry in 2015
The figures offer a snapshot for 2015-16, with some representing just a portion of an annual salary with staff only having been in post for part of the year.
The largest salary listed, of £278,563, was for the head of the Metropolitan police in London.
It may not be a coincidence that the Home Office has chosen to publish the figures just five days before the Budget.
The chancellor has faced growing calls from chief constables to inject extra money into the police service.
And although senior officers' pay represents a fraction of overall costs, the release of the data is a subtle reminder, perhaps, that forces can still afford to reward senior brass handsomely.
All of the chief constables earn more than the policing minister, with some salaries dwarfing the home secretary's pay and even that of the prime minster, who takes home £150,402.
No doubt chiefs would say they're worth it: being in charge of a police force carries immense responsibility - when vacancies arise there are often not many candidates.
Nevertheless, the figures have exposed inconsistencies in the way senior officers are rewarded for their considerable efforts which the staff who work for them and members of the public may not be entirely comfortable with.
In an effort to iron out inconsistencies in holiday entitlement, senior officers will in future be able to take no more than 35 days' leave each year. The current model allows for 48 days a year, but with poorly defined rest days.
When they leave their job they must notify their force if they are employed elsewhere.
The figures, for 261 of the most senior police officers up to the rank of chief constable, have been published on the Police UK website.
It is hoped that the overhaul could act as a blueprint for other sectors.
Policing Minister Nick Hurd said the figures would bring greater clarity and accountability to the public, as did Mark Polin, chair of the Chief Police Officers Staff Association.
Julia Mulligan, who speaks on transparency and integrity for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said they would bring greater transparency.
The data is available and searchable by postcode online.
• None Pay cap to be lifted for police officers
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42020585
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Southern Rail disruption delays London's deputy mayor for transport - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Documents show London's deputy mayor for transport avoids early meetings due to the rail operator's performance.
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London
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Delays on Southern services have disrupted commuters in the south east
London's deputy mayor for transport struggles to get to early morning meetings because of disruption on Southern Rail, documents reveal.
Val Shawcross's office said in an email that "Val is a morning person but has to use Southern trains to get in to the office so we try not to have too many early starts".
The train operator has been hit by repeated strikes and its owners fined over its poor performance.
The documents were revealed to the BBC under a Freedom of Information act request.
Val Shawcross was unable to schedule early meetings due to Southern Rail disruptions
A City Hall spokesman said: "The deputy mayor for transport works her socks off to make the capital's transport network more affordable, reliable and accessible for all Londoners.
"Under Sadiq [Khan] and Val, TfL passengers have enjoyed frozen fares and seen a nearly 60 per cent reduction in the number of days lost to strikes.
"If the government shared their drive and gave TfL control of more suburban lines, rail passengers too would get the service they deserve."
The email was among correspondence sent in September from Ms Shawcross's office to public relations firm Newington Communications, which was arranging a meeting between the deputy mayor and Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association (LTDA) general secretary Steve McNamara.
The emails revealed that Sadiq Khan said he was too busy to meet Mr McNamara in June and arranged for him to meet Ms Shawcross instead.
Ms Shawcross told the LTDA that she was unable to discuss the Uber relicensing decision with it, which it had requested to do, because doing so with a third party would prejudice TfL's role as regulator.
On legal advice, she delayed the meeting until after the licensing decision.
TfL took the decision to withhold a new licence from Uber earlier this year.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-42011700
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Debbie McGee hits back at feud rumours with Alexandra Burke - BBC News
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2017-11-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Strictly star says she has a "really special friendship" with fellow contestant Alexandra Burke.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Debbie McGee says newspaper reports about a falling out with Alexandra Burke are wrong
Debbie McGee has rubbished rumours of a feud between her and fellow Strictly contestant Alexandra Burke, saying the pair are "the closest of friends".
She spoke as she prepared to take part in the show's Blackpool week, live from the Tower Ballroom.
McGee, whose late husband Paul Daniels danced on the BBC One show, said competing in the ballroom was going to be "the most amazing experience".
The only negative side of Strictly was dealing with tabloid stories, she said.
Speaking about the supposed row with singer and actress Burke, which has appeared in various newspapers, she added: "All I would say is you can't believe anything you're reading in the paparazzi press.
"We have a really special friendship," she said, adding of the reports: "It's absolute rubbish."
McGee, who was mid-way through a break between rehearsals with dance partner Giovanna Pernice. also said there had also been claims that she had fallen out with Luba Mushtuj, Pernice's professional partner.
She said the tabloid rumours were "the only bit that's horrible about Strictly - and it's nothing to do with any of us, because there hasn't been any feuding with anyone".
McGee, who's one of the favourites to win the dancing show, added: "This year the producers have said they've never had a unit that all got on so well.
"We all adore each other. It's a competition, but we're all rooting for each other. We all want each other to do as well as we possibly can."
She is dancing a samba to a Spice Girls medley on Saturday night's show, and said that she "hasn't stopped laughing" since it started in September and that she feels "proud to be able to stand up for the older woman".
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42027939
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Jesse Jackson diagnosed with Parkinson's - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Civil rights activist says he began to notice symptoms three years ago but was only recently tested.
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US & Canada
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Jesse Jackson has remained an activist in later life
US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
"My family and I began to notice changes about three years ago," Mr Jackson, aged 76, wrote in a statement.
"After a battery of tests, my physicians identified the issue as Parkinson's disease, a disease that bested my father."
Parkinson's is an incurable neurological disease that can cause tremors and affect coordination.
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"Recognition of the effects of this disease on me has been painful, and I have been slow to grasp the gravity of it," Mr Jackson said.
He said the diagnosis was "not a stop sign but rather a signal that I must make lifestyle changes and dedicate myself to physical therapy in hopes of slowing the disease's progression".
Mr Jackson fought for civil rights alongside Martin Luther King Jr in the 1960s. He was twice a candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, in 1984 and 1988, and his son Jesse Jr is a former US congressman.
He has remained an activist into later life, and spoke up last year in the wake of a spate of police shootings of black men, saying they were just one expression of a "mean-spirited division" taking hold of the country.
About 60,000 new Parkinson's diagnoses are made every year in the US, where the disease affects an estimated one million people.
"I am far from alone," Mr Jackson said.
"God continues to give me new opportunities to serve. This diagnosis is personal but it is more than that. It is an opportunity for me to use my voice to help in finding a cure for a disease that afflicts seven to 10 million worldwide."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42030565
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Gerry Adams to stand down as Sinn Féin leader next year - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Gerry Adams tells delegates it will be his last ard fhéis (party conference) as Sinn Féin leader.
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Northern Ireland
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mr Adams said leadership means knowing when it's time for change
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has revealed he plans to stand down as leader of the party next year.
Mr Adams also said he will not stand for election to the Irish parliament (Dail) at the next election.
Speaking at the Sinn Féin ard fhéis (party conference) in Dublin, Mr Adams said it would be his last as leader.
"Leadership means knowing when it's time for change and that time is now," the 69-year-old, who has been party president since 1983, said.
So the build-up was justified - to paraphrase one of Gerry Adams' most famous phrases, he is going away you know.
The precise date will depend on the party's ard comhairle or ruling executive which is expected to meet within the next fortnight - they will in turn call an extraordinary ard fheis where a new leader will be elected.
Sinn Féin may hope that Mr Adams' decision not to stand in the next Irish election will make any talks about a future coalition in Dublin more straightforward.
But the Fianna Fáil Leader Micheal Martin has repeated his view that Sinn Fein remains unacceptable as a partner in government.
Whatever the future brings, though, there's no doubt Gerry Adams' move marks an historic change as a leader who oversaw the republican movement's journey between violence and peace gives way to another politician who will pursue Irish unity through more conventional parliamentary politics.
Mr Adams, the TD (member of the Irish parliament) for County Louth, said he would be asking the party leadership to agree a date in 2018 for a special party conference to elect a new leader.
"I have always seen myself as a team player, as a team builder," he said.
"I have complete confidence in the leaders we elected this weekend and in the next generation of leaders."
Mr Adams is surrounded by party colleagues after his announcement
Mr Adams said the move was formulated along with party colleague Martin McGuinness before his death earlier this year.
It has already seen Michelle O'Neill, 40, take the role of Sinn Fein's leader at Stormont.
Earlier, delegates at the conference voted in favour of a motion to hold a special ard fhéis three months after the departure of the party president.
The motion will allow for a leadership contest once the vacancy arises.
Delegates also voted to liberalise the party's policy on abortion.
Party members voted in favour of allowing abortions where a pregnancy poses a risk to a woman's health, including mental health.
The ard fhéis (party conference) has been taking place in Dublin
There will be a referendum on abortion law in the Republic of Ireland in May or June of next year.
Sinn Féin's previous position supported allowing terminations when a baby is expected to die in the womb or shortly after birth, and in cases of rape or incest.
Currently, the law in the Republic of Ireland only permits abortion when there is a real and substantial risk to a woman's life. In Northern Ireland, terminations are only legal when continuing with a pregnancy poses a serious or permanent risk to a woman's health.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin's Stormont leader has called on the Irish government to appoint a minister with responsibility for advancing Irish unity.
Michelle O'Neill told the party conference that a parliamentary committee in the Republic of Ireland should also be formed to look at a united Ireland.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-42039618
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Jamie Oliver bans daughter, 14, from posting selfies - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The TV chef says some 13 to 14-year-olds share "porno sort of" photos which he finds "frightening".
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UK
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TV chef Jamie Oliver has said he has banned his 14-year-old daughter from sharing selfies, describing them as the unhealthy "sugar of social media".
"We ban Daisy from doing selfies and mainly she doesn't, but a couple slip up," the father-of-five told the Lifestyle News Hound podcast.
Oliver, 42, says he is among the first generation of parents learning to deal with children sharing photos online.
He and wife Jools regularly post family photos on their own Instagram pages.
But Oliver, a prominent campaigner for healthy eating, described teenage girls' use of Instagram as "frightening".
He said: "I'm going to generalise massively here, but from my observation so far, at 13 to 14, the kind of pictures that girls are putting up, just from what I've seen, split off 50:50.
"[There's] normal young girl, and then this weird hybrid of - dare I say it - quite porno sort of luscious kind of pouty lips, sort of pushing boobs out."
He said he did not "even want to look" at photos of other girls that 14-year-old Daisy had shown him.
"I'm like really? Are their parents not over that like a rash?"
However, Jamie and Jools Oliver are not against Instagram itself - and frequently post snaps of family holidays and days out that they are happy to share with the public.
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Oliver added: "Because of the 'like' thing, it's kind of almost the sugar of social media.
"It's a quick way to get some kind of pat on the back or love."
The NSPCC charity has told parents it is vital to spot inappropriate behaviour online - and has a Net Aware guide to social media sites young people are using.
The charity identified a number of risks for children using Instagram, including strangers following them and people taking screenshots and sharing photos without their permission.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42028944
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Dog ownership lowers early death risk, study finds - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Researchers found a lower risk of cardiovascular disease in owners of dogs, especially hunting breeds.
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Health
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Dog owners have a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease or other causes, a study of 3.4 million Swedes has found.
The team analysed national registries for people aged 40 to 80, and compared them to dog ownership registers.
They found there was a lower risk of cardiovascular disease in owners of dogs, particularly of hunting breeds.
While owning a dog may help physical activity, researchers said it may be active people who choose to own dogs.
They also said owning a dog may protect people from cardiovascular disease by increasing their social contact or wellbeing, or by changing the owner's bacterial microbiome.
The microbiome is the collection of microscopic species that live in the gut. It's thought a dog may influence its owner's microbiomes as dogs change the dirt in home environments, exposing people to bacteria they may not have encountered otherwise.
The researchers said dogs had a particularly protective effect for those who live alone.
"The results showed that single dog owners had a 33% reduction in risk of death and 11% reduction in risk of heart attack," compared to single non-owners, said lead study author Mwenya Mubanga of Uppsala University.
People who live alone have been shown previously to be at a higher risk of cardiovascular death.
Dr Mubanga said: "Perhaps a dog may stand in as an important family member in the single households."
For their study, published in Scientific Reports, the team looked at data from 2001 to 2012. In Sweden, every visit to a hospital is recorded in national databases - while dog ownership registration has been mandatory since 2001.
Owning a dog from breeds originally bred for hunting, such as terriers, retrievers and scent hounds, was associated with the lowest risk of cardiovascular disorder.
Dr Mike Knapton of the British Heart Foundation, said: "Owning a dog is associated with reduced mortality and risk of having heart disease. Previous studies have shown this association but have not been as conclusive - largely due to the population size studied here.
"Dog ownership has many benefits, and we may now be able to count better heart health as one of them.
"However, as many dog owners may agree, the main reason for owning a dog is the sheer joy.
"Whether you're a dog owner or not, keeping active is a great way to help improve your heart health."
Tove Fall, senior author of the study, said there were some limitations: "These kind of epidemiological studies look for associations in large populations but do not provide answers on whether and how dogs could protect from cardiovascular disease.
"There might also be differences between owners and non-owners already before buying a dog, which could have influenced our results, such as those people choosing to get a dog tending to be more active and of better health."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42009932
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Gerry Adams to outline political future at Sinn Féin conference - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Sinn Féin's leader since 1983 is expected to set out a plan to step down from the head of the party.
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Northern Ireland
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Gerry Adams said the party had a plan for "orderly leadership change"
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is expected to set out a plan to step down from party leadership later.
Mr Adams, who has led Sinn Féin since 1983, will speak at the party's ard fhéis (annual conference) in Dublin.
It is expected that Mr Adams will not step down immediately but will outline his transition from leadership.
Delegates at the conference have voted in favour of a motion to hold a special ard fhéis three months after the departure of the party president.
The motion will allow for a leadership contest once a vacancy arises.
Delegates also voted to liberalise the party's policy on abortion.
Party members voted in favour of allowing abortions where a pregnancy poses a risk to a woman's health, including mental health.
There will be a referendum on abortion law in the Republic of Ireland in May or June of next year.
Sinn Féin's previous position supported allowing terminations when a baby is expected to die in the womb or shortly after birth, and in cases of rape or incest.
Currently, the law in the Republic of Ireland only permits abortion when there is a real and substantial risk to a woman's life. In Northern Ireland, terminations are only legal when continuing with a pregnancy poses a serious or permanent risk to a woman's health.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin's Stormont leader has called on the Irish government to appoint a minister with responsibility for advancing Irish unity.
Michelle O'Neill told the party conference that a parliamentary committee in the Republic of Ireland should also be formed to look at a united Ireland.
Mr Adams also said that a 10-year plan for "orderly leadership change" was being finalised.
He said the plan had previously been outlined by former deputy party leader Martin McGuinness, who died earlier this year.
Catalonian MEP Jordi Solé and Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald addressed the conference on Saturday morning
Brexit and the ongoing political deadlock over power-sharing in Northern Ireland are expected to be major topics of discussion.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin have failed to reach agreement in restore a power-sharing government at Stormont despite numerous rounds of talks since March's assembly elections.
Gerry Adams has been one of the most significant and divisive figures in Irish politics for almost half a century.
Security sources believe he was senior IRA member during the Troubles but Mr Adams has always denied being in the organisation.
He became known worldwide as the face of the republican movement during its transition from violence to peace.
His leadership won't be ending straight away but he has said he'll reveal more about a plan for change he'd agreed with his long-term ally Martin McGuinness, before Mr McGuinness' death earlier this year.
Part of that plan has already been put in place with the appointment of Michelle O'Neill to lead the party at Stormont.
Opening proceedings on Saturday morning, the party's deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said that "agreement can only be secured and institutions re-established on a sustainable basis when agreements previously agreed to are honoured by all".
Later, Mrs O'Neill told the conference that the "Irish government has a clear responsibility" regarding a united Ireland.
"It needs to bring forward a political plan to unite and reinvent the country in the modern era," she said.
"The government should publish a green paper on Irish unity, which indentifies the steps and measures that are for a successful transition to a United Ireland."
She added that the government should establish a government committee on Irish reunification and a government minister with the "dedicated and specific responsibility of developing strategies to advance Irish unity".
Mrs O'Neill also told the conference that Brexit was "an act of political vandalism" that would be a "disaster" for Northern Ireland.
The conference also heard from Jordi Solé, a Catalan MEP, who spoke about the region's independence movement.
Michelle O'Neill told the conference that Brexit was an "act of political vandalism"
Later on Saturday, party members could vote to liberalise Sinn Féin's policy on abortion.
A motion will be put to allow abortions in cases when "a woman's life, health or mental health is at serious risk or in grave danger, fatal foetal abnormality and rape or sexual abuse".
Mrs O'Neill has said she will support the motion, which will set the party policy for both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-42037348
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Ohio Supreme Court Judge Bill O'Neill brags of sex conquests - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The jurist, who proclaimed to speak for "all heterosexual males", provokes a firestorm of ridicule.
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US & Canada
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Judge O'Neill said the number 50 could be incorrect as he "doesn't keep count"
Ohio voters are in shock after a top judge boasted of having been "sexually intimate" with "approximately 50 very attractive females".
State Supreme Court Judge Bill O'Neill, who is a Democratic candidate for state governor, made the claim on Facebook on Friday afternoon.
In a follow-up interview he defended his post and a senator who was pictured apparently groping a sleeping woman.
His post began: "Now that the dogs of war are calling for the head of Senator Al Franken I believe it is time to speak up on behalf of all heterosexual males."
Judge O'Neill noted that as a candidate for governor, his admission would "save my opponents some research time".
"In the last fifty years I was sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females," wrote the Chagrin Falls, Ohio, native.
The 70-year-old Democrat went on to describe two of the women and his alleged encounters with them.
"It ranged from a gorgeous personal secretary to Senator Bob Taft (Senior) who was my first true love and we made passionate love in the hayloft of her parents barn."
He later edited the post to clarify it was the secretary - not Senator Taft - with whom he purportedly had sexual relations.
In an interview with Cleveland.com after the post was published, Judge O'Neill confirmed he had written it.
The judge with his dog Lucky
He told the publication the number "50" could be incorrect since he "doesn't keep count".
Judge O'Neill also said he did not think it improper for a Supreme Court justice to divulge particulars of his sex life.
According to Ohio media, Judge O'Neill must retire from the bench when his current term ends in 2019 due to age restrictions.
He is the only Democrat not just on the state Supreme Court, but to hold state-wide office in Ohio.
The over-sharing jurist launched his campaign for governor in late October on a platform of expanding mental care access, tax incentives for solar power, and legalising cannabis - the last of which he mentioned in his Facebook tell-all.
The post provoked an avalanche of responses on social media ranging from baffled to admiring to derisive.
One woman wrote: "YOU ARE TRASH."
Many pointed out the judge's encounters appeared to be consensual in contrast to Senator Al Franken, who along with Senate hopeful Roy Moore, is accused of non-consensual sexual contact.
"No words can convey my shock," she said.
"This gross disrespect for women shakes the public's confidence in the integrity of the judiciary."
Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach wrote to Judge O'Neill on Twitter: "Not only have you lost any glimpse of support from me, (you've) also lost my respect."
Mary Taylor, Republican lieutenant governor of Ohio, posted on Twitter: "There's a very serious conversation going on right now in this country about sexual harassment and @BillForOhio's crass post is ill-timed and dismissive at best."
"We have to be better than this," she added.
But Judge O'Neill doubled down on his comments in a subsequent Facebook post.
"Lighten up folks," he scolded his critics.
"This is how Democrats remain in the minority."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42032731
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Kezia Dugdale faces Labour suspension over I'm A Celebrity - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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New leader of Scottish Labour says Kezia Dugdale may be suspended over I'm A Celebrity.
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Scotland
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Scottish Labour's new leader Richard Leonard has said the party's MSPs will consider suspension for his predecessor Kezia Dugdale.
Ms Dugdale, still an MSP, has been revealed as a surprise contestant in ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! programme.
Mr Leonard said he was a "bit disappointed" by her participation.
Ms Dugdale is understood to be donating her parliamentary salary to charity while she is on the show.
Mr Leonard said of a possible suspension for the former leader: "I awoke as many other people did this morning to the news that Kezia is going into that programme.
"I think that is something the [parliamentary] group is going to have to consider over the next few days and I think we will consider."
However, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he does not believe Ms Dugdale should be suspended from the party over her appearance on the programme.
Mr Leonard was answering questions about his predecessor shortly after his election to the position of Scottish leader.
He secured 56.7% of votes in the contest to beat his rival Anas Sarwar.
Following his election, Mr Leonard said: "With this new movement for real change, energised with this new generation helping to lead it. But founded on our old and enduring idealism too.
"That is the unity we can rally around, not simply a call for unity but around a renewed unity of purpose."
He added: "So that our purpose today is not just elected a leader. My aim is to be the next Labour first minister of Scotland."
Ms Dugdale's decision to take part in the show has also been criticised by Scottish Labour MSP Jenny Marra, who tweeted: "Election to parliament is a privilege to serve and represent people. It's not a shortcut to celebrity."
Ms Marra, the MSP for North-East Scotland, also questioned whether the announcement was an "April Fool in November".
The ITV show launches this weekend, with other contestants including Boris Johnson's father Stanley and former footballer Dennis Wise.
All the other celebrities heading for the jungle were announced on Tuesday.
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Boxer Amir Khan, Coronation Street's Jennie McAlpine footballer Jamie Vardy's wife Rebekah, The Saturdays singer Vanessa White and Hollyoaks actor Jamie Lomas will also be taking part.
The personalities will try to last three weeks with each other, and the local wildlife, in the camp.
Earlier, Scottish Labour said it was not officially commenting on Ms Dugdale's last minute inclusion in the line-up, but a party source said it would be a "fantastic opportunity" for the MSP to talk about policies and Labour values on a widely watched show.
"She puts other politicians to shame with her work ethic and I'm sure there will be huge support for her from Scottish viewers while she's in the jungle.
"She'll be back in time for the budget and will get straight down to work once again for the people of the Lothians," the source added.
The rest of the contestants were announced earlier in the week
About 10 million people tune in to the show every night.
Ms Dugdale stood down as Scottish Labour leader in August. Richard Leonard was appointed as her successor on Saturday.
• None I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-42037321
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Budget 2017: Chancellor Philip Hammond 'to target housing and NHS' - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Philip Hammond will use the Budget to "attack problems" that lost the Tories votes, a former minister tells Newsnight.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Stephen Hammond: Money in Budget 'for housing and health'
Chancellor Philip Hammond plans to use "headroom" in the public finances to target spending on housing and health, a close friend has told the BBC.
Stephen Hammond - a former transport minister - said the chancellor wants to use next Wednesday's Budget to "attack problems" that contributed to the Tories' poor election performance.
The chancellor said in March he had "headroom" - available cash - of £26bn.
Labour says he needs to tackle what it calls the squeeze in living standards.
The chancellor will lay out the government's financial plans on 22 November.
He is also expected to call for evidence on whether a tax on the use of the most environmentally damaging single-use plastics, such as takeaway boxes and bubble wrap, would help tackle to problem of plastic waste.
The £26bn was dubbed a "war chest" - designed to help him navigate the economy through Brexit.
Stephen Hammond, who has known the chancellor for more than 20 years, told BBC Two's Newsnight that the chancellor was planning to use the Budget to reach out to voters who had abandoned the Tories.
The party lost its overall parliamentary majority in June's election, with voters in every age group up to their late 40s preferring Labour. Housing was cited as a key concern by younger voters.
Stephen Hammond told Newsnight: "I think what the chancellor will be doing is saying, 'Look it would be silly to throw away all the good work we've done in getting down the deficit level, we're about to turn the corner on debt but yes of course I am listening.
"'In my autumn statement I created some headroom... and I will be looking at what... ways that headroom could be used to attack the problems that so many people have spoken to me about.'"
The former transport minister predicted a strong focus on housing in the Budget.
"I am absolutely convinced that he'll be looking at some housing ideas.
"And there are some really creative ones about looking at loan guarantees for small builders and things in that sort of area. But also he knows that we need to build more social housing and affordable housing. I think he'll be looking at ways he can encourage that."
Nick Boles, a former housing minister, told Newsnight the Conservatives would be writing themselves out of the election script unless they do more to help people without mortgages.
The Financial Times reported last month that about two-thirds of the chancellor's "war chest" may have been wiped out in light of what Treasury officials described as a "bloodbath" in the public finances.
The warnings came on the eve of a report by the Office for Budget Responsibility highlighting poor productivity.
Amid this background, Stephen Hammond predicted that the chancellor would not abandon his reputation as a cautious figure. He said the chancellor would not deviate from his fiscal rule which is to reduce the budget deficit to below 2% of national income by 2020-21.
The former minister said: "It's a bit like running a marathon getting to the last half mile and saying, oh hell - I'll turn round and go back to the start. Philip isn't going to do that.
"It would be absolutely madness to give up on getting the economy and the finances back into a good shape."
Anneliese Dodds, the shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, said the chancellor should outline ambitious plans to tackle income inequality. A government source said the chancellor would adopt a balanced approach on his Budget.
• None The Budget: What we know already
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42034392
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Waddesdon air crash: Helicopter instructor among victims - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Capt Mike Green was one of the victims in the mid-air crash, his employer confirms.
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Beds, Herts & Bucks
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Capt Mike Green was described as a 'respected' helicopter instructor
One of the victims of a mid-air crash between a helicopter and a plane was Capt Mike Green, his employer has confirmed.
Four men were killed in Friday's crash at Waddesdon Estate, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. There were no survivors.
Capt Mike Green was conducting a flight instructor course with a student when they both died, Helicopter Services said on Facebook.
The firm said it was "devastated".
It added: "We have received many messages of support and kind words about our friend who, as a senior instructor and examiner, helped and mentored so many pilots throughout the industry during his distinguished career.
"It was an honour to work with you. Captain Green, you will be greatly missed."
Capt Green's friend, Capt Phil Croucher, said he was a "respected helicopter instructor who will be remembered with affection".
"It's a sad loss. We have lost somebody with a vast amount of experience that could have been passed on to younger people, apart from him being a nice guy generally," he told the Press Association.
Three of the victims' families visited the site of the wreckage scattered across a wooded area, on Saturday, Thames Valley Police said.
Investigations at the site, conducted by police and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) are expected to continue for several days.
Supt Rebecca Mears said it was "too early to tell" what might have caused the crash.
"With the ongoing support of emergency services, work is continuing to recover the men's bodies. We anticipate that this will happen by the end of the day," she added.
Both aircraft involved in the crash were from Wycombe Air Park
The helicopter and the Cessna plane both took off from Wycombe Air Park, also known as Booker Airfield, which offers flight training.
It is about 20 miles (30km) from the site of the crash. Emergency services were called shortly after midday on Friday.
Police said the priority was giving information to the victims' next of kin.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-42037839
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Hammond: Driverless cars will be on UK roads by 2021 - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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The chancellor says the country must embrace new technologies in order to succeed.
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Business
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Critics say the tech behind driverless cars still needs a lot of work
Driverless cars could be on UK roads within four years under government plans to invest in the sector.
Chancellor Philip Hammond told the BBC the objective was to have "fully driverless cars" without a safety attendant on board in use by 2021.
"Some would say that's a bold move, but we have to embrace these technologies if we want the UK to lead the next industrial revolution," he said.
However, the chancellor admitted he had yet to use a driverless car himself.
"I'm promised to go in one when we visit the West Midlands tomorrow," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr show.
Mr Hammond is due to announce regulation changes in Wednesday's Budget which will allow developers to apply to test driverless vehicles on UK roads.
Asked about the potential loss of jobs for drivers, he said the country could not "hide from change" and the government had to equip people with the skills "to take up new careers".
The chancellor admitted he had yet to experience a driverless car himself
The chancellor is also expected to detail proposals to build 300,000 new homes in the UK a year, as well as extra money for NHS nurses' pay.
Mr Hammond's announcement comes after the UK's biggest car manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover, began testing driverless cars on public roads.
The trials, which rely on sensors that allow the cars to detect traffic, pedestrians and signals, took place in Coventry city centre over several weeks.
Jaguar said a human was on board to react to emergencies.
The government said the industry would be worth £28bn to the UK economy by 2035 and will support 27,000 jobs.
Labour quipped that under the Tories it would not only be the cars with no-one in the driving seat.
Critics have warned the technology necessary for driverless cars to succeed is a long way from being ready.
Former Top Gear host and now Grand Tour presenter Jeremy Clarkson said he was recently in a self-driving car which made two mistakes which could have killed him in just 50miles.
Writing in the Sunday Times magazine, Mr Clarkson said the incidents convinced him the technology was still "a very long way off", adding: "For now, we're miles away from it."
In the Budget, Mr Hammond is also expected to announce:
Funding for 5G technology will go towards the National Cyber Security Centre to ensure the security of the mobile network, as well as testing on roads to help provide the network needed for driverless cars.
A further £35m will be used to give rail passengers reliable mobile connections and "lightning-speed" internet during journeys. Trials are due to begin on the Trans-Pennine route, which connects Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.
Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the Budget needed to show a "genuine, decisive change of course" and not "empty promises".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42040856
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Tributes paid to race death motorcyclist Daniel Hegarty - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Daniel Hegarty died from his injuries before arriving at hospital in Macau, the BBC understands.
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Nottingham
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The girlfriend of a British motorcyclist killed in a crash at the Macau Grand Prix in China has said she has been left heartbroken by his death.
Daniel Hegarty, 31, from Nottingham, died from his injuries before arriving at hospital.
The Macau Grand Prix committee said the accident happened at Fishermen's Bend on Saturday morning and shared its "deepest sympathies" with his family.
Lucy Draycott said on Facebook that Mr Hegarty was the "love of my life".
The motorcyclist, who raced for Top Gun Racing Honda, came off his bike at a sharp bend during the sixth lap and was flung into barriers, losing his helmet and sustaining fatal injuries.
Tributes have been paid to the rider from Nottingham
The race was red flagged and did not restart while the rider was treated.
Miss Draycott, from East Bridgford, posted on social media: "It is with a broken heart to tell you that the love of my life passed away this morning.
"I just need time to take in what has happened and would appreciate if people could just be patient with me and wait for contact."
Joe Hegarty, the motorcyclist's brother, thanked people on Twitter for their "nice comments" following news of his death.
Formula 3 motor racing champion Lando Norris tweeted: "Awful news. Rest In Peace Daniel Hegarty. Thoughts and prayers with your family and friends in this tough time..."
Daniel Hegarty had raced at North West 200 and Ulster Grand Prix
Motorcycling photographer Alastair McCook tweeted that Mr Hegarty was a "fantastic talent" and "all round nice guy".
He said: "He was a rider I always admired and enjoyed watching. My sincere sympathies to his family, friends & team."
Broadcaster TDM said the last time a rider died at the Macau race was in 2012 when Portuguese Luis Carreira crashed at the same bend.
It said Mr Hegarty was the 16th person to die on the Circuito da Gula since the Macau race's debut in 1954.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-42037305
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Chris Coleman leaves Wales role for Sunderland job - BBC Sport
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2017-11-18
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Chris Coleman leaves his job with Wales after almost six years to take over at Championship club Sunderland.
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Last updated on .From the section Wales
Chris Coleman has left his job as Wales manager to take over at Championship club Sunderland.
Coleman will succeed Simon Grayson, who was sacked after 18 games in charge.
The Football Association of Wales (FAW) confirmed: "Regretfully, Chris Coleman has resigned from his position with immediate effect."
Ex-defender Coleman, 47, succeeded the late Gary Speed in 2012 and guided them to an historic appearance at Euro 2016, where they reached the semi-finals.
Disappointment followed as Wales failed to reach the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.
Coleman's assistant Kit Symons has also left his role of Wales coach.
Ex-Wales winger Ryan Giggs and West Bromwich Albion's Welsh manager Tony Pulis were among bookmakers' early favourites to succeed Coleman.
• None Sunderland would be better off in League One - Jenas
FAW chief executive Jonathan Ford said: "We are extremely disappointed to see Chris' tenure as Wales manager come to an end.
"The FAW and Wales as a nation will be eternally grateful for the job he has done over the last six years as national team manager, from travelling the length and breadth of Wales outside of the media spotlight to talk to players and supporters, to guiding us to the semi-finals of the European Championships.
It is understood the Football Association of Wales made significant improvements in their offers to Coleman on Friday and were ready to accede to his demands over backroom staff
"We wish Chris the very best of luck for the future as he returns to club management, a desire for which he has always been honest and open about."
After Wales' qualifying campaign for the 2018 tournament ended in defeat by the Republic of Ireland, Coleman's last two games in charge were a 2-0 loss to France and 1-1 home draw against Panama in November, 2017.
Negotiations between Coleman and the FAW continued after the game against the Central Americans.
Those talks ended with Coleman leaving. He had often spoken about hoping to return to the day-to-day demands of club management amid a career that has included being in charge of Fulham in the Premier League.
Ex-Wales defender Danny Gabbidon told BBC Sport Wales: "I'm gutted, really disappointed. I know all the fans will be, the players will be as well.
"I know how much they thought of the manager - he was more than just a manager.
"There was a kind of player relationship between the squad and the manager so they'll be gutted hearing that news as well."
Coleman's reign began with Wales 48th in Fifa's world rankings and it ends with them in 14th place.
He will take over at Sunderland, who are bottom of the Championship with one win, seven draws and eight defeats so far this season.
Sunderland are aiming to confirm a deal with Coleman by Sunday.
There is an expectation at the Stadium of Light he will be in charge for their away game against Aston Villa on Tuesday night.
Despite speculation over Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill, Coleman was the club's number one target and no offers were made to other candidates.
Coleman wanted the FAW to employ head of performance Ryland Morgans and psychologist Ian Mitchell on full-time contracts.
The FAW also offered to spend £500,000 on upgrading training facilities.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42033068
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Trump puts elephant trophy imports on hold - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The US president's move comes a day after US hunters were told they could import elephant trophies.
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US & Canada
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The US Fish and Wildlife Service argues hunting "will enhance the survival of the African elephant"
President Donald Trump has suspended the import of elephant hunting trophies, only a day after a ban was relaxed by his administration.
Imports of trophies from elephants legally hunted in Zambia and Zimbabwe had been set to resume, reversing a 2014 Obama-era ban.
But late on Friday, President Trump tweeted the change was on hold until he could "review all conservation facts".
The move to relax the ban had sparked immediate anger from animal activists.
"Your shameful actions confirm the rumours that you are unfit for office," said French actress and animal-rights activist Brigitte Bardot in a letter to President Trump.
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Protests spread on social media with many sharing images of President Trump's sons posing with dead animals during their hunting trips in Africa.
One photo of Donald Trump Jr shows him holding the amputated tail of a dead elephant.
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The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) had argued that hunting fees could aid conservation of the endangered animals.
Experts say that populations of African elephants are plummeting.
Their numbers dropped by about 30% from 2007-14, according to the 2016 Great Elephant Census.
The non-profit group's report found a population drop of 6% in Zimbabwe alone.
Despite their listing under the Endangered Species Act, there is a provision in US law that allows permits to import animal parts if there is sufficient evidence that the fees generated will actually benefit species conservation.
In 2015 a US dentist from Minnesota killed a famous lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park.
Cecil's death triggered an outrage in the US and Zimbabwe, and briefly forced the hunter into hiding.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The BBC's Rebecca Morelle: "The black market is growing and growing"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42035832
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Iranian boy leads friend to food video - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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A touching moment said to be in the aftermath of the Iranian earthquake isn't what it seems.
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A video purporting to show a touching moment in the aftermath of the Iranian earthquake seemingly isn't what it seems.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-42033544
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Muswell Hill murder probe after woman stabbed to death - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The victim, believed to be in her 50s, was found at a house in Muswell Hill, north London.
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London
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The woman was found dead in a house on Hill Road, Muswell Hill
A woman has been found stabbed to death in north London, sparking a murder investigation.
The woman, who is believed to be aged in her 50s, was discovered inside the property on Hill Road in Muswell Hill on Thursday evening.
Scotland Yard said they had visited the address after concerns were raised about her wellbeing.
A post-mortem examination found she died of stab wounds. No-one has been arrested and witnesses are sought.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-42037501
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AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young dies at 64 - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Australian's powerful rhythm guitar riffs helped propel the heavy rock group to stardom.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Malcolm Young (right) and his brother Angus (left) were driving forces behind the international success of AC/DC
Australian guitarist and AC/DC co-founder Malcolm Young has died aged 64 after a long battle with dementia.
He died peacefully on Saturday with his family nearby, a statement said.
Young will be remembered for his powerful rhythm guitar riffs that were instrumental in propelling the Sydney heavy rock group to stardom.
Three Young brothers have been part of AC/DC's history, including lead guitarist Angus. Producer George Young died in October.
"Renowned for his musical prowess, Malcolm was a songwriter, guitarist, performer, producer and visionary who inspired many," the statement read.
"From the outset, he knew what he wanted to achieve and, along with his younger brother, took to the world stage giving their all at every show. Nothing less would do for their fans."
AC/DC are one of the biggest heavy rock bands in the world
Fans and friends of Young have been posting their tributes to the popular musician on social media.
Tom Morello, of the US band Rage Against the Machine, tweeted his thanks to the "#1 greatest rhythm guitarist".
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English rock star David Coverdale, a member of the band Whitesnake and former lead singer of Deep Purple, also offered his "thoughts and prayers".
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After forming AC/DC in 1973, Angus and Malcolm Young were credited as co-writers on every song the band recorded between their 1975 debut High Voltage through to 2014's Rock or Bust.
Malcolm was born in 1953 in Glasgow before his family emigrated to Australia when he was 10.
His family confirmed he was suffering from dementia in 2014.
He wrote much of the material that enabled AC/DC to become one of the biggest heavy rock bands and singer Brian Johnson has described him as the band's "spiritual leader, our spitfire".
Their biggest hits include Back in Black, Highway to Hell, and You Shook Me All Night Long. The group is estimated to have sold more than 200 million records worldwide, including 71.5 million albums in the US.
A statement by Angus Young on the AC/DC website praises Malcolm's "enormous dedication and commitment" which made him "the driving force behind the band" who "always stuck to his guns and did and said exactly what he wanted".
"As his brother it is hard to express in words what he has meant to me during my life, the bond we had was unique and very special. He leaves behind an enormous legacy that will live on forever.
Malcolm Young was never the star attraction of AC/DC's live shows. That honour went to his younger brother, Angus, dressed like a schoolboy and duck-walking across the stage like Chuck Berry.
But Malcolm gave the band their backbone. He wrote brutally efficient riffs and played them with concentrated ferocity, proving you don't need to rifle through 127 notes to be effective. And, while AC/DC rarely strayed from the template they set on Highway To Hell and Back in Black, those guitar lines inspired generations, from Metallica's James Hetfield to Guns N' Roses' Izzy Stradlin.
One of the reasons for Malcolm's songwriting economy was that he didn't much enjoy the process of making records. "Being in the studio is like being in prison," he said in 1988.
Yet he took great care over AC/DC's sound, stripping out unnecessary flourishes and, unusually, playing with his amp turned down so the microphone could pick out the details.
Still, it was concerts that got his blood racing. "There's nothing like playing on stage," he said. "If it's a good night, it's just like the first night. Same buzz. Same excitement."
That made his final tour with AC/DC all the more tragic. As his dementia progressed, the guitarist found himself unable to remember the riffs to songs like Hell's Bells and You Shook Me All Night Long, having to relearn them for every show.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42037566
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Peter Kay's Car Share to make surprise return - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The comedian announces a surprise finale to show what happened between John and Kayleigh.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Will John (Peter Kay) and Kayleigh (Sian Gibson) finally have a happy ending?
Fans of Peter Kay's sitcom Car Share thought it had ended for good - but the comedian has announced there will be two more episodes.
Kay said he wanted to "quit while you're ahead" after series two ended earlier this year.
But he's announced a "special finale" to show what happened between John, his character, and Sian Gibson's Kayleigh.
It will follow Car Show Unscripted, an improvised episode. Both will be screened on BBC One next year.
Gibson and Kay revealed the plans on Children In Need
The second series ended in May with Kayleigh declaring her love for John but walking out of his car and his life when he refused to say how he felt.
The lack of a twist bringing the two characters together at last surprised and disappointed many viewers who had convinced themselves the show was building up to the perfect romantic finish.
"People have been very angry that the series ended in that way," Kay said.
"But [now] there is a series finale explaining what happened the next day, after the big argument.
"We've also done another episode called Car Share Unscripted, which is half an hour of us basically making the script up and improvising. It's nothing to do with the story - just us having a laugh."
After the series ended, he said there would be no third series or Christmas specials because he was worried about running out of ideas.
"There's only so much you can do in a car and the last thing you want to do is ruin it, because I think it's a lovely thing," he said.
Kay announced the new episodes on Children In Need on BBC One on Friday.
He has long been a supporter of the charity, fronting a fund-raising single that went to number one in 2009. This year, he has raised more than £633,000 by auctioning 100 tickets to an intimate live show in Blackpool.
Car Share won two Bafta TV Awards in 2016 - best scripted comedy and best male performance in a comedy programme for Kay.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42034344
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Brexit: EU gives May two weeks to act on divorce bill and Ireland - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Theresa May is told to put more money on the table and address Irish border concerns within two weeks.
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UK Politics
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Mr Tusk said progress on citizens' rights had not been mirrored in other areas
Theresa May has been told she has two weeks to put more money on the table if the EU is to agree to begin Brexit trade talks before the end of the year.
EU Council President Donald Tusk said he was "ready" to move onto the next phase of Brexit talks, covering future relations with the UK.
But he said the UK must show much more progress on the "divorce bill" and the Irish border by early next month.
Mrs May said "good progress" was being made but more needed to be done.
The talks are currently deadlocked over the UK's financial settlement, citizens' rights and Ireland with Irish PM Leo Varadkar accusing the UK of not "thinking through" the implications of Brexit for his country.
A week ago, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier informed his UK counterpart David Davis he had a fortnight to spell out in more detail what he was prepared to pay the EU to "settle its accounts" and to clarify how trade between the Republic and Northern Ireland and security across the 310 mile border would be preserved after the UK leaves the single market and customs union.
After holding talks with Mrs May on the margins of a jobs summit in Sweden, Mr Tusk repeated the message, saying "much more" progress was needed on these two issues if he was to recommend to EU leaders at their next meeting on 14 December to give the green light to the next phase of talks.
He said he would meet Mrs May in a week's time to assess progress but warned time was running out for a breakthrough before the end of 2017.
"We will be ready to move on to the second phase already in December," he said.
"But in order to do that we need to see more progress from the UK side.
The UK needs the approval of all 27 EU nations if it is to begin the next phase of talks
"If there is not sufficient progress by then, I will be ... not be in a position to propose new guidelines on transition and the future relationship at the December European Council....I made it very clear to the Prime Minister May that this progress needs to happen at the beginning of December at the latest."
Before leaving the event in Gothenburg, Mrs May said that the two sides had to "work together" to reach a point where the EU believed sufficient progress had been made to open up trade discussions.
She rejected claims that the talks were in limbo and restated her priority was to talk as soon as possible about her goal of a future "deep and special" trade and economic partnership.
"We're clear and I'm clear that what we need to do is move forwards together," she said.
The UK has said it will honour its existing financial obligations by ensuring no EU nation is worse off during the current budgetary period ending in 2020, a sum reported to be in the region of £20bn.
But the EU wants the UK to go further and contribute to what they say are longer-term liabilities, such as regional development spending and pension payments for British officials working for the EU and retired staff.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. David Davis: "Nothing comes for nothing" in negotiations
Asked whether Mrs May had to stump up more money to pave the way for trade talks, Swedish PM Stefan Lovren said Britain "needs to clarify what they mean by their financial responsibility".
French President Emmanuel Macron said the unified position agreed by all 27 other EU members earlier this year had not changed and talks on future relations would not commence "until the divorce has been settled".
Mr Varadkar, who also held a bilateral meeting with his British counterpart, said he was prepared to wait until next year for "further concessions" from the UK in a number of areas.
He said he wanted binding guarantees that there would be no physical checks at the border after the UK leaves in March 2019, dismissing as inadequate verbal assurances that technological advances will help ensure the continued free and safe movement of people.
"What we want to take off the table before talking about trade is the idea that there would be any hard border, physical border, or border resembling the past in Ireland," said the Irish PM.
"I think it would be in all of our interests that we proceed to phase two in December," he added.
"But it's 18 months since the referendum. Sometimes it doesn't seem like they've thought all of this through."
Some Tory MPs believe the UK should flex its muscles and walk away from the talks unless the EU is more accommodating, arguing the EU has as much to lose as the UK from not agreeing a trade deal.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42027859
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Zimbabwe rejoices as Mugabe's long leadership nears its end - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The BBC's Anne Soy meets jubilant Zimbabweans hoping for change after the army takeover.
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Africa
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
A carnival mood has engulfed Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. Zimbabweans poured out to the streets carrying flags and placards to celebrate Wednesday's military takeover.
President Robert Mugabe is under intense pressure to resign. But nothing has been heard from the 93-year-old since he appeared at a university graduation on Friday.
"We want to tell President Mugabe, it is time to rest," Chipo tells us as she continues celebrating with her friends near Freedom Square. "This is a new Zimbabwe, and freedom has finally come," she adds.
Such a public display of defiance against the president would have been unthinkable before the military intervention.
Zimbabweans have been queuing to take pictures with the soldiers
Crowds erupt into celebration at the sight of military vehicles and soldiers.
"They have given us our second independence," shouts a man from a crowd surging towards an armoured personnel carrier.
The crowds sing songs praising the military and its chief, Gen Constantino Chiwenga. Some carry placards featuring the general's portrait and that of the former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was fired last week after a feud with First Lady Grace Mugabe.
Negotiations are going on behind the scenes to persuade President Mugabe to step down.
It is understood that he has insisted that he cannot do so and legitimise a coup.
The military maintains this is not a coup and there is international pressure to use constitutional means to resolve the political crisis. Negotiators are poring through Zimbabwe's laws to find a legal way out.
Mugabe's name and pictures have been taken down, stamped upon, torn
Saturday's call for civilians to take to the streets looks choreographed to lend some legitimacy to the transition process being discussed.
President Mugabe's support base has continued to crumble. Independence war veterans who fought alongside him against colonial rule have also been meeting in Harare. They, too, have called on their former leader to leave.
But the biggest blow yet to Mr Mugabe could be delivered by the central committee of the ruling Zanu-PF on Sunday.
State television, ZBC, reported that eight out of 10 provinces of the party have passed a vote of no confidence in the president. Sunday's meeting is expected to ratify their decision, a move that could see Robert Mugabe dismissed as party leader.
Back on the streets in the capital, car horns have been blaring all day as a few daring drivers attempt stunts amid cheers from spectators.
The feeling of freedom is palpable. There is a sense that Mr Mugabe's 37-year rule is coming to an end.
The majority of those in the streets are young people who have only ever known him as their leader, like 31-year-old Rachel, who took her children aged nine months and four years to Freedom Square. "I'm happy that she (pointing at the younger child strapped on her back) will grow up knowing a new president, not the one I've known all my life."
"We want change," says another young woman. "It doesn't matter what change, we just want it."
As celebrations continue into the night, it appears not much thought has been given to life after Robert Mugabe.
But there is growing consensus that the 93-year-old man has overstayed his welcome.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Why is Zimbabwe in such a bad way?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42039009
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Autumn international: Scotland 17-22 New Zealand - BBC Sport
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2017-11-18
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Beauden Barrett denies Stuart Hogg with a brilliant tackle in the last minute as Scotland narrowly miss out on a first win over New Zealand.
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Scotland are still awaiting a first win over New Zealand after a dramatic 22-17 loss at Murrayfield.
Tries from Codie Taylor and Damian McKenzie early in the second half put the world champions in command.
Jonny Gray thundered over for Scotland, but Beauden Barrett scampered away to stretch the All Blacks' lead.
Huw Jones raced clear for a converted try and in the last minute Stuart Hogg was denied by a superb cover tackle from Barrett when heading for the line.
The outstanding Hogg was racing towards the left corner for a try that would have tied the scores with a conversion attempt to come, but Barrett caught the full-back, who lost the ball forward as he attempted an offload.
The five-point defeat is the closest Scotland have come to beating New Zealand since the sides drew 25-25 at Murrayfield in 1983.
This was always going to be a momentous occasion but the emotion was ratcheted up further when former Scotland lock Doddie Weir and his three sons brought out the match ball before kick-off, Murrayfield rising as one to greet the former Lion, who has motor neurone disease.
It was a searing moment and it lent Murrayfield a power that Scotland fed off. There was a ferocity about Gregor Townsend's team, an accuracy in possession and a tempo that denied New Zealand the kind of easy ball they've been used to when they come here.
The visitors conceded five penalties in the first 20 minutes and seven in the first 30. Scotland competed brilliantly at the breakdown, Hamish Watson and John Barclay frustrating the All Blacks and refusing to let them to settle into their murderous rhythm.
Finn Russell put Scotland ahead with the boot and that lead stayed intact through two dangerous bouts of New Zealand pressure, the first ending not with the breakthrough try that looked as if it was imminent but with a Barrett forward pass to Ryan Crotty, and the second when Scotland survived a New Zealand scrum five metres from their line.
By then, flanker Watson - who had been playing outstandingly - had become the first of the casualties and was replaced by Luke Hamilton on debut.
Just before the half-hour, Waisake Naholo took Hogg out in the air but the officials decided it merited no more than a penalty.
Just when it seemed Scotland might become for the first side to keep New Zealand scoreless in an opening half of a Test since England did it five years ago, Barrett levelled with a penalty. The injuries were now mounting for the hosts, Zander Fagerson joining Watson in the treatment room, and the replacement Hamilton following too.
The All Blacks had the lead at that point, Rieko Ioane and Taylor starting and then finishing a move that made it 8-3. Two minutes later, a Sonny Bill Williams grubber put McKenzie in for New Zealand's second score, converted by Barrett. That stretched the lead to 15-3.
George Turner, the hooker, had come on for Hamilton, with Stuart McInally reverting to his old position in the back row, as Townsend patched his team together in the hope of keeping the game alive. They were immense against the odds.
Sam Cane was sin-binned as Scotland piled on the pressure, Gray barging over from close range for a try that electrified Murrayfield. When Russell put over the conversion, it was a five-point game again.
Remarkably, with a makeshift front-row of Jamie Bhatti, George Turner and Simon Berghan, and a hooker playing open-side, Scotland were still alive.
The hope appeared to die when the All Blacks kicked for home, Williams delivering a magnificent offload to McKenzie, who cut a beautiful angle and put Barrett away to touch down.
The gap was 12 points with the conversion but still Scotland came again, New Zealand cynically killing ball in their own 22 and getting a second yellow for their trouble, Wyatt Crockett the culprit.
The thunder carried on to the death with New Zealand unable to shake off the Scots. Hogg, magnificent all day, put through a gorgeously weighted grubber up the right wing and Tommy Seymour got to it first to unload to centre Jones, who ran away to score.
There were three minutes left when Russell walloped over the conversion to put Scotland within a converted try of one of the greatest days in their rugby history.
Hogg then went on an arcing run into the New Zealand 22 and in that moment you believed, for a second, that the miracle was about to happen.
But Barrett had sensed the danger and had the pace to cover across. Hogg's attempted pass bobbled forward in was the final play of a brilliant but agonising day.
Replacements: 16-George Turner (for Hamilton, 50), 17-Jamie Bhatti (for Marfo, 59), 18-Simon Berghan (for Fagerson, 41), 19-Grant Gilchrist (for Toolis, 59), 20-Luke Hamilton (for Watson, 27), 21-Henry Pyrgos (for Price, 76), 22-Pete Horne (for Dunbar, 47), 23-Byron McGuigan (for L Jones, 69).
Replacements: 16-Nathan Harris (for Taylor, 75), 17-Wyatt Crockett (for Hames, 52), 18-Ofa Tu'ungafasi (for Laulala, 59), 19-Liam Squire (on for Romano, 47), 20-Matt Todd (for Cane, 75), 21-TJ Perenara (for Smith, 65), 22-Lima Sopoaga (for Naholo, 75), 23-Anton Lienert-Brown (for Williams, 69).
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/42002120
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UK seeks future cyber-security stars - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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UK initiatives aim to get young people choosing a career in cyber-security to close a looming skills gap.
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Technology
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Bletchley Park is host to a centre developing cyber-based lessons for school pupils
A £20m initiative to get schoolchildren interested in cyber-security has been launched by the UK government.
The Cyber Discovery programme is aimed at 14 to 18-year-olds and involves online and offline challenges themed around battling hackers.
It is one of several programmes trying to build interest in security work and help fill a looming skills gap.
One industry expert said a broad strategy would be needed to address the widening gap.
The free Cyber Discovery programme aims to "encourage the best young minds into cyber-security", said Karen Bradley, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in a statement.
Young people interested will be asked to enrol via an online assessment and the best performers in that test will then be put through a "comprehensive curriculum" that helps familiarise them with cyber-security work.
It mixes online challenges with face-to-face learning, role-playing and real-world technical challenges, said James Lyne, head of research and development at the Sans Institute, who helped draw up the programme. Extracurricular clubs will also be set up as part of the project that will be run by mentors who help participants take the skills they learn further.
Work needs to be done to remove the stigma from hackers, say experts
It is one of several UK initiatives aimed at galvanising interest in security work among young people.
The organisation behind the Cyber Security Challenge, which runs lots of programmes seeking adult security workers, has one that is specifically aimed at schools. Called the Cyber Games, it is a series of competitions held around the UK that puts pupils through a variety of cyber-themed challenges and activities.
Another developed by Qufaro, a cyber-training college at Bletchley Park, is an add-on to the existing ICT curriculum that is centred on computer security.
Budgie Dhanda, head of Qufaro, said the lessons and projects it has drawn up form an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) that pupils can study alongside their A/S levels. EPQs are available in many subjects, said Mr Dhanda, and let pupils explore a subject in greater detail than they would in the classroom.
"There are a lot of different modules in it that cover the spectrum of cyber-functions and capabilities the industry requires," he said.
Professional services firm Deloitte has pledged to pay the fees of any students who take on the cyber EPQ in 2017-18.
Phil Everson, head of cyber-risk at Deloitte, said it had decided to back Qufaro entrants in a bid to help plug the skills gap.
"There's already significant global demand for cyber-talent across the world," he said. "And there are not enough skilled people to meet that demand."
One industry estimate suggests there will be more than 3 million unfilled jobs in the cyber-security industry by 2021.
"We want to try to give the younger generation who have grown up with the internet an awareness of security and its implications," he said. "The course is about foundational skills and abilities."
The UK's National Crime Agency has sought to divert young cyber-offenders into security jobs
Filling the growing skills gap in the cyber-security industry needed a three-pronged approach, said industry veteran Ian Glover who heads the Crest organisation that certifies people who carry out security work.
More could be done to tap into the "latent pool" of technical expertise among people who already work with computers, he said, but currently handle lower-level administrative functions rather than coding or forensics.
"There are a lot of people who have 50% of the core skills they would need to work in cyber-security," he said. "Short conversion courses could quickly help them add to their skill set and swap that admin job for one on a security team," said Mr Glover.
In addition, he said, there were plenty of other graduates that could quickly put expertise in other areas, such as international studies, to use in roles such as threat intelligence.
The final, and most long-term element involved getting school pupils interested in the field, he said, but it had to be sure to give them a rounded view of the industry.
"If you can get them interested in technology that's great," he said, "but you need to be able to describe the range of roles there are in cyber-security and the benefits of being in the industry because it's an awesome place to be."
Just as important, he said, was changing the negative associations with the word "hacker".
"The perception is there that hacking is bad," he said. "We need to change the language around it and provide guidance to young people to articulate what is meant by a job or career in this space."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42016824
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Fireball in Finland sky 'probably a meteorite' - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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The suspected meteor shook buildings when it raced through the sky in Lapland.
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The suspected meteor was said to cause buildings to shake when it raced through the sky in Lapland.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42033792
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Budget 2017: Tax on takeaway boxes to be considered - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The chancellor is expected to announce plans to examine the idea in Wednesday's Budget.
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Business
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A tax on takeaway boxes is to be considered in an attempt to tackle the problem of plastic waste.
In Wednesday's Budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to call for evidence on whether a tax on the use of the most environmentally damaging single-use plastics would help.
Meanwhile, Stephen Hammond, a close friend of the chancellor, has told the BBC the chancellor wants to use the Budget to "attack problems" that contributed to the Tories' poor election performance.
He plans to use "headroom" in the public finances to target spending on housing and health, the former transport minister told Newsnight.
The Treasury said the work on a potential plastic tax would examine the lifecycle of single-use plastics.
It did not suggest the investigation would include plastic bottles, which can be recycled, although in practice many also end up in land-fill or the sea.
However, the government has already said it would consider whether to introduce a "reward and return" scheme for plastic bottles to try to improve recycling rates.
The Treasury said the amount of single-use plastic wasted every year in the UK would fill London's Royal Albert Hall 1,000 times, and cited the success of the 5p charge on plastic bags to illustrate the feasibility of a levy.
Birds, sea mammals and turtles die from consuming or becoming tangled in plastic waste.
Sir David Attenborough recently described the "heartbreaking" sight of an albatross feeding plastic to its young chick instead of fish.
Sue Kinsey, senior pollution policy officer at the Marine Conservation Society, said plastic was a "complete menace" in the marine environment.
"It takes a long time to break down and it's almost indigestible if animals eat it.
"The real danger is that animals are starving to death with stomachs full of plastic."
Tisha Brown, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said the move "recognises the significance of the problem and the urgent need for a solution."
But shadow environment secretary Sue Hayman criticised the government for "warm words" on the environment while underfunding services and failing to enshrine EU protections in UK law.
She said: "While we support initiatives to decrease the use of non-recyclable materials, the slump in recycling figures and significant increase in litter and dumped rubbish under this government requires a far more strategic approach."
The call for evidence is expected to be launched in early 2018.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42033760
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Social care: MPs seek cross-party group to 'sustain' NHS - BBC News
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2017-11-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Ninety MPs write to the PM, saying patients are being "failed" by strained NHS social care services.
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Health
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The MPs argue that only a cross-party approach can deliver a sustainable settlement
Ninety MPs have signed a letter calling on the prime minister to set up a cross-party convention on the future of the NHS and social care in England.
They say a non-partisan debate is needed to deliver a "sustainable settlement".
The letter to Theresa May and Chancellor Philip Hammond said patients were being "failed" by the system.
A government spokesperson said it was "committed" to making the sector sustainable.
The government had already provided an additional £2bn to social care over the next three years, the spokesperson added.
One-third of the MPs who have signed the letter are Conservative.
They include Sarah Wollaston, chair of the health select committee, former education secretary Nicky Morgan and Andrew Mitchell, a minister under the last government.
Tories George Freeman, former policy adviser to Mrs May and Sir Nicholas Soames, are other signatories.
Among the Liberal Democrats to have signed are Sir Vince Cable, Sir Ed Davey, Tim Farron and Norman Lamb.
A similar initiative with a much smaller group of MPs, including Ms Wollaston and Mr Lamb, was launched earlier in the year. The heads of three commons select committees also demanded "swift" action. This resulted in a meeting with Downing Street officials.
The latest letter, now backed by a broader range of senior parliamentarians, said the general election had interrupted these plans.
"The need for action is greater now than ever," it said.
MPs told Mr Hammond and Mrs May that people needing care were "too often failed"
The letter argued that only a cross-party NHS and social care convention - a forum for non-partisan debate - could deliver a sustainable settlement for these services where conventional politics had failed to do so.
"We understand that fixing this is immensely challenging and involves difficult choices," the MPs said.
"We all recognise, though, that patients and those needing care are too often failed by a system under considerable strain."
The letter urges the government to address short-term pressure in the health system in next week's Budget - and to establish a cross-party process to work out longer term solutions.
Councils have complained that the government has not given them enough money to plug shortfalls in social care funding.
A growing older population, and greater demand for care and nursing homes, has put pressure on local authorities.
The government said MPs were already going to be consulted on social care, ahead of it publishing a green paper policy statement next year.
A government spokesperson said: "We have announced a cross-government green paper on care and support for older people with input from a group of independent experts.
"We recognise that there is broad agreement across parliament that reform for social care is a priority and look forward to hearing a range of views."
But Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare system, said promises to reform funding were being "kicked down the road".
He said: "The government promised reform before the election, then said there would be a green paper before Christmas.
"Now it has been put off until summer next year - and even then we are not being promised firm commitments."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42029445
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