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EU and UK: Galaxies apart over Brexit? - BBC News
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2017-05-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Two completely different versions of a London dinner - when it comes to Brexit, spin is everywhere.
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Europe
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Two entirely different tales emerged from dinner at Downing Street
Welcome to the EU/UK dominated Brexit Galaxy of Spin and Counter-Spin. A crazy old place. The galactic atmosphere is such these days that the dimensions of truth are elastic; at times, distorted.
Take the arguments this weekend over whether the Downing Street dinner last Wednesday at which Theresa May hosted European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was a complete disaster or not.
Not at all, insists Downing Street.
But it was a fiasco, according to Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and thereafter hitting Twitter and headlines across the UK.
In Brussels, Politico quotes an EU diplomat saying the dinner went "badly, really badly". He reportedly went as far as to claim the British government was now "living in a different galaxy" to the EU when it came to Brexit expectations.
This all seems rather inflammatory, so who's right and who's stretching the truth?
Even French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has been talking Brexit
Well, in this politically volatile pre-Brexit negotiations time, ahead of elections in biggest players UK, Germany and France and with the EU as a whole fighting to appear united, relevant and strong, one has to be extremely spin-aware.
For example, German Chancellor Angela Merkel talked last week about the UK harbouring Brexit "illusions". And French presidential favourite Emmanuel Macron announced he would, post-Brexit, end the bilateral deal by which France keeps in Calais so-called "illegal migrants" attempting to cross to Dover.
But these tough-sounding comments are at least as much aimed at their domestic audience as at the British government.
That said, a high-level EU source has confirmed to me that feelings were running pretty high following the Downing Street dinner due to what he described as a huge "asymmetry of expectations" and a "completely different reading" of the Brexit situation at No 10.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Theresa May said the report was "Brussels gossip"
He said the British government, from their comments about negotiations, clearly had "no good understanding of the fundamentals" around which he said the EU was united, and which would now not be undone.
There are certainly obvious sticking points where the EU and UK do seem a galaxy or two apart:
Poppycock, says a frustrated EU, to all of the above.
My source told me Mr Juncker was already vexed when he arrived at No 10 on Wednesday having only just been informed of the UK's (legally justified, but awkward) decision not sign the mid-term review of the EU's multi-annual budget until after the June elections.
The review needs unanimous approval to go ahead. It doesn't call for more cash but rather its redistribution. The EU is anxious to send money Africa-wards, for example, to halt the flow of migrants coming from there.
But the review is frozen until the UK signs it.
"They gave Juncker no warning at all and told him the night before he came to dinner," my source told me. "They have no idea how Brussels works."
Another high-level source I spoke to attended a meeting with all the EU team present at the Downing Street dinner.
"The word 'échec' (French for 'failure') came up several times," he told me.
"Before that the word wasn't used very often in connection with Brexit but now we're told we have to prepare for the possibility of a failure scenario."
What percentage chance of a successful outcome was being projected in EU leadership circles at the moment?
"50/50 with hopes for more clarity after the British elections are over," I was told.
Over and again, EU diplomats insist this is no "us against them" situation; that there's no desire to punish Britain and that a good Brexit is in everyone's interest.
"It's in our mutual interest to correct all the misunderstandings," I was told today. My source was confident that Downing Street was beginning to realise that now too.
Or are we still in the galaxy of spin?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39775102
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Six child actors who retired from showbiz - BBC News
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2017-05-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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From Shirley Temple to Mara Wilson, six actors who took their careers in different directions in adulthood.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Stranger Things is one of Netflix's most successful shows
Child stars have been a crucial part of Hollywood for generations, but many of them choose totally different careers in adulthood.
The second season of Netflix's hugely popular drama Stranger Things will premiere on Halloween 2017, the streaming service confirmed earlier this year.
The show stars Winona Ryder and David Harbour but also relies heavily on its cast of child actors, who play some of the main characters.
The young stars have been praised for their performances in the show, and could well have bright futures in Hollywood ahead of them.
But the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry isn't for everyone.
For every Drew Barrymore or Jodie Foster, there are plenty of child actors who chose to go in totally different directions in their adult years.
Here are six child stars who left acting behind to pursue new careers.
You might not recognise the name, but Ostrum played Charlie in the big-screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
The 1971 film saw Ostrum appear alongside four other child actors as one of Willy Wonka's five golden ticket winners.
"Everybody thinks that acting is such a glamorous profession, but it's a difficult profession," he said after starring in the film.
That may explain why he quit acting and became a vet as an adult instead.
Some of the other young actors in the film picked up a few more big screen roles in the years after the film, but nearly all drifted away from Hollywood.
Michael Bollner, who played Augustus Gloop, for example, now works as an accountant in Munich.
In the 1990s, it was difficult to go to the cinema without seeing a film with Mara Wilson in it.
She starred in Miracle on 34th Street, Mrs Doubtfire, A Simple Wish and Matilda.
But then, as she entered her teenage years, the former child actress retreated from the limelight.
"I was 13 and I was awkward, and I was gawky, and I was not a very cute kid anymore," Wilson told The Huffington Post in 2013.
"So, Hollywood didn't really want me at that point, and I was kind of over it too. So, after a while, it feels like a mutual breakup. That's the way that I'd describe it."
Wilson is now a writer and released a book last year called Where Am I Now?
She also came out as bisexual in support of the victims of the attack on an LGBT nightclub in Orlando.
Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird was an instant literary phenomenon when it was first released in 1960, and is still considered a classic.
When the inevitable big-screen adaptation was made, Mary Badham was hired to play the role of Scout, the young girl who serves as the book's narrator.
Badham became the youngest actress ever nominated for the best supporting actress category at the Oscars after her appearance in the film (although the record was broken a decade later by the marginally younger Tatum O'Neal).
She went on to act in a few other films released in the 1960s, but then gave up on the profession for the rest of her life - with one exception.
Badham was coaxed out of retirement for a minor role in one film - 2005's Our Very Own - after its director, Cameron Watson, said he wouldn't accept any other actress for the part.
She now works an art restorer and a college testing coordinator, but often writes about her experiences on Mockingbird and attended a special screening of the film with President Obama in 2012.
"When I retired, I was at an in-between age. I wasn't a child anymore, I wasn't really a woman yet and they weren't really writing scripts for that age," she said later that year.
Not many of us can claim to have started our career at the age of three - but that's exactly what Shirley Temple did.
As a child actress, she starred in a whole host of films, including Bright Eyes, The Little Princess, Heidi and Captain January.
But in her adult years, she entered politics and public affairs, becoming a Republican fundraiser and serving three years as the United States Ambassador to (what was then known as) Czechoslovakia.
She also had a mocktail named after her - which, thank you for asking, consists of ginger ale (or lemonade) and a splash of grenadine, garnished with a maraschino cherry.
When Temple died in 2014 at the age of 85, she left behind a remarkable legacy - no child star since has ever come close to equalling her record of being Hollywood's top box office star for four years in a row.
Mark Lester was just 10 years old when he was cast as Oliver in, er, Oliver.
The film adaptation of the stage musical was released in 1968 - more than 130 years after Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist was first published.
Lester took various roles over the following decade but decided to give up acting at the age of 19 and became an osteopath.
"Child actors going on to become adult actors never really works, apart from a few. Jodie Foster was the exception," he told The Independent.
He and Michael Jackson - who was born in the same year - were close friends, and Lester became godfather to the singer's three children.
Richards took on a few small acting jobs throughout her childhood, but shot to fame playing Lex Murphy in 1993's Jurassic Park - a role she filmed when she was just 12 years old.
She briefly reprised the role for The Lost World: Jurassic Park four years later, but then took a step back from acting to focus on her art career.
Richards graduated in 2001 with a degree in fine art and drama and went on to become a successful painter.
But, in 2011, she said: "Being interested in acting never changes. Acting is in your blood, and of course I'll always be interested in it."
Which explains why she was briefly tempted back in 2013 for a role in TV movie Battledogs.
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-39705259
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World records proposal by European Athletics: Which star names would lose out? - BBC Sport
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2017-05-02
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BBC Sport looks at the athletes who could be at risk of losing their world records - and those who stand to be promoted - under a radical new proposal from European Athletics.
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Scores of athletes could be stripped of their world records under new proposals from European Athletics.
The governing body only wants records to be recognised if they can stand up to strict new criteria, part of attempts to make a clean break with the sport's doping scandals.
As a result, any records set before 2005 are now at risk - almost half of the 146 men's and women's indoor and outdoor records. These include marks that have never been subject to suspicion, prompting an outcry from many of the existing record holders.
Seven of the eight men's field events world records and the women's 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m marks could go.
Olympic champions including Florence Griffith-Joyner, Michael Johnson, Hicham El Guerrouj and Jonathan Edwards will fall off the world record list on to an 'all-time list' if the proposals are ratified by the the sport's governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), in August.
Meanwhile, athletes who have competed after 2005 may soon find themselves with a 'WR' next to their name if the sport's record achievements are - in the words of IAAF chief Lord Coe - "recalibrated".
Edwards' triple jump record of 18.29m, set in 1995, is among the long-standing records under threat.
The Olympic, world and European champion jumped into the history books at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg as he became the first man to pass the 18-metre mark. American Christian Taylor, who jumped 18.21m in August 2015, would in all likelihood be promoted to world record holder.
Long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe set a world record of two hours 15 minutes 25 seconds in the 2003 London Marathon using two male pacemakers. Her record would be taken by this year's London winner Mary Keitany, who finished in 2:17:01.
Welsh hurdler Colin Jackson set the indoor 60m hurdles world record of 7.30secs in 1994, and Britain can still lay claim - for now - to the 4x200m indoor relay record of 1:21.11, set in Glasgow in 1991 by a team that included Linford Christie, who won Olympic 100m gold the following year.
American sprinter Griffith-Joyner, also known as Flo Jo, won three gold medals at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
The former world champion, who died aged 38 in 1998, still holds the 100m and 200m world records. She ran 10.49secs at the US Olympic trials at the University at Indianapolis in July 1988 and then two months later set the 200m world record of 21.34secs at the Games in South Korea.
Fellow American Carmelita Jeter would potentially move up from second on the all-time 100m list with her 2009 time of 10.64secs.
The European Athletics proposals include scrapping the records of anyone caught doping, even if the record was set outside the time period in which they were proven to be cheating. That could mean Dutch sprinter Dafne Schippers taking the new 200m record with her time of 21.63secs set in 2015. She is currently third on the list but drug cheat Marion Jones' legal time of 21.62secs from 1998 would also be removed from the books.
One of the biggest casualties from the rule change could be Moroccan middle-distance runner El Guerrouj, who stands to lose five world records.
The 42-year-old, who is a double Olympic champion and four-time world champion, is the current 1500m, one mile and 2,000m record holder.
In 1998, in Rome, El Guerrouj broke the 1500m record with a run of three minutes 26 seconds. In 1999, also in Rome, he set a new mark for the mile with a time of 3:43.13 and then later that season he set a new 2,000m record of 4:44.79 minutes in Berlin.
El Guerrouj also holds the indoor 1500m and mile world records, which he set in 1997.
His 1500m mark would go to Kenya's Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop, who would move up from third on the list with a 2015 time that was only 0.69 seconds behind El Guerrouj's record.
More dramatically, American Alan Webb could jump from eighth on the all-time list for the mile to take the record with a time from 2007 that is more than three seconds slower than El Guerrouj's mark.
Australian Craig Mottram would take the 2,000m world record with his time from 2006 of 4:50.76, despite being 10th on the all-time list.
American long jumper Mike Powell, a two-time world champion, set his record of 8.95m 26 years ago at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships, breaking the existing record by five centimetres - Bob Beamon's legendary leap from the Mexico City Olympics that had itself stood for 23 years.
With Powell and Beamon's jumps chalked off and nine-time gold medallist Carl Lewis' jump of 8.87m from 1991 also not eligible, the record would most likely go to another American, Dwight Phillips, who would move up from fifth with his 2009 leap of 8.74m.
Three-time Olympic javelin champion Jan Zelezny, a rival of Britain's Steve Backley, threw 98.48m in Germany in 1996. His world record is still more than five metres further than the second best throw of all time. Kenya's Julius Yego currently has the third best of all time but his 92.72m throw in 2015 would be in line to take top spot under the new criteria.
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Johnson has already lost his 200m world record to Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt and his 400m mark to South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk and could be about to lose a third.
Johnson was part of the US team that ran a time of 2:54.39 in the 4x400m relay at the 1993 World Championships. Harry Reynolds, Andrew Valmon and Quincy Watts made up the quartet.
Ethiopian long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele is a three-time Olympic and five-time world champion and also the 5,000m and 10,000m record holder. It's the former record that he might soon lose as his time of 12:37.55 was set in May 2004. It would go to countryman Dejen Gebremeskel who is fifth on the existing list with 12:46.81, nine seconds off Bekele's record.
Who else could become a new record holder?
American Sanya Richards-Ross would take one of the most controversial records, the women's 400m. That was set in 1985 at 47.60 seconds by Marita Koch, who competed for the former East Germany.
The next four athletes on the current list, including Sydney Olympic champion Cathy Freeman, who ran her best time at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, would also be erased from the record books, leaving Richards' 48.70 as the best time. Only three other runners in the top 20 set their time after 2005 - Allyson Felix in Beijing in 2015 (49.26), Russia's Yuliya Gushchina (49.28) in 2012 and her compatriot Antonina Krivoshapka (49.16) in 2012 - and Krivoshapka was this year revealed to have tested positive for steroid turinabol during the re-examination of samples from London 2012.
Kevin Young is the only man to have run the 400m hurdles in under 47 seconds. His winning time of 46.78secs at the 1992 Olympics could be replaced by fellow American Kerron Clement's 47.24 set in June 2005.
Only two women have broken into the top 20 times in the women's 800m since 2005, and if Jarmila Kratochvílova of the former Czechoslovakia loses her 1983 record of 1:53.28, Kenya's Pamela Jelimo, third on the list, would be promoted with her 2008 time of 1:54.01.
American Jackie Joyner-Kersee's heptathlon points record of 7,291 from her Olympic gold-medal performance in Seoul in 1988 would be replaced by Carolina Kluft's 7,032 points from 2007. Britain's Jessica Ennis-Hill is currently third on the list.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/39777772
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Adam Jones: Boston Red Sox apologise for racial abuse of Baltimore Orioles outfielder - BBC Sport
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2017-05-02
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The Boston Red Sox apologise to Adam Jones after the Baltimore Orioles outfielder was racially abused by fans at Fenway Park.
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Last updated on .From the section Baseball
The Boston Red Sox have apologised to Adam Jones after the Baltimore Orioles outfielder was racially abused by fans.
Jones, a five-time All Star, said he had a bag of peanuts thrown at him and was taunted with racist slurs during Baltimore's 5-2 win at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox said on Tuesday that they have "zero tolerance for such inexcusable behaviour".
"Our entire organisation and our fans are sickened by the conduct of an ignorant few," their statement read.
The Red Sox said they will continue to review Monday's events, while Boston mayor Marty Walsh said the comments are "not who we are as a city".
Major League Baseball commissioner Robert Manfred condemned the abuse, adding that any fans behaving in an offensive fashion would be removed from the stadium and subject to further action.
Jones told USA Today he had suffered similar abuse at Fenway Park before, but Monday's was the worst he had experienced.
"It's unfortunate that people need to resort to those type of epithets to degrade another human being. I'm trying to make a living for myself and for my family," he added.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/baseball/39785407
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'Why I went to court for my disability payments' - BBC News
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2017-05-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Debbie Neal has had a rare kidney disease for 10 years. One day, her disability benefits were stopped.
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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. Debbie Wilson went to court to win back her disability payments.
The number of people going to court to try to win back a key disability benefit is expected to continue to rise this year, a leaked letter seen by the BBC suggests. We follow one woman who took her case to tribunal.
Debbie Neal was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease 10 years ago. She takes dozens of pills each morning to manage her symptoms - sickness, high blood pressure and seizures.
She may well need a transplant in future.
For the moment, she has to empty excess fluid from a tube attached to her stomach, and replace it with new liquid from a bag, five times a day.
"It is a burden," she tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. "They say, 'Don't let it affect your life,' but you can only live your life to a point.
"I can't even remember what it was like not doing it."
Five times a day Debbie has to take in liquid via a tube in her stomach
Debbie lives on her own, and works part-time as a cleaner. For years, she has relied on disability living allowance (DLA) benefit payments - worth £80 a week - to help pay the bills.
But last year a letter came in the post, saying her payments had been stopped completely.
DLA is being replaced by another disability benefit scheme - the personal independence payment (Pip).
Debbie's case had been reassessed by a private company and it was decided she did not need the payments.
"I was scared. I thought, 'Why are they doing it?'" she explains.
"You sort of judge yourself differently. You think, 'Well [my condition] can't be that bad then.'
"But they can't be right when I'm doing this all the time," she says, sitting connected to the bag of fluids.
"I mean, do they have to do it? How much would it disrupt their life?"
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.
The government says overall it is spending more on disability benefits, and that Pip is a better system based on individual need than the "outdated" DLA scheme it replaced.
Official figures show more than 250,000 people have lost money in the switch from DLA, some with incurable diseases.
Debbie had been given an indefinite, or "life", payment under the old system.
After failing to get her case reviewed, she decided to go to a tribunal - in court - to ask a judge to overturn the decision.
The number of people taking the government to court over Pip has risen sharply in recent years as more people were switched to the new benefit.
The Victoria Derbyshire programme has seen a leaked letter to tribunal judges - from a senior judge working on benefit tribunals - suggesting the number is expected to increase again this summer.
Around 65% of people who take their case to tribunal are successful, higher than for most other types of benefit.
When Debbie's case was heard at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court, she was questioned for around an hour in front of a panel including a judge, a doctor and a disability specialist.
Debbie was awarded the standard daily living element of Pip for 10 years - an unusually long period of time without reassessment. Any money she had lost was backdated.
New figures seen by the Victoria Derbyshire programme suggest the amount of public money spent on Pip tribunals stands at around £1m a week.
Judges and others who sit on tribunals can lose their jobs if they speak to the media, but some were prepared to talk on the condition of anonymity.
"As a tribunal member we often have to start again when it comes to appeals," said one.
"We often see people who get nothing at all in the first assessment. Then we end up giving the maximum award possible and just can't understand [the original decision].
"It's pretty obvious assessors are rushed and they are just copying and pasting answers.
"Sometimes they don't even change the pronouns, so you get a woman being described as 'he' in the assessment document.
"Not all are like that but the problem is, if some can't be trusted, then it taints the whole system."
The government says since Pip was introduced, more than 2 million decisions have been made - of these 7% of cases have been appealed against and 3% overturned.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "We constantly review our processes to make sure they are working in the best way possible."
For Debbie, the whole experience was stressful and nerve-racking, as she puts it, but ultimately she feels it was worthwhile.
"For people who are out there, who are honest and who need the help, just don't give up," she says.
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39745403
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Premiership semi-final: Wasps 21-20 Leicester Tigers - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Josh Bassett's 78th-minute try sends Wasps to their first Premiership final in nine years thanks to a thrilling win over Leicester.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Josh Bassett scored a try two minutes from time as Wasps reached their first Premiership final in nine years with a thrilling victory over Leicester.
Kurtley Beale helped Wasps build a 10-point lead but Peter Betham's try saw Tigers three points down at half-time.
Leicester led when Telusa Veainu dived over, and Freddie Burns' kick had them four points up and defending bravely.
Thomas Young spurned a chance as Wasps pressed but Bassett scored in the corner to set up a final with Exeter.
Premiership player of the year Jimmy Gopperth, who kicked 11 points, missed the conversion but Dai Young's side saw out the closing seconds as Leicester fell at the semi-final stage for the fourth consecutive season.
Wasps, who finished top of the regular-season table, will face Exeter - who were second - at Twickenham on Saturday, May 27 at 14:30 BST for the right to become champions.
• None READ MORE: Exeter shock Sarries to reach second final in a row
Wasps have not lost a league match at the Ricoh Arena since December 2015 and were 18 points clear in the final table of their fourth-placed opponents.
However, they were moments from being stunned by Matt O'Connor and his Leicester team, with the home side's line-out a constant area of concern.
With the match in their control, Wasps conceded two quick-fire penalties before the influential Burns, who will join Bath this summer, launched a pinpoint pass for Betham to finish and level.
An injury forced Australia superstar Beale off early in the second half which further encouraged Leicester, who isolated the largely anonymous Christian Wade to edge in front through Veainu.
The favourites looked to have missed their chance when back-rower Young misplaced a pass to the onrushing Gopperth after breaking the line, but resilience from Guy Thompson and Joe Launchbury opened things up for Bassett to score the match-winning points.
At one stage it looked like being a dismal campaign for the 10-time Premiership winners, who sacked director of rugby Richard Cockerill in January after almost eight years at the helm.
There was a real possibility Leicester would miss out on the play-offs altogether for the first time in 13 seasons, but under O'Connor they put together enough wins to keep that streak intact.
Ahead of the semi-final with Wasps the players rallied around captain Tom Youngs, who led out his side just weeks after learning of his wife Tiffany's terminal illness.
The Lions and England hooker, in his 100th start in a Tigers shirt, was part of a much-improved performance from the Tigers pack as O'Connor's side came within two minutes of reaching the Premiership final at the end of a season of transition.
"We chucked the kitchen sink at them in the last 20 minutes - we had three or four opportunities and that last pass didn't quite go our way.
"I'm absolutely thrilled for everybody involved at the club. I'm really looking forward to Twickenham next week - we'll go and enjoy it and if we can get our hands on something, fantastic.
"Any team could've won that, let's be honest, but thankfully we got over right at the end and we have to enjoy tonight.
"You've got to give Leicester a lot of credit - I thought they were great."
"It's hard to describe really. We didn't deserve to lose, I thought we did enough.
"At stages I thought we were fantastic, for the majority of the game. They just asked too many questions of us.
"This year is about perspective. You dust yourself off and make sure you're better next year.
"I think results have shown over the past four or five weeks that there's a lot of growth in the individuals we've got."
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39938621
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Steak and ketchup: Homebody Trump ventures abroad - BBC News
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2017-05-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A reluctant traveller who misses his own bed, the president faces a gruelling challenge on a nine-day, five country tour.
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US & Canada
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Donald Trump sets foot on foreign soil on Saturday for the first time since he was elected, marking the start of a nine-day trip fraught with pitfalls for a president known to depend on home comforts.
An ambitious itinerary will take him from Saudi Arabia to Israel and on to Belgium, Italy, and the Vatican, with Nato and G7 summits towards the tail end of the trip.
George W Bush had visited two countries by this point in his first term and Barack Obama nine. But wary of spending as much as a night away from his own bed, Mr Trump has kept even domestic travel to a minimum.
Instead he has spent his presidential honeymoon mostly hunkered in the White House or his Mar-a-Lago resort, dogged by a deepening scandal over his campaign's ties to Russia.
As a candidate he told reporters he was unlikely to travel abroad much because America required his undivided attention, but the evidence suggests the 45th president has always been a homebody.
On the campaign trail he returned to his gilded Manhattan apartment after nearly every rally, by helicopter or private jet, and former business aides say he was always reluctant to sleep anywhere but a Trump-branded property.
"Trump is a man who likes to be on the couch with a good cheeseburger," Roger Stone, a long-time friend and former adviser, told Reuters during the campaign. "He likes being in his own bed, even if it means coming into (New York airports) Teterboro or LaGuardia after midnight."
But it's a long way from the Vatican to the White House. So, unable to bring Trump back to the US, the president's staff has made plans to bring the US to Trump. In Saudi Arabia he will be served steak with tomato ketchup - his favourite meal - alongside the local cuisine prepared by his hosts, the AP reported.
Mr Trump is said to dislike spending the night away from his own bed
The president passed up a typical first foray to Canada or Mexico - an easy option taken by every president since Reagan - and initial plans for a short trip to Europe ballooned into a nine-day, five-country tour taking in two major summits.
"This is an enormously complex undertaking, there are so many things that will be challenging for Trump it's headspinning," said Daniel Benjamin, who travelled extensively on Air Force One as Bill Clinton's foreign policy speechwriter.
"The first thing is simply the pace. If you look at how Trump spends his days in the White House, it seems to be an enormous amount of time watching TV and not much else. But these trips are punishing, he will be meeting an enormous number of people and it requires tremendous energy and focus - not his strong suit."
The president's team has reportedly attempted to build downtime into his schedule wherever possible, and instructed foreign delegations that he prefers short presentations with lots of visual aids.
His limited attention span is said to have already affected preparation for the trip. Aides threaded the president's own name through the paragraphs of a two-page briefing memo in order to hold his interest, the New York Times reported on Friday.
Preparations will also have been damaged by the Russia inquiries and the firing of FBI director James Comey, as well as a lack of senior leaders in place at the State Department, where the administration has failed to fill gaps under Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Trump's first trip: What's on the agenda in Saudi Arabia?
One of the president's first duties on this trip will be to deliver a speech on religion in Saudi Arabia - reportedly being drafted by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, the man behind the administration's misfired travel ban.
"Going to Saudi Arabia and talking about Islam is like going blindfold into a minefield, on a pogo stick," said Mr Benjamin.
"Speeches would normally be worked on for four to six weeks in advance, but this is an understaffed White House that has been focused on a fusillade of bad news. So unless they've discovered a secret for no sleep, they must be seriously distracted."
Mr Trump's team will be expected to respond from the road to breaking news and political developments at home and abroad, as well as shepherd the president around any potential own goals or gaffes in front of his hosts.
Presidents past have suffered indignities on foreign trips. George W Bush famously attempted to leave a press conference in China via a locked door, and had a shoe thrown at him at a press conference in Iraq. His father, George HW Bush, vomited into the lap of the Japanese prime minister.
Departing from protocol can lead to mishaps. President Obama was criticised for bowing to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Michelle Obama for hugging Queen Elizabeth. George W Bush - who had his fair share - gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel an ill-advised and unwelcome shoulder massage.
Mr Trump appeared to decline to shake hands with German chancellor in April, leaving her bemused
But if Mr Trump's team can steer him ably around these pitfalls, he does have a couple of things going for him. He is taking the majority of his senior staff and the first lady, which may offer a sense of stability.
Mrs Trump, who was born in Slovenia and lived in France and Italy before moving the US, is a more seasoned traveller. Mr Trump visited her home country once, and stayed just one evening. "At least I can say that I went," he later said.
He has also chosen to begin in a part of the world that will offer a warm reception. The president's hard line on Iran, along with other overtures, has endeared him to Saudi Arabia and to Israel, and both countries have a vested interest in good relations with the new administration.
"He is going to want it to be successful and they're going to want it to be successful, and my guess is it will be successful," said Stephen Hadley, a former national security adviser who travelled widely with George W Bush.
"The truth is that nobody is prepared for being president until they're the president. The flipside with Trump is that this is a guy who's been in the public eye for 30 years, who's very media savvy and who likes to be in the limelight."
Visiting the Pope "would be hard to get wrong", said Mr Hadley, but at the two summits the president may face testy exchanges with leaders aggrieved by his anti-EU proselytising, anti-refugee sentiment and high-handed demands for greater Nato payments. Mr Trump had what appeared to be a frosty meeting in Washington in April with Mrs Merkel, who he openly criticised during the campaign.
Added to that, this is a long and busy first trip for any president. "There is real risk that he will tire towards the end," said Mr Hadley.
"At these summit meetings you might have 28 heads of state and government and they all want to say something, and the president has to sit and listen to all of them. That will tax any world leader, let alone one who finds it hard to sit still."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39943948
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Maria Sharapova opts against Wimbledon wildcard request to enter qualifying - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Maria Sharapova opts to enter Wimbledon qualifying rather than request a wildcard entry into the main draw as she continues her comeback from a drugs ban.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Maria Sharapova will enter Wimbledon qualifying rather than request a main-draw wildcard as she continues her comeback from a 15-month drug ban.
The 30-year-old Russian was denied a wildcard for the French Open, with tournament officials saying her doping suspension counted against her.
Sharapova will have to win through three qualifying rounds to earn a spot in Wimbledon's 128-strong main draw.
Qualifying in Roehampton will be ticketed for the first time this year.
"Because of my improved ranking after the first three tournaments of my return, I will also be playing the qualifying of Wimbledon in Roehampton, and will not be requesting a wildcard into the main draw," said Sharapova in a statement on her website.
Sharapova is ranked 211th in the world - below the status needed for direct entry into the main draw - but her recent form is good enough to earn a place in qualifying.
Had she reached the Italian Open semi-finals last week, Sharapova would have climbed high enough to make the main draw automatically, but she retired in her second-round match.
Had she applied for a wildcard it would have been reviewed by a Wimbledon committee, with a decision to be announced on 20 June.
Wildcards are "usually offered on the basis of past performance at Wimbledon or to increase British interest".
The Women's Tennis Association criticised the basis for the French Open's decision, saying there are "no grounds to penalise any player beyond the sanctions set forth in the final decisions resolving these matters".
Sharapova herself tweeted in apparent response to Roland Garros' decision.
"If this is what it takes to rise up again, then I am in it all the way, everyday," she wrote.
"No words, games, or actions will ever stop me reaching my own dreams."
However, former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash was one of several prominent figures urging the All England Club not offer the 2004 champion a route straight back into the main draw.
Tickets to Wimbledon qualifying will be £5 each, with all funds going to the Wimbledon Foundation.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/39978771
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Reality Check: How many pensioners are living in poverty? - BBC News
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2017-05-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Labour's John McDonnell criticises Conservative plans to means-test the Winter Fuel Payment.
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Election 2017
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The claim: 1.7 million pensioners are living in poverty and a million in fuel poverty.
Reality Check verdict: The figure for pensioners who are defined as living in poverty in the UK is a bit higher than that at 1.9 million. There isn't a specific figure for the number of pensioners in fuel poverty in the UK but a million is not an unreasonable estimate based on the figures that we do have.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell spoke to BBC Radio 4's Today Programme on Friday about the Conservative manifesto pledge to means-test winter fuel payments.
The Conservatives have not given any details of how they would apply a means test or how much they would hope to save.
The winter fuel payment is between £100 and £300 (depending on your circumstances) paid to anyone receiving a state pension or people of pension age receiving certain other social security benefits.
In winter 2015-16 it was paid to 12.2 million people, 42,000 of whom lived elsewhere in Europe.
Mr McDonnell pointed out that since we don't know where the means test will fall, a number of less well-off pensioners could still lose the benefit.
He suggested it might just be people entitled to pension credit who would get the fuel allowance, although government sources have told the BBC that would not be the mechanism, and that there would be a consultation process to decide how it would be tested.
Pensioners with an income below £159.35 a week may claim pension credit - it's £243.45 for couples.
According to the latest figures from November there were 1.9 million people claiming pension credit, or 2.2 million if you include their partners, although there has been research suggesting that about one-third of people entitled to it are not claiming.
Mr McDonnell told the BBC that there were 1.7 million pensioners living in poverty and a million living in fuel poverty.
People count as living in relative poverty if they are in households with an income below 60% of the median household income. The median income is the one for which half of households have higher incomes and half have lower.
The government's preferred measure of pensioner poverty is after housing costs have been taken into account. Nearly three-quarters of pensioners live in homes that are owned outright (compared with roughly one in five of the working-age population) and so are less likely to have high housing costs.
On that measure, 16% of UK pensioners are in poverty, which is 1.9 million people.
There are also measures of absolute poverty, which may measure whether people are able to afford a basic lifestyle - about 8% of pensioners fall below the threshold for material deprivation.
To measure fuel poverty, the government looks at two things - how much you have to pay for fuel, and what your income is. You'll be considered to be in fuel poverty if your required fuel costs are above average and, were you to spend that amount, your remaining income would leave you below the official poverty line as explained above.
The latest government figures we have on fuel poverty relate to 2014 and suggest 2.38 million households in total in England were in fuel poverty.
There isn't a specific figure for the number of UK pensioners in fuel poverty, but according to Table 14 there were 621,000 households just in England in 2014 in which the oldest member was over 60. Age UK says this equates to more than 1 million individuals, although some of them will not yet be entitled to their state pension.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-39975357
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Inverness Caley Thistle: Richie Foran wants rid of 'bad apples' - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Boss Richie Foran says Inverness must rid themselves of "two or three bad apples" after their relegation to the Championship.
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Manager Richie Foran says Inverness Caley Thistle must rid themselves of "two or three bad apples" after they were relegated from the Premiership.
A win over Motherwell was not enough and Foran, who wants to stay on as manager, felt let down by some players.
The manager made reference to "two or three bad apples in the dressing room".
And he added: "I probably should have got rid of them in January. I stayed loyal to a lot of players and some of them didn't pay me back."
'I look forward to getting rid of those three'
Inverness won three of their last four Premiership matches as they fought to finish in the play-off spot.
But Hamilton Accies' 4-0 hammering of Dundee on Saturday ensured they will face Dundee United for a spot in the Premiership next term, while Inverness will play Championship football despite their 3-2 win over Well.
"It's obviously disappointment," Foran added. "The best clubs in the world get knocked down, it's how you rebuild and come back. I've told the players there are far worse off people in life.
"But it happens in football. It is not all rosy. It is not all about winning all the time. I've been part of relegation teams - you stay loyal, you rebuild. You get knocked down, you get back up again.
"You need to get rid of the two or three players you don't want, that haven't given 100%, and I look forward to getting rid of those three.
"Of the starting 11 today, I would hope to have at least 10 of those for next season [midfielder Greg Tansey is leaving to join Aberdeen]. I am very proud of the players and when we got the right team playing, we could finish well, with guys giving their all for the club."
Foran, who was a player at the time, stayed with Inverness when they were relegated from the top flight in 2009.
One year into a four-year contract, he hopes to do the same as manager.
"I want to be here next season," he said. "I will have a chat with the board probably on Monday or Tuesday and will find out what their thoughts are. But I am 100% behind this club and I expect to be here next season.
"There are changes to be made, on and off the field. Personally I want a smaller squad.
"I have got to look at myself as well. I haven't performed well enough. I have learned a heck of a lot this season - about myself, about players, the trust of people around you, and people you don't trust.
"One of my favourite seasons as a player was getting promoted, because we stuck together. I was part of the relegated team and helped them come straight back up, and I hope to do the same next season."
One player who will not be there is Tansey, who signed a pre-contract agreement with Aberdeen in March.
The midfielder, 28, was dismayed to leave on the back of relegation but felt he had given his all for the cause.
"It is never nice, but I can look myself in the mirror," said Tansey, who scored his seventh goal of the season in the win over Well, having scored nine last term.
"I gave all I could and have finished very similar to last season goals-wise. Sometimes things happen like that. You just have to move on as a professional footballer and get on with it.
"We probably thought we were too good to go down, but we have got to be at it every game."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39988271
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Pro12: Leinster 15-27 Scarlets - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Scarlets beat Leinster 27-15 in the Pro12 semi-final in Dublin despite having winger Steffan Evans sent off before half-time.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Scarlets produced a superb performance to beat Leinster in the Pro12 semi-final despite having winger Steffan Evans sent off before half-time.
Evans was red-carded for a tip tackle on Garry Ringrose in the 38th minute when Scarlets were leading 21-10.
Evans, back-row Aaron Shingler and scrum-half Gareth Davies scored fine tries for the visitors.
Centre Ringrose and number eight Jack Conan touched down for Leinster who miss out on the 27 May final in Dublin.
Munster host Ospreys in the other semi-final at 18:15 BST on Saturday.
The against-the-odds triumph by Scarlets at the RDS was the first time an away team had won in the Pro12 semi-finals.
Ospreys were the last Welsh club to win the competition in 2012.
The dismissal of Evans could result in the 22-year-old missing out on his first Wales cap as a suspension could rule him out of his country's June Tests against Tonga and Samoa.
Ringrose landed on his head and neck after having his legs lifted by Evans. The red card was shown following several video re-runs of the incident.
Evans watched from the sidelines as Scarlets brilliantly withheld Leinster's response after the interval.
Scarlets had started superbly, scoring first when Evans broke through on the right in the ninth minute.
Isa Nacewa's penalty got Leinster off the mark and then Ringrose burst in for a 24th-minute converted try which put the Irish side 10-7 up.
However, Leinster looked rattled when Scarlets touched down in the 26th and 30th minutes through Shingler and Davies.
Scarlets led 21-10 at the interval, but faced the prospect of playing the entire second half a man down.
They actually outscored their opponents in the second half as lacklustre Leinster could only manage a try by number eight Conan in the 64th minute.
Nacewa somehow missed the straightforward conversion, leaving the hosts 21-15 in arrears.
Scarlets sealed victory with two penalties by Liam Williams after the winger successfully took over from regular kicker Rhys Patchell who had been replaced.
Replacements: Kirchner for G Ringrose (74), Strauss for Tracy (71), Bent for Furlong (61), Toner for Triggs (51), Leavy for Ruddock (46), Gibson-Park for L McGrath (22), Healy for J McGrath (9)
Replacements: Parkes for Patchell (61), J Evans for G Davies (51), W Jones for R Evans (56), E Phillips for Elias (71), Kruger for Lee (65), Bulbring for Rawlins (65), van der Merwe for J Davies (80), Boyde for Barclay (63).
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39914448
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Fernando Alonso makes Indy 500 'fast nine' for pole position battle - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Fernando Alonso will compete for pole position at the Indy 500 on Sunday, but ex-F1 driver Sebastien Bourdais is injured in a high-speed crash.
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Fernando Alonso will compete for pole position at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday after making it through the first qualifying day seventh fastest.
The McLaren Formula 1 driver produced an impressive performance in his first competitive session on a US oval track.
Alonso, 35, is among the 'fast nine' who will dispute pole on Sunday.
The Spanish driver's average speed for his four-lap qualifying run on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was 230.034mph.
American Ed Carpenter, who ran later in the day, was fastest at 230.468mph. The shootout for pole is due to begin at 22:00 BST.
The perils of racing on high-speed American oval tracks were emphasised as former F1 driver Sebastien Bourdais suffered multiple fractures to his pelvis and a fracture to his right hip in a high-speed crash.
The Frenchman, 38, was fastest after the first two laps of his four-lap qualifying run but lost control exiting Turn One, smashed head-on into the barriers and rolled before coming to a rest.
IndyCar said in a statement that Bourdais was due to have surgery on his pelvis on Saturday evening at the Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital.
Dale Coyne Racing's team owner said in a statement on Saturday: "Sebastien is in good hands here at the hospital with the staff and now we just wait for him to recover."
Bourdais, who drove for F1 team Toro Rosso in 2008 and 2009, had been "awake and alert" immediately after the accident and had not lost consciousness.
Drivers are supposed to get several attempts at setting a time on the first day of qualifying at Indy, but a rain storm in the morning delayed running and in the end the session was cut short so that each driver only had one four-lap attempt.
Speaking before the conclusion of the session, Alonso said: "It was intense, definitely. With the weather conditions, we only had this attempt, so that creates a little bit of stress on everyone.
"I think we did OK, and put the laps together but I think there is more to come from the car. We have a little bit more speed than we showed today so hopefully we can put everything together.
"It felt difficult, it felt tricky. You are going very fast, you feel the degradation of the tyres. Lap one and lap four are very different in terms of the balance and you need to keep your concentration very high every corner, every lap.
"I need to keep learning, keep progressing. With this being my first qualifying, I saw there were things I could do differently, the preparation of the tyres, the laps, the consistency of the laps. I am happy with today's performance but I think tomorrow will be better."
Of the Britons, Ed Jones was quickest in 10th place, followed by Max Chilton in 12th, Jay Howard in 22nd, Jack Harvey in 25th and Pippa Mann in 30th.
Qualifying runs over two days this weekend, with Saturday defining the 'fast nine' drivers who compete for pole position on Sunday.
The remaining 24 drivers also qualify again on Sunday, but only to determine the grid positions from 10th to 33rd. Qualifying pace is determined by a driver's average speed over a four-lap run.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/39988462
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Premier League: Race for the Champions League and the Golden Boot - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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On Sunday the Premier League season finishes with all 20 clubs playing at 15:00 BST - catch up with the big issues on the final day.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal will compete for England's final two Champions League places as the Premier League season finishes on Sunday.
City can clinch third spot, and a place in the group stage, by winning at Watford, while Liverpool will secure at least fourth by beating Middlesbrough.
But Arsenal can sneak into the top four if one of their rivals slips up and they beat Everton at Emirates Stadium.
All 20 teams are in action, with every match kicking off at 15:00 BST.
So what are the big issues on the final day - and what is the latest team news?
• None Select your Premier League team of the season
• None Quiz: How well do you remember this season?
Manchester City need a point at Watford to guarantee a top-four finish - but winning and finishing third will take them straight into next season's Champions League group stages.
The team in fourth place will go into a two-legged play-off in August, while whoever finishes fifth will receive a place in the Europa League.
With just six points separating Southampton, in eighth, and 16th-placed Watford, several teams also have the opportunity to improve their league position - and increase their share of Premier League prize money.
Burnley, for instance, could finish as low as 17th, earning £7.6m in prize money, or as high as 11th, which would be worth £19m - a difference of £11.4m.
Harry Kane looks set to win the Premier League Golden Boot, awarded to the competition's leading scorer, thanks to his four goals in Tottenham's 6-1 victory at Leicester on Thursday.
Spurs go to relegated Hull on Sunday with Kane on 26 league goals for the season, two clear of Everton's Romelu Lukaku.
Belgium striker Lukaku and Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez, third in the standings on 23 goals, will face each other at Emirates Stadium as they look to catch Kane.
Chelsea get their prize - and chase history
No team has ever won 30 league matches in a 38-game top-flight season - but Chelsea will be the first to do so if they beat bottom club Sunderland at Stamford Bridge.
Antonio Conte's side secured the Premier League title - the club's fifth in 13 seasons - with a 1-0 victory at West Brom on 12 May, and will receive the trophy after Sunday's game.
Chelsea managed 29 league wins in a season, in 2004-05 and 2005-06, twice under Jose Mourinho.
Only two teams in the history of the English top division have achieved more - Tottenham won 31 games in 1960-61 and Liverpool 30 in 1978-79 - and they both did it in 42-match seasons.
Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Hull are all leaving the Premier League after finishing in the bottom three, but there will be individual farewells too.
Chelsea captain John Terry is set to end his 22-year stay at Stamford Bridge by playing his 717th game for the club.
At Watford, manager Walter Mazzarri will take charge for the final time, with his departure having been confirmed on Wednesday.
A number of other players may yet be turning out for their clubs for the final time, with the futures of Wayne Rooney, Ross Barkley, Romelu Lukaku, Michael Keane and Gylfi Sigurdsson among those in doubt.
One question that will not be answered tomorrow concerns the future of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger - who is out of contract this summer.
Asked on Friday if he would extend his 21-year reign, Wenger said only that his future would be decided at a board meeting to follow the FA Cup final against Chelsea on 27 May.
All games kick-off at 15:00 BST on Sunday
Aaron Ramsey is fit for Arsenal despite limping off against Sunderland in midweek with a thigh strain.
Defender Laurent Koscielny could again miss out because of a calf problem, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is sidelined by a hamstring injury.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman has no new injury concerns.
It remains to be seen whether the match will mark the final Everton appearance of Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley, whose futures at the club are in doubt.
Burnley could welcome back Michael Keane, who has missed their past two games because of a calf injury.
Fellow centre-back Ben Mee is again set to miss out with a shin problem.
West Ham are without centre-back Winston Reid, who has had surgery to treat a knee injury, so 18-year-old Declan Rice may deputise.
Fellow defender Angelo Ogbonna, who returned to the match-day squad last weekend after three months out, is also available but lacks match fitness.
Chelsea captain Gary Cahill and top scorer Diego Costa are among the players likely to be recalled by the champions after Antonio Conte made nine changes for Monday's win over Watford.
John Terry could made his 717th appearance for the Blues in his last game at Stamford Bridge as a player.
Relegated Sunderland will be without 11 injured players.
Defender Lamine Kone and midfielder Didier Ndong are the latest absentees because of dead legs.
Hull will be without Evandro, Harry Maguire and Abel Hernandez through injury.
They join Will Keane, Lazar Markovic, Ryan Mason, David Meyler and Moses Odubajo on the sidelines.
Tottenham await news on whether full-backs Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker will be fit to return.
Christian Eriksen is likely to be recalled after being rested against Leicester on Thursday, while Filip Lesniak could start.
Leicester are again without defender Robert Huth, who is nursing a foot injury, but Andy King could return from a hamstring problem.
Bournemouth could welcome back midfielders Dan Gosling and Andrew Surman after their respective calf and knee problems.
They are definitely without the injured Benik Afobe, while Lewis Cook is away with the England Under-20 side.
Liverpool are hopeful forward Roberto Firmino will be fit to play on Sunday despite a muscle problem.
If he is unavailable then the Reds could select the same starting line-up that began the 4-0 win at West Ham.
Jurgen Klopp's side need a win to guarantee qualification for next season's Champions League.
Middlesbrough boss Steve Agnew may again be without Daniel Ayala, Gaston Ramirez and Victor Valdes because of injury.
Manchester United goalkeeper Joel Pereira is expected to be given his Premier League debut on Sunday.
Demi Mitchell, Angel Gomes, Josh Harrop and Scott McTominay could make their senior bows, while Paul Pogba and Timothy Fosu-Mensah will play.
Marouane Fellaini and Chris Smalling have minor injuries and may be rested for the Europa League final.
James Tomkins should be fit for Crystal Palace after an ankle problem but Yohan Cabaye is a doubt because of a foot injury.
Andros Townsend will miss the game because of an Achilles injury, while Scott Dann is expected to be absent with a knee problem.
Southampton's Shane Long will miss out after breaking a bone in his foot at Middlesbrough last week.
Cedric Soares faces a fitness test after limping off in midweek and Ryan Bertrand is also a doubt.
Stoke's Marko Arnautovic is doubtful because of an elbow problem sustained in last weekend's defeat by Arsenal.
Ibrahim Afellay is still recuperating from knee surgery last month, while Stephen Ireland remains out with a long-term leg injury.
Swansea City have no new injury concerns for Sunday's game and Paul Clement could name the same side that beat Sunderland.
Striker Borja Baston faces a fitness test but Wayne Routledge is back in contention after hernia trouble.
West Brom are likely to be without winger Matt Phillips again as he is still nursing a hamstring injury.
Salomon Rondon and Gareth McAuley should both recover from respective hamstring and thigh problems.
Watford could be without up to six central defenders, with Adrian Mariappa (knee) and Miguel Britos (calf) facing late fitness tests.
Sebastian Prodl is suspended while Christian Kabasele, Craig Cathcart and Younes Kaboul are all out injured.
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany should be fit despite being substituted during the 3-1 win over West Brom.
John Stones has also recovered from a groin strain and could replace Nicolas Otamendi in defence.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39986445
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The princess, the palace and the shrinking royal line - BBC News
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2017-05-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Why an engagement is reigniting debate about women and the Japanese monarchy.
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Asia
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Princess Mako is getting married, but the law says she must lose her royal title
When the Japanese emperor's granddaughter marries law firm employee Kei Komuro next year, her life will undergo a dramatic change.
Princess Mako, 25, will lose her title and leave the cloistered imperial household to live with her husband in the outside world.
She will receive a one-off payment, after which the couple will be expected to provide for themselves. She will vote and pay tax, shop and do her own chores. If the couple have children, they will not be royal.
But her departure means one fewer to carry out official duties. It is also reigniting debate about the shrinking monarchy, the role women play in it and future succession.
Emperor Akihito, 83, has already indicated that he wants to step down. As the female royals get married, the monarchy is expected to contract further.
There is only one boy among the younger royals, 10-year-old Prince Hisahito. If nothing changes, the future of the imperial institution will rest solely with him.
"If you think about it there is a possibility that all but Prince Hisahito will leave the royal household in 10 to 15 years time," said Isao Tokoro, professor emeritus at Kyoto Sangyo University.
"I think it [the engagement] gave us an opportunity to think about the problem. The system should be reformed urgently so we don't lose more members from the Imperial family."
Under Japan's Imperial Household Law of 1947, princesses who marry commoners are removed from the royal family.
That same law slashed the number of Japanese royals, removing 11 out of 12 branches of the imperial family as a cost-cutting measure. That means there are no royal males for current princesses to marry.
Emperor Hirohito's daughters lost their titles under the legislation, as did the current crown prince's sister, Sayako, when she married urban planner Yoshiki Kuroda in 2005.
Her transition from closeted princess to commoner attracted considerable attention. Reports described how she learned to drive and practised shopping independently ahead of her wedding.
The couple used her lump-sum payment (reportedly $1.3m; £1m) to buy a house and she is now a high priestess of the Ise Grand Shrine.
So far Princess Mako's engagement has not been officially announced. But the young woman seems well-equipped for her new status, with two spells of independent living under her belt.
While studying at Tokyo's International Christian University, she spent nine months as an exchange student at Edinburgh University in 2012-13.
A year later, she lived in halls of residence at Leicester University as she completed her Master's in Art Museum and Gallery Studies. She is currently a researcher at a museum in Tokyo and is studying for her doctorate.
"Princess Mako has been the embodiment of an Imperial family member who is close to the public," the Yomiuri newspaper said in an editorial. "Being an amiable person, she will surely build a cheerful home."
But she will be missed. According to the Asahi newspaper, Princess Mako is currently patron of two organisations, has travelled overseas as a representative of the royal family and has attended important imperial functions.
Her official duties must now be shared among a dwindling pool of royals.
At the moment there are 19 members of the royal family. Seven are unmarried women who must leave when they wed. Eleven (four couples and three widows) are over 50. That leaves Prince Hisahito.
He is the youngest of four males in line to the throne. Three of them - Crown Prince Naruhito, his brother Prince Akishino (Fumihito) and Prince Hitachi (Masahito), the current emperor's younger brother, are highly unlikely to have more children.
That could potentially leave Prince Hisahito (and whatever family he might go on to have) with sole responsibility for performing official duties and continuing the imperial line.
Prince Hisahito, pictured with his parents on his first day at school in April 2013, is the youngest heir to the throne
At the moment, a law allowing Emperor Akihito to abdicate is being prepared. In its editorial, the Yomiuri newspaper said the "creation of female imperial branches should be incorporated" into the law and discussed as a "realistic measure for maintaining the number of Imperial family members".
But that is unlikely to go down well with Japanese conservatives.
"This is all rooted in the concept of the unbroken male blood line - the notion that what makes Japan special is that it has an imperial line that has been passed down through a male lineage, if you believe the mythical version, ever since the Emperor Jimmu in 660 BC," says Professor Ken Ruoff, director of the Centre for Japanese Studies at Portland State University and an expert on the Japanese monarchy.
"This is what the nationalists seize upon and they actually will say things like if the male bloodline is broken, then Japan ceases to exist," he says. "Female blood doesn't count."
Japan has had female rulers in the past, though not for about 250 years. In general they were seen as place-holders until the throne reverted to a male member of the family (though there was one case of an empress passing the throne to her daughter to act as regent for a male heir).
Before the 1947 legal change, the royal family was much bigger, meaning that if one branch could not produce a male heir there were options elsewhere, but that is no longer the case.
In the period before Prince Hisahito was born, when there was no younger-generation heir, there was considerable debate about changing the law to allow women on the throne.
The prime minister of the day, Junichiro Koizumi, said he backed the move. But after Prince Hisahito's birth, discussions stalled.
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Japan's current leader, Shinzo Abe, is a more right-wing figure whose speaks often of national pride, tradition and patriotism.
"Prime Minister Abe has spent a lot of time talking about his desire to make Japan a society that shines for women but he's got this far-right faction that absolutely opposes changing the law to allow a woman to sit on the throne," says Prof Ruoff.
One other idea is restoring royal status to branches that lost it in 1947, providing more male heirs.
Mr Abe, the Yomiuri said, backed this in the past. "It is hard to say the idea has won broad support," the paper pointed out.
But there is public support for allowing women to inherit the throne. According to a Kyodo News survey in early May, 86% supported allowing a woman emperor and 59% supported allowing an emperor from the female blood-line.
This potentially leaves the government out of step with popular sentiment.
Whatever happens, the future looks bright for Princess Mako. Of more concern, perhaps, is whether a 10-year-old boy has broad enough shoulders to carry the Japanese monarchy onwards.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-39961749
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Advice for Trump on his first trip overseas - BBC News
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2017-05-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Trump's first foreign trip comes after 120 days hunkered down at home - but is he up to the challenge?
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US & Canada
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Trump is set for his first foreign trip, after a honeymoon period hunkered down at home
Before Donald Trump became president he would often spend days holed up in Trump Tower in New York, shuttling in a private elevator between his penthouse apartment and office.
And it's been a similar story since he moved into the White House, where he divides his time between the East and West Wings, leaving only to spend weekends at Trump-branded resorts.
As a candidate he foreshadowed a homebody presidency - touting himself as the "America First" leader who would shun foreign travel to fix the "carnage" in the US.
But now he's on his way to Saudi Arabia, to Israel, to Rome, to Brussels and Sicily, with a hugely ambitious agenda. The two things are not at odds, HR McMaster, the president's National Security Adviser, told me.
"President Trump understands that America First does not mean American alone," he said.
"To the contrary, prioritising American interests means strengthening alliances and partnerships that help us extend our influence and improve the security of the American people."
Youth hold their prayer shawls as they stand in front of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayers site in Jerusalem's Old City
Mr Trump will visit the centres of the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths on this trip - a first for any president.
So how can he avoid the pitfalls that have befallen his interactions at home?
General Wesley Clark, the former Supreme Allied Commander of Nato, had a few tips for a president who struggles to grasp foreign policy and stay on-message.
Find out which foreign leaders President Trump has met or called since taking office, as well as the countries he has mentioned in his tweets.
"Say the right things, don't say the wrong things, and maintain composure," he says.
"Some unexpected things are likely to happen, keep discipline, have the right frame of reference when you talk and say as little as possible when you don't know things."
Among the foreign-policy goals Mr Trump has set himself, the most ambitious is bringing peace to the Middle East - a geo-political conundrum that has stymied far more experienced presidents than this one.
But he seems to be confident. "It's something that I think is frankly maybe not as difficult as people have thought over the years," he said during a recent meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
I asked Mr Trump's British-educated counter-terrorism adviser Sebastian Gorka whether the celebrity real-estate mogul-turned-president had the right qualifications for such a task.
"We have in the commander-in-chief, in the president, truly the master of the deal," he said.
"This is a man who spent 50 years negotiating - if there's anyone who can bring stability and peace it is Donald Trump."
More on the Trump presidency
So on the one hand you have a deal over the price of a piece of real estate in New York. On the other, intractable disputes that go back thousands of years over the right of return of refugees, final status for Jerusalem, whether to negotiate with Hamas, and on.
"I don't think it's not just a question of doing real estate deals," said Mr Gorka. "This is a man who didn't just do deals, he was monumentally successful in the hardest market in the world - Manhattan real estate. And at the end of the day, deals are about human beings."
In reality, Mr Trump might find the Middle East a harder market than New York. But even if he falls short of fixing the Middle East, the president's first foreign trip could serve as a welcome distraction from his woes at home.
There will likely be a warm reception waiting for him in Israel and Saudi Arabia, where he has two key things going for him: he isn't Barack Obama, who was widely disliked there by the end of his presidency, and he has taken a hard line on Iran.
Families of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails demonstrate in Jerusalem as hundreds of the detainees entered the second month of a hunger strike.
The trip might also allow Mr Trump to divert the narrative from the Russia scandal, said Ron Christie, a Republican strategist who served in the Bush White House.
"The minute that he leaves the United States on that plane the entire focus would be what's going on abroad - what the president says and how he acts, as opposed to some of the domestic issues that are dogging him here at home.
"This is a good opportunity for him to turn the page and get a fresh start."
And if anyone needs a fresh start it's Donald Trump. The way the first 120 days of his presidency have gone, he might just find the warm air of Saudi Arabia and Israel a refreshing break from the fetid swamp of Washington DC.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39943951
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More Pritt Stick than Pippa: Why millennials want a DIY wedding - BBC News
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2017-05-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Pippa Middleton's big day might have cost £250,000, but spending on the dress, the ring and the event is falling among most young brides.
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Business
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Pippa Middleton's engagement ring cost a reported £250,000, and the glass wedding marquee an estimated £65,000-£100,000
When Pippa Middleton marries James Matthews on Saturday every feature of the day will be realised in exquisite detail, with no expense spared. But is Pippa out of step with the times?
While a glass marquee might be nice for some, her fellow millennial brides are turning their backs on horse-drawn carriages in favour of homemade decorations and a few drinks at the local pub.
Costing somewhere between a new car and a house deposit, the average wedding day in 2016 spiralled to an average of £27,000 outside London and £38,000 inside the capital, according to wedding planning site Bridebook.
But some couples are only spending a fraction of that amount, and say their day is just as special.
Katherine Varley, 33, married husband Josh, 31, in a dress she bought for £40 from Brixton market.
The couple met at the primary school where they worked. With Josh on a working holiday visa from Australia, to avoid being apart they were married six months later on a budget of £5,000.
After their private ceremony at Wandsworth Town Hall in south-west London, they threw a party at the Dukes Head Pub in nearby Putney, with 70 guests.
To keep costs low, the couple enlisted friends and family to help with their big day. A family friend baked their wedding cake while Katherine's cousin did their photography. Another friend bought the flowers in bulk from New Covent Garden Market, while the couple made their own invitations and thank you cards.
"I have witnessed close friends planning large weddings with much greater budgets and it has shocked me by how carried away it can get financially. They have all been stunning and truly wonderful days but when you compare those budgets to potentially being deposits towards buying a home, it seems unnecessary," says Katherine.
Katherine changed outfit for the big party that she and Josh threw after their wedding ceremony
The average cost of a wedding dress has fallen 25% year-on-year, according to online fashion retailer Lyst, from £1,329 to a still-not-insignificant £832.
Engagement rings - which according to convention should cost between one and three months' salary - have seen spending fall to £1,080, an average of 19% less than a decade ago, according to insurer Protect Your Bubble.
Pippa's sister Kate may have driven the trend for coloured stones rather than a traditional diamond, thanks to her famous sapphire engagement ring.
Meanwhile, 2017 has become the year of the High Street wedding dress. Whistles, Asos, Topshop and Dorothy Perkins have all launched bridal ranges this year, joining the likes of Phase Eight and Monsoon.
Karen Whybrow, owner of vintage and bohemian bridal boutique Rock the Frock, thinks couples are dispensing with tradition to throw a wedding that reflects their personalities - and doesn't cost them their house deposit.
"In the six years I have been in the industry things have changed massively. Brides have become much more individual in their tastes - they don't want the traditional anymore. It's been led by the desire to have something a bit more personal, now that DIY weddings have become a lot more popular."
James Veitch gets creative making decorative jars for his wedding
She also notes that brides no longer expect their parents to foot the bill.
"A lot more brides now tend to pay for their dresses themselves. Their mum or dad might pay when they were in their early 20s, but now our brides are usually in their late 20s to early 30s and they have their own careers."
Imogen Veitch, 27, spent just £200 on her wedding outfit, buying a wedding dress from China on eBay. She and husband James also went down the DIY route to keep their wedding within a strict £6,000 budget.
The pair made all of the wedding decorations themselves and created their own floral centrepieces. They married at Sandy Balls holiday park in Hampshire at a cost of £4,000.
Imogen and James on their wedding day
"We knew we had limited savings and didn't want it all to go on one day," says Imogen. "We aren't extravagant people, so if we had an extravagant wedding it would have felt forced and uncomfortable. Both of us have said we honestly wouldn't change a single thing about our wedding day. It was the best day our lives.
"As it is socially accepted that weddings are expensive I think lots of couples just bite the bullet and go all out, some even taking out loans. And if you are spending £20,000 or more on a wedding I can see how people get so stressed out. You need everything to go perfectly or it seems a waste of money. But I can say we were honestly stress-free for the entire planning process and on the day."
While these couples say they would not have changed a thing, for those with more cash to play with a wedding is their chance to realise some more extravagant ideas.
Daisy Peirce, 28, effectively had two weddings when she married husband Dan, one in the day at Childerley Hall in Cambridgeshire with 60 guests, and then an evening reception at her parents' home with a further 80. She estimates the combined cost was around £50,000.
"We didn't have any budget. We were fortunate that our parents were paying for the wedding so if we wanted to do something, we could," Daisy says.
Having a big girly wedding wasn't on the agenda. Instead, food was a big focal point of the day for the couple, who both work in catering. Their evening reception included a street food market, with six different trucks offering everything from fish and chips to ice cream and crepes.
"The ceremony was a bit of a blur but I wouldn't change anything," says Daisy. "There were things we definitely wanted to include and we didn't have to sacrifice anything so it definitely took the pressure off."
As part of the "experience generation", even the wealthiest young brides and grooms don't want their day to be all about spectacle, says Sarah Haywood. As one of the world's most influential wedding planners, her international clientele include aristocrats and "people of note" for whom she has booked headline acts such as Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez.
"The millennial generation are certainly far more concerned with the guest experience than they are with showing off, which is a wonderful change to how it was 10 years ago. They are very concerned about the food and drink and the flow of the event, which is as important to them as what it all looks like."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39966035
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Arsenal: Stan Kroenke 'committed long term' despite Alisher Usmanov bid - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke is committed to Arsenal in the long term, sources tell the BBC.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke is committed to the club in the long term, sources have told the BBC.
Kroenke has shown no interest in a £1bn bid by Uzbek-born Russian Alisher Usmanov to take full control of the Gunners.
It is understood the American's ambition is to win the Premier League and make Arsenal a force in Europe.
Gunners legend Ian Wright says the club needs the spending power of a billionaire such as Usmanov, adding that "something has to change".
"He has put in the bid and it is great news," former striker Wright told BBC Radio 5 live.
"Something has to change, whether it is the manager Arsene Wenger or whether it is the board upstairs."
Arsenal need other teams to slip up in Sunday's final round of matches to avoid missing out on Champions League qualification for the first time in 21 years.
Wenger, who has been manager since 1996, has been the target of protests from some of the club's fans.
The 67-year-old Frenchman's future at the club will be decided at a board meeting after Arsenal meet Chelsea in the FA Cup final on 27 May.
"It is not looking good for Arsenal at the moment," Wright told 5 live's Friday Football Social.
"They may be out of the Champions League - something they are not used to - and they have to beat one of the best Chelsea sides I have seen for a long time in the FA Cup final to try and get something from the season.
"Where are they going to sign players from? Who is going to want to come to Arsenal instead of anywhere else in London? At the moment, they are not an attractive proposition.
"We are already missing out on the managers we are supposedly interested in and we are going to start missing out on the kind of players that are going to be available and want to play in the Premier League.
"Top players may want to leave. Too much is up in the air.
"Something has got to happen for Arsenal to go to that next level. This bid will galvanise the fans."
Metal magnate Usmanov owns 30% of Arsenal's shares but is not part of the board or decision-making at the club.
Usmanov said in April that Kroenke must "bear huge responsibility" for the club's failures on the pitch.
The Gunners' London rivals Chelsea won the Premier League this season - the fifth time they have done so under the ownership of billionaire Roman Abramovich, who has spent heavily since taking control in 2003.
"Abramovich is a winner," added Wright, who scored 185 goals in 288 appearances for Arsenal.
"Stan Kroenke sees it as another asset. If you look at all his other franchises, they are doing the same. They are mediocre, with poor attendances and aren't achieving anything as a team. That is where Arsenal are at the moment.
"We need an owner like Abramovich, who wants to win. I would swap Arsenal's last 10 years for what Chelsea have done."
Alisher Usmanov has wanted control of Arsenal for some time.
A long-standing critic of the current board, he has attempted to curry favour with fans by calling for greater investment by Stan Kroenke. He believes the team should be performing at a much higher level.
Now, with questions swirling over Arsene Wenger's future and with a lack of Champions League football next season looking inevitable, he has made his move.
However, he has been rebuffed.
The big question is whether this was a final throw of the dice by Usmanov? And, with seemingly no prospect of Kroenke selling, will he turn his purchasing power towards another Premier League club?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39981954
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Treating children with electroconvulsive therapy - BBC News
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2017-05-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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ECT has recently been used in some countries as a treatment for children who severely self injure.
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Magazine
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Electroconvulsive therapy - in which a small electric current is passed through the brain causing a seizure - is now used much less often than it was in the middle of the last century. But controversially it is now being used in the US and some other countries as a treatment for children who exhibit severe, self-injuring behaviour.
Seventeen-year-old Jonah Lutz is severely autistic. He's also prone to outbursts of violent behaviour, in which he sometimes hits himself repeatedly.
His mother, Amy, is convinced that if it wasn't for electroconvulsive therapy - ECT - he would now have to be permanently institutionalised for his own safety, and the safety of those around him.
The use of ECT featured famously in the 1975 Hollywood movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, starring Jack Nicholson. Set in a mental institution, the Oscar-winning film cemented most people's view of ECT as barbaric.
But Amy describes the modern version of the therapy as little short of miraculous.
"ECT has been transformative for Jonah's life and for our life," she says. "We went for a period of time - for years and years - where Jonah was raging, often multiple times a day, ferociously. The only reason he's able to be at home with us, is because of ECT."
It's estimated that one in 10 severely autistic children like Jonah violently attack themselves, often causing serious injuries ranging from broken noses to detached retinas. No-one really knows why. Some theories link self-injuring behaviour to anxiety caused by an overload of sensory signals, others to frustration as the autistic child struggles to communicate.
Amy and husband Andy tried countless traditional treatments using medication or behavioural therapy before finally turning to ECT - a treatment that first began to be used on children like Jonah a decade ago, in parts of the US. Each session alleviates his symptoms for up to 10 days at a time - but it's not a cure.
Jonah's doctor, Charles Kellner, ECT director at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, is so convinced it's effective and safe that he allows Amy to witness the procedure and the BBC to film it.
Prof Kellner says the best way to overcome the negative image of ECT portrayed in popular culture is "to show people what modern ECT is really like, and show them the results with patients like Jonah".
Jonah is one of a few hundred children in the US to receive the controversial treatment. He has had about 260 ECT sessions since the age of 11.
"There's a lot of interesting new neural imaging research showing that ECT actually reverses some of the brain problems in the major psychiatric illnesses," Kellner explains, as he makes final checks on the wiring around Jonah's temples.
"We don't know exactly why it works in people with autism and superimposed mood disorders, but we think it probably reregulates the circuits in the brain that are deregulated because of autism."
The modern treatment is carried out under general anaesthetic, with muscle relaxants to prevent violent convulsions. At the flick of a switch, Kellner administers just under an amp of electric current in a series of very short pulses.
Jonah's body begins to shake as the current induces a seizure - ECT specialists think this may "reset" the malfunctioning brain. The convulsions last for about 30 seconds.
Amy is unperturbed by what she sees.
"If a doctor says they need to cut open your child's chest to conduct life-saving surgery, you would allow it. That is more barbaric yet we accept it," she says.
Within an hour Jonah is fully alert. He and his mother head out of the hospital and on to the New York street to find an ice cream parlour.
Because the long-term effects of ECT on children exhibiting self-injuring behaviour are unknown, in some countries - and in a handful of US states - the treatment is not allowed. The UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence doesn't recommend ECT for use on under 18s.
But ECT is a well-established treatment in adults for severe, often life-threatening depression. Its use is controversial, though, with memory loss the main acknowledged side-effect. What's disputed is the scale of the memory loss. Studies carried out by ECT doctors suggest lapses are mostly short-term and that memory function soon returns to normal. But opponents of ECT cite surveys claiming to show that more than half of patients suffer serious long-term memory loss.
"It's a traumatic brain injury," says Dr Peter Breggin, a psychiatrist who has long fought the psychiatric establishment, and campaigns for a total ban on ECT. "The electricity not only travels through the frontal lobes - that's the seat of intelligence, and thoughtfulness and creativity and judgment - it also goes through the temporal lobes - the seat of memory. You are damaging the very expression of the personality, the character, the individuality, and even, if you believe in it, the expression of the soul."
For former US Army intelligence officer Chad Calvaresi and his wife Kaci, the potential benefits of ECT far outweigh the risks for their 11-year-old, violently autistic daughter, Sofija.
"When she was aggressing towards me, my instinct as a mom was to grab her and hold her and hug her and wait," Kaci explains. "But she got so big and strong that I couldn't do that."
Sofija spent much of her early life suffering neglect and abuse in a Serbian orphanage, before Chad and Kaci adopted her in 2009. They were determined to give her a better life in America, but in 2016 they suffered the heartbreak of institutionalising her again - this time for her own safety.
"She beat herself so bad her nose was busted and bleeding, her lips were busted open and bleeding," Chad explains. "She gave herself a black eye. I was scared of my own daughter."
For six months Sofija received medication and therapy as an in-patient at the renowned Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, but there was little improvement. During her frequent violent episodes it often took three highly trained care staff - all wearing protective clothing and shielding Sofija with padded mats - to prevent her injuring herself or others.
After exhausting all other options, Sofija's doctors finally agreed to Chad and Kaci's request to give her ECT. Just a month later her behaviour had improved enough for her to return home.
We caught up with the family after six months and more than 30 treatments, and the transformation was remarkable. Sofija was swimming in the family pool and playing with her siblings, and while her violent episodes hadn't disappeared completely, her parents felt they were less intense and more manageable. Sofija was also receiving home schooling in maths and English. "She's sharp as a tack," says Kaci. "The only memory loss that Sofija has had from ECT is she forgets the procedure has actually happened."
ECT for severely self-injuring autistic children like Sofija is still in very limited use, and without a long-term scientific study it remains highly controversial. But even though Sofija is likely to need ECT every week for the foreseeable future, her parents have no regrets - they have their daughter back home.
"It's overwhelming if I think about it," says Kaci, "but what future did she have without it? My hope is she doesn't need it for the rest of her life but at this point I see it like a diabetic needing insulin. It keeps her alive. Literally it keeps her alive and it makes it possible for us to be able to have her in our home living life with our family and enjoying Sofija."
The Royal College of Psychiatrists says ECT is a "safe and effective treatment for severe depression" in adults but acknowledges on its website that some dispute this:
Many doctors and nurses will say that they have seen ECT relieve very severe depressive illnesses when other treatments have failed. Bearing in mind that 15% of people with severe depression will kill themselves, they feel that ECT has saved patients' lives, and therefore the overall benefits are greater than the risks. Some people who have had ECT will agree, and may even ask for it if they find themselves becoming depressed again.
Some see ECT as a treatment that belongs to the past. They say that the side-effects are severe and that psychiatrists have, either accidentally or deliberately, ignored how severe they can be. They say that ECT permanently damages both the brain and the mind, and if it does work at all, does so in a way that is ultimately harmful for the patient. Some would want to see it banned.
You can watch the Our World documentary "My Child, ECT and Me" at 21:30 on Sunday on the BBC News Channel, on BBC World at these times and on the BBC iPlayer.
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39961472
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Fernando Alonso: Indianapolis 500 pressure is not a factor - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Fernando Alonso says he does not feel "much pressure" as qualifying approaches at the Indianapolis 500 on Saturday.
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Last updated on .From the section Formula 1
Fernando Alonso says he does not feel "much pressure" before Indianapolis 500 qualifying on Saturday.
The McLaren driver, who is missing the Monaco Grand Prix for next Sunday's race, impressed with the fourth best time on 'Fast Friday', when drivers prepare for qualifying.
Spaniard Alonso was fifth in the list of times done without a slipstream from another car, as will be the case in qualifying on Saturday and Sunday.
His best lap was 231.827mph.
France's Sebastien Bourdais, an ex-Formula 1 driver, was quickest on 233.116mph.
Alonso's speed was 6mph faster than he had gone before during the week of practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but he said the extra pace was not noticeable when you are driving.
"You always want an extra mile to be able to go faster," the 35-year-old said.
Qualifying runs over two days this weekend, with Saturday defining the 'fast nine' drivers who can compete for pole position on Sunday.
The remaining 24 drivers also qualify again on Sunday, but only to determine the grid positions from 10th to 33rd. Qualifying pace is determined by a driver's average speed over a four-lap run.
Alonso, who has never raced on an oval track before, said: "It is about doing a good four laps. Hopefully I will be in the first nine and wait for Sunday for the real final classification.
"Saturday is another day, but for me, in my case, it is another learning day. We'll see what we can do but there's not much pressure for tomorrow."
'We expected him to be up to speed quickly'
While the two-time F1 champion was matter-of-fact about his performance, regular Indy drivers have been impressed by him.
Japan's Takuma Sato, a former F1 driver who moved to IndyCars seven years ago and Alonso's team-mate at Andretti Autosport, said: "Very impressive. Kind of what we expected.
"Fernando is one of the best drivers in the world and having had this much practice time and this much support, we expected him to be up to speed very quickly.
"This was something new to him again, full [turbo] boost. But he did drive extremely well and his feedback is proper feedback.
"He is learning but he can feel [the car] in the same ways. It's nice to work with him in the same team and it's extra attention for the team."
Racing legend Mario Andretti - the 1978 F1 champion, 1969 Indy 500 winner and father of Alonso's team boss Michael Andretti - said: "He's looking really, awfully good. I'm not surprised."
The top five fastest times on Friday included four drivers who have experience in F1.
Besides Alonso and Bourdais, who drove for Toro Rosso in 2007-8, former BAR and Honda driver Sato was third quickest and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, who won five grands prix in a five-year career with Williams and McLaren, was fifth fastest.
In the list of times without a 'tow', Bourdais was second behind 2014 Indy winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, with former F1 driver and 2016 Indy winner Alex Rossi third from Brazilian Indy veteran Tony Kanaan and Alonso.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39984008
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Celtic 2-0 Heart of Midlothian - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Leigh Griffiths and Stuart Armstrong score as champions Celtic beat Hearts to complete an unbeaten Scottish Premiership season.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Champions Celtic beat Hearts to become the first team to complete a Scottish top-flight season unbeaten for 118 years.
Leigh Griffiths and Stuart Armstrong secured a 34th win of the campaign for Brendan Rodgers' side, who were then presented with the Premiership trophy.
The feat was last achieved by Rangers in 1898-99, over an 18-game season.
And Celtic join Arsenal (2003-04) and Juventus (2011-12) in being unbeaten over a 38-game league season.
Rodgers' side, who won the League Cup in November, will attempt to win the club's first domestic treble since 2001 when they take on Aberdeen in Saturday's Scottish Cup final.
Celtic, who have won six top-flight titles in a row, are unbeaten in 46 domestic games this season (38 in league, eight in cups), and 47 domestic matches overall including the final league game of last season.
And they are unbeaten in 31 games in all competitions since losing to Barcelona in the Champions League on 23 November.
With the win and goals against Hearts, Celtic set new records for the Scottish Premier League/Premiership era, including goals, points, wins and margin of victory.
With so much anticipated from the hosts, Hearts head coach Ian Cathro sought to frustrate Celtic, restricting them to long-range efforts.
Kieran Tierney and Callum McGregor came closest with those and Griffiths sent a free-kick into the side netting.
And it could have been Hearts that went in front, Bjorn Johnsen laying a free-kick off for Alexandros Tziolis to strike narrowly over.
When Celtic did get into the box, goalkeeper Viktor Noring was in fine form.
The Swedish stopper made an instinctive block to deny Dedryck Boyata at a corner and then punched away Patrick Roberts' dangerous cut-back.
However, Hearts' resistance was broken when Roberts danced clear on the right and set up Griffiths for a confident header.
And Griffiths was involved in the second, his cross not properly cleared and falling for Armstrong to finish.
Though sustaining a fourth straight defeat, Hearts competed well in Glasgow and fared much better than their 5-0 home loss to Celtic last month - the match that clinched the title for Rodgers' men.
Johnsen headed against the right-hand post from a Malaury Martin corner as Cathro's men sought consolation.
And substitute Martin's volley was then kept out by Craig Gordon late on.
• None Attempt saved. Malaury Martin (Heart of Midlothian) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
• None Krystian Nowak (Heart of Midlothian) hits the right post with a header from the centre of the box.
• None Attempt blocked. Malaury Martin (Heart of Midlothian) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.
• None Euan Henderson (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
• None Attempt missed. Dedryck Boyata (Celtic) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39911911
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The celebrities dishing out random acts of kindness - BBC News
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2017-05-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Some of the stars doing their bit to give something back.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Grime star Stormzy hit headlines earlier this week after an unexpected act of generosity.
When Oxford University student Fiona Asiedu set up a crowdfunding campaign to raise £12,000 to go to Harvard, a friend tweeted the star asking him to help out.
His response? He pledged £9,000 the same day.
"It was just surreal," Asiedu said. "It was quite a shock, I couldn't believe it, I'm still quite overwhelmed by it."
The friend tweeted him back promising to thank him by taking him to Nando's - to which he replied: "Deal!"
Stormzy isn't the only celeb who has been splashing the cash to help fans recently. Here are some others doing their bit to give something back.
Nicki Minaj launched a contest on Twitter earlier this month, promising to fly the winner out from any country in the world to spend time with her in Las Vegas because "ya muva makes enough money" to do so.
That brag prompted one fan to ask: "Well you wanna pay for my tuition?"
She did, as it turned out. Minaj replied: "Show me straight A's that I can verify w/ur school and I'll pay it. Who wants to join THAT contest?!?! Dead serious. Should I set it up?"
The star spent the rest of the day replying to around 30 begging tweets, promising to pay for fees, loans, debts and equipment, and asked fans to DM her their bank details before promising to "do some more in a month or two".
Last month, Mercedes Edney started a crowdfunding page to raise the $5,995 (£4,600) fees for the Academy of Nail Technology & Esthetics.
When model Chrissy Tiegen saw it, she decided to donate the remaining amount - $5,605 - and left a message saying: "I've seen this be your passion for such a long time now. So excited to see you fulfill your dream!"
Mercedes later posted a picture of her enrolment receipt, saying: "I have been crying all night and I cried in the office this morning as I paid my downpayment for esthetician school. I haven't been this happy in a very long time."
Taylor is perhaps the queen of good deeds.
She's been the fairy godmother to countless fans, whether it's paying off student loans, sending them surprise Christmas gifts (#Swiftmas), popping along to bridal showers or spending time meeting them.
The star's charitable donations include giving $50,000 (£38,400) to an 11-year-old girl who had to miss one of Swift's concerts to undergo leukaemia treatment, and another $5,000 (£3,840) to cover the funeral costs of a fan who died in a car crash.
And it's not just fans she helps - following the floods in Louisiana last year, she donated $1m (£768,000) to help relief efforts.
George Michael was well known for his work with major charities - royalties from a number of his songs were donated to Ethiopian famine relief efforts, as well as HIV and children's charities.
But he also secretly helped many others and in the days after his death, numerous tales detailing the singer's generosity came to light.
These included giving £15,000 to a couple for IVF treatment and £5,000 to a barmaid who was a student nurse in debt.
It also emerged he had worked anonymously at a homeless shelter.
A crowdfunding page set up to help Svend Peterson, the 86-year-old long-time pool manager at the Beverly Hills Hotel, caught the eye of Oscar winner Sandra Bullock last month.
She was touched by his story after hearing he had become homeless and sometimes went three or four days without food.
The star donated $5,000 (£3,800) to the campaign to help Svend find an apartment, leaving the message: "Everything is going to be OK!"
According to an updated GoFundMe page, Svend has now found a new home and has received enough donations to pay his rent for a year.
While at the Toronto Film Festival in 2007, the Irish star made headlines after he took a homeless man on a $2,100 (£1,612) shopping spree, buying him clothes and a sleeping bag.
He then withdrew a chunk of cash and gave the man, named Stress, the money to help rent a room.
It turned out the pair had met three years prior, when the actor noticed Stress outside a restaurant and the star had remembered him.
They've kept in touch since and Stress credits Colin with helping to turn his life around.
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-39952285
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Bradford City 0-1 Millwall - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Steve Morison scores a late winner as Millwall win promotion with victory over Bradford in the League One play-off final.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Steve Morison volleyed a late winner as Millwall won promotion to the Championship with victory over Bradford in the League One play-off final.
Bradford controlled the first half, Jordan Archer saving well to stop Billy Clarke giving them the lead at Wembley.
Millwall improved and Jed Wallace dragged a shot wide when put through.
But Morison stabbed in Lee Gregory's header to send Millwall to the second tier after two years away, with Lions fans invading the pitch at full-time.
Tony McMahon had Bradford's best chance to equalise in stoppage time, but the full-back could only fire wide from a tight angle.
Millwall fans flooded on to the pitch at the final whistle, but although a small number of supporters confronted Bradford's dejected players there did not appear to be signs of serious trouble.
Those scenes could do nothing to dampen the Lions' players spirits, however, as they laid to rest their demons from play-off final defeat by Barnsley a year ago.
• None READ MORE: It was Millwall's time - Harris
• None READ MORE: Millwall promoted to the Championship as it happened
Bradford were aiming to return to the Championship for the first time since suffering relegation in 2004, and they looked well set to do so after a dominant first-half showing.
Clarke and Mark Marshall were particularly influential, regularly finding space in between Millwall's defence and midfield.
But the Bantams were punished for poor decisions and the lack of a final ball, with Clarke's chance their only real opportunity.
Marshall broke free down the left on a counter-attack, and weighted his through ball perfectly into the path of Clarke.
But Archer - who conceded twice in 20 minutes in Millwall's defeat by Barnsley at Wembley last season - made a wonderful save to his left to turn the ball behind.
Millwall made a similarly slow start to this year's final, but this time Archer and his defence held firm against waves of pressure.
Neil Harris' side emerged a different team after the break, with Wallace inches away from handing his side the lead after being played through by Gregory.
Bradford offered less of a threat as the game went on, and Millwall's direct approach finally paid dividends inside the final 10 minutes.
Wallace's cross from the left was flicked on brilliantly by Gregory, with Morison holding off James Meredith at the back post to secure his side a place in the Championship.
• None Attempt missed. Tony McMahon (Bradford City) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is close, but misses the top right corner. Assisted by Josh Cullen.
• None Fred Onyedinma (Millwall) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None Offside, Millwall. Nadjim Abdou tries a through ball, but Fred Onyedinma is caught offside.
• None Attempt missed. Josh Cullen (Bradford City) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Timothee Dieng following a corner.
• None Goal! Bradford City 0, Millwall 1. Steve Morison (Millwall) right footed shot from very close range to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Lee Gregory with a headed pass. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39905619
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3-2 Motherwell - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle are relegated from the Scottish Premiership, despite beating Motherwell.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Inverness Caledonian Thistle have been relegated from the Scottish Premiership despite beating Motherwell.
Hamilton's win over Dundee meant Caley Thistle could not leapfrog the Accies into second-bottom place, regardless of their result against the Steelmen.
After a drab first period, Greg Tansey and Alex Fisher - twice - struck for the hosts in four second-half minutes.
But Accies' triumph rendered the goals moot, as Caley exit the top flight for the first time since returning in 2010.
• None ICT must get rid of 'two or three bad apples' - Foran
Veteran striker James McFadden came off the bench to nod home a consolation for Motherwell, before Ryan Bowman netted a stoppage-time penalty to add gloss to the scoreline.
For Inverness, the damage had been done long before Saturday, with the midweek victory over Dundee - the second of three post-split wins - simply prolonging the agony.
It will perhaps be the decisions to be taken off the field that will matter most in the immediate future.
Just two years ago, the club lifted the Scottish Cup and played European football. It has been a dramatic descent over the course of this season.
Come the final day, Hamilton's early goals in Lanarkshire clearly had an impact on this match.
Liam Polworth screwed a great chance wide, then Ross Draper curled over from a fabulous position when it seemed an opener was imminent.
Some of the pressure might have been transferred to Hamilton had Richie Foran's men taken the lead first, but the atmosphere changed in the stadium when news of Accies' two-goal first-half lead filtered through.
Inverness at least got the win they needed to have a chance of survival thanks to three quick-fire goals.
Midfielder Tansey, in his final game for the club before departing for Aberdeen, netted a powerful drive before striker Fisher fired two in quick succession.
As Accies scored a third, then a fourth goal at New Douglas Park, it became brutally apparent that, yet again this season, it was not to be Caley Thistle's day.
The match meant little to Motherwell beyond professional pride, and managing as high a final league position as possible - their Premiership status was secured before this final fixture.
The travelling support had a moment to cheer when McFadden converted after Elliot Frear struck the bar, before Bowman scored from the spot to reduce the deficit further.
For manager Stephen Robinson, the real test follows in assembling a squad to improve on this season.
For Inverness, the coming days and weeks will be instrumental in their short-term future, which now lies as a Scottish Championship club.
Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson: "I thought first half we were very good, controlled the game. We made changes second half, brought a young boy [Adam Livingstone] on and he made a couple of mistakes, but he'll get better and better.
"That's what we do at this club - we give young kids a chance, and unfortunately they make some mistakes, but he'll learn from that and he's one for the future.
"We've got 14 contracted players at this moment. We might have to do a little bit of wheeling and dealing to get some people out, and get better players in, if we're being honest.
"We're down there this season for a reason. We weren't good enough, and we have to be prudent with what we do to make sure we're not down there again next season.
"The league's going to get stronger next year, so our first and foremost is always to get survival. Within the confines of our dressing room we aim a lot higher, but first and foremost is to stay up and build from there."
• None Goal! Inverness CT 3, Motherwell 2. Ryan Bowman (Motherwell) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.
• None Penalty conceded by David Raven (Inverness CT) after a foul in the penalty area.
• None Attempt missed. Steven Hammell (Motherwell) left footed shot from outside the box is too high.
• None Substitution, Inverness CT. Jamie McCart replaces Iain Vigurs because of an injury.
• None Attempt missed. Greg Tansey (Inverness CT) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
• None Attempt saved. Elliott Frear (Motherwell) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top right corner.
• None Goal! Inverness CT 3, Motherwell 1. James McFadden (Motherwell) right footed shot from very close range to the bottom right corner. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39905635
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Ian Brady: How the Moors Murderer came to symbolise pure evil - BBC News
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2017-05-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Brady and his crimes were held up as the consequences of moral decay in 1960s Britain.
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UK
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Ian Brady's notoriety and significance goes beyond the criminal to the political and the cultural
Ian Brady's mug shot has become visual shorthand for psychopathic evil. With his accomplice Myra Hindley, he occupies an especially ignominious place in our national folklore.
Margaret Thatcher described their crimes as "the most hideous and evil in modern times". A BBC News article in 2002 suggested the so-called "Moors Murderers" had set "the benchmark by which other acts of evil are measured".
But Brady's notoriety goes beyond the criminal to the political and the cultural.
He became an important figure in 20th Century British history as a focus for debate about crime and punishment, good and evil, and the permissive society.
Brady and Hindley were charged with their crimes 11 days after the Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act had received royal assent in 1965.
They "cheated the gallows by a year" according to some, and were placed at the heart of a debate over capital punishment that would rumble on for more than a decade.
The horrific detail of their apparently motiveless crimes - the abduction, torture and murder of children and young people and the burying of the bodies on what the tabloids called "fog-shrouded wild moorlands" - was a horror story in the Gothic tradition that provided the perfect test of public opinion on ending the death penalty.
Police searches of Saddleworth moor began in the 1960s, including this area where the body of Lesley Downey was found
Successive home secretaries sought to reassure the public that, for the most heinous crimes, life imprisonment meant just that.
But Brady was more than just a debating chip in the argument over the hangman.
For many, he became a terrifying symbol of social upheaval.
His slicked back rocker-style hair and sociopathic stare chimed with the moral panic over youth culture.
Mod and rocker clashes in the mid-60s were described by one newspaper as a symptom of the "disintegration of a nation's character".
Brady and his crimes were held up as the consequences of moral decay.
Writing about the murders, the novelist CP Snow argued that "permissive attitudes" were the "earth out of which the poisonous flower grew".
Brady's depravity was linked to fears about changing morality in the so-called Swinging 60s
The novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson - who was married to Snow - made a similar point in her book On Iniquity in 1967.
She suggested that Brady and Hindley's crimes had been an indictment of 1960s Britain.
"A wound in the flesh of our society had cracked open," she wrote. "We looked into it, and we smelled the sepsis."
Brady helped shape the age-old argument that permissiveness leads to violent crime.
Commentators noted how he had been born "out of wedlock" and had begun a life of criminality as a juvenile.
In the mid-60s, crime was rising rapidly and the face of the bastard Ian Brady was the backdrop.
He personified "pure evil" just as his innocent young victims personified "pure good".
For the press and politicians, the Moors Murderers were powerful examples of the clear but simplistic divide between the criminal underclass and the law-abiding majority, at a time when anxiety about law and order was rising.
Brady's fascination with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis confirmed the sense that he was the epitome of social depravity.
From his arrest until the day he died more than 50 years later, his haunting visage - along with that of Myra Hindley - have been routinely deployed as images of the threat.
He is the child snatcher, the bogeyman, the beast. He is the monster.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39938520
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Premier League team of the season: Harry Kane? Diego Costa? Choose your XI - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Harry Kane or Diego Costa up front? Jordan Pickford or Tom Heaton in goal? Create your own XI from this season's best players.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
The Premier League season ends on Sunday, with Chelsea already champions and Middlesbrough, Hull and Sunderland relegated.
Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal are fighting it out for the two remaining Champions League qualification spots, and there's one more thing to be decided - who's in your team of the season?
Use the team selector below to choose a formation and then the 11 players from our shortlist you think have shone in the 2016-17 campaign.
Share your team on Twitter or Facebook and see if your friends agree with your selection.
• None Quiz: How well do you remember this season?
• None A play-off match to get into Europe? Here's how it could happen
Pick your Team of the Week Pick your XI from our list and share with your friends.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39979590
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Is Mike Pence distancing himself from Trump? - BBC News
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2017-05-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Vice-President Mike Pence has been a team player for Donald Trump - but that may be changing
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US & Canada
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In the White House game of thrones, where senior administration officials fend off adversaries at every turn while vying for power and prominence, Mike Pence has been a relatively quiet player.
The vice-president is always in the background, often looking over Donald Trump's shoulder with an approving nod as the president delivers a speech or signs yet another executive order. When it comes to engaging in the bare-knuckle brawling that has played itself out through anonymous sources and well-timed insider leaks, however, the vice-president and his associates have largely stayed out of the fray.
Thursday night, then, was quite unusual. Two major US media outlets - CNN and NBC News - ran articles, complete with quotes from anonymous White House sources, distancing the vice-president from the current chaos in the administration and the running controversy over possible Trump campaign ties to the Russian government during the 2016 US presidential election.
"We certainly knew we needed to be prepared for the unconventional," an unnamed Pence aide told CNN's Elizabeth Landers, but "not to this extent".
The proximate cause for the concern among the vice-president's camp was a New York Times article earlier this week reporting that Michael Flynn, Mr Trump's prominent campaign surrogate and short-lived national security adviser, had in early January informed the presidential transition team - then headed by Mr Pence - that he was under investigation for his ties to the Turkish government.
In March Mr Pence denied any knowledge of Mr Flynn's Turkish ties before they were made public earlier that month.
A "source close to the administration" told NBC that Mr Pence stands by his comments and he was not told of Mr Flynn's Turkish connections.
"That's an egregious error - and it has to be intentional," the source said. "It's either malpractice or intentional, and either are unacceptable."
Complicating matters for the vice-president is that this is not the first time he has taken the White House line, only to be undercut by subsequent revelations.
Just last week he asserted, repeatedly, that the president decided to fire FBI Director James Comey based on a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
One day later the president himself told an interviewer that he knew he was going to terminate the law enforcement chief before the memo was even written.
Mike Pence has been content to look over the president's shoulder - for now
Mr Pence was also part of the White House efforts in January to push back against reports that Mr Flynn discussed US sanctions on Russia with that nation's ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak - allegations that were later proven to be true.
Mr Flynn was fired, the White House said, for misleading the vice-president on the matter.
If Thursday night's story is any indication, the vice-president may now be trying to put some distance between himself and an administration that has made a habit of leaving him out on a limb.
If the Trump presidency is truly in trouble, and this week's appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller is a dark storm cloud on the horizon, this could be evidence that the vice-president is contemplating a future after Mr Trump. He's certainly not abandoning ship, but he's familiarising himself with where the lifeboats are stored.
If so, he's not the only one. Politico ran a story earlier this week about conservatives - on the record and off - who were "hinting" that a President Pence would be a welcome reprieve from the drama of the Trump presidency.
To get there, of course, Mr Trump would have to resign or be removed from office, leaving the vice-president as next in line for the job.
Such speculation is decidedly premature, of course, but then there was another tidbit this week that has stoked the flames.
Mr Pence, according to Federal Election Commission filings, has started a committee to collect political donations.
A source within the vice-president's office told NBC that the "Great American Committee", as it's named, will allow Mr Pence to cover travel expenses and support Republican candidates in upcoming elections.
It's a move, however, that none of the vice-president's predecessors ever made - and has been a traditional opening step for past presidential candidates.
Democrats have also taken note of Mr Pence's manoeuvres and are adjusting their fire accordingly.
"Mike Pence was a major player in the scandals enveloping the Trump administration, and no amount of spinning and leaking to reporters from him and his team can change that fact," writes Oliver Willis of the liberal website Shareblue.
There's no telling what Mr Trump, who prizes loyalty above all else, thinks of all this.
Reports are he's been angered in the past by aides, such as top White House adviser Steve Bannon, who have stepped too far into the limelight.
He famously said of Mr Comey in January that he had "become more famous than me" - then later justified sacking him by saying he was a "showboat" and a "grandstander".
There is of course one key difference between Mr Pence and anyone else working in the Trump administration.
The vice-president got his job through the will of American voters (or, at least, the Electoral College).
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39979279
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Premiership semi-final: Exeter Chiefs 18-16 Saracens - BBC Sport
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2017-05-20
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Saracens' hopes of consecutive domestic and European titles are dashed as Exeter score a late try in the Premiership semi-final.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Saracens' hopes of consecutive domestic and European titles were dashed as Exeter scored a late try to reach their second Premiership final in a row.
Sam Simmonds was forced over as the clock wound down to deny Sarries, who beat Clermont to win the Champions Cup last Saturday, in a tense semi-final.
Jack Nowell's try put Chiefs ahead after it was 6-6 at half-time, but Chris Wyles' try brought Saracens back.
Mike Ellery put Sarries in front on 76 minutes, before Simmonds' heroics.
The last-gasp victory gained revenge for Exeter, who had lost out to Saracens in their first Premiership final 12 months ago, while extending the Chiefs' unbeaten league run to 16 matches.
Two early Owen Farrell penalties were cancelled out by Gareth Steenson's two three-pointers as both sides had great chances to score in the opening half.
First Wyles was denied by a last-ditch Nowell interception, and then Thomas Waldrom was held up by the Saracens defence as he went over the line.
But straight after the break Exeter hit their straps, Nowell finishing off after Phil Dollman had broken through before setting Ollie Devoto away.
The home side's dogged defence kept Saracens, who lost former England winger Chris Ashton to an early injury, at bay.
But Mark McCall's side always looked dangerous with ball in hand, and so it proved as Wyles went over in the left corner after a delayed pass from Maro Itoje with 23 minutes left.
Ellery, who had replaced Ashton, had the Saracens coaching staff leaping for joy when he cart-wheeled over the line despite the desperate efforts of Nowell and Michele Campagnaro to stop him.
But England's Henry Slade, on as a replacement, blasted a perfect penalty deep into the Saracens 22 and Exeter secured the resulting line-out, allowing the Chiefs to drive academy graduate Simmonds over for the decisive score.
Could Exeter become the ninth team to be crowned champions of England?
If so, it would cap a seismic rise up rugby union's league system. Promoted to the top flight in 2010 under the guidance of Rob Baxter and assistant Ali Hepher, the Chiefs have gradually built a side greater than the sum of its parts.
Only seven of their starters have played any international rugby, while in contrast just two of the Saracens side - Michael Rhodes and Jackson Wray - had never featured for their country.
But a combination of home-grown stars, such as England's Nowell, Slade and Luke Cowan-Dickie, a sprinkling of international imports such as Waldrom and the experience of players like Ben Moon, Dollman and Steenson - who were all part of that promotion-winning side - has proved to be incredibly successful at home.
Whatever the result in next week's final, Exeter have established themselves as a force in the domestic game.
"The biggest challenge we've got now, certainly from a coaching point of view, is that you almost instantly go 'we've not just won the Premiership, what we've just won is the semi-final'.
"So you do very quickly get through that and our biggest job now is not pretending we're champions.
"We've beaten the European champions, we've beaten a very good side, but we've got to beat one of these two (Wasps and Leicester) to win it, so it means nothing if we go there next week and we don't perform."
"That was one of the great kicks of all time from Henry Slade - if he puts that somewhere else I'm probably stood here taking about one of the great wins and one of the great fights from a team who are a little bit tired.
"We're sad, of course we are, and it's going to be painful, but we can be unbelievably proud of the qualities that showed during that second half.
"I'm pleased that we showed the fight, we didn't do much wrong to lose the match, to be honest."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39938414
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The Canary Girls: The workers the war turned yellow - BBC News
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2017-05-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The sacrifice of soldiers killed in the world wars is well-documented, but who were the munitions workers stained yellow by toxic chemicals?
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England
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Women in munitions factories were tasked with filling shells with explosives
The sacrifice of soldiers killed during World Wars One and Two is well-documented. But the efforts of munitions workers stained yellow by toxic chemicals is a story much less told. A campaign now hopes to honour the so-called Canary Girls, who risked life and limb to supply ammunition to the frontline.
In 1915, while men were fighting on the battlefields, thousands of women were answering the government's cry for help by joining the war effort.
In their droves they signed up to fill the gaps left by those called into service, taking jobs in transport, engineering, mills and factories to keep the country moving.
But while those who swapped domestic life for the assembly line were spared the trauma of the trenches, their jobs were nonetheless fraught with danger.
Munitions workers battling the "shell crisis" of 1915 were prime targets for enemy fire, with sites routinely flattened by enemy bombs.
Those who were spared such a fate were no less safe, facing daily peril by handling explosive chemicals that carried the risk of them contracting potentially fatal diseases.
And for some, the effects of their work were immediately visible; a lurid shade of yellow that stained their skin and hair and earned them a nickname - the Canary Girls.
Thousands of women were drafted in to tackle the shell crisis
"We were like a canary," said Nancy Evans, recalling her time at the Rotherwas factory in Herefordshire during World War Two.
"We were yellow, it penetrated your skin. Your hair turned blonde and on the top of the crown was the proper colour of your hair."
Though temporary, the affects of packing shells with trinitrotoluene - more commonly known as TNT - ran more than skin-deep.
According to Dr Helen McCartney, from King's College London, some workers gave birth to "bright yellow" babies.
Gladys Sangster, whose mother worked at National Filling Factory Number 9 near Banbury, Oxford, was one of them.
"I was born [during the war] and my skin was yellow," she told the BBC. "That's why we were called Canary Babies.
"Nearly every baby was born yellow. It gradually faded away. My mum told me you took it for granted, it happened and that was it."
Life in munitions was "hot... sweaty... dirty - women did not want the job," says Amy Dale
As well as suffering the cosmetic consequences of working with TNT, workers risked amputation with every shell that passed through their hands.
Amy Dale, who is researching munitions factories for her PhD, said those at Royal Ordnance Filling factories (ROFs) risked losing fingers and hands, burns and blindness.
"In these factories, they would take the casing, fill it with powder, then put a detonator in the top and that had to be tapped down. If they tapped too hard, it would detonate," she said.
"It happened to one lady, who was pregnant at the time, and it blinded her and she lost both her hands.
"She saw the pregnancy through, but the only way she could identify the baby was with her lips, which still had feeling."
Rotherwas in Herefordshire employed 4,000 women at its peak
Explosions were a common occurrence, with fatal blasts reported at factories in Ashton-under-Lyne, Barnbow near Leeds, and Chilwell in Nottinghamshire.
Such were fears that a rogue spark caused by static might lead to an explosion that women were banned from wearing nylon and silk.
Nellie Bagley, whose first shift at Rotherwas in 1940 was on her 18th birthday, remembers having to strip down to her underwear to be inspected.
"You took everything off and you had just your bra and if it had a metal clip on the back you couldn't wear it... and no hair grips of course, because they would caused friction... explosions."
The women operated in a tense atmosphere, heavy with the weight of government fears that information could fall into the wrong hands.
Posters papered the walls bearing slogans such as "Keep Mum She's Not So Dumb" to deter talk among workers.
"They were everywhere, [the word] 'war' with a big ear on it and 'Gossip Costs Lives'," remembered Mrs Bagley.
"You were aware all the time of being watched."
But even in the darkest of moments, there remained a sense of workforce camaraderie.
"When we were on nights they used to say 'Come on Lou, get us started singing'," said Louisa Jacobs, 94.
"We would sing from night to the early hours of the morning. It kept us going because we didn't realise the danger we were working in."
Fellow Rotherwas worker, Amy Hicks, added: "We would be singing, even when the bombs fell."
And fall they did. In 1942, the Rotherwas factory was attacked by the Luftwaffe, which dropped a pair of 250kg bombs on the 300-acre site.
Nancy Billings, who was coming to the end of a night shift, survived the blast.
The Rotherwas factory was bombed in 1942
"It was about 6am and the girl next to me had said, 'I'm so tired I could sleep forever'. Then all of a sudden the siren went off.
"This plane came down so low you could see the big black cross on it and then the bomb dropped. It had a direct hit.
"There was [numerous] girls killed in there. It always comes to me about the girl working next to me, because she was one that didn't get out."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Nancy Billings describes the moment the bombs fell on Rotherwas
Of those who survived life in the factories, many were beset with health problems in later life.
Some reported bone disintegration, while others developed throat problems and dermatitis from TNT staining.
"The women suffered all sorts of illnesses and ailments from turning yellow, but turning yellow was probably the least of their problems," said Dr McCartney.
"They accepted all sort of terrible working conditions, they knew they were putting themselves in danger - TNT was yellow, they saw what was happening.
"But there's evidence that it was seen as a patriotic act… as them doing their bit for the war effort."
There remained a sense of camaraderie among workers
Others suffered more sinister illnesses - one of the most serious being a liver disease called toxic jaundice.
There were 400 cases of the disease during World War One - a quarter of which were fatal, said historian Anne Spurgeon.
"There was the yellow that was the staining of the skin, which while unpleasant, wasn't fatal or a serious disease.
"But there was this liver disease that was a different yellow.
"When they had repeated exposure to TNT, it attacked the liver. It was a poison and caused anaemia and jaundice."
Munitions workers assembled shells in ROFs made by other factories
In 1914, it was discovered TNT was poisonous and the following year, toxic jaundice became a notifiable disease.
Health and safety measures in factories were stepped up to limit exposure, such as providing protective clothing, but only so much could be done to eradicate the risks.
"[The government] wasn't ignoring it, they were trying to do something about it within the limits of their knowledge at the time," said Dr Spurgeon.
"But [TNT] was what had to go into the shells, so they had to use it."
Working in the factories was seen by some as a "patriotic act"
About a million women worked at thousands of Ministry of Munitions sites during both world wars.
But the number of those killed or seriously injured in the line of duty is a mystery - something Ms Dale is trying to find out as part of her research.
"It was a really dangerous job, which I think is why so little is known about it," she said.
"Women weren't allowed anywhere near a gun, yet they were filling shells in factories.
"They were actively engaged in an act of war which I think made people uncomfortable."
A campaign led by BBC Hereford and Worcester hopes to see records of how many workers died released, as well as cement the place of munitions workers in war history.
The project has already been discussed at Prime Minister's Questions and there are plans to unveil a statue at the National Arboretum in Staffordshire.
Though women were spared the trauma of the trenches, their jobs were nonetheless fraught with danger
But Ms Billings said she had always felt the sacrifices made by the so-called munitionettes should have been recognised.
"I do think [we] should've got a medal for what [we] did, I've always thought that. And we should've got a letter from the Queen.
"It was a very dangerous job and it affected [our] health."
For the relatives of those who worked at Rotherwas, which had 4,000 woman at its peak, recognition has been a long time coming.
"It was such a dangerous job," said Mrs Hicks's daughter, Jenny Swiffield. "It was as dangerous as going up and flying and dropping bombs.
"I'm [proud] and I think anyone would be if their parents had done something like that."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39434504
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Wanted: Top doctor to care for 7 billion people - BBC News
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2017-05-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The World Health Organization is recruiting a boss. Hear from the three candidates for the top job in their own words.
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Health
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The WHO confirmed that Zika virus caused microcephaly or small brains in babies
There's another big election coming up which will have an impact on hundreds of millions of people all around world - but you probably haven't heard anything about it.
Health ministers and officials from 194 countries are due to vote for a new director general of the World Health Organization in Geneva on Tuesday.
The UN agency, founded in 1948, describes itself as the "global guardian of public health", but it lost a great deal of credibility and trust over its handling of the Ebola crisis in 2014.
The new boss could make or break the WHO, which is still trying to prove it is fit for purpose after admitting it was slow to respond to what became the worst Ebola outbreak in history.
However, dealing with epidemics is just part of what WHO does.
Its stated goal is to ensure "the highest attainable level of health for all people".
In practice, that means everything from trying to wipe out deadly diseases for good, to trying to deal with the growing number of obesity and diabetes epidemics, to reducing deaths on the roads and saving the lives of mothers and babies during childbirth.
Heading an organisation responsible for the health of all 7.3 billion people on earth is no small task.
"The word 'health' itself is a burden that it carries," said Devi Sridhar, professor of global public health at the University of Edinburgh.
"Improving health worldwide can mean so many things, from mental health to malaria to unintentional injuries… to cancer.
"It's very hard for one agency, with a very limited and very constrained budget - of around $2bn every year - to achieve all those things. "
Prof Sridhar, who has recently written a book looking at WHO funding, said the US's health protection agency, the CDC, has a budget more than three times that of the WHO.
She also said most of it comes from donors who earmark their funding for specific projects.
Only around 20% of the WHO budget comes from compulsory contributions from member states, she said.
Whoever gets the top job will have to be the consummate politician. They will have to get country leaders on board with big - often expensive - global health objectives, while also being above politics and not beholden to the special interests of any particular country.
"There have been two types of leader at the WHO in the past," said Prof David Heymann, a former assistant director at the WHO.
"Some have tried to build consensus between 194 member countries, then try to implement what those countries have said. Others have been leaders who have been out in front with a vision, and tried to pull 194 countries along with that vision."
There are three candidates left in the running for the $241,000-a-year job.
The vote will take place at the annual World Health Assembly in Geneva. Whoever is elected will serve a minimum five-year term.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former health and foreign minister in the Ethiopian government
"I was born into a poor family. When I was seven, I lost my younger brother, probably to measles. I survived by chance, but it could have been me.
"For me, this position is about standing up for the rights of the poor.
"If I became director general, I would be very vocal on the issue of universal healthcare.
"We complain about emergencies or epidemics, worried it may come to our country. But if we ensure universal health coverage, we can resolve all of those issues.
"Inequity is a central challenge. The world has all the resources to save every life, as long as we believe every life is important.
"Those who have, do not care for the have-nots, and unless we confront that reality honestly, I don't think we will make progress."
Dr Sania Nishtar, cardiologist who set up Heartfelt, which works to improve health systems in Pakistan
"I was born and brought up in Peshawar on the Afghan border in Pakistan. I was raised in a progressive family. My father encouraged us to swim in the summer and play golf. I was a local golf champion by the time I was 16.
"When I was 15, my father passed away silently in his sleep - I think that was a turning point in my life.
"I trained as a cardiologist and I became very disillusioned with the disparity of care between the rich and the poor.
"My vision for this role centres on regaining the WHO's primacy, and ensuring that it has the world's trust as its lead health agency.
"Since the Ebola outbreak, the WHO has come under heavy criticism for its inability to... exercise stewardship during health emergencies.
"I want to make the organisation more accountable and transparent.
"I want it to focus on its core roles, rather than doing everything under the sun, in a half-baked way. I would lead the WHO very differently."
Dr David Nabarro, born in the UK, is UN special adviser on the Sustainable Development goals and is former UN Envoy for Ebola
"My parents are both doctors, and probably because of their influence, I started working outside the UK.
"It was when I was working in Nepal in 1989, that I found how malnutrition and disease were most likely to come from households that faced particularly difficult circumstances in terms of income, the status of women and their access to sanitation and water.
"It seemed to me blindingly obvious that I had to work on the underlying determinants of health.
"My first priority if I become director general of the WHO, is to focus on universal health coverage - everybody being able to access healthcare when and where they need it.
"My second priority is to make sure people can be defended against outbreaks of disease.
"Thirdly, we are seeing increasing levels of diabetes, heart disease and mental ill-health. These kinds of non-communicable conditions could be prevented by better work across governments and society."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39973940
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Premiership semi-final: Wasps 21-20 Leicester Tigers - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Josh Bassett's 78th-minute try sends Wasps to their first Premiership final in nine years thanks to a thrilling win over Leicester.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Josh Bassett scored a try two minutes from time as Wasps reached their first Premiership final in nine years with a thrilling victory over Leicester.
Kurtley Beale helped Wasps build a 10-point lead but Peter Betham's try saw Tigers three points down at half-time.
Leicester led when Telusa Veainu dived over, and Freddie Burns' kick had them four points up and defending bravely.
Thomas Young spurned a chance as Wasps pressed but Bassett scored in the corner to set up a final with Exeter.
Premiership player of the year Jimmy Gopperth, who kicked 11 points, missed the conversion but Dai Young's side saw out the closing seconds as Leicester fell at the semi-final stage for the fourth consecutive season.
Wasps, who finished top of the regular-season table, will face Exeter - who were second - at Twickenham on Saturday, May 27 at 14:30 BST for the right to become champions.
• None READ MORE: Exeter shock Sarries to reach second final in a row
Wasps have not lost a league match at the Ricoh Arena since December 2015 and were 18 points clear in the final table of their fourth-placed opponents.
However, they were moments from being stunned by Matt O'Connor and his Leicester team, with the home side's line-out a constant area of concern.
With the match in their control, Wasps conceded two quick-fire penalties before the influential Burns, who will join Bath this summer, launched a pinpoint pass for Betham to finish and level.
An injury forced Australia superstar Beale off early in the second half which further encouraged Leicester, who isolated the largely anonymous Christian Wade to edge in front through Veainu.
The favourites looked to have missed their chance when back-rower Young misplaced a pass to the onrushing Gopperth after breaking the line, but resilience from Guy Thompson and Joe Launchbury opened things up for Bassett to score the match-winning points.
At one stage it looked like being a dismal campaign for the 10-time Premiership winners, who sacked director of rugby Richard Cockerill in January after almost eight years at the helm.
There was a real possibility Leicester would miss out on the play-offs altogether for the first time in 13 seasons, but under O'Connor they put together enough wins to keep that streak intact.
Ahead of the semi-final with Wasps the players rallied around captain Tom Youngs, who led out his side just weeks after learning of his wife Tiffany's terminal illness.
The Lions and England hooker, in his 100th start in a Tigers shirt, was part of a much-improved performance from the Tigers pack as O'Connor's side came within two minutes of reaching the Premiership final at the end of a season of transition.
"We chucked the kitchen sink at them in the last 20 minutes - we had three or four opportunities and that last pass didn't quite go our way.
"I'm absolutely thrilled for everybody involved at the club. I'm really looking forward to Twickenham next week - we'll go and enjoy it and if we can get our hands on something, fantastic.
"Any team could've won that, let's be honest, but thankfully we got over right at the end and we have to enjoy tonight.
"You've got to give Leicester a lot of credit - I thought they were great."
"It's hard to describe really. We didn't deserve to lose, I thought we did enough.
"At stages I thought we were fantastic, for the majority of the game. They just asked too many questions of us.
"This year is about perspective. You dust yourself off and make sure you're better next year.
"I think results have shown over the past four or five weeks that there's a lot of growth in the individuals we've got."
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39938621
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Arsenal miss out on Champions League spot; Liverpool & Man City qualify - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Arsenal miss out on Champions League qualification for the first time in 20 years on a dramatic final day of the Premier League season.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Arsenal failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years despite a 3-1 win over Everton on the final day of the Premier League.
The Gunners began the day a point behind fourth-place Liverpool and were on course to displace the Reds when they took an eighth-minute lead.
But Liverpool, needing a win to ensure fourth, broke Middlesbrough resistance just before the break, and won 3-0.
Manchester City claimed third with a very easy 5-0 win at Watford.
• None Reaction from the final day of Premier League action
Arsenal's remarkable run of qualifying for the Champions League in 19 consecutive seasons came to its widely anticipated end on Sunday.
Hope grew among the home support when Hector Bellerin gave the Gunners an early lead and news filtered through that Liverpool were struggling against the relegated Teessiders.
But in first-half stoppage time Georginio Wijnaldum put the Reds ahead with a stunning strike, and Jurgen Klopp's men eventually ran out comfortable winners.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "It is annoying but we had a spell during the season that was difficult and it was difficult for me in my personal situation.
"We were playing in a hostile environment. The players came back stronger in the last two months and I'm very proud of them for doing that."
Relive the action as it happened at the Emirates Stadium
The Reds will play in the Champions League for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
Liverpool suffered from early nerves at Anfield before Wijnaldum's opener on the stroke of half-time eased the tension.
Philippe Coutinho added a second after the break with a free-kick, and Adam Lallana slotted in to make it 3-0.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp: "We've had bigger games - this was the game of the season though.
"We had this pressure but we are Liverpool and have to deliver.
"Everyone knows where we missed out on points, but we will improve. A club like Liverpool needs to be in the Champions League.
"I'm proud of the boys. We work a lot. We are closer together. We have to build together."
Relive the action as it happened from Anfield
Manchester City sealed third spot and automatic qualification for the Champions League group stage with an emphatic 5-0 win at Watford.
Pep Guardiola's side required only a point to secure a top-four place, but instead of sitting back went about dismantling their opponents.
Sergio Aguero scored twice, after Vincent Kompany's opener, with Fernandinho and Gabriel Jesus also getting on the scoresheet.
City boss Pep Guardiola: "We were under a lot of pressure. Congratulations to Chelsea and to Tottenham, we are so glad to be third.
"It is not a club with history of playing in Europe like Manchester United or Arsenal. But now we are there five or six years and now we can try to close the gap on the elite.
"The best teams in Europe will be at the Etihad Stadium next season. I don't know what we need to add. This is one of the best groups I have ever trained - they never gave up. It was a pleasure to be with them."
Relive the action as it happened from Vicarage Road
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39992606
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Novak Djokovic hires Andre Agassi; loses Italian Open final to Alexander Zverev - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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World number two Novak Djokovic says Andre Agassi will be his new coach after the Serb loses in the Italian Open final to Alexander Zverev.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
World number two Novak Djokovic said Andre Agassi will be his new coach after the Serb lost in the Italian Open final to Alexander Zverev.
The 12-time Grand Slam winner parted company with his entire coaching team earlier in May.
Former world number one Agassi will be with Djokovic in Paris for the French Open, which starts on 28 May.
The news was confirmed after German Zverev, 20, stunned Djokovic 6-4 6-3 to win in Rome.
In the women's event, Ukraine's Elina Svitolina triumphed with a 4-6 7-5 6-1 win over Romania's Simona Halep.
Djokovic had said the "shock therapy" of splitting with his backroom team, including Marian Vajda - who has been with him through almost all of his career - would help achieve better results.
Boris Becker, a six-time Grand Slam winner, left in December after three years as the 29-year-old's main coach.
Now he has brought in American Agassi, who retired in 2006 after a career which yielded eight Grand Slam titles wins.
"I spoke to Andre the last couple weeks on the phone, and we decided to get together in Paris. So he's going to be there," said Djokovic.
"We'll see what the future brings. We are both excited to work together and see where it takes us.
"We don't have any long-term commitment. It's just us trying to get to know each other in Paris a little bit."
Agassi has no top-level coaching experience, but Djokovic could not have made a more exciting choice. The 47-year-old remains hugely popular; a charismatic, and sometimes enigmatic, true great of the game.
Having benefitted from the counsel of Boris Becker (Djokovic won six Grand Slam titles in their three years together), he is now hoping to build a relationship with Agassi, who like Djokovic, knows how it feels to win each of the Grand Slams.
If there is to be a more permanent arrangement it is likely to revolve almost exclusively around the Grand Slams. Agassi and wife Steffi Graf have two teenage children, he is heavily involved in his charitable foundation and has indicated in the past that he does not want to be away from his Las Vegas home for too long.
At 20 years and one month, Zverev is the youngest Masters event champion since Djokovic himself won the 2007 Miami Open.
Fearless Zverev, currently ranked 17 in the world but now set to move into the top 10, dominated from the start.
He did not face a break point and broke the 12-time major winner in the first game and twice in the second set.
Djokovic received a code violation for an audible obscenity in the seventh game of the second set, and later double-faulted to hand Zverev match point.
A long backhand by the Serb, who will celebrate his 30th birthday on Monday, subsequently ensured victory to his highly-rated opponent.
Djokovic's semi-final win over Dominic Thiem had hinted he was close to recovering his best form after a poor year, culminating in the departure of his entire coaching staff earlier this month.
But Zverev was composed throughout and won in one hour and 21 minutes.
"It's such an honour being on the court against one of the best ever players," said Zverev after his victory.
"If I have half the career Novak has had, I will be just fine."
Referring to the French Open, the second Grand Slam of the year, which begins on 28 May, he added: "I'm sure he will be one of the favourites in Paris."
Djokovic will need to raise his game having hit 27 unforced errors to his opponent's 14, but hinted at a big future for the German.
"You are definitely on a great path. You played fantastic and deserve it," he said.
Svitolina fought back from losing the first set to win her fourth title of the year.
The 22-year-old is currently ranked 11th in the world, but will return to the top 10 when the rankings are updated on Monday.
Halep, 25, who won the Madrid Open last week, rolled her ankle when leading 5-2 in the first set, but managed to take it 6-4.
The world number four had her ankle strapped in the second set, which Svitolina took 7-5.
The third set was a one-sided affair as Svitolina won 6-1 in 30 minutes.
Svitolina, who also called for a trainer in the second set, adds her Rome title to victories in Istanbul, Dubai and Taipei City.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/39991312
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Super League Magic Weekend: Castleford Tigers 29-18 Leeds Rhinos - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Greg Eden's second-half hat-trick sets Super League leaders Castleford Tigers up for a hard-fought win over Leeds Rhinos.
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Last updated on .From the section Rugby League
Greg Eden scored a second-half hat-trick to set Super League leaders Castleford up for a hard-fought win over Leeds in the Magic Weekend finale.
Luke Gale opened the scoring for Tigers, collecting the ball after his high kick was spilled, and after Kallum Watkins hit back with a try, Liam Sutcliffe made it 6-6 with a penalty.
Eden's treble and Tom Holmes' score put Castleford 28-6 up after 64 minutes.
Joel Moon and Sutcliff then went over for Leeds, but it was not enough.
Victory restored Castleford's two-point lead at the top of the table after Salford moved equal with them following a convincing win earlier in the day at St James' Park. Defeat leaves Leeds fourth in the table, four points adrift of the summit.
In a tense first half, the penalty to restore parity before the break summed up the drama, with play brought back and Sutcliffe teed up for the two points after Eden's near length-of-the-field try was disallowed for obstruction.
For Eden, it meant simply waiting to get the first try of his treble and what would be his second hat-trick against Leeds this season, with the winger grabbing three against them in their record 66-10 win in round three.
The pick of his tries was the second on 50 minutes, with a sublime behind-the-back flick pass from Michael Shenton sending him clear in the left corner.
The try came during a devastating 18-minute spell by the competition pacesetters and was the highlight on a day that attracted 30,046, which took the Magic Weekend tally to 65,407.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/39938150
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Fernando Alonso fifth in Indy 500 qualifying as Scott Dixon takes pole - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Fernando Alonso will start his first Indianapolis 500 from the middle of the second row of the grid after qualifying fifth.
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Fernando Alonso will start his first Indianapolis 500 from the middle of the second row of the grid after qualifying fifth for the race on 28 May.
The McLaren Formula 1 driver set an average of 231.300mph on his four-lap qualifying run, while New Zealander Scott Dixon took pole at 232.164mph.
It was an impressive performance from the two-time F1 champion - he had not driven an IndyCar until this month.
Alonso said he was "happy" but had been slightly delayed by an engine issue.
"I think the car was better than yesterday," he said. "We had an over-boost problem (with the turbocharger) in the final corner, so the engine was like hitting the brakes and I lost a bit."
The Spaniard said this cost him 0.3-0.4mph on his average, which equates to the difference between fifth and either second or third.
Alonso, whose engine needed to be changed between final practice earlier on Sunday and qualifying, added on his Instagram account: "With everything that has happened today being among the top five is a dream.
"Fifteen days ago I would never have thought about fighting for the pole. Thanks to the whole team. Now another week of learning and race next weekend."
To put Alonso's performance into context, 1992 F1 world champion Nigel Mansell qualified eighth on his debut in 1993, in what was the Englishman's fourth IndyCar race after switching to the US-based series.
Alonso's first taste of Indianapolis was in his 'rookie' test on 4 May. He is missing next weekend's Monaco Grand Prix to race at the speedway as part of his quest to win the so-called 'triple crown' of Monaco, which he has won twice, Indy and the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race.
The 35-year-old Spaniard is directly behind two former F1 drivers on the grid.
American Alexander Rossi, who had a brief career with the back-of-the-grid Caterham and Marussia teams, was third and Japan's Takuma Sato, who raced in 90 grands prix for the Jordan, BAR and Super Aguri teams, was fourth.
American Ed Carpenter takes the middle slot on the three-car front row.
Rossi won the Indy 500 from 11th on the grid last year, an illustration of the fact that qualifying positions are not of great importance in predicting race form at the so-called 'Brickyard'.
That is because the set-up of the cars is changed significantly between qualifying and race to ensure drivers can run consistently in heavy traffic during a 500-mile race that is usually punctuated by several 'caution' periods in which drivers are restricted to reduced speeds behind a pace car.
Alonso was consistently fast through the days of practice last week, whether running in qualifying or race trim.
None of the British drivers in the field were in the 'fast nine'. Ed Jones was 11th on his debut, followed by Max Chilton in 15th, Jay Howard in 20th, Jack Harvey in 27th and Pippa Mann in 28th.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/39994586
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Hasan Minhaj: Comedy's golden opportunity in Trump era - BBC News
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2017-05-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Daily Show's Hasan Minhaj says minority comedians are replying with energy to the US president.
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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. Hasan Minhaj: 'There's something amazing in the chai'
Comedians have a new-found energy in the era of Donald Trump, says a rising US comedy star.
Hasan Minhaj hosted the the White House Correspondents' Dinner in April - an event President Trump snubbed.
Speaking to the BBC, Minhaj said there was "something cool" happening in response to Mr Trump's policies.
He said the political atmosphere was such that it gave him an unexpected opportunity to host the correspondents' dinner.
Speaking during a Facebook Live Q&A with the BBC, Minhaj said he would "probably not" have been given such an opportunity had Hillary Clinton won last November's election.
"I think the narrative of the country would have been different," he said. "I think the collective feeling around who the White House Correspondents' Association should choose to represent, and be the comedian that night - that narrative would have been different."
Mr Trump became the first commander-in-chief to skip the dinner since 1981, when then-President Ronald Reagan was recovering from a gunshot wound.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
During his election campaign, Mr Trump said he would establish a register of Muslims and since then, he has attempted but failed to introduce bans on people from seven Muslim-majority nations travelling to the US.
Those moves were met with protests, but Minhaj - a Muslim-American - said the policies had sparked a response among Asian-American and Muslim comedians, adding that "there's something amazing in the chai right now".
"What I think is really cool is there's different shades of the narrative," said Minhaj, who appears on The Daily Show on Comedy Central. "People are bringing their own personal perspectives, and everyone's being unapologetically themselves."
Hasan Minhaj said he would "probably not" have hosted the dinner under Hillary Clinton
Minhaj is not the only comedian to have benefited from a Donald Trump presidency - the TV show Saturday Night Live, which has regularly skewered the president and his cabinet, has reported its highest ratings in about 20 years.
Wajahat Ali, an author and New York Times contributor who was also a guest of the Facebook session, said he wanted to thank Mr Trump for helping give comedians a voice.
The policies of the White House had, he said, "awakened slumbering giants, queens and kings, princes and princesses, who had stayed dormant". He added: "Sometimes it takes a crisis to wake up."
• None Six takes from the White House Correspondents' dinner
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39991889
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Liverpool 3-0 Middlesbrough - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Liverpool secure their Champions League return after a nervy first half as already relegated Middlesbrough crumble at Anfield.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Liverpool secured their Champions League return as their initial nerves turned to jubilation and relegated Middlesbrough crumbled at Anfield.
With top-four rivals Arsenal ahead at Everton, Liverpool were impotent in attack and twitchy at the back for most of the first half.
But Georginio Wijnaldum eased the tension in injury time, bursting into the box and smashing in a fierce shot at the near post.
Philippe Coutinho's low curling free-kick six minutes into the second half was quickly followed by Adam Lallana slotting in to give the Reds a comfortable cushion to ride out to full-time.
With Manchester City thrashing Watford, Liverpool finished fourth in the final Premier League table and will have to negotiate Champions League qualifying at the start of next season.
Manager Jurgen Klopp had a beaming smile on the final whistle as he congratulated his players, but his team's display - in front of a watching owner John W Henry - underlined the need for further investment as they prepare to step up to Europe's top table for the first time since 2014-15.
That campaign ended in the group stages as Brendan Rodgers' side - with talisman Luis Suarez sold to Barcelona - were found wanting.
If they play like they did in Sunday's first half, the same fate will be the best this version can hope for.
As so often this season, Liverpool's attackers seemed stumped by deep-lying opposition and the soft centre of their defence was nearly exposed when Patrick Bamford got the wrong side of Dejan Lovren and had a strong claim for a penalty denied.
But Wijnaldum's powerful opener changed the mood both in the stands and on the pitch. The interplay between Roberto Firmino, Coutinho and Lallana in the second half was close to the scintillating best that they have produced in this campaign.
They surely need additions to recreate that form more consistently and on bigger stages next season, but Klopp's side collected an impressive 76 points and finished above Arsenal and Manchester United in his first full season in charge.
"I think it does qualify as a successful season. They set out to reach the Champions League and from a league point of view they've achieved that. They'll be bigger and better next season," Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer said.
Daniel Sturridge is the last remaining part of the attacking trio that drove Liverpool close to the Premier League title two seasons ago.
But after an injury-blighted couple of campaigns and doubts over whether he can find a place in Klopp's high-tempo gameplan, it had been suggested he might follow Suarez and Raheem Sterling out of the club.
Starting successive Premier League games for the first time since September, he added an extra dimension to Liverpool's play with clever movement, a constant penalty-box presence and ability to get a shot away.
He came closer than any Liverpool player to scoring in the first 45 minutes with a shot just wide, applauded the fans as he headed off with eight to go and exchanged an embrace with Klopp on his way to the bench.
"There is nothing to discuss really," he told Sky Sports, when asked after the match if he would still be at Liverpool next season. "I have two years left on my deal and I am happy here."
While Liverpool prepare for the Champions League, Middlesbrough have the different challenge of life in the Championship next season.
Chairman Steve Gibson has been bullish about the possibility of an immediate return, saying earlier in the week that he aimed to "smash the league" and return as champions.
A starting selection without likely summer departures Alvaro Negredo, Marten de Roon and Adama Traore suggested that caretaker Steve Agnew is already concentrating on the next campaign.
Solidly run off the pitch as well as resolute on it, Boro are well set to back up their chairman's promise, particularly if Gibson can convince his centre-back nephew Ben to stick with the club in the second tier.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp: "We worked hard to get the first goal. We got more confident. We then scored from the free-kick and got even more confident.
"The boys then played some fantastic football. I'm really looking forward to next season. I think we have created a wonderful base. The better you're organised, the more you feel free to do special things in offence.
"I'm really happy about this - what a wonderful day."
Middlesbrough caretaker boss Steve Agnew: "Liverpool have some top-class players and you wait for moments like that Patrick Bamford penalty shout and that did not go our way.
"It has been a difficult season and the bottom line is that we have not scored enough goals or won enough games. We need to use this summer to reflect and work out what we need to do to come back.
"The chairman is the best in my opinion and I'm sure that talks will be progressing over the next few weeks about the future of the club."
O Magico pulls the strings - the stats you need to know
• None Liverpool have finished in the top four of the Premier League for only the second time in the past eight seasons.
• None Philippe Coutinho has had a hand in 20 Premier League goals for Liverpool this season, more than any other player (13 goals, seven assists).
• None Coutinho has scored 15 Premier League goals from outside the area, more than any other player.
• None Middlesbrough are one of three teams to visit Anfield on 10 or more occasions in the Premier League without winning (Sunderland - 16, Middlesbrough - 15 and Bolton - 13).
• None All 17 of Georginio Wijnaldum's Premier League goals have been scored in home games (six at Anfield and 11 at St James' Park).
• None Middlesbrough won just 28 points this season, their worst return in a Premier League season.
• None Attempt saved. Adam Forshaw (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
• None Attempt missed. Adam Forshaw (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Álvaro Negredo with a through ball.
• None Attempt saved. Emre Can (Liverpool) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Adam Lallana.
• None Attempt blocked. Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Roberto Firmino.
• None Attempt missed. Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Emre Can.
• None Attempt saved. Adam Lallana (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top left corner. Assisted by Georginio Wijnaldum. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39912029
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Fernando Alonso makes Indy 500 'fast nine' for pole position battle - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Fernando Alonso will compete for pole position at the Indy 500 on Sunday, but ex-F1 driver Sebastien Bourdais is injured in a high-speed crash.
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Fernando Alonso will compete for pole position at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday after making it through the first qualifying day seventh fastest.
The McLaren Formula 1 driver produced an impressive performance in his first competitive session on a US oval track.
Alonso, 35, is among the 'fast nine' who will dispute pole on Sunday.
The Spanish driver's average speed for his four-lap qualifying run on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was 230.034mph.
American Ed Carpenter, who ran later in the day, was fastest at 230.468mph. The shootout for pole is due to begin at 22:00 BST.
The perils of racing on high-speed American oval tracks were emphasised as former F1 driver Sebastien Bourdais suffered multiple fractures to his pelvis and a fracture to his right hip in a high-speed crash.
The Frenchman, 38, was fastest after the first two laps of his four-lap qualifying run but lost control exiting Turn One, smashed head-on into the barriers and rolled before coming to a rest.
IndyCar said in a statement that Bourdais was due to have surgery on his pelvis on Saturday evening at the Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital.
Dale Coyne Racing's team owner said in a statement on Saturday: "Sebastien is in good hands here at the hospital with the staff and now we just wait for him to recover."
Bourdais, who drove for F1 team Toro Rosso in 2008 and 2009, had been "awake and alert" immediately after the accident and had not lost consciousness.
Drivers are supposed to get several attempts at setting a time on the first day of qualifying at Indy, but a rain storm in the morning delayed running and in the end the session was cut short so that each driver only had one four-lap attempt.
Speaking before the conclusion of the session, Alonso said: "It was intense, definitely. With the weather conditions, we only had this attempt, so that creates a little bit of stress on everyone.
"I think we did OK, and put the laps together but I think there is more to come from the car. We have a little bit more speed than we showed today so hopefully we can put everything together.
"It felt difficult, it felt tricky. You are going very fast, you feel the degradation of the tyres. Lap one and lap four are very different in terms of the balance and you need to keep your concentration very high every corner, every lap.
"I need to keep learning, keep progressing. With this being my first qualifying, I saw there were things I could do differently, the preparation of the tyres, the laps, the consistency of the laps. I am happy with today's performance but I think tomorrow will be better."
Of the Britons, Ed Jones was quickest in 10th place, followed by Max Chilton in 12th, Jay Howard in 22nd, Jack Harvey in 25th and Pippa Mann in 30th.
Qualifying runs over two days this weekend, with Saturday defining the 'fast nine' drivers who compete for pole position on Sunday.
The remaining 24 drivers also qualify again on Sunday, but only to determine the grid positions from 10th to 33rd. Qualifying pace is determined by a driver's average speed over a four-lap run.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/39988462
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Premier League: Race for the Champions League and the Golden Boot - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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On Sunday the Premier League season finishes with all 20 clubs playing at 15:00 BST - catch up with the big issues on the final day.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal will compete for England's final two Champions League places as the Premier League season finishes on Sunday.
City can clinch third spot, and a place in the group stage, by winning at Watford, while Liverpool will secure at least fourth by beating Middlesbrough.
But Arsenal can sneak into the top four if one of their rivals slips up and they beat Everton at Emirates Stadium.
All 20 teams are in action, with every match kicking off at 15:00 BST.
So what are the big issues on the final day - and what is the latest team news?
• None Select your Premier League team of the season
• None Quiz: How well do you remember this season?
Manchester City need a point at Watford to guarantee a top-four finish - but winning and finishing third will take them straight into next season's Champions League group stages.
The team in fourth place will go into a two-legged play-off in August, while whoever finishes fifth will receive a place in the Europa League.
With just six points separating Southampton, in eighth, and 16th-placed Watford, several teams also have the opportunity to improve their league position - and increase their share of Premier League prize money.
Burnley, for instance, could finish as low as 17th, earning £7.6m in prize money, or as high as 11th, which would be worth £19m - a difference of £11.4m.
Harry Kane looks set to win the Premier League Golden Boot, awarded to the competition's leading scorer, thanks to his four goals in Tottenham's 6-1 victory at Leicester on Thursday.
Spurs go to relegated Hull on Sunday with Kane on 26 league goals for the season, two clear of Everton's Romelu Lukaku.
Belgium striker Lukaku and Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez, third in the standings on 23 goals, will face each other at Emirates Stadium as they look to catch Kane.
Chelsea get their prize - and chase history
No team has ever won 30 league matches in a 38-game top-flight season - but Chelsea will be the first to do so if they beat bottom club Sunderland at Stamford Bridge.
Antonio Conte's side secured the Premier League title - the club's fifth in 13 seasons - with a 1-0 victory at West Brom on 12 May, and will receive the trophy after Sunday's game.
Chelsea managed 29 league wins in a season, in 2004-05 and 2005-06, twice under Jose Mourinho.
Only two teams in the history of the English top division have achieved more - Tottenham won 31 games in 1960-61 and Liverpool 30 in 1978-79 - and they both did it in 42-match seasons.
Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Hull are all leaving the Premier League after finishing in the bottom three, but there will be individual farewells too.
Chelsea captain John Terry is set to end his 22-year stay at Stamford Bridge by playing his 717th game for the club.
At Watford, manager Walter Mazzarri will take charge for the final time, with his departure having been confirmed on Wednesday.
A number of other players may yet be turning out for their clubs for the final time, with the futures of Wayne Rooney, Ross Barkley, Romelu Lukaku, Michael Keane and Gylfi Sigurdsson among those in doubt.
One question that will not be answered tomorrow concerns the future of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger - who is out of contract this summer.
Asked on Friday if he would extend his 21-year reign, Wenger said only that his future would be decided at a board meeting to follow the FA Cup final against Chelsea on 27 May.
All games kick-off at 15:00 BST on Sunday
Aaron Ramsey is fit for Arsenal despite limping off against Sunderland in midweek with a thigh strain.
Defender Laurent Koscielny could again miss out because of a calf problem, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is sidelined by a hamstring injury.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman has no new injury concerns.
It remains to be seen whether the match will mark the final Everton appearance of Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley, whose futures at the club are in doubt.
Burnley could welcome back Michael Keane, who has missed their past two games because of a calf injury.
Fellow centre-back Ben Mee is again set to miss out with a shin problem.
West Ham are without centre-back Winston Reid, who has had surgery to treat a knee injury, so 18-year-old Declan Rice may deputise.
Fellow defender Angelo Ogbonna, who returned to the match-day squad last weekend after three months out, is also available but lacks match fitness.
Chelsea captain Gary Cahill and top scorer Diego Costa are among the players likely to be recalled by the champions after Antonio Conte made nine changes for Monday's win over Watford.
John Terry could made his 717th appearance for the Blues in his last game at Stamford Bridge as a player.
Relegated Sunderland will be without 11 injured players.
Defender Lamine Kone and midfielder Didier Ndong are the latest absentees because of dead legs.
Hull will be without Evandro, Harry Maguire and Abel Hernandez through injury.
They join Will Keane, Lazar Markovic, Ryan Mason, David Meyler and Moses Odubajo on the sidelines.
Tottenham await news on whether full-backs Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker will be fit to return.
Christian Eriksen is likely to be recalled after being rested against Leicester on Thursday, while Filip Lesniak could start.
Leicester are again without defender Robert Huth, who is nursing a foot injury, but Andy King could return from a hamstring problem.
Bournemouth could welcome back midfielders Dan Gosling and Andrew Surman after their respective calf and knee problems.
They are definitely without the injured Benik Afobe, while Lewis Cook is away with the England Under-20 side.
Liverpool are hopeful forward Roberto Firmino will be fit to play on Sunday despite a muscle problem.
If he is unavailable then the Reds could select the same starting line-up that began the 4-0 win at West Ham.
Jurgen Klopp's side need a win to guarantee qualification for next season's Champions League.
Middlesbrough boss Steve Agnew may again be without Daniel Ayala, Gaston Ramirez and Victor Valdes because of injury.
Manchester United goalkeeper Joel Pereira is expected to be given his Premier League debut on Sunday.
Demi Mitchell, Angel Gomes, Josh Harrop and Scott McTominay could make their senior bows, while Paul Pogba and Timothy Fosu-Mensah will play.
Marouane Fellaini and Chris Smalling have minor injuries and may be rested for the Europa League final.
James Tomkins should be fit for Crystal Palace after an ankle problem but Yohan Cabaye is a doubt because of a foot injury.
Andros Townsend will miss the game because of an Achilles injury, while Scott Dann is expected to be absent with a knee problem.
Southampton's Shane Long will miss out after breaking a bone in his foot at Middlesbrough last week.
Cedric Soares faces a fitness test after limping off in midweek and Ryan Bertrand is also a doubt.
Stoke's Marko Arnautovic is doubtful because of an elbow problem sustained in last weekend's defeat by Arsenal.
Ibrahim Afellay is still recuperating from knee surgery last month, while Stephen Ireland remains out with a long-term leg injury.
Swansea City have no new injury concerns for Sunday's game and Paul Clement could name the same side that beat Sunderland.
Striker Borja Baston faces a fitness test but Wayne Routledge is back in contention after hernia trouble.
West Brom are likely to be without winger Matt Phillips again as he is still nursing a hamstring injury.
Salomon Rondon and Gareth McAuley should both recover from respective hamstring and thigh problems.
Watford could be without up to six central defenders, with Adrian Mariappa (knee) and Miguel Britos (calf) facing late fitness tests.
Sebastian Prodl is suspended while Christian Kabasele, Craig Cathcart and Younes Kaboul are all out injured.
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany should be fit despite being substituted during the 3-1 win over West Brom.
John Stones has also recovered from a groin strain and could replace Nicolas Otamendi in defence.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39986445
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Celtic 2-0 Heart of Midlothian - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Leigh Griffiths and Stuart Armstrong score as champions Celtic beat Hearts to complete an unbeaten Scottish Premiership season.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Champions Celtic beat Hearts to become the first team to complete a Scottish top-flight season unbeaten for 118 years.
Leigh Griffiths and Stuart Armstrong secured a 34th win of the campaign for Brendan Rodgers' side, who were then presented with the Premiership trophy.
The feat was last achieved by Rangers in 1898-99, over an 18-game season.
And Celtic join Arsenal (2003-04) and Juventus (2011-12) in being unbeaten over a 38-game league season.
Rodgers' side, who won the League Cup in November, will attempt to win the club's first domestic treble since 2001 when they take on Aberdeen in Saturday's Scottish Cup final.
Celtic, who have won six top-flight titles in a row, are unbeaten in 46 domestic games this season (38 in league, eight in cups), and 47 domestic matches overall including the final league game of last season.
And they are unbeaten in 31 games in all competitions since losing to Barcelona in the Champions League on 23 November.
With the win and goals against Hearts, Celtic set new records for the Scottish Premier League/Premiership era, including goals, points, wins and margin of victory.
With so much anticipated from the hosts, Hearts head coach Ian Cathro sought to frustrate Celtic, restricting them to long-range efforts.
Kieran Tierney and Callum McGregor came closest with those and Griffiths sent a free-kick into the side netting.
And it could have been Hearts that went in front, Bjorn Johnsen laying a free-kick off for Alexandros Tziolis to strike narrowly over.
When Celtic did get into the box, goalkeeper Viktor Noring was in fine form.
The Swedish stopper made an instinctive block to deny Dedryck Boyata at a corner and then punched away Patrick Roberts' dangerous cut-back.
However, Hearts' resistance was broken when Roberts danced clear on the right and set up Griffiths for a confident header.
And Griffiths was involved in the second, his cross not properly cleared and falling for Armstrong to finish.
Though sustaining a fourth straight defeat, Hearts competed well in Glasgow and fared much better than their 5-0 home loss to Celtic last month - the match that clinched the title for Rodgers' men.
Johnsen headed against the right-hand post from a Malaury Martin corner as Cathro's men sought consolation.
And substitute Martin's volley was then kept out by Craig Gordon late on.
• None Attempt saved. Malaury Martin (Heart of Midlothian) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
• None Krystian Nowak (Heart of Midlothian) hits the right post with a header from the centre of the box.
• None Attempt blocked. Malaury Martin (Heart of Midlothian) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.
• None Euan Henderson (Heart of Midlothian) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
• None Attempt missed. Dedryck Boyata (Celtic) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39911911
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The struggles of war babies fathered by black GIs - BBC News
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2017-05-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Many GIs had children with British women but under US laws black servicemen were usually refused permission to marry. So what happened to the children?
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Magazine
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About 100,000 black GIs were stationed in the UK during the war. Inevitably there were love affairs, but US laws usually prevented black servicemen from marrying. So what happened to the children they fathered? Fiona Clampin met two such children in Dorset, now in their seventies, who have not given up hope of tracing their fathers.
A bottle of champagne has sat on a shelf in Carole Travers's wardrobe for the past 20 years. Wedged between boxes and covered with clothes, it'll be opened only when Carole finds her father. "There's an outside chance he might still be alive," she reflects. "I've got so many bits of information, but to know the real truth would mean the world to me - to know that I did belong to somebody."
The possibility of Carole tracking down her father becomes more and more remote by the day. Born towards the end of World War Two, Carole, now 72, was the result of a relationship between her white mother and a married African-American or mixed-race soldier stationed in Poole, in Dorset.
Whereas some "brown babies" (as the children of black GIs were known in the press) were put up for adoption, Carole's mother, Eleanor Reid, decided to keep her child. The only problem was, she was already married, with a daughter, to a Scot with pale skin and red hair.
"I had black hair and dark skin," says Carole. "Something obviously wasn't right."
The difference between Carole and her half-siblings only dawned on the young girl at the age of six, when she overheard her parents having an argument. "Does she know? Well, it's about time she did," said her stepfather, in Carole's retelling of the story. She remembers how her mother sat her down at the kitchen table and told Carole the truth about her background.
"I was chuffed I was different," she says. "I used to tell my friends, 'My dad's an America,' without really knowing what that meant."
In 1950s Dorset there were very few mixed-race or black children, and having one out of wedlock carried a huge stigma. Although Carole doesn't remember any specific racist remarks, she recalls the stares. Parents would shush their children when she and her family got on the bus.
Carole says her "blackness" was considered cute when she was a child, but as she grew up she became more aware of her difference. "I remember once being in a club and there was a comedian who started making jokes about black people. I'm stood there and I'm thinking: 'Everyone's looking at me,'" she says.
"I always felt inferior. As a teenager, I would stand back, I thought that nobody would ever want to know me because of my colour.
"I was going out with one boy, and his mother found out about me. She put a stop to it because she remarked that if we had kids, they would be 'coloured'."
Seventy-two-year-old John Stockley, another child of an African-American GI stationed further down the Dorset coast in Weymouth, does remember the racial abuse in striking detail.
John was called names to such an extent that at the age of seven he decided he would try to turn his skin pale to be like his classmates.
"I worked out that if I drank milk of magnesia [a laxative] and ate chalk I would make myself go white," he chuckles. "I think I drank over half the bottle! You can imagine the effect. It wasn't good and it tasted disgusting."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. John Stockley spoke to Woman's Hour about trying to fit in
In one playground incident a boy insulted him with the N-word and called him "dirty", but when John thrashed him he found himself summoned to the school office.
"It was a winter's day in the early 1950s," John explains.
"I was playing football and I collided with another guy. By this time I was quite fiery, I wouldn't take it, and a blow was struck. I made his nose bleed. To this day I can see the blood on the snow.
"My mother lived less than 100 yards from the school, and she was summoned to the office with me. I remember her shaking next to me, holding my hand. The secretary told her what had happened and he said to my mother: 'You have to remember, Mrs Stockley, these people cannot be educated.' That puts my hackles up now."
Shocking though the racism seems to us today, it was arguably family life which had a more pernicious effect on these mixed-race children. "Your mum made a mistake," one of his aunts once told John Stockley.
"The 'mistake' is me," he says.
John's description of his childhood spent living with his grandparents in a village behind Chesil Beach sounds idyllic. But that's to ignore the reason why he went there in the first place. Determined to punish his wife for her double transgression, John's stepfather did not allow him to live in the family home except from Monday to Friday during school term.
Even then, John was not permitted to enter the house by the front door. At weekends he was packed off to his maternal grandparents, who provided him with the stable and loving family life he craved - and a refuge from his stepfather.
"Of course, coming back from the war and finding his wife with a black child must have been a great shock," John acknowledges.
"And they never had any children together. But there was no love at all for him from me, because of what he did to my mother. She was effectively kept in a position of restraint, and I'd see her go through depression because she wanted to do things she couldn't."
John says his stepfather - a gambler and philanderer - exercised control over his mother despite the fact that she ran a successful guesthouse. He decided who John's mother could or could not be friends with, John says.
"And he didn't like us to be too close. If some music came on the radio when he wasn't there, I would dance with her because she loved to jitterbug. But not when he was around. We were told to stop."
Carole Travers's stepfather began divorce proceedings when he found out what his wife had done in his absence. However, when it appeared that he wouldn't get custody of their daughter (Carole's half-sister), he returned to the family home and Carole took his surname.
He appeared to accept Carole on the surface, but towards the end of his life he telephoned her and dropped a bombshell. He wouldn't be leaving her anything in his will, he told her, "because you're nothing to do with me".
"The money didn't matter," says Carole. "But what he said really hurt me. I told him, 'You're my dad, you've always been my dad, and you're the only dad I've ever known'."
Married and with children of her own by this time, Carole started trying to trace her biological father, based on the scraps of information her mother had given her in the weeks before she died. "It just didn't occur to me to ask questions when I was younger," she says, the tone of regret in her voice clear.
"My stepfather would always bring me up in any argument with my mother, referring to me as 'your bastard', and I learned not to rock the boat. I just got on with my life."
Deborah Prior, front row, in the light dress, lived in Holnicote House in Somerset along with other mixed-race children - the photograph was used to attract potential adoptive parents
Not all GI babies were able to stay with their mothers. Dr Deborah Prior was born in 1945, to a widow in Somerset and a black American serviceman. Her mother was persuaded to give her up, and for five years Deborah lived in Holnicote House, a special home for mixed-race children. Deborah spoke to Woman's Hour along with Prof Lucy Bland, who is researching this under-reported chapter of social history.
Like Carole, John Stockley wanted to protect his mother by keeping quiet. "I could see it was going to upset her if I asked too many questions, and upset her was the last thing I was going to do," he says. He would take his chance occasionally, although his mother would always evade his enquiries. But John remembers with characteristic clarity the last time he brought up the subject of his real father.
"I remember her saying to me in the course of a minor argument between us: 'You don't know what I've been through because of you.'
"And I said to her: 'You don't know what I've been through because of you!' She went pale, and realised what she'd said and how she'd put her foot in it. But we never went any further than that. She just looked at me in a sad sort of way, and I said, 'Have I ever done anything to make you ashamed of me?' And she said no. And that was the last we ever spoke about it."
It was turning 70 that prompted John to start looking for information about his father, whereas Carole has spent almost half her life searching for a man she knows only as "Burt". Neither of them has many facts to go on - Carole believes her stepfather destroyed the only photos and letters that could have helped her identify Burt. But while their searches may come to nothing, they both take solace from the fact that their mothers loved them against all the odds, and that they were born of loving relationships, not one-night stands.
"My mother told me my father was the only man she ever really loved," says Carole. "And I've had Mum's friends say to me since her death: 'Don't ever feel ashamed of your background, because you were born out of love and your mum wanted you.' She knew he was going back to America and she wanted something of him, something to hold on to."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39927255
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Ian Brady: How the Moors Murderer came to symbolise pure evil - BBC News
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2017-05-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Brady and his crimes were held up as the consequences of moral decay in 1960s Britain.
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UK
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Ian Brady's notoriety and significance goes beyond the criminal to the political and the cultural
Ian Brady's mug shot has become visual shorthand for psychopathic evil. With his accomplice Myra Hindley, he occupies an especially ignominious place in our national folklore.
Margaret Thatcher described their crimes as "the most hideous and evil in modern times". A BBC News article in 2002 suggested the so-called "Moors Murderers" had set "the benchmark by which other acts of evil are measured".
But Brady's notoriety goes beyond the criminal to the political and the cultural.
He became an important figure in 20th Century British history as a focus for debate about crime and punishment, good and evil, and the permissive society.
Brady and Hindley were charged with their crimes 11 days after the Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act had received royal assent in 1965.
They "cheated the gallows by a year" according to some, and were placed at the heart of a debate over capital punishment that would rumble on for more than a decade.
The horrific detail of their apparently motiveless crimes - the abduction, torture and murder of children and young people and the burying of the bodies on what the tabloids called "fog-shrouded wild moorlands" - was a horror story in the Gothic tradition that provided the perfect test of public opinion on ending the death penalty.
Police searches of Saddleworth moor began in the 1960s, including this area where the body of Lesley Downey was found
Successive home secretaries sought to reassure the public that, for the most heinous crimes, life imprisonment meant just that.
But Brady was more than just a debating chip in the argument over the hangman.
For many, he became a terrifying symbol of social upheaval.
His slicked back rocker-style hair and sociopathic stare chimed with the moral panic over youth culture.
Mod and rocker clashes in the mid-60s were described by one newspaper as a symptom of the "disintegration of a nation's character".
Brady and his crimes were held up as the consequences of moral decay.
Writing about the murders, the novelist CP Snow argued that "permissive attitudes" were the "earth out of which the poisonous flower grew".
Brady's depravity was linked to fears about changing morality in the so-called Swinging 60s
The novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson - who was married to Snow - made a similar point in her book On Iniquity in 1967.
She suggested that Brady and Hindley's crimes had been an indictment of 1960s Britain.
"A wound in the flesh of our society had cracked open," she wrote. "We looked into it, and we smelled the sepsis."
Brady helped shape the age-old argument that permissiveness leads to violent crime.
Commentators noted how he had been born "out of wedlock" and had begun a life of criminality as a juvenile.
In the mid-60s, crime was rising rapidly and the face of the bastard Ian Brady was the backdrop.
He personified "pure evil" just as his innocent young victims personified "pure good".
For the press and politicians, the Moors Murderers were powerful examples of the clear but simplistic divide between the criminal underclass and the law-abiding majority, at a time when anxiety about law and order was rising.
Brady's fascination with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis confirmed the sense that he was the epitome of social depravity.
From his arrest until the day he died more than 50 years later, his haunting visage - along with that of Myra Hindley - have been routinely deployed as images of the threat.
He is the child snatcher, the bogeyman, the beast. He is the monster.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39938520
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Celtic's unbeaten season: Treble is 'last piece of the puzzle' - Leigh Griffiths - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths sets his sights on the treble after the champions complete an unbeaten Premiership campaign.
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Leigh Griffiths says a domestic treble will be "the last piece of the puzzle" for Celtic after they completed an unbeaten Scottish Premiership campaign.
Celtic's 2-0 win over Hearts ensured the champions finished with 34 wins and four draws from their 38 games.
Having already beaten Aberdeen to win the League Cup, they face the Dons in next Saturday's Scottish Cup final.
"If we bring our A-game, the treble will be the last piece of the puzzle," Griffiths told BBC Scotland.
"We've been talking about the treble quietly, but as professionals, it's the old cliché - we need to take it one game at a time.
"But as the season went on, we just kept getting stronger and stronger. It was a fitting tribute today in front of the home fans."
The striker, who has scored 18 goals in all competitions this season, says manager Brendan Rodgers has been instrumental in Celtic's prolific success.
"I don't think anybody would've thought we'd have gone the season unbeaten," Griffiths, 26, said. "But it just shows the character and mentality we've got in that dressing room.
"It's all down to the gaffer - he's instilled that from day one, and we can see why he's managed at the top in England.
"I didn't think in my wildest teams it would be possible for a team to go unbeaten a whole season, but we just try to keep pushing on."
Manager Rodgers, in his first season at the club, said it was an "incredible achievement" for his players to remain unbeaten on their way to the title, the first Scottish team to do so across a 38-game league season.
No team had stayed unbeaten for a season in Scotland's top flight since Rangers did so in 1888-89, over an 18-game season.
"The group have worked so hard for all the records they have broken, and they thoroughly deserve it," the former Liverpool boss said. "It's been a great season.
"You come in and plan to win. However, to perform like we've done is truly remarkable. The club is very much together as one.
"It's an incredible achievement. I am a Celtic supporter so I know what it feels like. The fans' enjoyment is the most important thing for me and I think they have a good feeling."
The league finale may prove to be Patrick Roberts' final outing at Celtic Park, with the Manchester City winger's loan spell expiring at the end of the season.
"I'm not going to say anything about my future," Roberts said. "I'm just going to enjoy today, enjoy being invincible, and once we've done that we'll prepare for the (Scottish Cup) final.
"I can't say much because I don't know what's going to happen. This is an unbelievable club, for me it's up there with the greatest, and I have had the pleasure of playing for them. I just want to say thanks to these beautiful fans."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39991691
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Andre Dirrell's uncle Leon Lawson Jr punches opponent Jose Uzcategui after win - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Andre Dirrell apologises after his uncle and coach Leon Lawson Jr punched his opponent Jose Uzcategui after their fight.
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Last updated on .From the section Boxing
Andre Dirrell has apologised after his uncle and coach Leon Lawson Jr punched his opponent Jose Uzcategui after their fight in Oxon Hill, near Washington DC.
American Dirrell claimed the interim IBF super-middleweight title after Venezuela's Uzcategui was disqualified in the eighth round for punching after the bell at the MGM National Harbour.
Lawson Jr then entered the ring and sucker-punched Uzcategui.
"I'm sorry for what my coach has done," said Dirrell, 33.
Dirrell, who lost to Britain's James DeGale in 2015, added: "My coach is my family, my uncle, and he was worried. He cares for me. He loves me. Please forgive him."
ESPN reports that Lawson Jr is now wanted on two assault charges by Prince George's County Police following the clash with Uzcategui.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/39990095
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Premier League quiz: How well do you remember the 2016-17 season? - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Nine months, 380 games and more than 1,000 goals - how well do you remember the 2016-17 Premier League season?
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Premier League quiz: How well do you remember the 2016-17 season? Last updated on .From the section Football
After nine months, 380 games and more than 1,000 goals, another Premier League season grinds to a halt on Sunday. Last August feels like a long time ago and a lot has happened since - how well do you remember the past 39 weeks?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39956306
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Arsene Wenger says his future was a factor as Arsenal fail to make Champions League - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Arsene Wenger says his "professionalism" cannot be questioned but uncertainty over his future contributed to Arsenal's fifth-place finish.
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Arsene Wenger says his "professionalism or commitment" cannot be questioned but that uncertainty over his future contributed to Arsenal failing to qualify for the Champions League.
It is the first time Arsenal, who finished fifth, have failed to qualify for the competition for 20 years.
Wenger, whose contract expires this summer, says his future will be decided after the FA Cup final on 27 May.
"I have said no to every club in the world," said the Frenchman, 67.
Wenger has been in charge of the Gunners since 1996, winning three Premier Leagues and six FA Cups, but has faced protests from Arsenal supporters this season calling for him to quit.
"I believe since January we have played in a very difficult environment for different reasons," he added.
"Some you know about and that's very difficult for a group of players to cope with that - and some other reasons we will talk about on another day.
"Psychologically the atmosphere was absolutely horrendous. It has been difficult, yes, and certainly my personal situation has contributed to that but you can never question my professionalism or commitment."
Arsenal beat Everton 3-1 on Sunday, but a 3-0 home win for Liverpool against Middlesbrough saw the Gunners finish a point behind Jurgen Klopp's side in fifth.
"I'm a lot more resigned because it's been coming for a few years and everybody has to focus on the FA Cup," former Arsenal striker Ian Wright told BBC Radio 5 live.
"This is done, we are in the Europa League, there is nothing we can do about it."
Wenger, whose side face Premier League champions Chelsea in the FA Cup final, said it was "very sad" Arsenal will not be playing in Europe's top club competition next season.
He added: "We do our job and you are professional and part of the job is being professional when the environment is not positive."
Some Arsenal fans also voiced their frustration at majority owner Stan Kroenke.
"I think you respect everyone in life and I respect Stan Kroenke a lot," said Wenger. "It is not his fault we didn't reach the Champions League, it is the technical department's responsibility for that.
"A club works when everybody does their job and we live in a society where everybody has an opinion and what moves society forward is when we work and not talk too much."
Wenger gets support from old rival Ferguson
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had a sometimes bitter rivalry with Wenger during his Old Trafford reign, winning 13 Premier League titles with the Red Devils.
Scot Ferguson was in charge for 26 years, while Frenchman Wenger is in his 21st year at the north London club.
"At the moment, of course, with the ridiculous situation of the pressure Arsene is under, I just wonder if they realise the job he's done," Ferguson told Sky Sports.
"The most amazing thing about him is this: he has come through a forest of criticism for months now, and has never bowed. He has seen it right through, he has shown a determination, a stubbornness. I think when you look at that, it's a quality, and I'm not sure they'll ever get another manager like that.
"It's quite easy to say 'Get rid of him', but who do you get? Who do you get in to keep that club the way they are for the next 20 years?
"I really feel sorry for him because I think he's shown outstanding qualities, and I think he has handled the whole situation. I don't know many that have done that."
'The toxic mood was on show again' - analysis
As Arsene Wenger sifted through the fall-out from Arsenal's failure to reach the Champions League for the first time in 20 years, he made a stark admission.
Wenger, reflecting on the atmosphere around Emirates Stadium, said: "The psychological environment was absolutely horrendous."
He insisted he was not using this as an excuse for Arsenal's failings but it was clear he felt the over-arching atmosphere had not helped his players as they tried to fight their way into the Premier League's top four.
Wenger may have a point - but has he himself not made a major contribution to the mood around the club and has to take his share of responsibility as his own Arsenal future became almost a matter for daily debate?
Even now, although most now assume he will extend his stay as Arsenal manager, he was simply saying his own personal situation would be "sorted soon".
The lack of clarity has cast a cloud over Arsenal's season and provided an unwanted sub-plot when matters should have been solely focused on the pitch.
The toxic mood was on show again as Arsenal's fate and the realisation that they would be in the Europa League next season became clearer, with chants against American owner Stan Kroenke, who has ignored a £1.3bn takeover bid from Alisher Usmanov, who has a 30% stake in the club.
Wenger defended Kroenke but it was obvious he feels factors elsewhere have created this "horrendous" psychological environment that has swirled unhelpfully around Arsenal.
The problem for Wenger is that he takes a big portion of the responsibility - and part of the price he and Arsenal will pay is that they will be out of Europe's elite group next season with their noses pushed against the window as they contemplate life without the Champions League.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39994392
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Why Swedish workplaces aren't as equal as you think - BBC News
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2017-05-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Nordic country's reputation for gender equality is not all it's made out to be.
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Business
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Amanda Lundeteg wants to expose Sweden's lack of equality
Sweden may have a global reputation as one of world's most gender equal societies but when it comes to female representation in business, campaigners question whether the Nordic nation is right to keep basking in the spotlight, as progress slows down back home.
Amanda Lundeteg, already a chief executive aged just 32, is in one way a poster girl for gender equality in the Swedish workplace.
She holds a degree in Business Economics, started her career in banking and has already served on three different boards.
Yet the sole reason Allbright, the non-profit company she manages, exists is to expose the limitations in career opportunities for women in Sweden.
Despite giving fathers the right to take paid time off since the 1970s and one of the world's most generous parental leave packages (currently 480 tax-funded days to share between a couple) and heavily subsidized day care - capped at some 1,230 Swedish krona ($141; £108) a month - Ms Lundeteg argues Sweden is less progressive than many might think.
"We're really good at bragging about how good we are... but if you ask most women in Sweden I definitely don't think that they are satisfied."
On the plus side, more than 80% of mothers work and Sweden leads the industrialised world in terms of public sector gender equality, according to the OECD; but Allbright's research shows the private sector - and the rapidly growing startup scene - is struggling to keep up.
In 2016, more than 80% of managers at listed Swedish companies were men and not a single new business on the stock market had a woman boss.
Martin Hector: "There's still a lot of fathers who don't take their parental leave"
The main reason for this imbalance is that traditional gender stereotypes prevail, despite decades of legislation designed to even things out, says Ms Lundeteg.
"It's possible to live a gender-equal life in Sweden, but we don't do it because of traditions.
"As a man you're supposed to be the one who works and brings home the meat to the cave. It's about stereotypes and privileges that will take time to break down."
Figures from Statistics Sweden confirm that women still take more than 80% of a couple's parental leave while their first child is under the age of two.
Women also remain much more likely to work part-time than men. When it comes to the wage gap, Sweden is close to the OECD average and drops to 35th place on the World Economic Forum's gender equality ranking.
It isn't difficult to find Swedes who are willing to talk about the discrepancies.
"There's still a lot of fathers who don't take their parental leave so it's not perfect yet," says Martin Hector, 32, as he takes his baby son for a stroll in Ralambshovs park in central Stockholm.
"Over the summer, for three months or something like that, feels the most common."
He's planning to take a total of nine months off work.
Camilla Dath, a lawyer who is also braving unusually chilly May temperatures of 2C with her seven-month-old, is taking 11 months' leave and says her husband will take a similar period off work.
But other parents might not have the same opportunities, she argues, if one partner earns substantially more than the other or because they work in organisations with more old-fashioned cultures.
"I have friends working in big law firms and they have a harder time to take parental leave," she says.
Lawyer Camilla Dath and her husband may be sharing their parental leave - but many other Swedes are not
When it comes to the number of women in management, the biggest discrepancies are still in the traditionally "male" industries of manufacturing and technology.
However, Allbright's research suggests that financial services and property companies have made "significant" improvements in recent years.
Rental accommodation firm Heba, for example, recently climbed 100 places in Allbright's rankings after replacing several of its top male executives, resulting in a female majority in management.
However its chief executive, Lennart Karlsson, is candid enough to admit that reaching gender equality was not his original goal.
"I thought competence was the main thing - competence and attitude - not sex, but I've changed my mind. The workplace works better because of the [gender] mix," he says.
"The discussion climate is better, you have a better conversation and a better understanding for each other."
Amanda Lundetag argues this should boost his business too, citing several recent studies including a high-profile report for the Peterson Institute for International Economics, which concluded that there is a positive correlation between the presence of women in leadership roles and an organisation's performance.
It's a link that is definitely not lost on the Swedish politicians spearheading what they've described as "the first feminist government in the world".
The Nordic nation's Left-Green coalition pushed through a new law in 2015, aimed to encourage men to take a greater share of the parental leave. Ninety days are now reserved for fathers on a "use it or lose" it basis.
"What we want to see is an equal participation from the parents in the long run... but we also have to take it slowly so that families will be able to adapt to the changes," says Annika Strandhall, Sweden's Minister for Social Security.
Simone French says the law is fine but the traditional culture drove her back to work early
Next year will even see the launch of a new Gender Equality Authority, an admission, according to Ms Strandhall, that Sweden's world-famous feminist initiatives have not been as joined-up as they might have been.
Yet while creating equal opportunities for men and women appears largely hard-wired into the national psyche, Sweden is split on the extent to which the state should intervene to pick up the pace.
The government's attempt to introduce legislation that would fine listed companies which fail to appoint women to at least 40% of board seats was rejected by parliament in January.
The fear of potential penalties seems to have acted as a catalyst, though; 33% of those put forward for board seats so far in 2017 are women, up 2% on last year, says Allbright, putting Sweden behind only Norway and France, both of which have legally-binding quotas.
However, the nationalist Sweden Democrats (currently the second-most popular party in the polls) and the smaller centre-right Christian Democrats -voted against the 90-day parental leave quota for fathers. They want families to have a greater choice when it comes to organising parenting.
"There is a societal pressure... because everyone goes back to work. I felt I would be going against the norm if I had stayed at home," explains Simone French, a 46-year-old who is originally from Australia.
She says she would have welcomed the opportunity to stay at home until her son started school. Instead she ended up taking just a year off from her digital marketing career amid pressure from her employer and relatives.
"It was my maternal instinct to be with my son - every fibre in my being fought against going back. It's not really talked about here but I have actually met a couple of Swedish women who felt the same."
However those cheerleading Sweden's march towards a completely gender equal society argue that evening out parental responsibilities is as much about giving fathers the same chance to bond with their children while they are young, as it is giving women greater opportunities to climb the ladder back in the workplace.
Sweden's laws on equality aren't lacking - banking analyst Andreas Lundvick is one of the rare fathers making the most of them
"You become closer with the children - a better connection," says Andreas Lundvick, 38, one of the other fathers back in Ralambshovs park.
He's taking time out from his job at a major Swedish bank to look after his six-month-old son while his wife is studying full-time, a move he believes will have "no impact" on his future career.
"I feel lucky, when you speak to people from other countries, and you hear about their situation, it's mostly the mum being home with the children. It's a culture thing."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39900449
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Iran election: Hassan Rouhani gets big mandate but will he deliver? - BBC News
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2017-05-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Iranian president has been given a mandate to push through reforms, but how will hardliners react?
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Middle East
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Mr Rouhani has promised to push through reforms but hardliners may obstruct his plans
From the outset when the counting of the votes started after midnight in Iran, the early results indicated that President Hassan Rouhani was heading for a landslide.
Even in small rural towns many people preferred the vision that he had put forward, a vision in sharp contrast to the inward looking, traditional and hardline Islamic government promised by his main challenger, Ebrahim Raissi.
President Rouhani won 23.5 million votes, or 57%. Turnout was unprecedented - nearly 41 million people voted, or 73.5% of the eligible voters. In Tehran, more than five million people came out to vote, twice the number of 2013.
One reason for this high turnout was the reports that the hardliners had pulled out all the stops and mobilised their resources to bring out as many of their supporters as possible to vote, a major push to oust President Rouhani. These reports spurred his supporters and all those who favoured moderation or opposed the hardliners to come out in big numbers.
President Rouhani's victory means a major defeat for the hardliners. The vote may indicate that they will never be able to take control of the executive branch through the ballot box, as a big majority of Iranians do not favour them or their vision.
In his first televised message after the victory, President Rouhani praised Iranians who, in his words, had said No to returning to the past. He was echoing his election campaign motto "We will not go back," a reference to his hard-line opponents and their "backward" policies.
Friday's vote in Iran was the revenge of the moderates. A rejection of those who had intimidated them, jailed them, executed them, drove them to exile, pushed them out of their jobs.
In his campaign, President Rouhani promised to put an end to extremism, to open up the political atmosphere, to extend individual and political rights, to free political prisoners, to remove discrimination against women and bring under control all those state institutions that are not accountable.
To keep and act on these promises, he told his supporters he needed a big mandate, bigger than before.
He firmly placed himself in the camp of the reformists. Now, with his re-election, Iran is on the path towards change, with a renewed confidence drawn from the emphatic result.
To his supporters on Saturday, he said he would remain committed to his promises. It is a tall order. The hardliners are not done yet. They will fight tooth and tail at every turn over the next four years to stop or frustrate President Rouhani's efforts to push through his reforms.
Iran's hardliner Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has congratulated the Iranians for their big show in the exercise for democracy. But he did not congratulate President Rouhani. There are many Rouhani supporters who are willing to argue that the supreme leader had interfered in the elections by constantly criticising the president in the run-up to the elections.
Turnout in the election was surprisingly high
Mr Rouhani has promised to build bridges with the outside world. His election is a huge endorsement for a nuclear deal that his government reached with world powers, which led to the lifting of the crippling sanctions against Iran and saved the country from the threat of a war.
But the deal has serious opponents in the US, where President Donald Trump and the Congress are reviewing their options. Iranians want the nuclear deal to survive, and the signs are that President Rouhani and Iran will keep to their side of the bargain.
In big and small cities around the country, millions of Iranians are celebrating the results. There are videos of people dancing in the streets on social media.
It is a big day in Iran's torturous political development.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-39989028
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Could you last a whole gig without using your phone? - BBC News
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2017-05-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Chris Rock is the latest celebrity to ban smartphones altogether at his upcoming UK shows.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Good luck to the person who tries to take a phone from a Harry Styles fan
Chris Rock fans will have their phones locked up during his forthcoming UK shows. Is this the start of no longer seeing a sea of screens at concerts?
Gigs in the pre-smartphone age used to be far less complicated.
You'd turn up. Maybe locate the bar and figure out where the bathrooms were. Flick through a programme or chat to your friends, and then just enjoy the show.
But these days, such a scene sounds like ancient history.
Now, you turn up. Check yourself in on Facebook. Catch up on emails while you're waiting for the show to start, and then when it does, upload some photos and videos you've taken to Instagram.
But many concertgoers find the practice irritating, and now some performers are starting to object too.
"No mobile phones, cameras or recording devices will be allowed at Chris Rock's Total Blackout Tour," read a message posted on ticketing websites when the comedian's new UK dates went on sale this month.
Chris Rock's upcoming shows will mark the biggest UK use of Yondr to date
"Upon arrival, all phones and smart watches will be secured in Yondr pouches that will be unlocked at the end of the show."
The term Yondr might make you Wondr what on earth they're talking about.
Yondr is a relatively new American company which gives you a pouch as you're going into a gig for you to place your phone in.
The pouch is then locked, and you keep it with you for the duration of the gig. At the end of the show, or if you need to use your phone during the performance, you can take the pouch outside of the phone-free zone to have it unlocked.
"We think smartphones have incredible utility, but not in every setting," Yondr say.
"In some situations, they have become a distraction and a crutch - cutting people off from each other and their immediate surroundings."
The company says it aims to "show people how powerful a moment can be when we aren't focused on documenting or broadcasting it".
Audience members keep the locked pouches with them throughout the evening
Rock's use of Yondr at his upcoming UK dates marks the biggest use of the company's pouches in the UK to date.
"I think Chris Rock's audiences will probably be disgruntled but compliant," says Hattie Collins, features editor at ID.
"If you're talking about a Harry Styles gig on the other hand, you're going to have a whole world of problems - there's a much younger audience who are used to sharing everything they do."
Collins adds that the ubiquity of smartphones has arguably had a damaging effect on music fans who want to connect with an artist.
"It's created a passivity as a viewer, so you're much less engaged. You're focused on taking the picture, opening up social media, adding an emoji, and by that point you've missed half the song."
Asked about the Chris Rock shows, a spokesperson for the SSE Hydro in Glasgow told the BBC: "Although it isn't standard practice, the artist has requested Yondr be used throughout his tour so we were happy to facilitate."
But are the audience happy with the restrictions, and the potential delays at security?
Having their jokes posted online can be damaging for comedians
Here's what a few ticket buyers told us:
Some of the fans said they were sympathetic to how problematic it can be for comedians (as opposed to musicians) to have their performances posted online.
If a comedian's jokes are leaked, it can spoil it for other audiences who were planning to see the same show later in the tour.
It's arguably less of an issue for musicians, as audiences are already familiar with the material they're performing and reaction will be broadly the same regardless of whether live footage from another show had already been posted online.
Alicia Keys and Dave Chappelle have previously enlisted the help of Yondr
Collins says: "I'm very torn, because on one hand I feel like it's something of an infringement of your civil liberties, but I appreciate that sounds far-fetched because they're not taking their phone off you, you keep it on you all the time."
All eyes will be on Rock's shows in January to see how the crowds react in person.
His tour will be the biggest UK test yet for Yondr and audiences, who have been asked to turn up an hour early to allow for extra time to go through metal detectors.
But Rock isn't the first to use Yondr in the UK - Alicia Keys and Dave Chappelle both utilised it at their London dates last year.
Could a sea of screens at gigs be a thing of the past?
Collins thinks the future of phone restrictions at gigs in the UK is hard to predict, as it largely depends on what kind of concert it is.
"I went to see Bob Dylan this month, and they asked that nobody take videos or photos, and there were two or three people wandering up and down the side of the auditorium to make sure nobody did," she explains.
"It was quite a refreshing experience, and so much more compelling to watch. Almost quite strange that it was just the stage and not the shadows of 400 mobile phones."
"But then when I saw TLC two nights later everyone messaged me saying 'ahh these pictures are great', they really enjoyed seeing the photos from a gig they didn't go to themselves."
She adds: "I think it's a shame because part of me agrees it would be nice to have fewer phones, but on the other hand it's really nice to be able to share."
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-39874507
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British and Irish Lions 2017: Billy Vunipola withdraws from squad with shoulder injury - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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England and Saracens number eight Billy Vunipola withdraws from the Lions tour to New Zealand with a shoulder injury.
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Last updated on .From the section English Rugby
England and Saracens number eight Billy Vunipola has withdrawn from the Lions tour to New Zealand with a shoulder injury.
The 24-year-old, who has 34 England caps, had been managing the injury but it now requires further treatment.
He has been replaced by Wasps back row James Haskell, who will join the squad after the Premiership final on 27 May.
"We really appreciate Billy's honesty in making this decision," Lions head coach Warren Gatland said.
Vunipola returned to the international setup in March for the Six Nations after a four-month lay off with a knee injury.
He played for Saracens in their Premiership semi-final defeat by Exeter on Saturday and appeared to be in pain during the match, receiving medical treatment on a couple of occasions.
"Billy has been carrying an injury and feels he wouldn't be able to contribute fully to the Tour and needs further medical treatment," Gatland added.
"We have called up James to the squad and look forward to welcoming him into camp before we depart."
The Lions play their first match of the New Zealand tour on 3 June.
Scrum-half Ben Youngs withdrew from the Lions squad at the start of May after his brother's wife learned that she is terminally ill.
This is potentially as serious an injury blow as the Lions could have suffered.
Man of the match in the recent Champions Cup final against Clermont, a fully fit and in-form Vunipola would have walked into the Lions Test team.
James Haskell is deserving of his call-up - while in Taulupe Faletau there is a classy operator at number eight - but for the Lions to somehow beat New Zealand, they can ill-afford injury setbacks such as this.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39994827
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Chelsea celebrate after lifting Premier League trophy - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Chelsea players, including outgoing club legend John Terry, celebrate on the Stamford Bridge pitch after beating Sunderland 5-1 and lifting the Premier League trophy.
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Chelsea players, including outgoing club legend John Terry, celebrate on the Stamford Bridge pitch after beating Sunderland 5-1 and lifting the Premier League trophy.
Watch highlights on Match of the Day, 22:30 BST on BBC One, the BBC Sport app and this website.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39994117
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Malaga 0-2 Real Madrid - BBC Sport
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2017-05-21
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Real Madrid win their first La Liga title since 2012 thanks to a final-day victory at Malaga.
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Last updated on .From the section European Football
Real Madrid won their first La Liga title since 2012 thanks to a final-day victory at Malaga.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored early on to settle the nerves, latching onto Isco's through ball to step around Carlos Kameni and tap into an empty net.
Karim Benzema added their second goal after the break after Kameni parried Sergio Ramos' shot.
Real, who had only needed a point, now face Juventus in the Champions League final looking to complete a double.
• None Relive the action as it happened.
Barcelona, who had won the past two titles, came from 2-0 down to beat Eibar 4-2 but they had needed Real to slip up if they were going to retain the trophy.
The result means Zinedine Zidane, in his first full season as Real boss, is the first manager to lead Madrid to the Spanish league title since Jose Mourinho five years ago.
If Real beat Juventus in Cardiff, they will become the first team to successfully defend the Champions League - with Zidane having won the tournament six months into the job last summer.
Never in doubt for Real
Real Madrid are deserved champions, having been the best team in Spain - and probably Europe - for most of the season.
Their squad is starting to look less reliant on Benzema, Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, who was out injured - even though the first two players scored their goals at Malaga.
Isco, who was impressive again, and Alvaro Morata have shown themselves to be quality players when given the chance.
When Barca beat Real in El Clasico on 23 April, it gave renewed hope for an exciting title race - but Real won their last six games to win the league by three points.
And there was never any title peril on the final day once Ronaldo rounded Kameni to score the second-minute opener.
Malaga had chances, with former Barca striker Sandro impressive. But with nothing to play for themselves, they never really looked like winning.
'The league is everything'
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane: "It was very important [to win the league]. It was a lot of years without winning it and we knew that the league is everything.
"For Real Madrid, because it is the best club in the world, we have to return with this league title.
"He [Ronaldo] is always there to make the difference and I am happy for him - it is a little different because he is always there to do it.
"It has been a difficult season that we worked hard for, with some tough moments, but after 38 games we are top and that is it.
"The Spanish league is the best in my opinion and to win it in this way is incredible - I am very happy."
• None Real have ended their longest run without a title (four seasons) since 1994
• None Real have scored in all of their games in a single La Liga season for the first time ever
• None The Whites have scored 58 goals away from home, their best return in a single La Liga season
• None Real have scored in their last 64 games in all competitions, the best run by a team from the top five European leagues
• None Cristiano Ronaldo is the all-time top-scorer in the top five European leagues (369), surpassing Jimmy Greaves (366)
• None 19 different players have scored for Real Madrid in La Liga this season, a joint-record in Europe's top five leagues with Celta Vigo
• None Real have scored 27 headed goals in La Liga, the most for a team in a single top-flight season since at 2003-04
• None Zinedine Zidane is the sixth former Real Madrid player to win La Liga as manager, after Bernd Schuster, Vicente del Bosque, Jorge Valdano, Luis Molowny and Miguel Munoz
• None Offside, Málaga. Recio tries a through ball, but Charles Dias is caught offside.
• None Attempt missed. Charles Dias (Málaga) header from very close range is too high. Assisted by Gonzalo Castro with a cross following a corner.
• None Attempt saved. Gonzalo Castro (Málaga) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Pablo Fornals.
• None Attempt missed. Marcelo (Real Madrid) left footed shot from the left side of the box is too high following a corner.
• None Attempt saved. Luka Modric (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Danilo.
• None Attempt saved. Álvaro Morata (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Mateo Kovacic.
• None Attempt missed. Marcelo (Real Madrid) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Luka Modric.
• None Attempt missed. Charles Dias (Málaga) right footed shot from the left side of the six yard box misses to the left. Assisted by Federico Ricca with a cross.
• None Attempt missed. Charles Dias (Málaga) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Federico Ricca with a cross.
• None Attempt missed. Ignacio Camacho (Málaga) header from the centre of the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Gonzalo Castro with a cross.
• None Attempt missed. Pablo Fornals (Málaga) right footed shot from outside the box is too high following a corner.
• None Attempt blocked. Pablo Fornals (Málaga) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39926301
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Wanted: Top doctor to care for 7 billion people - BBC News
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2017-05-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The World Health Organization is recruiting a boss. Hear from the three candidates for the top job in their own words.
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Health
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The WHO confirmed that Zika virus caused microcephaly or small brains in babies
There's another big election coming up which will have an impact on hundreds of millions of people all around world - but you probably haven't heard anything about it.
Health ministers and officials from 194 countries are due to vote for a new director general of the World Health Organization in Geneva on Tuesday.
The UN agency, founded in 1948, describes itself as the "global guardian of public health", but it lost a great deal of credibility and trust over its handling of the Ebola crisis in 2014.
The new boss could make or break the WHO, which is still trying to prove it is fit for purpose after admitting it was slow to respond to what became the worst Ebola outbreak in history.
However, dealing with epidemics is just part of what WHO does.
Its stated goal is to ensure "the highest attainable level of health for all people".
In practice, that means everything from trying to wipe out deadly diseases for good, to trying to deal with the growing number of obesity and diabetes epidemics, to reducing deaths on the roads and saving the lives of mothers and babies during childbirth.
Heading an organisation responsible for the health of all 7.3 billion people on earth is no small task.
"The word 'health' itself is a burden that it carries," said Devi Sridhar, professor of global public health at the University of Edinburgh.
"Improving health worldwide can mean so many things, from mental health to malaria to unintentional injuries… to cancer.
"It's very hard for one agency, with a very limited and very constrained budget - of around $2bn every year - to achieve all those things. "
Prof Sridhar, who has recently written a book looking at WHO funding, said the US's health protection agency, the CDC, has a budget more than three times that of the WHO.
She also said most of it comes from donors who earmark their funding for specific projects.
Only around 20% of the WHO budget comes from compulsory contributions from member states, she said.
Whoever gets the top job will have to be the consummate politician. They will have to get country leaders on board with big - often expensive - global health objectives, while also being above politics and not beholden to the special interests of any particular country.
"There have been two types of leader at the WHO in the past," said Prof David Heymann, a former assistant director at the WHO.
"Some have tried to build consensus between 194 member countries, then try to implement what those countries have said. Others have been leaders who have been out in front with a vision, and tried to pull 194 countries along with that vision."
There are three candidates left in the running for the $241,000-a-year job.
The vote will take place at the annual World Health Assembly in Geneva. Whoever is elected will serve a minimum five-year term.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former health and foreign minister in the Ethiopian government
"I was born into a poor family. When I was seven, I lost my younger brother, probably to measles. I survived by chance, but it could have been me.
"For me, this position is about standing up for the rights of the poor.
"If I became director general, I would be very vocal on the issue of universal healthcare.
"We complain about emergencies or epidemics, worried it may come to our country. But if we ensure universal health coverage, we can resolve all of those issues.
"Inequity is a central challenge. The world has all the resources to save every life, as long as we believe every life is important.
"Those who have, do not care for the have-nots, and unless we confront that reality honestly, I don't think we will make progress."
Dr Sania Nishtar, cardiologist who set up Heartfelt, which works to improve health systems in Pakistan
"I was born and brought up in Peshawar on the Afghan border in Pakistan. I was raised in a progressive family. My father encouraged us to swim in the summer and play golf. I was a local golf champion by the time I was 16.
"When I was 15, my father passed away silently in his sleep - I think that was a turning point in my life.
"I trained as a cardiologist and I became very disillusioned with the disparity of care between the rich and the poor.
"My vision for this role centres on regaining the WHO's primacy, and ensuring that it has the world's trust as its lead health agency.
"Since the Ebola outbreak, the WHO has come under heavy criticism for its inability to... exercise stewardship during health emergencies.
"I want to make the organisation more accountable and transparent.
"I want it to focus on its core roles, rather than doing everything under the sun, in a half-baked way. I would lead the WHO very differently."
Dr David Nabarro, born in the UK, is UN special adviser on the Sustainable Development goals and is former UN Envoy for Ebola
"My parents are both doctors, and probably because of their influence, I started working outside the UK.
"It was when I was working in Nepal in 1989, that I found how malnutrition and disease were most likely to come from households that faced particularly difficult circumstances in terms of income, the status of women and their access to sanitation and water.
"It seemed to me blindingly obvious that I had to work on the underlying determinants of health.
"My first priority if I become director general of the WHO, is to focus on universal health coverage - everybody being able to access healthcare when and where they need it.
"My second priority is to make sure people can be defended against outbreaks of disease.
"Thirdly, we are seeing increasing levels of diabetes, heart disease and mental ill-health. These kinds of non-communicable conditions could be prevented by better work across governments and society."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39973940
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Premier League 2016-17: Chelsea run clear, Spurs always chasing, Sunderland struggles - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Jose Mourinho's new low, were Tottenham ever top of the table? And how good are Chelsea? A Premier League season in stats.
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It was the season in which Chelsea played by their own record book.
The Blues topped the table while, at the other end, Sunderland could not escape the drop after 110 straight days at the bottom.
Records tumbled through to the last day of the campaign, when we saw 33 goalscorers, more than ever before in a single day of a 38-game season.
Goals scored from outside the penalty area fell to a Premier League low of 11.6% so, if you like a goalmouth scramble, this was your year.
Chelsea class but will Costa elect to stay?
From the moment Prime Minister Theresa May called a snap General Election on 18 April, the title was as good as Chelsea's.
The London club have won the title the past four times - 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2017 - the country has been asked to elect a government.
They did so in style, with their 30 wins beating the Premier League record of 29, which the Blues also set in 2004-05 and 2005-06.
As the graphic above shows, Antonio Conte would do well to hold on to Diego Costa as his goals won more points than anyone else in the league. The striker has been linked with a move to China, but why would he want to leave London?
The city is home to the best and second-best sides in the league for just the third time in English top-flight history.
For all their free-flowing attacking play, for all Dele Alli's quality and Christian Eriksen's guile, Tottenham didn't spend a single day on top of the table in 2016-17. That's less than relegated Hull City who spent 24 hours at the summit on the opening weekend.
Incredibly, Spurs had four players who were involved in 20 or more league goals this season. No other side had two players who could boast of such a contribution.
So many troops chipping in helped Mauricio Pochettino's side to a goal difference of +60, a record for any side who did not win the title.
What would they have mustered had Harry Kane not missed eight games in the league? His mark of five hat-tricks in the season puts him among stellar company, as only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo can match the mark in any of Europe's top five leagues.
Manchester United's season saw manager Jose Mourinho criticise Luke Shaw, take an age to utilise Henrikh Mkhitaryan and lament the workings of the fixture computer.
It led to him making more changes to his starting line-up - 120 - than any other manager and he finished outside the top three for the first time in his managerial career.
The Red Devils never finished a Premier League season lower than third under Sir Alex Ferguson but have now done so in each of the four seasons since he left.
And those famous Manchester United v Arsenal battles for titles in recent memory now look further away than ever, with the pair outside the top four as a duo for the first time since 1979.
The Gunners - fifth - can feel a little hard done by as their mark of 75 points is a record for any side finishing outside the top four in the Premier League era.
What was life like in 1999?
United still have the Europa League final to contest, of course, and would qualify for the Champions League with victory over Ajax on Wednesday. Mourinho could point to his use of youth as a positive for the campaign, as the side deployed for their final league game against Crystal Palace was their youngest Premier League XI - with an average age of 22 years and 284 days.
Forward Angel Gomes became the first player born in the year 2000 to feature in the Premier League in the process, making a generation of football fans feel old.
The 16-year-old is younger than David Beckham's oldest son Brooklyn and young enough to have never seen Glenn Hoddle manage the England side.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor topped the charts with her hit 'Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)' on the day Gomes was born in August 2000.
Spurs can boast the youngest average starting XI in the league at 25 years and 298 days, ahead of manager Mauricio Pochettino's former club Southampton (26 years and 169 days).
Bournemouth, though, may well be England boss Gareth Southgate's favourite side as 11 different English players made 20 or more appearances for the Cherries. No club has hit this mark since Aston Villa in 2000-01.
Not doom and gloom at City
Pep Guardiola's failure to muster a title challenge in his debut Premier League season was surprising but there are signs things are coming together.
In securing a seventh straight top-four finish - the longest streak in the league now - City managed 12 away wins. That is their joint-most since 2001-02, and they can also draw comfort from the fact Sergio Aguero is somehow getting better.
Never before has he scored 33 goals in a season for the club, and the Argentina international only started 25 league games. He also now appears to have an able deputy in Gabriel Jesus who scored seven goals and made four in just eight league games.
Kevin de Bruyne also served up a league-high 18 assists, further evidence there is much to like at City, despite the lack of title.
My team definitely needs a...
There are those players you just know your club must keep. Relegated Sunderland will do well to do that with Jermain Defoe - who scored over half of their goals this season - while Everton may feel the heat of interest in Romelu Lukaku, scorer of 40% of their goals.
But when a season ends you also instantly mull over what your team needs in order to be better when August comes.
If it's a midfielder to keep play moving you're looking for, Middlesbrough's Adam Forshaw could offer up a bargain. Of all the midfielders to play at least 25 games, his pass-completion rate of 88.3% is only bettered by some big names.
If your team needs a tackle master, tempting Idrissa Gueye away from Everton may be money well spent as he won 100 tackles in 33 league outings, comfortably clear of Southampton's Oriel Romeu on 87 in second.
And when it comes to taking chances, Fernando Llorente's name is up in lights. For all those players to play 25 league games, no-one made more of their shots. His haul of 15 goals from 52 shots gives him a 28.9% goals-to-shots ratio.
Many of you may well be sad to see the end of the season arrive.
Sunderland fans, though, could be forgiven for throwing a street party to wave 2016-17 goodbye. Chelsea's joy was perfectly contrasted by months at the bottom for the Black Cats. Their yearly Houdini escapes have become part of Premier League folklore. Alas, finally, they fell short.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39993984
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Wang Quanzhang: The lawyer who simply vanished - BBC News
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2017-05-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Wang Quanzhang's disappearance may be due to his "refusal to compromise"
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China blog
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Wang Quanzhang was detained in August 2015 - and hasn't been seen or heard from since
In August 2015 Wang Quanzhang was detained by the Chinese authorities.
In that he was not alone. The nationwide series of raids that summer saw more than 200 lawyers, legal assistants and human rights activists brought in for questioning.
But almost two years on, Mr Wang is the only lawyer from whom nothing has been heard at all.
"I don't know whether he's alive or dead," his wife Li Wenzu told me. "I have had no information at all. He has simply disappeared from the face of the earth. It is so scary, so brutal."
China's "709" crackdown as it's now known - a reference to 9 July, the date it began - is widely seen as a sign of a growing intolerance of dissent under President Xi Jinping.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Li Wenzu has not heard from her husband Wang Quanzhang since 2015
Of the large number of people initially detained, around two dozen have been pursued as formal investigations. Over the past year or so those cases have gradually been reaching some kind of a conclusion.
Some of the accused have been given long jail terms, of up to seven and a half years, for the crime of subversion.
Others have been given suspended prison sentences or released on bail, but remain under constant surveillance.
But of the lawyers arrested in that initial 2015 sweep, Mr Wang is unique. Apart from one brief written notification of his arrest, the family say he has disappeared into a black hole.
Li Wenzu fears her husband is being punished for a failure to compromise
"For these two years, he hasn't been allowed to meet the lawyer that we have employed for him, and he has no right to communicate with the outside world," his wife Ms Li said. "He has been deprived of all rights."
There have been allegations that some of the lawyers have been tortured during their detention, force-fed drugs, shackled, beaten and kept in stress positions for long periods of time.
Their admissions of guilt, either in court or in the televised confessions that have been broadcast by state-run TV, should not be taken at face value, their supporters argue, but rather as the inevitable consequence of the pressure they've been under.
They now fear that Mr Wang's continued incarceration might be because he is holding out.
"I think it might be because my husband hasn't compromised at all," Ms Li said. "That's why his case remains unsolved."
Wang Quanzhang is certainly no stranger to pressure. His work representing the persecuted followers of China's banned spiritual movement, Falun Gong, as well as human rights activists, has attracted the ire of the authorities before.
In this interview, he recounts being beaten in the basement of a court building for challenging the order of a judge.
Confessions made by some detainees, like lawyer Xie Yang, reflect the pressures on them, supporters say
Jerome Cohen is a professor at New York University School of Law and a long-term expert on the Chinese legal system. He knows some of the detained lawyers personally.
"They are in the lead, they are the ones who have really gone public. There are many other lawyers who are quietly working, they hope, within the limits allowed by the party," he said.
"But they too are feeling the pressure and are watching very carefully how these lawyers, who were up front as it were, are being abused."
"Of course this deters a lot of people, which is the whole aim of the party... to try to keep the lawyers in line."
President Xi Jinping has spoken of the dangers that liberal ideals, like constitutional rights enforceable in the courts, pose for Communist Party rule.
China, it seems, wants lawyers to help it "rule by law", not keep its rulers in check through the "rule of law".
The lawyers whose cases have gone to trial appear to be those who have consistently taken on the most politically sensitive cases, as well as those who have advocated for the need for a justice system beyond party control.
"The party knows it needs lawyers, it wants them for economic development," Mr Cohen said. "But essentially, the party would like lawyers to behave like dentists, like technicians."
"I admire dentists very much but I don't expect them to annunciate the values of my society," he added.
"So this is what the party is trying to do, and it is doing so with extreme cruelty."
Xi Jinping has said that liberal ideals threaten the Communist Party's monopoly on power
But if that is the plan then, on one level, it isn't working. The "war on law" has prompted the wives of the detained lawyers to work together and advocate very publicly for their husbands' release.
Despite facing continuing intimidation and harassment by plain-clothes policemen, they have refused to be silenced.
Some of them even addressed a US Congressional hearing on the issue this week, including - via recorded video evidence - Li Wenzu.
Other Chinese lawyers have come to the defence of those caught up in the crackdown, visiting detention centres to demand information or mounting legal challenges, only then, subsequently, to be detained themselves.
And the wider community of Chinese defence lawyers has made public its opposition to the alleged mistreatment of members of the profession.
Meanwhile there is mounting concern about the fate of Wang Quanzhang. If he really is still holding out against the odds, his loved ones fear the consequences.
Lawyer and friend Ge Wenxiu recorded this video message that was posted on Twitter this week.
"Lawyer Quanzhang, are you still alive?" he asks. "We don't mind if you make a damn confession on Chinese TV and come home. Come home."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-china-blog-39974953
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Phil McNulty: Premier League end-of-season report and manager ratings - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Who excelled in adversity? Who was a major flop? And how do Phil McNulty's pre-season predictions bear up?
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Premier League thoroughbreds and deserved champions. Brilliantly managed by Antonio Conte in his first season at the club - addressed early failings with tactical acumen, repaired a broken squad and got Chelsea's best players playing again.
What he said: "This squad and team is so much better than it showed last season. Expect Conte, who will not suffer fools or any political manoeuvring in the dressing room, to flourish."
Stat: Chelsea are the first side to win 30 games in a single Premier League season.
Read more: How Conte turned Chelsea into champions
Came into a Premier League boasting the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho and outflanked them all. Made a very difficult job look very easy.
A humble, modest character who does his job in a humble, modest way. And does it quite brilliantly.
Nearly, but not quite after another season of progress for Mauricio Pochettino's emerging young team.
Spurs have an outstanding core of young, English players.
If they can keep them together, add to the squad, and find a way to win at Wembley then a trophy will surely come soon. But they now need to win something.
What he said: "Tough call this one as Pochettino's side were excellent last season and were right in the title shake-up for so long. In reality, you could throw a blanket over the likes of Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal in the battle for top-four places."
Stat: Tottenham scored more goals and conceded fewer than any other team in the Premier League, beating champions Chelsea's goal difference by eight.
The Hammers try to recreate the hostility and atmospherics of Upton Park at the sprawling London Stadium and Spurs try to find a way to win at Wembley - their new home next season and where they have lost seven times and won only once in their past nine appearances.
No escaping the tinge of disappointment to Pep Guardiola's first season at Manchester City.
No trophies, out in the last 16 of the Champions League, and top four in the Premier League was the minimum requirement.
Not found it as easy a transition as at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Defensive and goalkeeping flaws to fix but Gabriel Jesus could be a superstar next season.
What he said: "Now City have signed John Stones, responsibility will lie with him for curing defensive ills caused by poor form of Eliaquim Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi, as well as captain Vincent Kompany's injuries. I'm backing a Guardiola-inspired City to reclaim the title."
Stat: Manchester City have finished in the top four for seven successive seasons, the longest active streak of any club in the Premier League after Arsenal's failure this season.
The return of Champions League football means Liverpool can count this season as progress and success - although manager Jurgen Klopp should not escape criticism for tame exits to Southampton in the Capital One Cup semi-final and at home to Championship strugglers Wolves with a weakened side in the FA Cup.
Not as sparkling in the second half of the season and no trophies, but a sense of a club going in the right direction.
What he said: "The biggest plus will be that Klopp now has the squad he wants. First title since 1990? No - but a good bet for a cup."
Stat: Liverpool have finished in the top four of the Premier League for only the second time in the past eight seasons.
Arsene Wenger's toughest season at Arsenal. Plenty of supporter unrest - and most significantly no Champions League football for the first time in 20 years. Seismic moment for the club after a poor season. Even if Wenger stays, something has to change - and that applies even if Arsenal win the FA Cup.
What he said: "Fourth-place prediction... but with doubts and with fingers crossed."
Stat: Arsenal have finished the season outside of the top four for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign, when they finished fifth under Bruce Rioch.
Stodgy first season for Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford - but still the possibility of it being rated a real success if they win the Europa League and secure Champions League football on top of winning the EFL Cup.
Too many draws at Old Trafford and too many cautious away displays at close rivals. Still very much a Mourinho work in progress and league form must improve next season.
What he said: "Where will Wayne Rooney fit into Mourinho's grand plan? And what about United's defence? How will £30m Eric Bailly from Villarreal adapt to the Premier League? Despite this, expect United to be back in the title shake-up."
Stat: Manchester United never finished lower than third in the Premier League under Sir Alex Ferguson, but have now ended seventh, fourth, fifth and sixth in the past four seasons.
Genuine season of progress under manager Ronald Koeman - European football is back at Everton and Goodison Park is a fortress once more. Doubts must be resolved over the future of Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley but talk of high ambition in the transfer market this summer is more cause for optimism.
What he said: "Koeman is a shrewd and ruthless operator. It should also be remembered he inherited a debacle from predecessor Roberto Martinez."
Stat: Everton won 43 points at Goodison Park in the Premier League this season, their most in a top-flight campaign at home since 1989-90 (45).
Everton's teenage midfielder has that stamp of class and his goal against Manchester City was one of the highlights of the season at Goodison Park.
Solid if unspectacular from the Saints, although deservedly reached Wembley and were on the rough end of poor decisions when losing to Manchester United in the EFL Cup final.
Manager Claude Puel was a low-key figure and occasionally unconvincing but forward Manolo Gabbiadini looks a good signing. Can they keep defender Virgil van Dijk? And will Puel even stay? Can they realistically expect to be doing better?
What he said: "Expect another solid season but not another top six."
Stat: Southampton have the second-youngest starting XIs in the league behind Tottenham, with an average of 26 years 169 days old
Another excellent season under manager Eddie Howe. This is dreamland for the Cherries - not just in the Premier League but stabilised in it by playing attractive, attacking football. An outstanding achievement by Bournemouth.
What he said: "The reality is that Premier League status is success in itself for Bournemouth."
Stat: Eleven different English players have made 20 or more Premier League appearances for Bournemouth this season. The last Premier League team to do this were Aston Villa in 2000-01.
The Baggies may have tailed off towards the end of the season but this was still a good term with underrated manager Tony Pulis at the helm. Consolidated in the Premier League - so will the new Chinese owners show ambition to try to break the glass ceiling?
What he said: "If stability and Premier League status is what is required then expect Pulis to deliver again, but there was not much to excite at The Hawthorns last season."
Stat: West Brom scored 48.8% of their goals from set-pieces this season, the highest proportion of any team in the Premier League.
Poor first season at London Stadium. Doesn't feel like home after Upton Park but an even bigger problem has been those playing in it. Yes, manager Slaven Bilic's plans were derailed by forward Dimitri Payet downing tools but recruitment was desperately poor. Has to improve this summer.
What he said: "West Ham's biggest challenge may be settling into new surroundings at London Stadium. Yes, they will be watched by bigger crowds and the environment may be more luxurious, but Upton Park had an atmosphere that could win points."
Stat: West Ham, along with Bournemouth, lost 22 points from winning positions, the highest total in the Premier League.
Contenders were Emre Can's overhead kick for Liverpool at Watford and 'scorpion' kicks from Henrikh Mkhitaryan against Sunderland and Olivier Giroud against Crystal Palace. All worthy winners, but I'll go for Andy Carroll's spectacular bicycle kick for West Ham against Palace at London Stadium.
What a two-faced season for last season's champions - so poor under Claudio Ranieri that he was sacked just nine months after leading them to the title. But the Foxes were the Premier League's last men standing in the Champions League before losing to Atletico Madrid in the quarter-final. Transformed under Craig Shakespeare - but where exactly were these players for six months of the season?
What he said: "I do not expect another run at the Premier League but there is good reason to believe momentum and confidence gained from one of the greatest sporting stories ever told will lead to another very good campaign."
Stat: Leicester completed 70.1% of passes, only Burnley managed less.
The 'where were you for six months?' award For suddenly looking like the team that won the Premier League the moment title-winning manager Claudio Ranieri was sacked.
Disappointing season for Stoke City - one where the reign of manager Mark Hughes has marked time, and in a league placing context, gone backwards after top-10 finishes. Needs a good summer in the transfer market.
What he said: "Mark Hughes has built on the work of Tony Pulis to make the Potters genuine top-10 material and it should be no different this time around."
Stat: Stoke won only three points from losing positions this season
Sam Allardyce did what he does best - recovering from his humbling exit as England manager after only 67 days and one game to guide Crystal Palace to safety after taking over from the sacked Alan Pardew with the Eagles 17th, one point above the relegation zone and with only one win in 11 games.
He took a while to get going but big wins at Chelsea and Liverpool and at home to Arsenal showed 'Big Sam' still had the touch.
What he said: "Do not expect any relegation fears but a comfortable mid-table finish."
Stat: Crystal Palace took just six points from eight London derbies this season
Three managers in one season is a recipe for trouble but it was third time lucky as the calm approach of Paul Clement guided them to safety with a game to spare after Francesco Guidolin's struggles and Bob Bradley's 85-day reign.
A season full of anxiety, though, and leaned heavily on the goals and guile of two players who will be in demand this summer - striker Fernando Llorente and playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson.
What he said: "Expect a solid, if unspectacular, season."
Stat: Swansea conceded 70 goals. Only two teams have conceded more in a 38-game Premier League season and survived relegation - Wigan in 2009-10 (79) and West Brom in 2010-11 (71).
Burnley's success is staying up and it has been job done for manager Sean Dyche. He was worked his resources superbly and a formidable home record - not to mention some real talent such as keeper Tom Heaton and defender Michael Keane - have been at the heart of their survival.
What he said: "It will be a long hard season but perhaps, helped by the atmospheric surroundings of Turf Moor and the excellence of Dyche, Burnley can make this forecast go astray."
Stat: Burnley beat Liverpool in August despite having only 19.6% of possession, the lowest by a winning side in the Premier League since 2006-07.
Another season. Another one-season manager in the departing Walter Mazzarri. Another Premier League survival. Not everybody's model of how to run a football club but it keeps Watford up and that is what matters. How long will it work?
What he said: "It will be a dogfight near the bottom. Can the Hornets survive? I'm not sure they can."
Stat: Jose Holebas was shown 14 yellow cards, equalling the Premier League record for a player in a single campaign.
Doomed from the start as manager Mike Phelan was operating with barely a squad and his hands tied. Marco Silva's arrival galvanised the Tigers but he could not replicate excellent home form on Hull City's travels. So it is back to the Championship - in all probability without their excellent manager.
What he said: "Long, hard season ahead and the signs do not look good."
Stat: Because of their opening-day victory against Leicester City, Hull City spent one more day on top of the Premier League than Tottenham Hotspur did in 2016-17 (0).
Middlesbrough simply came and went without contributing much to the Premier League - not bold enough, not enough goals. It is a shame and they may well wonder if they could have had more of a go. Plus points? Squad looks in decent shape to come straight back up and they still have chairman Steve Gibson.
What he said: "This season is about consolidation."
Stat: Middlesbrough were 14th in the Premier League on Christmas Day, but were the 12th side to be that high in the Premier League table on 25 December and still be relegated that season.
Sunderland and manager David Moyes got exactly what they deserved after an appalling season. Moyes killed any optimism by announcing the Black Cats would be in a relegation fight after only his second game - one of the few things the beleaguered Scot got right this season.
Will now lose best players Jordan Pickford and Jermain Defoe and no-one would be confident about them coming back up from the Championship.
What he said: "Moyes will have the Black Cats well-drilled and hard to beat."
Stat: Jermain Defoe scored 15 goals for Sunderland, 51.7% of their team total.
Made himself a hero behind the Premier League's worst team. He will get a big summer move out of it and is an England keeper of the future.
He now has sackings at Manchester United and Real Sociedad on his CV and a relegation with Sunderland. Can he ever turn that decline around?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39991517
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Fernando Alonso fifth in Indy 500 qualifying as Scott Dixon takes pole - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Fernando Alonso will start his first Indianapolis 500 from the middle of the second row of the grid after qualifying fifth.
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Fernando Alonso will start his first Indianapolis 500 from the middle of the second row of the grid after qualifying fifth for the race on 28 May.
The McLaren Formula 1 driver set an average of 231.300mph on his four-lap qualifying run, while New Zealander Scott Dixon took pole at 232.164mph.
It was an impressive performance from the two-time F1 champion - he had not driven an IndyCar until this month.
Alonso said he was "happy" but had been slightly delayed by an engine issue.
"I think the car was better than yesterday," he said. "We had an over-boost problem (with the turbocharger) in the final corner, so the engine was like hitting the brakes and I lost a bit."
The Spaniard said this cost him 0.3-0.4mph on his average, which equates to the difference between fifth and either second or third.
Alonso, whose engine needed to be changed between final practice earlier on Sunday and qualifying, added on his Instagram account: "With everything that has happened today being among the top five is a dream.
"Fifteen days ago I would never have thought about fighting for the pole. Thanks to the whole team. Now another week of learning and race next weekend."
To put Alonso's performance into context, 1992 F1 world champion Nigel Mansell qualified eighth on his debut in 1993, in what was the Englishman's fourth IndyCar race after switching to the US-based series.
Alonso's first taste of Indianapolis was in his 'rookie' test on 4 May. He is missing next weekend's Monaco Grand Prix to race at the speedway as part of his quest to win the so-called 'triple crown' of Monaco, which he has won twice, Indy and the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race.
The 35-year-old Spaniard is directly behind two former F1 drivers on the grid.
American Alexander Rossi, who had a brief career with the back-of-the-grid Caterham and Marussia teams, was third and Japan's Takuma Sato, who raced in 90 grands prix for the Jordan, BAR and Super Aguri teams, was fourth.
American Ed Carpenter takes the middle slot on the three-car front row.
Rossi won the Indy 500 from 11th on the grid last year, an illustration of the fact that qualifying positions are not of great importance in predicting race form at the so-called 'Brickyard'.
That is because the set-up of the cars is changed significantly between qualifying and race to ensure drivers can run consistently in heavy traffic during a 500-mile race that is usually punctuated by several 'caution' periods in which drivers are restricted to reduced speeds behind a pace car.
Alonso was consistently fast through the days of practice last week, whether running in qualifying or race trim.
None of the British drivers in the field were in the 'fast nine'. Ed Jones was 11th on his debut, followed by Max Chilton in 15th, Jay Howard in 20th, Jack Harvey in 27th and Pippa Mann in 28th.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/39994586
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Kumar Sangakkara: Ex-Sri Lanka captain to retire from first-class cricket - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara says he will retire from first-class cricket after this season.
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Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara says he will retire from first-class cricket after this season.
The 39-year-old Surrey batsman, who quit Test cricket in 2015, is fifth in the list of all-time Test run scorers.
"You try to fight the inevitable but you need to get out while you're ahead," he told BBC Sport.
"It's the last time I'll play a four-day game here [at Lord's]. I'll be 40 in a few months, this is about the end of my time in county cricket."
Sangakkara has contracts to honour in Twenty20 competitions taking him into 2018, but added: "My career might have a few more months [left] but that's about it."
He averaged more than 57 runs across 134 Tests, making 11 double centuries in that time, and joined Surrey for the 2015 season.
He scored more than 1,000 first-class runs last season but, despite hitting two centuries against Middlesex over the weekend, Sangakkara believes September is the right time to end his career in the longer format.
"The biggest mistake that sometimes you can make is that you think you're better than you really are," he said.
"Cricketers, or any sort of sportsperson, have an expiry date and you need to walk away.
"I have been very lucky to play for as long as I did so but there's a lot more life to be lived away from the game."
Few players will have signed off their last first-class match at Lord's in as much style as Sangakkara.
Alongside two match-saving centuries, the former Durham and Warwickshire player also passed 20,000 first-class runs.
Those feats coincided with him having his portrait - which hangs beside those of fellow Sri Lanka greats Mahela Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan - unveiled in the Lord's pavilion.
"It was a great privilege and an honour. I think the artist has made me look better than I actually am," he joked.
"I sat here in my last Test at Lord's for Sri Lanka thinking 'I hope I get a hundred, but wouldn't it be funny if I get out for a duck'.
"You never think of [scoring a] hundred. You think 'I want to get a hundred', but then you just try and do your processes, you try and get through tough periods, and bat as the game develops.
"I wasn't aware I'd reached 20,000 [first-class] runs - I only really know how many Test and One-Day International runs I've scored - but it was really nice to find out that I passed [that milestone].
'The mercenary in me is still alive'
Sangakkara will head to the Caribbean Premier League at the end of June, with Aaron Finch signed by Surrey as his replacement during that period, and he says he will continue to play cricket past the end of the English domestic season.
But after more than 19 years of playing the professional game, the opportunity to watch the great batsman play his trademark cover drive is coming to an end.
Asked if he would play T20 cricket after his summer, he replied: "Yes, I think the mercenary in me is still alive.
"I've got a couple of contracts I have to honour this year and one at the start of the next year," he said. "No-one wants an old dog just playing for the sake of playing.
"I think it's a good thing that all these [Twenty20] competitions push you to perform. That's the incentive because otherwise, if you're going to be a part of a side just to be the benchmark name, that's a bit disappointing. "
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/40006994
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Arsenal: Stan Kroenke says Gunners shares 'are not, and have never been, for sale' - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke says his shares in the club "are not, and have never been, for sale".
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke says his shares "are not, and have never been, for sale".
The American's company released a statement on Monday following the recent £1bn bid by Alisher Usmanov to take full control of the Gunners.
Kroenke Sports and Entertainment added it was "a committed, long-term investor in Arsenal and will remain so".
The statement comes a day after Arsenal failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years.
Kroenke has a 67% stake in Arsenal. Usmanov owns 30% but is not part of the board or decision-making at the club.
The Uzbek-born Russian said in April that Kroenke must "bear huge responsibility" for the club's failures on the pitch.
Read more: Wenger admits uncertainty over his future affected Arsenal
The Gunners, who finished fifth in the Premier League this season, face Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday.
Arsenal legend Ian Wright says the club needs the spending power of a billionaire such as Usmanov, adding "something has to change".
The statement from Kroenke did not mention the future of Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, whose contract expires in the summer.
Wenger, who has been the target of protests from some of the club's fans, says the situation will be decided after the FA Cup final.
However, he blamed the uncertainty over his future for contributing to the club failing to qualify for the Champions League.
The Gunners' London rivals Chelsea won the Premier League this season - the fifth time they have done so under the ownership of billionaire Roman Abramovich, who has spent heavily since taking control in 2003.
"Abramovich is a winner," added Wright, who scored 185 goals in 288 appearances for Arsenal.
"Stan Kroenke sees it as another asset. If you look at all his other franchises, they are doing the same. They are mediocre, with poor attendances and aren't achieving anything as a team. That is where Arsenal are at the moment.
"We need an owner like Abramovich, who wants to win. I would swap Arsenal's last 10 years for what Chelsea have done."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40000479
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David Moyes will struggle to get another Premier League job - Chris Sutton - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Ex-Sunderland boss David Moyes will struggle to get another job in the Premier League and might end up in China, says Chris Sutton.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
David Moyes will struggle to get another job in the Premier League and "might end up in China" after resigning as Sunderland boss, says former Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton.
Moyes, 54, stepped down on Monday after just one season in charge.
The Black Cats' relegation to the Championship was confirmed in April, with Moyes' side finishing bottom, having won only six games.
Sutton said the Scot would be able to find a new role outside the top flight.
However, speaking on BBC Radio 5 live's Monday Night Club, he added: "Would he want a job in the Championship? I think he might end up in China."
• None What next for 'worn-down' Moyes?
After 11 years in charge of Everton, Moyes left in 2013 to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United but was sacked after 12 months into a six-year deal at Old Trafford.
He was also dismissed after a year in charge of his next club, Spanish side Real Sociedad, before taking over at the Stadium of Light when Sam Allardyce left to become England manager.
"He'll find it very, very difficult to get a Premier League job but lots of Championship sides will offer him a job - he doesn't need the money but he's got the drive and the desire," former Leeds right-back Danny Mills told 5 live.
Mills added that relegated Middlesbrough could be a good fit for Moyes, should they not appoint caretaker boss Steve Agnew on a permanent deal, as they "have money to spend".
Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin said Scotland could "do a lot worse" than appoint Moyes if current manager Gordon Strachan decided to step down.
"[Moyes] has had three bad seasons in a row for a variety of reasons but he'll probably go to the Championship and relaunch his career from there," added Nevin.
'It sucked the life out of the club'
Sunderland narrowly avoided relegation last season and Moyes warned supporters just two games into this campaign that his squad would again struggle.
Sutton said Moyes' comments had "sucked the life out of the club" as they had been "on a high" after staying up under previous boss Allardyce.
However, Nevin replied: "I don't think there was a lot of life there."
Nevin added that he was not surprised at Moyes' departure and was "sold a pup" when he took over, because he was expecting more money available for transfers.
"He's not going to stay on if he's been told he won't be given enough funds to make them competitive because his attitude is he's a winner and he wants to win," said Nevin.
Sutton was also critical of Sunderland chairman and owner Ellis Short.
"Swansea and Crystal Palace invested in January and backed their manager - Sunderland were buying Everton's reserves," said Sutton, referring to deals for Darron Gibson and Bryan Oviedo.
"If Moyes resigned because there wasn't enough funds then who would take that job? It's a high-pressured job at a big club and they'll want backing too."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40005325
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John Terry: Thousands won on Chelsea captain's 26th-minute substitution - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Thousands of pounds are won in bets placed on John Terry being substituted in the 26th minute of his final appearance at Stamford Bridge.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Thousands of pounds have been won in bets on Chelsea captain John Terry being substituted in the 26th minute of his final appearance at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The 36-year-old had arranged to go off against Sunderland in the minute matching his shirt number.
BBC Sport pundit Alan Shearer said it raised questions of integrity.
The FA has asked the betting companies involved for information on bets they received on the substitution.
One bookmaker said it had paid out on three bets, with one customer claiming he had been paid at 100-1 on a £25 stake.
He was given his winnings after being involved in an exchange on Twitter with the bookmaker as to whether the substitution occurred in 26th minute, when the board went up for Terry to come off, or the 28th minute, when he left the pitch.
The bookmaker said: "Clearly the send-off was planned for the 26th minute to commemorate JT - hence why we paid out."
Another successful gambler, who staked £10, anonymously told the Press Association: "I only put money on this because I thought this is surely going to come in.
"I don't normally bet. It's only the second time I've ever placed a bet.
"I was surprised the odds were that high."
Terry has admitted his 26th-minute farewell was his idea and he had agreed it with manager Antonio Conte.
Conte said: "He deserved this. He's a legend of this club, not just this club but one of the best defenders in the world."
Sunderland boss David Moyes said his side agreed to put the ball out to allow the substitution.
Former England captain Shearer said he was "not sure" about the timing of the guard of honour, adding on Match of the Day: "It was done with good intentions but I don't think anything should be done that could undermine the integrity of the game."
Fellow BBC pundit Garth Crooks was also critical, saying: "This has obviously been set up. I'm a bit uncomfortable with it."
Chelsea gave a similar send-off to former striker Didier Drogba in a fixture against Sunderland on his farewell appearance at Stamford Bridge.
He was carried off by team-mates midway through the first half.
FA rules on match fixing state: "Fixing is arranging in advance the result or conduct of a match or competition, or any event within a match or competition.
"Fixing is prohibited and is treated very seriously."
There is no suggestion the substitution was carried out in any way other than to mark Terry's final appearance for the club.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39999708
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Sam Warburton: British & Irish Lions captain fit 'to crack on' - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton says he is ready to "crack on" with the tour of New Zealand after a knee injury.
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Last updated on .From the section Welsh Rugby
British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton has declared himself fully fit for the tour of New Zealand after recovering from a knee injury.
The 28-year-old Wales flanker has not played since getting injured against Ulster in the Pro12 on 7 April.
Warburton said he had "trained fully" on Monday, adding: "That's all the boxes ticked, and now I can crack on."
Head coach Warren Gatland has said he expects to lose between six and 10 players to injury on the tour.
• None Listen: 'Anyone but Billy' - how much will the Lions miss him?
• None Lions excitement on hold 'until I'm on the plane' - Haskell
The tourists have already lost England number eight Billy Vunipola because of a shoulder injury, while compatriot Ben Youngs withdrew after his brother Tom's wife learned she is terminally ill.
Wales hooker Ken Owens will miss Scarlets' Pro12 final against Munster on Saturday because of an ankle injury.
Ireland prop Jack McGrath (arm) is also a concern, as are Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb (groin) and Ireland back row Sean O'Brien (calf).
Speaking on Monday, Gatland seemed confident the injured players will be fit for the tour.
"I think we are pretty good," he said. "The guys are making good progress.
"There could be a couple more next weekend as well and, given the history of the Lions, we've planned to lose anywhere between six and 10 players.
"That's just the attrition of past tours."
England back rower James Haskell has replaced Vunipola, and Warburton said: "Billy was one of the guys I was really looking forward to playing with who I hadn't played alongside before.
"He has been a massive player for Saracens. It is a big loss for us, but James coming in - I think only Rory Best and Alun Wyn Jones have got more caps than him in the squad - means we are very lucky."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/40004668
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Manchester United v Ajax: 'Naive' to expect no trouble in Europa final say police - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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A Manchester police chief says it would be "naive" to think the Europa League final between Manchester United and Ajax will be trouble free.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Coverage: Follow live radio and text commentary on BBC Radio 5 live, the BBC Sport website and mobile app
A senior Manchester police chief says it would be "naive" to think Wednesday's Europa League final in Stockholm will be trouble free.
Riot police needed to intervene to keep Manchester United and Ajax fans apart when they met in Amsterdam in 2012.
Ticketless fans are expected in Sweden, having missed out on both club's official allocations of 9,500.
"You would be naive to think you are not going to get anything," said chief superintendent John O'Hare.
"It is a final, in Europe, between two really big, established, well-supported teams. There will always be a minority of individuals who want to use this as cover to cause trouble," the Greater Manchester Police officer added.
O'Hare and a small team of officers who specialise in monitoring United games will be in the Swedish capital to work with Swedish and Dutch counterparts.
They will also liaise with Europe's governing body Uefa and the clubs themselves in an effort to ensure the game passes off without incident.
He is encouraged by the knowledge Swedish police are likely to adopt an "engaging, front-facing" approach, which he feels will help avoid the kinds of scenes witnessed in Madrid last month when Spanish police clashed with Leicester City supporters ahead of their side's Champions League quarter-final with Atletico Madrid.
On that occasion, Madrid police were criticised for their approach as several fans were hurt.
O'Hare said: "English football fans have a certain way of behaving, which we understand as being jubilant and non-threatening.
"It is about making sure the Swedish police understand the context and only employ the tactics that are appropriate at that moment in time.
"Often in Manchester we have found you get more response by talking to people than coming at them with batons.
"That is not the way we do business and we will try our very best to ensure that is not the way they do business over in Stockholm."
O'Hare also confirmed there would be a significant police presence in Manchester city centre on Wednesday night.
United are looking to win the Europa League for the first time and join Ajax as one of only five teams to have won all three major European competitions.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39997726
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Fancy a four flowers or ginger fried pork pizza? - BBC News
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2017-05-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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How strict quality control and unusual Asian toppings helped a Japanese expat build a popular pizza chain in Vietnam.
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Business
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The pizza chain that's a hit in Vietnam
While proud Italians might balk at some of the pizza toppings Yosuke Masuko offers, they'd have to appreciate his obsession with quality control.
The 38-year-old Japanese expat is the founder of one of the most popular pizza chains in Vietnam, Pizza 4Ps.
With six busy restaurants in the country's three largest cities - Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Hanoi and Da Nang - it serves more than 3,000 customers every day.
They flock to the outlets to try such pizza delights as salmon miso cream, teriyaki chicken, and ginger fried pork.
With more traditional pizzas also available, such as margarita and Parma ham, such is Mr Masuko's attention to detail that when the first restaurant opened in Ho Chi Minh City in 2011, he would refuse to accept payment for any pizzas that weren't perfectly round.
And importing key ingredients from Italy, including the flour and tomato sauce, he worried that the imported Italian mozzarella wasn't fresh enough because of the long cargo flight, and the fact he could only get deliveries twice a week.
Yosuke runs the business with his wife Sanae
So Mr Masuko decided he would make his own. As the cheese didn't exist in Vietnam he couldn't ask anyone locally for help, so instead he learned to make it himself by studying YouTube videos.
Then unhappy with the quality of milk he was able to buy in Vietnam, he bought a farm and his own cows.
Some might say this is a little too obsessive, but Mr Masuko says he wouldn't have it any other way.
"The mission of our restaurant is 'delivering wow, sharing happiness'," he says. "To pursue our mission we keep in mind to always go beyond customer expectations."
The company also sells more traditional, Italian-style pizzas
While neither the Japanese nor the Vietnamese are renowned for their pizza eating, Mr Masuko first started making them in 2004 when he installed a wood-fired pizza oven in his garden in Tokyo.
"The experience of making your own pizza with friends every weekend made me realise that I can make people happy by serving good food in a good space," he says.
However, it wasn't until seven years later that Mr Masuko decided to start making pizza for a living. By that time he was living in Vietnam where he worked for a Japanese investment firm.
Fascinated by Vietnam's rising middle class, he noticed that global pizza chains such as Pizza Hut and Domino's were opening up in the country and proving popular. As Vietnam had been a former French colony, the country was used to bread products, particularly baguettes, so pizza didn't prove too much of a jump for most people.
The restaurants are popular among Vietnam's growing middle class
So with fond memories of his own pizza-making exploits Mr Masuko quit his job and used his $100,000 (£77,000) savings to open the first branch of Pizza 4Ps in central Ho Chi Minh City.
The 4Ps part of the unusual name stands "for peace". He explains: "In the name 4Ps is our wish for inner peace and richness of hearts."
Looking back, Mr Masuko says that quitting his investment job was not a decision he took lightly.
"Everything was fine with my previous job back then," he says. "The company even provided accommodation, and my eldest daughter was three when we opened the first restaurant.
"Of course I was afraid that the restaurant wasn't going to work, but at the same time I felt like I needed to take the challenge."
The restaurants are located in busy central locations
Thankfully for Mr Masuko his restaurant was an immediate hit, and the company has grown steadily ever since.
From 10 workers to begin with, it now has 700 full-time Vietnamese staff and 13 Japanese employees, five of whom have management roles.
Mr Masuko says that when the first restaurant opened, 90% of its customers were Japanese expats, 5% Vietnamese and 5% other foreign nationals.
Today more than 70% of diners are Vietnamese.
In addition to making its own cheese, Pizza 4Ps also arranges for Vietnamese farmers to grow it vegetables such as rocket and lettuces. The company also sells some of its cheese to hotels and other restaurants.
Mr Masuko says: "In 2016 we had a turnover of $7.5m, and in 2017 we expect $15m."
Ultimately the aim is to float the company on a stock exchange, and open branches in other countries.
To help run the business Mr Masuko relies on his wife Sanae, whom he met when they both worked for the same Japanese investment fund.
The business has both Vietnamese and Japanese staff
While Mr Masuko has the chief executive role, Sanae looks after staffing matters and marketing.
Rather than pick Japanese or Vietnamese as the working language at Pizza 4Ps, staff are instead encouraged to talk to each other in English.
Mr Masuko admits that this can occasionally cause communication problems, but says that cultural differences can sometimes be the biggest problem.
Sanae explains: "We found the gap of working culture between Vietnamese and Japanese is the one that is difficult to bridge... but things are improving."
Hang Do, vice president of Seedcom, a Vietnamese investment fund, says she wasn't surprised that Pizza 4Ps has done so well.
"For the past five years, as the economy has grown, the middle class has grown very fast as well, and people have just been more open-minded to the diversity of food and beverages," she says. "Pizza 4Ps offers a very unique flavour."
Mr Masuko says he is confident that the Vietnamese pizza market will continue to grow, and he is putting in the hours to ensure that Pizza 4Ps continues to be a success.
"I go to the office at 9am, and I do work 13 hours a day. I am devoting my life to working."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39961772
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The tiny pill which gave birth to an economic revolution - BBC News
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2017-05-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Contraception wasn’t just socially groundbreaking - it also changed the professional landscape.
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Business
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The contraceptive pill had profound social consequences. Everyone agrees with that.
In fact, that was the point. Margaret Sanger, the birth control activist who urged scientists to develop it, wanted to liberate women sexually and socially, to put them on a more equal footing with men.
But the pill wasn't just socially revolutionary. It also sparked an economic revolution - perhaps the most significant economic change of the late 20th Century.
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy highlights the inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the economic world in which we live.
To see why, first consider what the pill offered to women. For a start, it worked - unlike many of the other options.
Over the centuries, lovers have tried all kinds of unappealing tricks to prevent pregnancy. There was crocodile dung in ancient Egypt, Aristotle's recommendation of cedar oil, and Casanova's method of using half a lemon as a cervical cap.
But even the obvious modern alternative to the pill - condoms - have a failure rate.
Margaret Sanger opened the first US family planning centre in New York in 1916, when contraception and abortion were illegal
Because people don't tend to use them exactly as they're supposed to, they sometimes rip or slip. So for every 100 sexually active women using condoms for a year, 18 will become pregnant. The failure rate of the sponge is similar. The diaphragm isn't much better.
But the failure rate of the pill - with typical use - is just 6%, three times safer than condoms. Used perfectly, the failure rate drops to one twentieth of that.
Using a condom meant negotiating with a partner. The diaphragm and sponge were messy. But the decision to use the pill was a woman's, and it was private and discreet. No wonder women wanted it.
The pill was first approved in the United States in 1960. In just five years, almost half of married women on birth control were using it.
But the real revolution would come when unmarried women got access to oral contraceptives. That took time. But in around 1970 - 10 years after the pill was first approved - US state after US state started to make it easier for single women to get the pill.
Universities opened family planning centres. By the mid-1970s, the pill was overwhelmingly the most popular form of contraception for 18 and 19-year-old women in the US.
The Planned Parenthood organisation distributed information and contraception across the US
And that was when the economic revolution really began.
Women in America started studying particular kinds of degrees - law, medicine, dentistry and MBAs - which had previously been very masculine.
In 1970, medical degrees were over 90% male. Law degrees and MBAs were over 95% male. Dentistry degrees were 99% male. But at the beginning of the 1970s - equipped with the pill - women surged into all these courses. At first, women made up a fifth of the class, then a quarter. By 1980 they often made up a third.
This wasn't simply because women became more likely to go to university.
Women who'd already decided to be students opted for these professional courses.
The proportion of female students studying subjects such as medicine and law rose dramatically, and logically enough, the presence of women in the professions rose sharply shortly afterwards.
But what did this have to do with the pill? By giving women control over their fertility, it allowed them to invest in their careers.
These Harvard graduates could take for granted the freedom to develop their careers before having children, if they wished
Before the pill was available, taking five years or more to qualify as a doctor or lawyer didn't look like a good use of time and money. To reap the benefits of those courses, a woman would need to be able to reliably delay motherhood until she was 30 at least.
Having a baby at the wrong time risked derailing her studies or delaying her professional progress.
A sexually active woman who tried to become a doctor, dentist or lawyer was doing the equivalent of building a factory in an earthquake zone: just one bit of bad luck and the expensive investment would be trashed.
Of course, women could simply abstain from sex if they wanted to study for a professional career. But many didn't want to.
And it wasn't just about having fun. It was also about finding a husband. Before the pill, people married young. A woman who decided to abstain from sex while developing her career might try to find a husband at the age of 30 and find that, quite literally, all the good men had been taken.
The pill changed both those dynamics. It meant that unmarried women could have sex with substantially less risk of an unwanted pregnancy.
But it also changed the whole pattern of marriage. Everyone started to marry later, even women who didn't use the pill.
The 1973 landmark Roe v Wade case legalised abortion in the US, allowing women further control over their fertility
Babies started to arrive later, and at a time of women's own choosing. And that meant that women, at least, had time to establish a professional career.
Of course, many other things changed for American women in the 1970s.
Abortion was legalised, laws against sex discrimination were put in place, feminism emerged as a movement, and the drafting of young men to fight in Vietnam forced employers to recruit more women.
But a careful statistical study by the Harvard economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz strongly suggests that the pill must have played a major role in allowing women to delay marriage and motherhood, and invest in their own careers.
Goldin and Katz tracked the availability of the pill to young women in the US, state by state. They show that as each state opened up access to contraception, so the enrolment rate in professional courses soared, and so did women's wages.
A few years ago, the economist Amalia Miller used a variety of clever statistical methods to demonstrate that if a woman in her 20s was able to delay motherhood by one year, her lifetime earnings would rise by 10%.
That was some measure of the vast advantage to a woman of completing her studies and securing her career before having children.
But the young women of the 1970s didn't need to see Amalia Miller's research: they already knew it was true.
As the pill became available, they signed up for long professional courses in undreamt of numbers.
American women today can look across the Pacific Ocean for a vision of an alternative reality.
Did the lack of widely available contraception contribute to Japan's gender inequality?
In Japan, one of the world's most technologically advanced societies, the pill wasn't approved for use until 1999. Japanese women had to wait 39 years longer than their American counterparts for the same contraceptive.
In contrast, when the erection-boosting drug Viagra was approved in the US, Japan was just a few months behind.
Gender inequality in Japan is widely reckoned to be worse than anywhere else in the developed world, with women continuing to struggle for recognition in the workplace.
It is impossible to disentangle cause and effect here, but the experience in the US suggests that it is no coincidence. Delay the pill by two generations, and of course the economic impact on women will be enormous.
It is a tiny little pill that continues to transform the world economy.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39641856
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Reality Check: Have governments since 2010 borrowed more than Labour ones? - BBC News
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2017-05-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Have the governments since 2010 borrowed more than all Labour governments and is that a fair comparison?
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Election 2017
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The claim: The governments since 2010 have borrowed more than all the Labour governments in history.
Reality Check verdict: That's true in cash terms but not when you take into account the growing economy.
Among the more eye-catching claims of the campaign so far has been Jeremy Corbyn's repeated assertion that the Conservative-led governments since 2010 have borrowed more money than all Labour governments in history.
This can be checked using the Bank of England's handy three centuries of economic data spreadsheet.
The simplest way to examine this claim is to compare the amounts in cash terms, add up the amounts borrowed by all Labour governments and compare the total with the amount borrowed since 2010.
By this calculation, the combined Labour governments borrowed a little more than £500bn over their 33 years while the governments since 2010 have borrowed a bit more than £670bn.
So it's true in cash terms, but is that a fair or useful comparison?
During the first Labour government under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924, a loaf of bread cost less than 2d on average. Also, our economy produces very considerably more today than it did in 1924, which means it is not unreasonable for the government to borrow more.
So a better comparison to make is government borrowing as a proportion of GDP, which is a measure of everything produced in the economy.
By that measure it turns out that all Labour governments borrowed about 70% of GDP while the governments since 2010 borrowed about 40% of GDP, which is a very different picture.
Even that is not necessarily a fair comparison. For example, there was a big fall in debt as a proportion of GDP after 1976, despite Jim Callaghan's government going to the International Monetary Fund for a big loan.
That happened because the following years of very high inflation reduced the value of the government's debts.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-39999460
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The struggles of war babies fathered by black GIs - BBC News
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2017-05-22
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Many GIs had children with British women but under US laws black servicemen were usually refused permission to marry. So what happened to the children?
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Magazine
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About 100,000 black GIs were stationed in the UK during the war. Inevitably there were love affairs, but US laws usually prevented black servicemen from marrying. So what happened to the children they fathered? Fiona Clampin met two such children in Dorset, now in their seventies, who have not given up hope of tracing their fathers.
A bottle of champagne has sat on a shelf in Carole Travers's wardrobe for the past 20 years. Wedged between boxes and covered with clothes, it'll be opened only when Carole finds her father. "There's an outside chance he might still be alive," she reflects. "I've got so many bits of information, but to know the real truth would mean the world to me - to know that I did belong to somebody."
The possibility of Carole tracking down her father becomes more and more remote by the day. Born towards the end of World War Two, Carole, now 72, was the result of a relationship between her white mother and a married African-American or mixed-race soldier stationed in Poole, in Dorset.
Whereas some "brown babies" (as the children of black GIs were known in the press) were put up for adoption, Carole's mother, Eleanor Reid, decided to keep her child. The only problem was, she was already married, with a daughter, to a Scot with pale skin and red hair.
"I had black hair and dark skin," says Carole. "Something obviously wasn't right."
The difference between Carole and her half-siblings only dawned on the young girl at the age of six, when she overheard her parents having an argument. "Does she know? Well, it's about time she did," said her stepfather, in Carole's retelling of the story. She remembers how her mother sat her down at the kitchen table and told Carole the truth about her background.
"I was chuffed I was different," she says. "I used to tell my friends, 'My dad's an America,' without really knowing what that meant."
In 1950s Dorset there were very few mixed-race or black children, and having one out of wedlock carried a huge stigma. Although Carole doesn't remember any specific racist remarks, she recalls the stares. Parents would shush their children when she and her family got on the bus.
Carole says her "blackness" was considered cute when she was a child, but as she grew up she became more aware of her difference. "I remember once being in a club and there was a comedian who started making jokes about black people. I'm stood there and I'm thinking: 'Everyone's looking at me,'" she says.
"I always felt inferior. As a teenager, I would stand back, I thought that nobody would ever want to know me because of my colour.
"I was going out with one boy, and his mother found out about me. She put a stop to it because she remarked that if we had kids, they would be 'coloured'."
Seventy-two-year-old John Stockley, another child of an African-American GI stationed further down the Dorset coast in Weymouth, does remember the racial abuse in striking detail.
John was called names to such an extent that at the age of seven he decided he would try to turn his skin pale to be like his classmates.
"I worked out that if I drank milk of magnesia [a laxative] and ate chalk I would make myself go white," he chuckles. "I think I drank over half the bottle! You can imagine the effect. It wasn't good and it tasted disgusting."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. John Stockley spoke to Woman's Hour about trying to fit in
In one playground incident a boy insulted him with the N-word and called him "dirty", but when John thrashed him he found himself summoned to the school office.
"It was a winter's day in the early 1950s," John explains.
"I was playing football and I collided with another guy. By this time I was quite fiery, I wouldn't take it, and a blow was struck. I made his nose bleed. To this day I can see the blood on the snow.
"My mother lived less than 100 yards from the school, and she was summoned to the office with me. I remember her shaking next to me, holding my hand. The secretary told her what had happened and he said to my mother: 'You have to remember, Mrs Stockley, these people cannot be educated.' That puts my hackles up now."
Shocking though the racism seems to us today, it was arguably family life which had a more pernicious effect on these mixed-race children. "Your mum made a mistake," one of his aunts once told John Stockley.
"The 'mistake' is me," he says.
John's description of his childhood spent living with his grandparents in a village behind Chesil Beach sounds idyllic. But that's to ignore the reason why he went there in the first place. Determined to punish his wife for her double transgression, John's stepfather did not allow him to live in the family home except from Monday to Friday during school term.
Even then, John was not permitted to enter the house by the front door. At weekends he was packed off to his maternal grandparents, who provided him with the stable and loving family life he craved - and a refuge from his stepfather.
"Of course, coming back from the war and finding his wife with a black child must have been a great shock," John acknowledges.
"And they never had any children together. But there was no love at all for him from me, because of what he did to my mother. She was effectively kept in a position of restraint, and I'd see her go through depression because she wanted to do things she couldn't."
John says his stepfather - a gambler and philanderer - exercised control over his mother despite the fact that she ran a successful guesthouse. He decided who John's mother could or could not be friends with, John says.
"And he didn't like us to be too close. If some music came on the radio when he wasn't there, I would dance with her because she loved to jitterbug. But not when he was around. We were told to stop."
Carole Travers's stepfather began divorce proceedings when he found out what his wife had done in his absence. However, when it appeared that he wouldn't get custody of their daughter (Carole's half-sister), he returned to the family home and Carole took his surname.
He appeared to accept Carole on the surface, but towards the end of his life he telephoned her and dropped a bombshell. He wouldn't be leaving her anything in his will, he told her, "because you're nothing to do with me".
"The money didn't matter," says Carole. "But what he said really hurt me. I told him, 'You're my dad, you've always been my dad, and you're the only dad I've ever known'."
Married and with children of her own by this time, Carole started trying to trace her biological father, based on the scraps of information her mother had given her in the weeks before she died. "It just didn't occur to me to ask questions when I was younger," she says, the tone of regret in her voice clear.
"My stepfather would always bring me up in any argument with my mother, referring to me as 'your bastard', and I learned not to rock the boat. I just got on with my life."
Deborah Prior, front row, in the light dress, lived in Holnicote House in Somerset along with other mixed-race children - the photograph was used to attract potential adoptive parents
Not all GI babies were able to stay with their mothers. Dr Deborah Prior was born in 1945, to a widow in Somerset and a black American serviceman. Her mother was persuaded to give her up, and for five years Deborah lived in Holnicote House, a special home for mixed-race children. Deborah spoke to Woman's Hour along with Prof Lucy Bland, who is researching this under-reported chapter of social history.
Like Carole, John Stockley wanted to protect his mother by keeping quiet. "I could see it was going to upset her if I asked too many questions, and upset her was the last thing I was going to do," he says. He would take his chance occasionally, although his mother would always evade his enquiries. But John remembers with characteristic clarity the last time he brought up the subject of his real father.
"I remember her saying to me in the course of a minor argument between us: 'You don't know what I've been through because of you.'
"And I said to her: 'You don't know what I've been through because of you!' She went pale, and realised what she'd said and how she'd put her foot in it. But we never went any further than that. She just looked at me in a sad sort of way, and I said, 'Have I ever done anything to make you ashamed of me?' And she said no. And that was the last we ever spoke about it."
It was turning 70 that prompted John to start looking for information about his father, whereas Carole has spent almost half her life searching for a man she knows only as "Burt". Neither of them has many facts to go on - Carole believes her stepfather destroyed the only photos and letters that could have helped her identify Burt. But while their searches may come to nothing, they both take solace from the fact that their mothers loved them against all the odds, and that they were born of loving relationships, not one-night stands.
"My mother told me my father was the only man she ever really loved," says Carole. "And I've had Mum's friends say to me since her death: 'Don't ever feel ashamed of your background, because you were born out of love and your mum wanted you.' She knew he was going back to America and she wanted something of him, something to hold on to."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39927255
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Scotland call up Jamie Murphy, Kenny McLean and Mark Reynolds to face England - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Brighton's Jamie Murphy and Aberdeen duo Kenny McLean and Mark Reynolds are named in Scotland's squad to face England.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Brighton's Jamie Murphy and Aberdeen duo Kenny McLean and Mark Reynolds have been called up to the Scotland squad for their World Cup match with England.
Absent from the squad are Matt Ritchie and Grant Hanley, who have been promoted with Newcastle United.
Also dropping out from the squad that defeated Slovenia are Leipzig's Oliver Burke, West Brom's Matt Phillips and Middlesbrough's Jordan Rhodes.
Winger Phillips and central defender Hanley pulled out of that squad through injury and have not played since April.
Ritchie scored in the 4-1 win over Preston North End that secured Newcastle promotion to England's top flight but missed the last two games of the season through suspension.
Fellow winger Burke started Saturday's 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany's Bundesliga, but the 20-year-old does not make the squad this time.
"Oliver started the last game of the season, but that was the first for a long, long time" said the head coach.
"It might be too much to ask Oliver to produce what we think he can produce with the lack of games behind him."
Rhodes, who had been on loan from Middlesbrough, lost his first-team place at Sheffield Wednesday to Scotland colleague Steven Fletcher, who does make Strachan's 29-man squad.
And Rhodes' place goes to Murphy, who has been in previous squads without winning a senior a cap but has earned a recall after helping Brighton finish runners-up in England's Championship.
"We thought about that the last game, people who were feeling good about themselves," said Strachan. "They bring that positivity to the squad."
Scotland beat Slovenia 1-0 and lie fourth in the Group F table, two points behind second-top Slovakia, with England a further four points ahead.
Midfielder McLean, whose one cap came in a March 2016 friendly against Czech Republic, and uncapped defender Reynolds finished runners-up in the Scottish Premiership with the Dons.
"I've seen Kenny recently in a wonderful game, the Aberdeen-Celtic match, the best 45 minutes of football I have seen this season," said Strachan. "And the 90 minutes were terrific and throughout that Kenny had an excellent game.
"And the results at Aberdeen have been fantastic. They have had a good, strong finish to the season."
Swansea left-back Stephen Kingsley does return to Strachan's squad after Rangers' Lee Wallace was ruled out following stomach surgery.
However, there is no space in the squad for Callum McGregor, despite the in-form Celtic midfielder being tipped for a call-up for the match at Hampden Park.
"I think everyone knows that's where we are strong, and that's where you need to be strong these days.
"There is a lot of other midfield players that I have seen recently that you would think, if it wasn't so strong, they would be in the squad as well," added Strachan.
"Kevin McDonald at Fulham has had an excellent season.
"A lot of lads in that area are just unfortunate we are very, very strong in that area, which showed in the last game against Slovenia, we were strong and full of enthusiasm and know-how in there."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39998863
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Music festivals: Here's one way to stay dry - BBC News
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2017-05-22
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Urban music festivals are on the rise, and some of them boast line-ups to rival the big hitters.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Last summer, on my fourth day of sploshing through Glastonbury's sodden fields, I thought: "Why do I keep doing this to myself?"
Sure, the music was great. Skepta, Adele and Grimes gave unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime performances; and Philip Glass's Heroes Symphony, an orchestral tribute to David Bowie in the dead of the night, was unexpectedly moving.
Even Coldplay - previously the only band who'd provoked me to walk out of a concert early - won me over, with a spirited, kaleidoscopic set where every song felt big enough to be an encore.
But still, the thought lingered: There must be a better way.
And it turns out I wasn't alone.
The last decade has seen an explosion in city-based festivals, bringing bands to your doorstep, usually with the added benefit of getting to curl up in your own bed (or someone else's, if you prefer) at the end of the day.
"They're springing up absolutely everywhere," says Paul Reed of the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF). "Just within our membership, we've added around eight city-based festivals in the last couple of years."
One of the newest is Bushstock, which takes place in Shepherd's Bush. Since it started in 2011, Bushstock has staged early gigs by the likes of Bastille, George Ezra and Michael Kiwanuka in nearby pubs, clubs and railway arches.
"We've had people like Hozier play to 300 people in a church, now he plays in front of tens of thousands of people," says Maz Tappuni, who co-founded the festival from his friend's front room eight years ago.
"We've had Bastille at [local pub] Defector's Weld in front of 200 people in 2013. Now they've played the O2 twice."
Bushstock is a modest event, open to just 1,500 people. But tickets start at just £18, for which fans can see any of the gigs at any of the venues.
The Staves have played Bushstock several times
This year's line-up is headlined by singer-songwriter Nick Mulvey and folk-rock trio The Staves, who are returning from a headline tour of America to play a tiny, intimate show at St Stephen's Church.
For singer Emily Staveley-Taylor, the size of the event is the main attraction.
"Sometimes, playing festivals can feel like a battle, because 50% of the crowd are there to get wrecked," she says.
"I feel that, more and more, the big festivals are becoming an Instagram-fest. At Bushstock, it feels like the focus is music and the people who go there are music fans.
"When you're playing a venue like a church, the acoustics mean you can hear if someone is talking. So when someone's phone goes off, people will glare and tell them to sort their lives out."
For The Defectors' Weld pub, Bushstock has been a shot in the arm during the quiet summer season.
"We have to move all the furniture out, which is something we don't normally do until New Year's Eve," says owner John Da Costa.
Bands like Matthew and the Atlas attracts hundreds of fans to St Stephen's Church
"Then last year, we tried to get a photographer in here and he just couldn't find the space. He had to climb on the tables and chairs to actually get any photos. It was absolutely packed."
The festival has a knock-on effect during the rest of the year, he adds.
"We get fans who go to gigs at the Shepherd's Bush Empire saying, 'we'll definitely come back for a drink here next time, rather than go somewhere else'.
"It's been a good pull for us, and customers returning, absolutely."
While Bushstock remains a relatively small affair, other urban festivals have grown to a size where they rival "greenfield" events like Latitude and Green Man.
Sheffield's Tramlines festival started out as a free event in 2009; spread across 17 local venues, with acts including The xx and Reverend and the Makers.
This year, it boasts three purpose-built outdoor venues, where the likes of Primal Scream, The Libertines and Kano will play to 20,000 people.
"As it's grown, I guess people have demanded more," says the festival's co-founder Sarah Nulty.
"We'd get fans saying: 'I bought a ticket to see Billy Bragg, why can't I get in to see him?' and we'd have to say: 'He's playing a 900-capacity venue and you didn't turn up on time - but look at all these other people you can go and see!'
"I guess that's the main reason we moved out of the venues."
Indie legends Primal Scream are the main draw at this year's Tramlines
Despite the cost of building and staffing these new stages, costs have been kept down. Tickets for the three-day event start at £30, rising to a maximum of £45, while kids go free. Glastonbury, by comparison, costs £238.
"We're a good-value ticket but if you then factor in the price of a hotel, it can suddenly become unaffordable," Nulty acknowledges.
"So what we've tried to do is work with student halls that are empty during the summer, so you can still get a bed and a shower while making the festival affordable."
And, just like Bushstock, the Tramlines festival has given the local economy a boost, with up to 70,000 people descending on Sheffield every July.
"The beauty is that the whole city joins in," says Nulty. "So there's almost two festivals - a bit like Edinburgh where there's the main festival and then you have the fringe.
"Some of our fringe venues have massive, massive line-ups. There was a pub last year that put Deap Vally in their beer garden for free, and they had people climbing over the walls to try and get in.
"It helps make the festival feel amazing, but it's also our competition - because it's free."
So, could these urban festivals eventually replace the likes of Reading & Leeds or the Isle of Wight festival?
"There's still a great appetite for that traditional camping experience," says Paul Reed at the AIF. "But metropolitan festivals serve as great incubators for emerging talent.
"People are more open to discovery. Because the line-up is multiple choice, you can just stumble into something or find your new favourite band by chance."
The Staves, meanwhile, are always more likely to say "yes" to a festival with its own roof.
"I've been to festivals in fields where it's been an absolute washout and everyone has left," laughs Emily Staveley-Taylor. "Or you're performing on a stage where the electrics are sparking because of the rain, and you're like, 'What the hell are we doing?
"Why are we staging outdoor festivals in a country where it always rains in the summer?' It's madness to me."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39947171
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Venezuela's irreconcilable visions for the future - BBC News
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2017-05-22
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With the opposition and the government at loggerheads, the crisis in Venezuela looks set to get worse.
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Latin America & Caribbean
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Signs reading "No more dictatorship" are a common sight at anti-government protests
"Venezuela is now a dictatorship," says Luis Ugalde, a Spanish-born Jesuit priest who during his 60 years living in Venezuela has become one of the South American nation's most well-known political scientists.
A former rector of the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas, Mr Ugalde does not mince his words.
He compares Venezuela to an ailing patient who is on the brink of being killed off by well-meaning but incompetent doctors.
Venezuela's problems are not new, he says. At their heart is the mistaken belief that it is a rich country.
He argues that while it may have the world's largest proven oil reserves, Venezuela should be considered overwhelmingly poor because it hardly produces anything except oil.
A lack of investment in anything but the booming oil industry in the 20th Century meant that its human talent was never really fostered and its economy never diversified, resulting in an absolute reliance on imports.
Venezuela's late leader, Hugo Chávez, further compounded the illusion of Venezuela's wealth to the detriment of the country, Mr Ugalde argues.
While oil prices were high, Hugo Chavez could afford to fund social programmes
"He told the Venezuelan people that there were three things standing between them and prosperity: the US empire, the rich and the entrenched political elite, and that he would deal with all three so that the people could enjoy Venezuela's wealth."
Investing Venezuela's oil revenue in generous social programmes, building homes and health care centres, expanding educational opportunities and providing the poorest with benefits they did not previously have, gave the government of President Chavez a wide support base.
But with falling global oil prices, government coffers soon emptied and investment in social programmes dwindled.
The death from cancer of President Chávez in 2013 further hit the governing socialist PSUV party hard.
His successor in office, Nicolas Maduro, lacked not only the charisma of President Chávez but also his unifying presence at the top of the party and the country.
Mr Ugalde does not doubt that President Maduro came to power democratically in 2013.
Luis Ugalde says that Venezuela has become a dictatorship
But he argues that what he has done since - such as undermining Venezuela's separation of powers - has turned him into a dictator.
The Democratic Unity Roundtable opposition coalition won a landslide in the December 2015 election and yet it has seen almost all of its decisions overturned by the Supreme Court, a body which opposition politicians say is stacked with government loyalists.
An attempt by opposition politicians to organise a recall referendum to oust President Maduro from power was thwarted at every step by Venezuela's electoral council, another body opposition politicians say is dominated by supporters of Mr Maduro.
But for many the final straw came on 29 March 2017, when Supreme Court judges issued a ruling stripping the National Assembly of its powers and transferring those powers to the court.
The opposition-controlled National Assembly is overlooked by a poster of Hugo Chávez
While the Supreme Court suspended the most controversial paragraphs just three days later, the ruling managed to unite the hitherto divided opposition and spur them into action.
There have been almost daily protests and more than 45 people have been killed in protest-related violence.
While many of those protesting against the government share Mr Ugalde's view, the government is adamant it is defending democracy in Venezuela.
It argues that the National Assembly was in contempt when it swore in three lawmakers suspected of having been elected fraudulently and that all of the decisions made by the legislative body since then are therefore invalid.
The government has responded to the most recent wave of protests by calling for a constituent assembly.
Drawing up a new constitution will bring together the people of Venezuela and create peace where there is now unrest, President Maduro argues.
He also says he wants to enshrine some of the social programmes created by the socialist government in the new constitution.
At a pro-government rally, a sergeant in the National Bolivarian Militia, a body created by the late President Hugo Chavez, says he whole-heartedly backs the idea.
Gerardo Barahona says he supports President Maduro's plans for a constituent assembly
"We're against terrorism, those people protesting violently who're burning buses, we support the constituent assembly," Gerardo Barahona says.
Marta Elena Flores, 60, says the opposition is "out to wreck everything" achieved under the socialist government.
"We need to protect all the benefits the government has given to the people," she says.
"We need to enshrine them in the constitution so that the opposition doesn't even have the chance to rob us of them."
Marta Elena Flores says the government's social programmes have made a difference to her life
"I personally have been able to have two operations thanks to the government's medical programmes. The opposition begrudges us those benefits."
Opposition politicians have been dismissive of the president's call for a constituent assembly, saying it is a ruse to delay overdue regional elections and further strengthen the power of President Maduro.
Representatives of the major opposition parties declined a government invitation to discuss the creation of the assembly and, three weeks after the idea was first mooted by President Maduro, little progress has been made.
Government critics say the constituent assembly is "a fraud"
Previous attempts at dialogue backed by former international leaders and even the Vatican have failed.
Anti-government marches meanwhile have been spreading throughout the country and clashes between protesters and the security forces have become more frequent and the number of dead has been on the rise.
Those opposed to the government say they are determined to keep the protests going until fresh general elections are called and the government is ousted.
Some analysts have said that what it will take for the government to fall is for the protests to spread to the "barrios", the poor neighbourhoods which have been the support base of the governing socialist party.
Miguel Pizarro, an opposition lawmaker who represents the barrio of Petare, one of the poorest in Caracas, dismisses that argument.
"The only contact people who make that argument have with the barrio is through their cleaning lady," he says.
"There has been resistance to the government in the barrios for a long time, that is how I got elected!"
Others think that it will take the military to switch sides for the government to be ousted.
But with Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino taking to Twitter on 20 May to accuse protesters of fomenting anarchy and international organisations of being "immoral accomplices who don't denounce the violence" there is little sign of that happening any time soon, at least within the highest ranks.
In the short term at least, there seems little chance of the current deadlock in Venezuela being broken and every likelihood that the crisis will worsen.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-39980403
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Ben Stokes wants more England team-mates in IPL - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Ben Stokes says he would like to see more of his England team-mates join him in the Twenty20 Indian Premier League.
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Coverage: Ball-by-ball Test Match Special commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; in-play highlights and text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app.
All-rounder Ben Stokes would like to see more of his England team-mates join him in the Indian Premier League.
Stokes became the IPL's most expensive foreigner when he was signed by Rising Pune Supergiant for £1.7m, and went on to win the most valuable player award.
He helped his side to second in the group stages before returning to England duty, while Pune went on to lose the 2017 final by one run.
"Everyone who goes there becomes a better player," said Stokes.
The 25-year-old scored 316 runs at a strike rate of 142.98 and took 12 wickets at an economy rate of 7.18 in the Twenty20 competition.
"It would be great in the future if maybe the whole England team could be out there," said Stokes, who scored his maiden Twenty20 century while in India.
"It's not just the fact of playing in the tournament, it's the exposure you get as a player.
"Playing in high pressure situations against all the best players in the world at what they do - guys bowling at 150kph [93mph] and guys knocking it out of the park if you do not hit the areas you want to bowl."
Stokes played in the same team as former India captain MS Dhoni and current Australia skipper Steve Smith, with the latter praising the all-rounder during the tournament.
"To be part of a competition like that was an amazing experience - the biggest Twenty20 competition in world cricket - [as was] being able to share a changing room with the greatest players in the world, the greats of the game of cricket," said Stokes.
"I didn't go into the tournament worrying about [the fee]. The biggest thing for me was making sure I left a good impression with my performances on the field.
"That's what we pride ourselves on as cricketers. All the pressure I put on myself was wanting to perform on the pitch."
Eight England players were bought by IPL franchises this year, with Stokes, wicketkeeper Jos Buttler and bowler Chris Woakes given permission to remain in India and miss England's ODI series against Ireland in May.
Buttler said English cricket was now embracing the IPL and other domestic Twenty20 tournaments as part of an increased focus on white ball cricket.
"I think the IPL has been a bit of a taboo subject in English cricket for a while," he told BBC Radio 5 live's Tuffers and Vaughan show.
"It's [been] tried to make it unattractive to go to [in the past] but now the focus has shifted and people are embracing it.
"It's a shame it didn't happen before but it's better late than never. These tournaments are fantastic for cricket and the audiences."
England play South Africa in three one-day internationals, starting on Wednesday, before hosting the Champions Trophy, and Stokes says England have "earned the right to be favourites".
"We are just going to try to do what we have been doing over that last two years which is to go out there and perform to the best of our capabilities and always want to be on the front foot," he added.
"We've always known that we are a destructive outfit so when other opponents are saying that they don't like bowling at Jos [Buttler], for instance, at the end, you know what they are going through at the end of the mat."
Looking forward to the upcoming ODI series, he added: "South Africa are one of the best teams in the world. They have got some of the best players in the world as well so it's a good opportunity to get into some form leading into the Champions Trophy."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/40002255
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Arsene Wenger says his future was a factor as Arsenal fail to make Champions League - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Arsene Wenger says his "professionalism" cannot be questioned but uncertainty over his future contributed to Arsenal's fifth-place finish.
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Arsene Wenger says his "professionalism or commitment" cannot be questioned but that uncertainty over his future contributed to Arsenal failing to qualify for the Champions League.
It is the first time Arsenal, who finished fifth, have failed to qualify for the competition for 20 years.
Wenger, whose contract expires this summer, says his future will be decided after the FA Cup final on 27 May.
"I have said no to every club in the world," said the Frenchman, 67.
Wenger has been in charge of the Gunners since 1996, winning three Premier Leagues and six FA Cups, but has faced protests from Arsenal supporters this season calling for him to quit.
"I believe since January we have played in a very difficult environment for different reasons," he added.
"Some you know about and that's very difficult for a group of players to cope with that - and some other reasons we will talk about on another day.
"Psychologically the atmosphere was absolutely horrendous. It has been difficult, yes, and certainly my personal situation has contributed to that but you can never question my professionalism or commitment."
Arsenal beat Everton 3-1 on Sunday, but a 3-0 home win for Liverpool against Middlesbrough saw the Gunners finish a point behind Jurgen Klopp's side in fifth.
"I'm a lot more resigned because it's been coming for a few years and everybody has to focus on the FA Cup," former Arsenal striker Ian Wright told BBC Radio 5 live.
"This is done, we are in the Europa League, there is nothing we can do about it."
Wenger, whose side face Premier League champions Chelsea in the FA Cup final, said it was "very sad" Arsenal will not be playing in Europe's top club competition next season.
He added: "We do our job and you are professional and part of the job is being professional when the environment is not positive."
Some Arsenal fans also voiced their frustration at majority owner Stan Kroenke.
"I think you respect everyone in life and I respect Stan Kroenke a lot," said Wenger. "It is not his fault we didn't reach the Champions League, it is the technical department's responsibility for that.
"A club works when everybody does their job and we live in a society where everybody has an opinion and what moves society forward is when we work and not talk too much."
Wenger gets support from old rival Ferguson
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had a sometimes bitter rivalry with Wenger during his Old Trafford reign, winning 13 Premier League titles with the Red Devils.
Scot Ferguson was in charge for 26 years, while Frenchman Wenger is in his 21st year at the north London club.
"At the moment, of course, with the ridiculous situation of the pressure Arsene is under, I just wonder if they realise the job he's done," Ferguson told Sky Sports.
"The most amazing thing about him is this: he has come through a forest of criticism for months now, and has never bowed. He has seen it right through, he has shown a determination, a stubbornness. I think when you look at that, it's a quality, and I'm not sure they'll ever get another manager like that.
"It's quite easy to say 'Get rid of him', but who do you get? Who do you get in to keep that club the way they are for the next 20 years?
"I really feel sorry for him because I think he's shown outstanding qualities, and I think he has handled the whole situation. I don't know many that have done that."
'The toxic mood was on show again' - analysis
As Arsene Wenger sifted through the fall-out from Arsenal's failure to reach the Champions League for the first time in 20 years, he made a stark admission.
Wenger, reflecting on the atmosphere around Emirates Stadium, said: "The psychological environment was absolutely horrendous."
He insisted he was not using this as an excuse for Arsenal's failings but it was clear he felt the over-arching atmosphere had not helped his players as they tried to fight their way into the Premier League's top four.
Wenger may have a point - but has he himself not made a major contribution to the mood around the club and has to take his share of responsibility as his own Arsenal future became almost a matter for daily debate?
Even now, although most now assume he will extend his stay as Arsenal manager, he was simply saying his own personal situation would be "sorted soon".
The lack of clarity has cast a cloud over Arsenal's season and provided an unwanted sub-plot when matters should have been solely focused on the pitch.
The toxic mood was on show again as Arsenal's fate and the realisation that they would be in the Europa League next season became clearer, with chants against American owner Stan Kroenke, who has ignored a £1.3bn takeover bid from Alisher Usmanov, who has a 30% stake in the club.
Wenger defended Kroenke but it was obvious he feels factors elsewhere have created this "horrendous" psychological environment that has swirled unhelpfully around Arsenal.
The problem for Wenger is that he takes a big portion of the responsibility - and part of the price he and Arsenal will pay is that they will be out of Europe's elite group next season with their noses pushed against the window as they contemplate life without the Champions League.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39994392
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Why Swedish workplaces aren't as equal as you think - BBC News
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2017-05-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Nordic country's reputation for gender equality is not all it's made out to be.
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Business
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Amanda Lundeteg wants to expose Sweden's lack of equality
Sweden may have a global reputation as one of world's most gender equal societies but when it comes to female representation in business, campaigners question whether the Nordic nation is right to keep basking in the spotlight, as progress slows down back home.
Amanda Lundeteg, already a chief executive aged just 32, is in one way a poster girl for gender equality in the Swedish workplace.
She holds a degree in Business Economics, started her career in banking and has already served on three different boards.
Yet the sole reason Allbright, the non-profit company she manages, exists is to expose the limitations in career opportunities for women in Sweden.
Despite giving fathers the right to take paid time off since the 1970s and one of the world's most generous parental leave packages (currently 480 tax-funded days to share between a couple) and heavily subsidized day care - capped at some 1,230 Swedish krona ($141; £108) a month - Ms Lundeteg argues Sweden is less progressive than many might think.
"We're really good at bragging about how good we are... but if you ask most women in Sweden I definitely don't think that they are satisfied."
On the plus side, more than 80% of mothers work and Sweden leads the industrialised world in terms of public sector gender equality, according to the OECD; but Allbright's research shows the private sector - and the rapidly growing startup scene - is struggling to keep up.
In 2016, more than 80% of managers at listed Swedish companies were men and not a single new business on the stock market had a woman boss.
Martin Hector: "There's still a lot of fathers who don't take their parental leave"
The main reason for this imbalance is that traditional gender stereotypes prevail, despite decades of legislation designed to even things out, says Ms Lundeteg.
"It's possible to live a gender-equal life in Sweden, but we don't do it because of traditions.
"As a man you're supposed to be the one who works and brings home the meat to the cave. It's about stereotypes and privileges that will take time to break down."
Figures from Statistics Sweden confirm that women still take more than 80% of a couple's parental leave while their first child is under the age of two.
Women also remain much more likely to work part-time than men. When it comes to the wage gap, Sweden is close to the OECD average and drops to 35th place on the World Economic Forum's gender equality ranking.
It isn't difficult to find Swedes who are willing to talk about the discrepancies.
"There's still a lot of fathers who don't take their parental leave so it's not perfect yet," says Martin Hector, 32, as he takes his baby son for a stroll in Ralambshovs park in central Stockholm.
"Over the summer, for three months or something like that, feels the most common."
He's planning to take a total of nine months off work.
Camilla Dath, a lawyer who is also braving unusually chilly May temperatures of 2C with her seven-month-old, is taking 11 months' leave and says her husband will take a similar period off work.
But other parents might not have the same opportunities, she argues, if one partner earns substantially more than the other or because they work in organisations with more old-fashioned cultures.
"I have friends working in big law firms and they have a harder time to take parental leave," she says.
Lawyer Camilla Dath and her husband may be sharing their parental leave - but many other Swedes are not
When it comes to the number of women in management, the biggest discrepancies are still in the traditionally "male" industries of manufacturing and technology.
However, Allbright's research suggests that financial services and property companies have made "significant" improvements in recent years.
Rental accommodation firm Heba, for example, recently climbed 100 places in Allbright's rankings after replacing several of its top male executives, resulting in a female majority in management.
However its chief executive, Lennart Karlsson, is candid enough to admit that reaching gender equality was not his original goal.
"I thought competence was the main thing - competence and attitude - not sex, but I've changed my mind. The workplace works better because of the [gender] mix," he says.
"The discussion climate is better, you have a better conversation and a better understanding for each other."
Amanda Lundetag argues this should boost his business too, citing several recent studies including a high-profile report for the Peterson Institute for International Economics, which concluded that there is a positive correlation between the presence of women in leadership roles and an organisation's performance.
It's a link that is definitely not lost on the Swedish politicians spearheading what they've described as "the first feminist government in the world".
The Nordic nation's Left-Green coalition pushed through a new law in 2015, aimed to encourage men to take a greater share of the parental leave. Ninety days are now reserved for fathers on a "use it or lose" it basis.
"What we want to see is an equal participation from the parents in the long run... but we also have to take it slowly so that families will be able to adapt to the changes," says Annika Strandhall, Sweden's Minister for Social Security.
Simone French says the law is fine but the traditional culture drove her back to work early
Next year will even see the launch of a new Gender Equality Authority, an admission, according to Ms Strandhall, that Sweden's world-famous feminist initiatives have not been as joined-up as they might have been.
Yet while creating equal opportunities for men and women appears largely hard-wired into the national psyche, Sweden is split on the extent to which the state should intervene to pick up the pace.
The government's attempt to introduce legislation that would fine listed companies which fail to appoint women to at least 40% of board seats was rejected by parliament in January.
The fear of potential penalties seems to have acted as a catalyst, though; 33% of those put forward for board seats so far in 2017 are women, up 2% on last year, says Allbright, putting Sweden behind only Norway and France, both of which have legally-binding quotas.
However, the nationalist Sweden Democrats (currently the second-most popular party in the polls) and the smaller centre-right Christian Democrats -voted against the 90-day parental leave quota for fathers. They want families to have a greater choice when it comes to organising parenting.
"There is a societal pressure... because everyone goes back to work. I felt I would be going against the norm if I had stayed at home," explains Simone French, a 46-year-old who is originally from Australia.
She says she would have welcomed the opportunity to stay at home until her son started school. Instead she ended up taking just a year off from her digital marketing career amid pressure from her employer and relatives.
"It was my maternal instinct to be with my son - every fibre in my being fought against going back. It's not really talked about here but I have actually met a couple of Swedish women who felt the same."
However those cheerleading Sweden's march towards a completely gender equal society argue that evening out parental responsibilities is as much about giving fathers the same chance to bond with their children while they are young, as it is giving women greater opportunities to climb the ladder back in the workplace.
Sweden's laws on equality aren't lacking - banking analyst Andreas Lundvick is one of the rare fathers making the most of them
"You become closer with the children - a better connection," says Andreas Lundvick, 38, one of the other fathers back in Ralambshovs park.
He's taking time out from his job at a major Swedish bank to look after his six-month-old son while his wife is studying full-time, a move he believes will have "no impact" on his future career.
"I feel lucky, when you speak to people from other countries, and you hear about their situation, it's mostly the mum being home with the children. It's a culture thing."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39900449
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Nicky Hayden: Ex-MotoGP champion dies after collision - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden dies aged 35, five days after being involved in a crash while cycling in Italy.
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Last updated on .From the section Motorsport
Former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden has died aged 35, five days after being involved in a crash while cycling.
The American suffered "serious cerebral damage" after colliding with a car on the Rimini coastline in Italy on Wednesday, 17 May.
The 2006 MotoGP championship winner had been in the intensive care unit of Cesena's Maurizio Bufalini Hospital.
"We would like everyone to remember Nicky at his happiest - riding a motorcycle," his brother Tommy said.
A hospital statement issued on Thursday said Hayden had suffered "a serious polytrauma", which is a medical term to describe the condition of a person who has multiple traumatic injuries.
Hayden, who was nicknamed the Kentucky Kid, had competed for Red Bull Honda in the World Superbike Championship in Italy on 14 May.
Older brother Tommy, who was also a motorcycle racer, said the family had many "great and happy memories" of Hayden.
"He dreamed as a kid of being a pro-rider and not only achieved that but also managed to reach the pinnacle of his chosen sport," he said.
• None The backyard racer who conquered the world
"We are all so proud of that. We will all miss him terribly."
Sister Kathleen added: "Today I not only lost my big brother, but I lost a best friend."
Red Bull Honda World Superbike said that the racing world had said goodbye to "one of its dearest sons."
"The 'Kentucky Kid' will be sorely missed by all that ever had the pleasure of meeting him or the privilege to see him race a motorcycle around a track, be it dirt or asphalt," a statement read.
The Kentucky-born racer first competed in MotoGP in 2003 and finished third in the standings two years later. He ended Valentino Rossi's five-year winning streak in 2006 following a dramatic final race in Valencia.
Hayden had been eight points adrift of Rossi heading into the decider, but saw the Italian slide out on lap five and eventually finish in 13th place. Hayden's third-place finish allowed him to take the title by five points.
He remains the last American to win the premier class of motorcycle road racing.
At the time, BBC commentator Steve Parrish described the season as "the most entertaining I have ever seen".
'His family were such a huge part of who he was'
Nicky was a real gentleman. He came from a wonderful family, a big racing family. His two brothers raced, his two sisters raced when they were younger, his father raced.
This was a dirt track family. They come from Kentucky and had a race track at their house. Racing was something that they all did together.
His family were such a huge part of who he was. If you look at his Twitter handle it says "bikes and family".
He was so loving and this is going to be such a great loss for them.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/39972058
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Iran election: Hassan Rouhani gets big mandate but will he deliver? - BBC News
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2017-05-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Iranian president has been given a mandate to push through reforms, but how will hardliners react?
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Middle East
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Mr Rouhani has promised to push through reforms but hardliners may obstruct his plans
From the outset when the counting of the votes started after midnight in Iran, the early results indicated that President Hassan Rouhani was heading for a landslide.
Even in small rural towns many people preferred the vision that he had put forward, a vision in sharp contrast to the inward looking, traditional and hardline Islamic government promised by his main challenger, Ebrahim Raissi.
President Rouhani won 23.5 million votes, or 57%. Turnout was unprecedented - nearly 41 million people voted, or 73.5% of the eligible voters. In Tehran, more than five million people came out to vote, twice the number of 2013.
One reason for this high turnout was the reports that the hardliners had pulled out all the stops and mobilised their resources to bring out as many of their supporters as possible to vote, a major push to oust President Rouhani. These reports spurred his supporters and all those who favoured moderation or opposed the hardliners to come out in big numbers.
President Rouhani's victory means a major defeat for the hardliners. The vote may indicate that they will never be able to take control of the executive branch through the ballot box, as a big majority of Iranians do not favour them or their vision.
In his first televised message after the victory, President Rouhani praised Iranians who, in his words, had said No to returning to the past. He was echoing his election campaign motto "We will not go back," a reference to his hard-line opponents and their "backward" policies.
Friday's vote in Iran was the revenge of the moderates. A rejection of those who had intimidated them, jailed them, executed them, drove them to exile, pushed them out of their jobs.
In his campaign, President Rouhani promised to put an end to extremism, to open up the political atmosphere, to extend individual and political rights, to free political prisoners, to remove discrimination against women and bring under control all those state institutions that are not accountable.
To keep and act on these promises, he told his supporters he needed a big mandate, bigger than before.
He firmly placed himself in the camp of the reformists. Now, with his re-election, Iran is on the path towards change, with a renewed confidence drawn from the emphatic result.
To his supporters on Saturday, he said he would remain committed to his promises. It is a tall order. The hardliners are not done yet. They will fight tooth and tail at every turn over the next four years to stop or frustrate President Rouhani's efforts to push through his reforms.
Iran's hardliner Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has congratulated the Iranians for their big show in the exercise for democracy. But he did not congratulate President Rouhani. There are many Rouhani supporters who are willing to argue that the supreme leader had interfered in the elections by constantly criticising the president in the run-up to the elections.
Turnout in the election was surprisingly high
Mr Rouhani has promised to build bridges with the outside world. His election is a huge endorsement for a nuclear deal that his government reached with world powers, which led to the lifting of the crippling sanctions against Iran and saved the country from the threat of a war.
But the deal has serious opponents in the US, where President Donald Trump and the Congress are reviewing their options. Iranians want the nuclear deal to survive, and the signs are that President Rouhani and Iran will keep to their side of the bargain.
In big and small cities around the country, millions of Iranians are celebrating the results. There are videos of people dancing in the streets on social media.
It is a big day in Iran's torturous political development.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-39989028
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Could you last a whole gig without using your phone? - BBC News
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2017-05-22
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Chris Rock is the latest celebrity to ban smartphones altogether at his upcoming UK shows.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Good luck to the person who tries to take a phone from a Harry Styles fan
Chris Rock fans will have their phones locked up during his forthcoming UK shows. Is this the start of no longer seeing a sea of screens at concerts?
Gigs in the pre-smartphone age used to be far less complicated.
You'd turn up. Maybe locate the bar and figure out where the bathrooms were. Flick through a programme or chat to your friends, and then just enjoy the show.
But these days, such a scene sounds like ancient history.
Now, you turn up. Check yourself in on Facebook. Catch up on emails while you're waiting for the show to start, and then when it does, upload some photos and videos you've taken to Instagram.
But many concertgoers find the practice irritating, and now some performers are starting to object too.
"No mobile phones, cameras or recording devices will be allowed at Chris Rock's Total Blackout Tour," read a message posted on ticketing websites when the comedian's new UK dates went on sale this month.
Chris Rock's upcoming shows will mark the biggest UK use of Yondr to date
"Upon arrival, all phones and smart watches will be secured in Yondr pouches that will be unlocked at the end of the show."
The term Yondr might make you Wondr what on earth they're talking about.
Yondr is a relatively new American company which gives you a pouch as you're going into a gig for you to place your phone in.
The pouch is then locked, and you keep it with you for the duration of the gig. At the end of the show, or if you need to use your phone during the performance, you can take the pouch outside of the phone-free zone to have it unlocked.
"We think smartphones have incredible utility, but not in every setting," Yondr say.
"In some situations, they have become a distraction and a crutch - cutting people off from each other and their immediate surroundings."
The company says it aims to "show people how powerful a moment can be when we aren't focused on documenting or broadcasting it".
Audience members keep the locked pouches with them throughout the evening
Rock's use of Yondr at his upcoming UK dates marks the biggest use of the company's pouches in the UK to date.
"I think Chris Rock's audiences will probably be disgruntled but compliant," says Hattie Collins, features editor at ID.
"If you're talking about a Harry Styles gig on the other hand, you're going to have a whole world of problems - there's a much younger audience who are used to sharing everything they do."
Collins adds that the ubiquity of smartphones has arguably had a damaging effect on music fans who want to connect with an artist.
"It's created a passivity as a viewer, so you're much less engaged. You're focused on taking the picture, opening up social media, adding an emoji, and by that point you've missed half the song."
Asked about the Chris Rock shows, a spokesperson for the SSE Hydro in Glasgow told the BBC: "Although it isn't standard practice, the artist has requested Yondr be used throughout his tour so we were happy to facilitate."
But are the audience happy with the restrictions, and the potential delays at security?
Having their jokes posted online can be damaging for comedians
Here's what a few ticket buyers told us:
Some of the fans said they were sympathetic to how problematic it can be for comedians (as opposed to musicians) to have their performances posted online.
If a comedian's jokes are leaked, it can spoil it for other audiences who were planning to see the same show later in the tour.
It's arguably less of an issue for musicians, as audiences are already familiar with the material they're performing and reaction will be broadly the same regardless of whether live footage from another show had already been posted online.
Alicia Keys and Dave Chappelle have previously enlisted the help of Yondr
Collins says: "I'm very torn, because on one hand I feel like it's something of an infringement of your civil liberties, but I appreciate that sounds far-fetched because they're not taking their phone off you, you keep it on you all the time."
All eyes will be on Rock's shows in January to see how the crowds react in person.
His tour will be the biggest UK test yet for Yondr and audiences, who have been asked to turn up an hour early to allow for extra time to go through metal detectors.
But Rock isn't the first to use Yondr in the UK - Alicia Keys and Dave Chappelle both utilised it at their London dates last year.
Could a sea of screens at gigs be a thing of the past?
Collins thinks the future of phone restrictions at gigs in the UK is hard to predict, as it largely depends on what kind of concert it is.
"I went to see Bob Dylan this month, and they asked that nobody take videos or photos, and there were two or three people wandering up and down the side of the auditorium to make sure nobody did," she explains.
"It was quite a refreshing experience, and so much more compelling to watch. Almost quite strange that it was just the stage and not the shadows of 400 mobile phones."
"But then when I saw TLC two nights later everyone messaged me saying 'ahh these pictures are great', they really enjoyed seeing the photos from a gig they didn't go to themselves."
She adds: "I think it's a shame because part of me agrees it would be nice to have fewer phones, but on the other hand it's really nice to be able to share."
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-39874507
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Antoine Griezmann: Atletico Madrid forward 'ready to go' to win titles - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Antoine Griezmann says he is ready to leave Atletico Madrid to win titles and will decide on his future this summer.
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Last updated on .From the section European Football
Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann says he is willing to leave the La Liga club to win titles and will decide on his future this summer.
On Monday, the France international said there was a "6/10" chance he could join Manchester United.
But Griezmann, 26, told French outlet L'Equipe that England, Germany, China and the USA were all possible destinations should he leave Atletico.
"Today, if I have to move it will be no problem," he said. "I'm ready to go."
Atletico finished third in La Liga and were knocked out in the Champions League semi-finals by Real Madrid.
"I want to win titles," added Griezmann. "We finished third in La Liga, it was the objective of the club, but we, the players, want more.
"Winning titles is what I will look for this summer when deciding on my future."
Griezmann said playing in England is "in fashion" and told French TV show Quotidien a move to Old Trafford is "possible".
"I think I will decide [on my future] in the next two weeks," he said.
Asked if United would be his new club he replied: "Possible, possible." Asked to give the chances on a scale of one to 10, Griezmann added "six".
The presenter replied: "It's the first time you've said that." And Griezmann said "it's the first time".
Griezmann, who has won 41 caps for France since making his debut in 2014, scored 26 goals this season as Atletico finished third in La Liga behind Real Madrid and Barcelona.
He was named the third best player in the world behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the Ballon d'Or awards in January.
There is a 100 million euro (£86m) release clause in Griezmann's contract.
United have the opportunity to qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa League on Wednesday against Ajax in Stockholm.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40006920
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Your team of the season: Chelsea and Tottenham dominate selections - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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What formation did you go for? Who plays in goal? Who had the most selections? Check out your team of the season.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Chelsea and Tottenham were the two outstanding teams in the Premier League in 2016-17 - and it's no surprise players from the two London clubs dominate the team of the season picked by BBC Sport users.
Only Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea, Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez and Everton striker Romelu Lukaku were able to break the duopoly.
Almost 125,000 people picked their team over the weekend from a shortlist of 100 players.
You picked nine of the players who made BBC pundit Garth Crooks' team of the season.
But why are they playing 4-4-2? Why was Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho unlucky to miss out? Who was picked most often? Who received the fewest nominations? Let's take a look at the data.
A three-man defence may have been the most talked-about tactical tweak of the season but BBC Sport readers are more Mike Bassett than Antonio Conte.
The most popular of the 12 possible formations picked was the trusty 4-4-2, accounting for 52% of teams.
And, with 73% of users selecting a formation with four defenders, and 65% picking a team with two forwards, that's the way our team have to line up.
Of the 10 goalkeepers available to choose from, De Gea was the clear choice, being selected in 30% of all teams.
He was the 12th most-popular selection overall, but we cannot justify putting the 11th - Coutinho - in goal, so De Gea gets the nod.
Thibaut Courtois was the next most-popular keeper, with Sunderland's Jordan Pickford ahead of Hugo Lloris of Tottenham.
Thirteen goalkeepers made more saves than De Gea this season (74) but the Spaniard can boast a 72% save percentage.
Burnley's Tom Heaton made the most saves all season (141), but he was picked by just 11% of you.
Four defenders were a distance clear of the pack - Chelsea trio David Luiz, Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta joined by Tottenham centre-back Toby Alderweireld.
Alonso has played most of the season as a wing-back, with Azpilicueta in a back three, but they were most often picked at full-back.
Alderweireld was picked in 58% of teams, more than 12% more than any other defender. He is one of five players to appear in more than half the teams picked.
Azpilicueta was the only player to play in all 30 of Chelsea's league wins this season, keeping the most clean sheets (16) into the bargain.
Spurs full-back Kyle Walker was the fifth most-popular defender but still misses out by a large margin.
In a midfield four, three of the selections were obvious.
Tottenham's Dele Alli was the most-selected player in any position, with 77% of teams containing the England man. An overwhelming majority picked him in midfield and not attack.
Alli scored more goals (18) than any other midfielder this season.
Chelsea duo Eden Hazard and player of the year N'Golo Kante were not far behind, with the Belgian making 72% of the teams and Kante 70%.
Hazard's selections were split between midfield and attack, but only 20% of people played him in a front three, so he plays on the wing.
Yes, Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez would have a bit of settling-in to do on the right wing - and his selection is problematic.
Coutinho was the fourth most-selected midfielder, but Sanchez was the ninth most-selected player overall, chosen in 7% more teams than the Liverpool man. He has to play somewhere.
Confused? Well BBC Sport users picked Sanchez across midfield and attack, and with a 4-4-2 formation already decided, the Chilean is doing a job wide right.
From a statistical point of view, Manchester City man Kevin de Bruyne may consider himself unlucky to miss out. The Belgian had more assists (18) and created more big chances (24) than any other midfielder, but only made it into 24% of teams.
He was the sixth most-popular midfielder, just behind another unfortunate player, Spurs' Christian Eriksen.
He scored seven goals in the last four days of the season, 29 in total in the league including four hat-tricks, and was picked by 77% of users. Harry Kane was a shoo-in.
In fact it may be easier to ask who the 23% who left him out were.
Kane was in more than double the teams featuring Lukaku, who was still a long way clear of Sanchez, the third most-popular forward.
Sergio Aguero scored more goals in all competitions (33) this season than before for Manchester City, but made just 9% of teams. He was only the seventh most-popular forward.
Fewer than 1% of readers picked versatile West Ham duo Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini in attack, while Middlesbrough forward Alvaro Negredo has the dishonour of being the least selected player from the 100-man list.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39999749
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British and Irish Lions 2017: Billy Vunipola withdraws from squad with shoulder injury - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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England and Saracens number eight Billy Vunipola withdraws from the Lions tour to New Zealand with a shoulder injury.
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Last updated on .From the section English Rugby
England and Saracens number eight Billy Vunipola has withdrawn from the Lions tour to New Zealand with a shoulder injury.
The 24-year-old, who has 34 England caps, had been managing the injury but it now requires further treatment.
He has been replaced by Wasps back row James Haskell, who will join the squad after the Premiership final on 27 May.
"We really appreciate Billy's honesty in making this decision," Lions head coach Warren Gatland said.
Vunipola returned to the international setup in March for the Six Nations after a four-month lay off with a knee injury.
He played for Saracens in their Premiership semi-final defeat by Exeter on Saturday and appeared to be in pain during the match, receiving medical treatment on a couple of occasions.
"Billy has been carrying an injury and feels he wouldn't be able to contribute fully to the Tour and needs further medical treatment," Gatland added.
"We have called up James to the squad and look forward to welcoming him into camp before we depart."
The Lions play their first match of the New Zealand tour on 3 June.
Scrum-half Ben Youngs withdrew from the Lions squad at the start of May after his brother's wife learned that she is terminally ill.
This is potentially as serious an injury blow as the Lions could have suffered.
Man of the match in the recent Champions Cup final against Clermont, a fully fit and in-form Vunipola would have walked into the Lions Test team.
James Haskell is deserving of his call-up - while in Taulupe Faletau there is a classy operator at number eight - but for the Lions to somehow beat New Zealand, they can ill-afford injury setbacks such as this.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39994827
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Women's World Cup 2017: Sarah Taylor in England squad, Heather Knight captain - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor is named in the England squad for the Women's World Cup this summer.
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Last updated on .From the section Women's Cricket
Coverage: Ball-by-ball Test Match Special commentary on all England matches and selected others; in-play highlights on the BBC Sport website
Wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor has been named in the England squad for the Women's World Cup this summer.
Taylor, 28, took an indefinite break from the game last year to deal with anxiety problems, but rejoined the England camp in April.
Captain Heather Knight is named in the squad despite suffering a fracture in her left foot earlier this month.
The tournament starts on 24 June, with hosts England facing India in the first match at Derby.
The inclusion of both Taylor and Knight, 26, is subject to their return to full fitness.
England coach Mark Robinson said: "The return to the squad of Sarah Taylor shows how far she's come and we are hopeful both her and Heather Knight will be able to play a full part in the tournament.
"We are hugely excited about the potential of this squad."
Knight, who has captained England to victory in six series since taking over in June 2016, heads a young squad, with five players set to experience their first 50-over World Cup.
Alex Hartley, Beth Langston, Nat Sciver, Fran Wilson and Lauren Winfield make their debuts, while 2009 winners Katherine Brunt and Jenny Gunn will take part in their fourth World Cup.
However, there is no place for Amy Jones - Taylor's deputy behind the stumps during her international absence - while seamers Kate Cross and Natasha Farrant miss out, as does teenage spinner Sophie Ecclestone.
"It's such a dream to captain England in a World Cup on home soil; it's not something that many cricketers can say they've done and it's a real honour," said Knight.
"We're a young group but we've made massive strides over the past 12 months and everyone has worked so hard.
"We know it's going to be a tough tournament - and we won't go in as favourites - but backed by home support we'll do our best to challenge for the trophy."
Bristol, Derby, Leicester and Taunton host the group games before the final takes place at Lord's on 23 July.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/39996606
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Nicky Hayden: The backyard racer who conquered the world - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Motorcycling and family were the inseparable constants in the life of Nicky Hayden, who has died aged 35.
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From racing his siblings round the backyard as a toddler to celebrating his sole World Championship crown with his tearful dad on the back of his bike, motorcycling and family were the inseparable constants in Nicky Hayden's life.
Raised in a biking family in the same Kentucky town that was home to seven Nascar drivers and actor Johnny Depp, Hayden and his siblings would spend four hours a day riding on their own home circuit from the age of three.
Practice made perfect. One of only six men to win the MotoGP title this century, Hayden provided the sport with one of its most memorable finales when he pipped Valentino Rossi to the 2006 crown.
Hayden, who has died at the age of 35, five days after a collision with a car while cycling in Italy, never again got close to the championship but remained one of the sport's most popular riders.
"When I was a little kid I never wanted to be a firefighter or anything else - just a world champion," he said.
"The idea of growing up to be a world champion, it just seemed so far away. But dream big, and dreams do come true."
From Earl's Lane to the top step
Hayden, along with brothers Tommy and Roger, turned professional after years of home schooling on the track at 'Earl's Lane' - the name for their home in Owensboro, nestled on the Ohio river.
It was no fluke that all three became pro riders. Dad Earl was a dirt track racer for more than 20 years and mum Rose and sisters Jenny and Kathleen also competed.
"I was bred into it. Bikes are more than just a job for us. It's a way of life," Hayden told the BBC in 2013.
"When I won the title I went to my pit box before the awards ceremony, and there was the banner that said, 'Nicky Hayden, World Champion,' and I just lost it.
"My parents gave up a lot, and there are a lot of bumps and bruises and it hurts sometimes. So you definitely have to be prepared to suffer a bit.
"It's not always just a big cupcake ride."
Family remained foremost for Hayden, who would often make the long trip back to Kentucky from Europe throughout the season to spend time with them.
He listed the 2001 Springfield TT - a dirt-bike race which saw all three brothers finish on the podium - as one of his career highlights, despite the fact that Tommy won.
His three-word Twitter biography perhaps sums it up best: "Bikes and Family."
'The nicest guy in the paddock'
With his distinctive Appalachian twang and broad smile, Hayden was popular the world over for his friendly, self-deprecating charm as much as his speed.
Former team-mate Rossi called Hayden "one of my best friends in racing" earlier this week.
"He never changed, from the first moment I met him as a 17-year-old kid to world champion," said former BBC commentator Steve Parrish.
"He was very relaxed. He had an amazing year when he won the championship - I don't think I've ever seen anyone more joyous to win a title.
"His dad got on the back of his bike, they were both in tears. That's the overriding memory of Nicky that I will remember. It was a dream picture - he achieved the greatest title in motorcycle racing.
"I never heard anyone have a bad word to say about him which in racing is unusual, most riders at one time or another cross swords with other riders. It's the name of the game."
He left MotoGP at the end of the 2015 season to join Honda in World Superbike, and raced in Italy the weekend before his accident.
Last year Hayden got engaged to his girlfriend, actress Jackie Marin, who was with him in hospital, along with Rose and Tommy.
Former MotoGP rider James Toseland said there was "nobody better in the sport."
"He has my complete respect," he said. "He was always the first on the track at every test, and the last off it.
"He was a guy with so much dedication, passion, drive and motivation and was so humble with it all, even after being a world champion. It never changed him one bit.
"Nicky was the shining star among the three successful brothers, but if you were in a bar with all three of them you wouldn't know that. They were all so close.
"The glass was always half full with him. He had that confidence and a natural, ambitious personality, he was infectious.
"His biggest achievement is not the trophies he won, or the championship, it was the respect he got from his peers. The way everybody talks about Nicky Hayden speaks volumes for the type of person he was."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/39984647
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Malaga 0-2 Real Madrid - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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Real Madrid win their first La Liga title since 2012 thanks to a final-day victory at Malaga.
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Last updated on .From the section European Football
Real Madrid won their first La Liga title since 2012 thanks to a final-day victory at Malaga.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored early on to settle the nerves, latching onto Isco's through ball to step around Carlos Kameni and tap into an empty net.
Karim Benzema added their second goal after the break after Kameni parried Sergio Ramos' shot.
Real, who had only needed a point, now face Juventus in the Champions League final looking to complete a double.
• None Relive the action as it happened.
Barcelona, who had won the past two titles, came from 2-0 down to beat Eibar 4-2 but they had needed Real to slip up if they were going to retain the trophy.
The result means Zinedine Zidane, in his first full season as Real boss, is the first manager to lead Madrid to the Spanish league title since Jose Mourinho five years ago.
If Real beat Juventus in Cardiff, they will become the first team to successfully defend the Champions League - with Zidane having won the tournament six months into the job last summer.
Never in doubt for Real
Real Madrid are deserved champions, having been the best team in Spain - and probably Europe - for most of the season.
Their squad is starting to look less reliant on Benzema, Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, who was out injured - even though the first two players scored their goals at Malaga.
Isco, who was impressive again, and Alvaro Morata have shown themselves to be quality players when given the chance.
When Barca beat Real in El Clasico on 23 April, it gave renewed hope for an exciting title race - but Real won their last six games to win the league by three points.
And there was never any title peril on the final day once Ronaldo rounded Kameni to score the second-minute opener.
Malaga had chances, with former Barca striker Sandro impressive. But with nothing to play for themselves, they never really looked like winning.
'The league is everything'
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane: "It was very important [to win the league]. It was a lot of years without winning it and we knew that the league is everything.
"For Real Madrid, because it is the best club in the world, we have to return with this league title.
"He [Ronaldo] is always there to make the difference and I am happy for him - it is a little different because he is always there to do it.
"It has been a difficult season that we worked hard for, with some tough moments, but after 38 games we are top and that is it.
"The Spanish league is the best in my opinion and to win it in this way is incredible - I am very happy."
• None Real have ended their longest run without a title (four seasons) since 1994
• None Real have scored in all of their games in a single La Liga season for the first time ever
• None The Whites have scored 58 goals away from home, their best return in a single La Liga season
• None Real have scored in their last 64 games in all competitions, the best run by a team from the top five European leagues
• None Cristiano Ronaldo is the all-time top-scorer in the top five European leagues (369), surpassing Jimmy Greaves (366)
• None 19 different players have scored for Real Madrid in La Liga this season, a joint-record in Europe's top five leagues with Celta Vigo
• None Real have scored 27 headed goals in La Liga, the most for a team in a single top-flight season since at 2003-04
• None Zinedine Zidane is the sixth former Real Madrid player to win La Liga as manager, after Bernd Schuster, Vicente del Bosque, Jorge Valdano, Luis Molowny and Miguel Munoz
• None Offside, Málaga. Recio tries a through ball, but Charles Dias is caught offside.
• None Attempt missed. Charles Dias (Málaga) header from very close range is too high. Assisted by Gonzalo Castro with a cross following a corner.
• None Attempt saved. Gonzalo Castro (Málaga) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Pablo Fornals.
• None Attempt missed. Marcelo (Real Madrid) left footed shot from the left side of the box is too high following a corner.
• None Attempt saved. Luka Modric (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Danilo.
• None Attempt saved. Álvaro Morata (Real Madrid) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Mateo Kovacic.
• None Attempt missed. Marcelo (Real Madrid) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Luka Modric.
• None Attempt missed. Charles Dias (Málaga) right footed shot from the left side of the six yard box misses to the left. Assisted by Federico Ricca with a cross.
• None Attempt missed. Charles Dias (Málaga) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Federico Ricca with a cross.
• None Attempt missed. Ignacio Camacho (Málaga) header from the centre of the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Gonzalo Castro with a cross.
• None Attempt missed. Pablo Fornals (Málaga) right footed shot from outside the box is too high following a corner.
• None Attempt blocked. Pablo Fornals (Málaga) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39926301
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David Moyes resigns as Sunderland boss after relegation from Premier League - BBC Sport
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2017-05-22
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David Moyes resigns as manager of relegated Sunderland after one season in the job.
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Sunderland manager David Moyes has resigned following the club's relegation from the Premier League.
The end of the Black Cats' 10-year stay in the top flight was confirmed when they lost to Bournemouth last month.
Moyes, 54, informed chairman Ellis Short of his decision to step down at a meeting in London on Monday.
"I wish the players and my successor well in their efforts towards promotion back to the Premier League," said Moyes.
Former Everton and Manchester United boss Moyes took charge in July last year, after Sam Allardyce left to become England manager.
Sunderland finished bottom of the table this season with 24 points, having won only six games.
"I pursued the services of David Moyes for a considerable period prior to his appointment last summer, which makes the announcement of his departure difficult for everyone concerned," said owner Short.
He said that Moyes was not taking compensation for his departure, calling it a "testament to his character".
"In the days ahead we will take some time for reflection, and then focus on recruitment and pre-season as we prepare for our Championship campaign. We wish David well in the future," added Short.
The Scot had faced calls from Sunderland fans to quit and initially said it was "too soon" to commit to the club following relegation.
However, earlier this month he suggested he would stay with the club in the Championship next season, saying: "I know what needs to be done to get back in the Premier League."
In a club statement on Monday, Moyes said: "I would like to thank Ellis Short and the Board for giving me the opportunity to manage Sunderland and the fans for always being so passionately supportive of their club."
This is the first time Moyes has been relegated as a manager, having warned supporters just two games into the season that his squad would struggle.
David Moyes' departure from Sunderland after a desperate season ended in relegation carried an air of inevitability - and it is only a minor blessing for the Black Cats that the decision has been taken so quickly after its conclusion.
It is a sign of how his stock has fallen that since he was awarded a six-year contract to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in 2013 he has been sacked at Old Trafford, again at Spanish side Real Sociedad and now has a relegation and resignation on his CV at Sunderland.
And there are still two years left on that original Manchester United contract.
Moyes looked a solid appointment in succession to Sam Allardyce but set the negative tone he adopted for the entire campaign when he flagged up a relegation fight after only two games.
Sunderland's football was drab and draped in defeat. The only shining lights were leading scorer Jermain Defoe and promising young goalkeeper Jordan Pickford - who now look certain to follow Moyes out of the door.
Moyes made some defiant noises about taking charge of Sunderland in the Championship but in the end his unpopularity with fans who had suffered all season, plus the embarrassment of relegation, left him with nowhere to go but away from Wearside.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40003697
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Europa League: Man Utd must be on front foot against Ajax - Phil Neville - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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Manchester United cannot allow Ajax to grow in confidence in Wednesday's Europa League final, says former defender Phil Neville.
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Phil Neville is co-commentating on the Europa League final for BBC Radio 5 live on Wednesday, 24 May. Build-up to Ajax v Manchester United starts at 18:30 BST, with kick-off at 19:45.
My fear for Manchester United in the Europa League final is they are weighed down by the pressure of having to win it to get into next season's Champions League.
If United were heading to Stockholm having already qualified by finishing in the Premier League top four on top of having the EFL Cup in the bag, then I think their players would be a lot more relaxed.
Instead, all of United's eggs are now in one basket, which is a dangerous situation to be in against a really good young Ajax team.
How to beat Ajax - play on the front foot
Ajax are very impressive technically and they have lots of energy too.
Their front five - with Bertrand Traore and Amin Younes either side of Kasper Dolberg in attack, and Davy Klaassen and Hakim Ziyech in the centre of midfield - give them goals and creativity, and a good mixture of pace and skill.
Traore is very quick down the right but a little bit erratic, while Younes on the left is a good dribbler - he is not rapid but he is pretty sharp.
What Peter Bosz's team do well is play a high-tempo game - they like to press and win the ball back early.
To counter that, United have to be really brave and mirror the approach they had when they beat Chelsea at Old Trafford in April.
They tore out of the blocks in that game and went toe to toe with Antonio Conte's side. They were positive and they put the champions under pressure, and never allowed them to settle.
United played on the front foot that day and used the speed of Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford to pester Chelsea. The energy in midfield of Ander Herrera, Marouane Fellaini and Paul Pogba overpowered them.
If they do the same again on Wednesday, I don't think Ajax will be able to live with them.
Get past the Ajax press and their defence looks vulnerable
Klaassen and Ziyech, in particular, are capable of dictating play if you let them, but if United get in their faces early on then they will not be able to find their rhythm.
And Ajax's defence is definitely their weakness. They press on transition - whenever they lose the ball - but if you get past that initial press then there are some big spaces behind it, and their back line looks vulnerable.
Kenny Tete at right-back is not quick, and centre-back Matthijs de Ligt is only 17 and erratic. The Europa League final is going to be a huge occasion for him.
What United definitely shouldn't do is sit back like they did at Old Trafford in the second legs of their quarter-final and semi-final.
When they did that against Anderlecht and Celta Vigo, they got nervous. United were not playing well and it became a struggle as their opponents grew in confidence.
United cannot allow that to happen again. They should see this as a game where they have to go out and start fast.
If they put Ajax under pressure early on, and do some damage, they can seize control of the game.
Been there and done it all before
Ajax's inexperience is definitely something United should try to exploit - none of their players have featured in a game as big as this before.
But the Dutch team also do not have to deal with the same expectation of winning that United do, and they are already into the third qualifying round of next season's Champions League after finishing second in the Eredivisie - so the final is not make or break for them.
On occasions like this, you wonder whether players will freeze or play without fear, and it is the same for United's younger players too.
If there was ever a game in which United needed the know-how of injured striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it might be this one - because he would not be scared of what was at stake.
Ibrahimovic has already delivered for United in the Community Shield and EFL Cup final. It is big games like this in which you need your big players, and there are none bigger at United than him.
I think United will miss Zlatan, but what they do have in their favour is a manager who has been there and done it all before.
Jose Mourinho has great experience, not just of the big occasions but of winning them. He is a serial winner and knows how to set up a team to win a final, and that is where I think United have the greatest advantage.
Mourinho will have a massive influence on the day but he has already got all of the energy back into his team before the final.
I don't think he can complain about them being tired because he has given his players the rest they needed in the three Premier League games they have played since they reached the final.
United will be mentally fresh for this game, for the first time in about five or six weeks.
It is a one-off game and finals are so unpredictable - but, under Mourinho, they will be ready.
The difference between United's form going into this final and the 1999 Champions League success that I was part of comes down to momentum.
Back then, we had just won the Premier League and then the FA Cup.
But there are still similarities this time - things that were drummed into you at Old Trafford when I was there, and still are under Mourinho.
It is still the case that you cannot enjoy a final unless you win it. Getting there is not enough, even if by doing so you have already created history, as United have done by reaching a Europa League final for the first time.
And United still measure themselves on trophies won, not the fact they have finished outside the Champions League positions in the Premier League.
Mourinho's whole philosophy is about winning, so you have got to admire the fact that, if they beat Ajax, they have two major trophies to show for their season.
For me, that means they have been more successful than three of the clubs who finished above them in the table - Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool, who finished second, third and fourth.
I would rather finish sixth and win two major trophies than finish second with none - that was the mentality I was brought up with at Old Trafford and I am pleased it is the same there now.
Prizes and podiums worth more than league positions
Winning trophies gives you a taste of something you want more of, which is why success in Stockholm is important for this United team in the future, as well as the here and now.
If you finish second, third or fourth and you don't get your hands on a trophy or a medal, you don't get to step on to that winning podium. There are no prizes in fact.
There are several United players who have never won a trophy with the club, and I know what a boost getting some silverware gives you and how you get a thirst for more.
Beating Ajax would make a big difference for next season, not just by getting them into the Champions League but to give them an advantage over the teams who have finished above them but have not got anything to show for it.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40002164
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Wang Quanzhang: The lawyer who simply vanished - BBC News
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2017-05-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Wang Quanzhang's disappearance may be due to his "refusal to compromise"
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China blog
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Wang Quanzhang was detained in August 2015 - and hasn't been seen or heard from since
In August 2015 Wang Quanzhang was detained by the Chinese authorities.
In that he was not alone. The nationwide series of raids that summer saw more than 200 lawyers, legal assistants and human rights activists brought in for questioning.
But almost two years on, Mr Wang is the only lawyer from whom nothing has been heard at all.
"I don't know whether he's alive or dead," his wife Li Wenzu told me. "I have had no information at all. He has simply disappeared from the face of the earth. It is so scary, so brutal."
China's "709" crackdown as it's now known - a reference to 9 July, the date it began - is widely seen as a sign of a growing intolerance of dissent under President Xi Jinping.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Li Wenzu has not heard from her husband Wang Quanzhang since 2015
Of the large number of people initially detained, around two dozen have been pursued as formal investigations. Over the past year or so those cases have gradually been reaching some kind of a conclusion.
Some of the accused have been given long jail terms, of up to seven and a half years, for the crime of subversion.
Others have been given suspended prison sentences or released on bail, but remain under constant surveillance.
But of the lawyers arrested in that initial 2015 sweep, Mr Wang is unique. Apart from one brief written notification of his arrest, the family say he has disappeared into a black hole.
Li Wenzu fears her husband is being punished for a failure to compromise
"For these two years, he hasn't been allowed to meet the lawyer that we have employed for him, and he has no right to communicate with the outside world," his wife Ms Li said. "He has been deprived of all rights."
There have been allegations that some of the lawyers have been tortured during their detention, force-fed drugs, shackled, beaten and kept in stress positions for long periods of time.
Their admissions of guilt, either in court or in the televised confessions that have been broadcast by state-run TV, should not be taken at face value, their supporters argue, but rather as the inevitable consequence of the pressure they've been under.
They now fear that Mr Wang's continued incarceration might be because he is holding out.
"I think it might be because my husband hasn't compromised at all," Ms Li said. "That's why his case remains unsolved."
Wang Quanzhang is certainly no stranger to pressure. His work representing the persecuted followers of China's banned spiritual movement, Falun Gong, as well as human rights activists, has attracted the ire of the authorities before.
In this interview, he recounts being beaten in the basement of a court building for challenging the order of a judge.
Confessions made by some detainees, like lawyer Xie Yang, reflect the pressures on them, supporters say
Jerome Cohen is a professor at New York University School of Law and a long-term expert on the Chinese legal system. He knows some of the detained lawyers personally.
"They are in the lead, they are the ones who have really gone public. There are many other lawyers who are quietly working, they hope, within the limits allowed by the party," he said.
"But they too are feeling the pressure and are watching very carefully how these lawyers, who were up front as it were, are being abused."
"Of course this deters a lot of people, which is the whole aim of the party... to try to keep the lawyers in line."
President Xi Jinping has spoken of the dangers that liberal ideals, like constitutional rights enforceable in the courts, pose for Communist Party rule.
China, it seems, wants lawyers to help it "rule by law", not keep its rulers in check through the "rule of law".
The lawyers whose cases have gone to trial appear to be those who have consistently taken on the most politically sensitive cases, as well as those who have advocated for the need for a justice system beyond party control.
"The party knows it needs lawyers, it wants them for economic development," Mr Cohen said. "But essentially, the party would like lawyers to behave like dentists, like technicians."
"I admire dentists very much but I don't expect them to annunciate the values of my society," he added.
"So this is what the party is trying to do, and it is doing so with extreme cruelty."
Xi Jinping has said that liberal ideals threaten the Communist Party's monopoly on power
But if that is the plan then, on one level, it isn't working. The "war on law" has prompted the wives of the detained lawyers to work together and advocate very publicly for their husbands' release.
Despite facing continuing intimidation and harassment by plain-clothes policemen, they have refused to be silenced.
Some of them even addressed a US Congressional hearing on the issue this week, including - via recorded video evidence - Li Wenzu.
Other Chinese lawyers have come to the defence of those caught up in the crackdown, visiting detention centres to demand information or mounting legal challenges, only then, subsequently, to be detained themselves.
And the wider community of Chinese defence lawyers has made public its opposition to the alleged mistreatment of members of the profession.
Meanwhile there is mounting concern about the fate of Wang Quanzhang. If he really is still holding out against the odds, his loved ones fear the consequences.
Lawyer and friend Ge Wenxiu recorded this video message that was posted on Twitter this week.
"Lawyer Quanzhang, are you still alive?" he asks. "We don't mind if you make a damn confession on Chinese TV and come home. Come home."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-china-blog-39974953
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James Anderson: England and Lancashire bowler a doubt for South Africa first Test - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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England seamer James Anderson is a doubt for July's first Test of the summer against South Africa with a groin tear.
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Last updated on .From the section Cricket
England seamer James Anderson is a doubt for July's first Test against South Africa after he sustained a groin tear playing for Lancashire.
England's all-time leading wicket taker suffered the problem in the Roses match against Yorkshire and is expected to be out for between four to six weeks.
The first Test against the Proteas at Lord's starts on 6 July, in six weeks.
Anderson, 34, will be assessed by England's coaching staff this week to examine the injury.
The paceman has not played in four of England's last 10 Test matches after picking up a shoulder injury last summer which forced him to miss the winter tour to Bangladesh.
England face South Africa in the first of three one-day internationals starting on Wednesday at Headingley, followed by three Twenty20 games before the Test series begins, although Anderson was in neither squad.
Lancashire have four County Championship games in June, starting with the return Roses match in Leeds on Friday, 2 June.
From 1-18 June, England and South Africa take part in the ICC Champions Trophy, hosted in England and Wales.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/40018570
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Scott Dixon robbed at gunpoint hours after winning Indy 500 pole - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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Scott Dixon is robbed at gunpoint at a fast-food restaurant hours after winning pole for the Indianapolis 500.
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Last updated on .From the section Motorsport
Scott Dixon was robbed at gunpoint at a fast-food restaurant hours after taking pole for the Indianapolis 500.
The 36-year-old New Zealander was in a car with Briton Dario Franchitti - a three-time Indy 500 winner - when the incident happened in Speedway, Indiana.
Neither Dixon nor Scot Franchitti, who retired in 2013, were hurt. Two boys, aged 15 and 14, were later arrested.
Tony Kanaan told reporters his Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Dixon was buying food for a group of drivers.
"While they were ordering with their windows down, two guys approached at gunpoint," Kanaan said.
"They held a gun at Dixon's head and asked him for his wallet and his phone. You don't expect that to happen, especially here."
Dixon will attempt to win the Indy 500 for the second time on Sunday.
Meanwhile, French driver Sebastien Bourdais has tweeted a picture of himself in hospital after he suffered multiple fractures to his pelvis and a fracture to his right hip in a high-speed crash during qualifying on Saturday.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/40010056
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David Moyes will struggle to get another Premier League job - Chris Sutton - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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Ex-Sunderland boss David Moyes will struggle to get another job in the Premier League and might end up in China, says Chris Sutton.
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Last updated on .From the section Football
David Moyes will struggle to get another job in the Premier League and "might end up in China" after resigning as Sunderland boss, says former Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton.
Moyes, 54, stepped down on Monday after just one season in charge.
The Black Cats' relegation to the Championship was confirmed in April, with Moyes' side finishing bottom, having won only six games.
Sutton said the Scot would be able to find a new role outside the top flight.
However, speaking on BBC Radio 5 live's Monday Night Club, he added: "Would he want a job in the Championship? I think he might end up in China."
• None What next for 'worn-down' Moyes?
After 11 years in charge of Everton, Moyes left in 2013 to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United but was sacked after 12 months into a six-year deal at Old Trafford.
He was also dismissed after a year in charge of his next club, Spanish side Real Sociedad, before taking over at the Stadium of Light when Sam Allardyce left to become England manager.
"He'll find it very, very difficult to get a Premier League job but lots of Championship sides will offer him a job - he doesn't need the money but he's got the drive and the desire," former Leeds right-back Danny Mills told 5 live.
Mills added that relegated Middlesbrough could be a good fit for Moyes, should they not appoint caretaker boss Steve Agnew on a permanent deal, as they "have money to spend".
Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin said Scotland could "do a lot worse" than appoint Moyes if current manager Gordon Strachan decided to step down.
"[Moyes] has had three bad seasons in a row for a variety of reasons but he'll probably go to the Championship and relaunch his career from there," added Nevin.
'It sucked the life out of the club'
Sunderland narrowly avoided relegation last season and Moyes warned supporters just two games into this campaign that his squad would again struggle.
Sutton said Moyes' comments had "sucked the life out of the club" as they had been "on a high" after staying up under previous boss Allardyce.
However, Nevin replied: "I don't think there was a lot of life there."
Nevin added that he was not surprised at Moyes' departure and was "sold a pup" when he took over, because he was expecting more money available for transfers.
"He's not going to stay on if he's been told he won't be given enough funds to make them competitive because his attitude is he's a winner and he wants to win," said Nevin.
Sutton was also critical of Sunderland chairman and owner Ellis Short.
"Swansea and Crystal Palace invested in January and backed their manager - Sunderland were buying Everton's reserves," said Sutton, referring to deals for Darron Gibson and Bryan Oviedo.
"If Moyes resigned because there wasn't enough funds then who would take that job? It's a high-pressured job at a big club and they'll want backing too."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40005325
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The DNA detective helping to reunite families - BBC News
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2017-05-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A man abandoned as a baby 61 years ago traced his family using a DNA detective. But what do they do?
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UK
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Julia Bell has no genetics background but has an extensive knowledge of how to analyse data
A man left abandoned as a baby in a cinema toilet 61 years ago has tracked down his siblings with the help of a so-called "DNA detective". But what do they do?
"There's an analogy I like to use: I can crack any safe, some will just take longer than others," Julia Bell tells the Victoria Derbyshire programme.
She helps people - many of whom have no knowledge of who their parents or siblings are - track down their long-lost relatives.
Julia recently helped Robert Weston, who was found in a ladies toilet in an Odeon cinema in Birmingham in 1956, find his half-brothers and sister for the first time.
Many of her cases involve American soldiers, or GIs, who were stationed in the UK during World War Two, she says.
Indeed, Julia says she is approached by someone who has discovered their father was in fact an American GI about once a month.
"More children were fathered by American servicemen than many people imagine," she says.
Julia is also currently helping a woman who, as a baby, was left in a box at London's Kings Cross railway station, while another case involves a baby left on a train in 1928.
"It starts with a spit test, a DNA test, which I get people to do," Julia says. "That's sent away for testing."
She then uses uses three direct-to-consumer DNA databases to cross-reference the data and then the detective work begins.
Julia - who currently is not charging clients - says she begins looking at patterns within the database to try and establish matches.
She then uses contacts around the world to try to identify relatives - however distant they may be.
Tommy Chalmers (left), Pat McBain (centre) and Robert Weston (right) outside the house where their father lived
When Robert Weston contacted her - 61 years after being abandoned in a cinema - he said he "had been searching for a long, long time - 44 years or so" without success.
Julia asked him to provide a DNA saliva test and searched on the database in the hope of finding a distant relative.
"There will be somebody on there - fourth cousins or something - for nearly everyone out there," she explains.
Initially there were more distant matches, but Julia was able to find and test a second cousin.
"I asked her if she had any male cousins and she said 'Tommy'," Robert explains. "He agreed to be tested and he turned out to be my half-brother."
But he says: "You need a huge dollop of luck with all this."
The Birmingham Evening Despatch carried the story of Robert being found on its front page in 1956
On occasion, it is possible to trace relatives even further back.
The Salvation Army's family tracing service has reunited relatives who have been out of touch for more than 80 years.
It says it reunites 10 people every single working day, with an 89% success rate.
It also protects the privacy of the person being sought by promising it will not pass on personal details unless permission is granted.
Julia says while most cases can eventually be solved, a small number will permanently draw a blank.
Even then, she says a person can get some information, including an estimate about their ethnicity. But she says as DNA databases increase in size, the odds of closer matches get better all the time.
Julia has no genetics background, saying you instead need to be "smart and logical" and know how to work with data.
"I have a knowledge of science but my background was in teaching in Singapore," she says.
"My mother didn't know who her father was and that's how I got into this, helping to look for her dad."
She adds: "I found someone in the states [US] who works in ancestry who helped show me how to do this.
"She helped me with seeing the patterns and using my intuition. She put the pieces together and I realised I was good at this.
"[My mum] found her father had died four years earlier. But she had a sister and now she's in touch with her family in the south of the US."
Where there is a success, she says third parties are "generally" positive when they find out they have relatives they never knew - although cases of abandoned babies can be "very sensitive".
"I might not always be the one to break the news, sometimes it could be a social worker."
A running theme, however, is that many long-lost relatives - despite their different upbringings - often share habits or interests.
"One set of people I matched turned out to both be astrophysicists," she says.
Robert Weston and his half-bother Tommy share the same sense of humour, she adds.
"It's like they've known each other their whole life."
Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39963366
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Sam Warburton: British & Irish Lions captain fit 'to crack on' - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton says he is ready to "crack on" with the tour of New Zealand after a knee injury.
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Last updated on .From the section Welsh Rugby
British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton has declared himself fully fit for the tour of New Zealand after recovering from a knee injury.
The 28-year-old Wales flanker has not played since getting injured against Ulster in the Pro12 on 7 April.
Warburton said he had "trained fully" on Monday, adding: "That's all the boxes ticked, and now I can crack on."
Head coach Warren Gatland has said he expects to lose between six and 10 players to injury on the tour.
• None Listen: 'Anyone but Billy' - how much will the Lions miss him?
• None Lions excitement on hold 'until I'm on the plane' - Haskell
The tourists have already lost England number eight Billy Vunipola because of a shoulder injury, while compatriot Ben Youngs withdrew after his brother Tom's wife learned she is terminally ill.
Wales hooker Ken Owens will miss Scarlets' Pro12 final against Munster on Saturday because of an ankle injury.
Ireland prop Jack McGrath (arm) is also a concern, as are Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb (groin) and Ireland back row Sean O'Brien (calf).
Speaking on Monday, Gatland seemed confident the injured players will be fit for the tour.
"I think we are pretty good," he said. "The guys are making good progress.
"There could be a couple more next weekend as well and, given the history of the Lions, we've planned to lose anywhere between six and 10 players.
"That's just the attrition of past tours."
England back rower James Haskell has replaced Vunipola, and Warburton said: "Billy was one of the guys I was really looking forward to playing with who I hadn't played alongside before.
"He has been a massive player for Saracens. It is a big loss for us, but James coming in - I think only Rory Best and Alun Wyn Jones have got more caps than him in the squad - means we are very lucky."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/40004668
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Fancy a four flowers or ginger fried pork pizza? - BBC News
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2017-05-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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How strict quality control and unusual Asian toppings helped a Japanese expat build a popular pizza chain in Vietnam.
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Business
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The pizza chain that's a hit in Vietnam
While proud Italians might balk at some of the pizza toppings Yosuke Masuko offers, they'd have to appreciate his obsession with quality control.
The 38-year-old Japanese expat is the founder of one of the most popular pizza chains in Vietnam, Pizza 4Ps.
With six busy restaurants in the country's three largest cities - Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Hanoi and Da Nang - it serves more than 3,000 customers every day.
They flock to the outlets to try such pizza delights as salmon miso cream, teriyaki chicken, and ginger fried pork.
With more traditional pizzas also available, such as margarita and Parma ham, such is Mr Masuko's attention to detail that when the first restaurant opened in Ho Chi Minh City in 2011, he would refuse to accept payment for any pizzas that weren't perfectly round.
And importing key ingredients from Italy, including the flour and tomato sauce, he worried that the imported Italian mozzarella wasn't fresh enough because of the long cargo flight, and the fact he could only get deliveries twice a week.
Yosuke runs the business with his wife Sanae
So Mr Masuko decided he would make his own. As the cheese didn't exist in Vietnam he couldn't ask anyone locally for help, so instead he learned to make it himself by studying YouTube videos.
Then unhappy with the quality of milk he was able to buy in Vietnam, he bought a farm and his own cows.
Some might say this is a little too obsessive, but Mr Masuko says he wouldn't have it any other way.
"The mission of our restaurant is 'delivering wow, sharing happiness'," he says. "To pursue our mission we keep in mind to always go beyond customer expectations."
The company also sells more traditional, Italian-style pizzas
While neither the Japanese nor the Vietnamese are renowned for their pizza eating, Mr Masuko first started making them in 2004 when he installed a wood-fired pizza oven in his garden in Tokyo.
"The experience of making your own pizza with friends every weekend made me realise that I can make people happy by serving good food in a good space," he says.
However, it wasn't until seven years later that Mr Masuko decided to start making pizza for a living. By that time he was living in Vietnam where he worked for a Japanese investment firm.
Fascinated by Vietnam's rising middle class, he noticed that global pizza chains such as Pizza Hut and Domino's were opening up in the country and proving popular. As Vietnam had been a former French colony, the country was used to bread products, particularly baguettes, so pizza didn't prove too much of a jump for most people.
The restaurants are popular among Vietnam's growing middle class
So with fond memories of his own pizza-making exploits Mr Masuko quit his job and used his $100,000 (£77,000) savings to open the first branch of Pizza 4Ps in central Ho Chi Minh City.
The 4Ps part of the unusual name stands "for peace". He explains: "In the name 4Ps is our wish for inner peace and richness of hearts."
Looking back, Mr Masuko says that quitting his investment job was not a decision he took lightly.
"Everything was fine with my previous job back then," he says. "The company even provided accommodation, and my eldest daughter was three when we opened the first restaurant.
"Of course I was afraid that the restaurant wasn't going to work, but at the same time I felt like I needed to take the challenge."
The restaurants are located in busy central locations
Thankfully for Mr Masuko his restaurant was an immediate hit, and the company has grown steadily ever since.
From 10 workers to begin with, it now has 700 full-time Vietnamese staff and 13 Japanese employees, five of whom have management roles.
Mr Masuko says that when the first restaurant opened, 90% of its customers were Japanese expats, 5% Vietnamese and 5% other foreign nationals.
Today more than 70% of diners are Vietnamese.
In addition to making its own cheese, Pizza 4Ps also arranges for Vietnamese farmers to grow it vegetables such as rocket and lettuces. The company also sells some of its cheese to hotels and other restaurants.
Mr Masuko says: "In 2016 we had a turnover of $7.5m, and in 2017 we expect $15m."
Ultimately the aim is to float the company on a stock exchange, and open branches in other countries.
To help run the business Mr Masuko relies on his wife Sanae, whom he met when they both worked for the same Japanese investment fund.
The business has both Vietnamese and Japanese staff
While Mr Masuko has the chief executive role, Sanae looks after staffing matters and marketing.
Rather than pick Japanese or Vietnamese as the working language at Pizza 4Ps, staff are instead encouraged to talk to each other in English.
Mr Masuko admits that this can occasionally cause communication problems, but says that cultural differences can sometimes be the biggest problem.
Sanae explains: "We found the gap of working culture between Vietnamese and Japanese is the one that is difficult to bridge... but things are improving."
Hang Do, vice president of Seedcom, a Vietnamese investment fund, says she wasn't surprised that Pizza 4Ps has done so well.
"For the past five years, as the economy has grown, the middle class has grown very fast as well, and people have just been more open-minded to the diversity of food and beverages," she says. "Pizza 4Ps offers a very unique flavour."
Mr Masuko says he is confident that the Vietnamese pizza market will continue to grow, and he is putting in the hours to ensure that Pizza 4Ps continues to be a success.
"I go to the office at 9am, and I do work 13 hours a day. I am devoting my life to working."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39961772
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The tiny pill which gave birth to an economic revolution - BBC News
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2017-05-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Contraception wasn’t just socially groundbreaking - it also changed the professional landscape.
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Business
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The contraceptive pill had profound social consequences. Everyone agrees with that.
In fact, that was the point. Margaret Sanger, the birth control activist who urged scientists to develop it, wanted to liberate women sexually and socially, to put them on a more equal footing with men.
But the pill wasn't just socially revolutionary. It also sparked an economic revolution - perhaps the most significant economic change of the late 20th Century.
50 Things That Made the Modern Economy highlights the inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the economic world in which we live.
To see why, first consider what the pill offered to women. For a start, it worked - unlike many of the other options.
Over the centuries, lovers have tried all kinds of unappealing tricks to prevent pregnancy. There was crocodile dung in ancient Egypt, Aristotle's recommendation of cedar oil, and Casanova's method of using half a lemon as a cervical cap.
But even the obvious modern alternative to the pill - condoms - have a failure rate.
Margaret Sanger opened the first US family planning centre in New York in 1916, when contraception and abortion were illegal
Because people don't tend to use them exactly as they're supposed to, they sometimes rip or slip. So for every 100 sexually active women using condoms for a year, 18 will become pregnant. The failure rate of the sponge is similar. The diaphragm isn't much better.
But the failure rate of the pill - with typical use - is just 6%, three times safer than condoms. Used perfectly, the failure rate drops to one twentieth of that.
Using a condom meant negotiating with a partner. The diaphragm and sponge were messy. But the decision to use the pill was a woman's, and it was private and discreet. No wonder women wanted it.
The pill was first approved in the United States in 1960. In just five years, almost half of married women on birth control were using it.
But the real revolution would come when unmarried women got access to oral contraceptives. That took time. But in around 1970 - 10 years after the pill was first approved - US state after US state started to make it easier for single women to get the pill.
Universities opened family planning centres. By the mid-1970s, the pill was overwhelmingly the most popular form of contraception for 18 and 19-year-old women in the US.
The Planned Parenthood organisation distributed information and contraception across the US
And that was when the economic revolution really began.
Women in America started studying particular kinds of degrees - law, medicine, dentistry and MBAs - which had previously been very masculine.
In 1970, medical degrees were over 90% male. Law degrees and MBAs were over 95% male. Dentistry degrees were 99% male. But at the beginning of the 1970s - equipped with the pill - women surged into all these courses. At first, women made up a fifth of the class, then a quarter. By 1980 they often made up a third.
This wasn't simply because women became more likely to go to university.
Women who'd already decided to be students opted for these professional courses.
The proportion of female students studying subjects such as medicine and law rose dramatically, and logically enough, the presence of women in the professions rose sharply shortly afterwards.
But what did this have to do with the pill? By giving women control over their fertility, it allowed them to invest in their careers.
These Harvard graduates could take for granted the freedom to develop their careers before having children, if they wished
Before the pill was available, taking five years or more to qualify as a doctor or lawyer didn't look like a good use of time and money. To reap the benefits of those courses, a woman would need to be able to reliably delay motherhood until she was 30 at least.
Having a baby at the wrong time risked derailing her studies or delaying her professional progress.
A sexually active woman who tried to become a doctor, dentist or lawyer was doing the equivalent of building a factory in an earthquake zone: just one bit of bad luck and the expensive investment would be trashed.
Of course, women could simply abstain from sex if they wanted to study for a professional career. But many didn't want to.
And it wasn't just about having fun. It was also about finding a husband. Before the pill, people married young. A woman who decided to abstain from sex while developing her career might try to find a husband at the age of 30 and find that, quite literally, all the good men had been taken.
The pill changed both those dynamics. It meant that unmarried women could have sex with substantially less risk of an unwanted pregnancy.
But it also changed the whole pattern of marriage. Everyone started to marry later, even women who didn't use the pill.
The 1973 landmark Roe v Wade case legalised abortion in the US, allowing women further control over their fertility
Babies started to arrive later, and at a time of women's own choosing. And that meant that women, at least, had time to establish a professional career.
Of course, many other things changed for American women in the 1970s.
Abortion was legalised, laws against sex discrimination were put in place, feminism emerged as a movement, and the drafting of young men to fight in Vietnam forced employers to recruit more women.
But a careful statistical study by the Harvard economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz strongly suggests that the pill must have played a major role in allowing women to delay marriage and motherhood, and invest in their own careers.
Goldin and Katz tracked the availability of the pill to young women in the US, state by state. They show that as each state opened up access to contraception, so the enrolment rate in professional courses soared, and so did women's wages.
A few years ago, the economist Amalia Miller used a variety of clever statistical methods to demonstrate that if a woman in her 20s was able to delay motherhood by one year, her lifetime earnings would rise by 10%.
That was some measure of the vast advantage to a woman of completing her studies and securing her career before having children.
But the young women of the 1970s didn't need to see Amalia Miller's research: they already knew it was true.
As the pill became available, they signed up for long professional courses in undreamt of numbers.
American women today can look across the Pacific Ocean for a vision of an alternative reality.
Did the lack of widely available contraception contribute to Japan's gender inequality?
In Japan, one of the world's most technologically advanced societies, the pill wasn't approved for use until 1999. Japanese women had to wait 39 years longer than their American counterparts for the same contraceptive.
In contrast, when the erection-boosting drug Viagra was approved in the US, Japan was just a few months behind.
Gender inequality in Japan is widely reckoned to be worse than anywhere else in the developed world, with women continuing to struggle for recognition in the workplace.
It is impossible to disentangle cause and effect here, but the experience in the US suggests that it is no coincidence. Delay the pill by two generations, and of course the economic impact on women will be enormous.
It is a tiny little pill that continues to transform the world economy.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39641856
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Nicky Hayden: The backyard racer who conquered the world - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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Motorcycling and family were the inseparable constants in the life of Nicky Hayden, who has died aged 35.
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From racing his siblings round the backyard as a toddler to celebrating his sole World Championship crown with his tearful dad on the back of his bike, motorcycling and family were the inseparable constants in Nicky Hayden's life.
Raised in a biking family in the same Kentucky town that was home to seven Nascar drivers and actor Johnny Depp, Hayden and his siblings would spend four hours a day riding on their own home circuit from the age of three.
Practice made perfect. One of only six men to win the MotoGP title this century, Hayden provided the sport with one of its most memorable finales when he pipped Valentino Rossi to the 2006 crown.
Hayden, who has died at the age of 35, five days after a collision with a car while cycling in Italy, never again got close to the championship but remained one of the sport's most popular riders.
"When I was a little kid I never wanted to be a firefighter or anything else - just a world champion," he said.
"The idea of growing up to be a world champion, it just seemed so far away. But dream big, and dreams do come true."
From Earl's Lane to the top step
Hayden, along with brothers Tommy and Roger, turned professional after years of home schooling on the track at 'Earl's Lane' - the name for their home in Owensboro, nestled on the Ohio river.
It was no fluke that all three became pro riders. Dad Earl was a dirt track racer for more than 20 years and mum Rose and sisters Jenny and Kathleen also competed.
"I was bred into it. Bikes are more than just a job for us. It's a way of life," Hayden told the BBC in 2013.
"When I won the title I went to my pit box before the awards ceremony, and there was the banner that said, 'Nicky Hayden, World Champion,' and I just lost it.
"My parents gave up a lot, and there are a lot of bumps and bruises and it hurts sometimes. So you definitely have to be prepared to suffer a bit.
"It's not always just a big cupcake ride."
Family remained foremost for Hayden, who would often make the long trip back to Kentucky from Europe throughout the season to spend time with them.
He listed the 2001 Springfield TT - a dirt-bike race which saw all three brothers finish on the podium - as one of his career highlights, despite the fact that Tommy won.
His three-word Twitter biography perhaps sums it up best: "Bikes and Family."
'The nicest guy in the paddock'
With his distinctive Appalachian twang and broad smile, Hayden was popular the world over for his friendly, self-deprecating charm as much as his speed.
Former team-mate Rossi called Hayden "one of my best friends in racing" earlier this week.
"He never changed, from the first moment I met him as a 17-year-old kid to world champion," said former BBC commentator Steve Parrish.
"He was very relaxed. He had an amazing year when he won the championship - I don't think I've ever seen anyone more joyous to win a title.
"His dad got on the back of his bike, they were both in tears. That's the overriding memory of Nicky that I will remember. It was a dream picture - he achieved the greatest title in motorcycle racing.
"I never heard anyone have a bad word to say about him which in racing is unusual, most riders at one time or another cross swords with other riders. It's the name of the game."
He left MotoGP at the end of the 2015 season to join Honda in World Superbike, and raced in Italy the weekend before his accident.
Last year Hayden got engaged to his girlfriend, actress Jackie Marin, who was with him in hospital, along with Rose and Tommy.
Former MotoGP rider James Toseland said there was "nobody better in the sport."
"He has my complete respect," he said. "He was always the first on the track at every test, and the last off it.
"He was a guy with so much dedication, passion, drive and motivation and was so humble with it all, even after being a world champion. It never changed him one bit.
"Nicky was the shining star among the three successful brothers, but if you were in a bar with all three of them you wouldn't know that. They were all so close.
"The glass was always half full with him. He had that confidence and a natural, ambitious personality, he was infectious.
"His biggest achievement is not the trophies he won, or the championship, it was the respect he got from his peers. The way everybody talks about Nicky Hayden speaks volumes for the type of person he was."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/39984647
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Sam Allardyce: Crystal Palace manager resigns after five months in charge - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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Sam Allardyce steps down as Crystal Palace manager five months after joining the Premier League club.
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Sam Allardyce has resigned as Crystal Palace manager five months after he joined the Premier League club.
Allardyce replaced Alan Pardew in December on a two-and-half-year deal with the Eagles one point above the relegation zone.
The 62-year-old, who had an ill-fated one-game spell as England boss, led the club to eight wins in 21 games to guide them to a 14th-place finish.
"I have no ambitions to take another job," Allardyce said in a statement.
"I want to be able to savour life while I am still relatively young, and when I am still relatively healthy enough to do all the things I want to do, like travel, spend more time with my family and grandchildren without the huge pressure that comes with being a football manager.
"This is the right time for me. I simply want to be able to enjoy all the things you cannot really enjoy with the 24/7 demands of managing any football club, let alone one in the Premier League."
Allardyce revealed his decision to chairman Steve Parish at a meeting in London on Tuesday. The Eagles are now looking for their eighth manager in seven years.
Although it took Allardyce six games to get his first victory - with BBC Sport asking if the 'Big Sam bounce had deserted Palace' - the former Bolton, Blackburn, Newcastle and West Ham boss maintained his record of never being relegated from the Premier League.
Only Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Harry Redknapp and David Moyes have managed more games in the Premier League.
Allardyce's final game in charge of Palace came on Sunday, a 2-0 loss at Manchester United, having guaranteed safety the previous week by thrashing Hull 4-0.
Following defeat at Old Trafford, Allardyce indicated his plans to improve the squad in the summer.
He had told BBC Sport: "We now need to grow, develop and invest. You need to choose the right players and not the wrong ones. Recruitment is the difficult task in the summer."
Allardyce left his post as England manager by mutual agreement in September after only one match in charge.
It followed a Daily Telegraph investigation claiming he offered advice on how to "get around" rules on player transfers.
The FA said Allardyce's conduct "was inappropriate". He apologised, adding "entrapment had won".
"It sounds as if he's going to retire...people might be looking into it and saying 'don't worry he'll be back very soon', but from my understanding this is very much a personal decision
"In some ways, this has been a very difficult decision to make but in others it has been a simple one.
"I will always be grateful to Crystal Palace and Steve Parish for giving me the opportunity to go out with my head held high having helped keep the club in the Premier League.
"More than that, they gave me a chance of rebuilding my reputation after what happened with England. I felt I needed another shot at being a Premier League manager and showing that I still had the ability to achieve something significant. As I said last weekend, Palace gave me the chance of rehabilitation.
"That's why it's hard walking away now. I believe the club are heading in the right direction with a hugely supportive board of directors, a great squad of players and some of the most passionate fans I've ever met.
"But there comes a time when you have to take stock of what direction you want your life to take - and that's been the simple part for me.
"I want to be able to savour life while I'm still relatively young and when I'm still relatively healthy, even if I'm beginning to feel all my 62 years.
"While I've got the energy, I want to travel and also spend more time with my family and grandchildren without the huge pressure that comes with being a football manager. I owe that to my wife and family.
"This is the right time for me, I know that in my heart. I have no ambitions to take another job, I simply want to be able to enjoy all the things you cannot really enjoy with the 24/7 demands of managing any football club, let alone one in the Premier League.
"Steve Parish has been superb during our conversations today. I know it came as a shock to him that I would walk away but our discussions have been incredibly civilised with no recriminations and no fall-out.
"This is not about transfer targets, club finances or anything along those lines. This is me taking the decision I believe is right for my family and myself.
"I would like to thank everybody for their messages of support since the news broke. I've no doubt I will miss management but I certainly have no regrets at this decision. It's been a privilege to have worked for them for the past five months."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40021059
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Caroline Wozniacki: Top seed pulls out of Strasbourg event with back problem - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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Top seed Caroline Wozniacki withdraws from the Internationaux de Strasbourg, less than a week before the French Open starts.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki has withdrawn from the Internationaux de Strasbourg, less than a week before the French Open starts.
The 26-year-old Dane, the number one seed, was a set down in her first-round match against American Shelby Rogers when she retired citing back trouble.
"I felt it kind of in the middle of the first set," said the world number 12.
"At this point, I think it's important for me to try and get ready for the French Open and be 100% for that."
World number 55 Rogers, who won the opening set on a tie-break in just over an hour, will play China's Qiang Wang in the second round.
Defending champion and home favourite Caroline Garcia advanced to the second round by beating Jennifer Brady 6-3 6-4.
Meanwhile, Eugenie Bouchard has withdrawn from the Nuernberger Cup after injuring an ankle in training last week.
The 2014 champion said: "It's a great tournament for me with lots of great memories. I'm sorry I cannot see the fans this year and hope to be back next year."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/40010786
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Reality Check: Have governments since 2010 borrowed more than Labour ones? - BBC News
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2017-05-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Have the governments since 2010 borrowed more than all Labour governments and is that a fair comparison?
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Election 2017
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The claim: The governments since 2010 have borrowed more than all the Labour governments in history.
Reality Check verdict: That's true in cash terms but not when you take into account the growing economy.
Among the more eye-catching claims of the campaign so far has been Jeremy Corbyn's repeated assertion that the Conservative-led governments since 2010 have borrowed more money than all Labour governments in history.
This can be checked using the Bank of England's handy three centuries of economic data spreadsheet.
The simplest way to examine this claim is to compare the amounts in cash terms, add up the amounts borrowed by all Labour governments and compare the total with the amount borrowed since 2010.
By this calculation, the combined Labour governments borrowed a little more than £500bn over their 33 years while the governments since 2010 have borrowed a bit more than £670bn.
So it's true in cash terms, but is that a fair or useful comparison?
During the first Labour government under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924, a loaf of bread cost less than 2d on average. Also, our economy produces very considerably more today than it did in 1924, which means it is not unreasonable for the government to borrow more.
So a better comparison to make is government borrowing as a proportion of GDP, which is a measure of everything produced in the economy.
By that measure it turns out that all Labour governments borrowed about 70% of GDP while the governments since 2010 borrowed about 40% of GDP, which is a very different picture.
Even that is not necessarily a fair comparison. For example, there was a big fall in debt as a proportion of GDP after 1976, despite Jim Callaghan's government going to the International Monetary Fund for a big loan.
That happened because the following years of very high inflation reduced the value of the government's debts.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-39999460
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PGA Championship: 'Wentworth like its old self as European Tour set for huge week' - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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Wentworth has had a £5m transformation for this week's PGA Championship as the European Tour aims to compete with the PGA Tour, writes Iain Carter
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Last updated on .From the section Golf
Coverage: Score updates on Radio 5 live plus highlights from 18:00 BST on BBC Two, Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 May
Defending champion Chris Wood predicts lower scoring at this week's PGA Championship at Wentworth.
But success will not only be measured on scorecards at Britain's biggest golf gathering outside the Open Championship.
This is a huge week for the European Tour as they use the Wentworth tournament to launch an elevated strata of events designed to compete with the might of the PGA Tour.
And be in no doubt, the American circuit's influence continues to grow. It is relentlessly dominant and ready to make its already wealthy players even richer.
So, on this side of the pond, the £5.4m Wentworth extravaganza needs to succeed as it tees up the newly branded Rolex Series of elite events on the European Tour.
This week should prove a turning point after recent PGAs left disgruntled players muttering about the West Course's suitability to hold such tournaments.
"There were murmurs a couple of years ago if we didn't do something drastic that the Tour could look elsewhere," Stephen Gibson, Wentworth's CEO, told BBC Sport.
"I don't think they have reason to now."
Gibson has overseen more than £5m worth of investment, which has been poured into renovating the West Course over the past year.
All 18 greens have been relaid with 007 creeping bentgrass, while sub-air technology, as used at Augusta, has been installed under every putting surface to control moisture.
Defending champion Wood agrees. The Bristolian shot nine under par to claim the biggest title of his career, and is convinced a lower score will be required for a successful title defence.
"I hope the changes don't affect my results too much," said a smiling Wood, who has been a consistent Wentworth performer in recent years.
"But they are really good changes and the big thing is the condition of the greens. They really needed looking at and you can't fault them.
"The greens are a shot easier purely because of the surfaces and I think the bunkers are not so severe."
There are 25% fewer bunkers, and those that remain are shallower and easier to get out of.
"Guys can hit irons onto the greens now instead of having to lay up," Wood told me.
"And that feeds back to the tee, where people will think, 'actually, I don't mind going in that bunker now, so I'll be a little bit more aggressive with my drive'. I can see lower scores."
Wood does not see any problem with that, but back in 2009 it was felt the West Course had become too easy.
Ernie Els' design team sought to toughen up the layout where the average winning score had been nearly 15 under. In the following seven years, that average fell to 11.6 under despite An Byeong-hun's record 21-under victory in 2015.
The changes were unpopular. Wentworth lost its charm and became a slog for anyone other than the best players.
Now it is more like its old self, and Wood believes players and fans will be delighted.
"You finish with two par-fives and there should be the opportunity for a birdie/eagle finish to change the tournament and that's not really been there the last few years," he said.
"For people watching, that takes away a lot of the drama and entertainment, so I'm quite happy to see lower scores."
"I think people love to see birdies, love to see long drives," he told BBC Sport. "In terms of the score, I'm not fussed by that."
Fans will see the biggest changes on the eighth, 11th, 14th and 16th greens, which have been completely remodelled.
The biggest improvement is at the eighth, where the putting surface has been lowered closer to the water level in front and left of the green.
A ludicrously deep bunker to the right has disappeared and is replaced by subtle mounding, more in keeping with the original design ethos.
"We created something which I believe is what the players wanted, and brought it back to that old Harry Colt design with some modernisation to it," Pelley added.
"The professionals say it is far more playable. It is definitely an elite golf course but also I think the members will really enjoy playing it."
Most important will be whether the new design provides a fitting stage for one of the tour's biggest tournaments.
It has attracted a strong field but Rory McIlroy's absence through a recurrence of his rib injury is a big blow.
His initial commitment was significant because the world number two gave immediate and vocal backing to the concept of the new Rolex Series, even though he is a paid ambassador for a rival luxury watchmaker.
Now the series will begin in the absence of the tour's biggest star, but it helps that July's Irish Open, backed by McIlroy's charitable foundation, also features, as do the French, Scottish, Italian and Turkish Opens.
"We want to say, 'look we play in iconic cities and great venues'," Pelley added. "The golf course itself is absolutely critical and that's why the changes at Wentworth were so imperative."
Creating a viable alternative to the PGA Tour is Pelley's primary objective, and he remains optimistic about the progress being made.
"Maybe you don't have to go to America," he said.
"When you look at the fields for our Rolex Series events compared to the previous years, the strength of field is stronger across the board. That's a positive sign."
But the competitive environment becomes no easier for Pelley and his Wentworth-based colleagues.
The PGA Tour recently unveiled a massive new deal for their FedEx Cup play-offs which currently carries a $10m (£7.7m) first prize.
"Just wait until we announce the increase in prize money," a leading official told me last week. "It will blow your mind."
Furthermore, the Florida organisation has pitched its stars and stripes in the European Tour's backyard by opening an office in central London.
This is aimed at making it easier to further develop sponsor ties and broadcast deals on Pelley's turf.
Be under no illusion, this is a vital week for his European Tour to demonstrate its wares and put on a tournament fit for the world's best, regardless of how low the scoring might be.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/39977510
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When mum or dad is an alcoholic - BBC News
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2017-05-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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What's it like to grow up with a parent who drinks? Four women share their stories.
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Magazine
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One in five children in the UK are said to be negatively affected by their parents' drinking, and the effects can last well into adulthood. Four women - Karen, Liz, Hilary and Lynne - spoke to Jo Morris about growing up with a parent dependent on alcohol.
"Some people talk about what books they've read, or films they've been to see, but instead we talk about how drunk our parents were," says Karen.
Karen and her friend Liz met at work in their late 20s and quickly bonded when they realised they had a shared history.
"It's not the same talking to somebody who doesn't know what it's like," says Liz.
Gallows humour helps to deal with the horrible memories. Like the time Liz's mum sold her toys to get money for alcohol. Or the time Karen's alcoholic dad went to the pub instead of collecting her from after-school club.
They both remember dreading the walk home from school.
"It's so disheartening," says Karen. "You think: 'OK, I've had a nice break at school, but here we go again. I'm going to be really polite and be really nice, make sure that I don't say anything out of turn or give you any reason to have a go at me.'"
It was only when Liz was eight or nine that she noticed her friends did not have any such concerns and lived very different lives.
"I thought: 'Oh, you have your dinner cooked for you? I don't even have dinner.'
"That's when you realise it's horrendous and you feel very alone going through it."
Once, her mum spent all her benefit money on alcohol, and all she could afford was a sack of potatoes.
"Potato weekend!" Liz laughs. "We literally had potatoes to live on for the weekend. So we had mashed potato, potato cakes, chips wrapped up in newspaper - she was very resourceful."
"Potato weekend" - when Liz' mum spent all the money on drink
Food - or the lack of it - is a common theme.
Hilary, 55, grew up in an upper-middle class family in Sunderland, with a respected surgeon as a father. The family kept up appearances - but her mother drank.
"I can remember being at school, and a girl in my form opening up her lunch and saying: 'Oh my sandwiches haven't been buttered to the edge.' It was like Planet Zorg compared to my life," she remembers.
No-one was making sandwiches for Hilary. In fact it was left to her to look after her younger brother - putting him to bed, getting him ready for school, making sure he was fed.
Her mum's drinking started out with a glass of wine "while cooking" but soon escalated to a bottle of vodka a day.
"She was hiding bottles, they were all over the place - in her shoeboxes, you'd find glasses of neat vodka behind curtains and if you put the oven on you checked there wasn't a bottle hidden in there.
Watching her elegant and educated mother fade away was very painful.
"You couldn't hold a conversation with her because she was drunk," Hilary says. "It was like she wasn't there really - she went from being very present to becoming a ghost."
Liz's mother had been a model, but after she began to drink she never quite knew where to put on her make-up. "She looked like Aunt Sally from Worzel Gummidge," she says.
Liz's own life began to spin out of control, as a result of neglect. By the age of 15, Liz had become involved in an abusive relationship, and was put into foster care. It was thanks to her friends that she survived, she says.
"I've been good at choosing good friends who helped me through it, friends who weren't into drugs and drinking."
Then, when she saw her friends go to university she decided she would, too - the only child in Surrey social services at the time who did. "I definitely deserve a prize for that," she says.
"It's like walking on eggshells"
For Jabs, 22, living with her alcoholic father was like "walking on eggshells". All this week Woman's Hour will be hearing from adult children of alcoholics. Jo Morris spoke to six women of different ages and backgrounds, from all over the UK.
Now 37, with a young family, she visits her mother a few times a year but wants no further involvement - one reason why she has put off marriage to her long-term partner.
"I don't want her at my wedding," she says. "But I'm too nice to think of her sat at home alone."
Lynne's mother died 13 years ago from complications caused by her alcoholism. She rummages through a box of her mother's things that she put together after bereavement counselling.
"What was hard was that everyone in the church all stood up and said how great she was," she says, remembering their complicated relationship.
"Every childhood memory is laced with the memory of my mum drinking.
"I cannot recall a day when she didn't send me and my sister with a note to the shop: 'Please sell my children two bottles of Olde English and four cans of Special Brew' - and I wasn't the only kid on the council estate doing that."
Her mother could get nasty when she was drunk, and even violent.
"It was so confusing and upsetting. Sometimes I'd barricade myself inside my bedroom. Even now, talking about it, I get that feeling in my gut that I want to leave the house."
Today her flat is cosy and welcoming - the polar opposite, she says, of the home she grew up in. And this is important to her.
"I used to feel that I wasn't entitled to anything that was wholesome or good," she says - but that's no longer the case.
After moving to London she built the life she wanted to have. She feels loved by her husband and friends. "I'm just basking in that," she says.
When Lynne's mother died, she collected her belongings in a box
She pulls out something else from her bereavement box - a ticket from the hospital from when she was born, saying how much she weighed.
"I was amazed that she still kept this," she says, clearly moved.
"Consciously making the decision to not have a child myself is the legacy of it all.
"In my heart I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to look after someone else, and I might repeat her mistakes. Is it in the genes, could this come out in me? That is something I've always thought."
Hilary does have a child, a teenager, and relishes the opportunity to be the attentive mother she herself lacked. She has also made sure that, unlike her own mother - a former nurse, who ended up spending her life at home - she is always busy.
"I learned my lesson from my mum," she says.
"I play a lot of sport, and I work - I need structure.
"I think mum was lonely and sad. That gets me. I think she could have been helped."
She remembers coming home from a Christmas party as a teenager to find her mum at the bottom of her stairs holding a carving knife, threatening to kill herself. She had drunk the Christmas port and replaced it with Ribena, which led to a row with her husband.
Hilary's mother hid bottles all over the house
Hilary drove her mother to hospital and got her admitted to the alcohol dependency unit there. The next day at Christmas lunch nobody in the family acknowledged what had happened.
"It was the great lie. We never spoke about anything in the family."
"And I loathe people who fraudulently present themselves as something they're not, because that is how I was brought up.
"The fact that I couldn't talk about how it was probably contributed to my hideous depression," Hilary says.
Shame and secrecy are words that come up often, talking to these women.
All of them wish they'd had someone to talk to about their parents' drinking when they were growing up.
Liz and Karen, who find comfort in sharing stories with each other now, had nobody to turn to as children, and couldn't see a way out.
"When you're eight or nine you can't go anywhere," says Liz, who was bullied about her mum's drinking. "It's not your fault if your parent is alcoholic."
Karen nods in agreement. "How many kids go through this? Keeping all this pressure, stress and anxiety to themselves because they have nobody at school to talk to - it's really sad and horrid and there are kids going through this now," she says.
Lynne feels badly let down by the authorities.
"I find it staggering that my mum was sectioned and no-one said: 'What is happening to this young teenager?'
"Actually that is what makes me the angriest. All that support system in society - school, doctor, social services - where were they?"
NACOA - The National Association For Children Of Alcoholics
Al-Anon - For families and friends of alcoholics
For Hilary, there was help of sorts in the shape of her Uncle David - her mother's brother.
"No other adult had helped me up to that point, no other adult intervened."
She describes how he bundled her and her siblings into his car and drove them round and round, so that they relaxed and started to tell him stories about her mother's drinking.
He convinced Hilary's mum to stop drinking for three months so that Hilary could concentrate on her A-levels.
"He made us feel safe, suddenly the sun shone in my life."
Her mum only remained sober for those three months, but it meant Hilary passed her A-levels, and then she escaped the stresses of home for university.
She has never forgotten Uncle David's kindness, and she still visits him every week.
Karen's dad stopped drinking 13 years ago, but she still has a recurring nightmare that he's started up again. "I still have that panic of: here we go again."
Does she talk to her parents about what happened? "It's never discussed."
"Now I'm a parent, the thought of acting like that to my child is unbelievable," she adds.
"The stress we get into about what to feed our children."
"And you got a sack of potatoes to last the weekend!" jokes Karen.
And they both erupt into laughter again.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Six women shared their stories with Woman's Hour
*Some names in this article have been changed
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40000843
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Petra Kvitova: Two-time champion 'on track' for Wimbledon after stabbing - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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Petra Kvitova is "on track" to play at Wimbledon less than seven months after suffering a career-threatening hand injury.
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Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Petra Kvitova is "on track" to play at Wimbledon less than seven months after suffering a career-threatening hand injury in a knife attack at her home.
The 26-year-old, a two-time Wimbledon champion, was stabbed on 20 December by an intruder in her apartment in Prostejov in the Czech Republic.
She could return at the French Open, which starts next week.
A spokeswoman for Kvitova said the player would make a "last-minute decision" about competing in Paris.
Following the attack in December, surgeons spent almost four hours repairing tendons and nerves in Kvitova's left hand - her playing hand.
The Czech, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, will be included on the official entry list for this year's Championships, which will be released on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, she posted a photograph on social media of her returning to full training in Monaco.
"I hope this picture makes you as happy as it makes me," wrote Kvitova, who has fallen to 16th in the world rankings having been 11th at the time of the attack.
Wimbledon - the third Grand Slam of the season - starts on Monday, 3 July.
• None First Wimbledon appearance as a junior in 2007, reaching the last 16
• None First career title in 2009 - the Hobart International, Australia
• None Now has 19 titles with career prize money totalling more than £18.4m
• None Reached a career-high of world number two in October 2011, behind Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki
• None Won a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics, losing her semi-final to eventual gold medallist Monica Puig
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/40013277
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Europa League final: More Cruyff than Van Gaal - the threat posed by youthful Ajax - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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From a coach restoring the Ajax tradition to a side brimming with youth - the threat posed by Manchester United's Europa League final opponents.
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Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live and online (from 18:30 BST), live text commentary on BBC Sport and app
No matter the outcome of the Europa League final on Wednesday against Manchester United, 24 May will always have a special sentiment for Ajax and its fans.
On 24 May, 1995, Ajax managed to achieve the unthinkable; winning the Champions League with a team that was only 25 years old on average, beating Italian giants AC Milan 1-0 in the final.
Exactly 22 years later, Ajax have the opportunity once again to do something the club and its fans could not have possibly imagined. It is fitting, then, that the teams of then and now share so many connections beyond the iconic red and white jersey, as the Netherlands' most successful club will try to end its longest title drought in continental competition.
Edwin van der Sar, who was the goalkeeper in that famous Ajax side and won a Champions League with Manchester United to boot, is now the general director of the club from the capital. Former Arsenal player Marc Overmars, currently the director of football at Ajax, was another starter that night in Vienna, taking up duties on the left wing.
And with 18-year old Justin Kluivert in the side 22 years after his father Patrick became the youngest player to score a winner in a Champions League final, there might even be some historic on-pitch involvement, although the Dutch will be fearful of Manchester United's Daley Blind denying the club that his father Danny captained to the Amsterdammers' last European triumph.
The shadow of a team managed by another mutual acquaintance of both Manchester United and Ajax lingers over the final in Sweden - in 1995, Louis van Gaal was in charge of the Dutch club. Yet the current manager who has revitalized Ajax after a few stale years considers himself a disciple of the late Johan Cruyff.
• None Phil Neville analysis: Man Utd must be on the front foot
The man behind the rebirth
Peter Bosz made a career for himself as a combative midfielder at Vitesse and Feyenoord, but at an early age, he was captured by the magic of Johan Cruyff.
When playing with Vitesse in the early 1980s, Bosz would regularly go to watch Ajax "because Cruyff was a football legend, returning to the Netherlands, and you wanted to see that with your own eyes. See as much of him as you could."
Talking to FC Afkicken, he added: "I realised I wouldn't become the best player in the world, but I wanted to try and become one of the best managers in the future. So I tracked everything Cruyff-related, going through magazines, papers, collecting all the articles I could find."
Bosz, 53, won the title as a player and eight caps for the Netherlands but faced a lot of criticism for his period as technical director of Feyenoord, during a dark period for the Rotterdam club.
Bosz has gone from an on-field pragmatist to an off-field protagonist when it comes to the football he admires. Returning to Heracles Almelo in 2010, Bosz dared to play a 3-4-3 formation at a team destined for a bottom-half finish. He even managed to reach the Europa League play-offs and a KNVB Cup final with the Heraclieden.
He then transformed Vitesse into one of the most entertaining sides of the league and even - albeit briefly - threatened the establishment after picking up the joint-most points in the first half of the 2013-14 season, giving Ajax a run for their money.
Bosz then headed to Maccabi Tel Aviv, working together with Jordi Cruyff and spending a week with Johan, learning and polishing his skills and philosophy.
"Peter and Johan spent many hours, talking about football, about organization, everything and I think there was a clear mutual respect," Jordi told Dutch broadcaster NOS.
Even before Bosz was appointed at Maccabi, Johan had told Jordi that Bosz would be a great choice, but thought he would be out of reach for a club like Maccabi. "He could hardly believe it when we managed to appoint him," added Jordi.
When Frank de Boer announced his departure from Ajax last summer, Bosz in many ways seemed a perfect replacement despite his Feyenoord past and lack of involvement at Ajax in the past.
Bosz inherited a team more in the image of Van Gaal's Manchester United than a Cruyffian Ajax - and replaced a club legend in De Boer who had won four titles in five-and-a-half years.
After a wobbly first two months, during which many outlets of the media called for Bosz's head, he has been able to design a team more capable of executing a style of football that Ajax's godfather Cruyff would appreciate.
Ajax finished the Dutch season in second place, but playing attacking football en route to 81 points - a tally that would have been good enough for an Eredivisie title win in seven of the last 10 seasons. The Europa League run has for a large part washed away previous criticism as well.
Over the last decade the Eredivisie's average age has decreased by two years, but instead of seeing that as a disadvantage, the Ajax manager has turned it into a strength. He has shaped the squad comprising largely of early twenty-somethings and teenagers in his image, resulting to an affectionate labelling of the team as 'the Bosz Babes'.
Bosz recently named the youngest team in Eredivisie history, with an average age of 20 years and 139 days. Only one player was older than 21 - and yet the club easily defeated Willem II 3-1.
Legendary Ajax defender Ruud Krol, who won three European Cups alongside Cruyff in the 1970s, was full of praise talking to De Telegraaf last week.
"'I recognize the Ajax style of old in this team," he said. "The pressing, the tenacity, the enthusiasm. These are the characteristics that once made the club great and is what I really enjoy."
There have been many changes - of the team that started the last game of the 2015/16 season only four are still regularly called upon.
As well as Cruyff, Bosz has often cited Pep Guardiola's 2011 Barcelona team as his main inspiration. Kasper Dolberg, Hakim Ziyech, Davinson Sanchez and Andra Onana have all been pivotal in their debut season for the club to implement that style of play.
Dolberg has been the main talking point. The 19-year-old striker is amongst hottest young strikers in European football, the first Ajax teenager with 16 league goals in a season since Patrick Kluivert in 1995 and already the joint-top goalscoring teenager in Europa League history with six goals.
Former Barcelona goalkeeper André Onana has traded in shaky performances with the second team for a very assured presence in the first team, allowing his defenders to play a high line, being alert and comfortable with both feet.
Hakim Ziyech has slowly transformed from a fancy number 10 into an industrious yet creative pressing machine. Colombian Sanchez - described as "a beast, an absolute pleasure to play alongside" by team-mate Kenny Tete - has developed into an all-round modern centre-back.
A 15m euro investment in the pair will almost certainly be doubled, at the very least, should either leave.
It's not all youth products though. Marc Overmars spent over 35m euros in the transfer market last summer. A fraction compared to opponents Manchester United, but more than Ajax had in the previous three seasons combined and something that clearly marks a change of approach.
As well as Sanchez and Ziyech, money has been splashed on South American talents David Neres and Mateo Cassierra, while Chelsea received a loan fee of 2m euros for Bertrand Traore.
On average, United are four years older and wiser, and that's before we even consider United's greater European experience.
But Ajax have revelled in their underdog status already this season. Schalke were swept away with ease (2-0), as were Lyon (4-1) in the home legs for the Dutch club.
For Manchester United, the game will be a chance to redeem an otherwise unremarkable season.
For Ajax, it would be a new jewel in their crown, 22 years and a generation on from their last.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40003173
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Sport to conduct security reviews after Manchester attack - BBC Sport
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2017-05-23
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Sporting events and venues in England are conducting major security reviews following the Manchester Arena attack.
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Last updated on .From the section Sport
Sporting events and venues in England are conducting major security reviews after 22 people were killed in an attack at Manchester Arena.
The Great City Games, an open and free event for the public, is due to take place in Manchester on Friday.
Organisers said the event will go ahead as planned, but a decision on Sunday's Great Manchester Run "is expected in the next 24 hours".
The FA Cup final, EFL play-offs and the PGA Championship are also this week.
An eight-year-old girl was among those killed in Monday's suicide bombing at Manchester Arena, at the end of a concert by US singer Ariana Grande.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK terror threat level has been raised to its highest level of "critical", meaning further attacks may be imminent.
Manchester United cancelled a news conference on Tuesday, due to be held prior to their Europa League final against Ajax in Stockholm on Wednesday, and will wear black armbands for the match.
The club said: "Our thoughts are with the victims and their families at this terribly difficult time."
United's players held a minute's silence at training on Tuesday, and the club closed its megastore, museum, cafe and stadium tours to the public.
A staff event scheduled for Wednesday has been cancelled by executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.
Manager Jose Mourinho said: "We are all very sad about the tragic events; we cannot take out of our minds and our hearts the victims and their families.
"We have a job to do and we will fly to Sweden to do that job. It is a pity we cannot fly with the happiness that we always have before a big game.
"I know, even during my short time here, that the people of Manchester will pull together as one."
Ajax manager Peter Bosz said: "What happened yesterday evening in Manchester is something we all feel in Ajax and on behalf of all of us at Ajax we express our sympathies with the victims that fell. The feeling that prevails is the final does not have the glow it should have.
"Tomorrow evening should be a football feast but because of the events in Manchester we are affected. It is horrible. My sympathies are heartfelt."
Football's European governing body Uefa announced a minute's silence will be observed prior to the final. The opening ceremony will also be considerably reduced as a mark of respect for the victims.
Aleksander Ceferin, president of Uefa, said he was "deeply saddened" and shocked that "so many innocent people lost their lives".
A Uefa statement said there was "currently no specific intelligence" to suggest Wednesday's game could be a target for further attacks.
"Uefa has been closely working with local authorities and the Swedish FA for many months and the terrorist risk had been taken into account since the very beginning of the project," it said.
"Furthermore, a number of additional security measures were implemented following the attacks in Stockholm last April."
There will be a minute's silence observed at Headingley cricket ground before England's one-day international against South Africa on Wednesday.
Both sets of players will also wear black armbands during the game.
The South Africa team have been told there will be extra police officers on duty at the ground and increased security at team hotels and practice.
There will also be a minute's silence before Saturday's Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Aberdeen at Hampden Park.
The Scottish FA's security and integrity officer, Peter McLaughlin, said: "We remain vigilant to the threat posed by global terrorism and are engaged in constant dialogue with colleagues at Police Scotland and the National Counter-Terrorism Security Office.
"This ongoing communication and intelligence-sharing is part of our operations protocol for all events at the national stadium, including the forthcoming Scottish Cup final."
A number of leading athletes are scheduled to participate at the Great City Games on Friday, while a public half marathon and 10km run are due to be staged in Manchester on Sunday.
Wembley hosts Saturday's FA Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea, and the League Two and Championship play-off finals on Sunday and Monday respectively.
A Football Association spokesperson said: "Fan safety is of paramount importance and we have robust security measures in place at Wembley Stadium.
"In collaboration with the Metropolitan Police and the local authorities there will be an enhanced security operation for all upcoming events.
"All supporters are encouraged to arrive for events at Wembley Stadium as early as possible for security checks and to avoid any delays in entering the stadium."
The English Football League (EFL) added it "takes security issues extremely seriously" and urged supporters travelling to Wembley to "be vigilant of their surroundings at all times, stay alert and not be alarmed".
The Metropolitan Police says extra armed officers will be deployed at this weekend's major sports events in London, with a full review of the security and policing operations under way.
"Over the coming days as you go to a music venue, go shopping, travel to work or head off to the fantastic sporting events you will see more officers - including armed officers," said commander Jane Connors.
"As with any major event, security is the highest priority," said European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley. "It was before Monday night and it remains so.
"We're in constant dialogue with the police and security services. We are comfortable we will react in the right way if in fact we need to significantly increase our security."
Cricket's Champions Trophy will take place from 1-18 June at venues in Birmingham, London and Cardiff.
A statement from the International Cricket Council [ICC] read: "The ICC and ECB [England and Wales Cricket Board] place safety and security at the ICC Champions Trophy and ICC Women's World Cup this summer as the highest priority.
"We operate on advice from our tournament security directorate - in conjunction with the ECB and relevant authorities - to ensure that we have a robust safety and security plan for both tournaments.
"We will continue to work with authorities over the coming hours and days and review our security in line with the threat levels."
England one-day captain Eoin Morgan said his team had met their security advisers on Tuesday morning before Wednesday's match against South Africa.
"On behalf of the England cricket team, I'd like to offer our thoughts and prayers to everybody in Manchester affected by the tragic events," said Morgan.
"I'd also like to give our support to those in and around things and those most affected and those who helped out and continue to help out."
The domestic rugby union finishes this weekend, but the National Counter Terrorism security office has been in touch with Sale Sharks and every other Aviva Premiership club asking for details of any events planned by them over the next couple of weeks.
There will also be tighter security at horse racing's Epsom Derby on 3 June, with Surrey Police announcing firearms officers on patrol around the grounds.
Chief Superintendent Jerry Westerman said: "The Epsom Derby is a fantastic event which attracts thousands of people and spectators from around the world and I am confident that this year's festival will be no exception."
England Women's cricketer Danielle Wyatt was at the Ariana Grande concert and said: "Thank you for all messages - I'm safe. Was at the concert enjoying myself like many others - thoughts with victims & families."
Manchester United and Spain goalkeeper David de Gea tweeted: "Much rage, much pain. My condolences to the victims' family members involved in the atrocious attack to the heart of the city."
Manchester United forward Jesse Lingard said the "beautiful city" of Manchester "will stand together in this dark hour", captain Wayne Rooney said he was "devastated" by the news and winger Ashley Young said he was "absolutely shocked".
Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand: "My thoughts & prayers are with all the families & friends affected by last night's attack in Manchester."
Former Lancashire and England cricketer Andrew Flintoff: "In the toughest of times the people of Manchester showing why this is such a great city, standing together in the face of such evil."
Manchester City players - including captain Vincent Kompany, goalkeeper Willy Caballero, forward Leroy Sane and defender Pablo Zabaleta - also tweeted their support for those affected.
Lucy Bronze, from City's women's team, said her "thoughts are with those affected" and urged people to "stick together".
Olympic and world 100m champion Usain Bolt tweeted: "Thoughts & prayers goes out to people of Manchester and all those who are affected."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/40012848
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