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BBC pay: How much do its stars earn? - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A list of the top earners whose salaries came from the BBC licence fee.
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Entertainment & Arts
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The BBC has, for the first time, published salaries of its highest-paid stars - with all those earning £150,000 or more included.
The salaries are grouped into £50,000 blocks and are for the financial year 2016-17, where they came directly from the licence fee. They do not include each individual's earnings from other broadcasters or commercial activities. Here, we round up the top earners and what they do.
The nation's most listened-to radio station, Radio 2, has the highest BBC earner among its presenters - Chris Evans.
Graham Norton, Jeremy Vine and Steve Wright are also among the top seven highest-paid stars.
The top earner on the list, Chris Evans has hosted Radio 2's Breakfast Show every weekday morning since 2010. He also co-presented one series of TV show Top Gear.
Host of a Saturday morning show on Radio 2, Norton co-presented BBC One's Saturday evening talent show Let It Shine, and also commentates on the Eurovision Song Contest. His earnings do not include those from his Friday night chat show, for which the BBC pays an independent production company, which in turn pays his salary.
Jeremy Vine hosts the lunchtime show on Radio 2 every weekday. He also presents Crimewatch, Points of View, and Eggheads on BBC TV.
A long-standing BBC DJ, Steve Wright presents Radio 2 weekday show Steve Wright in the Afternoon and Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs on Sunday mornings.
Simon Mayo has presented Simon Mayo Drivetime on weekday afternoons since 2010. He is also the co-host of Kermode and Mayo's Film Review on Radio 5 live on Friday afternoons.
Vanessa Feltz presents an early morning show on Radio 2 and the BBC London Breakfast Show every weekday.
A co-host of Radio 5 live's Breakfast Show on weekday mornings, Campbell also presents BBC One's Sunday morning programme The Big Questions.
Stephen Nolan presents The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster and presents a programme on BBC Radio 5 live several nights a week. He also hosts Question Time: Extra Time on 5 Live and Nolan Live on BBC One Northern Ireland.
Nick Grimshaw has presented the Radio 1 Breakfast Show since 2012.
Former England striker Gary Lineker presents the BBC's flagship football highlights programme Match of the Day on Saturday nights. He is also one of the hosts for the annual Sports Personality of the Year awards night.
John Humphrys has presented Radio 4's Today programme since 1987. He also has been the quizmaster of BBC Two's Mastermind since 2003.
Today presenters (left to right) Mishal Husain, Nick Robinson and Justin Webb
Fellow presenter Sarah Montague is not on the list.
Derek Thompson is the highest-paid actor on the list. He has played Charlie Fairhead in hospital drama Casualty since the series started in 1986.
Amanda Mealing plays Connie Beauchamp in Casualty, having previously played the character in the BBC's other hospital drama Holby City.
Claudia Winkleman has co-hosted Strictly Come Dancing, with Tess Daly, since 2014 and also presents a Sunday night show on Radio 2. She presented BBC One's Film programme from 2010 to 2016, though she left the programme before the start of the 2016-17 financial year.
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-40653861
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'Triple sickie' policeman sacked over horse racing trips - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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PC Jonathan Adams was seen on television celebrating a win at Royal Ascot while "off sick".
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Gloucestershire
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. PC Jonathan Adams called in sick but was seen on TV celebrating a win at Ascot (Footage courtesy Racing UK)
A police officer who threw a "sickie" three times to watch horse racing has been sacked after being found guilty of gross misconduct.
PC Jonathan Adams, of Ross-on-Wye, went twice to Nottingham Racecourse and to Royal Ascot where he was seen celebrating a win on television.
The officer said the trips were "therapeutic" to deal with a "toxic" work environment.
A disciplinary hearing concluded PC Adams was "not as sick as he claimed".
PC Adams, an officer at Gloucester's Barton Street station, part-owned a horse with a racing syndicate.
PC Jonathan Adams said trips to the races were 'therapeutic'
The panel was told that in September 2015 and April 2016 he had reported in sick and went to Nottingham racecourse to watch the horse he part-owned, named Little Lady Katy.
In June 2016 he reported in sick again and went to Royal Ascot to watch Quiet Reflection, another horse owned by his syndicate, win the Commonwealth Cup.
The misconduct panel was shown a television clip of PC Adams jumping around and celebrating.
Stephen Morley, presenting the case for the force, told the hearing: "In a nutshell, on three occasions he deliberately reported sick in order to go to the horse races.
"We do not accept he was sick at all. He was throwing a sickie to go horse racing."
PC Adams said he had taken time off to avoid a "toxic" environment at Barton Street station. He described suffering stomach cramps, migraines and irritable bowel syndrome.
The hearing was told it was "quite clear" he was "not OK" and was "struggling with his environment".
Richard Shepherd, representing PC Adams, said: "He would not have let his colleagues down to go on a jolly at the races. It is not in his DNA."
But Alex Lock, chair of the panel, said: "We are forced to conclude that Pc Adams was not suffering the degree of sickness that he claimed he was.
"It is important that police officers are honest and that public confidence should be upheld.
"In the circumstances we conclude that dismissal without notice is appropriate in order to maintain public confidence in the force."
• None PC 'pulled triple sickie' to go to races
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-40644598
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'Fake security' at UK festivals under investigation - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A security firm allegedly supplied cloned official badges to unlicensed stewards at UK festivals this summer.
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Entertainment & Arts
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A security firm is under investigation for allegedly supplying cloned badges to unlicensed stewards at UK festivals this summer.
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) confirmed it was investigating LS Armour Security Ltd of Barry, south Wales, following a compliance check.
The watchdog issues licences to bouncers and security firms.
It said it was "exceptional" for it to comment and had taken "unprecedented action due to public safety".
The inspection has led to two arrests and the seizure of business records, including some relating to future events with contracts for security operatives around the UK.
The SIA has also written to various organisers of events and festivals that have used the firm in the past and have bookings in the future.
In a statement, an SIA spokesman said: "This type of unlawful conduct remains rare due to responsible organisers and security providers conducting appropriate due diligence.
"Nevertheless, the SIA understands that at this time of year, event organisers and primary contractors may not have sufficient SIA-licensed staff, which can lead to extensive sub-contracting.
"This provides opportunities to rogue providers that, with appropriate checks by organisers and primary contractors, can be largely mitigated."
Entertainment venues are seen as potential targets for terrorists
In a letter to promoters, the SIA's deputy director said: "If SIA-licensed staff arrive on site and are unknown to you, you must take all reasonable steps to ensure the person named on and in possession of the licence are the same person by requiring them to provide further evidence of identity.
"This will mitigate the risk of the cloned licence."
In response to the report, LS Armour Security Ltd's director Erica Lloyd told the BBC: "As a company we have only been made aware of one arrest as a result of a cloned badge, and this individual was cautioned by police and subsequently released without charge.
"At this point this individual was contacted by LS Armour and told he would no longer be employed for any future events."
She said that the SIA's system to check whether someone holds a valid licence - the Register of Licence Holders, available on the SIA website - was "simplistic" and "inadequate".
She added that this view was "brought to the attention of an SIA representative earlier this month, although at this time and on looking at the SIA website this appears to still be the only avenue of checking available".
Ms Lloyd said LS Armour Security Ltd were "fully complying with the SIA investigation".
The Victoria Derbyshire programme is broadcast 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/entertainment-arts-40647081
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Oxford grooming arrest man loses anonymity case - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Man arrested but never charged over Oxford child abuse attempted to argue he had a right to privacy.
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UK
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A man arrested but never charged in connection with an investigation into child sexual grooming has lost a legal battle to keep his identity secret.
Tariq Khuja attempted to use privacy laws to stop press and media reports after he was named at the high profile 2013 trial of nine men from Oxford.
The Supreme Court stressed Mr Khuja was an innocent man but ruled he had no "reasonable expectation of privacy" under human rights legislation.
Seven men were convicted and jailed at the Old Bailey in May 2013 for serious sexual offences in connection with what became known as the "Oxford grooming case".
The Supreme Court ruling, by a 5-2 majority, stemmed from an attempt by the Times and the Oxford Mail newspapers to name Mr Khuja.
BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman described the court's decision as significant, saying it reaffirmed the powerful principle of open justice.
The case examined the rights of the press and public under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights to freedom of expression and the rights of Mr Khuja and his family under Article 8.
Described as a "prominent figure in the Oxford Area" Mr Khuja had been arrested in March 2012 after one of the complainants told police she had been abused by a man with his first name. She failed to pick him out at an identity parade and he was released.
Orders imposed during the magistrates and crown court proceedings prevented Mr Khuja's name from being published to prevent reports potentially prejudicing a future trial.
He was subsequently told he would be released without charge, although his case would be kept under review.
The newspapers applied to lift the anonymity order on the basis there were no pending or imminent proceedings.
But Mr Khuja applied to the High Court for a privacy injunction to stop publication on the basis it was needed to protect his private and family life. The court rejected the application and the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal.
Giving the Supreme Court's judgment, Lord Sumption said the case related to matters discussed at a public trial and the public interest in allowing press reporting of court proceedings extended to Mr Khuja's identity.
"The impact on his family life was indirect and incidental. Neither he nor his family participated in any capacity at the trial, and nothing that was said at the trial related to his family," he said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40654217
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Flash flood sweeps through Coverack in Cornwall - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Residents in Coverack say hail the size of 50p pieces smashed window panes.
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Cornwall
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Drone footage of the flash floods which hit the village of Coverack in Cornwall
Flash flooding has seen torrents of water sweep through a Cornish village.
Residents in Coverack, on the Lizard Peninsula, reported roads being blocked and hailstones the size of 50 pence pieces smashing windows.
Heavy rainfall hit at about 15:00 BST on Tuesday and about 50 properties are estimated to be affected by the flooding, but no injuries have been reported.
Emergency services will meet at 09:00 BST "to coordinate the recovery phase".
Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said its crews attended "multiple flooding-related incidents" and urged people to "avoid this area".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The coastguard helicopter crew winch people to safety in Coverack, Cornwall
Cornwall Council said the first calls about the flooding were received about 15:40. One person was reported to be trapped in an outbuilding and six people were on the roof of their property.
A major incident was declared at 17:20 and the helicopter was deployed to rescue the people trapped on the roof.
Gloria Knight, who lives on a hill above Coverack, said her garden became 'like a waterfall'
A spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said a helicopter was sent from Newquay.
She said: "Six people were in a house and two have been rescued from the house by helicopter."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The helicopter rescue was caught on video
Karla Wainwright, who works at the Paris Hotel, said: "This afternoon we could tell it was going to get about stormy, then about 3pm it hit.
"There were hailstones as big as 50p pieces and a lot of small panes in our windows are broken."
Ms Wainwright said the storm continued for an hour and a half.
"Once it cleared off then we could see a massive flood of water coming down the main way into Coverack."
Water ran through the village before crashing over cliffs and into the sea
15:00 BST - Heavy rain moves in to the village of Coverack
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Bill Magill, who owns the nearby White Hart Hotel, said the water was "over a foot high" in some areas.
"It was nothing like I've ever known in this area, we were totally unprepared for it and it was totally unexpected," he said.
"[It was] racing down a little country lane, pouring over the banks like these waterfalls."
The Met Office said the flood followed heavy thunderstorms and rain in Cornwall and Devon on Tuesday afternoon.
Bill Frisken, a local councillor in Coverack, said he could not access the centre of the village because the main road was underwater.
A bus became stuck in the water on the road into Coverack
Describing the speed with which the flood hit, he said: "It was almost instantaneous."
"The village has effectively been cut in half, you can't cross the river," he added.
Mr Frisken said he and his wife had to bail water out of their kitchen, while their garage was also flooded.
"It was several feet of water coming down and pouring into the house. The depth of water was immense."
Another witness said: "I have never seen such big hails. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing and it was hailing, all at the same time.
"It was quite amazing really."
A Cornwall Council spokesman confirmed some properties in the village and one of the roads suffered structural damage and are due to be inspected by structural engineers.
A local hotel offered accommodation to anyone unable to return to their home, while one elderly resident was moved to a local nursing home.
A meeting is due to be held for residents at the village's Paris Hotel at 11:30 BST on Wednesday which will be attended by council officers.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-40650406
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Holiday traffic: Beat the summer getaway gridlock - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Saturday between 11:00 and 16:00 is expected to be very busy on the roads.
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England
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How do you avoid holiday traffic jams?
Motorists are being warned of heavy traffic as about nine million vehicles take to the roads over the weekend ahead of a summer getaway.
The RAC predicts 36.5 million "leisure" journeys in the first fortnight of the English and Welsh school holidays.
It said drivers would experience "customary chaos" and warned of traffic hotspots on motorways to popular destinations.
The busiest period is likely to be Saturday between 11:00 and 16:00 BST.
RAC traffic spokesman Rod Dennis said: "This weekend will bring unwelcome customary chaos to Britain's major roads as people flock to take advantage of the first week or two of the summer holidays on home soil.
"While not as busy as Easter, which is typically the pinnacle of leisure traffic due to it being the first break for several months, the Great British summer holiday getaway begins with an initial rush for the roads this weekend as that's when the majority of schools break up.
"Sadly, for many the very much-needed family summer holiday might begin stressfully as long tailbacks are inevitable, particularly in the South West on the M5 which is the main conduit to the beaches of Devon and Cornwall."
A new stretch of dual carriageway on the A30 west of Temple should provide some relief for drivers heading to Cornwall, he said.
• M5 Almondsbury Interchange and from Bristol to Taunton
• A34 and M3 south and south west to the south coast
• A14 between the Midlands and the east coast
• A590/A591 between the M6 and the Lake District
• A66 between M6 and the coast
There are hundreds of roadworks planned for the weekend on motorway and major trunk roads where the delay to journeys is expected to be more than 30 minutes, with many of them taking place overnight.
Highways England will not be lifting roadworks for the weekend. It only does so when a getaway coincides with a bank holiday, such as at Christmas or Easter.
Highways England chief executive Jim O'Sullivan said: "I want all drivers to arrive at their destinations safely during the summer holidays.
"We are urging motorists to make sure they are ready to go on their journeys by checking their fuel, tyres and oil. With a few simple checks everyone will be safer."
Figures from the organisation revealed 22 drivers a day broke down last July and August because they had run out of fuel.
The RAC's figures are based on the travel plans of 3,100 motorists, with 36.5 million leisure journeys expected between Friday 21 July and Sunday 6 August.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40632485
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Sarah Payne brothers: 'Thoughts of saving her eat us up' - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Luke and Lee Payne remember killer Roy Whiting smiling and waving as he drove their sister away.
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England
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Brothers Lee and Luke Payne speak out about Sarah's murder
The older brothers of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne have spoken for the first time of their guilt in not being able to save her.
The eight-year-old was abducted and murdered by paedophile Roy Whiting in 2000.
Speaking to Channel 5, Luke and Lee Payne said she ran ahead of them before being snatched by Whiting.
Lee said: "I did for a few years beat myself up .... that if I ran faster ... I might have caught up with her".
Sarah Payne was killed in 2000 by paedophile Roy Whiting
Luke, now 28, and Lee, 30, said Sarah ran from them and sister Charlotte to a road on the edge of a field while on a day out in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex.
She was not seen alive again and the brothers remember Whiting smiling at them as he drove her away.
Luke, who was 12 at the time, said the thought he could have saved her "eats you up inside".
He said he is haunted by what happened: "I don't get a lot of sleep. I dread the night, because it's just you and your thoughts."
His late father, Michael, bought a sawn-off shotgun and talked to him about what he would do if Whiting was found not guilty.
Luke added that when he sees Sarah's friends now: "I always wonder where she would be... what she would be doing... whatever she would have been doing, she would have shined."
Lee, who was then 13, remembers seeing Whiting drive past the field in his van looking "dodgy" - smiling and waving at him seconds after the abduction.
Lee said he was "literally 30 seconds behind her" but initially thought she was hiding.
Luke Payne says he is haunted by the memory of losing his sister
He said he would never get over the loss.
The family lived in Hersham, Surrey, and mother Sara Payne described seeing Whiting in court for the first time and realising he "wasn't a monster" but a "sad, lonely person".
Whiting was jailed for life in 2001 and will serve a minimum of 40 years.
The family spoke to Channel 5 for the documentary Sarah Payne: A Mother's Story.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40640940
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Trump's Obamacare repeal: Back to drawing board for Republicans - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Expect a stampede for the exits as everyone abandons what was always an unpopular bill.
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US & Canada
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Is this the end of the repeal-and-replace war?
In the end the death blow to the latest iteration of Obamacare repeal came from the right flank.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was always going to have to walk a fine line in his effort to keep both moderates and hardcore conservatives in the party on board with his healthcare reform proposal.
After his first draft failed to garner sufficient support, he came out with a new version that moved farther to the right in key areas while throwing money to keep the moderates satiated.
That strategy worked in the House, where Freedom Caucus arch-conservatives and just enough moderates came around to rescue the legislation from death's doorstep.
In the Senate, the entire rickety structure came tumbling down. Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran balked, citing insufficient tax and regulation rollbacks.
Expect a stampede for the exits in the coming days, as everyone abandons what was always an unpopular bill.
On Monday night the president himself led the way, calling for repeal without so much as a plan for what to do next.
Then again, the Republican Party never really had a replacement plan, and its attempts to craft one on the fly - something that would perform better than Obamacare while costing less money - were like one of those hapless early airplane designs that flapped its wings or spun its wheels but never left the ground.
The Senate may very well try to vote on straight-up repeal, as the president has suggested - one with a two-year fuse - but it stands little chance of winning majority support. If and when that fails, it's back to the drawing board for Republicans.
The urgent need to do something, anything, to fulfil their years of healthcare promises is still there.
The White House is pledging to keep up the pressure.
There could even be a move, as some Republicans are now urging, to reach out to Democrats for help crafting a bipartisan solution to fix some of the current system's more glaring shortcomings.
This isn't the end of congressional efforts to pass healthcare legislation. But it's likely the end of the repeal-and-replace war as it's been waged for the past six months.
The final casualty list won't be tabulated at least until the midterm elections in November 2018, but it's not too early to wonder exactly how high the political death count for Republicans might run.
The Senate's Obamacare repeal bill is woefully unpopular and has led to numerous protests
All the members of the House of Representatives who gathered on the grounds of the White House to celebrate voting for a bill that was both politically toxic and will now never see the light of day have to be wondering if they stuck their neck out only to see the glint of the guillotine.
Others may be left wondering if the grassroots Tea Party faithful who rallied to their sides in opposition to Barack Obama and the Democrats in years past may find better things to do than vote when the next election day rolls around.
Political epitaphs aren't written in a day, and Mr Trump and the Republicans still have the opportunity to regroup and recover. They could find solace in a tax reform package or some new, as yet unrevealed infrastructure spending plan.
This is a serious setback, however. And time is a commodity in increasingly limited supply.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40640439
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Newspaper headlines: BBC pay prompts gender questions - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Revelations about the earnings of some of the corporation's top stars are picked up on in the press.
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The Papers
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The BBC's admission that two-thirds of its highest-paid stars are men - ahead of the disclosure of the salaries of all top-earning presenters - makes the lead for the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and the i.
The Telegraph says the corporation is braced for a staff revolt as employees discover that colleagues in the same job are paid vastly more.
In some cases, the paper continues, female presenters who sit alongside male colleagues on the same shows will be revealed to earn less.
It quotes one well-known female presenter as saying the corporation is stuffed with "male 'intellectual titans' with egos the size of planets" who demand huge salaries and get them.
The Mail runs the story under the headline: "Pay panic at the BBC."
It says the stars have been warned to expect public anger over the huge salaries - and a backlash from staff on lower salaries.
The story is reported in most of the other papers, too.
The Guardian says the BBC will allow its stars to engage with critics and defend themselves on social media after their pay is revealed.
It has offered support and advice on dealing with the fallout, the paper adds.
The Guardian's lead is a call by Conservative backbenchers for Theresa May to sack any disloyal ministers found to have leaked details of cabinet meetings or plotted against her leadership.
According to the paper, three senior members of the backbench 1922 Committee have said the prime minister has their full support to re-establish discipline in her team and rejected the idea of a leadership election.
A number of papers publish the first official picture of the cabinet at Downing Street since the post-election reshuffle - alongside reports of Mrs May's plea to ministers to unite and not to brief the media about cabinet discussions.
The Times has the headline: "Ministers keep a lid on their squabbles for official photo."
The Daily Mirror describes it as a "jolly" photo but says potential leadership contenders were uncomfortably lined up together - and two bitter rivals - Chancellor Philip Hammond and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson - sat awkwardly next to each other on the front row.
The Times leads on the announcement that surcharges for using credit and debit cards are to be outlawed from next year - a move it believes that could save shoppers £500m a year.
It says the ban follows an investigation by the paper that exposed widespread abuse of laws designed to stop companies using card charges to pad out profits.
Airlines, travel agents, ticket booking websites, universities and councils were among those found to be levying fees of up to 3.5%, it adds.
Finally, news that North Sea cod has been certified as sustainable, a decade after stocks were facing collapse, is welcomed.
The Financial Times says cod has been consumed in Britain at least since the arrival of the Norsemen in the 9th Century - and its return caps a remarkable recovery for a popular fish.
The Guardian says British cod is back on the menu - and fish and chip lovers can enjoy it with a clear conscience.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-40651067
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Taiwan's brawling in parliament is a political way of life - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Fights take place in parliament to prevent the passing of legislation, but things are getting uglier.
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Asia
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. After a huge brawl on Thursday last week, fighting has resumed in Taiwan's parliament
On the outside, the main building of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan - or parliament - is a picture of calm.
Two rows of neatly-trimmed shrubbery and trees line the courtyard leading to the stately-looking, white building with a Republic of China (Taiwan) flag on top.
But inside, the picture is very different.
In fact, while parliamentary brawls occur occasionally in other countries, Taiwan's Legislative Yuan is notorious for them.
Scuffles are common in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan - but they are getting uglier
Rowdy and sometimes violent scuffles occur as often as several times a year and even every few days or weeks.
Punching, hair pulling, throwing plastic bottles and water balloons, as well as splashing cups of water on the faces of rival party legislators are common scenes. Air-horns and filibustering - more like shouting - are also used to drown out one's opponents.
23 March 2004: A scuffle erupted between the ruling and opposition party members over vote recounts from the presidential election.
7 May 2004: Legislator Zhu Xingyu grabbed legislator William Lai and tried to wrestle him onto a desk and headbutt him, and jabbed him in the stomach, due to disagreements over legislative procedures.
26 October 2004: A food fight took place between the opposition and ruling party during a debate on a military hardware purchase ordinance.
30 May 2006: Then opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Wang Shu-hui snatched a written proposal and shoved it into her mouth to prevent voting on allowing direct transportation links with Mainland China. Ruling party members tried to force her to cough it up by pulling her hair. She later spat it out but tore it up.
8 May 2007: Several members of the ruling DPP and opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party fought over control of the Speaker's podium, with some throwing punches and spraying water over an alleged delay of the annual budget. At least one person was admitted to hospital.
However this month's fights have become even uglier. Last Thursday, legislators lifted up and threw chairs at each other when they brawled over the ruling DPP's massive $29bn (£22bn) infrastructure spending bill, which the opposition (headed by the KMT) claims benefits cities and counties loyal to the DPP and is aimed at helping the party win forthcoming elections.
The fighting continued on Tuesday in a legislative committee meeting. The opposition KMT legislators wrestled DPP members to the floor and unplugged the cables of loud speakers to prevent the DPP from putting the bill through a committee review to move it towards passage into law.
Opposition parties, a minority in the 113-seat parliament, see physical fights as the only way to stop legislation they oppose, by blocking them from being voted on.
The standoffs can last for hours, even into the middle of the night. Legislators take turns eating or delay meals.
Many staff from local governments, ministries or government agencies have to be there, to see if legislation that affects them might pass, or to be on hand to answer questions in case there is actual discussion and debating, not just brawling.
These people find ways to put up with the chaotic scenes. Some cover their ears, others focus on their smartphones, and a few smart ones find the most comfortable couches in the back and manage to sleep through it all.
It's become a normal part of Taiwan's democracy - one of the most vibrant in the world.
Parties see parliamentary fights as an effective way to prevent the passing of legislation
But the fights shouldn't be taken too seriously, says a local journalist who covers parliament on a daily basis. He wished to be identified only by his first name.
"The legislators are partly acting - trying to show their constituents they're working hard to fight for their cause," said Danny.
However, he and other Taiwanese people say the brawls - with some broadcasted worldwide - are humiliating and do not advance democracy.
"The fights only allow the people to see the surface, not real issues. People often don't even understand the bills," said Danny.
He admitted that many journalists don't either. This current infrastructure bill is 10,000 pages long; it's impossible for them to read through all of it.
"If the legislators actually debate the contents of the bill instead of fight, the public might understand it better," said Danny. "I majored in politics in college. This is not what I had expected."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-40640043
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Grenfell Tower fire: New council leader heckled by public - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Elizabeth Campbell apologises to survivors of the tower block blaze for not doing more for them.
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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. Elizabeth Campbell said she was "deeply sorry" for the "grief and trauma"
The newly elected leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council has been booed and heckled amid continuing anger over the Grenfell Tower fire.
Protesters shouted "resign" and "shame on you" as Elizabeth Campbell was made council leader at a public meeting.
The councillor said she was "deeply sorry" for the "grief and trauma" caused by the blaze in west London.
The fractious meeting ended early after a female resident fell to the ground and was attended to by medics.
About 70 of the 255 people who survived the blaze attended the meeting after condemnation of the council's response.
At least 80 people are dead or missing after the tower block fire on 14 June.
The council has been accused of being slow to react on the ground and not doing enough to re-house Grenfell Tower residents.
Many people in the public gallery at Kensington Town Hall were calling for the Conservative group that runs the council to resign and for new elections.
It was the first cabinet meeting since the fire, after the council abandoned an earlier meeting - which had been planned as a closed one - when members of the press were allowed in after a High Court judgement.
Addressing survivors in the chamber, Ms Campbell said: "I am truly sorry that we did not do more to help you when you needed it the most."
There was heckling from the public gallery
Former Grenfell Tower residents sat in the public gallery, while at least 150 community members and volunteers were in an overspill room.
One by one, residents and those who lost loved ones gave accounts of their traumatic experiences, voicing their distrust in local services.
One survivor, from the 16th floor of Grenfell Tower, who gave his name as Hamid, said he had "had enough".
"I need a place to go and start my life," he said. "I'm not asking for something big.
"We need to move on. We want to go to work - kids got to go to school."
Another survivor told the chamber he had been living in a hotel room since the fire, with just one double bed between him, his wife and three children.
He said that the residents' main problem was a lack of action.
"I was forgotten about," he added.
"You know who has done something for us? The residents of North Kensington. Our community. Our neighbours."
As the meeting progressed, attention turned to a petition calling for the council's entire elected leadership to resign.
It was signed by more than 1,500 people, passing the threshold for a debate by councillors.
Labour's newly elected MP for Kensington, Emma Dent Coad, said: "I agree entirely with the petition's demands."
Ms Campbell, who was heckled again as she responded to the petition, said: "We will not continue business as usual and we will rebuild trust, as I said, brick by brick."
Earlier, she said 68 new homes for Grenfell Tower survivors would be identified and bought within the next two weeks, and an additional 31 homes would be acquired in the next few weeks.
The councillor also promised that 400 new social houses would be built over the next five years.
She took over as de facto leader after Nicholas Paget-Brown resigned on 30 June.
She later admitted on the Today programme that she had never been in a tower block, but added that she had visited many council houses.
A group of demonstrators stood outside Kensington Town Hall during the meeting holding Justice for Grenfell placards.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40663512
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Grenfell cladding '14 times combustibility limit' - BBC News
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2017-07-19
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Cladding on Grenfell Tower would have burned "as quickly as petrol", independent research suggests.
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UK
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Burning cladding on Grenfell Tower would have released 14 times more heat than a key government test allows, the Victoria Derbyshire show has learned.
Energy emitted from the cladding and insulation would have been equivalent to burning 51 tonnes of pinewood, University of Leeds research suggests.
The cladding's plastic core would have burned "as quickly as petrol", it said.
The contractors who fitted the cladding and insulation said they both passed all regulations.
According to data released by French authorities, and seen by the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme, the cladding would have released 43.2 MJ/kg of heat.
The European A2 standard for "limited combustibility" is 3 MJ/kg.
The foam insulation underneath the cladding was, separately, thought to emit around 26 MJ/kg of heat.
Figures from UK government tests have not yet been made publicly available.
The work to fit Grenfell Tower's cladding was completed in 2016
An estimated 18 tonnes of insulation foam and eight tonnes of cladding panels were attached to the tower, analysis of planning documents by the University of Leeds suggests.
The energy released when all these combustible materials burned would have been equivalent to around 51 tonnes of pinewood wrapped around the building in two thin 12mm sheets, separated by a 50mm gap with holes cut out for windows, it says.
"If you set that on fire near the bottom you can imagine what would happen and how fast the fire will grow," Dr Roth Phylaktou, a senior lecturer specialising in fire and explosion engineering at the university, told the BBC.
"This is not dissimilar to the wood cribs that we use in fire science to create fast-growing fires that reach a large size very quickly."
Dr Phylaktou believes the configuration of the cladding and the foam - known as polyisocyanurate (PIR) - was "optimum for vertical fire spread".
"This explains the speed of the fire propagation. The polyethylene in the cladding would have burnt as quickly as petrol," he added.
He believes the air gap between the insulation and the external cladding panels on Grenfell Tower may have created a so-called "chimney effect", increasing the speed of the fire spreading.
"The insulation formed another combustible layer underneath which would also give off toxic fumes," he added.
The type of PIR foam used, Celotex RS5000, and the brand of cladding, Reynobond PE, have now been withdrawn from sale for use in buildings over 18m high.
Even if cladding or insulation do not meet the European A2 standard for limited combustibility, they can theoretically still be allowed on the outside of a tall building if combined with other components in a whole system which passes a different type of test, known as BR135.
An independent company, BRE, is now conducting tests for the government to see how different combinations of insulation and cladding perform in the event of a serious fire.
BRE also conducts fire tests for the private sector and a local government leader has called for the release of test data which is considered commercially confidential.
In its marketing Arconic, which manufactures Reynobond PE panels, has never claimed the product met the "limited combustibility" standard. It said it was only "one component" in the overall cladding system.
Saint-Gobain, which manufacturers the Celotex RS5000 PIR, said it could not comment while there was an investigation into the circumstances around the Grenfell Tower fire.
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-40645205
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Aztec tower of human skulls uncovered in Mexico City - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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The skulls found in Mexico City are only a fraction of those Spanish soldiers encountered in 1521.
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Latin America & Caribbean
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Archaeologist Lorena Vazquez explains why the Aztecs created their skull towers
Tales of the tower of skulls which struck fear into the hearts of Spanish conquistadors have been passed down through the generations in Mexico.
Said to be the heads of defeated warriors, contemporary accounts describe tens of thousands of skulls looming over the soldiers - a reminder of what would happen if they did not conquer territory.
For the next 500 years, the skulls lay undisturbed underneath what was once the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, but is now Mexico City.
Until, that is, a group of archaeologists began the painstaking work of uncovering their secrets two years ago.
What they found has shocked them, because in among the skulls of the young men are those of women and children - bringing into question everything historians thought they knew.
The skulls were first discovered in 2015
A team of archaeologists has been painstakingly uncovering them ever since
"We were expecting just men, obviously young men, as warriors would be, and the thing about the women and children is that you'd think they wouldn't be going to war," Rodrigo Bolanos, a biological anthropologist investigating the find, told news agency Reuters.
"Something is happening that we have no record of, and this is really new, a first."
So far, archaeologists have found 676 skulls in a site next to Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral, which was built over the Templo Mayor, one of the most important Aztec temples.
Historians have been surprised to discover the remains of women and children among the skulls
For many years, it has been thought they were the skulls of warriors defeated in battle
Its base has yet to be uncovered, and it is thought many more skulls will be found.
They are believed to form part of the Huey Tzompantli, a skull rack some 60 metres (200ft) in diameter which stood on the corner of the chapel of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of the sun, war and human sacrifice.
Archaeologists have no doubt it is one of the racks, or tzompantli, described by soldier Andres de Tapia, who accompanied Hernan Cortes in the 1521 conquest of Mexico.
Cortes landed at Veracruz, on Mexico's east coast, in 1519. Two years later, allied with other native forces, Cortes' men captured the Aztec capital.
So far, more than 650 skulls have been found
Many more skulls are believed to be hidden underneath the city
• None The secret of why we like to eat chocolate
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-40473547
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Russia behind cyber-attack, says Ukraine's security service - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Ukraine's security service says it has obtained data linking Russia to last week's malware attack.
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Europe
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Moscow said that cyber-attack allegations from Ukraine's security services were "unfounded"
Ukraine says it has proof that Russian security services were involved in the cyber-attack that targeted businesses around the world earlier this week.
The country's security service, the SBU, said it had obtained data that points to a link with an attack on the nation's capital, Kiev, in December.
Ukrainian firms were among the first to report issues with malicious software on Tuesday, before the virus spread.
Moscow denied any involvement, adding that the allegations were "unfounded".
The virus, which disrupted IT systems across the globe, froze computers and demanded a ransom be paid in the digital currency Bitcoin, which is untraceable.
However, the attack also hit major Russian firms, leading some cyber security researchers to suggest that Moscow was not behind it.
But on Saturday, Ukraine's SBU said in a statement that - through data obtained from international anti-virus companies - it had established a connection with a previous attack involving the so-called Petya virus, which it alleges was not designed to secure ransom payments.
The SBU later said the ransom demand was a cover, adding that the attack was aimed at disrupting the operations of state and private companies in Ukraine and causing political destabilisation.
The lack of any real mechanism for securing financial payments, the SBU said, led the agency to this assumption.
Ukraine appears to have been particularly badly hit in the recent attacks.
The police received about 1,000 messages on intrusions in the operations of computer networks over a 24-hour period. A total of 150 companies filed official complaints with the police.
In December, the country's financial, transport and energy systems were targeted by what investigators judged to be a cyber-attack. The incident resulted in a power cut in Kiev.
The attack earlier this week comes two months after another global ransomware assault, known as WannaCry, which caused major problems for the UK's National Health Service.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40471310
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Thousands march on Parliament in anti-government protest - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Jeremy Corbyn addressed crowds calling for an end to Theresa May's austerity programme.
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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. Protesters listened to speeches from politicians and activists in Parliament Square
Thousands of people gathered in central London to demonstrate against the UK government's economic policies.
The protest was organised by a group called the People's Assembly Against Austerity.
Demonstrators met outside BBC Broadcasting House in Portland Place, before marching past Downing Street and on to Parliament Square.
The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was among the speakers who addressed crowds at The Not One Day More protest.
Speaking in Parliament Square, Mr Corbyn said: "The Tories are in retreat, austerity is in retreat, the economic arguments of austerity are in retreat.
"It's those of social justice, of unity, of people coming together to oppose racism and all those that would divide us, that are the ones that are moving forward."
The crowd chanted "oh Jeremy Corbyn" and "Tories out" during the rally, while many carried banners saying Justice For Grenfell.
One protester told BBC News that "anger" had motivated her to join the protest, saying: "What's going on isn't good enough under the Tory government.
"There have been cuts to every single service you can think of. It's just the pure negligence. How can you be cutting vital services?"
The organisers said on Facebook that they "invite everyone - from campaigns and community groups across the country, from the trade unions, from political parties and any individual - to come together in one massive show of strength and solidarity".
The statement added: "We're marching against a government committed to austerity, cuts and privatisation.
"We're marching for a decent health service, education system, housing, jobs and living standards for all."
Downing Street did not want to comment on the protest.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40468881
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Listen to review bodies on public sector pay, says Gove - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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The cabinet minister adds his voice to growing pressure to lift the 1% public sector pay cap.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Gove's quick-fire answers on the Andrew Marr show - Brexit and his return to the cabinet
The government should listen to review bodies' recommendations for public sector pay, Michael Gove has said.
His comments come as the prime minister and chancellor face increasing pressure from ministers and backbenchers to end the 1% public sector pay cap.
The environment secretary did not call directly for the cap to be lifted but said ministers should respect the "integrity" of the pay review process.
Labour said it would allow the review bodies to award "a fair pay rise".
Pay rises for five million public sector workers are set by independent pay review bodies, but have effectively been capped at 1% since 2013, before which there was a two-year freeze on pay for all but the lowest-paid workers.
The Conservatives went into the election pledging to maintain the cap until 2020, but some MPs are now calling for a rethink after the party lost its majority.
Two review bodies dealing with the pay of police and teachers will make recommendations later this month, and there are growing expectations that one or both could call for rises that exceed the government's cap.
The cabinet is split on the principle of scrapping the cap, but it could be dismantled bit by bit.
"I think that we should listen to the pay review bodies who govern each individual area of public sector pay," Mr Gove told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
The presenter suggested the cap, imposed by the chancellor, set the parameters for the bodies' recommendations.
"They take account of that but they also take account of other questions as well, including the number of people who enter the profession, whether we need to have an increase in pay in order to ensure we get the very best people into the profession," Mr Gove said.
"These pay review bodies have been set up in order to ensure that we can have authoritative advice on what's required, in order to ensure that the public services on which we rely are effectively staffed and the people within them are effectively supported."
Asked what he personally thought about scrapping the pay cap, he said: "I am not an individual - I am a member of a collective team."
Mr Gove, a former education secretary, has told the Sunday Times that when the review bodies made recommendations on school teachers' pay, "I think I always accepted them."
Privately, ministers believe it is perfectly possible that at least some of the pay review bodies - which also cover health service workers, prison officers and senior public servants - will call for average increases of more than 1%.
A government minister with good links to Downing Street told the BBC that review body recommendations would be honoured, even if this breached the current pay cap.
But No 10 insists that ministers will decide whether to accept recommendations on a case-by-case basis.
So while the pay cap may not be abolished for every public sector employee all at once, it is possible that its erosion will begin soon.
Other Sunday newspapers also reported on a growing revolt within the Conservative Party over its approach to austerity and public spending.
The Observer says there is a "chorus of demands" from within the party for a radical overhaul of state funding, with cabinet ministers and senior MPs calling for more money for NHS workers and schools, as well as a "national debate" on tuition fees.
According to the paper, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Education Secretary Justine Greening are lobbying for an easing of austerity.
The paper says the pressure to abandon austerity puts Chancellor Philip Hammond under pressure to consider raising taxes to fund any extra public spending.
The Telegraph, meanwhile, reports that Ms Greening has told Prime Minister Theresa May she wants the government to abandon plans to cut per pupil funding over the coming years.
Labour's Jonathan Ashworth said the Tories were in "turmoil"
The paper says it is understood the education secretary wants a public statement within weeks outlining the change in direction so that schools know the funding they are to receive before they break up for the summer holidays.
According to the paper, the proposal would mean spending an extra £1.2bn by 2022.
Mr Gove said he would not "second guess" the current education secretary but Tory backbencher Heidi Allen, also appearing on Andrew Marr, said it was "great to see Justine coming out and saying: 'Yes, there needs to be more money for schools.'"
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the reports revealed "turmoil" in the Conservative Party.
"They're saying 'Wait for the pay review bodies,' even though they're the ones insisting on a 1% cap," the Labour frontbencher told Andrew Marr.
"We're saying to the pay review bodies: 'Get rid of the 1% cap and give a fair pay rise.'"
Thousands demonstrated against austerity in central London on Saturday
Asked what level Labour thought was fair, he said the review bodies "should consider" a pay rise in line with the rise in average earnings across the economy.
"Clearly, they are not going to be able to overturn the 14% loss that NHS workers have had over seven years but they have to come up with responsible recommendations, which we would accept."
Mr Ashworth suggested that some of the cost of the pay awards in the NHS could be offset by savings in the amount the health service paid to agency workers, due to a shortage of full-time staff.
Last week a Labour attempt to scrap the 1% cap was defeated in Parliament.
But the pressure to ease austerity has intensified since June's general election, with a number of backbench Tory MPs arguing that it cost the party votes and contributed to the loss of its majority.
On Saturday thousands of people gathered in central London for a demonstration against austerity that was addressed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40471474
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Andy Murray and Kim Sears 'happy' to be expecting second child - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The news comes as Murray prepares for his opening match at Wimbledon as defending champion.
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Scotland
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The world number one and his wife already have a one-year-old daughter
Tennis star Andy Murray says he and his wife, Kim Sears, are "very happy" to be expecting their second child.
The couple, who married in 2015, already have a one-year-old daughter, Sophia.
The news come as the 30-year-old prepares for his opening match at Wimbledon on Monday as defending champion.
He told reporters: "We're both obviously very happy and looking forward to it."
The world number one also confirmed he was fit to play following his recent hip injury, saying: "It's felt much better the last few days."
Asked if the news of the baby on the way would put any extra pressure on him going into the tournament, he said: "No, I wouldn't have thought so."
Andy Murray spoke to the media at a press conference ahead of the Wimbledon tournament
He said family life was "certainly not a distraction in the slightest".
Regarding his wife, Murray added: "She'll be coming to Wimbledon. And we found out a while ago. But I'm not interested in discussing the dates of that in here."
Andy and Kim were married in Murray's home town of Dunblane in April 2015 and their daughter Sophia was born in February 2016.
The world number one has spoken about how his family is the most important thing in his life and he has said becoming a husband and father has helped his tennis.
Murray said he was feeling "good" after practising three times on Friday as he recovers from a hip injury which saw him pull out of his final warm-up match ahead of the tournament.
He will face Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik, who is world number 134, on Centre Court at 13:00 BST on Monday.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-40415275
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Hostages shown in al-Qaeda Mali video as Macron flies in - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The video is released as French President Emmanuel Macron visits to support anti-militant efforts.
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Africa
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French hostage Sophie Petronin was abducted from Gao in December
A Mali-based al-Qaeda affiliate has released a video of six foreign hostages ahead of a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to the country.
They include a French NGO worker, an elderly Australian surgeon and a Colombian nun.
No "genuine" negotiations to release them have taken place, the video says.
Mr Macron is in Mali to consolidate western backing for a regional force against the militants.
Among the hostages seen in the footage is Sophie Petronin, who was abducted last December in the town of Gao, where she ran an NGO helping malnourished children.
The video's narrator said Ms Petronin was hoping that Mr Macron would help return her to her family.
Speaking in Mali's capital Bamako, Mr Macron said France and the "Sahel G5" countries - Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Niger - had to work together to eradicate "terrorists, thugs and murderers".
He said France would "put all our energy towards eradicating" those who had kidnapped Ms Petronin.
Mr McGown has been held since 2011
The video also shows South African hostage Stephen McGown asking when his ordeal will come to an end.
"Now we're making a new video, but I don't know what to say. It's all been said in the past. It's all been said in previous videos I've made," he says.
The release of this video will lead many to believe that it was timed to coincide with a meeting of West African leaders and France's president in Mali on Sunday.
It is a reminder that al-Qaeda affiliates remain the main jihadist threat across the region. Some of the hostages were abducted a few years ago while others more recently - keeping hostages that long and seizing new ones show how much al-Qaeda relies on ransom money to operate.
The deployment of yet another force, discussed on Sunday, is part of a huge security build-up in the Sahel, where foreign military presence has increased in the last few years.
But observers say political solutions are also needed across the impoverished region, where a lack of infrastructure and opportunities allows jihadist groups to thrive.
Mr McGown was kidnapped from a hotel in Timbuktu in 2011 along with two others, Swede Johan Gustafsson - who was released last month - and Dutchman Sjaak Rijke - who was freed by French special forces in 2015.
Also shown is Australian Ken Elliott, who is in his 80s. He was abducted in January 2015 in Djibo with his wife Jocelyn, where the couple had been running the town's only medical facilities. Jocelyn was released in February 2016.
"To my family I just want to say again I love you all," he says.
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The others are Romanian mineworker Iulian Ghergut, who says he was abducted in Burkina Faso in April 2015, Swiss missionary Beatrice Stockly, kidnapped in Mali in January 2016, and Colombian nun Gloria Argoti, seized in Mali in February.
The 17-minute video was released by a group calling itself the Group to Support Islam and Muslims, formed in early March as a result of a merger between Mali-based jihadist group Ansar Dine, al-Mourabitoun, and the Sahara branch of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
In November the NGO Gift of the Givers said AQIM elders had agreed to release Mr McGown but younger members did not want to.
Mali's security has gradually worsened since 2013, when French forces repelled allied Islamist and Tuareg rebel fighters who had seized control of much of the north.
Mr Macron wants greater support for the Sahel G5, who are setting up a 5,000-strong force based in Sévaré in central Mali to fight rising militant attacks.
He hopes to help raise funds for the force - so far, the EU has pledged only €50m (£44m; $57m), while Mali's foreign minister has estimated that the force would cost closer to €400m.
Mr Macron said attempts to combat terrorism needed to be accompanied by parallel efforts to improve development in the region, including fighting climate change and improving governance.
There are 4,000 French troops and 12,000 UN peacekeepers in the region.
Last month, five people - soldiers from Portugal and Mali, a Malian woman working for the EU mission and civilians from China and Gabon - were killed when gunmen from an al-Qaeda-linked group stormed a tourist resort near the capital Bamako.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-40472162
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McLaren supercar destroyed in crash - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The driver and passenger walked away from the destroyed 570S, which is worth about £143,000.
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Wiltshire
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The car appeared to have hit the front of the building
A McLaren supercar was reduced to a twisted, burned-out wreck after it struck a building and burst into flames.
The driver and passenger of the 570S, which sell for around £143,000, escaped with minor injuries following the crash at Heywood, near Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
The fire service was called to Westbury Road just before 06:30 BST on Sunday.
Crews found the occupants had made it out of the burning sports car, which was stuck beneath a collapsed wall.
Fire crews were called to the crash site early on Sunday
Images taken by Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue show small fragments of the car's distinctive orange paintwork are still visible.
It is not known what speed the McLaren had been travelling at prior to the crash.
Damien Bence, from the fire service, said it was "absolutely amazing" the car's occupants walked away from the scene.
"Prior to hitting the building it snapped an electric pole in half, and forced the top half of the pole through the window of the house," he said.
"We were confronted with a live electrical cable which was strewn across the highway so crews had to negotiate their way through part of a wood in order to get to the incident."
The 563hp super sports car has twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 engine and can accelerate from 0-62mph (100km/h) in just 3.2 seconds.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-40476901
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10 things we didn't know last week - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Rihanna's secret boyfriend is revealed - and other news nuggets.
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Magazine
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Find out more (The Telegraph)
2. Middle-aged office workers apparently spend more time sitting down than pensioners
3. Cambridge has been ranked as the most-vibrant place to shop in the UK
4. Sweden has the lowest proportion of ATMs in western Europe
7. People throw away eight million disposable nappies every day in the UK
8. Artists can now only have a maximum of three songs in the Top 100 Singles chart
Find out more (The Guardian)
9. Californian solar firms are making so much energy that they are paying energy companies in other US states to take it
10. Robot brickies could mean building sites become "human free" zones by 2050
Find out more (The Mirror)
Seen a thing? Tell the Magazine on Twitter using the hashtag #thingididntknowlastweek
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40458284
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India woman attacked with acid for fifth time - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Indian woman was already under police guard after allegedly being raped and attacked.
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India
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Acid attacks are not uncommon against women in India
A woman in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh who survived an alleged gang-rape and four separate acid attacks has been targeted again by an acid-thrower.
She was attacked outside a women's hostel in Lucknow while getting water from a hand pump, police said.
The woman, 35, had been receiving round-the-clock police protection because of the previous attacks, which were linked to a property dispute.
Anger is growing at the authorities' inability to protect her.
She was allegedly gang-raped and first attacked with acid by two men in 2008, over a property dispute, the details of which are not clear.
The same two men are then accused of throwing acid at her twice more - in 2012 and 2013 - to try and get her to drop the criminal charges against them.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Laxmi Saa was 15 when a 32-year-old man threw acid at her after she rejected his marriage proposal - she spoke to Kinjal Pandya-Wagh from the BBC's Delhi Bureau
In March, she was attacked again while travelling on a train with her daughter. This time she was forced to drink acid.
Two men are facing trial for all of the attacks but were released on bail in April, the AFP agency reports.
According to government figures, there are hundreds of such attacks involving acid each year in India, although campaigners say the real figures are much higher.
The victims, who have to live with terrible disfigurements, are mainly women and are often targeted by jealous partners, campaigners say.
Despite a Supreme Court ruling in 2013 to regulate the sale of acid, critics say it is still widely and easily available.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-40474360
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M3 'smart' motorway opens in Hampshire and Surrey - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The four-lane stretch is expected to benefit the 130,000 motorists who use the M3 each day.
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Surrey
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A 50mph speed limit will remain in place while traffic management systems are tested
A £174m upgrade to turn the M3 into a "smart" motorway in Surrey and Hampshire has opened.
The 13.4-mile stretch between Farnborough and the M25 is now a four-lane carriageway after the main construction work was completed.
Motorists have faced years of disruption since work began in 2014.
Ongoing roadworks and some overnight restrictions will continue to affect motorists with speed limits in place as the system is tested.
Technology is being used to manage traffic flows with variable speed limits and use of the hard shoulder.
Speed limits will remain in place until later this month.
Motorists have faced years of road works on the M3 during the widening work
The M3 passes through Chobham Common, an area of heathland in Surrey.
Before work began, the government said the M3 smart motorway would improve journey times by 15%, but the then Highways Agency raised concerns extra traffic would cause EU air quality rules to be broken.
In June 2014, a plan to impose a 60mph speed limit on that part of the M3 to cut air pollution was put on hold by the then Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, with the Highways Agency asked to look at other ways of tackling pollution.
Maintenance work on the motorway is still to be completed, including the rebuilding of the Woodlands Lane bridge over the motorway near Windlesham, which will continue until later in the year, Highways England said.
Pranav Devale, project manager for Highways England, said: "This new stretch of smart motorway will tackle congestion and improve journey times for the 130,000 drivers who use it every day."
Back in 2014, Highways England said the main project work would be completed by December 2016.
But James Wright of Highways England said: "The reason we are finishing construction now rather than last December is that, shortly after we started work and after a bit of local lobbying, we agreed to do a large amount of maintenance work at the same time as the smart motorway upgrade."
He said the extra work included fully resurfacing the road and replacing a bridge over it.
"This is extra work with extra benefits and we do not consider it a delay," he added.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-40473727
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Newspaper headlines: UK 'ditches cake-and-eat-it Brexit stance' - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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British officials have accepted a "painful" trade-off in Brexit talks, and the EU is planning migrant "crisis" talks, according to the front pages.
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The Papers
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UK officials have "quietly abandoned" hopes of securing "the government's promised cake-and-eat-it Brexit deal", the Guardian reports.
According to the paper, government insiders have reported a "dramatic change of mood" in the Department for Exiting the European Union since the general election.
It says the idea of enjoying full trade access to the bloc - without concessions over immigration, courts and a financial settlement - is now being given less credence by officials.
Many of the papers focus on the reported divisions within Conservative ranks about public spending.
"Cabinet split over austerity tax row" is the front page headline in the Daily Telegraph.
It suggests Chancellor Philip Hammond has warned ministers that "unpopular tax rises" will be required to fund possible moves, like lifting the cap on public sector pay increases.
The Mail's editorial says the paper is "deeply troubled by reports that some Tory MPs, including senior ministers, are demanding that the spending taps be turned back on".
According to the Times, Britain's new independent reviewer of counter-terrorism laws is concerned about the way jihadist attacks are covered by the media.
It says Max Hill believes the publication of images of dead terrorists can give, in his words, "the oxygen of publicity in death, to those who apparently craved martyrdom".
But one senior media lawyer, Mark Stephens, tells the paper: "It is extremely unhelpful to make the argument that freedom of speech needs to be curbed, in an effort to fight terror."
The lead in the Financial Times is about a delegation from the City of London travelling to Brussels this week, with what it describes as "a secret blueprint for a post-Brexit free-trade deal on financial services".
The paper says there is concern among bankers that the deadline for the UK to leave the EU, in March 2019, will come before a "credible deal has been struck".
"Blame it on our boys" is the front page headline in the Sun. It claims that Iraqis, who had alleged that they were mistreated by American troops, were told by lawyers to accuse UK forces instead, because the Ministry of Defence was easier to sue.
The paper quotes someone who used to work for a law firm handling such claims, saying it was widely known that many were fake.
The front pages of both the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express report on the latest deaths of migrants who tried to cross the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe.
The Mirror's headline is "Migrants' hell on Costa beaches", while in the Express it is "EU in crisis over boat migrants".
The paper says European Union officials are to hold emergency talks on the matter.
The Mirror's opinion column urges the authorities to "turn the tide on the crisis".
It believes that, faced with such a problem, the UK is "morally right" to spend £13bn on international development, which could help tackle some of the causes of migration.
According to the Times, Donald Trump may "drop in" to the UK in the next fortnight.
It says the US president has a gap in his diary, between a visit to Germany this week for the G20 summit and a trip to France later in July.
The White House will apparently give officials here only 24 hours' notice, if he decides to come.
"Britain braced for snap Trump visit" is the headline.
Finally, amid all the preview coverage of Wimbledon, the Daily Telegraph goes straight to the front of the queue - the queue, that is, of people who have been camping since early on Saturday to get tickets for the first day of the championships.
There the paper finds Des Robson, a middle-aged computer technician from Northumberland, who put a visit to Centre Court on his bucket list, after suffering two heart attacks.
Behind him is Elle-Anne Lee, a 21-year-old dental nurse.
Her father had bet her £100 that she would not be among the first three in the queue.
She tells the paper: "Now I'm quids in."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-40476851
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Most US women won't dine alone with opposite sex, survey suggests - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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More than half would not dine alone with the opposite sex, according to a New York Times poll.
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US & Canada
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Mike Pence has said he would not dine alone with any woman who was not his wife, Karen (pictured)
Many eyebrows were raised when it emerged US Vice-President Mike Pence would not dine alone with a woman who was not his wife.
How old fashioned, the internet cried.
Only, now it seems he is not alone.
A surprise poll for the New York Times has discovered more than half of women agree with him - as well as 45% of men.
And as for a drink? Forget about it. Just 29% of women think that would be appropriate in a one-on-one situation.
However, the poll - conducted by Morning Consult, surveying almost 5,300 people - found the numbers shift considerably according to your politics: the more liberal your views, the more likely you were to mix with a member of the opposite sex, one on one.
Just 62% of Republicans found it acceptable, compared to 71% of Democrats.
Similar divides can also be seen according to religion - the more devout you are, the less appropriate you view it - and to education: 24% of male respondents of who did not reach college think it is inappropriate to have a one-on-one working meeting with a woman, compared with 18% who got a bachelor's degree or higher.
Michael, US: Simply ask yourself: would you want your partner to go out for dinner alone with someone else? Most likely the answer is no. Hence, then why should you? It's simply being wise and not naive.
Sandra, US: Not entirely sure why people don't understand that you can have a platonic, working or otherwise relationship with a member of the opposite sex without sexual overtones. To my way of thinking it demeans woman in terms of woman thinking men are only interested in their bodies... If you can't trust your partner or yourself out of sight the problem is you.
Stephen, Australia: I totally agree with Mike Pence. He's protecting his marriage and his reputation. It is not sexist, it is wise. In an era where people look to the Kardashians for their moral standards Mike Pence's policy, in this area at least, is commendable.
Emily, US: These archaic views are just another example of why we shouldn't have been surprised at a Trump/Pence victory last November.
Mario, South Africa: Men who are not sure about their self-control should indeed dine and drink alone. Perhaps dinner and a drink with their mothers should be permitted, but I am not so sure about sisters and daughters after reading some comments uttered by Donald Trump.
Vince, UK: Really? How very Victorian of them. Are they scared they might end up doing something they shouldn't. I can't believe in the 21st century some people think this is an issue.
Sarah, US: I'm a 52-year-old, white, college educated, atheist, left-wing, married woman ... and there's no way I would have a one-on-one meal/drink with a man who was not my husband. Not even a Starbucks.
M.H., Canada: I would definitely lunch or have dinner alone with a man whom I knew and trusted and with whom I had a lot in common. I am also a year away from being 90 and find it hard to believe that there is anything wrong with this.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40473553
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Arkansas nightclub shooting leaves 28 wounded - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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A 16-year-old was among those wounded in the incident, which officials say was not terrorism-related.
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US & Canada
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Police cordoned off the scene following reports of multiple shootings at a nightclub
At least 25 people have been shot at a nightclub in the US state of Arkansas, two of whom are in critical condition, police say.
Three others were injured in a stampede of people fleeing the scene. The youngest victim was said to be 16.
The exchange of gunfire took place at about 02:30 local time (07:30 GMT) at a concert, but there was no immediate information about a suspect.
Police and local officials said the incident was not terrorism-related.
The mayor of Little Rock, Mark Stodola, said it was the result of a disagreement involving a number of patrons at the Power Ultra Lounge nightclub, which quickly escalated because of "the presence of rivalries and weapons".
"I want to reassure our public that this was not an act of terrorism, but a tragedy... It does not appear to be a planned shooting," Mr Stodola told reporters.
He said that all of the 28 people injured in the incident were expected to survive.
Little Rock police chief Kenton Buckner said the authorities were investigating whether a longstanding rivalry between gangs was to blame.
Special agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also assisting local police.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40467522
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Newspaper headlines: PM faces 'chorus of Tory demands' - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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The prime minister is facing demands from senior Conservatives to overhaul state funding, according to several papers.
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The Papers
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The papers report on a growing battle within the cabinet over austerity and public spending
The Sunday Telegraph says a new front has opened up in the cabinet battle over austerity.
The paper says Education Secretary Justine Greening has told Prime Minister Theresa May the Tories should abandon plans to cut per-pupil funding, with the change in direction being announced soon so that schools know where they stand.
According to the paper, senior figures at Number 10 admit they are braced for "a big battle" over spending this summer.
The Sunday Times reports that more than 20 MPs cornered the Conservative chief whip last week, demanding change, and more than double that number are threatening to rebel over spending plans unless the 1% public sector pay cap is lifted.
University tuition fees are the focus in the Mail on Sunday, which leads with the suggestion by Mrs May's most senior minister, Damian Green, that a national debate may be needed on the issue.
The paper also highlights what it describes as fading public support for austerity policies, but it notes that lifting the pay cap, and linking it to inflation instead, would cost the Treasury an extra £1.4bn a year alone.
The Sun on Sunday reports that Ms Greening and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt are leading the charge for public sector workers to get a pay rise.
"There are very good arguments for continuing to bear down on the deficit," a cabinet source tells the paper, "but the case on public sector pay is becoming irresistible."
According to The Observer, Mr Hunt may press for the lifting of the public sector pay cap for NHS workers, citing a pay review body report that suggests the costs of plugging gaps caused by staff shortages could soon be greater than the savings.
It refers to a "chorus of Tory demands" facing Mrs May.
Writing in The Sunday Mirror, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth says nurses and paramedics should not have to wait until the autumn Budget to learn whether the pay cap will be lifted.
But The Sunday Times is having none of it.
Describing it as "a government in danger of losing its financial wits," the paper warns that a Conservative Party that stands for nothing, including fiscal discipline, will flounder.
The Telegraph, likewise, urges Chancellor Philip Hammond to resist the calls for change, saying the government is in danger of giving up on financial prudence as though it is a television programme we have got bored with.
The country as a whole, it says, should have the moral fibre to face the financial reality in front of us.
But The Observer argues that capping public sector pay has fuelled recruitment and retention problems.
It is not just mean, the paper says, it is a false economy.
The news that British fishermen are to have the exclusive rights to a 12-mile zone around the coastline leads The Sunday Express.
The paper welcomes it as a first step towards taking control of the country's fishing policy.
The new Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, tells The Sunday Times that his father's fishing business was hit by the EU, and pulling out of the London Fisheries Convention was "a chance to put things right".
The Sunday Times also has what it calls "awkward" scientific findings.
Researchers in Rotterdam have apparently found that men's average IQ is four points above women's - because they typically have bigger brains.
The paper describes the finding as the latest twist in a debate with powerful political implications.
It notes that in the 19th Century, the view that women's smaller brains made them less intelligent was used to justify denying them rights such as voting.
Finally, the day before the start of Wimbledon has brought with it the inevitable exhaustive analysis of Andy Murray's chances.
"It's been brutal but I'm ready," is the headline in The Mirror, which describes how a hip injury has wrought havoc with the player's preparations.
The Express says the man who it describes as "Battler Andy" has grown into a dignified champion, and it wishes him good luck in defence of his Wimbledon title.
Reporting that Murray has now declared himself fit, The Sun recalls how it urged millions of its readers on Saturday to collectively lay their soothing hands on a front-page picture of his troublesome hip.
"It Was The Sun Wot Rubbed It!", the paper declares.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-40471145
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Syria conflict: Damascus bomber strikes after car chase - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Police were chasing three suspected suicide attackers - one blew himself up after being surrounded.
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Middle East
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Syrian state TV released footage of the aftermath of the Tahrir square blast
A suicide bomber has launched an attack in the Syrian capital, with reports saying at least 19 people were killed.
Syrian police had been chasing three suspected car bombers that were trying to enter the capital, state TV said.
Police stopped and detonated two of the vehicles, but the third driver entered Tahrir square in the east and blew himself up after being surrounded.
Syria is in the midst of a six-year-long civil war, with Damascus still mostly under government control.
At least 12 people were injured in Sunday's blast, reports said.
State TV said the attackers had planned to bomb crowded areas in the capital on the first working day after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"The terrorist bombings killed and wounded several civilians and caused physical damage to the area," a police official told state news agency Sana.
A local resident told AFP he heard "gunfire at around 06:00 (03:00 GMT), then an explosion which smashed the glass of houses in the neighbourhood".
An AFP correspondent at the scene saw extensive damage to nearby buildings and two bombed cars at one side of the square.
Syria's foreign ministry sent a letter to the UN saying up to 20 people were killed and dozens of women and children were among the wounded, Reuters reports.
Police said the attackers had intended to target busy areas in the capital
No group has said it carried out the attack.
More than 300,000 people have lost their lives in the Syrian war, which began with anti-government protests in 2011.
The UN's refugee agency says that since the conflict began about 5.5 million people have left the country, and another 6.3 million have been left internally displaced.
Damascus has remained mostly under the control of President Bashar al-Assad, and avoided much of the fighting.
However, the capital has experienced a number of suicide bomb attacks.
In March, two bomb attacks in the capital killed more than 40 people - the majority of them Iraqi pilgrims visiting the Bab al-Saghir cemetery, which houses Shia mausoleums. A jihadist group affiliated with al-Qaeda claimed that attack.
A few days later, an attack on the capital's main court complex killed at least 31 people. That attack was claimed by the Islamic State militant group (IS).
Such attacks may become more common as IS loses its territory and resorts to its tactic of striking soft targets in cities to sow instability, the BBC's Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher reports.
The army is still fighting rebels in the eastern suburban areas of Jobar and Ain Tarma.
• None Why has the Syrian war lasted 12 years?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40472202
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Princes William and Harry attend service at Diana's grave - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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The private rededication was held on what would have been their mother's 56th birthday.
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UK
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It is nearly 20 years since William and Harry lost their mother, Diana.
Prince William and Prince Harry have attended a private service to rededicate the grave of their mother, Princess of Wales, almost 20 years after her death.
The service was held at Diana's family home in Northamptonshire on what would have been her 56th birthday.
The ceremony was also attended by the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall are in Canada.
The service, at Althorp House, was conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
The Princess of Wales died on 31 August 1997 in a car crash in Paris, when the Duke of Cambridge was 15 and his brother was 12.
This is the start of a difficult few months for Prince William and Prince Harry as they remember their mother who, they say, smothered them in love.
They were traumatised children when she died.
Harry has spoken of how he shouldn't have been made to walk behind Diana's coffin.
William has expressed his considerable regret that they weren't old enough to do more to protect her.
Twenty years on, together, they're taking control of how she will be remembered.
They've commissioned a statue. Its unveiling, in the future, will be public.
Today's service was to be very private, with no media present.
The princes, like their mother, have a complex relationship with the press.
They will never forgive the paparazzi who pursued their mother's car in Paris.
Also absent from the graveside was Prince Charles.
It's fortuitous he's in Canada and it's probably a relief for all concerned.
The princes have commissioned a statue of Princess Diana to mark the 20th anniversary of her death.
The sculpture will be placed in the public grounds of her former residence, Kensington Palace.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40470217
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Grenfell Tower fire: Government to 'keep eye' on council - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Sajid Javid says the process to select a new council leader "will be independent of government".
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UK
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Supporters of Grenfell survivors took part in anti-government protests in central London on Saturday
The government will keep "a close eye" on Kensington and Chelsea council after its leader quit over the Grenfell Tower fire, the communities secretary says.
Sajid Javid said it was "right" that Nicholas Paget-Brown stepped down and said the process to select a successor would be "independent of government".
London mayor Sadiq Khan has called for commissioners to take over the council.
Earlier, a victims' group said one resident had had rent deducted from their bank account since the fire.
At least 80 people are believed to have died as fire engulfed the Grenfell Tower block, in west London, on 14 June.
Mr Javid said: "It is right the council leader stepped down given the initial response to the Grenfell tragedy," adding: "If we need to take further action, we won't hesitate to do so."
Mr Paget-Brown resigned following sustained criticism of the council and an aborted meeting of its cabinet on Thursday, from which leaders had tried to ban members of the public and press.
The council is due to elect a leader next week.
Yvette Williams, co-ordinator of the Justice4Grenfell campaign, said one former Grenfell Tower resident had had rent deducted from their bank account since the tragedy.
The survivor, who is housed in a hotel, got her bank card back and only realised that the rent had been taken when she went to withdraw funds from a cash point, Ms Williams said.
"It's just disgusting," she added.
Kensington and Chelsea council said to the best of its knowledge rent charges for Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk had been stopped.
"We are very sorry if this has happened and we are working to find out who has been affected so we can offer reassurance and an immediate refund," a council statement said.
"But if anyone has had money inadvertently taken as part of a direct debit or standing order we will make arrangements to have it immediately refunded."
Catherine Faulks, Conservative councillor for Kensington and Chelsea council, told the BBC: "It obviously is a mistake and I'm sorry that that has happened."
She said they would try to put it right.
Supporters of the Grenfell survivors joined anti-government protests through central London on Saturday, calling for an end to austerity measures.
Council leaders claimed on Thursday that an open meeting would "prejudice" the forthcoming public inquiry into the disaster.
But angry protests followed and Labour councillor Robert Atkinson, whose ward includes Grenfell Tower, branded the abandoned meeting a "fiasco".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Nick Paget-Brown: "I have to accept my share of responsibility"
In his resignation statement, Mr Paget-Brown said he had received legal advice not to "compromise" the public inquiry into the fire by having the meeting open to the public and press.
But he added this decision "has itself become a political story".
"It cannot be right that this should have become the focus of attention when so many are dead or still unaccounted for," he said.
Reacting to Mr Paget-Brown's resignation, Mr Khan said it had been "clear that the local community in and around North Kensington has lost trust in the council and that the administration is not fit for purpose".
He had earlier called on the prime minister to appoint "untainted" commissioners with "a genuine empathy for local people and the situation they face" to take over the running of the council until the next local council elections.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Council tries to ban press and public from meeting
Deputy council leader and cabinet member for housing, property and regeneration, Rock Feilding-Mellen, has also stood down.
The fire at the 24-storey block in North Kensington destroyed 151 homes, both in the tower and in surrounding areas.
Documents obtained by the BBC suggest cladding fitted to Grenfell Tower during its refurbishment was changed to a cheaper version, which was less fire resistant.
The tower's cladding has been the focus of attention, amid suggestions it was why the flames spread so quickly.
The head of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation has also stepped aside so he can focus on "assisting with the investigation and inquiry".
Did you live in Grenfell Tower? Or are you part of the local community? What's your experience of the council's response to the fire? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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Oil tanker and cargo ship collide in English Channel - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Both ships were damaged in the collision about 15 miles north east of Dover.
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Kent
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An oil tanker and a cargo ship have collided in the English Channel.
The collision happened 15 miles north east of Dover at 02:00 BST, the coastguard said.
The 183m (600ft) tanker Seafrontier, which is loaded with petrol, has a hole above the waterline and damage to the superstructure, the RNLI said.
The 225m (740ft) Huayang Endeavour was also damaged. None of the crew on board either ship was injured.
"Although both vessels have been damaged, there is no water ingress and no pollution," a coastguard spokesman said.
Huayang Endeavour was en route to Lagos in Nigeria and Seafrontier was travelling to Puerto Barrios in Guatemala. The vessels have Chinese and Indian crews on board, the UK coastguard said.
The Huayang Endeavour was on its way to Nigeria when the collision happened
The Seafrontier was damaged above the waterline, the RNLI said
A tug from Boulogne was called and the Seafrontier was taken under tow. The Huayang Endeavour is anchored mid-Channel between the two shipping lanes.
Both ships are registered in Hong Kong.
Weather conditions at the time of the callout showed a moderate wind and the state of the sea was calm, the RNLI said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-40467221
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UK to withdraw from international fishing arrangement - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Ministers say ending the arrangement will help the UK take back control of access to its waters.
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UK
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The government is to end an arrangement that allows other countries to fish in UK waters, it has been announced.
The convention allows Irish, Dutch, French, German and Belgian vessels to fish within six and 12 nautical miles of UK coastline.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the move would help take back control of fishing access to UK waters.
The European Commission said it "took note" but felt the convention had been superseded by EU law.
Ireland's minister for agriculture, food and the marine, Michael Creed, however, said it was "unwelcome and unhelpful".
"Brexit poses very serious challenges to the seafood sector and this announcement will form part of the negotiations," he said.
The Scottish government backed the idea, saying it had been pressing for it "for some time".
The London Fisheries Convention sits alongside the EU Common Fisheries Policy, which allows all European Union countries access between 12 and 200 nautical miles of the UK and sets quotas for how much fish nations can catch.
The relationship between the UK and Ireland is further governed by a separate arrangement.
Withdrawing from the convention, which was signed in 1964 before the UK joined what became the EU, means UK vessels will also lose the right to fish in waters six to 12 nautical miles offshore of the other countries.
What happens to the 12 to 200 mile area will be one of the issues at stake in Brexit negotiations.
Michael Gove told the BBC's Andrew Marr the change was about "taking back control" of UK waters, 6-12 miles from the coast.
When the UK left the EU it would become an "independent coastal state", he said.
He said the EU's common fisheries policy had been an environmental disaster and the government wanted to change that, upon Brexit, to ensure sustainable fish stocks in future.
But the SNP's Richard Lochhead, who held the post of fisheries minister in Scotland until last year, has concerns around fishing being used as a "bargaining chip" by the government, which would "let down UK fishermen".
"Michael Gove is doing his best to get maximum publicity out of the easy bit," he told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend. "But the difficult, complex bit is still to come [with] the Common Fisheries Policy.
UKIP's fisheries spokesman Mike Hookem also said he feared another "wholesale betrayal" without assurances about the 200-mile zone.
"Fishing communities across Britain voted to leave the EU to get back the rights to earn a living, support their communities and to stop the EU plundering our seas of fish that the UK could exploit economically," he said.
He added that the announcement was "no victory for the fishing community" and was instead a "government attempt to use smoke and mirrors to placate British fishermen, while at the same time having the option of handing most our fishing rights to the EU".
Government figures say fishing contributed £604m to UK GDP in 2015 and employed around 12,000 fishers. In 2016, the fish processing industry supported around 18,000 jobs.
The industry's body, the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, welcomed the decision.
Chief executive Barrie Deas said: "This is welcome news and an important part of establishing the UK as an independent coastal state with sovereignty over its own exclusive economic zone."
Its chairman Mike Cohen said a 12-mile exclusive zone for UK boats would be "a good thing" for the UK's inshore fishing fleet.
Will McCallum, Greenpeace UK head of oceans, said leaving the convention would not in itself deliver a better future for the UK fishing industry, and that for years governments had blamed the EU for their "failure" to support the small-scale, sustainable fishers.
He said, for example, that the UK had had the power since 2013 to decide how to allocate its EU fishing quota but that a report by Greenpeace in 2016 had found almost two thirds of that quota was concentrated in the hands of three companies.
He said the UK would also still be bound by the UN convention of the law of the seas - which requires cooperation with neighbours.
But Mr McCallum said he was "excited" that the government was making fishing a priority, after fearing fishing communities would end up "at the bottom of the heap" amidst complex Brexit negotiations.
Environmental law firm ClientEarth consultant Dr Tom West said the move appeared to be an aggressive negotiating tactic.
"As a country outside the EU we need to consider how we can best co-operate with our neighbours, rather than unilaterally withdrawing from all agreements in the hope that standing alone will make us better."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40471466
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Trump defends his use of social media in a series of tweets - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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The US president defends his persistent use of social media after a week of controversial tweets.
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US & Canada
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President Trump says his tweets helped him to win the US presidential election
US President Donald Trump has defended his use of social media in a series of tweets, following a row over comments he made about two MSNBC TV presenters.
"My use of social media is not presidential - it's modern day presidential," he tweeted on Saturday.
Earlier in the week, the president launched a crude personal attack on Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough.
His tweets were condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike, despite the White House springing to his defence.
Mr Trump's aides have previously expressed concern over his tweets.
But the president said on Saturday that social media gave him the opportunity to connect directly to the public, bypassing the mainstream media, whose content Mr Trump regularly labels as "fake news".
"The FAKE & FRAUDULENT NEWS MEDIA is working hard to convince Republicans and others I should not use social media," he tweeted, adding: "But remember, I won the 2016 election with interviews, speeches and social media."
Mr Trump also stepped up his attack on CNN after the US news network retracted an article alleging that one of the president's aides was under investigation by Congress.
"I am extremely pleased to see that @CNN has finally been exposed as #FakeNews and garbage journalism. It's about time!"
The story that caused the upset, which was later removed from the website following an internal investigation, resulted in the resignations of three CNN journalists: Thomas Frank, investigative unit editor and Pulitzer Prize winner Eric Lictblau and Lex Harris, who oversaw the investigations unit.
Mr Trump has repeatedly called CNN "fake news" and has previously labelled Buzzfeed a "failing pile of garbage". At a news conference in February, the president was introduced to the BBC's North America editor, Jon Sopel, to which he responded: "Here's another beauty."
Meanwhile, addressing military veterans at the John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington on Saturday, Mr Trump promised that America would "win again", prompting cheers from the crowd as he attacked media outlets.
"The fake media is trying to silence us, but we will not let them," he said at the Celebrate Freedom Rally. "The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House. But I'm president, and they're not."
The US president has more than 33 million followers on Twitter. Although it is becoming seemingly more difficult for the president to shock this audience, his 140-character posts have been condemned by both politicians and commentators.
Some consider the language used by Mr Trump as unsuitable for the holder of the highest office. On Friday, the New York Post published a three-word editorial on Mr Trump's tweets: "Stop. Just stop."
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It followed the president's tweets on Thursday mocking MSNBC Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski, saying she had been "bleeding badly from a facelift" when he saw her six months ago.
He also verbally attacked her co-host and partner, Mr Scarborough, describing him as "psycho Joe".
Ms Brzezinksi and Mr Scarborough hit back, accusing the president of an "unhealthy obsession" with them". They alleged the White House had tried to blackmail them into apologising for their show's negative coverage of President Trump.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were targeted in Donald Trump's latest Twitter tirade
Senator Lindsey Graham said Mr Trump's remarks were "beneath the office" of president, while fellow Republican Ben Sasse said "this isn't normal and it's beneath the dignity of your office".
Despite the criticism, President Trump stepped up his attack on Ms Brzezinksi on Saturday, calling her "dumb as a rock".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40471536
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Culcheth Eagles rugby league player dies during match - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Adam "Carney" Cooper, 31, was taking part in a North West Men's League Division Four match in Runcorn.
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Liverpool
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Adam Cooper was taking part in a North West Men's League Division Four match in Runcorn.
An amateur rugby league player has died during a North West Men's League Division Four match.
Adam "Carney" Cooper, 31, was playing for the Warrington side away at Runcorn ARLFC at Heath playing fields in Runcorn on Saturday.
An ambulance was called but the father of three could not be saved.
A minute's applause will be held before the Eagles' games on Sunday, the club tweeted, adding thanks "to the rugby league family" for messages.
A club statement said: "It is with the deepest sadness that we can now confirm the passing of one of our Open Age players, Adam 'Carney' Cooper, at yesterday's away match at Runcorn.
It said he would be sadly missed by his mum, fiancée Michelle, three children, grandma, sister, step-dad, uncle, and all of his rugby "family".
Other rugby clubs offered their condolences on social media.
Warrington Wolves said on Twitter: "Thoughts of everyone at Warrington Wolves are with all those affected by today's tragic events."
Leeds Rhinos tweeted: "Deeply sad news regarding the @CulchethEagles player today, our thoughts and prayers are with everyone connected to the club"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-40472917
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Brazil arrests notorious drug kingpin Luiz Carlos da Rocha - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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The alleged cocaine maker had evaded police for 30 years with plastic surgery and fake names.
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Latin America & Caribbean
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Brazilian police have captured a notorious drug kingpin who used plastic surgery to evade capture for almost 30 years, authorities say.
Luiz Carlos da Rocha - nicknamed "White Head" - is believed to be the leader of a massive cocaine empire in South America.
Federal police said sentences handed down to Rocha amount to more than 50 years of prison time.
Police said he was "a criminal who lived discreetly and in the shadows".
Rocha was arrested in Sorriso, in the western state of Mato Grosso, on Saturday, a police statement said.
The drug kingpin had been living in the city under the assumed name Vitor Luiz de Moraes. Agents compared old known photos of Rocha to the images of the new suspect, "and concluded that Luiz Carlos da Rocha and Vitor Luiz are the same person".
Suitcases full of cash, a gun and other objects belonging to Rocha were found
Brazilian police said his organisation was known to be violent, making use of armed escorts, armoured cars, and heavy weapons.
It produced cocaine in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia, before shipping it through an elaborate logistics system to Europe and the United States.
Luiz Carlos da Rocha is also accused of being one of the main providers of cocaine to criminal organisations within Brazil, in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
In total, police estimate his empire produced some five tonnes of cocaine each month.
Operation Spectrum - the name given to the sting - also seized some $10m (£7.6m) worth of criminal assets, including farms, other real estate, luxury vehicles and aircraft.
Officers believe Rocha's wealth is closer to $100m, and say they will seek to seize the rest of his assets in the second phase of the operation.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-40469706
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Bradley Lowery: Jermain Defoe visits terminally ill youngster - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Bradley's mother said her son was finding breathing difficult "but is fighting it".
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Tees
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Defoe pledged to keep in touch with the family after his move to Bournemouth
Footballer Jermain Defoe has visited terminally-ill Bradley Lowery after his family revealed the six-year-old is having difficulty breathing.
Former Sunderland star Defoe has struck up a close friendship with the avid Black Cats fan and club mascot.
Bradley, from Blackhall Colliery, near Hartlepool, has neuroblastoma and is receiving palliative care at home.
Defoe, 34, made the trip to County Durham on Friday, the day after he joined Premier League club Bournemouth.
Bradley's parents have already said they believe he has just a short time to live.
Bradley has been Sunderland mascot several times with his "best mate" Defoe
In a statement, his mother Gemma said: "Brad is very weak and finding breathing difficult, but he is fighting it.
"Last night, his best friend Jermain came to visit him and it was so heart warming seeing how Bradley reacted.
"He was so happy and laid for ages getting cuddles. Bradley was really relaxed with him."
Defoe, who pledged to keep in touch with the family after his move to Bournemouth, has described his relation with the ill youngster as the "highlight of his season".
"Away from football the relationship I've managed to develop with Bradley and what I've brought to his life and what he's brought to mine has been really special," he said.
"It's just been sad to see him go through what he has been and he's only six. But I still feel blessed that I'm able to be in his life."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-40467110
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Donald Trump posts video clip of him 'beating' CNN in wrestling - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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The video showing Mr Trump fighting a human CNN logo incites violence, the network says.
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US & Canada
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The clip was originally submitted to a pro-Trump forum on the social media site Reddit
The US President has tweeted a short video clip of him wrestling a person with the CNN logo for a head.
The clip is an altered version of Donald Trump's appearance at a WWE wrestling event in 2007, in which he "attacked" franchise owner Vince McMahon in a scripted appearance.
The animation appears to have been posted to a pro-Trump internet forum earlier in the week.
CNN later accused the president of inciting violence against the media.
One panellist on ABC's morning show, Ana Navarro - a Republican Trump critic and CNN contributor - said "it is an incitement to violence. He is going to get somebody killed in the media."
But Homeland Security Adviser Thomas Bossert, who had appeared earlier on the same ABC programme, said: "No-one would perceive that as a threat."
The clip was submitted to a Donald Trump forum on the social media site Reddit four days ago, where it became one of the most popular posts.
After the president's tweets, Reddit users expressed disbelief at the president's use of the clip.
It was also retweeted by the official presidential Twitter account, @POTUS, operated by the White House.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Meet the Progressive Liberal: an anti-Trump wrestler in Appalachia
Mr Trump has repeatedly clashed with the CNN news network, which he calls "fake news".
CNN's top White House correspondent Jim Acosta, who has been critical of the White House's attitude to the press, simply tweeted: "Isn't pro wrestling fake?"
Meanwhile, the CNN Communications team tweeted a seemingly sarcastic response quoting White House press officer Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who said on Thursday: "The President in no way form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence. If anything, quite the contrary."
In a later statement, the news network said "clearly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied... [he is] involved in juvenile behaviour far below the dignity of this office."
"We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his."
Donald Trump has shown time and time again that he views politics as performance art; another reality television competition where the more drama and conflict there is, the better.
His CNN-wrestling video tweet is just the latest, most jarring example. For Mr Trump the political process is like a World Wrestling Entertainment match. The plot is contrived; the action is fake; the outcome predetermined.
During his campaign, he pulled back the curtain on the show and laughed along with his supporters at the spectacle. He encouraged his crowds to cheer the hero (him) and berate the villains (everyone else).
As president, nothing has changed. CNN has just been chosen as the latest number-one bad guy.
The president's tweet will certainly harshen the level of discourse in the nation. Already there are accusations that Mr Trump is inciting violence.
Most of his supporters, however, will see it as Mr Trump probably intended - the latest episode in the biggest show ever to hit the US political scene; the newest twist in the remaking of the modern US presidency.
Mr Trump's unusual tweet comes a day after he said his use of social media "is not Presidential - it's modern day presidential."
On Thursday, the president launched a crude personal attack on MSNBC hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough. His tweets were condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Mr Trump has an entry in the World Wrestling Entertainment hall of fame for his appearance in the franchise a decade ago.
In 2007, franchise owner Vince McMahon challenged Mr Trump to a so-called "Battle of the Billionaires" at a Wrestlemania event, with a wager that the loser would have their head shaved.
The US professional wrestling scene is largely pre-scripted and seen as a form of entertainment rather than a sport.
Mr Trump was also a victim in the scripted fight
During the same event, Mr Trump was "thrown" to the mat by wrestler Steve Austin with his signature move, "the stone cold stunner."
Rather than fighting directly, each business magnate backed a performer. Mr Trump's wrestler was victorious.
But on the sidelines of the ring, Donald Trump performed his scripted attack on McMahon, providing the original video for his beat-down of CNN.
Mr Trump then helped to shave McMahon's head on television.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40474118
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Grenfell Tower fire: No prosecutions for subletting of flats, government promises - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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The government hopes the promise will encourage more people to come forward to help identify victims.
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UK
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At least 80 people are thought to have been killed in the fire
No-one will be prosecuted for illegally subletting a Grenfell Tower flat, the government says, as work continues to identify all those killed in the fire.
It says its priority is supporting survivors and identifying loved ones and is urging people to help.
At least 80 people are thought to have died in the fire at the west London block and it's feared the full death toll won't be known for months.
Meanwhile cladding on 181 blocks in 51 areas has now failed fire safety tests.
Cladding from as many as 600 tower blocks across England is being tested as it is thought Grenfell Tower's recently-installed cladding may have helped the fire to spread.
All of the material checked so far in the wake of the tragedy on 14 June has failed the tests.
However, the Department for Communities and Local Government said it was testing the buildings it was most worried about first.
Earlier this week, police warned it would not know the final death toll until at least the end of the year and appealed for the public to come forward with any information about those who were inside at the time of the fire on 14 June.
The Metropolitan Police and Home Office have also both said they are not interested in the immigration status of anyone living in the building.
Legal guidance telling prosecutors not to bring charges for subletting given the "public interest" in identifying the victims has been issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders.
"It is a priority for investigators to establish who was in Grenfell Tower on that tragic day and it is crucial that we do everything possible to support them," she said.
The decision was made alongside the Attorney General, Jeremy Wright QC, who added: "Every piece of information will help the authorities accurately identify who was in the flats at the time of the fire.
"I hope this statement provides some much needed clarity to residents and the local community, and encourages anyone with information to come forward."
Announcing the move, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid added: "Supporting those affected by the tragic events at Grenfell Tower has been the absolute priority of the government - that includes making sure that loved ones still missing are identified.
"Therefore I would urge those with information to come forward without fear of prosecution."
Supporters of Grenfell survivors took part in anti-government protests in London on Saturday
The news follows an announcement by Kensington and Chelsea Council that it would suspend the rents of those forced to leave their homes after the fire.
Residents living in nearby buildings - the so-called finger blocks - have been without hot water since the neighbourhood's boiler was destroyed during the fire.
Now the council has confirmed their rent will be suspended until at least January 2018 and any rent deducted since 14 June will be refunded.
It comes after a victims' group said one resident had had rent deducted from their bank account since the fire.
The west London council has been heavily criticised for its response to the disaster, leading this week to the resignation of its leader, Nicholas Paget-Brown, and his deputy, Rock Feilding-Mellen.
Robert Atkinson, leader of the opposition on Kensington and Chelsea council, told the BBC: "I still have residents who are not housed.
"I still have residents have no hot water and I have got residents living in hotels which they are now sharing with Wimbledon spectators. That is not a satisfactory situation."
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Sid-Ali Atmani, who lived on the 15th floor with his family and is currently in a hotel, told the BBC: "Still we haven't any improvement regarding our situation. Our personal opinion is [that it is] a failure for people who are responsible for that."
A Kensington and Chelsea council spokesman said: "We are focused on the needs of all affected residents, including those from Barandon Walk, Testerton Walk and Hurstway [the finger blocks].
"This group of residents have suffered a huge disruption to their lives as they were evacuated from their homes."
He added that the council expected to have the hot water supply restored in the next week.
He said some had gone back to their homes, but the council would continue to provide temporary accommodation for those who did not want to return.
Meanwhile, Labour MP David Lammy, whose friend Khadija Saye died in the fire, told Sky News that the retired judge leading the public inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, would have to maintain the confidence of survivors.
"The job is not just to be independent and judicious - I am sure he is eminently legally qualified, of course he is - it is also to be empathetic and walk with these people on this journey," he said.
Yvette Williams, from the Justice 4 Grenfell campaign group, told Sky News they would boycott the public inquiry into the tragedy if it did not have a wide remit and address "systemic issues".
Did you live in Grenfell Tower? Or are you part of the local community? What's your experience of the council's response to the fire? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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Arkansas nightclub shooting rapper in 'unrelated' arrest - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Rapper Ricky Hampton was held on unrelated charges a day after 25 people were shot in Arkansas.
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US & Canada
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The venue is being shut down by the city in the aftermath
A rapper who was performing at the Arkansas nightclub where 25 people were shot has been arrested on unrelated charges, US police say.
Gunfire was exchanged during a concert at the Power Ultra Lounge nightclub in Little Rock early on Saturday.
Ricky Hampton, known by his stage name Finese 2 Tymes, was detained by police early on Sunday.
Little Rock Police tweeted that the arrest was on outstanding warrants and is unrelated to the shooting.
A total of 28 people were injured, including three in a stampede. The youngest victim was said to be 16.
Two people were in a serious condition, but officials said all were expected to survive.
The mayor of Little Rock, Mark Stodola, said the shooting was the result of a disagreement involving a number of patrons at the club, which quickly escalated because of "the presence of rivalries and weapons".
"I want to reassure our public that this was not an act of terrorism, but a tragedy... It does not appear to be a planned shooting," Mr Stodola told reporters.
Mr Hampton's poster for the event was criticised in the aftermath of the shooting
Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner said the authorities were investigating whether a longstanding rivalry between gangs was to blame for the shooting.
In a post on Facebook, Mr Hampton offered condolences to the injured who came to see him perform, saying "violence is not for the club."
"We all come with one motive at the end of the day, and that's to have fun. Not to be hurt," he said.
The KATV network quoted Mr Hampton's booking agent as saying the rapper had "nothing to do" with the shooting.
Promotional material for Mr Hampton's concert was criticised by Mayor Stodola and others on social media for its image of the rapper holding an assault rifle pointed at the camera.
The city of Little Rock has suspended the Power Ultra Lounge's licence, and officials say they plan to shut down the club permanently. The venue's landlord has also posted an eviction notice at the site, reports said.
Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson thanked the first responders to the scene - but also expressed concern about violence in the city.
"Little Rock's crime problem appears to be intensifying. Every few days it seems a high-profile shooting dominates the news, culminating with this morning's event," he said.
He said a new strategy and extra resources were needed to "take the violent threats off the streets".
A previous version of this article quoted US media reports that inaccurately said Mr Hampton had been arrested in connection with the shooting.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40474117
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Pope Francis replaces critical theologian Gerhard Ludwig Muller - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Conservative German cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mülller has questioned the pontiff's liberal reform.
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Europe
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Gerhard Ludwig Müller will not have his mandate renewed
Pope Francis has decided to replace a conservative cardinal who openly questioned the pontiff's attempts to create a more inclusive church.
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller will not have his five-year mandate as Catholicism's chief theologian renewed.
The German's departure will open the way for his "meek" second-in-command to take the role.
The 69-year-old was named as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope Benedict in 2012.
Pope Francis was elected the next year.
The two did not see eye-to-eye, with Cardinal Müller questioning Pope Francis's attempts to being more open to "imperfect" Catholics, like those who are divorced.
Earlier this year, a victim of sexual abuse within the Church accused Cardinal Müller's department of impeding the Pontiff's efforts to stop internal cover-ups of abuse.
Pope Francis - with Cardinal George Pell, left - and Cardinal Müller are known not to see eye-to-eye
His replacement, Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, is described as "speaking the same language" of the Pope, a priest told the Reuters news agency.
"Ladaria is someone who is meek. He does not agitate the pope and does not threaten him," he said.
The priest, who works in the Vatican and asked not to be named, added: "Clearly, the Pope and Cardinal Müller have not been on the same page for five years."
The change was announced by the Vatican two days after Cardinal George Pell was granted leave of absence from his position as treasurer to fight charges of historical sex offences in his native Australia.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40469196
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Hawking says Trump's climate stance could damage Earth - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Stephen Hawking warns over Donald Trump's climate policy in a BBC interview marking his 75th birthday.
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Science & Environment
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Stephen Hawking spoke to the BBC about climate change and Donald Trump
Stephen Hawking says that US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement could lead to irreversible climate change.
Prof Hawking said the action could put Earth onto a path that turns it into a hothouse planet like Venus.
He also feared aggression was "inbuilt" in humans and that our best hope of survival was to live on other planets.
The Cambridge professor spoke exclusively to BBC News to coincide with his 75th birthday celebrations.
Arguably the world's most famous scientist, Prof Hawking has had motor neurone disease for most of his adult life. It has impaired his movement and ability to speak.
Yet through it all, he emerged as one of the greatest minds of our time. His theories on black holes and the origin of the Universe have transformed our understanding of the cosmos.
Prof Hawking has also inspired generations to study science. But through his media appearances what has been most impressive of all has been his humanity.
His main concern during his latest interview was the future of our species. A particular worry was President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement to reduce CO2 levels.
"We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible. Trump's action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of two hundred and fifty degrees, and raining sulphuric acid," he told BBC News.
"Climate change is one of the great dangers we face, and it's one we can prevent if we act now. By denying the evidence for climate change, and pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump will cause avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful planet, endangering the natural world, for us and our children."
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also highlights the potential risk of hitting climate tipping points as temperatures increase - though there are gaps in our knowledge of this topic.
In its Fifth Assessment Report, the IPCC authors wrote: "The precise levels of climate change sufficient to trigger tipping points (thresholds for abrupt and irreversible change) remain uncertain, but the risk associated with crossing multiple tipping points in the Earth system or in interlinked human and natural systems increases with rising temperature."
When asked whether he felt we would ever solve our environmental problems and resolve human conflicts, Prof Hawking was pessimistic, saying that he thought our days on Earth were numbered.
"I fear evolution has inbuilt greed and aggression to the human genome. There is no sign of conflict lessening, and the development of militarised technology and weapons of mass destruction could make that disastrous. The best hope for the survival of the human race might be independent colonies in space."
And on Brexit, he feared UK research would be irreparably damaged.
"Science is a cooperative effort, so the impact will be wholly bad, and will leave British science isolated and inward looking".
I asked him what he would like his legacy to be.
"I never expected to reach 75, so I feel very fortunate to be able to reflect on my legacy. I think my greatest achievement, will be my discovery that black holes are not entirely black."
"Quantum effects cause them to glow like hot bodies with a temperature that is lower, the larger the black hole. This result was completely unexpected, and showed there is a deep relationship between gravity and thermodynamics. I think this will be key, to understanding how paradoxes between quantum mechanics and general relativity can be resolved."
When asked if money or practicality were no object, what his dream present would be, he said it would be a cure for motor neurone disease - or at least a treatment that halted its progression.
"When I was diagnosed at 21, I was told it would kill me in two or three years. Now, 54 years later, albeit weaker and in a wheelchair, I'm still working and producing scientific papers. But it's been a great struggle, which I have got through only with a lot of help from my family, colleagues, and friends."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40461726
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Viewpoint: Why we all need to watch Brad Pitt's film War Machine - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Ahmed Rashid on the Netflix movie that sets out why the US is still embroiled in Afghanistan.
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Asia
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Brad Pitt stars as a military commander in Afghanistan in Netflix's dark satire
The longest war the US has ever fought - 16 years and counting - is about to get longer as President Donald Trump decides on sending several thousand more troops to Afghanistan.
As with the wars in the Middle East, Afghanistan highlights the difficult political choices and counter-insurgency strategies the US has been pursuing fruitlessly since 9/11. Today six Muslim countries (Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Afghanistan) are in a state of meltdown - partly as a result of US policies.
The "war on terror" launched by President George Bush, the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the conflicting policies of carrying out regime change in the midst of an ever-expanding Islamist extremist opposition have all created greater dilemmas for the US.
Since 9/11 there have been many good books and documentary films made about these dilemmas. Yet in all this time Hollywood has been unable to produce a movie that informs or educates the average movie-goer as to the bigger picture on why failure persists and jihadism spreads.
The few Hollywood films made about America's wars tend to be either satires or action movies in the John Wayne mould, showing US troops as heroic and caring but professional killers.
An exception was the 2008 film Hurt Locker, which won six Oscars and depicted the dilemmas faced by a US Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit in Iraq. But even Hurt Locker dealt with only a slice of the problem, as did otherwise well-made documentaries about US forces in Afghanistan such as Restrepo and Korengal.
Hollywood movies do not ask the difficult strategic questions.
Should the US invade or interfere in countries it knows little about, how do US troops win over local support, is nation building and promotion of democracy feasible by one part of the US government while another part pursues a war strategy? Can the US ever understand tribal societies through the barrel of a gun?
Hollywood has left us devoid of any understanding of the escalating global chaos.
That is until now. A remarkable new film, War Machine starring Brad Pitt, which at first whiff sounds like a gonzo-type war movie, brilliantly portrays these themes outlined above. David Michod, the Australian writer and director, and Netflix have made a movie that is both dark and satirical, emotional and belly-laugh funny, as well as being educative about US interventions.
The film is based on a character similar to former Nato commander US General Stanley McChrystal (R)
The script is based on the Rolling Stone magazine article and subsequent book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan, by the late journalist Michael Hastings.
His article led to the 2010 sacking of Stanley McChrystal, the US general in charge of the war in Afghanistan, after he and his staff officers made disparaging remarks about President Barack Obama to the journalist. The movie tells the story leading up to Gen McChrystal's dismissal.
The casting of Pitt as Gen Glen McMahon, the imagined McChrystal who is beloved by his men but also full of comic eccentrics, is near perfect. Pitt plays his role partly as absurdist comedy but also as someone who is on a steep learning curve on how to win or lose modern wars.
Full of bluster and self confidence Gen McMahon arrives to take charge in Kabul after another general had failed. "Let's go win this thing," and "Let's knock this on the head," he tells his military aides - a coterie of equally brilliant actors whose cameos act as foils for Gen McMahon's slow realisation that he is only repeating what other generals before him have tried and failed to do.
Gen McMahon cannot get the additional US troops he needs because Mr Obama is reluctant to send any. Gen McMahon cannot stop Afghan farmers from growing poppy because, officials tell him alternative crops like cotton would be competing with US farmers.
Fellow Nato officers teach Gen McMahon a new reality. "You can't build a nation at gunpoint" and "you can't win the trust of a country by invading it", he is told.
A cynical President Hamid Karzai, superbly played by Ben Kingsley (with all of Mr Karzai's habitual tics), hears out Gen McMahon describing how he will mark out a new direction. "We will build Afghanistan into a free and prosperous nation," says Gen McMahon. "Sounds a lot like the old direction," Mr Karzai replies with a knowing smile.
Several dark yet truthful encounters speed up Gen McMahon's understanding. A troubled and angry US marine played by Lakeith Stanfield questions how his contradictory strategy can work. Trained to kill, the marines is now told he must show "courageous restraint".
"I can't tell the difference between the people and the enemy," says the marine. "They all look alike to me. We can't help them and kill them at the same time. I am confused," he states.
Actress Tilda Swinton, playing a German politician, tells Gen McMahon that "you are spread all over the country and fighting 1,000 separate battles with local people who don't want you in their villages and that is a war you will never win". The general is gobsmacked into silence.
The film will not get a wide cinema release because it is showing on Netflix. However, this is a film that should particularly be shown at universities and colleges, and discussed amongst young and old.
It helps us understand why counter-insurgency is failing, terrorism expanding and why wars have destroyed so many countries. It helps explain why after 16 years Washington is still debating troop numbers.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-40418967
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Sheffield student Joana Burns died after taking ecstasy - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Joana Burns had just finished her maths degree when she took ecstasy at the Students' Union.
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Sheffield & South Yorkshire
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Joana Burns was not said to be a regular drug user
A 22-year-old maths student died after taking MDMA for a "final fling" to mark the end of university.
Joana Burns had completed her Sheffield Hallam University degree when she went on a night out at The Foundry, at the University of Sheffield's Students' Union building, on 6 June.
A South Yorkshire Police report found she and her friends paid £7 each for the drug, commonly known as ecstasy.
One friend told officers that Miss Burns was not a regular drug user.
The friend said: "It was just supposed to be a one-off, 'final fling' to finish university."
Another friend said there was an "understanding/assumption" that the group would take drugs on the night out.
Miss Burns was taken from the Glossop Road venue to the Northern General Hospital after falling ill, while another young woman was also admitted in a critical condition after taking drugs.
The University of Sheffield's Students' Union says it "operates a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs consumption, possession and dealing"
Police compiled the report for a licensing hearing at Sheffield City Council.
PC Paul Briggs said during a visit to the premises a week before the student's death, he found the Foundry's drugs box to be "considerably full" of confiscated substances.
A "large quantity" of drugs was seized by door staff on the night of the incident, the report added.
Temporary Ch Supt Shaun Morley said officers from South Yorkshire Police's licensing team had recovered a large quantity of drugs seized by door staff at previous visits to the premises.
The University of Sheffield Students' Union website said anyone caught with drugs would be removed from the premises.
A fundraising page for Miss Burns' memorial fund has seen more than £1,250 pledged in donations.
A tribute on the JustGiving page read: "Joana was a wonderful young woman with so much to look forward to.
"She will be missed not only by her family and friends but by everyone who knew her."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-40473232
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Girl killed as car crashes into teenagers in Croydon - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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Police say the driver, who fled on foot, had been driving at speed when he lost control of the car.
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London
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The red Audi A3 was travelling at speed when it hit the group on Pixton Way in Croydon
A 16-year-old girl was killed and six other teenagers were injured when a car crashed into pedestrians in south London.
The red Audi A3 was being driven at speed when the driver lost control at a corner and hit the group on Pixton Way, Croydon, just before 01:30 BST.
The driver fled the scene on foot after the crash. A man in his 30s has since been arrested.
The Met do not believe the car was deliberately driven into the group.
The six teenagers who were hurt were taken to south London hospitals for treatment. Their injuries are not said to be life-threatening.
The 16-year-old girl's next of kin have been informed.
Police said the man attended a south London police station and was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-40473177
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Why CNN 'assault' tweet should surprise no-one - BBC News
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2017-07-02
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In Trump's politics, the drama is contrived; the action is fake; the outcome predetermined.
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US & Canada
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Trump's history with wrestling goes back at least a decade
On Saturday, Donald Trump tweeted that he's redefining the social media behaviour of a "modern-day" president. On Sunday he once again proved it.
Mr Trump's CNN-wrestling video, apparently cribbed from a user on the internet message board Reddit, may be unfamiliar commentary coming from the chief executive of the US, but it's classic Trump.
He has shown time and time again that he views politics as performance art; another reality television competition where the more drama and conflict there is, the better.
Candidate Trump belittled his Republican opponents - Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and company - then shrugged it off as part of the game. He turned Hillary Clinton, whom he had once praised and buddied around with at his wedding, into a "crooked" caricature who should be shipped off to prison.
He portrayed the media, and CNN in particular, as cartoon villains that he can rhetorically beat into submission.
Mr Trump's choice of a professional wrestling clip for his latest tweet was particularly apt, as throughout his campaign he treated the political process like a World Wrestling Entertainment match. The drama is contrived; the action is fake; the outcome predetermined.
He pulled back the curtain on the show and laughed along with his supporters at the spectacle. He encouraged his crowds to cheer the hero (him) and berate the villains (everyone else).
Journalists - corralled in their pens - were often singled out for derision, and his adoring legions would turn and jeer, shaking their fists, but also, for the most part, enjoying themselves.
On more than one occasion while covering Mr Trump's campaign, I would have a friendly conversation with someone at his rally - an elderly woman in a homemade Trump t-shirt in Virginia or a leather-jacket-clad rancher in Nevada - then watch as they heartily booed me and my colleagues at Mr Trump's prompting.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Are President Trump's attacks on the media undermining the news?
The press, like Mr Trump's opponents on the debate stage, were all part of his performance; the black-clad villains in his show.
Some in the media have rushed to condemn Mr Trump's wrestling tweet as a thinly-veiled threat of violence against the media. CNN issued a statement calling it a "sad day" and asserting deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied earlier in the week when she said the president had never "promoted or encouraged violence".
Such imagery coming from the president of the US will certainly harshen the level of discourse in the nation, and there is the not insignificant possibility that some may view it as a call for violence.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'I want to upset people', says the Progressive Liberal, an anti-Trump wrestler
Most, however, will see it as the president probably intended - the latest episode in the biggest show ever to hit the US political scene; a new plot twist to keep the audience entertained.
As Mr Trump said in a speech lashing out against his media critics on Saturday night: "I'm president, and they're not."
Donald Trump played by his rules and won. He's going to keep reminding us that it's not the same game anymore.
Welcome to the modern presidency.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40475448
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How Britain supported the early release of Rudolf Hess - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Newly released files reveal that the UK supported the release of the Nazi leader as early as 1956.
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UK
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Files from the National Archives reveal that the British government supported the release of the Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess as early as 1956.
Rudolf Hess was Adolf Hitler's deputy and, for a while, one of the most powerful figures in Nazi Germany. He is mainly remembered for flying to Britain in 1941 in a bizarre and unsuccessful solo peace mission, which resulted in his arrest and imprisonment for the rest of World War Two.
After the war Hess was sentenced to life imprisonment and spent the rest of his days in Berlin's Spandau Prison. For much of his time he was its only inmate.
But Foreign Office files released on Thursday show that the British supported Hess's release more than three decades before his suicide in 1987.
Hess was sentenced at the Nuremberg trials in 1946 by the so-called Four Powers - the UK, the US, France and Russia - and support for his release was needed by all of them before any change could be made. By 1966, the six other prisoners held in Spandau - including Hitler's architect, Albert Speer - had been freed or had died.
Hess, by this time 72, was to remain Spandau's solitary prisoner for the rest of his life. While healthy for his age, Hess was inevitably frail. His son organised a campaign for his release, receiving considerable press coverage in West Germany. There was also growing support for this in the UK.
Hess at the Nuremberg trials, sitting next to Hermann Goering
The files show the British government stepped up its efforts to have him freed. In 1979, just after becoming Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington wrote a particularly strong note to his Soviet counterpart Andrei Gromyko. "It would be both inhumane and pointless," he said, "to insist that this old man should die in prison."
In all, the British made 11 unilateral appeals for Hess to be freed. The Americans and French supported them in a further nine. The Soviets always refused to consider the case.
Nearly 40 years after the end of the war, Soviet politicians and diplomats argued that the release of such a leading figure in the Nazi regime would not be understood by the Soviet people, or by others who had suffered. One diplomat said he was not convinced by the so-called humanitarian argument - "The suffering which he and other Nazis had inflicted was not human," he said.
Tony Le Tissier was the last British governor of Spandau, holding the post in the decade leading up to Hess's death. There were also French, American and Russian governors - they took turns to run the prison, for a month at a time.
Tony Le Tissier, the last British governor of Spandau prison
The rules of Spandau, drawn up after the Nuremberg trials, were harsh. Prisoners were only to be addressed by their number, never their name. Punishments were strict. When in 1955 Hess failed to greet a Soviet warder, he lost all his reading materials for 10 days.
Prisoners could be put on bread and water, or placed in punishment cells. But Le Tissier says that by the time he arrived, the regime was far more relaxed. Although Hess was supposed to be called Number Seven, not everyone stuck to that - some officers did address him by name. He was not supposed to watch the television news - but that wasn't rigidly enforced either.
He could go into the garden when he chose, and he had two cooks to prepare any meal he wanted. "He ate an awful lot!" says Le Tissier. "Quite a surprising amount."
Le Tissier did chat to Hess but he says the prisoner never talked about his past: "It was a closed circle - never came into it." Neither did they ever talk about the news or politics.
While Le Tissier tried to make Hess's stay as comfortable as possible, organising new chairs for his room for instance and a new bed, he did not personally agree with the argument that he should have been freed. Le Tissier thinks Hess deserved to die in prison, for all that he had done.
"He got his just deserts," he says. "He was a fanatical Nazi - an enemy. I did feel very strongly that he was there till he finished."
In August 1987 Hess killed himself, wrapping a lamp cord round his neck. Some suggested he was helped but Le Tissier is convinced that Hess acted unaided. Security was extremely tight in Spandau, he says. There was only one key to the gate, and only the chief warder had it.
Le Tissier recalls his reaction: "It was a fait accompli - it was over." He thinks it was a good thing. "It was such a waste of time and money, involving so many people."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40647291
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Regal rules: The dos and don'ts for meeting the Queen - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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A Canadian governor got caught up in regal protocol as he touched a royal elbow.
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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. Canada's Governor General lightly touched the Queen on the elbow as she descended a flight of steps
Canada's governor general has been forced to defend his actions after a "slippy" carpet led to a breach of royal etiquette with the Queen. But how do you avoid a protocol slip-up?
David Johnston raised eyebrows on Wednesday as he was seen to be lightly touching Her Majesty's elbow as she descended some steps, at an event in London.
Mr Johnston said he was simply concerned about the Queen's safety and made the judgement that a breach of protocol was appropriate "to be sure that there was no stumble".
To avoid any future mishaps, however, here is a reminder of the traditional dos and don'ts.
Prime minister Theresa May performs a curtsey as she greets the Queen
In 2009, traditional protocol was breached when the Queen and Michelle Obama were spotted with their arms around each other
Actor Tom Hiddleston gave the Duchess of Cornwall friendly shoulder squeeze when they met during a Radio 2 broadcast last year
These rules aren't steadfast and those in breach need not fear exile. The official website for the British Monarchy states "there are no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting the Queen or a member of the Royal Family". It hastens to add: "Many people wish to observe the traditional forms." The choice is yours.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40668579
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Do you have to avoid huggers at work? - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The number of workplace huggers is said to be on the rise, but it is still a social - and legal - minefield.
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Business
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Hugging at work is apparently on the rise
Are you a hugger or a hand shaker - or neither? When a work colleague returns from holiday or maternity leave, do you go in for the double bear-hug, or a friendly hello from across the desk?
For those people who prefer a non-physical greeting, the direction of office etiquette may be moving against you.
There is evidence that workplaces are seeing a rise in hugging culture. In a survey last year more than half of advertising and marketing executives said hugging was common, up from a third in the survey in 2011.
Experts say it could have a lot to do with more relaxed workplace environments.
But there's a downside. A separate study last year on sexual harassment in the US fast food industry found that more than a quarter of workers felt they were hugged inappropriately.
Deborah Wallsmith, an assistant professor of anthropology at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, says that the gradations of hug discomfort depend upon nuances, relationships, and personal preferences.
"The least offensive is the one armed side-by-side hug, where the huggers are standing next to each other, and extend their adjacent arms around each other's waist.
"The most objectionable is the full-frontal squeeze that goes on forever."
She adds that she "feels uncomfortable getting hugged by former professors and former bosses".
Kara Deringer, a business coach from Alberta, Canada, explains that context is all-important. Yet many people get it wrong.
She agrees that hugging can be very useful. "It creates connections." But on the other hand, she says: "Be careful. I have seen lots of misunderstandings.
"I currently work in a team, and we're huggers. But there are those who will courageously say 'I'm not a hugger'."
Ms Deringer recommends either asking people for a hug, or paying very close attention to body language. "If they reach out their hand? I've got it, they're hand shaker or a high fiver."
And beware another minefield - the sociological layers of power, culture, and gender. All can have their own "rules" for physical contact, says Ms Deringer. "It's also about social intelligence - I won't hug someone I just met."
Tracey Smolinski is also in a work culture where hugging is acceptable.
The chief executive of Cardiff-based Introbiz, which hosts business networking events, says: "We are quite a friendly team, and usually give a kiss on the face, both cheeks, when we are familiar with them.
"But if you don't know them, best not to kiss or hug, because you don't know how they will take it. You have to be careful."
Some of this may sound like commonsense. But what if hugging is standard practice in your office, but you really don't want to indulge? Are you the office grinch?
One person's hug can be very unwanted
Toronto-based musician Cynthia Pike-Elliott, who has had careers in healthcare and law enforcement, says that in both environments hugging was standard.
"Hugging was a huge part of my workplace, a huge part in maintaining these personal relationships," she says. For her, hugging is "a way to say to someone that you've made a connection with them, and that you trust them… It's not hurting anyone.
"If I was an employee, a hug from my employer would show their pride and gratitude of a job well done much more than words could ever accomplish," she says.
Ms Pike-Elliott adds that if a business owner hugs a client, it "shows trust and validates that the client is special, it builds a solid relationship".
In her role as a musician she has found colleagues and acquaintances more "huggy" than most. "Music and arts is about revealing your soul. It's very personal," she says.
Cynthia Pike-Elliott says that in her industry, hugging is very common
Not everyone's so keen on the idea of hugging, however. Sometimes, it ends up in court.
Earlier this year, California corrections officer Victoria Zetwick California accused her superior, the county sheriff, of giving more than a hundred unwanted hugs over a dozen years. A court said it was enough to constitute a "hostile environment".
More stories from the BBC's Business Brain series looking at quirky or unusual business topics from around the world:
Canadian labour lawyer Shaun Bernstein advises against hugs in the office, particularly in light of the province of Ontario's update to its Occupational Health and Safety Act last September.
This included more provisions against workplace harassment and unwelcome attention.
Mr Bernstein says: "If the hug is taken in the wrong way, it can easily be construed under the law as workplace sexual harassment, which places a responsibility on the employer to investigate...
"There's the specific prohibition when it comes from a person in power, so I think that that's important to note."
It is also the responsibility of the company to have a designated harassment complaints officer, as well as a back-up person in case the officer is the one causing trouble.
Mr Bernstein adds: "Employers have a serious responsibility when it comes to protecting their workers against harassment, and are obligated to have policies in place to prevent this kind of conduct."
Always remember that work friends are not the same as real friends, says Adina Zaiontz
For Adina Zaiontz, chief executive of Napkin Marketing, in Toronto, the simple rule is: "When in doubt, don't hug... Everyone feels differently about personal space and boundaries." It's possible to hug and still avoid full body contact, she adds.
So, when does she feel it's OK?
Ms Zaiontz adds: "No matter what you think, your work friends are different than your real friends. Your real friends can't call HR on you."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40580986
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Justine Damond shooting: Minneapolis police 'feared ambush' - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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A lawyer suggests Minneapolis police could have been startled by Justine Damond, before killing her.
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US & Canada
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The lawyer for a US police officer whose partner killed an Australian woman says it would be "reasonable" for the pair to have feared an ambush.
Minneapolis officer Matthew Harrity has reportedly said they were startled by a "loud sound" before last Saturday night's shooting of Justine Damond.
Police have released the transcript of her call to police, in which the 40-year-old reports a suspected rape.
She was fatally shot in the abdomen by one of the officers she had called.
Officer Mohamed Noor, who fired the fatal shot in Ms Damond's upmarket neighbourhood, has refused to be interviewed by investigators, as is his legal right.
Fred Bruno, a lawyer for Officer Harrity, said on Wednesday: "It is reasonable to assume an officer in that situation would be concerned about a possible ambush.
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"It was only a few weeks ago when a female NYPD cop and mother of twins was executed in her car in a very similar scenario."
He was referring to the 5 July shooting of a 48-year-old police officer as she sat in her patrol car in the Bronx borough of New York City.
The attorney's comments come a day after Officer Harrity spoke to investigators with the state's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is leading the investigation.
During the interview, he described seeing a young person on a bicycle pass by moments before Ms Damond pounded on the door of the police car, according to KSTP-TV.
Detectives have appealed to the cyclist to come forward with any information he may have.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "Justine should be here. This shouldn't have happened"
On Wednesday police released the transcript of her two separate 911 calls, which she made after hearing screams nearby.
"I'm not sure if she's having sex or being raped," she told the police operator, before giving her address.
"I think she just yelled out 'help', but it's difficult, the sound has been going on for a while," she continued.
Ms Damond called back eight minutes later to ensure police had the correct address.
Body cameras, which are worn by all Minneapolis police, had not been turned on at the time of the shooting and the squad car dashboard camera also failed to capture the incident.
Officers Harrity and Noor, who between them have spent three years on the police force, have been placed on paid administrative leave.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is appealing to the US for an explanation.
"It is a shocking killing, and yes, we are demanding answers on behalf of her family," he told Australian TV on Wednesday.
Hundreds of friends and family of Ms Damond held a vigil on Sydney's Freshwater beach on Wednesday morning.
The slain yoga instructor and spiritual healer was engaged to marry an American man.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton told reporters he has been in touch with the Australian embassy, adding the state may need to review rules covering police use of body cameras.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40661873
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Yousra Elbagir: Sudan's 'big and beautiful' pills for women - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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In our series of letters from African journalists, Yousra Elbagir explores Sudanese women's appetite for weight gain pills.
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Africa
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Pills with fattening side-effects are widely available from illegal vendors in Sudan
In our series of letters from African journalists, Yousra Elbagir looks at how some Sudanese women are turning to black market substances in their quest for beauty.
While skin bleaching is a long-standing cosmetic staple across Sudan, a newer craze is sweeping the nation.
Many young women are turning to prescription pills in order to gain weight, and hopefully gain the curvaceous figures they see as the standard of beauty.
Away from the regulation of trained pharmacists, fattening pills are illegally dispensed by the same small shops which sell topical bleaching creams and other popular beauty fixes.
Sold individually, in small bags and emptied sweet containers, they are completely devoid of any information about medical risks.
It is difficult to estimate how many women in Sudan use these products to gain weight, because many are reluctant to admit to it.
"Pills are handed out in the village like penny sweets," says Imitithal Ahmed, a student at the University of Khartoum.
"I've always been scared [to use them] because I've seen family members fall ill and close friends become dependent on appetite stimulants.
"My aunt is on the brink of kidney failure and has blocked arteries from taking too many fattening pills, trying to get a bigger bum.
"Everyone in the family knows why she's sick, but she won't own up to it. She's had to stop taking the pills on doctor's orders."
"Fattening pills are a popular niche within a much bigger trend"
Pills are often rebranded and given catchy street names which allude to their effects.
From The Neighbours' Shock to Chicken Thighs and My Mama Suspects, the clinical name of pills are forgotten and replaced by promises of a bigger bottom, shapely thighs and a belly that will have your mother concerned that you might be pregnant.
Tablets range from standard appetite stimulants to allergy medicines containing the steroid hormone, cortisone.
"The ultimate Sudanese woman [is] full-bodied and light-skinned"
The side-effects of taking cortisone are now a cash cow for pill peddlers. It is known to slow the metabolism, increase appetite, trigger water retention and create extra deposits of fat around the abdomen and face.
Using unregulated steroids without supervision can damage the heart, liver, kidneys and thyroid, says Dr Salah Ibrahim, Head of the Pharmacists' Union in Sudan.
He explains that cortisone is a naturally occurring hormone in the body, helping to regulate vital bodily functions. But when a man-made, concentrated version enters the body in the form of pills or topical bleaching creams, the brain gives the body a signal to stop production.
If a user suddenly stops taking the substance, their major organs can spiral into dysfunction.
Young women in Sudan are dying from kidney and heart failure caused by sudden steroid withdrawal, medical professionals say.
Fatalities are especially common among new brides, who traditionally undergo a month of intense beautification before their wedding day and then abruptly stop using fattening pills and steroidal bleaching creams. Their deaths are put down to sudden organ failure.
Yet these horrifying beauty trends continue to gain traction.
Prescription pill abuse is taking off in Sudan's conservative society, partly because it lacks the social stigma and pungent, giveaway odour of alcohol and cannabis.
University students flock to buy the potent painkiller Tramadol, which is sold for 20 Sudanese pounds ($1; 80 pence) per pill.
Some of Khartoum's roadside tea-sellers are even known to drop the painkiller in a cup of tea, upon a coded request.
Many Sudanese women view Nada Algalaa as an ideal beauty
Awareness campaigns have so far had very little impact.
Dr Ibrahim, Head of the Pharmacists Union, has made numerous appearances on national television to warn of the dangers of prescription pill abuse.
At university level, pharmacists are taught vigilance and trained to act in keeping with ethics and pharmaceutical law.
But in a country where pharmacists and doctors are paid very little, the temptation to sell pills to illegal vendors is overwhelming for some.
"Last time I went to the beauty shop I go to for my creams, the shop owner brought out a chocolate box full of different fattening pills," says Ms Ahmed, the Khartoum student.
"Girls are too scared to ask pharmacists and doctors about the pills they buy from beauty shops, for fear of being publicly shamed."
Police may arrest traders and block smuggling routes, but the profits for rogue pharmacists keep growing regardless. Fattening pills are poured into the black market, deemed to be the lesser evil.
Sudan isn't the only African society where being overweight is a symbol of prosperity and power, boosting the "marriageability" of young women.
But in this country, it embodies an ideal.
It defines the ultimate Sudanese woman - full-bodied and light-skinned - epitomising beauty and coveted as a wife.
The iconic status of Nada Algalaa, a Sudanese singer whose looks are widely praised and emulated, is testament in itself.
For some women, it is an ideal to be acquired by any means necessary.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-40643504
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OJ Simpson to be freed from Nevada prison - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The former sports star and actor is granted parole after almost nine years in prison for armed robbery.
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US & Canada
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Four things OJ did in while in prison
Former US football star and actor OJ Simpson has been granted parole after nine years in a Nevada prison.
"Thank you!" said the 70-year-old, bowing his head as the board approved him for release in October.
Simpson is serving time for armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and 10 other charges over a 2007 confrontation at a Las Vegas hotel.
He was acquitted in 1995 of the murders a year earlier of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
The former Hall of Fame running back was found guilty in 2008 of the botched Las Vegas robbery - exactly 13 years to the day after he was sensationally cleared in the so-called trial of the century.
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He and a group of five others stormed into a hotel room to confront two sports-memorabilia collectors and seize items that he claimed belonged to him from his career.
The hour-long hearing for Prisoner 1027820 took place at the Lovelock Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in the Nevada desert.
Simpson told parole officials on Thursday the objects he took from the Las Vegas hotel room were later ruled by officials to legally belong to him.
"I've spent a conflict-free life," the prisoner said during the hour-long hearing.
However, in 1989 Simpson admitted spousal abuse after police responded to a domestic violence call at his home.
According to police records, his wife had run from the house screaming to officers: "He's going to kill me!"
More than two decades after the murders, the slow-speed car chase through the streets of Los Angeles and his sensational acquittal, OJ Simpson still commands an audience.
Television networks across the US interrupted their regular broadcasting to cut to the drab setting of the Lovelock Correctional Center in the high desert of Nevada.
And there he was, now 70 years old and dressed in simple blue prison garb but still instantly recognisable - the man who was a sensation from the moment he burst on to the American football field.
When he was asked by the parole board commissioners about how he would cope with media attention if he were to be released, the man they used to call The Juice laughed.
It must have felt like they were asking him how he would cope with breathing the air.
The families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman are not laughing - and there is evidence that OJ Simpson's supporters are a shrinking band.
The country was once divided, not least on racial lines, about the verdict in the "trial of the century" but a recent poll suggested that only 7% of Americans now believe the fallen star was not a killer.
Simpson (C) appears to dab a tear during the testimony of Bruce Fromong
On Thursday, Bruce Fromong, who was one of Simpson's victims in the robbery a decade ago, testified in favour of his release.
"I've known OJ for a long time," said Mr Fromong. "I don't feel that he's a threat to anyone.
"He's a good man. It's time to give him a second chance."
The prisoner told the commissioners he had helped establish a Baptist prayer meeting in prison, adding: "I could have been a better Christian."
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The prisoner also rejected suggestions he had an alcohol problem.
"I've done my time," he said. "I've done it as well and as respectfully as anybody can. I think if you talk to the wardens they'll tell you.
"I've not complained for nine years. All I've done is try to be helpful… and that's the life I've tried to live because I want to get back to my kids and family."
The Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners said it had received hundreds of letters for and against Simpson's parole.
In 2013 the board granted him parole on some of his convictions, but not for the more violent charges.
Nicole Brown Simpson and friend Ron Goldman were stabbed to death
His daughter, Arnelle Simpson, choked up as she told the parole board: "My experience with him is that he's like my best friend and my rock."
She added: "He is remorseful, he truly is remorseful."
But Simpson's legal problems are likely to continue after he is released.
An attorney for the family of Ron Goldman vowed to pursue him for due payment of damages.
Simpson rejected the suggestion that he had an alcohol problem during the hearing
Despite the 1995 not-guilty verdict, a civil court jury held Simpson liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend, awarding $33.5m (£25.8m) to their families.
Two years ago a court enlarged that judgment to about $58m, but it remains largely unpaid.
Legal experts say the families could claim a portion of Simpson's future earnings, such as book deals or television appearances.
However, under federal law Simpson's estimated $20,000 monthly pension from the National Football League is out of reach to creditors.
Following his playing career, he appeared in television commercials before taking roles in movies like the comedy The Naked Gun.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40676882
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Dali’s last great (posthumous) artwork - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Salvador Dali has been exhumed - in a situation as surreal as his art.
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Entertainment & Arts
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This whole Dali exhumation business is weird. It's right up there with any of his surreal artworks for its sense of the macabre and otherness. Nothing about this story is straightforward.
Let's start with where he is buried. Having died in 1989 and then been embalmed by Narcis Bardalet (who said he thought Dali would have found this whole affair hilarious), he was buried under the stage of his Theatre Museum in Figueres, north east Spain.
A crypt was created that the public can visit where they can see a large memorial stone marking his burial place. But that was not the point of entry for Thursday night's exhumation. That was upstairs in the huge geodesic domed hall that was once the old theatre's main stage.
Bang in the middle of the space, embedded in the floor, is a massive one-and-a-half tonne, unmarked stone slab, which thousands of people once walked over every day without any idea that they were treading on the great surrealist's grave.
Dali's tomb (centre of the image) in the Theatre Museum in Figueres
Now, though, they will know - as it has become famous for being the place where the forensic scientists accessed the artist's remains.
Security was tight. The media was banned. Only those who absolutely needed to be there (lawyers, Dali Foundation representatives, the forensic team, etc) were granted a place to watch the proceedings, which took place in a hastily-erected tent to stop any enterprising individuals from flying a drone above the glass dome and taking pictures.
The forensic operation took four hours and was followed by a press conference, where we learned the exhumation was much more straightforward than anticipated.
Dali's mummified body was in almost perfect condition, enabling samples of his hair, nail and bones to be taken. Narcis Bardalet was present and said it was a miracle the artist's moustache was still pointing at ten to two, like a clock.
María Pilar Abel Martínez, who claims Dali is her father
The Dali Foundation is not at all happy, although it does admit the extra attention has been a welcome magnet for tourists. The foundation can't understand why the judge approved the exhumation before all other avenues had been fully explored.
It points specifically to the DNA of María Pilar Abel Martínez, the Tarot card-reading woman who is making the claim that Dali is her dad.
Why, it asks, hasn't her DNA been compared with her brother's - whose father is known, and is not Salvador Dali. Maybe it has - we don't know. But one can only assume her representations had sufficient credibility to persuade a judge to sanction the exhumation.
The evidence is circumstantial. She says her mother met the famous artist in the mid-1950s when she was working in Cadaques, a small fishing port near Figueres where Dali and his wife Gala had created a surrealist's dream home out of a row of old cottages.
Her mother and Dali had a "clandestine affair" she says, leading to her mother becoming pregnant and subsequently giving birth to her in 1956.
Experienced Dali watchers are sceptical. Not least because he was well known for being more of a watcher than a doer when it came to sex.
The orgies he and Gala are said to have hosted at their seaside home were likely a visual treat for him, and a physical pleasure for her. That's how the story goes, anyway.
But should the DNA sample taken from his dead body prove that he is indeed the father of Ms Martínez, a revision to the accepted stance on Dali's voyeuristic nature will be needed. As will a reapportioning of his highly-prized estate, which contains paintings, buildings, sculptures and use of the lucrative Dali trading licence.
It is estimated the value of his estate, which he gave to the Spanish state and the Salvador and Gala Dali Foundation, is around £300 million, a quarter of which Ms Martínez would be entitled to under Spanish law. That would pay a legal bill or two, as well as being a bizarre end to a bizarre story that has Salvador Dali written all over it.
We'll have to wait until the middle of September to find out the results, as the court case won't resume until then.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. Follow my Twitter feed: @WillGompertzBBC If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40671704
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Obituary: Linkin Park star Chester Bennington's hurt made beautiful music - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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"Most of my work has been a reflection of what I've been going through," Bennington once said.
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US & Canada
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Bennington's friends have been responding to his unexpected death on social media
The angst-ridden vocals of Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, who died aged 41 on Thursday, helped lead the group to global critical acclaim.
The frontman's brooding charisma - added to the group's blend of rap, metal and electronic music - spawned a string of chart-topping hits.
The son of a police officer in Phoenix, Arizona, Bennington was born on 20 March 1976 and had a troubled youth.
After years of intense drug use, he got sober and joined Linkin Park in 1998.
"Growing up, for me, was very scary and very lonely," he told Metal Hammer magazine in 2014.
"I started getting molested when I was about seven or eight," he said, describing the abuser as an older friend.
"I was getting beaten up and being forced to do things I didn't want to do.
"It destroyed my self-confidence. Like most people, I was too afraid to say anything.
"I didn't want people to think I was gay or that I was lying. It was a horrible experience," he told the magazine.
His parents divorced when he was 11 years old, and he went to live with his father, whom he described as "not emotionally very stable then", adding that "there was no-one I could turn to".
The singer quit hard drugs after a gang broke into a property where the future star was getting high and pistol-whipped some of his friends.
Bennington moved to Los Angeles and successfully auditioned to join Linkin Park.
Later in the 2000s, as the band's success took off, he again began using drugs before returning to sobriety, telling Spin Magazine in 2009: "It's not cool to be an alcoholic.
"It's not cool to go drink and be a dumbass.
"It's cool to be a part of recovery.
"Most of my work has been a reflection of what I've been going through in one way or another," he added.
Linkin Park was formed in 1996 and the band's 2000 debut album, Hybrid Theory, surfed the popular wave of nu-metal, Rolling Stone magazine writes.
It eventually sold more than 30 million albums and became one of the top-selling albums since the start of this millennium.
The band has sold 70 million albums worldwide and won two Grammy Awards.
Linkin Park had a string of hits including Faint, In The End and Crawling, and collaborated with rapper Jay-Z.
Their latest music video for the song Talking to Myself was released on Thursday, on the same day of the artist's death.
Bennington was said to be close to Sound Garden's Chris Cornell, who took his own life in May 2017.
Bennington sang at the funeral for Cornell, who would have turned 53 on Thursday.
In addition to working with Linkin Park, he also sang for Stone Temple Pilots, for his side project Dead by Sunrise, and Kings of Chaos.
Bennington leaves six children from two different marriages.
If you are affected by the topics in this article, the Samaritans can be contacted free on 116 123 (in the UK) or by email on jo@samaritans.org. If you are in the US, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40677254
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Yorkshire helicopter sex films PC hid 'voyeurism' - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Adrian Pogmore used the aircraft to film people sunbathing naked and his friends having sex.
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Sheffield & South Yorkshire
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Former police officer Adrian Pogmore has admitted four charges of misconduct in a public office
An ex-police officer who admitted misusing his force's helicopter to film people having sex hid his "swinging and voyeurism", a court has heard.
Adrian Pogmore, 51, used the aircraft to film people sunbathing naked and a couple, who were his friends, having sex in their garden.
Four other men all deny charges of misconduct in a public office.
Giving evidence at Sheffield Crown Court, a former colleague said he did not know Pogmore was "into voyeurism".
Police officers Matthew Lucas, 42, and Lee Walls, 47, and helicopter pilots Matthew Loosemore, 45, and Malcolm Reeves, 64, are all on trial.
Pogmore made four recordings from the aircraft between 2007 and 2012, including filming two naturists sitting outside a caravan on a campsite and his friends having sex, the court heard.
The jury was told he knew the couple because they "shared his sexual interest in the swinging scene" and the pair had "brazenly put on a show" for the helicopter.
When asked by Mr Loosemore's defence barrister, Neil Fitzgibbon, if he believed it was appropriate for someone "into swinging and voyeurism" to operate a £1.5m police helicopter camera, ex-colleague PC Tim Smales replied: "certainly not".
PC Smales agreed with Mr Fitzgibbon when asked: "It would be fair to say Mr Pogmore kept his swinging and/or voyeurism a secret?"
He replied: "Certainly from me, yes."
The officer told the jury he would have reported it if he knew Pogmore was "into voyeurism and swinging" and that he worked with him for a number of years before Pogmore was dismissed from South Yorkshire Police.
Prosecutors had described Pogmore as "a swinging and sex-obsessed air observer", while the jury was told the other four men blamed him for the recordings.
The court heard how the footage was found among Pogmore's property at a police station, and he was the only defendant present during all four incidents.
Pogmore, of Guilthwaite Crescent, Whiston, Rotherham, has admitted four charges of misconduct in a public office.
Mr Reeves, of Farfield Avenue, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, denies two counts of the same charge.
Mr Walls, of Southlands Way, Aston, Sheffield, denies one count.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-40669603
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Brothers, two and five, steal mother's car for trip to grandfather - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The young boys drove three miles before crashing the car into a ditch on a windy road.
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US & Canada
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The boys drove for three miles down the windy, curvy road
Two brothers aged five and two stole their mother's car and wrecked it on a drive to their grandfather's house, say authorities in West Virginia.
Putnam County Sheriff deputies believe the toddlers probably teamed up to work the pedals and steer the wheel before crashing it in a ditch.
The pair made it three miles (4.8km) down the road and successfully navigated multiple turns.
They were not hurt but officials are weighing charges against the mother.
They had taken their mother's 2005 Ford Focus after finding the keys in the floor mat while playing in the front yard.
Officials believe they were trying to reach their grandfather's farm but crashed five miles short in the town of Red House.
"Luckily, they didn't pass anybody because they would've probably had a wreck before then," said Putnam County Sheriff Steve Deweese.
Mr Deweese told WSAZ-TV that the sheriff's office is working with the county prosecutor and Child Protective Services to determine if the mother should be charged with any crime.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40673822
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Benefit fraudster 'too weak to walk' climbed Kilimanjaro - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The ex-paratrooper said he could barely walk, but won a triathlon and skied in the Alps.
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South East Wales
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The court heard Lloyd was called "Action Man Mark" because of his love of physical activity
A benefits cheat who said he could not walk more than 50 metres climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and won a triathlon.
Mark Lloyd, of Ynysybwl, Rhondda Cynon Taff, claimed £6,551.80 in Personal Independence Payments, saying a slipped disc in his back left him in agony.
At the same time, the 33-year-old competed in races, climbed Africa's highest peak, went wing-walking and skied in the Alps.
He was convicted of a fraud charge at Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates' Court.
Chris Evans, prosecuting, said: "He said he can only walk between 20 and 50 metres, can't walk on uneven ground, suffers pain when walking long distances and needs to sit down every 20 minutes."
He claimed the cash between October 2014 and February 2016, but the court was shown photos of Lloyd competing in the HSBC triathlon in September 2015 - a race he won in the adult taster category.
That month, he was also pictured posing with an African guide during his five-day trek to the peak of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania which involved walking between eight and 12 hours a day.
He also took part in the World Powerboat Championships in Malta.
Lloyd told benefits assessors he could not bend or stretch and needed walking aids
Lloyd was medically discharged from the Army in 2011 after suffering an injury to his lower back while serving in Afghanistan.
In 2014, he applied for the Personal Independence Payment - up to £141 a week for those suffering long-term ill health to help cover costs of their care.
The following year, he applied for more money, saying his condition had worsened and he would be bedridden for a day if he walked more than 164 ft (50m).
Mr Evans said: "The case is not whether he has an injury or not, but if he exaggerated his condition to claim money."
Lloyd admitted filling in risk assessment forms to enter three triathlons without revealing he suffered ill health.
He said: "I didn't want any special treatment or assistance. I wanted to be self-sufficient and compete at the same level as everyone else."
Despite saying he struggled to walk, Lloyd reached the peak of Kilimanjaro
James Harris, defending, said Lloyd had not been dishonest and was able to push through the pain barrier because of his Army training.
"When climbing Mount Kilimanjaro he said he pushed himself and was in agony," he told the court.
District Judge Martin Brown called Lloyd's defence "nonsense" and said he deliberately lied to get "every penny he could".
The court heard the offence took place while he was serving a 20-week suspended prison sentence for common assault.
Lloyd denied one count of dishonestly failing to disclose information to make a gain for himself, but was convicted following a trial. He will be sentenced in August.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "Only a small minority of people try to cheat the benefits system, but cases like this show how we are rooting out those who are stealing taxpayers' money and diverting it away from the people who really need it."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-40667991
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University first-class degrees soaring - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Universities awarding first-class degrees to over 40% of students.
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Education & Family
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The proportion of first-class degrees has more than trebled since the 1990s
The proportion of top degree grades being awarded by UK universities has soared - with some universities giving first-class degrees to more than a third of their students.
The University of Surrey awarded a first-class degree to 41% of students last year, more than doubling the proportion five years ago.
And firsts awarded at the University of East Anglia have almost trebled to 37%.
Among the prestigious Russell Group of universities more than a quarter of students received a first-class degree.
The Press Association survey, analysing figures for 2015-16 from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), indicates it is now more common to graduate with a first-class degree than a lower second (2:2) grade - with 24% getting a first last year, compared with 21% getting a lower second. The most widely awarded degree was an upper second (2:1), received by about 51%.
The figures from HESA go back only as far as 1994 - when 7% of students received a first, but they show the proportion of firsts has more than trebled in the past two decades, up to 24% last year.
Among the 148 universities with comparable data, only a handful saw fewer first-class degrees last year than five years previously, with a number having doubled or trebled the proportion awarded.
Among specialist institutions, such as in the creative arts, proportions of firsts could be even higher - such as 64% of students getting firsts at the Royal Academy of Music.
"There are people who think the system isn't as robust as it might be," said Nick Hillman, head of the Higher Education Policy Institute.
"It can all be a bit bit cosy - you ask someone you know to be an external examiner."
Universities are their own degree-awarding bodies, so can decide their own levels of degree grades.
"A comparison would be if schools could decide how many A grades to give in A-levels - it's a big incentive for grade inflation," said Mr Hillman.
Prof Smithers, of the University of Buckingham, said unlike with national exams such as GCSEs and A-levels, universities were "free to award as many firsts as they like".
"They have every incentive to do so," he said.
"Students like to have top-class degrees and may choose universities on that basis."
Increasing firsts could push universities up league tables, said Prof Smithers.
"If every other university is doing it, you don't want to get left behind," he said.
But it meant that it was difficult for employers to interpret the value and that "an upper-second has almost become the pass grade".
Universities are competing for students and their tuition fees, rising to £9,250, and there have been suggestions that more higher top degrees will be an incentive for applicants.
First-class degrees will be an advantage for future job opportunities - and some companies recruit only from graduates with an upper second or above.
But there have also been arguments that rising degree grades reflect the improved A-level grades of those entering university and a more focused attention to studying.
Between 2010-11 and 2015-16, the University of Surrey increased its proportion of first-class degrees awarded, from 19% to 41%.
Prof Jane Powell, the university's vice-provost, said it "reflects a combination of national trends and the University of Surrey's concentrated focus on enhancing all aspects of our educational provision".
"It is very pleasing to see this high level of commitment by both staff and students translating into excellent degree results, the rigorous standards of which are confirmed by external independent assurance processes."
Imperial College has the highest proportion of firsts among mainstream universities.
A spokeswoman said this reflected the very high entry grades required to get a place at such a top-ranking institution.
Biggest increases in first-class degrees in mainstream universities 2010-11 to 2015-16
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40654933
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A glimpse inside the Goldman Sachs nursery - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Goldman is the only City firm to have an onsite nursery - but is it only deep-pocketed banks which can afford one?
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Business
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Amanda Wong and her daughter Naomi use the Goldman Sachs nursery
Head into the Goldman Sachs building on London's Fleet Street and you're greeted by wall to wall marble, a bank of receptionists and a water feature. So far, so City.
But wind your way past the lifts through an anonymous fire door and you enter a world that couldn't be less corporate. The sounds, colours and laughter of a nursery.
The Goldman Sachs Children's Centre is both incongruous - and an anomaly - the only onsite childcare facility in the Square Mile. Started in 2003 to offer back up provision for staff, it takes kids between the ages of three months and 12 years old.
The expense and regulatory requirements for such a facility are the main reasons why it is unique - and peculiar to a bank with deep pockets.
This is part of a day of BBC coverage looking at the cost of holiday childcare. Find out more at bbc.co.uk/business or follow the conversation on social media using the hashtag #Childcare
According to the latest figures from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, only 5% of businesses in the UK now offer childcare in the workplace.
Anecdotally, this is almost exclusively made up of large employers because they have the money and space to allow for it. They include government departments, Royal Mail, a variety of universities, Microsoft and Toyota.
There are tax breaks for those companies that do.
The onsite childcare at Goldman Sachs takes children from three months to 12 years old
Employers who include childcare as part of the employee remuneration package, attract tax, National Insurance and reporting obligations.
However, employers that offer in-workplace nurseries don't - and they get relief for the day-to-day running and capital costs of providing the service, for example heating and lighting, and premises.
It might be seen as a perk now, but onsite childcare flourished in the immediate post-war years out of necessity.
A labour shortage meant that women were needed to work - and factories and mills started to offer the creches that allowed them to.
Dr Laura Paterson of Oxford University, who specialises in the history of women's employment, says that childcare provision by businesses died away in the 1950s as the need for women became less acute and the way they worked changed.
"Part-time and flexible working hours reduced the need for workplace nurseries to some extent," she says,
"Women who worked from the 1950s to the 70s tell us that they did part-time jobs when their children were young to fit around school hours. And they worked in the evening so that their partner could care for their children."
Staff at Goldman Sachs are allowed 20 days of emergency childcare a year
But what about those working full-time at Goldman? For Amanda Wong, who project manages new trades for the firm and is a mum to 12-month-old Naomi, the children's centre has been a lifesaver.
Ms Wong put her daughter into nursery the same day she returned to work, shortly after Naomi turned nine months.
"It has made me feel a lot more relaxed and mentally ready to come back to work a lot earlier than I would have and I think it helps new mums with separation guilt or anxieties about returning to work," she says.
Though she admits it's not ideal to take a one-year-old on the Tube through central London each day.
Ishmeet Rayit, who manages the Goldman Sachs Children's Centre, tells me they have a higher staff ratio than Ofsted regulations require (one-to-two in the baby room rather than one-to-three), because they need to make children who might not be familiar with them, settle in quickly.
Of the 5,500 people who work in the office, about a quarter are registered users. Each parent at the bank gets 20 free "back-up" days to use the centre, renewed each year.
The most coveted facility in the centre is the after-school and holiday programme where the 5-12 year olds come. It's stuffed full of bilingual books and toys, showing just how multicultural the bank is.
"The kids call it an office day," Ms Rayit says. "They get taken out for lunch by their parents and they make friends here." Parents are only allowed to book 10 days of this holiday service at a time, the room can accommodate 12, and the waiting list to get in is long.
Goldman Sachs is in two old newspaper offices on London's Fleet Street
Sally Boyle, the international head of human resources at Goldman, says it is a "significant cost" to the firm - but it is worth it.
"We've definitely seen it have an impact on retention of a smallish group of women but important women who wouldn't have stayed I suspect if they hadn't been able to manage that childcare in a way that they can here," she says.
The centre is run by Bright Horizons, the largest provider of workplace nurseries in the UK. Goldman pays it a monthly management fee, and parents who need childcare beyond that paid for by the bank, deal directly with the nursery.
A spokesperson for the company says that demand for onsite care is increasing. "In today's competitive talent market, recruiting and retaining exceptional people is a high priority for organisations.
"Onsite childcare has been identified as a key factor in encouraging parents to return to work and, in turn, helping organisations to thrive".
But Rohan Silva, whose Second Home drop-in work spaces are planning in-house creches, says the barriers to entry today of setting up onsite childcare are enormous.
"The Ofsted accreditation process takes at least three months, and costs hundreds of pounds in registration costs and consultancy fees. In addition, there are multiple additional inspections each year, plus a chronic shortage of trained staff," he says.
"Another challenge is the fact that so few architects and designers have ever designed childcare facilities, because so few are created by property developers. That means thinking from scratch the issues around access and child-friendly materials," Mr Silva says.
He believes it's a vital way of allowing more parents to work. "The UK's rate of maternal employment is 27% lower than other Western countries - making childcare more accessible will make a big difference.
"This is especially true of single parents - who are much more likely to be unemployed, and for whom access to childcare is the biggest barrier to finding work," Mr Silva adds.
A recent Institute of Directors survey backs this up. It found over half of its members think that the cost of childcare hurts careers - particularly those of women.
It is currently consulting on whether to open a creche for its members.
For now, though unlike those women working in factories after the war, the option of taking your child to work is offered at a company's largesse rather than out of compulsion. And it's reserved for a privileged few.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40658619
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Prosthetic penis sex attacker Gayle Newland jailed - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Gayle Newland created an online persona to trick her female friend into a relationship for two years.
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Liverpool
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A woman who wore a prosthetic penis and tricked her blindfolded friend into sex has been jailed.
Gayle Newland, 27, of Willaston, Cheshire, created an online persona pretending to be a man and continued the deceit for two years.
A retrial jury found her guilty of committing three sexual assaults, which she denied, using a prosthetic penis without her victim's consent.
She was jailed at Manchester Crown Court for six-and-a-half years.
Sentencing her, Recorder of Manchester, Judge David Stockdale QC, said: "Truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction.
"The truth, the whole truth, here is as surprising as it is profoundly disturbing."
He added: "It is difficult to conceive of a deceit so degrading or so damaging for the victim upon its discovery."
Newland was originally jailed for eight years in November 2015 after she was convicted of the same offences, which happened in 2013.
But the conviction was later quashed on the grounds the trial judge's summing up of the case was not fair and balanced.
Newland created a fake Facebook profile when she was 15 years old
During the retrial the victim, who gave evidence behind a curtain, told the court she was persuaded by the defendant to wear a blindfold at all times when they met.
She said she only found out she was having sex with a woman - rather than a man - when she finally took off her mask.
The victim told the court she thought she was having sex with Kye Fortune - a fake Facebook profile Newland originally created when she was 15 years old, using an American man's photographs and videos.
She said: "There was no point until the day I took the blindfold off that I thought for one second that a woman was the person behind this."
Newland denied concealing her gender and claimed both women were gay and struggling with their sexuality when they met and had sex, with her as Kye, during role-play.
The defendant received concurrent terms of six years for three counts of sexual assault.
She was jailed for an extra six months for defrauding her former employers - an internet advertising agency - of £9,000 by creating fake client profiles between March 2014 and September 2015.
The court heard she had held a senior position at the firm, which paid bloggers to post content.
Simon Medland QC, prosecuting, said Newland "manipulated" the firm's payments system in which contributors were rewarded with small sums for posting content.
The retrial jury was not told of the fraud conviction until it returned its verdicts.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-40668960
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Sports Direct profits more than halve - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Profits at the sportswear retailer plummet 60%, which the company blames on the weaker pound.
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Business
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Mike Ashley said Sports Direct was on course to become the "Selfridges of sport"
Profits at Sports Direct have plummeted nearly 60%, which the retailer said was largely due to the weaker pound.
The slide in sterling means the firm has had to pay more for its imported goods, and its underlying pre-tax profit fell to £113.7m from £275.2m.
However, chief executive Mike Ashley said trading at its new "flagship" stores was going well.
Sports Direct's reputation has been badly hit by revelations about staff conditions at its Derbyshire warehouse.
Chairman Keith Hellawell said the company had made "positive progress" across the business as it continued to "strive to ensure that all of our people are treated with dignity and respect".
A recent survey of workers in Shirebrook, to which 3,300 people responded, had showed that an "overwhelming majority" of people in the warehouse "currently feel they are treated with respect", he added.
Staff had elected the company's first UK workers' representative and Mr Hellawell said he had "no doubt" their "contribution will prove invaluable to the board as the Sports Direct family continues to move forward together".
Sports Direct, which has been without a chief financial officer since last October, also said it had appointed Jon Kempster to the role. Mr Kempster is set to join the company on 11 September.
Mr Ashley said Sports Direct was trying to "conservatively manage the currency volatility that is reflected in our full year results".
Sports Direct imports many of its products from abroad and the pound's fall against the dollar had led to a "significant fall in profits", he added.
However, he said the company had now put in place hedging arrangements to "minimise the short-term impact of currency volatility".
The company's key strategy is to turn itself into the "Selfridges of sport", and Mr Hellawell said the "elevation of our retail proposition continues to be a key objective".
Sports Direct said it was forming a "new strategic partnership" with sportswear firm Asics.
The Japanese company will manage dedicated areas within Sports Direct's new upmarket "premium" stores.
Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital, said this had been a "transformational" year for Sports Direct.
Progress was being made on the new premium stores, he said, and they were "a lot more profitable than the existing Sports Direct stores".
The retailer's shares rose by 6% following the release of the results as investors appeared to welcomed the progress it was making to move upmarket.
In recent months, Sports Direct has bought 26% stake in Game Digital, increased its stake in Debenhams, acquired lingerie firm Agent Provocateur and snapped up the US sports clothing and outdoor equipment chains Bob's Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports.
The company's "spending spree on acquisitions" had affected profits, Mr Wilson said.
"That's something to bear in mind when we're looking at these figures and also what that does is it puts Sports Direct in a better position to make a strategic move in, for example, the department store area or in the US with its US acquisitions."
It doesn't look good on paper. But for analysts watching the company this seems like the beginning of the end of a difficult period for Sports Direct.
Financially, it's now protected against a further drop in the pound. Better late than never.
Reputationally, the damage it suffered from its alleged Dickensian treatment of workers is being addressed with a worker on the board of the company.
It's smartening up its shops and restating its goal to be the "Selfridges of sport".
The monkey isn't quite off its back. Chief executive Mike Ashley is still facing a court case about a £15m pub bet, which is generating colourful headlines.
But as the chairman ends his statement by saying, Sports Direct has been a big contributor to the UK economy with thousands of jobs and billions in tax.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40665459
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Obamacare repeal plan 'would axe insurance for 32m' - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The cost of health insurance would double in a decade under the Republican plan, the analysis finds.
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US & Canada
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Thirty-two million Americans would lose health coverage under a Republican plan to repeal Obamacare, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has forecast.
The non-partisan office's analysis found the cost of a medical insurance policy would increase 25% next year and double by 2026.
The repeal bill would also cut the federal deficit by $473bn (£363bn), predicted the CBO.
The Republican-controlled Senate has twice failed to pass a healthcare bill.
Its members plan to vote next week on a plan to repeal President Barack Obama's 2010 health law with a two-year delay.
But the CBO estimates the number of uninsured would rise by 17 million next year alone if the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, were to be overturned.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. President Trump has been switching his position what do about the health bill in recent days
President Donald Trump earlier called on his party to postpone their summer holiday until they have repealed Obamacare and replaced it with the Republican plan.
Mr Trump told 49 Republican senators at the White House: "We should hammer this out and get it done."
In the past two days he has switched position several times, urging the repeal and replace of Obamacare, just repealing it, allowing it to fail, before reverting to repeal and replace on Wednesday.
Mr Trump said: "For seven years you promised the American people that you would repeal Obamacare.
"People are hurting. Inaction is not an option. And frankly I don't think we should leave town unless we have a health insurance plan."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. President Trump won big in Kentucky last year but the state also depends heavily on Obamacare
Mr Trump warned a senator who was seated next to him that he could lose his job if he did not toe the party line.
A ripple of uncomfortable laughter was heard in the room as the president said of Nevada's Dean Heller: "And he wants to remain a senator, doesn't he? OK."
Mr Heller, who was one of the earliest senators to oppose the first version of the Republican health bill, is up for re-election next year.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has scheduled a vote early next week on a straight-up repeal of Obamacare.
However, it looks likely to fail after the defections on Tuesday of at least three of the party's senators.
Mr McConnell pointed out it was the same legislation that all but one Republican senator voted to send to President Barack Obama in 2015, safe in the knowledge he would veto it.
But now the party controls the White House and both chambers of Congress, some rank-and-file Republicans seem wary of enacting legislation that would eliminate medical insurance for millions of Americans.
"We thankfully have a president in office who will sign it," said Mr McConnell, whose reputation as a master tactician has been dented by the imbroglio.
"So we should send it to him."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Trump's battles with Obamacare - in his own words
With Democrats united in opposition, Mr McConnell can only lose two votes from his 52-48 majority in the 100-seat Senate to pass the bill.
Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia are opposed to repeal.
Overturning Obamacare was a top campaign pledge for Mr Trump and congressional Republicans, who view the law as a costly intrusion into the healthcare system.
The party's proposed alternative includes steep cuts to Medicaid, a healthcare programme for the poor and disabled.
It would also remove Obamacare's individual mandate, which requires all Americans to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty.
And there would be a six-month ban on obtaining new medical coverage for anyone who lets their previous policy lapse for more than two months.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Commander in tweets: What we can learn from Trump's Twitter
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OJ Simpson - the spectacular fall of 'The Juice' - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The story of Orenthal James "OJ" Simpson is that of the fall of an American hero.
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US & Canada
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After retiring from football, Simpson began an acting career
The story of Orenthal James - "OJ" - Simpson is about a fallen hero. Once a high-profile US football star, he went on to spectacularly make headlines for all the wrong reasons.
After convincing a jury of his innocence in a double murder case, he was later convicted in Las Vegas of armed robbery and conspiracy to kidnap.
On Thursday, a parole board will decide if the 70-year-old star - known to fans as "The Juice" - will again walk free.
The former Hall of Fame running back was given a maximum 33-year prison sentence in 2008 for trying to steal items that he said he thought belonged to him.
But he could now be released as early as October.
The incident came 13 years after he was cleared of the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
That famous trial started in 1995 and contained the blockbuster ingredients of money, murder, fame and sex.
The trial gripped the US, and much of the rest of the world, for an entire year, and dramas and documentaries inspired by the case continues to enthral audiences.
It was a comprehensive fall from grace for the one-time all-American football hero and Hollywood star.
Before 1994, Simpson was regarded with affection by the public, well known as a professional athlete, actor and million-dollar spokesman for several US companies.
Things appeared to always work out for "the Juice". He had gone from the San Francisco ghetto, where he grew up, to a home in the wealthy boulevards of west Los Angeles via a glittering American football career.
It all changed when he became the main suspect in his ex-wife's murder. Millions of Americans watched as the police chased his white Bronco car for 90 minutes live on TV. He finally gave himself up outside his LA home.
Fans continued to adore him long after his career as a running back ended
Throughout his career OJ had worked hard to rise above race and become an all-American hero.
In 1969, in an interview with the New York Times, he stated that his biggest accomplishment was that "people looked at me like a man, not a black man".
But years later, in the Las Angeles courtroom, the issue of his colour could not be ignored.
His lawyer, Johnnie Cochran, was accused of playing the "race card" to a largely black jury after suggesting that police had planted evidence in an attempt to frame Simpson because he was a black superstar.
And the verdict divided US opinion along racial lines. There was widespread outrage among white Americans after Simpson walked free, but the majority of black Americans supported it.
OJ's police car chase was broadcast across the US
'If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit', his lawyer argued
The trial led many to ask the question: Who was the real OJ Simpson?
There was no denying that he had been very much loved by the public who viewed him as gentle, generous, hard-working and charismatic. He and Nicole Brown, whom he married in 1985, played the perfect, handsome couple.
But the court case threw up a darker side, with the prosecution's emphasis on Simpson's violent relationship with his ex-wife.
There was the now-infamous incident of New Year's Day 1989 when police were summoned to their home to find Nicole outside, her eye blackened and her lip bloodied. She fell into an officer's arms, sobbing and screaming: "He's going to kill me."
Nicole decided not to press charges, but the city lawyer went ahead and prosecuted OJ for spousal battery. He was fined and given two years' probation.
The couple remained together for another three volatile years before they divorced.
Simpson was born in 1947. He was a bow-legged child who had rickets, but was able to escape the San Francisco slums by the fact that he was an extremely good runner. He eventually went on to become one of the top running backs in American football history.
He attended the University of Southern California, where he was named the country's top college football player in 1968. He then moved to Buffalo, New York, where he spent most of his career.
In 1979, he was forced to retire due to injuries. By then, however, he was making his mark as a Hollywood actor.
Between 1973 and 1994, he appeared in more than 20 films including The Towering Inferno and the Naked Gun films. He also won some lucrative television advertising deals.
After the 1995 trial, things were never the same for Simpson. He was later found liable for the deaths in a civil trial brought by the Brown and Goldman family and ordered to pay them $33.5m in damages.
This money has not been paid, and OJ has remained out of work because any money earned would have to be handed over to the Brown and Goldman family. He does, however, receive a pension from his sporting career.
He pursued a relatively quiet life, playing golf and focusing on his four children - two from his first marriage to a childhood sweetheart in the 1960s and two from his marriage to Nicole.
In 2006 he was back in the spotlight, after a $3.5m (£1.8m) deal he reached with Rupert Murdoch's broadcasting and publishing companies sparked public outrage.
The deal included the publication of Simpson's ghost-written, "hypothetical" account of the murders, If I Did It, as well as an interview for Fox TV.
The rights were later sold to the Goldman family, who significantly shrank the size of the word "If" on the cover, and added the subtitle "Confessions of the Killer".
Then in September 2007 came the incident for which he was jailed - an armed raid on the Las Vegas hotel room of two sports memorabilia dealers in a bid to retrieve property he said was his.
"I didn't mean to hurt anybody and I didn't mean to steal from anybody," he told the court. But the judge was unmoved, ordering him to spend at least 15 years in prison.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40673821
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Chester Bennington: Linkin Park vocalist 'took his own life' - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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A coroner says the star, who was close to Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, took his own life.
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US & Canada
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Bennington spoke publicly about being abused as a child
The coroner said Bennington apparently hanged himself. His body was found at a private home in the county at 09:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Thursday.
Bennington was said to be close to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell, who took his own life in May.
Formed in 1996, Linkin Park have sold more than 70 million albums worldwide and won two Grammy Awards.
The band had a string of hits including Faint, In The End and Crawling, and collaborated with the rapper Jay-Z.
The album Meteora topped the Billboard 200 chart in 2003 and is regarded as one of the biggest indie rock records of all time.
The band had been due to begin a tour next week.
For a generation growing up in the early 2000s, it would have been hard to find someone who didn't own a copy of the band's debut album Hybrid Theory.
It's sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and remains one of the biggest selling albums released since the start of the millennium.
Linkin Park's successful trick was to fuse elements of metal and rock with rap and hip-hop to shape the nu-metal genre on songs such as Crawling, In The End and Numb.
Arguably their biggest asset was Chester's powerhouse voice. He had a huge, raspy vocal which suited their stadium-filling, singalong anthems.
Whilst his vocal persona could be described as angry and harsh, in person he was warm, articulate and funny.
The band's most recent album, One More Light, saw a different direction as they worked with prolific pop songwriters Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter - and collaborated with UK grime artist Stormzy.
He leaves a wife, and six children from two marriages.
The singer is said to have struggled for years with alcohol and drug abuse, and has talked in the past about contemplating suicide as a result of being a victim of abuse as a child.
Bennington wrote an open letter to Chris Cornell on the latter's death, saying: "You have inspired me in ways you could never have known... I can't imagine a world without you in it."
Cornell would have celebrated his 53rd birthday on Thursday. He hanged himself after a concert in Detroit on 17 May.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Linkin Park announced a new world tour as they were inducted into the RockWalk in Los Angeles
Band member Mike Shinoda confirmed the news of Bennington's death on Twitter: "Shocked and heartbroken, but it's true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one."
Tributes to Bennington flooded in soon after news of his death.
The band Imagine Dragons tweeted: "no words, so heartbroken. RIP Chester Bennington."
Grime artist Stormzy, who collaborated with Linkin Park earlier this year, tweeted: "Bruv I can't lie I'm so upset serious."
If you are affected by the topics in this article, the Samaritans can be contacted free on 116 123 (in the UK) or by email on jo@samaritans.org. If you are in the US, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40676530
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BBC stars react to their salaries being revealed - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Work rate and competitors' offers sighted in defence of £150,000-plus salaries.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Stars and broadcasters have given their reaction to the BBC releasing details of what it pays its top talent.
Radio 2 host Chris Evans topped the table, in a salary bracket of £2,200,000 - £2,249,999.
He was followed by Gary Lineker, Graham Norton and Jeremy Vine - in a list that revealed a gender pay gap and a lack of diversity BBC Director General Tony Hall said must be addressed.
Of those, in the top pay brackets, Gary Lineker tweeted he would be looking for his "tin helmet" after wishing everyone "Happy BBC salary day".
He quipped his agent and commercial channels were to "blame"- possibly for his salary in the region of £1,750,000 - £1,799,999.
"This whole BBC salary exposure business is an absolute outrage," he went on to tweet. "I mean how can @achrisevans be on more than me?"
Another at the top of the list is Radio 4's Today presenter John Humphrys, who admitted his salary of £600,000 was hard to justify.
"What do I do? On paper, absolutely nothing that justifies that huge amount of money, if you compare me with lots of other people who do visibly.
"If a doctor saves a child's life, if a nurse comforts a dying person, a fireman rushes into Grenfell Tower, then of course you could argue that compared with that sort of thing I'm not worth tuppence ha'penny. However we operate in a market place."
Political, documentary and radio host Andrew Marr confirmed he is paid £400,475 a year, describing how that is less than the £600,000 he was "widely reported" to be paid a couple of years ago.
That covered his Sunday morning politics show, radio work, documentaries, obituaries and work on key news events such as elections and referendums, he said.
The presenter, who suffered a stroke in 2013, added: "As the BBC moves to deal with highly paid employees, my salary has been coming down.
"I now earn £139,000 a year less than I did two years ago.
"In the past I have been offered deals by the BBC's commercial rivals at a higher rate than the corporation would pay."
Jeremy Vine says he feels "lucky every day"
Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine was accused on air on Wednesday by a former miner of being "grossly, grossly overpaid" along with the other 95 on the talent list.
Harry Jones from Glamorgan told Vine: "I enjoy your programme and I enjoy you personally but I'd like to ask you a direct question, are you embarrassed to pick up your pay cheque?"
Vine said: "I just feel very lucky every day, is the answer to that."
Mr Jones asked: "Do you think you're overpaid?" to which Vine replied: "I don't really want to answer that because I don't think it's the moment for me."
Radio 5 live presenter and The Big Questions TV show host Nicky Campbell said simply that he had been on network radio for 30 years this year.
"Every day I realise what a privilege it is and how lucky I am," he tweeted.
Andrew Neil makes the list but co-host Jo Coburn does not
Andrew Neil mentioned his inclusion during Wednesday morning's Daily Politics, hosted with Jo Coburn, who is not on the list.
He said: "The BBC has published details of on-screen talent, which you may be surprised to know includes me - as on-screen talent."
Discussing sport, he joked: "Is Gary Lineker coming on to do this bit? That means the budget will be gone for the year."
The list has provoked debate, not least because two-thirds of those on it are men and there are seven of them ahead of the highest-paid woman, Claudia Winkleman.
She earns an amount in the £450,000 - £499,999 bracket. Her agent offered "no comment" in response to the publication.
"We'll be discussing #GenderPayGap. As we've done since 1946. Going well, isn't it?"
Speaking on BBC News former shadow culture secretary and former Labour leader Harriet Harman said publishing the list meant "pay discrimination" at the BBC had been "laid bare".
She described it as "the old boys' network where they're feathering their own nests and each others' and there is discrimination and unfairness against women".
"Although everybody will think it's very unfair and outrageous, this is a moment now, when it can be sorted out," she added.
Maria Miller, Basingstoke MP and chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee questioned how the BBC would handle the disparity between men's and women's pay.
"If individuals are doing exactly the same job, it is actually against the law to pay them differently," she said.
"It is still incredibly unclear how the BBC is going to avoid getting into some very difficult legal positions with some of the people they employ."
"All #BBCpay numbers are eye-watering," tweeted Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas. "But to see so many extremely talented women paid less than male 'equivalents' is utterly infuriating."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "We do have further to go" says James Purnell, BBC Director of Radio and Education
But BBC Breakfast's Dan Walker took to Twitter to say he earns the same as co-host Louise Minchin for the programme - it is his other BBC commitments in BBC Sport that take his total salary higher.
And Radio 1's Scott Mills opened the floodgates to a large lunch bill with his riposte to fellow DJ Chris Stark's request to buy him lunch.
Hungry Twitterers piled in to place their order after the £250,000 - £299,999 wage bracket earner generously replied: "What would you like?"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40654363
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John McCain has brain cancer, his office says - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The 80-year-old US senator may undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatment, a statement says.
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US & Canada
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Veteran US Republican Senator John McCain has been diagnosed with brain cancer and is reviewing treatment options, according to his office.
The options may include chemotherapy and radiation, his doctors said. The 80-year-old politician is in "good spirits" recovering at home.
He thanked those who had wished him well and said he would be back soon.
The tumour was discovered during a surgery to remove a blood clot from above his left eye last week.
A Vietnam veteran, Mr McCain spent more than five years as a prisoner of war.
The six-term senator and 2008 Republican presidential candidate underwent surgery at a clinic in Phoenix, in the state of Arizona, last Friday.
Tissue analysis revealed that a primary brain tumour known as glioblastoma was associated with the clot, a statement from the Mayo Clinic said.
"The senator's doctors say he is recovering from his surgery 'amazingly well' and his underlying health is excellent," it added.
"Treatment options may include a combination of chemotherapy and radiation."
Senior Republicans and Democrats wished him a speedy recovery, prompting Mr McCain to tweet his thanks, and a warning:
"I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support - unfortunately for my sparring partners in Congress, I'll be back soon, so stand-by!"
John McCain is known in Washington as a tough, independent-minded senator - a warrior who is now facing another battle against cancer.
He earned his reputation the hard way, being shot down as a US Navy pilot over Vietnam where he was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years, including two in solitary confinement.
Repeatedly beaten and tortured, Mr McCain was never again able to raise his arms above his head.
During the most recent presidential election campaign, Donald Trump belittled the senator as "not a war hero" saying "I like people who weren't captured".
Mr McCain may have annoyed many Republicans by arguing for reforms to campaign finance and immigration laws.
He may have irritated opponents of America's many wars with his forceful arguments in favour of the projection of US military might.
But this country reveres its veterans. The attacks on John McCain's personal sacrifice were roundly condemned then - and millions of Americans will be praying for his recovery now.
Glioblastoma is a particularly aggressive brain tumour, and increases in frequency with age, affecting more men than women.
Mr McCain, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, was in "good spirits as he continues to recover at home with his family", his office said.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'We are in shock': John Kennedy says senators prayed for John McCain
His family reacted with "shock" to the news, his 32-year-old daughter Meghan said.
"It won't surprise you to learn that in all of this, the one of us who is most confident and calm is my father," she said on Twitter.
"So he is meeting this challenge as he has every other. Cancer may afflict him in many ways: but it will not make him surrender. Nothing ever has."
President Donald Trump said Mr McCain had "always been a fighter" and, in a statement, said: "Get well soon".
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Mr McCain was a "hero to our country".
"He has never shied from a fight, and I know that he will face this challenge with the same extraordinary courage that has characterized his life," he said on Twitter.
Former President Barack Obama tweeted: "John McCain is an American hero and one of the bravest fighters I've ever known. Cancer doesn't know what it's up against. Give it hell, John."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40664635
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Canada's Governor General blames 'slippy' carpet for royal protocol breach - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The 91-year-old monarch's representative in Canada touches her elbow to help her down stairs.
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US & Canada
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Canada's Governor General lightly touched the Queen on the elbow as she descended a flight of steps
Canada's Governor General David Johnston says a "slippy" carpet is to blame for an apparent breach of royal etiquette with the Queen.
He was pictured lightly touching the Queen's elbow during an event in London to mark Canada's 150th birthday.
Mr Johnston said he was simply concerned about the Queen's safety as she navigated a short flight of stairs.
"I was just anxious to be sure there was no stumbling on the steps," he told the CBC.
"It's a little bit awkward, that descent from Canada House to Trafalgar Square, and there was carpet that was a little slippy, and so I thought perhaps it was appropriate to breach protocol just to be sure that there was no stumble."
The Queen, 91, was accompanied by Prince Philip as she attended Wednesday's event at Canada's High Commission.
Mr Johnston, who is the Queen's representative in Canada, is not the first to make headlines for apparently breaching royal protocol.
Eyebrows raised in 2009 when former US First Lady Michelle Obama put her arm around the Queen.
In 1992, former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating was called "the lizard of Oz" for wrapping his arm around the Queen during a royal tour.
Queen Elizabeth is also not the only member of the royal family to find people getting more friendly than royal etiquette recommends.
American basketball star LeBron James made news in 2014 after placing his arm around the Duchess of Cambridge.
Basketball player LeBron James placing his arm around the Duchess of Cambridge
And actor Tom Hiddleston was pictured in 2016 with an arm wrapped around the Duchess of Cornwall.
Mr Johnston, 76, will not have another opportunity for any royal missteps.
He is to leave his position in September and will be replaced in the official role by Canadian astronaut Julie Payette.
This trip was his final visit to the UK to meet with the Queen.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40651179
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Madonna blocks sale of intimate items at auction - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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A US judge halts an auction of the superstar's items, including a break-up letter from rapper Tupac.
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US & Canada
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Madonna confirmed two years ago that she had had a relationship with Tupac (R)
A US judge has halted an auction of personal items of Madonna, after she said her privacy was violated.
New York Justice Gerald Lebovits set a full hearing for 6 September, banning auction house Gotta Have Rock and Roll from holding a sale in the meantime.
Madonna's underwear, a chequebook, a hairbrush, photos and a break-up letter from the late rapper Tupac Shakur had been among the scheduled lots.
The pop superstar said her possessions had been stolen by a former friend.
Tupac's letter, in which the rapper suggests he broke up with Madonna because of her race, was expected to fetch as much as $400,000 (£307,000).
The letter is dated 15 January 1995 and was penned while Tupac was serving a prison sentence for sexual assault, 18 months before he was shot dead. Both artists were then at the height of their fame.
A series of pictures purportedly showing parts of the prison letter written by Tupac to Madonna, released by Gotta Have Rock and Roll
Madonna, 58, confirmed two years ago that the pair had had a relationship, though it is unclear how long it lasted.
"For you to be seen with a black man wouldn't in any way jeopardise your career, if anything it would make you seem that much more open and exciting," Tupac, then 23, wrote from New York's Clinton Correctional Facility.
"But for me at least in my previous perception I felt due to my 'image' that I would be letting down half of the people who made me what I thought I was.
"Like you said, I haven't been the kind of friend I know I am capable of being," he wrote, adding: "I never meant to hurt you."
In court documents, Madonna said she had only learned from press reports that the letter from her former boyfriend - and many of the other items - were no longer in her possession.
Many of the lots were presented for sale by New York art dealer Darlene Lutz.
Madonna said Ms Lutz had access to them when she helped the singer pack up a house in Miami.
"It seems obvious that Defendant Lutz betrayed my trust in an outrageous effort to obtain my possessions without my knowledge or consent," Madonna told the court.
A spokesperson for Ms Lutz and the auction house said Madonna and "her legal army" had taken a "completely baseless" action to temporarily halt the sale, and vowed to challenge the allegations in court.
Objecting to the sale of her hairbrush, Madonna told the judge: "I understand that my DNA could be extracted from a piece of my hair. It is outrageous and grossly offensive that my DNA could be auctioned for sale to the general public."
The pop singer also sought to block the sale of a frank letter to another former lover, actor John Enos.
Writing in the early 1990s, Madonna said she envied the careers of singer Whitney Houston and actress Sharon Stone, saying they were "horribly mediocre" and had profited from her own success.
"Maybe this is what black people felt like when Elvis Presley got huge," she wrote.
Sharon Stone wrote in a Facebook post last week that she is friends with Madonna, adding: "I love and adore you; won't be pitted against you by any invasion of our personal journeys."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40656485
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BBC pay: Male stars earn more than female talent - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Of the BBC stars earning more than £150,000 last year, 62 were male and 34 were female.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Claudia Winkleman and Alex Jones are the BBC's highest paid female stars
The BBC has revealed two-thirds of its stars earning more than £150,000 are male, with Chris Evans the top-paid on between £2.2m and £2.25m.
Claudia Winkleman was the highest-paid female celebrity, earning between £450,000 and £500,000 last year, its annual report for 2016/2017 says.
The One Show's Alex Jones was second, earning between £400,000 and £450,000.
BBC director general Tony Hall said there was "more to do" on the gender pay gap.
The top seven earners, in the list of the BBC's 96 best-paid stars, were all male.
It is the first time the pay of stars earning more than £150,000 has been made public.
The BBC has been compelled to reveal the information under the terms of its new Royal Charter.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Why the gender pay gap could mean problems for the BBC
Speaking on LBC Radio, Prime Minister Theresa May said: "We've seen the way the BBC is paying women less for doing the same job... I want women to be paid equally."
When asked if Evans was worth considerably more than her, she said: "What's important is that the BBC looks at the question of paying men and women the same for doing the same job."
The total bill for the 96 personalities was £28.7m but the figures in the report reveal large disparities between what men and women are paid.
"On gender and diversity, the BBC is more diverse than the broadcasting industry and the civil service," Lord Hall said.
"We've made progress, but we recognise there is more to do and we are pushing further and faster than any other broadcaster."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "We do have further to go" on the gender pay gap says BBC Director of Radio and Education
When asked if female stars working at the BBC would now be asking for pay rises, Lord Hall said: "We will be working carefully on our relationship with our talent."
He also pledged to close the gender pay gap by 2020.
Trade union Equity said in a statement: "The apparent pay gaps in gender and for those from a black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) background are troubling."
Woman's Hour's Jane Garvey tweeted: "I'm looking forward to presenting @BBCWomansHour today. We'll be discussing #GenderPayGap . As we've done since 1946. Going well, isn't it?"
Other high profile omissions including the Today programme's Sarah Montague, BBC Breakfast's Louise Minchin and Woman's Hour's Jenni Murray.
Radio 4 Today presenter John Humphrys, acknowledged that his £600,000 salary was hard to justify: "On paper, absolutely nothing that justifies that huge amount of money, if you compare me with lots of other people who do visibly.
"If a doctor saves a child's life, if a nurse comforts a dying person, a fireman rushes into Grenfell Tower, then of course you could argue that compared with that sort of thing I'm not worth tuppence ha'penny. However, we operate in a market place."
There is also a gap between the pay for white stars and those from a black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) background.
George Alagiah, Jason Mohammad and Trevor Nelson are the highest paid BAME presenters, each receiving between £250,000 and £300,000.
The highest-paid female star with a BAME background is BBC news presenter Mishal Husain, who earned between £200,000 and £250,000.
The annual report does not include stars who receive their pay through BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm.
The figures quoted only refer to the amount of licence fee money each person receives and do not include their earnings from other broadcasters or commercial activities. They also exclude stars paid through independent production companies.
That means some big name stars - such as David Attenborough, Benedict Cumberbatch and Matt LeBlanc - do not appear on the list.
The list also does not distinguish between people who are paid for doing multiple jobs within the BBC and those who are just paid for one. Talent pay is considerably higher in the commercial sector.
As he left the BBC after his Radio 2 breakfast show on Wednesday, Chris Evans said it was right "on balance" that star salaries were being disclosed.
"We are the ultimate public company I think, and therefore it's probably right and proper people know what we get paid," he told reporters.
During a briefing on the annual report on Wednesday morning, Lord Hall said: "Chris Evans is presenting the most popular show on the most popular radio network in Europe.
"The BBC does not exist in a market on its own where it can set the market rates.
"If we are to give the public what they want, then we have to pay for those great presenters and stars."
Aside from Strictly, Winkleman's other BBC roles include presenting The Great British Sewing Bee and her Radio 2 Sunday night show. Her agent said she would be making no comment.
Casualty stars Derek Thompson and Amanda Mealing are the BBC's best-paid actors
Casualty star Derek Thompson was the BBC's highest paid actor, receiving between £350,000 and £400,000 over the last financial year.
Amanda Mealing, who also stars in Casualty as well as Holby City, was the highest paid actress, receiving between £250,000 and £300,000.
Clare Balding earned between £150,000 and £200,000 for her work on sports shows including Wimbledon Today and the Rio Olympics.
The overall spend on talent was £193.5m - down on the £200m spent in 2015/2016.
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Aberdeen fans attacked ahead of Bosnia Europa League tie - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Two supporters are treated for injuries after a disturbance ahead of the match with Siroki Brijeg.
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NE Scotland, Orkney & Shetland
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Derek Ironside describes how a group of masked man attacked Aberdeen fans outside a pub
Two Aberdeen fans have been treated for injuries after supporters were attacked in Bosnia ahead of the club's Europa League game against Siroki Brijeg.
About 50 supporters were subjected to an unprovoked attack outside the Black Dog Pub in Mostar on Wednesday.
A group of about a dozen masked men set off flares and attacked the Aberdeen fans with baseball bats and metal bars.
The attackers are understood to have been linked to a rival Bosnian club rather than Siroki Brijeg.
In a statement posted on its website, Siroki Brijeg said it "strongly condemned the hooligan attack".
The club, which is based in the town of the same name about 12 miles from Mostar, said it had set up a fan zone ahead of Thursday evening's match, and guaranteed there would be "maximum security" for the Aberdeen fans.
Siroki Brijeg also thanked Aberdeen and its supporters for the "extraordinary welcome" they had received in Scotland during last week's first leg, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
About 200 Aberdeen supporters were expected to attend the second-leg tie in Bosnia.
Siroki Brijeg were recently ordered to play three matches behind closed doors by the country's football association after the club's fans chanted fascist slogans during a match with Sarajevo in May.
Aberdeen-based journalist Derek Ironside, who was at the pub in the old town area of Mostar, told BBC Scotland that the atmosphere had been "very good natured, with not a hint of trouble or hassle at all".
He added: "Everybody was just enjoying themselves, it was a good atmosphere, very relaxed.
"Then all of a sudden down this small, narrow lane came a group of about 12 masked guys with flares. They started throwing the flares towards the Aberdeen fans, and I think they had weapons as well."
Mr Ironside said he believed one Aberdeen fan "looked quite badly injured" and had been taken to hospital.
Aberdeen Evening Express journalist Sean Wallace was also among those caught up in the violence.
He wrote on Twitter: "Sore head after being bottled by masked Bosnian hooligans in Mostar. Also cuts to legs after being hit by flare in Mostar. Sore but ok."
In a statement on its Facebook page, the Black Dog Pub offered its "sincere apologies" to the Aberdeen fans.
It said: "This was a football rivalry-related incident and is not normal in the old city of Mostar.
"The police are involved and people have been identified. If anyone has any more info please pass it forward.
"Because of this incident, we are asking the good people of Mostar to please come around the old city this weekend and show your support that Mostar is a safe place for tourists and everyone."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-40654144
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Should there be comprehensive universities? - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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A report argues that universities should embrace the comprehensive principle and reject selection.
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Education & Family
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Is a culture of highly selective universities getting in the way of social mobility?
The long-running battle over grammar schools - put back into the deep freeze after the general election result - saw deep-rooted divisions over the impact of dividing pupils by academic ability.
Opponents argued that academic selection really became social selection - and that what appeared to be selection by ability became a filter shaped by social background.
But when it comes to university, it seems that such attitudes are turned on their head.
It's not even even really questioned that higher education should operate on an entry system specifically outlawed in secondary education.
So why shouldn't there be comprehensive universities?
That's the argument put by Tim Blackman, vice-chancellor of Middlesex University, in what Nick Hillman, the influential director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said was one of the "most thought-provoking papers ever published on UK higher education".
Prof Blackman's contention is that the university system, with its obsession with hierarchies and rankings, has become a barrier to meritocracy.
Instead of driving social mobility, he says, the university system has become a mirror to existing inequalities and is amplifying social segregation.
At the top are the highest ranking powerhouse universities, Oxford and Cambridge and the leading London institutions, followed by the rest of the Russell Group universities and then down through the ranks of red-bricks, 1960s campuses, middling institutions and then on to the "new universities" that were often former polytechnics.
This is also a system without any real relegation or promotion on merit - as a university group such as the Russell Group can choose who is or isn't a member.
Should brighter students be spread more widely throughout the system?
Prof Blackman sees this not as an academic ladder, but a stratified class system.
Even if more young people from disadvantaged families are going to university, there is still a strong pattern of better-off teenagers getting into the highest ranked universities.
He talks of "hyper-selection" at the top of the table, in the scramble for places at the most sought after institutions.
And this creates a system in which a "good" university is likely to be synonymous with being the most selective.
This, says Prof Blackman, is the opposite of what the country needs from a higher education system.
If the UK is blighted with low productivity and a skills gap, he says, what is needed are universities that are strong across the whole range of institutions.
The brightest students should be spread across the system, rather than being clustered in a small number of universities crammed with other similar youngsters.
And he proposes the benefits of a comprehensive university, with a mixed ability intake, making the most of the talent of those who attend - rather than concentrating the prestige, funding and brightest students in a few institutions, to the detriment of the majority.
The analogy used is that a "good" hospital would be one that got the best outcomes for its patients, not the one that started out with the healthiest intake.
But even with this radical thinking, Prof Blackman still suggests that there would be an economic argument for a handful of elite institutions - "strategically important world-class research universities".
And it remains easier to identify the flaws in the current system than to propose a practical way of changing it.
What should be the purpose of a modern university?
Prof Blackman suggests that the funding system should be shaped to reward universities that create a social mix of students.
But, he says, the current arrangements of high and low status institutions are "based on snobbery and discrimination rather than evidence".
The concept of a non-selective university might seem strange.
It seems to go against the grain of the idea that university is the summit of a journey after getting over a series of tough exams.
But Prof Blackman says the higher education system needs to borrow from the comprehensive principle if it is going to make a difference to social equality and to address the needs of an economy demanding more highly skilled staff.
"The root of these problems is academic selection, which has created a sector based on social class advantages," he says.
The government has tried to shake up the old order in universities somewhat, grading the quality of teaching, in a way that has put some top institutions at the back of the queue.
Universities Minister Jo Johnson said: "Social mobility should be at the heart of our higher education system. This is becoming the case, with more students from disadvantaged backgrounds going to and staying at university than ever before.
"But we know there is more work to do. Soon, all providers - including the most selective - will be required to publish application, drop-out and attainment data by gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background.
"The Teaching Excellence Framework is also refocusing the sector's attention on teaching - putting in place incentives that will raise standards and encourage providers to ensure they are supporting students throughout their studies."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40654935
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State pension age rise brought forward - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The UK state pension age will now be increased from 67 to 68 by 2039, the government says.
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Business
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Six million men and women will have to wait a year longer than they expected to get their state pension, the government has announced.
The rise in the pension age to 68 will now be phased in between 2037 and 2039, rather than from 2044 as was originally proposed.
Those affected are currently between the ages of 39 and 47.
The announcement was made in the Commons by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, David Gauke.
He said the government had decided to accept the recommendations of the Cridland report, which proposed the change.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The change was announced by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, David Gauke
"As life expectancy continues to rise and the number of people in receipt of state pension increases, we need to ensure that we have a fair and sustainable system that is reflective of modern life and protected for future generations," he told MPs.
Anyone younger than 39 will have to wait for future announcements to learn what their precise pension age will be.
The change will affect those born between 6 April 1970 and 5 April 1978.
The government said the new rules would save the taxpayer £74bn by 2045/46. While it had been due to spend 6.5% of GDP on the state pension by 2039/40, this change will reduce that figure to 6.1% of GDP.
Labour said the move was "astonishing", given recent reports suggesting increases in life expectancy were beginning to stall, and long-standing health inequalities between different income groups and regions in retirement.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams told MPs that many men and women were beginning to suffer ill health in the early 60s, well before they were entitled to their state pension.
"Most pensioners will now spend their retirement battling a toxic cocktail of ill-health," she said.
"The government talks about making Britain fairer but their pensions policy, whether it is the injustice that 1950s-born women are facing, or today's proposals, is anything but fair."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams says the pension change is "anything but fair"
"In large parts of the country, the state pension age will be higher than healthy life expectancy," she said.
"And low-paid workers at risk of insecurity in their working lives will now face greater insecurity in old age too.
"Rather than hiking the pension age, the government must do more for older workers who want to keep working and paying taxes."
Age UK was also critical of the change.
"In bringing forward a rise in the state pension age by seven years, the government is picking the pockets of everyone in their late forties and younger, despite there being no objective case in Age UK's view to support it at this point in time," said Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK.
"Indeed, it is astonishing that this is being announced the day after new authoritative research suggested that the long term improvement in life expectancy is stalling."
The government has also committed to regular reviews of the state pension age in the years ahead.
That raises the prospect of further rises. Indeed a report by the government's actuary department in March suggested that workers now under the age of 30 may have to wait until 70 before they qualify for a state pension.
Tom McPhail, head of policy at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the government would need to do more to encourage saving, particularly amongst younger people.
"For anyone yet to reach age 47, there is still time to adjust their retirement plans by looking to contribute more," he said.
"We feel it is important the government meets them halfway; we need a national savings strategy to help people save and invest for their future. A good starting point would be for the government to look at a savings commission."
The SNP said it remained opposed to raising the pension age beyond 66 and reiterated its call for an independent pensions commission to be set up to look at "demographic differences across the UK".
In response, Mr Gauke said the Scottish government would have the power to provide extra financial help for those approaching retirement if they so chose.
"This announcement will be a blow to many people. It is absolutely crucial that everyone - no matter what their age - seeks pensions advice from a reputable organisation and really understands their options and how those options fit in with their own retirement expectations.
"I know young people don't think this really impacts them as it is such a long way off, but they are the ones who will be impacted by state pension ages and support in the longer term more than any of us," said Carl Robertson, from Smart Pension.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40658774
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Forced child migration 'bigger abuse scandal than Savile' - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Gordon Brown says the moving of 130,000 UK children overseas was "government-enforced trafficking".
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UK
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The forced migration of UK children overseas was a bigger sex abuse scandal than that of Jimmy Savile, ex-prime minister Gordon Brown has said.
Mr Brown told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse that the 2,000 surviving British child migrants who suffered abuse should be compensated.
He said the mass transportation of 130,000 British children overseas was "government-enforced trafficking".
Across 50 years, the children were sent to ex-colonies such as Australia.
The transportation programme began in the 1920s, partly to ease the population of the UK's orphanages in the years after the First World War, and to give "lost" children the chance of a new life in Britain's colonies.
But children continued to be be sent abroad until 1974.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales has already heard that many child migrants experienced "unacceptable depravity", with some having been sent abroad without the consent of parents and wrongly told they were orphans.
In 2009, the Australian government apologised for the cruelty shown to the child migrants and in 2010 Mr Brown, in his role as UK prime minister, issued an apology to victims on behalf of the UK.
The experiences of the children sent away from the UK are being looked at as part of the first phase of the wide-ranging inquiry into child abuse.
Mr Brown told the inquiry that the forced migration of British children was "probably the biggest national sex abuse scandal".
"Bigger than what people have alleged about Savile," he said.
"Bigger than what people have alleged about individual children's homes.
"Bigger in scale, bigger in geographical spread, and bigger in the length of time that went on undetected.
"I'm shocked about the information that I have seen."
Mr Brown said a government minister should explain to the inquiry why nothing has been done over "sickening" new evidence of abuse which has come to light since his 2010 apology.
He said he had become aware of so many historical cases he described as "grave, horrifying and sickening" and said there had been a "violation of human rights".
"Children were denied a childhood, an identity, a family and any sense of belonging," he said.
"Many, some as young as three - and this was happening as recently as the 1970s - were sent abroad having been falsely told their parents were dead."
He said successive governments had failed in a duty of care.
"Because we failed in our duty of care it is now time to compensate the 2,000 child migrants still alive," he said.
Mr Brown added: "My apology seven years ago was for the gross inhumane violation of rights by forcibly removing children, depriving them of identity, family and any sense of belonging.
"An unknown but clearly large number of these children were subjected to horrific assaults sometimes before, sometimes during but in the main after they left the UK.
"Because successive governments failed in what I call their duty of care, these 2,000 surviving migrants all need and deserve redress."
Mr Brown told the inquiry that 1,000 families had been reunited since 2010.
Another former prime minister, Sir John Major, did not appear in person but provided a written statement to the inquiry which said his government took the approach that mistreatment of British children sent abroad was primarily a matter for the country concerned.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40669699
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OJ Simpson's prison parole plea in Nevada: 'I did my time' - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The ex-NFL star and actor apologises in a bid for release after nine years in a Nevada prison.
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US & Canada
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Former US football star and actor OJ Simpson has told a parole board "I've done my time," as he asked for release after nine years in a Nevada prison.
Simpson, who was acquitted of a double murder in 1995, is serving time for armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and 10 other charges.
The sentence, which carries a maximum of 33 years, stems from a 2007 confrontation at a Las Vegas hotel.
Simpson, 70, had said he was only trying to reclaim his possessions.
The former Hall of Fame running back was found guilty in 2008 - exactly 13 years to the day after he was famously acquitted for the killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
He and a group of five others stormed into a hotel room to confront two sports-memorabilia collectors to seize items that he claimed belonged to him from his own career.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "If he is denied parole... it will be part of the continuing payback... since his acquittal in 1995," says Jeffrey Toobin
The hearing for Prisoner 1027820 is happening at the Lovelock Correctional Facility, a medium security prison in the Nevada desert.
"Mr Simpson, you are getting the same hearing that everyone else gets," a parole panellist, Connie Bisbee, told him as Thursday's hearing began.
"Sure," he replied in a husky voice with a shrug and a smile. "Thank you, ma'am."
Simpson told parole officials that the objects he took from the Las Vegas hotel room were later ruled by officials to legally belong to him.
One panellist asked: "So you believe that the property was yours?"
"It's been ruled legally by the state of California," Simpson responded in a raised voice, leaning forward.
He said the belongings, which he described as images of his family and friends, were later handed over to him by officials.
"It's kind of mind-boggling that they turned over to me property that I'm in jail for, for trying to retrieve."
Bruce Fromong, who was one of Simpson's victims in the robbery, testified in favour of his release.
"I've known OJ for a long time," said Mr Fromong. "I don't feel that he's a threat to anyone.
"He's a good man. It's time to give him a second chance. It's time for him to go home to his family, his friends."
If four out of seven members of the parole board vote in favour of his release, Simpson could be free by October.
Experts believe he is likely to be approved for release, after a record of good behaviour at the Lovelock prison.
Another panellist asked him if he had completed a specific self-improvement course since his last parole hearing.
He said he had not, but that he had taken another course called "alternative to violence".
Simpson rejected the suggestion that he had an alcohol problem during the hearing
"I think it's the most important course anybody in this prison can take because it teaches you how to deal with conflict through conversation," he said.
"I've spent a conflict-free life," he continued, when asked if he had completed an anti-violence course.
Simpson also told the commissioners he had helped establish a Baptist prayer event, adding: "I could have been a better Christian."
The prisoner also rejected the suggestion that he had an alcohol problem.
"I've done my time," he said. "I've done it as well and as respectfully as anybody can. I think if you talk to the wardens they'll tell you.
"I've not complained for nine years. All I've done is try to be helpful… and that's the life I've tried to live because I want to get back to my kids and family."
In 2013 the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners granted him parole on some of his convictions, but for not the more violent charges.
The prisoner's daughter, Arnelle Simpson, choked up as she told the parole board: "My experience with him is that he's like my best friend and my rock.
"As a family we recognise that he is not the perfect man, but he's clearly a man and a father who's done his best to behave in a way that speaks to his overall nature and character, which is always to be positive, no matter what."
She added: "He is remorseful, he truly is remorseful."
The board, which normally takes days to make a decision, went behind closed doors to deliberate and said it would announce its ruling shortly.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40673824
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BBC pay: Male presenters could face wage cut - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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One BBC executive says reducing the amount paid to male stars is "one of the levers we can pull".
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Entertainment & Arts
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The BBC's most highly paid male presenters could be asked to accept lower wages as the corporation tries to close the gender pay gap.
The BBC has defended high salaries which were revealed in its annual report on Wednesday.
The corporation has pledged to achieve equality between men and women on air by 2020.
BBC director of radio and education James Purnell said pay cuts were part of the solution.
He told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "Quite a lot of men have been taking pay cuts; John Humphrys said that today on air."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. BBC executive James Purnell says "quite a lot of men" have taken pay cuts already
Asked if he expected more male, on-air talent to take a pay cut, he responded: "I'm not going to start negotiating live on air, but that's clearly one of the levers we can pull, and we have been doing that."
Culture Secretary Karen Bradley said stars should be conscious "how this looks in public", while Labour MP Harriet Harman said there was "clearly discrimination" at the BBC.
BBC director general Tony Hall has said there is "more to do" on the gender pay gap.
The top seven earners, in the list of the BBC's 96 best-paid stars, were all male.
It is the first time the pay of stars earning more than £150,000 has been made public.
The BBC was compelled to make public the information under the terms of its new Royal Charter.
Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans was the top-paid star on between £2.2m and £2.25m, the BBC's 2016-17 annual report revealed.
Strictly Come Dancing host Claudia Winkleman was the highest-paid female, earning between £450,000 and £500,000.
The One Show's Alex Jones was second, earning between £400,000 and £450,000.
Anne Mcelvoy, senior editor at the Economist, told BBC's Today programme that the disclosures would force the BBC to look at the differentials between men and women.
She rejected the suggestion that the list merely reflected a patchwork of different negotiations with different agents, saying there was a "very clear pattern" that had persisted for a long time that showed the BBC had failed to help women get on.
Peter Fincham, a former controller of BBC One, said the BBC had been wrong to try to resist transparency around "talent" pay, and Wednesday's disclosures would mean there would now be restraint in pulling out the cheque book for talent.
Trade union Equity said in a statement: "The apparent pay gaps in gender and for those from a black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) background are troubling."
George Alagiah, Jason Mohammad and Trevor Nelson are the highest paid BAME presenters, each receiving between £250,000 and £300,000.
The highest-paid female star with a BAME background is news presenter Mishal Husain, who earned between £200,000 and £250,000.
The figures quoted only refer to the amount of licence fee money each person receives and do not include their earnings from other broadcasters or commercial activities.
The annual report does not include stars who receive their pay through BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm.
The figures also exclude stars paid through independent production companies.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40663781
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BBC pay: How much do its stars earn? - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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A list of the top earners whose salaries came from the BBC licence fee.
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Entertainment & Arts
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The BBC has, for the first time, published salaries of its highest-paid stars - with all those earning £150,000 or more included.
The salaries are grouped into £50,000 blocks and are for the financial year 2016-17, where they came directly from the licence fee. They do not include each individual's earnings from other broadcasters or commercial activities. Here, we round up the top earners and what they do.
The nation's most listened-to radio station, Radio 2, has the highest BBC earner among its presenters - Chris Evans.
Graham Norton, Jeremy Vine and Steve Wright are also among the top seven highest-paid stars.
The top earner on the list, Chris Evans has hosted Radio 2's Breakfast Show every weekday morning since 2010. He also co-presented one series of TV show Top Gear.
Host of a Saturday morning show on Radio 2, Norton co-presented BBC One's Saturday evening talent show Let It Shine, and also commentates on the Eurovision Song Contest. His earnings do not include those from his Friday night chat show, for which the BBC pays an independent production company, which in turn pays his salary.
Jeremy Vine hosts the lunchtime show on Radio 2 every weekday. He also presents Crimewatch, Points of View, and Eggheads on BBC TV.
A long-standing BBC DJ, Steve Wright presents Radio 2 weekday show Steve Wright in the Afternoon and Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs on Sunday mornings.
Simon Mayo has presented Simon Mayo Drivetime on weekday afternoons since 2010. He is also the co-host of Kermode and Mayo's Film Review on Radio 5 live on Friday afternoons.
Vanessa Feltz presents an early morning show on Radio 2 and the BBC London Breakfast Show every weekday.
A co-host of Radio 5 live's Breakfast Show on weekday mornings, Campbell also presents BBC One's Sunday morning programme The Big Questions.
Stephen Nolan presents The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster and presents a programme on BBC Radio 5 live several nights a week. He also hosts Question Time: Extra Time on 5 Live and Nolan Live on BBC One Northern Ireland.
Nick Grimshaw has presented the Radio 1 Breakfast Show since 2012.
Former England striker Gary Lineker presents the BBC's flagship football highlights programme Match of the Day on Saturday nights. He is also one of the hosts for the annual Sports Personality of the Year awards night.
John Humphrys has presented Radio 4's Today programme since 1987. He also has been the quizmaster of BBC Two's Mastermind since 2003.
Today presenters (left to right) Mishal Husain, Nick Robinson and Justin Webb
Fellow presenter Sarah Montague is not on the list.
Derek Thompson is the highest-paid actor on the list. He has played Charlie Fairhead in hospital drama Casualty since the series started in 1986.
Amanda Mealing plays Connie Beauchamp in Casualty, having previously played the character in the BBC's other hospital drama Holby City.
Claudia Winkleman has co-hosted Strictly Come Dancing, with Tess Daly, since 2014 and also presents a Sunday night show on Radio 2. She presented BBC One's Film programme from 2010 to 2016, though she left the programme before the start of the 2016-17 financial year.
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-40653861
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AlphaBay and Hansa dark web markets shut down - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The AlphaBay and Hansa marketplaces were known for trade in drugs, weapons and malware.
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Technology
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Two of the largest dark web marketplaces have been shut down following a "landmark" international law enforcement investigation.
The AlphaBay and Hansa sites had been associated with the trade in illicit items such as drugs, weapons, malware and stolen data.
According to Europol, there were more than 250,000 listings for illegal drugs and toxic chemicals on AlphaBay.
Hansa was seized and covertly monitored for a month before being deactivated.
The agency said it believed the bust would lead to hundreds of new investigations in Europe.
"The capability of drug traffickers and other serious criminals around the world has taken a serious hit today," said Europol's executive director Rob Wainwright.
It was a "landmark" operation, according to US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) acting director Andrew McCabe.
AlphaBay has been offline since early July, fuelling suspicions among users that a law enforcement crackdown had taken place.
"We know of several Americans who were killed by drugs on AlphaBay," said US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
"One victim was just 18 years old when in February she overdosed on a powerful synthetic opioid which she had bought on AlphaBay."
He also said a 13-year-old boy died after overdosing on a synthetic opioid bought by a high school classmate via the site.
Mr Sessions cautioned criminals from thinking that they could evade prosecution by using the dark web: "You cannot hide," he said, "We will find you."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jeff Sessions highlighted the significant quantities of illegal drugs traded via the dark web
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said that illegal drugs listed for sale on AlphaBay included heroin and fentanyl.
It added in a court filing that $450m (£347m) was spent via the marketplace between May 2015 and February 2017.
Investigations were led by the FBI, the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Dutch National Police.
Police in other countries, including the UK, France and Lithuania, also contributed.
The Dutch National Police took over the Hansa marketplace on 20 June after two men in Germany were arrested and servers in Germany, The Netherlands and Lithuania were seized.
This allowed for "the covert monitoring of criminal activities on the platform" until it was eventually shut down a month later.
Ever since AlphaBay went offline earlier in July, users of the site had discussed potential alternative dark web marketplaces on online forums.
Hansa was frequently mentioned, meaning that the authorities were likely able to uncover new criminal activity on Hansa as users migrated to it from AlphaBay.
"We recorded an eight times increase in the number of human users on Hansa immediately following the takedown of AlphaBay," said Mr Wainwright.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Technology explained: What is the dark web?
The significance of today's announcement will only truly be known over the coming year or more as authorities follow up the "many new leads" they said had been found as a result of infiltrating and shutting down these two enormous networks.
While the sites' closure is a massive boost, the DoJ and Europol both readily acknowledge that new services will simply pop up to replace them. After all, the closure of previous dark web marketplace Silk Road in 2013 was eventually followed with AlphaBay - bigger, more lucrative and, by the looks of it, more dangerous.
What authorities really want to do is start putting significant numbers of people behind bars.
This huge coordinated action has only resulted in a handful of arrests - and one key suspect apparently took his own life seven days after being brought into custody.
It's clear such big services require a large, intricate network of criminals - and that's what authorities are targeting.
An alleged administrator of AlphaBay, 26-year-old Canadian Alexandre Cazes, was arrested in Thailand on 5 July following a joint operation between US, Canadian and Thai authorities.
Police also seized millions of dollars in assets, three properties and four Lamborghini cars.
But Cazes was later found dead in a Bangkok jail cell.
The DoJ said that he apparently took his own life.
A previous dark web marketplace, Silk Road, was shut down by the FBI in 2013 and a successor - Silk Road 2.0 - was deactivated the following year.
However, in its press release today the DoJ said that AlphaBay had more than 350,000 listings for illicit items of various kinds - Silk Road only had 14,000 when it was seized in 2013.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40670010
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Toronto rebukes handyman whose steps save taxpayers $50,000 - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Instead of a thank you, city officials demand the doughty DIY hero's steps be removed.
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US & Canada
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A Canadian pensioner built a set of stairs at his local park for just C$550 when the city estimated it would cost at least C$65,000 ($51,500, £40,000).
But instead of a thank you, Toronto has blocked off access to the steps and asked Adi Astl, 73, to take them down.
Before the stairs were installed, Mr Astl said a few people had fallen down the steep muddy embankment to the park.
Mr Astl said he took matters into his own hands after his local councillor told him about the city's price tag.
"To me, the safety of people is more important than money," Mr Astl told CTV News. "So if the city is not willing to do it, I have to do it myself."
He said the whole project took him and his neighbours about 14 hours.
Mr Astl's councillor, Justin Di Ciano, said the official estimate, which the city said could go from $65,000 to $150,000, was outlandish.
"With $150,000 you can put up half a house," Mr Di Ciano told GlobalNews.
The muddy embankment before the stairs were built
Toronto Mayor John Tory agreed the price estimate was overblown, but said it just won't do for private citizens to "go out to Home Depot and build a staircase in a park because that is what they would like to have".
City staff say they are re-assessing the estimate, which was based on a staircase built at another park.
Resident Dana Beamon told CTV News she is thankful for Mr Astl's staircase.
"We have far too much bureaucracy," she said.
"We do not have enough self-initiative in our city, so I am impressed."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40676256
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Watching Russia's Syrian build-up from central Istanbul - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Russian warships sailing from the Black Sea to Syria pass through the centre of one of Europe's biggest cities - where amateur ship spotters watch their every move.
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Magazine
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The ship spotters of Istanbul have become a key resource for diplomats and intelligence experts, alerting the world to the scale of Russia's campaign in Syria.
It's almost midnight. I've just got to sleep at the end of a long day travelling to Istanbul, when my phone beeps with a message.
"Very inconvenient. There is absolutely no guarantee we will see anything at all."
The Alexander Tkachenko is a massive Russian roll-on roll-off passenger ferry that has passed through the Bosphorus several times before, carrying military trucks and other equipment bound for Syria on an open deck.
The boat may not have visible cargo this time. And in any case, 4.20am is well before dawn at this time of year in Turkey. It will still be dark. But that won't stop Yoruk Isik, who sent the message, from getting up to position himself at a good vantage point on the banks of the Bosphorus Straits in the heart of Istanbul with his binoculars and zoom lens camera.
He'll be ready to tweet the news of the ship's passage to his many avid followers, who now include diplomats and intelligence analysts worldwide.
And he's inviting me to come with him, though he adds: "I will feel very guilty if there is nothing on board."
Of course, I get up too. That's what I've come for.
On the Black Sea: The Voyage Begins is available to listen to and download on the BBC iPlayer. The second part in the series will be broadcast on the BBC World Service on Wed 26 Jul 2017 at 03:32 BST.
Welcome to the wacky - but politically, increasingly important - world of ship-spotting.
It's an international, highly collaborative, fraternity - yes, they're mainly (though not all) men - and Isik is one of its most passionate, energetic members.
He's a big man in every sense of the word - bear-like, generous and funny.
Yoruk Isik (right) with fellow ship spotter Devrim Yaylali, on a Bosphorus ferry
And he keeps himself going on strong coffee - the third love of his life, after his wife and ships - because he doesn't get much sleep.
"Many times I get up at two, three or four o'clock in the morning to see things," he says. "Yes, it's very painful. I destroy many days like this." And he laughs.
It's easy to understand how his addiction started. Partly it comes from living in Istanbul.
The Bosphorus - the gateway to the Black Sea for ships coming from the Mediterranean - isn't the only waterway in the world that's crowded with international shipping, but no other shipping lane as busy as this runs through the heart of a huge city.
So Istanbul's 15 million residents can watch massive warships and cruise ships, container vessels and tankers passing before their eyes.
Only 700m wide at its narrowest point, the Bosphorus is so busy that to avoid accidents, the Turkish authorities operate a one-way system, regularly changing the direction of travel according to demand. Ships going the other way must wait at the northern or southern entrance.
Isik has his favourite vantage points for spotting - most of them at one of the Strait's many bends. But often he just watches from his own balcony.
"This ship spotting is a mirror of international relations, politics, what is happening now," he says.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Yoruk Isik explains how warships became his obsession
"The trade wars between Russia and Turkey, the US presence in the Black Sea supporting its Nato allies, or Russia trying to reinsert itself in the Middle East - it is all happening in the middle of this town!"
Isik - who earns a living as an international affairs consultant - logs the passage of boats of all kinds.
One he lay in wait for recently at a waterside cafe was the largest construction vessel in the world, the Pioneering Spirit, the length of six jumbo jets, passing through the Bosphorus on its way to lay the TurkStream gas pipeline off the Russian coast.
It's so big that the strait had to be closed to other shipping as it went through.
But it's warships that most fascinate Isik and his ship-spotting friend Devrim Yaylali, who edits the Bosphorus Naval News website.
Yaylali, an economist, has been watching ships for even longer than Isik - since he commuted across the Bosphorus to school in his early teens, during the Cold War.
He was so curious about Soviet ships that one day he even skipped a school exam to photograph the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, now the flagship of the Russian navy, on its inaugural passage through Istanbul.
Today Isik and Yaylali are kept busier and busier - naval traffic through the Bosphorus has increased since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, on the northern side of the Black Sea, in 2014.
The Kremlin has been strengthening its military defences in Crimea - and modernising its Black Sea fleet based in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.
"Russia has already bought three brand new Kilo Class submarines - and a fourth is about to come," Isik says.
"That shows their interest in asserting influence over the Black Sea."
On the deck of the Filchenkov, someone wanted a shot of Yoruk Isik too
But Nato has said it will bolster its naval presence in the region in response.
In April, Isik spotted the UK destroyer HMS Daring passing through Istanbul - a rare Royal Navy operational deployment to the Black Sea.
"The current situation is more scary than the Cold War to me," he says. "There is the possibility, if not of more hot military action, certainly of more military face-offs."
But for now the greatest danger of a face-off is over Syria - and since the start of Russia's involvement in the war there nearly two years ago, Isik and his fellow Istanbul ship-spotters have played a key role in alerting the world to the scale of the Kremlin's military commitment.
All Russian ships travelling to Syria from Sevastopol or Russia's other Black Sea base at Novorossiysk must pass through the Bosphorus.
And sometimes, Isik says, Russia seems keen to flaunt its controversial campaign.
His most famous shot, taken in December 2015 - and retweeted around the world - was of a Russian soldier standing on the deck of a landing ship holding a shoulder-launched missile, an Igla rocket, as the vessel passed through the centre of Istanbul.
A soldier with a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile can be seen on board the ship
Russian warships, like those of other Black Sea nations, have full rights of passage through the Bosphorus in peacetime. Non-Black Sea states have more limited naval rights.
But that image - taken shortly after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane for allegedly violating its airspace - was judged so provocative by Ankara that it sent a diplomatic note to Moscow in protest.
"I didn't even see (the rocket) with my naked eye - only when I downloaded the picture," Isik says.
When Isik zoomed in on his photos he could see a soldier carrying an Igla rocket on his shoulder
"In the end, I couldn't decide whether it was done on the order of Moscow - or just the initiative of the soldier or captain."
As for the Aleksandr Tkachenko - the ship we've both given up our sleep for - it eventually emerges as predicted out of the early morning mist round a bend in the Bosphorus - loaded with row upon row of olive-green Kamaz military trucks.
The Aleksandr Tkachenko carrying a cargo of military trucks on its way to Syria, just after dawn
"I'm quite excited," he says, "because when the Russian government made a contract with this ship one-and-a-half years ago, it was secret, they didn't announce it - and this shows their approach to the war. Nato ships are stronger than Russia's navy - but with what they have, Russia successfully launched a campaign 1,000 miles from Sevastopol."
"I was the first to notice that Russia was carrying military vehicles on civilian vessels and it showed even more that they were deepening their commitment."
"So, Tim, do you feel the excitement of the ship spotter right now?" Isik asks.
"I love mystery, and it's like a puzzle when we see ships carrying things from point A to point B - and with the help of other ship spotters you can solve this puzzle."
Russia's Novocherkassk (left) and the USS Ross - separated by a tiny Turkish coastguard vessel
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40643453
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Moon dust bag sold for $1.8m at New York auction - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The bag was used by astronaut Neil Armstrong to collect the first ever samples of the Moon in 1969.
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US & Canada
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The white bag still carries traces of Moon dust and small rock
A bag used by US astronaut Neil Armstrong to collect the first ever samples of the Moon has sold at auction in New York for $1.8m (£1.4m).
The outer decontamination bag from the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 was bought at Sotheby's by an anonymous bidder.
The white bag still carries traces of Moon dust and small rocks.
The auction comes after a legal battle over the ownership of the only artefact from the Apollo 11 mission which was in private hands.
After the spacecraft returned to Earth, nearly all the equipment was sent to the Smithsonian museums.
However, the bag was left in a box at the Johnson Space Center because of an inventory error.
It was then misidentified during a government auction, selling for just $995 to a lawyer from Illinois in 2015.
Nasa later tried to get the bag back, but earlier this year a federal judge ruled that it legally belonged to the buyer, who then offered it for sale at Sotheby's.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40677650
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Comic-Con 2017: What you should look out for - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The films and TV shows getting people excited at this year's fan fest in San Diego.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, Doctor Who's Peter Capaldi and Westworld's Thandie Newton are all expected to attend the four-day event
More than 100,000 fans have descended on San Diego in California for this year's Comic-Con, the largest event dedicated to film, TV and pop culture.
Stars including Ryan Gosling, Channing Tatum, Charlize Theron and the cast of the new Justice League film are expected to attend.
There will also be looks at the new seasons of Stranger Things, Westworld, Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.
The four-day fan fest concludes with a special Doctor Who session.
With hundreds of events going on, here's a guide to the main things to look out for each day, along with who is likely to turn up.
Taron Egerton reprises his role in Kingsman: The Golden Circle
The seventh season of The Walking Dead ended with a regular character meeting their demise - but showrunner Scott Gimple promised series eight would be even more intense
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40676454
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Rail electrification plans scrapped by government - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Wales, the Midlands and the North will no longer see their lines upgraded after a government review.
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Business
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The government has scrapped the planned electrification of railway lines in Wales, the Midlands and the North.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said the government will instead introduce faster trains with more seats and better on-board facilities.
He said: "We are making the biggest investment in the railways since the Victorian era."
Andy McDonald, Labour's Shadow Transport Secretary, accused him of "taking people for a ride".
Routes between Cardiff and Swansea, and between Kettering, Nottingham and Sheffield, and between Windermere and Oxenholme will be affected.
Mr Grayling said said the new trains on the Great Western and Midland Mainline would be bi-mode, meaning they could run on electrified sections of track and then transfer to non-electrified sections.
He said: "Thanks to this new technology disruptive electrification works... will no longer be needed.
"Passengers will benefit sooner and experience less disruption compared with putting up intrusive wires and masts along routes where they are no longer required."
However, Mr McDonald said: "The Tories have been promising the electrification of the Great Western Mainline from Paddington to Swansea since 2012 and today's announcement confirms that they have been taking people for a ride."
Eight years ago Network Rail dramatically over-promised how quickly and how cheaply it could electrify some of Britain's busiest rail lines.
A recent report by the Public Accounts Committee described the electrification of the Great Western line as "a stark example of how not to run a project".
The budget went from £874m in 2013 to £2.8bn two years later.
Why? Because when Network Rail first did their sums, it was based on guesswork. They hadn't looked in detail at what needed doing and it was just much harder than they thought to upgrade Victorian bridges and tunnels on a line that was being kept open at the same time.
So having kicked some of the promised electrification schemes into the long grass a while ago, the government's finally chopped them.
New trains which are part diesel, part electric, will be used instead.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Jenny Randerson, said: "The Liberal Democrats secured vital investment for rail electrification when in government.
"That was then delayed by the Tories and now has been scrapped altogether."
The government said it would introduce new Intercity Express trains in Wales with around 130 more seats and faster services.
He accused the UK government of "years of broken promises" and said Mr Grayling had not responded to his requests for a meeting on the issue.
"I'm urging the UK government to clarify the situation immediately," he added.
The Department for Transport said the new services meant long distance journey times from Nottingham and Sheffield would be reduced by up to 20 minutes in peak periods.
It said four direct services a day in each direction between Windermere and Manchester Airport will be introduced from May 2018.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40669869
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OJ Simpson: A history of the fallen US football icon - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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As OJ Simpson gets parole, here is a recap of the football hero whose downfall gripped America.
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US & Canada
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Most Americans now believe OJ Simpson is probably guilty, polls show
OJ Simpson has been granted parole and could be released from prison as early as October. He was jailed in 2008 for armed robbery after taking memorabilia from his football career from dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room.
While the case has no connection to his infamous 1995 acquittal in a double murder trial, Simpson's release would thrust a man that a poll suggests three-quarters of Americans believe is probably guilty of those killings back into the spotlight.
Here's a recap of the key details of the OJ story.
Television stations interrupted programming to bring American audiences live pictures of the OJ Simpson car chase
One of the defining images of OJ Simpson's fall from grace, for many people, was broadcast live on television on 17 June, 1994.
Imagine your childhood sports hero - an icon beloved across the country - suddenly captured in a car chase with police along the freeways of Los Angeles.
In the back seat of the white Ford Bronco was Simpson, holding a gun and being driven by an old friend, Al Cowlings. The former NFL player had been charged with the bloody murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, who had been found stabbed to death outside her condominium in LA's affluent Brentwood neighbourhood.
He had earlier agreed to turn himself in to police but decided to flee instead.
Before 1994, Simpson was regarded with affection by the American public
Crowds waved and egged on the man they called "The Juice" - an African-American athlete who had risen to fame in the late 1960s and later used his status as a springboard to a lucrative career in acting, sports commentary and television advertising, including a role in the Naked Gun films.
The two-hour chase ended at Simpson's home - where he eventually surrendered.
The scenes gripped a nation and the legal proceedings that followed were dubbed "the trial of the century" by the American media - with scenes from the courtroom broadcast to millions.
Now 70, Simpson will be released in October if he wins parole
The media sensation around the OJ trial took place against the backdrop of an America racially divided in its opinion on the case.
And the sensational proceedings occurred in a city - Los Angeles - where trust between police and the black community had been shredded by the 1992 acquittal of police officers for using excessive force in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, which triggered the LA riots.
Most white Americans thought he was guilty and most African-Americans thought he was innocent, polls suggested. Simpson's alleged history of domestic violence came up during the trial, with police records revealing Nicole Brown Simpson required hospital treatment after being beaten by her husband in early 1989.
During the trial, OJ famously tried on a pair of bloody gloves - one of which was found at the murder scene - which did not appear to fit him, a moment seen as a major blow for the prosecution.
Simpson was - to the shock of many - found not guilty by the jury of the murders on 3 October 1995.
The Brown and Goldman families eventually won a civil case against OJ Simpson
Prosecutors at the double murder trial accused OJ Simpson of beating Nicole Brown Simpson over a period of 17 years
The legal "dream team" defending him had, as the recent eight-hour, Oscar-winning documentary OJ: Made in America makes clear, put race front and centre in the trial, despite Simpson having not previously associated himself strongly with the black community and the civil rights struggle.
"Not only did we play the race card, we dealt if from the bottom of the deck," Robert Shapiro, one of Simpson's lawyers, would say after the verdict.
But the families of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson pursued Simpson in a civil case which in 1997 found him responsible for the pair's deaths and ordered him to pay the families tens of millions of dollars - most of which is still outstanding.
Ten years later, in September 2007, Simpson and a group of associates stormed a hotel room in Las Vegas where two sports memorabilia dealers had items that Simpson considered to be rightfully his. Two of the men with Simpson were armed.
He was convicted in October 2008 on a litany of charges, including armed robbery, assault and kidnapping, and sentenced to at least nine years in prison, and a maximum 33-year term.
Some observers, including Simpson's lawyer, described the jury's decision as "payback" for the 1995 acquittal.
As part of the process of obtaining the money they were owed from the civil case, the Goldman family was in 2007 awarded the rights to If I Did It, Simpson's controversial ghost-written book describing how he would have committed the murders, had he been responsible.
They republished it with new commentary but significantly shrank the size of the word "if" on the cover, and added the subtitle Confessions of the Killer.
And while the 1994 murders remain unsolved, that is how many Americans see "OJ" today.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40669859
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Xanda, son of Cecil the lion, killed by hunter in Zimbabwe - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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Xanda, the six-year-old son of Cecil the lion, is shot dead by trophy hunters in Zimbabwe.
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Africa
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Two years after Cecil the lion was killed by a trophy-hunter in Zimbabwe, prompting global outrage, his son has met a similar sad end.
Xanda, a six-year-old lion with several young cubs, was shot dead on 7 July.
He was killed just outside the Hwange National Park in northern Zimbabwe, close to where his father died.
The lion had been fitted with an electronic tracking collar by Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU).
Dr Loveridge, a Senior Research Fellow with Oxford's Department of Zoology, secured the collar last October.
"Xanda was one of these gorgeous Kalahari lions, with a big mane, big body, beautiful condition - a very, very lovely animal. Personally, I think it is sad that anyone wants to shoot a lion, but there are people who will pay money to do that," he said.
The Oxford team are calling for a wider 5km (three-mile) "no-hunting zone" around the National Park.
Sad inheritance: The much-loved Zimbabwean lion Cecil was killed in 2015
The BBC's Africa Correspondent, Andrew Harding, reports that at the age of six, Xanda was old enough to be legally targeted by big game hunters.
These individuals, many from the US, UK and South Africa, pay tens of thousands of pounds for the deadly pursuit - thereby funding the staff who protect other wildlife.
It is not yet clear who shot Xanda. A professional hunter is said to have reported the death to the authorities and returned the lion's collar.
The killing comes two years after dentist Walter James Palmer, from Minnesota in the US, sparked an international outcry by killing Cecil, a 13-year-old lion who was a major tourist attraction in the area.
His home and dentistry practice were targeted by protesters after his identity surfaced in the press.
Protesters left stuffed animals at Walter Palmer's dental practice after it emerged he had shot Cecil
At the time it was reported that the lion had been shot with a bow and arrow and did not die immediately. He was followed for more than 40 hours before being shot with a rifle.
Mr Palmer was believed to have paid $50,000 (£32,000) to hunt a lion in Zimbabwe's largest game reserve.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-40671590
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Newspaper headlines: BBC becomes 'Bloated Blokes Club' - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The broadcaster comes in for a battering on the front pages as the pay of its top stars is revealed.
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The Papers
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The revelations about how much the BBC pays its top presenters dominate the front pages.
"Bloated Blokes Club" is the headline in the Daily Mirror, which points out the corporation's seven highest earners are all white men.
The Daily Mail warns of "mutiny" among female staff over the pay gap between men and women.
The Times agrees that the BBC "faces a revolt" because of the gender divide.
The paper says the broadcaster could end up spending millions more in wages to placate "angry" female talent.
The Daily Telegraph says the government wants the BBC's top male stars to take a pay cut of 10% to help close the gap.
According to the paper, the corporation has been warned it has three years before the next Charter Review to "get its house in order" and make progress on equality.
The Telegraph quotes an unnamed source at the culture department who says ministers could lower the threshold and force the BBC to publish the name of every broadcaster who earns more than £100,000 if changes are not made.
In its editorial, the Guardian argues that while poring over the details of celebrities' salaries is "utterly fascinating" to the public, it does not "contribute much at all" to the public interest.
Far more shocking, the paper says, is the gender pay gap which should "make the bosses hang their heads in shame".
A man being paid up to 10 times more than a woman working in the same sphere is "unforgivable, it says.
The Daily Star takes a different approach, accusing "overpaid BBC luvvies" of "having hissy fits" after the figures were revealed.
The Sun illustrates the story with a full-page photo of the BBC Breakfast sofa, with presenter Dan Walker - who is on the list of the highest-paid stars - sitting next to colleague Louise Minchin, who is not. The headline: "Awkward".
The Independent leads with an exclusive report from Iraq
The paper says it has seen intelligence reports that suggest more than 40,000 civilians were killed in the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group - far more than previously thought.
The documents said thousands of people were killed - by air strikes, by IS militants and by the Iraqi forces trying to drive them out.
An Iraqi minister tells the paper there is evidence of a "hidden massacre" with the bodies of many of those who died still buried under rubble.
Fidget spinners - the playground toys that have been banned in some classrooms in Britain - are an unlikely source of concern in Moscow, according to the Times.
The paper says the spinning toys are being investigated by the Kremlin in case they are "anti-Putin".
Russia's consumer protection agency is looking into claims that they could be used by anti-government activists to "brainwash" recruits with hypnosis.
The Kremlin is said to be "unnerved" after large numbers of students turned up to support an anti-corruption campaigner who used his fidget spinner while appearing in court.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-40663762
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The Vince Cable story: Profile of new Lib Dem leader - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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The life and times of the new Liberal Democrat leader.
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UK Politics
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Sir Vince Cable has been crowned leader of the Liberal Democrats without a contest - this is the story of how he got there.
He is one of the most recognisable faces in British politics: a former minister in the coalition government, a ballroom dancing enthusiast who did Strictly before Ed Balls, a financial guru noted for predicting the economic crash and now, at the age of 74, the leader of what used to be known as the third force in British politics.
As someone who was a leading player during the coalition years, and who paid the price for it by losing his Commons seat in 2015, he will know better than anybody the scale of the task facing him.
The Lib Dems have just 12 MPs. Sir Vince has conceded that the party's decision to campaign hard for a second referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal did not "cut through" at the general election.
But he believes the party's time will come again, when it begins to dawn on the public that leaving the EU is a terrible mistake and has harmed the economy. He aims to lead the charge in Parliament against what he sees as Theresa May's reckless pursuit of a "hard Brexit," joining forces with Remainer Tories to frustrate the passage of key pieces of legislation.
His mild manner - impressionists have compared his voice to that of the soft-hearted prison officer Mr Barrowclough in the 70s sitcom Porridge - masks a shrewd and steely operator, with a knack for generating publicity.
Even before easing into the seat vacated when Tim Farron felt compelled to resign as leader, he was grabbing column inches and stirring up social media controversy, telling the BBC's Andrew Marr show he thought Brexit might never happen.
It was this tendency to speak his mind, with one eye on the headlines, that drove some of his Conservative coalition colleagues to distraction during his years in government.
At times, Sir Vince, or plain old Mr Cable as he was known then, gave the impression of a man being held captive by enemy forces.
He baffled Tory MPs with his first Lib Dem conference speech as business secretary, in which he attacked capitalism, accusing it of killing competition.
He branded the Conservative stance on immigration "nasty" and "ugly" and fought a long-running battle with then Home Secretary Theresa May over immigration curbs on students and non-EU workers, which he believed would be disastrous for the UK economy.
But it was comments he never meant to be heard publicly that landed him in the most trouble, when in December 2010 he told undercover reporters he could bring down the coalition at any point by walking out - and how he had to "battle" to curb Tory excesses and promote his own party's agenda.
He called the coalition's attempts to push through changes in the health service, local government and other areas a "kind of Maoist revolution", which was "in danger of getting out of control".
Most damagingly, he told the undercover Daily Telegraph reporters he had "declared war on Rupert Murdoch" and planned to block the media baron's efforts to take full control of BSkyB.
The remarks led to him being stripped of his powers to make a decision on the BSkyB bid - and were criticised by Downing Street as "totally unacceptable and inappropriate".
But the fact that he remained business secretary may have proved his point about being unsackable.
Family: Father of three grown-up children by his first wife, Olympia, who died in 2001. Remarried in 2004. Eldest grandson, Ayrton Cable, launched the Humanitarian Water and Food Youth Award at the age of 11, in front of 12,000 young people at Wembley
Job before politics: Economist, lecturer and adviser to the Kenyan government and senior Labour politicians. Chief economist at oil giant Shell.
Political career: A Labour councillor in Glasgow in the 1970s, who joined the SDP in 1982 and then won his Twickenham seat for the Lib Dems at the second attempt in 1997. Stood in as Lib Dem leader when Sir Menzies Campbell quit in 2007, was business secretary in the coalition government between 2010 and 2015, before losing his seat. Returned to the Commons in June. Knighted in 2015.
Off duty: Ballroom dancing and writing - he is about to publish his first novel, a political thriller about a post-Brexit future called Open Arms.
Sir Vince was a contemporary of Ken Clarke, Michael Howard and Norman Lamont - some of the Tory "big beasts" of the 1990s - while at Cambridge University.
But he did not follow them on the fast track to Parliament.
A grammar school boy from York, he initially joined the Liberal Party but, after university, defected to Labour. He fought for the Glasgow Hillhead seat at the 1970 election, losing. As a Labour councillor in Glasgow he contributed to The Red Paper on Scotland, edited by Gordon Brown in 1975.
In 1982, Sir Vince changed party once more, this time opting for the newly formed Social Democratic Party. He made failed attempts to run for Parliament in 1983 and 1987.
After the SDP and the old Liberal Party merged to form the Liberal Democrats in 1988, Sir Vince was unsuccessful in another bid to become an MP in 1992.
It was not until the anti-Tory landslide of 1997 that he finally won the seat of Twickenham, south-west London.
Along the way, he worked as an economics lecturer, at the Foreign Office, as a special adviser to future Labour leader John Smith, an official in the Kenyan government and as chief economist for the oil company Shell.
Once in Parliament, his political career went comparatively smoothly, with promotion to the Lib Dem front bench in 1999 and to Treasury spokesman in 2003.
In this influential role he made pronouncements on the unsustainability of Labour's long economic boom - comments which saw his reputation rise following the arrival of the credit crunch. He was also one of the first senior politicians to call for Northern Rock to be nationalised.
Sir Vince helped to oust Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy in 2005, but it was after Mr Kennedy's successor, Sir Menzies Campbell, resigned after two years in the job, that Sir Vince became a household name.
Having been elected deputy leader, he stood in at prime minister's questions and in a memorable exchange mocked Gordon Brown, remarking on the then prime minister's "remarkable transformation in the last few weeks from Stalin to Mr Bean, creating chaos out of order rather than order out of chaos".
Laughter rang around the Commons chamber and a man previously seen as a rather dry figure was instantly transformed into a budding media star.
By the 2010 election he was a familiar face on the nation's TV screens, cultivating a reputation as one of the few front-ranking politicians who had warned about the looming financial crisis in 2008.
When David Cameron failed to win an overall majority, there were suggestions he might become chancellor under the Tory-Lib Dem government that emerged from coalition talks.
However, the job went to George Osborne and Sir Vince was given the business brief - in charge of a department he had previously suggested should be abolished.
Sir Vince's most controversial task was to oversee the rise in university tuition fees to a maximum of £9,000 a year.
This came despite the Lib Dems signing a pre-election pledge to oppose any such move, which made him and party leader Nick Clegg the focus of much anger.
Sir Vince voiced doubt about whether he should back the plans in Parliament. Eventually he and all his Lib Dem ministerial colleagues did so, in the face of a large rebellion by the party's backbench MPs.
The Lib Dems have still not recovered from the reputational hit they took over tuition fees, although Sir Vince continues to defend the policy to this day, telling Sky News earlier this month that scrapping fees would be a "cheap populist gesture" that would create an unfair system, adding that the "40% of students" who go to university should not be subsidised by the "60% who don't"
He also oversaw the controversial privatisation of the Royal Mail, which was criticised by the National Audit Office as being sold off too quickly and cheaply, after shares soared 70% above their original price.
Sir Vince insisted the sale had delivered "value for money" for taxpayers.
His political career appeared to have come to an end in 2015, when he was ejected from Parliament by the voters of Twickenham.
Never one to rest on his laurels, he threw himself into his hobby of ballroom dancing - in 2010 he had taken part in the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special - entering the British National Dance Championships, after taking lessons at the dance studio of his Strictly dance partner Erin Boag.
He also started work on a novel, after previously hitting the best seller lists with The Storm, an explanation of the 2008 world financial crash and how Britain should respond to it.
Sir Vince is the father of three grown-up children by his first wife, Olympia, who was from Kenya. It was a mixed-race marriage, which saw Sir Vince defying his father, who told him such unions "didn't work".
After Olympia was diagnosed with cancer for a second time in the 1990s, he combined the roles of being an MP and her carer until her death in 2001.
Sir Vince remarried in 2004, to Rachel Smith, a farmer from the New Forest who had been at Cambridge with him. He wears the wedding rings from both of his marriages.
He won back his Twickenham seat in June's snap election and when Tim Farron unexpectedly announced he was quitting as Lib Dem leader, saying he could not reconcile the role with his Christian faith, Sir Vince decided to stand for a job he had long coveted.
When potential rivals ruled themselves out, it became clear that he would be crowned leader without a contest.
Sir Vince has brushed off concerns about his age by referring to Sir Winston Churchill, who led his party in his late 70s, and William Gladstone, who was prime minister in his 80s.
"Some of the brightest and most interesting people in British politics recently have been relatively old," he said when quizzed about it.
"You remember Bernie Sanders in America as well? I don't feel old, I feel young and energetic."
He had always regretted not standing for the party leadership in 2007, when Sir Menzies Campbell was effectively hounded out of the job for being too old, at the age of 66.
Sir Vince, who was then 64, apparently feared that he would also be judged too old, but with his opposite numbers in the Conservatives and Labour both in their 60s, age is less of an issue now.
He bristles at the suggestion that he is merely keeping the leadership seat warm for his 38-year-old deputy Jo Swinson, who had been the runaway favourite to be the party's next leader before deciding not to stand.
"I've made it very clear I wasn't signing up to be a caretaker, I was signing up to do the job and do it properly and whatever that involves," he told The House magazine, including leading the party into the next election, whenever that might be.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40655847
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Grenfell Tower fire: New council leader heckled by public - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Elizabeth Campbell apologises to survivors of the tower block blaze for not doing more for them.
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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. Elizabeth Campbell said she was "deeply sorry" for the "grief and trauma"
The newly elected leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council has been booed and heckled amid continuing anger over the Grenfell Tower fire.
Protesters shouted "resign" and "shame on you" as Elizabeth Campbell was made council leader at a public meeting.
The councillor said she was "deeply sorry" for the "grief and trauma" caused by the blaze in west London.
The fractious meeting ended early after a female resident fell to the ground and was attended to by medics.
About 70 of the 255 people who survived the blaze attended the meeting after condemnation of the council's response.
At least 80 people are dead or missing after the tower block fire on 14 June.
The council has been accused of being slow to react on the ground and not doing enough to re-house Grenfell Tower residents.
Many people in the public gallery at Kensington Town Hall were calling for the Conservative group that runs the council to resign and for new elections.
It was the first cabinet meeting since the fire, after the council abandoned an earlier meeting - which had been planned as a closed one - when members of the press were allowed in after a High Court judgement.
Addressing survivors in the chamber, Ms Campbell said: "I am truly sorry that we did not do more to help you when you needed it the most."
There was heckling from the public gallery
Former Grenfell Tower residents sat in the public gallery, while at least 150 community members and volunteers were in an overspill room.
One by one, residents and those who lost loved ones gave accounts of their traumatic experiences, voicing their distrust in local services.
One survivor, from the 16th floor of Grenfell Tower, who gave his name as Hamid, said he had "had enough".
"I need a place to go and start my life," he said. "I'm not asking for something big.
"We need to move on. We want to go to work - kids got to go to school."
Another survivor told the chamber he had been living in a hotel room since the fire, with just one double bed between him, his wife and three children.
He said that the residents' main problem was a lack of action.
"I was forgotten about," he added.
"You know who has done something for us? The residents of North Kensington. Our community. Our neighbours."
As the meeting progressed, attention turned to a petition calling for the council's entire elected leadership to resign.
It was signed by more than 1,500 people, passing the threshold for a debate by councillors.
Labour's newly elected MP for Kensington, Emma Dent Coad, said: "I agree entirely with the petition's demands."
Ms Campbell, who was heckled again as she responded to the petition, said: "We will not continue business as usual and we will rebuild trust, as I said, brick by brick."
Earlier, she said 68 new homes for Grenfell Tower survivors would be identified and bought within the next two weeks, and an additional 31 homes would be acquired in the next few weeks.
The councillor also promised that 400 new social houses would be built over the next five years.
She took over as de facto leader after Nicholas Paget-Brown resigned on 30 June.
She later admitted on the Today programme that she had never been in a tower block, but added that she had visited many council houses.
A group of demonstrators stood outside Kensington Town Hall during the meeting holding Justice for Grenfell placards.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40663512
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Vince Cable is new Lib Dem leader - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The 74-year-old calls for an "exit from Brexit" as he is elected unopposed to succeed Tim Farron.
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UK Politics
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Sir Vince Cable is the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, after no-one stood against him.
The 74-year old Twickenham MP was the only candidate on the ballot paper when nominations closed at 16:00 BST.
The former business secretary said there should be an "exit from Brexit" and he believed the party's call for a second referendum would be vindicated.
He also said he did not intend to be a "caretaker" leader and he would "serve as long as I need to".
Sir Vince, who has been acting and deputy leader in the past, has argued that Brexit is not inevitable.
He assumes the leadership vacated by Tim Farron, who stood down after a disappointing general election in which the party increased its number of MPs from nine to 12 but saw its vote share fall to 7.4%.
Sir Vince paid tribute to his predecessor as he was announced as the new leader, saying Mr Farron had taken over the leadership at a time of crisis for the party and had rebuilt its membership to record levels.
He argued that the Conservatives and Labour had been taken over by "ideologues" and British politics had lost its "basic common sense", moderation and mutual respect - his aim was for the Liberal Democrats to move into that space.
He warned that he feared the UK was "heading for a disastrous outcome" over Brexit, headed by a dysfunctional and disunited government - and said he felt there should be an "exit from Brexit".
The party's main campaign pledge during the election was to give the public the final say on the terms of the UK's exit from the EU in a further referendum, ahead of the scheduled withdrawal date in March 2019.
Although Sir Vince has admitted this message did not "cut through", he has argued that attitudes are beginning to change and that the public mood will come round to the party's position.
He said as the difficulties of Brexit became clearer, Mr Farron's policy would be "absolutely vindicated". He added: "I'm ambitious for this country and I'm ambitious for this party. In difficult times, we have shown enormous resilience but I believe we can fight our way back, break through and make an enormous success of our party and eventually, in government."
Sir Vince has ruled out coalitions with the Tories and with a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour party
Family: Father of three grown-up children by his first wife, Olympia, who died in 2001. Remarried in 2004.
Job before politics: Economist, lecturer and adviser to the Kenyan government and senior Labour politicians. Chief economist at oil giant Shell.
Political career: A Labour councillor in Glasgow the 1970s, who joined the SDP in 1982 and then won his Twickenham seat for the Lib Dems at the second attempt in 1997. Stood in as Lib Dem leader when Sir Menzies Campbell quit in 2007, was business secretary in the coalition government between 2010 and 2015, before losing his seat. Returned to the Commons in June. Knighted in 2015.
Off duty: Ballroom dancing and writing - about to publish his first novel, a political thriller about a post-Brexit future called Open Arms
He has said the Conservative and Labour leaderships are conspiring to negotiate a "hard Brexit" and he is willing to work with MPs from other parties to thwart this.
Sir Vince, who was knighted last year, was elected unopposed after other potential candidates, including Jo Swinson, Norman Lamb and Sir Ed Davey, said they would not be putting themselves forward.
The veteran politician, who was a Labour councillor in the 1970s before defecting to the SDP and later joining the Liberal Democrats, has never stood for the party's leadership before.
But he has become one of its most recognisable and influential figures, having served as deputy to former leaders Sir Menzies Campbell and Nick Clegg, and been a cabinet minister in the Tory-Lib Dem government for five years.
He will be the oldest leader of the party in its near 30-year history.
He has insisted he has the energy, as well as the experience, to lead the Lib Dems into the next election, which he believes will happen sooner rather than later.
Mr Farron announced his decision to quit a week after last month's poll, citing the pressures of trying to reconcile his Christian beliefs with his leadership of a progressive political party.
He later said that he had decided to step down early on in the election campaign - a campaign in which he was forced to clarify on several occasions his views on whether gay sex was a sin or not.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40662737
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Parrot witness case: Michigan woman guilty of husband's murder - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Glenna Duram shot her husband before attempting suicide in a case apparently witnessed by a parrot.
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US & Canada
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Glenna Duram has been found guilty of the murder of her husband Martin
A woman has been found guilty of shooting her husband five times in a Michigan murder case apparently witnessed by a parrot.
Glenna Duram shot her husband, Martin, in front of the couple's pet in 2015, before turning the gun on herself in a failed suicide attempt.
The parrot later repeated the words "Don't shoot!" in the victim's voice, according to Mr Duram's ex-wife.
The parrot, an African Grey named Bud, was not used in the court proceedings.
The jury found Mrs Duram, 49, guilty of first-degree murder following a day of deliberations. She will be sentenced next month.
She suffered a head wound in the incident in the couple's Sand Lake home in May 2015, but survived.
Mr Duram's mother Lillian said it "hurt" to witness Mrs Duram "emotionless" in court as evidence was presented in the case of her son's death, local media report.
"It just isn't good; just isn't good. Two years is a long time to wait for justice," she said.
Bud the African Grey parrot, similar to the one pictured, apparently has "the filthiest mouth around"
Mr Duram's ex-wife Christina Keller, who now owns Bud, earlier said she believed the parrot was repeating a conversation from the night of the murder, which she said ended with the phrase "don't shoot!", with an expletive added.
Mr Duram's parents agreed it was possible that the foul-mouthed bird had overheard the couple arguing and was repeating their final words.
"I personally think he was there, and he remembers it and he was saying it", Mr Duram's father told local media at the time.
His mother, Lillian Duram, added: "That bird picks up everything and anything, and it's got the filthiest mouth around."
A prosecutor in Michigan initially considered using the parrot's squawkings as evidence in the murder trial, but this was later dismissed. The prosecutor added that it was unlikely that the bird would be called to the stand to testify as a witness during the trial.
• None The US parrot that mimics other animals
• None BBC - Earth - Can any animals talk and use language like humans-
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40665520
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Why a midwife shared a photo of blood-stained trousers - BBC News
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2017-07-20
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A midwife in Sweden has posted a picture of her blood-stained trousers to demonstrate her lack of time to change her sanitary products
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Europe
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A midwife in Sweden who says she was so overworked she had no time to change her sanitary products has posted an image of her trousers, stained with menstrual blood, to highlight the pressures of her job.
Petra Vinberg Linder uploaded the photo on July 14 on Facebook with the comment: "Night shift midwife = had three childbirths. You don't have time to pee or change sanitary products. Thanks and goodnight,"
Most of the reaction to the Facebook post was positive as Ms Linder was applauded for highlighting the demand on nurses and midwives in Sweden following cuts to some maternity services.
There has also been recent mounting concern at reports in Sweden of women being turned away from overcrowded maternity wards or being forced to drive long distances to give birth.
In the northern Swedish town of Sollefteå pregnant woman have to travel up to two hours to give birth after the local hospital's maternity unit was closed in January as part of wider health cuts. As a result, some couples have taken courses on how to give birth in a car.
In Spain in April this year, a Spanish police officer began a procedure for alleged harassment following a row over her abandoning her duty for 5-10 minutes because she was menstruating.
Midwife Petra Vinberg Linder posted this image of her menstrual blood stained scrubs
Ms Linder told the BBC: "The picture was just for my friends but when I woke up it had been shared widely and I had many messages of support.
"We need more midwives and clinics and the politicians need to wake up to this. We love our jobs but we are struggling with the heavy workload and unsure about our future."
The Swedish Government has allocated £45 million to improve maternity care including a new maternity project in which new mums or woman at risk of complications will be assigned a midwife for the duration of their pregnancy.
Responding to Ms Linder's image one Facebook user commented: "I don't know you, you showed up in my feed but you're worth all the admiration and it's not OK that care is so undermanned. Not for you or your patients. Thank you!"
Another posted: "Thank you for daring to show this. Amazing post, strong tough woman."
However, there were some who thought such an image of menstruation blood was unnecessary. One user commented: "Some things you just shouldn't share. Sure this is happening, but it's not something people want to see."
• None Swedes set to occupy closing maternity ward which inspired 'car birth' course - The Local The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40668181
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Severn tolls abolished by end of 2018, says Alun Cairns - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The fees paid on entry to Wales - from £6.70 to £20 - have long been a source of contention.
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Wales politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Alun Cairns said the tolls were a "psychological barrier" to doing business in Wales.
Tolls on the Severn bridges between Wales and England will be scrapped by the end of 2018, the UK government has announced.
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said it would be a major boost to the economy.
The fees paid on entry to Wales - currently from £6.70 to £20 a vehicle - have long been a source of contention with motorists and businesses.
Economy Secretary Ken Skates said he was "suspicious about the timing" and "their genuine commitment to it".
About 25 million journeys are made across the two bridges annually. Those using the bridge daily could save about £1,400 a year.
A study commissioned by the Welsh Government suggested the removal of tolls would boost the Welsh economy by £100m.
However, another report, for UK ministers, predicted just halving the tolls would mean a 17% increase in traffic along the M4 and surrounding areas either side of the crossings.
But it did not indicate the impact on traffic by scrapping the tolls completely.
The Welsh Government said it had looked at the impact of scrapping the tolls as part of preparation for the public inquiry into plans for an M4 relief road around Newport.
"Our modelling shows that immediately adjacent to the Second Severn Crossing traffic levels would increase by around 20%," a spokesman said.
"At the Brynglas tunnels [in Newport] this would filter down to around 7%, and dropping to a 2% increase before Cardiff."
Mr Cairns told BBC Radio Wales: "There will be issues around congestion, and I have raised this personally with the first minister on more than one occasion.
"Of course, we are doing all we can to make the money available to the Welsh Government to build a motorway around Newport; that money has been available for more than three years and it has not been spent yet.
"But we understand they are obviously pressing ahead with their inquiry, and we want to see that road built as quickly as possible."
Mr Cairns said Bristol and south Wales would also be "bound together" by improved rail links.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ken Skates said it was "a cynical attempt to stop bad news" over rail electrification
But First Minister Carwyn Jones tweeted: "This is nothing but a desperate attempt by Alun Cairns to distract from yesterday's U-turn on electrification to Swansea."
Mr Skates later told BBC Radio Wales: "They need to boost confidence in themselves again amongst the people of south Wales and the only way they are going to do that is making good on this promise."
Mr Cairns said the decision to abolish the tolls "sends a powerful message to businesses, commuters and tourists alike that the UK government is committed to strengthening the Welsh economy".
He said: "I want to ensure that visitors and investors know what Wales has to offer socially, culturally and economically.
"Most importantly, I want the world to know how accessible we are to business."
Some politicians are concerned that ending the tolls could increase congestion
Phil Bell, executive director of Chepstow racecourse, said the scrapping of the tolls would boost its fortunes.
"We have millions of people who would potentially come to the racecourse from just the other side of the bridge," he told BBC Radio Wales.
"At the moment we have about 9% of our customers come from the Bristol area and we have around 100,000 racegoers a year so we expect to see significant increases in that number.
"I am asking our board of directors to invest in the infrastructure at the racecourse and upgrade the facilities, so this decision will aid my case."
Labour Newport East MP Jessica Morden said it was a "relief that, after years of pressure, the Tory government has finally listened".
"For far too long, commuters and businesses in Newport East and beyond have had to absorb the extortionate toll charges."
People had a chance to walk along the original Severn Bridge after it was opened in 1966
However Llanelli Labour AM Lee Waters warned the ending of the tolls would in reality result in more misery for drivers because "everybody expects there will be more people using their cars".
"The Department for Transport's best guess - and nobody really knows - is the amount of traffic will go up somewhere between 12 and 20 percent," he told BBC Radio Wales.
"So that'll be a significant extra amount of traffic which will create congestion and delays."
The two crossings are currently owned and run by a private consortium but will revert to Highways England once the cost of building the second crossing, opened in 1996, is repaid. Ministers will then scrap the tolls.
Abolishing the charges was included in every major party's manifesto in June's general election.
Prime Minister Theresa May said during the campaign that their removal would significantly reduce the cost of doing business between Wales and England and help support the Union.
The tolls have been in place since the first Severn bridge was opened in 1966, when the fee was two shillings and sixpence (12.5p).
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-40671900
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Salvador Dali's body exhumed for DNA tests - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Samples are taken from the painter's body to settle a paternity case brought by a tarot card reader.
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Europe
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Ms Martínez says she was born in 1956 as a result of an affair between Dalí and her mother
Forensic experts in Spain have exhumed the body of the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí to extract DNA to settle a paternity case.
Samples were taken from the artist's teeth, bones and nails in a four-hour operation, officials said.
The exhumation followed a court order on behalf of a woman who says her mother had an affair with the painter.
If she is proved right, she could assume part of the Dalí's estate, currently owned by the Spanish state.
It may take weeks before the results of the tests are known.
The surrealist painter, who died in 1989 at the age of 85, was buried in a crypt in a museum dedicated to his life and work in Figueres, in north-eastern Spain.
A crowd gathered outside the museum to watch as police escorted the experts into the building on Thursday evening.
The exhumation went ahead despite the objections of the local authorities and the foundation carrying Dalí's name, both of which claimed that not enough notice had been given ahead of the exhumation.
María Pilar Abel Martínez, a tarot card reader who was born in 1956, says her mother had an affair with Dalí during the year before her birth. Her mother, Antonia, had worked for a family that spent time in Cadaqués, near the painter's home.
Last month a Madrid judge ordered the exhumation to settle the claim. It is contested by the Dalí foundation, which manages the estate of the artist, who was not believed to have had any children.
Her action is against the Spanish state, to which Dalí left his estate.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Will Gompertz explained how Dali's body would be removed
Ms Martínez says her mother and paternal grandmother both told her at an early age that Dalí was her real father.
But the claim has surprised many, including Ian Gibson, an Irish-born biographer of Dalí, who said that the notion of the artist having an affair that produced a child was "absolutely impossible".
"Dalí always boasted: 'I'm impotent, you've got to be impotent to be a great painter'," the biographer said.
Dalí's wife, Gala, died in 1982 - after which he is said to have lost much of his zest for life
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40677828
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Apology demanded after airport terror stop for reading Syrian book - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A woman, who was quizzed after reading a Syrian art book on a plane, claims she suffered discrimination.
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UK
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Faizah Shaheen was reported to authorities on her honeymoon flight to Turkey
A British woman says she is being forced to go to court to get an apology after she was questioned by counter-terrorism police for reading a Syrian art book on a plane.
Faizah Shaheen was reported to authorities by Thomson cabin crew on a honeymoon flight to Turkey in 2016.
Her lawyers told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme she believes she was singled out because of her race.
Thomson said its crew were "trained to report any concerns" as a precaution.
Ms Shaheen - a Muslim, whose work in mental health care in part involves looking for the signs of radicalisation in young people - was reading Syria Speaks: Art and Culture from the Frontline on the outbound flight.
The book is a collection of literature, photos, songs and cartoons from Syrian artists and writers.
She was stopped by police when she returned to the UK two weeks later.
Ms Shaheen and her husband were taken to a room at Doncaster Airport for questioning under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act.
She said the interrogation lasted around 30 minutes, during which she was asked about the book, her work and the number of languages she spoke.
"I felt upset and distressed, followed by anger. I struggled to accept that I was being singled out for reading a book on art and culture," she explained.
"One year on, Thomson Airways has failed to provide an explanation or apology despite legal involvement.
"This attitude has left me with no option but to seek a declaration from the court under the Equality Act."
Ms Shaheen had been reading this book on Syrian culture
Ms Shaheen's legal team said it had written to Thomson telling the company it believed she had been a victim of discrimination.
It argued she believes she was singled out because of her race.
Ravi Naik, of ITN solicitors, said that while Thomson had acknowledged its initial communication, it had not responded to its correspondence since January.
"The Equality Act contains strong protections against discriminatory treatment on the basis of someone's race and religion and for good reason," he said.
"We have asked the airline to apologise, to which we have never received a meaningful reply."
Ms Shaheen was stopped and examined under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000
Ms Shaheen said she does not desire compensation, but "an apology and explanation from Thomson Airways to ensure that it never happens again".
Jo Glanville, director of English PEN - a British free speech organisation who helped fund the book Ms Shaheen was reading - said Thomson's actions amounted to "a fundamental violation of our liberty, undermining our freedom to read any text we like in a public place".
She added: "Thomson should review its staff training procedures so that such an error never happens again. Reading a book should never be viewed as grounds for suspicious behaviour."
Thomson said in a statement: "We're really sorry if Ms Shaheen remains unhappy with how she feels she was treated.
"We wrote to her to explain that our crew undergo general safety and security awareness training on a regular basis.
"As part of this they are encouraged to be vigilant and share any information or questions with the relevant authorities, who would then act as appropriate."
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-40668083
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As an open-air heroin camp is closed, options narrow - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A half-mile stretch of rail track in Philadelphia has become a refuge for hundreds of addicts, but the city is about to descend.
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US & Canada
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Addicts gather under the bridges along the freight track, away from the public eye
In a corner of Philadelphia known locally as the Badlands, where some of the purest heroin in the country can be bought for just $5 a bag, a half-mile stretch of rail track has become a refuge for hundreds of heroin addicts. Next week the city will begin to clear out the tracks, but where will the users go?
At the top end of Gurney Street in Fairhill, Philadelphia, there's a dirt path that forks through some trees and winds behind an old car repair shop, down to the rail tracks below.
Follow the path and you'll find a makeshift shooting gallery under a bridge, where heroin addicts gather out of sight and the ground is a sea of used syringes, cookers and needle caps. People stand around a wooden table to fix, tying on tourniquets and tapping in the crooks of their arms to bring up their veins. One man leans into a mirror to find a spot on his neck, carefully pushing a needle through the skin and rolling back into a chair, his eyes glazing over. Others line up along a long steel beam that forms part of the bridge, unwrapping fresh syringes and preparing to inject. For anyone too nervous, or too far gone, to find a vein, there's a man in a wooden shack a few metres away known as "the doctor", who will stick you for a dollar.
This is "El Campamento", the busiest and most built-up of a handful of hidden-away injection sites along a half-mile stretch of freight track between 2nd Street and Kensington Avenue. For more than 20 years homeless people and drug users have sought refuge in this gulch, and today there are about 70 people living along the tracks and up to 200 passing through every day to shoot up. As nightmarish as it feels, users here say it's a safe place, away from the police and the rest of the public, where people look out for each other and outreach workers visit regularly. Narcan - a nasal spray that reverses overdoses - is never far away.
But next week the city will begin to clear this stretch of track and force the users out. After months of negotiations between officials and rail company Conrail, contractors, guarded by police, will enter at the Kensington Avenue end and work their way up, disposing of an estimated 500,000 used needles, tearing down structures, and eventually paving over El Campamento and installing concrete rubble under the bridges to ward off new camps.
The city wants the rail company to put up prison-grade fencing around the tracks
Down by the tracks last week, news of the planned clearance was met with weary skepticism. "If they push us up from here you're gonna have a bunch of junkies on the streets looking for somewhere else to shoot up," said Luis, a 41-year-old father-of-two with dark, matted hair and dull eyes, who asked us not to use his real name.
Luis wakes up every morning in a rickety wooden shack and spends his days, like the doctor, injecting other users. The fee is one dollar or one sixth of a heroin shot, and most people pay in heroin. Every six injections Luis can do a hit of his own. For 22 months he was clean and clear of the tracks, until one day he came home to find his wife had suffered a heart attack in the bath and drowned.
Perched on a concrete barrier on Gurney Street, he squinted against the sun, opening and closing a flick knife in one hand and letting a cigarette slowly burn away in the other. "I had everything," he said. "I had a beautiful life, I had a beautiful wife, and in the blink of an eye it got took from me. That was a year and a week ago."
Days after she died he was back on the tracks. "At least down here you know you can get safe dope, you can get clean works, you can get high and nobody's gonna mess with you," he said. "If they board this up I have to start again. I have to find a new place I can lay my head at night where I don't have to sleep with one eye open."
Walking the half-mile length of track, under a blistering midday sun that baked the rails, person after person said they would simply find another hole in Kensington, the neighbourhood around the tracks — a place already gripped by poverty and overrun by heroin.
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Kensington was once a vibrant industrial area that people came to from around Philadelphia in search of work. As the manufacturing trades died away, employment rates and house prices plummeted, homes were abandoned and boarded up and the drug trade moved in. Now people come to Kensington from around the city, state and country in search of heroin. The area is said to be the largest open-air drugs market on the East Coast.
On nearly every block on the short walk from Gurney Street to Hope Park, dealers call out their brands — "So Fly", "Caution", "Cowboy" — and empty packets stamped with logos litter the way. The heroin sold here is among the purest, cheapest, and most lethal in the US. It courses through the veins of the place, turning public parks, churches, abandoned houses and street corners into venues to shoot up.
Before the deal was struck to clear the tracks, the city cleared out McPherson Square, a small park on Kensington Avenue that had become a haunt for addicts. At the centre of the square is the local library, and when national media reported in May that librarians were being trained to revive overdosed users in the square — rechristened Needle Park by locals — it was enough. The drug users were driven out.
"Back in '70 this was a beautiful park," said Joe Grone, a 53-year-old who moved to the edge of McPherson Square more than 40 years ago. He was pricked in the ankle by a used needle as he walked through the park last year, as was his five-year-old granddaughter as she sat on their front steps. "This place should be for kids, not for needles," he said.
Outreach workers fear users from the tracks will be pushed into abandoned row houses
Joe Grone was pricked with a used needle near his home on McPherson Square
Now a large mobile police unit sits near the middle of McPherson Square and officers roll around the perimeter on bikes. Last week, children were running around again, jumping through a sprinkler and screaming with delight. Save for the odd syringe cap nestled in the grass, it was a happy afternoon in Needle Park.
But drug outreach workers here question where the users went. Shortly after the square was cleared, there were reports that an abandoned church on Westmoreland Street had become a haven for addicts. Police moved in to clear the church too, and in the sanctuary, Kate Perch, a housing co-ordinator for local outreach charity Prevention Point, found a young couple in the grip of addiction. They had fashioned a makeshift home around a mattress and hidden their belongings under the organ pipes. As the police waited, the couple discussed different abandoned row houses in the area, debating which were safe.
"That's a conversation which will keep happening in this neighbourhood," Ms Perch said. "McPherson has been cleared, Westmoreland has been cleared, now the tracks are about to get cleared. What happens to these people when that site is no longer available? Where will they go that is safe?"
An abandoned church on Westmoreland Street which had become a haven for heroin addicts
A message scrawled on the front door of the church as the users were cleared out
The worry for people like Ms Perch is that vulnerable users will be pushed into the city's hundreds of abandoned houses — "abandos" — where it is too dangerous for outreach workers to go, where people will overdose and no one will see.
The city is already predicting a 30% increase in overdoses this year, for the second year running, taking the grim toll from 900 to 1,200 - four times the estimated number of murders. Fentanyl — a tranquiliser 50 to 100 times more powerful than heroin which has been linked to deaths across the country - has taken hold, infecting the supply of heroin that floods into Philadelphia from the ports.
"The dope that's out there now... it's fentanyl, it's elephant tranquiliser, it's rat poison, stuff like that," said James Russell, a 30-year-old local with a 15-year heroin habit, who shakily made a cup of instant coffee as he waited for a check-up at Prevention Point.
"The way a lot of the fiends are here now, you hear someone shot a bag of dope and overdosed and seven out of 10 people rush to go find that dope. It's insane."
Jose Ojeda flew to Philadelphia full of hope. He came as an addict, seeking first-class treatment in the heart of the city. That's what they told him in Puerto Rico, anyway. But like thousands of others who had made the flight before him, he was heading for one of the city's unlicensed recovery houses, where users are exploited for their benefits and many wash out into the street, ending up places like the tracks.
"I'm searching for help but it's impossible for me because I don't have papers," said Jose, looking away as he spoke across an empty lot by the tracks, his eyes bloodshot, skin rough and needle-marked, one hand tightly cramped against his will. His ID was stolen with his wallet while he was passed out, he said. He thinks a lot about his mother who died in Puerto Rico while he was in Philadelphia, and about his daughter and his granddaughter who are still there.
"I'm trapped here now with my worn-out hands. I don't know how to speak English, I go places to ask for help and they don't understand me. It pushes me to drugs," he said.
Without ID he can't get treatment and he can't get home. At 42, he's stuck in Kensington, a long way from Puerto Rico, with a heroin habit he can't shake.
Jose Ojeda is one of thousands of Puerto Rican addicts who come to Philadelphia on a false promise of treatment
Even with ID, the barriers to treatment in Philadelphia are high. The city has an estimated 70,000 active heroin users and fewer than 15,000 treatment options at any given time, adding every different type together. The Housing-First programme will put a roof over the head of users without demanding they are clean, but there are currently fewer than 40 slots available in the Kensington area for about 400 homeless people.
The city has pledged an additional $250,000 to supportive housing and is planning a three-day "resources fair" on an empty lot on Gurney Street, to coincide with the track closure, but police will be in attendance and mistrust among users is endemic. Even if there were treatment options here for everyone, many in the grip of addiction are simply unwilling or unable to seek them.
"Addiction is a stigma driven disease in this country," said Roland Lamb, deputy commissioner at the city's Department of Behavioural Health and Intellectual Disability Services (DBHIS). "A person who is addicted only has about a one in 10 chance of getting the treatment they need."
Prevention Point's mobile needle exchange bus sits outside the old church where the charity lives
DBHIS is working with city-funded outreach groups like Prevention Point, in an attempt to engage with users before the track clearout. The charity began life 25 years ago as an underground needle exchange and two years ago moved into an old brownstone Methodist church in the heart of Kensington, a few blocks from the tracks. Hundreds of users travel to the building from all corners of the neighbourhood and beyond, for a check-up, a pack of clean needles or just a chat, and for a few hours every day the old church has a congregation of sorts.
"This place is a blessing," said Laura, a 41-year-old regular who endured 15 years of homelessness, drug addiction and prostitution before getting clean and finding a place in shelter. "When I first came here I was deep in my addiction," she said. "They save lives here every day."
But not everyone is grateful. Prevention Point has faced resistance from local officials and residents, who say it draws addicts to the area. The clean needles they give out undoubtedly save lives - HIV infections from drug use in the city have dropped from 50% to just 5% since the charity began its work - but some people were putting them to use immediately on the streets outside the building.
Jose Benitez is executive director at Prevention Point. "The community's approach is, 'We don't want this in our neighbourhood', the city's approach is, 'Oh my god something must be done'," he said. "The trick is, what's the something?"
As word spread that the tracks would be cleared, fear and anger began to surface in local Facebook groups. Philadelphia should "start executing drug dealers on the spot", wrote one resident. "Better solution, if someone comes into an emergency room full of heroin, let them DIE," wrote another. "DEAD IS BEST," someone replied.
The aggression worried Dan Martino, a part-time musician and local activist who volunteers with a grassroots group, Philadelphia Overdose Prevention Initiative (Popi). On the second Wednesday in June, Mr Martino went to Mick's Inn, a narrow, wood-panelled corner bar in Port Richmond, next to Kensington, where 30 or so local residents had gathered to discuss what would happen when the tracks were purged. After an hour or so of listening, he stood up to speak.
He asked the residents if they would be interested in a solution which would lower the death rate by 30%. They murmured yes. He asked if they would like to see lower crime rates and needles off the streets and they agreed. Then he said he was talking about safe injection sites, and the atmosphere in the room turned. Two women stormed out. When the meeting spilled into the street Mr Martino approached one of them. Her daughter had died of an overdose, and she told Mr Martino she would want to shoot anyone she found giving addicts a place to inject.
For some people around these neighbourhoods, safe injection sites — where users can test their drugs and inject in the presence of medical staff — are the last remaining hope. To others, they are unthinkable — a final nail in the coffin for a neighbourhood killed by heroin.
"We live in a world of heroin" - Dan Martino advocates for safe injection sites in Philadelphia
"When I first started advocating for this there was a wall of resistance. People who would yell at me like I've never been yelled at by adult," Mr Martino said. "But these people are going to use one way or the other. That's just the reality we live in. We live in a world of heroin. Until we can find a way to stop it coming in from the ports, this is what we have to do."
The woman who stormed out of the meeting was Kathleen Costello Berry, a lifelong Port Richmond local whose daughter overdosed at just 17 and was left in a hospital parking lot to die. "I just had to leave, I couldn't even listen to him speak," she recalled.
"I lost my daughter. If anyone had dared to tell me she could come somewhere safe to shoot up and we'll keep an eye on her…" She trailed off, her voice cracking. "No. No way. There is no safe way to shoot poison into your veins."
There are no safe injection sites in America, yet. As the nation's opioid epidemic spirals, several major cities, including Seattle, San Francisco, and New York, are beginning to consider taking the leap, but there is fierce political resistance to the idea.
There is one such site in Canada though, in Vancouver, and statistics suggest it has stemmed the tide of dead bodies there. More than 700 injections take place every day in 13 mirrored booths and no one has died at the facility since it opened in 2003. The clinic estimates that it has prevented 5,000 fatal overdoses. But the then-Conservative government fought it all the way to the Supreme Court.
Users shoot up at a safe injection facility in Vancouver
In Philadelphia, a new opioid task force will "further explore" the possibility, said a spokesman for Mayor James Kenney, citing "serious legal, practical, and law enforcement issues that have to be considered" first.
Some local officials remain opposed. "It's taken a long time for us to hit rock bottom here," said Maria Quinones Sanchez, councilwoman for the city's 7th district, which encompasses Kensington. "Do we want to now send a message that you can come here and buy the cheapest drugs available and then actually have a place to use them?"
But the current strategy - clearing out one park, church, or railway gulch and pushing people to the next - doesn't appear to be working. It has created a grim merry-go-round in Kensington that threatens to cause yet more lonely deaths. Consumed by addiction, and unready for treatment, most people along the tracks will continue to slip through the net.
"Heroin is what's killing people, but not giving people the opportunity to say help me, not giving people the opportunity to seek treatment - that keeps them in the basement, it keeps them in places like the tracks," said Mr Martino.
"These people don't want to die, despite their best efforts. They don't want to live like this."
"If we get pushed out of here I'll use right on the street", said Mark Vallotta, 39. "I got nowhere else."
A tattoo points towards an old needle scar
Down at the tracks last week, life was going on as usual. After so many delays, few people seemed to believe that the bulldozers would really roll through. But the rail company's deadline to start work is the end of the month, and the city has had enough.
Luis was still injecting people and getting high off the profits, enough to dull the pain of the anniversary, a few days earlier, of his wife's death. He couldn't see a way out.
"I'll just try and break through the fence and come back in," he said. "I ain't got no place else to go. It's here or nowhere."
A few feet away under the bridge, by the fixing table, another user, Manuel, shifted his weight from foot to foot and stared off into the distance, pushing a baseball cap absent-mindedly up and down his forehead. He recalled doing his first ever hit of heroin, years ago, by the tracks. "This is where I started, it's the only place I've ever come to," he said. "If this place wasn't here maybe it would be easier for me to stop.
"It's like my legs carry me here by themselves. If they close down these tracks, I dunno. I hope my legs take me somewhere better."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40637288
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Louis Tomlinson: Arctic Monkeys inspired my lyrics - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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The pop star says his solo material has been influenced by the lyrics of Arctic Monkeys and Oasis.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Emerging from a boyband is a tricky business but, so far at least, the One Direction team has made a pretty good fist of it.
Zayn Malik has carved a niche in pervy electropop; Harry Styles is prog rock's new hope; Liam Payne's plumped for aspirational R&B and lovely Niall Horan is doing lovely pop ballads.
So where does that leave Louis Tomlinson?
He was always the underappreciated one - a quiet, benign presence in the world's biggest band.
Speaking to The Observer last month, the 25-year-old acknowledged he was seen by some as "forgettable, to a certain degree".
What he contributed, though, was songwriting - receiving credits on more One Direction songs than any of his bandmates.
Appropriately for a former singer in a Green Day tribute act, he was the one who pushed the idea that a pop band could have guitar riffs.
He might not have been directly responsible for sampling The Who's Baba O'Reilly in Best Song Ever, but it certainly fitted his vision for the band.
"Little things like that were really important to me," he tells the BBC. "It was amazing that we were able to combine the two - absolute pop with guitar music."
One Direction sold more than 20 million albums worldwide
When One Direction went on hiatus in 2015, Tomlinson admits he went a bit wild - making up for the teenage party years he lost to fame.
"It wasn't really me but I embraced it at the time," he says, looking back.
The star dipped his toes back into the pop world last December, appearing as a guest vocalist on Steve Aoki's single, Just Hold On.
But just as it was released, Tomlinson's mother died. Johannah Deakin, who had been diagnosed with leukaemia at the start of 2016, was only 43 years old.
They had been unusually close - she was the first person he told when he lost his virginity - and her death hit him particularly hard.
Nonetheless, Tomlinson went ahead with a planned X Factor performance of Just Hold On that week (partly at her request), finding solace in people's reaction.
"I don't like to talk about it much, but I will say I've never had anything like it in my life," he says.
"It felt like the support went deeper than the fans - like people across the nation had my back. That was really nice. My mum would have loved that, definitely."
Louis Tomlinson with his mother Johannah at the Natural History Museum in 2015
Since that performance, Tomlinson has been hard at work in the studio and, on Friday, releases his first solo single Back To You.
A duet with US pop singer Bebe Rexha, it's a brooding pop concoction about returning to a relationship that "stresses me out".
The 25-year-old told the BBC how the song came about, what it felt like to leave One Direction, and how the Arctic Monkeys' lyrics influenced his debut album.
We're speaking 12 hours before your single comes out. How do you feel?
I'm nervous - but less than I was three weeks ago. I've got a lot of good feedback from people at the record label and radio stations - but all that does really is ramp up the pressure because you're hoping what they say is true.
And now you'll find out whether they were lying all along.
I will finally know. Exactly!
I was curious to find out why your first solo single starts with Bebe Rexha, singing the entire first verse.
We recorded a version where I sang first - but you've got to do what's best by the song.
With the emotion she gives it, and the way she opens up the song, it always had to be her, really.
The video for Back To You was shot at Doncaster Rovers Football Club - where he has played on a non-contract basis
The lyrics are pretty gritty. Do you think that might surprise people?
My whole mission with this album is to not write these Hollywood-esque songs that talk about some unfathomable crazy love story. I'm so bored of that.
Because I'm from up north, I grew up loving the likes of the Arctic Monkeys and Oasis. And the way they tell stories is such an effortless thing. It's real, it's honest and it's to the point, you know?
Now, any of the Arctic Monkeys would be devastated to hear me talking like this, but there is a way of incorporating that conversational honesty into pop.
So what have you been writing about on the album?
There's one song I'm really attached to called Just Like You, which is all about this view of celebrities that we're impenetrable and almost not human, but fundamentally we all have the same problems.
Heartbreak feels the same, loss feels the same, all these feelings are the same for all of us. Mine just look a load different to, maybe, Tom who works in the chippy from nine to five.
I noticed that all the artwork was shot in Doncaster.
Well, we did the video for Back To You in Doncaster, which was amazing. I mean, I'm just the biggest advocate of Doncaster in the world, I'd say.
OK then, sell Doncaster to me in two lines…
If you're not from there it's difficult to explain - but if you wanted to completely embrace a fully fun working class night out, then you go to Doncaster.
What did Bebe Rexha make of the city?
She was great. She thought it was cool. I did hear her team ask for sushi at lunch, which struck me as naive in Doncaster.
Did you not take her for a curry chip?
I didn't but I really should have! There's a great chippy round the corner from where we filmed, as well.
Your last performance with One Direction was on the X Factor in 2015. Did you wake up the next morning thinking: "I'm free!"?
Oh no - it was a very emotional time. It was a really weird feeling, because [the break] is by no means definitive, so it leaves you in a place where you're like, "OK, what comes next?"
What did you get offered? Film work, modelling contracts, presenting?
I'm not very good at fashion but there were a few TV opportunities. But unless you are someone like Harry - who is immensely talented in so many different areas - I think it's really important to stay in your lane and do what you do well.
Having said that, the idea of acting sounds quite exciting to me. The idea of playing the ultimate rough chavvy - it's like me being everyone I always wanted to be in Doncaster!
But I'd rather get the music 100% right, rather than 90% right while trying to dip my toe in something else.
The singer says he wants to make fans more appreciative of lyrics
What are your plans for the album?
Ideally it's coming at the end of this year, but I don't want to put myself under too many time constraints and end up in a position where I have to put two fillers on it.
How many songs have you written altogether?
I'd say about 50. It's a lot of work.
Have you got them all on a phone somewhere?
Yeah! There's a couple of songs that me and my girlfriend [fashion blogger Eleanor Calder] really like that'll never be used for anything, so they're kind of just for us. That's really nice.
Are they ones you've written for her?
A lot of the album's about her, really. I wanted to make the album feel chronological, because that's how I wrote it.
You can hear my journey as an individual over these three years - leaving the band, then going out on to the really crazy party scene, and then I've kind of ended up full circle back with Eleanor, who I love dearly.
Not many people put that much thought into an album these days. It's usually just a collection of potential singles.
Then a lot of people are missing a point.
Like I said to my best mate, Olly, I want there to be songs on the album that I could play to your mum, and she could listen to it and take something away from it. Maybe she doesn't love the song, but lyrically she'll understand something about me.
This is something that - for me, anyway - it doesn't feel like we have enough of. A lot of artists use words because they sound nice, or because it works for the science of the song.
Again, that's why bands like Arctic Monkeys are so great. They don't work on any script or any maths or science. They just say what they feel. If it doesn't rhyme, it doesn't matter. If it sounds awkward, it doesn't matter.
I think, especially with being lucky enough to have a big fanbase, I want to say to them, "Look, lyrics actually matter, and I want to show you why".
Louis Tomlinson's single, Back To You, is out now on Syco Music
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40666699
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Newspaper headlines: Some first class trains to end and Boots boycott call - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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The end of some two-tier rail travel, and a Boots boycott call make newspaper headlines.
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The Papers
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A plan to scrap first class compartments on commuter trains is the lead for the Daily Telegraph.
The paper has an interview with Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, who uses the train to get to his Whitehall office.
He says he understands what a pain it is for passengers to stand in packed standard-class carriages, while first-class compartments are empty.
The Telegraph says it first highlighted the issue of half-empty first class carriages on packed commuter trains in 2013 and it thinks scrapping them is "a first class idea".
The Daily Mail leads on the row between Boots and a number of female Labour MPs over the chain's refusal to cut the price of the morning-after pill.
Boots put out a statement late last night apologising for its initial response and saying it was looking for cheaper alternatives. It had earlier suggested it didn't want to encourage the overuse of the morning-after pill.
In an editorial, the Mail welcomes what it describes as Boots' "principled stand" calling it "refreshing". It describes the Labour MPs - who'd called for a boycott of Boots - as "contemptible".
The row over BBC pay rumbles on, and the Daily Mirror leads with a claim that BBC bosses held a string of frantic talks with female stars before details of huge pay disparities with men became public.
One unnamed source is quoted saying: "The BBC might describe them as contract negotiations, but it looked like hush money to me."
Charles Moore in the Telegraph points out - among many things - that if the women get more while the men stay on the same then the whole point of exposing the figures in the first place, to force the BBC to control its costs, will have been upended.
According to the Times, hard-left Labour supporters are plotting to oust the party's deputy leader, Tom Watson, over what they see as disloyalty to Jeremy Corbyn.
They're said to want to replace him with the shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry. Sources close to Ms Thornberry have said the claims are categorically untrue.
The Guardian reports that Interpol has circulated the names of 173 so-called Islamic State militants it believes could have been trained to mount suicide attacks in Europe.
The list was drawn up by US intelligence from information captured during assaults on IS territories in Syria and Iraq.
The Daily Express, meanwhile, highlights the case of an illegal migrant in Bishop Auckland in County Durham, who's been spared jail despite allegedly saying he wanted to kill all the English; he was arrested after bursting into a Methodist church during a Sunday service.
The paper says Home Office officials failed to take the opportunity to seek a deportation order - and Crown Prosecution Service lawyers rejected a request by magistrates to consider more serious charges.
An investigation into cyber-crime by the i paper reveals what the paper calls "the shocking truth behind the threat you face".
The paper talks of a "tidal wave of attacks" costing the British public more than the budget of the NHS. It says 85% of attacks go unsolved by the police, as criminal gangs steal millions of pounds every day.
Examples of victims include everyone from GPs targeted by identity thieves, to a grandmother defrauded of her life savings.
And, the paper says, police in South Yorkshire have had to drop investigations six times in the past three years - after discovering the alleged offenders were under ten years old.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-40689482
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Regal rules: The dos and don'ts for meeting the Queen - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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A Canadian governor got caught up in regal protocol as he touched a royal elbow.
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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. Canada's Governor General lightly touched the Queen on the elbow as she descended a flight of steps
Canada's governor general has been forced to defend his actions after a "slippy" carpet led to a breach of royal etiquette with the Queen. But how do you avoid a protocol slip-up?
David Johnston raised eyebrows on Wednesday as he was seen to be lightly touching Her Majesty's elbow as she descended some steps, at an event in London.
Mr Johnston said he was simply concerned about the Queen's safety and made the judgement that a breach of protocol was appropriate "to be sure that there was no stumble".
To avoid any future mishaps, however, here is a reminder of the traditional dos and don'ts.
Prime minister Theresa May performs a curtsey as she greets the Queen
In 2009, traditional protocol was breached when the Queen and Michelle Obama were spotted with their arms around each other
Actor Tom Hiddleston gave the Duchess of Cornwall friendly shoulder squeeze when they met during a Radio 2 broadcast last year
These rules aren't steadfast and those in breach need not fear exile. The official website for the British Monarchy states "there are no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting the Queen or a member of the Royal Family". It hastens to add: "Many people wish to observe the traditional forms." The choice is yours.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40668579
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UK to bring in drone registration - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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Drone owners will also be required to pass a safety awareness test.
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Technology
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Introducing drone registration "is not about stopping people having fun"
The UK government has announced plans to introduce drone registration and safety awareness courses for owners of the small unmanned aircraft.
It will affect anyone who owns a drone which weighs more than 250 grams (8oz).
Drone maker DJI said it was in favour of the measures.
There is no time frame or firm plans as to how the new rules will be enforced and the Department of Transport admitted that "the nuts and bolts still have to be ironed out".
The drone safety awareness test will involve potential flyers having to "prove that they understand UK safety, security and privacy regulations", it said.
The plans also include the extension of geo-fencing, in which no-fly zones are programmed into drones using GPS co-ordinates, around areas such as prisons and airports.
"Our measures prioritise protecting the public while maximising the full potential of drones," said Aviation Minister Lord Martin Callanan.
"Increasingly, drones are proving vital for inspecting transport infrastructure for repair or aiding police and fire services in search and rescue operations, even helping to save lives.
"But like all technology, drones too can be misused. By registering drones and introducing safety awareness tests to educate users, we can reduce the inadvertent breaching of airspace restrictions to protect the public."
There has not been a significant accident involving a drone yet, but there have been several reports of near misses with commercial aircraft. There have also been incidents of drones being used to deliver drugs to prison inmates.
"Registration has its place. I would argue it will focus the mind of the flyer - but I don't think you can say it's going to be a magic solution," said Dr Alan McKenna, law lecturer at the University of Kent.
"There will be people who will simply not be on the system, that's inevitable."
There have been occasions of near misses between drones and other aircraft
Similar registration rules in the US were successfully challenged in court in March 2017 and as a result are currently not applicable to non-commercial flyers.
Dr McKenna said there were also issues around how a drone's owner could be identified by police and whether personal liability insurance should also be a legal requirement in the event of an accident.
DJI spokesman Adam Lisberg said the plans sounded like "reasonable common sense".
"The fact is that there are multiple users of the airspace and the public should have access to the air - we firmly believe that - but you need systems to make sure everybody can do it safely," he said.
"In all of these issues the question is, where is the reasonable middle ground? Banning drones is unreasonable, having no rules is also unreasonable.
"We're encouraged that [the British government] seems to be recognising the value drones provide and looking for reasonable solutions."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40684581
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Cyclist, 91, died doing time trial on Aylesbury road - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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Ray Dare dies while trying to set a new national record for his age.
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Beds, Herts & Bucks
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Ray Dare, 91, died at the scene on the A41 Aston Clinton
A 91-year-old cyclist killed on a dual carriageway was doing a time trial to set a new national record for his age.
Ray Dare died when his bike and a van were involved in a collision on the A41 Ashton Clinton bypass, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, at about 14:45 BST on Wednesday.
He had belonged to the Surrey-based Kingston Phoenix Road Club for more than 60 years.
A statement on the club's website expressed "huge sadness and shock".
It said Mr Dare had been "attempting to set a new national record for a 91-year-old".
A post on the Timetrialling Forum said: "Other riders have spoken of him riding well and steadily before.
"As yet there are no further details but police, of course, are conducting a fatal accident investigation.
"I am sure all riders will be as shocked as the officials were at this news."
Circumstances surrounding the crash are being investigated and Thames Valley Police is appealing for witnesses to come forward.
The driver of the van was uninjured. No arrests have been made.
• None Cyclist in his 90s dies in crash
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-40680451
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Should children study in the summer holidays? - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Parents ponder whether to relax and pack away the school books - or get ahead for next term.
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UK
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The summer holidays are under way, but for some children, the studying - and the homework - will continue.
It was a moment of pure joy: school was out for summer.
Your school bag was shoved in the back of a cupboard. School shoes went the same way. Ahead lay countless days of freedom, play and sunshine.
That used to be the case for most children - yet not all youngsters today enjoy the same.
There's school work to catch up on; a year's learning to consolidate. An 11-plus test in the autumn term, perhaps.
So - some parents argue - why not study over the holidays?
Vivienne Stiles tutors children aged between four and 16 throughout the summer.
They attend a class twice a week, and are given between 15 and 90 minutes of maths and English homework every day.
"Children's brains need to be stimulated throughout the holidays," she says.
"You can't expect them to pick up in September where they left off."
By doing work little and often, says Vivienne, children maintain the stamina and concentration built up during term-time.
Vivienne - who works for Kumon, a tutor company - says the children learn new skills, develop a strong work ethic and get into a good routine.
She says her own daughter, now 19, went from a "good C-grade student" at the start of secondary school to getting a place at London's Royal Veterinary College, thanks in part to extra tutoring.
Mother-of-two Tanith Carey was also a big believer in tutoring.
That was until her eldest daughter, Lily, did not want to accept a school prize for science at the age of seven, saying she hated the fuss.
It was then Tanith found out about the pressure her daughter was under.
So, the maths tutoring through the holidays stopped, and Lily had more time to spend making up little worlds and imaginary characters with her younger sister, Clio.
Clio plans to spend the summer holidays taking photos and cooking, says Tanith
Tanith says that, like many parents, she had been swept along in a "tide of panic".
"Competition between parents is contagious - because they fear if another child gets ahead, their child will feel left behind. So it spreads," she says.
"I think it's sad that the summer months are viewed as an extension of the academic year - a chance for kids to catch up or get ahead."
In her book, Taming the Tiger Parent, Tanith writes about the concept of a child's spark.
"It's something that every child has and is the one thing they love doing and they lose themselves in and find easy," she explains.
"Children can only find it if they are left to their own devices."
Over the summer, 12-year-old Clio has decided she wants to take photographs and turn them into an album, and compile and bake some vegan recipes.
Her sister, Lily, now 15, is going abroad on a music course - despite having GCSEs coming up.
She will also enjoy the freedom of not having to get up for school, and reading whatever books she wants, Tanith adds.
Her own summer holidays playing in the garden, making huts, and playing Cowboys and Indians, formed some of the happiest memories of her childhood.
"I think in their panic and fear about the future, parents are forgetting that some of the best learning is done through play and getting to know the physical world outside in nature.
"They are forgetting that children used to have two educations. The one they had at school and the one they had from nature."
Father-of-three and author of the Idle Parent, Tom Hodgkinson, spent his summer holidays roaming freely round parks and over rubbish dumps.
He may not prescribe rubbish dumps to children today, but does believe in giving them the space to make fire, climb trees and play with knives.
"It's about responsible neglect," he says. "Leave children alone - you're nearby but let them get on with it."
Life is overscheduled so the summer holidays should be a time to live in the moment, have fun and be creative without an authority figure lurking in the background, he says.
It teaches you self-sufficiency, the ability to entertain yourself and how to look after yourself.
"These skills may not be useful in corporate life or if you want to suck on the nipple of the state but they are if you want to be a responsible grown-up human being," he argues.
However, this summer he won't practise what he preaches. His eldest has A-levels next year so it will be Latin every morning.
"It's a one-off," he says. "You do have to work sometimes."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40666245
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OJ Simpson to be freed from Nevada prison - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The former sports star and actor is granted parole after almost nine years in prison for armed robbery.
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US & Canada
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Four things OJ did in while in prison
Former US football star and actor OJ Simpson has been granted parole after nine years in a Nevada prison.
"Thank you!" said the 70-year-old, bowing his head as the board approved him for release in October.
Simpson is serving time for armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and 10 other charges over a 2007 confrontation at a Las Vegas hotel.
He was acquitted in 1995 of the murders a year earlier of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
The former Hall of Fame running back was found guilty in 2008 of the botched Las Vegas robbery - exactly 13 years to the day after he was sensationally cleared in the so-called trial of the century.
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He and a group of five others stormed into a hotel room to confront two sports-memorabilia collectors and seize items that he claimed belonged to him from his career.
The hour-long hearing for Prisoner 1027820 took place at the Lovelock Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in the Nevada desert.
Simpson told parole officials on Thursday the objects he took from the Las Vegas hotel room were later ruled by officials to legally belong to him.
"I've spent a conflict-free life," the prisoner said during the hour-long hearing.
However, in 1989 Simpson admitted spousal abuse after police responded to a domestic violence call at his home.
According to police records, his wife had run from the house screaming to officers: "He's going to kill me!"
More than two decades after the murders, the slow-speed car chase through the streets of Los Angeles and his sensational acquittal, OJ Simpson still commands an audience.
Television networks across the US interrupted their regular broadcasting to cut to the drab setting of the Lovelock Correctional Center in the high desert of Nevada.
And there he was, now 70 years old and dressed in simple blue prison garb but still instantly recognisable - the man who was a sensation from the moment he burst on to the American football field.
When he was asked by the parole board commissioners about how he would cope with media attention if he were to be released, the man they used to call The Juice laughed.
It must have felt like they were asking him how he would cope with breathing the air.
The families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman are not laughing - and there is evidence that OJ Simpson's supporters are a shrinking band.
The country was once divided, not least on racial lines, about the verdict in the "trial of the century" but a recent poll suggested that only 7% of Americans now believe the fallen star was not a killer.
Simpson (C) appears to dab a tear during the testimony of Bruce Fromong
On Thursday, Bruce Fromong, who was one of Simpson's victims in the robbery a decade ago, testified in favour of his release.
"I've known OJ for a long time," said Mr Fromong. "I don't feel that he's a threat to anyone.
"He's a good man. It's time to give him a second chance."
The prisoner told the commissioners he had helped establish a Baptist prayer meeting in prison, adding: "I could have been a better Christian."
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The prisoner also rejected suggestions he had an alcohol problem.
"I've done my time," he said. "I've done it as well and as respectfully as anybody can. I think if you talk to the wardens they'll tell you.
"I've not complained for nine years. All I've done is try to be helpful… and that's the life I've tried to live because I want to get back to my kids and family."
The Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners said it had received hundreds of letters for and against Simpson's parole.
In 2013 the board granted him parole on some of his convictions, but not for the more violent charges.
Nicole Brown Simpson and friend Ron Goldman were stabbed to death
His daughter, Arnelle Simpson, choked up as she told the parole board: "My experience with him is that he's like my best friend and my rock."
She added: "He is remorseful, he truly is remorseful."
But Simpson's legal problems are likely to continue after he is released.
An attorney for the family of Ron Goldman vowed to pursue him for due payment of damages.
Simpson rejected the suggestion that he had an alcohol problem during the hearing
Despite the 1995 not-guilty verdict, a civil court jury held Simpson liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend, awarding $33.5m (£25.8m) to their families.
Two years ago a court enlarged that judgment to about $58m, but it remains largely unpaid.
Legal experts say the families could claim a portion of Simpson's future earnings, such as book deals or television appearances.
However, under federal law Simpson's estimated $20,000 monthly pension from the National Football League is out of reach to creditors.
Following his playing career, he appeared in television commercials before taking roles in movies like the comedy The Naked Gun.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40676882
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Obituary: Linkin Park star Chester Bennington's hurt made beautiful music - BBC News
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2017-07-21
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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"Most of my work has been a reflection of what I've been going through," Bennington once said.
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US & Canada
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Bennington's friends have been responding to his unexpected death on social media
The angst-ridden vocals of Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, who died aged 41 on Thursday, helped lead the group to global critical acclaim.
The frontman's brooding charisma - added to the group's blend of rap, metal and electronic music - spawned a string of chart-topping hits.
The son of a police officer in Phoenix, Arizona, Bennington was born on 20 March 1976 and had a troubled youth.
After years of intense drug use, he got sober and joined Linkin Park in 1998.
"Growing up, for me, was very scary and very lonely," he told Metal Hammer magazine in 2014.
"I started getting molested when I was about seven or eight," he said, describing the abuser as an older friend.
"I was getting beaten up and being forced to do things I didn't want to do.
"It destroyed my self-confidence. Like most people, I was too afraid to say anything.
"I didn't want people to think I was gay or that I was lying. It was a horrible experience," he told the magazine.
His parents divorced when he was 11 years old, and he went to live with his father, whom he described as "not emotionally very stable then", adding that "there was no-one I could turn to".
The singer quit hard drugs after a gang broke into a property where the future star was getting high and pistol-whipped some of his friends.
Bennington moved to Los Angeles and successfully auditioned to join Linkin Park.
Later in the 2000s, as the band's success took off, he again began using drugs before returning to sobriety, telling Spin Magazine in 2009: "It's not cool to be an alcoholic.
"It's not cool to go drink and be a dumbass.
"It's cool to be a part of recovery.
"Most of my work has been a reflection of what I've been going through in one way or another," he added.
Linkin Park was formed in 1996 and the band's 2000 debut album, Hybrid Theory, surfed the popular wave of nu-metal, Rolling Stone magazine writes.
It eventually sold more than 30 million albums and became one of the top-selling albums since the start of this millennium.
The band has sold 70 million albums worldwide and won two Grammy Awards.
Linkin Park had a string of hits including Faint, In The End and Crawling, and collaborated with rapper Jay-Z.
Their latest music video for the song Talking to Myself was released on Thursday, on the same day of the artist's death.
Bennington was said to be close to Sound Garden's Chris Cornell, who took his own life in May 2017.
Bennington sang at the funeral for Cornell, who would have turned 53 on Thursday.
In addition to working with Linkin Park, he also sang for Stone Temple Pilots, for his side project Dead by Sunrise, and Kings of Chaos.
Bennington leaves six children from two different marriages.
If you are affected by the topics in this article, the Samaritans can be contacted free on 116 123 (in the UK) or by email on jo@samaritans.org. If you are in the US, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40677254
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