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Weather alert issued for gale force winds in Wales | Help me summarize this article: The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for wind covering Wales and England, starting from 21:00 GMT on Wednesday evening. Travel and power are both likely to be disrupted, with the warning to remain in place until 15:00 on Thursday. Gusts of 55mph (88kmh) are likely and could hit up to 70mph on coasts and hills, with heavy and blustery showers. | Winds could reach gale force in Wales with stormy weather set to hit the whole of the country this week. |
Huge tidal turbine installed at Orkney test site | Summarize this: Atlantis Resources unveiled the marine energy device at Invergordon ahead of it being shipped to Kirkwall. Trials on the device will now be run at the European Marine Energy Centre test site off Eday. The device stands 22.5m (73ft) tall, weighs 1,300 tonnes and has two sets of blades on a single unit. It could generate enough power for 1,000 homes. | The massive tidal turbine AK1000 has been installed in 35m (114.8ft) of water at a test site in Orkney. |
Leeds stabbing: Man attacked outside betting shop | Police were called to the scene outside the Coral shop on Compton Road in Harehills just before 14:00 BST. The man was taken to hospital for treatment but his condition is not known. West Yorkshire Police said the area has been cordoned off and officers remain at the scene. The force has appealed for information. Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | A man has been stabbed in broad daylight outside a betting shop in Leeds. |
Could killing of Iranian general help Trump get re-elected? | Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter With tensions rising between the US and Iran, the long-term consequences will largely depend on the nature of Irans response to the attack and the intensity of any conflict that follows. If the end result is a US withdrawal from Iraq, the politics of the situation could be turned on its head, with hawks doing the howling and non-interventionists celebrating. In the short term, however, there are already some possible implications both for the Democratic presidential primaries that begin in less than a month and Novembers general election contest. A wartime president? Traditionally, a US president facing a major foreign policy crisis benefits from at least a short-term bump in public support. The rally around the flag effect boosted George HW Bushs standing during the 1991 Gulf War. George W Bush saw his approval surge to record levels in the days after the September 11 attacks and subsequent bombing of Afghanistan. Those were massive military engagements, however. When the stakes have been lower, the tangible political benefits - at least in terms of polling - are harder to discern. Barack Obama saw no change in his approval ratings during the 2011 air war in Libya. When Donald Trump fired missiles at a Syrian air base in response to that nations use of chemical weapons, the slight increase in his ratings appear in hindsight to be little more than statistical noise for a man whose approval has been relatively stable throughout his presidency. The first survey following the Soleimani strike suggests the public will be as sharply divided on Trumps handling of the situation as it has been on everything else this president has done. A slim plurality approve of the action, but a similar plurality also express concern that the president did not plan carefully enough. Short of a stunning military victory or a protracted bloody fight, the end result could be simply more of the same when it comes to views on the Trump presidency. Republican support Trump... Tóm tắt bài đã cho | It was inevitable that the fallout from the US airstrike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani would spill into presidential politics. Everything spills into presidential politics these days, and this is without a doubt a major story. |
Coronavirus: Ive moved out to protect my family from the virus | Help me summarize this article: By Debbie JacksonBBC Scotland But while most of us are giving up trips out of the house, many health workers across the country are making an even bigger sacrifice. Those who are on the front line, experiencing face-to-face contact with patients who have the virus, are putting themselves at risk every day. Some of them have made the difficult decision to stay away from their families to avoid passing on that risk. Ambulance technician Jamie Kennedy from Glasgow is one of them. Jamie, 38, moved out of his family home 11 days ago and into a hotel so that he can carry on doing his job without worrying about bringing the virus home to his wife and two children. He can also continue to do vital work if any of his family have to self-isolate. He told the BBC: I am staying in a hotel which offered free rooms to NHS staff at the start of lockdown. The hotel is almost full of NHS staff. It was a difficult decision but when I saw the situation getting worse and worse I had the discussion with my wife Ashley. It was a purely personal decision, but I would never forgive myself if anything happened and if the kids got ill. I am out in the community all day and if I went in and caused them to get sick, I would never forgive myself. Tuesdays figures saw the number of patients testing positive for Covid-19 in Scotland rise to 6,358. A total of 615 people have died, including two health and care workers. Symptoms present in the majority Jamies shifts for the Scottish Ambulance Service are completely consumed by coronavirus right now. In the majority of calls one or more symptoms are present and we have to treat it as a potential case, he said. It could be up to nine patients in a shift. Thankfully the morale is high and we are well looked after. My manager calls to check we are doing okay. Contact with his wife and children is limited to video calls and one socially distant trip a week to drop off groceries. Having to see them from a distance is heartbreaking. He said: I do a big shop for them and take it over to the back... | Week four of social distancing is starting to take its toll. |
Ballymoney: Man, 37, arrested in UDA investigation | Summarize: He was arrested on Saturday morning and is currently in custody. Detectives from the Causeway Coast and Glens Criminal Investigations Branch also searched an address in Ballymoney and a number of items were seized. Police have appealed for those with information about criminality linked to paramilitaries to contact them. | A 37-year-old man has been arrested as part an ongoing investigation into criminality linked to the North Antrim Ulster Defence Association (UDA). |
Electric buses take to the roads in Coventry | Coventry firm Travel de Courcey is to introduce the three buses in May next year, on its Park and Ride South route. The 38-seat buses will run between the Memorial Park in Kenilworth Road and the city centre using power points already installed by the council. A Travel de Courcey spokesman said the company had been looking to improve its vehicles, both environmentally and from a passenger perspective. The buses, Versa EVs, are provided by Optare plc of Leeds. Travel de Courcey has invested 400,000, the governments Green Bus Fund has invested 300,000 and Centro, which looks after public transport in the West Midlands, has contributed 100,000. Mike de Courcey, from the bus firm, said when it heard about the Green Bus Fund it seemed a good opportunity for the firm. The electric buses are ideal for urban driving where the vehicle is stopping and starting, he said. Tóm tắt văn bản trên | Electric buses will soon be running on the roads in Coventry. |
Jersey States pressed on cutting number of politicians | St Helier Deputy, Trevor Pitman, has put forward changes to proposals by a States group to cut back the number of senators from 12 to eight. He wants the States to go further, with numbers cut to six, saying it would save more money. Plans to reform the structure of the States are under review and could be the subject of a referendum. Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | A Jersey deputy is calling on the number of States members to be reduced more than current proposals. |
Nottingham Boots confirms 200 jobs to go | Summarize the main idea of this article: Managers at Alliance Boots said a fall in demand for products made for other companies meant it had to reduce capacity. Bosses said the posts will go over the next two years and added they would make efforts to redeploy staff. The division of Boots involved, BCM, currently employs 1,200 people and will now focus on own brand beauty and skincare products. Stephen Le Hane, an HR director for the company, said: You will appreciate that many of our customers are suffering from the recession as most companies are in the UK. The amount of demand they have for the products in BCM has gone down and as there are quite high fixed costs in manufacturing, those adjustments in their volume requirements for us can have an impact on the profitability and success of the BCM business. | About 200 posts are to go at the Boots site in Nottingham. |
Bletchley Park studies at The University of Buckingham | Summarize: The course will look at intelligence history and Bletchley Park focusing on the World War II code breakers. Course director, Professor Anthony Glees said it was an opportunity to work with Bletchleys previously unresearched archives. The Master of Arts degree explores how military intelligence developed. The degree is the universitys newest course run by the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies. Professor Glees said: The course will reveal fresh insights into how the war was fought, which will be totally unique for students at this level. | A degree in military intelligence studies, highlighting the importance of Bletchley Park is to be offered by The University of Buckingham. |
The men who feel left out of US abortion debate | Help me summarize this article: After the rage has dissipated, after overcoming alcoholism as a coping mechanism, even after a new and beautiful family comes on the scene, a great sadness still persists - and likely always will. Thats the message from men talking about their experiences of abortion, a voice rarely heard among the passionate multitudes in the US abortion debate, though abortion rights supporters argue that this group is an outlier and does not speak for the majority of men involved in an abortion. Currently, the usual male perspectives that feature are legislators pushing to restrict abortion procedures, drawing the ire of pro-choice supporters accusing them of trying to legislate womens bodies. But now would-be fathers denied by abortion are speaking out. An Alabama abortion clinic is being sued by a man after his girlfriend had an abortion at the six-week stage, against his will in 2017. The case is the first of its kind because the court recognised the foetus as the plaintiff and the father as the representative of his babys estate. Im here for the men who actually want to have their baby, the man told a local news agency in February. I just tried to plead with her and plead with her and just talk to her about it and see what I could do. But in the end, there was nothing I could do to change her mind. Currently in the US, fathers have no legal rights to hinder the abortion of a pregnancy for which they are responsible. State laws requiring that a father be given a say in, or even notified of, an abortion have been struck down by the US Supreme Court. I was in my 30s living the good single life in Dallas, says 65-year-old Karl Locker. When a woman he was seeing told him she was pregnant, he says he felt like one of those wolves with its leg caught in a trap. Nevertheless, he decided he had to support her - and the pregnancy. I tried everything, I offered to marry her, to take the baby myself, or to offer it up for adoption, Mr Locker says, explaining that he felt keeping the child would be the right thing to do. She said... | The fiercely-contested debate over US abortion focuses on the rights of the mother and foetus. But a lawsuit in Alabama by a man who says his girlfriend had an abortion against his wishes adds a third voice to the conversation, writes James Jeffrey. |
Moqtada al-Sadr: The firebrand cleric who could calm Iraq | By Jim MuirVisiting Senior Fellow, Middle East Centre, LSE Nearly 17 turbulent years later, he is probably Iraqs best-known figure and certainly one of its most powerful - instantly recognisable from his scowly features, yet elusively enigmatic. Radical, firebrand, maverick, mercurial, quixotic - these are just some of the adjectives routinely attached to a man whose actions and positions have often seemed puzzling and contradictory. Yet they have allowed him to achieve the extraordinary feat of surviving through years of upheavals during which his followers have battled the Americans and their allies, the Iraqi army, Sunni Islamic State group extremists, and rival Shia militias. His current political manifestation, a coalition known Saeroun (loosely translatable as On The Move), came out top of the polls in the 2018 general election, putting Moqtada al-Sadr in pole position in the inevitable jostling to form a coalition government (nobody wins an outright majority in Iraqi elections). As well as being a leading kingmaker, Moqtada al-Sadr is also a key player behind the upheavals currently shaking the country in protest against corruption and incompetence, themes he has been pursuing for years. Long lineage If he was obscure when the US-led invasion began, it was not long before he leapt into prominence. As soon as Saddam Husseins grip was loosened, he set about activating the networks and legacy bequeathed him by his esteemed clerical father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, in the teeming, deprived Shia quarters of Baghdad and the cities of southern Iraq. Its impossible to understand Moqtada al-Sadrs undoubted appeal to the masses without reference to his eminent family clerical background. Both his father and his father-in-law, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Sadr, were revered religious figures who cultivated strong social care networks among the Shia poor, and incurred the wrath of Saddam Hussein. Both these illustrious forebears met violent deaths. Muhammad Baqer was executed by the... Tóm tắt văn bản trên | When the Americans launched the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 and plunged Iraq into the violent chaos that continues today, few people outside the country had even heard of a little-qualified young Shia cleric called Moqtada al-Sadr. |
Why I gave up my US passport | Summarize: Many wrote to say they were experiencing similar problems to those outlined in the article. Here is a selection of their stories. 1. David Green, Ontario, Canada: I was born and raised in the US. At the age of 30, I fell in love with a beautiful French girl whose profession was working in the French language. We moved to Canada (bilingual) where we have enjoyed life and we both could earn a living and contribute to life. I always paid my taxes to both the USA and Canada and seldom paid US taxes due to the higher taxes in Canada. But when you retire, hold on to your hats because the common deductions you enjoyed while working no longer apply. I ended up paying over 3,000 (1,850) in taxes to the US when I retired. That is a significant amount of my retirement income. Since all my benefits come from Canada and the USA provides nothing but increased complications in tax laws and the ability to snoop into our personal lives (including my wife who is not a USA citizen), I renounced my USA citizenship in April of this year - for a fee (450). I feel sad at the action I have taken but angry at the bureaucracy that caused this problem for so many to possibly catch so few. 2. Pamela Schmidt, Germany: I was an American citizen, and I have spent most of my time in Europe for the last 12 years. In 2006, I married a German citizen and applied for German citizenship in 2010. The German authorities do not allow dual citizenship; therefore, I had to take a decision of becoming German or remaining American. I thought about it for a while and chose to become German. As I have spent most of my adult life in Europe, I feel more European than American, and I would like to be able to play a more active role in politics in the country where I live, which are the main reasons for my decision. However, the bizarre financial rules in the US did make the decision easier. The American government with laws like Fatca [Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act] treats non-criminal citizens abroad like tax-dodgers and limits Americans financial... | The Magazine feature on the number of expat Americans renouncing their US citizenship due to tax filing requirements prompted a huge response from readers. |
#BBCtrending: Rosetta physicists sexist shirt | BBC Trending Whats popular and why The eyes of the world were focussed on Matt Taylor this week. The British scientist involved in the Rosetta Project - to land a spacecraft on a comet - was at the heart of media coverage of the event. And so was his shirt. On Wednesday he appeared in front of the cameras wearing a bespoke short-sleeved number, plastered in bright cartoon images of scantily-clad women. People on Twitter were not amused. Women are toooootally welcome in our community, just ask the dude in this shirt, tweeted a female tech journalist, sarcastically. She was sent abusive tweets in response. Science is seen by many as a male dominated world, and so the shirt only reinforces the notion that women arent accepted on equal footing, claimed his critics. For clarity -- No, the shirt is not cool or acceptable in a professional setting - on an engineer, scientist, or anyone, tweeted another user. The hashtags #ShirtGate and #ShirtStorm appeared, and have been used more than 3,500 times. South African cosmologist Renée Hloek wrote a blog addressed to budding female scientists: Yes, you are capable of being taken seriously, she wrote. Pressure mounted on Taylor to apologise, while others lightened the mood by spoofing the photo. Fixed it, claimed one tweeter, who posted a new image showing famous female scientists photoshopped onto the shirt. That image alone has been shared more than 2,700 times on Twitter. The scientist wasnt without his sympathisers, however. Poor Dr Matt Taylor. He landed on a comet and the only thing people seem to talk about are his tattoos and his shirt, wrote one. BBC Trending contacted Taylor for comment but has not heard back. The outcry has evidently hit him hard though. During a press briefing this morning, he broke down in tears and apologised for his choice of clothes. The shirt I wore this week, I made a big mistake and I offended many people, he said. You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending All our stories are at bbc.com/trending Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | One of the leading scientists on the Rosetta Project gave a string of TV interviews in a shirt emblazoned with half-dressed women. The angry reaction online spawned two hashtags, spoof images and has now led to a tearful apology as well. |
Arthur Hill Baths in Reading closes for urgent repairs | The Arthur Hill Memorial Baths in Reading will be closed until Saturday to allow work on corroding cast iron pipework which feeds into the pool. The building was donated to the town by the Hill family in memory of Arthur Hill JP, who was mayor of the town four times between 1883 and 1887. Reading Council has spent thousands on the aging building over the years. The local authority apologised for the brief closure but said the repairs had to be done. The pool was opened on 29 November 1911. Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | A 103-year-old swimming pool has been shut for four days after an inspection revealed urgent repairs were needed. |
New virtual reality experience of Scottish waters | A series of 360 degree virtual reality videos have been produced as part of #MustSeaScotland. St Kilda, Islay, Skye and Inverness Marina are among the locations featured. Sail Scotland has created the campaign with other organisations, including the National Trust for Scotland and VisitScotland. The campaign comes during Scotlands Year of Coasts and Waters 2020. All images are the copyright of Airborne Lens. Tóm tắt bài đã cho | Scotlands opportunities for sailing and boating on rivers, lochs and seas are being promoted in a new campaign. |
Bloodhound diary: Supercar needs supertrack | By Andy GreenWorld Land Speed Record Holder Ive just had a very odd experience - someones sent me a video of myself appearing on Foreign Secretary William Hagues Facebook page. To try and explain this rather strange event, Ill start with my recent visit to the Bloodhound track in the Northern Cape of South Africa. Ive just been to inspect the work on Hakskeen Pan, in the Northern Cape, where well be running Bloodhound SSC next year, as we test and develop the car up to our astonishing target of 1,000mph. The scale of the work required to prepare this surface is truly vast. The car will need to do a number of test runs, so our main track is 500m wide, to give us multiple lanes to run on (each time the car runs on the hard soil surface, its metal wheel cut ruts, so each lane is one-use only). The track is 12 miles (19km) long - which is just long enough to accelerate to 1,000 mph, then stop again before the desert ends. This process will only take two minutes, from setting off to coming to a halt 12 miles away. In addition to the main track of 500m, we need a 300m safety zone either side of the track, in case the car gets very slightly offline - because slightly off at 1,000mph can mean being a couple of hundred metres sideways in the time it takes to correct the steering (for the sort of things that I might need to correct while Im driving at 1,000 mph, have a look at How hard can it be to keep it in a straight line?). The team preparing the track has to remove a huge quantity of stones from the surface - an estimated 6,000 tonnes. There is no mechanical way of clearing these without damaging the surface, so it all needs to be done by hand - all 21,000,000 sq m of it! Thats the equivalent of clearing a two-lane road, by hand, stretching from London to Moscow. This is a task of biblical proportions and would defeat us without a huge amount of help - which is exactly what we are getting from the Northern Cape Government in South Africa. The Northern Cape is preparing the track for us, paying... Tóm tắt bài đã cho | A British team is developing a car that will capable of reaching 1,000mph (1,610km/h). Powered by a rocket bolted to a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, the Bloodhound SSC (SuperSonic Car) vehicle will mount an assault on the land speed record. Wing Commander Green is writing a diary for the BBC News website about his experiences working on the Bloodhound project and the teams efforts to inspire national interest in science and engineering. |
Bloodhound diary: South African trials get under way | By Andy GreenWorld Land Speed Record Holder Were off! By the time you read this, Bloodhound will already have started the 5,500-mile journey south to its Hakskeenpan desert track in South Africa. The majority of the team will arrive in mid-October, aiming to start high-speed testing towards the end of the month. Theres been a huge amount of work over the past few weeks to get the car ready. It may seem strange that weve apparently left everything to the last minute but believe me, its not by choice. Some of the key bits of hardware on the car have only recently arrived, including our Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine, once all the paperwork was in place (borrowing a state-of-the-art military jet engine is, quite rightly, a non-trivial process). The huge carbon-fibre airbrake doors were another long-lead item that arrived pretty much at the eleventh hour but, given all the work that went into them, were very grateful to have them in time for this years tests. With the arrival of all the bits of the car, both big and small, the team has raced to fit them all together over the past few weeks. Each bit then needs testing to make sure it will work when we unpack it 5,500 miles away in South Africa. This includes the complex jet engine systems, which have to mimic the controls of the Eurofighter-Typhoon to make the jet engine think its at home. Our first attempt to simulate a jet engine start was unsuccessful (I would emphasise the word simulate - weve got a great relationship with our hosts at Berkeley Green UTC, but if we fired up a jet engine inside the college, the relationship might become a little strained). Our brilliant systems guru Joe Holdsworth quickly diagnosed that the high-speed digital comms link between the engine and the car had failed to start up correctly. The solution? The same one you and I would use - switch it off, then switch it back on again! Last week I watched the wheel hubs being assembled. These are beautiful bits of engineering, containing not just one, or even two,... Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | A British team is developing a car that will be capable of reaching 1,000mph (1,610km/h). Powered by a rocket bolted to a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, the vehicle aims to show its potential by going progressively faster, year after year. By the end of 2019, Bloodhound wants to have demonstrated speeds above 500mph. The next step would be to break the existing world land speed record (763mph; 1,228km/h). The racing will take place on Hakskeen Pan in Northern Cape, South Africa. |
Paris Bataclan attack: My brothers life isnt defined by that night | Summarize: Nick was the only British victim of the attack. His sister, Zoe Alexander, told the BBC she was was determined to ensure his life was not defined by the events of the night of 13 November 2015. It still feels so surreal to me that Nick died in the attacks. Five years is quite a significant amount of time but grief is not a linear experience. In some ways it feels like a very long time since I last saw him but in other ways it feels like yesterday. Nick was a vibrant force and he was fantastic company. As a child growing up in Weeley, Essex, he was funny, quirky and a popular and loyal friend. There were seven years between us which feels like a big gap as children but as an adult he was a great friend as well as a brother. He was such a people person which is why he was so good at his job, interacting with the fans on a daily basis. One of the things I admired most about Nick was that he was unashamedly himself and trod his own path throughout his whole life. He was authentic and that gave him a great energy that people wanted to be around. After he died we received messages from all over the world, some from people he had only met once after they bought merchandise from him, but he left a lasting impression on them. That was the kind of guy he was. We talk about him all the time at home and he is very present for us. My children are eight and nine, they still remember Uncle Nick and how he made them laugh. We share funny stories and we go to Paris every year on his birthday and drink champagne. We miss him deeply. Of course it is easier now and it does get better but you never fully recover. The pain lessens but the remembering does not. Every year I also travel to Paris with my parents to go to an annual ceremony to remember the victims, on the anniversary of the attack. We obviously cant go this year but we will be watching a live stream. A brilliant community has formed of survivors and relatives of the people who died, and we find great strength in standing alongside each other. A survivor community... | Five years ago, Nick Alexander was shot dead at the Bataclan Theatre in Paris. The 35-year-old was working as the merchandise manager for Eagles of Death Metal when three gunmen stormed the building as part of co-ordinated terror attacks across the city, killing 130 people. |
Egypts commitment to press freedom on trial | Help me summarize this article: In mid-December, the award-winning Australian correspondent Peter Greste arrived in Egypts capital for a routine assignment - his first in the country. He checked into an upmarket hotel on the banks of the Nile, where al-Jazeera had a makeshift office, and started reading up on the story. Just two weeks later, the former BBC correspondent became the story. He and two of his colleagues from al-Jazeera English - Egyptian-Canadian Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Adel Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed - were arrested. The trio was soon branded the Marriott Terror Cell. On Thursday, they are due to appear before a criminal court in Cairo on charges including broadcasting false news, and aiding or joining a terrorist organisation - as the Muslim Brotherhood was designated four days before their arrest - and endangering national security. If convicted, they could be sentenced to several years in jail. Breaking the law Egypt denies the case is an attack on freedom of speech. It says the al-Jazeera journalists were working illegally because they did not have press passes. We have accredited more than 1,000 correspondents from foreign organisations, and they are working freely, one official says. If you break the law, this is not freedom of expression. Al-Jazeera is a regular target for Egypts military-backed interim government. The channel is owned by the government of Qatar, which backs the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt regards the network as a mouthpiece for the Islamists. But al-Jazeeras management deny allegations of bias. The charges just dont hold water, says Heather Allan, head of newsgathering for al-Jazeera English. Egypt is a very important story for us. Weve always been there, we believe we have been very fair, and when they were picked up we thought it would last a day or two. Instead, the journalists have now spent almost two months in Cairos Tora prison complex, a much feared high-security fortress. In a letter written from there last month, Peter Greste recounted being locked in my cell 24... | Three journalists from al-Jazeeras English news channel go on trial in Egypt on Thursday, in a case which campaigners say is part of a sweeping crackdown on freedom of speech, reports the BBCs Orla Guerin in Cairo. |
The stomach-churning one-night stand | Theres nothing sexy about diarrhoea. And since thats the main, outwardly noticeable symptom of Crohns Disease, it makes dating hard. This is why I decided the best way to deal with the problem was to ignore it completely. Let me tell you how that turned out. I had always thought Lydia was cute, but nothing had ever happened between us. A few years passed before I ran into her again and clocked the nakedness of her ring finger - she was single - and asked her out for dinner. The fact Crohns had reared its ugly mug since we last knew each other wasnt mentioned. It just didnt come up. All I needed was one good date - enough to make her want a second, and hopefully a third. Date three was the time to drop the C-bomb. You can bail after two dates, but after three you need a good reason, and I figured no woman would be callous enough to say, its because you have a chronic illness and I think itll be a drag. Youd think my body would be a faithful accomplice in this plan, but no, it wasnt going to give me two trouble-free dates. It wasnt even going to give me one. That evening, as I waited for the taxi, my stomach bubbled and gurgled like an air-locked radiator. Maybe nerves were making it worse, I dont know, but thanks to Imodium I made it into the taxi and to the restaurant. I walked in and saw her. She looked really good. I could tell she wanted this to work as much as I needed the toilet. I bolted and made it to a cubicle with nano-seconds to spare. I had to stay positive. She hadnt seen me and if I could get this all over with now, I might be OK for the rest of the night. After a few false starts, I left the cubicle. Two lads stood by the sinks daring each other to take an ecstasy pill. I threw another Imodium into my mouth. Third one tonight, I said, as I passed, leaving them suitably shocked. After blaming the taxi for my lateness, Lydia and I had dinner - I hoped good solid food would settle my stomach, which turned like a washing machine - and she even laughed at my jokes. We headed to a local pub... Tóm tắt văn bản trên | Life with a disability can sometimes give rise to unspoken questions and sensitivities, but amid the awkwardness there can be humour. The following is an edited version of a sketch by Philip Henry, who has Crohns Disease, delivered for the BBC at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. |
Merlin to be axed after fifth series ends in December | Summarize the main idea of this article: The programme has been running for five years and pulls in almost seven million viewers in its Saturday evening slot. The creators say the show, which features a young King Arthur and his wizard servant, will come to a natural and dramatic end with a two-part finale. I think the show has run its natural course, admits Northern Ireland-born Colin Morgan, who plays Merlin. Weve arrived at its strongest point and weve achieved what we set out to do. Newsbeat recently spoke to Bradley James who plays King Arthur about Merlins future. Its always wise to go out on a high and I think we are at a stage where you take it series by series and think do we want to another one or do we want to do something else? Spectacular finale The creators of Merlin say this series is where the storylines have reached their peak. We always felt the story of the legend was best told across five series, leading to a spectacular finale that draws on the best-known elements of this much-loved story and brings to a conclusion the battle for Camelot. Richard Wilson plays Merlins mentor in the show and admits while he is extremely sad the show is ending thinks it is good news for his character. Speaking as Gaius I feel I have mentored the young wizard as far as I can. He is much smarter and greater than me now and I am simply exhausted. Over the years the programme has had a number of guest stars including Michelle Ryan, Emilia Fox and Mackenzie Crook. The controller of BBC One says they have ambitious plans for new drama in Merlins Saturday night slot for 2013. The next episode of Merlin is on BBC One at 8pm on Saturday 1 December. Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter | The BBC show Merlin will end after the current series. |
Road reopening after lorry gets stuck under Newtown bridge | Traffic queues formed in the town after the incident at 06:30 BST on the A483, which was shut in both directions at Dolfor Road. Buses replaced trains between Newtown and Machynlleth but services are running again. Network Rail has assessed the bridge for damage. Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | A road has reopened after a large lorry earlier became stuck under a railway bridge in Powys forcing the cancellation of trains. |
Making sense of the unrest from Chinas Xinjiang | Help me summarize this article: By Martin PatienceBBC News, Beijing Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua called it a terrorist attack carried out by Xinjiang separatist forces. Rich in minerals and resources, Xinjiang is home to approximately nine million Uighurs, a Turkic ethnic minority. Most are Muslims. In the last year, more than a hundred people have been killed in violence in the autonomous region. Beijing blames the attacks on violent Uighur separatists. But human rights groups say that Chinas repressive policies in the region are fuelling the unrest. But what must really worry Chinas leaders is that the violence from Xinjiang now appears to be spreading. In October of last year, Chinese officials said that militants from the region were involved in an apparent suicide attack in Tiananmen Square, the symbolic heart of power in China. The attack in Kunming appears to represent a further escalation. This attack is a very significant development in the trajectory of Chinese terrorism, said Rohan Gunaratna, a professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore who studies terrorism in Asia, including China. It was a low-cost but a high-impact attack which has generated huge publicity, he added. Uighur extremists have shown that they can launch an attack far away from their base of operations. Cross-fertilisation There have long been tensions in Xinjiang. During the 1990s, there was a surge in nationalist sentiment among Uighurs after several Central Asian countries gained their independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Beijing suppressed the demonstrations during what it called a strike hard campaign. Since then, China has regularly blamed outside forces for stirring up the violence, including serious ethnic riots in 2009 that left around 200 people - mainly Han Chinese - dead. In particular, the Chinese authorities have singled out the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) for orchestrating attacks. In a recent article, Philip Potter, an expert on terrorism at Michigan University, said that Chinas ongoing... | The horrific attack at Kunming railway station - in which knife-wielding attackers hacked at least 29 people to death - has shocked China. One of the countrys newspapers dubbed it Chinas 9/11. |
Barry Bennell: Justice has been served, say victims of ex-football coach | Help me summarize this article: Bennell, who worked at Manchester City and Crewe Alexandra, was found guilty of abusing 11 boys aged eight to 15. Speaking outside Liverpool Crown Court, another victim, Andy Woodward, said justice has been served. It is understood 86 others have come forward to say they were victims. The jury, which deliberated over five days, had been told of Bennells abuse of 12 boys between 1979 and 1990. Before the case he admitted seven charges of indecent assault on three boys, two of whom were also part of the allegations he was tried on. He was found guilty of 36 charges on Tuesday, and a further seven counts on Thursday. Bennell, who is now known as Richard Jones, appeared in court via videolink during the five-week trial due to illness. He could be seen shaking his head and muttering when the final guilty verdicts were returned by a 10-1 majority. He will be sentenced on Monday and will be produced from custody to attend the hearing. It was the fourth time Bennell had been convicted of abusing boys. The jury was told he had previously received jail sentences in the UK and in the US in 1995, 1998 and 2015. Innocence shattered The latest police investigation began in November 2016 when Andy Woodward gave interviews about his experiences to the Guardian and BBCs Victoria Derbyshire programme. Speaking outside court after the verdict, the ex-Crewe defender said: Justice has been served today and people will be able to move on with their lives including myself. Mr Woodward said he believed the football clubs that were accountable for this... could have stopped this for so many years... And I think nows the time that that comes sort of out. And I would personally like after 15 months, an apology from Crewe Alexandra for what happened to us boys. Ex-Manchester City youth player Chris Unsworth, who was abused by Bennell when he was a scout at the club, stood alongside Micky Fallon and Steve Walters as he read a statement. The three men are supporters of the Offside Trust, which was set up by ex-professional players to... | Three of Barry Bennells victims have told how he turned their dreams into a horrendous nightmare after the former youth football coach was convicted of 43 sex assaults on boys. |
How the worlds first webcam made a coffee pot famous | By Rebecca KesbyBBC World Service The scientists credited with inventing the first webcam - thereby launching the revolution that would bring us video chats and live webcasts - stumbled upon the idea in pursuit of something far more old-fashioned: hot coffee. As computer geeks at the University of Cambridge beavered away on research projects at the cutting edge of technology, one piece of equipment was indispensable to the entire team - the coffee percolator. One of the things thats very, very important in computer science research is a regular and dependable flow of caffeine, explains Dr Quentin Stafford-Fraser. But the problem for scientists was that the coffee pot was stationed in the main computer lab, known as the Trojan room, and many of the researchers worked in different labs and on different floors. They would often turn up to get some coffee from the pot, only to find it had all been drunk, Dr Stafford-Fraser remembers. Streaming coffee To solve the problem, he and another research scientist, Dr Paul Jardetzky, rigged up a camera to monitor the Trojan room coffee pot. The camera would grab images three times a minute, and they wrote software that would allow researchers in the department to run the images from the camera on their internal computer network. This removed the need for any physical effort to check the coffee pot, and avoided the emotional distress of turning up to find it empty. However, it wasnt until 22 November 1993 that the coffee pot cam made it onto the world wide web. Once again it was a computer scientist, momentarily distracted from his research project, who made the breakthrough. Dr Martyn Johnson was not one of those connected to the internal computer network at the Cambridge lab, and therefore had been unable to run the coffee pot cam software. He had been studying the capabilities of the web and upon investigating the server code, thought it looked relatively easy to make it run. I just built a little script around the captured images, he says. The first version was... Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | Computer technology now moves so fast its hard to remember life before the internet. But just 19 years ago at the beginning of the nineties, the fledgling world wide web had no search engines, no social networking sites, and no webcam. |
The WhatsApp suicide | Summarize: Geeta was a brave woman. She was a health worker in a rural area of northern India, a job that meant she often walked alone between the surrounding villages, sometimes after dark, visiting strangers houses. Her income supported the whole family, including an alcoholic husband and three teenage children. They lived in a brick house that had no door or toilet, but Geeta was proud that she had been able to educate her daughter and her two sons. Towards the end of 2015, a young man from a nearby village started following Geeta. He had first seen her when she helped his brothers wife to give birth. When Geeta refused to speak with him, he began to threaten her. According to Geetas friend and colleague, Khushboo, the man snatched her phone in the street and told her, If I find you alone, I wont let you go. Geeta must have heard stories about sexual assault in the villages where she worked. Eighteen months earlier, in 2014, her home state of Uttar Pradesh made international headlines when two teenage girls were raped and murdered in the village of Badaun. She must have known, too, that in the patriarchal and honour-bound culture of the village, she could be blamed for inviting the sexual advances of a man - even if those advances were unwelcome, intimidating, or violent. The next time she was called out to the mans village, she told Khushboo she was afraid to go alone. Khushboo immediately offered to go with her, and was alarmed to see the man roaming around the village. She urged Geeta to tell the village elders about the situation. Convinced that any such a request would backfire, Geeta refused. Theyll only find fault with me, she said. A few days later, when the two friends were going to administer polio drops to children, Geeta told Khushboo that something bad had happened. When Khushboo questioned her further, Geeta said that the man, together with three of his friends, had followed her out of the village. The men, she said, had forced themselves upon her and torn her clothes. #ShameOnline This is one of a... | A 40-year-old woman from northern India killed herself in January after a video of her being raped was circulated on WhatsApp. The BBCs Divya Arya travelled to the village in Uttar Pradesh to hear the full story. |
Viewpoint: The toll of terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan | Summarize: By Ahmed RashidLahore Among the countries worst affected have been Afghanistan and Pakistan which alone have accounted for a bomb a day - sometimes several bombs a day. The level of suffering, the devastation of families, the loss, trauma and psychological impact of all this killing is taking a heavy toll. The loss to children when one or more parents are killed is particularly heartbreaking. Yet for the terrorists the soft targets are children, pupils at school and college, kids at play in the street kicking a football around. The terrorists make sure that the parents feel guilty for the rest of their lives. Afghanistan has been facing up to three to four attacks a day in the form of Taliban infantry assaults on towns, villages and police stations or in the form of insidious car or motorcycle bombs detonated to wipe out targeted individuals. On 20 January a suicide car bomber targeted a bus carrying employees of the privately-run Afghan Tolo TV channel, killing seven people. It was heartbreaking news because many of the dead were younger journalists who bought news to our doorsteps. They left a number of young children behind. Unrestrained violence For months the army and the government were telling Pakistanis they had seen the back of Taliban extremism after an 18-month-long military campaign in the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan in which they said about 2,000 militants had been killed. Yet Pakistanis woke up earlier this month to mourn dozens killed in three suicide attacks on three successive days. The worst - if there is such a delineation when we talk about such unrestrained violence - was the attack on 20 January on a university at Charsadda in the north west of the country that claimed the lives of 22 students and professors. The day before 10 soldiers and civilians were killed by a suicide bomber at a check post in the north-west, while on 18 January six soldiers were killed in a landmine explosion in the centre of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province. It is not just the Taliban... | In the past couple of months there has been a suicide terrorist attack almost every day somewhere in the world. The attacks have covered all the main continents and dozens of countries. The list is becoming endless and includes such countries as Indonesia which had not experienced a terrorist attack for nearly a decade. |
Liberian church massacre survivors seek US justice | Summarize this: It was July 1990, and rebel fighters were advancing on the capital, Monrovia. President Samuel Doe was holed up in his vast, gloomy Executive Mansion. After dark bands of soldiers roamed the streets, looting shops and warehouses and seeking out people from Nimba County, the area where the rebellion had started. They dragged the men from their homes, beating and often killing them. Hundreds of terrified families, looking for a safer place to sleep, took refuge in St Peters Lutheran Church - a spacious building in a walled compound. Huge Red Cross flags flew at every corner. But on the night of 29 July, government soldiers came over the wall and started killing those inside. An estimated 600 people - men, women, children, even babies - were shot or hacked to death with machetes before the order was given to stop. A Guinean woman doctor, who was one of the first to reach the church the next day, described to me the scene of utter horror. Dead bodies were everywhere. The only sign of life was a baby crying. She describes having to walk over corpses to reach the child, but when she picked it up and tried to comfort it, she said she suddenly saw a flicker of movement, and then another. A few children had survived, protected by the bodies of their parents, but only when they saw her, a civilian and a woman taking care of the baby, did they dare to come out. One of the child survivors is among those now suing for damages. Protected status American missionary Bette McCrandall was there, too, that morning - she had lain awake the previous night, listening to everything that was happening from the Lutheran bishops compound close by. She says those events have stayed with her, even all these years afterwards, as they have with all the survivors. The memories of that day and that night dont leave me, she says. This was the worst atrocity of the war, the event so shocking that it drove neighbouring countries to mount an armed intervention. Yet no-one has ever been prosecuted or held responsible. The man now... | The Monrovia Church massacre in 1990 was the worst single atrocity of the Liberian civil war. About 600 civilians, including many children, were killed while taking refuge in a church. Now, four survivors are bringing a claim for damages against one of the men they believe was responsible, reports Elizabeth Blunt who was a BBC correspondent in Liberia at the time. |
All in a name: 25 of your changes | Summarize this: People change their given names for many reasons, as discussed in the article, and a wide selection is represented here. 1. I changed my middle name last week from Eleanor to Deci after collecting sponsorship to do so. I raised about 400 for the mental health groups I work for. Its only being changed for a year so I dont have to worry about getting a new passport though. A lot of people are calling me Deci or Decibel at the moment. Janet Deci Bell, London 2. My wife and I changed our names when we married. It seemed unfair that I kept my surname and she had to give up hers. A new name also gave us the chance to create something that belonged just to us. By combining our surnames, Walker and Bland, we came up with Blake. Twenty-seven years later were a pair of very happy Blakes. David Blake, London 3. I took a bet with my work colleague to change. He bet me 1,000 I would not do it but I did. At the time I was 23 stone so the name - John ateall-thepies - was appropriate. This was over two years ago and I am now 15 stone after a long diet. I have since changed my name back to John Spring as I got asked so many times as to why I had this name due to my new figure! John Spring, Sutton 4. Changed name to RU Seerius to stand for parliamentary election. Monster Raving Loony Party of course. Jonathan Brewer, Derbyshire 5. I had my middle name changed to Danger. Names arent that important and I think everyone should choose their own name when they come of age. There should be less James Smiths and more Zig-Zag Banana-Hammocks in this world. My mum was fairly mystified when she found out but she didnt give me a middle name to start with so its sort of her fault anyway, leaving me a blank canvas to paint on. My friend paid for the name change as a birthday present. Im thinking of changing my first name to Incredible. Lee Danger Cooper, London 6. I was christened Julian Ralph Willetts Cook but found myself in a school year with four other boys named Julian. At the time my parents were living in Africa so I travelled a... | The Magazines recent piece on changing your name by deed poll prompted lots of readers to email examples. Here are 25 of the best. |
100 days: America in a time of Trump | Summarize the main idea of this article: By Nick BryantBBC News, New York The reaction to candidates, like the perception of inkblots, helps to divulge the nations character, underlying disorders and emotional condition. Donald Trumps unexpected victory showed that America had a split personality. It also revealed that, among his 62 million supporters, rage and fear were over-riding emotions. Make America Great Again not only became a mission statement but a nostalgic catch-all. For many of his white working-class supporters, it implied a return to an era when the homeland was more homogenised and the world was less globalised. The first 100 days of an administration, though in many ways a bogus measure, can also be diagnostic. They can reveal the character of a presidency and set the tone. Also they are indicative of the health of US democracy: the functioning of its institutions, executive, legislative and judicial; the workability of the US constitution and the dispersion of political, economic and cultural power. Inauguration day was a celebration for some, a convulsion for others. What is the state of the nation now? The Character of the Presidency What has become clear since Donald Trump delivered his inaugural address is that he has changed the presidency more than the presidency has changed him. The vocabulary of President Trump, if not all his policies, is much the same as that of candidate Trump. To the White House he has brought the same aggression and plain speaking that characterised his insurgent campaign. Social media remains his favoured conduit with the American people. Twitter is to Trump what television was to JFK and radio was to FDR. But it is his means of expression, more than the utilisation of a new medium, that marks such a break from the past. At his inaugural ball he vowed to keep tweeting. By choosing Frank Sinatras My Way for his first dance, he also gave us a musical clue as to how he would govern. Trump would be Trump. The anti-politician had morphed into the anti-president. His so-far unsubstantiated... | Presidential elections are always something of a national Rorschach test. |
6m homes plan for SA1 Swansea Waterfront | Contracts have been exchanged for two residential sites on SA1 Swansea Waterfront, leaving just four remaining plots at the development. Persimmon Homes West Wales said the 6m project would support a substantial number of construction jobs. Work could start later this year subject to planning approval. The company recently completed the new Haven development overlooking the Prince of Wales dock and plans are under way for a 100m waterside campus for University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | Fifty new homes are planned for Swansea after the Welsh government announced a deal with a construction company. |
Beirut explosion: What is ammonium nitrate and how dangerous is it? | Help me summarize this article: By Tom EdgingtonBBC News But what is ammonium nitrate and why can it be so dangerous? What is ammonium nitrate? Ammonium nitrate is a crystal-like white solid which is made in large industrial quantities. Its biggest use is as a source of nitrogen for fertiliser, but it is also used to create explosives for mining. You wont just find ammonium nitrate in the ground, explains Andrea Sella, professor of chemistry at University College London. Thats because its synthetic, made by reacting ammonia with nitric acid, he says. Ammonium nitrate is made all over the world and is relatively cheap to buy. But storing it can be a problem, and it has been associated with serious industrial accidents in the past. How dangerous is ammonium nitrate? On its own, ammonium nitrate is relatively safe to handle, says Prof Sella. However, if you have a large amount of material lying around for a long time it begins to decay. The real problem is that over time it will absorb little bits of moisture and it eventually turns into an enormous rock, he says. This makes it more dangerous because if a fire reaches it, the chemical reaction will be much more intense. What caused the mushroom cloud? Videos from Beirut showed smoke billowing from a fire, and then a mushroom cloud following the blast. You have a supersonic shockwave that is travelling through the air, and you can see that in the white spherical cloud which travels out from the centre, expanding upwards, says Prof Sella. The shockwave is produced from compressed air, he explains. The air expands rapidly and cools suddenly and the water condenses, which causes the cloud, he adds. How dangerous are the gases produced? When ammonium nitrate explodes, it can release toxic gases including nitrogen oxides and ammonia gas. The orange plume is caused by the nitrogen dioxide, which is often associated with air pollution. If there isnt much wind, it could become a danger to the people nearby, says Prof Sella. Is it used in bombs? With such a powerful blast, ammonium nitrate has been... | Nearly 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate - taken from a ship off the coast of Beirut six years ago and then stored in a warehouse - has been blamed for the explosion that ripped through the port area of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. |
School closures in Leicestershire and Rutland | For information related to school closures in Rutland, please refer to the county council website. The BBC relies on schools and local education authorities to notify it of closures. We advise you to contact your childs school during periods of extreme weather to find out if it has been affected. The page will be manually updated between 06:30 and 21:00 GMT on severe weather days. Please note this page does not auto-update. If no schools are listed below then the BBC has not been made aware of any closures in the region. School closures for [insert date] Tóm tắt văn bản trên | When there is severe weather a list of schools that are being affected in Leicester and Leicestershire will appear below. |
Epsom soldiers and wives cycle to Germany for charity | Fifteen cyclists left Headley Court Centre earlier to make the journey to the Personnel Recovery Centre in Normandy Barracks in Sennelager. Both centres help to rehabilitate injured servicemen and women. Capt Ian More said it was a huge challenge as many of the cyclists had not done anything like it before. Sophie Crease, who organised the event, said: My father was a very keen army cyclist he did something similar in the nineties - I took the idea from him but went a little bit further. The team hopes to arrive in Germany on Friday. Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | A group of soldiers and military wives from Surrey are on a 500 mile (805km) ride from Epsom to Germany to raise money for two rehabilitation centres. |
A55 reopened at Abergwyngregyn after caravan overturns | It was being towed by a lorry but had its roof ripped off, with the remainder lying on the road. The incident happened westbound near junction 13, for Abergwyngregyn, but at 16:30 GMT, the eastbound carriageway was also closed. All lanes have now been opened but traffic is still slow in the area. Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | The A55 in Gwynedd has now reopened after a caravan overturned on the road. |
Plans submitted for 529 homes at former Newport steelworks | Whiteheads Steelworks was closed down in 2005 and later demolished as part of the citys regeneration works. Developers say the development, off Mendalgief road, could regenerate a section of Pill traditionally associated with industry. Plans also include a pub-restaurant, retail and assisted living units. Whiteheads Developments first submitted plans for the development in 2015 with a smaller number of residential properties - 498 - and a care home. Developers changed the plans following noise concerns over the Coilcolor factory and after increased costs of unforeseen contamination at the site. Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | Plans to build 529 new homes and a school at a former steelworks in Newport have been submitted to the council . |
World War One: The role of Cardiffs black serviceman | They served and died alongside white soldiers and seamen in the trenches and on the open sea. But the reward for some upon their return was violence, oppression and deportation. Following a huge surge in the number of men enlisting upon the outbreak of World War One, African and Caribbean men living in Wales found their offers refused. Prof Hakim Ali, an expert in the history of Africa and the African Diaspora, said the time before World War One was a high point of imperialism... there was a common idea of white supremacy. A newspaper report in May 1915 said: A number of coloured men have lately presented themselves for enlistment in any of the services at the Glamorgan headquarter recruiting office in Queen Street, but up to the present Recruiting Sergeant Ashton has been reluctantly compelled to decline their services until such time as the War Office consider it politic to form a coloured race battalion. There was talk of starting a black battalion between the ports of Cardiff, Newport, Barry and Swansea, but this never materialised. Some black men did join Welsh regiments, including the 1st Mons and the Welsh Guards, formed in February 1915. Prof Adi said: Some people joined out of a sense of adventure... others, from the Caribbean and Africa, as well as other countries, believed that they were proving they were just as good, as patriotic, as any white person and, as a result of this sacrifice, they expected if they were going to suffer equally in the trenches or in the merchant fleet, that they should be treated equally when the war ended. Eustace Rhone joined the 3rd Battalion of the Welch Regiment and was deployed to France. He died on 27 September 1915 of gas poisoning, two days after being injured on the battlefield after chemicals fired by the Allies blew back on to the advancing troops. By 1916, the Merchant Navy were short of crew and Yemeni and Somali seamen arrived in Cardiff in significant numbers, including Ali Janrah who lived on Bute Street and rescued his captain after the ship was... Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | Many died in the cause of victory, but returned home from World War One to face intolerance, unrest and scorn. Cardiffs multicultural Tiger Bay contributed many black servicemen to the war effort, but there was no heros welcome on their return. Actress Suzanne Packer looked at what life was like for them 100 years ago. |
Timeline: North Korea nuclear stand-off | 2013 2 April: North Korea says it will restart its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, including a reactor mothballed in 2007. 30 March: North Korea says it is entering a state of war with South Korea, amid increasing tension in the peninsula. 27 March: North Korea cuts a key military hotline with South Korea, the last official direct link between the two. 19 March: The US flies B-52 nuclear-capable bombers over Korean peninsula, following several North Korean threats to attack US and South Korean targets. 15 March: North Korea accuses the US and its allies of attacks on its internet servers after some of its official websites become inaccessible. 11 March: The US begins annual joint military drills with South Korea. North Korea says it has scrapped the Korean War armistice, a pact with the UN says cannot be unilaterally scrapped. 7 March: The UN approves fresh sanctions on Pyongyang. North Korea says it has the right to a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the US. 12 February: North Korea has successfully staged a third underground nuclear test, state-run news agency KCNA says. 24 January: North Koreas National Defence Commission says it will proceed with a high-level nuclear test. 22 January: UN Security Council passes resolution condemning North Koreas rocket launch and expands existing sanctions. 21 January: South Korea says the long-range rocket launched by North Korea in December was largely made using domestic technology. 2012 12 December: North Korea successfully puts a satellite into space, using a three-stage rocket. The test is condemned by the US and Pyongyangs neighbours as a banned test of long-range missile technology. 1 December: North Korea announces plans to test-fire a long-range rocket. 22 August: North Korea completes a major step by placing a dome on a light water reactor that could support its nuclear programme, an analyst says. 18 July: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is given the title of marshal, state media announce. 17 July: North Korea appoints a new vice-marshal, Hyon Yong-chol, a day... Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | Key dates in the long-running crisis over North Koreas nuclear weapons programme. |
Where are the blue plaques for black and Asian people? | By Bethan BellBBC News According to the Office of National Statistics, London has above-average ethnic minority populations for the UK. These include African (7%), Indian (6.6%), and Caribbean (4.2%). But there is not a proportional number of plaques and English Heritage has decided to take action. Gus Casely-Hayford, a curator and cultural historian with Ghanaian roots, has been appointed the leader of a working group to try to redress the balance. It will not award plaques itself, but will look for Asian and black candidates to put before the selection panel, which grants only 12 plaques a year. Dr Casely-Hayford says London is an ethnic melting pot. We are linked through language, culture, political alliance and economic partnership to every part of the world, he says. And peoples from places that we have touched, have found their way here, to not just make London their home, but to make London and this country what it is. We want to celebrate that rich, complex, sometimes difficult history, through the lives of those that truly made it. Although the blue plaque scheme was set up in 1866, it was not until 1954 that the first to honour a notable figure of minority ethnic origin was installed - to Mahatma Gandhi. Other black and Asian people who have English Heritage plaques include Jamaican Crimea War nurse Mary Seacole, Chinese writer Lao She, Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore, and American guitarist and song-writer Jimi Hendrix. There are a variety of reasons for such a small proportion of plaques being for blacks and Asians, English Heritage says. How to get a blue plaque The scheme celebrates the link between significant figures of the past and the buildings in which they lived and worked. Here are the criteria: These include the low number of public nominations fulfilling the blue plaque criteria and the lack of historic records establishing a definitive link between the person in question and the building in which they lived or worked. Some prominent black and Asian people could be excluded from the... Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | At the same time a blue plaque was unveiled to mark the childhood home of football legend Laurie Cunningham it was revealed that in London, just 4% of the plaques honour black or Asian luminaries. But in such an ethnically diverse city, why are there so few? |
School meals: The mum trying to feed her children through half-term week | By Lauren TurnerBBC News Lucy Houghton, 36, usually relies on the free school meals her children are entitled to and had vouchers over summer to spend in a supermarket for their food. But now its half-term, and MPs have voted against the vouchers being continued through the half-term and Christmas holidays. I know its only a few pounds to some people - its an expensive coffee and a muffin in London - but it can make the difference between my children eating or not, she says. Its going to be tough this week. Shes speaking as Prime Minister Boris Johnson defends his refusal to extend free school meals for children in England over the half-term holiday, saying he was very proud of the governments support so far. Lucy says it was invaluable to have vouchers over summer and simply be able to use them at a supermarket checkout, without anyone knowing about her situation. Many restaurants and cafes across the UK have offered support to families who are eligible for free school meals, to help them over half-term. But Lucy - who has sole parental responsibility for her two children - says: Its all very well businesses offering free food, but Im in a rural location and would need fuel to get there. And its humiliating. I hate asking for help from anybody and I know Im not alone in that. She lives in Norfolk with her 11-year-old son, who is at private school on a bursary and currently on the second week of his half-term, and nine-year-old daughter. Lucy is a university graduate and lived in a large house with three acres of land, before having to move hours away from her family and friends. She is now on Universal Credit and - with it arriving at the start of the month, and half-term only coming at the end - she says: October is a long month. What upsets me the most is the stereotyping of what it is to be a single mum nowadays and callous, derisory comments from people who supposedly represent society, she says. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. We dont have a TV. We have a second-hand sofa. I dont... Tóm tắt văn bản trên | Its the start of half-term week, and Lucy is making pancakes for her two children for breakfast. But these are made with water, as she doesnt have any milk left. The eggs are from the chickens in her garden. And she is wondering what else she will feed her children until they go back to school. |
Carillion: Watershed moment for privatisation debate? | John PienaarDeputy political editor@JPonpoliticson Twitter Carillion is not the first big public contractor to run into trouble under successive governments and surely wont be the last. But why was so much expensive business and responsibility heaped onto a single company - and a company many felt for months could be heading for trouble? Away from Whitehall - where day-to-day decisions on public projects are taken - Oxfordshire Council say theyve noticed the warning signs for some time. Now, the sight of that local authority putting fire fighters on standby to provide school meals may provide enormous fun for the children, but it also symbolically reinforces the impression of a shock to the system and all hands to the pumps, like the convening of the emergency Whitehall committee, Cobra, later on Monday. Other questions being raised today run deeper. Far deeper. Cabinet Office minister David Lidington says there can be no question of asking taxpayers to bail out a private company, along with its shareholders. Few are arguing with that. Free marketeers can argue lucrative contracts come with risks attached in private business, and the same risks should be borne, and prudently guarded against, when it comes to public projects. On the left, theres scorn for the idea that profits should be privatised and losses nationalised. But the Carillion collapse may also be the spur for an ideological debate as fundamental as any seen since Margaret Thatcher began to roll back the frontiers of the state in the 1980s. A senior member of Team Corbyn, one not usually prone to public displays of emotion, told me he believed the Carillion affair would turn out to be a political watershed. The party hierarchy is preparing to reel out statements and push lines of attack challenging the role of private business in the public sphere on multiple fronts. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has already pledged to consider taking a range of Private Finance Initiative schemes back into public ownership or control or both. This week,... Tóm tắt bài đã cho | Ministers are feeling the pressure of awkward questions today. |
Bug leads to wards visiting ban at Sandwell Hospital | Sandwell General Hospital has also shut four of its wards due to norovirus. City Hospital in Birmingham, which is also part of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, shut all wards to visitors on Thursday and has three wards closed. But people can still visit critical care, paediatrics, maternity and the Birmingham & Midland Eye Centre. Tóm tắt văn bản trên | A West Midlands hospital has closed all wards to visitors as a precaution because of the winter vomiting bug. |
Brexit: What just happened with UK election vote? | Summarize: So what just happened? How did Johnson lose (again)? Well - and this has an element of irony to it - the leader of the UKs governing Conservative Party cannot just choose to hold an early election. As a legal requirement, Mr Johnson needs the support of two-thirds of MPs - at least 434 - but is short of seats in the House of Commons, making this tricky. Without a majority, he has to convince members of the opposition to vote in his favour. Mondays vote was rejected after the leader of the main opposition Labour Party said he did not trust Mr Johnson and would not agree to a poll until the prospect of a no-deal exit from the European Union had been definitively ruled out. Labour MPs earlier complained that Mr Johnsons new deal, the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB), contained plans to dilute workers rights after Brexit. It was also suggested that the prime minister could change the election date after MPs had approved a 12 December poll, enabling him to postpone until after the UK had left the EU, effectively forcing through the WAB. Labour abstained in Mondays ballot, meaning that despite 299 MPs voting in favour and only 70 voting against, the bill failed to get the required 434 votes to pass. What happens next? Believe it or not, another vote on whether to have an election on 12 December. Thats right; Mr Johnson is refusing to give up on a pre-Christmas election. On Tuesday, he will propose a new motion in the House of Commons calling for an early election that will require a simple majority of just one vote to pass in parliament. He will seek the support of opposition Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party (SNP) MPs by making the short bill almost identical to one proposed earlier by the two parties for an election on 9 December. Mr Johnsons new motion, however, will be subject to amendments - which could draw out the process. Will an election sort out Brexit though? Not necessarily. The Brexit deal agreed between Mr Johnson and the EU is in limbo after MPs voted against the three-day timetable to... | The UK parliament has just rejected Boris Johnsons bid to call a snap general election - for a third time - despite the prime minister arguing it would help get Brexit done. But there remains a chance that the UK could have a pre-Christmas election. |
How Brexit could redraw Midlands political battle lines | Patrick BurnsPolitical editor, Midlands This was the title of the BBCs Reith Lectures delivered in 1972 by the political economist Andrew Schonfield. It helped to set the scene for Britains entry the following year into what was then the European Economic Community. As an undergraduate student of politics, I lapped-up Schonfields narrative: the UK was on track for some kind of epic supranational transformation. But into exactly what were we to be transformed? It was one thing to get on the bus, another altogether to agree the route and where it should take us. Come what may, it would be a fascinating experience to take the ride. It has certainly helped to keep us politics-watchers gainfully employed for 40 years or more. But its progress has been very different from that predicted by Schonfield. A succession of tortuous European summit conferences, hotly-contested treaty changes and British government crises has taken us along a relentlessly bumpy road towards todays much-enlarged political union. As an ultimate destination, Brexit is the exact opposite of Schonfields theoretical direction of travel. And yet, by some strange irony, it gives a new resonance to his headline. Journey to an unknown destination is even more relevant at the moment of our leaving, than it seemed then when we entered. It signposts a future in which our politics may never be the same again. Our two-party mould Over the years, I have tended to pour cold water over excitable predictions of a fundamental political realignment. Back in the eighties, even with the help of some of the top talent drawn from the Labour and Liberal parties, the Social Democratic Party failed to break the mould of British politics. After some notable early highlights, it took just seven years for the gang of four and the rest to admit defeat. By 1988, it was the SDP who were broken, while the two-party mould was obstinately refusing to crack: four consecutive terms of Conservative majority governments were followed by three Labour administrations.... Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | Europe: journey to an unknown destination |
Police investigate possible Cardiff sex assaults link | A woman was attacked in a property in Cathays Terrace early on Tuesday. This followed the sexual assault of another woman in the early hours of Sunday close to the Civic Centre. Supt Andy Valentine of South Wales Police said officers were keeping an open mind as to whether the two are linked. Earlier on Wednesday, police warned people to walk in pairs at night and stick to well-lit areas following the second sexual assault. Supt Valentine added: We understand this is likely to cause concern within the local community and enhanced patrols by our local Neighbourhood Policing Teams are continuing. Tóm tắt văn bản trên | Police are investigating whether two sexual assaults which happened very closely to one another in Cardiff are linked. |
Ethiopias Tigray crisis: Cutting through the information blackout | Help me summarize this article: It is really scary. It is really difficult. I dont think Tigray has ever been in such a trying time, a desperate-sounding resident of Mekelle shouted down the line. The BBC has spent days trying to speak to people in the city, which is home to half a million people. The phone lines have been down, and power shortages have meant that establishing a satellite internet connection has been hard. But we managed to have brief conversations with two people in the city on Wednesday and Thursday evening, who gave their perspective on what has been happening. We agreed to keep them anonymous for their own safety. They have been experiencing a lack of basic services since the conflict started on 4 November. And the two residents said that things have not changed since Ethiopian federal troops entered Mekelle a week ago. There is still no electricity, no water and no banking services, one of our contacts said. There is no government in the city. He added that federal soldiers can only be seen in a limited area and in the absence of local police and security forces, looting has become common. Meanwhile, government-affiliated media has reported that the city is returning back to normal. One interviewee on Ethiopian TV (ETV) said that people are moving about, shops are opening and we are going to church. Everything is as you can see, very peaceful. ETV showed pictures of people walking about the streets. There are also differing perspectives on the impact of the assault on the city. Last week, before the federal troops entered Mekelle, it was shelled and some residents fled to the outskirts to escape the bombardment. Homes destroyed On Monday, Prime Minister Abiy appeared in parliament in Addis Ababa and told MPs that not a single civilian was killed during the operation. However our two contacts in Mekelle told the BBC that they had seen wounded and dead civilians in the citys hospitals after the shelling on Saturday. One of those we spoke to provided a picture of a home destroyed by a shell in a residential area... | The BBC has managed to speak to some people inside Mekelle, the capital of the Ethiopias conflict-hit region of Tigray, for the first time since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared an end to the four-week-long military operation. |
Doctor Who: Will Gompertz on the new series with Jodie Whittaker | Will GompertzArts editor@WillGompertzBBCon Twitter Let us not even take the smallest step down a road that might lead to a plot spoiler. Suffice it to say that in the opening episode of season 11 (starting from the 2005 re-boot) there are goodies and baddies and surprises (nice and not so nice) and some strange events anda new Doctor. That we already know. Because its been everywhere. Whats more we met her at the end of the last episode when Peter Capaldi regenerated into Jodie Whittaker who promptly fell out of the TARDIS and plummeted to who-knew-where. Turns out she was heading for one of the very few places in the entire unknowable universe of potentially a gazillion planets where the inhabitants not only speak her native language, but do so in the same accent. And so it is that the thirteenth Doctor Who gets to start her exciting stint of inter-galactic policing in present day Sheffield. Unfortunately for her there is no time to enjoy a stroll around the citys expansive parkland, or to take in a show at the Crucible Theatre. She is thrown in at the deep end with a life-threatening crisis to help avert. From this we quickly learn that the new Doctor is not one to panic. No matter how serious the situation she always has a witty quip to hand to quell nerves and lighten the mood. These she delivers with puckish dry humour and perfect timing. If Capaldis Doctor had a slightly chilly edge, Whittakers is warmer than a mug of Yorkshire tea. She is a very talented actor, whose down-to-earth style plays cleverly with her characters otherworldly nature, in the way, say, Roger Moores old-school charm subverted James Bonds cold-blooded ruthlessness. From the moment she enters the fray Jodie Whittaker completely owns the part. Any chat about gender is rendered wholly irrelevant before shes finished her first sentence. She is Doctor Who, and thats it - some will love her interpretation of the Time Lord, others wont. Im in the former camp, but not without one small reservation. These are early days, she has... Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | Relax! Take the afternoon off. You dont have to vacuum behind the sofa. The new Doctor Who isnt that scary. It has its moments, of course, but a trip to the dentist is far worse - at least it would be if...well |
Supreme Court: Why a fight over US abortion law now looms | Summarize the main idea of this article: Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter Heres a look at some of the most consequential issues. Abortion Shortly after Mr Kennedy announced his retirement, Supreme Court analyst Jeffrey Toobin tweeted that abortion will be illegal in 20 states in 18 months - an indication that he believes Mr Trumps nominee will join a majority in reversing Roe v Wade, the 1973 decision legalising abortion throughout the US. Anti-abortion advocates have been trying to scale back the broad constitutional guarantees of the Roe decision in the decades since, and now - without Mr Kennedy on the court - they could be poised for a breakthrough. Back in 1992, when Mr Kennedy was just a junior justice, the court considered a series of Pennsylvania restrictions on abortion rights in a case, Planned Parenthood v Casey, that could have drastically curtailed what had been established as a constitutional right to abortion. Mr Kennedy reportedly initially sided with the more conservative justices but eventually co-wrote a three-justice plurality that upheld the essential holding of the landmark Roe decision legalising first-trimester abortions throughout the US. Since then, Mr Kennedy has frequently sided with abortion rights advocates in the court, most recently last year, when he joined the courts four liberal justices to strike down a Texas law stringently regulating abortion clinics and the doctors who perform the procedure. It may not be long before the Court considers the next big abortion case, as there is already an Iowa law prohibiting the procedure after a foetal heartbeat is detected - usually around six weeks of pregnancy. The measure is currently on hold pending a legal challenge from abortion rights groups. At the very least, a court without Mr Kennedy could uphold the constitutionality of state-level regulations that make abortion effectively - if not legally - unavailable in a number of states where only a handful of clinics currently operate at the moment. Gay rights Mr Kennedy may be most remembered for... | Anthony Kennedy was a swing vote on the US Supreme Court, albeit one that frequently tilted to the right. Replacing him with a solidly conservative justice, however, could have a significant impact on US jurisprudence - and politics - for decades to come. |
Stormont talks: Finances set to remain under pressure after deal | Summarize: By John CampbellBBC News NI Economics & Business Editor But even if that stacks up it is effectively offset by funds that have to be found from Stormont budgets to pay for welfare mitigation. The cut in corporation tax will also have to be paid for, but the bills for that will not arrive until 2019. All this is taking place against a tough public spending environment directed from Westminster. Manageable Stormont can expect its so-called block grant to fall by up to 2% a year until 2019-20. Savings made through public sector redundancies and other measures should ease a bit of the pressure. Senior officials tell me the implementation of welfare reforms will make the budget manageable. But even with this agreement Stormonts finances will remain under pressure. | More than 500m in new money is trumpeted in the new agreement between Northern Irelands political parties and the British and Irish governments. |
How improving childrens diets can aid development | By Anthony Lake & Jakaya KikweteDirector of Unicef and President of Tanzania The foundation of a healthy future for every child is the 1,000 days between a mothers pregnancy and her childs second birthday. The right nutrition during this critical period puts a child on track to be stronger, healthier and ready to learn. Well-nourished children grow to be adults that can earn to their potential and contribute to the economic and social development of their families, communities and nations - building a strong foundation for a better world. An estimated 180m children under the age of five years in the world are up to 4-6 (10-15cm) shorter than their peers. The reason is not genetics or disease, but a condition called stunting. It is caused by chronic nutritional deficiencies during that 1,000 day window of opportunity. Earnings boost When we consider that a lack of adequate nutrition can cause a five-year-old to lose up to a half-foot of growth, it is no surprise that the effects also extend to the immune system and cognitive development, permanently limiting the childs capacities and opportunities throughout life. The effects are costly: the World Bank estimates that countries blighted by stunting and other consequences of malnutrition lose at least 2-3% of their gross domestic product, as well as billions of dollars in forgone productivity and avoidable health care spending each year. We have seen first-hand the debilitating and often deadly effects of malnutrition. But we have also seen how communities and countries are strengthened by an investment in nutrition. Prioritising nutrition in national development yields significant economic benefits - one study has found that improving nutrition during childhood can increase earnings in adult life by up to 46%. So imagine what a child could do, what a nation could do, what we as a global community could do - if nourished to reach full growth and potential. Recently, the Copenhagen Consensus, a group of leading economists, including four Nobel Laureates,... Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | Early malnutrition can blight a childs development - and also that of their community and nation, say Anthony Lake. director of Unicef and President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania. In this weeks Scrubbing Up column, they say a new initiative called Scaling Up Nutrition - backed by the G8 - is crucially important. |
Bishop says Salisbury worthy of top 10 world cities list | Salisbury is lovely; a quintessentially English cathedral city. After the painter John Constable was taken from here to Winchester by his friend John Fisher, he wrote to his wife that Winchester is more magnificent - but Salisbury is more beautiful. The Cathedral Close is the largest in England and arguably the finest of cathedral precincts in the whole of Europe, while our elegant 13th Century cathedral is the main draw for tourists, with the tallest spire in England. We have the best of the four original versions of Magna Carta and next years celebrations for its 800th anniversary makes 2015 a particularly worthwhile time to visit. We love the sense of community here. It is a warm and friendly place - maybe thats because there are so many military here. They have moved around a lot and know how to put down roots quickly. In many ways this is prosperous middle England, but like any community at the moment, there are big gaps between rich and poor. The Trussell Trust foodbanks started here. Charity begins at home, but does not stop at home. Every summer, my wife and I host a garden party to raise funds for medical care in the South Sudan, one of the worlds poorest countries. Its almost like a trip back in time: a traditional summer fête with games and rides on a camel or in a Bentley, a silver band and children serving strawberries and cream. Salisbury has a real old-fashioned charm, but just because it is old-fashioned doesnt mean its stuffy. When we came to live here in 2011, we were struck by the way we were invited to be part of a community at the start of the West Country, with hospitality to match. We have great pubs, a theatre, arts centre and the Salisbury International Arts Festival. It is a great small city and the water-meadows, right in the city centre, make it even more special. It is surrounded by Wiltshires gorgeous chalk valleys and downland, which makes excellent walking country. Put simply, Salisbury is one of the loveliest places on earth. Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | The UK city of Salisbury has been named among the top 10 cities in the world to visit, by the Lonely Planet travel guide. We should not be surprised - it is one of the loveliest places on earth, writes the Right Reverend Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury. |
A Point of View: The curse of a ridiculous name | I have a funny name. I know it. Dont say it isnt or try to make me feel better about it. I have a funny name. My children and social networkers tell me that. And you out there have even been tweeting about it: @BBC POV, Gopnik: what kind of name is that? #weirdnames Gopnik. It has a strange sound, and an ugly look. It manages to be at once starkly plain and extremely uninteresting, boringly unadorned and yet oddly difficult to say. Despite the stark, Orcish simplicity of its syllables, it manages to be hard to pronounce. Golnik or Gotnik people say, swallowing or spitting out the middle consonant. A first name is malleable. Your chancellor of the exchequer began life under the name of Gideon Osborne - a name that might only have helped him become one more short-tenured professor of dark arts at Hogwarts. But he plucked the safer and saner George from among his other pre-names, and seized the countrys trust with it, for a while anyway. Last names are more durable. My parents tried to elevate the name by giving all six of my brothers and sisters poetic Welsh or Hebrew names such as Morgan and Blake. All good names but with no middle names at all to help. Gopnik rises immediately after each one, like a concrete cinderblock wall topped with barbed wire, to meet them bluntly as they try to escape. Its not just a funny name. It has become, in the Russia from which it originally hails, an almost obscenely derogatory expression. A gopnik in Russian, and in Russia, is now a drunken hooligan, a small-time lout, a criminal without even the sinister glamour of courage. When Russian people hear my last name, they can barely conceal a snigger of distaste and disgusted laughter. Those thugs who clashed with Polish fans at Euro 2012? All gopniks - small G. And Im told that it derives from an acronym for public housing, rather than from our familys Jewish roots, but no difference. My wife, even before the Russian gopnik business, tried gently to pry apart her potential children from my name. Her name is Parker,... Tóm tắt văn bản trên | Gopnik. Its not the most common of surnames. In Russian its a term for drunken lout. Those who carry a curious name know it has comedy value, says Adam Gopnik (thats G - O - P - N - I - K). |
Are young South Africans ignoring Aids message? | Summarize the main idea of this article: By Karen AllenBBC News, Johannesburg These youngsters are a walking, breathing, living testimony to South Africas shameful past. When a minority in the leadership allowed politics to overshadow science and refused to accept the potent reality of HIV/Aids, it delayed the rollout of preventative treatment and exposed tens of thousands of newborns to disease. Most of the youngsters popping their pills were infected in the womb. When the rest of the world was rolling out a drug called Nevirapine to reduce the chances of mothers transmitting the virus to their offspring, elements within the South African leadership famously advised patients to use lemon and garlic instead, to protect themselves. Aids in South Africa: 340,000 new infections in 2014 (931 a day) 2,700 young people infected every week - 74% girls More than half a million infected in the past year 140,000 recorded Aids deaths every year Many Aids deaths go unreported, so it is estimated there are more than 400 aids deaths each day Source: UNAids, 2014 But times have changed. Dramatically. South Africa reviewed its position in the face of international criticism. At least now the children have treatment, and more importantly they have life, says a sanguine Gail Johnson, the founder of a refuge for HIV-positive children created in the memory of the little boy she fostered, called Nkosi Johnson. Her 11-year-old sons impassioned plea during the last big Aids conference here 16 years ago, to stop stigmatising people with HIV, moved the world to tears. It marked a line in the sand and South Africa now has the most extensive anti-retroviral treatment programme in the world. Youngsters like Sanele - a slightly built 20-year-old from Soweto who grew up in Nkosis Haven orphanage and lost most of his family to Aids - are now far less likely to be infected at birth. I never asked to be infected with this disease... at times I rebelled, I said: Why me? he says. But he is now reconciled to his fate, is well controlled on his medication and wants to be... | It is a frostily cold morning in the outskirts of Johannesburg. Children aged between six and 17 are queuing up for their morning meds, shivering their greetings to the nurse assigned to supervise them. Its now part of their daily routine before they skip off into the yard and get bussed off to school. |
Noctilucent clouds visible from the Isle of Man | James Brew, from Andreas, snapped the clouds at about midnight above Peel Beach on Thursday. Sightings of the rarefied clouds peak about 20 days after midsummer. Mr Brew said: I was greeted by this jaw dropping sky so I grabbed my camera and rushed out as quickly as I could. Noctilucent clouds appear in the night sky between the end of May and start of August. They appear 50 miles (89.5km) above the Earth in the mesosphere, right on the edge of space, and glow with a white-blue light. Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | Noctilucent clouds, the highest in the earths atmosphere, have been photographed from the west coast of the Isle of Man. |
In pictures: Brussels blasts | There has been heightened security in the Belgian capital since it emerged that several of the men behind last Novembers Paris attacks had come from Brussels. Four days ago, a man suspected of involvement in the attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was arrested in Brussels after four months on the run. What we know so far about Tuesdays attacks Crisis information Tóm tắt bài đã cho | Scores of people have been killed and wounded in attacks at Brussels international airport and a city metro station during the morning rush hour. |
Gosforth and Jesmond Metro stations to be revamped | The work at South Gosforth and West Jesmond, will see the platforms, buildings and approaches to the stations improved. New ticket machines will also be installed during the modernisation work. Nexus, which owns the Metro, said the work would start on Monday and was expected to last about 15 weeks. Both stations will remain open, but there will be limited platform closures on some evenings, Nexus said. Tóm tắt văn bản trên | Two Tyne and Wear Metro stations are to be refurbished as part of a 385m modernisation programme. |
Iran nuclear: Whats changed after Netanyahus presentation? | By Jonathan MarcusDefence and diplomatic correspondent The purpose and timing of Mr Netanyahus presentation was clear: to discredit the Iran nuclear deal, and to influence one man - Donald Trump. The US president must decide by mid-May whether to walk away from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or to stick with it, at least for the time being. So what did Mr Netanyahu actually tell us? It was in large part a reminder that Iran, despite all its denials, did have elements of a nuclear weapons programme and that it retains the scientific know-how to reactivate such a programme if it ever wanted to. That of course is not news to the major powers who signed up to the nuclear deal with Iran. Indeed, it was why they sought a nuclear agreement with Tehran in the first place. What Mr Netanyahu gave was essentially a history lesson. He did not show any convincing evidence that Iran is in breach of the 2015 agreement. And this could prove crucial. Indeed, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - the global nuclear watchdog monitoring the deal - has given Iran a clean bill of health on several occasions. It is, apparently, upholding its end of the agreement to the letter. Those governments like Britain, France and Germany who have been urging Mr Trump to maintain the deal with Tehran will argue that Mr Netanyahus case, far from undermining the JCPOA, actually underscores why it is necessary. Gathering war clouds Mr Netanyahu, like Mr Trump, has long been opposed to the JCPOA. Mr Trump insists that it is a bad deal, though the fact that it was negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama seems to weigh heavily in the presidents judgement. Mr Netanyahu believes that it does not go far enough in ending Irans nuclear ambitions, and that once many of its clauses expire Iran will have the know-how, enrichment capability and missile programme to develop a nuclear arsenal at relatively short notice if it so wishes. Israels position is complicated by the fact that... Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | So what has changed, if anything, in the wake of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus theatrical presentation of Israels claimed seizure of a trove of documents from Irans secret nuclear archive? |
Man critical after Abingdon care home fire | The 48-year-old was rescued from The Knowl on Stert Street, Abingdon, after the blaze broke out at about 04:15 BST. He was treated at the scene for burns and smoke inhalation before being taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and Thames Valley Police are investigating the cause of the blaze, which is being treated as unexplained. Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | A man is in a critical condition after he was rescued from a fire at a care home in Oxfordshire. |
Lib Dem conference lacking buzz | James LandaleDeputy political editor@BBCJLandaleon Twitter 1. The Lib Dems want to be known as a responsible party of government. And by voting in favour of nuclear power and sticking to their guns on the economy, they will say they are being responsible. But a confected row with Vince Cable that muddies the economic message does not look grown up. Nor does an errant internal email that confuses policy on tax and potentially alienates target voters. It also looks indulgent. 2. Nick Clegg has learned not to be peevish. The Lib Dem leader has in the past allowed his entirely human irritation with silly questions from MPs or journalists to get the better of him. But he has realised that peevishness is not attractive to voters. From his interview with Andrew Marr to the Q&A with party members, he has displayed a remarkable absence of irritation and it has been remarked upon. 3. Nick Clegg is lucky. If British forces were being used to bomb Syria or if the Lib Dems had lost the Eastleigh by-election, this would be a very different conference. Party members would be wandering around the corridors of the conference centre insisting that they did not join the Lib Dems to go to war. And they would also be wandering around saying: We are doomed, we are doomed. If we cannot hold Eastleigh, how will we hold...(insert constituency of choice)? 4. The mood at this conference appears flat despite the fact that it matters so much. Policy is being decided here that will have a huge impact on our lives if the Lib Dems join another coalition after the next election. And yet buzz there aint. 5. Scottish Lib Dems are in a fine mood. And not just because their conference is being held in Glasgow (for them it is closer to home, cheaper to get to and they dont have to ask where to eat). No, they are chipper because the independence referendum is giving them a chance to improve their dismal position north of the border. The referendum is allowing us back in, says one senior Scottish Lib Dem. It gives us something to talk to... Tóm tắt văn bản trên | A few random thoughts from the Lib Dem conference. |
The mums with eco-anxiety: I could cry all the time | Summarize the main idea of this article: I couldnt sleep and my appetite went Like many new parents, Heather Sarno takes her son Jack along to rattle, rhyme and roll sessions at her local library. However, she broke down at a recent class because of her fears about the future of the planet. I was asking one of the staff members if I could speak to some of the other mums about coming to a climate strike, says Heather, from Beeston in Nottinghamshire. She said they wouldnt be able to get involved in anything political and I got really, really upset. She said, I think you need to go and see someone. But a doctor isnt going to prescribe me with what I want. The 32-year-old mum of one says she wants an end to the damage humanity is inflicting on the planet. She says the fact her fears are grounded upon scientific fact sets her anxieties apart from other psychological conditions or the usual fears that afflict new parents about their offsprings future. For starters, she says, there is no medical treatment for the eco-anxiety she is experiencing. A doctor wouldnt be able to control the companies responsible for 70% of the worlds carbon emissions or put a stop to recreational flights, she says. Only this morning, I was crying about it. Its like a grief process. Having a child has exacerbated Heathers fears for the future. She says she only realised the impact of climate change after Jacks birth. It was terrifying - for days, I couldnt sleep. My appetite went. I cried loads. I felt really, really anxious and upset. I remember being really frantic and asking my husband, did you know about this? I felt so guilty about having had Jack. So guilty did Heather feel, she has decided against having any more children. Jack is four months old. Hes absolutely lovely. Hes a dream baby, really, she says. I can look at him and just burst into tears because I want him to have a nice life. I could definitely cry all the time but Ive kind of made peace with the fact that if we carry on the way we are, he will die because of the effects of climate change. Thats... | Eco-anxiety is a recently popularised term to describe the overwhelming powerlessness some people say they experience when they think about climate change. For parents, such fears can be particularly acute. BBC News speaks to some of those affected. |
Memorial plaques stolen from Barnsley crematorium | Help me summarize this article: Barnsley Council said they were taken from the towns crematorium on Wednesday. The missing plaques would be replaced and the families of those concerned are being contacted, the council said. South Yorkshire Police said an investigation was under way into the thefts and anyone with information should contact the force. Related Internet Links South Yorkshire Police Barnsley Council | About 100 bronze plaques have been stolen from a South Yorkshire crematorium. |
Dog owners warned over palm oil on Pembrokeshire beaches | Pembrokeshire council said the coastguard and fire services were at South beach in Tenby and there had been a similar incident on nearby Castle Beach. It warned more may wash up on future tides but in smaller quantities. Palm oil can be harmful to dogs. Tóm tắt bài đã cho | Dog walkers have been urged to take care on Pembrokeshire beaches after what is believed to be palm oil was washed up. |
Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre calls for 20m arena expansion | They want to spend up to 20m to increase capacity to attract bigger events and concerts. The centre said it has missed out on acts including Rihanna and Elton John in recent months due to size constraints. Earlier this year the city council agreed to write off the AECCs 26.2m debts. Tóm tắt bài đã cho | Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre needs a new larger arena to attract stars, its managers have said. |
Quarter of ferries between UK and Channel Islands late | The figures for April, May and June show 76% of journeys to and from the UK were made within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time. In the same period the companys fast ferries to France and the conventional UK ferry made 87% of journeys on time. The company said in those three months just 26 of its 1,343 passenger sailings had been cancelled. Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | One in four fast ferries between the UK and Channel Islands are late, according to figures released by Condor Ferries. |
Brass eagle lectern stolen stolen from Newtown church | Police said the theft happened between 18:00 BST Thursday and 11:00 on Friday, from the St Mary the Virgin and St John the Baptist Church in Harts Lane, Newtown, on the border of Hampshire and Berkshire. The church door was stolen before the lectern, which features an eagle book rest, was taken. Hampshire Constabulary said the lectern was insured to the value of 10,000. Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | An ornate brass lectern has been stolen from a church near Newbury. |
Man dies in car crash at Penygroes Road, Blaenau | A white Vauxhall Corsa crashed on Penygroes Road, Blaenau, near Llandybie, on Friday at 20:45 GMT. Our thoughts are with his family who are being supported by our officers, said a spokesperson for Dyfed-Powys Police. The force is appealing for witnesses or anyone with any dashcam footage to help officers establish what happened. Tóm tắt bài đã cho | A 20-year-old man has died after a one-car crash in Carmarthenshire. |
The wounded victims of Sri Lankas child marriage law | When Shafa* was 15, she was forced to get married. While studying for exams, I fell in love with a boy, Shafa said, tears running down her cheeks. My parents did not like it. They sent me to my uncles place. While I was studying there, a regular visitor told my aunt and uncle that he wanted to marry me. Shafa, who comes from a Muslim family and lives in a remote village in Sri Lanka, refused. She wanted to marry the boy she loved, after completing her secondary school education. But despite her objections, her uncle and aunt arranged for her to marry their friend. Whenever she objected to the marriage, she was beaten. Her uncle and aunt even threatened to kill themselves if she did not listen to them. I cut my arms as there was no other option, said Shafa, pulling up her sleeves to show the scars. I also took some pills from my uncles place. While I was being treated in hospital, they bribed the doctors and took me - together with my saline bottle - to a private hospital. A few days later they forced me to marry that man. Shafa decided to stay with her young husband as she could see no escape but he suspected she was continuing her relationship with her boyfriend. He regularly beat me, she said. When I told him that I was pregnant, he picked me up and threw me to the floor. He then told me that he only wanted me for the one night, hed already had me and didnt need me any more. It was at the hospital that she realised she had lost her baby as a result of the violence. When Shafa went to the police, they did not take her complaint seriously. One day she got a call from the mosque in the village. There, her husband agreed to continue the marriage but she refused. A few days later, she started getting phone calls and text messages from strangers, asking how much she charged to sleep with them. Shafa realised that her husband had published her photograph and telephone number on social media. The callers threatened her with filthy language and told her: We got your number from your husband. I recorded all these... Tóm tắt văn bản trên | In Sri Lanka the legal marriage age is 18, but under a decades-old community law, much younger Muslim girls can get married. As calls grow for this law to be amended, BBC Sinhalas Saroj Pathirana meets one young girl forced to marry against her will. |
Will Turkish ambitions complicate fight for Mosul? | Jonathan MarcusDiplomatic correspondent@Diplo1on Twitter From the outset of the operation, Turkey has been itching to play a role. This has been resolutely opposed by the government in Baghdad, and the Americans have had to mount some nimble diplomacy to try to ensure the differences between Turkey and Iraq do not overshadow the early stages of the Mosul offensive. US Secretary of Defence Ash Carter made the point explicitly at the end of last week when, on a visit to Baghdad, he reaffirmed the vital importance of every country operating with full respect for Iraqi sovereignty. This message was clearly directed at the Turks. Turkeys interest in Iraq is complex. It is an amalgam of contemporary strategic concerns, domestic politics, and nostalgia for the Ottoman past. The rise of so-called Islamic State has served to weaken the already fragile Iraqi state and it has reduced Syrian territory to a government-controlled rump. Borders established in the wake of World War One seem far from permanent. A patchwork of ethnic, religious and sectarian groups are seeking to protect their own local interests and many of these groups - most notably the Kurds - straddle the existing borders. No wonder, then, that there continues to be discussion about the cohesion of Iraq, let alone Syria. But it is not just the internal Syrian and Iraqi factions who are in play. Powerful regional actors like Iran and Turkey are also eager to secure their interests which is why, for example, Turkish troops have moved into northern Syria. And, as the fighting comes closer to its own border with Iraq, the Ankara government is eager to reinforce its position in that country, too. Ankaras fundamental strategic concern is to ensure that the Kurdistan Workers Party - the PKK - which has been mounting an insurgency inside Turkey for decades - does not expand its activities in northern Iraq. It also wants to limit Iranian influence, Tehran already having significant ties with the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad. Turkey has cast itself... Tóm tắt bài đã cho | With the offensive on Mosul well under way, the simmering tensions between the Shia-dominated Iraqi government and Turkey threaten to open up new fault lines that could greatly complicate the operation. They also raise questions about the future battle for influence in Mosul in particular and, more generally, in northern Iraq. |
Ukraine conflict: Inside Russias Kremlin troll army | Summarize this: By Olga BugorkovaBBC Monitoring Though the existence and even whereabouts of the alleged cyber army are no secret, recent media reports appear to have revealed some details of how one of the tools of Russian propaganda operates on an everyday basis. Troll den The Internet Research Agency (Agentstvo Internet Issledovaniya) employs at least 400 people and occupies an unremarkable office in one of the residential areas in St Petersburg. Behind the plain facade, however, there is a Kremlin troll den, an investigative report by independent local newspaper Moy Rayon (My District) suggests. The organisation, which the paper ties to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a restaurateur with close links to President Vladimir Putin who allegedly pays bloggers to produce hundreds of comments on top news websites and manage multiple accounts on Twitter, LiveJournal and other social media platforms. [During one 12-hour shift] I had to write 126 comments under the posts written by people inside the building. And about 25 comments on pages of real people - in order to attract somebodys attention. And I had to write 10 blog posts, a former employee, Anton, told Radio Liberty. Typical troll accounts, Moy Rayon noted, were operated by people posing as housewives and disappointed US citizens. To avert suspicions, the fake users sandwich political remarks between neutral articles on travelling, cooking and pets. My name is Tatyana and Im a little friendly creature)). Im interested in what is happening in the world, I also like travelling, arts and cinema, user tuyqer898 wrote on her blog. However, a leaked list of alleged Kremlin trolls published by liberal Novaya Gazeta newspaper suggests that Tatyana is in fact a fake account. Strict guidelines A collection of leaked documents, published by Moy Rayon, suggests that work at the troll den is strictly regulated by a set of guidelines. Any blog post written by an agency employee, according to the leaked files, must contain no fewer than 700 characters during day shifts and no fewer than 1,000... | Over the past year, Russia has seen an unprecedented rise in the activity of Kremlin trolls - bloggers allegedly paid by the state to criticise Ukraine and the West on social media and post favourable comments about the leadership in Moscow. |
Ideas invited to develop Isle of Man prison site | Summarize this: The prison was decommissioned in 2008 and inmates were transferred to a new 41.7m jail in Jurby. Replacing the 18th Century Castle Rushen jail, the Victoria Road site in Douglas opened in 1891 and housed criminals for more than 100 years, Despite calls for the building to be kept as a listed building the redbrick jailhouse was demolished in 2012. Anyone interested in submitting ideas for the two-acre site is asked to contact the Manx government via the consultation website. . | Ideas have been invited from the Isle of Man public about the future of the site of a former Victorian jail. |
Your pictures of Scotland 25 September - 2 October | Summarize: Please also ensure you follow current coronavirus guidelines and take your pictures safely and responsibly. Conditions of use: If you submit an image, you do so in accordance with the BBCs terms and conditions. Please ensure that the photograph you send is your own and if you are submitting photographs of children, we must have written permission from a parent or guardian of every child featured (a grandparent, auntie or friend will not suffice). In contributing to BBC News you agree to grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish and otherwise use the material in any way, including in any media worldwide. However, you will still own the copyright to everything you contribute to BBC News. At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe the law. You can find more information here. | A selection of your pictures of Scotland sent in between 25 September and 2 October. Send your photos to scotlandpictures@bbc.co.uk. Please ensure you adhere to the BBCs rules regarding photographs which can be found here. |
Spanish flu: How the 1918 pandemic hit Ulster and beyond | Help me summarize this article: By Hannah GayBBC News NI In the week ending 23 November 1918, the death rate in the city had tripled from the yearly average for all causes. Although the recorded reasons varied, historian Dr Patricia Marsh said that the vast majority of deaths were undoubtedly related to a much-feared global pandemic - the Spanish flu. According to Dr Marsh, it is no coincidence that the death toll soared in the two weeks that followed Armistice Day. The virus was, by this stage, in its second wave in Ulster. The Spanish flu had returned in October in a much more virulent wave than the previous one, and so the public were advised to avoid cinemas and other confined spaces, said Dr Marsh. The authorities were doing their best to try and contain it, but you cant expect people not to come together to celebrate the end of a war. You can see from the photos that there were thousands of people on the streets on 11 November. We know now that this is how viruses spread, but back then, people werent as knowledgeable about the causes of illness. Across the whole island of Ireland, there were more than 23,000 recorded deaths as a result of the virus - approximately 7,500 of those were in Ulster. However, due to a lack of diagnosis and documentation, it is thought that up to 800,000 people in Ireland could have been infected, according to Dr Ida Milne, of Maynooth University. The pandemic is estimated to have killed up to 100 million people worldwide, reaching countries across the globe, as well as remote pacific islands and even the Arctic. The movement of troops and goods in a post-war world allowed the respiratory illness to be transported trans-nationally. In the shadow of World War One, many people were left malnourished and with weak immune systems, making them more susceptible to illness. Unusually, the virus also affected the 20-40 age group more than any other section of the population, so strong, young adults, parents and workers, were wiped out by it, said Dr Marsh. To make matters worse, many doctors and nurses had... | One hundred years ago this weekend, a fortnight after Armistice celebrations brought people to the streets across Great Britain and Ireland, a killer that claimed more lives globally than the four-year conflict reached its peak in Belfast. |
Introducing Egyptian Hip Hop | Summarize the main idea of this article: By Greg CochraneNewsbeat music reporter What jokers! Neither Egyptian nor hip hop, the four college students are the latest subversive pop servants coming out of Manchester. He speaks in meek, one sentence answers, seemingly with his mind on other things. You cant blame him for being a little distracted though as Manchesters latest darlings - Alex Pierce (drums), Nick Delap (bass) and Lou Stevenson-Miller (guitar) all 17 years old - EHH are midway through their first ever UK tour. Theyre dates which come while theyre being touted as the fourth leg of north-west Englands 2010 takeover - Delphic, Everything Everything and Hurts being the other three. Boring studies Right now the foursome are fitting playing gigs around attending college - or not, as the case may be. Me, Nick and Lou do music B-tech so right now wed probably be studying acoustics which is really boring, says Hewett. Just calculating differences between units of time. We are just sitting in a van right now but it is a lot more relaxing at least. Were kind of organising around it [school] at the moment, he says reluctantly. I havent got a huge interest in college because it just doesnt teach me as much as actually being out here. Huge buzz Egyptian Hip Hops own journey began last year when they began writing material in Lous bedroom. A buzz quickly grew with the release of their debut single Rad Pitt, a lo-fi tinkling waterfall of pop. Bulkier in sound, current follow-up Wild Human Child is a different kind of beast produced by Sam Eastgate lead singer of Nottingham experimenters Late Of The Pier. I met Sam a few years ago now because Im quite good friends with his brother who is the same age as us, explains the singer. We always knew he was really talented with production. Were definitely a fan of Late Of The Pier, theyve done something quite new but in a pop context. Its a sound, coupled with the return of Klaxons this year, thats had bloggers, record labels and promoters getting feverishly excited about Egyptian Hip Hop. Theyve also... | Perhaps its the blinding glare of the buzz surrounding his band at the moment, or the din of the rest of his gang watching Terminator 2 in the back of the tour van, but Alex Hewett is pretty quiet today. |
In Pictures: The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2018 | Out of thousands of entries from around the world, Mary McGowan, from Tampa, Florida, won the overall prize with her photo titled Caught in the Act. Other entrants included an exasperated bear, a smiley shark and a rhino appearing to wear a tutu. Here is a selection of some of the hilarious winners and highly commended entries. Winning photos Highly Commended photos The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards is releasing a book, which helps support the Born Free Foundation charity. Tóm tắt văn bản trên | A shocked squirrel has scooped the overall prize in this years Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards. |
The mystery of screaming schoolgirls in Malaysia | Summarize the main idea of this article: By Heather ChenBBC News, Kelantan, Malaysia The assembly bells rang. I was at my desk feeling sleepy when I felt a hard, sharp tap on my shoulder. I turned round to see who it was and the room went dark. Fear overtook me. I felt a sharp, splitting pain in my back and my head started spinning. I fell to the floor. Before I knew it, I was looking into the otherworld. Scenes of blood, gore and violence. The scariest thing I saw was a face of pure evil. It was haunting me, I couldnt escape. I opened my mouth and tried to scream but no sound came out. I passed out. Sitis outburst triggered a powerful chain reaction that ripped through the school. Within minutes students in other classrooms started screaming, their frantic cries ricocheting through the halls. One girl fainted after claiming to have seen the same dark figure. Classroom doors slammed shut at the Ketereh national secondary school (SMK Ketereh) in Kelantan as panicked teachers and students barricaded themselves in. Islamic spiritual healers were called to perform mass prayer sessions. By the end of the day, 39 people were deemed to have been affected by an outbreak of mass hysteria. Mass hysteria, or mass psychogenic illness, as its also known, is the rapid spread of physical symptoms such as hyperventilation and twitching among a substantial group of people - with no plausible organic cause. It is a collective stress response prompting an overstimulation of the nervous system, says American medical sociologist and author Robert Bartholomew. Think of it as a software problem. The mechanisms behind mass hysteria are often poorly understood and it is not listed in the DSM - the manual of mental disorders. But psychiatrists like Dr Simon Wessely from Kings College Hospital in London view it as a collective behaviour. The symptoms experienced are real - fainting, palpitations, headaches, nausea, shaking and even fits, he says. It is often attributed to a medical condition but for which no conventional biomedical explanation can be found.... | It was a quiet Friday morning last July when pandemonium broke out at a school in north-east Malaysia. Siti Nurannisaa, a 17-year-old student, was at the centre of the chaos. This is her account of what happened. |
Man suffered head injury in Birkenhead street attack | Police believe the 27-year-old man was assaulted in Birkenhead, Wirral, and are examining CCTV footage. He was taken to hospital after being found at the junction of Beckwith Street and Duke Street at around 16:45 BST on Tuesday, 4 August. Merseyside Police said an investigation had begun and have appealed for witnesses to come forward. Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk Tóm tắt bài đã cho | A man is being treated in intensive care after being found in the street with a serious head injury. |
PC Christopher Burnham hit-and-run accused in court | PC Christopher Burnham suffered a fractured skull and shattered knee when he was struck by the vehicle in Radford, Coventry, on Wednesday. Tekle Lennox, 37, indicated to the court he would plead not guilty. He was remanded in custody. He is also charged with driving while disqualified and without insurance. Mr Lennox, of no fixed address, appeared at Coventry Magistrates Court and will next appear at Warwick Crown Court on 31 October. There was no application for bail. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone. Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | A man has appeared in court charged with the attempted murder of a police officer who was left seriously injured when he was hit by a car. |
Pilot killed in glider crash on Cheltenham school field | Cotswold Gliding Club said one of the pilots received fatal injuries in the crash at St Edwards prep school in Cheltenham at about 13:20 BST. The other pilot in the clubs two-seater glider suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has sent a team of investigators to the scene in Charlton Kings. The gliding club said it had no further information about the injured man but added our thoughts are with the pilots families. Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | One man was killed and another injured when a glider crashed on school playing fields in Gloucestershire. |
For one Missouri lawyer, eight clients executed in 18 months | Summarize this: By Jessica LussenhopBBC News Magazine At 21:09 local time on Tuesday evening, Roderick Nunley became the sixth death row inmate executed by the state of Missouri in 2015. He was convicted of the 1989 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Kansas City. His was the latest in a string of executions by the state since 2013. In May 2015, Nebraska became the 19th state to abolish the death penalty. A federal appeals court in California is currently considering the constitutionality of capital punishment. Difficulty procuring the drugs necessary for lethal injections has halted the process in some places. But while executions have slowed elsewhere, Missouri is ramping up, ever since it secured a new, secret source for the execution drug pentobarbital. Lawyer Jennifer Herndons caseload is a testament to that fact. Of the last 18 men executed by Missouri, eight of them were her clients. Nunley was her final capital case. No one in Missouri has had more executed clients in the last two years. In part because of this, she was profiled by The Marshall Project in an article entitled The Burnout. In the story, Herndon - known once as a dedicated lawyer who won a landmark decision that said individuals who committed their crimes while juveniles can not be executed - said she no longer wanted to represent death row inmates. At the time, Nunley and another man named Richard Strong were still alive. Strong was subsequently executed in June this year. Im not doing anybody any good, Herndon told the news outlet.Theres no joy in it whatsoever. They execute people no matter what. Missouri capital defence attorneys Lindsay Runnels and Jennifer Merrigan were shocked by what they read about Herndon in the story. They did not realise that her law licence had been suspended for a time in 2013 because she was delinquent on her taxes to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. The article also went into depth about her second job as a business coach and online marketer. In the days leading up to Nunleys execution,... | At a time when other states in the US are backing away from the death penalty, Missouri has done the opposite. It is currently executing its death row inmates faster than any other state in the country, at a rate of about one per month. |
Why you cant judge a zebra by its stripes | Summarize this: By Helen BriggsBBC News Thats the finding of research that is shaking up the family tree of the African wild horse. The common (plains) zebra lives on the grasslands of eastern and southern Africa, from southern Ethiopia to northern Namibia. DNA evidence challenges the idea that there are six subspecies that you can tell apart based on variations in the animals distinctive black and white stripes. Dr Rasmus Heller of the University of Copenhagen says theres little evidence that differences in striping patterns mean anything in a biological sense. At least we can say that the striping pattern does not contain much information about the history of the plains zebra, and how the different populations relate to each other, he said. The study, based on analysing variations in the DNA of 59 plains zebra from across Africa, suggests that there are nine populations of the zebra living in different areas of the continent. This knowledge is important when it comes to conservation, the scientists say. We now have a much clearer impression of which populations should be monitored, ie. are more vulnerable to loss of genetic diversity, said Dr Heller. This is particularly true for the two Ugandan populations, which have markedly lower genetic diversity and are relatively isolated from other populations. While zebra are still found in large numbers across Africa, some populations - in Uganda and parts of Tanzania - are dwindling in number. The northern-most population from northern Uganda is by far the most genetically distinct from the others, the research shows. To maintain high levels of genetic diversity in the species, there need to be corridors of suitable habitat for zebra to roam. To maintain the populations that we have today, we have to maintain these habitat corridors, said co-researcher, Casper-Emil Pedersen, also of the University of Copenhagen. Extinct zebra One type of plains zebra - the quagga has already gone extinct. The zebra was once found in large numbers in South Africa, but died out more than... | You cant judge a zebra by its stripes. |
Swindon town centre Union Square plans go on show | The Union Square project will be situated between Swindon railway station and The Parade shopping area. Development company Muse is due to submit plans to Swindon Borough Council this spring but expect the scheme to take 10 to 15 years to build. Plans can be viewed at Swindon Central Library on 4 March from 1400 to 2000 GMT and 5 March from 1000 to 1400 GMT. Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | Plans for the 350m redevelopment of Swindon town centre are on show for the first time. |
Coronavirus: People couldnt wait for our model village to reopen | By Laurence Cawley and Laura DevlinBBC News It proudly states its stuck in a 1930s time warp and portrays England how it used to be. This is Bekonscot, the oldest model village in the UK, which has attracted 15 million visitors to a tiny corner of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire for more than 90 years. Here, the miniature residents enjoy the wholesome pursuits of cricket and bowling, going to church, taking tea in the garden and ploughing the fields, without a care in the world. After months of lockdown it is perhaps comforting to visit a little world tucked away from everyday life, not least against the ravages of a global pandemic. They couldnt wait for it to be open, said owner Brian Newman-Smith, who lives on site. What weve got here is fantastic - when you approach there are high hedges, then suddenly you see the entire village in front of you. It has the wow factor. About half a dozen families were queuing just before 10:00 BST for the first day of reopening, having booked tickets online to ensure Bekonscot can limit visitors to 100 per hour. First in line was nanny Stephanie Butters who had travelled 40 minutes from west London to give Ellie and Lotties parents the space to home-school their siblings. Ive been many times, she said. Its something fun to do after lockdown. Theres a little park near them in Chiswick, weve been going there to feed the ducks. Were getting a bit fed up feeding ducks now. When the prime minister made his widely-anticipated lockdown-loosening statement in the House of Commons on 23 June, the reopening of pubs, restaurants and hairdressers came as little surprise. The news that museums and galleries could also unlock their doors did not seem particularly unusual. But also in that list of businesses and visitor attractions was, very specifically, model villages - a rather niche and eccentric curiosity, of which there are just a handful in the UK. Miniature village fans were overjoyed but others were bemused, with one woman tweeting that her fiancee had only learnt of them... Tóm tắt bài đã cho | When Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced certain businesses in England could reopen, there was some surprise that model villages appeared on a list alongside places like pubs, restaurants and hairdressers. BBC News went to Buckinghamshire to find out more about this very British fascination. |
Hillwalker dies on walk in Sutherland | Summarize this: The 67-year-old mans body was found during a search involving Assynt Mountain Recue Team and Stornoway Coastguard helicopter on Monday. He had earlier been reported overdue from his walk in the Achfary area near Lairg. Assynt MRT said its thoughts were with the mans family and friends. Related Internet Links Assynt MRT | A hillwalker has died on a walk in Sutherland, police have said. |
New Jersey-UK health agreement very close | Summarize: Jersey lost its reciprocal agreement in 2009, which has meant islanders paying for some medical services while in the UK and vice versa. The UKs Department of Health has agreed in principle for a reinstatement of the agreement, the States said. Jersey Health Minister Anne Pryke said the new agreement would provide peace of mind for islanders. | The health agreement between Jersey and the UK is very close to being reinstated, a minister says. |
Countdown to Ullapools Loopallu music festival | Help me summarize this article: Last years was expected to be the last after problems securing a site in the village. But following support from Loopallus fan base, its organisers agreed to keep holding the festival so long as there was an audience for it. This years line-up includes Alabama 3, The Bluetones, John Cooper Clarke, Breath Underneath and St Martiins. | Final preparations are being made for the 14th Loopallu music festival in Ullapool this weekend. |
In pictures: Bosley mill blast scene of devastation | Four workers were unaccounted for after the explosion at Wood Flour Mills, at Bosley, near Macclesfield on Friday. The body of one person was found on Sunday and a second body was recovered on Tuesday. All four were believed to be working in the upper floors of the mill when the blast and subsequent fire reduced the four-storey building to rubble. The following images show the rescue mission faced by the fire and search teams. Tóm tắt văn bản đã cho giúp tôi | The rubble and ruins after a massive explosion at a wood flour mill in Cheshire have been described as a scene of complete devastation . |
Domestic abuse: He hunted me down when I thought I was safe | When I found out I was pregnant, it should have been a happy, joyous time. Since the start of our relationship it had been a whirlwind, I felt like it was the best thing I had ever encountered. But then it started to get intense on another level. One day, as I returned home, all I felt as I came through the door was the most shocking and excruciating pain right between the eyes. Simon had punched me. And he wasnt finished. He dragged me through the kitchen, still punching. I remember so clearly trying to protect my baby in my stomach and my head from his blows. He left me on the kitchen floor, confused, with blood pouring from my nose. He later came over and was super loving, saying he had lost control and that I needed to be more aware so I didnt make him feel like that again. But the more I put every effort into making him calm and happy, the more he seemed to pick on things I was doing wrong. The cleaning, the cooking, not showing him enough affection or attention. I could never do anything right. Rushed home after pregnancy He told me mid-pregnancy he didnt want to be at the birth. When the time came he was at the neighbours. I called him and told him it was time, but I didnt want to anger him. While at the hospital he was constantly texting me, telling me to hurry up as he had work in the morning. I became really stressed and had quite a difficult delivery. I waited for the doctor to check over my daughter and rushed back home. Upon returning he was very mad. The next day I absolutely lost it, saying having a baby was not a party. He slapped me across my face and threw me down the stairs. He then came down after me, stamping on me. It was seriously painful as I had not long given birth. I was bed bound for approximately 10-12 days. I couldnt walk. I had to have a friend come in to bring my baby to me to breast feed. Snatched my daughter I eventually fled to my friends house. I stayed inside, petrified to come out. One day, my friend had taken my daughter for a drive. When she got out he appeared from... Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | When Holly began her relationship with Simon, it felt like the best thing she had ever encountered. But as time went on, he became violent. When she ran away he hunted her down. This is her story from the time she became pregnant with their child, in her own words, as told to the BBCs Victoria Derbyshire programme. |
Who have been Scotlands first ministers? | Ms Sturgeon became first minister on 20 November 2014, following the resignation of Alex Salmond. She is the fifth politician to head Scotlands devolved government (not counting Jim Wallace, who served as acting first minister three times.) Heres a quick look at Scotlands leaders, past and present, and the legacies they have left. Donald Dewar: 13 May 1999 - 11 October 2000 Donald Dewar secured his place in history when he became first minister of the first Scottish Parliament in almost 300 years, but his time in the role was cut sadly short. He was known for an astute legal brain, fierce, fast and formidable debating skills and squaring up to the opposition benches. Not a typical Labour man, he was born in Glasgow on 21 August 1937 into a middle class family and studied law before entering the Commons in 1966 as MP for Aberdeen South and, later, represented the seat of Glasgow Garscadden. His loyalty in the shadow cabinet during Labours wilderness years saw him rewarded with the post of secretary of state for Scotland by Tony Blair in 1997 - the vehicle by which he helped bring about devolution two years later, earning him the title Father of the Nation. Mr Dewar became MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, but his new administration was soon embroiled in an access-to-ministers scandal, the Holyrood building fiasco and the repeal of Section 28. He admitted the first year was towsy. Despite an operation to replace a leaky heart valve and being two years off becoming a pensioner, he was determined to resume his key role in politics. On 10 October 2000, Mr Dewar fell on the pavement outside his official residence and later died from a brain haemorrhage. Mr Dewars legacy lives on through the devolved parliament itself, and a towering statue of the man himself in Glasgow city centre. Henry McLeish: 26 October 2000 - 8 November 2001 Whatever Henry McLeishs achievements in politics, his tenure in office will always be marked by having been the only Scottish first minister forced to resign from the job. The former... Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | Nicola Sturgeon is set to continue as Scotlands first minister following the SNPs victory in the Scottish Parliament election on 5 May 2016. |
Cardinal Keith OBrien resignation: Statement in full | Summarize this: The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has accepted on the 18 February 2013 the resignation of His Eminence Cardinal Keith Patrick OBrien from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh. This information will be announced and published in the Osservatore Romano of Monday 25 February 2013. The Cardinal had already presented last November his resignation in view of his 75th birthday on 17 March 2013, and it was accepted by the Holy Father with the formula nunc pro tunc (now for later). Given the imminent Vacant See, the Holy Father has now decided to accept the said resignation definitively. Reacting to the acceptance of his resignation, Cardinal OBrien said: Approaching the age of 75 and at times in indifferent health, I tendered my resignation as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh to Pope Benedict XVI some months ago. I was happy to know that he accepted my resignation nunc pro tunc on 13 November 2012. The Holy Father has now decided that my resignation will take effect today, 25 February 2013, and that he will appoint an apostolic administrator to govern the archdiocese in my place until my successor as archbishop is appointed. In the meantime I will give every assistance to the apostolic administrator and to our new archbishop, once he is appointed, as I prepare to move into retirement. Failures I have valued the opportunity of serving the people of Scotland and overseas in various ways since becoming a priest. Looking back over my years of ministry: For any good I have been able to do, I thank God. For any failures, I apologise to all whom I have offended. I thank Pope Benedict XVI for his kindness and courtesy to me and on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Scotland, I wish him a long and happy retirement. I also ask Gods blessing on my brother cardinals who will soon gather in Rome to elect his successor. I will not join them for this conclave in person. I do not wish media attention in Rome to be focused on me - but rather on Pope Benedict XVI and... | Britains most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith OBrien, is resigning as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, after being accused of inappropriate conduct - allegations he contests. This is the full statement issued by the Scottish Catholic Media Office on the resignation of the cardinal: |
Seattles great minimum wage experiment | By Edwin LaneBusiness reporter, BBC World Service, Seattle It was the experience of a lifetime, she says, as the audience whoops and cheers. After seeing my co-workers literally struggling and not having enough money to take care of their children, it was set in my mind that I can do something about this. The strike was part of the Fight for 15 campaign - a nationwide movement to raise the minimum wage to 15 (10) an hour. Wage stagnation It began with fast-food workers in New York, but it was on Americas west coast that it saw early success - two years ago Seattle became the first major city in the United States to pass a 15 minimum wage into law. It will come in gradually. This year larger companies started paying employees 13 an hour. It will go up to 15 next year. By 2021, the new 15 minimum will be rolled out to everyone. Since then Fight for 15 has gained momentum. This year both California and New York approved state laws bringing in a 15 an hour minimum wage, along with more than a dozen other cities and counties. Listen to Edwin Lanes report on Seattles 15 minimum wage on Business Daily, BBC World Service Weve had 40 years of wage stagnation in the US at a moment when the county has gotten richer and richer, says union leader David Rolf, who helped bring in the Seattle law. Half of Americans now make less than 17 an hour. Forty-three per cent make less than 15 an hour. A quarter make less than 10 an hour. The reality is the American dream is at its moment of greatest risk. Supply and demand But not everyone thinks paying people more is a good idea. The current federal minimum wage is just 7.25 an hour and some economists warn that raising it to 15 will more than double the cost of labour and discourage businesses from hiring people altogether. It all goes back to supply and demand, says Jacob Vigdor, professor of public policy and governance at the University of Washington in Seattle. He has been tasked by the city to monitor the economic impact of the new minimum wage as it is phased in. So far as... Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | At a union-organised event in Seattle former McDonalds worker Martina Phelps recounts how she walked out three years ago in protest at how little she and her colleagues were getting paid. It was the first time she had ever taken part in a strike. |
Dominic Cummings shines a light on No 10s inner workings | Hugh PymHealth editor@BBCHughPymon Twitter But todays dramatic evidence from Dominic Cummings shone new light on the governments handling of the biggest peacetime crisis in modern times. He was a central player in Downing Street and Whitehall and has become the highest profile figure so far to give an inside story of the critical moments and decision making. Mr Cummings account of the first Covid-19 wave in 2020 was highly critical of ministers and officials who were his former colleagues. British people flown back from Wuhan in China were quarantined in late January. But until the end of February there was no attempt to get the government machine on a war footing, he said. Some key players even took skiing holidays. This was the situation in the UK even as Italian hospitals were being over-run with seriously ill Covid patients. Mr Cummings argued there should have been a lockdown by early March - but big sporting events like the Cheltenham racing festival went ahead. He said experts thought closing mass spectator events would mean people went to pubs instead, but this, in his view, was typical of the flawed thinking on how people might behave. By Monday, 16 March 2020, there had been a big change in thinking. Mr Cummings revealed this had only happened over the weekend once warnings about hospitals being overwhelmed had been taken on board. That day saw the first announcement of restrictions, though a full lockdown did not happen for another week. But Prof Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, said none of the options for ministers were clear cut. He said: I think it was clear to us that really urgent action needed to be taken - but that was very difficult for the politicians to balance all the inputs they were getting from the scientists on one hand, and those who thought this was really going to be very damaging for the economy on the other. Mr Cummings slammed what he alleged was the lack of preparation for a pandemic, including shortages of... Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | Some will contest it, some will question the motives. |
Depression: A revolution in treatment? | Summarize this: By James Gallagher, Rachael Buchanan & Andrew Luck-BakerThe Inflamed Mind, BBC Radio 4 It is based around the idea that some people are being betrayed by their fiercest protector. That their immune system is altering their brain. The illness exacts a heavy toll on 350 million people around the world, among them Hayley Mason, from Cambridgeshire: My depression gets so bad that I cant leave the bed, I cant leave the bedroom, I cant go downstairs and be with my partner and his kids. The 30-year-old added: I cant have the TV on, I cant have noise and light, I have suicidal thoughts, I have self-harmed, I cant leave the house, I cant drive. And just generally I am completely confined to my own home and everything else just feels too much. Anti-depressant drugs and psychological treatments, like cognitive behavioural therapy, help the majority of people. But many dont respond to existing therapies and so some scientists are now exploring a new frontier - whether the immune system could be causing depression. I think we have to be quite radical, says Prof Ed Bullmore, the head of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. Hes at the forefront of this new approach: Recent history is telling us if we want to make therapeutic breakthroughs in an area which remains incredibly important in terms of disability and suffering then weve got to think differently. The focus is on an errant immune system causing inflammation in the body and altering mood. And Prof Bullmore argues thats something we can all relate to, if we just think back to the last time we had a cold or flu. He said: Depression and inflammation often go hand in hand, if you have flu, the immune system reacts to that, you become inflamed and very often people find that their mood changes too. Their behaviour changes, they may become less sociable, more sleepy, more withdrawn. They may begin to have some of the negative ways of thinking that are characteristic of depression and all of that follows an infection. It is a subtle and yet significant shift in... | Its not very often we get to talk about a revolution in understanding and treating depression and yet now doctors are talking about one of the strongest discoveries in psychiatry for the last 20 years. |
Seven West Midlands ambulance stations up for sale | Summarize: In the third wave of sales in the services Make Ready scheme, asking prices range from 200,000 for Craven Arms ambulance station in Shropshire to 475,000 for Dordon, Staffordshire. In Birmingham and Solihull another five ambulance stations have gone on sale. Vehicle maintenance hubs and Community Ambulance Stations are being created in the 9.6m project to ensure a faster response to 999 calls. The hubs house teams of Ambulance Fleet Assistants who prepare vehicles for ambulances crews. The crew will then be based at one of 30 Community Ambulance Stations, which will be leased rather than owned by the service. A spokesperson for WMAS said: When completed, the number of Community Ambulance Stations will be more than three-times that of traditionally owned stations to ensure a faster response to 999 calls. Two hubs are already in operation in Shropshire and another has opened in the refurbished West Bromwich ambulance station. In Coventry and Warwickshire new hubs are being built in Coventry, Nuneaton, Rugby and Warwick. In Birmingham new hubs will also be created in Erdington and Northfield. In Worcestershire two stations are being refurbished to become hubs at a cost of 1.45m. Alternatives to other ambulance stations are being planned, with assurances no station will be vacated until new premises are found. Three ambulance stations in Shropshire and two in Warwickshire went on sale in January. | Seven West Midlands Ambulance Service stations have been put up for sale. |
Brexit: Dual nationality on the table for Britons? | Help me summarize this article: By Claudia AllenBBC News While many British citizens are happy to potentially wave goodbye to freedom of movement within the EU, some Britons would like to hold on to the opportunity to live and work in the other 27 countries that make up the union. At the weekend, German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said the remaining members should not pull up the drawbridge for young Britons, who largely voted to remain, and so should consider offering dual nationality to young British citizens who live in Germany, Italy or France, so that they can remain EU citizens in this country. Mr Gabriels comments follow a statement by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi last Tuesday suggesting that EU nations were considering whether British students at universities on the continent could be offered citizenship. Mr Renzi said he was sad for the younger generation of Britons. In the absence of any concrete information on either plan, what other options are already open to British citizens, of any age, keen to access an EU citizenship after Brexit? Move to the EU now and later apply for citizenship The UK remains part of the EU, for now, so freedom of movement still applies. This means a British citizen currently still has full rights to move to any other EU country to work or study, as many have already done. While it is not clear what will happen to those residents once the UK brexits, they may well be able to stay, and, in time, apply for citizenship. For example, residents of Germany can apply for citizenship after eight years - less in some circumstances - as long as they pass an assessment of their German language skills and a naturalisation test, among other criteria. A spokesman for the German interior ministry told the BBC that, while up-to-date figures were not available, he would not rule out an increase in applications for German nationality from Britons in light of the Brexit vote. This is because German law requires non-EU citizens to give up their existing nationality when applying for German citizenship - so... | It is more than a week since Britain voted to leave the European Union, and there is still little certainty regarding the future status of EU citizens currently living in the UK, or of British people living elsewhere in the EU. |
Hurricane Irma: Visual guide | Help me summarize this article: The storm cut a devastating trail across Caribbean countries and territories before moving up through the US states of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, weakening into a tropical depression. An estimated 1.2 million people have been affected. Irma broke weather records At its peak, Irma was a category five storm with winds topping 295km/h (185mph). According to Phil Klotzbach, research scientist at Colorado State Universitys Department of Atmospheric Science, Irmas top wind speeds were tied with the second-strongest maximum winds of all time for an Atlantic hurricane. Irma matches a 1935 storm in the Florida Keys, Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and Wilma in 2005. Only one hurricane, Allen in 1980, has recorded stronger winds, at 190 mph, he said. However, Irma broke Allens record for sustained winds. It maintained maximum wind speeds of 295km/h for longer than any other Atlantic Hurricane. Irma grew in strength over a few days The remnants of Hurricane Harvey, which hit in late August, could still be seen by satellite when Irma made its way across the Atlantic towards the Caribbean. Irma and remnants of Hurricane Harvey, 2 September Irma was just a category two storm on 2 September, but soon became category three. Irma grew stronger quickly because of a combination of very warm water, high levels of mid-level relative humidity, and vertical wind conditions, meteorologists say. Between 2 and 5 September, Irma strengthened from a category three to a category five storm, the highest possible level. By 7 September, Irma was being followed by storm Jose, which was also upgraded to hurricane status. Also present was Storm Katia in the Gulf of Mexico, which became a hurricane before it hit the Mexican state of Veracruz. Two people died in a mudslide caused by the extreme weather. Katia, Irma and Jose, 7 September Irmas clouds were very, very cold Infrared data from the Nasa-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Suomi NPP satellite on 7 September revealed very cold, very high, powerful thunderstorms... | The most powerful Atlantic storm in a decade has caused widespread destruction across the Caribbean and the southern US, leaving 55 people dead. Irma, at times a category five hurricane, packed winds of up to 295km/h (185mph). |
Exonerated: The verdict on Mueller from Trumps heartland | By Tara McKelveyBBC News, Russellville, Arkansas Joyce Smith, a retired nurse, heard about the findings on Sunday while she was driving across Oklahoma. A friend texted her the news, and she told her husband, Walter, who was in the drivers seat. They were both delighted by Muellers conclusion. Congressional Democrats, liberals and others in Washington may be clamouring for more investigations. Yet she and her husband reflect the views of many if not most of those who live in Arkansas, flyover people, she describes them, the people in the middle who get skipped, or as Trump says: the forgotten people. They make up the bedrock of support for the president and on Sunday they celebrated since, as Mr Smith says: Trump was exonerated. On that day she and her husband drove through a landscape that is familiar to those who know flyover country. Signs of the economic hardship, resilience and patriotism that mark small-town and rural America are easy to spot in west-central Arkansas. Here in Russellville (population of 29,000), the place where the Smiths stopped before leaving on their trip, one can see vacant buildings in the downtown area and a gigantic American flag that whips back and forth in the wind. The Smiths and others who live here were gratified by the results of Muellers investigation, which uncovered no evidence that the president colluded in the Russian governments alleged attempt to interfere in the democratic process. For the Smiths, Mr Trump is not a criminal or a Russian spy. Instead he is a leader who has ushered in economic growth to the country and hope to Arkansas. Russellville is one of the many towns across the nation that has supported Mr Trump and his drain-the-swamp campaign despite the chorus of critics in Washington and demands for his impeachment. In 2016 Trump won more than 70% of the vote in Pope County, where Russellville is located, and people here remain firmly behind him (and proud that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who lived in nearby Pulaski County, is working at the White House).... Tóm tắt văn bản trên | People in Arkansas thought that the Mueller report was a witch hunt and feel vindicated by its findings. Their affection for President Donald Trump is deep - and so is their scepticism towards the special counsel and Washington. |
Three reasons for optimism over the Eurozone economy | Duncan WeldonNewsnight economics correspondent@Duncanweldonon Twitter A major economy being smaller than it was seven years ago is not something that happens often. Unemployment remains stubbornly high and the latest flaring up of tension over a possible Greek bailout extension is yet another reminder that some of the structural issues in how the Euro was designed will continue to be a source of friction. And now, new Eurostat figures show that consumer prices in the Eurozone fell by 0.6% in the last year: a possible sign of the early stages of a damaging deflationary slide. But is the gloom overdone? There are three reasons to think it might be - three reasons why Eurozone growth in 2015 may well surprise to the upside for the first time in years. Reduced oil prices The first reason is the reduction in oil prices. Since June 2014 world oil prices have more than halved, which - all things being equal - should be good news for an energy importer like the Eurozone. In effect, this functions as a large tax cut for consumers and firms financed by overseas producers. And although declining oil prices add further pressure to falling consumer prices in the Eurozone, this doesnt mean they should not be welcomed in Europe - even if Eurostats figures suggest that the pace of decline in consumer prices is accelerating. The fear has always been of a debt-deflationary cycle - a situation in which falling prices lead to reduced profits for businesses and subsequent wage cuts. In the event of a generalised fall in prices and wages, then the real burden of debt increases. But for falling oil prices to be a cause of bad deflation rather than benign disinflation, consumers and firms would have to save rather than spend their windfall from lower energy costs. In that situation there would be no boost to demand, but there would be an additional downward pressure on prices. The early signs, however, are that this is not happening. European retail sales grew strongly in the fourth quarter of last year, suggesting lower prices... Tóm tắt bài đã cho | It is easy to be gloomy about the Eurozones economic prospects. While GDP in the UK and US is now above its pre-crisis level, in the Eurozone it is still languishing below. But is there room for greater optimism? |
Viewpoint: V for Vendetta and the rise of Anonymous | Help me summarize this article: By Alan MooreAuthor First published in 1982, the comic series V for Vendetta charted a masked vigilantes attempt to bring down a fascist British government and its complicit media. Many of the demonstrators are expected to wear masks based on the books central character. Ahead of the protests, the BBC asked V for Vendettas writer, Alan Moore, for his thoughts on how his creation had become an inspiration and identity to Anonymous. PREOCCUPATIONS Without wishing to overstate my case, everything in the observable universe definitely has its origins in Northamptonshire, and the adoption of the V for Vendetta mask as a multipurpose icon by the emerging global protest movements is no exception. Back at the crack of the 17th century, Rushton Triangular Lodge was a strange architectural folly constructed to represent the Holy Trinity by an increasingly eccentric Sir Thomas Tresham while he endured decades of house-arrest for his outspoken Catholicism. It was also one of the two locations, both owned by Tresham and both in Northamptonshire, at which the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was formulated by a group of dissident Catholics that included Treshams son Francis. It would seem likely that the treatment afforded to the elder Tresham played some part in the general mix of grievances from which the reckless scheme ignited. Mastermind By the early sixteen-hundreds, the bonfires traditionally lit around the start of November had been co-opted as trappings for a sort of national anti-Catholic day at which effigies of the Pope would be incinerated. As mastermind behind the terrorist outrage du jour, however, the plots nominal leader Guido Fawkes rapidly replaced the pontiff as hate-mascot of choice on these occasions. Jump forward 300 years, though, to the battered post-war England of the 1950s, and the saturnine insurrectionary had taken on more ambiguous connotations. When parents explained to their offspring about Guy Fawkes and his attempt to blow up Parliament, there always seemed to be an undertone of admiration in their... | On Saturday protests are planned across the world against Acta - the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The treaty has become the focus of activists associated with the Anonymous hacking network because of concerns that it could undermine internet privacy and aid censorship. |
What is the World Heritage In Danger List? | Who created the list and why? The World Heritage Convention links the concepts of nature conservation and the preservation of cultural properties. It recognises the way in which people interact with nature, and the need to preserve the balance between the two. The convention defines the kinds of natural or cultural sites that can be included on the World Heritage List. The 191 nations that have signed the convention have pledged to conserve their World Heritage Sites. What kinds of places are on the list? There are 1,007 sites on the list, ranging from a 65m-tall minaret in the ancient Afghan city of Jam and Britains city of Bath, to Canadas Dinosaur Provincial Park and Argentinas Los Glaciares National Park. More than two-thirds of the listed sites are man-made, and include everything from monasteries, cathedrals and opera houses, to entire cities such as Graz in Austria. What is the World Heritage In Danger List? The committee compiles another list of sites it considers to be in danger of losing their heritage status. This time last year, Unesco threatened to list the Great Barrier Reef as in danger, amid controversy over a plan to dump dredged sediment from a port expansion near the reef. Declining water quality, climate change and coastal development were also cited as threats to the reefs health. The in danger list is designed to tell the international community about the conditions that threaten the very characteristics for which a property was added to the World Heritage List in the first place, and to encourage governments to take action to protect the sites. A country can ask for one of its sites to be listed in order to receive help to address the threats. For example, listing would enable the World Heritage Committee to allocate funds to help protect a site. It would also alert the international community who might contribute funds or technical expertise to save an endangered site. If a site loses the characteristics which determined its inscription on the World Heritage List, it could be... Cho tôi nội dung chính của bài văn đã cho | The Great Barrier Reef is one of more than 1,000 places on Unescos World Heritage List of precious environmental and cultural sites. In June, Unesco will decide if the Reef should be added to its in danger list. On Friday, a draft recommendation will be made about the reefs status. |
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