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'Hollywood' sign changed to 'Hollyweed' in new year prank - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A prankster changes the world-famous Hollywood sign to read "Hollyweed" on New Year's Day. | US & Canada | The iconic sign was changed overnight on New Year's Eve
Residents of Los Angeles' most famous neighbourhood woke up on New Year's Day to find the world-famous Hollywood sign had been changed to read "Hollyweed".
Local media reported that police were treating the incident as minor trespass and were investigating.
The sign on Mount Lee is made of 45-foot (13.7m) tall letters.
Voters in California approved the legalisation of marijuana in a ballot held at the same time as the presidential election - on 8 November.
The prank has not caused lasting damage to the sign, however, as parts of both "O" letters were covered by tarpaulins to make them look like a lower-case letter "E".
The Los Angeles Times reports that a single person was recorded on security cameras climbing the sign to hang the materials.
A similar prank took place in 1976, to mark a relaxation in the state's marijuana laws. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38484733 |
Premier League in 2016: Alternative league tables for the calendar year - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | What if the Premier League was played over a calendar year? We take a look at who performed best - and worst - in 2016. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
What if the Premier League was played over a calendar year?
Who would be champions of 2016, which uncapped Englishman would finish above Jamie Vardy in the scoring charts, and which players would be in the running for individual awards?
We take a look at who performed best - and worst - in 2016.
It would have been almost impossible to believe 12 months ago when Jose Mourinho had been sacked after the then champions lost nine times in their opening 16 Premier League games - but the Stamford Bridge club's transformation in 2016 has been dramatic.
Stabilised by Guus Hiddink and streaking clear at the top of the 2016-17 table under Antonio Conte, Chelsea edge out Liverpool and Manchester United to top spot in 2016. Tottenham may feel aggrieved their New Year fixture falls on New Year's Day, as had it been 24 hours earlier and they won, they would be second.
Manchester City miss out on the top four, while 2015-16 title winners Leicester are eighth after a difficult run between August and December.
At the other end - excluding the promoted and relegated teams - Crystal Palace, Watford and Swansea make up the bottom three, with Palace 11 points behind their closest rivals.
Jurgen Klopp has made a big impact since arriving at Liverpool in October 2015 - and that impact is becoming clearer with every passing month.
In 2016, his team have scored the most goals...
...had the second-highest number of shots (659), more than 60 ahead of Man City (596), West Ham (574) and well clear of Chelsea (552).
...and they are up there in terms of highest average possession...
So what more do Liverpool have to do to end what may soon be a 27-year wait for a title?
Which players topped the stats for 2016?
Quiz question for you: which three English players outscored Leicester striker Jamie Vardy in the Premier League in 2016?
The other one? West Ham's Michail Antonio! Top marks if you got that one.
And here's a tip for Fantasy Football players. Get Cesar Azpilicueta in your team.
For starters, the Chelsea defender has played the most minutes in the Premier League in 2016 (tied with Leicester's Wes Morgan, Bournemouth's Steve Cook and Manchester United's David de Gea). Southampton's Virgil van Dijk was also level with that bunch until he was sent off late in their final fixture of the year on Saturday.
Spaniard Azpilicueta has also had more touches than any other player...
...and is second on the list for completed passes, behind only Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson. He also features in the top 10 for tackles made and successful passes in the opposition half.
Away from the teams occupying the top six in the Premier League, there have also been plenty of stellar performances. West Ham's Dimitri Payet - one of the stars of 2015-16 - created the most scoring opportunities, 28 more than his closest rival - Tottenham's Christian Eriksen.
Along with Arsenal's Mesut Ozil (111), they were the only three players to create more than 100 chances in 2016.
At the other end, the two keepers with the best shots-to-saves record do not belong to top-six clubs.
And finally, a few names for Fantasy Football devotees to avoid. These players repeatedly found themselves in trouble with referees in 2016, with Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye the most-booked Premier League player of 2016.
Despite that poor disciplinary record, he was not one of the 47 players sent off during the calendar year. Forty-six of those were dismissed once, while Vardy and Tottenham midfielder Victor Wanyama hold the dubious honour of being the most-dismissed players of the year - both were sent off twice. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38467274 |
100 things we didn't know last year - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Each week we publish a list of 10 things we didn't know the week before. Here are 100 of our favourites from 2016. | Magazine | Interesting and unexpected facts from daily news stories are collected in the BBC's regular feature, 10 things we didn't know last week. Here is a selection of the best from 2016.
1. You could probably outrun a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
2. Ronald Reagan suggested that Margaret Thatcher read Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy in order to understand Soviet thinking.
3. German tourists can travel to more countries without a visa than any other nationality.
4. People played with a fifth suit of cards in the 1930s.
5. There are about three million shipwrecks lying on the ocean floor.
6. YouTube was originally meant to be an online dating site.
7. Parents are worse at telling if their child is lying than complete strangers.
8. London Underground journeys take more than four times longer for disabled people.
9. Air rage is more common on flights with a first-class cabin.
10. Boris Johnson knows how to sing Ode to Joy in German.
11. The spice turmeric may help stave off dementia
12. The world's most dangerous school run may be in south-western China, where children have to climb down an 800m cliff.
13. The oldest world title in sport is for real tennis and it dates back to 1740.
14. Male sparrows retaliate when females are unfaithful by providing less food.
16. Sadness causes more road accidents than tiredness.
17. The tattoo policy of the US Marine Corps is 32 pages long.
18. Exercising four hours after learning can help you remember information.
19. The speed Batman reaches while gliding through the air would probably kill him on landing.
22. Trevor Nunn has directed every one of Shakespeare's plays.
23. Prime Minister Theresa May owns more than 100 cookbooks - but none by Delia Smith.
24. The fertility drug Pergonal was developed using gallons of nuns' urine.
25. Even in the early 1970s, women in the UK frequently had to get a male relative's signature to get a loan.
26. Every winter, great white sharks swim for 30 to 40 days to congregate at a particular spot halfway between Mexico and Hawaii. No-one knows why.
27. Fewer than one in five listed statues in the UK are of women.
28. Every English elm is descended from a single tree imported by the Romans.
29. The "Arsenal" letters outside the football club's stadium are an anti-attack measure.
30. "Burn" is the most heavy metal word in the English language, and "particularly" is the least.
32. There are at least 42 different fares for rail travel between London Euston and Birmingham, ranging from £6 to £119.
34. One female Greenland shark is around 400 years of age, making the species the longest-living vertebrate known on Earth.
35. Only about half of perceived friendships are mutual.
36. Holding your coffee cup from above in a claw-like grip is the best way to prevent it from spilling.
37. A hot bath could be better than cycling at lowering the blood sugar levels of type-2 diabetics
38. Being the sole breadwinner is bad for men's health but good for women's.
40. A fifth of UK parents regret the names they gave their children.
41. New Yorkers would pay $56 a month to trim a minute off their commute.
42. Georgetown University in Washington sold 272 slaves in 1838 to help pay off the institution's debts.
43. Mayors in Pakistan can run cities from jail.
44. It would take 112,000 years to fly to the nearest Earth-like world travelling at 25,000mph.
46. In the Grand Canyon, the US postal service delivers mail by mule.
47. It's possible to be arrested for being drunk while riding a mobility scooter.
48. Intelligent people tend to be messier and swear more than others.
49. Protesters at a Republican party convention are banned from carrying tennis balls but are allowed to carry guns.
50. Bees spit water at each other in hot weather.
51. In some remote areas of Malawi, parents pay a man to have sex with their daughters at the age of 12 or 13.
53. At US airports, the usual limits on taking liquids through security do not apply if the liquid is holding live fish.
54. There is a scientific reason why some people have "uncombable" hair.
55. Some porn sites have a voiceover function for blind people that explains what's going on.
56. So many Ford Sierra Cosworths were stolen or written off that surviving models have become very valuable.
57. The son of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar works as an architect in Argentina.
58. There is a way to get people with strong views to consider alternative arguments (that doesn't involve shouting or violence).
59. Doctors estimate dying patients will live twice as long as they actually do.
60. How drunk you think you are depends on how drunk your friends are.
61. A pack of Smarties is more likely to be missing red than any other colour.
62. Dating app Tinder has 37 options for defining gender, beyond male or female.
63. Three British and three Dutch World War Two ships have vanished from the bottom of the Java Sea.
64. Someone has a job making wooden tanks for Islamic State.
65. You can get pregnant while already being pregnant.
66. Industrial spills may be more dangerous in cold weather.
67. London's benchmark interest rate, Libor, was invented by a Greek banker arranging a loan for Iran.
68. The most historically accurate recent Oscar contender is Selma and the least is The Imitation Game.
69. The new Bank of England £5 note is not suitable for vegetarians...
70. ...But you can use it to play vinyl records.
71. Fidel Castro's obituary cost the New York Times more man and woman hours over the years than any other article in the newspaper's history.
73. Under triathlon rules, competitors are allowed to help each other.
74. There are only 28 websites on the internet in North Korea.
75. A litre of cow urine is more valuable to an Indian farmer than a litre of milk.
76. More than 200 UK drivers are at least 100 years old.
77. Giraffes are four species, not one.
78. Most British tourists in the Spanish resort of Magaluf are on their first holiday without their families.
79. People spend 1.3 years of their life on average deciding what to watch on television.
80. Heading a football can reduce your memory for 24 hours.
82. The world's top institution for undergraduates, measured by Nobel prize winners per 10,000 students, is the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris.
83. Your doctor's political preferences can influence the treatment they recommend.
84. Close-protection security consultants work on the principle that a client should never be more than eight seconds from rescue.
85. Teenage acne is not all bad news: Unblemished skin ages faster.
86. The mammal that kills the most members of its own species is not the human, the bear or the wolf, but the meerkat.
87. Putting an image of a flat screen TV on a box containing a bicycle reduces the chance of damage during delivery by up to 80%.
88. Riding a rollercoaster can help you pass kidney stones.
89. You can run over a golf ball with a steamroller and still not damage it.
90. About 1.7% of the UK population identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual.
91. Replacing the artificial colouring in blue M&Ms would require twice the current global supply of the natural alternative.
93. Rainbows can also occur at night.
94. You can't return or rescind a Nobel prize.
95. Drivers in China who dazzle other road users with full-beam headlights are made to stare into the lights for a minute as punishment.
96. The UK's National Sperm Bank has taken on only seven men.
97. Chimpanzees are as good at recognising each other's bottoms as humans are at recognising faces.
98. Trees on city streets may worsen rather than reduce air pollution.
99. Women can improve their chances of winning board games against men by playing rock music in the background.
Seen a thing? Tell the Magazine on Twitter using the hashtag #thingididntknowlastweek
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38315407 |
Billions of pounds that you fail to claim - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Huge payouts - from benefits and compensation to pensions and lottery wins - go unclaimed. Why do you not receive what you are entitled to? | Business | A bumper lottery draw was organised following Team GB's success in the Rio Olympics
A glorious summer of sunshine and sporting success should have been even better for more than a dozen lottery players.
Thirteen winning tickets in the National Lottery draw of 27 August remain unclaimed - five of them are £1m wins.
It was a bumper draw that day. There were 67 extra winners in addition to the normal 21 prizes owing to a raffle draw celebrating Team GB's success at the Rio Olympics.
It may have been that players failed to check those extra draw details. It may have been that they were away from home as it was a Bank Holiday weekend in much of the UK. Either way £5.6m is going to lottery good causes if those winners do not make a claim in the next couple of months.
Overall, only 3% of National Lottery prizes go unclaimed. That is a fraction of the sum that people miss out on through unclaimed benefits or compensation.
In today's automated world, why do many of these payouts still require people to make a complaint and a claim?
Nearly £2bn in redress was paid to consumers of financial services in the first half of the year.
While the industry watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, holds data on the success of compensation schemes in reaching those entitled to payouts, it does not publish all of it.
One of the biggest unknowns is the number of people affected by mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), and the amount they should receive. This loan insurance was sold on an industrial scale to people who did not want or need it, or who could not claim.
As a result banks have paid out £25bn in compensation in the past few years. Estimates suggest the total bill, were all sales paid back, could be £100bn. An estimated nine million people in the UK could still make a complaint.
So why not simply pay everyone back?
The reason is clear from consultation into a proposed deadline for PPI compensation claims.
"We remain of the view that not all PPI was mis-sold and that, properly sold, PPI could meet some consumers' genuine credit protection needs," the FCA says during the consultation.
So, the FCA says that, in effect, every case must be taken on its merits, and that requires people to make a complaint, despite consumer groups claiming that a huge number of mis-selling victims are missing out.
"We do not consider that there are strong grounds to significantly depart from this complaints-led approach now," the FCA adds.
One of the most controversial compensation cases was the payouts for those mis-sold credit card and identity theft protection by insurer CPP.
Seven million people were eligible for compensation and received letters inviting them to make a claim for compensation. Some consumer groups argued that the letters looked like junk mail.
By the time the claims window expired, more than four million people had missed out. Only a third of those eligible received compensation, averaging £190 each. Just one submitted claim was rejected.
Any kind of dispute that puts the onus on individuals making an initial complaint can be "incredibly stressful" says James Walker, founder of consumer website Resolver.
"Lots of the people I speak to tell me they have simply given up. What is frustrating is people don't realise that the rights they have when it comes to taking things further are actually quite strong," he says.
"You don't have to suffer in silence for long periods of time if you want to escalate your complaint and there are lots of free ombudsman schemes that can help you."
He points to cases such as a pensioner who parked his car to go to the doctors, oblivious of a parking restriction notice that was obscured by a fence. He received a ticket, followed by debt collection notices, but after more than a year in dispute received £350 in refunds and compensation.
Despite these cases, there is a move in some industries for compensation to be paid automatically more often.
In October last year, Virgin became the first train company to automatically compensate some passengers if they are delayed. Travellers using its services on the West Coast mainline - and who book their tickets via the company app or website - receive automatic repayments.
Research has shown that most rail passengers do not bother to claim compensation, even when it is due - a situation that led to a so-called super-complaint by consumers' association Which?.
In the airline industry, where passengers must make a claim for compensation following delays, an estimated 70% of those who have a right to a payout do not claim, according to a comparison website.
Communications regulator Ofcom is also investigating the use of automatic compensation when phone or internet services fail. At present, customers tend to go through one of two ombudsman services.
Proposals to be published by the regulator in the new year are aimed at providing "easier redress" when something goes wrong.
Arguably, the most significant change in redress for consumers may result from the 2015 Consumer Rights Act.
UK consumers may be included automatically in a legal claim for damages in a US-style class action and so receive automatic compensation if the case succeeds. A £14bn legal claim filed against Mastercard seeking damages for anti-competitive card fees is the first significant test of these new rules.
Unclaimed payments are not always in the form of compensation.
Billions of pounds in benefits is unclaimed every year by those entitled to the money.
Up to £4.6bn of Housing Benefit went unclaimed in 2014-15, according to the latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Families entitled to the benefit but not claiming it missed out on an average of £3,000 per year.
Some 1.4 million households failing to receive Pension Credit are missing out on £2,000 a year, the figures show. Entitlements worth thousands of pounds a year were also going unclaimed for employment and support allowance (available to those who are unable to work owing to illness) and jobseekers' allowance.
The DWP says that a lack of awareness of these entitlements and the "perceived stigma" of claiming benefits were thought to be among the reasons that people failed to make a claim.
Some of these payouts will become automatic under the new Universal Credit benefit, which is being gradually introduced across the UK.
Later in life, many people could miss out on retirement income, with millions of pension savings pots lying dormant. These are often small pots of savings from workplace pensions when employees spent a short period of time in jobs and have moved home since.
All this amounts to billions of pounds available to claim - and claim legitimately - without the need for a lucky lottery win. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38318435 |
TV and radio stars we lost in 2016 - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A look back at some of the faces and voices from TV and radio we lost in 2016. | Entertainment & Arts | Magician Paul Daniels died in March aged 77, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour. He was at his Berkshire home with wife Debbie McGee when he died. Daniels presented a variety of game shows in the 1980s and 1990s, including Wipeout, Every Second Counts and Odd One Out and took over the primetime Saturday night slot with his own BBC show, which started in 1979. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37975077 |
Istanbul nightclub attack: Gunman 'caught on camera' - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | null | Footage from the Dogan News Agency shows a gunman shooting outside Istanbul's Reina nightclub. | null | Footage from the Dogan News Agency shows a gunman shooting outside Istanbul's Reina nightclub.
At least 39 people, including at least 15 foreigners, were killed in an attack inside the club, as revellers marked the new year. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38483230 |
Anthony Martial: Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho tells forward to listen to him - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Manchester United forward Anthony Martial should "listen to me and not his agent", says manager Jose Mourinho. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Manchester United forward Anthony Martial should "listen to me and not his agent", says manager Jose Mourinho.
The Frenchman's agent was reported to have said he is "studying" an option for his client to move to Sevilla.
Martial, 21, was United's top scorer last season with 17 goals, but his equaliser in Saturday's 2-1 Premier League home win over Middlesbrough was just his fifth strike of this season.
"He is a player with amazing conditions to be a top player," said Mourinho.
"Martial played, he created, he scored. He fought. He was very positive. I know he is a top talent."
• None What if 2016 was a Premier League season?
Martial, who joined the Red Devils from Monaco for £36m in 2015, played a crucial role as his side came from behind to beat Boro on Saturday.
He drilled in a finish on 85 minutes before Paul Pogba headed in the winner a minute later.
Afterwards, Mourinho suggested Martial should follow the example of team-mate Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who was told to "do more" by his manager and has scored three goals in his past four games.
The former Chelsea boss said : "I knew Mkhitaryan is a top talent but I was not playing him. At this moment he even plays left-back when the team is winning and we need to defend and need more balance.
"Martial has to listen to me and not his agent. He has to listen to me in training every day and in every feedback I give to try and improve him.
"The Mkhitaryan process I was having almost every day. His agent was calling me saying, 'Mkhitaryan with you will be a better player, keep going.'
"With Martial every day I read the newspaper, 'Anthony Martial goes to Sevilla, Anthony Martial goes on loan, Anthony Martial is not happy'. Anthony Martial has to listen to me."
Former United defender Phil Neville: "I think it's pretty simple. He needs to play like that consistently. He has to ask his agent why he's linking him to Sevilla and say, 'I'm at one of the biggest clubs in the world, I want to stay here'."
Ex-England captain Alan Shearer: "Martial was the best player on the park. He played a big part in getting United back into the game. He was positive from the start.
"He went at defenders, got into the box and created chances. The effort from 30 to 35 yards out was a brilliant strike. He should take huge confidence from that display." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38480502 |
Have more famous people died in 2016? - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The year 2016 been held up as a particularly gloomy year for celebrity deaths. But has the grim reaper really been working overtime? | Magazine | It's been held up as a particularly gloomy year for celebrity deaths. But has the grim reaper really claimed the souls of more notable people than usual in 2016?
For their admirers, 2016 has been a sad year.
Back in April, the BBC's Obituaries Editor Nick Serpell was tasked with checking if there was anything unusual about the number of well-known people dying, as many on social media had been claiming.
He counted the number of pre-prepared BBC obituaries that ran across radio, TV and online from January until the end of March for the years 2012-16.
And at that point he found that, yes, just looking at the first three months of the year, there had been a huge increase.
Twice as many notable people had died in this period of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015, and five times as many as in 2012.
It's worth bearing in mind that this is quite a crude way of measuring celebrity deaths.
The BBC doesn't do an obituary for every celebrity that dies and, as already noted, Serpell only counted pre-prepared obituaries, rather than obituaries written after the event, or news reports that mention someone has died.
Then there's also the question of who even counts as a celebrity in the first place. US television personality David Gest, for example, did not get a BBC obituary.
Nonetheless, as the year draws to a close, it seems an appropriate time to ask - has 2016 continued to be so dangerous and fateful for famous people?
Across the whole year, there was just over a 50% increase in BBC pre-prepared obituaries used in 2016 compared with 2015.
"In 2012, we had a total of 16," says Serpell. "In 2013, it went to 24. In 2014, it rose again to 29. In 2015, it rose slightly again to 32." For 2016, as of 30 December, it stands at 49.
"Just under half those deaths occurred in the first three months of the year," says Serpell.
The rest of the year looked like it was settling back down to be on a par with 2015. However, there was yet another spike of notable deaths over the Christmas period when seven more people died within a two-week period.
So 2016 has seen the largest number of famous people die, but it was those bumps at the beginning and the end of the year that made it so unusual.
Although there does seem to have been an inexorable rise, Serpell says there hasn't been any change in the BBC's policy on what sort of person qualifies for an obituary.
He thinks that the increase isn't particularly surprising, because we're now half a century on from the flourishing of both TV and pop culture in the 1960s, which massively expanded the overall pool of public figures.
You're going to have to get used to hearing the celebrity obituary.
Pre-prepared BBC obituaries that ran on television, radio and online
This article was initially published on 16 December and had been updated to reflect subsequent deaths.
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38329740 |
How a dead gorilla became the meme of 2016 - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | After Harambe was shot in a sad incident in Cincinnati, he lived on in a million memes online. Why? | BBC Trending | His was the face which launched a thousand memes - so why did Harambe the gorilla capture 2016's collective online psyche?
It was a sad story that could have been even sadder. In May, a three-year-old child fell into an enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo. One of the Western lowland gorillas inside started dragging the boy around.
"Mommy's right here! Mommy loves you!" the boy's mother shouted, as bystanders became increasingly panicked.
Finally, fearing that the boy's life was in danger, a zoo worker killed Harambe with a single shot. The boy escaped without serious injury.
The events were captured on a YouTube video which has been watched millions of times.
Harambe's death touched off a heated - if predictable - debate about zoo welfare standards and whether lethal force was necessary.
But what wasn't expected was what came next. Harambe became memeified. His image was spread far and wide throughout the internet. He became the subject of serious and unserious campaigns. And he was even memorialised in song.
Join the conversation on this and other stories here.
It started as a spontaneous and very real outpouring of shock and grief over the killing.
"Had I been there, I would have gone into the enclosure myself," says Frank Paris, one of the people who used the hashtag #RIPHarambe to express his sadness. It quickly began to spread hours after the gorilla's death.
Although he lived a few states away in Los Angeles, Paris, along with many others, was upset at Cincinnati Zoo's decision to kill the animal.
"That day was a very sad day for me," he tells BBC Trending. "I absolutely would have risked my own life to save the boy. That's how sure I am that the boy was fine and that Harambe had no intention of hurting anybody."
Of course, that's just one reaction from someone thousands of miles away, whereas zoo officials say they were right to take action to stop any potential serious injury to the boy.
But Paris was not alone in his grief and anger.
Aside from his canonisation on social media, there were candlelit vigils for Harambe. There were also campaigns targeted the boy's parents. Some online called for them to be prosecuted for negligence. The boy's mother was cleared of any wrongdoing.
"There was definitely a sincere element of outrage over this," says Aja Romano, who writes about web culture for news site Vox.
"It just spiralled out of control and was immediately a giant social trend, because it involved an element of supposed animal cruelty. You could argue that by keeping Harambe in the zoo to begin with, the zoo was fostering this unfair environment where the gorilla didn't really have a chance."
That wave of emotion was in turn hijacked by comedians, pranksters and trolls who mocked those who were making so much of the story.
"People online kind of get off on being mad about things that they don't actually care about," says Brandon Wardell, a stand-up comedian and one of those who poked fun at the Harambe mourners. "You didn't know Harambe, your life wasn't really affected by this."
Wardell coined a jokey phrase that - to put it one way - sarcastically encouraged people to expose themselves in tribute to the dead gorilla.
"I think I was probably drunk when I tweeted it and then it just got out of control," he tells Trending.
It got him branded the "voice of a generation" by Rolling Stone magazine.
Then things took a dark turn when the memes were picked up by the alt-right, an amorphous but internet savvy white nationalist movement.
The gorilla's image was used in racist messages.
"I feel like it was driven to the ground so quickly," Wardell recalls. "It stopped being funny to me two days after.
"I didn't love that there were Nazis that were all of a sudden into a meme that I created."
But the Harambe phenomenon was also too large to be totally owned by one fringe group. The Cincinnati zoo declared itself unimpressed with all the riffs on its dead animal - but that certainly didn't put an end to the jokes. Memes comparing Harambe to David Bowie, Prince and Muhammad Ali have since gone viral. He's been the subject of fake news stories, books, comics - and a parody of the Book of Genesis.
Hear more on this story and others on the BBC World Service.
"If you were really tired of seeing media hysteria dominate news cycles and dominate conversations, the sheer absurdity of Harambe as a social issue was a really easy thing to mock," says Romano, the Vox writer.
"I think it spoke to a level of outrage fatigue. If you're seeing people freaking out about a dead gorilla, over say thousands of people dying in the Syrian refugee crisis, then what do you do with that anger?
"The only way to sort of express your anger was to just turn this sort of worship of Harambe and turn this deep cultural grief over Harambe's death into a meme."
Indeed, not just any meme, but the meme of 2016.
You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-38383126 |
In pictures: Secrets of French diplomacy - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | War gets plenty of artistic representation - but what about the art of peace? An exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris explores the imagery of peace-making over the centuries. For history-lovers, it is a rare chance to see the originals of scores of treaties, concordats and other diplomatic treasures preserved in the French national archives. Hugh Schofield takes a closer look. | Europe | Officially this document is a memorandum of understanding between France and the UK over fishing rights in Newfoundland, some islands off Guinea, and zones of influence in Madagascar and Egypt. In fact, it is the physical embodiment of the entente cordiale - the friendly compact agreed in 1904 between the two countries that lasted through two world wars and down to this day. The silver case contains the seal of King Edward VII. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38320567 |
Entertainer Ken Dodd reacts to receiving a New Year Honour - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | null | Comedian Ken Dodd has been made a knight in the Queen's New Year Honours. | null | Comedian Ken Dodd has been made a knight in the Queen's New Year Honours for services to entertainment and charity.
The Liverpool star, 89, was made an OBE in 1982 spoke of his pride after being named in the honours list and said he would "wear it in bed". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38472743 |
Wayde van Niekerk relives Rio Olympics 400m gold - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk relives his historic 400m gold at the Rio Olympics, when he smashed Michael Johnson's 17-year-old world record. | null | South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk relives his historic 400m gold at the Rio Olympics, when he smashed Michael Johnson's 17-year-old world record. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/38418992 |
Reflections on Africa - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The BBC's Southern Africa correspondent looks back on nearly 12 years of reporting from the continent. | Africa | As she moves on from her posting, the BBC's Southern Africa correspondent Karen Allen looks back on nearly 12 years of reporting from the continent.
Africa is not a country. It is a continent that feels like it has come of age. Despite the very real problems of poverty, corruption and the sense you sometimes get in some quarters, that no-one is held to account, business types hail Africa as the "final frontier". After nearly 12 years reporting this region, for me it feels like a place where one grows up.
I have met priests and politicians, warlords and entrepreneurs, gangsters and teachers. Ordinary mums and dads. Each of them has helped to shape my impressions and many have become firm friends.
One of the first lessons I learnt in Kenya was survival. There is no safety net here when times get tough.
In the early days on a visit to the slum known as Kibera, an elderly lady called me over as she stirred her supper in a thick, black, cast-iron pot. "Hey sister, where are you from?" she asked. "London," I replied. "Yes, but where in London?" I was rather puzzled as she pressed me further. "I know London," she nodded, sagely. "In fact, I know Paris and Berlin, too."
It emerged that this friendly stranger had once been a glamorous stewardess for an international airline. She had drunk the best champagne and visited the fanciest European hotels but when times got hard in the 1980s and the airline folded, she lost her job.
She was now selling samosas in the slum to survive. From that day onwards I learnt never to make any assumptions about Africa: a jet-setter one day, a slum dweller the next. It is the drumbeat of so many who take the knocks, but reclaim their dignity and survive.
Yet, in absolute terms, people are getting poorer in Africa because the population continues to grow. During my time on this continent I witnessed a colleague of mine - away from the BBC - lose two of his three young children. That is never OK.
When I arrived in Africa more than a decade ago, Boko Haram in Nigeria did not exist, Somalia's al-Shabab insurgency group had yet to be formed - not to mention so-called Islamic State - and Sudan was one vast, sprawling country emerging from more than two decades of civil war.
I arrived to a continent of 53 states. I now leave behind 54. South Sudan's independence in 2011 marked the newest addition to the globe. The birth pains are still being felt.
When I arrived, George W Bush was beginning his second term as US president, oil and gas had yet to be discovered in many parts of Africa and mobile phones were just beginning to open up a world of possibilities from e-commerce to telemedicine.
Mobile phones have transformed the lives of millions of Africans
Now, two US presidents later (give or take a week or two), China has become the second-biggest investor in Africa, with India hard on its heels. The brain-drain is beginning to slow down as African talent is being retained, especially in the technology sector.
And there is more money flowing back into Africa from remittances, than the entire aid budget for the continent.
With this growing economic confidence, powered by a rising middle class, has come a new political assertiveness. And, with growing insecurity, the West knows it needs Africa more than ever before.
You see it in the UN Security Council. South Africa has held its ground on issues such as Libya during the fall of Gaddafi. The African Union is pushing for permanent seats and a greater say in world affairs as the continent now contributes more troops to peacekeeping operations than anywhere else on earth.
You see this assertiveness in matters of international justice. Countries like South Africa and Burundi have turned their backs on the International Criminal Court.
And you see this push back on matters of wider society and the tussle between the old way of doing things and what some see as imported Western ideas.
Gay rights remain a controversial subject in many parts of the continent
A rapidly growing young urban class, more connected with the world through mobile phones, is making new demands, touching on everything from gender equality to gay rights.
A young female couple I met in Kenya back in 2006 had been forced out of their business as florists because word had got out that they happened to be gay.
In Uganda, activists like David Kato would be murdered a few years later, for the simple fact that he was gay. Yet slowly, very slowly, there has been a perceptible shift. Constitutions are being shaken up.
But there is still a tangible sense of mistrust between many African nations. Principles of sovereignty and non-interference, just like in many other parts of the world, are jealously guarded.
And the settling of old scores between neighbouring continues to be played out in places such as Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and its newer neighbour South Sudan.
In many places, the slow roll-out of infrastructure is blamed for underscoring this continued sense of separation and investors say corruption continues to frighten off potential investors.
Karen Allen reporting from an internally displaced persons' camp in Chad
Yet 2016 saw the creation of the first continent-wide trading bloc. At the moment only 10% of the continent's trade is conducted between African nations. But the potential is huge - 620 million consumers.
The political landscape is also being redrawn. Regrettably, I have been banned from working inside Zimbabwe, where Robert Mugabe's leadership persists. And, as I write, the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and The Gambia are resisting pressure to stand down.
But transfers of power are happening more peacefully. We have seen it, for instance, in Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal, and maybe also in Angola, where President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos has ruled supreme for the past 37 years but has indicated that he will not stand again for re-election.
I never really understood that institutions mattered until I moved to South Africa but, oh, how they do. The country's history may set it apart from other African states but South Africa's constitutional court, its free press and parliament have all challenged the legitimacy of President Jacob Zuma.
And no-one has been killed for speaking out. It is a template other nations are keen to follow and I predict that, for many, it will soon come. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-38393661 |
Watford 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Tottenham outclass Watford at Vicarage Road as two goals apiece for Harry Kane and Dele Alli take them into the top four. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Harry Kane and Dele Alli scored two goals apiece as Tottenham thrashed lacklustre Watford to move into the Premier League's top four for the first time since October.
Spurs dominated from the off at Vicarage Road - having 13 shots in the first half alone - and seconds after Alli struck the bar, Kane coolly finished a well-weighted Kieran Trippier pass.
The same duo combined for the second, Kane stealing between two static defenders to prod home Trippier's fine cross from six yards.
It was the England striker's 59th goal in his first 100 Premier League appearances, matching Arsenal legend Thierry Henry.
Alli made it 3-0 by passing low into the net after Younes Kaboul skewed the ball into his path, then arrived unmarked to finish Kane's cross for his fifth goal in three matches.
Watford, who did not have a shot on target until Kaboul bundled home a late consolation, drop to 13th having won just once in seven matches.
Spurs' fourth successive win briefly took them third, before Arsenal moved back ahead of them with victory over Crystal Palace.
Having won at Southampton by the same scoreline on Wednesday, Tottenham have scored four goals in consecutive away games for the first time since October 1960 - the season they did the Double.
Their 10-point deficit on leaders Chelsea, whom they host on Wednesday, will temper any title talk, but there can be no doubt Spurs are in menacing mood.
Trippier, in for the suspended Kyle Walker, impressed on just his third league appearance of the season and underlined the strength in depth at White Hart Lane.
The former Burnley player was a constant outlet - having more than 100 touches - and his early assists allowed Kane to show the ruthlessness of his finishing.
Had Son Heung-Min been more clinical with any of his five shots, the damage could have been worse.
But boss Mauricio Pochettino will be thrilled with a 100% record over a busy festive period in which his side secured their first league away wins since September.
It is easy to praise Tottenham, but Watford's early defensive offering was non-existent.
Manager Walter Mazzarri has stressed he will use the transfer window to find cover for as many as eight first-teamers out injured.
But his side can have no excuse for their dire defensive work against Spurs - the third time this season they have been three goals down at half-time.
With 34 goals conceded, 14 more than at this stage last season, holes at the back need plugging urgently, but there are also problems at the other end of the pitch.
Odion Ighalo, drafted in after Camilo Zuniga limped out of the warm-up, was peripheral, with just 23 touches, only two more than 68th-minute Spurs substitute Ben Davies. He and Troy Deeney have contributed 10 goals between them this season, 14 fewer than at the same stage in 2015-16.
The Hornets next face Stoke and Middlesbrough. Their fans could be looking over their shoulders at the bottom three by mid-January, unless they can find some form.
• None No player has been involved in more Premier League goals on New Year's Day than Harry Kane's six ( four goals and two assists) - level with Andrew Cole and Steven Gerrard (both five goals and one assist)
• None Spurs were three goals up at half-time for the first time in a Premier League away game since March 1997 v Sunderland
• None This was the first time the Hornets had let in four goals in a Premier League game at Vicarage Road
• None Watford have never beaten Tottenham in a Premier League match, drawing twice and losing five
'One of the best this season' - manager quotes
Watford manager Walter Mazzarri: "Zuniga was the 10th player to get injured, five or six are starting 11, we had four under-23s in the 18 players that we brought today. Unfortunately this is the situation."
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino: "We played very good, to a very high standard. The first half was one of the best we've played this season. I'm very happy because it was a difficult game, and the team responded."
Tottenham will try to end Chelsea's 13-game winning streak when they host Antonio Conte's side in a 20:00 GMT kick-off on Wednesday. Watford have a day less to recover as they travel to Stoke for a 20:00 GMT kick-off on Tuesday.
• None Attempt blocked. Abdoulaye Doucouré (Watford) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Jerome Sinclair.
• None Goal! Watford 1, Tottenham Hotspur 4. Younes Kaboul (Watford) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box to the bottom left corner following a set piece situation.
• None Attempt saved. Younes Kaboul (Watford) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the bottom right corner.
• None Offside, Tottenham Hotspur. Eric Dier tries a through ball, but Vincent Janssen is caught offside.
• None Attempt missed. Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur) left footed shot from outside the box is too high following a set piece situation.
• None Craig Cathcart (Watford) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt missed. Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38429666 |
Premiership: Sale Sharks 23-24 Bristol - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Tom Varndell becomes the Premiership's joint top try scorer of all time to help bottom side Bristol overcome Sale. | null | Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Tom Varndell became the Premiership's joint top try scorer of all time to help bottom side Bristol overcome Sale for a second straight league win.
Varndell equalled Mark Cueto's record of 90 tries to edge Bristol back into the contest at half-time, after a penalty try and a Denny Solomona score helped put Sale 15-10 up at the break.
However, tries from Rhodri Williams and Max Crumpton won it for Bristol.
Crumpton's effort to seal Bristol's first away win since earning promotion back to the Premiership in May came moments after Rob Webber's sin-binning as Sale finished the match with 14 men.
A penalty-riddled start from Bristol allowed Sale to take early control with a penalty try quickly following Ryan Bevington's sin-binning.
Solomona, a try-scoring record breaker in Super League before controversially switching rugby codes last month, grabbed his second try in as many Premiership matches to compound Bristol's woes while down a man, getting on the end of a neat chip kick from Mike Haley.
James Woodward converted Varndell's milestone try after kicking a penalty to boost Bristol's hopes after being 15-0 down.
Leota's score again saw Sale go 13 points up after 55 minutes, but Mitchell's missed conversion proved costly as Varndell set Williams up before Crumpton went over.
Woodward converted both scores to ensure back-to-back Premiership wins for Bristol for the first time since March 2008, while Sale lost for the eighth time in succession in all competitions.
Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond told BBC Radio Manchester: "I think we have to give credit to Bristol for responding every time we got in front of the game with their never-say-die attitude.
"We didn't control the game well at all, we managed to score and play some good rugby but we didn't have the confidence to back it up.
"There are a lot of good sides in the competition and anyone can beat anyone on the day, as was shown today.
"We should have controlled the game better in the second half and we didn't, and Bristol took their opportunities."
Bristol wing Tom Varndell told BBC Radio Bristol: "It's great to get the win and keep the winning mentality up, that changing room is buzzing.
"I'm definitely confident and enjoying my rugby again, the last six to eight weeks have been good for me.
"Obviously I love scoring tries and it is what I'm in the team to do. To do it at Cueto's home is a bit bad, but oh well."
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38445717 |
Manu Tuilagi out of England training camp after injury in Leicester defeat - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Manu Tuilagi is withdrawn from England's two-day training camp after suffering a knee injury playing for Leicester Tigers. | null | Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Manu Tuilagi has withdrawn from England's two-day training camp after suffering a knee injury playing for Leicester Tigers.
The 25-year-old centre was forced off inside the opening eight minutes of Sunday's 16-12 defeat by Saracens.
Tigers expect to find out the full extent of the injury by Tuesday.
Bath wing Semesa Rokoduguni will replace Tuilagi when the 33-man squad meets in Brighton on Monday, with the start of the Six Nations a month away.
"It looks like a knock and a bit of swelling, but it is too early to say," Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill told BBC Radio 5 live.
Tuilagi, who has won 26 caps for England, has been beset by injuries in the last couple of years and only recently returned to action after two months out with a groin problem.
England head coach Eddie Jones was in the crowd at Welford Road on New Year's Day to see Tuilagi replaced after he damaged his knee while being tackled by three Sarries players.
"He's [Tuilagi] a bit cheesed off as you can imagine," Cockerill added. "He has hurt the outside of his right knee.
"His groin is good, his knee is a bit sore. We will assess it over the next 48 hours and we will deal with whatever comes."
Meanwhile, Saracens boss Mark McCall says England lock George Kruis will return to action "in plenty of time for the Six Nations" ahead of the first game against France on 4 February.
The 26-year-old sustained a fractured cheekbone in Sarries win over Newcastle on Christmas Eve but McCall told BBC Radio 5 live the injury was "not too serious".
England duo Chris Robshaw (arm) and Jack Clifford (concussion) were also injured and replaced before the second half of Harlequins' defeat at Worcester.
"Chris should have come off when he had the bang but bravery kept him out there as we were in a mess. Our medics will report to England, they are due down there at noon tomorrow, so he'll probably go regardless," said Quins director of rugby John Kingston. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38485970 |
Roger Federer can win another Grand Slam, says former coach Paul Annacone - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Roger Federer can return from a six-month injury absence and win another Grand Slam aged 35, says his former coach Paul Annacone. | null | Roger Federer can return from six months out and win another Grand Slam, says his former coach Paul Annacone.
The 35-year-old, who has won 17 majors, is due to make his comeback from a knee injury against Britain's Dan Evans in the Hopman Cup in Perth on Monday.
Annacone, who coached the Swiss from 2010 to 2013, told BBC Sport: "Last year was a very tough year for him and he still got to the semis of Wimbledon.
"There is no reason why he can't play at that level again."
Annacone believes Federer's best chance of another major title will come at SW19, where he has triumphed seven times.
The American added: "When you look at his track record, particularly on grass, if he's healthy, it's going to be very difficult not to put him in the sentence as one of the favourites.
"Again, it's about staying healthy, but I absolutely think he can contend for a major title."
Federer has not played since hurting his left knee as he lost in the Wimbledon semi-finals to Milos Raonic in July.
He is competing in the Hopman Cup team event with compatriot Belinda Bencic.
Federer said he took six months off "so I would be playing for hopefully another two to three years, not just another six months or so".
Having had knee surgery in February 2016, he missed the French Open with a back problem and played only 28 matches in the year.
He last won a tournament in November 2015 - the Swiss Indoors - and has not won a Slam since Wimbledon 2012.
Annacone, who also coached 14-time major winner Pete Sampras and Britain's Tim Henman, believes Federer's extended absence "could be a positive".
He added: "It's given him time to refresh and really get his body healthy.
"Six months isn't critical - it's not what I would call lethal. I know how hard Roger's worked and how professional and meticulous he is about his preparations.
"It is a challenge, but great players love challenges. I expect great things because he's a great player."
Federer, who has spent 302 weeks as world number one, has fallen to 16th in the rankings, his lowest position since May 2001.
That means he could face Britain's world number one Sir Andy Murray or defending champion Novak Djokovic as early as the fourth round of the Australian Open, which starts on 16 January.
Having reached the semi-finals in Melbourne last year, an early exit would further impact on his ranking.
Annacone feels that will not matter to Federer at this stage of his career, citing the example of Sampras, who won the US Open in 2002 as the 17th seed.
"It's not ideal but I'm a glass half-full guy," said the 53-year-old. "I would imagine if you talked to Andy or Novak they're not going to want to be playing Roger in the round of 16 or third round either.
"I was with Pete Sampras when he won his 2002 US Open. He hadn't won an event for 26 months. With these great players, you just don't know what they're capable of. The rules don't apply - they're merely suggestions.
"I remember it with Pete. He said: 'I really don't care what my ranking is, it doesn't matter any more. It's about can I put myself in position to win tournaments, and in particular major tournaments.' I'm sure Roger's approaching it the same way."
As if to underline that, Federer said on Friday: "Winning titles is a beautiful feeling; rankings at the moment... completely secondary. As long as I'm healthy, I think I can really do some damage."
Can he make more history?
Federer, who has won more Grand Slams than any other male player, will be 36 in August, and Annacone says he does not need to chase history for motivation.
"I just think the sheer joy of competing and the challenge of testing himself against the others will be enough for Roger," he said. "He's so at peace with what he's done and where he is that he'll do it organically by himself.
"If he stays healthy and is able to train and compete as often as he's planning to then I would consider that a success.
"If he does that, his average level, for how talented he is, is going to be somewhere in the top 10 anyway. If that's the case, that average level will create opportunities where he is playing at the end of events."
Annacone, who keeps in touch with Federer "via texts and instant messaging", says the Swiss has been "in good spirits".
"A couple of weeks ago he was doing great, he was really happy in his training in Dubai," he said. "His body felt good and he was really excited about 2017."
But Annacone, who will be commentating on the Australian Open for Tennis Channel, says Federer must "stay patient" in the early stages of his comeback.
"He is so meticulous in his preparation that I expect him to play pretty terrific tennis pretty quickly," he added.
"Now can he do it second event in, the Australian Open, for seven matches? That's a big challenge but he's done it so many times in the past." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38390891 |
Darlington manager Martin Gray misses game to get married - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Darlington boss Martin Gray missed his side's National League North game at Halifax on Sunday - because he was getting married. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Darlington boss Martin Gray missed his side's game at Halifax on New Year's Day - because he was getting married.
His assistant Brian Atkinson wasn't there either because he was best man.
It may look like poor planning from the Quakers manager, but the date of the wedding was arranged two years ago, when his team were in a different division.
Gray, 45, said the club asked Halifax to reschedule the game "but with all due respect, they refused".
"As I am sure everyone can appreciate, moving the wedding at that stage was not an option," he said.
Former Sunderland and Oxford midfielder Gray gave the players a team talk on Sunday morning, before heading off to marry partner Jill.
That left coach Sean Gregan and chief scout Harry Dunn to take charge of the National League North fixture, which finished 2-2.
The result meant one wedding present Gray had hoped for didn't materialise.
Speaking before the game, he said: "I am confident we can get a win, and after becoming a married man, I look forward to hearing we have won three points."
Take part in our new Premier League Predictor game, which allows you to create leagues with friends. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38485008 |
New Year Honours 2017: Andy Murray 'honoured' by knighthood - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | null | Tennis star Sir Andy Murray says he still feels "like Andy" after being given a knighthood in the New Year Honours list. | null | Tennis star Sir Andy Murray said he still feels "like Andy" after being given a knighthood in the New Year Honours list.
He ended 2016 with a win over Milos Raonic at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38481089 |
Arsene Wenger: Olivier Giroud scorpion goal one of Arsenal manager's top five - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Olivier Giroud's 'scorpion' goal in Arsenal's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace is one of "the top five" strikes of Arsene Wenger's 21-year reign. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Olivier Giroud's 'scorpion' goal in Arsenal's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace is one of "the top five" strikes of manager Arsene Wenger's 21-year reign.
Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp goals are among Wenger's favourites but he said "this will be the Giroud goal".
He added: "Technically it's not impossible but you must have that reflex. The cross didn't come ideally and Olivier did something special."
French forward Giroud said his strike owed much to "maximum luck".
A swift counter-attack ended with Giroud flicking an Alexis Sanchez cross from behind him over his shoulder and into the goal, via the crossbar, with his left heel.
The goal broke the deadlock as Arsenal moved into the top three with a comfortable home win.
Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp showed excellent touch to pluck a lofted ball from the air with his left foot, take it round a dumbfounded Matt Elliott with his right, then kept his composure to place the ball high past Kasey Keller.
Perhaps Bergkamp's most famous of his 120 Arsenal goals came against Newcastle, when he flicked the ball around his marker Nikos Dabizas with the instep of his left foot, before slotting past goalkeeper Shay Given with his right.
Henry made a reputation for scoring spectacular goals during his time at Arsenal, but his winner against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in 2006 is the first of Wenger's favourites.
The France striker picked the ball up with back-to-goal on the halfway line, turned, accelerated away from three defenders, beat another, then slotted home with him weaker left foot.
Two years earlier, Henry had set the template for his wonder-goal in Madrid.
Receiving the ball close to the halfway line with Liverpool's defence assembled in front of him, the Frenchman danced past defenders before opening up his body and stroking the ball past Reds keeper Jerzy Dudek.
Giroud was quick to put the goal down to luck after the game.
"It's not difficult to say that's the best one," he said.
"I needed God's help to score that goal. It was a bit lucky but it was the only thing I could do.
"The ball was behind me and I tried to hit it with the backheel. I tried to deflect it. In that position you can't do anything else."
Arsenal right-back Bellerin: I couldn't believe it. It's a great goal. I've seen him do stuff like that in training and we know what he's capable of.
Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey: There seem to be a lot of wonder goals recently. I haven't seen it again but it was a fantastic strike for him.
Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce: It was an outstanding, brilliant finish. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38486130 |
Acton pub gutted in New Year's Eve fire - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | null | Footage shows a fire blazing in the Aeronaut pub in Acton, west London. | null | New Year revellers had to flee from a pub before it was gutted by a fire that started just 30 minutes into 2017.
Partygoers had to be evacuated from the Aeronaut in Acton, west London, when the fire broke out.
London Fire Brigade said it rescued six people from a first-floor flat above the pub. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38483228 |
Love Island’s Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen get engaged - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The couple, who met on the reality show this summer, announced the big news on social media | Newsbeat | The couple, who're in New York to celebrate New Year, broke the news on Twitter and Instagram.
Olivia posted a picture of her new ring, saying she was "speechless". Alex summed things up by simply saying: "She said yes."
The two got together on the ITV2 reality dating show earlier this summer and came second to winning couple Cara De La Hoyde and Nathan Massey.
And for a less blurry view of Olivia's new rock, here's how Alex went public with the news on Instagram...
Caroline Flack, who presents the show was quick to leap in to celebrate the news...
Alex caused controversy on Love Island after scenes showed him getting intimate with Zara Holland. She was then stripped of her Miss GB crown.
But that's now very much in the past. And it looks like there's going to be a serious party when the couple get back from America.
Olivia had been paired with Daniel Lukakis, Rykard Jenkins and Adam Maxted before getting together with Alex.
The couple already live together and for the moment, there's no news on when the wedding will be.
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat | http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articles/38477751 |
Istanbul attack: Footage shows lone 'gunman' in nightclub - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | null | Unverified video footage on Turkish media apparently shows a gunman in a nightclub in Istanbul. | null | Police in Istanbul are hunting for a gunman who opened fire at a night club, killing at least 39 people.
The attack happened at Reina nightclub early on Sunday, as hundreds of revellers marked the new year.
Unverified video footage on Turkish media apparently shows the killer in the club. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38483233 |
Drone photography: on top of the world - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Amazing drone photography captures extraordinary views around the globe. | In Pictures | Sighisoara, Transylvania, is the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler - otherwise known as Dracula - and this shot imagines what he might have seen on his nocturnal flights. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-38390897 |
Chris Coleman revealed as Nos Galan mystery runner - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | null | Wales football manager Chris Coleman is revealed as the mystery runner in the annual Nos Galan race. | null | Wales football manager Chris Coleman has been revealed as the mystery runner in the annual Nos Galan race.
Fresh from getting an OBE in the New Year Honours, Coleman joined more than 1,000 other runners in the race in Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taff.
The race is held every New Year's Eve.
Coleman, 46, told BBC Wales it was a "fantastic tradition" and he was "very excited" to take part.
Nos Galan, founded in 1958, celebrates the life of Welsh runner Guto Nyth Bran, who died in 1737, aged 37. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-38478492 |
Losing the most precious thing I own, 7,000km from home - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Eloise Dicker lost her late mother's treasured gold bracelet. Then a Facebook message changed everything. | Magazine | While travelling through Kyrgyzstan, Eloise Dicker lost her late mother's treasured gold bracelet. Then a Facebook message changed everything.
It was on the second day of our five-day trek that I realised it was missing.
We had packed up the tents and loaded the horses. I reached up to the horse's mane to pull myself up and saw that my wrist was bare.
"My mum's bracelet! It's gone," I thought, and immediately burst into tears.
Made from melted-down rings she inherited from her own mother, the bracelet had always been worn by my mum for almost as long as I could remember.
Eloise Dicker's wrist with and without the bracelet
Her wrist was very slender even towards the end of her life, with steroids puffing her up like a blowfish. There came a point, however, when she couldn't wear it any more.
She had taken it off and placed it on her bedside table. While clearing up the cups and tissues, tablets and tinctures, I had picked the bracelet up and put it on.
She'd smiled, put her hand on my wrist and said how lovely it was to see me wearing it and that one day I would pass it on to my children.
She died a couple of months later, and I had never taken the bracelet off.
Rosemary Dicker, wearing the bracelet six months before her death on Mother's Day 2015
Now I felt pain in my throat and a sinking feeling in my stomach. It could be anywhere in this vast landscape - the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia.
There was a silence as we all realised there was no point in even trying to find it. We were two days up into the mountains and surrounded by grass.
I had one last look around our camp. It was no use. I couldn't re-trace my steps, we were in the middle of nowhere. I climbed back on the horse.
I walked behind the others, crying and thinking. All the memories of her passing away came back to me, bit by bit.
My naked wrist still made me feel incomplete. I wanted to go back in time to the moment I decided to bring it with me. Why hadn't I left it at home?
But maybe it was meant to be here, I thought to myself. Mum was born in Hong Kong and grew up in the UK, and this was half way.
An endless lush landscape with wild horses, snowy peaks, birds of prey and the sound of the river. Maybe it should be lost here.
That night I looked in the tents with a bit of hope left that it might be in some corner. Nothing.
I crawled into my sleeping bag feeling deeply sad, and accepted it was gone for good.
Later, in the city of Karakol, recovering from our trek, I visited the Russian Orthodox church.
I was just about to leave, having lit a candle in remembrance of my mother, when the Russian nun took my arm and walked me to a painting of the Virgin Mary.
She kissed the glass frame of the picture and gestured that I do the same. I'm not a believer, and was not brought up religious in any way, but I followed her invitation.
When I kissed the glass I looked up at the picture. I started crying. The picture was adorned with gold necklaces and rings.
It was feeling just how jewellery was so significant to humans that made me cry. As a student of anthropology, I have always been interested in the meaning we humans ascribe to objects.
Jewellery by its very nature says: Look at me, see what I can afford, observe what I was given, admire how significant I am.
When inherited from a beloved, it also brings people into relationship, solidifying a kinship or affection, creating a sense of connectedness and of presence.
That bracelet was a physical part of my mother who is no longer physically in the world. It became part of me, and now was gone.
I had already made peace with the loss of the bracelet when, some weeks after I had returned to Europe, I received a Facebook message from Elaman Asanbaev, one of the guides from the Community-Based Tourism (CBT) office in Karakol.
There was a picture attached. "This is it or not, I don't know," he asked.
It was it. It was the bracelet.
It was suddenly back in existence, but what should I do? Should I get Elaman to send it? Should I leave it there? Ask him to throw it in the river?
When I looked into secure courier services, they advised against sending precious stones or metals. I was also reluctant to trust the postal system, it being so far away.
It did occur to me that I could find someone who would be travelling there, but when I saw that flights were cheap in November I decided I would go and get it myself.
London-Moscow-Bishkek. Then a six-hour drive from the capital Bishkek to Karakol with Azamat Asanov, the CBT manager. It was 05:00 and -11C in the capital, the roads icy with thick snow.
As we drove, I watched the country waking up. Children in their winter clothes walking to school, horses with snow on their backs, men in the traditional pointed Kyrgyz hats known as kalpaks.
The next morning we picked up Elaman. "This is for you," he said as he jumped in the car.
There it was. This slim piece of gold that I have known all my life.
This part of mum, here in this car 7,000km (4,350 miles) from home in the freezing mountains of Kyrgyzstan.
Elaman described to Azamat where he found it. I didn't understand anything except a word that sounded like "toilet".
Azamat translated - it was in our first campsite, a yurt camp, lying on a path towards the toilets (or, more accurately, a shed with a hole in the ground).
We laughed. Not the most romantic of places.
I felt its weight and its shape. Mum held this. Putting it back on I felt complete again, and I couldn't stop looking at it.
I gave Elaman a designer flask and wrapped some money around it as a reward for handing in the bracelet.
There was another day in the snow on horseback before I turned round and made the long 21-hour journey back home.
We took the horses up the Bos Uchuk valley, which means "colourful point". This was where we had camped on our last day of the summer trek. I could recognise the shape of the mountains and the river.
On my way back to the town I sprinkled some of mum's ashes in the river - something to exchange for the bracelet in the ground, something to put her between home and where she was born, Hong Kong.
At this point I felt that these rituals were almost too much.
Yet back home, looking at photographs of mum, I notice the bracelet in every picture. I think how strange it is to know that it had a story waiting of being lost and found far away in a wonderful place.
Is this still the most precious thing that I own? Yes. Would I take it again on an adventure? Probably.
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38385480 |
Rangers 1-2 Celtic - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Celtic come from behind to beat Rangers and move 19 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Celtic came from behind to beat Old Firm rivals Rangers and move 19 points clear at the top of the Premiership.
Kenny Miller slid in to convert James Tavernier's cross and put the home side ahead early on.
Moussa Dembele's powerful shot from a Scott Sinclair corner flashed high into the net to bring Celtic level, and Dembele later fired against the bar.
The visitors dominated the second half, and Sinclair touched home Stuart Armstrong's low cross for the winner.
Mark Warburton's hosts showed from the outset their intention was to press their opponents in wide areas, and it paid dividends when Josh Windass released Tavernier to set up Miller's close-range finish.
Celtic continued to concede too much space in the full-back areas, and further deliveries troubled goalkeeper Craig Gordon and his defence.
However, Dembele's leveller put Celtic into the ascendancy and Rangers then struggled to get Barrie McKay and Tavernier on the ball, though McKay did draw a save from Gordon after the break.
Having struggled to get a telling delivery at set-pieces, Rangers may have gone ahead just before Celtic's second as Danny Wilson met Tavernier's corner, Gordon making the save.
Celtic duo to the fore again
Summer signings Dembele and Sinclair had run the Rangers defence ragged in September's 5-1 win at Celtic Park, and the duo's link-up play was again the catalyst as the visitors recovered from their early setback.
Sinclair's set-piece was controlled and rattled into the top-right corner by Celtic's top scorer Dembele - a fifth goal against Rangers for the Frenchman this season.
And he should have taken that tally to six after Mikael Lustig squared the ball to the striker early in the second period, a miskick allowing Wes Foderingham to save.
Foderingham came to Rangers' rescue when James Forrest was played in on goal by Stuart Armstrong but Sinclair would ensure a happy end to 2016 for his team, applying the finish to Armstrong's piercing ball across the face of goal.
Armstrong, Sinclair and substitute Nir Bitton forced further saves from Foderingham as Rangers continued to struggle in defence.
In a match of so many chances, it was a surprise there were only three goals.
Sinclair fired against the right-hand post as Celtic trailed, and Dembele's downward volley bounced up on to the crossbar at 1-1, with Sinclair firing the rebound wide.
And, after Sinclair had netted, Rangers were also left frustrated by the goal frame as Miller's shot came back off the same post Sinclair had hit in the opening half.
The Scottish Premiership enters its winter break for the early part of January and Celtic can extend their advantage at the top to 22 points if they win their game in hand against St Johnstone near the end of next month.
The league leaders, who have won 15 Premiership matches in a row and have only dropped two points all season, are targeting a sixth straight top-flight title win and a first under manager Brendan Rodgers.
For Rangers, they suffer their first competitive home defeat since September 2015 and face a battle to hold on to second place with Aberdeen, who have a game in hand, two points behind them.
• None Attempt saved. Andy Halliday (Rangers) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.
• None Danny Wilson (Rangers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Moussa Dembele (Celtic) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None James Tavernier (Rangers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt saved. Nir Bitton (Celtic) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38424555 |
The women who invented the Brazilian wax - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Waxing pubic hair has become increasingly common, but how did the trend for the "Brazilian" wax begin? | Magazine | Waxing pubic hair has become increasingly common, but how did the trend for the "Brazilian" wax begin?
In an office toilet in London, young women discuss their grooming regimes. Jennifer, 19, waxes off all her pubic hair every month. "The pain is the worst thing I've ever been through, but I'm kind of used to it now," she says.
"I prefer the underneath being gone," says Lisa, 27. "Some people wax for the beach and other people wax for boys, and people who wax for boys wax the underneath."
Ever since Sex and the City tackled the subject, what women do with their pubic hair - trim, shave, pluck, wax or let it all hang out - has become a topic for discussion. And scientific research.
Studies show that pubic hair grooming is becoming increasingly common. Earlier this year researchers reported in JAMA Dermatology that 84% of the American women who took part in their survey had done some grooming, with 62% removing all of their pubic hair. Younger women were much more likely to groom than the over-40s.
An earlier study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine linked the phenomenon to the availability of pornography. This same study suggested that the trend originated in South America - "hence the term Brazilian as slang for complete pubic hair removal".
But that is not the whole story.
"The Brazilian bikini wax was born here in New York, not Brazil," says Jonice Padilha, of the J Sisters salon in Manhattan, which pioneered the treatment in the early 1990s.
A Brazilian wax involves removing all the pubic hair from underneath and leaving some hair at the front for decorative purposes - perhaps a triangle, a thin "landing strip" or a heart-shape, that's up to the customer. "It's a freedom for you to have whatever you want," she says.
Jonice is the youngest of seven Brazilian sisters whose names all begin with J - the others are Jocely, Janea, Joyce, Juracy, Jussara and Judseia. They became known collectively as the J Sisters because nobody could get all the names right. Today the salon is popular with the rich and famous, and they make up to $6m a year on waxing, hair and nail treatments. But it had humble beginnings.
"It's an inspirational story of self-made women who came from nothing, illegal immigrants who made it in America," says Laura Malin, author of Wax and the City, a forthcoming book about the J Sisters. "It's the American dream."
The sisters come from the small coastal town of Vitoria, which lies between Rio and Bahia. They grew up in a large family - seven sisters and seven brothers - and in a traditional, macho culture. Their father forbade them from going out unchaperoned, and was afraid it wasn't safe for them to work for other people, Jocely says.
But when he went bankrupt, his daughters began to bring in money by offering beauty treatments in their back yard. Eventually they became the main breadwinners, and ran three salons in the town. "After school I used to hang out in the salon, instead of going to friends' houses," says Jonice.
In such a traditional household, it seemed that the only way to leave home was to get married, but Jocely, the fourth sister, dreamed of seeing the world. She saved up and in 1982 went to New York to visit an old neighbour from Vitoria. She planned to stay for a month, but the few hundred dollars she had brought ran out in a matter of days. She faced a choice: fly home or start earning.
She could have been in trouble. "New York was a lot more violent then and many Brazilian women were prostitutes, so there was this prejudice," says Malin. Luckily, Jocely had skills.
Street art by Sandrine Boulet shows a female contour drawn around grass on a pavement
She spoke no English, but found a job at a nail salon run by a Portuguese woman. At the time the fashion was for stick-on acrylic nails which would be removed weeks later, leaving quite a bit of damage. Jocely's focus was on restoring the nail's natural health and lustre. Her reputation for manicures spread and she attracted a powerful customer - Adnan Khashoggi. The arms-trade magnate would book her for the entire day, at a rate of $100 an hour, so he could have manicures between meetings. Through him she met many influential people, from stars such as Brooke Shields and Rod Stewart to the editors of fashion magazines like Elle and Marie Claire.
Soon she was earning well and, one by one, her sisters came over to join her. Jonice was the second to come to New York. She was dazzled. "It was when I arrived here that I realised Brazil was Third World," she says. "We knew nothing."
In 1987 the sisters opened their first nail salon on 57th St between 5th and 6th Avenue, then considered a fairly undesirable location. People thought they were crazy, says Jonice. At the time you didn't need a licence to run a nail salon so it was the obvious place to start, but they had other beauty secrets to impart. A few years later, at the start of the '90s, they began offering their - as yet unnamed - extreme bikini wax. It removed all pubic hair from below, not just at the sides.
Their signature wax had been invented by their sister Janea. "It's a funny story actually," says Malin. Back in the late '70s Janea was in Bahia with her husband, having a beer and some fried fish on the beach. She was admiring a beautiful girl, but as she walked past Janea was horrified by the pubic hair protruding from the back of her tiny bikini. "The image - it was like a mirror that shattered," says Malin.
Janea's next thought was: "Wow, do we have hair there?"
At home her suspicion was confirmed. But when she went to a salon to have it removed, she met with resistance: "Are you crazy? I'm not touching you there," was the response.
So Janea decided to do it herself. She locked herself in the waxing booth with a mirror and after about three hours of painful experimentation came out feeling fabulous. Then she convinced her co-workers to do the same. "They were like: 'Oh my god I don't feel ashamed when I'm in bed with men, I don't feel shame when I go to the doctor, I feel cleaner,'" explains Malin.
When they introduced it in New York, their bikini wax became wildly popular. It helped that they still counted the editors of fashion magazines among their customers. "Our only error was not to call it the J Sisters wax," says Jonice.
But there was a problem - they were coming under pressure from rivals. The early '90s had seen a boom in online porn, which increasingly featured hairless actors and models. "It's very practical for pornography but it's just very practical for sex," adult film-maker Anna Span told the BBC. Adult magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse also showed little or no pubic hair.
Jonice says Playboy called the salon, claiming they had come up with the idea first. "They said: 'This is ours, we do this for the porno site,'" she says. Jonice's defence was to say that it was just what everyone in Brazil did. "I said we were introducing our culture," she says.
"That's why all over the world it's known as a Brazilian. I played it that way so they would leave me alone. But it started here, not there."
People haven't forgotten that the J Sisters were the real pioneers. They were consulted for shows like Gossip Girl and Sex And the City.
"Sarah Jessica Parker came here all the time," says Jocely.
They count many celebrities as close friends.
"They have very intimate relationships with people," says Malin.
"If you spread your legs to a woman then you don't have anything else to hide. I've been there so many times and you end up talking about everything: depression, kids, anal sex... It's crazy and a little bit therapeutic."
As well as Malin's book, a biopic about the sisters is in production in Brazil - a "dramedy", or comic drama, say the producers. "They were very brave to leave this small town in Brazil and go to New York with no money and no English," says Karen Castanho, one of the producers. "They have such energy, I've never met anyone like them."
Female body hair is a recurring theme in the work of French street artist Sandrine Boulet
So what does the future hold for the Brazilian wax?
The trend could be on its way out. A recent study has linked pubic grooming to an increase in sexually transmitted infections. The GB cycling team banned bikini waxes during the Olympics because the hair protects against chafing. Even Tatler magazine recently announced the return of the natural look.
Back in the London office toilet this, too, has been noticed. "Boys are saying: 'Don't do it, if you shave it all off you look like a baby," says Alex, 23. Her friend Cameron, 21, agrees. "Yes, my friends say they like bush because they feel more mature being with that person."
But the J Sisters always move with the times. For the past 10 years they've been waxing men. And since Jocely discovered her first grey hair down there, the salon can also dye pubic hair, to prevent the kind of home-dying mishaps featured in Sex and the City. One thing's for sure, thanks to their influence this part of the body will never again be neglected.
Some names have been changed.
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The psychological secrets to successful resolutions - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | There are psychological tricks which can help people achieve and stick to their new year goals. | Health | It's important to have achievable goals
After the excesses of the festive season, the thoughts of many turn to making resolutions to stop bad habits and take up healthier ones.
Unfortunately, quite a few fail.
But there are some psychological tactics which can be employed to increase the chances of success.
Psychologist Prof Richard Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, has carried out research into the key to sticking to resolutions.
In a study of 5,000 people who made resolutions, it was those with a "fatalistic attitude" who were less likely to succeed.
He advises it's more than likely old habits will creep back in sometimes, so see those occasions as temporary set-backs and not a reason to give up altogether.
"Failure is the main thing that stops people If, on day one of their diet, they raid the biscuit tin, they think 'that's it' and give up. But persistence is the key. Start again the next day."
Support from friends and family can help people stick to their goals.
But Prof Wiseman says women might be more likely to benefit. "They are generally better at offering moral support. Men tend to try and encourage you to have more dessert."
Noting down progress can help
This can be something public like a blog - or the fridge door - or more privately, in a spreadsheet or a journal.
It might help to note down each gym visit, or decision not to have cake.
Prof Wiseman also advises having a checklist to show how life will be better once your goals are achieved - and allow small rewards throughout the process to keep up motivation levels.
It has to be something specific that can be realistically achieved.
Running a marathon, say, would be too much for a non-runner to aim for, while a vague desire to 'get fit' is hard to measure.
"Maybe start by saying you'll go to the gym once a week, then you can look at moving up to two," advises Prof Wiseman.
And be realistic - it's best to choose one thing to focus on rather than having a raft of goals to increase the chances of success.
This is important in terms of knowing what prompts behaviour you want to avoid - and to help encourage healthier habits.
"It could be as simple as not having biscuits in the house so you're not tempted - or understanding the stress triggers that make you reach for a cigarette," Prof Wiseman says.
And he says it's possible to create new triggers to prompt you in your new, healthier habits.
"You can decide that when the news starts, that's the time when you set off for the gym". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38470263 |
National Archives: Thatcher's poll tax miscalculation - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Newly released cabinet papers shed light on Margaret Thatcher and the poll tax controversy | UK | It was Margaret Thatcher's biggest political misjudgement - and brought her career as prime minister to an ignominious end.
The poll tax (or community charge) was supposed to make local council finance fairer and more accountable. Instead it triggered civil disobedience and riots and a rebellion in the Conservative Party.
Cabinet papers for 1989 and 1990, released today at the National Archives in Kew, reveal the reaction to the crisis at the heart of government. They show how involved the prime minister herself was.
And they pinpoint the moment it dawned on her that her flagship policy had turned into a political disaster which was hitting, not Labour local councils, but her natural supporters.
The size of the files alone - there are nine thick manila folders compiled over 18 months - are evidence of how far the poll tax dominated government thinking. Mark Dunton, a specialist in modern records at the National Archives, calls it a "juggernaut".
Though simple in principle the tax proved to be immensely complex in practice. The files are full of highly technical papers - many of them annotated by Mrs Thatcher.
One of the National Archives' specialists says the poll tax files are a "juggernaut"
They also include a warning from April 1989 that she risked a fine if she didn't complete her own registration form on time.
But the technical challenges of introducing the tax paled beside the political problems it threw up.
The government had expected opposition to a measure specifically targeted at high-spending, mainly Labour-controlled, councils. What they hadn't expected was the reaction from their own supporters, as the April 1990 date for its introduction in England and Wales drew near.
In September the previous year her environment secretary, Chris Patten noted "a good deal of pressure developing" and Nigel Lawson, who was to resign as chancellor the following month, told Mrs Thatcher: "We are faced with a potentially difficult Parliamentary situation."
By January, Patten was telling her there could be as many as 83 rebel MPs on the Tory benches. And she got a powerful sense of the anger among formerly loyal Conservative voters in March when a constituent of the Norfolk MP Ralph Howell wrote to her.
Mr WE Jones and his wife were in their 70s, living on modest pensions, and under the poll tax would be paying more than twice what they paid under the old system of rates, while better-off people in large houses would be paying less. He accused the prime minister of being uncaring.
A major poll tax demonstration in London in March 1990 ended in violence
"You have taken advantage of your position to impose your will upon us to the point where you are now virtually a Dictator riding roughshod over anyone who opposes you," he wrote on 3 March.
In the files released today the couple's address has been redacted, though a later memo reveals they lived in a house called Dream of Delight in the village of Great Snoring.
Howell asked for a meeting. The prime minister's adviser Mark Lennox-Boyd suggested he should be granted an audience: "The meeting will be a waste of time, but I am afraid she will have to do it to keep his frustration at bay."
Yet the files suggest it may not have been a waste of time, for this was the point when Mrs Thatcher finally realised that something must be done.
She turned not to her environment secretary Chris Patten, who had the job of bringing in the new tax, but to her recently-appointed chancellor, John Major. On 25 March (six days before an enormous demonstration against the poll tax in London which developed into serious rioting) the files contain a "note for the record" of a phone conversation between the two.
Environment secretary Chris Patten (r) was charged with introducing the poll tax
Instead of the tax shining a spotlight on spendthrift local councils, she said, the government was getting the blame for high charges, and the impact was falling on those in middle income groups, what she called the "conscientious middle".
Major agreed with the need for what he called a "radical review" to find a way to cap charges and give local authorities more money, but without increasing overall public expenditure.
Over the next two months the files reveal a succession of crisis meetings as ministers desperately tried to find a way out of their predicament, including the perceived unfairness of a system in which "Dukes and dustmen" both paid the same.
One idea was to raise more money. Should councils be allowed to use cash from the sale of council houses to subsidise the poll tax? Or should people on higher incomes pay more? That idea was floated by the prime minister herself in an unusual signed "personal minute" to Major on 9 April.
And she had another idea: putting an extra penny on a gallon of petrol and distributing the proceeds to councils. She wrote in the suggestion by hand three times on a memo of 10 April listing options. But none of her colleagues seems to have paid any attention and the idea went nowhere.
Michael Portillo says he and Chris Patten wanted to "take the guts out" of the poll tax
Meanwhile there was a growing split. Patten and the local government minister Michael Portillo wanted to increase central government grants to local authorities. Mrs Thatcher wasn't having it. "No," she wrote firmly in the margin on one occasion.
Then she and Major, without apparently consulting Patten, came up with an idea for allowing local councils to levy a higher poll tax than stipulated by central government, provided they first put it to a local referendum (a "poll tax poll").
Patten was opposed, believing the necessary legislation would be "massive in its political significance" and difficult to get through Parliament. One of Mrs Thatcher's private secretaries, Barry Potter, suggested that Patten was feeling "bruised" at being ignored.
By the end of June Potter told the prime minister that Patten and Portillo, still arguing for more government funds, were now "isolated".
Today Michael Portillo says he and Chris Patten really wanted to find a way effectively to abolish the poll tax: "We wanted to take the guts out of it, take the bits that were hurting out of it… but we recognised for her sensitivity that it would still have to be called the poll tax."
They also believed the problem would take central government money to resolve. "It's worth remembering that when the poll tax was eventually replaced by the council tax, it cost about £6bn in money of the day - an enormous amount. And I'm pretty sure that Chris Patten and I were asking for only a fraction of that," says Mr Portillo.
As to the lessons to be learnt from the debacle, he draws a parallel between the decision to introduce the poll tax "without thinking it through" and David Cameron's decision to hold a referendum on Europe without thinking through the consequences.
"The lesson ought to be, think carefully before you do things. But the chances of prime ministers learning that are, I think, slim."
But nothing worked. The practical difficulties and the political pressures were too great and Mrs Thatcher's career was foundering. In November Michael Heseltine, an outspoken critic of the poll tax, triggered a leadership contest from which John Major emerged the winner.
He appointed Heseltine as environment secretary, increased VAT to generate extra cash for councils and announced the abolition of the community charge, and its replacement by council tax, in March 1991.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38382416 |
How are Australia's Syrian refugees coping? - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Australia has so far resettled about half of the 12,000 Syrian refugees it agreed to take last year. | Australia | Australia has resettled about half of the 12,000 refugees it agreed to take in over the past 13 months from the conflict in Syria, but how are they adapting to life in their new country?
It is a year since Iymen Baerli, a refugee from Syria, arrived in Sydney with his wife and three young children.
Within days, the skies above the harbour of Australia's biggest city sparkled and glowed as arguably the world's finest fireworks display ushered in another new year.
The newcomers shared their adopted homeland's optimism about the journey ahead. Iymen, a 52-year old former pharmaceutical sales rep, had ambitions to open up a catering business, helped by his brother, who ran a well-established cake shop in suburban Sydney.
But 12 months later much of that hope has withered and the Baerli family are living at their modest apartment in Guildford, a multicultural district 25km (15 miles) from Sydney Opera House.
War had forced them out of their home in Homs, Syria's third largest city, and they sought safety in Egypt. Resettlement down under would eventually follow.
"It was very hard moving from Syria to Australia. There are huge differences in the culture and tradition," he told me through a translator. "I have been struggling and it is not easy but I am hoping that in the future it is going to be easier for me."
Iymen's English is rudimentary and, although he is receiving tuition, his lack of language skills has been a major hindrance, as has a chronic back injury.
Most of the new arrivals have been staying with relatives in Sydney, but community workers believe that, for many, the transition has been hard.
Ahmad Hemmed, a migration agent, who has helped many Syrian families in Sydney, told the BBC that the majority of the refugees have been unable to adapt.
"There are people that after I meet them here after even a year, they do not like the country and they are scared to mix with the Australian community," Mr Hemmed explained.
"They are still isolating themselves with similar cultural background people and I think they are raising their kids in the same way, which for me it is really concerning. They live in Australia but they are not actually carrying Australian values."
The city of Homs, dubbed "the capital of the revolution" suffered widespread destruction
It is a harsh assessment, but officials have conceded that many of those fleeing the Syrian conflict have found life tough in Australia and that finding jobs in particular has not been easy.
"It is that extraordinary mixed feeling," said Prof Peter Shergold, the New South Wales co-ordinator general for refugee resettlement.
"At one level I think their first feeling as they get out of the airport is just sheer relief, expectations that they can build a new life, but of course absolute fear of what they have left behind, is this the right decision?"
He believes it is crucial the migrants mix with the broader community.
"They are coming to a society in which 27% of Australians were born overseas and a similar number had a parent born overseas.
"They are coming to a society which is used to diversity and that helps integrate into society and, yes, initially you'll tend to live in areas where other people from your ethnicity or religion live, [but] they need to get outside that if they are going to get employment," Prof Shergold added.
The remaining 6,000 refugees from the Syrian crisis are expected to arrive in Australia within a year.
Immigration minister Peter Dutton has said the refugee resettlement programme might expand
But Alex Greenwich, an independent MP in the New South Wales state parliament, believes the humanitarian programme needs to move faster.
"The refugee and asylum seeker immigration process is intensely bureaucratic," he said.
"It is much better for a refugee to spend less time in a camp and get into being welcomed into a community. It is better for their health, their mental health. It is obviously something that we should be prioritising and fast-tracking."
In Canberra, the government has indicated it could resettle more of those displaced by atrocities and fighting in Syria.
"If we get this programme right, [it allows us] to say to the Australian people that we may want to expand this programme," Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told local media.
"If people have faith in the integrity of the process, then it does give the government the ability to expand beyond the 12,000."
As the conflict grinds on in Syria, 14,000km away in Sydney, Iymen's wife Abir Baerli closely follows developments on Arabic TV channels and online. With relatives and friends still in harm's way in Syria, or seeking sanctuary in neighbouring countries, these are frightening times.
"I am scared and I wish that the war would end," she told me with the help of a translator.
While her three children - a 10-year old daughter and two younger boys - are at school in Sydney, making friends, playing football and gradually conquering English, Abir and her husband yearn for just one thing - to one day be able to peacefully return home to their beloved Syria. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-38301489 |
Belfast chip shop goes viral after delivery order for cold and flu tablets - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A Belfast chip shop goes viral after receiving an order for cold medicine from a customer. | Northern Ireland | The unusual chip shop order has attracted more than 8,000 likes on Facebook
Takeaway chip shops are used to getting orders for burgers, fish and sausages - but one in Belfast has gone viral after a flu-stricken customer asked them to deliver medicine.
Feeley's Fish and Chip Shop revealed the unusual request on its Facebook page on Friday.
The online order asked the driver to stop and get cold and flu tablets.
"I'll give you the money, only ordering food so I can get the tablets Im dying sick," it added.
The chip shop posted the note online and said: "Good to see customers making use of the 'add comments' section!"
The post has attracted more than 8,000 likes on Facebook and more than 1,000 comments.
It later posted a picture of the medicine and added a message of "get well soon" to the customer.
The shop also said on Facebook that they would send a free meal if the woman let them know when she is better.
She replied: "Yous are real angels will do." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38485402 |
Second calling: New lives for red telephone boxes - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The weird and wonderful street lives of decommissioned red telephone kiosks. | England | Most of the red phone boxes seen on the streets are the K6 model, known as the Jubilee Kiosk because it was designed in honour of the Silver Jubilee of King George V
The red telephone box was once a common sight across the land, a design so associated with Britishness that tourists would be as likely to pose beside one for a photo than to step inside to make a call. But with the rise of the mobile phone, the redundant kiosks are increasingly being put to inventive uses, from miniature art galleries to pint-sized pubs.
A decline in payphone usage has drastically reduced the number of phone boxes across the UK - according to BT there were 92,000 in 2002, and there are currently 46,000, including 8,000 traditional red ones.
While this is a far cry from their 73,000-strong heyday in 1980, fans will be glad to know many redundant red boxes have taken on an afterlife, ranging from the sensibly practical to the downright peculiar.
Dial S for snack: Sample a salad in central London, or quaff a coffee in Birmingham
End of the pier: Selling souvenirs in Brighton
As part of BT's "adopt a kiosk" scheme, communities are able to take over a decommissioned telephone kiosk for £1.
Although new users are not allowed to install "electronic communications apparatus", 3,500 have been snapped up and put to a variety of uses.
One of the most common, especially in rural areas, is as a lending library or book exchange.
This red box in Loweswater, Cumbria, was the 3,000th to be taken over under BTs "adopt a kiosk" scheme, and now houses a defibrillator
Some have become art galleries, including a rare green kiosk in Barningham, Teesdale.
John Hay, from the village, said that when Barningham was offered the kiosk four years ago, nobody knew what to do with it.
"All that was inside it was a beer glass, a crate, half a dozen spiders and a lot of water," he said.
"I cleared it out - though I left the spiders, which I suspect are still there - and put in a Christmas tree, which must have convinced villagers I was well and truly mad."
The green kiosk in Barningham has featured in an Italian travel company's brochure
It was the first of a series of regular displays, including local artworks, seasonal celebrations and a display marking the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.
Mr Hay said: "There has been a lot of interest with passing walkers, and an Italian travel company actually put us in their brochure.
"It mentioned Buckingham Palace, and Barningham and its phone box."
In the Cambridgeshire village of Shepreth, the redundant kiosk briefly became a pub, as part of a protest at plans to turn the closed local into housing.
For one night only villagers were able to enjoy a pint at the Dog and Bone.
Want to withdraw a few pounds or pull a pint or two? Why not pop along to a phone box
Tinsel time: The kiosk in Prickwillow, Cambridgeshire - a miniature art gallery - takes on a Christmas theme at this time of year
On the commercial front, The Red Kiosk Company leases out decommissioned phone boxes, offering the chance to "run your own business out of an iconic red kiosk".
Edward Ottewell, one of the founders, said: "One advantage of regenerating them is that they are refurbished to their original state, and their use prevents vandalism - all of our tenanted sites have had zero damage."
He said coffee shops were a popular choice, and there were now office "pods", offering access to facilities such as the internet.
One of the most recent lets was to a mobile phone repair shop business in Greenwich, south-east London.
Lessee Rob Kerr, from Lovefone, said: "We've had a great response from the community, and the technician has kept his sanity working in a one-square-metre shop."
Community lending libraries are relatively common, but the mobile phone repair shop is the first of its kind
But as yet, no company seems to have taken up an idea put forward by a resident of the Northumberland village of Ovington.
When its kiosk was adopted by the parish council locals were invited to come up with suggestions as to its future use.
Among them was the world's smallest lap-dancing bar, although this was rejected in favour of a container for a defibrillator.
Designer Sir Giles Gilbert Scott was also responsible for Liverpool Anglican Cathedral
It is not the only one - defibrillators are now housed in more than 3,000 kiosks, due to the efforts of the Community Heartbeat Trust.
Martin Fagan, from the trust, said: "With something as serious as a cardiac arrest, time is of the essence, and, unfortunately, ambulance services often can't reach country villages in time.
"To install defibrillators in disused phone boxes is ideal, as they're often in the centre of the village, and it means the iconic red kiosk can remain a lifeline for the community."
• None The yard for red phone boxes that ring no more
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36148287 |
Ambassador's wife accused of murder plot with lover - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | null | The wife of the Greek ambassador to Brazil is accused of colluding with her lover in his murder . | null | Police in Brazil have accused the Greek ambassador's wife of colluding with her lover in the murder of her husband, Kyriakos Amiridis.
An investigator said Francoise Amiridis had admitted having an affair with a policeman, whom she blamed for the killing. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-38476907 |
Newspaper headlines: IS 'plotting UK chemical attack' and education reforms 'revolt' - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Sunday newspapers report on warnings that so-called IS is plotting a UK chemical attack, and cross-party attempts to delay higher education reforms. | The Papers | Events in Turkey came too late for the early editions of the morning papers.
The Sunday Times leads with a warning from Home Office minister Ben Wallace that the self-styled Islamic State group could be planning a chemical weapons attack on the UK.
In an interview, Mr Wallace - who is responsible for security - says that while no specific plot has been identified, mass casualty attacks are an ambition for IS, which has reportedly used poison gas in Syria and Iraq.
The newspaper says that the risk of such an attack in Britain was noted last month by Europol, but this is the first time that a minister has highlighted the threat.
The main story for the Sunday Telegraph is the threat of extremists taking over charities to pursue violence.
It says the number of times the Charity Commission has referred concerns to the police and other agencies has almost trebled in three years to 630 - a record figure.
The Commission's chairman, William Shawcross, is calling for Muslim charities to help tackle threats of infiltration.
The Observer is predicting cross-party opposition in the Lords next week to the government's plans for higher education.
It says Labour, the Liberal Democrats and independent cross-bench peers have joined forces to scupper legislation that would make it easier for new colleges to award degrees, become universities and make profits from teaching.
Critics fear the reforms would lower standards, but ministers argue that they will widen access.
The Mail on Sunday keeps up its attack on foreign aid spending, reporting that more than £2m has been used to improve working conditions for farmers and factory workers in poorer countries.
The paper is outraged that grants were given to supermarkets, "which make huge profits each year", to provide training and healthcare to their overseas suppliers.
"Are they off their trolleys?" asks the headline. The Department for International Development says the projects help developing countries' efforts to trade their way out of poverty.
The Sunday Express agrees with Theresa May that 2017 is a time for opportunity, not fear.
It talks of relishing the chance to change the country.
The Sun on Sunday applauds the prime minister's call for unity, but says wishing for it won't make it so.
It calls on those it says are "still in denial about Brexit" to "stop and wake up".
The Sunday Telegraph tells Mrs May she must start making choices and set out a clear case for the kind of Britain that will result from Brexit.
It argues that the British people will respond positively if she is "direct and courageous".
The papers mark the New Year in traditional fashion, with spectacular photographs of firework displays around the world.
The Sunday Mirror says the Australian city of Sydney put on a "Purple Rainbow" as a tribute to the late music star, Prince.
The Mail on Sunday has a photo of armed police in London - part of a big security operation which it says "didn't spoil the 2017 party".
Among the predictions, both the Sun on Sunday and the Mail on Sunday are tipping marriage for Prince Harry.
The Sunday People has its tongue firmly in its cheek with its forecasts, however: apocalypse; Nigel Farage as the new face of Eurovision; and Boris Johnson being knocked out in the first round of Strictly. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-38481409 |
Premiership: Leicester Tigers 12-16 Saracens - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Owen Farrell scores all of Saracens' points against Leicester, but victory is not enough to send the Londoners top. | null | Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Owen Farrell scored all of Saracens' points against Leicester, but victory was not enough to return the London club to the top of the Premiership.
In a tense first half, during which Leicester's injury-plagued England winger Manu Tuilagi limped off, the scores were locked at 6-6 as Farrell traded penalties with Owen Williams.
Farrell scored and converted the only try after adding a further penalty.
Williams kicked two penalties to ensure Leicester took a losing bonus point.
Leicester pressed until the final moments as they looked to avoid just their second defeat in 15 home games in all competitions, but two missed penalties from Williams proved costly.
In a game England boss Eddie Jones watched from the stand, much attention was focused on centre Tuilagi, who was called up on Saturday for a national team training camp.
But it proved little more than a cameo showing by the 25-year-old as he was forced off with an apparent right knee injury, suffered as he came down in a tackle.
Saracens were dealt a setback of their own as winger Chris Ashton - making his first start in 15 weeks after serving a suspension for biting - was forced off after a clash of heads with Jack Roberts.
However, despite losing the prolific Ashton, Saracens came up with the game's only try soon after - Brad Barritt collecting the ball from Williams after a poor Ben Youngs pass before Farrell threw a dummy to race clear.
Saracens did enough to hold on for the win, moving them to within one point of Wasps at the summit.
Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill:"It was tight, we played very well, they played well. We defended outstandingly well and our set-piece was dominant.
"Saracens' pack don't get dominated very often but we dominated their pack today. Our boys were fantastic.
"There are a lot of positives. I know we are five points from the top four but we were playing the best side in Europe last season.
"If we can play like that away we will win more than we lose and we will keep in the mix."
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall: "We are chuffed to bits to come here and win where they have not lost this season.
"Not everything in our game was perfect, far from it. But what was tremendous was the fight we had and the effort we showed all the way through the game.
"We had to win without a platform because our scrum today was poor. To get a result without a scrum is tough."
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/38445575 |
Arsenal 2-0 Crystal Palace - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Olivier Giroud's incredible scorpion kick sets Arsenal on the way to a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace which moves them up to third. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Olivier Giroud's incredible scorpion kick set Arsenal on the way to a victory over Crystal Palace which moved them up to third in the Premier League.
With a cross from Alexis Sanchez delivered behind him, Frenchman Giroud elastically reached the ball with his left foot, looping it over his head and in off the underside of the bar.
An Alex Iwobi header gave Arsenal a scrappy second before Palace briefly rallied to force saves from home goalkeeper Petr Cech.
The win moves the Gunners back to within nine points of leaders Chelsea, while Palace stay 17th, two points above the relegation zone.
The visitors have won only once in 13 league games, with manager Sam Allardyce awaiting his first victory since taking over from Alan Pardew.
Giroud marked his return to the Arsenal starting line-up on Boxing Day by scoring the only goal in the win over West Bromwich Albion, and followed up here by pulling off one of the most memorable moments of this or any other season.
Indeed, it was made all the more remarkable for its echoes of a similarly breathtaking goal scored by Manchester United's Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the defeat of Sunderland on Monday.
If anything, Giroud's was even more impressive, an acrobatic finish to a head-high cross delivered from the left by Sanchez at the end of a pacy Arsenal counter-attack.
As the ball arrived, a sprinting Giroud turned to stick out his left foot, flicked the ball over his head and saw it arc over the leap of Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey, off the woodwork and into the net.
"It was an unbelievable finish," said former Arsenal defender Martin Keown on BBC Radio 5 live. "It has to be up there with the goal of the season already.
"He's hooked that with a gadget foot - the ball is behind him and he has no right to get his foot to it."
'The best goal I've scored' - what they said
Olivier Giroud told BBC Sport: "It is not difficult to say it is the best one. I was a bit lucky but it was the only thing I could do, the ball was behind me and I tried to hit it with a backheel.
"Maybe Henrikh Mkhitaryan's goal inspired me, it's the only thing you can do in that position. It is nice for me and the team because we start the year with a win."
Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey on Sky Sports: "It was a wonder goal - there seems to be a lot going in recently. It's a fantastic strike."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "It was a great counter-attack at great speed, his reflex surprised everybody who knows football and that's what makes the goal great.
"I have been a bit spoiled over the years by the exceptional quality of the players I've had, but it will be remembered as an exceptional goal.
"Olly is very good in front of goal, but I've never seen this kind of goal from him."
Arsenal lost ground in the title race with defeats by Everton and Manchester City, and began this game in fifth place following Tottenham's win at Watford.
Giroud's goal was the highlight of an otherwise lacklustre first half in which the only other moment of note was the Frenchman missing his kick attempting to meet a cross inside the six-yard box.
Still, the Gunners' threat was always apparent, particularly in the shape of the forward running of full-backs Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal, who tormented the Palace defence throughout.
Monreal was involved in the second goal, providing a cross that was not dealt with, Iwobi heading in despite the efforts of Palace defender Joel Ward on the line.
Palace had the chance to win Allardyce's first match in charge, only for Christian Benteke to have a penalty saved in the 1-1 draw with Watford.
At Arsenal, a team Allardyce has never beaten away in 13 Premier League attempts, what he already knew was reinforced - his new team are a threat going forward but need to improve at the back.
The 35 goals Palace have conceded is the most by any team outside the relegation zone. Though they were often organised, an inability to deal with Arsenal's movement ensured Hennessey was kept busy and the defending for the home side's second goal was shambolic.
After that, Palace had their best spell of pressure. Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend provided the drive, with Townsend, Benteke and Yohan Cabaye all calling Cech into action.
There is plenty to suggest Palace can move clear of trouble if Allardyce can add his trademark tightness to their backline.
"Our season won't be defined by results against the top six," he said. "What we do when we play the teams in the bottom half of the league will be the defining reason of whether or not we get out of the bottom half.
"I have every confidence in the players that it will turn around and hopefully as quick as possible."
• None Olivier Giroud has scored eight goals in his past six starts for Arsenal in all competitions.
• None Sam Allardyce has never won at Arsenal as a manager in all competitions, drawing four and losing 12 of his 16 visits.
• None Since joining the club, Alexis Sanchez has had a hand in 88 goals for Arsenal in all competitions (56 goals, 32 assists) - 26 more than any other Gunner.
• None Arsenal have won 130 of their 200 Premier League games at the Emirates under Arsene Wenger (65%) - they won 72% of their league games at Highbury under the Frenchman (134/186).
• None The Gunners have kept consecutive Premier League clean sheets at home for the first time this season, last doing so in their final three games of 2015-16.
• None Crystal Palace have failed to keep a clean sheet in their past 20 Premier League away games, since a 0-0 draw at Bournemouth in December 2015.
• None Allardyce has failed to win either of his first two Premier League games in charge of a club for the first time in his career.
Both teams are in action on Tuesday. Arsenal make the trip to Bournemouth (19:45 GMT), while Palace host bottom club Swansea (20:00).
• None Attempt saved. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Alexis Sánchez.
• None Attempt blocked. Granit Xhaka (Arsenal) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Alexis Sánchez.
• None James Tomkins (Crystal Palace) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None Attempt missed. Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal) right footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
• None Nacho Monreal (Arsenal) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt blocked. Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38429686 |
360 video: London New Year's Eve fireworks - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | 360 video | UK | If you couldn't get to the New Year's Eve fireworks in London, you can still get a 360-degree experience of the celebrations.
Clicking on the image below will play the 360 video on the BBC News YouTube channel.
Tap here to see the 360 video
To watch 360 video you will need the latest version of Chrome, Opera, Firefox or Internet Explorer on your computer. On mobile - you will need to open the video in the latest version of the YouTube app for Android or iOS.
You can view this 360 experience in several ways
1. On desktop once you have pressed play, use your mouse to move up, down or sideways.
2. On your mobile via the YouTube app. You can move your device to control your view.
3. On your mobile via the YouTube app using Google Cardboard or similar headset. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38463678 |
One man's surprising defiance on Chinese legal rights - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | BBC China editor Carrie Gracie witnesses one well-to-do man's surprising battle for legal rights. | China | In a one-party state, principles for citizens often seem like a dangerous and expensive luxury
The year 2016 has been another grim year for those campaigning for human rights in China.
On freedom of speech, religious expression, trades unions and a host of other issues, China's one-party state continues to punish those who try to insist on their constitutional rights.
Meanwhile, through propaganda and censorship it works hard to nurture an unquestioning herd mentality and to discourage any exploration of individual values. But even in this unpromising landscape, defiance takes root in unlikely corners.
We were in the private dining room of a showy restaurant and the boss was already slurring his words. A large man with a level gaze, he'd finished one bottle of fine French wine and was moving on to a second.
As he lit a cigarette, two glasses went over like nine pins, one splashing red wine across the table and the other smashing on to the floor.
If influential people join the fight for legal rights - in between trips to London's casinos - then perhaps progress really is coming
But he barely seemed to notice and went on telling me how he'd loved London's casinos when he stopped off on the way back from visiting his daughter's British boarding school.
Imagine my surprise, then, when across the dishes stacked with roast duck and dumplings, this local Mr Big suddenly thrust at me a brown file full of well-thumbed papers.
"Fifteen years I've been fighting this miscarriage of justice," he declared. A handbrake turn from talk of boarding schools and casinos.
He told me he'd got embroiled in a factional power battle. One local Communist Party boss wanted him to dish the dirt on a rival.
Nine members of his family had been detained and interrogated and when he wouldn't sign statements incriminating the political target, he himself was jailed on charges of tax evasion.
Even worse, a cousin had died mysteriously in police custody. By the time he'd got to the end of this grimly familiar story of crime and injustice, the second bottle of red wine was empty and we'd long run out of things to toast.
Now I don't usually see it as my job to deliver unpalatable truths to provincial restaurant bosses. The private dining rooms of China have seen more coldblooded politics than I will ever conceive.
But I had eaten his dinner and the least I could do in return was point out that he would not win his battle for justice and instead would waste a lot of money and a lot of political capital in the process of losing.
"I don't care about the money!" he replied. "The innocent must never give up on justice. I'll campaign for this wrong to be righted till the day I die."
Well that brought me up short. I'm not used to private citizens standing on principle in China, especially not rich people. After all, this is a huge, homogenising society under an authoritarian one-party state.
Principles often seem like a dangerous and expensive luxury. Yes, Communist Party leaders make speeches about principles, but for the public that's even more reason to regard such talk as arrant hypocrisy.
I'd even go so far as to say that many Chinese people today are actively intolerant or suspicious of those who stand up for values.
George Bernard Shaw may have written, "the reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man".
But you don't hear people quoting that in China. Instead there are plenty of proverbs telling people to keep their heads down or they'll get them lopped off.
George Bernard Shaw's unreasonable man is plain crazy in this worldview. Not someone heroic and brave, but a loser who will go down and probably take his family and friends with him.
It's not so surprising given that people with convictions are the enemy to a paranoid political class which regards alternative values as an existential challenge.
But at this dining table I was now rethinking my assumptions about the people standing up to the system and shrugging off the crazy tag.
I'd recently met a renegade bishop who was defying both the Vatican and the Chinese Communist Party.
And when I noted that many Roman Catholics were calling him crazy, he observed that people had called Jesus Christ crazy too.
I'd observed brave human rights lawyers standing up for imprisoned colleagues. And young politicians in Hong Kong resisting Beijing's surreal version of democracy.
But the story that made me stop and think was this one among the wine stains and the scallops sprinkled with cigarette ash… a well-fed restaurant boss with so much to lose from upsetting local party bosses determined to join the ranks of George Bernard Shaw's unreasonable men and women.
If people like this join the fight for legal rights - in between their trips to London's casinos - then perhaps progress really is coming. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-38395706 |
The lifeline for dads coping with the loss of a child - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | How one parent's experience is helping dads cope with the loss of a child. | Northampton | When toddler TJ Scully-Sloan died suddenly, his mum and siblings were offered support and a shoulder to cry on. But his dad was asked how he was feeling just once, by an undertaker. The experience led to him setting up a group to help fathers address a question no-one wants to have to answer - how do you cope after the death of a child?
Friday 19 November 2010 was like any other night in the Scully-Sloan household. After a normal, busy, bedtime routine, TJ was tucked into bed by his mum, Helen. It was like any other night, except the little boy didn't wake up.
Six years on, Paul Scully-Sloan, 49, still struggles with the words.
"At a quarter-past five the next morning, his two-year-old sister Miya-May was up shouting, running round, banging doors. His four year-old brother Calum was standing in the middle of the floor, like a rabbit in the headlights.
"Helen looked at TJ who wasn't moving with all this noise. She shouts for me and I can tell there's something wrong.
"I said 'give me your phone - take the kids downstairs - turn on the television, stand by the front door'. I picked TJ up from the bed, he's cold and he's blue, put him on the floor, started to try to resuscitate him and at the same time ringing the ambulance.
Paul Scully-Sloan set up Daddys with Angels to support other fathers facing the loss of a child
"What seemed like forever, but it was like 20 minutes, a paramedic came in and told me there was nothing I could do."
TJ - whose full name was Travers James - had died in his sleep of natural causes. Tests found he'd had inflamed tonsils and a severe flu-like virus.
In a period of indescribable grief, Mr Scully-Sloan felt alone.
He "didn't fit the criteria" for many established child loss charities. His son was too old for Mr Scully-Sloan to benefit from the help of miscarriage or stillbirth organisations. He felt fathers needed somewhere to unload.
In the front room of a house in Northampton, Daddys With Angels (DWA) was born.
"There wasn't a place for dads where they felt welcome," he said. "There wasn't a place to say what they needed or what they wanted to say, to be honest about it, without the fear of being judged. There were groups for men - but run by women.
"You're supposed to be strong, to crack on with it.
"I had some understanding of child loss through my work, but not of the impact. Everything changes," he said.
"We talk about the 'new normal'. Waking up knowing your child is not there. But life is not going to go back to the way it was, things are going to change and you're going to view things differently."
Increasingly, bereaved fathers are turning to groups such as Mr Scully-Sloan's.
The Lullaby Trust, which supports families after a sudden infant death, offers a befriending service to extended family members, which has seen great demand from dads.
"We have a policy here that we always ask about the other parent after a child's death, and our befriender scheme is well used by dads," said director of services, Jenny Ward.
"Different groups need different means to reach that support and the way people access it is changing all the time."
Mr Scully-Sloan, who is separated from TJ's mother, says the stress of losing a child can have a devastating effect on the family unit.
"In order to be good for your partner you need to be in a good place yourself. The biggest problem with child loss and couples is that they don't tell each other how they're feeling. They fear they'll upset them even more. What they really want to say is: 'I hurt too'.
"As soon as they can say that - it's almost like a relief. The other person in that relationship is feeling the same."
At the time of his son's death, Mr Scully-Sloan was also desperately ill with liver disease and awaiting a transplant.
"We had his funeral four days before Christmas," he said.
Knitted cots have been donated from across the country
"People were coming to the door - people we hadn't seen for ages - bringing flowers and saying 'how's Helen?' - telling me I looked yellow. People were phoning up to speak to Helen, even when we were at the hospital, people were asking 'how's Helen, how's the kids?'
"The only person who asked me, between TJ dying and the funeral, was the undertaker. She looked after TJ so well, asking what I wanted him to wear - he had his ear pierced - she even managed to put his little earring back in for him. She did that for us - the little things.
"At the funeral I said I wanted to carry his coffin. It was cornflower blue. When I had to take it out of the hearse I couldn't pick it up - nobody said 'how are you - do you need any help?' - I had to put it down and admit I wasn't strong enough."
This, said Mr Scully-Sloan, is why he wants to help other bereaved dads.
"Fathers need to know someone has walked in their shoes," he said.
"I know what it's like to sit alone with the TV off and the lights off, just sitting there thinking.
"Men want to fix things; they can't fix child loss. The next best thing is to talk about it."
Knitted bootees donated to Daddys With Angels for stillborn babies
Daddys With Angels now has almost 1,000 members, six trustees and four support workers, helping anyone who has lost a child at any age.
Mr Scully-Sloan describes it as a "safe place" for fathers to "rant or chat" or get support and advice.
DWA has twice won Best UK Support Organisation at the Butterfly Awards, which celebrates the work of parents and professionals at the front line of bereavement.
The aim now is to establish a DWA helpline and set up group meetings around the country.
An appeal for volunteers to knit cots, wraps and hats for still-born babies saw a big response and items now fill Mr Scully-Sloan's living room.
He has already delivered dozens to bereavement midwives at the Liverpool Women's Hospital, his local unit at Northampton General and to funeral homes.
Rachael Moss, a bereavement support midwife at Northampton General Hospital, said the little cots are a lifeline.
"The items brought in are so individual and so appreciated, you can see how much care and compassion has gone into making them - it's amazing.
"Families know they are not on their own. To know that there is someone else out there, another means of support, means everything." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-38061338 |
Five issues which shaped the Middle East in 2016 - BBC News | 2017-01-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Jeremy Bowen highlights five issues which shaped the Middle East in 2016 | Middle East | The past 12 months have marked another restive year for the Middle East, with wars raging, populations suffering and militancy on the rampage. Here the BBC's Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, highlights five issues which helped shaped the region in 2016.
Some hoped that 2016 would be the beginning of the end for the jihadists of so-called Islamic State (IS). That might become one of the stories of 2017. But those who predicted that IS would fall easily were optimistic.
The Iraqi government offensive to re-capture Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, has stalled. In house-to-house fighting, the Golden Brigade, which was trained by the US military, has suffered a 50% casualty rate, according to the Americans, though this figure is denied by Iraqi military personnel in Baghdad.
The Golden Brigade is part of the Iraqi government's elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), which has been bearing the brunt of the fight against IS.
In early December combat operations in Mosul were slowed down, because the level of casualties meant that the CTS risked running out of trained men.
The Iraqi Security Forces have said they will concentrate more on artillery and air operations but that will kill more civilians, which could play into the hands of IS.
By the end of the year the battle for Aleppo had been won decisively by a coalition made up of the Syrian state, Russia, Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah and a variety of other militias.
It did not mean the end of the war but it was another sign that the war in Syria was entering a new phase.
More than ever, it was much more than a fight between the government and those who wanted to destroy it.
Increasingly the war is dominated by the agendas of the major powers that have intervened in the Syrian war. One example that affected matters in Aleppo was Turkey's decision to make a priority of its fight with the Kurds.
That meant it needed better relations with the Russians, which meant looking away in Aleppo as Russia led the charge against its erstwhile clients, in return for Russian acquiescence in Turkey's actions in northern Syria.
In 2017, unless the new ceasefire holds and gives way to meaningful peace talks, more Syrians will die and the war will continue to export crisis, violence and uncertainty.
Years of war, corruption and under-development weakened Yemen before the war between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition pushed it into catastrophe.
Figures are not precise but one estimate is that 10,000 have been killed in the war and 37,000 wounded. Many are civilians.
According to the UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency, 19 million people in Yemen need urgent assistance. More than half the population has no healthcare.
Large numbers of Yemenis have been displaced by the war and are destitute.
Every war is brutal but the one in Yemen also features the grotesque sight of the region's wealthiest countries bombing the poorest, helped by the US and Britain who sell vast amounts of weaponry to the Saudis and other coalition allies.
Despite all that firepower, the Saudis have not crushed the Houthis, which means that misery and death will be the fate of many Yemenis in 2017.
All that is good news for the jihadists of al-Qaeda and Islamic State who have a haven, and a source of recruits, in Yemen.
The Middle East has one of the youngest populations in the world. Around 60% are under the age of 30. Their sense of hopelessness and anger drove the uprisings of 2011.
Five years on, the grievances that sent them out on to the streets in 2011 still exist. Unemployment is still rampant. So is corruption.
Egypt has the makings of another perfect storm of repression, discontent, sectarian conflict and economic failure. Syria, Libya and Yemen are gripped by war.
Saudi Arabia's leaders have realised that buying off discontent is not a long-term strategy in a world of lower oil prices. There are ambitious plans to transform the economy but there is also the old Saudi problem, that reform is a suspicious idea because change could risk the power of the ruling family and the religious establishment.
Their conflict has been largely out of the headlines, drowned out by the tumult coming from the rest of the region.
But just because it has been noticed less does not mean that it has gone away. The fundamental causes of all the mutual hatred are present and correct, festering noxiously as they have done for generations.
The conflict retains its power to cause rage in people who have never even visited Jerusalem. One Middle Eastern certainty is that it will reignite.
Update 6 January 2017: This report has been updated to include an Iraqi response to claims of high casualties among special forces in the fight for Mosul. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/38342793 |
Gareth Southgate: England manager fears for young, wealthy players - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | England boss Gareth Southgate is concerned by how much young players are paid, but excited about the national team's future. | null | England manager Gareth Southgate fears young players are not reaching their potential because they get "big money for achieving nothing".
Former England Under-21 boss Southgate, 46, says youngsters thinking they have "already made it" is a "concern".
However, he believes "top" players will still come through - because they have drive and determination.
"If you don't have that inner drive there's a danger you'll never be a top professional," he told the BBC.
• Listen to the full interview on
The 2016 Global Sports Salaries Survey found the average basic wage of a Premier League player was £2.4m a year, or £48,766 a week.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has spoken in the past of young players being made "rich before they have played one Premier League game".
And Liverpool, Southampton and Tottenham are among the clubs to have capped the earnings of young players in an attempt to make them focus on their football.
Southgate, who played 57 times for England, also told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek programme:
• None England need to show more humility
• None He wants to take pressure off captain Wayne Rooney by finding more "leaders"
• None He wants to help his players become mentally stronger
• None He wants to excite England fans - and make them proud of their team
Southgate, who took charge after Sam Allardyce's departure in September, is concerned by the amount of money paid to young players before they become first-team regulars.
He cited Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona attacker Lionel Messi as the type of players who are "not distracted" by money as "their desire is to win trophies and be the best player they can be".
He said: "The very best players have that drive and that's why they get to the top. The concern is for any young player at an academy, who's not quite made it in the first team, but thinks they have because you get big money for having achieved nothing.
"If you don't have that inner drive, there's a danger you'll never actually get to be a top professional or be a first-team player.
"For a short period of time that won't have any impact on them financially, but in years to come they could look back and have huge regrets."
'Rooney responsibilities have to be shared'
Southgate has said Wayne Rooney will remain as England captain, though the Manchester United forward, 31, was only a substitute for the World Cup qualifier against Slovenia in October.
Southgate, who captained Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough during his playing career, wants Rooney's team-mates to "step forward".
He added: "In the team I played in at Euro '96, there were probably seven of us who were captains of our clubs. You need strong characters, not only to make decisions but when the game's going against you.
"At different moments you've got to have different people take that lead, whether that's being brave enough to take the ball or talking to the others, getting them mentally back on course.
"A lot of that responsibility over the last few years has fallen on Wayne Rooney's shoulders; that's got to be shared, that's got to be developed and that's not just on the field but off the field in particular."
Southgate added he had already seen "potential leaders" in his four matches in charge.
'I can discipline people but that has a short-term effect'
England players have been banned by the Football Association from having nights out while on international duty.
It came after newspaper reports several players were at a nightclub in the early hours of the morning after the 3-0 win over Scotland in November. Rooney, meanwhile, was pictured with members of a wedding party at the team's hotel.
Southgate said players are "far more dedicated" than during his career - and he should not have to control them.
"We live in a world where everyone has a camera phone, everybody has access to social media and anything you do is out in a very public manner very quickly so players have to recognise that," he said.
"You set a culture, an environment and the players have to be involved in that. I can discipline people, but that has a short-term effect.
"A disciplined life in sport is when an athlete or a player decides how they're going to commit themselves to their training, commits themselves to living their life, and you're letting your team-mates down if you don't adhere to that. For me, it's not controlling the players - the environment should create that."
Southgate, who played for England at three major tournaments, says one of his priorities is to develop the mental strength of his players.
The Three Lions, then under Roy Hodgson, went out of Euro 2016 at the last-16 stage with a 2-1 defeat by Iceland.
"When I was playing, we went into tournaments as one of the favourites, and over the last few years we've been going in hope rather than as one of the top-ranked teams," said Southgate.
"Tournaments will always be at the end of the season so we have to get the physical load right in the way we train, maintain fitness levels at the highest possible but also maintain freshness.
"The mental peaking is key and there are things we can work on to help that develop. Mental resilience is generally a product of the experiences you have been through in your life and some of those will be on the sports field and some outside of sport.
"We cannot just rely on the 10 or 12 fixtures a year, we have to develop that."
Southgate signed a four-year contract in November after four matches in interim charge.
The deal will take him through the 2018 World Cup and 2020 European Championship, the final of which will be at Wembley.
England have not reached the quarter-finals of a major competition since Euro 2012, and Southgate wants to make fans of the national side proud.
"People will judge our success on the outcome of European Championships and the World Cup," he said.
"But, for me, every time we get together we have to get better. If in two years' time we've got a team that excites the supporters and they are proud of, we're heading in the right direction."
Southgate said the style of play his players adopted was "important" but acknowledged "ultimately we have to win".
"There is a desire to play a possession-based game. I think our top teams are playing in a fashion with a high-pressing game, so when players come with England why would we ask them to do something completely different?" he said.
"There's also a desire to excite the public - we are in a sport where people pay a lot of money to come and watch and they want an England team that excites them.
"We've got some really exciting potential - we've got some very exciting players to come through."
England are 13th in the Fifa rankings, and have not been in the top five since March 2013.
Southgate says some "humility" would "not be a bad thing".
"We're 13th in the world rankings and at the last two tournaments we haven't got through a knockout game," he added.
"There are some obstacles we have to overcome but for me that's a great opportunity and the potential is huge.
"I don't have any fear in what lies ahead because I'm just seeing what's possible. How do we go to being the number one team in the world?
"We've got to deliver, we've got to work hard, we've got to work intelligently. I'm looking at what's achievable, I'm not thinking about anything else."
Hodgson, who resigned following the shock defeat by Iceland in June, last month told Sportsweek the England job had left him scarred.
"I can understand that because I had that when I lost my job at Middlesbrough as a young coach," Southgate said.
"The things that don't go right will always be there as part of your life but it's how you respond that determines what you're going to be as a person and coach. We would ask our players to rebound from those moments and to be stronger for them - that applies to coaches as well."
Southgate says he had no reservations about taking the job, and his family are "fully supportive".
"My wife's lived through my playing career so she's suffered enough over the years - so what's to fear?" he said.
"One of the outcomes of the playing career I had is that I was disappointed not to win the things I wanted to. I won a few trophies, I won some caps, but not as many as I wanted to.
"You always want to prove people wrong, you want the opportunity to show people you have the resilience to bounce back from those things.
"It's about what's possible, what's achievable - otherwise why would you take on any role? There's a moment where you feel all the experiences in life you've had, now's the moment to step forward and lead." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38460221 |
Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Georginio Wijnaldum's header ensures Liverpool beat Manchester City and move clear in the pursuit of Premier League leaders Chelsea. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Liverpool maintained their pursuit of Premier League leaders Chelsea as they moved to within six points of the pacesetters with victory over Manchester City at Anfield.
Georginio Wijnaldum's soaring eighth-minute header from Adam Lallana's cross was enough to put Liverpool in second place and put a serious dent in City's own title challenge.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp led the celebrations at the end of a game that was high on energy but sadly lacking in any moments of genuine quality.
City, who laboured throughout, improved in the second half but never seriously threatened Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and this loss leaves them 10 points adrift of Chelsea.
Klopp gets better of Pep
This was the first Premier League meeting between two huge personalities straight from the top tier of management - and it brought a victory for Jurgen Klopp to cherish at Pep Guardiola's expense.
The head-to-head was locked at 4-4 after their meetings in Germany with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. This was a different stage with different prizes on offer - but it was an occasion that was just as charged.
Klopp, in 15 months, has revitalised Liverpool and given hope to supporters longing to end the wait for a first title since 1990. And as they continue their pursuit of relentless Chelsea, belief continues to grow that the charismatic German can still haul in Antonio Conte's side.
Liverpool's manager was, as usual, celebrating with his players after the final whistle before pumping his chest in mock relief in front of Anfield's huge new Main Stand.
And, when City fleetingly threatened a second-half comeback, he turned cheerleader in front of those same fans with a demand to lift the noise levels that was met instantly.
Klopp has become the new Anfield talisman. Under him, the transformation of his team and the mood around the club continues.
Something else that will give Liverpool's fans great heart is the way in which Klopp is getting results against his closest rivals.
Since his appointment in October 2015, Klopp has faced a total of 13 Premier League games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham. He has lost only one - a single goal defeat by United last season.
He has also enjoyed a Europa League win over two legs against United, although the balance is redressed slightly by a loss on penalties against Manchester City in last season's Capital One Cup final.
Liverpool - and indeed Manchester City - are having to run to stand still in the Premier League title race, with Chelsea stretching their winning run to 13 games as they beat Stoke City earlier on Saturday.
It meant this was a game both sides needed to win - hence the contrasting emotions of Klopp and Guardiola at the final whistle.
Liverpool are underdogs but six points is still a gap that can be closed and Chelsea have to visit Anfield on 31 January.
Klopp's players have shown strength of character with their response to setbacks earlier this month, when they lost 4-3 at Bournemouth and drew 2-2 at home to West Ham.
They have also shown they can win in different ways. Recent victories over Middlesbrough and Stoke showcased a free-flowing style. At Everton and against City, they toughed it out - and answered questions about a supposedly vulnerable defence. It is evidence that Liverpool must be taken very seriously as title challengers.
It is far too early to dismiss a manager of Guardiola's ability - and a team of City's talents - in terms of the Premier League title race. However, the 10-point gap between themselves and Chelsea is starting to look as if it will only be overturned by extraordinary events.
City were too timid for too long here at Anfield. Sergio Aguero - returning after a four-match ban - was starved of service, while Kevin de Bruyne was marginalised and largely snuffed out by Liverpool's intense pressing style.
It was still David Silva who called the shots when they did put some moves together after the break but Yaya Toure could not exert serious influence.
Guardiola's task should at least be put in context. City were a team short on inspiration and spark for much of last season under Manuel Pellegrini. Perhaps it was too much to expect even a manager of Guardiola's pedigree to apply an instant fix.
City should never be ruled out. But on the evidence of this flat performance - and the growing sense that significant renewal of the squad is still needed - dragging back Chelsea may be beyond them for this season.
'I don't care about criticism' - what they said
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp: "I know everyone talks about our defence. It's not about avoiding goals - that's the end product - it's about how we work together.
"I think we have the smallest number of shots on our goal in the league. Tonight the concentration level was outstanding.
"I don't care about criticism of our defence. You always pick out things that aren't right but that's how goals are."
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola: "It was an equal game. The goal made it difficult against a team who use the counter-attack like a master. The second half was much better.
"We have to wake up for another game. We need to focus and work - we can't think about the big goals."
Former England defender Phil Neville: "It was a poor game. I was so disappointed by how poorly Manchester City passed the ball. They didn't get back into shape quick enough.
"Aleksandar Kolarov should have been winning that header against Georginio Wijnaldum. They were really poor in possession and well off the pace. Full credit to Liverpool, they set up deeper and didn't let City have possession."
• None Liverpool have won four consecutive league games against Manchester City for the first time since 1981 (when they managed a run of seven).
• None Pep Guardiola has now suffered twice as many league defeats this season (four) as he did in the entire 2015-16 Bundesliga campaign with Bayern Munich (two).
• None Manchester City have kept just four clean sheets in their 19 Premier League games under Guardiola.
• None Liverpool have scored 87 league goals in 2016; their most in a calendar year since 1985 (also 87).
• None Adam Lallana has made seven assists in the Premier League this season (in 17 appearances); his most in a single campaign.
• None Lallana also ends 2016 having been involved in 21 goals in the Premier League (11 goals, 10 assists); no midfielder in the competition has had a hand in more.
A swift turnaround. City host Burnley at 15:00 GMT on Monday, while at the same time Liverpool are at struggling Sunderland.
• None Delay over. They are ready to continue.
• None Nicolás Otamendi (Manchester City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt blocked. Divock Origi (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Roberto Firmino. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38424665 |
Usain Bolt calls Manchester United phone-in show - BBC Sport | 2017-01-01 | null | Usain Bolt calls a Manchester United TV phone-in show to say how Saturday's 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough was like watching the Red Devils "of old". | null | Nine-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt calls a Manchester United TV phone-in show to say how Saturday's 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough was like watching the Red Devils "of old". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38480275 |
Is a personal tank the latest luxury must-have? - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Could a tank developed by twin brothers Mike and Geoff Howe become the latest luxury must-have? | Business | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dealing with the luxury market is "a learning curve", says Geoff Howe
Some of the very rich like to go further than just displaying their wealth. They want things that few others can have, such as vehicles like an armour-plated SUV.
And now there's another extreme machine aimed at the moneyed motor-mad: the EV2.
"It's a luxury, high-speed vehicle," explains one of its makers, Mike Howe.
"You hit a button and the gull-wing doors pop up just like a Lamborghini. Inside you have eight-way leather seats, reverse camera, cameras up top, state of the art tracks, state of the art suspension..."
In fact, according to Mike's twin brother Geoff, the EV2 is a "luxurious tank". That's because the machine has tracks like a tank, rather than wheels.
Twin brothers Geoff (left) and Mike Howe began building and inventing things while still at school
The brothers claim that, thanks to its tracks, their vehicle can move at high speed across all kinds of rugged terrain in a similar fashion to its military counterpart - but unlike the latter, the EV2 is devoid of armaments.
They say that there is demand for the product. However, the luxury market is a new departure for them, and a far cry from their normal line of business.
The brothers trace the origin of their enterprise (based in Maine, in the US) all the way back to their childhood.
"We were always pushing the envelope," recalls Geoff.
"We built our own log cabin because the other kids down the street had a tree house that their father helped build. Mike and I didn't have a father figure at the time. So we had to do it on our own. We wanted to make it bigger, better."
As time passed, they graduated from log cabins to unusual vehicles, such as off-road racers.
In their college years, they converted a tour bus into a mobile stage for their rock and roll band.
Thanks to its tracks, their vehicle can move at high speed across all kinds of rugged terrain, the brothers claim
Later, they became obsessed with the idea of building an extremely fast, tracked vehicle. After years of work, they ended up creating a small tank, which they called the Ripsaw.
The device caught the attention of the US Army, which eventually ordered manned and unmanned versions for research and development.
As a result of the US military's interest, the brothers were able to turn their hobby into a business.
The challenges they faced in creating the Ripsaw were formidable.
The company also invented the Ripchair, an off-road wheelchair with tracks
For example, the faster you try to make a tracked vehicle go, the more likely you are to lose a track. "It's like a wheel coming off on a car," explains Mike.
Engineering problems like these proved tough to solve. The brothers looked beyond the automotive world for answers, and took lessons from elsewhere, such as from the technology employed in chainsaws.
As they gained experience, they expanded their range to include products like robotic systems that could help to disable bombs, and the Ripchair, an extraordinary off-road wheelchair with tracks.
Hollywood also began to take an interest, and the brothers' vehicles have appeared in several big-budget pictures, like GI Joe 2 and Mad Max: Fury Road.
It was collaboration with the movie industry that led to a new direction for the business.
The brothers see luxury forming only a small part of their range
One day, the brothers received a call from someone working for a wealthy individual who had seen one of their vehicles on screen, and wanted a bespoke leisure version of the Ripsaw.
They were at first surprised by the request, but after careful consideration, they decided to give the idea a go. The result was the EV2.
They find dealing with the luxury market a whole new challenge.
One of the biggest difficulties is establishing clear lines of communication. He is rarely able to talk directly to the end client - so it is vital to ensure that the customer's wishes are being met, rather than those of any intermediaries.
The company has also made robotic systems to help disable bombs
The brothers have found that clients in this market are interested in a range of options.
In addition to those already mentioned, they include a night vision and thermal imaging system, which displays images of the road ahead and around the vehicle.
"You can shut all the lights off at night and the vehicle is completely dark and you can run 60 miles an hour down the road and see everything you need to see to be able to drive safely," says Mike.
Some of the tanks are equipped with thermal imaging or night vision
He adds that it's up to the client to establish where and how the vehicle can be driven safely and legally.
The high cost of EV2 (a typical model costs hundreds of thousands of dollars) presents another challenge.
Because so much money is at stake, the brothers sometimes need to do some delicate checking on potential customers, to establish that they are able to afford the cost.
They say they have enjoyed adding a "luxury" product to their portfolio - but they do not want it to end up skewing the direction of the whole business, which is why they see it forming only a small part of their range in future.
This approach is wise, says author and consultant Peter York, who has advised many large luxury enterprises.
Luxury tanks will only form a small part of the business, the twins say
"If you start spending time on billionaires' private fantasies then there are immense opportunity costs.
"A technologically innovative business and a luxury business are very different," he says.
Still, the brothers are always open to new ideas, and for a special client, they will continue to push the envelope.
At present they are working on a variant with 2,000 horsepower - nearly four times the power of a standard EV2.
"We have no idea how it's going to work out," says Mike Howe. "We're riding that edge between what's physically possible and what's a dream."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38561556 |
Could a national maximum wage work? - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Jeremy Corbyn’s call on Radio 4’s Today programme for a high earnings cap is not a unique position. Franklin D Roosevelt called for something similar. | Business | In 1942, Franklin D Roosevelt - not known as a Socialist radical, though he had his moments - proposed that anyone earning over $25,000 should be taxed at 100%.
Effectively, the President of the United States was calling for a high pay cap of, in today's money, just under $400,000 or £330,000.
Interviewed this morning on the Today programme, Jeremy Corbyn rekindled the debate on high pay, saying that a "cap" should be considered for the highest earners.
With legislation if necessary.
Franklin D Roosevelt - not known as a socialist radical
Given that a direct limit (making it "illegal" for example for anyone to earn over, say, £200,000) would be almost impossible to enforce in a global economy where income takes many forms - salary, investments, returns on assets - very high marginal rates of tax could be one way to control very high levels of pay.
Another could be by imposing limits on the pay ratio between higher and lower earners in a company - possibly a more politically palatable option.
The High Pay Centre, for example, supports considering this approach.
Their research reveals the ratio has increased substantially.
"The average pay of a FTSE 100 chief executive has rocketed from around £1m a year in the late 1990s - about 60 times the average UK worker - to closer to £5m today, more than 170 times," the organisation said in 2014.
Firms have been under fire over high rates of executive pay
In its submission to the review of corporate governance by the House of Commons business select committee in October, the centre said executive pay was "out of control".
It is only relatively recently that high marginal rates of tax have been dropped as a way of limiting "out of control" pay.
Although America's Congress couldn't quite stomach the wartime 100% super tax (the actor Ann Sheridan commented "I regret that I have only one salary to give to my country") by 1945 the marginal rate on incomes over $200,000 was 94%.
Post-war, very high rates of income tax on high earners were the norm and income inequality was far lower.
By the 1970s in the UK, the marginal rate on higher incomes was 84%, a figure that rose to 98% with the introduction of a surcharge on investment income.
Denis Healey, then the Labour chancellor, famously said he wanted to "squeeze the rich until the pips squeak" - a quote he subsequently denied.
The mood changed with economic stagnation, industrial strife and the arrival of mainstream monetarism and its political leaders - Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
Strikers gather round a brazier at a picket line in London in 1979
They built an economic and political philosophy based on a belief that it wasn't the state's job to spend, in Thatcher's famous phrase, "other people's money" - it was better to allow people to retain the money they earned and spend it as they saw fit, even if it was an awful lot.
Lower levels of income tax were the result and economic growth strengthened for a period.
Income inequality also grew, maybe a price worth paying for the economic riches which, it was argued, were flowing around the country.
For many, especially since the financial crisis, the pendulum has swung back, away from lower taxes towards a more punitive approach to high incomes.
Mr Corbyn was speaking about a belief that some individuals at the top of the income scale now have far too much money to spend compared with the "just about managing" classes.
Theresa May has also made it clear that "fat cat pay" is on her radar.
The economics of high pay and whether it should be limited are based on a judgement between two competing interests.
The first is summed up by the Laffer Curve, popularised by the US economist Arthur Laffer, which argues that if income taxes are too high (or pay limits in any guise too strong) they reduce the incentive to work, which ultimately affects growth, national wealth and government income.
At its most basic, under the "Laffer rules" a 0% income tax rate would collect no revenue.
And a 100% income tax rate would also collect no revenue, as no one would bother working.
Ronald Reagan slashed the top rates of US income tax
It has been used from Reagan onwards as the economic underpinning for an argument that lower taxes support growth.
In the 1980s, US government revenues increased as taxes were cut, although that was as much to do with general strong levels of growth as it was to do with the tax cuts themselves.
The second, contrary, economic pressure, as countless studies from the World Bank and others have shown, is that countries with high levels of income inequality have lower levels of growth.
Tackling that inequality, by whatever method, incentivises people to work more effectively.
The problem is that lifting lower wages by increasing, for example, productivity levels, could be a more effective way of reducing the gap between low and high pay, although it would take many years of concerted effort to be successful.
Since the 1970s, the notion of a government inspired "incomes policy" has been - in the popularity stakes - right up there with multi-millionaire bankers at a meeting of Momentum, the organisation that supports Mr Corbyn's Labour leadership.
But, ever since the introduction of the minimum wage in the 1990s, the government has made it clear that the amount people are paid is not simply a matter for private businesses and the free market.
Mr Corbyn has said he wants to consider a national maximum wage.
Many might nod in agreement.
How to do it, though, and whether it is economically helpful for growth, is a very different matter. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38570434 |
Falling in love in wartime Iraq - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | When two Iraqi men fell in love during intense fighting in the city of Ramadi in 2003, it was the beginning of a long, long struggle to live together as a couple. | Magazine | US Army interpreter Nayyef Hrebid and Iraqi soldier Btoo Allami fell in love at the height of the Iraq War. It was the start of a dangerous 12-year struggle to live together as a couple.
In 2003, Nayyef Hrebid found himself in the midst of the Iraq war. The fine art graduate had signed up to be a translator for the US Army after he couldn't find a job.
"I was based in Ramadi, which was the worst place at that time. We would go out on patrols and people would be killed by IEDs [roadside bombs] and snipers. I was asking myself: 'Why am I here? Why am I doing this?'"
However, a chance encounter with a soldier in the Iraqi army changed everything.
"One day I was sitting outside and this guy came out of the shower block. I saw his hair was shiny and very black and he was smiling. I just thought, 'Oh my god, this guy is really cute.'
"I felt like something beautiful had happened in this very bad place."
Hrebid was secretly gay. He hadn't come out because same-sex relationships are taboo in Iraq and gay people are at risk of violent attacks.
"In Iraq being gay is seen as very wrong and brings shame on your family. You can even get killed for it so you have to be very careful," he says.
Hrebid worked as a translator for the US army
What Hrebid didn't realise was that the soldier, Btoo Allami, was also attracted to him.
"I had this strange feeling like I had been looking for him. My feelings grew over time and I knew I wanted to talk to him," Allami says.
They had a chance to get to know each other when they took part in a mission to clear insurgents from the city's general hospital.
"After patrols we would come back to the safe house and one day Btoo invited me over to eat food and talk with him and the other soldiers," Hrebid says.
"We talked night after night and my feelings for him grew. "
Three days after the dinner, Hrebid and Allami found an excuse to go outside to talk on their own. They sat in a dark parking lot, full of US Humvees.
"I felt very close to Nayyef and I felt it was time for me to say something," Allami says.
"So I told him about my feelings and that I loved him. And then he kissed me and left. It was an amazing night. I didn't eat for two days afterwards."
Btoo, pictured by a Humvee, was a sergeant in the Iraqi army
The relationship swiftly developed and they spent an increasing amount of time together at the camp.
"On missions I'd try to be close to him, when I should have been with the Americans. We would walk together and we took some pictures together," Hrebid says.
Their American and Iraqi colleagues soon noticed.
"I was telling my American captain about Btoo and he helped bring him over to stay with me at the American camp for a few nights," says Hrebid.
"But some of the other soldiers stopped talking to me after they found out I was gay. One of my translator friends from my home city ended up hitting me with a big stick, which broke my arm."
In 2007, Hrebid and Allami were both deployed to Diwaniyah in southern Iraq. They were lucky to be in the same city but still had to keep their relationship secret. But in 2009, Hrebid applied for asylum in America, as his long involvement with the US Army made it too dangerous to stay.
"I thought I could go and then it would be easy to apply for Btoo to come afterwards," Hrebid says.
"I knew if we stayed in Iraq we had no future. We were going to end up married to women and hiding our whole lives. But I had watched the TV series Queer As Folk and I realised there were gay communities on the other side of the world."
Hrebid was granted asylum and settled in Seattle. However, his attempts to get a visa for Allami to join him were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Allami's family had discovered he was gay and started putting pressure on him to marry a woman. With help from Hrebid's friend Michael Failla, a refugee activist, he escaped to Beirut.
"It wasn't an easy decision to make as I had a 25-year contract with the army," Allami says.
"Plus I was the only one supporting my family. But I knew I had to be with Nayyef."
Allami (left) and Hrebid knew they couldn't live openly as a gay couple in Iraq
Allami applied to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for resettlement but his tourist visa ran out before they resolved his case. As an illegal immigrant he had to steer clear of soldiers and checkpoints to avoid being sent back to Iraq.
"The waiting was hard," says Allami.
"I felt like I was stuck and not moving forward. But then I would speak to Nayyef and that always made me feel stronger."
They talked to each other on Skype every day.
"He would watch me cook breakfast and I would watch him cook dinner and we would talk as if we lived together," Hrebid says.
Although homosexuality is legal in Iraq, activists say many gay men, and some women, have died in targeted killings
In 2012, a BBC World Service investigation found that law enforcement agencies had been involved in systematic persecution of homosexuals
The Islamic State group killed dozens of gay men between 2015 and 2016 - many were thrown to their deaths from high-rise buildings
Allami was interviewed by the UNHCR several times, but his application was beset with problems and delays.
Again Michael Failla provided support, flying twice to Beirut to advocate on Allami's behalf.
"I call him my godfather," Allami says.
But while awaiting the UNHCR decision Allami got an interview at the Canadian Embassy in Lebanon. With Failla's help he was able to fly to Vancouver in September 2013.
The couple were now living just a tantalising 140 miles (225 km) apart across the border.
"I came across every weekend to see Btoo and any day I had off work," Hrebid says.
The couple got married in Canada in 2014 on Valentine's Day. Hrebid then applied for a US visa for Allami as his husband. In February 2015 they were invited for an interview with US immigration in Montreal.
"It was a long flight, six or seven hours, and it was freezing - like 27 below zero," says Hrebid.
"The officer asked us three or four questions and after about 10 minutes she told Btoo: 'You've been approved to live as an immigrant in the United States.'
"I had to ask her to repeat it again. I put my hand over my mouth to stop myself screaming. We went outside and I was just crying and shaking. I could not believe it was finally happening. We were going to live together in the place where we wanted to live."
In March 2015, Hrebid and Allami travelled from Vancouver to Seattle by bus. They decided to have another wedding ceremony in the US and tied the knot in Washington State.
"We did not celebrate the first one and we wanted to have a dream wedding," says Hrebid.
"It was the most happy day of my life."
Today they live together in an apartment in Seattle. Hrebid, who now works as a home decor department manager is a US citizen. Allami has a green card and is due to become a citizen next year. He works as a building supervisor.
Their story has been turned in to a documentary called Out of Iraq, which premiered at the LA Film Festival last year.
"We do not have to hide. I can hold his hand when we walk down the street," Hrebid says.
Allami agrees. "It's so different for us now," he says.
"Before we were so hopeless but now we feel like a family. It's a gay-friendly city. I'm living the dream. I'm free."
Pictures courtesy of World of Wonder Productions
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38506269 |
Society and the Conservative Party - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A look at how Conservative leaders have attempted to define what society should, and should not, be. | UK Politics | Theresa May has set out her vision for a "shared society" in which the state has a role in helping people who are struggling to get by. It marks the latest attempt by a Conservative leader to spell out what society should, or should not, be.
Margaret Thatcher's remark about society was one of her most famous
In a 1987 interview with Woman's Own magazine, Margaret Thatcher said there was "no such thing as society", and that line went on to become one of her most famous.
It has been much debated over the years, with critics seeing it as evidence of a heartless approach where needy individuals are left to fend for themselves.
But Thatcher's supporters complain the quote is taken out of context, and in her memoirs the former PM said it had been "distorted beyond recognition".
More recently, polling has found that while a strong majority of people disagreed with the "no such thing" line in isolation, most agreed with the longer version.
Here it is: "I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it... They're casting their problem on society.
"And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families, and no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first.
"It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation."
Thatcher's successor, John Major, entered Downing Street in 1990 promising to create a "classless society", which he described as a "a tapestry of talents in which everyone from child to adult respects achievement".
He was still talking about it in his party conference speech the following year: "I spoke of a classless society. I don't shrink from that phrase.
"I don't mean a society in which everyone is the same, or thinks the same, or earns the same. But a tapestry of talents in which everyone from child to adult respects achievement; where every promotion, every certificate is respected; and each person's contribution is valued. And where the greatest respect is reserved for the law."
Next up was William Hague, who called for a "responsible society", and said Thatcher's famous line had been wilfully misinterpreted and used against the Conservatives.
"A strong society rests on responsible individuals and families. They need to be able to turn to straightforward, reliable help when times are bad," the Tories' 2001 manifesto said.
"But that should not become dependence on the state when times are good."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. David Cameron: "I think we're onto a really big idea, a really exciting future for our country"
"There is such a thing as society; it's just not the same thing as the state," declared David Cameron in his 2005 victory speech after becoming Conservative leader.
Five years later, the idea of a Big Society was a key strand of the Conservatives' 2010 general election manifesto.
It involved allowing voluntary groups and charities to run public services, encouraging people to do more volunteering and giving local groups more power to take decisions affecting their area.
After becoming PM, Cameron described building the Big Society as his "great passion", hoping "people power" would help keep pubs and museums open and mean more residents getting involved with their communities.
But there were reports Conservative candidates found it a hard concept to explain on the doorstep, and the Tories' political opponents said it was simply a way of hiding cuts to local services as the new government reduced public spending.
Mentions of the Big Society became less prominent over the course of the Parliament, and the theme featured little in the 2015 general election campaign.
Having quit frontline politics after the 2016 EU referendum, Mr Cameron now works with the National Citizen Service, describing the organisation as "the Big Society in action".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Prime Minister Theresa May said she wanted to "build a better Britain"
In what has been seen as a break from David Cameron's championing of voluntary work, Theresa May has stressed the role of the state in creating "a society that works for everyone".
The so-called shared society, she says, "doesn't just value our individual rights but focuses rather more on the responsibilities we have to one another" and respects "the bonds of family, community, citizenship and strong institutions that we share as a union of people and nations".
In a speech setting out her vision, she said there was "more to life than individualism and self-interest".
"We form families, communities, towns, cities, counties and nations. And we embrace the responsibilities those institutions imply.
"And government has a clear role to play to support this conception of society." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38553797 |
Morgan Schneiderlin: Man Utd and Everton agree £22m fee for midfielder - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Manchester United agree to sell France midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin to Everton for £22m. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Manchester United have agreed to sell midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin to Everton for £22m.
France international Schneiderlin, 27, was signed for United by Louis van Gaal for £25m from Southampton in July 2015.
He has played 47 times for the club but has only featured eight times under Jose Mourinho this season, including three Premier League appearances.
Everton, meanwhile, have agreed to loan striker Oumar Niasse, 26, to Hull, with personal terms still to be agreed.
The Senegal international signed for £13.5m from Lokomotiv Moscow in February 2016 but has played only seven times for the Toffees.
Following United's 2-0 win against Hull on Tuesday, Mourinho said: "Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward informed me that the situation is close. Morgan is more than probably going to Everton.
"I am sad and happy, sad because I like him and he could be an option for us, happy because this is what he wants, to play every game and be important in the team."
• None Listen: 'Man Utd want a defender - but not Lindelof'
Manager Ronald Koeman demanded the club make January signings in the wake of their FA Cup third-round exit to Leicester.
They have already signed 19-year-old forward Ademola Lookman from Charlton for £11m.
If Schneiderlin, who was also a target for West Brom, moves to Goodison Park he will work with Koeman for a second time, having spent two years under the Dutchman at Southampton.
Koeman still retains a strong interest in another United player, his countryman Memphis Depay, who is also an Old Trafford outcast.
Everton may face competition from abroad for the 22-year-old, who joined United from PSV for £25m in May 2015.
Morgan Schneiderlin has struggled to adapt and stamp his personality on anything at Old Trafford. But he gets across the ground well, he can tackle and he gets up and down the pitch.
At his best he's a typical Premier League central midfield player. Everton are buying someone who you know has been able to produce the goods in the Premier League from his time at Southampton. He's not a gamble. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38577591 |
Brazil: Clash of cultures over Amazon dams - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | Indigenous groups and river dwellers are battling the government and big corporations over the huge dams being built to meet Brazil's energy needs. | null | Indigenous groups and river dwellers are battling the government and big corporations over the huge dams being built to meet Brazil's energy needs.
The Belo Monte hydroelectric dam is the world's fourth largest dam, capable of generating 11,000 MW of energy, and more are planned. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-38565028 |
Newspaper headlines: 'Broken' A&E and Streep takes on Trump - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Many of the UK front pages focus on the NHS's accident and emergency departments and the actress Meryl Streep takes centre stage on others, after her comments about Donald Trump. | The Papers | Many papers agree there is a "crisis" in accident and emergency departments in England, with some saying patient safety is at risk.
The Daily Mail is outraged by the government's suggestion that 30% of people turning up at casualty don't need to be there and says the reason so many people go to hospital is that they find it impossible to get an appointment with their GP.
The Daily Mirror says the NHS is "a victim of failed Tory austerity" and that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt isn't up to the job.
He stupidly shut hospital beds when demand was growing, the paper says, and should be signed off work - permanently.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is under fire from the Daily Mirror who say he isn't up to the job
But the Sun believes it is pointless to hurl abuse at Mr Hunt when the government has found billions more for the health service - which it says is a bottomless pit.
The paper supports the Labour MP Caroline Flint's call for cross-party agreement on the long-term future of the NHS and suggests that politicians might consider new ways of funding it.
Writing in The Guardian, Polly Toynbee chides PM Theresa May for "ignoring an NHS falling apart before our eyes" and says "a full-blown NHS crisis risks engulfing her".
The Sun says Whitbread has been adding pork to lasagne in its restaurants as a cost-cutting measure without telling customers.
It predicts the revelation will cause "outrage" among Muslims and Jews, whose religion forbids them to eat pork.
Whitbread apologised "for any concern or confusion" and said their supplier had not broken food labelling laws.
The Financial Times is among the papers to report that a box at London's Royal Albert Hall has come on the market for the first time in almost a decade - priced at £2.5m. It seats 12 and is said to be close to the venue's royal box.
The Financial Times said the new owner will have the right to attend two-thirds of events at the venue
The Times says some of the hall's supporters are irked that all the money will go to the box's owner, and none to the venue itself.
The paper believes the sale will also reignite the row about whether the Royal Albert Hall, which is a charity, should allow seat owners to make hundreds of thousands of pounds a year by selling tickets for performances online.
And finally, several papers are intrigued to learn that the Queen is a fan of the BBC teatime television quiz show, Pointless.
The Times reports that Her Majesty is a fan of the weekday quiz programme
The Daily Express says courtiers have told one of the programme's presenters, Alexander Armstrong, that she watches the programme in her private sitting room in Buckingham Palace while drinking a cup of tea and tries to beat the contestants.
The Times says the revelation "may shed some light on how the Queen has been filling her time while she was cooped up indoors with a cold. If one is not taking the corgis for a walk, there are only so many ways one can while away a long winter's afternoon in Norfolk". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-38565081 |
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