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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 |
Obituary: Clare Hollingworth - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Celebrated war correspondent who broke the news of Germany's invasion of Poland. | UK | Clare Hollingworth was the war correspondent who broke the news that German troops were poised to invade Poland at the start of World War Two.
She went on to report on conflicts across the world but it was that moment that defined her career.
She was by no means the first female war reporter, but her depth of technical, tactical and strategic insight set her apart.
And, even as she approached her 11th decade, she still kept her passport by her bed in case she should be called to another assignment.
Clare Hollingworth was born in Leicester on 10 October 1911 and spent most of her childhood on a farm. What should have been idyllic years were overshadowed by World War One.
"I remember the German bombers flying over the farm we lived in to bomb Loughborough," she reminisced. "And the next day we got Polly the pony and took the trap into Loughborough to see the damage they had done. "
She had set her heart on a writing career early on, much to the exasperation of her mother.
British authorities did not believe the German army had entered Poland
"She didn't believe anything journalists wrote and thought they were only fit for the tradesmen's entrance."
After school she attended a domestic science college in Leicester, which instilled in her a lifelong hatred of housework.
More interesting to her by far were the battlefield tours that her father arranged to sites as diverse as Naseby, Poitiers and Agincourt.
Eschewing the prospect of life as a country squire's wife, Hollingworth became a secretary at the League of Nations Union before studying at London University's School of Slavonic Studies and the University of Zagreb.
In 1936 she married a fellow League of Nations worker, Vandeleur Robinson, but soon found herself in Warsaw, distributing aid to refugees who had fled from the Sudetenland, the Czech territory occupied by the Nazis in 1938.
She had written the occasional article for the New Statesman and, on a brief visit to London in August 1939, she was signed up by the editor of the Daily Telegraph, Arthur Wilson, who was impressed by her experience in Poland.
In this period of heightened tension, the border between Poland and Germany was sealed to all but diplomatic vehicles. After borrowing a car from the British consul in Katowice and proudly displaying the union jack, she drove through the exclusion zone and into Germany.
She had a deep knowledge of military strategy
While driving back to Poland, having bought wine, torches and as much film as possible, she passed through a valley in which huge hessian screens had been erected.
As the wind blew one of the screens back, it revealed thousands of troops, together with tanks and artillery, all facing the Polish border.
Her report featured on the front page of the Daily Telegraph on 29 August, 1939. Less than a week after becoming a full-time journalist, she had scooped one of the biggest stories of the 20th Century.
Three days later, Hollingworth saw the German tanks rolling into Poland. But when she phoned the secretary at the British Embassy in Warsaw, he told her it could not be true as negotiations between Britain and Germany were still continuing.
"So I hung the telephone receiver out of the window," Hollingworth later recalled, "So he could listen to the Germans invading."
Working on her own, often behind enemy lines, with nothing more than a toothbrush and a typewriter, she witnessed the collapse of Poland before moving to Bucharest, where she realised that her marriage was over.
"I thought that for me - and in a different kind of way for him - my career was more important than trying to rush back home," she reflected later.
Her story about the spy Kim Philby was blocked by The Guardian
Hollingworth spent a busy war in Turkey, Greece and Cairo. When Montgomery - who could not stomach the idea of a woman reporting from the front - captured Tripoli in 1943, he ordered her to return to Cairo.
She decided to attach herself to Eisenhower's forces, then in Algiers.
Though diminutive and bespectacled, Hollingworth was as tough as nails. She learned how to fly and made a number of parachute jumps.
During the latter part of the war, she reported from Palestine, Iraq and Persia, where she interviewed the young Shah.
After the war, Hollingworth, by now working for the Observer and the Economist, married Geoffrey Hoare, the Times's Middle East correspondent.
The couple were just 300 yards from Jerusalem's King David Hotel when it was bombed in 1946, killing 91 people.
The attack left her with a hatred of the man behind the attack, the Irgun leader Menachem Begin, who eventually became prime minister of Israel and won the Nobel Peace Prize.
"I would not shake a hand with so much blood on it," she explained.
She celebrated her 100th birthday in her adopted home of Hong Kong
In 1963 Hollingworth was working for the Guardian in Beirut when Kim Philby, a correspondent for the Observer, disappeared.
She was convinced that he was the fabled "third man" in a British spy ring that already included Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean.
After some detective work, she discovered that Philby had left on a Soviet ship bound for Odessa and filed copy to that effect with the Guardian.
But this second huge scoop was spiked by the paper's editor, Alastair Hetherington, who feared a libel suit.
Three months later, the Guardian ran the story, tucked away on an inside page. The following day the Daily Express splashed it on the front page, prompting the government to admit that Philby had, indeed, defected to the Soviet Union.
Hollingworth reported on the Algerian crisis and the Vietnam War. She was one of the first journalists to predict that American military muscle would not prevail and that a stalemate was inevitable.
She made a special effort to speak to Vietnamese civilians, away from the watching eyes of the US PR people, to ensure she accurately captured the views of those who were suffering the most.
Hoare died in 1966, and Hollingworth, who had become the Telegraph's first Beijing correspondent in 1973, retired to Hong Kong in 1981.
She spent her final years in the former colony and was a daily fixture at the Foreign Correspondents' Club, venerated by her colleagues.
Although she lost her sight later in life, Clare Hollingworth, a true journalist's journalist, retained an acute interest in world affairs right to the end.
She was once asked where she would want to go if the phone rang with a new assignment.
"I would look through the papers," she said, "And say, 'Where's the most dangerous place to go?', because it always makes a good story." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13960347 |
Justin Thomas & Hideki Matsuyama: PGA Tour's in-form pair ready to win majors - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Justin Thomas and Hideki Matsuyama are the in-form pair on the PGA Tour - it would be no surprise if either landed a first major this year, says Iain Carter. | null | It is an event that promotes Hawaiian tourism more than it provides signals for the golfing year, but last week's Tournament of Champions could prove more significant than usual thanks to the outstanding performances of its top two finishers.
Champion Justin Thomas and runner-up Hideki Matsuyama both appear ready to mix it with the game's leading figures in the biggest events of 2017.
It would be no surprise if either or both landed first major titles this year.
I think it's floodgates opening. The guy hits it forever. He's got a really, really nifty short game. He manages the course well. It's awesome to see
Yes, this scenic January gathering on the PGA Tour is a gentle affair, with a limited field restricted to winners from the previous year. But Thomas and Matsuyama both showed they had not lost any of their increasingly impressive edge during the Christmas break.
World number one Jason Day was taking his first, relatively rusty steps back into the competitive arena after three months off and headlined a field that included US Open champion Dustin Johnson and US PGA winner Jimmy Walker.
Two-time major champion Jordan Spieth and Ryder Cup hero Patrick Reed were also competing, yet Thomas and Matsuyama separated themselves from these elite chasers to maintain the impressive momentum they had built towards the end of 2016.
While Thomas triumphed, his 24-year-old Japanese rival came second to continue an extraordinary run of form. In his past six tournaments Matsuyama has won four times and now been runner-up twice.
The only player to have beaten him in this sequence is Thomas, who also triumphed by three strokes when he successfully defended the CIMB Classic in Malaysia in October.
Matsuyama's hot streak began a couple of weeks earlier with a fifth place at the Tour Championship. Since then, he has picked up two titles in Japan, as well as the WGC HSBC Champions crown in Shanghai and Tiger Woods' Hero World Challenge.
Last Sunday, an eagle at the 14th in the final round in Kapalua piled pressure on Thomas, who then steadied himself after a double bogey at the 15th to claim his fourth professional victory.
"I think it's potentially floodgates opening," Spieth said of his 23-year-old compatriot's promise, after he finished three shots clear of Matsuyama.
"The guy hits it forever. He's got a really, really nifty short game. He manages the course well," Spieth added. "It's awesome to see."
Thomas was unlucky to miss out on a wildcard debut in last year's US Ryder Cup team. The Kentucky youngster admits that he feared he was losing ground on contemporaries such as Spieth, who is already a Masters and US Open winner.
"I think it drove me a lot," Thomas said. "I wasn't mad, but it was maybe a little frustrating sometimes seeing some friends and peers my age do well - not because I wasn't cheering for them, but because I feel like I was as good as them. It's just immature of me.
"I mean, the fact of the matter is, over the course of a long career, we're going to beat each other. That's just how it is.
"I think now, I feel so much more comfortable. I really do. Maybe the first time in Malaysia when I won [in 2015], I was kind of like, what am I doing here?
"But now it's like, OK, I belong here. I should be here."
Thomas, now ranked 12th in the world, and Matsuyama will remain in Hawaii to continue their rivalry in this week's Sony Open at Waialae CC in Honolulu. Spieth is also competing, along with Olympic champion Justin Rose.
Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson were the only members of the world's top six who did not play last week's tournament. McIlroy comes out of hibernation to take part in the South African Open in Gauteng, which starts on Thursday.
The Northern Irishman is embarking on a busy schedule that provides a strong opening to the European Tour year. He will play the following week in Abu Dhabi and joins Tiger Woods in the field for February's Dubai Desert Classic.
Off the course, the Tour as a whole has made an impressive start to 2017 by attracting Chinese money to bolster the French Open.
Played at the end of June, the tournament will be known as the HNA Open de France and with a prize fund in excess of $7m (£5.75m) becomes the eighth event in the elite Rolex Series.
The idea behind these big-money tournaments is to provide Europe's young stars with a viable alternative to the PGA Tour.
If they succeed in this objective it can only raise standards and, as Thomas and Matsuyama have just demonstrated, they are already sky-high on the other side of the pond. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/38559519 |
Home Secretary Amber Rudd's heel gets stuck in Downing St - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | Home Secretary Amber Rudd's high heel gets stuck between the paving slabs at Downing Street. | null | Home Secretary Amber Rudd's heel got stuck between the paving slabs as she walked along to 10 Downing Street for the first cabinet meeting of 2017.
An assistant had to come to help free her foot, as Ms Rudd held onto the railings. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38568577 |
Reality Check: Was 27 December the busiest NHS day? - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says 27 December was the busiest day in NHS history. Is he right? | Health | The claim: Tuesday 27 December was the busiest day in the history of the National Health Service.
Reality Check verdict: In relation to attendance at type-one accident and emergency departments (the general A&E departments at big hospitals), Mr Hunt is correct. That's a reasonable measure of how busy the NHS is, but other measures suggest different days were busier.
Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt made the claim on BBC Radio 4's Today programme as he thanked staff for their work over Christmas.
NHS England publishes daily statistics during the winter for several metrics to do with NHS services, so we can look into whether it is the case.
We can assume he was talking about the NHS in England only, because health is devolved, so he is not in charge of the NHS in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
The number of people attending accident and emergency departments is an important indicator of demand for hospital services.
On 27 December, there were 60,215 attendances at A&E departments.
That is a high level, but it's not the highest for the month, which was set at 60,692 on 5 December.
But it turns out that Mr Hunt was talking about only type-one A&E departments, which is what most people would think of as an A&E department.
Type-two are specialist units, such as Moorfields Eye Unit, while type-three are GP-led walk-in centres.
There were 46,315 attendances at type-one A&E departments, which is the highest of the month. Comparisons with previous years are difficult due to changes in coverage and figures not being broken down in the same way.
Another important measure is the number of emergency admissions, which was 13,715 on 27 December.
That is a high figure, but the number was higher on each of the following three days - it was 14,649 on 28 December.
Looking at the proportion of beds occupied: on 27 December, 90.5% of the total number of available beds were occupied.
That's actually quite low by the standards of last month - there were higher figures on 24 days in December.
NHS England says that the week ending 1 January 2017 was the busiest week for the NHS 111 24-hour non-emergency service since it began in August 2010, but we do not get that figure broken down by day so cannot say whether the Tuesday was the busiest day.
We also do not have daily figures for how busy other parts of the NHS were, such as GPs.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38561247 |
United Kingdom first to recognise parkour as official sport - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Parkour, also known as freerunning, is officially recognised as a sport in the United Kingdom. | null | Last updated on .From the section Sport
The United Kingdom has become the first country to officially recognise parkour as a sport.
The practice, also known as freerunning, has had its application to be recognised approved by the home country sports councils.
Governing body Parkour UK says participants can "take part whenever and wherever they want".
Minister for Sport Tracey Crouch described it as a "fun, creative and innovative option".
"I want people to get out there and find the sport and physical activity that appeals to them," she added.
"I am pleased that it has been recognised as a sport, giving it the platform for further growth in this country.
"The sport promotes movement and using the great outdoors as a space to get active in and I encourage people to don their trainers and give it a go."
According to Parkour UK, the discipline was founded in France in the 1980s by a group of nine men and named l'art du deplacement.
The governing body describes it as a physical discipline in which participants "move freely over and through any terrain using only the abilities of the body".
Parkour UK says it "encourages self-improvement on all levels, revealing one's physical and mental limits while simultaneously offering ways to overcome them".
The term "freerunning" was introduced to communicate the sport to an English-speaking audience.
Sebastien Foucan, president of Parkour UK, is most recognisable from his role as Mollaka in the opening scene of James Bond's Casino Royale, where he is chased through a building site by Daniel Craig.
Foucan, who has also appeared music videos for Madonna and stared on Channel 4 documentary Jump London, called the decision a "groundbreaking moment for a discipline which started off as child's play and continues as child's play - for all ages".
"We celebrate activity and playfulness whilst constantly challenging our mental and physical limits. It is more than just jumping, it is a health driven way of life," he added.
Parkour UK chief executive Eugene Minogue said the sport is now in a vast majority of primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, with the UK also boasting 50 Parkour Parks.
He added: "All this in just over seven years , an amazing achievement and testament to the unique and diverse parkour/freerunning community in the UK, which is world leading."
However, parkour has faced some criticism for "potentially jeopardising lives" and encouraging "trespassing".
The UK's freerunning community said it was left "scarred" after the death of prominent freerunner Nye Newman on New Year's Day.
The 17-year-old's parkour group, Brewman, says he died in an accident on the Paris Metro, but denied he was train surfing at the time.
How does a sport become recognised?
The Council of Europe defines 'sport' as any form of physical activity, casual or organised, aimed at "expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels".
Sport England, UK Sport, Sport Northern Ireland, Sport Scotland and Sport Wales refer to this charter when they determine what they officially recognise as a sport.
The national governing body of any activity wishing to become an official sport must apply to the home country sports councils.
Sport England says: "Sports council recognition of a national governing body is not a guarantee of funding and neither does it mean we have approved or accredited the quality of its programmes." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/38567616 |
Lord Coe set for select committee recall after Dave Bedford evidence - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Lord Coe, the head of world athletics, will be recalled to speak to the Culture, Media and Sport select committee. | null | Lord Coe, the head of world athletics, will be recalled by the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, after MPs heard evidence that "undermined" his comments to them in December 2015.
Coe told the committee he was unaware of specific cases of corruption before they became public in December 2014.
But former athlete Dave Bedford said he contacted Coe about Russian athlete Liliya Shobukhova in August that year.
Bedford added he spoke to Coe about a related matter on 21 November 2014.
Allegations of state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes, and cover-ups involving officials at the sport's world governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were revealed in a documentary by German broadcaster ARD on 3 December 2014.
That is when Coe, who was elected IAAF president in August 2015, says he became aware of specific allegations.
Bedford, 67, said he was "very surprised and quite disappointed" to find the 60-year-old had not opened emails sent in August 2014, which provided details of alleged extortion from marathon runner Shobukhova, who was given a doping ban in 2014.
Coe, in his evidence to the committee, said he forwarded Bedford's emails to the IAAF's then-recently formed ethics board, without reading them or opening the attachments.
Damian Collins, chair of the select committee, said he wanted Coe to come back before the committee because Bedford's evidence "raised clear and important questions" about Coe's knowledge of the allegations, while Conservative MP Nigel Huddleston said the answers "undermined" the former Olympic champion's version of events.
In response, the IAAF said former London Marathon race director Bedford "offered nothing new" to the inquiry, and Coe has "no further information he can provide".
Collins then issued a further statement, saying Bedford's evidence "casts some doubt" on when Coe learned of specific allegations.
He added: "There are also questions about why Lord Coe didn't do more to make himself aware of the issues that were contained in the allegations that Bedford sent him."
However, Coe may not have to attend a further committee hearing. While select committees have the power to compel people to attend hearings and give evidence, MPs and members of the House of Lords - such as Lord Coe - are exempt.
Bedford agreed with the committee it was "strange" Coe had not opened his email attachments, and said he had no doubt the double Olympic champion knew about the Shobukhova case when they met in November 2014.
However the former 10,000m world record holder also defended Coe, describing him "as someone within the IAAF who I could trust".
When asked to explain why Coe did not follow up on the email, Bedford suggested he may have decided the "best way he could help the sport was to make sure he got elected as president", as otherwise there was "no future" for athletics.
"In my opinion, looking at all the other alternatives, Seb Coe is the only chance athletics has to get over this difficult period," added Bedford.
• December 2011: Bedford, then chairman of the IAAF road running committee, says he was asked by colleague Sean Wallace-Jones whether Liliya Shobukhova had been paid the $500,000 for winning the 2010-2011 World Marathon Majors, warning: "If you haven't, I wouldn't." The prize money had already been paid.
• December 2012: Shobukhova competes at the 2012 London Olympics and the Chicago Marathon before being signed by Bedford to run the 2013 London Marathon. Bedford then receives a call from Shobukhova's agent, Andrey Baranov, to say she is unable to compete because she is pregnant.
• February 2014: In a bar in Tokyo, Baranov tells Wallace-Jones he has seen evidence of extortion, with Shobukhova paying large sums of money to senior Russian athletics officials.
• March 2014: At the IAAF Copenhagen Half Marathon, Bedford meets Baranov and Wallace-Jones, and Baranov decides to make a formal complaint.
• April 2014: Baranov and Wallace-Jones sign a sworn deposition, which they send to the IAAF's new ethics board chairman, Michael Beloff, in the same month Shobukhova is given a two-year ban.
• 8 August 2014: After Coe tells Bedford during a phone call he has not heard about the Shobukhova case being dealt with by the IAAF ethics board, Bedford sends him an email with attachments relating to the issue. Coe says he forwarded the email on to the ethics commission without reading the attachments.
• 14 August 2014: Bedford texts Coe to ask if he has seen the previous email, but does not receive a reply.
• 24 September 2014: Bedford learns that now-banned ex-IAAF anti-doping director Gabriel Dolle is to leave the governing body, prompting him to text Coe: "I hear Dolle is leaving at the end of the week - pushed or walked? I hope this is not the start of a cover-up." He does not receive a reply.
• 21 November 2014: At the British Athletics Writers' Lunch in London, Bedford tries to get Coe to meet Baranov and Shobukhova's lawyer Mike Morgan. Coe says he needs to "seek guidance" before doing so. Bedford claims Coe was aware of the issue at this point but the two did not discuss the August email.
• 3 December 2014: German broadcaster ARD airs its documentary alleging state-sponsored Russian doping and cover-ups at the IAAF.
• 4 December 2014: Coe calls Bedford to say he has seen the ARD documentary and is still seeking advice regarding Morgan.
• 7 December 2014: Coe texts Bedford, saying the legal advice is not to talk to someone [Morgan] representing a litigant. Regarding the Shobukhova case, he says "the ethics committee know of this and more". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/38573893 |
Pretend you're in The Italian Job or get the bus? - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Renting a car from neighbours makes environmental and economic sense. Can tech take it mainstream? | Business | "Betty" the 1999 Paul Smith Mini Cooper adds some fun to private car hire
Handing over the keys is a tweed-wearing, bearded Tony Grant, who owns 10 such Minis with names like Poppy, Mildred and Lulu.
Self-styled "Head Gasket" at Small Car Big City, he is adding a new twist to the car hire and car-sharing business.
As part of the fun, there are fancy dress outfits in the boot to match The Italian Job film theme, along with a crowbar and a bar of (imitation) gold.
I booked Betty through recently launched car-sharing app Turo, which is aiming to bring an Airbnb vibe to the world of wheels.
While car-sharing firms, such as ZipCar which owns its own fleet, have been around for more than a decade, so-called peer-to-peer (P2P) car sharing - private owners renting out their cars - hasn't really taken off.
And yet, given that we use our cars just 5% of the time, as Andre Haddad, Turo's chief executive tells me, the business potential remains.
Small Car Big City founder Tony Grant and one of his beloved Minis
This is why Turo, and a handful of other recent start-ups like easyCar, Getaround, and Rentecarlo, are hoping to unlock all this unused capacity sitting idle in the street.
"ZipCar's fleets at their maximum reached 15,000 vehicles, so they were not able to reach massive scale," says Mr Haddad.
"They obviously built a very successful company, but globally, hourly car sharing reached, at its peak, less than 1% of the entire car rental market space," he adds.
For Turo, the minimum rental is a day, he says, and their average is four days. Other firms, like Getaround, which has a presence in 10 US cities, focus more on hourly rentals.
Mr Haddad, who describes himself as a car enthusiast, says Turo gives people the opportunity to try out interesting cars, from cute Minis to rugged off-roaders.
"It would be really fun to go out in a Jeep Wrangler if you're going up a mountain, but it doesn't really justify owning one," he says.
One practical challenge of P2P rental is getting the key to the customer if the car's owner isn't around.
Richard Laughton, chief executive of easyCar Club, which launched in 2014, says: "We provide owners with lockboxes they can attach somewhere outside their house, and send a one-use pin to the renter to take the key out, and put it back at the end."
Next year easyCar Club will try out unlocking cars by mobile app, he says.
EasyCar Club owners and renters are vetted by the company
Another challenge is overcoming the trust issue. After all, would you rent out your precious motor to a total stranger?
"I think one thing that will continually hold back the P2P model is the reluctance of people to put an asset on a shared platform," says Adam Stocker, a researcher at Berkeley University Transportation Sustainability Research Center in California.
"The fear that their vehicle gets trashed, misused, or breaks faster - but this is just human nature."
One early US car-sharing start-up, HiGear, shut down in 2012 following the theft of several members' cars.
So most P2P companies engage in detailed vetting of new members, and incorporate feedback and user ratings. Turo says it has developed machine learning tools to help with the screening process.
EasyCar believes telematics boxes could help track how renters have used - or abused - the car and act as a sort of onboard policeman.
EasyCar Club boss Richard Laughton does not own a car
And what if the renter crashes or damages your car?
"Insurance has been a really big challenge," admits Jacob Nielsen, co-founder of Rentecarlo, a P2P car-sharing firm founded by "three guys from Denmark" two-and-a-half years ago.
Admiral Insurance has worked with several P2P start-ups to develop a suitable product, says Mr Nielsen. The insurer even allows renters to earn up to five years' no-claims bonus while driving someone else's car, providing they drive more than 30 days in a year, he says.
Such innovations and technological improvements have enabled easyCar to "double bookings year-on-year", says Mr Laughton.
Other P2P car-sharing firms seem to be enjoying similar rates of growth, as younger people in particular embrace the concept of "mobility as a service" and eschew ownership.
So what does this mean for car manufacturers' traditional business models?
"I would say 2016 definitely was the year the major auto manufacturers woke up to the shared mobility space," says Mr Stocker.
In September, Ford bought Chariot, a San Francisco-based crowd-sourced shuttle service, and is even investing in a bike-sharing start-up called Motivate.
Manufacturers clearly understand that personal car ownership is becoming old hat.
General Motors tried to buy Uber rival Lyft this summer, but was rebuffed, despite both companies joining forces to develop driverless taxis.
Car sharing may worry public authorities less than house sharing.
Property-sharing giant Airbnb has recently come under fire from city authorities - in Amsterdam, for instance - over concerns that it increases city centre congestion and enables guests to avoid paying hotel tax.
But car-sharing companies like Turo and others could help decrease the overall number of cars on the road to start with as fewer people see the need to own their own vehicle.
But once driverless cars come in, authorities might worry they pose threat to public transport systems, some analysts believe.
"It would be very inexpensive to run electric driverless Uber taxis that go around cities and provide transport in a fluid way," says Philippe Houchois, an automotive sector analyst at equity research company Jefferies.
"If you get to a point where your cost-per-mile is less than £1," says Mr Houchois, "public transport would seem less attractive."
Paradoxically, we could then see a rise in car numbers on our roads, not a reduction. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38554004 |
New candidate for 'missing element' in Earth's core - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Scientists believe they have established the identity of a "missing element" in the Earth's core. | Science & Environment | This study suggests silicon exists in the Earth's inner core with iron and nickel
Japanese scientists believe they have established the identity of a "missing element" within the Earth's core.
They have been searching for the element for decades, believing it makes up a significant proportion of our planet's centre, after iron and nickel.
Now by recreating the high temperatures and pressures found in the deep interior, experiments suggest the most likely candidate is silicon.
The discovery could help us to better understand how our world formed.
Lead researcher Eiji Ohtani from Tohoku University told BBC News: "We believe that silicon is a major element - about 5% [of the Earth's inner core] by weight could be silicon dissolved into the iron-nickel alloys."
The innermost part of Earth is thought to be a solid ball with a radius of about 1,200km (745 miles).
It is far too deep to investigate directly, so instead scientists study how seismic waves pass through this region to tell them something of its make-up.
It is mainly composed of iron, which makes up an estimated 85% of its weight, and nickel, which accounts for about 10% of the core.
To investigate the unaccounted for 5% of the core, Eiji Ohtani and his team created alloys of iron and nickel and mixed them with silicon.
They then subjected them to the immense pressures and temperatures that exist in the inner core.
They discovered that this mixture matched what was seen in the Earth's interior with seismic data.
Prof Ohtani said more work was needed to confirm the presence of silicon and that it did not rule out the presence of other elements.
Commenting on the research, Prof Simon Redfern from the University of Cambridge, UK, said: "These difficult experiments are really exciting because they can provide a window into what Earth's interior was like soon after it first formed, 4.5 billion years ago, when the core first started to separate from the rocky parts of Earth.
"But other workers have recently suggested that oxygen might also be important in the core."
He said that knowing what is there could help scientists to better understand the conditions that prevailed during the formation of the Earth.
In particular whether the early interior was one where oxygen was greatly limited - known as reducing conditions. Or whether oxygen was in abundance, which is described as oxidising.
If a larger amount of silicon had been incorporated in Earth's core more than four billion years ago, as suggested by Prof Ohtani's results, that would have left the rest of the planet relatively oxygen rich.
But if, instead, oxygen was sucked into the core that would leave the rocky mantle surrounding the core depleted of the element.
Prof Redfern said: "In a way, these two options are real alternatives that depend a lot on the conditions prevailing when Earth's core first began to form.
"The most recent results add to our understanding, but I suspect that they are by no means the last word on the story."
Prof Ohtani presented his research to the recent Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38561076 |
Starving to death on NHS wards? - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | How big a problem is malnutrition on hospital wards? | Health | The Sun newspaper on Monday carries the headline "Kill by mouth: Two die in NHS each day of thirst or starvation".
A shocking claim, based on figures from the Office of National Statistics.
The data for England and Wales shows that in 2015, hunger and/or dehydration were a factor in 828 patient deaths in hospitals and care homes.
But that doesn't mean all of these patients starved to death or died of thirst, experts at the ONS were quick to point out when I spoke with them about it.
Malnutrition may be recorded on the death certificate as a factor contributing directly to a death when it was a complication of a different underlying cause, such as cancer of the stomach, for example.
If you are very sick, it might not be feasible or desirable to eat and drink. Having a disease such as advanced cancer can cause malnutrition.
That's not to say that patients who are terminally ill should have fluid and nutrients withheld. On the contrary, guidelines make it clear that even if a patient can't eat or drink they should still be provided for.
They were drawn up after reports revealed some patients at the end of life were being denied this basic right when they were put on a care protocol called the Liverpool Care Pathway.
The LCP was scrapped in 2015 after relatives complained that their loved ones had been put on it without their knowledge and denied fluids, which hastened their deaths.
Another dark period in history for the NHS was the Stafford Hospital Scandal, where hundreds of patients died amid appalling levels of care between 2005 and 2009.
An inquiry identified terrible and unnecessary suffering, including examples where patients had been provided with food and drink, but it had been left out of their reach.
Joan Morris suffered a heart attack and died four weeks after being admitted to Stafford General Hospital
Joan Morris, 83, was admitted to Stafford Hospital in December 2006 with a chest infection.
Her family said that food and water had been left on a table instead of being given to her.
Another patient, Tom Wilhelms, resorted to drinking from a vase.
In response to the Francis Inquiry into the failings at the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust, the government published new hospital standards including around nutritional and hydration care.
And it asked the Care Quality Commission to make sure that the hospitals and care homes it inspected were following these standards.
The CQC's first dedicated review was in 2012.
It inspected 500 care homes and 50 hospitals in England and found 83% of care homes and 88% of hospitals it inspected met people's nutritional needs, which means patients were provided a suitable choice of food and drink and given help to eat and drink when they needed it.
It says this shows things have improved.
Prof Sir Mike Richards, CQC Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: "We expect the food provided to be nutritious, to meet people's dietary requirements, and for this to be included as part of patients care planning while in hospital, and we look closely at this on our inspections. Where we find this is not happening or identify concerns that people's nutritional needs are not being met we take action and have a range of enforcement powers at our disposal where required."
Age UK agrees that there's been progress, but says malnutrition in the NHS is still a big issue.
Lesley Carter, who works of the charity and is programme manager of the Malnutrition Task Force, says a third of people going into hospitals and care homes are already malnourished or at risk of malnutrition when they are admitted.
"That means they are already vulnerable to start with."
She said that on busy wards, mealtimes might get rushed or overlooked without the right staffing.
"Older people in particular might need help to eat and drink, and they aren't always getting this. Food can still be left out of reach.
"Some hospitals have employed nutrition nurses to spot those patients that need help, and nutrition assistants to help with the feeding, which is good.
"But it is time consuming to feed someone properly."
She says friends and families have a responsibility to keep a check on elderly loved ones too.
"We all need to realise that it's not natural to lose weight as we age."
Although elderly people should be encouraged to eat a healthy diet, she says this can backfire.
A salad might be worse than cake in terms of nutrition for someone who is old and frail and has a poor appetite, for example.
"Some residents in care homes are being given low fat yoghurt and semi-skimmed milk when instead they should get full fat milk." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38554077 |
Mourners turn out for war veteran Reginald Watson - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | More than 200 people attended the funeral of a World War Two veteran who died with no surviving family. | null | More than 200 people attended the funeral of a World War Two veteran who died with no surviving family.
Reginald Watson, who served in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, died on 23 November aged 90.
The Reverend Mandy Bishop, of Ormesby St Margaret, Norfolk, made a social media plea for mourners after learning he faced a pauper's service.
She said she was "overwhelmed" by the response to details of the funeral, which she had posted on Facebook.
The service at St Margaret's Church heard Mr Watson was a "quiet, unassuming" man and "perfect gentleman" who had treasured his certificate of service book.
Mr Watson enlisted in Norwich in January 1945, aged 18. He was initially in the General Service Corps and then in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. He served until 1948.
The funeral saw Royal British Legion standard-bearers line the path from the hearse to the church. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-38576438 |
Desmond, Montgomery and the Express - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | National newspapers could soon have new owners, as the media sector continues to contract. | Entertainment & Arts | I wrote on this blog in December that titles such as the Telegraph or Express might be for sale in 2017.
Overnight, it has been revealed that Trinity Mirror PLC has been in discussion with Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell about taking a minority interest in a new company which would - probably but not certainly - include the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star, Daily Star Sunday and their websites.
Trinity's interest in the Express titles goes back years. But there is a much bigger story going on here.
The man behind a deal to potentially take these titles off Richard Desmond is none other than David Montgomery, the former editor of the News of the World and Today who went on to become a major investor in media.
Over recent months, Montgomery has been trying to raise the necessary finances, speaking to several banks, as well as equity partners.
Montgomery is being advised by Lloyds, Bank of Canada, and the familiar figure of Jonnie Goodwin of Lepe Partners.
Before Christmas, he had raised £125m. This comprises £60m of debt finance, £10m from Montgomery, £30m from other equity backers - and £25m from Trinity Mirror.
Mark Kleinman of Sky News has reported that the investors Montgomery is speaking to include Towebrook Capital Partners. I have not been able to verify this yet myself.
Richard Desmond, who bought the Express titles in 2000, spoke to me about his intentions.
In May last year, Express Newspapers, which is part of Northern & Shell, announced it had tripled pre-tax profits in 2015 to £30.5m.
Desmond told me that with OK! Magazine doing well, and his printworks in Luton owning assets now worth "around £100m", Express Newspapers was making around £50m.
I asked Desmond if he was intent on selling to Montgomery and had received an offer.
"There's a lot of talk, nothing has happened. I haven't had an offer." Asked specifically if he wished to sell Express Newspapers, Desmond said: "Why would I? You tell me, why would I?"
But he swiftly added that he was "interested in everything".
Asked if he would demand a five-times multiple of profits for Express Newspapers, he said: "Why wouldn't I?"
Desmond hasn't seen Montgomery since his Christmas party. "My people have been speaking loads to his management."
His preference, as things stand, is to consolidate back-office staff rather than sell Express Newspapers - though he would, of course, entertain the latter option if he was offered a suitable price.
"If we can bring in a minority partner to share back-office staff, that could save tens of millions," he added.
He specifically referred to "IT, ad sales" in reference to these back-office operations.
Using what were clearly ballpark figures on a deal that hasn't yet transpired, about an entity not yet clearly defined, Desmond told me the savings for Trinity Mirror of a combined company could be around £30m, and for Desmond they could be around £60m.
"If Trinity then owned 20% of the new company, which should make £80m, that's £16m."
I should urge caution about these figures, because Desmond himself did: when I asked what exactly would make £80m, he was open that this was a generalisation about a possible future company.
Desmond is a brilliant deal-maker who sold Channel 5 to Viacom for £463m in 2014, having bought it in 2010 for just £103.5m.
By the way, Viacom has had an excellent two years with Channel 5, with ratings up, in the years since that sale.
He didn't give me the impression he is keen to get out of media in a hurry.
I asked David Montgomery if the above figures were accurate and indeed whether he was being advised by those I mention above.
At the time of writing he hadn't responded to my queries.
I asked a Trinity Mirror PLC spokesman whether the £25m figure was accurate.
I have spoken to multiple sources across the industry about the likelihood of a deal going through between Montgomery and Desmond. As things stand, it is very uncertain.
Desmond won't sell for a knockdown price: after all, he has stable profits.
And any consolidation of back-office operations depends on a huge range of specifics that are yet to be hammered out.
But as I have repeatedly said on this blog, there is a coming consolidation in the media sector, and indeed in over-supplied sub-sectors such as that of national newspapers in Britain.
By over-supplied I simply mean we have plenty for an island with our population.
Expect more on this soon. And I will publish Montgomery's response if and when I get it. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38574233 |
Instant but slow: The artist knitting instant noodles - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | Most of us look at instant noodles as a quick meal, but one artist is turning them into slow art. | null | Most of us look at instant noodles as a quick meal, but one artist in Singapore is turning them into slow art.
Cynthia Suwito says her work is a reflection on the modern world's obsession with instant gratification. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38465826 |
Pioneer Cabin Tree in California felled by storms - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Storms in California fell a popular tree with a hole cut in the trunk that cars could drive through. | US & Canada | The giant sequoia, which was carved into a living tunnel over a century ago, has fallen
Storms in California have toppled one of America's most famous trees - the Pioneer Cabin Tree.
The giant sequoia was known for having a hole cut through its trunk - big enough for a car to drive through.
The tree, estimated to be more than 1,000-years-old, was felled by the strongest storm to have hit the area in more than a decade.
California and Nevada have been hit by unusually high rainfall levels, leading to flooding and falling trees.
The Calaveras Big Trees Association first reported that the drive-through Pioneer Cabin Tree - carved 137 years ago - was no more.
The storm was "just too much for it", the group wrote in a Facebook post that has drawn nearly 2,000 comments.
"Many memories were created under this tree," one read. "They will remain good memories."
Others pointed out that the tree might have survived for longer if a tunnel had not been carved into it.
"You can't cut a hole in a tree like this and expect it to live," said one comment.
"This hole always bothered me so much. Why not just drive around it?"
Park volunteer Jim Allday said the sequoia, also known as the Tunnel Tree, shattered as it hit the ground.
"We lost an old friend today," he wrote in a social media post.
Giant sequoia are closely related to the redwood tree, which is considered the tallest tree species on earth, reaching 250ft (76 metres).
They can only grow naturally in the groves of California's Sierra Nevada mountains.
The tree fell as parts of California and Nevada were drenched by a seasonal weather system known as the Pineapple Express.
Not to be confused with the Seth Rogen movie of the same name, the Pineapple Express is an "atmospheric river" that extends across the Pacific from Hawaii to the US West Coast, meteorologists say.
"This is a serious flood situation," the National Weather Service said in a special flood statement late Sunday night after the Russian River in California and the Truckee River in Nevada burst their banks.
Hundreds of people have been forced to flee their homes in Northern California and Nevada as water levels rise, and avalanches and mudslides close roads. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38561877 |
Have baby boomers stolen the family silver? - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Research shows that those in their 20s and 30s, the so-called millennials, could become the first generation to be worse off than their parents. | Business | We take it for granted that our children will be better off than us but the so-called millennials - anyone born in the 1980s or 1990s - could become the first generation to earn less than their parents.
And are those parents, mostly baby boomers who benefited from economic good times, tax cuts and free higher education to blame?
Baby boomers, people born between 1946 and 1965, will on average earn £740,000 during their lives, according to the Resolution Foundation.
Generation X, those now aged between 35 and 50, are projected to earn 13% more than that - £835,000 on average.
But the figure for millennials, the under-35s, is lower than that - they are forecast to earn £825,000 over their working lives.
Laura Gardiner, author of the Resolution Foundation's report Stagnation Generation found a range of reasons for the dismal outlook for millennials.
Millennial Laura Gardiner says that her generation has been particularly hard hit by the financial crisis
Laura, a millennial herself, says the timing of the financial crisis was particularly bad for her generation. "This pay squeeze in particular hit millennials just at the point you expect your pay to be rising most quickly, in your early twenties," she says.
There's still a chance that millennials' lifetime earnings could outstrip those of their parents because they are likely to live longer and work longer, Laura says.
She adds, however, that the slowdown in productivity growth (which affects national income) and the rise of insecure or precarious work, such as zero-hours contracts, self employment and short-term contracts, could prove so devastating that millennials would still earn less than their parents.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Father and daughter Ian and Claudia discuss their financial prospects
Claudia Wells, who is 24, graduated from university in 2015 and since then has had a series of temporary and short-term contracts, the most recent of which has taken her to France. "In today's market," she says, "finding a job can be hard."
Claudia also faces other financial burdens compared with her baby boomer father Ian. As soon as she starts earning more than £21,000 she will have to start paying off more than £40,000 of student debt.
Ian compares his daughter's circumstances with his own: "At 23 I was in a secure, big company job with a good pension scheme, I had bought my first modest house and I was paying off a mortgage, not student debt."
"I live in a shared house and the idea of me or any of my friends owning a house by ourselves is pretty unforeseeable," Claudia says.
Housing supply has failed to meet demand - another problem facing millennials
In fact, by the age of 30, Claudia's generation are 50% less likely to own their own homes than their baby boomer parents. Almost two-thirds of Ian's generation were homeowners by the same age.
Part of the problem is that supply has failed to keep up with demand for housing as the population has grown.
And Angus Hanton, co-founder of the Intergenerational Foundation, which exists to promote fairness between the generations, believes that older people are hogging the housing that is available.
"Partly," he says, "because they are living longer and partly because there aren't suitable places to downsize to, but they are taking more than their share."
This matters for Claudia's generation because property remains the single biggest asset owned by people in the UK and is a valuable source of wealth and, potentially, rental income in later life.
Angus Hanton, a baby boomer himself, says his generation is taking "more than their share"
Ian and his wife own their home outright and receive rental income from properties overseas that will supplement his already generous defined benefits pension and large savings pot, should he choose to retire.
For "generation rent" - as millennials are also known - their retirement prospects look a lot bleaker. Not only are they more likely to forego income and wealth from owning property, they also face much higher pension costs.
And, despite the start of auto-enrolment into company pension schemes, the shift towards defined contribution pensions and the rise in self-employment (excluded from auto-enrolment) could dramatically reduce millennials' retirement income.
The state is often seen as the arbiter of fairness between generations. But, there is evidence that government policy itself may have widened the intergenerational divide.
Prof Sir John Hills of the London School of Economics found that baby boomers were, on average, net beneficiaries of the welfare state - they will get more in benefits than they have paid in tax. They have enjoyed tax cuts and a boom in welfare spending. Subsequent generations, by contrast, are likely to be net contributors over their lifetimes and get back less than they have paid in, thanks to austerity cuts to state benefits.
"The older generation have more voting power... they lobby more, the MPs and the policy makers are more likely to be baby boomers so [young people's] interests tend to be treated as less important," says Angus Hanton.
So government decisions to protect the state pensions with a "triple lock" guaranteeing an annual rise of at least 2.5%, at a time when other working-age benefits are being cut, has added to the controversy over intergenerational fairness.
"In the UK we have a huge number of pensioners who are wealthy, probably two million over-60s who live in households with more than a million pounds' worth of assets," adds Angus. "It seems odd that they should be getting this handout of the state pension."
Baroness Greengross, who is from the "silent" inter-war generation, doesn't believe parents are at war with their children
Not everyone, however, puts the blame quite so squarely on the shoulders of the baby boomers.
"I would dispute the fact that the generations are at war," says Baroness Greengross, president of the Pensions Policy Institute. "The older generation has no desire to fight the younger generation... these are their children and grandchildren."
There is evidence that, in some countries at least, state level transfers of wealth from the young are, to some extent, offset by private transfers from old to young within families.
And, Ian admits that, like most parents, he is setting aside money to help Claudia get on to the housing ladder.
Talking Business: Generations at War will be broadcast on BBC World News at 15:30 GMT on Friday, 13 January and on the BBC News Channel at 20:30 GMT on Saturday, 14 January. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38558116 |
Marissa Mayer not on new Yahoo holding group board - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Yahoo's Marissa Mayer will not be on the board of the new company that emerges from the Verizon deal. | Business | Yahoo says its chief executive Marissa Mayer will not be on the board of a company that emerges from the $4.83bn (£4bn) takeover deal by Verizon.
Yahoo is in the process of selling its email, websites, mobile apps and advertising tools to Verizon.
What is left after that sale will be owned by a holding company to be named Altaba.
Its main assets will be a 15% stake in Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba and a 35.5% stake in Yahoo Japan.
Five other current members of the Yahoo board also won't be on the board of the new firm.
Ms Mayer is expected to remain with Yahoo's core business.
Verizon's deal for Yahoo's core internet assets came under renewed scrutiny last month after the Yahoo disclosed one of the largest known data breaches in history.
Verizon is examining the impact of the data breach and there is speculation that the deal may not go through. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38565690 |
Fort Lauderdale airport shooting: Shooter on CCTV - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | CCTV has revealed the moment a man opened fire at Fort Lauderdale airport on Friday, as a suspect appears in court charged with killing five people and injuring six others. | null | CCTV has revealed the moment a man opened fire at Fort Lauderdale airport on Friday.
Suspect Esteban Santiago, 26, is appearing in court charged with killing five people and injuring six others. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38564017 |
Manchester United 2-0 Hull City - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Second-half goals from Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini give Manchester United a 2-0 first-leg win over Hull in the semi-final of the EFL Cup. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Jose Mourinho moved a step closer to a major trophy in his first season as Manchester United manager as goals from Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini secured a first-leg victory over Hull City in the semi-final of the EFL Cup.
A near full-strength United struggled to break down resilient Hull in a first half in which the hosts had just two shots on target - Mata forcing a good save out of goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic, who also tipped over Paul Pogba's long-range effort.
The visitors had chances of their own against a side who had won their eight previous games in all competitions, Robert Snodgrass causing problems from set-pieces.
However, Mata got the breakthrough just before the hour mark when he tapped in from Henrikh Mkhitaryan's knockdown.
Substitute Fellaini scored a second late on, heading in from Matteo Darmian's cross to put United in command heading into the second leg on 26 January.
The League Cup represents a genuine opportunity for Mourinho to claim a major trophy to add to the Community Shield collected last summer.
He has named strong sides throughout the competition and it was no different against Hull as several first-team regulars, including Wayne Rooney, Pogba and David de Gea, started.
With Hull bottom of the Premier League and struggling badly with injuries - they could only name six substitutes - a first Tigers victory in 65 years at Old Trafford seemed unlikely.
They were given odds of 20-1 to win before kick-off and their prospects looked even more bleak when midfielder Markus Henriksen went off injured inside 20 minutes.
But since new Portuguese boss Marco Silva - described by some as the new Mourinho - took charge last week the Tigers have looked much improved. They beat Swansea in the FA Cup at the weekend and more than held their own for long periods of the game against the Red Devils despite having to field a makeshift defence.
Fellaini's late goal means a turnaround in the second leg might be too big a challenge, but their overall performance will give their fans hope in the battle to stay in the Premier League.
Rooney moved level with Sir Bobby Charlton at the top of Manchester United's all-time scoring chart with his 249th goal for the club against Reading in the FA Cup on Saturday, meaning he had the chance to claim the outright record against Hull.
He came close to scoring goal number 250 inside the opening 10 minutes when Marcus Rashford scuffed a shot across goal, but Rooney was just beaten to the ball by Andrew Robertson.
The England forward should have got the landmark goal just after half-time when he was picked out by an excellent Pogba ball over the defence, but sent his shot wide of the far post.
His game came to an end just before the hour mark when he was replaced by Anthony Martial, but his departure without a goal means he now has the chance to grab the historic strike in what is arguably a more significant fixture for himself and United fans - the visit of Liverpool this weekend.
What they said:
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho: "Maybe I didn't prepare the team right. I didn't give them enough intensity, and we had to change that at half-time. Maybe I should pay more attention to the dynamic of the game.
"We have to improve for Sunday. Today our performance was enough to win, but Sunday we all have to improve."
More from Mourinho here.
Hull City manager Marco Silva: "There's only been four training sessions with me and with many, many things to change, I'm happy with the work my players did during this game."
• None Manchester United have won their past nine games in all competitions, their best run since an 11-game winning streak in February 2009.
• None Juan Mata has scored in three of his past four League Cup matches (two goals for Manchester United, one goal for Chelsea).
• None All three of Henrikh Mkhitaryan's assists for Manchester United have been in the EFL Cup.
• None Marouane Fellaini has scored his first League Cup goal since August 2013 (Everton v Stevenage).
• None The Red Devils have progressed from all three of their previous League Cup semi-finals having won the first leg (1983 v Arsenal, 1991 v Leeds, 1994 v Sheffield Wednesday).
• None United have won 12 and lost none of their past 13 matches against Hull City in all competitions (D1).
• None The Red Devils have lost only one of their past 26 home League Cup games against fellow top-flight sides (W24 D1), losing 2-1 against Chelsea in January 2005.
• None Hull have failed to score in each of their past four matches with United, losing three and drawing the other.
What the papers say
It's back to the Premier League for Manchester United as they take on Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool on Sunday (16:00 GMT) knowing a win could take them into the top five.
Hull, meanwhile, host Bournemouth as they look to move off the bottom of the table. The Tigers have not won in the league since 6 November.
• None Delay over. They are ready to continue.
• None Substitution, Hull City. James Weir replaces Josh Tymon because of an injury.
• None Delay in match Josh Tymon (Hull City) because of an injury.
• None Attempt saved. Anthony Martial (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Antonio Valencia with a cross.
• None Goal! Manchester United 2, Hull City 0. Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United) header from the right side of the six yard box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Matteo Darmian with a cross.
• None Ryan Mason (Hull City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None Attempt missed. Shaun Maloney (Hull City) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38493198 |
Labour happier now over immigration? - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | How are Jeremy Corbyn's views on freedom of movement going down with activists and voters? | UK Politics | "Jeremy Corbyn hasn't changed his mind about anything in 40 years," goes the mocking refrain.
It sounds scornful, and it's meant to. It's also unfair. Just a little, anyway.
Today, it became abundantly clear that Labour's leader has not changed his mind on the value, as he sees it, of free movement of people between European states. It's become equally clear - behind the scenes - that a great many colleagues wish he would.
And not just his many ideological and political opponents. Some of Mr Corbyn's close and loyal supporters think so too.
As evidence accumulates of Labour's slide in the opinion polls (and yes, I know we don't swallow polling numbers without chewing anymore, but consistent double-digit Tory leads can't be discounted), so concern has grown about a liberal approach to EU migration widely judged to be costing Labour dearly on countless doorsteps.
John Trickett, Labour's national campaign co-ordinator and a strong Corbyn ally, is said to be concerned. How could he not be?
Those hoping, praying, for a shift are said to include some within Mr Corbyn's inner circle. It's also suggested that his staunchest, arguably most powerful ally, Unite trade union leader Len McCluskey, might welcome a line closer to the instincts of many voters.
"Voters", in this context, encompasses disillusioned Labour supporters, those who backed Brexit, and perhaps members of Unite who may not share their general secretary's enthusiasm for Mr Corbyn or, for that matter, Labour under any leader at all.
The overnight briefing promised a declaration that Mr Corbyn was not "wedded" to free movement of people in the EU "on principle". Some headlines promised a significant shift, even a "U-turn".
Yet this morning, as the party leader ran through a series of broadcast media interviews, and later when he delivered the much-trailed speech setting out his thinking on Brexit, it seemed somewhere along the line, Mr Corbyn may have missed a meeting.
"He messed it up," a senior shadow cabinet member told me, only he used a much stronger word than "messed".
The pressure will continue. "Jeremy moved on NATO, eventually, and we ended up with a no-score draw on nuclear weapons," added the shadow minister. "Jeremy can be budged. Sometimes. But it takes a hell of an effort and a lot of time."
He was right, of course. Mr Corbyn now accepts, however unenthusiastically, that NATO is a defence alliance Britain must back and not merely a hangover from the cold war.
He has put aside his dream of Labour returning to a policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament. He is still adamant that he would never order a nuclear strike, a flat contradiction to the principal of nuclear deterrence which Labour has yet to confront.
He has moved, nonetheless. His position, if not his thinking, has changed.
Now he talks of free movement as a possible component of an EU divorce settlement still to be negotiated. That's a long way from the thinking of shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, who expressed sympathy, when I interviewed him on my Sunday morning 5 live programme, Pienaar's Politics, for the idea of limiting access to the UK jobs market to EU migrants who have a job guaranteed.
But it opened at least the possibility of further movement in future. Only a possibility, mind. The Labour leader is stubborn. Or a man of deep conviction. Take your choice.
The enthusiasts who elected and continue to sustain Mr Corbyn continue to be zealous and loyal. Supporters of free movement of people as a useful, as well as necessary element of the EU single market may welcome Mr Corbyn's reluctance to forsake them.
But a lot of Labour MPs have moved from bitter resentment to weary fatalism, hoping that, somehow, the mood among party members changes sufficiently to produce a change. Preferably a change of leader.
These include the senior Labour MP who told me privately today that his constituency - a northern stronghold with a majority of around 15,000 - now felt like a marginal seat, vulnerable to the overtures of UKIP.
Some allies of Mr Corbyn had grown resentful that the mainstream media appeared to have lost interest in reporting the doings of Labour, or analysing the party's policy development.
No-one can make the same complaint today. I'm not sure the party's position is any happier as a result. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38577329 |
Southern rail strike: Commuter confronts rail bosses and RMT union - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | Sara Beare, a commuter, confronts Southern Rail and RMT bosses. | null | Sara Beare is a commuter from Lingfield on Southern Rail. She teamed up with Today's Matthew Price to put questions to Southern and the RMT.
Alex Foulds, passenger services director at Southern, said that the unions have overreacted, while Mick Lynch from the RMT defended their reasons for striking. Did Sara get some answers for herself and her fellow commuters? | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38567600 |
Corrie Mckeague: Missing serviceman 'to become father' - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | Missing RAF serviceman Corrie Mckeague is due to become a father, his girlfriend has said. | null | Missing RAF serviceman Corrie Mckeague is due to become a father, his girlfriend has said.
Mr Mckeague has been missing since 24 September after a night out in Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk.
April Oliver, 21, said she had become pregnant after a relationship with the 23-year-old who is based at RAF Honington, Suffolk.
She said their baby is due in late spring/early summer. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-38555646 |
Police officer released from handcuffs in Aberdeen - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A police officer had to be freed from handcuffs by firefighters when a training exercise in Aberdeen went wrong. | NE Scotland, Orkney & Shetland | A police officer had to be freed from handcuffs by firefighters when a training exercise in Aberdeen went wrong.
It happened during officer safety training on Saturday.
Police Scotland said there appeared to have been a "malfunction" with a set of handcuffs and fire service personnel were called in.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said boltcutters were used to free the officer.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Officer safety training is a vital skill for police officers and involves training with handcuffs and other equipment.
"On this occasion there appears to have been a malfunction with a set of handcuffs which our colleagues at the fire service were fortunately able to assist with.
"This type of situation is thankfully rare but as has been demonstrated procedures are in place to deal with such an occurrence."
A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "On Saturday, firefighters attended at Mounthooly Way where they used boltcutters to free a police officer from a set of handcuffs that had malfunctioned."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-38571600 |
Gasman under pressure over Bowie tribute - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Customer support worker ignites controversy with David Bowie tweet. | BBC Trending | A Twitter mention of the Thin White Duke made some see red
As David Bowie fans around the world marked the anniversary of the star's death, one particular tribute sparked controversy like no other.
It came not from Bowie's widow Iman, nor from one of his many famous collaborators such as Iggy Pop or Brian Eno.
No, the unlikely source was Paul - surname unknown - who works on the British Gas Help Twitter account.
On Tuesday, when Paul tweeted to let everyone know he was on shift and ready to help with customer queries about dodgy boilers and other gas-related matters, he also mentioned an unrelated subject that was on many people's minds:
While much of the reaction was positive, others who saw the tweet were enraged at what they saw as corporate bandwagon jumping.
Others were offended by Paul's use of grammar.
And some referenced Bowie lyrics as they mused on whether utility company employees might have better things to do with than to tweet about dead rock stars.
Stung by the negative responses, Paul tweeted again to insist that his motives were sincere.
Some seemed prepared to accept the sentiment, but felt there was a time and a place - and this wasn't it.
However, by now the initial ferocity of the onslaught against Paul had produced a backlash against the backlash. Those who had been charmed rather than alarmed by a corporate account showing some personality took up arms.
Writer Jon Ronson was among those who applauded.
And there were some tongue-in-cheek expressions of solidarity.
A spokesman for British Gas confirmed to BBC Trending that Paul is a real person and that he and and his colleagues working on the help account are encouraged to add personality to their tweets. He added that the company had nothing to add on the content of the tweets.
The Russian embassy in London sent a picture of Pepe the frog to British PM Theresa May. READ MORE
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-38573232 |
Jeremy Corbyn and the immigration question - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Jeremy Corbyn, it turns out, has not changed his mind on the most basic question about immigration. | UK Politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Here's the thing. Despite the impression given by Labour HQ overnight that Jeremy Corbyn was on the point of ditching his long held backing of the freedom of movement of European citizens - that allows an unlimited number of them to come and live and work in the UK - when push came to shove in interviews this morning, he couldn't quite bring himself to say it.
Yes, in a speech he'll say that he wants "fair" and "managed" levels of immigration, and a clampdown on abusive practices at work by many employers. But he has not changed his mind on the most basic question when it comes to immigration.
Does he think that the current levels, with 190,000 EU citizens coming to the UK last year are too high? "No."
For many of his supporters, that might be a relief. He has continually defended the rights of people to come to the UK and refused to put a limit on numbers.
So, if the Labour leader had a genuine change of heart, that could have caused him problems with his ardent base among the party membership, not least because his whole reputation is built on his long held adherence to a set of firm principles.
But for the increasing number of Labour MPs who have come to believe that the public demands a very different approach, it is a problem.
Whether it is the party's Deputy Leader Tom Watson, or the former leader Ed Miliband, even before the referendum when so much public concern about immigration was aired, there was a building view that the freedom of movement rules had to be changed.
That is driven partly because of the looming electoral threat to them from UKIP. More straightforwardly and importantly, it is what many MPs simply say voters tell them they want - and they might not vote for them next time unless they do something about it.
Their leader though, won't budge on the big question, his position on numbers.
He is instead putting forward again a policy that Labour has had since the last General Election, where the rules on employers would be tightened, to stop employers undercutting wages by exploiting foreign workers, and banning recruitment agencies from hiring only from overseas.
He told me this would "probably" reduce the numbers, and his team believe it could have a significant effect, but they can't put a figure on the kind of difference they believe it would make to the level of immigration.
Right now, that does not seem the kind of policy that is likely to convince millions of undecided voters when the clamour for limits to the country's record levels of immigration have only grown.
Just for good measure, Mr Corbyn repeated his idea of putting a limit on earnings that he first proposed last year, immediately lambasted by his political enemies.
As 2017 begins, Mr Corbyn's internal party critics will sigh, that still as the world changes around him, Mr Corbyn stays in his comfort zone, in the hope that eventually, more members of the public will join him there. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38570495 |
My fear of dating as someone with dwarfism - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Paralympic hopeful Pani has never had a girlfriend and faces his fear of dating by appearing on The Undateables. | Disability | Athlete and law student Pani Mamuneas has never had a girlfriend and says he suspects the only women who approach him want to tick "dwarf" off their bucket list. The 19-year-old decided to do something about it and applied for a TV dating show.
You always hear girls say 'ooh what's your type? Oh tall, you know tall and handsome' and I'm the total opposite of that.
At 4ft 7in people have always asked me 'would you have wanted to be born taller?' But now, I can't imagine life any other way.
When I was younger I never saw myself as having a disability. I wasn't even aware of it until my teenage years when growth spurts happened to others and I started to see that I was different and school became very difficult.
My fellow students at school in Leicester would ask 'Pani why are you so small? Were you born the size of a pea?' Thinking back, all those things that hurt me could have easily been avoided by realising people were just curious - they were kids asking silly questions.
I have what's known as Achondroplasia - a form of dwarfism. Apparently I'm taller than average for my condition but still quite tiny and it definitely affected potential relationships and how I have viewed myself over the years.
My male friends and I would always talk about girls and celebrities, the ones we would dream of marrying and how we would ask them out. But this is when things went very wrong for me.
At the age of 12 I asked a girl out. We went to the cinema and seemed to have a good time, but the next day the gossip began.
I secretly told a friend in the school library that I liked her but he wrote it in big letters on the whiteboard for everyone to see - when I saw it I wanted to disappear from the face of the earth.
Myself and the girl both ended up in tears and she felt too embarrassed to talk to me again.
That was when I lost all of my confidence and thought I was not good enough because of my height.
I stopped talking to girls and I certainly wouldn't reveal if I fancied someone.
I was afraid of what girls would think of me, always worrying they might ignore or tease me, or treat me like a nobody, because I was different.
It was a very difficult time of my life.
When I reached college, however, things started to look up. Everyone seemed to have matured and the general bullying stopped. It became a time for me to discover who I was, and what I wanted to do with my future.
Sadly, this new way of thinking didn't mean my love life improved and I had other challenges to overcome including going to nightclubs with friends.
I wouldn't have the confidence to go up to girls, chat to them or ask them to dance. I always felt that because I was different if a woman approached me it was so she could tick it off her bucket list.
It was at this point, having never had a girlfriend, I decided to contact Channel 4's The Undateables - a reality show which tries to match disabled people with a partner - and so face my fear of dating with the hope of potentially finding somebody.
It was a drastic thing to do but I thought if I could successfully go on a date on a television show I wouldn't have any confidence problems in the future.
Facing my fears worked and I now feel able to approach a woman and have a conversation with her because I have learned there isn't anything to be afraid of. If the girl doesn't like me fair enough, but some open-minded people will like me.
I had been competing internationally in shot put and javelin and hoped to compete in the Paralympic Games in Rio last year but injury forced me to take time out.
Participating in The Undateables helped me to focus on a different aspect of life and took my mind off the injury although I've now returned to training with my sights set on the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo as well as taking a degree in law.
This process has further boosted my confidence and I've realised that being short isn't a barrier it's a feature. All this time I shouldn't have thought of myself as less of a person.
Being me is the best thing I can do better than anyone else.
The Undateables transmits on Monday nights at 21:00 GMT on Channel 4 and is also available on All 4.
For more Disability News, follow on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to the weekly podcast. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-38528816 |
Women Who Draw website reveals world's 'hidden' female illustrators - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | New website Women Who Draw has been overwhelmed by support for its bid to promote female illustrators. | US & Canada | Applicants for the Women Who Draw website were asked to submit an illustrated portrait of a woman
A website designed to showcase the work of female illustrators and promote diversity has got off to a flying start, after receiving submissions from around the world.
The Women Who Draw website, which had its "soft launch" in December, crashed under the weight of more than six million page views in its first three days, according to its US founders, Wendy MacNaughton and Julia Rothman.
"We had to close submissions because we were overwhelmed. We received 1,200 submissions in 24 hours," said Ms Rothman, citing contributions from Iran, Brazil, Argentina and South Africa, among others.
The site's mission statement is to "increase the visibility of female illustrators, female illustrators of colour, LBTQ+, and other minority groups".
On Monday, it is relaunching, backed by a new server and showcasing 700 new members, whose work organisers have collated within three weeks.
They also have more than 300 artists on the waiting list.
Ms MacNaughton and Ms Rothman, who are both successful illustrators, said they were motivated to create the project after noticing certain publications were dominated by male artists.
"We counted a certain magazine that often has illustrated covers, and noticed that in the past 55 covers, only four were by women," said Ms Rothman.
Something seemed to be amiss, considering that the arts field within education is often dominated by women.
In the UK, data from higher-education admissions service Ucas shows that in 2016 the number of women enrolled in design studies courses (including illustration) was more than double the number of men.
So, do the women behind Women Who Draw think sexism in the industry is an enduring problem?
"When I see who wins the awards, who are on the juries and who speaks at conferences, it is clear that there is a bias. Although no-one has specifically said to me that you are a woman so I am not going to hire you," said Ms Rothman.
Sabrina Scott, an artist, illustration lecturer, and PhD student at Toronto's York University, has conducted a study of seven years of images within the American Illustration (AI) annual, a collection of award-winning images, chosen by a jury.
She looked at how people - male and female - were represented in nearly 3,000 images.
Ms Scott said: "Over seven years from 2008 to 2015, white men appear in 55% of AI award-winning illustrations, on average. The representation of white women has remained fairly steady at an average of 32%, as has the representation of men and women of colour, whose seven-year averages are 8% and 4%, respectively."
She also found that while men were drawn as nude or nearly nude 3% of the time, that figure rose to 30% for female figures.
"The only dead bodies depicted during the timeframe of my analysis are those that belong to men of colour," she added.
The site allows artists to highlight different aspects of their identity. Artists can be tagged according to their sexuality, religion, and location.
Trans women are also encouraged to join, and are not differentiated from other women.
Artist Kaylani Juanita lists herself on the site under the categories African American/black, LBTQ+, west coast (US), multiracial, and native Hawaiian/Pacific islander.
Did she worry that she might get pigeonholed? "I'm far more worried about invisibility or erasure of identity rather than being pigeonholed for making my identity visible," she said.
"I joined because it's an inclusive list that's well needed within publishing and illustration," she added.
"For women artists, it provides solidarity, visibility, and community. I would have loved a list like this when I was in college and high school."
Bryan Gee, an art director at Canadian national newspaper The Globe and Mail, says he has already commissioned three artists he found on the site. One was themed on female sexuality.
He also finds the categorisation of artists based on location useful, as part of his job involves showcasing Canadian talent.
"The biggest challenge to Women Who Draw as they to continue to add to their roster will be how to balance inclusivity with the quality of the work that I currently find there," he said.
However, some of the features he is less convinced about. "It seems a bit odd, for example, to see 'atheist' pop up so frequently as a primary defining quality of some of the illustrators."
"I don't think it is about tokenism," adds Lizzy Stewart, an artist from London, who has joined the site. "I think work will still be commissioned based on talent, after all no-one wants to pay for bad work. It'd just be great if that work could come from a wider range of sources."
Women Who Draw has decided not to include tags to denote writers who are white or straight. "That was a big decision that we debated a lot," said Ms MacNaughton. "We decided we didn't want to support art directors in search of more white women."
But Ms MacNaughton adds that it is an evolving project and they are open to feedback.
"Ultimately it is the work that matters," she said. "The site creates a signpost. It is up to the art director to choose the work and the people." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38524131 |
World Cup: Gianni Infantino defends tournament expansion to 48 teams - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Fifa president Gianni Infantino defends the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams, saying the change is based on "sporting merit" not money. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Fifa president Gianni Infantino has defended the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams, insisting the change was based on "sporting merit" and not to make money.
The sport's world governing body voted unanimously in favour of the change at a meeting in Zurich on Tuesday.
Campaign group New Fifa Now described the expansion as "a money grab and power grab".
But Infantino told the BBC: "It is the opposite, it's a football decision."
He added: "Every format has advantages in financial terms. We were in a comfortable situation to take a decision based on sporting merit."
An initial stage of 16 groups of three teams will precede a knockout stage for the remaining 32 with the change coming in for the 2026 tournament.
According to Fifa research, revenue is predicted to increase to £5.29bn for a 48-team tournament, giving a potential profit rise of £521m.
"This is a historic decision which marks the entrance of the World Cup into the 21st Century," added Infantino.
The Football Association has urged Fifa to consider the needs of fans, players, teams and leagues and asked for more information on how the tournament would work, with Infantino admitting much of the detail has yet to be worked out.
The European Club Association (ECA), which represents the interests of clubs at European level, reiterated it was against expansion. It said Fifa had made a political rather than a sporting decision.
New Fifa Now says the governing body needs to reform, and that the change would "dilute the competitiveness of the tournament".
Infantino, however, maintains the expansion will increase the quality of the teams in the competition.
"Costa Rica eliminated England and Italy in the last World Cup, a good solid team and there are many other teams who could make it to the World Cup," he said.
"I believe that the actual quality could rise, because many more countries will have the chance to qualify so they will invest in their elite football as well as grassroots."
Responding to criticism from European clubs, Infantino added: "The game has changed. Football has now become a truly global game. Everyone is happy about investment in Europe, but what about helping outside Europe? They need to be open.
"The key message from clubs I appreciate fully has always been don't touch the calendar, the dates of the World Cup or the burden for the players, and both these commissions fulfil them.
"We will play 32 days like now, we play maximum seven matches like now, 12 stadiums, like now, but give the chance for more countries to dream."
How it would work?
The number of tournament matches will rise to 80, from 64, but the eventual winners will still play only seven games.
The tournament will be completed within 32 days - a measure to appease powerful European clubs, who objected to reform because of a crowded international schedule.
The changes mark the first World Cup expansion since 1998.
Infantino said the decision on who will get the extra qualification slots has yet to be made but "this will be looked at speedily", adding: "The only sure thing is that everyone will have a bit more representation than they have."
The president said he believed the World Cup could emulate what he felt was a successful Euro 2016 tournament, where the number of teams taking part was similarly increased.
Qualifying for last year's tournament featured a record 53 nations, while the number of teams at the finals increased from 16 to 24.
"It was the most interesting in the history of the European Championship," said Infantino.
"All the other teams started to believe in their chance to qualify and play matches with a different mindset that they could qualify.
"We saw Wales, Iceland, Northern Ireland qualify, some for the first time, some for first time in many years. The Netherlands always qualify, but they didn't. Qualifying created a whole new dynamic and hopefully we will do the same." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38577001 |
Baftas 2017: La La Land leads film award nominations - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | La La Land has received the most nominations for the British Academy Film Awards with 11 nods. | null | The Bafta nominations have been revealed.
La La Land has received the most nods, with 11 nominations, including best film. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38568173 |
Can North Korea's nuclear expansion be stopped? - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Examining the options available to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions. | Asia | When President Trump (as he will then be) enters the White House, he will have an item flashing as urgent in his email inbox: North Korea. In the election campaign, he offered to sit down with the country's leader Kim Jong-un over a burger, but that generosity seems less likely now.
Eight years ago, when President Obama moved in, the tone was similarly helpful. Right at the start of his tenure, the new president made a gesture of conciliation to the North Korean leader, not quite an offer of friendship but an indication that nose-to-nose threats need not be the way.
In his inaugural address in 2009, President Obama said he would offer an outstretched hand to those who would "unclench their fists".
A few months later, Kim Jong-un responded with the launch of a substantial, multi-stage rocket and an underground explosion of a nuclear device. Both tests were seen by the United Nations as a defiant contravention of the policy of the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Some presidents talk tough but trip over realities. George W Bush said in 2006 that North Korea launching a long-range missile would be "unacceptable" - just before one was launched.
A year earlier, he had said that "a nuclear armed Korea will not be tolerated."
Yet, on all expert estimates, North Korea has made substantial progress in achieving that aim, of having a nuclear arsenal capable of devastating cities in the United States at very short notice. The ability is not there yet but many technology experts think it is getting there.
So the Obama (and Hillary Clinton) policy of strategic patience is giving way to louder talk of military impatience. The doctrine of squeezing North Korea with sanctions and waiting for change is being supplemented by military plans.
South Korea said it was bringing forward plans to form army units trained to "decapitate" the regime - in plain English, to kill Kim Jong-un. The outgoing secretary of defence in Washington said that any test of a long-range missile which threatened the United States or its allies (South Korea and Japan) would result in it being shot down.
The Pentagon planners are working overtime. But what are the military options?
Not many, is the answer of most experts. Dr Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California, said that shooting down a test missile fired by North Korea would be very difficult to do and the attempt might lead to massive retaliation by conventional artillery against Seoul, the outskirts of which are within sight of North Korea.
He told the BBC that North Korea's nuclear and missile sites were scattered and that, in any case, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) could be launched from mobile trucks.
Another expert echoed that view. Rodger Baker, an analyst of the region with Stratfor, a global consultancy on geo-politics, said that the trouble with any limited military action against North Korea was that it could easily trigger all-out conflict.
South Korea's capital, Seoul, is within range of North Korean artillery
"They could fire additional short range missiles into South Korea and US military facilities," he explained.
There is similar scepticism about the idea of assassinating Kim Jong-un in the absence of open war. Dr Heather Williams, who lectures at the Defence Studies Department at King's College London, said: "If South Korea pursues this option, they are really playing with fire and might be testing whether or not North Korea really will retaliate - but it would be retaliation against South Korea."
She is annoyed at Mr Trump's tweeting - after Kim Jong-un's assertion that North Korea might get ICBM, the president-elect tweeted: "It won't happen."
Dr Williams added that "so much of nuclear strategy is about signalling and what type of message you are sending. Deterrence is rooted in signalling, so changing from a very carefully-crafted, nuanced nuclear messaging to nuclear messaging in 140 characters is incredibly dangerous."
Much more likely military options than overt aggression, according to the experts, are attempts to slow the nuclear programme by, say, assassinating scientists or inserting viruses into the industry's computer systems (as was apparently done in the case of Iran).
It is worth noting, too, that Iran and North Korea are very different. Iran did not have nuclear devices, whereas North Korea has already detonated five of them and has a well-developed and large testing site (3D images courtesy of the Nuclear Threat Initiative).
South Korea says it will form army units to "decapitate" - assassinate - North Korea's leadership
Iran had elections and so the leadership had to take more account of the economic discontent of the people. It had a much more open society, internally and towards the outside world. All this makes the North Korean nut so much harder to crack.
Some experts - and not just from dovish institutions - say that there may come a time soon when the reality of a nuclear North Korea has to be accepted.
Eric Gomez, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute in the United States, told the BBC: "The US long-term goal is de-nuclearisation and that is a noble long-term goal and I think it should remain a long-term goal.
"But, given the status of their nuclear programme now, I just don't think it's a very realistic goal in the immediate term.
"If we can come to the table over some sort of limitation to the current arsenal in terms of delivery systems, that might be the first step towards a larger agreement down the road."
But there are difficulties with that:
It is not a word he likes.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38559877 |
One million people watch 500ft snooker trick shot - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | More than one million people have watched a snooker trick shot set up across a bar in Bristol, after it was shared on social media. | null | More than one million people have watched a snooker trick shot set up across a bar in Bristol.
Allstar Sports Bar shot the video as their late Christmas trick shot and it's since gone viral online.
The 500ft (152m) putt took about 11 hours to set up and was filmed by general manager Shane O'Hara and bar assistant Tom Woolman.
[Note: This video has no sound]
BBC Sport's live coverage of the 2017 Masters starts on Sunday. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-38573364 |
Fighting for survival on the streets of North Korea - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | As a young child, Sungju Lee dreamed of becoming an officer in the North Korean army. But by the time he was a teenager, he was fighting for survival in a street gang. | Magazine | As a young child in the capital of North Korea, Sungju Lee lived a pampered life. But by the time he was a teenager, he was starving and fighting for survival in a street gang. It was one of many twists of fate on a journey that has led him to postgraduate studies at a British university.
In the early 1990s, Sungju Lee was living comfortably with his parents in a three-bedroom apartment in Pyongyang. He attended school and Taekwondo classes, visited parks and rode on Ferris wheels. He assumed that, like his father, he would grow up to become an officer in the North Korean army.
But in 1994, this life came to an abrupt end with the death of North Korea's founding father, Kim Il-Sung.
Although Sungju did not know it at the time, his own father, who had been working as a bodyguard, had fallen out of favour with the new regime. The family was forced to flee the capital. To hide from their child the danger they were in, his parents told him they were taking a holiday.
Sungju wanted to believe his father, but when he boarded a dirty, damaged train he had doubts.
"I saw beggars - kids my age - and I was shocked," he says.
"I asked my father, 'Are we in North Korea?' Because when I was in Pyongyang, I was taught that North Korea was one of the richest countries in the world."
Their destination was the north-western town of Gyeong-seong, where they moved into a tiny, unheated house. At school Sungju found the other students malnourished and behind in their classes.
One morning his teachers marched the children to an outside arena where they were told to sit and watch. Three police officers with guns appeared and a man and woman were led out and tied to wooden poles. The crowd was told the man had been caught stealing and the woman had tried to escape into China. They had both been convicted of high treason, and this was a public execution.
"Each of the police officers shot three bullets for each person. Bang, bang, bang," Sungju says.
"Blood came out. There was a hole in their forehead, and at the back of their head there was nothing left."
As the months passed, Sungju struggled to adapt to his new harsh circumstances. Food was becoming more scarce as North Korea descended into a crippling famine and many of his classmates had dropped out of school to forage for squirrels or to steal from the local market.
Then suddenly Sungju's father announced he was leaving. He told his son he was going to China to look for food, and would come back in a week with rice cakes.
The week passed, but Sungju's father did not return.
Soon afterwards, his mother told him she was going to travel to his aunt's house to find food. Fearing she would also not return, Sungju refused to leave her side. But eventually he fell asleep and she slipped away, leaving a note telling him to eat salt with water if he was hungry. He never saw her again.
"I started hating my parents," he says.
"They were so irresponsible. They just left me and I completely lost everything."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sungju Lee fought other children and stole food to survive the streets of North Korea
At that point Sungju realised the only way he would survive was to form a street gang. He banded together with six other boys and they studied how to pick pockets and distract merchants so they could grab produce from their market stalls.
"We trusted each other. We could die for each other and we were all bound to each other and that's how we survived," he says.
Every few months, when the merchants began to recognise them, the gang had to move to another town. Finding new territory also meant fighting the gang that was already working there.
"I was picked as a leader by my brothers because I knew how to do Taekwando," says Sungju.
"They thought I was really good at fighting, but it was different from street fighting. I lost many times, but my brothers believed in me. Their trust made me stronger," he says.
Although, as time went on, Sungju began to win his fights the boys in his gang were still only young teenagers. When they came up against older teens armed with weapons, the fights became more dangerous.
In one such encounter, one of his gang members was hit on the head and died. Then Sungju's closest friend was killed by a farm guard for trying to steal a potato.
Sungju was devastated. After more than three years fighting on the streets, the gang began to drift apart and Sungju turned to opium for solace. With few options left open to them, the boys decided to return to Gyeong-seong.
It was there that Sungju was approached by an elderly man, whom he recognised as his grandfather. After Sungju's family had left Pyongyang, his grandparents had never given up searching for them and had eventually moved to a farm a few hours' walk from Gyeong-seong. Every Sunday the old man would travel into the town in the hope of finding his grandson.
Now rescued from the streets, Sungju spent a few happy months living on his grandparents' farm. Once a week he walked to the market, carrying with him a backpack of food to share with his gang members, who had now found jobs helping the merchants.
Then a stranger arrived with an important message.
"The messenger passed me a letter that said: 'Son, I'm living in China. Come to China to visit me,'" Sungju says.
The stranger was a broker - a person who helped North Koreans escape from the country. He had arrived to smuggle Sungju over the border.
"I had two emotions in my heart," says Sungju.
"The first one was anger, I just wanted to punch my father. And the second emotion was that I missed him so much. I told my grandparents that I wanted to go to China to see my father and to punch him and then to come back," he says.
With the broker's help, Sungju crossed into China by foot and then, after he was given fake documents, he boarded a plane to South Korea. It was here that he was finally reunited with his father.
"My father hugged me and we cried together," he says.
"I had tons of questions, but I just said, 'I've missed you dad.' He said, 'Where is your mother?' and I cried again because I didn't know."
Despite years of searching, Sungju and his father still do not know where his mother is. In 2009, a broker told them about a woman living in China who was similar to her in appearance and background. It turned out not to be Sungju's mother, but his father helped her leave China anyway.
Sungju has also lost touch with the other boys in his gang, despite paying brokers to find them. He suspects they have been drafted into the North Korean army.
For a while, Sungju struggled with his identity in South Korea. When he first arrived he felt isolated. His accent marked him out as someone from the North, and many South Koreans believe North Koreans are brainwashed, he says.
"South Koreans keep saying that North Koreans are their brothers and sisters, but many times they treated me as a foreigner. Sometimes worse than that," he says.
He also struggled with the concept of freedom, saying he was told constantly that he now had it, but he wasn't sure what it meant. It was only when he was standing in a shop deciding what brand of pen to buy that he understood.
"I tried every pen, it took two hours," he said. "I suddenly thought that this must be freedom, because I can choose a pen that I like."
Sungju says he came to terms with his new life by defining himself as someone from the Korean peninsula. Since then, he has decided to devote his life to the reunification of both Koreas, which he believes could happen within a generation.
"Those born after the 1990s don't have any respect for the government," he says. "They only care about their private lives."
He believes that the markets where he once stole food are where change will begin, as North Koreans will realise they can make money from buying and selling goods without government control.
"In time, these people will become the core power of North Korea. The country will not collapse but one day the government will evolve, based on the market," he says.
Sungju's studies have taken him out of South Korea to the US and the UK. He now hopes to complete a PhD on Korean reunification.
Initially he was reluctant to speak out about his own painful journey from privilege to poverty, and finally escape.
But over time he came to realise that by telling his story he could overcome his own personal trauma and give others insight into the struggles that many North Korean children face.
He has now turned his story into a book for young adults, Every Falling Star, which was released in September.
"I have had so much encouragement and thanks from my readers," he says.
His dearest dream is to one day return to the North Korea of his childhood. To see the Ferris wheels and parks of Pyongyang, but also to find the friends who helped him through the darkest time of his life.
"I dream of my brothers," he says.
"Sometimes we're swimming in a river and catching fish, laughing and wrestling together.
"Going home means seeing the people I love."
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37914493 |
Sir Dave Brailsford: Team Sky can be trusted despite 'regrettable' doping questions - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Sir Dave Brailsford says Team Sky can be trusted "100%", despite "regrettable" questions over Sir Bradley Wiggins' medical records. | null | Last updated on .From the section Cycling
Sir Dave Brailsford says Team Sky can be trusted "100%", despite "regrettable" questions over Sir Bradley Wiggins' medical records.
Wiggins and Team Sky boss Brailsford have come under scrutiny since information on the rider's authorised use of banned drugs to treat a medical condition were released by hackers.
There are also questions over a medical package he received in 2011.
"Can people believe in Team Sky? 100%," Brailsford told the BBC.
UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) has been investigating allegations of doping in cycling after it emerged a mystery medical package was delivered to a Team Sky doctor for Wiggins on the final day of the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine, which the Briton won.
Brailsford, the former performance director of British Cycling, last month told a parliamentary select committee he understood the package contained a legal decongestant, Fluimucil.
Ukad chairman David Kenworthy last week told BBC Sport he found the evidence of Brailsford and British Cycling president Bob Howden "extraordinary", saying the answers to the select committee on the content of the medical package were "very disappointing".
But when this was put to Brailsford, he answered: "The only extraordinary thing I could see was that he [Kenworthy] actually commented on the whole process himself.
"There is an open investigation that is still ongoing."
Wiggins, 36, announced his retirement from cycling last month. Britain's most decorated Olympian's use of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) came to light after his confidential medical information was leaked by hackers 'Fancy Bears'.
TUEs allow the use of otherwise banned substances if athletes have a genuine medical need, and Wiggins, who has asthma, said he took them to "put himself back on a level playing field".
There is no suggestion Wiggins, British Cycling or Team Sky have broken any rules.
"It is regrettable," added Brailsford. "But equally the test of time is the key thing, and over time we will continue to perform at the highest level, continue to do it the right way, continue to give people a reason to get behind us and feel proud of our achievements.
"The judgement of what happened in the past will be made in the appropriate time, but for me we have done it the right way, and we'll continue to do it the right way.
He added: "I'm proud in what I've done, I've been doing this a long time, and I've been doing it for 20 years. I'm very much focused on the season ahead." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/38570591 |
Southern rail strike: 'My three-and-a-half hour commute' - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | Commuter Alison Braganza's journey from Three Bridges to central London normally takes 45 minutes but today's Southern Rail strike made it a lot, lot longer. | null | Commuter Alison Braganza's journey from Three Bridges to central London normally takes 45 minutes. Today's Southern Rail strike made it a lot, lot longer. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38567080 |
Brazil prison riots: What's the cause? - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A spike in violence violence in Brazil's prisons has cast a spotlight on failures its penal system. | Latin America & Caribbean | A spate of violence in Brazil's prisons has cast a spotlight on a system which appears to be near a state of collapse.
Almost 100 inmates lost their lives in the first week of January alone - brutally murdered, the guards apparently unable to stop the bloodshed.
But how has it come to this?
A crackdown on violent and drug-related offences in recent years has seen Brazil's prison population soar since the turn of the century.
The prison in Roraima state where 33 inmates were killed on 6 January held 1,400 inmates when a deadly riot started. That is double its capacity.
Overcrowding makes it hard for prison authorities to keep rival factions separate. It also raises tensions inside the cells, with inmates competing for limited resources such as mattresses and food.
In the relatively wealthy state of Sao Paulo, a single guard oversees 300 to 400 prisoners in some prisons, Camila Dias, a sociologist at the Federal University of ABC in Sao Paulo and expert on Brazil's prison system, told Reuters.
That means it is relatively easy for prisoners - and gangs - to take control of the facilities. As a result, "when the prisoners want to have an uprising, they have an uprising," Ms Dias said.
Killings are already common within the walls of Brazil's prisons - 372 inmates lost their lives in this way in 2016, according to Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper - but this recent surge has been linked to the breakdown in a two-decade truce of sorts between the country's two most powerful gangs.
A lack of guards means prisoners can take control, experts say. Pictured: A riot in 2014
Up until recently, the Sao Paulo-based First Capital Command (PCC) drug gang and Rio de Janeiro's Red Command had a working relationship, supposedly to ensure the flow of marijuana, cocaine and guns over Brazil's porous borders and into its cities.
But recently they have fallen out - although the exact reasons why remain unclear.
And following the government crackdown on criminal gangs, there are thousands of members of both gangs locked up inside Brazilian prisons.
Rafael Alcadipani, a public security expert at the Getulio Vargas Foundation think tank in Sao Paulo, told Reuters it means any feud between the two sides on the streets will almost certainly spill over into the largely "self-regulated" jails.
"We see that as soon as we have a gang war, these killings are inevitably going to happen because the state has no control over the prisons," he said.
The army patrols outside a prison in northern Brazil where more than 30 inmates died
Following the deadly riots in Amazonas, state governor Jose Melo asked the federal government for equipment such as scanners, electronic tags and devices which block mobile phone signals inside prisons.
His request illustrates the lack of basic equipment in prisons which house large numbers of prisoners.
He also said that the state police force was struggling to cope and requested that federal forces be sent.
Poorly-trained and badly-paid prison guards often face inmates who not only outnumber them but who also feel they have little to lose as they face long sentences already.
Following the 1 January riot, which left 56 inmates dead in a prison in Manaus, the Brazilian government announced a plan to modernise the prison system.
But with Brazil going through its worst recession in two decades and a 20-year cap on public spending in place, it is hard to see how the government plans to fund it. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-38534769 |
Jeremy Corbyn on Brexit, immigration and a maximum wage - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | The full interview between Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg. | null | Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg that he does not believe that immigration to the UK was too high.
But he said that he wanted to end exploitation of workers under freedom of movement laws, a move which he believed would "probably" see a fall in the numbers moving to the UK.
In this full video of the interview, he also set out his thinking on the idea of a cap on maximum wages and his response to a suggestion by senior union leader Len McCluskey that he would be willing to consider his position if Labour's poll ratings remained low in 2019. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38570490 |
FA Cup: Cambridge Utd 1-2 Leeds Utd highlights - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Championship side Leeds United avoid an FA Cup third-round upset as they fight back to win 2-1 at League Two opponents Cambridge United. | null | Championship side Leeds United avoid an FA Cup third-round upset as they fight back to win 2-1 at League Two opponents Cambridge United.
Watch all the best action from the FA Cup third round here.
Available to UK users only. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38564153 |
Team Sky & Bradley Wiggins TUE controversy regrettable - Sir Dave Brailsford - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford says the controversy surrounding Sir Bradley Wiggins and a medical package delivered to him in France is regrettable. | null | Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford says the controversy surrounding Sir Bradley Wiggins and a medical package delivered to him in France is regrettable, and refuses to say whether he believes he still has the backing of three-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome.
READ MORE: Cycling chiefs criticised by anti-doping chief over evidence to parliament | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/38573615 |
Cristiano Ronaldo beats Lionel Messi to win Fifa best player award - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Cristiano Ronaldo is named the world's best player at the inaugural Best Fifa Football Awards in Zurich. | null | Last updated on .From the section European Football
Cristiano Ronaldo was named the world's best player at the inaugural Best Fifa Football Awards in Zurich.
Real Madrid and Portugal forward Ronaldo, 31, beat Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann to the prize.
Ronaldo also won the Ballon d'Or in December, with both honours recognition for success in the Champions League with Real and Euro 2016 with Portugal.
Carli Lloyd of the United States was named the world's best female player.
Leicester's Claudio Ranieri was named best men's coach, ex-Germany boss Silvia Neid won the female coach award, while Penang's Mohd Faiz Subri received the Puskas award for the best goal of 2016.
• None Quiz: World's best - but who did he vote for?
Hold on... haven't we already had the Ballon d'Or?
We have - but this is different.
For the past six years, the world's best player has received the Fifa Ballon d'Or award.
A version of that prize has been awarded by France Football magazine since 1956, but last year world football's governing body ended its association with that honour.
Instead, it introduced the Best Fifa Football Awards, with Ronaldo the first recipient of its main prize.
Voting for the player and coach categories was by national team captains and managers, selected journalists and, for the first time, an online poll of fans.
Each counted for 25% of the points.
2016 was quite a year for Ronaldo.
As well as scoring the decisive penalty in the shootout to win the Champions League, rescuing Real with a hat-trick in the final of the Club World Cup, captaining Portugal to Euro 2016 glory and being recognised with a fourth Ballon d'Or, he now has something Messi does not - the honour of being named best Fifa men's player.
The former Manchester United forward had been the favourite for the award, following a year in which he continued to deliver remarkable statistics. These included:
• None The third best minutes-per-goal rate (83.68) of anyone scoring a minimum of 10 goals across Europe's top five leagues during 2016, behind Luis Suarez (82.57) and Radamel Falcao (59.6).
• None Finishing top scorer in the Champions League in 2015-16 with 16 goals, seven more than second-placed Robert Lewandowski.
"It was my best year so far," said Ronaldo. "The trophy for Portugal was amazing. I was so happy and of course I cannot forget the Champions League and the Club World Cup. We ended the year in the best way. I'm so glad to win a lot of trophies, collective and individual. I'm so, so proud."
Ronaldo and Messi have a history of not voting for each other for major awards and they continued that habit, both filling their top three with club-mates.
Messi, the Argentina captain, went for Luis Suarez, Neymar and Andres Iniesta.
Despite being on the shortlist for best individual player, Griezmann did not make the best XI.
The line-up features five players from Real Madrid, four from Barcelona, one from Juventus (Dani Alves, who was at Barca for the first half of 2016) and one, Manuel Neuer, from Bayern Munich.
That means no Premier League players were included.
Despite the United States failing to finish on an Olympic podium for the first time, co-captain Carli Lloyd has continued her exceptional form both for her club, Houston Dash, and country.
The 34-year-old saw off competition from Germany's Olympic gold medallist Melanie Behringer and five-time winner Marta of Brazil.
"I honestly was not expecting this," said Lloyd. "I know Melanie did fantastic in the 2016 Olympics."
Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri, who has also led his side to the last 16 of the Champions League this season, won the award ahead of Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane, who lifted the Champions League in his first season in charge, and Portugal's Fernando Santos, who led his team to an unexpected success at Euro 2016.
Germany's Silvia Neid retired in 2016 after capping an 11-year spell in charge of the national team by guiding them to Olympic gold for the first time.
Success in Rio added to her extensive trophy collection, which includes the World Cup and two European Championships.
The best goal of 2016 was, officially, scored by Penang's Mohd Faiz Subri.
It came in the Malaysia Super League, the forward converting a superb, swirling free-kick from 35 yards which started out heading towards the top left corner but ended up in the top right.
The fan award went to supporters of Liverpool and German club Borussia Dortmund, who together sang a moving rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' - an anthem adopted by both teams - before their Europa League quarter-final in April. The match came the day before the 27th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 Liverpool fans died.
Liverpool went on to produce a stirring display, coming from behind to win the match 4-3 and advance to the semi-finals 5-4 on aggregate.
Colombian side Atletico Nacional were given the fair play award for their part in the aftermath of the plane crash which killed 19 players and staff of Brazilian side Chapecoense.
Chapecoense were en route to play the first leg of their Copa Sudamericana final when the plane crashed, killing 71 people.
Atletico Nacional said the title should be awarded to Chapecoense. Fifa recognised their "spirit of peace, understanding and fair play". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38561266 |
Drenched Thailand still waiting for its green revolution - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Mark Easton, on a visit to Thailand, reflects on its plans for a green revolution as the rains fall. | Asia | Tourists use inflatable rings to cross a road on the Thai island of Koh Samui
Mr Supit bows low, palms together, fingers pointing to the wrathful heavens above.
The north-east monsoon should have left the Thai island of Koh Samui more than a month ago, but the start of 2017 there has been greeted by a week of unremitting tropical storms.
Supposedly the high season, Mr Supit's hotel is dripping with umbrellas and soaking towels. The rains have prevented many staff from getting to work, made his international guests miserable and washed away his organic garden.
He breaks his wai - the traditional palms together gesture of greeting - throwing his arms apart with a shrug and a shake of his head. "What more can I do?" he asks.
"We are going to cross the sea in front of us," he jokes as he attempts to drive down Main Street, floodwater sloshing up to the gunwales of his Ford.
"This is very strange weather. We had similar storms five years ago, but that was in March. I have never known a new year like this. We are thinking this must be the result of climate change."
Supit Choo-in: "We must focus on green again."
Like the scooters abandoned beside the flooded roads, many of the resorts dotted around Samui's coast have spluttered to a stop. A few plucky guests have filmed themselves laughing on lilos bobbing down the street, beers in hand, but Thai tourism is an industry that floats on sunshine and there has been virtually none of that for a week.
The local TV news is reporting that hundreds of families on the holiday island have been left homeless, bridges are down and many roads are impassable beneath brown, malodorous floodwater. Elsewhere in the province, the unexpected deluge has killed at least 18 people.
A mile from his hotel, Mr Supit stops his car to look at a rockfall that has crashed across the ring road, red boulders brought down by the heavy rains. "We need to be focusing on green again," he murmurs.
Mr Supit recalls the environmental initiative launched with much fanfare by hoteliers and tour companies on Koh Samui in the late 90s after a landmark speech from the late king.
Thailand is still in mourning for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died last October after 70 years on the throne. Black and white shrines to his memory are everywhere, reverence for the monarch akin to worship of a deity, his utterances regarded almost as sacred texts.
In 1997, after massive currency speculation led to the total collapse of the Thai economy, mass unemployment and food shortages, King Bhumibol addressed the nation. He appealed for what he called a "sufficiency economy", a philosophy of moderation, balance and caution that, he argued, would help Thailand cope with the socio-economic, cultural and environmental challenges of globalisation.
Some translated the speech as a decree to introduce a sustainable tourism policy - a change long overdue in a country that had witnessed almost unconstrained development for decades. Deforestation, the destruction of natural habitats and a brazen prostitution industry were among the ugly faces of the tourism goldrush.
Officials cautioned that without the kind of restraint implicit in the king's crisis speech, many of the unspoiled natural environments that attracted travellers would be destroyed. Thailand's famous white beaches would be lost to the sea, one minister warned. Vibrant marine habitats and dense tropical jungles would be obliterated.
A number of private hoteliers joined the Green Leaf Foundation, committing them to make their resorts carbon neutral. There are eco-friendly tour companies offering trips to the beautiful Angthong National Marine Park. On Koh Samui, a government-backed initiative called Seven Greens was introduced, promoting sustainable practices and philosophy.
Recently, the Ministry of Tourism has urged holiday businesses to focus on attracting "quality" visitors - sophisticated and environmentally aware travellers who will value Thailand's natural and cultural treasures. The days of low-cost mass tourism are supposed to be numbered.
Unseasonal downpours in southern Thailand have turned many streets into canals
But political rhetoric has not always matched reality. The tourist strips are still overflowing with sex bars, cheap beer and greasy burgers. Among Koh Samui's top attractions are monkey shows that animal welfare groups blame for wiping out half of Thailand's white-handed gibbon population.
This is not a country that finds it easy to embrace the sacrifices of a green revolution: government figures suggest the average Thai uses an astonishing eight plastic bags a day. In the last two decades around 60 environmental activists have been killed in Thailand while campaigning against powerful logging companies and industrial polluters. Some question just how serious the military-backed government is in pursuing green policies.
In his flooded organic garden, Mr Supit reflects on the 40 years since he landed his first tourist job as a pot washer in a Bangkok kitchen.
"In the early days, people spent more money than now," he tells me as we assess the damage wreaked by the unwelcome storms.
In 1960, only 81,000 tourists visited Thailand, mostly high-rollers and adventurers from Europe and the Far East, people prepared to pay for something exotic. "Today many more come, but they don't spend - particularly the Chinese," Mr Supit laments.
Not much is left of Mr Supit's organic garden
A record 33 million tourists visited Thailand in 2016, more than eight million of them from China, pushing revenues up 18% in a single year. But Mr Supit is not alone in worrying that the country is overstretching itself.
"I am very much concerned," he confides. "We have to lift up the quality and we must focus on green again. At the moment I don't think my guests are prepared to pay more for that."
His two-acre organic garden is an act of defiance: beds of traditional Thai basil and morning glory, lemongrass and lime trees are fed with homemade fertiliser, brewed on the plot from pineapple, molasses and water. When available, the Fairhouse Villa hotel chef makes full use of the fresh fruit, vegetables and spices. Sadly, his kitchen will not benefit for a while, with many of the garden's tender plants washed into the sea by the unseasonal storms.
"It is tough work," Mr Supit says, surveying the damage. "But we will keep planting. We will get there."
He smiles and looks ruefully at the darkening sky.
With the rains still falling, Thailand needs more people like Mr Supit. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38559206 |
Nicole Kidman 'cries at adoptive mother's love' shown in Lion - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Nicole Kidman has said she was brought to tears by the "beautiful" depiction of an adoptive mother's love in her latest film, Lion. | Entertainment & Arts | Kidman says she is 'so connected' to the issues portrayed in Lion
Nicole Kidman has said she was brought to tears by the "beautiful" depiction of an adoptive mother's love in her latest film, Lion.
The actress, who plays adoptive mother Sue Brierley, has two adopted children in real life.
Kidman told the Victoria Derbyshire programme she wished she had more children.
But, she added, her husband Keith Urban tells her to "shut down" such urges.
Kidman told the programme that - in showing how an adoptive mother's love for a child is the same as a birth mother's - the film makes her cry.
"When it's shown in the film with such warmth and openness and compassion, I think that's a beautiful thing for people to see."
She said it brings her to tears "probably because I'm so connected to it, and it's so succinctly put by the writer".
Kidman has two adopted children with her former husband Tom Cruise - Isabella, 24, and Connor, 21.
The film tells the story of a young boy adopted by an Australian couple
In the film, directed by Garth Davis, her character adopts a five-year-old boy, Saroo, from an orphanage in the Indian city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).
Saroo had become tragically separated from his family after he boarded a train and was transported hundreds of miles from his rural village.
Kidman says one scene in the film - which is based on a true story - epitomises an adoptive mother's love for her children.
When Saroo begins his journey to find his birth mother, Kidman says her character Sue Brierley "wanted his biological mother to know she'd kept him safe [and] raised him with love into a beautiful human being".
Kidman describes the film as a "love letter" to all her children, and "to other mothers and children too".
"It's rare that we get [to talk about] unconditional love - that no matter where you go, what you do, what your journey is… I'm here and I love you."
Kidman has two young children, Sunday Rose, eight, and Faith, six, with country musician Urban.
Kidman, 49, is the same age her grandmother was when she gave birth for the final time.
She told Victoria Derbyshire she wished she had "two or three more children".
But, she added: "My husband says 'that is the wanting mind Nicole, shut it down'."
Nevertheless, Kidman told Derbyshire: "I love children, I love raising children. My sister has six children… they make me feel good.
"I love being around them, the ups and downs, watching them grow - the things they say and teach."
Kidman said she did not have any regrets in life, counting herself as "blessed".
But, she added: "Would I enjoy giving to more young people? Yes."
The Victoria Derbyshire programme is broadcast on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38560832 |
Mrs Brown star set to front new Saturday night BBC show - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Comedy star Mrs Brown is to front a new Saturday night TV show on BBC One. | Entertainment & Arts | Brendan O'Carroll's alter-ego Mrs Brown will welcome celebrity guests as part of the show
Comedy star Mrs Brown is to front a new Saturday night TV show on BBC One.
All Round to Mrs Brown's will be hosted by Agnes Brown, the female alter-ego played by Brendan O'Carroll in the sitcom Mrs Brown's Boys.
O'Carroll said: "The entire cast is excited by this. I think Agnes may be worried that she'll need a bigger kettle to make tea for everyone that's coming round!"
The series will be shown later this year.
The BBC said the show would feature "celebrity guests, surprise audience shenanigans and outrageous stunts" in front of a live studio audience.
Charlotte Moore, director of BBC content, said: "Bringing one of our biggest comedy stars, Mrs Brown, to Saturday nights in 2017 with a new entertainment show is going to be full of fun and mischief and totally unpredictable."
Mrs Brown's Boys became a hit when the BBC sitcom first aired in 2011.
Mrs Brown first appeared on Irish radio station RTE 2fm in 1992 and has been the focal point of a series of books and a long-running stage show.
But it was not until O'Carroll's matriarch hit the small screen that he became an international star.
A Saturday night live episode of Mrs Brown's Boys was watched by more than 11 million viewers last year. The sitcom was also voted the most popular of the 21st Century in a Radio Times poll.
In 2014, the spin-off film Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie topped the UK and Ireland box office.
All Round to Mrs Brown's is to be produced by Hungry Bear Media in conjunction with O'Carroll's production company BocPix.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38563190 |
The shared society - more than a slogan? - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Theresa May believes life isn't very fair for millions of people. But can the PM's words be translated into action given the other challenges she faces? | UK Politics | When she began her leadership campaign to move into No 10, in an uncharacteristically brash statement, the then home secretary stood up and said: "I'm Theresa May and I'm the best person to be prime minister."
But in the six months since she did take charge, far, far faster than she had anticipated, politics has been dominated by the questions the prime minister doesn't want to answer yet - on how she plans to negotiate our EU exit.
And without very much evidence of a bold vision on that front in recent weeks, charges that her government is directionless, drifting, have started to gain currency.
That's why her first big speech of the year, the start of what aides describe as a "lot more activity", matters, as the prime minister seeks to try to explain to the public why she believes she is the best person to be prime minister.
After her speech on the steps of Downing Street, and the Tory party conference in October, and under the glittering chandeliers of the Mansion House before Christmas, today was one of what's still only a handful of opportunities she has taken to sketch her own image as the occupant of Downing Street.
If you were hoping for radical departures from the PM, you'd have been disappointed.
In fact it was striking how familiar today's speech was to those previous few - whole sections were more or less identical, with another strong restatement of her belief that for millions of people, life just doesn't feel very fair.
She is not a politician trying to sell a cheery vision, not a politician claiming that nirvana is around the corner. She mentioned the word injustice 17 times, what she described as "everyday" injustice that breeds resentment between young and old, London and the rest of the country, rich and poor.
Listening to her on all of those big occasions, despite having been at the top table of the government for six years, you sense that Theresa May fundamentally thinks that there is quite a lot that is wrong with Britain.
But alongside what feels by now, a familiar and rather downbeat analysis of the state we are in, for the first time came what the prime minister wants us to see as her solution to all that.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Theresa May warns about rise of 'fringe' politics
Not the Big Society of David Cameron, nor even Margaret Thatcher's much misquoted statement, "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".
But for Theresa May it is a "shared society", where we all have responsibilities to each other, and an "active" government has a responsibility to step in to help, not just the poorest, but the millions in the middle too.
After a while, every political leader finds themselves in need of a slogan, and it's certainly not the worst that's ever been dreamed up.
She wants you to see her and her party as the sensible middle, on the side of ordinary families, not veering away from the centre ground. It's about as clear an appeal to Middle England, where elections are traditionally won, as you can find. But while she gave today the skeleton of a philosophy, there was not a fully fleshed-out body of policy to accompany it.
And even before the speech was given, the policy that she did talk more about crashed into the common problem of reality versus political rhetoric. Theresa May's desire to make sure that people who need help with their mental health, particularly children, get what they need as soon as possible, and that society sheds the stigma around it, seems genuinely felt.
But she is not the first Conservative politician to have made such a promise. Her predecessor made a similar big one exactly a year ago.
And more importantly perhaps, there is deep scepticism from opposition politicians and those who work in the sector, that the system can work properly without a significant amount of extra cash.
What's happening on the ground was described to me as a "car crash" today by someone in the sector. However many times the prime minister says she wants to make sure mental health is treated just a seriously as physical health, the pressures on funding right across the NHS do matter.
Today's measures are also about where money is being allocated, not opening up the taxpayer's chequebook to top up health budgets.
But that's not the only political problem that Theresa May's vision of a "shared society" will face. Prime ministers are always defined by what they choose to pursue but also by what they can't control.
In managing our departure from the EU, she faces the biggest challenge any leader has had in decades. Preventing her government from becoming consumed by that will take more than a series of speeches and a new slogan. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38555929 |
Maria Sharapova to return from doping ban in April in Stuttgart - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Former world number one Maria Sharapova will make her professional comeback in April following her 15-month doping ban. | null | Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Maria Sharapova will make her professional comeback at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart on 26 April after her 15-month doping suspension.
The 29-year-old former world number one was given a two-year ban in March after testing positive for meldonium.
Her suspension was then reduced in October following an appeal.
The tournament in Germany starts two days before the Russian's suspension runs out and she will not be allowed to attend until the day of her match.
Sharapova, whose main sponsor is Porsche, will return to tennis without a ranking and needs a wild card to enter the tournament.
"I could not be happier to have my first match back on tour at one of my favourite tournaments," she said.
"I can't wait to see all my great fans and to be back doing what I love."
The five-time Grand Slam champion won the Stuttgart title for three years in a row from 2012 to 2014.
She last played a professional tournament at the Australian Open 12 months ago, where she failed the doping test.
Sharapova was a long-time user of meldonium and says she was unaware it had been added to the banned list at the start of 2016.
She has already taken part in two exhibition events since her ban was reduced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38570187 |
Mosul battle: Iraq gaining momentum against IS - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The battle for Mosul against so-called Islamic State is showing signs of gathering pace, writes Michael Knights. | Middle East | Iraqi forces have gained ground since launching a "second phase" in the operation
The announcement by the Iraqi military that its forces have reached the Tigris River for the first time in the battle for Mosul marks a significant moment in the 12-week campaign to recapture so-called Islamic State's (IS) last major stronghold in the country.
Lieutenant General Abdal-Amir al-Lami, the Iraqi deputy chief of staff for operations, confirmed on 8 January that the Iraqi security forces (ISF) had seized the eastern end of one of the bridges linking the two sides of the city.
A solid foothold seems to have been made in the riverside Beladiyat area, which is the site of many of Mosul's newer municipality offices and the Salam Hospital, the scene of a daring earlier attempt by Iraqi forces to punch a corridor through to the river.
North of Beladiyat, the 2nd Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) brigade experienced a simultaneous breakthrough towards the river in the Muthana neighbourhood and the ancient ruins of Nineveh.
Gains are also being made in north-east Mosul, as the 1st and 3rd ISOF brigades attempt the recapture of the Kindi military base and adjacent upper income neighbourhoods.
Broad-based advances suggest that IS resistance is "showing signs of collapse" in east Mosul, as suggested by Brett McGurk, the senior US official in the counter-IS coalition, in a tweet on 8 January.
One causal factor was clearly the concentration of all available ISF forces in east Mosul, achieved by closing down ancillary assaults north and south-west of the city.
During a two-week hiatus the 2nd Emergency Response Brigade and 5th Federal Police division troops were shifted from areas south-west of Mosul to new positions east of the Tigris.
These forces re-energised the ISF thrust towards Beladiyat and the bridges inside the city when the offensive was restarted on 29 December.
Another accelerant was the coalition's role in reconfiguring the Iraqi battle plan, fostering greater co-ordination between Iraqi headquarters and providing more powerful artillery and air strikes.
The latter boost in firepower required US howitzers to be deployed at the eastern edges of Mosul city.
Over 400 coalition special forces were inserted into the urban battle as advisers and strike co-ordinators, often well within the range of IS attacks.
Steady advances in east Mosul will provide a welcome bright spot as the gruelling battle for the city enters its 12th week.
Iraqi forces are now present in 35 of east Mosul's 47 neighbourhoods, including the largest and most densely populated parts of the east side.
Thousands of Iraqis have fled the fighting, though not as many as some predictions
Hard fighting may still be ahead for Mosul University and the Kindi army base, both of which are in east Mosul.
None of the 29 large and heavily populated west Mosul neighbourhoods have been liberated.
Unless an unexpectedly rapid collapse of IS unfolds, the western side of the city will need to be assaulted in a separate military operation launched after some weeks of reset and planning for the ISF.
This suggests that east Mosul may be cleared in January 2017 or early February, whilst the clearance of west Mosul may stretch well into the second quarter of 2017.
The sequential clearing of different quarters of Mosul city may succeed in limiting the time that civilians are exposed to intense combat in individual neighbourhoods.
Thus far the battle has seen far less damage done to Mosul's infrastructure than previous attritional struggles like Ramadi in Iraq or Kobane in Syria, though the daily damage to neighbourhoods has intensified since the offensive restarted.
Frame from video by Amaq news agency appearing to show a collapsed section of the Old Bridge
The coalition has specifically sought to minimise the cost and time required to rebuild bridges, selectively destroying easy-to-replace spars and off-ramps to deny the bridges to IS but to leave them quickly repairable after the battle.
The number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Mosul city itself was estimated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs at 42,000 in early December, around 4-6% of Mosul's remaining population and a far lower number than many pre-battle projections.
The flow of IDPs from the city has increased since 29 December according to OCHA, including 15,942 in the eight days after the offensive restarted. However, OCHA also announced that security in liberated areas has also allowed 14,000 IDPs to return to Mosul city.
Away from most media coverage, the liberated zones of east Mosul city are witnessing the gradual return of policing, running water and diesel-run neighbourhood electrical generation networks.
Most important, the cross-sectarian and multi-ethnic ISF in Mosul city have broadly been accepted by local Sunni Arab residents, who seem grateful for their largely humane treatment of the population and their sacrifices in coming to the distant northern Sunni city of Mosul to liberate it from IS.
IS is expected to step up attacks in other parts of Iraq as it loses hold of Mosul
The most likely IS response to the loss of east Mosul will be efforts to intensify anti-civilian bombings in Baghdad, where seven bombings in the first eight days of 2017 have killed 87 people and wounded as many as 231.
The Iraqi government and coalition are currently building up Baghdad's perimeter defences, installing sensors on tethered blimps and launching disruptive security operations in the rural outskirts of the city to break up bombing cells.
Dr Michael Knights is the Lafer Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He has worked in all of Iraq's provinces, and spent time embedded with the Iraqi security forces. His recent report on post-battle stabilisation of Mosul is available via the Washington Institute website. Follow him on Twitter at @mikeknightsiraq | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38552980 |
Iran Rafsanjani death: Thousands attend ex-president's funeral - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | Tens of thousands of Iranians attended the funeral of the former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, on Tuesday. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers at the ceremony. | null | Tens of thousands of Iranians attended the funeral of the former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, on Tuesday. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers at the ceremony. Rafsanjani, president from 1989 to 1997, died of a heart attack on Sunday at the age of 82. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/38570048 |
How schools promote pupils' mental wellbeing - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Schools have long been are at the front line when it comes to identifying and helping children with mental heath problems. | Education & Family | Teachers are often the first to notice changes in the wellbeing of their pupils, say heads
Schools have long been are at the front line when it comes to identifying and helping children with mental heath problems.
But some heads wonder how much longer they can continue to provide in-school counselling and mentoring as budgets flatline and costs rise.
At Whalley Range High School in inner-city Manchester, students' mental wellbeing is a priority.
"There is a lot of stress," executive head teacher, Patsy Kane, told the BBC.
There is a waiting list for the school's counselling service, funded from its general budget, and two specially trained support staff run a child protection service.
Teaching staff were "vigilant", keeping an eye out for pupils showing raised levels of stress and anger, said Ms Kane.
Each year group at the 1,500 strong girls' secondary has its own pastoral manager whose duties include ongoing assessment of pupils' mental health.
There is also a school nurse and a school counsellor available four or five days each week, all paid for from the school's overall budget.
The academy trust that runs Whalley Range also includes Levenshulme High School for girls and East Manchester Academy, which is mixed.
They serve some of the most deprived and culturally diverse wards in the city and all have a strong focus on pupils' mental health.
The real difficulties come when pupils' problems go beyond the capacity of the professionals in the school, according to Ms Kane.
"Local services are just overwhelmed," she said.
"These are very challenging times."
Ms Kane said the schools often had to advise parents to take children with suicidal thoughts straight to accident and emergency "as this can be the only way to get support quickly".
And one pupil "in extreme need" had been sent to a hospital in the north-east of England "hundreds of miles away as there was not a single adolescent mental health bed available in this region".
"If there isn't a bed, a child's life could be at risk," she said
But being treated so far from home was even more disorientating for distressed teenagers.
Demand for in-school counselling was growing and pupils were offered the service "for as long as they need it," said Ms Kane.
But changes to the way school budgets were calculated in England meant that many inner city schools, including in Manchester, faced cuts.
"I don't know how much longer we are going to be able to protect counselling," she said.
Under government plans, announced on Monday, all secondary schools will be offered mental-health first-aid training.
The plans also include a pledge that by 2021 no child will be sent away from their local area for treatment.
But with budget pressure on existing services already apparent, head teachers' leaders are anxious to know how the plans will be funded.
"This is a highly complex area," said Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, which represents secondary heads.
"Many schools already provide their own support on site, and do a very good job despite limited resources, but they often face serious difficulties in referring young people to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
"There is simply not enough provision - and families face excessively long waiting times," said Mr Trobe.
According to the National Association of Head Teachers, about three-quarters of schools already lack the funds to provide good enough mental health care for pupils.
"Rising demand, growing complexity and tight budgets are getting in the way of helping the children who need it most," said NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby.
"Moves to make schools more accountable for the mental health of their pupils must first be accompanied by sufficient school funding and training for staff and should focus only on those areas where schools can act, including promotion of good mental health, identification and signposting or referrals to the appropriate services," he added.
For Ms Kane, the emphasis is on making the schools she runs "safe and welcoming places".
Counselling and other forms of psychological support were more important than ever as changes to the exam system "are creating more stress", she said.
"There is a lot of memorising required and less course work."
The school holds assemblies for candidates, on how to revise and relax, and mindfulness training.
And there are lessons in small groups for some of the more vulnerable pupils.
There is also an emphasis on sport, and the school encourages volunteering.
"You feel better if you help someone else," said Ms Kane.
"We want students to learn strategies for life. It's not just about protecting them." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-38571628 |
Up and away? Your Tube strike solutions - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Travellers in London have been hit by a Tube strike, with more than four million people affected. Some have seen the lighter side. | UK | Artist Claudine O'Sullivan offers an alternative to the Tube
Commuters and travellers in London have been hit by a Tube strike.
More than four million people could be affected, but some have taken to social media to see the lighter side.
From The Daily Grindstone, there was just a hint of sarcasm about alternative routes, such as the bus, which no-one else would have thought of:
Earlier, Clapham Junction rail station was evacuated, but commuters were appeased by a little light music, as tweeted by Alicia Harries:
It's not just commuters who were struggling. Rupert had his tongue in his cheek when he wondered how the tourists would manage with the three-minute walk between two London destinations.
The motto "Be prepared" might be well known in the Girl Guides, but these skills could also prove useful for some commuters, as Alex tweets his survival kit:
Not everyone has been having such a terrible time of it, however. Twitter user Mark was glad people could enjoy the walk:
And Sofia noted an increase in the capital's cyclists:
On a more serious note, some organisations, like the MS Society, have been using the strike as an opportunity to highlight the suffering of others: | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38554573 |
FA Cup: Man Utd face Wigan, Chelsea host Brentford, Derby meet Leicester - BBC Sport | 2017-01-10 | null | Holders Manchester United will host 2013 winners Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup fourth round. | null | Last updated on .From the section Football
Holders Manchester United will host 2013 winners Wigan Athletic in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Premier League champions Leicester City will travel to Derby County in an East Midlands derby, while Chelsea meet Brentford in a west London derby.
League One Millwall's reward for beating Bournemouth is to host another Premier League side, Watford.
Liverpool will be at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers of the Championship.
Sutton United, the lowest-ranked side left in the competition, will face Leeds United.
The fourth round represents the last-32 stage of the competition, and all ties are scheduled to be played from 27-30 January. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38564239 |
Pakistan test launches submarine cruise missile - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | null | Pakistan's military says it has test launched a submarine cruise missile from the Indian Ocean. | null | Pakistan's military says it has test launched a submarine cruise missile from the Indian Ocean.
The nuclear-capable missile is seen flying over the coast and hitting its flag target. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38561939 |
Why Brexit is still undefined - BBC News | 2017-01-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Why the UK government is still weighing up its negotiating strategy for leaving the EU. | UK Politics | It is a curious moment in British politics. The government is facing the most important negotiations in over 50 years. The outcome will shape the future of the UK economy - but you would not necessarily know it.
The consumers - the voters - appear to be shrugging off the uncertainties, the unknowns and the warnings of future risks.
Many economists had predicted that a vote to leave the EU would tip Britain into recession. Instead, after six months, the UK is on track to be the fastest growing economy in the G7. Orders in the manufacturing sector are expanding at the fastest rate in 25 years.
Consumers are acting "almost as though the referendum had not taken place" asserts Andy Haldane, the Chief Economist at the Bank of England.
The economic forecasters are on the defensive or taking a turn in the confessional, admitting that the forecasting profession "is to some extent in crisis". It is a reminder of what I was once told - that economics is not a science but the politics of money.
There have been times in the past when politicians have urged voters to go out and spend, almost as if shopping was a patriotic duty. In recent months, the British consumer has needed no urging.
There has been a surge in UK retail sales
Warnings have been defied. Financed by a surge in borrowing, spending is accelerating. Confidence is high, buoyed by real income growth, the housing market outside London, low unemployment and a soaring stock market. Our European neighbours are a little open-mouthed at the way the script is unfolding.
But many of the same economists and forecasters who had warned against Brexit still believe a reckoning is coming. The rising costs of imports because of a weakened pound and increased fuel prices will combine to force some retailers to raise their prices. Higher inflation will test consumer appetites.
The robust economy has bought the government political space. It is not at the moment under pressure and does not yet need to show its hand but, slowly, a narrative is emerging that carries risks for Theresa May and her tightly-wound circle; that they are hobbled by indecision.
Perhaps, not surprisingly, you hear it said in the European Commission that the government neither has a strategy for the negotiations ahead nor does it know what it wants.
That is seeping into the conversations in Westminster and was boosted by the charge from Sir Ivan Rogers, the former UK Ambassador to the EU, of "muddled thinking" in the government.
Sir Ivan Rogers has warned about "muddled thinking" over Brexit
It is a narrative rejected by Mrs May and, to be fair to No 10, there are no easy choices. It is as complex a negotiation as any government has faced. Inevitably some people will be disappointed.
Brussels thinks the UK has made its choice. The PM has said the UK will insist on controlling EU immigration and on leaving the jurisdiction of the European courts. To those sitting in the halls of the EU that means Britain is set on leaving the single market because access to the internal market depends on accepting freedom of movement.
Theresa May has repeatedly rejected the idea that what the UK wants is a binary decision. She certainly believes that the government has to reassert control over EU migration and that is close to being a red line.
But ministers believe that does not preclude a deal, whereby access to the single market is negotiated for certain industries or where some elements of freedom of movement are accepted, while negotiating for the right to apply a brake if the system is under pressure.
Angela Merkel has said there will be "no cherry picking" by the UK over its Brexit deal
The official EU line is the one echoed by Angela Merkel who insists there will be "no cherry picking". So far, the 27 other members of the EU have been remarkably united behind that response.
The government, however, believes that once the negotiations start there will be greater flexibility to be exploited.
Downing Street knows that almost any deal has the capacity to stir up divisions, not least within the PM's own party. The differences will not easily be reconciled.
Many of the Brexiteers want to leave the single market and the customs union as quickly as possible, precisely because of the conditions attached to belonging to it.
However, a sizeable part of the Conservative Party, the City and the business community believes that leaving the single market would be reckless, risking serious damage to the UK economy.
Some time after the end of March, when Article 50 is triggered, the negotiations will begin. The initial focus will be on the terms of the divorce. Early on, the UK will face the bill to settle outstanding obligations, like contributions to the EU budget and towards EU pensions. In Brussels they put the price tag somewhere between 55 and 60 billion euros. That one item alone has the potential to sour negotiations.
In the two years to settle the divorce there will almost certainly be no time to agree a trade deal. That is why both the EU and some UK ministers are calling for a transitional arrangement.
Negotiating new trade agreements will be a key part of a successful Brexit
This will be a much more dangerous period for the government. Inward investment may weaken, businesses may postpone expenditure and some companies may decide to move part of their operations to a EU capital, while consumers may lose their confidence.
The challenge for the government will be to keep the voters believing that an agreement is achievable which protects the economy.
The greatest risk for the prime minister is that her opening bid is dismissed out of hand or that it becomes apparent that a compromise is beyond reach. There are well-known figures in the European Commission who do not disguise their determination to see the UK hurt.
That was Sir Ivan Rogers's concern, that the UK could slide into a "disorderly break" with nothing to show for all the talking, leaving the UK trading under World Trade Organization rules with common tariffs.
Within 10 weeks Mrs May will have to shed her instinctive caution, define her goals and become the great persuader both in Europe and at home.
At some stage she will face the maxim "to lead is to choose".
• None What are the Brexit options? | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38558056 |