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EU gives Ukraine €2bn of ammunition after shell plea - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hailed the "game-changing decision" from the EU. | Europe | Members of Ukraine's Armed Forces 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade at their position near the frontline city of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, last week
More than a dozen European Union member states have agreed to supply Ukraine with at least one million artillery shells over the next year.
The plan, worth €2bn in total, was agreed in Brussels on Monday.
Ukraine had told the EU it needed 350,000 shells a month to hold back advancing Russian troops and launch a counter-offensive this year.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hailed the "game-changing decision" from the EU.
"Exactly what is needed," he wrote on Twitter. "Urgent delivery and sustainable joint procurement."
The deal comes as Russia grows concerned at a Ukrainian counter-offensive near Bakhmut or in southern Ukraine, according to a report from think tank Institute for the Study of War.
Meanwhile, Russia's own new year offensive "may be nearing culmination", the ISW added.
Defence and foreign ministers from 17 EU countries and Norway signed the ammunition agreement.
The first part of the plan commits €1bn ($1.06bn; £863m) of shared funding for EU states to draw upon their existing stockpiles, with the hope of sending this to Ukraine by the end of May.
The second part of the deal would see a further €1bn used to jointly order 155mm shells for Ukraine - the most sought-after artillery rounds.
The EU is hoping this joint order will incentivise European defence firms to increase their output, with the hope that contracts can be signed by the start of September.
The deal means each country will have to share details of their ammunition stockpiles - something normally kept secret.
Current ammunition production in Europe is said to be lagging behind the levels Ukraine insists it needs to fight Russia.
There are also questions about how much EU countries can share from their own stockpiles without leaving themselves vulnerable.
"Increasing industrial capacity is essential," EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said during a visit to French arms industry company Nexter on Monday.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell recently warned that the bloc had to supply the artillery shells Ukraine needed, or face the prospect of Ukraine losing the war with Russia.
He said Russian forces were firing about 50,000 rounds of artillery each day and that Ukraine's supplies must be lifted to the same level.
Hungary, which has not sent ammunition to Ukraine and has often threatened to veto sanctions against Russia, abstained from Monday's vote in Brussels but foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said it would "not prevent others from doing what they want".
Norway also announced on Monday that it had delivered eight German-made Leopard II tanks to Ukraine to be used in a possible Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russia this spring.
Separately, the US is authorising another $350m in military aid for Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. It includes ammunition for Himars missile launchers, 155mm shells, and howitzer cannon.
Largest donors of military aid to Ukraine by country. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65018434 |
Boris Johnson submits evidence before Partygate grilling - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A committee of MPs is investigating whether the former PM misled Parliament over Covid rule-breaking parties. | UK Politics | Boris Johnson has submitted evidence to MPs investigating whether he misled Parliament over Covid rule-breaking parties in Downing Street.
The former prime minister, who denies misleading MPs, wants his defence to be published as soon as possible.
The Privileges Committee said it was reviewing the material to make redactions before publication.
Mr Johnson will be questioned by the cross-party committee in a televised session on Wednesday.
In an initial report earlier this month, it found Mr Johnson may have misled Parliament multiple times.
The committee confirmed it had received Mr Johnson's written evidence on Monday afternoon and would publish it "as soon as is practicably possible".
However, a spokesman added: "The committee will need to review what has been submitted in the interests of making appropriate redactions to protect the identity of some witnesses."
Wednesday's session, which could last up to five hours, will be crucial in determining his political future.
If Mr Johnson is found to have misled Parliament, the committee will consider whether this was reckless or intentional, and recommend how he should be punished.
MPs would have to approve any sanction, but potential punishments range from ordering him to apologise to suspension from the Commons. If he is suspended for more than 10 days, this could trigger a by-election in his constituency.
Downing Street sources say MPs will be given a free vote, meaning they will not be told to vote either for or against the sanction.
The Privileges Committee, which is chaired by Labour's Harriet Harman, is made up of seven MPs - four Conservatives, one more Labour MP and one SNP MP.
Allies of Mr Johnson have raised concerns about the independence of the inquiry.
Conor Burns, a Tory MP who served as a minister under Mr Johnson, pointed to a tweet by Ms Harman in April last year, before the committee launched its investigation, where she suggested that by accepting a fine for breaking Covid rules, the then-prime minister would be admitting he misled Parliament.
He told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour: "Boris Johnson contests that but it seems to me the person who is chairing this committee has predetermined it and that causes me a degree of anxiety for Parliament's reputation in handling this with integrity."
Tory peer Lord Greenhalgh, who was a deputy mayor under Mr Johnson, told Times Radio he was worried the inquiry would be "a witch-hunt".
However, the prime minister's official spokesman has defended the investigation and endorsed comments from Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt that the committee must be able to "get on with their work without fear or favour".
Boris Johnson celebrates his birthday - for which he received a fine - in a photo released by the committee
Reports of gatherings in government buildings during Covid lockdowns first emerged in late 2021.
On several occasions, Mr Johnson, who was then prime minister, told the Commons the rules had been followed.
He later admitted his original statements had since proved incorrect. However, he has insisted he believed them to be true at the time and that he had been assured this was the case.
An investigation by senior civil servant Sue Gray found widespread rule-breaking had taken place and a police inquiry led to 83 people, including Mr Johnson himself, being fined for attending events.
The Privileges Committee's initial report said it had seen evidence that "strongly suggests" Covid rule breaches would have been "obvious" to Mr Johnson. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65012967 |
'I did not send my child to university to die' - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The mother of Edinburgh student Romy Ulvestad calls for universities to have a legal duty of care. | Edinburgh, Fife & East Scotland | University of Edinburgh student Romy Ulvestad died at her parents' London home four days after her 21st birthday.
She had killed herself after staff failed to provide additional support, despite repeated warnings that she was struggling with her mental health.
Now her mother is adding her support to a campaign for the UK government to create legal duty of care for students.
The university, which apologised for failing Romy, said it had improved the support it offers since her death.
Libby Kitson, Romy's mother, has joined calls for Westminster to change the law to better protect students, and hopes the Scottish government will follow suit.
The petition to the UK government is being supported by 25 bereaved families, who have come together and set up The LEARN Network.
It reached more than 127,000 signatures before the deadline at midnight on Mothers' Day, meaning Parliament will consider the subject for debate.
Speaking to BBC Scotland, Ms Kitson said she did not know that her daughter was struggling with her mental health when she returned to London during the Covid lockdown in 2020.
"Her father and I had no idea about her mental health struggles but they had been well-flagged to people at the University of Edinburgh who could have done something about it," she said.
"I sent Romy to off to university to study classics, which would be a pivotal point for the rest of her life. What I didn't expect to do was send her off to university to die."
Romy, a classics student and part-time model, died in April 2020, more than a year after she communicated with the university about her struggles by requesting a "special circumstances" application to resit her exams without penalty.
Ms Kitson said: "We want there to be a legal duty of care within all higher education institutions, and I think some people, including our government, seem to think there is some legal requirement in place but there really isn't.
"You want to know that if your child is suffering with any kind of mental health issues, or is overwhelmed by university life, there are people there who are trained and skilled to help deal with it.
"And if they really, really are in a state of crisis you would want to be informed."
Libby Kitson hopes the Scottish government will legislate after the UK government
Campaigners from ForThe100 want a change in law to ensure higher education institutions have a legal duty of care towards their students, as schools already do.
The Department of Education has said creating a legally enforced duty of care "would be a disproportionate response".
Ms Kitson said the campaign was not looking to provide a means for families to sue universities, but to prevent similar deaths.
She said she did not want any other parent to have to go through the same situation.
"We would hope that the Scottish Parliament would look at England and Wales and think 'they've led by example, we should follow suit'," she said.
"A Scottish student's life is no less important."
A University of Edinburgh spokeswoman said it had been "shocked and deeply saddened by what happened" to Romy and "deeply sorry" for the gaps in support given to her.
"Supporting our students' mental health and ensuring their wellbeing is our absolute priority," she said. "Our support policies and practices are under regular review as we continue to focus and improve upon our mental health support provision and provide the best possible environment for our students."
Students at the university now have access to a "named-contact relationship" with staff trained in wellbeing and mental health, alongside other support services.
The spokeswoman added: "We continue to engage with students through both the Students' Association and the Sports Union to identify how best we can shape and develop our services to support students most effectively.
"We work closely with the three other universities in Edinburgh and NHS mental health colleagues to improve pathways into specialist mental health services for students."
The Department for Education previously responded to the petition by saying that higher education providers already had a "general duty of care not to cause harm to their students through their own actions".
A spokesperson said: "We acknowledge the profound and lasting impact a young person's suicide has upon their family and friends, and know among the petitioners there are those who have personal experience of these devastating, tragic events.
"[However] we... feel further legislation to create a statutory duty of care, where such a duty already exists, would be a disproportionate response."
In a response to the petition, the Scottish government said: ''We are determined to support the mental health of all students. Over the last three years we have invested £11.5m to introduce additional counsellors in colleges and universities''.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-65007151 |
Ukraine says Russian missiles destroyed in Crimea - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | If confirmed, the strike suggests Ukraine's capacity to deploy drones has increased. | Europe | Footage shared on social media showed an explosion lighting up the night sky
An explosion in the north of annexed Crimea has destroyed Russian missiles being transported by rail, Ukraine's defence ministry has said.
The Russian-installed head of the city of Dzhankoi said the area had been attacked by drones.
Ukraine announced the explosions but, as is normal, did not explicitly say it was behind the attack.
If confirmed, it would be a rare foray by Ukraine's military into Crimea, which has been annexed since 2014.
Russia has suffered attacks in Crimea before, but in most cases, responsibility has either been unacknowledged by Ukraine or blamed on some kind of partisan sabotage.
This strike, if confirmed, suggests that the capacity of the Ukrainian air force to deploy drones has increased.
Until now, Crimea has largely seemed out of the range of Ukrainian missiles. But this attack indicates that a drone at least can reach deeper behind Russian lines than previously thought.
The "mysterious" explosions destroyed Russian Kalibr-NK cruise missiles, intended for use by Russia's Black Sea Fleet, Ukrainian defence intelligence said. Kailbr missiles have been widely used in attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure in recent months.
One unconfirmed report from a resident cited on Ukrainian TV spoke of "booms" that went on for 30 minutes, leaving part of Dzhankoi with no electricity. The blasts "continue the process of Russia's demilitarisation and prepares the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea for de-occupation", the defence ministry said.
Dzhankoi has been used by Russian forces as a rail hub between Crimea and other areas of occupied Ukraine. Russian TV reports said that Tuesday's strike had not caused any damage to rail infrastructure.
Russia's investigative authority said a residential building and a shop were damaged, according to initial findings. All the targets were civilian, it claimed.
Ihor Ivin, the Russian-installed administrator, said a 33-year-old man was taken to hospital for treatment for a shrapnel injury from a downed drone. He made no mention of any military targets being damaged.
Several buildings caught fire and the power grid was damaged, Mr Ivin was quoted as saying by local media. Another Russian-appointed official said a drone had been hit over a technical school, between an instruction area and a student residence.
Russia's top official in occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said air defences near Dzhankoi had been activated and the situation was under control. He urged residents not to pay attention to "fakes disseminated by Ukrainian propaganda".
Last August, an ammunition depot was targeted near Dzhankoi. Weeks later, Russia blamed Ukraine for carrying out a drone attack on the Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol in which a warship was damaged.
This latest attack suggests Kyiv is determined to continue harrying the supply chains of Russian forces, targeting in particular its stock of missiles, as well as the routes along which they may be transported into southern occupied Ukraine via Crimea.
Speaking on Ukrainian TV, military spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk reminded viewers that Dzhankoi was a hub station for the occupying force and that, from the start of the Russians' full-scale invasion, it had been made clear that defeating their logistics would play a big part in the future status of Crimea.
Kyiv has a political incentive to keep Crimea in the news, too: a reminder that its current objective is not just to force Russian forces out of those areas captured since February last year, but also from the Black Sea peninsula annexed illegally in 2014.
In a separate development, authorities in southern Russia accused Ukrainian forces of using a drone to target a pumping station on an oil pipeline north of the Ukrainian border. The governor of Bryansk region said there were no casualties. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65021987 |
Miss Wales says she is grateful after life-changing M4 crash - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Darcey Corria was left with a broken neck and pelvis in a collision on the M4 in January. | Wales | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Darcey Corria was left with serious injuries after a car crash
A beauty queen who was thrown through her car window after initially escaping unharmed from a crash said the experience had changed her life.
Miss Wales Darcey Corria, 21, from Barry in Vale of Glamorgan, was left with a broken neck and pelvis in a collision on the M4 in January.
Two months on, she is still in pain but said her rehabilitation had given her "a completely different take on life".
She said it had opened her eyes to "different realities".
Due to be competing at the Miss World competition this year, she said she would be there as "the best version of herself" after struggling with her mental and physical recovery.
The 21-year-old remembers driving home from Swansea in bad weather when she lost control of her car near Bridgend. She skidded to a halt but was unharmed.
As she tried to escape, with her car still across the motorway, her vehicle was hit.
Current Miss Wales Darcey Corria says the crash has made her realise life is short
"As I was climbing over, I remember looking back to see how close the cars were and as I've looked back to see, the car hit me and I went through the passenger window," she said.
The window broke her neck and jaw and the impact of hitting the floor broke her pelvis and lower back.
"It's more scary to think back now," she said.
"The scariest time was when I was on the side of the road and there was a lady who was helping me.
"I just remember being really cold, I was losing a lot of blood, it was getting dark and I just felt like I was on my own."
Darcey spent 20 days in hospital and is still receiving treatment. There is a chance she might have to have an operation on her neck.
"Looking back at the first week home and I was still on my medication, I felt really strong, I was going on social media and it hadn't hit me yet. It was like I was dreaming," she said.
But coming off medication and leaving hospital was when it hit her.
"The week after that I was just being really angry. I have really gone through so many emotions.
"But to be here now and feel positive and wake up and not cry and feel happy and to know I will make a full recovery is really reassuring."
Darcey says she has even more motivation to win Miss World and use her voice
Darcey has posted updates on her social media accounts to show that "life isn't always sequins and tiaras" and said a visit by Miss World to her hospital bed was "an honour".
The neck brace she has been wearing, even while sleeping, has caused some to stare when she is out and about which she admitted made her feel "self-conscious".
She said she also noticed a lack of disabled toilets when she was first out of hospital and needed to use them.
"That just wakes me up to what people who are disabled live with every day," she said.
"So in a way I am grateful that it has opened my eyes up to the different realities of life which I haven't experienced.
"It has been life-changing. It's woken me up to how thin the line between life and death is and just how short life is.
"Love, respect and appreciate the relationships you've got because you never know when they might be taken from you."
Darcey will compete at the Miss World competition later this year, something she qualified for after winning the Miss Wales title last May.
"I will be a different person than I ever thought I would be standing on the stage at Miss World. I would love to win but I am just really grateful I can still go.
"I will just enjoy every single second." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64981797 |
UN climate report: Scientists release 'survival guide' to avert climate disaster - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Technology is providing solutions but the climate forecast is worsening, scientists say in major report. | Science & Environment | Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change met in Switzerland where glaciers are melting
UN chief Antonio Guterres says a major new report on climate change is a "survival guide for humanity".
Clean energy and technology can be exploited to avoid the growing climate disaster, the report says.
But at a meeting in Switzerland to agree their findings, climate scientists warned a key global temperature goal will likely be missed.
Their report lays out how rapid cuts to fossil fuels can avert the worst effects of climate change.
In response to the findings, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres says that all countries should bring forward their net zero plans by a decade. These targets are supposed to rapidly cut the greenhouse gas emissions that warm our planet's atmosphere.
"There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all," the report states.
Governments had previously agreed to act to avoid global temperature rise going above 1.5C. But the world has already warmed by 1.1C and now experts say that it is likely to breach 1.5C in the 2030s.
The UK government responded that the report makes it clear that countries must "work towards far more ambitious climate commitments" ahead of the UN climate summit COP28 in November.
"The UK is a world leader in working towards net zero, but we need to go further and faster," a spokesperson said.
Small islands in the Pacific are some of the countries expected to be worst hit by climate change.
Responding to the report, the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Dr. Pa'olelei Luteru said: "While our people are being displaced from their homes and climate commitments go unmet, the fossil fuel industry is enjoying billions in profits. There can be no excuses for this continued lack of action."
The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - the scientific body that advises the UN on rising temperatures - is agreed on by all governments involved.
Their new study aims to boil down to one slim volume several landmark findings on the causes, impacts and solutions to climate change that have been released since 2018.
It outlines the significant impacts that climate change is having on the world already, and explains that these will get much worse.
By 2100 extreme coastal flooding that used to happen once-a-century is expected to occur at least annually in half of the world's tidal gauge locations - places where sea level recordings are made.
Concentrations of the warming gas CO2 in the atmosphere are at their highest in 2 million years. The world is now warmer than at any time in the past 125,000 years - and will likely get warmer still over the next decade.
"Even in the near term, global warming is more likely than not to reach 1.5C even under the very low greenhouse gas scenario," the report states.
"If we aim for 1.5C and achieve 1.6C, that is still much much better than saying, it's too late, and we are doomed and I'm not even trying," Dr Friederike Otto, from Imperial College, a member of the core writing team for this report, told BBC News.
"And I think what this report shows very, very clearly is there is so much to win by trying."
The synthesis shows that projected emissions of CO2 from existing fossil fuel infrastructure, such as oil wells and gas pipelines, would bust the remaining carbon budget - the amount of CO2 that can still be emitted - for staying under this key temperature threshold.
And while not explicitly mentioning new projects like Willow oil in the US or the Cumbria coal mine in the UK, the scientists involved have few doubts about their impact.
"There's not a cut-off day (for fossil fuels), but it's clear that the fossil fuel infrastructure we already have will blow through that carbon budget," Dr Oliver Geden, from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and a member of the report's core writing team, told BBC News.
World-leading scientists wrote the UN report which must also be agreed on by governments
"The remaining carbon budget in opening new fossil fuel infrastructure is certainly not compatible with the 1.5C target."
The document argues strongly that going past 1.5C will not be the end of the world as this may only be a "temporary overshoot".
The authors say that they are optimistic that dramatic changes can be achieved rapidly, pointing to the massive falls in the price of energy made from solar and wind.
They also argue that changes driven by consumers in terms of diet, food waste and switching to low carbon transport can achieve significant cuts in emissions from many sectors.
But the report also acknowledges that in addition to getting to net zero emissions as soon as possible, large scale use of carbon dioxide removal technology will be needed.
Some observers have their doubts. "We know what needs to happen, but the carbon removal part and carbon capture and storage ideas are a massive distraction," said Lili Fuhr, from the Centre for International Environmental Law, who attended the approval session.
Responding to the report's call for more urgent action, the UN secretary general is calling for countries to bring forward their plans for net zero by a decade.
"Leaders of developed countries must commit to reaching net zero as close as possible to 2040, the limit they should all aim to respect," he said in a statement. He also calls on the likes of India and China who have announced net zero plans for beyond 2050 to try and bring them forward by a decade as well. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65000182 |
Bryn Hargreaves: Body of missing former Wigan Warriors star found - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Former Wigan Warriors rugby star Bryn Hargreaves had been missing in the US for more than a year. | Manchester | Bryn Hargreaves moved to the United States when he quit rugby league
The body of former Wigan Warriors rugby star Bryn Hargreaves has been found more than a year after he went missing in America, his family have confirmed.
The 37-year-old moved to the US about 10 years ago after quitting the sport. He was reported missing in January last year.
The family had turned to a private investigator in a bid to find him after a police search "turned up nothing".
His brother said "with incredible sadness we have finally found Bryn".
His former clubs including St Helens and Bradford Bulls have also expressed sadness at the news and paid tribute to him.
The ex-prop forward last spoke to his family on 3 January 2022, nine days before they contacted police after his apartment was found to be empty.
Despite a police search and family members going to America to join in the efforts, no trace was found of him.
Posting on Facebook, his brother Gareth Hargreaves said the family do not yet know the cause of his death or "what actually happened on 3/1/22".
His mother Maria Andrews said she was "in bits" and "heartbroken".
Hargreaves played for Wigan, St Helens and Bradford Bulls before leaving the game and moving to the US
Wigan Warriors, where Hargreaves made 33 appearances over a two-year stint, said the club was "deeply saddened".
St Helens RFC chairman Eamonn McManus said: "Bryn was extremely well liked and respected by his team mates and all involved with the club during his four seasons with us from 2007 to 2010.
"He was very much part of the great Saints team of that era and was a World Club Challenge winner in 2007 and a Challenge Cup winner in 2008.
"He will be remembered with genuine warmth and with affection by us all."
Hargreaves joined Bradford Bulls in 2010, before quitting the sport, saying he had become disillusioned by off-field problems at the club.
He moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his now ex-wife, before he relocated to rural West Virginia.
Bradford Bulls posted on Twitter: "We are extremely saddened to learn the body of former player Bryn Hargreaves has been found.
"Our thoughts and condolences are with Bryn's family and friends at this difficult time."
The Foreign Office said it was providing support to the family and was in contact with local authorities in the US.
Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-65014006 |
Bruce Willis's wife speaks of her grief at his dementia on his 68th birthday - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Emma Heming Willis discusses the impact her husband's dementia is having on the family. | Entertainment & Arts | Emma Heming Willis and Bruce Willis have two daughters together
Emma Heming Willis, the wife of actor Bruce Willis, has spoken about the "grief and sadness" she feels over her husband's dementia, as they celebrated his 68th birthday.
"I have started the morning by crying, as you can see by my swollen eyes," she said in an Instagram video.
"It's important that you see all sides of this," she said, as she continues to raise awareness about his condition.
Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in February.
This came after he developed aphasia, which causes difficulties with speech, last year.
His family said last year that he was giving up acting as the condition was affecting his cognitive abilities.
The actor's dementia diagnosis affects language as well as behaviour and the ability to plan. There is no cure or intervention that can slow down the progress, so his symptoms will continue to worsen.
This Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original post on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by emmahemingwillis This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
In her post, Heming Willis addressed the loss she feels as she cares for her husband.
"I always get this message where people always tell me, 'Oh you're so strong. I don't know how you do it'," she said.
"I'm not given a choice. I wish I was but I'm also raising two kids in this.
"Sometimes in our lives, we have to put our big girl panties on and get to it, and that's what I'm doing. But I do have times of sadness every day, grief every day and I'm really feeling it today on his birthday."
She is going public with her experiences, she said, as the "silver lining or flip side" is that she and the family are appreciative of the "warmth and love" of fans.
"As much as I do it for myself, I do it for you because I know how much you love my husband."
Emma Heming Willis [L], Bruce Willis and Demi Moore [second R] are pictured with his eldest three daughters in 2015
In another post featuring footage of Willis playing with their children, she called her husband "pure love".
Willis's former wife, actress Demi Moore was also part of his birthday celebrations. She and Willis have three daughters together.
She posted footage of him singing with his family as they wished him happy birthday and give him a birthday pie.
This Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original post on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post 2 by demimoore This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
He was seen smiling and joining in the celebrations, and stumbling slightly after blowing out his candles.
Moore said: "So glad we could celebrate you today. Love you and love our family. Thank you to everyone for the love and warm wishes - we all feel them."
Willis became a household name in the 1980s and 90s after starring in blockbuster films such as Die Hard, The Sixth Sense, Armageddon and Pulp Fiction, along with the hit TV series Moonlighting.
He has also been nominated for five Golden Globes - winning one for Moonlighting - and three Emmys, where he won two. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65012888 |
Saudi Arabia invited Iran's President Raisi to visit, Tehran says - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The visit - not yet confirmed by Riyadh - would build on a thaw in tensions, brokered by China. | Middle East | President Raisi (pictured) is an ultra-conservative close to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iran says Saudi Arabia has invited Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi for an official visit - just over a week since the countries agreed to restore diplomatic relations.
The invitation is said to have come in a letter from King Salman, but has not yet been confirmed by the Saudis.
The Middle East's recent history has been dominated by hostility between the two nations.
China brokered the thaw, which could reshape the region's geopolitics.
A senior Iranian official, Mohammad Jamshidi, tweeted about the invitation to visit the Saudi capital, Riyadh, saying Mr Raisi had welcomed it and "stressed Iran's readiness to expand co-operation".
Separately, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters that the two countries had agreed to hold a meeting at foreign minister level, and that three possible locations had been proposed.
He did not name the locations, nor say when the meeting might take place.
The BBC's Middle East Editor, Sebastian Usher, says the recent improvement in bilateral relations, which came unexpectedly following days of talks brokered by China, appears to be building serious momentum.
Both have announced they will reopen embassies within two months and re-establish trade and security relations.
This development was cautiously welcomed by many, including the US and the United Nations, after previous attempts at reconciliation were unsuccessful.
Saudi Arabia cut ties in January 2016 after demonstrators stormed its embassy in Tehran.
That was after Riyadh had executed the prominent Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was convicted of terror-related offences.
Since then, tensions between the Sunni- and Shia-led neighbours have often been high, with each regarding the other as a threatening power seeking regional dominance.
They have been on opposing sides of several regional conflicts, including the civil wars in Syria and Yemen.
Mr Amir-Abdollahian also said that Iran hoped steps would be made to improve ties with Bahrain, a close Saudi ally that followed Riyadh in severing diplomatic ties with Tehran in 2016.
"We hope that some obstacles between Iran and Bahrain will be removed and we will take basic steps to reopen the embassies," he said.
Bahrain has not responded to the comments, but earlier welcomed the Iran-Saudi agreement to restore diplomatic ties.
Iran has also expressed a willingness to resume or improve relations with other regional Arab rivals, including Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-65010185 |
XXXTentacion: Three men found guilty of murdering rapper in 2018 - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The rapper, 20, real name Jahseh Onfroy, was shot and killed during a Florida robbery in 2018. | US & Canada | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Three men accused of killing 20-year-old rapper XXXTentacion during a 2018 ambush robbery have been found guilty.
A Florida jury convicted Michael Boatwright, 27, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24 on Monday after deliberating for more than a week.
All three were charged with first-degree murder in connection to the death of the controversial rapper.
Another man, Robert Allen, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder.
The three face a possible sentence of life behind bars.
Rapper XXXTentacion, real name Jahseh Onfroy, was shot and killed in broad daylight in Florida in June 2018.
He was visiting a motorcycle shop and was leaving when he was approached by two armed masked men who "demanded property" from him, police said at the time.
At least one of the men shot XXXTentacion during a 45-second struggle. The suspects then grabbed a Louis Vuitton bag full of $50,000 (£42,000) in cash that the rapper had just withdrawn from the bank before fleeing the scene in an SUV.
During the trial, the lawyer for Boatwright argued that his client's DNA was not found on XXXTentacion's body. He said the DNA of the two other men did not match either.
"Whoever (XXXTentacion) struggled with is not in this courtroom," lawyer Joseph Kimok said during closing arguments.
The fourth suspect, Allen, testified against the other three after he pleaded guilty last year. Lawyers for the other suspects have argued that Allen lied about their client's involvement in the robbery and death.
They also claimed that investigators botched the case and failed to consider other suspects.
Lead prosecutor Pascale Achille, however, said that the lack of DNA evidence was irrelevant, as cell phone data shows the three accused were together near the motorcycle shop at the time of the rapper's death.
Ms Achille said that Bluetooth data shows the accused were in the SUV used by the shooters at that same time.
Prosecutors presented surveillance video from the motorcycle shop as evidence, as well as cell phone videos that the accused allegedly took hours after the killing showing them flashing handfuls of $100 bills.
XXXTentacion's music explored themes of depression, loneliness, abandonment and suicide. The platinum-selling rising rap artist faced some controversies in his brief career.
His personal life was plagued by allegations of domestic violence. He was facing 15 felony charges at the time of his death, including aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation and witness tampering.
His song Look at Me took off on SoundCloud and later exploded to No 34 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Many of his tracks climbed up the charts in the UK and the US shortly after his death, and his memorial was attended by thousands of fans. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64825205 |
Aleksandar Mitrovic: FA says standard ban 'clearly insufficient' as Fulham striker charged - BBC Sport | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | null | Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic is charged with violent and improper conduct after his red card at Manchester United, but the Football Association says the standard punishment is “clearly insufficient”. | null | Aleksandar Mitrovic: FA says standard ban 'clearly insufficient' as Fulham striker charged Last updated on .From the section Fulham
Aleksandar Mitrovic had put Fulham in front with his 12th goal of the season before being sent off at Manchester United Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic is facing a lengthy ban after the Football Association said its standard punishment for his sending off at Manchester United was "clearly insufficient". The Serbian has been charged with violent and improper conduct after a straight red card for pushing referee Chris Kavanagh during Sunday's 3-1 FA Cup quarter-final defeat. Manager Marco Silva has also been charged with abusive behaviour towards match officials. Fulham boss Silva will also face an improper conduct charge for allegedly throwing a water bottle in the direction of the assistant referee. And the club has landed an additional charge of failing to control its players in the Old Trafford encounter. Former Premier League striker Chris Sutton has called for Mitrovic, 28, to be given a 10-match ban, but manager Silva appealed for "fairness" for his frontman from the FA. A player is typically suspended for three matches after being shown a straight red card for violent conduct, but that ban can be extended, depending on the circumstances. Paolo di Canio was banned for 11 games in 1998 for shoving referee Paul Alcock when playing in a Premier League game for Sheffield Wednesday against Arsenal. "The standard punishment which would otherwise apply to Aleksandar Mitrovic for the sending-off offence of violent conduct that he committed towards the match referee is clearly insufficient," the FA said in a statement. "In addition, Aleksandar Mitrovic's behaviour and/or language was allegedly improper and/or abusive and/or insulting and/or threatening following his dismissal." Fulham's 12-goal leading scorer had put his side in front against United early in the second half. But he was dismissed in the 72nd minute after the hosts were awarded a penalty following a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) check that resulted in Brazil winger Willian also being sent off for a deliberate handball on the line. Kavanagh also sent boss Silva to the stands for his actions on the touchline as the referee walked past him to view the pitchside monitor. An FA statement read: "It's alleged that Marco Silva used abusive and/or insulting words and/or gestures and/or behaviour towards the match referee; that he used abusive and/or insulting words towards the fourth official prior to his dismissal; and that he also used abusive and/or insulting words and/or gestures and/or behaviour towards the fourth official after being sent off. "It's further alleged that in throwing a water bottle in the direction of the assistant referee that his behaviour was improper." 'More than 10-game ban needed', say refs Former referees' chief Keith Hackett echoed Sutton's demand for a 10-game ban, while head of the Referees' Association Paul Field said Mitrovic should serve longer for pushing a referee - and even face carrying out community work. "I hope it's more than 10 games," said Field, who hoped the FA would consider a punishment similar to the nine-month ban Manchester United's Eric Cantona received in 1995 for an attack on a fan at Crystal Palace. He told BBC Radio 5 live: "Why couldn't he go down to some of the pitches down in London? "Turn up - there's no car parking space, there's no changing room, there's a cold cup of tea, it's pouring down with rain, the pitches are in poor condition, every player is looking to pull one over on you. And, with all of that, you get abused by the parents. So why not do that for six months? "At an amateur level, a player is looking at about a year's ban - why doesn't that carry through to the professional game? "Think about what Eric Cantona did nearly 30 years ago and he got nine months. I think they should put a really decent time on this." Sutton expressed fears that children and players at grassroots level may repeat Mitrovic's behaviour - a point Field agreed with. Grassroots referee Simon King also told BBC Radio 5 live there is "100%" a link between the behaviour fans see on the pitch and how players at grassroots level behave. "I was stunned," he added. "The stalking and intimidation, having to be forcibly dragged away. "My first thought was, what would have happened had he not been dragged away by his own team-mates? And I think some of the Manchester United players helped get him away from the referee. "When he initially put his hands on him you cannot do that. It's quite frightening that happens at the top level." King said he would "100%" support a lengthy ban for Mitrovic and added: "A statement needs to be made to everybody. If that was to happen at any level of football, the ban should be set. People should be aware beforehand."
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Prosecuting Donald Trump would be politically motivated, say Republicans - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Members of the ex-president's party claim prosecutors investigating him are part of the "radical left". | US & Canada | Prosecuting Donald Trump would be a politically motivated move by his opponents, senior Republicans say.
On Saturday, the former US president said his arrest could happen next week, based on media reports.
But Democrats have said no-one is above the law and accused Mr Trump of recklessly stoking political divisions.
The case focuses on alleged hush money paid on Mr Trump's behalf by his lawyer to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The 76-year-old is also the subject of several other separate inquiries, although he has not yet been charged in any and denies wrongdoing.
Mr Trump has pledged to continue his campaign to become the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election, even if he is indicted.
It is not yet known if he is going to be criminally charged or even, beyond the most basic details, what any indictment might contain.
Former US vice-president Mike Pence and the most senior Republican in the US Congress, Kevin McCarthy, have both spoken out against any criminal prosecution.
Speaking to US network ABC News, Mr Pence said Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who is a Democrat, was carrying out a "politically charged prosecution" against Mr Trump.
"I'm taken aback at the idea of indicting a former president of the United States, at a time when there's a crime wave in New York City," Mr Pence said.
"The fact that the Manhattan DA [district attorney] thinks that indicting President Trump is his top priority, I think is, just tells you everything you need to know about the radical left in this country," he told the broadcaster.
In his statement on Saturday Mr Trump called for mass protests from supporters and accused Mr Bragg's office of "illegal leaks" to journalists.
Asked about the call for protests, Mr Pence said that US citizens have a "constitutional right to peaceably assemble" - but also said any action must take place "peacefully and in a lawful manner".
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy called the investigation "an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA".
In a tweet, he also promised to investigate whether federal money was being used to interfere in elections "with politically motivated prosecutions".
Democrats accused Mr Trump of stirring up political divisions with his claims.
Speaking to ABC News, Democratic Senator Elizbeth Warren said "no-one is above the law" even if they happen to have been president and any investigation must be "allowed to go forward appropriately".
"There's no reason to protest this. This is the law operating as it should without fear or favour for anyone," she said.
Mr McCarthy's predecessor as House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, echoed Ms Warren's sentiments - adding that Mr Trump's remarks were "reckless" and designed to "keep himself in the news and to foment unrest among his supporters".
"He cannot hide from his violations of the law, disrespect for our elections and incitements to violence. Rightfully, our legal system will decide how to hold him accountable," she wrote on Twitter.
The Stormy Daniels case centres on how Mr Trump reimbursed his lawyer Michael Cohen after he paid Ms Daniels $130,000 before the 2016 US election.
The record for the payment reimbursing Mr Cohen says it was for "legal fees". Prosecutors could conclude this amounts to Mr Trump falsifying business records, which is a misdemeanour offence in New York. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65007991 |
John Lewis considers plan to change staff-owned structure - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The chain's famous staff-ownership structure could be watered down to raise new funds. | Business | John Lewis is considering a potential change to its employee-owned business structure, upending more than 70 years of tradition.
The group, which also owns Waitrose, is currently fully owned by its staff, who receive a share in the profits.
But in the face of tougher trading, the firm is said to be exploring the idea of selling a minority stake.
The Sunday Times, which first reported the move, said the firm hoped to raise up to £2bn.
It said the firm's chairwoman Dame Sharon White was considering a potential plan to dilute the famous partnership structure in order to invest in better technology, data analysis and Waitrose's supply chain.
The BBC has been told the idea is at the "very, very early stages" of discussion and may not eventually happen. However, if it did it would not amount to removing the mutual ownership structure altogether and that staff would retain majority control.
It could still prove controversial among staff, however, who jointly own the whole of the business, benefiting from any profits.
The profit-sharing model has occasionally resulted in big windfalls. In 2008 staff received a sum equivalent to about 10 weeks' pay as a bonus.
However in the past three years the firm has had to steer through the choppy waters of the pandemic and a cost of living crisis. It made a loss of £234m in 2022-3 and paid no bonus to staff, for only the second time since 1953. It has also closed stores and cut staff numbers.
John Lewis has worked with outside companies in the past: Ocado launched grocery deliveries for Waitrose and more recently it set up a joint venture to build residential properties with investment firm Abrdn. If the move were to go ahead, it would be the first sale of a stake in the core business.
At times the mutualised structure has been held up as model for how businesses could be run differently, taking a broader range of stakeholders into account and focusing less on shareholder profit.
When Sir Nick Clegg was deputy prime minister he heralded the group as a model for the whole economy.
John Lewis has not commented on the reports, but said: "We've always said we would seek partnerships to help fund our transformation and exciting growth plans.
"We've done this with Ocado in the past and now with Abrdn. Our partners, who own the business, will be the first to hear about any developments." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65006218 |
Taliban officials must sack sons given government jobs - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Afghanistan's Islamist leader says officials should replace appointed sons or nephews and hire other workers. | Asia | The leader of the Taliban has ordered Afghan officials to sack relatives they have hired to government positions.
Hibatullah Akhundzada's decree says officials should replace appointed sons or other family members - and refrain from hiring relatives in future.
The Taliban dismissed some senior staff when they took power in 2021, while others fled.
There have been allegations that inexperienced staff have been hired based on their personal connections.
The Afghan Islamic Press, based in Peshawar, Pakistan, reported that the decree followed allegations that several senior Taliban officials had appointed their sons to roles within the government.
A photo of the decree was posted on the Office of Administrative Affairs' Twitter page on Saturday.
Afghanistan has faced a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis since the Taliban swept into Kabul and regained control of the country. Foreign military forces had been in the country for two decades, fighting a war that killed tens of thousands and displaced millions more.
Since then, sanctions have been placed on members of the Taliban government, the central bank's overseas assets have been frozen, and most foreign funding has been suspended - cutting off an economic lifeline.
Afghanistan is estimated to be sitting on natural resources - including natural gas, copper and rare earths - worth more than $1tn (£831.5bn), but those reserves remain untapped due to decades of turmoil in the country.
The Taliban government's treatment of women has outraged the international community and increased its isolation while its economy collapses.
Education of women and girls has been particularly contentious. Currently girls and women are barred from secondary schools and universities in most of Afghanistan. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-65005792 |
Victim's father marks 30 years since Warrington IRA bombing - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Colin Parry says spending the last three decades campaigning for peace has kept his family together. | Liverpool | Colin Parry and his wife Wendy have spent the last three decades campaigning for peace
A father whose 12-year-old son was killed by an IRA bomb 30 years ago has said campaigning for peace is "the glue which has kept the family together".
Tim Parry and three-year-old Johnathan Ball died and 54 others were hurt when two bombs hidden inside litter bins exploded on 20 March 1993.
The Provisional IRA acknowledged its involvement the following day.
Colin Parry said he and his wife Wendy had "focused so much on turning something bad into something good".
They established the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation which opened in March 2000, on the seventh anniversary of the boys' deaths.
Mr Parry said: "I don't need to be a time traveller, I can go back that day, the moment when we heard there'd been a bomb and the moment we were told how badly injured Tim was and everything that flowed from that for the next five days.
"For a while we thought he might live but of course that wasn't to be."
Johnathan Ball, three, and Tim Parry, 12, died after the IRA bombing
"The appetite for normal life changed because life wasn't normal any more so we had to channel our energies into something new, and that new is something that's still there 30 years on and it will go on," Mr Parry told BBC Breakfast.
"We've focused so much on turning something bad into something good, and I think we've done it reasonably well, we're still here and we have a purpose in life."
Tim was killed alongside Johnathan when the IRA detonated bombs near a busy shopping centre in Warrington, Cheshire, on the day before Mother's Day in 1993.
Mr Parry said people still "remember the sense of utter shock".
"A town without any military significance shouldn't have been targeted," he said.
"Why Warrington? And why a shopping street? Why the day before Mother's Day? All these strange questions which lead me to the view that it was a cynical, deliberate choice by the IRA to hit a soft target and they must have known that there would be children likely to be injured or possibly killed through those two bombs."
The River of Life memorial was placed at the site of the attack on Bridge Street in 1996
He added: "They've never been caught, we'll never know who they are, not that it matters any more.
"It matters more to me the positive things that have come along that we carry on doing for as long as we can."
Mr Parry said his son was "the joker in the pack" who was "different to our other children".
He said: "He was the one that did the things he shouldn't have done and got away with it because he was the middle one.
"He was an entertainer and he wanted to do so many things.
"I often wonder what he would have become. I could have seen him in the Royal Navy, maybe he would even have played for Everton, they need him badly enough."
Former Prime Minister John Major attended an event in Warrington to mark the bombing's 30th anniversary
A commemorative event held in Warrington town centre to mark the anniversary was attended by former Prime Minister Sir John Major, and included a one-minute silence.
Sir John told BBC North West Tonight he could still remember the moment he was informed of the bombing.
"It was a truly dreadful event and one which nearly encouraged the end of the peace process," he said.
He added that the "tremendous work" of the foundation was "beyond praise".
"To think Colin and Wendy Parry did that after losing their son in that dreadful way in a murder, I think it's absolutely remarkable what's been achieved," he said.
An emotional commemoration to mark one of Warrington's darkest days.
The town fell silent just after 12:25 GMT to remember what happened on that day 30 years ago and all those affected by it.
Peace and reconciliation were the main messages from those who spoke. They included former Prime Minister Sir John Major and the friends and family of Johnathan Ball and Tim Parry.
Arthur, the nephew that Tim never got to meet, read a poem named World Peace.
The final words read: "Our fight should be for peace instead, so it's love not war that we should spread."
A message that resonated with everyone gathered in the town.
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-64995094 |
Ullapool: The Highland community facing a 100-mile trip to see a dentist - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A shortage of NHS dentists means people in Ullapool are also likely to have to pay for dental care. | Highlands & Islands | People in Ullapool are facing a 100-mile round trip for dental care after the village's only dentist retired.
NHS Highland has been unable to recruit a replacement and has suggested patients register with private practices in Gairloch or Inverness.
Those unable to afford private dental care have been unable to find NHS dentists taking on new patients.
Earlier this week the British Dental Association (BDA) warned of a crisis facing dentistry in Scotland.
NHS Highland blamed a national shortage of dentists for the situation in Ullapool.
Sue Pomeroy, from Little Loch Broom, is among local people "desperately" trying to find an NHS dentist.
Sue Pomeroy says her children need to be able to access NHS dentists
"I've phoned everywhere, practices as far as Easter Ross, but no-one is taking on NHS patients.
"One dentist told me I could be added to their waiting list but it's a year-and-a-half long. My friend has contacted 20 different dentists.
"I've got children who need regular check-ups, and I need follow-up treatment after dental surgery."
Her former dentist served the town, which has a population of 1,500, and its outlying areas.
Some have signed up for private care but Ms Pomeroy said this may not be affordable for people with families, or accessible for older people.
Inverness and Gairloch are both more than an hour's drive away from Ullapool.
Jonathan Miller, 66 has lived just outside Ullapool for the last 30 years. He told BBC Scotland that the cost of private dental care as well as fuel costs could put him off attending the dentist.
He said: "It's a round trip of around 110 miles, which is a couple of hours there and back, you can't just nip out to the dentist.
"If it's going to cost me upwards of £78 to go to Inverness just for a check-up, I'm not going to bother."
He has concerns that the lack of preventative care may lead to bigger dental issues in the future, which will end up costing him even more money.
Mr Miller said he felt people were being "forced to go private", adding: "It starts with teeth, but where does it end?"
He said it was the latest in a line of cuts that was making it "increasingly difficult and expensive to live in rural areas."
Jonathan Miller is concerned about the costs of private dental care
A spokesperson for NHS Highland said patients affected by the Ullapool surgery's closure had been given the option to access private dental care.
Children have been offered access to NHS dentistry.
Earlier this week the professional body for dentists warned that NHS dental staffing problems could get worse.
Speaking to the BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland, BDA Scotland director Charlotte Waite warned that 80% of dentists planned to reduce their NHS commitment this year, with 30% saying they would leave the profession or seek early retirement.
She said dentists were struggling with patient backlogs and soaring running costs, meaning the fees they were paid to offer NHS services were no longer covering the cost of carrying out the services. This means many dentists are operating at a loss.
The BDA has asked the Scottish government to bring payment reform forward.
Ms Waite said: "If they don't sort out and reform the funding of this system there is a real risk that they will lose even more dentists from the NHS service."
A Scottish government spokesperson said NHS Highland had now received expressions of interest for opening new dental practices, and the government would work with the health board to provide funding support if the applications were successful.
The government is also continuing to work "apace" on payment reform.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-64976569 |
Terry Hall: Coventry scooter ride-out pays tribute to singer - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Hundreds of people ride through Coventry on what would have been the singer's 64th birthday. | Coventry & Warwickshire | Some scooters were decorated in honour of The Specials singer
Hundreds of people have taken part in a scooter ride-out in Terry Hall's home city of Coventry to mark what would have been his 64th birthday.
Hall, singer with The Specials, died in December of pancreatic cancer.
Scooters were a symbol of the Two Tone scene of which Hall was an icon, at its peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
"The whole mods and rude boys, it all just amalgamated into one scene. They all rode scooters; they all looked sharp," said organiser Richard Willie.
Hannah Tobin, from the city, said the sheer number of scooters who turned out from all over the West Midlands had been "absolutely amazing".
"It was quite moving and brilliant seeing them all in convoy to remember him," she said.
People from scooter clubs wanted to pay their respects to Terry Hall
Suki Singh, who helped to organise the event, said many people had been in touch, asking to take part,
"We've had other clubs - CV Collective, All or Nothing, groups from Solihull, Kettering and Northampton - that all wanted to get involved and as soon as people found out about it - it just got sort of bigger and bigger," he said.
"Some things pass you by at the time but suddenly, years later, we realise how big Two Tone was, and a massive part was played, obviously, by The Specials.
The city's 2-Tone Village has music and stalls to raise funds for Tonic, a charity supported by Hall, that aims to help people's mental health and recovery through music.
People were moved by the number of scooter riders taking part
Parking in the village was affected
The top end of Marlborough Road became a scooter park for the day, affecting parking in some roads, the village said.
The Specials spearheaded the Two Tone and ska scenes, their music reflecting an era of upheaval, unemployment and racial tension.
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They split in 1981 but hits such as Ghost Town and Too Much Too Young ensured their legacy.
Hall went on to found Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield and Vegas, and also performed as a solo artist.
Terry Hall died in December aged 63 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
The Specials reformed in 2008, featuring Hall, but without co-founder Jerry Dammers.
Mr Willie, who runs the Lounge Lizards Scooter Club, said Hall had "touched all of our souls".
"We all loved Terry Hall," said Mr Willie.
"When he died, we just wanted to do something to honour his legacy and all the music he made, which was a massive part of our lives."
Richard Willie organised the event, with The 2 Tone Café owners Angela and Alf Knight set to cater for the riders
Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-65006801 |
Transport for Wales rail passengers face disruption into April - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Transport for Wales says it is struggling to get parts needed to bring trains back into operation. | Wales | Transport for Wales are asking passengers to check their website to make sure certain trains are running as normal
Rail disruption across Wales will continue into April after trains were withdrawn following several fires.
More than 100 services were cancelled in part or in full at the start of March after three "mechanical failures" on Class 175 trains.
Transport for Wales (TfW) said it was struggling to get the parts it needed to bring trains back into operation.
Services between Chester and Liverpool remain cancelled, with replacement buses in place for several other lines.
"All necessary checks and repairs must be completed on our Class 175 trains before they are allowed back into service," a TfW spokesperson said.
"For some of the trains, additional engine repair work has been found to be required."
TfW said it could mean train cancellations between Fishguard Harbour and Clarbeston Road, and Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton.
On Monday, bus replacement services were in place between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog, Milford Haven and Swansea, Wrexham and Bidston on Merseyside, and Newport and Cross Keys.
Passengers are being asked to check the TfW website before travelling.
Rail passengers travelling between Wrexham and Bidston, Merseyside, had to use bus replacement services
The operator said it was trying to find parts internationally and would gradually bring more trains back into service over the next few weeks.
"We're expecting some disruption to continue into April," the spokesperson said.
"We're very sorry for the disruption to customers' journeys while we work to carry out this essential work."
Jan Chaudhry van der Velde, chief operations officer at Transport for Wales, said: "A large proportion of the trains will need a modification to the engine. That process has now started at Chester depot, which is where these 175s are maintained.
"We've got about 25 of these Class 175 trains. We've got about five in service as we speak now.
"The position will gradually get better. It's all dependent on a regular flow of the spare parts that we need to do these repairs."
Student Harry Mawdsley says the bus replacement service means getting up a lot earlier
Harry Mawdsley, a student, called the disruption "really not good".
He normally travels by train to Wrexham for lectures.
"I have to get up a lot earlier to get a bus that can often be late," he explained.
Meena Powell was also stuck using a replacement bus service from Wrexham.
Meena Powell says she will probably start using her car is train disruption out of Wrexham continues into April
"It just takes longer," she said. "They do what they can on the roads with the traffic but it's a pain.
"When you rely on the train it's really hard."
If the disruption continues into April Ms Powell said she would probably go back to using her own car.
"That's a lot of single person car journeys to be making.... environment wise," she said. "Not everyone has the option unfortunately of hopping in the car and it's not something I want to do."
TfW said it was also dealing with a broken down train causing delays on its Crewe to Shrewsbury service on Monday. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65012434 |
Jeffrey Epstein banks to face sex-trafficking case - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A US court says the banks must face claims they enabled the deceased financier's sex trafficking. | Business | Financier Epstein was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in 2019 when he was found dead in his cell
Two banks connected with the late Jeffrey Epstein will face lawsuits over claims they enabled his sex trafficking, a US court has ruled.
Two women who say the financier sexually abused them brought the case against JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank.
Judge Jed Rakoff also gave the go-ahead to a case against JP Morgan from the US Virgin Islands.
The banks deny being aware of Epstein's abuses.
In a four-page order Judge Rakoff wrote that the women and Virgin Islands government could try to make the case the banks had "knowingly benefitted from participating in a sex trafficking venture".
He also allowed the women to pursue claims the banks were negligent and obstructed enforcement of a federal anti-trafficking law.
He dismissed some of the other claims.
The decision means the banks could be financially liable for their relationships with the American financier if the claims are proven in court.
Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking, was a client of JP Morgan from 2000 to 2013, and of Deutsche Bank from 2013 to 2018.
JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank, which had both sought to have the lawsuits dismissed, declined to comment on the recent ruling to Reuters.
The move comes after JP Morgan filed a lawsuit against Jess Staley, who handled Epstein's business as a senior executive at the bank, accusing him of failing to disclose potentially damaging information about his client.
Mr Staley went on to serve as chief executive of Barclays after leaving JP Morgan. He stepped down in 2021 after an investigation into his ties to Epstein.
At the time he said he would contest the findings.
Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor, moved in social circles that included Prince Andrew and former presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as many key figures of the business world.
Prosecutors in 2019 accused him of running a "vast network" of underage girls for sex. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65017982 |
RMT members at Network Rail vote to accept pay deal - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Rail workers have voted on a revised pay offer, ending walkouts for some RMT strikers. | Business | Thousands of signal workers and maintenance staff in the RMT union have voted overwhelmingly to accept an offer from Network Rail to end its dispute.
It means they will not take part in any more strikes in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions.
RMT members who work for 14 train operating companies are still due to walk out on 30 March and 1 April.
But the Network Rail result will be seen as a significant breakthrough.
RMT general secretary Mike Lynch said the offer had not been as high as he would have liked, but members had voted decisively to accept the deal.
"We're not pretending this is an overwhelming victory," he said. "We're not celebrating the outcome, but we do accept our members' verdict that they have said 'this is enough'."
The turnout for the vote was nearly 90%, said the RMT, with 76% of members voting in favour of the pay offer.
The deal comes after Network Rail amended its previously rejected offer of a 5% pay rise for 2022 and a 4% increase this year.
The government did not put any more money on the table, but the tweaked proposals backdated this year's pay increase by three months, meaning workers end up with a bigger lump sum upfront.
The RMT - the country's biggest rail union - said the offer amounted to an uplift on salaries of between 14.4% for the lowest paid grades to 9.2% for the highest paid.
Transport secretary Mark Harper welcomed the "resounding" vote in favour of accepting the offer.
"I'm very pleased, on behalf of the travelling public, that at least on the Network Rail side of the rail business we've now solved the industrial disputes," he said.
He said Network Rail would proceed with the modernisation and maintenance reforms, that the RMT opposes.
Mr Harper said he hoped the deal would be followed by a vote amongst staff in dispute with the train operating companies, represented by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), who he said had made a "fair and reasonable" offer.
Mr Lynch said he would be meeting with RDG representatives on Tuesday, but that next week's strikes would still go ahead unless they received a "cleaner deal".
That should include more money and a dilution of some of the companies' demands, Mr Lynch said. The question of driver-only operated trains and the removal of ticket offices still had not been resolved, he added.
With a deal agreed at Network Rail, the disruption for passengers from future action will be on a slightly smaller scale, since maintenance and signalling staff will not be involved. It also means train operating companies that aren't directly involved in the dispute will be unaffected.
During last Saturday's strike, workers at 14 train operators walked out, with between 40% and 50% of trains running.
Workers in various industries have held strikes, mainly over pay, which has not increased in line with rising prices. Inflation - the rate at which prices rise - is at its highest in nearly four decades. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65015207 |
Rupert Murdoch set to marry for fifth time at 92 - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The billionaire tycoon announces his engagement to former police chaplain, Ann Lesley Smith. | Entertainment & Arts | Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has announced his engagement to his partner Ann Lesley Smith, a former police chaplain.
Mr Murdoch, 92, and Ms Smith, 66, met in September at an event at his vineyard in California.
The businessman told the New York Post, one of his own publications: "I dreaded falling in love - but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I'm happy."
He split with fourth wife Jerry Hall last year.
Mr Murdoch added that he proposed to Ms Smith on St Patrick's Day, noting that he was "one fourth Irish" and had been "very nervous".
Ms Smith's late husband was Chester Smith, a country singer and radio and TV executive.
"For us both it's a gift from God. We met last September," she told the New York Post.
"I'm a widow of 14 years. Like Rupert, my husband was a businessman... so I speak Rupert's language. We share the same beliefs."
Mr Murdoch, who has six children from his first three marriages, added: "We're both looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together."
The wedding will take place in late summer and the couple will spend their time between California, Montana, New York and the UK.
Mr Murdoch was previously married to Australian flight attendant Patricia Booker, Scottish-born journalist Anna Mann, and Chinese-born entrepreneur Wendi Deng.
Mr Murdoch attended the Super Bowl recently with daughter Elisabeth Murdoch (left) and Ann Lesley Smith (right) | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/65012754 |
Newborn puppies saved from being dumped in carrier bag - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A man is arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty after the six puppies were found in a bag. | Tees | The six puppies will be found new homes once they are fully recovered
Six newborn cocker spaniel puppies were saved from being dumped in a carrier bag, police said.
Two Durham police officers spotted a man swinging a carrier bag on the edge of a bank near Bishop Auckland.
When they put on their blue lights, he threw the bag on to the front seat and pretended to check a tyre, they said. The puppies were found in the bag.
A man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty and other offences.
The five-day-old puppies, which have been reunited with their parents, are now being looked after by vets after being found in the car on the A689 on Saturday morning.
Two PCs heard squealing coming from a carrier bag inside the parked up vehicle near Bishop Auckland
PC Liam Vernon from Durham Police said: "The puppies were riddled with fleas and if we'd have passed just seconds before, we would have been none the wiser.
"Both myself and PC Luke Howie are huge dog lovers, so it has been one of those jobs which has really stuck with us.
"We've hardly stopped thinking about it but are just glad to have saved them - it really was right place, right time."
The officers heard squealing coming from the sealed bag and found the puppies, some which had not opened their eyes, inside.
A man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty, money laundering and trafficking in a controlled drug.
He has been released on bail while investigations continue.
Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-65014920 |
Georgia Harrison: I was living in fear of more sex footage - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Reality TV star Stephen Bear was jailed for sharing explicit footage online without Ms Harrison's consent. | UK | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Reality TV star Georgia Harrison says she was "living in fear" that more footage from an explicit video shared without her consent would be released.
Her ex-partner, Stephen Bear, was jailed for 21 months after being found guilty of voyeurism and sharing private sexual videos online.
The 28-year-old said seeing the footage on subscription site OnlyFans was "the final straw" for her.
Ms Harrison said she feared Bear would sell even more footage.
He had used CCTV cameras in his garden to capture them having sex and then sent it to a friend and sold the video online - none of which she consented to.
A six-minute clip was posted online but the original video was 20 minutes long.
Ms Harrison told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme she was aware some people "were viewing the whole thing" which was "a lot harder" for her to cope with.
"I was living in fear that he was going to sell more," she added.
Ms Harrison - who has waived her right to anonymity - started criminal proceedings against Bear, who she met on a reality show, in December 2020.
She said the process of going to court was tough but "empowering".
"I just felt it was the only option. I'd been pushed so far, and before I actually saw the video had gone viral on the internet, I'd had multiple men telling me they had it shown to them," she said.
Bear was given a restraining order to not contact Ms Harrison, who has appeared on Love Island and The Only Way Is Essex, for five years.
He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders' register and will be subject to notification requirements for 10 years.
Stephen Bear was jailed after he was found guilty of voyeurism and disclosing private, sexual photographs and films
The incident "took away an innocent sort of spark" Ms Harrison had and made it difficult for her to trust others, she said.
While her case has "shocked the British public", she said incidents like this are actually "such a common thing" and she receives messages from at least five women going through a similar situation every day.
"Ever since this happened to me I became someone that victims reach out to, and I get at least five women a day - usually victims but sometimes mothers of victims or family members who want advice," she said.
"You just wouldn't believe how big this is and how many people are affected by it."
About one in 14 adults in England and Wales have experienced a threat to share intimate images, according to the Ministry of Justice.
Ms Harrison said she has been "enjoying making a difference" through her work as a campaigner on this issue and would be interested in getting involved in politics.
Asked whether she would like to become the next prime minister, she joked: "We won't push it."
Sharing explicit footage without consent - also known as non-consensual pornography or image-based sexual abuse - was made illegal in 2015.
An amendment to the law was created in 2021, which also made threatening to release private sexual images and films an offence.
However it can be difficult to convict suspected perpetrators, due to the law requiring intent behind the release of pictures and videos - either to cause distress or embarrassment.
Ms Harrison is calling on the government to remove the requirement to prove intent from the law.
An amendment to this effect was proposed as part of the Online Safety Bill in November. It is currently not known when this bill would become law.
"I think if you are sharing explicit images or videos without consent - it's very obvious that it will cause distress.
"If they were to change it and take that out I think a lot more victims would have a chance of getting some justice, like I did," she said. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64998904 |
Private firms profiting from UK asylum hotels - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The government pays millions each day to house asylum seekers in almost 400 hotels across the UK. | UK | The government uses hotels to accommodate thousands of refugees
Private firms are making increased profits as the government pays millions of pounds a day to put up asylum seekers in the UK, the BBC has learned.
BBC News has been told 395 hotels are being used to house asylum seekers, as arrivals to the UK rose last year.
Documents show one booking agency used by the Home Office trebled its pre-tax profits from £2.1m to £6.3m in the 12 months up to February 2022.
The Home Office says the asylum system is under "incredible strain".
The government has never publicly confirmed the number of hotels involved, but a government source told BBC News it is now using 395 to accommodate more than 51,000 asylum seekers, at a cost of more than £6m a day.
Of those hotels, 363 are in England, 20 in Northern Ireland, 10 in Scotland and two in Wales.
It means Northern Ireland and England have far more hotels housing asylum seekers per head of population than Scotland and Wales.
The use of hotels has increased exponentially as the number of people claiming asylum in the UK has increased, reaching a near 20-year high of 74,751 last year, according to Home Office data.
Asylum applications to the UK peaked at 84,132 in 2002, but then fell sharply to a low of 17,916 in 2010.
Small boat arrivals, accounting for about 45% of asylum applications in 2022, were also at record levels and the backlog of asylum cases now amounts to about 166,000 people.
Because of a lack of other suitable accommodation, asylum seekers are housed in hotels, which are often taken over by the government with only a few days' notice.
The BBC has been told existing bookings at some hotels, including business conferences and weddings, have been cancelled at short notice.
Hotel owners are approached to hand over their properties to outsourced companies, which run the business on behalf of the Home Office.
Three large firms have contracts to run the hotels.
One, Serco, provides some 109 hotels in England, according to a High Court judgement from December 2022, mostly in the Midlands, East and North West.
Serco, which also provides other services on behalf of the government, references "growth" in its immigration work in its 2022 annual report.
Court documents have revealed Mears Group is running 80 hotels in north-east England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. According to its annual report, the company increased its annual revenue by 22% in 2021.
The report said the increase was "largely driven" by its work finding hotel accommodation for asylum seekers.
Home Office spending records show a smaller firm, Calder Conferences, received £20.6m in payments from the Home Office in 2021 to book hotels. That figure increased to £97m in 2022.
Home Office sources suggested this work related principally to finding bridging hotels for Afghan refugees who arrived following the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Leeds-based Calder's annual accounts for the year ending February 2022 show turnover increased from £5.98m to £23.66m. The firm's pre-tax profits trebled, from £2.1m to £6.3m.
Calder's director, Debbie Hoban, saw her annual remuneration increase from £230,000 to £2.2m.
The firm has not responded to the BBC's request for comment.
The choice of hotels appears indiscriminate. BBC analysis found contracts with ones at airports, golf courses, country houses, the seaside, and some used for city business workers.
Some towns, Swindon for example, have more than one hotel housing asylum seekers, others have none.
UK government sources complain that Scotland's government has actively blocked hotels being booked for asylum seekers in the country. But the Scottish government said in a statement that because the asylum system is not devolved, the backlog was "of the UK government's own making".
Communities have spoken of their anger about the lack of consultation before asylum seekers moved in. There have been some protests, with far-right elements involved.
At the Wiltshire Leisure Village, a retirement complex near Royal Wootton Bassett, asylum seekers have been housed at a nearby hotel and fences erected, meaning residents of the leisure village do not have access to the golf course.
Fredricka Reynolds, a florist, lost her regular work for a hotel in Kegworth, Leicestershire, when asylum seekers moved in last month.
She said: "They rang me on the Thursday, before the asylum seekers came on the Monday and cancelled all my weddings for the foreseeable [future]."
The hotel is a major part of life for the village of about 4,000 people. Its swimming pool and gym, used by local people, have been closed.
"I understand they need housing, but then also why Kegworth? Why the main business in Kegworth that brings many people to the village, a lot of money into the village? It's all gone now," said Ms Reynolds.
Security guards often stop journalists approaching the asylum seekers, but two men living in the Wiltshire hotel spoke of their boredom.
Simpay Khalifa complained: "We stay the whole day at the room doing nothing"
Simpay Khalifa, a 25-year-old Sundanese man who arrived by small boat from France in November, said the hotel was "far from civilisation".
"There is nothing to do actually. We have to take a bus to get to Swindon. We need something to do like, for example, study some English courses," he said.
"Some people volunteer and do some charity work, but there is nothing to do here. Nothing. We stay the whole day at the room doing nothing."
The BBC used Freedom of Information requests to ask all UK councils how many hotels were being used for asylum seekers and how many individuals were living in them.
Of the 398 councils approached, 320 responded. The majority said there were no hotels or asylum seekers in their area, or referred the BBC to the Home Office.
One authority refused the request on the grounds it could lead to asylum seekers being exposed to "harassment, threats and physical or mental harm".
However, another council not only provided the number of hotels and individuals, but the address of a hotel.
A Home Office spokesperson said the government was "committed to making every effort to reduce hotel use and limit the burden on the taxpayer". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64991234 |
Putin to Xi: We will discuss your plan to end the war in Ukraine - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | China's leader, whose Ukraine plan has been criticised in the West, gets a warm welcome in Moscow. | Asia | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Vladimir Putin has said he will discuss Xi Jinping's 12-point plan to "settle the acute crisis in Ukraine", during a highly anticipated visit to Moscow by the Chinese president.
"We're always open for a negotiation process," Mr Putin said, as the leaders called each other "dear friend".
China released a plan to end the war last month - it includes "ceasing hostilities" and resuming peace talks.
But on Friday the US warned the peace plan could be a "stalling tactic".
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "The world should not be fooled by any tactical move by Russia, supported by China or any other country, to freeze the war on its own terms."
He added: "Calling for a ceasefire that does not include the removal of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory would effectively be supporting the ratification of Russian conquest."
China's plan did not specifically say that Russia must withdraw from Ukraine - which Ukraine has insisted as a precondition for any talks.
Instead, it talked of "respecting the sovereignty of all countries", adding that "all parties must stay rational and exercise restraint" and "gradually de-escalate the situation".
The plan also condemned the usage of "unilateral sanctions" - seen as a veiled criticism of Ukraine's allies in the West.
On Monday, a military band gave Mr Xi a warm welcome to Moscow. Mr Putin hailed China for "observing the principles of justice" and pushing for "undivided security for every country".
In return, Mr Xi told Mr Putin: "Under your strong leadership, Russia has made great strides in its prosperous development. I am confident that the Russian people will continue to give you their firm support."
Before Mr Xi's arrival, Mr Putin wrote in China's People's Daily newspaper that the two nations would not be weakened by "aggressive" US policy.
Publicly, Ukrainian leaders have been emphasising the common ground they have with China - respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity.
But privately, they have been lobbying for a meeting - or telephone call - between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr Xi.
The fear in Kyiv is that China's support for Russia - currently based around technology and trade - might become military, potentially including artillery shells.
"If China does move to openly supply weapons to Russia, it will in effect be taking part in the conflict on the side of the aggressor," said Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council.
It was in Beijing's interests to stabilise the relationship with Russia, with which it shares a 4,300km (2,700 mile) border, said Yu Jie, a research fellow on China at Chatham House.
Russia is a source of oil for Beijing's huge economy, and is seen as a partner in standing up to the US.
Ms Yu added that Mr Xi had just scored a diplomatic victory in mediating between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which have now resumed diplomatic ties.
This could be a chance for him to explore the opportunity to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.
On Monday evening, Mr Xi was treated to a seven-course meal including nelma fish from the Pechora River in northern Russia, a traditional Russian seafood soup and pancakes with quail - alongside Russian wine.
Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov indicated there would be a "detailed explanation" of Moscow's actions in Ukraine over dinner. Russian and Chinese delegations will hold talks on Tuesday - the main day of the visit.
The meeting comes days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president over war crime allegations.
This means Mr Putin could technically be arrested in 123 countries - though neither China nor Russia are on that list.
Making a trip to Moscow so soon after the ICC's announcement suggests China feels "no responsibility to hold the Kremlin accountable" for atrocities in Ukraine, Mr Blinken said.
Western leaders have been attempting since last February to isolate Russia, following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
But they have been unable to establish a global consensus, with China, India and several African nations reluctant to condemn Mr Putin. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-65018657 |
France pension reform: Macron's government survives no-confidence vote - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | More than 100 people are arrested after protests across Paris following Monday's vote. | Europe | Rubbish and bins were set alight across Paris during protests following Monday's vote
The French government has narrowly survived a vote of no-confidence, which was triggered when it forced through an increase in the pension age to 64.
It sparked new anti-government protests in Paris, where 101 people were arrested after stand-offs with police.
The vote, tabled by centrist MPs, had 278 votes in favour, falling short of the 287 votes needed.
Had it been successful, President Emmanuel Macron would have had to name a new government or call new elections.
A second no-confidence motion, tabled by Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party, also did not pass.
Now both votes have failed, the controversial bill to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 will become law.
The votes were held after Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne used a special constitutional power, called Article 49:3, to push the bill through without a vote last week.
It sparked angry protests at the weekend, with some demonstrators clashing with police and blocking streets with debris fires in central Paris, as well as cities around the country.
Monday's failed votes saw fresh protests in the capital, with a tense standoff between protesters and anti-riot police.
The first motion, which had the backing of several left-wing parties including the Green Party and the Socialist Party, was the only one likely to succeed.
When that vote failed, members of the left-wing contingent that voted for it held placards reading "continue" and "we'll meet in the streets", and shouted that the prime minister should resign.
Opposition MPs held up signs protesting against the government's pension age increase after the no-confidence vote
"Nothing is solved, we'll continue to do all we can so this reform is pulled back," hard-left La France Insoumise parliamentary group chief Mathilde Panot said.
One university student called Shola who turned out to protest in Paris told AFP news agency: "People think this subject does not concern us but in fact it does. If our grandparents will now have to work longer, we know that things will get worse."
Fellow student Marie said they were protesting "because we have been abandoned, because we have been ignored, because it is a government that doesn't care about us, it mocks us".
Before the votes, members of the opposition booed and jeered Ms Borne when she took to the podium for a debate, which grew increasingly tense.
The prime minister said that the government had "never gone so far" to find a compromise to pass the law.
Boris Vallaud from the Socialist Party, who backed the centrist the no-confidence vote, called on the government to "withdraw" the pension reform or "submit it to the vote of the French people".
Mr Macron has argued that France's ageing population makes the current pension scheme unaffordable. But that is not a sentiment shared by all in parliament.
The author of the first no-confidence votes, Charles de Courson, said removing the government was "the only way of stopping the social and political crisis in this country".
However the leader of France's conservative Republican party, Éric Ciotti, said last week they would not support the no-confidence motions.
Mr Ciotti said the decision to invoke the clause was "a result of many years of political failures" that demonstrated "a profound crisis in our constitution", but he did not believe the vote of no-confidence was the solution. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65014336 |
Bin collections: Plans to change recycling risks chaos, say councils - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Councils say government plans for consistent waste and recycling policies across England could be unworkable. | UK Politics | The UK government wants to introduce consistent recycling collection policies across England
The UK government's plans to introduce consistent waste collection policies across England could prove chaotic and unworkable, councils have warned.
The details of major government reforms to waste collection in England are expected to be confirmed soon.
The changes could see councils ordered to arrange the separate collection of six types of recyclable waste.
The government said standardisation will increase recycling rates and simplify waste management.
But council leaders told the BBC the changes could backfire, with one saying it would be "madness" to force local authorities with different needs to collect waste in the same way.
Peter Fleming, the Conservative leader of Sevenoaks District Council in Kent, said the reforms would mean more bin lorries on the roads and do nothing to encourage household waste reduction through behavioural change.
"The idea that standardisation - a national bin service - is the way forward makes absolutely no sense," he told the BBC.
Waste management is largely a devolved matter in the UK, with the administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland setting their own policies.
At the moment, councils in England have discretion over how and when waste is collected from households and businesses.
But last year, the government passed a new law that required a consistent set of recyclable waste materials to be collected separately from all households and businesses.
Local authorities will be required to collect the recyclable waste streams separately unless it is not technically or economically practicable, or there is no significant environmental benefit in doing so.
The Environment Act, which became law in 2021, also requires that food waste collection must take place at least once a week.
The government also wants councils to collect garden waste for free, but give them the right to charge for this beyond the basic service.
Progress on recycling across the UK has been slower in recent years, with the rate in England hovering around the 45% mark since 2015.
The UK government has committed to meet a 65% municipal recycling rate by 2035.
In 2021, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) ran a public consultation on the best way to use its waste collection powers under the Environment Act.
The BBC has been told councils expect the government to release its long-awaited response to the consultation this week. A Defra source did not deny this but would only say the response would be published "in due course".
The consultation says the government expects councils to start implementing these new waste policies this year.
The proposals in the consultation would cost more than £465m per year for the first seven years of implementation, according to research by the District Councils' Network, a lobby group.
The government has said it would "fully fund" all new waste collection burdens on local authorities.
Given the pressure on council budgets, "it is essential that the full implementation and running costs of any changes are reimbursed", a spokesperson for the District Councils' Network said.
The spokesperson said they were concerned about the reforms and "their potential to reduce local freedom to deliver services that work in the best way for our communities".
Those concerns were echoed by Sarah Nelmes, the leader of Three Rivers District Council in Hertfordshire.
Council leader Sarah Nelmes fears the standardisation of waste management could be counterproductive
Three Rivers says its residents currently recycle 63.5% of their waste and the council is consistently near the top of the league table for recycling in England.
"Our residents do the recycling, we just make it easy for them," Ms Nelmes said. "If we change the rules, some people just won't bother. If I had to have another three boxes, would I recycle?"
She said if the changes go ahead as planned, there may be "hidden costs" for councils and "bottlenecks" as they scramble to buy new bin lorries and expand depots.
"I'm concerned it will be chaos because everybody will be trying to do the same thing at the same time," she said.
"If every council in the country is having to buy different bins, that's not going to work great."
Following the outcome of this consultation, Environment Secretary Therese Coffey will specify the types of materials to be collected within each recyclable waste stream, in new regulations.
Charlotte Paine, who leads South Holland District Council's operational services, said collecting recyclable materials separately was appealing, in principle.
"But trying to say that has to be done in a particular way just will not work given the complexities of different areas," she said.
"Much depends on where your waste goes, your local recycling facility, and how well they can deal with that. That's where this consistency is going to fall down."
Mr Fleming questioned the environmental benefits of forcing councils to buy more plastic bins and expanding waste collection operations.
He said: "In a place like mine, where the majority of people don't live in the towns, why should we be running 26-tonne diesel vehicles all over the countryside to pick up Mrs Miggins's jam jar, or a bit of peeling from her potatoes?
"This does feel like some kind of zealot in Defra pushing this through. And I'm not sure they'll achieve the environmental outcomes they're looking for."
A Defra spokesperson said the reforms to waste management would "make recycling easier and ensure that there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England".
"This will help increase recycled material in the products we buy and boost a growing UK recycling industry," the spokesperson said. "We have held a public consultation on the proposed changes and will announce further details shortly." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64995473 |
Credit Suisse: US markets subdued after bank taken over by Swiss rival UBS - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The troubled Swiss bank was bought by its rival UBS in a government-backed deal after urgent weekend talks. | Business | Some stability has returned to the banking sector.
UBS shares are down 5% today having been 14% lower this morning. Shares in other European banks have also recovered after early steep falls. Deutsche Bank was down 10% but is now 3% lower.
Regulators in Europe, the UK and the US will be breathing a sigh of relief that the deal for UBS to buy Credit Suisse at a knockdown rate, with offers of cheap credit and a ready supply of dollars has seemingly calmed frayed nerves.
This was an enormously complex deal to do over a weekend and it is perhaps no surprise that many feel it leaves some awkward loose ends. The fact that shareholders in Credit Suisse got $3bn from the deal while some lenders to the troubled bank got nothing at all is not what the way it's supposed to work.
Traders are mystified and alarmed that this deal ignored the practice of prioritising bond holders over shareholders and similar bonds in other banks have tumbled in value today.
The next test for the improvement in sentiment over the last three hours will be the opening of US financial markets.
The regulators have moved quickly and offered more help than banks have currently taken up - which means they either fear things could be worse than they look, or that they want to stay a step ahead of events at every turn they can.
Everyone hopes it's the latter. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-65011579 |
Climate change: Couple set for Pole-to-Pole electric car challenge - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The husband and wife will journey 17,000 miles from the Arctic to Antarctica, aided by renewables. | NE Scotland, Orkney & Shetland | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Julie and Chris Ramsey have been planning the adventure for years
A husband and wife from Aberdeen aim to drive from the Arctic to Antarctica in an electric car.
Chris and Julie Ramsey will set off to travel 17,000 miles (27,000km) from the Magnetic North to South Pole this week.
Their vehicle will be powered for much of the trip by solar and wind energy.
The couple will navigate into Canada, then head south through the United States and into warmer temperatures in South America over the space of 10 challenging months.
They will travel through Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina.
They accept the journey could put a lot to the test, including their relationship.
And coming from Aberdeen, they will take supplies of the humble buttery - the famous long-lasting local delicacy made of lard, butter and sugar, which is also known as a rowie or Aberdeen roll - to help keep their strength up.
"One of the most common questions we get asked is how we're going to charge the car in the polar regions where there's no electricity source," Mrs Ramsey said.
"There will be a wind turbine and full double solar on this device which will be towed along, harnessing the renewable energy sources - the wind and the sun - to power the car.
The couple's car will be powered by solar and wind energy
"That has been really challenging, innovative, pioneering - it's never been done before."
She explained: "It's to dispel common myths that people have when they question electric vehicles - things like range and how far can they go.
"We are putting the car through the harshest of environments - minus temperatures and extreme heat - so we're really pushing the car to its limits and seeing what capability it has."
Large tyres have been fitted to the vehicle in a bid to cope with harsh terrain.
There are also some mod-cons, such as a coffee machine in the boot. And there is a drone launcher, so the couple can film their journey.
Penguins in Antarctica are one of the sights awaiting the couple
Mr Ramsey said: "Pole to Pole is the world's first drive from a magnetic North Pole location - up in the Arctic - all the way through the Americas and then all the way into the South Pole in Antarctica.
"No car in history has ever attempted this - and certainly no electric vehicle.
"People might think it's 10 months because of the limitations of the car, but it's not. We're travelling in 10 months because we're going from season to season.
"So summer season in the Arctic, we'll benefit from the sun for solar, and in Antarctica the expedition season is December. And that's 24/7 daylight as well, which helps us with the solar."
The husband and wife are looking forward to the challenge
The couple are no stranger to defying the odds.
In 2017, they were the first team to complete the Mongol Rally in an electric car - a 10,000-mile (16,000km) journey from London to Mongolia.
"Having done the Mongol Rally, it has given me confidence that we can do this," Mrs Ramsey said.
"We have put the right measures in place and are working with the right people. With our passion and belief and the car being capable I have every confidence that we can do it.
"Yes there will be challenges, it's not going to be an easy ride, but what's an adventure without a challenge?"
She added that the couple would not be forgetting their rowie supplies.
"We'll take a bit of Scotland over with us," she said.
• None Why East Antarctica is a 'sleeping giant' of sea level rise - BBC Future
• None Pole to Pole EV – The ultimate electric vehicle expedition. British adventurer and Guinness World Record holder Chris Ramsey The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-64964294 |
Iraq war 20 years on: How invasion plunged country into decades of chaos - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The BBC's Jeremy Bowen explains why Iraqis are still living with the consequences 20 years on. | Middle East | The fence is lined with photos of people killed by the Islamic State group
The invasion of March 2003 was a catastrophe for Iraq and its people.
More proof of that, measured in broken lives, was at a suspected site of a mass grave in the desert outside Sinjar, not far from the border with Syria.
Survivors of one of Iraq's damaged communities, the Yazidis, looked on as the earth in a marble quarry was excavated. On a wire fence around the site were photos of dozens of people, mostly men, who had been killed by jihadists from the Islamic State group. They were from Zile-li, a village near the quarry, where 1,800 men were taken and killed on 3 August 2014.
The Yazidis revere both the Quran and the Bible; their religion is influenced by both Christianity and Islam. Islamic State considered them to be infidels and carried out a genocidal assault. It happened after the Americans and British had ended their occupation, but a direct line links the massacre to the invasion, and the disastrous years that followed.
Among those watching the excavation was Naif Jasso, the Sheikh of Kocho, a Yazidi community that suffered an even worse attack than Zile-li. He said that in Kocho, 517 people out of a population of 1,250 were killed by jihadists from IS, also known as ISIS or Daesh.
In Zile-li, men were separated from their families at gunpoint and shot dead at the quarry. Sofian Saleh, who was 16 at the time, was among the crowd at the excavation. He is one of only two men from Zile-li who survived. As he waited for death with his father, brother and 20 to 30 other men, he saw another group shot dead. Their bodies tumbled down a cliff into the quarry. Then it was their turn.
"They tied our hands from behind before the shooting. They took us and threw us on the ground," he said.
Sofian's father and brother were killed, but he survived because bodies fell on him, covering him up.
Sofian Saleh is one of only two men who survived
Islamic State was using its favourite tactic. First, they killed the men, then took the women as slaves. Children were removed from their mothers to be indoctrinated as IS recruits. A mother sitting near the suspected grave wept as she remembered the baby ripped from her and given to a jihadist family.
Next to the wire fence around the site, Suad Daoud Chatto, a woman in her 20s, stood with a poster. On it were the faces of nine men from her extended family who were killed, and two missing female relatives. She said jihadists captured her in 2014 when she was 16, along with many other women and girls, and held her in Syria. She remained until 2019, when she was rescued as the Caliphate collapsed.
Suad Daoud Chatto holds a poster showing nine of her relatives who were killed
"They were like barbarians, they kept us in handcuffs for a long time. Our hands were still tied even during the meals," she said.
"They married me off many times… they were marrying the slaves. They did not spare anyone. We were all raped. They were killing people before our eyes. They killed all the Yazidi men - they killed eight of my uncles. They destroyed many families."
In the end, only a few bags of human bones were found at the site. Dozens of others are still to excavated.
By the time IS rampaged through Iraq in the summer of 2014, the US and the UK had ended their occupation. Jihadist ideology existed long before the invasion, and had inspired the 9/11 attacks.
But far from destroying the ideology of Osama Bin Laden and the jihadist extremists, the years of chaos and brutality set off in 2003 turbo-charged murderous jihadist violence. Al-Qaeda, broken for a while by an alliance between the Americans and Sunni tribes, regenerated into the even more barbarous IS.
Iraq is more stable so far this year than it has been for a long while. Baghdad, Mosul and other cities are much safer. But Iraqis feel the results of the invasion every day. Its consequences have shaped and blighted millions of lives and changed their country profoundly.
It is a grim irony that the invasion has dropped out of political and public debate in the US, which conceived and led it, and in the UK, its closest ally in the coalition. The Americans and British bear a heavy responsibility for what happened after the invasion, and its consequences also affect them.
Iraq's tyrant, Saddam Hussein, was well worth overthrowing - he had imprisoned and killed thousands of Iraqis, even using chemical weapons against rebellious Kurds. The problem was how it was done, the way the US and UK ignored international law, and the violence that gripped Iraq after the Bush administration failed to make a plan to fill the power vacuum created by regime change.
The past 20 years since the invasion, coming on top of Saddam's dictatorship, add up to almost half a century of torture for the Iraqi people.
Even for those who were there, it is hard to recreate the febrile atmosphere of "fear, power and hubris", as one historian put it recently, that gripped the US in the 18 months between al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks in 2001 and the invasion of Iraq.
I was in New York a few days after the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed, as F-15 jets patrolled above Manhattan. It was a visible demonstration of American force, as the biggest military power on the planet worked out how to respond.
The shock of the attacks swiftly produced George W Bush's declaration of "war on terror" against al-Qaeda and its jihadist fellow travellers. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair chartered Concorde to cross the Atlantic to offer support. He believed Britain's best guarantee of influence in the world was to stay close to the White House.
US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House in November 2001
They moved fast against al-Qaeda's network in Afghanistan. Before the end of the year, a US-led coalition removed the Taliban regime from power when it refused to give up al-Qaeda's leader, Osama Bin Laden. Kabul was not enough for America.
President Bush and his advisors saw a global threat to the US. They thought states that opposed them could make deadly alliances with al-Qaeda and its imitators. The biggest target in their sights was Iraq. Saddam Hussein had been a thorn in America's side ever since he sent his army into Kuwait in 1990. Without any evidence, the Americans tried to manufacture a link between Saddam and al-Qaeda when none existed. In reality the Iraqi leader, a secular dictator, saw religious extremists as a threat.
The president's father, George HW Bush, decided not to remove Saddam from power in Baghdad after the Iraqi occupiers were driven out of Kuwait by an international coalition assembled by the US in 1991. The first President Bush and his advisors saw trouble ahead if they continued to Baghdad. A long, belligerent occupation of Iraq looked like a morass and they had no UN authorisation to topple the regime.
I was in Baghdad when the ceasefire was declared. Regime officials I knew could not believe that Saddam's dictatorship had survived.
Twelve years later, by 2003, America's rage and arrogance of power blinded the second President Bush to the realities that had constrained his father. When the US and UK could not persuade the UN Security Council to pass a resolution explicitly authorising invasion and regime change, Messrs Bush and Blair claimed earlier resolutions gave them the authority they needed.
Among many who did not buy their argument was the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In a BBC interview 18 months after the invasion, he said it was "not in conformity" with the UN Charter - in other words, illegal. France and other Nato allies refused to join the invasion. Tony Blair ignored huge protests in the UK. His decision to go to war dogged the rest of his political career.
No president or prime minister faces a bigger decision than going to war. George Bush and Tony Blair embarked on a war of choice that killed hundreds of thousands of people. The justifications for the invasion were soon shown to be untrue. The weapons of mass destruction that Tony Blair insisted, eloquently, made Saddam a clear and present danger, turned out not to exist. It was a failure not just of intelligence but of leadership.
US Marines from the 1st Marine Division get set to deploy close to Baghdad in April 2003
The Americans called the huge air raids that started their offensive "shock and awe". Neo-conservatives around George W Bush deluded themselves that democracy, and regional stability, could be imposed through the barrel of a gun. Overwhelming US force would not just safeguard America, it would stabilise the Middle East too, and democracy would spread through Syria, Iran and beyond, like a good virus.
US troops topple a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad
Saddam was removed within weeks. Iraqis were in no mood to be grateful. In Saddam's last decade as leader, the vast majority of them had been impoverished by sanctions authorised by the UN, but driven hardest by the US and UK. The Americans, the British and their allies were unable to bring peace to the streets. Nightmarish years started with wholesale looting, revenge attacks and crime.
Iraqi Sunni Muslim insurgents in front of a burning US convoy on the outskirts of Fallujah in 2004
An insurgency against the occupation turned into a sectarian civil war. Iraqis turned against each other as the Americans imposed a system of government that split power along ethnic and sectarian lines - between the country's three main groups, Shia Muslims, Kurds and Sunni Muslims. Armed militias fought each other, the occupiers, and killed each other's civilians.
Jihadist groups moved in to exploit the chaos and kill foreigners. Before the Americans managed to kill him, a brutal Sunni extremist from Jordan, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, targeted attacks to turn the insurgency against the occupation into a sectarian civil war. Shia death squads retaliated with their own reign of terror.
No-one knows exactly how many Iraqis have died as a result of the 2003 invasion. Estimates are all in the hundreds of thousands. The tide of violent sectarianism continues to rumble around the Middle East.
The geopolitical legacy of the invasion is still shaping events. Unwittingly, the Americans turned the balance of power in Iraq in Iran's favour by overthrowing Saddam Hussein, who was considered a Sunni bulwark against the Islamic Republic. Removing him empowered Shia politicians who were close to Tehran. Militias armed and trained by Iran are among the most powerful forces in Iraq and have representatives in government.
The US and UK's fear of causing another disaster hamstrung their response to the Arab uprisings of 2011, and especially the war against his own people launched by President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Disorder in Iraq, where the population is growing fast, fuels the trade in people-smuggling to Europe. According to the British Home Office, Iraqis are the fourth largest national group crossing the English Channel in small boats. The UK Refugee Council says the vast majority whose cases have been processed are granted asylum as refugees.
American and British leaders do not dwell on the invasion these days, but others have not forgotten. One reason why much of the global south stayed neutral after Russia invaded Ukraine, ignoring appeals to uphold international law, was the memory of how the US, the UK and Western allies who joined the coalition ignored it as they steamrollered opposition to their invasion of Iraq.
It is a sign of how bad the past 20 years have been that Saddam nostalgia is well established in Iraq, not just among his own Sunni community. People complain that at least you knew where you were with the old dictator. He was an equal opportunities killer of anyone he saw as an enemy, including his own son-in-law.
In a queue for diesel in a camp near Mosul, a 48-year-old Sunni named Mohammed, raged against the Shia-led government in Baghdad and against the years of sectarian killing that followed the invasion.
"We wish that Saddam's rule could come back, even for one day. Saddam was a dictator, and it was one man's rule - correct. But he was not killing the people based on whether they were Shia, Sunni, Kurdish, or Yazidi."
Iraq has signs of hope. Parts of towns and villages are still in ruins, but they feel safer, even though Iraqis still face threats that would be considered a national crisis in the West. Well-trained anti-terrorist units are containing IS jihadist cells, who still manage to carry out bombings and ambushes. Even so, shopkeepers are hoping for a bumper Ramadan, their busiest time of the year.
Longer term, the biggest legacy of the invasion for Iraq might be the political system that the Americans instigated, which divides power along ethnic and sectarian lines. As developed by Iraqi politicians, it has offered prodigious chances for corruption.
Estimates of the amount stolen since 2003 range from $150bn (£124bn) to $320bn (£264bn). Most Iraqis, of all sects, who have not benefited from the bonanza of theft, face constant power cuts, bad water, and inadequate medical care, in hospitals that were once considered to be as good as ones in Europe. Walk down most streets and you will see children working or begging, instead of going to school. Iraq used to have one of the best educational systems in the Middle East.
Iraq's latest prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, has promised a new start. His biggest challenge is keeping his promise to tackle corruption, the cancer that is eating the country from within. He even did a broadcast surrounded by piles of confiscated banknotes that were being returned to Iraq's treasury.
But the people that matter most are the innocent victims. Not just the dead, but millions of Iraqis, and others in the Middle East whose lives were made much worse because of the invasion and its consequences.
At the mass grave near Sinjar, Yazidi activists appealed for international protection. Survivors said that the IS jihadists who carried out the genocidal massacres in 2014 had Iraqi accents, some from Tel Afar, a nearby town.
Farhad Barakat, a 25-year-old Yazidi activist who survived because he managed to escape to Mount Sinjar, said they were still scared of their neighbours. The killers, he said, were from their "surrounding clans or tribes, Arab clans. So how it that possible? The ones who killed us, raped the Yazidi women, they were Iraqis."
The BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera seeks to find new answers to why the Iraq war happened, what it meant, and its legacy today.
Listen at 13:45 BST each weekday or stream or download all 10 episodes on BBC Sounds | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-64976144 |
Indian High Commission: Diplomat summoned after London protest - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Two security guards were injured after a crowd gathered to protest outside the building in London. | UK | Windows were broken as crowds gathered at the Indian High Commission in London on Sunday
A senior British diplomat in Delhi has been summoned after a protest at the Indian High Commission in London.
Crowds gathered outside the building in Aldwych, Westminster, on Sunday and windows were broken.
The Indian foreign ministry issued a statement saying the senior diplomat had been asked to explain "the complete absence of British security".
After the protest a man was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and a police investigation was launched.
The Metropolitan Police said two security guards were injured.
Videos on social media showed a crowd waving yellow "Khalistan" banners and a man detach the Indian flag from the first-floor balcony of the building.
Khalistan is the proposed name of a Sikh state separatist groups wants to create in the Punjab region, which spans both India and Pakistan.
The London protest took place as police in India searched for Amritpal Singh, a supporter of the Khalistan movement and self-styled preacher who has been on the run since Saturday. His supporters are accused of storming a police station last month.
He is considered a fugitive by the Indian authorities, and a massive search operation which has seen internet access suspended for millions is continuing.
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The Indian foreign ministry said it expected the UK government to take "immediate steps" and to put security measures in place to prevent a similar incident happening again.
Officers were called to the Indian High Commission at about 13:50 GMT on Sunday.
Upon arrival "the majority of those present had dispersed prior to the arrival of police", said the Met.
The force's spokesperson said "windows were broken" and two members of security staff sustained minor injuries which did not require hospital treatment.
The man who was arrested has been bailed until mid-June. The Met said inquiries were continuing.
Responding to the incident, London's mayor Sadiq Khan said he condemned "the violent disorder and vandalism that took place".
"There is no place in our city for this kind of behaviour", he tweeted.
The British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis described the incident as "disgraceful" and "totally unacceptable".
Foreign Office minister Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon said he was "appalled" and the government would take the security of the Indian High Commission "seriously".
"This is a completely unacceptable action against the integrity of the Mission and its staff", he said. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65010388 |
Strike averted as nurses and midwives accept pay offer - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Members of nursing and midwifery unions vote to accept the Scottish government's 6.5% pay deal. | Scotland | Members of the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives have voted to accept a new pay offer from the Scottish government.
The unions had recommended its members back the deal which would see a 6.5% increase from April.
On top of a 7.5% pay rise imposed for 2022/23, it means many staff will see their pay increase by 13-14% over two years.
The votes to accept the offer ends the immediate threat of strike action.
It comes after members of GMB Scotland, the union representing NHS and ambulance staff, accepted the offer last week.
All three unions had mandates to strike after rejecting the 2022/23 pay offer but they were suspended in January ahead of intensive negotiations over the 2023/24 pay deal.
The new deal also includes the commitment to modernising the Agenda for Change pay system, and to support workforce recruitment, sustainability and retention.
The Scottish government has previously said the offer would make Scotland's NHS staff by far the best paid in the UK.
The RCN confirmed just over 50% of eligible members took part in the consultative ballot with 53.4% voting to accept the offer.
Among RCM members, 44% took part in the ballot, with 69% voting to accept the deal
Announcing the result of the ballot, RCN director Colin Poolman praised the union's members for bringing the Scottish government back to the table. He added: "Members have narrowly voted to accept this offer but the Scottish government must be under no illusion, much more is required for nursing staff to feel valued and to ensure Scotland has the nursing workforce it needs."
A new pay offer was made to staff including ambulance workers
Julie Lamberth, chair of the union's Scotland board said it took "the real threat" of nursing strikes to secure the offer.
She added: "While members voted by a narrow margin to accept the offer, the chronic staff shortages and low morale that led to the strike mandate are still very real."
Jaki Lambert, RCM director for Scotland, added: "While pay is crucial this was also about midwives feeling seen and valued. Improving retention through better working conditions, professional midwifery issues and the wellbeing of staff are also a key component of this.
"Most importantly, it was also about our members standing tall and being prepared to take action to ensure better care for women, babies, and their families."
The Scottish government said it had committed an extra £568m to the 2023/24 offer to 160,000 NHS Scotland workers on Agenda for Change contracts - who includes nurses, paramedics, midwives and porters.
Staff up to Band 8a would see an uplift of at least 6.5%.
In addition, all staff would receive a one-off payment between £387 and £939 depending on banding.
Nurses protest during a strike by NHS medical workers outside University College London Hospital in London
Meanwhile, in England a 5% pay rise from April has been offered to NHS staff including nurses and ambulance workers.
In addition, staff have been offered a one-off payment of at least £1,655 to top up the past year's pay award.
Unions are recommending members back the deal, after nearly two weeks of talks with ministers, raising hopes the bitter dispute may be coming to an end.
The offer covers all NHS staff except doctors, who are on a different contract.
It comes after a winter of industrial action, with nurses, ambulance staff and physios all striking.
The unions put further action on hold, after the two sides agreed to discussions last month. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65019788 |
Ruth Perry: Ofsted urged to pause inspections after teacher death - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Head teacher Ruth Perry took her own life while waiting for the publication of an Ofsted report. | Berkshire | Ruth Perry was the head at Caversham Primary School in Caversham, Reading
Education unions have called for Ofsted inspections to be paused in the wake of the death of a head teacher.
Ruth Perry, head at Caversham Primary School in Reading, took her own life while waiting for the publication of a report that downgraded her school from outstanding to inadequate.
The National Education Union, school leaders' union NAHT and the Association of School and College Leaders have called for inspections to be halted.
Ofsted has been asked for a comment.
Ms Perry's family said the 53-year-old had described the inspection in November as the worst day of her life.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: "It is clear that school leaders up and down the country are placed under intolerable pressure by the current approach.
"It cannot be right that we treat dedicated professions in this way. Something has to change. Whilst it should never take a tragedy like this to prompt action, this has to be a watershed moment.
"The anger and hurt being expressed currently by school staff is palpable. It is essential that all policy makers, including Ofsted, listen and respond.
"Given the strength of feeling and the need for a period of calm reflection, Ofsted should pause inspections this week."
Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said: "Given recent events and widespread concerns about leaders' wellbeing, it's the height of insensitivity for Ofsted to be going into schools or colleges this week.
"Ofsted should pause all its inspections and reflect upon the unmanageable and counterproductive stress they cause for school leaders, and the impact on leaders."
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, called for "an immediate review" and urged the inspectorate to consider replacing the current system of "graded judgements which reduce everything that a school or college does to a single blunt descriptor".
He said: "These judgements do not do justice to schools and colleges, and negative outcomes are devastating to leaders, staff and communities."
Ms Perry's sister, Julia Waters, has called for schools to "boycott Ofsted".
In a Facebook post she said: "In Ruth's memory and to protect others, I call on headteachers (with the support of teaching unions) to boycott Ofsted until a thorough, independent review has been conducted and changes implemented; refuse Ofsted inspectors entry to their school (or, at least, refuse to comply with inspectors' requests)."
She previously said her sister told her in feedback to the senior leadership team inspectors said a boy doing a dance move akin to flossing was evidence of the sexualisation of children at the school.
There were also said to be claims of child-on-child abuse, which turned out to be a playground fight.
In the report, seen by the BBC but not published on the Ofsted website, leaders were described as having a "weak understanding of safeguarding requirements and procedures".
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The report stated there was not "appropriate supervision during breaktimes", which meant pupils were "potentially at risk of harm".
But it also described a "welcoming and vibrant school", where relationships between staff and pupils were "warm and supportive", and bullying was rare.
Flora Cooper, executive head of John Rankin Schools in Newbury, Berkshire, had earlier tweeted Ms Waters' plea and said she had refused access to inspectors who were due to visit on Tuesday.
She tweeted: "I've just had the call. I've refused entry. This is an interesting phone call. Doing this for everyone for our school staff everywhere!"
In a statement West Berkshire Council later said that following discussions the inspection would go ahead as planned.
"We understand that the inspection process can be a busy and stressful time for teachers, governors and school staff. As a council, we work closely with all of our schools to support them through the inspection process and address any individual concerns," it added.
The Department for Education said inspections were a "legal requirement".
A spokesman said: "Inspections are hugely important as they hold schools to account for their educational standards and parents greatly rely on the ratings to give them confidence in choosing the right school for their child.
"We offer our deep condolences to the family and friends of Ruth Perry following her tragic death and are continuing to provide support to Caversham Primary School at this difficult time."
The school inspectors who work for Ofsted have the legal right to enter schools and ask for any documents they wish.
In theory, under the law, anyone who obstructs them could be fined up to £2,500. But the reality is it would never come to that.
These are unusual circumstances - a head teacher, grieving for a colleague, who wants to take a stand.
Head teachers describe Ofsted inspections as a process many find almost unbearably stressful, which takes a toll on their mental and physical health.
Ofsted has a legal duty to check on the standard of education and welfare of children in school. The shocking death of a head teacher in her prime has ignited strong feelings and debate about how they do that.
A petition calling for education secretary Gillian Keegan and Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman to review the inspection and to make changes to the inspection system has so far gathered more than 40,000 signatures.
In the report seen by the BBC, but yet to be published on the Ofsted website, the watchdog rated the school as inadequate, the lowest rating.
Matthew Purves, Ofsted regional director for the south east, said: "We were deeply saddened by Ruth Perry's tragic death.
"Our thoughts remain with Mrs Perry's family, friends and everyone in the Caversham Primary School community."
Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-65019341 |
The man extradited to the UK for a 41-year-old pub brawl - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A man who fled the UK after a fight in 1980 is acquitted after extradition proceedings 41 years later. | UK | Rory McGrath with his wife and sons in the US
Decades after moving to the US, retired construction worker Rory McGrath was extradited to the UK to face trial for a 41-year-old crime. Eventually he was found not guilty.
Rory McGrath had just stepped through his front door carrying the morning newspaper when a dozen or so officers from the US Marshals Service arrived at his New York home with their guns drawn.
They ordered his wife and twin 18-year-old sons out of bed at gunpoint. It was May 2021 and New York was starting to emerge from Covid restrictions, but for McGrath and his family it was just the start of a "nightmare that has never ended".
The officers were acting at the request of prosecutors in England. McGrath, a retired construction worker, faced extradition and trial in the UK over his involvement in a drunken street fight four decades earlier.
The story began in March 1980 when McGrath, an Irish-British national born in Leeds, was out drinking with friends. The 21-year-old, by his own admission, became involved in a drunken fight between two groups of young men. In his telling, he fled to a nearby pub when police arrived. "I'm not getting involved with the police," he remembers thinking.
But British prosecutors alleged he was part of a group that assaulted an officer, who suffered a broken nose, cuts and bruising while attempting to restrain a suspect.
Five men were charged, including McGrath. Instead of facing justice, he fled to Ireland.
He says he absconded because he believed he was being "set up". The case against him was based in part on the evidence of an off-duty officer, who has since died, who said he recognised McGrath running from the scene.
"I believe I was forced to abscond because [of] the simple reason they fabricated identification," he says.
McGrath says that as an Irish national living in England in the 1970s and 80s, he faced "constant harassment".
"All my life, since I can remember, [I was] constantly harassed by the English police, so I knew it wasn't going to be a good outcome."
His life in England was set against the backdrop of the IRA bombings of the 1970s. A series of high-profile convictions linked to some of the attacks - including the Guildford Four, Birmingham Six and the Maguire Seven - were later found to be miscarriages of justice, involving false confessions and police misconduct.
"Tensions were high, always," says McGrath.
In 1986, after several years living in Dublin working as a carpenter, he went to the US on holiday.
"I was hearing a lot about it, so I went for a couple of weeks and I ended up staying for 12 years."
He met his wife Alice in New York in 1990. They married in 1992, and 10 years later he returned to Ireland to successfully apply for US citizenship.
As a dual Irish-British citizen, he assumed that US authorities would have contacted the UK Home Office.
"I know that they knew where I was as early as 2002, for the simple reason all the paperwork from the citizenship went back to England." he says.
The Home Office has declined to answer questions about the case.
McGrath says he did not view himself as a fugitive. He travelled to the UK on several occasions, using his own name and passport, including for his brother's wedding in 1996.
While accepting he had absconded in 1980, McGrath says he had come to believe the matter was closed. He was never contacted by authorities and experienced no difficulties while travelling in the UK.
The first he knew of any extradition request was the US Marshals' raid in 2021. But events had been set in motion six years earlier.
In 2015, a local neighbourhood police officer in West Yorkshire "became aware and revisited" an outstanding warrant for McGrath. The officer referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which began extradition proceedings in 2016.
McGrath's lawyer, Daniel Martin, says it is difficult to understand what motivated "this sudden need" to get McGrath back to face trial.
"The victim was a police officer and obviously a request was made by his police force," he says. "It seems this has been sat on some cabinet somewhere gathering dust until one day someone picked it up and decided it was imperative [McGrath] be extradited."
Under US law, people facing extradition are typically held in prison, except when there are "special circumstances" permitting their release. After McGrath's arrest in May 2021, a judge granted bail, and said he presented no real flight risk or danger to the public.
The judge also acknowledged that McGrath was at greater risk from Covid-19 due to respiratory complications, some of which related to time spent volunteering at the site of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 terror attacks. He was among the first to comb through the scene of destruction and it left a lasting impact.
"You'd walk into an office, there would be a coffee cup half-drunk, a doughnut with a bite taken out of it," he says. "It was eerie."
2001: McGrath volunteered at the 9/11 wreckage site in New York
After 15 months of house arrest - largely confined to his home on a quiet residential street in Pearl River, New York - McGrath was flown to the UK in July 2022. He spent seven months in HMP Leeds awaiting trial.
In February this year, a jury rejected the prosecution case and found McGrath not guilty. He had always maintained his innocence.
According to local media, after McGrath was acquitted, the judge told jurors that he did not know why the case had been brought after so many years: "We have worse things to deal with, if I can put it that way," he said.
Martin, a partner at law firm JMW Solicitors, says he has "never seen such a flagrant waste of taxpayer resources as in this case".
When McGrath was arrested in the US, courts in England and Wales were experiencing unprecedented delays and a backlog of cases that had grown during the pandemic.
Martin questions why prosecutors chose to "spend so much money and time and effort bringing back Mr McGrath for an allegation, which by any standards was low on the Richter scale of assaults".
He claims the prosecution case was flawed. It relied in part on the assault victim identifying McGrath after a description had been circulated and he was in custody - a process which is no longer permitted. Several other witnesses had died or could not be found by police.
CPS guidance states that extraditions should only be used where it is "clearly appropriate and proportionate".
It maintains that assaults on police officers are a serious matter regardless of when they happened, and that it was right to put all the evidence before a jury: "Two judges, including the trial judge, ruled that there was no abuse of process by the prosecution in this case."
West Yorkshire Police said its pursuit of McGrath was "appropriate" and a consequence of him "deliberately avoiding the criminal justice process by failing to attend court at the time he was charged".
McGrath is now back with his family in the US. He says the case has had a "devastating" impact on his wife and sons.
"There are multiple victims here," he says. "It's been very stressful for everybody."
He is slowly adjusting to life back home and attempting to put the "pure hell" of the past two years behind him.
"It's like Ground Zero - I don't care to think about it, but it's always going to be there." | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64678781 |
UK banking system 'safe' after Credit Suisse rescue - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Despite the swift action by regulators, stock markets in the UK and Asia fell. | Business | The UK's central bank has said banks are "safe" after regulators agreed a rescue deal for Credit Suisse aimed at preventing fears over banks spreading.
The bank was bought by rival UBS in a Swiss government-backed deal on Sunday after regulators worked frantically round the clock to secure a deal.
It comes amid fears over the global financial system after two smaller US banks failed in recent weeks.
Despite the action by regulators on Sunday, shares in European banks fell.
Deutsche Bank and UBS were trading 1.8% and 3.7% lower respectively, having regained some ground.
British banks, which last week saw their steepest falls in more than a year, also remained in the red.
However, experts are not forecasting a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis when the failure of a number of big banks sparked a global recession.
The Swiss National Bank said the rescue deal for Credit Suisse was the best way to restore the confidence of financial markets and to manage risks to the economy.
The last-minute deal valued Credit Suisse at just over $3.15bn (£2.6bn), a fraction of its $8bn price tag on Friday.
But the sale has achieved what regulators set out to do - secure a result before the financial markets opened on Monday.
Mark Yallop, the former UK chief executive of UBS, said the his former employer's purchase of Credit Suisse "should" do the job of reassuring investors.
"This is a takeover of a challenged institution with particular idiosyncratic problems that relate to it specifically [and are] not reflective of broader issues in the banking markets," he told the BBC's Today programme.
"I think this transaction will definitely stabilise [the bank] and should bring a good degree of confidence back to the banking market more generally."
Mr Yallop suggested the sale of Credit Suisse should be viewed as a separate event to failure of two smaller banks in the US, which he said had been hit by the impact of rising interest rates.
In a bid to keep cash available through the global financial system, six central banks, including the Bank of England, also announced they would boost the flow of US dollars through the global financial system.
The Bank of England, along with the Bank of Japan, Bank of Canada, the European Central Bank, US Federal Reserve and Swiss National Bank, said the move served as an "important backstop to ease strains in global funding markets" and take the pressure off banks.
The chairmen of both banks spoke at a news conference in Bern on Sunday
In a statement following UBS's takeover of Credit Suisse, Switzerland's central bank said the deal protected the Swiss economy "in this exceptional situation".
The 167-year-old bank is loss-making and has faced a string of problems in recent years, including money laundering charges.
It was given an emergency $54bn lifeline from the Swiss National Bank on Wednesday in a bid to reassure markets, but Credit Suisse shares tumbled 24%, meaning a rescue deal was needed.
Speaking in the Swiss capital Bern after Sunday night's announcement, UBS chairman Colm Kelleher said the takeover had been "attractive" for UBS shareholders, but described it as "an emergency rescue".
Mr Kelleher said UBS would be winding down the investment banking part of Credit Suisse.
The UBS chairman said it was "too early" to say what would happen about jobs. Credit Suisse has around 74,000 staff, around 5,000 of them in the UK.
"We need to do this in a rational way thoughtfully, when we've sat down and analysed what we need to do," he said.
Other global financial institutions praised the deal.
The Bank of England said it welcomed the "comprehensive set of actions" set out by the Swiss authorities.
"We have been engaging closely with international counterparts throughout the preparations for today's announcements and will continue to support their implementation."
It added the UK banking system was "well capitalised and funded, and remains safe and sound".
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, said she welcomed the "swift action" of the Swiss authorities.
"The euro area banking sector is resilient, with strong capital and liquidity positions," Ms Lagarde added.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell both said the US banking system remained "resilient".
Credit Suisse has become the latest and most important casualty of a crisis of confidence that has already seen the failure of two mid-sized US banks and an emergency industry whip-round for another. But this is different. Switzerland's second biggest lender was considered one of the top 30 most important banks in the world - which is why this takeover was rushed through by the Swiss authorities.
Although the reasons for each failure differ slightly, the main factor has been a sharp rise in global interest rates which has hit the value of even safe investments that banks keep some of their money in. That has spooked investors and seen the share prices of all banks fall with those considered weakest hit hardest.
The financial authorities in the EU, US and UK are saying they support this deal, stressing that banks are strong and people's savings and deposits are safe.
The acid test as to whether this Swiss rescue has calmed nerves in the financial world will be when financial markets open on Monday - which is why it was so important to get this done on Sunday night. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65007871 |
Australian former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz held over alleged war crime in Afghanistan - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Oliver Schulz, 41, faces charges over the 2012 murder of an Afghan man, Australian police say. | Australia | Oliver Schulz has been charged in connection with the death of an Afghan man in 2012
A former Australian SAS soldier has been charged with murder, following an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
Oliver Schulz, 41, is the first Australian serviceman or veteran to be charged with a war crime under Australian law.
The offence carries a maximum sentence of life in jail.
He was arrested on Monday in New South Wales (NSW) and has been remanded in custody.
He will appear in a Sydney court at a later date.
The Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) says Mr Schulz is the person referred to as Soldier C in a 2020 ABC Four Corners documentary exposing alleged war crimes.
Footage showed Soldier C shooting an Afghan man in a wheat field in Uruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan in 2012.
The investigation was carried out by the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI), the body set up to investigate alleged war crimes following a four-year inquiry led by an Army Reserve major general and NSW Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton.
The Brereton Report - released in 2020 - found there was "credible evidence" that Australian elite soldiers unlawfully killed 39 people during the Afghan war.
It said 19 current or ex-special forces soldiers should be investigated by police over killings of "prisoners, farmers or civilians" from 2009 to 2013.
This is believed to be the first arrest linked to that inquiry.
At the time, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) blamed crimes on an unchecked "warrior culture" among some soldiers.
Mr Schulz's case should set an "important precedent" for the West and its allies on how to handle suspected wrongdoing in the military, said Tim McCormack, a law professor at the University of Tasmania and special adviser on war crimes to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
"We've never had a situation in the past where a member of the ADF, either current or former, has been charged with a war crime and slated for trial in a civilian court," he told the ABC. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-65010345 |
Investor fears appear to ease as UK and US share prices rise - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Investors appear largely reassured after Credit Suisse rescue, but First Republic shares plunge. | Business | Fears in financial markets appeared to ease, a day after regulators agreed a rescue deal for troubled lending giant Credit Suisse.
The bank was bought by rival UBS on Sunday after regulators worked around the clock to secure the takeover.
Along with the collapse of two smaller US banks, its struggles had sparked fears over the global financial system.
Hope that the deal would help contain the crisis helped lift shares in Europe and the US.
London's FTSE 100 closed up roughly 0.9%, recovering ground after early losses. Major indexes in Europe also ended higher, with UBS climbing roughly 1.5% by the end of the day.
In the US, the three major exchanges also gained, despite worries about another regional bank, First Republic.
Shares in the San Francisco-based firm sank more than 40%, as the injection of funds by 11 of America's biggest banks last week failed to restore confidence in the bank's future.
There were reports of another effort to stabilise the bank - which has seen shares plunge as customers transfer their money - as authorities sought to keep the crisis contained.
Shares of some other banks in the US and Europe also remained under pressure.
In the UK, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak aimed to reassure investors saying UK banks were "safe and well capitalised" after the emergency rescue of Credit Suisse.
It came after central banks around the globe made similar comments.
Six central banks, including the US Federal Reserve, also announced they would boost the flow of dollars in the global financial system to make sure banks had easy access to cash.
Despite the panic, experts do not expect a repeat of 2008 when banks stopped lending to each other. The situation was so dire then it sparked a global recession.
Banks have been struggling with the recent rise in interest rates which has left some sitting on substantial losses.
It led to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank - two medium sized lenders - in the US last week and sparked concerns other banks could get into trouble.
Credit Suisse - which had been loss-making for some time but which was otherwise well capitalised - has been hit by this crisis of confidence.
The 167-year-old institution is one of around 30 banks worldwide deemed too big to fail because they are of such importance to the banking system.
Switzerland's second largest lender, which has struggled with a string of scandals over the last few years, was sold to UBS at just over $3.15bn (£2.6bn), a fraction of its $8bn price tag on Friday.
Mark Yallop, the former UK chief executive of UBS, said the deal "should" do the job of reassuring investors.
"This is a takeover of a challenged institution with particular idiosyncratic problems that relate to it specifically [and are] not reflective of broader issues in the banking markets," he told the BBC's Today programme.
The chairmen of both banks spoke at a news conference in Bern on Sunday
UBS chairman Colm Kelleher said it would wind down Credit Suisse's investment banking operations but that it was "too early" to say what would happen about jobs.
Credit Suisse has around 74,000 staff, around 5,000 of them in the UK.
"We need to do this in a rational way thoughtfully, when we've sat down and analysed what we need to do," he said.
Ordinary people have little reason to fear for their funds.
In the highly unlikely scenario that a bank or building society actually collapses, then deposit protection is in place.
In the UK, that means £85,000 per person, per institution is protected (or £170,000 in a joint account).
So, if you have £85,000 in one bank, and another £85,000 in a separately licensed bank, then it is all safe if both went bust, under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
There is also a higher temporary limit of £1m for six months, if you get a sudden influx of funds, such as an inheritance.
Protection is similar in the EU, and the US government has safeguarded deposits of up to $250,000 for a long time. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65012275 |
Credit Suisse: Bank rescue damages Switzerland's reputation for stability - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Beset by scandals and crisis, many people are questioning how a totemic bank ended up beyond repair. | Business | So farewell to Credit Suisse. Founded in 1856, the bank has been a pillar of the Swiss financial sector ever since. Although buffeted by the financial crisis of 2008, Credit Suisse did manage to weather that storm without a government bailout, unlike its rival-turned-rescuer UBS.
More recently, the marketing face of Credit Suisse has been Switzerland's tennis god Roger Federer. He smiles down from posters at Swiss airports, a symbol of strength, excellence, staying power and reliability.
But behind the glossy promotion were some big problems. Divisive management, costly exposure to finance company Greensill Capital, which collapsed in 2021, a seedy money laundering case, and waning customer confidence in the last few months, which saw billions being withdrawn from the bank.
All it took to turn those doubts into a stampede was an apparently off the cuff remark from the Saudi National Bank, which owns almost 10% of Credit Suisse, suggesting it would not be increasing its investment.
Credit Suisse's shares went into free fall, and even a statement of confidence from the Swiss National Bank, and an offer of $50bn (£41bn) in financial support, couldn't stabilise the situation.
How could this have happened?
After the financial crisis 15 years ago Switzerland introduced strict so-called "too big to fail" laws for its biggest banks. Never again, went the thinking, should the Swiss taxpayer have to bail out a Swiss bank, as happened with UBS.
But Credit Suisse is a "too big to fail" bank. In theory, it had the capital to prevent this week's catastrophe.
Also in theory Swiss financial regulators and the Swiss National Bank keep an eye on those systemically important banks and can intervene before disaster strikes.
It was odd, last week, to see the rest of the world reacting with real concern as Credit Suisse shares tumbled, and to hear, at first, nothing from Switzerland.
Roger Federer went from winning prize money sponsored by Credit Suisse, to being its marketing figurehead
Even the Swiss media seemed not to notice the headlines over at the Financial Times, and seemed more interested in the continued debate over how much support neutral Switzerland should be offering to Ukraine.
By the time people did notice, such damage had been done that Credit Suisse was beyond saving. The fallout had begun to threaten not just Switzerland's entire financial sector, but Europe's.
As the government met in emergency session to try to find a solution, you could almost smell the panic in Bern.
Announcing the bank takeover, Swiss President Alain Berset said "an uncontrolled collapse of Credit Suisse would lead to incalculable consequences for the country and the international financial system".
It's hard to avoid the conclusion, some Swiss are now saying, that the very people who should have acted to prevent Credit Suisse's meltdown were asleep at the wheel.
That lack of attention is going to be very costly. UBS's takeover, for the paltry sum of $3bn (£2.5bn), besides being an utter humiliation for Credit Suisse, is likely to leave its shareholders a good bit poorer.
There will also be job losses, perhaps in the thousands. There are Credit Suisse and UBS branches in just about every Swiss town. Once the takeover is complete, there will be little point in UBS keeping them all open.
But perhaps the most costly damage of all could be to Switzerland's reputation as a safe place to invest.
Despite the scandals over the years related to the secret bank accounts of dictators (including Ferdinand Marcos from the Philippines, Congolese dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and many more), or the money laundering for drug lords and tax evaders, Swiss banks hung on to that reputation symbolised by Roger Federer: strong, and reliable.
But now? A system that allows a 167-year-old bank to go belly up, in the space of a few days, at the cost of many jobs and massive losses in share value?
That could cause huge reputational damage. The Swiss banking sector, Switzerland's financial regulators, and its government, all say the takeover is the best solution.
In the end, at the very last minute, it was the only solution. In the coming days, there will be some tough questions to answer. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65009996 |
Putin arrest warrant: Biden welcomes ICC's war crimes charges - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The International Criminal Court accuses the Russian leader of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. | Europe | Vladimir Putin could now be arrested if he sets foot in one of the ICC's more than 120 member states
US President Joe Biden has welcomed the International Criminal Court's issuing of an arrest warrant against his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
The ICC accused President Putin of committing war crimes in Ukraine - something President Biden said the Russian leader had "clearly" done.
The claims focus on the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia since Moscow's invasion in 2022.
Moscow has denied the allegations and denounced the warrants as "outrageous".
It is highly unlikely that much will come of the move, as the ICC has no powers to arrest suspects without the co-operation of a country's government.
Russia is not an ICC member country, meaning the court, located in The Hague, has no authority there.
However, it could affect Mr Putin in other ways, such as being unable to travel internationally. He could now be arrested if he sets foot in any of the court's 123 member states.
Mr Putin is only the third president to be issued with an ICC arrest warrant.
President Biden said that, while the court also held no sway in the US, the issuing of the warrant "makes a very strong point".
His administration had earlier "formally determined" that Russia had committed war crimes during the conflict in Ukraine, with Vice-President Kamala Harris saying in February that those involved would "be held to account".
The United Nations also released a report earlier this week that found Moscow's forced removal of Ukrainian children to areas under its control amounted to a war crime.
In a statement on Friday, the ICC said it had reasonable grounds to believe Mr Putin committed the criminal acts directly, as well as working with others. It also accused him of failing to use his presidential powers to stop children being deported.
Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, is also wanted by the ICC for the same crimes.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has said the warrants were "based upon forensic evidence, scrutiny and what's been said by those two individuals".
The court had initially considered keeping the arrest warrants a secret, but decided to make them public to try and stop further crimes being committed.
"Children can't be treated as the spoils of war, they can't be deported," Mr Khan told the BBC.
"This type of crime doesn't need one to be a lawyer, one needs to be a human being to know how egregious it is."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: Can Vladimir Putin actually be arrested?
Mr Khan also pointed out that nobody thought that Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian leader who went on trial for war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, would end up in The Hague to face justice.
"Those that feel that you can commit a crime in the daytime, and sleep well at night, should perhaps look at history," Mr Khan said.
Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, who led the prosecution in the trial of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, said the warrant would change how foreign leaders view Mr Putin.
"He will remain an alleged criminal until and unless he submits himself for trial, or is handed over for trial and acquitted. That seems extremely unlikely, so he will remain an alleged criminal until the end of his life," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any of the court's decisions were "null and void" and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev compared the warrant to toilet paper.
Russian opposition activists have welcomed the announcement. Ivan Zhdanov, a close ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has tweeted that it was "a symbolic step" but an important one.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his thanks to Mr Khan and the ICC for their decision to press charges against "state evil". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64998165 |
Henry Dimbleby: Conservatives' obesity strategy makes no sense, ex-adviser says - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Henry Dimbleby says the reluctance of government to intervene will cause "huge problems" for the NHS. | UK Politics | The government's own former adviser has criticised the Conservative Party's approach to tackling obesity, saying it "makes no sense".
Henry Dimbleby announced his resignation as the government's food tsar in the Sunday Times.
The co-founder of food chain Leon said ministers had "pulled back" on promises to restrict junk food advertising.
The government said it would continue to work with industry to help people make healthier choices.
Mr Dimbleby said he was stepping back from his role because he wanted to be free to speak out against government policy.
"I think the ideology of the Conservative Party and the way that they are dealing with the problem of diet-related disease makes no sense," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"In 10 years' time, whatever government is in power they are going to be dealing with huge problems to the NHS, which is going to suck money from the rest of government spending and cause misery from diet-related disease."
He blamed a "feedback loop between companies and their commercial incentives and our appetite", adding that "the government needs to intervene".
But instead, Mr Dimbleby said "this modern Conservative ideology just thinks it can leave everything in the system without any intervention at all", with the government reluctant to be seen as taking a "nanny state" approach.
He argued that voters, including those in so-called Red Wall areas - former Labour seats which the Tories are keen to keep hold of - wanted the government to act because "they're fed up of their children being marketed junk food".
Mr Dimbleby was a non-executive board member at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for five years.
As part of his role he conducted an independent review of the food system. The report's recommendations included measures such as taxing the salt and sugar in processed foods, with some of the revenues used to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to low-income families.
However, Mr Dimbleby was critical of the government's response to the review, saying many of his policy recommendations had not been taken forward.
Last year, the government delayed a planned ban on "buy one get one free" offers on unhealthy foods in England until October 2023 to assess the impact on household finances in light of the cost-of-living crisis.
A ban on TV advertising of junk food before 21:00 has also been pushed back to October 2025 to give the industry more time to prepare for the restrictions.
An estimated 26% of adults in England are obese, while a further 38% are overweight, according to the latest NHS figures.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We take tackling obesity seriously and we will continue to work closely with industry to make it easier for people to make healthier choices.
"We recently announced £20m to trial new obesity treatments and technologies to help save the NHS billions, and remain committed to introducing restrictions banning adverts on TV for foods and drinks high in fat, salt, or sugar (HFSS) before 9pm, as well as paid-for adverts online." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65012960 |
BBC advises staff to delete TikTok from work phones - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The corporation is taking the decision over privacy and security concerns about the popular app. | UK | The BBC has advised staff to delete TikTok from corporate phones because of privacy and security fears.
The BBC seems to be the first UK media organisation to issue the guidance - and only the second in the world after Denmark's public service broadcaster.
The BBC said it would continue to use the platform for editorial and marketing purposes for now. TikTok has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
The app has been banned on government phones in the UK and elsewhere.
Countries imposing bans include the US, Canada, New Zealand and Belgium, while the same applies to anyone working at the European Commission.
However, it is still permitted on personal devices.
The big fear is that data harvested by the platform from corporate phones could be shared with the Chinese government by TikTok's parent company ByteDance, because its headquarters are in Beijing.
TikTok says the bans are based on "fundamental misconceptions".
ByteDance employees were found to have tracked the locations of a handful of Western journalists in 2022. The company says they were fired.
Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, was asked for her view on the BBC's decision, and tweeted: "If protecting sources isn't a priority, that's a major problem."
Dominic Ponsford, editor-in-chief of journalism industry trade publication the Press Gazette, said it would be interesting to see what other media organisations decide to do.
He told the BBC: "I suspect everyone's chief technical officer will be looking at this very closely.
"Until now, news organisations have been very keen to use TikTok, because it's been one of the fastest-growing social media platforms for news publishers over the last year, and it's been a good source of audience and traffic.
"So most of the talk in the news media has been around encouraging TikTok rather than banning it."
The short-video platform is known for its viral dance crazes, sketches and filters and is hugely popular among young people, with more than 3.5 billion downloads worldwide.
Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy tweeted in reaction to the decision: "BBC News making big play for views on TikTok but now the BBC is telling staff not to have it on their phones".
A BBC spokesperson said it took the safety and security of its systems, data and people "incredibly seriously".
In an email to staff on Sunday, it said: "The decision is based on concerns raised by government authorities worldwide regarding data privacy and security.
"If the device is a BBC corporate device, and you do not need TikTok for business reasons, TikTok should be deleted from the BBC corporate mobile device."
Staff with the app on a personal phone that they also use for work have been asked to contact the corporation's Information Security team for further discussions, while it reviews concerns around TikTok.
BBC News has its own TikTok channel with 1.2 million followers, and has recently recruited journalists to work specifically on creating content for it. A separate BBC account, which shares BBC programme clips, has more than four million followers.
When asked, by BBC News, why the BBC was continuing to indirectly encourage use of the app by audiences while removing it from many corporate phones, the corporation said that it was giving guidance to staff with access to sensitive data, and was not issuing a public warning about the general use of TikTok.
TikTok said it was disappointed with the BBC's decision.
A spokesperson said: "The BBC has a strong presence on our platform, with multiple accounts from news through to music reaching our engaged community both in the UK and around the world.
"We believe these bans have been based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics.
"We remain in close dialogue with the BBC and are committed to working with them to address any concerns they have."
Other social media platforms have also faced criticism over privacy and data, but they are mainly US-owned - whereas ByteDance has faced claims of being influenced by Beijing.
While there has been no solid proof of this, there have been a number of incidents which have raised suspicions despite TikTok's repeated denial that it has ever shared data with the Chinese government. It asserts that all Western users' data is stored outside the country.
For example, a US TikTokker shared a video criticising the Chinese government's treatment of the Uighur Muslims, and it was taken down. TikTok said this was a mistake.
This has added to the nervousness of governments and security specialists - despite the firm's consistent denials.
All Western social networks, which TikTok says gather similar data on their users, are officially blocked in China.
China has accused the US of spreading disinformation and suppressing TikTok. Both former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden believe the platform should be sold to a US company. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65008599 |
Royals share photos to mark first Mother's Day without late Queen - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | New photos are released including of King Charles, the Princess of Wales and Camilla, the Queen Consort. | UK | The picture of Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles was posted alongside a message
King Charles has remembered the late Queen on his first Mother's Day since her death.
A photo showing the King as a baby on the Queen's lap was released by the Royal Family on social media on Sunday.
They also shared a photo of Camilla, the Queen Consort, with her mother.
Both images were accompanied with a message wishing a special Mother's Day "to all mothers everywhere, and to those who may be missing their mums today".
"We are thinking of you," the message read.
This was the first Mother's Day since the death of the late Queen, who died on 8 September 2022 aged 96.
The Prince and Princess of Wales also posted pictures of Catherine with her three children on Sunday.
Catherine also shared memories to mark the day
In one photograph, she is pictured sitting in a tree with Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4.
Another picture shows Catherine holding Prince Louis in her arms.
The photos were accompanied with a message reading: "Happy Mother's Day from our family to yours".
Camilla's mother, Rosalind Shand, died in 1994 from the bone disease osteoporosis aged 72. Following her mother's death, Camilla tried to help raise awareness of the condition with several visits to bone units in hospitals across the UK.
A ceremony taking place at Westminster Abbey in London on 6 May 2023 will see King Charles III crowned alongside Camilla. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65007719 |
The Weeknd settles copyright case over Call Out My Name - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The star had been sued over alleged similarities between his song and a 2017 track called Vibeking. | Entertainment & Arts | The Weeknd is one of the biggest recording artists of the last decade
Two musicians who sued The Weeknd claiming he'd stolen one of their songs say they have reached a settlement with the star to end the lawsuit.
Suniel Fox and Henry Strange said the singer copied an "atmospheric and melancholic" track called Vibeking to create his 2018 song Call Out My Name.
The two songs contained similar "lead guitar and vocal hooks" said their lawyer when the case was filed in 2021.
The Weeknd denied the claims. Terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
"The parties are still in the process of formalising, executing, and consummating" the deal, said Fox and Strange's lawyers in a filing at Los Angeles federal court on Friday.
Call Out My Name was the only single released from The Weeknd's 2018 EP My Dear Melancholy, reaching the top 10 in both the US and UK.
Although it is in a different key to Vibeking, Fox and Strange - who perform as the electro-house duo Epikker - pointed out several similarities between the two songs.
"Both works are in a 6/8 meter that is less common in popular music," they said in their initial court filing.
"Both works are played at a similar tempo. And both works use features of electronica, ambience, pop, hip-hop, rock, and R&B to achieve a particularly atmospheric and melancholic sound."
This YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original video on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by TheWeekndVEVO This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.
Unusually for a copyright case, the musicians claimed to have evidence that The Weeknd had heard their song before writing Call Out My Name.
They said they had sent their track to The Weeknd's DJ and playback engineer Eric White in 2015, and cited an alleged email in which he recorded the star's response to the song as: "It's fire".
Almost a year later, White contacted Strange again. "I sent [The Weeknd] that track u made a while ago. He listened and liked it. But nothing ever happened," his email was purported to say.
Shortly afterwards, White allegedly sent another update, saying: "Just gonna tell [The Weeknd] that our production team wrote the track. Cool? Or u have another idea? Just don't wanna say 'hey, [Strange] wrote this' when he doesn't know u."
Strange responded to say that The Weeknd had met him "on [the] Drake tour" and "knows him".
Despite that, the musicians claimed, they were never asked for permission to use or license their song.
They had asked the court for a share in the song's past and future royalties, as well as coverage for their legal fees.
The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, had denied the allegations but, as the case never came to trial, did not have the opportunity to respond to the case in detail.
Notifying the court of the settlement, Fox and Strange's lawyers asked for all future hearings to be cancelled and for the case to be dismissed.
The lawsuit had also named The Weeknd's co-writers, Adam Feeney and Nicolas Jaar, his producer Frank Dukes, record label Universal Music and streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65012702 |
Iraq War: The helmet that saved a Black Watch soldier's life - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | null | Black Watch veteran Kevin Stacey served three tours of Iraq, despite being seriously injured by a bomb. | null | It has been 20 years since the beginning of the invasion of Iraq.
The third generation of his family to serve with the Black Watch, Kevin Stacey was among thousands of British troops deployed to Iraq in 2003.
He ended up serving three tours of the country, despite being seriously injured by an IED in the city of Basra in 2004.
Since leaving the Army, Kevin has pursued his passion for cycling in the Scottish Highlands, helping him come to terms with his experiences. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65008347 |
Car gets wedged outside historic Bath hotel - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The car became stuck by the basement windows of the Francis Hotel in the early hours of Sunday. | Somerset | The car crashed into the Francis Hotel in the early hours of the morning
Diners at one of Bath's historic hotels were met with an unusual sight on Mother's Day when a car became wedged against its basement windows.
Avon Fire and Rescue Service said they were called to the Francis Hotel in Queen Square at about 04:45 GMT on Sunday.
A rescue crew freed one of the occupants from the vehicle, while another was able to get out by himself.
The car remains stuck but the hotel is open as normal.
Emily, 47, was visiting family from London for Mother's Day lunch when she saw the accident.
She told BBC West: "We thought it might have been a small fire but we looked over the railings and there was a whole car fitted in there and people making jokes about parking - you can't really see how it got down there.
"There was quite a large section of the railings that were broken and some stonework had also been damaged, so you could see it must have been quite high impact.
"There was a fire engine and a few crew, but there didn't seem to be anything happening - I don't know if the fire crew were just guarding the site.
"The hotel was open - it was a bit strange because you could see through the window and there were people having their lunch and their afternoon tea above where the car was."
A member of staff at the hotel said the basement was used for storage and guest rooms had been unaffected.
A fire crew helped one male exit the car, while another got out by himself
A spokesman for Avon Fire and Rescue said: "We were called at 04:45 due to a car having left the road and colliding with a hotel and ended up in a precarious position over a basement area.
"An ambulance was in attendance and requested we help them rescue a young adult male from within that area."
Firefighters used specialist equipment to free the male, the spokesman said, before handing him into the care of paramedics.
"We worked closely with the Francis Hotel to make sure their business was not affected," the spokesman added.
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-65008705 |
SNP not in a mess, it's growing pains - Sturgeon - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The first minister disagreed with comments made by SNP's new chief executive over the membership row. | Scotland politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Nicola Sturgeon tells the Loose Women panel that "renewal and refresh" was right
Nicola Sturgeon has said the SNP is not "in a mess" and is going through "growing pains" as she faced questions about a membership row.
The comment was made by interim chief executive Mike Russell as he replaced Ms Sturgeon's husband, Peter Murrell.
The party has lost 32,000 members since December 2021, but initially denied the decline to a newspaper.
Mr Murrell took responsibility for misleading the media and resigned on Saturday.
The BBC was told he had been set to face a vote of no confidence by the National Executive Committee (NEC) had he not stepped down.
The first minister was asked about Mr Russell's remarks during an appearance on ITV's Loose Women.
Ms Sturgeon said: "Mike was referring to some of the issues around the leadership race.
"The SNP is not in a mess, it's going through some growing pains right now - they are necessary but they're difficult. But I'm stepping down from a party that hasn't lost an election since 2010 in Scotland."
The power couple - Nicola Sturgeon is the outgoing FM of Scotland and Peter Murrell was chief executive of the SNP
The first minister told Loose Women that the party had "mishandled" the situation.
On the denial of membership numbers to the media, she said: "We were asked a specific question, not about what's the size of your membership, but have you lost 30,000 members because of X and Y?
"We answered in that sense, we should have framed it in a bigger way. So these things are all opportunities to learn and reflect."
12 February - The Sunday Mail reports that the SNP has lost 30,000 members over the gender reform bill and a stalled independence referendum.
14 February - The SNP describe the Sunday Mail's report as "wholly inaccurate", with party media chief Murray Foote describing it as "drivel".
15 February - Nicola Sturgeon resigns as first minister and SNP leader, triggering a leadership contest.
24 February - The candidates to replace Ms Sturgeon are confirmed as Ash Regan, Humza Yousaf and Kate Forbes.
15 March - Ash Regan and Kate Forbescall for clarity on membership numbers in an open letter to SNP chief executive Peter Murrell.
16 March - The SNP publishes its membership numbers, revealing it has about 72,000 members - 32,000 fewer than the 104,000 it had two years ago.
17 March - SNP media chief Murray Foote resigns over the party's response to the Sunday Mail's story on party numbers.
18 March - SNP chief executive Peter Murrell resigns, taking responsibility for misleading the media about membership numbers.
27 March - New SNP leader due to be announced.
Earlier Mr Russell told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland the three leadership candidates could have confidence in the contest.
All three have pledged to reform the SNP's operations.
Ms Sturgeon said it was important for the party not to "throw the baby out with the bath water" and lose things that have made them successful in the past.
She added: "Perspective is important in these things. We don't know this for sure because other parties in Scotland don't tell us what their membership figures are but on the most recent assessments, even with that decline, the SNP has more members in Scotland than all of the other parties combined.
"We are the only mass membership party in the country."
Ms Sturgeon last appeared on Loose Women in April 2022 when she discussed her anxieties about going through menopause and coping with it while in a public role.
On Monday she spoke to the panel about having a miscarriage at the end of 2010 - and how she had not yet processed the experience.
Last week the Scottish government announced a memorial book for those who experience pregnancy or baby loss prior to 24 weeks.
Nicola Sturgeon said looking at this picture, taken at a 2010 commemoration of the Ibrox disaster, people could see she was in "a lot of pain"
"These are the things that often get dismissed in politics as soft soap but I think they're really important because they go to the heart of the values you have as a country," Ms Sturgeon said.
"You can find a photograph of me at an event actually while I was still having a miscarriage at a public commemoration... Looking at that photograph now, it's clear that I'm in a lot of pain - and so how do you deal with it?
"I think back then if there had been some way of recognising it that would have brought a lot of comfort at a really difficult time."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'Hopefully more time to slob about the house after leaving office' - Nicola Sturgeon
Looking towards her final days as first minister this week, Ms Sturgeon said she hopes to continue championing issues that are important to her.
She said she would not follow in the footsteps of Matt Hancock who took part in ITV's I'm A Celebrity reality show, adding: "I can say categorically, definitely no Strictly, definitely no jungle.
Asked "What about Bake Off?", she said: "I can't cook or bake."
On the subject of her legacy, Ms Sturgeon said it is for others to decide - but she is most proud of policies like the Scottish Child Payment, the baby box scheme and the rise in young people from working class backgrounds attending university.
She said: "These are the things I'm proudest of because I think in years to come, the impact of these kind of measures will be seen." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-65013722 |
Bath: Man arrested after car wedged outside hotel - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The 19-year old was arrested after the car became stuck at the basement windows of the Francis Hotel. | Somerset | The car crashed into the Francis Hotel in the early hours of Sunday morning
A 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving after a car became wedged against the basement windows of a historic hotel.
Avon Fire and Rescue Service was called to the scene outside the Francis Hotel in Queen Square, Bath, at about 04:45 GMT on Sunday.
A rescue crew freed one of the occupants of the Kia Picanto, while the second managed to get out on their own.
The man was released on unconditional bail while investigations continue.
A fire crew helped one male exit the car, while another got out by himself
Avon and Somerset Police said officers would like to speak to anyone who saw the crash, including those who may have any dashcam or mobile phone footage.
The car remains stuck but the hotel is open as normal.
A member of staff at the hotel said the basement was used for storage and guest rooms had been unaffected.
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-65013277 |
Cloete Murray: South African corruption investigator shot dead - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Cloete Murray was the liquidator for Bosasa, a company implicated in government contract scandals. | Africa | A South African accountant who was investigating high-level corruption cases has been shot dead along with his son.
Cloete Murray, 50, was the liquidator for Bosasa, a company implicated in numerous government contract scandals.
He also worked as a liquidator for firms linked to the wealthy Gupta brothers, who deny bribery accusations.
Police will see if there is a link between Mr Murray's murder and these corruption investigations.
Mr Murray was shot by unknown gunmen while driving in Johannesburg with his 28-year-old son Thomas, a legal adviser, on Saturday.
His son died at the scene while Mr Murray was taken to hospital and later died of his injuries, local media reported, citing a police spokesperson.
The pair were driving their white Toyota Prado towards their home in Pretoria, South African media reported.
Mr Murray's job as a court-appointed company liquidator was to look into the accounts of firms that had folded, recover assets, and report any criminality.
One of those companies was Bosasa, a government contractor specialising in prison services.
The landmark Zondo commission into corruption concluded the company extensively bribed politicians and government officials to get government contracts during the nine-year presidency of Jacob Zuma, from 2009 to 2018.
Mr Zuma refused to co-operate with the inquiry but has denied accusations of corruption.
In 2018, current South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he would repay a $35,000 (£27,300) donation from Bosasa.
An anti-corruption investigator found he had misled parliament over the donation, but that finding was dismissed by the country's High Court.
Mr Ramaphosa has also faced other corruption allegations, which he denies.
Bosasa went into voluntary liquidation after banks closed its accounts.
Mr Murray was also working as a liquidator for firms linked to the Gupta brothers. The Zondo commission found that the brothers - Ajay, Rajesh and Atul - tried to influence political and economic decisions during Mr Zuma's presidency in a process known as "state capture".
The Guptas moved from India to South Africa in 1993 and owned a wide-ranging portfolio of companies that enjoyed lucrative contracts with South African government departments and state-owned companies.
The South African authorities are currently working on having the Gupta brothers extradited from the UAE, where they have been arrested, to stand trial.
They have denied accusations of paying financial bribes to win contracts. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65007942 |
Brexit: DUP will vote against Windsor Framework plans - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Downing Street says there are no plans for substantial changes to the Windsor Framework. | Northern Ireland | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says the Windsor Framework "doesn't work for Northern Ireland"
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will vote against the government's Windsor Framework Brexit plans in Parliament this week.
Its leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he would continue to work with the government on "outstanding issues".
But Downing Street has said there are no plans for substantial change to the deal.
MPs will be given a chance to vote on the so-called "Stormont Brake" aspect of the Windsor Framework on Wednesday.
Sir Jeffrey said the party had made the decision to vote against it during a meeting on Monday.
The framework builds on the Northern Ireland Protocol, which led to disagreements between the UK and European Union (EU) over trade rules.
The Stormont Brake mechanism aims to give the Northern Ireland assembly a greater say on how EU laws apply to NI.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it was proof that the UK has "taken back control" in the agreement he struck with the EU last month.
His spokesperson said it was "the best deal for the people and businesses of Northern Ireland" and that the PM remained "confident it will be backed by the house" .
But Sir Jeffrey said the DUP had "unanimously agreed" to vote against it because of "ongoing concerns".
He told BBC News NI the party would continue to assess the deal, but that "we don't believe that this represents the significant progress that we need to see in order to have the institutions restored at this point".
"There remain for us concerns, for example, and the Stormont Brake deals with the application of EU law in Northern Ireland, but it doesn't address how are we dealing with change to UK law, which could impact on NI's ability to trade within the United Kingdom itself."
He said he wanted to ensure "what the prime minister is claiming is translated into law".
"Our seven tests have not yet been met. Sufficient progress has not yet been made. I am determined to continue engaging with the government and to get this right," he added.
But Sinn Féin's Deirdre Hargey said the deal had already been done and called on the DUP to return to Stormont.
"If the DUP have concerns they have a right to raise them, but that shouldn't get in the way of the formation of an executive," she said.
The Windsor Framework was announced by Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last month
Sir Jeffrey said the party was committed to the restoration of the political institutions "under the right circumstances".
"We're looking to the government to ensure that there is further legislation that will protect Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom and its internal market," he added.
The DUP has blocked the functioning of the power-sharing government at Stormont for more than a year in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The protocol led to new checks being carried out on goods at Northern Ireland ports in order to maintain an open land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is in the EU.
A majority of members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in May 2022 were in favour of the protocol, in some form, remaining.
Sinn Féin, Alliance and the SDLP have said improvements are needed to ease its implementation.
Unionist politicians want it replaced with new arrangements.
The Windsor Framework was signed to alter the Northern Ireland Protocol - and aims to significantly reduce the number of checks on any goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
The Stormont Brake mechanism would also allow the Northern Ireland Assembly to object to new EU rules.
Thirty assembly members, from two or more parties, can pause new EU legislation applying in NI.
This could happen in instances were a new EU law would have a "significant impact specific to everyday life".
Once triggered by the 30 assembly members the new rule would be suspended from applying.
This begins a process of negotiation with London and, ultimately, with Brussels.
At that point the government can veto the rule at the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee and have it permanently disapplied.
That veto power must be used unless there is cross-community support for the rule, if it would apply to a new regulatory border between Great Britain and the Northern Ireland, or in "other exceptional circumstances", although it is not known what constitutes an exceptional circumstance.
The government said the brake can only be used by a fully-functioning devolved government at Stormont.
James Cleverly and Maros Sefcovic, pictured here in Brussels in February, will meet later this week
Meanwhile, the EU-UK body which oversees the NI Brexit deal is due to meet on Friday to formally ratify the legal changes brought about by the Windsor Framework.
The Joint Committee is co-chaired by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic.
The committee is important because it is empowered to amend the Withdrawal Agreement, which contains the NI Protocol in its original form.
The body last met in February last year.
Ministers from EU member states are also due to discuss the Windsor Framework in Brussels on Tuesday.
It is on the agenda of the General Affairs Council, the monthly meeting of foreign ministers or ministers responsible for European affairs.
They will approve the changes to the NI protocol brought about by the framework, ahead of the Joint Committee meeting. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-65008991 |
Met officers investigated for sexual misconduct working as normal - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The figures from the Met come as the force is expected to be heavily criticised in a new report. | London | The Met said it was working to rebuild trust with communities
More than 100 Metropolitan Police officers being investigated for sexual misconduct are currently working without restrictions, figures reveal.
The Liberal Democrats have found that as of 3 February, more than a quarter of 548 officers being investigated for domestic abuse and sexual misconduct were working as normal.
The party said the figures "undermine public trust".
The Met said it was working to rebuild trust with communities.
Of the 548 officers being investigated for sexual misconduct and domestic abuse claims, 111 were working as normal, according to a Freedom of Information request (FOI) submitted by the Liberal Democrats.
A further 236 have been placed on restricted duties, 71 have been suspended and 97 have left the force.
The FOI revealed that 111 of 361 officers being investigated solely for sexual misconduct were still undertaking normal duties.
The sexual and domestic abuse allegations could have come from both the public or from within the force.
The new figures come in the week the force is expected to be heavily criticised for being racist, sexist and homophobic in a report by Baroness Casey.
She was appointed to review the force's culture and standards after the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens.
The report is also expected to criticise how the Met protects its own people ahead of the public.
Wayne Couzens admitted the murder, kidnap and rape of Sarah Everard
The force is already facing a separate independent inquiry into how Couzens and the serial rapist officer David Carrick were able to become policemen and were not identified as threats to women.
The interim Casey review published in October found hundreds of Met officers had been getting away with breaking the law and misconduct.
A spokeswoman for the force said the status of officers under investigation was regularly reviewed and can change throughout the process.
Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife and former police officer Wendy Chamberlain said the latest figures were "horrifying".
"The fact that it's business as usual for dozens of officers under investigation for sexual misconduct is a betrayal of survivors everywhere.
"We need swift action and proper answers from the Met about how they determined which officers should be allowed to continue working as normal - and how their vetting procedures allowed for this in the first place," she said.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Helen Millichap said: "We recognise identifying and bringing to justice those in the Met who corrupt our integrity by committing abuses against women and girls is vital in rebuilding the trust of our communities and increasing reporting."
Steps were being taken towards this goal through expanding and creating new units to investigate officers, she added.
Asked if it was too difficult for police forces to sack officers, Helen King, former assistant commissioner at the Met, said "there is clear evidence that the current system doesn't work".
Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, she pointed to a recent case which saw British Transport Police launching a judicial review in order to remove an officer from its own force.
PC Imran Aftab had been found guilty of gross misconduct by a disciplinary panel but was given a final written notice rather than a dismissal, until Chief Constable Lucy D'Orsi took the matter to the High Court.
But as well as changes to the rules, Ms King said, police leaders needed to "put the resourcing and expertise into making sure that those who shouldn't be carrying a warrant card aren't able to do so".
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-65005957 |
Gwynedd councillors intimidated after sex education debate - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Councillors were held in a separate chamber for "safety reasons" after a debate descended into chaos. | Wales | Police were called to the Gwynedd council offices in August after a debate on sex education was heckled by members of the public
Councillors say they felt unsafe and "intimidated" after a sex education debate descended into chaos.
Gwynedd council was discussing the roll-out of relationships and sexuality education (RSE) in August when the meeting was interrupted by hecklers.
Police attended, the public gallery was cleared and councillors were held in a separate chamber for "safety reasons".
Councillor Linda Ann Jones said she needed police help after being the target of abuse after the meeting.
"I'm not on Facebook, but friends sent me messages about the things that were being said. I felt intimated," she told a committee meeting on Thursday.
"I went to the police, they started to track it, but it still carried on."
Ms Jones said it was only after police went to the home of the perpetrator that she "was left alone".
Fellow councillor Beca Brown also reported being subjected to a targeted campaign after the August meeting.
"I've been threatened, too. Someone said I'd put a rope around my own neck by supporting the code. Someone else said I deserved the death penalty," she previously told Newyddion S4C.
"The police have been here to talk to me about safety measures... that wasn't something I'd expected when I took charge of the council's education portfolio."
Gwynedd council has since adapted more robust "practical arrangements" for its Caernarfon chamber, following August's interruption, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Councillor Dewi Owen said he had "suffered similar difficulties a few years ago", and the community council had "faced issues which put people off becoming councillors".
"People won't turn up to meetings, they don't want to be intimidated. It becomes a concern," he said.
"We have concerns as councillors, it can happen to anyone. It is not just a matter for Cyngor Gwynedd [council] but all Wales."
Ian Jones, head of corporate support at the council, described how "violence and harassment suffered by some members had increased their stress".
He said risk assessments were "now undertaken for each multi-location meeting, including the chamber and remote locations".
Police cleared the public gallery and members were held back in a separate chamber for "safety reasons" at August's meeting
Catrin Love, assistant head of corporate support, said improved safety steps included the chamber design but "more work on the public gallery was needed".
Other safety initiatives include the use of a rope between the public gallery and chamber, posters noting the rules, arrangements to hold a recess during disturbances and considerations over employing a security firm if the risk level was considered high.
Councillor Stephen Churchman described the August meeting as "most frightening" and "unique".
"We've seen physical attacks against politicians and have to take the threat to our safety seriously, we must be mindful it could happen again," he said.
He called for more than a rope to be put in place between the council chamber and public gallery. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65011525 |
Ukraine war latest: China's peace proposal can be basis for settling Ukraine war - Putin - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Russia's president says he and China's President Xi had paid great attention to Beijing's peace proposals during their meetings. | Europe | Precisely how far China will go in supporting Russia has been one of the most important questions of the war in Ukraine - and Xi Jinping will have to answer it following his three-day visit.
Judging by yesterday's informal meeting between Xi and Vladimir Putin, the two sides exchanged all kinds of diplomatic niceties. While Xi re-emphasised China’s ties with Russia as “no-alliance, no-confrontation and not targeting any third party”, there appears to have been very little military discussions.
China’s foreign policy has always been shaped by interests rather than values. Even when it comes to Russia, the two countries’ bond is based mainly on shared resentment of US hegemony. By deepening their bilateral cooperation in recent years, they have been able to achieve a level of great-power status with which to counterbalance America.
Xi's goal for this trip is to preserve the status quo with Russia, not to move an inch closer or pave the way for new cooperation.
Russia’s war has left the West more firmly united than it has been in years. And as China’s relations with the US have reached new lows, Chinese leaders want to avoid alienating the EU, which is one of the country’s biggest trading partners.
China also made strenuous efforts to avoid taking explicit sides. By all means, the war in Ukraine is not China’s conflict. As a result, an unconfirmed phone call between Xi and President Zelensky might prove necessary to seek that precarious balance.
The war in Ukraine continues to test China’s ability to navigate a thorny patch of conflicting interests and rapidly changing sentiments. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-64993665 |
Extreme weather: What is it and how is it connected to climate change? - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Heatwaves, wildfires, floods and droughts highlight how extreme weather is linked to climate change. | Science & Environment | People around the globe are experiencing more intense heatwaves, deadly floods and wildfires as a result of climate change.
Unless global emissions are cut, this cycle will continue.
Here are four ways climate change is changing the weather.
To understand the impact of small changes to average temperatures, think of them as a bell curve with extreme cold and hot at either end, and the bulk of temperatures in the middle.
A small shift in the centre means more of the curve touches the extremes - and so heatwaves become more frequent and extreme.
Temperatures in the UK topped 40C for the first time on record, in July last year, leading to transport disruption and water shortage.
The Met Office estimates the extreme heat is ten times more likely now because of climate change. And things could worsen.
"In a few decades this might actually be a quite a cool summer," says Professor Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London.
The Met Office has also pointed out that heatwaves are not just hotter: They're also lasting longer. Warm spells have more than doubled in length in the past 50 years.
Heatwaves can be made longer and more intense by another weather phenomenon - a heat dome.
In an area of high pressure, hot air is pushed down and trapped in place, causing temperatures to soar over an entire continent.
When a storm distorts the jet stream, which is made of currents of fast-flowing air, it is a bit like yanking a skipping rope at one end and seeing the ripples move along it.
These waves cause everything to slow drastically and weather systems can become stuck over the same areas for days on end.
India and Pakistan faced successive heatwaves, with Jacobabad, in Pakistan, registering 49C at one point in May.
In the same month, Onslow in Western Australia hit 50.7C, the joint-highest temperature ever reliably recorded in the Southern Hemisphere.
One theory suggests higher temperatures in the Arctic are causing the jet stream to slow, increasing the likelihood of heat domes.
The Arctic is also warming more than four times faster than the global average in recent decades. In June 2020, average temperatures in Siberia were up to 10°C above normal, reaching a new record of 38°C in the Arctic circle. This triggered devastating wildfires and sea ice loss.
The World Weather Attribution network (WWA), a collaboration between international climate scientist, concluded this was "almost impossible" without climate change.
Scientists warn 2023 could be even warmer, as a climate phenomenon called La Niña - which has been suppressing global temperatures - has come to an end.
Making a direct link between climate change and individual drought events is challenging. A number of factors influence water availability, not just temperature and precipitation.
But as heatwaves become more intense and longer, droughts are likely to worsen.
Less rain falls between heatwaves, so ground moisture and water supplies run dry more quickly. This means the ground takes less time to heat up, warming the air above and leading to more intense heat.
Drought in Somalia - the country has suffered three failed rainy seasons in a row
Demand for water from humans and farming puts even more stress on water supply, adding to shortages.
Wildfires can be sparked by direct human involvement - but natural factors can also play a huge part.
The cycle of extreme and long-lasting heat caused by climate change draws more and more moisture out of the ground and vegetation.
These tinder-dry conditions provide fuel for fires, which can spread at an incredible speed.
Earlier this year the Chilean government put three regions on high alert for forest fires amid weeks of high temperatures.
Dozens of people have died and been evacuated in Chile as wildfires burn across the country
In Australia, New South Wales is experiencing its worst fires since the 2019/20 "Black Summer" - as strong winds and scorching temperatures drive the fires' rapid spread.
Last summer, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Croatia and Albania experienced severe wildfires - with thousands of residents evacuated and several hundreds reported to have died.
More than 10,000 residents and tourists were evacuated in France during the 2022 wildfires
In 2021, Canada experienced heatwaves that led to fires which developed so rapidly and explosively that they created their own weather system, forming pyrocumulonimbus clouds. These colossal clouds then produced lightning, igniting more fires.
Compared with the 1970s, fires larger than 10,000 acres (40 sq km) are now seven times more common in western America, according to Climate Central, an independent organisation of scientists and journalists.
In the usual weather cycle, hot weather creates moisture and water vapour in the air, which turns into droplets to create rain.
The warmer it becomes, however, the more vapour there is in the atmosphere. This results in more droplets and heavier rainfall, sometimes in a shorter space of time and over a smaller area.
In 2022 floods hit Spain and also parts of eastern Australia. In a period of just six days Brisbane saw almost 80% of its annual rainfall, while Sydney recorded more than its average annual rainfall in little over three months.
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These rainfall events are connected to the effects of climate change elsewhere, according to Peter Gleick, a water specialist from the US National Academy of Sciences.
"When areas of drought grow, like in Siberia and western US, that water falls elsewhere, in a smaller area, worsening flooding," he said.
The weather across the globe will always be highly variable - but climate change is making those variations more extreme.
And the challenge now is not only limiting the further impact people have on the atmosphere but also adapting to and tackling the extremes we are already facing. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58073295 |
SNP leadership: Party in 'tremendous mess', interim chief says - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Interim chief executive Mike Russell says the leadership vote must go ahead regardless of party problems. | Scotland politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mr Russell told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show that there is "tremendous mess" in the SNP over the party's leadership race.,
There is "tremendous mess" in the SNP over the party's leadership race, the new interim chief executive has said.
SNP President Mike Russell, who stepped in to replace outgoing Peter Murrell, said the voting process must go ahead regardless.
Mr Murrell resigned on Saturday after taking responsibility for misleading the media on party membership numbers.
All three candidates vying for the leadership of the SNP have pledged to reform its operations.
Mr Murrell, who is married to outgoing party leader Nicola Sturgeon, resigned with immediate effect on Saturday, saying he had become a distraction to the leadership race.
He had been set to face a vote of no confidence by the National Executive Committee (NEC) had he not stepped down, the BBC has been told.
His resignation came a day after that of Murray Foote, the SNP's head of media at Holyrood. He had previously described press reports about the membership numbers as "inaccurate" and "drivel".
However, an NEC source told the BBC Mr Foote had been "thrown under the bus" by Mr Murrell.
The party this week confirmed there had been a big drop in membership numbers.
Speaking on BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show, Mr Russell said the SNP was "basically a good party" but things had gone "spectacularly wrong in recent weeks".
He said: "I think it is fair to say there is a tremendous mess and we have to clear it up, and that's the task I'm trying to take on in the short term."
Peter Murrell said he had become a distraction to the leadership race
Mr Russell said the most important thing now was that "they have a fair electoral process that produces a clear accepted outcome".
"We have got to have this concluded in the next eight days and then... the new leader has to look at the party and say let's rebuild this and let's rebuild the trust of Scotland."
He added: "This has not been an edifying process. There hasn't been a contested leadership in the SNP for 19 years, and it shows."
Mr Russell said he did not know that the SNP membership numbers had dropped by about a third over about two years, and said he did not know if it was related to the controversial Gender Recognition Reform bill.
"We were losing members and we were losing members that we should have known about, absolutely," he said.
"We were clearly not told about that. That is something I want to know why that took place, but I don't want to know it this week.
"What I want to know this week is we have got a process we can complete and can get a new leader of the party."
Two of the leadership candidates, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan, last week questioned the independence of the election process.
On Sunday, Ms Forbes said future decisions had to be made by "a big team" rather than a few people.
Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she said SNP members wanted to know that the institution was democratic.
"There have been questions around, for example, the membership numbers that we've been looking for answers to," she said.
"I think at the heart of this is that the decisions within the SNP have been taken by too few people and I think that's well recognised across the political domain."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Kate Forbes told the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: "Decisions within the SNP have been taken by too few people".
She added that members felt disempowered from the process.
"I think within government we need to make sure that it's a wide tent with a big team, rather than a very few people making decisions," Ms Forbes said.
She said she favoured a different approach to leading the party.
"We have a self-professed continuity candidate who says that he's going to keep doing the same things, and my response to that would be, you do the same things and get the same results," Ms Forbes said
"Let's put integrity, honesty at the heart, let's make the case for change and it's not just a change in terms of our policies, it's a change in terms of delivery and the culture of transparency," she said.
Leadership candidate Humza Yousaf has promised an internal shake-up from day one, telling the BBC: "There needs to be internal reform within our headquarters, of that there is simply no doubt.
"I've said from day one, since I launched my campaign, that internal reform is very much needed and certainly I will be looking to see what I can do to shake up that operation at headquarters from day one."
But during a visit to Glasgow Gurdwara, Mr Yousaf said the party's row over membership numbers was an "own goal".
Discussing the party's finances, he added: "I've not delved into this - I don't know the finances of the party because I don't hold an office-bearer position. But clearly If I'm elected leader of the SNP it's one of the first things I'd want to get up to speed on."
Ash Regan said she was "encouraged to see the democratic foundations of the party now asserting their rightful function".
She added that the SNP's foundations were based on accountability, transparency, modernity and accessibility.
Ms Forbes also told Laura Kuenssberg that on approaching the contest, she had weighed up having a young family with future potential responsibilities.
She gave birth to her daughter in August last year and was on maternity leave when First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation.
"I've had to juggle a very young family with the contest but many mothers do that," she said.
Who are the SNP candidates?
Ms Forbes added that the role of first minister should be open to anyone, irrespective of their personal circumstances.
Within a couple of days of confirming she would stand in the contest, Ms Forbes found herself at the centre of a political storm.
She lost several supporters after telling journalists she would not have voted for gay marriage had she been an MSP at the time.
Subsequently Ms Forbes told Sky News that she believed having children outside marriage was "wrong" according to her faith as a member of the evangelical Free Church of Scotland, while stressing that: "In a free society you can do what you want."
But on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she addressed the gay community, saying: "I give you an honest pledge today to govern in a way that delivers for you, that does not in any way undermine your rights and actually seeks to enhance your opportunities in Scotland to ensure that Scotland is truly that tolerant and pluralistic nation that we all want to see."
Ms Forbes said that people were "rightly scrutinising" who she was and what she believed.
She added: "I also think that in a pluralistic society, in a tolerant society, we can find a way to live together and to defend one another's rights.
"It's incumbent on me as a person of a minority community, somebody of faith to defend other minorities' rights and I hope that they might defend my rights too, that is truly the definition of a tolerant society."
Ms Forbes also confirmed that despite her faith, she would work on Sundays if she was appointed first minister.
She said: "The nature of the job is, of course, that it's 24/7. I recognise that. I hope nobody would begrudge me some hours off every week to be with family because I think that certainly makes for a more balanced life and hopefully better decision-making."
Opposition parties have criticised the SNP's handling of the leadership race and suggested Mr Russell was not being honest about party membership numbers.
The Scottish Conservatives said Mr Russell must have been the most "hands-off party president ever" if he did not know about falling numbers.
Party chairman Craig Hoy said: "He's asking us to believe that he had no idea what the SNP membership figures were until they were published a few days ago, nor who was responsible for ordering the party's former chief spin doctor to rubbish a perfectly accurate newspaper report on that figure.
"This is symptomatic of the secrecy and lack of accountability which infects the top of the SNP."
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the "election is in chaos" with allegations and resignations appearing on a daily basis.
"There is no way the president of the SNP did not know about the exodus of members from the party," she said. "Mr Russell should 'grasp the thistle' by facing up to the chaos in his party.
"If this is how the SNP run their own party, just imagine the chaos in government - Scotland deserves better." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-65001543 |
Danish far-right leader banned from UK over threat to burn Quran in Wakefield - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Rasmus Paludan had said he planned to burn the Islamic text in Wakefield. | Leeds & West Yorkshire | Rasmus Paludan had threatened to burn a copy of the Quran in Wakefield
A Danish far-right politician has been barred from the UK after threatening to burn a copy of the Quran in Wakefield.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat said Rasmus Paludan, founder of the anti-Islam party Stram Kurs, had been added to the UK's immigration watchlist.
Mr Paludan had said he planned to burn the religious text in a public square in the West Yorkshire city this week.
It comes after four pupils at a Wakefield school were suspended over damage to a copy of the Quran.
In a video posted to Twitter on Sunday, Mr Paludan said he would travel to the city to "fight back" against "undemocratic forces".
He claimed he intended to burn the Quran on Wednesday to coincide with the start of Ramadan.
Mr Paludan has held several previous protests in which the Islamic text was burned, with some leading to violent counter-demonstrations.
In January he burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
That protest became part of a diplomatic row between Turkey and Sweden - with Turkey now holding up Sweden's application to join Nato.
The security minister told the House of Commons about his intervention after Simon Lightwood, the Labour MP for Wakefield, raised concerns on Monday about Mr Paludan's potential visit.
Mr Lightwood said: "Far-right Islamophic Danish politician Rasmus Paludan said he is going to travel from Denmark to Wakefield for the sole purpose of burning a Quran in a public place.
"Mr Paludan was previously jailed in Denmark for his hateful and racist statements. He is a dangerous man that should not be allowed into this country.
"Can the home secretary assure me and my community that the government is taking action to prevent this?"
Mr Tugendhat said Mr Paludan had been added to to the UK's warnings index.
He added: "His travel to the United Kingdom would not be conducive with the public good and he will not be allowed access."
Four pupils were suspended from Wakefield's Kettlethorpe High School in February after a Year 10 student brought in a Quran, reportedly as part of a dare.
The cover of the Islamic text had been torn and some pages scuffed, but police concluded no offences were committed and the school's headteacher said she was satisfied there was "no malicious intent by those involved".
Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-65020528 |
Credit Suisse: Lessons learned from the last banking crisis? - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Speed is of the essence when dealing with the banking industry - as know from the 2008 crash. | Business | Shares in Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse have been on a rollercoaster ride in recent days, hitting an all-time low on Wednesday, and leaving financial markets all over the world feeling distinctly queasy.
But the Swiss National Bank threw Credit Suisse a £45bn lifeline and on Thursday its shares climbed back up, allowing everyone to catch their breath.
The move from the Swiss central bank comes just days after regulators in Washington had to take control of two US banks, and HSBC swooped in to pick up the UK arm of one of them for £1.
It does feel eerily like the days leading up to the great financial crisis: cracks appearing in the financial pipes, prompting questions about whether they will burst, as they did nearly 15 years ago.
The economist Nouriel Roubini, nicknamed "Dr Doom" for his usually pessimistic and sometimes correct predictions, argues Credit Suisse could be a Lehmans moment - too big to fail, too big to save, he told Bloomberg.
Larry Fink, the founder of the world's biggest asset manager, Blackrock, said we may be in for "slow rolling crisis" which could see hundreds of small banks go bust, like the savings and loans crisis of the 1980s, when more than 1,000 smaller US lenders went under.
Nouriel Roubini has been nicknamed "Dr Doom" but his warnings carry weight
But Noel Quinn, chief executive of HSBC, which is the new owner of Silicon Valley Bank UK, disagreed. He said the authorities - in this case the UK Treasury and the Bank of England - had acted swiftly to find a solution as did their US counterparts in taking over the US parent bank.
It's clear that international regulators have learned from the last crisis that speed is of the essence, which is just as well.
Technology bosses in the US admitted they had debated in online chats whether to take deposits out of Silicon Valley Bank. When some did, they all did within a matter of minutes, thanks to the social media grapevine, effectively breaking the bank.
If nothing else, these outbreaks of instability make it clear that when you reverse nearly 15 years of close-to-zero interest rates suddenly things can and do break. The weakest organisations are the most at risk, and both depositors and investors are perfectly rational in being extremely jittery.
More questions remain around the other big teaching points from the last crisis: whether it's ok to assume the central bank ambulance will always arrive in time, and whether that assumption has made people too relaxed in the face of lurking financial danger. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64976316 |
Central banks take swift action to keep cash flowing amid investor fears - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Six central banks move to keep credit flowing worldwide after two big institutions collapsed. | Business | Central banks have rushed to keep cash flowing through the world's financial systems after the failures of two US banks and the rescue of Credit Suisse sent shockwaves across global markets.
Six central banks, including the Bank of England, announced they would boost the flow of US dollars from Monday.
Such measures were last taken during the 2008 financial crisis and at the height of the Covid pandemic.
It comes after Credit Suisse was bought by UBS in a state-backed rescue deal.
Stock markets have fallen sharply since Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed in the US last week, sparking fears of runs on other banks.
They remained under pressure on Monday despite the rescue of Switzerland's second largest lender this weekend.
Central banks have stressed the global banking system is safe, but there are concerns other lenders could get into trouble after recent rises in interest rates left some sitting on large losses.
In a statement the Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Bank of Canada, the European Central Bank, US Federal Reserve and Swiss National Bank said they had launched the coordinated action to keep credit flowing.
The central banks said the move served as an "important backstop to ease strains in global funding markets" and to lessen the impact on the supply of credit to households and businesses.
Instead of borrowing on the open market, British banks will be able to go direct to the Bank of England, and it will borrow from the US Federal Reserve.
It will work in the same way for banks in the eurozone, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and the US.
Banks will be able to access this funding on a daily basis.
The US dollar cash flow arrangement will run from Monday until at least the end of April, the Bank of England said.
Global banking stocks slumped following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, despite reassurances from President Joe Biden the US would do "whatever is needed" to protect the banking system.
Since then, two more medium-sized US lenders have faced difficulties - with Signature Bank collapsing and First Republic having to seek a $30bn (£24.8bn) funding injection to shore up its finances.
A subsidiary of New York Community Bancorp - Flagstar Bank - has reached a deal with regulators to buy Signature's assets, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said on Sunday.
The deal involves almost all of Signature Bank's deposits, some of its loans, and all 40 of its former branches.
The announcement of "co-ordinated action" by six of the world's biggest central banks shows how serious is the more general nervousness about the fragility of the global banking system.
The facility hasn't been used in the UK since the financial pains at the onset of the pandemic exactly three years ago. This is not as dramatic a move as, for example, the Bank of England had to deploy after the mini-budget last autumn. But it is a clear sign that, although the past week has been dominated by specific issues in identifiable banks, the fall of a former giant such as Credit Suisse might be enough to ignite a more general concern.
The fear is less about the direct impact of problems at Credit Suisse or Silicon Valley Bank, but instead that a set of common factors are affecting some other institutions. For example non-insured deposits pouring out of some institutions and into larger ones at incredible speed, without anyone visiting a branch, thanks to technology, and influenced by social media commentary. There has also been an uncertain response by some regulators.
The bigger picture is, as I have said before, that rapidly rising interest rates were always going to set off some ticking timebombs under some institutions, and in some murky corners of the financial plumbing, where the players had started to become a little too reliant on very low interest rates. This is now happening.
The more calming news is that, for example here, British banks are well capitalised and have significant funding, or as the Bank of England put it on Sunday "safe and sound". But the fact it has joined forces with its counterparts around the world represents a show of force and an attempt to prevent risks from spilling over.
In particular there is a concern that rising rates on the funds that banks lend to one another could rapidly filter into the economy and have a very real impact. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65010255 |
Somalia drought may have killed 43,000 last year - UN - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Half of the deaths are thought to be in children, and many thousands more will die, a report says. | Africa | Nunney Hassnow Abdyow, one of many Somalis fleeing drought and conflict, pictured in a camp last November
Around 43,000 people may have died in Somalia last year after several failed rainy seasons, a new report from the Somali government and UN suggests.
It is the first official death toll from the drought in the Horn of Africa. Half of the fatalities are thought to be in children under five.
The crisis is "far from over", with 18,000-34,000 more deaths expected in the first six months of this year.
In 2011, a famine in Somalia killed over a quarter of a million people.
"We are racing against time to prevent deaths and save lives that are avoidable," said World Health Organisation (WHO) representative Dr Mamunur Rahman Malik.
He added that the "cost of our inaction" would mean children, women and vulnerable people would die as "we hopelessly, helplessly witness the tragedy unfold".
The UN says it needs $2.6bn (£2.1bn) for its Somalia drought response plan this year. So far, under 15% of that has been funded.
Millions of farm animals have died in the crisis, which has been worsened by climate change, political instability and the global rise in food prices.
One problem has been getting aid into territory controlled by al-Shabab, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda and considered a terrorist group by both the US and UK.
Al-Shabab regularly launches brutal attacks in Somalia and poses a massive obstacle to humanitarian activity.
But strict US government rules blocking any assistance from benefitting designated terrorist groups have also complicated efforts to reach many desperate communities.
Some humanitarian officials believe the international community has sidelined the crisis due to the war in Ukraine.
In January, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Somalia, Adam Abdelmoula, said traditional donors had "washed their hands and focused on Ukraine", according to the Associated Press news agency.
The report released on Monday was commissioned by Unicef and the WHO and carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Imperial College London. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65015084 |
SNP members should be able to edit vote - leader candidate Ash Regan - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Party chiefs reject the move, saying it would be "massively disruptive and confusing" for members. | Scotland politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Leadership contender Ash Regan would like party members to be given the chance to change their vote
One of the candidates in the SNP leadership contest says party members should be able to "edit" their vote before the poll closes next week.
Ash Regan believes that those who had "buyer's remorse" after voting should be allowed to change it via the online system.
Her suggestion comes in the wake of turmoil over the voting system.
The SNP's interim chief executive later said such a move would be "massively disruptive and confusing" for members.
Mike Russell took on the role from Nicola Sturgeon's husband, Peter Murrell, who resigned on Saturday over misleading statements to the media about membership figures.
Ms Regan is running against Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and Finance Secretary Kate Forbes with the winner due to be announced on 27 March.
Voting has been open for a week now but Mr Russell said an editing option was not something that was done in any public election and could pose a cyber security risk.
In response, Ms Regan's team said it was now up to SNP members to raise the issue with the party and demand the ability to edit their votes "if that is what they would like to do".
Earlier Ms Regan said a number of party members had asked for the contest to be re-run but she acknowledged that might not be possible.
She told BBC Scotland: "Members should be able to edit their vote.
"So, for those people who feel that they have buyer's remorse now and they would like to change their vote - and I am not saying that that will be everyone. So, if you have cast your vote and you are quite happy with your vote you don't have to do anything.
"But if you have cast your vote and you want to change it you can go into the online system and edit it."
Mr Russell said there was no need to re-run the ballot, despite concerns that some party members would have cast their vote before events of the last few days.
Mr Murrell's resignation came a day after Murray Foote quit as the SNP's head of media at Holyrood.
Mr Foote had described press reports about falling SNP membership as "drivel", before the party confirmed a big drop in numbers to 72,000.
Mr Murrell took responsibility for the misleading information on the figures.
Now Mr Russell, who was previously SNP chief executive for five years prior to Mr Murrell, said he was brought in to "steady the ship".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mr Russell previously told BBC Scotland there was "a tremendous mess" in the SNP
He told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland a "whole host of things" had gone wrong, but his focus was on getting to the end of the leadership contest "in much better form".
Later on Monday he said he was wanted to ensure there was "confidence in the integrity of the current process".
In a statement, Mr Russell added: "On the specific issues raised today, it would clearly be massively disruptive and confusing for members to be able to recall their ballot - something that is not done in any public election and which cyber security experts have advised, most recently to the Conservatives when they considered an online ability to change a vote, could be subject to hacking attempts."
Ms Regan said she had suggested two proposals that would "provide assurance to members" over the election process.
The first would be to allow SNP members who have already voted to change their vote, if desired.
The second proposal would be to allow candidates to email SNP members, using the party mailing system, with an updated election message that reflected "current events".
But Mr Russell later said such a proposal was not within the rules and added the candidates' views on all internal and external issues related to the contest had been widely shared during the leadership campaign.
Ms Regan said: "It is important that all parties respect the outcome of the ballot and give full support to the new leader of the SNP."
Mr Yousaf poured cold water on Ms Regan's suggestion that members should be allowed to change their vote.
"I don't think in the last seven days of this contest, we need to be reopening ballots or changing the process," he told the BBC.
The health secretary also said that as far as he could see, all three candidates now had "no issues with the integrity of the ballot, and will respect the outcome".
"I think what the people of Scotland want us to do in the last seven days is to talk about the policies that matter to them," he added.
Mr Russell said he did not know how many SNP members had voted so far, and was "assured" that no-one in the party had access to those figures.
He said he would not bring in outside auditors to oversee the ballot process.
Mr Russell added that whoever succeeds Ms Sturgeon would have to focus on reforming the SNP's operations.
Kate Forbes told the BBC she was "very confident" in the party's ability to complete the leadership process, despite previously calling - along with Ms Regan - for an independent third party auditor.
She said that while she had trust in the process, she was "very conscious other people didn't".
Ms Forbes added: "I strongly believe that the events over the last few days - which have of course hurt, and I think bemused, a lot of SNP members - have confirmed my calls from the very beginning of the contest, which is that we need change in the SNP, and we need change in government."
Mr Yousaf has also promised an internal shake-up of the party, telling the BBC: "There needs to be internal reform within our headquarters, of that there is simply no doubt."
Who are the SNP candidates? | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-65013144 |
Cat caught up in Swansea explosion found alive a week later - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | It is believed Teddy the ragdoll had been living in the remains of his owner's home. | Wales | It is believed Teddy the ragdoll had been living in the remains of the home
A cat caught up in an explosion has been found alive almost a week after it went missing.
A 68-year-old man died in the suspected gas blast which damaged several houses in Morriston, Swansea on Monday.
Three others were injured, including the missing animal's owner Claire Griffiths-Bennett and her son.
While one of the family's cats was rescued from the rubble soon afterwards, ragdoll Teddy's whereabouts remained unknown.
But on Sunday, the RSPCA's Llys Nini animal centre said: "Teddy has been caught!"
Teddy was reunited with owner Claire (right) on Sunday
It is believed Teddy had been living in the remains of the family home.
The centre said Ms Griffiths-Bennett had been sitting next to the animal at the time of the blast.
There were concerns he may not have survived, but on Tuesday he was spotted by Swansea Cats Protection, Llys Nini and South Wales Police.
Llys Nini's Sally Hyman said they saw him "sitting on a pile of rubble".
Ms Hyman said Teddy was looking at her and washing, but it was not until Sunday that they managed to catch him.
She said: "He was big, fluffy and dirty but alive and well. Maybe he was hiding in the debris in the house."
There were concerns the property would be demolished with Teddy inside.
"So today [Sunday] was make or break," Ms Hyman added.
Brian Davies died in the suspected gas explosion and three others were injured
In a Facebook post, the animal centre said: "Claire was released from hospital on Sunday and went straight to the remains of the house to see if Teddy would respond to her whistle.
"However on arrival she was greeted with the news that Teddy had, just at that moment, been trapped.
"There were tears all around."
Teddy was described as "dusty" and "cross", but apparently unharmed. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65009394 |
Concern grows for man missing on Kinloch Rannoch camping trip - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Reece Rodger from Fife was last seen in the Kinloch Rannoch area of Perthshire on Saturday night. | Tayside and Central Scotland | Reece Rodger was last seen in the Kinloch Rannoch area on Saturday night.
Police said they are extremely concerned for a 28-year-old man who went missing during a camping trip in Highland Perthshire.
Reece Rodger, from Fife, was last seen in the Kinloch Rannoch area at 23:30 on Saturday.
Officers said Mr Rodger was camping on the shore of Loch Rannoch with friends, who believed he had gone to bed.
However, there was no trace of Mr Rodger the following morning and he was reported missing.
Sgt Lindsay Brown of Blairgowrie Police Station said: "We are extremely concerned for his safety as he is not dressed for the cold weather and he is not familiar with the area.
"Searches and inquiries are ongoing to trace him as soon as possible to ensure that he is safe and well."
Mr Rodger is described as 6ft tall, of slim build, with dark hair.
He was last seen wearing a black t-shirt, black jogging trousers, and wellington boots.
Sgt Brown added: "I would also ask anyone living in the local area to please check their outbuildings or sheds in case he has taken shelter there." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-64892079 |
Hampshire shark: Appeal for head to be returned - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | It is thought to be a smalltooth sand tiger shark but its head was removed after it was discovered. | Hampshire & Isle of Wight | Scientists want access to the head and teeth of the shark, which washed up on a Hampshire beach, for research
A plea has been made to return the head of a rare shark so it can be analysed.
On Saturday, local residents walking on Lepe beach in Hampshire discovered a dead shark which was later spotted without its head, tail and fin.
Broadcaster and historian Dan Snow told BBC Breakfast: "People can keep it but if they can just let the scientists have a good look at it first."
The Shark Trust said the head "holds the key to unlocking intricate details of the shark's life".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Alisha Openshaw filmed her efforts to save a shark but it later died
Mr Snow said it was a "once-in-a-lifetime" discovery of an "incredibly valuable" shark.
"Scientists say that no shark of this species, of this scale - it's well over two metres long - has ever washed up on UK shores before," he added.
"If people want the jaw for their clubhouse or whatever, they can keep it.
"But if they can just let the scientists have a good look at it first, that would be really community spirited of them."
Broadcaster Dan Snow described it was a "once-in-a-lifetime find" in the UK
Mr Snow, who lives near Lepe Beach, was away when people began to spot the dead shark on the beach.
After tweeting about it, he was contacted by scientists who asked him to secure the carcass as they believed the animal could be a smalltooth sand tiger shark - usually found in warmer waters.
By the time Mr Snow got home the shark's head, fin and tail were missing but he and a group of local residents managed to secure the rest of the shark which will be collected by the Zoological Society of London on Tuesday for it to be studied.
The Shark Trust has also issued a plea the head to be returned, describing smalltooth sand tiger sharks as "exceptionally rare visitors" in waters north of Biscay off northern Spain.
Ali Hood, the trust's director of conservation, told the BBC: "Keeping specimens intact is always preferable, especially exceptionally rare encounters like this.
"There is so much we are yet to learn and the head in particular holds the key to unlocking intricate details of the shark's life, even from before birth."She said an example of this was the lenses in a shark's eye which develop in utero, and that "analysis of atoms in the lens, through a technique known as stable isotope analysis, can help identify where a pregnant female was feeding".
On Friday, Alisha Openshaw, 38, had spotted the shark while it was stuck on the seabed close to the shore and went into the water to help it.
"I was fully aware it was a shark," she told the BBC. "It wasn't until I actually got hold of it that I realised how big it was."
With the help of her mother, Ms Openshaw managed to help get the shark swim forwards and it was seen swimming later that afternoon.
On Saturday, local residents walking on Lepe beach discovered a dead shark intact, before its head, fin and tail were removed
"I honestly thought that he might be alright because he obviously swam off, but then he did turn around and started to swim back towards us so we got out the water," she said.
Speaking about the removal of the shark's head, she added: "It's just as barbaric. I don't understand it and isn't it random that someone has the shark's head in their house at the moment?"
Dr Ben Garrod, a professor in evolutionary biology at University of East Anglia, said it was important for scientists to see the shark as it offered a "snapshot" of animals living in international waters.
"The oceans cover 71 or 72% of our planet, however it's still incredibly mysterious," he told the BBC.
"Every time we see a whale breaching or a shark washing up, this is like finding a Roman hoard or Viking daggers."
He said this species was not typically seen on UK shores and studying it could offer an insight into feeding patterns and water temperatures, depending on how healthy the shark was prior to its death.
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-65013372 |
Amazon to cut another 9,000 jobs - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The online retail giant said the positions would be closed "in the next few weeks". | Business | Online retail giant Amazon plans to cut another 9,000 jobs as it seeks to save costs.
The firm, which employs 1.5 million people worldwide, said the cuts would fall mainly in areas including cloud computing and advertising.
It did not say which countries would be affected but said the positions would be closed in the next few weeks.
Boss Andy Jassy said it was a "difficult decision" but it would be best for the company in the long term.
The firm already axed 18,000 jobs in January.
Mr Jassy said that in recent years, most areas of Amazon's business had been adding roles.
"However, given the uncertain economy in which we reside, and the uncertainty that exists in the near future, we have chosen to be more streamlined in our costs and headcount," he continued.
Like many tech giants, Amazon saw sales boom during the pandemic when customers were stuck at home.
But more recently its sales have slowed down as consumers spend less due to the cost of living crisis.
Other companies, including Google and Facebook-owner Meta, have been grappling with how to balance cost-cutting measures with the need to remain competitive.
Last week Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs.
Mr Jassy said it is "never easy" to lose employees, adding: "To those ultimately impacted by these reductions, I want to thank you for the work you have done on behalf of customers and the company."
Another area that will see cuts is Twitch, a livestreaming platform for content including gaming and music.
It comes days after Emmett Shear announced he would be stepping down as Twitch's chief executive officer after 16 years in post. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65018007 |
Menindee: Australia begins mass fish death clean-up - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Authorities are working out what to do with millions of rotting fish and reassuring the public about water quality. | Australia | A major clean-up effort is under way in Australia after millions of fish died in a river in western New South Wales (NSW).
Fish will be cleared from "high density areas", but it will not be possible to remove all the carcasses, police say.
The deaths are thought to have been caused by low oxygen levels in the river after a recent heatwave.
An emergency hub has been set up in the town of Menindee in western NSW to co-ordinate the response and monitor water quality.
Describing the operation as "very challenging and significant", NSW Police Commander Brett Greentree said the event was "unprecedented in terms of the millions of fish which have died."
"The water supply via the treatment plant works Menindee is monitored 24/7… I'm comfortable we're in a good spot regards to water quality at the moment," he told reporters.
Commander Greentree said contractors with specialised skills would use "a netting procedure" to remove the fish.
"But I need to be very upfront with the community and say 'will every fish be removed?' I don't think so, from the information I've had," he added.
Posting a Facebook video showing rotting fish lining the riverbank, local resident Graeme McCrabb wrote "the worst is still coming".
The mass death of fish was first reported on Friday.
Temperatures in the area reached 40C (104F) at the weekend.
Meanwhile, volunteers from conservation charity OzFish have begun a search and rescue operation to retrieve as many surviving native fish from the river as possible.
Describing the smell as "putrid", Braeden Lampard told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation his team were transferring rescued fish to a holding tank.
He estimated 85% of the dead fish were native species such as Bony Bream and Golden Perch, with the rest consisting of non-native types such as carp.
Cassie Price, OzFish's director of programs, said most of the floating remains would sink to the river bed within 48 hours.
"It would be pretty unlikely to get most of [fish] biomass out of the river. It will sink down, which will cause a bit of a nutrient spike, which is not good for the water quality either," she told the BBC.
"It's likely to cause algal blooms, which will cause more issues for a while," she added.
The deaths were caused by hypoxic blackwater, a naturally occurring phenomenon which causes extremely low oxygen levels, police said.
State government agencies said they were releasing higher quality water to boost dissolved oxygen levels, and would work with federal agencies to find the underlying cause.
The latest event follows another mass fish die-off in the same area that occurred in similar conditions in 2018.
The Darling-Baaka River forms part of the Murray-Darling Basin, which is Australia's largest river system.
Its ecosystem has faced pressure from drought and increased human use in recent years, while last year brought severe flooding after intense rainfall and storms.
Authorities said the latest die-off had been exacerbated by "significantly increased numbers of fish in the system" as floodwaters receded.
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• None Millions of dead fish wash up in Australian town | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-65010344 |
Putin in Mariupol: What the Russian president saw on his visit - BBC News | "2023-03-20T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Russian leader tours parts of the Ukrainian port city that saw some of his army's fiercest attacks. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Driving through the ruined city at night, Vladimir Putin has made his first visit to Mariupol - devastated when Russian forces besieged the city earlier on in the war.
The BBC has traced part of the route he took, which passed near the locations of several notorious attacks during his army's months-long assault. Russia finally overran the city in May.
Video released by Russian media show Mr Putin chatting to a companion as they head towards the city's concert hall. The Kremlin says the visit took place late on Saturday and Mr Putin decided "spontaneously" to tour the city.
Mariupol's Ukrainian mayor in exile Vadym Boychenko told the BBC that Mariupol was "personal" to Mr Putin because of what had happened there.
"We have to understand that Mariupol is a symbolic place for Putin, because of the fury he inflicted on the city of Mariupol. No other city was destroyed like that. No other city was under siege for so long. No other city was subjected to carpet bombing," he said.
"He has come in person to see what he has done," he added.
The BBC identified some of the key landmarks along the Russian leader's route. Mr Putin appears to be driving down Kuprina St, turning into Myru Avenue and then into Metalurhiv Avenue, where the Philharmonic Concert Hall is and which he visits later on in the footage.
He is sitting next to a man in a black cap, who Russian media identify as Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin.
On his left as they drive down Myru Avenue are sculptures of birds in what was Mariupol's Freedom Square.
Further on, on the right and not shown in the footage, is Mariupol's Maternity Hospital Number Three, which was bombed in a notorious incident last March.
Pictures of heavily-pregnant Marianna Vyshemirskaya, her face bloodied, descending rubble-strewn steps were widely shared amid outrage at the attack. She survived and gave birth the following day. Another pregnant woman was among the victims.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it a war crime but Russia's embassy in London claimed the hospital had no longer been in use, and was instead being used by members of the Azov regiment, which was set up as a volunteer militia with links to the far right in 2014 but had since been incorporated into Ukraine's National Guard.
Mr Putin turned off Myru Avenue just before the road arrives at Theatre Square - the scene of a deadly bombing that is thought to have killed at least 300 and possibly as many as 600 civilians.
Civilians had been using the building as a refuge from the siege and a large sign spelling "children" had been daubed in Russian in front of the theatre. The building collapsed when it was hit. Russia denied bombing it and blamed the Azov battalion. In December the Ukrainian city authorities in exile said Russia was demolishing the ruins of the theatre.
Russia "understood where there was a concentration of people, and deliberately destroyed these places, killing people. They systematically worked on this", said Mr Boychenko.
Footage then shows Mr Putin on a walking tour of a new residential compound, said to be in Mariupol's Nevsky district. He is guided by Mr Khusnullin, who shows him some plans of the reconstruction work. He is also seen talking to people said by Russian media to be local residents and he also visits an apartment that he is told is made up of three rooms.
Nevsky is a new district comprising a dozen apartment blocks in the west of the city. It is named after the River Neva, on which President Vladimir Putin's home city of St Petersburg stands.
Mayor Boychenko said many of the Russian-built buildings were on the city outskirts. "They built this just to prove that their version of what's happening there is true. But they lie! They lie that they came to liberate the city. But they destroyed it. This city does not exist any longer. And it takes 20 years to restore it!" he said.
Mariupol residents have been telling the BBC that new buildings are going up and some of those damaged by the Russian military are being removed. The UN estimates that 90% of residential buildings were damaged or destroyed in the Russian onslaught.
Norwegian journalist Morten Risberg, who visited Mariupol in December, said he saw "large-scale rebuilding and restoration" amid "destruction everywhere you looked".
"They're changing street names and they're painting over Ukrainian colours with Russian colours, and they're putting Russian flags everywhere," he told the BBC. Most of the remaining civilians in the city were "just focusing on surviving", he said.
In another part of the footage, President Putin is seen walking through the interior of a concert hall in Mariupol. Russian state media said it was the Philharmonic Concert Hall - and the BBC has verified that the footage matches the interior of the venue.
This is the same building that the UN warned was to be used to stage trials of Ukrainian troops who held out against Russian forces for months in Mariupol's massive Azovstal iron and steel plant. Russia finally gained complete control of Mariupol in May after the defenders surrendered.
The concert hall was to be the venue for show trials of Ukrainian POWs but they were traded in a prisoner swap instead
Images posted on social media in August - including by Ukrainian authorities - appeared to show metal cages being built on the stage. According to the UN, prosecuting prisoners of war (POWs) for taking part in hostilities is a war crime.
But the trials never took place, as the POWs were later part of a prisoner swap for 55 prisoners from Ukraine, including a pro-Kremlin former MP, Viktor Medvedchuk.
The latest footage from inside the concert hall shows the interior of the building has since been redecorated and the cages are no longer visible.
During the siege the concert hall, like the drama theatre, was used by civilians for shelter. The cultural institutions were "where people hid in basements and waited for the Russian terror to end," Mr Boychenko said.
Before the invasion it had been the venue for the Mariupol Classic festival for classical music. Mr Boychenko said the festival was a "great celebration of classical music for the people of Mariupol" that drew artists from abroad and other parts of Ukraine.
"Many people always gathered at this festival to feel the mood that always prevailed in Mariupol," he said.
In a later shot, President Putin is seen visiting a World War Two memorial built to commemorate Soviet troops who recaptured the city from Nazi Germany. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65007289 |
Swansea: Who was the Italian behind Joe's ice cream parlour? - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | "Joe's" and "ice cream" are synonymous in Swansea - thanks to Luigi Cascarini and his family. | Wales | Luigi Cascarini left his native Italy for south Wales at the end of the 19th Century
In 1898, Luigi Cascarini left his home town of Picinisco, nestled in the mountains between Rome and Naples, in pursuit of a better life.
In most respects his story was no more remarkable than the thousands of other Welsh-Italians who made the same trip.
Yet, 125 years on, his descendants still run Joe's ice cream parlour, a true Swansea institution.
In the city the words "Joe's" and "ice-cream" are virtually interchangeable - so how did that happen?
"Right from the start of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-19th Century, Italians - in common with people from all over Europe - were being drawn to Wales in search of the jobs and lifestyle which the new technology and industry offered," said Rob Basini, a member of Amici Val Ceno (Galles), a group who organise social and charity events within the Welsh-Italian community in Wales.
The group was set up to celebrate the links between Wales and the valley of the river Ceno, home of the northern Italian town of Bardi, from where many Italians emigrated.
"However, by the 1880s a series of very harsh winters and wet summers had caused the crops in Italy to fail... for people barely scratching a living off the land this was a life-or-death disaster, so the trickle to Wales became a procession."
Many came on foot, spending a year or more to make the journey through France and stopping off to take seasonal jobs.
Joe Cascarini borrowed money from his father Luigi to open Joe's in 1922
Mr Basini, from Treorchy, Rhondda Cynon Taf, recalls meeting a teacher on his return visits to Bardi, who would tell the pupils: "You climb over the mountain, get down to the coast in Genoa, and then you turn right and keep on walking until you get to Britain."
Once in Wales, some went to work in the mines and iron works, but many others found there was more money to be made from filling the gaps left by the relentless pull of manpower into heavy industry.
In 1930 there were said to be 53 coal mines in the valleys compared with 54 Italian cafes and shops.
So popular was one chain, the Bracchis, that the name remains a generic term for any cafe or corner shop the south Wales valleys to this day.
Luigi Cascarini was just such an entrepreneur, selling coffee and roasted chestnuts from a barrow while the weather was cold and ice cream and lemonade during the brief Welsh summers.
Joe's Ice Cream Parlour - pictured here in the 1940s - remains on the same site as when it opened in 1922
Now, with his brother Dominic, Luigi's great-grandson Adrian Hughes is Joe's current owner.
"The 1901 census lists Luigi as a musician, so possibly that was another string to his bow, entertaining his customers with a barrel organ or singing while they ate and drunk.
"By 1922 however he was well enough established in Wales to loan his son Joe the money to open a permanent ice cream parlour on St Helen's Road, where we are to this day."
Mr Hughes said the only condition of the loan was that Joe did not open on the same street as the family members who had backed him.
"Of course, what did Joe do? Set up next door to our cousins, the Pelosis!"
Yet every success story needs a stroke of luck, and that's exactly what happened with the rise of the Temperance movement in the early 20th Century, which opposed drinking alcohol.
Mr Hughes said: "Joe wanted to make his experience as different from the pubs as possible.
"He wasn't much of a businessman, but he knew how to put on a show, with silver-plated cutlery, crystal glasses and bone china, all from Mappin and Webb. He paid a fortune for it!"
Adrian Hughes now owns Joe's Ice Cream Parlour, along with his brother Dominic
When Luigi Cascarini died in 1936, thousands turned out for his funeral, with local newspapers extolling his contribution to Swansea, along with other Welsh-Italians, but disaster was just around the corner.
After Mussolini declared war on Britain in June 1940, Winston Churchill ordered: "Collar the lot", and Italian cafe shop and restaurant owners were indiscriminately rounded up.
They included BBC Wales Today presenter Nick Servini's great-grandfather Bartolomeo Rabaiotti who ran Rabaiotti's Cafe on Pontypridd's High Street.
"He was 59 and no threat to anyone, yet he was interned and put on a prison ship called the Arandora Star, bound for a camp in Canada," said Nick.
On 2 July 1940 the Arandora Star was torpedoed by a German U-boat, and along with 800 "alien prisoners". Bartolomeo died.
Many could not escape because of barbed wire which had been erected around the deck.
"Like many of the Italians who'd originally come from mountainous areas, he couldn't swim, and the disaster left a long shadow over everyone in the community."
Joe - who had lost a leg and an eye to diabetes - was considered safe enough to be kept prisoner on a farm in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire.
Mr Hughes said this could have provided yet another stroke of good fortune in the tale of Joe's ice cream when his mother took over in 1969 and looked into the recipe - the amount of cream written down made it "prohibitively expensive" to make.
"The mystery is how he'd been able to get his hands on so much cream in the years immediately following the war - the only answer we've been able to come up with is that he forged some sort of black market connections with the people he met whilst interned in Llandeilo.
"Either way it's remained unique and massively popular to this day."
Nick Servini waited tables at his uncle's cafe in Aberdare - pictured here in 1934
Nick Servini is the fifth generation of his family in Wales and grew up waiting on the tables of his uncle's cafe in Aberdare in the 1980s.
"Back then we'd return to Bardi every year for massive parties called Scampagnata, I suppose the nearest translation would be a picnic, but on a much grander scale.
"Back then they'd last six weeks, now it's more like a week.
"Some of the older generation think it's sad that we're losing that connection, but I just think it's a great story of assimilation, two cultures melding so closely that you can hardly tell them apart anymore." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64989512 |
SNP chief executive Peter Murrell resigns over membership row - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Peter Murrell, the husband of Nicola Sturgeon, confirms he has resigned from the role with immediate effect. | Scotland politics | Peter Murrell said he was very proud of the part he played in securing the electoral success the party had achieved and praised his dedicated team
The SNP chief executive Peter Murrell has resigned after taking responsibility for misleading the media about party membership numbers.
Mr Murrell, who is married to outgoing party leader Nicola Sturgeon, said he had become a distraction to the leadership race.
He had been set to face a vote of no confidence had he not stepped down, the BBC has been told.
The party this week confirmed there had been a big drop in membership numbers.
This contradicted an earlier denial that that was the case.
Party president and former chief executive Michael Russell will take on Mr Murrell's role on a voluntary basis until a new party leader is in place and a permanent replacement is appointed.
Mr Murrell, 58, has been a hugely influential figure in the party - where he has been chief executive since 1999 and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the SNP.
Two leadership candidates, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan, have questioned the independence of the election process.
And on Friday, the SNP's head of media at Holyrood, Murray Foote, resigned, saying there were "serious issues" with statements he had issued in "good faith" on behalf of party headquarters.
A National Executive Committee source told the BBC Mr Foote had been "thrown under the bus" by Peter Murrell.
Mr Murrell has been married to Ms Sturgeon since 2010.
The SNP leader said her husband was right to resign.
She told Sky News Mr Murrell had "obviously taken responsibility for the recent issue with membership".
Ms Sturgeon added: "He had intended to step down when there was a new leader but I think he was right to make that announcement today [Saturday].
"Peter has been a key part of the electoral success we have achieved in recent years and I know there will be a recognition of that across the party."
In his resignation statement Mr Murrell said: "Responsibility for the SNP's responses to media queries about our membership number lies with me as chief executive.
"While there was no intent to mislead, I accept that this has been the outcome.
"I have therefore decided to confirm my intention to step down as chief executive with immediate effect."
He said he had not planned to step down until after the leadership contest but recognised that he had become "a distraction from the campaign".
"I have concluded that I should stand down now, so the party can focus fully on issues about Scotland's future," he said.
Mr Murrell has been married to Nicola Sturgeon since 2010
Mr Murrell added that he had no role in the running of the election contest.
"I have worked for independence all my life and will continue to do so, albeit in a different capacity, until it is achieved - and I do firmly believe that independence is now closer than ever," he said.
SNP leadership candidate Kate Forbes said: "I think that the party owes Peter Murrell a great debt of gratitude because he oversaw the party's expansion in membership and he's been the reason we won so many elections with his leadership at the top.
"I've said repeatedly from the beginning of this contest that I think there's an appetite for fresh faces and that will hopefully pave the way for new people in headquarters to be able to run the SNP in a way that maintains the trust of SNP members and supports the SNP in government."
Ms Forbes added that despite having called for an independent auditor to oversee the leadership vote, she had "no concerns" about Peter Murrell.
This is a miserable end to Peter Murrell's long career in charge of SNP headquarters where he helped turn the party into a successful election-winning machine.
He is taking responsibility for the party misleading the media about a big fall in the SNP's membership but concerns about his stewardship go wider than that.
Two leadership candidates called for an independent auditor to be appointed to oversee the election although Mr Murrell insists he had "no role in it at any point".
There is an ongoing police investigation into how £600,000 raised by the party for independence campaigning has been spent - with the SNP denying any wrongdoing.
Some members of the party's ruling body were threatening a vote of no confidence in the chief executive, with one telling the BBC he had become a "hindrance".
Others in the SNP have long questioned the wisdom of the party being run by Nicola Sturgeon's husband - arguing that too much power has been concentrated in one household.
Humza Yousaf, another SNP leadership hopeful said: "Peter Murrell has been an outstanding servant of the independence movement and the SNP.
"As I have said repeatedly throughout this campaign, he is the most electorally successful chief executive of any party in the UK and the SNP has been lucky to have him. Our election wins from 2007 to 2021 owe much to his political abilities.
Mr Yousaf added that he agreed it was time for Mr Murrell to stand down.
"With less than 10 days to go in this leadership contest, it is vital we all focus on the policies and vision we have for the party, movement and country," he said.
Party leadership candidate Ash Regan posted on Twitter: "Eight years ago was the point where it was unacceptable to have the husband of the party leader as the CEO.
"I am encouraged to see the democratic foundations of the party now asserting their rightful function."
She added that the SNP's foundations were based on accountability, transparency, modernity and accessibility.
SNP business convener Kirsten Oswald said she had called an National Executive Committee meeting on Saturday which had reaffirmed the body's faith in the leadership election process.
Questions have mounted over a loan of more than £100,000 that Mr Murrell gave to the party in June 2021 to help it out with a "cash flow" issue after the last election.
Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy MSP said: "A fish rots from the head down - and the same applies to the SNP.
"Peter Murrell's resignation is long overdue - but there remain serious questions for him to answer, not least over the 'missing' £600,000 from party accounts."
He added: "The brutal, shambolic SNP leadership election appears to have been the tipping point that's forced the first minister's husband to quit before he was pushed."
Mr Hoy said Mr Murrell must fully co-operate with any probes into the way the leadership election had been run and the police inquiry into the SNP's finances.
In recent months, Ms Sturgeon was repeatedly asked about the origin of finances used by her husband but said the funds were entirely his own and she could not recall when she first learned of it.
The SNP has also been under investigation over the past 18 months after questions were raised about the fate of £600,000 that was raised from supporters in 2017 for the purposes of a future referendum campaign.
An SNP spokesman said the loan was a "personal contribution made by the chief executive to assist with cash flow after the Holyrood election".
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: "This latest resignation of a top SNP figure goes to show that the wheels have fallen off the SNP wagon. When Scotland most needs responsible governance, the SNP has turned inward and begun to tear itself apart. "If this is what is happening in the party, just imagine the chaos in government."
The ballot to find a replacement for Ms Sturgeon, which uses the single transferable vote system, opened on Monday with the winner to be announced on 27 March. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65000606 |
Putin arrest warrant issued over war crime allegations - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Russian president is wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes during his Ukraine invasion. | Europe | Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, during a meeting last month
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The court alleges he is responsible for war crimes, and has focused its claims on the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
It says the crimes were committed in Ukraine from 24 February 2022 - when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Moscow has denied the allegations and labelled the warrants as "outrageous".
It is highly unlikely that much will come of the move - the ICC has no powers to arrest suspects, and can only exercise jurisdiction within its member countries - and Russia is not one of them.
However it could affect the president in other ways, such as being unable to travel internationally.
In a statement, the ICC said it had reasonable grounds to believe Mr Putin committed the criminal acts directly, as well as working with others. It also accused him of failing to use his presidential powers to stop children being deported.
When asked about the ICC's move, US President Joe Biden said "well, I think it's justified". He noted that the US is not signed up to the ICC, "but I think it makes a very strong point". Mr Putin "clearly committed war crimes", he said.
Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, is also wanted by the ICC for the same crimes.
In the past, she has spoken openly of efforts to indoctrinate Ukrainian children taken to Russia.
Last September, Ms Lvova-Belova complained that some children removed from the city of Mariupol "spoke badly about the [Russian President], said awful things and sang the Ukrainian anthem."
She has also claimed to have adopted a 15-year-old boy from Mariupol.
The ICC said it initially considered keeping the arrest warrants a secret, but decided to make them public in the event that it stopped further crimes from being committed.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told the BBC: "children can't be treated as the spoils of war, they can't be deported".
"This type of crime doesn't need one to be a lawyer, one needs to be human being to know how egregious it is," he said.
Reactions to the warrants came within minutes of the announcement, with Kremlin officials instantly dismissing them.
Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said any of the court's decisions were "null and void" and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev compared the warrant to toilet paper.
"No need to explain WHERE this paper should be used," he wrote on Twitter, with a toilet paper emoji.
However Russian opposition leaders welcomed the announcement. Ivan Zhdanov, a close ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, tweeted that it was "a symbolic step" but an important one.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was grateful to Mr Khan and the criminal court for their decision to press charges against "state evil".
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said the decision was "historic for Ukraine", while the country's presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, lauded the decision as "only the beginning".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: Can Vladimir Putin actually be arrested?
But because Russia is not a signed member of the ICC, there is very little chance that Vladimir Putin or Maria Lvova-Belova will appear in the dock at The Hague.
The ICC relies on the cooperation of governments to arrest people, and Russia is "obviously not going to cooperate in this respect", Jonathan Leader Maynard, a lecturer in international politics at King's College London, told the BBC.
However Mr Khan pointed out that no-one thought Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian leader who went on trial for war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, would end up in The Hague.
"Those that feel that you can commit a crime in the daytime, and sleep well at night, should perhaps look at history," he said.
Legally, however, this does present Mr Putin with a problem.
While he is the head of a G20 state, and about to shake hands with China's Xi Jinping in an historic meeting, Mr Putin is now also a wanted man, and this will inevitably place restrictions on which countries he can visit.
There is also a level of embarrassment for the Kremlin, which has always denied allegations of Russian war crimes, that such an influential, pan-national body as the ICC simply does not believe its denials. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64992727 |
Colwyn Bay: Crewless boat discovered adrift in sea prompts search - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A lifeboat crew searched the waters for casualties but none were discovered. | Wales | The 20ft cabin cruiser, named Phoenix Hardy, was found adrift in Colwyn Bay
Mystery surrounds a crewless boat discovered adrift in the sea at Colwyn Bay on Saturday.
A lifeboat was called to the scene at 07:20 GMT where a 20ft (6m) cabin cruiser, named Phoenix Hardy, was found between the pier and Porth Eirias.
The crew searched the waters in Conwy county for casualties but none were found.
North Wales Police said it was made aware of the vessel at around 06:00 and is appealing for information.
Det Sgt Mark Bamber said: "We believe that the boat came into the area yesterday and entered the water in Conwy."
The coastguard said it is "reasonably" confident four men who were aboard are safe
The RNLI said its search of the waters was "inconclusive".
HM Coastguard said it was "reasonably" confident that four men who were aboard the boat got off safely.
A spokesman added: "We continue to work with the police until we are satisfied that is the case." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65001558 |
SNP media chief Murray Foote resigns over membership dispute - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Murray Foote denied SNP membership had dropped, before the party confirmed a decline of 32,000. | Scotland | Murray Foote said he had issued agreed party responses to the media
An SNP media chief has resigned in a row over the party's membership numbers - after it denied the figure had dropped by 30,000.
Murray Foote had described press reports about the numbers last month as "inaccurate" and "drivel".
The SNP confirmed yesterday that membership had fallen to 72,186 from the 104,000 it had two years ago.
Mr Foote said he issued agreed party responses to the media which "created a serious impediment" to his role.
SNP leadership candidates Ash Regan and Kate Forbes this week demanded to know how many members were eligible to vote in a row over the integrity of the contest.
They issued a joint letter to Peter Murrell - the SNP's chief executive and husband of Nicola Sturgeon.
The party initially refused to reveal the numbers, then confirmed there was a drop of 32,000 since December 2021.
Last month the Sunday Mail - where Mr Foote was formerly editor in chief - reported the SNP had lost 30,000 members, which the party said was "not just wrong, it's wrong by about 30,000".
Mr Foote tweeted: "Acting in good faith and as a courtesy to colleagues at party HQ, I issued agreed party responses to media inquiries regarding membership.
"It has subsequently become apparent there are serious issues with these responses.
"Consequently, I concluded this created a serous impediment to my role and I resigned my position with the SNP group at Holyrood."
The SNP said Mr Foote had been an outstanding head of press for the Holyrood group, adding: "He has acted entirely in good faith throughout."
In a statement it said: "The party was asked a specific question about loss of members as a direct result of the GRR [gender recognition reform] Bill and Indyref2. The answer given was intended to make clear that these two reasons had not been the cause of significant numbers of members leaving.
"The membership figure is normally produced annually and is not produced in response to individual media queries, including in this instance.
"In retrospect, however, we should not have relied on an understanding of people's reasons for leaving as the basis of the information given to Murray and, thereafter, the media.
"A new, modernised membership system is currently being developed for the party."
Mr Foote became editor of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail newspapers in 2014.
He was responsible for "The Vow" front page which was seen as being highly influential in the outcome of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
It was written by the Better Together campaign in which they promised more powers for Holyrood.
In an article written for the first anniversary of the vote, Mr Foote wrote that he and colleagues did not believe Alex Salmond was "offering true independence" at the time.
He was appointed the SNP's media chief in 2019.
Scottish Conservative MSP Russell Findlay, a former journalist, defended Mr Foote - saying he had been given false information.
"He didn't lie. The SNP lied," Mr Findlay said. "The problem is not a press officer. The problem is the rotten SNP leadership who deliberately lied to the press and public.
"We wish our best to Mr Foote, who was clearly told false information and is the fall guy for the SNP hierarchy."
Alex Salmond, former first minister and leader of the Alba party, also accused the SNP of "blatant lies".
Speaking to BBC Scotland's Drivetime programme - prior to Mr Foote stepping down - Mr Salmond said the SNP's loss of members was "catastrophic", but "more important is the reduction in credibility".
Nicola Sturgeon's chief adviser Liz Lloyd also announced on Friday that she would be stepping down from the role when the first minister leaves office.
She said it had been the "biggest honour of my life" to have worked with Ms Sturgeon but that she planned to pursue new opportunities outside politics.
Earlier in the week the Scottish Sun had reported Ms Lloyd was advising Mr Yousaf's campaign.
Murray Foote's former colleagues have been highlighting his integrity as they react to his departure from the SNP.
It was a surprise for many when the man who helped created the unionist "Vow" during the 2014 independence campaign joined the party.
But he's relished his task - although now it ends in tears.
In the resignation statement, he emphasises how "in good faith" he gave the inaccurate membership numbers provided by the party.
His former journalistic colleagues were furious at how they'd been treated and, it seems, so is he.
Mr Foote says this created a "serious impediment" to his role.
So who gave the figures to him? There are now big questions for SNP HQ and its chief executive, Peter Murrell.
As the leadership race continues, it's tearing through the SNP, wreaking havoc.
The SNP's membership hit a peak of 125,000 in 2019 as support for the party surged in the wake of the independence referendum but had dropped to 85,000 by the end of last year.
That suggests a drop of 12,000 inside a matter of months.
After the most recent membership figures were released, Kate Forbes' campaign manager, Michelle Thomson MSP, said she was pleased that "common sense has prevailed" - but that the "alarming drop in members shows that the party needs a change in direction".
Ash Regan's campaign linked the decline to the Scottish government's controversial gender recognition reforms while the party's president Mike Russell suggested cost of living pressures could offer an alternative explanation.
The third candidate in the contest, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, said it was "really important" the SNP did not lose any more members but said the best way to do this was to continue with the party's "progressive agenda".
Following Mr Foote's departure on Friday, Mr Yousaf tweeted that he would be sorely missed, and added: "Reform of our HQ operations has been a key part of my campaign. With fresh party leadership should come a fresh approach to our HQ operation." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64993032 |
France pension protests: Crowd clashes with police over government reform by decree - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A second night of unrest grips France after the government pushed through pension changes without a vote. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Protesters have clashed with police again in central Paris over the French government's pension reforms.
Thousands of demonstrators lit fires and some threw firecrackers at police, who used tear gas to disperse them.
It is the second night of unrest since President Emmanuel Macron decided to push through the controversial reforms to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 without a vote.
No-confidence motions have been filed against his government in response.
The first was signed by independents and members of the left-wing Nupes coalition in parliament, while a second came from the far-right National Rally party.
Both are expected to be debated early next week.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally MPs in parliament, called the decision to push through the pension changes "a total failure for the government".
Police made dozens of arrests during the unrest at Place de la Concorde, not far from the parliament building.
Protests also took place on Friday in other French cities - notably Bordeaux, Toulon and Strasbourg.
"We won't give up," one demonstrator told AFP news agency. "There's still hope that the reform can be revoked."
Another told Reuters that pushing the legislation through without a vote was "a denial of democracy... a total denial of what has been happening in the streets for several weeks".
The government has said the changes to pensions are essential to ensure the system is not overburdened and prevent it collapsing.
But many people, including union members, disagree and France has now seen more than two months of heated political debate and strikes over the issue.
Transport, public services and schools have all been affected, while a rolling walkout by waste collectors has seen thousands of tonnes of rubbish left on the streets of the capital.
Fuel deliveries have also been blocked and there are plans to stop production at a large refinery in Normandy in the coming days.
"Changing the government or prime minister will not put out this fire, only withdrawing the reform," said the head of the moderate CFDT union, Laurent Berger.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Uproar on the streets of Paris as PM jeered in parliament | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64997414 |
Attack heroes on Queen's final bravery awards list - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Five of the civilian commendations go to men who confronted the London Bridge attacker in 2019. | UK | Darryn Frost had fought the attacker with a narwhal tusk on display at Fishmongers' Hall
Members of the public who tackled the man behind the London Bridge attack in 2019 are among the recipients of the final civilian gallantry awards approved by the late Queen.
The list includes a Queen's Gallantry Medal for Darryn Frost who used a narwhal tusk to fend off Usman Khan outside the Fishmongers' Hall event.
The same award goes to two ex-offenders - John Crilly, who used a fire extinguisher on the attacker, and Steven Gallant, who helped confront him until police arrived.
Mr Gallant, who had been convicted of murder but has since been freed, has since spoken of wanting to inspire prisoners wanting to turn their lives around.
He was commended for standing his ground against Khan, who was carrying two knives and wearing what turned out to be an imitation belt of explosives.
The bravery award winners are among 15 people praised for their heroic actions in the last list approved by the Queen, who died last September.
Such awards in future will be known as the King's Gallantry Medal or the King's Commendation for Bravery.
In November 2019 Khan fatally stabbed Cambridge University graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, and injured three other people at the conference held by an organisation involved in the rehabilitation of offenders in the City of London. He then ran on to London Bridge, and was later shot dead by armed officers.
A porter at the hall, Lukasz Koczocik, also received a Queen's Gallantry Medal for forcing Khan out of the venue, using an ornamental spear, despite him having sustained serious injuries from three stab wounds.
And prison officer Adam Roberts was commended for providing emergency first aid, while the attack was going on around him.
The bravery awards include those caught up in the terror attack beside London Bridge that claimed two lives
The five men brought together by the event were commended for the courage of their response - using improvised weapons and facing great danger themselves, as they chased the attacker on to the bridge.
Mr Frost used a narwhal tusk that had been on display at Fishmongers' Hall and pinned Khan down, despite the risk from what had seemed to be the suicide belt.
The final Queen's awards also include a posthumous Queen's Gallantry Medal for John Rees, who at the age of 88, died when he intervened in a knife attack at a shop in Penygraig, Rhondda in south Wales in May 2020.
There are also awards for Lisa Way and Ayette Bounouri who came to his assistance. Mrs Bounouri used a shopping basket to try to deflect the attacker.
The recipients, announced by the Cabinet Office, are nominated by the public in recognition of "exemplary bravery in saving the lives of others".
They are approved by the monarch, on the advice of the George Cross Committee which considers such awards, with these latest civilian honours the first for two years.
Oliver Dowden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said the latest recipients were "extremely worthy winners" of the Queen's last such awards.
"We all hope we'd react with courage in the face of danger. These people have lived through that test, and responded in the most admirable way," said Mr Dowden.
• None Honour for man, 88, who died trying to stop killer | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64991962 |
Six Nations 2023: Ireland face wounded England for historic Grand Slam - BBC Sport | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | null | Ireland aim to end their Six Nations by celebrating a Grand Slam in Dublin, but a wounded England side are determined to spoil the party. | null | Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Ulster; follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app
The 2023 Six Nations has reached what promises to be a captivating climax as Grand Slam-hunting Ireland welcome a wounded England to Dublin on St Patrick's Day weekend.
Saturday's tournament closer at the Aviva Stadium could be a huge step in Ireland's journey under Andy Farrell.
Having entered the competition as the world's number one side, the Irish have masterfully navigated their way through the first four rounds to give themselves a shot at winning a fourth Grand Slam - and first in Dublin.
After a memorable 2022 that included a Test series triumph over the All Blacks in New Zealand, a Six Nations clean sweep would be the ultimate statement six months out from the World Cup in France.
England are in a different boat. With their title hopes mercilessly crushed by a rampant France at Twickenham last week, Steve Borthwick's team arrive in Dublin with two main aims: restoring pride and spoiling the Irish party.
England are not the only side with designs on raining on Ireland's parade, of course, as France can still retain their title. To have any chance, however, Les Bleus must beat Wales in Paris (14:45 GMT) before Ireland and England take to the pitch on Lansdowne Road.
'Super Saturday' opens with Scotland hosting Italy at Murrayfield (12:30 GMT), which is live on BBC One.
• None Final-round permutations - how Ireland or France can win the title
• None 'Home Grand Slam would be Sexton's dream Six Nations finale'
Ireland have handled everything the Six Nations has thrown at them, from losing key players to injury to grinding out wins when they haven't been at their best.
The most impressive Irish display came against France in Dublin in round two when Farrell's men ran out 32-19 winners in an epic battle between the world's top two sides.
Beating the holders felt big, but defeating England to deliver a Grand Slam in Dublin for the first time brings even greater pressure, and Farrell has called on his players to show calmness in the midst of the "circus".
"All this stuff that you guys [the media] are going to be writing, it all becomes part of the circus, you know, managing all that," he said.
"But in reality, anyone who has ever played in a big game, when you get over that white line all bets are off. It's business time, isn't it?
"All the emotion gets taken out after the first five minutes anyway and then you've got to be at your best.
"To me, desperation is an illness. You want to try and stay away from that.
"You can't be accurate if you're desperate. Being calm enough to be yourself and being controlled enough to be accurate when it matters is a temperament that we're all chasing."
Even without the chance of winning a title, this is an important game for an England side keen to extinguish the pain of their worst home defeat in 113 years of Test rugby against France last week.
For Borthwick, who replaced Eddie Jones as head coach in December, Saturday presents an opportunity to put England back on the right path in the last tournament outing before the World Cup.
It will be a big ask, though, considering Ireland have won their last 13 Tests at home.
"We know that after the bitter disappointment of the display against an exceptional France side, we will have to be much improved to meet the challenge of playing the side ranked number one in the world," said Borthwick.
"However, I have witnessed an England squad determined to make amends for the defeat at Twickenham.
"I'm confident that the team announced will once again want to show the sort of resilience and attitude that brought us victory in Wales."
What the pundits say
Former England scrum-half Danny Care on BBC Radio 5 Live's Rugby Union Daily podcast: "You can make mistakes like decision-making or skill execution, which you can forgive, but the one non-negotiable in rugby and especially when you're wearing an England shirt is you don't give up.
"I don't think you'll see an attitude problem from England this weekend. The players and coaches won't let it happen.
"I think Ireland will win but you'll see a more combative performance from England."
Former Ireland and British and Irish Lions wing Shane Horgan: "Ireland are uber-confident and are very relaxed at their ability to deliver a performance.
"That confidence has been built over a long period. They've won a tour in New Zealand, they've beaten all the southern hemisphere teams and against France, Ireland really dominated.
"They're secure in their ability and they're not looking over their shoulders."
As ever, Ireland and England's performance will be dictated by their fly-halves, around whom there has been a contrasting narrative in recent weeks.
This is being built up as Johnny Sexton's big day. It is the Ireland captain's last Six Nations game and he can secure his place in Irish sporting history by becoming the first skipper to win a Grand Slam in Dublin.
He also needs just one point to surpass predecessor Ronan O'Gara as the Six Nations' all-time record scorer.
On the other hand, England fly-half Owen Farrell - the son of Ireland head coach Andy - is seeking redemption after being dropped for Marcus Smith in the France defeat.
• None Farrell v Farrell 'has never been difficult'
• None Sexton wants to take emotion out of swansong | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/64988703 |
Imran Khan court hearing prevented by Islamabad clashes - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The former Pakistan PM marks his attendance in Islamabad and denies charges he sold state gifts. | Asia | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
A court in Pakistan has decided that a hearing into charges former Prime Minister Imran Khan sold state gifts could not take place due to clashes between his supporters and police.
Police said Mr Khan's backers threw stones and fired tear gas near the High Court in Islamabad.
The former cricketer-turned-politician has since set off back to his home in Lahore, which police raided in his absence and made arrests.
He denies the charges against him.
The chaotic scenes saw Mr Khan unable to enter the court before the judge agreed that he could mark his attendance and return home.
The ex-PM says the charges against him are politically motivated but says he is attending court "because I believe in the rule of law". The government says the charges against him have nothing to do with politics.
He told Reuters that he had formed a committee to lead his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in the event of his arrest.
About 4,000 security officials, including elite commandos and anti-terrorism squads, have been deployed in Islamabad, AFP reported.
Police blocked the highway into Islamabad with shipping containers and large trucks to stop Mr Khan's convoy as it approached the city.
Officers armed with sticks and tear gas cannisters let his vehicle through, but most of his supporters were turned away.
Speaking to the BBC when the convoy was stationary, Mr Khan said that the authorities were trying to put him in prison to keep him out of the general election race later this year. "I won't be able to campaign - that's the whole thing," he said.
Earlier this week he told the BBC: "Whether I am in jail or not they will not be able to stop my party winning."
Police raided Mr Khan's Lahore home while he was on his way to Islamabad
In a sign of the deep divisions within Pakistani politics, the current Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif tweeted that Mr Khan's "antics of the last few days" had "laid bare his fascist and militant tendencies" and accused him of using supporters as "human shields".
Earlier in the week Lahore police tried to arrest Mr Khan after he missed a hearing, and officers clashed with supporters outside his home. On Friday, the court granted Mr Khan protection against arrest on the assurance that he would appear in court on Saturday.
On Saturday Lahore police used a digger to gain entry to Mr Khan's residence in an operation involving nearly 1,000 security personnel, according to local media. Police later said they had arrested Khan supporters who had been involved in violence against police earlier in the week, including for throwing petrol bombs.
The Punjab police chief said some officers would remain outside Mr Khan's residence.
Mr Khan was ousted as prime minister last April in a no-confidence vote but has kept up pressure on his successor Mr Sharif with demonstrations and speeches calling for elections due later this year to be held early.
He blames Mr Sharif for an assassination attempt at a rally in November in which he was wounded in the leg. Authorities have rejected the accusation.
Mr Khan faces multiple court cases, including terrorism charges. He has cited a variety of reasons - including security concerns and injury from the assassination attempt in November - for not showing up to hearings. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-64998922 |
Nicola Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell gave £100,000 loan to SNP - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The party said its chief executive Peter Murrell made a personal contribution to help it with cash flow after the election. | Scotland politics | Nicola Sturgeon is the leader of the SNP while her husband Peter Murrell is its chief executive
Nicola Sturgeon's husband gave a loan of more than £100,000 to the SNP to help it out with a "cash flow" issue after the last election.
Peter Murrell, the SNP's chief executive, loaned the party £107,620 in June 2021.
The SNP had repaid about half of the money by October of that year.
An SNP spokesman said the loan was a "personal contribution made by the chief executive to assist with cash flow after the Holyrood election".
He said it had been reported in the party's 2021 accounts, which were published by the Electoral Commission in August.
The spokesman added: "The nature of this transaction was initially not thought to give rise to a reporting obligation.
"However, as it had been recorded in the party's 2021 accounts as a loan, it was accordingly then reported to the Electoral Commission as a regulated transaction."
Electoral Commission records of the loan say that no interest was being charged by Mr Murrell, and that a total of £47,620 was repaid in two instalments in August and October of last year.
The loan was first reported by the Wings Over Scotland website.
Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said it was "beyond odd for the SNP chief executive - and Nicola Sturgeon's husband - to be lending his employer a six-figure sum of money".
Scottish Labour MSP Neil Bibby claimed that the SNP operated "under a veil of secrecy" and called for greater transparency "about the dealings going on in the party of government".
The SNP spent nearly £1.5m in its campaign for the Holyrood election, which was held in May last year.
Its annual accounts showed that its total income was £4.5m in 2021, of which, it said, 85% came from voluntary contributions by supporters and members. Some £740,000 was raised through "independence related appeals", the accounts stated.
However, the party has spent a total of £5,259,805, meaning it made a loss of about £750,000 over the year. It had about £145,000 in cash at the end of the year, and reserves of £610,000.
SNP MP Douglas Chapman quit as the party's treasurer shortly after the election, claiming that he was not given enough information about its finances to do his job. Three other members of the SNP's finance committee also resigned.
Mr Chapman's decision to stand down was understood to be linked to a row about the use of £600,000 which was raised by activists who were told it would be ringfenced for a second independence referendum.
Police Scotland recently confirmed that its investigation into what happened to the money was ongoing. The party has denied any wrongdoing. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-63973961 |
Comic Relief raises over £34m with The Traitors and Eurovision sketches - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | This year's event will support people struggling with the cost of living crisis and food poverty. | Entertainment & Arts | Dawn French brought a twist to The Traitors during the fundraiser
The annual Comic Relief fundraiser, which featured sketches based on the show The Traitors and Eurovision, has raised over £34m.
Dame Mary Berry, Danny Dyer and Jamie Dornan made appearances on the show.
The money raised during the event was announced live by hosts Paddy McGuiness, David Tennant and Zoe Ball.
This year's fundraising effort will support people struggling with the cost of living crisis, food poverty, mental health problems and homelessness.
Comic Relief was founded by Sir Lenny Henry and Richard Curtis in 1985 with the aim to put an end to child poverty in the UK and around the world.
For the first time since the programme was first launched, Sir Lenny was not there but he appeared in a pre-recorded appeal to help starving communities in the African continent.
Following a montage of clips from his past visits to the continent with the charity, Sir Lenny said: "But I think what I said then, still rings true to me now. Forget geography. These are your neighbours".
During the opening credits, the co-founder regenerated into Doctor Who star Tennant who said: "For the first time in Comic Relief's history, we are flying without our captain, Sir Lenny Henry."
Singer Zara Larsson performing during the Red Nose Day night of TV for Comic Relief
The 2023 show, hosted at Salford's Media City, also included AJ Odudu, Joel Dommett and Paddy McGuinness as presenters.
Performances from Zara Larsson and Tom Grennan came live from Salford.
Celebrities began fundraising ahead of Friday night's live show, with Radio 1's Arielle Free taking part in a cycling challenge and BBC Morning Live's Gethin Jones dancing for 24 hours.
Arielle Free joined by Jordan North and Vick Hope at the finish line
The live TV event also included a video appeal from the Prince of Wales, in which he met homeless people helped by Comic Relief.
Prince William said his mother would be "disappointed" to see that the UK is still no further along the line in terms of tackling homelessness, and preventing it from happening.
There was also a parody sketch of The Traitors, featuring real contestants Maddy and Wilf, alongside Dame Mary Berry and Danny Dyer.
Comedians Jennifer Saunders, Stephen Merchant and Rosie Jones featured in the sketch, with a twist as Dawn French took on Claudia Winkleman's host role.
Elsewhere on the show there was an appearance from Kylie Minogue, whilst Blackadder star Sir Tony Robinson read a bedtime story as the character Baldrick.
Sir Tony Robinson returned as the character of Baldrick to read a bedtime story
Graham Norton, Lulu and last year's UK Eurovision entrant Sam Ryder paid homage to the European music contest, by playing a mock judging panel looking for the next UK star to enter the competition.
Auditions came from Jamie Dornan who had "lost his voice" and held up big cards with the words to Adele's Someone Like You and comedian Miranda Hart who sang and danced to Hero by Mariah Carey.
David Walliams also auditioned by singing Eye of the Tiger by Survivor and hit his own "golden buzzer", while TV chef Gordan Ramsey tried to impress the judging panel by playing the recorder.
Eurovision fans got another treat though as during the fundraiser, two tickets for the Liverpool final were given away on the show by Eurovision presenters Scott Mills and Rylan Clark.
The cast of Mrs Doubtfire The Musical also delivered their first UK performance of Make Me A Woman from the new stage show.
A sketch which saw the UK's 'most serious people' telling jokes also saw appearances from news broadcasters Clive Myrie, Kay Burley, Huw Edwards and Naga Munchetty as well as Susanna Reid, Piers Morgan and Richard Madeley.
This year's Red Nose was designed by Sir Jony Ive, who is best known for being a designer for Apple.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original tweet on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Comic Relief This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Sir Jony said: 'We've grown up with Comic Relief and are proud to support their remarkable work.
'This new and seemingly simple Red Nose has been a fabulously complex little object to design and make and has involved our entire team. We hope it brings a little moment of joy to everyone who wears one.'
It is made from plant-based materials and is available to buy from the Comic Relief website or Amazon.
At the end of the broadcast on Friday night, the hosts announced the show had raised £31,952,141 and that total was updated overnight to £34.1m.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original tweet on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by BBC Radio 1 This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64989732 |
Cost of living: Unpaid carers going without basics - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Unpaid carers say increased financial pressures mean they are unable to buy basic essential items. | Wales | Tegan (far left) helps to care for disabled family members
Unpaid carers say increased financial pressures mean they are unable to buy even basic essential items and feel forgotten by those in power.
A young carer who supports three disabled adults said her family could not afford haircuts and underwear.
Those who care for someone for at least 35 hours a week can claim £69.70 a week but do not get paid extra for caring for more than one person.
The Welsh government said it valued unpaid carers.
Tegan and her aunt Scarlett, who she helps to care for
Tegan Godden, 19, from Newport, lives with her grandparents, her two uncles, her aunt and her brother.
Her grandmother is the primary carer for three disabled family members - Tegan's grandfather, one of her uncles and her aunt.
Tegan supports her grandmother by taking her relatives for days out or to hospital appointments, giving medication, washing her aunt and helping around the house, all while running her own cake and hot food business full time.
Tegan said her family struggled financially - her grandmother's caring responsibilities mean she is unable to work and she can only claim Carer's Allowance for one person she cares for.
"With the number of mouths she has to feed it's really hard," said Tegan.
Tegan's grandmother is the primary carer for three adults
She said she believed her grandmother often skipped meals and she often witnessed her going without other essentials.
"I see my nan not even being able to buy socks or pants, walking around the house with holes in her socks," she said.
"It's really upsetting seeing what she has to go through.... she's so selfless. It's upsetting a lot of the time for us."
Tegan as a child (far right) with her grandmother, brother and aunt
Tegan wants to see people like her grandmother paid for the work they do.
"If she went out and worked as a carer for other people, she'd be paid by the hour or by the day," she said.
The family try to make ends meet by cooking in bulk and sticking rigidly to shopping lists, Tegan said.
"Everything's gone up in price and the government expects people to eat healthy and eat nutritious meals but the cheapest food in the supermarkets is the most unhealthy that you could buy," she said.
"We try to keep as healthy as we possibly can but it's just the biggest struggle, we just pick meals that we're able to afford."
She said another struggle was the cost of energy.
The family live in a specially adapted council house where two three-bedroom properties have been knocked into one, making it expensive to heat.
The family also uses lots of electric equipment for her aunt, such as a blender for her meals, her mobility bed and feeding pump which pushes their bills up further.
In a recent UK-wide survey of 1,109 young carers by Carers Trust, 56% of respondents said the cost-of-living crisis was always or usually hitting them and their family.
Non-profit organisation Carers UK has said unpaid carers are facing unprecedented financial difficulties because of the UK's current cost of living crisis.
It said without urgent support from government it was "extremely worried that many will simply be unable to cope".
"We don't want charity," said Tegan.
"We don't want to be treated any differently or pitied on but I think there's so many other families like us who are struggling and need support and just don't have it."
Shaun cared for his mother Sheila (pictured) before she died with dementia and he now cares for his father
Shaun Moore, 60, from Blackwood in Caerphilly county has been an unpaid carer for four years after leaving his job to care for his mother who had dementia.
His mother died two years ago and weeks later his father had a stroke. Shaun now cares for his father full time.
"I've got to do everything for Dad," he said.
"Your life stops dead in its tracks.
"I'm not blaming my father or my mother for that because it's my duty to look after them, the same as they would do for me ."
Shaun as a child with his mum and brother
Shaun said it was very difficult to have any kind of life outside of caring for his father.
"You can't go anywhere, and you can't do nothing [sic]," he said.
"I can't go out with friends for a night out and have a pint because I know for a fact I've got to keep my wits about me. If I have a phone call I would have to get back home straight away.
"Mentally it's draining. I have about one hour a night sleep - Dad wants to go to the toilet five, six, seven, eight times a night.
"We don't moan about it because we have to do it but it strips you of everything."
Shaun's father has two carers who call to see him for 15 minutes in the morning and again in the evening.
He claims £69.70 a week in Carer's Allowance and £576 in Universal Credit a month out of which he pays £420 rent as well as all his other outgoings such as running his car, food and all his bills.
"We are the forgotten," he said of himself and other unpaid carers.
"What would the government do if carers like myself - not that we would - but if we turned around and said 'we can't do this anymore. You're going to have to take all our parents and loved ones into care, we're not doing it'," he said.
"They couldn't cover it. They haven't got enough places to put people and they haven't got enough carers. It would be pandemonium."
Shaun wants unpaid carers to be given a wage
He believes people like himself are "saving the government thousands of pounds".
"It's not fair," he said.
He wants to see an increase to the benefits unpaid carers are able claim and would like to be taken off benefits and paid a wage for the care he gives.
"I'm not saying I want thousands, but I could do without a little bit extra to make life a little bit easier, so I wouldn't have to struggle," he said.
Alan Wilson, 78, from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, has cared for his wife Coral, 79, for almost 40 years.
Coral was diagnosed with sensory neuropathy in her mid-40s and in the past four years she has had two strokes and a bleed to the brain and now needs 24/7 care.
"It is the lack of support and the feeling of isolation," he said.
"I feel constantly tired and I fear what the future holds for Coral.
"If I was to be taken ill how would Coral manage? That is my major concern."
Alan gets 12 hours a week respite which he uses to shop, go to appointments or sleep.
"Without that I'd really struggle," he said.
Alan receives his state pension and a private work pension which means he is unable to claim Carer's Allowance.
Those who care for someone but earn more than £128 a week or receive other benefits such as a state pension are not entitled to Carer's Allowance.
"I feel a bit aggrieved about it," he said.
"When I was working I paid 12% of my pay into the private pension.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to care for my wife but if she was in a nursing home you're looking at £1,500 a week and I think the carers are saving the government millions if not billions every year."
A Welsh government spokesperson said: "We identify and value unpaid carers and are committed to helping carers access the support they are entitled to.
"Our national Carers Delivery plan sets out how we will meet this commitment. We are working with our partners to help more carers access advice and support, including their right to a carer's needs assessment.
"We have listened to unpaid carers' calls for help with respite and are investing £9m into a new Short Breaks Scheme. Our £4.5m Carers Support Fund has also helped thousands of carers access financial support and services."
A UK government spokesperson said: "We know families caring for those with disabilities face extra costs, which is why we are increasing disability benefits in line with inflation, making an extra £150 disability support payment as well as £900 cost of living help for those on means-tested benefits and saving households around £1,300 on energy bills this winter."
Tegan, Shaun and Alan first spoke to spoke to Dot Davies on BBC Radio Wales | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64951275 |
Calls for SNP chief executive Peter Murrell to resign - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The majority of the SNP's national executive committee are prepared to support a motion of no confidence, the BBC understands. | Scotland politics | The SNP's ruling body has called for Peter Murrell to stand down from his role as the party's chief executive
A group of members of the SNP's ruling body is trying to oust the party's chief executive, Peter Murrell.
A source on the national executive committee told the BBC Nicola Sturgeon's husband was a "hindrance".
A majority of members are prepared to support a motion of no confidence in Mr Murrell if he does not stand down.
It comes after a week of chaos in the SNP, which saw two leadership candidates question the independence of the election process.
One source on the committee told the BBC: "Peter's time has come. There's a really strong feeling among a number of NEC members that he is now a hindrance and damaging the party and it would be wise for him to announce a date for his departure".
The party was also forced to confirm a massive drop in its membership numbers, a situation the party had previously denied.
That prompted the resignation of the SNP's head of media at Holyrood, Murray Foote, who said there were "serious issues" with statements he had issued in "good faith" on behalf of party headquarters.
The NEC source said Mr Foote had been "thrown under the bus" by Peter Murrell who is the husband of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
A second member of the committee said there were no circumstances in which Mr Murrell could continue as party chief executive.
A third member of the committee indicated that the situation was moving fast and that there could be developments later in the day.
Peter Murrell has been approached for comment. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65000274 |
Hunter Biden sues repairman over release of personal data from laptop - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The US president's embattled son is under renewed scrutiny from Republicans in Congress. | US & Canada | The US president's embattled son is under renewed scrutiny from Republicans in Congress.
Hunter Biden, the US president's embattled son, is suing a Delaware computer repair shop owner over the handling of his private laptop.
Mr Biden and his attorneys allege John Paul Mac Isaac illegally copied and distributed private information from the laptop's hard drive.
That personal data was used by Republicans to attack Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election.
Mr Isaac argues the laptop became his property when it was abandoned.
In a suit he filed last year, Mr Isaac accused Hunter Biden, the Biden 2020 campaign, a Democratic congressman and two US media outlets of defaming him by claiming he illegally accessed the data.
Hunter Biden's counterclaim, filed on Friday in a Delaware district court, claims Mr Isaac gave away his data to "political enemies" because he opposed his father's candidacy.
The document alleges that the repairman sent copies of the hard drive to his father in New Mexico and to a lawyer who worked with Mr Trump's then-personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
Mr Giuliani and other allies of Mr Trump, including Steve Bannon, would later gain access to some of the data.
"Mac Isaac intended and knew, or clearly should have known, that people to whom he provided the data that he believed to belong to Mr Biden would use it against then-candidate Joseph Biden and to assist then-President Trump," the filing reads.
It adds that disseminating private data in this manner "is offensive and objectionable to Mr Biden, and would be highly offensive and objectionable to any reasonable person".
The laptop's existence was first brought to the public's attention by the conservative-leaning New York Post less than one month before the 2020 election.
The Post alleged that emails found on its hard drive suggested Mr Biden's business dealings abroad were influencing US foreign policy while his father was vice-president.
The president and his family have denied any wrongdoing in overseas business dealings.
Donald Trump and Republican Party operatives seized on it as a campaign issue, saying it was evidence of alleged nepotism and corruption in the Biden family.
The Biden campaign said at the time that the leaked data might have been linked to a Russian disinformation campaign to influence the election, but it provided no evidence for the claim.
More material from the laptop has since been released, painting a sordid picture of the younger Biden. They include texts and financial records related to his overseas business dealings in China and Ukraine, as well as provocative photos and videos of him having sex and doing drugs.
Often referenced in conservative US media as the "laptop from hell", the computer itself is now in the FBI's possession.
The agency has been investigating the president's son since 2018 over his tax payments related to foreign business dealings. Federal officials are also probing whether he lied about his prior drug use on a gun application form in 2018.
Hunter Biden, 53, and his attorneys have shifted their strategy in recent weeks as a new Republican majority in the US House of Representatives vows to step up scrutiny of the Biden family.
On Thursday, House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer alleged that Hunter Biden and at least two relatives received more than $1m in funds from a Chinese energy company. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64991918 |
Caerphilly: Woman dies and man critical after van crash - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A woman has died and a man is in a critical condition after a crash involving a van in Caerphilly. | Wales | The collision happened outside The Station Inn pub on Nantgarw Road in Caerphilly
A 67-year-old woman has died and a 58-year-old man is in a critical condition after a crash involving a van.
The collision with two pedestrians happened on Nantgarw Road, Caerphilly, on Friday at around 19:50 GMT.
A 48-year-old man from Caerphilly was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, serious injury by dangerous driving, drink-driving and drug-driving.
He remains in police custody and is being questioned.
Gwent Police, which is appealing for witnesses, said specialist officers are supporting the family of the dead woman. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65002832 |
Heathrow security to strike for 10 days including Easter - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The airport says contingency plans will be in place when 1,400 guards walk out in a pay dispute. | UK | Security guards at Heathrow Airport's Terminal Five are to strike for 10 days from 31 March in a dispute over pay.
The Unite union says more than 1,400 of its members employed by Heathrow will walk out in a period which covers the school Easter holidays.
Workers at T5, used by British Airways and those who check cargo entering the airport, will take part in the action, ending on Easter Sunday.
Heathrow says contingency plans will be put in place to keep the airport open.
In a statement, Heathrow said passengers can be assured the airport will be "open and operational despite unnecessary threats of strike action by Unite".
The company said it had proposed "an inflation-beating 10% increase in pay".
But Unite says the offer does not make up for years of pay freezes and cuts.
Unite union secretary general Sharon Graham says workers at Heathrow Airport are on "poverty wages" while "the chief executive and senior managers enjoy huge salaries".
She said Unite members are "simply unable to make ends meet due to the low wages" and they are striking "due to need not greed".
"It is the airport's workers who are fundamental to its success and they deserve a fair pay increase," the Unite boss said.
It comes as more than 1,000 Passport Office workers announced they would go on strike for five weeks over a dispute about jobs, pay and conditions.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services union working across England, Scotland and Wales will walk out from 3 April to 5 May.
Meanwhile, those working in Belfast will strike from 7 April to 5 May.
The union warned of delays to applications and the delivery of passports in the run-up to summer, adding that the strike action was being targeted to cause mass disruption.
According to travel expert Simon Calder, at peak times - which includes April - the Passport Office can receive 250,000 applications per week. It means that more than one million applications could be sent during the strike period.
News of the strike has given rise to fears passports will not be processed in time for some people's holidays this summer.
The Home Office said it was disappointed with PCS's decision to walk out, adding that the strike does not affect its guidance which is still to allow up to 10 weeks to get a passport, with preparations under way to meet demand.
When the strike takes place at Heathrow T5 from 31 March, the airport will likely need to move resources from other areas.
The airport says the wage proposal on offer is fair, and "threatening to ruin people's hard-earned holidays with strike action will not improve the deal".
It said staff at Heathrow are paid at least the London Living Wage, while the starting salary for a security officer would be £27,754, plus shift pay and allowances, if its 10% offer is accepted. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64994967 |
Putin arrest warrant: Biden welcomes ICC's war crimes charges - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The International Criminal Court accuses the Russian leader of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. | Europe | Vladimir Putin could now be arrested if he sets foot in one of the ICC's more than 120 member states
US President Joe Biden has welcomed the International Criminal Court's issuing of an arrest warrant against his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
The ICC accused President Putin of committing war crimes in Ukraine - something President Biden said the Russian leader had "clearly" done.
The claims focus on the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia since Moscow's invasion in 2022.
Moscow has denied the allegations and denounced the warrants as "outrageous".
It is highly unlikely that much will come of the move, as the ICC has no powers to arrest suspects without the co-operation of a country's government.
Russia is not an ICC member country, meaning the court, located in The Hague, has no authority there.
However, it could affect Mr Putin in other ways, such as being unable to travel internationally. He could now be arrested if he sets foot in any of the court's 123 member states.
Mr Putin is only the third president to be issued with an ICC arrest warrant.
President Biden said that, while the court also held no sway in the US, the issuing of the warrant "makes a very strong point".
His administration had earlier "formally determined" that Russia had committed war crimes during the conflict in Ukraine, with Vice-President Kamala Harris saying in February that those involved would "be held to account".
The United Nations also released a report earlier this week that found Moscow's forced removal of Ukrainian children to areas under its control amounted to a war crime.
In a statement on Friday, the ICC said it had reasonable grounds to believe Mr Putin committed the criminal acts directly, as well as working with others. It also accused him of failing to use his presidential powers to stop children being deported.
Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, is also wanted by the ICC for the same crimes.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has said the warrants were "based upon forensic evidence, scrutiny and what's been said by those two individuals".
The court had initially considered keeping the arrest warrants a secret, but decided to make them public to try and stop further crimes being committed.
"Children can't be treated as the spoils of war, they can't be deported," Mr Khan told the BBC.
"This type of crime doesn't need one to be a lawyer, one needs to be a human being to know how egregious it is."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: Can Vladimir Putin actually be arrested?
Mr Khan also pointed out that nobody thought that Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian leader who went on trial for war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, would end up in The Hague to face justice.
"Those that feel that you can commit a crime in the daytime, and sleep well at night, should perhaps look at history," Mr Khan said.
Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, who led the prosecution in the trial of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, said the warrant would change how foreign leaders view Mr Putin.
"He will remain an alleged criminal until and unless he submits himself for trial, or is handed over for trial and acquitted. That seems extremely unlikely, so he will remain an alleged criminal until the end of his life," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any of the court's decisions were "null and void" and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev compared the warrant to toilet paper.
Russian opposition activists have welcomed the announcement. Ivan Zhdanov, a close ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has tweeted that it was "a symbolic step" but an important one.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his thanks to Mr Khan and the ICC for their decision to press charges against "state evil". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64998165 |
Cambridge University college to examine its slavery legacy - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Trinity College says a new role will consider ways the college may have gained from slavery. | Cambridgeshire | Trinity College has pledged to donate £1m over five years to Cambridge Caribbean Scholarships
A Cambridge University college is to appoint an academic to a four-year post to examine its legacies of slavery.
Trinity College said its new Legacies of Slavery Research and Teaching Fellow would consider the ways in which the college might have gained from slavery.
This could be through fees and bequests from students and alumni or from investments by the college.
The fellow, to be appointed in October, will also explore any contributions by Trinity members who opposed slavery.
Isuri Ratnayake, ethnic and inclusion officer of Trinity's Graduate Society, said: "Examining and acknowledging the college's legacies of slavery is crucial in cultivating a culture of accountability and inclusivity.
"Only by facing our past can we pave the way towards a more equitable future, where all members of our community can thrive free from the shadows of oppression and discrimination.
"I hope that other institutions along with Trinity continue in recognising their historical ties to slavery and taking tangible steps towards repair and reconciliation."
Dr Michael Banner, Dean and Fellow of Trinity, said it was a "welcome initiative" and "essential to enabling us to comprehend the extent to which the college was involved or benefited from slavery, whether directly or indirectly".
"This research will enable debate and discussion from a wide range of perspectives, both within the college community and with the wider public," he said.
It comes after Cambridge University's 2019-2022 Legacies of Slavery Inquiry.
Recommendations were made for the establishment of a research centre at Cambridge and for funding for new partnerships in Africa and the Caribbean, including Cambridge Caribbean Scholarships.
Trinity College has pledged to donate £1m over five years to Cambridge Caribbean Scholarships, enabling up to three Masters' students per year from the Caribbean to study at Cambridge.
Two PhD studentships will also be available during the five-year initiative, which begins in October.
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-64995973 |
Menindee: Millions of dead fish wash up near Australian town - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | "Just imagine leaving a fish in your kitchen to rot" said one resident, describing the smell. | Australia | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Residents in a regional Australian town have woken to find millions of dead fish in their river.
The large-scale fish deaths were first reported on Friday morning in the New South Wales' (NSW) town of Menindee.
The state's river authority said it was a result of an ongoing heatwave affecting the Darling-Baaka river.
Locals say it is the largest fish death event to hit the town, which experienced another significant mass death of fish just three years ago.
In a Facebook post, the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) said the heatwave put "further stress on a system that has experienced extreme conditions from wide-scale flooding".
Heatwaves have become more frequent, more intense, and last longer because of human-induced climate change. The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.
"There's about 30 kilometres of dead fish," local resident Graeme McCrabb told the BBC
Speaking to the BBC, Menindee resident Graeme McCrabb described the deaths as "surreal".
"It'll probably be a bit more confronting today," he said, as he warned that locals were anticipating that even more fish would die as the already decomposing fish sucked more oxygen from the water.
Around 500 people live in the town in far-west New South Wales. The Darling-Baaka river is a part of the Murray Darling Basin, Australia's largest river system.
The NSW DPI also said that the fish deaths were "distressing to the local community", a sentiment echoed by Mr McCrabb.
"You can just imagine leaving a fish in your kitchen to rot with all the doors shut and no air conditioner, and we've got millions of them."
The temperature in Menindee was expected to reach 41C on Saturday.
He added that locals in the regional town rely on the Darling-Baaka for water supplies, "we use the river water for washing and showering in so people won't be able to use that water for those basic needs again," he said.
"Over time those people won't be able to access that water for domestic use which is just shameful".
This week's fish deaths throws a light on the troubles facing the Murray Darling Basin. Drought and increased human use has impacted the health of the Murray Darling ecosystem.
The Murray Darling Basin authority said agriculture, industries and communities have used water from the river system which has resulted in less water flowing through the river.
It also said the Basin is prone to extreme weather events and has a highly variable climate that makes it vulnerable to both fires and droughts.
In 2012, a plan worth A$13bn (£8.45bn at the time) was implemented to try and stop the river from drying up and returning it to a healthier level.
The NSW DPI said it will work with federal agencies to respond to the latest incident, and to find the underlying causes of the deaths. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-64992726 |
George Floyd killer Derek Chauvin convicted of tax fraud - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The disgraced former policeman and his now-ex-wife lied about their taxable income between 2014 and 2019. | US & Canada | Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and his now-ex-wife underreported their taxable income from 2014 to 2019
Ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is serving a 22-year sentence for killing George Floyd, has pleaded guilty to tax fraud.
He admitted to two counts of aiding and abetting tax fraud, after he and his now ex-wife underreported their taxable income between 2014-19.
Chauvin was sentenced to 13 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.
The May 2020 killing of Floyd, an unarmed black man, led to mass protests around the United States.
Chauvin and his ex-wife, Kellie May Chauvin, were charged with tax crimes shortly after Floyd's killing.
She pleaded guilty to the same charges last month, and is expected to be sentenced to community service at a hearing in May.
The disgraced ex-officer entered his plea on Friday in a virtual hearing from a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona.
Chauvin worked part-time security jobs that were separate from his work as a police officer, and failed to report to tax officials over $95,000 (£78,000) in cash payments that he received for the work.
Kellie Chauvin, who filed for divorce after murder charges were announced, worked as a real estate agent and ran a photo business.
The charges cover a time period when they were married and filing taxes jointly.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper, officials began to suspect tax fraud after interviews with Chauvin's father, an accountant who prepared his 2014-15 taxes.
One day after tax documents were taken from Chauvin's home by detectives, Kellie Chauvin called her husband in jail to say that investigators were looking into their tax returns.
Chauvin suggested they get help from the person "who we have used to handle for many years", the newspaper reports.
She responded: "Yeah, well we don't want to get your dad involved because he will just be mad at me, I mean us for not doing them for years."
The probe uncovered that the Chauvins did not report their entire income in 2014 and 2015, and did not file tax returns at all in 2016, 2017, or 2018.
The couple ultimately failed to pay more than $20,000 and have been ordered to pay state tax officials nearly $38,000 in restitution.
Friday's sentence will run concurrently with the murder conviction, as well as Chauvin's later 20-year sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights during the murder. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64996161 |
John Caldwell: Man, 23, released over Omagh shooting claim - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The 23-year-old was in custody over a claim of responsibility for shooting Det Ch Insp John Caldwell. | Northern Ireland | John Caldwell is a senior detectives in the Police Service of Northern Ireland
A 23-year-old man has been released after he was questioned about a claim of responsibility made for the shooting of one of Northern Ireland's top detectives.
Det Ch Insp John Caldwell suffered life-changing injuries after he was shot in front of his young son in Omagh on 22 February.
The man was arrested after the search of a property in Londonderry.
He was taken to Musgrave Police Station in Belfast for questioning.
An admission of responsibility for the shooting was made in a typed statement taped to a wall beside shops in the Creggan estate in Derry.
Police believe the dissident republican group the New IRA was behind the attack. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-65000786 |
Meta rolls out paid verification for Facebook, Instagram in US - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Facebook used to be free, but now you'll pay to be who you say you are. | Technology | Meta has rolled out its paid verification in the US
Facebook parent company Meta has rolled out a paid verification service in the United States.
Similar to Elon Musk's Twitter Blue service, Meta Verified will grant users a blue tick for $14.99 (£12) per month on iOS and Android devices, or $11.99 (£10) per month on the website.
The service will be available on Instagram and Facebook.
The new feature comes after Meta's announcement earlier this week that it would lay off 10,000 employees.
Meta Verified subscribers must be at least 18 years old and will need to submit a government ID in exchange for impersonation protection, direct access to customer service, and their blue tick.
In November Twitter announced a verification process, which it quickly jettisoned after the blue tick system was used to impersonate politicians and celebrities.
The company relaunched Twitter Blue several weeks later with different coloured ticks for individuals, companies, and governments.
Meta Verified is launching in the US after two months of testing Meta Verified in Australia and New Zealand.
For nearly two decades Facebook has been free. It's relied on advertising revenue, which makes up the vast majority of the company's revenue.
As advertising revenue continues to decline, Meta is looking for different revenue streams.
Other Silicon Valley social networks Snap, Telegram and Twitter have also launched paid verification as a way to generate revenue outside of advertising.
A paid verification service marks a step away from the well-known quote about Facebook: "If the product is free, then you are the product". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-64996934 |
Match of the Day: 'Great to be here', says Lineker as he makes TV return - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Lineker hosts BBC sports coverage for first time after being taken off air in an impartiality row. | UK | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Gary Lineker says "it's great to be here" as he returns to present BBC football following suspension
Gary Lineker has returned to presenting BBC football coverage for the first time since last week's impartiality row, saying it is "great to be here".
Pundit Alan Shearer said it had been a "really difficult situation for everyone concerned" as he welcomed Lineker back.
"It's good to get back to some sort of normality," he added.
Lineker was taken off air following a critical tweet on the government's asylum policy.
Last Saturday's Match of the Day was broadcast without presenters or commentary and was only 20 minutes long after many of Lineker's BBC Sport colleagues, including Shearer, walked out in "solidarity".
On Monday the BBC said it would launch an independent review of its social media guidelines, particularly for freelancers like Lineker, 62 - but he could return in the meantime.
At the start of the BBC's live coverage of Manchester City v Burnley in the FA Cup on Saturday, Shearer said: "I just need to clear up and wanted to say how upset we were [to] all the audiences who missed out on last weekend.
"It was a really difficult situation for everyone concerned, and through no fault of their own some really great people in TV and in radio were put in an impossible situation.
"That wasn't fair. So it's good to get back to some sort of normality and be talking about football again."
On Twitter, Lineker quashed any rumours and said Match of the Day on Saturday "was always" going to be presented by broadcaster Mark Chapman.
"For those who missed it and are asking, I presented the Match of the Day's live FA Cup game earlier this evening", he said.
Earlier, he tweeted a picture of himself on set at the Etihad Stadium and wrote: "Ah the joys of being allowed to stick to football."
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In another tweet, he posted a picture of pundits and ex-England footballers Shearer and Micah Richards calling them "teammates".
The BBC confirmed it had asked Lineker to step back from his TV duties in a statement last week, after Lineker described the asylum policy as an "immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s".
His agent Jon Holmes wrote that the former England striker thought he had permission to voice an opinion on such matters.
"Gary takes a passionate interest in refugees and immigration and, as he saw it, had a special agreement with Tim Davie, the BBC's director general, to tweet about these issues," Jon Holmes wrote in the New Statesman.
Mr Davie has said he is committed to looking at how the corporation's impartiality guidelines apply to freelance staff, acknowledging there are "grey areas".
He apologised for what he acknowledged had been "a difficult period" for staff, presenters and audiences - and described the BBC's commitment to freedom of expression and impartiality as a "difficult balancing act".
He also denied his deal to get the presenter back on air was a "climbdown", telling BBC News: "I've always said we needed to take proportionate action."
After the official BBC statement statement was published, Lineker tweeted: "I have been presenting sport on the BBC for almost three decades and am immeasurably proud to work with the best and fairest broadcaster in the world. I cannot wait to get back in the MOTD chair on Saturday." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65003113 |
Abortion pills banned in Wyoming as Texas judge considers nationwide decision - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The ban comes as a Texas judge considers revoking nationwide approval of a common abortion pill. | US & Canada | Wyoming has become the first US state to ban abortion pills after its governor signed a bill that made prescribing or selling them illegal.
Violating it is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $9,000 fine.
Women "upon whom a chemical abortion is performed or attempted" will not be prosecuted.
As Mark Gordon signed the bill on Friday, a Texas judge was considering a lawsuit that could effectively ban a common abortion pill nationwide.
Abortion pills are the most common method of pregnancy termination in the US.
The Wyoming bill, which was passed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature earlier this month, makes it illegal to "prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion".
The law is scheduled to take effect on 1 July.
It does not cover morning-after pills or treatment to protect a woman whose health or life is in danger.
It also exempts treatment of a "natural miscarriage according to currently accepted medical guidelines".
Wyoming American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) advocacy director Antonio Serrano criticised the bill, saying "a person's health, not politics, should guide important medical decisions - including the decision to have an abortion".
Wyoming only has one clinic that provides abortions - the Women's Health & Family Care Clinic in Jackson.
The state is one of many in which legal fights over abortion bans are ongoing after the Supreme Court reversed the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade judgement legalising abortion.
More than a dozen states have enacted near-total bans on abortions, several of which have been put on hold by the courts.
Mr Gordon, who is a Republican, also said he would allow a separate, wider bill that bans abortion except in limited circumstances to become law on Sunday without his signature. Both this ban and the ban on abortion pills could face challenges in the courts. It is not clear when a wider ban would come into force.
Even more states have placed restrictions on abortion medication, such as requiring an in-person visit to a doctor before obtaining a pill.
Meanwhile in Texas, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, is expected to rule imminently on whether a commonly used abortion pill, mifepristone, should be sold in the US, in a ruling that could curtail access to the drug nationwide.
Mifepristone can be taken at home and is used in more than half of US pregnancy terminations.
The judge is set to rule on a lawsuit filed by an anti-abortion group in Texas arguing that the drug's safety was never properly studied by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which approves medicines.
President Joe Biden's administration has argued that mifepristone's approval was well supported by science. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64998920 |
Six Nations 2023: Ireland 29-16 England - Irish seal Grand Slam in Dublin - BBC Sport | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | null | Ireland win their fourth Grand Slam as they wear down 14-man England in a tense Six Nations finale in Dublin. | null | Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Ireland won their fourth Grand Slam as they wore down 14-man England in a tense Six Nations finale in Dublin.
Two early Owen Farrell penalties put England ahead before Ireland hit back with a well-worked Dan Sheehan try.
England's hopes of an upset were dashed when Freddie Steward was sent off just before half-time.
Robbie Henshaw and Rob Herring tries either side of Sheehan's second of the game ensured Ireland's first Grand Slam in five years, and first won in Dublin.
England, much improved from their humiliating defeat by France at Twickenham last week, scored a deserved second-half try through Jamie George, but were unable to pull off a major upset and ruin Ireland's big day.
Despite being tested by a resilient English side, Ireland - as they have so often done under Andy Farrell - found a way to win as they gave talismanic captain Johnny Sexton the perfect send-off in his final Six Nations match, even though his day ended early because of injury.
The full-time whistle was greeted with Irish celebrations at a jubilant Aviva Stadium as the home side delivered on their immense promise, having entered the competition as the world's number one side.
With the prospect of being confirmed as champions before kick-off ended by France's 41-28 win over Wales, the tension inside the Aviva Stadium was palpable from the start as Ireland plotted the dream finale to a memorable campaign.
But while few gave England much chance of spoiling the Irish party following their record-breaking hammering by France last week, it was the visitors who settled quicker.
Their reward was two penalties, both scored by Farrell, the second coming after Alex Dombrandt stopped Johnny Sexton from scoring with a crucial tackle at the other end.
Clearly nervous, Ireland were made to wait until the 18th minute for their first score. But it was a big one as Sexton thumped a penalty between the sticks to surpass Ronan O'Gara as the competition's record scorer.
While Sexton's record-breaking penalty settled a few nerves, Sheehan's score produced a massive roar from the Aviva crowd, the hooker crossing after a well-worked set-piece that saw Josh van der Flier breaking from a line-out maul.
With Sheehan having given Ireland a much-needed shot in the arm, things went from bad to worse for England on the cusp of half-time when Steward was sent off after colliding with Hugo Keenan.
After an Irish pass went forwards, Keenan stooped to pick up the loose ball. The on-rushing Steward turned sideways at the last moment and Keenan's head collided with the England full-back's arm, with referee Jaco Peyper ruling that the contact merited a red card.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, England refused to lie down in the second half, and moved to within a point when Farrell booted his third penalty between the posts.
But Ireland managed to regain control and exerted enough pressure to prise open holes in the English defence, with Henshaw able to slip through before Sheehan's second score seemingly put the hosts out of England's reach.
To their credit, England continued to plug away and scored their only try when George crashed over, but after the visitors' Jack Willis was sin-binned, replacement Irish hooker Herring stretched to score his first Six Nations try and complete a famous triumph for Ireland.
While England head coach Steve Borthwick can take heart that his side delivered on their promise to show more fight than they did against France, a fourth-place finish is a stark reminder of the task facing Eddie Jones' successor.
In contrast, Ireland will now approach the World Cup later this year with relish as they look to progress past the quarter-finals of rugby's quadrennial showpiece for the first time.
That is all to come. For now, Ireland can celebrate retaking their place at the top of the Six Nations.
• None Ireland have now won four Grand Slams with triumphs coming in 1948, 2009, 2018 and 2023
• None They have won five Six Nations titles with their other wins in 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2018
• None Andy Farrell's side set a new national record of eight straight Six Nations wins, surpassing the seven-game streak they set between 2004 and 2005
• None Ireland are on a national record run of 14 wins at home
Analysis - what they said
Former England captain Matt Dawson on BBC Radio 5 Live: "I'm proud of the way England fronted up but they gave away far too many penalties.
"Their ill-discipline kept giving easy ball to Ireland. A good performance by England but the focus should be on this tremendous Irish side.
"I just cannot see anyone beating the Irish. They are head and shoulders ahead.
"This Ireland team have what it takes, not just to win the Six Nations, but the World Cup as well."
Former Ireland number eight Jamie Heaslip on Radio 5 Live: "It's a great day for the Irish. They are a special group with a different mindset to the past. They are comfortable with being the number one side in the world." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/64992479 |
Kuenssberg: Sunak is now hostage to his promises on childcare and small boats - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Failure to deliver on childcare and small boats pledges could set back the progress of his first months. | UK Politics | "You can get a lot done in a week" - a snap from Rishi Sunak's oh-so-casually put-together social media feed shows him sitting on a bench, reading through his notes on the tarmac near a couple of parked-up fighter jets.
The stream of images is designed to show the world a few days of frenetic activity. Here I am with Joe Biden! Here I am at the Budget! Here I am working as hard as I can on your behalf!
During his first couple of months in charge Rishi Sunak's workaholic tendencies were applied to a set of acute and immediate problems - could he stop the turmoil in the Tory Party and the financial markets? Then, did he have a clear idea of what he wanted to get done?
He tried to answer that with his five pledges at the turn of the year. Allies say there's a "chipper mood" and a sense now he can start to focus on priorities he chooses, rather than mop up the mess of what happened before.
But here's the next challenge - can Rishi Sunak make what he has promised to voters a reality?
The Budget was, one government insider said, "all right, given we had no money". Budgets sometimes unravel in a mess in the days that follow them - remember George Osborne's "omnishambles", or Philip Hammond's breach of the Conservative manifesto on National Insurance rises that he had to ditch?
That hasn't happened this time. In fact, one former minister branded it a "snoozefest". But that doesn't mean it's trouble-free. The idea designed to catch the eye of most voters is also a massive logistical task.
Giving hard-pressed parents a lot more support sounds appealing and could make a practical difference to many voters' lives. From a purely political point of view it also has an allure for Tory HQ, because childcare was an issue where Labour was trying to make the running.
But what ministers have branded the "biggest-ever expansion on childcare" in England could be extremely hard to make happen. Nurseries have been closing in recent years, as they find it harder and harder to make childcare viable as a business.
Ministers are aware that it could be a stretch: that is why the changes are being phased in gradually. But if the promise of more gleaming nurseries, happy toddlers and less-stressed parents is not matched by reality, the government may be punished.
There's a strand of Conservative opinion uneasy with what amounts to another expensive expansion of the state.
And don't forget the big picture - the Budget pointed to the pressure on people's wallets, with living standards dropping and fears of a "lost decade". A big, expensive promise on childcare that's hard to keep doesn't erase that reality overnight.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt pledged a big increase in childcare, but nurseries have been closing
The prime minister has also piled huge amounts of political effort into ending the passage of migrants across the Channel.
The slogan, "Stop the Boats", even appears on his government lectern. This simple three-word phrase, lifted from Australia, has already become part of the political lexicon.
The home secretary has just touched down in Rwanda where she hopes to push on with efforts to have migrants who arrive in the UK sent there. Almost every time a government minister opens their mouth they mention the steps they are taking, more new laws that have just started to make their way through Parliament this week, notwithstanding the doubts expressed by some senior Conservatives, even Theresa May.
But keeping that vow to end the crossings will be extremely difficult. The courts soon have another say over the legality of sending new arrivals to Rwanda. The practicalities of where anyone detained will be housed are unclear.
Relations with France are on a much better footing with "le bromance" between Rishi Sunak and President Emmanuel Macron. But France has not signed up to a returns agreement. It is impossible to know if Rishi Sunak's promise will make very much difference.
A sceptic might suggest that ministers are aware of that, and being seen to make an effort also matters. The party's strong language on immigration also is a point of contrast with the Labour Party. Yet - just as with the big offer on free childcare - a promise made, but not kept, could be intensely damaging.
For a leader who favours under-promising and over-delivering, Rishi Sunak has set the government two very significant tasks, neither of which he can be sure of achieving. In the coming weeks, there'll be more - new measures to tackle anti-social behaviour, a push on green business, and possibly plans for local healthcare too.
The French president hailed a "moment of reconnection", but there was no deal on returning migrants across the Channel
His supporters reckon the prime minister now has his own momentum, an elusive element in politics that is hard to create. But there are banana skins that could cause the calm to slip in the coming days.
His old boss will be in front of MPs answering questions on the toxic mess of Partygate. Like it or not, Boris Johnson is a walking, talking headline-generator, who sucks up nearly all available political oxygen.
One minister told me the "'bring back Boris' brigade are more muted now", but his presence is always unpredictable and disruptive, a headache the current No 10 could do without.
More seriously, this week there is a vote on what the prime minister hailed as a genuine breakthrough, the Windsor Framework, to unpick the long-standing knot of the Northern Irish Protocol.
The Northern Irish unionists, the DUP, who have long objected to the effects the arrangements have, are yet to reveal exactly what they will do. They are not big in number, but their support - or lack of it - is fundamental to whether government can get up and running in Northern Ireland again.
For all that Rishi Sunak's allies and many Conservative MPs reckon his approach is starting to work, there's not much evidence of it in the polls, which remain stubbornly appalling for the Conservatives. But polls aren't real votes.
It's not long now until the prime minister faces the most important verdict of all and his first in the job - local elections at the ballot box in May. Then his promises, and the public's belief that he can keep them, will be put to the test for real. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65001267 |
Russia and Ukraine extend grain deal despite disagreement - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The renewed accord means exports can continue via Ukraine's Black Sea ports, but it is unclear how long for. | Europe | The UN says nearly 25 million tonnes of grain have left Ukraine under the deal
A deal allowing Ukraine to export millions of tonnes of grain through the Black Sea despite the ongoing conflict with Russia has been extended.
But it is unclear how long it will last, with Ukraine pushing for 120 days, and Russia calling for 60 days.
Russia has warned it will not allow the deal to go on longer unless sanctions against Moscow are softened.
The UN and Turkey helped broker the export agreement last July following fears of a global food crisis.
Ukraine is one of the world's top producers of grain, but its access to ports in the Black Sea was blocked by Russian warships following the invasion in February last year.
Countries that suffer with food insecurity, such as Yemen, rely heavily on these supplies.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced an agreement on extending the deal on Saturday, with hours to go before it was due to expire.
"This deal is of vital importance for the global food supply. I thank Russia and Ukraine, who didn't spare their efforts for a new extension, as well as the United Nations secretary general," he said.
But neither Mr Erdogan nor the UN clarified how long it would last. Ukraine wanted it to be extended for 120 days, but Russia said it was only willing to renew the pact for another 60 days.
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's ambassador to the UN, said on Friday that the EU, UK and US had two months to remove any sanctions targeting Russia's agricultural sector if they wanted the deal to continue.
Moscow wants Russian producers to be able to export more food and fertiliser to the rest of the world, but says Western sanctions are preventing them.
While food and fertiliser exports have not been targeted, Russia says restrictions on payments, insurers and shippers makes exports difficult.
Russia briefly withdrew from the deal in November last year, accusing Ukraine of attacking its fleet in the Crimea - but it re-joined a few days later.
According to the UN, the deal has already allowed nearly 25 million tonnes of foodstuffs from Ukraine's Black Sea ports reach global markets.
• None What is the Ukraine grain deal and is it working? | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65000324 |
Imran Khan's chaotic court summons in 60 seconds - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | null | The BBC travelled in the former prime minister's convoy as he faces charges of corruption at a court in Islamabad. | null | The former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, is answering charges of corruption, which he dismisses as politically motivated, at a court in Islamabad
A warrant for his arrest was suspended on Friday on the condition that he appear at court.
He was accompanied by armed security as he left his home in Lahore, which was raided by police after he left. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-64999864 |
RAF Scampton: Historians pen letter against WW2 airfield migrant plan - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The group is opposed to plans for RAF Scampton, former home of the Dambusters and the Red Arrows. | Lincolnshire | Historian James Holland said RAF Scampton was one of the richest places for aviation history in the country
A group of world-renowned historians have written to the government opposing plans to house asylum seekers at a historic air base.
Earlier this month, West Lindsey District Council confirmed RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire was being considered as an asylum centre by the Home Office.
The airfield was the HQ of the famous World War Two Dambusters 617 squadron.
But historian James Holland said there were other less historically important sites to house migrants.
The World War Two expert said Home Secretary Suella Braverman would have the letter, signed by "a raft of historians and broadcasters", by Monday.
A letter signed by 40 historians has urged the Home Secretary to rethink any plans to house asylum seekers at the former RAF Scampton
The station was home to the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team - the Red Arrows - and was where 617 Squadron, the Dambusters squadron, was officially formed on 23 March 1943.
The Dambusters squadron took part in raids over Germany in World War Two and breached Germany's Mohne and Eder dams.
Mr Holland said the open letter's 40 signatories included Sir Antony Beevor, Dan Snow, Sir Max Hastings and Professor David Edgerton.
He said there were "so many places around the country where asylum seekers could be housed with the kind of sensitivity and care that they absolutely need".
"But it just doesn't have to be on one of the richest places in terms of history and heritage in the country for aviation," he added.
The Red Arrows were a familiar sight in the skies around RAF Scampton for more than 20 years
The letter describes RAF Scampton as "a hub of innovation from Barnes Wallis' bouncing bombs to the low-level precision by the Dambusters".
It said the "dramatic change of use to an asylum centre" could threaten the "rich heritage" of the site.
It added the base could once again become an innovation centre for future generations of engineers if "action was taken to quickly" implement a proposed regeneration scheme for the site.
News the site could be used to house migrants emerged on 8 March when Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh said he had been told civil servants were working on plans.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "We have always been upfront about the unprecedented pressure being put on our asylum system, brought about by a significant increase in dangerous and illegal journeys into the country.
"We continue to work across government and with local authorities to look at a range of accommodation options and sites but the best way to relieve these pressures is to stop the boats in the first place."
Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-65000047 |
Mark King suspended from World Snooker Tour during betting investigation - BBC Sport | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | null | England's Mark King is suspended from the World Snooker Tour while an investigation is carried out into reports of irregular betting patterns. | null | Last updated on .From the section Snooker
England's Mark King has been suspended from the World Snooker Tour while an investigation is carried out into reports of irregular betting patterns.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is looking into reports around King's 4-0 defeat by Joe Perry at February's Welsh Open.
The WPBSA said King was barred from "attending or competing" on the tour with "immediate effect".
The 48-year-old world number 57 has the right to appeal against the decision.
"The suspension will remain in place until the conclusion of the investigation or any subsequent charges that may or may not be brought," the WPBSA added.
King turned professional in 1991 and reached a career-high world ranking of 11 in 2003, with his only ranking title coming at the Northern Ireland Open in 2016.
• None The rise and fall of the jeweller-turned-criminal: Listen to Gangster: The Story of John Palmer
• None Watch Saving Lives in Leeds on BBC iPlayer now | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/65000697 |
Novak Djokovic: World number one will not play at Miami Open after being denied entry to US - BBC Sport | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | null | World number one Novak Djokovic has failed in his bid to play at next week's Miami Open after being denied entry to the United States. | null | Last updated on .From the section Tennis
World number one Novak Djokovic has failed in his bid to play at next week's Miami Open after being denied entry to the United States.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner, 35, had applied for special permission to enter the US because he is not vaccinated against Covid-19.
The US requires international visitors to be vaccinated and proof will be required until at least 10 April.
Djokovic withdrew from the ongoing Indian Wells event for the same reason.
"Obviously, we're one of the premier tournaments in the world, we'd like to have the best players that can play," said Miami Open tournament director James Blake.
Speaking to the Tennis Channel, he added: "We did all that we could. We tried to talk to the government, but that's out of our hands. We tried, and he wasn't able to play.
"Same result that he had in Indian Wells, where I know [fellow tournament director] Tommy Haas did as much as he could. We tried to get Novak Djokovic to be allowed to get an exemption, but that wasn't able to happen.
"We'd love to have him, and he's our greatest champion, he's won six times here. Unfortunately, that's way above my pay grade."
Serbia's Djokovic missed last year's US Open because of his vaccination status.
Djokovic, who also missed last year's Australian Open and was deported from the country because of his vaccination status, has said he would skip Grand Slams rather than have a Covid-19 vaccination.
He was permitted to travel to Melbourne in January and won a record-extending 10th Australian Open title, tying Rafael Nadal's men's record of 22 Grand Slam wins.
Djokovic suffered his first defeat of the season last week when he was beaten in straight sets by Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
He is next set to play on the clay of the Monte Carlo Masters from 9 April.
• None Alerts: Get tennis news sent to your phone | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/64997434 |
Jacqueline Gold: the woman who brought sex to the High Street - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Jacqueline Gold, whose death was announced on Friday, changed the lives of women at home and at work. | Business | Jacqueline Gold famously brought the vibrator into the front rooms of middle England, helping to spark a social revolution for the prudish British.
But as the tributes that poured in after her death, at the age of 62, have highlighted, she also launched an overhaul in attitudes more broadly, inspiring a generation of women entrepreneurs and bringing sex onto the High Street.
Her insight was one shared by half of the population already - that women had sexual appetites too - and that that represented a huge untapped market. She arrived at Ann Summers, the family business, crashing through social taboos, and refashioned it after her own purpose.
"She absolutely paved the way for women to feel empowered in the bedroom and the boardroom and really brought female sexuality into the mainstream," says Lucy Litwack, chief executive of Coco de Mer, another British sex toy and lingerie retailer, that followed in Ann Summers' wake.
"[But] it was her vision and championing of women, that I found so inspiring, that I think will be her legacy," she says.
Jacqueline Gold often spoke about the initial scepticism she faced at Ann Summers, then a small chain oriented towards male customers. She suggested they reach out to women, inviting them to host Tupperware-style parties to sell lingerie and sex toys in their homes. The board took some convincing.
But she had other stories to tell too, that illustrated the hurdles she faced, as she took charge at the family firm.
Charlotte Hardie, Editor of Retail Week, where Jacqueline Gold was a guest contributor, recalls the controversial launch of an Ann Summers store in Dublin in 1999.
"It came up against a lot of criticism from religious groups," says Ms Hardie. "They did not want her to open this store and there was lots of bad PR."
There were petitions and protests. Jacqueline was even sent a bullet through the post.
But says Ms Hardie: "She hated the idea that she was going to be bullied into not opening a store, so she ploughed on regardless.
"She was hugely resilient, hugely determined, and she always did what she set out to do."
Another example: when the government said Ann Summers couldn't advertise for staff in Jobcentres, she took them to court and won.
But although she was determined, friends say she never tried to prove she was more ruthless than the men around her, or change her behaviour in an effort to fit their mould.
"She was always kind, welcoming, empathetic, she displayed all those leadership qualities that are so admired today," says Ms Hardie.
She even accepted in good humour the time at a Retail Week conference when she was waiting backstage to join a panel and a well-known chief executive from another firm assumed she was a member of staff.
"He said: 'Dear, would you mind just just getting me a glass of water?'," says Ms Hardie.
While Jacqueline was incensed at the time, she did fetch him a drink, and was able to laugh about it afterwards.
Jacqueline Gold also had huge hurdles to overcome in her private life, which she shared in her autobiography. She was sexually abused by her step-father and suffered from depression.
As an adult, she struggled to conceive, went through IVF treatment but lost her infant son Alfie at the age of eight months. Later the nanny to her daughter attempted to poison Jacqueline with screenwash.
Yet, despite these challenges, she always seemed to have a twinkle in her eye, according to her friend Jacqueline Hurst, a life coach.
"She just had this lust for life," says Ms Hurst.
She loved breaking taboos, especially the idea of the little woman at home, cooking, without much more to their lives, she recalls.
She was a "powerhouse of determination" when it came to supporting other women, says Ms Hurst, organising breakfasts and other get togethers so women could talk, taking part in groups that supported women in business. She launched her own scheme on social media to provide mentoring for women entrepreneurs.
And she was always perfectly turned out, dressed elegantly, in heels, says Ms Hurst, because underneath it all her philosophy was as much about enjoying life as making money.
"I think that's the biggest thing I'd take away from her, is to always remember to have fun," she says. That, and: "Don't let anyone tell you you can't". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64994801 |
William Hill: Gambling addict says bookmaker didn't help him stop - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A teacher says William Hill should have done more to stop him betting when he was staking thousands. | Wales | Matthew phoned William Hill to close his account, but the firm allowed him to carry on betting
A gambling addict has said bookmaker William Hill should have done more to help him stop betting when he was staking thousands on single bets.
Matthew, not his real name, from south Wales, racked up more than £70,000 of debt with William Hill between 2012 and 2019.
Calls showed he was angry and upset, with gambling rules saying bookmakers should intervene at signs of distress.
William Hill said it found no shortcomings in its procedures.
Matthew, a teacher and father of three, had a salary of about £35,000 a year when he started staking small amounts on big events such as the Grand National.
Before long, he was opening online accounts and taking advantage of free bets.
He said this escalated as he "chased" small losses, with his stakes increasing from a couple of pounds to as much as £10,000 at once.
William Hill made him a gold customer - its VIP scheme - and Matthew was soon staking his £2,300 a month take-home salary on payday.
In a Radio 4 documentary named Desperate Calls, Matthew has listened back to 89 phone conversations he had with William Hill.
Most of these were to use a service called "Quick Cash", allowing him to withdraw money directly to the bookmaker without having to wait for money to clear in his bank account.
This service at William Hill is now called CashDirect.
Sometimes he would leave the shop with £5,000 in cash.
Matthew made calls from a phone box as he could no longer afford a mobile phone
Dozens of these calls were made from a dilapidated phone box just outside the shop.
He was spending so much on gambling he could not afford his mobile phone bill.
William Hill said Matthew won many times and withdrew thousands from his account, but Matthew said he would re-stake those winnings almost immediately.
He said: "The dynamics changed rapidly, life revolved around gambling.
"On reflection life was a blur, I struggle to recall much of the last decade, other than some extremely dark thoughts, severe lows and the odd high. Not being focused on family and the people closest to me."
He still owes £70,000 to family and friends.
Many of the calls he made to William Hill showed him to be angry and upset.
The Gambling Commission has rules, saying operators should spot problem gamblers and intervene if they are showing signs of distress.
Matthew said William Hill did not check with him on these points and allowed him to carry on betting.
A member of staff from William Hill's due diligence team phoned Matthew after he said in an email he wanted to "self-exclude" because he was angry over a lack of free bets.
This meant closing his account permanently and banning him from other online betting sites too.
But during the conversation, the staff member discussed self-exclusion and other processes to curb Matthew's gambling, but ultimately allowed him to continue because he thought the complaint was due to the service he was getting and a lack of free bets, rather than a social responsibility issue.
Matthew said he did not say he had a problem because stopping "is not a desirable outcome at that point".
"Underlying all that is you just want to win [the money] back".
It reached a point when Matthew knew he had to stop gambling. His family took him to the GP and he has since had counselling to treat his gambling disorder.
But Matthew wanted to know what had happened: "Once the cycle of gambling was broken I analysed a mountain of data obtained under a subject access request. I wrote a letter of complaint to William Hill."
William Hill said it took customer complaints seriously
William Hill said: "We conducted a thorough investigation into our management of Matthew's account and identified no shortcomings in our safer gambling procedures in relation to Matthew's account requirements during the period in question.
"Ensuring high standards of safer gambling and preventing gambling-related harm is central to the way William Hill operates and we take any customer complaint in this area incredibly seriously, and are committed to driving continuous improvement in this area."
The bookmaker was fined £6.2m in 2018 for failing to protect consumers.
Many of the cases highlighted by the regulator were similar to Matthew's and occurred at about the same time.
A UK government white paper is due to be published soon, with recommendations for strict affordability checks and a new ombudsman for consumer complaints expected.
Currently, people with social responsibility complaints can only write to the Gambling Commission, which cannot comment on what action it is taking, leaving many people in limbo.
Matthew said: "Without significant change there will be many more who fall foul of the pitfalls as I did. More lives destroyed, more families and friendships ruined and more lives lost."
Support for addiction issues is available via the BBC Action Line | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64975068 |
Taylor Swift launches Eras tour with three-hour, 44-song set - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The star plays for three hours as she launches her long-awaited Eras stadium tour in Arizona. | Entertainment & Arts | The 52-date tour is currently only scheduled to play in the US
It's been five years since Taylor Swift last went on tour, during which time she's released four albums, including the Grammy Award-winning Folklore.
Her live absence - enforced by the pandemic - was clearly a source of frustration, because her first show back was a three-hour, fifteen-minute extravaganza, including 44 songs from across her career.
"I can't even go into how much I've missed you," Swift told fans, as she took to the stage for the opening night of her Eras tour.
The star had promised the show would be "a journey through all of my musical eras" and the appetite for tickets was so great that it caused Ticketmaster's systems to fall over.
Despite that, the tour broke the record for the most concert tickets sold by an artist in a single day, at 2.4 million.
About 80,000 of those fans attended the first show at Arizona's State Farm Stadium, where they were treated to a trawl through Swift's hugely varied back catalogue.
The set was split into sections, one for each of her 10 albums, tracing her journey from country ingénue to chart-topping pop star to lockdown-era folk singer (albeit with a mixed-up chronology).
She opened with Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince, a cherished fan favourite from 2019's Lover album, before segueing into the dreamy pop of Cruel Summer.
Dressed in a diamond-encrusted leotard outfit and surrounded by dancers with elaborate peacock tails, she soaked up the crowd's applause, declaring: "I don't know how to process all of this and how it's making me feel right now.
"[But] let me start by saying you're making me feel fantastic".
The show is a massive production, with 16 dancers, multiple set and costume changes and a long, illuminated catwalk leading to a second stage.
At one point, she appeared to dive into the stage and swim to the middle of the stadium, before emerging on a rising platform to play her recent single, Lavender Haze.
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Look What You Made You Do was performed against a giant video wall showing Swift in various personas from her 17-year career while Blank Space featured dancers riding blue neon bikes, straight out of Tron.
For the more pastoral songs of Folklore, Swift appeared inside a moss-covered country shack, first seen in her 2021 Grammy Awards performance. Later, on the cutthroat revenge fantasy Vigilante, she performed a Fosse-inspired chair routine.
But the highlight for many was the full 10-minute version of All Too Well - the song she allegedly wrote about actor and ex-boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal - which was performed in a flowing red overcoat as snowflakes fell across the stage.
Throughout, the audience sang every word in devoted adoration. The feeling was very clearly mutual.
At one point, Swift interrupted her own stage patter to deadpan: "I'm trying to tell you I love you and I'm babbling."
Early reviews for the concert have been enthusiastic, highlighting the extensive setlist and cinematic production values.
"The queen of pop reclaims her throne," declared The Times, adding: "If there is a danger that shifting between 10 such different albums could lead to an uneven experience it is somehow avoided here, with Swift managing to produce a cohesive experience despite the constantly changing outfits and backdrops."
"She managed to make it look easy, enjoying the journey as much as the Swifties in attendance did," agreed local news outlet Arizona Central.
"The Swifties are certainly going to be Enchanted," said Hello magazine, in a review peppered with Swift's song titles.
"It's been a long wait back to this moment, but karma is, indeed, a queen - and this was worth the wait."
"The achievement is often staggering" concluded Billboard, "with costume changes, set-piece upheaval [and] vulnerable moments in a crowd of thousands and sing-alongs that will rival the scope of any tour this year."
The only criticism, from fans and reviewers alike, was that Swift's third album Speak Now was given short shrift, with only one song on the setlist (the understated ballad Enchanted, performed in a ballgown, pictured above).
"She paid this album dust," wrote one concertgoer on Reddit. "The dress was beautiful though."
Rumours are already circulating that the Speak Now section will be expanded during the tour, with Swift expected to release a re-recorded version of the album as part of her ongoing campaign to regain control of her masters.
For now, the 52-date tour is restricted to the US. It is not known whether the extravagant production will come to the rest of the world - but fans are living in hope.
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Conwy man who used car as a weapon to hit biker jailed - BBC News | "2023-03-18T00:00:00" | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Graham Robinson's own dashcam recorded him chasing a motorcyclist before deliberately hitting him. | Wales | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Graham Robinson's driving was described as "completely out of control"
A man whose own dashcam recorded him using his car as a weapon to run a motorcyclist down has been jailed.
Graham Robinson, 69, of Kinmel Bay, Conwy, chased Liam Guest in a road rage episode on 5 August 2022.
Caernarfon Crown Court heard Robinson claimed Mr Guest clipped his wing mirror and shouted "I am going to knock you off your bike" before the pursuit.
Judge Timothy Petts told Robinson his driving was "completely out of control" and "highly dangerous".
Prosecutor Rosemary Proctor told the court a woman had been in the front room of her bungalow when she heard a "terrific bang" outside on the afternoon of the incident.
Her garden was in disarray, the fence broken, a blue car in vegetation and a motorbike on the ground.
During the incident, the prosecution said the defendant had shouted: "I am going to knock you off your bike."
A pursuit then ensued with Robinson's dashcam showing he reached 80km/h (50mph) on side roads and 64km/h (40mph) on a dirt track where he collided with the motorcyclist.
Ms Proctor said Mr Guest was cut and grazed and later complained of pain and flashbacks.
Robinson had at first lied to police that his dashcam was broken and not in his car.
Simon Killeen, defending, said Robinson lived with his wife and was under additional stress because of her illness at the time.
Robinson, who had no previous convictions, claimed Mr Guest had struck his wing mirror but then made the "appalling" decision to pursue him afterwards, Mr Killeen added.
Judge Timothy Petts said there was strong personal mitigation but told the pensioner he had used his car "as a weapon against a vulnerable road user".
Judge Petts said "the best part of £3,000 damage" was also caused to the fence.
"For anyone to use their car as a weapon as you were doing to settle a grudge with a more vulnerable road user is highly dangerous and the sentence has to reflect that.
"It's no thanks to you the injuries were not more serious than they were."
Robinson was jailed for eight months. A three years and four month driving ban with an extended re-test was also imposed. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64986555 |