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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/3027399.stm | Century for globetrotting GP
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A bagpipe-playing, globetrotting former doctor is putting his feet up as he celebrates his 100th birthday.
Dr Hector Greig of Abbeyfield House home for the elderly was surrounded by family and friends when he received his telegram from the Queen on Wednesday.
And celebrations will continue on Saturday when Dr Greig will be piped in by two bagpipers to attend a party and concert featuring Brecon Male Voice Choir.
Dr Greig moved to the area five years ago to be near his daughter, Ruth Lyle, of Sennybridge, who recently retired as a potter.
I had to give the bagpipes up when I was 80 because I had run out of puff
But travel is nothing new to this intrepid GP, who walked from Kathmandu to the base of Everest at 71.
And aged 90, he made 15 different flights around the world to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and America to visit his relatives.
Electronic bagpipes
Dr Greig joked that when people asked why he had lived so long, it was because of the fun he had in local discos.
His one regret is that he is not able to play the bagpipes anymore.
"I had to give the bagpipes up when I was 80 because I had run out of puff," he said.
"But I've now got electronic bagpipes where I can still play the chanter part."
Dr Greig's daughter, Ruth said her father was an extraordinary man.
"When he set off around the world when he was 90 he only took one bag with him," she said.
Dr Greig was born in South Africa in 1903. His mother died during child birth and he returned to Britain to live with his grandmother in Edinburgh.
After travelling extensively during his youth, including one trip around Iceland on a pony, he took up medicine when he was 31.
He practised as a GP in Fife before retirement although he carried on as a locum until he was 90.
But the highlight of his life, so far, according to Dr Greig, who still goes for a walk every day, was the trip from Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp.
"It was a fantastic experience to be three and a half miles above sea level and be able to look up at Mount Everest," he said. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3833861.stm | Vatican condemns Chinese arrests
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The Vatican has strongly protested to China over the arrest of three Roman Catholic bishops - one of them 84 years old - in the past month.
A strongly-worded statement demanded an explanation from China, which has long sought to control religious expression.
Its millions of Catholics are split between followers of Pope John Paul II and members of a state-backed church.
The Vatican and China have had no diplomatic ties since the 1950s, when Beijing expelled foreign clergy.
BBC religious affairs correspondent Jane Little says the Vatican response indicates it has lost patience with China.
It called the bishops' arrest "inconceivable in a country based on laws".
No news
"The Holy See feels deep pain for these actions, for which no explanation has been given," said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.
They breached "the rights of the person, in particular religious freedom, that are sanctioned in numerous international documents, also underwritten by the
People's Republic of China".
He said the 84-year-old bishop of Xuanhua had been arrested on 27 May and there had been no news of him for nearly a month.
The other two bishops - from Xiwanzi and Zhengding - were taken into custody for several days this month and released.
None were further identified.
The Vatican says about eight million Chinese belong to the so-called underground Catholic church, while the state-backed Chinese Patriotic Church has an estimated five million members.
In December, Beijing dismissed an official American report which had criticised religious intolerance in China. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7822961.stm | Obama promises new tack on Iran
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President-elect Barack Obama says the US will take a new approach to dealings with Iran under his leadership.
Mr Obama said in a US TV interview screened on Sunday that "Iran is going to be one of our biggest challenges".
He said he was concerned about Iran's support for Lebanese Shia party Hezbollah and Tehran's nuclear enrichment programme.
In the wide-ranging interview, Mr Obama also said he planned a special team to deal with conflict in the Middle East.
The president-elect said he was not ruling out prosecution for possible crimes committed by Bush administration officials.
And he repeated his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, but suggested it might not happen within his first 100 days in office.
'Need for engagement'
Mr Obama also criticised the outgoing administration's handling of the $700bn (£459bn) federal bailout plan to help the US banking system amid the global financial crisis.
And he said his attorney general could investigate accusations Bush administration officials had abused their power.
He said: "He's going to be making some calls, but my general belief is that when it comes to national security, what we have to focus on is getting things right in the future, as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past."
The incoming president told ABC's This Week presenter George Stephanopoulos he would break away from President George W Bush's policy on Iran and seek a much broader approach with the Islamic state.
"We are going to have to take a new approach. And I've outlined my belief that engagement is the place to start," Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama, who won the US presidential election in November, takes office on 20 January.
In the interview, he promised "a new emphasis on respect and a new emphasis on being willing to talk, but also a clarity about what our bottom lines are."
He added he believed his administration would "move swiftly" in its new approach with Tehran.
Mr Obama had earlier said there should be no pre-conditions in discussions with the Iranian leadership.
The Bush administration had accused Iran of developing nuclear technology in order to produce nuclear weapons, but Iran has insisted the processes will only be used to generate electricity.
'Failure of supervision'
"Iran is going to be one of our biggest challenges and as I said during the campaign we have a situation in which not only is Iran exporting terrorism through Hamas, through Hezbollah but they are pursuing a nuclear weapon that could potentially trigger a nuclear arms race," Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama also said a new team would begin work on a wider Middle East peace process when he began his presidency.
"What I am doing right now is putting together the team so that on 20 January, starting on day one, we have the best possible people who are going to be immediately engaged in the Middle East peace process as a whole," Mr Obama said.
On the economy, Mr Obama said he was dissatisfied with the way the first $350bn (£229bn) in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp) had been spent after it was approved by Congress last year.
"There hasn't been enough oversight," Mr Obama said. "We found out this week in a report that we are not tracking where this money is going." | [
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-23934302 | Fifth of Essex County Council workers on zero-hours contracts
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Concerns have been voiced after it emerged nearly one fifth of staff at Essex County Council were employed on controversial "zero-hours" contracts. Zero-hours contracts do not guarantee set shifts or regular work patterns. An information request has shown 1,764 of the council's 9,787 staff are on such contracts - 18% of the total. The council said zero-hours contracts offered flexibility in certain circumstances. But the union Unison wants a national review of their use. The Conservative-led council's Liberal Democrat group leader Mike Mackrory said he was concerned about the use of zero-hours contracts in Essex.
"If you're in the public sector and you're expecting your workers to pull out all the stops in these very difficult times then they deserve to have decent hours and conditions of service.
'Uncertainty and problems'
"If you're going to get the best out of them then you need to treat them with some respect." The county council said its use of zero-hours contracts had decreased since 2009. Council leader David Finch said: "At Essex County Council we are interested in making it more efficient and flexible and of course we've always got our mind's eye on the fact that the council taxpayer holds us accountable for the money that we spend. "It would not be good for us to have people on fixed-hour contracts that we couldn't actually utilise." Sampson Low, Unison's head of policy, said: "A wide range of Unison members are telling us about the uncertainty and problems these contracts bring and too often these jobs should be permanent with minimum hours and full employment rights." | [
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25065081 | Latvia president calls supermarket collapse 'murder'
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The collapse of a supermarket in the Latvian capital Riga has been described as "murder", by the country's president.
Andris Berzins said many defenceless people had been killed and that should be the basis for an investigation into the disaster.
The current death toll is 52 but some 10 families have told police they have missing relatives.
Damien McGuinness reports. | [
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-15935868 | Suffolk schools close due to national strike over pensions
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More than half of Suffolk's schools will be closed on Wednesday due to the national strike over public sector pensions. By Tuesday afternoon, 183 of the 348 schools in the county had announced they would close and many of the others confirmed partial closures. Suffolk County Council urged parents and carers to find alternative childcare arrangements. Union marches will take place in Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich and Lowestoft. The council said it would continue to update its
<link>
<caption>school closure list</caption>
<url href="http://schoolclosures.suffolk.gov.uk/" platform="highweb"/>
</link>
.
'Incredible day'
About two million public sector workers from 30 unions are expected to join the strike on Wednesday. Picket lines are expected across the county - including at Ipswich and West Suffolk hospitals, the UK Border Agency in Felixstowe, RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall. Glyn Hawker, regional secretary of the Unison trade union, said: "It will be an incredible day." Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove said public sector unions "want to provide a platform for confrontation just when we all need to pull together". He said it was "unfair and unrealistic" to expect taxpayers to foot the increasing public sector pensions bill. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5040428.stm | Suitor given BAA offer deadline
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Check BAA's shares
One of two groups seeking to buy airports operator BAA has been told to reveal its intentions after having its initial interest rebuffed.
The Takeover Panel has told the Goldman Sachs-led consortium to confirm it will make a bid by 9 June or to withdraw.
BAA, whose assets include Heathrow and Gatwick airports, rejected a preliminary approach last month from the group, valued at 870 pence a share.
BAA has also rejected two firm bids from a group led by Spain's Ferrovial.
Clarification sought
If the Goldman Sachs-led group decides not to make a firm bid it will be barred from doing so for a further six months under stock market rules.
"The panel has ruled that the consortium's statement must be clarified," the Takeover Panel said in a statement.
It added that both the consortium and BAA had agreed to the ruling.
BAA has said would-be bidders will have to pay a substantial premium above its current market value to secure control of the company because of its unique portfolio of assets.
Spanish suitor
Meanwhile, reports suggested that Ferrovial had snapped up a 15% stake in BAA, a move that would improve its bargaining strength.
Dealers told Reuters news agency that the Spanish firm's adviser, Citigroup, had bought around 15 million shares in BAA at 900p per share.
Last week, BAA rejected an improved 900p a share bid from Ferrovial saying the true value of the airport operator value was more than 940 pence per share.
By owning Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports, BAA controls more than 90% of passenger traffic in and out of London.
The reports pushed BAA shares to record highs of 907p, before they settled at 903p - the first time its stocks have pushed above Ferrovial's offer price. | [
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-44356965 | Memorial to wartime nurses unveiled in Staffordshire
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Nurses who gave their lives in wartime will be remembered with a new memorial. A service of dedication was held for the monument at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire, attended by the Countess of Wessex. The piece commemorates the work of professional and Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurses in World War One and World War Two. It carries the names of nearly 1,300 nurses who died during or as a direct result of their service.
Midlands Live: Man who drowned in flood named; Body in park investigation launched
The Nursing Memorial Appeal has been working for more than six years to fundraise for a permanent monument to nurses. At the unveiling was Ethel Lote , 97, from Aldridge, West Midlands. A teenager at the outbreak of World War Two, she began work as a nurse at Burntwood Military Hospital in Staffordshire, caring for the first convoy of injured soldiers from Dunkirk. She said: "They were still in the uniforms, just how they had been picked up from the beaches. "We had the first 100 patients. It was terrible, I'd just started training as a nurse, to see these men and their injuries, a lot of them were burned or had shrapnel wounds."
VADs from the British Red Cross and the Order of St John travelled from across the world to help during wartime, but the appeal said they received little recognition for their service. | [
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http://www.bbc.com/news/business-41144687 | What if Trump cut ties with North Korea's trade partners?
-
How realistic is cutting off trade ties with all of the countries that do business with North Korea?
This is what US President Donald Trump has threatened on Twitter following North Korea's sixth nuclear test, its biggest so far and one it claims is the successful test of a hydrogen bomb .
The international community has tried everything short of military action to get North Korea to stop, but nothing - not sanctions, not isolation, or even the threat of annihilation appears to have dented its nuclear ambitions.
So now, instead of just punishing North Korea, President Trump has tweeted that he will punish all countries who still do business with North Korea by stopping US trade with them.
To look at how realistic that might be - first we have to look at which countries do business with North Korea.
Countries that trade with North Korea
According to figures from KOTRA (Korea's Trade Investment Promotion Agency) there were around 80 countries that traded with Pyongyang in 2016 including:
North Korea's total trade with all of the countries on the list last year was worth US$6.5bn. That figure has been growing by about 5% a year. Granted, the amount of trade for some of these countries is small and decreasing. But there are some fascinating insights.
Singapore - which is number 8 on the list of largest traders with North Korea - saw trade with Pyongyang fall by 90% in 2016.
Meanwhile the Philippines - saw a massive 171% jump in trade with North Korea.
Both are economic partners of the US.
In fact, many of the countries on this list are trading partners with the US and most are doing far more business with the US than they do with the tiny North Korean economy.
The China factor
But there is one country that potentially holds all the right cards. No prizes for guessing who is Pyongyang's biggest customer and supplier - China.
90% of North Korea's trade comes from China.
Beijing is mainly buying coal and other minerals from Pyongyang, and crucially supplying food and fuel for its citizens. The data from 2016 doesn't clearly reflect what's going on now, as China banned North Korean coal in February.
So when Trump says that the US would stop doing business with countries trading with Pyongyang, it would almost certainly have to include China.
But frankly it is hard to see how that would happen without some damage to the US economy. This it how it breaks down:
Trade: China is the US's largest trading partner.
Goods: The US bought more than $450 bn worth of goods from China last year and exported $115bn to China.
Jobs: Cutting off trade with Beijing would cost the US almost a million American jobs connected to goods and services exported to China.
Consumer prices: As I've written about before, even Trump's threats of imposing tariffs on China for being a currency manipulator would have disastrous effects on prices of goods in the US, boosting the cost of an iPhone for instance by about 5%.
The global economy
Don't forget - anything that affects China would necessarily also affect the global economy. Global research house Capital Economics says if the US were to stop buying goods from China altogether, it would cost the country some 3% of GDP.
Which would have a knock-on effect of that on economies in Asia, most of whom count China as their biggest trading partner, and buyer of goods.
All of that is possibly why Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has come up with a less direct way to "punish" these countries - he said in a Fox TV news interview on Monday that he was preparing a sanctions package that would cut off "all trade and other business" with Pyongyang, adding that there's "much more" the US can do economically.
But that just looks like more of the same stuff we've seen before .
So what we are left with is a US that appears to have increasingly few economic options left on the table when it comes to negotiating with Pyongyang.
Even if President Trump follows through with his trade threat, it would almost certainly result in a congressional backlash.
It's hard to see how the president would be able to sell a policy with such questionable effectiveness, and one that would damage the US economically more than it would limit North Korea's nuclear options. | [
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26833140 | German unemployment falls by more than expected in March
-
German unemployment fell by more than expected in March as the economy was boosted by the mild winter weather. The number of people registered as unemployed fell by 12,000 to 2.901 million, after accounting for the impact of seasonal variations, the Federal Labour Office said. Analysts had pencilled in a smaller fall of around 7,500. The improvement takes the unemployment rate to 6.7%. The Labour Office said "the very mild winter weather" drove the pick-up. "Prospects are looking better for the unemployed," said Labour Office chief Frank-Juergen Weise. Christian Schulz, economist at Berenberg Bank, said the figures showed "the German labour market is well on track". He said the stronger labour market could lead to higher wage increases, noting recent strikes by pilots and public sector workers pointed to employees' strength in wage negotiations. The German government's panel of independent economic advisers last month raised its 2014 growth forecast to 1.9% from 1.6%, following weak growth of 0.4% last year. | [
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http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-20468342 | Cardiff Somali poets in National Theatre Wales appeal
-
Young Somali poets in Cardiff are appealing to people in their local community to get involved in a National Theatre Wales production about them. De Gabay (The Poem) will be staged next March and focuses on the lives of the poets in the Butetown area of the city. National Theatre Wales said it was looking for performers, actors, dancers and wardrobe staff, paid or unpaid. People can find out more at an event on Saturday at the Coal Exchange in Cardiff Bay at 19:30 GMT.
Inspired
The people behind the production are also looking for musicians, singers, technicians, cooks, stewards, video makers, bloggers and photographers.
A group of young poets including Ahmed Hassan, Ali Goolyad, Hassan Panero and Ahmed Yusuf approached National Theatre Wales 18 months ago with their idea for De Gabay - the song of their lives as young British-born Somali men. Eager to change media and public perceptions of the Somali community, they were inspired by their involvement in an earlier National Theatre Wales production in Butetown, The Soul Exchange in January 2011. In March next year they will tell their own stories of what brought them to Butetown, and what happens next. National Theatre Wales' artistic director John McGrath said: "Butetown and its residents will play a starring role in De Gabay, so we're asking anyone and everyone in the area who want to get involved in any aspect of the production - design, performance, technical, whatever they're interested in - to get in touch now and tell us what they'd like to do. "This is a hugely ambitious project that is very close to our hearts, and we want to share the experience of making it - and the joy of experiencing the finished product - with as many people as possible." A string of public events are being staged to encourage and invite the local community to take part. Saturday's event - Ideas Exchange 05: On the Road to De Gabay - will also include poetry, performance and debate. | [
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http://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-wales-26167970/storm-could-have-been-a-lot-worse-carwyn-jones-says | Storm 'could have been a lot worse,' Carwyn Jones says
-
Wales' First Minister says the storm that left almost 100,000 homes without power "could have been a lot worse".
Speaking to BBC Wales, Carwyn Jones paid tribute to power engineers who by Thursday morning had reduced the number of homes without power by about half. | [
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-28052887 | c2c awarded 15-year Essex Thameside rail franchise
-
A 15-year rail franchise for the Essex and east London area has been given to current operators c2c, the government has announced. The Department for Transport awarded the Essex Thameside franchise to the company until November 2029. The operator said it would make £160m of investment as part of the deal, including a fleet of new trains. It covers journeys between London and areas including Basildon and Southend. Over the past 14 years, National Express-owned c2c has increased its passenger numbers by 42%, from over 26 million to about 37 million passengers a year.
'Significantly improved journeys'
The company said 17 new trains would provide almost 4,800 extra seats and by the end of the contract there would be more than 25,000 additional seats for morning peak-time passengers every week. More than £30m will be invested in improving stations, including Fenchurch Street and Barking. The operator committed to hitting new punctuality targets, which means over 90% of services must reach their destination within one minute of the timetable, by December 2018. Rail Minister Stephen Hammond said the deal meant passengers would have "significantly improved journeys". "The rigorous new processes we have put in place means passengers can have every confidence we have got the right bid for the franchise," he said. "The operator is ready to deliver and build on [its] high standards." | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/7516510.stm | Rossi claims maiden US MotoGP win
-
Valentino Rossi ended Casey Stoner's four-race winning streak to earn his first win at the Laguna Seca track after a thrilling US MotoGP.
In the last race before the summer break, the pair fought a fierce battle for the lead until Stoner was forced into the gravel with eight laps to go.
But they were so far ahead that he returned to the race still in second, ahead of third-placed Chris Vermeulen.
Rossi now leads nearest rival Stoner by 25 points in the championship table.
606: DEBATE Your views on the Rossi v Stoner battle
The battle for the lead between Rossi and Stoner was the closest and most exciting there has been this season, but afterwards Stoner was clearly not entirely happy with the way it had been fought.
"I completely made the mistake, it was all my own (going off the track)", he told BBC Sport.
"But at the beginning of the race, with some of those overtaking moves, I was so nearly on the floor that it wasn't funny.
"I know it's hard racing, I've been in hard racing all my life, but some of that was past the point. I don't think it was necessary."
But Rossi was adamant he had done nothing wrong.
"This is racing, every overtake was very clear for me - I never touched him," he said.
"The reality is I am stronger in braking, so I try to use this advantage. I deserved it, I think he made the mistake alone - it happens."
Rossi now goes into the summer break with an entire race-worth of points advantage on Stoner, who is second in the championship standings, and Dani Pedrosa's failure to compete this weekend has all but ended his slim title hopes.
"It was a great weekend," said Rossi.
"These 25 points are like gold for our championship."
Briton James Toseland finished ninth, having been in seventh for much of the race, but he said he was glad to have improved on his recent poor run of form.
"I tried to keep those guys behind but I'd pretty much shot the rear tyre by the end," he told BBC Sport.
"The team's working well but we've had some problems behind the scenes which need to change for the next race.
"I've been riding round, not racing round, and I don't like that. To be in the top 10 is nice but the potential is there to be a lot better."
The next round of the MotoGP championship is at Brno in the Czech Republic on 17 August.
US MotoGP result:
1 V Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 44mins 04.311secs 2 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 44:17.312 3 C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 44:30.920 4 A Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 44:39.212 5 N Hayden (U.S.) Honda 44:39.974 6 R de Puniet (France) Honda 44:41.979 7 T Elias (Spain) Ducati 44:45.940 8 B Spies (U.S.) Suzuki 44:46.238 9 J Toseland (GB) Yamaha 44:47.330 10 S Nakano (Jpn) Honda 44:48.702
World championship standings:
1 V Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 212 2 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 187 3 D Pedrosa (Spin) Honda 171 4 J Lorenzo (Spn) Yamaha 114 5 A Dovizioso (Ita) Honda 103 6 C Edwards (US) Yamaha 100 7 C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 89 8 N Hayden (US) Honda 84 9 J Toseland (GB) Yamaha 72 10 S Nakano (Jpn) Honda 70 | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4446950.stm | Protests hit Pacific Rim summit
-
See the clashes
Riot police have clashed with protesters armed with sticks and bottles outside the summit of 21 Pacific Rim leaders in South Korea.
Police used water cannon to force back the thousands of demonstrators.
Farmers joined the march in the city of Busan to protest at plans to allow more foreign rice imports to South Korea.
The two-day summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) members is expected to focus on stalled global trade talks.
Some members have criticised the EU as an obstacle to progress and free trade.
Protests
Thousands of slogan-chanting protesters gathered outside the summit, shouting: "No to Bush, No to Apec. No to foreign rice imports."
Now the ball is in Europe's court
Two farmers are reported to have killed themselves by drinking herbicide, leaving suicide notes blaming the rice market plans.
Police surrounding the summit were forced to block the demonstrators with shipping containers and drive them back with water cannon. More than 30,000 riot police are on duty in the port city and a naval blockade is protecting the seafront conference centre where the leaders are gathering.
The 21 Apec leaders are set to push strongly for a breakthrough on global trade talks at next month's World Trade Organisation talks.
They are also expected to agree a joint action plan on fighting bird flu.
Meanwhile, China announced a free trade agreement with Chile - its first with a Latin American country.
The deal - allowing Chileans to send most of their exports to China tariff-free - is an example of growing economic relations between China and Latin America, say analysts.
Impasse
Apec is expected to issue a joint statement at the end of the summit on Saturday, calling for concessions on farm imports at next month's WTO meeting in Hong Kong.
But at the start of the summit South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon suggested the European Union could be more flexible.
"The leaders here are sending out a very strong message that they will do their best for the successful negotiation of the talks," he said. "They are basically saying that now the ball is in Europe's court."
A draft copy of the statement is expected to say: "We call for the breaking of the current impasse in agriculture negotiations."
The combined 21 Apec economies, from the US to Japan, China and Australia, represent 57% of the world economy.
Other issues are also expected to occupy the agendas of Apec leaders:
President Bush has already met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for their fifth meeting this year.
They discussed the Iranian and North Korean nuclear issue as well as the situation in Syria, said Russian presidential aide Sergey Prikhodko. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6303411.stm | Punk band Sham 69 in bitter split
-
Punk band Sham 69 have split up after a bitter fall-out between singer Jimmy Pursey and guitarist Dave Parsons.
Pursey said Parsons had left the group, while Parsons said he and drummer Ian Whitewood had sacked the singer.
Both are now laying claim to the Sham 69 name. Pursey said: "He [Parsons] has walked out of the band. I am Sham 69."
But Parsons and Whitewood said: "Sham 69 have left Jimmy Pursey." Sham 69 recorded 1970s punk hits including If the Kids are United and Hurry Up Harry.
Pursey compared his former bandmates' behaviour to "mutiny on the bounty".
Asked how the split came about, he replied: "I don't know, you'll have to ask him [Parsons]. I can't know what's going through his mind when wanting to leave the band."
Pursey denied that, saying he only turned down revival gigs that were booked for the sake of money.
"I can turn down a nostalgia gig, which is like a Doctor Who convention, where it's just bringing a load of old punk rockers together to celebrate nostalgia," he told the BBC News website.
"I don't want to do that and I've never wanted to do that. I play for today."
The split had "been on the cards for a while", according to Mike Harris, spokesman for the other band members.
'Held back'
"The reasons behind it are that Jimmy seems to show no great desire to play live and is constantly pulling out of gigs at the last moment," he said.
"It was him personally that was causing a lot of the problems within the band and between the band and promoters and media.
"The rest of the band want to get out there and kick ass on stage. At the moment, they're just being held back all the time."
Parsons and Whitewood have found a new bassist and will start auditioning singers shortly with the intention of carrying on as Sham 69.
Pursey formed the band in 1975 and Parsons joined two years later, with the pair going on to write the band's biggest hits together.
The group first split in 1980 but Pursey and Parsons reformed Sham 69 seven years later.
They returned to the UK top 10 last June with their World Cup anthem Hurry Up England, an updated version of Hurry Up Harry. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4187195.stm | Fears raised on new mortgage deal
-
First-time buyers have been warned about a mortgage which allows them to borrow 130% of a property's value.
The mortgage allows people to borrow enough money to buy a home and pay off outstanding debts.
Mortgage Express, part of the Bradford & Bingley group, said the mortgage met a real need amongst would be first-time buyers burdened by other debts.
However a mortgage broker said the product was expensive and could encourage irresponsible borrowing.
Buyers struggle
The best course of action is to clear debt before taking on a mortgage
The mortgage, called Max 130, was trialled in Northern Ireland during the past two years.
Roger Hillier, Mortgage Express spokesman, said that the trial had made them "confident about the need for a product such as this, designed specifically for first-time buyers struggling to get on to the housing ladder".
The lender added it would check borrowers' credit histories and incomes before approving a loan.
But Colin Jackson, director of Baronworth Investment Services, told BBC News that anyone thinking of taking out the mortgage should be very wary.
"A mortgage like this could be very expensive. Consolidation works by lengthening the period of time that the loan is repaid, which means that the borrower pays more interest."
"The best course of action is to clear debt before taking on a mortgage but some desperate first-time buyers will feel that they can't wait." | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4420832.stm | Profile: Malalai Joya
-
Malalai Joya, one of the prominent winners in Afghanistan's landmark parliamentary elections, is an outspoken critic of the country's warlords.
"I hope by being a member of parliament I will be able to serve my people, especially the women," Ms Joya told reporters.
"I will do my best to stop the warlords and criminals from building any laws that will jeopardise the rights of Afghan people, especially the women."
The 27-year-old women's literacy and health worker will take her seat in the 249-seat National Assembly, or Wolesi Jirga, representing the remote province of Farah.
The warlords are like snakes in the sleeves of the government
Ms Joya, daughter of a former medical student who was wounded fighting the Soviets, rose to prominence for denouncing warlords at a constitutional forum two years ago.
She received a number of death threats after interrupting the loya jirga (grand council) with her criticism of the mujahideen, fighters who fought against the Soviet Union and then among themselves.
Ms Joya told the constitutional convention the mujahideen were responsible for Afghanistan's civil war which only ended when the Taleban seized power in 1996.
'Annihilated'
Ms Joya continued to press her case against the former rulers of Afghanistan - last year she, together with a delegation of 50 tribal elders, persuaded President Hamid Karzai to dismiss a provincial governor who was a former Taleban commander.
She has survived at least four assassination attempts since her speech at the constitutional convention. According to reports, Ms Joya employs armed guards and travels incognito.
"I know that if not today, then probably tomorrow, I will be physically annihilated," Ms Joya told the BBC World Service's Outlook programme.
"But the voice of protest will continue, because it is the voice of the people of my country."
Ms Joya has said she is used to intimidation after being threatened "again and again" by the Taleban when she started her work in the country in 1998 after returning from Pakistan and Iran where her family had emigrated during the civil war.
During that time she established an orphanage and health clinic, and was soon a vocal opponent of the Taleban.
However, Ms Joya was spurred into action when she first saw the capital, Kabul, and how it had been destroyed.
"I saw the misery of the people," she recalled.
'Snakes'
"When those people put their trust in me and elected me as their representative, I decided to bring their suffering to the world's attention - so that the world would know that even though the men and women of Afghanistan have had to live in ignorance and poverty for many years, they don't trust the mujahideen."
Ms Joya said the government with the support of international forces should "tackle the warlords with great determination".
"These people are snakes in the sleeves of the government. Only if the government tackles them head-on will we see a brighter future.
"If they don't there will be more bitter and dark days ahead."
During the civil war, Ms Joya first fled with her family to Iran. Then they moved to Pakistan, where she started teaching refugees to read and write.
She is married to a Kabul-based student of agriculture and has six sisters and three brothers. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7911803.stm | Audio slideshow: On the estate
- | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3935561.stm | How Tolkien triumphed over the critics
-
The Fellowship of the Ring, the first instalment of JRR Tolkien's fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings, was published 50 years ago. But what did critics of the day make of the book?
One of the most popular books in literary history it is also a regular winner of recent polls to find the nation's favourite novel - last year it topped the BBC's Big Read survey.
But Tolkien's public did not alway look so favourably upon this epic work.
The
Spectator's
Richard Hughes, writing in October 1954, opened his review praising the pleasures of reading Tolkien's The Hobbit - published 17 years earlier - to his children.
"This is not a work which many adults will read through more than once," said the anonymous reviewer in the
Times Literary Supplement
, while American critic Edmund Wilson, dismissed the entire trilogy in 1956 as "juvenile trash".
It seems Tolkien could not escape the sniffy literary attitudes to the fantasy genre. The Fellowship of the Ring remained, in the eyes of the critics, a children's novel.
These days, of course, the dividing line between children and adult audiences has blurred.
The fantasy genre, in particular, has found cross-generational success, with JK Rowling and Philip Pullman both making top five in the BBC's Big Read.
More recently, Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - winner of the Whitbread prize - has been published in both adult and children's versions.
It is true to say most critics of the time admired JRR Tolkien's inventiveness, commending the scope of detail that the author brought to Middle Earth, its character and its traditions.
Writing in the
Guardian
in August 1954, shortly after the publication of The Fellowship of the Ring on 29 July, Herbert Dingle praised Tolkien's "largess".
"To have created so enthralling an epic-romance, with its own mythology, with such diversity of scene and character, such imaginative largess in invention and description, and such supernatural meaning underlying the wealth of incident is a most remarkable feat."
Similiarly, JW Lambert writing in the
Sunday Times
on August 8, 1954 celebrated the writer's extraordinary imagination.
"In carrying out this Wagnerian project, he has distilled elements of Norse, Teutonic and Celtic myth to make a strange but coherent world of his own."
"However one may look at it The Fellowship of the Ring is an extraordinary book," wrote Edwin Muir in the
Observer
on 22 August, 1954.
"If Mr Tolkien's imagination had been equal to his invention, and his style equal to both, this book might have been a masterpiece."
There is praise too for Tolkien's story-telling prowess; his ability to bring pace and humour to his narrative.
"The story of the pilgramage... is followed with verve and humour and cunning variations of pace and style,"
wrote the
Sunday Times'
JW Lambert.
"Mr Tolkien is one of those born story-tellers who makes his readers as eager as wide-eyed children for more,"
wrote the
Guardian's
Herbert Dingle.
But Mr Dingle raised the nub of many early critics' ambivalence towards the novel - the child-like simplicity of Tolkien's themes.
"Mr Tolkien describes a tremendous conflict between good and evil... but his good people are consistently good, his evil figures immovably evil,"
wrote the
Observer's
Mr Muir.
The author was not helped by the publication of CS Lewis' fulsome review to market The Fellowship of the Ring, which drew scorn from fellow critics.
"No imaginary world has been projected which is at once as multifarious and so true to its inner laws,"
wrote
CS Lewis
, Tolkien's friend and Oxford contemporary.
"If Ariosto rivalled it in invention (which in fact he does not), he would still lack its heroic seriousness."
His review was hailed a "buffonery" by reviewers and it served to undermine the book's evident achievements.
"Nothing but a great masterpiece could survive the bombardment of praise directed at it from the blurb, " wrote the
Observer's
Edwin Muir.
"On the jacket Ariosto, Malory and Spenser are evoked: skirting these peaks... it may be more helpful to suggest that those who enjoyed, say, the Brothers Grimm... The Wind in the Willows or TH White's Sword in the Stone will find this bizarre enterprise very much to their taste,"
ran Mr Lambert's review in the
Sunday Times
.
"The conflict is real; the means are the most suitable possible. Mr Tolkien deals with elves and dwarfs [sic], hobbits and orcs as if he knew them," wrote Mr Muir, somewhat belittlingly, in the
Observer
.
"Yet for myself, I could not resist feeling a certain disappointment. Perhaps this was partly due to the style, which is quite unequal to the theme, alternating between the popular novel and the boy's adventure story."
Perhaps, like Peter Jackson's film adaptation which finally clinched the best film Oscar earlier this year, Tolkien's epic was only fully appreciated in its entirety. Certainly that is the view of the
Spectator's
Mr Hughes.
"I think we should be well advised to remember that what we have before us now is the first volume of a larger work... and be willing to suspend judgement... until we have seen the whole."
But summing up, he adds:
"The pleasure to be derived from this first volume is a pleasure not to be missed." | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/401904.stm | Armageddon....again
-
By News Online's Stuart O'Brien
The eclipse has become another date of doom for the prophets of armageddon and the world's obstinate refusal to end according to their predictions is doing little to dent their ardour.
Lumping together the ancient - quotations from the Bible, or Nostradamus - with the new, such as astronomical star charts and the "Millennium Bug", the disaster-mongers appear desperate for something to trigger the Apocalypse. The coincidental cosmic event on 11 August seems to fit the bill nicely.
Books related to the, at best vague, prophecies of Nostradamus are still selling well, with their authors now pencilling in September as the likely date for global destruction.
That should do it
Nostradamus, having predicted the end of the world for July, apparently decided to add a meteorite strike in September for good measure. This will cause "tidal waves, clouds of dust, earthquakes, hurricanes and political upheaval".
Could Mir be about to land on Paris?
Add this to the fact that 9 September, or 9/9/99 is used as a termination signal in some computer programs and you have an even more compelling case for disaster, claim the seers.
Paco Rabanne is one celebrity who is taking such warnings seriously. He has decided to get out of Paris, as he believes the Russian Mir space station is going to fall there during the eclipse.
Are we there yet? - Previous end of the world predictions.
999
- Pope Sylvester announces the second coming of Christ. Christians give their possessions to the Church, travel to holy places and burn people who might be witches.
1534
- Anabaptists in Münster, Germany declare the second coming is at hand and barricade themselves in. They fall from puritanism to sexual permissiveness and are eventually starved out. Their leaders are killed.
1736
- Followers of a man called Whiston rush to Hampstead to watch the destruction of London as a curtain raiser before the world ends.
1843
- American farmer William Miller predicts the end of the world will fall on 21 March. So-called 'Millerites' gather on hilltops to greet Christ and the angels. Needless to say, it does not happen. He checks his figures and announces that it is still on, this time for 22 October 1844. This becomes known as "the Great Disappointment" when the apocalypse fails to materialise.
1919
- Albert Porta, a weatherman in the US, predicts that the Sun will explode and take the Earth with it.
1955
- Prophet Marian Keetch warns of massive floods - a revelation allowed to her by her contact with aliens. When it does not happen she claims they were averted by the power of prayer.
1967
- The Six Day War in the Middle East is expected by some fundamentalist Christians to trigger the "Rapture", when the just are supposed the be raised to Heaven before the world ends.
1969
- According to Charles Manson, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, otherwise known as the Beatles, were supposed to bring about Armageddon with their song "Helter Skelter".
1987
- Dr Jose Arguelles predicts the end is nigh on August 16, due to the alignment of the planets. This was supposed to cause a galactic beam to hit the Earth, with the usual consequences.
1988
- Nasa scientist Edgar Whisenaut predicts the Rapture will take place in 1988 and makes a lot of money selling books about it.
Meanwhile, Charles Taylor, a "prophecy teacher" in the US who also predicted the end for that year, arranged tours of the Holy Land, including "return if necessary".
1992
- Korea. Pastor Lee Jang Rim predicts the Rapture for October. When it fails to take place, some of his followers kill themselves.
1993
- Marie Devi Khristo of the White Brotherhood in the Ukraine predicts the world will end at midday on the 14 November....then tries again nine days later.
1995
- The Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh predicted the end of the world would happen in 1995. In the event, he and many other followers died following the siege at Waco, Texas in 1993.
1997
- Self-professed Son of God and TV sports presenter David Icke decides the world will end in 1997, following the usual earthquakes and floods.
This was also the year that many members of the Heaven's Gate cult committed suicide. They believed that the Hale-Bopp comet heralded the apocalypse and they thought that this was the only way they could join an alien spacecraft which they thought was travelling in the comet's wake.
Magician Aleister Crowley also decided that "a devastating world war" would finish us off that year.
1999
- Nostradamus predicted the end for July. Maybe he meant September... | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/isleofman/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_9126000/9126868.stm | Manx illustrator Juan Moore unveils latest project
-
Manx illustrator Juan Moore is preparing to unveil the first instalment of a year-long project titled, Welcome To The Neighbourhood.
In association with the Isle of Man Arts Council, the project will see Moore deliver five exhibitions.
"The idea behind this project is to show art outside the context of an art gallery," he told BBC Isle of Man.
The first exhibition will he held at the Tanroagan fish Restaurant in Douglas on the 1 November 2010.
Carpe Diem
The first exhibition is based on the theme of fish
The opening exhibition, Carpe Diem, will see Juan display a body of work on the theme of fish.
Juan said: "Fish is just the starting point for the artwork, my work is very light hearted, whimsical and always surreal."
There will be around 20 works on display at Tanroagan's for a period of two weeks, with a preview night on Monday 1 November at 6.30pm.
The Manx illustrator has also taken the time to deliver thirty laminated original drawings which will be used as place mats for the duration of the show.
Head of Community Culture and Art, Dawn Maddrell was keen on the idea from the start.
"We loved the idea of holding these exhibitions in venues not traditionally associated with art.
"It is a great opportunity for people to engage with art and hopefully they will respond positively. We are very excited to see what Juan has produced."
Moore was born and raised on the Isle of Man before moving to Falmouth in 2006 to complete a degree in illustration.
Global Portfolio
It is hoped the exhibitions will make art accessible to all
The following year, Juan took up a year long residency at the Sayle Gallery in St Johns and now works as an illustrator with a global portfolio.
He has exhibited his work across the UK, France and New York.
He continued: "I want to make art that is accessible to everybody instead of just those well versed in contemporary art and art history.
"These exhibitions also aim to show art working alongside and within the community.
"Each of the exhibitions will not simply have a theme but will be very site specific."
The next four venues which will display Juan's work are yet to be announced. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/education/06/school_tables/primary_schools/html/931_3183.stm | Clifton Hampden Church of England Primary School
- | [
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17489558 | Digital drama: The technology transforming theatre
-
The role of "video designer" was hardly known in theatre five years ago - but now it is increasingly common.
As technology has become cheaper, even fringe theatre productions are embracing its new possibilities for creative set design, with complex projections and graphic sequences run through servers.
The Knifedge design company cemented its reputation with its dynamic, digital set for Sunday in the Park with George, which won it an Olivier Award in 2007.
The company's director Timothy Bird offered the BBC's LJ Rich a tour of his latest production, the show Pippin, set in the world of a computer game, which has just finished its run at the Menier Chocolate Factory theatre in London.
Back at his team's central London offices, he showed the massive amount of pre-production work that goes into each performance.
Produced by Dougal Shaw. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/6/newsid_2511000/2511575.stm | 1954: Bannister breaks four-minute mileRoger Bannister, a 25-year-old British medical student, has become the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes.His time was 3mins 59.4 seconds, achieved at the Iffley Road track in Oxford and watched by about 3,000 spectators.Bannister, once president of the Oxford club, was running for the Amateur Athletic Association against his old university during their annual match.The race was carefully planned and he was aided by two pacemakers, Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway.Brasher took the lead as the first pacemaker, Bannister slotted in behind, with Chataway in third place.When Brasher began to feel the strain, Bannister signalled for Chataway to take over.Just over 200 yards from the finish, Bannister took the lead with a final burst of energy. He sprinted to the line in record time and fell exhausted into the arms of a friend, the Rev Nicholas Stacey.Pandemonium broke out when spectators heard news that Bannister had officially beaten the four-minute mile.He had prepared for the race the previous week at Paddington Green in London in high winds.The weather at Iffley Road was not ideal for record-breaking - a 15mph crosswind with gusts of up to 25mph meant that Bannister nearly called off the attempt.Bannister has beaten his main rival to the record - Australian athlete John Landy.Both had run quite close to the time but the magic number four had proved elusive until now.E-mail this story to a friend | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6902110.stm | Hospital decision by 'year's end'
-
The decision over a hospital facing a scaling-down exercise will be taken by the end of this year, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The timescale emerged during a visit to the Vale of Leven Hospital at Alexandria in West Dunbartonshire.
Health chiefs announced in May that they wanted to scale back emergency procedures and other hospital services.
The proposals recommended that future emergency patients should instead go to the Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital.
Rehabilitation services would also be moved under the plan.
Independent scrutiny
But local politicians have hit out at the proposals saying these would lead to the loss of up 150 jobs and 60 beds.
During her visit, the minister emphasised that no final decision had yet been taken.
Her spokesman added. "Whatever happens will be subject to independent scrutiny and will go out to public consultation.
"She expects that it will come to her for final decision towards the end of the year."
Ms Sturgeon said ahead of her visit: "I know lots of staff and patients in the Vale of Leven area will have questions about NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's proposals for the future of the hospital.
"I am here to listen to what patients and staff have to say about this issue and any others they raise with me." | [
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0.017172... | en | 260 |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6484987.stm | Green Party 'doesn't need leader'
-
The Green Party must not pick a permanent leader if it is to maintain its "refreshing distinctiveness", its annual conference has heard.
Principal speaker Derek Wall said the Greens should not be "sucked in" to having a figurehead like other parties.
The Green Party in England and Wales has one male and one female principal speaker, rather than a single leader.
Some members believe this should change, in an effort to make policies better known to voters.
But Mr Wall said other parties were "increasingly seen as bunches of liars, hypocrites and suits on the make".
Weapons
He accused Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats of having "painted-on environmentalism", as they were united in the "insanity" of pursuing "ever-increasing economic growth".
Mr Wall called for cheaper public transport and for the UK's nuclear weapons system not to be replaced.
Virtually every radical movement in history has been sucked in and domesticated
He also condemned the use of carbon-offsetting schemes as ineffective and challenged all environmentalists to give up flying.
The Greens, who have two MEPs and close to 100 local councillors, elected Sian Berry as their female principal speaker last year.
Critics say this system restricts the party's effectiveness.
'Trap'
But Mr Wall said: "I do think being called a leader has the potential to corrupt.
"I look forward to being replaced as principal speaker by someone better but I will mourn if speakers make way for old-style, ego-led political figures.
"I have no easy answers, I won't tell you any comforting lies but I know my history and I can recognise a trap however well disguised."
Mr Wall told party delegates in Swansea: "Virtually every radical movement in history has been sucked in and domesticated.
"Socialism led to Stalin and Tony Blair. The Romans deposed their kings, built a republic and replaced it with empire.
"Jesus preached humility but under Constantine was used to christen an autocracy.
"The history of struggle is one of repetition, with radicals bought off, killed off or brain washed into submission.
"John Prescott used to be a union man; Gordon Brown used to be socialist.
"Politics can be like a gerbil cage. You go up and up and up to the top slot but with compromises to get their you crash back like the fallen radicals.
"Green politics cannot fail - we have a world to save. If we win power but at the cost of our ideals, that really would be a catastrophe." | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/southeastwales/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_7976000/7976628.stm | Fans bid farewell to Ninian Park
-
Ninian Park will close its gates at the end of the season after 99 years
Writer and football fan Dennis Morgan says the memories of big games at Cardiff City's famous ground will live on long after the final whistle.
Farewell to Ninian Park is his book paying tribute to the stadium which closes one year short of its centenary.
The ageing ground is being replaced by a new 30,000-seater stadium shared with the Cardiff Blues rugby team.
Ipswich Town were the final visitors on April 25 as the Bluebirds failed to reach the Championship playoffs.
Ninian Park was built in 1910 by ambitious amateur club Riverside FC who turned professional and joined the Southern League as Cardiff City.
The ground was named after Lord Ninian Stuart of the Bute family who agreed to be a guarantor for the club - proving that the practice of naming stadia after sponsors is nothing new.
Reigning Football League champions Aston Villa were the first visitors in September 1910, but the newly christened club gave a good account of themselves in narrowly losing 2-1.
Scott Young scores the winner in City's FA Cup defeat of Leeds United in 2002
The former council rubbish dump on Sloper Road initially posed a hazard to players - in the early years they would be paid extra for turning up on the morning of a match to clear the pitch of broken glass and other objects.
Even so, there were still casualties, including Scottish international Peter McWilliam who gashed his leg on a piece of glass and never played again.
Dennis told Roy Noble, of BBC Radio Wales, he'd seen some wonderful games at Ninian Park, with victories over Real Madrid in the European Cup-Winners Cup and Tottenham Hotspur in the old First Division among his highlights.
Ninian Park has also been the scene of many memorable international matches, including a Welsh victory over Israel in 1958.
The result saw Wales qualify for their first - and so far only - World Cup finals.
The new Cardiff City stadium is taking shape just across Sloper Road
But Dennis admits that Ninian Park hasn't worn well over the years, and hopes the new Cardiff City stadium will inspire the club to Premiership glory.
The 30,000 capacity venue stands opposite the old ground on the former site of the Leckwith athletics stadium.
The Bluebirds will share it with the Cardiff Blues rugby region.
They will be leaving their present home at Cardiff Arms Park in the city centre, although in recent years many of their bigger games have been switched to the neighbouring Millennium Stadium.
Meanwhile former footballer Derek Chamberlain has written and recorded a tribute song to the Bluebirds' famous home.
Derek Chamberlain has been a Bluebirds fan for half a century
Rhondda-born Chamberlain, 60, of Coed Ely, hopes that Farewell Ninian Park will emulate the success of James Fox's FA Cup Final anthem Bluebirds Flying High .
"I love Cardiff City; my old man would take me down the Bob Bank when I was 10 years old and I have some great memories," said Chamberlain, who played for Newport County, Ton Pentre and Barry Town.
"I wanted to make the single as a farewell to the ground. As an ex-player and a singer, I thought it was a good idea," he added.
"I'm giving some of the money to Ty Hafan. I'm not in it for the money, I just wanted to do something special to say farewell."
Brian David My first trip to Ninian Park was as an 11 year old with my father to watch Wales vs England in October 1961. It was reported in the Sunday paper that there was 65,000 people there that day. Stood on the wall at the back between the Grange end and the Bob Bank, I can remember shouting "come on Wales" most off the match but for one dreadful moment when I slipped up and shouted "come on England" and about 1,000 faces turned around ,my father reckoned that my face was as red as my scarf and rosette. Then there was the relegation battle years in the 1963/64/65. I remember Greg Farrell going down the wing and playing his socks off against Middlesbrough to keep us in the old 2nd Division. Then there was the magic of Europe watching Real Madrid, Sporting Lisbon, Zaragosa, and Hamburg. Good and bad memories.
Gerry Rose My uncle used to take me to many of the postwar matches. I remember the Dai-capped, silk-scarved men in steel studded boots, each itching to score a goal, knocking sparks off Sloper Road. I remember the thousands who used to pour off Ninian Park halt, as I did in later years. I remember regular crowds of forty plus thousand fans and quite often 50,000 plus. I remember games when Stanley Matthews did not turn up to face Alf Sherwood. I remember in the forties, Newcastle (or was it Sunderland?) turning up in front of a huge disappointed crowd because Trevor Ford was not playing. So many memories. I'm sad to see Ninian Park go but let's hope for a bright future in the new stadium at Leckwith park. Wales needs a premiere side - Go City!!
John Wilce, Malaga, Spain My first visit to Ninian Park was in the 1950s when Cardiff City were promoted back to the First Division. My Dad (who had played with Fred Keenor as a kid) took me to "watch" Cardiff v Arsenal. The score was 0-0; the Gate was a record 58,000. I didn't see much, but will never forget the Ninian Park Roar, described by the great English striker Nat Lofthouse as the greatest cheer in soccer!
As a schoolboy in the 1950s, I saw the best British football team I have ever seen demolish Cardiff City 9-1 in a First Division match at Ninian Park. Billy Wright's Wolves were magic! I believe that Gerry Hitchens scored the 10th and last goal of that match for Cardiff? So, all 10 goals were scored by England internationals!
I well remember the best goal I have ever seen scored by Wales, some 50 years ago against Northern Ireland at Ninian Park. I was standing in the "boys enclosure" immediately behind the Irish goal, when "The Gentle Giant", playing at centre half, won the ball in his own penalty area. John Charles ran straight down the middle of the pitch, from penalty spot to penalty spot, with Irishmen bouncing-off him, like something out of a boys own comic! "Big John" stopped at the Irish penalty spot, as their goalkeeper advanced, and gently tapped the ball to his left, where Roy Clarke scored into an empty net! At Ninian Park I saw Sir Stanley Mathews, Sir Tom Finney, Sir Alf Ramsey, Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Geoff Hurst, but Mr John Charles was the greatest player of them all!
Bob Styles, Cardiff I will always remember as a 13 year old from 1960 going to watch City home games and seeing the large 'Fly Cambrian Airways' advert that was painted across the Canton Stand roof. This work had been done by my father Frank Styles & Ted Totterdale of Styles Signs of 70, Bridge Street, Cardiff on behalf of Cambrian. Also in that season I was lucky enough to have purchased a 'lucky' programme which entitled me to buy a FA Cup final ticket to Wembley at the end of the game. | [
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-0.2561702728... | en | 1,568 |
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34846629 | Bees and pesticides 'missing link' found
-
Scientists say they have found the "missing link" in the debate over the risk of pesticides to bees. French researchers say neonicotinoid pesticides harm individual honeybees, but whole colonies are able to recover in the wild. This accounts for discrepancies between lab and field studies, they report in Royal Society journal Proceedings B , external . A Europe-wide ban on neonicotinoid use on flowering crops is due to be reviewed at the end of the year. It was introduced two years ago.
The debate over the use of neonics has centred on discrepancies between toxicity assessments in the laboratory, where bees are dosed artificially with insecticide, and the findings of field trials in the countryside. The big unanswered question is whether harmful effects seen in lab studies occur in real-life conditions and cause population declines. The new research provides an explanation for the "missing link", say French researchers. Their monitoring of tagged honeybees in the wild suggests bees foraging around treated crops die off at a faster rate than normal. However, colonies are able to make up for those dying off by boosting the number of worker bees in the hive. Lead researcher Dr Mickael Henry of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, INRA, in Avignon, said the average life expectancy for an individual honeybee foraging on crops treated with neonics is lower than expected. He told BBC News: "We could find evidence of troubles at the individual scale in the field but these troubles were compensated for by the colonies. "The population inside the hive was able to compensate for the increased loss of worker honeybees by increasing brood production."
Dr Scott Hayward of the University of Birmingham, who was not connected with the study, said the work "re-ignites arguments to ban neonics", and similar studies are now needed on other pollinator species. His comments were echoed by Dr Christopher Connolly of the University of Dundee. "It is important to remember that all other insect pollinators do not possess the enormous buffering capacity of honeybees and are therefore more acutely at risk to the impact of pesticides," he said. Dr Peter Campbell of the pesticide manufacturer Syngenta said while the study raised unanswered questions "reassuringly... there were still no effects reported at the colony level". And Dr Alan Dewar of Dewar Crop Protection Ltd, added: "The conclusions from this work, which are very simple in contrast to the study itself, show that bees, or at least honey bees, can compensate for adverse effects of pesticides in their environment."
Emergency lifting
Bees are in decline in Europe and North America due to a number of factors, including pesticides, habitat loss and diseases. Neonicotinoids contain synthetic chemicals similar to nicotine, which as a plant toxin is damaging to insects. In the UK, the government has temporarily lifted a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides in parts of England. Two neonicotinoid pesticides can be used in four counties on oilseed rape crops following an emergency application by the National Farmers Union. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the EU Commission had introduced precautionary restrictions on neonicotinoids from December 2013, which the UK had fully implemented. A spokesman added: "The Government makes decisions on pesticides based on the recommendations of senior scientists and independent experts who have looked at the best available scientific evidence. "The Commission has now begun a review of the science relating to neonicotinoids and bees, and the UK will contribute fully to this review." | [
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http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-23794347 | Dolphin in River Dee in Flintshire rescued by RNLI
-
A dolphin has been rescued after swimming miles up the River Dee in Flintshire four days ago. The grey and white mammal became stuck on sandbanks on Thursday at Saltney Ferry, near Chester. An RNLI lifeboat hoisted the dolphin out of the water before carrying it out to sea, according to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue. The dolphin, in the river since Monday, will be taken three miles off the coast of Rhyl. Alan Forrester, lifeboat operations manager with Flint RNLI, told Radio Wales the rescue boat was launched at Connah's Quay after the dolphin was seen "floundering" on a sandbank. It was hoisted onto the lifeboat and carried down the river towards open water. An animal welfare officer is also onboard. "We've got what we call an ambulance pouch, which is a rolled up stretcher," Mr Forrester added. "They laid that on the sandbank and rolled the dolphin into the stretcher and lifted it into the lifeboat.
"It's rather a large dolphin. It's lying there nicely, they've got buckets of water to keep it cool - everything seems to be ok at the moment." The mammal was originally spotted by the public on Monday in Connah's Quay docks and became stranded briefly on Tuesday after turning to make its way to Flint and towards the sea. Liverpool coastguard wanted to hold off a rescue attempt for as long as possible to avoid coming into physical contact with the mammal in case it is rejected back at sea. A coastguard team was earlier deployed to the area to try to ensure the safety of spectators trying to catch a glimpse of the dolphin. It is thought the dolphin swam up the river during the high spring tide. It is rare for dolphins to be seen in the River Dee but a pair of porpoises were reported near Queensferry Bridge eight years ago. | [
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0.069252... | en | 400 |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6320545.stm | UN plans tackle Kosovo limbo
-
Analysis
Kosovo is one of the last pieces of the European jigsaw yet to be slotted into place as the continent settles down after the end of communism.
It was the cause of war between Nato and Serbia in 1999, as Nato demanded an end to the repression of the ethnic-Albanian Kosovan majority and forced a withdrawal of Serbian troops.
It has been in limbo ever since. It is neither effectively still part of Serbia, as the Serbs want, nor independent, as the Kosovans demand.
The proposals
The plan for Kosovo drawn up by the UN's special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, an experienced Finnish diplomat and politician, would give Kosovo independence - but with limits, and under international supervision.
It would open the way for Kosovo to join the UN and have its own flag and national anthem - but it would prevent Kosovo from amalgamating with Albania, or having its Serb areas split off and be part of Serbia.
A key element is that there would be an international representative, supported by Nato troops and an EU-led police mission, to supervise the settlement and make sure that everyone stuck to it. This figure could intervene to annul appointments or even use Nato troops to enforce his or her rulings.
"The plan can be summed up as 'independence, subject to international supervision'," said a Western diplomat familiar with the proposals.
"It is Ahtisaari's assessment of a reasonable compromise. Serbia would have to accept the loss of Kosovo. Kosovo would have to accept an international presence, limits on its sovereignty and a generous package for the Serb and other minorities," the diplomat said.
Reason and nationalism
The problem with "reasonable compromises" is that they do not readily appeal to people with nationalist aspirations.
It has taken nearly 40 years (since the start of the modern troubles in 1968 - though many would argue years or centuries longer than that) for Northern Ireland to reach the stage where a compromise is at the point of decision.
For the ethnically Albanian Kosovans, it is a homeland that should become a country.
For the Serbs, it is part of their heritage - an ancient field of battle where Serbian Christian warriors fought the Muslim Ottoman army in 1389.
For modern European leaders, it is a chance to show that compromise can work and that there is a place in Europe for both Christian and Muslim.
Not the end
Although the plan is part of what is called the "Kosovo Final Status Process", it cannot be the end of the story.
The presence of an international representative cannot be a long-term element in the life of a fully independent state.
It is unlikely that with such an arrangement Kosovo could enter the EU, as it would not be a full democracy.
Further adjustments would have to be made.
It might be some time before this piece of the jigsaw fits into its place, even if this plan is followed.
And the final places of Serbia and Bosnia in the European jigsaw are also yet to be settled.
Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
What are these? | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/8649355.stm | Road named to honour first London to Manchester pilot
-
A road has been named in honour of the first man to fly from London to Manchester - on the 100th anniversary of his achievement.
Louis Paulhan, from France, made the 195-mile (298km) flight in his Farman biplane, landing in a field in Burnage, Manchester, on 28 April 1910.
The flight took four hours and 12 minutes and made news across the world.
A road by the Aviation Viewing Park at Manchester Airport will now be known as Louis Paulhan Way.
'Greatest aviation feat'
The adventurous aviator won a £10,000 prize from a national newspaper for completing the flight from Hampstead in north London.
Andrew Cornish, managing director of Manchester Airport, said: "Louis Paulhan essentially brought the age of flying to the city of Manchester and at the time it was considered around the world to be one of the greatest aviation feats to date.
"Naming a road in Louis' honour at our Aviation Viewing Park, which is already home to aviation icons such as Concorde and Trident, was the most appropriate tribute to mark this anniversary."
Mr Paulhan returned to Manchester in October 1962 when he was one of the guests of honour at the opening of Manchester Airport's Terminal One.
He died four months later at the age of 79. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7618660.stm | Fall in house prices is confirmed
-
There is no let up in sight for falling house prices
The fall in house prices during the past year has been confirmed by the government's own house price index.
Published by the Communities and Local Government department (DCLG), it shows that prices in July were 0.3% lower than a year ago.
That was despite a surprise 1% rise in prices during the course of July.
House prices have fallen in the past year, by about 11% some leading lenders say, because the credit crunch has choked the supply of mortgage funds.
"The current issue affecting the market is largely about the supply of credit - a very different situation to the early 1990s which was about high interest rates and unemployment," said a DCLG spokesman.
Completions
The DCLG survey, based on completed sales, shows that prices have now dropped for the ninth month in a row, which has taken the average UK property price down to £217,171.
However the picture is not uniform across the country.
Prices are down by 0.3% in England, 0.8% in Wales and 10.3% in Northern Ireland.
But in Scotland prices have risen by 3.6% over the past year.
Surveys from lenders such as the Halifax and the Nationwide have suggested that the fall in prices, in the year to August, has been much steeper than that recorded by the DCLG.
That may be due to different methodologies used in their surveys.
The lenders base their figures on prices quoted when they approve their mortgage loans.
Whereas the DCLG's survey is calculated by using completions, based on a survey of about 50,000 sales from 60 mortgage providers, a month behind the lenders.
Gloomy predictions
Economists said that because of this lag, the government's own figures may get worse.
Seema Shah, at Capital Economics, said that with "other more timely measures of house prices weakening drastically in the past few months, and with the economy heading for recession, those falls are likely to intensify over the coming months".
Analysts agree that the housing market has undergone a very severe and sudden contraction after more than a decade of steeply rising prices.
Sales are down by about 50% in the past year; mortgage approvals are down by more than 70% suggesting that sales have further to fall; and last week estate agents reported that in the three months to August, some of them were selling fewer than one property per week.
The head of the Nationwide building society, Graham Beale, has said that house prices might end up falling by as much as 25% from their peak seen in Autumn 2007.
And Andy Hornby, the chief executive of HBOS, which owns the UK's biggest mortgage lender the Halifax, has predicted that the credit crunch that is restricting lending would last well into next year.
Mortgage costs
Fixed-rate mortgage deals may be about to become more expensive as the cost of raising mortgage funds in the financial markets starts to rise.
The cost of inter-bank borrowing, as reflected in the BBA Libor three month sterling rate, rose today from 5.715% to 5.791%.
This was the biggest rise in one day since the US investment bank Bear Stearns had to be rescued in March.
In the past six weeks the average interest rates on the best two-year fixed rate mortgages had fallen by 1.16%, according to the financial information service Moneyfacts.
The best three-year fixes had come down by 0.56% and five-year fixes by an average of 0.4%.
But Michelle Slade of Moneyfacts said this trend could come to an end because of the crash of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers, and fears that other banks may be pushed into a weaker financial position.
"The number of cuts to mortgage rates has slowed in the last week," she said.
"Lenders are likely to be playing a wait and see game at the moment to see how things pan out in the money markets before they make their next moves," she added. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/scot_prem/14242095.stm | Dundee Utd1-1Kilmarnock
- | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/5371370.stm | A-level coursework change set out
-
Changes are being made to the amount of coursework in A-level exams, as part of a review of the qualifications.
Despite controversy about the extent of cheating, the regulatory authorities are increasing the coursework component in English and in history.
It is being axed altogether in geography, although field trips will still be part of the course.
In most subjects, the number of study units will be reduced from six to four, two at AS-level and two at A2.
New "subject criteria", for the 2008 exams, have been published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) following a consultation which produced some 3,200 responses.
'Core'
"Coursework will be included in A-levels only where it is the soundest method of assessment, and provided that it makes clear how reliability and fairness are secured," the QCA said.
The guidance is clear that if and where internal assessment is used there need to be tough safeguards in place to guard against plagiarism
In English, there will be an increase from 30% to 40% of the total A-level in this sort of internal assessment - which is marked within schools and colleges, with samples checked or "moderated" by outside examiners.
But in geography all internal assessment will end. At present coursework can be up to 30% of the total.
Fieldwork - regarded by the Royal Geographical Society as "absolutely core" - is included, but must be externally assessed.
Copying
A QCA spokesman said: "Fieldwork is a very important part of learning in geography and there's no reason why that should change.
"The question is over how the learning acquired on a field trip should best be assessed.
"At the moment it tends to be through coursework. We think it could be done through external assessment instead."
Ministers ordered a review of coursework primarily in relation to reported cheating in GCSEs rather than A-levels.
The QCA said pupils had been copying each others' work and downloading essays from the internet.
Changes to GCSE coursework are expected to be announced next month.
Regarding A-levels, the QCA spokesman said: "The guidance is clear that if and where internal assessment is used there need to be tough safeguards in place to guard against plagiarism."
Meanwhile, the QCA is to try out several different ways of making A-levels harder, to stretch candidates more.
These will include optional harder questions and compulsory harder questions within A-levels, and a separate harder paper similar to the existing Advanced Extension Award. | [
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13188444 | Libya: Misrata faces up to death and destruction
-
For 10-year-old Mohammed, war used to be a game - his favourite game. He would lose himself for hours in shootouts on his games console. But he is a child of Misrata, where the bloodshed is now not make-believe. And just over a week ago, as he played in his yard, a speeding bullet penetrated his skull. Doctors say a fragment passed right through his brain. Now he lies in a hospital bed, conscious but gripped by a searing headache. His voice rises and falls with the waves of pain. He cries out for his uncle, for God, and most often, for his mother, Zeinab, who keeps a vigil by his side. "The bombing had stopped so he went outside to play with his cousins," she said. "He was tying his shoelaces when the bullet hit him. It's a miracle he survived." Before he was hit, Mohammed was already contemplating his own death, Zeinab says. "Two days beforehand he told me, 'If I am killed don't cry. You should celebrate. I will be a martyr,'" she says.
Endless flow
Mohammed is her only child. Mother and son suffer as one. When he cries, she winces, gripping his hand, and reciting prayers. Doctors say he is improving, but they are concerned about his headaches, and the risk of a haemorrhage.
Casualties arrive at the hospital in an endless flow - as if on a conveyor belt. Over a 15-minute period recently 120 were rushed in. "We are exhausted by blood, and exhausted by death," said Dr Abdullah Jawad, a casualty surgeon. "We have been working like this for 60 days. Col Gaddafi just wants to kill." Soon after we arrived, visitors were asked to clear the crowded hospital car park. Staff were worried the large numbers could provoke a mortar attack. The medical staff are battling against fatigue, shortages, and their own grief. "Misrata is a big city, but we are one family," said Dr Fathi Mohammed, a softly spoken young surgeon. "Sometimes you don't have time to even look at your patient, but after a few minutes you realise that you know him, and he is dying. "My school friend died in front of me. At any time they might bring some of my family here." On most days at least 10 people die in the hospital, he says, with over 100 injured - most of them young.
Cluster bombs
The wounded arrive with horrific injuries - the result of mortars, grenades, and snipers. An increasing number have lost limbs - which may be the result of cluster bombs.
We found remnants of these widely banned weapons attached to a makeshift barricade in a district near the front line. The rebels there told us they had been used on homes and a supermarket. By day, these rebels mount checkpoints - a kind of armed neighbourhood watch. And by night they fight - often to the death. Their leader, Hasan Duah, is a middle-aged factory worker who never expected to take up arms. "On the first day we went down into the streets to hold a peaceful demonstration," he said. "We've been forced to hold guns and weapons to defend ourselves." Two months on they have mastered street-fighting techniques, and used their local knowledge to their advantage. In key areas of the city centre the rebels managed to encircle Col Gaddafi's forces, cutting their supply lines. At the weekend the regime claimed to have suspended operations against the rebels, and its forces withdrew in places. Since then, however, the deadly shelling of the city has continued, and Misrata has seen some of the worst violence since the siege began. "The retreat is just a trick," said Rida al-Montasser, a rebel supporter and local organiser. "Gaddafi intends to send his soldiers back here in civilian clothes." It's a tactic the Libyan leader has used before, in battlegrounds in eastern Libya such the town of Ajdabiya.
Cracks, thumps, thuds
Many in Misrata believe there is a lot more fighting left to do. "It could go on for another two or three months," said Kasim Ibrahim, a businessman. "But if Nato really helped it could be over in 15 days." During a three-day stay in the city, we heard Nato warplanes overhead several times, but did not see or hear any fresh air strikes.
But another soundtrack became very familiar - the percussion of war. Both day and night were punctuated by the cracks, thumps, and thuds of heavy artillery and mortars. Sounds that can mean instant death - for fighters and civilians alike. The rebels have suffered heavy losses - clearing one key intersection cost 100 men. A shortage of weapons can mean that guns have to be shared, passed from hand to hand at the end of fighting shifts. One 20-year-old student told me he was often bare-handed on the front line. When two of his best friends were killed beside him by a mortar attack, he left the besieged city - but only to look for guns. Rebel sources told us they are getting re-armed from their de facto capital, Benghazi, but so far had not received weapons from foreign friends like Qatar. A three-man French team had arrived in the city, they said, to help pinpoint the location of Col Gaddafi's forces. What the rebels lack in arms, they appear to make up for in resolve. And, critically, they know the consequences of failure. "When I fight, I have a big chance to win," said Mr Montasser. "If I give up I will certainly die. Gaddafi will not leave us alive." Many in Misrata stress that their revolt is for freedom, not for bread. The port city has a long history as a centre of trade. It has a developed infrastructure, and an educated population. The problem here was oppression, not poverty. Before the uprising in the city, Mr Montasser was a businessman, with a tile factory. Now he's a revolutionary, with a beard. But he's quick to explain the facial hair now sported by many men in Misrata. "Please don't think we are al-Qaeda," he said. "We all agreed not to shave until Col Gaddafi was gone," he said. "Nobody thought it would take this long." | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7870000/newsid_7878500/7878581.stm | In pictures: The Grammy Awards 2009
- | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/oxfordshire/6920332.stm | Fresh warning for flood-hit homes
-
People trying to clear up after the recent flooding in Oxfordshire are being warned to prepare for more heavy rain this weekend.
The Environment Agency has issued flood warnings for the Rivers Ock, Ray, Thames and Cherwell in the county.
The agency is urging people to be on their guard because, with the ground saturated, any heavy rainfall will run straight into the rivers.
About 900 homes have been flooded in the county since storms hit a week ago.
The areas most at risk over the weekend include homes near rivers in Charney Bassett, Abingdon, Islip, Eynsham and Oxford.
About 150 homes in Oxford were flooded on Wednesday after Thames tributaries burst their banks, spilling on to the river's already water-logged flood plain.
In Abingdon some 570 properties were flooded. | [
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-21274550 | Annan vehicle fire spate investigated
-
Police are investigating a spate of "suspicious" vehicle fires in a south of Scotland town. In the latest incident, a Vauxhall Corsa car was found burning in the Everholm car park in Annan in the early hours of Thursday morning. Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary said it was the fourth such blaze in the town in the last week. The fire was put out by Dumfries and Galloway Fire and Rescue Service, but the vehicle was gutted. Police are appealing for members of the community to come forward if they can assist in any way with their enquiries into these fires. The first incident took place at about 22:30 on Saturday, when a red Peugeot 306 parked in Loreburn Court was found ablaze. A silver VW Polo in Greencroft Wynd was found on fire at about 21:15 the following night. A third incident was reported when an ice cream van was spotted alight in Fernlea Crescent at 22:30 on Monday. The final fire was seen at 01:50 on Thursday morning. | [
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-26816588 | Dog-walker, 68, cut off by Carmarthenshire tide is named
-
A 68-year-old woman who died after being cut off by the tide as she walked dogs with her daughter on a Carmarthenshire beach, has been named. Susan Wendy Hackett, from the Cynwyl Elfed area of Carmarthenshire, died after being airlifted from the water on Sunday afternoon. She had been walking eight dogs with her daughter, 40, at Cefn Sidan when they became stranded. Her daughter has been discharged from hospital. According to the coastguard, the tide in the Loughor estuary, which leads out into Carmarthen Bay, is dangerous and comes in "very quickly". Dyfed-Powys Police said three of the dogs were safe but five were unaccounted for.
Rescue
The emergency services were alerted by a member of the public who was walking along the beach when they spotted the women in trouble. Two RNLI inshore lifeboats from Burry Port were called to the southern end of Cefn Sidan beach, along with the RAF helicopter from Chivenor in Devon. A spokesman for the RNLI said when the rescue team arrived at the scene, one of the dogs was seen in difficulty in the water.
"Within minutes, approximately 200 yards on from the sighting of the pet dog, the first casualty was spotted in danger in the water," he said. "With the casualty struggling to remain afloat, having been in the water for nearly an hour, one of the lifeboat crew members entered the water to give urgent assistance by keeping the casualty afloat before aiding them aboard the lifeboat." He said that the woman was pulled from the water and given first aid as the search for the other woman continued. A few minutes later Ms Hackett was found by the lifeboat crew and was winched aboard the rescue helicopter. Paul Stewart, from Burry Port Lifeboat, said crews were on the scene within five minutes of being called out. "When the casualty (daughter) was back on land she did confirm she had been in the water for an hour. When we launched we were unaware of that." Burry Port Lifeboat operations manager Roger Bowen said parts of the beach can be "treacherous" with signs in car parks and the nearby Pembrey Country Park warning visitors to watch for the changing tide and the possibility of being cut off on a sand bank on the beach. He said the incident happened at an area known as The Nose, a spit of land on the easterly part of huge Cefn Sidan beach which is famous for its shifting sands revealing old shipwrecks and other finds . Swansea coastguard watch officer Marc Lancey said: "At the moment we've got spring tides, which means we have the highest of the high tides and the lowest of the low tides. "When we have a spring tide, the rate the tide comes in increases and so does the volume of water. The water certainly comes in faster during a spring tide." Elsewhere a woman was pulled from the sea in near Llandudno by RNLI on Monday, and a fisherman died after receiving injuries while working on a boat off the Llyn peninsula in Gwynedd. | [
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-13748923 | Chile tackles questions about Allende and Neruda deaths
-
They were towering figures in 20th Century Chile: Salvador Allende and Pablo Neruda, the president and the poet, two men united in life by their left-wing politics, and divided in death by a matter of days. For years, Chileans have been taught that Mr Allende committed suicide during the military coup of 11 September, 1973, and that Mr Neruda died 12 days later of heart failure brought on by prostate cancer. But now, both deaths are under investigation. In both cases, the Chilean military stands accused of murder and the country's former dictator General Augusto Pinochet is once again in the metaphorical dock. The evidence against the military is far from conclusive. In the case of Pablo Neruda, it rests largely on the testimony of one man, Manuel Araya, the poet's personal assistant during the last year of his life. In the case of Salvador Allende, the story is more complicated. There are several conflicting accounts of how the president died. Last month, on the orders of a judge, his remains were exhumed and handed to forensic experts who are trying to establish what happened. It is known that Mr Allende died inside the presidential palace during the coup, which brought his Socialist government to an abrupt and bloody end.
'Hail of bullets'
The most widely accepted version is that, as Gen Pinochet's forces closed in on him, Mr Allende shot himself using an AK-47 rifle given to him as a gift by Cuban leader Fidel Castro. That version is based largely on the testimony of Mr Allende's doctor, Patricio Guijon, who says he saw the president pull the trigger. Mr Guijon, who is still alive, says no-one else was in the room. The initial autopsy from 1973 supported his testimony, and Mr Allende's family has long accepted that the 65-year-old leader killed himself rather than surrender to the military.
But ever since his death, people have speculated that he was murdered. Many on the political left prefer to think of Mr Allende dying in a hail of enemy bullets rather than taking his own life, alone in the palace. "His assassination was hushed up," Mr Neruda wrote in his memoirs three days after the coup. "He had to be machine-gunned because he would never have resigned from office." The latest twist in the story is the emergence of a 300-page military report into Mr Allende's death, compiled in 1973 but never made public. Last month, Chilean state broadcaster TVN screened a documentary based on the report. It said it obtained its copy from the rubble of a house destroyed in last February's earthquake in southern Chile. The house was once owned by a military prosecutor. TVN interviewed Luis Ravanal, a forensic expert who believes there were two weapons involved in Mr Allende's death. He says the president was shot with two bullets, the first from a small-calibre weapon and the second, when Mr Allende was dead or dying, from the AK-47. That has prompted speculation that the president was shot by a soldier, a sniper or even one of his aides, possibly as a mercy killing.
Revered figure
While Mr Allende's death has always been shrouded in mystery, the latest claims about Pablo Neruda come as something of a surprise. Most people accept that he died of cancer.
But in a recent interview with the Mexican magazine Proceso, the poet's former personal assistant said Mr Neruda, a lifelong communist and a Chilean ambassador, was given a lethal injection while being treated in a Santiago clinic in the days after the coup. Manuel Araya says the poet was admitted to hospital on 19 September 1973, and from there he planned to seek exile in Mexico to escape the chaos in Chile. But Mr Araya says that on 23 September, Neruda made a frantic telephone call to his wife to say he had been given a mysterious injection while he was sleeping. The poet died later that day, and Mr Araya is convinced he was murdered. Pablo Neruda's widow is long dead and the Neruda Foundation, which oversees his estate, says Mr Araya's claim is nonsense. Nonetheless, Chilean prosecutors have opened an investigation. If it is proved that Mr Neruda was murdered, it will be a stunning revelation. Awarded the Nobel Literature Prize in 1971, he is a revered figure, not just in Chile but around the world.
Why now?
Those who insist that Salvador Allende and Pablo Neruda were killed by the military still have plenty of questions to answer. Why, for example, would Mr Allende's doctor lie about seeing the president commit suicide? And in the case of Mr Neruda, why is his personal assistant only talking now, more than 37 years after the event?
But anyone who dismisses these claims as implausible conspiracy theories should perhaps reflect on Chile's recent history. In 2009, six people were charged in connection with the death of Eduardo Frei, Mr Allende's predecessor as president. Mr Frei went into hospital for routine surgery in 1981, at the height of Gen Pinochet's military rule, and never came out alive. His family believe he was poisoned with mustard gas. In December last year, the remains of Mr Allende's Interior Minister Jose Toha were exhumed as part of an investigation into his death in 1974. The military said he committed suicide by hanging himself in a hospital wardrobe. His family believe he was murdered. Nearly four decades after Chile's military coup, the graves of Santiago are starting to give up their secrets. Over the next few months, judges and forensic experts will sift through the new evidence and reach their own conclusions about what happened to Mr Allende and Mr Neruda in September 1973. Their findings are likely to shape Chilean history for generations to come. | [
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https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34357047 | The ex-Muslim Britons who are persecuted for being atheists
-
Many people take for granted the right to choose to leave the religion of their childhood. But not everybody has that choice, writes Samira Ahmed. It sounds like a crime from a medieval history book. Apostasy is the decision to renounce a faith and/or convert to another religion. It's not recorded in the Census, but the 2011 figures show the number of people in England and Wales who say they have no religion nearly doubled in the 10 years since 2001 , external to a quarter of the population. In the same time the number of Muslims in England and Wales grew by 80% to 2.7 million , external . And among some of Britain's urban Muslims - nearly half of whom were born in the UK and are under 24 - there's a belief that leaving Islam is a sin and can even be punished by death. An investigation for the BBC has found evidence of young people suffering threats, intimidation, being ostracised by their communities and, in some cases, encountering serious physical abuse when they told their families they were no longer Muslims. There are also local councils that seem to have little awareness of the issue or any policy on how to protect these vulnerable young people. There are no official statistics on apostasy in British Islam, and only a few academic studies based on a tiny handful of individual cases.
But growing numbers of ex-Muslims are sharing their experiences on online forums. Coming out as a non-believer at an age when young people of all backgrounds can rebel over relationships and cultural expectations means it's often hard to identify religion as a factor. But whereas there is recognition of homophobia in the law for gay people, what happens to teenagers whose families reject their right to leave their religion? Ayisha (not her real name) from Lancashire was just 14 when she began to question Islam after reading the Koran. She started rebelling over wearing the hijab, but eventually decided she wasn't a Muslim and the situation at home rapidly got worse.
"My dad threatened to kill me by getting a knife and holding it against my neck and saying: 'We might as well do it if you're going to bring this much shame to the family.'" He used to beat her so badly that eventually she called the police and he was convicted of child cruelty. Ayisha hadn't anticipated the shock of being immediately cut off from her mother and siblings. Now just 17 and studying for A-levels, she's been placed by the council under the guardianship of her boyfriend's father. It's hardly ideal, but she understands why. "They thought I wasn't at much risk and that was the end of it."
Aaliyah, 25, who also did not wish to be named, lives in South Yorkshire. She left Islam while at university and realised she couldn't move back home, where her parents had a marriage arranged for her and the fear of violence was very real. "I know my family wouldn't hurt me, not my immediate family," she says, looking back. "But I haven't told my relatives. My dad's actually told me that if the wrong people found out then he doesn't know what's going to happen." Aaliyah offers advice to other ex-Muslims on online forums and urges them to get financially independent before they tell their parents, so they can cope with being thrown out.
Like other ex-Muslims, she says the importance of being true to herself outweighs the very real loneliness of being disowned and the guilt placed on her. "When I came out to my family my auntie told me my brothers and sisters wouldn't be able to get married because their honour would be tarnished. And it would all be my fault." The fear is constant too. "I used to live in Bradford for a time and I'd be very quiet about it because there are Muslims everywhere. I still have this innate fear, it's hard to explain. You just want to keep quiet about it. It's just safe to stay quiet."
Blasphemy laws around the world
As of 2012, 22% of the world's countries and territories had anti-blasphemy laws or policies One in ten (11%) had laws or policies penalising apostasy with a range of punishments varying from fines to death In the Americas, 31% of countries had blasphemy laws. In the Bahamas, the publication or sale of blasphemous material can be punished with up to two years' imprisonment
Source: Pew Research Center , external
Afzal Khan came from Pakistan, where blasphemy laws and conservative social attitudes have left apostates at risk of violence, to study theology at Bradford University. Over the course of his studies he made the decision to leave Islam and told friends in Pakistan, via posts on a social media network. "I personally concluded that this faith is primarily a very misogynistic faith and that was a clear turning point. All my Muslim friends they were just shocked. Initially they thought I was just joking, but when they realised that I'm serious they started abusing me, cursing me and, in a mild way at the start, they started threatening me." His family disowned him. "I spoke to my mother over the phone and she yelled that 'you are no more my son'. Then my brother picked up the phone and their message was that you do not belong to us and since then I've not heard anything back from them." Afzal subsequently heard from relatives that his mother had said he should be killed, "because that's what the Islamic state requires from blasphemers". He and his wife and young daughter have recently been given leave to remain in the UK, because of the risk to their safety of returning to Pakistan. The BBC contacted 13 local authorities with large Muslim populations across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. None had any provision for dealing with vulnerable ex-Muslims, and many had no idea what apostasy even was. Some said there was adequate provision in existing services for young people in trouble. Given the pressure from within Muslim communities to keep the perceived stigma of apostasy secret, it is perhaps not surprising that local authorities don't have much awareness of the issue.
However the Rotherham sexual abuse scandal exposed an institutionalised attitude of turning a blind eye to the suffering of vulnerable young people because of the overwhelmingly Pakistani Muslim ethnic and religious identity of the abusers. A similar sensitivity around offending Muslim culture and belief could be prominent in the reluctance of local authorities and government to formulate a policy on apostasy, when that predominantly seems to affect young, vulnerable ex-Muslims who can find themselves isolated and afraid, as they struggle with their identify and their safety. Ahmadiyya Muslims are a minority in Islam in saying that there should be no punishment in this life for apostasy and they emphasise that there should be no compulsion in religion. They are themselves regarded as heretics by some Sunni sects and persecuted in Pakistan. Muzzafar Ahmad, an Ahmadiyya imam in Scunthorpe, says he knows several ex-Ahmadiyya Muslims and "they've never been punished or persecuted in any shape or form".
He's concerned about the way Islam is being taught in Muslim majority schools. "We need to teach children comparative religion in schools, but we shouldn't be teaching religion in school." He believes it's to blame for growing segregation and intolerance in some close-knit Muslim communities. Alom Shaha, a trustee of the British Humanist Association, wrote The Young Atheist's Handbook about his own experience of leaving Islam as a young man. As a result he is contacted by many distressed young ex-Muslims seeking help and advice. Shaha is very sensitive to the fear of fuelling anti-Muslim prejudice, but says: "We mustn't ignore those within these communities who are also oppressed. So I want people who are responsible for taking care of vulnerable young people to recognise that being an atheist can be an absolutely serious matter which puts people at risk." Samira Ahmed's report on apostasy goes out on Inside Out Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and Inside Out North West on 28 September at 19:30 BST on BBC One - or watch on the BBC iPlayer Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter , external to get articles sent to your inbox. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/8446410.stm | Muslims 'exercising free speech' during Luton protest
-
A group of Muslims, accused of branding British soldiers murderers, were only exercising their right to free speech, a lawyer has told Luton magistrates.
The men chanted slogans as the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment marched through Luton last March.
The men deny using threatening, abusive or insulting words and behaviour likely to cause harassment and distress.
Kyri Argyropoulos, defending, said the case had "huge irony" as the soldiers had fought "in the name of freedom".
Earlier, District Judge Carolyn Mellanby rejected the men's lawyers' appeal for her to stop the case as an abuse of process or rule that there was no case to answer.
'Huge irony'
Those accused are: Jalal Ahmed, 21; Yousaf Bashir, 29; Ibrahim Anderson, 32; Jubair Ahmed, 19; Ziaur Rahman, 32; Shajjadar Choudhury, 31, and Munim Abdul, 29, all from Luton.
Angry scenes broke out during the homecoming parade for the 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment on 10 March last year.
The regiment had fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Argyropoulos, who is defending Mr Choudhury, told the court on the fourth day of the trial: "There's a huge irony in this case.
"Soldiers return home from two countries they were sent to in the name of democracy and freedom and the same state who sent them there in the name of democracy and freedom now seeks to prosecute them for that."
The trial continues. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6248033.stm | Ecuador-Colombia row taken to OAS
-
Ecuador has taken to the Organization of American States (OAS) its challenge to Colombia's crop-spraying programme of coca plantations along their border.
Ecuador's Foreign Minister Francisco Carrion has described the programme as a hostile act.
The Ecuadoreans argue that Colombia's aerial fumigation destroys crops and poses serious health risks on their side of the border.
Colombia says the programme is vital to combat illegal coca production.
It targets plantations controlled by drug traffickers and the left-wing rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
Colombia stopped spraying a 10km (six-mile) buffer zone a year ago after Ecuador complained that herbicides had drifted across the border.
But the Bogota government later resumed fumigations in the area following an increase in coca production there.
Colombia remains the world's largest producer of cocaine, although its share has dropped to 54% from 74% in 2000.
Its drug-eradication programme is supported by the US.
The OAS has mechanisms to settle disputes between member states. | [
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-0.0067813... | en | 237 |
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25397192 | Demolition threat to expat properties in Spain
-
Thousands of homes belonging to British families living in Spain are under threat of demolition.
Planning permission granted by local authorities can be overruled by the regional government, leaving the owners with no building and no compensation.
Now the British government is stepping in to try to help.
Tom Burridge reports. | [
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https://www.bbc.com/news/education-44953430 | Government bodies 'worst for aggressive debt collection'
-
Local councils and government bodies may not usually be associated with sending round "the heavies" to collect debts from hard-pressed families.
But they are often worse than consumer creditors, can be very aggressive and quick to use bailiffs, MPs say.
The Treasury Select Committee says debts and overpayments are often pursued "over-zealously and uncompromisingly" by councils.
It calls for public sector bodies to change the way they recoup debts.
The current approach risks driving vulnerable, struggling people into further difficulty, the committee says.
In its report "Household finances: income, savings and debt", MPs single out public bodies for being behind the curve in their collection methods.
'Rapacious firms'
It quotes evidence from Citizens Advice head of policy, Matt Upton.
"This is a point people find slightly difficult to grasp," he says.
"When people first hear that government collection and local authority collection is effectively worst in class, versus consumer creditors, it is quite difficult to accept emotionally.
"Government must be better than some of these rapacious firms that we hear about.
"If you talk to banks, it is because lots of organisations have realised that incredibly aggressive collection methods are not effective at getting money in the door, because people do not respond well to some of those tactics."
The Financial Conduct Authority told the committee that about a fifth of debt clients were arriving with problems paying council tax and utility bills.
And Step Change, the debt charity, said it was now seeing average council tax debts of above £1,000 for about a third of its clients.
Mr Upton, acknowledging some bailiffs could be heavy-handed. told the BBC: "We've seen cases where people have been marched to ATMs to make payments."
He added that people can get into a relatively small amount of debt which can quickly spiral once debt collectors take over and add on fees and charges.
Analysis
"I want to die. They have made me feel so ill and scared. I cannot go outside the house and I keep my windows closed even when it's hot."
This was how an anonymous debtor from Dorset said she felt after being chased for a debt by bailiffs.
In another post on Taking Control, a web campaign against heavy-handed debt collection, someone from Westminster says: "After one missed instalment on a liability order payment plan for council tax, because of ill-health, an enforcement agent left an enforcement notice while I was out.
"When I contacted him, he was gruff, dismissive and rude, referring to me repeatedly as 'darling', despite me asking him not to do so, cutting me off and being quite intimidating, threatening 'we're coming round the house'."
The treatment of a 68-year-old vulnerable widowed lady by bailiffs seeking council tax arrears was described by a debt adviser.
"The arrears appear to relate to 2013.
"The client's son has tried to get further details from the council in order to dispute the debt but so far this has not been forthcoming.
"The enforcement agents have been rude, intimidating and threatening on the phone to the client's son and have bullied him into setting up a regular payment of £20 on behalf of his mother."
It's hardly surprising there are calls for the public sector - that is local authorities, Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC - to sign up and commit to better, more sensitive practices.
As the committee says: "The public sector should be leading by example in their treatment of the most vulnerable."
Step Change chief executive Phil Andrew said he agreed that non-credit arrears should be included in the breathing space scheme which, if it goes ahead, could give people in problem debt a break while they sort out their finances.
Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: "MPs are right to acknowledge that government agencies and local authorities are worst in class for debt collection, when they should be leading by example.
"Reforms in 2014 were introduced to protect people from unfair practices, with a particular focus on how bailiffs collect debt.
"It is clear these changes have failed. Citizens Advice has seen a more than 25% rise in bailiff problems since 2014 and helped 42,000 people with 98,000 issues last year.
"We need an independent regulator to protect consumers from unfair practice."
An HM Treasury spokesperson said: "Government and local authorities have a duty to collect taxpayer's money that is owed to them.
"But we know that not everyone's circumstances are the same, which is why people can get help to pay their debt in affordable instalments, reduce their payments, or take breaks entirely.
"There is always more we can do.
"That's why we set up the Fairness Group, a body of government and industry leaders, who are working to improve how debt is collected to make it fairer for everyone." | [
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19951854 | Man 'felt violated' by race charge PC Alex MacFarlane
-
A police officer accused of racially abusing a suspect told him "don't hide behind your black skin", a court heard. Mauro Demetrio used his mobile phone to record an exchange with PC Alex MacFarlane, 53, after he was arrested in east London in August 2011. At Southwark Crown Court, Mr Demetrio said he felt "violated". The officer is accused of using "deeply hurtful" racist language. He denies causing racially aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress. Southwark Crown Court heard the alleged incident took place after Mr Demetrio was arrested on 11 August and taken to Forest Gate police station.
'Hurtful and demeaning'
He was detained after officers discovered he was wanted on suspicion of the supply or manufacture of drugs and for failing to attend court. No action was taken on the drug-driving arrest, the court heard. Mr Demetrio had become "abusive" to officers following his arrest and claimed he was strangled and pushed against the window of a police van, the jury heard. He used his mobile phone to record the argument with Mr MacFarlane, from the Met Police, where the suspect was called a "scumbag". (Warning: Contains very strong language) The second recording included an alleged racial insult where Mr Demetrio is told: "The problem with you is you will always be a nigger."
The officer is then heard saying: "Be proud of who you are, don't hide behind your black skin." Both recordings were played in court. In a police interview, which was read in court, the PC admitted getting into a "slanging match" with Mr Demetrio and said the suspect had also called him names. "I have to confess it became a bit unpleasant," he said in the interview. He added that previously he told other black youths not to hide behind their skin colour, but that usually had a "positive response". Giving evidence Mr Demetrio said: "I thought that's it, isn't it? It can't get any worse. "I really felt violated. I felt really, really low and just violated." Mr Demetrio said the officers, who were part of a public order unit, appeared "agitated" at the time because it was days after the riots broke out in London. Duncan Atkinson, prosecuting, said the officer's comments had been "deeply hurtful and demeaning" and had distressed Mr Demetrio. The trial continues. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7533428.stm | Trial of Syrian dissidents begins
-
Riad Seif has been arrested several times for dissident activity
Twelve opposition activists have gone on trial in Syria's capital, Damascus.
A local rights groups said the accused denied charges including spreading false information to weaken national morale, and joining a secret group.
The accused are linked to a pro-reform body know as the Damascus Declaration group. They were arrested in the months following a group meeting in December.
Rights groups condemned the prosecution and called for their release. The trial was adjourned until 26 August.
The Damascus Declaration, signed by a group of Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals and activists in 2005, called for relations between the two countries to be improved.
The document urged democratic reform and called for Syria to recognise Lebanon as an independent state by demarcating the border.
Spring symbol
The National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria (NOHRS) said the 12 had appeared in court and denied all of the charges against them.
"[They] stressed that the Damascus Declaration was not an undertaking [carried out] in a secret manner and that its aim was to defend the homeland," the NOHRS said in a statement.
Among the accused are journalist Ali Abdallah and former MP Riad Seif.
The NOHRS has described Mr Seif as "one of the symbols of the Damascus Spring", the period of political dialogue after the death of former President Hafez al-Assad in 2000.
The president's successor, his son Bashar, initially tolerated the discussion groups which came into being, but a tough clampdown began in 2001.
The NOHRS says the current trial is the biggest collective prosecution of Syrian dissidents in the past seven years. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9745000/9745387.stm | Should footballers be more like Olympians?
-
England's Premier League season kicks off this weekend with invidious comparisons already being made between the so-called "beautiful game" and the warm glow generated by the sport - and sportsmanship - at the London Olympics.
But do football's key figures feel they need to change the game?
Rob Bonnet spoke to Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the League Managers Association.
Get in touch with Today via email , Twitter or Facebook or text us on 84844. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7943822.stm | In pictures: Madagascar unrest
- | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3722326.stm | European press review
-
A green light to Turkey to begin EU membership talks receives a cool reception from much of Europe's press on Thursday.
Papers in Romania and Bulgaria do not let their governments off the hook, despite being on track for joining the EU.
And in Russia, fare-dodgers are in for a surprise.
End of Europe?
"Turkey's accession would destroy the European house as we know it," Germany's
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
says.
It warns of a "lack of communal feeling" towards Turkey that the paper says existed between Europeans "even when they were at war with each other".
Whether the people of Europe want it or not, the paper says, they "should be told that the issue is not 'enlarging' the EU but transforming it".
Swiss newspaper
Le Temps
agrees.
It says Europe has to realise that admitting Turkey also means "seeing shattered forever the possibility of a United States of Europe - the federal dream at the heart of the European project".
Austria's
Die Presse
calls the debate on Turkey "absurd".
Nobody can predict in which direction Turkey will develop
And it blames London and Berlin for being the driving forces behind the overall decision.
While EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen simply carries out German policy in Brussels, it argues, Britain is happy to see Turkey join in order to undermine efforts to deepen European integration.
For France's leading daily
Le Monde
, the Turks are no "ordinary candidates" for membership.
It notes that Turkey has sparked controversy in all EU member states.
"Never before have there been so many precautions taken prior to admitting a new member," the paper writes.
The Czech Republic's
Pravo
fears the unknown future.
"Islamic fundamentalism is neither dead, nor entirely marginal in Turkey," the paper cautions.
"Nobody - not even President Chirac or Chancellor Schroeder - can predict in which direction Turkey will develop."
Another Czech paper is more optimistic on this front.
"If governments in EU countries can be headed by Christian democrats,"
Mlada Fronta Dnes
argues, "why couldn't one be led by Islamic democrats?"
But the paper still harbours some doubts over democracy and civil liberties. "If soldiers can force a premier to resign and disband his party as happened in Turkey a mere seven years ago," it says, "then the doubts are substantiated."
Unwelcome conditions
Germany's
Die Tageszeitung
calls the EU Commission's recommendation "right and good".
"It would be even better if the 'yes' were accompanied by a slightly smaller 'but'," the paper adds.
For the paper, Turkey's accession is the EU's "biggest project", which requires courageous politicians - courage which it regrets was not much in evidence yesterday.
"People can only make a success of the difficult process of integrating Turkey," the paper argues, "if they really wish to see it come about". This, it adds, "must be made clear" by politicians.
Spain's
El Pais
also welcomes the decision, but criticises the conditions set by the European Commission, which it points out "have been imposed on no other country".
It baulks at the "permanent discrimination" against Turkey in imposing long-term limits on Turks' movement within Europe.
Spain, it says, is "one of the notable exceptions" in a Europe where "many countries have major reservations" over Turkey.
"Pat on the back"
"You're in!" Sofia's
Troud
newspaper rejoices, after the latest EC reports confirm Bulgaria is on track for joining the EU.
"Bulgaria's accession may be delayed only if the country does nothing further to prepare for membership,"
24 Chassa
writes.
Dnevnik
newspaper calls it a "last pat on the back", but warns the government of further work ahead.
We do not want to become the rotten apple of Europe
"This report marks the end of a period of talking and making promises to Brussels, and the start of a period of strict control over their fulfilment," it says.
Bucharest's
Azi
welcomes Romania's own report, which it says "soothes our anxiety".
The paper acknowledges the report's "harsh criticism" of the lack of reform and extent of corruption, but says "we are all anxious to see it sorted out".
Cotidianul
, on the other hand, believes the report underestimates its country's problems.
The paper worries that if the decision to allow Romania to join the EU is solely a political one, "none of our profound problems will ever be resolved".
"Even if the EU has given Romania a diplomatic handout," it argues, "we must improve our political and economic situation if we do not want to become the rotten apple of Europe".
Tickets please
Lastly, a Russian paper recounts how paid-up passengers on suburban trains in Moscow were forced to wait on the trains while their fare dodging fellow travellers were escorted to ticket desks in a major clampdown.
"The initial results are horrifying", a Moscow railway employee tells the
Moskovskiy Komsomolets
newspaper on condition of anonymity.
"You won't believe it, but about 50% of passengers are still happily riding the trains without paying, in spite of all our measures!"
BBC Monitoring | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6657173.stm | Brown pledges academy support
-
Gordon Brown has pledged his continued backing for academies - the independent state schools introduced by the outgoing prime minister, Tony Blair.
Academies are intended as high-investment, high-quality schools for the most deprived areas of England.
But they have been unpopular with teachers' unions who have criticised the involvement of private sponsors.
Later Mr Brown told the CBI he also wanted to improve numeracy rates among primary school leavers.
Academies, which are supported by private sponsors and control their own admissions, have been closely identified with Mr Blair - raising speculation as to how they would survive under a government led by Mr Brown.
Maths standards
But Mr Brown, speaking on BBC Radio 4's World at One, promised that he would "continue to support and finance" the academy and trust school initiatives.
"I was talking to someone only last night and trying to persuade them that it was in their interests and the country's interest to become a sponsor of a city academy," said Mr Brown.
It is unacceptable that we still have 150,000 children leaving primary school who aren't numerate
If Mr Brown succeeds in his leadership bid - and with the Conservatives also backing this type of school - it appears that the future of the academy project is assured.
David Willetts, Conservative education spokesperson, says that the academies are "raising academic performance in areas where for over a generation secondary schools have been letting down local children".
But the leader of the National Union of Teachers, Steve Sinnott, repeated his union's call for academies to be abandoned.
One-to-one tuition
The government at present has a target of creating 400 academies - with Mr Blair yesterday urging more private schools to opt in to the state system by adopting academy status.
Mr Brown, in a speech to the Confederation of British Industry on Tuesday evening, also called for improvements in maths standards - proposing one-to-one tuition for primary pupils who are struggling with the subject.
At present, 24% of pupils leave primary school without having achieved the expected level for maths.
Mr Brown told the CBI : "We have made big progress on literacy and numeracy.
"But, as you will tell me, we still have further to go. It is unacceptable that we still have 150,000 children leaving primary school who aren't numerate."
His proposals for improving maths standards would mean 30 to 40 hours per year of intensive maths teaching for about 300,000 primary pupils who were slipping behind.
And he said teenagers in danger of dropping out of school would be mentored alongside work-related training for a day or more a week.
"For those 14 to 16-year-olds most at risk of dropping out, for whom conventional schooling is a turn-off, we need a system of special support that motivates them through work-related training and raises their aspirations through intensive one-to-one mentoring in order to prepare them for further learning and the world of work," he said.
Mr Willetts said that Mr Brown's proposals showed that the government's existing efforts to improve maths standards had not succeeded.
"Ten years ago this government introduced the 'numeracy hour' which was supposed to improve children's maths.
"Gordon Brown's latest initiative is an admission that the numeracy hour hasn't worked. Why should he do any better this time?"
What are these? | [
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-26873253 | Norfolk helicopter crash: No technical problem found
-
A helicopter that crashed in Norfolk killing four people had no "technical malfunction", investigators have said. The Agusta Westland AW139 crashed in a field at Gillingham , near Beccles, on 13 March. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said no fault had been found with the helicopter, but visibility was said to be "in the order of tens of metres" due to dense fog. It is continuing to investigate the crash. Northern Ireland peer Lord Ballyedmond was killed, as were Declan Small and pilots Carl Dickerson and Lee Hoyle.
The report said the helicopter got to 125ft (40m) above ground level before it "pitched aggressively nose-down" towards the ground, crashing about 420m (460yds) from where it took off. It said there "was no evidence that the helicopter had made contact with any other object prior to this point". "The first ground marks, made by the lower nose structure of the helicopter and the nose wheels, indicated that the landing gear was down," the report said. "The distribution of wreckage indicated that, immediately after the main rotor blades struck the ground, the helicopter became airborne again and rotated clockwise about the main rotor head before striking the ground 45m beyond the first ground mark." The report said the helicopter "came to rest upright", 63m (68yds) from where it first hit the ground.
An initial examination found that both engines had been operating when the helicopter crashed. The helicopter had left Lord Ballyedmond's stately home at about 19:24 GMT. Mr Small, 42, from Mayobridge in County Down, was a site foreman for Lord Ballyedmond's company, Norbrook Laboratories. Captain Dickerson from Lancashire and Mr Hoyle from Manchester were both pilots with Haughey Air Ltd, another of Lord Ballyedmond's businesses. | [
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http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24549664 | Second fireball meteor spotted over northern Scotland
-
A fireball meteor has been seen over the Highlands a day after one was photographed from north west Scotland. The second meteor could be seen from Inverness, Ullapool and also Tarbert in Argyll at about 19:00 on Tuesday. On Monday, a display of the Northern Lights over the Highlands and Islands was lit up by a fireball meteor. Byron Griffiths, who lives on the Isle of Lewis, photographed the scene from the eastern side of the island in the Western Isles. A BBC News Scotland website reader who saw Tuesday's meteor from Ullapool described it as "a slow moving ball" and as bright as burning magnesium. Do you have photographs or footage of Tuesday night's meteor? You can send them to the BBC Scotland news website at newsonlinescotland@bbc.co.uk Please ensure when filming or photographing an incident that you make your safety and the safety of others a priority. If you submit an image, you do so in accordance with the BBC's Terms and Conditions . | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics_2004/athletics/3603894.stm | Kenteris delight at protest
-
Greek sprinter Kostas Kenteris said he was thrilled by the boos that greeted his absence from the 200m final.
Kenteris, who won gold at the distance in Sydney, pulled out of the Athens Games after missing a drugs test in unexplained circumstances.
The home crowd showed their support as jeers rang around the Olympic Stadium, delaying the final by five minutes.
"It was the best thing I have heard in years," Kenteris said. "The behaviour of the public vindicates me."
American Shawn Crawford, who claimed the gold medal in Kenteris' absence, sympathised with the crowd, saying: "I think I can understand their reaction.
"We are here in the birthplace of the Olympics, and the defending Olympic champion, for certain reasons, was not allowed to compete."
Frankie Fredericks, competing in his last Games, tried to get the booing to stop, but his pleas fell on deaf ears - prompting BBC commentator Steve Cram to call the crowd's behaviour "disgraceful".
Kenteris and training partner Katerina Thanou, who also withdrew from the Games, were backed by fellow Greek athletes.
Fani Halkia, who won the women's 400m hurdles on Wednesday, said: "People accused them without any proof. They were put against the wall, there was a firing
squad." | [
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http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-humber-26520176 | Call for delay on North Lincolnshire flood plain homes
-
Politicians in North Lincolnshire have called for a plan to build 3,500 homes on a flood plain near Scunthorpe to be put on hold. The £612m Lincolnshire Lakes scheme would see two newly-created villages developed on land to the west of the town. Conservative MP Andrew Percy said building work should wait until new flood maps for the area were drawn up. The developer Lucent said it planned to reinforce the existing flood defences. If approved, the scheme could eventually see 6,000 new homes built in phases by 2026. Mr Percy, MP for Brigg and Goole, has been joined in the calls for a delay to the scheme by the Conservative leader of North Lincolnshire Council, Liz Redfern.
'Flood risk'
The pair met the Environment Agency to discuss their concerns, which were triggered by the flooding of the nearby villages of Burringham and Keadby during a tidal surge along the Humber Estuary in December. The surge caused a breach the bank of the River Trent. Mr Percy said the developers should wait until the Environment Agency had made a proper assessment of the December flooding. "How can we possibly think about building 3,500 houses on what is a flood plain particularly when we know the previous modelling for flood risk in our area was proven to be incorrect?" The MP said he was writing to Lucent to ask them to "put their application on hold". In a statement, Lucent said that during the December tidal surge "the proposed Lincolnshire Lakes development site did not flood". It added that it intended "to raise the development" to enhance the level of protection even if the banks were breached beyond what could be expected of a once-in-a-century flood. | [
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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-14137465 | Cameron pledges transparency over No 10 media meetings
-
David Cameron has said the relationship between politicians and the media "must change" and pledged to be more open about meetings with media bosses. He said he would require ministers and civil servants to record all meetings with newspaper and media proprietors, senior editors and executives. Labour leader Ed Miliband said he hoped it would be "retrospective" back to the 2010 election. He again attacked Mr Cameron about his decision to hire Andy Coulson at No 10. The issue came up at a fiery Prime Minister's Questions ahead of a statement in which Mr Cameron gave more details of a proposed inquiry into phone hacking. MPs were due to debate calls for News Corporation to withdraw its bid to fully take over BSkyB - but the company withdrew it shortly beforehand saying it was "too difficult to progress in this climate".
'Secret meetings'
It follows allegations that the phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, the families of the Soham murder victims and of British soldiers killed in action, had been hacked. Former PMs Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have both faced Freedom of Information requests over their meetings with News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch and Mr Cameron has also faced headlines about his "secret meetings" with Mr Murdoch. At PMQs on Wednesday, he said what had happened at News International - News Corporation's UK arm - was "disgraceful" and the company should "stop thinking about mergers when they've got to sort out the mess they have created".
But he added: "If we are going to say to the police 'you must be more transparent and cut out corruption', if we are going to say to the media 'you must be more transparent and cut out this malpractice' then, yes, the relationship between politicians and the media must change and we must be more transparent too about meetings." He said politicians had been "too silent" about media tactics in the past: "That is part of the problem. Your bins are gone through by some media organisation but you hold back from dealing with it because you want good relations with the media. "What we need is some honesty about this issue on cross-party basis so we can take on this problem." The prime minister's official spokesman said Mirror Group reporters had gone through Mr Cameron's bins when he was in opposition. In his statement to MPs later, he said he would consult Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell about amending the ministerial code "to require ministers to record all meetings with newspaper and other media proprietors, senior editors and executives - regardless of the nature of the meeting". Top civil servants and special advisers would also have to record such meetings - and the information would be published quarterly. Mr Miliband said he welcomed the proposal but added: "I hope and expect he will ensure that that proposal is implemented in a retrospective way back to the last general election."
Coulson questions
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said it appeared the change would not mean every meeting with every journalist would have to be recorded - but he said it would allow people to see whether there was a pattern of politicians meeting particular proprietors or newspapers in advance of important decisions. Mr Miliband also renewed his attack on Mr Cameron for hiring former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his communications director at No 10. Mr Coulson resigned earlier this year but had denied knowing anything about phone hacking while he was in charge of the newspaper.
There have been reports that the Guardian informed Mr Cameron's aide Steve Hilton over links Mr Coulson reportedly had with private investigator Jonathan Rees - and that Mr Hilton passed on the information to Mr Cameron's chief of staff Ed Llewellyn. Mr Cameron said: "This information was not passed on to me." But he added it was not secret information as it had been largely published in the Guardian at the same time, in February 2010, and had "no allegations directly linking Andy Coulson to illegal behaviour". And the PM said he met Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger the following month - but he had not raised the issue with him. Mr Miliband said the prime minister should apologise for his "catastrophic error in judgement" in appointing Mr Coulson as his director of communications. Mr Cameron told MPs he had hired Mr Coulson on the basis of assurances that he did not know about the phone hacking and was not involved in criminality - and he should be "innocent until proven guilty". But he added: "If it turns out he lied, it won't just be that he shouldn't have been in government, it will be that he should be prosecuted." The Labour leader said Mr Cameron "just doesn't get it". But Mr Cameron said he could raise the issue of Mr Miliband's own communications director Tom Baldwin, another former News International journalist, and Gordon Brown's former aide Damian McBride - who resigned over unfounded personal smears made about senior Tories. Mr Cameron also said News International should have accepted the resignation of its chief executive Rebekah Brooks - who was editor of the News of the World when murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's mobile phone was allegedly hacked into. The Labour leader has called for her to quit. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8688500.stm | John Bercow's critics to challenge his role as Speaker
-
John Bercow is set to become the first Speaker in living memory to have his re-appointment challenged by a vote in the House of Commons.
Normally incumbent speakers are "re-elected" unanimously without the need for the Commons to divide.
But a handful of MPs are determined to force a vote on Tuesday so they can voice their objections to Mr Bercow and allow the Commons to express a view.
MPs have not voted out an incumbent Speaker for 175 years.
The last was Speaker Manners-Sutton, an old Etonian high Tory opposed to political reform, who was ousted in 1835 by a Whig-dominated parliament determined to push through radical change.
Ayes vs Noes
After lunch on Tuesday, at about 1430 BST, the august figure of Sir Peter Tapsell MP will rise to his feet.
Sir Peter is Father of the House of Commons, a role he has assumed because he is now the MP who has been in Parliament for the longest unbroken period, in his case since 1966.
In this role, he is in charge when there is no Speaker and it is he who will ask Mr Bercow if he is willing to stand again.
In a moment of rare brevity, Mr Bercow will indicate that he would be honoured to continue to serve and remain in his sumptuous lodgings beneath Parliament's clock tower.
The former Conservative Defence Secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, will then make the case for Mr Bercow to stay put.
When Sir Malcolm has said his piece, Sir Peter will put the motion "that John Bercow do take the chair of this House as Speaker".
There will be many shouts of "aye" but a handful of MPs will shout "no". They will include people like the Conservative MP Nadine Dorries and the Labour MP Kate Hoey.
Mr Bercow's opponents object to his decision to ditch some of the Speaker's ceremonial dress, his wife's pro-Labour messages on Twitter, and what they claim is his lack of authority, respect and impartiality in the House.
No whip
Some Labour MPs believe he has failed to defend them and others from the new expenses regime which they consider to be harsh and unfair, particularly to those with young children. Some MPs also believe the new House should have the right to choose a new Speaker.
There are some MPs who hope that Sir Peter will ignore the "noes" if they are too few and too quiet. But most expect that Sir Peter will have no choice but to call a division.
John Bercow has his opponents, but he will win. Why? | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4244547.stm | 'Healing' gene breast cancer clue
-
Genes involved in healing wounds may help predict breast cancer patients' long-term health, scientists hope.
US and Dutch researchers found distinct "healing" gene patterns, which they believe could reflect how aggressive a breast tumour is likely to be.
But they said more research was needed to see if the find would aid treatment.
Cancer charities echoed this caution about the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Wound healing
Antonia Bunnin, of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "In the future it could provide a further means of helping to predict patients' prognosis and may allow clinicians to personalise treatment for women with breast cancer.
[It] is not related to wound healing following their breast surgery
"However, further research is needed to determine whether treatment decisions based on this method are beneficial."
Laura Trapani, of Breast Cancer Care, said: "It is important for people with breast cancer to be aware that the 'wound healing process' described in the study is not related to wound healing following their breast surgery.
"Any problems with healing experienced by people after their surgery, for example infection, are not an indication of their prognosis."
Dr Patrick Brown, from Stanford University, working with a team at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, followed what happened to 295 patients with early breast cancer up to 12 years after surgery for their tumours.
They also analysed each patient's tumour to see what gene pattern it had - which genes were active and which were not.
New blood vessels
Some of the patients' cancers had gene patterns similar to those seen in wounds during healing. These included genes involved with new blood vessel growth.
When the researchers compared these patterns with the patients' outcomes they found those patients who fared the worst had similar gene patterns.
Those showing what the authors dubbed "wound response signatures" were more likely to see their cancer spread and also tended to die earlier than the other patients.
Dr Brown's team have now developed a way to assign a single numerical score to individual gene patterns.
In time, they believe doctors might be able to use this score, along with other clinical predictors, to plan more personalised treatment regimes for patients.
But they said in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: "Prospective studies are needed to determine whether treatment decisions based on the wound response signature might benefit patients." | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6062980.stm | US shows signs of net addiction
-
More than one in eight adults in the US show signs of being addicted to the internet, a study has shown.
"Addicts" showed signs of compulsive internet use, habitually checking e-mail, websites and chat rooms.
More than 8% of the 2,513 respondents to the Stanford University phone survey said they hid their use from partners.
A typical addict is a single, white college-educated male in his 30s, who spends more than 30 hours a week on "non-essential" computer use, it found.
"We often focus on how wonderful the internet is; how simple and efficient it can make things," said Dr Elias Aboujaoude of the Stanford University School of Medicine and one of the researchers behind the study.
"But we need to consider the fact that it creates real problems for a subset of people."
Obsessive behaviour
Previous studies have shown that a significant number of people could be addicted to the internet.
For example, a 1999 Center for Internet Studies survey of 18,000 internet users found that 5.7% had signs of "compulsive" internet use.
Since then the internet has become quicker, richer in content and more accessible because of technology such as wireless.
The issue is starting to be recognized as a legitimate object of clinical attention
China's online addicts
As a response, internet addiction clinics have sprung up around the world to try to wean people off their cyberspace fix. Last year, China opened its first clinic in Beijing
However, researchers say it is not clear whether compulsive internet use is a distinct problem or an expression of other underlying problems such as obsessive compulsive disorders.
The new study questioned 2,513 people in the US about their online habits.
The results showed that nearly 14% of respondents found it difficult to stay away from the internet for periods of several days.
Almost 6% said they felt their wanderings in cyberspace adversely affected their relationships with other people.
Nearly 8% of people said they went online to escape real world problems.
Behaviour like this, the researchers said, show similarities with other types of addictions such as alcoholism. Other parallels include hiding their online behaviour.
"The issue is starting to be recognized as a legitimate object of clinical attention, as well as an economic problem, given that a great deal of non-essential internet use takes place at work," said Dr Aboujaoude.
The research appears in the October edition of CNS Spectrums: The International Journal of Neuropsychiatric Medicine. | [
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4588233.stm | Profile: Sir David Frost
-
Sir David Frost has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the International Emmys in New York.
The 70-year-old is a broadcasting phenomenon - the son of a Methodist minister who became a household name on both sides of the Atlantic, a multi-millionaire and a friend of the great and the good.
After studying at Cambridge University, he came to television in the early 1960s, presenting the mould-breaking BBC satirical show That Was the Week That Was.
With his mocking delivery and use of headline language, he became a national figure and before long he found fame in the US, commuting regularly across the Atlantic.
His catchphrase, "hello, good evening and welcome", was to become much-mimicked.
Trial by TV
Sir David mixed pure entertainment - with shows like The Frost Report, which brought together Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett - with serious political interviews with the likes of US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and British Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
In 1969, he also introduced the much-criticised trial by television, notably of Emil Savundra - head of a cut-price car insurance company which swindled thousands of motorists.
The presenter was visibly angry at Savundra's evasions.
In 1977, he used the format to take US President Richard Nixon to task over the Watergate political scandal.
In the interviews, watched by 45 million people, Nixon ultimately admitted his part in the scandal which led to his resignation two years earlier.
The story of their verbal battle was brought to a new generation with the 2008 release of Frost/Nixon - a film based on those interviews, starring Michael Sheen as the British contender and an Oscar-nominated Frank Langella as the disgraced politician.
David Parradine Frost was born in Tenterden, Kent, though the family later moved to Suffolk.
After a grammar school education, he went to Cambridge, where he was editor of student publication Granta and active in the Footlights theatre company.
He presented three programmes on ITV before That Was the Week that Was.
Ali interview
The list of Sir David's television programmes is a long one - The Frost Programme, Frost on Friday, A Degree of Frost, Not So Much A Programme, More a Way of Life to name but a few.
There was also the Frost Over series. Frost Over England in 1967 won an award at Montreux. Others were about America, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
The Frost Programme was the first current affairs programme to use a participating audience.
A variety of interview-based programmes followed. Recorded primarily in the UK and America, they were broadcast all over the world.
Interviewees from the world of showbiz included The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Orson Welles, Tennessee Williams and Noel Coward.
Prince Charles was interviewed on the eve of his investiture as Prince of Wales.
Muhammad Ali was interviewed in New York and later in Zaire.
Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Heenan came into his studio and US political activist Abbie Hoffman and his Youth International party, aka the "Yippies", took over during a live show.
Sir David was a joint founder of London Weekend Television and one of the famous five presenters-cum-shareholders behind breakfast television station TV-am, which launched in 1983.
His Frost on Sunday programme began on the station in 1984, running until 1992.
In 1993, he began presenting Breakfast with Frost on the BBC - his first regular weekly show for the corporation since That Was The Week That Was.
His new show - also on a Sunday morning - ran for 500 editions, ending in May 2005.
Since 2006, Sir David has presented weekly current affairs programme Frost All Over The World on the Al Jazeera English Channel.
Recent interviewees have included Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former US Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Sir David has written a number of books, produced eight films and has received many major TV awards, in the UK and internationally.
In the early 1980s, he was briefly married to Peter Sellers' widow, Lynne Frederick. In 1983, he married Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard, a daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. | [
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-0.2788713... | en | 862 |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cornwall/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8478000/8478458.stm | A walk around Antony House
-
Antony House in Torpoint has been the home of the Carew Pole family for 600 years.
The house itself took ten years to build from 1711 onwards. The family owned the estate for 200 hundred years before the first brick was layed.
The grounds made world wide news in 2008 when it was announced Disney's Alice in Wonderland would be filmed there.
Over 400 cast and crew worked on the estate in the Autumn of 2008.
Cornwall is no stranger when it comes to the movies.
Visitors to Antony House
Highlights include the James Bond blockbuster, Die Another Day starring Pierce Brosnan, which was shot at Holywell Bay near Newquay and at the Eden Project near St Austell.
Other films featuring Cornwall include Saving Grace, set on the north coast around Port Isaac, Boscastle and Trebarwith Strand, and Johnny English, part of which was filmed at St Michael's Mount. On the small screen Doc Martin, Wycliffe (TV series), and Wild West have featured Cornwall.
Back at Antony House changes are being made to the restaurant and reception areas to accommodate the anticipated influx of visitors drawn to the house as a direct result of the film. It is thought visitor numbers may triple when they open on 6 March 2010 this year.
The film which was shot in the house and gardens will be premiered one day earlier on 5 March.
The first BBC Cornwall Listeners walk for the year 2010 was in the grounds of Antony House near Torpoint. Click on the link below to see Nina Davey's pictures: | [
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