articles_bbc_2018_01_30.csv

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"Image copyright PA/EPA Image caption Oligarch Roman Abramovich (l) and PM Dmitry Medvedev are on the list

Russian President Vladimir Putin says a list of officials and businessmen close to the Kremlin published by the US has in effect targeted all Russian people.

The list names 210 top Russians as part of a sanctions law aimed at punishing Moscow for meddling in the US election.

However, the US stressed those named were not subject to new sanctions.

Mr Putin said the list was an unfriendly act that complicated US-Russia ties but he said he did not want to escalate the situation.

Mr Putin said Russia should instead be thinking about ""ourselves and the economy"".

The list was also derided by a number of senior Russian officials who said it bore a strong resemblance to the Forbes magazine ranking of Russian billionaires. A US Treasury Department later told Buzzfeed that an unclassified annex of the report had been derived from the magazine.

Why did the US publish the list?

The government was required to draw up the list after Congress passed the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (Caatsa) in August.

The law aimed to punish Russia for its alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and its actions in Ukraine.

Congress wanted the list to name and shame those who had benefited from close association with President Putin and put them on notice that they could be targeted for sanctions, or more sanctions, in the future.

President Donald Trump did not support Caatsa, even though he signed it into law, saying it was ""unconstitutional"".

Under the law, the list had to be delivered by Monday. The fact it was released about 10 minutes before midnight may reflect Mr Trump's coolness towards it, and his opposition to punishing more Russians with sanctions.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, accused the Trump administration of letting ""Russia off the hook again"" by not taking substantial action.

Who has been named?

Informally known as the ""Putin list"", the unclassified section has 210 names, 114 of them in the government or linked to it, or key businessmen. The other 96 are oligarchs apparently determined more by the fact they are worth more than $1bn (£710m) than their close ties to the Kremlin.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Congress passed the law in August, although President Donald Trump had opposed it

Most of Mr Putin's longstanding allies are named, many of them siloviki (security guys). They include the spy chiefs Alexander Bortnikov of the Federal Security Service (FSB) - which Mr Putin used to run - and Sergei Naryshkin of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

The men who control Russia's energy resources are listed: Gazprom chief Alexei Miller, Rosneft chief Igor Sechin and other oil and gas executives, along with top bankers like Bank Rossiya manager Yuri Kovalchuk.

The oligarchs include Kirill Shamalov, who is reported to be Mr Putin's son-in-law, although the Kremlin has never confirmed his marriage to Katerina Tikhonova, nor even that she is the president's daughter.

Internationally known oligarchs are there too, such as those with stakes in top English football clubs: Alisher Usmanov (Arsenal) and Roman Abramovich (Chelsea).

Will they face new sanctions?

Not at the moment. The US Treasury document itself stresses: ""It is not a sanctions list, and the inclusion of individuals or entities... does not and in no way should be interpreted to impose sanctions on those individuals or entities.""

It adds: ""Neither does inclusion on the unclassified list indicate that the US government has information about the individual's involvement in malign activities.""

However, there is a classified version said to include information detailing allegations of involvement in corrupt activities.

What does it mean for Russia's elite?

Analysis: Steve Rosenberg, BBC Moscow correspondent

The good news for the Kremlin: this isn't a sanctions list. But the good news ends there.

Those Russian officials and oligarchs named by the US Treasury will worry that their inclusion could signal sanctions in the future.

Even before the list was made public, the Kremlin had claimed the US Treasury report was an attempt to meddle in Russia's presidential election.

The list reads like a Who's Who of the Russian political elite and business world.

Moscow won't want that to become a Who's Sanctioned.

What is the Caatsa act and did the president want it?

The law limited the amount of money Americans could invest in Russian energy projects and made it more difficult for US companies to do business with Russia.

It also imposed sanctions on Iran and North Korea.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption All you need to know about the Trump-Russia investigation

In signing the act, Mr Trump attached a statement calling the measure ""deeply flawed"" and said he could make ""far better deals with foreign countries than Congress"".

Earlier on Monday, the US government argued the Caatsa law had already pushed governments around the world to cancel deals with Russia worth billions, suggesting that more sanctions were not required.

How have the Russians reacted?

Perhaps referring to the fact that all of their political representatives had been named, Mr Putin said that, in effect, ""all 146 million Russians have been put on the list"".

He joked he was offended not to be named himself.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who is himself on the list, accepted that it was not one of sanctions but said it could potentially damage ""the image and reputation"" of figures listed and their associated companies.

He added: ""It's not the first day that we live with quite aggressive comments made towards us, so we should not give in to emotions.""

When Caatsa was passed, PM Dmitry Medvedev said it meant the US had declared a ""full-scale trade war"" on Russia.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny praised the publication of the names as ""a good list"".",en
"Husband admits killing French jogger

Three months after Alexia Daval's body was found, her husband tells police he killed her by mistake.",en
"Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Chris Parker was interviewed by reporters in the aftermath of the attack

A homeless man who stole from victims of the Manchester Arena bomb attack has been jailed.

Chris Parker was hailed a hero after saying he helped, but CCTV showed him stealing from two victims and taking photos of others as they lay dying.

The 33-year-old had previously admitted stealing a purse and a mobile phone.

Jailing him for four years and three months at Manchester Crown Court, Judge David Hernandez told Parker: ""You were not the hero you pretended to be.""

The judge added: ""You were just a common thief.""

Parker pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and one of fraud after admitting using a debit card from the stolen purse.

Judge Hernandez said: ""You stole from people who were seriously injured at a time when others were either dead or dying.

""It is hard to contemplate a more reprehensible set of circumstances.""

Image copyright Greater Manchester Police Image caption The judge told Chris Parker it was ""hard to contemplate a more reprehensible set of circumstances""

Salman Abedi detonated a homemade bomb at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena on 22 May, killing 22 people and injuring many more.

CCTV footage played in court showed Parker leaning over injured survivor Pauline Healey and taking her handbag to steal her purse, as her teenage granddaughter lay dying nearby.

Hours later, Parker was using Mrs Healey's bank card at a local McDonald's restaurant.

The court heard the footage also captured him taking photographs of the victims, including one of Mrs Healey.

Prosecutor Louise Brandon showed the judge four pictures Parker took in the foyer which, she said, he later sold for £100.

She said the CCTV footage shows Parker ""taking the opportunities that presented themselves to him to take photographs and to look for and, where possible, take valuable items, such as purses and mobile telephones from the bags of the victims"".

""As the tragedy unfolded around him, when the vast majority of those who were in the arena with him were trying to save lives and care for the injured and lost, the defendant was focused on seeking to take advantage of the situation,"" she added.

Image copyright PA Image caption Salman Abedi detonated a home-made bomb in the foyer of the arena on 22 May last year

Parker also stole a mobile phone from a 14-year-old girl who was seriously hurt in the blast.

Miss Brandon said the teenager had been holding it at the time of the explosion.

Parker then picked it up, the court heard.

The prosecutor said the girl's phone rang a number of times as people tried to contact her, but Parker terminated one call with an automatic return text message which read: ""Sorry I can't talk right now.""

In a victim personal statement, the girl's mother said the theft was ""yet another blow as to how despicable people could be"".

Supt Chris Hill, from Greater Manchester Police, said: ""No matter what personal circumstances you might find yourself in, to steal from injured and terrified innocent people is deplorable.

""Parker exploited these people when they were at their most vulnerable and needed the help of those around them.""

The judge told Parker he will serve half his sentence in custody before being released on licence.

He also banned him from Manchester city centre for 10 years.

When the story of Parker's ""heroism"" was originally reported, an appeal on the crowdfunding website GoFundMe raised £52,000.

A spokesman for GoFundMe said Parker did not receive the money and it has been returned to the donors.",en
"Manchester City's Leroy Sane is ruled out for ""six or seven weeks"" with ankle ligament damage suffered in his side's FA Cup win at Cardiff.",en
"Image copyright AFP Image caption Sebastien Bras (l) took over his famed restaurant from his father Michel Bras (r) a decade ago

A prestigious food guide has allowed a top French restaurant to publicly withdraw from its listings.

Sebastien Bras's Le Suquet restaurant in southern France held Michelin's three-star rating for 18 years.

He shocked the food world in September when he decided to give up his top rating, saying he no longer wanted to cook under the ""huge pressure"" of being judged by its inspectors.

It is the first time Michelin has ever allowed a restaurant to bow out.

""It is difficult for us to have a restaurant in the guide which does not wish to be in it,"" Michelin spokesperson Claire Dorland Clauzel told AFP news agency. She said other restaurants had dropped out when chefs retired or the concept had changed.

What did Mr Bras say exactly?

The gastronomic bible's decision comes after Mr Bras, 46, spoke out about no longer being able to deal with knowing that just one below-par dish could jeopardise his reputation.

""You're inspected two or three times a year, you never know when,"" he told AFP.

""Every meal that goes out could be inspected. That means that every day one of the 500 meals that leaves the kitchen could be judged.""

Mr Bras's famed restaurant in Laguiole will not be featured in the 2018 edition of the Michelin guide to be published next Monday.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Million dollar idea: The Michelin Guide

What does it take to reach star quality?

Originally published in 1900 to guide French motorists to find food and lodging on the road, the Michelin guide is now exclusively dedicated to fine dining.

To be in for a chance of one of the coveted stars, restaurants first have to be in a region Michelin covers. In 2016, it made history by releasing its first-ever Singapore edition, in which it awarded stars to street stalls for the first time.

Researchers for the secretive organisation whittle down the best-reviewed restaurants by food bloggers and critics, and only after scouts draft a shortlist, do inspectors make anonymous visits to evaluate the food.

One Michelin star represents a ""very good restaurant in its category"", while two stars denotes a restaurant boasting ""excellent cooking"" that is ""worth a detour"". Three stars, however, is the ultimate honour, afforded only to those restaurants that offer ""exceptional cuisine"" that is ""worth a special journey"".

How great is the pressure on top chefs?

It is not clear what the exact recipe is to receive a recommendation or star - but chefs have been chasing these accolades for decades.

Currently, 27 French restaurants are in the elite club of holding Michelin's maximum three-star rating.

Mr Bras, who took over his three-star restaurant from his father Michel Bras almost a decade ago, accepts that by relinquishing his stars, ""maybe I will be less famous"".

Le Suquet was dubbed ""spellbinding"" by Michelin's guide and currently commands a price of up to €230 (£202; $285) for its fixed menus. Its chef says he is keen to ""start a new chapter"" in his restaurant's history, away from the ultra-competitive world of Michelin-star cooking.

He hopes he will soon be able to present tantalising dishes ""without wondering whether my creations will appeal to [the] inspectors"".

He confessed that, like ""all chefs"", he sometimes thought of fellow Frenchman Bernard Loiseau, who took his own life in 2003. Mr Loiseau took 10 years to achieve three stars and his death was widely linked to rumours that he would lose his third Michelin star.

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While Mr Bras's restaurant is the first to be removed voluntarily from the Michelin guide, it is not the first luxury eatery to shed its stars:

In 2005, the late Alain Senderens said he'd had enough of the agony of perfection and closed his three-star Art Nouveau Paris restaurant. He is quoted as saying he wanted to do ""beautiful cuisine without all the tra-la-la and chichi""

Olivier Roellinger closed his lavish Breton restaurant three years later, saying he wanted a quieter life",en
"The middle of nowhere

Five miles from the South Dakota border in the remote northern reaches of the US state of Nebraska, a long dirt road cuts through rolling prairie grasslands and golden wheat fields towards downtown Monowi, a place you can see in its entirety by climbing any of its hay bales.

An abandoned church, whose empty pews are now filled with tractor tyres, stands opposite the decaying skeleton of a grain elevator. Weeds and brome grass twist around the rotting remnants of homes that are collapsing in on themselves. And inside a white, squat building with paint peeling off its frame, 84-year-old Elsie Eiler is flipping pork fritters and cracking open beer bottles for a pair of regulars under a sign that reads: “Welcome To The World Famous Monowi Tavern. Coldest Beer In Town!”

When Eiler’s husband, Rudy, passed away in 2004, he didn’t just leave her to run the tavern, but the whole town. Today, according to the US Census, Monowi is the only incorporated place in the US with just one resident, and Eiler is the mayor, clerk, treasurer, librarian, bartender and only person left in the US’ tiniest town.",en
"Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Trump was not involved in the misspelling

Tickets for US President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address later on Tuesday have had to be urgently reprinted because of a glaring typo which lawmakers mocked.

The offending tickets invited people to attend Mr Trump's ""State of the Uniom"".

""Looking forward to... State of the Uniom,"" Sen Marco Rubio tweeted, while one social media user asked: ""Will they be serving covfefe...?""

This was a reference to a tweet by Mr Trump in May, which left many puzzled.

It was an apparent typo, although the president has never publicly commented on the issue.

But this time US officials were quick to point out that the ""Uniom"" typo had nothing to do with Mr Trump.

In fact, the error was made by the Sergeant at Arms of the US House of Representatives, whose office oversaw the printing of the tickets.

""There was a misprint on the ticket,"" a spokesman for the office told the AFP news agency.

""It was corrected immediately, and our office is redistributing the tickets.""

It was not immediately clear how many tickets were affected.

Anyone looking at the flawed tickets and wondering whether the word ""visitor"" in ""Visitor's Gallery"" should not be plural instead may be relieved to know it is not a typo - that's just what they call it.",en
"Putin says US list targets all Russians

Russia's leader says the new sanctions-based list is ""unfriendly"" but he does not want to retaliate.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images

It is the blockbuster US news event of the week, with an estimated 40 million people preparing to tune in to watch President Donald Trump deliver his first State of the Union address.

The keynote speech will be an opportunity for the president to outline his agenda for the next 12 months, shape political policy and highlight past accomplishments.

""It's a big speech, an important speech,"" Mr Trump said on Monday. But what can we expect?

1. Taking credit

""The economy will be front and centre,"" White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Monday.

After a turbulent first year in office, President Trump is very likely to start with the positives - his tax reforms that were passed through the Senate at the end of last year. They are the most significant overhaul of the US tax code in a generation, slashing corporate and individual tax rates.

Many expect him to link these reforms with America's improving economy, roaring stock markets and lowering unemployment rates.

Plans to rebuild some of America's aging roads and other infrastructure may also get a mention, as well as demands for reciprocal trade with China.

2. Dreamers debate

Deep divisions remain between Democrats and Republicans over immigration reform, and the president is expected to push for a bipartisan solution.

At the heart of his proposal are the 700,000 young people who entered the US illegally and without documents as children, so-called Dreamers. His decision to overturn a scheme - Daca - that shields these people from deportation outraged Democrats.

The president may touch on the subject as he is hoping to draw Democrats in with a deal to overturn these plans, in return for securing billions for a proposed border wall with Mexico, and cuts to legal immigration levels.

All eyes and cameras will be trained on at least 24 Democratic lawmakers who are bringing Dreamers as their guests to watch the show, according to ABC News.

3. Presidential or Twitter Trump?

It won't be his first speech in Congress as Donald Trump addressed both houses last February, when he stated the US was witnessing a ""renewal of the American spirit"". In fact, he surprised many by adopting a more presidential and measured tone than expected.

However, just days after this speech, he returned with a claim on Twitter that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had hacked his phones during the presidential campaign.

The tone of his maiden State of the Union address remains to be seen, but many will be wondering whether he will stick to the script - or the teleprompter - like he did last time.

4. Kennedy clansman gets first response

Joseph Kennedy III, a rising star who is also part of the Kennedy political dynasty, faces the daunting task of delivering the Democrats' response to President Trump's address.

The 37-year-old Massachusetts representative rose to the spotlight after his criticism of Republican attempts to end Obamacare.

Image copyright Getty Images

His nomination as rebutter-in-chief suggests the Democrats are willing to have a younger generation represent the party. Some observers believe he will appeal to working- and middle-class voters who his party argues have been neglected by Trump.

2016 hopeful Bernie Sanders will also offer his own take on the union address on his various social media platforms.

5. The guests - and the designated survivor

As is customary, the president brings along a group of guests, sometimes called ""Skutniks"". The name comes from a man, Lenny Skutnik, who was honoured by President Ronald Reagan in his 1982 address after jumping into the icy Potomac river in Maryland to rescue survivors of a plane crash.

President Trump's guests include first responders, military veterans, a welder from Ohio who says he is benefiting from recent tax cuts and the parents of children killed by an El Salvadorean street gang, MS-13, which the president has vowed to wipe out.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Nisa Mickens, 15, was killed by an MS-13 gang including undocumented immigrants

Lawmakers are also allowed to bring their own guests. Dreamers, sexual assault victims and victims of gun violence are all said to be on the list of attendees.

Some prominent Democratic legislators won't be showing up at all - including John Lewis, Maxine Waters and Jan Schakowsky - in protest against the president, who has caused outrage in recent weeks over his crude remarks about African countries, leading to accusations of racism.

And at least one member of Trump's cabinet will miss the proceedings - the designated survivor, who remains in a secure location to ensure continuity of government should a catastrophic event occur.",en
"Image copyright Reuters Image caption The high-profile figures were detained at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton Hotel

A sweeping anti-corruption drive in Saudi Arabia has generated an estimated $106.7bn (£75.6bn) in settlements, the kingdom's attorney general has said.

Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb said 56 of the 381 people called in for questioning since 4 November remained in custody.

The others had been cleared or admitted guilt and handed over properties, cash, securities and other assets, he added.

Sheikh Mojeb did not name any of those involved, but they reportedly include princes, ministers and businessmen.

In recent days, the billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Alwalid al-Ibrahim, owner of the Arab satellite television network MBC, were released from detention at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh's diplomatic quarter.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal gives tour of luxury 'jail'

Both men insisted they were innocent, but Saudi official sources said they had agreed to financial settlements after admitting unspecified ""violations"".

Others known to have been freed include Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, a son of the late King Abdullah who sources said had handed over more than $1bn in assets; and state minister Ibrahim al-Assaf, who was reportedly cleared of any wrongdoing.

Sheikh Mojeb said he had ""refused to settle"" with the 56 individuals still being detained ""due to other pending criminal cases, or in order to continue the investigation process"".

They are believed to have been transferred to prison from the Ritz-Carlton, which will reopen to the public next month.

Last week, Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said the money recovered through the settlements would be used to fund a $13.3bn programme to help Saudi citizens cope with the rising cost of living.

The anti-corruption drive is being spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 32-year-old son of King Salman, who has rejected as ""ludicrous"" analysts' suggestions that it is a power grab. He said many of those detained had pledged allegiance to him since he became heir apparent in June.",en
"Poland president to review Holocaust bill

It comes after Israel condemned the plan to make it illegal to accuse Poles of a role in the Holocaust.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption There is growing anger in India against rape and sexual violence

An eight-month-old baby girl has been raped, allegedly by her cousin, in the Indian capital Delhi.

Police say she is in a critical condition after being admitted to hospital on Sunday. They have arrested the 28-year-old cousin.

Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal, who visited the girl, described her injuries as ""horrific"".

The debate over sexual violence in India has grown after the fatal gang rape of a female student in 2012.

The rape of the baby girl happened on Sunday but came to light on Monday after local media reported it.

Ms Maliwal tweeted that the baby had undergone a three-hour operation and that her cries could be heard in the hospital.

Is this a new low for India?

Geeta Pandey, BBC News, Delhi

This distressing case of assault on an infant has shocked India and made national headlines. The extent of her injuries has horrified many and prompted them to wonder whether we have reached a new low.

But a look at the statistics, compiled by the government, shows that such crimes are not uncommon.

And worryingly, their numbers are rising rapidly.

According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau data, 2016 saw 19,765 cases of child rape being registered in India - a rise of 82% from 2015 when 10,854 cases were recorded.

A couple of years ago, an 11-month-old was kidnapped by a neighbour while she slept next to her mother and brutally raped for two hours.

And in November 2015, a three-month-old was kidnapped and assaulted in the southern city of Hyderabad.

How are people reacting to the news?

Ms Maliwal described what she heard when she visited the hospital where the baby was being treated.

""Her heart-rending cries could be heard in the intensive-care unit of the hospital. She has horrific injuries in her internal organs,"" she tweeted after visiting the hospital on Monday night.

She posted another tweet expressing her anguish.

""What to do? How can Delhi sleep today when 8 month baby has been brutally raped in capital? Have we become so insensitive or we have simply accepted this as our fate?""

She also tweeted a direct appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that ""stricter laws and more police resources"" were needed to protect girls in the country.

Others joined her, expressing shame and anger over the horrific crime.

Skip Twitter post by @ashsakhuja 8 month old baby girl sexually assaulted in New Delhi this has left the country transfixed. A monstrous act needs the most exemplary punishment. When will this rape culture end? These kind of incidents severely puts a dent in my heart!! #Shame #Disgraceful — Aishwarya sakhuja (@ashsakhuja) January 30, 2018 Report

Has the situation for women improved in recent years?

The 2012 gang rape and murder of the 23-year-old student on a bus in Delhi sparked days of protests and forced the government to introduce tougher anti-rape laws, including the death penalty.

There has also been a change in attitudes - sexual attacks and rapes have become topics of living room conversations, and not something to be brushed under the carpet, our correspondent says.

However, brutal sexual attacks against women and children continue to be reported across the country.

Recently released National Crime Records Bureau statistics for the year 2016 show crimes against women continue to rise.

But what is heartening is the refusal of women to give up their fight, our correspondent adds.

Image copyright AFP

What is the scale of child rape in India?

Police recorded 19,765 cases of child rape in 2016

240 million women living in India were married before they turned 18

53.22% of children who participated in a government study reported some form of sexual abuse

50% of abusers are known to the child or are ""persons in trust and care-givers""

Sources: Indian government, Unicef",en
"The girl is in a critical condition at a hospital where she was brought in with ""horrific injuries"".



From the section India",en
"Behind the Iron Curtain, artists created strikingly trippy ads for the saga, writes Christian Blauvelt.",en
"Clarification:

- Spinach appears twice in the list (45 and 24) because the way it is prepared affects its nutritional value. Raw spinach can lose some nutritional value if stored at room temperature, and ranks lower than eating spinach that has been frozen, for instance.

Correction:

- Pollock (listed at 17) is the specific species Alaska Pollock (also called walleye pollock), which is caught in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. Atlantic pollock, by contrast, ranks lower.",en
"This video is from BBC Ideas, short films for curious minds.

We hear a lot about going ‘off the grid’ to strike that elusive work-life balance. But what if we can’t afford to jet off to a remote island for a digital detox, or to lock our smartphones in a safe for a week?

BBC Ideas spoke with Bruce Daisley, Twitter’s VP of Europe, who offers six tips to unplug just enough – so that a mini-sabbatical or an email sojourn won’t make you look like a slacker, or make you feel that you’re out of the office loop.

One strategy is even called ‘monk mode’. A morning ritual not quite as ascetic as it sounds, it involves holing up at home for 90 minutes a day before coming into the office. That way, you’re not as chained to your desk as you’d normally be, but are still putting in that needed face time.

Have a look at the video for more tactics.

Want more tips for tackling the challenges of modern living? Check out the full playlist here.

To comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Capital, please head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.",en
"Giannis Bellonias was standing on the edge of a craggy cliffside in Imerovigli, a village built on the apex of Santorini’s vertigo-inducing caldera, waiting for sunset from the infamous lookout known as the ‘balcony to the Aegean’.

“There, right there! Look at the volcano,” the Santorini local said to me, pointing to what are in fact two small, black lava islands created by volcanic activity (and are the most recently formed pieces of land in the Eastern Mediterranean basin), called Palea Kameni (Old Burnt) and Nea Kameni (Young Burnt).

With sun-bleached, blue-shuttered houses dotted among rocks, and alabaster paved paths meandering between them, Santorini is the archetypal Greek island fantasy, an envy-inducing sight on travel brochures and Instagram posts. But beneath the glittering facade, there is a dark secret to its seductive prowess.

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Situated in the southern Aegean Sea, Santorini is a small, circular group of five Cycladic islands, made up of main island Thera; Therasia and Aspronisi at the periphery; and the two lava islands. All five surround a colossal, mostly drowned caldera, a bowl-shaped crater that forms when the mouth of a volcano collapses. But during the Bronze Age, approximately 5,000 years ago, Santorini was a single volcanic landmass called Stronghyle (which means ‘round’ in Greek), and one that played a crucial role in shaping history.

Around that time, a civilisation started developing on the nearby island of Crete. The inhabitants were the Minoans, named for mythical King Minos, an enigmatic and educated people, who were warriors but also merchants, artists and seafarers. The Minoans’ ancestry has been the subject of hot dispute: some believe they were refugees from Egypt's Nile Delta, while others say they hailed from ancient Palestine, Syria or North Mesopotamia. The most recent research says the Minoan civilisation was a local development, originated by early farmers who lived in Greece and south-western Anatolia. Whatever the case, there is little doubt that between 2600 and 1100BC a sublimely sophisticated and advanced civilisation thrived here. Excavations in Crete, especially in Knossos (the capital of Minoan Crete), have unearthed the remains of a spectacular palace, golden jewellery and elegant frescoes.

Over the centuries, the Minoan empire extended over the island of Rhodes (309km east of Stronghyle) as well as parts of the Turkish coast and perhaps as far as Egypt and Syria. Stronghyle (now Santorini) was an especially important outpost for the Minoans due to its privileged position on the copper trade route between Cyprus and Minoan Crete.

“The excavations in Akrotiri [a village in Santorini’s south-west] have found three-storey houses, vast and elaborate palaces, Europe's first paved roads, running water and a spectacular sewage system,” said Paraskevi Nomikou, assistant professor in geological oceanography and natural geography at the University of Athens.

Most fascinating of all, Europe’s first writing systems were found in buildings in Akrotiri and on the faces of Bronze Age rocks in the Cretan palaces of Knossos and Malia: it was here that the Minoans inscribed the first of their written words, initially in the form of Cretan Hieroglyphics and later in Linear A.

Cretan Hieroglyphs is an ancient script of around 137 pictorials that look like plants, animals, body parts, weapons, ships and other objects, and is believed to have been in use until 1700BC. Gradually, the Minoans refined Cretan Hieroglyphs down to the much more stylised Linear A, which took the linguistic helm until about 1450BC. Linear A had various numbers, 200 signs and also more than 70 syllable signs, making it more like language as we know it today (though both scripts remain undeciphered).

Rightfully, the creators of Europe’s earliest written script have been hailed as the continent’s first literate and advanced civilisation. And their intellectual achievements were only surpassed by their uninhibited way of living, celebrating the joy of life even at funerals, playing with bulls instead of killing them and living in blissful harmony with nature.

And it was nature that finally decided to kill them.

Between 1627 and 1600 BCE, the Late Bronze Eruption (commonly called the Minoan or Santorini Eruption), perhaps the greatest eruption in 10,000 years, took place on Stronghyle.

It was nature that finally decided to kill them

“Prior to the eruption, the modern caldera did not exist. Instead a smaller caldera, from a much older eruption, formed a lagoon at the north of the island,” Nomikou said. “During the eruption, titanic flows of 60m-thick landslides of volcanic material fell onto the sea, triggering 9m-high tsunami waves that smashed onto the shores of Crete.”

The waves may have reached western Turkey and even Israel.

Once the cataclysm ended, the modern caldera began to form (though conjuring into existence the modern Santorini would take several thousand years).

For the Minoans it was the beginning of the end. “The volcanic destruction decimated their commercial boats, and the huge amount of carbon dioxide that was released in the atmosphere disturbed the climate balance, destroying Minoan agriculture. All this gradually enabled the Mycenaeans [a Bronze Age civilisation that inhabited mainland Greece between 1600 and 1100 BCE] to seize their chance to put an end to Minoan independence.”

But what startles Nomikou is that, unlike the ancient Roman town-city of Pompeii, which got buried in more than 6m of volcanic ash and pumice in the wake of Vesuvius in 79AD, no bodies have ever been found on Santorini.

“By all appearances, the people of Santorini were warned in advance and escaped,” she said. To this day, no-one knows where they went.

But if Santorini destroyed Europe’s first great civilisation, it did not destroy language. Once the more-belligerent Mycenaeans ruled over the previous Minoan empire, they replaced Linear A with their own evolved version, Linear B, the first attested writing system of the Greeks, which eventually led to the Ancient Greek language that spread democracy, scientific reasoning, theatre and philosophy around the world.

More than 3,500 years after the mayhem, Bellonias is a proud owner of one of Santorini’s traditional hillside cave settlements, carved straight into the volcanic caldera.

“They are the perfect air-conditioned houses. In the winter, the volcano sends heat your way and in the summer it chills you,” he said with a grin.

Bellonias, an art collector who owns a cultural foundation with a library housing 35,000 books (including hundreds dedicated to Santorini), has been living on and off the island for almost 60 years now, having spent his childhood and formative years in Athens.

Santorini is not for the faint of heart

“It may surprise you, but what dwells in my mind is that smell,” he told me. “Every time we came to the island from Athens when I was a child – we arrived at dawn from Piraeus; the voyage was a hard labour back then – I was hit by the smell of cavallines,the excrement of the horses that hauled locals and tourists up to Imerovigli, before Santorini, well, caught on.”

“You can still smell cavallines if you sacrifice the convenience of your car,” he added, looking straight ahead at the volcanic islands, behind which fiery colours stretching from deep red to ultra-violet were brewing as the sun prepared to set.

“I have never been able to put these colours in words. I don’t think anyone who has ever lived on this island has. They might be crimson, pink, orange, red, violet... I just can’t put the sunset in words. For me it’s a visceral feeling. Santorini is not for the faint of heart.”

And he’s probably right; it did destroy Europe’s first civilisation, after all.

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"It’s no surprise that Instagram, of all social media platforms, fuels the imagination of design aficionados around the world – be they designers, writers, photographers or simply design buffs.

Its format is chiefly visual and it lends itself to highly studied compositions as well as off-the-cuff snapshots. Its rectilinear format, albeit one that can be carved into split-screens or grids, is simple, eye-catching and clean-lined.

Instagram is used by design lovers as a form of self-expression, to communicate their sensibility and inspirations to others in a highly curated way that represents their personality and taste, along, potentially, with captions relaying personal insights.

In the form of still images or videos, Instagram can showcase a designer’s work and publicise their business, and as such is a useful – and free - commercial tool. It’s also a versatile visual medium: it allows photos and videos to be presented using the Stories feature or as carousels (various images attached to one post that are revealed by swiping the first picture).

Design-led Instagram handles are used by private individuals, small businesses, magazines such as Dezeen (see @dezeen) and It’s Nice That (@itnsicethat), museums including Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York (@cooperhewitt) and London’s Design Museum (@designmuseum) as well as larger companies such as design consultancy Pentagram (@pentagram) and furniture manufacturer Herman Miller (@hermanmiller).

Via hashtags, Instagram connects peoples with a shared, very specific visual sensibility, yet in a way that is relatively organic and unpredictable. When someone responds favourably to another account’s images, they could be anywhere in the world.

“The Instagram design community is incredibly diverse, sharing everything from traditional design practices to niche art forms,” says a spokesperson for the company.

And while Twitter is seen as combative, Instagram is a safer, less judgmental space for exchanging images and thoughts in a direct, digestible way.

An image can be beautiful, relatable, funny, colourful, thought-provoking or moving – Justina Blakeney

This community has grown rapidly since Instagram was launched in 2010. By September 2017, it had 800 million users. One early adopter was Los Angeles-based designer and artist Justina Blakeney. She has a blog and online design shop called Jungalow and is author of The New Bohemians Handbook: Come Home to Good Vibes (Abrams, £19.99). Her handle, @thejungalow, now has more than 880,000 followers, and the platform is perhaps the perfect showcase for her love of juicy colour and luxuriant botanical motifs.

“I’ve been on Instagram since early 2011,” she says. “A friend touted it to me as the new Twitter for visual people. It’s my favourite social media platform because it’s visual and simple. For me, many things make an image compelling – it can be beautiful, relatable, funny, colourful, thought-provoking or moving.”

UK-based Kate Watson-Smyth has a similarly multi-faceted business operating under the umbrella name Mad About the House. A design journalist, she has a blog and her Instagram handle @mad_about_the_house (with nearly 80,000 followers) is a visual diary, mainly showing images of her home accompanied by chatty captions. The moody, forest-green walls of her home are a unifying element in her feed, which British Vogue named one of Instagram’s top 10 interiors accounts.

I can spend an hour moving things left or right by an inch or two – Kate Watson-Smyth

“I post a new picture about 7am, Monday to Friday. I use it as a micro-blogging site, sometimes giving tips on interior design,” says Watson-Smyth, also author of new book Mad About the House: How to Decorate Your Home with Style (Pavilion Books, £20), to be published in March. Her images are painstakingly composed: “I spend far too much time in pursuit of the perfect image and can spend an hour moving things left or right by an inch or two. I bought myself a very good camera last year and it has a grid on it to make sure I get my verticals vertical and horizontals horizontal.”

Interior life

Meanwhile, French interior designer Pierre Yovanovitch, who joined Instagram in 2015 and has almost 80,000 followers (on @pierre.yovanovitch), says “I immediately liked it. I was keen to get acquainted with a platform that is second nature to millennials as they are tomorrow’s influencers. I like the interactivity of the images, too – you can zoom in on them, send them to another Instagram user...”

For furniture designer and blogger Paddy Pike – who uses a Leica TL2 camera to post images of interiors and furniture he admires on his account @paddy.designs – the platform is a vital tool: “It’s infinitely more cost-effective than most advertising as it’s free. It’s only a matter of time before designers put a large portion of their advertising budget into social media.”

According to Miguel Flores-Vianna, a freelance interiors photographer, writer and author of Haute Bohemians (Vendome Press, £45), whose Instagram handle @miguelfloresvianna has 64,000 followers, “my main motivation is to share what I experience. I travel a lot, see great things. I hope my images help my followers to learn about these places too. Instagram can be a generous tool and I admire those who use it this way.”

The vividly colourful Instagram page of London-based designer Camille Walala is a reflection of her eye-poppingly vibrant work, which takes the form of huge murals and boldly patterned homeware, and is influenced by 1960s Op Art and 1980s design collective Memphis. But there’s more to it than that – it provides an insight into what makes her tick as a designer, since it includes myriad images of what influences her. “Anything I see that inspires me I'll take a photo of. I’ll upload it to Instagram and use it as part of my research,” she says.

As Instagram’s spokesperson points out: “in addition to highlighting exceptional design, successful accounts engage with and nurture their communities by sharing behind-the-scenes, personal content you wouldn’t see elsewhere.” Indeed, seen collectively, an Instagram feed can look like a designer’s private mood board – and one that can be added to ad infinitum.

To comment on and see more stories from BBC Designed, you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also see more stories from BBC Culture on Facebook and Twitter.

If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called ""If You Only Read 6 Things This Week"". A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Maye Musk walks the runway at Concept Korea during New York Fashion Week

Youth is not everything - at least not 69-year-old model Maye Musk. But, as Alina Isachenka reports, is her success more than just a trend?

The recent ""Spring 2018"" shows in New York, Paris, Milan and London saw a record number of models in their 50s and 60s on the catwalk - 27, according to the industry's forum, Fashion Spot.

Does this mean that the fashion industry is finally breaking with beauty stereotypes and becoming more age-diverse?

""I've never worked as much over the past 50 years as I did in 2017,"" says 69-year-old model Maye Musk, mother of billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla founder Elon Musk.

Canadian-born Musk started modelling in South Africa at the age of 15, but it's only in recent years that her career has picked up.

Musk signed a contract with IMG Models, who also represent supermodels including Gisele Bündchen and Gigi Hadid.

She also appeared on the covers of New York Magazine, Elle Canada and VOGUE Korea. And she starred as the oldest brand ambassador for American cosmetic company CoverGirl.

A fashionable grandmother of 10, Musk believes that allowing her hair to naturally whiten has helped her career. But being a successful model comes with certain challenges.

""I have to plan all my meals and snacks every day, or the wheels come off and I gain weight,"" says Musk, a nutritionist with two masters degrees.

""It then takes two weeks of being really strict to lose it. I'm a UK size 8, so not skinny.""

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Maye Musk with her son, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk at the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party

Debra Bourne, a director of All Walks Beyond the Catwalk - an initiative that aims to promote racial, age, size and body diversity in fashion - attributes much of the success of older women in modelling to social media.

""With the growth of social media through platforms like Instagram we have seen very successful examples of where elder models have created huge audiences themselves,"" says Bourne, a psychotherapist and a former fashion editor.

This is certainly the case for Musk, who frequently posts photographs on Instagram where she has almost 90,000 followers.

""There is less competition when you're older, but also less jobs,"" says Musk. ""If you keep on working and posting your work, you can build up a following.

""Also, you can be booked directly from your photos and don't have to go to castings.""

With sweat and tears

""I think many designers believe the current focus on silver-haired models is merely a trend that will be over next year so they can return to tall, thin, young colts,"" says Rebecca Valentine, founder of Grey Model Agency, which focuses on models aged 35+.

Launched in 2015 to 'represent the new diverse older population', London-based Grey Models works with clients such as London Fashion Week and Hunger fashion magazine, and represents models including Vivienne Westwood's former muse Sara Stockbridge and 82-year-old Frances Dunscombe - one of the oldest models at the agency.

To Valentine, who is also an experienced photography agent, the emphasis on older models ""is a response to market pressure where, for the first time, this ageing group are refusing to sit down and shut up.""

""They are the generation of rebels, punks, rockers, rappers, gay-coming-outers after all, they are used to being listened to and when they are not they shout louder and demand more,"" she explains.

Image copyright Trisha Ward Image caption An older model is seen wearing Prada for Hunger Magazine

She believes the industry is catching up with the trend, but admits the process remains challenging.

""They [older models] can see that this is a tough mountain to climb with much adversity, prejudice and tradition to fight.

""It is wonderful to be surrounded by such strength and positivity at work,"" she adds.

Beauty = youth?

But not all industry experts agree on the rise of older women in fashion.

Vincent Peter, co-founder of SILENT modelling agency in Paris, says: ""You can see older women on an anti-ageing cream advertisement, but they are unlikely to be booked for high-fashion jobs.

""Occasionally they are on a catwalk but rather as an exception. I don't see any trend here.""

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Maye Musk became the oldest model to be the face of CoverGirl last September

While the fashion industry may hold on to its rigorous age frames, Musk continues to secure jobs worldwide and hopes to work well into her 70s and beyond.

""It's been amazing to see how brands, magazines and designers are focusing on real stories from older women.

""Young models love to see me on a modelling job as it gives them hope for the future. My hashtag is #justgettingstarted.""",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The three biggest private employers in the US are teaming up to offer their employees subsidised healthcare

Amazon, JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway are joining forces to create a healthcare firm aimed at cutting costs for their US employees.

The independent firm would be ""free from profit-making incentives and constraints"", the firms said.

They said their aim was to provide care to staff at a ""reasonable cost"".

Nonetheless, the announcement sparked fears that tech giant Amazon could disrupt the healthcare sector in the same way that it has the retail sector.

The firms are the three largest private employers in the US, collectively employing over 500,000 staff.

The three companies said they would focus on technology to provide ""simplified, high-quality and transparent healthcare"".

""Our people want transparency, knowledge and control when it comes to managing their healthcare,"" said Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase.

""The three of our companies have extraordinary resources, and our goal is to create solutions that benefit our US employees, their families and, potentially, all Americans.""

Shares in US health insurers UnitedHealth, Anthem and Cigna Corp all fell over 5% in early trading following the announcement.

Image copyright Getty Images

Analysis by BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones:

He's the man who started with what was effectively a mail order bookshop with an email address and ended up building a vast machine that has transformed the world's retail industry.

Along the way he has sparked a revolution in enterprise computing, putting thousands of organisations into the cloud, bought the Washington Post, and is trying to rival Elon Musk as a space entrepreneur.

No wonder Jeff Bezos thinks he can do anything, including the fearsome task of finding a middle way for American healthcare, which even Donald Trump has described as ""so complicated"".

Just as with Mr Trump, many analysts have predicted over the years that Jeff Bezos and his various ventures are heading for failure or bankruptcy. B

ut the world's richest man - well this month at least - has stuck by his own vision and charged ahead. Don't expect him to give up on his audacious health plan in a hurry.

Unexpected development

""Investors have continually asked what unexpected development might spoil the strong investor sentiment towards managed care.

""Unfortunately, this seems tailor-made to fit the bill,"" BMO Capital Markets analyst Matt Borsch said.

Initially, the company's formation will be headed by Todd Combs, an investment officer of Berkshire Hathaway; Marvelle Sullivan Berchtold, a managing director of JPMorgan Chase; and Beth Galetti, a senior vice president at Amazon.

Plans for a longer-term management team and how the company will operate have yet to be decided.

""The healthcare system is complex, and we enter into this challenge open-eyed about the degree of difficulty,"" said Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos.

""Hard as it might be, reducing healthcare's burden on the economy while improving outcomes for employees and their families would be worth the effort.

""Success is going to require talented experts, a beginner's mind, and a long-term orientation.""

The US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has forecast that the cost of a medical insurance policy would increase by 25% in 2018 and double by 2026.",en
"Image copyright PeopleImages

Workers should be given places to rest at work to help boost productivity, according to new official guidance.

Downtime at work can help employees switch off and get better quality sleep at night, Public Health England says.

Better sleep maintains cognitive function in employees, as well as cutting health risks, a blog post from the health body says.

Companies should encourage better ""sleep hygiene"", it adds.

""Sleep is not just critical to recovery, it essential for maintaining cognitive skills such as communicating well, remembering key information and being creative and flexible in thought,"" says Justin Varney, national lead for adult health and wellbeing at Public Health England, in the blog post.

GDP hit

Sleep loss costs the UK economy billions of pounds per year, according to research by Rand Corporation.

Lower productivity comes through ""absenteeism, when people don't show up to work; and presenteeism, when people show up but are working at suboptimal levels"", according to Rand researcher Marco Hafner.

People who fail to sleep between seven and nine hours a day find their performance at work deteriorates, are easily distracted, have a less effective memory and are more likely to be in a bad mood, Mr Varney writes.

There are also links between lack of proper sleep and high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes, he adds.

The guidance, which was developed with corporate responsibility organisation Business in the Community, recommends that employers help their employees be open about any sleep-related issues they have.

Among steps employers can take is devising shift patterns that give workers time to recover between shifts, and letting workers ""unplug"" by reducing or stopping out-of-work emails.

People can also take their own steps to improve sleep, including:

Fixed bedtimes

Regular exercise

Avoiding caffeine, nicotine and alcohol late at night

Not watching TV in bed

Avoiding blue light from screens before and during sleep

Some firms already encourage employees to have downtime at work. London-based money transfer service firm TransferWise has a hammock and sauna on its premises, for example.

And accountancy company PwC, as part of a training programme on resilience, tries to help its staff improve the quality of their sleep.",en
"EPA

President Vladimir Putin has laughed off a US list of Russians named for possible sanctions, joking that he was offended his name was not on it. Even so, he branded it an ""unfriendly act"".

""I am offended, you know,"" Putin told his supporters with a smile, citing a famous line from a popular Soviet-era movie.

According to Reuters, the president said he had not seen the list so far and quoted the old Oriental proverb ""the dogs bark but the caravan goes on"" in an effort to play down the significance of Washington's report.

The US Treasury on Monday released the long-awaited list of Russian officials - led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev - and business people singled out for sanctions under a law designed to punish Moscow for its alleged meddling in the election that brought Donald Trump to power.

The report, which features 96 people considered ""oligarchs"" close to Putin and worth at least $1bn each, does not trigger sanctions right away but may cut businesses off from world finance.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images

Volkswagen has taken responsibility for diesel emissions tests on humans and monkeys amid mounting fury.

VW chief executive Matthias Mueller said the German car maker had ""taken first consequences"" for the tests.

He said the animal testing was ""wrong ... unethical and repulsive"", Spiegel Online reported.

VW has suspended its chief lobbyist Thomas Steg, who admitted to knowing in advance about the monkey experiment, which took place in New Mexico in 2014.

He said ""what happened should never have happened, I regret it very much"" and took ""full responsibility"".

The exhaust fume tests were carried out by EUGT, a now disbanded body that had been funded by VW as well as rivals Daimler, which owns Mercedes Benz, and BMW.

Last week the New York Times reported that EUGT had exposed 10 monkeys to fumes - in an air-tight chamber - from several cars, including a diesel VW Beetle, at a lab in Albuquerque.

Image copyright Getty Images

In his first public comments on the test, Mr Mueller said: ""The methods used by EUGT in the United States were wrong, they were unethical and repulsive. I am sorry that Volkswagen was involved in the matter as one of the sponsors of EUGT.""

Germany's Stuttgarter Zeitung and SWR radio reported that 19 men and six women had inhaled diesel fumes in another EUGT experiment.

The German government has called a meeting with the car makers to seek an explanation for the experiments, which have been condemned by politicians and animal rights activists.

The controversy follows a scandal over software that falsified diesel exhaust data for Volkswagen cars.

In 2015 VW admitted having fitted ""cheat"" devices in the US that made its engines appear less polluting than they actually were.

The scandal has cost Volkswagen almost $30bn.

Last month former VW executive Oliver Schmidt was sentenced to seven years in prison in the US and a $400,000 (£293,000) fine after admitting he helped the firm evade clean-air laws.",en
"Image copyright Reuters

Two Chinese airlines have scrapped flights between China and Taiwan, amid a row between Beijing and Taipei over access to air routes.

China Eastern and Xiamen Airlines had planned an extra 176 round trips over the Lunar New Year holiday.

But Taipei has refused to authorise the flights, for which tens of thousands of people have bought tickets.

The stand-off will potentially leave passengers stranded as they try to get home for the year's biggest holiday.

In statements, both airlines said they had no choice but to abandon the flight plans.

Safety risk?

The refusal to agree to the extra flights is being seen as retaliation from Taipei, after China opened up several new air routes - which both China Eastern and Xiamen Airlines have been using.

Taiwan said China's actions risked flight safety, and went against a 2015 deal to discuss such flight paths before they came into operation.

They included a northbound route known as M503, which travels up the Taiwan Strait that divides China from the self-ruling island.

But Beijing insisted it had the right to launch the routes, including M503, which it said was ""designed by China in cooperation with the United States and other countries"" in 2007.

It said there was no danger to safety, and that the routes, which were aimed at easing congestion, would only be used for civil aviation.

Beijing added it had advised Taipei of its plans to use the route, but that it did not require consent.

The incident is the latest spat between the two.

China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be part of the country again, but many Taiwanese want a separate nation.

Ticket struggle

Reports suggest about 50,000 passengers will be affected by the flight cancellations.

The Taiwanese government has raised the possibility of using military planes to bring back people wanting to go home.

The BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei says that would-be passengers wanting to travel between the mainland and the island were likely to fly via Hong Kong or Macau.

Alternatively they could choose a Chinese airline or Taiwanese airline that had not been using the new routes, though tickets would be hard to come by, our correspondent added.",en
"Video 4:09

Could your home be their office?",en
"What could China do in a US trade war?

There is a long list of actions Beijing could take should it decide to retaliate against US tariffs.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images

Would you care if a story you read in a newspaper or online was ""written"" by a machine rather than a stressed-out hack? Would you even be able to tell the difference? Welcome to the world of ""robo journalism"" - and it's coming faster than you think.

Squirrelled away at the Press Association's (PA) headquarters in London is a small team of journalists and software engineers.

They're working on a computer system that can do the work of multiple human beings, picking out interesting local data trends - everything from crime statistics to how many babies are being born out of wedlock.

As part of a trial, the PA has begun emailing selected machine-generated stories, no more than several paragraphs or so in length, to local newspapers that might want to use such material.

""We've just been emailing them samples of stories we've produced and they've been using a reasonable number of them,"" says Peter Clifton, editor-in-chief.

Sometimes human journalists will rewrite or add to the algorithms' copy, but quite often, he says, it is published verbatim. Automated stories about smoking during pregnancy, recycling rates, or cancelled operations have all found their way online and in print.

Image copyright PA Image caption The Press Association's Peter Clifton says automation could help, not harm, journalists

This ""robo-journalism"" is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world's newsrooms, as publishers struggle to cope with dwindling newspaper circulations and the switch to online advertising.

Mr Clifton hopes to be distributing 30,000 of these stories every month by the end of April. The project, called Radar - is a partnership with Urbs Media and is funded by a €706,000 (£620,000) grant from Google.

But how much of a journalist's workload can really be automated? And are jobs ultimately at risk?

Mr Clifton points out that, at this stage, the system simply amplifies the work human journalists do, some of whom are involved in developing the system's output. The automated part is currently limited to trawling through the data, something that would take humans far longer to do.

Image copyright Shutterstock Image caption Automated stories are becoming more prevalent, but at what cost?

Nevertheless, stories churned out by machines are becoming more and more common, particularly in the US.

The LA Times' earthquake alerts, based on data from the US Geological Survey (USGS), have been automated since 2014.

But the risks of such systems became clear last June when the newspaper published a report about a 6.8 magnitude quake off the coast of California - it was actually a record of a 1925 earthquake that had been published by the USGS in error.

The LA Times' automated story had appeared just a minute after the USGS published its outdated report. In this case, being first to the news was definitely a disadvantage.

The odd hiccup has failed to deter publishers, however.

The Washington Post announced last year that it would begin publishing automated stories about high school American football matches.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Tools of a bygone era?

""The stories will be automatically updated each week using box-score data submitted by high school football coaches,"" an article on the scheme explained.

In 2017, research revealed that thousands of stories a month are now being produced in European newsrooms with the help of algorithms.

The survey, from Oxford University's Reuters Institute of Journalism, found that many publishers are using automation to release interesting data quickly - from election results to official figures on social issues.

There are other uses, though. One agency in The Netherlands uses an algorithm to rewrite stories with simpler language, for a news wire aimed at children.

While productive, most of these systems aren't overly sophisticated, concluded author of the report Alexander Fanta, then at the Austrian Press Agency.

Image copyright PA Image caption Rupert Murdoch's News International clashed with UK print unions in 1986 over new technology

But more advanced tools are in the works.

Tencent, the Chinese tech giant behind the WeChat messaging app, recently showed off a system that could write a report about a speech automatically. Executive editor of news site Quartz, Zach Seward, had one of his own speeches at a conference written up this way - and he was impressed.

Skip Twitter post by @zseward I gave a speech in Shanghai on Thursday, and before I got off stage, Tencent had posted a not-half-bad article about it written by an AI named Dreamwriter. https://t.co/iacOFG04RT — Zach Seward (@zseward) November 19, 2017 Report

China's state news agency, Xinhua, is now reorganising itself to increase the use of AI.

But could AI really take over more tasks traditionally done by human journalists, such as phone interviews with subjects?

""There could be such a thing as a robot reporter calling up the loved ones of a deceased person and asking them how they feel,"" says Mr Fanta, referring to ""death knock"" calls - a sometimes controversial, but often important task for journalists.

Image copyright Panu Karhunen Image caption Alexander Fanta thinks machines will be an extra ""prosthetic arm"" to help journalists

""You could script that - but I guess the question is, do you really want to?""

Instead, he sees automation increasingly becoming just another tool in the journalist's toolbox - a potential ""prosthetic arm"" for reporters who, in future, might routinely script algorithms to help source stories or produce content.

But isn't there a danger that such automated news generation tools could also be used by propagandists wanted to spread false news for their own political or national objectives? There is already evidence that automation has been used for such purposes on social media sites.

""There's a genuine concern that automation facilitates these kind of attacks on free speech,"" says Mr Fanta.

The BBC does not currently publish stories that have been generated by algorithms, says Robert McKenzie, editor of the corporation's News Labs research team.

But News Labs has worked on tools to automate other parts of journalists' jobs, he says, including ""the transcription of interviews and identification of unusual trends in public data"".

More Technology of Business

Image copyright Getty Images

While AI is undoubtedly going to become more present in newsrooms, Joshua Benton at Harvard University's Nieman Journalism Lab doesn't think it yet poses a serious threats to jobs. There are far greater pressures, such as falling advertising revenues, he believes.

And he also says the really difficult and most highly scrutinised part of what professional journalists do - carefully weighing information and presenting balanced, contextualised stories - will be very hard for machines to master.

""Good journalism is not just a matter of inputs and outputs, there is a craft that, however imperfect, has evolved over decades,"" he explains.

""I'm not saying that machines will never get there, but I think they're still a pretty long way away.""",en
"Video 1:02

Lily Cole: 'Get as much help as you can'",en
"Image copyright Hush Image caption The couple first met while Mr Youngman was on holiday in Hong Kong

It was a chance encounter that set Mandy Watkins and Rupert Youngman on the path to love, marriage and ultimately setting up popular womenswear brand Hush.

It was 18 years ago when the then complete strangers met in Hong Kong. Australian Ms Watkins lived and worked in the city, while Briton Mr Youngman was there on holiday.

""I was visiting a mutual friend and was just supposed to be staying there a week,"" says Mr Youngman. ""But I met Mandy and I ended up postponing the flight back.""

The couple carried out a long-distance romance for 18 months before Ms Watkins quit her job and moved to London to be with her boyfriend.

""Somebody was going to have to move, and that somebody was going to be me,"" says the talkative 49-year-old in her strong Australian accent.

""I have an English grandmother, I'd already moved away, and it was easier this way - if he had moved to me and I decided I didn't fancy him, I'd had found that rubbish [to deal with],"" she laughs.

Thankfully it did work out for the couple, who have now been married for 12 years, and have two children.

And their online fashion brand Hush, which they set up from their London home in 2003, now enjoys annual sales of £17m.

Image copyright Hush Image caption Hush started out selling pyjamas and cardigans

Creating her own fashion brand was always the plan for Ms Watkins, who grew up in Melbourne inspired by her small business-owning mother and father.

""My parents worked for themselves running a couple of off-licences, and all their friends ran their own business,"" she says.

Upon moving to the UK Ms Watkins started concocting her business plan for Hush, but without the money to launch a start-up, she initially had to continue her career in marketing.

It wasn't until two years later when she lost her job with a UK mobile phone company that she was able to launch Hush from her kitchen table. Initially funded by her £40,000 redundancy cheque, Hush started out selling women's pyjamas and cardigans.

""The whole idea was built around feeling cosy,"" says Ms Watkins. ""I'd moved to the northern hemisphere, and I had a big three-hour round commute.

""I'd come home [at the end of the day] and it would be dark and wet, and Roo [Rupert's nickname] would say 'fancy going out?'.

""I'd be like 'are you kidding me... no thank you. All I want to do is sit in my PJs with a good book'.""

Image copyright Hush Image caption The company's website and catalogues contain lifestyle magazine style articles and reviews

Hush soon gained momentum with fashion editors who started to mention the brand, and Mr Youngman joined the firm in 2005, giving up his previous job in publishing.

The company has since expanded to sell a wide range of casual and comfortable womenswear, including knitwear, dresses, leggings and coats. Plus shoes, bags, sunglasses and other accessories.

On a day-to-day basis Ms Watkins leads the design work at Hush, while Mr Youngman, 50, is in charge of marketing, finance and IT.

To engage as much as possible with its customers, the company's website and catalogues have lots of lifestyle magazine content, such as recipes, film reviews, travel articles and celebrity interviews.

Image copyright Hush Image caption The summerwear range was slower to grow in popularity than Hush's winter clothing

This was the idea of Mr Youngman, who prior to owning his own publishing firm worked as a journalist.

""I was thinking, 'how can I make myself useful?"" he says. ""Hush is very editorial. It's fair to say we were at the forefront of that; not because I'm a genius but because that's what my background was and I enjoyed it.

""Mandy was keen for it not just to be about product, it's about the lifestyle that goes with it.""

While Hush continues to grow strongly - its annual revenues rose by 60% last year, and profits tripled - Ms Watkins and Mr Youngman admit some wrong turns and challenges along the way.

Image copyright Hush Image caption The company is based in south London

An attempt to launch a menswear range in 2009 was unsuccessful, being discontinued three years later.

""I love what I do, but designing PJs for Roo [and men] rather than for me [and women] I'm not as interested in, says Ms Watkins. ""Therein lay the problem.""

Another problem London-based Hush faced was that its lighter summer range took five years to make a profit, as customers instead preferred its snug and warm winter clothing.

While sales come mostly via its website, Hush made its first move into High Street retail last year when it launched concessions in UK department store John Lewis.

Now in 16 John Lewis stores, the plan is to roll out further concessions next year. There are, however, no plans to open standalone Hush stores.

Image copyright Hush Image caption Hush has no plans to open its own stores

""Sometimes I get really excited about the idea of a store and the idea of creating a concept,"" says Ms Watkins. ""But not that excited about when five years later it starts to look old - or the girl on a Sunday not turning up, and then having to go in myself.""

Despite competing against more well-established brands such as Jigsaw and Whistles, Hush has managed to target a niche in the increasingly competitive UK fashion market, says Global Retail Data lead retail analyst Honor Strachan.

""It has built a loyal following of 25 to 45-year-olds, while some of its more classic, yet still contemporary pieces, extend its reach to an older demographic,"" she says.

However, Ms Strachan adds that Hush faces the challenge of an increasing level of competition.

""The likes of Mint Velvet, Finery and Modern Rarity are all targeting a similar customer,"" she says. ""So Hush must continue to evolve the brand, while also raising brand awareness to become a top of mind destination among the aspirational, stylish 30-plus market.""

More The Boss features, which every week profile a different business leader from around the world:

Despite takeover offers, Hush remains 100% owned by Ms Watkins and Mr Youngman, and employs 71 members of staff. While the majority of the firm's online sales currently come from within the UK, the company does sell direct to customers around the world.

Ms Watkins and Mr Youngman say that 15 years after Hush was launched, and 13 years since he joined, they still enjoy working together.

""I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else,"" says Ms Watkins. ""But it does make you think what we used to talk about before Hush and the kids. Sometimes the kids say, 'oh no, not Hush again'.""",en
"Video

After a £200,000 deal was secured, Northern Ireland will be flying frozen boar semen 5,000 miles over to China.

This video has been optimised for mobile viewing on the BBC News app. The BBC News app is available from the Apple App Store for iPhone and Google Play Store for Android.",en
"Video

A US evangelical leader says President Donald Trump is not a model Christian, but he is ""defending Christians from secularists"".

Franklin Graham expressed his reservations about Donald Trump's behaviour to religion editor Martin Bashir.",en
"'Period ban is ruining my education'

Ghanaian schoolgirls have been banned from crossing a river to get to school while they are menstruating - and on Tuesdays.",en
"Video

Novelist Hao Jingfang is the first Chinese woman to win the prestigious Hugo Award for science fiction.

She tells the BBC a lot of her stories originate from thought experiments, and her latest novel imagines ""a dark possibility for the future"" where robots have replaced human's jobs.",en
"China 'as big a threat to US' as Russia

The CIA boss tells the BBC he is as worried about Chinese efforts to influence the West as he is about Russia.",en
"There should be a right to 'decent obscurity'

New bill to protect data online will be introduced by the government in the Autumn",en
"Who needs pilots?

Self-flying sky taxis could be whirring over our cities within five years, some believe",en
"Video

Boris Johnson seemed to struggle when asked by Eddie Mair on BBC Radio 4's PM to explain how plans laid out in the Queen's Speech would tackle ""burning injustices"" identified by Prime Minister Theresa May.",en
"Hatton Garden gang ordered to pay £27.5m

A judge rules four ringleaders behind the raid must pay the sum or serve another seven years in jail.",en
"Solar eclipse around the world

A rare solar eclipse is sweeping parts of North America, Europe and Africa, allowing a view of the Sun that is totally or partially blocked out by the Moon.",en
"Video

The conservation group WWF is warning that koalas could be wiped out in some Australian states amid deforestation and increasing attacks by livestock.

Video produced by Trystan Young

Listen to World Service's Newsroom programme on the BBC iPlayer

Main image courtesy Sue Gedda/WWF",en
"Churchgoers risk being treated as agents of the Vatican under Canberra's new spy laws, bishops say.



From the section Australia",en
"Video

The Iraqi military's Joint Operations Command has circulated a video it says shows the destruction of Mosul's Great Mosque of al-Nuri and the famous leaning al-Hadba minaret.

The military, and the US-led coalition supporting its offensive in the city, said Islamic State (IS) militants had blown up the historic landmark on Wednesday night as troops advanced on it.

But IS said coalition aircraft had bombed the mosque.",en
"Video

Karmila Purba is the first female ""devil wheel"" rider on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

She began performing with a travelling show when she was just 12 years old.

Each night she entertains crowds by riding a motorbike around the vertical wall.

Video by Haryo Wirawan.",en
"The story behind a moment of brutality

Eddie Adams captured one of the most famous images of the Vietnam War but he was haunted by it.",en
"Video

Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar stole the show, and most of the awards, at the 2018 Grammys.

Most performers arrived for the show wearing a white rose to symbolise their support for the movements, which tackle sexual harassment and inequality.

But what else happened?",en
"The actress says she ""continues to believe"" the director after claims against him resurfaced.



From the section Entertainment & Arts",en
"Video

Some of music's biggest stars wore white roses on the Grammys' red carpet to mark their support of the #TimesUp movement.",en
"Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The duchess scored one goal, while the duke got two

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have gone head-to-head in a penalty shootout while learning about bandy hockey in Sweden's capital Stockholm.

The duke scored two goals to the duchess's one after watching the 11-player game, played on a rink similar in size to a football pitch.

They then went to the country's royal palace for a lunch hosted by the king, Carl XVI Gustaf.

After their two-day visit to Sweden, they will travel to Norway.

Anna Widing, an international bandy player, coached the couple before the shootout.

The 29-year-old said: ""I could see that maybe they like to beat each other.""

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Duke and Duchess walked through Stockholm with Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel

She said the duke had a strong shot and said she was impressed with the duchess.

Ms Widing added: ""It was a privilege for us to show our sport to them.""

Prince William and Catherine began their day with a hot drink from a flask carried in a case known as a bandy portfolj (bandy briefcase).

The duchess, who is expecting the couple's third child, drank an alcohol-free version of the drink called glogg, which is usually mulled wine or coffee with alcohol.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Duchess of Cambridge met members of the public in Stortorget square

At the king's lunch, the couple met the king and queen of Sweden and 15 other members of the royal court, including Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel.

The princess and prince then joined the pair on a walk to Stockholm's oldest public square, Stortorget.

After meeting members of the public on what is their first official visit to the Scandinavian country, the duke and duchess were then taken into the Nobel Museum for a tour.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Hundreds of well-wishers turned out to see the royal couples

They were given a gift by local Karin Wahlgren - a special glove for the couple to use to wipe their dog Lupo's paws when they got muddy.

The duke and duchess also spoke to maths teacher Niklas Schild, who told Prince William that he was planning to travel to Windsor for Prince Harry's wedding in May.

He said: ""William told me 'you'll be very welcome - it will be a very happy day'.""

Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Catherine takes advantage of the Swedish design for a sit-down during their visit to ArkDes

What is bandy hockey?

Image copyright AFP

The game originated in Cambridgeshire and dates back to 1813.

It is played outdoors on a sheet of ice the size of a football pitch - larger than an ice hockey rink - and with a ball not a puck.

Like football, the game is played over 90 minutes. Under extraordinary circumstances such as heavy snowfall, the referee can choose to divide the match time in more than two parts.

There are two teams, each consisting of 11 players. The full rules from the Federation of International Bandy are available online.

It has become one of the most popular winter sports in Scandinavia, eastern Europe and the US.

Sweden's women's team won this year's World Bandy Championships. The men's tournament finishes on 5 February.

The couple then moved on to celebrate design at the launch of the UK-Sweden housing design exchange at the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design or ArkDes.

Ikea, whose founder died earlier this week, was one of the companies represented at the event.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Prince William then tested out his own chair as the duchess looked on

The final event of the day was a black tie dinner at the residence of the British Ambassador.

The couple met Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and his wife Sulla Löfven, with other guests expected to include Pirates Of The Caribbean and Thor actor Stellan Skarsgard and Ex Machina actress Alicia Vikander.

Image copyright EPA Image caption The duke and duchess meet Swedish PM Stefan Löfven and his wife Sulla Löfven

Prince William and Catherine will also meet academics on their trip to hear about how Sweden deals with mental health issues.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Prince William and Catherine are attending events in Sweden's capital

Image copyright PA Image caption The couple met the king and queen of Sweden and other members of the royal court

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Swedish royals showed the duke and duchess some of Stockholm's sights

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Later, Prince William and Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria (right) spoke to Professor Haldane, the Nobel Prize in Physics laureate, and Professor Wedell, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, at the Nobel Museum

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The day ended with a black tie dinner, also attended by Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel

Despite being pregnant with her third child and her previous bout of morning sickness, the duchess is expected to take part in all events during this tour.

Her condition meant she had to pull out of a number of engagements last year.

Jason Knauf, the Cambridges' communications secretary, said: ""The duke and duchess have asked, as with previous overseas visits, that this tour allow them opportunities to meet as many Swedes and Norwegians as possible.

""Their royal highnesses will meet a wide variety of people, including children and young people, those working in the mental health sector, and leaders in business, academia and scientific research, government, civil society and the creative industries.""",en
"Burning wood and coal in people's homes will come under scrutiny as part of a government drive to improve air pollution.

Ministers are calling for evidence to help improve air quality in cities.

They want people to ensure that wood is dry before burning, and that solid fuels are as clean as possible.

But the UK is being given a final warning by the European Commission today for breaching laws on NOx emissions.

The government is being told it will face court action in Europe unless its planned Clean Air Strategy does what it's supposed to.

While environmentalists may wonder whether today's announcement on homes fires is a smokescreen, the government insists it's not.

It says the domestic burning of house coal, smokeless solid fuels and wet wood is the single largest primary contributor of harmful sooty particles.

Householders and businesses are being asked for their views on proposals to cut emissions.

The government says drying wood can reduce particles by half and produce more heat from less fuel.

A spokesman said it is considering a range of options to tackle particle emissions, including:

Encouraging consumers to switch from house coal by only allowing the sale of low sulphur smokeless alternatives;

The introduction of sulphur limits for all smokeless solid fuels;

And new powers for local authorities to take action for persistent smoke offences where local air quality is harmed.

Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey said: ""We all have a role to play in improving the air we breathe. Many of us enjoy a cosy fire, but burning dirtier fuel has a real impact on the quality of air for our family and friends.

""Pollution is about more than just transport. If we make the switch to burning cleaner domestic fuel, we can continue to enjoy burning wood and smokeless coal in stoves and fires in our homes.""

She says they're not considering banning domestic burning.

Prof Frank Kelly from Kings College London told BBC News: ""If the particulates data are correct then yes it's a good thing as it's important that all sources of pollution are tackled in order to improve air quality to reach WHO guideline values.""

Some academics said the homes fires consultation was a diversion from other government failings on pollution.

Rosie Rogers from Greenpeace said: ""It's not a good look when a government that promised environmental leadership has to be chivvied by Brussels into doing something about illegal air pollution.""

""Michael Gove promised to make cleaning up our cities' air a top priority but has little to show for it as yet.""

The government said it would solve air pollution overall in its Clean Air Strategy, expected after Easter.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, wants to ban wood burning in the capital - but there will no enforcement powers to enter homes to see whether people are burning wood or not.

Also today, it was revealed that the Brixton Road in London has already reached the NOx limit for the whole of 2018.

Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, said: ""The fact we're not even out of January and London's filthy air has already hit the yearly pollution limit is damning. The Government's failure to tackle this public health emergency is just one of the cracks in its new green veneer.""

""If the Government is serious about tackling this crisis it must bring forward the ban on petrol and diesel cars, introduce a proper scrappage scheme, invest in public transport and expand clean air zones across the country.""

Follow Roger on Twitter.",en
"Check your pollution

See what the air quality is like where you are living in Britain",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Diane Keaton received a life achievement award from the AFI in 2017

Actress Diane Keaton has voiced her support for director Woody Allen, saying she ""continues to believe him"".

Keaton won an Oscar for her role in his 1977 film Annie Hall, and her comments come after Allen's adopted daughter Dylan Farrow repeated allegations of sexual assault against him.

The 82-year-old director denies all the accusations.

""Woody Allen is my friend and I continue to believe him,"" Keaton wrote on Twitter.

She linked to a 1992 interview in which Allen defended himself against the original accusations made by his former partner Mia Farrow.

Skip Twitter post by @Diane_Keaton Woody Allen is my friend and I continue to believe him. It might be of interest to take a look at the 60 Minute interview from 1992 and see what you think. https://t.co/QVQIUxImB1 — Diane Keaton (@Diane_Keaton) January 29, 2018 Report

The allegations have resurfaced amid Hollywood's sexual harassment scandal, and Dylan Farrow gave her first TV interview about the subject earlier this month.

In the interview, Farrow said she felt ""outrage"" after ""years of being ignored, disbelieved and tossed aside"".

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Allen and Keaton were in a relationship in the 1970s

In response, Allen repeated his denial of the claims and issued a new statement saying: ""I never molested my daughter.""

Keaton's statement comes after a number of actors distanced themselves from Allen.

These include Oscar-nominated Timothee Chalamet, who said last week he would donate his salary from Allen's film A Rainy Day in New York to sexual assault charities, and actress and director Greta Gerwig, who said she wouldn't work with him in the future.

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.",en
"Image copyright Ohio State University Image caption Tom Moore helps take care of his wife, LaVonne

LaVonne Moore has Alzheimer's disease, but her doctors hope her dementia symptoms could possibly be kept in check by a new type of treatment.

Electric wires implanted deep in her brain stimulate areas involved with decision-making and problem-solving.

Unlike many long-term dementia patients, LaVonne, 85, can cook meals, dress herself and organise outings.

But it remains unclear whether her deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy is responsible for her independence.

DBS is already helping hundreds of thousands of patients with Parkinson's disease to overcome symptoms of tremor, but its use in Alzheimer's is still very experimental.

Image copyright Ohio State University

Only a small number of DBS studies have been done for Alzheimer's and they have focused on stimulating brain regions governing memory, rather than judgement.

But Dr Douglas Scharre and colleagues at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center believe their approach, which targets the decision-making frontal lobe of the brain, might help patients keep their independence for longer.

Deep brain stimulation

Involves permanently implanting very fine wires, with electrodes, into the brain, under anaesthetic

The wires are connected to a pulse generator (pacemaker) under the skin of the chest wall

The device delivers electric stimulation to the brain to improve function or reduce symptoms

LaVonne's brain pacemaker was implanted three and a half years ago.

Since then, her husband, Tom, from Delaware, Ohio, says her dementia has worsened - but more slowly than he had expected.

""LaVonne has had Alzheimer's disease longer than anybody I know, and that sounds negative, but it's really a positive thing because it shows that we're doing something right.""

Two other patients have had the same treatment as LaVonne, but only one of them appeared to benefit significantly, according to the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

Experts say it is too early to say if the treatment will help counteract cognitive decline.

Larger trials

Neurosurgery expert Prof Andres Lozano, who has been conducting his own DBS trials in Alzheimer's patients in Canada, said: ""We desperately need a novel treatment for Alzheimer's.

""This may seem bold and aggressive to some, but it is promising. Studies so far show it is safe.

""We've got patients with Parkinson's who have had these devices inside of them for 30 years with no problems.

""Although we are not talking about treating the Alzheimer's degeneration, we can look at changing the downstream consequences by turning parts of the brain back on.""

Dr Carol Routledge from Alzheimer's Research UK, said: ""The study did not compare against a dummy treatment and so while signs of benefit are worthy of follow-up, the full benefits and cost-effectiveness of this treatment need much more robust investigation in larger trials.""",en
"Woman sues Japan over forced sterilisation

A Japanese woman who was forcibly sterilised at 15 sues the government in the first case of its kind.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Studies question how good social media is for children's health

More than 100 child health experts are urging Facebook to withdraw an app aimed at under-13s.

In an open letter to Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, they call Messenger Kids an ""irresponsible"" attempt to encourage young children to use Facebook.

Young children are not ready to have social media accounts, they say.

Facebook says the app was designed with online safety experts in response to parental calls for more control over how their children used social media.

It is a simplified, locked-down version of Facebook's Messenger app, requiring parental approval before use, and data generated from it is not used for advertising.

The open letter says: ""Messenger Kids will likely be the first social media platform widely used by elementary school children [four- to -11-year-olds].

""But a growing body of research demonstrates that excessive use of digital devices and social media is harmful to children and teens, making it very likely this new app will undermine children's healthy development.

""Younger children are simply not ready to have social media accounts.

""They are not old enough to navigate the complexities of online relationships, which often lead to misunderstandings and conflicts even among more mature users.""

In response, Facebook said: ""Since we launched in December we've heard from parents around the country that Messenger Kids has helped them stay in touch with their children and has enabled their children to stay in touch with family members near and far.

""For example, we've heard stories of parents working night shifts being able read bedtime stories to their children, and mums who travel for work getting daily updates from their kids while they're away.""

The letter questions whether there is a need for Facebook to fulfil such a role, saying: ""Talking to family and friends over long distances doesn't require a Messenger Kids account. Kids can use parents' Facebook, Skype, or other accounts to chat with relatives. They can also just pick up a phone.""

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption There is a growing body of evidence suggesting links between social media use and depression in youngsters

The letter cites a range of research linking teenagers' social media use with increased depression and anxiety,"" it says.

""Adolescents who spend an hour a day chatting on social networks report less satisfaction with nearly every aspect of their lives.

""Eighth graders [13- to 14-year-olds] who use social media for six to nine hours per week are 47% more likely to report they are unhappy than their peers who use social media less often.""

It also cites a study of 10- to -12-year-old girls who are ""more likely to idealise thinness, have concerns about their bodies, and to have dieted"".

Other statistics, quoted from a range of different research, include:

78% of adolescents check their phones hourly

50% say they are addicted to their phones

Half of parents say regulating screen time is a constant battle

The experts also dispute Facebook's claims that Messenger Kids provides a safe alternative for children who have lied their way on to social media platforms, by pretending to be older than they are.

""The 11- and 12-year-olds who currently use Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook are unlikely to switch to an app that is clearly designed for younger children. Messenger Kids is not responding to a need - it is creating one,"" the letter states.

The letter is signed by a range of child welfare groups, chief among them the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Other signees included Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union and Parents Across America. A host of individuals also signed, including British scientist Baroness Susan Greenfield.

The UK government met social media companies and hardware manufacturers such as Apple in November 2017 and asked them to look at a series of issues - including:",en
"Video

Ben Zand spends time with Guatemala's huge evangelical community visiting Pastor Sanchez, from the town of Almolonga.

Almolonga is famous for the story of transformation, where God blessed its giant carrots and vegetables, saving people from poverty.

The story of Almolonga's carrots is true - but is all as it seems?

You can watch the full documentary by clicking here

Presenter and series producer Ben Zand

Filmed and directed by Sebastien Rabas & Benjamin Lister

Edited by Benjamin Barfoot & Emily France",en
Have Your Say,fr
"Image copyright EPA

The eurozone's economy grew at its fastest pace for a decade in 2017, according to official figures.

The economy of the 19-nation bloc grew by 2.5% last year, according to Eurostat, the strongest growth since the 3% rate seen in 2007.

Eurostat also said that the eurozone grew by 0.6% in the final three months of 2017.

The European Central Bank has been carrying out a huge stimulus programme in an attempt to drive eurozone growth.

That programme has seen the bank slash its main interest rate to zero, and spend billions of euros a month on buying financial assets.

Growth in the eurozone has been picking up and it is now regarded as one of the strongest parts of the global economy.

Image copyright Reuters

Analysis by Andrew Walker, BBC World Service economics correspondent:

The growth figure is slightly slower than the previous quarter, but it still suggests the improved recovery of the last couple of years is being sustained.

That improvement is one of the reasons the short term global economic outlook has picked up.

The region has had support from the extremely easy money policy of the Eurozone central bank.

Its main interest rate is zero and another - the rate it pays for overnight deposits by banks - is negative.

And it is still pursuing the policy of buying financial assets known as quantitative easing, though it has cut back the amount it buys each month.

The US Federal Reserve by contrast ended its asset purchases in October 2014 and has raised its main interest rate five times from the low it reached in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

So the Eurozone is looking better, but it's not back to normal.

In December, the ECB lifted its growth estimates for the eurozone, predicting growth of 2.3% in 2018, up from a previous estimate of 1.8%, while 2019's forecast was increased to 1.9% from 1.7%.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the prospects for the global economy were improving, as it raised its global growth forecast for this year and next to 3.9%.

The IMF said the recent pick-up had been pretty broad-based, particularly in Europe and Asia.

'Solid' growth

The Eurostat data also showed that the estimate of eurozone growth in the third quarter of last year was revised up to 0.7% from 0.6%.

""The eurozone economy picked up momentum in the second half of last year,"" said Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Mr Vistesen described the 0.6% growth seen in the fourth quarter as ""solid"", adding it was probably driven by investment and net exports.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The science has been proven in mice - but it's unclear if humans will see the same benefit

To understand what's happening in the tech world today, you need to look back to the mid-1800s, when a Frenchman named Paul Bert made a discovery that was as gruesome as it was fascinating.

In his experiment, rodents were quite literally stitched together in order to share bloodstreams. Soon after he found the older mice started showing signs of rejuvenation: better memory, improved agility, an ability to heal more quickly. In later years, researchers at institutions like Stanford would reinforce this work.

The extraordinary technique became known as parabiosis, and forms the basis of efforts at Alkahest, a California start-up that is banking on being able to apply those rejuvenative effects to people, rather than mice. It's an idea so fantastical it wouldn't look out of place in an episode of Silicon Valley, the HBO send-up of the start-up scene.

And to all intents and purposes, it was. Season four, episode five. During a meeting, tech executive Gavin Belson introduces young Bryce... his blood transfusion partner that would keep him young.

Like so much great comedy, Silicon Valley hits the right spots because it rings true. Alkahest is providing the Bryce to real life Gavin Belsons through the movement of blood plasma, obtained by young donors all over the world.

Blood of our youth

""Silicon Valley luminaries are looking at their old form as they get older and thinking, 'What can I do about this?'"" said Kristen Brown, a biotech journalist for technology news site Gizmodo.

""It's the classic Silicon Valley mindset: 'How do I hack this problem?'""

For this week's episode of Click, I was given the task of trying to make sense of this desire to stretch our lifespans, or at least our health span - the number of years we remain fit and able before the troubles of old age kick in.

Image caption HVMN's fast-enhancing product has a sharp, bitter taste

Some measures - like sucking the blood out of our youth, for instance - are at the more dramatic end of the scale. But elsewhere in the ""longevity space"", as I heard it called, we see something more low-key, backed up with something at least approaching a scientific consensus.

So I decided to start there. HVMN - pronounced human - is a start-up that encourages smart fasting. It is of course something that humans have done for thousands of years, but it's only in our more recent history that we've understood more fully how the body reacts, and more importantly, what it produces while we're deep into a fast.

Beginning on a Monday night, I started the Monk Fast - 36 hours in which I could only drink zero-calorie liquids. In my case, that meant a diet of just water and black coffee.

""My advice to you is sleep in really late so you don't have to deal with it,"" Ms Brown joked.

Here come the ketones

Staying in bed wasn't an option. The following morning I skipped breakfast (for the first time in years) and met Geoffrey Woo, chief executive and co-founder of HVMN.

The company focuses on products Mr Woo claims can boost the effects of fasting. According to the company's Biohacker Guide, there is a ""growing body of scientific research"" that showed ""health benefits including longevity, improved metabolic state, improved insulin resistance, and cognitive improvement"".

Mr Woo says depriving yourself of nutrition provokes the body to produce ketones, a byproduct of your organs turning to your stored fat for fuel.

Image caption A blood test appeared to show my ketone levels did increase after trying HVMN's product

""As one gets better at being in ketosis,"" he told me, ""it becomes a productivity boost.""

The UK's NHS has warned about ketosis as a result of a low-carb diet which can be linked to headaches, weakness, nausea, dehydration, dizziness and irritability.

To help with my own fasting, I tried one of HVMN's products, a ""super fuel drink"" that is supposed to almost instantly get my body to start producing ketones at a level that would ordinarily take several days of fasting, not the mere few hours I had achieved by that point. To begin, we did a quick blood test to measure the current level of ketones in my body. It was low - 0.2 millimolar.

The $30 (£21)-a-pop supplement - officially classified as a food by the US regulator - came in a small plastic bottle that in a former life might have held cheap aftershave. I unscrewed the top and knocked back the substance like a shot of suspect liquor, going back for a second effort to finish off the last drop. HVMN has valiantly tried to mask the smell of it, but it could do little about the bitter, sharp taste.

Some 30 minutes later, we repeated the test. I didn't feel remarkably different, but my ketone level suggested otherwise: 2.2.

""It's the equivalent to having fasted for three or four days,"" Mr Woo explained.

'Lunacy'

The question is: do I believe him?

In the run-up to filming our story, I'd read about how HVMN apparently hid away a report it had commissioned into the effects of Sprint, another one of its products. The unfortunate conclusion was that it had little effect on alertness beyond that of a strong cup of coffee. Headlines at the time suggested the company did what it could to stifle the report's publication, but Mr Woo insists that wasn't the case. Indeed, the company now links to the study - which Mr Woo co-authored - on its website.

Image caption Eric Verdin, (R), has concerns about using young blood to rejuvenate the old

To find out more, I drove to the Buck Institute for Research on Aging which is based in the beautiful city of Novato, near California's wine country. It's the kind of place that would make you want to live as long as possible.

Here I met Dr Eric Verdin, one of the world's foremost experts on the science of ageing.

""Fasting elicits a response in your body that triggers a protection against many of the diseases that are associated with ageing"" he explained.

""So there's growing realisation that multiple forms of fasting might actually be beneficial in the long term. The science is really strong in this area.""

He was less persuaded by Alkahest's claims of using young blood to rejuvenate the old.

""First let's talk about science in mice. It is amazing work, the science is strong.

""Taking this and bringing it to humans is a completely different story. The idea that one would take human plasma and give it to humans to prevent ageing is, in my opinion, lunacy.""

Trials ahead

But to be clear, Dr Verdin's concern with Alkahest, and other companies like it, was mostly about safety and risk of infection, owing to the current process this technique requires today.

As for the possibility it would work, he says we simply don't know.

Alkahest chief executive Karoly Nikolich is confident but acknowledged the lack of solid science.

He told the BBC that a small study of 18 people suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's had shown positive results. Once a week over four weeks they were each given one unit of plasma taken from, probably, a student aged 18-30.

Over time, Mr Nikolich said those patients showed a better ability to perform basic daily tasks, and were more aware of their surroundings and sense of self.

But anecdotal evidence on how someone feels and acts is hardly conclusive. A more formal study presented by the company to an Alzheimer's conference in Boston last year couldn't even prove minimal benefits.

The company is pressing ahead, buoyed by other academic studies that built on Paul Bert's work and discovered that something in young mouse blood can fight Alzheimer's in the older mouse - they just haven't figured out what it is yet.

Spanish medical company Grifols recently invested $40m in Alkahest, and as a result will be a partner as it solicits blood donations from young people all over the world to be used in longer, more far-reaching studies.

The holy grail in this industry would be discovering specifically what can fight ageing - and bottling it.

""Ultimately we might be able to identify agents that could be administered orally,"" Mr Nikolich said, while predicting it might take more than a decade.

Image caption French scientist Paul Bert pioneered much of the research that backs today's anti-ageing efforts

Breaking fast

By Tuesday night, my own attempts to reverse the ageing process had left me feeling 20 years older. It was over 24 hours since my last calorie, and I was struggling.

I'd spent the evening at the cinema after a friend suggested - incorrectly - that it would take my mind off food.

What I found was that while fasting my mind became unable to process multiple inputs at once. After parking and getting out of the car, I started walking towards the cinema - only for my friend to point out that not only had I not locked the car, but the engine was still running.

By Wednesday I felt a little better, but still uneasy on my feet. My 36 hours were up, and after inhaling pancakes at one of Oakland's finest breakfast spots, I came to the conclusion that while scientists may be learning that fasting can indeed give you a longer life, there's no way they can convince me it'll be a happier one. You're not you when you're hungry, as the slogan goes.

My own rumbling tummy aside, is Silicon Valley on course to achieve its goal?

""We see the body as a platform to innovate,"" said Mr Woo, but Mr Verdin sees tech's contribution slightly differently.

""They're bringing incredible resources,"" he said

By which of course, he means cash. There's oodles of it pouring into this - and of all the daft ideas backed in this part of the world, I guess living longer and being healthier is something worth putting some money behind - lest we start stitching teenagers to billionaires.",en
"Image copyright EPA

Few people knew what to expect.

Would this be belligerent Trump - wagging his finger at the global elite about how divorced they were from reality, from what people really want?

Or would this be conciliatory Trump, setting a different tone? We heard the second.

The president touched many of the World Economic Forum's erogenous zones. But many were not quite sure how to take it considering the pit bull they were expecting.

He talked about the voices of the forgotten - a constant theme here among the ""super-haves"" who are coming to a creeping realisation that the system has to change if faith in the capitalist system is to endure.

He talked about economic success being about more than the sum of production, it was about the ""sum of its citizens"".

Businesses, he argued, had to remember their obligations to the people who worked for them.

Critics will pick at the easy holes. For example, on those income tax cuts it's the wealthy who will gain more.

And the business tax cuts are far larger than those for middle-income Americans.

Mr Trump said that America First did not mean America Alone. It was the key line of the speech.

Fair trade, not trade war

And it was a message echoed by other leading members of the White House power pack here, including Gary Cohn, the president's chief economic adviser and head of the US National Economic Council.

This is all about trade and the US approach.

The fear was that America under Mr Trump would throw up a series of trade barriers, increasing protectionism at a time when most government leaders at Davos - Narendra Modi of India, Justin Trudeau of Canada and Emmanuel Macron of France - were preaching the gospel of globalisation.

But today we heard a more nuanced manifesto. America, Mr Trump said, did not want a trade war, it wanted fair trade.

Which may come as a surprise to countries like South Korea, smarting this week following the imposition of tariffs on US imports of solar panels and washing machines.

Mr Trump's argument is this:

The rules of the free trade world were built after the Second World War when America's economic interests were rooted in the successful development of other countries' economies.

These countries then became eager customers for American products.

That equation has changed. China is a much more powerful economy.

Image copyright AFP

The Asian emerging markets, South America and Europe all now have much more muscular dogs in the fight for global trade.

Mr Trump said state planning, intellectual property theft and industrial subsidies were the new weapons of trade wars - and used against America.

""Fair and reciprocal trade"" is the new US mantra.

And if the administration feels it does not receive such treatment, the president will act - for example, by passing an executive order pulling the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12-nation Asian trade deal.

Mutual benefit

It's a message that has not fallen on stony ground here.

""I don't think it's inappropriate that we re-look at some of the treaties that were so asymmetric,"" Larry Fink, the chief executive of investment company BlackRock, told me.

""Some of these countries now are very strong and very developed. It's going to be a long game.

""The world is benefitting by global trade and we need to find ways of creating more global trade to benefit more humanity worldwide,"" he said.

America is still a trading nation, one which gains far more economically from globalisation - world trade - than it does from protectionist measures.

And that brute economic truth means that Mr Trump has to play a different tune here - to the business leaders and investors who decide where to place their cash - than maybe to the left-behind voters of the US rust belt.

So the president said that America was ready to do bilateral deals that would be ""mutually beneficial"".

He even suggested a re-engagement with the TPP. On trade, this was Trump 2.0.

The politics might have been angry in the past, but today, economic reality softened the president.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images

If the Tory party had wanted intentionally to display just how divided they are over Brexit and how generally twitchy they are, they could hardly have done a better job.

Not in off-the-cuff remarks but in scripted comments, one of the most convinced Brexit ""softies"" in the Cabinet, the chancellor himself, told delegates in Davos that he believed, hopefully, that the changes between the EU and UK economies would be ""very modest"", as we leave the European bloc.

Meanwhile, the emboldened voice of backbench Brexiteers, Jacob Rees-Mogg, had prepared a speech of his own, accusing ministers of being cowed by the EU and calling for the government to stiffen its sinews in the Brexit talks or risk letting down voters and opting only for a ""managed decline"".

Before you switch off from this neat, yet predictable demonstration of the division inside the governing party, remember it matters because it will shape the decisions that are made about the country's relationship with the EU in years to come, which will have an impact on all of our lives.

And it constrains Theresa May's ability to keep the show on the road. She has, since moving into Number 10, had to balance the two wings of her party, and particularly pay attention to the Brexiteers.

The sheer force of numbers of them on the backbenches and her lack of majority mean they are essentially her domestic base. It's not always been easy, but until now, they have been quite peaceable in public, relatively speaking.

The conventional logic has been that while they are on board Theresa May is safe, and while not ardent fans, they have been content to support her in office, knowing they are able to wield significant private influence to deliver what they see as ""their"" Brexit.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Philip Hammond's comments at Davos attracted some criticism

In the last ten days or so, with talk of transition, but more to the point the political mishandling of the reshuffle and the perceived tin ear of Number 10 on other issues, some ardent Brexiteers are looking at the Tories' prospects and wondering if it's time to change their calculation.

One senior Tory told me: ""Brexit has been so mishandled, whether we are right or wrong, we know it's bleeding into the party's prospects. In whose interests is it that she continues leading the party? A handful of cabinet ministers who can't summon up the wit to do anything.""

Essentially, Brexiteers were content to back the prime minister as long as it looked like she was more or less on track to lead the party and the government through a departure of the EU that was broadly to their liking, with a clean break from the single market and the customs union, a focus on free trade and cutting immigration.

And arguably after the election, their hand was strengthened given they were the biggest group on the Tory backbenches and Theresa May also had to rely on the DUP, who are also Brexiteers, to survive.

'Regime change'

But a perceived softening in her position, over the transition period, as we discussed earlier and a series of political missteps has, for some MPs at least, changed that calculation.

For some, ""we are now in a regime change state of mind"", with the possibility of seeking opportunities to remove the prime minister on the agenda.

And their putative leader, Jacob Rees-Mogg, head of the influential ERG grouping of Brexiteers hinted that there could be trouble in the Commons on our Brexit podcast, saying they hoped to change the government's Customs Bill, by coincidence of course, a bill politically owned by one Philip Hammond.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption David Davis v Jacob Rees-Mogg on Brexit transition

That would be the first time that Brexiteers have made trouble publicly for the government's programme of legislation and raises the prospect of rebels to the right of the prime minister, and rebels to the [Tory] left of her, with no way out.

One Tory source told me: ""I've never known this level of frustration amongst colleagues. It feels like nothing is happening. No one thinks it can carry on like this and something has to give - that's probably Theresa. The question is when? The answer is, hopefully soon.""

But - this is important - take a deep breath.

None of this means that it is inevitable that Theresa May is on her way out.

None of this means there will even be a challenge.

And none of this means a spring breeze couldn't sweep away the sour mood in a couple of weeks' time.

Losing patience

Number 10 is convinced that the fundamentals haven't changed. It's likely the majority of MPs, and almost certainly the majority of ministers, think she should stay on.

A leadership contest in the middle of Brexit? The EU would be appalled. And how many members of the public would look kindly on yet another political drama? We can all guess the answer to that.

Moreover, it is absolutely the case that the Tories agree on neither a clear way forward on Brexit, nor a best potential successor, nor even a vision of the kind of party they really want to be and policies they want to pursue in the future.

No-one in the party can agree on a better answer to the status quo. And remember, it is always easy in politics to say, ""we can't go on like this"".

Yet even MPs who back the prime minister are losing patience. One told me today: ""We try to help her but she just won't let us, it's all draining away.""

As the Tories' agonies over Brexit resurface, the prime minister has neither the luxury of time nor it seems, unconditional support from her own side.",en
"Image copyright Arianespace Image caption Everything looked fine as the rocket climbed away from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana

Europe's normally highly dependable rocket, the Ariane 5, experienced an anomaly during its latest launch.

Telemetry from the vehicle was lost about nine minutes into its flight from French Guiana, shortly after its upper-stage began the final push for orbit.

Uncertainty then followed as controllers tried to determine the status of the Ariane and the satellites it was carrying.

Eventually, though, radio signals from the spacecraft were picked up.

It seems the rocket did do its job - but beyond the sight of controllers on the ground.

The explanation for the anomaly has been put down to the rocket deviating from its planned flight trajectory.

However, it is also clear this left the satellites in a less than perfect orbit.

'Good health'

Arianespace, the company that operates the rocket from the Kourou spaceport, said communications with the launcher were dropped just after second-stage ignition.

""Lift-off occurred as planned at 19:20 local time in Kourou,"" a statement read. ""At [lift-off] plus nine minutes, 26 seconds, ground tracking stations lost contact with the Ariane 5 launcher.

""Initial investigations show that the situation results from a trajectory deviation. At the end of the mission, the launcher separated both satellites on a stable orbit.""

The circumstances will be investigated by an independent enquiry commission in conjunction with the European Space Agency.

Image copyright Arianespace Image caption Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël and his team lost contact nine minutes into the flight

One of the satellites that was onboard is owned by Luxembourg-based operator SES; the other belongs to UAE, Abu Dhabi-based Yahsat. They are both telecommunications platforms.

The SES satellite, called SES-14, was manufactured by Airbus in the UK, at its Portsmouth and Stevenage plants, and at its Toulouse facility in France.

SES has confirmed the platform is in good health but reveals also that it did not separate from the Ariane in the right place.

Spacecraft are normally dropped off into a large ellipse around the planet which they must then first circularise and raise slightly before starting service. A platform will use its own thrusters to do this.

SES said that, as a consequence of Thursday's anomaly, SES-14 would need an additional four weeks to reach the allocated orbital slot at 47.5 degrees West, 36,000km above the coast of northern South America.

SES-14 has an electric propulsion system that raises its orbit slowly but with great fuel efficiency. It was originally due to be on-station in July. The delay means August is now the expected arrival time.

The operator said the 15-year lifetime of SES-14 had not been compromised.

Likewise, Yahsat said its platform, Al Yah-3, had been ""inserted into an orbit that differed from the flight plan"".

Al Yah-3, built by Orbital ATK in the US, carries a conventional chemical propulsion system. And although this does not have the fuel efficiency of electric thrusters, Yahsat seems confident the spacecraft will eventually reach the desired position in the sky.

""We are pleased to know that the satellite is healthy, and that the necessary steps are being taken to ensure the original mission is fulfilled,"" Masood M Sharif Mahmood, CEO at Yahsat, said in a statement.

Image copyright ESA/ARIANESPACE Image caption The Ariane 5 has had an unblemished record since 2003

What happened during Thursday's flight was highly unusual.

After a difficult introduction in the late 1990s, the Ariane 5 has since set a benchmark for reliability in the launcher business.

Before this mission, it had gone to space 82 times on the trot without mishap.

The inquiry will try to determine what exactly went wrong and will assess whether any changes are required to the vehicle's design or operation to ensure there is no repeat telemetry loss in future.

In the meantime, preparations for further launches from Kourou will ""proceed as scheduled"", Arianespace said.

On the current calendar, the rocket is due to make up to six more flights this year.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos",en
"Image copyright Square Enix Image caption Life Is Strange, which was released in 2015, featured heroin and cannabis

A study of real and made-up drugs in best-selling video games has highlighted how harmful narcotics often give unlikely strength and health boosts to characters.

The report also details how players are often prompted to create drug cocktails to gain new or enhanced abilities.

The work was done by Archstone, an addiction awareness organisation.

It said parents needed to be cautious about what their children are playing and learning.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which assigns age and content ratings to games in the US, says it is happy with its drugs-related guidance.

""The ESRB's robust rating submission process ensures accurate, detailed and reliable rating information that parents are aware of, regularly use and trust to help decide which games and apps are appropriate for their children and family,"" said a spokeswoman.

Ever since Mario powered himself up with mushrooms, allusions to drug use have become commonplace, but as games - and the people who play them - have matured, so has the depiction of mind- and body-altering substances.

Image copyright Bethesda Image caption The Fallout games feature fictional drugs, including Jet, Mentats and Buffout

""Whether portrayed with gritty realism or eye-rolling cheesiness, it appears drugs in video games are here to stay,"" Archstone's report concedes.

The organisation runs a drugs recovery centre-based in Palm Beach, Florida.

Its leader, Logan Freedman, took the top-100-selling games on each console and examined those featuring drug use, whether substances found in the real world, such as opioids, or fictional drugs, like Grand Theft Auto's Spank.

It found that in the games that featured drug use, the majority - 61% - used real-world names. And in several cases, the fictional drugs were obvious replicas of real drugs.

You may also like:

One example is Skooma - a drug found in Skyrim, an action game released in 2011.

""It's a crystal. You smoke it out of a glass pipe and you have withdrawal afterwards,"" Mr Freedman explained, noting the obvious similarities to crack cocaine.

Image copyright Bethesda Image caption In Skyrim mushrooms can be used to create potions. The game also features the fictional substance Skooma

As in film, drug use in games could be seen as an understandable desire on the part of games developers to produce realistic experiences.

But the effects of those drugs are often less true to life.

In 32% of cases observed by the research team, drugs acted as a ""power-up"" of some kind, while 28% boosted a character's health.

Multiple stimulants

In other examples, players were often able to combine drugs to produce beneficial effects.

The report notes: ""The most common combination of drugs? Multiple stimulants. Nearly one-quarter of the games we looked at included more than one stimulant.

""Used to stay awake, gain energy, and get high, stimulants are extremely addictive.

""Common examples include cocaine, crack cocaine, and meth.""

That said, Mr Freedman stressed that several games, such as the Fallout series, do demonstrate the adverse effects of drugs as their storylines move forward.

Rating system

The ESRB told the BBC it took time to consider the context of taking substances when determining the guidance it gives parents buying games for their children.

""The ESRB rating system weighs factors that are unique to an interactive medium, such as the reward system, frequency, and the degree of player control among others,"" it said.

""Therefore, the mere presence of something like a health pack in a game may not result in a restrictive rating being assigned.

""However, given the context in which drugs appear in a game, the ESRB may assign a restrictive age rating, along with either the drug reference or use-of-drugs content descriptor.""

Image copyright Rockstar Image caption The Grand Theft Auto series features cocaine, marijuana and heroin as well as the fictional narcotic Spank

The report's authors are not calling for the games to be modified in any way.

""It comes down more to parents and what their kids play,"" Mr Freedman concluded.

""They're made for adults. It says [so] directly on the box.""

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

You can reach Dave securely through encrypted messaging app Signal on: +1 (628) 400-7370",en
"Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Goldman boss on Brexit point of no return

The boss of Goldman Sachs has warned that the US bank's contingency planning is reaching the point of no return.

The bank's chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, told the BBC some steps already taken to deal with Brexit were now very unlikely to be reversed.

At some point the steps are ""not going to be undone"", Mr Blankfein said.

For example, some contracts between Goldman Sachs UK and EU clients have been redrawn, or ""repapered"", to apply to Goldman Sachs Germany.

""Once we start to repaper - which is very cumbersome because it involves lots of lawyers on both sides and takes months - once we start that are we going to go back? Probably not,"" Mr Blankfein told the BBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

""We've already done some and we have told our clients that more is coming,"" he said.

'Can't be undone'

When asked exactly when the final point of no return would arrive, he said it was not a binary thing but a gradual process.

""Every month, incremental steps are taken and at some point we do things that are not going to be undone.""

The company has already taken 10 floors of a building in Frankfurt while still building a new HQ in London.

Mr Blankfein has taken to Twitter to send a message to the UK government that first, he may not fill the UK headquarters and second, how much he likes Frankfurt.

He added a little more context today. ""Look, I like Frankfurt because I have to like Frankfurt,"" he said.

The Goldman boss' report on his lunchtime meeting with the prime minister in Davos was interesting. First, he said he was told there was no chance of a second referendum.

That's interesting because it reflects the widely held belief in Davos that there is still a scenario in which the UK doesn't leave the EU.

""I asked whether there was anything that might come up that might make people reconsider this awesome and irreversible decision - but I'm told that's not on the cards,"" Mr Blankfein said.

Second, he was told he may have to trust the government there will be a transition period, during which the status quo holds before the terms of that transition have been agreed. A position he didn't seem very happy about.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The Goldman boss talked about Brexit with Theresa May in Davos

""We may have to rely on the promise of a transition, suspend our march [out of the UK] and yet not be entirely sure it gets accomplished. So we may have to make a leap of faith - which is a little dangerous for us,"" he said.

Goldman Sachs does not expose itself to risk like that - particularly when dealing with a government which Mr Blankfein describes as ""feeling its way"" through these negotiations.

The government, for its part, said both the EU and UK are in agreement to ""a time-limited implementation period which would be mutually beneficial"".

During this period, the UK and the EU should continue to have access to one another's markets on current terms, a government spokesman said.

The only thing Lloyd Blankfein seemed confident about is that whatever happens, a bank that has built a formidable reputation for execution - in English that means getting important stuff done right - will be ready for 1 April 2019, even if the UK government isn't.",en
"Image copyright Reuters

Welcome to the next phase.

The Brexit process never went away. But the beavering of officials has rather less political intrigue to it than the interventions of the Brexit big beasts.

Well, nipping in before the EU publishes its official approach to part two of the saga on Monday, David Davis will tomorrow have a big moment of his own.

The Brexit Secretary will make a speech formally setting out the UK's hopes and goals for the transition period with the aspiration it can all be sorted out by March.

It will mark the formal overture to the next phase of the Brexit talks, sorting out the two years or so after the UK has officially left the EU, but still has significant ties to its institutions.

Ministers have, after vigorous lobbying from business, accepted that not very much will change as the clock strikes midnight on Brexit day.

The PM has already made clear that we will broadly accept the existing rules and regulations, and ministers agree that although we will officially be outside the Single Market free trade area and the Customs Union, we'll replicate those arrangements so that industry isn't dealing with dramatic overnight change.

But the more precise nature of the period between 2019 and 2021 is not that clear. And there is brewing anxiety among Theresa May's Brexiteer base that what was billed originally as an implementation phase, where we move from one system to another, will be more like two years stuck in aspic.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption David Davis v Jacob Rees-Mogg on Brexit transition

That's why the new leader of the influential European Research Group of Tories, Jacob Rees-Mogg, so delighted in taunting David Davis in front of the Brexit committee yesterday, claiming that during that time the UK will be a ""vassal state"".

So tomorrow, Mr Davis will have questions to answer. I'm told that he will make clear the UK intends to negotiate and complete trade deals with other countries during the transition, to be ready to sign on the dotted line the moment the transition is over.

He's also expected to make plain the UK wants to remain within existing agreements that the EU has stitched together with other countries too.

One minister told me it's ""reasonable enough"" to hope to persuade the EU that can happen. Right now, Brussels' position is that when we're out, we lose out on those deals as well. But Brexiteers also want to know whether ministers are going to resist any new rules that come into force in the EU between 2019 and 2021.

If the situation is broadly the status quo, the EU expects that the UK will be bound by any changes that are made during that period, and also be bound by the European Courts.

I'm told that Mr Davis will acknowledge there has to be some kind of process, mechanism, or cunning wheeze, where the UK can make sure it is still in the room when decisions are made, even if technically we have lost all rights to do so.

But don't expect right now that there will be a fully-fledged solution to the political problem of us becoming a 'rule taker not a rule maker'.

There is plenty still to work out and plenty of worry on the Tory backbenches about what the government is willing to give for a smooth departure, and depending on exactly what Mr Davis says tomorrow, there could be ructions from Brexiteers in the coming days.

As ever, I'm told too that the speech has gone through several drafts.

But there's a view in government that the less time spent worrying about transition or implementation the better, the priority is to keep their eyes on the prize, and to persuade colleagues to focus on the end result, nail down transition then move on to the important final deal.

But nerves are beginning to jangle, and the start of Brexit 2.0 could up the pressure.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Do you find it harder to get up for work in the dark days of January?

During winter when the nights are long and days short, getting up for work in the dark and coming home in the dark can be grim. Some of us succumb to the January blues, leading to increased illness, reduced productivity and a general feeling of melancholy. But can clever lighting improve our sleep patterns and lift our moods?

""I only feel like I start to breathe properly again after the solstice,"" says Jacqueline Hazelton, a professor at the US Naval War College in Rhode Island.

She's referring to the winter solstice - usually 21 December - the point after which the days start lengthening again following the longest night of the year.

""I'm happier and more productive on sunny days year round,"" she says, but a string of dull days ""puts a real crimp in my productivity.""

Most of us are affected by the change in seasons and the amount of natural light we experience, says the mental health charity Mind.

Some are particularly badly affected. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) - depressive feelings associated with a particular time of year - affects 9.5% of people in northern Finland and 9.9% in Alaska, but only 1.4% in sunny Florida, researchers say.

And this winter much of Europe has been especially dark. Moscow enjoyed only six minutes of sunshine in December - it normally experiences 18 hours.

Image copyright Jacqueline Hazelton Image caption Prof Hazelton says a sunrise alarm ""made an instant difference"" to her wellbeing

Prof Hazelton's solution is a sunrise alarm: a device gently waking her up by bathing her room in gradually brightening light.

""It made an instant difference,"" she says. ""I no longer feel like I've been tossed out of an aeroplane.""

A 2013 study showed that using a dawn-simulating light beginning 30 minutes before waking up improved people's cognitive performance and mood for the entire day after.

The British rowing, cycling, and swimming teams give their athletes dawn simulators to help with the early morning training sessions.

Meanwhile light boxes, which trick the brain into thinking it's daytime even when it is dark outside, have been around for three decades.

The first examples were ""big large clunkers, like ceiling fixtures you would put on the table,"" says Dr Norman Rosenthal, a South African psychiatrist who was the first to describe SAD.

""They've come a long way since then, being more streamlined, portable, and aesthetic.""

Image copyright Beurer Image caption Light boxes, like this one from Beurer, can be used to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder

The latest light boxes are about the size of a computer tablet.

Ariel Anders, a doctoral student in robotics at MIT, who originally comes from sunny California, led a push to install light boxes around MIT's campus.

""People use them, and people like using them,"" she says.

Light therapy devices are no longer seen as voodoo science, believes Ruth Jackson from Lumie, one of the first companies to make sunrise alarms.

""I think going back, it's fair to say light therapy was seen as something very specialist, slightly weird. Now people understand you don't have to have SAD to benefit from these things,"" she says.

So how do they work?

Daylight is known to suppress the production of melatonin, the hormone that makes us sleepy, and increase production of cortisol, the hormone that helps control blood sugar levels and regulates our metabolism.

Image copyright LUMIE Image caption Automated bedside lights can now exude warmer colours and dim gradually at bed time

Too little sunlight over time can result in low levels of serotonin, the neurotransmitter that helps balance our moods.

When it gets dark, our bodies produce more melatonin, getting us ready for sleep. Dawn light suppresses the melatonin, waking us up and giving us a boost for the day ahead. This is the circadian rhythm - our internal body clock.

This is why some experts think the blueish light produced by smartphones and laptops can interfere with our sleep patterns if we use them too much before going to bed. Light on the red end of the spectrum, on the other hand, can help us relax.

Michael Herf, a former Google employee, created a computer program called f.lux to address this issue. It keeps track of a user's sunrise and sunset, adjusting the screen's proportion of blue and red light through the day.

Steve Chang, a programmer and night owl, says he founded Up Light in San Diego as an exercise in self-preservation after marrying an early bird.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Could too much smartphone use before bed be affecting your sleep patterns?

""What if we could use light to hack our sleep cycle?"" he says.

Mr Chang thought existing sunrise alarms looked too much ""like a medical device - I don't want to feel like a patient,"" he says.

So he created an app to work with smart light bulbs that can change their colour hue. Bedside lamps can now be turned into sunrise alarms in the morning, then switch to redder light at night.

These programmable smart lights - a feature of the increasingly connected home - are giving people far more control over the ambience in their homes.

For example, Briana Hokanson, who works in California for Adobe, has programmed her SmartHome hub ""to automate a better environment"".

""I had a setting that at 8.30pm all the smart bulbs in the house would dim to 30% and switch to a warm temperature, and after 11pm the bulbs would emit red hues,"" she says.

Image copyright UpLight Image caption Would a pink lighting scheme help you get off to sleep?

And it's not just householders who are experimenting with adjustable lighting - businesses are waking up to its potential, too.

Energy company Innogy has just installed ""tuneable"" lights in its new Prague headquarters. The lights provide bursts of blue light in the mornings and after lunch by default, but employees can change the settings if they prefer calmer light.

Companies like Innogy are realising the increasing importance of ""light nutrition"" in the workplace, says Dutch scientist Bianca van der Zande, who worked on the project as Philips Lighting's head of human-centric lighting.

The brain is so sensitive to differences between red and blue light, we can even be tricked into feeling warmer or cooler, claims Anna Enright, head of product management for UK-based lighting company, Aurora Lighting.

Image copyright Philips Image caption Innogy's adaptable office lighting is designed to stimulate employee energy levels

""In Scandinavia, we use warmer light temperatures for clients, whereas the Middle East is quite a hot climate, so we use cooler light temperatures to make people think the air conditioning is working,"" she says.

No-one is claiming lighting alone can cure something as serious as clinical depression and we know manufacturers are fond of making overblown claims for their products, but there is growing evidence that managing our lighting can improve our sleep patterns and put a bit more pep in our step.

And that may be enough to banish the January blues for many.

Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter and Facebook

More Technology of Business",en
"Video

'Anyone can jump in and design something'",en
"Image copyright Graze Image caption Graze found that its nut packs were a bit hit in the US

While curry-mad Britons can't get enough mango chutney, it seems that Americans can't stand the sticky stuff.

That was what popular UK snacks firm Graze found out pretty quickly when it first expanded to the US in 2013.

""Our plan in the US was to initially launch our entire British range and see how everything went down,"" says Graze's chief executive Anthony Fletcher.

""Some things Americans loved, and some they absolutely loathed... [such as] mango chutney. They were saying 'what is this acidic yellow blob?'.""

Revenue potential

For many UK food and drink companies cracking the US is the holy grail.

With its population of more than 326 million people, the giant American marketplace can offer British grub and booze businesses huge revenues.

But as the UK's largest supermarket group Tesco can attest, being a success stateside is far from easy. Back in 2013 it sold its six-year-old Californian venture Fresh & Easy after losses totalling more than £1bn ($1.4bn).

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption How snack food firm Graze cracked the US

So how exactly can a UK food and drink firm conquer the US? We asked a number of companies who have done just that to reveal the secrets of their success.

Graze's Antony Fletcher says that his company sat down and formulated a plan whereby they would study their US online sales data to quickly work out exactly which of its snack food packs Americans wanted to buy, which ones they didn't like, and which ones could be adapted to better meet US tastes.

""We are very lucky in that we sell via our website,"" he says. ""And we get 15,000 product ratings an hour, which gives us a huge advantage - we can find out very quickly what people like and don't like.""

Differing tastes

So, launching in the US with its entire range of products, within days Graze found out that American customers loved its packs of mixed nuts, but couldn't cope with things like the already-mentioned mango chutney, or the firm's ""deconstructed Jaffa Cakes"".

The latter wasn't bought in the US because American consumers didn't know anything about Jaffa Cakes, the popular UK orange and chocolate-topped mini-cakes.

Graze soon trimmed back what was available to US customers, and used their reviews to change the formulas of other products, such as its barbeque sauce. It also quickly introduced some US specific lines, such as ""Creamy Range Kern Pops"", which is popcorn with a ""creamy, zesty kick"".

Mr Fletcher says that Graze also studied how long the various US delivery firms took to get its snack boxes to customers' doors, so that it could chose the quickest in each state.

Today US sales account for half of the company's £75.8m annual revenues.

Marketing changes

David Wilson's claim to fame is that he introduced the vegetarian version of chicken nuggets to the US market.

Image copyright Quorn Image caption Quorn brought its meat substitute nuggets to the US

Back in 2000 he was a co-owner of the then company that owned meat substitute brand Quorn.

At the time the product was primarily bought in the UK as a substitute for beef mince, and made by users into dishes such as spaghetti Bolognese or chilli.

Seeking to crack the US market, the plan of Mr Wilson and his colleagues was to instead market Quorn in the US as a chicken substitute, including the introduction of Quorn nuggets.

Mr Wilson moved to New York to take charge of the move, and after the nuggets were picked up by upmarket US supermarket chain Whole Food Market, Quorn has never looked back in the country.

Lengthy research

Today Mr Wilson still lives in the States, and runs a business called Green Seed Group that helps and advises UK and other foreign food firms that wish to launch in the US.

""The first thing that any food business that wants to break into American needs to do is research."" he says.

""And by that I don't mean take a week's holiday in Florida or a weekend in New York, you have to move to the US and absorb its food culture. You need to visit supermarket after supermarket, and restaurant after restaurant to study the marketplace.

This is the 14th story in a series called Connected Commerce, which every week highlights companies around the world that are successfully exporting, and trading beyond their home market.

""The sensible thing is then to go to the big food fairs. First just as a visitor, and then buy a stand. You then need to see if you can attract buyers for independent stores first. The likes of Walmart won't even look at you unless you are already showing some sales success in the US.

""And hire a US-based expert to help you find potential buyers, and guide you on labelling laws etc.

""The one thing that is much easier and cheaper these days is marketing. Back in my Quorn days it could be expensive, but now firms have social media.""

UK organic tea and herbal supplements firm Pukka Herbs also recommends that fellow British food firms attend trade fairs - both in the US and elsewhere overseas - so that they can meet potential buyers.

Image copyright Pukka Herbs Image caption The team at Pukka Herbs recommend that UK food firms attend trade fairs in the US

""We met our first overseas buyer at a trade show in Germany, and then we went to trade shows in the US in 2009 to show off or teas, and we got picked up by a wholesaler in the north east of the country,"" says Pukka Herbs co-founder Tim Westwell.

The company was first founded in 2001 and the US market now accounts for 10% of its turnover.

British ex-pat Tracy Claros founded her business, the Sticky Toffee Company, in Austin, Texas, in 2003. Today her company has annual revenues of $4m (£3m), and her stockists include Whole Foods Market, Costco and Walmart.

Her advice is offer something new, and be patient.

""Come with a unique, well-branded product, and be prepared to be here for the long haul,"" she says.

UK beer firm Brewdog is one company taking this long-term approach in the US, so much so that it has built a brewery in Ohio to make its presence permanent.

Image caption Tracy Claros has introduced Americans to the joy of sticky toffee pudding

Mr Wilson from Green Seed Group adds: ""Cracking America starts with having a unique brand offer that fits in with the American lifestyle.

""It is all about a good market strategy, sound financial backing, and quite a bit of patience. If you get it right, the prize is huge, but if you don't it can be an expensive misadventure.""",en
"Week in pictures

A selection of the best news photographs from around the world, taken over the past week.",en
"The best looks, backstage shots and performances from the 60th annual Grammy awards.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption ""Did I really win?"" Kendrick Lamar (with comedian Dave Chappelle) checks the envelope for best rap performance.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Best new artist Alessia Cara discovers you can't make calls on a Gramo-phone (sorry).

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption ""High five anyone? Anyone? ANYONE?"" Bruno Mars celebrates his six Grammys backstage.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption ""How on earth did I get myself into this?"" asks Mark Ronson halfway through Lady Gaga's performance.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld shares a moment with James Corden backstage.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Rihanna poses for a photo with Pink and her daughter, Willow, before the show.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A moment of nerves for Miley Cyrus before she duets with Sir Elton John on Tiny Dancer.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Many artists, including Cyndi Lauper, wore a white rose as a mark of solidarity with the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements.

Image copyright Shutterstock Image caption Lady Gaga's Armani Prive gown was one of the most eye-catching dresses on the red carpet.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Kendrick Lamar's explosive, high-concept opening medley raised the bar for the night's other performers.

Image copyright AFP / Getty Images Image caption With three distinct acts, the performance addressed themes of race, politics and identity.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Rihanna and DJ Khaled's performance of Wild Thoughts brought a sultry Caribbean flavour to the night.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Model Chrissy Teigen and other stars signed instruments and other prizes to raise money for charity.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption People who had survived suicide attempts appeared behind Khalid, Logic and Alessia Cara as they sang the suicide prevention song 1800-273-8255.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Broadway star Patti LuPone gave a jaw-dropping performance of Don't Cry For Me Argentina in honour of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Alicia Keys stops for a chat with Blue Ivy Carter (and her parents Jay-Z and Beyonce, presumably).

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Kesha performed the self-empowerment anthem Praying with the Resistance Revival Chorus, a collective of women dedicated to singing protest songs.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Cardi B and Bruno Mars were one of the night's most colourful acts, as they performed the '90s throwback jam Finesse (Remix).

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption What is Rihanna up to in this picture?

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption There's always time for a selfie with Rita Ora on the red carpet.

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.",en
"Image caption

Britain's Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, visited the sensory room of the Mother and Baby Unit at the Bethlem Royal Hospital in south London. The Duchess is expecting her third child, who will become the fifth in line to the throne behind Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.",en
"Image caption

In Togo's capital Lome on Saturday, a man with body paint in the colours of the national flag protests to demand an end to 50 years of rule by the Eyadema family.",en
"Africa highlights: Zambian grave robbers dig up albino body, Black Panther star's kanzu

Albino body parts are believed to have magical properties, actor Daniel Kaluuya thrills fans, and more.",en
Looking on to the Île de la Cité - the island in the Seine where you find Notre Dame - trees and lamp posts can be seen emerging from the water.,en
"Принц Вільям і Кейт у Швеції пограли у хокей

Герцог і герцогиня Кембриджські забили серію пенальті, коли їх вчили грати у хокей з м'ячем у Стокгольмі. Після дводенного візиту до Швеції Вільям та Кейт вирушать до Норвегії.",uk
"Фотогалерея

Фото: нищівні пожежі в Португалії

Португалія оголосила триденну жалобу за 61 жертвою однієї з найбільших лісових пожеж в історії країни. Більшість загинули у вогняній пастці, коли їхні автомобілі опинилися заблоковані на охопленій вогнем дорозі.",uk
"Відео

""Хлібом запахло, життя повертається"": пекарня у прифронтовій Мар'їнці

Як це - відкрити пекарню на лінії фронту? Про це у репортажі кореспондентки ВВС з Мар'їнки на сході України.",uk
"BBC World Service працює у форматах радіо, ТБ та інтернет. Це дозволяє ВВС пропонувати свій контент більш широкій аудиторії.

Копирайт изображения Korrespondent

Матеріали BBC Україна представлені на кількох інших українських інтернет-сайтах і порталах. Партнерство з цими медіаорганізаціями дозволяє нам познайомити з нашими матеріалами більшу аудиторію. Зараз наші матеріали і заголовки можна побачити на сайтах, перелічених нижче.

Копирайт изображения bigmir

BBC Україна прагне працювати з різними партнерами в України та світі, зацікавленими в якісному унікальному контенті та цінують довіру власної аудиторії.

Копирайт изображения TSN

Ми пропонуємо нашим партнерам наш контент у вигляді тексту, аудіо та відео на умовах дотримання певних вимог, які можна отримати, якщо ви напишете на адресу BBC.Ukrainian@bbc.co.uk (у темі листа вкажіть ""Про партнерство"").

Рекомендації щодо поширення программ ВВС, використання матеріалів та бренду може надати відділ маркетингу ВВС.

Інтернет-сайти

Копирайт изображения UNIAN

Корреспондент.net офіційно розпочав роботу 1 вересня 2000 року. Щодня Корреспондент.net пропонує своїм читачам повноцінну інформацію про найважливіші події, що відбуваються у вітчизняному і зарубіжному бізнесі, політиці, мистецтві, спорті, науці, сфері новітніх технологій.

Копирайт изображения ZIK

Новини на Bigmir) - Bigmir) net - найбільший в Україні інформаційно-розважальний портал.

Копирайт изображения Yandex

Сайт ТСН.ua був заснований у серпні 2008 року. 24 години на добу і 7 днів на тиждень ТСН.ua стежить за життям України та світу, публікує найважливіші та найцікавіші українські та світові новини, а також новини науки та ІТ, економіки, політики, шоубізнесу та спорту.

Інформаційне агентство УНІАН працює на медіа-ринку України з 1993 року та є одним з найстаріших агентств України. Сайт агентства УНІАН входить до ТОП-10 найбільш відвідуваних новинних ресурсів українського Інтернету.

Копирайт изображения ukr.net

Інформаційне агентство ""Західна інформаційна корпорація"" працює з 14 липня 2004 року і разом з телеканалом ZIK у складі одноіменного медіахолдингу є лідером медіа-ринку Західної України.

Копирайт изображения META

Агрегатори новин

Яндекс.Новини — перша в Росії та Україні служба автоматичної обробки та систематизації новин. Служба оновлюється в режимі реального часу 7 днів на тиждень і 24 години на добу та неупереджено відображає інформаційну картину дня. Дані для обробки надходять від партнерів служби — провідних українських і зарубіжних ЗМІ.

UKR.net Розділ новини на найбільш відвідуваному порталі України з'явився в 2004 році. Наші редактори вручну сортують і обробляють новини з 1300 джерел щодоби для того щоб наші відвідувачі дізнавалися всі актуальні новини на порталі Укр.нет.

МетаНовини транслюють інформацію більше 1000 українських сайтів інформаційних агентств, газет, журналів, телекомпаній, інформаційних і тематичних сайтів",uk
"वीडियो

अंगदान की हिचकिचाहट दूर करने की कोशिश

अंग दान यानि ऑर्गन डोनेशन को लेकर भारत में ही नहीं, ब्रिटेन में बसे हिंदुओं की सोच भी बँटी हुई है.",hi
"आडियो

वो भाषण जिन्होंने भारत को हिला कर रख दिया!

भाषण सुने जाने के लिए दिए जाते हैं. लोगों पर असर छोड़ने के लिए वो शब्दों के ही मोहताज नहीं होते.",hi
"तस्वीरें

मंदिर, जहां पूजे जाते हैं हज़ारों काले चूहे

बीबीसी हर हफ़्ते दुनिया भर से अपने पाठकों की भेजी तस्वीरें छापता है. ये तस्वीरें एक तयशुदा थीम पर होती हैं और इस बार की थीम है 'स्ट्रेंज बट ट्रू'.",hi
"बीबीसी हिंदी डॉट कॉम के पाठकों और श्रोताओं की मदद के लिए हम यहाँ अक्सर पूछे जाने वाले सवालों के जवाब देने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं. अगर आपके किसी सवाल का जवाब यहाँ नहीं है तो कृपया ईमेल के ज़रिए हमसे hindi.letters@bbc.co.uk पर संपर्क कीजिए.

बीबीसी हिंदी रेडियो के कार्यक्रम

बीबीसी हिंदी का दैनिक प्रसारण - दिन भर - आप बीबीसी हिंदी डॉट कॉम पर सुन सकते हैं. ये कार्यक्रम भारतीय समयानुसार शाम साढ़े सात बजे से शाम साढ़े आठ बजे तक प्रसारित होता है.

प्रसारण के दौरान आप ये कार्यक्रम लाइव यानी सीधे प्रसारण के रूप में भी सुन सकते हैं. कार्यक्रम का समय निकल जाने के बाद उसकी रिकॉर्डिंग अगले दिन नया कार्यक्रम प्रसारित होने तक उपलब्ध रहती है.

इसके अलावा हम अपने विशेष कार्यक्रमों-इंटरव्यू आदि को अलग से भी पहले पन्ने, मल्टीमीडिया और कई और पन्नों पर प्रदर्शित करते हैं.

अगर आप ये कार्यक्रम अपने शॉर्टवेव रेडियो पर सुनना चाहते हैं तो कार्यक्रम के लिंक पर क्लिक करने पर आपको फ़्रीक्वेंसियों के बारे में भी जानकारी मिल सकती है जिन पर इनका प्रसारण होता है.

वेबसाइट पर वीडियो देखना और ऑडियो सुनना

बीबीसी हिंदी डॉट कॉम के कई पन्नों पर आपको वीडियो और ऑडियो के कई लिंक मिल जाएँगे. उन्हें अलग से भी प्रदर्शित किया गया है और वे कहानियों के साथ भी लिंक किए हुए हो सकते हैं.

इनको देखने-सुनने के लिए आपके पास इंटरनेट का कनेक्शन होना चाहिए. अगर आपके पास डायलअप कनेक्शन है तो इसकी स्पीड कम से कम 56 kbps होनी चाहिए. वैसे बेहतर नतीजों के लिए आपके पास ब्रॉ़डबैंड हो तो बेहतर है.

कहानियों में दिए हुए लिंक को देखने-सुनने के लिए आपके इंटरनेट ब्राउज़र के लिए Flash Player होना चाहिए.

यदि आपके पास Flash Player नहीं है और आप इसे डाउनलोड करना चाहते हैं तो इस लिंक को क्लिक करें -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/categories/plug/flash/flash.shtml?intro2

ऑडियो और वीडियो के लिए आपके पास Windows Media Player होना चाहिए.

अगर आप Windows Media Player डाउनलोड करना चाहते हैं तो नीचे दिए गए लिंक पर क्लिक करें

http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/categories/plug/winmedia/newwinmedia.shtml?intro2

एक आवश्यक सूचना: बीबीसी की किसी भी सामग्री को देखने-सुनने के लिए अगर आप इनमें से कुछ भी डाइनलोड करते हैं और उसका उपयोग करते हैं तो हम इसके लिए आपसे कोई भुगतान नहीं लेते. यह बीबीसी के पाठकों और श्रोताओं के लिए मुफ़्त है. इसके लिए आपको अपने क्रे़डिट कार्ड का नंबर आदि देने की ज़रुरत नहीं है.

जब आप इन प्लग-इन्स को डाउनलो़ड करते हैं तो आपको दूसरी कंपनी के कुछ नियम व शर्तों का पालन करने के लिए सहमत होना पड़ेगा. इसमें बीबीसी कहीं शामिल नहीं है. वहाँ आप जो व्यक्तिगत जानकारियाँ उपलब्ध करवाते हैं तो यह वही कंपनी बताती है कि उस जानकारी का उपयोग वह किस तरह से करेगी.

मोबाइल पर बीबीसी हिंदी वेबसाइट

बीबीसी हिंदी डॉट कॉम को अब आप अपने मोबाइल पर भी पढ़ सकते हैं बशर्ते आपके मोबाइल में इंटरनेट की सुविधा हो.

हम WAP साइट भी उपलब्ध करवाते हैं जो विशेष रुप से आपके मोबाइल के लिए डिज़ाइन की गई है.

हम अलग-अलग मोबाइलों के लिए Java सॉफ़्टवेयर भी उपलब्ध करवाते हैं. इसको डाउनलोड करने के बाद आप विभिन्न बीबीसी पन्नों को बेहतर ढंग से देख और पढ़ सकते हैं और पन्नों को अपनी पसंद के अनुरुप बदल सकते हैं.

और अधिक जानकारी के लिए पहले पन्ने के नीचे वाले हिस्से में दिए मोबाइल लिंक पर क्लिक करें.

पॉडकास्ट

अगर आप हमारे कुछ साप्ताहिक कार्यक्रमों को डाउनलोड करके अपनी सुविधा के समय पर सुनना चाहते हैं तो यह आपके लिए बिना किसी शु्ल्क के उपलब्ध है. और अधिक जानकारी के लिए पहले पन्ने के नीचे वाले हिस्से में दिए पॉडकास्ट लिंक पर क्लिक करें.

चर्चित विषय और खोज

बीबीसी हिंदी डॉट कॉम पर अब आपको प्रमुख विषयों और व्यक्तियों के बारे में उपलब्ध ख़बरों, विश्लेषणों और फ़ीचरों को एक ही जगह एकत्रित करके उपलब्ध करवाते हैं. उसे आप वेबसाइट के दाहिनी ओर सबसे ऊपर 'चर्चा में'विषय के अंतर्गत देख सकते हैं. वह शीर्षक लाल रंग में प्रदर्शित होता है और इसका चयन हम प्रतिदिन की महत्वपूर्ण घटनाओं के आधार पर करते हैं.

इसके अलावा अगर आप साइट पर कोई अन्य जानकारी हासिल करना चाहते हैं तो हमारी खोज सुविधा का उपयोग कर सकते हैं इसके लिए आपको पन्ने के सबसे ऊपर मौजूद 'खोज़ें' वाले विंडो में वह शब्द या विषय लिखना होगा जिसके विषय में आप हमारी साइट पर जानकारी हासिल करना चाहते हैं.

सोशल नेटवर्किंग बुकमार्किंग

बीबीसी हिंदी डॉट कॉम अब आपके लिए सोशल नेटवर्किंग वेबसाइटों पर अपनी पसंद की कहानियों, ऑडियो और वीडियो को बुकमार्क करने की सुविधा उपलब्ध करवाती है.

इसे आप हर पन्ने और ऑडियो/वीडियो के नीचे देख सकते हैं.

अगर आप इसके बारे में और अधिक जानकारी हासिल करना चाहते हैं तो इन सोशल नेटवर्किंग बुकमार्क वाले हिस्से के ऊपर 'ये क्या हैं?' लिंक पर क्लिक करें.

आरएसएस या न्यूज़ फ़ीड

आरएसएस फ़ीड के ज़रिए हम आपको वेबसाइट पर प्रकाशित होने वाले नवीनतम ख़बरों, फ़ीचरों, विश्लेषणों, ऑडियो और वीडियो के बारे में सूचित करते हैं. इससे आप हमारी वेबसाइट में जाए बिना ही उसमें उपलब्ध होने वाली नवीनतम सामग्री के बारे में जानकारी हासिल करते रहते हैं.

इसके बारे में और जानकारी के लिए पहले पन्ने पर 'न्यूज़ फ़ीड' के लिंक पर क्लिक करें.

हमें अपनी सामग्री भेजिए

बीबीसी हिंदी डॉट कॉम अपने पाठकों और श्रोताओं को इस बात के लिए प्रोत्साहित करती है कि वे बीबीसी की सामग्री में अपना योगदान दें. अगर आपके पास कोई ऑडियो, वीडियो या फिर तस्वीर है तो हमें भेजिए.

इसका उपयोग बीबीसी हिंदी वेबसाइट पर किया जाएगा और साथ में आपका नाम प्रकाशित किया जाएगा.

इसके बारे में और अधिक जानकारी के लिए पहले पन्ने के बाईं ओर नीचे के हिस्से में और एकदम नीचे के हिस्से में 'अपनी सामग्री हमें भेजें' वाले लिंक पर क्लिक करें.

यदि इसके अलावा आपको बीबीसी हिंदी डॉट कॉम किसी अन्य विषय में मदद की ज़रुरत है तो hindi.letters@bbc.co.uk पर हमें ईमेल भेजें. हम आपके सुझावों का भी स्वागत करते हैं.",hi
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"Image copyright Met Police Image caption The vault at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd was breached over the 2015 Easter weekend

The four ringleaders behind the Hatton Garden raid must pay a total of £27.5m or serve another seven years in jail.

John ""Kenny"" Collins, 77, Daniel Jones, 63, Terry Perkins, 69, and Brian Reader, 78, were ordered to pay the money back during a confiscation ruling at Woolwich Crown Court.

The gang stole goods after drilling a hole in the wall of a vault at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit in Easter 2015.

The raid has been branded the ""largest burglary in English legal history"".

It is thought two thirds of the valuables remain unrecovered.

Judge Christopher Kinch QC said the men jointly benefitted from an estimated £13.69m worth of stolen cash, gold and gems.

The breakdown of the amounts ordered by the judge on Tuesday, based on the individuals' ""available assets"", are:

John Collins, of Islington, north London - £7,686,039

Daniel Jones, of Enfield, north London - £6,649,827

Terry Perkins, of Enfield - £6,526,571

Brian Reader, of Dartford, Kent - £6,644,951, including the sale of his £639,800 home and development land worth £533,000

Handing down his ruling, the judge said: ""A number of these defendants are not only of a certain age, but have in some cases serious health problems.

""But as a matter of principle and policy it is very difficult to endorse any approach that there is a particular treatment for someone who chooses to go out and commit offences at the advanced stage of their lives that some of these defendants were.""

Image copyright Met Police Image caption Clockwise from top left Brian Reader, John Collins, Daniel Jones and Terry Perkins were described as the ringleaders of the heist

Collins, Jones, and Perkins pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and were each jailed for seven years in 2016.

Reader, who was too ill to attend the initial sentencing, was later jailed for six years and three months.

Tom Wainwright, representing Reader, said an increase in his sentence ""does not have to be very long for it to mean, in reality, he will serve the rest of his life in custody"".

The barristers for Jones and Perkins said their clients would have to serve the default sentence as neither will be able to raise the funds.

Carl Wood and William ""Billy the fish"" Lincoln, 60, of Bethnal Green, east London, were given six and seven-year sentences respectively for the same offence as the rest of the gang, as well as one count of conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property.

Wood, 60, of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, has already ordered to pay more than £50,000.

Plumber Hugh Doyle, who helped the burglars, was ordered to pay £367.50 for his ""general criminal conduct"" at the court on Tuesday.

Doyle, of Enfield, was convicted in 2016 of providing access to a yard where goods from the raid could be moved between vehicles.

The judge said Doyle, 50, had not received any benefit, payment or reward for his participation in raid, but that he had been deemed to have benefitted £27,194.44 from the proceeds of a ""criminal lifestyle"".

He said Doyle had ""limited assets"" and ordered him to pay the sum within 14 days.",en
"Image copyright Tony Jones Image caption Mr Jones said he spoke to him and he said ""he just likes to do nice things""

An ambulance worker said he was ""blown away"" when a stranger paid his petrol bill as a thank you to people who ""do a fantastic job"".

Emergency medical technician Tony Jones, of Rochdale, said he was ""humbled"" by the random act of kindness on his way to a night shift on Sunday.

He tracked down his good Samaritan - Tony Coray - after an appeal on Facebook went viral.

Mr Coray, also from Rochdale, said the act was a ""goodwill gesture"".

Image copyright Tony Coray Image caption Mr Coray said the act was a ""goodwill gesture""

Mr Jones said he was ""completely taken back"" when he filled up his car at a petrol station in Halifax Road, Rochdale, and found the person in front of him had already paid for his fuel.

The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) crew member said when he thanked Mr Coray, he replied that he ""just liked to do nice things for people"".

Mr Jones, 43, said Mr Coray told him: ""It's the least I could do for people who do such an important job.""

Other acts of random kindness:

Rail passenger wakes to find £100 gift

Valentine's Samaritan in act of kindness

Stranger pays for hospice wedding flowers

Mr Coray told the BBC: ""People in the emergency services, teachers, carers, armed forces just don't get the recognition they deserve and I was able to show this gentleman that he and his colleagues are appreciated a lot more than they think.""

Mr Jones said: ""It was such a nice gesture and on behalf of me, the rest of North West Ambulance Service and all other ambulance services up and down the country, it's our absolute pleasure.""

Neither Mr Jones or Mr Coray knew how much the fuel cost but the former said he only had ""about an eighth of a tank left"" when he filled it up.

NWAS said it was overwhelmed by this act of kindness.

""Our staff work day in day out to help others and never do it for any recognition but when they are appreciated by the public it really means a lot.""",en
"Image copyright Julia Quenzler

The man accused of driving a van into a crowd of people near a north London mosque has denied he was behind the wheel during the attack.

Darren Osborne, 48, told Woolwich Crown Court a ""guy called Dave"" was driving during the incident on 19 June 2017.

He said they originally hired the van to kill Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at a march he was expected to attend.

Mr Osborne is accused of mowing down people in Finsbury Park, killing Makram Ali, 51, and injuring nine others.

He denies charges of murder and attempted murder.

Taking to the witness box, Mr Osborne said ""a guy called Dave"" was driving the van during the attack.

He said the pair had met at a pub in Treforest, South Wales, in early April or March last year, while he also met a man called Terry Jones, and that the trio discussed their political views.

Corbyn 'plans'

He said they initially planned to murder a Labour politician in Rochdale, before planning to target Mr Corbyn, believing he would be at the annual Al Quds march in London.

Mr Osborne told the court he was alone in the van as he drove towards the march - but that ""road blocks"" in central London had ""thwarted their plans"".

Later, he said he travelled to the Finsbury Park area, because ""it was Jeremy Corbyn's constituency"", where he met the others.

Mr Osborne said they swapped drivers and he was ""in the footwell"" while Dave was driving, adding he had ""no idea"" where Dave went after the collision.

He said the opportunity to attack the Labour leader would mean ""one less terrorist off our streets"", adding that it would have been ""even better"" if London Mayor Sadiq Khan had been at the march.

""It would have been like winning the lottery,"" he told the court.

Asked if he had contact with Terry and Dave after the attack, Mr Osborne told the court they were planning to form a far-right group, adding: ""We were going to call ourselves the 'Taffia'.""

'Flying solo'

Earlier, the court heard evidence on whether Mr Osborne acted with accomplices - namely two men, known only as ""Dave"" and ""Terry Jones"".

Concluding the prosecution case, Jonathan Rees QC said Mr Osborne told the Metropolitan Police on the day of the attack that he was acting alone.

Image copyright Met Police Image caption Police footage appearing to show Mr Osborne in the back of a police van

He read a statement from Det Con Paul Dring, who interviewed Mr Osborne as he was under armed guard at University College Hospital, on the day of the attack.

During the interview, Mr Osborne told DC Dring: ""I'm flying solo"", the court heard.

'Couple of pints'

Mr Osborne is said to have spoken to officers after he was detained and told them he ""lost control"" of his van.

The court was shown footage from the body camera of PC David Jones, who is said to have handcuffed Mr Osborne while he was on the ground after the incident.

A man - who the prosecution says is Mr Osborne - can be heard saying: ""I lost control of the van"", and ""lost control, man"".

Mr Jones then says: ""Were you driving, yeah?"" and the man is heard to reply: ""Yeah"".

Asked if he had been drinking, the man said he had consumed a ""couple of pints"".

Mr Osborne denies the murder of Mr Ali and attempted murder of ""persons at the junction of Seven Sisters Road and Whadcoat Street, London"".

Mr Ali, from Haringey, had collapsed at the roadside shortly before being hit by the vehicle after leaving a prayer meeting.",en
"Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Minister: There's a campaign to overturn Brexit vote

The government says it will not publish a leaked report document predicting an economic hit from Brexit.

Brexit Minister Steve Baker said the document was at a ""preliminary"" stage and releasing it in full could damage the UK's negotiations with the EU.

According to BuzzFeed, the report said growth would be lower in each of three different Brexit outcomes than if the UK had stayed in the EU.

Labour has called for it to be be published and debated in Parliament.

According to Buzzfeed, the leaked document, titled EU Exit Analysis - Cross Whitehall Briefing and drawn up for the Department for Exiting the EU, suggests almost every part of the economy would suffer.

It looked at scenarios ranging from leaving with no deal to remaining within the EU single market.

Responding to an urgent question in the Commons, Mr Baker said the document was ""not anywhere near being approved by ministers"" and that ministers in his team had only just seen it.

He described the document as a ""preliminary attempt to improve on the flawed analysis around the EU referendum"" and said it did not asses the government's preferred option of a bespoke free trade deal.

It ""does not yet take account of the opportunities of leaving the EU"", he said, adding that civil service forecasts were ""always wrong, and wrong for good reasons"".

'Highly embarrassing'

Responding to calls for it to be published, Mr Baker said MPs would get as much information as possible before they vote on the final Brexit deal but said: ""We don't propose to go into these negotiations having revealed all of our thinking.""

And as Brexiteer MPs hit out at the leaking of the document, he said there was ""clearly"" a campaign to overturn the 2016 EU referendum by some people in the media and the House of Commons.

One Conservative MP, Antoinette Sandbach, told Mr Baker she took exception to being told it was not in the national interest for her to see the document.

And responding for Labour, Brexit spokesman Sir Keir Starmer said the emergence of the report was ""piling absurdity on absurdity"" with the government having previously denied the existence of Brexit impact assessments.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: ""For months, Theresa May's government have refused to produce any detailed analysis of the potential impact of various Brexit scenarios - now we know why they have so desperately engaged in a cover-up.""

The BBC understands the Treasury contributed to the document but sources say it is part of a much wider range of work going on in Whitehall.

The report suggests UK economic growth would be 8% lower than current forecasts, in 15 years' time, if the country left the bloc with no deal and reverted to World Trade Organisation rules.

It says growth would be 5% lower if Britain negotiated a free trade deal and 2% lower even if the UK were to continue to adhere to the rules of the single market.

All scenarios assume a new deal with the US.

Conservative MP Philip Davies blamed the report on ""London-centric remoaners"" in the civil service ""who didn't want us to leave the European Union in the first place and put together some dodgy figures to back up their case"".

Earlier Conservative MP and leave campaigner Iain Duncan Smith told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the document should be taken ""with a pinch of salt"" as almost every single forecast on Brexit has been wrong.

A government source said the report ""contains a significant number of caveats and is hugely dependant on a wide range of assumptions"".

The FDA, which represents senior civil servants, reacted angrily to Mr Baker's dismissal of the leaked study.

""We have just witnessed the extraordinary scene of a serving minister telling the House that, whatever analysis his own department comes up with, he simply won't believe it,"" said the union's general secretary Dave Penman.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Liam Fox says some Tory colleagues must ""live with disappointment""

Meanwhile, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has denied telling Tory Brexiteers to prepare for disappointment.

Speaking to The Sun about pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May, he criticised Tory MPs involved with negative briefings, saying ""nothing that would happen would change the parliamentary arithmetic"".

""We don't have a working majority, other than with the support of the Democratic Unionists, and we need to accept the reality of that. I know that there are always disappointed individuals but they're going to have to live with disappointment.""

Mr Fox told the BBC his warning was to Mrs May's critics that they will be ""disappointed"" in their efforts to topple her or secure cabinet positions for themselves.",en
"Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Liam Allen said he was ""disappointed"" with how his case was handled

The Met has apologised to a student wrongly accused of rape for a series of errors in its handling of the case.

A review found that a ""lack of knowledge"" by police and prosecutors was to blame for the botched prosecution against Liam Allan.

The officer in charge of the case failed to find key evidence among 57,000 messages on the alleged victim's mobile phone, the report found.

Mr Allan, 22, had been charged with 12 counts of rape and sexual assault.

The case against Mr Allan at Croydon Crown Court was dropped after three days when the evidence on a computer disk containing 40,000 messages revealed the alleged victim had pestered him for ""casual sex"".

Mr Allan, from Beckenham, in south-east London, had been under investigation for nearly two years before his trial collapsed.

'Unreserved apology'

Following the review, Mr Allan told Sky News: ""I hope somewhere down the line there are consequences and lessons are learnt.

""I don't want one person being a scapegoat. There are other cases that have been dropped.""

The Met Police said the officer in charge of the case had asked to be moved to other duties, but has not been disciplined because there was no evidence of misconduct.

The problems with disclosure in Mr Allan's case were caused by ""a combination of error, lack of challenge, and lack of knowledge"", a joint review by the Met and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) found.

The entire download of messages from the phone was not passed to the defence because the officer in the case said there was ""nothing relevant on it"", the review said.

Image caption Liam Allan previously stated he felt 'betrayed' by the police and CPS.

It is understood messages which later resulted in the collapse of the trial included some between the alleged victim and friends saying what a kind person Mr Allan was, how much she loved him and that she had had a great experience with him.

There were also references to rape fantasies, Mr Allan's lawyer Simone Meerabux confirmed.

The officer in the case admitted in an email included in the review that he had been mistaken in his belief that he looked through the whole download.

Thousands of current rape and serious sexual assault cases in England and Wales are to be reviewed to ensure evidence has been disclosed.

The Met said it had drafted in 120 officers to review 600 rape and sexual assault cases where a suspect has been charged to identify any similar problems.

Image caption The Met said ""lessons would be learned"" from Liam Allan's collapsed rape trial

Met Police Cdr Richard Smith and Claire Lindley, from the CPS, met face-to-face with Mr Allan on Monday to discuss the findings into the review.

""It is clear from our review that both the Met and the CPS did not carry out disclosure procedures properly in this case,"" Cdr Smith said.

""Although we are confident there was no malicious intent in this case, it was important that we carried out this urgent review and learn lessons from it.""

Ms Lindley said Mr Allan's case had highlighted some ""systemic and deep-rooted issues"".

She added: ""The prosecutors involved in this case did not sufficiently challenge the police about digital material.

""That meant that it took longer than was necessary to drop Mr Allan's case. For that, the CPS has offered an unreserved apology to him.""

Analysis by home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw

The Liam Allan case review sets out the errors which caused the late disclosure of evidence - but only hints at why police and prosecutors made the mistakes they did.

The detective who failed to search properly for the alleged victim's phone messages suggested he may have been confused because he had so many phone downloads to analyse.

It's thought the officer would have been responsible for over 20 cases, which Scotland Yard has acknowledged is too many.

The force is short of specialist sexual offence investigators and has a high number of detective vacancies.

The recommendations which accompany the review - for enhanced training, disclosure experts in the police and disclosure 'champions' in the CPS - indicate that in Liam Allen's case the issue simply wasn't seen as a priority, with those involved not adequately equipped or supervised.",en
"Sir Ian has spoken about his experiences in coming out on several occasions. Back in July 2000 when he was filming Lord Of The Rings, he wrote in The Independent: “The only good thing I can think to say about Section 28 is that it finally encouraged me to come out. A bit late in the day, but it remains the best thing I ever did.” Then in 2015, he said that coming out actually made him a better performer. “What happened immediately, according to friends, is I became not just a happier person, but a better actor.""",en
"Image copyright Rex Features Image caption Simon Thomas said his wife Gemma died 'surrounded by family and friends'

Sky Sports anchor Simon Thomas has said he is weak with grief and unsure how he will ever return to his career.

Since his wife Gemma died suddenly last year aged 40, Thomas said the message from others had been to ""be strong"".

But writing in a blog post, the former Blue Peter presenter said he is broken, fearful, vulnerable and tear-filled and ""if by admitting this it helps one person, then it's worth it"".

The post has been praised for its ""astonishing honesty"" and courage.

Gemma died last November just three days after she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

Thomas has since shared his struggles with grief and supporting their eight-year-old son Ethan.

In his latest post, written in the early hours of Monday morning in the ""tenth week of severe sleep deprivation"", Thomas reflects on the words of author and pastor, Pete Greig.

""Don't be strong. Be weak. Unclench your fists. Dare to be vulnerable. Honest weakness takes courage,"" Greig wrote.

This - Thomas wrote - is what grief feels like.

'What strong looks like'

""All I can do at the moment is unclench those fists, stop trying to be strong and just say to people this is me,"" he said.

""This is what vulnerability looks like, and right now I can't be any other way, and as I've now discovered, this is what being strong actually looks like.""

Greig called Thomas' words ""astonishingly honest"" and said they will help others.

Many more praised his bravery and shared their own experiences online.

Thomas said admitting to weakness and vulnerability isn't something people do well - ""particularly for a bloke"" - but added that he can't be any other way.

""I'm really struggling,"" he said.

Stacey Hart, from bereavement charity Grief Encounter, called Thomas's openness courageous - especially when ""male grief is too often invisible"".

She said his grief was in its rawest state, a stage when trauma symptoms such as insomnia, memory loss, weakness and vulnerability are often experienced.

""Simon is prioritising his and his son's wellbeing over his public role,"" Ms Hart added. ""It's admirable that Simon is staying true to himself.""

Thomas said recurring fears included wondering if he could ""ever sit in front of a TV camera again with the same confidence"" and ever getting used to life ""without the woman I loved beyond words"".

About 3,100 people a year in the UK are diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia - a type of blood cancer.

What support is available?",en
"Image caption Brendan Cole was a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing for 13 years

Brendan Cole has announced he will not be returning to Strictly Come Dancing.

The professional dancer revealed during a TV interview on Tuesday that the decision was made by the BBC, saying he was ""in shock"".

""They made an editorial decision not to have me back on the show,"" he said on ITV's Lorraine.

A spokesman for the BBC One show thanked Cole for ""being part of the show since the beginning"" and contributing to its success.

'Emotional and raw'

Cole said: ""I'm a little bit in shock at the moment.

""I'm quite emotional and a bit raw about it. I am very disappointed. It's an editorial decision. I will never know the ins and outs.

""I have had 15 incredible series on the show, I'm very proud of the whole show, they're a great team.""

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption In an interview on 16 January, Brendan Cole told 5 live he wanted to return to Strictly.

Cole was one of the first professional dancers when the show launched in 2004, which was the year he won the contest with newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky.

The 41-year-old also won his last Strictly competition - the 2017 Christmas special - with presenter Katie Derham.

Anton Du Beke is now the only remaining original dancer on the show.

Image caption Cole won the show with Natasha Kaplinsky in 2004

Cole, who is currently on tour with his musical show All Night Long, said the exit would give him time to work on other projects.

He is also awaiting the birth of his second child with model Zoe Hobbs.

The New Zealand ballroom dancer will be remembered for fiercely defending his celebrity partners in front of the judges on the show.

Image caption He was paired with Charlotte Hawkins for the 2017 series

This included Jo Wood during the seventh series when judge Craig Revel Horwood compared her dancing to a ""bush kangaroo"".

The most recent series saw him paired with Good Morning Britain presenter, Charlotte Hawkins. Cole defended Hawkins when the judges - especially head judge Shirley Ballas - made comments about her performance. The pair were eliminated in week four.

""I'm a very strong character within the show, I have my views and I love that side of the show,"" he told Lorraine.

""I have always said as long as I've got a passion for it, I want to be there. I want to still be there.""

Hawkins said she was ""sad"" to hear of his departure, and that Strictly ""won't be the same without him"".

And former Strictly dancer James Jordan said Cole ""will be missed"", adding: ""Seems like they don't want anyone on the show that has an opinion.""

A spokesman for the BBC said: ""We'd like to thank Brendan for being part of the show since the beginning - winner of the first series - and for the contribution he has made to its success.

""We wish him all the very best for the future.""

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images

Actor David Tennant has accepted substantial undisclosed damages from the publishers of the now defunct News of the World over a phone-hacking claim.

News Group Newspapers (NGN) settled Mr Tennant's High Court claim and issued an apology.

Tennant's lawyer said he was ""outraged and shocked"" by the invasion of privacy.

NGN made no admission of liability to claims relating to The Sun.

Tennant was among six people to settle claims with NGN on Tuesday.

The other claimants were Olympic medallist Colin Jackson, actress Sophia Myles, party planner Fran Cutler, fashion designer Jess Morris and footballer David James's ex-wife, Tanya Frayne.

Tennant first launched his lawsuit in March 2017, after the parent company of the News of the World closed its compensation scheme in 2013.

'Upset and suspicion'

Civil claims against NGN have been moving through the courts since 2012 and have resulted in four aborted trials, costing the company millions in legal fees.

Tennant's counsel Sara Mansoori said the Doctor Who and Broadchurch actor ""is a very private individual and he is outraged and shocked by the invasions of his privacy by individuals working for, or acting on behalf, of the News of the World"".

Ben Silverstone, acting on behalf of NGN, said the company offered sincere apologies for the distress caused, and it accepted no right to intrude into his private life in any way.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Fran Cutler, left, with Kate Moss at London Fashion Week in 2009

Ms Mansoori, who was also representing party planner Fran Cutler, added that repeated publications had affected her business.

She added that the exposure caused ""upset and suspicion"" among her friends actor Sadie Frost, model Kate Moss, Noel Gallagher's ex-wife Meg Matthews, and fashion designer Pearl Lowe - and damaged her business.

Fashion designer Jess Morris believes the constant exposure of private information led to the end of her relationship with Welsh actor Rhys Ifans.

Image copyright Getty Images

The News of the World hacking scandal

The News of the World closed in July 2011 amid damaging allegations of phone-hacking at the paper, revealed by the Guardian.

Journalists hacked into voicemail messages of celebrities by using a default factory-set PIN number.

At its time of closure the Sunday tabloid sold about 2.8 million copies a week, and was famed for its celebrity scoops and sex scandals, earning it the nickname the News of the Screws.

As a result of the scandal, a number of former journalists and managers of the paper were put on trial, including former editor and Downing Street communications director Andy Coulson.

He received an 18-month prison sentence, but was released after less than five months.

Earlier this month four other TV stars settled claims with the publisher of The Sun and the News of the World.

Coronation Street actor Jimmi Harkishin, TV presenter Kate Thornton, comedian Vic Reeves - whose real name Jim Moir - and former Spice Girls manager Chris Herbert, all received damages on 18 January.",en
"When I started bingeing it last year, I devoured seasons three to seven in mere weeks, cheering on my favourite queens, laughing at their wit and charm as they cleverly tore apart the competition, wiping away the stray tear when they opened up to Ru and the other contestants about their personal stories. This show is important to me, and others feel the same.",en
"Image copyright Alamy

Hundreds of applications for Mastermind are being turned down because too many people are choosing the same specialist subject.

Mastermind received 262 applications to answer questions about the Harry Potter series last year.

It is the most popular topic, alongside Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and Father Ted.

But only one contestant can tackle a subject during each series.

Other subjects, such as 'pork', have been ruled out because of a lack of possible questions, said Mark Helsby, who has produced more than five series of the shows.

Last year, 32 people wanted to answer questions on Fawlty Towers. Blackadder was chosen by 19 people, and Father Ted by 22.

Image caption Thirty-two people wanted to answer questions on Fawlty Towers

Mr Helsby told the Radio Times: ""Some subjects are very broad and need to be tightened up; or they might be too tight and need to be opened out to make them a fair contest compared to the other people they're competing against.""

He added that the show's makers try not to dismiss topics out of hand.

""One applicant wanted to do 'meat' and narrowed it down to 'pork'. Unfortunately, we still said no.

""I'd rather work with the contender to find some common ground between what they are interested in and what we think we can write enough questions about.""

Other subjects that have been rejected from the quiz show, hosted by John Humphrys, include the Chronicles of Narnia series and Roald Dahl books.",en
"Image caption Hi-de-Hi! was set in a holiday camp at the end of the 1950s

The antics of the employees of Maplins holiday camp entertained viewers for nearly a decade and made huge stars of the cast of Hi-de-Hi! Thirty years after the last episode was shown, on 30 January 1988, they have been sharing their memories with the BBC.

""All these years later, people say to me how wonderful it was and how we love the show,"" says Jeffrey Holland, who played the camp's comedian Spike Dixon.

""You can't get 19 or 20 million viewers now.

""I meet young actors now who know me from the 1980s, and they are often thrilled to meet me for that reason, and that's so gratifying.""

Hi-de-Hi! was Holland's big break, with the role of Spike written with him in mind.

""It was the first thing I ever did that made my face known,"" the actor says.

""Whatever else I've done since, or will in the future, I'll always be that bloke from Hi-de-Hi! and I wouldn't want it any other way.""

Image caption Su Pollard and Jeffrey Holland as Peggy Ollerenshaw and Spike Dixon

Set in the late 1950s and early 60s, Hi-de-Hi! followed the trials and tribulations of the camp's staff at a time when the popularity of domestic holidays was already in decline.

Package holidays were increasingly luring campers abroad - in the final episode of the sitcom many of the staff at Maplins lose their jobs.

In real life, the holiday camp where the outdoor scenes were filmed, Warner's in the small seaside town of Dovercourt in Essex, closed in the 1990s and has since been turned into a housing estate.

Series star Su Pollard, who played chalet maid Peggy Ollerenshaw, recalls how spending time on location brought the group together.

""There weren't just two or three of us in it - there was a good dozen, and that instigated the family thing,"" she says.

Image copyright Steve Delves Image caption Warner's Holiday Camp hosted happy campers for decades until its closure in the 1990s

Hi-de-Hi! - which won a Bafta in 1984 for Best Comedy Series - was based on writer Jimmy Perry's experience as a Redcoat at Butlins in the 1950s.

(He and co-writer David Croft created some of Britain's best-known sitcoms, including Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum, while Croft was also responsible for comedy classics such as Are You Being Served? and 'Allo 'Allo!)

Hi-de-Hi! became known for its long-running comedy themes, such as the smouldering passion of Gladys Pugh (Ruth Madoc) for the camp's uptight and rather innocent manager Jeffrey Fairbrother (Simon Cadell), and Peggy's dreams of becoming a Yellowcoat.

The popularity of the show led to a stage show, and at one stage there were even plans for a feature film.

The programme's rock and roll theme tune Holiday Rock, which was composed by Perry, was released as a single by star Paul Shane - who played host Ted Bovis - and reached the UK top 40.

Image copyright PA Image caption Jimmy Perry (l) and David Croft received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2003 British Comedy Awards

The show was typically filmed in September and October, when the cast would take up residence at The Cliff Hotel in Dovercourt, near Harwich.

""We used to move in on the last weekend in September, and the weather was always stunning,"" recalls Holland.

""We used to call it Croft weather - he was legendary with his luck when it came to the weather. He must have had a hotline to the man upstairs.""

However, any luck ran out during the filming of the long-running show's final series.

""When we did the last week of filming in October 1987, the Great Storm happened during the night before our last filming day,"" says 71-year-old Holland.

""We had one scene to shoot the following morning, which was to be shot around the pool.

""Fifty-eight poplar trees came down that night - the whole place was wrecked.""

Image caption Hi-de-Hi! ran for nine series, starting in 1980

The actor recalls how one crew member had a lucky escape.

""When we filmed, lots of the electricians and crew stayed in chalets at the holiday camp.

""During the night, with the [wind] blowing, one of the sparks nipped out to use the loo and when he came back there was a tree clean through the middle of his chalet.

""If he'd been inside he would have been killed - the chalet came down like a matchbox.""

Image copyright Contributed Image caption Damage was done to the park during the Great Storm of October 1987, while the final series of Hi-de-Hi! was being filmed

The Cliff Hotel's former manager John Wade remembers the cast gathering in the lobby as the storm rattled the windows - and that one of them was particularly shaken.

""The night of the hurricane, my night porter knocked and said: 'Ruth Madoc's a bit worried as her room is moving',"" he recalls.

""There were proper balconies outside and the support went through into the room, and it was moving outside in the wind.

""Of course it was moving the floor joists of the room, which gave the appearance of the whole room moving.""

Image copyright John Wade Image caption Hotel manager John Wade and Hi-de-Hi! star Su Pollard

Those few weeks of each year when the cast and crew of Hi-De-Hi! would descend are remembered with fondness by residents.

""The number of times we sat in our back garden and [heard them] shout Hi-de-Hi! and Ho-de-Ho! in reply,"" recalls David Whittle, who lived 200 metres from the camp.

""And if they didn't get it right, they did it time and time again!""

Image caption The Cliff Hotel, which was home to many cast members during filming, is soon to be knocked down

You might also be interested in:

The BBC ghost spoof that duped a nation

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Tamsin Lord, whose family lived in nearby Wix, remembers an encounter with the props department.

""My dad was outside the house, polishing his green Morris Traveller,"" she says.

""The prop guy passed by and requested to hire the car to take Gladys to the farm. Dad cleaned and smartened up the car so it shone.

""Gladys was going to a pig farm. The car came back covered in pig poo. We laughed until snot poured out our noses. Dad saw the funny side... having been well paid for the loan of the car.""

Image copyright David Whittle Image caption Harwich and Dovercourt were once top holiday destinations

Pollard says the reason the show ended up being made where it was was down to being rejected by the business that was the inspiration for Hi-de-Hi!

""They made thousands, Warner's Camp, because Butlins wouldn't have us,"" she says.

""They were trying to get away from the Hi-de-Hi! holiday camp image. But Warner's loved us and got £4,000 a week, I think, and it was out of season so great for them.""

For Pollard, who is now 68, those heady 1980s days spent working on one of the country's most popular TV shows are, unsurprisingly, recalled with great affection.

She describes how the cast would explore Harwich's culinary scene with Croft, who was something of a foodie - although the word was not in currency then - and, as his ""dealer"", supplying him with his sugar fix via his favourite Pontefract cakes.

Image caption The cast and crew would often take over this Harwich restaurant, says Pollard

There was also a tradition, Pollard says, for Croft to treat his stars to a ""tumbler of champagne"" to celebrate every 100th take they did.

""It all came off his budget, and they made sure we weren't filming later that day,"" she recalls. ""Champagne on the boss's orders!""

Looking back, Pollard and Holland are in agreement about the show's legacy.

""I've heard people in other shows trying to distance themselves from them as times gone by,"" Pollard says.

""But I would never want to deny I was in Hi-de-Hi! as I'm proud to have the feel-good feelings of having been in it.

""I wasn't just another show; it was such a big success.""

Holland agrees.

""I don't understand people who turn their back on what made them,"" he says.

""I'll always be proud to have been in something that brought so much happiness.""",en
"Image copyright Getty Images

Hundreds of thousands of homeowners could be at risk of losing their homes by ignoring how they will pay off their mortgage, a regulator has warned.

Nearly one in five mortgage-holders has an interest-only home loan, meaning they would need savings or other funds to pay a final lump sum.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the end of these mortgage terms would peak in the next 10 to 14 years.

Many borrowers were ignoring letters from lenders, it found.

Interest-only deals allow borrowers to pay off the amount borrowed only when the mortgage term ends, usually after 25 years, but there is concern that a host of homeowners do not have plans in place to pay the final bill.

The FCA said that 1.67 million full interest-only and part-capital repayment mortgages were still outstanding, representing 17.6% of all mortgages in the UK.

One peak of these final bills has come in the past year or so, for those who took out endowment policies in the 1990s and 2000s.

Less affluent, middle-aged homeowners who often converted to interest-only deals in 2003-09 - who are concentrated in the South West, East and North West of England, as well as London and the West Midlands - will see their final repayment demand come in 2027-28.

The regulator said that lenders had improved their communications with customers at risk since its initial report on the issue five years ago.

However, there were still concerns that some customers may have been incorrectly reassured about their plans by non-specialist staff.

Action needed

The FCA had more concerns over the reaction of borrowers who, for a variety of reasons, were ignoring letters from their lender.

Some believed that they had an adequate repayment plan in place, while others were simply burying their head in the sand. Some had little trust in their lender, so were suspicious of the letters.

The FCA urged these borrowers to talk to their lender as early as possible, otherwise they would restrict their options over time of paying off their mortgage.

""We are very concerned that a significant number of interest-only customers may not be able to repay the capital at the end of the mortgage and be at risk of losing their homes,"" said Jonathan Davidson, executive director of supervision at the FCA.

Hannah Maundrell, from comparison service Money.co.uk, said: ""You may be able to remortgage your property, extend your mortgage to give you time to raise the money to pay it back or look into taking out another mortgage from a different lender.

""If you're at risk of losing your home, there are government schemes that could help. The key thing is to pick up that phone and talk to your lender.""",en
"Image caption The university will offer sport, media and business courses, say UA92

Members of Manchester United's ""Class of '92"" have had their plans to build a university and a student village approved.

The University Academy '92 (UA92) is part of a £170m Trafford Council plan for the Greater Manchester area.

The original designs were modified after locals said the ""ugly tower block"" was an ""eyesore"".

Trafford Council's executive committee endorsed the proposals in a vote on Monday.

Last week the council said the offending 20-storey tower block had been scrapped in favour of ""lower rise"" student accommodation adding there would be ""ongoing engagement"" about the development.

They were approved as part of the refreshed Stretford master plan which includes proposals to redevelop part of Stretford Mall and bring the Grade II listed art deco Essoldo cinema on Chester Road back into use.

UA92 is fronted by former Manchester United stars Gary and Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes and takes its name from the year they started their careers at the club.

The university will offer sport, media and business courses and cater for up to 6,500 students as part of Lancaster University, in partnership with Trafford Council and Trafford College.

New homes and leisure facilities are also part of the plan, which would see the main campus located on the site of the former Kellogg's building on Talbot Road.

Image copyright Google Image caption Part of Stretford Mall will be demolished and redeveloped under the scheme

Respondents to the consultation said there was a lack of a plan for an ""enhanced evening economy"" and pointed to the poor quality of the physical environment and vacant buildings.

Trafford Council said it was committed to ""ongoing engagement"", but the redevelopment would ""drive economic growth"".

The five former players have diversified their careers since they retired from playing, purchasing Salford City FC in 2014 and opening a hotel alongside Old Trafford a year later.

On Monday, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs's £200m plan to redevelop part of Manchester city centre was snubbed for a second time by conservationists.",en
"Image caption Garreth Forrest worries he may now face eviction

The universal credit system will leave around one million working people exposed to benefits sanctions for the first time, the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme has been told.

Dr David Webster, from the University of Glasgow, estimates that up to 350,000 people a year are currently facing benefits sanctions in the UK, but he says that once the universal credit system is implemented, one million people in low-paid work will be exposed to benefit sanctions.

One man says he has already had his benefits heavily cut after he missed a job centre appointment because he was attending a funeral.

""You're too worried to sleep at night. You're scared to ask for help,"" says Garreth Forrest, from Preston in Lancashire.

'Distressing'

Garreth works intermittently and receives universal credit, but has had the sanction imposed after failing to make the job centre date.

It has left Garreth behind with rent, and he fears eviction.

""You're waking up in the morning thinking, is this the final day, when you're going to be told to leave?

""You're waiting for information, to see if they are going to resolve the issues and reduce the sanctioning.

""It's distressing. No one should be having to worry like that.""

Garreth is a former employee of the Department for Work and Pensions.

He says his normal benefits allowance is £705 a month, but has recently had this cut by £503 - leaving him receiving just over £200 monthly.

""That's for everything - including rent, utilities, food and basic needs,"" he explains.

Image copyright Getty Images

The sanction is a result of missing the job centre appointment for the funeral and other factors, such as not providing the correct job search information, which he also disputes.

He believes the sanction will last for four months, and has previously faced in-work sanctions too.

""You tell them you work certain hours, and they tell you to find more [hours],"" he says.

What is universal credit?

Universal credit is a benefit for working-age people, replacing six benefits and merging them into one payment:

income support

income-based jobseeker's allowance

income-related employment and support allowance

housing benefit

child tax credit

working tax credit

It was designed to make claiming benefits simpler.

A single universal credit payment is paid directly into claimants' bank accounts to cover benefits for which they are eligible.

Claimants then have to pay costs, such as rent, out of their universal credit payment (though there is a provision for people who are in rent arrears or have difficulty managing their money to have their rent paid directly to their landlord).

Some experts have criticised the use of sanctions as acting like a form of ""penal system"", but without the necessary safeguards in place.

Garreth believes the sanctions are imposed inconsistently and without compassion.

When he missed the job centre appointment for the funeral, he was accused of lying.

This was despite, he says, informing them of the clash in advance.

""I had to provide proof that I attended the funeral, which I found was very insensitive.

""I even had a phone call from the job centre on the day of the funeral, and they actually thought that I was not there.

""They said, 'Are you sure you're at the funeral? Are you lying?' And I found that very distressing.""

Garreth provided the job centre with an order of service from the funeral, and was told that the sanction would be cancelled.

But soon afterwards, he received another letter saying the exact opposite - which he is now fighting.

'Higher employment levels'

Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke told the BBC last month that the number of benefit sanctions had fallen in 2017, compared with 2016 and 2015.

He defended imposing sanctions when conditions are not met - like attending job centre appointments - saying such requirements are responsible for ""higher levels of employment"".

The Department for Work and Pensions said in a statement that sanctions ""are only used when someone has failed to meet the requirements without good reason, [and] people are given every opportunity to explain why they have failed to do so before a decision is made.""

Matthew Oakley, who led an independent review of jobseeker's allowance sanctions that reported to Parliament in 2014, believes that the sanctions are effective.

Image caption Matthew Oakley says it is fair that benefit claimants must meet requirements to be paid in full

""The vast majority of international evidence shows that benefits systems that have requirements in place for job seekers are much better at getting people back into work more quickly,"" he explains.

""It's [also] a matter of fairness. If you speak to the public, overwhelmingly they support the idea of 'something for something' - that in return for the benefits people receive they should be required to do something, and that's look for work.""

But Dr Webster, who is a leading benefits sanctions expert, is critical of the lack of safeguards in place.

""It's a penal system - a system of punishment for opposed offences.

""The amounts of money people lose through sanctions are actually larger than the amounts of money people get fined in the magistrates' courts.

Image caption Dr Webster says the sanctions system is penalising innocent people

""But in the mainstream courts, there's a whole battery of safeguards to ensure citizens don't get wrongly punished.

""The trouble about the sanctions system is that it operates entirely in private, and there aren't any safeguards. Money is cut off before there is any chance of appeal.""

Dr Webster believes that as universal credit is rolled out, there will be a sharp increase in the number of people facing the possibility of having their benefits stopped or reduced.

""No country in the world has ever attempted such a system,"" he says. ""This is a complete novelty and no one actually has any idea if it will work.""

'Sanctioned after a miscarriage'

Food banks fear this could drive others into food poverty, with the National Audit Office saying in 2016 that benefit sanctions were leading to ""hardship, hunger and depression"".

Alison Inglis-Jones, a trustee at the Trussell Trust food bank charity, says she has heard of some tragic stories.

""I met a lady who had a miscarriage in the playground while she was dropping off her two children.

""She was taken to hospital by ambulance and she missed her interview at the job centre, so she was sanctioned.""

Garreth is hoping that his case will be resolved soon.

""You're worrying each day - each hour, each minute - because you don't know what's going to happen next,"" he says.

Watch the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.",en
"Image copyright Reuters Image caption Congress passed the law in August, although President Donald Trump had opposed it

The US has published a list of 114 Russian politicians and 96 oligarchs, some close to the president, as part of a sanctions law aimed at punishing Russia for meddling in the US election.

The US stressed those named had not been hit with new sanctions, although some have already been targeted.

Congress passed the sanctions law in August. President Donald Trump signed it while making his reservations clear.

The Kremlin said the list could damage the reputation of those named.

Why has the US published the list?

The government was required to draw up the list after Congress passed the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (Caatsa) in August.

The law aimed to punish Russia for its alleged meddling in the 2016 US elections and its actions in Ukraine.

Congress wanted the list to name and shame those who had benefited from close association with President Vladimir Putin and put them on notice that they could be targeted for sanctions, or more sanctions, in the future.

Who has been named?

Informally known as the ""Putin list"", the unclassified section has 210 names, 114 of them in the government or linked to it, or key businessmen. The other 96 are oligarchs apparently determined more by the fact they are worth more than $1bn (£710m) than their close ties to the Kremlin.

Image copyright PA/EPA Image caption Roman Abramovich (L) and Dmitry Medvedev are on the list

Most of Mr Putin's longstanding allies are named, many of them siloviki (security guys). They include the spy chiefs Alexander Bortnikov of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Sergei Naryshkin of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). Mr Putin used to run the FSB.

The men who control Russia's energy resources are there: Gazprom chief Alexei Miller, Rosneft chief Igor Sechin and other oil and gas executives, along with top bankers like Bank Rossiya manager Yuri Kovalchuk.

The oligarchs include Kirill Shamalov, who is reported to be Mr Putin's son-in-law, although the Kremlin has never confirmed his marriage to Katerina Tikhonova, nor even that she is the president's daughter.

Internationally known oligarchs are there too, such as those with stakes in top English football clubs: Alisher Usmanov (Arsenal) and Roman Abramovich (Chelsea).

Will they face new sanctions?

Not at the moment. The US Treasury document itself stresses: ""It is not a sanctions list, and the inclusion of individuals or entities... does not and in no way should be interpreted to impose sanctions on those individuals or entities.""

It adds: ""Neither does inclusion on the unclassified list indicate that the US Government has information about the individual's involvement in malign activities.""

However, there is a classified version said to include information detailing allegations of involvement in corrupt activities.

What does it mean for Russia's elite?

Analysis: Steve Rosenberg, BBC Moscow correspondent

The good news for the Kremlin: this isn't a sanctions list. But the good news ends there.

Those Russian officials and oligarchs named by the US Treasury will worry their inclusion could signal sanctions in the future.

Even before the list was made public, the Kremlin had claimed the US Treasury report was an attempt to meddle in Russia's presidential election.

The list reads like a Who's Who of the Russian political elite and business world.

Moscow won't want that to become a Who's Sanctioned.

What is the Caatsa act and did the president want it?

The law limited the amount of money Americans could invest in Russian energy projects and made it more difficult for US companies to do business with Russia.

It also imposed sanctions on Iran and North Korea.

In signing the act, Mr Trump attached a statement calling the measure ""deeply flawed"".

""As president, I can make far better deals with foreign countries than Congress,"" he said.

Under Caatsa, the list of names had to be delivered by Monday. The fact it was released about 10 minutes before midnight may reflect Mr Trump's coolness towards it, and his opposition to punishing more Russians with sanctions.

Earlier in the day, the US government argued the Caatsa law had already pushed governments around the world to cancel deals with Russia worth billions, suggesting that more sanctions were not required.

""From that perspective, if the law is working, sanctions on specific entities or individuals will not need to be imposed because the legislation is, in fact, serving as a deterrent,"" state department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

How have the Russians reacted?

When Caatsa was passed, Mr Medvedev said it meant the US had declared a ""full-scale trade war"" on Russia.

The reaction this time has ranged between deep anger and a more measured approach.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption All you need to know about the Trump-Russia investigation

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who is himself on the list, accepted that it was not one of sanctions but added: ""Publication of such a wide list of everything and everyone could potentially damage the image and reputation of our firms, our businessmen, our politicians and of members of the leadership.""

He added: ""It's not the first day that we live with quite aggressive comments made towards us, so we should not give in to emotions.""

Russian lawmaker Vladimir Dzhabarov said the inclusion of almost the entire leadership of the country was a de facto severing of relations.",en
"Image copyright BBC/Richard Ansett

A group of campaigners, including Prof Stephen Hawking, has been given permission to challenge a government health policy in the High Court.

They will pursue a judicial review against Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and NHS England over plans to create accountable care organisations (ACOs).

These are to act as partnership bodies incorporating hospitals, community services and councils.

Campaigners say it risks privatisation, but this is denied by ministers.

'Radical changes'

NHS England wants hospitals and other trusts to work closely with GPs and social care services to look after more patients in their communities rather than in hospital.

In some areas, these groups are developing into ACOs, which will hold contracts to provide services.

Critics argue that this could pave the way for privatisation of parts of the NHS and that Parliament has not legislated to allow the process to happen.

The group bringing the case to court says an act of Parliament would be needed for the changes.

Former Halifax and Huddersfield consultant eye surgeon Dr Colin Hutchinson, who chairs Doctors for the NHS, said: ""These radical changes will eventually affect everybody in England.

""There needs to be a sound legal basis before 10-year contracts worth billions of pounds are outsourced to these new organisations.""

'Irresponsible scaremongering'

Legal costs will not be capped if the case is lost, and the claimants are said to be considering their next steps.

The Department of Health and Social Care said the claims would be resisted and it was irresponsible scaremongering to say accountable care organisations were supporting privatisation.

A spokesman said: ""The NHS will remain a taxpayer-funded system free at the point of use; ACOs are simply about making care more joined-up between different health and care organisations.

""Our consultation on changes to support ACOs is entirely appropriate and lawful.

""We believe it is right that local NHS leaders and clinicians have the autonomy to decide the best solutions to improve care for the patients they know best - and any significant local changes are always subject to public consultation and due legal process.""",en
"Image copyright Malaysia Tourism Image caption The logo features animals like the orangutan and the Proboscis monkey, which are native to Malaysia

A Malaysia Tourism logo featuring a grinning orangutan and a turtle in sunglasses has been branded ""hideous"", and sparked calls for it to be ditched.

The new logo, with its tagline ""Travel. Enjoy. Respect"", has come under fire on social media with people criticising the uneven font sizes and retro-looking illustrations.

But according to the tourism minister, the multicoloured logo is here to stay.

Nazri Aziz said the logo was designed by the ministry's in-house team and that he trusted their designs, adding that criticism ""is normal"".

""I can't be putting a serious logo. This is tourism and it's supposed to be fun,"" he told news outlet the New Straits Times.

But some Malaysians were not amused.

Almost 8,000 people have signed an online petition calling for it to be dropped by the tourism board.

""I am no designer, but there are so many things wrong with this logo. [There are] font of different sizes, the overall colour scheme is incoherent and the pictures are so very 1980,"" said Napee Nasir on Facebook.

""Somebody should be held responsible for this hideous design,"" said Hadi Salleh. ""[It's] a disgrace to our nation.""

While others came up with alternative design suggestions.

Mr Nazri unveiled the logo at a travel forum in Thailand last Friday.

He later said it was made up of things closely associated with Malaysia.

""We retained the Petronas Twin Towers as it is the most photographed tourism product in Malaysia,"" he told local news outlet The Star.

""[The animals] are symbolic to Malaysia. If we do not include those animals in our logo, other countries will claim them,"" he said.

He said the orangutan and proboscis monkey were wearing sunglasses to show Malaysia was a sunny country.

The 2020 tagline draws from the World Tourism Organisation's ""Travel. Enjoy. Respect"" campaign that was launched in August 2017, which called for tourists to respect the ""nature and the culture"" of the country they were visiting.

The Malaysian travel campaign hopes to draw in 36 million tourists to the Southeast Asian country by 2020.",en
"Animals affected by cold weather in the US

North America has been experiencing a record-breaking freeze in the last week and some animals have been coping better than others.",en
"Image copyright iStock Image caption The question has gone viral online

An apparently unsolvable exam question on a Chinese maths paper has left both students and social media stumped.

Primary school students at a school in the Chinese district of Shunqing were faced with this question on a paper: ""If a ship had 26 sheep and 10 goats onboard, how old is the ship's captain?""

The question appeared on a recent fifth-grade level paper, intended for children around 11 years old.

Pictures of the question, along with students' valiant attempts at answers, surfaced this week on Chinese social media - where it triggered debate and quickly went viral.

Education officials later said the question was not a mistake, but meant to highlight ""critical awareness"".

Image copyright Weibo Image caption It is not clear how many points the question (circled) was worth or if it was part of a bonus section

""The captain is at least 18 because he has to be an adult to drive the ship,"" one student answered.

""The captain is 36, because 26+10 is 36 and the captain wanted them to add up to his age,"" another guessed.

One student however, simply gave up.

""The captain's age is... I don't know. I can't solve this.""

Online, however, people weren't quite as generous.

""This question makes no logical sense at all. Does the teacher even know the answer?"" said one commenter on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging platform.

""If a school had 26 teachers, 10 of which weren't thinking, how old is the principal?"" another asked.

Some however, defended the school - which has not been named - saying the question promoted critical thinking.

""The whole point of it is to make the students think. It's done that,"" one person commented.

""This question forces children to explain their thinking and gives them space to be creative. We should have more questions like this,"" another said.

'Think outside the box'

The Shunqing Education Department posted a statement on the 26 January saying the test had intended to ""examine... critical awareness and an ability to think independently"".

""Some surveys show that primary school students in our country lack a sense of critical awareness in regard to mathematics,"" it said.

The traditional Chinese method of education heavily emphasises on note-taking and repetition, known as rote learning, which critics say hinders creative thinking.

But the department said questions like the boat one ""enable students to challenge boundaries and think out of the box"".

And of course, there's always that one person that has all the answers.

""The total weight of 26 sheep and 10 goat is 7,700kg, based on the average weight of each animal,"" said one Weibo commenter.

""In China, if you're driving a ship that has more than 5,000kg of cargo you need to have possessed a boat license for five years. The minimum age for getting a boat's license is 23, so he's at least 28.""",en
"Image copyright Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History Image caption Reconstruction of the new dinosaur on a coastline in what is now the Western Desert of Egypt

A new species of dinosaur found in the Egyptian desert is shedding light on Africa's missing history of dinosaurs.

Few fossils have been unearthed from the last days of the dinosaurs, between 100 and 66 million years ago, on the continent.

Scientists say the dinosaur, which lived about 80 million years ago, is an ""incredible discovery"".

The giant plant-eater was the length of a school bus and weighed about the same as an elephant.

It had a long neck and bony plates embedded in its skin.

The dinosaur's fossilised remains were unearthed during an expedition by palaeontologists from Mansoura University in Egypt.

Named Mansourasaurus shahinae, the new species is regarded as a critical discovery for science.

""It was thrilling for my students to uncover bone after bone, as each new element we recovered helped to reveal who this giant dinosaur was,"" said Dr Hesham Sallam of Mansoura University, who led the research.

He said he expected the pace of discovery to accelerate in the years to come.

Image copyright Mansoura University Image caption Students carry rock from the dig

The course of dinosaur evolution in Africa has remained much of a mystery for the last 30 million years or so of the reign of the dinosaurs.

Study co-researcher Dr Matt Lamanna of Carnegie Museum of Natural History said that his jaw ""hit the floor"" when he first saw pictures of the fossils.

""This was the Holy Grail,"" he said. ""A well-preserved dinosaur from the end of the Age of Dinosaurs in Africa that we palaeontologists had been searching for for a long, long time.""

Dinosaur fossils in Africa are rare as much of the land is now covered in lush vegetation, rather than the exposed rock that has yielded dinosaur treasure troves elsewhere.

There is a huge gap in the fossil record during the Late Cretaceous, when the continents were coming towards the end of huge geological changes.

""Africa remains a giant question mark in terms of land-dwelling animals at the end of the Age of Dinosaurs,"" said Dr Eric Gorscak of The Field Museum, who worked on the research, published in the journal, Nature Ecology & Evolution.

""Mansourasaurus helps us address longstanding questions about Africa's fossil record and palaeobiology - what animals were living there, and to what other species were these animals most closely related?""

Geological upheaval

Throughout much of the Triassic and Jurassic periods, during the early years of the dinosaurs, the Earth's continents were joined together as one large land mass, known as Pangaea.

During the Cretaceous Period, the continents began splitting apart and shifting towards the configuration that we see today.

It has not been clear how well connected Africa was to other Southern Hemisphere landmasses and Europe during this time and to what degree Africa's animals may have been cut off from their neighbours to evolve along their own separate lines.

By analysing anatomical features of its bones, the researchers determined that Mansourasaurus was more closely related to dinosaurs from Europe and Asia than to those found further south in Africa or in South America.

This, in turn, shows that at least some dinosaurs could move between Africa and Europe near the end of these animals' reign.

""It shows Africa wasn't this strange lost world of dinosaurs that lived nowhere else,"" said Dr Lamanna. ""That at least some African dinosaurs had other close relations in other continents at the time.""

Image copyright Hesham Sallam, Mansoura University Image caption The lower jaw bone of the new dinosaur

Mansourasaurus belongs to the Titanosauria, a group of sauropods, or long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs, that were common during the Cretaceous. Titanosaurs are famous as some of the largest land animals on Earth.

Mansourasaurus, however, was relatively small for a titanosaur, and about the weight of an African bull elephant.

Its skeleton is important in being the most complete dinosaur specimen so far discovered from the end of the Cretaceous in Africa. Parts of the skull, the lower jaw, neck and back vertebrae, ribs, most of the shoulder and forelimb, part of the hind foot, and pieces of dermal plates are preserved.

Rather than being a piece of a jigsaw filling in the gaps in dinosaur history, it is more like ""a corner piece"", said Dr Gorscak. ""It's like finding an edge piece that you use to help figure out what the picture is, that you can build from.""

Dr Veronica Diez Diaz, an expert in sauropod dinosaurs from the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin, who is not connected with the study, said sauropod remains have previously been found in Tanzania and Madagascar.

""The important thing about this discovery is that we did not know any Late Cretaceous sauropod species from North Africa,"" she said. ""Most of the remains were teeth and isolated bones. Thanks to Mansourasaurus that is not the case anymore.""

Commenting on the study, Dr Philip Mannion of Imperial College, London, said, ""This is just the tip of the iceberg - it points to the fact that Africa has the potential to reveal a much richer fossil record.""

And Dr Michael D'Emic, Adelphi University, added: ""It's just an incredible discovery. It's special because of where it was found.""

Follow Helen on Twitter.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images

Actress Kate Winslet has said she has ""bitter regrets"" over ""poor decisions"" to work with certain film-makers.

The Oscar-winning Titanic star spoke of ""directors, producers and men of power who have for decades been awarded and applauded"" - but did not name names.

The 42-year-old appeared emotional as she accepted a special prize at the London Critics' Circle film awards.

Winslet has worked with producer Harvey Weinstein in the past and recently made a film with director Woody Allen.

Weinstein has been accused of multiple instances of rape and sexual harassment. The Shakespeare in Love producer has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Harvey Weinstein was an executive producer on The Reader, for which Winslet won an Oscar

Allen has been accused by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow of sexually abusing her as a child. He has repeatedly denied the claims.

Winslet, who was given her award for excellence in film by friend Jude Law, said she had been spurred to speak out by the Women's Marches that took place across the world earlier this month.

""As women around the world and from all walks of life marched last weekend... I realised that I wouldn't be able to stand here this evening and keep to myself some bitter regrets that I have about poor decisions to work with individuals with whom I wish I had not,"" she told an audience in London on Sunday.

'Transformed future'

""It has become clear to me that by not saying anything, I might be adding to the anguish of many courageous women and men,"" she continued.

""I know we all stand together in hoping that this moment in history paves the way for a transformed future for generation upon generation to come.""

Winslet faced criticism last year for her response to a question about the claims made against Allen posed by the New York Times.

""As the actor in the film, you just have to step away and say, I don't know anything, really, and whether any of it is true or false,"" she was quoted as saying.

Her comments were referenced by Dylan Farrow in an opinion piece in which she alleged that Allen had been ""historically protected"" by ""forces"" in Hollywood.

""It breaks my heart when women and men I admire work with Allen, then refuse to answer questions about it,"" she wrote in the Los Angeles Times.

'End of days'

Winslet's honorary award came at the end of an evening that saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri take home three prizes.

The Oscar-nominated drama was named best film of the year, while its star Frances McDormand won best actress. A third award went to director Martin McDonagh for his screenplay.

Other award recipients included Hugh Grant, whose comic turn in Paddington 2 saw him named best supporting actor.

Image copyright PA Image caption Hugh Grant attended the awards with his pregnant girlfriend Anna Eberstein

""Brexit, Trump and now me getting prizes,"" joked the Four Weddings and a Funeral star, suggesting his triumph symbolised ""the end of days"".

Grant went on to offer grudging thanks to Paddington 2 director Paul King and its producer David Heyman, suggesting the latter - the producer of the blockbuster Harry Potter films - had ""needed a hit"".

""My only sadness is that there aren't more of the other nominees here to look sad at this moment,"" he concluded, to laughter and applause.

'I could be watching Countryfile'

Best actor winner Timothee Chalamet, recognised for gay drama Call Me By Your Name, and Phantom Thread's Lesley Manville, who won best supporting actress, were also on hand to accept their prizes.

Chalamet thanked his co-star and ""tongue-wrestling partner"" Armie Hammer, while Manville joked that there were ""worse ways to spend a Sunday - I could be watching Countryfile.""

Both Manville and Chalamet have been nominated for Oscars for their roles.

Earlier this month Chalamet said he would be giving his salary for appearing in Woody Allen's next film, A Rainy Day in New York, to charity.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Chalamet was joined at the event by his Call Me By Your Name co-star Armie Hammer

There were prizes too for Oscar nominees Daniel Kaluuya and Sally Hawkins, who were named British/Irish actor and actress of the year respectively.

Production designer Dennis Gassner, meanwhile, received the technical achievement award for his work on sci-fi sequel Blade Runner 2049.

The director of the year prize went to Sean Baker for The Florida Project, his funny and compassionate look at people living a breadline existence in America's Sunshine State.

Other winners:

Foreign-language film of the year: Elle

Documentary film of the year: I Am Not Your Negro

British/Irish film of the year: Dunkirk

Young British/Irish performer of the year: Harris Dickinson, Beach Rats

Breakthrough British/Irish filmmaker: Francis Lee, God's Own Country

British/Irish short film of the year: We Love Moses

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.",en
"Image copyright PA Image caption The Final Take will be the first time David Bowie has been portrayed at length in drama

It's two years since David Bowie died and to mark the anniversary BBC World Service radio has commissioned a play about the making of his final album Blackstar. The actor Jon Culshaw has moved beyond the comedy impressions he specialises in to create a portrait of the artist in his final weeks in the place he loved so much - a recording studio.

It may seem surprising, but until David Morley wrote his play The Final Take: Bowie in the Studio no one seems to have portrayed Bowie at length in a drama.

There had been countless brief impersonations in adverts and comedy sketches on radio and TV. Some of those were by Culshaw, of Dead Ringers fame, who's now taking the central role in The Final Take.

It's a semi-monologue, the other main role being Bowie's friend and producer Tony Visconti (played by American actor Martin T Sherman).

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Jon Culshaw did a lot of research to play the role of David Bowie

""But of course doing a quick 45-second gag is totally different from a considered play about David's last weeks,"" says Culshaw. ""And I'm happy to acknowledge the great Bowie impersonator for comic effect has always been Phil Cornwell who used to do him so brilliantly on Steve Wright in the Afternoon on Radio 2. But this play isn't about getting laughs.""

The Final Take was recorded late last year in a studio in London, with Dirk Maggs directing. Culshaw says it took a while to find the right performance.

David Bowie dies of cancer aged 69

Obituary: David Bowie

Six decades of David Bowie

David Bowie: A life in pictures

""I play David when he's in The Magic Shop recording studio in New York, so at first we tried to tape everything with the lights low for a laid-back, jazz club feel and me sitting down. But it didn't work: it sounded stilted. I needed to stand up and move around a bit even if the listener won't really get that.

""The play is half what's going on in David's head and half his conversation with Tony Visconti. They were long-standing colleagues and real friends so Tony is deeply worried when David tells him he has cancer. Overall about 80% of what's in the script comes from what David wrote or said in interviews.""

Culshaw researched the role by going through those interviews. They were ""invigorating,"" he says.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption David Bowie's final album, Blackstar

""He has such a fantastic personality. However sad it was, I enjoyed studying what he said and figuring out how his brain worked. He was a wonderfully generous interviewee,"" explains Culshaw.

And, above all, he says the accent he adopted had to be just right.

""David had started with a South London accent but it was definitely from out in the suburbs - and of course he'd spent much of the second half of his life in the States. A comic take on Bowie's voice could be wildly exaggerated but if anything we underplayed.""

But also vital was respect, for both the music legend - and his family.

Image copyright Gavin Evans Image caption David Bowie: Gave Jon Culshaw a rule ""to live and create by""

""At one point in the script I was going to do a little acappella singing of a bit of Lazarus from the Blackstar album. But that was the one thing the Bowie estate asked us not to do,"" says Culshaw.

""We show that David knows he has cancer but is resolute that it won't dim his energy or destroy his creativity. It's the core of the play and I think we all found it haunting. Even at the end he's at the top of his game.""

Culshaw says everyone involved thought of David Morley's play as a tribute to Bowie. ""I'm delighted to be giving a performance that's not broadly comic but I was a little nervous at first about catching David's humanity,"" he adds.

But, Culshaw concludes, one interview in particular ""gave me courage"".

""David said if you're feeling totally comfortable in the work you're doing then maybe you're not doing the right thing. He said always go a little bit further into the water than you feel you should. It was the rule he lived and created by - so I tried to do the same thing.""

The Final Take: Bowie in the Studio is on BBC World Service radio on 30 January 1130-1200 GMT and is available on BBC iPlayer Radio.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Steven Anderson was deported from Botswana in 2016 after he said homosexuals should be stoned to death

A controversial US pastor was prevented from boarding a flight to Jamaica after the authorities there decided to deny him entry.

Pastor Steven Anderson, who is based in Arizona, runs the Faithful Word Baptist Church which says that homosexuality is an abomination and should be punishable by death.

Officials said his statements were ""not conducive to the current climate"".

Mr Anderson has been barred from South Africa and deported from Botswana.

The pastor had planned to travel to Jamaica with his 14-year-old son to carry out ""missionary work"" when he was prevented by airline officials from boarding the plane on Monday.

""I had a connecting flight in Atlanta, so as soon as I got to Atlanta, Delta Air Lines told me that they received a notification from Jamaica that I was not going to be allowed to enter,"" Mr Anderson told The Gleaner newspaper.

""I was kind of surprised that Jamaica would ban me for my views on homosexuality,"" he added.

Jamaica has laws criminalising gay sex and rights groups have warned that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people face frequent discrimination.

But LGBT rights activists in Jamaica started a petition asking the Jamaican government to ban Mr Anderson and it was signed by more than 38,000 people.

Jay John, who launched the petition, said he was very pleased by the outcome and called it a ""victory"".

""His literal interpretation of the Bible regarding killing of gay people should not be echoed in a society like Jamaica,"" Mr John had argued.

In September 2016, Mr Anderson was deported from Botswana after he said on a local radio programme that homosexuals should be ""stoned to death"".

A week earlier, he had been banned from South Africa, and before that, from the UK.",en
"Image copyright AFP Image caption Indian society should reflect upon its preference for sons, report authors said

The desire among parents in India to have sons instead of daughters has created 21 million ""unwanted"" girls, a government report estimates.

The finance ministry report found many couples kept on having children until they had a boy.

Authors called this a ""subtler form"" of son preference than sex-selective abortions but warned it might lead to fewer resources for girls.

Son preference was ""a matter for Indian society to reflect upon"", they said.

The authors also found that 63 million women were ""missing"" from India's population because the preference for sons led to to sex-selective abortions and more care was given to boys.

Tests to determine a foetus's sex are illegal in India, but they still take place and can lead to sex-selective abortions.

Where are India's millions of missing girls?

Some cultural reasons for son preference were listed, including:

Property passing on to sons, not daughters

Families of girls having to pay dowries to see their daughters married

Women moving to their husband's house after getting married

The cultural preference for male children has even led one newspaper to list scientifically unfounded tips for conceiving boys, including facing west while sleeping, and having sex on certain days of the week.

The states most affected by son preference were Punjab and Haryana, while the least-affected was Meghalaya.

In Punjab and Haryana states there were 1,200 boys under the age of seven for every 1,000 girls of the same age, the authors of the Economic Survey found.",en
"Video

A transgender woman who hopes to become a vicar says Christians have accused her of being ""the devil's daughter"".

Yve Taylor was named Keith when she began her bid to become a vicar.

She didn't reach the final stages of being selected after revealing she wanted to live as a woman.

She said she has not been welcomed at some churches but hopes to fulfil her dream thanks to support from those at Exeter Cathedral.

You can see more on this story on Inside Out at 19:30 on BBC 1.",en
"Over the course of his five decade career, Elton John has always impressed with his spectacular live showmanship. It sounds like his farewell tour is set to be his most fabulous, thrilling set of concerts yet.

“It’s going to be the most produced, fantastic show I’ve ever done,” he said, at the New York launch announcement for his goodbye gigs. “It’s a way of saying thank you and going out with a bang. I don’t want to go out with a whimper.”

We don't think there's any chance of that (though we love the TS Eliot reference...) We're expecting glitter, razzle dazzle and plenty of drama.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images

Lil Uzi Vert made a Shetland wool company ""proud"" after he wore a jumper with its name on.

The US rapper performed in a knitted sweater with ""Jamieson & Smith, Shetland"" on the front during a gig in Atlanta, Georgia last year.

""It was cool to see an American rapper wearing our company name,"" says Ella Gordon, who works for J&S.

""We've had people come into the shop, ask all about it and take photos of a similar jumper we have on display.""

Ella, 27, added: ""I think it's helped our business, and hopefully the whole of Shetland.""

Image caption Ella with a similar jumper worn by Lil Uzi Vert

Wool is big business in Shetland, where there is a ratio of roughly 13 sheep for every one person living on the islands.

J&S handles 85% of all wool on the isles, and European fashion label Dries Van Noten contacted the company to buy some.

""Dries Van Norten also asked if we could send some examples of our logo. I thought they'd sew them into the inside of the clothes,"" says Ella.

What they didn't realise is the logo would be worn on the front of the collection and worn by models at Paris Fashion Week.

Image caption Shetland sheep wool is world-renowned so the company is used to fashion houses wanting its stock

Somehow, a version of the jumper then ended up in Lil Uzi Vert's hands and he wore it while performing at Streetz Fest, alongside the likes of Young Thug and Cardi B.

J&S got wind of the surreal connection when they were tagged in an Instagram post.

Ella says it was ""crazy"" and thinks Lil Uzi Vert ""did the company proud"".

It's unclear whether the rapper knows where Shetland is, although she hopes ""he at least searched for us online"".

""It has been weird seeing our company name associated with a different audience for Shetland wool,"" says Ella.

""We got a lot of people commenting on it, saying how amazing it was. It's a bit surreal, but overall amazing.""

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here",en
"Oops you can't see this activity!

To enjoy the CBBC website at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on.

For more help please visit the CBBC FAQ",en
"Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1970s, Rick Ross didn’t intend on becoming a major drug dealer. He wanted to be a professional tennis player.

I saw in tennis when I practised hard how my game improved. When I took to the drug business, I took that same mentality. Rick Ross

When that ambition failed to become a reality, Rick wasn’t really sure what to do with himself.

A friend introduced him to cocaine and Rick moved the focus from the tennis court and to selling drugs, making an initial investment of $125 and building a criminal business that made millions of dollars in profit.

Rick, who spent 13 years in prison, talked to Radio Scotland’s John Beattie about his past crimes and his current attempts to stop young people repeating his mistakes.

Rick's own experiences are a small part of US drug war history, which, thanks to TV dramas like Snowfall, is under examination once more.",en
"Image copyright Strava Image caption The movements of soldiers within Bagram air base - the largest US military facility in Afghanistan

Security concerns have been raised after a fitness tracking firm showed the exercise routes of military personnel in bases around the world.

Online fitness tracker Strava has published a ""heatmap"" showing the paths its users log as they run or cycle.

It appears to show the structure of foreign military bases in countries including Syria and Afghanistan as soldiers move around them.

The US military was examining the heatmap, a spokesman said.

How does Strava work?

San Francisco-based Strava provides an app that uses a mobile phone's GPS to track a subscriber's exercise activity.

It uses the collected data, as well as that from fitness devices such as Fitbit and Jawbone, to enable people to check their own performances and compare them with others.

It says it has 27 million users around the world.

What is the heatmap?

The latest version of the heatmap was released by Strava in November last year.

It is a data visualisation showing all of the activity of all of its users around the world.

Strava says the newest version has been built from one billion activities - some three trillion points of data, covering 27 billion km (17bn miles) of distance run, jogged or swum.

But it is not a live map. The data aggregates the activities recorded between 2015 and September 2017.

So why is it in the news now?

That is thanks to Nathan Ruser, a 20-year-old Australian university student who is studying international security at the Australian National University and also works with the Institute for United Conflict Analysts.

He said he came across the map while browsing a cartography blog last week.

It occurred to him that a large number of military personnel on active service had been publicly sharing their location data and realised that the highlighting of such exercises as regular jogging routes could be dangerous.

""I just looked at it and thought, 'oh hell, this should not be here - this is not good,'"" he told the BBC.

""I thought the best way to deal with it is to make the vulnerabilities known so they can be fixed. Someone would have noticed it at some point. I just happened to be the person who made the connection.""

What does the heatmap show?

Although the location of military bases is generally well-known and satellite imagery can show the outline of buildings, the heatmap can reveal which of them are most used, or the routes taken by soldiers.

You might also be interested in:

It displays the level of activity - shown as more intense light - and the movement of personnel inside the walls.

It also appears that location data has been tracked outside bases - which may show commonly used exercise routes or patrolled roads.

Mr Ruser said he was shocked by how much detail he could see. ""You can establish a pattern of life,"" he said.

A significant risk

By Jonathan Marcus, defence and diplomatic correspondent

Many years ago, operational security was a relatively simple matter of not being physically overheard by the enemy.

Think of the British WWII poster with the slogan ""Careless Talk Costs Lives"".

Well, no more. Our modern electronic age means that we all move around with a number of ""signatures""; we send and receive a variety of signals, all of which can be tracked. And as the episode with the exercise tracker shows, you do not need to be an American or Russian spy to be able to see and analyse these signals.

Russian troops have been tracked in Ukraine or in Syria by studying their social media interactions or geo-location data from their mobile phone images.

Each piece of evidence is a fragment, but when added together it could pose a significant risk to security - in this case highlighting the location of formerly secret bases or undisclosed patterns of military activity.

Which bases are affected and why?

The app is far more popular in the West than elsewhere and major cities are aglow with jogging routines.

But in remote areas foreign military bases stand out as isolated ""hotspots"" and the activities of a single jogger can be illuminated on dark backgrounds.

Exercise activities stand out in such countries as Syria, Yemen, Niger, Afghanistan and Djibouti, among others.

A US base at Tanf in Syria, near the Iraqi border, is an illuminated oblong, while forward bases in Helmand, Afghanistan, are also lit up.

Although US bases have been frequently mentioned it is by no means just an American problem.

One image shows the perimeter of the main Russian base in Syria, Hmeimim, and possible patrol routes.

The UK's RAF base at Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands is also lit up with activity, as are popular swimming spots nearby.

And it is not exclusively the more remote areas either. Jeffrey Lewis in the Daily Beast highlights one potential security flaw at a Taiwan missile command centre.

Neither is it just military personnel who could be affected, but also aid workers and NGO staffers in remoter areas too.

Both state and non-state actors could use the data to their advantage.

Can't you apply a privacy setting?

Yes. The settings available in Strava's app allow users to explicitly opt out of data collection for the heatmap - even for activities not marked as private - or to set up ""privacy zones"" in certain locations.

Strava has not said much since the concerns were raised but it released a brief statement highlighting that the data used had been anonymised, and ""excludes activities that have been marked as private and user-defined privacy zones"".

But journalist Rosie Spinks is one of those who has expressed concern at the privacy system.

In an article for Quartz last year she said there was too much onus on the consumer to navigate an opting-out system that required different levels.

Then there is the fear that hackers could access Strava's database and find the details of individual users.

What have authorities said?

A US Department of Defense spokeswoman, Maj Audricia Harris, said it took ""matters like these very seriously and is reviewing the situation to determine if any additional training or guidance is required"".

The US has been aware of such problems, publishing a tract called Enhanced Assessments and Guidance Are Needed to Address Security Risks in DOD.

In 2016, the US military banned Pokemon GO from government-issued mobile phones,

An image of the Pentagon on the Strava heatmap showed no activity.

Image copyright Strava Image caption The heatmap showed no data from inside the Pentagon

The UK's Ministry of Defence said it also took ""the security of its personnel and establishments very seriously and keeps them under constant review"" but would not comment on specific security arrangements.",en
"Video

Vivre avec des éléphants

L'état d'Assam dans le nord-est de l’Inde est l'un des plus grands producteurs de thé au monde. Mais l'expansion des plantations de thé en forêt engendre un conflit avec la populat",fr
"En images

L'actu de la semaine en images

Le mariage de Lionel Messi, la tournée d'adieu de Johnny Clegg "" le Zoulou blanc"" et le don du président Mugabe à l'Union Africaine. Ici, toute l'actualité de la semaine en images.",fr
Rechercher sur la BBC Rechercher sur la BBC,de
"The brazen attack on a desert gas plant in Algeria last month and the French-led campaign against Islamists in northern Mali have triggered stark warnings in the West of a new front opening in the campaign to combat Islamist extremists but there is a danger of exaggerating the threat, analysts say.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke of the need to prevent northern Mali becoming a ""safe haven"" from which militants could launch attacks against America.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said this ""global threat"" required a response that would take ""years, even decades"".

""Just as we had to deal with that in Pakistan and in Afghanistan so the world needs to come together to deal with this threat in North Africa,"" he said.

But militancy in the Sahara and Sahel, which stretches across the desert regions of Mali, Algeria, Libya, Niger and Mauritania, is tied to local dynamics and plays on local grievances and it would be a mistake to see all of the region's numerous armed groups as always acting in unison.

The only clear parallel with the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan where the Taliban have flourished, analysts say, is the absence of central governments, which are unable or unwilling to counter extremism.

This is a long-standing problem in northern Mali. It emerged more recently in North African countries that saw Arab Spring uprisings, including Libya and Tunisia, allowing militant groups to gain ground.

""Right now we're not seeing as much an uptick in the strength of these groups as much as we are new areas that they're able to operate in because of the weakening of states,"" said William Lawrence, North Africa director for International Crisis Group.

""That's the major change in the last two years.""

Kidnappings

The most prominent militant group in North Africa is al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), formed from the remnants of the Islamist insurgency in Algeria.

If you're a young Malian now and you want to kidnap somebody, your best bet is to stick on the al-Qaeda logo, and it doesn't necessarily imply terribly much Judith Scheele, All Souls, Oxford

Its leaders have increasingly aligned themselves with international jihad (holy war), adopting the al-Qaeda name in 2007.

In the desert over the past ten years they have raised their profile - and tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom money - by taking westerners hostage.

Robert Fowler, a Canadian former UN diplomat kidnapped in Niger in 2008, has described the professionalism and apparent religious fervour of the men who abducted him.

""Their every act was considered and needed to be justifiable in terms of their chosen path of jihad,"" he wrote in his book, A Season in Hell.

The kidnappers were led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who more recently formed the AQIM splinter group, the Signed-in-Blood Battalion, blamed for January's attack on the Algerian gas plant of In Amenas.

Two other groups, Ansar Dine - dominated by former Tuareg rebels - and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), took control of northern Mali's major towns and cities following a coup in the capital, Bamako, last March.

They destroyed shrines sacred to Sufi Muslims and applied a radical version of Sharia law, chopping off the hands of thieves, authorising the stoning of adulterers, and forcing women to wear veils.

The Associated Press reported in December that they had set up bases in the desert north of Kidal, using heavy machinery to dig a network of tunnels, trenches and ramparts.

Social climbing

But for many observers, the behaviour of militants across the region is driven more by opportunism than any long-term adherence to a strict ideology.

Mali's main Islamist militants Ansar Dine - home-grown movement with a number of Tuareg fighters who returned from Libya after fighting alongside Muammar Gaddafi's troops.

home-grown movement with a number of Tuareg fighters who returned from Libya after fighting alongside Muammar Gaddafi's troops. Islamic Movement for Azawad - an offshoot of Ansar Dine which says it rejects ""terrorism"" and wants dialogue

- an offshoot of Ansar Dine which says it rejects ""terrorism"" and wants dialogue Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) - al-Qaeda's North African wing, with roots in Algeria

- al-Qaeda's North African wing, with roots in Algeria Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) - an AQIM splinter group whose aim is to spread jihad to the whole of West Africa

- an AQIM splinter group whose aim is to spread jihad to the whole of West Africa Signed-in-Blood Battalion - an AQIM offshoot committed to a global jihad and responsible for Algerian gas facility siege Mali crisis: Key players

In northern Mali they have exploited a history of separatism, armed conflict, Islamism and illegal trafficking going back several decades.

Goods smuggled across the Sahel's porous borders include everything from basic foodstuffs to petrol, cigarettes and cocaine.

Local authorities are often involved in such trade, a reason for collusion with smugglers and armed groups.

Many living in the area have complained of economic and political exclusion.

""The key elements were ones of development, poverty, institutional chaos, a power vacuum over this vast area, artificial borders, ethnic tensions,"" said Imad Mesdoua, a political analyst at Pasco Risk Management.

""The post-colonial structural problems of these countries have yet to be resolved.""

Judith Scheele, a social anthropologist at All Souls, Oxford, who has spent time in northern Mali, said gaining access to weapons and raising your social status were also possible incentives for new recruits.

""If you're a young Malian now and you want to kidnap somebody, your best bet is to stick on the al-Qaeda logo, and it doesn't necessarily imply terribly much,"" she said.

Social life in northern Mali is largely structured on hierarchies derived from descent. Some historically low-status people have recently grown rich through smuggling and trade, and since religious practice is also an important marker, may have joined extremist groups to raise their status.

""This is an area where being connected to any kind of religious movement or family is a way to be socially mobile,"" Ms Scheele said.

'Self-fulfilling prophecy'

Such allegiances can be confirmed in marriage, as they were in the case of Algerian militants who have settled in northern Mali and married locals.

But they can also change, or be combined with other allegiances.

The same goes for armed groups, which have a record of shifting their goals, splintering, trading with each other, and competing - sometimes encouraged by local intelligence services.

The Islamists formed a broad and loose coalition in northern Mali, but only after they had allied with, and then turned against, the Tuareg separatists of National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA).

Ansar Dine is led by the former Tuareg rebel leader, Iyad Ag Ghaly, known for manoeuvring himself into positions of influence under various guises.

Shortly after French forces invaded last month, a faction called the Islamic Movement for Azawad said it was splitting from Ansar Dine, and rejecting ""all forms of extremism and terrorism"".

The In Amenas attack was widely seen as an attempt by the Signed-in-Blood Battalion to make its mark in Algeria, where the security forces have long had Islamist militants onto the back foot.

Atmane Tazaghart, author of a book on AQIM, says there are an estimated 1,200-1,500 Islamist fighters currently in the Sahel. But he added that it was ""hard to distinguish banditry in this region from the jihadi activity"".

Against this backdrop of blurred identities and complex motives, William Lawrence of International Crisis Group warned against heavy-handed, indiscriminate intervention to counter the perceived Islamist threat, which might be encouraged by thinking of the Sahel as a ""new Afghanistan"".

""The only risk in terms of the comparison is of a self-fulfilling prophecy,"" he said.

""Tactics and methods applied in Afghanistan and Pakistan, if employed in this region, could engender resentment and further radicalisation.""",en
"Image caption Ansar Dine fighters control much of northern Mali

The leader of Malian Islamist group Ansar Dine, Iyad Ag Ghaly, has a complex and colourful past. He has led Tuareg uprisings against the Malian government, acted as go-between in securing the release of hostages kidnapped by al-Qaeda, and spent time as a Malian diplomat in Saudi Arabia.

A little-known figure who rarely speaks to the press, Mr Ghaly's motivation for founding Ansar Dine remains the subject of some debate.

He comes from the Ifoghas tribe and the Kidal region of north-eastern Mali. Believed to be now in his mid-fifties, he first came to public attention in the early 1990s as the leader of a Tuareg revolt seeking independence or greater autonomy for the northern region of Mali that they call Azawad.

Malian state radio referred to him in 1991 as the secretary-general of the Popular Movement of Azawad and head of the delegation negotiating an end to the rebellion with the government. In 1995 Radio France International called him the ""undisputed leader"" of the Tuareg rebels.

After another, short-lived revolt in 2006, Mr Ghaly became head of a movement called the 23 May Democratic Alliance for Change. The following year he was reported to be a member of the Malian High Council of Territorial Collectivities.

Hostage mediator

In August 2003 he played the key role in securing the release of 14 mostly German tourists kidnapped by the Algerian Salafi Group for Call and Combat, GSPC, which later became Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). He negotiated further hostage releases in 2008, 2010 and 2011.

Although European governments denied paying ransoms, these kidnappings are believed to have earned GSPC/AQIM tens of millions of dollars.

Iyad Ag Ghaly: The story so far 1991-2006: Led various Tuareg revolts, saying northern Mali was being ignored

These usually ended with him being given a government post

2003: Helped negotiate release of German tourists

2007: Posted in Mali's consulate in Saudi Arabia

2011: After fall of Gaddafi in Libya, tried to head new rebel group, MNLA

Rejected and formed Islamist Ansar Dine instead

A US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks referred to Mr Ghaly as turning up ""like the proverbial bad penny"" whenever there was the prospect of ""a cash transaction"" between the Tuareg and a foreign government.

Between late 2007 and early 2010 he held a post at the Malian consulate in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, although at times during this period he was reported as being in Mali and elsewhere negotiating hostage releases.

Several Malian press reports say he left this post after Saudi Arabia declared him persona non grata for having contact with terrorist elements.

After the collapse of the Gaddafi regime in Libya in mid-2011, Mr Ghaly reportedly sought the leadership of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), newly-formed by returning Tuareg who had served in the Libyan army, but he was rebuffed.

An MNLA official told Le Monde in April 2012 that this was because of links with AQIM, but that it was unclear whether this association was ""out of conviction or out of opportunism"".

Other sources say Mr Ghaly was rejected because of his ""close ties"" with the Malian government, a suspicion which dates back to the rebellion of 1990, when he was seen as having compromised in the course of negotiations.

Mr Ghaly has also faced problems within the Ifoghas tribe.

After reportedly being overlooked during a takeover of leadership of the tribe in 2011, he was then condemned by the tribal chief and religious leaders for his ""personal project"", Ansar Dine.

The pro-MNLA website Toumastpress reported that the tribal chief asked Ansar Dine to lay down their arms or leave the region.

Religious influence

Mr Ghaly's establishment of Ansar Dine could be seen as a response to setbacks he experienced in the internal Tuareg power struggle, but alongside this Tuareg nationalism one can also trace the development of strong religious beliefs.

Image caption Ansar Dine fighters have destroyed several famous shrines in Timbuktu

He is said to have been attracted to the teachings of a Muslim missionary group, Tablighi Jama'at, which is non-political and condemns violence. He also spent some time in 2002 studying at a mosque in Saint Denis in France.

His subsequent interactions with GSPC/AQIM and his time in Saudi Arabia may have moved his religious orientation in a more hard-line direction.

In 2011 he reportedly told the Ifoghas tribal meeting that he wanted to impose Islamic law on the Tuareg.

After Ansar Dine's seizure of Timbuktu in April 2012, Mr Ghaly made a statement on the local radio in which he announced ""jihad against the opponents of the Sharia"" and ""enmity to the unbelievers and polytheists"".

He also called on the local inhabitants to assist Ansar Dine in ""establishing the religion, spreading justice, security and ruling between people with justice, and promoting virtue and preventing of vice"".

Potential deal-maker

It is difficult to ascertain his motivation for founding Ansar Dine because reliable, first-hand information about him is scarce, and conspiracy theories abound.

One of these theories sees Mr Ghaly and AQIM as tools of the Algerian (and even US) security services. Another considers him a long-term collaborator with the Malian government.

The depth of his adherence to the Islamist cause remains to be seen. As the recent experience in Yemen of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has shown, when a jihadist group seeks to hold populated areas it leaves itself open to a concerted military counteroffensive with international support.

By adding the Islamist banner to his status among the Tuareg, Mr Ghaly may just be manoeuvring himself into a position from which he can emerge, as in the past, as the deal-maker.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here",en
"The head of the main Islamist group which has taken control of northern Mali says he accepts Burkina Faso's mediation efforts.

Ansar Dine leader Iyad Ag Ghaly was speaking after meeting Burkinabe Foreign Minister Djibril Bassole in the northern town of Kidal.

Mr Bassole is the most senior diplomat to visit the area seized by Islamist and secular Tuareg forces in March.

West African leaders say they will send an intervention force of 3,000 to Mali.

But the UN Security Council is yet to approve the move, fearing intervention could become a costly and lengthy affair.

Rebel forces seized northern Mali after the army staged a coup in March.

The Islamists are in control of the region's three major towns - Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal - after falling out with the Tuareg groups which have been fighting for independence for the area.

They have been condemned by human rights groups for destroying ancient shrines in Timbuktu and for stoning to death an unmarried couple for having sex outside marriage last week.",en
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Région Heure Fréquence Afrique du nord 0600 - 0630 GMT 6055 kHz/ 7305 kHz/ 7325 kHz/9870 kHz 1200 - 1230 GMT 17640 kHz/17780 kHz/21630 kHz 1800 - 1830 GMT 7305 kHz/7465 kHz, 11860 kHz/11975 kHz/ 15105 kHz Afrique de l'ouest / Afrique centrale 0430 - 0500 GMT 6135 kHz/7305 kHz/17780 kHz 0600-0630 GMT <span >6055 kHz/ 7305 kHz/ 7325 kHz/9870 kHz<span > 0700-0730 GMT 11800 kHz/17880 kHz 1200-1230 GMT 17640 kHz/17780 kHz/21630 kHz 1800-1830 GMT 7305 kHz/7465 kHz/11860 kHz/11975 kHz/ 15105 kHz Afrique de l'est / Afrique australe 0430-0500 GMT 6135 kHz/7305 kHz/17780 kHz 1800-1830 GMT 7305 kHz/7465 kHz/ 11860 kHz/11975 kHz/15105 kHz

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"Правообладатель иллюстрации BBC World Service

Наши тесты помогут понять, каким аспектам английского языка вам стоит уделить особое внимание.

Выбирайте тестовое задание на интересующую тему и проверяйте свои знания английского.

---

Тест ""Говорим о проблемах по-английски"", часть 1

Пройти тест

Тест ""Говорим о проблемах по-английски"", часть 2

Пройти тест

Тест ""Университетский английский""

Тест ""Деньги в вашем кармане""

Тест ""Английский язык телодвижений""

Тест ""Деловой английский"", часть 1

Тест ""Значения глагола take""

Тест на знание междометий

Тест из 20 заданий ""Чего я не знаю в английским?""

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Тест ""Безупречный английский"", часть 4

Тест ""Безупречный английский"", часть 3

Правообладатель иллюстрации THINKSTOCK

Тест ""Как вы думаете по-английски?""

Тест ""Безупречный английский"", часть 2

Тест ""Безупречный английский"", часть 1

Тест ""Беременность и роды""

Тест по грамматике, часть 1

Вы уже усвоили правила согласования времен, образования степеней сравнения прилагательных и употребления сослагательного наклонения?

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Тест ""Банковская терминология""

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Тест ""Английские идиомы"" (часть 1)

Тест ""Английские идиомы"" (часть 2)

Тест по грамматике, часть 2

Вы разбираетесь во временных формах глаголов, употреблении устойчивых словосочетаний, наречий, предлогов и местоимений?

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Мы слегка проголодались. Перекусить не хочешь? Выпьем на посошок! Я трезвенник. Знаете, как сказать это по-английски?

Правообладатель иллюстрации THINKSTOCK

Тест ""Преступление и наказание""

Умеете выражать свои мысли по-английски при обсуждении этой невеселой темы?

Тест ""Слова, которые мы путаем""

Тест ""Временные формы глаголов""

Тест ""Идиомы с названиями частей тела""

Правообладатель иллюстрации THINKSTOCK

Тест ""Черты характера""

Тест на знание ""сердечных"" идиом

Душа к этому не лежит, внутри все оборвалось, задушевная беседа, у нее доброе сердце: как сказать это по-английски?

Тест ""Фразовые глаголы""

Тест на знание ""цветных"" английских выражений

УЧИТЕ АНГЛИЙСКИЙ С БИ-БИ-СИ:",ru
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"For more than 135 years, people have reported strange lights above the horizon in Marfa, Texas. No-one knows exactly what they are, and that’s what makes them so captivating.",en
"In Utsi’s garden, on the long summer days when the sun never sets, the artist sometimes gets a split-second flashback to when she was young and the prospect of such a road was but a dream.

“Was it an isolated community back then? It depends on what you think a community should be,” she said. “Nordkapp is isolated compared to big cities, but human beings are great adapters and can get used to anything. For me this is completely normal.”

Living this far north has many benefits, Utsi explained, particularly for a visual artist. In 1982, she returned from Oslo to her birth house in Repvåg and ever since has been working as a sculptor, inspired by Nordkapp’s extreme realms of weather and light. She has worked with dwarf birch and turned driftwood into celebrated Sami art, but her current project is more ambitious. Using plexiglass, she is trying to recreate the wind. “You cannot touch it, but you can feel it in all aspects of life here,” she said. “Along with the water, it pervades everything we do.”",en
"At Akramawi, a 65-year-old hummus joint by Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, a cook named Nader Tarawe was showing me how to prepare hummus. The recipe for hummus b’tahini (as the dish is named; ‘hummus’ simply means ‘chickpeas’), consists of chickpeas, tahini, garlic and lemon. Since it’s relatively simple to make, the variations lie more in how it’s served. Should it be it smooth or lumpy, heavier on the tahini or on the chickpeas, crowned with fava beans or more chickpeas or pine nuts or ground beef? And what’s on the side? Chips? Pickles? Hot sauce? Falafel?

Tarawe topped each plate of hummus with a dollop of tahini and a sprinkling of olive oil. “Oil is good,” he said, an accidental Middle East metaphor. Hummus is a regional metaphor, too: beloved all over the world, it’s yet another source of tension, yet another question of proprietorship. Who invented the dish? Who can claim it as their own?

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Everyone from the Lebanese to the Turks to the Syrians have tried, but there’s little evidence for any theory. Most of the ingredients have been around for centuries: the chickpea dates back more than 10,000 years in Turkey and is, according to Anissa Helou, Syrian-Lebanese author of several Middle Eastern cookbooks, “one of the earliest legumes ever cultivated.” And tahini, the sesame paste that is vital to hummus b’tahini, is mentioned in 13th-Century Arabic cookbooks. But the combination of ingredients that make up the popular dish is harder to pin down.

Hummus is a regional metaphor: beloved all over the world, it’s yet another source of tension

It’s a Jewish food,” said chef Tom Kabalo of Raq Hummus in the Israeli-occupied territory of Golan Heights a few days later. “It was mentioned in our bible 3,500 years ago.” I was in his restaurant eating his Tuesday special. Because it was October, the special was ‘Halloween hummus’, garnished with shredded pumpkin and black tahini.

He’s not the only one who told me that hummus is biblical. Kabalo and others are referring to a passage from the Book of Ruth, part of the third and final section of the Hebrew Bible: “Come hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the hometz.”

While it’s true that hometz does sound like hummus, there’s also a good reason to believe otherwise: in modern Hebrew, hometz means vinegar. Of course, ‘dip your bread in vinegar’ would be an odd expression of hospitality, so therein lies the uncertainty.

“I’ve heard claims that it was first cultivated in northern India or Nepal,” said Oren Rosenfeld, writer and director of Hummus! The Movie. Said Liora Gvion, author of Beyond Hummus and Falafel: Social and Political Aspects of Palestinian Food in Israel, “I think it is an old and stupid debate that is not worth one’s attention.”

But for many, the question of where hummus comes from is absolutely a matter of patriotism and identity. The now legendary ‘Hummus Wars’ began in 2008 when Lebanon accused Israel of cashing in on what they believed should have been Lebanon’s legacy, publicity and money. The president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists, angry that hummus had come to be known and marketed throughout the west as an Israeli dish, sued Israel for infringement of food-copyright laws. The Lebanese government petitioned the EU to recognise hummus as Lebanese. Both efforts proved ineffectual.

The question of where hummus comes from is absolutely a matter of patriotism and identity

Cultural appropriation is a hot topic in the food world (just ask the Peruvians and Chileans who owns pisco, for example), so the hummus debate could have generated an interesting conversation. Instead, the whole thing devolved into the culinary version of a dance-off: in 2009, Fadi Abboud, Lebanese minister of tourism, decided that the way to settle the matter once and for all was for Lebanon to make a plate of hummus so large it would be recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records. The goal was achieved, the record set with a plate of hummus that weighed around 2,000kg. In response, Jawdat Ibrahim, a famous Arab-Israeli hummus joint in Abu Ghosh, Israel, retaliated with hummus served in a satellite dish that had a diameter of 6.5m – about 4,000kg of hummus. Then the Lebanese counter-attacked with 10,452kg of the dip – the number of square kilometers of Lebanon. They have held the record since 2010.

“Lebanon’s efforts were interesting, but they can’t be taken seriously,” Rosenfeld said. “Hummus is a Middle Eastern food claimed by all and owned by none.”

Most people who talk about the Hummus Wars hold Rosenfeld’s diplomatic view. But American food historian Charles Perry, president of the Culinary Historians of Southern California and an expert on medieval Arab food, gives Lebanon some credit.

Hummus is a Middle Eastern food claimed by all and owned by none

“I tend to take the Lebanese claim somewhat seriously,” he said. “Beirut would be my second choice in response to the question of who invented hummus. It stood out as a sophisticated city throughout the Middle Ages, one with a vigorous culinary tradition, and lemons were abundant there.”

But Damascus, Syria, strikes him as the more likely candidate. He explained that the traditional way of serving hummus throughout much of the Middle East is in a particular red clay bowl with a raised edge. The hummus is whisked around briskly with a pestle so that it mounds up along that edge. Not only does this present the hummus conveniently for picking up with bread, it proves that the hummus has the proper texture, neither too slack nor too stiff.

“The practice of whipping hummus up against the wall of the bowl indicates a sophisticated urban product, not an ancient folk dish. I'm inclined to think hummus was developed for the Turkish rulers in Damascus,” Perry said.

Explaining his choice, he continued: “Nobody can say who invented hummus, or when. Or where, particularly given the eagerness with which people in the Middle East borrow one another’s dishes. But I associate it with Damascus in the 18th Century because it was the largest city with a sophisticated ruling class,” he said.

However, another popular theory says that hummus is neither biblical nor Lebanese nor Syrian, but Egyptian. “The earliest recipe I’ve seen for hummus that includes tahini is from an Egyptian cookbook,” said Middle East historian Ari Ariel, who teaches history and international studies at the University of Iowa. Cookbooks from 13th-Century Cairo describe a dish made of cold pureed chickpeas, vinegar, pickled lemon and herbs and spices. Many claim that it’s the hummus we enjoy today. But is it fair to consider those recipes hummus b’tahini if there’s no tahini? No garlic?

“The thing you have to bear in mind about historical cookbooks,” Perry said, “is that they tend to record fashionable dishes, and fashionable dishes eventually become unfashionable, so a modern dish that somewhat resembles an ancient one may not have a historical connection.” In response to the Egypt theory, he continued, “Historically, Egypt has been more likely to adopt Syrian dishes than vice versa.”

Back at Akramawi, I sat at a communal table where I met Noam Yatsiv, a tour guide from the Israeli port city Haifa, who takes his hummus very seriously. He told me that he eats hummus five times a week and has a dog named Hummus, and that hummus comes from Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine.

“All of them?” I asked.

Yatsiv shrugged. He told me that it doesn’t matter where it’s from. What matters is the way it’s been co-opted and sold commercially in grocery stores in plastic containers. “That’s not hummus!” he said, tearing a piece of pita. “There should be a sign on that hummus the way there is on ‘kosher shrimp’. It should be labelled ‘fake hummus’. There should be an international law.”

Most of the people I spoke with couldn’t agree on where hummus comes from, or on the extent to which it matters. Kabalo said that the more important question is, who’s making it the best? (“You’re looking at him,” he added, spreading his arms.)

But the hummus solidarity I found on my travels was the result of a different question. There was common ground among just about everyone I met who slings hummus for a living – from Tarawe at Akramawi to the Christian Maronite family who run Abu George Hummus in the Old City of Acre, Israel, to the hipsters at Ha Hummus Shel T’china in Jerusalem’s Nachlaot neighbourhood who give their leftover hummus to the homeless each night – every time I asked, “What’s your secret ingredient?”

Almost everyone answered, “Love.”

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EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this article said that that the Greeks have tried to claim hummus. This has now been corrected. Also, This article has been updated to reflect the ongoing conflict between Syria and Israel in the Golan Heights.",en
"In a quiet corner of northern Europe there exists a geopolitical anomaly, where many buildings have an international border running right through them. It’s a place where a person might be in the same bed as his or her spouse, but sleep in different countries. A place where people move their front doors for economic advantage.

They look like cartographic amoebae

Not far from the Belgian border, the Netherlands municipality of Baarle-Nassau is home to nearly 30 Belgian enclaves, known collectively as Baarle-Hertog. On the map, they look like cartographic amoebae, some of them with Dutch nuclei inside.

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This whole confused mess dates to the Middle Ages when parcels of land were divvied up between different local aristocratic families. Baarle-Hertog once belonged to the Duke (hertog is the Dutch word for ‘duke’) of Brabant, while Baarle-Nassau was the property of the medieval House of Nassau. When Belgium declared independence from the Netherlands in 1831, the two nations were left with an international muddle so complicated that successive regimes were deterred from defining exact jurisdictions. The borders were not actually finalised until 1995, when the last remaining piece of no man’s land was attributed to Belgium.

On first impression, it’s not easy to tell the territories apart, as they look no different from any typical red-brick small Dutch town. Around three-quarters of the region’s roughly 9,000 total residents are Dutch passport holders, and the Dutch municipality also has by far the larger share of land (76 sq km compared to 7.5 sq km). But after a while the differences become apparent, albeit with the help of pavement markings – white crosses with ‘NL’ on one side and ‘B’ on the other – and house numbers which are marked with the appropriate flag.

The Dutch properties are more uniform in appearance than their Belgian counterparts, and Dutch pavements are lined with lime trees, their limbs carefully pruned and braided like vines. The Belgian areas tend to be more architecturally diverse.

If I had an ear for it, I’d be able to differentiate accents, too, explained Willem van Gool, chairman of the Baarle tourist office (himself a Dutch passport holder, though his mother is Belgian). Although French is taught in the Belgian schools, Dutch is the primary language of both communities.

However, van Gool noted, “With the Belgians it is more like a dialect, and with the Dutch it is more… clean.”

That, and the less prescriptive approach to residential landscaping on the Belgian side, has led to a tendency on the part of some of the Dutch to look down on their neighbours. “Back in the days when the schools emptied out at the same time, teenagers would fight,” recalled van Gool, but that all stopped in the 1960s when the town’s two mayors (one Dutch and one Belgian) altered the school timings so that they didn’t overlap and combined the youth club to promote positive interactions.

Today, many residents of Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog have dual citizenship and both a Belgian and a Dutch passport. The peaceful interweaving of the two nations has attracted the interest of advisors to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as an example of how two different communities can live harmoniously together.

So is all this border obscurity to Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog’s benefit? It certainly attracts tourists, said van Gool. “The number of shops, hotels and cafes we have would be more suited to a town of 40,000 rather than 9,000. And when the Belgian shops have to close on Sunday, the Dutch don’t.”

The complexities can still prove difficult, however, especially when it comes to infrastructure. Building permits can be particularly tricky, said Leo van Tilburg, mayor of the Belgian municipality, whose town hall is bisected by the border. Because of its location, Belgium had to seek Dutch permission to build part of their mayoral building – the part delineated by the brightly illuminated border strip running right through the meeting room.

Everything is a matter of negotiation

Much of Tilburg’s time is devoted to sorting out the delivery of services – education, water, infrastructure – in co-operation with his Dutch counterpart, Marjon de Hoon. Resurfacing the roads is his particular bugbear, as roads can cross borders several times within a few hundred metres. And then there are issues like the planning of sewage pipes.

“The road under which the pipe is being installed may be all Belgian, but who pays if the pipework has to be enlarged thanks to Dutch houses nearby? And who pays to service the streetlights, where the pavement is Belgian but the light shines on Dutch windows?” Tilburg said. “[But] if there are 100 problems, 98 of them will turn out to be no problem – after plenty of discussions, of course.”

Everything is a matter of negotiation.

Given that Belgium’s planning laws are less restrictive than the Netherlands’, there are clear advantages to having a front door in Belgium, as Kees de Hoon (no relation to the Dutch mayor) explained when I met him at his border-straddling apartment block. A Dutch passport-holder living in Baarle-Hertog, Kees wanted to redevelop the original building, but the front door was in the Netherlands and he couldn’t get planning permission from the Dutch town hall. He solved the problem by simply installing a second front door, adjacent to the first but on the other side of the border. So now with two front doors to the building, one of his apartments is Dutch, and the other three are Belgian.

It was done on both sides of the border

Kees isn’t the only one who has taken advantage of jurisdictional loopholes; many long-established families and business owners will admit to have benefited in some small way. The most flagrant example is a former bank that was built right on top of the border so paperwork could be moved from one side of the building to the other whenever one nationality’s tax inspectors came calling.

Although loophole-exploiting isn’t as common as it once was, I couldn’t help imagining the glory days of cross-border rule-bending. The cattle that mysteriously changed fields overnight. The shop stock that was acquired in one country and sold in the other without bothering the tax man. “It is a subject the locals like to talk about,” agreed van Gool, “and it was done on both sides of the border.”

That doesn’t mean the two jurisdictions are without friction. The drinking age in the Netherlands is 18 but Belgians can legally drink beer and wine at 16, so if a Dutch barkeeper refuses to serve a crowd of teenagers, they can just thumb their nose at him and walk across the road. And the many fireworks shops in the Belgian parts of town are a source of irritation to the Dutch authorities. In the Netherlands, the sale and carriage of fireworks is illegal (except for around the New Year). So when I came to the end of my November visit in Baarle-Nassau/Baarle-Hertog, I had to face Dutch police who were scrutinising everyone leaving town.

It seems that, in this laboratory of trans-frontier co-operation, there are still a few outstanding issues to be resolved.

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"Much farther north than the famous fjord inlets, Norway’s northernmost seaboard of Finnmark is a frontier on the edge. Five hundred kilometres inside the Arctic Circle, it is a raw wilderness of abrupt peninsulas and brooding cliffs at the nerve ends of the world, a place where nature has long had the upper hand. In winter, as if by decree of Odin, roads vanish under deep snows that cut off communities for days. And when polar darkness descends, from mid-November to late January, it is near absolute.

It is a raw wilderness at the nerve ends of the world

But as you drive along the deserted, snow-crusted road to Hammerfest, population 10,527, past barely-there fishing hamlets and cod trawlers at standstill, you soon learn that one of the world’s northernmost towns has had far worse problems to deal with than temperatures plummeting below zero.

For Hammerfest’s history is a luckless narrative of natural disasters, fires, plagues and war, spanning a timeline from Napoleon to the Nazis. And despite being one of the most storied settlements in northern Europe, the town’s acutely modern look might strike you as odd. Look around and it feels different to elsewhere this far north.

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Gone are the clapboard houses so characteristic of Norway. So too are the traditional storefronts from this former whaling town. Instead, facing the harbour is the LED-lit Arctic Culture Centre, a floating glass terminal on stilts. In the middle ground – between the flat Atlantic sky and backdrop of liquefied gas depots – are modern apartment blocks and a cruise terminal. And above that, on main street Kirkegata, is a rocket ship-shaped church, a postmodern homage to Finnmark’s triangular-shaped stockfish racks.

How does Hammerfest explain this extraordinary transformation? Ever since the 18th Century, after the first European (and soon after North American) traders arrived in the ancestral homeland of the indigenous Nordic Sea Sami, the town has been destroyed, ripped apart, razed to the ground and effectively wiped from the map time and again. It has been to hell and back, numerous times, and yet keeps coming back – a phoenix of the far north.

“You can trace our history back some 10,000 years, but in terms of bricks and mortar we’re an exceptionally young town,” said 75-year-old historian Jens Berg-Hansen, when we met on Kirkegata on a bleary November morning for a walk through Hammerfest’s history. “There’s a pioneering spirit here – and that’s the reason people come back. This is a town that engenders self-reliance. We have learnt to pull together.”

What originally brought Europeans here was the town’s ice-free harbour, a result of the warm Atlantic Gulf Stream which is uncommon in such northern waters. The combination saw the development of an international hunting effort that stretched to the Arctic Ocean via the Norwegian and Barents Seas, an era when seals, whales and walruses were butchered for meat, skins and oil. As riches returned from the ocean hunting grounds, the town became an open-air factory where blubber was scraped off the cetaceans’ skins to prevent it turning rancid.

“They used to say you could smell Hammerfest before you could see it,” said Berg-Hansen, describing the town’s boom years in the early to mid-18th Century, which saw the arrival of Russian, German, French, Dutch and American consulate offices. “It brought in trade, money and plenty of international visitors. They also said the ladies here were as beautiful as those in Paris because of how they dressed.” The sense of history is tangible: still today the streets are home to a disproportionate number of boutiques and hairdressers.

Such good times couldn’t last, however, a history documented at the appropriately named Gjenreisningsmuseet, the Museum of Reconstruction for Finnmark and North Troms (named after two neighbouring regions in Norway’s north).

The first blow came when the port – due to its ice-free harbour and strategic location en route to Russia, the Arctic and the UK – was overrun during the Napoleonic Wars. In July 1809, the British plundered and looted Hammerfest during a ­­week-long blockade, leaving the city to starve. Half a century later, a hurricane dismantled the town’s warehouses, before tragedy struck again in 1890 with two-thirds of the harbour’s buildings demolished by a catastrophic bakery fire. Almost unbelievably, considering Hammerfest’s unpredictable weather and inaccessibility, the reconstruction effort led to an extensive modernisation. For example, the next year the town became the first in northern Europe to introduce electric street lights.

Far worse was to come when the town was occupied following Germany’s invasion of Norway in 1940. Anticipating a huge Russian breakthrough at the Eastern Front four years later, Hitler’s scorched-earth retreat saw the town’s battalion of 1,000 Nazi soldiers leave nothing behind. It was October 1944, and with no shelter, food or supplies, the plan was for the Red Army to starve and freeze to death.

Within days, Hammerfest burned. Roads were wiped from the map, telegraph poles were chopped down and communication lines destroyed. The harbour lay ravaged, mines pockmarked the town and the entire population of the surrounding municipality were left homeless. So systematic was the Nazi solution, 10,000 buildings were razed to the ground and the only one left standing was the chapel. Almost unbelievably, the fires raged on for four months, and by the time the locals had fled, Hammerfest had ceased to exist.

It has been to hell and back, and yet keeps coming back – a phoenix of the far north

With such far-reaching consequences, families were evacuated to southern Norway, including that of 84-year-old Randi Simonsen, one of the town’s oldest surviving eye-witnesses, who I’d earlier agreed to meet at the museum.

“The Germans were so thorough they burned our basements,” said Simonsen, pointing to sepia photographs of the aftermath. “But people here were smart and hid their possessions, even if they knew they may one day never return.”

Mercifully, the images of reconstruction at the museum are far more powerful than those of Hammerfest’s destruction. One exhibit shows an American-made barbershop stool, hidden under 3ft of soil by its owner to prevent it from being destroyed. Another reveals two plush velvet armchairs, fully intact if a little worn, also dug up during the post-war effort.

As Simonsen recalled, her family were given two days to prepare to leave, not knowing when or even if they could ever return. Aged 11, she travelled with her family some 2,000km south to Telemark. “My father had the sea in his blood, so only days after peace broke out in May 1945 he was one of the first to return, eventually taking a boat from Tromsø after first travelling north. Nobody thought not to come back.”

Nobody thought not to come back

If the challenge of figuring out how to deal with disaster and recovery in the same breath weighed on Hammerfest, it doesn’t show today. The town may have been left to ruin, but within weeks of the repatriation, numerous buildings and houses had been rebuilt.

“We had no time to deal with trauma,” Simonsen said, adding that she slept on the chapel floor after her family’s return. “People were happy to be home and, anyway, I was a teenager so I was preoccupied with school, fashion and – of course – boys.”

Another eyewitness, 72-year-old retired schoolteacher Gunnar Milch, has another theory about how Hammerfest has learnt to adapt. It’s a happy story, in a way, of triumph over adversity, he told me.

“People sometimes have a romanticised view of the past, but it has always been tough in Hammerfest. For us it was a question of community. When people returned after World War II, they recreated their own community after having been separated from it for so long. The lesson is only we will decide our own fate.”

As history now shows, Hammerfest takes its place alongside Mostar in Bosnia, Hiroshima in Japan and Dresden in Germany as a town that has been destroyed yet has risen from the ashes with a deep and defiant response. Today, Hammerfest is prospering once more due to the arrival of liquefied gas companies in a boom expected to last decades. Of little surprise to the locals, it’s simply a continuation of how the town has reinvented itself for hundreds of years.

Perhaps what captures Hammerfest’s never-say-die spirit best is the town’s mascot and heraldic crest: the polar bear. It embodies the vitality of the community, but also the town’s uncanny ability to survive for centuries in a far-flung corner, on the top of the globe, despite the worst intentions of men.

They could not have hoped for a more enduring symbol.

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"Few cities in the world rival the antiquity of Athens, where people have lived continuously for thousands of years. Athenians created the first forms of democracy, the plays and philosophy that shaped Western civilisation, and the classical buildings that still dot the Acropolis.

Amid the ancient ruins, another survivor of the centuries is the Greek concept of philoxenia – a term that directly translates as ‘love of strangers’, but which locals define more as a warmth that makes foreigners feel immediately welcomed when they come to the capital city. “The people can be very hospitable and friendly,” agreed Julian Williams, who moved from London in 2009.

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Though more than 4.5 million people visit the city every year to delve into its past, Athens has plenty in its present to make it worth staying for the longer term.

Why do people love it?

The always-on atmosphere of Athens attracts Greeks and expats alike. “Athens is a buzzing city,” said Chrissy Manika, an Athens native and blogger at Travel Passionate. “No matter when you go out you will see the cafes and bars filled with people having a good time.” She especially likes wandering the city centre neighbourhood of Plaka, on the north-east side of the Acropolis. “With all the tourists around, it feels like you are on holiday on an island, especially in summer.”

With more than 250 days of sunshine annually, that summer can feel endless. “By my American standards, ‘summer’ in Athens lasts from late April to late October,” said Mina Agnos, who opened the Athens office of luxury tour company Travelive in 2008. The weather makes it especially easy to get away to nearby islands for weekend getaways. Williams recommends Hydra (35 nautical miles to the south), where cars are prohibited and people get around the island by riding donkeys and mules or leisurely walking its idyllic city streets, which mostly lack street signs. Though long popular with celebrities and artists, the island retains its laid-back lifestyle with plentiful cafes and contained crowds, thanks to the limited number of hotels.

The mountains and forest are also within easy reach. “If you want to break out of the city, you can do so fairly easily and feel like you’re a million miles [away],” Williams said. “One of my regular places to go is Mount Hymettus [5-6km from the city centre], which is ideal if you have a dog, and is also great for biking.”

What's it like to live there?

Despite living in an ancient city, residents never get sick of the views. “Driving into the city and seeing the Acropolis or the Temple of Zeus takes my breath away,” Agnos said. “At every turn, there is a beautiful reminder of the ancient past of this city. It is a lovely reminder of our limited time and that we should make the best of it.”

Among the antiquities, nearby neighbourhoods give a glimpse into the city’s contemporary culture. Just steps from the Acropolis, Koukaki was recently ranked as the city’s newest cool neighbourhood for its new National Museum of Contemporary Art, trendy restaurants and cosy cafes. For a more avant-garde feel, Williams recommends the neighbourhood of Exarcheia, 1km north-east of the city centre. “It has a complex history and culture of student politicisation, anarchism, communism and alternative counter-culture,” he said.

Locals also have their own secrets that tourists often miss while they’re museum-hopping. “Some of the best food is to be had in the local central market in downtown Athens,” said Katilena Alpe, who moved from London nine years ago. “And not many know that Athens has a wine route and the vineyards around the capital produce some great wines.”

What else do I need to know?

As one of the countries hit hardest by the decade’s economic strife, Greece is still a hard place to find a job, and unemployment in Athens remains high. Locals lament the time-consuming and inefficient government bureaucracy, which can cause challenges for newcomers trying to get or start a job.

“Tax paperwork and Greek bureaucracy requires translation so it’s valuable having a friend who can help you navigate the bureaucratic maze to get setup,” Williams said.

And while salaries are lower here in general, Athens has one of Europe’s lowest costs of living, with expenses averaging nearly 50% less than London, according to price compare site Expatistan.com.

Expats also appreciate that most Athenians speak very good English – though attempting a little Greek goes a long way. “Even if you are horrible at it, the effort is really appreciated,” Agnos said.

Even with its challenges, locals recommend never losing sight of the awe of Athens. “I find that the happiest expats are the ones that act like tourists,” said Agnos. “They are visiting museums or hopping ferries to islands on the weekends, sampling lots of local dining spots, and getting to know the locals.”

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"I gazed out the window onto a series of yellow, mud-brick cottages built on a slope, surrounded by verdant hills engulfed in a blanket of swirling fog. In the village of Masouleh, nestled deep in northern Iran’s Alborz Mountains, every view is a rooftop view.

Masouleh was built partway up a steep mountainside to keep the village safe from floods in the valley below and protect it from frigid winds that whip the summit above. But to conform to the steep incline caused by a 100m elevation change, residents had to find creative ways of optimising space. Indeed, the architecture of this roughly 1,000-year-old village is such that the front garden of each house – as well as restaurants, outdoor cafes and even parts of a bazaar – sits on the rooftop of the house below it.

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For centuries, the roofs of these houses, constructed from clay, stone and wood, have had to not only endure the wet climate (the region sees around 150cm of rain and snow each year), but also the weight of constant foot traffic – women hanging clothes to dry and merchants selling colourful scarves and handmade dolls from small stands along the alleyways. The guesthouse where I was staying, like many other homes in Masouleh, had a large window that spanned the front wall of the room to let in sunlight and warmth – one of the traditional techniques to contend with cold winters. (Many of the older Masouleh homes also have a winter room at the back of the building, insulated by the thick, clay walls.)

With a cup of tea in hand, I peered down into the slender passageways formed by the interconnected rooftops. I spotted a man carrying groceries from the bazaar up a winding staircase between two houses to his house in the upper levels.

“One never gets tired of this view,” my host, Mr Safayee, said as he joined me by the window.

Every view is a rooftop view

Masouleh has long been a trading hub; for centuries, people came from all around the region to sell their wares. And in the early 20th Century, the village was used as a stronghold by the Jangali Movement, which opposed the occupation of Iran by Ottoman, British and Russian forces. But while we sipped our tea, Mr Safayee lamented the gradual emigration of villagers to Iran’s more urban areas.

“When I was a kid, there used to be an elementary school here. We never had a large population, but we were all very close,” he told me. “Now, young people leave the village to other cities for work. Now we don’t even have the elementary school.”

Those who remain have profited from tourism. “It allowed us to have a good living, and to repair our old houses to the way they were,” Mr Safayee said.

With the rise of Masouleh as a popular tourism destination in Iran, the narrow streets can sometimes feel more reminiscent of a large city than a tranquil village. With the larger hotels located at the lower levels near the village entrance, many tourists seem content to stay near the bazaar, which is surrounded by rooftop cafes and restaurants. However, the higher levels tend to be more tranquil.

I finished my tea and set out to explore Masouleh. As I made my way up towards the top of the village, I glanced down to the valley, where a tour bus was slowly making its way up the inclined road to the base of the village, the point at which visitors would have to walk, as Masouleh’s alleyways do not support vehicle traffic.

Away from the crowds, I walked along the Barf-Andaz area, meaning ‘place to throw snow’. “Here in Masouleh, we shovel our snow onto the rooftop of the neighbour below us,” Mr Safayee had told me earlier that day, chuckling at my surprise. Because it is closest to the slope of the mountain, the 1-2m area at the back of each roof is the strongest part of the structure. This is where the shovelled snow is stored in the winter, thus minimising the chance of a roof collapse.

I made my way back down into the village towards the bazaar, a compact alley filled with shops selling handcrafted knives, mountain goat horns and an assortment of bracelets. Tourists perused the wares while locals went about their evening grocery shopping, stopping at vendors offering baked goods, dried fruit, homemade jam and mountain herbs such as chamomile and mint. I passed an elderly lady, who was winding yarn into the shape of a doll to add to the colourful bundle next to her.

“Would you like a doll?” she asked as her fingers expertly twisted the yarn to form the shape of a head. She told me that after her daughters had moved to the city of Rasht 70km away, she now makes the dolls that she once made for her daughters for visitors. I politely declined, and she bid me farewell.

I followed a stairway to the level above the bazaar, took a seat at a restaurant patio and ordered mirzah ghasemi, a flavourful Persian dish of squash, aubergine, garlic and egg served together like a stew. Here, I enjoyed an early dinner while the evening fog rolled in once more, permeating the streets and shrouding the village in mist.

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"In 1985, Jorge Eckstein, long-time resident of Buenos Aires’ historical San Telmo neighbourhood, purchased an abandoned mansion near his home that he intended to transform into a restaurant.

Built in 1830, the mansion was grand but dilapidated. It was what many Argentines refer to as a ‘casa chorizo’ – so named because the rooms of the house are lined up in a row like a string of sausages, opening onto a series of side patios. Eckstein knew the house would need a lot of work; the walls were crumbling and the ground floor was covered in debris.

Not long after Eckstein began to renovate, he noticed something unusual about the foundation of the house, and it wasn’t long before one of the patios was sinking. It turned out that Eckstein had stumbled onto what would become one of the city’s most important archaeological sites: a portal to an underground labyrinth.

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The idea of a mysterious underground world has long been a subject of interest and imagination in Buenos Aires. “The old myths about the existence of a great swarm of tunnels under the city come back to life again and again,” said Ricardo Orsini, coordinator at the city’s Interpretive Centre for Archaeology and Palaeontology.

After Eckstein discovered the sinking patio, a team of archaeologists from the University of Buenos Aires investigated the building’s foundation to learn more about its history. The 20-room mansion had been abandoned in the late 1800s when its occupants fled from the deathly waves of yellow fever sweeping through the Argentine city. In the early 20th Century, the mansion served as tenement housing, but by the 1980s, it was abandoned once again.

The decision to dig marked a dramatic change in our local concept of recovering the past

""The decision to dig under the whole building marked a dramatic change in our local concept of recovering the past,"" Eckstein said, ""because it revealed not only the past that appears on the surface, but the past that existed under all the buildings.""

Under the house, the archaeological team discovered an unusual vaulted construction, which further excavations revealed as the roof of an underground tunnel. But a tunnel leading to where? And for what purpose? These were the questions the archaeologists explored as they uncovered almost 2km of subterranean passageways. Their research revealed that the old house sat on top of an intricate drainage system. It seemed that neighbourhood residents built the tunnels around 1780 to reroute a stream that caused flooding when it rained, bringing a flow of dirty water – including animal waste from farms on the outskirts of town – onto the city streets.

Today, the mansion – now the El Zanjón de Granados museum – acts as the entryway to the refurbished tunnels while also housing exhibitions that showcase objects found during the excavation. Standing inside one of the tunnels, I wouldn’t have guessed that these broad passageways were used for such a practical purpose. They’re eerily romantic; lined with exposed brick, they’ve been beautifully restored and illuminated.

While the discovery of the tunnels was a surprise to Eckstein, it wasn’t news for some of San Telmo’s older residents. Several of his neighbours remembered when segments of the dried-out tunnels were still open; no-one seems to know when and why they were closed off.

Until relatively recently, confirms Daniel Schávelzon – who led the excavation at El Zanjón de Granados and is now the founder and director of the city’s Centre for Urban Archaeology – any knowledge about the city’s underground passages was based on memory and word of mouth.

“Since I was a student, I was interested in the underground world,” Schávelzon told me. “But everything I heard or read didn’t make sense. It was all myth and fantasy. Nobody was doing serious work. Later, when I was working in the field of urban archaeology, I myself became seriously involved in the subject. And I found underground constructions of all kinds. It’s fascinating.”

Founded in 1536, San Telmo is the oldest part of the original settlement of Buenos Aires, and it’s here that many of the city’s underground tunnels are concentrated. But not all the tunnels were built for plumbing purposes. More than a century before the residents of San Telmo rerouted a stream, Jesuit priests were busy at work on another set of tunnels.

In the late 16th Century, a Jesuit order from Spain settled in Buenos Aires with the intention of spreading Christianity to the New World. They established a mission consisting of a church, a museum, a library and even a pharmacy – a complex known today as the Manzana de las Luces (Block of Enlightenment).

But the Jesuits weren’t exactly welcome in their new home – the region’s indigenous populations strongly resisted the priests’ attempts to convert them to Christianity. As conflict brewed, the Jesuits took steps to ensure their safety.

It was meant to be a secret

According to Schávelzon’s research, the tunnels beneath the Manzana de las Luces were likely one part of a much larger (and unfinished) plan to connect the city’s churches to allow priests and their congregations to escape in the event of an attack. “It was a defensive project,” Schávelzon explained, “similar to what we’ve seen in Lima [Peru] and in other cities in which there’s no fort, no walls or cliffs. In case of an attack, the only way out is an underground escape.”

Even the experts don’t know the extent of the Jesuits’ network. In 1767, after failing to convert the indigenous population, the Jesuits abandoned their mission in Buenos Aires, heading inland to establish other missions near the border of Paraguay. The Spanish colonists who remained repurposed the mission buildings for their own use, establishing the Royal College of San Carlos and Argentina’s first national library in their place (both establishments are no longer here). And the Jesuits didn’t leave behind blueprints. “There is very little written documentation,” Schávelzon told me. “It was meant to be a secret.”

The Jesuit tunnels remained hidden for nearly 150 years, until 1912, when, amid renovations for an architectural school that was operating inside the Manzana de las Luces complex, the floor started collapsing beneath workers’ feet.

A small section of the tunnel is accessible to the public on a guided tour. In comparison to the spacious tunnels beneath El Zanjón de Granados, the narrow, stone Jesuit tunnels feel rudimentary. Visitors walk single file through the dimly lit passageway, stooping to avoid bumping their heads on the low-arching ceilings.

The losses we’ve suffered are irreversible

While some experts believe the passageways beneath El Zanjón de Granados and Manzana de las Luces were once a part of a more extensive tunnel system, the theory is hard to prove. If a larger network existed, much of it has been lost to time. In recent decades, construction crews working on unrelated projects, like the expansion of the subway, have uncovered, and bulldozed through, subterranean structures that could have been part of that larger network.

“Unfortunately,” Orsini said, “archaeology did not always arrive in time to study all these architectural structures built underground. This is a metropolis in permanent development, and for a long time we lacked a legal framework to protect and preserve our archaeological heritage.” A remedial law passed in 2003 helped, “but the losses we’ve suffered are irreversible,” he said.

The mysteries surrounding the tunnels continue to fascinate the public, and stories of undiscovered tunnels still pop up in the news from time to time: in 2000, long-time professors at Fernando Fader Technical School, located in the Flores neighbourhood 9km west of the Manzana de las Luces, recalled an old tunnel that once connected the building’s basement to the nearby Flores train station. An archaeological team found an underground chamber, but no tunnel. Yet to this day, the professors insist that it existed.

Archaeology is the study of human history. But human recollection is part of the record, too. When the tunnels beneath El Zanjón de Granados were discovered, an elderly neighbour named Anastasio expressed delight, but not surprise. He said he always knew about the tunnels: he used to play in them as a child.

“Por fin los encontraron!” (“They finally found them!”) he exclaimed.

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"BBC's Travel Show brings you the latest insider travel news, a wealth of destinations, amazing experiences and features and practical hints, tips and advice for your holidays.

If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called ""If You Only Read 6 Things This Week"". A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.",en
"Madfouna – a stuffed flatbread prepared using a handful of staple ingredients – is traditionally baked in a fire pit in the sand or a mud oven, and has long served as a wholesome meal for many nomadic families who live on the fringes of the Erg Chebbi dunes near the Algerian border. Once baked, the bread so closely resembles a pizza that it is locally nicknamed ‘the Berber pizza’.",en
"The sun was beginning its evening dip as I set off into the Harenna Forest. Strange tubular shapes glowed in the treetops, catching the pale golden light.

Wedged between branches, they looked like elongated wine barrels or giant cocoons.

I was en route to witness a unique honey harvest in the forest. Here, on the southern slopes of Bale Mountains National Park in south-east Ethiopia, hand-carved beehives are placed high in the tree canopies. Reaching them to retrieve the sweet, sticky nectar is arduous – and often dangerous.

Local guide Ziyad and I followed beekeeper Said over a flower-strewn meadow before being swallowed into a tangle of trees.

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The Harenna Forest is straight out of a children’s storybook. Giant heather and fig trees, elegantly clothed in emerald moss, stretch out their branches as though frozen mid-dance. Black-maned lions roam the area, which is also home to olive baboons, warthogs and endangered Bale monkeys. On our walk, a white-cheeked turaco fixed us with its orange-rimmed eye, striking against pickle-green plumage.

Said began preparations, gathering handfuls of moss and lichen, wrapping the bundle with twine and lighting it to create a glowing bouquet for smoking out the bees.

A curious colobus monkey watched nearby as Said scaled the Hagenia abyssinica, a native tree whose sturdy branches and vast, umbrella-shaped crown provides a secure, sheltered home for the hives. He was barefoot and equipped with a single rope – a luxury not all local beekeepers can afford.

He shimmied up a few metres at a time, pausing every few minutes to loop the rope higher up the broad trunk. The hive was around 20m above the ground. Finally, straddling a branch, he inched towards it and blew smoke from his mossy torch into a tiny hole in the hive, releasing a flurry of glowing embers into the air.

Said is one of a handful of beekeepers to still use this ancient method of beekeeping. While other parts of Ethiopia are moving to more modern production, the 600 families of the Harenna Forest are reluctant to abandon techniques honed over generations.

Their hives are made from the hollowed-out trunks of dead trees, carved in two canoe shapes and woven together with strips of bamboo. Before being suspended in the treetops, they are smoked over a fire stoked with beeswax and moss, infusing them with an aroma that attracts the queen.

Timing is everything

It takes three days to make a hive, and two people to winch it high in the trees. Once there, each can last up to eight years, yielding around 5kg of honey each biannual harvest, usually June and December.

After smoking out the swarm, beekeepers reach inside to retrieve the combs, squeezing the golden liquid into toughened leather pouches.

Timing is everything.

Minutes after reaching the hive, Said released a sharp yelp. Within seconds, he’d slithered down the trunk and was back on the ground. It was too early. A relatively cool summer had delayed hatching, and baby bees – or ichs – were still curled in the honeycombs. The nibi, or adult bees, were angry. They continued attacking as Said stumbled away from the tree, shielding his face with a gossamer-thin scarf.

“Beekeepers often can’t collect [the honey], and then they have to wait for the right moment to go back up,” Ziyad explained patiently, painstakingly plucking bees from Said’s hair and clothes.

Stings might be common, Said added, but this time he’d been assailed by “more than 100 bees”. This had happened just twice in his 10 years as a beekeeper.

With 70 hives clustered in this spot of the forest, Said comes from a line of beekeepers stretching back more than a century. Honey is the second biggest source of income after coffee, which grows wild here. They sell tubs of honey at local markets, keeping some for tej, a mead brewed with freshly harvested honey, water and gesho, a native species of buckthorn used to balance the sweetness with subtle, earthy spices. Every family has its own recipe, bringing out gourds of the wine on special occasions. No celebration is complete without tej.

Leaving a forlorn Said by his hut, we trekked back to Bale Mountain Lodge, whose thatched chalets are dotted about the Katcha clearing, overlooked by Mount Gujuralli.

“Generations have been making honey like that,” Guy Levene, who co-owns the lodge with wife Yvonne, told me. The lodge organises tours to see the honey harvest and is keen to help the Harenna beekeepers earn more money from their craft.

Levene has even been looking into ways to sell the delicately flavoured syrup abroad, while Slow Food Foundation – an offshoot of Italy’s Slow Food Movement – works with beekeepers in pockets of Ethiopia to help increase production, providing bigger, grounded hives and modern machinery to extract honey from the comb.

Here in Harenna, however, beekeepers are reluctant to abandon generations of tradition, no matter how labour intensive, and hazardous, it might be.

There is method in the madness. Placing the intricate hives high atop trees increases the bees’ chances of finding them as they zigzag through the forest. The height also creates distance from creatures that might disturb the hives and snaffle the contents, such as snuffling honey badgers. A few trees wear scraps of metal, like armour, for extra protection from tree-climbing bandits.

Honey trickles through centuries of culture and religion

But it’s not just about practicality, or even profit. In Ethiopia, honey trickles through centuries of culture and religion. It features in 4th-Century Christian frescoes and tapestries, where saints are seen clutching bereles, the traditional fat-bottomed flasks used for serving tej. Lalibela, the town 1,100km north of the Bale Mountains that’s famous for its 13th-Century monolithic churches, even translates as ‘honey eater’. It’s named after King Lalibela who, according to legend, was swarmed by bees as a newborn, miraculously emerging unscathed. His mother named him Lalibela, declaring the bees had recognised him as a ruler.

Honey here is healing, even spiritual. Folklore says that bees constructed hives – chewing wax until soft, then bonding it to create honeycomb cells – in the windows of Lalibela’s earliest churches before the first congregation in 488AD. They still produce ‘holy honey’ or mar, reserved only for healing – applied topically to treat skin diseases or, for internal illnesses, eaten by the spoonful or imbibed with holy water.

In the Bale Mountains, honey is both part of everyday life and a symbol of social status. Families with larger numbers of beehives and a higher yield of honey are held in high regard. Ownership is sacred, and theft of other beekeepers’ honey or hives is rare: if caught, the culprit is shunned by his neighbours.

Spoonfuls are taken in the morning, the antibiotic properties believed to ward off illness and soothe the soul. Bees pollinate up to 20 different plants, resulting in a complex, perfumed honey. Nectar gathered from Hagenia trees, whose dusky pink blooms are brewed into a tea to treat tapeworm, adds medicinal value.

The day after the harvest, guide Ziyad took me to his village, Rira, a brief but bumpy drive along pot-holed paths.

Slow Food Foundation formed a beekeepers’ cooperative here in 2014, aiming to refine the honey collection and packaging process so a more sophisticated product can be brought to market. It’s a slow process. As in the Harenna Forest, Rira’s beekeepers are attached to traditional methods. Many families have hung their hives in the same trees for several generations. For now, the priority is providing and encouraging the use of protective clothing and equipment, to at least minimise the risk of injury.

In the tiny village, we sat on plastic chairs surrounded by teardrop-shaped huts cladded with mud and woven with straw, as plates appeared from a tiny kitchen.

Finally, I got to taste the dark amber honey – creamy, fruity and floral, with a whisper of smoke – mopped up with ambasha flatbread. Groups of children sat nearby, devouring the same.

Honey and bread is a regular after-school snack, Ziyad explained. Leftover bread is chopped up and mixed with more honey, then eaten in bowlfuls for breakfast.

“It’s always been that way,” he said. “Honey with everything.”

Join more than three million BBC Travel fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called ""If You Only Read 6 Things This Week"". A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.",en
"Part Texas. Part Brooklyn. Part Mars.

Fifty miles from the Mexican border and 200 miles from the nearest major airport, Marfa is a dusty dot of a town with one traffic light and fewer than 2,000 people in the remote reaches of far West Texas known as ‘El Despoblado’ (the uninhabited). Beyond the town’s steel water tower, the Chihuahuan Desert unfurls towards the horizon in an endless expanse of cactus scrubs, scorched prairie and tangled tumbleweeds amid one of the US’ last frontiers.

Since the 1970s, a wave of hipsters, artists and urban transplants have blown in with the winds and turned this unassuming ranching town into an unlikely avant-garde mecca. Today, Marfa is a quirky collision of saloons and espresso bars, 10-gallon hats and berets and feed stores and vegan restaurants.

But long before Marfa began attracting the unconventional, people were coming to witness the inexplicable. For more than 135 years, mysterious glowing orbs have appeared here in the night sky. Known as the Marfa Lights, these otherworldly wonders remain one of the most unexplained mysteries in the United States.",en
"- 25 -

Because in one of the world’s most notorious and hopeless places, there are people who won’t give up or give in. [This woman in Jericho] works every day for almost no money in a couscous co-operative run by women, for women. Without her job, she told me, she wouldn’t have been able to feed her three kids and put them through school.

– Andrew Zimmern, TV host and chef, t: @AndrewZimmern",en
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Ugandense Criscent Bwambale foi uma das 18 milhões de pessoas de países em desenvolvimento que vivem com cegueira curável; excluído de ter uma vida normal, não podia ir à escola ou brincar com outros meninos de sua idade. Mas uma cirurgia mudou a sua vida.",pt
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"Audio

Israel berselisih pendapat dengan Uni Eropa soal Yerusalem

PM Israel Benjamin Netanyahu berkata Uni Eropa juga akan memindahkan kedubes mereka ke Yerusalem, yang langsung dibantah seorang komisioner tinggi Uni Eropa.",id
"Galeri Foto

Bulan super terlihat jelas di beberapa pelosok dunia

Fenomena bulan super, ketika bulan purnama dalam lintasan yang terdekat dengan Bumi sehingga terlihat lebih besar dari yang biasanya, kembali dinikmati warga di berbagai pelosok dunia.",id
"BBC World Service tersedia melalui berbagai outlet radio, TV dan online.

Kerjasama ini memungkinkan BBC untuk dapat menawarkan pilihan konten bagi khalayak yang lebih luas. BBC Indonesia saat ini dapat diakses melalui media online yang tercantum di bawah ini:

Online

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detik.com : Media online terbesar di Indonesia yang menghadirkan informasi terkini, bisnis, olahraga, hiburan dan gaya hidup

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tribunnews.com:Dikelola PT Indopersda Primamedia, Divisi Koran Daerah Kompas Gramedia (Group of Regional Newspaper).

Berkantor pusat di Jakarta, situs berita ini menyajikan berita-berita nasional, regional, internasional, olahraga, ekonomi dan bisnis, serta seleb dan lifestyle.

TRIBUNnews.com didukung lebih 500 reporter dan lebih 50 fotografer Tribun Network di 19 kota penting di Indonesia, termasuk Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Jogja, dan Semarang.

Hak atas foto BBC World Service

okezone.com: Merupakan PORTAL BERITA DAN HIBURAN yang berfokus pada pembaca Indonesia baik yang berada di tanah air maupun yang tinggal di luar negeri. Berita Okezone.com diupdate selama 24 jam dan mendapatkan kunjungan lebih dari 100 juta pageviews setiap bulannya (Sumber: Google Analytics).

Okezone.com memiliki beragam konten dari berita umum, politik, peristiwa, internasional, ekonomi, lifestyle, selebriti, sports, bola, auto, teknologi, dan lainya. Okezone juga merupakan salah satu portal pertama yang memberikan inovasi konten video dan mobile (handphone). Para pembaca kami adalah profesional, karyawan kantor, pengusaha, politisi, pelajar, dan ibu rumah tangga.

Hak atas foto BBC World Service

Hak atas foto BBC World Service

Mobile

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Indosat: Operator GSM pertama di Indonesia merupakan sebuah perusahaan penyedia layanan telekomunikasi yang lengkap dan terbesar kedua di Indonesia untuk jasa seluler

Radio

AdyemajaFM – Lhokseumawe Aceh

Amanda Rassisonia AM – Takengon Aceh

Antero FM – Banda Aceh

Arauna – Manokwari

AR FM – Cimahi

Art FM – Papua

Artha FM – Bengkulu

B-One FM – Bengkulu

Bharabas FM – Pekanbaru

Bhasa FM – Situbondo

Bomantara FM – Singkawang

Cek FM – Pematang Siantar

Classy FM –Padang

Dalka FM – Meulaboh Aceh

Dian Irama FM – Jambi

DMWS FM– Kupang

Duta FM – Ambon

Elshinta FM –Jakarta

Evella – Palangkaraya

Fajar FM – Banyuwangi

Gipsi FM – Langsa Aceh

Global FM –Bali

Global FM –Yogyakarta

Global FM –Lombok

Hikmah FM – Ternate Maluku Utara

Karavan FM – Solo

Karysma FM – Boyolali

KC 10 FM– Indramayu

M9 – Cepu

Mas FM – Kebumen

Mas FM – Malang

Megaphone FM – Sigli Aceh

Mercury FM –Surabaya

NBI FM – Bontang Kaltim

Nugraha Top FM – Palu

Papeja FM – Lubuk Linggau

Pas FM – Tarakan

Pas FM – Pati Jawa Tengah

Perkasa FM – Tulung Agung

Prima FM – Pangkal Pinang

Selebes FM – Gorontalo

Singaraja FM – Singaraja

Smart FM –Balikpapan

Smart FM –Makassar

Smart FM –Banjarmasin

Smart FM –Manado

Smart FM – Palembang

Smart FM – Pekanbaru

Smart FM –Semarang

Smart FM –Surabaya

Smart FM –Medan

Smart FM –Jakarta

Soka FM – Jember

Sonia FM – Maumere

Suara Alam FM – Kendari

Suara Wajar FM – Lampung

Swara Barabai FM – Barabai Kalsel

Swara Negara FM – Jembrana Bali

Swara Perkasa FM – Sintang Kalbar

SWIB FM–Bali

Thomson FM – Blora

UTARI FM– Cilacap

Volare FM –Pontianak

BBC World Service berusaha untuk bekerja sama dengan penyedia konten yang terpercaya dan yang berkualitas tinggi di seluruh dunia.

Untuk informasi lebih lanjut jika anda ingin gabung sebagai afiliasi BBC Indonesia silahkan hubungi Elina Kristini 021 3983 1635/36 atau email elina.kristini@bbc.co.uk.",id
"Link-link BBCIndonesia.com mencakup ke dalam BBC maupun ke luar (non-BBC). Kami memilih link yang secara editorial relevan dengan materi dari situs bersangkutan dan layak untuk pengguna.

Link pihak luar dipilih dan dikaji saat Halaman Utama diterbitkan. Bagaimanapun BBC tidak bertanggungjawab atas materi situs pihak luar. Hal itu didasarkan pada:

- BBC tidak memproduksi maupun memperbaharuinya.

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Beberapa link pihak luar mungkin menawarkan layanan komersial, termasuk belanja lewat internet.

Masuknya link pihak luar ke dalam halaman BBC tidak bisa ditafsirkan sebagai pengesahan atas situs situs atau pemilik situs (maupun produk/layanannya).

Informasi lebih lengkap (dalam Bahasa Inggris):

<span ><span > http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/links/",id
"Alan Edwards talks to Glen Matlock about the Sex Pistols reunion

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/240x135/p05wghq8.jpg

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/240x135/p05wghq8.jpg

2018-01-29T14:29:08.000Z

""It was supposed to be edge of the seat stuff but, in reality, it was end of the pier"". Alan Edwards talks to Glen Matlock about the Sex Pistols Reunion.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/audiovideo/popular/p05wfrj3",en
"With a little help from his listeners, Michael celebrates some of the finest songwriters ever to have put pen to paper. Listen to the work of his inductees with a new one added every week - Radio 2, Sundays at 11:00.",en
The US rapper wears a jumper with the logo of one of Shetland's largest wool business on the front.,en
"Image copyright VALERIANO DI DOMENICO/AFP/Getty Images Image caption Yodelling is enjoying renewed popularity in Switzerland

Yodellers in Switzerland have something to sing about after a university revealed it will offer degrees in the alpine art-form.

The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Luasa) will run a three-year bachelor's degree and a two-year master's.

The courses will begin in the 2018-19 academic year.

Yodelling is a form of singing which involves wobbling the voice up and down in a rapid change of pitch.

It was traditionally used by Swiss herdsmen to communicate in the mountains, but later adopted by musicians for its entertainment potential.

Luasa is the first university in Switzerland to unveil a yodelling degree.

The course will be led by Nadja Räss, a prize-winning Swiss yodeller with her own academy in Zurich.

Michael Kaufmann, who heads the university's music department, said he was thrilled by the development.

""We have long dreamed of offering yodelling at the university and with Nadja Räss we got the number one. It is an absolute stroke of luck for us,"" the Swiss paper St Galler Tagblatt quoted him as saying.

As well as the time-honoured vocal techniques, trainees will study musical theory, history and a business module.

Applications will open on 28 February and three or four students are expected to be chosen.

Yodelling is enjoying something of a resurgence in Switzerland, even featuring on successful chart albums last year. In 2014, the Swiss government said it would apply to get Unesco World Heritage status for the singing style.

Though the heritage list was originally limited to buildings and sites of natural beauty, it has now been extended to include ""intangible heritage"".

The traditions already protected include Spanish flamenco dancing, Indonesian batik fabric-making, and more obscure entries such as a Mongolian camel coaxing ritual.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Stereotypes got on stage with Bruno Mars at the Grammys

The day after the Grammy Awards, Jonathan Yip can't believe it's true.

The songwriter has won two trophies as part of the team behind Bruno Mars' massive album 24K Magic.

He says he knew Bruno would be a success from the moment they met ten years ago.

""He's always had the 'it factor'"", Jonathan, whose four-piece team The Stereotypes joined Bruno on stage to accept the awards, tells Newsbeat. ""He just knows how to write a great song.""

""Honestly, we are still wondering if this is a dream. We are definitely on cloud nine,"" he adds.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Stereotypes (l-r): Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves and Ray Charles McCullough II

The Stereotypes were behind the Bruno Mars hit That's What I Like, which won Song of the Year, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Performance at the ceremony.

It helped Bruno towards six wins on Sunday night.

""Melody is king and he knows the right ones that will stick,"" Jonathan says.

Bruno said of the writers: ""I've known these guys for over a decade.

""All the music, the music business horror stories you see in the movies, we've been through all of it. These are my brothers.""

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Cardi B and Bruno Mars performed together at the award ceremony

The Stereotypes have worked with stars including Justin Bieber, Ne-Yo, and Fifth Harmony, but Bruno has been their longest-standing collaborator.

Returning to the studio in 2015, they helped him craft the nostalgia-tinged funk sound of 24K Magic, which has gone platinum in countries worldwide.

""Bruno had a clear vision on where he wanted to go with this album and song. He wanted to bring it back to the days where songs made you feel good and want to dance,"" explains Jonathan.

""We basically followed his lead. He said 'we need to make this bounce,' so together we all kept trying different things until we had it.""

Image copyright Mike Selsky Image caption They won two Grammys for their work with Bruno Mars

Critics have noted the album's 1980s and 1990s influences, but Jonathan insists it's much more than a tribute act.

""I think all music is an ode to something from the past,"" he says.

""In this day and age it is almost impossible to create something that doesn't grab influence from the past. Bruno pays homage to the greats and does it in the best and classiest way.""

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Stereotypes also wrote Usher and Justin Bieber's Somebody to Love

Jonathan says the Los Angeles quartet are still celebrating one of the ""best nights of our lives"" at the Grammys.

""We have all been screwed over by people in this business at some point.

""We have all had people tell us 'no' more times than we can count, and it feels great that we were able to get together [...] and enjoy success.""

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here",en
"Video

Buskers in Monmouthshire may soon have to adhere to a code of conduct.

The council is considering introducing guidance after complaints were received about musicians in Abergavenny being rude and performing ""poor quality"", loud and ""repetitive"" music.

Singer-songwriter Frankie Wesson said the code was as unnecessary as most use ""common sense"".",en
"Image copyright Getty Images

Pink has hit back at Grammys boss Neil Portnow after he said women need to ""step up"" in the music industry.

The Recording Academy president was asked by Variety magazine about criticism that men ruled the awards.

Only one female received a award during the televised ceremony - Alessia Cara for best new artist.

In an open letter, Pink said: ""Women in music don't need to 'step up' - women have been stepping since the beginning of time.""

It goes on: ""Stepping up, and also stepping a side. Women owned music this year, they've been killing it and every year before this.""

Out of the 86 Grammy Awards handed out on Sunday, 17 of them went to women or female-fronted bands.

Lorde was the only female nominated artist for best album, and was also the only act in the category not to be asked to perform solo on the night.

Halsey has also been heavily critical of Mr Portnow.

She wrote: ""I strongly back the disagreement with the way that the Academy approaches things but please remember the Grammys are voted by a 'jury of peers' which means other artists and producers and writers select the nominees.""

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here",en
"Russia's leader says the new sanctions-based list is ""unfriendly"" but he does not want to retaliate.



From the section Europe",en
"The Travel Show

Bringing you the biggest stories and most exciting destinations from around the world",en
"Is anything left of this city?

The devastation caused by the battle to rid the Iraqi city of so-called Islamic State.",en
"Revenge porn: What to do if you're a victim

More cases of revenge porn are reported in the UK every year but what can be done if it happens to you?",en
"Laura Kuenssberg: Foreign adventures cannot obscure May's Brexit backdrop

Over the next few days in China, Theresa May will have put physical distance between herself and her woes, but she can't hide from her party's problems.",en
"Have you got a good story? BBC News would like to hear from you. Email us haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk Get in touch via SMS 00 44 7624 800 100 Or contact us via WhatsApp.



From the section Have Your Say",en
"The preacher was stopped from boarding a flight after a petition against his visit was successful.



From the section Latin America & Caribbean",en
"Cocaine 'worth £50m' found on private jet

Five men are arrested as half a ton of the drug is found in suitcases on a flight from Colombia.",en
"Jacob Stockdale is anxiously waiting to see whether he is going to be handed a Six Nations debut for Ireland against France.



From the section Rugby Union",en
"Terminological inexactitude

Holyrood, of course, has standing orders. But it has always seemed to me that it lacked clear, precise and precedented rules on what might and, more importantly, should not be said.",en
"Wing Josh Adams makes his Wales debut and Rhys Patchell is at fly-half against Scotland as the 2018 Six Nations starts in Cardiff on Saturday.



From the section Rugby Union

Rugby Union comments",en
"Carillion: Watershed moment for privatisation debate?

A couple of years ago, the case for significant private sector involvement in public services seemed to go virtually unchallenged. Now the settled political consensus has been opened to question again.",en
Click here for terms and conditions All market data carried by BBC News is provided by DigitalLook.com. The data is for your general information and enjoys indicative status only. Neither the BBC nor Digital Look accept any responsibility for its accuracy or for any use to which it may be put. All share prices and market indexes delayed at least 15 minutes. 52 week high and low values are calculated from close price data.,en
"index value 7587.98

index change: -83.55

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"Video

Is trade always good for the economy?",en
"Chinese flights scrapped in Taiwan row

Passengers are likely to be stranded after the cancellation of 176 planned extra Lunar New Year flights.",en
"Video 4:26

The importance of change in business",en
"Match of the Day will show Premier League highlights until at least the 2021-22 season after renewing its contract for a further three years.



From the section Football",en
England and US will not take Pisa tests in tolerance,en
"Can Trump claim credit for bonus rush?

It is bonus season in America - and this year, more workers than usual have been getting checks.",en
"Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption CIA director on Russia, North Korea and Trump

The director of the CIA expects that Russia will target the US mid-term elections later this year.

Mike Pompeo told the BBC there had been no significant diminishing of Russian attempts at subversion in Europe and the US.

He also said North Korea may have the ability to strike the US with nuclear missiles ""in a handful of months"".

The US intelligence community has said that it believes Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

Mr Pompeo, who briefs the president most mornings, dismissed as ""drivel"" recent claims that US President Donald Trump was not up to the job.

The director's conference room on the seventh floor of the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, is lined with pictures of former directors and the presidents they served.

And Mr Pompeo is clear about his vision for the CIA under President Trump.

""We are the world's finest espionage service,"" he told the BBC.

""We are going to go out there and do our damnedest to steal secrets on behalf of the American people. And I wanted to get back on our front foot.""

Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Donald Trump has been dogged by suspicion over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin

A year into the job, Mr Pompeo says his mission has been to unleash and unburden the CIA.

It is an agency operating in an unpredictable world - one in which intelligence assessments can be the basis not just for military action, but also political controversy.

Even though there has been co-operation in counter-terrorism (the CIA helped stop a plot in St Petersburg last year), Mr Pompeo says he still sees Russia primarily as an adversary, sharing the concerns in many European countries about its subversion. ""I haven't seen a significant decrease in their activity,"" he said.

Asked if his concerns extended to the upcoming US mid-term elections in November, he replied: ""Of course. I have every expectation that they will continue to try and do that, but I'm confident that America will be able to have a free and fair election [and] that we will push back in a way that is sufficiently robust that the impact they have on our election won't be great.""

Image caption Mr Pompeo says his mission has been to unleash and unburden the CIA

Mr Pompeo says the US is engaged in trying to counter Russian subversion. Some of this work was not the mission of the CIA such as helping people validate sources of information.

But the intelligence community was involved in identifying who was behind subversive activity, using technical means to suppress it and trying to deter Russia.

Mr Trump has been dismissive of claims of Russian interference in sharp contrast to the conclusions of the US intelligence community. So does the CIA director have to walk a fine line?

""I don't do fine lines. I do the truth,"" he responds. ""We deliver nearly every day personally to the president the most exquisite truth that we know from the CIA.""

Mr Pompeo briefs Mr Trump most days when they are both in Washington DC. The briefing covers current events and strategic issues.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Claims about Trump 'dangerous and false', says CIA director

Ahead of visits abroad or meetings with foreign leaders, the briefings aim to provide the president with what is described as ""informational advantage"".

""He is very focused in the sense that he is curious about the facts that we present. He is curious in the sense he wants to understand why we believe them.""

Fire and Fury 'drivel'

Mr Pompeo is dismissive of the portrait painted in the recent book Fire and Fury which raised questions about Mr Trump's faculties.

""It's absurd. I haven't read the book. I don't intend to,"" he says.

""The claim that the president isn't engaged and doesn't have a grasp on these important issues is dangerous and false, and it saddens me that someone would have taken the time to write such drivel.""

Mr Trump's use of Twitter and frank language about foreign policy has been unprecedented, including calling Kim Jong-un ""rocket man"" and boasting about the relative size of his nuclear button.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The risk posed by N Korea is uppermost in Pompeo's mind

But Mr Pompeo argues such public pronouncements have helped impress upon both the North Korean leader and leaders of other countries the risks of the current situation.

""When you see this language that the president chooses to use, there are many audiences for it and... I assure you Kim Jong-un understands the message that America is serious.""

Mr Pompeo said China was moving on the North Korea issue, as witnessed by recent votes at the UN, but there was still more they could do.

North Korea's nuclear programme is high on the agenda. ""We talk about him having the ability to deliver nuclear weapons to the United States in a matter of a handful of months,"" Mr Pompeo says.

""Our task is to have provided the intelligence to the president of the United States that will deliver to him a set of options that continue to take down that risk by non-diplomatic means.""

The president and senior officials were ""mindful"" of the fact that all-out conflict could lead to massive destruction and loss of life, Mr Pompeo said.

When asked if it might be possible to remove Kim Jong-un or prevent him from being able to launch nuclear missiles, he replied: ""Many things are possible"" - but did not elaborate further on what that might mean.",en
"Image copyright EPA Image caption Vladimir Putin seems certain to win in March after an opposition leader was barred from standing

An expected US report that could sanction Kremlin-linked oligarchs is an attempt to influence Russia's March presidential election, Moscow has said.

The US treasury report is expected to detail the closeness of senior Russian political figures and oligarchs to President Vladimir Putin, who is standing for re-election.

US officials accuse Russia of meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections.

Kremlin representatives have repeatedly denied the allegations.

Mr Putin's spokesman said the forthcoming report would be analysed.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption All you need to know about the Trump-Russia investigation

Last year, US President Donald Trump enacted new sanctions on Russia but he accused Congress of overreaching itself and preventing him from easing penalties on Russia in the future.

The US president has repeatedly rejected any allegations that his campaign staff colluded with Russia to help him defeat Hillary Clinton at the November 2016 presidential election.

The allegations voiced by the US intelligence community are currently being investigated by Congress and a special investigator.

So what did Mr Putin's spokesman say?

Dmitry Peskov said the US report was a ""direct and obvious attempt to influence the elections"" on 18 March.

However, he added that he was sure the list would not affect the vote.

The Kremlin has pledged to help limit further damage to Russian oligarchs and businesses that could be on the list.

Last year, President Putin reportedly met top businessmen behind closed doors to discuss the issue.

Last week, the boss of Russia's VTB bank, Andrei Kostin, told the Financial Times that if the US slapped more economic sanctions against Russia it would be ""a declaration of war"".

Mr Putin is seen as the clear favourite to win the March elections.

His main opposition rival, Alexei Navalny, has been barred from standing in the race. He was briefly detained during a protest rally on Sunday.

What do we know about the US report?

The US treasury department has to finalise the document on Monday, after which it is expected to hand the report over to Congress.

It is not known whether the names of those on the list will be publicly revealed or kept secret or indeed how many people and entities are on the list.

Being on the list does not automatically trigger sanctions but such penalties could be activated any time later by the US.

What about previous anti-Russian sanctions?

The US first imposed penalties in response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula in March 2014 after an unrecognised referendum on self-determination.

Together with the EU, the US later extended sanctions over Russia's role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

Russia denies sending troops and arming separatist rebels but says Russian volunteers have been helping the rebels.

Last week, the US treasury imposed additional sanctions against 21 individuals and 19 individuals in connection with the Ukrainian crisis.

The US and Russia have also been at loggerheads on other major crises, including Syria, Iran and North Korea.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images

It's the story that has dominated Donald Trump's presidency, but it's complicated.

In summary

US intelligence agencies believe Russia tried to sway the election in favour of Mr Trump and a special counsel is looking into whether anyone from his campaign colluded in the effort.

Any evidence?

Senior members of Mr Trump's team met Russian officials. Several of these meetings were not initially disclosed.

What meetings?

Ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn lied to the FBI about meeting the Russian ambassador to the US before Mr Trump took office. Mr Flynn has entered a plea deal, prompting speculation that he has incriminating evidence.

The president's son, Donald Jr, met a Russian lawyer during the campaign who had ""dirt"" on Hillary Clinton, and adviser George Papadopoulos has admitted lying to the FBI about meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia.

Who else is involved?

The president's son-in-law Jared Kushner is also under scrutiny, and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been charged by investigators with money laundering, unrelated to the election.

And the president?

Since he fired the man leading one of the investigations, ex-FBI Director James Comey, there are questions whether the president has obstructed justice. Legal experts differ on this.

Want to know more?",en
"'We'll do our damnedest to steal secrets'

America's top spy Mike Pompeo on the threats the US faces now - and how the CIA will fight back.",en
"Image copyright EPA Image caption The separatists had given the prime minister until Sunday to resign

Southern Yemeni separatists have surrounded the presidential palace in the city of Aden following clashes with previously allied government forces.

Prime Minister Ahmed bin Daghar and members of his cabinet were believed to be holed up inside the compound.

The separatists - who had been backing the government in its war against the rebel Houthi movement - have also seized the city's military bases.

The Red Cross says the fighting has left 38 people dead since Sunday.

Yemen's internationally-recognised government relocated to Aden in 2015, when President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and his cabinet were forced to flee the capital, Sanaa, by the Houthis.

A Houthi assault on the city that year prompted a Saudi-led multinational coalition to launch a military campaign to defeat the rebels. Since then, more than 9,245 people have been killed and 3 million displaced, according to the UN.

Why are the separatists and government fighting?

Supporters of both sides have fought alongside each other over the past three years but it has always seemed an uneasy alliance.

Before the conflict, separatist sentiment had been running high in the south, which was an independent state before unification with the North in 1990.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Yemen's internationally-recognised government has been based in Aden since 2015

Although the separatists were suspicious of Mr Hadi - who is a southerner but supports continued unity with the north - they joined forces to prevent the Houthis capturing Aden and drive them out of most of the south. However, tensions between the two sides remained.

The situation was made more complex by divisions within the Saudi-led coalition. Saudi Arabia backs Mr Hadi, who is based in Riyadh, while the United Arab Emirates - a key partner in the coalition - is closely aligned with the separatists.

How did the clashes in Aden start?

They erupted on Sunday after the expiry of a deadline set by the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) for a cabinet reshuffle, including the removal of Mr Bin Daghar.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Separatist fighters were patrolling the streets of central Aden on Tuesday

The council accused the government of ""rampant corruption"" resulting in a ""deteriorating economic, security and social situation never before witnessed in the history of the south"".

The fighting, which has involved tanks and heavy artillery, began in the eastern Khor Maksar district, where the airport located. It quickly spread to the southern Crater district, near presidential palace, and the hills overlooking the sea port.

As the separatists took control of official facilities and military bases, the prime minister denounced what he called a ""coup"". President Hadi, who is based in Riyadh, ordered his forces to secure Aden.

But by Tuesday morning, the separatists were said to have seized the last stronghold of the Presidential Guards force in the northern Dar Saad district and reached the presidential palace, where Mr Bin Daghar is based.

Security sources told the Associated Press that Saudi guards had stopped the separatists from entering the palace, and that the prime minister and several ministers were preparing to flee the city imminently for Riyadh. However, a government source told Reuters that Mr Bin Daghar had no intention of leaving.

What's being done to end the fighting?

The Saudi-led coalition urged both sides to cease hostilities on Tuesday. ""The coalition will take all the measures it deems necessary to restore stability and security in Aden,"" a statement said.

The US, which is supporting the coalition's campaign against the Houthis, expressed concern and called ""for dialogue among all parties in Aden to reach a political solution"".

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Diphtheria is returning to Yemen as a result of the country's civil war

""The Yemeni people are already facing a dire humanitarian crisis. Additional divisions and violence within Yemen will only increase their suffering,"" it added.

The UN's interim humanitarian co-ordinator in Yemen, Stephen Anderson, said the violence was having a negative impact on its operations across the south of the country.

""Humanitarian movements within the city have been suspended and aid workers remain in lockdown in their residences, unable to continue critical life-saving activities,"" he warned.",en
"Image copyright CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images Image caption Thousands of people were sterilised in Japan without their consent because they were deemed mentally or physically deficient

A Japanese woman who was forcibly sterilised in the 1970s at the age of 15 is suing the government in the first case of its kind.

The unnamed woman is one of 25,000 people who underwent the procedure under a now-defunct eugenics law.

The victims were sterilised because they were found to be mentally ill or have conditions such as leprosy.

About 16,500 of them were allegedly operated on without consent. Some were as young as nine at the time.

The woman, who is now in her 60s, took legal action after learning she had been sterilised in 1972 after a diagnosis of ""hereditary feeble-mindedness"".

She had developed mental problems after having surgery for a cleft palate as a baby, Japanese media report.

Due to side-effects from the sterilisation, she later had to have her ovaries removed.

The woman is said to be seeking 11m yen ($101,000; £71,000) in damages, citing the violation of her human rights.

""We've had agonising days... we stood up to make this society brighter,"" her sister told a press conference.

Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato has refused to comment on the case, saying he does not know the details.

An official from the health ministry told AFP news agency that the government would meet individually with victims of forced sterilisation who needed support, but ""has no plans to offer blanket measures"" to all of them.

The eugenics law under which the operations happened was in place from 1948 to 1996.

The governments of Germany and Sweden, which had similar eugenics policies, have apologised to victims and paid compensation.",en
"Image copyright AFP Image caption Jonathann Daval addressed crowds who attended a march for his murdered wife in November

The husband of a jogger found dead in eastern France has admitted killing her ""by mistake"", his lawyers say.

The partially burnt body of Alexia Daval, 29, was discovered in woodland near the town of Gray last October.

Her husband Jonathann Daval, a 34-year-old IT worker, had been detained by police on Monday.

He had denied being involved in her death. But on Tuesday his lawyers said he had confessed to police and said he had not meant to kill her.

""He said it was an accident and he is sorry"" for what happened, lawyers Ornella Spatafora and Randall Schwerdorffer told AFP news agency.

Investigators had earlier said they thought Mrs Daval's death may have been the result of a ""marital argument gone wrong"".

The couple, who were having difficulties conceiving a child, were ""experiencing strong tensions"", sources had told French media.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Daval's lawyer has told the press that he was not involved in the murder of his wife

What happened to Alexia Daval?

Mrs Daval, a 29-year-old banker, went out for a morning run on 28 October, according to her husband. He said that after not hearing from her for several hours he had alerted police.

Her body was found two days later, partly burnt and covered by branches in a forest far from her usual jogging route. A source close to the investigation told AFP news agency there were no preliminary indications she had been raped but a post mortem examination had found she had been strangled.

The murder inspired a march of 10,000 people in the quiet town of Gray in Haute-Saône.

Women also honoured the jogger with symbolic runs in cities across France.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Daval, right, who wore his wedding jacket at his wife's funeral, was the last person to see her alive

For months, investigators did not have any suspects in the case. Her husband was the last witness to see his wife.

In the initial hearing, he spoke as a simple witness, admitting he had argued with his wife the day before her disappearance.

That altercation explained, according to him, scratches and bite marks visible on his hands.",en
"Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Kenya's Raila Odinga says his ""inauguration"" is legal

Kenya's main opposition leader, Raila Odinga, has declared himself the ""people's president"" at a controversial ""swearing-in"" ceremony in the capital.

Thousands of his supporters attended the event, despite a government warning that it amounted to treason.

The authorities shut down TV stations to prevent live coverage of the event.

President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in for a second term last November. He won an election re-run in October, but Mr Odinga boycotted it.

Elections were first held in August but the courts ordered a re-run, saying Mr Kenyatta's victory was marred by irregularities.

Holding a Bible in his right hand at a park in Nairobi, Mr Odinga declared that he was answering to a ""high[er] calling to assume the office of the people's president of the Republic of Kenya"".

People had had enough of election rigging and the event was a step towards establishing a proper democracy in the East African state, Mr Odinga told a cheering crowd.

Speaking earlier to Kenyan broadcaster KTN, Mr Odinga said his ""swearing-in"" was intended to ""show the world that what we are doing is legal, constitutional and not something you can remotely describe as a coup"".

What did he achieve?

Image copyright EPA Image caption Raila Odinga says he wants to create ""a proper democracy"" in Kenya

It was a public relations stunt that ended in disappointment for many opposition supporters, says the BBC's Alastair Leithead in Nairobi.

Mr Odinga turned up for just 20 minutes. He signed a statement, swore an oath and left the stage, leaving his supporters wondering why it was such a low-key affair, he adds.

His deputy, Kalonzo Musyoka, was not at the event, and Mr Odinga said Mr Musyoka would be ""sworn-in"" at a later date.

However, his absence suggested there were divisions in Mr Odinga's National Super Alliance, our correspondent says.

What do Odinga supporters say?

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Opposition supporters defied the authorities to attend the event

One of them, Larry Oyugi, said there was nothing illegal about Tuesday's event: ""We have warned the police enough and we are also going as per the constitution. The constitution of Kenya, article one, allows all Kenyans to exercise their power directly.

""This is why we are here to exercise our powers by gathering here and also article 37 allows peaceful assembly. We are citizens of this country, we are allowed to peacefully assemble here and elect our president as per the constitution.""

Police allowed the event to take place, despite warning earlier that they would prevent it from going ahead.

How did the TV ban take hold?

Image copyright KTN Image caption Kenyan news broadcasters were taken off air but were live streaming their coverage online

Three privately owned television stations - NTV, KTN and Citizen TV - went off air from around 09:10 (06:10 GMT), BBC Monitoring reports.

Citizen TV told the BBC the authorities had forced them off the air over plans to cover the gathering.

It live streamed the event on its website, and on YouTube and Facebook.

KTN viewers watched their screens fade to black as the news presenter read a statement confirming that the national communications authority was switching off transmission.

Switching off the broadcasting signals of media organisations is unusual in Kenya, the BBC's Anne Soy reports from Nairobi.

Threats have been made in the past and some media groups have been raided but none have had their signal deliberately disrupted.

Kenyan journalists have denounced the move as outrageous and in a statement called for ""respect of the constitution"" and an end to the ""unprecedented intimidation of journalists"".

There was tension in Kenya on Tuesday as some schools closed in the capital because of the event, and people did not know what to expect, our correspondent says.

Why is the election result disputed?

Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Kenyatta was inaugurated for a second term in November

Mr Kenyatta was officially re-elected with 98% of the vote on 26 October but just under 39% of voters turned out. He was inaugurated in November.

His victory is not recognised by Mr Odinga, who argues he was elected by a small section of the country.

Mr Kenyatta also won the original election on 8 August but that result was annulled by the Supreme Court, which described it as ""neither transparent nor verifiable"".

When the repeat vote was called, Mr Odinga urged his supporters to shun it because he said no reforms had been made to the electoral commission.

Correspondents say the election dispute has left Kenya deeply divided. About 50 people are reported to have been killed in violence since the August ballot.

'Undermining authority'

Analysis: Dickens Olewe, BBC News

Mr Kenyatta will see Mr Odinga's action as undermining his authority, but it is unclear whether the government will risk plunging Kenya, East Africa's biggest economy, into a deeper crisis by arresting the opposition leader.

Mr Odinga, on the other hand, will relish his self-declared honorific, ""people's president"". Other than that, it is unclear what he has gained from the ""swearing-in"".

In fact, he seems to have been abandoned by other opposition leaders, who skipped his ""inauguration"".

As for President Kenyatta, his legacy will be stained as a result of the media shutdown.",en
"Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The undelivered mail will be delivered to its intended recipients, much of it several years late

A postman has been arrested in Italy after 570kg (1,100lb) of undelivered post was found in his garage.

Police were called to the address in the northern city of Vicenza and arrested the 56-year-old man.

Workers from a recycling plant found more than 40 plastic containers stuffed with letters, bills and bank statements dating back to 2010.

It is the largest-ever collection of undelivered mail found in Italy, Italian police say.

The postal service in Vicenza say they will deliver the pile of mail to its intended recipients, despite many items being several years late.

The Italian postal service says it has suspended the employee, Italian broadcaster RAI reports.

It will push for legal action against the postman and start an internal investigation to find out what happened, RAI adds.",en
"Image copyright Pero Jelinic's Facebook page Image caption Pero Jelinic was an experienced hunter who had travelled all over the world in pursuit of his passion

A Croatian national has died in unclear circumstances while hunting lions with two friends in South Africa.

Pero Jelinic, 75, was hit by a bullet on Saturday at Leeubosch Lodge farm, about 355km (221 miles) west of Johannesburg, police said.

""At this stage it is not clear who fired the fatal shot that killed Mr Jelinic,"" a police spokeswoman said.

One of Mr Jelinic's hunting friends said it had been an accident but police have opened a culpable homicide case.

They say Mr Jelinic was shot after the hunters had already killed one lion and were tracking a second.

The injured man was airlifted to hospital but died shortly afterwards.

Police are also investigating whether the hunters had illegal guns while hunting lions bred in captivity, police spokeswoman Charlize van der Linden told news24 website.

The death of Pero Jelinic was first reported over the weekend but his hunting friend later gave more details to Croatian media about what had allegedly transpired on Saturday.

Diva Curlic told 24sata website Mr Jelinic's death during a morning hunt had been an ""accident"" - not ""murder"".

Mr Jelinic - from the island of Pag in the Adriatic Sea - was an experienced hunter who had travelled all over the world in pursuit of his passion, his friends say.

Animal rights activists have been pushing South Africa to ban the hunting of lions bred in captivity - a practice known as ""canned lion"" hunting.

South Africa is the world's biggest exporter of animal heads - mainly to hunters who pay thousands of dollars to hunt lions and take their heads home as trophies.",en
"Kate wishes Harry and Meghan 'all the best'

The Duchess of Cambridge says she is ""absolutely thrilled"" at the news of the couple's engagement.",en
"Do men or women rule US football?

The US Women's football team is hoping to pick up its third World Cup title when it plays Japan on Sunday. The men have never made it to the finals. So when it comes to football, do America's women have the upper hand?",en
"Please enable JavaScript… Your browser doesn't seem to have JavaScript enabled.

If you'd like to listen to BBC Radio online you can find out what JavaScript is and how to enable it here: JavaScript

If you'd rather not do that you can still listen live via a digital (DAB), FM or internet radio as well as through a digital TV.

If you want to catch up on programmes that have already been broadcast you can do so via an internet radio or a TV with Freesat.",en
"Video

South Africa's second largest city is in the midst of a severe drought and if taps are turned off it would make it the first city in the world to run dry.

Andrew Harding reports.",en
"Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Trump was not involved in the misspelling

Tickets for US President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address later on Tuesday have had to be urgently reprinted because of a glaring typo which lawmakers mocked.

The offending tickets invited people to attend Mr Trump's ""State of the Uniom"".

""Looking forward to... State of the Uniom,"" Sen Marco Rubio tweeted, while one social media user asked: ""Will they be serving covfefe...?""

This was a reference to a tweet by Mr Trump in May, which left many puzzled.

It was an apparent typo, although the president has never publicly commented on the issue.

But this time US officials were quick to point out that the ""Uniom"" typo had nothing to do with Mr Trump.

In fact, the error was made by the Sergeant at Arms of the US House of Representatives, whose office oversaw the printing of the tickets.

""There was a misprint on the ticket,"" a spokesman for the office told AFP news agency.

""It was corrected immediately, and our office is redistributing the tickets.""

It was not immediately clear how many tickets were affected.

Anyone looking at the flawed tickets and wondering whether the word ""visitor"" in ""Visitor's Gallery"" should not be plural instead may be relieved to know it is not a typo - that's just what they call it.",en
"Video

David Beckham is hailing his new MLS football team as a ""dream come true"". Hundreds of fans turned out for the announcement in Miami – the same city where another professional team failed just two decades ago.

Video by Paul Blake and Sam Beattie",en
"'Like jumping over your house' on a snowboard!

BBC Sport commentator Tim Warwood looks back and analyses some of the gold medal winning runs from the Freestyle Ski & Snowboard World Championships.",en
"Image copyright Reuters Image caption The VW testing was funded by a lobby group

German car manufacturer Volkswagen is under fire following revelations that it part-funded tests in which humans and monkeys inhaled diesel fumes for hours.

""These tests on monkeys or even humans cannot be justified ethically in any way,"" said Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks called the experiments ""abominable"", opposition politician Stephan Weil said they were ""absurd and abhorrent"".

But in a world where animal testing and paid medical testing on humans is commonplace, why have these particular tests provoked such outrage?

The exact nature of the VW tests is not known, as their methodology and findings have not been made public, but two independent scientists who have conducted air pollution tests on human volunteers told the BBC that similar tests on humans are commonplace.

""There have been hundreds of such studies, in most countries in the world, over the last 30 years,"" said Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King's College London. ""They are funded by national governments, following strict ethical review, to understand the impact of emissions on human health.""

The controversial, and possibly unethical, aspect of the VW testing was that it had been funded by a lobby group rather than an independent, government-funded body, he said.

""The issue here is that in this case the studies were funded by the motor industry, which would have had presumably quite a lot of control over the nature of the studies and how the results were presented.""

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Human test participants spend two hours breathing fumes similar to levels found in cities like Beijing and Delhi

In typical emissions tests, participants spend up to two hours in a sealed environment chamber breathing diluted diesel fumes equivalent to the levels of air pollution in Beijing or Delhi.

They will usually spend about 90 minutes of that seated, and 30 minutes gently exercising on a stationary bike to keep up blood flow.

The same participants then return another day to complete the same process in clean air, for a control comparison. After both sessions, blood tests and other physical tests are carried out.

Participants are vetted and informed they will be inhaling pollution at that level, and sign consent forms to that effect. They are paid about $14 (£10) an hour. The tests require a raft of approvals from public health bodies.

Such studies are ""essential to back up policies that protect all of us"", said Dr Christopher Carlsten, a professor at the University of British Columbia who has conducted emissions testing on humans.

""There do seem to be individuals who are frustrated that this work is done at all. I would ask them to look at the evidence that these studies, when appropriately done, contribute significantly to the evidence that leads to regulations that protect the public from adverse air quality,"" he said.

One unusual aspect of the VW testing, according to both Dr Kelly and Dr Carlsten, was the use of monkeys. According to the New York Times, 10 cynomolgus macaque monkeys, a breed used extensively in medical experiments, were put in chambers and played cartoons to distract them while diesel fumes were pumped in.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A Tonkean macaque takes part in a scientific experiment in eastern France

""It's uncommon to study non-human primates, I never conducted animal research"" said Dr Carlsten. ""I would speculate that human testing is more common simply because we learn more from the full human organism. That is what we are trying to protect.""

But it was the funding and commissioning of tests by the motor industry itself that was the significant controversy, both professors said. The work was commissioned by the European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector, a car lobby group funded by the VW, BMW and Daimler car manufacturers.

The kinds of studies undertaken by Dr Kelly and Dr Carlsten are independently funded, peer-reviewed and published.

""In this case we don't know the details of what they did, the actual levels they used, how they controlled the tests,"" said Dr Carlsten. ""These studies have not to my knowledge been published, so it really raises questions about the rigour or their methods.""

A good analogy would be allowing tobacco companies to sponsor research on the effects of smoking, keep the results secret, and simply publishing a press release that suited them, said Dr Kelly.

""That would not be satisfactory, it would not be independent and, if it involved humans, it would not be ethical,"" he said.",en
"Image copyright AP/Briscoe Center for American History Image caption A series of images by Eddie Adams leading up to the killing of Nguyen Van Lem

Photojournalist Eddie Adams captured one of the most famous images of the Vietnam War - the very instant of an execution during the chaos of the Tet Offensive. It would bring him a lifetime of glory, but as James Jeffrey writes, also of sorrow.

Warning: This story includes Adams' photo of the moment of the shooting, and graphic descriptions of it.

The snub-nosed pistol is already recoiling in the man's outstretched arm as the prisoner's face contorts from the force of a bullet entering his skull.

To the left of the frame, a watching soldier seems to be grimacing in shock.

It's hard to not feel the same repulsion, and guilt, with the knowledge one is looking at the precise moment of death.

Ballistic experts say the picture - which became known as Saigon Execution - shows the microsecond the bullet entered the man's head.

Eddie Adams's photo of Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan shooting a Viet Cong prisoner is considered one of the most influential images of the Vietnam War.

At the time, the image was reprinted around the world and came to symbolise for many the brutality and anarchy of the war.

It also galvanised growing sentiment in America about the futility of the fight - that the war was unwinnable.

Image copyright AP/Briscoe Center for American History

""There's something in the nature of a still image that deeply affects the viewer and stays with them,"" says Ben Wright, associate director for communications at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

The centre, based at the University of Texas at Austin, houses Adams's archive of photos, documents and correspondence.

""The film footage of the shooting, while ghastly, doesn't evoke the same feelings of urgency and stark tragedy.""

But the photo did not - could not - fully explain the circumstances on the streets of Saigon on 1 February 1968, two days after the forces of the People's Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong launched the Tet Offensive. Dozens of South Vietnamese cities were caught by surprise.

Heavy street fighting had pitched Saigon into chaos when South Vietnamese military caught a suspected Viet Cong squad leader, Nguyen Van Lem, at the site of a mass grave of more than 30 civilians.

Adams began taking photos as Lem was frogmarched through the streets to Loan's jeep.

Loan stood beside Lem before pointing his pistol at the prisoner's head.

""I thought he was going to threaten or terrorise the guy,"" Adams recalled afterwards, ""so I just naturally raised my camera and took the picture.""

Lem was believed to have murdered the wife and six children of one of Loan's colleagues. The general fired his pistol.

""If you hesitate, if you didn't do your duty, the men won't follow you,"" the general said about the suddenness of his actions.

Image copyright AP/Briscoe Center for American History

Loan played a crucial role during the first 72 hours of the Tet Offensive, galvanising troops to prevent the fall of Saigon, according to Colonel Tullius Acampora, who worked for two years as the US Army's liaison officer to Loan.

Adams said his immediate impression was that Loan was a ""cold, callous killer"". But after travelling with him around the country he revised his assessment.

""He is a product of modern Vietnam and his time,"" Adams said in a dispatch from Vietnam.

By May the following year, the photo had won Adams a Pulitzer Prize for spot news photography.

But despite this crowning journalistic achievement and letters of congratulation from fellow Pulitzer winners, President Richard Nixon and even school children across America, the photo would come to haunt Adams.

""I was getting money for showing one man killing another,"" Adams said at a later awards ceremony. ""Two lives were destroyed, and I was getting paid for it. I was a hero.""

Image copyright Briscoe Center for American History Image caption Eddie Adams (right) holds up his Pulitzer Prize

Adams and Loan stayed in touch, even becoming friends after the general fled South Vietnam at the end of the war for the United States.

But upon Loan's arrival, US Immigration and Nationalization Services wanted to deport him, a move influenced by the photo. They approached Adams to testify against Loan, but Adams instead testified in his favour.

Adams even appeared on television to explain the circumstances of the photograph.

Congress eventually lifted the deportation and Loan was allowed to stay, opening a restaurant in a Washington, DC suburb serving hamburgers, pizza and Vietnamese dishes.

An old Washington Post newspaper article photo shows an older smiling Loan sitting at the restaurant counter.

But he was eventually forced into retirement when publicity about his past soured business. Adams recalled that on his last visit to the restaurant he found abusive graffiti about Loan scrawled in the toilet.

Hal Buell, Adams' photo editor at the AP, says Saigon Execution still holds sway 50 years later because the photo, ""in one frame, symbolises the full war's brutality"".

""Like all icons, it summarises what has gone before, captures a current moment and, if we are smart enough, tells us something about the future brutality all wars promise.""

And Buell says the experience taught Adams about the limits of a single photograph telling a whole story.

""Eddie is quoted as saying that photography is a powerful weapon,"" Buell says. ""Photography by its nature is selective. It isolates a single moment, divorcing that moment from the moments before and after that possibly lead to adjusted meaning.""

Adams went on to an expansive photography career, winning more than 500 photojournalism awards and photographing high-profile figures including Ronald Reagan, Fidel Castro and Malcolm X.

But despite all he achieved after Vietnam, the moment of his most famous photograph would always remain with Adams.

""Two people died in that photograph,"" Adams wrote following Loan's death from cancer in 1998. ""The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera.""

.",en
"Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption The four ex-communist countries have agreed a joint stance on any bloc reform

It's not long ago that European know-it-alls, like myself, were debating the possibility of EU collapse.

After Brexit could come Nexit, Dexit and Frexit, we thought, as a wave of anti-establishment euroscepticism washed across the continent.

But shock at the ongoing political disorder in the UK following the Brexit vote, plus a sense of uncertainty in Europe provoked by the Trump presidency, have served to solidify EU membership in most countries.

Now the battle is no longer about survival but over the direction the European Union should take. And in whose name.

The celebrated assumption in Brussels has been that Merkel and Macron, or M&M as I like to call them, would become the EU's golden couple - breathing life back into the Franco-German motor of Europe, getting the engine of EU integration purring once again, once troublesome Britain was out of the way.

But the spoke in the wheels of that EU motor-vehicle scenario comes from central Europe and the so-called Visegrad group of former communist states: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Otherwise known as the V4.

Hungary's foreign minister once told me they see themselves as the ""bad boys"" of Europe. Pushing back against Brussels edicts, such as the migrant quotas.

Eurosceptic they are not. V4 economies have benefited hugely from EU subsidies.

Brussels-sceptic would be a more accurate description. With a common, though varying degree of dislike for EU centralisation.

The Visegrad 4 certainly do not share the post-World War Two vision of the EU espoused by mainstream decision-makers in western Europe, in countries like Germany, France and Italy.

The governments in Hungary and Poland have made front-page news over the last few months for thumbing their nose at EU laws, lectures and mores.

Their vision for Europe is one where the nation state is strong and independent.

Clash of visions

Agoston Mraz, CEO of the Hungarian government-sponsored Nezopont Institute, told me fighting empires is a Hungarian tradition: first the Turks 500 years ago; then the Austrian Empire; followed by the Nazis and the communists in the 20th Century. Now, he said, they were resisting attempts to build a European empire.

He believes a clash of ""euro visions"" between the V4 and EU-integrationists is inevitable. And that the V4 view of Europe is catching on.

The EU certainly worries that the self-declared illiberal democracy of Hungary's domestically popular Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, is inspiring others.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Orban is known for his tough stance toward the European migrant crisis

First Poland and now Romania have recently been chastised by Brussels over attempts to compromise the independence of their judiciary.

Up the Danube in Vienna, meanwhile, the junior partner in the new coalition government, the infamously nationalist, Eurosceptic FPO party, has called for Austria to join the Visegrad group.

Austria's young and canny new Prime Minister, Sebastian Kurz, has eurocrats biting their nails. He's been nicknamed ""the joker"" in the EU pack of cards.

A centre-right politician with a populist touch, no-one is quite sure where he'll lay his EU hat.

His first official visits have been carefully chosen - ticking the boxes in traditional EU capitals Paris, Berlin and Brussels. But this week he's invited Viktor Orban to Vienna.

A meeting between ""the EU's most dangerous politician"" (Mr Orban) and a leader ""without scruples when it comes to power"" (Mr Kurz), according to Hungarian-born Austrian author Paul Lendvai.

Ultimately, though, the EU vision division is no binary matter.

Look at Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands and you'll see there are nuanced positions between the Orban/Macron extremes.

As the UK exits the EU it leaves behind a gaping hole - not just in the EU budget - but also in terms of balance of power.

It's not clear yet who will fill the vacuum - the federalists, the pragmatists or more nationalist-minded governments.

I watch this next EU chapter with interest.",en
"Image copyright AFP Image caption Helena Maleno says she has received death threats for the work she has done to save migrants' lives

A Spanish woman has been credited with saving the lives of thousands of migrants crossing the Strait of Gibraltar to get to Europe. So why is she now facing a lengthy prison sentence?

When Helena Maleno gets the call, she does not think twice.

As soon as she has been told that a boat has set forth into the treacherous waters of the Strait of Gibraltar, she alerts the emergency services.

Based in Tangier for the past 16 years, Ms Maleno, who heads a non-governmental organisation called Walking Borders, monitors the movement of migrants and helps to call rescuers if they get into danger as they cross from Morocco to Spain.

Her actions have made her a heroine to thousands of African immigrants trying travel to Europe.

""I am not exaggerating when I say that she is probably the person who has saved most lives in the Strait - at least 10,000,"" says Captain Miguel Zea, chief of the Maritime Rescue centre in the Spanish coastal city of Almería.

""She is providential for our work.""

But Ms Maleno's activity on what she refers to as Europe's ""southern border"" has also earned her enemies.

Read more:

She now faces prosecution in Morocco for human smuggling, accused of working with criminal gangs to facilitate the illegal movement of people.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Spanish Red Cross workers help migrants that were rescued off the Strait of Gibraltar earlier this month

Speaking to the BBC ahead of a court appearance in Tangier on Wednesday, she denied this and insisted she had not committed any crime.

""We cannot create a precedent whereby those who protect people have police investigations mounted against them.

""We cannot open the door to the idea that people who call to save people from drowning at sea should be imprisoned. The crime would be to not make that phone call.""

Handful of dirt

More than 22,000 migrants made the dangerous sea crossing to Spain last year - the biggest number since more than 39,000 immigrants were picked up along the country's coastline in 2006.

Some critics suspect that Ms Maleno has been helping migrants achieve their objective of reaching European soil.

In a previous court appearance in December, the judge asked her why she called the Spanish coastguard instead of the Moroccan authorities when she got news that a boat was on the water.

""Spain and Morocco co-operate on migration but the Spanish rescue services have more resources than the Moroccan navy,"" Ms Maleno says.

""I know that as soon as I have called one police force, they will immediately inform the other country to tell them where the boat is located. The co-operation I offer is available to both countries.""

Despite the rise in the number of crossings, rescue services, with the help of Ms Maleno, have managed to keep the death rate at around 1%.

A total of 223 immigrants are believed to have perished on the Western Mediterranean route in 2017, according to the International Organization for Migration.

As part of Ms Maleno's work, she facilitates the return of migrants' remains to relatives on the other side of the Sahara.

""Some families cannot afford to have the body delivered,"" she says.

""They say could you please grab a handful of dirt from the place and send it so we can carry out our mourning rituals? You end up sending earth by DHL.

""It might seem absurd, but the pain is so great. They need to have something.""

Image copyright AFP Image caption Ms Maleno says she has lost trust in the Spanish police

So Ms Maleno says she is horrified that her efforts have landed her in court in Tangier.

""I am in shock at how my life could be destroyed from one day to the next,"" she says.

It was even more galling to find out that the Spanish police, whom she had worked with in the past, had sent a dossier on her activities to the Moroccan court, describing her as an ""important international smuggler of immigrants"".

""I have talked to and even taught Spanish police agents in seminars about how to spot victims of trafficking for the sex trade,"" she says. ""Now I find out that this same force has been tapping my phone for the last five years.""

Death threats

Ms Maleno's legal advisers say that the same police complaint against her was not accepted by prosecutors in Spain.

Now the judge in Tangier will decide whether she should stand trial in Morocco instead.

""I have received death threats,"" says Ms Maleno.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A boat full of migrants landed at a popular tourist beach in southern Spain last year

""Clearly, I can't have any faith in the Spanish police. I am abandoned by my state and on the other side are the mafia networks. I am in a limbo in which I feel completely unprotected.""

Her case has attracted the attention of more than 200 Spanish public figures including actor Javier Bardem, who have signed a petition in support for her.

Meanwhile, her network of contacts and supporters has continued to call on her - for many different reasons.

""Everyone has my phone number,"" she says.

""I am known all over Africa, from Gambia to Cameroon. When something happens, they call me to help. When there's a celebration, they call me to laugh.""

A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.",en
"Image copyright AFP Image caption Unrwa provides critical services, including education and health care

""Dignity is priceless,"" read the signs as thousands of employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees march through central Gaza City.

They fear Washington's recent decision to withhold $65m (52.5m euros; £46m) in funds could affect their positions as well as basic services which most of them, as refugees, rely on.

""Unrwa was there every moment for me,"" says Najwa Sheikh Ahmed, an information officer with the UN Relief and Works Agency.

""It gave not only food, clothes, education and healthcare but also a job and the opportunity that offers your family.""

Najwa was born in Khan Younis refugee camp and brought up in tough conditions.

Image caption Thousands of Unrwa supporters and staff have held protests in Gaza

She moved to Nuseirat camp when she married her husband, who is also Unrwa staff. They have five children.

When I visit, we pass along narrow streets to the local clinic, painted in the blue and white colours of the UN, so Najwa can get a medical check.

I watch her eldest daughter, Salma, as she excels in an English lesson. She is one of 270,000 Unrwa students in Gaza.

Image caption Salma Sheikh Ahmed attends lessons in an Unrwa-run school

""As a mother I feel very worried,"" Najwa confides.

""If the funding gap isn't bridged, then Unrwa might find itself in a situation where [it has] to close the schools and health services. My children will be at risk.""

Ties cut

The US is the largest single donor to Unrwa. Last year, it gave the agency around $360m - about half of the total amount it gave in support to the Palestinians.

President Donald Trump first indicated a change in approach on 2 January when he Tweeted that his country got ""no appreciation or respect"" for the large sums of aid it gave.

The State Department insists that freezing Unrwa funds is linked to needed ""reforms"", but suspicions remain that it is meant to punish Palestinian leaders.

They cut ties with the White House weeks earlier after it recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Last week in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Trump said that aid to the Palestinians would be suspended ""unless they sit down and negotiate peace"".

Special status

In the impoverished Gaza Strip, which has eight refugee camps, ordinary people complain that they find themselves helplessly caught up in geopolitics.

Unrwa was originally set up to take care of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Nearly 70 years on, some of those refugees and many of their descendants continue to live in camps, which are now chronically overcrowded breeze block neighbourhoods.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption More than five million Palestinians are registered as refugees

Unrwa supports some five million people not only in the Palestinian Territories but also in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria - where Palestinian refugees have limited rights.

The fate of the refugees is a core issue in the Arab-Israeli conflict and they have often been at the heart of Palestinian political and militant activity.

Palestinians call for their ""right to return"" to parts of historic Palestine - land which is now in Israel.

Israel rejects that claim and has often criticised the set-up of Unrwa for the way it allows refugee status to be inherited, which it points out is uniquely applied to Palestinians among all the world's refugees.

""How long are we going to have Unrwa? Another 70 years?"" the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said to me at a recent press event.

""We already have great-great-grandchildren who are refugees - who are not refugees but they're on the list of Unwra.""

Image copyright EPA Image caption The US says Unrwa needs to become more accountable

Mr Netanyahu suggests donations should be shifted to other humanitarian agencies, including the UN High Commission for Refugees.

""It will have positive effects because the perpetuation of the dream of bringing the descendants back to Jaffa is what sustains this conflict,"" he told me.

""Unrwa is part of the problem not part of the solution.""

Alternatives 'worse'

Unrwa officials stress that the UN General Assembly sets their mandate and dismiss the idea it obstructs any Israel-Palestinian peace deal.

""It is the failure of the political parties to resolve the refugee issue that perpetuates it,"" says Unrwa spokesman Chris Gunness.

""As soon as there's a resolution of that based on international law, based on United Nations resolutions, Unrwa will go out of business and hand over its service.""

Image copyright AFP Image caption Israeli defence officials warn Unrwa's collapse could trigger an escalation in violence

The agency has now launched a global appeal to fill the gap in its budget and is receiving many messages of support - including from celebrities and 21 international humanitarian groups.

Some in Israel also raise concerns that weakening Unrwa could cause regional instability and create more extremism.

""While Unrwa is far from perfect, the Israeli defence establishment and the Israeli government as a whole, have over the years come to the understanding that all the alternatives are worse for Israel,"" a former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman, Peter Lerner, wrote in Haaretz newspaper.

At the rally in Gaza City, participants focus on the impact of any Unrwa cutbacks on the most needy but also on existential issues.

""Without Unrwa nobody will identify us as refugees,"" says Najwa Sheikh-Ahmed - whose father fled from his home in al-Majdal - now in Ashkelon in southern Israel - as a boy in 1948.

""My refugee number, my ration card is witness to the fact that once upon a time I had a homeland,"" she says. ""Without this we will lose the right to fight for our rights.""",en
G4S: 'What I saw when I went undercover',en
"Tango’s memorial took place on a winter morning, in the park where he had lived.

“We’d put up notices all around the neighbourhood,” Clement says. “Around 15 people showed up: social workers, park attendants, nearby shopkeepers, his friends from the street. They had put a mattress on the ground and arranged candles and flowers all around it, along with his belongings - and some bottles of alcohol.”

Clement began the secular ceremony, talking about the man he had known. Others followed, sharing their stories. “Tango was very sociable,” he says. “Most people on the street die alone.”

“There was another homeless man who died recently at a street corner just up the road,” he says. “The local residents had been hostile, often calling the town hall to get rid of him. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they were happy when he died, but…”

Deaths like this can be sudden, and next of kin hard to trace. Until about 15 years ago, if no family could be traced, homeless people who died in Paris were buried by the municipality in a communal grave. “That’s still what many people in the street think will happen to them,” says Clement.

But organisations like his, and the Collectif Les Morts, now take over the process, organising simple ceremonies in a dedicated corner of the Thiais Cemetery outside Paris. The area set aside for homeless burials is called the Carré de Fraternité - the Corner of Brotherhood.

In Tango’s case, though, there was someone in his life.

“There was a niece,” Clement says. “Tango talked about her a lot, and had given me her number. I told her about the memorial, and she said she would come. She sent lots of texts leading up to it, but she never appeared. I think it was too difficult for her to confront what he had been through.”

Instead, she stepped in to take charge of her uncle’s body. Three decades after he had arrived in France full of hope for a brighter life, Tango’s body was repatriated to Morocco for burial.

After 20 years spent dreaming of returning home, finally, he did.",en
"Image caption Thomas Darabos, fishing for walleye on the frozen Saginaw River

Saginaw - a blue-collar city made famous by Paul Simon's song America - surprisingly voted for Donald Trump in 2016. As the president prepares to make his State of the Union address, what do voters think now?

It's January in Michigan, and Thomas Darabos is walking on water.

He finds a spot, carves a hole in the ice, and sits on a bucket. Then he waits for a bite.

He and 10 others are fishing on the Saginaw River. Their frozen breath hangs in the air.

Tall, smoky chimneys used to line the water. Now, naked trees form silhouettes against the blank sky.

""We had all kinds of industry, but everything's gone,"" says Darabos.

""They've got a couple of factories here and there, but it's not like when I was a kid.

""Business was booming in Saginaw. Now it's dead.""

The 52-year-old was a labourer before injuring his back and shoulder. In 2016, after a lifetime of voting Democrat, he turned to Donald Trump.

How does he feel now? ""He's creating jobs,"" he says.

""He's bringing money from different countries back to the United States. I think that's a good thing.""

A few yards away, Gerald Welzin lifts his line from the water and nods. Like Darabos, he voted Republican for the first time in 2016.

""I think he's doing a great job,"" says the 61-year-old landscaper.

""A lot of people criticise him, badmouth him, say a lot of bad things about him. But you've got to give the man a chance.""

Image caption Lyrics from Simon and Garfunkel's 1968 hit America appear across Saginaw. Most were sprayed in 2010

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon in concert

On the river bank, a lyric has been sprayed on a huge, concrete bridge support.

""It took me four days to hitch-hike from Saginaw,"" it says. ""I've gone to look for America.""

The line is from America, a Simon and Garfunkel song about young love, adventure and optimism. According to a local promoter, Paul Simon wrote it in Saginaw in 1966.

If he came back now, he may not recognise the place.

For decades, Saginaw was a General Motors city. In 1979, the manufacturer employed 26,100 people here.

Now, just one GM facility remains, employing fewer than 500 people (a former GM plant, run by the Chinese firm Nexteer, employs around 5,000 more).

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Saginaw rooftops in the 1950s

When the jobs went, the people followed. In 1960, almost 100,000 people lived in Saginaw. Now it's fewer than half that.

The population of Saginaw County has also declined, though less sharply.

As a working-class city, Saginaw supported Democrats. From 1988 to 2012, the county voted blue.

More widely, Michigan was part of the so-called ""blue wall"" of solid Democrat states. And then, in 2016, Donald Trump came along.

Mr Trump's victory in Saginaw County was narrow - he won just 1,074 more votes than Hilary Clinton - but notable.

County by county, brick by brick, the blue wall came down. For the first time since 1988, Michigan voted Republican.

Image caption Business owner Rick Coombs outside his workshop

One year on, Trump supporters are not hard to find in Saginaw.

In the city centre, there's a workshop in an empty car park. On one wall - in view of the Democrats' office - is a Trump sign.

Rick Coombs, 32, put it there before the election. ""What I really, really liked, was the same thing people dislike about him,"" he says.

""He's not the most politically correct person, and I'm 100% fine with that.""

Coombs, born and raised in Saginaw, owns three businesses, including a gun shop called Reaction Armory.

The Trump sign has been defaced and his companies targeted online. ""False accusations, cheesy little Trump comments, poor ratings, things like that,"" says Coombs.

(He is not alone - in August, a Republican event at a Saginaw pizzeria was cancelled after the business was threatened).

Coombs, though, will not take his sign down

""One hundred per cent, I'm keeping it up,"" he says. ""You're not going to scare me out of here. That's just not going to happen.""

Coombs gives President Trump a ""solid eight"" (out of 10) for his first year in office. ""Look at the numbers, look at the GDP,"" he says.

He's disappointed the healthcare bill failed, but hopes tax cuts, passed before Christmas, will benefit his businesses. He also thinks the president is unfairly criticised.

""Here's the problem I really have with the left,"" he says.

""Every president - I mean every president - is easy to make fun of. No matter what he does, they will be against it, simply because it's Trump.

""They're still sore losers. They're still salty about the situation.""

Image caption An old club in the First Ward area of Saginaw, where a number of homes have been razed

Darryl Wimbley knows he's not a typical Trump supporter.

The 49-year-old was born in Alabama to a black mother and Arab father [growing up, his father spoke to him only in Arabic]. He moved to Saginaw with his mother aged three.

""Back then, to have a baby out of wedlock was unacceptable,"" he says. ""They would send you north.""

He spent 20 years as car salesman - ""I said I'd do it for two months and I made ten grand"" - but had to stop after a motorcycle accident.

In 2008, he voted for Barack Obama. But he has an admission.

""The most racist thing I ever did,"" he says.

""I didn't care what his views were. I didn't care. He was black, and that was it. I didn't question it.""

After Obama came to office, he did question it, voting Republican for the first time in 2012. And, when Donald Trump became a candidate, he listened.

""He said a lot of things that I thought, but would never say in public,"" he says.

Such as?

""Illegal immigrants do cause a lot of crime,"" he replies.

""I lived in Chicago, I know what immigrants do. I understand MS-13 (a mainly Central American gang), I understand the Latin Kings, I understand Maniac Disciples.

""I've seen it first hand, and most of them are illegals.""

After telling his family he supported Mr Trump, his sister and mother stopped speaking to him. Some black people, he says, called him an ""Uncle Tom, a sell-out"".

But he still supports the president.

""The tax bill I like, the jobs are coming back, we're getting rid of regulation,"" he says. ""A big thing is coal mines for me, because my family are coal miners.""

And, like Rick Coombs, he thinks Mr Trump is treated unfairly.

""If you are the person in a room who everyone hates, you could actually give someone a million dollars - and they'll complain you didn't wrap it right.""

Image caption The Bancroft Building, a former hotel, is an example of Saginaw's regeneration

Saginaw is a sprawling, un-pretty city.

Unloved, unneeded homes have been razed. Buildings - such as the red-brick railway station, closed since 1986 - lie derelict. And graffiti is common.

There are, however, signs of life.

The old Bancroft Hotel is now home to ""luxury"" apartments, a coffee shop, and a cocktail bar. Twenty-four brownstone homes have gone up by the river.

There are boutiques, craft breweries, and murals on street corners. One piece of graffiti that used to say ""Saginasty"" now reads ""Saginawesome"".

Jim Hines, a 62-year-old doctor who lives in Saginaw, thinks the city's future is ""bright"".

Dr Hines has delivered thousands of babies, owns a medical practice, and spent four years in the Central African Republic, running two hospitals.

He has seven sons, 12 grandchildren, and a third-degree black belt in taekwondo.

He also rides a Harley, has flown planes since he was 16, and - if that's not enough - wants to become the next governor of Michigan.

Image caption Jim Hines and wife Martha in front of the ""Hinesmobile"". The campaign campervan has covered 23,000 miles

Dr Hines grew up in a poor family in Warsaw, Indiana - he met his wife, Martha, in the pizza place where he washed dishes - and is a long-time Republican.

The party will choose their candidate in August, before the state-wide election in November.

He says he is an underdog - early polling suggests the same - but he takes inspiration from another underdog, now sitting in the White House.

""I'm not bashful in my support of Donald Trump,"" he says.

""Am I going out campaigning saying 'Hey, I'm Trump-like, vote for me?' No.

""But I am an outsider, I am a businessman, I want to put people first.""

Dr Hines, a Christian, is not put off by the president's crudeness - ""It's not how I would express myself, but I think he speaks from his heart"" - or his tough line on immigration.

""To have a sovereign country you need borders,"" he says. ""Immigration - great. But not illegal immigration.""

He supports the wall on the Mexican border, and thinks Mr Trump's policies - especially the tax cuts - have rejuvenated Saginaw.

""I think there's a lot of optimism,"" he says. ""There wasn't so much before Trump. It was like 'Saginaw is kind of dwindling away'.""

In Tony's Original Restaurant - a cosy, old-fashioned diner - a group of Dr Hines' supporters has come to meet the media (a local TV station is also here).

They are anti-abortion, low-tax people. Judy Anderson, a 73-year-old retired nurse, ""had to study and think"" before voting for Mr Trump.

But, one year on, she is proud of what he's done - even if she doesn't like his tweets.

""The companies being taxed less are rewarding their employees, left and right,"" she says. ""And that's a positive thing.""

On the next table, Sue Lynn, 63, also admires the president. But her language is more colourful; more Trump-like.

""If you've got an infestation of rats, you call the guy to come in,"" she says.

""You don't care if his crack's showing. You don't care if he's swearing.

""You don't care if he's got tobacco-stained teeth. You want the rats taken out.""

Image caption Darryl Wimbley - who made more than 1,000 phone calls for Donald Trump's campaign - and Sue Lynn

The monthly meeting of the Saginaw County Democrats fizzes like a freshly opened bottle of beer.

It's a cold, wet night, but more than 50 people have turned up. On the wall, ""stronger together"" is spelt out in cardboard.

A pot-luck (a buffet where everyone brings a dish) has brought people here early. Members swap gossip over chicken wings and Miller Lite.

When the labourers' union brings more beer, a cheer goes up. It feels like a party, rather than a party meeting.

Things begin with the Pledge of Allegiance - members stand and face the flag - before chairman Paul Purcell zips through the agenda.

There's lots of applause; lots of whooping. After the low of 2016, the Democrats say they're bouncing back.

""Two or three years ago, there wouldn't have been more than 25 people at a January meeting,"" says treasurer Kyle Bostwick, 34, who works as the deputy clerk of Saginaw County.

""In 2008 - which was a huge Democratic year - we saw these numbers at the end of the election cycle.""

Bostwick thinks President Trump's victory wasn't a total shock. ""You could feel it,"" he says. ""Something wasn't right.""

But - while he is dismayed by the tweets, and dismayed by the diplomacy - his cloud has a silver lining.

""It shook us to our core,"" he says. ""But we had to get all the way to the bottom to realise what we're about, and who we're here to fight for.""

Tom Knaub, 63, is a retired television photo-journalist who lives in Saginaw Township.

When he heard Donald Trump won his hometown, nearby Bay City, he ""literally cried"".

""I was never embarrassed about the United States until now,"" he says.

""I was in our National Guard [a reserve military force] for 23-and-a-half years. Every time I went overseas, I never had to apologise.

""Now, first thing I do is say, 'I'm sorry'.""

Image caption Part-meeting, part-rally: Chairman Paul Purcell at Saginaw County Democratic Party's monthly meeting

Knaub dislikes the president's immigration policies - ""Our forefathers came here to get away,"" he says - and thinks he won't keep his promises.

""Look at the carrier plant [in Indianapolis] where he went during his campaign,"" he says.

""He said 'Look, we're saving the jobs'. Now they're laying off 200 people.""

For Saginaw County Democrats, 2018 is a big year. The party is planning for national mid-term elections in November, and a host of local contests.

Hunter Koch, a 21-year-old student at Saginaw Valley State University, already sits on a school board, and will run for the Michigan senate this year.

He thinks President Trump's first year has been a ""complete catastrophe"".

""The Muslim ban, the talk of the wall - it's the antithesis of our principles,"" he says.

Koch says the Democrats need an ""economic message that really sticks"". If they get it, he predicts a ""blue wave"" in 2018.

Jimmy Greene, a 59-year-old from Saginaw Township, predicts the same.

The difference is, Greene is a Republican.

""Donald Trump was a child on the campaign,"" he says. ""And he is a child in the White House.""

Image copyright Jimmy Greene / BBC Image caption Jimmy Greene and Hunter Koch

Greene - the founder of the Michigan Black Republican Party - dislikes the president's ""small-mindedness, the bullying, the name calling"".

He also thinks Mr Trump generates more heat than light. ""Bluster is not an outcome - bluster is bluster,"" he says.

""We got a tax cut, I applaud him for that. But any Republican would have done the same.

""So what exactly is he getting done? He hasn't got anything done, and he's got [control of] the House and the Senate.

""When Obama had the House and the Senate, he passed stimulus, Obamacare. I mean, my god, the man had the run of the world, and he used it.""

Greene thinks his party will be ""killed"" in the mid-terms. ""And at that point, most Republicans will finally come to their senses,"" he says.

""You can already see people like (John) Kasich, (Jeff) Flake, positioning themselves to probably take a run (for the Republican nomination in 2020).

""Quite frankly, us 'Never Trumpers' are already working behind the scenes to stoke that possibility.""

Image caption The Castle Museum of Saginaw County History was built in the 1890s and is a former post office

The day after the Democrats' meeting, the temperature drops and snow returns to Saginaw.

The sky is heavy. The fields turn white. The magnificent Castle Museum, a former post office, looks like an outpost of Narnia.

On the road out of town, the river begins to freeze. Thomas Darabos, Gerald Welzin and the other ice fishers are nowhere to be seen.

Look carefully, though, and the lyric - the 52-year-old lyric - remains in red spray paint.

Since Paul Simon wrote them, those 15 words have travelled round the world, spreading a message of young love and American adventure.

But they live - they belong - here, on a concrete pillar, in their hometown of Saginaw.

Follow Owen Amos on Twitter @owenamos",en
"Image copyright Getty Images

Tammy Duckworth is used to being a trailblazer.

A double amputee, she was the first disabled woman elected to the US Congress.

Born in Bangkok to a Thai mother and American father, she was also among the first Asian-American women in Congress.

And now, as confirmed in a gleeful tweet this week, she will be the first woman to have a baby while serving in the US Senate.

It was ""about damn time"", the 49-year-old said. ""I can't believe it took until 2018.""

On the day Donald Trump defied the odds to defeat Hillary Clinton in November 2016, Tammy Duckworth made her own journey - soundly defeating the Republican incumbent to become the junior senator for Illinois, the position held by Barack Obama when he won the presidency.

Her election came four days shy of the anniversary of the event that shaped her later life.

""I'm here because of the miracles that occurred 12 years ago this Saturday - above and in a dusty field in Iraq,"" she said in her victory speech.

Among the people she thanked were her former military comrades: the men who saved her life after the helicopter she was co-piloting over Iraq was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade.

You may find some of the following details distressing

Duckworth was a captain with the Illinois National Guard when she was called up to serve in Iraq. It was a war she disagreed with, but she fully accepted the responsibility to go there and fight.

She did not have to go to Iraq. She was no longer in charge of her former unit when they were called to serve, but she asked to go with them.

""You don't want anyone to face danger and you not face the same danger,"" she told an episode of The Axe Files podcast in December 2016. ""You have to face the same risk.""

After a day of routine missions in November 2004, she and her crew were asked to pick up some soldiers from Taji, about 20 miles north of Baghdad.

When they got there, the soldiers had already left. The crew decided to return to their base in Balad, about 30 miles further north, and Duckworth handed control of the Black Hawk helicopter to her co-pilot Dan Milberg.

During the journey, as they flew low over palm trees to avoid detection, she heard the ""tap, tap, tap"" of gunfire against the helicopter.

She leaned forward to get the GPS co-ordinates to report where the helicopter had been shot.

""Right then, bam, the fireball happened in my lap with an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] going off,"" she told The Axe Files.

""It took off most of the back of my right arm because I had that forward. It blew off my right leg, it basically evaporated.

""My left leg was kicked up into an instrument. The force of that sheared it almost off, it was hanging on a little bit.""

Duckworth drifted in and out of consciousness. Every time she became conscious again, she would try to operate the pedals to control the helicopter, but struggled to understand why she couldn't. She did not realise she no longer had feet.

Dan Milberg landed the helicopter and carried Duckworth out. Her crew had assumed she was dead, but by nevertheless moving her quickly from the helicopter to get aid, they saved her life.

Duckworth woke up about 11 days later, in pain and angry. She had lost both legs and most of the use of her right arm.

In later years, she adapted a playful attitude to her amputation - wearing a T-shirt saying ""Dude, where's my leg?"" and addressing the Democratic National Convention with one prosthetic leg painted in camouflage, the other in the American flag.

In hospital though, one of her first thoughts was revenge against her attacker. ""I wanted to hunt him down,"" she told The Axe Files.

In the end she underwent countless operations and spent 13 months in hospital, much of it at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC.

The hospital, packed with soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, became what she called ""an amputee petting zoo"" for politicians seeking photo opportunities.

It was perhaps inevitable that Duckworth had ended up joining the military, even if she had initially resisted, having hoped to join the diplomatic service instead.

Generations of her family had served in the military, going as far back as the American Revolution. Her father Frank fought in World War Two and the Vietnam War.

A fierce patriot, Frank Duckworth was a Marine and served as a signal officer in Vietnam. But he found himself confronted and spat at when he returned to the US in between tours as the movement against the Vietnam War gathered strength.

He preferred to stay in south-east Asia in between tours, and met Lamai Sompornpairin, who had grown up sewing hats in a Thai factory and was then working in her parents' grocery shop.

The couple, with baby Tammy in tow, stayed in the region after the war while Frank worked for the UN Development Programme and different corporations. Tammy spoke nothing but Thai until she was eight years old.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Some of Duckworth's earliest memories involve the Khmer Rouge seizing control in Cambodia

Her experiences with conflict began at a young age, as the Marxist Khmer Rouge regime took power in Cambodia.

She has said some of her earliest childhood memories are of being in Phnom Penh, watching bombs going off. She said her parents told her to think of them as fireworks, so she would not be scared.

The latter period of her time in Asia, living in Indonesia and Singapore, gave her pride in being American, and in seeing how people abroad viewed her country.

Yet the Duckworths later fell on hard times as Frank Duckworth lost his job. Despite his reluctance to return to a country he felt had rejected him, he had no choice but to go back to the US.

At several points, Tammy Duckworth's story echoes that of President Obama, the man who called her ""a tough lady, but with a big heart"" as she ran for his old Senate seat.

Both have acknowledged how their mixed-race origins helped form their identities. Both grew up in Indonesia at around the same time, and both left Asia to live in Hawaii.

While Duckworth said the move to a multicultural state like Hawaii was the perfect way for her to assimilate into US life, it was a hard transition for her father.

The family depended on food stamps to survive. In 2013, she reflected on her teenage years while speaking in Congress against possible cuts to food stamps. ""They were there for me, so I could worry about school and not about my empty stomach.""

Often, Duckworth and her brother Thomas could eat only if their father had found enough coins left in telephone kiosks. When she found work after school, she was the only member of her family to have a job.

Image copyright Instagram/@senduckworth Image caption Duckworth (second row, first on left) with the National Guard in 1990

Her father, who died in 2005, went on to find work at a chicken factory, and Duckworth was able through grants and loans to make her way to three universities.

In the end, it was her classmates who convinced her that she could achieve her eventual aim of being an ambassador by joining the military first.

""What I didn't expect was to fall in love with the camaraderie and sense of purpose that the military instills in you,"" Duckworth wrote in Politico in 2015.

""The thing is, when we were exhausted and miserable, my fellow cadets and I were exhausted and miserable together.""

Among the other cadets was her future husband, Bryan Bowlsbey. It wasn't immediately obvious the two were destined for marriage.

""He made a comment that I felt was derogatory about the role of women in the Army,"" she told the C-Span news network in 2005, ""but he came over and apologised very nicely and then helped me clean my M16.""

It would be far from the last time Duckworth would face a derogatory comment, but it would be the only time she would marry the man who made it.

Duckworth's political career took off as her rehabilitation from her injuries was continuing.

It was an invitation by Illinois Democrat senator Dick Durbin to attend the 2005 State of the Union address that first ignited her interest.

Duckworth had already become an unofficial adviser to younger veterans within Walter Reed hospital, leading Mr Durbin to suggest she should consider running for office.

She ran as a candidate for Congress in Illinois in 2006, barely two years after the attack in Iraq.

But she lost the race to Republican Peter Roskam by only 5,000 votes. ""I sat in a bathtub and cried for three days,"" she said.

Over the following years, she continued her duties with the National Guard and as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, where she launched a hotline for suicidal veterans and helped improve access to healthcare payments and work for veterans.

In 2008, newly elected President Obama appointed her as an assistant secretary to the federal Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Then in 2012, she ran for Congress again in another Illinois district - this time against an opponent who openly disparaged her military record.

Joe Walsh was hardly the most popular candidate when he ran against Duckworth in Illinois' eighth district.

When the Republican incumbent was sued by his ex-wife over missed child support payments, and when he shouted at a constituent, his chances became even slimmer.

Then when he attacked the service carried out by Duckworth, by this point a recipient of the Purple Heart medal for those injured in service, his fate was perhaps sealed.

""I'm running against a woman who, my God, that's all she talks about,"" he said at a town hall meeting. ""Our true heroes, it's the last thing in the world they talk about.""

Duckworth ended up winning 54.7% of the vote, compared with Walsh's 45.3%.

She held on the seat two years later. A month later, at the age of 46 and after several unsuccessful courses of IVF treatment, she gave birth to her first child, Abigail.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Barack Obama greets Duckworth in 2008 - she would join his government soon after

Duckworth often reflects back on the day her helicopter was struck, and acknowledges how her time in the military has helped shape the politician she is today.

""That day, and so many others when I served, illustrated the two most important lessons the military taught me,"" she wrote in Politico magazine. ""Never leave anyone behind - not on the battlefield and not in our country. And never put a service member in harm's way without understanding the cost.""

But as Duckworth's first race for the Senate was entering its final stretch in October 2016, the Chicago Tribune pointed out that her much-vaunted record on helping veterans had been mixed.

After a decade in public service, the newspaper said, ""several"" of her initiatives to help Illinois veterans ""fell flat"", her post in the federal veterans' affairs body ""mostly focused on public relations"" and her two terms in Congress were ""marked by only a few legislative successes"".

Duckworth has defended her record, but even one of her headline pieces of policy - a bill she sponsored requiring airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding mothers - has yet to become law.

As a senator, her record will now face even more scrutiny. She reached the Senate after another bruising election campaign in 2016, one that saw her opponent Mark Kirk belittle her family's military history.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Tammy Duckworth, next to daughter Abigail, mother Lamai and husband Bryan, is sworn in as a senator by then Vice-President Joe Biden

She started her time as a senator optimistically, expressing hope that she and fellow Democrats could work with President Trump.

""I am going to start off assuming that he loves this country as much as I love this country,"" she told The Axe Files podcast just before taking office. ""If you start off from that point, I think you can learn to work with anyone.""

It has not worked out that way.

Instead, Duckworth has positioned herself as one of the most persistent and vocal critics of the president, on issues relating to the military and immigration in particular.

Last weekend, as Trump attacked Democrats for not helping pass a funding bill that he said was ""holding our military hostage"", Duckworth attacked him from the Senate floor - noting how he had repeatedly avoided service in Vietnam because of a reported bone spur in his foot.

""I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger,"" she said.

""And I have a message for Cadet Bone Spurs: If you cared about our military, you'd stop baiting Kim Jong-un into a war that could put 85,000 American troops and millions of innocent civilians in danger.""

Duckworth has been especially critical of Trump over North Korea, warning last month that he and the defence community were gearing up for war.

Amid her criticism of the president, the rumblings of a Tammy Duckworth run for the Democratic nomination for the 2020 presidential race have already started.

While she has not acknowledged any interest in running - at least not yet - Duckworth is surely aware that one significant political 'first' has still not been achieved: the first female president.",en
"Image copyright Benjamin Paul

If you could see how the rest of your life might play out would you want to? Jackie Harrison has a 50-50 chance of a disease that has killed her mother, uncle and grandfather. Should she take a test to find out whether she will get it too - and could she cope with the result? The BBC's Sarah Bowen has been following her story.

It's rare for a day to pass when Jackie Harrison doesn't wonder if she's inherited the faulty gene that could lead to her developing Huntington's disease, a condition that causes certain nerve cells in the brain to waste away and slowly robs you of the ability to talk, to walk, to move, to think, to swallow.

There is no treatment for Huntington's and no cure.

Jackie is 51 and lives in Brighouse, a small, industrial town in West Yorkshire, with her partner of 30 years, Tony, and younger brother, Mark.

When Jackie was 12 her mother, Jean, who'd been a teacher, died from the disease at the age of just 48.

Image caption Jackie and her brother Mark as children

Her father left the children to be brought up by their grandmother, 78-year-old Edith, who had already lost her husband to Huntington's.

Within two years Edith's son, Barry - Jackie's uncle - had also died.

""I've not had a normal life, it's taken everything from me,"" Jackie says. ""I don't know what it's like to have a mum and dad, to have that stability.""

Image caption Both Jackie's uncle, Barry, and mother, Jean died as a result of Huntington's

Jackie wanted to become a teacher like her mum and grandmother, but when Edith died it was up to Jackie to run the house and look after her brother.

Find out more

Jackie Harrison told her story to Sarah Bowen on BBC Radio 4's The Untold

Listen to: The toss of the coin on Monday 22 January at 11:00 GMT

She got a job and managed to keep a roof over their heads while Mark took his exams at school. Then, when Mark went to university, Jackie was able to work part-time and study herself - gaining a degree and doing a teaching diploma.

But then Mark developed Huntington's and for the past 10 years Jackie has been his full-time carer.

""I prepare all his food, do his shopping, do all the cleaning,"" Jackie says. ""As soon as he's got clean clothes on he's dirty straightaway, spills his food down him all the time.""

Jackie helps Mark with everything, from going to the toilet to organising his finances.

Having a parent who had Huntington's means Jackie has a 50-50 chance of developing it herself and the possibility that she will is always there at the back of her mind.

""I twitch my shoulder and I know I do it. Sometimes I've got a twitchy eye,"" Jackie says. ""I'm being bad tempered, shouting at people. So you think, 'Is this the start of it?'""

Image copyright Benjamin Paul

But Jackie's never wanted to take the Huntington's test, whenever she's thought about it she's always backed away, her partner Tony says.

It's early December 2016. Jackie has her first appointment with a clinical geneticist at Leeds General Infirmary to discuss the possibility of taking the test.

She's not really had much time to think about the idea, what with the stress of looking after Mark and trying to get funding to build an extension for a specially adapted bathroom for him.

If you get a positive result you're effectively getting a death sentence. You know exactly how are you going to die

Jackie's also learning to drive - something she's never done before because she knows she'll only have to give it up if she does get Huntington's.

""I remember coming back from the seaside once in the car with my uncle and being stopped by the police - they thought he was drunk,"" Jackie says.

""Eventually the car was taken off us. So what's the point in going through all this heartache, wasting a year of my life and spending all this money if I do test positive for this bloody disease?""

Jackie's not even sure that she's really ready to find out if she carries the Huntington's gene.

""I don't know how far with the process I will go. This might be the end of it today, I don't know,"" she says.

Jackie and the doctor talk through her family history and the pros and cons of taking the test for about an hour.

""There's no medical reason to do the test,"" Dr Emma Hobson explains. ""We have to think very carefully about a bad result and the impact of that. You may say that you've always thought you're going to get Huntington's, but the reality of actually being told, 'Yes, you are,' that's quite a big step .""

Jackie gets upset, she's not sure Christmas is the right time, maybe it's not a good idea to go ahead just now.

""It puts a microscope to everything you've lost,"" she says. ""Maybe in the spring.""

Jackie agrees to return for another meeting in a couple of months.

""If you get a positive result you're effectively getting a death sentence. You know exactly how are you going to die, which is a lot of knowledge to take on,"" she says.

""I suppose that's why there's so much counselling upfront. Would I throw myself under a bus? I don't know.""

As Christmas approaches Jackie is busy looking after Mark and trying to raise the profile of Huntington's disease with an idea inspired by her border terrier, Sybil.

She's sewing and sending out hundreds of little green and pink felt dogs to encourage friends, celebrities, anyone, to photograph themselves with one, just to get people to talk about the disease.

Image copyright Benjamin Paul

""I'm not very good at crafts, but I've managed to make six or seven hundred of these,"" Jackie says, ""it's driving me crazy picking up bits of thread and felt.""

Huntington's disease

About 8,500 people in the UK have Huntington's disease and a further 25,000 will develop it when they are older

Only a very small proportion of people from Huntington's families take the test to find out if they carry the faulty gene

At the end of 2017, just after Jackie got her results, researchers announced that the defect that causes Huntington's had been corrected in patients for the first time - they say there is now hope the disease can be slowed or prevented

Since the announcement more people are coming forward to take the test

For as long as she can remember, Jackie's felt that Huntington's has been a hidden disease - as though it were a shameful thing to have in the family.

""In America researchers in the '20s thought Huntington's disease families were tainted by witchcraft,"" Jackie says. ""And the language around it is fascinating - it's a devil's disease, or it's a curse.""

Many families hide Huntington's, she says, and that feeling of shame passes through generations. She remembers being embarrassed as a child, going out with her own mother.

""Mum wanted to go to the Brighouse Gala but then she'd fall over and have a cut leg, and so you're the one with the mother staggering about looking like she's a drunk, not like the other ones,"" Jackie says, fighting back tears.

""And you're frightened it'll be you next and nobody will want you because you're going to get the same thing, it just goes on for generations.""

But after Jackie and Mark there won't be any future generations of this family with Huntington's. Mark never had the chance to marry and have kids before the disease took hold, and although Jackie and Tony have been together for more than three decades they've never had children either.

More from The Untold

Tony would have liked to have married Jackie but with everything else going on it would just be another thing to organise now. He says it's hard to imagine how different things would have been if there had been no Huntington's in their lives.

""I should imagine we probably would have had children - we would have had no reason not to,"" Tony says. ""It's something that I'm sure Jackie regrets.""

But having a family is something Jackie's never really allowed herself to think about too much because she's always believed she carries the faulty gene.

""You toy with it, but I think you just put it away because you wouldn't want to inflict this on to anybody else,"" she says.

It's a warm, spring day in early May 2017 and Jackie and Tony are back in Leeds, on their way to the next hospital appointment.

""At the end of the day, it's never going to be the right time. So what do you do? Live without the knowledge? Or crack on and get it done?"" Jackie says.

Image caption Tony and Jackie at home in Brighouse

Since her last visit here government funding for the bungalow extension has come through and building work has begun on the accessible wet-room for Mark. Jackie's also passed her driving test.

""Every time I get in the car I think, 'This is really bizarre,'"" Jackie says, smiling. ""But it will be useful.""

She's feeling more determined to go ahead with the test and spends an hour talking through the impact that both a positive and negative result might have.

If Jackie wants to go ahead with the test she now can.

Five months later, on Friday 13 October 2017, Jackie is back at Leeds General Infirmary. Emma Hobson explains how she will tell Jackie the results at the next appointment if she goes ahead and has the blood test.

""I will make sure your appointment is the first of the afternoon and I will call you in and I will say, 'Hello, I've got your results. I'm really pleased it's good news', or 'I'm really sorry it's not,'"" she says.

""We will not be chatting, or passing the time of day, or talking about the weather.""

She goes through the consent form with Jackie and continues to check that this is really is the right thing for her.

Jackie has her blood taken by a nurse. It takes just seconds.

A month has passed. It has been a long wait.

Jackie and Tony have arranged to get a new dog in the days after Jackie gets her results. Their beloved Sybil passed away in September after more than 14 years with them, and they think that the new puppy, another border terrier they'll call Spike, will help keep their minds off things.

Jackie's been having strange dreams and is nervous and feeling stressed, but soon she will know the answer to the question she's wanted to know but been too frightened to ask almost all of her life.

Little is said on the car journey to the hospital.

Emma Hobson comes to the door of her office in the neurology outpatients department.

""Come in and have a seat Jacqueline,"" she says. ""Welcome, I've got your result, and it's good news. Have a look.

""'Normal' it says on there. It's very good news.""

Text by Sarah McDermott

""The doctor said to us: 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.' The nurse on duty cried,"" says Sally Phillips, recalling the day when her 10-day-old son, Olly, was tested for Down's syndrome. Already 90% of women in the UK who know their baby will have Down's syndrome opt for termination and Phillips worries that a new, very accurate test will cause the number to rise. Will Olly be one of the UK's last children with Down's?

Read: A world without Down's syndrome?

Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.",en
"When Javier Artigas began needing kidney dialysis and found himself jobless, he developed an app to make it easier for people to get treatment when travelling. But his breakthrough came completely by chance, after he saved the life of a famous Argentine writer.

Without a job, Javier Artigas needed money to support his family, so he decided to rent out space in his Montevideo home on the home-sharing site, Airbnb.

It went well. One of his guests was the well-known Argentine writer, Hernán Casciari. But two days into his stay, Casciari had a heart attack. He needed to get to hospital quickly.

As chance would have it, Artigas's wife, Alejandra, worked for the Uruguayan senate, and was able to organise a police escort to speed up the journey. Instead of 40 minutes it took just 12. That, and the blood they donated, saved Casciari's life.

Later, once he had recovered and returned to Argentina, the writer left Javier and his wife a five-star review.

""Excellent house for sedentary travellers prone to myocardial infarctions. The area is beautiful and has direct access to the best hospitals. Javier and Alejandra instantly become guardian angels who will save your life without even knowing you. They will rush you to the hospital in their own car while you're dying and stay in the waiting room while doctors give you a bypass. They don't want you to feel lonely, they bring you books to read and they let you stay in their house extra nights without charging you. Highly recommend.""

Translation: With the great @Casciari at home, alive and kicking!! Hugs from all the family!

But Artigas was more than a good host and Casciari's newly found guardian angel - he knew from personal experience just how hard it can be to be ill when you're far away from home.

Find out more

Javier Artigas spoke to Outlook on the BBC World Service

You can listen again on the BBC iPlayer

In 2007, Artigas was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, which caused his kidney function to decline rapidly. By 2014, he required haemodialysis treatment three times a week to do the work his kidneys no longer could. Each dialysis session - during which his blood would pass through an external waste-removing filtration machine before returning to his body - took four hours.

For patients like Artigas, their dialysis sessions need to be set in stone to prevent dangerous toxins from building up in the blood. Regular appointments cannot be missed, so visiting a foreign country where you may not speak the language, understand medical regulations, or be able to find affordable treatment, is a huge challenge.

Artigas's job involved lots of travel to Latin American and African countries where there was a further problem - finding somewhere safe to have dialysis, with uncontaminated water. After he revealed his condition and his need for dialysis to his employers he lost his job.

""I had four children and I didn't know what to do,"" he says. ""Nobody was going to hire me. To be unemployed was a whole unknown world for me. I went into a crisis because I was my family's breadwinner - a deep emotional crisis.""

Image caption Javier Artigas having dialysis

It's estimated that chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects one in 10 people around the world, with millions dying every year due to lack of affordable treatment.

Artigas eventually managed to find work in IT, but this also involved some foreign travel. On one occasion he was sent to Córdoba, Argentina, where he had arranged a dialysis session, but when he arrived he was told that there was no record of his appointment. He had no access to the vital treatment he needed because he wasn't a resident of Argentina.

After almost 12 hours of desperate searching, terrified he was going to die from the toxins in his blood, he managed to find a hospital willing to provide him with dialysis.

People used to try and find a dialysis centre first, and then plan their holiday - we do it the other way around Javier Artigas

""On my way back, on that 2,000km trek, I started thinking about this problem,"" he says.

It was a wake-up call. He decided he wanted to do something to help dialysis users, and in 2015 he developed an app, Connectus, to connect kidney patients with treatment centres when away from home.

""People used to try and find a dialysis centre first, and then plan their holiday,"" says Artigas. ""We do it the other way around. You find the beach where you want to go and we'll find the dialysis centre for you.""

Connectus initially launched in August 2015 as a small web platform, costing just $1,700. It focused on connecting patients from Uruguay with a small number of dialysis centres in Argentina and Brazil, the most popular destinations for Uruguayan tourists.

A month later, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology gave Connectus its prestigious Best Innovative Healthcare Solution award. This was a big success, but the breakthrough that enabled Artigas to expand the project to serve people in nearly 150 countries, providing access to more than 14,500 dialysis machines, came about in the most unexpected way - as a result of Hernán Casciari's Airbnb review.

Unbeknown to Artigas, an Airbnb representative in Miami had forwarded the review to Joe Gebbia, the company's multi-billionaire co-founder, who read it and sent Artigas an email.

On 31 December 2015, Artigas and his wife were driving to a beach 100km east of Montevideo to celebrate New Year when Gebbia's email arrived. It said he would like to fly to Uruguay to stay with Artigas's family.

At first, Artigas thought it was a hoax. But he handed the phone to his wife, and she replied to the email. Within an hour Gebbia had booked his flight. He would spend New Year's Eve in the air and arrive on New Year's Day.

As the two men got to know each other, Artigas asked what had driven Gebbia to make his sudden visit to Uruguay.

""He said, 'I've come here because I want to hear first-hand your story. I want to know every detail. I want to know your blood type. Everything you've gone through.""

Artigas had not planned on talking to Gebbia about his app, Connectus, but he had already heard about it and asked lots of questions about that too.

Gebbia spent most of his time in Montevideo relaxing and reading in the garden. Then one day he told Artigas to go to his computer and look for an email from San Francisco.

""I thought it was going to be payment for his stay at my house - I wasn't going to charge him. Then all of a sudden I see that there's a contract to go into business with his company. I couldn't believe it,"" he says.

Since then Connectus Medical has gone from strength to strength. It's not the only app or website of its kind, but it has now been used by nearly 250,000 patients.

Artigas's precarious finances have stabilised and his health has also improved.

Kidney disease runs in the Artigas family. Javier's 22-year-old daughter has it, and his father died of it at the age of 48, only a few years older than Artigas is now.

On 9 August 2017, Artigas had a kidney transplant that changed his life. Two days later, on the anniversary of his father's death, while recovering in the intensive care unit, his doctor played him El Chiquilín de Bachín on the bandoneon, to help him relax. Little did the doctor know, El Chiquilín de Bachín - The Little Boy from the Tavern - was what his father used to call him.

It was a special moment. As he embarked on a new life with a functioning kidney he felt that his father was there, urging him to use the opportunity to the full.

He now no longer needs dialysis, but he continues to work to make life easier for those who do.

@natashalipman

Listen to Javier Artigas speaking to Outlook on the BBC World Service

Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.",en
"Finding a mate in the giant world is challenging. It's somewhat hazardous when you risk being run over by a millipede.

The Madagascan dwarf chameleon (Brookesia minima) was long believed to be the world's tiniest reptile until a smaller species, Brookesia micra, was described in 2012.

While they may not be the tiniest, they are so small they are only slightly bigger than an ant. When the male comes across a potential mate he holds on tight and won't let go - a good tactic when you're a little reptile in a giant forest.

Watch the moment Sir David Attenborough and BBC filmmakers saw two dwarf chameleons pair up for the series Madagascar.

This media cannot be played on your device.

Even better, you can watch a further 1,000 more memorable moments, for free, anytime, on your smartphone or tablet, via Attenborough's Story of Life app, which is now available to download via Google Play, or Apple's app store.

Find out more at http://www.bbc.com/earth/storyoflife.

The Story of Life has been produced in collaboration with Sir David Attenborough, BBC Earth and ideas and innovation company AKQA.",en
"Ask an office worker, and you will likely be told that Mondays are insufferable. But ask a psychologist, and the answer could be very different.

Want to know why? Watch our video and read this feature to understand more.",en
"Newcomers to the crypto craze often have trouble wrapping their heads around the concept – so a new Japanese pop group is here to help.

Each member of the 'Virtual Currency Girls' – or Kasotsuka Shojo in Japanese – adopts the guise of a different cryptocurrency, wearing metallic wrestling-style masks and frilly maid outfits as they dance and sing about virtual markets.

Coming from a country with some of the world’s biggest digital exchanges, the Virtual Currency Girls dream of promoting their music while encouraging the use of cryptocurrencies around the globe.

To comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Capital, please head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.

If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called ""If You Only Read 6 Things This Week"". A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.",en
"Image caption The BBC News app is available for Android and iOS devices

With the latest news and analysis from our journalists around the world and the unique human stories behind current events, we've got the best of our journalism in one place.

Click here to download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

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Features include:

Stories available and updated as they happen, with news alerts delivered within seconds

A personalised feed with a choice of thousands of topics - so you get the news that matters most to you

Videos of the Day. Watch the best of our footage and see what's getting people talking

BBC Stories - your world revealed through in-depth storytelling

For UK users, watch the BBC News Channel live

Depending on the contract you have, data charges may apply for accessing the internet on your mobile device.

If you are not sure about the potential charges, please ask your mobile network provider. You may find some costs are included in your existing price plan or that you can opt for a data package that gives reduced charges for accessing the internet.

The BBC does not charge you to access mobile content.",en
"The BBC is recognised by audiences in the UK and around the world as a provider of news that you can trust. Our website, like our TV and radio services, strives for journalism that is accurate, impartial, independent and fair.

Our editorial values say: ""The trust that our audience has in all our content underpins everything that we do. We are independent, impartial and honest. We are committed to achieving the highest standards of accuracy and impartiality and strive to avoid knowingly or materially misleading our audiences.

""Our commitment to impartiality is at the heart of that relationship of trust. In all our output we will treat every subject with an impartiality that reflects the full range of views. We will consider all the relevant facts fairly and with an open mind.""

Research shows that, compared to other broadcasters, newspapers and online sites, the BBC is seen as by far the most trusted and impartial news provider in the UK.

Even so, we know that identifying credible journalism on the internet can be a confusing experience. We also know that audiences want to understand more about how BBC journalism is produced.

For these reasons, BBC News is making even greater efforts to explain what type of information you are reading or watching on our website, who and where the information is coming from, and how a story was crafted the way it was. By doing so, we can help you judge for yourself why BBC News can be trusted.

We are also making these indicators of trustworthy journalism ""machine-readable"", meaning that they can be picked up by search engines and social media platforms, helping them to better identify reliable sources of information too.

These indicators comprise the following areas:

BEST PRACTICE

The BBC has long had its own Editorial Guidelines that apply to all of our content and set out the standards expected of our journalists. To make it easier to see how BBC guidelines are used in our newsroom, we have listed all the relevant sections on this page.

Mission Statement: The mission of the BBC is to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services that inform, educate and entertain. Full details are in the BBC Charter.

Ownership Structure, Funding and Grants: We are independent of outside interests and arrangements that could undermine our editorial integrity. Our audiences should be confident that our decisions are not influenced by outside interests, political or commercial pressures, or any personal interests. Learn more about how BBC News is funded, in the UK and internationally, in the BBC Charter on the independence of the BBC.

Other links:

Founding Date: The BBC was founded on 18 October 1922. Read more about the history of the BBC.

Ethics Policy: The BBC's Editorial Guidelines outline the editorial values and practices that all our output is expected to conform to.

Other links:

Diversity Policy: Learn about BBC News' commitment to diversity in the BBC Charter.

Other links:

Diversity Staffing Report: Find out about how BBC News is working to increase diversity in the BBC's Equality Information Report.

Corrections: The BBC is committed to achieving due accuracy. Policies relating to corrections can be found in the following sections of our Editorial Guidelines.

Our output must be well sourced, based on sound evidence, thoroughly tested and presented in clear, precise language. We should be honest and open about what we don't know and avoid unfounded speculation. Claims, allegations, material facts and other content that cannot be corroborated should normally be attributed.

We are open in acknowledging mistakes when they are made and encourage a culture of willingness to learn from them.

If an article has been edited since publication to correct a material inaccuracy, a note will be added at the end of the text to signal to the reader there has been an amendment or correction with the date of that change. If there is a small error in a story that does not alter its editorial meaning (eg name misspelling), the correction will be made without an additional note.

Unless content is specifically made available only for a limited time period, there is a presumption that material published online will become part of a permanently accessible archive and will not normally be removed. Exceptional circumstances may include legal reasons, personal safety risks, or a serious breach of editorial standards that cannot be rectified except by removal of the material.

Other links:

Verification/Fact-checking Standards: The BBC's accuracy and verification policy is outlined in the Editorial Guidelines on Accuracy.

Other links:

Unnamed Sources: The BBC's policy and guidance on the use of anonymous sources is detailed in the Editorial Guidelines.

Other links:

Actionable Feedback: The BBC's complaints procedure is outlined in the BBC Complaints Framework.

Other links:

Leadership: Meet the senior executive team that runs the news division: BBC News Board.

JOURNALIST EXPERTISE

BBC News articles based on original reporting carry bylines (the name of the journalist), as often do those authored by journalists who have a subject specialism.

General news stories, which tend to combine information from a variety of sources, including news agencies, BBC Newsgathering and BBC broadcast output, or which may have been produced by several members of staff over the course of the day, do not as a rule carry bylines.

Article bylines for many correspondents and editors link to individual blog pages, where biographical information, expertise, and social media details can be found.

TYPE OF WORK

BBC News distinguishes between factual reporting and opinion. We use machine-readable labels in six categories:

News - Journalism based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources

- Journalism based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Analysis - Output primarily based on the specialist knowledge of an author, whether a BBC journalist or outside expert, to help you understand complex current affairs and trends

- Output primarily based on the specialist knowledge of an author, whether a BBC journalist or outside expert, to help you understand complex current affairs and trends Ask the Audience - Content created primarily to elicit direct audience response

- Content created primarily to elicit direct audience response Explainer - Content that provides clear factual explanation of the causes or context behind the news

- Content that provides clear factual explanation of the causes or context behind the news Opinion - BBC News itself is impartial and does not offer opinions but we do sometimes publish expressions of personal views by outside experts, advocating ideas and drawing conclusions based on the author's interpretation of facts and data

- BBC News itself is impartial and does not offer opinions but we do sometimes publish expressions of personal views by outside experts, advocating ideas and drawing conclusions based on the author's interpretation of facts and data Review - Content based on a critical appraisal of an event, a work of art etc, containing first-hand opinion

CITATIONS AND REFERENCES

Our output, as appropriate to its subject and nature, should be well sourced, based on sound evidence, thoroughly tested and presented in clear, precise language. We strive to be honest and open about what we don't know and avoid unfounded speculation.

Where BBC News relies on a single source for a key aspect of its coverage, we will strive to credit that source, where possible. We usually link to official reports, sets of statistics and other sources of information, to enable you to judge for yourself the underlying information that we are reporting on.

Whenever appropriate, we also offer links to relevant third-party websites that provide additional information, source material or informed comment.

METHODOLOGY

For in-depth pieces of work, such as complex investigations or data journalism projects, we will help you understand how we went about our work by showing the underlying data and by disclosing any caveats, assumptions or other methodological frameworks used - for example, the study-design; the sample size; representativeness; margins of error; how the data was collected; geographical relevance and time periods.",en
"İzleyin

'O gün ne giyiyordun?'

Tecavüz mağdurlarına karakolda ve mahkemede yöneltilen bu soruya, Brüksel'de açılan bir sergi meydan okuyor. ""Benim suçum mu?"" başlıklı sergide mağdurların tecavüze uğradığı sırada üzerlerinde olan kıyafetlerin benzerleri ve mağdurlardan notlar yer alıyor.",tr
"Fotoğraf

Ekim Devrimi: Devrimin ilk yıllarından 10 propaganda posteri

Ekim Devrimi’nin yaşandığı 1917, isyanlar kadar yaratıcılığın da büyük olduğu bir yıldı. Bu yaratıcılığı, yıl boyunca kitleleri eylemlere çağıran posterlerde görmek mümkün. BBC Rusça, Rusya Çağdaş Tarih Müzesi Güzel Sanatlar Direktörü Vera Panfilova’dan en beğendiği 10 posteri seçmesini istedi.",tr
"Is social mobility really about school cash?

Head teachers say that social mobility hotspots are also the places where schools are among the best-funded.",en
"'There's a 50% chance I've a fatal disease. Do I find out?'

Huntington's disease runs through Jackie Harrison's family, but should she take a test which will tell her if she will get it too?",en
"Nearly one in five mortgage-holders has an interest-only home loan, but many do not have a plan for the final bill.



From the section Business

Business comments",en
"The House of Lords is holding a marathon two-day debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill. A total of 195 peers want to speak - a record-breaking number of speakers for a Lords debate.

From the section UK Politics",en
"EU sets out Brexit transition demands

The EU wants the UK to continue to follow its rules but not be involved in making decisions.",en
"3. How does the BBC use my location information?

You can provide location information by searching for a place or by sharing your current location (geolocation) with the BBC. It is not obligatory to do so – users can decline sharing their current location by clicking NO on the browser pop up. This choice is stored in the browser and unless clearing cookies, users will not be asked to share their location again.

Location data is only used to provide relevant content across the BBC and is not used for any other purposes nor to identify a unique user.",en
"Image caption Home Screen for the BBC IPTV app

The App delivers the BBC's global, national and regional news coverage - on-demand - via an internet connection.

The design enables quick and simple discovery of video and text content - aligned with BBC News's coverage on web and mobile devices.

Navigation around the app is done using the arrow keys and the enter and back keys on your remote control.

Image caption Video content on demand on your connected TV

Image caption Article on your connected TV

Accessing the BBC News App

The app is available on connected TVs from Sony, Samsung, LG and more. It is also available on major television platforms including YouView, and Virgin TiVo - along with a range of streaming devices, including Amazon Fire TV and Now TV. The app can be found either in the device/platform's app store, or via the Red Button on connected televisions.

The BBC works with platforms and device manufacturers continually to ensure availability on as many devices and platforms as possible. Existing users of the BBC News app will be upgraded to the new version automatically.",en
"This page explains how the BBC can keep you in touch with the latest news. We offer a daily email and Breaking News alerts via the News website, the News App and Twitter.

Subscribe to our email newsletter

Sign up here to receive BBC News Daily which is published each weekday morning. You'll receive a digest of the day's top news stories and features from BBC News and some of the best writing from elsewhere on the internet.

Breaking News alerts on the News website

Whenever you come to the BBC News website on a tablet or computer, you'll get notified of the latest breaking news in the 'breaking news banner' which automatically appears at the bottom of your browser window.

The banner will disappear when you click on it, dismiss it or visit another page.

Add BBC Breaking News alerts to your News app

Push notifications are available to users of smartphones and tablets who download the BBC News App, allowing you to receive breaking news alerts. When a push notification is received it will pop up on your screen similar to a text message, regardless of whether or not the app is open at the time. Depending on your settings the alert may also be accompanied by a sound. Tapping the notification will load the corresponding story in the app when it is available. Full details on how push alerts work are available for iPhone and iPads and Android.

You can choose to unsubscribe from push notifications from BBC News in your device's 'Notifications' screen.

Subscribe to Twitter alerts

On Twitter, we offer a breaking news account which you can follow and receive breaking news alerts as they happen. To subscribe login or register with Twitter and then follow @BBCBreaking.",en
"Please choose one of the following:

To send us a story.

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If you want to complain about any BBC news output, go to the BBC Complaints website.",en
"Rising bond yields and a sell-off in healthcare shares sent the US stock market sliding in afternoon trading, with the Dow Jones down almost 400 points at one stage - its steepest fall in eight months.

Shares of healthcare-related companies sank after Amazon.com, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan said they plan to form a venture aimed at lowering healthcare costs for their US employees.

The S&P health sector tumbled 1.8%, the most among the 11 major sectors on the index.

Health insurer UnitedHealth's 3.2% drop was the most on the Dow, while Express Scripts' 6.2% decline weighed the most on the Nasdaq and S&P.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Studies question how good social media is for children's health

More than 100 child health experts are urging Facebook to withdraw an app aimed at under-13s.

In an open letter to Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, they call Messenger Kids an ""irresponsible"" attempt to encourage young children to use Facebook.

Young children are not ready to have social media accounts, they say.

Facebook says the app was designed with online safety experts in response to parental calls for more control over how their children used social media.

It is a simplified, locked-down version of Facebook's Messenger app, requiring parental approval before use, and data generated from it is not used for advertising.

The open letter says: ""Messenger Kids will likely be the first social media platform widely used by elementary school children [four- to -11-year-olds].

""But a growing body of research demonstrates that excessive use of digital devices and social media is harmful to children and teens, making it very likely this new app will undermine children's healthy development.

""Younger children are simply not ready to have social media accounts.

""They are not old enough to navigate the complexities of online relationships, which often lead to misunderstandings and conflicts even among more mature users.""

In response, Facebook said: ""Since we launched in December we've heard from parents around the country that Messenger Kids has helped them stay in touch with their children and has enabled their children to stay in touch with family members near and far.

""For example, we've heard stories of parents working night shifts being able to read bedtime stories to their children, and mums who travel for work getting daily updates from their kids while they're away.""

The letter questions whether there is a need for Facebook to fulfil such a role, saying: ""Talking to family and friends over long distances doesn't require a Messenger Kids account.

""Kids can use parents' Facebook, Skype, or other accounts to chat with relatives. They can also just pick up a phone.""

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption There is a growing body of evidence suggesting links between social media use and depression in youngsters

The letter cites a range of research linking teenagers' social media use with increased depression and anxiety.

""Adolescents who spend an hour a day chatting on social networks report less satisfaction with nearly every aspect of their lives.

""Eighth graders [13- to 14-year-olds] who use social media for six to nine hours per week are 47% more likely to report they are unhappy than their peers who use social media less often.""

It also cites a study of 10- to -12-year-old girls who are ""more likely to idealise thinness, have concerns about their bodies, and to have dieted"".

Other statistics, quoted from a range of different research, include:

78% of adolescents check their phones hourly

50% say they are addicted to their phones

Half of parents say regulating screen time is a constant battle

The experts also dispute Facebook's claims that Messenger Kids provides a safe alternative for children who have lied their way on to social media platforms, by pretending to be older than they are.

""The 11- and 12-year-olds who currently use Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook are unlikely to switch to an app that is clearly designed for younger children.

""Messenger Kids is not responding to a need - it is creating one,"" the letter states.

The letter is signed by a range of child welfare groups, chief among them the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Other signees included Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union and Parents Across America. A host of individuals also signed, including British scientist Baroness Susan Greenfield.

The UK government met social media companies and hardware manufacturers such as Apple in November 2017 and asked them to look at a series of issues - including:",en
"Ảnh

Indonesia: Người Orang Rimba phải cải đạo để sinh tồn

Một sắc dân thiểu số ở Sumatra buộc phải cải sang đạo Hồi để sống sót sau khi rừng nhiệt đới, môi trường sống của họ, bị phá làm đồn điền trồng cọ và cao su.",vi
"Âm thanh

'U23 Việt Nam đá hay nhưng không gặp may'

U23 của Việt Nam thi đấu hay với tinh thần và kỷ luật chiến thuật tốt, nhưng không gặp may khi để thủng lưới 2-1 ở những giây cuối hiệp phụ II, theo bình luận viên Đình Khải.",vi
"Video

'Thêm bằng chứng' vụ ám sát Kim Jong-nam

Luật sư của Siti Aisyah đưa ra bằng chứng cho thấy cô được một lái xe taxi giới thiệu với ông Ri người Bắc Hàn cho 'show chơi khăm trên TV'.",vi
"BBCVietnamese.com bao gồm các liên kết tới cả trang nội bộ BBC và bên ngoài. Chúng tôi chọn các địa chỉ phù hợp với nội dung bài và độc giả.

Các liên kết ngoài được lựa chọn và kiểm tra khi bài được đăng tải lên mạng. Nhưng BBC không chịu trách nhiệm cho nội dung các website bên ngoài. Đó là vì:

BBC không sản xuất hay duy trì/cập nhật nội dung đó BBC không thể thay đổi chúng Nội dung ở đó có thể thay đổi mà không có sự đồng ý của BBC hoặc BBC không được biết.

Một số trang bên ngoài có thể là những website cũng cung cấp dịch vụ thương mại, như mua bán qua mạng.

Việc đưa liên kết ngoài tại trang web BBC không nên được hiểu là sự ưng thuận dành cho trang web hay chủ của nó (cũng như sản phẩm/dịch vụ của họ).

Đọc thêm thông tin (tiếng Anh): http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/links/",vi
The issue of newborns taken into care after being born to mothers who are drug addicts.,en
"Forensic crime drama series. The team investigate the death of a man found in a reservoir. Nikki and Jack deal with the aftermath of their Mexico trip. More

Haunted by her experiences in Mexico, Nikki Alexander struggles to come to terms with life back home. While on leave, she seeks out fellow pathologist Sally Vaughan for support. However, a few days later and troubled by Sally's failure to return her calls, Nikki heads over to her house only to find that it has become a crime scene, and Sally is nowhere to be found. NCA Investigator Guy Bernhard tasks Nikki to help him by employing the chief suspect in Sally's disappearance, pathologist David Cannon, at the Lyell. As a result and to Jack and Clarissa's surprise, Nikki returns to the Lyell early with David in tow. As Jack, Clarissa and Thomas share concerns about Nikki's wellbeing, a body is found in a reservoir, uncovering the mystery of a 16-year-old murder case. Less",en
"Stacey travels to Florida where sex offenders are punished forever. But do sex offenders deserve a second chance, or are their crimes impossible to forgive? More

Stacey travels to Florida where sex offenders face restrictions for life. But there is a battle raging about these laws - do they protect children, or are they just in place to make the public feel better?

Stacey spends time with offenders and law makers to consider if it is possible for sex offenders to be rehabilitated. Do they ever deserve a second chance, or are their crimes impossible to forgive?

Once sex offenders leave prison in Florida, they are put on a publicly available register for life, and neighbours are informed of where they live. Stacey meets the police officers in one county who have taken the laws to the extreme- by placing 5ft red signs outside sexual predators’ houses. They are the most serious class of offender, and most have committed crimes against children under 13.

Convicted sex offenders on the register are also subject to residency restrictions, which prevent them from living near places where children congregate - like schools, parks and even bus stops. As a result of these living restrictions, offenders have retreated to live in remote parts of Florida, away from built up areas.",en
Unruly police detective DCI Charlie Hicks is deeply suspicious of his new partner DI Elaine Renko. But their first investigation exposes a secret that will connect them for life.,en
"Comedy. Mobeen receives a surprise visit from armed police, who arrest Eight on suspicion of supplying drugs to schoolkids in Small Heath. More

Mobeen receives a surprise visit from armed police, who arrest Eight on suspicion of supplying drugs to schoolchildren in Small Heath - based on the description of an 'Asian male in tracksuit bottoms'. The real culprit is Shahid, a local dealer who has enlisted the help of his mum's cousin's cousin, 14-year-old Kareema, to move his gear. But Mobeen refuses to snitch. When Kareema asks Mobeen's little sister Aks to help her hide the drugs from the police, she follows her brother's example. However, when Mobeen finds out, he has no other option than to go looking for Shahid- but will his actions have more far-reaching consequences? Less",en
"Documentary series uncovering the secret lives of cats. In Ruaha, Tanzania, lions form huge super prides in order to hunt giants. More

In Ruaha, Tanzania, lions form huge super prides in order to hunt giants. Amongst cats lions are unusual, the only one to live in groups. In numbers they find the strength and audacity to hunt the most formidable prey.

In Sri Lanka a tiny rusty-spotted cat explores his forest home - 200 times smaller than a lion, the rusty-spotted is the smallest of all cats, but just as curious.

The Canada lynx lives further north than any cat, relying on snowshoe hares to survive the bitterly cold winters. Until now, lynx were creatures of mystery, but now technology provides an insight into their secret lives.

Predators they may be, but cats are also tender, intelligent and emotional. Honey is an African leopard and a mother. For a decade she's worn a radio collar that has allowed scientists to follow her life's every twist and turn. Now in the worst drought in decades, she's battling to raise a cub.

In the Himalayas, perhaps the world's most lonesome cat is searching for a mate - a male snow leopard, who may just get one chance to mate in his whole life.",en
"Documentary series about hate crime in the US. This episode tells the story of a young man who is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of the woman he loved. More

A young man is led into court and sentenced to life for the savage murder of the woman he loved. The camera follows him into prison, where he starts to explain his story and how he reacted with blind rage when he found out a secret his girlfriend was holding from him. But is he telling the truth, and what really happened? Slowly his story unravels as more and more information is found out about him.",en
"Sitcom. Cathy's jealousy over Colin's ex-girlfriend nearly derails Burns Night. Not everyone is enthusiastic about eating haggis, least of all vegetarian Gordon. More

A big meaty haggis for the neighbours and a tiny vegetarian one for Gordon are on the menu for Burns Night. Cathy and Colin, Ian and Gordon arrive to celebrate with Eric and Beth. To Eric's surprise, Christine turns up. She is back early from visiting her daughter Sophie, and is full of complaints about the journey. Sophie's partner has clearly failed to impress.",en
"Documentary following ten-year-old Christopher, one of America's youngest anti-gun campaigners, as he tries to discover why guns are such a big part of American life. More

Ten-year-old Christopher is one of America's youngest anti-gun campaigners. He's got some big names supporting him, from Oscar-winning Hollywood actress Julianne Moore to top British rap artist Tinie Tempah. Christopher's oldest brother Akeal was shot dead five years ago in Brooklyn, New York, sadly just one of more than 30,000 Americans killed by guns in 2012 - just as in every year since. With around 300 million guns in the USA - about as many guns as people - Christopher's on a mission to discover why guns are such a big part of American life, and to find out what he can do to make the streets safer. Less",en
"Forensic crime drama series. After a fatal traffic accident, suspicion falls on a care home resident, but is the suspicion justified? More

While two care home staff are chasing Kevin McDowd, a young man with learning disabilities and sociopathic tendencies, Nikki and Jack examine a fatal road accident where the deceased is Kevin McDowd's mother. The investigation led by police sergeant Button should be straightforward, but the forensic evidence suggests foul play. Less",en
Drama about a group of midwives in 1960s London. Lucille faces racism and prejudice when a new mother falls ill. Sister Winifred is keen to have fathers be involved in childcare.,en
"Drama about a group of midwives in 1960s London. The winter continues, and the team at Nonnatus House welcome their newest midwife, Lucille Anderson. More

The winter continues, and the team at Nonnatus House welcome their newest midwife, Lucille Anderson. Nurse Crane and Dr Turner care for an elderly cancer patient facing eviction. Less",en
"DI Mooney and his team are tested when a hotel billionaire's fiancee falls from a balcony the day before her lavish wedding and everything points to suicide. More

DI Mooney and his team are tested when a hotel billionaire's fiancee falls from a balcony the day before her lavish wedding and everything points to suicide... except for the fact that the victim only painted one fingernail. Less",en
"Dark comedy. Adrian photographs weddings, but his own marriage is far from happy. Can they make a fresh start or have they run out of love, trust and time? More

Adrian spends his time photographing other couples' weddings, but his own marriage to Harriet is far from happy. Can they renew their vows, spice up their love life and make a fresh start, or have they just run out of love, trust and time?",en
"With up-to-the-minute analysis, Nish Kumar and a team of hilarious correspondents keep you up to date with everything that has happened - or not happened - this week. More

With robust reporting and up-to-the-minute analysis, Nish Kumar and a team of hilarious correspondents keep you up to date with everything that has happened - or not happened - this week. Less",en
"A Storyville documentary: investigating big-game hunting, breeding and wildlife conservation, it raises debate about the rights and wrongs of killing animals for sport and profit. More

Endangered African species like elephants, rhinos and lions come closer to extinction each year; since 1970 the world has lost 60 per cent of all wild animals. Their devastating decline is fuelled in part by a global desire to hunt and kill these majestic animals. This film investigates the industry of big-game hunting, breeding and wildlife conservation.",en
"Real-life detective story. Chris Packham returns to Sumatra to search for a girl from a nomadic tribe he photographed 20 years ago to discover what has happened to her jungle home. More

In 1998, wildlife enthusiast and photographer Chris Packham had a remarkable encounter with the Orang Rimba, a tribe of hunter gatherers in the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia. It was the first time he had ever seen people living in perfect harmony with their environment. One photograph in particular that Chris took, a picture of a young tribal girl, has since become immensely important to him as a barometer of how we are treating our planet. In this real-life detective story, with no clues as to her identity or whereabouts other than his original photograph, Chris sets off to Sumatra 20 years on to try to find her; the girl in the picture.

Chris's search is further complicated because her tribe is nomadic and often cover vast distances on foot, and since he was last there, millions of hectares of her rainforest habitat has been destroyed. Piecing together the clues, Chris discovers to his horror that the girl's close-knit group of Orang Rimba was attacked not long after he met them, and a number of them killed. But was the girl among them?

Chris travels into the heart of Sumatra and tries to discover the girl's fate by meeting the men who pulled the murdered tribespeople's bodies out of the river. On his way, he discovers just how much of Sumatra's once pristine rainforests have been replaced by palm oil plantations, palm oil which is in around 50% of the products we buy in our supermarkets. Chris learns some uncomfortable truths about how we are all in some way connected to deforestation.",en
"Stand-up comedian Rhod Gilbert presents a documentary in which he confronts his painful shyness, looking at why he suffers from it and what can be done. More

Stand-up comedian Rhod Gilbert is painfully shy. He might hide it well, but he can't even go into a cafe to buy a coffee. No joke. In fact, his social anxiety has had a massive effect on his life. In this documentary, Rhod's going to try find out why and what can be done. Talking to fellow shy comedian Greg Davies, other shy sufferers, and scientists, Rhod comes up with a radical solution for how we can all stand up to shyness.",en
"Starring Rob Beckett and Geri Horner, it's the new singing contest with a twist. Tonight's acts face the 100, the biggest judging panel on TV, but who can get them joining in? More

Singing contest hosted by Rob Beckett which sees a range of talented singers take to the stage to perform in front of the 100 - a unique panel of music experts and performers from all over the UK. If any of the 100 like what they hear, they can stand up, join in and sing along. The greater the number that join in, the higher the act's score. At the end of the series, one act walks away with a cash prize of £50,000.

Heading up the 100 is pop icon Geri Horner. As a member of the Spice Girls, the best-selling girl group of all time, Geri knows exactly what it takes to get a crowd joining in and singing along.

Each week the acts, which include soloists and groups, amateurs to professionals, aim to make it into the top three. The winner is guaranteed a place in the final, with the acts in second and third each performing another song in a dramatic sing-off. The winner of the sing-off also goes through to the final.

The first episode features interpretations of classics such as like Lionel Richie's All Night Long and Tina Turner's Proud Mary. There are contemporary hits like One Last Time by Ariana Grande and Slow Hands by Niall Horan, and some of the acts try their hand at musical theatre with All That Jazz from Chicago and One Night Only from Dreamgirls. There is even an extraordinary mash-up of opera and rock'n'roll.",en
"A duo pitches a natural raw dog food, a doctor pitches his date-based smoothie and a London entrepreneur wants to get funding for his free-running exercise regime. More

Dragons' Den is back in business as multimillionaire investors Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Tej Lalvani and Jenny Campbell take their seats.",en
"Alexander Armstrong hosts a radio special, with Mark Steel and Marcus Brigstocke, Nicky Campbell and Rachel Burden, Liz Kershaw and Nihal, and Shaun Keaveny and Nemone. More

A special celebrity radio edition of the general knowledge quiz in which four teams try to come up with the answers that no-one else could think of. Presented by Alexander Armstrong and co-host Richard Osman. Featuring Mark Steel and Marcus Brigstocke, Nicky Campbell and Rachel Burden, Liz Kershaw and Nihal, and Shaun Keaveny and Nemone. Less",en
"Clara welcomed Craig David back into the Live Lounge, together with Dan from Bastille, to perform their single ‘I Know You’. Craig also covered Dua Lipa’s ‘IDGAF’ with a twist.",en
"اگر با تماشای ویدیو از این صفحه مشکلی داشتید می توانید پخش زنده را از کانال یوتیوب ما نیز ببینید.

برنامه های تلویزیون فارسی، هر روز به طور مستقیم و زنده از وبسایت فارسی بی‌بی‌سی نیزپخش می شود. با این حال، امکان تماشای بخشی از برنامه‌های تلویزیونی به دلیل نداشتن حق پخش از طریق وبسایت، در پخش زنده از وبسایت نیز وجود ندارد. پس از اتمام این برنامه ها، پخش زنده برنامه‌های تلویزیونی از طریق وبسایت ادامه پیدا خواهد کرد.

هر روز از ساعت ٧ تا ٩ صبح به وقت ایران (۲:۳۰ تا ۴:۳۰ به وقت گرینیچ) می‌توانید برنامه‌های رادیوی فارسی بی‌بی‌سی را نیز از طریق فرکانس‌های تلویزیون فارسی بی‌بی‌سی و نیز در همین صفحه ببینید و بشنوید.

آدرس پست الکترونیک بخش فارسی بی‌بی‌سی:

persian@bbc.co.uk",fa
"ویدیو

آموزش رقص به کودکان پناهجوی سوری در لبنان

نیکیتا شهبازی، مربی رقص و فعال حقوق بشر، از هلند به لبنان رفته و در اردوگاه فلسطینی شتیلا، به کودکان پناهجوی سوری رقص می‌آموزد.",fa
"عکس

زنان افغانستان به روایت هشت عکس

افغانستان سرزمینی پر از تنوع فرهنگی است. از آنجا که در مسیر پیوندگاه تمدن‌های بزرگ جهان بوده، هر ولایت آن بازتاب دهنده تغییرات جغرافیایی و هویت فردی مردم آن منطقه است. اقوام مختلف به طور مثال از لنگوته/عمامه، کلاه عرقچین، کلاه‌های مخروطی، پکول، یخک‌دوزی، خامک دوزی، گیراف و واسکت‌ها و آستین‌هایی آیینه‌دوزی شده استفاده می‌کنند. فاطمه حسینی، دانشجوی عکاسی در ایران از سال ۲۰۱۶ تا ۲۰۱۷ مشغول تحقیق درباره پوشش و چهره زنان اقوام افغانستان بوده و چند نمایشگاه در ایران و افغانستان برگزار کرده است. او بخشی از عکس‌هایش را در اختیار بی‌بی‌سی گذاشته است.",fa
"وبلاگ خبرنگاران:‌ یادداشت های خبرنگاران بی بی سی فارسی که برای گزارشگری به شهرها و کشورهای گوناگون سفر می کنند.

وبلاگ سردبیران: نوشته های سردبیران وبسایت،‌ رادیو و تلویزیون فارسی بی بی سی درباره برنامه ها، خدمات و بخش های جدید در رسانه های فارسی بی بی سی.

ناظران می گویند...: یادداشت های این مجموعه، بیانگر دیدگاه و نظر نویسندگان آن است. بی بی سی می کوشد تا با انتشار نظرات صاحب نظرانی از طیف های گوناگون، چشم انداز متنوع و متوازنی از دیدگاه ها را ارائه دهد.

وبلاگ سیاسی: این وبلاگ محل انتشار نکته‌ها و تحلیل‌های کوتاه خبری در مورد تحولات سیاسی روز است. مطالب این وبلاگ، کوتاه‌تر و غیر رسمی‌تر از تحلیل‌ها و گزارش‌های سیاسی سایت بی‌بی‌سی است، اما همچنان در چهارچوب قواعد حرفه‌ای این رسانه تهیه و منتشر می‌شود.

وبلاگ نوبت شما: وبلاگی مرتبط با برنامه تلویزیونی نوبت شما و محلی برای انعکاس نظرات مردم درباره موضوعات نوروز به ویژه در شبکه های اجتماعی.",fa
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درک رفتارهای کودک‌آزارانه و شناخت علائم آن ممکن است بسادگی میسر نباشد اما هوشیاری و آگاهی می‌تواند به بزرگسالان مسئول کمک کند کودکی که مورد سوء استفاده و آزار قرار دارد را از درد و رنج و مشکلاتی که تمام عمر گریبانگیرش خواهد بود شاید نجات دهند.

در ابتدا توجه به اینکه بسیار مهم است که بر اساس کنوانسیون حقوق کودک هر فرد زیر ۱۸ سال کودک (یا نوجوان) محسوب می‌شود.

هر یک از موارد زیر را که مشاهده کردید (یا اگر خود انجام دادید) کودک‌آزاری است یا دستکم احتمال کودک‌آزاری را مطرح می‌کند.

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کودک‌آزاری در کل چهار نوع دارد: عاطفی (روانی)، بدنی، جنسی و غفلت و بی‌توجهی.

آزار جسمی: هر گونه لطمه یا آزار بدنی؛ هر نوع کتک زدن، تکان دادن شدید، سوزاندن، پرتاب کردن و هل دادن، مسموم کردن، خفه کردن و امثال آن.

بعنوان یک قاعده کلی هر نوع آسیب یا لطمه‌ای در بدن که یکی از سه ویژگی زیر را داشته باشد باید احتمال کودک‌آزاری را مطرح کند:

هر گونه علامت یا نشانه‌ آسیب در بدن کودکی که توانایی حرکت ندارد (هنوز رشد نکرده یا دچار معلولیت است)

در جایی از بدن که چنین آسیبی غیر معمول است،

هیچ توضیح یا دلیل پزشکی برای آن وجود ندارد

توضیح پدر و مادر/سرپرست درباره چگونگی ایجاد آسیب با ماهیت آن تطبیق ندارد یا منطقی به نظر نمی‌رسد (توجه به این موضوع برای پزشکان، کارکنان درمانی و معلمان بسیار مهم است.)

پدر و مادر/سرپرست رفتاری مشکوک دارند، با تاخیر از پزشک یا کادر درمانی کمک خواسته‌اند یا اصلا کمک نگرفته‌اند، برای ترخیص کودک از بیمارستان عجله دارند و اصرار می‌کنند که با بچه خوب رفتار می‌کنند.

پدر و مادر از هم جدا شده باشند و مراقبت از کودک گاهی بعهده همسر (یا دوست پسر/دختر) مادر یا پدر باشد.

کودک اغلب غم‌زده، منزوی، ترسیده یا با بهت‌زدگی ناظر است یا ممکن است چیزی بگوبد که حاکی از آزار دیدن باشد

علائم و نشانه‌های آزار جسمی توضیح؛ ویژگی‌ها کبودی کبودی یا اثر هر نوع شیء بر بدن مثلا قلاب کمربند، کبودی‌های متعدد، هم‌اندازه و هم‌شکل جای گاز گرفتن جای گاز گرفتن انسان (نه متعلق به کودک دیگر)، جای گاز گرفتن حیوانات (می‌تواند حاکی از غفلت و بی‌توجهی باشد) انواع زخم زخم‌های متعدد، قرینه، هم‌شکل در جاهای غیر معمول، جای طناب بر مچ دست و پا یا گردن سوختگی وقتی جای سوختگی شبیه یک شیء شناخته شده مثل اتو باشد؛ وقتی به نظر برسد علت، فرو کردن عضو به زور در آب جوش است شکستگی شکستگی‌های متعدد در زمان‌های متفاوت، شکستگی‌های نهفته که در عکس رادیولوژی دیده شود آسیب‌های سر و جمجمه بخصوص اگر در کودک زیر سه سال دیده شود، همراه با شکستگی‌های دیگر، خونریزی داخل چشم، آسیب ستون فقرات، اعضای داخلی و دهان اگر توضیح پزشکی نداشته باشد

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غفلت و بی‌توجهی انواع توضیح، ویژگی‌ها عدم رسیدگی و مراقبت درمورد نیازهای ضروری کودک (غذا، لباس، جای امن) نداشتن لباس، کفش و پوشش کافی، تکرر مشکلاتی مثل شپش سر یا گال، عدم رشد کافی متناسب با سن، بوی بد یا کثیف بودن کودک، نخوردن غذای کافی و مناسب، تنها گذاشتن کودک بدون مراقبت و سرپرستی، خانه کثیف و غیر بهداشتی، حمام نبردن و شستشوی ناکافی، تصادف عدم رسیدگی‌های بهداشتی و درمانی و بی‌توجهی به سلامت کودک واکسن نزدن، ندادن دارو به کودک، عدم مراجعه به پزشک، مسمومیت کودک، گاز گرفتن حیوانات، در آب افتادن و خطر غرق شدن، پوسیدگی دندان، عدم رسیدگی به آموزش و فعالیت‌های فوق برنامه مدرسه نرفتن، غیبت زیاد از مدرسه، نبود فعالیت‌های مختلف در اوقات فراغت که مانع از رشد شناختی (هوش، مهارت‌های اجتماعی، تمرکز) کودک می‌شود نبود قاعده و قانون در خانه نداشتن استمرار در گذاشتن قاعده و اعمال آن، نبود برنامه خواب، غذا، درس و غیره

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آزار روانی (عاطفی): این نوع آزار کمتر از انواع دیگر گزارش می‌شود یا شناسایی می‌شود اما بسیاری آن را شایع‌ترین نوع کودک‌آزاری می‌دانند. این نوع آزار معمولا با سه نوع آزار دیگر همراه است. ابتدا به انواع آزار روانی می‌پردازیم بعد به نشانه‌ها و علائم آن در کودک آزار دیده.

آزار روانی (عاطفی) انواع توضیح، ویژگی‌ها پرخاشگری و انتقاد بیش از حد پدر و مادر فقط به رفتارهای نامناسب کودک توجه می‌کند و با خشونت و انتقاد به آن پاسخ می‌دهند، توانایی و شخصیت کودک را زیر سوال می‌برند و او را تحقیر می‌کنند آبروی کودک را جلوی دیگران می‌برند، ایجاد احساس بی اهمیتی و ناچیز بودن در کودک نبود محبت و عاطفه و طرد کودک در آغوش نگرفتن، عدم اظهار محبت کلامی و غیرکلامی، نداشتن رابطه صمیمانه و نزدیک، تبعیض گذاشتن بین خواهر یا برادرها محرومیت از توجه پاداش ندادن به رفتارهای مناسب کودک، نادیده گرفتن کودک، بازی نکردن با کودک، نداشتن همبازی، غیبت زیاد از خانه یا در دسترس نبودن پدر و مادر ناهماهنگی و رفتارهای متناقض خواسته‌های پدر با مادر با هم تناقض اساسی دارد، پدر یا مادر یک بار به رفتاری پاداش می‌دهند بار دیگر بشدت تنبیه می‌کنند، پدر یا مادر صبح خوش خلق هستند شب پرخاشگر و تندخو و کودک را طرد می‌کنند (مانع اعتماد کودک به والدین می‌شود) تهدید به ترک کودک تهدید کودک (گاهی بعلت خطای جزئی) به بیرون انداخته شدن از خانه، سر راه گذاشتن، به یتیم‌خانه فرستادن، یا تهدید پدر و مادر که خود خانه را ترک می‌کنند (منجر به رابطه اضطرابی با والدین می‌شود) خواسته‌ها یا استرس‌های نامناسب کتک خوردن مادر، خشونت خانگی، اعتیاد، انداختن گناه‌ها مثل طلاق به گردن کودک، استفاده از کودک برای رساندن پیام‌های خشن پدر و مادر به یکدیگر، زیر فشار گذاشتن کودک برای طرفداری از یکی از والدین، استفاده از کودک برای آشتی بین پدر و مادر، توقع اینکه کودک کارهایی را بعهده بگیرد که مناسب سنش نیست، مثل روبرو شدن با طلبکار

کودکی که از نظر روانی آزار می‌بیند رفتارهایی بروز می‌دهد که برای آنها دلیل پزشکی یا دلیل موجهی پیدا نمی‌شود، یا متناسب با سنش نیستند یا نشانه‌های عدم رشد کافی از جنبه‌های مختلف وجود دارد.

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علائم و نشانه‌های آزار روانی کودک رفتار کودک رفتار پدر و مادر/سرپرست کابوس‌های مکرر با مضامین مشابه طرد کودک اضطراب، رنج و غم شدید مقصر دانستن کودک برای هر چیز پرهیز از ارتباط با دیگران انتظارات و توقع نابجا و نامتناسب با سن کودک (رفتاری، تحصیلی، اجتماعی) انزوا و در دنیای خود بودن تهدید یا تنبیه نامناسب پرخاشگری استفاده از کودک برای برآوردن نیازهای خود رفتارهای نامتناسب با سن استفاده از کودک برای برآوردن آرزوهای دست‌نیافته خود ترسیده و نگران با عزت نفس پایین بی‌تفاوتی وقتی که باید به کودک توجه شود تکان دادن بدن به جلو غقب قرار دادن کودک در شرایط ترسناک، مثل شاهد خشونت خانگی بودن رفتارهایی برای جلب توجه یا محبت کمک نکردن به رشد مهارت‌های اجتماعی کودک صمیمیت بیش از حد با غریبه‌ها یا با پزشک و پرستار نگرانی از صحبت کردن کودک با پزشک یا پرستار بدون حضور والدین/سرپرست بیش از حد چسبیدن به دیگران بدبینی به کودک رابطه نامناسب با کسی که از او مراقبت می‌کند خشونت و پرخاش با کودک اطاعت افراطی واکنش‌های عاطفی نامناسب یا شدید که با سن تناسب ندارند و دلیل پزشکی هم ندارند گریه و قشقرق و جنجال در سن مدرسه خشم شدید بدون دلیل از دست دادن علاققه به چیزها یا کارهایی که کودک قبلا به آنها علاقه داشته گریه تسکین‌ناپذیر کودک بسیار کمتر از گذشته احساسات مختلف نشان می‌دهد و دیگر نمی‌تواند به دیگران ابراز علاقه کند مشکل تمرکز واکنش‌های نامعمول به حضور برخی بزرگسالان ادرار یا مدفوع در رختخواب (در حالی که این مشکل قبلا نبوده یا اینکه عمدا اتفاق می‌افتد) تنبیه برای شب ادراری حتی اگر پزشکان به پدر و مادر گفته باشند که غیر ارادی اتفاق می‌افتد مشکلات خوردن (دزدیدن یا پنهان کردن غذا) عقب بودن رشد جسمی، روانی، عاطفی و کلامی واکنش نامناسب به معاینه پزشکی فرار کردن خودآزاری و آسیب زدن به خود

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برای دختربچه‌ها بیشتر از پسربچه‌ها اتفاق می‌افتد، اما در پسربچه‌ها هم کم نیست. نکته مهم در رابطه جنسی رضایت هر دو طرف است. در فرد زیر پانزده سال در هر حالتی رابطه جنسی، سوء استفاده جنسی است. رابطه جنسی فرد بالای هجده سال با فرد زیر هجده سال هم آزار جنسی است.

آزار جنسی علائم و نشانه‌ها توضیح ترشح، زخم و خونریزی و آسیب در ناحیه تناسلی و مقعد بخصوص وقتی تکرار شود بدون وجود دلیل پزشکی عفونت ادراری مکرر بدون وجود دلیل پزشکی پیدا شدن اشیا مختلف در واژن یا مقعد باز بودن غیر عادی مقعد در حین معاینه پزشکی بدون وجود دلیل پزشکی هپاتیت بی یا زگیل تناسلی بخصوص در کودکی که هنوز به سن رابطه جنسی نرسیده (یا زیر ۱۵ سال) وقتی که تزریق خون آلوده مطرح نیست حاملگی در نوجوانی بیماری‌های آمیزشی وقتی کودک به سن رابطه جنسی نرسیده خودآزاری فرار شب‌ادراری یا شب‌مدفوعی که قبلا وجود نداشته خودآزاری و آسیب زدن به خود رفتارهایی با مضامین جنسی که متناسب با سن نیست پرخاشگری و خشونت بدون دلیل انزوا، در خود رفتن، سکوت و تلخی از دست دادن دوستان خودداری از مدرسه رفتن خودکشی همیشه نگران و گوش بزنگ است و با کوچکترین صدا یا اتفاقی پریشان می‌شود

در ایران برای کمک‌‌گرفتن از متخصصان و سازمان‌های مسئول در مورد کودک‌آزاری می‌توانید با اورژانس اجتماعی ۱۲۳ تماس بگیرید، یا با صدای یارا (خط تلفنی انجمن حمایت از حقوق کودکان).

دادستانی تهران هم شماره تلفنی را برای گزارش موارد کودک‌آزاری اعلام کرده و در استان‌های دیگر هم با بهزیستی یا دادستانی استان می‌توان تماس گرفت.",fa
"فعل‌های مترادف

در زبان فارسی دو فعل ""کردن"" و ""شدن"" در ترکیب به کلمه‌ها فعل مرکب می‌سازند. جایگزین کردن این فعل‌ها با فعل‌های دیگر برای گریز از تکرار اشتباه است.

در زبان فارسی دو فعل (verb) داریم که معمولاً در ترکیب با کلمه‌های دیگر، فعل مرکب (compound verbs) می‌سازد. این دو فعل ""کردن"" و ""شدن"" است. فعل ""کردن"" در ترکیب با صفت (adjective) و اسم (noun) و اسم فعل (verbal noun) و اسم مفعول یا صفت مفعولی (passive participial adjective) و اسم فاعل یا صفت فاعلی (active participial adjective) فعل مرکب متعدی (compound transitive verb) می‌سازد:

درست کردن، بد کردن، پاک کردن، زیبا کردن، ثروتمند کردن، کوتاه کردن، آسان کردن، سست کردن، پشیمان کردن...

آشـتی کردن، صـبر کردن، گـوش کـردن، دسـت و پا کـردن، ردیف کردن، همکاری کردن، حساب کردن...

اقدام کردن، استفاده کردن، استعمال کردن، اعتراض کردن، پرستش کردن، ورزش کردن، کوشش کردن...

آشفته کردن، پیچیده کردن، آلوده کردن، فریفته کردن، آسوده کردن، آراسته کردن، رنجیده کردن، گسترده کردن...

آویزان کردن، نگران کردن، گریزان کردن، روان کردن، درخشان کردن، فروزان کردن، شکوفان کردن...

فعل ""شدن"" که نزدیکترین نظیر آن در زبان انگلیسی فعل ""to become"" است، در معنی و کاربرد به فعلهای ""grow"" و ""turn"" هم شباهت دارد. این فعل در ترکیب با صفت، اسم، اسم فعل، اسم فاعل یا صفت فاعلی، اسم مفعول یا صفت مفعولی، ""فعل مرکب لازم"" و ""فعل مجهول"" (passive verb) می‌سازد:

آزاد شدن، سبز شدن، بزرگ شدن، گم شدن، پیدا شدن، باخبر شدن، کوتاه شدن، بیدار شدن، پشیمان شدن...

آغاز شدن، شکنجه شدن، آب شدن، شناسایی شدن، بررسی شدن، طراحی شدن، جمع شدن، خاک شد، دود شدن، بخار شدن...

افتتاح شدن، تکرار شدن، تأیید شدن، تصویب شدن، تعمیر شدن، توزیع شدن، تسلیم شدن، تحمیل شدن، اعدام شدن...

گریزان شدن، هراسان شدن، نالان شدن، روان شدن، درخشان شدن، شکوفان شدن، نگران شدن...

ظاهر شدن، باطل شدن، فاسد شدن، کامل شدن، مایل شدن، عاصی شدن، خارج شدن، حاکم شدن، قانع شدن...

مفقود شدن، محکوم شدن، مجبور شدن، منصوب شدن، مضروب شدن، مسدود شدن، مغرور شدن...

خورده شدن، گفته شدن، برده شدن، شکسته شدن، ساخته شدن، آفریده شدن، کشیده شدن، گذاشته شدن...

خلاصه آنکه در زبان فارسی دو فعل ""کردن"" و ""شدن"" با بسیاری از کلمه‌های فارسی و عربی ترکیب می‌شود و فعل مرکب می‌سازد. اما بسیاری از مترجمان و نویسندگان که برای خوانده شدن در رادیو خـبر یا گـزارش می‌نویسـند، در مـوردهـایی برای گـریز از تکرار این دو فعل، یا به تصور خودشان، برای لفظپردازی و زیبا نویسی، ازفعل‌های دیگری استفاده می‌کنند، از آن جمله برای ""کردن"" از ""نمودن""، ""ساختن""، ""ورزیدن"" و ""گردانیدن"" استفاده می‌کنند، و برای ""شدن"" از فعل‌های ""گشتن"" و ""گردیدن"". این فعل‌ها در زبان گفتاری امروز در معنی‌هایی به کار می‌رود که ربطی به ""کردن"" و ""شدن"" ندارد. معنی‌های رایج آن‌ها در زبان امروز این‌هاست:

نمودن: نشان دادن، به نظر آمدن...

ساختن: درست کردن، بنا کردن، آفریدن، سازش کردن، سازگار بودن، پدید آوردن...

ورزیدن: مشت و مال دادن خمیر. این فعل که از آن کلمه‌های ورزش، ورزیده، و ورزیدگی در زبان گفتاری کاربرد دارد، در اصل به معنی عمل کردن، نیرو به کار بردن، و کوشیدن است که عمل ""ورزش"" آن را نشان می‌دهد. در ترکیب‌های عشق ورزیدن، کینه ورزیدن و نظیر این‌ها هم گاهی به کار می‌رود، اما کار برد آن به جای ""کردن"" معمول لفظ پردازان است که مثلاً به جای ""خود داری کردن"" می‌گویند ""خود داری ورزیدن"". معنی‌های دیگری که برای ""ورزیدن"" در فرهنگ‌ها داده شده است، در زبان نوشتاری کم و بیش کاربرد دارد، اما در زبان گفتاری به کار نمی‌رود یا به ندرت به کار می‌رود.

گردانیدن (گرداندن): اداره کردن، گردش دادن، چرخاندن، و با پیشوند ""بر"" یا بدون آن به معنی ترجمه کردن، اما معنی‌های دیگری که در فرهنگ‌ها برای آن داده شده است، در زبان گفتاری به کار نمی‌رود یا به ندرت به کار می‌رود. کاربرد آن در زبان نوشتاری و مخصوصاً در زبان گفتاری امروز شیوه لفظ پردازان است.

گشتن (گردیدن) : چرخیدن، گشت زدن، سیاحت کردن، اداره شدن، رونق داشتن، بازرسی کردن. کار برد آن در زبان گفتاری به جای ""شدن"" روا نیست.

پیش از آنکه نمونه‌هایی از کاربرد ناروای این فعل‌ها به جای ""کردن"" و ""شدن"" در زبان گفتاری بیاورم، به کسانی که آن‌ها را به کار می‌برند، می‌گویم: ""شما به یاد ندارید که در تمام عمرتان در گفتگـو با دیگران مثـلاً گفته باشید: راستی تو گواهینامه رانندگیت را اخذ نمودی؟ با این کارت مرا از خودت متنفر ساختی. امروز معلوم گردید که اتوبوس‌ها کار نمی‌کنند. من وقت ندارم و نمی‌توانم توی بازی شما شرکت بورزم."" اگر هم کس دیگری در گفتگو با شما چنین ترکیب‌هایی را به کار ببرد، حتماً شما تعجب می‌کنید و خنده‌تان می‌گیرد. اگر کاربرد کلمه یا ترکیبی در گفتگوی روزمره تعجب‌انگیز، خنده‌آور و مسخره باشد، آیا کاربرد آن در زبان گفتاری رادیو می‌تواند روا باشد؟ نه تکرار فعل‌های ""کردن"" و ""شدن"" عیب است، نه کاربرد فعل‌های دیگر به جای آن‌ها نشانه زبان آوری و زیبا نویسی و زیبا گویی. در نمونه‌هایی که از سایت‌های بی‌بی‌سی و گوگل فارسی در اینجا می‌آید، صورت گفتاری کلمه‌ها و ترکیب‌ها را در پرانتز می‌آورم.

نمودن:

کارشناسی در رشته فیزیک را از دانشکده علو پزشکی تبریز اخذ نمودند (اخذ کردند، گرفتند).

کشورهای ساحلی دریای خزر با آن موافقت نموده‌اند (کرده‌اند).

اقدامات مناسب را اتخاذ خواهند نمود (انجام خواهند داد، در پیش خواهند گرفت).

نظر خود را اعلام نمایید (اعلام کنید).

در این صورت ترس و ناامیدی به جای امنیت زندگی ظهور می‌نمایند (می‌کند).

سپس آن را از حالت فشرده خارج بنمایید (کنید).

ساختن:

فوتبال یونان را از جامعه جهانی دور می‌سازد (می‌کند).

آن‌ها را با بسیاری از جنبه‌های حیات (زندگی) اجتماعی بیگانه می‌سازد (می‌کند).

اجازه ساخت و ساز (!) نمی‌دهند و هر منزل جدیدی را که ساخته شود ویران می‌سازند (می‌کنند).

اما چه کنیم که جو فضا را خراب ساخته‌اند (کرده‌اند).

آن‌ها مستکبری چون آمریکا را بیچاره کرده‌اند و رسوا ساخته‌اند (بیچاره و رسوا کرده‌اند).

وارد دروازه مقابل شد و گل ""مایکل اوون"" از انگلیس را بی‌اثر ساخت (بی‌اثر کرد).

ورزیدن:

تندروها که با کلیه مواضع خانم عبادی در زمینه حقوق بشر مخالفت می‌ورزند (می‌کنند)، از این خبر خرسند به نظرمی‌رسند.

در مسابقات آسیایی کیک بوکس در تاجیکستان هشت کشور منطقه شرکت ورزیدند (کردند).

از پرداخت حق عضویت خود به جنبش خودداری می‌ورزد (می‌کند).

برای متوقف کردن غنی سازی اورانیوم پافشاری می‌ورزد (می‌کند).

به خاطر (برای) ایجاد یک استراتژی عمومی تأمین برق کوشش می‌ورزد (می‌کند).

به طور جدی برای تمرکز نیروهای خود تلاش می‌ورزد (می‌کند).

گردانیدن (گرداندن):

به جرم عقیده آن‌ها را به زندان افکندند (انداختند) و صدهای دیگر (صدها تن دیگر) را از کشور آواره گرداندند (کردند).

اگر عقل‌ها آزاد می‌شدند و آزادی را هدف می‌گردانیدند (می‌کردند) و روش‌های آزاد شدن را به کار می‌بردند... جریان اندیشه‌ها برقرار می‌شد.

جهان را به ورطه‌ای هولناک رهنمود (!) گردانیده است (رهنمون شده است!).

رسالت همین شیوه را به کار برده و این جماعت را بنیادگرا گردانده است (کرده است).

و این مساعی هر دوی ما را موفق خواهد گردانید (کرد).

بخش‌های مهمی از مردم کشور را از سهم‌گیری (مشارکت) در سرنوشت و اداره دولت محروم گردانیده است (کرده است).

گشتن (گردیدن):",fa
"شیوه ای برای دسترسی به سایت بی بی سی از ایران:

شرکت سایفون به تازگی پروژه ای آزمایشی را برای دسترسی کاربران داخل ایران به سایت فارسی اجرا کرده است.

برنامه کم حجمی که سایفون ارائه کرده، روی سیستم های عامل ویندوز و اندروید قابل نصب و استفاده است.

اگر اخیرا مشکلی با این برنامه داشتید، یک بار دیگر مراحل گفته شده را اجرا کنید تا نسخه به روز شده برنامه را دریافت کنید.

مراحل نصب برنامه:

ا. ایمیلی به این نشانی بفرستید: download@psiphon3.com

۲. لازم نیست که در قسمت موضوع (subject) یا داخل ایمیلتان متنی نوشته شود. تنها کافی است ایمیلی خالی به نشانی download@psiphon3.com ارسال کنید.

۳. پس از ارسال این ایمیل، یک پیام خودکار به شما ارسال می شود که در آن، لینک هایی برای دریافت برنامه به زبان های مختلف وجود دارد. شما باید روی لینک مربوط به زبان فارسی کلیک کنید. فایل مربوط به برنامه همچنین به این ایمیل پیوست خواهد بود که می توانید آن را در رایانه خود ذخیره و سپس اجرا کنید.

۴. مرحله آخر، کلیک کردن روی آن لینک و اجرای برنامه است.

۵. وقتی که برنامه بسته می شود، ارتباط با سایفون به طور خودکار قطع خواهد شد.",fa
"مطالب سایت فارسی بی بی سی و برنامه های تلویزیون فارسی از طریق رسانه های زیر منتشر می شود.

برنامه های بخش فارسی بی بی سی از طریق رادیو، تلویزیون و آنلاین قابل دسترس است. این شیوه های انتشار به بی بی سی امکان می دهد که گزیده ای از محتوا یا برنامه های تولیدی خود را از طریق همکاری با رسانه های دیگر به شمار بیشتری از مخاطبان ارائه دهد.

بخش فارسی بی بی سی به همکاری با رسانه های حرفه ای و قابل اعتماد در سرتاسر جهان علاقمند است. برای اطلاعات بیشتر و شرایط همکاری با ما با ایمیل persian@bbc.co.uk تماس بگیرید.

وبسایت

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سایت گویا: پورتالی است برای سایت ها و رسانه های فارسی زبان در داخل و خارج از ایران و صفحه خبری این سایت، گویا نیوز حاوی خبرهای روز ایران و جهان و تحلیل و یادداشت است.

در این دو صفحه می توانید لینک به صفحه های مختلف سایت بی بی سی فارسی و هچنین مهمترین عناوین خبری بی بی سی را ببینید.

تلویزیون

حق نشر عکس BBC World Service

تلویزیون یک افغانستان: این تلویزیون بخشی از برنامه های تلویزیون فارسی بی بی سی را باز پخش می کند. این شبکه برنامه های خبری، سیاسی، اجتماعی، تفریحی و علمی پخش می کند.",fa
"سایت فارسی بی بی سی BBCPersian.com حاوی پیوندهای داخلی (به سایت های بی بی سی) و پیوندهای برونی (به سایت های دیگر) است. بی بی سی در انتخاب پیوندها برای انضمام در صفحات خود، مناسبت آنها با محتوای هر مطلب و علاقه احتمالی مخاطبان را در نظر می گیرد.

پیوندهای برونی هنگام انتشار صفحه اصلی انتخاب و بررسی می شوند اما بی بی سی مسئول محتوای این سایت ها نیست زیرا:

بی بی سی مسئولیتی در قبال تولید و ارائه محتوای این سایت ها ندارد.

بی بی سی قادر به تغییر محتوای آنها نیست.

محتوای این سایت ها ممکن است بدون اطلاع قبلی و جلب موافقت بی بی سی تغییر یابد.

برخی از پیوندهای برونی ممکن است حاوی تبلیغات و ارائه خدمات بازرگانی، از جمله خرید اینترنتی باشد.

بی بی سی تاکید دارد که انضمام پیوندهای برونی در صفحه اصلی به منزله تایید این پیوندها، محتوا و ارائه کنندگان آنها نیست.

برای اطلاعات بیشتر پیرامون سیاست بی بی سی در مورد انضمام پیوندها به سایت زیر مراجعه کنید (به زبان انگلیسی):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/help/web/links/

بالا ^^",fa
"Video

El hombre que lleva 22 años viviendo en un castillo de arena en una playa de Río de Janeiro

Marcio Matolias se instaló hace 22 años en una playa de Río de Janeiro y allí vive, en las construcciones de arena que él mismo esculpe. Su estilo de vida, cuenta, es una elección.",es
"Fotos

La muralla de camiones: el espectacular embotellamiento de 130 km en la frontera entre Mongolia y China

Miles de camiones cargados de carbón en el desierto de Gobi en Mongolia circulan alineados hacia la frontera con China con el propósito de vender su carga ante el aumento de los precios del mineral en el vecino país. Un viaje que puede demorar una semana en el que la vida consiste en dormir, comer y asearse en la ruta.",es
"Video

Mchezaji nyota alivyoibuka na kuwa rais wa Liberia

George Weah alianza maisha yake mtaa wa mabanda lakini akang’aa sana kama mchezaji na kuwa Mwafrika wa pekee kushinda tuzo ya Ballon d’Or.",sw
"Sauti

Unafahamu vyema mfumo wa ulipaji kodi Tanzania?

Haba na Haba inaangazia uelewa wa mifumo ya kodi kwa Watanzania, hapa tunaangalia mifumo iko rafiki kiasi gani kwa Mtanzania ili aweze kwenye ulipaji wa kodi vizuri bila usumbufu.",sw
"Picha

Mto mkubwa Paris wavunja kingo zake

Huduma za treni zimesitishwa katika baadhi ya maeneo Paris baada ya mvua kubwa zaidi kuwahi kunyesha mjini humo Januari katika kipindi cha zaidi ya miaka 100.",sw
"Moonlight triggers the world’s biggest orgy, strange creatures emerge from the depths, and waves glow blue. Some phenomena in the ocean can only be witnessed after dark.

1. Bioluminescence makes the sea shimmer

You may have seen the pictures.

It’s night-time in an impossibly exotic location. Waves are breaking on the beach. The water is sparkling with electric blue lights.

The internet loves an image of a magical-looking bioluminescent bay. You may also have seen travel bloggers bemoaning the real event as not quite living up the hype.

Even if the latter is true, bioluminescence (in this case usually caused by planktonic organisms called dinoflagellates) is a pretty amazing natural phenomenon.

Dinoflagellates emit blue light when disturbed, which is why they can be seen sparkling over wave crests, around boats or when a hand or paddle runs through them.

These tiny creatures are the most common source of bioluminescence at the ocean’s surface.

So-called bioluminescent bays such as in Puerto Rico and Jamaica are among the best-known places to witness the glow. However, the ephemeral phenomenon can be found throughout the ocean where there are dense gatherings of dinoflagellates.

Sometimes dinoflagellates’ population increases rapidly causing blooms, which by day are coloured a less attractive red-brown, sometimes known as red tides. And some, but not all, of these red tides are poisonous.

Even stranger and rarer than bioluminescent bays are “milky seas”, where continually glowing water stretches for as far as the eye can see.

Milky seas have only been seen a few hundred times since 1915, mainly concentrated around north-western Indian Ocean and near Java, Indonesia.

They are not caused by dinoflagellates, but are thought to be the result of “bioluminescent bacteria that have accumulated in large numbers near the surface”, explains to Dr Matt Davis, Assistant Professor of Biology, St. Cloud State University in the US, who specialises in bioluminescence.

Reports by sailors over the centuries have described milky seas as a nocturnal whitish glow like a field of snow, but scientists have had little chance to investigate the phenomenon first-hand.

In 2005, researchers analysing archived satellite images found that milky seas could be seen from space and that one satellite had captured images of a huge area of ocean that had displayed the strange glow for three consecutive nights a decade earlier.

2. Animals glow in the dark

Bioluminescence, the emission of visible light by an organism as the result of a natural chemical reaction, is common among marine life such as fishes, squid and molluscs. In the deep sea most species are bioluminescent, where it is the main source of light.

In shallower waters, most bioluminescent fish display their lights at night.

“Flashlight fishes have a specialized pouch under their eye that they can rotate to expose the light emitted from these bacteria, and they use this glow at night to hunt for food and communicate,” says Dr Matt Davis.

Ponyfish emit light from the bioluminescent bacteria housed in a pouch using transparent muscular shutters, to communicate, he explains.

Camouflage, defence and predation are among the variety of reasons fishes are thought to emit light.

For example, bobtail squid have an ingenious way of using lights. These nocturnal animals have a mutually beneficial relationship with luminescing bacteria that live in a mantel cavity on its underside. At night the squid control the intensity of this light to match the moonlight, and can reduce their silhouette to camouflage themselves from predators.

3. Moonlight triggers the planet’s biggest orgy

There is nothing more romantic than a moonlit night, especially if you are a coral on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia.

One night a year in spring, the biggest orgy on earth is triggered by lunar light.

Over 130 coral species simultaneously release their eggs and sperm into the water during a window of just 30-60 minutes.

This mass spawning event might be the most extraordinary example of synchronised behaviour in the natural world.

When the gametes – eggs and sperm cells - are released they hover for a moment, forming a ghostly replica of the reef’s shape, before dispersing into an underwater blizzard as the sperm fertilise the eggs.

Dr Oren Levy, a marine biologist and ecologist and Professor of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, has studied this extraordinary event.

“This is really fascinating phenomena…we know this event is going to happen a few nights after November's full moon each year, three to five [days] post full moon,” he says.

“[It is] always amazing, in particular I am so amazed how each of the coral species year after year spawn at the same hour of the night.”

He adds: ”Once it happens it is always so exciting to see how everything is becoming so live and synchronised. It is almost [a] spiritual event and you understand the power of nature in its best.”

Moonlight triggers the phenomenon by acting as a synchroniser or “alarm” probably with other environmental signals such as sunset timings, water temperature and tides to cue the time of the gamete [egg and sperm cells] release, explains Dr Levy.

He adds that corals seem to possess photoreceptors that detect the phases of the moon, which helps with the “fine tuning” of the gamete release.

4. Sharks and seals rely on celestial light

For some seals, moonlit nights spell danger.

During winter months, the 60,000 cape fur seals on Sea Island in False Bay, South Africa run the gauntlet of being picked off by great white sharks patrolling the seas when they enter and exit the water.

One study in 2016 hypothesised seals swimming at night during a full moon are at more risk of being eaten by a shark since bright moonlight silhouetting them against the surface makes them an easy meal for predators lurking below.

However, most shark attacks on seals happen just after sunrise. Researchers behind the study, which measured shark attacks at dawn, were surprised to find seals were much less likely to be predated at this time of day if there was a full moon.

The researchers theorised that lunar illumination combined with emerging sunlight may decrease the stealth ability of the sharks and that the advantage switched from sharks to seals as night turned to day.

And seals may rely on another celestial feature to navigate - the stars.

Captive harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are able to locate a single lodestar and steer by it, researchers have shown.

During a test using a simulated night sky, seals swam towards the brightest star and could orientate themselves when the stars were swivelled around.

In the wild, seals need to navigate the open ocean to find foraging grounds that may be separated by hundreds of kilometres.

Researcher Dr Bjorn Mauck said at the time: ""Seals might learn the position of the stars relative to foraging grounds during dawn and dusk when they can see both the stars and landmarks at the coast.""

5. Strange animals come to the surface every night

Under the cover of darkness rarely seen creatures migrate to the ocean’s surface to feed.

The Humboldt squid, also known as the jumbo squid, is one of the most eye-catching marine animals you can see lurking in surface waters.

By day the squid lurk in the deep waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean along the deep shelf that runs off the west coast of the Americas and every night they are one of the many ocean animals to migrate upwards to find dinner.

Vertical (or diel) migration - when ocean animals swim to the surface at dusk and disappear down again at dawn – is extremely common.

“What [Humbioldt squid are] doing largely is following their main food item, which is the so-called lantern fish,” explains Professor Paul Rodhouse, an Emeritus Fellow for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and former head of the organisation’s biological sciences division.

In turn, lantern fish follow vertically migrating zooplankton.

Since zooplankton are depended on by so many ocean animals, “the rest of the food chain will be following on after it,” says Prof Rodhouse.

“It is a huge movement of biomass every day,” says Prof Rodhouse. “More than a thousand metres. Some of the oceanic squid probably migrate over 1000m every day.”

He adds that almost all pelagic species (animals that live in the water column not near the bottom or shore) that can swim make the journey.

Humboldt squid are among the most striking creatures to surface every night. Their ability to change colour and flash bright red when agitated has earned them the nickname “red devils”. Although much smaller than their cousin, the 13m-giant squid, they can reach a length of about 1.5m (almost 5ft). Highly aggressive predators, they capture prey with strong tentacles and suckers and tear into it with powerful beaks, and have reportedly occasionally attacked humans.

But even ferocious Humboldts are preyed upon by bigger predators such as billfish, swordfish and sharks.

“Of course what they are all doing [by being active at night] is avoiding predation by the top predators,” says Prof Rodhouse. ""The big predators that are visual predators and which stay in the surface waters and see their prey.”

“So they’re all… reducing the risk of being preyed on by going down into deep, dark waters at night.”

For more incredible ocean stories, follow OurBluePlanet on Twitter. Get in touch with to share your most magical ocean moments, and for inspiration watch the launch video on the BBC Earth YouTube Channel.

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"""I'm not sure if I have surfed the perfect wave yet. I'm still searching,"" says Jamie Mitchell, World Surf League Big Wave Tour surfer.

From highly skilled professional athletes to hobbyists after the rush of the open waves, surfing is enjoyed by people from all walks of life, from all over the planet. All you need is ocean (but not always), a board of some kind, waves, and a lot of enthusiasm.

While the tricks and twists of seasoned professionals amaze us, below the surface lies a raft of surfing science as impressive as the feats performed on the waves.

One wave could power over 30 million smartphones

Anyone who has watched waves crashing will have a sense of their enormous power and it is this power that may prove to be one of the most promising sources for renewable energy; potentially supplying 10% of global needs.

Waves are formed in a number of ways, but in most cases they are created by wind blowing over the surface of the ocean. As long as the wave travels forward slower than the speed of the wind, energy will be transferred from the wind to the wave.

There are clever and complicated equations that can accurately determine the amount of energy in a wave, but to put it simply the bigger the wave, the bigger the power and there are few places on Earth where the waves are as big as they are at Nazare in Portugal.

These monster Portuguese waves can reach epic proportions of over 100ft (30.5m) thanks to a combination of the location of the coast and the unique undersea features. Waves generated by storms in the North Atlantic are focused by a deep, arrow-shaped canyon 16,000ft (4877m) below the ocean's surface; these deep water waves then approach the shallow waters of the shore and start to climb up, meaning the waves at Nazare can get big. Real big!

""Nazare is like a 7th wonder of the World,"" says Mitchell (who is the defending Nazare Challenge winner).

""To surf waves at Nazare is an honour. You sort of feel like you're back in the day of the gladiators when the world is watching and you're trying to survive and perform at the same time,"" he says.

""To surf waves at Nazare is an honour.""

Imagine the energy in a wave that stands as tall as an eight-storey building. It is estimated some of the waves at Nazare hold enough energy to power over 30 million smartphone batteries. It could be the ideal location for wave energy farms to harvest all that untapped power.

Waves hide amazing secrets

Aside from Nazare, there are a few other ‘big wave’ spots around the world where the perfect conditions come together to create the kind of waves that surfers dream of.

Teahupoʻo village on the south-west coast of Tahiti is one such place. The waves here are big and steep and with the very real threat of falling onto its razor-sharp reef it has attracted the world’s best and bravest (perhaps craziest) surfers.

The waves at Teahupoʻo are what scientists call “surging waves”; they aren’t the tallest (the biggest waves are about 30ft / 9.1m high), but they are super thick, formed when deep water suddenly meets a shallow sharp shoreline.

Tahiti is a volcanic island and its rapidly growing reef creates a steep break (the point where the top of the wave starts to overtake the bottom causing it to spill over). This should result in large, uneven waves, but the waves at Teahupoʻo are unique and it's all down to geology.

Fresh water running down from Tahiti's mountainous region creates channels in the ocean floor where coral cannot grow. These channels funnel water from the shore back into the deeper ocean, creating clean waves and a fast current.

On top of this, the water coming through the channels builds up the thickness of the wave, making it look like the ocean is rising up, rather than a normal wave’s ripple. The shore is extremely steep and the coral can’t grow too deep leading to a more gradual wave.

All of these conditions come together to create a wave so intense Teahupoʻo is known as one of the best and most unique ‘big wave’ surfing spots on the planet.

Surfers can travel faster than city traffic

Driving through a city can be painfully slow at times, particularly during rush hour. So it’ll come as no surprise that average vehicle speed in Europe’s most congested cities is only around 30km per hour (18.6mph), with London faring particularly badly at 19km per hour (11.8mph); a horse-drawn carriage could almost match this speed!

It was during the 2011 World Surf League’s World Tour circuit in Australia that professional surfer Mick Fanning (nicknamed White Lightning) had his speed measured at an impressive 39.1km per hour (24.3mph); almost 10km per hour faster than you could drive around a city.

Ocean animals inspiring surf technology

Found on the underside of a surfboard, fins are critical to the stability, feel and control of the board. Traditionally, fins were rigid and made of wood, but advances in plastics and composite materials have produced fins that allow for greater control while turning on a wave.

Now it seems the future is in fins that mimic whale flippers.

Whales may be massive, but they are also graceful, and it is their ingenious flippers that help them stay so nimble. Their fins allow them to perform some impressive underwater acrobatics, especially in their tight, controlled turns.

Taking cues from whale's fabulous flippers is a new type of fin that flexes from the stiff edge at the front, which first makes contact with the water (leading edge) when in motion, to the fin’s rear edge (trailing edge), with flexibility increasing as the fin tapers from front to back. It also flexes from the base to the tip, like conventional fins do, creating more speed in the turn as the flexing fin snaps back into place.

A second, more radical, fin design has a bumpy irregular surface along the leading edge, modelled after the tubercles on a humpback whale’s flipper. As water flows over their flippers the large bumps create channels of fast-moving water which let the whale ‘grip’ the water at sharper angles, tightly turning and circling, even at slow speed.

It’s not just innovative board designs that animals have helped influence, but also the future of surf wear. In an effort to create a more efficient wetsuit (key for surfers who need to stay warm and agile on the waves), MIT engineers looked to the fur of beavers and sea otters for inspiration.

These semi-aquatic mammals have remarkable fur that traps pockets of air to keep them warm and dry when diving under water. The MIT team fabricated fur-like rubbery pelts mimicking this unique ability to help them understand and ultimately recreate the effect.

A furry wetsuit designed for surfers and inspired by beavers, is very nearly a reality.

Surfboards to monitor our oceans

Scientists know that the world’s oceans are changing; they are getting warmer and more acidic, leading to rising sea levels, stormier weather, and altered ecosystems and animal behaviour.

To measure our changing oceans and the effects on ocean life, scientists use research vessels, probes, sensors and satellites to collect a range of data from the open ocean, but it is much trickier nearer the shore where the waters can be rougher and much more challenging.

All this may be about to change thanks to a neat piece of tech designed by a team of scientists and used by citizen science surfers.

Smartfin is new technology almost identical to a traditional surf board fin, but with a hidden twist.The fin contains sensors that measure temperature and location for researchers to analyse. In the future, Smartfin hopes its sensors will be able to measure pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen and levels of chlorophyll.

Andrew Stern, founder of Smartfin and Associate Professor of Neurology at University of Rochester School of Medicine, says a Smartfin could help monitor the bleaching of coral reefs due and the populations of shellfish struggling with ocean acidification.

""What is unique about the Smartfin technology, and why it has taken four years and millions of dollars to develop, is its tiny size and it’s very low cost compared with existing sensors of comparable accuracy.

""What Smartfin offers is a new generation of sensors that can be easily deployed in huge numbers and in previously inaccessible locations,” he says.

Dolphins like to surf

Dolphins have been observed riding the crest of big waves towards the shore and heading back out to sea before it breaks; even going out of their way to repeatedly ride the bow waves of large ships and whales, often leaping into the air with what seems like enjoyment.

So why would dolphins expend energy and waste time for what looks like little benefit? One theory is that they are playing - the behaviour looks to us like fun, it is done intentionally and voluntarily, and is repeated. Importantly, it is not performed when the animal is threatened or competing.

Equally it could also be that using the power of the waves is a more energy efficient way of travelling than swimming underwater. The impact of entering the waves might help to dislodge parasites on the skin, or the splashing noise it makes could also be a signal or communication to other dolphins in the area. There may also be free food when done alongside a fishing vessel, and when done in groups it may teach social bonding.

The answer could be a combination of any or all these; however, we like to think that perhaps dolphins just love to surf as much as we do!

Amazing aerial feats

Aerial surfing is a relatively modern and now common part of many competitions. It takes years to master and relies on the speed of the surfer as well as a light breeze over a vertical lip of at least a two-to-three-foot wave. Approach the lip of the wave at the right angle and it acts as a ramp to launch the surfer and their board into the air before landing back on the water.

The faster the surfer is riding a wave, the higher in the air they'll go after launch, and the more time in the air there is to pull off an amazing feat - a backflip, a superman, a rodeo flip, or the spectacular sushi roll.

""When you try something over and over again but don't quite get it right, the moment it finally clicks is so satisfying and you can't help but smile,"" says Lakey Peterson, World Surf League Championship Tour surfer and current world number seven.

Surfing is for everyone

Surfing is enjoyed by people from all walks of life and abilities; all that's needed is a willingness to give it a go and to love the ocean. Standing up on the board and riding those first waves will take practice, but given enough time and dedication you'll be surfing like a pro in no time.

""It will be the best decision you could ever make,"" says Peterson.

""Consistency is key and once it all comes together for you, you will be so happy you didn't quit,"" she adds.

Jessi Miley-Dyer is World Surf League's Women's Commissioner and former championship competitor and her advice for anyone wanting to take up surfing is to find a surf school and get a few lessons.

""Make sure that you can swim confidently and don’t be disheartened if you don’t get it straight away! You will be able to stand up, but it’s one of those sports where you just need to keep trying.

""Give yourself a whole summer to cruise in the ocean and be part of the scene,"" she adds.

You've read the science, now watch some incredible surfers harnessing the power of the waves:

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For more incredible ocean stories follow @OurBluePlanet on Twitter, and @BBCEarth on Facebook. We’d love to hear about your most magical ocean encounters #OurBluePlanet

#OurBluePlanet is a collaboration between BBC Earth and Alucia Productions.",en
"The helmet vanga (Euryceros prevostii) is the most unique of birds - its bright blue beak setting it apart from the rest.

Vanga's are only found in the wet, eastern forests of Madagascar. There are around 20 species of the bird on the island, all descended from the same ancestor species.

No one knows exactly why it was blessed with this brilliant appendage, but its beauty hides a lethal weapon. Vanga's are ambush hunters pouncing of millipedes, cicadas and lizards from above.

Watch the moment Sir David Attenborough and BBC filmmakers caught sight of this rare bird for the series Madagascar.

This media cannot be played on your device.

Even better, you can watch a further 1,000 more memorable moments, for free, anytime, on your smartphone or tablet, via Attenborough's Story of Life app, which is now available to download via Google Play, or Apple's app store.

Find out more at http://www.bbc.com/earth/storyoflife.

The Story of Life has been produced in collaboration with Sir David Attenborough, BBC Earth and ideas and innovation company AKQA.",en
"We’ve all heard of squid and octopus using pigments to blend in with their surroundings, but what about becoming completely invisible? To become actually see through, and appear as if you aren’t there, you need to either allow light to travel through you unimpeded, or bend light around you - so that none reflects back at an observer. It’s a tricky task, but some animals are almost there.

Glass octopus

In the ocean animals have two choices if they want to hide. Creatures that live in the deep ocean close to the seafloor can blend in with sand or rocks, or hide in coral. In the deep ocean it is often pitch black anyway and predators lack eyes, so being invisible is not necessary.

Animals that live close to the surface and want to hide can produce dazzling displays of light in a process known as bioluminescence, confusing predators below who think they are looking at dappled sunshine hitting the water’s surface. Animals that live in midwater though have neither of these options. This region is known as the pelagic zone, and it also happens to be where most invisible animals live.

Perhaps the easiest way of becoming invisible is by being transparent and letting light travel completely through you. In open oceans, which lack structures to hide behind, being transparent is a great way of hiding from all viewpoints and angles. It’s so popular in fact that transparency has independently evolved multiple times in completely unrelated animals.

One such animal, the glass octopus (Vitreledonella richardi) is so named because it is almost completely transparent. The gelatinous creature can grow up to 45cm (18in), if you include the tentacles. It lives 300-1000m below the surface in tropical and subtropical waters across the world, and is almost completely invisible to predators except for its digestive system, optic nerves and eyes.

But what’s the point in making your whole body transparent, if the eyes and guts are still visible? Even worse, these organs will cast shadows on the seafloor below, making them more visible to predators. Eyes need to absorb light to function, so it is not possible for them to be transparent. Guts betray their contents, so unless an animal feeds on transparent material, they will be visible. However the octopus, and all hosts of transparent creatures go to great lengths to disguise these opaque organs. The glass octopus (Vitreledonella richardi) for example has very elongated eyes which reduces its peripheral vision, but minimises the shadow it casts below - making it less likely to be detected by predators hunting from below. There is also some evidence that it orientates its body in such a way so as to minimise its shadow.

The glass octopus is not the only transparent animal to come up with an ingenious way of disguising its eyes. Many transparent molluscs camouflage their eyes with mirrors, as mirrors in the open ocean reflect only more ocean and so are invisible.

Cranchiidae or glass squid

The glass family of squid, of which there are about 60 species, are almost entirely see through. They live, again in the pelagic region of oceans around the world, between 200 and 1000m below sea level.

Although their bodies are entirely transparent, their large eyes are opaque, which is a problem as predators swimming below can easily see the shadow they cast. However the glass squid (Cranchiidae) uses a clever form of camouflage to hide them. It uses photophores - organs beneath its eyes - to produce light in a trick called counter-illumination. This light looks very similar to the sunlight filtering down from above, so it makes the squid completely invisible to predators swimming below it. However the light could make the squid very conspicuous to viewers looking at it from other angles. Rather than an invisibility cloak, the glowing light could act like a beacon drawing predators to it.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that the squid’s photophores are amazingly able to match the amount of light they produce to that coming in from every direction, creating a sort of omnidirectional invisibility cloak.

The tomopteris deep sea worm

This genus, or group of marine planktonic polychaete worms are almost completely transparent, making them very difficult for predators to see. Paradoxically at least 11 species in the group can also emit bright luminous colours. Most tomopteris worms glow blue, but one species, Tomopteris nisseni can produce yellow light and is one of only few such creatures on the planet to do so.

Some tomopteris worms can even distract predators by releasing a glowing part of their body called a parapodia, making the predator chase after the dispelled body part rather than the worm itself.

Sea salp

A salp is a completely transparent barrel shaped creature which swims and feeds at the same time by pumping water through its gelatinous body. They filter out the phytoplankton in the water to feed on. Although they look a bit like jellyfish they are actually more sophisticated and are closely related to fish and vertebrates - they have a heart and gills and can reproduce sexually.

Salps have a fascinating life cycle. For part of it they live by themselves, but they then clone themselves and form long strings and other shapes of connected organisms. Individual salps synchronise their swimming by communicating with one another via electrical signals.

Hyperiids

Sometimes being transparent isn’t enough, and organisms need other tricks up their sleeve to remain invisible. This is certainly the case for the Hyperiid, a little crustacean bearing a resemblance to a shrimp. They are able to hide from predators by being transparent. However that only gets them so far. A plane of glass is also transparent but you can still see it if you shine a light on it, as the light is reflected back. This is a particular problem in the ocean because many predators use bioluminescence as a searchlight when hunting for prey.

A recent study suggests there is more to the hyperiid’s ability to hide than simple transparency. It turns out they are using a kind of nanotechnology to interfere with and bend light, cloaking themselves and almost rendering them invisible. The scientists used a scanning electron microscope to closely analyse seven species of hyperiids. They found that the legs of one species were covered in tiny nano sized hair-like protuberances.

The body of this species, and six others were also covered in nano sized bumps or spheres ranging in size from under 100 nanometers to around 300 nanometers. The tiny size of the bumps could minimise light scattering and the scientists found that a combination of both nanostructures - the bumps and the hairs could reduce reflectance by as much as 100 fold. The weird thing is that the researchers think these spheres could actually be bacteria.

Japetella heathi and Onychoteuthis banksii

The squid Japetella heathi and the octopus Onychoteuthis banksii also have a novel trick up their sleeves when it comes to invisibility - they can quickly switch from being transparent to a reddish brown colour.

They both live in the Pacific Ocean between 600-1000m deep – known as the mesopelagic zone. Although being transparent helps a lot with invisibility close to the water’s surface, as diffuse sunlight from the surface passes straight through transparent tissue, when you shine a light directly on something that is transparent, it suddenly becomes very visible.

Unfortunately this happens quite a lot in the deep sea, where predators use light-emitting organs called photophores like a searchlight when hunting. Prey at these depths are often red or black so that they reflect as little blue light as possible. Japetella heathi, an octopus, and Onychoteuthis banksii, a squid, are able to switch between both, but how do they do it? Both species’ skin contains light sensitive cells called chromatophores. The cells contain a dye, and when they detect light they immediately expand and release the pigment.

Sea Sapphires

Sea Sapphires (Sapphirina) are ant size creatures that live in warm tropical and subtropical seas. They belong to a group of crustaceans called copepods. Different species emit a range of brilliant iridescent colours, from vivid blues to reds and golds.

What is remarkable about them is that one second they can shimmer brightly and the next they appear almost to disappear and the way they do this is fascinating. Their skin, or cuticle cells contain tiny crystal plates arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb pattern. The crystals contain guanine, one of the four bases that make up DNA. The crystal layers are separated from each other by a soup-like fluid called a cytosol.

A team of scientists found that the although the layers of guanine crystals are always exactly the same thickness – 70 nanometers, the thickness of the cytosol between the layers varies from 50 to 200 nanometers. It is this variety which determines the colour of the sea sapphire. Thicker layers of cytosol lead to longer wavelengths of light being reflected, which make the copepod look red or magenta.

The colour also depends on the angle of light which strikes them. As the angle becomes smaller and smaller, the wavelength of reflected light becomes shorter and the colour more violet. If the angle becomes small enough then the reflected light is in the UV spectrum, which means that we can’t see it and the sea sapphires disappear. The researchers found that light which hit the crustaceans at a 45° angle effectively caused them to become invisible.

The glasswing butterfly

All of the transparent animals discussed so far have lived in the sea, and there’s a good reason for that. To be transparent you need to be made up of stuff that neither absorbs nor reflects light. This is a difficult task for plants and animals that live on land because there is such a large difference between the refractive index of living tissues and air. The refractive index of a material describes how quickly light travels through it. Light travels fastest in a vacuum, and generally speaking the denser a material, the longer light takes to travel through it and the greater its refractive index will be.

As biological tissue is so much thicker and denser than air, when light waves go from travelling through air to body tissue, they slow down. This causes light to change directions and scatter, causing reflections that make the animal more visible.

In the sea there is less difference between the refractive index of water and biological tissues, so transparency is an easier task, hence why there are so many ‘almost’ invisible animals. Another reason you don’t find many see through animals on land is because organisms need pigments like melanin to protect them from UV radiation from the sun.

However there are some exceptions to the see through rule. One is the glasswing butterfly (Greta oto) which lives in Central America.

Although not all of its body is see through, its transparent wings make it difficult for predators to track it during flight. To look at how the butterfly achieves its transparency, scientists examined their wings under an electron microscope. They found tiny nano sized bumps called nanopillars which were scattered randomly and had different lengths. It seems that the random size and distribution of the nanoscale structures help the butterfly minimise reflections from its wings. The nanopillars interfere with rays of light hitting the wing, causing most to pass straight through rather than bouncing back.

Transparent mollusc

Another exception to the rule is a translucent snail (Zospeum tholussum) that was discovered in the deepest cave in Croatia. Scientists from Goethe University, Frankfurt found the see through mollusc living 980m underground in the Lukina Jama-Trojama cave, in a chamber full of rocks and sand with a small stream running through it.

The snail belongs to a genus of miniature land snails that are found in dark, underground caves, and which are unable to move by themselves. Researchers believe they use running water from streams to transport themselves.

However even though it is translucent, the snail is still fairly visible, highlighting just how difficult it is for land animals to achieve what those in the ocean do.

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"When you're used to sub-zero temperatures, 17C can feel downright balmy!

King penguins are active throughout the long summer days so they have to deal with a very uncharacteristic polar problem - sizzling heat!

Any effort can easily lead to overheating, so to combat the high temperatures, these heavily insulated birds stretch out on their stomachs so their feet can cool off in the breeze.

Chicks, in their downy winter coats, are at an even greater risk of overheating. Those too young to swim in open water find welcome relief with a quick splash around in a small river or with a trip to the penguin spa, complete with penguin 'mud packs'.

When it comes to the adult penguins, they enjoy nothing more than a bracing dip in the chilly Southern Ocean.

Watch the moment when Sir David Attenborough and BBC filmmakers captured this funny moment for the series Frozen Planet.

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Even better, you can watch a further 1,000 more memorable moments, for free, anytime, on your smartphone or tablet, via Attenborough's Story of Life app, which is now available to download via Google Play, or Apple's app store.

Find out more at http://www.bbc.com/earth/storyoflife.

The Story of Life has been produced in collaboration with Sir David Attenborough, BBC Earth and ideas and innovation company AKQA.",en
"Its small body looked just as you’d expect for a newborn porpoise, but with one inescapable difference – two perfectly formed heads.

The two male calves, who shared one body, were the first reported case of conjoined twins in the harbour porpoise species (Phocoena phocoena). Sadly, the twins are thought to have died shortly after birth.

The discovery was reported in the latest issue of the Deinse journal from the Natural History Museum of Rotterdam.

The twins were pulled from the water by a team of fishermen working in the Southern North Sea in May 2017. Unfortunately, the crew thought it was illegal to keep the remains so threw the specimen back into the sea, but not before taking a series of photographs.

Conjoined twins are extremely rare in wild animals. As well as being the first recorded case of conjoined twins in their species, the twins are only the tenth known case in the entire whale and dolphin family. However, the true number of incidences is unknown, most likely due to high rates of prenatal and antenatal mortality.

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"Loveable, playful, inquisitive, tenacious, energetic, versatile, charming and undeniably cute. These are just some of the words that can be used to describe an otter. If you’ve been lucky enough to see one of these shy semi-aquatic animals in the wild, you’ll instantly understand why.

But despite all their lovable qualities, otter populations all over the world hang in the balance.

Because they haven’t always been appreciated (at least not alive), sea otters were almost hunted to extinction for their warm and luxurious pelts. More recently, many species including the common, or Eurasian, otter have been hunted and trapped because they were seen as threats to fish stocks and competition for our food. Sometimes they were even killed for fun.

It is not just deliberate hunting, trapping and persecution that cause otters to suffer; they have to cope with shrinking habitats and a shortage of food, are vulnerable to chemicals, pollutants and (for some species) oil spills. Accidentally getting caught in fishing nets, parasites and infectious diseases are yet further causes of fatalities.

These are big problems and a tall order for any group of animals to deal with.

Despite all these challenges, they are fighters with a range of skills and behaviours making them superbly adapted to life on land and in water.

Found on every continent except Oceania and Antarctica, not one of the 13 species has yet become extinct.

This says a lot about the tenacious nature of these members of the mustelid family, but also about the efforts many organisations and individuals have played in their conservation. The approaches and use of technology may differ vastly in different parts of the world, but the long-term survival of the species is what matters.

Sea otters in California

It was a close call for the incredibly cute sea otter (Enhydra lutris) though.

During the fur trade of the 1700s and 1800s, the worldwide sea otter population was reduced from as many as 300,000 animals to as few as 2000, explains Andrew Johnson, Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Conservation Research Operations Manager.

They were relentlessly hunted for their pelts. With around a million hairs per square inch, it was regarded as one of the most prized animal furs in the world.

Along the Californian coast, the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) was persecuted particularly badly, where numbers in the early 1900s were down to around 50 individuals (from 15,000) and were close to being wiped out.

Thankfully, they are now protected and their numbers have recovered to around 125,000 - though they remain an endangered species.

Healthy populations have a profound effect on the overall health of kelp forests, estuaries, and coastal and ocean ecosystems, because, Johnson says, “When sea otters are absent, those systems often fall out of balance and become less diverse and resilient.”

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California has worked with sea otters since it opened in 1984 and now operates a successful sea otter rescue and release programme, using state-of-the-art facilities and tracking implants to help them in their vital work.

To help stranded sea otters, they have an Intensive Care Unit and multiple enclosures filled with filtered seawater with the capacity to hold 10 animals at one time. To monitor their progress once back in the wild, they use radio transmitters.

“We implant the transmitters so that we can track each otter and watch its behaviour following release,” he says.

Because the batteries last at least two years, young animals can often be tracked until they reach adulthood and reproduce, allowing the team to document the significant impact releasing sea otters into an area has on the ecosystem.

Largely due to legislation and the conservation work of dedicated organisations and charities such as Monterey Bay Aquarium, there is good news for California’s southern sea otters, as numbers are now up to 3000.

“This charismatic and vital species would not have survived without these protections.

“We need them to survive so they can exert positive effects on kelp forests and estuarine habitats, making those areas healthier and more ecologically diverse,” Johnson says.

Hairy-nosed otters in Cambodia

Not all approaches to conservation are so well funded, but this doesn’t mean they are any less successful.

The hairy-nosed otter (Lutra sumatrana) is one of the rarest and most endangered species of otter. In the 1990s, it was thought extinct throughout its range in Southeast Asia due to habitat loss, poaching, local consumption of otter meat and a loss of its sources of food.

However, surveying between 2006 and 2013 at possible habitats confirmed the presence of several small populations. In Cambodia, for example, it was found in four areas; one of the largest populations being around the flooded forest surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake.

Now the species has been ‘rediscovered’, it needs to be protected so that the populations can be allowed to grow. And that’s where organisations such as Conservation International have worked to protect and conserve the area and the species.

As Sokrith Heng, Conservation International’s lead researcher for the survey, explains, even though there are a number of laws and regulations to protect the species, enforcement on the ground is weak and limited and local people’s awareness of the importance of the wildlife and ecosystems they live in is very limited.

Poverty in areas such as rural Cambodia can also be a problem and often pushes local communities to use natural resources in unsustainable ways.

In response to this, Conservation International took action at Tonle Sap Lake. Their approach was to restore critical habitat, raise awareness in local communities and schools, and suggest laws and regulations to better protect the species. They also established conservation zones, protecting these through collaboration with government and community rangers as well as helping local community fisheries to development alternative livelihoods.

Key to this was directly engaging local community members in otter research and forming a group of ‘otter ambassadors’ who help spread awareness resulting in stronger support from locals.

This is important Heng says because; “Educating local people means they can share their knowledge to other community members.”

An important part of the successful conservation here is ensuring that local communities are able to sustainably use and manage their resources, and that the communities are financially stronger, explains Heng. For example, some community fisheries now have better protection for the otters: they are patrolling the area to stop illegal activities and teaching otter conservation in the local area.

At Tonle Sap Lake, these approaches resulted in fewer otter traps and skins being recorded by officials and researchers, both signs that fewer animals were being killed. While ongoing habitat restoration combined with less hunting and greater awareness is helping to ensure a brighter future for the hairy-nosed otter.

Although the technology maybe very different to that used at Monterey Bay, this method of conservation has been just as successful, as hairy-nosed otters now have at least one stronghold in Cambodia.

It is a good result for the country and for a species that was once thought extinct.

UK viewers can watch Natural World: Supercharged Otters on iPlayer.

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"Reputation: Dung beetles roll across the African savannah with big balls of, well, dung. The ancient Egyptians were really into them, for some reason.

Reality: From South America to South Africa, the UK to the USA, they will be there. Not only are dung beetles a diverse and multifaceted group of insects, they keep our farmland fertile and our pests and parasites at bay, and even play a part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They do not all eat dung, either.

The dung beetle was an icon in ancient Egypt, adorning temples, jewellery and texts. It was the symbol of a god who rolled the Sun up over the horizon each day, just like an enormous ball of dung. To this day, this is the stereotypical dung beetle, the one made famous by natural history films – a stocky black insect, trundling along with its smelly ball.

""I get that a lot,"" says insect ecologist Tomas Roslin at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, ""and then hurry to point out that there are as many different species of beetles living in dung as there are, for example, bird species globally"".

The sacred scarab of Egypt is a real animal, but it is just the tip of the dung heap. Dung beetles can be big or small, adorned with beautiful colours or horns to fight opponents, and inhabit chilly grasslands or tropical rainforests. Of the thousands of dung beetle species, only a fraction actually roll their dung into balls, and many do not eat dung at all.

""With so many different species that exist globally, the differences in life history are almost endless,"" says Trond Larsen, a tropical ecologist and Director of Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program. ""Among the most fascinating dung beetle species are those which have developed unusual specialisations.""

Most dung beetles work hard to live up to their name. In their quest for dung, some species engage in epic kung fu battles on the savannah. Others take up residence by monkeys' anuses, so they can hop onto the dung as it leaves its owner: a perfect example of ""first come, first serve"".

But according to Larsen, it is common to find over 150 distinct dung beetle species at a single site in the tropics. With this level of competition for limited quantities of dung, it is hardly surprising that some have evolved non dung-based diets.

These diets would still not be to everyone's taste. Whether it is carrion, rotting fruit and fungi, or dead invertebrates, dung beetles seem happy to serve as nature's bin men, hoovering up unpleasant detritus and waste. One species lives on the backs of giant land snails, sucking up their mucus while enjoying a free ride.

Perhaps the most fascinating specialists are the dung beetles that have made the switch from dung to hunting prey.

Predatory dung beetles have long been alluded to in the scientific literature. One species from Brazil was recorded decapitating large ants, before leaving their heads behind and rolling the fat abdomens into an underground lair – as if they were balls of dung.

Most of all, though, some dung beetles really seem to have it in for millipedes.

Aware of reports that certain beetles attack live millipedes, Larsen decided to go in search of the killer. After identifying a likely Peruvian species called Deltochilum valgum, he captured some specimens to observe their behaviour. ""I was amazed to unravel the highly detailed attack strategies employed by the beetles,"" he enthuses. Once again, decapitation is their favoured mode of attack.

However, thanks to their family history of eating dung, these beetles lack the sharp mouthparts commonly found in carnivorous animals. Instead, they have to improvise.

""Successful decapitation of millipedes depends on a suite of morphological adaptations, such as the shape of the hind legs, the prying 'teeth' on the front of the head, and the narrow width of the head for fitting inside the millipede's body segments,"" says Larsen. Essentially, the dung beetles slowly prise their unfortunate prey's body apart.

Millipedes are commonplace and slow, making them the perfect prey for these makeshift predators. Larsen reckons the evolutionary leap from feeding on carrion and dead invertebrates to living millipedes is not huge, and predicts that other dung beetles will also make the switch.

Clarke Scholtz, a veteran entomologist at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, knows a thing or two about dung beetles. He says that millipede-eaters are also present across the Atlantic, and agrees that this lifestyle change is actually rather straightforward.

""Adult dung beetles are not dung feeders in the strictest sense of the word,"" says Scholtz. ""They feed on tiny particles of gut epithelium from whatever it was that produced the dung, bacteria, fungi and tiny fractions of dung.""

Meanwhile, carrion-feeding dung beetles, and those feeding on invertebrates, are slurping on smoothies of juices and insides, filtering out the nutritious particles just as they would with dung.

Despite their forays into other foodstuffs, the primary business of the dung beetle family is still, well, ""business"". Whether they roll it around, bury it or live inside it, these beetles know their way around a pile of poop, and have done since the time of the dinosaurs.

What's more, while they are not pushing the Sun across the sky, dung beetles are doing important work.

""Dung beetles are an essential part of the ecosystem,"" says Bryony Sands of the University of Bristol, UK. ""In my opinion, they are as important as bees, but because of their unglamorous lifestyle their value is definitely overlooked.""

Faeces are a fact of life, and without an efficient waste disposal system the world would quickly descend into a swamp of unprocessed sewage. Dung beetles are that system. ""The beetles process the dung by tunnelling, burying, and fragmenting it,"" says Sands. They lay their eggs in it, their larvae eat it, worms bury it further, and the circle of dung continues.

Scholtz puts the situation into perspective. ""We have 15 million cattle in South Africa, and each produces about 12 cow pats per day,"" he says. ""That equates to about 5,500 tonnes of dung every day. We would all be knee deep – or shoulder deep – in it if it wasn't for dung beetles."" And that is before we even consider the elephant dung.

""This whole process not only quickly and efficiently removes dung from the surface, it brings all those important nutrients back down into the soil, making the soil fertile and our pastures productive,"" says Sands.

In the UK, which is home to a mere 60 species of dung beetle compared to South Africa's 800, the ecosystem services provided by dung beetles could be saving the cattle industry £367 million each year. Comparable savings have been estimated in the USA. Not only are dung beetles boosting pasture fertility, they also disperse seeds, improve soil structure, and reduce the prevalence of pests and parasites that affect both humans and livestock.

In a 2016 study, Sands showed that dung beetles reduce the spread of intestinal worms in cattle. Unfortunately, the anti-worm drugs farmers give to their cattle come out in their dung, and that is bad news for the beetles. ""This is a bit of a catch-22,"" says Sands. ""The very chemicals that farmers are using to treat the gut worms are actually killing the dung beetles, which would be naturally reducing worm transmission on pasture, making the problem worse in the long run.""

Indeed, the tremendous value of dung beetles has not gone unnoticed. Some pioneering scientists have used them to orchestrate major ecological changes.

The most dramatic instance of dung beetle intervention began in Australia in the 1960s, when the country was facing a dung disaster. Native dung beetles were used to the dry, hard dung of marsupials, not the sloppy pats left by introduced cattle. This led to farmlands covered with cow dung and bush fly swarms of biblical proportions.

In a bold move, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) established the Australian Dung Beetle Project. Over two decades, a team introduced 53 species of dung beetles from around the world. The foreign beetles were able to beat back the tide of manure, leading to a drop of about 90% in bush fly numbers. As a side note, it has been argued that the decline in flies has also saved the country's outdoor cafés from extinction.

Such was the success of the project that it has been repeated both in Australia and in neighbouring New Zealand, and this is not the final word on dung beetle interventions. ""CSIRO and other Australian and New Zealand researchers have not concluded their efforts in the dung beetle space,"" says Patrick Gleeson, a research technician at CSIRO. He mentions a recent application to develop a new, national dung beetle project.

To add to a growing list of dung beetle powers, work by Roslin and his colleagues has also found evidence that dung beetles can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

""We are talking fairly big effects, like a reduction of 40% of total methane emissions from any single dung pat inhabited by beetles,"" Roslin says. ""Dung beetle tunnels will serve as ventilation shafts, bringing oxygen into the pat. That will shift the balance between different microbes. Methane-producing microbes don't like oxygen.""

When you consider the emissions from an entire food supply chain, Roslin says, the impact of beetles is relatively small. Nevertheless, this addition to dung beetles's CV is yet another reminder of their significance.

In Finland, where Roslin conducted his studies, the tiny beetles are a far cry from the ostentatious, mouse-sized creatures found in Africa. But they are still playing their role, epitomising the biologist E.O. Wilson's reference to ""the little things that run the world"".

""Remember, dung beetles are not just something you see struggling with balls of elephant dung on African savannahs,"" says Sands. ""They are right here at home on your doorstep, and they need to be looked after!""",en
"Few things get the adrenalin spiking quite like a big brawl, even if you are just a popcorn-guzzling spectator. But if you want the real ultimate fighters you need to look to nature, where champions compete for more than glory: they fight to survive.

The hardest hitters on Earth are highly likely to take you by surprise, and not just because of their speed and skill.

The owners of possibly the fastest punch known to science are marine crustaceans called mantis shrimps. They use specialised forelimbs to strike prey with shocking power. The force is so great that the mantis shrimps tear through the water, creating small implosions that generate heat, light and sound.

Some species have adapted specialised appendages to spear, like a harpoon, while others smash with a club. In captivity, they have been known to break aquarium glass with a single hit.

Many social insects clash by knocking their antennae together

Sheila Patek's laboratory at Duke University in North Carolina specialises in studying fast animal movements. Patek's team has discovered that peacock mantis shrimps can generate a force peaking at nearly 2,500 times their body weight in less than 800 microseconds.

Patek says springs, levers and latches are the key to this amazing ability. Within each mantis shrimp's appendage is a four-bar linkage system that manages force. One link pushes against the next, building up energy before it is unleashed through the harpoon or club segment.

""Much like an archer, the mantis shrimp stores up elastic energy in advance of the strike and releases it with a latch,"" says Patek.

The shrimps also engage in territorial contests. However, Patek and colleagues describe these encounters as ""ritualised sparring"" rather than lethal contests. Competing shrimps first size each other up, and only come to blows as a last resort. On the rare occasions that they physically fight, the shrimps first curl up their armoured tailplates, or telsons, to shield their abdomens. The winner is the shrimp that, like Rocky Balboa, can withstand the most hits.

Patek has also studied insects called trap-jaw ants. These insects are named for their mouth parts, which can snap shut on prey astonishingly fast.

Hares often fight duels in spring as the mating season begins

They also brawl to settle disputes, boxing one another with their antennae to determine hierarchy within the nest.

Many social insects clash by knocking their antennae together: the behaviour has been studied in ants, wasps and bees. Touching antennae does not always signal a beatdown: for example, honeybees rapidly touch antennae while exchanging food. But for letting others know who is boss, boxing is key.

In a 2016 study, researchers used high-speed cameras to record four species of trap-jaw ants boxing with their antennae. The Florida native Odontomachus brunneus struck its opponent 41.5 times per second. The team described trap-jaw ants as ""the fastest boxers ever recorded"".

Among mammals, probably the most famous thumpers are brown hares (Lepus europaeus).

Hares often fight duels in spring as the mating season begins. This is the origin of the phrase ""mad as a March hare"".

It was once believed that only male hares fought, competing for mates by swiping at their opponent with their front paws. However, modern research has shown that boxing matches are often started by females, who are not yet ready to mate and choose to fight off pushy suitors. Females only have brief windows of fertility, so males must be persistent.

Kangaroos also kick in self-defence, as many unfortunate Australian dog-walkers can attest

In Australia, the bulging biceps of male kangaroos signal more sexually-charged scuffling. A particularly ripped specimen known as Roger resides at the Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs, and has become a viral hit thanks to his bucket-crushing guns.

According to a 2013 study, the males' over-developed forelimb muscles are a result of sexual selection. Male kangaroos slap and grapple one another to settle disputes over mates, and bigger muscles give them an advantage.

But it is kick-boxing where kangaroos really excel. With his opponent in a solid headlock, a dominant male can drive the message home – balancing on his tail and pummelling with his powerful legs, which are tipped with sharp claws.

Kangaroos also kick in self-defence, as many unfortunate Australian dog-walkers can attest. And speaking of kicks, a kick from a hoof can leave an even greater impression.

Anyone that has spent time with horses know they can deliver a mean kick, especially if they buck to deliver a blow with both hind feet.

A zebra's kick is rumoured to be even more menacing, but the evidence to support this is purely anecdotal. Zebras are known to be harder to tame than horses, which might be why the idea that their kicks are more savage is so widespread.

The secretarybird may look pretty ridiculous, but it feeds on venomous snakes

Tim Caro of the University of California Davis has dedicated much of his career to studying zebras – even going so far as to dress up as a zebra to study them in the wild. In his 2016 book Zebra Stripes, he describes how plains zebras deal with predators. Video footage has shown that the zebras kick lions in the chest, but there is no scientific record of these kicks being fatal.

Other beasts that can really stick the boot in include ostriches and giraffes. Both have been recorded kicking out at, and wounding, large predators. In 2016, Planet Earth II gave us remarkable footage of a giraffe besting a lion with a well-placed kick. When you consider the ferocious jaws that might be snapping at their heels, it is little wonder that these animals can punt some serious punishment.

Yet these defensive moves are not intended to kill so much as repel. While a chance blow to a spine or jaw could prove deadly, the kicks are mostly a distraction to give the leggy prey animals a chance to run for safety.

For truly lethal strikes, we need to look at predators – especially those with difficult diets.

Stalking through the grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa is a predator researchers have described as a ""ninja eagle on stilts"". The secretarybird may look pretty ridiculous, but it feeds on venomous snakes, dispatching them with a single violent kick to the head.

Zebras are known to be harder to tame than horses

In a 2016 study, scientists measured the kicking ability of a captive male secretarybird called, for reasons that are not immediately clear, Madeleine. They found that Madeleine could deliver five or six times his own bodyweight in a tenth of the time it takes a human to blink.

This same hunting style may also have been employed by some of the aptly-named terror birds: huge flightless birds that lived in prehistoric South America. Members of the Mesembriornis genus had very strong legs, according to analyses of recovered bone fragments. This has prompted scientists to suggest that the birds might have dished out bone-shattering kicks, as a way to access the nutritious bone marrow of their prey.

Perhaps we should all forget about floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee, and instead focus on punching like a shrimp and kicking like a bird.",en
"Build a web, catch a fly, wrap the fly in silk, then devour at leisure. This hunting strategy has proven so effective that orb-weaving spiders are one of the most successful groups of animals. They are found in almost every corner of the world and there are more than 3,000 species.

Making a web is a fairly sophisticated ploy. As well as multiple forms of silk and glue, the spider needs to perform a sequence of precise manoeuvres.

But why bother building your own web, when you can just invade somebody else's and devour the architect?

A clandestine group of spiders known as ""pirates"" have adopted this nefarious method of nabbing their prey. Their hunting strategies are among the most remarkable in the animal kingdom.

Pirate spiders are members of the spider group that includes all the ""orb weavers"" – those that make the prototypical, circular webs we are all familiar with – but they do not make webs.

In fact, they have lost the ability. They can still produce silk, which they use to build egg sacs and wrap prey. But they are anatomically incapable of spinning a web. The number of silk ""spigots"" on their spinnerets is dramatically small compared to their relatives.

Instead, they invade the webs of other spiders, in a bid to lure and then kill the hapless architect. Gently, they pluck the strings of the web, enticing the host to approach.

Once the host spider has ventured close enough, the pirate makes its move.

First, it encloses its duped prey within its two enormous front legs. These are fringed with massive spines, called ""macrosetae"", which they use to trap the host within a prison-like basket.

Then, the final move: the pirate bites its prey and uses its fangs to inject a powerful venom that instantly immobilises it.

It is a powerfully effective hunting technique.

""It can be riveting to watch a pirate stealthily wandering while waving its long, first pair of legs to narrow in on the location of the other spider,"" says Mark Townley of the University of New Hampshire. ""Despite many hours spent feeding pirates for our studies on spinnerets, I never became jaded by the sight of them searching for and attacking prey. It was always a marvel to watch. They can wield that first pair of legs so delicately that I've seen them touch prey spiders so lightly without them reacting in any way, not seeming to even notice.""

But we do not yet fully understand how the pirate's strategy works.

In particular, it is not clear why the pirate spiders pluck the strings of the host spider's web.

It has long been assumed that the plucking mimics the vibrations caused by an ensnared insect. Hence the Latin name for pirate spiders: Mimetidae, or ""imitator"".

However, not all entomologists agree that this is what the pirate spiders are doing.

""The behaviour of resident spiders towards pirate spiders and their own prey is quite different, as are the vibrations in the web caused by these two sources,"" says Carl Kloock of California State University Bakersfield.

He has an alternative suggestion. ""It seems to me most likely that pirate spiders are mimicking the vibrations of web-invading spiders of the same species, and possibly spiders of different species,"" says Kloock. ""A spider on its web needs to defend its web – a valuable resource – from other spiders, who may try to take over the web to avoid the cost of building their own web, or simply try to steal prey from the web.""

""These encounters follow a pretty simple pattern, where the spiders signal at one another, then slowly approach each other, usually until the smaller spider gives up and flees the web.

""I think what the pirate spiders are doing is basically sending a deceptive signal representing themselves as small web invaders that refuse to flee, drawing the resident closer and closer until they are within attack range,"" Kloock adds.​ ​

Then there is the matter of pirate spider venom, which has evolved to be extremely toxic towards other spiders, including members of their own species, but not towards other animals.

""Once another spider has been bitten it ceases to move, whereas fruit flies may struggle for several minutes,"" says Daniel Mott of Texas A&M International University. ""Their toxins appear to be very specific to other spiders.""

Why, and how, could such a strange hunting strategy evolve?

The first problem is that the prey spiders are also predators, equipped with fangs and venom. This means they are more dangerous than, say, beetles or flies, and also less abundant.

Secondly, pirate spiders are specialist predators. While they do sometimes feast on other prey, their main source of food is always spiders. By comparison, most orb-weaving spiders are generalist predators, eating whatever wanders into their web.

In fact, pirates are not even capable of capturing other spiders without the web to stand on.

""In the lab, if you put an orb weaver into a jar but don't allow it to spin a web, the pirate spider will not attack it,"" says Danilo Harms of the University of Hamburg in Germany. ""It needs a web in order to capture another spider.""

Somehow, the ancestors of pirate spiders both lost the ability to weave their own webs, and became predators of other spiders to boot.

Harms says the most plausible explanation is that it began with thievery. Pirate spiders' ancestors may have started invading the webs of other spiders, in order to steal the insects that the host had painstakingly trapped, poisoned and stored.

This filching behaviour has a colourful name: ""kleptoparasitism"".

Some of the proto-pirates could have then taken this tactic to the next level, by preying on the host spiders themselves. Over time, they would then have become increasingly specialised for capturing other spiders: evolving unusually long front legs, sophisticated web-plucking behaviours, and spider-specific venom.

This idea has been dubbed the ""kleptoparasitism-origin hypothesis"".

Whatever the reason for their quirky behaviour, pirate spiders are highly successful. Scientists have formally described more than 160 species, and they are found on every continent except Antarctica.

""We know a little bit about the biology of a tiny fraction of pirate spiders, but for most of the species we know literally nothing about their life history and behaviour,"" says Gustavo Hormiga of George Washington University. ""For example, virtually nothing is known about the biology of the beautifully bizarre South American tropical pirate spiders of the genus Gelanor.""

In this genus, the males' pedipalps – modified legs, which they use for inseminating females – are twice the length of the male's body. It may be that this allows them to inseminate females from a distance. ""In all other spiders, copulation requires that both partners are close to each other,"" says Hormiga. Mating at a distance would be a useful precaution, as pirate spiders are aggressive, possess potent venom, and are primed to prey on other arachnids, including their own kind.

But they also have a gentler side.

In a study published in November 2016 in the journal Cladistics, Hormiga and his student Ligia Benavides described five new species. Their study also featured the first report of female pirate spiders caring for their young.

Maternal care is relatively common in spiders. Some merely regurgitate prey for their young, while others go as far as allowing their spiderlings to feast upon their corpse. But maternal care had never been seen in the seemingly ""nasty"" pirate spiders.

""In the field, we observed females of Mimetus, Anansi and Ero taking care of eggs and spiderlings. Pirates can be good mothers,"" says Benavides. ""In some instances, females had their eggs distributed evenly in a small web on the underside of a leaf. But if I moved a web or touched the spider, she would gather all the eggs or spiderlings quickly, create a ball with them, and carry them away in order to protect them.""

Pirate spiders are clearly a tale unto themselves. However, their habit of imitating prey in order to devour another spider – an act known as ""aggressive mimicry"" – is not unique to them. It has evolved in arachnids independently at least twice before.

There is a genus of jumping spiders known as Portia. These spiders also mimic prey, pluck the webs of unlucky host spiders, and devour them.

Like other jumping spiders, Portia spiders have enormous eyes and mostly rely on vision to seek out their prey. In contrast, pirates seem to rely more on their sense of touch. In the lab, covering their eyes with paint does little to hinder their attacks on other spiders.

Pirates and Portia spiders are fairly recent evolutionary developments. However, ""pelican spiders"" also feast on other arachnids – and they are so ancient, they pre-date the evolution of winged insects.

Pelican spiders owe their nickname to their phenomenally large jaws (technically ""chelicerae"") and elongated necks. Formally known as Archaeidae, they are also sometimes called ""assassin spiders"".

With one chelicera they spear their prey. With the other, they inject the dangling, impaled spider with venom.

Pelican spiders have always preyed on other spiders – unlike the mimetids, which evolved from web-spinning spiders. They were first discovered from fossilised specimens in 1854, according to Harms, before living specimens were found in Madagascar in 1881.

""So, if you are older than the radiation of insects, what could you eat? Potentially other spiders,"" says Harms. ""That's why they have such strange morphology.""

Strange as it may seem, for some spiders feasting on the flesh of their spidery cousins is a great way to make a living.

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Quiz: What are the oldest living things on Earth?,en
"Last year, British photographer Steve Jones shot the well-preserved wreck of the World War Two US bomber B-17G Flying Fortress off the island of Vis, Croatia. The aircraft crashed in 1944 after getting hit by anti-aircraft fire, killing co-pilot, Ernest Vienneau.

“In years to come, many of the ships and aircraft lost during the World Wars will be gone forever.”

Diving such sites can be both “exhilarating and spectacular” and “sombre and sad” when there has been loss of life, says Jones; something that hit home particularly hard on this shoot.

The images Jones captured ended up having a surprisingly personal impact after he entered the photographs in the Underwater Photographer of the Year awards. His entry was published and spotted by the late co-pilot's family who got in touch with Jones.

“They had never seen images of his resting place,” says Jones. “The follow-on correspondence meant even more to me than the dive itself.”

“From descending into the massive cylindrical turret armour of the WW1 Battleship HMS Audacious, to seeing the deck of the WW2 wreck SS Empire Heritage covered in Sherman tanks, I’m frequently left in awe of what I’ve seen,” he says.

But these relics from one of the bloodiest chapters in human history are slowly disappearing.

“In years to come many of the ships and aircraft lost during the World Wars will be gone forever,” says Jones.

Since wrecks deteriorate over time, he says, photographing them is “capturing a point in history that will never be seen again”.

“Underwater photography and scuba diving is a form of meditation.”

“When you dive on a wreck that has lain on the seabed, sometimes over a hundred years, it's like time stood still,” says Anders Nyberg, a freelance photographer from the Swedish island of Gotland.

His favourite technique is to showcase familiar objects in the strange, other-worldly setting of the deep.

“It may be a door handle, a vase or a binocular, furniture or a wall with a tool that hangs neatly left on the wall. It is so I like it, untouched, to get the best pictures,” he says.

Wreck sites like the SS Thistlegorm, one of the world’s best-known wrecks, are among his favourite to photograph, as the area’s diverse marine life and beautiful corals make rich, wide-angle photography subjects.

Nyberg’s most startling experience, though, was not one he managed to capture on camera.

He and his wife were diving SS President Coolidge, which sank in 1942 off the island Esparto Santo, Vanuatu, when the cargo rooms became flooded with blue flashing lights.

“Slowly we were totally surrounded by this glitter and I became completely disorientated,” he says.

The peculiar blue lights turned out to be the biolumiscent eyes of a school of fish. The phenomenon – thought to attract or illuminate prey – can only be seen in total darkness, so turning on a torch would have stopped the effect.

Nyberg’s advice for getting the perfect underwater shot is to master your diving and camera equipment before going into the water. For safety it is important to use a line to follow out, in case visibility is poor.

Diving on wrecks is both exciting and physically and mentally demanding, but it can also be “a form of meditation, to relax from the stress of everyday life and work”.

Photographer, designer, and author, Jennifer Idol is the first woman to dive 50 states in her native US.

“I particularly enjoy large intact wrecks that are historic and not artificial reefs. Each wreck tells a story,” Idol says.

Wreck diving etiquette 1. Respect War Graves

Treat wrecks with the respect you would give a churchyard. 2. Respect the Wreck Environment

Treat them with the care you would give to coral reefs. 3. Respect the Future

Take photos rather than souvenirs. 4. Respect Our History

If you find anything, report it to the Receiver of Wreck. 5. Respect Yourself

Make sure that you are appropriately trained for safe wreck diving. 6. Respect Your Family and Friends

Some wrecks contain dangerous cargoes or live munitions – don't disturb them. 7. Respect the Law

Know and respect maritime laws – and avoid a criminal record. Source: British Sub-Aqua Club

She describes her experience photographing the U-352 in North Carolina – a WW2 German submarine sunk by the US Coast Guard Cutter Icarus, which rests at 35m (115 feet) below the surface.

“It feels like descending through time until you reach a boat much smaller than you expect.”

To take successful photographs, Idol advises focusing on recognisable features of the wreck.

“Wrecks easily appear abstract and unidentifiable.”

“Wrecks easily appear abstract and unidentifiable,” she explains.

“The bow and stern are obvious exterior shots while a conning tower, wheelhouse, or unique feature to a wreck will work on the interior. Using models in an image helps show the scale of a wreck.”

Creating a powerful image takes planning. Idol says it is important photographers consider “orientation, condition, and depth” before a shoot.

“A ship can be too large to see on one dive, especially when setting up a photo. Usually, descent lines are set in place or boats are moored to a line from which you follow to the wreck.

“If you are creating images inside the wreck, it is important to first become familiar with the wreck and then also to follow necessary diving procedures for penetration. This may include setting lines or diving mixed gases and using redundant diving systems.”

Even to someone as experienced as Idol, wrecks can yield surprises.

“I am sometimes surprised to find schools of fish, invertebrates, and even eels deep inside wrecks,” she says. “The life inside a wreck is surprising because it feels remote, is dark, and evades currents.”

“It is very nice…to see how the sea makes from a huge piece of steel a new house for fishes”

“It’s very special to feel you are in a place where some years ago there was people cruising the seas on it. I can imagine a lot of stories about it,” says Jordi Benitez, a banker from Spain who started in underwater photography 12 years ago.

“It is very nice too, to see how the sea makes from a huge piece of steel a new house for fishes, and how a new ecosystem is created around the wreck.”

Benitez’ subjects have included the Dragonera in Tarragona – a large ship sunk in the 1990s as an underwater tourism attraction – and in the Red Sea the Chrisoula K and Thistlegorm. The former is a cargo ship that struck a reef and sank in the 1980s, and the latter a British wartime ship that was attacked and sunk in 1941, killing nine people. The Thistlegorm wreck was discovered in the 1950s.

“I love to dive in the SS Thistlegorm because there are still a lot of materials from WW2,” says Benitez. “You can see bikes, trucks, trains, wings of planes... You feel as [though] you were travelling 70 years back.”

His advice for capturing effective underwater photographs is to use a “very wide-angle lens” and to “play with the light”.

“In underwater photography, we use many times strobes and artificial light, but in wrecks, it’s very nice to play with natural light, this gives also a special atmosphere to the pictures.”

For more incredible ocean stories, follow OurBluePlanet on Twitter. Get in touch with to share your most magical ocean moments, and for inspiration watch the launch video on the BBC Earth YouTube Channel.

#OurBluePlanet is a collaboration between BBC Earth and Alucia Productions.

Join the #EarthCapture underwater film and photo challenge by uploading your shots here:

Never miss a moment. Sign-up now for the BBC Earth newsletter.",en
"Type the ingredients you want to use, then click Go. For better results you can use quotation marks around phrases (e.g. ""chicken breast""). Alternatively you can search by chef, programme, cuisine, diet, or dish (e.g. Lasagne).",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption ""Nutella arouses your enthusiasm,"" the slogan on the pot reads

A discount on Nutella has led to violent scenes in a chain of French supermarkets, as shoppers jostled to grab a bargain on the sweet spread.

Intermarché supermarkets offered a 70% discount on Nutella, bringing the price down from €4.50 (£3.90) to €1.40.

But police were called when people began fighting and pushing one another.

""They are like animals. A woman had her hair pulled, an elderly lady took a box on her head, another had a bloody hand,"" one customer told French media.

A member of staff at one Intermarché shop in central France told the regional newspaper Le Progrès: ""We were trying to get in between the customers but they were pushing us.""

All of its stock was snapped up within 15 minutes and one customer was given a black eye, the report adds.

Similar scenes have been reported across France, with some being described as ""riots"".

The hunt for discounted jars continued on Friday, with shoppers in a supermarket near Toulouse being handed just one each:

Some 365 million kilos of Nutella, a hazelnut chocolate spread, is consumed every year in 160 countries around the world.

It was created by the Ferrero family in the 1940s in the Piedmont region of Italy, which is famed for its hazelnuts.

The firm said it regretted Thursday's violence, but noted that the discount had been unilaterally decided by Intermarché.

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"Image copyright Getty Images

We all know what makes us fat: eating more in calories than we burn off in energy. But though this is true, it doesn't answer the more interesting question - why do we overeat in the first place?

Why do I sometimes feel compelled to eat that bit of cake or bar of chocolate although I know I am going to regret it a few minutes later?

Is it just greed - or is something else going on?

Although self-control is important, there is mounting evidence that stress plays a significant part in weight gain.

Chronic stress disrupts our sleep and our blood sugar levels. This leads to increased hunger and comfort eating.

And that then leads to further disrupted sleep, even higher levels of stress and even more disrupted blood sugars. In time, this can lead not only to unhealthy levels of body fat, but also to type-2 diabetes.

To see what can happen, Dr Giles Yeo, a member of the Trust Me, I'm a Doctor team, decided, with the help of scientists from Leeds University, to put himself through a particularly stressful day.

The Leeds scientists started by asking Giles to do something called the Maastricht Stress Test.

They put him in front of a computer and made him rapidly subtract a number, 17, from another number, 2,043. He kept making mistakes, which for someone like Giles is particularly stressful.

Then they got him to put his hand in a bath of ice-cold water and hold it there. Before and after these tests, the Leeds team measured Giles's blood sugar levels.

More from Trust Me I'm a Doctor:

Our blood sugar levels rise when we eat and, in a healthy person like Giles, they quickly return to normal.

But what the Leeds team found was that on the day when Giles was being deliberately stressed, his blood sugar levels took three hours to return to normal - some six times longer than on a previous, stress-free day.

The reason this happens is that when you are stressed, your body goes into ""fight or flight"" mode.

Your body thinks it is under attack and releases glucose into your blood to provide energy for your muscles.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Stress can disrupt sleep - and lead to comfort eating

But if you don't need that energy to run away from danger, then your pancreas will pump out insulin to bring those blood sugar levels back down again.

These rising levels of insulin and falling blood sugars will make you hungry - which is why you crave sugary carbs when you are stressed.

The same sort of thing happens when you have a bad night's sleep.

A recent study carried out by researchers at King's College, London found that if you sleep-deprived people they would consume, on average, an extra 385kcal per day, which is equivalent to the calories in a large muffin.

Children also get the munchies when they haven't had enough sleep.

In another recent study, researchers took a small group of three- and four-year-olds (all regular afternoon nappers) and not only deprived them of their afternoon nap, but also kept them up for about two hours past their normal bedtime

The following day, the children ate 20% more calories than usual, particularly more sugar and carbohydrates. They were then allowed to sleep as much as they wanted.

The day after that, they still consumed 14% more calories than normal.

So how can you reduce daily stress?

Breathing stress away

Here's a breathing technique, recommended by NHS Choices, which I find effective. You will get the most benefit if you make it part of your daily routine.

You can do it standing, sitting or lying - whatever is the most relaxing.

Start by breathing in as deeply as you can, through your nose, without forcing it, to a count of five

Then, gently exhale, through your mouth, to a count of five

Keep breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth - steadily

Keep doing this for three to five minutes

One of the first things I would strongly recommend is to try to get a good night's sleep. This is easier said than done, but NHS Choices provides some useful tips.

You could also try some well established ""stress-busting"" techniques - such as exercising, gardening, mindfulness or yoga.

When I recently tested them, with the help of Prof Angela Clow, a stress expert from the University of Westminster, the mindfulness came out on top.

But a key finding of our study was you really only got benefit if you enjoyed it.

So do try different things and see which works best for you.

Trust Me I'm a Doctor is on BBC Two at 20:30 on Wednesday 24 January and will be available on iPlayer afterwards.",en
"Image copyright Reuters Image caption Customers enter the store by scanning the Amazon Go app on their smartphone

In a move that could revolutionise the way we buy groceries, Amazon has opened a supermarket with no checkout operators or self-service tills.

Long queues formed outside the Amazon Go store in Seattle before it opened its doors to the public on Monday.

It uses hundreds of ceiling-mounted cameras and electronic sensors to identify each customer and track the items they select.

Purchases are billed to customers' credit cards when they leave the store.

On entering the store, shoppers walk through gates similar to those in the London underground, swiping their smartphones loaded with the Amazon Go app.

Then they are free to put any of the sandwiches, salads, drinks and biscuits on the shelves straight into their shopping bags.

There's no need for a trolley or basket, since you won't be unpacking it again at the till. In fact, unless you need to be ID-checked for an alcohol purchase, there's also no need for any human interaction at all.

With the help of sensors on the shelves, items are added to customers' Amazon Go account as they pick them up - and delete any they put back. An electronic receipt is issued as they exit.

The store opened to employees of the online retail giant in December 2016 and had been expected to allow the public in more quickly.

But there were some teething problems with correctly identifying shoppers of similar body types - and children moving items to the wrong places on shelves, according to an Amazon insider.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Aside from the technology, the shop is a conventional food store

Gianna Puerini, head of Amazon Go, said the store had operated well during the test phase: ""This technology didn't exist - it was really advancing the state of the art of computer vision and machine learning.""

How does it work?

Grab-and-go shopping has been the ""future of retail"" for some time now.

But now Amazon believes its time has come - or at least that it is ready for real-world testing.

They're calling it ""Just walk out"" and while they won't spill the beans on just how it works, they say it uses ""computer vision, deep learning algorithms and sensor fusion, much like you'd find in a self-driving car"".

You scan a QR code as you enter. After that, your phone can go back in your pocket.

Hundreds of infra-red ceiling cameras have been trained (with Amazon employees as guinea pigs) over the past year to differentiate between customers as they move around the store, and between items for sale, even those with similar appearances, such as different flavours of the same canned drink.

There are weight sensors on the shelves to help indicate if an item has been taken or put back. And some items carry a visual dot code, like a bar code, to help cameras identify them.

Amazon isn't offering any information on how accurate the system is.

However, one journalist attempted to shoplift some cans of soft drink - but the system spotted it and added them on his bill.

Amazon has not said if it will be opening more Go stores, which are separate from the Whole Foods chain that it bought last year for $13.7bn (£10.7bn).

As yet the company has no plans to introduce the technology to the hundreds of Whole Foods stores.

However, retailers know that the faster customers can make their purchases, the more likely they are to return.

Making the dreaded supermarket queue a thing of the past will give any retailer a huge advantage over its competitors.

The Seattle store is not Amazon's first foray into bricks and mortar retailing. In 2015 the firm opened its first physical bookshop, also in Seattle where the company is based. There are now 13 in the US - as well as dozens of temporary pop-up outlets.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Customers must have the Amazon Go app, and scan a QR code from it as they pass through a turnstile

Image copyright Reuters

In its third quarter results in October, Amazon for the first time put a figure on the revenues generated by its physical stores: $1.28bn. Yet almost all of that was generated by Whole Foods.

While its stores may not yet be moneyspinners, analysts have said Amazon is using them to raise brand awareness and promote its Prime membership scheme. Prime members pay online prices at its bookstores, for example, while non-members are charged the cover price.

Brian Olsavsky, Amazon chief financial officer, recently hinted that rivals should expect more Amazon shops in the months and years ahead.

""You will see more expansion from us - it's still early, so those plans will develop over time,"" he said in October.

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"Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Fans and players salute Cyrille Regis ahead of a celebration of his life at The Hawthorns

A celebration of the life of footballer Cyrille Regis has been held at the ground where he started his ""pioneering"" career.

The former West Bromwich Albion striker, who is widely credited with inspiring a generation of black players, died on 14 January, aged 59.

Regis's funeral cortege left The Hawthorns stadium at about 08:30 GMT for a private family funeral service.

The public celebration at the ground was packed with people paying tribute.

Almost 2,000 tickets were available for the celebration of the former England international's life at The Hawthorns, where Regis began his professional career in 1977..

His family emerged inside the ground to Chris Love singing Bring Him Home from the musical Les Miserables.

Cyrille Regis remembered: Live coverage

Family friend Karl George said relatives had been ""overwhelmed"" by the support since he died and that ""it's not goodbye but it is 'until we meet again'.""

Reading his eulogy, Regis's widow, Julia Regis, told the crowd: ""Cyrille treated everyone like they were the most important person he ever met.""

She received a standing ovation after paying tribute to her ""lovely, caring amazing husband"".

Image copyright Rex Features Image caption Cyrille Regis was the third black player to be capped by England

Image copyright Mike Egerton Image caption Hundreds of fans gathered at The Hawthorns to see the funeral cortege depart

The celebration featured ""songs, a lively atmosphere and personal tributes"", his former club said.

Brendon Batson, who played alongside Regis and Laurie Cunningham at West Brom, said: ""He had a calm presence and a ready smile.

""We played at a time when many black players suffered vile abuse. But Cyrille never lost his cool. You could not intimidate Cyrille Regis.

""We will never forget Cyrille. Nice one Cyrille, nice one son.""

Regis, who lived in Edgbaston, Birmingham, was capped five times by England and played for several clubs including West Brom, Coventry and Aston Villa.

He was the third black player to play for England and was appointed an MBE in 2008.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption 'Privileged to have spent part of his journey with him'

Image copyright Mike Egerton Image caption Regis is regarded as a legend at the Black Country club

Regis, Cunningham and Batson were dubbed by their then manager Ron Atkinson as ""The Three Degrees"".

The trio were all subject to racist abuse during the late 1970s.

They are due to be honoured with a 10ft statue, called The Celebration, in West Bromwich. It is set to be unveiled this season, following a delay and Atkinson has called on fans to make donations towards the £38,000 still needed to complete the project.

Daughter Michelle Regis said: ""A legend, a gentleman, The Three Degrees, big C, the many different names you had.

""But I couldn't be more proud to just call you my dad. But I too one day will leave this place and return into my father's open arms.""

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Regis was honoured with an MBE in 2008 for his voluntary work and football career

Image copyright PA Image caption Among those speaking at the celebration event were former team-mate and fellow member of the ""Three degrees"" Brendon Batson, John Sillett, who managed Regis to 1987 FA Cup final glory, John Homer, chairman of West Brom's supporters' club and football agent Jonathan Barnett

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Dozens of fans' mementoes have been left at The Hawthorns

Image copyright Mike Egerton Image caption West Brom fans held tributes as the funeral procession went past the ground",en
"Is bitcoin finally going mainstream in the Midlands?

New ways to buy bitcoins themselves and new ways to spend them are appearing in the Midlands.",en
"Find out about how our fixers work, how they got started and their advice for you if you want to get into the tech and digital industries.

Each film will show you the processes our fixers use on a daily basis to deliver a wide range of projects and products, as well as top tips for any budding designer, engineer or technologist.

The Think Like a Fixer films are part of the BBC’s Make it Digital initiative, and can be used by makerspaces, fab labs, clubs, and schools across the UK to show and use as inspiration. We think they will make an excellent kick off to any workshop about design and innovation.

If you would like to use the films for an event, please get in touch by emailing Make It Digital and we will send you a download link. There is no charge, but we will ask you to agree to some terms and conditions.",en
"Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Could robots harm humans?

The science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote about controlling intelligent machines with the three laws of robotics:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm

A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law

As so often is the case, science fiction has become science fact. A report published by the Royal Society and the British Academy suggests that there should not be three but just one overarching principle to govern the intelligent machines that we will soon be living alongside: ""Humans should flourish.""

According to Prof Dame Ottoline Leyser, who co-chairs the Royal Society's science policy advisory group, human flourishing should be the key to how intelligent systems governed.

Image caption Isaac Asimov laid out some laws for robots

""This was the term that really encapsulated what we wanted to say,"" she told BBC News.

""The thriving of people and communities needs to be put first, and we think Asimov's principles can be subsumed into that.""

The report calls for a new body to ensure intelligent machines serve people rather than control them.

It says that a system of democratic supervision is essential to regulate the development of self-learning systems.

Without it they have the potential to cause great harm, the report says.

It is not warning of machines enslaving humanity, at least not yet.

But when systems that learn and make decisions independently are used in the home and across a range of commercial and public services, there is scope for plenty of bad things to happen.

Image caption In Asimov's Caves Of Steel, humans lived closely alongside robots

The report calls for safeguards to prioritise the interests of humans over machines.

The development of such systems cannot by governed solely by technical standards. They also have to be imbued with ethical and democratic values, according to Antony Walker, who is deputy chief executive of the lobby group TechUK and another of the report's authors.

""There are many benefits that will come out of these technologies, but the public has to have the trust and confidence that these systems are being thought through and governed properly,"" he said.

The age of Asimov

The report calls for a completely new approach. It suggests a ""stewardship body"" of experts and interested parties should build an ethical framework for the development of artificial intelligence technologies.

It recommends four high-level principles to promote human flourishing:

Protect individual and collective rights and interests

Ensure transparency, accountability and inclusivity

Seek out good practices and learn from success and failure

Enhance existing democratic governance

And the need for a new way to govern machines is urgent. The age of Asimov is already here.

The development of autonomous vehicles, for example, raises questions about how human safety should be prioritised.

What happens in a situation where the machine has to choose between the safety of those in the vehicle and pedestrians?

There is also the issue of determining liability if there is an accident. Was it the fault of the vehicle owner or the machine?

Another example is the emergence of intelligent systems for personalised tuition.

These identify a student's strengths and weaknesses and teach accordingly.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Several companies are testing driverless cars

Should such a self-learning system be able to teach without proper guidelines?

How do we make sure that we are comfortable with the way in which the machine is directing the child, just as we are concerned about the way in which a tutor teaches a child?

These issues are not for the technology companies that develop the systems to resolve, they are for all of us.

It is for this reason that the report argues that details of intelligent systems cannot be kept secret for commercial reasons.

They have to be publicly available so that if something starts to goes wrong it can be spotted and put right.

Current regulations focus on personal data.

But they have nothing to say about the data we give away on a daily basis, through tracking of our mobile phones, our purchasing preferences, electricity smart meters and online ""likes"".

There are systems that can piece together this public data and build up a personality profile that could potentially be used by insurance companies to set premiums, or by employers to assess suitability for certain jobs.

Such systems can offer huge benefits, but if unchecked we could find our life chances determined by machines.

The key, according to Prof Leyser, is that regulation has to be on a case-by-case basis.

""An algorithm to predict what books you should be recommended on Amazon is a very different thing from using an algorithm to diagnose your disease in a medical situation,"" she told the BBC.

""So, it is not sensible to regulate algorithms as a whole without taking into account what it is being used for.""

The Conservative Party promised a digital charter in its manifesto, and the creation of a data use and ethics commission.

While most of the rhetoric by ministers has been about stopping the internet from being used to incite terrorism and violence, some believe that the charter and commission might also adopt some of the ideas put forward in the data governance report.

The UK's Minister for Digital, Matt Hancock, told the BBC that it was ""critical"" to get the rules right on how we used data as a society.

""Data governance, and the effective and ethical use of data, are vital for the future of our economy and society,"" he said.

""We are committed to continuing to work closely with industry to get this right.""

Fundamentally, intelligent systems will take off only if people trust them and how they are regulated.

Without that, the enormous potential these systems have for human flourishing will never be fully realised.

Follow Pallab on Twitter",en
"The key piece of advice: ""Do the writing. Write a lot. Be unstoppable"".

Much as with any other pursuit, skills are learnt through practise - so to become a better writer you will need to write.When you write a story, mostly you expect there to be an audience - someone who will immerse themselves in your ideas and enjoy the journey.

So, how do you get an audience? How do you get noticed as a writer? Steven says it is simple. 'Write stuff people really like. Nothing else matters, unless you write something people like you will get nowhere'. This may sound difficult, but as is pointed out - today affords writers many more advantages than those who wrote in the past. The phone in your pocket gives you access to a myriad of resources, it has a text editor, a camera and editing software. It will let you turn your writing into a film. Even better, your phone will allow you to publish your scripts, your fan fiction and your films to share with the world.

""What's keeping you? Nothing is stopping you"".",en
"Image copyright NASA Image caption Nasa develops designs on computer long before the craft take to the air

Nasa is seeking help from coders to speed up the software it uses to design experimental aircraft.

It is running a competition that will share $55,000 (£42,000) between the top two people who can make its FUN3D software run up to 10,000 times faster.

The FUN3D code is used to model how air flows around simulated aircraft in a supercomputer.

The software was developed in the 1980s and is written in an older computer programming language called Fortran.

""This is the ultimate 'geek' dream assignment,"" said Doug Rohn, head of Nasa's transformative aeronautics concepts program that makes heavy use of the FUN3D code.

In a statement, Mr Rohn said the software is used on the agency's Pleiades supercomputer to test early designs of futuristic aircraft.

The software suite tests them using computational fluid dynamics, which make heavy use of complicated mathematical formulae and data structures to see how well the designs work.

Bottlenecks

Once designs are proved on the supercomputer, scale models are tested in wind tunnels and then finally experimental craft undergo real world testing.

Significant improvements could be gained just by simplifying a heavily used sub-routine so it runs a few milliseconds faster, said Nasa on the webpage describing the competition. If the routine is called millions of times during a simulation this could ""significantly"" trim testing times, it added.

Nasa said it would provide copies of the code to anyone taking part so they can analyse it, find bottlenecks and suggest modifications that could speed it up. Nasa is looking for the code to run at least 10 times faster but would like it quickened by thousands of times, if possible.

Any changes to FUN3D must not make it less accurate, said Nasa.

The sensitive nature of the code means the competition is only open to US citizens who are over 18.",en
"To coincide with the Writersroom comedy submission window opening we want to invite you to try your hand at sketch writing.

ONE IDEA In a quickie (anything up to around 30 seconds), you hit the audience with the idea and that's it. In a longer sketch you escalate the one idea through the scene, introducing no completely new ideas.

Premise Sketches A premise sketch is a sketch in which the situation is funny, rather than a particular character. A premise should be specific and you should be able to write it down in a single sentence. E.g. A man doesn't understand innuendo.

Character Sketches As you might expect these sketches are built around a funny character that drives the comedy. They often have a behavioural, vocal or physical trait that is unusual. E.g. The Fast Show - Suit you Sir!

All sketches tend to be based on either a premise or a character.

GETTING STARTED

So now you know the basics, all you need are ideas. The best way to write is to be excited about what you are working on and the best way to do this is to have lots of ideas to pick from. Remember anything can be a sketch premise.

A really handy trick for all sketch writers is to create an SKETCH IDEAS MASTER LIST, this is somewhere you write down all the sketch ideas you come up with. It can be a notebook, a spreadsheet, or a collection of post it notes whatever works for you. Having a master list means you will never have to stare at a blank piece of paper.

You should aim to come up with at least five ideas a day. Here are some simple exercises to help you start generating them.

EXERCISE 1:

Step 1) Pick any piece of useless information. E.g. It's the six o'clock bus.

Step 2) Then add any emotion. E.g. anger, despair, sadness, trust, joy, disgust etc.

Step 3) Let your brain fill in the blanks E.g. Overly trusting bus driver etc.

Once you have the basic idea then explore the emotion in the following way:

1. Explore

2. Heighten

3. Intensify

4. Exaggerate

Using different useless pieces of information and emotions come up with ten premises like this and then pick your favourite three.

EXERCISE 2:

On a piece of paper create three lists:

List 1 Occupations Doctor, Policeman, IT technician, Director, Actor

List 2 Emotions Fear, desire, apathy, greed

List 3 Locations Beach, Funfair, Hotel lobby, Plane

Then randomly pick one thing from each list and see what your brain comes up with.

E.g. A greedy Doctor on a plane - From that see what funny premises you can mine.

Come up with ten premises like this and pick your favourite three.

EXERCISE 3:

You should now have six ideas you really like. Pick two of these and turn them into sketches using the structure above. (400 word limit for each sketch)

TO HELP

Here are five types of sketch the premise might fit into.

5 TYPES OF SKETCH:

1. SIMPLE BUT THE IMPOSSIBLE TASK

A character is trying to achieve something, they have a simple goal and there are obstacles set in their way that they have to overcome. The goal is usually never accomplished.

Examples: Monty Python - Dead Parrot, Abbott & Costello - Who's On First

2. FISH OUT OF WATER

A character is placed in a completely inappropriate or unexpected environment. It can be a comic character in a sane world or a sane character in a comic world. The world they find themselves in usually clashes with their worldview.

Examples: Armstrong & Miller - WWII RAF Sketch

3. CLASH OF CONTEXT

Using things with a pre-established context, remove them from where they usually belong and take them somewhere new. E.g. Vampires at a fun fair.

Example: Big Train - Tyrant At Home

4. CENTER VS. ECCENTRICS

An everyman is surrounded by comic characters.

Example: Key & Peele - Gay Wedding Advice

5. PARODY

This one is self-explanatory, basically just a parody of something.

Example: The Two Ronnies: Mastermind

Each of these types of sketch can be combined but in general most sketches fall into one of the above types.

Start your script with the BBC Writersroom: Script Gym. Please note that The BBCWritersroom team will set you Script Gym challenges each month, but we will not be involved in reading or giving notes.

The BBC Writersroom Comedy Script Room submission window will be open from 17th April to 15th May 2017. You cannot submit your scripts via Mixital, but if you write a great one and want to submit to please find out more on Writersroom.

You can also join the other Mixital writing communities, including Doctor Who and Class.",en
"فيديو

كيف تعبر الحدود...مثل الفيل؟!

التقطت كاميرات المراقبة على الحدود بين الصين ولاوس عملية عبور للحدود بشكل قد لا يكون قانونيا. لكن الحالة خاصة هذه المرة، إذ أن فيلا هو من عبر الحاجز بين الدولتين.",ar
"بالصور

معالم لندن تحت الأضواء

معالم لندن تبدو على غير صورتها المعتادة، بفضل مهرجان ""لوميير"" للأضواء. ويعرض فنانون بريطانيون وغير بريطانيين أكثر من 50 عملا فنيا ضوئيا، على بعض أبرز مباني المدينة.",ar
يقدم لكم تلفزيون بي بي سي العربي الأخبار والأخبار العاجلة والتحليلات والحوارات والبرامج الوثائقية، على مدى 24 ساعة كل يوم. ويمكنكم التقاط القناة عبر الأطباق اللاقطة. بإمكانكم إرسال تعليقاتكم واقتراحاتكم على بريدنا الإلكتروني: arabic@bbc.co.uk,ar
"موجات FM

نبث إرسالنا على موجات إف إم في كل من:

الأردن

في العاصمة الأردنية عمان على موجة 103، وفي عجلون على موجة 89.1 1 حيث يصل الإرسال إلى القدس وأنحاء من الضفة الغربية

قطر

في العاصمة القطرية الدوحة على موجة 107.4

البحرين

في مملكة البحرين على موجة 103.8

الكويت

في الكويت على الموجة 90.1، وعبر إذاعة مارينا على موجة 88.8

السودان

يمكنكم استقبال بث بي بي سي في مدينة جوبا، بجنوب السودان على موجة 90 وفي مدينة واو على موجة إف إم 90.0 ميجاهيرتز

الإمارات

في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة على موجة 87.9 في دبي حيث يصل الإرسال إلى الشارقة وعجمان وأم القيوين، وفي أبو ظبي على موجة 90.3

الأراضي الفلسطينية

قطاع غزة على موجة 107.4، ويمكن التقاط بثنا لمدة 12 ساعة من خلال إذاعة بيت لحم على موجة 106.4 وفي رام الله على موجة 98.8، وفي الخليل على موجة 90.9، وفي نابلس على موجة 91.8، وفي جنين على موجة 103.0 ميجاهيرتز.

نلفت عناية مستمعينا في قطاع غزة الذين كانوا يلتقطون بثنا على موجة الاف ام 107,4 ميغا هرتز الى ان بثنا سيستأنف اعتبارا من يوم الاثنين 26 يوليو تموز على نفس الموجة بعد انقطاع لاسباب فنية

العراق

في العاصمة العراقية بغداد على موجة 89، وفي مدينة البصرة على موجة 90، وفي العمارة على موجة 89، وفي الكوت على موجة 89، وفي الناصرية على موجة 100، وفي الموصل واربيل على موجة 96، وفي كركوك على موجة 92.2، وفي السليمانية على موجة 92.5

لبنان

في لبنان، يمكن التقاط بثنا على مدار ساعات اليوم الأربع والعشرين ) في بيروت الكبرى وجبل لبنان) على الموجة 93.6 ميجاهيرتز ويمكن أيضاً الاستماع إلى نصف ساعة من أخبار بي بي سي في الساعة السادسة صباحاً بالتوقيت المحلي ) في سائر انحاء لبنان) عبر إذاعة صوت لبنان على الموجة 33.9

موريتانيا

في موريتانيا في العاصمة نواكشوط على موجة 106.9، وفي نواذيبو على موجة 102.4

جيبوتي

في جيبوتي على موجة 99.2 من منتصف الليل حتى الرابعة صباحا، ومن الساعة السادسة حتى السابعة صباحا ومن السابعة والنصف حتى الحادية عشرة صباحا، ومن الثانية عشرة والنصف ظهرا حتى الثانية ظهراً، ومن السادسة والنصف مساء حتى منتصف الليل، بتوقيت جرينتش

هرغيسا

في هرغيسا على موجة 89 من الساعة الثالثة حتى الثالثة والنصف صباحا، ومن السادسة حتى الثامنة صباحاً، ومن الواحدة حتى الثانية ظهرا، ومن الثامنة حتى التاسعة مساء بتوقيت جرينتش

الصومال

في العاصمة الصومالية مقديشو عبر إذاعة هورن أفريك على موجة 99.9 من الثالثة إلى الرابعة صباحا، ومن السادسة وحتى الثامنة صباحا بتوقيت جرينتش

مالي

في عاصمة مالي باماكو على موجة 88.9 إف إم من الساعة العاشرة مساء وحتى الساعة الحادية عشرة مساء بتوقيت جرينتش، وفي بلدة سيكاسو شرقي البلاد على موجة 100.5 ولمدة ساعة واحدة (07:30 الى 08:30 بتوقيت جرينتش)

تشاد

في العاصمة التشادية انجامينا يمكن التقاط برامجنا لساعة واحدة (بين الساعة 22:00 و23:00 بتوقيت جرينتش) على 90.6، وعلى موجة إذاعة البيان على موجة 93.7

استراليا

في استراليا عبر إذاعة 2ME

يمكن لمشاهدي القنوات الفضائية الاستماع إلينا على القمر الصناعي نايل سات على موقعه 7 درجات غربا: يمكنهم الاستماع إلى بي بي سي العربية على القناة رقم 32، وبي بي سي العالمية بالإنكليزية على القناة رقم 33.

وعلى القمر الصناعي عربسات A3 وموقعه المداري 26 درجة شرقا على تردد 12015 ميجاهيرتز: إذاعتا بي بي سي العربية والإنكليزية على القناة .16

وعلى شبكة أوربت: بي بي سي العربية على القناة 80 أو 61، وبي بي سي العالمية باللغة الإنكليزية على القناة 81 أو .62

ليبيا

أطلقت بي بي سي خدمة البث الاذاعي الحي عبر موجات أف.أم في مدن طرابلس وبنغازي ومصراته.

في طرابلس على موجة أف أم على تردد 91.1 ميغاهرتز.

في بنغازي على موجة أف أم تردد 91.5 ميغاهرتز.

وفي مصراته على موجة أف أم 91.5 ميغاهيرتز.

وستكون معظم التغطية في المدينتين عبر بث حي لاذاعة بي بي سي عربي، مع فقرة باللغة الإنجليزية هي برنامج 'Newshour' من بي بي سي العالمية في الساعة 13:00 بتوقيت غرينتش.

الموجات القصيرة والمتوسطة

تفاصيل البث على الموجات القصيرة (التوقيت الصيفي)

مواعيد البث (بتوقيت غرينتش) الذبذبة (بالكيلوهيرتز) 02:59 - 03:59 5875 02:59 - 04:59 9410 04:59 - 06:59 15790 16:59 - 19:59 12095 19:59 - 20:59 11680

تفاصيل البث على الموجات المتوسطة (التوقيت الصيفي)

مواعيد البث (بتوقيت غرينتش) الذبذبة (بالكيلوهيرتز) 02:59 - 06:59 639 30/03/14 - 25/10/14 02:59 - 06:59 720 30/03/14 - 25/10/14 14:59 - 20:59 702 30/03/14 - 25/10/14 16:59 - 20:59 720 30/03/14 - 25/10/14 17:59 - 20:59 639 30/03/14 - 25/10/14

تفاصيل البث على الموجات القصيرة (التوقيت الشتوي)

مواعيد البث (بتوقيت غرينتش) الذبذبة (بالكيلوهيرتز) 02:59- 03:59 5875 26/10 - 28/3/15 02:59- 04:59 7285 26/10 - 28/3 04:59- 06:59 17790 26/10 - 28/3 16:59- 19:59 12095 26/10 - 28/3 19:59 - 20:59 11875 26/10 - 28/3

تفاصيل البث على الموجات المتوسطة (التوقيت الشتوي)

مواعيد البث (بتوقيت غرينتش) الذبذبة (بالكيلوهيرتز) 02:59 - 06:59 639 26/10 - 28/3/15 02:59 - 06:59 720 26/10 - 28/3 14:59 - 20:59 702 26/10 - 28/3 16:59 - 17:59 720 26/10 - 28/3 17:59 - 20:59 639 26/10 - 28/3

كما يمكن الاستماع إلى القناة بي بي سي المتعددة اللغات ومن بينها العربية في بريطانيا وأوروبا على القناة التلفزيونية رقم 902 عبر نظام الاستقبال الفضائي الرقمي

لمزيد من المعلومات للمهتمين بالتعاون مع هيئة الإذاعة البريطانية في مجال البث على موجة إف إم وإعادة البث يمكن الاتصال بحمدي فرج الله مدير التعاون الإذاعي في العالم العربي هاتف: 00442075573552 فاكس: 00442072074975526 ، أو فؤاد عبد الرازق مدير التعاون الإذاعي في العالم العربي هاتف: 00442075572973 فاكس: 00442074975526

يمكن تغيير جدول البث في حال ورود أخبار عاجلة

بعض البرامج الوثائقية لا يمكن مشاهدتها عبر الموقع بسبب قيود على حقوق عرض المواد المصورة المتضمنة",ar
"Hi I am the head of product for BBC News Online and lead the product strategy and development of website, mobile, tablet and IPTV products for News.



The change of year is a good time to look back and also forward. In the BBC News Online product team in recent weeks we have been reflecting on a year in which we delivered a number of innovative product features to the audience while also planning an exciting event to kick off 2013: our first Connected Studio for News which begins on January 21.

Pages from BBC News Online

With the delivery of our brand new responsive design website, our coverage of events such as the Diamond Jubilee and the US Presidential elections, 2012 was a huge success in News for what we call our 'Four Screen strategy'.

In the UK alone we saw a 28% increase in weekly unique browsers to our websites and applications, the number of tablets accessing our product more than trebled following a massive increase during Christmas week and there has been a 50% increase via smartphones.

Considering that one-third of our users are now not using a desktop PC it is essential that we continue to deliver great experiences across all devices from phones to connected TVs - not only in 2013 but beyond.

This is where Connected Studio comes in.",en