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Youth worker loses damages fight after police Tasered him - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Judge finds officer had 'objectively reasonable' belief the Tasering of Edwin Afriyie was necessary. | London | The court heard that Mr Afriyie's arms had been folded when he was Tasered
A youth worker Tasered after being stopped by police while driving through central London in April 2018 has lost a High Court damages fight.
Edwin Afriyie, who is in his mid-30s, said he suffered head, back and leg injuries during the incident in King William Street.
Mr Afriyie took legal action against the City of London Police and made a misfeasance allegation.
Police disputed his claims and a judge ruled against him on Friday.
A barrister representing Mr Afriyie, who lives in Hayes, west London, said the Tasering was not in response to any "identified threat".
David Hughes said the police's use of Tasers should be proportionate and lawful and suggested that their authority had been wrongfully exercised.
Mr Afriyie is black, but the judge said he had not "advanced a claim" under equality legislation nor sought to argue that officers' treatment of him was "motivated by his race".
She had watched police bodycam footage showing Mr Afriyie being Tasered after officers said he was being arrested for not providing a breath sample.
Mr Afriyie, who has not been charged with a driving offence arising from the incident, was standing with his arms folded when he was hit and footage, available online, showed him falling backwards, landing with his head on a step and his body on the pavement.
She said police had proved that a police constable "honestly believed" that the use of the Taser was "necessary".
The judge added that the belief was "objectively reasonable".
"Mr Hughes submitted that I should find as a fact that nothing was about to happen that necessitated the use of force," she said.
"He may be right that nothing would, in fact, have happened had the Taser not been discharged.
"However what matters is whether [the officer's] belief in what might happen, so as to justify the use of the Taser, was objectively reasonable."
Mrs Justice Hill had also overseen a trial of the same case at the High Court last year but fell ill and was unable to complete it.
It was reported elsewhere that Mr Afriyie is considering an appeal.
Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66071780 |
RNLI staff surveys raise concerns about sexist behaviour - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The UK lifeboat charity says it will take action and on the issues raised in surveys of its workers. | UK | A number of workers at the RNLI have raised some concerns about sexist and bigoted behaviour at the organisation.
Internal surveys from 2021 and 2022 on the attitudes of staff and volunteers working at the UK lifeboat charity cite sexism and bullying.
The documents, first reported by the Times, have been seen by the BBC.
The RNLI told the BBC it was sorry to anyone who had faced "behaviours and actions that no one should have to tolerate" and "will act".
The organisation, which has more than 30,000 staff and volunteers, had about 3,600 survey responses over two years, mostly positive comments.
But the survey results show concerns also included "blame" culture, misogyny, being overworked, and a lack of space to openly call out inappropriate behaviour.
In the 2022 survey, one female respondent recounts being "repeatedly" called sexist terms by male colleagues.
"I have not once felt like the RNLI supports women or minorities," she said, adding that she would not recommend it "as an employer to anybody".
A comment in the previous year's survey described the level of sexism at RNLI stations and around the coast as "abhorrent".
"I have never been at a station/around a branch and not heard an inappropriate comment or joke regarding race, sex or sexual orientation".
Matters reported to senior members were "not dealt with effectively and timely," the person said, leading to some individuals getting away with "disgraceful behaviour".
A respondent to the 2022 survey said their mental health has been affected by many factors, including a lack of holding people to account, being overworked and "awful misogyny".
Bullying was mentioned in a number of survey responses. There were no specific examples given but a respondent to the 2022 poll talked about experiencing a "culture of bullying and harassment".
But colleagues were praised for being "caring" by many survey respondents, and one comment says the RNLI is "very inclusive of everyone and the relationships in the team make it a great place to work".
The RNLI's Code of Conduct says volunteers must not "participate in any form of inappropriate behaviour or activity", including bullying, harassment or unlawful discrimination.
Sue Barnes, RNLI's People Director, said: "We are sorry to our volunteers and staff who have faced behaviours and actions that no one should have to tolerate.
"There is no place for misogynistic, sexist, and non-inclusive behaviours at the RNLI and we are committed to taking action and tackling such behaviour."
She added that it has a "range of methods" members can use to report unacceptable behaviour, including a whistleblowing reporting line.
"We know we have more work to do to ensure we become the truly inclusive lifesaving charity we strive to be," she said.
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? You can share your experiences by emailing [email protected].
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at [email protected]. Please include your name, age and location with any submission. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66074488 |
Watch Live: Europe's 'dark explorer' telescope launch - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Euclid space telescope is launching from Florida on a mission to make a 3D map of the cosmos | Science & Environment | A mission to uncover the secrets of the Cosmos?
Sounds tantalising and whilst we won’t get any answers today, you can watch the beginning of Euclid’s adventure with its launch from Florida this afternoon.
Welcome to live coverage of the lift-off from Cape Canaveral, where you will be able to watch the countdown and launch of the rocket carrying the Euclid telescope.
A collaboration between the European Space Agency and Nasa, Euclid aims to tie down some of the properties of so-called dark matter and dark energy.
We won’t be bringing you any further text updates on this page, but enjoy the excitement of the launch by watching the video coverage by clicking play at the top. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-66075202 |
France riots: Nanterre rocked by killing and unrest - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The town of Nanterre is shaken by nights of rioting after 17-year-old Nahel was shot by police. | Europe | The French interior minister has asked regions to ban the sale of fireworks, petrol cans and flammable products
Come to Nanterre to get an all-round view of the crisis boiling over in France. But if you are a journalist, be advised to keep your head down.
An approach to a group of young men - some bearded, one built like a bodybuilder - outside the Le 35 café prompts an aggressive outburst of swearing and a pointed finger directing me to keep out.
At the scene where police shot dead a 17-year-old boy of Algerian descent last Tuesday, women in Islamic headscarves shout abuse at police and the media from passing cars.
Wandering through the streets incognito - without a camera or notebook - past burned-out cars and smashed premises it is possible to pick up glimpses of the last catastrophic few days.
Three middle-aged white ladies, Lucille, Marie and Jeanne, are chatting with a black male friend on a bench outside their block of flats. The area is pristine, surrounded by gardens - like many other apartment blocks in Nanterre.
They don't want to be photographed as they fear their children would be identified and targeted as a result, but they are happy to chat.
People living in Nanterre have endured several nights of violence, looting and rioting
"The last three nights have been appalling. Between midnight and 4am it is bedlam outside our windows. No-one can sleep. I feel like I'm living on another planet," says Lucille.
Do they perhaps not feel the anger from the rioters is understandable, when one of Nanterre's young residents, Nahel, has been shot dead at a police check?
"This rioting has nothing to do with what happened. Of course, the kid shouldn't have been killed. But what was he doing joyriding without a licence at eight o'clock in the morning, when children are going to school?"
Marie looks at a smashed bus-shelter daubed with graffiti that reads "one cop, one bullet".
"You see what it says there? That I am completely against. I don't think the police are racist. There are good and bad in every group of people," she says.
They have little time for the dead teenager's mother, Mounia, who took part in a mass march in memory of Nahel on Thursday.
"What was she doing up on that open-top van in the march? It was undignified. That wasn't a march of grief. She's playing politics." The others nod in agreement.
Public buildings like this tax office have been singled out for attack in Nanterre and across France
Not far away on the Avenue Georges Clemenceau, lined with plane trees, the préfet who heads the Hauts-de-Seine department has come to survey the wreckage that was the front of the local tax office. "Deplorable, lamentable," he says.
Firework rockets fired by rioters at the building have left gaping holes in upper-floor windows. At street level, every pane has been smashed with a heavy instrument. Charred tax forms are scattered outside the entrance.
Among the onlookers is tax inspector Cyril, who lives in Nanterre but also declines to be photographed.
"What I feel is just wretched sadness," he says. "This tax office serves the people of Nanterre. The money that comes from here is used to buy them services. What on earth is the point of attacking it? It's a totally disproportionate response."
Cyril, however, says he is broadly sympathetic with people who want to protest against Tuesday's killing.
"I'm not sure if racist police is correct. Let's just say they have an attitude. The kids around here have all had rough treatment, often because they were doing something stupid, sure.
"But look, this was a kid," says Cyril. "The officer was an adult. He had a gun. It was his job to be in control of the situation. And he wasn't."
The local Nike store in Nanterre was trashed as rioting escalated on Thursday night
There are far stronger views, of course, among locals who took part in the memorial march.
Like Bakari, who doesn't justify the riots but believes they are understandable: "Certain people react against violence with violence."
"I wasn't surprised by [Nahel's killing] because we have all had bad experiences with police. There are good and bad everywhere, but the large majority of police are racist."
Or Yasmina: "I absolutely hate the French police. I wish them the worst. The whole system is corrupted by a systemic, racist ideology.
"[Nahel] could have been my kid brother. It blows my mind to think that a kid like that can make some stupid mistake, like anyone could do. He didn't deserve to die."
The town of Nanterre is far from the hellhole of isolated social deprivation some would like to depict. It is spacious, clean and two stops on the commuter train from the Arc de Triomphe in the centre of Paris.
The towers of La Défense business district are a stone's throw away.
There is a theatre, a university, the national opera dance school, and a large park named after former President Charles de Gaulle's culture minister André Malraux. Unfortunately, yesterday the children's roundabout that has stood there for the last 50 years was burned down.
The over-riding impression one takes away of the town is of two universes colliding.
On one level, all the standard accoutrements of the generous French state are plain to see.
Tricolours fly; the préfet comes to survey his domain; Metro trains whizz underground and, in the looming towers of La Défense multinationals make their billions.
Paris-Match photographer Eric Hadj says social media has helped the rioters mobilise
But in the same geographic space, there is another way of being: one which appears utterly alienated from the system; which is quick to see and reflect hostility; which says "ici on est chez nous" - this patch is ours - and gives the finger to unwanted outsiders, like the press.
At a petrol station by the tax office, veteran Paris-Match photographer Eric Hadj is surveying his smashed-up car and preparing forms for the insurance claim.
"We were here on Thursday during the march. Some big guys came and told us to get out. They made it quite clear we risked something very nasty if we didn't. When we came back today, of course the car had been totally wrecked."
Hadj has been through a lot of riots in his time but says he has never seen anything like this.
"This is worse, far worse than 2005," he says.
Everyone here is looking back to the last sustained rioting that shook the French banlieues or suburbs for three weeks, wondering how long the latest unrest will last.
"Today there is social media, which gives the rioters a big advantage. But, above all, it is more violent. They have rockets. Whatever restraint there was has been removed," says the photographer.
Gérard Collomb, the former socialist mayor of Lyon and interior minister under President Macron, is well-known for his pithy sayings.
When he left office in 2018, he lamented the worrying tendency of French society to divide into communities - the very contradiction, he thought, of a single, unified Republic.
"Today we are living side by side," he said. "Tomorrow, I fear we will be face to face."
In Nanterre it is one face of France against another. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66070033 |
Man and woman held after body of girl, 2, found in Ipswich - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Two 22-year-olds who were "known to the victim" have been arrested on suspicion of murder, police say. | Suffolk | Police cars were parked outside the temporary housing unit in Sidegate Lane on Friday
A man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of a two-year-old girl was found at a property, police have said.
Suffolk Police said the toddler's remains were found at a temporary housing unit on Sidegate Lane in Ipswich at about 11:45 BST on Friday.
The force said a Bedfordshire man and a woman of no fixed abode, who are both 22, were arrested in Bury St Edmunds.
A representative said the pair were "known to the victim".
They added that officers were "not seeking any other suspects in connection with this case at this time".
Appealing for information, Supt Jane Topping said the force was "still looking to establish the exact circumstances leading to the death of this child".
"Clearly, such a discovery is extremely distressing for everyone concerned," she said.
"We'd ask people not to speculate on social media as to the identity of the child or to the circumstances surrounding her death."
Ipswich Borough Council, which operates the housing unit, has declined to comment
She added that a "highly visible presence of officers" would "continue in the area for the next few days with reassurance patrols".
"These officers are available to speak to concerned members of the community," she said.
"This is a fast-moving investigation and we are appealing to the local community for any information which may aid this investigation."
Ipswich Borough Council, which operates the housing unit, has declined to comment.
Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Got a story? Email [email protected] or WhatsApp on 0800 169 1830
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-66075779 |
Hacking trial: Prince Harry claims £440,000 in damages from Mirror Group Newspapers - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Duke of Sussex alleges articles published by Mirror Group Newspapers breached his privacy. | UK | Prince Harry is claiming up to £440,000 in damages for newspaper articles published by Mirror Group Newspapers which he alleges breached his privacy.
Amounts being claimed were released on the final day of the trial examining allegations of phone hacking.
The case has been brought by Prince Harry and three others.
Prince Harry's lawyers have highlighted 33 stories in their claim, including reports about his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy and his drug taking.
The duke's lawyers initially suggested he could be awarded up to £320,000 if his case is successful in relation to the 33 stories.
In a document released later, they said he is also seeking further damages of about £120,000. This relates to allegations of unlawful information gathering by MGN publications, including over the targeting of his late mother, Diana Princess of Wales.
A barrister for MGN said this week the Duke of Sussex was only entitled to £500 for a private investigator's attempt to get personal details about him.
The highest damages application is for a 2005 "splash" on the front page in the Daily Mirror which reported the prince's then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy was to "dump him".
A second article was headlined "Chelsy Is Not Happy".
His lawyers said the story included photos of Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy taken at a distance and went into detail about the state of their relationship.
They claimed highly specific details of telephone contact between the couple were included.
Lawyers alleged a private investigator and "flight and call data blagger" in South Africa helped with details for the story.
A court document stated: "The article came at a difficult and vulnerable time for the Duke of Sussex, where details of his mistakes were played out so publicly."
"Whilst the Duke of Sussex was remorseful for his actions, the article added to his embarrassment by revealing the impact on his personal relationship with Ms Davy, with humiliating details of private arguments between the couple and added to his sense of distrust and paranoia of those around him."
The second highest award claimed, £25,000, relates to a story in the Sunday People in 2003.
It reported a disagreement between Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales over whether to meet Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell who had angered the brothers by selling secrets about their mother.
Prince Harry's lawyers said the article contained "private and sensitive information" about the disagreement.
He believed the language used mirrors voicemail messages he would have left for Prince William at the time suggesting he was the victim of phone hacking.
Prince Harry is claiming £20,000 for a Daily Mirror story in 2002 suggesting he had hosted parties where he and friends had taken cocaine and ecstasy.
It quoted the duke as saying he "only used cannabis spliffs" and his father Charles, now King, as saying he felt "huge relief" at this comment.
The document said Prince Harry did not supply the quote and links the story to a series of payments to a tracing agency the claimants said was involved in unlawful information gathering.
Prince Harry was at Eton at the time which had a zero-tolerance drugs policy.
Claim records for articles relating to the actors Nikki Sanderson and Michael Turner have also been released.
The Coronation Street actor Ms Sanderson's claims totalled more than £331,000 with the biggest demand for £75,000 relating to a single story about her difficult relationship with her father.
This was "heart-breaking, traumatic and humiliating" she said, suggesting information about her had been gathered illicitly.
Mr Turner is claiming more than £131,000 for stories including coverage of his trauma over being accused and cleared of sexual offences.
In the final hours of the trial the defendant's barrister Andrew Green KC argued there was no objective evidence Prince Harry's phone had been hacked.
He questioned whether his opponents had proved any of the claims they had made.
Prince Harry's barrister David Sherborne criticised Mr Green for repeatedly describing private investigators who had been convicted of criminal offences as "rotters".
Mr Sherborne said he had become "something out of a Beano comic, by describing a few rotters who did a few naughty things. That exemplifies the truly dismissive nature of the defendant's attitude to the thousands of victims".
Judgement in the case is not expected for months. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66070127 |
France shooting: Unrest spreads over police killing of teen - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | At least 150 people are arrested overnight over the shooting of a 17-year-old during a traffic check. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: 'They've taken my baby' - Mother of teen shot by police
At least 150 people have been arrested across France on a second night of mass unrest over Tuesday's fatal shooting of a 17-year-old boy by police near Paris during a traffic check.
Town halls, schools and police stations were set on fire. President Emmanuel Macron said this was "unjustifiable".
The police officer who opened fire is now under formal investigation for voluntary homicide.
Nahel M was shot at point-blank range as he drove away from police.
French prosecutors argue that the use of a firearm was not legally justified.
On Wednesday morning, President Macron held a crisis cabinet meeting to discuss the escalating riots.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said that France had witnessed "a night of unbearable violence".
He said "the state must be firm in its response", adding that 40,000 police officers would be mobilised across the country later in the day to prevent any further violence.
Overnight, clashes were reported across suburbs of Paris - but some of the most violent confrontations were in Nanterre, where the teenager was shot dead.
Videos shared on social media showed cars being set alight and shops being ransacked on Wednesday across the Paris region.
A prison in Fresnes, south of the capital, was also attacked with fireworks by rioters overnight, AFP reported.
The news agency said videos showed about 20 young men attacking the entrance to the prison with fireworks and projectiles. Videos shared to social media showed an alarm sounding during the attack.
The violence was particularly concentrated around the Pablo Picasso district there, where young people took to the streets after the sun set.
"They're backing off! Let's go guys, let's go, death to cops!" one yelled, while various cars and rubbish bins were set alight.
While the violence was concentrated in that district, protesters targeted other regions across Paris, with many firing fireworks into police stations.
In the northern city of Lille, footage posted online showed people inside the town hall of the Mons-en-Barœul suburb setting documents and chairs alight.
And elsewhere, in the western town of Rennes, about 300 people gathered to pay tribute to the teen. Some of them also lit fires and were dispersed by police.
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the shooting of Nahel was "unforgivable".
But his comments drew an angry reaction from police unions, who accused him of rushing to judge the officers involved.
The Alliance Police union called for them to be presumed innocent until found guilty, while the rival Unité SGP Police also spoke of political interventions that encouraged "anti-cop hatred".
Mr Darmanin said he would be taking legal action against another group, France Police, after it published what he called an "unacceptable and abject" tweet seeking to justify the teenager's killing.
The now-deleted tweet said "bravo" to the officers who "opened fire on a young criminal" and blamed the teen's parents for his death, claiming they had been "unable to educate their son".
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Nahel's mother Mounia, speaking in a social media video, said they had taken away her baby and urged people to join a march in remembrance of her son.
"He was still a child. He needed his mother," she said. "He kissed me goodbye in the morning and said, 'I love you mum'.
"An hour later, I was told that someone shot my son. What shall I do? He was my life. He was everything to me."
The officer accused of killing him, who said he had fired because he felt his life was in danger, is in custody on charges of voluntary manslaughter.
Nahel, who a neighbour says came from a French-Algerian family, is the second person this year in France to have been killed in a police shooting during a traffic stop. Last year, a record 13 people died in this way.
Rights groups have criticised a 2017 law change which broadened the framework for when officers can use firearms.
Citing official statistics, Le Monde newspaper reported that the annual number of police shootings at moving vehicles has consistently been higher since the change.
Campaigner Rokhaya Diallo told BFMTV that more shots fired meant a higher risk of being hit, especially for people of colour.
Reuters news agency found that a majority of victims of lethal police shootings during traffic stops since 2017 were black or Arab.
Firefighters extinguish a burning vehicle in Nanterre following protests in the wake of Nahel's death
According to French media, police initially suggested the teen drove his car towards them with the intention of hurting them.
But footage posted online and verified by the AFP news agency shows an officer pointing his weapon at the driver through his window and appearing to fire at point-blank range as he tries to drive off.
The agency also reports that a person in the video can be heard saying: "You're going to be shot in the head" - but it is unclear who says it.
Two others were in the car at the time of the shooting. One fled while another, also a minor, was arrested and held by police.
"Nothing justifies the death of a young person," President Macron told reporters in Marseille, calling for "calm for justice to be done".
"I would like to express the feelings of the entire nation at what has happened and the death of young Nahel, and to tell his family of our solidarity and the nation's affection."
"We have a teenager who has been killed. It's inexplicable, unforgivable," he said, adding that the the case was immediately referred to the courts where he hoped justice would "do its job quickly".
Authorities have opened two separate investigations following the teen's death - one into a possible killing by a public official, and another into the driver's failure to stop his vehicle and the alleged attempt to kill a police officer. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66049705 |
Migraine: Ceredigion woman says condition controls her life - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Delyth Jones says she misses her children's events and feels "isolated" because of her migraines. | Wales | Delyth Jones said having migraines affects her life "massively"
A woman who has about nine migraines a month has said the condition controls her life.
Delyth Jones, 32, from Ceredigion, said she has missed her children's school concerts and sports days due to them.
A former GP who lost her job after a chronic migraine diagnosis has set up a voluntary support group in Cardiff, citing a lack of support.
The Welsh government said it was committed to improving care and services.
Ms Jones first started having migraines as a teenager and described the pain as "intense".
"It starts as a little tingling behind my eye, and I think 'oh yes, I'm going to have a migraine today'," she said.
"[It's] a huge pressure running back towards the back of my head from my eye. The pain, I can't describe it."
Ms Jones said some of her migraines can last for days.
"As a mother of three, it affects my life massively. I've missed out on things that they do, school concerts, sports days," she said.
Delyth Jones and her three children
"I've turned into an anxious person. Anxious that people don't believe me when I say that I have one. I feel isolated.
"Not many other people I know have them and I can't talk to other people about how I feel because they don't understand."
Ms Jones said she struggled with a lack of support when she went to see the doctor about her migraines.
"When I went to the doctors there was no literature, no support groups suggested, they were just quite happy to give me the medicine and basically 'that will help you'.
"It does worry me. It controls your life."
Dr Anna Maclean, an ex-GP who lost her job after a chronic migraine diagnosis, set up a support group for the condition in Cardiff last year, which now has 60 members.
"There isn't much expertise within Wales although I'm sure people are trying their best under the difficult circumstances of the NHS," said Dr Maclean.
"So I've just sought to help people and, along with another GP, we've set up this group because the numbers are enormous.
"Through the group they're all meeting up with people who've got the same symptoms so they don't feel so alone.
"[Migraines] needs to be made visible. Whilst it doesn't kill you, it absolutely kills your life."
Dr Llinos Roberts, from the Royal College of General Practitioners, said GPs can refer patients to headache clinics but more funding was needed to improve care in Wales.
Dr Llinos Roberts called for more funding to improve care in Wales
"We know that migraines are very common but the complexity lies in the range of symptoms people might experience," she said.
"There are some symptoms that are more common than others: head pain - often one side of the head, the feeling of nausea, problems with vision... but these can vary according to the individual.
"There is a need perhaps to increase the amount of funding to help patients see professionals who have a particular interest in migraine care."
Charity The Migraine Trust said there was a "long way to go" to improve awareness.
According to its research, one in seven people in Wales live with the condition, and one in ten people in the UK.
"I think there's a lot the Welsh government could do," said its chief executive Rob Music.
"If you think about just how common my migraine is, and just the impact that it has, and so poorly understood it is.
"I think we very much feel that that the migraine needs to should do must to get to where menopause is now."
The Welsh government said it recognised the "debilitating effects" of migraines.
"We are committed to working with the NHS to improve care, services and access to services," it said.
It said a headache toolkit was recently launched to support frontline clinical teams in diagnosing and planning care for patients. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66065674 |
France shooting: How a teenager's death sparked riots - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | null | The death of 17-year-old Nahel M, during a traffic stop, has provoked anger across the country. | null | Intense and widespread rioting has been taking place across France, following the shooting of a 17-year-old during a traffic stop.
Video on social media showed the moment the police shooting of Nahel M took place, in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on 27 June.
Riots erupted later that same day and have continued each day since, spreading throughout the country.
The officer involved has apologised to the family and been charged with voluntary homicide. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66068964 |
Three teens charged with murder of boy found stabbed in London canal - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Three boys, aged 14, 15 and 17, are charged with murder and robbery after the stabbing of Victor Lee, 17. | London | Victor Lee died from stab wounds, the Met Police said
Three teenagers have been charged with the murder of 17-year-old Victor Lee, who was found dead in a canal in north-west London last Sunday.
Victor's body was pulled from the Grand Union Canal after police were called to reports of a stabbing. He was declared dead at the scene.
Three boys, aged 14, 15 and 17, were charged with murder and robbery on Saturday.
They are set to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Monday.
A post-mortem examination on Wednesday concluded that the 17-year-old from Ealing died from stab injuries.
Police are continuing to appeal to the public for information and witnesses, earlier asking for dashcam footage of anyone driving near Scrubs Lane between 17:15 and 18:15 on Sunday. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66078488 |
Golden Ears Park: Missing Canadian teen found after 54-hour search - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Esther Wang disappeared in Golden Ears Park, Canada, sparking 16 search teams into action. | US & Canada | Esther Wang disappeared on Tuesday at Golden Ears Park in the province of British Columbia
A Canadian teenager has been found two days after she went missing in the wilderness of a vast provincial park.
Esther Wang, 16, disappeared after she was separated from her hiking group in the 555sq km (214sq mile) Golden Ears Park in British Columbia.
But the teen emerged uninjured from a trail on her own on Thursday.
Police said Ms Wang was recovering with her family.
"She's healthy, she's happy, she is with family. That's the best possible outcome for us," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Supt Wendy Mehat said in a statement.
"Esther's family has expressed sincere gratitude to all first responders and Search and Rescue groups," Supt Mehat added. "They are very thankful for this outcome and request privacy at this time."
Officials said Ms Wang emerged from the East Canyon trail on which she had initially gone missing at around 21:30 local time on Thursday (04:30 GMT Friday).
It is unclear how she was separated from her group. Local media reported that the group left a lookout point around 14:45 on Tuesday, and realised that Ms Wang was not with them around 15 minutes later.
The group leader returned to the lookout but could not find her, and so raised the alarm. A search was launched soon after.
Ms Wang was checked by emergency services, who determined that she was unharmed during the ordeal - with the exception of some mosquito bites. She was then permitted to return home with her parents.
"We're elated at the outcome of the search and Esther being returned to her family is what our objective was," search and rescue spokesperson Ryan Smith said.
"We used as many resources as we could. I'd like to thank our partner organizations, the RCMP, other first responders, the helicopter companies that assisted us in this exhaustive search." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66076558 |
Watch: 'Dark explorer' telescope launched into space - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | null | The launch is part of a mission that will map the cosmos to try and investigate so-called dark matter. | null | The Euclid telescope has successfully launched into space on a mission to understand some of the Universe's greatest mysteries.
The €1.4bn (£1.2bn) telescope was primed to go up on a Falcon-9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Saturday.
Euclid's goal is to make an immense 3D map of the cosmos in a bid to better understand so-called dark matter and dark energy.
Researchers know virtually nothing about these phenomena, which appear to control the structure and expansion of the cosmos.
Although primarily a European Space Agency project, the mission also has significant scientific and engineering inputs from the US space agency Nasa.
Euclid will carry out its work from an observing position on the opposite side of our planet to the Sun. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66077409 |
Violence in French cities is 'not for Nahel', says family member - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A relative of the boy whose killing by French police sparked riots calls for an end to looting and burning. | Europe | Several schools have been targeted by the rioters. One of them is Nursery School Albert Samain – its canteen was severely damaged by the flames.
Some of the pupils wrote a sign and hung it outside the main entrance. It reads:
“Please do not burn the schools. It’s super important. Thank you.”
Marie is a mother-of-four, and spoke to us outside her home.
“We are scared for our children. They cried all night long, because of the fire and the explosions.”
Her son chimes in: “I couldn’t sleep because of the explosions. I thought they were going to burn our home. I thought they were going to burn me too.”
Yesterday we reported from an office building that was burned to the ground.
Today, residents told us that some of the people who set fire to it were directly related to the people who worked there. Several of them were their cousins.
The 500 employees who had offices there are likely to be temporarily laid off.
Kamel, a man in his 40s who’s lived in Roubaix his whole life, summed up what so many people in this area feel:
“These people are destroying their own communities and their own neighbourhood. The riots are incomprehensible.” | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-66073728 |
John Caldwell shooting: Children 'witnessed horrors that no child should ever have to' - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Det Ch Insp John Caldwell was speaking publicly for the first time since he was shot in February. | Northern Ireland | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Det Ch Insp John Caldwell was speaking at an awards event
A senior detective has said that children present when he was shot at a sports complex in Omagh in County Tyrone in February witnessed "horrors that no child should ever have to".
Det Ch Insp John Caldwell was speaking at the Sunday Life's Spirit of Northern Ireland Awards on Friday night.
The shooting happened in front of schoolchildren, including his son.
Receiving a special award at the event he also praised the "amazing" medical staff who treated him.
"I am just sorry that these innocent children, including my own son, were subjected to such a harrowing ordeal," he said.
"I am so glad that my son and his friends were not injured, although I appreciate that any psychological trauma will take longer to recover from.
"We will get through it together," he added.
The shooting happened at a sports complex in Omagh
He also thanked those who helped him on the night he was targeted.
"To the brave people who ran to help me when I was shot - that took some guts as they were putting themselves in harm's way," he said.
"And thank you to the emergency services and the amazing medical staff who looked after me in many ways, for many months."
In a pre-recorded message played at the event, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the detective as "a true hero of Northern Ireland".
Mr Sunak visited him in hospital and met his family in April.
"When I visited him in his hospital bed, he was still thinking about the future of the society he loves," Mr Sunak said.
The event was Mr Caldwell's second public appearance since he left hospital in April.
It is understood he had a private meeting with King Charles during the monarch's first official visit to Northern Ireland after the coronation.
The chief constable said the PSNI was proud of Det Ch Insp John Caldwell
PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne also paid tribute to the senior officer.
In a recorded message, Mr Byrne said he was "proud of his determination and stoicism".
"As an organisation, we are so proud of what you have done and what you represent for us, both now and going forwards," he added.
The dissident republican group the New IRA said it carried out the shooting.
Seven men have appeared in court charged in relation to the attack.
They were remanded in custody to appear before Omagh Magistrates' Court on 27 June. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66075686 |
Dilano van 't Hoff dies aged 18 in crash at Spa-Francorchamps - BBC Sport | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | null | Dutch racing driver Dilano van 't Hoff dies after a crash at the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. | null | Last updated on .From the section Motorsport
Dutch racing driver Dilano van 't Hoff has died after a crash at a race in the Formula Regional European Championship.
The 18-year-old MP Motorsport driver was competing in the second race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, organisers announced.
French driver Anthoine Hubert lost his life at the same circuit during a Formula 2 race in 2019.
The race organisers said: "We want to express our sincere condolences to the family, team and friends."
They added: "Royal Automobile Club of Belgium, the Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps and SRO Motorsports Group join Alpine and ACI in expressing their sincerest condolences to the driver's family, team and friends."
Organisers of the headline GT race, the 24 Hours of Spa, said on social media: "All start line entertainments for the 24 Hours of Spa have been cancelled and there will be a minute's silence before the start of the race to honour the memory of Dilano."
The Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine is a European Formula Three racing series intended to be a stepping stone to the FIA Formula Three Championship.
Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali said on Twitter: "We are so sad to learn of the passing of Dilano van 't Hoff today at Spa-Francorchamps.
"Dilano died in pursuit of his dream to reach the pinnacle of motorsport. Along with the entire motorsport community, our thoughts are with his family and loved ones."
McLaren also added: "The McLaren Racing Team are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dilano van 't Hoff in a Formula Regional race at Spa-Francorchamps today.
"Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and the entire MP Motorsport team at this difficult time." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/66076074 |
Caldicot family hope to find missing son James Nutley 19 years on - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | James Nutley's parents live with unanswered questions over their 25-year-old son's disappearance. | Wales | For almost two decades James Nutley's parents have lived with unanswered questions over his disappearance
The parents of a man who has been missing for almost 19 years say they hope renewed interest in the case could finally bring them answers.
James Nutley, 25, disappeared while on a golfing trip in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, on 24 October 2004.
After visiting three pubs he was captured on CCTV near the Giltar Hotel where he was staying at 23:57, but what happened after that remains a mystery.
"It is hanging over you all the time," said his father Jeffrey.
"We were thinking 'he'll turn up in a day or two' - 20 years later we're still thinking 'where is he?'."
James's parents Catherine and Jeffrey Nutley said they had not given up hope of one day being reunited with their son
At the time of his disappearance, James was living at the family home in Caldicot, Monmouthshire, with his parents and sister.
His parents do not believe he would have taken his own life, saying their "golf-mad" son seemed very happy and had been working his "dream job" demonstrating golf clubs.
Catherine recalled her son excitedly rushing out of the house to leave for the trip with no idea of what was to come.
She first realised something was wrong when her sister and a friend came to see her at work.
"My sister said 'James has gone missing in Tenby'," she recalled.
James was captured on CCTV shortly before he vanished
"That was it, get your things, come home, Jeffrey had had the phone call as well and he was in a bit of a state."
She immediately headed for Tenby, with Jeffrey staying at home by the landline in case James called.
By the time she arrived the search was well under way.
"I think we were just numbed," she said.
Catherine was told James' possessions - including his driving licence - had been found on the seaside town's South Beach.
James was on a golfing trip when he went missing in Tenby
The police search eventually went cold and there have been few breakthroughs over the years.
Over the past 19 years the family have faced the agony of numerous false leads and even a false murder confession.
James's parents said he was happy and content and work before he went missing
"We just had a phone call…. 'this is inspector so and so… we're coming up'," said Catherine.
"He sat down and said 'we've had some developments and this person has claimed that he murdered James'."
The family were told Richard Fairbrass had given police extensive details about how he and his girlfriend had carried out the murder and thrown James's body into the sea at Stack Rocks.
Since James's disappearance his sister (pictured) has had two children, making him an uncle
He later confessed to inventing the whole story and in 2006 was jailed for two years for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
"It set us back a bit, it didn't do us any good at all," said Jeffrey.
James is from a family of keen golfers
Recently the couple have been interviewed for podcast The Missing, which focuses on long-term missing people cases and asks listeners to become part of the search.
It has prompted renewed interest in the case.
So what do Catherine and Jeffrey think happened to their son that night?
The couple said James (second from left) was full of life and enjoyed telling a good story
"Had James arranged to meet someone to go off to a different life? Or did someone abduct him? There's still questions," said Catherine.
"We did keep thinking 'he's most likely in Spain now lying on a beach'… we still do, until someone tells us differently he could be in Spain," said Jeffrey.
There have been times over the years where the couple have thought they have spotted James through a window or in a restaurant - but all have come to nothing.
James always looked smart in a suit, his dad Jeffrey said
Catherine said every time she sees a man begging on the street she takes a close look on the off-chance it is her son.
They are not giving up hope. Despite the passing years they believe it is still possible they will be reunited with their son one day.
"Well you can't give up can you, until someone tells us differently," said Jeffrey.
"Someone said we should have a memorial service. I said: 'What? Why? You can't have a service when we don't know where he is'."
"You've got no headstone," said Catherine.
"You can't grieve because there's no-one there."
Catherine and Jeffrey have collected dozens of press cuttings they have collected over the years
The couple said they had had to learn to get on with their lives while carrying the burden of not knowing what happened to their son.
"You always know that someone's missing," said Catherine.
"I say my prayers at night… 'please keep an eye on James, wherever he is'." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66057032 |
Belfast baby murder case: Woman found guilty of killing son - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The woman accepted she stabbed him and his sister on 27 July 2021 but had denied the charges. | Northern Ireland | Toys and flowers were left at the scene of the incident in 2021
A woman has been found guilty of murdering her eight-week old son and attempting to murder his two-year-old sister.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, accepted she stabbed the children on 27 July 2021 but denied the charges.
But jurors rejected her argument and found her guilty after more than five hours of deliberations.
The woman was convicted at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday.
She will receive an automatic life sentence, with the amount of time she has to serve before being considered for parole to be set at a later date.
The woman placed her head in her hands and sobbed "no, no, no" as the guilty verdict was read out.
The juror who read the verdict also broke down as she read it and had to sit down to compose herself.
When handing down the life sentence, Judge Donna McColgan said "this has been a very difficult and stressful case".
"I will be excusing the jury from jury service for the rest of their lives," she added.
"Counselling will also be made available to all jurors."
Over the last six weeks, Belfast Crown Court has heard harrowing evidence.
After the woman stabbed the children, she made five phone calls, including one to the children's father, telling him that their daughter was "lying slowly bleeding".
It was only after this call that she phoned 999, telling police: "I killed my kid for him."
The trial was held at Belfast Crown Court
During the trial, prosecuting counsel read a statement from the children's father to the court, as he was deemed too unwell to attend court as a witness.
He said on the evening of the stabbings, he was in England and had missed a call from his then partner as he was sleeping.
He returned her call and she told him she had killed the baby, that the baby's sister was slowly bleeding and that she was going to kill herself.
He then phoned the police.
During the trial, the jury was shown harrowing footage from the body cameras of police officers who responded to a 999 call made by the defendant.
The videos showed the woman sitting on her living room floor in handcuffs and bleeding from a self-inflicted wound to her neck.
The footage also captured a police officer attempting to drive the injured girl to hospital in a PSNI car before handing her over to paramedics.
Both youngsters were taken to the emergency department at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children and were treated as they lay side-by-side.
Whilst the young girl was successfully treated for a stab wound to her chest, her baby brother was later pronounced dead.
Following her arrest, the defendant made the case that she stabbed her children and then turned the knife on herself as she wanted them all to die together.
The court heard that during subsequent police interviews, she made references to her partner's use of drink and drugs, and also claimed that he beat and sexually abused her.
When asked by a detective what she was thinking at the time, she said: "I wanted to kill all three, all of us so that [their father], could have a happy life together with his new woman.
"This was the only solution that came to my mind."
The woman also spent four days in the witness box at Belfast Crown Court where she was questioned about the events of 27 July 2021 - and where she denied stabbing her children out of spite and malice towards their father.
Sobbing as she gave evidence, the defendant claimed she tried to resuscitate her baby son after stabbing him in the chest and also told the jury that after attacking her daughter, she then tried to keep her alive by holding her to her chest.
She said she did not know what "was going on in my mind at that time" and told the court she could not forgive herself and wished she could "turn back time".
The defendant sobbed as she was taken from the dock and back into custody. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-65029181 |
France shooting: Who was Nahel M, shot by French police in Nanterre? - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | He was learning to be an electrician and played rugby league but died at a police check near Paris. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: 'They've taken my baby' - Mother of teen shot by police
The killing of Nahel M, 17, has sparked riots in cities across France as well as the town of Nanterre to the west of Paris where he grew up.
An only child brought up by his mother, he had been working as a takeaway delivery driver and played rugby league.
His education was described as chaotic. He was enrolled at a college in Suresnes not far from where he lived, to train to be an electrician.
Those who knew Nahel, who was of Algerian descent, said he was well-loved in Nanterre where he lived with his mother Mounia and had apparently never known his father.
His record of attendance of college was poor. Nahel had been in trouble before and was known to police, but family lawyers stressed he had no criminal record.
He had given his mother a big kiss before she went to work, with the words "I love you, Mum".
Shortly after nine in the morning on Tuesday he was fatally shot in the chest, point-blank, at the wheel of a Mercedes car for driving off during a police traffic check. At 17 he was too young for a licence.
"What am I going to do now?" asked his mother. "I devoted everything to him," she said. "I've only got one, I haven't got 10 [children]. He was my life, my best friend."
His grandmother spoke of him as a "kind, good boy".
"A refusal to stop doesn't give you a licence to kill," said Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure. "All the children of the Republic have a right to justice."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Nahel had spent the past three years playing for the Pirates of Nanterre rugby club. He had been part of an integration programme for teenagers struggling in school, run by an association called Ovale Citoyen.
The programme was aimed at getting people from deprived areas into apprenticeships and Nahel was learning to be an electrician.
Ovale Citoyen president Jeff Puech was one of the adults locally who knew him best. He had seen him only a few days ago and spoke of a "kid who used rugby to get by".
"He was someone who had the will to fit in socially and professionally, not some kid who dealt in drugs or got fun out of juvenile crime," Mr Puech told Le Parisien.
He praised the teenager's "exemplary attitude", a far cry from what he condemned as a character assassination of him painted on social media.
He had got to know Nahel when he lived with his mother in the Vieux-Pont suburb of Nanterre before they moved to the Pablo Picasso estate.
Shortly after his death an ambulance man, Marouane, launched a tirade against a police officer, explaining later that he knew the boy as if he was his little brother. He had seen him grown up as a kind, helpful child. "He never raised a hand to anyone and he was never violent," he told reporters.
His mother believes the police officer who shot him "saw an Arab face, a little kid, and wanted to take his life". She told France 5 TV she blamed only the one person who fired the shot, not the police: "I have friends who are officers - they're with me wholeheartedly."
"May Allah grant him mercy," read a banner unfurled over the Paris ring road outside Parc des Princes stadium.
Flowers were left at the site where Nahel died
"Police violence happens every day, especially if you're Arab or black," said one young man in another French city calling for justice for Nahel.
But the family's lawyer, Yassine Bouzrou, said this was not about racism, but about justice.
"We have a law and judicial system that protects police officers and it creates a culture of impunity in France," he told the BBC.
Nahel had been the subject of as many as five police checks since 2021 - what is known as a refus d'obtempérer - refusing to comply with an order to stop.
When he was stopped by police, he was driving a Mercedes with Polish number plates, with two passengers and no licence.
As recently as last weekend, he had reportedly been placed in detention for refusing to comply and was due to appear before a juvenile court in September.
His name was on a police file called a Taj, used by authorities for a variety of investigations.
Last September a judge imposed a "disciplinary measure". Most of the trouble he got into involved cars: driving without a licence or insurance and using false number plates.
But Nahel had never been convicted, said family lawyer Jennifer Cambla, and had no criminal record. Being known to police was not the same as a criminal record, because he had never been tried for anything listed on his police file, she told French TV.
"I think in this kind of suburb it's pretty rare that a young person hasn't been stopped by police or hasn't been in custody," Ms Cambla said.
The riots that his death has provoked are a reminder for many in France of the events of 2005, when two teenagers, Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré, were electrocuted as they fled police after a game of football and ran into an electricity substation in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.
"It could have been me, it could have been my little brother," a Clichy teenager called Mohammed told French website Mediapart. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66052104 |
Cambridge flat fire: Two children and a woman die in fire - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A boy and a girl were rescued from the Cambridge property but died later in hospital. | Cambridgeshire | Three people, two of them children, have died in a flat fire in Cambridge
Two children and a woman have died after a fire in a flat.
Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) said more than 30 firefighters were called to Sackville Close, King's Hedges ward, Cambridge, at about 01:10 BST on Friday.
It said a boy and a girl were rescued, but died later in hospital, and a woman in her 30s died at the scene.
A man in his 30s escaped before crews arrived and remains in a critical condition in hospital.
The East of England Ambulance Service (EEAS) said an infant from an adjoining property was also taken to hospital for assessment.
Emergency services attended the scene on Friday morning and a police cordon remains in place
CFRS area commander Stuart Smith said it was "a devastating and deeply upsetting incident that will touch many people".
"Our thoughts are with the relatives, friends and neighbours of the family," he said.
Police, ambulance, air ambulance, and fire crews from across the county were sent to the scene.
Flowers have been laid close to where the fire took hold
Peter Griffin, 30, who lives close by, said it was "devastating".
"We woke up... and looked out and there was kind of an orange glow coming from the flat," he said.
He said the crews were "very organised" and "seemed to get the fire under control quite quickly".
CFRS said firefighters were met with smoke coming from the ground and first floor of a two-storey building and worked to stop it spreading to neighbouring properties.
Mr Smith said it would have "a huge impact on the local community".
"Our fire safety team was in the area visiting residents yesterday to provide fire safety information and reassurance, and will be returning next week," he said.
He added that the fire service was "looking after the welfare of all those who responded to or supported this incident".
EEAS said three ambulances, three Hazardous Area Response Team vehicles, two ambulance officer vehicles and response cars from the East Anglian Air Ambulance and Essex and Herts Air Ambulance "were called out".
A representative said the service wanted to "extend its deepest sympathies to all those affected".
An investigation into the cause of the fire has begun.
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-66075750 |
Mum who stabbed baby twice in heart jailed for 20 years - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The woman was found guilty of murdering the eight-week old and trying to murder his two-year-old sister. | Northern Ireland | Toys and flowers were left outside the scene of the stabbings in 2021
A woman who murdered her eight-week old son and attempted to murder his two-year-old sister has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, accepted she stabbed the children in Northern Ireland on 27 July 2021 but had denied the charges.
In a statement, the children's father said: "Words cannot describe what my family and I have been through.
"We never got to see my son grow up but will never forget him."
The woman was convicted at Belfast Crown Court in March.
She was given an automatic life sentence and her minimum term has now been set.
During the trial a prosecution barrister put to the defendant that she had stabbed her children out of "spite and animosity" against her partner, which she denied.
A psychiatrist told the trial the woman told him: "He destroyed my life so I destroyed his."
After the woman stabbed the children she made five phone calls, including one to the children's father, telling him their daughter was "lying slowly bleeding".
It was only after this call that she phoned 999, telling police: "I killed my kid for him."
The woman was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court
Both children were taken to the emergency department at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children and were treated as they lay side-by-side.
The young girl was successfully treated for a stab wound to her chest but her baby brother was later pronounced dead.
After her arrest the defendant made the case that she stabbed her children and then turned the knife on herself as she wanted them all to die together.
During police interview the woman detailed how she had lifted a knife to stab her baby but then stopped after he looked at her and smiled.
She said she kissed both children, told them they "would always be in her heart", then stabbed the baby twice through the heart.
A doctor who treated the little girl said her stab wound was "as close to penetrating the heart as you can get" and that she was "a very lucky little girl".
On Friday the court was told of the lasting impact witnessing her brother's death had on the girl, who is now four and who lives with foster carers.
A clinical psychologist's report found she had been observed "re-enacting" the incident through play, both in her foster placement and at nursery - where she was seen stabbing a toy doll with play scissors.
The court was told she had suffered "significant terror" and "the most serious breach of trust from the person who should have cared for her the most".
The girl has been left feeling "unsafe, confused, sad, stressed, terrified and anxious" - and that what she went through will have "a lifelong effect", the court heard.
The woman previously made references to her partner's use of drink and drugs, and also claimed that he beat and sexually abused her.
She described her relationship as making her feel like "a dog in a cage" and said stabbing the children and herself was her only chance to "escape him".
The court heard that her partner was not at home at the time of the stabbings. He had been excluded from the family home following an allegation of assault against the defendant three days previously.
On Friday Judge Donna McColgan said evidence read to the jury regarding the woman's partner made it clear that he was "a most unsavoury character".
Det Insp Gina Quinn says the murder of the baby boy was "senseless and tragic"
Judge McColgan said the breach of trust in the case was "exceptionally high" and that the defendant was suffering from "mild to moderate depression" at the time of the attacks.
She said it was an "exceptionally grave case".
Judge McColgan also paid tribute to the "tireless and unrelenting" work of Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers who attended the scene and tried to save the lives of both children.
Speaking to reporters after court, police officer Det Insp Gina Quinn said that a tiny, innocent life was taken in "senseless and tragic" circumstances.
She added that the family had lost an opportunity to see one of the children grow up, while the surviving child has lost her brother.
"There is nothing I can do or say that will undo this loss or begin to ease their pain," she added.
"My thoughts, and that of the investigation team, are with the surviving child, the family and the wider community who have all been affected." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66054405 |
France shooting: Macron accuses rioters of exploiting teen killed by police - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | At a crisis meeting, France's president condemns three nights of riots as "unjustifiable". | Europe | Emmanuel Macron has accused protesters of exploiting the death of a teenager shot by police at point-blank range.
At a crisis meeting, France's president said more officers would be deployed to contain the violence, but stopped short of declaring a state of emergency.
He urged parents to keep rioting children at home and social media platforms to remove certain content.
France has been rocked by three nights of unrest after Nahel M, 17, was killed as he drove away from a traffic stop.
More than 915 arrests were made on Thursday night alone, officials said, and the government announced it would deploy 45,000 police officers in a bid to contain further violence.
Mr Macron said that about a third of those arrested for rioting were "young, or very young", with Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin later clarifying that some were as young as 13.
Imploring parents to take action, he said it was their "responsibility" to keep any child intending to protest "at home".
Mr Macron condemned the violence of the last three days "with the greatest firmness" and said Nahel's death had been used to justify acts of violence - calling it an "unacceptable exploitation of the adolescent's death".
He also urged social media companies such as TikTok and Snapchat to take down "the most sensitive types of content" that had been posted, and supply authorities with the names of people using their services to organise violence.
A spokesperson for Snapchat said it had a "zero tolerance" for content that promoted violence and hatred, and would continue to monitor the situation closely.
From Lille and Roubaix in the north to Marseille in the south, shops were ransacked across France on Thursday night, streets were badly damaged and cars set on fire. The interior ministry said there had been more than 3,880 fires on public roads, compared with 2,391 on Wednesday.
Police in Marseille, France's second-largest city, had already arrested 80 people by Friday evening. It followed more clashes between protesters and riot police.
Public transport halted early in some places and curfews were enforced, with a nationwide curb on buses and trams running from 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT).
The damage in cities such as Roubaix became apparent as night turned to day on Friday
Some public events have also been cancelled, including two concerts by French pop star Mylène Farmer, due to take place at the Stade de France just outside Paris on Friday and Saturday night.
France's capital has been at the heart of the unrest because Nahel lived in Nanterre, a north-west Parisian suburb, and was killed there just after 09:00 on Tuesday.
He was shot after refusing to stop for a traffic check and died after emergency services attended the scene. A video, shared online in the hours following Nahel's death, showed two police officers trying to stop the vehicle and one pointing his weapon at the driver.
The officer who fired the fatal shot has since been charged with voluntary homicide and apologised to the family. His lawyer said he is devastated.
Nahel's death has reignited debate around the state of French policing, including a controversial 2017 firearms law which allows officers to shoot when a driver ignores an order to stop.
More widely, it has led to questions of racism in the force. The UN's human rights office said the unrest was a chance for France "to address deep issues of racism in law enforcement".
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A spokeswoman pointed to a recent report by the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination, which last December expressed concern at aspects of French policing, including what the report suggested was the disproportionate use of identity checks and imposition of fines on specific ethnic groups.
Nahel's mother, Mounia, made her own accusations, saying the officer who shot her son "didn't have to kill" him.
"He saw the face of an Arab, of a little kid, he wanted to take his life," she told broadcaster France 5. Nahel was of Algerian descent.
On Thursday, Mounia led a largely peaceful march of more than 6,000 people in Nanterre. Wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan "Justice pour Nahel" ("Justice for Nahel"), she said she hoped the tribute would be an opportunity for the community in and around Paris to remember her only child.
By late afternoon, the march had descended into violence, sparking the third night of unrest. Police fired tear gas at masked protesters who set fire to various objects, with people thought to have been out on the streets until the early hours of Friday morning.
Nahel's funeral is due to be held in Nanterre on Saturday morning.
In the UK, travellers have been warned to expect disruptions when trying to reach France over the weekend. The Foreign Office told people to "monitor the media, avoid protests, check the latest advice with operators when travelling and follow the advice of the authorities". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66069080 |
Ukraine war corrosive for Vladimir Putin - CIA boss - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | William J Burns says dissatisfaction with the conflict in Russia is a valuable recruiting tool. | Europe | William J Burns said the failure of the Ukraine war risked undermining Vladimir Putin's leadership of Russia
The Ukraine war is having a "corrosive" effect on Vladimir Putin's leadership of Russia, according to the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Russian disaffection over the war is providing new opportunities for the CIA to collect intelligence, the agency's Director William J Burns said.
America's top spy made the comments while delivering the annual lecture at the Ditchley Foundation in the UK.
He was speaking a week after the mutiny by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Mr Burns said everyone had been "riveted" by the scenes last Saturday of Prigozhin's "armed challenge" to Moscow, when his Wagner mercenary forces marched towards Russia's capital.
Prigozhin's actions were "a vivid reminder of the corrosive effect of Putin's war on his own society and his own regime", he said.
The CIA director said the impact not just of Prigozhin's actions but also his statements - which included an indictment of both the rationale and execution of Russia's invasion - would play out for some time.
"Disaffection with the war will continue to gnaw away at the Russian leadership," Mr Burns said in his prepared remarks.
"That disaffection creates a once in a generation opportunity for us at CIA," referring to the role of the agency in recruiting human agents to provide intelligence.
"We are not letting it go to waste," he said to laughter from the audience. "We are very much open for business."
The CIA has recently launched a new social media campaign to try and reach people in Russia, including a video posted to the Telegram social media site, which is widely used by Russians. The campaign provided instructions on how to contact the CIA on the dark web without being monitored.
This video gained 2.5 million views in the first week.
Director Burns also reiterated the message other US officials have previously made in public that the US had no part in Prigozhin's mutiny.
He did not directly address recent reports in the Washington Post that he made a secret visit to the Ukrainian capital before the mutiny.
It was reported that discussions included the possibility that progress in Ukraine's counter-offensive might open the way for negotiations from a position of greater strength if substantial territory was taken.
Mr Burns - who previously served as the US Ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008 - said spending much of the last two decades trying to understand Russian President Putin had given him a "healthy dose of humility about pontificating about Putin and Russia".
But he added that one thing that he had learnt was that it was always a mistake to underestimate Mr Putin's fixation on controlling Ukraine.
The Russian leader believed that without Ukraine, Russia could not be a major power and Mr Putin himself could not be a great leader, he said.
"That tragic and brutish fixation has already brought shame to Russia and exposed its weaknesses," Mr Burns said.
"Putin's war has already been a strategic failure for Russia: its military weaknesses laid bare, its economy badly damaged for years to come, its future as a junior partner and economic colony of China being shaped by Putin's mistakes."
Turning to China, the CIA boss said it would be foolish for the US to attempt to decouple because of the deep economic interdependence between the two countries.
"China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and increasingly the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do so," he said.
The US should instead "sensibly de-risk and diversify by securing resilient supply chains, protecting our technological edge and investing in industrial capacity", he added. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66076564 |
Stephen Lawrence murder: How I found the new suspect 30 years on - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Racism killed Stephen and it was blocking the truth about the case - writes Daniel De Simone. | UK | Stephen Lawrence was killed in April 1993, at Eltham in south-east London
Earlier this week, the BBC publicly named a major suspect in the Stephen Lawrence murder. In response, Stephen's mother Baroness Doreen Lawrence said, "It should not have taken a journalist to do the job that a huge, highly resourced institution should have done." Correspondent Daniel De Simone started investigating the case after the Metropolitan Police stopped.
Investigating the murder of Stephen Lawrence is a journey into the past and the present.
Stephen was murdered 30 years ago in a racist attack by a gang of young white men.
Two years ago, I set out to follow a lead which had the potential to bring significant new information to light.
The Met had stopped investigating Stephen's murder in 2020. I wanted to do what I could to investigate the outstanding suspects and hold them to account.
I had no previous experience of covering the case and I felt daunted by it. Journalists had been covering the story since the 1990s, and there had been more than 15 police investigations or official inquiries. Who was I to imagine I could find anything new?
The lead I followed related to a man who was said to have possibly been there when Stephen was murdered. I was unsure whether this was as a witness or a suspect. I did not know the man's identity, and it took months to get a name. In the meantime, I read everything I could about Stephen's case.
When I got a name, I realised the man - Matthew White - was the person in the case known as Witness K.
I had read a lot about Witness K. His claimed role did not involve being present during the attack, but instead acting as a central link in a chain of how information was passed around on the night of the murder.
This chain was said to have included a brief visit by K to the home of suspects Neil and Jamie Acourt.
White died in 2021, aged 50, around the time I started investigating, meaning I was unable to approach him.
A constant source of help and advice was Clive Driscoll, the retired Met detective who had brought two of Stephen's killers to justice. He told me that following the two murder convictions he achieved in 2012, he had focused on the other killers.
One of those he investigated was Matthew White, and Clive told an extraordinary tale of finding that an approach by one of White's stepfathers had been disastrously mishandled by the Met in 1993.
Clive had arrested White in late 2013, after personally tracing the right stepfather, who said White had admitted being present during the murder. But Clive had been unable to complete his investigation after Scotland Yard replaced him as senior investigating officer and he was asked to retire.
I felt silly even thinking it, but I was trying to conduct my own murder investigation.
An artist's impression of the "fair-haired attacker", Matthew White photographed a fortnight after the murder, and a police e-fit
The complexity of Stephen's case has increased with time - and the number of investigations and inquiries have only added to the already large volume of information.
I had to try to get across three decades of evidence, much of it hidden in police files. I gained access to previously secret documents about the case and read every transcript from the 1998 Macpherson public inquiry into the murder. Several people helped me confidentially, providing crucial information during the process of checking and corroboration.
It became clear there was a gaping hole in the case.
On the night of the murder, Stephen's friend Duwayne Brooks had said there were six attackers, and gave a description of a fair-haired attacker who did not fit the profile of the five well-known prime suspects. Eyewitnesses to the murder had described the same person. Who was he? Why did everyone seem to have forgotten about this key point?
In addition, Matthew White had been referred to many times in the case. I found Kent Police had told the Met in 1997 to get to the bottom of his role, and had raised the prospect of him being present during the attack. The issue had been raised during the Macpherson inquiry hearings the following year.
In 2000, I discovered a witness had told the Met about White confessing to being present during the attack and playing a leading role in it. This witness had spoken to police independently of White's stepfather, who Clive Driscoll tracked down. Checked against the evidence of Duwayne Brooks and eyewitnesses, the account of White's confession was compelling.
It was clear that White was a suspect and that police had eventually treated him as one. How fair was this designation? Was he the sixth man?
I sought to crosscheck everything else I was finding on White against other evidence, including witness accounts from 1993. White surely had an alibi for the night, given that he was known as Witness K and appeared so prominently in narratives of the case?
The failure of the first police investigation had polluted all later attempts to gather evidence and get to the truth. I found the same thing.
It was therefore surprising that, despite everyone accepting the first investigation had been a disaster, there was still a reliance on many statements gathered by it. I was particularly distrustful of anything gathered by a particular detective.
I did not want to take anything from 1993 at face value, so - where possible - I spoke to witnesses from the time myself. I spent weeks in Eltham, south-east London, and travelled all around the country finding people. Many witnesses remain reluctant to help, and I was frequently told to get lost.
I built a timeline of the night of the murder and the days following it. I also listed and investigated all possible case theories relating to White: these included various ways in which he could have played a part in the group that attacked Stephen, and various ways in which he could, instead, have been a witness.
The complexity of the scene that night in April 1993 meant I particularly wanted to check if White had somehow been an eyewitness to the attack or its aftermath - or had spoken to an eyewitness or attacker within moments of the murder.
There were people seen near the crime scene in the minutes before the attack who are not accounted for.
The sightings - on a roundabout in sight of where Stephen was stabbed - were by witnesses passing through the area.
One of those seen in the area could have been White, so I did what I could to check this possibility.
On the night of the attack, there was another group of young men near the scene. When spoken to by police, this group accepted being nearby, but generally denied going onto the roundabout. When I spoke to members of the group, they denied seeing White that evening.
When I spoke to another witness who had passed through the scene just before the attack, that person also denied seeing White.
I found nothing to support a case theory that White had been a bystander on the roundabout.
Over time, the least likely case theory of all came to be the "Witness K" one accepted by police in 1993. When I checked White's alibi, I found it did not exist. He had lied.
I also found that a witness had given a false account relating to White, which had allowed him to claim that he first heard about the stabbing from a local girl who had passed by the crime scene in the aftermath.
From my own research, it was apparent the Met had not checked his alibi for at least 15 years, despite sending a file to prosecutors after Clive Driscoll was prevented from completing his investigation.
The fact that a false account was told was a crucial discovery. Who else was not telling the full truth?
New evidence about the murder of Stephen Lawrence, uncovered by BBC investigative reporter, Daniel De Simone.
I sought to consider all evidence that undermined the possibility of White being present during the attack. There were reasons to doubt he would have behaved in some of the ways he apparently did - if he had been present - including visiting the scene after the attack and telling other people who was responsible for the murder.
But his stepfather said he had behaved like the murder had been an "everyday occurrence".
I also kept finding that people were sympathetic to White, in a way they were not towards suspects Neil and Jamie Acourt - or to David Norris, who was convicted of murdering Stephen in 2012.
The same thing kept happening in relation to Gary Dobson - the other man jailed in 2012 - with various people casting doubt on his conviction and saying he was a nice bloke. If people kept saying that about the racist drug-dealing murderer Gary Dobson, was it a surprise there was sympathy for White?
I also kept being told false and malicious rumours about Stephen Lawrence.
I realised what I was encountering was deep-seated racism that dehumanised Stephen. Some people clearly did not care about the victim. Racism had killed Stephen, and it was blocking the truth from being told.
White himself was plainly the source of some of the rumours. Two people with very close links to him made the same false claims to me, independently of one another. I shall not repeat the lies, but they showed that White was telling lies about Stephen to justify what happened to him.
This was deeply ironic given that White was a violent drug-using thief - a total contrast to Stephen.
In the end, it was clear to me that White was indeed a major suspect in the murder. The BBC decided to identify him as such, and Scotland Yard's highly unusual response was to name him as a suspect and apologise for its handling of the case.
The evidence relating to White points towards, not away from, outstanding suspects in the case.
Will there ever be full justice for Stephen Lawrence?
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If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at [email protected]. Please include your name, age and location with any submission. | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66034335 |
Jeremy Clarkson's Meghan article was sexist to duchess, press regulator rules - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A record 25,000 people complained about the piece, in which Clarkson said he "hated" the duchess. | Entertainment & Arts | Jeremy Clarkson had already admitted his language was "disgraceful" and said he was "profoundly sorry"
A column by Jeremy Clarkson in the Sun - in which he wrote about the Duchess of Sussex being paraded naked in the street - was sexist, the press regulator has ruled.
A record 25,000 people complained to Ipso, the Independent Press Standards Organisation, about the article.
The imagery was "humiliating and degrading towards the duchess", Ipso chairman Lord Faulks said.
They added that the article, published by the Sun in December 2022, was also spreading "dangerous conspiracy theories and misogyny".
Responding to the Ipso ruling the Sun said it "accepts that with free expression comes responsibility".
The Sun and its columnist apologised for the column last December and removed the article from its website. However while it has said the column fell "short of its high editorial standards and should not have been published" it has not accepted that it breached the editor's code, saying concerns raised were a "matter of taste and judgement".
Nevertheless after investigating the article, Ipso ruled the newspaper had indeed broken its editors' code of practice as the piece contained a "pejorative and prejudicial reference" to Meghan's sex.
The watchdog rejected complaints that the piece was discriminatory on the grounds of race, inaccurate or sought to harass the duchess.
In the column, Clarkson wrote that he was "dreaming of the day when [Meghan] is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while crowds chant, 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at her".
He later explained that he had been thinking of a scene in Game of Thrones, but wrote the column in a hurry and forgot to mention the TV show.
The Sun has published a summary of the regulator's findings on the same page as the column usually appears, as well as running it on the front page of their website.
Elsewhere in the column, Clarkson wrote that he hated Meghan "on a cellular level".
Clarkson compared his hatred of the duchess with his feelings towards former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and serial killer Rose West. The regulator found this comparison was because all three are female.
Ipso's chief executive, Charlotte Dewar, told the BBC the regulator had considered complaints from gender equality charity The Fawcett Society and The Wilde Foundation, a charity that helps victims and survivors of abuse.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex dismissed apologies from Clarkson and The Sun
She said the remedy for this breach was the publication of Ipso's decision for Sun readers and also for the wider public to know the reasons for the finding adding, they had conducted a "fair, independent, impartial and thorough investigation".
She confirmed the complaints about the article had not come from the duchess.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday, Ms Dewar said some complainants had felt passages had "racial connotations" but IPSO had not established these references were discriminatory.
Asked if it mattered if the Sun had not accepted that there was a breach of the editors' code, Ms Dewar said: "What matters to many people is that they did immediately remove the article very shortly after publication and they have apologised and accepted it should not have happened."
She said the complaint had been upheld and the finding meant the paper was required to look at the processes that led to the article.
Responded to Ipso's ruling, the Sun said: "Half of the Sun's readers are women and we have a very long and proud history of campaigning for women which has changed the lives of many."
It acknowledged Ipso ruled that Clarkson's column "contained a pejorative and prejudicial reference to the duchess's sex".
But it added the regulator had not upheld separate elements of the complaint - that the article was inaccurate, harassed the duchess or included discriminatory references on the grounds of race.
The BBC has contacted Prince Harry and Meghan for comment, along with Clarkson.
"This was a particularly egregious example of media misogyny, and our case was that the language in it and the tropes that Jeremy Clarkson used added up to sexism and discrimination against Meghan Markle that was harmful to her," she told the BBC.
She called for an investigation into how these "toxic comments" made it on to the pages "of one of our biggest newspapers".
Senior Labour MP Harriet Harman, the society's incoming chairwoman, called Ipso's ruling "a big step forward for women in the battle against sexism in the media".
Clarkson has said that when he read the article in the paper, he realised he had "completely messed up".
In January he said he had emailed the couple over Christmas 2022 to tell them "the language I'd used in my column was disgraceful and that I was profoundly sorry".
The Sun as well as deleting the column from its website said at the time that it was "sincerely sorry".
However, Harry and Meghan's spokesperson dismissed that apology, accusing the paper of profiting and exploiting "hate, violence and misogyny".
"A true apology would be a shift in their coverage and ethical standards for all," they said.
The article attracted the highest number of complaints since Ipso was established in 2014. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64489083 |
No free lunch for nationalisation of water firm says Lord Howard - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Lord Howard, who led the privatisation of the water industry decades ago, denies move has failed. | UK | "There is no free lunch" when it comes to funding public companies such as Thames Water, Lord Howard has told the BBC.
The firm, which is billions of pounds in debt, faces a crisis, prompting fresh calls for it to be nationalised.
Lord Howard, who led the privatisation of the water industry more than 30 years ago, denied the plan has failed.
Green Party's Caroline Lucas said water firms should be placed under public ownership.
Thames Water, which serves a quarter of the UK population, has faced heavy criticism over its performance following a series of sewage discharges and leaks, with its chief executive quitting last week.
The company is in talks to secure extra funding, and the government has said "a lot of work is going on behind the scenes" and that a process was in place "if necessary".
Lord Howard, who was the minister charged with privatising the water under industry under Margaret Thatcher's government, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that long-term investments in infrastructure required major investment.
"You can pay for them by borrowing, in which case interest has to be paid to the lenders, or you can pay for them by raising private capital, in which case dividends have to be paid to the people who provide that capital," he said.
"That is the only choice available, there is no free lunch."
Lord Howard said industries under public ownership must "compete for resources" with the likes of health, education and police, saying that when water was nationalised it was "way down the queue".
"When you release it into the private sector, you have recourse to private capital - you can make the investment that's needed," said Lord Howard, who was also the former Conservative party leader.
However, he accepted with hindsight that some companies should have been raising more of their capital through issuing equity.
"I think it is arguable that the companies have been allowed to take on too much debt," he said.
Another Conservative peer, Lord Tyrie, said it would be a "mistake" to renationalise water companies, as they were "better off... in the private sector, subject to some discipline in the market".
A process of renationalising would be "disruptive", with costs passed onto customers through higher bills over a "sustained period", he told BBC Radio 4's Week in Westminster.
But Lord Tyrie, the former chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), criticised "poor quality regulation" of the sector - and called for a commission to consider the issue.
Ms Lucas, a Green Party MP and former party leader, told the Today programme that when privatisation took place water firms were "essentially handed a monopoly". She accused them of "loading up debt to pay their dividends to shareholders".
"This is an experiment that has totally failed - water remains in public ownership in most other countries for good reason," she said.
"We should be prioritising public need and environmental protection, and not private profit."
Lord Howard described her remarks as a "diatribe".
The Lib Dems have joined calls for the water industry to operate on behalf of the public, drawing up a bill to relaunch the firms as US-style "public benefit companies".
Under the plans, they would not be renationalised, but the water regulator would force them to be run for the good of the environment, as well as for profit. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66074484 |
France shooting: Calmer night despite protests over Nahel M's killing, minister says - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A total of 719 people were arrested as disturbances gripped Marseille and other cities with Paris quieter. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
France has seen a quieter night of protests over the death of a teenager shot by police at point-blank range, the interior minister says.
There were fewer arrests compared to previous nights - 719 - with the worst clashes in the southern city Marseille.
In the Paris suburb L'Haÿ-les-Roses, attackers rammed a car into the house of the mayor, injuring his wife as she tried to flee with their two children.
French cities have seen unrest since the police shooting of a teenager.
Nahel M, 17, was shot during a traffic stop on Tuesday. Large crowds turned out for his funeral on Saturday.
In a tweet, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin praised law enforcement for their "resolute action" which had led to a "calmer night".
Around 45,000 police were deployed across the country for a second night on Saturday.
More than 1,300 arrests were made on Friday night and more than 900 on Thursday.
Officials hope that a turning-point may have been reached - that rioters are losing energy thanks to the security crackdown and the massive unpopularity of their exactions.
However, until more nights of quiet confirm the trend, no-one is assuming anything.
In Marseille, heavy clashes took place between police and rioters throughout Saturday evening.
In footage circulating online, police can be seen using tear gas against people in the city.
The video shows the clashes taking place on La Canebière, the main avenue in the heart of Marseille.
French media report that fighting took place between a large group of rioters and officers.
There was a heavy police presence along the iconic Champs-Élysée in Paris
In Paris, large numbers of police were seen along the iconic Champs-Élysées avenue.
There had been calls on social media for protesters to gather there but the police presence seems to have kept most of them away.
The capital's police said they made 194 arrests. The Paris region stopped all buses and trams after 21:00 for a second night running.
L'Haÿ-les-Roses Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun said his wife and one of his children had been injured when fleeing an attacker who had rammed his house with a car and then set the car on fire.
He called it "a murder attempt of unspeakable cowardice".
In the northern city of Lille, police special forces were seen on the streets. Images from the city overnight showed firefighters extinguishing blazes in cars that had been set alight by rioters.
Twenty-one people were arrested in the city of Lyon. Clashes were also reported in Nice and Strasbourg.
Nahel's funeral service was held at the mosque in Nanterre earlier on Saturday.
Supporters of the family told the news media to keep away. All filming - even on phones - was banned: "No Snapchat, no Insta," mourners were told.
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Nahel was shot after refusing to stop for a traffic check and died after emergency services attended the scene. A video, shared online in the hours following Nahel's death, showed two police officers trying to stop the vehicle and one pointing his weapon at the driver.
The officer who fired the fatal shot has since been charged with voluntary homicide and apologised to the family. His lawyer said he was devastated.
Nahel's death has reignited debate around the state of French policing, including a controversial 2017 firearms law which allows officers to shoot when a driver ignores an order to stop.
More widely, it has led to questions of racism in the force. The UN's human rights office said the unrest was a chance for France "to address deep issues of racism in law enforcement".
President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence on Friday "with the greatest firmness" and said Nahel's death had been used to justify acts of violence - calling it an "unacceptable exploitation of the adolescent's death". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66078723 |
London Pride: Seven arrests as Just Stop Oil protest delays parade - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Police removed protesters who briefly disrupted the parade which saw thousands gather to celebrate. | London | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Seven Just Stop Oil protesters have been arrested while trying to halt the annual Pride parade in central London.
Images on social media showed police removing demonstrators who managed to briefly stop the march.
The Metropolitan Police said seven people were arrested for public nuisance offences.
Before the parade started, LGBTQ+ Just Stop Oil members called on Pride to stop accepting sponsorship money from "high-polluting industries".
Organisers estimate more than 30,000 participants from across 600 organisations took part in the parade.
Speaking after the arrests, Will De'Athe-Morris, from Pride in London said he did not want the protest to overshadow the parade's core message.
"Pride is a protest and pride is a celebration," he told the BBC. "We are protesting for LGBT+ rights and for our trans siblings, who must never march alone."
"So for us anyone who tries to disrupt that protest and parade is really letting down those people who use this space once a year to come together to celebrate and protest for those rights."
Protesters stopped in front of a Coca-Cola float in Piccadilly
Police said the parade was briefly delayed for around 17 minutes while officers dealt with the protesters at Piccadilly's junction with Down Street.
BBC Radio London's Rob Oxley said the protesters "sat down in front of the Coke float for around 20 minutes".
"The DJ on the float continued to play music and the crowd cheered as they were removed."
Organisers estimated around 30,000 participants from across 600 organisations took part in the parade
Before the parade started, LGBTQ+ members of Just Stop Oil called on organisers to condemn new oil, gas and coal licences.
"These partnerships embarrass the LGBTQ+ community at a time when much of the cultural world is rejecting ties to these toxic industries," they said in a statement.
LGBTQ+ people are "suffering first" in the "accelerating social breakdown" caused by climate change, they added.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, says many people involved in the parade are passionate about tackling climate change, but disruption isn't the right approach
The procession started at midday at Hyde Park Corner and people peacefully made their way through Westminster's streets - it finished at Whitehall Place.
A number of stages hosted performances from LGBTQ+ acts as part of the celebrations.
The parade began at Hyde Park Corner and weaved its way through central London - it is due to end at Whitehall Place
Mr De'Athe-Morris urged protesters not to "rain on this parade".
"There are so many more opportunities during the year to share your messages, please don't try and rain on this parade," he said.
"We don't want to see a day marred in any way by people trying to disrupt it."
Earlier, Sadiq Khan described Just Stop Oil as a "really important pressure group" despite the disruption threats. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66074939 |
MDMA: Australia begins world-first psychedelic therapy - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The drug and a key ingredient in magic mushrooms will be used nationally to treat PTSD and depression. | Australia | Earlier this year, researchers raised eyebrows when Australia's traditionally conservative medicines regulator approved the use of psychedelics to assist therapy sessions.
The decision will see psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms, used for treatment-resistant depression. It will also allow MDMA, known as ecstasy in tablet form, for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The changes come into effect on Saturday, making Australia the first country to classify psychedelics as medicines at a national level.
While initial access to the drugs will be limited and costly, many experts and patients are hailing it as a landmark moment.
But major health organisations have also urged caution.
Marjane Beaugeois was diagnosed with severe depression in 2017. "Within two months, I lost my mother, grandmother, beloved pet dog and my romantic relationship," she recalls.
She couldn't eat, shower, or leave her house in Melbourne - but says prescription antidepressants left her "zombie-like, unable to cry, self-soothe or feel better".
"I'd still go to bed praying not to wake up," the 49-year-old says.
When her research for alternative therapies led her to a psilocybin clinic in Amsterdam, she was hesitant.
"I have no history of drug or alcohol use. As an addiction counsellor, I was always very against it," she says.
But she was also desperate to escape her treatment-resistant depression, so in 2018, she booked herself in.
The psilocybin was taken in a tea. "Colours became more vivid. I felt powerfully reconnected to the world; warm and fuzzy. I'm getting emotional just talking about it… it was a massive, beautiful experience of unconditional love."
Three sessions later, she felt healed. "I could smile, feel joy, go about my daily routine with clarity," she says. "When I got home, friends said they saw my eyes shining again."
When Glen Boyes suggested microdosing psychedelics to treat his crippling depression, his therapist was sceptical.
"He explained it wasn't something he does, but he couldn't stop me, and would do brain scans to track my progress," he says.
The 33-year-old veteran says he began experiencing "lingering PTSD" from his time in the army, during Covid-19 lockdowns in Sydney.
But after 10 weeks of microdosing and therapy sessions, red areas on his initial brain scans showing blockages had cleared. "My brain fog evaporated. I could think clearly again."
Due to no other country rescheduling these substances for clinical use on a national level, the cohort who've experienced psychedelic therapy is small.
Professor David Nutt, Head of Neuropsychopharmacology at the UK's Imperial College, congratulated Australia on "leading the world in this vital treatment innovation".
Psychedelic researcher and psychiatrist Dr Ben Sessa described the approval as pioneering. "This is where the global psychedelic spotlight now shines," he told the BBC.
Dr Sessa has resigned from his job running the UK's primary psychedelic clinical organisation and will spend the next 18 months travelling to Australia to deliver a bespoke psychedelic prescribing training programme.
Other countries have explored psychedelics for compassionate use, including Switzerland, Canada, and Israel - where regulators have made similar decisions, although not nationally like in Australia. Psychedelic clinics also operate legally in countries including Jamaica and Costa Rica.
But how Australia rolls out clinical prescriptions for both drugs, and at what price tag, will be closely watched.
First developed as an appetite suppressant in 1912, ecstasy was used in therapy sessions in the US until the mid-1970s when it was outlawed. It entered Australia in the 1980s as a party drug due to its reported effects of increased energy, empathy, and pleasure, and was criminalised in 1987.
In the 2000s though, research slowly started up again - with recent trials finding that both MDMA and psilocybin can quickly improve symptoms of severe depression, though little is known about how they do this.
Mind Medicine Australia (MMA), a charity which lobbied for psychedelic treatments, is helping to train health professionals tasked with procuring and prescribing the drugs.
To become an authorised prescriber, psychiatrists must apply to an ethics committee and to Australia's drugs regulator the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). They'll then need to source and supply both MDMA and psilocybin.
Once all expenses are factored in - including the drugs themselves, supervision from multidisciplinary teams, psychiatrist sessions and hiring a private clinic - costs could spiral to A$30,000 (£15,700, $20,000) per treatment, according to one psychedelics expert.
Due to the prohibitive price tag, Dr Stephen Bright, senior lecturer at Edith Cowan University, says he doubts these treatments "will be very widely available at all" for the first 12-18 months.
Philanthropist Peter Hunt, chair of MMA, disputes those estimates, telling the BBC patients should expect to pay between A$10,000 for two psilocybin assisted therapy sessions, and A$15,000 for three MDMA assisted sessions. "We costed the treatments with a mental health clinic," he said.
But with no planned government subsidies, the five-figure treatments are expected to remain unaffordable for most patients.
Australia's major medical and mental health bodies are among the loudest voices pushing back against psychedelic treatments.
"There's been considerable caution from the scientific and medical community," said Kristen Morely, a professor of addiction medicine at the University of Sydney.
According to MMA, the "weight of submissions from thousands of Australians whose current mental health treatments just aren't working" helped get the TGA approval over the line.
But the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) have expressed serious concerns.
Both groups have called for larger-scale studies and better research into psychedelic treatments, warning of unknown risks, long-term side effects and "potentially very limited benefits" from their use in therapy.
"Psychedelic-assisted therapy may offer hope to a small number of people where other treatments have been attempted without success. But it's not a miracle cure," warned Professor Richard Harvey, who chairs the RANZCP's Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Steering Group, warned.
He urged a "cautious, considered and informed" approach, due to the "potential for psychedelic substances to cause fear, panic and re-traumatisation".
"Vulnerable people can understandably feel distressed if their experience doesn't match their expectations of this therapy," he said.
It's also unclear, he argued, whether the results from psychedelic treatments stemmed more from the substances themselves, or the psychotherapy.
"Put simply, psychedelic-assisted therapy is in its infancy. There is more we need to know." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-66049989 |
Rwanda asylum a risk to UK foreign policy, says ex-minister - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Justine Greening tells BBC Newsnight domestic policy should not affect efforts to tackle human rights abuses. | UK | The M23 rebel group remains active in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where civilians have fled fighting
The government's deal to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda risks "downgrading" UK foreign policy, a former cabinet minister has said.
A final report by a United Nations Group of Experts, published earlier this month, concluded that the Rwandans were supporting the M23 rebel group which is active in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is subject to UN and US sanctions.
Justine Greening withdrew £21m in aid funding to the country in 2012 when she was international development secretary after the United Nations first reported that the Rwandans were helping the M23 rebels.
While the US and EU have directly told the Rwandan government to cease its support for M23, a UK regional envoy released a more general statement condemning "external" support for rebels without naming Rwanda.
Ms Greening told BBC Newsnight: "It's important that UK foreign policy and this country's leadership on important matters of human rights atrocities including violence against women is not downgraded as a result of our domestic policy approaches.
"This UN report also underlines the practical complexity and sustainability issues of intertwining the delivery of Britain's asylum policy with any third country, particularly one facing such demonstrable wider regional stability challenges," she said.
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The UN report, written for the Security Council, said advances by the M23 group had displaced a million citizens in Kivu province and that in the mineral rich areas where it was active there were "incidents of rape, including gang rape by M23".
It also named Rwandan Defence Force generals and advisers to President Kagame as directing some M23 activity. The Rwandan government has said the report is "concocted".
On Thursday the Court of Appeal ruled that the UK government's Rwanda policy was unlawful.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to take the matter to the UK Supreme Court.
The five-year trial - announced in April 2022 - would see some asylum seekers sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket, to claim asylum there.
They may be granted refugee status to stay in Rwanda. If not, they can apply to settle there on other grounds, or seek asylum in another "safe third country".
The government says the plan will deter people arriving in the UK through "illegal, dangerous or unnecessary methods", such as on small boats which cross the English Channel.
A government spokesperson told the BBC: "Our ground-breaking Migration and Economic Development Partnership will see those who make dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK relocated to Rwanda, where they will be supported to build new lives.
"Rwanda is a safe and secure country, with a track record of supporting asylum seekers." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66073718 |
Sex life of rare 'leopard-print' frog revealed - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Conservationists tracked it down amid deadly snakes and 50C heat in a forest known as 'hell on Earth'. | Science & Environment | Scientists have braved 50C heat and venomous snakes to track down a "leopard-print" frog virtually unknown to science and learn how it reproduces.
Argentinian conservation scientists are fighting to protect the tiny Santa Fe frog, which is under threat as its habitat in one of the world's driest forests, the Dry Chaco, is cut down.
They discovered it hides in caves, emerging only to call for a mate.
And for the first time they found tadpoles of the species.
"It's not been an easy journey so far, but we're determined to do what we can to secure the future for this wonderful amphibian," said Isis Ibañez, who leads the Santa Fe frog project, based in Buenos Aires.
The Santa Fe frog (Leptodactylus laticeps) is largely unknown to science despite being discovered more than a century ago.
Found only in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay, the frog is now rare due to the loss of the tropical dry forests in which it lives.
The researchers set up camera traps to locate the brightly-coloured frogs and study their behaviour.
Most frogs attract a mate by calling loudly from a pond, stream or swamp, but this species lives underground.
The team found the males emerged at nightfall to advertise their presence, then hopped back down their burrows with interested females.
Finding the frogs meant searching in the dark
After digging for hours at night they eventually found evidence of eggs and tadpoles for the first time.
Investigating the frog's breeding behaviour is the first step towards protecting it in the wild.
By drawing attention to the plight of the frog the conservation scientists hope to highlight the biodiversity of the Dry (or Grand) Chaco - and other animals at risk of extinction.
"This species is a clear example of why we have to defend the forest in the Dry Chaco," said team member, Camila Deutsch. "We don't have much time."
The scientists are also liaising with local community leaders, hunters and farmers to learn more about the frog and how to better protect it.
Three of the team members: Camila Deutsch, Gabriela Agostini and Sofia Perrone
The Grand Chaco has a mixed landscape of low, dry forests and savannas
The Grand Chaco is a large expanse of forest and dusty plains straddling parts of Bolivia, Argentina and Paraguay.
The Chaco woodlands have been gradually cleared over the past few decades to make way for cropland and ranches.
The forest has one of the highest deforestation rates on the planet though it attracts less attention than its Amazon neighbour.
The area has been dubbed "El Impenetrable" and even "hell on Earth" for its inaccessibility and extreme temperatures. Temperatures can reach 50C in the daytime and there is very little rainfall.
Yet wildlife thrives in the harsh conditions, including hundreds of different birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.
"It's a dry forest with an incredible biodiversity," said Gabriela Agostini.
Amphibians are at high risk of extinction. A pathogenic fungus has been ravaging populations around the world for about 40 years.
The animals are also under pressure from habitat loss and hunting.
The Santa Fe frog project is supported by the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) - an initiative run by Fauna & Flora, BirdLife International and the Wildlife Conservation Society. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66001590 |
Ukraine counter-offensive will be long and bloody, says US Gen Mark Milley - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The counter-offensive against Russia is advancing steadily but will be difficult, US Gen Mark Milley says. | Europe | Ukrainian soldiers have liberated villages during the counter-offensive, but President Zelensky acknowledges progress has been slow
Ukraine's counter-offensive against Russia will be difficult and "very bloody", the US' highest-ranking military officer has said.
Gen Mark Milley said he was unsurprised that progress had been slower than predicted - but added that Ukraine was "advancing steadily".
"It goes a little slow, but that is part of the nature of war," he said.
It comes as Volodymyr Zelensky accused "some" Western partners of delaying promised training for Ukrainian pilots.
Several Western countries have pledged to train Kyiv's pilots on US-made F-16 fighter jets, but the Ukrainian president said some allies had been "dragging their feet" on the promise.
President Zelensky has previously acknowledged that the Ukrainian offensive was making slow progress.
Gen Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday that the counter-offensive was "advancing steadily, deliberately working its way through very difficult minefields... 500m a day, 1,000m a day, 2,000m a day, that kind of thing".
He added he was not surprised that progress had been slower than expected. "War on paper and real war are different. In real war, real people die," he said.
"Real people are on those front lines and real people are in those vehicles. Real bodies are being shredded by high explosives.
"What I had said was this is going to take six, eight, 10 weeks, it's going to be very difficult. It's going to be very long, and it's going to be very, very bloody. And no-one should have any illusions about any of that."
Ukrainian soldiers were "assaulting through minefields and into trenches", he said, adding that "this is literally a fight for their life".
He said the US was giving Ukraine "as much help as humanly possible".
Gen Milley is the principal military adviser to the president, the secretary of defence, and National Security Council.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's military commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny said the counter-offensive had been hampered by a lack of adequate firepower.
In an interview with the Washington Post published on Friday, he said he was frustrated by the slow deliveries of weapons promised by the West, from modern fighter jets to artillery ammunition.
"I do not need 120 planes. I'm not going to threaten the whole world. A very limited number would be enough," he said.
Separately, the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, is reported to have made an unannounced visit to Ukraine last month where he met President Zelensky and Ukrainian intelligence officials.
The CIA director is said to have discussed Ukraine's counter-offensive against Russian forces, as well as reaffirming the US commitment to intelligence-sharing. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66075786 |
Energy bills in NI to rise as government discount ends - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Single mum says school holiday cut-off of government energy support scheme is "worst timing ever". | Northern Ireland | The withdrawal of support will add hundreds of pounds to some household bills
Energy bills for most households in Northern Ireland will increase by hundreds of pounds a year from Saturday as government support comes to an end.
The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) Scheme was introduced in November 2022, applying a discount to the unit rate of electricity and gas prices.
But the discount no longer applies from Saturday, having been gradually reduced from since January.
A reduction in April meant bills rose despite price cuts by suppliers.
Deirdre McCausland, a single mother-of-two from west Belfast, who is with Budget Energy, said she was in shock at the increase in bills.
She said it was "the worst timing ever" and that "something needs to be done about it".
"I just keep thinking how much more pressure are families - not just single people like me - the working poor [under]. How much more are we going to be able to tolerate all this?" she told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra.
"I only found out about the rise through an email.
Deirdre McCausland, a single mother from west Belfast, said she was in shock at the increase in bills
"It is the worst timing ever. This is just before the summer - my children got off today, it is their last day of school, and then we are being hit with all these costs.
"I am just wondering, when is it going to stop?
"I have a 14-year-old and a nine-year-old. When I was young growing up my parents protected me from poverty; I can't protect my children [and] because of social media they are more aware than ever of what lies ahead.
"That is an absolute shambles and something needs to be done about it."
What will this mean for bills?
The majority of customers will see the tariffs charged by their supplier frozen or cut but the withdrawal of the EPG support will mean that their bills actually increase.
Raymond Gormley of the Consumer Council described the move as "unfortunate" as he said prices remained at about double the pre-Covid pandemic norm.
He said the government would review the need for the scheme every three months until next spring.
"So if energy prices increase significantly in the winter, the Consumer Council will make the argument to government that they should reinstate a subsidy".
Falling electricity prices have been offset by a reduction in government support
Power NI is the largest electricity supplier in Northern Ireland, with about 479,000 domestic electricity customers.
It announced a 7.1% decrease in its standard tariff but the end of the government discount means customers will see an increase of about £49 a year.
That means a typical annual bill will rise from £966 in June to £1,015 from July.
SSE Airtricity, Electric Ireland and Budget Energy are not changing their tariffs - customers will see their average bills rise by about £127 a year.
Click Energy is reducing its standard tariff by 10.36% and other tariffs also also being cut to offset the reduction of government support - customers will see no change in their typical yearly bills.
It is the smallest of the five Northern Irish electricity suppliers, with about 24,000 customers.
SSE Airtricity provides gas to about 195,000 customers in the Greater Belfast area
SSE Airtricity announced a decrease of 12.2% effective from July but customers will actually see their gas bills increase by about £134 a year because of the loss of government support.
That means a typical customer's annual bill will rise from £1,266 in June to £1,399 in July.
SSE Airtricity serves about 195,000 customers in the Greater Belfast area and 3,200 customers in the Gas to the West area.
Bills for Firmus Energy customers will increase by about £328 in both the Ten Towns gas network and the Greater Belfast gas network areas.
For those in the Ten Towns gas network area, a typical annual bill will rise from £1,147 in June to £1,475 in July.
A typical bill for customers in the Greater Belfast area will rise from £1,190 in June to £1,518 in July.
From January to March this year energy bills in Northern Ireland were being discounted by up to 13.6p a unit for electricity and 3.9p a unit for gas.
That support was reduced from April to June 2023 - bills were discounted by up to 3.8p per unit for electricity and 2.6p per unit for gas.
The EPG will drop from about £454 a year in discount for the average household to nothing from 1 July 2023.
In Northern Ireland, the Utility Regulator imposes price controls on the major suppliers: electricity firm Power NI, SSE Airtricity gas in greater Belfast and Firmus Energy gas in the so-called Ten Towns network.
The regulator approves the maximum tariffs based on the costs for providing the service and a small profit margin. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66022569 |
Equity in Cricket: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says ICEC report should be 'reset moment' for sport - BBC Sport | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | null | Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has spoken to leaders at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) following a report highlighting discrimination in cricket. | null | Last updated on .From the section Cricket
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has spoken to leaders at the England and Wales Cricket Board after a report highlighted discrimination in cricket.
The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) said racism, sexism, classism and elitism are "widespread" in the game.
"For people who love cricket that was hard to read," said Sunak.
"My first reaction was that it is really sad to see a sport I love being described like that."
The ICEC was announced by the ECB in March 2021 in the wake of global movements such as Black Lives Matter and Me Too.
The damning report made 44 recommendations, including that the ECB makes an unreserved public apology for its failings. ECB chair Richard Thompson apologised on Tuesday.
"I've spoken to the team at the ECB and I think they have approached it in the right way," Sunak told BBC Test Match Special during the second Ashes Test at Lord's.
"They commissioned this report off their own back because they wanted to be proactive, so they deserve credit for that.
"From conversations I have had, they are absolutely committed to fixing the problems and for this to be a reset moment for cricket.
"We all want it to be open for everybody from all backgrounds and where everybody can feel respected and supported when playing it.
"I'm confident the leadership of the whole cricketing family share that ambition."
Sunak said he will monitor the ECB's response to the report in the coming months.
"I want to see cricket to be inclusive and open to everybody," he said. "I don't want to pre-empt how the ECB will respond."
The ICEC criticised the lack of cricket in state schools, saying a talent pathway structurally aligned to private schools is partly to blame for "elitism and class-based discrimination".
Sunak praised the African Caribbean Engagement Programme (ACE), which helps young people from more diverse communities into the game, and was asked how cricket could be brought back into state schools when many pitches had been sold off by a series of governments.
He said: "We as a government have put more money into school sports - £600m over the next couple of years. The government, typically, doesn't dictate what sports schools should play.
"After meeting the Lionesses [the England women's football team] we did support their campaign to make sure girls had access to the same sports as boys, as well as a minimum amount of sport we want all schools to do."
Sunak spoke of his own childhood playing and watching cricket. He said he had not experienced racism in the game but had in wider society.
"There are instances in your childhood that stay with you," he said.
"But those instances I suffered as a child don't think would happen to my kids today because we have made incredible progress as a country.
"Of course there are pockets where we are not doing as well and we have to strive to be better."
Sunak was also asked about the pressures of running the country and admitted it "weighs very heavily".
"When we have inflation at the levels it is at, the impacts on pay packets, budgets and what people can do for their kids," he added.
"It is my responsibility to fix it and make the situation better."
The prime minister distanced himself from his predecessors, saying he wanted to "act with integrity" when asked how he would restore trust in politicians.
He said: "There are lots of ways you can do that, acting with integrity, doing the right thing and doing the things you say." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/66076354 |
Belfast court: Mother accused of baby murder breaks down in court - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The woman is charged with murdering her eight-week-old son and the attempted murder of his sister. | Northern Ireland | Toys and flowers were left at the scene in 2021
A woman charged with murdering her baby and attempting to murder her toddler told a court that her life was "a nightmare".
Giving evidence at Belfast Crown Court, she said she was "beaten, assaulted, threatened, abused" by her partner.
Her trial, now in its fourth week, had to be stopped early after the woman broke down when asked to describe what she had done to her children.
She accepts she stabbed her children in 2021 but denies the charges.
She is charged with murdering her eight-week-old son and attempting to murder his sister on 27 July 2021.
The woman cannot be named to protect the identity of her surviving child.
She told the court she met her partner in 2018 and moved in with him two weeks later.
She claimed he would lock her in the house for several days at a time, sometimes with no food, and would regularly physically and sexually abuse her.
She alleged that on one occasion, when her baby was a week old, she was sexually abused by her partner while both her children slept in the same room.
When asked what her life was like with her partner, she replied: "Like in a dog cage".
She said: "My life was a nightmare."
The woman claimed her partner showed her footage of men with guns, and told her: "These are my friends."
She alleged he threatened her and her family.
The woman said she "urinated" herself because of how scared she was.
She said when she heard her partner turning the key in their front door she would think: "What will he do to me today? How will he abuse me today?"
The woman said that after the birth of her son she felt "really distressed" and had "no help, no support" and was "isolated".
A defence barrister told the jury that as well as murder and attempted murder, they should consider if the defendant might be guilty of infanticide or manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He said they should consider not just what she did, but why she did it.
He told the court her life was "one of horror."
The barrister said: "She lived in fear that he would kill her.
"In a click of his fingers she would be gone, disappeared in seconds.
"It all came tumbling down around her and doing what she did was the only solution she could see."
The barrister asked the woman if she could remember what happened on the day of the stabbings.
She replied: "I remember what I did."
But after being asked to recount what she did to her daughter, the woman repeatedly broke down and the trial was halted for the day. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-64709613 |
French teen shooting: Piecing together what happened - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Prosecutors are due to interview a witness after he posted a version of events online. | Europe | A video still from the fatal Paris traffic stop shooting
Prosecutors have begun piecing together what happened before the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Nahel M by a police officer.
The officer has been charged with homicide and remains in custody.
In their outline of events after questioning eyewitnesses and reviewing CCTV footage, prosecutors say the teenage driver had already ignored a police demand to stop, when officers caught up with the car and drew their weapons.
Meanwhile an account has been posted online by one of the passengers, which French media say they have verified but the BBC has not.
In this account the passenger, also a teenager, says the officers hit Nahel M with the butts of their guns three times, causing him to take his foot off the brake of the car.
Prosecutors are due to talk to this witness on Monday.
Around 08:00 on Tuesday, two policemen on motorcycles spotted a Mercedes with a Polish number plate driving fast in a bus lane, Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache told journalists.
Turning on their siren, the officers caught up with the car at a traffic light. Three young men were inside.
The officers told the driver to stop but the vehicle pulled away, ignoring the red light. The officers gave chase and notified their unit by radio.
At 08:16, the Mercedes stopped in heavy traffic. Both officers got off their motorcycles, drew their weapons and approached the car.
They later told prosecutors that they pointed their guns at the driver to "deter him from driving away again".
They asked the driver to turn off the ignition, but the car moved forward. One of the officers fired, fatally wounding the young man in the chest.
After the car ran into a roadside barrier, one of the passengers was arrested and the other fled on foot.
The passenger says the three friends were driving around Nanterre when the car strayed into the bus lane and was chased by two policemen on motorcycles.
After Nahel stopped the car, the young man says in his video and in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper, one of the officers hit the teenage driver with the butt of his gun.
He alleges that the second policeman also struck Nahel before the first officer again hit him.
He told Le Parisien that the blows left Nahel M "a little stunned".
The third blow, according to this account, caused Nahel to take his foot off the brake and the vehicle to move forward. After the officer fired, Nahel M slumped forward and his foot pressed on the accelerator, the passenger said.
When the car came a standstill, the passenger said, he decided to flee because he was afraid he would be shot too.
Questions have been asked about the car, a Mercedes A class AMG. Officials describe it as a rented vehicle.
The passenger who fled said that someone had lent it to the three youths, without giving any details.
According to the French motoring website Autoplus, German sportscars with Polish number plates can be hired for €300-3,000 (£260-2,600) a day.
This type of short rental is popular with young men in French housing estates, Autoplus says.
Nahel M did not have a criminal record but was known to police.
He had previously been cited for driving without a licence - he was too young to have one - and for refusing to comply with an order to stop.
He was due to appear before a juvenile court in September. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66075798 |
Social housing: Ballymena mum fears for family in mouldy home - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A mother, whose son has asthma, has asked the Housing Executive to fix the problem several times. | Northern Ireland | The woman is especially concerned about the effect of the mould on her children's health
A woman from County Antrim has said she is concerned black mould in her home is putting her children's health at risk.
The mother of three lives in a property in Ballymena owned by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
She has raised concerns several times in the past three years but told BBC News NI the problem was getting worse.
The Housing Executive said it was working on the issue and was "committed to getting the ongoing damp problems resolved" as soon as possible.
It said it had spent £6,000 on work so far, including fitting new insulation, improving windows, removing mould and supplying dehumidifiers.
The woman, whose name is not being disclosed by BBC News NI, said that mould on her ceiling is the first thing she sees when she wakes up and the last thing she sees when she goes to bed.
The woman says parts of her home are "literally crying with condensation"
The woman has fibromyalgia and said the biggest trigger for her condition was stress.
She told BBC News NI she is especially concerned for her son.
"The mould in his room appears faster than I can get rid of it," she said.
"He's asthmatic and there's health implications there too."
Her worries increased after learning last year about the death of a toddler in England who was exposed to mould, she said.
"It was heart-breaking and it was scary because I'm thinking my babies are living in conditions not dissimilar to what that child was living in."
She added: "I have told the Housing Executive, the people I am supposed to tell… to have this problem sorted and it never goes away. It is so demoralising.
"I have had suicidal thoughts about this place because it is just so difficult to keep fighting."
The Ballymena mum said the mould in her asthmatic son's bedroom "appears faster than I can get rid of it"
In May the Housing Executive said tenants may face some short-term delays to non-emergency repairs in the Mid and East Antrim area.
A previous contractor stopped working for the housing body on 30 April.
A new contractor is not due to begin work until September.
Urgent and emergency repairs would continue as normal, said the Housing Executive.
However the Ballymena mum said she had no confidence that the mould problem would be sorted anytime soon.
"I am resigned to the fact I am going to have another winter where I am burning gas just as quick as I put it in to the meter," she said.
"My walls are literally crying with condensation. It's bleak, it's miserable."
A Housing Executive spokesman said it planned to carry out "further substantial work to prevent damp and mould in this house".
This includes damp proofing, improving loft insulation and repairing the roof.
"It is our intention that this be completed as soon as possible," he said.
There are damp problems throughout the home
The spokesman added: "Our priority is to proactively ensure our tenants live in safe, warm and dry homes.
"We ask tenants to report suspected cases of damp and mould in their homes to us immediately so we can determine the cause and take remedial action.
"We take this issue very seriously and inspect any report we receive as a priority, with a maintenance officer inspecting each report of damp, mould or condensation".
Independent councillor Rodney Quigley said maintenance and repair delays were the biggest issue in the Ballymena area.
"I am getting phone calls on a daily basis and people calling in to the office weekly," he said.
"The longer this goes on the worse it is going to get. There is an avenue there to have these issues addressed but there is nobody there to do it."
He said there were more than 50 houses in the Ballymena area "that can't be rented out because of the maintenance issues".
"This has led to a shortage of housing," he added. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66048092 |
Teen fatally stabbed and pulled from Grand Union Canal named - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Three teenagers aged between 14 and 17 have been arrested on suspicion of murder. | London | Victor Lee died from stab wounds, the Met Police said
A teenager who was fatally stabbed and then found in the Grand Union Canal in north west London has been named by police.
Victor Lee, 17, from Ealing, was pulled from the water near Scrubs Lane after police were called to reports of a stabbing on Sunday.
He was pronounced dead at the scene and a murder investigation was launched.
On Friday the Metropolitan Police arrested three teenagers, all on suspicion of murder.
The trio - aged 14, 15 and 17 - remain in custody at a south London police station, the Met added.
Police said a post-mortem examination held on Wednesday gave the cause of Victor's death as stab wounds.
Det Ch Insp Brian Howie continued to appeal for information and dashcam footage of anyone driving near Scrubs Lane between 17:15 and 18:15.
He added: "We are continuing to provide Victor's family with support during this traumatic time and our thoughts remain with them."
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66074791 |
Watch: Driver cornered in cul-de-sac rams police car - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | null | Mikey Lee Neesham has been jailed for dangerous driving following the incident in North Yorkshire. | null | A 27-year-old man has been sentenced to 17 months in prison for ramming a police car he was being pursued by, after failing to stop in North Yorkshire.
He then led a second police vehicle on a high-speed chase before crashing into a field.
Mikey Lee Neesham pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and to causing criminal damage to a police car. When arrested, officers found he had no insurance and that his provisional licence had expired. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66076804 |
Pride flag hate crime targeted Alliance Party councillor - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The homes targeted are those of a current and former Alliance Party councillor in Portrush. | Northern Ireland | Peter McCully was recently elected as a councillor for the Alliance Party
A suspicious item wrapped in a Pride flag was left at the home of a politician in Northern Ireland, with police treating it as a hate crime.
The Alliance Party said Peter McCully, who sits on Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, was targeted in the incident in Portrush, County Antrim.
It was one of two hoax devices left outside homes in Hopefield Avenue.
In both cases the devices were wrapped in Pride flags. Controlled explosions were carried out on them by the Army.
The Alliance Party said the second alert was at the home of one of its former councillors.
The security operation in the area was declared over at 16:30 BST on Friday.
Hopefield Crescent, Hopefield Grove and Hopefield Avenue have been reopened and people have been able to return to their homes.
Mr McCully, who lives in his family home, told BBC News NI's Talkback that it was shocking and disruptive for him and his mother, who was in the house at the time.
"Portrush is a welcoming and inclusive place and to have this incident on our doorstep is tarnishing the reputation of the town," he said.
Another security operation began in Portrush on Friday
He and other residents who had to leave their homes were able to return at about 01:00 BST on Friday.
He said there had been a "toxic culture" emerging around LGBT issues in recent weeks and months.
"I feel this is almost an escalation of that - we have seen a number of incidents recently," he said.
"It's clear that we are facing a rising tide in prejudice of LGBT people."
Police said the devices were now being forensically examined and have appealed for anyone with information or footage from the affected area to contact them.
Det Ch Insp Hamilton said: "The placement of these devices has caused untold disruption to the lives of local people, many of whom have had to leave their homes while we made sure the area was safe for them.
"Those responsible care nothing for the impact they have on communities, nor do they care about the fear and uncertainty their actions cause.
"Such attempts to intimidate and threaten are completely unacceptable."
The Alliance Party said: "Nobody should face this kind of threat when simply doing their job."
Police have cordoned off Hopefield Avenue for much of Friday
It said the use of a Pride flag "adds an extra sinister edge" and "has echoes of both the dark days of our troubled past and more recent times".
Alliance condemned those behind what it described as the "appalling attacks".
Representatives of Northern Ireland's other main political parties joined in the condemnation.
A charity supporting LGBT people in Northern Ireland said it was concerned by the incident.
The Rainbow Project said support was available to anyone who was affected by the alert.
"Our thoughts are with all those caught up in this incident and we understand the alarm this incident will cause to LGBTQIA+ communities," it said.
Detectives are urging anyone who finds anything "unusual or out of the ordinary" not to touch it but to contact the police immediately. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66059197 |
Maya Forstater: Woman gets payout for discrimination over trans tweets - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Maya Forstater is awarded £100,000 by a tribunal after she found herself losing out on a job in 2019. | UK | Maya Forstater found herself out of a job after tweeting "gender-critical" views
A woman who lost out on a job after tweeting gender-critical views is to get a £100,000 payout after a decision from an employment tribunal.
Tax expert Maya Forstater did not have her contract renewed in March 2019 after writing tweets saying people could not change their biological sex.
She was found to have experienced discrimination while working for the Centre for Global Development (CGD).
The think tank said it would continue to try to build an inclusive workplace.
In their decision on Friday, three London judges said Ms Forstater should receive compensation of £91,500 and interest of £14,904.31.
The sum is to reflect lost earnings, injury to feelings and aggravated damages after the CGD's decision not to renew her contract or fellowship.
Ms Forstater, the founder of campaign group Sex Matters, believes biological sex is immutable and not to be conflated with gender identity.
She told The Times on Friday that the ruling "sends a message to employers that this is discrimination like any other discrimination".
Ms Forstater was congratulated in a tweet by Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who has courted controversy with her own statements on trans issues.
The contentious and high-profile case even proved divisive in the courts.
Ms Forstater lost her original case in 2019, when she was told by a tribunal judge that her approach was "not worthy of respect in a democratic society".
But she appealed, and won the backing two years later of a High Court judge - who said her views were protected by the Equality Act 2010.
A fresh tribunal was ordered, and ruled last year that Ms Forstater experienced "direct discrimination" related to her beliefs.
Commenting on the July 2022 ruling, charity Stonewall said the decision did not "change the reality of trans people's workplace protection".
It added: "No-one has the right to discriminate against, or harass, trans people simply because they disagree with their existence and participation in society."
Responding to Friday's tribunal decision, a CGD representative said the organisation "has and will continue to strive to maintain a workplace that is welcoming, safe and inclusive to all" and would now be able "once again to focus exclusively on our mission - reducing global poverty and inequality through economic research that drives better policy and practice". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66076021 |
France riots: Hundreds more arrested on fourth night - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Ministers hoped to stop further unrest, but reports of violence are coming from several cities. | Europe | Busy night for cab drivers after shutdown of public transport
Taxi drivers here in Paris and across France are having a busier night than usual, following the nationwide suspension of bus and tram services. People leaving Paris Gare du Nord are frantically trying to book Ubers, while others have been jumping in taxis waiting outside the station. The bus stops are empty. When I approach a driver and ask to go to Nanterre, the epicentre of the protests, he looks at me in shock. “Nanterre! Too dangerous.” I then head towards a group of drivers, who laugh - with one saying he’ll take me there for €250 (£215). Eventually one agrees to take me for a (far) more reasonable price. The 30-minute journey is quiet - the only sign of the protests is a burnt vehicle on the side of a road, and police cars driving past us, heading further into the district. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-66049895 |
Minister asks South Cambridgeshire council to end four-day week trial - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Lee Rowley says a trial, which a council leader says cut the need for agency staff, should end now. | Cambridgeshire | The council's leader Bridget Smith said it had helped address a reliance on expensive agency staff
The local government minister has formally requested a council ends its trial of a four-day week "immediately" over concerns about "value for money".
South Cambridgeshire District Council's trial was due to run until 2024, but in a letter, Lee Rowley said such an approach could breach its legal duties.
The Liberal Democrat-led council is the first in the UK to trial the system.
Defending the scheme, leader Bridget Smith said it had helped address a reliance on expensive agency staff.
She said an assessment showed that "performance was maintained" and added that she was "surprised" to receive the letter and wanted to meet "with ministers to discuss this matter".
The authority started the pilot in January for the 450 desk-based staff at its office in Cambourne.
It was recently extended until next March.
Mr Rowley said his department would "shortly be issuing clear guidance" about the working practice
Mr Rowley wrote to Ms Smith with a formal request for the council to "end your experiment immediately".
He said he had concerns about the impact of the trial on the needs of local taxpayers at a time when the council should be "cutting backlogs, answering queries and improving efficiency".
"I strongly believe in the ability of councils to innovate and find new ways to discharge their responsibilities," he said.
"Removing up to 20% of the capacity to do those activities is not something which should be acceptable for a council seeking to demonstrate value for money for its taxpayers and residents."
He said while some private sector organisations "may choose to experiment with their own capital and capacity regarding 'four-day working weeks', local government should not do the same".
He added that such an approach could breach the council's legal duties under the Local Government Act and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities would "shortly be issuing clear guidance".
About 450 staff at South Cambridgeshire District Council have been trialling a four-day week
In a statement, the council leader said she was "surprised to receive Mr Rowley's letter and we have written to him to request a meeting with ministers to discuss this matter".
"This is a trial, but we have already seen strong independently assessed evidence which showed that performance was maintained, and in some cases improved, in the first three months," she said.
"At the start of our trial, we were carrying a £2m annual agency bill.
"During the first three months of the trial, we filled four permanent posts that had previously been impossible to fill [and] this has reduced our annual bill by £300,000."
She added that as time had gone on, it had become "increasingly clear that recruitment has been positively affected, both in terms of the quality and number of applicants, and the consequent success in filling vacant posts".
Joe Ryle, director of the 4-Day Week campaign group, also criticised Mr Rowley's request.
He said the move "flies in the face of all the evidence, which shows the four-day week has been a huge success at the council".
"The four-day week with no loss of pay is already being rolled out across the private sector, so it's only fair the public sector are included too," he added.
"There is no good reason to end this trial, which is already bringing many benefits to council workers, local residents and saving the council money."
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• None Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-66075471 |
Laura Kuenssberg: Love it or hate it, the NHS is here to stay - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | That it's almost impossible to discuss alternatives to the NHS is a tribute to its longevity, says Laura Kuenssberg. | UK Politics | The British have a love-hate relationship with the NHS.
According to researchers at the King's Fund, the public gave the NHS its worst rating since records began 40 years ago. Just 29% said they were satisfied with the NHS in 2022.
And yet we still love it. A whopping 90% of the public agrees the service should be free and available to everyone.
But with more than seven million people on waiting lists, almost everyone knows someone who isn't getting the care they need.
As the NHS approaches its 75th anniversary, politicians are falling over themselves to praise the service.
But when the cameras aren't rolling, the message you hear can be a very different one. Just like us, politicians have a love-hate relationship with the NHS.
"The whole system is paralysed and not improving - all the progress is going backwards." That's not the kind of thing you're likely to hear a minister say in public but it is the candid verdict of a former health minister talking privately.
They say the NHS chief executive has become the "rationer-in-chief" tasked with "spreading the jam more and more thinly" as the demand for care races ahead of what's available.
Another Conservative former minister tells me the "National Health Service is an oxymoron", a contradiction, because "the leadership is incredibly patchy and outcomes are mixed".
For Labour, a source says there is increasing "anxiety and jeopardy" about the future of the service and "it really is a case of change or die".
You'd be hard pressed to find a politician who would admit that services are being rationed but in off-the-record conversations that word comes up again and again.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Are you in a parallel universe on economy and NHS? - PM asked
One of the former ministers says "people have to understand that there is rationing according to wait" - saying that is the "trade-off" with the traditional model.
A former government adviser says "people know there is rationing - the service is pretty good when you get it - but you might not".
You won't find health rationing on any political leaflet or Facebook ad.
But the public's attachment to the concept of the NHS remains extremely strong. Before and after the pandemic voters are in no mood for a discussion about changing its core principles - despite all the problems.
The former government health adviser tells me that any serious conversation about fundamental change is nigh on impossible.
"Any sophisticated Tory politician knows they'd sign their own death warrant" if they raised the prospect of a wholesale change, they say.
Remember Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's proposal to fine patients if they missed a GP appointment? It was ditched almost as soon as it was suggested.
Another former official describes the public's strong emotional connection to the idea of the institution itself, saying: "It's like your family. I'll moan and moan and moan about it, but if someone else from outside has a go at them, I'll have them on toast. It's like criticising your football team - they can naff off!"
Plenty of politicians talk about reforms to the service - whether that is working with the private sector or this week's workforce plan. But whether it is required or not, it is almost unthinkable now that any mainstream politician would argue for a sweeping change to the whole system.
Of course, that has an impact on what governments choose to do to try and improve the service, which might not be the most effective long-term focus.
One former official suggests: "Politicians want solutions with easy metrics like cutting waiting lists.
"If you do cut them in the short term, that just means more operations, it doesn't address stopping people being ill in the first place."
A former minister says rather than go for bold reforms after the pandemic "we have gone straight back to the voodoo land of heroic pointless commitments that will never get met because as a country we are so ill".
Another suggests ministers are actually scared of telling the public hard truths about increasing cost pressures in the health service. "The public has unrealistic expectations of what we can deliver - the government is frightened of that," they say.
And as we've talked about many times here and on the show, unless and until governments confront the aching gaps in care for the elderly and vulnerable, the rest of the health service has to absorb the costly consequences of social care system that to a large extent just doesn't work.
One of the former ministers I've spoken to is intensely frustrated that it is so hard to have a full conversation about the NHS, saying that "it's a political problem, not a resources problem. Our politicians just aren't finding the space" to talk about really bold changes.
One former adviser agrees, saying "everyone of all stripes is scared to take it on".
Yet the fact politicians find it almost impossible to talk about alternatives is also a tribute to the longevity of the NHS and the public's belief in it.
The former adviser suggests that while people have to wait and outcomes vary "as a system it is extraordinarily fair and that has to be worth something".
Love it and hate it. It is most certainly here to stay. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66068224 |
England 0-0 Portugal: Lionesses draw with Portugal in World Cup send-off - BBC Sport | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | null | England's final match on home soil before heading to Australia for the Women's World Cup ends in a disappointing goalless draw. | null | Last updated on .From the section Women's Football
Sarina Wiegman says England are in a "good place" despite being held by Portugal in their final match on home soil before heading to Australia for the 2023 Women's World Cup.
The Lionesses were frustrated as they failed to find the net and twice hit the bar on their way to registering 23 attempts in front of a 26,267 crowd in Milton Keynes.
"We should have put it in the back of the net. We all know that," said the England boss, who flies to Australia with her players on Wednesday.
"We created lots of chances, and of course we wanted to score that goal. Today it just wouldn't go in.
"I think we are in a very good place. We did a lot of things, as individuals and as a team, both on and off the pitch.
"This was the first game after we've not seen each other for a long time."
• None Did England's draw with Portugal provide more questions than answers?
Wiegman's side were not at their fluent best, though they had chances to seal victory in the second half.
Georgia Stanway hit the bar at the end of the first half, substitute Alessia Russo was denied by a goalline block from Ana Borges, while Lucy Bronze's header also hit the bar.
England take on Canada in a friendly behind closed doors on 14 July, eight days before their opening match of the World Cup on 22 July,
Wiegman used 17 players and tried several systems throughout the game at Stadium MK in an attempt to fine-tune plans.
But the Lionesses, whose 30-game unbeaten run ended with defeat by Australia in their previous match, struggled to click for large periods against Portugal and looked frustrated.
All eyes were on the team selection as Wiegman had bold choices to make in attack, opting for Rachel Daly and Lauren James over Russo and Chloe Kelly from the start.
But it was a flat first half from England. They lacked energy, presumably impacted by the fact they had not played for several weeks following the end of the Women's Super League (WSL) season, and were forced out wide for large periods by a stubborn Portugal defence.
Daly should have scored early on though when Lauren Hemp curled in an inviting cross at the back post, only for her to poke the ball wide, while James showed glimpses of quality, combining nicely with full-back Bronze on the right-hand side.
However, it was not until the second half that the European champions started to show spark and their superiority.
• None All the best 2023 Women's World Cup content
Russo's introduction had an impact as she dropped in deep to link up with James, who moved to the number 10 position and was more effective than Ella Toone had been in the opening half.
The striker had the best of the chances, firing wide on two occasions when teed up by Kelly, as well as being denied by Borges' block on the line.
In a flurry of chances, Bronze's header crashed against the crossbar and Kelly also had a shot parried away. Hemp had an earlier chance but she could not get her header on target.
It gives Wiegman food for thought on team selection and what system to play, with England's opening game of the World Cup fast approaching.
England are not short of talent, even with several key players missing through injury, but finding a way for them to work together remains Wiegman's biggest challenge - and she appears to be more unsure on how the team will look than she was going into Euro 2022.
Several key players will miss the World Cup through injury including captain Leah Williamson and forward Beth Mead - who were both watching on in Milton Keynes - meaning England will have to adapt in Australia.
They were most effective when they were able to get in behind Portugal's defence in the second half, with Kelly particularly fruitful out wide.
As the game wore on, England's connections started to build, and James' link-up play with Bronze and Russo in particular helped her claim for a World Cup starting position.
The Chelsea forward was one of England's brightest players, while Daly failed to take her chance from the start as number nine, struggling to have an impact and missing a few opportunities.
Young Manchester City defender Esme Morgan was backed by Wiegman to start at centre-back despite struggling against Australia, but here she showed maturity and composure alongside Jess Carter.
If Millie Bright, who has not featured since March because of a knee injury, does not recover in time for the opening game of the tournament, Morgan has shown she is capable of playing there.
All in all, the shutout provided successful auditions for James, Morgan and Russo, less so for Toone and Daly.
• None Attempt blocked. Alessia Russo (England) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Lauren James.
• None Diana Gomes (Portugal Women) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Delay over. They are ready to continue.
• None Delay in match because of an injury Inês Pereira (Portugal Women).
• None Attempt saved. Laura Coombs (England) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top left corner.
• None Attempt blocked. Laura Coombs (England) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
• None Attempt missed. Chloe Kelly (England) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is too high.
• None Attempt blocked. Alessia Russo (England) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Katie Robinson.
• None Attempt missed. Chloe Kelly (England) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Niamh Charles with a cross.
• None Tatiana Pinto (Portugal Women) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66065939 |
Cardiff City: Football club told to pay Sala transfer balance - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | It is believed Fifa has told the club to pay more than €11m (£9.45m) to cover the fee. | Wales | Cardiff announced the signing of Emiliano Sala on 19 January, 2019, two days before the plane he was on went missing
Cardiff City has been ordered to pay Nantes the transfer balance for Emiliano Sala, who died in a plane crash before he could play for the Welsh side.
The BBC has been told that Fifa has told the Championship club to pay more than €11m (£9.45m).
That covers the last two instalments of the €17m agreed between the clubs.
Meanwhile, French prosecutors have confirmed several employees of FC Nantes have been arrested.
That is as part of an investigation into money laundering and tax fraud.
In a statement, Nantes public prosecutor's office said the FC Nantes club manager, his deputy general manager and two people, including a players' agent, were placed in police custody but have since been released pending an investigation.
Cardiff City has been in dispute with FC Nantes over the transfer fee since the striker's death in January 2019.
The Argentine had just become Cardiff City's £15m record signing when the plane carrying him from France to Wales crashed into the English Channel.
In May, the club said it would continue legal action against FC Nantes through the French courts after a Swiss Federal Tribunal decided the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) did not have the power to deal with the club's claim for damages.
Argentine artist Gabriel Griffa painted this mural of the player in Carquefou, near Nantes
Cardiff failed in its appeal to the CAS over the Fifa ruling, and in January paid the first instalment, believed to be around £7m, of the Sala fee to Nantes.
On Friday, the club issued a statement confirming the decision by Fifa they should pay the final two instalments.
But it questioned the timing of the Fifa ruling, saying: "It would have been fairer if the requirement to pay FC Nantes had been deferred until the conclusion of the French police investigations and the club's claim against FC Nantes in the French courts."
Separately, French investigators confirmed on Friday they were investigating employees of FC Nantes over a number of charges including:
Philippe Astruc, district attorney for the Court of Justice of Rennes said: "The French Football Federation has instituted civil proceedings before the investigating judge, as part of its mission to regulate the activity of sports agents in the discipline of football and to defend the moral and material interests of French football.
"The investigations mainly focused on the analysis of contracts, bank accounts and financial flows, with analysis of the numerous documents seized during the search.
Radar contact was lost when the aircraft was 22 nautical miles (40 km) north-north-west of Guernsey
"A laundering of large-scale tax evasion would also have been updated against one of the protagonists"
Cardiff City claims Sala's transfer had not been finalised at the time of his accident.
In May they launched a counter-claim in France for around €100m.
Nantes Commercial Court said last week it would hold a hearing on the merits of that case, probably in the second quarter of 2024. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66071830 |
Kenya lorry crash: Dozens killed after truck loses control - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A local police commander says the vehicle rammed into cars, motorcycles and people by the roadside. | Africa | Londiani Junction, near the western town of Kericho in Kenya, is said to be a busy area
At least 48 people have been killed in a road accident at a busy junction in Kenya, police and witnesses say.
It happened after a lorry carrying a shipping container lost control at Londiani Junction, near the western town of Kericho, local media report.
Police commander Geoffrey Mayek said 30 others were seriously injured but added the number "could be more".
He also raised concerns that "one or two" people could still be trapped underneath the overturned vehicle.
Tom Mboya Odero, another regional police commander, was quoted by AFP news agency as saying the lorry travelling towards Kericho "lost control and rammed into eight vehicles, several motorcycles, people who were by the roadside, vendors, and other people who were on other businesses".
Eye witnesses told Kenyan media the driver had been trying to avoid a bus that had broken down on the road.
Kenyan president William Ruto said he had been distressed to hear that some of those killed were "young people with a promising future and business people who were on their daily chores".
"We urge motorists to be extra cautious on roads, especially now when we are experiencing heavy rainfall," Mr Ruto added in a tweet.
An image circulated online showed what appeared to be a red shipping container lying on its side at the bottom of a small grassy bank, at the side of a road.
The town's governor, Dr Erick Mutai, described the incident as a "dark moment" for Kericho.
"My heart is crushed," he said in a Facebook post, alongside the photograph of the container.
Dr Mutai added that the necessary emergency services had been deployed to the scene.
Rainfall is thought to be hindering rescue operations, according to local reports, but it is not clear if the weather played a part in the accident.
Road accidents are a well known problem in East Africa, because roads outside the bigger cities are often narrow.
The World Health Organisation said on its website last year that the continent as a whole had the highest road traffic fatality rate in the world.
Last year 34 people died in central Kenya when their bus careered off a bridge and plunged into the Nithi River below. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-66070969 |
No plans to look at Nicola Bulley case, press regulator Ipso says - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A coroner found the mother-of-two drowned after accidentally falling into cold water. | Lancashire | Nicola Bulley went missing on a dog walk in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, on 27 January
The press watchdog said it was not currently planning to launch an editorial standards investigation into the coverage of Nicola Bulley's disappearance.
Ms Bulley, 45, disappeared in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, while walking her dog and her body was found 23 days later.
A coroner found she drowned after accidentally falling into cold water.
Her family have criticised sections of the media for its coverage.
Lancashire Police came under fire for revealing Ms Bulley's struggles with alcohol and perimenopause.
During the huge search, police urged against people fuelling damaging rumours making their job harder and attracting sightseers to the village where she disappeared.
Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) chief executive Charlotte Dewar told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the watchdog was still considering the case.
She said: "We can conduct editorial standards investigation where there are serious and systemic breaches of the Editors' Code.
"I think at this point on this issue we aren't there, but we are very actively looking at it.
"And of course, should it be clear that that has transpired then then we would take that step."
Ms Bulley's phone was found on a bench close to River Wyre and was still connected to a work conference call
Ms Dewar was shown some examples of media coverage and was asked if she was happy that certain headlines were not an intrusion into Ms Bulley's family.
"I haven't said that," the Ipso boss said.
She added: "We look very specifically at individual instances of concern.
"We were in touch with family liaison officers who were representing the family and other public bodies involved.
"We've given a very clear opportunity and been very, very open that we'd like to engage with them about their concerns, but at this point, there's nothing active."
Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire, said there was "no evidence" to suggest Ms Bulley intended to take her own life.
He said she would have had to have had "sufficient knowledge of cold water shock to realise as to how rapidly a death may occur as otherwise she may be spotted and saved".
Nicola Bulley drowned after falling into cold water, Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire ruled
Speaking after the inquest findings, Ms Bulley's family said they still received "negative targeted messages" on social media, as well as seeing "wildly inaccurate speculation" on a number of platforms months after her death.
They added: "The last few months have been extremely tough to process for our family.
"The emotional impact will stay long in our hearts and whilst we will never forget the loss of our Nikki, we will forever remember her as a brilliant mum, partner, daughter and sister that we all knew and loved so very much."
Ms Bulley, who worked as a mortgage adviser, was last seen walking her springer spaniel Willow after dropping off her two daughters, aged six and nine, at school on 27 January.
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-66074973 |
Foreign Office warns Britons over travel to France during riots - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Updated Foreign Office advice warns of potential disruption and urges people to remain cautious. | UK | Britons travelling to France may face disruption and are advised to monitor the media, the Foreign Office has said, as the country grapples with widespread rioting.
In new travel advice, the government urged Britons to avoid the riots, saying their locations and timings were "unpredictable".
They also said it was "more important than ever" to get travel insurance.
Riots began on Tuesday after police shot a 17-year-old of Algerian descent.
Nahel M was killed as he drove away from a traffic stop. His death has reignited debate around the state of French policing, including questions of racism in the force.
The Foreign Office updated its travel advice for France on Friday, warning there could disruption to road travel and local transport, and that further curfews may be imposed by some local authorities.
Britons should check the latest travel information from operators and follow the advice of local authorities, it said.
The government said it was "more important than ever to get travel insurance and check it provides sufficient cover". It has also provided online guidance on foreign travel insurance.
So far, the Foreign Office has not changed its advice to warn against all but essential travel - a move which would invalidate many travel insurance policies.
More than 470 people were arrested in further violence on Friday evening, but France's interior minister insisted there had been a "downturn" in unrest.
President Emmanuel Macron said thousands more officers would be deployed to contain the violence, but stopped short of declaring a state of emergency.
Paris Aeroport, which manages Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports, reported road and rail disruptions from the capital to its airports from 21:00 local time.
As of early on Saturday morning, rail services from the UK to France on the Eurostar were scheduled as normal.
Around 17 million British nationals visit France every year, according to the Foreign Office.
Clamart, a Parisian suburb which was the first place to declare a curfew, announced restrictions between 21:00 and 06:00 local time from Thursday until Monday. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66073996 |
US Supreme Court strikes down student loan forgiveness plan - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Mr Biden pledged to find another way to forgive student debt following the Supreme Court's decision. | US & Canada | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Biden spells out new path for student loan relief
The US Supreme Court has struck down US President Joe Biden's proposal to wipe out billions in student debt.
The 6-3 ruling effectively cancels the plan, which would have forgiven about $10,000 (£7,800) per borrower - and up to $20,000 in some cases.
The decision affects the loans of more than 40 million Americans.
It has left the US public "angry," Mr Biden said. He pledged to put in place new measures to reduce university debt using other existing laws.
The loan forgiveness plan has been in limbo since some conservative states sued, arguing the president overstepped his authority. The Supreme Court agreed.
In the wake of the decision, Mr Biden spoke from the White House, saying: "I know there are millions of Americans in this country who feel disappointed and discouraged or even a little bit angry. I must admit I do too."
But he vowed to work with the Department of Education to find other means to help people ease the financial burden.
"Today's decision has closed one path. Now we're going to start another," he said.
The total federal student debt has more than tripled over the past 15 years, rising from about $500bn in 2007 to $1.6tn today.
Last year, the US Treasury took a $430bn charge to cover $300m in costs associated with the loan forgiveness programme, as well as additional costs associated with an extension of a Covid-era moratorium on payments through the end of the year.
The Biden administration faced plaintiffs in two separate cases, one involving six Republican-led states - Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina - and the other involving two individual student loan borrowers.
In both cases, plaintiffs argued the executive branch did not have the power to so broadly cancel student debt.
The Supreme Court ruled the two individual borrowers did not persuasively argue they would be harmed by the loan forgiveness plan, effectively ruling that they had no legal standing to challenge the Biden administration's proposal.
During arguments in February, the Biden administration said that under a 2003 law known as the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, or Heroes Act, it had the power to "waive or modify" loan provisions to protect borrowers affected by "a war or other military operation or national emergency".
In its ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that while the act allows Mr Biden's education secretary, Miguel Cardona, to "make modest adjustments and additions to existing provisions, not transform them".
Justice John Roberts wrote that the modifications made by the Biden administration "created a novel and fundamentally different" loan forgiveness programme that "expanded forgiveness to nearly every borrower" in the US.
He added that the administration's use of the Heroes Act "does not remotely resemble how it has been used on prior occasions".
The high court's ruling fell along ideological lines, with its three liberal judges dissenting.
In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that "the result here is that the court substitutes itself for Congress and the Executive Branch in making national policy about student-loan forgiveness".
"Congress authorised the forgiveness plan... the [education secretary] put it in place; and the president would have been accountable for its success or failure," she wrote.
"But this court today decides that some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits of the plan (so says the court) that assistance is too 'significant'".
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The White House had previously estimated that almost 90% of US student borrowers would have qualified for relief under the plan.
"This decision is going to impact a lot of people in this country. But it's disproportionately going to impact people who are already historically marginalised," Ranen Miao, a 22-year-old recent graduate told BBC News outside the Supreme Court.
"The people who take out student loans are not the children of millionaires and billionaires. They're the children of working families," added Mr Miao, who declined to disclose how much student debt he has.
Clegg Ivey told CBS, the BBC's US partner, the Supreme Court had "made the right decision" and that he disagreed with the Biden administration's approach to the issue.
"I have student loans and I certainly would have benefited," he said. "But if that's what we want, let's talk to our congressman. Congress... should actually do its job."
Polling data shows that support for the student loan forgiveness proposal largely fell along political lines.
One poll conducted by Marquette Law School in May found that 31% of Republicans favoured the proposal, compared to 69% of independents and 87% of Democrats.
The Supreme Court's ruling on Friday was swiftly applauded by senior Republican lawmakers.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the loan initiative is "unlawful" and would mean that Americans without student loans "are no longer forced" to pay for those who do.
In total, approximately 43 million people in the US owe money for student loans - or about one-in-six US adults with at least some post-secondary education.
Federal reserve data shows that the median student loan is about $17,000. About 17% of borrowers owe less than $10,000, while about 7% owe over $100,000.
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Among those on the high end of the debt spectrum is Satra Taylor, a part-time student and campaigner for the group Young Invincibles who owes about $103,000. She told the BBC she expects the figure to grow as she continues a doctoral programme.
"My family does not come from generational wealth. I had no other option but to take out student loans to ensure I could put food on my table and pay my rent," she said.
"I'm deeply saddened by this decision... but I'm also hopeful that President Biden will ensure student debt cancellation happens." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65931653 |
Twitter temporarily restricts tweets users can see, Elon Musk announces - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Elon Musk says verified accounts can read up to 10,000 posts a day while unverified ones are limited to 1,000. | Technology | Twitter has applied a temporary limit to the number of tweets users can read in a day, owner Elon Musk has said.
In a tweet of his own, Mr Musk said unverified accounts are now limited to reading 1,000 posts a day.
For new unverified accounts, the number is 500. Meanwhile, accounts with "verified" status are currently limited to 10,000 posts a day.
The tech billionaire initially set stricter limits, but he changed these within hours of announcing the move.
Mr Musk said the temporary limits were to address "extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation".
He did not explain what was meant by system manipulation in this context.
"We were getting data pillaged so much that it was degrading service for normal users," Mr Musk explained on Friday, after users were presented with screens asking them to log in to view Twitter content.
The move was described as a "temporary emergency measure".
It is not totally clear what Mr Musk is referring to by data scraping, but it appears he means the scraping of large amounts of data used by artificial intelligence (AI) companies to train large language models, which power chatbots such as Open AI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard.
In simple terms, data scraping is the pulling of information from the internet. Large language models need to learn from masses of real human conversations. But the quality is vital to the success of a chatbot. Reddit and Twitter's huge trove of billions of posts are thought to be hugely important training data - and used by AI companies.
But platforms like Twitter and Reddit want to be paid for this data.
In April, Reddit's chief executive Steve Huffman told the New York Times that he was unhappy with what AI companies were doing.
"The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable," he said. "But we don't need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free."
Twitter has already started charging users to access its application programming interface (API), which is often used by third party apps and researchers - which can include AI companies.
There are other potential reasons for the move too.
Mr Musk has been pushing people towards Twitter Blue, its paid subscription service. It's possible he is looking at a model where users will have to pay to get a full Twitter service - and access to unlimited posts.
Signalled by a blue tick, "verified" status was given for free by Twitter to high-profile accounts before Mr Musk took over as its boss. Now, most users have to pay a subscription fee from $8 (£6.30) per month to be verified, and can gain the status regardless of their profile.
According to the website Downdetector - which tracks online outages - a peak of 5,126 people reported problems accessing the platform in the UK at 16:12 BST on Saturday.
In the US, roughly 7,461 people reported glitches around the same time.
Initially, Mr Musk announced reading limits of 6,000 posts per day for verified accounts, 600 for unverified accounts, and 300 for new unverified accounts.
In another update Mr Musk said "several hundred organisations (maybe more) were scraping Twitter data extremely aggressively".
He later indicated there had been a burden on his website, saying it was "rather galling to have to bring large numbers of servers online on an emergency basis".
A server is a powerful computer that manages and stores files, providing services such as web pages for users.
Adam Leon Smith from BCS, the UK's professional body for IT, said the move was "very odd" as limiting users' scroll time would affect the company's advertising revenue.
Mr Musk bought the company last year for $44bn (£35bn) after much back and forth. He was critical of Twitter's previous management and said he did not want the platform to become an echo chamber.
Soon after taking over, he cut the workforce from just under 8,000 staff to about 1,500.
In an interview with the BBC, he said that cutting the workforce had not been easy.
Engineers were included in the layoffs and their exit raised concerns about the platform's stability.
But while Mr Musk acknowledged some glitches, he told the BBC in April that outages had not lasted very long and the site was working fine.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66077195 |
France shooting: Policeman charged over teen's traffic stop death - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | France sees a third night of mass unrest, triggered by Tuesday's police shooting of a teenager. | Europe | Violence has erupted across France since the killing of a 17-year-old during a traffic stop on Tuesday
A French policeman has been charged with homicide and is now in custody over the killing of a teenager during a traffic stop near Paris on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old, named as Nahel M, was shot at point-blank range as he drove off and crashed soon afterwards.
Anger at his killing has sparked violence across the country. A march led by the boy's mother was marred by clashes on Thursday afternoon.
In a third night of unrest, 667 people were arrested, French officials say.
In Paris, shops were ransacked and cars set on fire overnight despite a heavy police presence.
Across France, 40,000 police officers were deployed, with 249 of them injured in Wednesday night's clashes, according to the interior ministry.
Earlier, bus and tram services in Paris and the wider region stopped operating at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) on Thursday. Night-time curfews were in place in some suburbs.
In the town of Nanterre, where the teenager was killed, a huge fire engulfed the ground floor of a building where a bank is located.
Video and pictures on social media also appear to show piles of rubbish ablaze in several places.
Officers were injured on Thursday afternoon as well, during violence in Nanterre that followed a largely peaceful march calling for justice. It was attended by more than 6,000 people.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said she understood the outpouring of emotion following the 17-year-old's death, but condemned the riots.
"Nothing justifies the violence that's occurred," she said.
The teenager's death has sparked a wider conversation about the power of the police and the relationship between the authorities and people from France's suburbs, who feel segregated from the country's prosperous city centres.
"We have a law and judicial system that protects police officers and it creates a culture of impunity in France," Nahel's lawyer, Yassine Bouzrou, told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme.
But Nahel's mother said she did not blame the police in general, or the system, for the killing - just the officer who fired the lethal shot that killed her son.
The officer accused of killing him said he had fired because he felt his life was in danger. His lawyer told French radio station RTL that his client discharged his firearm "in full compliance of the law".
Speaking to the BBC on Friday morning, Thierry Clair, deputy secretary general of Unsad-Police trade union, said an investigation would "determine whether this is a case of a legal or illegal use of a weapon".
He said that by law, police officers may use their weapons in certain circumstances.
"The key thing is the principle of proportionality with the nature of the threat," Mr Clair said. "For instance, one of the cases refers to stopping a vehicle whose occupants refuse to comply and present a risk for someone else if they attempt to escape.
"And the incident we're talking about - in which a weapon was used - might fall into that category."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: 'They've taken my baby' - Mother of teen shot by police | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66061138 |
Deciphering Vladimir Putin's many appearances since mutiny - BBC News | 2023-07-01T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Russian president has popped up on TV screens multiple times since last weekend's dramatic events - but to what end? | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Where's Vladimir Putin? That's what we were wondering most of Monday - two days after a dramatic insurrection by the Wagner Group that saw a convoy of mercenary fighters headed to Moscow.
A spokesman for Mr Putin announced a deal to end the Wagner mutiny late on Saturday. But when would the president himself comment on the controversial agreement?
It was controversial because the Wagner mercenaries had rebelled, seized military sites (with apparent ease) and then marched on Moscow; Russian air force pilots had been killed in the mutiny. Yet the Kremlin had agreed not to prosecute Wagner fighters or their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in return for calling off the uprising.
Over the last week, President Putin has made a series of unusual public appearances - all televised - in an apparent attempt to steady the ship.
On Monday we hear from Mr Prigozhin: an audio message posted online presenting his side of the story. He says his men headed to Moscow to "hold to account" those leaders he blamed for "mistakes" in the Ukraine war.
Then late into the evening, an announcement is made. "Standby: President Putin will address the nation." Now it feels like the Kremlin leader is playing catch-up.
Putin appears on TV screens after 10pm. A late-night address from him is very unusual. Social media buzzes with rumours that this will be a speech that will "decide the fate of Russia". With trepidation we switch on Russian TV to hear the president speak.
It quickly becomes clear this address will not decide the country's fate. There are no major announcements. But the five-minute speech does provide clues to how the Kremlin is going to spin the dramatic events of the weekend to its benefit.
Putin paints a picture of a Russia that has united to defeat the treachery of Wagner's leaders.
He tries to bring everyone on side: he thanks the Russian public, Russian officials, religious leaders, the Russian armed forces and his security services. He distinguishes between the leaders of the mutiny and regular Wagner fighters and commanders, whom he praises as patriots. Crucially, he presents himself as the man who averted major bloodshed.
"As soon as these events began to unfold," he says, "in keeping with my direct instructions, steps were taken to avoid spilling blood".
Remember that controversy I was talking about? He doesn't address that. But, hey, Russia has stepped back from the brink. That's the main thing.
On Monday he was playing catch-up. By Tuesday morning it's full steam ahead to try to restore his authority.
At a hastily arranged event the Russian authorities are going heavy - very heavy - on the pomp and ceremony. Some 2,500 soldiers, Russian Guard and security officials are lined up on the Kremlin's Cathedral Square. This is the site of coronation (and funeral) processions of Russian tsars.
Cue Putin: To the presidential fanfare he descends the many steps of the Kremlin down onto the square (red carpet all the way, of course) and with a backdrop of the onion domes of Kremlin cathedrals the president - and commander-in-chief - delivers a speech to his troops.
But even before he starts to speak, the imagery says it all. It's all here in one place: the Orthodox Church, the Kremlin, the president and the army. It reminds me of the old Imperial Russian slogan: "For faith, for the Tsar and the Fatherland."
In other words, the visual messaging here is all about presenting Russia as a country uniting behind Vladimir Putin. It's almost as if they want Russians to think that the Church, the military, and the president are interlinked, even part of one whole.
In his brief address, President Putin again claims that Russian society has come together after the Wagner mutiny. But most of what he says is praise for his military for "stopping a civil war".
There's a minute's silence for the air force pilots who were killed. The president is paying his respects, but still not addressing the question of why Wagner fighters are not being prosecuted over their deaths.
Speech over. Cue the national anthem and a gun salute.
Overall message: the president's not only in charge. With the help of the Russian army and the Russian people, he's just scored a great victory.
This is probably the most surprising Putin video of the week - perhaps of the year. That's because it's a very un-Putin-like Putin we see, in terms of getting up close and personal with the crowds.
The official reason President Putin is visiting Dagestan is to chair a meeting on domestic tourism.
But it's not the meeting that dominates news bulletins later on Russian TV. It's the crazy scenes that follow.
The Kremlin leader is shown being mobbed by an adoring crowd in the city of Derbent.
We've grown used to seeing Vladimir Putin keeping his distance from those he comes into contact with. Remember those long Kremlin tables with Putin seated safely at one end and his guests at the other?
Not here. In Dagestan he's kissing children, hugging women, shaking hands and posing for photos.
"Screaming, squealing, applause," exclaims the presenter of a popular talk show on the Russia-1 channel. "Even rock stars don't get this kind of welcome. The West is scoffing that after Prigozhin's mutiny the president has been weakened. This proves the opposite is the case."
Putin's behaviour seems so out of character. On the other hand, nothing feels particularly normal any more in Russia.
The Russian president had just survived an armed mutiny. Perhaps he feels the need to demonstrate - to the country, to the political elite, and to himself - that he still has supporters out there. A "spontaneous" expression of public adoration would fit the bill.
As I view these images, I suddenly remember what happened last weekend, after the deal was done to end the mutiny. As Wagner fighters led by Mr Prigozhin had left Rostov on Saturday night, they were cheered on the streets.
Has Vladimir Putin seen those images? Does he feel the need for his own "hero" moment?
We'll probably never know.
President Putin's attending a business conference on Russian brands in Moscow. It doesn't exactly make for another rock-star moment.
Still, any opportunity to try to show (a) he's in charge (b) he's active (c) he has the support of the people.
The Russian president is applauded as he enters the hall. He sits down and listens to one of the organisers deliver opening remarks.
"Vladimir Vladimirovich, along with you and the whole country we, too, lived through the events of 24 June [the mutiny] with anxiety," she says addressing Putin. "We are all with you and we all support you."
As if to prove it, the delegates give Vladimir Putin a standing ovation.
From the same event, we see another slightly more bizarre video. President Putin is doodling on an interactive whiteboard.
The result is a cartoon-like red face with three strands of hair. A curious picture from a leader who has learnt the art of political survival.
Lines of loyal troops, gun salutes, screaming fans and a standing ovation. With these kinds of images, the Kremlin leader is trying to show he's back in control.
He even has time to doodle. He must be feeling confident.
Following the mutiny, we've witnessed a turbo-charged Putin this week. He was here, he was there, he seemed to be everywhere. It was almost as if he'd kicked off his campaign for re-election (his presidential term expires next year).
But positive pictures do not change the fact that the rebellion had taken the Kremlin by surprise. It was a threat. The Wagner fighters had been well on their way to Moscow when the mutiny was called off. It was an unprecedented challenge to Putin's authority.
And the long-term consequences of that are still unclear. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66065551 |
Presenter photo claims are clear crisis for BBC - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The BBC star has been accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit photos, the Sun reports. | UK | The BBC is coming under growing pressure after one of its top presenters was accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit photographs, beginning when they were 17.
The allegations, first reported by the Sun, are that the unnamed star paid tens of thousands of pounds to the young person over three years.
As the star faces serious questions about their conduct, so does the organisation itself.
This is a very clear crisis for the BBC. There are already accusations that since May, when it's claimed the family first complained, it hadn't handled the investigation into the unnamed presenter properly.
Who carried it out? How did they try and contact the family who complained?
What steps did they take to question the presenter and to investigate further?
Who in the BBC knew about the accusations?
Now we still don't know whether the presenter has or hasn't been formally suspended. The BBC press office won't tell us. All we know is that he won't be on air in the near future.
If the BBC don't name him is that fair to the other BBC presenters who have found themselves in the middle of a social media frenzy being wrongly and unfairly accused?
The BBC put out a statement defending its response to the complaint on Friday evening, but since then there has been nothing new.
But BBC News programmes and its website, and most Sunday newspapers, are leading on this story. So that doesn't seem like a strategy that can hold.
The pressure will be on the BBC to show they are taking action.
MPs are now scrutinising and suggesting the response hasn't been handled properly. So the political heat is on and will only increase - the Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer has spoken to Director General Tim Davie.
For him, this represents another high-profile crisis to grapple with this year alone.
In March, he was embroiled in an impartiality row with Gary Lineker and in April, Richard Sharp resigned as BBC chairman after a report into his appointment found he had "failed to disclose potential perceived conflicts of interest", including his involvement in the facilitation of an £800,000 loan for then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Now in July, Mr Davie has to get a grip on another scandal that has the potential to severely dent the Corporation's reputation. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66145933 |
Migration bill climbdown on detention limits for children - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The bill is central to Rishi Sunak's pledge to stop small boats crossing the English Channel. | UK Politics | The illegal migration bill is currently passing through Parliament
The UK government has offered to limit detention periods for children and pregnant women to get its migration bill passed.
MPs will vote later on 20 changes backed by peers in the House of Lords.
While Conservative MPs are expected to reject most changes, ministers have made concessions to get the bill through Parliament.
The bill is central to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's pledge to stop small boats crossing the English Channel.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday ahead of a Nato summit, he said his plan was "starting to work" and he "always said it would take time".
He added that he always expected crossings "would rise in the summer," after latest figures showed more than 1,000 migrants made the dangerous journey over two days last week.
The Illegal Migration Bill is the government's attempt to deter people from making the crossing by toughening up the rules and conditions around seeking asylum.
The bill would place a legal duty on the government to detain and remove migrants arriving in the UK illegally, either to Rwanda or another "safe" third country.
The bill originally removed the existing time limits on how long unaccompanied children and pregnant women could be detained, but they were reinstated by peers in the Lords.
Now ministers have proposed an amendment to allow immigration bail to be granted after eight days to unaccompanied children in detention.
The government has also agreed to keep the current limit on detaining pregnant women at 72 hours.
Some of the government's critics over the child detention issue have said they will accept the eight-day compromise, but intend to push for more concessions on the quality of accommodation provided.
Another new change means the duty on the home secretary to remove anyone entering the UK without permission will only apply when the legislation becomes law, not retrospectively.
With Parliament due to break for summer at the end of next week, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the amendments would help the "crucial" new law pass "swiftly".
It would also "send a clear message that the exploitation of children and vulnerable people, used by criminals and ferried across the Channel, cannot continue," she added.
The government's efforts to curb the number of small boats crossing the Channel have been hampered in Parliament and the courts.
A plan to house asylum seekers on a barge moored in Dorset has been delayed.
And the government's policy of sending migrants to Rwanda is set for a legal battle in the Supreme Court.
On Monday, a senior Home Office official confirmed the department was paying to keep nearly 5,000 beds empty across the country, in case a sudden influx of migrants caused overcrowding at detention centres.
The government has stressed it remains committed to its plan to remove migrants to Rwanda, and has said it will challenge a Court of Appeal ruling last week that this was unlawful.
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Pink door woman faces new Edinburgh council colour complaint - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A woman re-painted her door in Edinburgh's New Town after a previous green makeover was rejected. | Edinburgh, Fife & East Scotland | The recent anonymous complaint to the council says the new door colour is still a shade of pink
An Edinburgh woman who was ordered to repaint her pink door is facing a new council investigation over its latest colour.
Miranda Dickson, 48, recently painted her door in the New Town "an off-white" after a previous green makeover was rejected by planners.
But Edinburgh Council has now received a fresh complaint that the door is back to pink.
Last year Ms Dickson faced a £20,000 fine if she did not change the colour.
Ms Dickson told BBC Scotland she was stunned by the latest development.
She said: "I am speechless that someone has complained about this colour as far as I was concerned this chapter in my life was closed.
"I'm shocked and distraught about it. It is definitely not the same colour as it was originally painted - it's an off-white.
"I feel bullied and that it has now become personal."
Ms Dickson first received an enforcement notice last year which said her pink door did not meet the standards of a house in the World Heritage Site.
It stated she must repaint it to its original colour of white or apply for planning permission.
Miranda Dickson says her door is not "bright pink" as the complaint letter stated
After an appeal failed she applied for planning permission to paint it green.
In April, before she received the outcome of her application, she painted the door green because she was near the fine deadline if it remained pink.
Last week planners rejected the green colour so she painted it an "off-white" and applied again for retrospective planning permission.
But in a fresh twist the council said it had received a new complaint that the door was again pink.
Ms Dickson has previously said she was confused why she was being issued an enforcement notice when there were many other brightly coloured doors in the area.
But the council said it could only act where it had received a complaint.
Ms Dickson says there are other brightly painted doors in her neighbourhood which is a conservation area - her door (before it was repainted) is bottom left
Ms Dickson had spent 18 months renovating her childhood home in Drummond Place after her parents died.
The mother-of-two, who is a brand director in the drinks industry, moved back to Edinburgh two years ago after working in the US for nine years.
She had been told that she had until 7 January to change the colour of her front door after a complaint led to a council enforcement notice, which she appealed.
Ms Dickson said she had looked up the council's guidelines online before she painted the door.
She said that when she first received a warning letter from the council last year, she asked which colours would be allowed.
Miranda Dickson next to the door when it was repainted green - which was also rejected by planners
The chief planning officer wrote back telling her to "stick to traditional colours" like dark red, dark grey, sage green, dark blue or black.
But then she received a council enforcement letter in October telling her to paint her door white.
"It's not like my door is in a bad condition," she said.
"It costs a lot of money to have the front door painted because they are very large. It's not a quick job.
"The council needs to act with more clarity over paint colour."
A City of Edinburgh Council spokeswoman said: "We have received a complaint alleging that the door has been repainted pink. We're currently looking into this and so can't say more at this time."
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-66157670 |
Bangkok elevated highway under construction collapses - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | null | At least one person dies after a huge metal construction girder falls onto a busy road in the Thai capital. | null | A huge metal construction girder has fallen onto a busy road in Bangkok, killing at least one person and critically injuring several more.
Rescue workers rushed to the scene to search for survivors from crushed cars and damaged buildings.
The girder was part of a project to build elevated highways in the city.
Bangkok's Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said the cause of the accident is not yet known. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-66159448 |
Paddy McCourt: Suspended sentence for ex-NI footballer - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Former NI international Paddy McCourt was convicted for sexually touching a woman in a bar last year. | Northern Ireland | Paddy McCourt, who played for Celtic, Derry City and Northern Ireland, given suspended sentence
Former Celtic and Northern Ireland player Paddy McCourt has been given a three-month suspended sentence for sexual assault.
McCourt, of Wheatfield Court in Muff, County Donegal, was convicted for sexually touching a woman in a bar in Londonderry in January 2022.
He had denied the charge and will appeal the sentence.
The 39-year-old, who also played for Derry City, was also placed on the sex offenders' register for five years.
His three-month sentence was suspended for two years.
Londonderry Magistrates' Court was told the victim had been touched on her bottom during an incident the judge said was "brief but startling for her".
In a victim impact statement, district judge Ted Magill added that the woman said one of the worst elements of the case was that some people had called her a liar.
The judge said: "She had told the truth and she did suffer an indecent assault."
The incident had been recorded on CCTV and Judge Magill told McCourt "one thing was clear was your level of intoxication".
He said it had been "an isolated incident" that had taken place in "a moment of madness".
The judge added that women and girls should not be in fear of "anyone putting their hand up their clothes".
That was "the serious aspect of the charge", Judge Magill said, and as such the custody threshold had been passed.
McCourt, the judge added, had not accepted his guilt, leaving him with few options in relation to sentencing. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66152923 |
The Ashes 2023: England win another Headingley thriller to keep series alive - BBC Sport | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | null | England keep their Ashes hopes alive by beating Australia by three wickets in another nerve-shredding Headingley finale. | null | Last updated on .From the section Cricket
England kept their Ashes hopes alive by beating Australia by three wickets in the third Test in another nerve-shredding Headingley finale.
Harry Brook hit a superb 75 but it was left to bowlers Chris Woakes and Mark Wood to drag the hosts over the line in pursuit of 251.
Brook's mature knock took them to within 21 of victory, after talisman Ben Stokes fell for 13 following lunch on day four with 90 still needed.
Brook put on 59 with Woakes before top-edging a cut off Mitchell Starc, who almost won the series for Australia with a vicious 5-78.
That wicket brought Wood to the crease amid gripping tension and he hit Pat Cummins for six and thrashed Starc for four to spark jubilation in the stands.
With four needed, Wood was dropped by Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey before Woakes, who finished unbeaten on 32, slashed the winning runs.
England's win makes the series 2-1 to Australia with two Tests to play, setting up a grandstand finale that could yet match the iconic contest in 2005.
There is a nine-day break before the fourth Test at Old Trafford starts on Wednesday, 19 July.
England keep the show rumbling on
After 1981 and 2019, 2023 can now be added to the list of Headingley Ashes epics.
It may not have reached the ultimate climax of Stokes and Jack Leach's 10th-wicket partnership four years ago but it was still another day of almost tortuous tension.
Every run was cheered and wickets were met with silence - apart from in the pockets of Australian green and gold in the stands.
Joe Root's departure shortly before lunch and Stokes' soon afterwards threatened to give Australia the win that would seal their first Ashes series in England for 22 years.
But Brook, batting on his home ground in his first Ashes series, played the situation perfectly, only to fall with the finish line in sight.
He found a gritty partner in Woakes, who battled through the short-ball attack and played the anchor to Wood at the end.
The scenes of celebration were reminiscent of those four years ago - England getting their first win on the board after two tight Tests that could have gone either way.
They have to do what they have never done before - come from 2-0 down to win the Ashes - but, after three gripping Test matches, they have ensured the show rumbles on with the series getting the ending it deserves.
Brook's knock came after he was dropped back down to number five in the order, having taken the injured Ollie Pope's position at number three in the first innings.
He came in at 93-3 and started shakily in a stand of 38 with Root before driving Scott Boland twice through the covers to get him on his way.
Brook held his nerve after the losses of Root, Stokes and Jonny Bairstow - the latter playing on from a wild drive with the target 80 runs away, at which stage Australia were favourites.
Brook, 24, has made his name as an attacking batter in his first 10 Tests - here becoming the quickest batter to 1,000 Test runs in terms of balls faced - but restrained himself while putting away the bad balls with the field spread.
At the other end, Woakes was more aggressive. He managed to slash the ball through the off side, although was fortunate to fend the short ball three times into empty spaces.
When Brook top-edged a bouncer, Australia still had a sniff but Wood, who took seven wickets in the match bowling at extreme pace, hooked Cummins over fine leg en route to 16 not out.
It was fitting, however, that Woakes, who also contributed a crucial six wickets, hit the winning runs after 15 months out of the side.
Starc almost wins it for Australia
After starting on 27-0, England had added 15 runs relatively calmly amid the tension, before Ben Duckett was pinned lbw by Starc's left-arm pace for 23.
The hosts promoted Moeen Ali in Brook's place but he only made five before a Starc inswinger crashed into his leg stump.
Zak Crawley batted well for 44 but, in a dismissal that sums up his Test career, edged a big drive to Mitchell Marsh through to the wicketkeeper a ball after hitting the same shot through the covers.
Root attempted to pull a wayward ball from Cummins and gloved it down the leg side.
Starc, though, was the major threat and was rewarded by having Stokes taken down the leg side before Bairstow's wild swish.
Australia missed the control of spinner Nathan Lyon, ruled out of the series with a calf injury last week, but have more than a week to regroup before seeking a series-clinching victory again.
England batter Harry Brook on Test Match Special: "I don't think I can quite believe it yet, to do it here in front of my home crowd.
"It's a phenomenal win and sets up the rest of the series."
Former England captain Michael Vaughan: "Fantastic. Both teams have produced three games of cricket you only dream of commentating on."
Australia captain Pat Cummins: "Another one right down to the wire and a great Test match. Unfortunately we are not on the right side of this one."
Former England spinner Phil Tufnell: "Australia are the hunted and this England side like being the hunters.
"If England go up to Old Trafford and strike that first blow it could unravel for the Australians. It's beautifully teed up."
• None Watch the hypochondriac detective and his team on BBC iPlayer now
• None The cosmic culture war between Marvel and DC comics: Uncover the story of one of the greatest rivalries in the history of pop culture | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/66148643 |
Timeline: How allegations against Huw Edwards unfolded - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Allegations and speculation about a BBC presenter's behaviour and identity had mounted for days. | Entertainment & Arts | Huw Edwards has been named as the BBC presenter at the centre of days of allegations and speculation.
The Sun newspaper first reported that the presenter, who was not named, was alleged to have paid a young person for sexually explicit photos. Other people have since alleged inappropriate contact.
Here is a timeline of events:
The parents of the young person contacted South Wales Police. The force said the information related to "the welfare of an adult", and that "no criminality was identified".
A family member went to a BBC building to make a complaint about the behaviour of a BBC presenter, according to the corporation.
The family member made a 29-minute call to the BBC's audience services team, which then referred it to the BBC's corporate investigations team.
They decided the complaint didn't include an allegation of criminality, but did merit further investigation. It "was very serious", according to director general Tim Davie.
The investigations unit said they emailed the complainant to ask for more information so they could verify the claims, and carried out checks to verify the identity of the complainant.
The corporate investigations team had received no reply to the email so tried to call the mobile number provided by the complainant. They said the call didn't connect.
However, the Sun later reported that "the family say no-one from the corporation rang them for a proper interview after the initial complaint".
The BBC said no additional attempts to contact the complainant were made after this date, but the case "remained open".
The Sun newspaper told the BBC via the corporate press office about allegations concerning Edwards. According to the BBC, the claims made by the Sun contained new allegations, which were different from those received by the investigations team.
The BBC said this was the first time Mr Davie or any executive directors were made aware of the case. They set up an incident management group to lead the response.
A senior manager spoke to the presenter about the allegations, and Edwards first learned of the allegations on this day, his wife said. The BBC said it was agreed that he shouldn't appear on air while the allegations were being investigated.
When later asked why the presenter was not spoken to sooner, Mr Davie said: "You don't take that complaint directly to the presenter unless it has been verified."
The Sun's first story was published, about the mother's claims that an unnamed BBC presenter paid their child tens of thousands of pounds for explicit photos over three years, beginning when they were 17. That raised questions about whether the behaviour was illegal.
The paper quoted the mother as saying the young person used the money to fund a crack cocaine habit, and that she was worried her child could "wind up dead".
The young person sent a WhatsApp message to the paper on this evening denying the claims, saying their mother's statement was "totally wrong and there was no truth to it", according to a later letter from their lawyer.
In its first public statement, the BBC said any information would "be acted upon appropriately, in line with internal processes".
The BBC also made contact with the Metropolitan Police.
The Sun published further allegations, quoting the mother as saying the presenter was pictured in his underwear "ready for my child to perform for him".
The BBC said it received some materials from the family member regarding the complaint on this and the following day.
Meanwhile, following speculation about the star's identity on social media, BBC presenters including Gary Lineker, Jeremy Vine, Rylan Clark and Nicky Campbell denied involvement to publicly clear their names.
The BBC said it had suspended a male staff member and was "working as quickly as possible to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate next steps".
The Sun reported that the presenter allegedly made two calls to the young person and asked them "what have you done", and appealed to them to call their mother to "stop the investigation".
Representatives from the BBC met detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime Command, but there was "no investigation at this time".
In a letter to the BBC, the lawyer representing the young person at the centre of the original allegations disputed their mother's account of events, saying "the allegations reported in the Sun newspaper are rubbish".
The letter claimed the young person sent the newspaper a denial on Friday, but that it proceeded to publish "their inappropriate article".
In response, the Sun said it had "reported a story about two very concerned parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and the welfare of their child".
Their complaint "was not acted upon by the BBC" and it had "seen evidence that supports their concerns", the Sun added. "It's now for the BBC to properly investigate."
The parents told the Sun they stood by their account. The step-father was quoted as saying the allegations were originally put to the BBC "for an hour".
During a press conference to launch the BBC's annual report and an interview with Radio 4, Mr Davie gave more details of the corporation's response.
The director general said he wanted to examine whether the BBC raises "red flags quick enough" when such complaints are made.
The BBC accepted there were "lessons to be learned following this exercise", and the organisation's group chief operating officer will assess whether protocols and procedures are appropriate.
On Tuesday afternoon, another young person told BBC News they had felt threatened by the presenter.
The individual in their early 20s said they were contacted on a dating app and pressured to meet up, but never did. When the young person hinted online that they might name the presenter, they were sent abusive messages.
Jeremy Vine said the presenter "should now come forward publicly" because the new allegations "will result in yet more vitriol being thrown at perfectly innocent colleagues" and the BBC "is on its knees with this".
The Sun alleged that the presenter broke Covid lockdown rules to meet a 23-year-old, who he had met on a dating site.
The paper also published what it said was an Instagram chat between the presenter and a 17-year-old, in which the presenter sent messages including love heart emojis.
Detectives ended their assessment of the details and decided there was no information to indicate that a criminal offence had been committed.
Edwards' wife Vicky Flind named him as the BBC presenter at the centre of the allegations.
She said she was doing so "primarily out of concern for his mental well-being and to protect our children".
Edwards was "suffering from serious mental health issues", she said. "As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years. The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters, he has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving in-patient hospital care where he'll stay for the foreseeable future.
"Once well enough to do so, he intends to respond to the stories that have been published.
"To be clear, Huw was first told that there were allegations being made against him last Thursday."
Mr Davie sent an email to staff saying an internal investigation would continue now police were no longer involved.
The Sun said it had no plans to publish further allegations, and would "provide the BBC team with a confidential and redacted dossier containing serious and wide-ranging allegations which we have received, including some from BBC personnel".
The BBC reported fresh allegations of inappropriate behaviour by Edwards towards junior staff. Two current workers and one former member of staff claimed they were sent messages that made them uncomfortable. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66081060 |
Blue-green algae warning extended along Northern Ireland's north coast - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Testing finds that potentially-toxic blue-green algae is moving towards Downhill and Benone. | Northern Ireland | Warning have been put in place at some north coast beaches
Potentially toxic blue-green algae have been spotted at fresh locations along the north coast, Northern Ireland environmental authorities have warned.
The bacteria were found at Portstewart and Castlerock beaches earlier this week.
Red flag warnings were extended west to the beach at Downhill on Sunday, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) said.
These have also been extended to Benone beach as a precautionary measure.
Red flag warnings were extended west to the beach at Downhill on Sunday
Blue-green algae is not actually an alga but rather a type of bacteria called cyanobacteria.
It can cause illness in humans but is particularly dangerous for pets and has been implicated in the deaths of several dogs in other locations where it has been detected.
Swimmers and dog walkers have been advised to adhere to any advice about getting into the water.
Scientists from the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute are working with DAERA, assisting with modelling to predict how tidal flows will affect the algal blooms.
Downhill Beach is popular with dog walkers but pet owners have been warned of the possibility of potentially toxic algae
A scientist told BBC News NI last Friday that the organism cannot survive in salt water, but it was still being washed from Lough Neagh down the River Bann to the coast.
The DAERA officials have encouraged people to get involved in citizen science and help monitor the presence of blue-green algae, via an app or by contacting the department directly. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66148033 |
Ukraine war: Poland strengthens Belarus border over Wagner fears - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The prospect of Russian Wagner mercenaries moving to Belarus causes concern across the Polish border. | Europe | Border guard patrols are being stepped up on Poland's eastern edge
The prospect of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group moving to Belarus as part of the deal struck to end their mutiny has made Poland extra wary of its neighbour.
A border once marked by a few pillars and wooden look-out posts has already been transformed by miles of tall metal fencing, thermal cameras and spotlights.
They were installed after Belarus began encouraging thousands of migrants to cross into Poland two years ago in what Warsaw calls an act of hybrid warfare; Minsk and Moscow are close allies.
Ahead of this week's Nato summit in Lithuania, the Polish government has been warning that Wagner forces could be used to spark more trouble, so it's deploying hundreds of extra officers at its eastern border as reinforcements.
"The biggest threat is that our neighbour, Belarus, is completely unpredictable," Michal Bura of the local border guard explains, although all is calm as we talk - apart from swarms of vicious summer bugs in the wheat fields.
"We have to be ready for any developments. Maybe Wagner will be a problem, but no one really knows why they're going there or what they're preparing for."
Polish officers at the border use vehicles with large mounted cameras
It's more than two weeks since Yevgeny Prigozhin and his band of mercenaries swept into the southern Russian city of Rostov unhindered, sending a second armed group marching towards Moscow, but the mutineers' fate is still murky.
The hasty deal that stopped their advance was meant to see Wagner disbanded and its fighters exiled to Belarus with their leader. But a large tent camp outside Minsk, likely prepared for them, stands empty and no Wagnerites have yet been spotted.
Instead, we've found signs that the group are still operating at home, despite going so rogue that President Vladimir Putin accused them of stabbing Russia in the back - and he loathes betrayal.
"Yes, we're still recruiting, everything's as normal," I was told in a voice message this weekend, after contacting Wagner using a male name.
I was then sent detailed written instructions on how to find the mercenaries at their training camp near Krasnodar in southern Russia, where it's always been.
"At the checkpoint… ask the soldiers how to find Wagner PMC," the message read. "At the second checkpoint, say Anatoly sent you, and you're there about signing up."
In the immediate aftermath of the mutiny in June, we had been surprised to see Wagner's contacts across Russia still listed openly online. Everyone we reached then told us they were still operating.
Those lists have now disappeared and when I called the numbers we had saved, the lines were disconnected or went straight to voicemail.
As a potential new Wagnerite, I was told to bring flip-flops for the shower and my own underwear, a clean bill of health and no drug habit. In return, I'd be put through my paces for an instructor to decide where best to deploy me.
When I asked whether I would be sent to Ukraine, though, "Anatoly" stopped replying.
Michal Bura of the local border guard says their concern is that Belarus is "completely unpredictable"
Most Belarusians won't be sorry if Wagner never shows up there.
Online chatter shows a lot of concern about being sent an "army of criminals", a reference to Wagner's recruitment from Russian prisons.
"How can they herald anything good?" Valery Sakhashchyk agrees, a former paratrooper commander now responsible for defence in a Belarusian opposition cabinet-in-exile.
But his eyes light-up when he talks of the mercenaries' march on Moscow last month.
"Not long ago, the whole world thought of Russia as a giant, strong bear. Now we see that's all empty," Valery says, explaining that the Kremlin's weak response to the mutiny had fed his own hope for change. "The whole system is rotten... and I think it's even worse in Belarus."
Valery doubts that Wagner will ever relocate to his country in big numbers or that Prigozhin himself will settle so close to Russia and its FSB security service, after his betrayal.
The whole world thought of Russia as a giant, strong bear. Now we see that's all empty
"I think he'll end up somewhere where it's harder for the FSB to find him. In Belarus, the FSB don't even wipe their feet at the door. They just march in and do what they want."
Even if Wagner do eventually arrive in Belarus, Poland's worries and warnings may be motivated as much by domestic politics as security fears.
"They are nothing the border guard can't deal with, no match for what we have," argues Piotr Lukasiewicz, of the Polish political analysis group Polityka Insight.
"But as a political tool it can be quite useful to sell [Wagner] as a great danger," he adds. "We'll see how it develops," he says, but he thinks the government is "crying wolf" to boost its own security credentials ahead of elections this autumn.
And yet, very little in the mystery of the Wagner mutineers is clear, even now.
So Poland's border patrols remain on high alert, drones and cameras trained beyond the wheat husks and the beehives to the solid grey fence topped with barbed wire that now marks the dividing line with Belarus.
On Poland's eastern edge, the border guard are stepping up their patrols. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66139757 |
Teenager arrested after teacher stabbed at Tewkesbury Academy - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A teacher is in hospital and a teenage boy is in custody, Gloucestershire Police say. | Gloucestershire | The police have been at the school since the incident
A teacher is in hospital and a teenage boy in police custody following a suspected stabbing at Tewkesbury Academy.
Gloucestershire Police was called to the secondary school at 09:10 BST after reports a teenager had stabbed a male teacher.
The school was in lockdown, but pupils are now being allowed to leave.
Its headteacher said all pupils were safe and well after the "serious" incident.
Daniel, whose daughter attends Tewkesbury Academy, said it was a "big scary affair" when he found out something was happening.
"They [the pupils] were all scared but my daughter has been absolutely fantastic I'm very proud of her," he said.
Daniel said his daughter video called him and he could see her teacher "supporting the whole class".
"The teacher sat right by the door. He barricaded the door, put some boxes there and kept everyone cool even though he must have been scared himself," he added.
Pupils who have their parents' consent to leave the school early were allowed to leave the building from lunchtime, a statement on the school website said.
Pupils are now allowed to leave the school after being locked down for the morning
Those who wish to collect their children being are asked to wait at a nearby garden centre where police will co-ordinate them to collect their children according to year group.
There will also be additional buses to take pupils home earlier, while any child without consent to leave will be kept onsite until 3.25pm.
In a statement, Tewkesbury Academy's head teacher Kathleen McGillycuddy said the alleged attack had been "a worrying time for all associated with Tewkesbury Academy" but assured families "all pupils remain safe and well".
She confirmed the incident had occurred just before 09:00 BST and that the male member of staff needed hospital treatment.
Tewkesbury Academy is a co-educational state academy open to pupils aged 11 to 18
A spokesman for Cabot Learning Federation, which runs 20 academies including Tewkesbury Academy, said: "We are grateful to all our staff, parents and students for their patience and understanding during what has been a difficult morning, while our thoughts are with our injured colleague - we wish him a swift and successful recovery."
The school was previously known as Tewkesbury School but changed its name to Tewkesbury Academy earlier this month.
A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service said it sent three ambulances and two operations officers after receiving a call at 09:08.
The victim was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital by ambulance.
Nearby Tirlebrook Primary School, on Brensham Road, told parents it had also been advised to go into lockdown.
Special needs facility Alderman Knight School, which shares the same site as Tewkesbury School, has not confirmed whether it was also affected.
MP for Tewksbury, Lawrence Robertson, told the BBC: "It's a very shocking, very sad and worrying incident. My heart goes out to everyone who is involved."
He added: "Weapons have no place in a school or society."
The lockdown has now been lifted at the Tewkesbury Academy
Mr Robertson said the school is "very well-known", adding: "They carry out extraordinary work. This is such a surprise. We're proud of the school and proud of the whole area."
The prime minster expressed his sympathies with "the individual who has been injured and with the staff and pupils of the school who would obviously be extremely concerned".
In a statement, Rishi Sunak also thanked police and emergency services "for their ongoing response".
Elsewhere, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said she was "deeply concerned" by the incident and that her department was monitoring the situation.
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-66153117 |
Charlie Watts' book collection to be auctioned - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Rolling Stones drummer had a broad collection of first editions, including The Great Gatsby. | Entertainment & Arts | Charlie Watts played on all the Stones' biggest hits, from Brown Sugar to Start Me Up and more
He was best known as the drummer for the Rolling Stones, but away from the stage Charlie Watts was an avid collector of modern literature.
His library contained dozens of rare first editions, including signed first editions of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound Of The Baskervilles.
Now, two years after his death, some of those gems will be put up for auction.
The drummer's collection of jazz memorabilia is also being sold.
Christie's, which is hosting the auction, will display the highlights in New York, Los Angeles and London ahead of the sale on 28-29 September.
The signed copy of Gatsby leads the auction, with an estimated price of £200,000-300,000.
Fitzgerald dedicated the book to MGM Screenwriter Harold Goldman, with whom he worked on the 1938 Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh comedy A Yank In Oxford.
The inscription reads: "For Harold Goldman, the original 'Gatsby' of this story, with thanks for letting me reveal these secrets of his past".
The first edition of The Great Gatsby is estimated to sell for £200-300,000
Also for sale is a proof copy of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, which the author sent to friends for their comments in 1944. Waugh later made several changes to the novel, including rewriting the ending and changing some names.
The first edition of the Sherlock Holmes' adventure Hound Of The Baskervilles is signed with the comment: "I perambulated Dartmoor before I wrote this book," a reference to the book's setting.
Other highlights include rare and first editions of books by Agatha Christie, PG Wodehouse and James Joyce.
A full-size Victorian replica of the Bayeaux Tapestry could fetch £12,000
"He took great pleasure in owning these things," says Paul Sexton, who wrote Watts' authorised biography, Charlie's Good Tonight.
"He valued his time at home and he would read on the road, so literature was a very important part of his make-up."
He added: "I don't think he acquired them because he knew they would become valuable, he just took a huge satisfaction in owning these great works and tracking down, with the help of experts, original first editions."
Books weren't the star's only passion. He also collected memorabilia from the American Civil War, antique silverware, vintage cars, drum kits and even a wardrobe of Edward VIII's Savile Row suits.
But his life's biggest obsession was jazz. Growing up in Wembley, he and his lifelong friend Dave Green saved all their money to buy 78rpm records by Jelly Roll Morton, Johnny Dodds, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
One of his favourites was Walkin' Shoes by the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, featuring the drumming of Chico Hamilton, who Watts tried to emulate by taking the neck off a banjo and playing the body with wire brushes.
He started collecting jazz recordings and related ephemera in his teens, and that only accelerated once the Rolling Stones started making money.
Watts (centre) with his bandmates on stage in 1989
"He was hugely influenced not just by the sound of jazz, but the look of jazz, as well," says Sexton.
"If somebody was wearing a particular shirt on one of their classic album covers, then he had to have that shirt. It was completely informed by his almost hero worship of these musicians... because he just didn't think of himself as their equal."
"His love of jazz never left him," adds Green, who called Watts' collection "truly astonishing".
Some of those items are now being sold by the late musician's estate, with a particular focus on his favourite saxophonist, Charlie Parker.
Among the lots are Parker's Associated Musicians Membership Card, his contracts for the Alto Break sessions and a pair of Down Beat awards from 1952.
George Gershwin's annotated score for Porgy and Bess will also be showcased, with an estimated price of £10,000-15,000.
Further Jazz lots include two scores by Irving Berlin - Songs from Top Hat and Songs from Follow the Fleet - inscribed to Ginger Rogers; and two inscribed piano scores by the influential cornetist Leon 'Bix' Beiderbecke.
But while Watts was an avid collector of music memorabilia, he could never quite wrap his head around the idea of people buying Rolling Stones' artefacts.
"I think he thought they were a bit mad," says Sexton. "He never bought into the mythology surrounding the Rolling Stones.
"At the end of the day, really, it was still a job for him - as much as it was one he was very proud of."
The auction will take place in two parts, a live sale at Christie's headquarters in London on 28 September, and an online sale that runs from 15 to 29 September.
Highlights will be put on display in Los Angeles from 25 to 29 July, New York from 5 to 8 September, and London from 20 to 27 September. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66121572 |
Biden visit: President leaves Windsor Castle after meeting King - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | President spoke about climate change with monarch after meeting Rishi Sunak this morning | UK | Joe Biden's flying visit to the UK is over and he's now on his way to Lithuania for the Nato summit which begins tomorrow.
He wasn't here for long, but he packed quite a lot in with trips to Downing Street to meet Rishi Sunak, and to Windsor Castle for climate talks with the King.
Attentions will now turn to the next two days when both Biden and Sunak touchdown in Vilnius for that summit - where no doubt the war in Ukraine will feature heavily.
Don't forget that on Friday the US announced that it would be supplying Kyiv with cluster bombs. The UK has signed up to a treaty banning the making and storage of these munitions.
We will be bringing you live updates of the Nato leaders summit tomorrow and Wednesday, so please do join us for that if you can.
Today's page was brought to you by Marita Moloney, Andre Rhoden-Paul, Ali Abbas Ahmadi, Ece Goksedef and myself. Thank you for joining us. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-66116088 |
Transparent mouse could improve cancer drug tests - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Scientists say a new scanning method that can identify tiny tumours could revolutionise medical research. | Science & Environment | Everything inside the mouse – its nerves, tissues and organs – are made invisible by a chemical process
A new scanning method involving a see-through mouse could improve how cancer drugs are tested, by picking up tumours previously too small to detect.
Prof Ali Ertürk of the Helmholtz Munich research centre worked out how to make a dead mouse transparent in 2018.
His team have now used chemicals to highlight specific tissues so that they can be scanned in unprecedented detail.
Drugs are often tested first on mice. Scientists say the new scanning method could revolutionise medical research.
Cancer Research UK said the new scanning technique had "a wealth of potential".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Scanning a transparent mouse to reveal the body in unprecedented detail
The researchers say the method reveals far greater detail than existing scanning techniques. In one of the first applications the team has detected cancerous tumours in the first stages of formation.
Prof Ertürk says this is important because cancer drugs have to be shown to eliminate tumours in mice before being tested on humans.
"MRI and PET scans would show you only big tumours. Ours show tumours at the single cell, which they absolutely can't".
"Current drugs extend life by a few years and then the cancer comes back. This is because the development process never included eliminating those tiny tumours, which were never visible."
Normally lab mice are given cancer and scanned with conventional scans to see how the tumour has progressed. They are then treated with the cancer drug being tested and then scanned again to see what if any difference the treatment has had.
Prof Ertürk's scanning method can only be used on dead mice, to give a picture of how much cancer has progressed, or potentially, whether a treatment has worked. He made mice transparent after they were given cancer and then scanned them using his new technique. Only a few mice would need to be made transparent to test the effectiveness of the drug.
Scanning (below in blue) shows cancer tumours as pink and white dots. A conventional scan (in white) shows only the largest concentrations of tumours.
"This exciting and unique scanning technique has a wealth of potential for building our knowledge of how our bodies work and what goes wrong in diseases like cancer.
"While researchers will only be able to use the technique to examine the bodies of deceased mice, it could tell us a lot about how cancer develops at the early stages of the disease. Being able to visualise tumours in the context of the entire body will also give researchers a greater understanding of the impact of different drugs and treatment.
"Advances in technology like this are essential to driving progress and will hopefully lead to new ways to detect, treat and prevent cancer."
The cancer application, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, is just one of hundreds if not thousands to which the new scanning technique can be used to improve medical studies. It can enable researchers to see things they have never seen before.
Mouse studies are often the starting point for learning about processes in the human body. But the new technique can be used on any animals. It could also be used to make human tissues and organs transparent, though it is unlikely to be used to make an entire human body transparent in the near future because there would be no medical advances that could be made from it at this stage.
Creation of the transparent mouse involves removing all the fats and pigment from its corpse, using a chemical process. It ends up looking like a clear plastic toy, which is ever so slightly bendy. Its organs and nerves are all still inside it - but near invisible.
While Prof Ertürk's developed the process to make a mouse transparent five years ago, the scanning technique makes the most of it.
He has found a way of adding other chemicals known as antibodies to highlight the parts of the mouse he is interested in studying under a microscope. Different antibodies stick to different types of tissue and so highlight whatever the researchers are interested in looking at.
As well as highlighting cancerous areas, Prof Ertürk's team has produced a suite of videos which enable researchers to fly through the mouse's nervous system, gut or lymph system.
The scans have several advantages over what is available now.
First, the researchers can study diseases in the context of the entire body, which gives them a much greater understanding of the impact of different drugs and treatments.
The 3D images are also stored online, so researchers studying different parts of the animal or wanting to do the same experiment can draw from a library, rather than having to use another mouse. Prof Ertürk believes that the technique could reduce lab animal use tenfold.
Prof Ali Ertürk about to dip a transparent mouse into chemicals that highlight specific tissues
Dr Nana-Jane Chipampe, of the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, is excited at the prospect of using the new scanning technique to study how cells develop in the human body. Currently she has to slice up tissues into very thin sections to study them under a microscope. Soon she will be able to see details in 3D.
"I can't wait to get my hands on it!" she told me enthusiastically.
"It has the potential to identify new tissues, cells and diseases which will really help us understand the development of diseases."
Her team leader, Prof Muzlifah Haniffa, is producing an online map or atlas of every cell in the human body. She says the new scanning technique will be useful for all kinds of medical research.
"Without a doubt, it will accelerate the pace of medical research," she said. "Combining these cutting-edge technologies and building the human cell atlas will no doubt completely revolutionise medicine." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66119980 |
Lucy Letby: Jury retires in trial of nurse accused of baby murders - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The nurse is accused of killing seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others on a neonatal unit. | Liverpool | Lucy Letby, 33, is accused of murdering seven babies
Jurors in the trial of nurse Lucy Letby have retired to consider their verdicts.
Ms Letby is accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others at Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
The 33-year-old, originally from Hereford, has denied all charges.
Judge Mr Justice James Goss has told the jury to approach their deliberations in a "fair, calm, objective and analytical way".
The jury has heard nine months of evidence, including claims Ms Letby deliberately injected babies with air, force fed others milk and poisoned some with insulin.
Ms Letby has insisted she did not harm any of the babies and has pointed to issues of poor hygiene and staffing levels in the hospital.
She has also accused senior doctors of mounting a conspiracy against her to mask failings in care.
Mr Justice Goss told the jury of eight women and four men at Manchester Crown Court that they must "be sure of the defendant's guilt or not" in all the allegations.
Ms Letby gave evidence in her defence during the trial
The judge said many of the children had suffered "unexpected life-threatening collapses" and reminded the jury that the prosecution had argued there were many "common factors".
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said Ms Letby had been on shift at the time when each baby collapsed.
Mr Johnson also included 11 other common themes, from unusual skin discolouration to the babies collapsing just after having been visited by parents.
Mr Justice Goss said the prosecution had argued "this is not a series of unconnected events".
He said they claim that when put in context with expert evidence, post-mortem examination findings and the discovery of notes and nursing handover sheets at Ms Letby's home, the jury "can be sure the defendant committed all the offences".
He reminded the jury that Ms Letby had denied harming any of the children and her case was that she was a hardworking and dedicated nurse.
Ms Letby is accused of carrying out the attacks at Countess of Chester Hospital
During the trial Ms Letby said the handover sheets recovered from her home were taken from the hospital in error.
The judge also referred to notes found at Ms Letby's home in which she wrote, among other things, "I am evil, I did this".
The defence's case, he said, was that these were a "product of despair" written after she was removed from frontline nursing duties and placed in a clerical role.
He also said the defence rejected the prosecution's list of "common factors" in the cases, saying they did not establish a pattern.
The defence have said the jury cannot be sure in any event of Ms Letby's guilt.
Mr Justice Goss ended by reminding the jury to keep their deliberations confidential and instructed the panel to "respect each other's opinions".
He said "no one should be, or feel, pressured" during their discussions.
The judge ended by instructing the jury to reach "unanimous verdicts on each count on the indictment".
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-65960506 |
British Grand Prix: Max Verstappen beats Lando Norris to victory - BBC Sport | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | null | Max Verstappen cruises to victory in the British Grand Prix for his sixth win in a row and a record-equalling 11th consecutive triumph for Red Bull. | null | Last updated on .From the section Formula 1
There were 160,000 fans at Silverstone for the race on Sunday Max Verstappen cruised to victory in the British Grand Prix for his sixth win in a row and a record-equalling 11th consecutive triumph for Red Bull. McLaren's Lando Norris fought off an attack from Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes after a late safety car to finish second and give the 160,000 fans a double home podium to cheer. Verstappen's eighth win in 10 races this year brought Red Bull level with the record McLaren established in their historic 1988 season with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Oscar Piastri made it a great day for McLaren with fourth, ahead of George Russell's Mercedes.
• None 'Norris shows McLaren progress but work still to do' Verstappen was untouchable out front, once he had overtaken Norris for the lead on lap five after the McLaren jumped ahead when the world champion suffered too much wheelspin at the start. This victory, which puts Verstappen's championship lead over team-mate Sergio Perez at 99 points, extends a run of Red Bull wins that dates back to last season's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. On Verstappen's current apparently unbeatable form, Red Bull will break McLaren's record at the next race in Hungary in two weeks' time and are likely to move far beyond it as the season progresses. Verstappen reduced this grand prix, like so many this year, to a demonstration run once into the lead. But behind him the race, static for a long period, came alive after the safety car, which was called when Kevin Magnussen's Haas caught fire down the Wellington straight. The fans arrived at Silverstone in huge numbers from Friday through to Sunday Divergent tyre choices introduced jeopardy and intrigue for everyone else over the final 14 laps. Norris and Piastri had looked on course for a double podium for McLaren, who introduced a major upgrade for Norris to great effect at the last race in Austria and gave it to Piastri at Silverstone as well. But the safety car changed everything and gave Hamilton a chance not only to jump ahead of Piastri but also to briefly threaten Norris. The seven-time champion, who started seventh, drove steadily in the opening laps, biding his time once he had re-passed Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin, which overtook him on the first lap. Hamilton moved up as the pit stops started to happen ahead of him, with first Charles Leclerc pitting his Ferrari out of fourth place, followed by the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, the Mercedes of Russell, and Piastri. It meant Hamilton was on course to finish fifth behind Piastri and Russell, but stopping under the safety car allowed him to jump both and line up behind Norris at the restart. Norris had hinted heavily several times before his stop that he might prefer the soft tyre, without ever explicitly asking for it, and McLaren stuck with their choice for hards as he came in, just as a virtual safety car turned into a full safety car, because changing tack would have caused too many risks and created too big a delay. Norris expressed over the radio his fears that he would struggle to hold Hamilton back, with the Mercedes on soft tyres and the McLaren on hard, but the 23-year-old weathered an early storm after the restart with aplomb and then edged away to consolidate his second place. Piastri, also fitted with hard tyres at his pit stop, was equally impressive in a car not quite up to the same specification as his team-mate, lacking a new front wing. The Australian rookie lost his hopes of a podium with the safety car, which allowed Hamilton to jump him. But in the closing laps, as Hamilton dropped away from Norris, the Mercedes came under pressure from Piastri, who crossed the line less than a second behind. Russell was the only man in the top 10 to choose soft tyres rather than mediums for the start, and he jumped up a place to threaten Leclerc for fourth place. But he lost out by stopping before the safety car and came home fifth as Sergio Perez recovered from yet another poor qualifying session to finish sixth from 15th on the grid. The last driver he passed was Alonso, whose Aston Martin team have in the last few races fallen away from their strong form in the first six races of the season. Ferrari's day crumbled after a promising start. Leclerc had no pace in the first part of the race, spending the first half of the race with Russell right behind him not quite managing to get past. Leclerc made an early stop for hard tyres and then came in again under the safety car for mediums. But he again struggled and lost eighth place to the impressive Williams of Alex Albon, who chose soft tyres at the safety car, in the closing laps. Sainz, who was left on hard tyres when he did not stop under the safety car, lost three places in a few corners as Perez, Leclerc and Albon all passed him after the restart, and trailed in a disappointing 10th.
• None Watch the hypochondriac detective and his team on BBC iPlayer now
• None The cosmic culture war between Marvel and DC comics: Uncover the story of one of the greatest rivalries in the history of pop culture | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/66148503 |
NI economy: Survey points to ‘two speed economy’ - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | An Ulster Bank survey shows the Northern Ireland economy grew in June but not across all sectors. | Northern Ireland | Northern Ireland's private sector economy continued to grow in June, an Ulster Bank survey suggests.
However, growth was not seen across all sectors. Manufacturing and services expanded while retail and construction saw reduced activity.
Ulster Bank economist Richard Ramsey said a "two speed economy" was becoming increasingly evident.
Construction is suffering from reduced public sector spending while retail is being hit by a squeeze on consumers.
Mr Ramsey said: "These sectors have witnessed a notable deterioration in business confidence, with construction firms expecting business activity to be significantly lower in 12 months' time, whereas retail businesses expect sales to be flat.
"Conversely, manufacturers and service sector firms still anticipate higher levels of activity in the middle of next year."
Every month Ulster Bank asks a representative sample of firms about issues such as new orders, employment and exports.
The survey suggests that the Northern Ireland private sector has now been growing for five consecutive months.
It also points to further signs that inflation is easing across supply chains.
Official data published last month suggested Northern Ireland's economy may have grown significantly faster than the UK average in the first quarter of the year.
The NI Composite Economic Index (NICEI) expanded by 1.2% over the quarter and grew by 1.7% on an annual basis.
UK gross domestic product (GDP) grew by just 0.1% over the quarter and by 0.2% over the year.
The sets of figures are not produced on a fully comparable basis, particularly when assessing public sector output.
Official figures for the second quarter of the year will not be published until September. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66137478 |
Covid inquiry: Lack of ministers had 'significant impact' on planning - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Prof Sir Michael McBride tells the UK Covid-19 inquiry the lack of ministers pre-Covid had an impact. | Northern Ireland | The absence of Stormont ministers had a "significant impact" on Northern Ireland's preparedness for the Covid-19 pandemic, the chief medical officer has said.
Sir Michael McBride was giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 inquiry in London.
Former first and deputy first ministers, Baroness Foster and Michelle O'Neill, are scheduled to give evidence later this week.
Sir Michael told the inquiry there was "no doubt" the lack of ministers in the years before the pandemic had "a significant impact on our ability to initiate new policy".
The first phase of the inquiry is examining how prepared the UK was for the pandemic, including within the devolved administrations.
The chief medical officer told the inquiry that resources were diverted to EU-exit planning - work was picked up again in January 2020 - but he added that "events overtook us".
He added that there was "absolutely no doubt" the absence of ministers between 2017 and 2020 affected preparations.
He also said that the pre-existing position of the department before the pandemic showed there was a "shortfall in resources and insufficient staff to mount the response that was required".
Speaking about why Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland did not have a single epidemiological policy to deal with a pandemic, Sir Michael McBride said they did take a "single approach to border county areas".
He added that this was at operational level, not at a policy level.
The former permanent secretary at the Department of Health (DoH), Richard Pengelly, is also set to give evidence this week.
The DoH is responsible for leading and co-ordinating the health response when an emergency has been categorised as serious or catastrophic and requires a cross departmental or cross governmental response.
The inquiry is likely to explore to what extent this plan was kept under review and also how well it was tested.
Last week, former health minister Robin Swann told the inquiry that a lack of reform and investment in the health service hindered its response to the pandemic.
The inquiry is into the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic
Brenda Doherty, a leading figure in the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said it was an important week for Northern Ireland at the inquiry.
"Amongst the witnesses to be called, the person I most hope will be able to answer questions fully is the chief medical officer," she said.
"During his evidence, the former Health Minister Mr [Robin] Swann on several occasions advised the inquiry legal team to direct some of the questions he was unable to answer to Dr McBride."
Ms Doherty said it was "vital that we have total openness and transparency". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66148623 |
Madonna says 'my focus is health' after infection scare - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The pop star issues her first statement since a serious bacterial infection left her in hospital. | Entertainment & Arts | Madonna has said she is "on the road to recovery" in her first statement since a bacterial infection left her in a hospital's intensive care unit.
On social media, the singer said "my focus now is my health" and thanked her fans for their "positive energy".
The star, 64, said: "I assure you, I'll be back with you as soon as I can!"
The pop star said her current plan was to reschedule her forthcoming North American concerts and begin her Celebration Tour in the UK in October.
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In the statement, she wrote: "Thank you for your positive energy, prayers and words of healing and encouragement. I have felt your love.
"I'm on the road to recovery and incredibly grateful for all the blessings in my life.
"My first thought when I woke up in the hospital was my children.
"My second thought was that I did not want to disappoint anyone who bought tickets for my tour. I also didn't want to let down the people who worked tirelessly with me over the last few months to create my show. I hate to disappoint anyone.
"My focus now is my health and getting stronger and I assure you, I'll be back with you as soon as I can!
"The current plan is to reschedule the North American leg of the tour and to begin in October in Europe."
She had been due to start the greatest hits tour in Canada on Saturday, 15 July. The European leg is scheduled to begin with four nights at London's O2 Arena from 14 October.
She finished her statement by saying: "I couldn't be more grateful for your care and support."
It comes two weeks after her manager Guy Oseary revealed the star had developed a "serious bacterial infection" on 24 June, which led to "a several day stay in the ICU".
At the time, he said she would "need to pause all commitments, which includes the tour".
Madonna's greatest hits span several decades - including Into The Groove (1985), Like A Prayer (1989), to Vogue (1990) and Hung Up (2005) to name a few.
In announcing the tour back in January, she told fans: "I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for."
It is likely that she was in the final stages of a rehearsal regime when she became ill.
She called off a number of shows in her more experimental, theatre-based Madame X tour in 2019 and 2020 because of knee and hip injuries. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66159111 |
Bank of England: We must see job through to cut inflation - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Andrew Bailey tells an audience at Mansion House that it is "crucial" inflation falls back to 2%. | Business | The governor of the Bank of England has said it is "crucial that we see the job through" to slow soaring prices in a speech to the world of finance.
Andrew Bailey said reducing inflation to 2% is "so important" as people "should trust that their hard-earned money maintains its value".
Currently, inflation, which is the rate prices rise at, is 8.7% - more than four times the Bank's target of 2%.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said government would work to cut inflation.
"We will do what is necessary for as long as necessary to tackle inflation persistence and bring it back to the 2% target," Mr Hunt said at the start of his first Mansion House speech as chancellor.
About 400 people from the financial and business industries attended the dinner at the 18th Century building, which is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London.
It comes at a time when businesses, as well as households, are being hit by higher costs due to inflation remaining stubbornly high in the UK.
Mr Hunt suggested companies should show restraint on profit margins, adding "margin recovery benefits no-one if it feeds inflation".
The Bank of England has steadily been increasing interest rates in a bid to combat inflation.
Its base rate - which has a direct effect on borrowing costs for things like mortgages and credit cards, but also influences savings rates - is now 5%, up from close to zero 18 months ago. Some analysts have predicted interest rates will peak at 6.5%, but some have said they may rise to as high as 7%.
The theory behind raising interest rates is that by making it more expensive for people to borrow money, and more worthwhile for people to save, people will spend less, which will in turn lead to price rises to slow.
Mr Bailey said in his speech to executives at the same Mansion House event "it is crucial that we see the job through, meet our mandate to return inflation to its 2% target, and provide the environment of price stability in which the UK economy can thrive".
He added that while the UK economy has failed to grow beyond its pre-pandemic level, there had been "unexpected resilience" in the face of external shocks, such as Covid and the war in Ukraine, with low levels of unemployment and avoiding a recession to date.
But the Bank of England's boss highlighted that "tightness" in the labour market, with many businesses struggling to find enough workers, has contributed to price inflation being "more sticky than previously expected".
"Both price and wage increases at current rates are not consistent with the inflation target," he added.
The Bank of England has previously warned big pay rises are contributing to the UK's still-high rates of inflation, but there have also been accusations that some sectors have been profiteering by overcharging customers.
Last week, the Competition and Markets Authority revealed supermarkets had sought to increase profits from selling fuel, increasing their margins by 6p per litre on average between 2019 and 2022.
The chancellor said "delivering sound money is our number one focus", before he delivered his speech focusing on plans for pension fund reforms.
Mr Hunt pledged the plans could provide a £1,000-a-year pensions boost to the typical earner who starts saving at 18.
While UK pension pots are the largest in Europe, worth £2.5trn, defined contribution schemes currently invest 1% in unlisted equity, limiting returns for savers and funding for businesses, the Treasury has claimed.
The chancellor revealed an agreement with leading pensions firms to put 5% of their investments into early-stage businesses in the fintech, life sciences, biotech and clean technology sectors by 2030.
The so-called "Mansion House Compact" has been backed by Aviva, Scottish Widows, Legal & General, Aegon, Phoenix, NEST, Mercer, M&G and Smart Pension.
Ahead of the event, Mansion House organisers said talks had taken place about security at the venue over concerns of protests. A source told the BBC the event was not disrupted. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66152690 |
What's next in BBC presenter claims? - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | null | The BBC still has questions to answer after lawyers representing the young person at the centre of the allegations disputed the mother’s account. | null | The BBC still has many questions to answer after lawyers representing the young person at the centre of the allegations disputed the mother’s account.
In a letter to the BBC, the lawyer makes claims that throw doubt on the story that has dominated front pages through the weekend, but with the BBC facing the media as it presents its annual report, the corporation's director general can expect the event to be dominated by the crisis. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66158050 |
Biden visits UK: President says US-UK relationship rock solid - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Joe Biden's comments came as he met UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London ahead of a key Nato summit. | UK | Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told President Joe Biden the UK and the US were "two of the firmest allies" in Nato
US President Joe Biden has described relations with the UK as "rock solid" during talks in London with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Mr Biden said he "couldn't be meeting a closer friend and a greater ally". Mr Sunak hailed the UK and the US as "two of the firmest allies" in Nato.
They also discussed a US move to give Ukraine controversial cluster bombs to defend itself from Russia's invasion.
Ukraine's membership bid will be high on agenda at Tuesday's Nato summit.
All 31 Nato members attending the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, agree that Ukraine cannot join the military alliance during the war - amid fears this would lead to a direct conflict with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has himself said he does not expect Kyiv to join the bloc until after the war - but he wants the summit to give a "clear signal" on Ukraine's bid.
Several Nato members in Eastern Europe are pressing for a fast-track membership for their neighbour - but others, including the US, are seen as more hesitant, fearing this could lead to a direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.
Speaking to CNN, President Biden said Ukraine's membership bid was "premature".
Referring to the US pledge of cluster bombs for Ukraine - something which caused unease among Nato allies - Mr Sunak's official spokesman said it "was a difficult choice for the US".
But the spokesman added that the decision had been "forced on them by Russia's war of aggression".
The weapons have been banned by more than 100 countries, including the UK, because of the danger they pose to civilians.
The spokesman said Sunak was upholding the UK's requirements under an international convention banning the weapons.
The US says it has received Ukraine's reassurance that the munitions will not be used in Russia or in urban areas.
President Biden also held separate talks on Monday with King Charles at Windsor Castle - the pair's first meeting since the King was formally crowned in May.
Mr Biden received a royal salute and listened to the US national anthem performed by the Welsh Guards before entering the castle for the talks.
King Charles and US President Joe Biden inspect the Guard of Honour at Windsor Castle | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66156581 |
Turkey backs Sweden's Nato membership - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Nato chief says President Erdogan will drop opposition to Sweden becoming the alliance's 32nd member. | Europe | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson shake hands with Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg looking on
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to support Sweden's bid to join Nato, the military alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg says.
He said the Turkish leader would forward Sweden's bid to parliament in Ankara and "ensure ratification".
Meanwhile, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said: "I am very happy, it is a good day for Sweden."
Turkey had previously spent months blocking Sweden's application, accusing it of hosting Kurdish militants.
As one of Nato's 31 members, Turkey has a veto over any new country joining the group.
Reacting to the news, US President Joe Biden said he welcomed the commitment by President Erdogan to proceed with "swift ratification".
"I stand ready to work with President Erdogan and Turkey on enhancing defence and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Kristersson and Sweden as our 32nd Nato ally," a White House statement said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock tweeted: "At 32, we're all safer together." British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Sweden joining would "make us all safer".
Mr Stoltenberg announced the agreement late on Monday following talks between the Turkish and Swedish leaders in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
The Nato chief described it as a "historic step", but stressed that a "clear date" could not be given for when Sweden would join the military alliance - as this relied on the Turkish parliament.
Sweden and its eastern neighbour Finland, both long considered as militarily neutral, announced their intention to join Nato in May last year, several months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Finland formally joined in April.
Mr Stoltenberg said Turkey and Sweden had addressed "Turkey's legitimate security concerns" and as a result Sweden had amended its constitution, changed its laws, expanded its counter-terrorism operation against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) and resumed arms exports to Turkey.
Turkey and Hungary are currently the only two Nato members yet to ratify Sweden's membership application.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday that ratification of Sweden's bid is now "only a technical question".
On Monday, President Erdogan had also appeared to link Turkish support for Sweden's Nato bid to the EU re-opening frozen membership talks with Ankara.
EU officials were quick to reject the demand, saying those were two separate issues.
But in a statement after the deal was announced, Nato said Sweden would actively support efforts to "reinvigorate Turkey's EU accession process" and this would include "modernisation of the EU-Türkiye customs union and visa liberalisation".
Turkey first applied to join the EU way back in 1987, but its drift towards authoritarianism under President Erdogan brought the accession process to a halt.
However since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Mr Erdogan has also played a unique role as a Nato leader with influence in Moscow.
He helped broker last year's Black Sea Grain Initiative, which enables Ukraine to export agricultural products from its ports.
Turkey has helped keep the deal alive, despite frequent Russian threats to withdraw.
But Turkey has also angered the Kremlin by supplying armed drones to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants Nato give a "clear signal" on Ukraine's membership bid at the Vilnius summit
Russian officials were also furious at the weekend when Turkey, in a surprise move, allowed five former commanders of the Ukrainian garrison at Mariupol to fly back to Kyiv at the end of a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Under the terms of a prisoner exchange last year, Russia expected the men to remain in Turkey until the end of the war.
The two-day Nato summit kicks off in Vilnius on Tuesday and Ukraine's membership bid will be high on the agenda.
All alliance members agree that Ukraine cannot join the bloc during the war - amid fears this would lead to a direct conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has himself said he does not expect membership until after the war - but he wants the summit to give a "clear signal" on Ukraine's bid.
Several Nato members in Eastern Europe are pressing for a fast-track membership for their neighbour but others, including the US and Germany, are seen as more hesitant.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday warned that Ukraine's membership of Nato would have "negative consequences for the entire security architecture, which is half destroyed as it is in Europe".
Ukrainian membership would "represent an absolute danger, threat to our country, which will require of us a quite firm and clear reaction", Mr Peskov said. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66160319 |
Meta plans feed for Threads after users complain - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The firm says the current social media app is an initial version and changes are planned. | Technology | Threads will add an alternative home feed of posts as part of a series of updates to the new social media app after users complained.
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said a feed for Threads showing posts in chronological order is currently being worked on.
Users want to see posts from accounts they follow rather than chosen by Threads' algorithm.
Mr Mosseri said the new feed was "on the list" of changes to Threads.
Meta, which owns Threads, Instagram and Facebook, launched the social media app last week and more than 100 million users have signed up to use it.
Mr Mosseri said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, had given an alternative feed a "thumbs up", after a number of users expressed frustration at not being offered a feed of posts from people they followed, in the order in which they were posted.
Other features "on the list", according Mr Mosseri, include:
While it is possible to view Threads on the web, via Threads.net, there is no desktop interface - posts can be made only via the app - and that too was something the company was "working on", according to Mr Mosseri.
There is also no search function. When it announced the app's launch, the company said it would add a "more robust search function" along with improvements to the selection of recommended posts.
Meanwhile the only way currently to fully delete a Threads profile is to delete the associated Instagram account, which many users would be reluctant to - another issue the company is looking to fix.
When Threads was launched, Meta announced it planned to allow it to communicate with other social-media platforms, such as Mastodon, using something known as the fediverse.
But this suggestion while welcomed by some, has met opposition.
The idea of the fediverse is it is like email. Someone on Gmail can exchange emails with someone using Hotmail, for example, and the fediverse could be described as that idea applied to social media.
At some point in the future Meta wants users to be able to use their Threads account to interact with other social-media platforms using ActivityPub - a protocol with the necessary programming code - such as Mastodon, WordPress or Reddit-alternative Lemmy.
But some worry Threads threatens the idea of this system altogether, because of a practice big tech companies have utilised in the past - "embrace, extend and extinguish", when a company with a lot of resources extends what is possible from a new technology so drastically it becomes the new standard, leaving people with no choice but to use its platform.
Mastodon chief executive Eugen Rochko dismissed these fears, saying Meta joining Threads was "validation of the movement towards decentralised social media" and "a clear victory for our cause".
But concern among users has grown with over a hundred Mastodon communities joining what they call the "fedipact" - an agreement to block Meta from being able to access their community under any circumstances - so even when Threads does begin to support ActivityPub, users will not be able to access everything on the fediverse.
One other feature coming to Threads at some point may also receive mixed reviews. There is no advertising on the platform - for now. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66155433 |
UK Covid inquiry: Sir Michael McBride gives evidence on Northern Ireland - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Sir Michael McBride says the lack of a Stormont government had a major impact on pandemic planning. | UK | Today's evidence from the chief medical officer is part of a week which is looking very closely at what happened in Northern Ireland during the pandemic.
Tomorrow we'll be bringing you live coverage as Baroness Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland's former first minister, and the Department of Health's former permanent secretary Richard Pengelly give evidence. On Wednesday, former deputy first minister Michelle O'Neill is due to appear.
You can catch up on all of the news from today's inquiry here.
Today's coverage has been written and edited by myself and Matt Fox. Until tomorrow, thanks for joining us. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-66152824 |
London wildfire response hit by crew shortages - report - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Crew shortages meant 39 engines were not available to fight London's wildfires last July, a review finds. | Science & Environment | A number of wildfires broke out across London last summer, destroying homes in Wennington.
Firefighter shortages meant 39 fire engines were not available to help tackle the wildfires that burnt across London last July, a new report reveals.
The fires saw 16 homes in Wennington, Havering, destroyed in one of the blazes on 19 July 2022.
A major incident review of the London Fire Brigade's (LFB) response was published on Monday after a Freedom of Information request by the BBC.
A brigade spokesperson said the review would help them be better prepared.
Deputy commissioner Dom Ellis said: "We know last summer was not a one-off - climate change will continue to give rise to more extreme weather events.
"That's why we have reviewed what happened last summer to determine how we can improve and be as best-prepared to tackle this ever-growing risk head-on."
But Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), said firefighters were not being given "adequate resources... to do their jobs".
Firefighters responded with "bravery, tenacity and determination", the review said
The 19th July was said to be one of the LFB's "busiest days in the modern firefighting era" with 2,496 calls received - including 740 relating to wildfires - and 26 fires requiring four or more pumping appliances to attend.
The major incident review said staff had responded to the "unprecedented demand with bravery, tenacity and determination".
"Without this concerted and coordinated effort there is no doubt the damage to London's communities would have been much worse," it added.
But it found that 39 appliances were "off the run" - unavailable - because of insufficient staff numbers.
The caused "longer response times, an inability to resource specific incidents at the level requested by incident commanders and an inability to relieve operational colleagues at protracted incidents," the review stated.
But it added that, given the unprecedented demands of the day, even if the brigade had the extra 39 appliances there would still have been difficulty in resourcing the fires and relieving crews.
The brigade now has a recruitment plan in place and has brought in new equipment for tackling future wildfires.
That includes a so-called "holey hose" - a new type of hose that creates a water curtain of up to two metres high along its length.
London's deputy mayor for Fire and Resilience, Baroness Fiona Twycross, said: "The new specialist 'holey hose' equipment being used by fire crews across the capital is part of the Mayor's ongoing investment, modernisation and transformation of the brigade to build a safer London for everyone."
Matt Wrack of the FBU said there was "a lack of national strategy and planning on issues like wildfires".
"Wildfires have been on the government's risk register for a decade, but they have failed to learn the lessons of last year's wildfires. This is negligence driven by cuts and complacency," he added.
The brigade said it was now creating 10 wildfire officers and 30 wildfire tactical advisors, who will be trained in the more rural areas of England where wildfires are more common.
The brigade has also been learning new skills and tactics from fire and rescue services in Europe.
LFB was just one of 11 fire and rescue services across the UK to declare a major incident on the day.
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and the UK government are due to draw up new national policy guidelines on wildfires.
Meanwhile, those residents whose homes were destroyed in Wennington last year are still waiting for them to be rebuilt.
Havering Council said it was "working closely with affected residents to help them get their lives back on track".
Wennington vicar the Reverend Elise Peterson said the rebuilding of homes was "slow progress".
"There are residents that have lost everything and are still in temporary accommodation. It's been really difficult for those people. It's been a challenging year - the village has changed permanently," she said. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66131541 |
US storms: Vermont assesses 'devastating' damage as floods recede - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Officials are warning residents to remain on alert as more rain is expected in the coming days. | US & Canada | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Crews in Vermont are assessing the damage after a storm dumped up to two months of rain on the state in a matter of days, triggering dangerous flash floods that submerged homes.
The state's governor said there had been "historic and catastrophic" flooding. Some areas saw more than 9in (0.22m) of rain.
In the capital city, Montpelier, crews are beginning to clear debris and inspect buildings.
More rain is expected later this week.
People in Montpelier as well as nearby Berlin have been told to boil their water, amid concerns that the flooding may have contaminated drinking water.
The picture is similar elsewhere in the state, such as in the town of Ludlow, where the scale of the damage is only starting to become clear as the floodwater recedes.
"I talked to people today that said my house is gone," said Ludlow Municipal Manager Brendan McNamara. "[We] sustained catastrophic damage. We just really took the brunt of the storm."
A freight track on the Green Mountain Railroad that runs through the town was left dangling in the sky after the floods carved a deep gorge underneath it.
A spokesperson for the Vermont Rail System told the BBC's US partner CBS News that operations had been "temporarily suspended" due to "a washout".
Andrew Molen, the co-owner of a restaurant in the town, told the outlet that the flooding there was "devastating" and his business was in a mess.
"We lost bridges, we lost roads, cars went down rivers, the power, there was such force it was moving dumpsters that were full," he said.
Some Vermont residents returned to their homes on Tuesday to survey the damage caused by the floods
Vermont's commissioner of public safety, Jennifer Morrison, told CNN on Wednesday more than 200 people have been rescued and over 100 evacuations had been performed. She called the situation "an absolute crisis" that could take years - potentially even a decade - to repair.
There had been concerns about several dams in the state as they neared capacity, but on Tuesday night Montpelier officials said the Wrightsville Dam was "beginning to recede" and both major rivers were "now below flood stage".
"It looks like [the dam] won't breach. That is good. That is one less thing we have to have on our front burner," Montpelier Town Manager Bill Fraser said.
An emergency order was lifted on Tuesday in the city even as some streets remained underwater after the Winooski River burst its banks.
But Governor Phil Scott urged caution over the coming days.
"We expect more rain later this week which will have nowhere to go in the over-saturated ground," he said. "We're not out of the woods - this is nowhere near over."
He added that the deluge in some parts of the state had surpassed that seen during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, which killed six people in Vermont.
Kelly Tackett, who owns the Minikin children's store in Montpelier, was unable to get through the floodwaters on Tuesday to check on her deluged business.
But upon seeing pictures of the ruined premises taken by a photojournalist she said she was in tears and feared her business may not recover.
"This was my lifelong dream shop," she told the Burlington Free Press.
The National Weather Service forecasts more rain for Thursday and Friday in Vermont, but no more torrential downpours.
Flood watches remain in effect for parts of New York, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut.
In New York state, which has also seen some of the worst flooding in years, a woman named by authorities as Pamela Nugent, 43, died in Orange County after she was swept away while trying to flee her home with her dog.
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Homes, businesses and roads were significantly damaged in the county.
Many factors contribute to flooding, but a warming atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.
The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66154757 |
France bans buying fireworks for Bastille Day after riots - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The move comes after rioting sparked by last month's killing of a 17-year-old by police in Nanterre. | Europe | Fireworks were a popular weapon during the recent rioting in France
France has banned the sale, possession and transport of all fireworks during the upcoming Bastille Day festivities.
The government issued a decree on Sunday prohibiting "pyrotechnic articles" for the 14 July celebrations that mark France's national day.
The move comes after rioting sparked by last month's police killing of 17-year-old Nahel M by police in Nanterre.
However, the ban does not apply to official firework displays organised by local authorities.
"In order to prevent the risk of serious disturbances to public order during the 14 July festivities, the sale, carrying, transport and use of pyrotechnic articles and fireworks will be prohibited on national territory until 15 July inclusively," said the edict, published in the French official gazette.
Fireworks were a popular weapon during the week of unrest, which included some of France's worst urban violence for almost 20 years.
And even in normal times, events in public squares and streets on the evening of Bastille Day have often been disrupted in previous years by young people throwing firecrackers.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said that in addition to the restrictions on fireworks, a "massive" security presence would be deployed in order to keep the peace and "to protect the French during these two sensitive days".
She told Le Parisien newspaper that many people were "quite worried" about the possibility of fresh incidents of violence during the national holiday.
More than 3,700 people were taken into police custody in connection with the recent protests, including at least 1,160 minors, according to official figures.
Bastille Day marks the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris more than 200 years ago, a key event in the French Revolution. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66147920 |
Lana Del Rey says sorry for truncated Glastonbury show - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The singer-songwriter apologises to fans for the abrupt end of her Glastonbury set, as she plays in London. | Entertainment & Arts | Lana Del Rey has had six number-one albums in the UK
Lana Del Rey has apologised to fans for the abrupt ending to her Glastonbury show last month.
The US singer-songwriter arrived half an hour late for her set and had the plug pulled when she broke the curfew.
Despite begging Glastonbury bosses to let her play "one more song", Del Rey had to leave without finishing.
Playing London's Hyde Park on Sunday, she introduced the song Diet Mountain Dew by saying: "This is where I got cut off last time - sorry about that."
Del Rey later toyed with breaking Hyde Park's own curfew, by stretching out the final section of Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd?
"I don't want it to end," she told her band, indicating they should keep playing, as the gospel ballad approached its conclusion.
And when it finally drew to a close, several minutes later, Del Rey added: "It's worth it. Even if you get the power cut, it's worth it."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Lana Del Rey speaks to fans at Glastonbury after her microphone is cut
Thankfully, she was still able to finish her show before the strict 22:30 cut-off, leaving fans with a blissful version of Video Games performed on a garlanded swing, suspended from the rafters of the stage.
The 19-song set was the same show she had intended to stage at Glastonbury - a highly conceptual, ultra-stylised performance, with Del Rey surrounded by a swirl of dancers who shower the stage with glitter and perform improbable feats of gymnastics.
She emerges to ear-splitting screams, in a floral-print dress and towering heels, smouldering through the achingly cool A&W, before segueing into the ethereal Young and Beautiful.
"Damn, this is a big crowd!" Del Rey says, to even more ear-splitting screams, as fans hold up signs - "Marry me," "Lana Del Slay" - in the hope of catching her eye.
Even in the era of "stan culture", Del Rey inspires an unusual level of devotion. People queued for a whole day to secure a place at the front of the BST Hyde Park show.
Her every move is greeted with feverish awe. Even when she takes a puff on a vape, there is an almighty roar of approval.
It would seem disproportionate for anyone else but no other modern artist has so successfully created a mythology and a sound of their own.
The singer rarely performs in the UK and fans queued overnight to make sure they could see her
When Del Rey first arrived, with dreamy, hip-hop infused songs such as Born to Die and Video Games, people called her a fake. They said she was a Brooklyn hipster with artificially inflated lips and carped her father was a millionaire who - allegedly - bankrolled her career.
But those critiques, dripping with misogyny, have not aged well.
Del Rey's atmospheric, orchestral pop has inspired a generation of female singer-songwriters - Olivia Rodrigo, Lorde, Halsey. As Billie Eilish says: "Lana raised us."
And last year, before inviting Del Rey to duet on her latest album, Taylor Swift said simply: "She's the best we ever had."
Over the years, Del Rey's music has evolved and become more nuanced, while never quite departing from the twin topics that obsess her, toxic relationships and America - and, by proxy, America's toxic relationship with itself.
Her high-water mark, 2019's Norman... Rockwell!, an album painted in the palette of classic Californian rock, produced by frequent Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff, saw her take full control of her narrative. And on the sublime Mariners Apartment Complex, she even addresses the people - critics, boyfriends, record-industry bigwigs - who "mistook my kindness for weakness", the not-exactly-hidden subtext being: "That won't happen again, schmucks."
Del Rey has released three albums since then, with this year's Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd? marking a detour into more confessional territory. She frets about having children, the imminence of death and her family's history of cancer, her voice more vulnerable and human than before.
Filled with gospel harmonies and softly building pianos, it challenges Norman... Rockwell! as her best album yet - and the title track was one of the biggest highlights of her Hyde Park set.
Del Rey is an intriguing performer - sometimes fully present, at others seemingly lost in the music. Often, she will mouth words off-microphone, as though singing a private melody to herself.
It is mesmerising to watch, like peeking through the window into her apartment as she writes. And that sensation is only heightened when she sits at a dresser while a stylist tackles her hair - "done up real big, beauty-queen style," to quote Summertime Sadness - freeing her tresses to tumble over her shoulders.
This too could be interpreted as a dig at Glastonbury, where Del Rey jokingly blamed her delay on her hairdressers - except, she staged the exact same interlude at Worthy Farm.
But for all of the shenanigans, the focus remains on the songs - from big hits Born to Die, Ultraviolence and Blue Jeans to beloved album cuts Pretty When You Cry and White Mustang.
The singer paused to have her hair attended to during an interlude near the start of her set
Del Rey's voice is better than it has ever been. Throughout the show, she plays with her melodies, exploring new harmonies and breathing fresh emotional life into well-worn songs, And although she never touches an instrument, Del Rey is totally in control of the music.
A tiny gesture to her pianist lets him know she wants to vary the tempo of Candy Necklaces - performed while perched on top of a gold-plated grand piano, naturally. On Arcadia, a lovelorn letter to LA, Del Rey trades riffs with her backing singers, again teasing out the song's ending.
Fans' ears prick up when she changes the lyrics to 2021's Chemtrails over the Country Club, seemingly taking a venomous swipe at her ex-boyfriend Sean Larkin.
"He was born in December and he got married while we were still in couple's therapy together," Del Rey sings over the outro. "Sometimes I wonder what his wife would think if she knew."
If her heart is broken, the audience is there for her. One fan has even turned up with a picture of Mr Larkin on his T-shirt, a giant red "X" superimposed over the top.
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The affection is mutual, As Ultraviolence ends, the singer walks to the barriers to meet the faithful, spending several minutes talking, hugging, posing and signing autographs.
After the show, Del Rey spent time with fans backstage. And at 01:30, when she finally left the venue, she stopped to greet others who had waited at the exits.
"You've always got to take your chance to say hello, because you just never know," she said from the stage, blowing a kiss.
It is something fans know only too well - BST and Glastonbury were her only UK dates since a 2019 performance at Latitude Festival and Del Rey has not toured in England for 10 years.
But based on this magical, luminous performance, she would be welcomed back any time - even by Glastonbury. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66152258 |
Portstewart: Armed gang smash windows in attempted break-in - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Four people, including a 61-year-old woman, are arrested after the house is extensively damaged. | Northern Ireland | The armed gang smashed windows in the house
A man and woman suffered a "terrifying experience" when an armed gang smashed windows when attempting to break into their home, the police have said.
The incident happened shortly before 20:30 BST on Saturday at Swilly Close in Portstewart, County Londonderry.
The man suffered minor injuries, which required treatment, and the woman was uninjured but shaken.
Two men and two women were arrested on suspicion of aggravated burglary.
The arrests came after police stopped a car on the Portmore Road.
The attack happened at a house in Swilly Close, Portstewart
The men, aged 31 and 34, and women, aged 28 and 61, remain in custody.
PSNI Det Sgt Colhoun said: "This was a terrifying experience for the occupants of the property and our investigation is now under way to establish what happened, who was involved and a motive."
Police are appealing to anyone who was in the area at the time, and saw anything suspicious to get in contact. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66143255 |
Twitter: The town clock that only chimes on social media - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | While it rings out on social media, the actual clock in town is stuck on one minute past nine. | Wales | Machynlleth's town clock dominates the skyline of the small mid-Wales town
It's the town where the time is always one minute past nine - well, that's if you rely on its old clock.
And because the clock has been broken for three years, the only chime you'll get from Machynlleth in mid Wales is on social media.
Maybe TikTok would have been a more apt platform, but Twitter is where you will hear the hourly bell of Wales' ancient capital.
"As the clock's stopped, people here don't grow old," joked one passer-by.
"This is where time stands still - we all stay younger."
While London's Big Ben has had an £80m refurbishment, the 78ft (23.7m) tall Victorian clock in the seat of Wales' first parliament has not chimed since October 2020.
Big Ben is finally ringing again in the UK's capital following a refurbishment
So one elusive and cheeky resident has created a parody Twitter account for the Machynlleth town clock - which "bongs" every hour.
"The fact that someone has taken the time and effort to create a Twitter account and bong on every hour for such a long time, shows the passion people have for fixing our beloved clock," said town mayor Jeremy Paige.
"No-one seems to know who runs the account but whoever it is, is doing so with a glint in their eye and a burning passion to see the real clock actually chime again. I love it, it's such a charming idea."
Mr Paige said fixing the clock and actually hearing it again was "the single biggest issue people talk to me about when I'm walking around town - and it's on a daily basis!"
Residents in the Powys town want their Grade II listed timepiece to be right more than twice a day, preferably in time for its 150th anniversary celebrations in July 2024.
So the clock, metaphorically, is ticking.
The landmark in the middle of the Powys town was paid for by residents in the 19th Century, to celebrate the 21st birthday of the Fifth Marquess of Londonderry's eldest son, who lived nearby.
A plaque on the clock says it was erected in 1873 - but it was actually finished in 1874 because of a family bereavement
Bangor architect Henry Kennedy won a competition to design the clock tower and it was constructed by local builder Edward Edwards, mostly using stone from north-west Wales.
It first broke in 1881 after a storm shattered two of the clock's faces and locals again dipped into their pockets to pay for repairs.
A nine-year fundraiser helped pay £200,000 to fix the clock again in 2012, but now time stands still in Machynlleth once more. The broken timepiece has been the talk of the town for almost three years.
Some locals say they have given up looking at Machynlleth's clock if they want to know the time
"It's by the bus stop so nobody knows if it's the right time when they look at the timetable because they can't compare it," one local told the BBC.
"So all the buses show up a nine o'clock - so sometimes it's right, which is quite funny!"
While another passer-by pointed out: "It is a sad thing because it makes the town feel that there's not enough investment in it."
Machynlleth's townspeople raised £1,000 to build the clock in the 1870s - but the structure itself cost £800
The rest of the £200 raised by public subscription for the clock was spent on trees which line the adjoining streets
A £55,000 bill to repair and refurbish the clock has been signed off by the local community council, meaning the eight-week refurbishment can happen over the summer.
The bill will account for more than 5% of the town council's annual budget, with the other half of the funds coming from Welsh historic buildings body Cadw.
"It's a bit of a totem of the town because if the clock is not healthy, it asks a question of the town," said Mr Paige.
Work has begun to fix the Machynlleth clock so people will be able to hear the chimes in the autumn
"The clock is held in great affection and is meaningful to the town because it was paid by townsfolk and built by townsfolk.
"It's iconic to us and as there's only 2,000 people in the town, we're basically a T-junction and the clock is at the cross-section of that - you can't get through town without seeing it.
"The clock being fixed is important to the health of our town." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66090235 |
Kevin Spacey 'attacked man while he slept', London sex assault trial told - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey denies sexually assaulting four men between 2001 and 2013. | UK | An aspiring actor who sought career advice from Kevin Spacey claims he woke up with the star performing a sex act on him after being invited to his flat.
The last of four men in the trial who claim they were sexually assaulted by the US actor gave evidence at London's Southwark Crown Court on Monday.
He said he was afraid to go to the police because he was in a "David and Goliath" situation.
The US actor denies 12 sex offences between 2001 and 2013.
His trial heard how the complainant was invited to Spacey's flat in the Waterloo area of London - where he was staying during his stint as the director of the Old Vic theatre - after seeking him out for career mentorship.
Jurors were played a recording of the complainant's police interview, in which he said he was initially "really excited" the Hollywood star was taking an interest in his career.
The man - who was 23 at the time of the alleged offence - drank beer, smoked cannabis and ate pizza with Mr Spacey.
He said: "I thought 'what a good person taking time to help me out'. That quickly went.
"He was slightly despondent in conversation and didn't really want to talk about acting. Everything was very quick.
"Nothing was a developing conversation. In hindsight, he just had one thing he wanted to do. He obviously had one thing on this mind."
The court heard the man claim that Spacey gave him a "low-waisted hug" and put his head in his crotch while they were sitting on a couch.
He told police during the recorded interview that he was "a bit tipsy", adding: "It's unusual in my behaviour to just conk out and that's what I did."
Recounting the alleged assault, he said his "very first image" after waking up was the actor performing a sex act on him.
The complainant told police: "I said no, he kind of carried on and I pushed him, and he stopped.
"He stood up. My belt was still together but my buttons were undone. I was zipping up and massively in shock.
"He said I think it was best you go. He said I should leave, and I shouldn't tell anyone about this.
"Because I was in such shock, I don't know what I thought."
The man said he had heard Spacey liked "young, straight boys" but "didn't know at that point he was a predator".
He said he cried while waiting for a bus home and had been afraid to go to police over the incident.
Asked why he had not initially reported it, he said: "It's David and Goliath isn't it, and speaking to police, and being the only one.
"I did not have the confidence…it was so deeply buried. I didn't even tell friends."
During in-person cross-examination in court, the complainant said he believed he was drugged by Spacey and described him as a "vile, sexual predator" who "raped" him.
The complainant was quizzed by Patrick Gibbs KC on behalf of Spacey, who questioned his motives for coming forward.
Mr Gibbs suggested that money worries might have been behind him going to police and approaching media outlets, and asked questions about his spending and gambling habits.
The defence said the complainant had discussions with lawyers about seeking millions in compensation from Spacey.
Mr Gibbs also put questions to the complainant about his sexuality, and suggested that he knew Spacey wanted to "hook up" with the complainant when he agreed to go to his flat.
In January, Mr Spacey pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
He also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
All four accusers are entitled to lifelong anonymity under the law. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66154745 |
Questions for the BBC after presenter suspended - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The BBC's statement felt inevitable after a weekend of front pages, says Katie Razzall, and many answers are needed. | Entertainment & Arts | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
The BBC has suspended the presenter at the centre of allegations of serious misconduct.
We understand the corporation has also now contacted the police.
For an organisation that says it aims for transparency, this statement felt inevitable after a weekend when the corporation was on the front pages of many newspapers.
But there are still many questions that need to be answered.
What exactly did the BBC do on 19 May after the complaint was made? What was the nature of that complaint? Was it clear at that point that potential criminality was involved?
Did they interview the presenter? Did they consider contacting the police at the time? Did they consider suspending the presenter then?
The BBC has confirmed it has now spoken to the family of the individual involved, but how many attempts were made to contact the family after their original complaint?
Did the BBC consider taking the presenter off air at the time, while they were looking into the allegations?
The BBC has said its internal processes "proactively deal with such allegations" and it is important to state that we don't know the full facts. The presenter may be innocent.
These are claims made in a newspaper. We don't know if they are true.
The director general Tim Davie, in an email to BBC staff, addressed the questions around why the presenter has not been named. He also hasn't been named by the Sun newspaper.
"By law, individuals are entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy, which is making this situation more complex," Mr Davie writes.
The BBC has also referred to "new allegations" only put to them on Thursday which it says are "of a different nature". That was presumably when they were contacted by the Sun newspaper.
There are questions to answer here too; did the complaint made in May reference possible criminality or did the information about sexually explicit photographs allegedly solicited from a 17-year-old only emerge on Thursday?
This afternoon's statement announcing the suspension and contact with "external authorities, in line with our protocols" comes after Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer held talks with Mr Davie.
From Ms Frazer's comments after the conversation, it looks as if she has been reassured about the corporation's investigation process. She said she wants to give the BBC space to conduct its enquiries.
Space, but presumably not much time. It has already been nearly two months since the original complaint.
The BBC today referred to the matter as a "complex and fast moving set of circumstances". It said it expects to have a further update in the coming days.
They do need to move fast. Speculation is rife and growing. Other BBC presenters have felt forced to deny their involvement.
In his email to staff, Mr Davie said "I am wholly condemning the unsubstantiated rumours being made on the internet about some of our presenting talent".
Reputationally, this has already been damaging for the BBC, which has been accused of looking evasive and being slow to act.
Despite today's statement, the director general is still under pressure as he tries to steer the BBC through this crisis.
On Tuesday - in a coincidence of timing he could probably do without - Mr Davie will launch the BBC's annual report and face the media. It's likely one story will dominate the coverage. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66149304 |
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin met Russia's Vladimir Putin after mutiny - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The meeting in Moscow took place days after last month's failed rebellion, the Kremlin says. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Where is Yevgeny Prigozhin? And why does it matter?
Russian President Vladimir Putin met mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin after the failed Wagner group mutiny last month, the Kremlin says.
Prigozhin, who heads the mercenary group, was among 35 Wagner commanders invited to the meeting in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added.
He said that President Putin had given an "assessment" of the Ukraine war effort and the mutiny.
The rebellion, launched on 23 June, lasted only 24 hours.
Under a deal to end the mutiny, which saw Wagner troops seize a city and march on Moscow, charges against Prigozhin were dropped and he was offered a move to Belarus.
There had been very public infighting between Wagner and Russia's ministry of defence over the conduct of the war. Prigozhin had repeatedly accused the ministry of failing to supply his group with ammunition.
But on Monday, Mr Peskov said the Wagner chief was among the commanders who were invited to the Kremlin five days after the mutiny collapsed.
"The president gave an assessment of the company's actions on the front," Mr Peskov is quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
"He also gave assessment to the 24 June events. Putin listened to the commanders' explanations and suggested variants of their future employment and their future use in combat."
According to the spokesman, Prigozhin told Mr Putin that Wagner unconditionally supported him.
Last Thursday Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko - who brokered the deal that ended the mutiny - said Prigozhin was in Russia.
The BBC tracked Prigozhin's private jet flying to Belarus in late June, and returning to Russia the same evening.
The Wagner Group is a private army that has been fighting alongside the regular Russian army in Ukraine since last year's invasion.
But following setbacks for Russia on the battlefield, Prigozhin took to social media to lash out at the high command.
He has been particularly scathing about Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov - the two most senior figures running Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Prigozhin did not directly condemn Mr Putin during the mutiny, but analysts described it as the biggest challenge to the president's authority in more than two decades in power.
Meanwhile Gen Gerasimov has been seen in public for the first time since the mutiny.
There had been speculation that Wagner's march was cancelled in return for the general's sacking. However, footage aired on Russian TV on Monday shows him issuing orders for Ukrainian missile sites to be attacked.
He is heard discussing recent events, suggesting that the video was filmed after the mutiny.
The video suggests that President Vladimir Putin has kept both Mr Shoigu and Gen Gerasimov in their posts. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66154909 |
Spain coast guard rescues 86 people during search for missing migrant boat - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Three other boats with hundreds more people who travelled from Senegal are still missing. | Europe | Spanish maritime rescuers have spent days looking for the small Senegalese boat (file image)
The Spanish coast guard has rescued 86 people from a migrant boat off the coast of the Canary Islands.
At first, rescuers thought they had found one of three boats that have been missing since they left Senegal more than two weeks ago.
But the coast guard now says this boat is a different vessel that they did not know about, according to migrant aid group, Walking Borders.
It means there are still more than 300 people missing at sea, on three boats.
The fourth vessel was spotted by a search plane on Monday afternoon, with maritime rescuers initially reporting that they could see 200 people on board.
The boat was found 70 nautical miles (130km) south-west of the Canary Islands. It was carrying people from sub-Saharan Africa, however where it departed from was unclear, a coast guard spokesperson told Reuters news agency.
Those rescued include 80 men and six women, and with the assistance of a container ship, the boat was taken towards Gran Canaria island.
Meanwhile, the search continues for the three missing vessels - the largest of which had an estimated 200 people on board, including many children.
It is thought to have left Senegal more than two weeks ago, on 27 June, heading for the Canary Islands, Walking Borders said.
The boat sailed from Kafountine, a coastal town that is roughly 1,700km (1,056 miles) from Tenerife.
The other two boats are slightly smaller and left four days earlier. One has about 65 people on board and the other up to 60.
This comes just weeks after an overcrowded trawler sank off the Greek coast, in one of the worst Mediterranean migrant shipwrecks.
At least 78 people were confirmed drowned, but the UN reported that up to 500 were still missing.
The voyage from West Africa to the Canary Islands is among the most dangerous routes for migrants. They usually sail in dugout fishing boats that are easily tossed by powerful Atlantic currents.
Last year at least 559 people died at sea attempting to reach the Spanish islands, the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says. The death toll for 2021 was 1,126.
However, the IOM says information about the number of departures from West Africa is scarce and shipwrecks are often not reported.
It adds that the migrants are often from Morocco, Mali, Senegal, Ivory Coast, or are of other sub-Saharan origins.
According to Spain's interior ministry, 15,682 people arrived in the Canary Islands without permission in 2022, a drop of more than 30% compared with 2021.
"Despite the year-to-year decrease, flows along this dangerous route since 2020 remain high compared to prior years," the IOM says. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66150788 |
Nottingham maternity review to become UK's largest - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A senior midwife leading the inquiry in Nottingham says 1,700 families' cases will be examined. | Nottingham | The review is looking into cases at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, which runs City Hospital and the Queen's Medical Centre
A review into failings in maternity care in hospitals in Nottingham will be the largest ever carried out in the UK.
Donna Ockenden, chair of the inquiry, told a meeting on Monday that 1,700 families' cases would be examined.
She was in charge of the probe into services in Shropshire, which found at least 201 babies and mothers might have survived had they received better care.
The review comes after dozens of baby deaths and injuries at Nottingham University Hospital (NUH) NHS Trust.
It focuses on the maternity units at the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital, run by the trust.
So far, 1,266 families have contacted the review team themselves directly and to date, 674 of these have given consent to join it.
But Ms Ockenden has called for a "radical review" to ensure "women from all communities" were being contacted by the trust and "felt confident" to come forward.
The families had asked for the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and the trust to agree to change the review from "opt-in" to "opt-out".
NHS England has now written to affected families, confirming cases will be dealt with on an opt-out basis, with families having to opt out of giving consent.
Maternity services run by NUH were rated inadequate after an inspection in 2020
On Monday, NUH chairman Nick Carver joined Ms Ockenden and bereaved families at the trust's annual meeting.
He acknowledged more needed to be done to gain the trust of families and communities and committed "to working collaboratively to plan for an apology on behalf of the board that the families recognise as meaningful".
He previously said the trust would publicly apologise to people who experienced failings in maternity care.
He told the meeting: "For too long we have not listened to women and families who have been affected by failings in our maternity services.
"This brick-wall approach has caused additional pain, and this must change."
Updating the meeting on the extended reach of the review, Ms Ockenden said: "My promise to you as families today is the same as the promise I made to you in September at the start of this review, that as a review team we will do all we can to ensure this review is one for all Nottinghamshire families."
She added: "Already I can say that I have seen some positive changes in response to family accounts but the trust has a very long journey ahead.
"What has happened cannot be fixed overnight."
NUH chief executive Anthony May described the meeting as "a very important milestone".
He told BBC Radio Nottingham he had been meeting some of the mothers, and described their accounts as "very harrowing".
"When I hear those stories it makes me very sad and very determined to improve things in the hospitals," he said.
"Today what we want to do is signal that we want a new relationship with the families built on trust and transparency, and try to understand how they can help us improve things in the maternity services.
"I would like to say that I think they're really brave, I think they're very persistent, and the fact that we've got to where we are with the review is largely down to their efforts."
Donna Ockenden said there was not "anywhere near a representative sample" of families
Though he apologised after taking over the job last year, Mr May said a full apology on behalf of the NUH board would be done "on the families' terms".
He also said staff in the maternity services "work incredibly hard", adding: "It's the trust that's let them down."
Mr May said the trust had "made improvements" regarding equipment and staff training, adding more doctors and midwives are "in the pipeline", including some staff from overseas.
"The signs are there that slowly we are improving, but we have a mountain to climb," he said.
Responding to the statements from NUH, Jack and Sarah Hawkins - whose daughter Harriet was stillborn at the trust in 2016 - said the commitment to transparency was "massive".
"It's a bit of a shock to the system to be honest," Ms Hawkins said.
"For seven and a half years we have just been fighting to be heard.
"So for them to say they are going to take an open and honest approach is incredible really.
"Whether that happens is yet to be seen but it is certainly a step in the right direction."
In a statement, the group representing parents said: "We welcome today's pledge from the trust for a 'new honest and transparent relationship' with a sense of relief and optimism.
"For too long we have been fighting to be not just heard, but for action to be taken, and for there to be accountability.
"We deserve to learn who knew what and when, why it was allowed to continue; and how the trust avoided scrutiny for so long."
Sarah and Jack Hawkins said they were impressed by the trust's attitude
Ms Ockenden's previous review in Shrewsbury and Telford, which also used the "opt-out" approach, included more than 95% of affected families.
The Nottingham trust wrote to 1,377 families at the end of November and the end of January.
The letters went to families who had experienced stillbirth, neonatal deaths, brain damage to the baby, harm to mothers or relatives of mothers who died.
But only 360 families responded to these letters.
In total, 28% of white women contacted responded, while for black and Asian women, the figures were 10% and 5% respectively.
In Nottingham, only about 25% of families known to be affected have been included in the review.
Ms Ockenden said: "As it stands, with our 674 families who have joined the review, I can't say as the chair we have anywhere near a representative sample of the rich diversity that we know exists in Nottingham.
"There is significantly more work to do."
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-66151746 |
Thames Water secures £750m cash injection - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The water company, which is struggling under huge debts, is facing the threat of nationalisation. | Business | Shareholders in Thames Water have agreed to provide a further £750m in funding as the company attempts to fight the threat of government control.
Thames also said it would be looking for an extra £2.5bn between 2025 and 2030.
The water firm has faced criticism over sewage discharges and leaks and is struggling under a mountain of debt.
The government has said it is ready to act in a worst case scenario if the company collapses.
Thames Water's future came under the spotlight last month when it emerged it was in talks to secure extra funding, and the firm's chief executive Sarah Bentley stepped down after just two years.
There was speculation that if Thames - which has debts of around £14bn - failed to secure fresh funds it could be temporarily taken over by the government until a new buyer is found, in a special administration regime (SAR).
This route was most recently taken with energy supplier Bulb after it ran into financial difficulties.
However, the new interim joint chief executive of Thames, Cathryn Ross, told the BBC's Today programme the company was "absolutely not" close to requiring government intervention.
She said the company had access to £4.4bn of cash and credit facilities. "That's absolutely enough to pay everything that we think we need to pay this year, next year and into the future."
However, the £750m that investors agreed to pump in to Thames between now and 2025 is less than the £1bn the company was seeking. The extra funds are also dependent on Thames improving its business plan to revive the company.
News of the extra funds came as Thames released its annual results, which showed it incurred an underlying pre-tax loss of £82.6m for the year to 31 March.
Thames Water serves a quarter of the UK's population and leaks more water than any other water company in the UK - losing the equivalent of up to 250 Olympic-sized swimming pools every day from its pipes.
Last week, Thames was fined £3.3m for discharging millions of litres of undiluted sewage into two rivers in Sussex and Surrey in 2017, killing more than 1,400 fish.
The company is owned by a group of investors. The largest is Canadian pension fund OMERS followed by the Universities Superannuation Scheme, the pension fund for UK academics.
The regulator for the water industry, Ofwat, will be questioned by MPs on Wednesday amid accusations that it has been too lax in its oversight of the sector.
At the weekend, Sir Robert Goodwill, a Conservative MP who chairs the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, told the BBC the regulator had been "very complacent" over Thames Water and had questions to answer over whether it had "been asleep at the wheel".
Last week, Ofwat chief executive David Black gave evidence to the Lords' business committee when he said Thames would need "substantial sums of money" to stabilise its finances.
He also admitted the regulator had taken a "relatively hands-off approach" to managing water companies since the industry was privatised in the late 1980s.
Thames Water's current debt amounts to 77% of the value of the business, Ms Ross told the BBC, which she said was the lowest level of indebtedness in a decade for the company.
However, Thames is the most heavily indebted of England and Wales' water companies, and interest payments on more than half of its debt rise in line with inflation, which has remained stubbornly high in recent months.
Thames Water has said that it has not paid dividends to external shareholders for the past five years.
But Sir Robert Goodwill told the BBC he suspected that Thames' holding company was taking money out in the form of debt payments, rather than as dividends.
However, Ms Ross said there was only a very small amount of debt that came from Thames' holding company.
"In the last year, we paid £45m out to service the debt that is essentially provided by our shareholders, through the holding company. Our revenues last year were £2.3bn - so you're talking about less than 2% of our revenues went to service that debt," she told the BBC.
"The vast majority of the debt that our regulated business has comes from bondholders in the open market."
Ms Ross was chief executive of Ofwat between 2013 and 2017.
She rejected a suggestion that the regulator's oversight of the water industry was affected by the potential for people to move from working at Ofwat to a potentially lucrative role in the private sector.
"I don't accept that," she told the BBC, adding that when she joined Thames Water she had spent three-and-a-half years working at telecoms company BT.
Asked if it had been her ambition to working in the industry after Ofwat, Ms Ross said: "I can honestly say the thought had never occurred to me at the time that I worked for Ofwat. In fact, I was thinking I would very much stay in the public sector at the time I was there." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66151519 |
Just Stop Oil deny disrupting George Osborne wedding - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The former chancellor's wedding in Somerset was disrupted by a woman throwing orange confetti. | UK Politics | Just Stop Oil have said they were not responsible for an incident at ex-chancellor George Osborne's wedding, which saw a protester throw orange confetti over the newly married couple.
The protest was similar to those carried out by the environmental group.
But, a spokesperson told the BBC they did not know the protester's identity.
The group had posted a clip from news agency PA on Twitter with the message: "You look good in orange George Osborne."
In the video a woman in a smart floral dress approaches George Osborne and Thea Rogers as they leave the church and begins throwing confetti, taken from a union jack paper bag.
In a statement the group said: "If it was a form of protest (which is yet to be established) we applaud it and thank the person concerned.
"It was peaceful and not especially disruptive but got massive media attention for Just Stop Oil's demand."
The group added that the media should focus on more important issues including the government's decision to license over 100 new oil and gas projects and wildfires in Canada.
It came as an email, widely shared online, made several unsubstantiated claims about Mr Osborne's private life.
Reports suggest Mr Osborne has contacted the police about the email.
Around 200 people, including ex-Prime Minister David Cameron and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove attended the ceremony in the village of Bruton, Somerset.
Mr Osborne was previously married to Frances Osborne, but the pair divorced in 2019 after 21 years of marriage.
Ms Rogers previously worked as an adviser to Mr Osborne, and in 2016 was awarded an OBE for her work. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66146877 |
'Nothing inappropriate' in BBC presenter row - young person's lawyer - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Claims being made by the mother at the heart of the BBC presenter row are "rubbish", a lawyer says. | Entertainment & Arts | BBC News does not know the identity of the young person and has not spoken directly to them
Claims made by the mother at the heart of the BBC presenter scandal are "rubbish", a lawyer representing the young person has said.
The lawyer told the BBC "nothing inappropriate or unlawful" took place and the young person sent a denial to The Sun before it published the claims.
The Sun first reported allegations on Friday that a BBC presenter had paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos.
The paper says it has seen evidence to back the mother's claims.
In their letter sent on Monday to the BBC, the lawyer says the young person sent a message on WhatsApp to the paper on Friday evening denying the claims, saying the statement their mother made to the newspaper was "totally wrong and there was no truth to it".
Nonetheless, the lawyer added, the Sun newspaper proceeded to publish "their inappropriate article".
"For the avoidance of doubt, nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place between our client and the BBC personality and the allegations reported in the Sun newspaper are rubbish," the lawyer writes.
The lawyer also said press reporting amounted to an invasion of privacy, and criticised both the Sun and the BBC for not contacting their client.
"Nobody from the Sun newspaper appears to have made any attempt to contact our client prior to the publication of the allegations on Friday 6 July," the lawyer writes.
The lawyer also claims in the letter that the mother and the young person are estranged.
In response, the Sun said: "We have reported a story about two very concerned parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and the welfare of their child.
"Their complaint was not acted upon by the BBC.
"We have seen evidence that supports their concerns. It's now for the BBC to properly investigate."
The Sun published a new story on Monday evening after BBC News disclosed excerpts from the young person's legal letter.
In a new interview, the mother and step-father who have made the claims said they "stand by" their allegations.
The step-father is quoted in the article as saying allegations were put to the BBC "for an hour", appearing to contradict a previous statement in Monday's edition which stated: "The family say no-one from the corporation rang them for a proper interview after the initial complaint."
The article also reports that the step-father went to the police about the matter but was told "they couldn't do anything as they said it wasn't illegal."
BBC News does not know the identity of the young person and has not spoken directly to them.
It has not seen any of the Sun's body of evidence, or the dossier the Sun reported was handed to the corporation by the family over the weekend.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What happens next in BBC presenter claims? David Sillito explains in 50 seconds
The BBC said on Sunday that a staff member had been suspended, but has not identified him.
The corporation said it was working as fast as possible "to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate next steps".
The Metropolitan Police is "assessing" information from the BBC over the allegations made against the presenter but has said there is currently no investigation.
Detectives held a virtual meeting with BBC representatives on Monday, a spokesperson for the force said.
In its report on Friday, The Sun claimed that a BBC presenter had paid the individual tens of thousands of pounds for the images, starting when the young person was 17.
The BBC said it first became aware of a complaint in May, and that "new allegations" were received on Thursday, the day before the Sun first published its claims.
On Sunday, the Sun reported that the young person's family was said to be upset by the corporation's latest response, alleging "no-one from the BBC rang them for a proper interview after the initial complaint".
The paper also claimed the BBC presenter made what it called two "panicked calls" to the young person - who is now 20 - after the original story came out. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66159357 |
Watch: Heavy rainfall and flooding in India's Himachal Pradesh - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | null | North India has been witnessing heavy rainfall and flooding over the last few days. | null | The northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh has been witnessing heavy rainfall over the last few days causing flooding and landslides in the hilly terrain.
The gushing water is sweeping away bridges, homes and cars, and is causing widespread devastation in the state.
The neighbouring Uttarakhand state is in a similar situation and water levels of several rivers in the region have crossed the danger mark.
More than a dozen people have died in the past three days across north India due to the rains. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-66151375 |
Brad Pitt films at Silverstone during F1 British GP weekend - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Hollywood star films scenes at the F1 circuit for a new movie co-produced by Lewis Hamilton. | Northampton | Brad Pitt and Damson Idris were filming at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix weekend
Hollywood actor Brad Pitt, who has been cast as an F1 driver in a movie, was seen in costume at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix weekend.
The star, and co-star Damson Idris, were spotted in white and black racing suits on the grid at the Northamptonshire circuit on Sunday.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is helping to produce the currently untitled Apple film.
Pitt, 59, told Sky Sports he was "a little giddy right now".
"It's great to be here," he said.
"We're just having such a laugh, [the] time of my life."
Pitt and Idris were spotted in white and black racing suits on the grid at the Northamptonshire circuit
The Oscar-winner is playing the role of a veteran driver returning to the grid after a 30-year absence.
The film is being made in collaboration with F1, providing the project with special access to racetracks and drivers.
Pitt and Idris in racing suits represented the fictional APXGP team as they mingled among real F1 drivers at Silverstone.
Pitt mingled with real F1 drivers on the grid, including Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr
The APXGP team had its own garage on the pit wall - between Mercedes and Ferrari - and the drivers were in Formula 2 cars, modified by Mercedes.
A Formula 2 car, modified by Mercedes for F1-inspired movie, was filmed on the grid
Pitt stop and garage for the movie's racing team
Pitt told Sky Sports presenter and former F1 driver Martin Brundle his character had moved to racing in other disciplines after suffering a "horrible crash" in F1, and is asked to come back to help his old team who are sitting at the bottom of the leaderboard.
Pitt added that the film "should be as authentic as we can get it" as they have employed F1 experts who have been "operating the show like the real thing".
"Lewis, who's also our producer, is really intent that we respect the sport, that we really show it for what it is," he said.
"And I've got to tell you, as a civilian, I had no idea what it takes to be a driver and the aggression and the dexterity - they're amazing athletes who I've so much respect for, everyone out there in all classes."
Filming is due to continue throughout the F1 season.
Pitt also filmed with Javier Bardem and Tobias Menzies
In the British Grand Prix itself, Max Verstappen raced to a sixth consecutive victory, with Britain's Lando Norris and Hamilton in second and third.
Hollywood star Brad Pitt was seen strolling among the crowds on Thursday
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-66151759 |
Weight-loss jabs investigated for suicide risk - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Europe's drugs regulator has been alerted to a possible link to thoughts of suicide among some users. | Health | Europe's drugs regulator has told BBC News it is conducting a review of some weight-loss jabs after being alerted to a possible link to thoughts of suicide and self-harm among users.
Member state Iceland notified the European Medicines Agency after seeing three cases.
The safety assessment will look at Wegovy, Saxenda and similar drugs, such as Ozempic, that help curb appetite.
Product leaflets already list suicidal thoughts as a possible side effect.
Suicidal behaviour is not currently listed for these prescription drugs.
The EMA's Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC), which is conducting the review, will consider whether other treatments in same broader category of medicines, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, also need assessing.
But initially, it will assess only the risks of using weight-loss medication that contains either semaglutide or liraglutide.
An EMA official said: "The review is being carried out in the context of a signal procedure raised by the Icelandic Medicines Agency, following three case reports.
"A signal is information on a new or known adverse event that is potentially caused by a medicine and that warrants further investigation.
"The case reports included two cases of suicidal thoughts - one following the use of Saxenda and one after Ozempic.
"One additional case reported thoughts of self-injury with Saxenda.
"The EMA will communicate further when more information becomes available."
Social media posts about people, often celebrities, shedding large amounts of weight has led to big demand for these types of treatment.
Saxenda and Wegovy are approved and licensed for weight loss. Wegovy is not yet available in the UK - but the prime minister has said GPs in England may soon start offering it to some patients, as well as specialist weight-management clinics.
Ozempic is for people with diabetes to help control blood sugar as well as weight but contains a lower dose of the same medicine, semaglutide, as Wegovy. And with some people without diabetes buying the pre-filled pens to lose weight, there have been continuing global shortages.
All medicines have potential side effects. For weight-loss drugs, which should be used alongside a healthy diet and exercise, more common ones include:
Depression or thoughts of suicide is listed in the product-information leaflet, which advises users: "You should pay attention to any mental changes, especially sudden changes in your mood, behaviours, thoughts, or feelings. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any mental changes that are new, worse, or worry you."
Prescribers are also advised to monitor for this.
Manufacturer Novo Nordisk is working with the EMA and says patient safety is a top priority. A representative said: "GLP-1 receptor agonists have been used to treat type-2 diabetes for more than 15 years and for treatment of obesity for eight years, including Novo Nordisk products such as semaglutide and liraglutide that have been in the UK market since 2018 and 2009 respectively.
"The safety data collected from large clinical-trial programmes and post-marketing surveillance have not demonstrated a causal association between semaglutide or liraglutide and suicidal and self-harming thoughts.
"Novo Nordisk is continuously performing surveillance of the data from ongoing clinical trials and real-world use of its products and collaborates closely with the authorities to ensure patient safety and adequate information to healthcare professionals.
"EMA continuously monitors for safety signals and so does Novo Nordisk.
The UK's drug regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said it was monitoring the situation.
Dr Alison Cave, MHRA Chief Safety Officer, said: "As part of our close monitoring, any emerging evidence is routinely considered alongside other sources of information, including suspected adverse drug reactions. We will communicate any new advice to healthcare professionals and patients if appropriate.
"If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or thoughts of self-harm, please seek immediate medical assistance.
"We ask everyone to report any suspected side effects using our Yellow Card scheme website."
If you have been affected by any of these issues, visit BBC Action Line, where you can find support.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66119059 |
Minister refuses to commit to following pay board advice - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Review bodies are advising the government on pay rises for public sector workers such as doctors. | UK Politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Treasury minister Victoria Atkins has refused to say if the government will follow its pay review bodies' advice on salary rises for public sector workers.
Speaking to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, she said other ministers were considering the recommendations and would make a decision in "due course".
The pay review bodies provide advice on workers' salaries including doctors, teachers and the police.
The guidance is not legally binding and ministers can ignore the advice.
Below-inflation pay rises have led to strikes across the public sector hitting schools and hospitals.
The BBC understands that at least two pay review bodies are recommending increases below the rate of inflation - but higher than last year's awards.
Currently inflation - the rate at which prices are rising - stands at 8.7% but food inflation on items such as bread and chocolate stands at 18.3%.
Asked if the government would abide by the advice, Ms Atkins said she hadn't seen the recommendations but ministers would look at them "very carefully".
However, she warned that the decisions were being made at a time when the UK was facing "very strong inflationary currents".
Government ministers have repeatedly argued that high pay rises could fuel further inflation and damage the UK economy.
Questioned on pay rises on Saturday the prime minister said: "It would be incredibly short-sighted of the government to do something that might sound great today but ultimately just make the inflation problem worse for everybody in the long run."
Trade unions have warned that, without action, workers will quit the public sector for better paid roles elsewhere.
Dave Penman, head of the FDA trade union which represents senior civil servants said: "Last year the government hid behind the pay review bodies, now the bodies are recommending higher pay increases they are planning to ignore them. This will only end in further disputes that are entirely avoidable."
Asked if the government had any plans to introduce tax cuts, Ms Atkins said: "We do not have the headroom at the moment to look at tax cuts.
"But as soon as we can, as soon as we have taken the measures that we are taking to reduce inflation, then we will be able to start having those conversations."
Appearing on the same programme, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said Labour would "not play fast and loose" with the nation's finances, if it returned to power after the next general election.
She said she was confident the party could meet its pledge to borrow money to fund green policies - but only if it didn't conflict with her fiscal rules.
In 2021, Ms Reeves had promised to invest £28bn a year, every year up to 2030, on projects such as offshore wind farms, planting trees and developing batteries.
However, earlier this year she watered down the plans, saying instead that a Labour government would ramp up investment over time, aiming to reach £28bn a year after 2027.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves: UK needs to get a grip on its debt
Asked if she would fulfil the pledge, Ms Reeves said she was "confident" but added that it was subject to her limits on spending.
"Debt is now the same size as our whole economy - we've got to get a grip of that," she said.
The shadow chancellor insisted that Labour's spending plans were "not on the same track" as the Conservatives, pointing to her policy to scrap the non-dom tax status as an example of how her party differed from the government.
Nicola Headlam, a chief economist at Red Flag Alert, a business intelligence company, told BBC Radio Five Live that "bearing down" on public sector workers and not meeting the recommendations of the pay review bodies was not the answer because other people in the workforce earn more.
"If you're a public sector worker, you're paying a mortgage, you've still got to pay the prices you see in the supermarkets.
"You've got a triple impact on you - thunder, lightning and rain and there are some other people with a larger umbrella who are still stoking inflation.
"We're starting to run out of good choices and it's because of a lack of growth in the economy, because of this inflation we seem to be unable to get a handle on, because of rising interest rates. It really is very, very difficult." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66146876 |
Jenin: Palestinian boy killed during Israeli assault was unarmed - family - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | It comes after videos emerge of the moment the 16-year-old was killed during an Israeli assault. | Middle East | One video shows a pick-up truck driving past Abdul Rahman Hardan - who is wearing a dark top and standing in the middle of the road - moments before he is shot dead in Jenin
Eyewitnesses and the family of a 16-year-old Palestinian shot dead during Israel's military assault in Jenin have told the BBC he was unarmed and killed "for no reason", after videos emerged of the moment of his death.
Twelve Palestinians, including four teenage children, and one Israeli soldier were killed during the two-day incursion in the occupied West Bank last week.
Israel said all the Palestinians who were killed were combatants.
But the videos show Abdul Rahman Hassan Ahmad Hardan, 16, was unarmed when he was shot.
The teenager was shot in the head outside al-Amal hospital on the second day of the military incursion, which Israel said was intended to root out a "safe haven of terrorism" in Jenin refugee camp.
It follows over a year of rising numbers of Palestinian armed attacks targeting Israelis, while Israel has intensified its deadly military raids in the West Bank. At least 160 Palestinians and more than 30 Israelis have been killed since January.
Israel's government said its military operation last week was to stop the camp being a "refuge" for armed groups. It said it seized "hundreds" of guns and other weapons, including "advanced" improvised explosives.
It was its biggest assault in the West Bank in two decades, involving drone strikes into a packed urban area and armoured diggers causing massive destruction.
The United Nations accused Israel of using excessive force, while the Palestinian leadership called it a "war crime".
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt Col Richard Hecht, asked by the BBC last week about the casualties, said: "There were 12 people killed, every one that was killed was involved directly with terrorism."
"A 17-year-old may be regarded as a minor but he's holding weapons and firing... We can show that evidence. We have pictures of all of them, and intel that they were involved."
After his death, Abdul Rahman Hardan was claimed as a member by the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. However, his family has distanced itself from the claim, and Israel has yet to show evidence he posed a threat at the time he was fatally shot.
Under international law, the use of firearms by security forces against civilians is defined as a measure of last resort, and can only take place to stop an "imminent threat of death or serious injury".
Children are also given added protections under international humanitarian law.
Sixteen-year-old Abdul Rahman was killed at 13:00 (10:00 GMT) on Tuesday, as confrontations had continued in the city. Some involved gunmen firing towards Israeli forces.
Others involved Palestinian youths throwing rocks at Israeli jeeps and armoured troop carriers - a frequent occurrence as young men try to repel Israel's military raids into Palestinian cities.
In one video, first verified by the Times newspaper, the teenager can be seen standing in the street next to al-Amal hospital, close to a group of boys or young men. Rocks or other debris appear on the ground in the vicinity. No weapons are visible and Abdul Rahman appears unarmed.
Around 13 seconds into the footage, which has no sound, he leans forward to look down a street next to the hospital. He is then seen falling to the ground, having been shot in the head.
The original source of the video is not known to the BBC, but the boy's family and the eyewitnesses verified it as showing Abdul Rahman being shot.
A second video shows paramedics and bystanders rushing to Abdul Rahman Hardan's aid moments after was shot
A second video filmed by a journalist outside the hospital shows the following moments, in which a paramedic rushes to Abdul Rahman and picks him up before carrying him along the street. The boy is suffering a catastrophic bleed from the head as he is carried towards the hospital entrance.
No weapons are visible in the area where the teenager fell nor elsewhere in the footage.
The IDF said it was inconclusive as to whether the footage documented the killing of Abdul Rahman by its forces.
Islamic Jihad - listed by Israel and the West as a terrorist organisation - claimed the 16-year-old as a fighter. Social media pictures later emerged in which he had posed with assault rifles at unknown dates. Such pictures are not uncommon among young men and teenagers in Jenin and surrounding villages.
The refugee camp is a highly militarised environment where the official Palestinian leadership has lost control, and armed groups see themselves as a core of resistance to Israel's military occupation - now into its 57th year. Human rights groups have frequently condemned militant groups putting weapons in the hands of minors.
The teenager's father, Hassan Ahmad Hardan, told the BBC that his son was on his way to the hospital to donate blood when an Israeli military vehicle entered the street.
"He was standing in the street to cross it when they shot him in the head from the back," said Mr Hardan.
"He did not carry anything with him - no stone, no weapon, nothing," he added.
In an interview with the Times, his family also said Abdul Rahman was not a militant and did not belong to any armed group.
Two eyewitnesses also told the BBC the teenager was unarmed.
"We were standing in one of the streets near the presence of occupation [Israeli] forces. After that, the occupation sniper shot the martyr Abdul Rahman without any reason or justification," said one eyewitness, who asked that his name was not published.
"The martyr was unarmed and did not carry anything," he added.
Of the 12 Palestinians killed in Jenin last week, two were aged 16 and two were 17 years old. Ten of the total were claimed as members by militant groups.
The IDF said it continued to examine the video, asking to receive it in its "unedited entirety".
In a statement, a spokesman said: "As of this time, it is not possible to say with certainty that the video does indeed document the neutralization of Abdul Rahman Hassan by IDF forces."
The spokesman said it was "unfortunate" that earlier reports "discounted the Islamic Jihad's claim of responsibility for the neutralized terrorist and his association with the terrorist organization".
He went on: "The IDF operated in a densely populated and complex combat zone, where hundreds of armed gunmen fired indiscriminately in the area. The IDF does everything in its power to avoid harming uninvolved individuals and operates precisely against terrorist organisations." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-66153159 |
Lawyer for young person disputes claims against BBC presenter - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | In a letter to the BBC, the lawyer says "the allegations reported in the Sun newspaper are rubbish". | UK | I think we've got quite an extraordinary situation here - we've got reputations, careers, and futures at stake.
None of the principals have spoken out openly about what has happened and if you analyse that from a newsroom point of view, this is a pretty unsatisfactory position to be in because this is a 72-hour news cycle but nobody is really clearer about where the truth lies.
If you analyse this from a legal perspective, this is really coming down to some very difficult questions about privacy.
The firm that the young person has instructed to contact the BBC is not a modest, high street firm, they are a multinational practice so they know what they're doing.
They have repeatedly emphasised that their client alleges this is a breach of their privacy.
That's quite a strong allegation to make. Yet because the individual hasn't been named it's not necessarily going to end up in the courts.
I think when you look at this - reporting claim and counter-claim - we end up in a situation where the public wants us to tell them what this really amounts to in legal terms - is this going to amount to a court case?
We don't know, and no-one seems to be sure at the moment. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-66147560 |
Ofwat complacent over Thames Water affair - MP - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | MPs will quiz the watchdog on Wednesday over whether it has been "asleep at the wheel". | Business | Ofwat has been accused of being "complacent" over the Thames Water affair, which has seen it lose its chief executive and face collapse over its massive debts.
The company is fighting for survival and has until early next year to stave off temporary nationalisation.
MP Sir Robert Goodwill said the regulator had questions to answer over whether it had "been asleep at the wheel" over the case.
Sir Robert, a Conservative MP who chairs the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, told the BBC the regulator had been "very complacent" over Thames Water.
The company is facing problems servicing its debts of £14bn, but Ofwat said earlier this week that shareholders were "reluctant" to invest and it expected the firm to request an increase in bills at the next price review.
But Sir Robert said Thames was heavily in debt and about 80% of its finances came from borrowing. "That means as interest rates have gone up, about half their debt is linked to inflation. They've had massive increases in the cost of that debt," he said.
However, he said the committee, which would also be questioning water companies on Wednesday, wanted to know where the debt came from.
Sir Robert believed the firm was taking money out in the form of debt payments, instead of dividends. "Our suspicion is that a lot of this debt is with these very funds that own the shares," he said.
The committee chairman said the MPs would want to know: "Have Ofwat been asleep at the wheel or have they just not had the powers to inquire into some of the finance structures?"
Ofwat's appearance on Wednesday will be the second appearance in as many weeks in front of politicians. Last week its chief executive David Black gave evidence to the Lords' business committee when he denied the watchdog had failed to regulate the industry well.
But he admitted there were "hard lessons to learn" and that he had been "angered" by excessive chief executive pay in the industry.
Thames Water is not the only water company in the spotlight. The management of Southern Water is also up for scrutiny.
"It does seem rather reckless," Sir Robert said. "Southern Water's credit rating has been downgraded yet again. The owners of these companies are having put to put money in yet again. My worry is the money that we're paying as water users will be going to service that debt, rather than what we want to see, which is paying to clean up our rivers and improve sewage treatment."
However, the chair of the select committee argued a return to nationalisation was not the answer: "I can remember when water investment was way back in the queue behind hospitals and education and to be fair, we have seen massive investment in improving our infrastructure.
"The general problem with pollution is when it rains. Many older houses have the water from their roofs going straight into the sewer, which massively overloads the system, and that's something that can be addressed with storm-water tanks. It can also be addressed by people putting in water bowsers or catching the grey water and using that to flush their toilets."
Thames Water, which is due to publish its annual results on Monday, said it would be making no comment.
In a statement to the BBC on Sunday Ofwat said: "Thames Water need to develop a robust and credible plan to turn around the business and transform its performance for customers and the environment. For a long time, we have been pushing them to improve their financial resilience, including to cut debt. We will continue to safeguard customers' interests as they do that."
The BBC has also approached Southern Water for comment. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66146736 |
China kindergarten stabbing: Six dead in Lianjiang - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A man has been arrested over the deaths of three children, a teacher and two parents. | China | China has been rocked by yet another knife attack
Six people including three children have been killed in a kindergarten stabbing in China's south-eastern Guangdong province.
Police said they have arrested a 25-year-old man with the surname Wu in Lianjiang.
The other victims are a teacher and two parents, AFP reported, quoting a local official. One person is also injured.
Police have called this a case of "intentional assault" but not elaborated on a possible motive.
The attack happened on Monday at 07:40 local time (23:40 Sunday GMT), just as parents were dropping their children off for summer classes. The man was arrested at 08:00.
A storeowner who works near the kindergarten told the BBC the surrounding area had been sealed off.
Lianjiang has a population of about 1.87 million.
As videos of the attack spread across Chinese social media, they sparked outrage and shock.
The stabbings also fit in to a disturbingly familiar pattern. Firearms are banned in China but the country has seen a spate of knife attacks in recent years, although there was also one incident where the attacker used a chemical spray to injure a classroom of 50 children.
The BBC has counted at least 17 knife attacks in schools, colleges and universities since 2010. Ten of those have happened between 2018 and 2023.
In August last year, a knife-wielding assailant stormed a kindergarten in south-eastern Jiangxi province, killing three people and wounding six others.
In April 2021, two children died while 16 others were injured during a mass stabbing in Beiliu City, in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
In October 2018, 14 children were injured in a knife attack at a kindergarten in Chongqing, south-west China.
In most of these cases, the perpetrators are male and have expressed a grudge against society. Similar patterns have been seen in mass killings in other countries, from the US to Japan. But experts say there may be some additional reasons for the apparent increase in mass stabbings in China.
They believe the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced Chinese cities to endure some of the longest and toughest lockdowns anywhere in the world, could be one reason. The after-effects are not well understood yet, but could include feelings of anger and resentment, and involve a loss of jobs, investments and relationships.
Other possible factors that are cited are the high stress and high expectations put on young men in Chinese society. These are exacerbated by high levels of youth unemployment and a widening rich-poor divide. One expert told the BBC a strong sense of "social deprivation" can lead some to use violence to vent their frustration against society.
Chinese authorities have been stepping up security around schools since 2010. That year, the Ministry of Public Security had urged local authorities to "resolutely crack down" on criminal activities to ensure the safety of teachers and students.
After the April 2021 attack, the education ministry also mandated emergency evacuation drills in schools.
Fearing copycat attacks, Beijing is also not allowing state media to publish full details of Monday's incident at the kindergarten. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-66151247 |
Covid inquiry: Families say Senedd committee not enough - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Scrutiny should be "out of the political arena", says the leader of Wales' Covid bereaved group. | Wales | Anna-Louise Marsh-Rees says a committee run by politicians cannot be a substitute for an independent inquiry
Bereaved families say a Senedd committee "muddies the waters" amid renewed calls for a Wales-specific Covid inquiry.
Anna-Louise Marsh-Rees, leader of Covid-19 Bereaved Families Cymru, said a committee run by politicians could not be a substitute.
"It cannot possibly cover the range of issues and get to the level of granularity that we need," she said.
The committee said people would have chances to "have their say".
Ms Marsh-Rees said the committee, which meets for the first time next week, was "not the same as a Wales inquiry".
"It is 100% not. It's not independent. We want it to be taken out of the political arena," she said.
The Wales Covid-19 Inquiry Special Purpose Committee was set up as part of a deal between Welsh Labour and the Welsh Conservatives, to identify any gaps in what the UK inquiry said about Wales.
It follows a long-running row over whether Wales needs its own inquiry into the pandemic, calls for which have been resisted by the Welsh government.
Lucy O'Brien, a lawyer with extensive experience in public inquiries and judicial reviews, said she was concerned that the Senedd committee would not have the resources to adequately scrutinise decisions made during the pandemic.
She said: "With an independent public inquiry, the inquiry would be resourced to approach witnesses and compel evidence and hold public hearings.
"Say the UK public inquiry found there were issues with care homes in Wales and that was part of Baroness Hallett's recommendations, would the Senedd committee then be contacting care homes in Wales to obtain evidence? I think that's unlikely because I think they're unlikely to be resourced to do so."
Lawyer Lucy O'Brien says she is concerned the Senedd committee will not have adequate resources
A spokesperson for the Welsh government said they would not be providing running commentary on the evidence the inquiry was taking and would not be speculating on any conclusions the inquiry may come to.
Ms O'Brien said she was "surprised" the Welsh government voted against holding a Welsh independent public inquiry.
"We know Wales went in its own very different direction to the UK government during the pandemic and that in many areas the response in Wales was different to the rest of the UK," she said.
"It's surprising to us from a legal perspective that the Senedd voted against that."
The committee is being co-chaired by Joyce Watson, Labour Member of the Senedd for Mid and West Wales, and Tom Giffard, Conservative MS for South Wales West.
The Conservatives are co-chairing the committee with Welsh Labour which has been criticised by Plaid Cymru.
Plaid Cymru health spokesperson Mabon ap Gwynfor said both parties wanted to "quieten the issue" of a public inquiry and "push it into the long grass".
"It's not just the gaps we need to look at, we need to look at the Covid issue in the round in Wales because health is devolved," he said.
Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies said the party was committed to "enabling this committee to work to its fullest ability like any scrutiny committee in the Welsh Parliament."
He added: "The challenge is obviously to government backbenchers to make sure they step up to the plate and act as backbenchers, not an extension of the Welsh government." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66138627 |
Joe Biden in UK to meet Sunak and King Charles amid Ukraine concerns - BBC News | 2023-07-10T00:00:00 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The US president is facing criticism over his decision to send the controversial weapons to Ukraine. | Europe | The American president touched down at Stansted Airport near London on Sunday
US President Joe Biden has landed in the UK ahead of a Nato summit in Lithuania later this week - which comes after several allies questioned his call to send cluster bombs to Ukraine.
The UK and Canada are among those who voiced concern about supplying the bombs, which are widely banned because of the danger they pose to civilians.
The US says they are needed because Ukraine's weapon stocks are dwindling.
The two men are expected to discuss various issues, including the war in Ukraine.
Mr Sunak has not directly criticised his US counterpart following Friday's cluster bomb announcement - but on Saturday he said that the UK was one of 123 countries signed up to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty which bans the production or use of the weapons.
Other US allies have gone further, however. Nato partner nation New Zealand said on Sunday the munitions could cause "huge damage to innocent people".
Cluster bombs typically release lots of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Unexploded bomblets can linger on the ground for years before they detonate.
The US says it has received written reassurances from Kyiv that Ukrainian troops will not use the weapons in Russia or in urban areas.
While in the UK, Mr Biden will also meet King Charles for the first time since the King was crowned.
Members of Nato - a military alliance of 31 Western nations - will then meet in Vilnius on Tuesday and Wednesday. Boosting ammunition stockpiles and reviewing defence plans will be on the agenda.
Finland will attend its first summit since joining in April, and plans from Sweden to follow suit have been blocked by Turkey, which accuses it of harbouring terrorists. Mr Biden is expected to seek support from Mr Sunak to help broker a deal with Turkey.
Ukraine harbours its own ambitions of joining Nato. But speaking to CNN before his trip, Mr Biden said this could not happen until the war was over - in line with the alliance's long-standing policy.
Citing Nato's mutual defence pact, Mr Biden pointed out that members undertake to protect "every inch" of each other's territory - meaning that "if the war is going on, then we're all in war".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously accepted this position, while requesting a "signal" that his country will be able to join the alliance when the war is over. He is expected to attend this week's summit.
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The US decision to fulfil a Ukrainian request for cluster bombs came on Friday. Officials said this was part of a military aid package worth $800m (£626m).
Mr Biden told CNN it had been a "very difficult decision" but that he had eventually acted because "the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition".
But a number of Nato allies quickly distanced themselves from the decision.
Canada and Spain - both member states - added their own opposition to that of New Zealand.
"No to cluster bombs and yes to the legitimate defence of Ukraine, which we understand should not be carried out with cluster bombs," Spain's Defence Minister Margarita Robles said.
But Germany, another signatory of the treaty and Nato member, said that while it would not provide such weapons to Ukraine, it understood the American position.
One of the concerns surrounding their supply is their failure - or dud - rate. Unexploded bomblets can indiscriminately detonate.
But the US has said its cluster bombs fail less frequently than those Russia is already using in the Ukraine war.
Ukraine has promised the weapons will not be used in civilian areas and will monitor and report on their use, but Russia dismissed these assurances as "not worth anything".
This is, potentially, an awkward visit coming at a critical time for the US-led Nato alliance.
President Biden may not have intended to cause offence by skipping King Charles' coronation in May, but his absence was noted.
Then there is the business over who should be the next secretary general of Nato. The UK and the Baltic states favoured the British Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, who has been instrumental in galvanising Western support for Ukraine.
But without US backing, that's a non-starter - and Mr Biden instead appears to favour the former German defence minister and European Commission head, Ursula von der Leyen.
And there is also the row over cluster bombs. The UK is among 123 nations to ban these weapons which can cause indiscriminate harm to civilians.
But the US is going ahead, in the heat of international criticism, in supplying them to Ukraine as its forces struggle to break through Russia's defences in the south of Ukraine.
But Mr Biden's stopover in Britain is so brief that any cracks in the transatlantic alliance are likely to be smoothed over by warm handshakes and ample protocol. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66146457 |
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