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Belfast baby murder case: Woman found guilty of killing son - BBC News
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2023-03-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The woman accepted she stabbed him and his sister on 27 July 2021 but had denied the charges.
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Northern Ireland
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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.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-65029181
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news_uk-northern-ireland-65029181
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Boris Johnson clashes with MPs over Partygate denials - BBC News
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2023-03-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The former PM repeatedly insists he did not deliberately lie to Parliament in a marathon grilling.
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UK Politics
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Boris Johnson has repeatedly insisted he did not intentionally mislead Parliament over Partygate in a heated grilling by MPs.
The former prime minister began the marathon three-hour session with a Bible in his hands, as he swore: "Hand on heart, I did not lie to the House."
He admitted social distancing had not been "perfect" at gatherings in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns.
But he said they were "essential" work events, which he claimed were allowed.
He insisted the guidelines - as he understood them - were followed at all times.
But MPs challenged his assertions, with the committee head, Labour's Harriet Harman, at one point describing them as "flimsy", and saying they "did not amount to much at all".
He also clashed repeatedly with Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin, angrily telling the senior Tory he was talking "complete nonsense" by suggesting he had relied too much on what political advisers were telling him.
The Privileges Committee is investigating statements Mr Johnson made to Parliament, after details of booze-fuelled parties and other gatherings in Downing Street emerged in the media from the end of 2021 onwards.
If he is found by MPs to have deliberately or recklessly misled Parliament, he faces suspension from the Commons - a move that might trigger a by-election in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.
Mr Johnson, with a legal adviser at his side, and supporters including former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg sat behind him, was in a combative mood as he took MPs' questions for the long-awaited session.
The main thrust of his argument was that boozy gatherings in Downing Street and staff leaving dos had been "essential" work events, which he believed had been in line with the Covid guidelines in place at the time.
He insisted statements he gave to the Commons - including when he told MPs in December 2021 that Covid rules and guidance were followed "at all times" - were made "on the basis of what I honestly knew and believed at the time".
Shown a picture of himself surrounded by colleagues and drinks during a leaving do, Mr Johnson argued No 10 staff cannot have an "invisible electrified fence around them".
"They will occasionally drift into each other's orbit," he said, accepting that "perfect social distancing is not being observed" in the image but denying it was in breach of the guidance.
"I believe it was absolutely essential for work purposes," he said of the event for outgoing communications director Lee Cain in November 2020.
"We were following the guidance to the best of our ability - which was what the guidance provided."
He said when he told MPs on 1 December 2021 that the guidance had been followed at all times, he was recalling the "huge" amount of effort to try and stop Covid spreading within No 10.
He gave examples of measures in place such as keeping windows open, working outdoors where possible, limiting the number of people in rooms and testing, which "helped mitigate the difficulties we had in maintaining perfect social distancing".
Sir Bernard replied: "I'm bound to say that if you said all that at the time to the House of Commons, we probably wouldn't be sitting here. But you didn't."
Asked later in the session by Conservative MP Andy Carter if he should have made these arguments at the time, he said: "Perhaps if I had elucidated more clearly what I meant - and what I felt and believed about following the guidance - that would have helped."
Questioned on what he would have told other organisations, if asked at a government pandemic press conference, whether they could hold "unsocially distanced farewell gatherings", Mr Johnson said: "I would have said it is up to organisations, as the guidance says, to decide how they are going to implement the guidance amongst them."
Boris Johnson says gatherings at Downing Street - including this leaving do on 13 November 2020 for a special adviser - were work events
He also insisted his birthday gathering, in June 2020 at the height of the pandemic, for which he was fined by police, had been "reasonably necessary for work purposes".
And he defended the presence of luxury interior designer Lulu Lytle - who was revamping the Johnsons' Downing Street flat - because she was a "contractor" working in No 10.
He said then Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who was also present, would have been "just as surprised as I was" about the fines they received.
"I thought it was a completely innocent event," Mr Johnson said. "It did not strike me as anything other than an ordinary common or garden workplace event."
In another tetchy exchange with Sir Bernard, Mr Johnson was asked about his comments that it was "no great vice" to rely on political advisers for assurances before making statements to the House of Commons.
Sir Bernard expressed surprise that Mr Johnson, if there was even "the thinnest scintilla of doubt" about whether rules were followed, would not have sought advice from civil servants or government lawyers.
"If I was accused of law-breaking and I had to give undertakings to Parliament... I would want the advice of a lawyer," Sir Bernard told him.
A clearly annoyed Mr Johnson told the senior Tory: "This is complete nonsense, I mean, complete nonsense.
"I asked the relevant people. They were senior people. They had been working very hard."
The committee will deliver its verdict on Mr Johnson by the summer.
The full House of Commons would vote on any sanction it recommends. Mr Sunak has agreed to give Tory MPs a free vote on their conscience over Mr Johnson's fate.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65039661
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news_uk-politics-65039661
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Wales freeports for Milford Haven-Port Talbot, Anglesey - BBC News
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2023-03-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The two new areas will have tax and duty relief and simplified customs, with hopes for 20,000 jobs.
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Wales
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Rishi Sunak and Mark Drakeford with harbour master John Goddard at Holyhead, where they announced the freeports
Two Welsh freeports are to be created which aim to bring 20,000 jobs and investment worth £5bn.
Bids from Celtic Freeport, at Milford Haven and Port Talbot, and Anglesey Freeport have been given the green light by the UK and Welsh governments.
Freeports are zones where companies benefit from tax and duty relief and simplified customs processes.
Each was chosen to exploit renewable energy opportunities and are expected to contribute to UK net-zero ambitions.
The BBC has been told Celtic Freeport's bid scored highest during the competition run by the UK and Welsh governments.
It was based around maximising local benefits of a separate plan for a floating off-shore wind project in the Celtic Sea.
According to official figures, Wales had an export trade worth £115bn between 2016 and December 2022.
A third bid, based around Newport and Cardiff Airport, failed.
Celtic Freeport will be based around Port Talbot and Milford Haven ports, in the counties of Neath Port Talbot and Pembrokeshire respectively.
"I think it's a really big opportunity for our local area," said Andrew Scott, 16, who is studying his A-levels at Pembrokeshire College.
A-Levels pupil Andrew Scott says the Celtic freeport will encourage young people to stay in Pembrokeshire
He said he was interested in engineering and the renewables sector since plans to build wind farms off the Pembrokeshire coast were announced.
"It's giving young people like myself the opportunity to stay local," he explained.
"I plan to do a degree, and I hope to come back to Pembrokeshire and to work in this sector once I've achieved that higher education"
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Anglesey Freeport will be based around Holyhead, Rhosgoch, Anglesey prosperity zone, and science park M-Sparc.
Celtic Freeport Consortium chairman Roger Maggs said there was now potential to access £5.5bn of private and public investment.
"The future is exciting," he said.
Tata Steel, which has a site in Port Talbot, said it was delighted the Celtic Freeport bid was successful.
Neath Port Talbot council leader Steve Hunt said it was "an absolute game changer" for his county and Wales.
Anglesey council leader Llinos Medi said freeport status would be an important to securing a brighter future for Ynys Môn and north Wales.
"Too many of our young people have had to leave their communities to find decent jobs and a secure future. We want that to change, and freeport can help."
The Celtic Freeport will be based around the ports of Port Talbot, pictured, and Milford Haven
Ian Hampton, executive director at Stena Line it was an "excellent opportunity to drive forward sustainable economic growth, green energy, jobs, and skills"
"We are delighted for the people of Anglesey and north Wales, and excited about the positive commercial prospects that can be turned into a reality."
CBI Wales director Ian Price called it a "double boost for the economies and communities in both north and south Wales".
Rishi Sunak speaks to RAF air cadets during his visit to RAF Valley on Anglesey on Wednesday
Freeports were introduced by the UK government to try to promote regeneration and jobs.
Eight have been created in England and two announced in Scotland.
However the UK government's budget watchdog, the Office for Budgetary Responsibility has said historical evidence suggests freeports' "main effect" will be to move economic activity from one place to another.
Responding to such concerns, Welsh Secretary David TC Davies said the two new freeports had specific roles and were set at certain distances to avoid the risk they suck up investment from other parts of Wales.
"They are not going to be taking jobs from elsewhere," he said. "They're going to be building prosperity into areas that desperately need and frankly deserve it."
He said the 20,000 jobs figure had been rigorously assessed, but conceded it would take "up to 2030 and beyond" to create them.
"It will take time for these areas to ramp up and get used to changes," he said.
The UK government will provide up to £26m funding for each of the Welsh freeports.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was in Anglesey on Wednesday. On Thursday he and Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford met in Holyhead to announce the freeports.
Mr Sunak told BBC Wales the news had been "warmly welcomed by local communities, there's a real buzz as we've been walking around today".
"Everyone's got a real lift from this announcement and they're already getting, I think they said to me, 40 different companies have been in touch thinking about trying to invest here [and] create jobs for the local community," he said.
"That's great for Wales, and that's what we want. We want to drive growth we want to create jobs and opportunity. These freeports in Wales will help us do that. "
Holyhead has expressed an interest in gaining freeport status
Mr Drakeford said the freeports were expected to be operational by the end of the year and would create a "platform for those industries that will shape the future of Wales".
"If we know anything, it is that the supplies of oil and gas on which the world has relied will run out," he said.
"We will all then need new supplies of energy and Wales is perfectly placed to be part of the renewable energy of the future and the freeports will provide us with an entry point into all of that.
"They're really important in themselves, but they are more important because of the way that they will allow those renewable industries to be created here in Wales."
At the moment, importers of goods or raw materials that enter the UK have to pay taxes or tariffs.
There is no single definition of a freeport but in general it means that companies importing products into the freeport do not have to pay any taxes when they bring them in.
If they use those products to make something else and then export it, they do not have to pay any taxes. They would only have to pay them if the product left the freeport and entered the UK.
In England, businesses in freeports also have cheaper business rates, but in Wales that would be up to the Welsh government.
They also pay a lower rate of national insurance for new staff.
The argument in favour of freeports is that they create new jobs and attract investment.
But critics argue they do not create new jobs but simply encourage businesses to move from one location to another.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65044061
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news_uk-wales-65044061
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Premier League domestic flights: BBC Sport research shows 81 flights from 100 games - BBC Sport
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2023-03-23
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None
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BBC Sport research shows the scale of short domestic flights to and from games involving Premier League teams from 100 fixtures in 2023.
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BBC Sport research has found evidence of 81 individual short-haul domestic flights made by Premier League teams to and from 100 matches during a two-month sample period this year.
Whether it's Trent Alexander-Arnold on a flight back from Newcastle to Liverpool, Chelsea's Ben Chilwell flying from London to Leicester or Nottingham Forest players on their way from East Midlands Airport to Blackpool, occasional social media posts have so far been the only insight to inform the debate around Premier League clubs flying small distances to matches instead of travelling by road or rail.
Now, a study of 100 games played in the UK involving Premier League teams between 19 January and 19 March 2023 has given the first insight into the volume of the controversial journeys, some as short as 27 minutes.
And for the first time the study also shows details of 'positioning' flights - where near-empty planes are flown to convenient airports, sometimes across the UK, in order to then transport players and staff to fixtures.
• None The Sports Desk podcast: Should Premier League clubs stop flying to domestic games?
• None Of those 81 flights, the breakdown was 59 flights for Premier League fixtures; 16 for FA Cup games and six for EFL Cup matches
• None The shortest flight was just 27 77
• None The average duration of these 81 flights was 42
BBC Sport contacted all Premier League clubs with the flight information.
In addition to these 'player movement' flights, the research also suggested a significant number of connected 'positioning' flights. The study found:
• 37 of the 81 player flights had a flight marked as 'positioning' beforehand
• None The average duration of the 37 'positioning' flights in the study was 42
Flights produce greenhouse gases - mainly carbon dioxide (CO2) - from burning fuel. These contribute to global warming.
Emissions per kilometre travelled are known to be significantly worse than any other form of transport, with short-haul flights the worst emitters, according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
• None Should clubs stop flying to domestic matches for environmental reasons?
• None Find out more about sport and climate change
What about these 'positioning' flights?
'Positioning' flights are where the plane is getting into position to pick up its private charter passengers. They are normally what the aviation industry calls "empty leg" flights - so without passengers and therefore qualify as 'ghost' flights, a term increasingly being used to describe any flight with fewer than 10% passengers.
BBC Sport contacted the airlines involved but received no confirmation as to the number of passengers on these flights.
As the Premier League's most southerly team, Bournemouth perhaps have more justification than others to fly to some games. They flew to Birmingham airport and back on the weekend of 17-18 March for their fixture with Aston Villa - a return journey totalling 73 minutes.
But the data pointed towards a further four 'positioning flights' connected to this trip - three of which were to or from Scotland - totalling an additional 201 minutes.
In addition to the 37 marked positioning flights, the BBC Sport research also observed instances of planes flying from one London airport to another in advance of a player flight - although not marked as 'positioning' flights. It is therefore possible the actual number could be higher.
• None Green Football Weekend: What are clubs, players and fans doing?
The Premier League does not centrally mandate clubs' individual travel plans, but said in a statement to BBC Sport that it "recognises the need to take action on climate change and is committed to reducing its overall climate impact".
The statement added: "Clubs have demonstrated their commitment to positive change in this area and continue to play an important role in raising awareness of the issue among fans, while also working on policies to improve environmental sustainability across their business operations."
Those policies, the Premier League pointed out, include more sustainable fan travel initiatives, use of renewable energy and conservation projects.
The scale of the emissions
The Premier League pointed out that in the two-month period of the BBC Sport research, there were more than 74,000 domestic flights in the UK - putting the 81 Premier League club flights at less than 0.1% of that total.
Arsenal told BBC Sport that domestic flights of this type "accounted for 0.25% of the club's total emissions for season 2021-22".
An Arsenal spokesperson said: "Domestic flights are sometimes a necessity based on player welfare and operational needs. The need to fly often depends on kick-off time, the time in between our matches and the reliability of alternative transport methods."
The biggest emissions are generated from stadiums on matchdays and fan travel - which is the sport's biggest climate footprint. The Premier League statement said its work will also include "encouraging fans" to "consider how" they can reduce their own carbon footprint.
However, Dale Vince, chairman of League One side Forest Green, regarded as the world's most sustainable football team, called it "shocking data in just two months", adding: "It's an illusion to think there is a gain for a flight of that duration, modern coaches are very comfortable and aren't going to impair the performance of the players over that short distance"
Vince believes the Premier League and its clubs should lead the way.
Vince said: "The carbon impact is one thing… I think the bigger impact is the emotional one, the intellectual one, you've got Premier League teams setting a very bad example for the rest of the country... when we are desperately in need of getting to net zero.
"This comes just days after the latest UN report that says we absolutely have just a few years left to act to avoid the worst of the climate crisis."
The Premier League has signed up to the UN Sport for Climate Action Framework and as a result is tasked with reaching net zero by 2040. That was in November 2021 but it is yet to confirm its plans.
The statement added: "The Premier League is in the process of developing an environmental sustainability strategy, which will set out plans to deliver climate action. As part of this strategy, the league will continue to engage with and work alongside clubs and partners, to find practical ways of reducing football's environmental impact."
What are the factors?
Premier League clubs have been travelling this way for years - generally the quickest and most convenient option which clubs argue gives players and staff maximum time to prepare and recover between games, when the global fixture schedule is increasingly packed - something the clubs have no control over.
It is only recently, as players started to frequently post images on social media of these short domestic flights, that it attracted increased scrutiny in an era of climate impact awareness.
As this season shows, competition in the Premier League is as fierce as ever - just four points separates the bottom nine teams as they scramble to stay in the division and reap the multi-million pound rewards.
With such fine margins and enormous financial consequences, will clubs really risk a potential disadvantage by opting for slower but more environmentally friendly travel to high-stakes fixtures?
Matt Konipinski is director of physio and performance at Rehab 4 Performance and has worked with Liverpool, Rangers and Barnsley football clubs. He disputes the performance argument, but does acknowledge that in a busy schedule time might be the overriding concern.
He said: "I think physical condition is a consideration but I think the mode of travel doesn't necessarily have a huge amount of scientific support to justify one versus the other.
"We're talking about the options around whether a team might fly, whether a team may take the coach, whether a team may take the train and really the main emphasis around flying is speed and the top teams will prioritise speed over everything else."
There is no previous flight information to compare season with season. However, clubs have told BBC Sport that this season the cost of chartering planes has almost doubled as a result of both the rise in the price of fuel and decreased availability of planes after the pandemic and Brexit.
With pressure to spend money to attract better players, plus the increased focus on sustainability in the game, many clubs said the plane is the last resort - and that this 2022-23 season might actually see a reduction in flights from previous years. And that is despite running issues with England's rail network.
Chelsea manager Graham Potter gave an honest appraisal of the challenges facing football, saying: "I think it's something we increasingly have to look at, because I think it's something we have to do better with. It's my personal opinion. That's not to say its straightforward because there are factors, but I think it's an area we can improve."
Nottingham Forest were one of the few clubs who shared their full flight data with BBC Sport and a spokesperson said they anticipated using flights in four of their 23 away fixtures this season and added: "The club will always use rail or road travel unless there are overwhelming logistical and sporting reasons not to do so."
Many clubs reference fixture scheduling across multiple domestic and European competitions and then changes made by broadcasters with expensive TV rights - factors outside their control.
An English Football Association statement added: "Establishing a more environmentally sustainable approach across English football is very important, and we encourage everyone in the game to help play their part. It is the responsibility of each club to make their own operational travel choices across all competitions, including for Premier League, EFL and FA Cup matches."
Former QPR player Michael Doughty - now chief of sustainability at Swindon Town - told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I think there needs to be some legislation or some feedback from the Premier League around what is a distance of travel viable for flying, and also some feedback from the clubs around performance.
"We're assuming plane travel is optimising for performance, but I haven't seen any clear studies that have shown that."
Analysis: Why has BBC Sport done this research?
What football does in this area matters because it is the world's most popular sport and has the potential to influence so many millions of people all over the world. The Premier League is not only the most popular domestic league in the world, it is also one of Britain's biggest exports.
There is no doubt that the more football there is, the less chance it can be truly sustainable, until something significant changes. While it is obvious the football authorities clearly don't control the clubs' travel plans, it is equally obvious to state that the clubs do not control the schedules, so when does the circular argument break?
To that end this research is intended to better inform a debate that, up until now, has too often focused on one team at a time and been anecdotal, a cycle from which many think it is impossible to see progress.
That includes acknowledging the relatively small emissions we are talking about but at the same time giving credence to what Vince called an "example" and others call an "opportunity" for the power and influence of football to be put to immense positive effect.
Sport has a long track record of bringing wider societal issues to the fore, and football has a more powerful role in that than any sport. A conversation about this domestic flight issue in the world of sport brings in discussion about the state of public transport in the UK, and the present and future of air travel.
Why do we not hear the biggest names in football speaking up on environmental issues to big audiences like they do on other issues? Is it because we haven't been able to progress the conversation in football? Is it because the emissions are not as apparent as other sports?
It might make sense for Formula 1 drivers to be quiet on environmental issues and yet we have Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg all speaking up. Where is football's 'world champion'?
*BBC Sport has had a Sustainability Strategy in place since 2021 which includes a no domestic flight policy.
• None Our beautiful land as you've never seen it before:
• None Go Hard or Go Home:
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65017565
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rt_football_65017565
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School face masks worn in England to avoid Covid row with Scotland - claims - BBC News
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2023-03-01
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Ministers in England came under pressure after Scotland introduced face coverings in schools.
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Family & Education
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Secondary school children in England were required to wear face coverings to avoid a row with Scotland over Covid, the Daily Telegraph has claimed.
Leaked WhatsApp messages suggest that England's chief medical officer had been ambivalent about the scientific evidence behind the measure.
Ministers in England came under pressure after Scotland introduced it.
A government spokesperson said: "We have always said there are lessons to be learnt from the pandemic."
They added: "We are committed to learning from the Covid inquiry's findings, which will play a key role in informing the government's planning and preparations for the future."
Guidance was changed to require face coverings in secondary schools in England in areas which were under local lockdown from September 2020.
The announcement made them mandatory in corridors and communal areas. This later applied to classrooms where distancing was not possible.
The Telegraph reports that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had asked for advice about face coverings in schools.
In a WhatsApp group chat on the morning of 25 August 2020, he asked whether the government needed to make a "U-turn" on its stance, the paper says.
Lee Cain, then Downing Street's director of communications, is reported to have sent a link to a BBC article announcing face coverings would be mandatory in corridors and communal areas in high schools in Scotland, where the school year starts earlier.
He asked whether it was worth fighting as Scotland had taken the step, the paper says.
According to the leaked messages, Simon Case, who was leading civil service Covid efforts, is said to have warned that "nervous parents would freak out" if Scotland's example was not followed.
Sir Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, is reported to have said there was "no strong reason against in corridors etc., and no very strong reasons for", adding that it was "not worth an argument".
The change in guidance in England was announced that night.
In January 2022, the government admitted the evidence for using masks in schools to reduce spread of Covid was "not conclusive".
The uncertainty was acknowledged in a review used by ministers in England to make their decision to introduce face coverings in classrooms.
The Telegraph story comes after other WhatsApp messages leaked to the newspaper suggested that the former health secretary, Matt Hancock, rejected expert advice on Covid tests for people going into care homes in England at the start of the pandemic - a claim he has disputed.
The BBC has not seen or independently verified the WhatsApp messages nor the context in which they were sent.
The Telegraph has obtained more than 100,000 messages sent between Mr Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the pandemic.
The texts were passed to the newspaper by journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who has been critical of lockdowns. Ms Oakeshott was given copies of the texts while helping Mr Hancock write his book, Pandemic Diaries.
A spokesperson for Mr Johnson said it was "not appropriate to comment" on the leaks and that the UK's independent public inquiry into the pandemic "provides the right process for this".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-64811382
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news_education-64811382
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Covid hearings begin in court of public opinion - BBC News
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2023-03-01
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Telegraph's report provides a fascinating insight into how pandemic decisions were made.
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UK Politics
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The battle to learn lessons and defend reputations over Covid was always going to be intense, angry and passionate.
The focus for that, primarily, was expected to be the public inquiry, which is currently at its very early stages.
The simple political truth is the court of public opinion is opening and hearing evidence now, and will continue to in the coming days, via revelations in The Daily Telegraph.
And an argument now rages over fairness.
Is it fair that the journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who was given this huge tranche of WhatsApp exchanges by Matt Hancock to help him write a book about the pandemic, has now decided to reveal them, breaching his trust, and, Mr Hancock claims, a non-disclosure agreement?
Or, is it fair that these messages - which I'm told had already been given to the public inquiry - should remain private potentially for years prior to the inquiry's report, or maybe forever?
The Telegraph's report provides a fascinating insight, partial though it clearly is, into how people under the professional pressure of their lives dealt with these colossal issues confronting them.
We see, in a raw, unfiltered way, the nature and tone of their interactions, the rapidly changing evidence and arguments about what was deliverable.
Isabel Oakeshott argues she is performing an important public service by publishing these exchanges now.
Matt Hancock says what she has done is outrageous, partial and driven by an anti-lockdown agenda from her and the newspaper.
I am told the Telegraph has been working on this for around two months.
It reminds me of the same paper's rolling revelations on MPs' expenses in 2009: a steady flow, day after day, of stories that dominated Westminster's agenda, forever moulding the reputation of many, many figures in politics.
Here - perhaps - we go again.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64811416
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news_uk-politics-64811416
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Ukraine hit by Russian missiles day after West's offer of tanks - BBC News
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2023-03-09
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Eleven people have been killed and 11 others injured after strikes hit buildings in several regions.
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Europe
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The aftermath of a Russian strike was seen on Thursday in the town of Hlevakha, outside Kyiv
Russia launched a wave of missiles at Ukraine on Thursday, a day after Germany and the US pledged tanks to aid Kyiv's fight against the invasion.
Eleven people died and 11 others were injured after 35 buildings were struck across several regions, the state's emergency service said.
It added the worst damage to residential buildings was in the Kyiv region.
Officials also reported strikes on two energy facilities in the Odesa region.
The barrage came as Russia said it perceived the new offer of military support, which followed a UK pledge to send Challenger 2 battle tanks, as "direct" Western involvement in the conflict.
In what was a sustained and wide-ranging attack, the head of the Ukrainian army said Moscow launched 55 air and sea-based missiles on Thursday.
Valery Zaluzhny added that 47 of them were shot down, including 20 around Kyiv.
Earlier, Ukraine's air force said it had downed a cluster of Iranian-made attack drones launched by Russian forces from the Sea of Azov in the south of the country.
A 55-year-old man was killed and two others wounded when non-residential buildings in the south of the capital were struck, officials reported.
The offensive was a continuation of Russia's months-long tactic of targeting Ukraine's infrastructure. The freezing winter has seen power stations destroyed and millions plunged into darkness.
After Thursday's strikes, emergency power cuts were enforced in Kyiv and several other regions to relieve pressure on the electricity grid, said DTEK, Ukraine's largest private power producer.
A day earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to provide Ukraine with 14 Leopard 2 tanks, following weeks of international pressure. They are widely seen as some of the most effective battle tanks available.
The heavy weaponry is expected to arrive in late March or early April.
President Joe Biden later announced the US would send 31 M1 Abrams battle tanks, marking a reversal of longstanding Pentagon arguments that they are a poor fit for the Ukrainian battlefield.
Canada has also promised to supply Ukraine with four "combat-ready" Leopard tanks in the coming weeks, together with experts to train Ukrainian soldiers in how to operate them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that 12 countries had now joined what he called the "tank coalition".
But for tanks to be "game-changer", 300 to 400 of them would be needed, an adviser to Ukraine's defence minister told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"The sooner we defeat Russia on the battlefield using Western weapons, the sooner we will be able to stop this missile terror and restore peace," Yuriy Sak said.
Speaking on the same programme, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said sending tanks to Ukraine would make a big difference to the country's ability to win the war.
He also warned that Russia was planning a fresh offensive, just as reports began emerging from Ukraine of missile strikes following drone attacks overnight.
On Thursday, the US designated Russia's Wagner group, which is believed to have thousands of mercenaries in Ukraine, a transnational criminal organisation.
It also imposed fresh sanctions on the group and their associates to "further impede [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's ability to arm and equip his war machine", Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the statement.
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Georgia drops 'foreign agents' law after protests - BBC News
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2023-03-09
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The ruling party says it will pull a controversial Russian-style bill amid widespread criticism.
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Europe
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Protesters have accused the Georgian government of trying to steer the country away from the EU
Georgia's ruling party has said it will withdraw a controversial draft law, in the face of mass protests and widespread international criticism.
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Tbilisi this week in anger as a Russian-style law began its passage through parliament.
Under the bill, non-government groups and media would be targeted if they take over 20% of funding from abroad.
The main ruling party said it was pulling the bill "unconditionally".
Describing itself as a party of government responsible to all members of society, Georgian Dream referred to the need to reduce "confrontation" in society.
Georgia has applied for candidate status of the European Union and sought to join Nato. EU officials had condemned the draft legislation as incompatible with EU values.
In a statement, the EU delegation in Georgia said the move to drop the law was a "welcome announcement" and encouraged political leaders to resume "pro-EU reforms".
The government's U-turn followed a second night of clashes between riot police and protesters outside parliament. Tear gas and water cannon were used to disperse the demonstrators as they chanted "no to the Russian law".
Protesters arrested during the demonstrations have been released, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Officials said some were brought before the court but the rest "were released based on the expiration of the term of stay in the pre-trial detention centre".
Meanwhile, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili praised protesters for coming out against the proposal. Ms Zourabichvili had backed the demonstrations and had vowed to veto the bill, although ultimately the government would have had the power to override her move.
"I want to congratulate society on its first victory. I am proud of the people who made their voices heard," Ms Zurabishvili said in a televised address from New York. "There is distrust towards the government as we pursue our European path."
In its statement, Georgian Dream complained that the proposal had been unfairly labelled and said that as the "emotional background subsides" it would explain the importance of the bill and transparency in foreign funding to the public.
Despite the decision to drop the bill, opposition parties said they had no plans to halt the protests. They called for clarity on how the proposals were to be withdrawn and demanded the release of protesters detained this week.
Armaz Akhvlediani, an independent opposition member of parliament and former secretary-general of Georgian Dream, welcomed the party's promise to withdraw the legislation but said it had "Russian interests" that worked against "democracy and rule of law".
Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili had earlier condemned the "stir" over the bill. His party maintained that the legislation mimicked American laws from the 1930s, an argument also used by the Kremlin when it passed a similar law in 2012.
Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russia had "absolutely nothing" to do with the bill, as he sought to distance his country from the protests.
He said the Kremlin did not inspire the proposal and that the US "pioneered the practice of introducing these laws".
Mr Peskov also advised Russians living in Georgia to be "extremely careful" and stay away from the street riots.
That Russian law has gradually intensified and now suppresses Western-funded NGOs, independent media, journalists and bloggers, who are required to label their content with the sinister phrase "foreign agent".
"Again and again they are trying everything to take us far away from the European Union, European values," said 30-year-old protester Luka Kimeridze.
Eka Gigauri of Transparency International in Georgia told the BBC that NGOs were already subject to 10 different laws and the finance ministry already had full access to accounts, funding and other information.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64899041
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Channel migrants: Rishi Sunak to meet Emmanuel Macron - BBC News
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2023-03-09
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After years of tense UK-France relations, it's all smiles ahead of a key Paris summit on Friday.
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World
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The French president and UK prime minister have much to discuss at Friday's summit
Paris is world famous for romance. But what about bromance (or romance fraternelle, as the UK's French cousins might say)?
An explosion of mutual admiration is predicted in the French capital this Friday when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak meets President Emmanuel Macron.
But is bromance exaggerated? Perhaps a bit glib?
After seven years of pretty appalling Franco-British relations following the UK's Brexit vote, and with conventional warfare back and raging in Europe as Russia continues its bloody assault on Ukraine, there is a voracious appetite on both sides of the Channel for new beginnings and constructive co-operation.
And there are remarkable similarities between the French and British leaders.
Former investment bankers and finance ministers, who attended elite schools, they are both ideologically from the centre-right. They were young when they took the reins of power: Mr Sunak is 42, while Mr Macron became the youngest president in French history at 39.
Rather diminutive in stature, the two men are hugely ambitious. Part of their "let's get down to business" image is a liking for signature, sharply tailored, slim-cut navy suits. France's Le Monde newspaper noted, in a flourish of sartorial snobbery, that Mr Sunak's seemed "too tight".
But there are other similarities the two men probably prefer not to boast about.
France has been gripped by protests against Macron's plan to raise the retirement age to 64
Neither of them has a convincing popular mandate. Mr Sunak became prime minister after his predecessor's resignation. Mr Macron's Renaissance party runs a minority government after punishing parliamentary elections.
The two leaders are beset by public sector strikes: over pay in the UK and pensions in France. Critics accuse them of arrogance at times and of seeming distant from the concerns of most voters. Mr Sunak, because of his personal wealth; the French president, for his grand manner. He's mockingly dubbed "Jupiter" at home, implying he sees himself as godlike, and also "president of the rich" because of some of his policies.
Of course, Mr Sunak voted for Brexit, while Mr Macron once touted himself as Mr Europe. They are by no means two peas in a pod. But in a post-Brexit and post-pandemic world challenged by Russia and China, they share an apparent conviction that political pragmatism, rather than dogmatic ideology, is the order of the day.
London and Paris have billed Friday's summit as ambitious - covering immigration, the environment, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Iran's nuclear programme, civil nuclear co-operation, bilateral trade, youth opportunities, how to handle China and more.
But what can actually be achieved in such a short meeting? Is this more symbolism than content?
Rishi Sunak is trying to tackle the problem of people crossing the Channel from France in small boats
Mr Macron has a defence and security message uppermost in his mind. Mr Sunak has a big focus on migration, as I discuss below. But as the UK's ambassador to France Menna Rawlings pointed out in a French media interview, what was important was actually getting the two sides together at this high level after five years.
Meetings like this between the UK and France used to happen pretty much annually. Covid has been a factor in the summit-freeze, of course, but it was the Brexit process that really opened a chasm of bad-tempered bitterness between these two countries with their long history of frenemy-ship.
Now though, the enormity of the geopolitical crisis over Russia and Ukraine and the impact it's having on wider continental security and on energy prices has helped focus minds and calm relations, reminding both sides of the values they share.
French political commentator Pierre Haski predicts Mr Macron will use the summit on Friday to showcase France and the UK as big military powers, standing side-by-side and shoulder-to-shoulder.
They are Europe's only significant military players (Germany's pledge to become one will take a very long time to realise). Both countries have a seat on the UN security council. Both are nuclear powers - testing their warheads at the same facility in France - and they've worked very closely together inside Nato since the start of Russia's invasion.
The UK and France are close military allies and Nato members
Mr Haski notes that Mr Macron, a long-time champion of boosting European defence (not necessarily an "EU army"), with individual countries investing more in security, has seen his dream finally taking shape - and yet it's been the US, not France, leading the way in the face of Moscow's aggression.
"He needs to be seen to be playing the Nato game," says Mr Haski.
Meanwhile Mr Sunak will arrive in Paris this Friday with migration very much on his mind.
He's made stemming the arrival of migrants to the UK one of five pledges against which he says he should be judged by voters come next year's general election.
But tough words at home and a cosier relationship with Paris won't stop the people-smugglers' boats trying to cross the Channel. And this is an issue where expectations of the summit should probably be limited.
Numbers have been steadily on the rise - 46,000 people crossed those waters in small boats last year alone - grabbing UK headlines, causing tragic loss of life and leading over time to much finger pointing between Britain and France.
France and the UK have cooperated in recent years on the Channel migrant crisis, but people keep making the journey
The UK says Paris hasn't been doing enough to stop the dinghies leaving along France's coastline, despite increasing UK financial support. France rejects the accusation, saying it prevented over 30,000 people making the crossing last year. The French government receives an estimated three times as many asylum claims as the UK annually. It insists, when it comes to small boats across the Channel, it's suffering the effects of the UK's asylum policy - something the UK government strongly contests.
"Migration is not only an issue for the UK," an Elysée official said again pointedly this week. "We need to accept a broader focus. It is not Britain versus the continent, or Britain versus France. It is very much a global issue."
Both sides have already spoken of their ambitious co-operation agreements to crackdown on people smuggling gangs. They openly admit it's a shared problem. But what Mr Sunak is unlikely to get in public, or private, despite the new warm mood of Franco-British pragmatism, is an assurance from Mr Macron that France will take back asylum-seekers who've crossed the Channel from his country.
That scenario has been described to me by a number of French journalists as politically toxic. The left would accuse Mr Macron of doing the UK's policing for them, they say, while the far right would accuse him of filling up France with those they label "illegal migrants".
It's not the first time the French have protested to UK lawmakers that "we have politics too."
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is now in its second year - something the UK and France want to halt
I heard the same argument often, during those bitter post-Brexit negotiations with the EU, where Mr Macron appeared to relish the role of "bad cop" - even though, in reality, his position was rarely dissimilar to that of the other big EU power, Germany.
The UK became engulfed in a domestic political crisis post-Brexit, but the concern of Mr Macron, an overt champion of the EU, those close to him would say, was that if the UK got the advantages of bloc membership after leaving (such as a favourable financial services deal or customs breaks) that would play into the hands of the increasingly popular French far right which, in those days, was agitating for "Frexit" - that is, France leaving the European Union.
That, in the French president's mind, according to Macron-watchers, was a key reason for sounding tough on Brexit, as well as the wider EU argument of "protecting their single market".
Former UK ambassador to France Peter Ricketts thinks Franco-British ties suffered particularly badly after Brexit because of the two countries' closeness:
"The friction of Brexit fell on to the UK-French relationship. We live next door to each other. No country has closer links to us in so many ways, whether it's through family, business, or war commemorations. We are so very alike that our relationship is often a competitive one. It's like sibling rivalry."
Many UK politicians and much of the country's popular press believed Paris was out to punish its neighbour, dismissively nicknamed "Les Rosbifs". There were rows over customs, migrant smuggler dinghies and fishing rights (including the UK getting out the gunboats in 2021 as both countries postured out at sea). Boris Johnson's successor as prime minister, Liz Truss, publicly questioned whether the French president was a friend or foe to the United Kingdom.
French relations with the UK have been tense in recent years
But now says, Pierre Haski, "No-one in France talks about Brexit. It hardly features at all in the French media." Deals with the UK won't be viewed in those terms anymore. And EU membership is more popular in France these days, even if a distaste for Brussels' perceived interference is still widespread.
It's also important to point out, that while Franco-British political relations have been fractious and strained over the last years, contacts of course continued between the cross-Channel neighbours.
Ambassador Ricketts spoke to me with enthusiasm about King Charles' upcoming trip to France, closely co-ordinated with Downing Street. You could say it's the icing on the gâteau of a sweeter Franco-British understanding.
This will be the King's first state visit. And the French, Peter Ricketts observes are "really touched." It's a strong symbol of the ties between the two countries, he says, that rises above politics.
The French - who violently finished off their own monarchy a couple of hundred years ago - are rather obsessed by, you could say enamoured with, the British Royal Family, an influential figure at the Elysée confided in me.
"We all watched the [TV series] The Crown. We were addicted," she gushed.
Queen Elizabeth II made frequent visits to France during her reign, and spoke French fluently
Ahead of Friday's summit the Elysée Palace told journalists that France and the UK are "committed not only to work together, but to work together for the benefit of each other."
Translation: the two countries are no longer in post-Brexit defensive mode. There's a new confidence that cooperating and collaborating won't immediately be seen as a win for one, or the weakness of the other.
"Emmanuel Macron is willing to invest in Rishi Sunak," Lord Ricketts told me, even though the prime minister faces a general election next year, with the odds stacked against him.
I once heard Franco-British relations likened to a climate, rather than an evolving relationship.
If that is the case, the weather is currently looking clement.
Rishi Sunak's recent Brexit deal with the EU over Northern Ireland has also really helped the bilateral atmosphere. Paving the way for possible new deals to ease other post-Brexit complications like trade hurdles at Dover and Calais, and job opportunities in France and the UK for youngsters.
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Gary Lineker says he will 'keep speaking for those with no voice' after asylum row - BBC News
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2023-03-09
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The Match of the Day host was criticised for tweets he posted about the government's new asylum plan.
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UK
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Gary Lineker has said he will try to keep speaking up for people with "no voice", after criticism of his tweets on the government's asylum policy.
The Match of the Day host had said the language setting out the plan was "not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s".
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she was disappointed by the remarks.
The BBC said it was having a "frank conversation" with Lineker about the BBC's need to remain impartial.
On Tuesday, the government outlined its plans to ban people arriving in the UK illegally from ever claiming asylum, in a bid to address a rise in the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats.
Opposition MPs and humanitarian organisations have strongly criticised the proposals to detain and swiftly remove adults regardless of their asylum claim - but the PM and home secretary have defended the plan, saying stopping the crossings is a priority for the British people.
The presenter described it on Twitter as an "immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s".
His remarks were criticised widely by Conservative MPs and ministers, including Ms Braverman and Downing Street.
The furore surrounding Lineker's latest remarks puts pressure on the BBC, with director general Tim Davie having made impartiality a cornerstone of his leadership.
Responding to some of the criticism on Wednesday, Lineker tweeted: "Great to see the freedom of speech champions out in force this morning demanding silence from those with whom they disagree."
He followed up shortly after with: "I have never known such love and support in my life than I'm getting this morning (England World Cup goals aside, possibly). I want to thank each and every one of you. It means a lot.
"I'll continue to try and speak up for those poor souls that have no voice."
Earlier, Ms Braverman told BBC One's Breakfast she was "disappointed, obviously" in his comments.
"I think it's unhelpful to compare our measures, which are lawful, proportionate and - indeed - compassionate, to 1930s Germany.
"I also think that we are on the side of the British people here."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Suella Braverman says she is "disappointed" by Gary Lineker's tweet
Downing Street later said Lineker's criticism of the new asylum policy was "not acceptable".
The prime minister's press secretary told reporters: "It's obviously disappointing to see someone whose salary is funded by hard-working British (licence fee) payers using that kind of rhetoric and seemingly dismissing their legitimate concerns that they have about small boats crossings and illegal migration."
But beyond that, they added, "it's up to the BBC" and they would not comment further.
A spokesman for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said comparisons with Germany in the 1930s "aren't always the best way to make" an argument.
Lineker, who has presented Match of the Day since 1999, is the BBC's highest paid star, having earned about £1.35m in 2020-21.
He has in the past been vocal about migrants' rights and has taken refugees into his home. He has also been critical of successive Conservative governments over issues including Brexit.
In October, the BBC's complaints unit found Lineker had broken impartiality rules in a tweet asking whether the Conservative Party planned to "hand back their donations from Russian donors".
The comment came after the then Foreign Secretary Liz Truss urged Premier League teams to boycott the Champions League final in Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Davie said in 2020 he was prepared to sack people to protect the BBC's reputation for impartiality.
He issued new social media guidelines and said he was willing to "take people off Twitter" - a comment which Lineker responded to at the time by saying "I think only Twitter can take people off Twitter".
The presenter's frequent outspoken online posts have been viewed by some as a test of the BBC's ability to balance its impartiality duty with its ability to attract top talent in the era of social media.
Earlier on Wednesday, when asked about how many "strikes" the presenter has had over social media posts, Mr Davie said he wasn't going to speak specifically about individuals.
He added: "I think the BBC absolutely puts the highest value on impartiality and that's clearly important to us."
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Lineker indicated he had no intention of retracting his comment or steering clear of politics outside of his work for the BBC.
Richard Sambrook, the BBC's former director of global news, said the controversy highlighted the need for the broadcaster to clarify how impartiality rules apply to its sport staff and freelancers.
He told Radio 4's PM programme similar cases would "corrode trust" in the BBC unless the position was made clearer.
The Lineker row also comes amid scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding the appointment of BBC chairman Richard Sharp and his relationship with Boris Johnson.
A committee of MPs said last month Mr Sharp had committed "significant errors of judgement" by not disclosing his involvement in the then-prime minister's financial affairs while seeking the senior BBC post. Mr Sharp insists he got the job on merit.
The broadcaster's editorial guidelines state the organisation is "committed to achieving due impartiality in all its output" and that "public comments, for example on social media, of staff [or] presenters... can affect perceptions of the BBC's impartiality".
A spokesperson for the corporation said: "The BBC has social media guidance, which is published.
"Individuals who work for us are aware of their responsibilities relating to social media.
"We have appropriate internal processes in place if required.
"We would expect Gary to be spoken to and reminded of his responsibilities."
The corporation has also responded to previous criticism of Lineker by highlighting that he is not involved in its news or political output and is a freelance broadcaster, not a member of staff.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64891734
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Mariupol: The 80 days that left a flourishing city in ruins - BBC News
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2023-03-19
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The Ukrainian port which has seen some of the most intense fighting is now under Russian control.
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Europe
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The theatre has often been described as the heart of the city
After almost three months of relentless assault, Mariupol has fallen. Ukraine's military says its combat mission in the besieged port is over. More than any other Ukrainian city, Mariupol has come to symbolise the ferocious brutality of Russia's assault and the stubbornness of Ukraine's resistance.
On Wednesday 23 February, Ivan Stanislavsky left his camera bag at the office. He was on his way to see the layout of his new book on Mariupol's Soviet-era murals at a colleague's house, and didn't want to lug the gear around. He could always pick it up the next day.
But on Thursday, as he stood in the street outside his locked and deserted office, he could hear thunderous sounds rolling in from the east. The city was under fire.
As the conflict intensified, and gunfire became audible to the west too, Ivan moved his mattress into the hall. He piled up his large collection of art books - including the Encyclopaedia of Ukrainian Rock Music - against the windows of his flat in the district of Primorsky.
"Let's say it was not a waste of a library," says the 36-year-old photographer, who is also a press officer at Ukrainian premier league football club FC Mariupol.
Ivan Stanislavsky loved to photograph his city of Mariupol
Across town in the neighbourhood of Kalmiusky, businessman Yevhen was also taking precautions. The 47-year-old had told his family to pack so they could escape the city. But when he returned from the office, he found no packing had been done. His family refused to leave.
In an apartment in the same block, metallurgists from the nearby steelworks, Nataliia, 43, and Andrii, 41, were already slicing the last two loaves they had been able to buy, leaving them to dry out so they could eat them piece by piece over the weeks ahead.
The Illich steel plant dominates this view of Mariupol
Volodymyr, a 52-year-old paramedic in Kalmiusky, was also in his kitchen, trying to absorb the news. When reports came in of Russians marching through the village of Chonhar - on a strategic road out of Crimea to the west - he choked. This was a coordinated attack, he realised.
The ambulance dispatcher was on the phone. She instructed Volodymyr to ignore routine calls. "Find the wounded", he was told.
Twenty-two-year-old engineering graduate Mariia thought the first explosion she heard was simply a storm. Then she heard a second.
"We didn't know what to do," says Mariia, who like Ivan, lived in Primorsky. "I didn't have time to think about my future, my plans. I had to think about what I'd eat and drink... [And] what to do with the cats."
It suddenly dawned on her why, in the past few days, soldiers had appeared in the paint shop where she worked, asking to buy blue and yellow tape. They needed it to mark their uniforms.
Four days into the war, with the fighting closing in, Ivan and his wife sought shelter in a basement underneath his local supermarket. It offered good protection, and Ivan found that the muffling of sound dulled his sense of mounting anxiety.
Daily life was being stripped down to bare essentials.
"We lived like primitive people," he told the BBC from Lviv, where he has now fled. "We broke trees, made fires, cooked food on fires. I even heard of people eating pigeons."
He watched as order gradually broke down all around him. He kept a vivid diary, later published online.
"The Stone Age has arrived," he says in his 6 March entry.
He writes of watching his fellow Ukrainian citizens raiding abandoned shops, making off with everything from computers and freezers to swimsuits and underwear.
One evening a drunk woman interrupts a session of evening gossip in the basement. "Treat yourself," she says, as a flashlight revealed a bottle of Californian Merlot, taken from Wines of the World on nearby Italiiska Street.
But aware that even medical supplies and cash tills were being taken, Ivan says he felt disgust.
"We are our own worst enemies," he writes.
But is this, he wonders, how the fittest survive? After a while, each day became a "combat mission".
Over a few short weeks, Mariupol fell apart. The Russian military laid siege to the city, attacking power and water supplies. A Russian airstrike hit the maternity hospital on 9 March, and a plane bombed its theatre - clearly marked as a civilian shelter - a week later.
Ivan was stunned at how quickly it all happened.
The theatre after it was bombed
"The whole city, all its infrastructure, supply system, logistics, energy supply were destroyed in a matter of days," he says.
Sitting underground at night, he sensed people becoming passive.
"You can only wait in the shelter," he writes in his diary. "Some are waiting for spring, some - for the morning to come, some - for the end of the war. And someone is waiting for the bomb to come and kill everyone."
And all this just as Mariupol had seemed destined to turn a corner. Money began to pour in, adding lustre to a city previously associated mainly with heavy industry - and war.
"It was a city aspiring to something," Ivan says. It hadn't always been this way.
Long before this year's invasion, Mariupol had a ringside seat to Ukraine's simmering conflict with Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk, the two regions that make up the neighbouring area known as Donbas.
An activist guards a barricade outside the Mariupol government building seized by pro-Russia activists on 17 April 2014
When fighting first broke out there in 2014, the government briefly lost control of Mariupol after clashes with pro-Russian protesters. In January 2015, a devastating rocket attack by the rebels on the eastern edge of the city killed almost 30 civilians.
Even though the war gradually receded, the sound of artillery booming in the distance was part of Mariupol's daily soundscape.
But the city moved on. The Ukrainian government briefly made Mariupol the administrative capital of the Donetsk Oblast. People migrated from rebel-held areas and the city started attracting investment.
"It started receiving all of the resources and all of the attention," Ivan says.
A view of Mariupol along its coast
Public buildings were renovated, cafés opened, and new parks created. In a podcast last October, the city's mayor Vadym Boychenko boasted of creating the best municipal services in the country, opening an IT school, and promoting contemporary art and sports.
Plans were afoot, he said, for the largest water park in Ukraine and a version of Disneyland "which will probably be called Mariland". In fact, Mariupol was declared Ukraine's "Big Capital of Culture" in 2021.
But while Mariupol flourished, rebel-held Donetsk mouldered. When the rebels returned to Mariupol, Volodymyr, the paramedic, believed they were driven by revenge to destroy the city.
"'If we live in shit, then you will live in shit as well,'" Volodymyr says they told him at a checkpoint as he finally escaped the city. "They just looked at us and envied how we lived."
Volodymyr thinks the Russian-backed separatists were motivated by revenge
Yevhen, the businessman, describes life in Mariupol in the past five years as "a fairytale". "The city was being reconstructed," he says, "all roads were renovated, public transport was improved."
His buildings restoration firm was responsible, among other projects, for the reconstruction of Mariupol's iconic water tower in time for the city's 240th birthday.
"This is a city of hard workers… It was hard for me to explain that my workers should finish at 6pm - they wanted to work longer."
Like many others, weekends would be spent with family in the city's revived parks or on the seafront.
"For me, this is a [key] question - if you want to capture the city, why destroy it? [The Russians] don't need thinking people, they need territory," he says.
And, he adds, he is now getting calls from the Russians to return to Mariupol to help rebuild it.
"But if Mariupol is occupied by Russia, there will be no future there… there will be nothing to live for. To live in unrecognised territory is to bury your children's future."
About 150,000 people remain in the city, from a population of almost half a million. Most of those left there, he says, are also trying to escape.
"I left Mariupol but my soul is there," he says, tears in his eyes.
Businessman Yevhen is already getting calls from Russians to rebuild Mariupol
Nataliia and her husband Andrii worked at the Illich plant, one of two iron and steel works which tower over the city's skyline and loom large in Ivan Stanilavsky's photographs.
They spent long days at work, and leisure time was precious.
"The city authorities laid out marble tiles, made piers [so that] it was possible to sit on a bench right in the sea," Andrii says.
"It was a wonderful warm city with parks, concerts, fountains," his wife says. "A European city."
This recent blossoming was captured by Ivan, but as a photographer with a passion for his city's past, his pet project was documenting Mariupol's remarkable collection of Soviet murals, one of the most extensive in Ukraine.
The cultural importance of preserving such remarkable works seems undeniable, but in Mariupol nostalgia for the Soviet Union jostled uneasily with Ukraine's modern, increasingly European identity, Ivan says.
"Politics was already preventing this cultural heritage from being integrated into Ukraine's artistic context," he says.
So inevitably, when the war came, culture found itself fought over too.
On 28 April, Mariupol's city council denounced the alleged theft by Russia of more than 2,000 exhibits from the city's museums, including ancient icons, a handwritten Torah scroll and more than 200 medals.
The director of Mariupol's Local History Museum, Natalia Kapustnikova, later told Russian newspaper Izvestia that she had personally handed over paintings to the Russians by Ivan Aivazovsky and Arkhip Kuindzhi, and claimed that Ukrainian "nationalists" had burned 95% of the museum's exhibits.
She wasn't the only local official harbouring pro-Russian sentiments. On 9 April, Ukraine's prosecutor general charged a member of Mariupol's city council, Kostyantyn Ivashchenko, with treason after he was declared mayor by pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk.
Ivashchenko's pro-Russian party had been well supported in the city's last elections, coming second, while President Volodymyr Zelensky's party came a distant fifth place.
In a poll conducted just before the elections by the Kyiv-based Centre for Social Indicators, almost half the city's population identified themselves as "Russian", though 80% also described themselves as "Ukrainian".
More tellingly, perhaps, fewer than 20% self-identified as "European", while more than 50% said they were "Soviet".
Mariia says that after the invasion she began to hate all things Russian
Nataliia, whose father is Russian, says she asked her husband for forgiveness when the bombing started. "I was ashamed that I was Russian."
Mariia, the engineer, says that before the war her first language was Russian, but when the bombing began "I started to hate all things Russian - language, movies, objects".
Mariupol's complex identity is hardly unique in today's Ukraine, a country which formed an integral part of the Soviet Union until the collapse of communism at the end of the 1980s. And it's doubtful that any of those who described themselves as "Russian" or "Soviet" wanted to see their city destroyed in a violent effort to pull it back into Moscow's orbit.
Ironically, when the moment arrived to defend the city from Russian invaders, it was another part of Mariupol's Soviet-era legacy that came to play an almost iconic role.
This legacy, buried deep underground, is the maze of bunkers beneath Mariupol's other steel works, Azovstal, built by the Soviet authorities during the Cold War.
The 36 bomb shelters provided room for more than 12,000 people. After independence in 1991, no-one thought that much about them. But then the fighting in 2014 began.
"We started thinking about what we would do if fighting spread further into the city," Enver Tskitishvili, Azovstal's director general, says.
Training on the use of the bunkers and their connecting tunnels went on every day for years.
In early February, as the fear of renewed conflict loomed larger, preparations swung into high gear. Food and water were brought in the week before Russia's invasion.
Officials at the plant knew the bomb shelters would soon be occupied, but had little idea that Azovstal, surrounded by water on three sides, would become the scene of Mariupol's last stand.
An injured Ukrainian serviceman inside the Azovstal iron and steel works factory
As the days went by, the war got closer and closer to Ivan Stanislavsky's apartment. Excursions in search of food, even to the nearby Dzerkalnyy store, just 400m up the road, were increasingly perilous. Sometimes, a Ukrainian mortar team would arrive by truck, fire off a few rounds, and leave before the inevitable Russian reply.
There was little communication between civilians and soldiers.
One day, a tank from the Azov Regiment arrived near Dzerkalnyy, sending locals running, fearful of an impending battle. The regiment emerged in 2014 as a highly effective volunteer militia with far right and, in some cases, neo-Nazi affiliations, before being folded into Ukraine's National Guard.
Vladimir Putin has made extensive use of the Azov's controversial origins, in an effort to bolster his argument that he is trying to "de-Nazify" Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities say the regiment's origins are a thing of the past and points out that far-right parties have had very little electoral success.
In his diary Ivan describes the members he knows as a motley assortment of Mariupol natives - bikers, lawyers, football hooligans, and an amateur actor - driven not by ideology, but by a fierce hatred of those who were trying to ruin their lives.
"Together they formed a 'Nazi' battalion and intimidated the entire Russian army," he writes.
Intimidating and effective, but not enough, eventually, to stem the Russian tide.
While the city's defenders fought their losing battle, Ivan heard voices in his basement starting to curse President Zelensky for leaving Mariupol to its own devices.
President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and children play in a fountain during his first official visit to Mariupol on 15 June 2019
For all the praise heaped on the city's defenders, it was clear from the start that Mariupol was not the government's main priority. Faced with Russian threats on a number of fronts, the Zelensky government chose to secure the capital, thwarting what was arguably Vladimir Putin's top priority.
Ultimately, that meant letting Russian forces achieve another of their pre-war goals: the establishment of a land corridor between Crimea - annexed by Moscow in 2014 - and the separatists in the Donbas.
But for those trapped in the city, fighting or just trying to survive, it was a bitter pill.
"Some say Mariupol was given the status of a hero city," Ivan wrote in his diary on 13 March.
"It looks like the award will be posthumous."
Ivan's photo of the inside of the water tower
By now, Ivan couldn't stand any more. Outside Dzerkalnyy supermarket, he saw corpses neatly stacked under a wall. People who once queued for food were now in "the queue of the dead", waiting to be buried.
So on 15 March Ivan bundled four family members and his cat into his miraculously unscathed Skoda Fabia and joined a convoy for the tortuous journey north-west to government-held Zaporizhzhia.
At an observation point on Markelova St looking towards the port and the beach, Ivan allowed himself a brief moment of reflection.
"In my head I'm saying goodbye to this place," he writes in his diary. "I have a feeling we will never return here."
A day later, Mariia and five relatives also left by car, carrying just personal belongings and the family's dog. As they made their way out of Mariupol, their convoy came under attack and the cars had to accelerate out of danger, headed first to Zaporizhzhia, then to Dnipro.
The following day, Nataliia and Andreii left, after a neighbour offered them a space in his car. The couple eventually reached the city of Khmelnytskyi where they have been selling the family's coin collection in order to survive.
In that same convoy, Yevhen travelled with his wife and two other relatives. He's now in Dnipro, helping other residents who escaped Mariupol, and trying to reach those who remain.
The apartment block where Ivan lived has been destroyed
Volodymyr, the paramedic, stayed in Mariupol as long as he could, to look after his elderly mother. But deprived of food and special medicine, she died. He then left the city on 21 April, and is volunteering at a hospital in Dnipro.
"There are thousands and thousands of families like mine," he says. "How many people have died? How many families have been lost?"
Two months after escaping, Ivan is still watching the death throes of Mariupol from the relative safety of Lviv.
In his diary's poignant epilogue, he writes of flashbacks, text messages about deaths or lucky escapes, and phone calls that go unanswered.
"The subscriber is out of range."
With additional reporting by Kateryna Khinkulova and Illia Tolstov
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61480988
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news_world-europe-61480988
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Immigration: Welsh secretary says he's pragmatic on numbers - BBC News
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2023-03-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Welsh Secretary David Davies says he does not mind "highly-skilled people" coming to Britain.
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Wales
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UK net migration hit 504,000 in the year to June - the highest figure ever recorded, the ONS estimates
Welsh Secretary David Davies said he was "pragmatic" about the number of immigrants allowed into the country.
He said he did not mind "highly-skilled people who've got something to contribute coming to Britain".
Net migration - the difference between people arriving and leaving - is expected to settle at 245,000 a year from 2026 onwards.
But the Home Secretary Suella Braverman wants to reduce net migration to below 100,000.
A post-Brexit points-based immigration system - which covers EU and non-EU migrants - was launched by the UK government at the end of 2020.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that net migration stood at just over 500,000 in the year ending June 2022 - the highest figure ever recorded.
Speaking on BBC Politics Wales, Monmouth MP Mr Davies said: "I'm comfortable about the fact that we're saying if you've got skills for which there is a shortage, doctors for example, certain types of construction workers, of course we welcome you into Britain.
"What I'm not comfortable with is 50,000 a year deciding that they can come into this country without any restrictions, paying money to people smugglers, putting themselves at risk."
Asked if he supported the previous Conservative manifesto commitment of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands, he replied: "Personally, I'm quite pragmatic about it - I don't mind highly-skilled people who've got something to contribute coming to Britain."
Meanwhile, the UK government has faced calls to provide greater rail funding to Wales as a result of the HS2 high-speed rail line since not an inch of track is set to be laid in Wales.
It is classified as an England and Wales project by Westminster, meaning the Welsh government does not receive a proportionate amount of money, something which is known as a top-up Barnett consequential.
Analysis by the UK government estimates HS2 will have an overall negative impact on Wales.
Officials in Westminster have made the case that the proposed Birmingham to Crewe leg of HS2 would benefit passengers in north Wales.
Asked if a two-year delay to the Crewe leg made it harder to justify this argument, Mr Davies said: "The reality is that Wales and England will benefit from rail projects that are going across the border.
"The work that's going on in the Forest of Dean will mainly benefit passengers travelling from south Wales, traveling up to the Midlands or even up to north Wales."
HS2 trains are expected to be 400m-long (1,300ft) with as many as 1,100 seats
The Welsh government and opposition parties in the Senedd, including the Welsh Conservatives, have called for extra HS2 rail funding for Wales.
But in an interview with WalesOnline, UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer refused to commit to making the change if in power in Westminster.
Welsh government Finance Minister Rebecca Evans told Politics Wales she would continue "to press our colleagues in the UK Labour party on HS2".
Mr Starmer also refused to make spending promises on the Welsh NHS ahead of the next general election, but Ms Evans said she was "absolutely confident they will be providing excellent ideas in terms of tax and spending".
On the issue of TikTok, Mr Davies said he was "stumped" over whether he should continue using it.
He said he recognised its usefulness in communicating with younger voters while acknowledging UK government's security fears.
Ministers in Westminster and their counterparts in the Senedd have been banned from using it on work phones amid fears data could be accessed by the Chinese government.
He said: "I'm going to take a bit of advice because on the one hand, I want to make sure that if young people are getting their news from TikTok then I'm there, but on the other hand, I totally recognise the issues that the government raise."
TikTok has denied it hands user data to the Chinese government.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65007855
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French pension reforms: Is Macron's government doomed by crisis? - BBC News
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2023-03-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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No-confidence motions face the Macron government as it tries to force its unpopular changes into law.
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Europe
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President Macron was re-elected on a platform of raising the retirement age and yet his reforms are deeply unpopular
"What this crisis goes to show," veteran political commentator Alain Duhamel said recently, "is that there are two Frances out there. They live in completely separate mental worlds, and find it impossible even to communicate."
As the country teeters on the edge of civil unrest, his verdict echoes like a gloomy premonition. France's demons are back, and stalking the land.
The anger and mutual incomprehension over President Emmanuel Macron's proposed reform of the pension age show how dangerously polarised the two factions have become.
The government says pushing back the pension age from 62 to 64 is vital in order to preserve France's much-prized "share-out" system - based on a single fund that workers pay into and pensioners draw out of.
With people living longer, the only alternatives would be to cut the value of pensions, or increase contributions from those in work.
And both those options would be even more unpopular.
What's more, says the president, France is merely aligning itself with every other European democracy - most of which have pension ages even higher than the proposed 64.
But none of this seems to have gained traction with the public, who continue to reject the reform by a margin of about 70% to 30%.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne addressed the National Assembly last week to a chorus of boos and chants of "Resign"
Instead, people seem more inclined to believe the arguments of the left and far-right: first that there is no urgency because pension finances are not as bad as they're portrayed - but also that it's unjust.
On one side, many protesters are calling not just for an end to the reform, but actually for a lowering of the retirement age, back to where it was before 2010, when it was just 60.
On the other, voices from the right say that the Macron plan is already so riddled with concessions and exemptions, wrung under pressure during the long parliamentary process, that the savings it will make are now virtually meaningless.
In a functioning democracy the opposing arguments would surely find some form of compromise. After all, a majority of the population, while rejecting the Macron plan, also agrees that some reform of pensions is needed.
Faith in conventional politics and the parliamentary system is in fact at rock-bottom. How else to explain the collapse of Gaullists and Socialists, who ran France for half a century, and the rise of the far-right and far-left?
President Macron encouraged the death of the ancien régime, that old order which he exploited to pose as the lone moderate, picking sensible bits from programmes of left and right.
President Macron's failure to secure a parliamentary majority in last year's election means he will struggle to enact major reforms
Hyper-intelligent and hyper-keen he may have been, but France never liked him and he was elected, twice, by default. Because the alternative, Marine Le Pen, was unacceptable to most.
By eliminating the moderate opposition, he made the opposition extreme.
At last year's parliamentary election, he failed to secure a majority - making inevitable the use last Thursday of constitutional force majeure known as 49:3 to push the law through.
Meanwhile, the tenor of public debate was steadily debased.
The left tabled literally thousands of amendments to the pensions bill, making its conventional passage impossible. Opponents described as "brutal" and "inhuman" a reform which in other countries would have seemed perfectly anodyne.
One left-wing MP posed outside the Assembly with his foot on a ball painted with the head of the labour minister; fearing mob violence, a leading pro-Macron MP called on Friday for police protection for her colleagues.
Thousands of tonnes of rubbish lie uncollected in Paris as refuse collectors strike for a second week
With scenes of looting and urban violence, hills of rotting rubbish on the streets of Paris and other French cities, and the promise of more crippling strikes to come, this is the unedifying atmosphere as the country enters the next crucial phase in the crisis.
Following the president's invocation of the 49:3 procedure, opposition parties have tabled two censure motions against the government which will be debated this week. In theory, if one of them passes that would lead to the fall of the government, and possible early elections.
In practice, even the so-called "transpartisan" motion tabled by a centrist group in parliament - supposedly more liable to create a consensus between the mutually hostile far-left and far-right - would be unlikely to get the numbers.
If the motions fail, then the opposition can continue to battle the reform by other means: for example by appealing to the Constitutional Council, which rules on the constitutionality of new laws, or by trying to organise a referendum.
The government hopes that reality will at some point set in, and that most people will dejectedly accept the inevitable.
Quite possibly a sacrificial victim will eventually have to made - no doubt in the form of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.
But for now, the mood is too ugly for that.
In the immediate term, to every petrol depot blockaded, to every bin uncollected, and to every window smashed will be joined the accompanying refrain: "Blame 49:3. Blame Macron."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64986741
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news_world-europe-64986741
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Boris Johnson: Ex-PM to reveal evidence in his defence over Partygate - BBC News
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2023-03-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Boris Johnson faces a marathon televised hearing this week to convince MPs he did not mislead Parliament.
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UK Politics
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Boris Johnson will publish evidence in his defence ahead of a grilling by MPs over whether he misled Parliament about Covid rule-breaking parties.
The former prime minister faces a crucial televised evidence session in front of the Commons Privileges Committee on Wednesday.
The committee is yet to publish its final verdict - but its initial update earlier this month said Mr Johnson may have misled Parliament multiple times.
Wednesday's session, which could last up to five hours, will be a key chance for Mr Johnson to persuade the seven cross-party MPs who make up the committee that he did not mislead MPs in December 2021.
That would include when he told the Commons that he had "been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken".
Sources close to Mr Johnson say he will publish a "compelling dossier" that will provide evidence and arguments that he did not knowingly mislead parliament.
If he fails to convince the committee and is found guilty, he could be suspended from the Commons, and even faces a recall petition, which would trigger a by-election, if that suspension is for more than 10 days.
Crucially, though, MPs would have to approve any sanction on Mr Johnson.
In May last year, an inquiry by senior civil servant Sue Gray found widespread rule-breaking had taken place, and Mr Johnson was among 83 people fined by police for attending law-breaking events.
The Sunday Times, Observer and Sunday Telegraph report that Mr Johnson's "dossier" will include advice he claims he was given at the time by No 10 aides, advising him that Covid rules were not broken.
The Sunday Times quotes one source saying the messages show "in black and white" that what Mr Johnson told Parliament was what he had been advised to say by officials and his No 10 team, claiming he was forced to rely on advice because he was not at some of the events.
Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden - who served in Mr Johnson's government - told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday programme he expected the former prime minister to "put forward a robust defence of his conduct".
The newspapers also report that Mr Johnson's defence may repeat allegations of bias levelled at the former top civil servant Sue Gray, whose inquiry found widespread rule-breaking had taken place in Whitehall during Covid.
Sue Gray produced a highly critical report into lockdown parties under Boris Johnson that contributed to his downfall as PM
Sue Gray has since resigned and has been offered a job as Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff, which caused anger among allies of Boris Johnson including his former cabinet colleagues Jacob Rees-Mogg MP and Nadine Dorries MP.
The Labour Party has said it will give all the information related to its approach to her to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) - the government's appointments watchdog.
But minister Jeremy Quin has said her proposed move may have breached Whitehall's rules, as approval must be obtained prior to a job offer being announced.
Downing Street sources say any sanctions against Mr Johnson would be a matter for the House of Commons and MPs will therefore be given a free vote - meaning they will not be "whipped" to vote a certain way.
That means Tory MPs would not be asked to vote one way or another, as they were over the proposed suspension of Owen Paterson in November 2021, when Mr Johnson was still prime minister.
The government tried to block Mr Paterson's suspension from the Commons but, after a backlash, was later forced to U-turn. He then resigned as an MP.
At the time, Mr Johnson came in for criticism from many of his own MPs about being told to back Mr Paterson, amid Labour accusations of "sleaze". The first Partygate stories broke only a few weeks later.
The Paterson row was the beginning of the end for Mr Johnson's time as prime minister, and Mr Johnson later admitted he "crashed the car" in his handling of the case.
A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: "The Privileges Committee will vindicate Boris Johnson's position.
"The evidence will show that Boris Johnson did not knowingly mislead parliament."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65001385
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news_uk-politics-65001385
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Laura Kuenssberg show: NHS deal is fair to nurses and public finances - Dowden - BBC News
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2023-03-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden joined SNP leadership candidate Kate Forbes and reality star Georgia Harrison on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
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UK Politics
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"We were always willing to engage with the unions," said cabinet minister Oliver Dowden.
That's not quite how union leaders saw it, when the government was adamant that they could not talk about this year’s pay, and no more money could be found for public sector wages.
Dowden tried to focus instead on what he said was a "decent deal’" that the two sides had now managed to broker, in the hope that union members would accept what’s been put on the table.
Were months wasted, with needless disruption for the public, before the inevitable negotiation could take place, you might wonder? That was not something the government minister was willing to admit.
Nor was Dowden able to say how many public sector employees would benefit from the government’s changes to pensions, which make it easier for the highly paid to save. There’s bound to be political argument on this point in the coming days.
And there’ll certainly be headlines when Boris Johnson appears in front of MPs to face questions on Wednesday over what really happened under his roof during lockdown.
Dowden, a close ally of Rishi Sunak’s, said he was sure the former prime minister would put forward a "robust defence" of his conduct.
The newspapers are full of his allies trying to claim the process he’s currently facing is somehow unfair - remember the committee who’ll be grilling him is made up of Conservative as well as Labour MPs.
Remember too, Boris Johnson has already been fined by the police, and ousted by his party. Whatever he says on Wednesday, there is no changing that.
What really stood out on today's show this morning, however, was how awful people’s experience of what happens online can be.
There are plenty of wonderful things about the online world, but the testimony of Georgia Harrison shows its darker side.
Parliament is trying to bring in new laws to crack down on some of those harms, but our guests were not under any illusion over how hard that might actually be.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-64993157
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news_live_uk-politics-64993157
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Daniel White strangled and slit wife's throat in their home - BBC News
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2023-03-24
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Daniel White kicked open his wife's locked door, strangled her and then cut her throat.
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Wales
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Angie White was strangled and her throat was slit
Alexa recordings were used to piece together how a domestic abuser murdered his wife.
Daniel White, 36, kicked open Angie White's locked bedroom door, strangled her and cut her throat.
He then fled the house in Swansea in his wife's car before phoning police to confess in October 2022.
White, from Idris Terrace, Plasmarl, was given a life sentence of at least 20 years and 10 months at Swansea Crown Court after admitting murder.
Officers went to their home where they found the front door unlocked and the body of Mrs White, 45, in her bedroom.
Swansea Crown Court heard labourer White had a long history of domestic violence, including against Mrs White.
At the time of the murder, he was on licence from prison after receiving a 10-year extended sentence for rape and assault.
Fearful of her husband, Mrs White had installed a mortice lock on her bedroom door, which White kicked in after an argument started on WhatsApp.
Neighbours heard banging, shouting and screaming at about 03:00 GMT on 22 October last year before hearing a car drive away.
Shortly before 06:00, White called police, telling a call handler: "I've strangled her and cut her throat. She's dead.
"We argued and she locked the door and said she wanted me out.
"All I wanted to do was take my stuff and leave. I just shut her up.
"I strangled her, I ran downstairs, and I cut her throat to make sure she was dead."
The court heard the couple had an Amazon Alexa, which can control household electrical items when activated by a voice prompt.
Detectives discovered voice commands made by White and his wife at the time of the murder had been saved.
Prosecutor William Hughes said: "Police have been able to discover that at 3.03am Angie in her bedroom said, 'Alexa, volume three'.
"At 3.16am Daniel White's voice can be heard saying, 'Alexa stop'.
"He then goes back downstairs into the living room and says, 'Turn on - Alexa' but what can also be heard is that he is out of breath and these appear to be the moments when, the Crown say, he has gone to get the knife.
"He then returns to the bedroom at 3.18am when he says 'Alexa, turn on the electric light', and at 3.19am he says, 'Alexa, turn off the TV'.
"So, the Crown's reasonable interpretation is after 3.03am and before 3.16am Daniel White had burst through the door and initially strangled Angie, then went downstairs to get the knife, and thereafter cut her throat."
The court heard the couple had begun arguing on WhatsApp. The last message they exchanged was at 03:11.
A pathologist found Mrs White died from knife wounds to her neck. But there was also evidence she had been strangled.
Mrs White's family said nothing would be able to bring her back
White previously admitted murder but refused to attend court for sentencing.
Defence barrister Peter Rouch said the marriage was effectively over and what happened was "a spontaneous act of violence".
He said: "I am not suggesting that is justification, but Your Honour has asked what led to it, and it would seem by putting the picture together as best one can, from the messages and the timings, that seems (to be) what has taken place."
"He does not have the courage to face the family and friends of the woman whose life he so brutally ended," he said.
"You have a disgraceful history of assaulting women who have had the great misfortune to be in a relationship with you."
He said: "When you entered the bedroom you strangled her, probably rendering her unconscious.
"When she was face to face with you, with your hands around her throat, she must have been absolutely terrified.
"After she probably lost consciousness, you didn't seek help for her, you went downstairs and got a knife.
"You took it into her bedroom in order to kill her, to finish her off."
The judge said he had a "cowardly desire to dominate her".
He added: "You did just that - you savagely slit her throat knowing that would kill her."
Speaking afterwards, Mrs White's family said: "Angie was a much-loved daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, and auntie.
"Nothing can bring our beloved Angie back. We shall miss that silly giggle for evermore.
"Daniel White admitted his guilt but continued to use his manipulative behaviour to delay the outcome.
"He deliberately absences himself in what we see as his continuing attempts to control this situation and his cowardliness in avoiding facing us and justice for what he did to Angie."
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said a review was underway.
"This was a horrific crime and our sympathies are with the family and friends of Angie White. As with all serious further offences a review is now underway and it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this stage," he said.
"Serious further offences are rare but we are investing £155m more every year into the Probation Service to improve the supervision of offenders and recruit thousands more staff to keep the public safe."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65067194
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Kuenssberg: The Budget cannot mask big changes to our economy - BBC News
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2023-03-12
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Both main parties are under pressure to make the country and its people richer, writes Laura Kuenssberg.
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UK Politics
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In normal times (remember them?) there would be a frenzy this weekend about what's coming up in next week's Budget.
If it feels a bit muted so far, that isn't just because of a bit of a media frenzy over something else (what could that be?) but because Jeremy Hunt was employed as a "calm down" chancellor - called in like a soothing manager of many years' experience in a sensible bank to sort things out after some crazy young guns spent all the loot.
Given how he got his job and his political character he's not going to wake up on Wednesday morning and spring a red box full of massive shocks on an unsuspecting public.
One senior Conservative MP is hopeful of a few "pleasant surprises" but notes the Downing Street neighbours' priority is to "hold on to their reputation for caution and prudence".
Expect headlines about the country being less in the red than expected, a possible giveaway on pension savings and some goodies to help working families with the soaraway costs of childcare - you can read Faisal's primer here.
But when we sit down on our programme this Sunday with Jeremy Hunt and Labour's Rachel Reeves - who hopes to fill his job - there's so much more than the specifics of what's coming on Wednesday to talk about.
No one Budget can mask some big shifts in how the economy works - or perhaps doesn't work for many voters. Long-term changes to wealth and wages feed into how we all vote.
Statistics in the last few days suggest the economy is not in such dire straits as predicted a few months ago, but what's happened over the past few years and is possibly coming next isn't pretty.
Bluntly, the economy has failed to grow persuasively for a long time, and no strong surge is coming soon. In fact, the Bank of England reckons growth will be measly in the coming years too, only getting back to the levels it was at before Covid in 2026.
Politicians aren't short of explanations for what's gone wrong - some self-inflicted, some out of their control.
There has been the Ukraine war, the pandemic and the disruption of Brexit. We've also seen years of political strife, the markets' disastrous reaction to Liz Truss' decisions, the effects of a spending squeeze during the 2010s and even the long-lasting hangover from the 2008 financial crisis. Remember experts brandishing "L-shaped" graphs during that time - warning that it would take years for the economy to climb back to anything with vigour?
Those political and economic dramas have had real-life consequences, presenting huge challenges to what, years ago, politicians presented to voters as normal, achievable aspirations - the hope and expectation that each generation would do better than the last. Perhaps that's shaky now.
Take for example this statistic from the Institute for Fiscal Studies: in 1997 more than 60% of people on middle incomes between the ages of 25 and 35 owned their own homes. Twenty years later, that figure had slumped to just over 20%.
Think about that for a moment - it is a profound change. There is a blizzard of statistics of course, and each year, every Budget, there are moves up and down. Think how much impact Kwasi Kwarteng's short time with the No 11 Downing Street red box had.
But let's look at the big changes that have been in the works over a longer period.
For years, wages have been sluggish and growing more slowly than wealth. Paul Johnson, economist and director of the IFS, says a "significant fraction" of people in their 20s and 30s are earning less than their parents at the same stage of life.
It's harder to buy a house. It's more expensive to rent one if you can't afford to buy. For decades, what your parents passed on was becoming less important to your chances of prosperity. That seems to have gone into reverse and could have huge consequences for our political choices.
It's given Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer ammunition to suggest that under the Conservatives that pact - that "social contract" with the public that you get back what you put in - has frayed.
"Hard-working families" - the nebulous group so beloved by successive generations of politicians whose votes might swing if only the right solutions could be dangled in front of them - are likely to be working harder and feel life's harder too.
You can add to this the pressures of an ageing population: fewer people in the workforce paying tax, happily living longer but requiring more cash for health and care.
The two main political parties share a desire to get the economy growing strongly. It's not abstract - if the economy doesn't grow and the government needs more money for health or defence for example, ministers have either to borrow, increase taxes or cut spending. Those aren't ideas parties like to put on the front of leaflets, lecterns or Facebook ads.
Rachel Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer have been at pains not to push businesses away
The trouble for the Conservatives is that even inside the party they disagree over how to do it. Former Prime Minister Liz Truss's verdict was to slash taxes, borrowing to do so, which ended in disaster.
Even though Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak promised radical tax cuts when they were vying to be Tory leader, neither of them says now is the right time. There will probably be hints on Wednesday and promises of tax cuts to come, but they're unlikely to cave to backbench pressure to cut now.
We'll hear more from Rachel Reeves on Sunday's programme about how Labour would spend billions to try to create thousands of jobs and get growth going through supporting green industries. But there's perhaps a tension too for Labour, promising massive state intervention in industry while vowing to watch every single penny.
Rishi Sunak has soothed nervous Tory brows in the last few weeks with a frenzy of activity, fewer leaks from cabinet, and pointers the economy might not be in such dire straits as previously thought. His calm down chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, did reassure the manic financial markets when he took over. But Labour's been solidly ahead in the polls for months and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has carefully been building its reputation for credibility and making nice with business.
What happens to our wallets makes a huge difference to what happens at the ballot box. There is huge pressure on both main parties to address the big shifts in how we make our livings as individuals and as a country.
That's not just about what happens this Wednesday but about who wins much bigger arguments that affect us all in the months and years ahead.
We'll be asking Mr Hunt and Ms Reeves about those big questions in the morning, and perhaps, talking a little about what's going on at the BBC too.
Remember, we love to get your questions - you can email me kuenssberg@bbc.co.uk.
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Gary Lineker revolt becomes a test of BBC's values - BBC News
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2023-03-12
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The broadcaster is facing a test of its fundamental values and mission following a day of tumult.
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UK
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When the BBC's director general, Tim Davie, took over in 2020, he declared his founding principle to be "impartiality".
Three years later, a row over that principle and how it applies across the corporation has created a crisis that has quite clearly caught managers by surprise.
Familiar, fixed points in the weekly TV schedule unexpectedly falling off air in quick succession is proof of a crisis that has become something much bigger than a row about some tweets.
The Gary Lineker issue is more than an argument about the opinions of a highly paid sports presenter - it is a test of the BBC's fundamental values and the current director general's core mission.
The passions provoked by Lineker's political tweets and the decision to keep him off air until he and the BBC resolve this issue has poured petrol on a fire that was already well alight - the debate about the BBC's role in British politics and perceptions of bias both to the left and the right.
But first, let's look at the immediate issue.
It's worth noting that complaints about Lineker's politically charged tweets are not new.
In 2016 and 2018 the BBC defended comments made by the Match of the Day presenter about child migrants and Brexit by saying he was a freelance presenter, it was a private Twitter account and the stringent rules for journalists did not apply equally to sports presenters.
The guidelines at the time said the risk to compromising the BBC's impartiality "is lower where an individual is expressing views publicly on an unrelated area, for example, a sports or science presenter expressing views on politics or the arts".
Since then rules have been tightened. New guidelines on social media demanded an "extra responsibility" for presenters with a "high profile". Some described the new rule as the "Lineker clause".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: BBC boss Tim Davie asked if he bowed to government pressure
The question is whether that rule is being fairly applied. Twitter is awash with examples of what some people think are presenters who have gone too far over recent years. Names frequently raised include Alan Sugar, Chris Packham and Andrew Neil.
In response, Mr Davie said on Saturday evening that he was in "listening mode" and suggested there might be an escape route by re-examining those guidelines.
There is good reason for him to want to bring this to a conclusion. Impartiality is hugely important but so too is providing a service that people pay for through their licence fee.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: How the Match of the Day row played out on Saturday... in 60 seconds
Match of the Day went ahead on BBC One on Saturday night - but was reduced to a 20-minute edition that did not have a presenter, pundits or any commentary - while other football coverage was dropped.
Every cancelled programme is a source of further complaint from licence payers who may not care what Lineker says on Twitter but care deeply about their favourite programmes staying on air on a Saturday night.
There is also the wider context of a government that has in recent years been critical of the BBC and its perceived liberal bias.
Greg Dyke, a former director general, who left the BBC over a clash with the Labour Government in 2004, says the decision to pull Gary Lineker from Match of the Day looks like a corporation bowing to political pressure from a Tory government.
All of which leads to another issue that asks questions of the BBC's impartiality, the BBC's chairman, Richard Sharp, a former donor to the Conservative party who is the subject of an ongoing inquiry looking in to his appointment and what he did or did not disclose about his part in the arrangement of an £800,000 loan guarantee to the former prime minister, Boris Johnson. He has denied any involvement in arranging the loan.
Lineker has become a lightning rod for a much bigger debate and the BBC would like to resolve the issue as quickly as possible to stop a very public row turning into a monumental crisis. However, with the corporation saying it wants Lineker, with his 8.7 million Twitter followers, to stop the political tweets while he shows no sign of agreeing to be silenced, it's hard to see quite how this will resolve itself.
For the BBC this is about impartiality but to many others it is about free speech. Indeed, there is a statue outside the BBC's headquarters in London of the author of 1984, George Orwell, a former BBC talks producer. Inscribed on the wall behind the Orwell statue are these words: "If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."
Eighty years after Orwell left the BBC, the corporation finds itself in a deepening crisis. That thought from Orwell and the questions it raises for the BBC are at the very heart of the Lineker debate.
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Why are doctors demanding the biggest pay rise? - BBC News
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2023-03-12
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How junior medics have reached the brink of their biggest walkout, in a fight for a 35% hike.
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Health
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On Monday, thousands of junior doctors in England will start a 72-hour strike. They want a 35% pay rise. Yet doctors are among the highest paid in the public sector. So why do they have the biggest pay claim?
The origins of the walkout by British Medical Association members - the biggest by doctors in the history of the NHS - can be found in a series of discussions on social media platform Reddit in late 2021.
A collection of junior doctors were expressing their dissatisfaction about pay.
The numbers chatting online grew quickly and by January 2022 it had led to the formation of the campaign group Doctors Vote, with the aim of restoring pay to the pre-austerity days of 2008.
The group began spreading its message via social media - and, within months, its supporters had won 26 of the 69 voting seats on the BMA ruling council, and 38 of the 68 on its junior doctor committee.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Rob Laurenson stood for BMA election on a Doctors Vote platform
Two of those who stood on the Doctors Vote platform - Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi - became co-chairs of the committee.
"It was simply a group of doctors connecting up the dots," Dr Laurenson says. "We reflect the vast majority of doctors," he adds, pointing to the mandate from the wider BMA junior doctor membership - 77% voted and of those, 98% backed strike action.
Among some of the older BMA heads, though, there is a sense of disquiet at the new guard. One senior doctor who has now stood down from a leadership role says: "They're undoubtedly much more radical than we have seen before. But they haven't read the room - the pay claim makes them look silly."
Publicly, the BMA prefers not to talk about wanting a pay rise. Instead, it uses the term "pay restoration" - to reverse cuts of 26% since 2008. This is the amount pay has fallen once inflation is taken into account.
To rectify a cut of 26% requires a bigger percentage increase because the amount is lower. This is why the BMA is actually after a 35% increase - and it is a rise it is calling for to be paid immediately.
The argument is more complicated than the ones put forward by most other unions - and because of that it has raised eyebrows.
Firstly, no junior doctor has seen pay cut by 26% in that period. There are five core pay points in the junior doctor contract with each a springboard to the next. It means they move up the pay scale over time until they finish their training.
A junior doctor in 2008 may well be a consultant now, perhaps earning four times in cash terms what they were then.
Secondly, the 26% figure uses the retail price index (RPI) measure of inflation, which the Office for National Statistics says is a poor way to look at rising prices. Using the more favoured consumer price index measure, the cut is 16% - although the BMA defends its use of RPI as it takes into account housing costs.
"The drop in pay is also affected by the start-year chosen," Lucina Rolewicz, of the Nuffield Trust think tank, says. A more recent start date will show a smaller decline, as would going further back in the 2000s.
Another way of looking at pay is comparing it with wages across the economy by looking at where a job sits in terms of the lowest to highest earners.
The past decade has not been a boom time for wage growth in many fields, as austerity and the lack of economic growth has held back incomes.
Last year, the independent Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration Body looked at this. It found junior doctors had seen their pay, relative to others, fall slightly during the 2010s, but were still among the highest earners, with doctors fresh out of university immediately finding themselves in the top half of earners, while those at the end of training were just outside the top 10%.
Then, of course, career prospects have to be considered. Consultants earn well more than £100,000 on average, putting them in the top 2%. GP partners earn even more.
A pension of more than £60,000 a year in today's prices also awaits those reaching such positions.
But while the scale of the pay claim is new, dissatisfaction with working conditions and pay pre-date the rise of the Doctors Vote movement.
Studying medicine at university takes five years, meaning big debts for most. Dr Trivedi says £80,000 of student loans are often topped up by private debt.
On top of that, doctors have to pay for ongoing exams and professional membership fees. Their junior doctor training can see them having to make several moves across the country and with little control over the hours they work. Their contract means they are required to work a minimum of 40 hours and up to 48 on average - additional payments are made to reflect this.
This lasts many years - junior doctors can commonly spend close to a decade in training.
It is clearly hard work. And with services getting increasingly stretched, it is a job that doctors say is leaving them "demoralised, angry and exhausted", Dr Trivedi says, adding: "Patient care is being compromised."
But while medicine is undoubtedly tough, it remains hugely attractive.
Junior doctor posts in the early years are nearly always filled - it is not until doctors begin to specialise later in their training that significant gaps emerge in some specialities such as end-of-life care and sexual health.
Looking at all doctor vacancy rates across the NHS around 6% of posts are unfilled - for nurses it is nearly twice that level.
Many argue there is still a shortage - with not enough training places or funded doctor posts in the NHS in the first place.
But the fact the problems appear more severe in other NHS roles is a key reason why the government does not seem to be in a hurry to prioritise doctors - formal pay talks to avert strikes have begun with unions representing the rest of the workforce
"If we have some money to give a pay rise to NHS staff," a source close to the negotiations says, "doctors are not at the front of the queue."
Update: This article was updated on 18 May 2023 to make it clear doctors can be required to work up to 48 hours and the footnote on the first chart has changed 'overtime' to 'additional hours'.
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BBC and Gary Lineker: Tweets decision comes at high price for BBC - BBC News
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2023-03-12
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One of the BBC's best loved presenters has been taken off air due to an impartiality row.
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Entertainment & Arts
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It can't have been what the BBC intended.
One of its most famous and best loved presenters has been taken off air - and it appears to be in the midst of a stand-off with no clear exit strategy for either side.
Sticking to its guns on impartiality has come at a high price for the corporation and opened up new faultlines in the process.
First up, Match of the Day, which saw its star-studded presenting and commentating cast of sport royalty drop out in quick succession or assert that they would not appear on set - in solidarity with Gary Lineker.
In scenes more reminiscent of the 1960s epic film Spartacus than a football highlights show, presenters and pundits are standing with Gary Lineker, effectively declaring "I'm Spartacus".
Ian Wright and Alan Shearer began the exodus from the show this weekend, with Jermaine Jenas and Micah Richards also posting that, if they'd been due to be on the show, they too would have said no.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: How the Match of the Day row played out on Saturday... in 60 seconds
Alex Scott has also tweeted, heavily implying she would not present the programme in Gary Lineker's place.
Now, MOTD have said it will broadcast a show focused on highlights - and without the characteristic punditry. It's an unenviable position to be in.
Who could have predicted that the government's asylum policies and the language around them, so robustly criticised by Gary Lineker in his tweets, would end up reducing the BBC's most popular football show to this?
Impartiality is at the heart of Director General Tim Davie's strategy for the corporation, as he has declared many times.
Alan Shearer and Ian Wright began the exodus from the show this weekend
Some argue that was a reaction to pressure from the Conservative government.
But there is no doubt Mr Davie has always insisted he genuinely believes in impartiality as a way to ensure the BBC, funded by licence fee payers, is for everyone.
Staff and on-air talent are asked to leave their opinions at the front door. But there is some nuance in that.
In its statement on Friday, the BBC said: "We've never said Gary should be an opinion free zone."
Tim Davie has said impartiality should be at the heart of the BBC
Gary Lineker is a sports presenter not a political presenter or news journalist. But the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit has previously ruled that, although the star is not required to uphold the same impartiality standards as BBC journalists, he has an "additional responsibility" because of his profile.
"We expect these individuals to avoid taking sides on party political issues or political controversies and to take care when addressing public policy matters," the ruling said.
By deciding Gary Lineker's "recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines" and deciding to take him off air, the BBC has, though, opened itself up to criticisms that it's on the wrong side of free speech arguments.
So on top of the fate of Match of the Day, that's another headache.
Are we really saying, argue the critics, that somebody who isn't a news journalist but appears on the BBC in another capacity, can't tweet their views about politics in a personal capacity? Where will it end, they ask?
Can a gameshow host not have an opinion on a government policy? Or an actor who's closely linked to a high profile BBC drama? A comedian?
Even more ominously, they ask is this actually only about people whose views diverge from those of the government of the day?
And while the BBC's free speech credentials are under scrutiny, the BBC is also being accused of double standards, of caving in to political pressure at a time when its own Conservative-linked chairman remains in post.
Richard Sharp has been under pressure for his role in facilitating a loan agreement for Boris Johnson when he was prime minister and not declaring it as a potential conflict of interest in the appointment process when he was under consideration to be chairman of the BBC.
Mr Sharp has previously admitted the affair had embarrassed the BBC but insisted he had "acted in good faith to ensure that the rules were followed".
The Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell has specifically linked the two cases saying "the same cries of impartiality were totally absent when the BBC Chair failed to disclose aspects of his close friendship with the then PM".
The BBC is justified in arguing that it has no say in the case of the BBC chair. Mr Sharp is a political appointment, and his appointment is now being investigated by the commissioner for public appointments.
But perceptions matter. And the BBC is accused by one side of coming down heavily on Gary Lineker for his anti-government rhetoric, while apparently having a chair in post who is mired in a row and has given money to the Conservatives in the past.
One counter argument is that Richard Sharp, as a Board member, isn't involved in editorial matters.
Plenty would say, though, neither is Gary Lineker. He has no editorial say on air about politics. Sport is his thing - and as a sports presenter, the BBC today called him "second to none".
But no longer - this weekend anyway - for the BBC.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64922674
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XXXTentacion: Three men found guilty of murdering rapper in 2018 - BBC News
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2023-03-20
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The rapper, 20, real name Jahseh Onfroy, was shot and killed during a Florida robbery in 2018.
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US & Canada
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Three men accused of killing 20-year-old rapper XXXTentacion during a 2018 ambush robbery have been found guilty.
A Florida jury convicted Michael Boatwright, 27, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24 on Monday after deliberating for more than a week.
All three were charged with first-degree murder in connection to the death of the controversial rapper.
Another man, Robert Allen, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder.
The three face a possible sentence of life behind bars.
Rapper XXXTentacion, real name Jahseh Onfroy, was shot and killed in broad daylight in Florida in June 2018.
He was visiting a motorcycle shop and was leaving when he was approached by two armed masked men who "demanded property" from him, police said at the time.
At least one of the men shot XXXTentacion during a 45-second struggle. The suspects then grabbed a Louis Vuitton bag full of $50,000 (£42,000) in cash that the rapper had just withdrawn from the bank before fleeing the scene in an SUV.
During the trial, the lawyer for Boatwright argued that his client's DNA was not found on XXXTentacion's body. He said the DNA of the two other men did not match either.
"Whoever (XXXTentacion) struggled with is not in this courtroom," lawyer Joseph Kimok said during closing arguments.
The fourth suspect, Allen, testified against the other three after he pleaded guilty last year. Lawyers for the other suspects have argued that Allen lied about their client's involvement in the robbery and death.
They also claimed that investigators botched the case and failed to consider other suspects.
Lead prosecutor Pascale Achille, however, said that the lack of DNA evidence was irrelevant, as cell phone data shows the three accused were together near the motorcycle shop at the time of the rapper's death.
Ms Achille said that Bluetooth data shows the accused were in the SUV used by the shooters at that same time.
Prosecutors presented surveillance video from the motorcycle shop as evidence, as well as cell phone videos that the accused allegedly took hours after the killing showing them flashing handfuls of $100 bills.
XXXTentacion's music explored themes of depression, loneliness, abandonment and suicide. The platinum-selling rising rap artist faced some controversies in his brief career.
His personal life was plagued by allegations of domestic violence. He was facing 15 felony charges at the time of his death, including aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation and witness tampering.
His song Look at Me took off on SoundCloud and later exploded to No 34 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Many of his tracks climbed up the charts in the UK and the US shortly after his death, and his memorial was attended by thousands of fans.
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Iraq war 20 years on: How invasion plunged country into decades of chaos - BBC News
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2023-03-20
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The BBC's Jeremy Bowen explains why Iraqis are still living with the consequences 20 years on.
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Middle East
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The fence is lined with photos of people killed by the Islamic State group
The invasion of March 2003 was a catastrophe for Iraq and its people.
More proof of that, measured in broken lives, was at a suspected site of a mass grave in the desert outside Sinjar, not far from the border with Syria.
Survivors of one of Iraq's damaged communities, the Yazidis, looked on as the earth in a marble quarry was excavated. On a wire fence around the site were photos of dozens of people, mostly men, who had been killed by jihadists from the Islamic State group. They were from Zile-li, a village near the quarry, where 1,800 men were taken and killed on 3 August 2014.
The Yazidis revere both the Quran and the Bible; their religion is influenced by both Christianity and Islam. Islamic State considered them to be infidels and carried out a genocidal assault. It happened after the Americans and British had ended their occupation, but a direct line links the massacre to the invasion, and the disastrous years that followed.
Among those watching the excavation was Naif Jasso, the Sheikh of Kocho, a Yazidi community that suffered an even worse attack than Zile-li. He said that in Kocho, 517 people out of a population of 1,250 were killed by jihadists from IS, also known as ISIS or Daesh.
In Zile-li, men were separated from their families at gunpoint and shot dead at the quarry. Sofian Saleh, who was 16 at the time, was among the crowd at the excavation. He is one of only two men from Zile-li who survived. As he waited for death with his father, brother and 20 to 30 other men, he saw another group shot dead. Their bodies tumbled down a cliff into the quarry. Then it was their turn.
"They tied our hands from behind before the shooting. They took us and threw us on the ground," he said.
Sofian's father and brother were killed, but he survived because bodies fell on him, covering him up.
Sofian Saleh is one of only two men who survived
Islamic State was using its favourite tactic. First, they killed the men, then took the women as slaves. Children were removed from their mothers to be indoctrinated as IS recruits. A mother sitting near the suspected grave wept as she remembered the baby ripped from her and given to a jihadist family.
Next to the wire fence around the site, Suad Daoud Chatto, a woman in her 20s, stood with a poster. On it were the faces of nine men from her extended family who were killed, and two missing female relatives. She said jihadists captured her in 2014 when she was 16, along with many other women and girls, and held her in Syria. She remained until 2019, when she was rescued as the Caliphate collapsed.
Suad Daoud Chatto holds a poster showing nine of her relatives who were killed
"They were like barbarians, they kept us in handcuffs for a long time. Our hands were still tied even during the meals," she said.
"They married me off many times… they were marrying the slaves. They did not spare anyone. We were all raped. They were killing people before our eyes. They killed all the Yazidi men - they killed eight of my uncles. They destroyed many families."
In the end, only a few bags of human bones were found at the site. Dozens of others are still to excavated.
By the time IS rampaged through Iraq in the summer of 2014, the US and the UK had ended their occupation. Jihadist ideology existed long before the invasion, and had inspired the 9/11 attacks.
But far from destroying the ideology of Osama Bin Laden and the jihadist extremists, the years of chaos and brutality set off in 2003 turbo-charged murderous jihadist violence. Al-Qaeda, broken for a while by an alliance between the Americans and Sunni tribes, regenerated into the even more barbarous IS.
Iraq is more stable so far this year than it has been for a long while. Baghdad, Mosul and other cities are much safer. But Iraqis feel the results of the invasion every day. Its consequences have shaped and blighted millions of lives and changed their country profoundly.
It is a grim irony that the invasion has dropped out of political and public debate in the US, which conceived and led it, and in the UK, its closest ally in the coalition. The Americans and British bear a heavy responsibility for what happened after the invasion, and its consequences also affect them.
Iraq's tyrant, Saddam Hussein, was well worth overthrowing - he had imprisoned and killed thousands of Iraqis, even using chemical weapons against rebellious Kurds. The problem was how it was done, the way the US and UK ignored international law, and the violence that gripped Iraq after the Bush administration failed to make a plan to fill the power vacuum created by regime change.
The past 20 years since the invasion, coming on top of Saddam's dictatorship, add up to almost half a century of torture for the Iraqi people.
Even for those who were there, it is hard to recreate the febrile atmosphere of "fear, power and hubris", as one historian put it recently, that gripped the US in the 18 months between al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks in 2001 and the invasion of Iraq.
I was in New York a few days after the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed, as F-15 jets patrolled above Manhattan. It was a visible demonstration of American force, as the biggest military power on the planet worked out how to respond.
The shock of the attacks swiftly produced George W Bush's declaration of "war on terror" against al-Qaeda and its jihadist fellow travellers. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair chartered Concorde to cross the Atlantic to offer support. He believed Britain's best guarantee of influence in the world was to stay close to the White House.
US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House in November 2001
They moved fast against al-Qaeda's network in Afghanistan. Before the end of the year, a US-led coalition removed the Taliban regime from power when it refused to give up al-Qaeda's leader, Osama Bin Laden. Kabul was not enough for America.
President Bush and his advisors saw a global threat to the US. They thought states that opposed them could make deadly alliances with al-Qaeda and its imitators. The biggest target in their sights was Iraq. Saddam Hussein had been a thorn in America's side ever since he sent his army into Kuwait in 1990. Without any evidence, the Americans tried to manufacture a link between Saddam and al-Qaeda when none existed. In reality the Iraqi leader, a secular dictator, saw religious extremists as a threat.
The president's father, George HW Bush, decided not to remove Saddam from power in Baghdad after the Iraqi occupiers were driven out of Kuwait by an international coalition assembled by the US in 1991. The first President Bush and his advisors saw trouble ahead if they continued to Baghdad. A long, belligerent occupation of Iraq looked like a morass and they had no UN authorisation to topple the regime.
I was in Baghdad when the ceasefire was declared. Regime officials I knew could not believe that Saddam's dictatorship had survived.
Twelve years later, by 2003, America's rage and arrogance of power blinded the second President Bush to the realities that had constrained his father. When the US and UK could not persuade the UN Security Council to pass a resolution explicitly authorising invasion and regime change, Messrs Bush and Blair claimed earlier resolutions gave them the authority they needed.
Among many who did not buy their argument was the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In a BBC interview 18 months after the invasion, he said it was "not in conformity" with the UN Charter - in other words, illegal. France and other Nato allies refused to join the invasion. Tony Blair ignored huge protests in the UK. His decision to go to war dogged the rest of his political career.
No president or prime minister faces a bigger decision than going to war. George Bush and Tony Blair embarked on a war of choice that killed hundreds of thousands of people. The justifications for the invasion were soon shown to be untrue. The weapons of mass destruction that Tony Blair insisted, eloquently, made Saddam a clear and present danger, turned out not to exist. It was a failure not just of intelligence but of leadership.
US Marines from the 1st Marine Division get set to deploy close to Baghdad in April 2003
The Americans called the huge air raids that started their offensive "shock and awe". Neo-conservatives around George W Bush deluded themselves that democracy, and regional stability, could be imposed through the barrel of a gun. Overwhelming US force would not just safeguard America, it would stabilise the Middle East too, and democracy would spread through Syria, Iran and beyond, like a good virus.
US troops topple a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad
Saddam was removed within weeks. Iraqis were in no mood to be grateful. In Saddam's last decade as leader, the vast majority of them had been impoverished by sanctions authorised by the UN, but driven hardest by the US and UK. The Americans, the British and their allies were unable to bring peace to the streets. Nightmarish years started with wholesale looting, revenge attacks and crime.
Iraqi Sunni Muslim insurgents in front of a burning US convoy on the outskirts of Fallujah in 2004
An insurgency against the occupation turned into a sectarian civil war. Iraqis turned against each other as the Americans imposed a system of government that split power along ethnic and sectarian lines - between the country's three main groups, Shia Muslims, Kurds and Sunni Muslims. Armed militias fought each other, the occupiers, and killed each other's civilians.
Jihadist groups moved in to exploit the chaos and kill foreigners. Before the Americans managed to kill him, a brutal Sunni extremist from Jordan, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, targeted attacks to turn the insurgency against the occupation into a sectarian civil war. Shia death squads retaliated with their own reign of terror.
No-one knows exactly how many Iraqis have died as a result of the 2003 invasion. Estimates are all in the hundreds of thousands. The tide of violent sectarianism continues to rumble around the Middle East.
The geopolitical legacy of the invasion is still shaping events. Unwittingly, the Americans turned the balance of power in Iraq in Iran's favour by overthrowing Saddam Hussein, who was considered a Sunni bulwark against the Islamic Republic. Removing him empowered Shia politicians who were close to Tehran. Militias armed and trained by Iran are among the most powerful forces in Iraq and have representatives in government.
The US and UK's fear of causing another disaster hamstrung their response to the Arab uprisings of 2011, and especially the war against his own people launched by President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Disorder in Iraq, where the population is growing fast, fuels the trade in people-smuggling to Europe. According to the British Home Office, Iraqis are the fourth largest national group crossing the English Channel in small boats. The UK Refugee Council says the vast majority whose cases have been processed are granted asylum as refugees.
American and British leaders do not dwell on the invasion these days, but others have not forgotten. One reason why much of the global south stayed neutral after Russia invaded Ukraine, ignoring appeals to uphold international law, was the memory of how the US, the UK and Western allies who joined the coalition ignored it as they steamrollered opposition to their invasion of Iraq.
It is a sign of how bad the past 20 years have been that Saddam nostalgia is well established in Iraq, not just among his own Sunni community. People complain that at least you knew where you were with the old dictator. He was an equal opportunities killer of anyone he saw as an enemy, including his own son-in-law.
In a queue for diesel in a camp near Mosul, a 48-year-old Sunni named Mohammed, raged against the Shia-led government in Baghdad and against the years of sectarian killing that followed the invasion.
"We wish that Saddam's rule could come back, even for one day. Saddam was a dictator, and it was one man's rule - correct. But he was not killing the people based on whether they were Shia, Sunni, Kurdish, or Yazidi."
Iraq has signs of hope. Parts of towns and villages are still in ruins, but they feel safer, even though Iraqis still face threats that would be considered a national crisis in the West. Well-trained anti-terrorist units are containing IS jihadist cells, who still manage to carry out bombings and ambushes. Even so, shopkeepers are hoping for a bumper Ramadan, their busiest time of the year.
Longer term, the biggest legacy of the invasion for Iraq might be the political system that the Americans instigated, which divides power along ethnic and sectarian lines. As developed by Iraqi politicians, it has offered prodigious chances for corruption.
Estimates of the amount stolen since 2003 range from $150bn (£124bn) to $320bn (£264bn). Most Iraqis, of all sects, who have not benefited from the bonanza of theft, face constant power cuts, bad water, and inadequate medical care, in hospitals that were once considered to be as good as ones in Europe. Walk down most streets and you will see children working or begging, instead of going to school. Iraq used to have one of the best educational systems in the Middle East.
Iraq's latest prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, has promised a new start. His biggest challenge is keeping his promise to tackle corruption, the cancer that is eating the country from within. He even did a broadcast surrounded by piles of confiscated banknotes that were being returned to Iraq's treasury.
But the people that matter most are the innocent victims. Not just the dead, but millions of Iraqis, and others in the Middle East whose lives were made much worse because of the invasion and its consequences.
At the mass grave near Sinjar, Yazidi activists appealed for international protection. Survivors said that the IS jihadists who carried out the genocidal massacres in 2014 had Iraqi accents, some from Tel Afar, a nearby town.
Farhad Barakat, a 25-year-old Yazidi activist who survived because he managed to escape to Mount Sinjar, said they were still scared of their neighbours. The killers, he said, were from their "surrounding clans or tribes, Arab clans. So how it that possible? The ones who killed us, raped the Yazidi women, they were Iraqis."
The BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera seeks to find new answers to why the Iraq war happened, what it meant, and its legacy today.
Listen at 13:45 BST each weekday or stream or download all 10 episodes on BBC Sounds
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-64976144
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news_world-middle-east-64976144
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School face masks worn in England to avoid Covid row with Scotland - claims - BBC News
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2023-03-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Ministers in England came under pressure after Scotland introduced face coverings in schools.
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Family & Education
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Secondary school children in England were required to wear face coverings to avoid a row with Scotland over Covid, the Daily Telegraph has claimed.
Leaked WhatsApp messages suggest that England's chief medical officer had been ambivalent about the scientific evidence behind the measure.
Ministers in England came under pressure after Scotland introduced it.
A government spokesperson said: "We have always said there are lessons to be learnt from the pandemic."
They added: "We are committed to learning from the Covid inquiry's findings, which will play a key role in informing the government's planning and preparations for the future."
Guidance was changed to require face coverings in secondary schools in England in areas which were under local lockdown from September 2020.
The announcement made them mandatory in corridors and communal areas. This later applied to classrooms where distancing was not possible.
The Telegraph reports that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had asked for advice about face coverings in schools.
In a WhatsApp group chat on the morning of 25 August 2020, he asked whether the government needed to make a "U-turn" on its stance, the paper says.
Lee Cain, then Downing Street's director of communications, is reported to have sent a link to a BBC article announcing face coverings would be mandatory in corridors and communal areas in high schools in Scotland, where the school year starts earlier.
He asked whether it was worth fighting as Scotland had taken the step, the paper says.
According to the leaked messages, Simon Case, who was leading civil service Covid efforts, is said to have warned that "nervous parents would freak out" if Scotland's example was not followed.
Sir Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, is reported to have said there was "no strong reason against in corridors etc., and no very strong reasons for", adding that it was "not worth an argument".
The change in guidance in England was announced that night.
In January 2022, the government admitted the evidence for using masks in schools to reduce spread of Covid was "not conclusive".
The uncertainty was acknowledged in a review used by ministers in England to make their decision to introduce face coverings in classrooms.
The Telegraph story comes after other WhatsApp messages leaked to the newspaper suggested that the former health secretary, Matt Hancock, rejected expert advice on Covid tests for people going into care homes in England at the start of the pandemic - a claim he has disputed.
The BBC has not seen or independently verified the WhatsApp messages nor the context in which they were sent.
The Telegraph has obtained more than 100,000 messages sent between Mr Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the pandemic.
The texts were passed to the newspaper by journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who has been critical of lockdowns. Ms Oakeshott was given copies of the texts while helping Mr Hancock write his book, Pandemic Diaries.
A spokesperson for Mr Johnson said it was "not appropriate to comment" on the leaks and that the UK's independent public inquiry into the pandemic "provides the right process for this".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-64811382
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Dominic Raab resigns as bullying inquiry finds 'aggressive conduct' - BBC News
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2023-04-21
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The senior Tory MP abused his power, a report concludes, but he says the findings are "flawed".
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UK Politics
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Dominic Raab has resigned as deputy prime minister after a bullying inquiry found he acted in an "intimidating" and "aggressive" way towards officials.
The inquiry, by a senior lawyer, was set up by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after eight formal complaints about Mr Raab's behaviour as a minister.
The lawyer made multiple findings that fit a description of bullying in a report submitted to Mr Sunak.
Mr Raab said the inquiry was "flawed and sets a dangerous precedent".
The senior Conservative MP said he would quit the government if the inquiry by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC made any finding of bullying against him whatsoever.
The bullying complaints, which involved 24 people, relate to Mr Raab's previous periods as justice secretary and foreign secretary under Boris Johnson, and his time as Brexit secretary under Theresa May.
Mr Tolley's report concluded Mr Raab had engaged in an "abuse or misuse of power" when foreign secretary, and "acted in a manner which was intimidating" towards officials at the Ministry of Justice.
In a resignation letter to Mr Sunak, Mr Raab said the inquiry "dismissed all but two of the claims levelled against me".
He said he feared the inquiry would "encourage spurious complaints against ministers, and have a chilling effect on those driving change on behalf of your government - and ultimately the British people".
In a letter to Mr Raab, Mr Sunak said his former deputy had kept his word after "rightly" undertaking to resign if the report made any finding of bullying whatsoever.
But the prime minister said he thought there had been "shortcomings" in the process and had asked civil servants to look at how complaints are handled.
The prime minister's spokesperson said Mr Sunak did not regret appointing Mr Raab to be his deputy.
The resignation of Mr Raab - one of Mr Sunak's key supporters during the Conservative leadership contest last year - triggered a mini-reshuffle of Mr Sunak's top team.
Mr Sunak has promoted two of his closest allies - Oliver Dowden as deputy prime minister, and Alex Chalk justice secretary - to fill the posts left vacant by Mr Raab.
Mr Raab's political fate had been hanging in the balance for about 24 hours after the prime minister received the report from Mr Tolley on Thursday morning.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Sir Keir Starmer said Rishi Sunak should have sacked Dominic Raab, rather than allow him to resign
Mr Raab's resignation is the third departure of a cabinet minister since Mr Sunak became prime minister.
A Downing Street source said Mr Sunak did not urge Mr Raab to resign.
Labour has accused Mr Sunak of being weak for failing to sack Mr Raab.
"We've had 13 years of Tory PMs trying to dodge the rules and defend their mates," a Labour source said. "Enough is enough."
The Liberal Democrats said Mr Raab's resignation should trigger a by-election for his Esher and Walton seat, in Surrey, calling him "unfit to represent his constituents in Parliament".
In his conclusions, Mr Tolley said he found a description of bullying had been met, when Mr Raab was foreign secretary and justice secretary.
The High Court in 2021 defined bullying, and confirmed that harassment, bullying and discrimination was not consistent with the Ministerial Code and was not to be tolerated, as Mr Tolley points out in his report.
Mr Tolley said Mr Raab had "acted in a way which was intimidating, in the sense of unreasonably and persistently aggressive conduct in the context of a work meeting", and that his behaviour involved "an abuse or misuse of power in a way that undermines or humiliates".
Mr Tolley also said, at meetings with policy officials, Mr Raab "acted in a manner which was intimidating, in the sense of going further than was necessary or appropriate in delivering critical feedback".
Mr Raab was "also insulting, in the sense of making unconstructive critical comments about the quality of work done (whether or not as a matter of substance any criticism was justified)", Mr Tolley said.
He said Mr Raab "did not intend by the conduct described to upset or humiliate", nor did he "target anyone for a specific type of treatment".
Mr Raab pulled no punches in his resignation letter. He made that clear that, while he accepted the outcome of the inquiry, he did not agree with the findings against him.
He said ministers "must be able to give direct critical feedback on briefings and submissions to senior officials, in order to set the standards and drive the reform the public expect of us".
While he apologised for any "unintended" stress caused, he attributed this to the "pace, standards and challenge" he brought to the Ministry of Justice.
"In setting the threshold for bullying so low, this inquiry has set a dangerous precedent," Mr Raab wrote.
His main argument appears to be that ministers need to be able to give direct critical feedback, and exercise direct oversight, over their civil servant officials.
One question now is whether he decides to take any further action.
He has punchily accused some civil servants of "systematic leaking of skewed and fabricated claims" and claimed a senior official initiated a "coercive removal" of some of his private secretaries last year.
Someone who advised Mr Raab in a senior role in one department told the BBC his resignation letter contained "one of the best examples of a 'non-apology' from a minister in recent years".
The person said Mr Raab's version of being the deputy prime minister "is one that should be learnt from and ultimately consigned to the history books".
A senior Tory MP and former Cabinet minister said: "Has Dominic Raab been hard done by? Certainly. Is he the victim of a civil service union ambush? Probably."
The FDA, a union that represents civil servants, has called for an independent inquiry in to ministerial bullying following the Raab investigation.
FDA General Secretary Dave Penman said Mr Raab's resignation was a "damning indictment" of the process for enforcing ministerial standards within government.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65333983
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news_uk-politics-65333983
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Mifepristone: US Supreme Court preserves abortion drug access - BBC News
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2023-04-21
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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For now access to mifepristone remains unchanged, in the latest legal battle over abortion in the US.
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US & Canada
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The US Supreme Court has preserved access to a commonly used abortion pill, ruling the drug can remain available while a legal case continues.
In a split decision, it also rejected restrictions on mifepristone implemented by a lower court, essentially maintaining the status quo.
The future of the drug was called into question after a Texas judge sought to invalidate its long-standing approval.
The case could have wide-ranging implications for abortion access.
It comes after the Supreme Court - which has a 6-3 conservative majority - overturned Roe v Wade in June last year, ending the nationwide guarantee to abortion and giving states the power to ban the procedure.
With Friday's ruling, the mifepristone case now returns to the lower 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
It is likely that the case will come before the Supreme Court once again, setting up the most significant ruling on the issue of abortion since Roe was overturned.
Mifepristone is part of a two-drug regimen that now accounts for more than half of abortions in the country. It has been used by more than five million women in the US to end their pregnancies.
It was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more than 20 years ago after four years of review.
The FDA also placed mifepristone in a category of 60 drugs that are regulated under a system of extra restrictions and regular evaluations.
Mainstream medical organisations, including the American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists and the World Health Organization, have said the abortion pill is safe and effective.
But earlier this month, Texas court judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled to suspend the FDA approval of mifepristone, saying the agency had violated federal rules that allowed for the accelerated approval of some drugs, and had erred in its scientific assessment of the drug.
Judge Kacsmaryk's preliminary decision came after a group of anti-abortion health professionals launched a case challenging the safety of mifepristone.
His 7 April ruling was made just minutes before a decision from a judge in Washington state ordered the FDA to make no change to the drug's availability and preserved access to mifepristone in 17 US states.
US President Joe Biden's administration appealed the Texas ruling, and asked for the Texas court's order to be placed on hold.
A divided appeals court said mifepristone could remain available, but with certain restrictions, while the appeal was under way.
Among the restrictions imposed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals was a limit on sending the pills by mail, effectively requiring in-person visits. These restrictions have now been overturned by the Supreme Court, for now.
Two of the Supreme Court's conservative members, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito, dissented publicly to the decision, which came in a single paragraph, issued hours before a self-imposed deadline.
Justice Thomas provided no reasons for his dissent, while Justice Alito wrote that the Supreme Court has been criticised in the past for issuing emergency orders, called the "shadow docket" by critics.
The decision drew immediate reaction from anti-abortion advocates, who have concentrated their efforts on abortion pills since the fall of Roe.
Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative advocacy group that filed the initial lawsuit, said the FDA "must answer for the damage it has caused to the health of countless women and girls".
"We look forward to a final outcome in this case that will hold the FDA accountable," it said.
Kristan Hawkins, president of anti-abortion group Students for Life called the Supreme Court's decision a "tragedy".
Pro-choice advocates "have weaponised and weakened the medical standards to favour abortion industry interests," she said.
The latest ruling was welcomed by medical experts and organisations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University said: "Imposing restrictions on access to mifepristone, a drug that's been on the market for two decades, is a bridge too far even for a highly aggressive and conservative Supreme Court."
He said restrictions on mifepristone would post "immeasurable" harms to the drug approval process in the US. "In some ways it would be open hunting season to all of the FDA's drugs."
Pro-choice politicians also applauded the top court's decision, including Mr Biden who said he would continue to defend the FDA's independence and fight political "attacks on women's health".
That fight is not over - oral arguments for the case will begin before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in mid-May.
But for now, Friday's ruling had the immediate effect of reassuring healthcare providers that access would continue, at least for the time being.
Kristyn Brandi, a gynecologist, or OB-GYN, and abortion provider in New Jersey, said she was relieved to learn about the ruling. Before it came, she and other providers were unsure of what services they would be able to offer patients attending clinics this weekend.
"Tomorrow morning at 7AM the patients will be able to access the care that they need," she said. "That's all that matters today."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65356390
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news_world-us-canada-65356390
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Paris synagogue bomber convicted after 43 years - BBC News
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2023-04-21
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Hassan Diab refused to leave Canada to attend the trial into the murder of four people.
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Europe
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The Rue Copernic attack was the first to target Jews in France since World War Two
More than 42 years after the deadly bombing of a Paris synagogue, a court in Paris has convicted a Lebanese-Canadian university professor of carrying out the attack.
The judges decided that Hassan Diab, 69, was the young man who planted the motorcycle bomb in the Rue Copernic on 3 October 1980.
Four people were killed and 38 others wounded in the bombing.
He refused to attend the trial but the judges gave him a life sentence.
Prosecutors had argued it was "beyond possible doubt" that he was behind the bombing. His supporters have condemned the trial as "manifestly unfair".
The Rue Copernic attack was the first to target Jews in France since World War Two, and became a template for many other similar attacks linked to militants in the Middle East in the years that followed.
The decades-long investigation became a byword both for protracted judicial confusion, as well as for the dogged determination of a handful of magistrates not to let the case be forgotten.
Diab is a Lebanese of Palestinian origin who obtained Canadian nationality in 1993 and teaches sociology in Ottawa.
He was first named as a suspect on the basis of new evidence in 1999, already nearly 20 years after the killings.
Hassan Diab denied involvement in the bombing and refused to leave Canada to attend the trial
Eight years later the French issued an international arrest warrant, and it was not until 2014 that Canada agreed to extradite. But in 2018 French magistrates declared the case closed for lack of proof, allowing Diab to return to Canada.
Finally in 2021 an appeal against the closure of the case was upheld in the Supreme Court, the first time this had ever happened in a French terrorism case.
It meant a trial could finally go ahead, and it began earlier this month.
From the start Diab, protested his innocence and he did not return to France for the trial, which was conducted in his absence. His conviction means that a second extradition request will have to follow, though with strong doubts over whether it will succeed.
According to the Canadian Press news agency, Diab said on Friday that "we hoped reason would prevail".
Responding to the verdict, the Hassan Diab Support Committee in Canada called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make it "absolutely clear" that no second extradition would be accepted.
They said 15 years of legal "nightmare... is now fully exposed in its overwhelming cruelty and injustice".
At a news conference, Mr Trudeau said his government "will look carefully at next steps, at what the French government chooses to do, at what French tribunals choose to do".
"But we will always be there to stand up for Canadians and their rights," he added.
Over three weeks the court heard an account of the known facts of the case, plus arguments identifying Diab as the bomber and counter-evidence suggesting he was a victim of mistaken identity.
Police released an artist's impression of the bomber in 1980
None of the original investigating team was alive to speak, and the surviving witnesses who saw the attacker in 1980 all admitted that after more than 40 years their memories were too hazy to be reliable.
The bomb was left in the saddle-bag of a Suzuki motorbike outside a synagogue in the wealthy 16th arrondissement of Paris. Had there not been a delay, the pavement would have been packed with people leaving the religious service inside.
In 1980 the investigation initially centred on neo-Nazis, and there were mass demonstrations by the political left. But a claim by an ultra-right group was found to be fake, and by the end of the year attention had switched to a Middle East connection.
The bomber was identified as having a fake Cypriot passport bearing the name Alexander Panadriyu.
He was believed to have entered France from another European country as part of a larger group, and to have bought the motorbike at a shop near the Arc de Triomphe.
He was thought to belong to a dissident Palestinian group called the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Operations (PFLP-SO).
But the investigation hit a wall, and it was not till 1999 that Hassan Diab's name emerged from new information, believed to emanate from the former Soviet bloc.
The attack was eventually blamed on a dissident Palestinian group - the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Operations
Italian authorities then revealed that in 1981 the passport of a Hassan Diab had been found at Rome airport in the possession of a senior figure from the PFLP-SO. The passport bore stamps showing the holder entering and leaving Spain around the dates of the Rue Copernic attack.
The core of the prosecution case rested on the passport.
Under questioning while in custody, Diab explained that he had lost the passport just a month before the attack. But in Lebanon a French judge found an official declaration for the lost passport - a declaration made in 1983 and with a date of loss in April 1981.
The defence argued that all of this was circumstantial, and that there was still no hard evidence that Diab was in France in October 1980. They produced testimony from friends in Beirut who said Diab had been sitting university exams at the time of the attack.
Handwriting analysts who said the hotel registration form signed by the attacker was consistent with Diab's script were also dismissed as inconclusive.
"The only decision that is juridically possible - even if it's on a human level a difficult one - is acquittal," defence lawyer William Bourdon said in his summing-up Thursday. "I am here before you to prevent a judicial error."
But prosecutor Benjamin Chambre, while regretting that all the other members of the terrorist group had escaped without charge, said: "With Hassan Diab, we have the bomb-maker and the bomb-planter. That's already something."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65347584
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news_world-europe-65347584
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Why are doctors demanding the biggest pay rise? - BBC News
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2023-04-17
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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How junior medics have reached the brink of their biggest walkout, in a fight for a 35% hike.
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Health
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On Monday, thousands of junior doctors in England will start a 72-hour strike. They want a 35% pay rise. Yet doctors are among the highest paid in the public sector. So why do they have the biggest pay claim?
The origins of the walkout by British Medical Association members - the biggest by doctors in the history of the NHS - can be found in a series of discussions on social media platform Reddit in late 2021.
A collection of junior doctors were expressing their dissatisfaction about pay.
The numbers chatting online grew quickly and by January 2022 it had led to the formation of the campaign group Doctors Vote, with the aim of restoring pay to the pre-austerity days of 2008.
The group began spreading its message via social media - and, within months, its supporters had won 26 of the 69 voting seats on the BMA ruling council, and 38 of the 68 on its junior doctor committee.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Rob Laurenson stood for BMA election on a Doctors Vote platform
Two of those who stood on the Doctors Vote platform - Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi - became co-chairs of the committee.
"It was simply a group of doctors connecting up the dots," Dr Laurenson says. "We reflect the vast majority of doctors," he adds, pointing to the mandate from the wider BMA junior doctor membership - 77% voted and of those, 98% backed strike action.
Among some of the older BMA heads, though, there is a sense of disquiet at the new guard. One senior doctor who has now stood down from a leadership role says: "They're undoubtedly much more radical than we have seen before. But they haven't read the room - the pay claim makes them look silly."
Publicly, the BMA prefers not to talk about wanting a pay rise. Instead, it uses the term "pay restoration" - to reverse cuts of 26% since 2008. This is the amount pay has fallen once inflation is taken into account.
To rectify a cut of 26% requires a bigger percentage increase because the amount is lower. This is why the BMA is actually after a 35% increase - and it is a rise it is calling for to be paid immediately.
The argument is more complicated than the ones put forward by most other unions - and because of that it has raised eyebrows.
Firstly, no junior doctor has seen pay cut by 26% in that period. There are five core pay points in the junior doctor contract with each a springboard to the next. It means they move up the pay scale over time until they finish their training.
A junior doctor in 2008 may well be a consultant now, perhaps earning four times in cash terms what they were then.
Secondly, the 26% figure uses the retail price index (RPI) measure of inflation, which the Office for National Statistics says is a poor way to look at rising prices. Using the more favoured consumer price index measure, the cut is 16% - although the BMA defends its use of RPI as it takes into account housing costs.
"The drop in pay is also affected by the start-year chosen," Lucina Rolewicz, of the Nuffield Trust think tank, says. A more recent start date will show a smaller decline, as would going further back in the 2000s.
Another way of looking at pay is comparing it with wages across the economy by looking at where a job sits in terms of the lowest to highest earners.
The past decade has not been a boom time for wage growth in many fields, as austerity and the lack of economic growth has held back incomes.
Last year, the independent Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration Body looked at this. It found junior doctors had seen their pay, relative to others, fall slightly during the 2010s, but were still among the highest earners, with doctors fresh out of university immediately finding themselves in the top half of earners, while those at the end of training were just outside the top 10%.
Then, of course, career prospects have to be considered. Consultants earn well more than £100,000 on average, putting them in the top 2%. GP partners earn even more.
A pension of more than £60,000 a year in today's prices also awaits those reaching such positions.
But while the scale of the pay claim is new, dissatisfaction with working conditions and pay pre-date the rise of the Doctors Vote movement.
Studying medicine at university takes five years, meaning big debts for most. Dr Trivedi says £80,000 of student loans are often topped up by private debt.
On top of that, doctors have to pay for ongoing exams and professional membership fees. Their junior doctor training can see them having to make several moves across the country and with little control over the hours they work. Their contract means they are required to work a minimum of 40 hours and up to 48 on average - additional payments are made to reflect this.
This lasts many years - junior doctors can commonly spend close to a decade in training.
It is clearly hard work. And with services getting increasingly stretched, it is a job that doctors say is leaving them "demoralised, angry and exhausted", Dr Trivedi says, adding: "Patient care is being compromised."
But while medicine is undoubtedly tough, it remains hugely attractive.
Junior doctor posts in the early years are nearly always filled - it is not until doctors begin to specialise later in their training that significant gaps emerge in some specialities such as end-of-life care and sexual health.
Looking at all doctor vacancy rates across the NHS around 6% of posts are unfilled - for nurses it is nearly twice that level.
Many argue there is still a shortage - with not enough training places or funded doctor posts in the NHS in the first place.
But the fact the problems appear more severe in other NHS roles is a key reason why the government does not seem to be in a hurry to prioritise doctors - formal pay talks to avert strikes have begun with unions representing the rest of the workforce
"If we have some money to give a pay rise to NHS staff," a source close to the negotiations says, "doctors are not at the front of the queue."
Update: This article was updated on 18 May 2023 to make it clear doctors can be required to work up to 48 hours and the footnote on the first chart has changed 'overtime' to 'additional hours'.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-64907379
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news_health-64907379
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Ukraine war: Russia's uncertain future a product of its past - BBC News
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2023-04-17
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Russia's invasion of Ukraine is making its future uncertain - but so too is its authoritarian past.
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Europe
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In his St Petersburg apartment, university lecturer Denis Skopin shows me the document which has changed his life.
Until recently Denis was associate professor at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St Petersburg State University. But on 20 October the university sacked him for "an immoral act incompatible with educational functions".
What was this so-called immoral act? Participation in an "unsanctioned" rally.
On 21 September Denis joined a street protest against the Kremlin's decision to draft Russians to fight in Ukraine. Earlier in the day, President Vladimir Putin had declared "partial mobilisation" across the country. During the demonstration Denis was arrested and spent 10 days in jail.
"Freedom of expression in Russia is in crisis," Denis tells me. "All kinds of freedoms are in deep crisis."
"After I was released from detention, I worked for three more weeks. The university sent me letters asking me to explain my absence. I replied that I'd been arrested for participation in a protest and put in detention. Then the Human Resources department called me and told me that I'd been sacked."
On his final day at work, Denis's students gathered outside the university to say goodbye.
In an impromptu speech (the video was posted online) he told them:
"What is an immoral act? Acting against your conscience and passively obeying someone else's orders. I acted according to my conscience. I am sure that the future of our country belongs to you."
The students broke into applause for their sacked teacher.
"I love my students very much," Denis tells me. "They are very smart and they understand very well what is happening now in Russia. Their [show of] approval was not for me personally. Rather, it was disapproval of what is happening now in Russia.
"Many people in Russia don't dare to protest because they risk being punished for it. But many would like to. And, for these people, providing approval to those who do protest is a way of disagreeing with what is happening in Russia."
Denis says a quarter of his colleagues have left Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Denis Skopin's story highlights not just the pressure which opponents of the Kremlin's "special military operation" are coming under here. It also raises questions about Russia's future.
"Locked up with me in the detention centre there were IT specialists, scientists, doctors, teachers and students. Many of them are now abroad. Like my cell-mate, a young talented mathematician.
"About 25% of my immediate colleagues have already left Russia. They left after 24 February. Some of them left immediately, some left after mobilisation was declared. I think Russia is losing the best people now. The most educated, the most energetic, the most critically thinking people are leaving the country. In short, Russia is going in the wrong direction."
An uncertain future is not solely the consequence of the present. It is also the product of Russia's past.
Across town a small group of St Petersburg residents is standing beside a monument to the victims of Joseph Stalin's Great Terror of the 1930s.
The monument is made out of a large rock from the remote Solovetsky Islands, home to one of the most notorious forced labour camps of the Gulag. Solovki camp was set up to imprison political prisoners alongside other convicts.
People are queuing up at a microphone. They are taking it in turns to read out names of individuals who were arrested, condemned and executed in and around St Petersburg.
At a monument in St Petersburg, people read the names of victims of Stalin's Great Terror
It is thought that Soviet dictator Stalin had a million of his own citizens executed. Millions more lives were destroyed in his machine of terror which cranked out arrests, deportations and forced labour on a mass scale. Some of his successors, like Nikita Khrushchev and Mikhail Gorbachev, did denounce Stalin's crimes.
And yet, in Vladimir Putin's Russia, Stalin has enjoyed something of a rehabilitation. The authorities today place less emphasis on the darker chapters of the Stalin years, while Stalin himself is often portrayed as a strongman who defeated Nazi Germany and turned the Soviet Union into a superpower. Putin's Kremlin seeks positives in the past - victories.
"Unfortunately, our country didn't turn over this page properly. Stalin's repressions were not talked about enough or fully condemned. This is why the war in Ukraine is happening today," says pensioner Ludmila, who has come to lay flowers at the Solovki Stone.
"Experience shows that remaining silent leads to bad things. We mustn't forget the bloody stains of our country's history."
Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin has undergone a kind of rehabilitation in Putin's Russia - you can even buy Stalin merchandise
Sacked university lecturer Denis Skopin has studied the Stalin years. He sees parallels between then and now.
"I just published a book in English about how people in Stalin's Russia removed from group photographs those who were declared 'enemy of the people'. Colleagues, friends or even close relatives had to remove all signs of them from photographs. They did it with scissors and with ink.
"The faculty where I taught had a partnership with Bard College, an American liberal arts college. Last year Bard College was declared an 'undesirable organisation' in Russia. So, our faculty broke the partnership and the Bard College name was removed from the stands displayed in the corridors of our faculty using exactly black ink. In the same way as in Stalin's Russia."
If, as Denis claims, his students "understand very well" what is happening in Russia and Ukraine, that raises a question: if young Russians are not convinced by the Kremlin's arguments, how will the authorities persuade the public long-term to rally round the flag and back the president?
Answer: by making sure young people "understand" events as the Kremlin does.
To help achieve that, a new patriotic lesson has been introduced into schools across Russia for all schoolchildren: "Conversations About Important Things." It is not part of the official curriculum, but it is the first lesson on a Monday morning and children are strongly encouraged to attend.
What "important things" are discussed there? Well, when President Putin played teacher in Kaliningrad in September, he told a group of children that the aim of Russia's offensive in Ukraine was to "protect Russia" and he described Ukraine as an "anti-Russian enclave." You can see which way the "Conversation" goes.
Olga Milovidova says the "forced education" reminds her of the Soviet era
"This is forced education. To my mind this is as dangerous as it was in Soviet times when we had 'political information' lessons," says St Petersburg teacher Olga Milovidova, who retired last month. "In those days we had to read the newspaper Pravda. And I remember we had to read books by [Soviet leader] Brezhnev as if they were masterpieces. We had to give only positives opinions. There was no critical discussion.
"Education and patriotism mustn't be put together," believes Olga, who was a deputy school director. "There are children who just believe. They open their eyes and they are ready to believe in anything. That is very dangerous."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63471505
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Prince Harry to attend coronation without Meghan - BBC News
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2023-04-13
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Prince Harry will travel to the UK but Meghan will stay in California with their children.
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UK
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Harry will attend the coronation at Westminster Abbey, but Meghan will stay in the US with their children
The Duke of Sussex will be present at the King's coronation, but his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, will not be attending, Buckingham Palace has said.
There had been speculation about whether the couple would travel to the coronation but it has now emerged that Prince Harry will attend alone.
The prince will join more than 2,000 guests at Westminster Abbey on 6 May.
It will be the first time he has been seen with the Royal Family since his bombshell memoir Spare was published.
Prince Harry's book vividly revealed the depth of his disagreements with other members of the Royal Family, and he has since spoken of feeling "different" from the rest of his family.
King Charles and the Queen Consort will be crowned next month, in front of more than 2,000 guests
The decision for Meghan to reject the invitation will be seen as part of these continuing, unresolved family tensions.
Prince Harry's book - and an earlier Netflix series - had highlighted his anxiety about negative media coverage, particularly towards his wife, amid suggestions of a lack of support from his family.
It had been unclear whether Prince Harry would attend his father's coronation, but it is now confirmed that he will be at the Abbey, meaning King Charles will have both his sons present for the ceremony.
The date is also the fourth birthday of Prince Harry and Meghan's son, Prince Archie, who will remain in the US with his mother.
The couple issued a statement along the same lines as the palace: "The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation service at Westminster Abbey on May 6th. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet."
Neither the couple's spokeswoman nor Buckingham Palace commented on the decision, but there were strongly divided opinions on social media, with supporters praising Meghan for standing up for herself while opponents criticised her for "snubbing" her royal in-laws.
Prince Harry made a surprise appearance for a court hearing in London last month
Prince Harry and Meghan had been contacted more than a month ago about attending the coronation, prompting weeks of speculation about whether they would go.
The announcement means that Prince Harry will be part of the historic ceremony, joining other members of the Royal Family, public figures, world leaders and 450 representatives of charities and community groups.
As he is no longer a "working royal", it remains to be seen what part Prince Harry will play in the ceremony. For the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, Prince Harry and Meghan were not allowed to take part in the traditional appearance on Buckingham Palace balcony.
It is expected that the Prince of Wales will have a prominent role in the coronation - and after Prince Harry's dramatic account of their falling out there will be attention on the two brothers being seen together again.
Prince Harry's memoir described a physical altercation between the brothers and arguments about their father marrying Camilla.
The Queen Consort's grandchildren will be among the children with roles at the coronation, and Buckingham Palace has said that after that event will be an "appropriate time" for her to become known as Queen Camilla.
As well as the coronation service, there is a long weekend of public events and concerts which the Royal Family will be expected to attend. However, it is not known how long Prince Harry will be in the UK.
Prince Harry made an unexpected appearance in London in March, when he attended a court hearing in a case against Associated Newspapers about allegations of privacy breaches, but he was not thought to have met his brother, Prince William, or the King during the visit.
Read the latest from our royal correspondent Sean Coughlan - sign up here.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65255135
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Mifepristone ruling: The abortion battle may be just be beginning - BBC News
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2023-04-22
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The overturning of abortion rights last year opened the door to numerous state-level legal challenges.
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US & Canada
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Activists on both sides of the abortion debate outside the Supreme Court
Less than a year after its landmark decision reversing constitutional abortion protections, a majority of the nine justices of the US Supreme Court seem reluctant to jump back into the politically charged subject anytime soon.
The court was reviewing a decision by a federal judge in Texas that suspended approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the abortion drug mifepristone, one of the most commonly used methods of terminating a pregnancy in America.
The court threw out that decision, as well as a ruling by a federal appeals court that would have limited use of the drug to women less than seven weeks pregnant, and required three in-person physician visits for those seeking the drug, and prevented its availability by post.
The court's ruling was short and to the point. The current rules governing mifepristone remain in effect until the Supreme Court eventually does decide on the merits of the original Texas order, or (less likely) lets whatever the appeals court decides stand without review.
This effectively kicks the can down the road months and possibly well into 2024, when a final court decision could come down in the shadow of the next presidential election.
Two justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, openly dissented from the majority. The latter went into detail on why he would have let the Fifth Circuit's appeal court's ruling stand.
He wrote that the circuit court's stay would not have caused "irreparable harm" to the FDA or to Danco Laboratories, which manufactures the drug.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Why anti-abortion campaigners still march after Roe was overturned
Neither Mr Alito nor the majority decision expressed any opinion about mifepristone's ultimate fate. Given the conservative-leaning court's abortion ruling last year, however, its final decision in the case could very well anger the abortion-rights groups that on Friday were celebrating.
The case is now back in the hands of the Fifth Circuit appeals court, where six of its 16 judges were appointed by Donald Trump and only four by Democratic presidents.
Last week, two Trump-selected judges on that court issued a lengthy opinion that, among other things, said it was "unlikely" that the challenge to at least some of the FDA's decisions authorising mifepristone would fail. A third judge (appointed by former Republican President George W Bush) disagreed.
Those three judges will hear oral arguments in the case in May and could issue a decision weeks or even months later. That ruling could then be reviewed by the full 15-judge circuit before the losing side has the opportunity to appeal to the US Supreme Court.
There is a likelihood that when this case once again lands on the steps of the high court, it will do so with a ruling that curtails the availability of the abortion drug.
Even that, however, could be just the beginning.
This current legal battle is just over a temporary hold on the FDA's mifepristone approval. Once this round of appeals has concluded, the case will head back to the Texas court for a trial on the merits of the case, possibly with witness testimony.
After that court issues its final decision, the appeals process will start all over again.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Meanwhile, the opinion of the general public continues to land heavily in favour of existing policies relating to the abortion pill. A recent Ipsos poll found 68% of Americans opposed overturning approval of the abortion drug versus only 28% in favour. Republican voters were split, with 53% in favour and 46% opposed.
A majority of Americans view the Supreme Court sceptically when it comes to abortion, with 57% saying the chamber is politically motivated on the topic, while only 37% trust that the justices will remain "neutral and impartial".
Friday's order may allow some of those emotions, and attitudes towards the court, to cool in the coming months. But the court's abortion ruling last June has opened the door to numerous legal challenges to state-level abortion rights and restrictions, as well as to federal policies like the mifepristone rules.
Mr Alito, in his opinion last June, wrote that "it is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives", but this is far from the last time the nine justices will have to weigh in on the matter.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65357418
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Mifepristone: US Supreme Court preserves abortion drug access - BBC News
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2023-04-22
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For now access to mifepristone remains unchanged, in the latest legal battle over abortion in the US.
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US & Canada
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The US Supreme Court has preserved access to a commonly used abortion pill, ruling the drug can remain available while a legal case continues.
In a split decision, it also rejected restrictions on mifepristone implemented by a lower court, essentially maintaining the status quo.
The future of the drug was called into question after a Texas judge sought to invalidate its long-standing approval.
The case could have wide-ranging implications for abortion access.
It comes after the Supreme Court - which has a 6-3 conservative majority - overturned Roe v Wade in June last year, ending the nationwide guarantee to abortion and giving states the power to ban the procedure.
With Friday's ruling, the mifepristone case now returns to the lower 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
It is likely that the case will come before the Supreme Court once again, setting up the most significant ruling on the issue of abortion since Roe was overturned.
Mifepristone is part of a two-drug regimen that now accounts for more than half of abortions in the country. It has been used by more than five million women in the US to end their pregnancies.
It was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more than 20 years ago after four years of review.
The FDA also placed mifepristone in a category of 60 drugs that are regulated under a system of extra restrictions and regular evaluations.
Mainstream medical organisations, including the American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists and the World Health Organization, have said the abortion pill is safe and effective.
But earlier this month, Texas court judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled to suspend the FDA approval of mifepristone, saying the agency had violated federal rules that allowed for the accelerated approval of some drugs, and had erred in its scientific assessment of the drug.
Judge Kacsmaryk's preliminary decision came after a group of anti-abortion health professionals launched a case challenging the safety of mifepristone.
His 7 April ruling was made just minutes before a decision from a judge in Washington state ordered the FDA to make no change to the drug's availability and preserved access to mifepristone in 17 US states.
US President Joe Biden's administration appealed the Texas ruling, and asked for the Texas court's order to be placed on hold.
A divided appeals court said mifepristone could remain available, but with certain restrictions, while the appeal was under way.
Among the restrictions imposed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals was a limit on sending the pills by mail, effectively requiring in-person visits. These restrictions have now been overturned by the Supreme Court, for now.
Two of the Supreme Court's conservative members, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito, dissented publicly to the decision, which came in a single paragraph, issued hours before a self-imposed deadline.
Justice Thomas provided no reasons for his dissent, while Justice Alito wrote that the Supreme Court has been criticised in the past for issuing emergency orders, called the "shadow docket" by critics.
The decision drew immediate reaction from anti-abortion advocates, who have concentrated their efforts on abortion pills since the fall of Roe.
Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative advocacy group that filed the initial lawsuit, said the FDA "must answer for the damage it has caused to the health of countless women and girls".
"We look forward to a final outcome in this case that will hold the FDA accountable," it said.
Kristan Hawkins, president of anti-abortion group Students for Life called the Supreme Court's decision a "tragedy".
Pro-choice advocates "have weaponised and weakened the medical standards to favour abortion industry interests," she said.
The latest ruling was welcomed by medical experts and organisations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University said: "Imposing restrictions on access to mifepristone, a drug that's been on the market for two decades, is a bridge too far even for a highly aggressive and conservative Supreme Court."
He said restrictions on mifepristone would post "immeasurable" harms to the drug approval process in the US. "In some ways it would be open hunting season to all of the FDA's drugs."
Pro-choice politicians also applauded the top court's decision, including Mr Biden who said he would continue to defend the FDA's independence and fight political "attacks on women's health".
That fight is not over - oral arguments for the case will begin before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in mid-May.
But for now, Friday's ruling had the immediate effect of reassuring healthcare providers that access would continue, at least for the time being.
Kristyn Brandi, a gynecologist, or OB-GYN, and abortion provider in New Jersey, said she was relieved to learn about the ruling. Before it came, she and other providers were unsure of what services they would be able to offer patients attending clinics this weekend.
"Tomorrow morning at 7AM the patients will be able to access the care that they need," she said. "That's all that matters today."
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Why are doctors demanding the biggest pay rise? - BBC News
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2023-04-10
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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How junior medics have reached the brink of their biggest walkout, in a fight for a 35% hike.
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Health
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On Monday, thousands of junior doctors in England will start a 72-hour strike. They want a 35% pay rise. Yet doctors are among the highest paid in the public sector. So why do they have the biggest pay claim?
The origins of the walkout by British Medical Association members - the biggest by doctors in the history of the NHS - can be found in a series of discussions on social media platform Reddit in late 2021.
A collection of junior doctors were expressing their dissatisfaction about pay.
The numbers chatting online grew quickly and by January 2022 it had led to the formation of the campaign group Doctors Vote, with the aim of restoring pay to the pre-austerity days of 2008.
The group began spreading its message via social media - and, within months, its supporters had won 26 of the 69 voting seats on the BMA ruling council, and 38 of the 68 on its junior doctor committee.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Rob Laurenson stood for BMA election on a Doctors Vote platform
Two of those who stood on the Doctors Vote platform - Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi - became co-chairs of the committee.
"It was simply a group of doctors connecting up the dots," Dr Laurenson says. "We reflect the vast majority of doctors," he adds, pointing to the mandate from the wider BMA junior doctor membership - 77% voted and of those, 98% backed strike action.
Among some of the older BMA heads, though, there is a sense of disquiet at the new guard. One senior doctor who has now stood down from a leadership role says: "They're undoubtedly much more radical than we have seen before. But they haven't read the room - the pay claim makes them look silly."
Publicly, the BMA prefers not to talk about wanting a pay rise. Instead, it uses the term "pay restoration" - to reverse cuts of 26% since 2008. This is the amount pay has fallen once inflation is taken into account.
To rectify a cut of 26% requires a bigger percentage increase because the amount is lower. This is why the BMA is actually after a 35% increase - and it is a rise it is calling for to be paid immediately.
The argument is more complicated than the ones put forward by most other unions - and because of that it has raised eyebrows.
Firstly, no junior doctor has seen pay cut by 26% in that period. There are five core pay points in the junior doctor contract with each a springboard to the next. It means they move up the pay scale over time until they finish their training.
A junior doctor in 2008 may well be a consultant now, perhaps earning four times in cash terms what they were then.
Secondly, the 26% figure uses the retail price index (RPI) measure of inflation, which the Office for National Statistics says is a poor way to look at rising prices. Using the more favoured consumer price index measure, the cut is 16% - although the BMA defends its use of RPI as it takes into account housing costs.
"The drop in pay is also affected by the start-year chosen," Lucina Rolewicz, of the Nuffield Trust think tank, says. A more recent start date will show a smaller decline, as would going further back in the 2000s.
Another way of looking at pay is comparing it with wages across the economy by looking at where a job sits in terms of the lowest to highest earners.
The past decade has not been a boom time for wage growth in many fields, as austerity and the lack of economic growth has held back incomes.
Last year, the independent Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration Body looked at this. It found junior doctors had seen their pay, relative to others, fall slightly during the 2010s, but were still among the highest earners, with doctors fresh out of university immediately finding themselves in the top half of earners, while those at the end of training were just outside the top 10%.
Then, of course, career prospects have to be considered. Consultants earn well more than £100,000 on average, putting them in the top 2%. GP partners earn even more.
A pension of more than £60,000 a year in today's prices also awaits those reaching such positions.
But while the scale of the pay claim is new, dissatisfaction with working conditions and pay pre-date the rise of the Doctors Vote movement.
Studying medicine at university takes five years, meaning big debts for most. Dr Trivedi says £80,000 of student loans are often topped up by private debt.
On top of that, doctors have to pay for ongoing exams and professional membership fees. Their junior doctor training can see them having to make several moves across the country and with little control over the hours they work. Their contract means they are required to work a minimum of 40 hours and up to 48 on average - additional payments are made to reflect this.
This lasts many years - junior doctors can commonly spend close to a decade in training.
It is clearly hard work. And with services getting increasingly stretched, it is a job that doctors say is leaving them "demoralised, angry and exhausted", Dr Trivedi says, adding: "Patient care is being compromised."
But while medicine is undoubtedly tough, it remains hugely attractive.
Junior doctor posts in the early years are nearly always filled - it is not until doctors begin to specialise later in their training that significant gaps emerge in some specialities such as end-of-life care and sexual health.
Looking at all doctor vacancy rates across the NHS around 6% of posts are unfilled - for nurses it is nearly twice that level.
Many argue there is still a shortage - with not enough training places or funded doctor posts in the NHS in the first place.
But the fact the problems appear more severe in other NHS roles is a key reason why the government does not seem to be in a hurry to prioritise doctors - formal pay talks to avert strikes have begun with unions representing the rest of the workforce
"If we have some money to give a pay rise to NHS staff," a source close to the negotiations says, "doctors are not at the front of the queue."
Update: This article was updated on 18 May 2023 to make it clear doctors can be required to work up to 48 hours and the footnote on the first chart has changed 'overtime' to 'additional hours'.
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Amir Khan banned for two years after anti-doping test reveals presence of prohibited substance - BBC Sport
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2023-04-04
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British boxer Amir Khan is banned for two years after an anti-doping test revealed the presence of a banned substance following his fight against Kell Brook in February 2022.
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Last updated on .From the section Boxing
British boxer Amir Khan has been banned for two years after an anti-doping test revealed the presence of a banned substance following his fight against Kell Brook in February 2022.
The former light-welterweight world champion tested positive for ostarine.
Khan, who retired from boxing in May, accepted he broke anti-doping rules but said it was not intentional.
An independent tribunal accepted that argument, ruling out "deliberate or reckless conduct" by the 36-year-old.
"I've never cheated," Khan told Sky Sports News. "But I've got a two-year ban now, which is quite strange and funny because I'm already retired anyway.
"There's no comeback planned at all. But I've never cheated and I never will. That's just not something I would do."
• None June fight for Eubank-Benn 'definitely not signed'
Khan says he has "no idea" how the banned substance ended up in his system.
"I have to take some sort of responsibility. End of the day it's been found in my system. I can honestly say this is something I would never ever do [cheating].
"It was such a tiny amount, it was no benefit at all. I should have maybe taken more precautions.
"I don't want to remembered for something like this," he said. "That'll hurt me."
The UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) website states ostarine is a drug designed to have similar effects to testosterone.
Khan tested positive for the drug in a Ukad test taken on 19 February 2022, the night he lost to Brook.
Ukad says it informed Khan, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) on 6 April 2022 of a potential four-year ban. Brook and event promoters Boxxer were not told.
Khan accepted two doping violations but insisted he was innocent of "intentional doping", which led to the case being referred to the National Anti-Doping Panel.
The case was not heard by an independent tribunal until 24 January 2023, with a written decision handed down on 21 February.
In the meantime, Khan announced his retirement from boxing on 13 May 2022, just three months after his loss to Brook and less than a month after he was told of his positive test.
Ukad rejected Khan's defence that the ostarine was transmitted by a tainted supplement or human contact, but did decide the dose was too small to be intentional or give any performance advantage.
"This case serves as a reminder that Ukad will diligently pursue anti-doping rule violations in order to protect clean sport," Ukad chief executive Jane Rumble said.
Boxxer, which promoted the Khan-Brook event, said it was "disappointed" to learn about Khan's ban via social media on Tuesday, adding it is "vehemently against any use of any illegal or performance-enhancing substances taken by athletes".
Promoter Ben Shalom says Boxxer was not informed of the positive drugs test and that the BBBoC was only told on Monday, which Ukad has denied.
"Ukad has an obligation to inform parties of any adverse analytical findings in accordance with the UK anti-doping rules," a Ukad spokesperson said. "In this case, this means Ukad was required to and did notify Mr Khan, the BBBoC and Wada.
"It is a matter for Mr Khan thereafter as to whether he wished to divulge details of his finding to any athlete support personnel he was working with."
The ban from all sport runs from 6 April 2022 until 5 April 2024.
'Athletes are ultimately responsible for what they ingest'
Last October, British sprinter CJ Ujah was banned for 22 months after he tested positive for two banned substances, including ostarine, at the Tokyo Olympics.
Like Khan, Ujah denied intentionally doping but received a lengthy ban due to strict liability.
"Strict liability means athletes are ultimately responsible for what they ingest and for the presence of any prohibited substances in a sample," Rumble explained.
Fellow Briton Conor Benn failed two voluntary drug tests for female fertility drug clomifene before his cancelled bout with Chris Eubank Jr in October.
Benn was allowed back into the World Boxing Council rankings after it ruled his failed drug test was not intentional and could have been caused by a "highly elevated consumption" of eggs.
• None Eubank-Benn fight 'definitely not' close to being rescheduled for June
However, he remains under investigation by Ukad and the BBBofC, and is unable to fight in the United Kingdom as he does not currently have a boxing licence.
Benn has maintained his innocence but faces the same "strict liability" rule as Khan.
Amir Khan is one of Great Britain's greatest boxers. His silver medal as a 17-year-old at the Athens Olympics in 2004 made him into a household name. He was a world champion, fought the best, from Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez to Terence Crawford, and his retirement fight against Kell Brook was a typically thrilling end to a storied career.
The Brook fight was 17 years in the making and a huge event that captured the attention of boxing and the wider sports world, despite it being well past its sell-by date. Both men were 35 when the fight happened and have since retired.
Testing positive on fight night has become more and more unusual considering it is one of the few times a big boxing star can be guaranteed they will be tested.
Khan has been cleared of intentionally ingesting ostarine after a lengthy investigation, but strict liability carries a mandatory two-year ban regardless of intent.
• None Find out how electricity has developed over the centuries
• None 'The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life': Joe Wicks learns why sleep is fundamental to our health
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The UDR: What was the Army's Ulster Defence Regiment? - BBC News
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2023-04-26
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The UDR only operated in Northern Ireland for 22 years but its legacy has been controversial.
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Northern Ireland
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The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was a British Army unit that operated in Northern Ireland for 22 years from 1970.
It was mainly involved in patrol and checkpoint duties.
About 250 serving or former members were killed during the Troubles by the IRA and other republican groups.
Many of the victims were part-time members of the regiment, murdered while off-duty either at home or at work.
The UDR was overwhelmingly Protestant in make-up.
UDR troops being inspected at Ballykinler in 1992
In its early days, it had up to 18% Catholic membership but suffered an early image problem with nationalists, who saw it as absorbing too many former B Specials, a largely Protestant reserve police force.
About 40,000 people served in its ranks over its lifetime.
A minority of its personnel - soldiers by day and paramilitaries by night - were directly involved in sectarian murders.
Others provided loyalist groups with weapons and intelligence.
Documents uncovered in the National Archives have revealed the government was aware of collusion from 1973.
State papers that emerged in 2016 also indicated that the public image of the UDR was widely discussed by the government in the 1970s and 1980s, with arguments being made for a tougher vetting procedure.
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Bank of England: 'Accept' you are poorer remark sparks backlash - BBC News
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2023-04-26
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Unions and small businesses react with outrage to comments that people need to accept they are poorer.
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Business
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Small businesses and unions have hit back at the Bank of England's chief economist saying people need to accept they are poorer otherwise prices will keep soaring.
Huw Pill said a game of "pass the parcel" of workers asking for wage rises and businesses passing on higher costs was fuelling inflation.
He added there was a "reluctance to accept" households were worse off.
But the Federation of Small Businesses said his comments were "out of touch".
Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the trade body, said small firms had been left with no choice to pass on the "huge increases they have seen for energy and input costs" to customers.
"In many cases even that is not enough to fill the gap," she added.
Ms McKenzie said many firms who are "only just hanging on day by day", were not able to invest and were cutting costs.
Amanda Gearing, a senior organiser for the GMB union, said it was "absolutely outrageous to be honest, asking some of our lowest paid workers in this country, not to take a pay increase when inflation is so high".
"People can't afford to live, they're not able to pay their rent or put food on the table," she told the BBC's Today programme.
Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, added people didn't "need lectures" over pay and called for a plan to "make sure workers get their fair share".
UK inflation, which is a measure of the increase in price of something over time, hit 10.1% in the year to March.
For example, if a pint of milk cost £1 but went up to £1.10 a year later, then annual milk inflation is 10%.
March's inflation figure was slightly lower than February but the fall does not mean prices are coming down, it means they are rising at a slightly slower pace.
Part of the Bank of England's role is to try to keep inflation at its target rate of 2%. The Bank, which is the UK's central bank, is charged with setting interest rates and in response to the inflation rate going up in recent times, its officials have increased interest rates - which make the cost of borrowing money more expensive for people and businesses.
This strategy, in theory, is meant to make people spend less so that demand for goods reduces and prices slow down or even fall.
But with the strain of rising prices being felt by households trying to pay higher energy bills and food costs, many people have asked for pay rises to help ease the cost of living.
People working across several industries, such as rail, the NHS and the civil service, have gone on strike in recent months over various reasons including pay.
And with job vacancies still being higher than they have been in previous years, workers have had a stronger hand in asking their employers for more money.
Mr Pill, who made £95,183, including benefits, in his first six months at the Bank, is paid more than £190,000 a year.
He told the Beyond Unprecedented podcast from Columbia Law School that people demanding higher pay and businesses passing on increased costs by putting prices up, added to inflation and caused prices to rise even further across the economy.
He said what the UK imports from other countries, such as natural gas, was costing a lot more than what it exports.
"You don't need to be much of an economist to realise that if what you're buying has gone up a lot relative to what you're selling, you're going to be worse off," he said.
"Somehow in the UK, someone needs to accept that they're worse off and stop trying to maintain their real spending power by bidding up prices, whether through higher wages or passing energy costs on to customers."
He added: "What we're facing now is that reluctance to accept that. That pass-the-parcel game that's going on here, that game is one that's generating inflation, and that part of inflation can persist."
Huw Pill is the chief economist at the Bank of England
Thomas Moore, senior investment director at Abrdn, told BBC 5Live Mr Pill's words "need to accept" were a "red rag to the bull".
But he added: "You can see that underlying all of this, he has got a point which is as long as inflation stays high, we are going to demand higher wages and as long as we demand higher wages, inflation is going to stay high."
But although pay has been going up, it has not matched inflation, meaning people are worse off.
There have been arguments by some economists that employers giving out large pay rises could spark a "wage-price" spiral, when pay increases help force prices up and high inflation lasts for a longer time.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65397276
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news_business-65397276
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NHS strikes: Midwives in England vote to accept NHS pay offer - BBC News
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2023-04-26
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The offer covers two years, including an additional one-off payment for 2022/23 and a 5% pay rise.
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UK
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Midwives in England have voted to accept the latest NHS pay offer, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) says.
The offer covers two years and includes an additional one-off amount for 2022/23 and and 5% rise for 2023/24.
Nurses with the Royal College of Nursing have already turned down the offer and they plan more strike action. Members of the Society of Radiographers also voted against it.
The RCM said the offer was "not perfect" but was a "step forward".
The vote saw a turnout of 48% of eligible members working in the NHS in England, with 57% voting to accept the deal and 43% rejecting it.
The offer was also made to NHS staff on Agenda for Change contracts - which include most workers apart from doctors, dentists and senior managers.
Alice Sorby, director of employment relations at the RCM, added "the collective unions standing together, with our members behind us, that brought the government to the table and led to this improved offer".
Members of Unison, the largest NHS union, also voted overwhelmingly to accept the pay offer aimed at resolving the long-running NHS dispute.
Other unions including Unite, GMB and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists are due to announce their ballot results over the coming days.
A government spokesperson said the decision by the midwives to accept the pay offer showed it is a fair and reasonable proposal that can bring this dispute to an end".
The NHS Staff Council - made up of health unions, employers and Government representatives - is due to meet on 2 May and will report back to the government on the outcome of consultations from the unions.
Members of the RCN are due to begin a 48-hour strike on 30 April. Health Secretary Steve Barclay said he was applying to the High Court to declare the walkout on 2 May unlawful arguing the mandate runs out the day before.
However, Mr Barclay shared a letter on Twitter on Wednesday evening in which he appeared to suggest the RCN had not submitted any legal argument that the action planned for 2 May is lawful.
In the letter, which he had written to RCN general secretary Pat Cullen, he says that he understands that the RCN's legal team have been instructed not to attend court.
If the government succeeds the strike would still start on Sunday at 20;00 BST but would have to end earlier on 1 May.
The union's general secretary Pat Cullen wrote an email to staff on Wednesday evening saying "we expect that ministers could be successful in putting their full weight on the court."
She went on to add that "if they win, we'll be letting members know that the strike will end at midnight on Monday 1 May and not the following evening."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65406736
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news_uk-65406736
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Merthyr Tydfil: UK's largest opencast coalmine to shut - BBC News
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2023-04-26
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Plans to extend the working life of the UK's largest opencast coalmine are turned down.
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Wales
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Coal extraction at Merthyr Tydfil's Ffos-y-Fran mine began in 2007 on a 15-year licence
The UK's largest opencast coalmine must close after an extension to keep it running was rejected.
It means production at Ffos-y-Fran, near Merthyr Tydfil, must now stop after 16 years of excavation.
The operators asked for an extension until 2024, arguing coal from the mine was needed by the steel industry.
But planning officials advised that the proposed extension did not fit with Welsh government policies on tackling climate change.
The Ffos-y-Fran land reclamation scheme won planning permission in 2005 and work began two years later to excavate 11 million tonnes of coal across a site the size of 400 football pitches.
The other aim was to restore the land - riddled with the remains of old industries - back to green hillside for the community's benefit as work progressed.
But there was stiff opposition due to the mine's proximity to homes and businesses.
The closest houses were initially less than 40m (132ft) away, and residents led a long campaign, saying their lives were being blighted by coal dust and noise.
Campaigners outside the public meeting, including Alyson Austin, were thrilled with the result
Book keeper Alyson Austin, 59, of Bradley Gardens, Merthyr Tydfil, said: "I'm ecstatic and I am furious with the local authority for wasting all this time.
"They have had the powers to take enforcement action and they haven't used them.
"I'm not confident about it being restored. That is another fight.
"But today we won. Today the message has gone out: No more coal in Wales."
Ms Austin's husband Chris said he was "over the moon" but the 67-year-old is now concerned about the future of the site, which he called "a scar on the mountain side".
The retired software worker was worried about the cost of repairing the land, estimated at £75m-£125m, and feared the company would "walk away".
He said: "That cost would bankrupt this authority."
Philip Hughes says coal has no place in Wales' future
Retired retailer Philip Hughes, 59, of Carmarthen, said: "It's excellent news. Coal mining has got to stop.
"Climate change is such a massive issue for the planet. [The mine] has to close as soon as possible and action should be taken to close it."
Friends of the Earth Cymru director Haf Elgar said she felt a "big sense of relief".
She added: "This sets a strong precedent about any more coal coming from Wales."
Coal Action Network campaigner Anne Harris, 38, travelled from Lancaster to be at the meeting.
She compared standing at the bottom of Ffos y Ffran to "standing in the belly of a slaughtered beast".
She said she was unsurprised by the apparent gap in the restoration fund, but was "ecstatic" with the result of the meeting, saying: "This community has suffered for too long."
Protests held in this long-running saga even attracted the support of the United Nations' top legal expert on the human rights of communities affected by pollution in 2017.
The mine itself always rejected the claims, arguing that it was heavily regulated and provides well-paid jobs in an area that badly needed them.
After 15 years, planning permission ran out in September 2022 - but the company in charge applied for an extension.
Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd wanted to be allowed to keep coal mining until the end of March 2024 and push back the date for final restoration of the site to June 2026.
Welsh government coal policy prevents the development of new mines or extensions to existing ones apart from in "wholly exceptional circumstances".
An aerial view of Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine in November 2021
The company argued it qualified, claiming to have a role of "national importance" in supplying the Port Talbot steelworks.
But it also admitted that "insufficient funds" had been set aside to complete the restoration of the land as envisaged back in 2005, and time was needed to put forward and consult on a revised plan.
Planning consultant Huw Towns told the hearing "there is a very real risk that one of the substantial benefits of the scheme will not be delivered".
Councillor after councillor made speeches saying they rejected the proposals, to applause and cheers from the packed public gallery.
Councillor Declan Salmon said residents were left "with more questions than answers - what a mess this has been from the very beginning".
These arguments were dismissed by planning officials at Merthyr Tydfil council in their report ahead of Wednesday's planning committee meeting.
Head of planning Judith Jones concluded "no local or community benefits would be provided that clearly outweigh the disadvantages of the lasting environmental harm of the development".
Climate campaigners said they were contemplating legal action against the council and Welsh government to demand enforcement action over ongoing coal-mining at Ffos-y-Fran while the company awaited the outcome of its request for an extension.
Chris Austin says campaigners would "jump up and down a bit and have a glass of lager" to celebrate the decision
The decision marks the end of another chapter in Wales' long history of coalmining.
Opencast mines - where coal is extracted from the surface - as opposed to traditional underground pits - were developed across the UK during and following World War Two.
In recent years, Ffos-y-Fran had been the UK's largest and - since the pandemic - its last remaining active site.
There is another outstanding application to extend an opencast site at Glan Lash in Carmarthenshire, though that mine has not been operating since 2019.
It remains to be seen what this set-back means for the mine's operators and their plans for restoration work, which will now be the subject of increased scrutiny.
A spokesman on their behalf previously said they were working on revised proposals for restoring the land, described as a "major project" which would involve turning parts of the site into a "tourism and leisure destination".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65399546
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news_uk-wales-65399546
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Fox News settles Dominion defamation case for $787.5m - BBC News
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2023-04-18
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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"Lies have consequences," says a lawyer for the voting firm about the network's false election claims.
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US & Canada
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Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch (left, with son Lachlan) could have had to testify
Fox News has settled a defamation lawsuit from the voting machine company, Dominion, over its reporting of the 2020 presidential election.
In a last-minute settlement before trial, the network agreed to pay $787.5m (£634m) - about half of the $1.6bn initially sought by Dominion.
Dominion argued its business was harmed by Fox spreading false claims the vote had been rigged against Donald Trump.
The deal spares Fox executives such as Rupert Murdoch from having to testify.
The judge in the case is not required to give his approval for the agreement.
Fox said Tuesday's settlement in one of the most anticipated defamation trials in recent US history reflected its "commitment to the highest journalistic standards".
The Fox statement added without elaborating that the network "acknowledges the court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false".
Dominion chief executive John Poulos told a press conference the deal included Fox "admitting to telling lies, causing enormous damage to my company".
"Lies have consequences," he added. "Over two years ago a torrent of lies swept Dominion and election officials across America into an alternative universe of conspiracy theories, causing grievous harm to Dominion and the country."
Mr Nelson added that for "democracy to endure", Americans must "share a commitment to facts".
Opening arguments in the case had been due to start on Tuesday afternoon.
The announcement of a settlement came after an unexplained delay of several hours once jury selection had finished, prompting speculation that talks were under way behind the scenes.
On Monday, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced that the start of the trial would be delayed by 24 hours.
Although he gave no reason, US media reported that it was to give both sides an opportunity to reach a settlement.
On Tuesday morning, however, both sides appeared to be digging in for a lengthy trial.
Attorneys for Fox had repeatedly objected to the $1.6bn in damages sought by Colorado-based Dominion, characterising the figure as massively inflated.
The "real cost" of the case, Fox had argued, would be the "cherished" rights to freedom of speech and of the press enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Dominion's lawsuit argued that the conservative network had sullied the electronic voting company's reputation by airing falsehoods about the 2020 vote being stolen from former President Trump.
Mr Trump attacked the voting machine company after the ballot, falsely claiming that it rigged the election to favour winner Joe Biden.
The lawsuit said that the false claims were partly an effort to win over viewers who were angered by Fox's decision on election night to - correctly - declare that Mr Trump's then-challenger, Joe Biden, had won the crucial state of Arizona.
Two of the Fox executives responsible for the Arizona decision lost their jobs two months later.
Legal findings released ahead of the trial suggested that a number of Fox executives and journalists privately questioned and dismissed conspiracy claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, but still put them on air.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion' - CEO
Court documents show that Mr Murdoch referred to the claims about Dominion as "really crazy", but failed to take any action.
In one series of text messages, top-rated host Tucker Carlson said some of the claims were "insane". Another host, Sean Hannity, said privately he did not believe them "for one second".
Fox has said the words were taken out of context.
Ahead of the trial, Judge Davis ruled that the claims against Dominion had already been proven false, emphasising that the falsehoods were "crystal clear".
Despite the mammoth pay-out, some legal experts believe the settlement was overall a positive outcome for the network.
Syracuse University professor and First Amendment expert Roy Gutterman said: "Looking down the line at a six-week trial, this was going to be gruelling for everyone involved and likely embarrassing for Fox.
"But a verdict against Fox could have been even costlier, and had serious implications on subsequent rulings on the actual malice standard and the First Amendment itself."
Had the defamation trial gone ahead, jurors would have been tasked with determining whether Fox News acted with "actual malice" by broadcasting claims it knew to be false.
Civil litigation attorney Michelle Simpson Tuegel told the BBC that the settlement "speaks to the massive threat Fox saw from this litigation".
"The reputational harm of having executives, including chairman Rupert Murdoch, and hosts take the stand seems to have moved the parties towards a resolution," Ms Tuegel added.
Fox still faces a second, similar defamation lawsuit from another election technology firm, Smartmatic, which is seeking $2.7bn.
Dominion still has litigation pending against two conservative news networks, OAN and Newsmax.
The company has also sued Trump allies such as Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65318654
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news_world-us-canada-65318654
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SNP will be in trouble without action, says Kate Forbes - BBC News
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2023-04-18
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The former leadership candidate tells the BBC voters are watching the SNP "with astonishment" .
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UK Politics
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Kate Forbes served as Scotland's finance secretary from 2021 to 2023
The SNP "will be in trouble" unless the leadership takes "decisive action" on its internal affairs, former leadership candidate Kate Forbes has warned.
Speaking to the BBC, Ms Forbes said people were watching the SNP "with astonishment" and party finance claims were "mind-blowing".
She said there was "time to sort it out" but "continuity won't cut it".
The SNP has ordered a review of how the party is managed following recent controversy over its finances.
Speaking last week, newly-elected party leader Humza Yousaf said he wanted a "fresh approach" to ensure party members, as well as the public, could be "really confident" in the governance and transparency of the party.
Since the shock resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as party leader and Scotland's first minister in February, the SNP has descended into turmoil.
The subsequent leadership race exposed deep divisions in the party, and midway through the contest Peter Murrell, Ms Sturgeon's husband, stepped down as chief executive after the party misled the media about membership numbers.
Mr Murrell was arrested earlier this month as part of a police investigation into the SNP's finances. On Tuesday, SNP treasurer Colin Beattie was also arrested in relation to the same investigation. Both men were released without charge pending further investigation.
Ms Forbes - who came second in the leadership contest behind Humza Yousaf - was speaking to the Radio 4 programme - Leading Scotland Where? which airs on Wednesday at 20:30 BST.
It is her first broadcast interview since the contest and was recorded after Mr Murrell's arrest but before Mr Beattie's.
Ms Forbes told the programme: "I think we need decisive action or we will be in trouble.
"People are watching with astonishment but they want to see the leadership dealing with it and resolving it."
She added: "Right now with questions over integrity, trust, transparency - I think voters are watching extremely carefully."
Looking ahead to the next general election - expected to take place in 2024 - she said people would vote on "the basis of how we have sorted out our internal problems - even more than that how we govern".
"There is still time to sort it out. But I said throughout the campaign, I'm afraid I'm going to say it now: Continuity won't cut it."
Kate Forbes came second in the leadership contest behind Humza Yousaf but ahead of Ash Regan
Asked about the way the party had been run by Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell, she said: "They were obviously a very good team in the sense of managing the SNP.
"But there's no question that since then there have been lots of questions about transparency... it doesn't matter how slick the optics are, you need good governance."
She added: "We are at a pretty critical moment - and it will be the response and the reaction that determines how big a problem this is for the SNP."
Ms Forbes dismissed calls made by some in the party for a re-run of the leadership election.
But she suggested she could have won if the campaign had been longer.
She told the BBC: "One argument I think does have merit is that the contest was so short.
"I came from a standing start, I hadn't been in front-line politics for about seven months, came right into the full glare of media scrutiny and the requirement to build a team and also build a policy platform pretty quick.
"There are some who have argued who I would probably agree with that if the contest had been longer each candidate would have had more time to connect with the electorate."
Asked if she thinks she could have won, she replies: "Yeah, there's only 2,000 votes in it. But then again I also have confidence SNP members know who they are voting for."
Despite calls for unity, Ms Forbes left the cabinet in Humza Yousaf's reshuffle.
At the time, the deputy first minister Shona Robison suggested this was for a better work life balance.
But Ms Forbes said: "The primary reason that I didn't take the job was because I couldn't do positions that I'd taken during the campaign.
"Having made much of integrity - I think it was important to be able to hold to those positions.
"I know how important it is within cabinet to work together and support the decisions made."
Ms Forbes did not rule out running for the leadership again in the future but said it was "highly unlikely".
She also said she would be a loyal backbencher to Mr Yousaf.
An SNP spokesman said: "Under the fresh leadership of Humza Yousaf, the SNP has put in place the mechanisms to improve transparency and governance within the party.
"Undoubtedly, the last week has been tough for party members but Humza Yousaf is working hard to maintain the strong trust Scottish voters have placed in the SNP at election after election in recent years."
Leading Scotland Where? will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 20:30 on Wednesday 19 April and available on BBC Sounds afterwards
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65312186
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news_uk-politics-65312186
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WhatsApp and other messaging apps oppose 'surveillance' - BBC News
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2023-04-18
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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WhatsApp and messaging apps unite to urge the UK government to rethink the Online Safety Bill.
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Technology
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WhatsApp, Signal and other messaging services have urged the government to rethink the Online Safety Bill (OSB).
They are concerned that the bill could undermine end-to-end encryption - which means the message can only be read on the sender and the recipient's app and nowhere else.
Ministers want the regulator to be able to ask the platforms to monitor users, to root out child abuse images.
The government says it is possible to have both privacy and child safety.
"We support strong encryption," a government official said, "but this cannot come at the cost of public safety.
"Tech companies have a moral duty to ensure they are not blinding themselves and law enforcement to the unprecedented levels of child sexual abuse on their platforms.
"The Online Safety Bill in no way represents a ban on end-to-end encryption, nor will it require services to weaken encryption."
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) provides the most robust level of security because nobody other than the sender and intended recipient can read the message information.
Even the operator of the app cannot unscramble messages as they pass across its systems - they can be decrypted only by the people in the chat.
In an open letter published on Tuesday, the operators of encrypted messaging apps warn: "Weakening encryption, undermining privacy and introducing the mass surveillance of people's private communications is not the way forward."
In its current form, the OSB opens the door to "routine, general and indiscriminate surveillance" of personal messages, the letter says.
The bill risks "emboldening hostile governments who may seek to draft copycat laws".
And while the UK government say technological ways can be found to scan messages without undermining the privacy of E2EE "the truth is that this is not possible".
Mr Hodgson, of UK company Element, called the proposals a "spectacular violation of privacy... equivalent to putting a CCTV camera in everyone's bedroom".
Mr Cathcart has told BBC News WhatsApp would rather be blocked in the UK than weaken the privacy of encrypted messaging.
Ms Whittaker has said the same - Signal "would absolutely, 100% walk" should encryption be undermined.
And Swiss-based app Threema has told BBC News weakening its security "in any way, shape, or form" is "completely out of the question".
"Even if we were to add surveillance mechanisms - which we won't - users could spot and remove them with relatively low effort because the Threema apps are open source", spokeswoman Julia Weiss wrote.
Other companies have also told BBC News of their unwillingness to comply.
Email services are exempt - but Europe-based Proton best known for its encrypted email service worries features in its Drive product may bring it within scope of the bill.
The company's Andy Yen has suggested, as a last resort, it could leave the UK if the law comes into force unamended, as it would no longer be able "to operate a service that is premised upon defending user privacy".
That could mean "refusing service to users in the UK, shutting down our legal entity in the UK and re-evaluating future investments in infrastructure", Proton said.
Liberal Democrat digital-economy spokesman Lord Clement-Jones, who is backing an amendment to the bill, said: "The OSB as it stands could lead to a duty to surveil every message anyone sends.
"We need to know the government's intentions on this."
It was important properly encrypted services were retained, he told BBC News, and he expected Ofcom to issue a code of practice for how it intended to use the law.
The bill would enable Ofcom to make companies scan messages - text, images, videos and files - with "approved technology" in order to identify child sexual abuse material. However, the communications regulator told Politico it would do so only if there was an "urgent need" and "would need a high bar of evidence in order to be able to require that a technology went into an encrypted environment".
It is widely assumed this will mean messages are scanned by software on a phone or other device before they are encrypted - a technique called client-side scanning.
But many services say this would mean re-engineering their products just for the UK.
"Global providers of end-to-end encrypted products and services cannot weaken the security of their products and services to suit individual governments," the letter says.
"There cannot be a 'British internet' or a version of end-to-end encryption that is specific to the UK."
Reacting to news of the letter the Prime Minister's official spokesperson said Tuesday powers to scan encrypted messages would only apply where no other "less intrusive measures" could achieve the "necessary reduction" in child abuse content.
Asked if there were concerns that it would open up encrypted messaging platforms to hacking from foreign states, the spokesman said there would be "requisite safeguards" so that end-to-end encryption was not weakened "by default".
And children's charities say encrypted-messaging companies could do more to prevent their platforms' misuse.
There were record levels of online child sexual abuse, Richard Collard, of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), said, with the victims, mostly girls, targeted at an increasingly young age.
"The front line of this fight to keep our children safe is private messaging - and it would be inconceivable for regulators and law enforcement to suddenly go into retreat at the behest of some of the world's biggest companies," he said.
"Experts have demonstrated that it's possible to tackle child abuse material and grooming in end-to-end encrypted environments."
And the argument children's fundamental right to safety online could be achieved only at the expense of adult privacy was tired and false.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-65301510
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news_technology-65301510
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Donald Trump awarded legal fees in Stormy Daniels defamation lawsuit - BBC News
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2023-04-05
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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On the same day he was arrested in New York, a California court passes a judgement in his favour.
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US & Canada
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The former porn star at the heart of Donald Trump's historic indictment in New York has been ordered to pay him more than $121,000 (£96,965) towards legal fees in an unrelated case.
Stormy Daniels, alleged to have had an affair with Mr Trump in 2006, lost her defamation case over a 2018 tweet written by the former US president.
An appeals court judge in California dismissed Ms Daniels' case, and awarded Mr Trump a payment for legal fees.
The civil defamation lawsuit brought by Ms Daniels was entirely separate from the 34 charges filed against Mr Trump in Manhattan on Tuesday.
While both cases involve Ms Daniels, the New York indictment relates to a payment made to her during the 2016 presidential election - alleged to have been "hush money" to keep quiet but not properly recorded.
Ms Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, sued Mr Trump after he called an allegation by Ms Daniels a "total con job" in a tweet on 18 April 2018.
In the tweet, Mr Trump dismissed an allegation by Ms Daniels that an unknown man had threatened her in a parking lot to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Mr Trump.
The case was dismissed after 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judge Samuel James Otero said Mr Trump's statement was protected by the First Amendment.
Ms Daniels, 44, was then ordered to pay Mr Trump's legal fees in the amount of $293,000, CNN reported.
She appealed, arguing the legal fees were too high, but lost.
The court found that her "argument that the fee request is unreasonable and excessive is not well-founded," BBC's US media partner CBS reported.
Ms Daniels was ordered to pay another $245,000 in fees after losing that appeal.
And on Tuesday - as Mr Trump was fingerprinted, escorted by police into a Manhattan courtroom and listened to a judge read him charges of 34 felony counts - Ms Daniels was ordered to pay Mr Trump the $121,972.
Mr Trump's lawyer Harmeet Dhillon celebrated the judgement in California, writing on Twitter: "Congratulations to President Trump on this final attorney fee victory in his favour this morning.
"Collectively, our firm obtained over $600,000 in attorney fee awards in his favour in the meritless litigation initiated by Stormy Daniels."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65191465
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news_world-us-canada-65191465
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DUP: Stormont stalemate pushing away younger unionists - BBC News
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2023-04-05
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Some younger potential voters tell BBC News NI why they're moving away from the DUP.
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Northern Ireland
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Lois Young says she believes Michelle O'Neill "is talking some sense"
For decades votes have been cast in Northern Ireland along tribal lines, but a new generation say that is starting to change.
Some unionists say different social attitudes and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) blocking devolution are moving young people to vote for other parties or not engage at all.
Without ministers, decisions on key issues, like a budget, cannot be taken.
One younger voter said she had little faith in politicians.
"It hasn't given me much faith in any of them," said Lois Young, a nurse with concerns about public services, including health.
She used to be a unionist voter but said because of the Stormont stalemate she would now consider voting for Sinn Féin.
When I ask her who would get her support in a future election, she said "possibly nationalist".
"Purely because [Sinn Féin deputy leader] Michelle O'Neill seems to be talking some sense," she said.
"It is quite a change. But I think we need to come away from this whole two parties in Northern Ireland and try and work together and do what's right for the whole of Northern Ireland, as a whole."
Voters in Bangor shared their views on the future of unionism
Her swing from unionist to nationalist is extremely unusual, but in Bangor, where I met Lois, there are signs of changes in voting patterns.
Its North Down constituency was represented for a long period by a series of unionist MPs but at the last general election in 2019 the cross-community Alliance Party took the seat.
There are also signs of societal change.
Bangor Academy, which is Northern Ireland's largest school, recently announced a proposal to become integrated - educating Protestant and Catholic children together.
It said this would be an affirmation of its "current ethos and values".
Alyssa said her unionist family members did not vote DUP in the last election
Across the road from the academy in the South East Regional College (SERC), I met a group of students studying politics and public services.
They said there was a definite divide between how their older relatives viewed politics and traditional divisions that saw people identify as exclusively British or Irish.
"It causes quite a few family arguments… because I can vote now," said Alyssa.
"But even my family, as unionists, didn't vote for the DUP because of how they're getting on.
"So, they're losing not only the younger generation of voters who are very middle ground but they are also losing their own voters."
A recent Lucid Talk survey conducted in conjunction with the Belfast Telegraph suggested that a generational difference may be emerging.
Just 8% of 18 to 24-year-olds who responded said they would vote for the DUP in a future election.
That compared to 27% of voters aged 25 to 44.
Some of the SERC students' concerns were about potential budget cuts to public services, including education.
"Next year there's meant to be a cut of 20% to further education - which I'm a part of it," said Julia who is 17 and not yet able to vote.
"That's making me think, and everyone in my class think, what is going to happen to us?
"What's our future going to look like?"
Julia worries about cuts to further education
For many unionists the primary concern remains the future of the union.
Some argue that there is a danger of focusing too much on the youth vote.
"At the last election…260,000 people voted for the DUP and Traditional Unionist Voice [TUV] combined, so the vast majority is in that hardline space," argued loyalist Jamie Bryson, who is part of the Centre for the Union think tank.
However, he acknowledged a younger generation's more liberal views on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage left some reluctant to vote for unionist parties.
"The social issues were very skilfully captured by Alliance, Sinn Féin and the SDLP [Social Democratic and Labour Party] and that left a whole generation of unionists, whose priority at that stage was the social issues, politically homeless.
"But I also think unionism needs to sell the traditional view of the union and being strong on the union."
Communicating that message has become more difficult because of the dispute over post-Brexit trading regulations that has led to the DUP's boycott of Stormont.
The results of the 2022 assembly election also suggested the party had a difficult balancing act of retaining both hardline voters who might be attracted to the TUV and more liberal supporters who could lend their support to the Alliance or the Ulster Unionist Party.
"Stormont is not working and Northern Ireland is not seen to be functioning and you [the DUP] are projecting a negative message," said former Ulster Unionist Party adviser David Kerr.
"Sinn Féin are clearly very good at manipulating social media.
"They have done some very good work at growing their support base within the younger nationalist community.
"Unionism needs to work harder at that and it needs to take its head out of the sand and start projecting a positive image of Northern Ireland."
This article is the third in a series this week examining the future direction of unionism and politics in Northern Ireland.
You can also listen to the report on Good Morning Ulster and see the reports on BBC Newsline at 18:30 BST.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-65176760
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Harry's court case raises awkward questions - BBC News
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2023-04-27
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The hacking case brought by Duke of Sussex leaves questions about royal relationships with the press.
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UK
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This is only one in a series of legal claims being brought by Prince Harry against newspaper groups
The court documents revealed by the Duke of Sussex's latest phone-hacking claim against the tabloid press have sent out a volley of unanswered questions.
And that is less than ideal for the Royal Family, who might have wanted these days to be smoothed out like a red carpet in the run-up to the Coronation.
For instance, what was the purpose of Prince Harry in revealing that his brother, the Prince of Wales, had reached a private settlement with the publishers of the Sun and the former News of the World?
It has been claimed in some places - not least on social media - that it was an attempt to undermine Prince William, and by extension the wider Royal Family, at a time when they were hoping to build up a more positive public mood.
But that is very much not the intention, according to sources close to Prince Harry, who is said to be following events in the High Court in London by video link from the US.
From Prince Harry's perspective, the reason for unveiling Prince William's deal was a purely defensive measure, a "shield not a sword", as a necessary piece of evidence to stop the newspaper group from closing down Harry's claim on the grounds of it being out of time.
While the publishers, News Group Newspapers, might say that these claims should have been brought years ago, highlighting Prince William's settlement in 2020 provides proof there were still relatively recent negotiations and pay-outs taking place.
Prince William's spokesman has declined to comment on an "ongoing legal process". But if there was a "very large sum" paid in a settlement, it would raise further questions of what happened to the money. For instance, did this go to charity?
More questions are raised by another key part of the argument against throwing out this case for being out of time - in what Prince Harry's court documents call the "secret agreement".
Prince Harry and Prince William will both be at the coronation
This is claimed as a deal between palace officials and News Group Newspapers in which cases involving the royals would be dealt with after other cases had been settled, to avoid embarrassing court appearances or hacking evidence being put into the public domain.
Prince Harry says he was "kept out of the loop" about this, not least because it "would have infuriated me and I would have insisted that I be allowed to take action, especially given my extremely difficult relationship with the press at that time".
From Prince Harry's perspective this is a smoking gun, which meant that he couldn't bring his case until hundreds of others had been settled.
From the perspective of the newspaper publishers this is a gun that didn't smoke because it never existed.
"There was no such secret agreement," said the lawyers for News Group Newspapers, rejecting such claims as being "without merit in fact or in law".
The newspaper group also suggests Prince Harry must have known about reports of hacking at a much earlier stage, having been at the "epicentre" of the story, and they argue he could have acted sooner.
Preparations are being made for crowds at the coronation on 6 May
But Prince Harry's version of events, and his assertions that his father the King discouraged his legal action, raise wider questions about the press and the Royal Family.
The relationship is depicted by Prince Harry as an uncomfortable trade-off, with the royals wanting to keep the press "onside" because they were "incredibly nervous" about the potential for public embarrassment if a royal had to go into a witness box or if an intercepted voicemail had been revealed.
But sources close to Prince William reject claims that any settlement could be seen as a sign of a cosy deal with the press.
He's had his own privacy battles for himself and his family, including over photographs of his wife Catherine, and striking a deal could be a pragmatic way to draw a line under a legal claim.
It was Prince William who helped to establish that phone-hacking was taking place back in 2005.
But there are so many loose threads raised by this case and there are no signs that Prince Harry will desist from pulling on them to see what unravels.
It's also hard to know how these legal battles will go down with the public. They might warm to an underdog. Journalists usually talk about "the press" as though it's someone else, not themselves, perhaps in recognition of our own lack of popularity.
In terms of the question of what's driving Prince Harry, sources point to a specific part of his witness statement and it doesn't sound like he's planning to settle. It seems more likely that he will soon be appearing in court as a witness, which would probably horrify the palace.
"What I complain of here is about illegal or unlawful activities, and that is something which I feel incredibly strongly about, not just in a personal capacity but as part of the role I have always taken on, in terms of my duty to stand against things which are unjust," Harry writes.
He seems furiously motivated by the impact of hacking and press hounding - including for his mother Princess Diana, saying it had intruded on "every area of my life" and had been like a "third party" in his relationships.
The use of hacking to obtain stories was "disgusting, immoral and a complete abuse of power", he writes in his court statement.
A judge will have to decide whether this current claim can go ahead to a full trial. But there's already another case against another newspaper group lined up for the days following the coronation and two other claims in progress.
There are going to be more difficult questions.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65403247
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Chris Mason: Sudan evacuation remains a race against time - BBC News
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2023-04-27
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It looks like it will be very difficult to get every Briton out in time before the fighting resumes.
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UK Politics
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UK nationals have to make their own way to an airstrip near Sudanese capital Khartoum to be evacuated
This is a race against time, circumstances and numbers.
And all three are bleak. Time is ticking down to the ceasefire ending.
The circumstances are grim: unpredictable, volatile and dangerous.
And the latest numbers published by the Foreign Office make it look, on the face of it, like it will be very difficult to get every Brit out in time before the fighting resumes.
The Foreign Office have said 536 people have now been evacuated from Sudan on six UK flights as of 21:00 GMT on Wednesday evening.
Estimates as to how many British passport holders there are in Sudan vary considerably, but it is widely expected to be a few thousand at least.
And the Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, has candidly spelt out that the ceasefire ends on Thursday night and "we cannot guarantee how many further flights will depart once the ceasefire ends".
But, having spoken to people across government, they feel things are going as well as could be hoped. A phrase I keep hearing is the "calibration of risk." Rolling risk assessments of what is possible. How to help, without jeopardising the safety of the rescuers or the rescued.
It should not be a "race to get it wrong", as one figure put it. But being the last to get it right is not a prize anyone wants either.
You can hear the exhaustion and sleep deprivation in the voices of those working on this. There is talk of people sleeping on sofas in between long stints in the Foreign Office's Crisis Centre.
Sources tell me there is the capacity to increase the frequency of flights out of Khartoum, if needs be. There is also the option of taking people out by ship from Port Sudan. But the focus is on those flights, for now.
Contingency planning is under way for what to do when the ceasefire ends.
All this, as the government faces criticism from some that they have been too slow.
Some of those flown out of Sudan have expressed gratitude at being rescued in their first sentence, and criticism at its lack of pace in their second.
And there have been comparisons with how other countries have managed things.
France, for instance, collected some of its people who wanted to leave, rather than asking them to make their own way to the airfield. One of their soldiers was seriously injured in the process.
UK Special Forces were used to extract British diplomats. But the government argues it would be hugely dangerous to provide what would amount to an armed taxi service to take people to the airport, as it would risk drawing the UK into the conflict.
And the numbers of citizens it is attempting to help is far greater than other comparable countries.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the UK can not guarantee how many more flights will depart Sudan when the ceasefire ends
Incidentally, as my colleague, the BBC Berlin correspondent Jenny Hill, has reported, there has been something of a spat between the German government and the UK government, with Berlin accusing London of delaying the evacuation of its own citizens by landing in Sudan without permission at the weekend.
There is private shock here that Germany went public with this and a desire not to be drawn into a diplomatic tit for tat over it. The Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence are denying the allegation.
It is worth mentioning too that there is not a domestic political row here at Westminster about how the government is handling things.
Privately some Labour figures think it has been too slow. But they are not leaping to criticise ministers - perhaps conscious any critique would, by extension, be seen as undermining the armed forces, diplomats and others doing all they can in very difficult circumstances.
The political argument may, of course, change, as that race against time, circumstances and numbers continues with the prospect it gets considerably more difficult.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/65407917
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Hugh Grant accuses Sun publisher of 'deliberate false denials' - BBC News
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2023-04-27
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The actor alleges that the paper commissioned private investigators to break into his home.
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UK
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Hugh Grant outside court in London on Thursday - the publisher of The Sun denies his allegations
Hugh Grant says the publisher of The Sun newspaper used a "deliberate policy of false denials" to prevent him suing for breaches of his privacy.
A witness statement from him alleges the paper commissioned private investigators to break into his home and steal his private information.
The actor was at the High Court for legal arguments as News UK attempted to get his case thrown out.
The publisher denies the claims and wants the judge to reject them.
Hugh Grant's statement claims that for years, News UK, as it is now called, lied about its involvement in phone hacking and illegal information gathering.
He said the company had a "vast, long-lasting and deliberate policy strategy plan of false denials and other concealment in relation to The Sun, to prevent me, and others in a similar position, from bringing claims against them."
This included, he said, false denials to the Leveson Inquiry into Press Standards, a press complaints body, and in public statements.
Prince Harry is also suing the publisher of the Sun over alleged unlawful information-gathering.
In recent years, News UK has settled a series of claims about illegal information gathering, without admitting liability.
The question of when victims of press intrusion learnt that they might have a case is crucial to this stage of the legal process because usually civil claims have to be brought within six years.
Many of the "hacking" claims date back much further, and could be dismissed as too old.
Mr Grant said in his statement that he only became fully aware of the intrusions into his personal life last year when a private investigator, Gavin Burrows, told him The Sun had hired private investigators to target him.
"Mr Burrows had information that, in addition to hacking my phone and tapping my landline, he was aware that my premises had been burgled by people working for The Sun and that a tracking device had been placed in my car. I found this astonishing."
Hugh Grant told the Leveson Inquiry in 2011 that his flat had been broken into and that a story shortly afterwards had given details of the inside.
In the statement, he said: "I had no evidence that this burglary was carried out or commissioned on the instruction of the press, let alone The Sun".
He also learned that private investigators specialising in "blagging" medical information by ringing hospitals had also been paid to find out about the birth of his daughter to Tinglan Hong, his former partner.
"Although we did our best to keep this information out of the public domain, we suspected that it was leaked by the hospital to the media", he said.
However the recent disclosures convinced him The Sun had been behind the targeting of his private life.
He said News UK "considered itself above the law and is using the law now in a way I believe it was never intended, that is to further cover-up and conceal what it has done."
"I strongly believe that cannot be allowed to happen and that what it has done must be brought to light."
Mr Justice Fancourt said another legal hearing would be needed in early July before he could deliver his judgement.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65418723
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NHS strikes: Midwives in England vote to accept NHS pay offer - BBC News
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2023-04-27
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The offer covers two years, including an additional one-off payment for 2022/23 and a 5% pay rise.
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UK
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Midwives in England have voted to accept the latest NHS pay offer, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) says.
The offer covers two years and includes an additional one-off amount for 2022/23 and and 5% rise for 2023/24.
Nurses with the Royal College of Nursing have already turned down the offer and they plan more strike action. Members of the Society of Radiographers also voted against it.
The RCM said the offer was "not perfect" but was a "step forward".
The vote saw a turnout of 48% of eligible members working in the NHS in England, with 57% voting to accept the deal and 43% rejecting it.
The offer was also made to NHS staff on Agenda for Change contracts - which include most workers apart from doctors, dentists and senior managers.
Alice Sorby, director of employment relations at the RCM, added "the collective unions standing together, with our members behind us, that brought the government to the table and led to this improved offer".
Members of Unison, the largest NHS union, also voted overwhelmingly to accept the pay offer aimed at resolving the long-running NHS dispute.
Other unions including Unite, GMB and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists are due to announce their ballot results over the coming days.
A government spokesperson said the decision by the midwives to accept the pay offer showed it is a fair and reasonable proposal that can bring this dispute to an end".
The NHS Staff Council - made up of health unions, employers and Government representatives - is due to meet on 2 May and will report back to the government on the outcome of consultations from the unions.
Members of the RCN are due to begin a 48-hour strike on 30 April. Health Secretary Steve Barclay said he was applying to the High Court to declare the walkout on 2 May unlawful arguing the mandate runs out the day before.
However, Mr Barclay shared a letter on Twitter on Wednesday evening in which he appeared to suggest the RCN had not submitted any legal argument that the action planned for 2 May is lawful.
In the letter, which he had written to RCN general secretary Pat Cullen, he says that he understands that the RCN's legal team have been instructed not to attend court.
If the government succeeds the strike would still start on Sunday at 20;00 BST but would have to end earlier on 1 May.
The union's general secretary Pat Cullen wrote an email to staff on Wednesday evening saying "we expect that ministers could be successful in putting their full weight on the court."
She went on to add that "if they win, we'll be letting members know that the strike will end at midnight on Monday 1 May and not the following evening."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65406736
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news_uk-65406736
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Chartered CalMac catamaran to begin sea trials - BBC News
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2023-04-27
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CalMac hopes MV Alfred will soon be providing relief services on its west coast ferry routes.
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Highlands & Islands
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MV Alfred is to be put through berthing trials before being used as a relief service on CalMac routes
CalMac is due to begin trials of a catamaran ferry to help provide relief cover on its west coast network.
The Scottish government has provided £9m for the nine-month long charter of MV Alfred, owned by Orkney-based Pentland Ferries.
There was a short delay to the arrival of the boat due to an issue with another of Pentland Ferries' vessels.
CalMac said MV Alfred would not be added to its fleet until berthing trials were completed.
The charter includes a crew provided by the privately-owned Orkney ferry operator.
In coming days the catamaran is to be put through tests, berthing at harbours at Ullapool, Lochmaddy, Port Askaig, Campbeltown, Brodick, Ardrossan and Troon.
The trials are due to be completed on 30 April, and Ayr is being considered as a potential base for the ferry.
MV Alfred has been brought in to boost resilience after CalMac's ageing fleet was hit by breakdowns and shortage of capacity.
Island communities have long called for the state-owned ferry operator to charter a relief ferry to ease pressures on west coast routes.
Analysis: Why a CalMac catamaran is such a big deal
The charter of MV Alfred is much more than just ferry operator CalMac securing a relief vessel. For years campaigners have argued that catamarans offer a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly way of renewing the west coast fleet.
With their high car-carrying capacity, ability to navigate shallow waters and fuel efficiency, they say catamarans offer the ideal solution, rather than the large, complicated, heavily-crewed, mono-hulled ships favoured by the Scottish government's ferries procurement agency CMAL.
CMAL insists it's not anti-catamaran - but it questions whether they are the most suitable type of vessel for CalMac's routes. The charter of MV Alfred offers a chance to finally put the arguments to the test.
CalMac looked at chartering Pentland Ferries' MV Pentalina in 2021 but the deal fell through.
Robbie Drummond, chief Executive of CalMac, said MV Alfred would be a welcome addition to the fleet.
He said: "Our primary focus will be to have her available for resilience purposes and provide relief benefits across the network.
"This should help mitigate the impact of disruption or where certain islands are reduced to single vessel service."
He added: "Although resilience availability will remain the priority, there may be opportunities for MV Alfred to operate additional, non-bookable freight sailings, when possible, to support capacity constraints.
"This is most likely to be focused on freight operations at key pinch points on the network."
Mr Drummond said communities would be kept updated on planned deployments of the catamaran.
The charter of MV Alfred has been agreed between CalMac and Pentland Ferries without the involvement of the Scottish government's ferries procurement agency Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, or CMAL.
CMAL said in a statement it welcomed the charter as a short term relief vessel, but questioned the suitability of catamarans for all west coast routes.
A spokesperson said: "In our search for second hand tonnage, and when designing new tonnage, CMAL includes all types of vessel and catamarans are no exception.
"However, when considering catamarans as a long-term solution, what often goes unreported is that in geographies similar to Scotland, with comparable weather and sea conditions, medium speed (below 20 knots) catamarans are not a common choice for passenger / commercial ferry services."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-65390163
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Merthyr Tydfil: UK's largest opencast coalmine to shut - BBC News
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2023-04-27
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Plans to extend the working life of the UK's largest opencast coalmine are turned down.
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Wales
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Coal extraction at Merthyr Tydfil's Ffos-y-Fran mine began in 2007 on a 15-year licence
The UK's largest opencast coalmine must close after an extension to keep it running was rejected.
It means production at Ffos-y-Fran, near Merthyr Tydfil, must now stop after 16 years of excavation.
The operators asked for an extension until 2024, arguing coal from the mine was needed by the steel industry.
But planning officials advised that the proposed extension did not fit with Welsh government policies on tackling climate change.
The Ffos-y-Fran land reclamation scheme won planning permission in 2005 and work began two years later to excavate 11 million tonnes of coal across a site the size of 400 football pitches.
The other aim was to restore the land - riddled with the remains of old industries - back to green hillside for the community's benefit as work progressed.
But there was stiff opposition due to the mine's proximity to homes and businesses.
The closest houses were initially less than 40m (132ft) away, and residents led a long campaign, saying their lives were being blighted by coal dust and noise.
Campaigners outside the public meeting, including Alyson Austin, were thrilled with the result
Book keeper Alyson Austin, 59, of Bradley Gardens, Merthyr Tydfil, said: "I'm ecstatic and I am furious with the local authority for wasting all this time.
"They have had the powers to take enforcement action and they haven't used them.
"I'm not confident about it being restored. That is another fight.
"But today we won. Today the message has gone out: No more coal in Wales."
Ms Austin's husband Chris said he was "over the moon" but the 67-year-old is now concerned about the future of the site, which he called "a scar on the mountain side".
The retired software worker was worried about the cost of repairing the land, estimated at £75m-£125m, and feared the company would "walk away".
He said: "That cost would bankrupt this authority."
Philip Hughes says coal has no place in Wales' future
Retired retailer Philip Hughes, 59, of Carmarthen, said: "It's excellent news. Coal mining has got to stop.
"Climate change is such a massive issue for the planet. [The mine] has to close as soon as possible and action should be taken to close it."
Friends of the Earth Cymru director Haf Elgar said she felt a "big sense of relief".
She added: "This sets a strong precedent about any more coal coming from Wales."
Coal Action Network campaigner Anne Harris, 38, travelled from Lancaster to be at the meeting.
She compared standing at the bottom of Ffos y Ffran to "standing in the belly of a slaughtered beast".
She said she was unsurprised by the apparent gap in the restoration fund, but was "ecstatic" with the result of the meeting, saying: "This community has suffered for too long."
Protests held in this long-running saga even attracted the support of the United Nations' top legal expert on the human rights of communities affected by pollution in 2017.
The mine itself always rejected the claims, arguing that it was heavily regulated and provides well-paid jobs in an area that badly needed them.
After 15 years, planning permission ran out in September 2022 - but the company in charge applied for an extension.
Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd wanted to be allowed to keep coal mining until the end of March 2024 and push back the date for final restoration of the site to June 2026.
Welsh government coal policy prevents the development of new mines or extensions to existing ones apart from in "wholly exceptional circumstances".
An aerial view of Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine in November 2021
The company argued it qualified, claiming to have a role of "national importance" in supplying the Port Talbot steelworks.
But it also admitted that "insufficient funds" had been set aside to complete the restoration of the land as envisaged back in 2005, and time was needed to put forward and consult on a revised plan.
Planning consultant Huw Towns told the hearing "there is a very real risk that one of the substantial benefits of the scheme will not be delivered".
Councillor after councillor made speeches saying they rejected the proposals, to applause and cheers from the packed public gallery.
Councillor Declan Salmon said residents were left "with more questions than answers - what a mess this has been from the very beginning".
These arguments were dismissed by planning officials at Merthyr Tydfil council in their report ahead of Wednesday's planning committee meeting.
Head of planning Judith Jones concluded "no local or community benefits would be provided that clearly outweigh the disadvantages of the lasting environmental harm of the development".
Climate campaigners said they were contemplating legal action against the council and Welsh government to demand enforcement action over ongoing coal-mining at Ffos-y-Fran while the company awaited the outcome of its request for an extension.
Chris Austin says campaigners would "jump up and down a bit and have a glass of lager" to celebrate the decision
The decision marks the end of another chapter in Wales' long history of coalmining.
Opencast mines - where coal is extracted from the surface - as opposed to traditional underground pits - were developed across the UK during and following World War Two.
In recent years, Ffos-y-Fran had been the UK's largest and - since the pandemic - its last remaining active site.
There is another outstanding application to extend an opencast site at Glan Lash in Carmarthenshire, though that mine has not been operating since 2019.
It remains to be seen what this set-back means for the mine's operators and their plans for restoration work, which will now be the subject of increased scrutiny.
A spokesman on their behalf previously said they were working on revised proposals for restoring the land, described as a "major project" which would involve turning parts of the site into a "tourism and leisure destination".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65399546
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Gambling white paper: Young gamblers could face £2 slot machine limit - BBC News
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2023-04-27
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The government has unveiled the biggest shake-up of gambling laws in nearly two decades.
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UK
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The proposals are expected to include checks on gamblers who lose more than £1,000 in a day
Young gamblers could face a stake limit of £2 on online slot machines, according to new government proposals.
The white paper on gambling, which was published on Thursday, marks the biggest shake-up of regulation in the sector for nearly 20 years.
The government said online slot machines were a particularly high-risk product, associated with large losses.
The white paper proposes a consultation on stake limits of between £2 and £15 per spin for online slots machines.
However, the government also suggested lower limits and greater protections for 18 to 24-year-olds, who "may be a particularly vulnerable cohort".
The consultation on limits for younger gamblers will include options of a £2 stake limit per spin, a £4 stake limit per spin, or an approach based on individual risk.
Some gambling firms including Flutter, which owns Paddy Power, SkyBet and Betfair, imposed slot limits of £10 from September 2021.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said the government will do more to "protect children" by "ensuring children can do no forms of gambling, either online or on widely accessible scratch cards".
The new regulations also mean gamblers who are losing large amounts of money could face checks.
These will kick in when a gambler loses £1,000 in 24 hours, or £2,000 over 90 days. How these will be carried out is as yet unclear.
There is no new action being taken on advertising, to the dismay of campaigners. The government said measures that already exist go a long way to protect the most vulnerable.
The government also plans strengthen pub licensing laws to prevent children from playing slot machines with cash prizes in pubs, and to legislate to ban all lotteries from offering tickets to under 18s.
"Although we recently raised the age limit for the National Lottery to 18, other lottery and football pools products are still legally permitted from age 16," the white paper noted.
The shadow culture secretary, Labour's Lucy Powell, said: "We've long called for outdated gambling laws - introduced when smartphones weren't part of our lives - to be updated so that they can tackle the challenges with gambling today.
"While Labour has called for change, ministers have dragged their feet with the chaos we've seen in government meaning many false starts. We've had 10 different ministers in charge of gambling policy since a white paper was first promised in December 2020.
There was further criticism from Louise Davies, director of advocacy and policy at charity Christian Action Research and Education (CARE), who questioned the need for consultation.
"After years of disappointment relating to this white paper it is galling to learn of more dither and delay from the government," she said.
"The abuses of the gambling industry and the scale of gambling-related harms in Britain are crystal clear. There is no need for further consultation on measures that are broadly supported such as a statutory levy and affordability checks. We need legislation."
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer will unveil the government's white paper on gambling on Thursday
The white paper marks the first new proposed regulation in the sector since the invention of the smartphone, which has revolutionised how we bet.
When the Gambling Act 2005 was introduced, most betting still took place in physical locations: betting shops, casinos and racetracks. The industry now makes two thirds of its revenues from online gambling.
Frazer, who outlined the plans in Parliament on Thursday, says the rise of smartphones means "now there's a Las Vegas on every phone".
The announcement of what the white paper actually contains has been delayed at least four times, since the review of gambling laws was first announced by Oliver Dowden, then culture secretary, in 2020.
Since then, there have been regular reports of individual cases of problem gamblers - but the government's solution has been crafted by three different culture secretaries and three prime ministers without seeing the light of day.
Frazer told MPs: "When gambling becomes addiction, it can wreck lives. Shattered families, lost jobs, foreclosed homes, jail time, suicide.
"These are all the most extreme scenarios. But it is important we acknowledge that for some families those worst fears for their loved ones have materialised."
She added: "Gambling problems in adults have always been measured in terms of money lost, but you cannot put a cost on the loss of dignity, the loss of identity, and, in some cases, the loss of life that it can cause.
"We need a new approach that recognises a flutter is one thing, unchecked addiction is another. So, today we are bringing our pre-smartphone regulations into the present day with a gambling white paper for the digital age."
One of the proposals is a mandatory levy to be imposed on gambling firms, to be used to pay for addiction treatment and research. But it is not yet clear how that funding will be managed.
The white paper was welcomed by Ladbrokes owner Entain, which said it had already implemented a number of actions linked to the new proposals, and Paddy Power owner Flutter, which called it "a significant moment for the UK gambling sector".
Conservative MP, Iain Duncan Smith, vice chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Related Harm, welcomed the white paper but said it does not go far enough to protect children from advertising.
Sir Iain said of the white paper: "I welcome this because this is at least a start, I think it's a positive start. On advertising and children, I simply want to say - not far enough."
But another Conservative MP, Philip Davies, criticised some of the measures. "The Conservative party used to believe in individual freedom and individual responsibility, but that seems to have gone out of the window with these affordability check proposals," he said.
"Do the punters themselves get any say at all over how they can afford to spend their own hard-earned money?"
The white paper also includes the introduction of affordability checks to protect an estimated 300,000 problem gamblers in the UK
At the moment, the levy is voluntary and the money is not put into the NHS - which has not wanted to accept it, for ethical reasons.
The NHS has expanded its gambling-specific services in recent years. The plan would be to use some of the money raised from the new levy for NHS treatment in future.
A spokesperson for the DCMS said: "We are determined to protect those most at risk of gambling-related harm including young and vulnerable people."
There could be a £2 or £4 limit on stake bets for younger gamblers using online slot machines
While regulation is increasing for online platforms, some rules are being relaxed in physical casinos in an effort to level the playing field.
For example, the government plans to allow debit cards to be used in gaming machines - and increase the number of machines allowed in small casinos.
Two parents bereaved by gambling-related suicide welcomed some of the proposals by the government but said more needs to be done, particularly on ending gambling advertising and on preventative affordability checks.
Liz and Charles Ritchie set up the charity Gambling with Lives following the death of their 24-year-old son Jack in 2017.
Ms Ritchie said: "After a long fight we've won concessions on some of the key areas, but so much more needs to happen to reduce the horrendous harm caused by one of the most loosely-regulated gambling industries in the world.
"We've won the argument against a powerful gambling lobby but this is just the beginning. There's another family devastated by gambling suicide every day and we won't stop until the deaths do."
Online slot games are designed to mimic slot machines in betting shops
Sources within the gambling industry have told the BBC the proposals will cause them financial pain. They will be examining them in detail to decide the full impact.
Others will be looking for any movement in company share prices in the coming hours to gauge market reaction. If there is little change or prices rise, campaigners will see that as proof that the government should have gone further.
Gareth - not his real name - lives in Wales. He has watched his son spiral into gambling addiction after he opened an online betting account on his 18th birthday and lost several thousand pounds in the first 24 hours.
"I wanted it to be illegal for gambling companies to have anything to do with sport, especially football. That was never going to happen as it's big money involved," Gareth told the BBC.
"They shouldn't be able to advertise gambling at all on TV. You can't advertise cocaine, or heroin.
"I love going to the races, knowing I'll go in for six races, put a fiver on each and lose £30. That's the majority of people. But for the minority, like my son, it's not the races, it's online slots, casinos, online bingo. It's an addiction. They need protection".
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article you can visit the BBC's Action Line for information and support.
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Why are doctors demanding the biggest pay rise? - BBC News
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2023-04-11
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How junior medics have reached the brink of their biggest walkout, in a fight for a 35% hike.
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Health
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On Monday, thousands of junior doctors in England will start a 72-hour strike. They want a 35% pay rise. Yet doctors are among the highest paid in the public sector. So why do they have the biggest pay claim?
The origins of the walkout by British Medical Association members - the biggest by doctors in the history of the NHS - can be found in a series of discussions on social media platform Reddit in late 2021.
A collection of junior doctors were expressing their dissatisfaction about pay.
The numbers chatting online grew quickly and by January 2022 it had led to the formation of the campaign group Doctors Vote, with the aim of restoring pay to the pre-austerity days of 2008.
The group began spreading its message via social media - and, within months, its supporters had won 26 of the 69 voting seats on the BMA ruling council, and 38 of the 68 on its junior doctor committee.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Rob Laurenson stood for BMA election on a Doctors Vote platform
Two of those who stood on the Doctors Vote platform - Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi - became co-chairs of the committee.
"It was simply a group of doctors connecting up the dots," Dr Laurenson says. "We reflect the vast majority of doctors," he adds, pointing to the mandate from the wider BMA junior doctor membership - 77% voted and of those, 98% backed strike action.
Among some of the older BMA heads, though, there is a sense of disquiet at the new guard. One senior doctor who has now stood down from a leadership role says: "They're undoubtedly much more radical than we have seen before. But they haven't read the room - the pay claim makes them look silly."
Publicly, the BMA prefers not to talk about wanting a pay rise. Instead, it uses the term "pay restoration" - to reverse cuts of 26% since 2008. This is the amount pay has fallen once inflation is taken into account.
To rectify a cut of 26% requires a bigger percentage increase because the amount is lower. This is why the BMA is actually after a 35% increase - and it is a rise it is calling for to be paid immediately.
The argument is more complicated than the ones put forward by most other unions - and because of that it has raised eyebrows.
Firstly, no junior doctor has seen pay cut by 26% in that period. There are five core pay points in the junior doctor contract with each a springboard to the next. It means they move up the pay scale over time until they finish their training.
A junior doctor in 2008 may well be a consultant now, perhaps earning four times in cash terms what they were then.
Secondly, the 26% figure uses the retail price index (RPI) measure of inflation, which the Office for National Statistics says is a poor way to look at rising prices. Using the more favoured consumer price index measure, the cut is 16% - although the BMA defends its use of RPI as it takes into account housing costs.
"The drop in pay is also affected by the start-year chosen," Lucina Rolewicz, of the Nuffield Trust think tank, says. A more recent start date will show a smaller decline, as would going further back in the 2000s.
Another way of looking at pay is comparing it with wages across the economy by looking at where a job sits in terms of the lowest to highest earners.
The past decade has not been a boom time for wage growth in many fields, as austerity and the lack of economic growth has held back incomes.
Last year, the independent Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration Body looked at this. It found junior doctors had seen their pay, relative to others, fall slightly during the 2010s, but were still among the highest earners, with doctors fresh out of university immediately finding themselves in the top half of earners, while those at the end of training were just outside the top 10%.
Then, of course, career prospects have to be considered. Consultants earn well more than £100,000 on average, putting them in the top 2%. GP partners earn even more.
A pension of more than £60,000 a year in today's prices also awaits those reaching such positions.
But while the scale of the pay claim is new, dissatisfaction with working conditions and pay pre-date the rise of the Doctors Vote movement.
Studying medicine at university takes five years, meaning big debts for most. Dr Trivedi says £80,000 of student loans are often topped up by private debt.
On top of that, doctors have to pay for ongoing exams and professional membership fees. Their junior doctor training can see them having to make several moves across the country and with little control over the hours they work. Their contract means they are required to work a minimum of 40 hours and up to 48 on average - additional payments are made to reflect this.
This lasts many years - junior doctors can commonly spend close to a decade in training.
It is clearly hard work. And with services getting increasingly stretched, it is a job that doctors say is leaving them "demoralised, angry and exhausted", Dr Trivedi says, adding: "Patient care is being compromised."
But while medicine is undoubtedly tough, it remains hugely attractive.
Junior doctor posts in the early years are nearly always filled - it is not until doctors begin to specialise later in their training that significant gaps emerge in some specialities such as end-of-life care and sexual health.
Looking at all doctor vacancy rates across the NHS around 6% of posts are unfilled - for nurses it is nearly twice that level.
Many argue there is still a shortage - with not enough training places or funded doctor posts in the NHS in the first place.
But the fact the problems appear more severe in other NHS roles is a key reason why the government does not seem to be in a hurry to prioritise doctors - formal pay talks to avert strikes have begun with unions representing the rest of the workforce
"If we have some money to give a pay rise to NHS staff," a source close to the negotiations says, "doctors are not at the front of the queue."
Update: This article was updated on 18 May 2023 to make it clear doctors can be required to work up to 48 hours and the footnote on the first chart has changed 'overtime' to 'additional hours'.
Are you taking part in the strike action? Has your appointment been cancelled or delayed? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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Eilish McColgan column: 'Why is menstruation still a taboo subject?' - BBC Sport
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2023-04-15
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In her latest BBC Sport column, Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan discusses the need to stop being embarrassed to talk about periods in sport.
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Considering almost half the population menstruate every month, it seems odd to me that it's still such a taboo subject in 2022.
Even more so within the context of sport. As a professional athlete, performing is our number one task. But what if our own bodies are working against us on that particular day?
Dina Asher-Smith talked about it after pulling out of the European Championships 100m with cramps on Tuesday, and I know first-hand how much periods can affect performance.
Before Oslo earlier this season, I'd only ever dropped out of two competitions. The dreaded DNF. And on both occasions, periods were the perpetrator.
• None 'I want to stop kids being priced out of athletics'
The only way to describe it is that my legs feel like they have been replaced with concrete blocks. And that a screwdriver is carving out the Taj Mahal around my ovaries.
Some months, it's manageable. Other months, it's unbearable. There's no telling which Eilish you're going to get on the day. To try and run, or at least perform to the best of my ability, is an almost impossible task.
And after a bad result, I get eaten alive on social media by armchair critics, giving their theories as to why I'm the failure…
As a youngster, I used to suffer excruciating cramps every month to the point where my body would go into a fever and start vomiting.
Flashing from hot-to-cold, I would have a full day in bed feeling like death, before waking up the following morning as if nothing had happened.
I went to the doctors and they prescribed the pill. It made me feel rotten. I was crying almost every day and snapping at the smallest of arguments.
Considering I was rarely emotional, it felt like a large swing in personality and I didn't like the way I felt, or the person the hormones were manipulating me to be. I quickly stopped the medication.
For the next decade, I got on with it as best I could. As I got older, the vomiting stopped and my symptoms eased. Life was manageable but as I transitioned into elite athletics, the struggle became more evident as it translated into performances.
In 2019, while at a meet in California, I posted on Instagram about how my periods had caused me to DNF. I couldn't believe the overwhelmingly positive response from other women. Many felt they were alone with this issue. And as it wasn't something Olympic athletes spoke about, most assumed it didn't affect us.
I remember the race so vividly because I had paid a lot of money to attend - international flights, accommodation and a race entry. It all added up to a pretty sum. But it would all be worth it to get a shot at qualifying for the upcoming World Championships.
My period was a little delayed because of the long-haul travel (another factor female athletes need to consider). So of course, it decided to announce its timely arrival while I was warming up for the race.
I took a load of Ibuprofen to settle my stomach cramps and shuffled over to the start line. I felt like Shamu the whale and dropped out after just five laps of a 25-lap race. I remember thinking, 'what a waste of money' and really beating myself up.
These qualifying races in the United States are notoriously late in the evening. Too late for any restaurants to be open. But we trekked a couple of miles to the nearest drive-through McDonalds. We literally said a prayer as we arrived but reality came knocking when they wouldn't serve us without a car.
I sat in the car park, at stupid o'clock in the morning, and cried. Cried because we didn't have a car, and because they wouldn't serve us a Big Mac.
Luckily, on our way home we found a 24-hr grocery store. I bought a family-size cake and it was worth every cent of the $8.99 it cost me.
'Should I just call the Olympics and ask them to reschedule?'
It still fascinates me that a large majority of women struggle with their menstrual cycles every month, and yet no one seems to have the answers. Even now, the research in regards to sport, especially, is sparse.
I presume it would be addressed in far more detail if it affected men - especially our top male athletes. Can you imagine how many Premier League footballers would be left on the bench? Curled up into a wee ball, just waiting for the full-time whistle to be blown so they can go home and sleep.
Periods can also be an added injury risk. Muscle and tendon injuries are far greater and it's the reason why many of women's teams in sports such as hockey and football are now accommodating their athletes' cycles within their training programmes.
I know some sprinters, such as Dina, completely avoid gym work because of it. In an event where power is king, I imagine it's hugely frustrating having to adapt your schedule. Every. Single. Month. But that's the reality.
A few years ago, I made the mistake of training too hard during a certain phase of my cycle and ended up tearing my hamstring. It was a lesson I learned the hard way, but I hope the younger generation can learn from it.
In 2019, when I brought up how frustrating it is for periods to coincide with a major competition, a man replied on Twitter. His solution was to not bother competing when it's my time of the month and to just schedule another race.
As if I could simply call up the Olympic Games and ask them to move my event to the following week to fit my cycle. The mind boggles sometimes… but it also just shows me the complete lack of awareness that some people have.
This shouldn't be an embarrassing topic. Coaches, physiotherapists, teachers, parents, partners and friends - they all play a role in making this an open dialogue. We need to feel comfortable having this discussion.
A few professional athletes I've spoken to have stopped taking the hormonal pill after several years. They want to feel more in control of their bodies and to track their natural cycle.
If an individual is over-training or under-fuelling, the menstrual cycle is often the first thing to disappear. At least by taking a period, as much as I hate it, it gives some reassurance that the body is healthy and in a good energy balance.
That is one of the most important messages I want to get across to younger athletes.
One of the best things I ever did was open up the conversation - not only between other professional athletes but also online, to a larger community of women. Sharing experiences, listening to others and taking advice.
There is still a lot of trial and error in finding what works for each individual, but I personally feel much more educated on the subject than ever before.
I still don't have all the answers I need, but I'll continue to keep that conversation open for the next generation of young female athletes, in the hope that one day we do.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/61752427
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Laura Kuenssberg: Should we shut down AI? - BBC News
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2023-04-01
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Should we worry about artificial intelligence, or embrace the possibilities it brings, asks Laura Kuenssberg.
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UK
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What do the Pope's crazy puffa jacket, a student avoiding a parking ticket, a dry government document and Elon Musk warning the robots might come for us have in common?
This is not an April Fool's joke but a genuine question.
The answer is AI - artificial intelligence - two words we are going to hear a lot about in the coming months.
The picture of the Pope in a Michelin-man style white coat was everywhere online but was made using AI by a computer user from Chicago.
In Yorkshire, 22-year-old Millie Houlton asked AI chatbot ChatGPT to "please help me write a letter to the council, they gave me a parking ticket" and sent it off. The computer's version of her appeal successfully got her out of a £60 fine.
Also this week, without much fanfare, the government published draft proposals on how to regulate this emerging technology, while a letter signed by more than 1,000 tech experts including Tesla boss Elon Musk called on the world to press pause on the development of more advanced AI because it poses "profound risks to humanity".
You are not alone if you don't understand all the terms being bandied about:
It's the speed at which the technology is progressing that led those tech entrepreneurs to intervene, with one AI leader even writing in a US magazine this week: "Shut it down."
Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX mogul Elon Musk is one of those calling for a pause to the development of advanced AI
Estonian billionaire Jaan Tallinn is one of them. He was one of the brains behind internet communication app Skype but is now one of the leading voices trying to put the brakes on.
I asked him, in an interview for this Sunday's show, to explain the threat as simply as he could.
"Imagine if you substitute human civilisation with AI civilisation," he told me. "Civilisation that could potentially run millions of times faster than humans... so like, imagine global warming was sped up a million times.
"One big vector of existential risk is that we are going to lose control over our environment.
"Once we have AIs that we a) cannot stop and b) are smart enough to do things like geoengineering, build their own structures, build their own AIs, then, what's going to happen to their environment, the environment that we critically need for our survival? It's up in the air."
And if governments don't act? Mr Tallinn thinks it's possible to "apply the existing technology, regulation, knowledge and regulatory frameworks" to the current generation of AI, but says the "big worry" is letting the technology race ahead without society adapting: "Then we are in a lot of trouble."
It's worth noting they are not saying they want to put a stop to the lot but pause the high-end work that is training computers to be ever smarter and more like us.
The pace of change and its potential presents an almighty challenge to governments around the world.
Westminster and technology are not always a happy mix and while politics moves pretty fast these days, compared to developments in Silicon Valley, it's a snail versus an F1 car.
There are efforts to put up some guard rails in other countries. On Friday Italy banned ChatGPT while the EU is working on an Artificial Intelligence Act. China is bringing in laws and a "registry" for algorithms - the step-by-step instructions used in programming that tell computers what to do.
But the UK government's set of draft proposals this week proposed no new laws, and no new watchdog or regulator to take it on. Even though the White Paper is an effort to manage one of the biggest technological changes in history, blink and you might have missed it.
The government wants, for now, to give existing regulators like the Health and Safety Executive the responsibility of keeping an eye on what is going on. The argument is that AI will potentially have a role in every aspect of our lives, in endless ways, so to create one new big referee is the wrong approach. One minister told me that "it's a whole revolution" so "identifying it as one technology is wrong".
Ministers also want the UK to make the most of its undoubted expertise in the field because AI is big business with huge potential benefits.
The government is reluctant to introduce tight regulation that could strangle innovation. The challenge according to the minister is to be "very, very tough on the bad stuff", but "harness the seriously beneficial bits" too.
That approach hasn't persuaded Labour's shadow digital secretary Lucy Powell, who says the government "hasn't grappled with the scale of the problem" and we are "running to catch up".
Are existing regulators really up to the task? The Health and Safety Executive wouldn't say how many staff it had ready to work on the issue or are being trained. "We will work with the government and other regulators as AI develops and explore the challenges and opportunities it brings using our scientific expertise," they told me.
Should we be as worried about AI as clerics were about the printing press in the 15th Century?
How on earth can any government strike the right balance? Predictions about the potential of technology are often wildly wrong. One MP familiar with the field reckons: "The tech bros have all watched a bit too much Terminator - how does this technology go from a computer program to removing oxygen from the atmosphere?" The MP believes heavier regulation won't be required for a few years.
One tech firm has told us there is no need to panic: "There are harms we're already aware of, like deep fake videos impersonating people or students cheating on tests, but that's quite a leap to then say we should all be terrified of a sentient machine taking control or killing humanity."
Another senior MP, whose been studying the UK's proposals, says the risks are not yet "catastrophic" and it's better to take a careful and gradual approach to any new laws than "take a running jump, and splash into the unknown".
But to worry about big changes is part of human nature. Clerics worried the printing press would make monks lazy in the 15th Century. Weavers smashed up machines in the 19th Century fearing they'd lose their livelihood.
Even your author snubbed the offer of a mobile phone in 1997 convinced they'd only be for "show-offs" and would never really catch on.
What is certain, is that this generation of politicians and those who follow will increasingly have to spend their time grappling with this emerging frontier of technology.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65147841
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Prince Harry privacy case: battle with Mail owner begins - BBC News
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2023-04-01
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The Duke listened and took written notes as his court fight with Associated Newspapers began.
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UK
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Prince Harry arrives at the High Court in London
It is not often that hardened news photographers and camera crews are surprised, but when the Duke of Sussex emerged from a black cab at the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday morning, their muttered expletives told their own story.
Prince Harry offered a "morning, hi guys" to the pack, and breezed into court. He had quietly flown back to the UK to make what had clearly been planned as a dramatic entrance.
No-one had expected him to appear in person for a week of what were billed to be complex legal arguments about whether seven well-known people should be allowed to sue Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Mail titles.
The duke's manifesto is clear. As he writes in his book, Spare, "it's about not letting people get away with abuse, and lies. Especially the kind of lies that can destroy innocents".
For several days he sat on the padded seats of court 76 listening to what was said, writing in a black notebook and occasionally passing notes to his lawyers. The actor Sadie Frost sat next to him, another of the seven.
Journalists, a breed the duke appears to loathe, sat yards away, and it became routine to file out of the court for lunch breaks with Prince Harry and his close protection detail joining the hungry queue for the exit.
Also there at times were Sir Elton John, his husband David Furnish, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, who, along with Sir Simon Hughes and Elizabeth Hurley, are also claiming breaches of privacy by the newspapers. They seemed prepared to endure the more uncomfortable plastic seats of the court - although Mr Furnish seemed to have more stamina than Sir Elton.
The allegations are eye-watering. Nineteen private investigators are alleged to have placed phone taps on landlines, taped microphones to windows, bugged cars, intercepted voicemail, blagged information ranging from bank statements to flight details, and put their targets under surveillance. They are said to have worked for around 80 journalists on the two Associated Newspapers titles.
The publisher denies the allegations, branding the claims "preposterous smears".
The venue was appropriate. Eleven years ago, in the identical court 73 one floor below, Lord Justice Leveson heard months of evidence during his public inquiry into press standards, relevant to the current case in two important ways.
First, in front of Lord Justice Leveson, Associated Newspapers repeatedly denied on oath that it had commissioned illegal methods of gathering private information. Second, the inquiry was given records of payments made by the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday to private investigators.
During this week's hearings the judge was considering whether the payment records, held confidentially by the Leveson Inquiry, could be used in this case, and whether the whole thing should be thrown out because of a legal time limit.
Barristers for the seven said they had been put off taking legal action because of the vehement denials by the newspapers at the public inquiry. Only recently, they argued, had real evidence come forward.
Sir Elton John also attended court earlier in the week
This case is hugely important because Associated Newspapers has always strongly denied paying for this sort of illegal newsgathering. A decade after law firms began suing rival titles The Sun, News of the World, and Mirror for millions in damages resulting from phone hacking, Associated Newspapers has remained untouched.
The publisher's reputation is at stake - and its bottom line. News UK, which owns The Sun, has paid an estimated £1bn in damages and legal costs during the hacking cases. Should Associated Newspapers lose this case, sources close to the law firms mounting the legal challenge say there are dozens more famous people waiting to sue.
Associated Newspapers, represented during the hearings by two "silks", or senior barristers, and a row of lawyers frantically scribbling in notebooks or tapping on tablets, has not been shy about proclaiming its innocence.
The publisher has described the claims as a "pre-planned and orchestrated attempt" to drag the Mail titles into the phone-hacking scandal by a coalition of journalists and anti-press campaigners. "Unsubstantiated", "highly defamatory", and a "fishing expedition", the company says of the potential evidence.
It could take years to resolve. Mr Justice Nicklin, regarded as one of the judiciary's leading media judges, promised on Thursday to decide as quickly as he could whether this case can continue, but in the law, quickly almost certainly means weeks.
And that's just the start. Should the judge keep the case alive, the claimants will be able to get disclosure of key documents. There will be battles about that process.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
There are likely to be skirmishes about which evidence should be heard in the case. One private investigator, Gavin Burrows, made a witness statement in 2021 making lurid admissions of his "unlawful" activities on behalf of the newspapers.
By 2023 his story appeared to have changed. He had never worked for the Mail and Mail on Sunday, he said in a new statement.
Listening to some of the potential evidence this week, there was a feeling of looking back on a different era - where the landline phone number of a celebrity was journalistic gold dust to a showbiz reporter. A time where it is alleged cassette recorders were used to secretly record phone calls, taped to the inside of a junction box. A time when tabloid scandals were delivered on newsprint.
The world has changed. Much of the information it is claimed newspapers were desperate to get their hands on is now freely available on social media - published by the celebrities themselves.
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Why are doctors demanding the biggest pay rise? - BBC News
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2023-04-09
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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How junior medics have reached the brink of their biggest walkout, in a fight for a 35% hike.
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Health
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On Monday, thousands of junior doctors in England will start a 72-hour strike. They want a 35% pay rise. Yet doctors are among the highest paid in the public sector. So why do they have the biggest pay claim?
The origins of the walkout by British Medical Association members - the biggest by doctors in the history of the NHS - can be found in a series of discussions on social media platform Reddit in late 2021.
A collection of junior doctors were expressing their dissatisfaction about pay.
The numbers chatting online grew quickly and by January 2022 it had led to the formation of the campaign group Doctors Vote, with the aim of restoring pay to the pre-austerity days of 2008.
The group began spreading its message via social media - and, within months, its supporters had won 26 of the 69 voting seats on the BMA ruling council, and 38 of the 68 on its junior doctor committee.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Rob Laurenson stood for BMA election on a Doctors Vote platform
Two of those who stood on the Doctors Vote platform - Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi - became co-chairs of the committee.
"It was simply a group of doctors connecting up the dots," Dr Laurenson says. "We reflect the vast majority of doctors," he adds, pointing to the mandate from the wider BMA junior doctor membership - 77% voted and of those, 98% backed strike action.
Among some of the older BMA heads, though, there is a sense of disquiet at the new guard. One senior doctor who has now stood down from a leadership role says: "They're undoubtedly much more radical than we have seen before. But they haven't read the room - the pay claim makes them look silly."
Publicly, the BMA prefers not to talk about wanting a pay rise. Instead, it uses the term "pay restoration" - to reverse cuts of 26% since 2008. This is the amount pay has fallen once inflation is taken into account.
To rectify a cut of 26% requires a bigger percentage increase because the amount is lower. This is why the BMA is actually after a 35% increase - and it is a rise it is calling for to be paid immediately.
The argument is more complicated than the ones put forward by most other unions - and because of that it has raised eyebrows.
Firstly, no junior doctor has seen pay cut by 26% in that period. There are five core pay points in the junior doctor contract with each a springboard to the next. It means they move up the pay scale over time until they finish their training.
A junior doctor in 2008 may well be a consultant now, perhaps earning four times in cash terms what they were then.
Secondly, the 26% figure uses the retail price index (RPI) measure of inflation, which the Office for National Statistics says is a poor way to look at rising prices. Using the more favoured consumer price index measure, the cut is 16% - although the BMA defends its use of RPI as it takes into account housing costs.
"The drop in pay is also affected by the start-year chosen," Lucina Rolewicz, of the Nuffield Trust think tank, says. A more recent start date will show a smaller decline, as would going further back in the 2000s.
Another way of looking at pay is comparing it with wages across the economy by looking at where a job sits in terms of the lowest to highest earners.
The past decade has not been a boom time for wage growth in many fields, as austerity and the lack of economic growth has held back incomes.
Last year, the independent Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration Body looked at this. It found junior doctors had seen their pay, relative to others, fall slightly during the 2010s, but were still among the highest earners, with doctors fresh out of university immediately finding themselves in the top half of earners, while those at the end of training were just outside the top 10%.
Then, of course, career prospects have to be considered. Consultants earn well more than £100,000 on average, putting them in the top 2%. GP partners earn even more.
A pension of more than £60,000 a year in today's prices also awaits those reaching such positions.
But while the scale of the pay claim is new, dissatisfaction with working conditions and pay pre-date the rise of the Doctors Vote movement.
Studying medicine at university takes five years, meaning big debts for most. Dr Trivedi says £80,000 of student loans are often topped up by private debt.
On top of that, doctors have to pay for ongoing exams and professional membership fees. Their junior doctor training can see them having to make several moves across the country and with little control over the hours they work. Their contract means they are required to work a minimum of 40 hours and up to 48 on average - additional payments are made to reflect this.
This lasts many years - junior doctors can commonly spend close to a decade in training.
It is clearly hard work. And with services getting increasingly stretched, it is a job that doctors say is leaving them "demoralised, angry and exhausted", Dr Trivedi says, adding: "Patient care is being compromised."
But while medicine is undoubtedly tough, it remains hugely attractive.
Junior doctor posts in the early years are nearly always filled - it is not until doctors begin to specialise later in their training that significant gaps emerge in some specialities such as end-of-life care and sexual health.
Looking at all doctor vacancy rates across the NHS around 6% of posts are unfilled - for nurses it is nearly twice that level.
Many argue there is still a shortage - with not enough training places or funded doctor posts in the NHS in the first place.
But the fact the problems appear more severe in other NHS roles is a key reason why the government does not seem to be in a hurry to prioritise doctors - formal pay talks to avert strikes have begun with unions representing the rest of the workforce
"If we have some money to give a pay rise to NHS staff," a source close to the negotiations says, "doctors are not at the front of the queue."
Update: This article was updated on 18 May 2023 to make it clear doctors can be required to work up to 48 hours and the footnote on the first chart has changed 'overtime' to 'additional hours'.
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news_health-64907379
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Fox News settles Dominion defamation case for $787.5m - BBC News
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2023-04-19
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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"Lies have consequences," says a lawyer for the voting firm about the network's false election claims.
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US & Canada
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Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch (left, with son Lachlan) could have had to testify
Fox News has settled a defamation lawsuit from the voting machine company, Dominion, over its reporting of the 2020 presidential election.
In a last-minute settlement before trial, the network agreed to pay $787.5m (£634m) - about half of the $1.6bn initially sought by Dominion.
Dominion argued its business was harmed by Fox spreading false claims the vote had been rigged against Donald Trump.
The deal spares Fox executives such as Rupert Murdoch from having to testify.
The judge in the case is not required to give his approval for the agreement.
Fox said Tuesday's settlement in one of the most anticipated defamation trials in recent US history reflected its "commitment to the highest journalistic standards".
The Fox statement added without elaborating that the network "acknowledges the court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false".
Dominion chief executive John Poulos told a press conference the deal included Fox "admitting to telling lies, causing enormous damage to my company".
"Lies have consequences," he added. "Over two years ago a torrent of lies swept Dominion and election officials across America into an alternative universe of conspiracy theories, causing grievous harm to Dominion and the country."
Mr Nelson added that for "democracy to endure", Americans must "share a commitment to facts".
Opening arguments in the case had been due to start on Tuesday afternoon.
The announcement of a settlement came after an unexplained delay of several hours once jury selection had finished, prompting speculation that talks were under way behind the scenes.
On Monday, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced that the start of the trial would be delayed by 24 hours.
Although he gave no reason, US media reported that it was to give both sides an opportunity to reach a settlement.
On Tuesday morning, however, both sides appeared to be digging in for a lengthy trial.
Attorneys for Fox had repeatedly objected to the $1.6bn in damages sought by Colorado-based Dominion, characterising the figure as massively inflated.
The "real cost" of the case, Fox had argued, would be the "cherished" rights to freedom of speech and of the press enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Dominion's lawsuit argued that the conservative network had sullied the electronic voting company's reputation by airing falsehoods about the 2020 vote being stolen from former President Trump.
Mr Trump attacked the voting machine company after the ballot, falsely claiming that it rigged the election to favour winner Joe Biden.
The lawsuit said that the false claims were partly an effort to win over viewers who were angered by Fox's decision on election night to - correctly - declare that Mr Trump's then-challenger, Joe Biden, had won the crucial state of Arizona.
Two of the Fox executives responsible for the Arizona decision lost their jobs two months later.
Legal findings released ahead of the trial suggested that a number of Fox executives and journalists privately questioned and dismissed conspiracy claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, but still put them on air.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion' - CEO
Court documents show that Mr Murdoch referred to the claims about Dominion as "really crazy", but failed to take any action.
In one series of text messages, top-rated host Tucker Carlson said some of the claims were "insane". Another host, Sean Hannity, said privately he did not believe them "for one second".
Fox has said the words were taken out of context.
Ahead of the trial, Judge Davis ruled that the claims against Dominion had already been proven false, emphasising that the falsehoods were "crystal clear".
Despite the mammoth pay-out, some legal experts believe the settlement was overall a positive outcome for the network.
Syracuse University professor and First Amendment expert Roy Gutterman said: "Looking down the line at a six-week trial, this was going to be gruelling for everyone involved and likely embarrassing for Fox.
"But a verdict against Fox could have been even costlier, and had serious implications on subsequent rulings on the actual malice standard and the First Amendment itself."
Had the defamation trial gone ahead, jurors would have been tasked with determining whether Fox News acted with "actual malice" by broadcasting claims it knew to be false.
Civil litigation attorney Michelle Simpson Tuegel told the BBC that the settlement "speaks to the massive threat Fox saw from this litigation".
"The reputational harm of having executives, including chairman Rupert Murdoch, and hosts take the stand seems to have moved the parties towards a resolution," Ms Tuegel added.
Fox still faces a second, similar defamation lawsuit from another election technology firm, Smartmatic, which is seeking $2.7bn.
Dominion still has litigation pending against two conservative news networks, OAN and Newsmax.
The company has also sued Trump allies such as Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65318654
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news_world-us-canada-65318654
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SNP will be in trouble without action, says Kate Forbes - BBC News
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2023-04-19
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The former leadership candidate tells the BBC voters are watching the SNP "with astonishment" .
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UK Politics
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Kate Forbes served as Scotland's finance secretary from 2021 to 2023
The SNP "will be in trouble" unless the leadership takes "decisive action" on its internal affairs, former leadership candidate Kate Forbes has warned.
Speaking to the BBC, Ms Forbes said people were watching the SNP "with astonishment" and party finance claims were "mind-blowing".
She said there was "time to sort it out" but "continuity won't cut it".
The SNP has ordered a review of how the party is managed following recent controversy over its finances.
Speaking last week, newly-elected party leader Humza Yousaf said he wanted a "fresh approach" to ensure party members, as well as the public, could be "really confident" in the governance and transparency of the party.
Since the shock resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as party leader and Scotland's first minister in February, the SNP has descended into turmoil.
The subsequent leadership race exposed deep divisions in the party, and midway through the contest Peter Murrell, Ms Sturgeon's husband, stepped down as chief executive after the party misled the media about membership numbers.
Mr Murrell was arrested earlier this month as part of a police investigation into the SNP's finances. On Tuesday, SNP treasurer Colin Beattie was also arrested in relation to the same investigation. Both men were released without charge pending further investigation.
Ms Forbes - who came second in the leadership contest behind Humza Yousaf - was speaking to the Radio 4 programme - Leading Scotland Where? which airs on Wednesday at 20:30 BST.
It is her first broadcast interview since the contest and was recorded after Mr Murrell's arrest but before Mr Beattie's.
Ms Forbes told the programme: "I think we need decisive action or we will be in trouble.
"People are watching with astonishment but they want to see the leadership dealing with it and resolving it."
She added: "Right now with questions over integrity, trust, transparency - I think voters are watching extremely carefully."
Looking ahead to the next general election - expected to take place in 2024 - she said people would vote on "the basis of how we have sorted out our internal problems - even more than that how we govern".
"There is still time to sort it out. But I said throughout the campaign, I'm afraid I'm going to say it now: Continuity won't cut it."
Kate Forbes came second in the leadership contest behind Humza Yousaf but ahead of Ash Regan
Asked about the way the party had been run by Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell, she said: "They were obviously a very good team in the sense of managing the SNP.
"But there's no question that since then there have been lots of questions about transparency... it doesn't matter how slick the optics are, you need good governance."
She added: "We are at a pretty critical moment - and it will be the response and the reaction that determines how big a problem this is for the SNP."
Ms Forbes dismissed calls made by some in the party for a re-run of the leadership election.
But she suggested she could have won if the campaign had been longer.
She told the BBC: "One argument I think does have merit is that the contest was so short.
"I came from a standing start, I hadn't been in front-line politics for about seven months, came right into the full glare of media scrutiny and the requirement to build a team and also build a policy platform pretty quick.
"There are some who have argued who I would probably agree with that if the contest had been longer each candidate would have had more time to connect with the electorate."
Asked if she thinks she could have won, she replies: "Yeah, there's only 2,000 votes in it. But then again I also have confidence SNP members know who they are voting for."
Despite calls for unity, Ms Forbes left the cabinet in Humza Yousaf's reshuffle.
At the time, the deputy first minister Shona Robison suggested this was for a better work life balance.
But Ms Forbes said: "The primary reason that I didn't take the job was because I couldn't do positions that I'd taken during the campaign.
"Having made much of integrity - I think it was important to be able to hold to those positions.
"I know how important it is within cabinet to work together and support the decisions made."
Ms Forbes did not rule out running for the leadership again in the future but said it was "highly unlikely".
She also said she would be a loyal backbencher to Mr Yousaf.
An SNP spokesman said: "Under the fresh leadership of Humza Yousaf, the SNP has put in place the mechanisms to improve transparency and governance within the party.
"Undoubtedly, the last week has been tough for party members but Humza Yousaf is working hard to maintain the strong trust Scottish voters have placed in the SNP at election after election in recent years."
Leading Scotland Where? will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 20:30 on Wednesday 19 April and available on BBC Sounds afterwards
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65312186
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news_uk-politics-65312186
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Prince Harry to attend coronation without Meghan - BBC News
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2023-04-12
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Prince Harry will travel to the UK but Meghan will stay in California with their children.
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UK
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Harry will attend the coronation at Westminster Abbey, but Meghan will stay in the US with their children
The Duke of Sussex will be present at the King's coronation, but his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, will not be attending, Buckingham Palace has said.
There had been speculation about whether the couple would travel to the coronation but it has now emerged that Prince Harry will attend alone.
The prince will join more than 2,000 guests at Westminster Abbey on 6 May.
It will be the first time he has been seen with the Royal Family since his bombshell memoir Spare was published.
Prince Harry's book vividly revealed the depth of his disagreements with other members of the Royal Family, and he has since spoken of feeling "different" from the rest of his family.
King Charles and the Queen Consort will be crowned next month, in front of more than 2,000 guests
The decision for Meghan to reject the invitation will be seen as part of these continuing, unresolved family tensions.
Prince Harry's book - and an earlier Netflix series - had highlighted his anxiety about negative media coverage, particularly towards his wife, amid suggestions of a lack of support from his family.
It had been unclear whether Prince Harry would attend his father's coronation, but it is now confirmed that he will be at the Abbey, meaning King Charles will have both his sons present for the ceremony.
The date is also the fourth birthday of Prince Harry and Meghan's son, Prince Archie, who will remain in the US with his mother.
The couple issued a statement along the same lines as the palace: "The Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation service at Westminster Abbey on May 6th. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet."
Neither the couple's spokeswoman nor Buckingham Palace commented on the decision, but there were strongly divided opinions on social media, with supporters praising Meghan for standing up for herself while opponents criticised her for "snubbing" her royal in-laws.
Prince Harry made a surprise appearance for a court hearing in London last month
Prince Harry and Meghan had been contacted more than a month ago about attending the coronation, prompting weeks of speculation about whether they would go.
The announcement means that Prince Harry will be part of the historic ceremony, joining other members of the Royal Family, public figures, world leaders and 450 representatives of charities and community groups.
As he is no longer a "working royal", it remains to be seen what part Prince Harry will play in the ceremony. For the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, Prince Harry and Meghan were not allowed to take part in the traditional appearance on Buckingham Palace balcony.
It is expected that the Prince of Wales will have a prominent role in the coronation - and after Prince Harry's dramatic account of their falling out there will be attention on the two brothers being seen together again.
Prince Harry's memoir described a physical altercation between the brothers and arguments about their father marrying Camilla.
The Queen Consort's grandchildren will be among the children with roles at the coronation, and Buckingham Palace has said that after that event will be an "appropriate time" for her to become known as Queen Camilla.
As well as the coronation service, there is a long weekend of public events and concerts which the Royal Family will be expected to attend. However, it is not known how long Prince Harry will be in the UK.
Prince Harry made an unexpected appearance in London in March, when he attended a court hearing in a case against Associated Newspapers about allegations of privacy breaches, but he was not thought to have met his brother, Prince William, or the King during the visit.
Read the latest from our royal correspondent Sean Coughlan - sign up here.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65255135
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news_uk-65255135
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Gender reform law block 'irrational' - Scottish ministers - BBC News
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2023-04-20
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The Scottish government publishes legal arguments in its bid to overturn a block on gender reform legislation.
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Scotland
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The Scottish government has published its legal arguments in its bid to overturn a UK government block on gender reform legislation.
In its 22-page petition to the Court of Session, it argues that concerns raised by Scottish Secretary Alister Jack are "irrational".
It said there was an absence of any supporting evidence for his claims.
Mr Jack used a Section 35 order to ensure the new law, passed by MSPs in December, could not be enacted.
He has said the law would have a detrimental impact on areas that are reserved to Westminster such as equalities protections for women and girls.
Mr Jack previously told the Commons the reforms would have an adverse impact on single sex clubs, associations and schools and protections such as equal pay.
He said having different processes across the UK would create "significant complications" and could lead to "more fraudulent or bad faith applications".
The Scottish government has challenged the Section 35 order on four counts: that Mr Jack made a "material error of law", that his concerns about the safeguards in the Bill were "irrelevant" to the order's making and that his reasons were "inadequate", which would make the order "unlawful".
The reforms in the Gender Recognition Bill are intended to make it easier for trans people to change their legally-recognised sex.
The bill would lower the age that people can apply for a gender recognition certificate (GRC) - a legal document confirming a gender change - from 18 to 16.
It would also remove the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, with applicants only needing to have lived as their acquired gender for three months rather than two years - or six months if they are aged 16 or 17.
Trans campaigners welcomed the bill, however critics of the plans are worried that allowing anyone to "self-identify" as a woman could impact on women's rights and access to single-sex spaces like refuges and changing rooms.
The bill was passed by 86 votes to 39 in the Scottish Parliament but it has caused deep divisions within the SNP, with Ash Regan - a candidate in the recent party leadership contest - quitting as a minister in the run-up to the vote.
Kate Forbes, who also stood for the leadership, was on maternity leave when the vote took place but later she said she would not have backed the bill in its current form.
Both Ms Regan and Ms Forbes have said they would not have wanted to challenge the block in the courts if they had won the leadership.
And there have been warnings from some within the party - including Ms Regan - that the government stands little chance of winning the case.
Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called the decision to block the bill a "full-frontal attack" on the Scottish Parliament, and vowed to oppose it before her resignation earlier this year.
New First Minister Humza Yousaf vowed to challenge the Section 35 order, saying it was an "undemocratic veto over legislation that was passed by a majority of the Scottish Parliament".
In its petition to the Court of Session, lawyers for the Scottish government said: "Having regard to the absence of any supporting evidence produced by the Secretary of State, and in the context of research, consultation and comparative information available to, and considered by, the Scottish Parliament during the Bill's passage, the Secretary of State's concerns about the operation of the Bill are irrational."
The lawyers also said the three criteria for making such an order had not been met.
These criteria are that that the Bill impacts on reserved matters, that Mr Jack has "reasonable grounds" to believe it would impact on the operation of reserved laws and that the Scottish Secretary must provide adequate reasons for the block.
The petition was released in the hours after Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville made a statement to MSPs, telling them the government had "no option" but to challenge the order and claiming it was a bid to protect democracy.
A spokeswoman for the UK government said it would "robustly defend" the decision to prevent the Scottish government's Gender Recognition Reform Bill from becoming law.
"The Scottish Secretary made the order under Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 after thorough and careful consideration of all the relevant advice and the policy implications," she said.
"He was very clear in the accompanying statement of reasons how the Bill would have an adverse effect on reserved matters, including on the operation of the law as it applies to Great Britain-wide equalities protections."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65334299
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news_uk-scotland-65334299
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De facto referendum is still an option, says indyref minister - BBC News
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2023-05-21
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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No option "off the table" ahead of SNP summit, says independence minister Jamie Hepburn.
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Scotland politics
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Scotland voted against independence by 55% to 45% in 2014
Using the next general election as a "de facto referendum" is still an option, the Scottish government's independence minister has said.
Jamie Hepburn said "no option should be taken off the table" ahead of a special SNP independence convention next month.
Mr Hepburn also revealed the Scottish government will resume publishing a series of papers which set out the case for a Yes vote.
Opposition parties have criticised the SNP's renewed focus on independence.
Labour's shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray argued the cost of living crisis should be a bigger priority for SNP ministers.
Appearing on the BBC Scotland Sunday Show, Mr Hepburn said the SNP would use the independence convention event on 24 June to "discuss what our platform will be in advance of the 2024 general election".
Asked if the possibility of a de facto referendum approach was still on the table, he said: "The first minister has said that so long as it's rightly within the parameters of a legal, electoral route then no option should be taken off the table.
"So that will form part of our discussion."
Jamie Hepburn said SNP members will discuss the party's independence strategy at a special conference next month
First Minister Humza Yousaf has said he wants a "consistent majority for independence" and will focus on making the case for a Yes vote because he knows pushing for a referendum immediately will be rejected.
But when Nicola Sturgeon was first minister she said she wanted to use the next UK general election - which must be held by January 2025 at the latest - as a de facto referendum.
This would involve treating the votes for the SNP at a general election as votes for independence and then looking to open negotiations with the UK government about Scotland's exit from the UK.
However, the UK government has previously dismissed the idea, which has also attracted some criticism within the SNP.
Humza Yousaf has pledged to take a positive independence message to people around the country
The convention in Dundee next month is likely to form part of more activity from the SNP on the issue of a second independence referendum.
Mr Hepburn told BBC Scotland that in the coming weeks another paper on the case for independence, produced by a team of Scottish government civil servants, will be published.
The first paper of this series - called Independence in the Modern World. Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why Not Scotland? - made comparisons between Scotland and other European countries and was published in June last year.
Subsequent papers were billed as looking at areas including currency, tax and spend, defence, social security and pensions, and EU membership and trade.
Humza Yousaf has also pledged a "summer of independence campaign activity" which would "take our positive message to every corner of the country".
Writing in The National, he said the party was working hard to organise regional independence assemblies, something he pledged on the campaign trail for the SNP leadership.
Labour's shadow Scottish secretary Mr Murray said the Scottish government should be "concentrating on bread and butter issues".
He added: "It's the same old story, over and over again.
"The Scottish public will not be very amused that during the worst cost of living crisis in history the SNP are reverting to type and talking about independence.
"Why we have a very expensive £100,00-a-year minister for independence when we need everyone's focus on the cost of living crisis is completely beyond my comprehension."
Donald Cameron, Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman, added: "Jamie Hepburn couldn't have made it more obvious that the SNP have no intention of tackling Scotland's real priorities.
"They're having yet another conference, just for their members, on how to break up the UK - something Scots decisively rejected."
They want Scottish independence to be achieved by a process which is beyond any legal or moral dispute and in clear accordance with international law.
Their ideal scenario is a second independence referendum on a straightforward yes-no question.
But the Supreme Court made it clear that Holyrood does not have the power to hold one without UK government permission.
There are a number of other options - none of them straightforward.
One argument is that a future election - perhaps the next general election or Scottish Parliament election- could be turned into a defacto referendum.
If more than 50% of people voted for the SNP or another pro-independence party, it would be considered by them to be a vote for independence itself. The hope of those who advance that argument would be that this would quickly result in an actual referendum on independence itself.
Another argument is that SNP MPs could try to "force" a future Westminster government which was short of a majority to concede a referendum in return for their support.
But both Labour and the Conservatives are adamant that will not happen.
Then there is the argument that the best way forward for supporters of independence is simply to keep on trying to increase support for it.
They would contend that, sooner or later, the point could come when it was clear that independence was consistently supported by a significant majority of Scots so it would be impossible in practice to deny a referendum.
These ideas, and other strategies, will no doubt be discussed at next month's convention.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-65663750
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news_uk-scotland-scotland-politics-65663750
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Bona Mugabe owns Dubai mansion, Zimbabwe court papers allege - BBC News
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2023-05-03
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Her estranged husband says she has assets including 25 residential properties worth $80m and 21 farms.
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Africa
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Bona Mugabe seen with her husband at the funeral of her father in 2019
Divorce court papers seen by the BBC allege that the daughter of Zimbabwe's ex-President Robert Mugabe owned 25 residential properties, including a Dubai mansion, worth a total of around $80m (£64m).
Bona Mugabe filed for divorce from former pilot Simba Mutsahuni Chikore in March.
Mr Chikore wants to split their assets, which also include 21 farms, he says.
Ms Mugabe has not yet commented on the claims but will be able to do so.
A source close to the Mugabe family told the BBC that the former president had nothing in his name when he died, although he received £10m from the state as part of his pension. The source also questioned whether Bona Mugabe owned all the assets listed by her former partner.
However, Zimbabweans have reacted with shock and outrage to the extent of the wealth allegedly accumulated by just one of Mr Mugabe's children.
Luxury vehicles, farming equipment and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash were also mentioned in the divorce papers.
Some of the 21 farms were allegedly acquired by the Mugabe family during the contentious takeover of white-owned farms in the early 2000s, and despite the government's policy of "one-man one-farm".
Mr Chikore, who is also demanding joint custody of the couple's three children, says the assets were acquired solely and jointly during their marriage, through inheritance and donations from the late president for work carried out on his behalf.
He adds that the assets he has listed are a drop in the ocean, compared to the wealth Ms Mugabe owns outright.
In response, George Charamba, who was Mr Mugabe's spokesman and now serves in President Emmerson Mnangagwa's office, denied that the couple owned 21 farms.
"All Agricultural Land belongs to the State, with farmers using it on LEASE BASIS," he tweeted.
He added that no-one should "build any politics or arguments around so-called 21 farms allegedly owned by Cde Bona and her estranged hubby".
Bona Mugabe pictured with her father, former President Mugabe, during his 91st birth celebrations, and mother, Grace
It is unclear when the divorce case - being heard by a court in the capital, Harare - will end.
Ms Mugabe and Ms Chikore were married at a lavish wedding in 2014 that was attended by several African heads of state - and was broadcast live on state television.
Mr Mugabe died in 2019 at the age of 95, reportedly without leaving a will. He is survived by his wife Grace, Bona, two sons and a step-son.
He was in power in Zimbabwe from the time of independence in 1980 until he was ousted in 2017 by Mr Mnangagwa, his former ally-turned-rival.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65475901
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Kathleen Stock: Oxford academics sign free speech letter in gender row - BBC News
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2023-05-17
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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An invitation to Kathleen Stock is not behind a split with the debating society, Oxford SU says.
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UK
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Prof Kathleen Stock is due to speak at the Oxford Union on 30 May
Universities must remain places where "contentious views can be openly discussed", University of Oxford academics have warned.
It comes amid a row over the invitation of gender-critical academic Kathleen Stock to take part in a debate.
There had been speculation a decision by the university's student union to split with the Oxford Union debating society was due to the invitation.
But the Oxford University Student Union said the decision was unrelated.
The letter, signed by 44 academics, and published in the Telegraph, stated the signatories represented left and right viewpoints.
It said the group "wholeheartedly condemn" the students' union split with the 200-year-old Oxford Union debating society.
Speaking to the BBC, one of the signatories Dr Michael Biggs, associate professor of sociology at University of Oxford, said he had signed the letter because he is a "strong believer in academic freedom of speech".
He said it was "under threat" as there was "an emerging body of students who have learnt that anybody who has a view that is not their own is hateful and bigoted, and doesn't deserve any opportunity to speak".
Responding to the letter, Prof Stock said she was "very pleased to see there are still those at Oxford University who understand the value of upholding academic freedom, and are prepared to demonstrate this important value in public".
"I hope their example will inspire others to do similar," she added.
In a statement, education minister Claire Coutinho said student debaters "shouldn't be punished for encouraging the free exchange of ideas".
She said the new Freedom of Speech Act "will make sure that universities promote free speech" and people who have their "free speech rights unlawfully restricted on campus can seek redress".
Prof Stock left her job with the University of Sussex in 2021 after protests against her from students following the publication of a book where she questioned the idea that gender identity is more socially significant than biological sex.
After plans for her invite were unveiled last month, the Oxford University LGBTQ+ Society said it was "dismayed", and accused the debating union of "disregarding the welfare of its LGBTQ+ members under the guise of free speech".
Responding to the letter on Wednesday, the society said it stood by its statement, and said it was an "insult" for Oxford Union to give Prof Stock a platform.
Oxford Union has said attendees will have an "opportunity to respectfully engage and challenge" Prof Stock's views at the event on 30 May, as well as being able to ask questions anonymously.
It said there would be "additional welfare resources available on the evening", due to the sensitive nature of the event.
The Oxford Union intentionally resembles the House of Commons
The letter by academics characterised Prof Stock's views as being the belief that "biological sex in humans is real and socially salient" and said they are views which until recently "would have been so commonplace as to hardly merit asserting".
"There is no plausible and attractive ideal of academic freedom, or of free speech more generally, which would condemn their expression as outside the bounds of permissible discourse," it says.
It added the move by the student's union is aimed at damaging the Oxford Union debating society's business model, by banning it from freshers' fairs, which it said is an important source for recruitment of members.
The Oxford Union is a private members club that University of Oxford students and others pay to join. It is independent of the university and the student union.
It said the move is a "a profound failure to live up to" ideals of "free inquiry and the disinterested pursuit of the truth by means of reasoned argument".
In its response, the Oxford University Student Union said national press coverage "erroneously" conflated the opposition to Prof Stock and the decision to split with the Oxford Union.
It said the debate prior to the decision made no mention of Prof Stock or any other speaker, and was due to "long-standing concerns" about "alleged bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination, and data privacy breaches".
It added: "[The student's union] will defend the right of people to freedom of expression, and will defend the right of people to have controversial and unpopular ideas debated as part of an integral part of university life".
There has been ongoing tension in UK universities over freedom of speech on the issue of transgender rights.
Last month, a second attempted screening of a controversial film about gender-critical issues was cancelled due to protest at the University of Edinburgh.
The Oxford Union is celebrating its bicentennial year in 2023, and has a history of welcoming some of the world's most high-profile figures.
Its debating chamber has previously heard from a host of American presidents, and figures like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
It has also drawn controversy, having extended invites to the likes of far-right activist Tommy Robinson and French far-right former politician Marion Marechal-Le Pen.
Their appearances were marked by protests.
Update 5 June: This article originally described the free speech letter as having been signed by 44 academics, and this was amended with a note of correction on 27 May to say it was signed by academics and staff. On review, our original wording was correct and we have amended the article again to make clear that all of the signatories are academics.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65620586
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Ghanaian ruler pushes British Museum to return gold - BBC News
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2023-05-17
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Asante king uses Coronation visit to press British Museum to return gold to Ghana.
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Entertainment & Arts
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Asante King's bracelet with gold ornaments and glass beads was taken by the British in the 19th Century, and is at the British Museum
The ruler of Ghana's Asante people is pressing the British Museum to return gold items in its collection.
The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who attended the Coronation of King Charles, later met the museum director Dr Hartwig Fischer for discussions.
The British Museum's collection includes works taken from the Asante palace in Kumasi during the war with the British of 1874.
The museum told us it is "exploring the possibility of lending items" to Ghana.
The British Museum has been under increasing pressure in recent years to return items in its collection to their countries of origin.
The demands by Greece for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures, often still known as the Elgin Marbles, are the most high profile example in this contested debate. They were removed by the diplomat and soldier Lord Elgin in the 19th century and later bought by the British government and placed in the British Museum.
Restitution issues more commonly apply to countries which experienced colonial conflict.
Ethiopia wants the British Museum to return ceremonial crosses, weapons, jewellery, sacred altar tablets and other items taken from Maqdala in the north of the country during British military action in 1868.
The Nigerian Government has also formally asked the museum to return 900 Benin Bronzes.
These beautiful bronze and brass sculptures were created by specialist guilds working for the royal court of the Oba, or King, in Benin City from the 16th century onwards. Many were forcibly removed when the British captured the city in 1897.
The Parthenon Sculptures were removed from Greece and put on display in London's British Museum in the 19th Century
Ghana's government made a formal request in 1974 from the then Asantahene, requesting the return of regalia and other items taken by British forces in 1874, 1896 and 1900. Since then, the British Museum says it has worked to establish a positive and ongoing collaboration with the Asantehene and Ghana's Manhyia Palace Museum, which chronicles Asante culture.
In recent times Ghana's government has set up a Restitution Committee to look at the return of items taken from the Asante palace which are now in collections around the world.
Nana Oforiatta Ayim, who sits on that Committee, told the BBC: "These objects are largely sacred ones and their return is about more than just restitution. It is also about reparation and repair, for the places they were taken from, but also those who did the taking."
She added that they are looking for a new relationship "not based on exploitation or oppression, but on equity and mutual respect".
Last Thursday's discussions at the British Museum are the first ever meeting between the Asantehene and the museum director, Dr Fischer.
Benin Bronzes were taken from the ancient city in Nigeria by the British army
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II requested a loan of items of regalia belonging to his forbears, acknowledging the successful ongoing collaboration with the British Museum.
There are more than 200 Asante gold objects and other regalia within the British Museum collection which were taken by British troops during the Anglo-Asante wars.
Back in the 19th century, the Asante state was one of few African states that offered serious resistance to European colonisers.
A spokeswoman for the British Museum told the BBC: "Our Director and Deputy Director were pleased to welcome His Royal Majesty Osei Tutu II to the Museum during his visit to the UK for the Coronation of King Charles III".
She added that the museum "is exploring the possibility of lending items from the collection to mark the 150th anniversary of the end of the third Anglo-Asante war, as well as to support celebrations for the Asantehene's Silver Jubilee next year".
The Asantehene visited London last week and met with King Charles before his coronation
The British Museum has not received a formal return request from Ghana since 1974.
It loans more than 5,000 objects to institutions around the world every year in its efforts to share its collection globally.
For some Ghanaians however, loans can never be a long term solution.
Oforiatta Ayim, who is also a special adviser to Ghana's Culture Minister, said: "Loans can be a first step in that they can open up dialogue in the kind of institutions and structures that are slow to change. At the end of the day, objects like the ones taken in 1874 were taken under horrifically violent circumstances… There needs to be honesty, accountability and action".
This Asante gold neck torc was taken by the British in the 19th Century, and is at the British Museum
She added: the objects' homes are "undeniably the places they were taken from" though could be lent back to British institutions in future.
London's Horniman Museum returned 72 items in its collection to Nigerian ownership last year.
At the time, Nick Merriman, the Horniman Museum director, told the BBC there was a "moral argument" to return them. He said "we're seeing a tipping point around not just restitution and repatriation, but museums acknowledging their colonial history".
But some of the UK's most renowned institutions, including the British Museum, are prevented by law from making a decision of this kind. The British Museum Act of 1963 bans the museum from the "disposal of objects" except in very specific circumstances.
It is however free to loan items, if it believes the items won't be damaged
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65614490
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news_entertainment-arts-65614490
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Eurovision: Ukraine's Zelensky should address contest, says Rishi Sunak - BBC News
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2023-05-13
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The organisers of the song contest turned down a request from Ukraine's president to speak.
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UK Politics
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Volodymyr Zelensky met Rishi Sunak during a trip to Downing Street in February
Rishi Sunak is "disappointed" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not been allowed to address this year's Eurovision, his spokesman says.
The organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), say it would breach its political impartiality.
But Downing Street said it would be "fitting" for Mr Zelensky to speak given Russia's invasion of his country.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is also calling for the Ukrainian leader to be allowed to make a speech.
Ukraine was meant to be hosting this year's Eurovision after winning it last year, but it is taking place in Liverpool instead after Russia's invasion.
It has been reported that Mr Zelensky wanted to make a video appearance at the contest's final on Saturday, to an expected global audience of 160 million.
But in a statement on Thursday, the EBU said it had turned down a request from the Ukrainian president to address the event, despite his "laudable intentions".
"The Eurovision Song Contest is an international entertainment show, and governed by strict rules and principles," it added.
"As part of these, one of the cornerstones of the contest is the non-political nature of the event. This principle prohibits the possibility of making political or similar statements as part of the contest."
BBC Director General Tim Davie told the BBC's Eurovisioncast he understood the EBU's decision and that throughout its history, Eurovision "has not been a platform for political statement".
But he stressed the BBC was hosting on behalf of Ukraine and that it is "a celebration across Europe for freedom, for democracy".
The EBU said that a Ukrainian design agency had been involved in designing artwork for the event, and 11 Ukrainian artists, including last year's winners Kalush Orchestra, would be performing.
However, Mr Sunak's spokesman questioned the decision not to have Mr Zelensky speak, saying: "The values and freedoms that President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine are fighting for are not political, they're fundamental."
His spokesman argued that Eurovision "themselves recognised that last year" by banning Russian artists from participating.
However, he added that the prime minister had no plans to intervene and ask broadcasters to change their mind.
Ukraine's ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, said the final of the contest would have been a "great moment" for Mr Zelensky to address a huge audience.
But speaking to PA Media, he added: "We understand all the internal politics and the unbiased sort of approach to all this, that's why we don't have to push too much."
Ukraine will be represented at this year's contest by Nigerian-Ukrainian pop duo TVORCHI
In statement, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: "It's vital that we all continue to keep the plight of the Ukrainian people front of mind as they stand up to Russian aggression on behalf of us all.
"Eurovision is an expression of international unity and freedom, and President Zelensky should be able to address it as a great defender of both."
The EBU initially said it would allow Russia to participate in the 2022 final, following its invasion of Ukraine two months before it was due to be held in Italy.
But it then changed course within 24 hours, saying that allowing Russia to take part would "bring the competition into disrepute".
UA:PBC, Ukraine's public broadcaster, as well as those from Iceland, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands, had called for Russia to be banned.
Boris Johnson, who was British prime minister during Russia's invasion and oversaw the UK's initial response, said "it would have been right to hear" from him during the final on Saturday.
Formed in 1950, the EBU has 68 broadcasting organisations as members, including the BBC - which is hosting this week's finals and semi-finals.
Eurovision was conceived in the 1950s as a way of promoting post-war unity between European states. As a result, politics has always been kept at arm's length.
It's a policy that's never been easy or comfortable to enforce. In 2005, Lebanon was due to make its debut when it refused to air Israel's entry. As a result, it received a three-year ban from the contest, and never took part.
Georgia also fell foul of the rules in 2009, when they submitted a song called "We Don't Wanna Put In".
The lyrics were a thinly-veiled critique of Russia's Vladimir Putin, following the previous year's Russo-Georgian war. When the country refused to amend the song, they were suspended.
The commitment to neutrality is so strong that, last year, organisers agonised over what to do about Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
Although Russia was eventually banned, Eurovision's executive supervisor Martin Osterdahl said it had been a hard decision to make.
"It was, and it still is," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
But, he added: "How Europe feels very much affects the contest. When we say we are not political, what we always should stand up for are the basic and ultimate values of democracy."
Critics of the decision to decline President Zelensky will say the contest has already made a political move by banning Russia. And their argument isn't without merit.
But the EBU would counter that supporting a war-torn country is very different to allowing the leader of that country to make a call to arms.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65574033
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Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price quits after damning report - BBC News
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2023-05-13
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Adam Price quits after review found misogyny, harassment and bullying in his party.
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Wales
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Adam Price says he no longer had the support of his party
Adam Price has quit as Plaid Cymru leader after a report found misogyny, harassment and bullying in the party.
North Wales Senedd member Llyr Gruffydd will take over as interim leader, with a new leader in place in the summer, the party has said.
It follows months of difficulties including allegations of a sexual assault made against a senior staff member, and a toxic working culture.
In his resignation letter, Mr Price said he no longer had the "united support" of his colleagues.
He said he wanted to resign in the wake of the report's findings, but was initially persuaded not to quit.
"You have my personal assurance that I will continue to serve my country, my constituents and our party with determination and enthusiasm," he said in a letter to party chairman, Marc Jones.
On Thursday Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford said discussions on his co-operation agreement with Plaid will take place "in light of recent developments"
He thanked Mr Price "for the constructive way the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru have worked together".
The resignation announcement was made following a meeting of the party's ruling body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), late on Wednesday night.
One source from the meeting said some members raised the possibility of Adam Price remaining in post.
But it was considered untenable given the seriousness of the findings of the review.
Plaid's Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said Mr Price was not asked to resign in the wake of the "toxic culture" report because "stability" was needed to implement its recommendations.
Interim Plaid Cymru leader Llyr Gruffydd has been in the Senedd since 2011
Speaking on the Today programme, Liz Saville Roberts said: "Effective leadership is about balancing conflicting demands.
"What we felt strongly was that we needed a collegiate approach within the party because it (the report) cuts across all aspects of the party and it requires a change of culture".
"In order to do that we would need stability".
She also told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that Mr Price had to go because he had become a "distraction".
She ruled herself out of a leadership contest, saying any new leader would have to be an elected member in the Senedd.
"I'm an MP in Westminster so that's done and dusted," she said.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Adam Price apologised last week but said the damning report points to a "collective failure" across the party
Mr Gruffydd's appointment as interim leader was agreed at a meeting of the party's Senedd members on Thursday and will need to be rubber-stamped by Plaid Cymru's National Council on Saturday.
He will not stand in the forthcoming leadership contest
Mr Gruffydd said he was "grateful to the Plaid Cymru Senedd group" for the nomination and thanked Mr Price for his "vision, commitment, and dedication".
Plaid Cymru is the third largest party in the Welsh Parliament, with 12 Members of the Senedd and three MPs in Westminster.
The pro-independence party is in a co-operation agreement with the Welsh Labour government, which means they help them govern.
Mr Price was elected party leader in 2018, when he ousted Leanne Wood.
Welsh Conservative leader, Andrew RT Davies, said: "I have no doubt Adam Price's departure is a moment of personal sadness for him.
"Following the recent report into the culture within their party, it became clear Plaid Cymru politicians no longer had confidence in his leadership, so his departure became inevitable."
For the converted, the die-hard believers, it wasn't meant to be like this.
Adam Price was touted by many in Plaid Cymru as a "once in a generation" politician who could overcome the party's many electoral barriers.
When he challenged his predecessor for the leadership in 2018, he said only he could "create the momentum" Plaid needed to become Wales' main party of government and install him as first minister.
And yet, there was no great advance at the following Senedd election - Plaid remains in third place behind the Welsh Conservatives.
Supporters will say it was an election like no other, one focused almost entirely on the public's broadly favourable opinion of the Welsh Labour government's handling of the pandemic.
It is clear, though, that some of the sheen had faded and in terms of public support, the party remains no further forward under Adam Price's leadership.
As it nears its 100th birthday celebrations, Plaid Cymru will seek its 11th leader with many of the perennial questions about its purpose, its lack of reach beyond the heartlands and its relationship with Welsh Labour likely to be raised.
But it is the drip, drip of negative stories over the last year, culminating in a damning report that found a toxic culture within the party that meant Adam Price's position was no longer tenable.
Addressing those major issues will be his successor's primary focus.
Since last year Plaid Cymru has been dogged by claims of a toxic culture in the party, and it emerged last November that an allegation of sexual assault had been made against a senior member of staff.
Separately, a serious allegation was also made about the conduct of a Member of the Senedd, Rhys ab Owen, who is now suspended from the Senedd group pending an investigation.
The party asked Nerys Evans, a lobbyist and former Plaid assembly member, to hold a review last December.
Her working group's report said Plaid needed to "detoxify a culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny".
It said too many instances of bad behaviour were tolerated, and said an anonymous survey of staff and elected members highlighted examples "of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination".
Mr Price admitted the document left Plaid Cymru "harmed and tarnished". He apologised, but refused to quit.
In his resignation letter, Mr Price said: "On receiving the report, I informed you that I felt morally bound to step down as leader of the party in recognition of our collective failure."
"You counselled against my resignation as you felt it would make it more difficult to achieve progress in implementing the recommendations."
He said he was "persuaded by the argument that my stepping down would be an abdication of responsibility".
But he added: "It is now clear I no longer have the united support of my colleagues that would be necessary to follow this course to fruition."
Mr Drakeford said: "I want to thank Adam Price for the constructive way the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru have worked together to develop and implement the co-operation agreement. These shared priorities are making a real difference to people across Wales.
"The co-operation agreement is an agreement between the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru - not between individuals. There will be discussions about the agreement in light of recent developments."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65553413
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ADHD in women: 'It's like someone tuned in the radio' - BBC News
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2023-05-07
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Women diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder later in life explain the impact.
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Wales
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Emma Tregoning describes herself as "chaotic, hyper and a chatterbox" as a child
"It's like someone tuned in the radio."
This is how Emma Tregoning describes her life after starting medication for a condition she did not know she had until she was in her 40s.
Emma, from Gower in Swansea, only discovered she had lived with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - ADHD - all her life after her youngest son was diagnosed with it.
The paediatric nurse is a founder member of Swansea Women's ADHD Network (Swan), a group of mainly middle-aged and older women, which offers support and guidance to this slowly emerging cohort who are finally being recognised after years of many people thinking ADHD only affected "naughty boys".
ADHD is a neurological condition where low levels of brain neurotransmitters such as dopamine can make it hard for those with it to concentrate or focus, making them seemingly inattentive (even if in fact they have a thousand things going in inside their head).
They struggle with time management and organisational tasks, are restless and fidgety in some cases and can have emotional reactions that are more extreme than usual - a less known but equally important symptom.
During her son's ADHD testing process, Emma's husband noticed she shared some of the traits and while she agreed, she acted only a few years later under prompting by a friend who had recently been diagnosed.
"I've always been quite chaotic, I suppose. People have always described me as hyper when I was a child, chatterbox, always on the go, always doing too many things at once, very loud as a child," she said.
She had been diagnosed with auditory dyslexia when she was 16 which she now sees as a flag that other things were going on.
"I've always struggled listening to people. If someone gives me a bit of information I have to really concentrate and find it quite laborious if somebody is telling me something," she said.
"All these things started to add up, when I learned about executive functioning and some of the other things somebody with ADHD can struggle with."
She contacted her GP last July and by November had had a full assessment by a psychiatrist and got a diagnosis, which she acknowledges happened much faster than for many people.
Far more boys than girls are currently diagnosed with ADHD
"I started medication straight away. I'm just getting my head around the fact that all those things I don't realise I've struggled with all my life and thought were maybe just me [weren't]," she said.
"Sounds ridiculous but I thought maybe I'm just a bit thick, maybe I'm just a bit slow."
Emma described hating school because of having to sit still, but she said an ability to hyper-focus - an ADHD trait where one thing holds attention to the exclusion of all else - meant she succeeded in getting enough GCSEs and A-levels to go to university and pursue her ambition of becoming a nurse.
However it has had an impact on her working life too. She is known for being great in emergency situations when the hyper-focus and being "in the moment" give her the ability to thrive in that environment, but routine tasks and balancing multiple time-sensitive tasks have been a challenge.
"You might look at me educationally and think, oh well, she's been successful. She hasn't struggled; she's managed to get qualifications.
"Yes, but when you look at the rest of my life, things have fallen apart.
"I've suffered from anxiety and have been medicated on and off for the past 15 years," she said. The condition had also affected previous relationships which had been difficult and argumentative.
The medication she takes helped from day one, she says.
"You know when you've got two radio stations, before we had digital radio, you'd be tuning a radio station and you'd be half way between two.
"You'd be like oh there's a bit of Classic FM and there's a bit of Galaxy 101. Tuning the two of them.
"I didn't realise that was what my brain was like until taking the meds and realising somebody had tuned it in and I could hear everything."
Rhian Bellamy's daughter recognised the signs of ADHD in women after viewing a TikTok video
Emma's friend Rhian Bellamy, a mother of three daughters, had only ever heard of ADHD in connection with "boys causing trouble in class".
"In 2021 my eldest daughter went to university and I think she was literally on TikTok and something popped up on one of the videos talking about ADHD in women and girls," she explained.
"I had this phone call from her and she said, 'I think I've got ADHD and I think you do too'."
Rhian said everything "fell into place" once she started looking into the condition, particularly how it can manifest in women.
For her daughter, it was the move to university and living with other people that made her realise the way they lived at home was not necessarily the same for everyone.
Rhian explained: "It's the clutter; it's the not finishing tasks; it's the struggling to sit down and do the work which you know you should be doing but you don't know why you're not doing it.
"Losing things constantly. The time blindness as well, that's always been an issue.
"The name is very misleading, attention deficit - actually the issue is you've got too much attention for everything around you. The classic is for girls, they say they are daydreaming, but actually what's going on is 100 thoughts per minute in their head thinking about all these other things."
She was diagnosed six months after an initial referral from a GP.
"Two days later I started medication. I consider myself extremely lucky because I know it's very different all over Wales. I know there's places where they haven't even got it set up, so there's people who have been waiting for years," she said.
Her younger daughters have both now been diagnosed with the condition despite the school refusing to refer for testing saying their grades were "too good" for them to have it.
As with Emma, starting medication has made a significant difference to Rhian's daily life.
"When people without ADHD have a task to do that they consider not very interesting they just do it because… they are getting a bit of a [dopamine] reward for doing it without realising it.
"Because ours isn't processed in the usual way, we struggle to do the less interesting things. I've found since taking the medication I've achieved so much. I feel more motivated."
She describes the support group as an amazing resource which has complemented the medical treatment. "Everyone is at different stages and everyone helps each other. You're with people that just get it," se said.
Rhian wants wider recognition of symptoms in girls, such as daydreaming or being a "chatterbox", adding: "I can forgive people for not having the awareness because I wasn't aware".
Esther Barrett trained as an ADHD coach once she realised she had the condition
During the first lockdown, fellow Swan founder Dr Esther Barrett's son suggested to her a number of times that she might have ADHD, a decade after he was diagnosed.
A learning technology consultant in education and now an ADHD coach, Esther, 55, travelled a lot and was always "busy, busy, busy - a bit of a giveaway in its own right", she says.
"And then during the pandemic, everything went. I was still busy, but I was online busy, and I had more time to think about things.
"It just dawned on me one day, oh I see. I saw myself in Zoom meetings just moving about, putting lip salve on many times, drinking probably a gallon of water during online calls - just could not keep still and it was very hard to focus as well because it was the same format over and over again," she said.
"I realised he was right."
Esther saw a private specialist and when her results came back positive she was "really chuffed because it did explain my entire life in a way that I would not have otherwise been able to explain," she said.
"I mean doing stupid things, but all the good stuff and all the interests and obsessions but also the mistakes and the bad times."
It was she who brought the other two women together to start Swan initially, after meeting Rhian as a client through her coaching work.
Previous misconceptions about how ADHD presents in women have led to under-diagnosis, Prof Amanda Kirby says
Prof Amanda Kirby, chair of the ADHD Foundation and a former GP, said many women were only coming forward in their 40s, 50s and 60s and gaining a diagnosis because of previous misconceptions and lack of awareness about female-typical symptoms.
"Often those women have been diagnosed with other conditions earlier in life, so it might be anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance misuse," she said.
"Many of those women have children who are neurodivergent themselves and they go 'oh, they're a bit like me' and then start to recognise that they could potentially have ADHD."
Oestrogen and the menstrual cycle could cause an alteration in behaviour at different times of the month, and menopause could also be a factor in increasing symptoms as oestrogen levels fell.
To pick up girls with the condition up at an early age, Prof Kirby said training and awareness in educational and medical professionals were key.
"That quiet girl may be inattentive, there may be reasons why she's not working optimally. Sometimes what we see is bright, capable girls are taking that home and internalising it."
Or as Rhian puts it: "It's not a super power. It's very hard work."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65312650
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How Tina Turner 'broke the silence' on domestic abuse - BBC News
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2023-05-25
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The singer's decision to reveal the details of her violent marriage still helps inspire other women.
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Entertainment & Arts
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This article contains descriptions of domestic violence which some readers may find distressing.
Ike and Tina Turner in 1971, seven years before she left him
When Tina Turner first spoke out about the violence she endured during her marriage to Ike Turner, it was an act of bravery to expose herself so publicly.
"I was insanely afraid of that man," she told People magazine in 1981, revealing the painful reality behind the hugely successful musical duo.
Tina's scorching description of their marriage included being made to watch a live sex show in a brothel on their wedding night, and being beaten with a shoe stretcher while she was pregnant.
She also spoke about Ike throwing scalding coffee at her, and of being brutalised with a coat hanger. In 1968, she tried to take her own life.
"I was afraid to put it out [talk about the abuse] because of what I would get from Ike," she told journalist Carl Arrington.
Ike Turner, who died in 2007, always denied his ex-wife's claims that he abused her, and expressed frustration that he had been demonised in the media.
The couple performed in Hammersmith, London, in 1975
The couple met when Tina was just 17, after she saw his group Kings of Rhythm perform, and asked him to hear her sing.
Not surprisingly, he spotted her star quality, making her his lead singer, choosing her stage name and lavishing her with clothes and jewellery.
They married in 1962, and Tina, who had already experienced the pain of being rejected as a child by her mother, promised Ike she "wouldn't leave him" - something she later came to regret.
"I felt obligated to stay there and I was afraid," she told Arrington. "I didn't want to hurt him, and after he beat me up... I was sitting there all bruised and torn, and all of a sudden I'm feeling sorry for him.
But by 1978, after a string of hits including River Deep, Mountain High, Tina decided she felt able to leave Ike. She could no longer put up with the "torture" of being married to him, and the impact it had on their four sons.
"I was living a life of death. I didn't exist," she said. "But I survived it. And when I walked out, I walked. And I didn't look back."
Tina Turner in 1981, the year she revealed the truth about her relationship with ex-husband Ike
Tina moved away, and had to rebuild her career, making money by singing in Las Vegas and appearing on various TV shows.
She decided to tell all in the 1981 interview, to expel some of the ghosts from her past.
In Daniel Lindsay and TJ Martin's 2021 documentary Tina, the singer said she was so nervous about doing the interview that she asked her psychic if it would ruin her career.
"She said, 'No, Tina'," the singer recalled. "'It's going to do just the opposite. It's going to break everything wide open.'"
By 1985, when this picture was taken, Tina Turner was once again enjoying chart success
Dr Lenore E Walker, director of the US-based Domestic Violence Institute, which provides support for victims of domestic abuse, thinks Tina's decision to speak out was hugely important.
"In 1981 we were just learning about the extent of domestic violence in homes," she tells the BBC. "It was often thought to be only poor women without resources who were abused.
"When Tina Turner spoke out about her life, it brought awareness to the fact that domestic violence was everywhere."
She says Tina helped give credence to other women daring to speak out about abuse.
"Women were not believed when they spoke out about domestic violence, so when Tina Turner, a well-respected and famous singer, spoke out, it gave other women the courage to do so, also," she explains.
"We needed 'influencers' such as Tina Turner to speak out about domestic violence, so that my work on battered woman syndrome was introduced in the courts, and juries began to believe women acted to protect themselves and their children."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Tina Turner spoke frankly about domestic abuse with the BBC's Will Gompertz back in 2018
Dr Walker says the weight carried by Tina's words carries through to today.
"It is still important to hear her voice to understand how difficult it is for a woman to be able to terminate a battering relationship without getting hurt worse or killed," she says.
"The real question is: 'Why don't these men let women go?'"
Broadcaster and sexual abuse survivor Oprah Winfrey also talks in the documentary of the importance of women speaking out in the 80s.
"Nobody talked about sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic abuse - abuse, period. Our generation is the generation that started to break the silence."
What Tina didn't realise, though, was that her explosive revelations would follow her round as her career took off again, with hits including Let's Stay Together, What's Love Got to Do With It and Private Dancer.
By 1986, she published an autobiography, I, Tina, co-written with Kurt Loder, to "get the journalists off my back".
She thought if they had all the answers from her book, they would stop asking her endless questions taking her back to such an unhappy period in her life.
Tina Turner and Oprah Winfrey, at the 2005 opening of The Color Purple in Broadway
Interviewers repeatedly asked her to relive her memories, with Buzzfeed noting in 2021: "Tina Turner deserved so much better from the media, and here are 14 moments that prove it."
The article highlighted moments including a 1993 interview with Australia's Nine Network, in which she was played a pre-recorded interview with Ike, who responded to a question about beating her.
Her dignified, calm response said it all: "I don't want to start an argument with Ike Turner via satellite. I have nothing to say."
Tina's career continued to grow, and her story carried on being told, and in the 1993 film What's Love Got to Do With It, adapted from the book I, Tina, she was played by Angela Bassett.
By 2005, Winfrey - a huge Tina Turner fan - recalled meeting a woman who was inspired by the singer to leave an abusive relationship.
Winfrey wrote: "When Tina Turner's Wildest Dreams tour stopped in Houston back in 1997, I stood (let me tell ya, you seldom sit at a Tina performance) next to a woman whose story I'll never forget.
"'I came because I was looking for the courage to leave the man who beats me,' she said. 'Tonight I found that courage.'"
Winfrey has paid tribute to Tina, saying: "Her life became a clarion call for triumph."
The singer often credited her Buddhist faith, which she found in the 70s, with helping her find the courage to leave Ike Turner. She said chanting helped give her clarity.
"I started seeing my life - I started really seeing that I had to make a change," she said in the documentary.
By 2018, the singer decided to bring out a new autobiography, My Love Story, where she also talked about finding love with actor and producer Erwin Bach and how she coped with the suicide of her son, Craig.
A jukebox stage show about her life also opened in London that year, and the singer said at the time: "When I look and see it done so well, I feel proud."
In 2021, Tina was inducted on her own into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, having previously been inducted - with Ike - in 1991.
Bassett made the speech to commemorate it, saying: "What a life Tina has led. Her story has become a film, a documentary, a blockbuster Broadway show, and a best-selling autobiography.
"What brings us here tonight is Tina's journey to independence. For Tina, hope triumphed over hate. Faith won over fear. And ambition eclipsed adversity."
Angela Bassett inducted Tina Turner to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2021
In April, the singer's story went full circle, when Tina - The Tina Turner Musical partnered with Women's Aid for its fifth anniversary, ahead of Women's Aid's 50th anniversary.
Farah Nazeer, chief executive at Women's Aid said: "It is wonderful to have the story of such a powerful and influential woman supporting our mission.
"Tina is an inspiration, her story shows the strength of survivors and that there is hope for women experiencing abuse currently - there is both freedom and happiness after abuse."
For information and support about any issues raised in this story, help is available via the BBC Action Line.
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Rainton Arena: Girl in viral video thought she was 'going to die' - BBC News
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2023-05-25
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Amarii, 14, says she's been unable to sleep since the altercation at a teen disco in Sunderland.
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Newsbeat
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The video of Amarii being thrown out of the venue has been seen millions of times online
A teenager says she thought she was going to die during an altercation with a bouncer.
A viral video shows 14-year-old Amarii being ejected from the teen disco at Sunderland's Rainton Arena.
The clip, seen millions of times online, shows the doorman with his hands around Amarii's neck - she says she "couldn't breathe" at the time.
Rainton Arena says it's co-operating with police, and the security company it uses has sacked the staff member.
In the video, Amarii can be seen being pushed out of the building by a bouncer.
Shouts of "get off her" and screams come from behind the camera.
Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, Amarii says she got into an argument with door staff when they refused to let her re-enter the venue.
She says two bouncers came over to calm the situation, until a third "came out of nowhere" and "started screaming and shoving".
Her mum, Gemma, say things escalated when Amarii got upset at being pushed.
Gemma says Amarii "got a bit mouthy" but wasn't "any kind of threat to anybody", and the reaction was over the top.
Amarii's mum has said she's been struggling to sleep since the incident
Amarii says the experience, and the online reaction to it, has left her struggling to sleep.
She says she no longer likes being "in crowded spaces", adding: "Things that I found funny just aren't funny any more."
Gemma says her daughter is now "frightened to be in the house on her own".
She says Amari, who sleeps in a loft bedroom at their home, will often call her in the night.
"One o'clock in the morning, Two o'clock in the morning, saying 'mam, I still can't get to sleep."
Amarii's had lots of support but there's also been some negative reaction to the video online, with some questioning whether Amarii was drunk.
"The children had to be breathalysed before they went into the event, so how could she have been drunk?" Gemma says.
"She wasn't drunk. It's just ridiculous that people are actually trying to find some kind of blame.
"She's had posts saying she deserved it because of the way that she was dressed, which is just absolutely outrageous."
Amarii, pictured with dad Carlos and mum Gemma, have hit back at online trolls
In response to the online posts, Rainton Arena announced on Facebook that it had referred the case to Northumbria Police.
"The venue will not accept this type of behaviour towards anyone," it wrote.
"This is not how anyone should be made to feel at any event.
"Staff and event organisers are all parents, and we are not happy with the actions of the individual.
"The child's parents have been contacted and shown all CCTV as we will be fully co-operating with the parents and police."
Northumbria Police says it's aware of an alleged assault and its inquiries are ongoing.
The force says no-one is believed to have been seriously injured, and urges anyone with information to get in touch.
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
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Tina Turner: Music legend dies at 83 - BBC News
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2023-05-25
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Her unmistakable voice on hits like The Best and What's Love Got to Do With It made her a superstar.
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Entertainment & Arts
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video has been removed for rights reasons
Singer Tina Turner, whose soul classics and pop hits like The Best and What's Love Got to Do With It made her a superstar, has died at the age of 83.
Turner had suffered a number of health issues in recent years including cancer, a stroke and kidney failure.
She rose to fame alongside husband Ike in the 1960s with songs including Proud Mary and River Deep, Mountain High.
She divorced the abusive Ike in 1978, and went on to find even greater success as a solo artist in the 1980s.
Dubbed the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, Tina Turner was famed for her raunchy and energetic stage performances and husky, powerful vocals.
Her death was announced on her official Instagram page.
"With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow," the post said.
"Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music."
Turner won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 as a solo artist, having first been inducted alongside Ike Turner in 1991.
Upon her solo induction, the Hall of Fame noted how she had "expanded the once-limited idea of how a Black woman could conquer a stage and be both a powerhouse and a multidimensional being".
Younger stars who have felt her influence include Beyoncé, Janet Jackson, Janelle Monae and Rihanna.
Turner's manager of 30 years, Roger Davies, said in a statement that "Tina was a unique and remarkable force of nature with her strength, incredible energy and immense talent".
"From the first day I met her in 1980, she believed in herself completely when few others did at that time... I will miss her deeply," he added.
American singer Gloria Gaynor, who also rose to fame in the 1960s, said Turner "paved the way for so many women in rock music, black and white".
There were also tributes from Supermodel Naomi Campbell, Basketball legend Magic Johnson and singers Kelly Rowland, Ciara and Blondie's Debbie Harry.
On Instagram, The Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger said Turner was "inspiring, warm, funny and generous" and helped him when he was young.
Sir Elton John, who in his autobiography wrote about the heated arguments the pair had while trying to work together in 1997, said she was one of the world's "most exciting and electric performers".
Actress Viola Davis praised Turner as "our first symbol of excellence and unbridled ownership of sexuality!!"
Turner was also a style icon - here she's performing in New York's Central Park in 1969 wearing a red leather outfit
Born in Tennessee into a sharecropping family, she first found prominence as one of the backing singers for her husband's band The Kings of Rhythm.
She soon went to to front the band, and the couple tasted commercial success with Fool in Love and It's Gonna Work Out Fine, which made the US charts in the early 60s.
Their other hits included 1973's Nutbush City Limits, about the small town where Tina was born. But Ike's physical and emotional abuse was taking its toll.
It was he who changed her name from her birth name, Anna Mae Bullock, to Tina Turner - a decision he took without her knowledge, one example of his controlling behaviour.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Tina Turner spoke frankly about domestic abuse with the BBC's Will Gompertz back in 2018
She recalled the trauma she suffered throughout their relationship in her 2018 memoir, My Love Story, in which she compared sex with the late musician to "a kind of rape".
"He used my nose as a punching bag so many times that I could taste blood running down my throat when I sang," she wrote.
After escaping her abuser, she went on to rebuild her career and become one of the biggest pop and rock stars of the 80s and 90s, with hits including Let's Stay Together, Steamy Windows, Private Dancer, James Bond theme GoldenEye, I Don't Wanna Fight and It Takes Two, a duet with Rod Stewart.
She also starred in 1985 film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome - which featured another of her smashes, We Don't Need Another Hero - and The Who's 1975 rock opera Tommy as the Acid Queen.
She found happiness with her second husband, German music executive Erwin Bac. They began dating in the mid-80s, and got married in 2013.
The pair lived in Switzerland, with Turner taking Swiss citizenship. He donated one of his kidneys to her in 2017 after it was discovered she was suffering from kidney failure.
She also suffered tragedy with the loss of her eldest son Craig to suicide in 2018. His father was Turner's former bandmate, Raymond Hill.
Another son, Ronnie, whose father was Ike Turner, died in 2022. She also had two adopted sons, Ike Jr and Michael, Ike's children from a previous relationship.
Tina's life story spawned a 1993 biopic titled What's Love Got To Do With It, which earned Angela Bassett an Oscar nomination for playing the star; and a hit stage musical - aptly titled Tina: The Musical. She was also the subject of HBO documentary Tina in 2021.
In an interview with Marie Claire South Africa in 2018, Turner said: "People think my life has been tough, but I think it's been a wonderful journey. The older you get, the more you realise it's not what happened, it's how you deal with it."
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Why are doctors demanding the biggest pay rise? - BBC News
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2023-05-22
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How junior medics have reached the brink of their biggest walkout, in a fight for a 35% hike.
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Health
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On Monday, thousands of junior doctors in England will start a 72-hour strike. They want a 35% pay rise. Yet doctors are among the highest paid in the public sector. So why do they have the biggest pay claim?
The origins of the walkout by British Medical Association members - the biggest by doctors in the history of the NHS - can be found in a series of discussions on social media platform Reddit in late 2021.
A collection of junior doctors were expressing their dissatisfaction about pay.
The numbers chatting online grew quickly and by January 2022 it had led to the formation of the campaign group Doctors Vote, with the aim of restoring pay to the pre-austerity days of 2008.
The group began spreading its message via social media - and, within months, its supporters had won 26 of the 69 voting seats on the BMA ruling council, and 38 of the 68 on its junior doctor committee.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Rob Laurenson stood for BMA election on a Doctors Vote platform
Two of those who stood on the Doctors Vote platform - Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi - became co-chairs of the committee.
"It was simply a group of doctors connecting up the dots," Dr Laurenson says. "We reflect the vast majority of doctors," he adds, pointing to the mandate from the wider BMA junior doctor membership - 77% voted and of those, 98% backed strike action.
Among some of the older BMA heads, though, there is a sense of disquiet at the new guard. One senior doctor who has now stood down from a leadership role says: "They're undoubtedly much more radical than we have seen before. But they haven't read the room - the pay claim makes them look silly."
Publicly, the BMA prefers not to talk about wanting a pay rise. Instead, it uses the term "pay restoration" - to reverse cuts of 26% since 2008. This is the amount pay has fallen once inflation is taken into account.
To rectify a cut of 26% requires a bigger percentage increase because the amount is lower. This is why the BMA is actually after a 35% increase - and it is a rise it is calling for to be paid immediately.
The argument is more complicated than the ones put forward by most other unions - and because of that it has raised eyebrows.
Firstly, no junior doctor has seen pay cut by 26% in that period. There are five core pay points in the junior doctor contract with each a springboard to the next. It means they move up the pay scale over time until they finish their training.
A junior doctor in 2008 may well be a consultant now, perhaps earning four times in cash terms what they were then.
Secondly, the 26% figure uses the retail price index (RPI) measure of inflation, which the Office for National Statistics says is a poor way to look at rising prices. Using the more favoured consumer price index measure, the cut is 16% - although the BMA defends its use of RPI as it takes into account housing costs.
"The drop in pay is also affected by the start-year chosen," Lucina Rolewicz, of the Nuffield Trust think tank, says. A more recent start date will show a smaller decline, as would going further back in the 2000s.
Another way of looking at pay is comparing it with wages across the economy by looking at where a job sits in terms of the lowest to highest earners.
The past decade has not been a boom time for wage growth in many fields, as austerity and the lack of economic growth has held back incomes.
Last year, the independent Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration Body looked at this. It found junior doctors had seen their pay, relative to others, fall slightly during the 2010s, but were still among the highest earners, with doctors fresh out of university immediately finding themselves in the top half of earners, while those at the end of training were just outside the top 10%.
Then, of course, career prospects have to be considered. Consultants earn well more than £100,000 on average, putting them in the top 2%. GP partners earn even more.
A pension of more than £60,000 a year in today's prices also awaits those reaching such positions.
But while the scale of the pay claim is new, dissatisfaction with working conditions and pay pre-date the rise of the Doctors Vote movement.
Studying medicine at university takes five years, meaning big debts for most. Dr Trivedi says £80,000 of student loans are often topped up by private debt.
On top of that, doctors have to pay for ongoing exams and professional membership fees. Their junior doctor training can see them having to make several moves across the country and with little control over the hours they work. Their contract means they are required to work a minimum of 40 hours and up to 48 on average - additional payments are made to reflect this.
This lasts many years - junior doctors can commonly spend close to a decade in training.
It is clearly hard work. And with services getting increasingly stretched, it is a job that doctors say is leaving them "demoralised, angry and exhausted", Dr Trivedi says, adding: "Patient care is being compromised."
But while medicine is undoubtedly tough, it remains hugely attractive.
Junior doctor posts in the early years are nearly always filled - it is not until doctors begin to specialise later in their training that significant gaps emerge in some specialities such as end-of-life care and sexual health.
Looking at all doctor vacancy rates across the NHS around 6% of posts are unfilled - for nurses it is nearly twice that level.
Many argue there is still a shortage - with not enough training places or funded doctor posts in the NHS in the first place.
But the fact the problems appear more severe in other NHS roles is a key reason why the government does not seem to be in a hurry to prioritise doctors - formal pay talks to avert strikes have begun with unions representing the rest of the workforce
"If we have some money to give a pay rise to NHS staff," a source close to the negotiations says, "doctors are not at the front of the queue."
Update: This article was updated on 18 May 2023 to make it clear doctors can be required to work up to 48 hours and the footnote on the first chart has changed 'overtime' to 'additional hours'.
Are you taking part in the strike action? Has your appointment been cancelled or delayed? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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De facto referendum is still an option, says indyref minister - BBC News
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2023-05-22
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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No option "off the table" ahead of SNP summit, says independence minister Jamie Hepburn.
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Scotland politics
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Scotland voted against independence by 55% to 45% in 2014
Using the next general election as a "de facto referendum" is still an option, the Scottish government's independence minister has said.
Jamie Hepburn said "no option should be taken off the table" ahead of a special SNP independence convention next month.
Mr Hepburn also revealed the Scottish government will resume publishing a series of papers which set out the case for a Yes vote.
Opposition parties have criticised the SNP's renewed focus on independence.
Labour's shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray argued the cost of living crisis should be a bigger priority for SNP ministers.
Appearing on the BBC Scotland Sunday Show, Mr Hepburn said the SNP would use the independence convention event on 24 June to "discuss what our platform will be in advance of the 2024 general election".
Asked if the possibility of a de facto referendum approach was still on the table, he said: "The first minister has said that so long as it's rightly within the parameters of a legal, electoral route then no option should be taken off the table.
"So that will form part of our discussion."
Jamie Hepburn said SNP members will discuss the party's independence strategy at a special conference next month
First Minister Humza Yousaf has said he wants a "consistent majority for independence" and will focus on making the case for a Yes vote because he knows pushing for a referendum immediately will be rejected.
But when Nicola Sturgeon was first minister she said she wanted to use the next UK general election - which must be held by January 2025 at the latest - as a de facto referendum.
This would involve treating the votes for the SNP at a general election as votes for independence and then looking to open negotiations with the UK government about Scotland's exit from the UK.
However, the UK government has previously dismissed the idea, which has also attracted some criticism within the SNP.
Humza Yousaf has pledged to take a positive independence message to people around the country
The convention in Dundee next month is likely to form part of more activity from the SNP on the issue of a second independence referendum.
Mr Hepburn told BBC Scotland that in the coming weeks another paper on the case for independence, produced by a team of Scottish government civil servants, will be published.
The first paper of this series - called Independence in the Modern World. Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why Not Scotland? - made comparisons between Scotland and other European countries and was published in June last year.
Subsequent papers were billed as looking at areas including currency, tax and spend, defence, social security and pensions, and EU membership and trade.
Humza Yousaf has also pledged a "summer of independence campaign activity" which would "take our positive message to every corner of the country".
Writing in The National, he said the party was working hard to organise regional independence assemblies, something he pledged on the campaign trail for the SNP leadership.
Labour's shadow Scottish secretary Mr Murray said the Scottish government should be "concentrating on bread and butter issues".
He added: "It's the same old story, over and over again.
"The Scottish public will not be very amused that during the worst cost of living crisis in history the SNP are reverting to type and talking about independence.
"Why we have a very expensive £100,00-a-year minister for independence when we need everyone's focus on the cost of living crisis is completely beyond my comprehension."
Donald Cameron, Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman, added: "Jamie Hepburn couldn't have made it more obvious that the SNP have no intention of tackling Scotland's real priorities.
"They're having yet another conference, just for their members, on how to break up the UK - something Scots decisively rejected."
They want Scottish independence to be achieved by a process which is beyond any legal or moral dispute and in clear accordance with international law.
Their ideal scenario is a second independence referendum on a straightforward yes-no question.
But the Supreme Court made it clear that Holyrood does not have the power to hold one without UK government permission.
There are a number of other options - none of them straightforward.
One argument is that a future election - perhaps the next general election or Scottish Parliament election- could be turned into a defacto referendum.
If more than 50% of people voted for the SNP or another pro-independence party, it would be considered by them to be a vote for independence itself. The hope of those who advance that argument would be that this would quickly result in an actual referendum on independence itself.
Another argument is that SNP MPs could try to "force" a future Westminster government which was short of a majority to concede a referendum in return for their support.
But both Labour and the Conservatives are adamant that will not happen.
Then there is the argument that the best way forward for supporters of independence is simply to keep on trying to increase support for it.
They would contend that, sooner or later, the point could come when it was clear that independence was consistently supported by a significant majority of Scots so it would be impossible in practice to deny a referendum.
These ideas, and other strategies, will no doubt be discussed at next month's convention.
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Labour considers extending voting rights to EU citizens - BBC News
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2023-05-14
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The party is working on proposals on voting rights but says no final decisions have been made.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: No final policy on giving votes to EU citizens
Labour is considering extending voting rights to some EU citizens living in the UK if the party wins the next general election.
The party is working on a package of proposals, including votes for some EU nationals and 16 and 17-year-olds in general elections.
In 2020, Labour's leader Sir Keir Starmer called for all EU nationals to be given full voting rights in the UK.
But Labour said no final policy decisions had been made.
Labour's shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said the party's policy on the issue had been the subject of speculation and discussions about this were "part of our manifesto process".
"We do want to strengthen our democracy," Mr Reynolds told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme. "We believe if people make a contribution to this country, if they live here, there's an argument for having them involved in [the democratic] process."
The Conservative Party said Labour's plan to give foreign nationals the vote at parliamentary elections "is laying the groundwork to drag the UK back into the EU by stealth".
"The right to vote in parliamentary elections and choose the next UK government is rightly restricted to British citizens and those with the closest historical links to our country," Conservative Party Chairman Greg Hands said.
Currently, EU nationals who are legally resident in the UK can vote in local and devolved elections but not general elections.
A Labour source said the party was thinking about proposals "that will enable people who live and contribute long-term to our society to be able to have their say in how the country is governed".
The source said Sir Keir believes it is "fair and right" to give those people a voice in elections.
But the source said the details of the proposals have not yet been decided, despite suggestions made in newspaper reports by the Financial Times and the Sunday Telegraph.
There are an estimated 3.4 million EU nationals with settled status in the UK, and a further 2.7m with pre-settled status.
Settled status allows EU citizen to continue to live, work and study in the UK on an indefinite basis, while pre-settled status is a grant of temporary residence for five years.
The idea of extending the franchise to more EU nationals in the UK is controversial, with the Conservatives branding such a move "an attempt to rig the electorate to re-join the EU".
When Sir Keir was running to be Labour leader in 2020, he said the "government should give all three million EU nationals living in the UK full voting rights in future elections".
"We were never just 'tolerating' EU citizens living in this country - they are our neighbours, friends and families," Sir Keir wrote in an op-ed for the Guardian. "To see their status in doubt devastates our sense not just of justice but also of fellowship."
Extending the franchise to more EU nationals in the UK is a controversial idea
Labour's 2019 manifesto included a commitment to "oversee the largest extension of the franchise in generations" by lowering the voting age to 16 and giving "full voting rights to all UK residents".
As the party looks ahead to the next general election, it is deciding what reforms on voting rights to propose in its manifesto.
The BBC has been told Labour's package of proposals will include the introduction of votes for 16- and 17-year-olds, in line with Scotland and Wales.
At the moment, 16 and 17-year-olds are allowed to vote in elections for the Scottish and Welsh devolved parliaments, but cannot vote in general elections.
A commitment to lower the voting age to 16 was included in both Labour's 2015 and 2017 manifestos.
The Greens and the Liberal Democrats also support lowering the voting age.
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Prince Harry: Mirror publisher apologises in phone hacking trial - BBC News
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2023-05-10
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The publisher apologises to the prince for unlawful information gathering as the trial begins.
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UK
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Prince Harry attended the High Court in March for a separate hearing against a newspaper publisher
The publisher of the Mirror has apologised to Prince Harry for unlawful information gathering, at the start of a trial over alleged phone hacking.
Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) said it would never be repeated.
Lawyers representing Harry told the court he was subjected to the "most intrusive methods of obtaining personal information".
Harry is one of several high profile figures bringing claims against MGN.
Lawyers argue that executives at the company knew about widespread phone hacking but failed to act.
In a written submission, MGN - which also publishes the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People - said it "unreservedly apologises" for one instance of unlawful information gathering against Harry and said that the legal challenge brought by the prince "warrants compensation".
A private investigator was instructed by an MGN journalist at The People to unlawfully gather information about Harry's activities at the Chinawhite nightclub on one night in February 2004, Andrew Green KC said.
However, the subsequent article in The People is not one of the claims being brought by the prince, the barrister added.
MGN also denies allegations of voicemail interception in the cases being examined, including Harry's.
The publisher also claims some of the cases have been brought beyond a legal time limit.
A previous hearing was told Harry's case focuses on 148 articles published between 1996 and 2010.
Barrister David Sherborne, representing the duke, told the court: "We all remember the images of him walking behind his mother's coffin.
"From that moment on, as a schoolboy and from his career in the army and as a young adult he was subjected, it was clear, to the most intrusive methods of obtaining his personal information."
Prince Harry's former girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, decided that "a royal life was not for her" as a result of alleged unlawful information gathering by MGN journalists, the barrister added.
Ms Davy and the Duke of Sussex were in an on-off relationship between 2004 and 2010.
Referencing Harry's witness statement in the case, Mr Sherborne said her decision was "incredibly upsetting" for the duke at the time.
"It also caused great challenges in his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, and made him fear for his and her safety," Mr Sherborne said.
He added: "Every time he was in a relationship, or even a rumoured relationship, that whole person's family, and often their friends, would be 'dragged into the chaos' and find themselves the subject of unlawful activity on the part of MGN.
"There was nowhere that was 'off limits' for MGN's newspapers, whose journalists would even manage to book into a hotel in Bazaruto, a small island off the coast of Mozambique, when the Duke of Sussex and Ms Davy tried to escape there and enjoy some peace and quiet.
"They were never on their own, which 'placed a huge amount of unnecessary stress and strain' on their relationship."
Prince Harry is also expected to allege that he experienced what was, in hindsight, voicemail interception in relation to 30 people with whom he had a close relationship.
He is expected to give evidence in June - the first time a senior royal will be a witness in court in modern times.
The estate of the late singer George Michael and actor Ricky Tomlinson have also brought claims against MGN, with "test cases" - including Harry's - selected to go to trial from the wider group of claimants.
The other "representative" cases set for trial are that of former Coronation Street actress Nikki Sanderson, comedian Paul Whitehouse's ex-wife Fiona Wightman and actor Michael Turner - who played Kevin Webster in Coronation Street and goes by his stage name Michael Le Vell. All are expected to give evidence during the six to seven week trial.
The court heard that Ms Sanderson felt like she was "public property" and experienced abuse in the street following "false insinuations" in articles published by MGN.
"[She had] people shouting at her in the street calling her a 'whore', 'slag' or 'slut' and even being physically assaulted on numerous occasions," Mr Sherbourne, who is also representing Ms Sanderson, said.
The hearing is focusing on what senior executives at the MGN knew about widespread phone hacking - including former editor of the Daily Mirror Piers Morgan.
Mr Sherborne told the court that unlawful information gathering was both habitual and widespread at three papers from as early as 1991 to 2011.
He described "a flood of illegality", adding that "this flood was being authorised and approved of" by senior executives.
The barrister also accused executives of misleading the Leveson inquiry - the inquiry into the practices, culture and ethics of the press.
He added that unlawful information gathering methods were used so frequently they were "the stock in trade of journalists… an obvious go-to for any story… an invaluable part of the armoury".
"With even the editors engaged and authorising these activities, it is no wonder journalists kept using these methods on an industrial scale," he said.
In written arguments, Mr Sherborne said it was "inconceivable" that Mr Morgan and other editors did not know about MGN journalists instructing private investigators to obtain information.
"The systemic and widespread use of PIs [private investigators] by MGN journalists to unlawfully obtain private information was authorised at senior levels," Mr Sherborne said.
Mr Morgan has denied any knowledge of phone hacking or illegal activity at the Daily Mirror when he was editor.
MGN has previously settled a number of claims against it in relation to stories obtained through unlawful means.
It was also involved in a 2015 trial, the only to take place during the long-running litigation, which saw claims brought by ex-footballer Paul Gascoigne, actress Sadie Frost, and Coronation Street actress Shobna Gulati.
Last month, lawyers for the group said that all the witnesses on their side would give evidence in person, paving the way for Prince Harry to take the stand.
Harry has become an outspoken critic of the tabloid press and has already appeared in court once this year to listen to legal arguments in another case he is involved in.
He is party to actions linked to alleged phone hacking against two other companies - the publisher of the Daily Mail, and the publisher of the Sun, both of which deny wrongdoing.
He is bringing a separate libel claim against the Mail's publisher, Associated Newspapers Limited, over an article about his security arrangements with the Home Office.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65541046
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Harry blames press intrusion for Chelsy break-up - BBC News
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2023-05-10
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The prince said Ms Davy decided "a royal life was not for her", as his High Court case against Mirror Group Newspapers begins.
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UK
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The Duke of Sussex has blamed alleged illegal intrusion into his private life by journalists for the break-up of his relationship with Chelsy Davy.
In a witness statement, Prince Harry claimed Ms Davy decided that "a royal life was not for her" following repeated acts of harassment.
The claims emerged in a High Court case against Mirror Group Newspapers brought by several high profile figures.
MGN denies allegations of voicemail interception in the cases.
It also claimed some of the cases being brought are beyond a legal time limit.
Ms Davy and Prince Harry were in an on-off relationship between 2004 and 2010.
In a summary of his witness statement, the duke's lawyers alleged unlawful activity "caused great challenges" in the relationship, and led Ms Davy to decide that "a Royal life was not for her".
This included journalists booking into a hotel in Bazaruto, a small island off the coast of Mozambique, where Harry and Ms Davy had tried to escape to in order to "enjoy some peace and quiet", the document reads.
The lawyers also said that mobile phonecalling data to be used in the trial shows that Ms Davy was targeted for voicemail interception between 2007 and 2009.
The activities caused him "huge distress" and "presented very real security concerns for not only me but also everyone around me", he said, adding that they also created "a huge amount of paranoia" in future relationships.
"Every time he was in a relationship, or even a rumoured relationship, that whole person's family, and often their friends, would be 'dragged into the chaos' and find themselves the subject of unlawful activity on the part of MGN," lawyers said.
Prince Harry's lawyers allege that his mobile phone number was recorded in a handheld device belonging to "prolific hacker and head of news at the Sunday Mirror" Nick Buckley.
The prince is also expected to allege that he experienced what was, in hindsight, voicemail interception in relation to 30 people with whom he had a close relationship.
He is expected to give evidence in June - the first time a senior royal will be a witness in court in modern times.
MGN has not admitted to any of the charges, although it said it "unreservedly apologises" for a separate instance of unlawful information-gathering against Harry and said that the legal challenge brought by the prince "warrants compensation".
The article that incident referred to - regarding an MGN journalist instructing a private investigator to unlawfully gather information about Harry's activities at the Chinawhite nightclub on one night in February 2004 - is not one of the claims being brought by the prince.
MGN said it would never be repeated.
In written submissions, MGN's barrister, Andrew Green KC, said the publisher denied that 28 of the 33 articles in Harry's claim involved phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering.
He said that stories came from a variety of other sources - including other members of the Royal Family.
Mr Green added that it was "not admitted" that five of the 33 articles contained unlawful information gathering.
Other celebrities have brought claims against MGN, with "test cases" - including Prince Harry's - selected to go to trial from the wider group of claimants.
They include that of former Coronation Street actress Nikki Sanderson, comedian Paul Whitehouse's ex-wife Fiona Wightman and actor Michael Turner - who played Kevin Webster in Coronation Street and goes by his stage name Michael Le Vell. All are expected to give evidence during the six- to seven-week trial.
The court heard that Ms Sanderson felt like she was "public property" and experienced abuse in the street following "false insinuations" in articles published by MGN.
"[She had] people shouting at her in the street calling her a 'whore', 'slag' or 'slut' and even being physically assaulted on numerous occasions," barrister David Sherborne said.
Mr Turner was accused by fellow cast members of being a "mole" amid alleged phone hacking, the court heard.
The hearing is focusing on what senior executives at MGN knew about alleged phone hacking - including TV host Piers Morgan, who was editor of the Daily Mirror between 1995 and 2004.
Mr Sherborne told the court that unlawful information gathering was both habitual and widespread at three papers - the Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People - between 1991 and 2011.
He described "a flood of illegality", adding that "this flood was being authorised and approved of" by senior executives.
The barrister also accused executives of misleading the Leveson inquiry - the inquiry into the practices, culture and ethics of the press - something it denies.
In written arguments, Mr Sherborne said it was "inconceivable" that Mr Morgan and other editors did not know about MGN journalists instructing private investigators to obtain information.
"The systemic and widespread use of PIs [private investigators] by MGN journalists to unlawfully obtain private information was authorised at senior levels," Mr Sherborne, who is also representing the duke, said.
Mr Morgan has repeatedly denied any knowledge of phone hacking or illegal activity at the Daily Mirror when he was editor.
"I've never hacked a phone. I've never told anybody to hack a phone," he told the BBC's Amol Rajan in an interview conducted before the trial began.
MGN has previously settled a number of claims against it in relation to stories obtained through unlawful means.
Read the latest from our royal correspondent Sean Coughlan - sign up here.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65550021
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news_uk-65550021
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Key moments from E Jean Carroll's civil rape trial against Donald Trump - BBC News
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2023-05-10
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Mr Trump defended himself via video while Ms Carroll shared in detail how the alleged rape harmed her.
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US & Canada
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A New York jury has found that Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed a former columnist in a civil trial.
E Jean Carroll sued the ex-US president, alleging he raped her in a Manhattan department store nearly 30 years ago. The jury ordered Mr Trump to pay Ms Carroll $5m (£4m) in damages.
But the jury found Mr Trump was not liable for raping Ms Carroll in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman.
The two-week trial in New York federal court featured tense exchanges with lawyers and controversial remarks about women's bodies.
Mr Trump did not appear in court to testify and has consistently denied the accusation.
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan delivered instructions to the nine jurors on Tuesday morning before they retired to consider their verdict.
"I know you're going to do your duty under your oath to render a just and true verdict," he told the six men and three women.
While the statute of limitations has long since passed in the case, New York recently enacted a law which allowed decades-old sexual assault claims to be filed as civil lawsuits.
One of the most pivotal moments of the trial came during Ms Carroll's opening testimony, when she described in graphic detail what she alleges happened in the Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman store in 1996 and the trauma she says she has endured as a result.
"I'm here because Donald Trump raped me and when I wrote about it, he lied and said it didn't happen," she said.
She then proceeded to walk the court through the day of the alleged assault, explaining how she bumped into Mr Trump and exchanged flirtatious banter with him before things quickly turned violent. She said Mr Trump asked her to come with him into a dressing room, where he closed the door, held her against the wall and raped her.
"As I'm sitting here today I can still feel it," she told the court.
She added that Mr Trump's denial of the assault had shattered her reputation, costing her her job and romantic relationships. "I'm here to try to get my life back," she said.
During several hours of cross-examination over two days, Ms Carroll faced challenging questions about the assault from Mr Trump's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, who attempted to cast doubt on her details of the alleged rape.
During a particularly tense exchange, Mr Tacopina repeatedly asked Ms Carroll why she did not shout when the alleged assault occurred.
"I'm not a screamer," she told Mr Tacopina, adding that some women do not come forward about sexual assaults because they are asked why they did not scream.
"I'm telling you he raped me whether I screamed or not," she told Mr Tacopina at one point.
The Trump lawyer also pressed Ms Carroll on why she did not report the assault at first to the police.
The former Elle magazine columnist replied that she was a member of the "silent generation", saying women her age were taught to keep quiet.
Mr Tacopina also questioned Ms Carroll on why she could not recall the specific date of the assault. The writer later conceded that certain parts of her story were "difficult to conceive of".
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During the trial, Mr Trump did not mount his own defence, calling no witnesses and appearing to defend himself only in a video of his deposition, excerpts of which Ms Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, played for the court. Ms Kaplan is not related to the judge in this case, Lewis Kaplan.
Facing questions from Ms Kaplan, Mr Trump continued to deny the allegations he raped Ms Carroll, calling them a "big fat hoax" and repeating previous remarks that Ms Carroll was "not his type in any way".
But at one point, he appeared to confuse Ms Carroll for his ex-wife Marla Maples, a mistake Ms Carroll's lawyers claimed undermined his argument that the writer was not his type.
In the video, Mr Trump is shown an old black-and-white photo of him speaking to a man and two women at an event. "It's Marla," he said, before his own lawyer told him the woman he referred to in the photo was indeed Ms Carroll.
In another excerpt from Mr Trump's video deposition played for the court, Ms Kaplan replayed for Mr Trump a controversial Access Hollywood recording from 2005 featuring a conversation between him and the show's co-host about women.
"When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything," Mr Trump said in the recording, which was leaked to the public just one month before the 2016 presidential election. "Grab them by the [expletive]. You can do anything," he added.
Asked about the clip by Ms Kaplan, the former president seemed to double down on the remarks, claiming: "Historically, that's true with stars."
When Ms Kaplan pressed him on his comments about grabbing women "by the [expletive]", Mr Trump said: "Well, I guess if you look over the last million years, that's been largely true - not always true, but largely true, unfortunately or fortunately."
In other tense moments during the questioning, Mr Trump appeared to grow agitated with Ms Kaplan, attacking her appearance, claiming that, like Ms Carroll, "you wouldn't be a choice of mine either, to be honest".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Trump agrees "stars can do anything to women" in video deposition
During her second day on the stand under questioning from her own lawyers, Ms Carroll described the backlash she encountered after coming forward with her rape allegation.
After Mr Trump released a statement in social media denying the accusation and calling Ms Carroll's first lawsuit against him a "con job", Ms Carroll said she faced a "wave of slime".
She said many extrapolated on Mr Trump's remarks that she was "not his type", telling her she was "too ugly to go on living".
Mr Trump's social media comments also sparked a rebuke from the judge in the case, Lewis Kaplan. The former president has called the lawsuit a "made-up scam" and claimed Ms Carroll's lawyer was a political operative, remarks Mr Kaplan called "entirely inappropriate".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65502792
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Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price quits after damning report - BBC News
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2023-05-10
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Adam Price quits after review found misogyny, harassment and bullying in his party.
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Wales
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Adam Price says he no longer had the support of his party
Adam Price has quit as Plaid Cymru leader after a report found misogyny, harassment and bullying in the party.
North Wales Senedd member Llyr Gruffydd will take over as interim leader, with a new leader in place in the summer, the party has said.
It follows months of difficulties including allegations of a sexual assault made against a senior staff member, and a toxic working culture.
In his resignation letter, Mr Price said he no longer had the "united support" of his colleagues.
He said he wanted to resign in the wake of the report's findings, but was initially persuaded not to quit.
"You have my personal assurance that I will continue to serve my country, my constituents and our party with determination and enthusiasm," he said in a letter to party chairman, Marc Jones.
On Thursday Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford said discussions on his co-operation agreement with Plaid will take place "in light of recent developments"
He thanked Mr Price "for the constructive way the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru have worked together".
The resignation announcement was made following a meeting of the party's ruling body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), late on Wednesday night.
One source from the meeting said some members raised the possibility of Adam Price remaining in post.
But it was considered untenable given the seriousness of the findings of the review.
Plaid's Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said Mr Price was not asked to resign in the wake of the "toxic culture" report because "stability" was needed to implement its recommendations.
Interim Plaid Cymru leader Llyr Gruffydd has been in the Senedd since 2011
Speaking on the Today programme, Liz Saville Roberts said: "Effective leadership is about balancing conflicting demands.
"What we felt strongly was that we needed a collegiate approach within the party because it (the report) cuts across all aspects of the party and it requires a change of culture".
"In order to do that we would need stability".
She also told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that Mr Price had to go because he had become a "distraction".
She ruled herself out of a leadership contest, saying any new leader would have to be an elected member in the Senedd.
"I'm an MP in Westminster so that's done and dusted," she said.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Adam Price apologised last week but said the damning report points to a "collective failure" across the party
Mr Gruffydd's appointment as interim leader was agreed at a meeting of the party's Senedd members on Thursday and will need to be rubber-stamped by Plaid Cymru's National Council on Saturday.
He will not stand in the forthcoming leadership contest
Mr Gruffydd said he was "grateful to the Plaid Cymru Senedd group" for the nomination and thanked Mr Price for his "vision, commitment, and dedication".
Plaid Cymru is the third largest party in the Welsh Parliament, with 12 Members of the Senedd and three MPs in Westminster.
The pro-independence party is in a co-operation agreement with the Welsh Labour government, which means they help them govern.
Mr Price was elected party leader in 2018, when he ousted Leanne Wood.
Welsh Conservative leader, Andrew RT Davies, said: "I have no doubt Adam Price's departure is a moment of personal sadness for him.
"Following the recent report into the culture within their party, it became clear Plaid Cymru politicians no longer had confidence in his leadership, so his departure became inevitable."
For the converted, the die-hard believers, it wasn't meant to be like this.
Adam Price was touted by many in Plaid Cymru as a "once in a generation" politician who could overcome the party's many electoral barriers.
When he challenged his predecessor for the leadership in 2018, he said only he could "create the momentum" Plaid needed to become Wales' main party of government and install him as first minister.
And yet, there was no great advance at the following Senedd election - Plaid remains in third place behind the Welsh Conservatives.
Supporters will say it was an election like no other, one focused almost entirely on the public's broadly favourable opinion of the Welsh Labour government's handling of the pandemic.
It is clear, though, that some of the sheen had faded and in terms of public support, the party remains no further forward under Adam Price's leadership.
As it nears its 100th birthday celebrations, Plaid Cymru will seek its 11th leader with many of the perennial questions about its purpose, its lack of reach beyond the heartlands and its relationship with Welsh Labour likely to be raised.
But it is the drip, drip of negative stories over the last year, culminating in a damning report that found a toxic culture within the party that meant Adam Price's position was no longer tenable.
Addressing those major issues will be his successor's primary focus.
Since last year Plaid Cymru has been dogged by claims of a toxic culture in the party, and it emerged last November that an allegation of sexual assault had been made against a senior member of staff.
Separately, a serious allegation was also made about the conduct of a Member of the Senedd, Rhys ab Owen, who is now suspended from the Senedd group pending an investigation.
The party asked Nerys Evans, a lobbyist and former Plaid assembly member, to hold a review last December.
Her working group's report said Plaid needed to "detoxify a culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny".
It said too many instances of bad behaviour were tolerated, and said an anonymous survey of staff and elected members highlighted examples "of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination".
Mr Price admitted the document left Plaid Cymru "harmed and tarnished". He apologised, but refused to quit.
In his resignation letter, Mr Price said: "On receiving the report, I informed you that I felt morally bound to step down as leader of the party in recognition of our collective failure."
"You counselled against my resignation as you felt it would make it more difficult to achieve progress in implementing the recommendations."
He said he was "persuaded by the argument that my stepping down would be an abdication of responsibility".
But he added: "It is now clear I no longer have the united support of my colleagues that would be necessary to follow this course to fruition."
Mr Drakeford said: "I want to thank Adam Price for the constructive way the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru have worked together to develop and implement the co-operation agreement. These shared priorities are making a real difference to people across Wales.
"The co-operation agreement is an agreement between the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru - not between individuals. There will be discussions about the agreement in light of recent developments."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65553413
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Bona Mugabe owns Dubai mansion, Zimbabwe court papers allege - BBC News
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2023-05-04
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Her estranged husband says she has assets including 25 residential properties worth $80m and 21 farms.
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Africa
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Bona Mugabe seen with her husband at the funeral of her father in 2019
Divorce court papers seen by the BBC allege that the daughter of Zimbabwe's ex-President Robert Mugabe owned 25 residential properties, including a Dubai mansion, worth a total of around $80m (£64m).
Bona Mugabe filed for divorce from former pilot Simba Mutsahuni Chikore in March.
Mr Chikore wants to split their assets, which also include 21 farms, he says.
Ms Mugabe has not yet commented on the claims but will be able to do so.
A source close to the Mugabe family told the BBC that the former president had nothing in his name when he died, although he received £10m from the state as part of his pension. The source also questioned whether Bona Mugabe owned all the assets listed by her former partner.
However, Zimbabweans have reacted with shock and outrage to the extent of the wealth allegedly accumulated by just one of Mr Mugabe's children.
Luxury vehicles, farming equipment and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash were also mentioned in the divorce papers.
Some of the 21 farms were allegedly acquired by the Mugabe family during the contentious takeover of white-owned farms in the early 2000s, and despite the government's policy of "one-man one-farm".
Mr Chikore, who is also demanding joint custody of the couple's three children, says the assets were acquired solely and jointly during their marriage, through inheritance and donations from the late president for work carried out on his behalf.
He adds that the assets he has listed are a drop in the ocean, compared to the wealth Ms Mugabe owns outright.
In response, George Charamba, who was Mr Mugabe's spokesman and now serves in President Emmerson Mnangagwa's office, denied that the couple owned 21 farms.
"All Agricultural Land belongs to the State, with farmers using it on LEASE BASIS," he tweeted.
He added that no-one should "build any politics or arguments around so-called 21 farms allegedly owned by Cde Bona and her estranged hubby".
Bona Mugabe pictured with her father, former President Mugabe, during his 91st birth celebrations, and mother, Grace
It is unclear when the divorce case - being heard by a court in the capital, Harare - will end.
Ms Mugabe and Ms Chikore were married at a lavish wedding in 2014 that was attended by several African heads of state - and was broadcast live on state television.
Mr Mugabe died in 2019 at the age of 95, reportedly without leaving a will. He is survived by his wife Grace, Bona, two sons and a step-son.
He was in power in Zimbabwe from the time of independence in 1980 until he was ousted in 2017 by Mr Mnangagwa, his former ally-turned-rival.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65475901
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news_world-africa-65475901
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New York subway passenger chokehold death sparks protests - BBC News
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2023-05-04
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Demonstrators are calling for justice for Jordan Neely, who died after being placed in a chokehold.
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US & Canada
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A 24-year-old Marine placed Mr Neely in a chokehold on the F-line train in the SoHo section of Manhattan
Protesters are gathering in New York City to call for justice for Jordan Neely, a subway passenger who died on Monday after a man placed him in a chokehold.
Video of the encounter showed Mr Neely, 30, struggling as another man grabbed him and pinned him on the ground.
New York City officials have said the death was a homicide.
They have questioned and released the 24-year-old US Marine who restrained him.
Police and prosecutors will now decide whether to charge him.
Mr Neely was a popular Michael Jackson impersonator who frequently performed in Times Square. He was unhoused and suffering from mental health issues, according to US media.
Mr Neely was a "very talented black man who loves to dance", his aunt, Carolyn Neely, wrote in a GoFundMe page to raise money for his funeral service.
"Jordan deserves justice. He was loved," Ms Neely told the BBC.
A group of demonstrators gathered in the subway station where Mr Neely died on Wednesday.
One of the demonstrators, Kyle Ishmael, a 38-year-old who lives in Harlem, said the video of Mr Neely's death "disgusted" him.
"I couldn't believe this was happening on my subway in my city that I grew up in," he told BBC's US partner, CBS News.
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Protesters are expected to gather on Thursday outside the Manhattan District Attorney's office to call for charges to be filed against the 24-year-old, according to local outlet ABC 7.
The incident took place on Monday afternoon on the F-line train in the SoHo section of Manhattan.
A video taken by a freelance journalist shows the former Marine holding the 30-year-old man around the neck for two minutes and 55 seconds.
Witnesses reportedly said Mr Neely was acting erratically before the man restrained him, yelling that he did not have food or water and would not mind going to jail.
Two other riders in the video are also seen restraining his arms. Mr Neely lay motionless after all three men let go of him. He was later taken to hospital and pronounced dead.
In the GoFundMe page, Ms Neely said Jordan Neely struggled after his mother, Christie Neely, was murdered in 2007.
Her body was found stuffed in a travel bag underneath a bridge in the Bronx, and her boyfriend was later convicted of murder, according to local reports.
Mr Neely testified in the trial, saying his mother's relationship with the boyfriend had been "crazy" and "a fight every day", according to local outlet the Jersey Journal.
Mr Neely's death sparked an argument between New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
On Wednesday, the mayor tweeted that "any loss of life is tragic", but that there was "a lot we don't know about what happened here, so I'm going to refrain from commenting further".
Ms Ocasio-Cortez said the statement marked "a new low: not being able to clearly condemn a public murder because the victim was of a social status some would deem 'too low' to care about".
New York's Governor Kathy Hochul has commented on the incident saying it was clear that Mr Neely was not going to cause harm to people on the subway with his behaviour.
"No one has the right to take the life of another person," she told reporters on Thursday.
"It was a very extreme response," she added.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65477564
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Primodos: Pregnancy test damages claims thrown out by judge - BBC News
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2023-05-26
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The High Court judge rules there is no new evidence linking the tests with harm to babies.
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Health
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Claimants stand outside the High Court ahead of a hearing in the Primodos legal action in May
Claims for damages by more than 170 people who say they were affected by hormone-based pregnancy test drugs have been thrown out by a High Court judge.
The drugs, including Primodos, were given to women to test if they were pregnant from the 1950s to 1970s and alleged to have caused birth defects.
But the judge ruled there was no new evidence linking the tests with foetal harm and "no real prospect of success".
Campaigners say they are "profoundly disappointed" with the judgement.
Primodos was used by more than a million women in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s to detect if they were pregnant, before being removed from the market in 1978.
There was concern that it may have been responsible for birth defects in newborn babies and also some miscarriages and stillbirths.
The pregnancy test consisted of two pills that contained synthetic hormones. If a women had a bleed a few days later that meant they were not pregnant.
Legal action had been brought against three drug companies - Bayer Pharma, Schering Health Care, Aventis Pharma - as well as the government in a bid for compensation.
They argued there was no evidence of a "causal association" between the hormone pregnancy tests and the harm suffered by the claimants.
And its manufacturer, Schering, now part of Bayer, has always denied a link between the drug and deformities in babies.
In 2017, a government review said there was not enough evidence to prove a link.
Lawyers for the drug companies and the Department of Health and Social Care brought a bid to have the claims struck out at a hearing earlier this month.
In her ruling to end the claims, Mrs Justice Yip said it was "not in the interests of the claimants to maintain the litigation in circumstances where there is no viable plan to progress the claims and no real prospect of success".
She said the proceedings were "an abuse of process" and the only appropriate response was "to strike out the claims".
Marie Lyon, chair of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests, said she was "profoundly disappointed" with the judgement.
"We do not accept the defendants' claim that our evidence did not provide sufficient scientific evidence and look forward to the additional scientific evidence, to support our original argument, which is due to be published shortly," she added.
She said her priority was to reassure families that the battle continued.
"I will be speaking with our legal advisers to discuss next steps to ensure we are able to expose the evidence of harm caused by these synthetic hormones," Ms Lyon said.
As part of a women's health inquiry, Baroness Julia Cumberledge and her team spent two years speaking to more than 700 women and their families who experienced complications linked to Primodos as well as the epilepsy drug sodium valproate and vaginal mesh.
She has since said she was frustrated that not enough progress had been made on a list of recommendations in her 2020 report.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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Hugh Grant gets court go-ahead to sue publisher of Sun - BBC News
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2023-05-26
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The High Court rules the actor can bring action over phone-tapping, but not for alleged voicemail hacking.
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UK
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The High Court ruled that some lawsuits had been submitted too late to proceed
Hugh Grant is set to take the Sun newspaper on in court over claims it used illegal methods to gather stories about him.
The actor believes private investigators working for the Sun tapped his phone, bugged his house and car, and burgled his home.
The Sun's publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) unsuccessfully argued his action should be blocked because he waited too long to launch it.
NGN denies the claims against it.
A judge was asked to rule on whether Mr Grant's lawsuit should be allowed to proceed because it dates back further than six years, the cut-off point for legal action of this kind in civil courts.
This time limitation has become a major legal battleground in cases against newspapers, because allegations of wrongdoing often go back 30 years.
Publishers attempt to argue that cases should not go to trial because alleged victims of unlawful newsgathering delayed their legal action.
But Mr Grant argued he should be allowed to bring the case now because material he and his lawyers will rely on only came to light in recent years.
Some of the evidence against the newspaper was contained in a 2021 witness statement made by private investigator Gavin Burrows.
It was only when NGN disclosed invoices for their payments to Mr Burrows around the same time that Mr Grant had access to potential evidence which could help him win his case in court.
In his judgement, Mr Justice Fancourt acknowledged that the 62-year-old actor and privacy campaigner had long believed that private investigators had been paid to look into his affairs.
The judge said there was a realistic chance Mr Grant would establish at trial that, before seeing the 2021 evidence, "he could not reasonably have believed with sufficient confidence that he may have been targeted by [private investigators] instructed by the Sun".
This judgment does not mean the issue of whether Mr Grant's claim is too late has been decided, but it will now be considered at the trial next year.
In a statement released through his lawyer, Mr Grant said: "I am pleased that my case will be allowed to go to trial, which is what I have always wanted - because it is necessary that the truth comes out about the activities of the Sun.
"As my case makes clear, the allegations go far wider and deeper than voicemail interception."
Mr Grant's statement in the case claims that for years newspaper published News UK lied about its involvement in phone hacking and illegal information gathering.
He said the company had a "vast, long-lasting and deliberate policy strategy plan of false denials and other concealment in relation to the Sun, to prevent me, and others in a similar position, from bringing claims against them".
This included, he said, false denials to the Leveson Inquiry into Press Standards, a press complaints body, and in public statements.
While the actor was successful in securing his day in court on part of his claim, the court refused Mr Grant permission to sue NGN for allegedly hacking his phone voicemails, as the judge ruled he could have brought a case much earlier.
NGN said it was "pleased that, following our application, the High Court has ruled that Mr Grant is statute-barred from bringing a phone hacking claim against The Sun."
"NGN strongly denies the various historical allegations of unlawful information gathering contained in what remains of Mr Grant's claim."
A similar legal argument centred on the claims of the Duke of Sussex is due to be heard by the High Court in July.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65721073
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news_uk-65721073
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Court papers show how killer parents won back their baby - BBC News
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2023-05-26
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Documents which led to Finley Boden being returned to his parents, who then murdered him, obtained by BBC.
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UK
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Finley Boden was 10 months old when he was murdered on Christmas Day in 2020
Key documents which led to a court agreeing to return a 10-month-old boy to his parents, who then murdered him, have been obtained by the BBC.
Finley Boden was killed on Christmas Day 2020, 39 days after he was returned to their care. He had 130 injuries.
The papers from the family court hearing, conducted by phone during the Covid pandemic, were released after a media application to the High Court.
Shannon Marsden and Stephen Boden are due to be sentenced on Friday.
The documents are significant as they informed the crucial hearing about Finley's future - led by two family magistrates.
The papers were released to the BBC, the PA Media news agency and the Daily Telegraph after a request following the couple's conviction.
The submissions help establish what happened between Finley being removed from his parents a few days after his birth on 15 February, to the decision to return him to their full-time care by 23 November.
After the boy was born, social workers from Derbyshire County Council had decided to remove him from his parents who were living in Chesterfield. The authority believed he was likely to suffer "significant harm" at home - the legal threshold in care cases.
They said Shannon Marsden and Stephen Boden were living in squalor - their home was filthy and smelled of cannabis. They described the terraced house as "very unclean" and "at times hazardous, with faeces on the floor".
The social workers also said there was a risk of domestic violence, because in the past police had been called during an argument and Stephen Boden had a previous conviction for domestic violence against an ex-partner. Both parents smoked "between medium and high" levels of cannabis.
But over the next six months, the couple persuaded social workers they had made positive changes - aided by Covid restrictions, which limited physical interactions with others.
During the 2020 spring lockdown, social workers were not routinely going into homes. In Finley's case, photos were instead sent by his mother which showed her terraced home looking clean and tidy.
A photo of Finley's clean and tidy bedroom, submitted to social workers by Shannon Marsden, before he was returned
By the summer, some Covid restrictions had eased and the parents could meet Finley in person again. Some sessions were overseen by social worker Lynn Williams, who assessed them as she tried to help them become better parents.
The report she submitted to the court for the 1 October hearing is among the documents disclosed to us.
In it, she noted that on one occasion, when the weather was warm, "Shannon Marsden ensured Finley was in the shade". The social worker also noted the mother had held his hand when he was in the pushchair - which she described as "a natural response from a caring parent".
She said Stephen Boden had interacted with his son "by talking to him and making him smile".
In August, Ms Williams said she had visited the couple at home, noting that the fridge was well-stocked and the bathroom clean. On a follow-up visit that same month, she observed the house was still relatively tidy and the parents seemed keen to keep it so.
But Ms Williams' generally positive report was undermined by drug tests taken by both parents as directed by children's services. Marsden told social workers she had given up cannabis in October 2019, but tests of her hair indicated that was not the case between February and August 2020. Tests found Boden had used cannabis too.
A police photograph of Finley's bedroom after his death showing "filthy conditions", including a baby milk bottle covered in mould
In the papers presented to the court for the 1 October hearing, the local authority said Finley should return gradually to his parents' care through a "transition plan" over about four months. It proposed that at first, Finley would stay with his carers and only see his parents during the day - initially for an hour and a half, building up to five hours. Then he would be able to stay on a Saturday night.
The amount of time he could spend with his parents would then increase further - so that by mid-January 2021 he would be in their full-time care. This gradual process was to ensure his time with his parents could be monitored - to make sure he was safe.
But Marsden and Boden wanted Finley back more quickly. In his statement submitted to the October hearing, Boden said: "Shannon and I have worked really hard to make changes." Marsden admitted she had been using cannabis but said she had been "given the incentive to quit completely".
In care cases like Finley's, the child's guardian can be one of the most influential voices. They are employed by Cafcass, the independent Children and Families Court Advisory Service, and their role is to represent the child's best interests.
Finley's guardian, Amanda O'Rourke, had only been able to see him once, via a WhatsApp video call, while he was with his carers. He was a "smiler", she wrote in her report for the court, who liked to "blow raspberry's" (sic).
She acknowledged the squalor, drug use and domestic violence in the parents' past. Her report said she agreed in principle with a transition plan, but said it should take place much faster, given the parents had "clearly made and sustained positive changes".
Ms O'Rourke's report to the magistrates said he should go back to their full-time care "within a six to eight week period," half the time requested by the local authority.
A statement from Cafcass said: "It is not possible to say whether a longer transition plan would have prevented Finley's death. What led to his death was the ability of his parents to deceive everyone involved about their love for him and their desire to care for him."
Stephen Boden and Shannon Marsden were convicted of murder in April - they will be sentenced on Friday
The 1 October hearing took place in the period between Covid lockdowns - in England at the time, gatherings were restricted to six people and many courts were working remotely.
In cases like Finley's, parents would normally be in court but, because of the pandemic, everyone was on the phone. Marsden and Boden did not speak at all.
The final decision was made by two magistrates, Kathy Gallimore and Susan Burns, assisted by a legal adviser. That is because magistrates are not legal experts.
The barrister for the local authority argued the Cafcass guardian's plan would send Finley back home "too soon". He said Covid had disrupted the baby's regular contact with his parents and this needed to be rebuilt. He also said the parents should be tested for drugs as they had been "dishonest" about their cannabis use.
But the barrister for Finley's Cafcass guardian said it was not in the boy's interests for the "rehabilitation plan" to be drawn out for such a long period. She said she was "neutral" on the question of drug testing.
The court's legal adviser said drug testing could be ordered if it was "necessary, imperative and vital to the running of the case".
In their judgement that afternoon, Mrs Burns and Mrs Gallimore supported the Cafcass guardian's view - that an eight-week transition was "a reasonable and proportionate" length of time which would protect Finley's welfare. They did not order further drug tests of his parents.
There is no suggestion that the magistrates made a mistake in law.
And later - when the High Court agreed to release these documents - Justice Nathalie Lieven described the family court as having made a "reasonable decision".
"Having read the papers here, I have every sympathy with the decision the magistrates made," she said.
A child safeguarding review into the circumstances surrounding Finley's death is currently ongoing
Chesterfield MP, Labour's Toby Perkins, is now calling for a further inquiry into Derbyshire's children's services. He also says it is "deeply significant" that this case was heard by magistrates.
"It is legitimate to question that entire process, whether the care required for Finley Boden's safety was preserved by that process," he told the BBC.
Since these documents were given to the BBC, Derbyshire County Council has said the author of the independent safeguarding review commissioned by the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership into Finley's death would consider the information in the paperwork "to help form the partnership's learning findings and recommendations".
It added in a statement: "We remain fully engaged with the statutory legal review process which looks in depth at the role of all agencies following the death of a child."
The new timetable for Finley's return - decided on 1 October 2020 - meant he would stay overnight with his parents during the first week of transition. But by 23 November, he was living with them full-time.
Four days later, social worker Emiley Hollindale was the last professional to see Finley alive. But, when she visited Boden and Marsden's home, no-one responded to her knocks. Peering through the window she could see Finley alone, asleep on the sofa.
Just over a month later, the little boy was dead, in a once-more squalid house, reeking of cannabis.
• None Parents murdered baby placed back into their care
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65634100
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news_uk-65634100
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East Kent: A decade of failure in maternity care - BBC News
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2023-05-26
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Why has an NHS Trust failed to improve maternity care after a near-decade of failure?
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Health
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After health inspectors considered closing a maternity unit over safety fears, the BBC's Michael Buchanan looks at a near-decade of poor care at East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust.
"I've been telling you for months. The place is getting worse."
The message in February, which I received from a member of the maternity team, was stark but unsurprising. In a series of texts over the previous few months, the person had been getting increasingly concerned about what was happening at the East Kent trust.
The leadership is "totally ineffective" read one message. "How long do we have to keep hearing this narrative - we accept bad things happened, we have learned and are putting it right. Nothing changes."
Friday's report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is unfortunately just the latest marker in a near-decade of failure to improve maternity care at the trust. The revelation that inspectors considered closing the unit at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford comes nine years after the trust's head of midwifery made a similar recommendation for the same reasons - that it was a danger to women and babies. The failure to act decisively then allowed many poor practices to continue.
An independent review published last October found that between 2009 and 2020, at least 45 babies may have survived with better care, while 12 other babies and 23 mothers wouldn't have suffered harm if they'd received good maternity care.
Put simply, the trust has repeatedly failed to provide good care - and then failed to act when presented with evidence of poor care.
Consider the extraordinary deaths of two new mothers from herpes at two of the trust's hospitals, just six weeks apart in 2018. The trust told the families there was no connection between the deaths. There were. A BBC investigation three years later found they'd been operated on by the same surgeon, and that the trust had failed to test him for herpes despite being told to do so.
When those disclosures led to an inquest being ordered, the trust delayed its start for weeks by making last-minute legal arguments about wanting the coroner to put reporting restrictions on naming the surgeon, arguments it could have made months earlier, as it had been repeatedly discussed at previous hearings.
When the inquest took evidence, a consultant microbiologist at the trust, Dr Sam Moses, was reprimanded for allegedly coaching a colleague in how to respond to answers while another clinician was sitting in the witness box.
Dr Moses also admitted that he hadn't told one family about the connections between the deaths, despite being in a meeting in which the mother of one of the women who had died asked explicitly about a link. He told the court that "my role was to assist the trust. I didn't know whose responsibility it was to tell" about the connection.
At the heart of the trust's problems, it seems, is a dysfunctional culture that stretches back almost a decade. In 2015, a review of its maternity services by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists found multiple problems, including consultants failing to carry out ward rounds, assess women or attend out-of-hours calls. The report was dismissed as "a load of rubbish" by the trust. A Maternity Improvement Plan, overseen by NHS England, was devised. However, by the end of 2019 fewer than a quarter of its action points had been completed.
Improving care is virtually impossible if colleagues don't get along. An Employment Tribunal decision, published in February, concluded that a "toxic and difficult working environment" existed at William Harvey Hospital's maternity unit where people were "shouted and sworn at over differences of professional opinion".
Olukemi Akinmeji, a black midwife, sued the trust for race discrimination and victimisation after colleagues "joked" that they should "check their bags" on her last day at the hospital. Ms Akinmeji, who worked at the William Harvey between 2018 and 2020, won her case.
The tribunal judgement described hearing evidence of a broken working environment and a foul-mouthed registrar that one former colleague described as "totally unprofessional". Since Ms Akinmeji left the trust, that doctor has been promoted to consultant, after apparently being told to cut out the swearing.
Three former staff have told the BBC there is a clique of senior midwives at the William Harvey, nicknamed by some as "the untouchables". They are described as "watching each other's backs", swearing, prone to talking disparagingly about both patients and colleagues. They've been working there for many years and are resistant to new working methods, and often, outsiders.
"It is the worst trust I've ever worked for," says one, "there is so much unprofessional behaviour". Another former staff member says,"midwives often left the end of their shifts in tears, or broke down during a shift. People felt they couldn't speak up - even the managers had their favourites."
In that context, it's little wonder that the CQC found low morale and low levels of staff satisfaction, particularly among maternity staff at the William Harvey. Last year's staff survey, recently published, found that on all nine measures rated - including "we are safe and healthy" and "we are always learning" - the scores from all maternity staff were significantly lower than elsewhere in the trust. Bear in mind that the trust's overall scores included some of the lowest scores of any trust in England.
It's not as if East Kent has been left alone to sort its problems out. NHS England has been all over the trust for years, overseeing improvement plans and sending, as it announced in 2020, "an expert team into the trust to ensure that improvements are made immediately". Asked why their effort hadn't improved maternity care, NHS England couldn't provide an answer but said they had helped them recruit more nurses and midwives.
In a statement to the BBC, the East Kent trust said it accepted it "was not consistently providing the standards of maternity care women and families should expect." But it says that in the past few years, it has "worked hard to improve services," including investing "to increase the number of midwifes and doctors" and to improve staff training.
On the final day of evidence in the inquest into the two deaths from herpes, in a different room in the same building, a pre-inquest review was taking place into the death of a 14-day-old boy in September 2022 at the William Harvey Hospital. Evidence heard at that hearing suggests that with better care, his death may have been avoided. The full inquest later this year will come to a final conclusion.
The baby's death, the CQC report and its actions at the herpes inquest show that East Kent's problem are deep-rooted and ongoing, and that multiple changes of various directors over many years have led to little discernible improvement.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65624925
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news_health-65624925
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Kathleen Stock: Oxford academics sign free speech letter in gender row - BBC News
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2023-05-18
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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An invitation to Kathleen Stock is not behind a split with the debating society, Oxford SU says.
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UK
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Prof Kathleen Stock is due to speak at the Oxford Union on 30 May
Universities must remain places where "contentious views can be openly discussed", University of Oxford academics have warned.
It comes amid a row over the invitation of gender-critical academic Kathleen Stock to take part in a debate.
There had been speculation a decision by the university's student union to split with the Oxford Union debating society was due to the invitation.
But the Oxford University Student Union said the decision was unrelated.
The letter, signed by 44 academics, and published in the Telegraph, stated the signatories represented left and right viewpoints.
It said the group "wholeheartedly condemn" the students' union split with the 200-year-old Oxford Union debating society.
Speaking to the BBC, one of the signatories Dr Michael Biggs, associate professor of sociology at University of Oxford, said he had signed the letter because he is a "strong believer in academic freedom of speech".
He said it was "under threat" as there was "an emerging body of students who have learnt that anybody who has a view that is not their own is hateful and bigoted, and doesn't deserve any opportunity to speak".
Responding to the letter, Prof Stock said she was "very pleased to see there are still those at Oxford University who understand the value of upholding academic freedom, and are prepared to demonstrate this important value in public".
"I hope their example will inspire others to do similar," she added.
In a statement, education minister Claire Coutinho said student debaters "shouldn't be punished for encouraging the free exchange of ideas".
She said the new Freedom of Speech Act "will make sure that universities promote free speech" and people who have their "free speech rights unlawfully restricted on campus can seek redress".
Prof Stock left her job with the University of Sussex in 2021 after protests against her from students following the publication of a book where she questioned the idea that gender identity is more socially significant than biological sex.
After plans for her invite were unveiled last month, the Oxford University LGBTQ+ Society said it was "dismayed", and accused the debating union of "disregarding the welfare of its LGBTQ+ members under the guise of free speech".
Responding to the letter on Wednesday, the society said it stood by its statement, and said it was an "insult" for Oxford Union to give Prof Stock a platform.
Oxford Union has said attendees will have an "opportunity to respectfully engage and challenge" Prof Stock's views at the event on 30 May, as well as being able to ask questions anonymously.
It said there would be "additional welfare resources available on the evening", due to the sensitive nature of the event.
The Oxford Union intentionally resembles the House of Commons
The letter by academics characterised Prof Stock's views as being the belief that "biological sex in humans is real and socially salient" and said they are views which until recently "would have been so commonplace as to hardly merit asserting".
"There is no plausible and attractive ideal of academic freedom, or of free speech more generally, which would condemn their expression as outside the bounds of permissible discourse," it says.
It added the move by the student's union is aimed at damaging the Oxford Union debating society's business model, by banning it from freshers' fairs, which it said is an important source for recruitment of members.
The Oxford Union is a private members club that University of Oxford students and others pay to join. It is independent of the university and the student union.
It said the move is a "a profound failure to live up to" ideals of "free inquiry and the disinterested pursuit of the truth by means of reasoned argument".
In its response, the Oxford University Student Union said national press coverage "erroneously" conflated the opposition to Prof Stock and the decision to split with the Oxford Union.
It said the debate prior to the decision made no mention of Prof Stock or any other speaker, and was due to "long-standing concerns" about "alleged bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination, and data privacy breaches".
It added: "[The student's union] will defend the right of people to freedom of expression, and will defend the right of people to have controversial and unpopular ideas debated as part of an integral part of university life".
There has been ongoing tension in UK universities over freedom of speech on the issue of transgender rights.
Last month, a second attempted screening of a controversial film about gender-critical issues was cancelled due to protest at the University of Edinburgh.
The Oxford Union is celebrating its bicentennial year in 2023, and has a history of welcoming some of the world's most high-profile figures.
Its debating chamber has previously heard from a host of American presidents, and figures like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
It has also drawn controversy, having extended invites to the likes of far-right activist Tommy Robinson and French far-right former politician Marion Marechal-Le Pen.
Their appearances were marked by protests.
Update 5 June: This article originally described the free speech letter as having been signed by 44 academics, and this was amended with a note of correction on 27 May to say it was signed by academics and staff. On review, our original wording was correct and we have amended the article again to make clear that all of the signatories are academics.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65620586
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news_uk-65620586
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Jury hears closing remarks in Donald Trump civil rape case - BBC News
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2023-05-08
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Writer E Jean Carroll is accusing Donald Trump of assaulting her in the mid-90s, which he denies.
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US & Canada
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A lawyer for a writer accusing Donald Trump of rape in a civil trial urged a jury to hold the ex-president liable for the alleged assault.
"No one, not even a former president, is above the law," lawyer Roberta Kaplan said on Monday.
E Jean Carroll alleges Mr Trump raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s, which he denies.
In closing remarks in New York, Mr Trump's legal team accused Ms Carroll of "bringing a false claim".
The nine-member jury are due to begin deliberations on Tuesday morning in the civil rape and defamation trial against the former president, after they receive instructions from US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Roberta Kaplan.
The jury has been hearing arguments over the past two weeks in a Manhattan federal court.
In their closing statement, Ms Carroll's attorneys focused on previous remarks Mr Trump has made about women.
Ms Kaplan pointed to Mr Trump's controversial remarks in a 2005 Access Hollywood tape, which emerged publicly in 2016.
Referring to the comments, she said: "He kissed [women] without consent, he grabbed them, he did not wait."
She argued the remarks had been a "playbook" for how he treated Ms Carroll and other women.
Ms Kaplan also said "self-blame" had kept Ms Carroll from going to the police for decades.
In his closing statement, Mr Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina focused on seeking to cast doubt on the details of Ms Carroll's story, which he at one point called "a work of fiction".
He questioned why Ms Carroll could not specify the date of the assault, arguing that stripped Mr Trump of the chance to provide an alibi.
It was "not a coincidence" none of the witnesses Ms Carroll had called could provide an exact date, he argued.
He also raised questions about the scene of the alleged assault, calling it "unbelievable" it could have occurred in a popular department store without any employees to witness it.
Mr Tacopina argued the story had been "ripped from the pages of Law and Order SVU", referring to a 2012 episode of the popular crime show in which a woman was raped in the lingerie department of a Bergdorf Goodman store.
Ms Carroll has acknowledged her alleged assault occurred in the same place as the episode, which was released before she came forward with her allegation in 2019, but she said that was a coincidence.
"What's the likelihood of that?" Mr Tacopina asked.
The former president did not appear at the trial in person but instead was present in a video of an October deposition played for the court.
"It's the most ridiculous, disgusting story," Mr Trump said in the video. "It's just made up."
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Ms Carroll, 79, has accused Mr Trump, 76, of attacking her in 1995 or 1996, and then defaming her by denying it happened.
Jurors in the trial heard days of graphic testimony. Ms Carroll told jurors she had been left "unable to ever have a romantic life again" after the alleged attack.
A former columnist for Elle magazine, Ms Carroll was able to bring the civil case against Mr Trump after New York passed the Adult Survivors Act in 2022.
The act allowed a one-year period for victims to file sexual assault lawsuits in the state over claims that would have normally exceeded statute limitations.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65499719
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news_world-us-canada-65499719
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New York subway passenger chokehold death sparks protests - BBC News
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2023-05-05
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Demonstrators are calling for justice for Jordan Neely, who died after being placed in a chokehold.
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US & Canada
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A 24-year-old Marine placed Mr Neely in a chokehold on the F-line train in the SoHo section of Manhattan
Protesters are gathering in New York City to call for justice for Jordan Neely, a subway passenger who died on Monday after a man placed him in a chokehold.
Video of the encounter showed Mr Neely, 30, struggling as another man grabbed him and pinned him on the ground.
New York City officials have said the death was a homicide.
They have questioned and released the 24-year-old US Marine who restrained him.
Police and prosecutors will now decide whether to charge him.
Mr Neely was a popular Michael Jackson impersonator who frequently performed in Times Square. He was unhoused and suffering from mental health issues, according to US media.
Mr Neely was a "very talented black man who loves to dance", his aunt, Carolyn Neely, wrote in a GoFundMe page to raise money for his funeral service.
"Jordan deserves justice. He was loved," Ms Neely told the BBC.
A group of demonstrators gathered in the subway station where Mr Neely died on Wednesday.
One of the demonstrators, Kyle Ishmael, a 38-year-old who lives in Harlem, said the video of Mr Neely's death "disgusted" him.
"I couldn't believe this was happening on my subway in my city that I grew up in," he told BBC's US partner, CBS News.
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Protesters are expected to gather on Thursday outside the Manhattan District Attorney's office to call for charges to be filed against the 24-year-old, according to local outlet ABC 7.
The incident took place on Monday afternoon on the F-line train in the SoHo section of Manhattan.
A video taken by a freelance journalist shows the former Marine holding the 30-year-old man around the neck for two minutes and 55 seconds.
Witnesses reportedly said Mr Neely was acting erratically before the man restrained him, yelling that he did not have food or water and would not mind going to jail.
Two other riders in the video are also seen restraining his arms. Mr Neely lay motionless after all three men let go of him. He was later taken to hospital and pronounced dead.
In the GoFundMe page, Ms Neely said Jordan Neely struggled after his mother, Christie Neely, was murdered in 2007.
Her body was found stuffed in a travel bag underneath a bridge in the Bronx, and her boyfriend was later convicted of murder, according to local reports.
Mr Neely testified in the trial, saying his mother's relationship with the boyfriend had been "crazy" and "a fight every day", according to local outlet the Jersey Journal.
Mr Neely's death sparked an argument between New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
On Wednesday, the mayor tweeted that "any loss of life is tragic", but that there was "a lot we don't know about what happened here, so I'm going to refrain from commenting further".
Ms Ocasio-Cortez said the statement marked "a new low: not being able to clearly condemn a public murder because the victim was of a social status some would deem 'too low' to care about".
New York's Governor Kathy Hochul has commented on the incident saying it was clear that Mr Neely was not going to cause harm to people on the subway with his behaviour.
"No one has the right to take the life of another person," she told reporters on Thursday.
"It was a very extreme response," she added.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65477564
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news_world-us-canada-65477564
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Suspect arrested after second mass shooting in Serbia - BBC News
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2023-05-05
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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At least eight people are killed and several more injured in villages south of Belgrade.
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Europe
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A man grieves in the village Dubona after the attack
A man has been arrested after eight died and 14 were injured in Serbia's second mass shooting in a week.
The attack occurred shortly after midnight near a village some 60km (37 miles) south of Belgrade when the shooter opened fire from a moving car.
He was arrested in the early hours of Friday morning after "an extensive search", the interior ministry said.
It comes after a boy killed nine people at a Belgrade school on Wednesday, Serbia's worst shooting in years.
President Aleksander Vucic pledged the "practical disarmament" of the country, as he announced a list of new security measures intended to improve gun control on Friday morning.
The suspect - who has only been identified by his initials UB - was detained near the city of Kragujevac, the interior ministry said.
The arrest followed an extensive manhunt, which local media reported involved over 600 police officers. He was eventually found hiding at his grandfather's house, Serbian broadcaster RTS reported.
Early on Friday morning, Serbian media said that special police forces had arrived at the villages of Mladenovac and Dubona, where the latest shooting occurred.
Photos from the scene showed police officers stopping cars at checkpoints as they tried to find the gunman. A helicopter, drones and multiple police patrols were also used.
Reports on local media say the suspect - who the interior ministry said was born in 2002 - started firing at people with an automatic weapon after having an argument with a police officer in a park in Dubona on Thursday evening.
Milan Prokić, a Dubona resident, told Radio Belgrade 1 he heard shots near his house: "It's sad, regrettable, we locked ourselves in our home so [the shots] wouldn't come to us."
The man is then said to have proceeded to shoot people from a car, killing at least eight people and wounding many more.
All injured people admitted to hospital were born after the year 2000, RTS reported.
Two people aged 21 and 23 were operated on, but remain in critical condition.
Speaking at a news conference after the attack on Friday, Serbia's president said the suspect had been wearing a T-shirt with neo-Nazi symbols, but no further details were given.
President Vucic called the shooting "an attack on us all" and announced a host of new security measures, including a plan to hire 1,200 new police officers.
He also announced a ban on new gun permits, tougher penalties for illegal weapons possession and psychological checks of gun owners. He said the new laws would result in the "practical disarmament" of Serbia.
On Wednesday, a thirteen-year-old boy shot dead eight fellow pupils at his school in Belgrade, as well as a security guard. It prompted the Serbian government to propose tighter restrictions of gun ownership.
NBA basketball player Luka Doncic said he would pay for the funerals of all nine people killed in Wednesday's shooting, and for grief counselling for classmates and staff.
Mass shootings are extremely rare in Serbia, which has very strict gun laws, but gun ownership in the country is among the highest in Europe.
The western Balkans are awash with illegal weapons following wars and unrest in the 1990s. In 2019, it was estimated that there are 39.1 firearms per 100 people in Serbia - the third highest in the world, behind the US and Montenegro.
If you have been affected by the latest shooting in Serbia, you can contact the BBC in confidence by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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 HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65490418
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East Kent: A decade of failure in maternity care - BBC News
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2023-05-27
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Why has an NHS Trust failed to improve maternity care after a near-decade of failure?
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Health
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After health inspectors considered closing a maternity unit over safety fears, the BBC's Michael Buchanan looks at a near-decade of poor care at East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust.
"I've been telling you for months. The place is getting worse."
The message in February, which I received from a member of the maternity team, was stark but unsurprising. In a series of texts over the previous few months, the person had been getting increasingly concerned about what was happening at the East Kent trust.
The leadership is "totally ineffective" read one message. "How long do we have to keep hearing this narrative - we accept bad things happened, we have learned and are putting it right. Nothing changes."
Friday's report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is unfortunately just the latest marker in a near-decade of failure to improve maternity care at the trust. The revelation that inspectors considered closing the unit at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford comes nine years after the trust's head of midwifery made a similar recommendation for the same reasons - that it was a danger to women and babies. The failure to act decisively then allowed many poor practices to continue.
An independent review published last October found that between 2009 and 2020, at least 45 babies may have survived with better care, while 12 other babies and 23 mothers wouldn't have suffered harm if they'd received good maternity care.
Put simply, the trust has repeatedly failed to provide good care - and then failed to act when presented with evidence of poor care.
Consider the extraordinary deaths of two new mothers from herpes at two of the trust's hospitals, just six weeks apart in 2018. The trust told the families there was no connection between the deaths. There were. A BBC investigation three years later found they'd been operated on by the same surgeon, and that the trust had failed to test him for herpes despite being told to do so.
When those disclosures led to an inquest being ordered, the trust delayed its start for weeks by making last-minute legal arguments about wanting the coroner to put reporting restrictions on naming the surgeon, arguments it could have made months earlier, as it had been repeatedly discussed at previous hearings.
When the inquest took evidence, a consultant microbiologist at the trust, Dr Sam Moses, was reprimanded for allegedly coaching a colleague in how to respond to answers while another clinician was sitting in the witness box.
Dr Moses also admitted that he hadn't told one family about the connections between the deaths, despite being in a meeting in which the mother of one of the women who had died asked explicitly about a link. He told the court that "my role was to assist the trust. I didn't know whose responsibility it was to tell" about the connection.
At the heart of the trust's problems, it seems, is a dysfunctional culture that stretches back almost a decade. In 2015, a review of its maternity services by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists found multiple problems, including consultants failing to carry out ward rounds, assess women or attend out-of-hours calls. The report was dismissed as "a load of rubbish" by the trust. A Maternity Improvement Plan, overseen by NHS England, was devised. However, by the end of 2019 fewer than a quarter of its action points had been completed.
Improving care is virtually impossible if colleagues don't get along. An Employment Tribunal decision, published in February, concluded that a "toxic and difficult working environment" existed at William Harvey Hospital's maternity unit where people were "shouted and sworn at over differences of professional opinion".
Olukemi Akinmeji, a black midwife, sued the trust for race discrimination and victimisation after colleagues "joked" that they should "check their bags" on her last day at the hospital. Ms Akinmeji, who worked at the William Harvey between 2018 and 2020, won her case.
The tribunal judgement described hearing evidence of a broken working environment and a foul-mouthed registrar that one former colleague described as "totally unprofessional". Since Ms Akinmeji left the trust, that doctor has been promoted to consultant, after apparently being told to cut out the swearing.
Three former staff have told the BBC there is a clique of senior midwives at the William Harvey, nicknamed by some as "the untouchables". They are described as "watching each other's backs", swearing, prone to talking disparagingly about both patients and colleagues. They've been working there for many years and are resistant to new working methods, and often, outsiders.
"It is the worst trust I've ever worked for," says one, "there is so much unprofessional behaviour". Another former staff member says,"midwives often left the end of their shifts in tears, or broke down during a shift. People felt they couldn't speak up - even the managers had their favourites."
In that context, it's little wonder that the CQC found low morale and low levels of staff satisfaction, particularly among maternity staff at the William Harvey. Last year's staff survey, recently published, found that on all nine measures rated - including "we are safe and healthy" and "we are always learning" - the scores from all maternity staff were significantly lower than elsewhere in the trust. Bear in mind that the trust's overall scores included some of the lowest scores of any trust in England.
It's not as if East Kent has been left alone to sort its problems out. NHS England has been all over the trust for years, overseeing improvement plans and sending, as it announced in 2020, "an expert team into the trust to ensure that improvements are made immediately". Asked why their effort hadn't improved maternity care, NHS England couldn't provide an answer but said they had helped them recruit more nurses and midwives.
In a statement to the BBC, the East Kent trust said it accepted it "was not consistently providing the standards of maternity care women and families should expect." But it says that in the past few years, it has "worked hard to improve services," including investing "to increase the number of midwifes and doctors" and to improve staff training.
On the final day of evidence in the inquest into the two deaths from herpes, in a different room in the same building, a pre-inquest review was taking place into the death of a 14-day-old boy in September 2022 at the William Harvey Hospital. Evidence heard at that hearing suggests that with better care, his death may have been avoided. The full inquest later this year will come to a final conclusion.
The baby's death, the CQC report and its actions at the herpes inquest show that East Kent's problem are deep-rooted and ongoing, and that multiple changes of various directors over many years have led to little discernible improvement.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65624925
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Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price quits after damning report - BBC News
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2023-05-11
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Adam Price quits after review found misogyny, harassment and bullying in his party.
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Wales
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Adam Price says he no longer had the support of his party
Adam Price has quit as Plaid Cymru leader after a report found misogyny, harassment and bullying in the party.
North Wales Senedd member Llyr Gruffydd will take over as interim leader, with a new leader in place in the summer, the party has said.
It follows months of difficulties including allegations of a sexual assault made against a senior staff member, and a toxic working culture.
In his resignation letter, Mr Price said he no longer had the "united support" of his colleagues.
He said he wanted to resign in the wake of the report's findings, but was initially persuaded not to quit.
"You have my personal assurance that I will continue to serve my country, my constituents and our party with determination and enthusiasm," he said in a letter to party chairman, Marc Jones.
On Thursday Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford said discussions on his co-operation agreement with Plaid will take place "in light of recent developments"
He thanked Mr Price "for the constructive way the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru have worked together".
The resignation announcement was made following a meeting of the party's ruling body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), late on Wednesday night.
One source from the meeting said some members raised the possibility of Adam Price remaining in post.
But it was considered untenable given the seriousness of the findings of the review.
Plaid's Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said Mr Price was not asked to resign in the wake of the "toxic culture" report because "stability" was needed to implement its recommendations.
Interim Plaid Cymru leader Llyr Gruffydd has been in the Senedd since 2011
Speaking on the Today programme, Liz Saville Roberts said: "Effective leadership is about balancing conflicting demands.
"What we felt strongly was that we needed a collegiate approach within the party because it (the report) cuts across all aspects of the party and it requires a change of culture".
"In order to do that we would need stability".
She also told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that Mr Price had to go because he had become a "distraction".
She ruled herself out of a leadership contest, saying any new leader would have to be an elected member in the Senedd.
"I'm an MP in Westminster so that's done and dusted," she said.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Adam Price apologised last week but said the damning report points to a "collective failure" across the party
Mr Gruffydd's appointment as interim leader was agreed at a meeting of the party's Senedd members on Thursday and will need to be rubber-stamped by Plaid Cymru's National Council on Saturday.
He will not stand in the forthcoming leadership contest
Mr Gruffydd said he was "grateful to the Plaid Cymru Senedd group" for the nomination and thanked Mr Price for his "vision, commitment, and dedication".
Plaid Cymru is the third largest party in the Welsh Parliament, with 12 Members of the Senedd and three MPs in Westminster.
The pro-independence party is in a co-operation agreement with the Welsh Labour government, which means they help them govern.
Mr Price was elected party leader in 2018, when he ousted Leanne Wood.
Welsh Conservative leader, Andrew RT Davies, said: "I have no doubt Adam Price's departure is a moment of personal sadness for him.
"Following the recent report into the culture within their party, it became clear Plaid Cymru politicians no longer had confidence in his leadership, so his departure became inevitable."
For the converted, the die-hard believers, it wasn't meant to be like this.
Adam Price was touted by many in Plaid Cymru as a "once in a generation" politician who could overcome the party's many electoral barriers.
When he challenged his predecessor for the leadership in 2018, he said only he could "create the momentum" Plaid needed to become Wales' main party of government and install him as first minister.
And yet, there was no great advance at the following Senedd election - Plaid remains in third place behind the Welsh Conservatives.
Supporters will say it was an election like no other, one focused almost entirely on the public's broadly favourable opinion of the Welsh Labour government's handling of the pandemic.
It is clear, though, that some of the sheen had faded and in terms of public support, the party remains no further forward under Adam Price's leadership.
As it nears its 100th birthday celebrations, Plaid Cymru will seek its 11th leader with many of the perennial questions about its purpose, its lack of reach beyond the heartlands and its relationship with Welsh Labour likely to be raised.
But it is the drip, drip of negative stories over the last year, culminating in a damning report that found a toxic culture within the party that meant Adam Price's position was no longer tenable.
Addressing those major issues will be his successor's primary focus.
Since last year Plaid Cymru has been dogged by claims of a toxic culture in the party, and it emerged last November that an allegation of sexual assault had been made against a senior member of staff.
Separately, a serious allegation was also made about the conduct of a Member of the Senedd, Rhys ab Owen, who is now suspended from the Senedd group pending an investigation.
The party asked Nerys Evans, a lobbyist and former Plaid assembly member, to hold a review last December.
Her working group's report said Plaid needed to "detoxify a culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny".
It said too many instances of bad behaviour were tolerated, and said an anonymous survey of staff and elected members highlighted examples "of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination".
Mr Price admitted the document left Plaid Cymru "harmed and tarnished". He apologised, but refused to quit.
In his resignation letter, Mr Price said: "On receiving the report, I informed you that I felt morally bound to step down as leader of the party in recognition of our collective failure."
"You counselled against my resignation as you felt it would make it more difficult to achieve progress in implementing the recommendations."
He said he was "persuaded by the argument that my stepping down would be an abdication of responsibility".
But he added: "It is now clear I no longer have the united support of my colleagues that would be necessary to follow this course to fruition."
Mr Drakeford said: "I want to thank Adam Price for the constructive way the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru have worked together to develop and implement the co-operation agreement. These shared priorities are making a real difference to people across Wales.
"The co-operation agreement is an agreement between the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru - not between individuals. There will be discussions about the agreement in light of recent developments."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65553413
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Chris Mason: Sunak pledge to scrap EU laws collides with reality - BBC News
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2023-05-11
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The PM has U-turned on a government plan to get rid of thousands of EU laws by the end of the year.
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UK Politics
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This is a classic example of a big, bold campaigning promise colliding with reality.
When Rishi Sunak was running to be Conservative leader last summer, he put out a video.
In it, inside what is called the 'Brexit Delivery Department,' vast bundles of paper representing EU laws thud down on a desk, and then a shredder is wheeled into the room.
And yes, you guessed it, those A4 pages encounter oblivion, one after another, as they are fed in.
Well, not enough people did, from his perspective, but he became prime minister in the end nonetheless - and now that video has collided with reality.
It turns out trying to feed too much stuff into a shredder, too quickly, runs the risk of not being able to read it all before it encounters the metal gnashers and is torn to smithereens.
The government ditching its plan to automatically cull thousands of EU-era laws at the end of this year has had the whiff of inevitability about it for some time.
For months, a myriad groups have raised concerns about the unintended consequences of laws disappearing by default.
But plenty of Tory MPs are grumpy about this, seeing it as a straight forward failure to deliver from the prime minister.
One told me many felt the government was acting in "bad faith" and they didn't buy the argument that this was an impossible deadline.
Around 20 Conservative MPs went to see the chief whip Simon Hart to register their irritation.
Some Tory MPs went into Downing Street to do the same.
"There was an arms race in last summer's leadership race, where Liz and Rishi found themselves out Brexiting each other. That's where all this started," one senior figure told me.
Ministers claim they are now being pragmatic.
They say they are still "taking back control", as the Brexit campaign slogan put it, but are doing so at a more sensible pace.
The move has angered Brexiteer Tory MPs like Jacob Rees-Mogg
"Kemi [Badenoch] approaches Brexit not as an end in itself, but as a means to an end," one ally said of the business and trade secretary.
She happened to inherit all this because it had been a responsibility of Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was briefly Business Secretary under Liz Truss.
Mr Rees-Mogg is now the most outspoken public critic of Mrs Badenoch's plan.
Ministers are promising to get rid of another 600 laws by the end of the year - we'll find out which ones next week.
They claim around 1,500 others have either already gone, have been reformed, or that they soon will be.
But that still leaves a couple of thousand not yet looked at.
The old saying goes that politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose.
In this instance, we've gone from a brash campaign video last August to a government ministerial statement nine months later.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65553658
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Harry blames press intrusion for Chelsy break-up - BBC News
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2023-05-11
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The prince said Ms Davy decided "a royal life was not for her", as his High Court case against Mirror Group Newspapers begins.
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UK
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The Duke of Sussex has blamed alleged illegal intrusion into his private life by journalists for the break-up of his relationship with Chelsy Davy.
In a witness statement, Prince Harry claimed Ms Davy decided that "a royal life was not for her" following repeated acts of harassment.
The claims emerged in a High Court case against Mirror Group Newspapers brought by several high profile figures.
MGN denies allegations of voicemail interception in the cases.
It also claimed some of the cases being brought are beyond a legal time limit.
Ms Davy and Prince Harry were in an on-off relationship between 2004 and 2010.
In a summary of his witness statement, the duke's lawyers alleged unlawful activity "caused great challenges" in the relationship, and led Ms Davy to decide that "a Royal life was not for her".
This included journalists booking into a hotel in Bazaruto, a small island off the coast of Mozambique, where Harry and Ms Davy had tried to escape to in order to "enjoy some peace and quiet", the document reads.
The lawyers also said that mobile phonecalling data to be used in the trial shows that Ms Davy was targeted for voicemail interception between 2007 and 2009.
The activities caused him "huge distress" and "presented very real security concerns for not only me but also everyone around me", he said, adding that they also created "a huge amount of paranoia" in future relationships.
"Every time he was in a relationship, or even a rumoured relationship, that whole person's family, and often their friends, would be 'dragged into the chaos' and find themselves the subject of unlawful activity on the part of MGN," lawyers said.
Prince Harry's lawyers allege that his mobile phone number was recorded in a handheld device belonging to "prolific hacker and head of news at the Sunday Mirror" Nick Buckley.
The prince is also expected to allege that he experienced what was, in hindsight, voicemail interception in relation to 30 people with whom he had a close relationship.
He is expected to give evidence in June - the first time a senior royal will be a witness in court in modern times.
MGN has not admitted to any of the charges, although it said it "unreservedly apologises" for a separate instance of unlawful information-gathering against Harry and said that the legal challenge brought by the prince "warrants compensation".
The article that incident referred to - regarding an MGN journalist instructing a private investigator to unlawfully gather information about Harry's activities at the Chinawhite nightclub on one night in February 2004 - is not one of the claims being brought by the prince.
MGN said it would never be repeated.
In written submissions, MGN's barrister, Andrew Green KC, said the publisher denied that 28 of the 33 articles in Harry's claim involved phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering.
He said that stories came from a variety of other sources - including other members of the Royal Family.
Mr Green added that it was "not admitted" that five of the 33 articles contained unlawful information gathering.
Other celebrities have brought claims against MGN, with "test cases" - including Prince Harry's - selected to go to trial from the wider group of claimants.
They include that of former Coronation Street actress Nikki Sanderson, comedian Paul Whitehouse's ex-wife Fiona Wightman and actor Michael Turner - who played Kevin Webster in Coronation Street and goes by his stage name Michael Le Vell. All are expected to give evidence during the six- to seven-week trial.
The court heard that Ms Sanderson felt like she was "public property" and experienced abuse in the street following "false insinuations" in articles published by MGN.
"[She had] people shouting at her in the street calling her a 'whore', 'slag' or 'slut' and even being physically assaulted on numerous occasions," barrister David Sherborne said.
Mr Turner was accused by fellow cast members of being a "mole" amid alleged phone hacking, the court heard.
The hearing is focusing on what senior executives at MGN knew about alleged phone hacking - including TV host Piers Morgan, who was editor of the Daily Mirror between 1995 and 2004.
Mr Sherborne told the court that unlawful information gathering was both habitual and widespread at three papers - the Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People - between 1991 and 2011.
He described "a flood of illegality", adding that "this flood was being authorised and approved of" by senior executives.
The barrister also accused executives of misleading the Leveson inquiry - the inquiry into the practices, culture and ethics of the press - something it denies.
In written arguments, Mr Sherborne said it was "inconceivable" that Mr Morgan and other editors did not know about MGN journalists instructing private investigators to obtain information.
"The systemic and widespread use of PIs [private investigators] by MGN journalists to unlawfully obtain private information was authorised at senior levels," Mr Sherborne, who is also representing the duke, said.
Mr Morgan has repeatedly denied any knowledge of phone hacking or illegal activity at the Daily Mirror when he was editor.
"I've never hacked a phone. I've never told anybody to hack a phone," he told the BBC's Amol Rajan in an interview conducted before the trial began.
MGN has previously settled a number of claims against it in relation to stories obtained through unlawful means.
Read the latest from our royal correspondent Sean Coughlan - sign up here.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65550021
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news_uk-65550021
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Phone hacking authorised at highest levels of publisher, court hears - BBC News
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2023-05-11
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Prince Harry's lawyer claims investigators received huge sums to illicitly obtain private information.
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UK
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Prince Harry attended the High Court in March for a separate hearing against the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper
Unlawful information gathering was widespread and authorised by those at the highest levels of Mirror Group Newspapers, a court has heard.
Prince Harry is among high-profile figures accusing the publisher of using private investigators and phone hacking to gain access to stories about them.
His barrister David Sherborne said millions of pounds were paid to private investigators, with the payments signed off by senior figures at MGN.
It is alleged that journalists from the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People newspapers obtained private and confidential information about people's lives through a variety of illegal means.
The bulk of the trial's evidence are 207 newspaper stories, published between 1991 and 2011 - some 67% of which were written about Harry, the Duke of Sussex.
Mr Sherborne told the High Court one of the most "serious and troubling" features of the case is the extent to which "widespread, habitual and unlawful" activities were "authorised at the highest level".
This included "the systemic and widespread use of PIs (private investigators) by MGN journalists to unlawfully obtain private information" of various individuals, Mr Sherborne told London's High Court.
Mr Sherborne has referred the court to key senior figures in MGN who he claims "authorised" the unlawful obtaining of information.
He said this included former editors Piers Morgan, Neil Wallis, Tina Weaver, Mark Thomas, Richard Wallace and Bridget Rowe, and alleged that managing editors and senior executives also knew.
"Mr Morgan was right at the heart of this in many ways," Mr Sherborne told the court. "He was a hands-on editor and was close to the board. We have the direct involvement of Mr Morgan in a number of these incidents."
Mr Morgan was Daily Mirror editor from 1995 until 2004.
Mr Sherborne said the alleged unlawful activities also included MGN journalists intercepting landline voicemails, even if the phone numbers were ex-directory - meaning they were not listed in the telephone directory and the phone company would not provide them to those who asked for them.
Claims brought by Harry and three others are being heard in the trial, expected to last six to seven weeks, as being "representative" cases of the types of allegations facing the publisher.
The other claimants are former Coronation Street actors Nikki Sanderson and Michael Turner, known by his stage name Michael Le Vell, and comedian Paul Whitehouse's ex-wife Fiona Wightman.
They are all expected to give evidence - when the prince does so in June, he will become the first senior member of the Royal Family to appear in court and be cross-examined in modern times.
The four cases were chosen by the trial judge to help the court set the level of damages MGN should pay if the claimants win, as well as establish the various allegations facing the publisher.
The court would then consider other cases from celebrities including the former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl, actor Ricky Tomlinson, former Arsenal and England footballer Ian Wright and the estate of late singer-songwriter George Michael.
MGN has denied the allegations, including those of voicemail interception.
In its defence against some of the claims made by Prince Harry, MGN's lawyers argued that he did not have "a reasonable expectation of privacy".
This argument was made in response to articles about his relationship with Chelsy Davy - the break-up of which Harry blamed on press intrusion, his alleged drug use and one that reported he was forced to carry out farm work as punishment for wearing a Nazi uniform to a party.
In other instances it claimed published information was "limited and banal".
In response to one of the 33 articles put forward by Prince Harry's legal team, which gave details about his 18th birthday celebrations, MGN lawyers argued that the information came from an interview the duke gave to the Press Association.
The article published under the headline "No Eton trifles for Harry, 18" in September 2002 "simply repeated the details that the claimant [Harry] had given" including that he would not be having a party and would be spending the day with his father and brother, MGN argues in court documents. It said there was "no evidence of voicemail interception".
However on Wednesday, the publisher acknowledged and "unreservedly" apologised for a separate instance of unlawful information gathering against Harry, adding that the legal challenge brought by the prince "warrants compensation".
On Thursday, reporters saw the list of 33 stories at the heart of Prince Harry's claim for damages against MGN. He is relying on them to prove phone hacking and other unlawful activity against him. Here are some of them:
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: "I've never hacked a phone, I wouldn't even know how" - Piers Morgan (interview filmed in March)
In Thursday's hearing, Mr Sherborne discussed a Daily Mirror front page story from 1999, which revealed confidential details about the finances of Prince Michael of Kent - cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II - including that he was in debt to a bank.
Prince Michael's lawyers later told MGN they had deduced that a "blagger" had called the bank and, posing as the royal's accountant, obtained confidential information.
MGN eventually settled the claim, published an apology and paid his legal costs, the barrister said.
"It's inconceivable, given the way this progressed, that the legal department and Mr Morgan were not well aware of the source of the story, and that it came from illegally obtained information," Mr Sherborne told the court.
Mr Morgan has consistently denied any knowledge of phone hacking during his time editing the newspaper, but this will be the first time a court has been asked to rule on claims about what he knew.
Speaking to the BBC's Amol Rajan before the trial began, Mr Morgan said he could only talk to what he knew about his own involvement, adding: "I've never hacked a phone, I wouldn't even know how."
Mr Morgan also pointed out he only worked for the Daily Mirror and had no responsibility for the Sunday Mirror, Sunday People or other titles.
In 2015, MGN admitted journalists had regularly used unlawful techniques to obtain private information - and issued a public apology.
The High Court ordered the publisher to pay out damages totalling £1.25m to eight phone-hacking victims, including more than £260,000 to the actor Sadie Frost.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65555637
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Bannau Brycheiniog: Campaign to reinstate Brecon Beacons park name - BBC News
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2023-05-11
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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More than 50 businesses in the national park want the official name to be in English and in Welsh.
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Wales
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The campaign group says the bilingual tradition must be protected and respected
More than 50 businesses in the Bannau Brycheiniog national park have called for its English name to be reinstated.
They have formed a campaign group and said they were considering legal action.
The group argued businesses have spent decades making the area a "well-known global hotspot for tourism".
The park authority, which said it would stop using the Brecon Beacons name last month, said people were "welcome to use whichever name they choose".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Brecon Beacons National Park will now be calling itself only by its Welsh name, Bannau Brycheiniog
The decision was aimed at promoting local culture and heritage, as part of a wider overhaul of how the park is managed.
The new campaign group - called "Our Bannau Brycheiniog/Brecon Beacons" - is made up of range of businesses in the fields of tourism, farming, green energy, hospitality and retail.
Helen Howarth says losing the English language name will hurt tourism
They said they were proud of operating in a bilingual nation and believed "this tradition must be protected and respected".
They said they were also seeking legal advice about whether they could mount a High Court challenge, which would argue the park's rebrand conflicts with the 1993 Welsh Language Act obliging public bodies in Wales to treat Welsh and English on an equal basis.
"I firmly believe that losing our identity as the Brecon Beacons National Park will be detrimental to us all and especially tourism, hospitality and trade," said Helen Howarth, who owns a self-catering accommodation business.
The group has penned an open letter to park bosses calling on them "to reinstate the bilingual Bannau Brycheiniog/ Brecon Beacons National Park name and brand".
They say a number of the campaign's signatories are part of a scheme to be official ambassadors for the park and were "not even notified about the renaming and rebranding project before its launch on 17 April".
Nigel Kilgallon says the name change seems like "an act of sabotage"
Nigel Kilgallon, who runs a B&B in Brecon and is a town councillor, said the name change highlights the disconnect between the authority that runs the national park, and the local community.
"You could call it a trademark, you could call it intellectual property, you could call it a marketing tool. All these things that it could be. But it's also the home of the people that live here. Our Brecon Beacons," he said.
"And so to just change it, just seems like an act of sabotage. It's either that or it's just ill-thought out by the authority.
"It's what it's always known as and that bilingualism is really at the heart of what we're trying to do here."
Owen Williams, the managing director of a digital marketing agency, said he found it difficult to understand the campaigners' argument.
The attention the national park had received through its decision in recent weeks had been "unreal", he claimed.
"It's been a very canny marketing strategy," he said.
Referring to moves in other countries such as Australia to focus on the indigenous names for iconic sites he said "tourism doesn't drop because the Ayres Rock name is minimised and Uluru brought to the fore".
A spokeswoman for Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority said the organisation had "decided to prioritise the Welsh name going forwards".She added: "The park is not asking other people or organisations to prioritise the Welsh name. This is an organisational decision and applies to all the work they do.
"Others are welcome to use whichever name they choose for the park."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-65556286
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E Jean Carroll: Donald Trump appeals against $5m verdict in sex abuse trial - BBC News
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2023-05-11
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A jury on Tuesday found Mr Trump liable for the sexual assault and defamation of writer E Jean Carroll
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US & Canada
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Former US President Donald Trump has filed a court notice of appeal two days after a civil trial found he sexually abused a woman, E Jean Carroll, in a New York department store.
A New York jury awarded Ms Carroll nearly $5m in damages over her allegation that Mr Trump attacked her in the 1990s.
Jurors found Mr Trump, 76, liable for battery and defamation, but not rape.
His appeal comes a day after the former president called his accuser a "wack job" during a CNN town hall event.
"I swear on my children, which I never do. I have no idea who this woman is. This is a fake story," he said.
He accused the civil trial's presiding judge of anti-Trump bias and said that his decision not to testify in person would not have made any difference to the outcome.
The jury's verdict marked the first time Mr Trump, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women, was found legally responsible for assault.
Ms Carroll, a writer and long-time advice columnist, claimed Mr Trump raped her inside a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room and has defamed her by calling her allegation "a hoax and a lie".
The jury of six men and three women deliberated for less than three hours on Tuesday before reaching their decision.
The standard of proof in civil cases is lower than in criminal cases, meaning that jurors were only required to find that it was more likely than not that Mr Trump assaulted Ms Carroll.
While the jury found Mr Trump liable for sexual battery and defamation of Ms Carroll, they did not find Mr Trump liable of raping her. To do so, the jury would have needed to have been convinced that Mr Trump had engaged in non-consensual sexual intercourse with Ms Carroll.
Mr Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina told reporters outside the courtroom that it was "a strange verdict".
"They rejected her rape claim and she always claimed this was a rape case, so it's a little perplexing," he said.
He added that, in Mr Trump's hometown of New York, where the former president is now unpopular, "you just can't get a fair trial".
The case will now move to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Ms Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan earlier expressed confidence to US media that Mr Trump has "no legitimate arguments for appeal".
"I've rarely felt more confident about an appeal than I do about this one," she said.
Ms Kaplan also told the New York Times that her client was giving "serious consideration" toward filing a new defamation suit against Mr Trump over his latest comments on CNN.
Mr Trump is currently the frontrunner to once again win the Republican nomination for president in 2024, earning more than 50% support in national polls, including several conducted after the New York trial began.
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Labour considers extending voting rights to EU citizens - BBC News
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2023-05-15
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The party is working on proposals on voting rights but says no final decisions have been made.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: No final policy on giving votes to EU citizens
Labour is considering extending voting rights to some EU citizens living in the UK if the party wins the next general election.
The party is working on a package of proposals, including votes for some EU nationals and 16 and 17-year-olds in general elections.
In 2020, Labour's leader Sir Keir Starmer called for all EU nationals to be given full voting rights in the UK.
But Labour said no final policy decisions had been made.
Labour's shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said the party's policy on the issue had been the subject of speculation and discussions about this were "part of our manifesto process".
"We do want to strengthen our democracy," Mr Reynolds told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme. "We believe if people make a contribution to this country, if they live here, there's an argument for having them involved in [the democratic] process."
The Conservative Party said Labour's plan to give foreign nationals the vote at parliamentary elections "is laying the groundwork to drag the UK back into the EU by stealth".
"The right to vote in parliamentary elections and choose the next UK government is rightly restricted to British citizens and those with the closest historical links to our country," Conservative Party Chairman Greg Hands said.
Currently, EU nationals who are legally resident in the UK can vote in local and devolved elections but not general elections.
A Labour source said the party was thinking about proposals "that will enable people who live and contribute long-term to our society to be able to have their say in how the country is governed".
The source said Sir Keir believes it is "fair and right" to give those people a voice in elections.
But the source said the details of the proposals have not yet been decided, despite suggestions made in newspaper reports by the Financial Times and the Sunday Telegraph.
There are an estimated 3.4 million EU nationals with settled status in the UK, and a further 2.7m with pre-settled status.
Settled status allows EU citizen to continue to live, work and study in the UK on an indefinite basis, while pre-settled status is a grant of temporary residence for five years.
The idea of extending the franchise to more EU nationals in the UK is controversial, with the Conservatives branding such a move "an attempt to rig the electorate to re-join the EU".
When Sir Keir was running to be Labour leader in 2020, he said the "government should give all three million EU nationals living in the UK full voting rights in future elections".
"We were never just 'tolerating' EU citizens living in this country - they are our neighbours, friends and families," Sir Keir wrote in an op-ed for the Guardian. "To see their status in doubt devastates our sense not just of justice but also of fellowship."
Extending the franchise to more EU nationals in the UK is a controversial idea
Labour's 2019 manifesto included a commitment to "oversee the largest extension of the franchise in generations" by lowering the voting age to 16 and giving "full voting rights to all UK residents".
As the party looks ahead to the next general election, it is deciding what reforms on voting rights to propose in its manifesto.
The BBC has been told Labour's package of proposals will include the introduction of votes for 16- and 17-year-olds, in line with Scotland and Wales.
At the moment, 16 and 17-year-olds are allowed to vote in elections for the Scottish and Welsh devolved parliaments, but cannot vote in general elections.
A commitment to lower the voting age to 16 was included in both Labour's 2015 and 2017 manifestos.
The Greens and the Liberal Democrats also support lowering the voting age.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65590121
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Political parties want to appear tough on immigration but numbers tell different story - BBC News
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2023-05-15
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UK net migration was the highest ever in the year to June, creating many political and societal quandaries.
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UK Politics
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In recent days, the prime minister has said immigration should fall.
The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK's "immigration dependency", as he put it, must end.
Even if, in an interview I did with him, he wasn't willing to explicitly say he wanted the numbers to fall.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sir Keir Starmer says he will not pick "arbitrary migration targets" over the number of workers coming to the UK from abroad
And then there are these latest figures. Half a million more people arriving in the UK than leaving in the year to June. Half a million. The highest ever.
Take a step back from the political argument here, and this is an outwardly flattering scenario. A country whose magnetism to so many propels people to our shores in such numbers.
Whatever their circumstances or background, half a million more people concluding their hopes and dreams are better served by moving to the UK than by leaving.
And yet, as so often with the question of immigration, it creates a cascade of political and societal quandaries.
Opinion polls suggest concerns about immigration eased after the Brexit referendum, but it remains a significant worry for many.
Not on the scale of the cost of living, the economy or the health service. But important nonetheless.
And none of these issues exist in isolation.
Migration has an impact on these issues too.
It's worth remembering, by the way, that not all political leaders express a desire for the numbers to shrivel. Take the Scottish National Party, for instance, which advocates more immigration.
But for those that do talk about, or at least hint at reducing the numbers, actually delivering that requires difficult decisions. Should fewer international students be allowed in? What about fewer people coming to the UK to work in the NHS? And at what consequence?
But what too could be the consequence of political rhetoric and observable reality being so out of step, as a swelling population heaps further pressure on school places, the health service and housing?
Almost instantly, the former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage branded it a disgrace, and said that Reform UK, the successor to the Brexit Party, would field candidates everywhere at the next general election.
One recent opinion poll from Deltapoll does suggest that among Conservative-leaning, Leave-backing voters, asylum and immigration is hugely, hugely important.
So how do those voters, many of whom perhaps backed Leave expecting immigration to fall, respond?
Who do they blame? And where do they turn? And what do the Conservatives and Labour say now?
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said "we remain committed to reducing migration over time, in line with our manifesto commitment".
You may remember the Conservatives long promised to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, and it never happened.
Labour said there had been Conservative "mismanagement" of the asylum and immigration systems. But they themselves have shifted their frontbench view a million miles from where it was. They want to appear robust on immigration.
But can both big parties at Westminster continue saying this stuff with any credibility if the numbers tell a different story?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63751867
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Dominic Raab resigns as bullying inquiry finds 'aggressive conduct' - BBC News
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2023-05-23
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The senior Tory MP abused his power, a report concludes, but he says the findings are "flawed".
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UK Politics
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Dominic Raab has resigned as deputy prime minister after a bullying inquiry found he acted in an "intimidating" and "aggressive" way towards officials.
The inquiry, by a senior lawyer, was set up by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after eight formal complaints about Mr Raab's behaviour as a minister.
The lawyer made multiple findings that fit a description of bullying in a report submitted to Mr Sunak.
Mr Raab said the inquiry was "flawed and sets a dangerous precedent".
The senior Conservative MP said he would quit the government if the inquiry by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC made any finding of bullying against him whatsoever.
The bullying complaints, which involved 24 people, relate to Mr Raab's previous periods as justice secretary and foreign secretary under Boris Johnson, and his time as Brexit secretary under Theresa May.
Mr Tolley's report concluded Mr Raab had engaged in an "abuse or misuse of power" when foreign secretary, and "acted in a manner which was intimidating" towards officials at the Ministry of Justice.
In a resignation letter to Mr Sunak, Mr Raab said the inquiry "dismissed all but two of the claims levelled against me".
He said he feared the inquiry would "encourage spurious complaints against ministers, and have a chilling effect on those driving change on behalf of your government - and ultimately the British people".
In a letter to Mr Raab, Mr Sunak said his former deputy had kept his word after "rightly" undertaking to resign if the report made any finding of bullying whatsoever.
But the prime minister said he thought there had been "shortcomings" in the process and had asked civil servants to look at how complaints are handled.
The prime minister's spokesperson said Mr Sunak did not regret appointing Mr Raab to be his deputy.
The resignation of Mr Raab - one of Mr Sunak's key supporters during the Conservative leadership contest last year - triggered a mini-reshuffle of Mr Sunak's top team.
Mr Sunak has promoted two of his closest allies - Oliver Dowden as deputy prime minister, and Alex Chalk justice secretary - to fill the posts left vacant by Mr Raab.
Mr Raab's political fate had been hanging in the balance for about 24 hours after the prime minister received the report from Mr Tolley on Thursday morning.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Sir Keir Starmer said Rishi Sunak should have sacked Dominic Raab, rather than allow him to resign
Mr Raab's resignation is the third departure of a cabinet minister since Mr Sunak became prime minister.
A Downing Street source said Mr Sunak did not urge Mr Raab to resign.
Labour has accused Mr Sunak of being weak for failing to sack Mr Raab.
"We've had 13 years of Tory PMs trying to dodge the rules and defend their mates," a Labour source said. "Enough is enough."
The Liberal Democrats said Mr Raab's resignation should trigger a by-election for his Esher and Walton seat, in Surrey, calling him "unfit to represent his constituents in Parliament".
In his conclusions, Mr Tolley said he found a description of bullying had been met, when Mr Raab was foreign secretary and justice secretary.
The High Court in 2021 defined bullying, and confirmed that harassment, bullying and discrimination was not consistent with the Ministerial Code and was not to be tolerated, as Mr Tolley points out in his report.
Mr Tolley said Mr Raab had "acted in a way which was intimidating, in the sense of unreasonably and persistently aggressive conduct in the context of a work meeting", and that his behaviour involved "an abuse or misuse of power in a way that undermines or humiliates".
Mr Tolley also said, at meetings with policy officials, Mr Raab "acted in a manner which was intimidating, in the sense of going further than was necessary or appropriate in delivering critical feedback".
Mr Raab was "also insulting, in the sense of making unconstructive critical comments about the quality of work done (whether or not as a matter of substance any criticism was justified)", Mr Tolley said.
He said Mr Raab "did not intend by the conduct described to upset or humiliate", nor did he "target anyone for a specific type of treatment".
Mr Raab pulled no punches in his resignation letter. He made that clear that, while he accepted the outcome of the inquiry, he did not agree with the findings against him.
He said ministers "must be able to give direct critical feedback on briefings and submissions to senior officials, in order to set the standards and drive the reform the public expect of us".
While he apologised for any "unintended" stress caused, he attributed this to the "pace, standards and challenge" he brought to the Ministry of Justice.
"In setting the threshold for bullying so low, this inquiry has set a dangerous precedent," Mr Raab wrote.
His main argument appears to be that ministers need to be able to give direct critical feedback, and exercise direct oversight, over their civil servant officials.
One question now is whether he decides to take any further action.
He has punchily accused some civil servants of "systematic leaking of skewed and fabricated claims" and claimed a senior official initiated a "coercive removal" of some of his private secretaries last year.
Someone who advised Mr Raab in a senior role in one department told the BBC his resignation letter contained "one of the best examples of a 'non-apology' from a minister in recent years".
The person said Mr Raab's version of being the deputy prime minister "is one that should be learnt from and ultimately consigned to the history books".
A senior Tory MP and former Cabinet minister said: "Has Dominic Raab been hard done by? Certainly. Is he the victim of a civil service union ambush? Probably."
The FDA, a union that represents civil servants, has called for an independent inquiry in to ministerial bullying following the Raab investigation.
FDA General Secretary Dave Penman said Mr Raab's resignation was a "damning indictment" of the process for enforcing ministerial standards within government.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65333983
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Why are doctors demanding the biggest pay rise? - BBC News
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2023-05-23
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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How junior medics have reached the brink of their biggest walkout, in a fight for a 35% hike.
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Health
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On Monday, thousands of junior doctors in England will start a 72-hour strike. They want a 35% pay rise. Yet doctors are among the highest paid in the public sector. So why do they have the biggest pay claim?
The origins of the walkout by British Medical Association members - the biggest by doctors in the history of the NHS - can be found in a series of discussions on social media platform Reddit in late 2021.
A collection of junior doctors were expressing their dissatisfaction about pay.
The numbers chatting online grew quickly and by January 2022 it had led to the formation of the campaign group Doctors Vote, with the aim of restoring pay to the pre-austerity days of 2008.
The group began spreading its message via social media - and, within months, its supporters had won 26 of the 69 voting seats on the BMA ruling council, and 38 of the 68 on its junior doctor committee.
Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Rob Laurenson stood for BMA election on a Doctors Vote platform
Two of those who stood on the Doctors Vote platform - Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi - became co-chairs of the committee.
"It was simply a group of doctors connecting up the dots," Dr Laurenson says. "We reflect the vast majority of doctors," he adds, pointing to the mandate from the wider BMA junior doctor membership - 77% voted and of those, 98% backed strike action.
Among some of the older BMA heads, though, there is a sense of disquiet at the new guard. One senior doctor who has now stood down from a leadership role says: "They're undoubtedly much more radical than we have seen before. But they haven't read the room - the pay claim makes them look silly."
Publicly, the BMA prefers not to talk about wanting a pay rise. Instead, it uses the term "pay restoration" - to reverse cuts of 26% since 2008. This is the amount pay has fallen once inflation is taken into account.
To rectify a cut of 26% requires a bigger percentage increase because the amount is lower. This is why the BMA is actually after a 35% increase - and it is a rise it is calling for to be paid immediately.
The argument is more complicated than the ones put forward by most other unions - and because of that it has raised eyebrows.
Firstly, no junior doctor has seen pay cut by 26% in that period. There are five core pay points in the junior doctor contract with each a springboard to the next. It means they move up the pay scale over time until they finish their training.
A junior doctor in 2008 may well be a consultant now, perhaps earning four times in cash terms what they were then.
Secondly, the 26% figure uses the retail price index (RPI) measure of inflation, which the Office for National Statistics says is a poor way to look at rising prices. Using the more favoured consumer price index measure, the cut is 16% - although the BMA defends its use of RPI as it takes into account housing costs.
"The drop in pay is also affected by the start-year chosen," Lucina Rolewicz, of the Nuffield Trust think tank, says. A more recent start date will show a smaller decline, as would going further back in the 2000s.
Another way of looking at pay is comparing it with wages across the economy by looking at where a job sits in terms of the lowest to highest earners.
The past decade has not been a boom time for wage growth in many fields, as austerity and the lack of economic growth has held back incomes.
Last year, the independent Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration Body looked at this. It found junior doctors had seen their pay, relative to others, fall slightly during the 2010s, but were still among the highest earners, with doctors fresh out of university immediately finding themselves in the top half of earners, while those at the end of training were just outside the top 10%.
Then, of course, career prospects have to be considered. Consultants earn well more than £100,000 on average, putting them in the top 2%. GP partners earn even more.
A pension of more than £60,000 a year in today's prices also awaits those reaching such positions.
But while the scale of the pay claim is new, dissatisfaction with working conditions and pay pre-date the rise of the Doctors Vote movement.
Studying medicine at university takes five years, meaning big debts for most. Dr Trivedi says £80,000 of student loans are often topped up by private debt.
On top of that, doctors have to pay for ongoing exams and professional membership fees. Their junior doctor training can see them having to make several moves across the country and with little control over the hours they work. Their contract means they are required to work a minimum of 40 hours and up to 48 on average - additional payments are made to reflect this.
This lasts many years - junior doctors can commonly spend close to a decade in training.
It is clearly hard work. And with services getting increasingly stretched, it is a job that doctors say is leaving them "demoralised, angry and exhausted", Dr Trivedi says, adding: "Patient care is being compromised."
But while medicine is undoubtedly tough, it remains hugely attractive.
Junior doctor posts in the early years are nearly always filled - it is not until doctors begin to specialise later in their training that significant gaps emerge in some specialities such as end-of-life care and sexual health.
Looking at all doctor vacancy rates across the NHS around 6% of posts are unfilled - for nurses it is nearly twice that level.
Many argue there is still a shortage - with not enough training places or funded doctor posts in the NHS in the first place.
But the fact the problems appear more severe in other NHS roles is a key reason why the government does not seem to be in a hurry to prioritise doctors - formal pay talks to avert strikes have begun with unions representing the rest of the workforce
"If we have some money to give a pay rise to NHS staff," a source close to the negotiations says, "doctors are not at the front of the queue."
Update: This article was updated on 18 May 2023 to make it clear doctors can be required to work up to 48 hours and the footnote on the first chart has changed 'overtime' to 'additional hours'.
Are you taking part in the strike action? Has your appointment been cancelled or delayed? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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Prince Harry loses challenge to pay for police protection in UK - BBC News
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2023-05-23
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The Home Office says wealthy individuals should not be able to "buy" security from the police.
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UK
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Prince Harry has lost a legal challenge over his bid to be allowed to make private payments for police protection.
His lawyers wanted a judicial review of the rejection of his offer to pay for protection in the UK, after his security arrangements changed when the prince stopped being a "working royal".
But a judge has ruled not to give the go ahead for such a hearing.
Home Office lawyers had opposed the idea of allowing wealthy people to "buy" security from the police.
This ruling, refusing permission for a judicial review, followed a one-day court hearing in London last week.
Since then the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been involved in what their spokesperson described as a "near catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi in New York.
But at the High Court last week, lawyers for Prince Harry had challenged the decision to reject his private funding for police protection when visiting the UK.
When Prince Harry stepped down from being a "working royal" in 2020 it meant he no longer had access to his previous level of security.
But Prince Harry challenged how this decision was reached by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures - known as Ravec - which covers security for high-profile figures, including senior royals.
"Ravec has exceeded its authority, its power, because it doesn't have the power to make this decision in the first place," Prince Harry's lawyers had told the court.
They argued that there were provisions in legislation allowing for payment for "special police services" and as such "payment for policing is not inconsistent with the public interest".
But lawyers for the Home Office said the type of protection under discussion, which could mean "specialist officers as bodyguards", was not the same as funding for extra policing for football matches.
A barrister for the Metropolitan Police argued that it would be unreasonable to expose officers to danger because of "payment of a fee by a private individual".
The Home Office legal team said the Ravec committee had unanimously rejected the offer of private payment and that it was a matter of policy to oppose the idea that a "wealthy person should be permitted to 'buy' protective security".
The Home Office said there was no requirement for the Ravec committee to allow Prince Harry to make representations to them and there was little prospect of the decision being changed.
"Given the nature of the arguments now advanced by the claimant, the court can be confident that such representations would have been highly likely to have made no substantial difference in any event," the Home Office's lawyers told the court.
Mr Justice Chamberlain ruled provisions for paying for police services, such as at "sporting or entertainment events", were not the same as for specialist protection officers "who are required to put themselves in harm's way".
There was nothing "irrational" in Ravec's arguments about why its specialist services "should not be made available for payment", the judge. added.
Prince Harry has lost this case, which he had said was intended "not to impose on the taxpayer" for security costs. But there are still other claims to be heard over his security in the UK.
Last July, he won the right to also challenge what he regards as the "procedural unfairness" around Ravec's decision-making - because he was not given an opportunity to make "informed representations beforehand" - with dates still to be set for a hearing.
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Texas shooting: Suspect had been deported four times - BBC News
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2023-05-01
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Police have announced a reward of $80,000 for information leading to the suspect's arrest.
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US & Canada
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Wilson Garcia describes the tragic events that allowed him to flee
The man on the run after killing five people in Texas was deported at least four times, US media report.
The suspect, 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, is a Mexican national who had reportedly been deported twice in 2009, then again in 2012 and 2016.
Police say he killed five of his neighbours, including a child, after an argument about him practice-shooting with a semi-automatic weapon nearby.
A reward of $80,000 (£64,000) has been announced for information.
A man who survived the shooting in which his wife and son died has tearfully recalled the details of the tragedy at a vigil held in Texas on Sunday.
Wilson Garcia said the noise of a neighbour's gunfire made his one-month-old son cry, so he and two others asked the man to move farther away.
The suspect, Francisco Oropeza, later fired indiscriminately on Mr Garcia's home, killing five people inside, say police
Mr Garcia said he "respectfully" asked his neighbour in the small town of Cleveland, San Jacinto County, to shoot his gun farther away so his infant son could sleep.
"He told us he was on his property, and he could do what he wanted," he told Associated Press.
Mr Garcia called the police five times and was reassured each time that help was on the way. Then he saw Mr Oropeza running toward his home and reloading his weapon.
His wife, Sonia Argentina Guzman, told him to go inside because he wouldn't fire at a woman, he recalled. But she turned out to be his first victim as he shot at the house.
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There were 15 people in the house at the time of the shooting - many of them reportedly there on a church retreat.
Also among the dead was Mr Garcia's son, Daniel Enrique Laso, aged nine, and two women who died while protecting Mr Garcia's infant and two-year-old daughter.
Mr Garcia said one of the women had told him to jump out a window to stay alive, in order to take care of his surviving children.
The victims were all from Honduras. The others include Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; and Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18.
"I don't have words to describe what happened," Mr Garcia told local news. "It's like we're alive but at the same time we're not. What happened truly was horrible."
Three children present during the shooting who were injured and taken to the hospital were released on Sunday, the Houston Chronicle reported.
An aerial view of the search
A manhunt continues for the suspect. He should be considered armed and dangerous, police said.
Authorities have announced an $80,000 (£64,000) reward for information leading to Mr Oropeza's arrest, funded by Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, the FBI and local authorities.
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said at least three weapons were discovered inside the suspect's home, CNN reported.
"I can tell you right now, we have zero leads," FBI special agent James Smith told reporters. "We do not know where he is. We don't have any tips right now to where he may be. Right now, we're running into dead ends."
Following the shooting, more than 150 officers gathered in a wooded area near the site to search where authorities initially believed Mr Oropeza had fled on foot, finding clothes and a phone.
Tracking dogs eventually lost the suspect's scent, Mr Capers said, but the search involving over 200 officers continued on Sunday.
The FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Texas Public Safety Department are all involved in the manhunt - which has some law enforcement on horseback.
When asked about the response time to Mr Garcia's multiple calls for help, he said officers got there as quickly as possible and that he had only three officers patrolling several hundred square miles.
Honduras' foreign minister, Enrique Reina, tweeted: "We demand that the full weight of the law be applied against those who are responsible for this crime."
The incident came days after nine people were injured at a shooting during a teenagers' party in eastern Texas.
Two weeks ago, four young people were shot dead during a 16th birthday party in Alabama.
Firearm incidents are the top cause of death for US children and teenagers, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65447378
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Jury hears closing remarks in Donald Trump civil rape case - BBC News
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2023-05-09
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Writer E Jean Carroll is accusing Donald Trump of assaulting her in the mid-90s, which he denies.
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US & Canada
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A lawyer for a writer accusing Donald Trump of rape in a civil trial urged a jury to hold the ex-president liable for the alleged assault.
"No one, not even a former president, is above the law," lawyer Roberta Kaplan said on Monday.
E Jean Carroll alleges Mr Trump raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s, which he denies.
In closing remarks in New York, Mr Trump's legal team accused Ms Carroll of "bringing a false claim".
The nine-member jury are due to begin deliberations on Tuesday morning in the civil rape and defamation trial against the former president, after they receive instructions from US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Roberta Kaplan.
The jury has been hearing arguments over the past two weeks in a Manhattan federal court.
In their closing statement, Ms Carroll's attorneys focused on previous remarks Mr Trump has made about women.
Ms Kaplan pointed to Mr Trump's controversial remarks in a 2005 Access Hollywood tape, which emerged publicly in 2016.
Referring to the comments, she said: "He kissed [women] without consent, he grabbed them, he did not wait."
She argued the remarks had been a "playbook" for how he treated Ms Carroll and other women.
Ms Kaplan also said "self-blame" had kept Ms Carroll from going to the police for decades.
In his closing statement, Mr Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina focused on seeking to cast doubt on the details of Ms Carroll's story, which he at one point called "a work of fiction".
He questioned why Ms Carroll could not specify the date of the assault, arguing that stripped Mr Trump of the chance to provide an alibi.
It was "not a coincidence" none of the witnesses Ms Carroll had called could provide an exact date, he argued.
He also raised questions about the scene of the alleged assault, calling it "unbelievable" it could have occurred in a popular department store without any employees to witness it.
Mr Tacopina argued the story had been "ripped from the pages of Law and Order SVU", referring to a 2012 episode of the popular crime show in which a woman was raped in the lingerie department of a Bergdorf Goodman store.
Ms Carroll has acknowledged her alleged assault occurred in the same place as the episode, which was released before she came forward with her allegation in 2019, but she said that was a coincidence.
"What's the likelihood of that?" Mr Tacopina asked.
The former president did not appear at the trial in person but instead was present in a video of an October deposition played for the court.
"It's the most ridiculous, disgusting story," Mr Trump said in the video. "It's just made up."
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Ms Carroll, 79, has accused Mr Trump, 76, of attacking her in 1995 or 1996, and then defaming her by denying it happened.
Jurors in the trial heard days of graphic testimony. Ms Carroll told jurors she had been left "unable to ever have a romantic life again" after the alleged attack.
A former columnist for Elle magazine, Ms Carroll was able to bring the civil case against Mr Trump after New York passed the Adult Survivors Act in 2022.
The act allowed a one-year period for victims to file sexual assault lawsuits in the state over claims that would have normally exceeded statute limitations.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65499719
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news_world-us-canada-65499719
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Angel Lynn: Woman severely injured in kidnap now able to stand - BBC News
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2023-05-09
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Angel Lynn was kidnapped by her then boyfriend before being found injured on a dual carriageway.
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Leicester
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Angel Lynn was bundled into a van before she was found injured on the A6
A woman left with serious injuries after being kidnapped by her then boyfriend is able to stand for the first time since the attack, her family has said.
Angel Lynn, 22, was bundled into the back of a van by Chay Bowskill after an argument and then fell from the vehicle at 60mph on the A6 in Leicestershire.
She was left unable to walk, talk or feed herself after the kidnap in 2020.
Her parents told BBC Breakfast she has been doing "really well".
The news from parents Paddy and Nikki Lynn comes ahead of a Channel 4 documentary into the kidnapping, which is due to air later on Tuesday.
Mrs Lynn said: "She's doing really well. She can write, she is taking small sips of drink and they [her physiotherapists] are standing her up now.
"They are really good. She gets a bit moody sometimes when she is being bent around but it's doing her the world of good. She's loosening up."
Angel's mother Nikki said she had made progress and was able to move parts of her body
Mr Lynn said Angel, who requires 24-hour care, was beginning to take steps again.
He said: "She had an operation on her left foot to straighten that. She's doing really well."
Angel, who requires 24-hour care, is beginning to take steps again, her family said
Mr and Mrs Lynn have recently met the air ambulance crew, which was called after Angel was found on the carriageway.
Mrs Lynn said: "We just can't thank them enough. What they did, getting to Angel so fast, saved her life."
She said she would be taking on the Great North Run to raise money for the doctors.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Angel Lynn: Woman's kidnap by then boyfriend caught on camera
Bowskill, from Syston, Leicestershire, was convicted of kidnapping Angel and originally sentenced to seven and a half years in a young offenders institution.
His sentence was later reviewed by the Court of Appeal following concerns it was too lenient and increased to 12 years.
Bowskill was also convicted of coercive and controlling behaviour towards Angel, and perverting the course of justice.
Chay Bowskill had been in a relationship with Miss Lynn at the time
Mr and Mrs Lynn said they wanted to do the documentary to raise awareness of the dangers of coercive control by abusive partners.
Mrs Lynn said: "[We're] just absolutely devastated that we didn't spot it because we wouldn't be here today had we spotted it earlier.
"It can happen to anyone. It doesn't matter how strong you are. It can happen to men and women.
"We've had to do this because this is how we tell other people about being coerced and how easy it is, even if you're strong-minded, that it can happen to you and to just get out of it, because I wouldn't want anyone else to go through what we've been through."
Rocco Sansome, who was driving the van, was sentenced to 21 months in a young offenders institution.
Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-65530266
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news_uk-england-leicestershire-65530266
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