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Gordon and others from the industry have formed the Committee Against Silence to express their disapproval at the Academy decision to honour Kazan. But a rival group in support of Kazan has asked for supporters to demonstrate outside of the awards ceremony to show their backing for the director and opposition to communism. Support from Speilberg According to reports, director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert de Niro will present the award to Kazan, who cast De Niro in his last film The Last Tycoon in 1976. While many in Hollywood have refused to comment on the affair Steven Spielberg has spoken up for Kazan.

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"You have to look at his body of work," he said. "I may not agree with the decision Kazan made - what he did was wrong. But it didn't make his films wrong for me. " TV and Radio.

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Housing market: Are novelty homes tough to sell? - 30 November 2013 - From the section Business The striking thing about the downstairs toilet at the Richards' family home is that it is much bigger on the inside than you might expect. Yet it should be no great surprise as father-of-two Max Richards has built an impressively accurate replica of the Tardis to serve as a door. The Police Box convenience is by far the most unusual aspect of the family's picturesque converted barn in the Devon countryside. Now the property is on the market, is the Tardis a distraction for potential buyers, or an idiosyncrasy that lodges it in their memory? "People like it, they laugh a bit, but they like the look of it," says Dr Richards, who really is a doctor, although not a Time Lord. "Some people have walked past it and not even noticed it which I find quite hard to believe, but generally viewers see it as a positive. " The four-bedroom home has been for sale since June. With many house hunters now conducting the searches on property websites, the Doctor Who loo has certainly attracted interest. Their estate agents have told Dr Richards, 43, and his wife Jacqui, that their listing is attracting the highest number of click-throughs of any of their current stock of properties. Yet compared with some entries on these internet portals, this unusual feature is somewhat subtle. Property website Rightmove has listed a home complete with stairs in the style of MC Escher, a house with life-sized Blues Brothers figures and a flat fitted in nightclub decor. Meanwhile, rival Zoopla features a converted church complete with stained glass windows and a spire.

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So are unique features or a wildly wacky home a help or a hindrance when it comes to selling a property? Miles Shipside, a founding director of Rightmove, says that sellers need to be aware that their tastes might not always be matched by those coming to have a look around. Another fear is that sellers find they are often showing around the curious. "What a seller needs is a genuine buyer who is interested in the property rather than the extreme features. There is a danger that if you make your property attractive to voyeurs then they might view it for the wrong reasons," he says. "You might not be able to spot the genuine buyer among those who are just interested in the attractive features. " Yet, he points out that tastes do change. In history, bay windows and turrets were unusual, but now they have become accepted. "Ultimately, if a house has quality as well as more extreme features, then the quality will win out," he says. That said, a valuer, or a potential buyer making an offer, may factor in the cost of stripping out any unusual decor when it comes to estimating how much the property is worth. Sellers are in relatively short supply in the UK housing market at present, but those who are looking to put their property on the market must not be lazy, according to Alison Cork, founder of online homeware business alisonathome. com.

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"Even if the market is frothy, you want to create as many people around the honey pot as you can, because it is just going to increase the price that they are going to offer," she says. She believes that viewers form an impression of the property in the first 30 seconds, so it must be "neutral, clean, light and bright" as they step through the door. The National Association of Estate Agents suggests that sellers show off the best bit of the home and refresh, review and repair key rooms before putting it on the market. Then, according to Ms Cork, the seller needs to appeal to viewers' senses. So it must look good, not full of clutter. It is best to switch off any loud music when viewers arrive, and then there is the smell. "It doesn't have to be coffee and fresh bread, but it must smell clean," she says. Time and space Back in Devon, there is little doubt that the Tardis leaves an impression. It is not every day that you can spend a penny somewhere in time and space. The two children, Mimi, 11, and Theo, eight, think that it makes their house a home. Dr Richards says his work is a celebration of his favourite piece of British architecture.

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But ultimately it is the architecture in which it is housed that will be judged by viewers who may or may not become buyers.

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WHO, WHAT, WHY? The Magazine answers. Orthodox Jews at the controversial Tehran debate Why are Jews attending a conference on the Holocaust in Tehran at which star guests include deniers of the genocide? Clue: they also want an end to the Israeli state. A handful of Orthodox Jews have attended Iran's controversial conference questioning the Nazi genocide of the Jews - not because they deny the Holocaust but because they object to using it as justification for the existence of Israel. With their distinctive hats, beards and side locks, these men may, to the untrained eye, look like any other Orthodox believers in Jerusalem or New York. But the Jews who went to Tehran are different. Some of them belong to Neturei Karta (Guardians of the City), a Hasidic sect of a few thousand people which views Zionism - the movement to establish a Jewish national home or state in what was Palestine - as a "poison" threatening "true Jews". WHO, WHAT, WHY? A feature to the BBC News Magazine - aiming to answer some of the questions behind the headlines A representative, UK-based Rabbi Aharon Cohen, told the conference he prayed "that the underlying cause of strife and bloodshed in the Middle East, namely the state known as Israel, be totally and peacefully dissolved". In its place, Rabbi Cohen said, should be "a regime fully in accordance with the aspirations of the Palestinians when Arab and Jew will be able to live peacefully together as they did for centuries". Neturei Karta believes the very idea of an Israeli state goes against the Jewish religion. The book of Jewish law or Talmud, they say, teaches that believers may not use human force to create a Jewish state before the coming of the Messiah. But how do Neturei Karta and other Orthodox Jews such as Austria-based Rabbi Moishe Ayre Friedman justify attending such a controversial conference? Rabbi Friedman told BBC Radio 4's PM programme that he was not in Tehran to debate whether the Holocaust happened or not, but to look at its lessons. He says the Holocaust was being used to legitimise the suffering of other peoples and he wanted to break what he called a taboo on discussing it. The main thing, he argued, was not Jewish suffering in the past but the use of the Holocaust as a "tool of commercial, military and media power". In what many other Jews would consider the height of naivety, he commended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for wanting "a secured future for innocent Jewish people in Europe and elsewhere". In his speech to the conference, Neturei Karta's Rabbi Cohen said there was no doubt about the Holocaust and it would be "a terrible affront to the memory of those who perished to belittle the guilt of the crime in any way". However, he also argued that the genocide had been divine will. "The Zionists, with their secular pompous approach behave in complete opposition to this philosophy and dare to say 'Never Again'. "They have the audacity to think that they can prevent the Almighty from repeating a Holocaust. This is heresy. " Neturei Karta's views are regarded with abhorrence by most other Orthodox Jews, according to Rabbi Jeremy Rosen of the Yakar centre in London. "And I think, frankly, even among the Hasidic world, by and large Neturei Karta are regarded as freaks," the Orthodox rabbi told the BBC News website. I don't understand. The western world accuses multiple countries in the Middle East of lacking democracy and free speech, which many of them do. Yet when Iran holds a conference, not to deny the holocaust ever happened, but to investigate whether all we know of the Holocaust was true, we are up in arms. What happened to the concept of free speech we were thinking is the best thing in the world? Does that only apply on all things except when it comes to criticizing Israel? Any criticism of the conference is sheer and utter hypocrisy. Omar Yassin, St. Paul, MO, USA Neturei Karta have been given tremendous undue publicity by this obscene conference in Tehran. The truth about Neturei Karta is that they have been virtually ex-communicated by world Jewry, and especially by the much larger ultra-orthodox non and anti-zionist hassidic groups such as the Satmar. Rysk, Tel Aviv These people do not represent anyone but themselves, and they certainly do not have the mandate to speak for religious Jews in particular.

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It is unfortunate that a handful of people give the world a distorted view of the jewish people, of Judaism and of religious Jews. Michael Spielmann, Bnei Brak, Israel To say the Holocaust didn't happen is like saying the earth is not round. I understand that these rabbis believe Israel shouldn't exist. Maybe it shouldn't - we all have the right to our opinions. HOWEVER, to attend a conference such as this is akin to treason. Hate is by far the stupidest thing we can do with our time, and these Iranians HATE those jews but they both hate Israel more so lets have a conference? Further proof that we as a species are doomed to self destruct. D Watson, Rockland County, NY there might be pros and cons to this. first off if there was an open dialog about the holocaust not many people would doubt it, silence the deniers i say!!! this thing of not discussing it totally is giving credibility to the deniers, who are primarily racist. This is the first great story on the topic of Israel that I have come across in my life. It is impossible for me to imagine that war will bring peace, especially when it forces so many to live impovished lives. The fact that Jewish religious leaders are recognizing that coexistence is possible in a peaceful way is the only first step towards peace in the region. Building a wall will never protect Israelis, it will only make them feel safe. But humans are creative, determined and see challenges as obstacles to overcome. A wall will only encourage those who are fanaticised to be more desperate and creative in their attacks on Israel. If there is co-existence allowed; to build a nation where Jews and Arabs can live together cooperatively then peace will come to the banks of the Mediterranean. Sean Magee, Burnaby BC Iran and I guess by association Muslims want the world to respect them and their beliefs. How on Earth can something as aborhant as a Holocaust Denial meeting help that? No-one with an ounce of common sense and a rudimentary knowledge of history could possibly deny that the Jews were persecuted by the Nazis. It is true to say that Israel is not exactly a model of restraint but regardless of modern strife, it cannot be used as an excuse to deny a massacre that was perpetrated by the Germans in WW2. Mark Chisholm, Dereham, UK if Jews and Moslems with extreme views can sit together at a ridiculous conference, why can they not sit together to decide to be tolerant of each others beliefs and live and let live. that this conference was called, is the lowest political game thought in the minds of nasty people with sinister motives. leon solomon, sun city west,az. usa Neturei Karta have an interesting argument, however as a member of a non-Jewish group of people who were sterilized and murdered by eugenicists acting in collaboration with the Nazis, I find their presence at the Teheran Conference extremely misguided as this merely gives the Iranian regime's denial of the Holocaust credibility. Andrew Little, Gloucester If the Holocaust was "divine will", what does that say of the god these men worship? Bill terKuile, Monroe, WA USA I don't understand. The western world accuses multiple countries in the Middle East of lacking democracy and free speech, which many of them do. The West uses the motive that they want to bring "democracy" to other countries as a means for attacking them, and forming new governments (see Iraq). Yet when Iran holds a conference, not to deny the holocaust ever happened, but to investigate whether all we know of the Holocaust was true, we are up in arms. What happened to the concept of free speech we were thinking is the best thing in the world? Does that only apply on ALL THINGS EXCEPT when it comes to criticizing Israel? Any criticism of the conference is sheer and utter hypocrisy. Omar Yassin, St. Paul, MO, USA In a democracy any views should be open to debate.

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The majority then decides on which of these views to progress. I'm not in anyway religious or a supporter of any faith as I consider all churches to be a step back towards herd behaviour. However, Rabbi Cohen's views as outlined in this article don't really sound that outrages to me and I think the fact that he sits down with his arch enemies to debate at such a conference portrays him as a pretty courageous man. Alex, Athens, Greece Every nation has its lunatic fringe, who use their PERVERSION of religious belief as justification for the most obscene behaviour. The Jewish nation and people (especially the secular) treat them with the pity one reserves for mentally unstable. All they are doing is further increasing the move to more secularisation. thank goodness. At least something positive is derived from their idiocy It's their right to deny, if they wish, the idea that the existence of Israel may prevent another holocaust. However, their punishment for attending this conference is to sit for three days and listen to neo-Nazis defaming the memory of their murdered relatives. Amos Shapir, Kiryat Ono, Israel People will continue to kill each other for whatever reason, some are more devious and imaginative than others. The Holocaust is abhorrent but not totally unique, should everyone who is not Jewish pay for this mistake? Who is compensating the genocide that has occurred in Rwanda, the Native Americans and the Albanians in Turkey to name but a few?? The formation of Israel has caused more problems that it has solved but it is there and more steps to working together must be taken. I see these people are working to that goal, good luck to them. If Neturei Karta believes that the removal of Israel is the answer to the containing blood shed in the Middle East then let him do it in a more ideally place i. e. at home in Israel or at the U. N. Tehran is not the right place! Iran is not interested in a pace which includes Jews and Arab living next together! They what the total destruction of Israel and all Jews! John, Salibury, England I am a Muslim living in Britain and this is my home, why must some Jews insist on having Israel as their home when it belonged to more than just one religion for so long in peace? Mohammed Quisar Anwar, Manchester UK I think it should be mandatory for anyone who does not believe that the Holocaust took place to visit Auschwitz. My partner and I visited in November 2005 and it was an experience that left us both without words to describe just how we felt. I returned home with intense feelings of remorse and sorrow and I am not Jewish. Trish Fuller, UK This is what blindly applied dogma (religion) can do to a person's mind! Sam Butler, Anchorage The holocaust was a reality. The only regret i have is that the Zionist state should have used that as a fundament corner stone to know how the palestians are suffering. you don't suffer to let other people suffer too. If so, then the world would be a messy place to live. john junisa kamara, Freetown Sierra Leone I am afraid that once again the BBC display their anti Israeli colours by giving disproportionate column inches to a very small and rarefied group of people. They deserved a line or a foot note. I would have really liked to know more about the conference. Was it about denial or more as I suspect trying to uncover truths about numbers and events? I am an ardent supporter of Israel but do not believe that the stifling of debate on this issue is in their interests. Shame the BBC has self censured itself and focused on the trivia. Jack Kilms, Turin, Italy Add your comments on this story, using the form below.

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The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide.

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Tottenham boosted their Uefa Cup qualifying hopes with a stylish win. Frederic Kanoute gave Spurs an early lead with a low shot past Stefan Postma, though Villa were livid they were denied a penalty just beforehand. Villa's failure to deal with a couple of corners led to Ledley King firing in and then Kanoute claiming a second with a shot into the roof of the net. Gareth Barry's penalty reduced the deficit but Andy Reid's rising shot and a Stephen Kelly goal capped a fine win. The result pushed Spurs into seventh place above Middlesbrough on goal difference. The victory was deserved but Spurs owed a huge debt to some excellent goalkeeping from Paul Robinson, who midway through the second half had to go off with a shin injury after bravely denying Darius Vassell. Villa thought they should have had a penalty early on when Mark Delaney tumbled under pressure from Erik Edman.

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But referee Mark Clattenburg waved play on and with a huge swathe of Villa players stranded in and around the Spurs box Robinson launched a huge kick down the pitch. Kanoute managed to get himself in front of Liam Ridgewell and after controlling Robinson's punt on his chest drilled the ball past Stefan Postma. Some indecisive Villa defending enabled Spurs to further extend their lead with barely a third of the game played. First Villa failed to clear a Reid effort that rebounded off the upright, allowing King to thump a shot into the net. Nolberto Solano also failed to clear his lines after another Spurs corner and Kanoute gleefully scooped the ball home. Villa were struggling, with Reid pulling the strings for the hosts in midfield, but the visitors were given a glimmer of hope when Dawson raised his arms to a Juan Pablo Angel shot to concede the spotkick. Barry drilled the penalty into the centre of the goal as Robinson dived to his left.

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Five minutes after the restart Robinson produced a superb reaction save to tip over Vassell's rising volley after Barry's clever lob sent the England international clear. Robinson got the better of Vassell just before the hour when he raced out to dive at the Villa striker's feet, but the England goalkeeper injured himself in making the challenge and he soon had to be replaced by Radek Cerny. Given the agility and bravery of his goalkeeping Robinson's departure might have unsettled Spurs. Instead minutes later Martin Jol's side restored their three-goal advantage, Simon Davies and Sean Davis combining to feed the ball to Reid, who hit a superb rising shot from outside the box that fizzed into the net. Jol introduced Jermain Defoe who immediately threatened more goals. Defoe rattled the crossbar and his low shot also tested Postma. But the fifth Spurs goal came from an unlikely source - right-back Kelly.

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Released by a Davis' backheel, Kelly finished with some style, flicking the ball past Postma.

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Kashmir girl band Pragaash gives up after threats 5 February 2013 Last updated at 16:18 GMT Three female high-school students in India have had to disband a rock group they formed after only one concert - this after receiving threats. Three teenagers founded Pragaash, the first all-girl rock band in Indian-administered Kashmir, in December. It caused a backlash from internet users, who said it was inappropriate for them to front a rock band.

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Since then, a government-backed cleric has issued a fatwa against the girls. Kashmiri author Waheed Mirza, told the BBC's Mishal Husain the teenagers were "being used".

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MP Michael Portillo swapped his wealthy lifestyle to live for a week as a single mother of four in Merseyside for a TV experiment. Portillo had four children to look after In When Michael Portillo Became a Single Mum, he had to balance the household budget of £80 as well as take on Jenny Miner's two jobs as a classroom assistant and supermarket cashier. How did Mr Portillo cope with the challenge? Did the show work as a social experiment and could it open the eyes of those in power to the difficulties of being a single parent? Send us your views. This debate has now closed. A selection of your views is below. I thought Michael was great. When one remembers his past political views, I think Portillo has undergone a massive transformation as a man and as a politician. It's a shame that he isn't the Leader of the conservative party. Chikere Ezeh, UK I thought Michael Portillo did a very hard job with a very good heart. He was very self effacing with the things he wasn't able to handle and in no way tried to make himself out to be a hero. I also think he showed great respect for Jenny Miner's position and also great respect for her kids. WELL DONE MICHAEL. Rachel Molina, London, England It's only a shame that he is a conservative. I find it extremely hard not to like the man as he came across very well. Interesting timing though, with this program coming out with IDS's current problems and his one-off pilgramage to his home country of Spain being aired at the time of IDS's election to Leader. A pity that the programme was a one-off! I thought it was an excellent programme and I think he did very well indeed. Having been thrust into an unknown child-care scenario in the past as part of a personal development programme myself, I know how scary it must have seemed. I only wish more of our MPs would take up the challenge and take the trouble to understand more about the real life of those they purport to lead. Philip Devin, UK I have always disliked Michael Portillo so was tuning in last night to see some cringe TV. But at the end of the programme I actually found myself warming to him. I know he's a politician so would not do anything to incriminate himself, but he came across as a natural, warm human being who did not alienate or talk down to people. He was also very good with children. I was surprised to say the very least. I though he was quite sweet actually. A lot of people are understandably cynical about publicity, but hey, he gave it a go and seemed genuinely happy during the party. I think the week being a single mum did Mr Portillo good. He learnt how the other half have to suvive, he coped very well. The problem is he will not realise that after a few weeks it can get you depressed and tired. Perhaps he should have stayed longer!! Not sure how the children would have coped, perhaps it is not such a good idea after all. This project placed Portillo in a very vulnerable position, let's face it, he would be criticised whichever way he jumped. It would have been very easy for him to refuse this project but credit to him - he had a go and I thought he did very well all things considered. Well done for giving it a go and well done to the Miner family who invited him in to their home and lives. I thought he did really well, considering he was totally outside his realm of experience. I used to despise Portillo, when he was a government minister, and I remember cheering when he lost his seat in 1997. However in recent years, I've warmed to him considerably, watching his appearances on This Week, and now taking part in this experiment, with considerable humility and an open mind. Ben Neale, UK I thought the programme was really good, prior to the programme I saw Portillo as a jumped up prat, now I have much more respect for him, I could not see Ian Duncan Smith doing the same, pehaps Portillo is now the man for that job. Graham Wood, UK I must admit I was very impressed with the way Michael coped with the challenge of caring for 4 young children, without any first hand experience of his own! He was very fair and straight forward with the children at home and in his part time teaching assistant job. I really have changed my opinion of him after watching the programme, after giving his views on Jenny's life and jobs, and considering he is a tory I must admit he has a pretty good sense of humour and quite in touch with real life. I thought Michael Portillo coped well particularly as he had no or little experience of running a home or coping with children. A week is not long enough to really experience the true difficulties of coping on a low wage or as a single parent. It's when items need replacing or fixed, the cost of clothing etc. But fair dos to him for volunteering in the first place, it could have gone very pear-shaped and he came across a quite a nice person, sincere and certainly didn't look down his nose at his surroundings. Well done to him. Julie Field, England What was the point of this silly production?? To show that Mr. Portillo is a nice chap? To emphasise the growing gap between the haves and the have nots in this society? Thousands of single mothers have to struggle like this everyday, but they don't end up with their own TV programme! Andrew Davis, UK I thought Michael was brilliant considering what a completely different life he is used to leading. He tried his hardest and I'm sure the experience will have opened his eyes to how the other half lives.

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However, I thought Jenny's criticism of his comments at the end of the show were slightly unfair - he ws only giving his opinion. Shelley Potter, UK I think that Michael Portillo came across as a suprisingly pleasant man who tried his best with four (absolute tearaway) children. I thought that Jenny was totally negative towards him as they had their final chat, he had tried really hard and remained calm and composed throughout the children's misbehaviour. While we were not initially Portillo supporters - either politically or personally - we found ourselves warming to him as he came to grips with being both a single parent and having to manage a family on a limited budget. Let us hope that he takes some valuable lessons back to his party and to MPs in general. Welcome to the real world Michael! P. S. The Miner kids were great! Mark Le Surf-Hall, England The Michael Portillo programme was a blatent publicity stunt which not only patronised the single mum (1 week is not testing enough - try a year Michael), but also showed how a potential leader of a major party (and possibly prime minister) was comprehensively manipulated by an 11 year old girl. Chettan Karsan, England I thought that Michael did superbly. Despite the fact that he does not have kids of his own, I thought that he showed parenting skills that are better than a lot of people who do have children. The main difficulty for Michael, though, was that they are not his kids and therefore the disciplining side was always going to be a problem. Also, the kids have a history with their mother - they know what will be going too far. With Michael, they were constanyly trying to find the boundaries which probably meant that they went further than they normally do. I am a huge fan of Portillo but I wondered at the motivation for this show. I don't know if it highlights the difficulties of being a single mother because clearly he wasn't related to these children - and that makes all the difference. Being a single mum is a 24/7 job and this was a week of moonlighting. Clearly a stunt to endear himself to voters outside the bounds of traditional conservative support. Three of the children were not taken in by him and neither should the British public. I think he did extremely well. Having watched the whole show I think the mother was very hard on Mr Portillo. With no previous experience and somewhat hyperactive children, he coped marvellously. It obviously brought the problems with coping on a budget to light but then most of us have to do this irrespective of the amount we have to do it with. Not everyone has 4 children admittedly but then isn't that someone's individual choice? An excellent programme and a big hand for Mr Portillo for coping so well. Sian Phillips, England I thought Michael Portillo did a fantastic job of coping with a (for him)totally alien way of life. I'd be interested to know if the programme editors influenced our opinion - it seemed Mr Portillo "picked on" one of the children, but is this a reflection of the balance of his behaviour off-screen? I thought it was great that he did it, and the green shopworker's hat was priceless - as was the "Mike, happy to help" badge. If only he'd rounded it off with a pat on his loose change! I have mortgage and work full time. After all my bills are paid I have £55 per week. Why did the show make out that single mothers struggle? It's alot of other people as well. The single mum had a computer so she cant be that poor. I thought it was sensational and ought to be mandatory for any politician tasked with policy formation. It raised two questions for me (and all the conspiracy theorists out there): Whose idea was it and why? Why did it appear this week of all weeks? In principal it was a very good idea, however he was apparently paid £15,000 to carry out the "challenge". It would have impressed me more to hear that he had given the money to the family. What did he really learn from his experience?? Interesting programme - but I had hoped Michael Portillo would comment on the very low wages Jenny earns for both her demanding jobs. This woman does 2 jobs and yet is still reliant on benefits - something isn't right, despite the Minimum wage legislation. Cara, London, UK I thought he came across quite sympathetically, doing fairly well with the kids, seemingly enjoying the 2 jobs, and successfully running the household. However, the main element he failed to grasp was the relentless nature of living on such a tight budget: he could walk away after a week and return to his normal life of expensive meals and exotic holidays, which isn't an option for Jenny and her family. The programme did not devote enough time to analysing the experiences of both Michael Portillo and Jenny Miner. The clash of cultures at times seemed insurmountable and this was reflected in Michael's paltry conclusions and Jenny's aggressive response to Michael's inevitable mistakes. The programme makers should have devoted much more energy to structuring a proper breakdown and discussion of both their experiences, so that a level of mutual understanding (and learning) could have been achieved. I believe that for a man of 50 with no children, Michael Portillo really did very well in the house for a week, managing the budget and work with very few complaints. By his own admission, it was an eye opener that will hopefully make him more compassionate in future. I believe that this should be made compulsory for all MPs who are out of touch with real life and real issues. Edwin Thomas, England Even if you don't agree with his politics, at least the guy was genuine, a word that doesn't exist in New Labour's vocabulary. For me, a week wasn't long enough. A month would have been a more interesting and relevant experiment; Portillo would have had to try a little harder with the three kids he didn't bond with , rather than just toughing it all out. I'm not a great fan of his, but I have to say that Mr Portillo came over quite well; he was personable and genuinely appeared to give the two part time jobs a go.

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In the end I was left wondering if Mr Portillo were leader of the Tories, Mr Blair might be less confident of winning the next election. Michael Portillo came across in this programme as resourceful, intelligent, thoughtful, patient, kind and open-minded. He handled the situation very well and with great good humour. I'm not a Tory but this programme has changed my opinion of this man - I hope he goes for the leadership and gives Blair a run for his money. Linda West, England Good on Mr Portillo, I think he did a really good job. I am, at present carrying out an investigation into societies views on Lone parents as a college project and this programme really aided me with this. As a single parent myself I believe we should have more of politicians carrying out these types of expermints then maybe we can open the eyes of our goverment to show the difficulties we face. Diane Mcgraw, Scotland I thoroughly enjoyed the programme but fail to see why all sympathy goes out to the single mother of four trying to manage on her income plus benefits. After all, it was her choice to have the four children. She should have thought whether she could afford them first. I noticed that she still had a computer. Let's stop feeling sorry for all of these people that have children and rely on benefits to keep them. I chose to have only two because that's all we could afford and then went back to work full time. It's true that Michael only had to endure it for one week but then it wasn't his choice in the first place to have four children. That was hers so she must live with it a little longer. If Michael Portillo goes back to Westminster and stands up to tell his colleagues on both sides of the fence about his experiences, and the people that have to try to survive on the minimum wage (which his party opposed, presumably thinking that people should work for even less), then this programme will have been worth it. It's a shame more politicians don't get to know the faces and experiences behind the statistics. Mr Portillo did amazingly well considering he has no children. For me the stark message is that the professional politicians seem to be out of touch with the way the majority of us live our lives. The ideas of budgets at home etc seems to be an alien concept. With this in mind does this then mean that they (professional politicians) should not be placed in positions of power without insight and understanding and experience of real life? Why is this only done for a week? To get the full impact of how people live, it should be a month or more. What will happen now? Is he going to make changes or just forget the experience and go back to his cushioned life? Wife swap Westminster style. Portillo struggled as a parent especially with the younger children, though perhaps this is unsurprising with someone with no childcare experience. His rather stern manner belied his attempt do the right thing and he seemed crestfallen when Jenny pointed out his shortcomings. He has demonstrated he has very human qualities- I wonder if the Conservative party fully understand what they have lost by not choosing him as their leader. Bobby, London, UK I thought he did very well considering he did not have kids himself and did not cook at home very often. Don't think I could of done it and too keep his cool when the children were playing up - brill. Pat yourself on the back Michael! I watched this programme with the expectation that Portillo would be a pompous toff with no idea of the real world (ie. a Tory). He managed to shatter that view however, and I think he did a superb job given the circumstances. Darren Share, UK I felt he handled a difficult situation with tact and diplomacy and tolerance. He showed us all that the old values of eating together and asking permission to leave the table still count and that discipline and respect to elders and each other are important. I think both he and the family will have gained something for the exercise. Michael Portillo is no longer one of the faceless politicians and should run for the leadership. I have not voted tory since Margaret Thatcher but he would definitely get my vote. Lynda Johnson, England I thoroughly enjoyed the Michael Portillo documentary last night. It clearly showed the UK class divide and to his credit Michael did achieve some success despite not being a parent. The mother also deserves praise for bringing up 4 children and still working and it would be interesting to see her try to live and work Michael's lifestyle for a week as well. Steve Edwards, England So the rehabilitation of El Portillo is complete! From tub-thumping Thatcherite to Merseyside single mum in, well, several fell swoops. And at a time when the Tories are perhaps looking for a new leader? The cynics amongst us would say that he has a close personal relationship with someone high-up in BBC scheduling. Having said all that, while at times he acted clumsily and with hindsight probably should have divided his attention and loyalties more equally amongst the kids, he at least rolled up his sleeves and got on with it. Perhaps if he had have cried, as the eldest child was obviously hoping, it would have made better telly. But if, at the very least, a leading politician has learnt a thing or two about life on the other side of the tracks then it was probably worthwhile. Wesley Moody, Belfast I think Mr Portillo did an excellent job, I doubt my husband, who has 2 teenagers, would have manged as well especially on the cooking front. All things considered would I manage any better? I was annoyed that he had to be "mum"! I know that single parent families, tend to be more often than not headed by a mum, but what about us single parent fathers? We do exsist you know, even if we are a minority. We face the same or similar discrimination and problems too! Dave Wilson, England.

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Starbucks opened without planning permission more than a year ago Starbucks has won its battle to stay open in a conservation area in Brighton in the face of local opposition. The chain has been operating in St James's Street for more than a year despite being refused planning permission by the city council. But after a three-day public inquiry, a government inspector has given consent. Campaigners said the decision was a slap in the face, but Starbucks said it was delighted to be able to continue to provide its experience to customers.

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One of the organisers of the protest, Green councillor Rachel Fryer, said objectors organised weekly protests. Diversity and vitality More than 3,000 signatures were collected on a petition, a Facebook group with nearly 2,000 members was formed and hundreds of people protested to Brighton and Hove City Council. "There are already 12 coffee outlets on St James's Street and traders are rightly worried that the new Starbucks will take business away from independent stores and eventually push many of them out of business," she said. "Local planning officers feel a new Starbucks will not add to the diversity and vitality of the area or encourage people to the street.

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" The shop opened in St James's Street in May 2008 without permission to use the former bookshop as a cafe or restaurant. The council served an enforcement notice which allowed it to sell takeaway coffee and sandwiches, but they could not be consumed inside. A spokesman for Starbucks said: "We believe that Starbucks St James's Street coffee house makes a positive contribution to the local area. "We want to continue to play our part in the local community to ensure that the district continues to be the vibrant and attractive shopping centre that consumers and tourists enjoy.

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".

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Many popular British garden birds have seen their fortunes improve over the last few years, a survey reveals. By Alex Kirby BBC News Online environment correspondent The 2002 breeding bird survey collected information on birds throughout the UK. Cuckoo: Sound of spring less heard Of the 105 species monitored across the country, 29 had declined significantly since 1994, but 52 had registered significant increases. The government uses changes in breeding birds' status as an indicator of the UK's sustainable development. The survey, which began in 1994, is carried out by the British Trust for Ornithology, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Volunteer birdwatchers are given randomly-selected one-kilometre squares to visit three times in the season. Each of them spends about two hours early in the day counting all the birds they see and hear.

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In 2002, a total of 2,136 sites were surveyed across the UK by more than 1,700 volunteers. Blue tit: On the up Of the 18 most commonly-encountered birds across the whole of the UK, 14 showed an increase in numbers between 1994 and 2002. They are (in descending order of frequency) the woodpigeon, chaffinch, blackbird, wren, robin, crow, blue tit, great tit, dunnock, swallow, magpie, song thrush, greenfinch and pheasant. The four which declined were the starling, skylark, house sparrow and willow warbler. Other less common species showed mixed fortunes, with both kingfishers and great spotted woodpeckers, for example, increasing by more than 50%, but wood warblers and willow tits decreasing by the same amount. Three "red-listed" species, targeted for conservation action, have increased significantly: the song thrush, marsh tit and tree sparrow. London sparrows have plummeted But 16 species described as widespread have been placed on the red list because of long-term population trends.

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The survey organisers say their most worrying finding is probably the decline of the willow tit, whose numbers fell by 72%. They are also concerned about the large decline in south-east England of the house sparrow, down by 28% across the region and by 71% in London. Yet in some other parts of England sparrow numbers are stable or even increasing, while in Scotland the species increased by 29% and in Wales by 63%. Better news for kingfishers Another worrying trend is the decline since 1970 of 83% in the spotted flycatcher, once relatively common in woodland and large gardens. The organisers say the increase in numbers of blackbirds and song thrushes represents apparent reversals of long-term trends, and may be linked to climate patterns. A familiar springtime visitor to much of the UK, the cuckoo, showed a 25% decline since 1994. The organisers have now made the survey partly web-based: BBS Online will allow volunteers to enter bird (and mammal and habitat) data collected from their squares into a new survey database.

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They are keen to hear from anyone who would like to volunteer to take part in future surveys.

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By Christine McGourty Science correspondent, BBC News Experts hope the maps will give Thomas Harriot the credit he deserves "Moon maps" created by a little-known Englishman 400 years ago are to go on display to mark the launch of the International Year of Astronomy. Experts say they prove their creator - Thomas Harriot - beat Galileo to become the first man to view the Moon through a telescope. The Italian philosopher is credited with the feat in December 1609. But papers at the West Sussex Record Office show that Harriot drew images of the Moon several months earlier. And Dr Allan Chapman, a science historian at Oxford University, said Harriot's composite drawing of the Moon - produced in 1612 or 1613 - marked "the birth of modern cartography". "Thomas Harriot was not only the first person ever to draw an astronomical body with a telescope on 26 July 1609, he rapidly developed to become an absolutely superb lunar cartographer," he said "There weren't equivalent lunar drawings to be done for another 30 years. Sir Patrick Moore on British stargazer Thomas Harriot "Tragically, no-one knew of it until relatively recent times, so Galileo gets all the credit. " Harriot was a wealthy gentleman with no desire for fame and fortune, unlike Galileo, said Dr Chapman. "He was comfortably off and had two friends in the Tower of London for political crimes and had no wish to raise his profile. "Galileo in Italy on the other hand was relatively hard-up, mid-40s and wanted fame and distinction. Galileo goes for publication.

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Harriot stays nice and quiet; and it wasn't until modern times that Harriott's achievements get noticed. " The first Moon map he drew - on 26 July 1609 - will be on display in Florence, Italy, this summer as part of an exhibition on Galileo. A selection of other images will go on display at the Science Museum in London from 23 July at an exhibition, Cosmos and Culture, to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy. International Year of Astronomy marks 400 years since Galileo's work Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore said: "I'm sorry Harriot isn't better known over here. after all, we all know Galileo. "But Harriot was first. and his map of the Moon is better than Galileo's. " "Looking at Harriot's map, it really is a work of art. He saw the mountains, craters and the so-called seas. It really is a wonderful thing and it's British. " "Harriot was first, no question about it, and his map of the Moon was good.

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Galileo came after, but went much further. "Harriot never took things as far as he might have done. We've got to give Galileo pride of place but don't forget Harriot. " The general public can see copies of the priceless originals - privately owned by Lord Egremont - at the West Sussex Record Office in Chichester. There will also be a month-long exhibition at the Record Office, from 24 July, featuring Harriot's images of Jupiter's satellites, sunspots and Halley's comet. A range of events across the UK and internationally are being staged to celebrate the IYA, which is being officially launched in Paris on Thursday. British astronomers hope that, 400 years on, Harriot will finally get some of the wider recognition that he deserves. Astronomers in Wales also played a role. Dr Chapman said letters to Harriot from Sir William Lower in Carmarthenshire prove that astronomers there were also making observations on the Moon. The early telescopes utterly changed our view of the heavens This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience.

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Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.

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By Mark Kinver Science and nature reporter, BBC News A detailed map highlighting the world's hotspots for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) has been released. It uses data spanning 65 years and shows the majority of these new diseases come from wildlife. Scientists say conservation efforts that reduce conflicts between humans and animals could play a key role in limiting future outbreaks. Writing in Nature, they said their map revealed that global anti-EID resources had been poorly allocated in the past. Researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), and the US-based University of Georgia and Columbia University's Earth Institute analysed 335 emerging diseases from 1940 to 2004. They then used computer models to see if the outbreaks correlated with human population density or changes, latitude, rainfall or wildlife biodiversity. Finally, the data was plotted on to maps to reveal the "hotspots" around the globe. "Our analysis highlights the critical importance of conservation work," said co-author Dr Kate Jones, a research fellow for ZSL. "Conserving areas rich in biodiversity from development may be an important means of preventing the emergence of new diseases. " The researchers found that 60% of EID events were caused by "non-human animal" sources.

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They add that 71% of these outbreaks were "caused by pathogens with a wildlife source". Among the examples listed by the team was the emergence of Nipah virus in Malaysia and the Sars outbreak in China. Others included the H5N1 strain of bird flu, Ebola and West Nile virus. The number of events that originated from wild animals had increased significantly over time, they warned. "This supports the suggestion that zoonotic EIDs represents an increasing and very significant threat to global health," the paper's authors wrote. They added that it also highlighted the need to understand the factors that lead to increased contact between wildlife and humans. "We are crowding wildlife into ever smaller areas, and human population is increasing," explained Dr Marc Levy, a global change expert at Columbia University's Earth Institute. "Where those two things meet, that is the recipe for something crossing over. " He added that the main sources were mammals that were most closely related to humans. 'Missing the point' While some pathogens may be picked up while hunting or by accident, others - such as Nipah virus - are transmitted to humans from wild animals via livestock.

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Because humans had not evolved resistance to these EIDS, the scientists said that the results could be "extraordinarily lethal". The main hotspots were located in low latitude regions, like South Asia and South-East Asia, which were not the financial focus of global funds to prevent the spread of EIDs. "The world's public health resources are misallocated," opined co-author Peter Daszak, executive director of the Consortium for Conservation Medicine at the US-based Wildlife Trust. "Most are focused on richer countries that can afford surveillance, but most of the hotspots are in developing countries. "If you look at the high-impact diseases of the future, we're missing the point. " However, Dr Daszak said that the maps were the first to offer a prediction of where the next new disease could emerge. His colleague, Dr John Gittleman from the University of Georgia's Odum School of Ecology, described the data-set as a "seminal moment in how we study emerging diseases". "Our study has shown that bringing ecological sciences and public health together can advance the field in a dramatic ways," he observed. The researchers said that the priority should be to set up "smart surveillance" measures in the hotspots identified on the map. Dr Daszak explained that logistically straightforward bio-security measures, such as screening people who come into contact with wild birds and mammals in the hotspot areas, could halt the "next Aids or Sars before it happened".

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"It simply follows the old adage that prevention is better, and cheaper, than finding a cure. "If we continue to ignore this important preventative measure, then human populations will continue to be at risk from pandemic diseases," Dr Daszak warned.

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Pakistan gunmen kill 45 on Karachi Ismaili Shia bus - 13 May 2015 - From the section Asia At least 45 people have been killed and 13 injured in a gun attack on a bus carrying Ismaili Shia Muslims in the Pakistani city of Karachi, police say. Police said six gunmen on motorcycles had stopped the bus and fired indiscriminately at passengers. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has condemned the attack and ordered an investigation. Pakistani Taliban splinter group Jundullah and Islamic State (IS) both said they had carried out the attack. Later, the militant group Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also said it was behind the shooting. Analysts say Pakistan's fragmented militant movements have previously competed to claim responsibility for attacks. Wednesday's attack was the second deadliest in Pakistan this year after 62 Shia Muslims were killed in a suicide bombing in January. Analysis: M Ilyas Khan, BBC News, Islamabad This is the first such attack on the Ismaili community in Pakistan, and it is shocking even by the standards of Karachi. The sheer numbers of casualties and the manner in which they were killed provide an uneasy contrast with the peaceful image of this Shia sect, which makes up a tiny proportion of Pakistan's mostly Sunni Muslim population. We are not likely to find out for sure who did it because Karachi is in the throes of an armed struggle between the military and a confusing array of political, religious and sectarian militants. Ismailis consider the Aga Khan their hereditary spiritual guide.

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They mostly inhabit the Himalayan region of northern Pakistan, but also have a significant presence in Karachi where they run businesses and charities, and tend to use community-built accommodation and transport. The attack is likely to cause some diplomatic tensions for Islamabad as the Aga Khan has been a major source of development funds. This may be one reason why both the prime minister and the army chief have set aside other engagements to head for Karachi. About 60 people were on the bus when it was stopped in the Safoora Chowk area on its way to the Ayesha Manzil Ismaili centre, police said. Relatives of some survivors said the gunmen were dressed as policemen. "As the gunmen climbed on to the bus, one of them shouted, 'kill them all!'," a survivor told Pakistani TV. "Then they started indiscriminately firing. " They said the bus driver was killed and an injured passenger drove the bus to Memon Hospital Institute. BBC Urdu service editor Aamer Ahmed Khan in Karachi said the bus was making one of five daily scheduled trips between a gated community housing mainly Ismailis on the north-eastern outskirts and the main city. - Ismaili Shias, in common with other Shia Muslims, revere Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, but they also revere the Imam Ismail who died in 765 AD - They interpret the Koran symbolically and allegorically - There about 15 million Ismailis in more than 25 countries, including 500,000 in Pakistan - Spiritual leader Prince Karim Aga Khan is a philanthropist and business magnate. He gives his name to bodies including a university, a foundation, and the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - He has encouraged Ismailis settled in the industrialised world to contribute to those communities One man at the hospital told AFP news agency: "I have come to collect the body of my young son.

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He was a student preparing for his first year exams at college. " Ismaili spiritual leader Prince Karim Aga Khan said in a statement the "attack represented a senseless act of violence against a peaceful community". Amnesty International said the attack marked "a new low in a campaign of sectarian violence that has left Pakistan's religious minorities fearing for their lives". It said extremists in the country were operating with impunity. Mr Sharif described the killings as "a deplorable attempt to spread chaos". A Jundullah spokesman said the group had carried out the attack because it considered the victims to be infidels. He threatened more attacks against Ismailis, Shias and Christians. A statement purportedly from IS posted on jihadist Twitter accounts also claimed the attack. Pakistan's army chief Gen Raheel Sharif has cancelled a trip to Sri Lanka and is leading the investigation, the BBC's Urdu editor said. Pakistan is about 20% Shia and 70% Sunni, with the remainder made up by other minorities. Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital, has long had a reputation for sectarian violence.

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Are markets bonkers? Are lenders to government, creditors of banks and investors in shares behaving in the kind of way that would guarantee them the kind of losses that presumably they would wish to avoid? Are they completely bonkers, in other words? I ask this question, because there is something of a paradox about investors' and creditors' current obsession with whether huge economies - the US, Italy, Spain and latterly France - will be able to repay all their debts. The natural reaction of the governments of these countries, when they fear that it will become harder and more expensive for them to borrow, is to do what they think their creditors want - which is to introduce austerity measures, to reduce their respective deficits, the gap between what they spend and their tax revenues. So Italy is accelerating plans to cut its deficit, the US is initiating a deficit-reduction plan for the first time since the crash of 2007-8 (albeit something of a messy one) and France is trying to make its deficit-cutting promises more credible (President Sarkozy last night gave his ministers a week to formulate new deficit-reduction measures). Now here's the thing. With economic growth in the developed Western economies so weak, these austerity measures are convincing investors and creditors (the same ones who don't want to lend to Italy and Spain, or different ones?) that the risk of a slide back into recession has become larger. So guess what? They sell shares in companies that would be hurt most by recession, especially banks. And some of them also start to wonder whether it's credible that Italy, Spain and so on will really be able to reduce their deficits, if an economic slowdown reduces what they receive in tax revenues. It is highly relevant in that context that the price which investors have to pay to insure their loans to Spain and Italy through the credit default swap market rose back to the kind of levels we saw before the European Central Bank started buying up Spanish and Italian government bonds. And the cost to insure French government debt also rose sharply yesterday. What that means is that creditors see the intrinsic risks of lending to these countries as elevated - and they fear the ECB buying of Italian and Spanish sovereign debt is an artificial and possibly unsustainable measure to reduce these countries' borrowing costs.

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Against this backdrop, George Osborne is bound to argue today that the growing doubts about whether the US, Spain, Italy and latterly France can repay all their debts - which has been the backdrop to the rout on stock markets over the past 10 days - shows it is important that he should not waver from his deficit reduction measures, his austerity plan. The chancellor will say that the UK has benefited greatly from lower borrowing costs as a result of the cuts, because it has retained its triple-A credit rating. The problem for him - and the paradox of the current crisis, as I've pointed out - is that the austerity that is now being forced on other countries, like Italy, the US and France, means that the probability of the world sliding back into recession has increased. So the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, will argue that the chancellor's alleged inflexible determination to cut UK public spending increases the risk of a return to recession here. This argument - whether the greater risk is countries unable to repay their debts or recession - is causing intense debate in politics and mayhem on markets. Belief in banks Where it becomes a matter of life and death, in financial and economic terms, is in respect of its impact on banks and the banking system. Because there is an inextricable link between creditors' confidence in big banks and creditors' confidence in the public finances of their respective home countries (see my post of last night for more on this). The transmission mechanism between the perceived quality of sovereign debt and the perceived quality of bank debt goes like this. First, all big banks benefit from an implicit guarantee from the governments of their domicile that they'll be bailed out in a crisis: it is the too-big-to-fail guarantee that George Osborne has asked the Independent Commission on Banking to find some way of weaning banks off (to an extent). So the weaker the public finances of the government standing behind a bank, the less valuable is that too-big-to-fail guarantee - and the harder and more expensive it therefore becomes for that bank to borrow.

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Given that the UK's banks are bigger relative to the size of the economy than those of any other country (except Switzerland), this link between a government's credit rating and the perceived strength of banks is one reason why the chancellor is so keen for the UK to keep its AAA rating. Second, banks are encouraged by regulators to hold large stocks of government bonds, because these are seen as easily convertible into cash in a crisis. But what is a safety buffer when public finances are in good shape becomes a source of serious weakness as and when the credit-worthiness of the issuers of those bonds, the borrowing governments, is challenged. If in a worst case, as has happened for Greece, there is an agreement that the sovereign borrower won't pay back all it owes, there is a double whammy for banks. They incur a loss that disproportionately reduces the capital they hold as a protection against losses on other loans, because under international banking rules they don't have to hold any capital in relation to their loans to alleged stronger economies. Or to put it another way, if you are an investor who thinks that over the longer term there's a fair chance that a number of sovereign borrowers will fail to repay all they owe, then you would argue that the balance sheets of every big bank in Europe and the US are significantly weaker than the published figures show. That is the background for the rout in Italian shares a week ago - and for the plunge in the shares of French banks yesterday. There has, inevitably, been contagion to UK bank shares. Here's a chilling statistic: the share prices of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds are more than 50% below what taxpayers paid for their huge stakes in these banks at the height of the banking crisis at the end of 2008. PS.

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There has been a bounce in European shares this morning, following last night's slide on Wall Street. But given the volatility of the past fortnight, anyone who tells you they know where the market will close tonight is a fool or a knave.

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Gillard sets Australia poll date of 14 September Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has called a general election for 14 September. Ms Gillard said that she would ask Governor-General Quentin Bryce to order that parliament be dissolved on 12 August. She said the announcement, eight months in advance, was "not to start the nation's longest election campaign" but to give "shape and order" to the year. Ms Gillard leads a minority government that relies on independents. In a lunchtime speech before the National Press Club in Canberra, the prime minister said the rare long run-up to the election would allow individuals, businesses and investors to plan ahead. "It gives shape and order to the year, and enables it to be one not of fevered campaigning, but of cool and reasoned deliberation," she said.

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"I can create an environment in which the nation's eyes are more easily focused on the policies, not the petty politics. I can act so Australia's parliament and government serves their full three-year-term. " The deadline for the election to be held was 30 November. In determining which Saturday to choose in September, Ms Gillard also admitted that avoiding a clash with the Aussie rules grand final in Melbourne, one of the biggest sporting events of the year, was a major consideration, reports the BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney. The date clashes, though, with Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. The previous election was held in August 2010, two months after Ms Gillard ousted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in a leadership challenge, becoming Australia's first female leader.

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The election left both main parties short of a parliamentary majority. Ms Gillard, who leads the Labor Party, formed a government with the support of the Greens and independent legislators. But she has struggled to win public support from an electorate with whom Kevin Rudd remains popular. When he launched a leadership challenge early in 2012, however, she secured a convincing win. Opinion polls suggest that the opposition, led by Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott, would win an election if the polls were held now. Ms Gillard said that with the poll date fixed, the opposition would be able to release full costings of its campaign pledges.

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Mr Abbott, meanwhile, said the election "will be about trust". "Who do you trust to reduce cost-of-living pressures? Who do you trust to boost small businesses and to boost job security? And who do you trust to secure our borders?" he said.

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'Hundreds' more UK troops to be sent to Iraq - Michael Fallon Hundreds of British troops will be sent to Iraq in the New Year, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said. The deployment - to help train local forces - will be in the "very low hundreds" but could also include a small protection force of combat-ready soldiers, he said. About 50 UK troops are already training Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq. The Ministry of Defence said the move had not yet been formally approved. An MoD spokesman said: "No decisions on troop numbers, units or locations have yet been made". However, speaking to the Telegraph, Mr Fallon said the fresh troop deployment would be made in January and would be to four training centres that US forces are establishing. It comes after 12 UK trainers were deployed to Iraq in October to work with Kurdish forces in the northern city of Irbil. Mr Fallon also announced plans to boost the UK numbers further last month. RAF aircraft have been flying missions over Iraq and carrying out air strikes against IS targets since Parliament approved military action on 26 September. British aircraft had flown a "huge number" of missions "second only to the United States, five times as many as France", Mr Fallon told the newspaper.

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"Our role now, apart from the air strikes, is increasingly going to be on training," he said. "In particular, it will mean dealing with car and truck bombs and roadside devices, as well as basic infantry skills. "We have not finalised numbers yet - obviously we have got a lot of kit back from Afghanistan that we can make available - but we are talking very low hundreds. " British troops would be able to pass on the "lessons we have learnt from Afghanistan", Mr Fallon added. He said IS fighters were increasingly now "tucked away in towns and villages" as a result of air strikes. "That means they have got to be rooted out by ground troops. This has to be done by an own-grown army, not by western groups. " He stressed that the US training centres - one based in Kurdistan and three near the Iraqi capital Baghdad - were "not where the fighting is". "They are in safe areas but obviously there's always a small element of force protection. " The soldiers "will not be expected to fight a war but will be there to defend the British personnel if necessary", he added.

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Shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker said Labour supported the steps taken to assist Iraq's government in responding to IS. "It is right that the UK's armed forces continue to provide training and equipment in support of this effort," he added. "The government should provide clarity about the scale, scope and timeframe of the deployment of these further trainers. "The defence secretary should clearly outline the numbers of military trainers involved and the work that they will be doing, so that there can be no misunderstanding about the role of British troops in Iraq. " Large swathes of Syria and Iraq are currently under the control of IS extremists. Pressure to provide more support to new Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi to reclaim territory in the north and west has been growing. The US has agreed to send around 500 soldiers to Iraq and elsewhere in the region, with the aim of retraining the Iraqi army. BBC political correspondent Alan Soady said the UK deployment of a combat-ready protection force could prompt opposition from some people. "Does it, will be the question, break David Cameron's pledge that there would be no British boots on the ground?" he said. British forces were pulled out of Iraq in 2011, eight years after the mission that brought down Saddam Hussein.

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Ex-Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has called the Holocaust a historical reality, clashing with controversial comments by the current president. Khatami says Iranians live side-by-side with Jews President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brought international criticism when he called the Holocaust a "myth" last year. Mr Khatami said the Holocaust was a "massacre of innocent people, among them many Jews", Iran media reported. Mr Khatami did not mention the current leader by name, but correspondents say his target was clear. The former reformist president said the Holocaust was a reality "even if this has been misused and there is enormous pressure on the Palestinian people".

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He added: "We should speak out if even a single Jew is killed. Don't forget that one of the crimes of Hitler, Nazism and German National Socialism was the massacre of innocent people, among them many Jews. " Ahmadinejad has taken an ultra-conservative line with the West Mr Ahmadinejad had said the Holocaust was a "myth" used for the creation of Israel, which should be "wiped off the map". He said territory should be provided in Germany or Austria to establish Israel "if European countries claim that they have killed Jews in World War II". The BBC's Sadeq Saba in Tehran says Mr Khatami's comments were clearly directed at President Ahmadinejad.

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Mr Khatami tried to maintain a "dialogue between civilisations" during his leadership from 1997 to 2005. He said on Wednesday: "The persecution of Jews, just like Nazism, is a Western phenomenon. In the East, we have always lived side by side with them. And we follow a religion that states that the death of an innocent person is the death of all of humanity. " Mr Ahmadinejad has taken an ultra-conservative line with the West.

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He was criticised on the Holocaust issue two weeks ago by the chairman of Iran's Jewish Council, who said the president's remarks had shocked the international community and caused fear among Iran's 30,000-strong Jewish community.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4763494.stm

Sundance London film festival line-up announced Julie Delpy's latest movie 2 Days in New York and the award-winning drugs documentary The House I Live In will be shown at the inaugural Sundance London film festival in April. The Queen of Versailles, Liberal Arts and Filly Brown also feature on the list of 14 films at the four-day event. It is a smaller version of the annual US film festival of the same name. Sundance founder Robert Redford said the selected films "speak to universal experiences and global challenges.

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" The Oscar-winning actor and director added: "I welcome the opportunity to see how people in the UK experience these films. " Delpy's 2 Days in New York is a follow-up to her 2006 hit film 2 Days in Paris, and stars Delpy - who also directs - and comic actor Chris Rock. Several of the movies selected to be screened in London won prizes at the Utah film festival in January. The House I Live In - a critique of America's war on drugs - won the grand jury documentary prize and Lauren Greenfield scooped the best directing award for The Queen of Versailles - which tells the story of a billionaire couple who live in a 90,000-square-foot mansion inspired by the famous French palace.

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The special jury producing award went to Nobody Walks, and the Waldo Salt screenwriting prize went to Derek Connolly for Safety Not Guaranteed. Chasing Ice - which follows a National Geographic photographer across three continents as he attempts to gather visual evidence of the Earth's melting ice - scooped the best cinematography gong. So Yong Kim's drama For Ellen has been added to the line-up, along with documentaries Finding North - a study of hunger in America - and Under African Skies, which follows musician Paul Simon back to South Africa for the 25th anniversary of his Graceland album. The line-up is completed by LUV, Nobody Walks, An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, Safety Not Guaranteed and Shut Up And Play The Hits - which chronicles the 48 hours build-up to the final concert by New York's LCD Soundsystem.

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A series of music events to compliment the selected films also includes Bristol musicians Tricky and Martina Topley Bird performing the Mercury-nominated Maxinquaye album.

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Coventry 'despicable' distraction theft caught on CCTV Two distraction thieves who stole Christmas money from an elderly couple have been caught on CCTV. The footage shows one man talking to the couple, while another takes a bag from the boot of their car, empties it, and puts it back. The thieves had followed the couple to a cash machine in Coventry, where they withdrew £700 earmarked for Christmas shopping.

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Det Sgt Dave Faries from West Midlands Police said: "This was a well-planned theft in which the suspects coldly and deliberately targeted the elderly couple. " He asked anyone who had seen the "despicable" incident, which happened on 25 November, to contact the police. 18 Dec 2014.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-30542822/coventry-despicable-distraction-theft-caught-on-cctv

Theresa May: Young are 'right to be angry' about lack of homes Young people without family wealth are "right to be angry" at not being able to buy a home, Theresa May has said. Announcing reforms to planning rules in England, the PM said home ownership was largely unaffordable to those not backed by "the bank of mum and dad". This disparity was entrenching social inequality and "exacerbating divisions between generations", she said. Labour said Mrs May, who has housing as a key priority, should be embarrassed by the "feeble" measures proposed. - Should baby boomers' wealth be more heavily taxed? - Your biggest financial decision - in charts - Where can I afford to live? - Does England need 300,000 new homes a year? "This housing crisis is made in Downing Street," said shadow housing minister John Healey. "It's time the Tories changed course, and backed Labour's long-term plan to build the genuinely affordable homes. " In her speech to the National Planning Conference. Mrs May said the existing National Planning Policy Framework will be overhauled, pending a consultation, with up to 80 proposals first put forward last year being implemented. The key measures are: - 10% of homes on major sites should be available for affordable home ownership - Builders to be more open about affordable housing commitments at planning stage - Councils will have to adopt a new nationwide standard showing housing need in their areas - Infrastructure needs to be considered at pre-planning stage - Councils to consider revoking planning permission after two years if building has not started - Ancient Woodland and aged trees to get specific protection A separate review, due to be concluded later this year, will look at creating a new automatic right for homeowners to extend upwards and to make it easier to develop agricultural land for housing. Mrs May said the cost of housing, both for ownership and rent, was reinforcing economic divisions and leading to growing social immobility, with public sector workers unable to take jobs in certain parts of the country. "The result is a vicious circle from which most people can only escape with help from the bank of mum and dad," she said. "Talking to voters during last year's election campaign, it was clear that many people, particularly younger people, are angry about this. "Angry that, regardless of how hard they work, they won't be able to buy a place of their own. Angry when they're forced to hand more and more of their wages to a landlord to whom their home is simply a business asset.

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"They're right to be angry. " Although the number of planning permissions being granted in England has risen since 2010, the PM said this has not been matched by a corresponding rise in the number of homes being built. She pointed the finger of blame partly at developers who she said have a "perverse" financial incentive to hoard land once it had been approved for development rather than actually build on it. She criticised bonuses for construction bosses which are "based not on the number of homes they build but on their profits or share price". "In a market where lower supply equals higher prices, that creates a perverse incentive, one that does not encourage them to build the homes we need," she said. Analysis - by BBC political correspondent Jonathan Blake Housing is a big issue and the government clearly knows it. Theresa May admitted that the election campaign had showed her "many people, particularly younger people, are angry about this. " So who's fault is it that rents are unaffordable, that accommodation is poor, that home ownership for many is completely out of reach? The prime minister pointed the finger at developers who "game the system". Her housing secretary blamed councils for "nimbyist attitudes". But both said, too, that there was no "silver bullet". When voters get angry though, they will look for someone to blame. Which is why the government is at pains to show it is taking the housing problem seriously. It may take more than a reminder of promises already made and an overhaul of planning guidelines to convince people of that. So expect to see Theresa May in a high visibility vest again before long.

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There was an outcry last year after Persimmon announced that 140 staff would share a bonus pool of £500m and that its chief executive was in line for a payout of £110m, a figure that has since been reduced by £25m. While the firm defended the payouts, saying they were a reward for success, critics say the tripling of the firm's share price since 2013 was in part due to government subsidies for new homes via the Help to Buy Scheme. "I want to see planning permissions going to people who are actually going to build houses, not just sit on land and watch its value rise," she said. "I expect developers to do their duty to Britain and build the homes our country needs. " Mrs May insisted that "tearing up" the Green Belt was not the answer to the UK's housing crisis and that existing protections would be maintained and, in some cases, strengthened. Councils will only be able to amend Green Belt boundaries if they can prove they have fully explored every other reasonable option for building the homes their community needs. The Local Government Association said it was wrong to blame councils as they were approving nine out of ten proposed developments and yet more than 420,000 homes with permission were still waiting to be built. "No-one can live in a planning permission," said its chair Lord Porter. "Developers need to get on with building affordable homes with the needed infrastructure and councils need greater powers to act where housebuilding has stalled. " The Institute for Economic Affairs, a free market think tank, said the PM was only "tinkering at the edges" of what was needed to boost the supply of new homes and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said the "speech overlooked entirely the role central government must play. private developers and local authorities cannot do this alone". Housing charity Shelter said Mrs May was right to close "loopholes" being used by developers to reduce affordable housing levels. The Resolution Foundation welcomed the call for local government and housebuilding firms to do more, but also said the government needed to do more and said it was now "time for action, not just discussion" on private renting In her speech the PM also said homelessness was a "source of national shame" and £1bn was being spent to halve rough sleeping. Housing policy is devolved in Scotland and Wales.

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The Scottish government has pledged to build 50,000 new affordable homes by 2021 while the Welsh government launched two schemes last week designed to help more people onto the housing ladder.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43279177

Ascot Racecourse's dash for cash The maddening roar from a 32,000-strong crowd will do little to drown out the sound of hammering hooves this Saturday when Frankel, the world's top-rated race horse, will run in Britain's most valuable race towards what could be his 14th victory. With the Champion Stakes' prize-pot totalling £1. 3m ($2. 1m), prize money for the day exceeding £3m, and swathes of punters filling the grandstand seemingly intent on losing their shirts, there is no use denying that money is a central feature in the world of horse racing. But the electric atmosphere during race day at Ascot suggests it is about much more than that. Loud laughter, outrageous flirting and boisterous banter brings the well-dressed crowd to life as it shuffles in an eternal circle, from the parade ring, to the bookies, to the race track, to the bar. And whilst there are pros in their midst, most are here to have fun. "There are people who know most horses that are racing," observes Ascot's chief executive Charles Barnett. "But most people who come racing expect to lose money and have a great day out. "The bookies wouldn't make money if the punters were to win. " A similarly philosophical approach is normally taken by the people who own the horses, and thus employ the jockeys and their small armies of support staff such as trainers and grooms. "You do not own a race horse to make money," Mr Barnett says. "You own it to have fun. "Sweating the asset Following Saturday's race, Frankel's trainer, Sir Henry Cecil, will be waving goodbye to Frankel. The flat-racing season's finale will also mark the final race for the horse dubbed "Usain Colt", before he is sent off to stud.

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"The best owner breeders in the world will send their mares to him," predicts Tom Goff, co-owner of Blandford Bloodstock, which specialises in thoroughbred horses. Back at Ascot, meanwhile, the show will go on. Next month, The Open at Cheltenham raises the curtain for the jumps season, shortly followed by jumps races at Ascot, including its popular Christmas Meeting. "People who don't know racing think Royal Ascot is the only race we do," says chief executive Charles Barnett, referring to the glamorous event held every year in June. "But actually, there are horses here 25 or 26 days each year. " The Ascot Racecourse is run strictly as a business, Mr Barnett insists, and it is by no means restricted to horse racing. "There'll be something happening here every day," he says. Sometimes this means exhibitions and conferences, sometimes dinner dances for up to 800 people, or even camera crews using the grandstand and track as film sets. Moreover, there is constant talk about what could be done next to sweat Ascot's assets more effectively during the more than 300 days each year when there are no races here. Further business development is crucial to bolster Ascot's finances as it continues to repay a £140m loan taken out about a decade ago to move the race track and built its vast grandstand, Mr Barnett says. Horse racing in general has seen its income hit, not only by the economic downturn but also by cuts to funding from a levy on bookmakers, which has fallen from a peak of about £100m to about £70m. "That did create a big financial hole and it does create pain throughout the sport," according to Jockey Club chief executive Simon Bazalgette. Mr Barnett realises that Ascot must adjust to these new realities. "We see the world developing and we need other things to create income here," he says. A far-reaching development plan is currently being hammered out together with the local community, in line with the government's localisation bill from 2011, to map out how Ascot will be developed over the next couple of decades, Mr Barnett says.

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"We will build a hotel here in the next few years", Mr Barnett says, "and a conference centre is also considered. " Equestrian facilities are also on the list of possible projects, as are ideas such as the creation of triathlon facilities or an ice rink. Lucrative audience None of these activities must be allowed to crowd out Ascot's core activity, however, as it is the racing that makes the track such an attractive location to many, Mr Barnett says. "We trade on the name," he adds, "but it's a competitive environment. " Retaining the loyalty of the racing tribe is made that much more important by its sheer number. "Every day, a million people go to betting shops where they're exposed to racing," Mr Barnett says, pointing out that each year racing bets to the tune of £10bn are placed. "It's the second most watched live sport in the UK after football, with more than six million people actually going to the races, and it is the only sport that has a daily newspaper. " The size of the audience is attractive to sponsors who often pay not only to display their logos, but also to entertain clients and customers in private boxes and loges within the grandstand building. Broadcasters are also keen to reach this audience, as in turn they too can attract advertising revenue. For the betting industry, the punters are obviously vital. With so many players eager to dip into the racing tribe's wallets, you might think they would feel disgruntled. But on race days, there are no indications that this is the case, and Mr Barnett believes he knows why. "Our purpose is to run horse racing," he grins. "But I suppose we're also known for parties, though they're not parties we put on - they're parties put on by our customers. ".

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'Horse meat goes down really well' Investigations are under way to try to find out how beef burgers on sale in UK and Irish Republic supermarkets became contaminated with horsemeat. Irish food safety officials, who carried out tests two months ago, said the products had been stocked by a number of chains including Tesco and Iceland stores in the UK. But is eating horse meat really so bad? One restaurant in Edinburgh has been serving it for years - the first in the UK to do so.

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Speaking on The World at One, Fred Berkmiller, the chef-owner of L'Escargot Bleu, told presenter Martha Kearney that horsemeat is going down very, very well. "We mainly do steak tartare with rump steak of horsemeat," he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21046245

Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat win Scottish Album of the Year Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat's Everything's Getting Older has been named the Scottish Album of the Year. The duo won £20,000 for their work, which was eight years in the making, beating acts such as Mogwai and Conquering Animal Sound. The Scottish Album of the Year (Say) prize is a new award billed as the equivalent of the Mercury Music Prize. The winning album was awarded by the Scottish Music Industry Association at a ceremony in Glasgow Film City.

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Judges described Everything's Getting Older as a "bruised and beautiful wonder". Written by composer Wells along with Arab Strap member Moffat, the album is a mixture of jazz-inspired love songs and spoken word pieces. Aidan Moffat, said: "It's fantastic. I still can't quite believe it.

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Obviously we're very, very happy. "It was a great shortlist. The Scottish Album of the Year Award is all about introducing people to a wide variety of different types music - the award is very, very important from an industry point of view too and we hope there are many more of them. " The award was presented by Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop, who said it was a new way to promote Scotland creative talent.

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She said: "In our Year of Creative Scotland, this new award is a fantastic celebration of Scottish contemporary music talent, which enhances our international reputation as a hugely talented and creative nation. ".

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Profile: Archbishop Desmond Tutu Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe may have described him as "evil", but Archbishop Desmond Tutu remains a much-loved figure across the world - principally for his role in South Africa's struggle against apartheid. During the long years that Nelson Mandela was in prison, Archbishop Tutu spoke out against the regime - and won the Nobel peace prize in 1984 for his efforts. He was chosen by President Mandela to chair South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and investigate the crimes committed by all sides during the apartheid regime. At 78, "the Arch" - as he is known - has remained irrepressible and influential both in his native South Africa and on the global political stage. He is chairman of a group of former world leaders called The Elders, launched on Nelson Mandela's 89th birthday in 2007 with the aim of tackling some of the world's most pressing problems. Early days End Quote Archbishop Desmond Tutu We refuse to be treated as the doormat for the government to wipe its jackboots on” Desmond Tutu was born in 1931 in a small gold-mining town in the Transvaal. He first followed in his father's footsteps as a teacher, but abandoned that career after the passage of the 1953 Bantu Education Act, which enforced separation of races in all educational institutions. He joined the Church and was strongly influenced by many white clergymen in the country, especially another strong opponent of apartheid, Bishop Trevor Huddleston. Desmond Tutu became the first black Anglican Dean of Johannesburg in 1975. He was already a high-profile Church figure before the 1976 rebellion in black townships, but it was in the months before the Soweto violence that he first became known to white South Africans as a campaigner for reform. Inevitably, his pleas for justice and reconciliation in South Africa drew him into the political arena - but he always insisted that his motivation was religious, not political. The churchman constantly told the government of the time that its racist approach defied the will of God and for that reason could not succeed. Speaking out Desmond Tutu was elected Archbishop of Cape Town in 1986. As the first black head of the Anglican Church in South Africa, he continued to campaign actively against apartheid. In March 1988, he declared: "We refuse to be treated as the doormat for the government to wipe its jackboots on. " Six months later, he risked jail by calling for a boycott of municipal elections.

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Archbishop Tutu warmly welcomed the liberalising reforms announced by President FW De Klerk soon after he took office in 1989. These included the lifting of the ban on the African National Congress and the release of Mr Mandela. 'Appalled at the evil' In November 1995, the then President Mandela asked Archbishop Tutu to head a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. His task was to gather evidence of apartheid-era crimes and to recommend whether people confessing their involvement should receive amnesty. At the end of the Commission's inquiry, in August 1998, he attacked South Africa's former white leaders, saying most of them had lied to the Commission. He was often overcome by the pain of those who had suffered and said that he had been "appalled at the evil we have uncovered". The Commission's report was accepted by the government, but was criticised by those who felt it fell a long way short of its aims. Archbishop Tutu was accused, for instance, of being too soft on Winnie Mandela, who faced allegations of very serious crimes. His experience in setting up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has led many governments and organisations to enlist his help for similar projects. He advised non-governmental groups seeking reconciliation in Northern Ireland and has been invited to the Solomon Islands to help set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission there. Zimbabwe 'basket case' In recent years, Archbishop Tutu has been an outspoken critic of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, saying he had become "a cartoon figure of an archetypal African dictator". End Quote Desmond Tutu It would be wonderful if, on behalf of the nation, [President Barack] Obama apologises to the world, and especially the Iraqis, for an invasion that I believe has turned out to be an unmitigated disaster” In December 2008, he called on President Mugabe to resign or risk trial at the International Criminal Court. The Archbishop accused Mr Mugabe of ruining what he called a wonderful country and turning it from a "bread-basket" into a "basket case". He has repeatedly said that using force should be an option to get rid of Mr Mugabe and has criticised the South African government of being too soft on Zimbabwe's leader. In his role as the chairman of The Elders, Archbishop Tutu continues to lend his support to conflict-resolution efforts across the world. In October 2008, he travelled to the divided island of Cyprus, where the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders had begun negotiations to try to reunify the island.

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He tried to encourage members of both communities to back the talks. The Nobel laureate was also central to international efforts to calm the political crisis which engulfed Kenya after the 2006 election. The archbishop met the two rival political leaders, Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki, to help persuade them to talk. A power-sharing deal was reached a month later, with the two party leaders agreeing to the formation of a coalition government. However, wrangling over government posts continued for months. Stinging criticism Israel is another country to come under attack from the outspoken clergyman. He has accused Israel of practising apartheid in its policies towards the Palestinians, and described Israeli blockades of the Gaza Strip as an "abomination". On a visit to the Middle East in 2002, he said he was "very deeply distressed", adding that "it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa". Former US President George W Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair also felt the sting of the archbishop's criticism, when he urged them to admit they had made a mistake in waging an "immoral" war in Iraq. In an article for BBC News in February 2009, he wrote: "It would be wonderful if, on behalf of the nation, [President Barack] Obama apologises to the world, and especially the Iraqis, for an invasion that I believe has turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. "Tackling poverty His criticism is not confined to politics, either. In the wake of the furore over the ordination of gay bishops in the Anglican church, he accused the Anglican communion of allowing its "obsession" with homosexuality to come before serious action to end world poverty. "God is weeping" to see such a focus on sexuality, he said, adding that the Church was "quite rightly" seen by many as irrelevant on the issue of poverty. Most recently, he has urged governments affected by the global economic downturn to remember less well-off societies when considering cuts in overseas aid. "Can you imagine what the impact must be on those who have been, in any case, on the margins of international society?" he said speaking on a visit to Ireland on 15 February. "We belong together, and protectionism does not work.

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It is self-defeating. ".

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South Korea profile A chronology of key events: 1945 - After World War II, Japanese occupation ends with Soviet troops occupying area north of the 38th parallel, and US troops in the south. South Korean veterans mark the anniversary of the Korean War 1948 - Republic of Korea proclaimed. 1950 - South declares independence, sparking North Korean invasion. 1953 - Armistice ends Korean War, which has cost two million lives. 1950s - South sustained by crucial US military, economic and political support. 1960 - President Syngman Ree steps down after student protests against electoral fraud. New constitution forms Second Republic, but political freedom remains limited. Coup 1961 - Military coup puts General Park Chung-hee in power. 1963 - General Park restores some political freedom and proclaims Third Republic. Major programme of industrial development begins. 1972 - Martial law. Park increases his powers with constitutional changes. After secret North-South talks, both sides seek to develop dialogue aimed at unification. 1979 - Park assassinated. General Chun Doo-hwan assumes power. Hundreds died as troops fired on 1980 rally 1980 - Martial law declared after student demonstrations. In the city of Gwangju (Kwangju) at least 200 killed by the army, causing resentment that has yet to fade. Fifth republic and new constitution. 1981 - Chun indirectly elected to a seven year term. Martial law ends, but government continues to have strong powers to prevent dissent. 1986 - Constitution is changed to allow direct election of the president. Return to democracy 1980s - Increasing shift towards high-tech and computer industry. 1987 - President Chun pushed out of office by student unrest and international pressure in the build-up to the Sixth constitution. Roh Tae-woo succeeds Chun, grants greater degree of political liberalisation and launches anti-corruption drive. North (l) and South (r) Korean soldiers stand at arm's length 1988 - Olympic games in Seoul. First free parliamentary elections. 1991 - North and South Korea join the United Nations. 1993 - Roh succeeded by Kim Young Sam, a former opponent of the regime and the first civilian president. 1995 - Corruption and treason charges against Roh Tae-woo and Chun Doo-hwan. 1996 - North Korean submarine runs aground in South, 11 crew found shot dead in apparent suicide and 13 killed by South Korean forces during massive search operation. South Korea admitted to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 1998 - Kim Dae-jung sworn in as president and pursues "sunshine policy" of offering unconditional economic and humanitarian aid to North Korea. South Korea captures North Korean mini-submarine in its waters. Nine crew inside found dead. Kim Dae-jung: Former president won Nobel Peace Prize 2000 June - Summit in Pyongyang between Kim Jong-il and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. North stops propaganda broadcasts against South. 2000 August - Border liaison offices re-open at truce village of Panmunjom. South Korea gives amnesty to more than 3,500 prisoners. One hundred North Koreans meet their relatives in the South in a highly-charged, emotional reunion. Kim Dae-jung awarded Nobel Peace Prize.

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2001 - Opening of Incheon International airport, built on tidal land off port of Incheon. 2002 March - Group of 25 North Koreans defect to South Korea through Spanish embassy in Beijing, highlighting plight of tens of thousands hiding in China after fleeing famine, repression in North. Naval battle 2002 June - Battle between South Korean and North Korean naval vessels along their disputed sea border leaves four South Koreans dead and 19 wounded. Thirty North Koreans are thought to have been killed. 2002 December - Roh Moo-hyun, from governing Millennium Democratic Party, wins closely-fought presidential elections. 2003 October - Biggest mass crossing of demilitarised zone since Korean War: Hundreds of South Koreans travel to Pyongyang for opening of gymnasium funded by South's Hyundai conglomerate. 2004 February - Parliament approves controversial dispatch of 3,000 troops to Iraq. Labour unrest flares up regularly 2004 March-May - President Roh Moo-hyun suspended after parliament votes to impeach him over breach of election rules and for incompetence. In May the Constitutional Court overturns the move and President Roh is reinstated. 2004 June - US proposes to cut by a third its troop presence. Opposition raises security fears over the plan. 2004 August - Yeongi-Kongju area selected as site for new capital, to replace Seoul by 2030. 2004 September - South Korea admits that its scientists carried out an experiment to enrich uranium in 2000. In November the UN's nuclear watchdog rebukes Seoul but decides not to refer the matter to the Security Council. Dispute over Dokdo, known as Takeshima in Japan, sours ties 2005 March - Japan restates its claim to a small group of islands whose sovereignty is disputed by Seoul and Tokyo. South Korea says the move seriously damages relations. 2005 June - Kim Woo-choong, the fugitive former head of Daewoo, returns and is arrested for his role in the industrial giant's $70bn-plus collapse. In May 2006 he is sentenced to 10 years in jail. 2005 December - South Koreans are shocked by revelations that cloning scientist and national hero Dr Hwang Woo-suk faked landmark research on stem cell research. He goes on trial in June 2006, charged with misusing funding. South Korean at UN helm 2006 October - Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon is appointed as the UN's new secretary-general. He takes office in January 2007, becoming the first UN chief to disclose his finances publicly. 2007 February - South and North Korea agree to restart high-level talks suspended since July 2006 in wake of North's nuclear test. Head of the largest South Korean car maker, Hyundai, is jailed for three years for embezzlement. South Korea agrees with US to assume operational control of its own military forces, in the event of war, from 2012. 2007 April - South Korea and the US agree on a free-trade deal after 10 months of talks. Thaw gathers pace Historic train crossing Trains from North and South crossed the border in 2007 2007 May - Passenger trains cross the North-South border for the first time in 56 years. 2007 October - The leaders of North and South Korea pledge at a summit to seek talks to formally end the Korean war. 2007 November - Prime ministers from North and South Korea meet for the first time in 15 years. 2007 December - Conservative Lee Myung-bak wins landslide victory in presidential election. 2008 February - The country's greatest cultural treasure, the Namdaemun Gate, is destroyed by fire. Thaw stalls 2008 April - North Korea hits out at new South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, warning that his tough stance could lead to "catastrophic consequences". President Lee's Grand National Party wins a slim majority in parliament. President Lee ended his predecessor's "sunshine policy" in 2008 2008 July - First shipment of US beef in five years arrives after Seoul negotiates further safeguards in its import deal with Washington, in response to street protests. North Korean soldier shoots South Korean woman in the North's Mount Kumgang special tourism area, leading to tensions between the two sides. Financial crisis 2008 October - South Korean banks become vulnerable to global credit crisis as result of having taken on high levels of foreign debt. Government announces $130bn financial rescue package to shore up banking system and stabilise markets. 2009 January - North Korea says it is scrapping all military and political deals with the South over its "hostile intent", as ties worsen. 2009 February - South Korea's central bank cuts interest rates to a record low, amid forecasts that the economy is likely to suffer its first annual contraction for more than 10 years. 2009 May - Former president Roh Moo-hyun commits suicide over a bribery scandal.

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2009 August - Former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung dies; North Korea sends a senior delegation to Seoul to pay its respects. In a further sign of thaw in relations, North Korea announces easing of restrictions on cross-border traffic, and talks on family reunions - suspended since early 2008 - restart. 2009 October - North Korea expresses "regret" for unleashing dam water that drowned six campers downstream in South Korea in September. The two sides hold talks aimed at preventing flooding on the Imjin River which spans their militarised border. 2009 November - South and North Korean warships exchange fire across a disputed sea border. 2010 January - North Korea accepts an offer of food aid from South Korea, the first such aid in two years. South Korea returns fire after the North fires artillery shells near their disputed sea border. Sinking North Korea denied claims it sank the Southern warship Cheonan in 2010 2010 May - South Korea breaks off all trade with the North after investigators say they have found proof the South Korean naval ship Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo in March. Pyongyang describes the findings as a "fabrication" and cuts all diplomatic ties with Seoul. 2010 November - Cross-border clash near disputed maritime border results in death of two South Korean marines. North Korea's military insists it did not open fire first and blames the South. South Korea places its military on highest non-wartime alert after shells land on Yeonpyeong island. 2011 July - Nuclear envoys from North and South Korea hold first talks since collapse of six-party talks in 2009. 2011 August - Further exchange of fire near Yeonpyeong island. 2011 October - US Congress approves long-stalled free trade agreement with South Korea. The deal is expected to increase US exports to South Korea. 2012 March - South Korea hosts a global conference on nuclear security, attended by the US and Russian leaders among others. Iran and North Korea do not attend. 2012 April - The governing conservative Saenuri (New Frontier) Party, formerly called the Grand National Party, wins parliamentary elections with a reduced majority. 2012 June - South Korea becomes the first major Asian economy to halt oil imports from Iran. 2012 July - South Korea begins move of most ministries to "mini capital" at Sejong City, 120km south of Seoul. Key ministries will remain in Seoul. 2012 August - Lee Myung-bak becomes South Korea's first president to visit the Liancourt Rocks, which Japan also claims. Tokyo recalls its ambassador in protest. 2012 October - South Korea strikes deal with the US to almost triple the range of its ballistic missile system to 800km as a response to North Korea's test of a long-range rocket in April. 2012 December - South Korea elects its first female president, Park Geun-hye. She takes office in February. New spike in tensions 2013 January - South Korea launches a satellite into orbit for the first time using a rocket launched from its own soil. Previous attempts in 2009-10 failed. The launch comes weeks after a North Korean rocket placed a satellite in orbit. 2013 March - South warns North over unilateral abrogation of Korean War armistice and bellicose rhetoric. North also cut off a hotline and vowed to end non-aggressions pacts with South. A cyber-attack from an internet address in China temporarily shuts down the computer systems at South Korean banks and broadcasters. 2013 April - North Korea says it will restart all facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex and withdraws its workers from the South-Korean-funded Kaesong joint industrial park. It also warns foreigners to leave both North and South Korea to avoid the threat of war. It later offers talks to reduce tension if UN sanctions are lifted and the US and South Korea end joint military drills. South Korea rejects the proposals as "incomprehensible". 2013 May - North Korea tests four short-range missile over one weekend. It also sentences US tour operator Kenneth Bae to hard labour on charges of "anti-government crimes". 2013 June - North and South Korea agree to hold talks on the possibility of reopening the Kaesong joint industrial complex, as well as to restore the Cross hotline.

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Scientists discover how pet dogs evolved from wolves Domesticated dogs evolved into man's best friend much more recently than previously thought, according to a new analysis of their DNA. A new study of dog genetics published in the journal Nature reveals differences in dog genes involved in starch metabolism, compared with those of wolves. It backs the idea that those animals better able to digest human farmed cereal crops evolved into dogs as we know them today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21180230

Pallab Ghosh reports.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21180230

Derby fire deaths: Sixth child dies after house blaze A 13-year-old boy has died in hospital days after five of his siblings were killed in a house fire in Derby. Duwayne Philpott and his brothers and sisters were asleep upstairs in their Allenton home when the blaze began. Their father Mick Philpott, who is believed to have 17 children, made "valiant attempts" to save them. Police are treating the fire on Friday as suspicious. A man, 38, and woman, 28, were released without charge after being held on suspicion of murder. Jade Philpott, 10, and her brothers John, nine, Jack, seven, Jessie, six, and Jayden, five, all died when the fire started on Victory Road in the early hours. Post-mortem examinations carried out at the weekend confirmed the five children died of smoke inhalation. End Quote Birmingham Children's Hospital The injuries that Duwayne received in the fire were too great for him to survive” Duwayne had received treatment at Birmingham Children's hospital, before his life support machine was switched off overnight. Mr Philpott and Duwayne's mother Mairead were at his bedside. Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill said: "I am sad to confirm the news that Duwayne has died as a result of the injuries he suffered in the fire.

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"My deepest sympathies go out to Mr and Mrs Philpott at this distressing time. " A spokesman from Birmingham Children's Hospital said: "Despite the intensive care team's greatest efforts, the injuries that Duwayne received in the fire were too great for him to survive. "Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time. " Duwayne was described by Christopher Reynolds, his head teacher at Saint Benedict Catholic School in Derby, as "a very pleasant young man". He said: "He was gentle and caring. The things people remember about him are all nice, positive things. He genuinely was a really nice lad. " Patricia Hurd, head teacher of Jade, John, Jack, Jessie and Jayden's school, St George's Catholic Primary, said pupils and teachers were praying for the Philpott family. "They leave a huge gap in our school community and will be sadly missed by all of us. "We offer our deepest and heartfelt condolences to Mick and Mairead and to all the extended family and the Allenton community.

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" Mr Cotterill said on Sunday that police had not had the opportunity to speak to Mr and Mrs Philpott because they had been caring for their son. He said police wanted to speak to anyone who was in or around Victory Road between 03:00 BST and 04:00 BST on Friday. "I want to thank the local community who have already come forward but I would urge anyone with any information, regardless of how insignificant you think it may be, to contact us," he said. Mr Cotterill also asked people to let police know if they spotted anything on social media sites that might aid the investigation. TV appearances "Please tell us what is being said. We don't necessarily get to know all of that," he said. "If you've got access to Facebook and you see something there that you think is going to be important to us, please come forward. " The family were the subject of media scrutiny in 2006 when Mr Philpott asked the council for a larger house to accommodate his wife, girlfriend and 14 children. In 2007, ex-Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe spent a week living with the family as part of an ITV documentary and Mr Philpott also appeared as a guest on the channel's Jeremy Kyle Show. On Saturday, prayers were said for the children at a special service in Derby and a candlelit vigil was held.

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People on the estate where the family lived said they had set up an online charity to help with funeral costs and anything else the family may need.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-18049227

Gerry Adams arrest: Sinn Féin claims 'dark side' to NI police - 1 May 2014 - From the section Northern Ireland Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness has claimed Gerry Adams' arrest is due to a "dark side" within policing conspiring with enemies of the peace process. He added that the detention was a "deliberate attempt to influence the outcome of elections" in three weeks. Mr Adams is being questioned about the 1972 murder of Jean McConville but has denied involvement in her death. Prime Minister David Cameron said there had been "absolutely no political interference in this issue". Mr Cameron spoke to Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers on Thursday night. It is understood he reiterated his view that the arrest was a matter for the police. Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson said earlier that it would be "political policing" if Mr Adams was not questioned. The Sinn Féin president remains in custody after presenting himself at Antrim police station on Wednesday evening. Mr McGuinness, Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister, told a press conference at Stormont that the arrest of his party leader and "friend" was politically motivated. He claimed Sinn Féin had been told by "senior" and "reforming" figures within the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) that "there was still a dark side within policing here in the north of Ireland". "I think we have seen that dark side flex its muscles in the course of the last couple of days," he added. "We know who they are. The reformers know who they are," Mr McGuinness told reporters. He said some former republicans who were "maliciously and vehemently hostile to the peace process" had been targeting Mr Adams and the Sinn Féin peace strategy for a considerable period of time.

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"It is quite disappointing to see the efforts of those people now in consort with the dark side within policing," Mr McGuinness said. However, Mr Robinson said the arrest was proof that no-one in Northern Ireland was above the law. "Is anybody going to say to me that if the police are aware of claims and evidence in relation to such a barbaric killing that it would be political policing for them to question those who have been suggested to have been involved? "I would suggest to you that it would be political policing if the PSNI had not questioned those that were deemed to have been involved in any way," the DUP leader said. "I cannot say whether Mr Adams will be charged or released, whether he will be held for a further period, whether even if charged he might be convicted. "But what I can say is that it strengthens our political process in Northern Ireland for people to know that no-one is above the law - everyone is equal under the law and everyone is equally subject to the law. " In a statement, a PSNI spokesman said: "Police have a duty to impartially investigate serious crime including murder. "It is the police's duty to make relevant enquiries, interview those with information, arrest and question suspects and, in consultation with the Public Prosecution Service (PPS), to either charge or submit a file to the PPS in relation to the investigation. "This procedure is being followed in this case. As one individual has been charged with serious offences and files are being prepared in relation to other individuals, it would be inappropriate to comment further other than to reiterate the Police Service's commitment to treat everyone equally before the law. " Speaking before his detention on Wednesday evening, Mr Adams said he was "innocent of any part" in the murder. "I believe that the killing of Jean McConville and the secret burial of her body was wrong and a grievous injustice to her and her family," he added. Mrs McConville, a 37-year-old widow and mother-of-10, was abducted and shot by the IRA. Her body was recovered from a beach in County Louth in 2003. Mrs McConville's son Michael, who was 11 when his mother was murdered, welcomed the arrest.

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"We're just happy to see everything moving as it is moving at the minute," he said. "Me and the rest of my brothers and sisters are just glad to see the PSNI doing their job. We didn't think it would ever take place [Mr Adams' arrest], but we are quite glad that it is taking place. " Mrs McConville, one of Northern Ireland's Disappeared, was kidnapped in front of her children after being wrongly accused of being an informer. The claim that she was an informer was dismissed after an official investigation by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman. The widow was held at one or more houses before being shot and buried in secret. The Disappeared are those who were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republicans during the Troubles. The IRA admitted in 1999 that it murdered and buried at secret locations nine of the Disappeared. The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains was established in 1999 by a treaty between the British and Irish governments. It lists 16 people as "disappeared". Despite extensive searches, the remains of seven of them have not been found. Jean McConville's remains were found in 2003 by a man walking at Shelling Hill beach, near Carlingford. Last month, Ivor Bell, 77, a leader in the Provisional IRA in the 1970s, was charged with aiding and abetting the murder. There have also been a number of other arrests over the murder recently.

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Mr Adams has never been charged with membership of the IRA. He was, however, interned in 1972 under the controversial Special Powers Act, but briefly released in order that he could take part in talks in London between representatives of Sinn Fein and the then Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27244878

The war photographer Paul Conroy who was severely injured in Syria has said he believes that most of the footage shot by citizen journalists and activists is genuine but has warned that it is often not possible to verify them. He told HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur the need would continue for professional journalists and photographers to go into conflict zones to witness events first hand. Mr Conroy suffered serious leg injuries in an attack on Homs in February in a shelling which left two other journalists dead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9712785.stm

You can watch the full interview on BBC World News on Monday 16 April at 03:30, 08:30, 15:30 and 20:30 GMT and on the BBC News Channel on Monday 16 April at 04:30 BST and Tuesday 17 May at 00:30 BST. online (UK only) or subscribe to our Find out who is coming up on the programme by following us on.

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445 yards, par four When I first went to Augusta, anybody who hit the ball at all well could easily clear the bunker on the right, but not so now - you need a big, big drive to carry it. They put the tee back 25 yards in 2002 and added another 20 yards in 2007, though they've trimmed the tee box to improve access and reduced the card by 10 yards. The hole is a bit of a dogleg, left to right, with a slight hollow and a ridge.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/6500443.stm

You can get to the raised green with a middle-to-shortish iron under normal conditions. As a feature in common with all the greens at Augusta, this one is very sloping and very quick. 2010 rank: 6th hardest (stroke ave.

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4. 205) All-time rank (1942-2010): tied 6th (4. 23).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/6500443.stm

Monday, February 15, 1999 Published at 12:51 GMT Hutchence daughter in legal battle Michael Hutchence: Committed suicide in November 1997 The late rock star Michael Hutchence's two-year-old daughter is claiming funds from his estate, according to documents lodged in an Australian court. Through her godmother Belinda Brewin, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence is seeking money for maintenance, education and "advancement in life". Hutchence's will states Tiger Lily is entitled to half of his wealth, but her carers say she has not received any money. It is the latest in a series of legal battles following the INXS singer's suicide in a Sydney hotel in November 1997. Lawyers for his estate claim he had £720,000 in assets when he died, but family members claim as much as £10m is held in trusts and shell companies around the world. Belinda Brewin said Tiger Lily's mother, Paula Yates, had been forced to take out a large mortgage to help meet her daughter's expenses. Streep honoured in Berlin The actress was presented with the Berlinale Kamera - a small, gilded camera made by a Berlin jeweller. The festival organisers said Streep was "one of the most exceptional actresses in the international history of film". Streep is in Berlin for the screening of her latest movie, One True Thing, for which she has been nominated for an Academy Award.

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She said: "I am very, very, very happy that the actor's branch of the Academy is not sick of me and did not think, 'Well, this time we'll give it to somebody else. '" Kravitz drives to number one His song, Fly Away, knocked last week's chart-topper from Blondie off the top spot, after heavy exposure in a TV ad for Peugeot cars. It follows in a long line of singles boosted by appearances in TV commercials, most notably Levi's jeans spots featuring Shaggy, Babylon Zoo and Freak Power. Kravitz was last in the UK Top 10 in 1993 with Are You Gonna Go My Way. Since then he has only had one Top 40 hit, Rock And Roll Is Dead, in 1995. Streisand in Mame adaptation Mame first opened on Broadway in 1966 and ran until 1971 starring Angela Lansbury as an eccentric aunt. Written by Jerry Herman, the project for the ABC network will be Streisand's first TV musical. The project marks Streisand and Herman's first work together since she starred in the 1969 film adaptation of his musical Hello, Dolly. Star Wars single announced No date has been set for the single or the album, but both will precede the movie release in the US and Canada, which is set for 21 May.

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Sony says it may make a music video too. The score for Episode I: The Phantom Menace is by five-time Academy Award winner John Williams, who composed and conducted the original Star Wars films. The film is due for release in the UK on 16 July. Damon and Affleck team up again Based on the memoirs of Major Damon 'Rocky' Gause, it tells of his escape from the Japanese in the Philippines and his 53-day sail to freedom across the Pacific amid enemy fire. Gause was killed a year later during a routine air manoeuvre over London. His journal of the trek lay undiscovered for more than 50 years. Driving motorists crazy X-Files star Gillian Anderson was the second choice for men, while wives and girlfriends came third, Madonna fourth and model Caprice fifth. Actors Brad Pitt, Sean Connery and George Clooney took second, third, and fourth places in the list of female choices, according to the poll, which was carried out for an insurance firm. TV and Radio.

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Katrice Lee's family in Downing Street 'justice' march - 28 November 2012 - From the section England The family of a two-year-old girl who disappeared from a British military base 31 years ago are marching to Downing Street to "get justice". Katrice Lee disappeared from a shop in Paderborn, the German military base where her father Richard, from Hartlepool, was stationed. The family are taking part in a march to try to get the 1981 case files released for an independent review. Katrice's sister Natasha said it was an "emotional day" for the family. Mrs Lee, who lives in Gosport, Hampshire, some friends and family and people from Mr Lee's old regiment are taking part in the march later. They will walk from St James's Park on Horse Guards Road in London to Downing Street wearing either missing poster or justice for Katrice T-shirts. Mrs Lee said: "I'm quite emotional today. "It's extremely difficult.

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It's a constant battle, it's emotionally draining and it's physically draining. "I still have to go to work and perform my normal day-to-day things and the whole time, trying to think of new ways and ideas to come up with to keep the media a little bit interested in what we're doing to try and find Katrice. "It's about trying to get justice for my sister and finding where she is. "Hopefully by us marching to Downing Street, it might make David Cameron meet us. " Mrs Lee believes Katrice is still alive and was abducted. The family maintain the Royal Military Police failed to interview key witnesses quickly enough after the disappearance. John Sinnet, a close friend and neighbour of the family at the time, spoke of his memories of the search for Katrice. He said: "We looked under every bush, every shrub, all the way up the river.

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we found no trace of her anywhere. "I would concur with Richie [Katrice's father], that whilst yes, they now appear to be undertaking a detailed investigation, it might be a little bit late in the day to be doing it. "Although I hope that it does help, but it seems an awful long time to have left it without doing anything. " There is currently a re-investigation into Katrice's disappearance by the Royal Military Police. Maj Clive Robins, from the Special investigations Branch, said his thoughts were with Natasha, her mother and father on "this difficult day". He said: "Policing has evolved over 30 years and in fact, it has evolved over the last 12 years since the review was done in 2000, so I can give assurances that there will be no stone left unturned. "I have told Sharon, Natasha and Richie on a number of occasions that my focus is and will continue to be, to try and ascertain what happened to Katrice on that tragic day. " He said if the the family were ever given access the original case files, it would not be until the re-investigation ended.

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