24 November 2012 Last updated at 01:00 ET

UKIP couple have foster children removed from care

The couple have been approved foster parents for seven years

A couple have had three foster children removed from their care because they belong to the UK Independence Party.

Rotherham Borough Council said the children were "not indigenous white British" and that it had concerns about UKIP's stance on immigration.

It said it had to consider the "needs of the children longer term".

The unnamed couple told the Daily Telegraph social workers had accused them of belonging to a "racist party". UKIP said it was an appalling decision.

'Dumbfounded'

The couple, who have been approved foster parents for seven years, were eight weeks into the placement when they were approached by social workers about their membership of the party.

The wife told the Daily Telegraph: "I was dumbfounded. Then my question to both of them was, 'What has UKIP got to do with having the children removed?'

"Then one of them said, 'Well, UKIP have got racist policies.' The implication was that we were racist. [The social worker] said UKIP does not like European people and wants them all out of the country to be returned to their own countries."

The paper says the woman denied she was racist but the children were taken away by the end of the week.

She said the social worker told her: "We would not have placed these children with you had we known you were members of UKIP because it wouldn't have been the right cultural match."

The couple said they had been "stigmatised and slandered".

Rotherham Borough Council's Strategic Director of Children and Young People's Services, Joyce Thacker, told the BBC: "We always try to place children in a sensible cultural placement.

"These children are not UK children and we were not aware of the foster parents having strong political views. There are some strong views in the UKIP party and we have to think of the future of the children."

She said the issue related to the party's policies on immigration issues.

The council said there was no blanket ban on UKIP members being foster parents and that this couple would be allowed to foster other children in the future.

'Political bias'

UKIP leader Nigel Farage condemned the decision and said the council had many questions to answer.

"They have to look at themselves in the mirror and ask who it is that is prejudiced? A normal couple who have fostered for seven years, or themselves who are blinded by political bias?

"Publicly they must make absolutely clear the decision-making process in this case, who was responsible for this decision and why."

The UKIP describes itself as a "Libertarian, non-racist party seeking Britain's withdrawal from the European Union".

It currently has 12 MEPs and 31 councillors, with three peers in the House of Lords.

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24 November 2012 Last updated at 00:33 ET

Larry Hagman star of Dallas dies at 81

Dallas premiered on the CBS network in 1978 and made Hagman a superstar

Larry Hagman who spent more than a decade playing TV villain JR Ewing has died at the age of 81, his family says.

Hagman, who had suffered from cancer and cirrhosis of the liver, died in hospital on Friday afternoon, according to a family statement.

"Larry was back in his beloved Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved most," said the family. "He was surrounded by loved ones."

Long-time friend Linda Gray, who played Sue Ellen, was by his bedside.

"Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years," said Ms Gray in a statement released by her agent.

"He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talented and I will miss him enormously.

"He was an original and lived life to the full."

During 13 years as the most scheming oil tycoon in Dallas, JR in his Stetson became one of the most distinctive faces on television screens across the world.

It quickly became one of the network's top-rated programmes - with its 356 episodes being seen by an estimated 300 million people in 57 countries - and was revived this year.

Five bottles of champagne

Born in Texas, Hagman later moved to Los Angeles where he was cared for mainly by his grandmother.

Hagman reportedly owned more than 2,000 cowboy hats

After a brief period spent working in the fields, Hagman followed his mother into showbusiness and even toured and played in musicals with her.

Moving into television, he played astronaut Tony Nelson in the 1960s television comedy I Dream of Genie.

He first performed as JR Ewing in 1978 and became its highest-paid star, as the programme came to define 1980s excess.

The actor himself owned more than 2,000 cowboy hats.

When Dallas finally finished in 1991, Hagman went on to appear in hit films Nixon and Primary Colors.

His forthright biography, Hello Darlin', detailed his youthful drug-taking exploits and revealed the extent of his 50-year battle with alcoholism.

Even on the hardworking set of Dallas, he consumed five bottles of champagne a day for years and was finally diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver in 1992.

Three years later he had a liver transplant and kept a photo of the organ donor above his mirror.

"I say a prayer for him every morning," he said.

Despite this, Hagman continued to drink secretly until a further life-saving operation in 2003 forced him to stop.

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23 November 2012 Last updated at 13:47 ET

Italy's FA sorry after Rome attack on Tottenham fans

Up to 40 masked men were said to have been involved in the attack

The president of Italy's Football Association has apologised to the English FA chairman David Bernstein following an assault on Tottenham fans in a Rome bar on Thursday.

Giancarlo Abete said he was condemning on behalf of "the whole Italian football family" what he said was a "disgraceful" anti-Semitic attack .

Tottenham has traditionally had strong ties with London's Jewish community.

Ten Spurs fans, in the city for a match against Lazio, were taken to hospital.

One fan injured in the attack in the bar in the Campo dei Fiori in central Rome is expected to remain in hospital for a fortnight.

The man, named on social media as Ashley Mills, 25, from Brentwood, Essex, gave an interview to the Evening Standard newspaper in which he talked about the moment the bar was stormed by a mob of about 40 masked men.

"They came out of nowhere. I didn't see the guy who stabbed me. There were too many of them," he said.

Initially Lazio fans were thought to be to blame for the attack. But police say two Italian men who have been charged with attempted murder, were fans of the city's other major team, AS Roma.

In a letter to Mr Bernstein, Mr Abete said it was another example of where football had "once again... given a handful of delinquents the excuse to take out their racist and anti-Semite anger.

He said: "There is evidence of this undoubted motive, which is detrimental to the image of Italian football and doesn't match with the traditional hospitality and welcome of the city of Rome."

Mr Abete added: "I beg you to send our apologies to all Tottenham's fans - and in particular to those families directly involved."

Tottenham's match with Lazio unfolded without any violence. But there was further controversy, with reports of anti-Semitic chanting by the home fans.

The European football authorities said they are waiting to hear from English FA officials before possibly taking action against Lazio.

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23 November 2012 Last updated at 09:24 ET

Black Friday: US begins its key sales weekend

Macy's opened its store in New York at midnight and 11,000 shoppers turned up

Continue reading the main story

US Economy

• Bernanke: Banks hurting housing
• Fed hints at new bond-buying plan
• Obama: Wealthy must pay more tax
• US budget deficit rises sharply

US retailers have begun their "Black Friday" sales, reopening stores after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Black Friday is usually the busiest shopping day of the year, as the Thanksgiving weekend marks the start of the holiday shopping season.

A survey estimated that 147 million people would go shopping between Friday and Sunday, despite more shoppers going online.

With the US economy fragile, many shops began their sales on Thursday night.

Retailer Target opened its doors at 9pm local time, three hours earlier than last year. Sears opened at 8pm. When department store Macy's opened its flagship in New York at midnight, 11,000 shoppers arrived.

The National Retail Federation forecast a 4.1% increase in retail sales during the November-December holiday period this year, less than the 5.6% jump recorded last year.

And the 147 million people forecast for this year is down from 152 million on the Thanksgiving weekend last year, the NRF said.

More than 50% of consumers will do some browsing during the weekend, according to Kevin Sterneckert, vice president of retail research at Gartner.

"They will buy things because they looked at them in the store. They will touch and feel what they are interested in and then buy it online on Monday, either from the same retailer or a different online retailer."

Online shopping

Bricks-and-mortar stores can make up to 40% of their annual revenue during the two-month holiday shopping season, but they are coming under increasing pressure from online retailers such as Amazon.

A survey by Forrester Research suggested online shopping is set to jump 15% to $68.4bn this year.

And according to IBM, online sales for Thanksgiving were up 18% on Thursday, compared with a year earlier, showing that shoppers are turning to the web and beginning buying earlier, rather than waiting for the physical stores to open.

Still, many shoppers left behind the traditional Thanksgiving dinner to camp out in search of bargains. Jackie Berg arrived on Wednesday to a makeshift camp outside a Best Buy store in Michigan.

"We'll miss the actual being there with family, but we'll have the rest of the weekend for that," she said.

In Orlando, at another Best Buy store, people had camped out for days.

Gabriel Esteves, 33, has been queuing since Monday and stayed in line despite his brother and sister going home to spend Thanksgiving with their families.

"They told me to take a break and go to the house, but today's the worst day to leave the line. People come and cut in," said Mr Esteves, who is a self-employed car audio installer and wanted to buy a 50-inch television.

Americans spend about $875m buying turkeys for Thanksgiving and 43 million were estimated to be travelling for the holiday this year.

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23 November 2012 Last updated at 04:17 ET

EU budget: David Cameron says not enough progress made

David Cameron is in Brussels with the 27 EU leaders

UK Prime Minister David Cameron says there is a "real problem" with a lack of progress in EU budget talks as they enter a second day.

Mr Cameron said it was not the time for "tinkering" with the money spent.

Instead, he told reporters, the EU needed to cut "unaffordable spending" as had been done in the UK.

Talks on the 2014-2020 budget resume at noon after Thursday night's discussion. Most EU members want a budget increase, but the UK and some others oppose that.

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22 November 2012 Last updated at 19:00 ET

Government delays setting carbon target until after election

By Roger Harrabin & Anthony Reuben BBC News

The bill commits to providing £7.6bn funding for low-carbon energy sources until 2020

The government has published details of its long-awaited Energy Bill designed to keep the lights on, bills reasonable and emissions down.

The bill will provide £7.6bn towards low-carbon electricity infrastructure by 2020, which energy firms welcomed.

But the Lib Dems' hopes of banishing gas from the electricity system almost completely by 2030 will not be met.

The decision about setting carbon emission targets for 2030 has been delayed until 2016, after the election.

Environmentalists condemned the bill, saying it would make it very hard to meet the UK's law on climate change.

Details of the bill were announced late on Thursday although the bill itself will not be published until next week.

Crudely speaking, the bill has been a battleground between Chancellor George Osborne, who favours gas-powered generation, and the Liberal Democrats, who want clean energy.

The chancellor is adamant that gas will help keep down power bills in the future. He and the Treasury want flexibility in energy choices.

But the Lib Dems want to banish gas from the electricity system almost entirely by 2030 to reduce CO2 emissions in line with the Climate Change Act. (Gas will be needed as a back-up).

They say this will also keep power bills down overall by reducing the UK's exposure to volatile gas prices in a power-hungry world.

Lost the battle

On-going uncertainty over energy strategy has infuriated the firms that are expected to invest more than £100bn to renew the UK's decaying energy infrastructure by 2020.

It is clear from the announcement that the Lib Dems have lost the battle over the clean energy target. In a compromise, the principle of the target will be attached to the bill, but details will not be decided until 2016.

The delay will not just make it hard for the UK to meet its long-term emissions targets under the Climate Change Act, it will also infuriate firms wanting to build factories manufacturing offshore wind turbines in the UK, because they want long-term certainty that there will be a market for their goods.

This decision runs counter to the resolution at the Lib Dem party conference.

As part of the negotiations, the chancellor has agreed to fund clean energy until 2020, almost matching the amount the advisory committee on climate change said would be needed to meet emissions targets (£8bn in 2020).

The committee estimated that that amount would add about £110 a year to household energy bills by 2020.

"This is a durable agreement across the coalition against which companies can invest and support jobs and our economic recovery," said Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey.

"The decisions we've reached are true to the Coalition Agreement. They mean we can introduce the Energy Bill next week and have essential electricity market reforms up and running by 2014 as planned."

But Labour criticised the government's failure to set an emissions target for electricity for 2030.

"It is outrageous that on the day Ed Miliband committed to a tough cut in Britain's carbon levels by 2030, George Osborne and Ed Davey abandoned their target," said Caroline Flint, shadow energy and climate change secretary.

"This is a humiliating failure by the Liberal Democrats and a betrayal of David Cameron's promise to be the greenest government ever."

On Thursday, Labour leader Ed Miliband visited Whitelee wind farm outside Glasgow, which is Europe's largest onshore windfarm.

He endorsed the advised target of 50g CO2 per KiloWatt hour for 2030 and said that mixed messages from the coalition government were endangering the future of the renewable energy industry.

'Bill derailed'

Environmental groups have also criticised the government's announcement.

"By failing to agree to any carbon target for the power sector until after the next election, David Cameron has allowed a militant tendency within his own ranks to derail the Energy Bill," said John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace.

"It's a blatant assault on the greening of the UK economy that leaves consumers vulnerable to rising gas prices, and sends billions of pounds of clean-tech investment to our economic rivals."

But Energy UK, which represents the energy industry, welcomed the measures.

"This agreement is good news and we look forward to seeing the details of the bill," said Angela Knight, chief executive of Energy UK.

"We are pleased to see that the levy control framework means that the UK will be building new power stations, including nuclear and renewables. This is a huge investment and must bring forward the jobs and economic growth that the UK needs."

There are many more fragments to come in the energy jigsaw.

Decisions on the way subsidies from bills will be shared between nuclear and various renewable technologies will be made later.

Key decisions on how to ensure there are enough gas power stations to keep the lights on when the wind is not blowing will be announced alongside the chancellor's autumn statement.

Follow Roger on Twitter @rogerharrabin

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22 November 2012 Last updated at 11:32 ET

US marks Thanksgiving with parade

Thousands of New Yorkers are soaking up bright autumn sun as the annual Thanksgiving Day parade kicks off the US holiday season.

Parade-goers under clear blue skies watched marching bands, performers, floats and inflatables head from Central Park to Midtown Manhattan.

Some 5,000 people affected by October's deadly storm Sandy were given seats along the parade route.

Thanksgiving Day celebrates the harvest and blessings of the past year.

It has been marked for hundreds of years, and is generally thought to commemorate a 1621 harvest feast the US Pilgrims shared with Indians after settling at Plymouth, in what is now Massachusetts.

Many people in New York and New Jersey have seen their homes destroyed

Held on the final Thursday in November, the modern festival sees millions of people travel to be with family, eat turkey feasts, watch NFL football matches and - in recent years - plan and sometimes even begin their assault on the holiday sales.

As many as 43 million people are thought to be travelling over this year's holiday, with more on the move by car and train than ever before.

More US stores are opening than ever before, luring shoppers in with bargains even before the traditional start of the festive shopping season on "Black Friday".

Storm relief

The Macy's parade in New York began 09:00 (14:00 GMT) on the western edge of Central Park at 77th St.

Some parade-goers had camped out to get a good spot, staying snug in sleeping bags until the morning sun warmed the streets. Others came well-prepared with folding chairs.

They watched as the early line up began to wend its way towards Macy's department store on Herald Square, some 43 blocks to the south.

Giant inflatables soon stretched the length of 6th Avenue, with appearances expected from Thomas the Tank Engine, Papa Smurf, a new version of Hello Kitty, Buzz Lightyear, Sailor Mickey Mouse and the Pillsbury Doughboy.

Singer Carly Rae Jepsen and US X-Factor star Rachel Crow were scheduled among the performers.

President Obama pardons Cobbler the turkey

An estimated 50 million people watch the parade on TV each year, according to the Associated Press, with more than three million on the streets of New York.

Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit were also holding parades.

Meanwhile, in storm-hit areas of New York and New Jersey, thousands of people will endure a muted Thanksgiving amid the wreckage of their homes and communities.

Relief efforts are ongoing, with Occupy Sandy - an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement - hosting a Thanksgiving dinner in lower Manhattan.

In both New York and New Jersey, thousands of people remain unable to return to their homes, staying instead with friends, family or in shelters.

Turkey day

On Wednesday, the great Thanksgiving travel getaway saw tens of millions of Americans make their way to family and friends in time for the holiday.

There were flight delays in Chicago and poor weather in the Pacific Northwest, as well as union strike action at Los Angeles International airport.

In New York, all service from the city's busy Penn Station was suspended during the evening peak period after a power failure.

Thousands of people were locked out of the station when officials closed the doors in an effort to prevent overcrowding.

President Barack Obama carried out the traditional US presidential duty for Thanksgiving: pardoning a turkey.

"Tomorrow, in the company of friends and loved ones, we will celebrate a uniquely American holiday," Mr Obama said on Wednesday.

Since taking office, he has created his own custom of sparing an extra turkey.

This year, Mr Obama showed mercy on Cobbler and Gobbler, who will live out their days on George Washington's estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia.

Forty-six million other turkeys will not be so lucky - that is how many of the birds are expected to be consumed across the US on Thursday.

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22 November 2012 Last updated at 11:04 ET

New director general Tony Hall: BBC can overcome crisis

Lord Hall joined the BBC as a trainee in 1973

Continue reading the main story

Crisis at the BBC

• Viewpoints: What next for BBC?
• Should executives get 'rewards for failure'?
• Summary of Ken MacQuarrie report
• Crisis at the BBC: Media reaction

Tony Hall, the new director general of the BBC has said he is confident the corporation can "get through" a "really tough few weeks".

Lord Hall, chief executive of the Royal Opera House and the BBC's former director of news said he cared passionately about the organisation.

"I am absolutely committed to our news operation as a world-beater," he said.

His appointment follows the resignation of George Entwistle in the wake of a false Newsnight allegation.

Speaking at a news conference at the BBC's headquarters in central London, Lord Hall said: "The reason I'm standing before you today is because I care passionately about the BBC, about what it can do, its programme makers and the impact we have in all sorts of different ways.

"It's one of those extraordinary organisations which is an absolutely essential part of the UK, of Britain, of who we are, but also has this incredible impact around the world too."

He said he wanted "to build a world-class team for this world-class organisation".

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22 November 2012 Last updated at 08:26 ET

Facebook criticised over decision to stop public privacy votes

By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News

Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook currently allows users to vote on policy changes

Facebook is set to remove the ability for users to vote on changes to its data privacy policy, in a move that has angered campaigners.

In an email to all members, Facebook said it wanted a "more meaningful" way for users to give feedback.

The site has also proposed combining information across its other services, such as photo-sharing app Instagram.

Facebook said a vote into the changes could take place, but more than 300m users would need to participate.

Under the site's rules, votes have an effect only if 30% of the user base has taken part. The site recently announced its one billionth sign-up.

A campaign opposing the changes and calling for more transparency has been launched.

The Our-Policy.org website is urging users to comment on the announcement in order to trigger a user vote on Facebook's plans.

Under current rules, if there are 7,000 comments on an issue it will be voted upon. At the time of writing, 3,000 members had commented.

'Accountable'

In explaining the changes, Facebook said it was looking for ways to more "effectively engage" with its users over changes to the network.

"That commitment guided our decision in 2009 to launch an unprecedented process for user feedback," wrote Elliot Schrage, a vice-president of communications.

"When we held our second global site governance vote in June, we indicated that we would review our site governance process in light of the growth of both our community - to over one billion users - and our company, which is now publicly traded and accountable to regulators around the world."

Mr Schrage said the review of the procedure highlighted issues which required a restructuring of the feedback process.

"We found that the voting mechanism, which is triggered by a specific number of comments, actually resulted in a system that incentivised the quantity of comments over their quality.

"Therefore, we're proposing to end the voting component of the process in favour of a system that leads to more meaningful feedback and engagement."

Data merge

The new proposals also outlined details of Facebook's plans to combine information across various services it owns.

This could potentially include Instagram, the photo-sharing app which the social network acquired for £440m ($700m) earlier this year. As well as a vast library of user-uploaded photographs, Instagram also holds location data on its users - a highly valuable resource.

The Reuters news agency has speculated that Facebook intended to unify user data profiles in a way similar to Google's controversial policy changes which took place earlier this year.

The move made it easier for Google to serve targeted advertising to its users.

The search giant was heavily criticised by EU data regulators, and told that it must do more to explain to users how their information was being used.

Facebook has told the BBC that there are currently no plans to merge its services in this way - but did not rule it out from happening in the future.

Aside from the privacy-related changes, Facebook also told users it plans to:

• Add new tools for filtering incoming messages, in response to user complaints that messages from friends were being lost in the "Other" folder.
• Give better indicators of where posts can be viewed - and by whom.
• Offer more guidance on managing profiles, including how to request deletion of posts a user has been "tagged" in by a friend.

As part of a lengthy list of demands, the Our Policy website criticises the proposal as being too vague.

"We want Facebook to use clear and understandable language," the group says.

"We oppose that Facebook is using 'like', 'may' or 'could' instead of clear statements. This makes it impossible to clearly know what we consent to."

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22 November 2012 Last updated at 07:34 ET

Tony Hall appointed new BBC director general

 

Tony Hall previously worked for the BBC for 28 years

Continue reading the main story

Crisis at the BBC

• Viewpoints: What next for BBC?
• Should executives get 'rewards for failure'?
• Summary of Ken MacQuarrie report
• Crisis at the BBC: Media reaction

The chief executive of the Royal Opera House and the BBC's former director of news, Tony Hall, has been appointed the corporation's new director general.

BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten said Lord Hall was "the right person to lead the BBC out of its current crisis".

His journalism experience would be "invaluable as the BBC looks to rebuild its reputation", Lord Patten said.

The appointment follows the resignation of George Entwistle earlier this month after just 54 days in the job.

Mr Entwistle quit on 10 November, saying that as editor-in chief he had to take "ultimate responsibility" for a Newsnight report that had led to Lord McAlpine being wrongly accused of child abuse.

Tony Hall is due to take over role - currently occupied by acting director general Tim Davie - in early March, on a salary of £450,000 a year.

The BBC needed "to take a long, hard look at the way it operates and put in place the changes required to ensure it lives up to the standards that the public expects", Lord Patten said. "Tony Hall is the right person to lead this."

He went on: "Tony Hall has been an insider and is a currently an outsider.

"As an ex-BBC man he understands how the corporation's culture and behaviour make it, at its best, the greatest broadcaster in the world.

"And from his vantage point outside the BBC, he understands the sometimes justified criticisms of the corporation - that it can be inward-looking and on occasions too institutional.

"But perhaps most importantly, given where we now find ourselves, his background in news will prove invaluable as the BBC looks to rebuild both its reputation in this area and the trust of audiences."

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