Manchester attack: Police not sharing information with US
Image copyrightNEW YORK TIMESImage captionThe New York Times says this evidence was gathered at the scene of the attack
Police investigating the Manchester Arena bomb attack have stopped sharing information with the US after leaks to the media.
UK officials were outraged when photos appearing to show debris from the attack appeared in the New York Times.It came after the name of bomber Salman Abedi was leaked to US media just hours after the attack, which left 22 dead.Theresa May said she would tell Donald Trump at a Nato meeting that shared intelligence "must remain secure".Meanwhile, the Queen has been to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital visiting some of the injured as well as members of the emergency services.While there she paid tribute to Manchester and the "extraordinary" way the city had responded to Monday's attack at an Ariana Grande concert, in which 116 people were also injured.Families' distress In total eight men are now in custody following the bombing carried out by Manchester-born Abedi, a 22-year-old from a family of Libyan origin.The arrests have been "significant" while searches of premises have also yielded items "important to the investigation", Greater Manchester Police said.It has also emerged two people who had known Abedi at college made separate calls to a hotline to warn the police about his extremist views.A Whitehall source said Abedi was one of a "pool" of former subjects of interest whose risk remained "subject to review" by the security service and its partners.In other developments:
Two men were arrested following a search of an address in the Withington area of Greater Manchester on Thursday morning, taking the number of people held to eight
The Conservatives and Labour are to resume general election campaigning on Friday
Greater Manchester Police hope to resume normal intelligence relationships - a two-way flow of information - soon but is currently "furious", the BBC understands.Its chief constable Ian Hopkins said the recent leak had caused "much distress for families that are already suffering terribly with their loss.".The force - which is leading the investigation on the ground - gives its information to National Counter-Terrorism, which then shares it across government and - because of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement - with the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
The DNA detective helping to reunitefamilies
Image copyrightMARTIN SPAVENImage captionJulia Bell has no genetics background but has an extensive knowledge of how to analyse data
A man left abandoned as a baby in a cinema toilet 61 years ago has tracked down his siblings with the help of a so-called "DNA detective". But what do they do?
"There's an analogy I like to use: I can crack any safe, some will just take longer than others," Julia Bell tells the Victoria Derbyshire programme.
She helps people - many of whom have no knowledge of who their parents or siblings are - track down their long-lost relatives.
Many of her cases involve American soldiers, or GIs, who were stationed in the UK during World War Two, she says.
Indeed, Julia says she is approached by someone who has discovered their father was in fact an American GI about once a month.
"More children were fathered by American servicemen than many people imagine," she says.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Julia is also currently helping a woman who, as a baby, was left in a box at London's Kings Cross railway station, while another case involves a baby left on a train in 1928.
So how does it work?
'Searching for 44 years'
"It starts with a spit test, a DNA test, which I get people to do," Julia says. "That's sent away for testing."
She then uses uses three direct-to-consumer DNA databases to cross-reference the data and then the detective work begins.
Julia - who currently is not charging clients - says she begins looking at patterns within the database to try and establish matches.
She then uses contacts around the world to try to identify relatives - however distant they may be.
Image copyrightTOMMY CHALMERSImage captionTommy Chalmers (left), Pat McBain (centre) and Robert Weston (right) outside the house where their father lived
When Robert Weston contacted her - 61 years after being abandoned in a cinema - he said he "had been searching for a long, long time - 44 years or so" without success.
Julia asked him to provide a DNA saliva test and searched on the database in the hope of finding a distant relative.
"There will be somebody on there - fourth cousins or something - for nearly everyone out there," she explains.
Initially there were more distant matches, but Julia was able to find and test a second cousin.
"I asked her if she had any male cousins and she said 'Tommy'," Robert explains. "He agreed to be tested and he turned out to be my half-brother."
But he says: "You need a huge dollop of luck with all this."
Image copyrightROBERT WESTONImage captionThe Birmingham Evening Despatch carried the story of Robert being found on its front page in 1956
On occasion, it is possible to trace relatives even further back.
The Salvation Army's family tracing service has reunited relatives who have been out of touch for more than 80 years.
It says it reunites 10 people every single working day, with an 89% success rate.
It also protects the privacy of the person being sought by promising it will not pass on personal details unless permission is granted.
Julia says while most cases can eventually be solved, a small number will permanently draw a blank.
Even then, she says a person can get some information, including an estimate about their ethnicity. But she says as DNA databases increase in size, the odds of closer matches get better all the time.
'Very sensitive cases'
Julia has no genetics background, saying you instead need to be "smart and logical" and know how to work with data.
"I have a knowledge of science but my background was in teaching in Singapore," she says.
"My mother didn't know who her father was and that's how I got into this, helping to look for her dad."
She adds: "I found someone in the states [US] who works in ancestry who helped show me how to do this.
"She helped me with seeing the patterns and using my intuition. She put the pieces together and I realised I was good at this.
"[My mum] found her father had died four years earlier. But she had a sister and now she's in touch with her family in the south of the US."
Image copyrightREUTERS
Where there is a success, she says third parties are "generally" positive when they find out they have relatives they never knew - although cases of abandoned babies can be "very sensitive".
"I might not always be the one to break the news, sometimes it could be a social worker."
A running theme, however, is that many long-lost relatives - despite their different upbringings - often share habits or interests.
"One set of people I matched turned out to both be astrophysicists," she says.
Robert Weston and his half-bother Tommy share the same sense of humour, she adds.
"It's like they've known each other their whole life."
BBC
New Zealand space launch is first from a private site
An American company has launched a rocket into space from New Zealand, the first from a private launch facility.
Rocket Lab's 17m-long (56ft) Electron lifted off from the Mahia Peninsula, in the North Island, the firm said.
The test flight was the first launch from New Zealand and is a major first step in an emerging market: launching cheap disposable rockets to carry small satellites and other payloads.
The company plans to start frequent commercial launches later this year.
"It was a great flight," chief executive Peter Beck said in a statement after the launch, adding though that the rocket did not quite reach orbit, the path on which its future cargo would embark on its revolution of the Earth.
"We'll be investigating why, however reaching space in our first test puts us in an incredibly strong position to accelerate the commercial phase of our programme, deliver our customers to orbit and make space open for business."
The test launch, one of three planned, did not carry a payload as such, although it was packed with sensor equipment to help engineers understand how the flight performed.
Eventually, Rocket Lab says it will be lofting payloads up to 150kg (331lbs) into a 500km-high orbits that go from pole to pole.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionThere was no public or media access to Mahia Peninsula to witness the launch
Analysis: Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent, BBC News
We're on the cusp of something quite exciting. Innovative companies are packaging really capable technologies into very small, low-cost satellites.
Their data will drive myriad new services - from helping city officials keep track of urban development to giving farmers information about the performance of their crops. But if this new wave is to succeed it needs cheaper access to space.
At the moment, the economics and flight schedules of these small satellites are still being defined by the availability and price of a ride on a big rocket.
Rocket Lab aims to change that. And there others, such as Richard Branson's LauncherOne project. Rocket Lab's second vehicle is already built and set to fly in the next couple months.
Keep an eye on the end of the year too because this US/NZ outfit even has a contract to send a small lander to the Moon.
Why New Zealand?
Rocket Lab's founder and chief executive Peter Beck is from New Zealand and the firm has a New Zealand subsidiary.
The country has less air traffic, compared to say the US, so there is less need for flights to be rerouted every time a rocket is sent to space.
Image copyrightDIGITAL GLOBEImage captionThe launch site is located on North Island's Mahia peninsula
New Zealand is also positioned well to get satellites into a north-to-south orbit around Earth.
The trajectory takes the rocket out over open water, far from from people and property.
The country hopes these favourable factors will help it become a low-cost space hub.
Nice touch: The Electron has nine engines on its first stage and one engine on its second stage. They are called Rutherford engines - after the great New Zealand-born physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), who famously split the atom in 1917.
Why is the launch significant?
Private and commercial rocket launches are becoming more and more common - the most famous example being Elon Musk and his SpaceX Falcon rockets.
But the SpaceX vehicles are huge and are aimed at following in the footsteps of Nasa missions, delivering cargo to the international space station and eventually sending people to Mars.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionThe rockets SpaceX sends into orbit are a different league from the Electron
Rocket Lab's goal is to launch what, by comparison, is a tiny rocket for a fraction of the price, but with much more frequency.
The Electron is a mere 17m long and 1.2m in diameter. Each launch only costs about $5m. Rocket Lab wants to conduct 50 or more a year.
Just to put this all into perspective: SpaceX's current Falcon rocket is a towering 70m and can carry 22,800kg into low-Earth orbit for a standard price of $62m.
Rocket Lab's website already allows you to book a slot for your satellite. The cheapest deal is a small cubesat on a rideshare option - prices start at $77,000 (£59,280).
Image copyrightROCKET LAB
Apple's Jonathan Ive says immigration vital for UK firms
The UK must keep its doors open to top talent from around the world if its technology firms are to thrive, Apple's chief designer has told the BBC.
Sir Jonathan Ive, who has just been appointed Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, also said that technology hubs like Silicon Valley had a "tremendous cultural diversity".
The iPhone designer did not comment on efforts to curb UK immigration.
Some technology firms fear they may lose access to talent after Brexit.
"That general principle [on access] is terribly important for creating a context for multiple companies to grow and in a healthy way explore and develop new products and new product types," Sir Jonathan told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Fabulous tradition
The Briton has led Apple's design team since 1996 and is responsible for the look and feel of its devices such as the iPhone and iPod.
Sir Jonathan said the UK had a "fabulous tradition of design education", but that it needed to do more to become a technology hub on a par with Silicon Valley in California, where the likes of Apple, Facebook and Google are based.
"I think Silicon Valley has infrastructures to support start-up companies ... ranging from technological support through to funding," he said.
"And there is the sense that failure isn't irreversible, so very often people will work on an idea, and there isn't the same sense of stigma when one idea and perhaps one company doesn't work out."
The region also prided itself on its diversity, allowing "like-minded" people from around the world to join forces to create new products.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionSir Jonathan designs the look and feel of all Apple hardware, including the iPhone
"I think at Apple we've been very clear on how important it is that we have a diverse pool of talent that we can hire from," Sir Jonathan said.
Some UK technology firms have warned that they could lose access to the international talent they need after Britain leaves the European Union.
Cities such as Berlin also hope to coax tech firms away from London, which has been considered as Europe's leading tech hub, after Brexit occurs.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook said earlier this year he was "very optimistic" about the UK's future outside the EU.
"Yes there will be bumps in the road along the way but the UK's going to be fine," he told Prime Minster Theresa May at a meeting in Downing Street.
Apple also plans to build a new UK headquarters in London.
Sir Jonathan was knighted in 2012 for services to design and enterprise
BBC
Google AI defeats human Go champion
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionChinese Go player Ke Jie has lost two games to AlphaGo
Google's DeepMind AlphaGo artificial intelligence has defeated the world's number one Go player Ke Jie.
AlphaGo secured the victory after winning the second game in a three-part match.
DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis said Ke Jie had played "perfectly" and "pushed AlphaGo right to the limit".
Following the defeat, Ke Jie told reporters: "I'm a little bit sad, it's a bit of a regret because I think I played pretty well."
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionKe Jie eventually resigned
In Go, players take turns placing stones on a 19-by-19 grid, competing to take control of the most territory.
It is considered to be one of the world's most complex games, and is much more challenging for computers than chess.
Tea-making
AlphaGo has built up its expertise by studying older matches and playing thousands of games against itself.
The company says the eventual plan is to deploy its artificial intelligence "in areas of medicine and science".
Prof Noel Sharkey, a computer scientist at Sheffield University, said it is still a long way from creating a general intelligence.
"It is an incredible achievement and most experts thought an AI winning at Go was 20 years away so DeepMind is leading the field but this AI doesn't have general intelligence. It doesn't know that is playing a game and it can't make you a cup of tea afterwards."
Prof Nello Cristianini, from Bristol University, added: "This is machine learning in action and it proves that machines are very capable but it is not general intelligence. No-one has built that yet."
The types of intelligence exhibited by machines that are good at playing games are seen as very narrow. While they may produce algorithms that are useful in other fields, few think they are close to the all-purpose problem solving abilities of humans that can come up with good solutions to almost any problem they encounter.
Prof Cristianini added that while competition at a gaming level is fine, it should not govern how we view our relationship with intelligent machines going forward.
"We should focus on the good things that we can get out of them and be careful not to create situations in which we put ourselves in direct competition with machines."
Both experts agreed that such algorithms could be adapted to other fields, such as health care.
DeepMind has already begun working with the UK's national health service to develop apps and other tools for diagnosis.
NEW YORK TIMES
