Funeral set to take place for knife attack victims




Hundreds of mourners are expected to attend the funerals of a mother and son from the Black Country who were killed in a knife attack at their home.
Tracey Wilkinson and her 13-year-old son Pierce were attacked in Stourbridge in March. 

A man's due to stand trial for their murders later this year.
Tracey's husband Peter was also critically injured but has made a full recovery.

BBC NEWS

Philippines bank BPI hit by glitch which debited accounts

The Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI) says a major system glitch led to customers being hit by unauthorised money withdrawals and deposits.
The problematic transactions reached up to thousands of pesos. Some users claimed on social media that their accounts had even gone into the red.
BPI chief executive Cezar Consing apologised on Wednesday morning in an interview with a local TV station.
"This is not a hack, this is an internal issue," he said.
"Over the next few hours, we are making sure the double credits, debits are corrected," he told ANC.

Account holders on social media are claiming to have lost anything from 4,000 pesos ($80; £62) to up to 100,000 pesos.
In a statement posted on Twitter, BPI said some clients might have seen their accounts debited twice or credited twice for a past transaction.
Image copyright Twitter
Image copyright Twitter
It said they had suspended access to electronic banking while errors were corrected.
However, the move caused other BPI customers to complain they now can't check their accounts to see if they were affected.
BPI had nearly 8 million clients and 1.4tn pesos in total deposits at the end of 2016, according to its latest annual report.
Image copyright Getty Images
Shares of BPI fell nearly 2% in early stock market trading in Manila.
The 165 year-old BPI counts Philippines conglomerate Ayala and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC among its major shareholders.

BBC NEWS

An egg a day appears to help young children                               grow taller

An egg a day might help undernourished young children grow to a healthy height, according to a six-month study in Ecuador.
Whether soft or hard-boiled, fried or whisked into an omelette, eggs appeared to give infants a boost.
It could be a cheap way to prevent stunting, say researchers in the journal Pediatrics.
The first two years of life are critical for growth and development - any stunting is largely irreversible.

Too short for age

Poor nutrition is a major cause of stunting, along with childhood infections and illnesses.
According to the World Health Organization, 155 million children under the age of five are stunted (too short for their age).
Most live in low- and middle-income countries and health experts have been looking at ways to tackle the issue.
Lora Iannotti and her colleagues set up a field experiment in the rural highlands of Ecuador and gave very young children (aged six to nine months) free eggs to eat to see if this might help.

Egg dinners

Only half of the 160 youngsters who took part in the randomised trial were fed an egg a day for six months - the others were monitored for comparison.
The researchers visited the children's families every week to make sure they were sticking to the study plan and to check for any problems or side-effects, including egg allergy.
Stunting was far less common among the egg treatment group by the end of the study - the prevalence was 47% less than in the non-egg group, even though relatively more of these egg-fed infants were considered short for their age at the start of the study.
Some of the children in the control group did eat eggs, but nowhere near as many as the treatment group.
Lead researcher Ms Iannotti said: "We were surprised by just how effective this intervention proved to be.
"And what's great is it's very affordable and accessible for populations that are especially vulnerable to hidden hunger or nutritional deficiency."
She said eggs were great food for young children with small stomachs.
"Eggs contain a combination of nutrients, which we think is important."

Balanced diet

Prof Mary Fewtrell, nutrition lead at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: "In a way, it is surprising that more research has not been conducted using egg in this situation - although I know that in some cultures, parents do not necessarily find egg to be an acceptable early food mainly because of concerns about allergy.
"Egg is a good nutritious complementary food that can be introduced as part of a varied diet once the mother decides to start complementary feeding - never before four months."
She said eggs should always be well cooked to avoid any potential infection risk.
The WHO recommends mothers worldwide to exclusively breastfeed infants for the child's first six months to achieve optimal growth, development and health. After the first six months, infants should be given nutritious complementary foods and continue breastfeeding up to the age of two years or beyond.
The British Nutrition Foundation advised: "While eggs are a nutritious food to include, it's very important that young children have a variety of foods in their diets. Not only is this necessary to get all the vitamins and minerals they need, but also to allow them to become familiar with a wide range of tastes and textures.
"A range of protein-rich foods should be provided when feeding young children, which can include eggs but can also feature beans, pulses, fish, especially oily fish, meat and dairy products." 

BBC NEWS

Qatar row: Trump urges Arab unity in call to Saudi Arabia's King Salman

US President Donald Trump has called the king of Saudi Arabia to urge Gulf unity amid an escalating dispute over Qatar's alleged support for militants.
Earlier, he said the Saudis' move to isolate Qatar could mark the "beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism".
Several Gulf countries cut travel and embassy links with Qatar on Monday.
Qatar strongly denies supporting radical Islamism. The rift has affected oil prices, travel and shipping, and has raised fears of food shortages.
The emir of Kuwait is mediating in the dispute and the president of Turkey has also offered to help, saying isolation and sanctions will not resolve the crisis.
"His [Mr Trump's] message was that we need unity in the region to fight extremist ideology and terrorist financing," a US official told Reuters news agency.

What is Trump saying?

Mr Trump had earlier claimed credit for the pressure placed on Qatar, saying his recent visit to Saudi Arabia was "already paying off".
In a series of tweets on Tuesday morning, Mr Trump accused Qatar of funding terrorism, saying: "During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!"
In his phone call to King Salman, he was quoted by Reuters as saying: "It's important that the Gulf be united for peace and security in the region,"
Separately, the Pentagon thanked Qatar for hosting the largest US air force base in the Middle East.

What do the Saudis want?

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister called on Qatar to cut ties with Palestinian group Hamas in the occupied territories, and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, if it wanted to end its isolation in the Gulf region.


Adel Al-Jubeir said: "Nobody wants to hurt Qatar. It has to choose whether it must move in one direction or another direction."
Speaking in Paris, he said the economic measures should put pressure on Qatar to act "like a normal country".
He name-checked "support of extremist groups", "hostile media" and "interference in affairs of other countries" as things Qatar would have to change if it wished to restore ties.


But Qatar's Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Than, said: "There is no single evidence that the Qatar government is supporting radical Islamists."
On Monday, several countries withdrew their ambassadors from Doha, Qatar's capital, while some cut transport links and gave Qatari nationals two weeks to leave their territory.
Disruption to airspace in the Gulf began on Tuesday morning local time. Doha, Qatar's capital, is a major hub for international flight connections.
Airlines affected include Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have revoked the licences of Qatar Airways and ordered its offices to close.
When avoiding Saudi Arabia, their massive - and only - neighbour, Qatar's planes are having to take more indirect routes, leading to longer flight times.
Qatar is heavily dependent on food imports and residents have been queuing at supermarkets to stockpile.

Does anyone sympathise with Qatar?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said isolating Qatar would "not resolve any problems" and called for "mutual dialogue".
"In this respect, we appreciate Qatar's constructive stance," he said.
"Trying to isolate Qatar, which certainly carries out an efficient fight against terrorism, will not resolve any problems."
France's President Emmanuel Macron spoke to Mr Erdogan and to the emir of Qatar in separate telephone calls, saying he was ready to back "all initiatives to encourage calm".

BBC NEWS

Iran's parliament and Khomeini shrine attacked by gunmen

Armed individuals have opened fire at the Iranian parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini in the capital, Tehran, causing a number of casualties.
Heavy gunfire could be heard on an audio recording from inside the parliament chamber, and there are reports that a security guard has died.
Several people were injured at the shrine, dedicated to the founder of the modern Islamic republic.
There was one suicide bomber and two or three other gunmen.
Ali Khalili from the mausoleum's public relations office told IRNA news agency that one of the armed men detonated himself in front of a bank outside the mausoleum.
However Fars News said that the suicide bomber was a woman.
The Iranian Labour News Agency reported that two attackers had been arrested.
Five people were wounded at the shrine, and one person confirmed dead, it said.
Latest reports suggest the attack at Iran's parliament is ongoing.
An image posted by Tasmin News showed what appeared to be a gunman holding an assault weapon shooting out from an upstairs window of the parliament building.
MP Seyyed Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) that three gunmen were still in the building, in MPs' offices.






Iranian rolling news channel IRINN said seven or eight people had been injured at the parliament by four attackers.
The gunmen were carrying Kalashnikovs and one Colt pistol, reports said.
One gunman has been arrested, IRNA said.
The attack at the mausoleum, several kilometres to the south, happened at the same time and appeared to be co-ordinated, reports said.

Uber fires 20 staff after harassment investigation

Uber has fired more than 20 people, and is taking other actions against staff, after a harassment investigation.
The taxi-app firm said the sackings related to sexual harassment, bullying and issues about poor company culture.
Uber has been under fire over its treatment of women staff since a former employee wrote a scathing blog post about her experience.
It led to two investigations and the uncovering of 215 complaints about harassment and other allegations.
Uber has struggled with a series of controversies in recent months, including a backlash over aggressive corporate tactics and a lawsuit from Google-owner Alphabet over allegedly stolen technology for self-driving cars.
Several high-placed executives resigned amid the turbulence, including a former head of engineering, who had failed to disclose harassment complaints at his former employer.
Chief executive Travis Kalanick's filmed argument with an Uber driver over falling rates also fuelled criticism, leading him to say that he needed "leadership help".
Susan Fowler, who wrote the critical blog post about Uber, said the company had ignored her complaints of sexual harassment. Widely shared, the blog prompted Mr Kalanick to launch the investigations.
Law firm Perkins Coie reviewed 215 claims, which included sexual harassment and discrimination as well as other complaints, an Uber spokeswoman said.
The firm recommended no action in 100 of them; 57 remain under review, while others have received warnings or are in training, she said.
Some of those fired held senior positions, she said.

The 215 claims investigated were broken down as follows:

Discrimination, 54; Sexual harassment, 47; Unprofessional behaviour, 45; Bullying, 33; Other harassment, 19; Retaliation, 13; Physical security 3; Wrongful dismissal 1.

Action taken and cases under review:

Staff fired, 20; Staff put in training, 31; Final warnings, 7; Claims still under review, 57.

Uber has also appointed Eric Holder, who served as attorney general under former US president Barack Obama, to investigate the company's broader culture.
The findings of that report have been turned over to the board and recommendations are expected to be made public next week.
Some changes are already in place.
Uber announced the hiring of two women to high profile positions this week.
Frances Frei, a Harvard Business School professor, will serve as a senior vice president for leadership and strategy, working with the head of human resources Liane Hornsey. Ms Hornsey is herself relatively new, starting at the company in January.
Bozoma Saint John, a former marketing executive at Apple, is also joining Uber as chief brand officer.
Uber employs more than 12,000 people globally.
About 36% of the workforce is female, according to a diversity report the firm published earlier this year. Women hold about 15% of the technology positions.

By Dave Lee, BBC North America technology reporter, San Francisco

It goes without saying that this issue doesn't go away with these firings.
Uber has major questions still to answer - some of them will hopefully be addressed when more details of the report are made public.
Most troubling is why Uber's own internal HR measures weren't thorough or fair enough to see that the actions of 20 employees warranted dismissal.
Instead it took a brave former employee - and then an expensive, lengthy investigation - to get to that point.
So as well as detailing what it has done to address those existing complaints, Uber will now have to be very clear about how it will handle such issues in future.
Crucially, the lessons from this report should not be heeded by Uber alone. As many people have pointed out to me since we began reporting this story, this is a problem that affects the technology industry across the board
 
BBC NEWS

Caught in the middle of Libya's kidnapping nightmare

Kidnapping has become a growing problem in Libya, where three governments and several militia are vying for power. The BBC's North Africa correspondent Rana Jawad has been talking to people personally affected.
"My father was kidnapped yesterday."
Not quite the text message you expect to get from a close friend on a Friday morning. I called to confirm that it was not a cruel auto-correction and rushed over to her place. She looked remarkably composed but exhausted.
Here, in the comfort and safety of neighbouring Tunisia, the insecurities engulfing Libya seem like a galaxy away.
She gets another call, and another, about a dozen in less than an hour.
She stands, frowning, and clutching the phone, trying to make sense of what was being communicated to her. She paces, kicks the kitchen chair, and eventually sits down calmly again.


In post-revolution Libya, either armed gangs or semi-official militias kidnap people. The motives vary, from ransom, to revenge, to politics but the devastation and helplessness that the victims' families experience is the same.
I saw this first-hand through my friend, Lina (not her real name).
Her 68-year-old diabetic father, university professor Salem Beitelmal, was abducted. Six weeks on, the family is still not entirely sure which armed group took him or why. But they have learned that his car was found abandoned on the side of a road, west of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Official statistics are not available but many Libyans I know have either first-hand experience of being kidnapped or have had a family member or friend abducted. Most families do not speak out, fearing that if they go public their loved ones will be killed or tortured in captivity.
So what happens after a kidnapping?
The power vacuum in Libya means that in case of an emergency, you call a friend, a neighbour, and every local militia under the Libyan sun.

Over the past month, I have watched Lina agonize over an investigation that often entails talking to people she mistrusts. The family has a pool of contacts she is calling, but they are strangers.
At times, she looked like she was going around in circles and slowly being sucked into a vortex of misinformation.
"You don't have institutions that you can turn to that are there to protect and serve the citizens. So the reality then becomes that it is the citizens who have to take matters into their own hands," she tells me.
"But at the same time there's a strong social network that kind of replaces that, and that's how Libyans have been dealing with everything," she says.


  • Long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in October 2011
  • Since then there has been no central authority
  • Myriad armed militias took control of different parts of the country
  • The UN has backed a government based in Tripoli
  • There are two other rival governments

Kidnappings in Libya have been on the rise over the past three years.
Current statistics are not available, but in 2015 the Libyan Red Crescent Society reported that more than 600 people had gone missing between February 2014 and April 2015.
No-one is immune - the victims range from politicians to activists to businessmen to doctors to children. And the stories are all equally tragic.
Abdel-Moez Banoun, a high-profile anti-militia activist, disappeared from Tripoli in the late summer of 2014 and has been deemed untraceable by human rights groups since.
Here in Tunis, I met a young Libyan woman whose entire family had fled their home country after a relative was kidnapped and killed.
Jabir Zain, a young Sudanese activist who grew up in Libya, was taken by an armed group outside a cafe in Tripoli in late September.
It happened after he led a group discussion on women's rights. Human rights groups have described his case as an "enforced disappearance".



Hanan Salah, a senior researcher with the Human Rights Watch campaign group, recently visited Libya to document cases of kidnappings. She has been researching issues in the country for several years, but the deteriorating security and the dangers that civilians are exposed to still surprise her.
"I was really shocked at the normalisation of crime, and in particular the soaring numbers of abductions for ransom, and extortions by militias and armed gangs," she says.
She remembers one victim's story in particular.
"The reason he was kidnapped was because the family he was being held by was trying to pay off the ransom of another kidnapping case," she says.

Nightmare existence

What has surprised Lina the most is the realisation of just how bad things are in her country.
"If you go to Libya today, during the day… as long as there are no clashes in the streets, life is normal; people are going to school, to work, shopping. Cafes and restaurants are filled.
"It gives you this false sense that there is in fact something that's keeping this country together.
"But then when you're put into this nightmare, you realise that there are no institutions that you can turn to, and that there is a complete breakdown."
I ask her if she is angry.
"I'm very angry. It angers me that we have three governments - not one - that claim power on the ground, and the reality is that not a single one of them have real control."

BBC NEWS

Apple to scan iPhones for child sex abuse images

  Apple has announced details of a system to find child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on customers' devices. Before an image is stored on...