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[ad_1] Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Jane Giannoulas from San Diego waiting outside Buckingham Palace after the wedding of Prince William A special exhibition of British royal portraiture has come to Texas from London, just as a Netflix show documenting the life of Elizabeth II, The Crown, sweeps the Emmys. How has the US fascination with the royals endured? With an elegant white fur collar around her neck and beneath the sparkling diamond diadem from her 1953 coronation the Queen's eyes are beguilingly closed - is she asleep, thinking about what cocktail to have before supper, or contemplating death? Chris Levine's intimate and enigmatic holographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is one of 150 objects - most never seen before outside the UK - now telling an audience in Houston the story of B...

[ad_1] Image copyright Getty Images US retailer Sears, a brand that once dominated shopping malls in the country, has filed for bankruptcy. Sears Holdings - which also owns Kmart - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. The company has suffered, along with many other traditional retailers, from rising online competition from firms such as Amazon. Sears has been closing stores and selling properties as it grapples with a debt load of more than $5bn. The company has 90,000 employees and in its heyday owned over three thousand stores. It became America's largest retailer before being overtaken by Walmart in the 1980s. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection postpones a US company's obligations to its creditors, giving it time to reorganise its debts or sell parts of the business. Businessman Eddie Lampert - who serves as the company's chief executive, biggest inves...

[ad_1] Image copyright Charlie MacGregor Image caption Charlie MacGregor pictured on a beach in Lesbos, which he visits four or five times a year The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles a different business leader from around the world. This week we speak to Charlie MacGregor, founder of student accommodation group The Student Hotel. Scot Charlie MacGregor says he will never forget watching the boats full of desperate refugees and illegal migrants trying to come ashore on the Greek island of Lesbos. "Some boats didn't know where they were going, so would end up on the rocks," says the 42-year-old. "Some [of those onboard] didn't even make it. "The lucky ones that did were often terrorised, not only by the journey, but [fearing] what would happen to them next." This was in Octob...

[ad_1] Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A Canadian flag with a marijuana leaf flies alongside Parliament Hill in Canada Canada is about to become the second nation to fully legalise recreational cannabis. When prohibition comes to an end on 17 October, Canadian adults will be able to purchase and consume the drug from federally licensed producers.  The country has one of the highest rates of cannabis use in the world, particularly among young people.  Canadians spent an estimated C$5.7bn ($4.6bn; £3.5bn) in 2017 alone on combined medical and recreational use - about $1,200 per user. The bulk of that spending was on black market marijuana.  Uruguay was the first country to legalise recreational marijuana, although Portugal and the Netherlands have decriminalised the drug. Here's a look at some of the co...

[ad_1] It's Monday, it's a new week, and while we won't pretend to know everything that's going to happen over the next seven days, we have some sense of what's coming up. Here's your briefing on some of the most important and interesting stories happening in the week ahead. 1) Crunch time for Brexit talks Image copyright AFP Image caption The colourful room where UK Prime Minister Theresa May will be hoping to have positive talks What's happening? Leaders from across the European Union will meet in Brussels on Wednesday for a crucial summit. Why is it important? UK Prime Minister Theresa May hopes a deal with the European Union on Brexit might be in reach, and this is a chance to make major progress. Both sides had initiall...

[ad_1] Image copyright AFP Image caption Tolo News journalist Samim Faramarz was reporting on a blast in Kabul when a second one killed him and his cameraman More journalists have been killed in Afghanistan this year than in any other country. And although the race to be the first at the scene remains competitive, the pressure is on media organisations to do more to ensure their reporters stay safe, reports the BBC's Najiba Feroz. On 5 September, Tolo News journalist Samim Faramarz was reporting live on a suicide attack in the capital, Kabul . A few minutes later, a second attack at the scene killed him and his cameraman. A car bomber had targeted emergency services responding to the first incident. In total, 26 people died and 70 were injured, inc...

[ad_1] Image copyright Marcus Perkins Image caption Aid worker Robert Ntitima (R) and his driver Clinton Bakala pictured after beating back a bush fire Life on the humanitarian frontline is not as you know it, says former BBC journalist Mark Doyle, who now works in the aid sector and gives his personal view on the job done by aid workers in Zambia. The men in the photo above may not conform to the classic image of aid workers in Africa. A more traditional shots would show a nurse caring for a sick child - and the nurse would quite likely be a visiting European. But the vast majority of people who run aid projects on the continent are in fact Africans. And a huge amount of their time is necessarily devoted to confronting the difficulties of delivering assistance in remote places with poor roads or flooded tracks. Fig...

[ad_1] Image copyright Getty Images JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has cancelled plans to attend an investment conference in Riyadh amid growing tensions between the US and Saudi Arabia. He is the latest high-profile figure to pull out of a conference dubbed "Davos in the Desert" after the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Oil futures rose on Monday on concerns about supply, while stocks in Saudi Arabia fell sharply on Sunday. The Saudis deny killing Mr Khashoggi. The government critic vanished on 2 October after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Authorities there believe he was killed in the building by Saudi agents, which Riyadh has dismissed as "lies". The UK, Germany and France have demanded a credible investigation into the disappearance. "We can confirm... that Jamie will not be attending the Saudi event," a JP Morgan ...

[ad_1] BEIJING: Taiwan has invited Pope Francis to visit, its President Tsai Ing-wen said, just weeks after the Vatican reached a milestone deal on the appointment of bishops with China, which claims the self-ruled island as its own. Last month's deal gives the Holy See, Taiwan's last remaining diplomatic ally in Europe, a long-sought say over such appointments, although both sides call it "provisional" and sources have said some key issues remain unresolved. Taiwan Vice President Chen Chien-jen met Francis on Sunday and invited him to visit, Tsai's office said in a statement, adding that the pope had replied he would pray for Taiwan. But it gave no date for the proposed visit. Chen emphasized the provisional nature of the agreement between the Vatican and China, saying it did not involve a "diplomatic element" or affect the friendship between Taiwan and the Vatican, the statement added. "We urge everyone not to excessively interpret and worry abou...

[ad_1] TEHRAN: At an outreach centre in southern Tehran , teenagers are learning to be journalists, while upstairs their mothers are fine-tuning their sewing skills and rushing to fill an order for hospital uniforms. The brand-new centre in the working-class neighbourhood of Shahr-e Rey caters to hundreds of struggling families and Afghan refugees . It's a relatively new approach for Iran, where social welfare has often been left to informal groups based around the bazaar and mosque or fallen to large-scale government-controlled organisations. Today, privately-run charities are emerging, with managers, targets and buzzwords such as "empowerment" and "skills-training", and funded by wealthy business people who have made fortunes in booming industries such as private healthcare. This centre is run by the ILIA Foundation, created by social workers and members of the Nikan Hospital Group, who have partnered with UN refugee and health agencies to help around 1,000 fa...

[ad_1] President Donald Trump has brushed off accusations he failed to treat Christine Blasey Ford with respect during an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes. The question was raised after the US president mocked the testimony of Prof Blasey Ford, who alleged she was sexually assaulted by then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, during a campaign rally. [ad_2]

[ad_1] Image copyright AFP Image caption Donald Trump has said he does believe the climate is changing US President Donald Trump has accused climate change scientists of having a "political agenda" as he cast doubt on whether humans were responsible for the earth's rising temperatures. But Mr Trump also said he no longer believed climate change was a hoax. The comments, made during an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, come less than a week after climate scientists issued a final call to halt rising temperatures. The world's leading scientists agree that climate change is human-induced. Last week's report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - the leading international body evaluating climate change - warned the world was heading towards a temperature rise of 3C . Scientis...

[ad_1] SEOUL ( SOUTH KOREA ): The rival Koreas are holding high-level talks Monday to discuss further engagement amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea . South Korea said Monday's talks will be aimed at finding ways to carry out peace agreements announced after the summit last month between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang . The meeting between senior officials comes at a sensitive time as Washington has expressed unease over the fast pace in inter-Korean engagement, which it says should move in tandem with US-led efforts to denuclearize the North. South Korean unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon said the discussions will include setting up a joint survey of a North Korean railroad section the Koreas plan to connect with the South. The North's chief delegate to the talks is Ri Son Gwon, who chairs the North Korean agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs. ...

[ad_1] WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has alleged China, in addition to Russia , meddled in the 2016 US presidential elections . Last month, chairing a UN Security Council meeting on the sidelines of the UN general Assembly in New York, Trump had alleged that China was trying to interfere in the 2018 mid-term polls and that it did not want him to be the president. China has denied these allegations. However, for the first time Trump came out in open to say that China also meddled in the 2016 presidential elections. "They (Russians) meddled. But I think China meddled too," Trump told CBS News's popular '60 Minutes' in an interview. Recorded on Thursday, the interview was broadcast Sunday night. "I think China meddled also. And I think, frankly, China...is a bigger problem," Trump said and denied that by saying so he is not trying to divert the entire Russia thing. "I'm saying Russia, but I'm also saying China," he said. But it's...