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Witness History The Iran nuclear deal

BBC Newsa day ago
On 14 July 2015, Iran agreed to temporarily limit its nuclear programme. The deal was signed in Vienna, the capital of Austria.
Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), it was agreed between Iran and a group of world powers known as the P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, together with the EU.
The accord came after years of tension over Iran's alleged efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran insisted that its nuclear programme was entirely peaceful, but much of the international community did not believe that. Iran agreed to limit its nuclear programme and facilitate international inspections, in return for economic sanctions relief.
Baroness Catherine Ashton, who was the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, tells Ben Henderson how the plan was achieved.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.
For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.
We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous 'tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's 'rock star' philosopher.
You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.
(Photo: Baroness Catherine Ashton and Javad Mohammad Zarif, Iranian Foreign Minister, during nuclear negotiations in 2014. Credit: Dieter Nagl/AFP via Getty Images)
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Free speech under threat as Brits fear causing offence over race religion and immigration
Free speech under threat as Brits fear causing offence over race religion and immigration

Daily Mail​

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  • Daily Mail​

Free speech under threat as Brits fear causing offence over race religion and immigration

Free speech is under threat in Britain because people fear causing offence over race, religion and immigration, according to a new study. More than a third of Britons felt they had to self-censor their views on race or ethnicity while 32 per cent said they felt they could not speak freely about immigration or religious extremism. Some 41 per cent felt they had to hold back their views on transgender issues while 31 per cent felt constrained from discussing the conflict in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas terror attack. Almost half of Britons believe people are too easily offended, according to research for the Commission for Countering Extremism, which advises the Government. Older, white males are among those who feel the most restricted, and the more outspoken a person's views, the more likely they are feel constrained by the risk of offending others. The study, based on interviews with 2,500 people, was conducted by Ipsos to establish the state of free speech in Britain and was first reported by the Telegraph. People who are white, male, older and not university educated were more strongly in favour of free speech, regardless of the issue, but felt less able to speak their minds, the poll found. Some 48 per cent of this group said they felt they had to hold back their comments on race, far higher than the average of 36 per cent. The same was true on immigration, where 43 per cent felt they had to hold back on their views compared to an overall average among the public of 32 per cent. Among religious groups, Christians were more likely to back the right to free speech, but also more likely to feel they had to hold back on expressing their views. By contrast, women, younger Britons and people from ethnic minorities or non-Christian religions tended to think that people needed to be more sensitive in the way they spoke. Meanwhile the poll found that people predominantly held back from expressing their views to avoid causing offence or starting an argument. Some 46 per cent resisted expressing their views on any religious figure, text or teaching and 35 per cent held back their political views to avoid causing offence. Some people held back because of heightened concerns about their safety, with a quarter restraining themselves from discussing religion because of safety fears and 17 per cent their political views. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said that the Left's 'determination to shut down debate around immigration has created a chilling environment for free speech'. He told the Telegraph: 'In this context, a catch-all definition of Islamophobia would be a disaster, worsening the culture of fear that has spread throughout society.'

Afghan data breach: What we do and do not know
Afghan data breach: What we do and do not know

BBC News

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  • BBC News

Afghan data breach: What we do and do not know

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Migration will make UK population grow faster than any other large EU country and could increase by nearly 7% to 74.3million by the 2100, UN figures suggest
Migration will make UK population grow faster than any other large EU country and could increase by nearly 7% to 74.3million by the 2100, UN figures suggest

Daily Mail​

time24 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Migration will make UK population grow faster than any other large EU country and could increase by nearly 7% to 74.3million by the 2100, UN figures suggest

Record-breaking levels of immigration is causing Britain's population to grow faster than any other major EU country, figures have claimed. According to the United Nations, the UK's population is expected to balloon 6.8 per cent from 69.6million to 74.3million by the end of the century. Only Luxembourg, with a tiny population of around 672,000, is expected to rise more, at 10 per cent. It's feared the main driving force behind the surge is the Britain's skyrocketing immigration crisis - which political parties have so far failed to tackle. The news comes as the number of people living in the UK swelled by 9.2 million in the last 25 years, according to a cross-party Lords report today. The study, drafted by Conservative peer Robin Hodgson and 'Blue Labour ' grandee Maurice Glasman, raised concerns the UK was well on track to becoming Europe's most crowded country. 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