Why Israel will rule the new Middle East. Jan. 30, 2013: Israel's President Shimon Peres, right, listens as Yair Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, speaks during their meeting in Jerusalem.AP/Reuters Pool If you still think the future of Israel looks bleak, think again.
A few months ago it looked like the Jewish state might not survive until 2013. Rockets were raining down from Gaza; revolution was about to install one Islamicist government in Egypt, and another was poised to take over in Syria. Iran was threatening to finish what Hitler’s Holocaust started, with an atomic bomb. The Obama administration seemed unwilling to stop that happening-- while Israel’s only alternative to nuclear annihilation was a preemptive strike that was bound to start a major shooting war in the Middle East. Abdullah Ocalan: A bridge between Kurds and Turks?
4 February 2013Last updated at 04:07 ET By James Reynolds BBC News, Istanbul Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK, has been held in an island prison off Istanbul since 1999 For decades, the islands on the Sea of Marmara outside Istanbul have been home to Turkey's most dangerous exiles and prisoners.
Ottoman princes were held there; Trotsky made the islands his home following his escape from Stalin's Russia; and a Turkish prime minister was executed there after a military coup in 1960. The island of Imrali is now famous for one prisoner - a man Turkey often calls The Chief Terrorist. His hair is white and he has lost weight. For almost 14 years now, no-one apart from a handful of prison guards, politicians, lawyers and family members has seen him or heard his voice. Manx: Bringing a language back from the dead. 30 January 2013Last updated at 19:47 ET A Manx dictionary on the Isle of Man flag Condemned as a dead language, Manx - the native language of the Isle of Man - is staging an extraordinary renaissance, writes Rob Crossan.
Road signs, radio shows, mobile phone apps, novels - take a drive around the Isle of Man today and the local language is prominent. After Tiller: America's four late-term abortion doctors. 30 January 2013Last updated at 17:21 ET By Emma Jones BBC News, Park City Utah.
Photos: Kim Jong Un and his military. EA boss denies video games encourage violent attacks. 31 January 2013Last updated at 14:12 GMT By Leo Kelion Technology reporter EA's Battlefield 3 video game carries warnings it involves "intense violence" The boss of Electronic Arts (EA) has denied there is any link between video game content and "actual violence".
John Riccitiello spoke out on the subject during a conference call with bank analysts following his firm's latest earnings forecast. Bill called 'toughest gun control package in the nation' passed by New York Senate. Jan. 14, 2013: New York Gov.
Andrew Cuomo, center, speaks during a news conference announcing an agreement with legislative leaders on New York's Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act in the Red Room at the Capitol.ap ALBANY, N.Y. – Days after calling for an overhaul of gun control in New York following the Connecticut school shooting, Gov. Andrew Cuomo worked out a tough proposal on gun control with legislative leaders who promised to pass the most restrictive gun law in the nation. The measure passed the Senate 43-18 on the strength of support from Democrats, many of whom previously sponsored the bills that were once blocked by Republicans. The Democrat-led Assembly gaveled out before midnight and planned to take the issue up at 10 a.m. "This is a scourge on society," Cuomo said Monday night, one month after the Newtown, Conn., shooting that took the lives of 20 first graders and six educators.
Three shot at Lone Star college near Houston, Texas. 23 January 2013Last updated at 09:56 ET Witnesses described running after hearing gunshots at campus in Texas A suspect has been charged with aggravated assault over a shooting that left three people wounded at a college in the US state of Texas, say police.
Carlton Berry, 22, shot a man during an argument, police said, and apparently shot himself. He and the other person in the dispute were taken to hospital. A maintenance worker was injured in the cross-fire. The latest incident of gun violence, it comes amid a major push for gun control by the Obama administration. The shooting happened outside near a campus library at about 12:30 local time (18:30 GMT) on Tuesday. Hiding under table Police spent about 90 minutes scouring the campus and the surrounding woods for the gunman. Mr Berry arrived soon afterwards at a hospital and told medical workers he had accidentally shot himself in the hip. He remains in hospital under police guard.
Match-fixing: Champions League tie played in England 'was fixed' What happens at an atheist church? 4 February 2013Last updated at 10:58 ET By Brian Wheeler BBC News Magazine Harry Cliff gives his science lecture at the Sunday Assembly in a former church An "atheist church" in North London is proving a big hit with non-believers.
Does it feel a bit like a new religion? Not many sermons include the message that we are all going to die and there is no afterlife. But the Sunday Assembly is no ordinary church service. Launched last month, as a gathering for non-believers, it is, in the words of master of ceremonies Sanderson Jones, "part foot-stomping show, part atheist church, all celebration of life". 20 of your songs that changed the world. Can a song really help change the world?
A recent Magazine feature raised this question, and hundreds of readers responded. Fifty years ago, Barbara, a French singer of Jewish descent, wrote the song Goettingen about a German city she loved. Many believe her song helped build a new relationship between Germany and France. Google searches expose racial bias, says study of names. 4 February 2013Last updated at 08:19 ET.
