Najat Driouech, who is likely to become Catalonia's first female Muslim MP

"It's sad to turn on the television and never see a black face or an Arab personality," says Najat Driouech, who is likely to become Catalonia's first female Muslim MP.
She says she is used to being a pioneer, as the first girl from her community to have won a literary prize and gone to university.
"I don't want my children to suffer half of what their grandparents suffered, or a quarter of what I had. I want them to find a society that is inclusive, equal and recognises diversity."
She arrived in Catalonia from Morocco with her parents as a nine-year-old, in 1990. She has been a community worker for her local council in Masnou, a town outside Barcelona, for 17 years.
She is campaigning in the midst of a political crisis sparked by the former Catalan government's illegal declaration of independence. The new regional election, called by the Spanish government, is on Thursday.
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"It's not my goal to be the first Muslim woman member of parliament, but the first of many," Ms Driouech told the BBC.
Despite not being a member of any political party, she agreed to join the electoral list for the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), to take her fight against prejudice to a higher level.
The ERC hopes to win a majority with other pro-independence parties in order to "strengthen Catalonia's institutions" and continue the drive for secession from Spain.
"I am taking this step at such a complicated time for Catalonia because I believe it's necessary to civilise part of society - that minority which believes that another minority is second-class," Ms Driouech said.
ERC campaign rally in Barcelona, 16 Dec 17Image copyrightAFP
Image caption
The Catalan independence flag at an ERC campaign rally in Barcelona
Fighting discrimination
There are 515,000 Muslims in Catalonia, comprising 6.8% of the population.
Ms Driouech is standing against what she describes as racism fomented by some politicians in Catalonia.
The candidate for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's Popular Party, Xavier Garcia Albiol, drew criticism from anti-racism campaigners for the slogan "Cleaning Badalona". He used it as mayor of that town, which has attracted a large immigrant population.
Madrid mosque, Jan 2015 file picImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
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A Madrid mosque: Spain's Muslim-Christian tensions go back centuries
In her community work, Ms Driouech says she is faced "again and again" with cases of discrimination, for example nurses who are not accepted in hospitals because they wear a headscarf, and graduates whose CVs are ignored because of their Muslim names.
"When you are little and you speak Catalan and Spanish well, people say 'how sweet'. Then you get older, you start to speak up and debate things, and that doesn't go down well. Now you're a rival.
"So what do we want? To be like the first generation, that only came here to clean, or the ones who compete for the same positions?
"They told us that to be normal citizens we had to study, and we've studied. That we had to participate in society, and we are doing that. So where is the problem?"
Risk of radicalisation
In a survey of second-generation immigrants in Spain, carried out by Princeton, Clemson and Miami universities, 20% said they had suffered discrimination in the past three years.
Among the children of Muslim immigrants the concentration was greater in certain parts of the country, including Catalonia's economic hub Barcelona, where a number of complaints of police harassment were reported.
"In some circumstances this can have a dramatic impact, in that seeing yourself as a second-class citizen, or feeling limited to certain ghetto areas, can lead to the consequences we all know about," said Alejandro Portes of Princeton University.
The jihadists who attacked Barcelona and Cambrils in August were all children of Moroccan parents who had moved to the Catalan town of Ripoll, where they came under the influence of a radical imam.
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Anti-terror march in Barcelona, 26 Aug 17Image copyrightAFP
Image caption
Muslim women took part in an anti-terrorism rally after the Barcelona attack
Mohamed el Ghaidouni, leader in Catalonia of the Union of Islamic Communities in Spain (UCIDE), says increased co-operation between the authorities and Muslim organisations would reduce the risk of radicalisation.
"We want religious instruction to take place in the schools and not in uncontrolled places," he said. He accused the Catalan authorities of having ignored an agreement between the Spanish state and Muslim community to offer classes in Islam to children whose parents wish it, putting them on a par with Christian families.
According to UCIDE, there are 82,000 children from Muslim families in state education in Catalonia with no Islamic instruction available.
"There should also be co-operation with the government to allow Muslims to house their places of worship in city centres and not on the outskirts, and recognise certain religious holidays," adds Mr El Ghaidouni. "Such measures will lead us to a normalisation and stabilisation of religious practice."
Map of Catalonia in Spain
The Catalan government was dismissed by Spain's Prime Minister Rajoy in October, after the independence declaration. Madrid imposed direct rule, under emergency constitutional powers.
The ERC's leader, Oriol Junqueras, and another member of the former Catalan government remain in custody, while being investigated for rebellion and other offences related to the independence drive.
Seven others were released on bail and five, including former president Carles Puigdemont, fled to Belgium.
Ms Driouech says she is "for the right of the people to decide" whether Catalonia should be part of Spain, refusing to reveal whether she is pro-independence herself.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42400762

The Saudi-led coalition battling, Yemen rebel ballistic missile intercepted over Riyadh

The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Houthi rebels says it has intercepted a ballistic missile near Riyadh, Saudi state media report.
Witnesses in the Saudi capital posted pictures on social media showing a cloud of smoke in the air. There were no reports of any casualties.
The Houthis' Al Masirah TV said the missile had targeted a meeting of Saudi leaders at the al-Yamama Palace.
Last month, a similar missile came close to hitting Riyadh's airport.
Saudi Arabia and the US have accused Iran of giving the Houthis that missile.
Iran has denied arming the rebels, who have been fighting a war against Yemen's government and the Saudi-led coalition since March 2015.
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A report on Al Masirah's website cited the Houthis' Missile Forces as announcing the launch of a Burkan-2 missile on Tuesday afternoon "in response to the heinous crimes committed by the US-Saudi aggression against the people of Yemen".
Map showing Yemen, Saudi Arabia and close-up of Riyadh
The missile had targeted a "meeting of the leadership of the Saudi regime in al-Yamama Palace in Riyadh", during which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was expected to discuss the kingdom's annual budget, Al Masirah said.
The palace is the main headquarters of the king's office and the royal court.
Minutes later, Saudi state-run Al Ikhbariya TV reported that a missile had been intercepted south of the capital.
One video posted by a man who said he was in the Olaya district shows a white cloud above the city. The sound of an explosion can then be heard.
 Twitter post by @salmanKSA111: #صوت_انفجار_في_الرياض⁧#عاجل    التحالف العربي يعلن اعتراض صاروخ باليستي جنوب مدينة ⁧#الرياض!اللهم احفظ بلادنا من كل سوء..اللهم من أراد بلادنا بسوء فأشغله بنفسه ورد كيده في نحره.. 🇸🇦#صوت_انفجار_في_الرياض #سلمان_الحارثي_ابن_الوطن Image Copyright @salmanKSA111@SALMANKSA111
Report
The official Saudi Press Agency later cited a coalition spokesman as saying that the missile had been fired indiscriminately towards residential areas of Riyadh, and that it had been intercepted by a Patriot missile south of the city without causing damage or casualties.
The spokesman said the attack proved that Iran was continuing to support the Houthis in defiance of two UN Security Council resolutions, and that the missiles it was supplying were threatening regional and international security.
Saudi officials said US-supplied Patriot batteries intercepted the Burkan-2 missile fired at Riyadh's airport on 4 November. But analysts have cast doubt on that assertion and said the missile's warhead landed close to the domestic terminal.
US permanent representative to the UN Nikki Haley gestures towards the remnants of a ballistic missile fired at Riyadh in NovemberImage copyrightAFP
Image caption
The US put on display remnants of the missile fired towards Riyadh last month
The coalition tightened its blockade of Yemen in response to that attack, saying it wanted to halt the smuggling of weapons from Iran. But the UN warned that the restrictions could trigger "the largest famine the world has seen for many decades".
Although the coalition later eased its restrictions, allowing humanitarian aid to be delivered to Houthi-controlled ports and airports, commercial shipments of food and fuel are still blocked, causing severe shortages.
More than 8,670 people have been killed and 49,960 injured since the coalition intervened in Yemen's war, according to the UN.
The fighting and the coalition blockade have also left 20.7 million people in need of humanitarian aid, created the world's largest food security emergency, and led to a cholera outbreak that is thought to have killed 2,219 people since April.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-42412729

What will you be like in your 80s? What are the secrets of the superagers?

What will you be like in your 80s? Living independently, robust in body and mind, with a wide social circle?
Manage that and you will be a superager. It is a worthy aspiration, but the reality is rather different for most of us.
Although we are living longer, more of those extra years are being spent in ill health, often with multiple chronic conditions.
Of the 65 million people in the UK, 8.45 million are projected to live to 100, according to analysis from the Office for National Statistics.
That's around one in eight of the population and a timely reminder that many of us will spend a third of our lives in old age.
Ageing is a global issue - the number of people aged 65 and older is projected to almost triple to 1.5 billion by 2050.
California is one of the key centres for ageing research - and it's where I met both scientists and superagers.
World population day in numbers
Let's start with Irene Obera.
She's 84 and the fastest woman on earth for her age. Irene has been breaking world records in Masters athletics for four decades.
People living to 100
She has the poise and physique of someone in their prime and makes age look like an irrelevance.
Her philosophy is simple: "A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits - and I want to be a winner."
Being a winner involves grit, determination and relentless effort.
I met Irene and her coach Alan Kolling at Chabot College, near San Francisco, where they train three or four times a week.
Then there are the gym sessions, tennis and bowling - Irene is on the go all day.
"You gotta use it, or you lose it," she says with a smile.
Her only period of ill-health was self inflicted - when she dropped a weight on her toe in the gym.
As with all the superagers I've met, Irene retains a positive attitude - her horizons have not narrowed as she has aged.
She is socially connected; as well as all the people she meets through sport, Irene volunteers in her local community.
Ageing well is about exercising the mind as well as the body.
It's thought that one in three cases of dementia could be prevented if more people looked after their brain health throughout life.
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I joined a French literature class at the Alliance Française in Berkeley, across the bay from San Francisco.
All the students were in their 70s, and retained the same curiosity and positive attitude which seem to be hallmarks of superagers.
Pamela Blair, 76, a retired psychologist, told me: "I love the French language and its literature. But I'm also here to exercise my mind - my mother had Alzheimer's".
The Buck Institute for Research on Aging
Image caption
The Buck Institute for Research on Aging
The idea that ageing itself can be targeted is gaining momentum, in part as a result of the work of scientists at the Buck Institute for Research On Aging.
Clad in white Italian marble, with the same architect as the Louvre pyramid, the institute sits in the hills above Silicon Valley.
It has nearly 300 scientists, spread across 18 laboratories, who investigate the connection between ageing and chronic disease.
What is it that cancer, heart disease, stroke, dementia and osteoarthritis all have in common? The fact that your chances of getting any of them increase as you age.
Prof Judy Campisi, one of the lead scientists at the Buck, told me: "It's not a coincidence that all these diseases occur at the same time - we think there are basic ageing processes that cause all of them."
Like others at the Buck Institute, Prof Campisi is convinced that science will be able to help us age more healthily.
She said: "We predict there will be drugs that will treat ageing, and as a consequence we will be able to extend healthspan, the years of healthy life.
"This would mean people could look forward to the last decade of life being vibrant and engaged - their brains and bodies working optimally."
As part of this series of reports on superagers I'll be looking at two drugs which some scientists believe could target the ageing process.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-42256225