THE JFT EDIT

Created by  International renowned entrepreneur and stylish  Spark Zuta, Ghana’s Next Super Model is helping young promising models across Africa to realize their potentials in the modeling industry.

Ghana’s Next Super Models only look out for aspiring Models to compete for the chance to break into becoming models through runway competitions and series of photo shoots.

Being such as intriguing  reality show for all wannabe Super Model in Africa, the winner always takes home a crown and a Brand New Saloon Car.   

With the aim of empowering the youth in Africa and bringing transformation in the modeling business, Spark Zuta is known to have held similar shows across the globe.

JEMIMA FENTENG – TWUM

Japan is in the grip of an elderly crime wave – the proportion of crimes committed by people over the age of 65 has been steadily increasing for 20 years. The BBC’s Ed Butler asks why.

At a halfway house in Hiroshima – for criminals who are being released from jail back into the community – 69-year-old Toshio Takata tells me he broke the law because he was poor. He wanted somewhere to live free of charge, even if it was behind bars.

“I reached pension age and then I ran out of money. So it occurred to me – perhaps I could live for free if I lived in jail,” he says.

“So I took a bicycle and rode it to the police station and told the guy there: ‘Look, I took this.’”

The plan worked. This was Toshio’s first offence, committed when he was 62, but Japanese courts treat petty theft seriously, so it was enough to get him a one-year sentence.

Small, slender, and with a tendency to giggle, Toshio looks nothing like a habitual criminal, much less someone who’d threaten women with knives. But after he was released from his first sentence, that’s exactly what he did.

“I went to a park and just threatened them. I wasn’t intending to do any harm. I just showed the knife to them hoping one of them would call the police. One did.”

Altogether, Toshio has spent half of the last eight years in jail.

I ask him if he likes being in prison, and he points out an additional financial upside – his pension continues to be paid even while he’s inside.

“It’s not that I like it but I can stay there for free,” he says. “And when I get out I have saved some money. So it is not that painful.”

Toshio represents a striking trend in Japanese crime. In a remarkably law-abiding society, a rapidly growing proportion of crimes is carried about by over-65s. In 1997 this age group accounted for about one in 20 convictions but 20 years later the figure had grown to more than one in five – a rate that far outstrips the growth of the over-65s as a proportion of the population (though they now make up more than a quarter of the total).   

And like Toshio, many of these elderly lawbreakers are repeat offenders. Of the 2,500 over-65s convicted in 2016, more than a third had more than five previous convictions.

Another example is Keiko (not her real name). Seventy years old, small, and neatly presented, she also tells me that it was poverty that was her undoing.

“I couldn’t get along with my husband. I had nowhere to live and no place to stay. So it became my only choice: to steal,” she says. “Even women in their 80s who can’t properly walk are committing crime. It’s because they can’t find food, money.”

We spoke some months ago in an ex-offender’s hostel. I’ve been told she’s since been re-arrested, and is now serving another jail-term for shoplifting.

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Hundreds of schools across Wales and southern parts of England are closed due to snow and icy conditions.

More than 500 schools are shut in Wales, with about 200 in Berkshire, 250 in Wiltshire and 300 in Buckinghamshire also closed.

The Met Office has two yellow warnings in place for snow and ice in parts of England, Wales and north and eastern areas in Scotland.

Over 35 flights at Heathrow have been cancelled and Bristol Airport is shut.

Flights have been suspended until 12:00 GMT while snow is cleared from the runway.

British Airways, which cancelled dozens of flights from Heathrow Airport on Friday morning, advised customers to check their flight status and said people due to travel on short-haul flights were being offered the option to postpone their journey.

Meanwhile, the Met Office has warned of “treacherous driving conditions” in some southern areas.

• Latest as more snow due to hit UK
• Rough sleeping: What is being done about homelessness?
• How do I efficiently de-ice my car?

In Cornwall, more than 100 people spent the night at the Jamaica Inn pub after their cars became stuck on the A30.

On the trains, Transport for Wales expects some routes to be affected until 14:00, while Great Western Railway – which earlier warned of disruption until 12:00 – said a near normal service had resumed.

School closures include:

• Over 500 schools in Wales are closed as well as half the schools in Bristol
• Hundreds of schools across the regions which were affected by the Met Office’s amber weather warning – which covered Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire – are closed
• More than 150 schools in Cornwall and over 250 in Somerset are also shut
• In Scotland the closure of 17 schools and nurseries in the Highlands means 500 children will be getting a snow day
• Students at Callywith College in Bodmin were forced to stay overnight

Other disruption includes:

• Power cuts in part of the south of England have been reported
• Southeastern Trains has introduced a winter weather timetable for Friday morning
• Police in Wales have advised drivers to avoid the A4059 Storey Arms to Hirwaun due to “treacherous” conditions
• Chepstow Racecourse has cancelled Friday’s meet
• For more information, tune in to your BBC local radio station or check the BBC Weather page

The South West was worst affected on Thursday night, with snow depths of 12cm (5in) recorded in Bodmin, the Met Office said.

Parts of Cumbria have seen 8cm of snow, while there was 7cm recorded in Inverness-shire and 5cm in Powys.

Sammy Wheeler, who runs the Jamaica Inn, said some of those who spent the night had walked “a good three, four or five miles” through the snow to get there.

All 36 rooms at the pub were occupied overnight, with some shared by strangers. Two makeshift dormitories were also set up in the restaurant and lounge areas to help look after the guests, who included children and an eight-month old baby.

“People were incredibly high spirited,” Ms Wheeler said.

“We kept the kitchen open all night and people were playing games in the bar until the early hours in the morning.”

Paula Martin, chief executive of Cornwall Air Ambulance, was in one of the cars that got stranded on the A30.

“I got within two miles of home and the snow arrived very quickly and very suddenly,” she said.

“Within minutes the A30 very quickly became impassable, especially for the lorries – and it went from bad to worse.”

• How to prepare for the snow
• Do I have to go to work in the snow?
• Has your journey been affected? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

Temperatures fell to their lowest level this winter, with Braemar, Aberdeenshire, dropping to -15.3C (6F) in the early hours of Friday.

This is the lowest in the UK since 2012 – when temperatures fell to -15.6C in Holbeach, Lincolnshire.

What’s the forecast?

Further rain, sleet and snow is forecast for central-southern England and south-eastern Britain on Friday afternoon.

Wintry showers will continue for eastern areas and northern Scotland into the evening with light rain or sleet expected in the south-east.

• In Pictures: Some of the most striking images of snowfall
• Snow set to continue through the night in Wales

What warnings are in place?

There are yellow warnings for snow and ice until lunchtime on Friday in large parts of Wales and England, including London, and northern and eastern Scotland.

They warn of some snow, but not prolonged falls, and say some stretches of road will be icy.

An amber warning means there is a likelihood of impacts from severe weather including a potential risk to life and property. People should be prepared to change their plans to make sure that everybody is safe.

Yellow warnings are issued for low level impacts including some disruption to travel. People should check the latest forecast and check how they might be impacted.

You can read the Met Office guide to its warnings here or watch our handy breakdown.

This temperature comparison tool uses three hourly forecast figures. For more detailed hourly UK forecasts go to BBC Weather.

US President Donald Trump has dismissed the federal investigation into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 election and talks about a proposed border wall.

His lawyers had been reassured he was not a target in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, he said.

Talks in Congress about wall funding – the issue behind the recent government shutdown – were a “waste of time”. Mr Trump was interviewed by the New York Times, a paper he repeatedly described as “failing” in the past. The paper’s interview with Mr Trump came after he contacted its publisher, AG Sulzberger. The world known controversial President took to his twitter page and wrote

“The Failing New York Times wrote a story that made it seem like the White House Councel had TURNED on the President, when in fact it is just the opposite – & the two Fake reporters knew this. This is why the Fake News Media has become theEnemy of the People. So bad for America!” 

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