Artificial intelligence apps, Parkinson’s and me

Summary: In my work as a journalist I am lucky enough to meet some brilliant people and learn about exciting advances in technology - along with a few duds. But every now and then I come across something that resonates in a deeply personal way.

Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent@BBCRoryCJon Twitter So it was in October 2018, when I visited a company called Medopad, based high up in London's Millbank Tower. This medical technology firm was working with the Chinese tech giant Tencent on a project to use artificial intelligence to diagnose Parkinson's Disease. This degenerative condition affects something like 10 million people worldwide. It has a whole range of symptoms and is pretty difficult to diagnose and then monitor as it progresses. Medopad's work involves monitoring patients via a smartphone app and wearable devices. It then uses a machine learning system to spot patterns in the data rather than trying to identify them by human analysis. In its offices we found one of its staff being filmed as he rapidly opened and closed his fingers - stiffness in these kind of movements is one of the symptoms of Parkinson's. As we filmed him being filmed, I stood there wondering whether I should step in front of the camera and try the same exercise. For some months, I had been dragging my right foot as I walked and experiencing a slight tremor in my right hand. Getting to grips I had first dismissed this as just part of getting older, but had eventually gone to see my GP. She had referred me to a consultant neurologist, but at the time of filming I was still waiting for my appointment. As we left Medopad, I clenched and unclenched my fingers in the lift and reflected on what I had seen. A few days later my coverage of the project appeared on the BBC website. Three months on, in January this year, I finally met the consultant. She confirmed what I had long suspected - I was probably suffering from idiopathic Parkinson's Disease. The "idiopathic" means the cause is unknown. As I got to grips with the condition and started a course of medication, I quickly found out that there are all sorts of unknowns for people with Parkinson's. Why did I get it? How quickly will the various symptoms develop? What are the hopes of a cure? There are no reliable answers. My response has been to take a great interest in how the technology and pharmaceutical industries are investigating the condition. Developments in artificial intelligence, coupled with the availability of smartphones, are opening up new possibilities, and this week I returned to Medopad to see how far it had progressed. I asked the firm's chief executive, Dan Vahdat, whether he had noticed anything that suggested I might have a special interest in Parkinson's when I first visited. "I don't think we noticed anything specifically," he said. "But - and that's weird for me to tell you this - I had this intuition that I wanted to get you to do the test." That, of course, did not happen but over the last year there has been a clinical trial involving London's King's College Hospital. People with Parkinson's have been given a smartphone app, which their relatives use to record not just that hand-clenching exercise but other aspects of the way they move. "We think this technology can help to quantify the disease," Dan explained. No instant impact "And if you can quantify the disease, it means you can see how the disease progresses. "It gives you lots of opportunities, in terms of treatment adjustments, interventions at the right time, potentially screening a larger cohort of patients with the technology in ways that were not possible before." This made me think about my own situation. Since February, I have been prescribed Sinemet - one of the most common Parkinson's drugs - in the form of two tablets taken three times a day. While some patients see an instant impact, I cannot say I notice much effect. If anything my main symptom, dragging my right foot, has got slightly worse. When I see my consultant every four months we discuss whether the prescription should be adjusted, but it is difficult for me to quantify my symptoms. Dan told me this was exactly the kind of scenario they are trying to address. "We think you will end up having a more continuous observation via machine and the doctors can look at it remotely. And with that they will be able to adjust your treatment, if needed, because potentially right now you're either overdosing or underdosing." I am now going to get access to the trial app and look forward to finding out what it says about me. This is just one of many projects run by a variety of companies where real-time data is collected from people with Parkinson's and other conditions via their handsets. The search for a cure to Parkinson's goes on. We appear to be a long way off, but in the meantime quantifying a condition like mine could do a lot to improve how I and many others cope with the symptoms. What is exciting to me is that the smartphone revolution, which I have documented since watching Steve Jobs unveil the iPhone in 2007, now promises to change healthcare just as it has transformed many other aspects of our lives. And I hope to continue reporting on that revolution for many more years.

एक पत्रकार के रूप में अपने काम में मैं भाग्यशाली हूं कि मुझे कुछ प्रतिभाशाली लोगों से मिलने और प्रौद्योगिकी में रोमांचक प्रगति के बारे में जानने का मौका मिला। लेकिन समय-समय पर मुझे कुछ ऐसा मिलता है जो गहराई से व्यक्तिगत तरीके से प्रतिध्वनित होता है।


Pakistan PM can hope to survive defections

Summary: The decision by the MQM party to pull out of the ruling coalition leaves the government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani short of a majority in the parliament by over a dozen votes, as the numbers appear at the moment.

By M Ilyas KhanBBC News, Islamabad But few expect the government to collapse immediately. There are several reasons for this. For one, the shortfall is too thin and there may be smaller groups and independents who would be willing to step in to bridge the gap. Besides, Prime Minister Gilani would be in trouble only if President Asif Ali Zardari asks him to prove his majority. If he chooses not to do that, which for many is a likelihood, the prime minister is not under any legal obligation to call for a vote of confidence. The onus will then be on the opposition to call for a no-confidence move against the prime minister. In this case, it will be the opposition, not the government, which will have to prove its majority. If the MQM joins the opposition in such a vote, all the opposition parties combined can muster up to 174 votes, which is two more than the votes needed to unseat the government. Populist rhetoric But the opposition is not likely to go for this option. The smaller groups are too fractious to jointly vote in a no-confidence move, and the largest opposition party, the PML-N, is not willing to step into the prime minister's office for two reasons. It will have to depend for support on the same groups that have deserted Mr Gilani's government, and it will be stepping in at a time when the country's economic and security challenges require unpopular decisions. The two coalition partners who quit Mr Gilani's government are themselves not likely to push things decisively beyond populist rhetoric. The reason is that while they have left the central government, they have stopped short of abandoning two provincial governments in which they are junior partners of Mr Gilani's PPP party. The Islamist JUI-F party, which walked out of the central alliance in early December, continues to be a part of the provincial cabinet in Balochistan province, while the MQM remains a partner in Sindh province.

एमक्यूएम पार्टी द्वारा सत्तारूढ़ गठबंधन से बाहर निकलने के निर्णय ने प्रधानमंत्री यूसुफ रजा गिलानी की सरकार को संसद में बहुमत से एक दर्जन से अधिक मतों से कम कर दिया है, क्योंकि इस समय संख्या दिखाई दे रही है।


Coming Out exhibition marking sexuality, gender and identity

Summary: Works by artists Francis Bacon and Tracey Emin are going on show in a new exhibition which looks at issues around sexuality.

Coming Out marks 50 years since the Sexual Offences Act 1967 partially decriminalised male homosexual acts. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery's exhibition looks at how the artists explore themes of gender and identity. A standout artwork is Grayson Perry's "Claire's Coming Out Dress", a spokesman said. He wore the dress to mark his emergence as a transvestite to the art world. The exhibition runs from Saturday with comedian Joe Lycett performing the official opening. It continues throughout December and also includes work by Vanley Burke, Gillian Wearing and Andy Warhol. Related Internet Links Museum & Art Gallery - Birmingham Museums

कलाकार फ्रांसिस बेकन और ट्रेसी एमिन की कृतियाँ एक नई प्रदर्शनी में दिखाई जा रही हैं जो कामुकता के मुद्दों को देखती है।


The Gruffalo's Axel Scheffler and Christmas stamps

Summary: Best known for drawing a crooked-toothed monster that meets a mouse in the woods, Axel Scheffler has used his distinctive illustrative talents to create the 2012 set of Royal Mail Christmas stamps.

Here, take a look at how his humorous style, which helped make Julia Donaldson's Gruffalo books so successful, will adorn the corners of millions of envelopes this festive season. Click bottom right for image information. All images subject to copyright. Artwork by Axel Scheffler. Music by Focus Music and Bing Crosby. Slideshow production by Paul Kerley. Publication date 13 December 2012. Related: Room on the Broom - BBC One Christmas Day Axel Scheffler at children's publisher Nosy Crow The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites. More audio slideshows: Skyscrapers - past, present and future Ansel Adams and American nature A 23-year, 500,000-mile drive You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook

जंगल में एक चूहे से मिलने वाले एक कुटिल-दांतेदार राक्षस को चित्रित करने के लिए जाने जाने वाले एक्सेल शेफलर ने रॉयल मेल क्रिसमस टिकटों का 2012 का सेट बनाने के लिए अपनी विशिष्ट सचित्र प्रतिभा का उपयोग किया है।


Donald Trump's 'Menie golf battle' lawyer George Sorial to step down

Summary: The senior lawyer who represented the Trump Organisation during its battle to build its golf resort in Aberdeenshire is to leave the company.

George Sorial was often the spokesman for Donald Trump during controversy surrounding plans for the course at the Menie estate. Mr Sorial confirmed to BBC Scotland he was leaving. He will instead promote a book about Mr Trump which he co-authored with former Aberdeen journalist Damian Bates. President Trump opened his controversial but widely-acclaimed golf course on the Menie estate in 2012. It was approved in 2008 by the Scottish government, after being rejected by councillors in 2007.

एबरडीनशायर में गोल्फ रिसॉर्ट बनाने की लड़ाई के दौरान ट्रम्प संगठन का प्रतिनिधित्व करने वाले वरिष्ठ वकील को कंपनी छोड़नी है।


How cough syrup in Nigeria is creating a generation of addicts

Summary: When the younger brother of the BBC's Ruona Meyer became addicted to cough syrup, she began to investigate the men who make and sell opioid-based medicine on the streets of Lagos. Her investigation took her deep into Nigeria's criminal underworld, uncovering an epidemic that is destroying young lives across West Africa.

"Where there are lots of school kids, as soon as they get a taste for it, they'll keep pestering you for more," says Junaid Hassan. When I heard him say these words I felt sick to my stomach. I had already witnessed what he described - young Nigerians hooked on cough syrup made with codeine, an opioid which can be addictive. A 14-year-old girl from my home city of Lagos, her parents distressed and unsure how to help her. A young man in Kano, chained to the floor of a rehab centre, swarming with flies, driven mad by months of drinking syrup with his friends. My own brother has suffered from codeine cough syrup addiction. The strawberry tasting opioid hooked him after our father was killed. Grief, depression, a desire to be cool are just some of the reasons Nigerians are falling for this drug. Musicians sing about the high it gives you. Dealers peddle it in nightclubs and on the streets. Teenagers mix it with soft drinks, or swig it straight from the bottle at "syrup parties". Mr Hussan, aka Baba Ibeji, works at Bioraj Pharmaceuticals, a licensed medical producer which manufactures a codeine cough syrup called Biolin. The company is a major supplier to northern Nigeria. He is one of a number of pharmaceutical company employees who the BBC have secretly filmed doing illegal cough syrup deals over the past few months. It is not illegal to drink or manufacture the medicine - but it is against the law to sell it to people without a doctor's prescription or those who don't have a pharmaceutical licence. "Even if someone wants to buy 1,000 cartons, we won't give them a receipt," Mr Hassan told us, explaining how he avoids detection from authorities. Corruption like this is against Bioraj company policy, but is helping to fuel the industrial quantities of syrup leaking on to the black market. When we informed Bioraj that we had evidence Mr Hassan was engaging in this illicit activity, it responded with a statement saying the company only sells codeine cough syrup legitimately, that Mr Hassan denies wrongdoing, and that company chairman Bioku Rahamon personally guards Biolin sales. Like all opioids, codeine is in the same chemical family as heroin. It's an effective painkiller, but is also capable of giving you a euphoric high if consumed in large quantities. It is highly addictive and, taken in excess, can have a devastating impact on the mind and body. In the Dorayi Rehabilitation Centre in Kano, I met a man said by staff to have been driven insane by the drug. He was shackled at the ankles and chained to the roots of a tree, screaming and thrashing his arms. Seventy-two hours earlier he had been out on the streets, breaking car windows in traffic. "He's still going through his withdrawal issues now," said Sani Usaini, the officer in charge of the rehab centre. Codeine cough syrup - the scale of the problem In addition to kidney damage and seizures, serious abuse of codeine cough syrup can trigger mental psychosis - delusions, hallucinations, and even schizophrenia. Many of the syrup addicts in the rehab centre can become so violent that staff chain them to the floor. "He can't be in a bed because he has broken the bed, he has broken the windows and hurt himself," Mr Usaini told me, as I stood in front of another shackled young man. The air hung with a faint smell of faeces and the hum of flies. "Plenty of parents come here to cry." Pharmaceutical company employees who illegally sell syrup on to the black market know just how addictive codeine can be. Among them is Chukwunonye Madubuike, a business development executive with Emzor pharmaceuticals, which illegally sold us 60 bottles of codeine syrup in a hotel room deal in Lagos. "When somebody is addicted to something - you get me? - and he needs it, the price I don't think is an issue on this," he told us. "This is a product that I know that if I have one million cartons, I can sell it in a week." Emzor Pharmaceuticals told us that it is now investigating Mr Madubuike, adding he has access to a very limited amount of Emzolyn with codeine and could not sell large quantities illegally. The company says it is a responsible and compliant business, is reviewing its distribution policies, and treating our findings with the utmost seriousness. 'It crosses all class' In Kano, northern Nigeria, the drug enforcement agency (NDLEA) regularly leads raids to seize and destroy codeine syrup destined for street sale. Officers showed us over two tonnes of syrup - Bioraj's Biolin with codeine - that had been seized by Swat teams. They also showed us weapons criminal drug gangs use to protect their business, including knives, swords, and even a chainsaw that had been used to attack an NDLEA officer. But the NDLEA in Kano, by its own admission, is struggling to cope with the sheer scale of the syrup epidemic. The Nigerian Senate estimates that as many as three million bottles of codeine syrup are drunk every single day in just two states, Kano and Jigawa. "We may not even arrest 10% [of cough syrup on the market]," said Commander Hamza Umar of the NDLEA in Kano. "It crosses all class, no matter the level - rich and poor, educated and illiterate, a beggar and a toddler." Back in the rehab centre, Mr Usaini measures the scale of the epidemic by the number of young syrup addicts who are brought into his care. He used to see perhaps two or three cases each week, but "now we see seven, eight, sometimes even 10 within a week… Any child that you see they're bringing here as a drug addict? It's codeine." In a windowless room, still shaking after two months of withdrawal, we found one of those children - a 16-year-old girl in a pink hijab who told us that she used to get syrup from her boyfriend and drink it after school. She had a simple message for other young Nigerians tempted by the syrup craze: "I would advise them not to go into it if they haven't already. If they do, it will ruin their lives." This is the first report from BBC Africa's new investigations unit, Africa Eye.

जब बी. बी. सी. की रुओना मेयर के छोटे भाई को कफ सिरप की लत लग गई, तो उन्होंने लागोस की सड़कों पर ओपिओइड आधारित दवा बनाने और बेचने वाले लोगों की जांच शुरू कर दी। उनकी जांच ने उन्हें नाइजीरिया के आपराधिक अधोलोक में गहराई तक ले जाया, जिससे एक महामारी का खुलासा हुआ जो पूरे पश्चिम अफ्रीका में युवा जीवन को नष्ट कर रही है।


Sean Penn: Hollywood hellraiser turned activist

Summary: Sean Penn is one of the more colourful Hollywood stars of recent decades, emerging from his early incarnation as a hard-drinking young Hollywood actor to become a double Oscar winner and high-profile campaigner on social and political issues.

The 55-year-old's secret interview in the Mexican jungle with fugitive Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, published in Rolling Stone shortly after the notorious drug lord was recaptured, is just his latest brush with controversy. Penn was a noted critic of the administration of President George W Bush, visiting Baghdad ahead of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq which he firmly opposed. He also met Washington betes noires like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Raul Castro. Meanwhile, his personal life - involving marriages and relationships with high-profile women including Madonna, Scarlett Johansson and Charlize Theron - has become the stuff of tabloid legend. Born in 1960 in Los Angeles, the son of actor and director Leo Penn and actress Eileen Ryan, Sean was one of three brothers. Childhood friends included Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen, both of whom would also go on to become successful actors. Appearances on US TV in his early teenage years - the first a cameo in the popular western series Little House on the Prairie - started his acting career, which took off after his central role in the 1983 film Bad Boys, a crime drama mostly set in a juvenile detention centre. The 1980s also saw him marry Madonna, then as now one of the best-known pop singers on the planet. Their supposedly private wedding on a Malibu clifftop was an occasion that saw several media organisations deploy helicopters that buzzed the ceremony in an attempt to film and photograph the happy couple. The often tempestuous marriage, characterised by frequent rows and Penn's fraught relationship with press photographers and cameramen, lasted four years and saw the couple star together in the 1986 film Shanghai Surprise - a widely derided box office flop. Penn's next serious relationship was with actress Robin Wright, with whom he went on to have two children and a 14-year marriage. It was eventually dissolved after several withdrawn divorce petitions by both parties. Despite once being quoted as describing awards seasons as times "where manipulation and very good marketing are rewarded", Penn has been nominated five times as best actor in the Academy Awards, initially in 1996 for his role as a racist murderer on death row in Dead Man Walking. He has won the Oscar twice, in 2003 for his role as an ex-convict Boston shopkeeper in Mystic River and in 2008 for his portrayal of a gay rights activist and politician in Milk, a performance that led director Gus Van Sant to describe him as "the Brando of our generation". He has also worked extensively behind the camera, directing both films and music videos for singers including Shania Twain. Penn on meeting Guzman: "I search the skies for helicopters. There is no question in my mind but that the DEA [US Drug Enforcement Agency] and the Mexican government are tracking our movements." "He is interested in the movie business and how it works. He's unimpressed with its financial yield... He suggests to us that we consider switching our career paths to the oil business." "I will discover that his already accomplished engineers had been flown to Germany last year for three months of extensive additional training necessary to deal with the low-lying water table beneath the prison. A tunnel equipped with a pipe-track-guided motorcycle with an engine modified to function in the minimally oxygenised space, allowing El Chapo to drop through a hole in his cell's shower floor, into its saddle and ride to freedom." Winning an Oscar for playing Harvey Milk - the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California - gave Penn a platform to voice support for gay marriage, but he had already tied his colours to the liberal mast with his vocal opposition to the policies of the Bush administration, in particular the invasion of Iraq. He visited Baghdad to express solidarity with the Iraqi people a few months ahead of the US-led invasion. "Sacrificing American soldiers or innocent civilians in an unprecedented pre-emptive attack on a separate sovereign nation may well prove itself a most temporary medicine," he said at the time. He also developed a friendly relationship with Venezuela's socialist President Chavez, another staunch critic of President Bush, and - in a foretaste of his Guzman interview - was allowed to question Cuban leader Raul Castro in the run-up to the 2008 US presidential election that foreshadowed a softening of US policy towards the communist island. But Penn has also become known for his humanitarian work, including during the chaotic aftermath of the hugely destructive earthquake that hit Haiti in January 2010. The actor spent time in Haiti, helping to dispense food and medicine and even reportedly sweeping floors. He went on to found the J/P Haitian Relief Organization, which employs hundreds of people working on development projects in the poor Caribbean nation. Broken engagement Five years before and closer to home, Penn got involved in the rescue effort after Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of the US Gulf Coast. "Displaying a mix of bravado, altruism and daredevil recklessness, he repeatedly swam over to trapped homeowners to take them to higher and drier ground," Vanity Fair reported. More recently, Penn has enjoyed romantic relationships with actresses Scarlett Johansson and Charlize Theron, the latter ending abruptly last year when Theron reportedly broke off their engagement. Despite having divorced more than a quarter of a century ago, Penn and his first wife remain close. As news of his interview with Guzman broke, Madonna accompanied Penn to a benefit concert in Beverly Hills for his Haiti charity, where she was one of the acts performing. At the event Penn spoke passionately about his charity's work in Haiti. "We can't depend on governments," he said. "We have to make it better now." But Republican senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio was more interested in Penn's interview with the Mexican drug lord. "If one of these American actors who have benefited from the greatness of this country, who have made money from our free enterprise system, want to go fawn all over a criminal and a drug trafficker in their interviews, they have a constitutional right to do it," he told ABC News. "I find it grotesque."

शॉन पेन हाल के दशकों के अधिक रंगीन हॉलीवुड सितारों में से एक हैं, जो एक सख्त शराब पीने वाले युवा हॉलीवुड अभिनेता के रूप में अपने शुरुआती अवतार से उभरकर दो बार ऑस्कर विजेता और सामाजिक और राजनीतिक मुद्दों पर हाई-प्रोफाइल प्रचारक बन गए हैं।


Huddersfield Sikh soldier statue unveiled in Greenhead Park

Summary: A statue of a Sikh soldier has been unveiled in a West Yorkshire park to commemorate the thousands of Sikhs who fought and died in World War One and Two.

The £65,000 Indian bronze statue was revealed at Greenhead Park, Huddersfield. Donations have helped pay for the 6ft-high (1.8m) monument, the Sikh Soldier Organisation said. Huddersfield was chosen because of its "vibrant" Sikh community, it added. Kalvinder Bhullar, of the Sikh Soldier Organisation, said: "It is a stunning sculpture and an emotional piece. "We've accomplished our mission to get the statue put in place. The support has been overwhelming." More than 83,000 Sikhs were killed and many more wounded during World War One and World War Two, the organisation added. More stories from Yorkshire Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.

प्रथम और द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध में लड़ने और मरने वाले हजारों सिखों की याद में वेस्ट यॉर्कशायर पार्क में एक सिख सैनिक की प्रतिमा का अनावरण किया गया है।


Pontcysyllte Aqueduct 'potential to bring more jobs'

Summary: A masterplan is being drawn up to try to exploit unused land in the shadow of Wrexham's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct world heritage site to attract more visitors and boost economic prospects.

Chemical firm Solutia UK, which owns 59 hectares (147 acres) of nearby land, such as brownfield sites and woodland, is holding a consultation with the charity looking after Llangollen Canal. The Canal & River Trust said ideas put forward included a new visitor centre. A public consultation is now under way. The draft plan will then be published in November. The aqueduct and canal attracts about 300,000 visitors a year but has "potential to bring more jobs and economic prosperity to the area," according to a trust spokesman. Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was constructed under the instruction of Thomas Telford between 1796 and 1805.

अधिक आगंतुकों को आकर्षित करने और आर्थिक संभावनाओं को बढ़ावा देने के लिए रेक्सम के पोंटसिलेट एक्वाडक्ट विश्व धरोहर स्थल की छाया में अप्रयुक्त भूमि का दोहन करने की कोशिश करने के लिए एक मास्टरप्लान तैयार किया जा रहा है।


Reality Check: What would Brexit mean for health costs?

Summary: On Tuesday, the Vote Leave campaign published the Department of Health figures, which show that the UK pays an average of £773m a year to other EU countries for the medical treatment of UK nationals, while it receives only £51m a year back for treating EU nationals here.

By Tamara KovacevicBBC News The campaign concluded that "health tourism from the EU has cost us billions". This is not the case, because the figures show the amount the UK pays for having its citizens treated elsewhere in the EU, and is not the amount the UK spends treating the citizens of other EU countries. But is the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign right when it says that ending the current system would force UK holidaymakers to pay the full cost of medical treatment when they fall ill or suffer an accident in an EU country? Would it leave them with a bill of £773m a year? Treating UK holidaymakers when they get sick or have an accident in another EU country is only one part of the average figure of £773m a year. The sum also includes the cost of medical care for UK pensioners who live in another EU country, and the cost of treatments that the NHS funds for UK patients in other EU countries. Citizens of all EU countries can get the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which entitles them to state-provided emergency medical treatment within the EU country they are visiting. The treatment received is identical to the treatment the nationals of that country get. The EU country that provided the treatment can claim the cost of it from the home country of the patient. The EHIC covers Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein as well, even though they are not EU members. The average annual figure of £773m also includes the money the UK pays to other EU countries for providing healthcare to UK pensioners who have retired there. Under EU rules, each country is required to reimburse the healthcare costs of its pensioners residing in other EU countries. UK pensioners receive an S1 form when they leave the UK, which they then register with the local health authority in the EU country where they end up. The host EU country will provide them with healthcare that is identical to the provision that local pensioners receive, and can then ask the UK to reimburse the cost of the care provided. Reciprocal deals There are a few other categories of citizens who may be entitled to an S1 form. Workers paying National Insurance contributions in the UK but working temporarily in another EU country would have their healthcare costs reimbursed by the UK. The UK does not pay for the healthcare of UK citizens who retire to other EU countries before they reach retirement age, nor for those who worked and lived in the EU country where they retired and have therefore qualified for the pension of that country as well. Would British holidaymakers have to pay for emergency medical treatment if the UK left the EU? That would not necessarily have to be the case. The UK already has reciprocal deals with a number of countries, including Australia and New Zealand, under which visitors can receive free urgent treatment. It could agree similar deals with EU countries. The situation becomes more complicated with the other healthcare rights of UK citizens in the EU, but the final outcome would depend on the post-Brexit deal negotiated. Reality Check verdict: Not necessarily as the UK could agree reciprocal deals on emergency healthcare like the ones it already has with a number of non-EU countries around the world. READ MORE: The facts behind claims in the EU debate

मंगलवार को, वोट लीव अभियान ने स्वास्थ्य विभाग के आंकड़ों को प्रकाशित किया, जो दर्शाता है कि यूके ब्रिटेन के नागरिकों के चिकित्सा उपचार के लिए अन्य यूरोपीय संघ के देशों को प्रति वर्ष औसतन 773 मिलियन पाउंड का भुगतान करता है, जबकि यह यूरोपीय संघ के नागरिकों के इलाज के लिए एक साल पहले केवल 51 मिलियन पाउंड प्राप्त करता है।


Driver dies in collision with lorry in Telford

Summary: A driver died after his car was in collision with a lorry in Shropshire.

The man, aged in his 30s, was in a Vauxhall Astra which crashed with the lorry in Telford, at about 11:10 GMT on Sunday. An off-duty nurse gave him first aid until paramedics arrived at the scene on Wellington Road, near Donnington, West Midlands Ambulance Service said. Witnesses are being asked to contact West Mercia Police on 101.

श्रॉपशायर में एक कार की एक लॉरी से टक्कर के बाद एक चालक की मौत हो गई।


Hay Castle in Powys saved by £4.5m lottery grant

Summary: The future of Hay Castle in Powys has been secured following a £4.46m lottery grant.

The medieval castle ruins and its Grade I listed mansion in Hay-on-Wye will be restored and the ancient gate reopened. When the project is complete, it will be the first time the castle has opened to the public in its 800-year history. The Hay Castle Trust has also raised £1m towards the project. It is hoped work will begin in 2017 if a further £900,000 can be raised.

पाउस में हे कैसल का भविष्य £ 4.46m लॉटरी अनुदान के बाद सुरक्षित किया गया है।


The race to document Australia's unknown species

Summary: Australian and New Zealand scientists have launched a strategy to locate and preserve a hidden world of undiscovered species. They argue that increased research could bring about profound scientific benefits, but that time is running out, as the BBC's Phil Mercer reports from Sydney.

It is estimated there may be as many as 400,000 as-yet unknown animals, plants, fungi, microbes and other organisms in Australia. That comprises about 70% of all species across the vast continent, according to government and scientist estimates. Around 2,500 species are found and classified each year, including in recent times a rare horse fly (Scaptia beyonceae) with a golden bottom, and a tropical tree snail (Crikey steveirwini), both from northern Queensland. Taxonomists and biosystematists - the researchers who painstakingly find, identify and categorise organisms - have been naming all manner of creatures since the 18th Century. Often they have ascribed the names of the rich and famous, such as Beyonce and, as with that snail, Steve Irwin, partly to raise money and to attract attention to their often unheralded work. Mega-diverse environment Australia is rare among developed countries because it is described as mega-diverse, but experts warn that biodiversity is under threat from extinctions and environmental upheaval. The Australian Academy of Science and New Zealand's Royal Society Te Apārangi have called for a new plan to register hundreds of thousands of unknown species in both countries. "Exploring and discovering life on Earth has got to be one of the grand scientific challenges of our time," explains Dr Kevin Thiele, a plant taxonomist who is in charge of the Australian academy's expert working group on taxonomy and biosystematics. Dr Thiele says it would take current methods up to 400 years to discover and classify everything in Australia's animal and plant kingdoms, much of which are hidden. He would like the job to be finished by 2050, with the help of advanced technology. According to Dr Thiele, this should include the scanning of organisms' genomes, the study of DNA in soil and water samples to understand what lives there, and the use of supercomputers and 3D imaging. "What we would like to achieve is to really the change the fabric of taxonomy into what we could call hyper-taxonomy," he tells the BBC. Potential for discovery The possible benefits, Dr Thiele says, are immense. Australia's native species and agriculture could be protected from pests and pathogens, and, critically, there's the potential for new drugs and breakthroughs in the treatment of mosquito-borne diseases. Sea sponges found in Australia are often rich in compounds that form the basis for antibiotics. "Every species is a potentially critical discovery for the welfare of human beings," Dr Thiele adds. "Any species of those 400,000 could have the life-saving drug that we'll be developing in the future that will help us to deal with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, say. And every species that goes extinct, or that remains out there but we don't discover, is potentially an opportunity lost." It is estimated that 200 species of mosquitoes native to Australia have yet to be named or studied, and some could be carrying serious infections. Dr Thiele cites the Zika virus as a previous example. "It came out when a virus that was previously circulating between mosquitoes and animals jumped into humans and suddenly created problems," he says. "So any of these native mosquitoes may have similar types of diseases associated with them. Unless we document them, we will be behind the eight ball if one of those diseases suddenly jumps out and starts threatening people." Extinction threat But is there the political will? Australian government spending on the environment has decreased by a third since 2013, according to a submission to the Department of the Treasury in December. However, the government has consistently said it is committed to protecting the environment. Among its evidence, it has pointed to funding of programmes including a national threatened species strategy, and conservation efforts for the Great Barrier Reef. Jess Abrahams, a nature campaigner with the Australian Conservation Foundation, says he is optimistic but believes that attitudes must change. "Australia has an unenviable record of having more mammal extinctions than any other nation," he says. "We have lost 27 mammals since colonisation and we have nearly 700 animals on the threatened species list. This is a national disgrace and Australia is in the midst of an extinction crisis, and that is just the species we know about." But he adds: "I am hopeful for the future because Australians love the bush and the wildlife, and I do honestly believe that future Australian governments will rise to the challenge of protecting nature." The ambitious trans-Tasman taxonomy strategy, launched on Friday, includes an endorsement by Sir David Attenborough, who has lent his name to several Australian animals and plants - such as a millimetre-long spider known as Prethopalpus attenboroughi. The British naturalist has lamented that funding for discovering and listing species was declining. "This has serious consequences for the future of life on Earth," he wrote.

ऑस्ट्रेलियाई और न्यूजीलैंड के वैज्ञानिकों ने अनदेखे प्रजातियों की एक छिपी हुई दुनिया का पता लगाने और उसे संरक्षित करने के लिए एक रणनीति शुरू की है। उनका तर्क है कि बढ़े हुए शोध से गहन वैज्ञानिक लाभ हो सकते हैं, लेकिन वह समय समाप्त हो रहा है, जैसा कि सिडनी से बीबीसी के फिल मर्सर ने बताया है।


Dreamland once more

Summary: The British seaside has always been an environment that draws photographers to it and Margate in Kent is well known for its traditional donkey rides alongside more recent attractions, including the Turner Contemporary art gallery. Yet for those who remember sampling its delights in the past, it was the amusement park Dreamland that drew the crowds.

Phil CoomesPicture editor Dreamland was one of the country's oldest amusement parks; at one time, the 16-acre site held a zoo and miniature railway, a cinema, cafes, restaurants, bars, shops and a 2,000-capacity ballroom, not forgetting that in later years it was home to Europe's largest big wheel. Of course it evolved through the years. The site I remember from the 1970s was no doubt very different from that of the 1920s and the much smaller site that operated in the late 1990s. As tastes changed and Margate, like many other seaside resorts, fell on hard times, the site finally closed in 2003 and sank into disrepair. Yet now there are plans to see it rise once more, to bring back the wooden Grade II* listed scenic railway ride which was damaged in an arson attack in 2008. It's a ride that may not have the speed and gravity-defying plunges that many of today's fairs offer, but instead provides a link to the past, and the sounds of the cars on the wooden rails is one to savour. In addition to that, the Dreamland Trust is gathering historical rides from other fairgrounds around the UK, working in partnership with Thanet District Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as Hemingway Design. This process of restoration is being documented by photographer Rob Ball, who, since January, has been creating ferrotypes, also known as tintypes, of the existing site. The ferrotype process was established around the same time the site on which Dreamland stands became an entertainment venue in the 1860s, with the first amusement rides arriving 20 or so years later. Each time Ball shoots, he creates a darkroom on site, ensuring the photographic plates are both created and developed in the location itself. The ferrotype process is quick, at least in comparison to other processes of that time, and was a favourite of while-you-wait photographers of the 19th Century. You can find out more and watch a video of the ferrotype process on the blog of the National Media Museum. Ball has also taken some pictures in colour and is planning to continue the project as the new site takes shape. The Dreamland Visitor and Learning Arcade is planning to open over the spring bank holiday and details will be announced on its website. Rob Ball will be there on 26 May to photograph the motorcyclists who are taking part in the annual drive from the Ace Cafe in London to Margate, this year marking the 50th anniversary of clashes between mods and rockers in 1964, an event dubbed "gang warfare" and the "battle of the beaches". You can follow progress of Rob Ball's work on the Dreamland site. For those interested, the South East Archive of Seaside Photography is well worth a look. Rob Ball is the deputy director. In pictures: Dreamland

ब्रिटिश समुद्र तट हमेशा एक ऐसा वातावरण रहा है जो फोटोग्राफरों को आकर्षित करता है और केंट में मार्गेट अपनी पारंपरिक गधे की सवारी के साथ-साथ टर्नर समकालीन कला दीर्घा सहित हाल के आकर्षणों के लिए जाना जाता है। फिर भी उन लोगों के लिए जो अतीत में इसके आनंद का नमूना लेना याद करते हैं, यह मनोरंजन पार्क ड्रीमलैंड था जिसने भीड़ को आकर्षित किया।


Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion on film

Summary: Yves Saint Laurent became head of one of the world's great fashion houses aged 21. Until his death half a century later in 2008, he was one of fashion's dominant figures. This year sees the release of two feature films about his tumultuous professional and private life. The first opens this week in the UK.

By Vincent DowdArts Correspondent, BBC World Service Earlier masters of Parisian couture such as Christian Dior or Cristobal Balenciaga shaped fashion around the world. But until Yves Saint Laurent, no designer found such personal fame with the public. In the 1960s and 1970s he was a regular in gossip columns, photographed endlessly with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Andy Warhol and the most gorgeous models of the day. Born in colonial Algeria in 1936, Saint Laurent became an extraordinary prodigy. Always obsessed with fashion, as a painfully shy teenager he moved to Paris to work for Dior. Three years later, Christian Dior died and Saint Laurent took over as artistic director at just 21. Many in the fashion world were astounded but it was clear a star had arrived. Pierre Niney takes the title role in the first of two rival biopics out this year. At 25, he is well-known in France, with an obvious talent for comedy. He's also a good physical match for Saint Laurent in his younger and more handsome days. "I did five months of preparation on his life and character," Niney says. "I met many of the people Yves knew. The centre of the film is his relationship with Pierre Berge, who was Yves' partner in business and in his private life. "I was lucky to sit down with Berge - who's now 83 - and discuss their life together. It was a privilege and a big help because mainly the film is their love story." The director of the film, simply titled Yves Saint Laurent, is Jalil Lespert, previously an actor in the likes of Tell No-One. He, too, was fascinated by the men's long friendship. "Saint Laurent always had a revolutionary vision for women's fashion - but fate gave him his moment very early and without Berge perhaps he would never have achieved so much. "To give a purpose to life there has to be someone you love and who loves you back - otherwise what in life makes sense? Yves needed Berge emotionally, although our screenplay is honest about the problems they had later on," he explains. "YSL's best designs had a purity to them: he was a sort of poet of fashion. But I also wanted people to see he was funny, at least with his intimate circle when I think his diffidence disappeared a little. "Of course it's good that Pierre Niney resembles Yves but the casting is also because I knew he would bring out that humour." Lisa Armstrong, fashion editor of the Daily Telegraph, says Yves Saint Laurent remains a major figure. "He had an innate talent but he was also very quick to grasp that in the 1960s, the so-called 'youthquake' was changing all kinds of culture - not just clothes. The French worried the centre of fashion was drifting north to London: YSL was vital in pulling it back to Paris. "And his partner, Pierre Berge, combined aesthetic insight with business sense - that's very rare." Armstrong says the film shows how they complemented one another, without quite finding a way to dramatise how Saint Laurent totally changed female fashion. "He gave us individual pieces like the famous 'smoking' tuxedo in 1966 and the safari look. After he split with the House of Dior, he and Berge moved fashion away from haute couture towards pret-a-porter. Armstrong says the designer "gave us the concept of cool on the catwalk, leaving behind the elegant but slightly old-fashioned look which dominated for years. His big idea was that women could be sexy, modern and emancipated by looking slightly androgynous. "Women don't think twice today about slinging on a boyfriend shirt or even boyfriend trousers - but we've forgotten that that Left Bank insouciance was basically down to Yves Saint Laurent. Putting a woman into an elegant trouser suit was a revolution. " The French actor Guillaume Gallienne plays Pierre Berge in the film. "He's much better known now than in the early years. Even in France, few people in the 1960s and 1970s would have known what he looked like, which obviously wasn't true with Yves." Berge has actively assisted in the making of Lespert's film - providing access to locations and designs - whereas he had no involvement with the other imminent biopic, starring Gaspard Ulliel and Jeremie Renier. Gallienne insists they didn't trade independence for cooperation. "Pierre Berge has always known how to recognise an artist. He saw it in Yves, in the fabulous artists they collected together and he saw it with Jalil as a filmmaker. "That's why he said yes to the project. But as an actor I didn't set out to please Pierre Berge with my performance. "And he didn't interfere with the script at all: There was nothing we didn't allow ourselves to think or do. And I'm very proud of the film which emerged. It's a love-story between two men but no one is labelling it as a gay movie. "I love showing a younger generation how in the 1950s these two very different men were so strong and audacious together." The film grows darker as it records Saint Laurent's acknowledged dependence on drink and drugs as he struggled against depression and the pressure of producing two collections a year. The young Saint Laurent - timid but possessed of a sly charm and huge energy - became heavy and lethargic. At times he seemed barely to know where he was. Lespert says that part of the problem was that Saint Laurent and Berge found success very quickly. The move into ready-to-wear fashions supplied vast amounts of money. "Often when you reach the top, things change and you lose the taste for life. Things become less interesting. Yves wasn't the first person to discover that. "But despite the problems and the pressures, Yves and Pierre succeeded in passing through life together for many years. And that is the story we are telling." Yves Saint Laurent is released in the UK on 21 March.

यवेस सेंट लॉरेंट 21 साल की उम्र में दुनिया के महान फैशन घरानों में से एक के प्रमुख बन गए। आधी सदी बाद 2008 में उनकी मृत्यु तक, वे फैशन की प्रमुख हस्तियों में से एक थे। इस साल उनके उथल-पुथल भरे पेशेवर और निजी जीवन के बारे में दो फीचर फिल्में रिलीज हुई हैं। पहली इस सप्ताह यूके में शुरू हो रही है।


Venezuela's irreconcilable visions for the future

Summary: "Venezuela is now a dictatorship," says Luis Ugalde, a Spanish-born Jesuit priest who during his 60 years living in Venezuela has become one of the South American nation's most well-known political scientists.

By Vanessa BuschschlüterBBC News, Caracas A former rector of the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas, Mr Ugalde does not mince his words. He compares Venezuela to an ailing patient who is on the brink of being killed off by well-meaning but incompetent doctors. Venezuela's problems are not new, he says. At their heart is the mistaken belief that it is a rich country. He argues that while it may have the world's largest proven oil reserves, Venezuela should be considered overwhelmingly poor because it hardly produces anything except oil. The curse of oil A lack of investment in anything but the booming oil industry in the 20th Century meant that its human talent was never really fostered and its economy never diversified, resulting in an absolute reliance on imports. Venezuela's late leader, Hugo Chávez, further compounded the illusion of Venezuela's wealth to the detriment of the country, Mr Ugalde argues. "He told the Venezuelan people that there were three things standing between them and prosperity: the US empire, the rich and the entrenched political elite, and that he would deal with all three so that the people could enjoy Venezuela's wealth." Investing Venezuela's oil revenue in generous social programmes, building homes and health care centres, expanding educational opportunities and providing the poorest with benefits they did not previously have, gave the government of President Chavez a wide support base. But with falling global oil prices, government coffers soon emptied and investment in social programmes dwindled. The death from cancer of President Chávez in 2013 further hit the governing socialist PSUV party hard. His successor in office, Nicolas Maduro, lacked not only the charisma of President Chávez but also his unifying presence at the top of the party and the country. Mr Ugalde does not doubt that President Maduro came to power democratically in 2013. But he argues that what he has done since - such as undermining Venezuela's separation of powers - has turned him into a dictator. The Democratic Unity Roundtable opposition coalition won a landslide in the December 2015 election and yet it has seen almost all of its decisions overturned by the Supreme Court, a body which opposition politicians say is stacked with government loyalists. An attempt by opposition politicians to organise a recall referendum to oust President Maduro from power was thwarted at every step by Venezuela's electoral council, another body opposition politicians say is dominated by supporters of Mr Maduro. 'Final straw' But for many the final straw came on 29 March 2017, when Supreme Court judges issued a ruling stripping the National Assembly of its powers and transferring those powers to the court. While the Supreme Court suspended the most controversial paragraphs just three days later, the ruling managed to unite the hitherto divided opposition and spur them into action. There have been almost daily protests and more than 45 people have been killed in protest-related violence. While many of those protesting against the government share Mr Ugalde's view, the government is adamant it is defending democracy in Venezuela. It argues that the National Assembly was in contempt when it swore in three lawmakers suspected of having been elected fraudulently and that all of the decisions made by the legislative body since then are therefore invalid. New constitution call The government has responded to the most recent wave of protests by calling for a constituent assembly. Drawing up a new constitution will bring together the people of Venezuela and create peace where there is now unrest, President Maduro argues. He also says he wants to enshrine some of the social programmes created by the socialist government in the new constitution. At a pro-government rally, a sergeant in the National Bolivarian Militia, a body created by the late President Hugo Chavez, says he whole-heartedly backs the idea. "We're against terrorism, those people protesting violently who're burning buses, we support the constituent assembly," Gerardo Barahona says. Marta Elena Flores, 60, says the opposition is "out to wreck everything" achieved under the socialist government. "We need to protect all the benefits the government has given to the people," she says. "We need to enshrine them in the constitution so that the opposition doesn't even have the chance to rob us of them." "I personally have been able to have two operations thanks to the government's medical programmes. The opposition begrudges us those benefits." Opposition politicians have been dismissive of the president's call for a constituent assembly, saying it is a ruse to delay overdue regional elections and further strengthen the power of President Maduro. Representatives of the major opposition parties declined a government invitation to discuss the creation of the assembly and, three weeks after the idea was first mooted by President Maduro, little progress has been made. Previous attempts at dialogue backed by former international leaders and even the Vatican have failed. Anti-government marches meanwhile have been spreading throughout the country and clashes between protesters and the security forces have become more frequent and the number of dead has been on the rise. Those opposed to the government say they are determined to keep the protests going until fresh general elections are called and the government is ousted. Some analysts have said that what it will take for the government to fall is for the protests to spread to the "barrios", the poor neighbourhoods which have been the support base of the governing socialist party. Miguel Pizarro, an opposition lawmaker who represents the barrio of Petare, one of the poorest in Caracas, dismisses that argument. "The only contact people who make that argument have with the barrio is through their cleaning lady," he says. "There has been resistance to the government in the barrios for a long time, that is how I got elected!" Others think that it will take the military to switch sides for the government to be ousted. But with Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino taking to Twitter on 20 May to accuse protesters of fomenting anarchy and international organisations of being "immoral accomplices who don't denounce the violence" there is little sign of that happening any time soon, at least within the highest ranks. In the short term at least, there seems little chance of the current deadlock in Venezuela being broken and every likelihood that the crisis will worsen.

स्पेन में जन्मे जेसुइट पादरी लुइस उगाल्दे, जो वेनेजुएला में अपने 60 वर्षों के जीवन के दौरान दक्षिण अमेरिकी राष्ट्र के सबसे प्रसिद्ध राजनीतिक वैज्ञानिकों में से एक बन गए हैं, कहते हैं, "वेनेजुएला अब एक तानाशाही है।"


Appleby Horse Fair: Finishing touches put to stopover sites for visitors

Summary: Final preparations are being made to temporary stopover sites for travellers heading to next month's Appleby Horse Fair.

Durham County Council has designated six areas in Teesdale along traditional routes to Cumbria. The sites, which will include toilets, refuse collections and, in some cases, water supplies for animals, will be open between 26 May and 23 June. The council said it hoped they would reduce unauthorised encampments. The fair will be staged from 8-14 June.

अगले महीने के एप्पलबी हॉर्स फेयर में जाने वाले यात्रियों के लिए अस्थायी ठहराव स्थलों की अंतिम तैयारी की जा रही है।


Hengrove man charged with manslaughter appears in court

Summary: A 28-year-old man has appeared in court charged in connection with the death of Craig Parker, who died earlier this year.

Mitchell Thorpe was charged with manslaughter in relation to the death of Mr Parker, 45, who was attacked in Stockwood, Bristol, on 25 March. Mr Thorpe, of Hengrove, was also charged with possessing criminal property at Bristol Magistrates Court. He was remanded ahead of his trial at Bristol Crown Court on 4 January. Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk

क्रेग पार्कर, जिनकी इस साल की शुरुआत में मृत्यु हो गई थी, की मृत्यु के संबंध में एक 28 वर्षीय व्यक्ति अदालत में पेश हुआ है।


Coronavirus: How soon can we expect a working vaccine?

Summary: If or when scientists succeed in making a coronavirus vaccine, there won't be enough to go around.

By Dominic BaileyBBC News Research labs and pharmaceutical companies are rewriting the rulebook on the time it takes to develop, test and manufacture an effective vaccine. Unprecedented steps are being taken to ensure roll-out of the vaccine is global. But there are concerns that the race to get one will be won by the richest countries, at the expense of the most vulnerable. So who will get it first, how much will it cost and, in a global crisis, how do we make sure nobody gets left behind? Vaccines to fight infectious diseases usually take years to develop, test and deliver. Even then, their success is not guaranteed. To date, only one human infectious disease has been totally eradicated - smallpox - and that took 200 years. The rest - from polio to tetanus, measles, mumps and TB - we live with, or without, thanks to vaccinations. How soon can we expect a coronavirus vaccine? Trials involving thousands of people are already under way to see which vaccine can protect against Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by coronavirus. A process that usually takes five to 10 years, from research to delivery, is being pared down to months. In the meantime, manufacturing is being scaled up - with investors and manufacturers risking billions of dollars to be ready to produce an effective vaccine. Russia says trials of its Sputnik-V vaccine have shown signs of immune response in patients and has rolled out the vaccine for public use while late-stage trials continue. China says it has developed a successful vaccine that is being made available to its military personnel. But concerns have been raised about the speed at which both vaccines have been produced. Neither are on the World Health Organization's list of vaccines that have reached phase three clinical trials - the stage that involves more widespread testing in humans. Some of these leading candidates hope to get their vaccine approved by the end of the year - although the WHO has said it does not expect to see widespread vaccinations against Covid-19 until the middle of 2021. Pfizer and BioNTech say preliminary analysis shows their vaccine can prevent more than 90% of people from getting Covid-19. They plan to apply for emergency approval to use the vaccine by the end of November. Pfizer believes it will be able to supply 50 million doses by the end of this year, and around 1.3 billion by the end of 2021. British drug manufacturer AstraZeneca, which has the licence for the Oxford University vaccine, is ramping up its global manufacturing capacity and has agreed to supply 100 million doses to the UK alone and possibly two billion globally - should it prove successful. There are dozens of other pharmaceutical companies with clinical trials under way. Not all of them will succeed - normally only about 10% of vaccine trials are successful. The hope is that the global focus, new alliances, and common purpose will raise the odds this time. But even if one of these vaccines is successful, the immediate shortfall is clear. Preventing vaccine nationalism Governments are hedging their bets to secure potential vaccines, making deals for millions of doses with a range of candidates before anything has been officially certified or approved. The UK government, for example, has signed deals for undisclosed sums for six potential coronavirus vaccines that may or may not prove successful. The US hopes to get 300 million doses by January from its investment programme to fast-track a successful vaccine. But not all countries are in a position to do likewise. Organisations such the Medecins Sans Frontieres, often on the frontline delivering vaccines, say locking in advanced deals with pharmaceutical companies creates "a dangerous trend of vaccine nationalism by richer nations". This in turn reduces global stocks available to the vulnerable in poorer countries. In the past, the price of life-saving vaccines has left countries struggling to fully immunise children against diseases such as meningitis, for example. Dr Mariângela Simão, the WHO's assistant director-general responsible for access to medicines and health products, says we need to ensure vaccine nationalism is held in check. "The challenge will be to ensure equitable access - that all countries have access, not just those who can pay more." Is there a global vaccine task force? The WHO is working with the epidemic response group, Cepi, and the Vaccine Alliance of governments and organisations, known as Gavi, to try to level the playing field. At least 94 rich nations and economies, so far, have signed up to the global vaccine plan known as Covax, which aims to raise $2bn (£1.52bn) by the end of 2020 to help buy and fairly distribute a drug worldwide. The US, which wants to leave the WHO, is not one of them. By pooling resources in Covax, participants hope to guarantee 92 lower income countries, in Africa, Asia and Latin America, also get "rapid, fair and equitable access" to Covid-19 vaccines. The facility is helping to fund a range of vaccine research and development work, and supporting manufacturers in scaling up production, where needed. Having a wide portfolio of vaccine trials signed up to their programme, they are hoping at least one will be successful so they can deliver two billion doses of safe, effective vaccines by the end of 2021. "With COVID-19 vaccines we want things to be different," says Gavi's CEO Dr Seth Berkley. "If only the wealthiest countries in the world are protected, then international trade, commerce and society as a whole will continue to be hit hard as the pandemic continues to rage across the globe." How much will it cost? While billions of dollars are being invested in vaccine development, millions more are being pledged to buy and supply the vaccine. Prices per dose depend on the type of vaccine, the manufacturer and the number of doses ordered. Pharmaceutical company Moderna, for example, is reportedly selling access to its potential vaccine at between $32 and $37 a dose (£24 to £28). AstraZeneca, on the other hand has said it will supply its vaccine "at cost" - or a few dollars per dose - during the pandemic. The Serum Institute of India (SSI), the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, is being backed by $150m from Gavi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to make and deliver up to 100 million doses of the successful Covid-19 vaccines for India and low- and middle-income countries. They say the ceiling price will be $3 (£2.28) a dose. But patients receiving the vaccine are unlikely to be charged in most cases. In the UK, mass distribution will be via the NHS health service. Student doctors and nurses, dentists and vets could be trained to back up existing NHS staff in administering the jab en masse. Consultation is currently under way. Other countries, such as Australia, have said they will offer free doses to their population. People receiving vaccines via humanitarian organisations - a vital cog in the global distribution wheel - will not be charged. In the US, while the shot might be free, healthcare professionals could charge for administering the jab - leaving uninsured Americans possibly facing a vaccine bill. So who gets it first? Although the pharmaceutical companies will be making the vaccine, they won't be the ones who decide who gets vaccinated first. "Each organisation or country will have to determine who it immunises first and how it does that," Sir Mene Pangalos - AstraZeneca's Executive Vice President told the BBC. As the initial supply will be limited, reducing deaths and protecting health care systems are likely to be prioritised. The Gavi plan is that countries signed up to Covax, high or low income alike, will receive enough doses for 3% of their population - which would be enough to cover health and social care workers. As more vaccine is produced, allocation is increased to cover 20% of the population - this time prioritising over 65s and other vulnerable groups. After everybody has received 20%, the vaccine would be distributed according to other criteria, such as country vulnerability and immediate threat of Covid-19. Negotiations are still under way for many other elements of the allocation process. "The only certainty is that there won't be enough - the rest is still up in the air," says Dr Simao. Gavi insists richer participants can request enough doses to vaccinate between 10-50% of their population, but no country will receive enough doses to vaccinate more than 20% until all countries in the group have been offered this amount. Dr Berkley says a small buffer of about 5% of the total number of available doses will be kept aside, "to build a stockpile to help with acute outbreaks and to support humanitarian organisations, for example to vaccinate refugees who may not otherwise have access". How do you distribute a global vaccine? A lot depends on which vaccine is successful. The ideal vaccine has a lot to live up to. It needs to be affordable. It needs to generate strong, long-lasting immunity. It needs a simple refrigerated distribution system and manufacturers must be able to scale-up production rapidly. The WHO, UNICEF and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF / Doctors Without Borders), already have effective vaccination programmes in place around the world with the so called "cold chain" facilities - cooler trucks and solar fridges to keep vaccines at the right temperature as they travel from factory to field. But adding a new vaccine to the mix could pose huge logistical problems for those already facing a difficult environment. Vaccines usually need to be kept refrigerated - usually between 2C and 8C. That's not too much of a challenge in most developed countries, but can be an "immense task" where infrastructure is weak and electricity supply and refrigeration unstable. "Maintaining vaccines under cold chain is already one of the biggest challenges' countries face and this will be exacerbated with the introduction of a new vaccine," MSF medical adviser Barbara Saitta told the BBC. "You will need to add more cold chain equipment, make sure you always have fuel (to run freezer and refrigerators in absence of electricity) and repair/replace them when they break and transport them wherever you need them." AstraZeneca has suggested their vaccine would need the regular cold chain between 2C and 8C. But at present it looks like the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine would need ultra-cold chain - storage at -80C before being distributed. Welcoming the Pfizer announcement, Dr Richard Hatchett, of Cepi acknowledged that would "remain a challenge for use in some settings". "This is something which will have to be addressed if the vaccine is to be made broadly available," he said. But the Ebola vaccine also needed very low temperatures, so it is not impossible. "To keep the Ebola vaccine at -60°C or colder we had to use a special cold chain equipment to store and transport them, plus we had to train staff to use all this new equipment," said Barbara Saitta. There is also the question of the target population. Vaccination programmes usually target children, so agencies will have to plan how to reach people that normally are not part of the immunization program. As the world waits for the scientists to do their bit, many more challenges await. And vaccines are not the only weapon against coronavirus. "Vaccines are not the only solution," Says Dr Simao, of the WHO. "You need to have diagnostics. You need to have a way to decrease mortality, so you need therapeutics, and you need a vaccine. "Besides that, you need everything else - social distancing, avoiding crowded places and so on." What do I need to know about the coronavirus?

यदि या जब वैज्ञानिक कोरोनावायरस का टीका बनाने में सफल होते हैं, तो इधर-उधर जाने के लिए पर्याप्त नहीं होगा।


'The phone call that brought me freedom - but broke my mother's heart'

Summary: In the 1990s many second-generation British Asians were coming of age and breaking free - they had grown up in a different country from their parents and were forging their own path. For Farah Sayeed, it meant making a difficult phone call which left her mother, Runi, heart-broken.

By Kavita PuriBBC News In 1988 Farah Sayeed left her family home in London to study Biology and Psychology in Liverpool. But it wasn't just the lectures she was looking forward to. "University was my legitimate ticket to finally getting the freedom that everybody else seemed to be enjoying except me," she says. Farah's parents are Bengali Muslims who came to Britain in the late 1960s. She had a happy upbringing, although she sometimes felt stifled. Her parents were more liberal than their Bengali contemporaries, "but that's not the comparison I was making. I was merely comparing them to my English friends' parents." Her mother, Runi, acknowledges that she was an anxious and clingy parent, which she puts down to losing her own mother at a young age. However, she never interfered with where Farah was going to study. Farah loved being away from home, and felt liberated from the weight of her parents' expectations. But as her time at university was coming to an end, she worried that if she returned home she would be treated like a child again, and might even be pressured into an arranged marriage. So she found a one-bedroom flat in the city centre, and got jobs working in a bar and at a women's refuge. She then plucked up the courage to call her mother and tell her she wasn't coming back to London. Runi was so shocked by the news, she immediately hung up on her daughter. The conversation had lasted barely a few minutes. Farah didn't even get the chance to explain why she wanted to stay, and reacted with defiance. "That's fine by me," she thought. "They've cut me off, they've cut me out of their life. I've done nothing wrong." But the call left Runi heartbroken. She ran out of the house and went straight to an English friend's house, because she felt her Bengali friends would not understand. Runi needed to take in what she had heard, so they decided to drive to Botany Bay in Kent, to be by the sea. Runi cried all the way there in the car. Dressed in her sari, tears still flowing, she sat on a cliff top looking out to sea. But seeing the water was no balm, in fact it only made her feel worse. It reminded her of the Buriganga river that she had grown up with in Dhaka, where she would fish and play, and where she had been so happy. All she could feel was a sense of loss, not just for her daughter but for her country too. After the phone call, mother and daughter did not speak for nine months. During this estrangement, Farah met a group of people who would change her life. One night, a friend came into the bar where she was working and mentioned he was starting an Asian Writers Collective. He asked Farah to join. Days later, she walked into Toxteth library and found a group of British South Asians sitting around a table. "It was a revelation," says Farah. They had so many shared experiences of what it was like to grow up as a second-generation Asian and then come to university and be surrounded by predominantly white contemporaries. The Asian Writers Collective became a space for Farah to talk honestly about the ups and downs of her life. She could talk about the racism she had experienced and open up to like-minded people in a way she had never done before. Her parents' formative experiences had been in Bangladesh, so she felt she was not really like them - but she also felt very different from her English friends. Farah admits that before joining the group she had felt a bit lost at times, as though she existed in a no-man's land - and that could feel lonely. They quickly became her alternative family. After nine months of silence, Farah and Runi began tentatively to talk to one another again. But Runi was still struggling to come to terms with what had happened. She had always expected Farah to come home from university and be part of her life again. "Even now I feel weepy and full of hurt," she says, her voice breaking, 30 years later. That phone call with Farah was Runi's first realisation that her children, who had been brought up in Britain, had a different world view from hers. "Their understanding of the world and mine started to clash very seriously and I found that difficult to cope with," she says. It felt like a rejection, and was not something she had anticipated when she chose to bring up a family here. Runi had come to Britain as a young bride in 1968 to be with her husband, Muhammad, who was training to be a barrister. She had never met him before. They were married over the phone, while she was in Dhaka and he was in London. Afterwards they exchanged many letters, declaring their love for one another. Yet when Runi arrived at Heathrow airport and her new husband came to collect her, she had no idea who he was in the crowd. A graduate, Runi had been head teacher at a kindergarten outside Dhaka, but she started off doing menial jobs in London, as that was all that was available to her then. In time she became a teacher and later trained as a psychologist. She brought up three children, and it was hard. When you raise children in your own society, she says, talking of Bangladesh, "you have a kind of scaffold around you: your family, your friends, your society." Here, she and her husband were on their own. She worried that if her children went astray, it would be their fault. And then there was the racism they regularly encountered. Yet none of that was as hard as her eldest daughter telling her she had decided to stay away from home. Runi describes it as the most intense pain of her adult life. There are always differences between parents and children, but for first-generation immigrants whose children are brought up in their adopted country, those differences are more pronounced. Farah is now in her early 50s, and lives near her parents in London. She's a social worker and has three children of her own. She says she gets her strong-mindedness and independence from her mother, who she clearly admires and respects. Mother and daughter didn't discuss the difficult phone conversation with each other for many years. Since then both have changed their outlook. For Farah, not returning home had felt like "a decision that my very survival was based upon". But she now realises how angry and heart-broken her parents were. And Runi and her husband no longer worry about Farah making her own life decisions. "Now I know that life is different when you live in another country," she says. Runi denies planning an arranged marriage, although she admits she and her husband were concerned Farah might never marry. Then, in 1997, Farah brought someone home from the Asian Writers Collective - her future husband. "He's a British Pakistani Irish Muslim, and I think that definitely ticked enough boxes for them to have been overjoyed," Farah says. So it wasn't the end of the world that he wasn't Bengali. The battles for acceptance and equality by ethnic minority communities may be documented in the history books, but these smaller struggles are also part of the story. Delicate conversations like this one between Runi and Farah reveal that what represents personal progress for the second generation can feel, for the first, like a further untethering from the homeland they left. Runi wants her descendants to keep a connection to their culture, and now teaches Farah's children and her other grandchildren Bengali. She is mindful that for those coming to a new country, "the first thing you lose is language, then you lose your traditional clothes, then the last thing is food." Before lockdown, every Sunday the children would have lessons, then the three generations would eat together as a family. For the generation who came here, there is a wrench, a pull to another land, that never goes away. Runi never regrets coming to Britain, but there is a "longing for the place I left behind". It's a feeling that can be evoked at any time. While getting ready, on the day we met, Runi heard a Bengali song which took her back to her childhood in Bangladesh. "The lyrics made me feel so emotional," she says. That first generation also find themselves in a no-man's land - their history, culture and roots are still in their homeland, even though they have lived here for so long. Decisions like the one Farah made are a reminder to those pioneers that for their children there is a further pull away from one place, and a deeper anchoring in another. Runi left Dhaka aged 24. She has lived here for 53 years but, she says, "still I don't feel I'm totally embedded in England. I'm staying here for my children and for my grandchildren. Not for myself." You can hear the next episode of Three Pounds in My Pocket at 11:00 on Friday 22 January on BBC Radio 4 - or catch up later online You may also be interested in: One evening in 1993, Mits Sahni was standing in a queue in Leicester Square in central London. He was trying to get into a nightclub, but when he got to the front of the line he was turned away by the bouncer. It wasn't the first time this had happened. So he started his own club nights. Bombay Jungle: How British Asians broke into London's club scene

1990 के दशक में कई दूसरी पीढ़ी के ब्रिटिश एशियाई बड़े हो रहे थे और स्वतंत्र हो रहे थे-वे अपने माता-पिता से अलग देश में पले-बढ़े थे और अपना रास्ता खुद बना रहे थे। फराह सईद के लिए, इसका मतलब एक कठिन फोन कॉल करना था जिसने उनकी मां रूनी का दिल तोड़ दिया।


US historians on what Donald Trump's legacy will be

Summary: At noon on Wednesday, President Donald Trump's term will end. It's been a whirlwind four years, so what might the legacy be of such a history-making president?

By Ritu PrasadBBC News There's a lot to consider, so we asked the experts to break it down for us. Responses have been edited for length and clarity. 'His relationship with alt-right' Matthew Continetti is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on the development of the Republican Party and the American conservative movement. What's Trump's key legacy? Donald Trump will be remembered as the first president to be impeached twice. He fed the myth that the election was stolen, summoned his supporters to Washington to protest the certification of the Electoral College vote, told them that only through strength could they take back their country, and stood by as they stormed the US Capitol and interfered in the operation of constitutional government. When historians write about his presidency, they will do so through the lens of the riot. They will focus on Trump's tortured relationship with the alt-right, his atrocious handling of the deadly Charlottesville protest in 2017, the rise in violent right-wing extremism during his tenure in office, and the viral spread of malevolent conspiracy theories that he encouraged. What else stands out to you? If Donald Trump had followed the example of his predecessors and conceded power graciously and peacefully, he would have been remembered as a disruptive but consequential populist leader. A president who, before the pandemic, presided over an economic boom, re-oriented America's opinion of China, removed terrorist leaders from the battlefield, revamped the space program, secured an originalist (conservative) majority on the US Supreme Court, and authorised Operation Warp Speed to produce a Covid-19 vaccine in record time. 'A surrender of global leadership' Laura Belmonte is a history professor and dean of the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. She is a foreign relations specialist and author of books on cultural diplomacy. What's Trump's key legacy? His attempt to surrender global leadership and replace it with a more inward-looking, fortress-like mentality. I don't think it succeeded, but the question is how profound has the damage to America's international reputation been - and that remains to be seen. The moment I found jaw-dropping was the press conference he had with Vladimir Putin in 2018 in Helsinki, where he took Putin's side over US intelligence in regard to Russian interference in the election. I can't think of another episode of a president siding full force with a non-democratic society adversary. It's also very emblematic of a larger assault on any number of multilateral institutions and treaties and frameworks that Trump has unleashed, like the withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, the withdrawal of the Iranian nuclear framework. What else stands out to you? Trump's applauding Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, really turning himself inside out to align the US with regimes that are the antithesis of values that the US says it wants to promote. That is something that I think was really quite distinctive. Another aspect is extricating the US from any really assertive role in promoting human rights throughout the world, and changing the content of the annual human rights reports from the State Department and not including many topics, like LGBT equality, for instance. 'Putting democracy to the test' Kathryn Brownell is a history professor at Purdue University, focusing on the relationships between media, politics, and popular culture, with an emphasis on the American presidency. What's Trump's key legacy? Broadly speaking: Donald Trump, and his enablers in the Republican Party and conservative media, have put American democracy to the test in an unprecedented way. As a historian who studies the intersection of media and the presidency, it is truly striking the ways in which he has convinced millions of people that his fabricated version of events is true. What happened on 6 January at the US Capitol is a culmination of over four years during which President Trump actively advanced misinformation. Just as Watergate and the impeachment inquiry dominated historical interpretations of Richard Nixon's legacy for decades, I do think that this particular post-election moment will be at the forefront of historical assessments of his presidency. What else stands out to you? Kellyanne Conway's first introduction of the notion of "alternative facts" just days into the Trump administration when disputing the size of the inaugural crowds between Trump and Barack Obama. Presidents across the 20th Century have increasingly used sophisticated measures to spin interpretation of policies and events in favourable ways and to control the media narrative of their administrations. But the assertion that the administration had a right to its own alternative facts went far beyond spin, ultimately foreshadowing the ways in which the Trump administration would govern by misinformation. Trump harnessed the power of social media and blurred the lines between entertainment and politics in ways that allowed him to bypass critics and connect directly to his supporters in an unfiltered way. Franklin Roosevelt, John F Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan also used new media and a celebrity style to connect directly to the people in this unfiltered way, ultimately transforming expectations and operations of the presidency that paved the path for Trump. 'Reshaping the judiciary' Mary Frances Berry is a professor of American history and social thought at the University of Pennsylvania, focusing on legal history and social policy. From 1980 to 2004, she was a member of the US Commission on Civil Rights. What's Trump's key legacy? In what he did with judges, Trump has made a long lasting change over the next 20 years, 30 years in how policies will stand up to legal tests and how they're able to be implemented - no matter what any particular president or administration proposes. The courts are controlled by the Republican appointees. Sometimes judges surprise us, but for the most part, the historical evidence is that they pretty much do what their politics and their backgrounds say they will do. What else stands out to you? When he supported that package of measures that helped particular people in the black community, like First Step, pardoning people at the same time that he supported an amendment in the appropriations bill that gave a whole bunch of money to historically black colleges and universities for the first time. He put all of these things together, as well as having the first stimulus programme making sure that black businessman and entrepreneurs get some of those loans they've had trouble getting before. The effect of all of that, which we will see over time, was in the midterms, a lot more young black men voted for Trump than before. And if that's a trend, it may help the Republican party. Trump also made egregious comments about black people and other people of colour, tried to have protests against police abuse disrupted and in other ways appealed to his white supremacist base. His lasting impact on race relations depends on what the Biden administration does on policy, and on healing and how long the pandemic and economic downturn lasts. 'Contesting the 2020 election' Margaret O'Mara is history professor at the University of Washington, focusing on the political, economic, and metropolitan history of the modern US. What's Trump's key legacy? Contesting a very constitutionally and numerically clear election victory by Joe Biden. We've had plenty of really unpleasant transitions. Herbert Hoover was incredibly unpleasant about his loss, but he still rode in that car down Pennsylvania Avenue at inauguration. He didn't talk to Franklin Roosevelt the whole time, but there still was a peaceful transfer of power. Trump is a manifestation of political forces that have been in motion for a half century or more. A culmination of what was not only going on in the Republican party, but also the Democratic party and more broadly in American politics - a kind of disillusionment with government and institutions and expertise. What else stands out to you? Trump is exceptional in many ways, but one of the things that really makes him stand out is that he is one of the rare presidents who was elected without having held any elected office before. Trump may go away, but there is this great frustration with the establishment, broadly defined. When you feel powerless, you vote for someone who's promising to do everything differently and Trump indeed did that. A presidency is also made by the people that the president appoints, and a great deal of experienced Republican hands were not invited to join the administration the first go round. Over time, his administration has diminished to a band of loyalists who are really not very experienced and are ideologically uninterested in wise governance of the bureaucracy. What has happened within the bowels of the bureaucracy is going to be a slow slog to rebuild. 'Standing up to China' Saikrishna Prakash is a University of Virginia Law School professor focusing on constitutional law, foreign relations law and presidential powers. What's Trump's key legacy? The last gasps of his administration are the most consequential, as he exerts a control over his most devoted followers and he's talking about running again. He forced people to consider what the presidency has become in a way that wasn't true I think either during the Bush or Obama administrations. Issues like the 25th Amendment and impeachment hasn't been thought of since Bill Clinton, really. It's possible that people now when they think of the presidency are perhaps going to adopt a different stance going forward, knowing that someone like Trump could come along. It's possible that Congress will delegate less to the president and take away some authority. What else stands out to you? The president has demonstrated that there's a constituency who's opposed to a lot of these trade deals and that there are people willing to vote for those who will either extricate us from these trade deals or "make them fairer". The president has also suggested that China has been taking advantage of the United States in ways that are deleterious to our economic and national security - and I think there's a consensus behind this view. No one wants to be accused of being soft on China, whereas no one cares if you're "soft" on Canada, right? I think people are going to fall all over themselves to be tougher or at least say they're tougher on China. Domestically the president had a populous tone to him. It wasn't ever fully realised in his policies, but we see more Republicans adopting populist ideas.

बुधवार को दोपहर में राष्ट्रपति डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प का कार्यकाल समाप्त हो जाएगा। चार साल से एक बवंडर चल रहा है, तो ऐसे इतिहास रचने वाले राष्ट्रपति की विरासत क्या हो सकती है?


Meghalaya mine collapse: What it's like to work in a 'rat-hole' mine

Summary: Fifteen men have been trapped inside a so-called rat-hole mine in India's north-eastern state of Meghalaya since 13 December. Priyanka Borpujari spoke to a miner who left his job at the same mine days before the accident because he found it to be too dangerous.

Abdul Alim believes if he had stayed, the job would have killed him. Two cousins, Omor and Shirapat Ali, are among the 15 miners who have been trapped for three weeks. Abdul, who fears they may be dead by now, stutters every time he speaks about them. Flooding blocked their exit from the rat-hole mine - named for the narrow crevices through which coal is extracted. Efforts to rescue them have made little headway - a fact that does not surprise Abdul. "Once we went down, there was hardly any light streaming in from above," he recalls. "The mines I had worked in earlier were only about 30 ft (9 metres) deep. But this was far more dangerous." It was nearly 400 ft deep. Abdul is 25 years old. He lives in a bamboo and mud house with his wife, Anjura, in a village called Magurmari on the the western edge of Meghalaya. Parts of the hilly state are home to deposits of coal, which is extracted through deep narrow holes after first digging pits. The mines are so narrow that several agencies involved in the rescue efforts have struggled to find a way inside. After several attempts, navy divers reached the bottom of the mine on Monday. But they returned saying they did not see any of the men and that rescue could only be attempted after all the water was pumped out. Rat-hole mining was banned in 2014. But it's still widely practised across the state, especially in the East Jaintia Hills where the men are trapped. These mines are privately owned and it is not clear how many exist. India is the world's third largest coal-producing nation and coal provides 60% of the country's energy needs. But the industry is poorly regulated. In early December, Abdul got into a taxi with his cousins and drove for 16 hours to reach Ksan, where the mine is located. Abdul first started working in coal mines about two years ago. Before that, he worked as a mason and earned a daily wage of 400 rupees ($6; £4.50). But as a worker in the rat-hole mines, he was paid up to 30,000 rupees every month, partly reflecting the dangerous working conditions. Abdul says about 8-10 men would hop into a metal container suspended by a crane that would then be lowered into the mining pit. "Once we touched ground, the mines spread out in different directions. Each of us would crawl into one and go as far as 30 ft," he said. At this point, he gets off the bed he is sitting on and bends down to explain. "The mine would be this high, about two feet," he says holding his hand that high. "Our sardaar (leader) would instruct us about where to dig. We lie on our sides and chip the coal with the gaaithi (pickaxe). I would put my pushcart just under my legs, so that the coal would fall into it. Once it fills up, I would drag it and bring it to the central assembly point." A small torch tied into place behind his ear provided the only light available. Abdul says a supervisor kept track of the number of workers and how often each one of them returned with a cart full of coal. This determined their wages. He would work four hours straight before taking a break. He often began work at 5am and kept working until noon. During winter, he says he preferred the warmth inside the mine to the biting cold outside. When I ask if crawling and lying on his side for such long hours affected his body, his wife, Anjura, answered. "The skin on his back has gone hard and black like leather," she says. But Abdul says: "Only my right side. Because I would lie on that side and work." Usually, there are up to 200 men working shifts in a single rat hole mine. But Abdul says that the mine in Ksan faced a shortage of workers in December because many of them were from the neighbouring state of Assam. Most of Meghalaya's illegal miners are migrant labourers who come to earn better wages, but many of them went home to Assam to vote in local elections in the first week of December. And the ones who were left behind took on more shifts. Meanwhile, Abdul who had lasted a week in the mine started to look for a way out. The work was the same as the other rat hole mines he had worked in before. But the sheer depth of this one, he says, petrified him. And it drove him home. He told his cousins he wanted to leave but they wouldn't let him, reminding him of how much he was getting paid. "So, one afternoon, after lunch, I told my cousins that I needed to buy a belt for myself. I went to the nearest market, bought the belt and got onto the first bus I saw, and finally made it home," he said, lifting his shirt to show the brown belt. He says he actually needed the belt. Returning to the accident, Abdul says it's possible that water from a nearby waterfall gushed into an adjacent mine. "A hole in the mine where I worked intersected with a hole in the adjoining mine and water from there probably rushed in," he says. "The supervisor warned us not to dig in that direction but some of them did not listen to him." Officials blame this and water from a nearby river. He adds that by the time a miner hears the water coming, it's too late to escape. He doesn't think it's likely that the men in the mine can be saved. "To get all the water out, they would need to pump out 15 neighbouring mines simultaneously," he said. Officials have started pumping water out but say the operation will take time. Abdul left three days before the accident that has cast gloom over Magurmari: seven men from the village are trapped in the mine. He left with only his ID, abandoning clothes as well as seven days' wages. "I don't care for the money I left. I needed to save my life."

13 दिसंबर से भारत के उत्तर-पूर्वी राज्य मेघालय में एक तथाकथित रैट-होल खदान के अंदर पंद्रह लोग फंसे हुए हैं। प्रियंका बोरपुजारी ने एक खनिक से बात की जिसने दुर्घटना से कुछ दिन पहले उसी खदान में अपनी नौकरी छोड़ दी थी क्योंकि उसे यह बहुत खतरनाक लगा था।


Elbow announced as a Belladrum headliner

Summary: Elbow are to headline the Thursday night of next year's Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival.

Over 20 years, the Manchester band has won three Ivor Novellos, a Mercury Music Prize, and a BRIT award for Best British Band. Solo artists Tom Odell and Lewis Capaldi have also been confirmed for Bella, near Beauly. The festival will take place from 1-3 August and will have a science-fiction theme.

कोहनी अगले साल के बेलाड्रम टार्टन हार्ट फेस्टिवल की गुरुवार की रात को सुर्खियों में रहेगी।


Guernsey Airport landing system 'is working'

Summary: The instrument landing system at Guernsey Airport is up and running after being delayed by several weeks, airport authorities have confirmed.

The system allows aircraft to land in low visibility by sending radio signals to guide them on approach. The ground around the one of the devices was too bumpy for it to work properly, so had to be flattened. Director of Guernsey Airport, Colin Le Ray, said the system will allow more flights to land in fog. The work was part of a wider £80m project to renovate Guernsey Airport's runway.

गुएर्नसे हवाई अड्डे पर उपकरण लैंडिंग प्रणाली कई हफ्तों की देरी के बाद चालू है, हवाई अड्डे के अधिकारियों ने पुष्टि की है।


Galloway Forest Park investment provides 'great boost'

Summary: A multi-million pound investment in the Galloway Forest Park's new visitor centres has been described as a "great boost for the local economy" by the environment minister.

Forestry Commission Scotland has invested £4.5m in three sites. It has built a brand new centre at Kirroughtree and upgraded facilities at Clatteringshaws and Glentrool. Paul Wheelhouse said the park was a "beacon for tourists" and the visitor centres a "major draw". He said: "It is currently estimated that Galloway Forest Park brings in around £11m to the local economy. "With the opening of the new centres, we can expect this boost to the local economy to grow over the next few years." Keith Muir, FCS recreation manager in Galloway, said it had been "working hard" to improve visitor facilities. "The new and improved visitor centres are proving very popular and we are pleased to be working hand in hand with local businesses to boost forest tourism in Galloway," he said.

गैलोवे वन उद्यान के नए आगंतुक केंद्रों में कई मिलियन पाउंड के निवेश को पर्यावरण मंत्री ने "स्थानीय अर्थव्यवस्था के लिए एक बड़ा बढ़ावा" बताया है।


Blackwood woman dies after being hit by car in Pontllanfraith

Summary: A 74-year-old woman has died after being hit by a car.

Gwent Police said the incident happened on Bryn Road in Pontllanfraith, Caerphilly, at about 08.25 GMT on Monday. The woman, from Blackwood, was pronounced dead at the scene, the force said. It said her family was being supported by officers, and appealed for anyone who witnessed the incident involving a blue Toyota Yaris to get in touch.

कार की चपेट में आने से एक 74 वर्षीय महिला की मौत हो गई है।