OK, Google - who will win the AI wars?

Summary: "We're moving from a mobile first to an AI-first world." That was how Google's boss, Sundar Pichai, began a presentation on Tuesday, at which his company unveiled a range of new hardware products.

Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent@BBCRoryCJon Twitter He believes that the key attraction of both the new Pixel smartphones and the Google Home smart speaker is the company's expertise in artificial intelligence as demonstrated by the Google Assistant. The search company believes that the vast amount of data it has collected over the years, coupled with its expertise in machine learning, will give it a head start in the coming AI battle. The company hopes that Google Assistant, a conversational chatbot or virtual PA, will soon be a key feature on all sorts of Android devices, not just those it makes itself. If Mr Pichai has his way, we will soon be shouting: "OK Google," to get all sorts of information and services. But on Thursday came news that showed that the biggest player on Android may not be so keen on that idea. Samsung has announced that it is buying Viv, an artificial intelligence company started by the same people who created the virtual assistant Siri, and then sold it to Apple. Viv, according to Samsung, is "a unique, open artificial intelligence platform that gives third-party developers the power to use and build conversational assistants and integrate a natural language-based interface into renowned applications and services". That appears to be a pretty good description of what Google is doing with its AI. But it sounds as though Samsung may decide that Viv will be a key differentiator on its Galaxy phones - and vast range of household appliances - as it battles to retain its position at the top end of the Android market in competition with the Google Pixel. And other technology giants are flexing their own AI muscles. Apple of course has Siri, Microsoft has Cortana, and IBM's Watson has been around for a while and is beginning to make its presence felt in a number of commercial applications. We also learned on Thursday UK lenders Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest would use chatbots based on Watson to answer simple customer queries. Then there is Alexa, the AI at the heart of Amazon's voice-controlled Echo speaker. Amazon has opened up the Alexa platform to outside developers, and there are already a few Alexa-powered devices out there in the market. The Echo is in only a few million homes so far, but talking to her (it?) is already proving a compelling example of the promise - and current limitations - of an AI conversational program. Alexa is pretty good at understanding what you are saying, but not so smart at dealing with follow-up questions. And this is where Google believes its AI has an edge, saying its Assistant has contextual awareness that allows it to carry on a conversation beyond an initial question. The company gives as an example the query: "Who is the current British prime minister?" Try this out with Google, Alexa and Apple's Siri, and all three will produce the answer: "Theresa May". But follow up with: "How old is she?" and Siri says: "I'm afraid I couldn't find anything on 'How old is she?'" while Alexa tells you she does not understand the question. But the Google Assistant knows you are referring to Mrs May and comes back with: "Theresa May is 60 years old." Of course, we are at the very early stages of this revolution, and much may change as each AI learns by doing. What is more, none of them has yet convinced a significant number of people that conversing with a smart device is something really useful rather than a bit of fun, which you try and then forget. Both Amazon and Google are betting that this moment comes when we walk through the front door and say: "OK Google, turn on the lights," or: "Alexa, turn up the heat in the hallway." Now we know that Samsung and perhaps IBM's Watson may also be competing to give us similarly compelling AI experiences. The mystery is what Apple is up to. Siri first came to the iPhone five years ago, providing the first experience of a virtual assistant for many. Since then, while the program has appeared on more Apple devices, and is now on its desktop Macs, it has failed to define this new category. Where is the Siri speaker or Siri car? You can be certain that hundreds, perhaps thousands of artificial intelligence experts are at work in Cupertino. But exactly what ambition Apple has to be a key player in the AI future remains unclear.

"हम पहले एक मोबाइल से एक ए. आई.-प्रथम दुनिया की ओर बढ़ रहे हैं।" इस तरह गूगल के बॉस, सुंदर पिचाई ने मंगलवार को एक प्रस्तुति शुरू की, जिस पर उनकी कंपनी ने नए हार्डवेयर उत्पादों की एक श्रृंखला का अनावरण किया।


Museums get £630,000 funding to adapt to Covid world

Summary: A pop-up museum in a shopping centre, exhibit boxes that are sent to schools by post and actor-guides who control social distancing - these are among the schemes that have received funding to help museums during the pandemic.

Eighteen museums around the UK will share £630,000 to help them find new and safe ways of reaching the public. The Art Fund said it had been inundated by museums and galleries "whose funding models have been shattered by this crisis". The charity will award a further £900,000 at a later date. 3D printing for artefacts The first institutions to have received money include the Wycombe Museum in Buckinghamshire, which has been awarded £35,000 to take "the museum to the town's main shopping centre". The Florence Nightingale Museum in London will spend £46,000 to employ actors as guides to marshal social distancing while also "immersing visitors in the nurse's world and legacy". The National Civil War Centre in Newark, Nottinghamshire, will use £40,000 to adapt its education programme, including sending objects in loan boxes and allowing artefacts to be 3D printed. A number of venues, including Aerospace Bristol, the National Videogame Museum in Sheffield and the Novium Museum in Chichester will spend grants on making their collections accessible online. Others will use theirs on safety measures. The National Glass Centre in Sunderland will put £40,000 toward adapting its glassmaking demonstrations to be safe for visitors. With its £25,000, The Box in Plymouth will buy styluses so people do not have to touch digital exhibits with their fingers. Some, like the Ceredigion Museum in Aberystwyth and the Side Gallery in Newcastle, will use the money for projects to record the pandemic and the impact it has had on their communities. Other venues to have received funding include Dundee Contemporary Arts, the Void Arts Centre in Derry/Londonderry and the Jaywick Martello Tower in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. Follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

खरीदारी केंद्र में एक पॉप-अप संग्रहालय, डाक द्वारा स्कूलों में भेजे जाने वाले बक्से और सामाजिक दूरी को नियंत्रित करने वाले अभिनेता-गाइड-ये उन योजनाओं में से हैं जिन्हें महामारी के दौरान संग्रहालयों की मदद के लिए धन प्राप्त हुआ है।


SLMM deplores Lanka violence

Summary: The new head of the Nordic peace monitors in Sri Lanka says the country is facing a dramatic and deteriorating humanitarian crisis caused by the worst violence since the ceasefire was agreed four years ago.

The head of the mission, Major-General Lars Johan Sølvberg, said the nature of the violence by both the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels was shocking, and urged both parties to return to peace talks. The two sides have said they want to negotiate, but many doubt whether their willingness is sincere. BBC correspondent in Colombo, Dumeetha Luthra, says in recent months both sides have been breaking the ceasefire to such an extent that it only seems to be a document on paper rather than a reality on the ground. The monitoring mission has halved in size since the Tamil Tigers demanded that any individuals from European Union countries must leave following the EU's listing of the rebels as a terrorist organisation.

श्रीलंका में नॉर्डिक शांति पर्यवेक्षकों के नए प्रमुख का कहना है कि देश चार साल पहले युद्धविराम पर सहमति बनने के बाद से सबसे खराब हिंसा के कारण एक नाटकीय और बिगड़ते मानवीय संकट का सामना कर रहा है।


Parading: Two-line executive statement leaves much unsaid

Summary: Politicians like nothing more than to confound pundits.

Mark DevenportPolitical editor, Northern Ireland@markdevenporton Twitter So, I detected a sense of satisfaction on the part of First Minister Peter Robinson as he told reporters that, far from being a shouting match like the executive's heated meeting in May, the ministers' discussion of Ardoyne and other recent parades decisions had been calm and measured. That said, we are still in the dark over the promised unionist "graduated response" to the Parades Commission determination in north Belfast. Sinn Féin's John O'Dowd said his understanding is that unionist ministers intend to continue to participate in future executive meetings, but Mr Robinson would not give any such guarantee. The parties agreed a two-line statement agreeing that all parades and parade-related protests should be lawful and acknowledging the efforts made by many to ensure the summer is peaceful. The terse nature of the latest statement contrasts with the comprehensive five paragraph communique they published at this stage last year. It is also much shorter than a draft the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, circulated amongst ministers late last month. As a hack, I'm in favour of brevity. In this case, though, it doesn't appear to be "the soul of wit", more an indication of the difficulty our ministers have in agreeing anything more substantial when it comes to parades.

राजनेताओं को पंडितों को भ्रमित करने के अलावा और कुछ पसंद नहीं है।


Hawick flood protection scheme confirmation sought

Summary: A council is being asked to confirm its plans for a £44m flood scheme to protect more than 900 properties.

It could allow the project in Hawick to be completed by 2022. The town has suffered repeated problems resulting in the multi-million pound plans being drawn up to try to tackle the situation in the long term. Scottish Borders Council has been advised to make a final decision to confirm its plans this week in order for the project to proceed. A report has concluded that with no objections from people in areas affected by flooding or by the work there is no need to refer the scheme to Scottish ministers.

एक परिषद को 900 से अधिक संपत्तियों की रक्षा के लिए 44 मिलियन पाउंड की बाढ़ योजना की अपनी योजनाओं की पुष्टि करने के लिए कहा जा रहा है।


Primary league tables: Lowest results

Summary: This table lists the 202 primary schools with the lowest Sats results in England in 2012.

At these schools 49% or fewerYear 6 children achieved Level 4 in English and maths. The average point score - the average number of points per pupil in the tests - is used as a tie break. The list does not include schools with fewer than six pupils.

इस तालिका में 2012 में इंग्लैंड में सबसे कम सैट्स परिणामों वाले 202 प्राथमिक विद्यालयों को सूचीबद्ध किया गया है।


How the 'better burger' is taking over the world

Summary: Burgers used to be fast and cheap - the epitome of fast food. But now a different type of patty exported from the US is rapidly expanding across the globe. What's driving the rise of the so called "better burger"?

By Katie HopeBusiness reporter, BBC News "What's fascinating", observes Paul Reynish, chief executive of US burger chain Five Guys International, is "the complete fundamental change" that has taken place with people prepared to pay more and wait longer for a more upmarket burger. We're speaking via phone whilst he's in the firm's Belfast restaurant, doing what he calls "product calibration" - where the firm tries to match US ingredients not available or allowed under EU laws with local alternatives. Making sure its overseas burgers taste the same as those in the US is important, he says. "Unless you have consistency there is no brand... you've got to have some confidence that the burger you have in Dubai and Paris is the same as the one you have in California and Miami," he says. This is still a fairly new experience for the firm, which opened its first restaurant outside the US just four years ago. The family controlled firm, started by husband and wife team Jerry and Janie Murrell and their five sons in 1986, is one of the biggest operators in the so called "better burger" market. This is where the cheap fast food staple morphs into the world of cooked-to-order, brioche buns, grass fed cattle and triple cooked chips. A level up from the fast food chains such as McDonald's and Burger King and two to three times more expensive, these types of burger bars still tend to be cheaper and more relaxed than a restaurant meal. In a world where prices are rising faster than pay, it's an affordable indulgence. Yes it's a treat but not one that'll put too much of a dent in your bank balance. So called millennials, the generation that came of age after the 2008 financial crisis, are their core customers. The trend of diners wanting to know where their food comes from, how it was prepared, and the "story" behind it has also helped drive the better burger's rapid expansion. Five Guys, for example, boasts of 120-day grain-finished beef from family-owned farms in Ireland. Less than 1% of all UK beef qualifies, it says. "Burgers, fries, shakes and Coke it's a pretty simple model," says Mr Reynish. Nonetheless, it's a profitable market, worth some £3.3bn in the UK last year, according to market research firm Mintel. The US and the UK aren't the only ones with an appetite for a more upmarket burger. Five Guys is currently in nine countries, but expects to expand to 28 over the next five years. It's not to everyone's taste. "Overpriced, overrated and over here," is one disgruntled Trip Advisor reviewer's verdict on the explosion of higher end US burger places in the UK. Yet Mr Reynish says it was demands from visitors to the US desperate to experience the burgers in their home countries that drove their decision to expand. In contrast to Five Guys, US rival Shake Shack wasn't even a chain when it decided to take its concept overseas. "Quite honestly it's serendipitous we're even talking now...Shake Shack was totally an accident," laughs Michael Kark. As vice president of Shake Shack's licensed business, he is the man in charge of the firm's international expansion. The firm's taken an unusual approach to expansion, opening restaurants overseas before it was an established presence in its home country. Less than a decade ago the firm was a temporary stand in a New York park with queues so long that one fan set up a webcam so people could see at a glance just how long they'd have to wait. It was after the firm, founded by restaurateur Danny Meyer, opened its second restaurant, that Kuwaiti firm Alshaya approached them about opening a franchise. "Kuwait isn't top of most brands' lists", admits Mr Kark. But for the firm which was then "really really tiny", it turned out to be a massive opportunity. They agreed a licensing deal whereby Shake Shack took a one-off fee plus a percentage of sales. It's a model the firm has stuck to for all its overseas restaurants. The experience helped its success: "As a company we were really great at creating one off concepts but we had no experience about duplication," says Mr Kark. But why on earth did Alshaya choose Shake Shack? Mr Kark says when he asked him, the group's founder said it was the really long queues. "We'd gained this enormous cult following and that's how he found us." Burger bars often inspire a cult-like following. UK burger firm Meat Liquor began as irregular gatherings called #Meateasy advertised on Twitter. At that stage there was no restaurant, website or permanent venue, but just a hashtag and a burger van dubbed the "meatwagon". Nonetheless, people would trek to south London and queue for two hours just to get a taste of their particular take on classic American diner food. It wasn't just the food, but the atmosphere that lured customers. With violently loud music and dark graffiti-adorned walls, the venues are more like a nightclub than a restaurant. The first meatwagon was vandalised and the second was stolen. Founder Yianni Papoutsis, who was juggling the ad hoc stall with his job as a technician for the English National Ballet, eventually teamed up with pub owner Scott Collins to find a restaurant in 2010. Now the pair have 13 sites and expect to make £17m in sales this year. "It's more like luck than judgement," says Mr Collins. More stories from the BBC's global trade series looking at trade from an international perspective: What it takes to get Beyonce on a world tour The country losing out in the breakfast juice battle Why a $1.6bn car plant has been left to decay 'You don't have to be a squillionaire to buy art' How Scottish salmon conquered the world Read more global trade series here. But one thing hasn't changed. They still make customers seek them out. Their restaurants are often in sites other restaurants reject, tucked away in alleyways, or unusual places such as an ice rink or a box park made of shipping containers. "Part of our USP is that we're hidden away," says Scott Collins. But for people fed up with queuing it now lets customers reserve tables. He says there's really nothing new about the gourmet burger craze which has long been a pub menu staple. It's this very popularity which could eventually slow the sector's growing success. Mintel says the fact that there is so much competition, often in the exact same locations, means it's becoming harder for firms to attract customers. Five Guys Mr Reynish isn't worried. "We're just not seeing any reduction in demand or frequency. Our annual sales per store are going up not down," he says.

बर्गर तेज़ और सस्ते हुआ करते थे-फास्ट फूड का प्रतीक। लेकिन अब अमेरिका से निर्यात की जाने वाली एक अलग प्रकार की पैटी दुनिया भर में तेजी से फैल रही है। तथाकथित "बेहतर बर्गर" के उदय को क्या प्रेरित कर रहा है?


St Albans stabbing: Two charged over attack on teenager

Summary: Two boys, aged 15 and 16, have been charged with grievous bodily harm after an attack in St Albans in which a teenager was stabbed.

The 16-year-old victim was stabbed in the abdomen during a fight between two groups in Verulamium Park on 15 June. The defendants, who were arrested last week, are due at St Albans youth court on Wednesday. A third boy, 14, arrested in June, will appear at the city's Crown Court on Friday charged with attempted murder. He has also been charged with possession of a bladed article. The injured boy is now recovering at home, Hertfordshire Police confirmed.

सेंट अल्बंस में एक हमले के बाद 15 और 16 वर्ष की आयु के दो लड़कों पर गंभीर शारीरिक नुकसान का आरोप लगाया गया है, जिसमें एक किशोर को चाकू मार दिया गया था।


Wretch 32 heads Urban Music Awards 2011 nominations

Summary: London rapper Wretch 32 leads the nominations for this year's Urban Music Awards with six nods, including for artist of the year.

He's also nominated for best single, best music video, best collaboration, best hip hop and best male artist. In a statement he said: "This is amazing news. Thanks to all the fans who nominated me." Jessie J and Example have also picked up four nominations for the awards ceremony in September. Other artists also up for awards include JLS, Chipmunk, Chris Brown, Tinie Tempah, Nicki Minaj, Adele and Katy B. The awards, which reward artists in 17 different categories, are decided by public votes.

लंदन के रैपर रेच 32 इस साल के शहरी संगीत पुरस्कारों के लिए नामांकन में छह नामांकनों के साथ सबसे आगे हैं, जिसमें वर्ष का कलाकार भी शामिल है।


The real corporate tax puzzle

Summary: Big internet giants like Apple are going to extraordinary lengths to minimise their tax burden, and voters and politicians are understandably excited about it. But the puzzle for economists is not that big companies now pay so little tax - but why, in a global economy, they are still paying tax on their profits at all.

Stephanie FlandersFormer economics editor When I was first studying economics 25 years ago, my teachers were all expecting corporate taxes to disappear. In a global economy in which capital and companies could go wherever they wanted, the assumption was that there would be an international "race to the bottom" when it came to corporate tax rates. Governments would either have to spend less or jack up personal income or consumption taxes instead. Looking at the tax planning exploits of Amazon, Google and the rest, you might say the prediction had come true. Except, corporate tax revenues overall have not fallen sharply as the world has become more globally integrated, or more digitally connected; rather the opposite. IMF economists looked at this recently. They found that globalisation had pushed down corporate tax rates quite dramatically in the UK and around the developed world. (Especially in the 1980s - think of the successive corporate tax cuts under Nigel Lawson). The median corporate tax rate in the largest 19 OECD countries fell from 50% in 1982 to 34% by 2003. But the researchers do not find this translating into lower corporate revenues: "...in fact, for the US and all regions save for Sub-Saharan Africa, revenues have risen over time." Economists might not be surprised by that in itself. If corporate tax rates start out high, tax experts would say that cutting the marginal rate doesn't need to cost the government revenue, if the government broadens the tax base at the same time by cutting loopholes and deductions. In large parts of the world, a lower rate might also encourage more black market companies to join the legitimate economy and pay tax for the first time. All of those things would tend to push up revenues, even if rates are going down. But you can't usually raise revenues by cutting the tax on corporate profits to zero. With all the competition out there, economists might still wonder why corporate profit taxes are still with us at all, let alone be raising roughly the same amount as they were in the 1960s. A chart (on p28 of the report) shows how corporate revenues have varied internationally since 1980 as a share of GDP. Predictably, the number jumps around a lot; corporate profits swing about wildly, depending on the economy, and you'd expect corporate tax revenues to do the same. But, as I said, the prediction, 20-30 years ago would have been that in a global economy, revenues would be jumping around a fast-declining trend. That is not the picture you see on the chart. Before the financial crisis, OECD countries were raising significantly more from companies as a share of GDP than they were 30 years earlier. The average corporate tax take was 3.8% of GDP in 2007, up from 2.6% in 1990 and 2.1% in 1975. Of course, you'd expect the financial crisis to have cut revenues. But corporate tax revenues, on average, were still 2.9% of GDP in 2010 (which is the most recent year available). In that year the chancellor raised 3.1% of GDP from UK companies - compared with 3.5% in 1990 and 2.2% in 1975. In the US, the figure was 2.7%, compared with 3.5% and 1990 and 2.9% in 1975. None of this makes the tax exploits or Apple and the others any less disturbing, for voters or governments. Even Google's Eric Schmidt seems to agree that global tax rules have not kept pace with the development of the digital economy and they need to be reformed. Individual countries care how much money they get from Google, relative to their sales. In economic terms, the interesting question is whether they are paying less than the average overall. It is quite possible that high-tech companies pay less tax, as a share of their global revenues, than the global average. I have not been able to find any research on this, either way, but you can't help feeling there ought to be some. In the meantime, economists will continue to be puzzled that governments are still able to raise as much money from companies as they do. And governments, for their part, might be somewhat relieved that all the talk of scams and mounting avoidance has yet to seriously damage their capacity to tax companies overall. But companies that choose not to send their profits into the outer atmosphere - or any other offshore location - will not find that reassuring at all.

एप्पल जैसे बड़े इंटरनेट दिग्गज अपने कर के बोझ को कम करने के लिए असाधारण हद तक जा रहे हैं, और मतदाता और राजनेता इसके बारे में स्पष्ट रूप से उत्साहित हैं। लेकिन अर्थशास्त्रियों के लिए पहेली यह नहीं है कि बड़ी कंपनियां अब इतना कम कर देती हैं-लेकिन क्यों, एक वैश्विक अर्थव्यवस्था में, वे अभी भी अपने मुनाफे पर कर का भुगतान कर रहे हैं।


Philae comet lander: Sleep well little probe

Summary: European Space Agency controllers will not give up on Philae.

Jonathan AmosScience correspondent@BBCAmoson Twitter They will continue to listen for the little probe in the days ahead, hopeful that it will somehow become active again. On each pass overhead, the Rosetta satellite will try to detect and lock on to any sort of blip being transmitted from below. The mission has faced up to the odds before, and won. It bounced and probably scraped across the surface during its historic touchdown on Wednesday. Philae survived all that. People will now want to believe it can hunker down in the darkness and ride out its present predicament. It would be very useful to know where exactly the probe is right now on the surface of Comet 67P. This would give controllers a better sense of whether it is ever likely to come back to life. The robot's own pictures show it to be rammed up against walls that throw a deep shadow over its solar panels for most of 67P's 12-hour day. But the conditions that currently prevent Philae from charging its batteries could change. It is not inconceivable that as the comet moves in closer to the Sun, the amount of light made available to the probe will increase, in amount and in intensity. There could be structural changes on the comet, too. Obstructions that look hard and imposing today could crumble in time as 67P warms and becomes more active. The jets of gas and dust that are generated as the comet's internal ices are heated could disturb the robot in such a way that it is bumped to a more favourable lighting location. For sure, Philae will be very cold in the long nights it is experiencing, but the assessment of the thermal status of the probe is encouraging. It can survive. If this is the last we hear from the robot, history will be very quick to judge this mission as an astonishing success. Yes, the robot had some systems failures in its landing mechanisms, but it would be churlish in the extreme to dwell on these shortcomings. The robot delivered almost 100% of its primary goals, returning the first-ever pictures and other science data from the surface of a comet. And it has been a blast. This past week's events really caught the world's attention. So how about we do it again? This is the dream certainly of many who control Philae's mothership, Rosetta. It will continue to orbit and observe 67P for at least another year, but after that there is a desire to put the satellite on the surface of the comet as well. "I would like to land on the surface of the comet with the full spacecraft - definitely," says European Space Agency flight director Andrea Accomazzo. "In the end, we can design an approach trajectory to the comet. We just slow down the spacecraft and it falls on to the comet. "The touchdown will not be as soft as the lander. There's no landing gear; the spacecraft would be mechanically damaged. But we can do it." And Paolo Ferri, Esa's head of mission operations, added: "We would plan such a manoeuvre so that we could follow Rosetta down to the surface. But once it touches down, we cannot control anymore the attitude. So, the antenna will not be pointing to the right direction. "We would lose the contact when it touches down, but we would still be able to control it down to the last metre, to get signal, measurements and pictures. It would be spectacular. That's the right way to die." You can hear more from Accomazzo and Ferri in the BBC Radio 4 Frontiers special we recorded from mission control on Wednesday night - if you haven't already caught the programme. And there'll be a special Sky At Night edition dedicated to Philae's exploits on BBC Four television this Sunday at 2100 GMT.

यूरोपीय अंतरिक्ष एजेंसी के नियंत्रक फिले को नहीं छोड़ेंगे।


South Yorkshire man charged after baby airlifted to hospital

Summary: A man has been charged with assault after a two-month-old boy was airlifted to hospital with head injuries.

The boy was airlifted from an address in Steward Gate, Bamford, Derbyshire, on Thursday and remains in a critical condition. Anton Shield, of Hardwick Crescent, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, has been charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm with intent. The 37-year-old appeared at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court earlier. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.

दो महीने के एक लड़के को सिर में चोट लगने के बाद हवाई मार्ग से अस्पताल ले जाने के बाद एक व्यक्ति पर हमला करने का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Trump-Russia inquiry: Why attacks on Robert Mueller are mounting

Summary: In recent weeks, conservative commentators and politicians have begun arguing, with growing intensity, that Robert Mueller's investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia is the result of an intentional effort by biased investigators to undermine the Trump presidency.

Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter There are a number of components to the case they are presenting, from doubts about the impartiality of Mr Mueller and his team to questions about the integrity of the FBI and the Obama-era Justice Department. All of it could be setting the ground for new investigations into the FBI or Democrat Hillary Clinton's actions while secretary of state - something Mr Trump himself has suggested - or perhaps even for the president to order the end of Mr Mueller's probe. Such an action would provoke a major political crisis and could have unpredictable consequences. For Mr Trump's defenders, it may be enough simply to mire Mr Mueller's investigation in a partisan morass. Here are some are some of the ways they're trying to do that. Tell-tale texts? Peter Strzok, a senior counter-intelligence agent in the FBI and until this summer a top member of Mr Mueller's special counsel team, has become Exhibit A of anti-Trump bias in the Russia investigation. A Justice Department inspector general review of the FBI's handling of its 2016 election investigations unearthed text messages between Mr Strzok and Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer who also temporarily worked on the Mueller investigation and with whom Mr Strzok was having an extramarital affair. Some of the messages, which were provided to reporters, showed the two had a hostility toward then-candidate Trump in 2016. Ms Page called Mr Trump a "loathsome human" in March, as the candidate was cementing his lead in the Republican primary field. Three months later - after Mr Trump had secured the nomination - Mr Strzok wrote that he was an "idiot" who said "bigoted nonsense". In an August text, Mr Strzok discussed a meeting with then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in which Ms Page apparently had mentioned there was "no way" Mr Trump could be elected. "I'm afraid we can't take that risk," Mr Strzok wrote. "It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40." Some have theorised that the "insurance policy" in question was an FBI plan to destroy Mr Trump if he were to win. Others have suggested that it was simply a reference to the need to continue working the Trump-Russia investigation even though his election seemed unlikely. "It is very sad when you look at those documents," Mr Trump said on Friday, apparently referring to the texts. "And how they've done that is really, really disgraceful, and you have a lot of very angry people that are seeing it." He said it was a shame what had happened to the FBI and that it would be "rebuilt". Since the first coverage of the story, reporters have reviewed more of the Strzok-Page texts and found the two made disparaging comments about a wide range of public figures, including Chelsea Clinton, Democrat Bernie Sanders, then-Attorney General Eric Holder, Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich, and Mrs Clinton. "I'm worried about what happens if HRC is elected," Mr Strzok wrote, referring to Mrs Clinton by her initials. Why it could matter: If Mr Strzok, a high-ranking member of the FBI who officially launched the initial investigation of ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, harboured anti-Trump animus, there is the possibility it could have motivated him to influence the investigation to the president's disadvantage. Why it might not: Government employees are allowed to express political views as long as they don't influence their job performance. The breadth of the Strzok-Page texts could indicate they were just gossiping lovers. Without context, Mr Strzok's "insurance" line is vague. When Mr Mueller learned of the text this summer, Mr Strzok was removed from the independent counsel investigation and reassigned to a human resources job. The Clinton case Mr Strzok also figures prominently in Republican concerns about the FBI's handling of its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Mr Strzok took part in interviews with key Clinton aides and reportedly was involved in drafting the report that concluded Mrs Clinton's actions did not warrant criminal charges, including changing the description of her handling of classified material from "grossly negligent" - which might have suggested illegal behaviour - to "extremely careless". During the campaign Mr Trump repeatedly insisted that the Justice Department should re-open its investigation into Mrs Clinton and, after backing away from the idea early in his presidency, has once again renewed those calls. "High ranking FBI officials involved in the Clinton investigation were personally invested in the outcome of the election and clearly let their strong political opinions cloud their professional judgement," Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte said during a House Judicial Committee hearing. There's also the possibility that there were more communications between Ms Page and Mr Strzok about the Clinton investigation that have yet to come to light. "We text on that phone when we talk about Hillary because it can't be traced, you were just venting [because] you feel bad that you're gone so much but it can't be helped right now," Ms Page wrote in one text. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said he wants more information about the use of these "untraceable" phones. Why it could matter: If FBI agents backed off their investigation of Mrs Clinton in 2016 it could be further evidence of bias within the bureau that could affect its ongoing investigation into Mr Trump. If public confidence in the FBI is eroded, the ultimate findings of Mr Mueller's probe may be cast in doubt. Why it might not: Lest anyone forget, Mrs Clinton's candidacy was the one wounded by FBI actions in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Then-Director James Comey's announcement of new evidence in the inquiry into her private email server - perhaps prompted by anti-Clinton leaks from the bureau's New York office - dominated the headlines and renewed concerns about the former secretary of state. News of the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation, on the other hand, didn't emerge until well after the election. Marital woes When it comes to the ongoing investigations into the investigations, it's not just the actions of the principals involved that have come under the spotlight. Spouses have figured prominently, as well. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the bureau's second-in-command, is married to Jill McCabe, a paediatrician who ran as a Democrat for a Virginia state senate seat in 2015 (before Mr McCabe was promoted to his current position). During the hotly contested race, Ms McCabe received $467,500 in campaign contributions from a political action committee controlled by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a close political ally of the Clinton family. Conservatives contend that this donation should have disqualified Mr McCabe from involvement in the Clinton case - and was yet another example of possible anti-Trump bias in the FBI's Russia investigation. "If Mr McCabe failed to avoid the appearance of a partisan conflict of interest in favour of Mrs Clinton during the presidential election, then any participation in [the Russia] inquiry creates the exact same appearance of a partisan conflict of interest against Mr Trump," Senator Grassley wrote in a letter to then-Director Comey in March. Meanwhile, the wife of Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce G Ohr was recently reported as being employed in 2016 by Fusion GPS, the political research firm that produced the dossier containing unconfirmed allegations of Mr Trump's Russia entanglements. Mr Ohr himself has been connected to Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence agent who collected the material for the dossier. Fusion GPS's anti-Trump research efforts were originally funded by a Republican donor and later backed by groups associated with the Democratic Party and the Clinton presidential campaign. Why it matters: "Power couples" - spouses with influential, complementary political jobs - are a Washington tradition, and the actions of one partner are often considered to reflect on the views and behaviour of the other. In Mr McCabe's case, his wife's Democratic activism and allegiances could shed light on his political sympathies. For Mr Ohr, his marriage could have served as a conduit to inject Democratic-funded opposition research into the Justice Department. Why it might not: Having a political spouse is not evidence of official bias. The identity of the individuals or groups that funded and gathered anti-Trump research and how it ended up in government hands does not necessarily have a bearing on whether the information is valid or merits further investigation. Follow the money The individuals working on the Russia investigation have been billed as a "dream team" by Democrats and liberal commentators hoping the efforts will eventually topple the Trump presidency. Many conservatives beg to differ. In June, as details of the special counsel hires began to emerge, conservatives noted that some of the biggest names - Andrew Weissmann, James Quarles, Jeannie Rhee and Michael Dreeben - had given money to Democratic presidential candidates. "Republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel is going to be fair," former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich tweeted. "Look who he is hiring." Ms Rhee's private law work included representing Democrats, such as Obama Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes and the Clinton Foundation in a lawsuit brought by a conservative activist group. Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz recently travelled to Florida with Mr Trump and said he told the president that the independent counsel investigation was "infected with bias" against him - a view echoed in the conservative press. "What we've seen over the past seven months of the Mueller investigation reveals a lot about how big government can end up becoming a threat to representative democracy," Laura Ingraham said on her Fox News programme. "And the more we look at the web of Clinton and Obama loyalists who burrowed into Mueller's office, the more obvious it all becomes." Why it could matter: Political donations and legal work may be evidence of the ideological tilt of Mr Mueller's investigative team. That he has assembled a group of lawyers that may lean to the left could mean the investigation itself is predisposed to findings damaging to Mr Trump. Why it might not: Investigators are adversarial by nature, and as long as Mr Mueller's team builds its cases with hard evidence, personal political views should not matter. While political partisans may focus on staff-level appointments, the investigation will rise and fall based on perceptions of Mr Mueller himself. Mr Mueller's waiver Prior to accepting the position as special counsel investigating possible Trump campaign ties to Russia, Mr Mueller requested - and received - an "ethics waiver" for possible conflicts of interest from the US Department of Justice. The government has confirmed the existence of the waiver but has not revealed any details, although speculation at the time was that it had to do with Mr Mueller's work at the law firm WilmerHale, which represented former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort - who Mr Mueller has since indicted on money-laundering charges - and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Why it could matter: Without further information about the nature of the waiver, some are speculating that there is more to this request than simply routine ethical paperwork. Given that Mr Mueller is a former director of the FBI, with ties to many of the bureau officials who are now coming under conservative scrutiny, Mr Mueller's own allegiances are being called into question. Why it might not: Mr Mueller is a decorated war veteran who, prior to taking the special counsel role was widely praised for his independence and probity. He was appointed FBI head by Republican George W Bush in 2001. If Mr Mueller's waiver had explosive details indicating clear bias, it probably would have leaked by now.

हाल के हफ्तों में, रूढ़िवादी टिप्पणीकारों और राजनेताओं ने बढ़ती तीव्रता के साथ बहस करना शुरू कर दिया है कि ट्रम्प अभियान और रूस के बीच संभावित संबंधों में रॉबर्ट म्यूलर की जांच ट्रम्प राष्ट्रपति पद को कमजोर करने के लिए पक्षपाती जांचकर्ताओं द्वारा जानबूझकर किए गए प्रयास का परिणाम है।


Harry and Meghan: Queen's statement in full

Summary: The Queen has issued a statement following talks held between senior members of the Royal Family on Monday. The so-called Sandringham summit was called to discuss a new role for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Here is her statement in full: "Today my family had very constructive discussions on the future of my grandson and his family. "My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan's desire to create a new life as a young family. Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family. "Harry and Meghan have made clear that they do not want to be reliant on public funds in their new lives. "It has therefore been agreed that there will be a period of transition in which the Sussexes will spend time in Canada and the UK. "These are complex matters for my family to resolve, and there is some more work to be done, but I have asked for final decisions to be reached in the coming days."

महारानी ने सोमवार को शाही परिवार के वरिष्ठ सदस्यों के बीच हुई बातचीत के बाद एक बयान जारी किया है। तथाकथित सैंड्रिंघम शिखर सम्मेलन ड्यूक और डचेस ऑफ ससेक्स के लिए एक नई भूमिका पर चर्चा करने के लिए बुलाया गया था।


Your pictures on the theme of 'open spaces'

Summary: We asked our readers to send in their pictures on the theme of "open spaces". Here are some of the pictures sent to us from around the world.

The next theme is "garden creatures" and the deadline for entries is 18 August 2020. Send pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or follow the link below to "Upload your pictures here". Further details and terms can be found by following the link to "We set the theme, you take the picture" at the bottom of the page. All photographs subject to copyright.

हमने अपने पाठकों से "खुले स्थानों" के विषय पर अपनी तस्वीरें भेजने के लिए कहा। यहाँ दुनिया भर से हमें भेजी गई कुछ तस्वीरें हैं।


Freediving: The lure of the deep

Summary: The cold, dark waters more than a hundred metres below the surface of the ocean are not a forgiving environment for human beings. The pressure, more than 10 times that at the surface, can quickly cause unconsciousness - fatal at that depth.

By Joel GunterBBC News But for freedivers - a small band of extreme sportsmen and women who propel themselves down in no more than a wetsuit - the deepest part of the dive is not even the most dangerous. That comes as they ascend to the surface, sustained by a breath taken several minutes before, when a diver can succumb to so-called "shallow water blackout" just metres from fresh air. Natalia Molchanova, widely regarded as the best female freediver in the world, took a deep breath on Sunday and dipped beneath the waves off the coast of Ibiza. She had done this countless times, but this time she didn't resurface. On Tuesday, the International Freediving Association (AIDA) released a statement saying Ms Molchanova was missing, and she is now presumed dead. Ms Molchanova was not performing a deep dive. If anything, Sunday's dive was completely routine. According to the AIDA statement, she was at just 30m-40m - well short of her record depth of 127m. She was however performing a kind of dive called Constant Weight Apnea Without Fins (CNF) in which the diver wears just a weight belt and thin wetsuit. It is thought that she was caught in a strong underwater current and, without any fins to help propel her, was unable to fight against it. The search for her body continues. So what then is the attraction of swimming down into this harsh environment, where the whim of a deep invisible current can carry you away or the pressure of the water cause the gases in your body to produce hallucinations, unconsciousness, and eventually death? A film of the champion Kiwi freediver William Trubridge gives some sense of the lure of the deep. As the camera follows him down into the thinning light, his slow breast stroke is hypnotic. Even watching on a screen, there is a palpable sense of calm. "When you stop breathing you suspend the body's natural metronome, which it uses to count out time," Mr Trubridge told the BBC down the phone, "so holding your breath is almost like suspending time itself. A freedive is like a journey outside of yourself and outside of time." At some point, a freediver's lungs become sufficiently compressed by the pressure change that the diver becomes negatively buoyant - they will sink without having to propel themselves. "It is the most peaceful part of the dive," said Mr Trubridge. "You are completely still and it is like you are expected. You are drawn into the ocean." Stephen Whelan, a recreational freediver who runs Deeper Blue, a website devoted to the sport, echoed Mr Trubridge. "Freedivers go to incredible depths, they do incredible distances underwater, they hold their breath for seemingly inhuman amounts of time," he said. "But freediving is a very peaceful and relaxing sport. If you watch freedivers before they go under, it's about deep breathing. It's about getting into a calm mental state and staying calm throughout the dive. And it's a very introspective sport, the divers have to shut out the outside world. It's a sport of two extremes - you go to extreme depths but you also have to go deep into yourself to do it." The best freedivers hold their breath for extraordinary lengths of time, perhaps three to five minutes on a deep dive but nearly twice that while lying still in a pool. They rely on something called the "mammalian dive reflex" - a reaction to cold water around the face that slows the heart rate dramatically and shifts blood from the extremities to the core of the body. The process - vital to water mammals such as dolphins but present in humans - allows freedivers to go for so long without air. At nine minutes and two seconds, Ms Molchanova holds the world record for static apnea - holding your breath while lying face down in a pool. Her other records - of which there are many - are measured in distance: 71m for diving with a weight belt but without fins; 101m for the same dive but with fins; 127m for a kind of dive that uses a heavy weight to push the diver down. She held the female record in seven of the eight disciplines recognised by the AIDA, bested only by British diver Tanya Streeter who reached 160m in the most dangerous "No Limit Apnea" dive. Deaths like Ms Molchanova's often provoke two sorts of reactions: tributes from the world of extreme sports and those who sympathise with the thrillseekers; and scorn from those who think the victims only have themselves to blame. Just a few hours after the story broke, Philip Gourevitch, a staff writer at the New Yorker, tweeted: "Natalia Molchanova, Champion Free Diver, presumed dead … because free diving is a "sport" like Russian Roulette is". Mr Gourevitch was rounded on for the insensitivity of his comments. "Russian roulette is absolutely not true," said Mr Whelan. "It's an ill-informed comment from someone who should know better." And the statistics back him up: in more than 20 years of competitive freediving - and more than 50,000 competitive dives, according to the AIDA - only one person has lost their life. In 2013, Nicholas Mevoli, 32, of Brooklyn, New York, was attempting the same type of dive as Ms Molchanova when he lost consciousness on the way to the surface and later died. Out of competition, about five other people are thought to have lost their lives while training, most attempting the "No Limit" dive. "It is not common that these accidents happen," said Kimmo Lahtinen, the president of AIDA. But experience is no guarantee against misfortune, he added: "When they do happen, they can happen to the most experienced divers because these are the people who are pushing the limits. That's what they do. It's like a paradox for me, when you are inexperienced you respect safe limits. When you are very experienced, you are on top of everything and you are really testing the human limits. Now Natalia, who was very very experienced, is lost." Mr Lahtinen said he was surprised Ms Molchanova got into trouble on such a simple dive, and said he had never heard of a freediver being lost to a strong current. Ultimately though, he said, the ocean is stronger than even the most skilled diver. "Accidents happen and sometimes they happen to the people who are superstars, like Natalia," he said. "When we are playing with the ocean we know who is the strongest, and we must respect that. "Nobody expected this, but sometimes these things come out of the blue."

समुद्र की सतह से सौ मीटर से अधिक नीचे ठंडा, अंधेरा पानी मनुष्यों के लिए क्षमा करने वाला वातावरण नहीं है। दबाव, सतह पर 10 गुना से अधिक, जल्दी से बेहोशी का कारण बन सकता है-उस गहराई पर घातक।


Coronavirus: What's it like to be laid off over Zoom?

Summary: When travel start-up Pana held a meeting for all of its employees over Zoom, they explained that some staff would be laid off, and that there would be two further calls that morning - one at 09:00 for those who would be laid off, and one at 09:45 for those who would not.

By Sooraj ShahTechnology of Business reporter Employees would know which meeting they were attending by the invites they would have received by email. Sales executive Ruthie Townsend was invited to join the 09:00 call but, due to the shock of the news, she could not remember which call was for those about to be laid off, and which was for those being retained. "Because it was such a highly stressful situation, it was hard to process what was going on so I got mixed up. I joined the 09:00 call as that was the invite I had, and once I realised that I was being laid off, I quickly turned off my video," she says. Ms Townsend was on the call with 15 of her colleagues, and executives from the company then walked these employees through the benefits, the severance package and the next steps. The company, based in Denver, Colorado, had been hit by the collapse in travel due to the coronavirus outbreak. But there had been a feeling that redundancies would be a last resort, and Ms Townsend had no idea what was coming that morning. That kind of shock is unfortunately commonplace at the moment, as companies are slashing staff numbers to cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus. Before the crisis managers would usually have met staff face-to-face, to give them the bad news. Now video-conferencing tools, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams (MS Teams), are being used to replicate the formality of the meeting. Chris Malone, an audio visual technician at events company Sparq in the UK, feared for his role when it was explained to him that a HR representative would be on his next MS Teams call along with his line manager. His instincts proved correct, as he was told he was going to be laid off. For him, the use of a video call made the meeting formal, but more awkward than an in-person meeting or telephone call. "I think if you were doing it over the phone, it would mean you don't have to look at someone but when you have the video call, you get dressed up to make it feel formal and to look presentable. "Even though it is a video call, the pressure is there - and as you're not in the room with them there isn't a natural chemistry, connection or body language you can read off, and there's a little bit of a delay, you're waiting for someone else to say something," he says. However, Mr Malone believes that a one-to-one video call is still the best way a business can break the unfortunate news to an employee in the current circumstances. For Ms Townsend, there were pros and cons to having more than 15 people on the same call as her. "I don't think any way of making someone redundant over video conference is going to be ideal. If it's one-on-one, it's still going to be really hard and then your boss is going to see all of your emotions. I liked the group setting because I turned off my video, and I didn't have to say anything," she says. However, she believes that the group setting prevented her from asking important questions at the time. More Technology of Business Sarah Evans, partner at law firm JMW, explains that communication prior to any announcement is key for employers. "What many big businesses can do is conduct large meetings on Zoom, to make an announcement to the same people at the same time, so there's no miscommunication going around," she says. This would make it clear that redundancies or the furlough scheme are being considered for employees, and would also make clear what this means for the business, and how they intend to follow-up with individuals. It is key for employers to provide employees with time to absorb the information, ask questions and give people the opportunity to voluntarily be made redundant or furloughed. "In redundancy cases, that would be at least a couple of meetings to go through opportunities to avoid redundancy and consider alternatives, and there's no reason why all of this can't be done on Zoom," she says. The use of video, phone call or in-person, is not a legal matter; it's merely a matter of etiquette. However, the group call, which Ruthie Townsend had experienced in the US, would not be allowed in the UK. "That wouldn't cut it in UK law, as you have a right to individual consultation. There's nothing wrong with a group call to announce potential redundancies but you shouldn't be making people redundant in the same video call," Ms Evans says. If this were the way a UK employer had acted, the employee might then have a case for unfair dismissal. The option to record video calls could also prove problematic in these cases. Peter Binning, a partner at law firm Corker Binning, explains that, generally speaking, anyone should ask for consent before recording a call of any kind. However, regardless of whether consent was asked for, given or not given, a recorded conversation could still be admissible in an unfair dismissal case. "Whoever wants to use the evidence has to be able to prove that it had been properly recorded and was genuine but it would be a matter for the court or tribunal to decide whether that evidence should be admitted," Mr Binning says. And those wanting to snoop on people by deliberately joining a Zoom call where someone else is being made redundant would most definitely be breaking the law - as there are a number of criminal offences about intercepting communications in the regulations. While video may create new problems, it is the best replacement for a meeting in person. "It will feel more uncomfortable to look someone in the eye, and the level of emotional frustration and anger will be more visible, but it is essential to delivering the message in an open, fair and transparent way to another person," says Stuart Duff, an expert on the psychology of leadership at business psychology consultancy Pearn Kandola.

जब ट्रैवल स्टार्ट-अप पाना ने ज़ूम पर अपने सभी कर्मचारियों के लिए एक बैठक की, तो उन्होंने समझाया कि कुछ कर्मचारियों को हटा दिया जाएगा, और उस सुबह दो और कॉल होंगे-एक 09:00 पर उन लोगों के लिए जिन्हें हटा दिया जाएगा, और एक 09:45 पर उन लोगों के लिए जो नहीं करेंगे।


Sheffield tram death investigation begins

Summary: The death of a man who was hit on a tram crossing is to be investigated by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB).

The 81-year-old man was hit on Woodbourn Road, Sheffield, by a tram heading towards Meadowhall on 22 December and died the following day. It was travelling near the stop at about 13mph (21km/h), said the RAIB. The probe will consider what led to the death and any "relevant underlying management factors", it said. Its findings and any safety recommendations are to be published at the end of the investigation, said the government body.

ट्राम क्रॉसिंग पर एक व्यक्ति की मौत की जांच रेल दुर्घटना जांच शाखा (आर. ए. आई. बी.) द्वारा की जानी है।


Thunberg ahoy! Turning the oil tanker

Summary: Consumer and government pressure is growing on oil and gas producers. They've seen off protests before, but this time could be different and permanent, and there are signs that they know it. In addition to emissions, plastic has become a dirty word - the reaction from Grangemouth is that Ineos sees producing being separate from environmental impact of waste. Shell has chosen to prioritise conventional oil and shareholder return over a transition in energy. More acreage of UK seabed has just been released for drilling. Government has to decide what climate emergency will mean, in transport taxation and in constraining the oil and gas industry. The industry, for its part, is stepping up efforts to align itself with the climate change campaign.

Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland A Swedish teenager with an unnerving calm and clarity of message, delivered in her second language, has governments and industries quaking. The campaign she leads has climate emergencies being declared, the first national one by Nicola Sturgeon. No industry is more at risk from the growing pressure for radical change than the oil and gas industry. Deirdre Michie, chief executive of Oil and Gas UK, representing and leading the industry, said on Tuesday it's listening to Greta Thunberg, and also wants to act for a better world. The oil industry has seen green activists before, and it's seen them off. A recent trawl through the archives for BBC Radio 4 reflected on the fact that oil majors knew emissions were causing damage to the atmosphere, and potentially to climate, before scientists had started publishing research on it, back in 1975. Is this time going to be any different? Perhaps. There is now a credible alternative to oil-fuelled transport, through battery power, and it may be emerging as a technology faster than you'd think possible. Don't forget that the transition from horse-drawn to horseless carriages was not gradual. The Attenborough effect is also galvanising people into action. The Blue Planet 2 whale with its calf apparently killed by ingesting plastic drew attention to the despoiled state of the oceans. Not only emissions from burning fossil fuels, but detritus from the throwaway economy, is focussing minds of consumers, and therefore also politicians and producers. So maybe this time will be different. But on the evidence of one day's news, on Tuesday, it'll take a long time to turn this oil tanker round. Plastics Shell set out a strategic review which included a commitment to investment in electricity generation. The Dutch-British oil major didn't say if that's in renewables, but oil companies have been making significant moves in that direction. But that's only the last of its reset priorities. The others show little sign of a change of focus. It remains oriented not to conventional oil and gas extraction, but shale and deepwater. Downstream, it wants to continue being a big player in petrochemicals, at a time when plastics production is no longer the clean industry you perceive from the polythene wrap. A campaigning BBC TV programme against plastic waste fronted by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has this week pitted him against Ineos at Grangemouth, with senior director Tom Crotty dismissing the programme's approach as "pathetic". The question for both campaigner and producer is whether the disposal of plastic waste can be wholly separated from its manufacture. The big change for Shell is not that it is re-directing its efforts to meet consumer pressure, but that it's opened the taps on a far higher return to shareholders, through dividends and buy-back of shares. In 2011 to 2015, that amounted to $52bn. In 2016 to 2020, it's up to $90bn. From 2021 to 2025, it is targeting a staggering $125bn for shareholders. However, the chief executive acknowledged it can't all be about shareholders. He told Bloomberg business news: "We want to position the company for the future of energy. The future will involve oil and gas, by the way. But it will also be a future where much more of the dynamics of the market are dictated by the customer." Mopping up Also on Tuesday morning, the Oil and Gas Authority was announcing the companies that have succeeded in their bids to win new licences to explore blocks of the UK seabed. This is a "frontier" round, and the 31st such round of licensing since the UK government started encouraging explorers into its waters. A 32nd is soon to get under way, focussed more on developments around mature fields. In the south and central North Sea, and far to the north of Shetland, what is striking is how few blocks have gone to the big majors. They are there, notably Equinor (formerly Statoil of Norway) with five licences. But far more of the acreage has been won by the smaller independents who are mopping up the smaller opportunities and mature offshore fields that the majors - including Chevron last week - are exiting. Crude And then there's the oil price. As the USA recently boosted production beyond that of even Saudi Arabia and Russia (which have held back production in an effort to support the price), oil traders are reading into the Tweet-rattling of Donald Trump the prospect of a damaging trade dispute ahead. Global growth has slowed anyway. That's clear in the eurozone. Inflation there has dropped more than expected. Germany is barely growing. Australia, after an unprecedented 28 years of sustained growth, is very close to stalling. Piling on top of that a trade dispute with China, and another with Mexico, and warning Europe on its car exports, President Trump has the clout to choke off growth altogether, and push up prices for his own consumers in the process. That can cut both ways on oil and gas production. The price of a barrel of Brent crude has fallen from nearly $72 to below $61 in only two weeks. That may choke off investment plans, until oil companies feel reassured that the price has reached a floor. We learned from Equinor on Tuesday that the Rosebank field, north-west of Shetland in 1,100 metres of the Atlantic, is not to have a final investment decision made until spring of 2022. That's while it takes more time to learn from other deepwater developments about ways to design cost out of it. The UK regulator has given it a three-year extension to its licence. But cheaper oil also means more people getting behind the wheel in old gas-guzzlers to burn the stuff, and to buy cheap air tickets. In the US and the UK, the fall in driving costs were accompanied by tough times for the bus operators. The Scottish government incurred the fury of airports and airline managers with a U-turn on its plan to halve air departure tax. It now has to make clear what it's going to do about ground transport - building roads and pricing road use to discourage mileage, or at least to put a marginal price on transport so that the polluter pays. Emergency Then if it is serious about "climate emergency", it has to say something about oil and gas production. Ministers acted swiftly, said a spokeswoman, after being told of the growing imminence of dangerous climate change. They set a new target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045 at the latest. "We are now looking across our policies to make sure that they align with that increased scale of ambition. "The domestic oil and gas industry and its supply chain can play a positive role in supporting the transition. We are committed to achieving a net-zero emissions economy in a way that is fair for all." That may mean being "fair" to those who have invested heavily in the fossil fuel sector, including much of north-east Scotland and the northern isles. It would not be politically easy to turn the taps off. What role for Westminster, once a new Conservative prime minister is in charge? Who knows? But this does not look like a leadership race that will feature damage to the environment, and nor will it be uppermost in the mind of the eventual winner. Brexit, immigration and winning back friends in business are likely to be higher priorities. Better world Back at the Aberdeen conference where Deirdre Michie was seeking a new way of engaging with the environment lobby, she took the offshore engineers' approach: find a way through the challenge. Be inventive. Innovate. Find better ways to cut the industry's own very high use of fossil fuels. Put offshore skills to work on marine energy. And find ways to capture carbon and store it, economically. But facing pressure to "keep it in the ground", and investors pressured into divesting from oil companies, the message is to keep drilling in the North Sea and Atlantic waters, rather than rely on importing it over long distances, adding the carbon footprint of the tankers that bring it here. "While we continue to advocate with facts and evidence, I appreciate that it can sound like corporate speak that doesn't have the emotion or the urgency that society and we, as part of society, are all feeling," Michie told industry figures. "Anyone and everyone who wants to change the world for the better can work with us to help ensure a fair and just and managed transition and at a pace that will also be required. "Later this year we'll publish the road map which will set out how we can successfully deliver the vision and our industry's sustainable future, to ensure it continues to contribute to the country in terms of hundreds of thousands of jobs, security of energy supply, billions of pounds in taxes and investment levels, for decades to come." If that lives up to the advance billing, it will be an important moment for the country's economy, and possibly a turning point for the climate change campaign, at least in this corner of this endangered planet.

तेल और गैस उत्पादकों पर उपभोक्ता और सरकार का दबाव बढ़ रहा है। वे पहले भी विरोध देख चुके हैं, लेकिन इस बार अलग और स्थायी हो सकता है, और ऐसे संकेत हैं कि वे इसे जानते हैं। उत्सर्जन के अलावा, प्लास्टिक एक गंदा शब्द बन गया है-ग्रेनगेमाउथ की प्रतिक्रिया यह है कि इनियोस उत्पादन को कचरे के पर्यावरणीय प्रभाव से अलग देखता है। शेल ने ऊर्जा में परिवर्तन की तुलना में पारंपरिक तेल और शेयरधारक वापसी को प्राथमिकता देने का विकल्प चुना है। यू. के. सीबेड का अधिक क्षेत्रफल अभी ड्रिलिंग के लिए जारी किया गया है। सरकार को यह तय करना है कि परिवहन कराधान और तेल और गैस उद्योग को बाधित करने में जलवायु आपातकाल का क्या अर्थ होगा। उद्योग, अपने हिस्से के लिए, जलवायु परिवर्तन अभियान के साथ खुद को संरेखित करने के प्रयासों को आगे बढ़ा रहा है।


2019 Quiz of the Year part three: July to September

Summary: How well do you remember the stories and people in the news this year?

Test your memory of 2019 in the next instalment of our four-part Christmas quiz - 52 questions for 52 weeks of the year. This section covers July to September If you cannot see the quiz, click here. Picture credits: Getty Images, Reuters, Dave, EPA

इस साल की खबरों और लोगों को आप कितनी अच्छी तरह याद करते हैं?


Hunting jobs across the eurozone

Summary: Thousands of skilled workers who cannot find work in Greece, Spain and Portugal could help fill vacancies in other parts of the EU, officials in Brussels say. The European Commission is trying to improve co-operation between government employment agencies in different countries to make it happen. But will it work? And is increased job mobility a good thing in the long run?

By Maddy SavageBBC News, Groot Bijgaarden, Belgium Pedro Guimaraes, 45, supervises a team of construction workers as they put the finishing touches to a new block of flats in northern Belgium. It is a chilly, misty day and he is wrapped in a well-worn sheepskin jacket underneath a florescent yellow tabard. "I came here from Portugal around six months ago," he says, balancing carefully on a metal walkway. "I was without a job for three months and this was a way to pay the bills, because I have a lot of bills!" In Portugal more than 15% of the potential workforce is unemployed, compared with 7% in Belgium. "The negatives are [that I am] too far away from my children and my friends and the good weather too," Mr Guimaraes adds. He relocated with the help of Portugal's government employment service, the IEFP. It has started expanding its co-operation with public job agencies in Belgium and other parts of northern Europe, as part of the EU's employment services network, EURES. On Monday the Commission said EURES would be modernised, with a more user-friendly online job search and a bigger focus on young people, considered to be more mobile. The job matches will include apprenticeships, combining work and learning opportunities. Bigger pool This year Portugal has hosted several European Job Days - recruitment fairs where potential candidates can be matched with employers from abroad. Mr Guimaraes's boss, Hans Jacob, was one of them. "Belgium has a shortage of construction workers and engineers, so we have advertised abroad before," Mr Jacob says. "But these kinds of co-ordinated initiatives are much easier for us." Across the EU, only around 3% of working-age adults (aged 15-64) currently live in another EU member state. But there is evidence that those from the most troubled economies are becoming increasingly willing to move abroad to find work. Between January 2009 and November 2012, the number of people from Portugal, Greece and Spain signed up to the EU's online job matching service increased from 60,000 to around 300,000. However, records suggest only about 5,000 of those jobseekers secured work through the site or other initiatives organised by EURES. There are an estimated 5.5m unfilled vacancies across Europe. 'Brain drain' "We know from the statistics that job mobility of people within the EU is very low and there is a lot of room for improvement," admits Gregorio De Castro, a EURES employment policy officer. But he argues that EURES is making a transition from an advice and information outlet to one that deals more closely with job-matching and recruitment, and points out that some data on successful matches might have been missed. Critics might point out that EU's online job-matching service was launched in 2003 and the eurozone crisis is about to enter its sixth year. "The employment recovery has taken longer than expected," accepts Mr De Castro. There has been strong criticism of the EU's strategy from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which organised pan-European demonstrations against high unemployment and austerity earlier this month. "This could lead to a brain drain and a youth drain," says deputy general secretary Patrick Itschert. "Free movement of work is a fundamental right but if too many engineers, for example, move [away] from Spain and Portugal, it will have an absolute impact on the future of industry, on the economy in those countries in the following years." He believes there could also be problems for member states that receive workers from other parts of the EU. "You have to make sure that there is equal pay and equal work and conditions. And you have to be aware that there is probably some unemployment in those countries as well." Language challenge In the town of Aalst, just outside Brussels, Joana Maria Soares Maig, 24, and Maria Eduarda Louto da Silva, 29, are two Portuguese nurses who have also made the move to Belgium this year. They found work through a private agency after taking an intensive course in Dutch, the language most commonly spoken in the north of Belgium. "It was difficult in the beginning, I missed my family," says Ms Soares Maig, who is working in the hospital's radiology department. "It is also hard for a Portuguese girl to learn this language." Both women have left their boyfriends behind and share a small apartment together. Back on the building site, Pedro Guimaraes says he wants to return to Portugal as soon as he can, but he has plenty of Portuguese friends who are planning to settle in Belgium for good, after relocating their families. "They know that the way of life is easier and they could live better here," he says. Mr Guimaraes looks likely to remain separated from his family for a while longer, as well as from his beloved sunshine. Increased job mobility may yet help cut unemployment, but for those who make the decision to move abroad, it often comes with sacrifices.

ब्रसेल्स के अधिकारियों का कहना है कि हजारों कुशल श्रमिक जिन्हें ग्रीस, स्पेन और पुर्तगाल में काम नहीं मिल सकता है, वे यूरोपीय संघ के अन्य हिस्सों में रिक्तियों को भरने में मदद कर सकते हैं। यूरोपीय आयोग इसे पूरा करने के लिए विभिन्न देशों में सरकारी रोजगार एजेंसियों के बीच सहयोग में सुधार करने की कोशिश कर रहा है। लेकिन क्या यह काम करेगा? और क्या लंबे समय में नौकरी की गतिशीलता में वृद्धि एक अच्छी बात है?


CES 2015: Sleep, faffing and rollerskates

Summary: The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) here in Las Vegas hasn't even officially started yet - but already there are some weird and wonderful gadgets on display at the enormous hotels playing host to the annual tech-fest, now in its 47th year.

By Zoe KleinmanTechnology reporter, BBC News, Las Vegas Thousands of exhibitors, journalists and industry experts attend the trade fair, which is not open to the public. Everybody tries to get sneak peeks beforehand, and some gadgets are just not easy to hide - I bumped into Thierry Reymond, of Rollkers, sitting, as nonchalantly as he could, in a hotel corridor with a pretty conspicuous pair of prototype wheels strapped unceremoniously to his shoes. I asked him what on Earth he was wearing. They were a form of personal travelator, he whispered, and would double your walking speed. "I had a pair of those as a kid, but I called them rollerskates," said one unimpressed tweeter in response. Ruthless data-gatherers Determined to see more, I elbowed - literally - my way into last night's CES Unveiled, a preview event where selected companies got to show off their wares ahead of their competitors. It took a short while to acclimatise to the sheer number of products blinking, buzzing and in many cases looking right back at us. At first glance, some of it looked decidedly old-school - plant pots, toothbrushes, a bedside lamp. But you won't find these in a school jumble sale any time soon. Connectivity is going to be a big tech theme this year according to the analysts and all these items are ruthless data-gatherers, gathering information about your habits (good and bad) and sharing them with your phone, tablet, laptop - and in some cases each other - to build up an accurate picture of you. Among the more colourful stands was a company called Holi with its Smart Lamp and Sleep Companion, a smartphone-controlled coloured light that relaxes you into sleep with warm red and pink light and wakes you up gently with the help of a blue hue. The reds and pinks direct the body to release sleep hormone melatonin, the company claims, and the blue light wakes the body up before the alarm wakes the mind. If you do wake up in the night, you can activate a seven-minute "meditation programme" of light sequences to lull you back to sleep again. It doesn't work on babies though, which is annoying for the parents of infants with sleep issues, who probably need it most. The lamp also monitors your bedroom environment using, among other sensors, your smartphone's microphone to track noise levels. It can share this data with whatever you like - including fitness bands, Google Health or a smart-home set-up such as Nest, in order to improve your sleeping habits. Oh, and if you're not that tired, there's also a "romance" button you can press on your phone, which activates a soft light as a visual clue to your partner that something other than sleep might be on the cards. Somehow I can't see that having the desired effect… but maybe in Paris, the city of love, where the lamp was developed, people are more, well, receptive to that sort of hint. What a faff For some reason there was a lot of French tech at this year's final preview. The French exhibitors even had their own little sub-brand - "La French Tech" - and was it coincidence that the buffet was loaded with mountains of cheese? I think not. Another French gem was the Parrot Pot, a plant pot that contains sensors to measure soil moisture, temperature, sunlight and fertiliser. Due to go on sale this year, it will enable you to look after your favourite flora via your smartphone for up to four weeks without actually getting your hands dirty - the app is pre-loaded with the care requirements of 8,000 varieties of plant. If touching your touchscreen has become a bit of a faff, Ring, by Logbar, is a device that enables you to operate your device by simply waving your finger at it instead. In honesty for me this soon became an even bigger faff - the ring has to sit on your index finger, the sensor has to be in a certain place and you have to press it with your thumb in order for it to be work. Despite much patience from the demo staff, mine never did do what it was supposed to. Perhaps the sensor had also picked up on my scepticism. Time to move swiftly on to Rainbow Kids - an electric toothbrush aimed at eight- to 14-year-olds. It contains a gyroscope and accelerometer and syncs with a phone app to share data about how well your child is brushing their teeth. There's also a game they can play to encourage good brushing. There are adult smart toothbrushes set to debut here this week as well - health monitoring is forecast to become another big theme in the tech world in 2015. If all of this is starting to feel like information overload, a start-up called Viaware may have the answer. Exhibiting at a separate event for start-ups, accessible via some very curious shuttle buses decked out with neon lights and inexplicable empty ice buckets, Viaware's offering is a bracelet that you can programme to light up in different colours when you receive messages on your phone from various people. There were 256 possible colours but they only recommended using eight, said founder Ben Isaacson. But what if somebody contacts you and you don't have them in your bracelet? "You'll find out when you next check your phone," said Mr Isaacson. "Perhaps they're not that important." Not important? Now that's something you don't hear very often at CES…

लास वेगास में उपभोक्ता इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स शो (सी. ई. एस.) अभी तक आधिकारिक रूप से शुरू भी नहीं हुआ है-लेकिन पहले से ही वार्षिक तकनीकी-उत्सव की मेजबानी करने वाले विशाल होटलों में कुछ अजीब और अद्भुत उपकरण प्रदर्शित किए गए हैं, जो अब अपने 47वें वर्ष में हैं।


Coronavirus doctor's diary: 'We aren't diagnosing many cancers now'

Summary: Planned surgery has been cancelled at hospitals across the UK, leaving much work to be done once the Covid-19 emergency is over. But two colorectal surgeons at Bradford Royal Infirmary also believe that the surgical world will be permanently changed - as Dr John Wright discovers in his regular diary.

27 April 2020 Like a runner who has discovered halfway through her race that it has changed from a sprint to a marathon, the hospital is coming to terms with a new pace and is recalibrating its stamina. Numbers of cases have started to fall, but there's no finishing line in sight. And as we continue running, we have to look ahead to the future - we have to work out how we can resume normal business, looking after patients with cancer and heart disease, asthma and arthritis. At present, half the hospital is empty, while the other half has become a Covid-19 Red Zone; in time it will contain two parallel universes, Covid and non-Covid. Surgeons, who have concentrated on emergency operations since the start of the epidemic, will resume planned operations in the non-Covid universe. But until a reliable test is developed that can be used to confirm that a patient is Covid-negative, the assumption will have to be that they are Covid-positive, and this has some important consequences. I spoke to two consultant colorectal surgeons, Sonia Lockwood and Frankie Mosley, about what has changed for them so far, and what they think will change in future. They confirmed that all work except for emergency surgery and some cancer surgery has been put on hold. They also said that keyhole surgery has come to a halt, as evidence from China and some European countries suggests that open surgery is safer for operating theatre staff. Front line diary Prof John Wright, a medical doctor and epidemiologist, is head of the Bradford Institute for Health Research, and a veteran of cholera, HIV and Ebola epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. He is writing this diary for BBC News and recording from the hospital wards for BBC Radio 4's The NHS Front Line It may now resume, in some cases, with the increased risk to medical staff being weighed against the risks to the patient of a longer stay in hospital, which is one of the consequences of open surgery. But increased efforts will also be made to explore non-surgical options. Appendicitis provides a good example of this, Sonia says. "We are looking to treat people conservatively, with antibiotics wherever we can. We're doing more complex scanning on patients to try and determine who will be suitable for that. So we're really avoiding operating on patients wherever possible." And appendicitis also illustrates another point - people who really need treatment are not always coming to hospital. "Where we would normally do appendectomies maybe once a day, maybe two or three a day, at first, after the lockdown, we didn't see any. But then, after a week or so, the patients that are coming in with appendicitis have come in with terrible appendicitis," Sonia says. "They've waited at home until it's perforated, so what would have been a relatively straightforward illness and operation then becomes a much more significant illness and operation." Normally, there would be a minimum of about 30 admissions coming through the hospital's surgical assessment unit every day but that went down to two or three, Sonia says. The surgeons are also dealing with fewer cancer patients. In some cases this is because a calculation has been made that the risk of bringing them in is higher than the risking of waiting. But there is another factor too, Frankie says. "We certainly, at the moment, aren't diagnosing many cancers at all. Our main modality for diagnosing them is endoscopy - colon endoscopy [a camera inserted into the body on the end of a tube] - and we've more or less ceased that activity," she says. "We are investigating people - we're scanning them, so we'll pick up the most advanced cancers - but we're not diagnosing anywhere near the normal numbers. So we are just putting this work off for later." But operations carried out in full personal protective equipment (PPE), as they must be until there is a test for Covid-19, are time-consuming. "What we may have been able to do six months ago, in a given day, we can only do half of that - and that's if we get all the theatres back, and all the ventilators back," Frankie says. The same applies to diagnostic tests - X-rays, camera tests, endoscopy - everything will take longer because of safety procedures that have been put in place in for both patients and staff. And this, combined with the fact that there will be a backlog of operations, will lead inevitably to more prioritisation, Sonia and Frankie believe. At present, cancer surgery is a top priority, and for everyone else it's been first come first served, as Frankie puts it. In future they envisage pushing lower-priority operations down the queue. What does that mean in the case of colorectal surgery? "For us it will be some of people's haemorrhoid operations. They might have to put up with bleeding - it is inconvenient and unpleasant, but they might have to put up with it for a bit longer than they traditionally have had to," Frankie says. Sonia adds that when it comes to general surgery, some hernia patients could be de-prioritised. "While they've got lumps and bumps that are maybe uncomfortable and they've got some symptoms, most people have very mild symptoms," she says. The remarkable drop off we've seen in hospital referrals, has been matched when it comes to A&E attendances. While we're worried about the patients who may not be coming to hospital when they need to, this also suggests that people who are using A&E have not always experienced an accident or an emergency. "There are lots of people who use the NHS inappropriately, acknowledging that it's quicker to come to A&E and wait for hours than maybe wait for a GP appointment two weeks from now," Sonia says. "And I think the Covid crisis has actually highlighted that - that people are trying to bypass the system." In an NHS which is struggling to meet ever increasing demand, we have an opportunity to reduce unnecessary hospital appointments - to do things differently. Patients have discovered the joys of seeing their consultant without leaving the comfort of their own homes, and remote or virtual consultations look like one of the big changes that are here to stay. The success of our response to Covid-19 in hospitals across the UK has been down to a grassroots movement of doctors and nurses on the front line. They have been the ones who have taken control of the NHS, put their lives on the line and tamed the Covid dragon. This has broken down a barrier between clinical and managerial staff in hospitals, Sonia says, and she looks forward to a continuation of open dialogue as we plan for the future. In management theory, there's a classical model about change that describes how to unfreeze the existing system and then refreeze it in a new way of working. It's a neat concept but in reality this never happens. Until now. Covid-19 has defrosted the whole of the NHS, and we have to now work out what we want to keep and what we want to do differently. Follow @docjohnwright on Twitter

यू. के. भर के अस्पतालों में नियोजित सर्जरी को रद्द कर दिया गया है, जिससे कोविड-19 आपातकाल समाप्त होने के बाद बहुत काम करना बाकी है। लेकिन ब्रैडफोर्ड रॉयल इन्फर्मरी के दो कोलोरेक्टल सर्जनों का यह भी मानना है कि शल्य चिकित्सा की दुनिया स्थायी रूप से बदल जाएगी-जैसा कि डॉ. जॉन राइट ने अपनी नियमित डायरी में पाया है।


Wonga: The pain starts here

Summary: Costs up, revenues flat, profits collapsing.

Kamal AhmedBusiness editor@bbckamalon Twitter In most firms that would be a recipe for disaster with calls for the chief executive to go and serious questions being asked about the business. But for Wonga, the numbers released today actually contain within them the first glimmers of hope. The new chairman, Andy Haste, has been in place since July. He has already said that in the future Wonga will be a smaller business with lower profits and slower, sustainable growth. He wants to make Wonga a respectable financial services firm, properly regulated and with tighter lending criteria. Its role? A competitor to banks which impose high charges for unauthorised overdrafts. In effect, Mr Haste has admitted that the company had been growing too fast and had been successful in part by resorting to unsustainable business practices. One of those - sending out fake legal letters to people who had not repaid loans on time - led to a finding from the Financial Conduct Authority of "serious misconduct" in the summer. Wonga was ordered to compensate 45,000 customers, costing £2.6m. The regulator also revealed that Wonga had miscalculated customer balances, a pretty serious matter for a finance business. Some 200,000 had overpaid on their loans. Even more had underpaid, meaning that Wonga was left out of pocket as a result of its own mistakes. Today Wonga has announced that clearing up the various messes will cost £18m, with more staff and better control systems. As a private business, the detail on Wonga is limited. It will be a question of digging through the accounts once they are laid at Companies House to see the underlying figures. I have been told that the business has attempted to contact all 45,000 victims of the fake letters and that some compensation payments have been made. But, it will be very difficult to track down customers whose loans were taken out as long ago as 2008. As yet, Wonga is not saying how many of the 45,000 people have responded. Or how much is it has actually paid out. Those are figures it will need to publish if it is to build confidence that it is fixing past mistakes. When Wonga published its results last autumn, Errol Damelin, the then chief executive, said: "When we decided we wanted to provide short-term loans within 30 minutes, the financial industry incumbents told us it couldn't be done, but we found a way to do it responsibly, effectively and at scale." He has since resigned, an entrepreneur caught out by the growing pains of the business. It will be Mr Haste's job to take Wonga from being an unruly teenager to a rather more sober adult.

लागत बढ़ती है, राजस्व सपाट होता है, लाभ गिरता है।


Jeopardy: How a pro gambler 'cracked' a US game show

Summary: Jeopardy - the iconic US trivia game show where contestants must answer clues "in the form of a question" - has never come across a contestant quite like professional gambler James Holzhauer in the decades it has been on air, writes Jonathan Berr.

Not only has Mr Holzhauer become only the second contestant in the show's history to earn more than $1m (£773,000) in one go, he has also hit the milestone over his multi-game spree faster than anyone in the show's history. No one has come close to catching the Las Vegas sports bettor, who has been training for years for his moment in the spotlight. "I've thought seriously about how to approach a potential Jeopardy appearance since 2012," Mr Holzhauer told BBC News in an email during his winning streak. "I did look into some statistics on how to best approach the game board, and that played a part in my strategy," adds Mr Holzhauer, who holds a mathematics degree from the University of Illinois and prepared for the game's more esoteric categories by reading children's books. 'Cracking' the rules Mr Holzhauer has been impressing fans and former players since 4 April with his calm demeanour and cat-like reflexes as he buzzes in with correct responses on 607 questions to clues from categories that range from the serious, like History, to the whimsical, like Occupational Verbs. Most Jeopardy players focus on any particular category by solving the easy clues first, then work their way to the higher-value difficult ones. Mr Holzhauer takes the opposite approach. His technique of targeting the "expensive" difficult clues first (as opposed to progressing from easy to hard) has triggered complaints from detractors who say it ruins the flow of the game, but praise from others who say he has "cracked the Jeopardy code". He also has made hefty bets on "Daily Double" questions where players can risk as much as their entire score in one answer (a so-called "true daily double") - but rarely do. This strategy of bouncing around the board - seemingly at random - in hunt for the "Daily Double" prizes is named the "Forrest Bounce" after former contestant Chuck Forrest. But unlike his predecessors, Mr Holzhauer is willing to risk far more money. Fivethirtyeight.com, a website dedicated to odds and polls, has dubbed Mr Holzhauer "the man who solved Jeopardy". According to the website, Mr Holzhauer has wagered $25,000 twice on Daily Doubles, topping the previous record of $19,000 for these types of bets. He also places heavy wagers on the show's climactic final question dubbed "Final Jeopardy". Jeopardy's staff, including long-time host Alex Trebek, reportedly are not fans of the "Forrest Bounce", arguing that it disrupts the natural order of the show. But regardless of how he picks his questions, he still must buzz in first - and most importantly - give the correct answers. One thing that future contestants will not be able to copy from Mr Holzhauer are his shout-outs to friends and family during Final Jeopardy, a practice that the show's producers no longer allow, according to an announcement he made on his Facebook page. Is the strategy paying off? Though Jeopardy is a battle of wits, it can be physically and mentally gruelling since producers tape five episodes at a time, according to Brad Rutter, whose $4.8m in winnings over 14 years is the most of any Jeopardy player. "You can study some stuff, but it's not like there is any real canon of knowledge that you can sit down and memorise," he told BBC News. "You have to have a brain that works that way and pick it up over the years. "There are a few things that come up all of the time like presidents and world capitals and Shakespeare that you would be well served to study before going on," he advises. Washington Post Columnist Norman Chad has likened Mr Holzhauer's dominance to "the most fearsome, dominant individual-sport athletes of the past couple of generations such as boxer Mike Tyson, swimmer Michael Phelps and tennis player Serena Williams". Ken Jennings, whose own winning streak captured audience imaginations in 2004, tweeted: "This is absolutely insane. I've always wanted to see someone try Jeopardy wagering this way who had the skills to back it up." Jeopardy trivia facts But is it good TV? Not everyone is a Holzhauer supporter. He has become a sensation on social media where some Twitter users are debating his skill, and even calling for him to run for president. TV critics and Jeopardy fans are split on whether his success is thrilling or boring. In a recent, column in Variety, TV critic Daniel D'Addario argued that Mr Holzhauer's achievement was "a thrilling achievement and deadly dull television". Andy Saunders, who operates the independent site called The Jeopardy Fan, argues that Mr Holzhauer is good for the game and is making it even more exciting. "There will be people who will try to emulate him," Mr Saunders hopes. Though Jeopardy is hugely popular, its history was rocky. The show survived two cancellations. After current host Alex Trebek was hired in 1984, the "cerebral" test of wits wasn't an easy sell and producers resisted pressure to dumb the show down. Data from Nielsen, cited by AdAge, indicates that an average of 10.3 million viewers tuned in during the first 12 days of Mr Holzhauer's run. The show is now considered so iconic that its host's recent announcement of his cancer diagnosis was national news. "I wouldn't say anything about Jeopardy has surprised me, other than Alex Trebek continuing to show up to work during his chemotherapy," Mr Holzhauer wrote in an email to the BBC. "What a consummate professional." You may also be interested in:

जोनाथन बेर लिखते हैं कि जेपर्डी-एक प्रतिष्ठित अमेरिकी ट्रिविया गेम शो जहां प्रतियोगियों को "एक प्रश्न के रूप में" सुराग का जवाब देना चाहिए-दशकों से प्रसारित होने वाले पेशेवर जुआरी जेम्स होल्झाउर जैसे प्रतियोगी के सामने कभी नहीं आया है।