The songs used as street names

Summary: Streets in Stoke-on-Trent have been named after songs released by pop star and hometown hero Robbie Williams. While it is nothing new to name a street after a famous person or place, roads named after song titles are far less common. Here are a few members of the select canon.

The Robbie Effect People in Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent, will be forever reminded of Robbie Williams as their addresses are synonymous with his chart-topping hits. Angels Way, Candy Lane and Supreme Street were earlier named after the songs in a move the city council termed "a fitting tribute" to the singer's success. It was the culmination of a string of celebrations to mark the former Take That star's 40th birthday, which also included granting the boy band breakout star Freedom of the City last year. Though he did not attend the unveiling, he described honouring his roots as a "wonderful legacy". Start Me Up Dartford's most famous sons - The Rolling Stones - have a number of streets named after songs they penned. The town where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards grew up now sports Sympathy Vale, Angie Mews and Silver Train Gardens, to name but a few, with Ruby Tuesday Drive and Stones Avenue still to be finished. The Rolling Stones theme was suggested by the estate's developer in 2008 and two councillors came up with the road names. A fans' anthem For years Manchester City fans have shown their support by holding their scarves aloft and belting out the mournful words of the classic song, Blue Moon. According to the club's website, supporters adopted the well-known tune as their own at the opening game of the 1989-90 season at Liverpool. The street where City's Maine Road stadium used to be was given a new lease of life as Blue Moon Way in 2012, in tribute to the club's former Moss Side home. The name was picked by youngsters from a nearby primary school.

स्टोक-ऑन-ट्रेंट में सड़कों का नाम पॉप स्टार और गृहनगर के नायक रॉबी विलियम्स द्वारा जारी किए गए गीतों के नाम पर रखा गया है। हालांकि किसी प्रसिद्ध व्यक्ति या स्थान के नाम पर सड़क का नाम रखना कोई नई बात नहीं है, लेकिन गीतों के शीर्षक के नाम पर सड़कों का नाम रखना बहुत कम आम है। यहाँ चुनिंदा कैनन के कुछ सदस्य हैं।


Murder arrest after woman's body found in Cardiff Bay flat

Summary: A murder investigation has been launched after a 65-year-old woman's body was found in a Cardiff Bay flat.

Police were called to Century Wharf at about 14:15 GMT on Wednesday. A 66-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held in custody. South Wales Police said it was referring the matter voluntarily to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

कार्डिफ बे के एक फ्लैट में एक 65 वर्षीय महिला का शव मिलने के बाद हत्या की जांच शुरू की गई है।


Beatrice wind farm in Scottish milestone power output

Summary: The operators of a wind farm in the Moray Firth say it has generated the most electricity of any single renewable source in Scotland.

The Beatrice offshore wind farm achieved 587.9MW of electricity - enough to power 450,000 homes. The scheme, which involves 84 turbines off the Caithness coast, reached the milestone earlier this week. It came online after installing the last of its turbines earlier this month. Beatrice is a joint venture led by SSE Renewables, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Red Rock Power Limited.

मोरे फर्थ में एक पवन फार्म के संचालकों का कहना है कि इसने स्कॉटलैंड में किसी भी अक्षय स्रोत की तुलना में सबसे अधिक बिजली का उत्पादन किया है।


MANX number plates 'could raise £12m' for highway maintenance

Summary: A new range of number plates could generate £12m for the Isle of Man government, according to the infrastructure minister.

The plates which feature the word MANX, will start from £5,000 with the more sought after numbers expected to raise about £100k. David Cretney MHK said: "If they all sell for their target prices the range has the potential to raise £12m." All the money raised from sales will go towards highway maintenance work. Mr Cretney MHK added: "We believe they will be very successful. "Certain plates such as MANX 007 and MANX 911 are expected to be highly sought after". The number plates will be available to purchase from 3 December.

बुनियादी ढांचा मंत्री के अनुसार, नंबर प्लेटों की एक नई श्रृंखला आइल ऑफ मैन सरकार के लिए 12 मिलियन पाउंड उत्पन्न कर सकती है।


Turning carbon dioxide into rock - forever

Summary: Nested in the snow-covered mountains of western Iceland, a maze of turbines and pipes belches thick billows of steam. This mammoth structure is responsible for providing power to a country where 100% of the electricity comes from renewable sources.

By Valeria PerassoBBC World Service The Hellisheidi power station, 25km (15 miles) outside Reykjavik, is Iceland's main geothermal plant, and is one of the largest in the world. "Do you feel the vibrations beneath us?", says Edda Sif Aradottir, the plant's manager, splashing snow as she stomps her boot on the ground. "It's the steam coming into the turbines". "This is a volcanic area. We harness the volcano's internal heat to generate electricity and provide hot water for the city's heating system, our swimming pools and showers. We Icelanders like our showers really hot!" Hellisheidi is not just an accomplished provider of green energy. It is also the site for a scientific breakthrough; an experiment to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) and turn it into stone - forever. Thus keeping this greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere and putting a dent in global warming. "Mankind has been burning fossil fuels since the industrial revolution and we have already reached the tipping point for CO2 levels", says Dr Aradottir. "This is one of the solutions that can be applied to reverse that". Called CarbFix, the project is pioneered by an international consortium led by Reykjavík Energy, the French National Centre for Scientific Research, the University of Iceland and Columbia University, with funding from the EU. Since experiments began in 2014, it's been scaled up from a pilot project to a permanent solution, cleaning up a third of the plant's carbon emissions. "More importantly, we are a testing ground for a method that can be applied elsewhere, be that a power plant, heavy industries or any other CO2 emitting source", says Dr Aradottir. Making soda With rising concentrations of atmospheric CO2, scientists have been testing "carbon capture and storage" (CCS) solutions since the 1970s. CarbFix, however, stands out among CCS experiments because the capture of carbon is said to be permanent - and fast. The process starts with the capture of waste CO2 from the steam, which is then dissolved into large volumes of water. "We use a giant soda-machine", says Dr Aradottir as she points to the gas separation station, an industrial shed that stands behind the roaring turbines. "Essentially, what happens here is similar to the process in your kitchen, when you are making yourself some sparkling water: we add fizz to the water". The fizzy liquid is then piped to the injection site - otherworldly, geometric igloo-shaped structure 2km away. There it is pumped 1,000m (3,200ft) beneath the surface. In a matter of months, chemical reactions will solidify the CO2 into rock - thus preventing it from escaping back into the atmosphere for millions of years. In this seemingly magic feat, local geology plays a key part. Porous rock The breath-taking Icelandic landscape - with its hot springs, geysers and black beaches - is mainly made of basalt, a dark-grey porous rock formed from cooling of lava. And basalt is "carbon's best friend", because it contains high amounts of calcium, magnesium and iron, which bind with the pumped CO2 to help it solidify into a mineral. Sandra Snaebjornsdottir, a geologist working for CarbFix, has the evidence in her hands: a cylindrical sample drilled out from the site shows a smattering of chalky crystals encrusted in the basalt. "These white bits are carbonates, or mineralised CO2", she says. "Fresh basalts are like sponges, with plenty of cavities that are filled with the CO2. "Iceland is particularly favourable for this type of CCS simply because of the amount of basalt it's got". Last year, 10,000 tonnes of CO2 were "digested" by CarbFix. Yet this is tiny fraction - less than the yearly emissions of 650 Brits or 2,200 American cars. And it becomes even more insignificant against the 30-40 gigatonnes of CO2 (a gigatonne is a billion tonnes) that modern humans pour into the atmosphere annually. Despite its relatively small scale, experts anticipate CarbFix could be easy to repeat - thanks to the ubiquity of basalt around the world. "Basalt is actually the most common rock type on Earth, it covers most of the oceanic floors and around 10% of the continents. Wherever there's basalt and water, this model would work", says Sandra Snaebjornsdottir. Large basaltic areas are found in Siberia, Western India, Saudi Arabia and the Pacific Northwest. And scientists are now looking at testing the model on the oceans to take advantage of the large areas of submarine basalt formations. Potentially, basalt could solve all the world's CO2 problems says Sandra: "The storage capacity is such that, in theory, basalts could permanently hold the entire bulk of CO2 emissions derived from burning all fossil fuel on Earth." Very thirsty At the University of Iceland, research around CarbFix has been continuing since its pilot phase. A desk-size replica of the pipes and pumps in Hellisheidi in a state-of-the-art lab allows Prof Sigurdur Gislason to scrutinize the process. "Before the injection started in CarbFix, the consensus within the scientific community was that it would take decades to thousands of years for the injected CO2 to mineralise", says Prof Gislason explains. "Then we found out that it was already mineralised after 400 days". Reactions were a lot faster than anticipated partly because of the large amounts of water used to dissolve the CO2. This however points to one of the project's Achilles heels - it is very water intensive. "It needs over 25 tonnes of water per tonne of CO2," says Prof Gislason. "In Iceland we are blessed with lots of rain, but if you are doing this on the basaltic areas in India... their water is very precious". Some critics warn high-tech fixes such as this one pose a bigger risk - that of distracting researchers and the public from the pressing need drastically to reduce greenhouse gases levels. In a recent report, the European Academies Science Advisory Council warned that such technologies have "limited realistic potential" if emissions are not reduced. "CarbFix is not a silver bullet. We have to cut emissions and develop renewable energies, and we have to do CCS too," says Prof Gislason. We have to change the way we live, which has proved very hard for people to understand." Part of our series Taking the Temperature, which focuses on the battle against climate change and the people and ideas making a difference. This BBC series was produced with funding from the Skoll Foundation Illustrations by Jilla Dastmalchi

पश्चिमी आइसलैंड के बर्फ से ढके पहाड़ों में बसा हुआ, टर्बाइनों और पाइपों की एक भूलभुलैया भाप के मोटे बिलों को पकड़ती है। यह विशाल संरचना एक ऐसे देश को बिजली प्रदान करने के लिए जिम्मेदार है जहां बिजली का 100% अक्षय स्रोतों से आता है।


Emotional fall-out of Thailand-Cambodia clashes

Summary: A long-running border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia has flared into deadly clashes, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes. The BBC's Rachel Harvey looks at the human cost of the conflict.

As the early morning sun rose above the rooftops of the local government buildings, orderly queues were forming in the car park down below. Villagers, evacuated from their homes when Thailand and Cambodia renewed their long-simmering border dispute with a new and deadly vengeance, lining up for a free hot meal. Most had spent the last two nights sleeping on mats on the ground. More than 16,000 people on the Thai side of the border have been moved to temporary shelters. Pranee Wanchalerm's home is about 13km (8 miles) from the border - that was too close for comfort. On Saturday night she sheltered in a bunker listening to the terrifying sound of shells falling around her. "I saw the flashes in the sky and I was really afraid something was going to land on my house," she said. Those fears were justified as a school a little closer to the disputed area took a direct hit - or more accurately several hits. The main building now has a gaping hole in the roof. Three classrooms behind it have been completely wrecked. Desks and chairs lie covered in roofing tiles and other debris. By some mercy the children were not in the classrooms. There was a special sports event that day, so they were outside. The extent of the structural damage vividly demonstrates the power of the ordnance used. One can only imagine the potential human cost if the bombardment had been at any other time or on any other school day. Determined to stay A village a short distance away bears its own scars from the recent battles. In the dusty earth between the wooden and concrete buildings there is a crater more than 6m wide. Across the road, a house has been gutted by fire. Another has part of a wall missing. Most people in the village have now moved to the evacuation camps. But not Mon Sida - he doesn't want to leave his property or his chickens. Mon has lived in this particular village for more than 30 years and in the district all his life. "I've never seen anything like this before. It's never been this heavy before," he told me. "It wasn't just one," he adds, and then graphically imitates the sound of an incoming mortar followed by several explosive booms, just to make sure I'd understood. A few other villagers arrived to collect some belongings and to take stock, taking advantage of a lull in the fighting. They loaded items on the back of a pick-up truck then headed back towards the main town. Mon is clearly very frightened. He saw his neighbour killed during the shelling but he is determined to stay on his land. As the truck drove off he was contemplating another night in his own private refuge - a drainage pipe running under the main road. 'Virtual observer' Occasionally we were passed on the road by an army jeep or truck, but there was no sign of more artillery on the move. Presumably the weapons are now all in position and well dug in. There is certainly no sign of either side backing down. Thailand and Cambodia continue to blame one another for the initial hostilities and for each new outbreak since. Cambodia has called on the United Nations Security Council to get involved. Thailand says there is no need for third-party intervention - bilateral channels are best to resolve the border tension. The Indonesian Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, has visited both countries in the past two days offering to be what he called a "virtual observer", willing to listen to the complaints of both sides, though he was careful to avoid the word mediator. Asked whether there was any sign of progress, Mr Natalegawa replied: "Well I'm less pessimistic than I was two days ago." One day of calm doesn't amount to a formal ceasefire, let alone a sustainable peace. There are still two armies, backed by an awful lot of military hardware, facing each other across a disputed and volatile border. But it's a welcome respite after the past few days.

थाईलैंड और कंबोडिया के बीच लंबे समय से चल रहा सीमा विवाद घातक झड़पों में बदल गया है, जिससे हजारों लोगों को अपने घर खाली करने के लिए मजबूर होना पड़ा है। बीबीसी की राहेल हार्वे संघर्ष की मानवीय कीमत को देखती है।


Ficksburg asks if ANC still part of the solution?

Summary: The sludge of an open sewer snakes past a tin shack, and across a dirt track that meanders through Ficksburg - a small, fairly typical South African town, tucked between rugged hills on the border with Lesotho.

Andrew HardingAfrica correspondent@BBCAndrewHon Twitter I have come here, en route for the grand weekend centenary celebrations of the governing African National Congress (ANC) in the nearby city of Bloemfontein, to see how the continent's oldest and most famous liberation movement is coping with the more nuanced challenges of local government, 18 years after it came to power. The short answer is "very badly". But as usual in South Africa, the bigger picture is more complicated - stained and warped by apartheid's legacy, poor education, inflated expectations, an entrenched culture of entitlement, the struggle to collect and allocate revenues, and sky-high unemployment. Ficksburg retains the topographical scars of apartheid - still divided between a prim, well-built town centre, once reserved for whites, and a sprawling "township" filled with the stench of sewage and uncollected rubbish, but packed too with neatly manicured front gardens, kiosks, and small, brick-walled government-built houses. Last year, public anger about the lack of basic services and enduring unemployment in the township triggered the sort of protests that have become increasingly common across South Africa. A local man, Andries Tatane, was killed - his death caught by television cameras - when the police tried to confront the marchers. Today, almost everyone I speak to voices disgust for what they see as the corrupt, incompetent local ANC-run council. 'Corruption' But the community is also bitterly divided about the way ahead, with some tempted to turn their backs on the ruling party, but many more reluctant to abandon a deep, instinctive loyalty to the organisation of liberation giants like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo. "I think the ANC has collapsed - it can't be fixed," says Vincent Mojase, a local councillor who abandoned the ruling party to join the struggling Congress of the People (Cope) opposition. Cope and the Democratic Alliance (DA) have eight seats on the council, he says, but the ANC has 26. "Corruption is very rife. We've had enough of them," he says. "They can be beaten but the population must be taught to vote on merit, not on the history of a certain political party. "We wish they will lose power peacefully because we don't want to be in a situation like Egypt or Tunisia or Libya. It can happen peacefully because South Africa is famous for its negotiations." Justice, a gangly law student standing with friends at a busy intersection, is tempted to agree. "There's still no jobs, still corruption at the municipality. Personally I'm falling out of love with [the ANC]. I might vote for someone else," he says. But Anna Lewana, a 72 year old living in the tin shack I first saw beside the open sewer, was adamant. "I will die voting for the ANC. Even though I have not been given a house, they gave us our freedom," she declared. It is a widely held view. 'Woeful finances' Several local ANC officials declined to speak to us. But Molefi Nonyane, an ANC member and local community organiser insisted that "the ANC can be very much part of the solution". He blamed poor communication between different administrative structures, and urged people to be patient, saying the picture was complex, with local feuds often fuelling the protests. There are not many white people left in Ficksburg. "Perhaps 6,000 of us," says lawyer Ben Du Toit, who holds a seat on the council for the opposition DA. The town's finances are, he claims, "in dire straits". "There's no real money for infrastructure development or maintenance. There's a lot of… mismanagement of funds and corruption. 300 million rand ($37m; £24m) is still owed to the municipality and they're not doing anything to collect it," he says. The main problem, he insists, is that the ANC hires people based on their loyalty rather than ability. "They've appointed people totally unsuited for the job. I don't think things can get any worse. "The ANC is very much about pomp and splendour - they spend lots of money on things that have nothing to do with service delivery," he says, referring to this weekend's centenary events. "We need to get people thinking about politics. But it won't be quick - maybe not in my lifetime." The road I took into Ficksburg was a sea of potholes. But driving south west towards Bloemfontein, I see workers busy widening and resurfacing the route. The ANC has plenty of achievements it can point to in government. But close up, its failings are glaring.

एक खुले सीवर सांप का कीचड़ एक टिन की झोंपड़ी से गुजरता है, और एक मिट्टी के रास्ते के पार जो फिक्सबर्ग के माध्यम से घूमता है-एक छोटा, काफी विशिष्ट दक्षिण अफ्रीकी शहर, लेसोथो की सीमा पर ऊबड़-खाबड़ पहाड़ियों के बीच स्थित है।


Calder Valley flood sirens sound for 'biggest ever' exercise

Summary: Flood sirens have sounded as the "biggest ever" training exercise has been held in parts of West Yorkshire inundated by flooding in December 2015.

The exercise was carried out in Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Sowerby Bridge, Elland and Brighouse. About 2,700 homes were flooded along with more than 4,400 businesses in the area in 2015, said Calderdale Council. Scenarios played for the exercise included a mock rescue of casualties from a sinking canal boat. Operation Calderdale16 was its biggest ever live training exercise, the council said. The Environment Agency has eight flood sirens to warn the upper Calder valley when rivers are expected to flood. The sirens sounded for about two minutes during the exercise. The 2015 flood Source: Eye on Calderdale

दिसंबर 2015 में बाढ़ से जलमग्न वेस्ट यॉर्कशायर के कुछ हिस्सों में "अब तक का सबसे बड़ा" प्रशिक्षण अभ्यास आयोजित किया गया है।


Airlift as tombstoning teenager breaks leg on Mumbles

Summary: A teenager was airlifted to hospital with a suspected broken leg after jumping into the sea from cliffs in Swansea.

The 19-year-old was hurt while "tombstoning" at Limeslade Bay, Mumbles, say Swansea Coastguards. A spokesman said the area was a popular place for jumping into the sea, but warned that many people were not aware of the dangers. Emergency services were called to the scene at 2200 BST on Sunday. "It's a dangerous activity, you don't know how much water there is underneath you," said the spokesman. "If people want to jump from rocks then I would urge them to do it in a properly supervised way with a coasteering group."

स्वानसी में चट्टानों से समुद्र में कूदने के बाद एक किशोर को संदिग्ध टूटे पैर के साथ अस्पताल ले जाया गया।


Terror arrest over Dewsbury 'Syria teenagers'

Summary: A 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts as part of a search for two teenagers from Dewsbury thought to be in Syria.

The North East Counter Terrorism Unit confirmed the Dewsbury teenager was questioned in April under section 5 of the Terrorism Act and later bailed. Hassan Munshi and Talha Asmal, both 17, are feared to have travelled to Syria to join Islamic State in March. West Yorkshire Police and counter-terrorism officers are investigating. Speaking at the time of their disappearance, the boys' families said they were praying for the safe return of the "ordinary Yorkshire lads". Hassan's brother, Hammaad Munshi, was arrested in 2006 at the age of 16 after police found a guide to making napalm on his computer. He became the youngest person to be convicted under the Terrorism Act.

सीरिया में रहने वाले ड्यूसबरी के दो किशोरों की खोज के हिस्से के रूप में आतंकवादी कृत्यों की तैयारी करने के संदेह में एक 17 वर्षीय लड़के को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Crossing Divides: 'Reading bedtime stories helped me survive prison'

Summary: Lewis Hardy was struggling in prison, feeling isolated from his young family and increasingly "cold". Then he was shown a way of doing something that many parents take for granted - reading to his children - and everything began to change.

By Dougal ShawBBC Stories Lewis Hardy had just been released from prison and was getting a taxi home to see his two sons for the first time in nine months, when he got the call he dreaded. "What are you up to?" a familiar voice enquired. "I'm just in a taxi to see my boys." "Don't worry about that," said his old friend. "See them tomorrow. Come to the pub with us lot." But Lewis knew exactly what to say. "I ain't ever going to the pub with 'you lot' ever again. My kids are more important." Prisoners get a lot of time to think, Lewis says, and he'd figured out what was the right decision for him. When he got home his sons, aged six and five, jumped up on him so fast he nearly fell over, he recalls. He couldn't wait to do so many things with them after such a long time apart. But top of the list was reading to them. It took a period in prison to remind Lewis of the joys of reading. Born and bred in Plymouth, he'd got into a fight while drunk in 2013, and been sentenced to two years in Dartmoor for grievous bodily harm. It was not out of character for him at the time, he admits - from an early age he had struggled to deal with his aggression. But from the moment he was sent to a remand centre, he realised just how tough his new environment would be. Fights broke out the first time prisoners were let out into the yard, he says, and "someone was slashed". Prisoners made knives by combining toothbrushes with razors and you might be slashed for something as petty as an argument over a cigarette paper. "It was like masculinity to the maximum and so you were always on edge," he says. In Dartmoor itself he says you could "cut the atmosphere with a knife". "Every time the doors are unlocked it's only a matter of time before something happens, whether it's to you or to someone else." Violent criminals and their friends were constantly trying to figure out if someone had a weakness to exploit, either physical or mental. Lewis managed to avoid trouble, but it was stressful. "You had to stand your ground and you were always trying to figure out how to distance yourself from those sorts of things." So while going to prison is "never lucky", he says, he considers himself fortunate to have been signed up for a programme called Storybook Dads. This gives prisoners with young children a chance to spend time in a studio recording bedtime stories, which are then sent to their families at home on CD or DVD. "As soon as you walked in through the doors, it was just complete relaxation, you felt safe," remembers Lewis. For his own family he was producing one per week. He would read stories like the Gruffalo series by Julia Donaldson. He would also sometimes read Marvel comics from the prison library, holding up the images in front of the video camera. He even drew his own comics, and sent these to his children. The first thing Lewis realised was that the stories were helpful at home, for his partner and two sons. "My missus was having a bit of time settling them at night," says Lewis. But she could play his recorded stories and this would help to soothe them. They told him that after listening to his voice "it felt like I was in the room with them when they closed their eyes." He was also pleased to hear that his sons would sometimes sit down together to listen to the stories, when they were missing their father. Lewis had neglected to read much to his sons before he went to prison - they were six and four when he was sent down. But Storybook Dads was reconnecting him to something from his own childhood. "It's funny, but reading had been a big part of my childhood," he says. "My mum used to read to me a lot. And from the age of about nine, when I found out I was dyslexic, I got really into reading, until my misbehaving started in my teens. I loved a series called Animorphs and read the lot of them." Learning about the impact of his stories at home spurred Lewis on to do more. And not only did the stories delight his children - they did something for the story-teller too. "It's hard to explain the feelings you get in prison," says Lewis. "You don't ever get a cuddle off anyone, you don't even get a shake of the hands, you miss that love from your kids in their eyes, you start to feel quite cold every day. "If you have a visit and someone cuddles you, it's the warmest feeling you can ever imagine, it's like an electric blanket around you." Reading stories for his children brought some of that warmth back into his life. "It's massively important for someone who wants to be rehabilitated," Lewis says. Sharon Berry, the founder of Storybook Dads, soon noticed inmates' need for these warm feelings when she started visiting prisons. She had studied radio production as a mature student and dreamed of writing radio plays. As she worked towards that ambition, she took some work volunteering one day per week at Channing Wood prison, helping it to set up a radio station. She was surprised by what male prisoners would talk to her about when given the chance. They opened up about the pain of missing their children, the guilt of missing milestones like birthdays, toddlers' first steps or first days at school. She saw phone calls home that ended in tears as prisoners found out about the family life that was passing them by. This was how the idea of Storybook Dads came to her: it would be a way for prisoners to maintain family ties, while gaining media production skills that might help them rebuild their lives once outside prison, reducing the risk that they would offend again. She set up her charity in 2003 in Dartmoor prison. The first room they were allocated as a recording studio was an empty prison cell. Sixteen years later, about 100 prisons work with the charity, generating between 5,000 and 6,000 stories a year. (The charity also works with some female prisons, under the name Storybook Mums.) Behind their tough facades, many prisoners struggled to make their recordings, Sharon noticed. "It's a macho environment on the wing, you can't show any weakness. By contrast, our studio space is nurturing and supportive - they get in touch with that dad side of themselves. Shedding that macho image for a brief period of time made them feel vulnerable." She saw many prisoners break down as they tried to record short personal messages to introduce their stories. Find out more Listen to Lewis Hardy talking about his experience of reading children's books in prison in this report from Outlook on the BBC World Service Download the Outlook podcast But there was something else the prisoners seemed to struggle with. Some prisoners would be sweating by the time they finished reading Hansel and Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood, and Sharon thinks she knows why. "It's daunting for these young men," she says. "Very often they weren't read to as children themselves, so this was new to them. They come in to the little studio to read Goldilocks and they're embarrassed, they don't know how to do it, and a big part of it is helping them to relax." Lewis, who learned to edit the recordings made by other prisoners as well as recording his own, agrees that some prisoners struggle with the act of reading. Some may also have had very little contact with their children, he adds. The only time he personally felt stressed came when he was filming DVDs, using children's puppets as props. "You had the other prisoners watching you perform the story. You see, prison pulls you back to that old mentality from school. 'Will these people take the mickey out of me afterwards?' Men can be immature." However, many prisoners find that the positive impact of their stories gives them the confidence to do more, Sharon says. Prisoners would hear that their children were so proud of the stories that they took the recordings to school to show their friends. They couldn't wait for the sequel. "It showed the children that they are loved and not abandoned," says Sharon. More than five years after leaving prison, Lewis has not re-offended. He has returned to his job as a fencer and branched out into property care services. Occasional periods of work with Storybook Dads have helped him through periods when work has been scarce. He has given up drinking and welcomed a third son into the world last year. He also took up boxing at an amateur gym to channel his aggression, though problems with his hip have pushed him into coaching instead. Reading with his children remains one of his favourite activities. With his elder son he is working his way through the Harry Potter collection. They haven't reached the sections about the prison of Azkaban yet, he says. But when they do, he plans to use it as a "shock tactic", a way to start conversations that will steer his son away from the life he was tempted to go down. "I will tell him the truth about prison, how horrible it is," says Lewis. And he will also tell him how it was the joy of reading that helped him to rewrite the plot of his life. Follow Dougal Shaw on Twitter: @dougalshawbbc BBC Crossing Divides A season of stories about bringing people together in a fragmented world. You may also be interested in: Gaby Eirew suffered two big bereavements in the space of a month. The experience impelled her to find a way of prompting parents to record video messages for their children. It also helped her to heal a deep wound in her personal family history. Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

लुईस हार्डी जेल में संघर्ष कर रहा था, अपने युवा परिवार से अलग-थलग महसूस कर रहा था और तेजी से "ठंड" महसूस कर रहा था। फिर उसे कुछ ऐसा करने का एक तरीका दिखाया गया जिसे कई माता-पिता हल्के में लेते हैं-अपने बच्चों को पढ़ना-और सब कुछ बदलने लगा।


Strange predictions for the future from 1930

Summary: Shortly before he died in 1930, former cabinet minister and leading lawyer FE Smith, a friend of Winston Churchill and one of the more outspoken British politicians of his age, wrote a book containing predictions of how the world would look in 100 years' time. They covered science, lifestyles, politics and war. So what did he say?

By Justin ParkinsonBBC News Magazine Health/lifespan Smith, a former Lord Chancellor who became the Earl of Birkenhead in 1922, was writing in a period when tuberculosis was a major killer in the UK and around the world. He was optimistic enough to suggest the eradication of this and other epidemic diseases was "fairly certain" by 2030, as was "the discovery of cures for such scourges as cancer". Death from old age could also be delayed, Smith thought. Scientists would create injections containing an unspecified substance bringing "rejuvenations", which would be used to prolong the average lifespan to as much as 150 years. Smith acknowledged this would present "grave problems" from an "immense increase in population". He also foresaw extreme inter-generational inequality, wondering "how will youths of 20 be able to compete in the professions or business against vigorous men still in their prime at 120, with a century of experience on which to draw"? Work and leisure Mechanisation would mean a "gradual contraction" of hours worked, Smith believed. By 2030 it was likely the "average week of the factory hand will consist of 16 or perhaps 24 hours", which no worker could possibly "grudge". But, with factories largely automated, work would provide little scope for self-fulfilment, becoming "supremely easy and supremely dull", consisting largely of supervising machines. It didn't occur to Smith, in an age before widespread use of computers, that the machines might become self-monitoring. The cut in hours hasn't happened yet. According to figures from the OECD group of industrialised nations, the lowest average weekly hours worked in a main job in 2013 were 30, in the Netherlands. The highest figure was 47.9, in Turkey. In the UK it was 36.5, with the US among the countries for which information was not provided. Smith believed that, despite the shortening of hours, everyone would earn enough by 2030 to afford to play football, cricket or tennis in their spare time. But one of the big winners in this more leisure-rich world would be fox-hunting, one of his own hobbies. "As wealth increases, we shall all be able to ride to hounds," he said. Men would free up even more time with changes to sartorial rules. By 2030 they would be expected to own only two outfits, one for leisure and the other for more formal occasions. John Logie-Baird had demonstrated television in the late 1920s and Smith was excited by the idea. He said that by 2030 full "stereoscopic television in full natural colours" would be available in people's homes, with proper loudspeaker-quality sound. This meant exiled US citizens would be able to watch any baseball match and, in cricket, "the MCC selection committee, in conclave at Lord's, will be able to follow the fortunes of an English eleven through the days (or weeks) of an Australian Test match". Air travel Smith, who had grown up before cars were invented, predicted they would be largely obsolete for all but the shortest journeys by 2030, with aeroplane ownership common. The creation of engines weighing only one ounce (28g) per unit of horsepower would allow lightweight, vertical take-off craft, capable of speeds of up to 400mph. "Thus... the man of 2030 will set off for the weekend, after his work, in a small, swift aeroplane, as reliable and cheap as the motor-car on which we depend today," he wrote. The idea of a weekend would be different in a world where people only worked two hours a day or two full-time days, and transport would enable more adventurous time off. "Ski-ing parties in Greenland will be made up in London clubs on Saturday mornings," wrote Smith, "and translated into action before the same evening." The era of low-cost airlines has made air travel readily available, but there is some way to go before aeroplanes are widely owned. In its latest figures, for 2013, the US-based General Aviation Manufacturers Association said there were more than 360,000 general aviation craft, "ranging from two-seater training aircraft and utility helicopters to international business jets". The figures do not include normal commercial or military flights. As the world's population is currently thought to be around seven billion, there is one personally owned/used plane for every 19,500 or so people. Smith also foresaw sub-three-hour transatlantic passenger flights becoming commonplace. Concorde, the supersonic plane co-developed by France and the UK, managed this but it has since been scrapped, meaning most passenger trips between New York and London or Paris take more than seven hours. Smith thought that by 2030 the first preparations for a manned mission to Mars would be under way, but that the first "half a dozen" attempts could miss the planet entirely, leaving astronauts to die onboard as they drifted further from Earth. Energy Smith predicted the increased use of cheap, clean energy from utilising the Earth's water supply. He seemed to base his ideas on an interpretation of Einsteinian physics, which said there was an equivalence between mass and energy. He outlined an eccentric use by scientists who managed to turn atoms in water into a viable source. "By utilising some 50,000 tons of water, the amount displaced by a large liner, it would be possible to remove Ireland to the deeper portion of the Atlantic Ocean," Smith said. The heat obtainable from same quantity of water could be used keep polar regions "at the temperature of the Sahara for a thousand years", he added, something most scientists would not want to happen today. But Smith was more ambivalent about what we now call renewable sources of energy. Wind was useful and universal, but tidal power more unevenly distributed. There was another concern. "By utilising tidal energy to any large extent, we should diminish the speed of the earth's rotation," said Smith. If tidal energy was overused, a "48-hour day is a possibility in the far future", he added. War The tank had only been around since WW1 and Smith was full of excitement about possibilities for development. They could become "entirely unmanned" within a century, he said. "The commanders of tank forces will be carried in the air above their commands," he said, "and thus will be able to watch the course of operations and control their progress by wireless telephony." Or this could happen in a "distant control room", possibly underground. Birkenhead said this would make war "more humane". In April this year, Russia revealed the Taifun-M, an unmanned ground vehicle for defending missile sites. And despite the focus being on aerial vehicles, there are plenty of other plans for "land drones". Saharan sea Given the improvements to transport, especially flight, the Sahara would become "a new playground for all Europe". A canal would be cut from the Mediterranean, ensuring "a new inland sea must surely be created. Its shores, now barren, would rival Florida for fertile charm". Smith thought this would be popular from October to May, when temperatures would be at their most pleasant and a little less clement around the Mediterranean. The scheme was to be at least under way by 2030. Politics Television would make it feasible to revive the direct democracy of ancient Greek city-states, with the whole population, rather than elected representatives, able to vote on issues. Political leaders would make their case direct to the public. Communication speed would allow votes to be concluded within 20 minutes. People would be better informed as advances in psychology, widely taught in schools, would leave them "immune from specious appeals to sentiment and illogical reasoning". Smith thought it unlikely the party system would survive in this climate and felt that by 2030 people would be more content with the idea of "rule of experts". But the British Empire would survive, with India staying part of it, although the capital might move from London to somewhere in Canada or Australia, Smith predicted. Family/eugenics Smith, in common with many theorists of the 19th Century and early 20th Century, predicted a greater use of eugenics - the practice of attempting to "improve" the human race through control of reproduction. He claimed a clever young man would "consider his fiancee's hereditary complexion before proposing marriage". In return, "the young woman of that day will refuse him because he has inherited a gene from his father which will predispose their children to quarrelsomeness". Smith questioned fears that eugenics might be used to create a "slave race" to carry out drudgery while others enjoyed more leisure, saying: "It is far more likely that men will work as machine-minders for one or two hours a day and be free to devote the rest of their energies to whatever form of activity they enjoy." But the state would "certainly legislate to prohibit, or compulsorily to sterilise, such a marriage" as was likely to produce children "congenitally criminal and mentally repulsive". It would instead encourage good unions, as "prevention is better than Broadmoor". The state would also "render non-productive" unions between criminals. Food and drugs Synthetic food, produced in laboratories, would overtake conventional agriculture "in civilised lands" to feed the expanding population with ease, Smith said. "From one 'parent' steak of choice tenderness, it will be possible to grow as large and juicy a steak as can be desired." The prediction has echoes of the work currently being done on synthetic meat. But farming the land would survive as a "rich man's hobby". Someone born in the 21st Century may, "in his wealthy rejuvenation, boast that the bread he eats is made from wheat which grows in his own fields". Scientific creation of food would make cities no longer a "parasite" on the country but a "self-supporting unit". Smith predicted that town and country would become blurred in to one continuous, manicured landscape, where weeds had been eradicated. Chemists would have devised new "physiologically pleasant substances" to go with tobacco, alcohol and caffeine. "Should chemistry in the next hundred years be able to discover new substances as pleasant and harmless as tobacco," he wrote, "yet each possessing a different effect on the consumer, it will have earned the thanks of every hard-worked man and woman in the world." Smith himself died at the age of 58, his body worn out by years of excessive drinking and smoking. Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

1930 में उनकी मृत्यु से कुछ समय पहले, पूर्व कैबिनेट मंत्री और प्रमुख वकील एफ. ई. स्मिथ, जो विंस्टन चर्चिल के मित्र और अपने समय के सबसे मुखर ब्रिटिश राजनेताओं में से एक थे, ने एक पुस्तक लिखी जिसमें भविष्यवाणी की गई थी कि 100 साल के समय में दुनिया कैसी दिखेगी। उनमें विज्ञान, जीवन शैली, राजनीति और युद्ध शामिल थे। तो उन्होंने क्या कहा?


Tanzanite: The hidden treasure of Tanzania

Summary: We arrive at Tanzanite One on a cool September morning.

By Lerato MbelePresenter, Africa Business Report The drive from the nearest town, Arusha, was not too long, but the last stretch on a gravel road littered with ditches made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Once we got to the mine, we were given an induction and a quick briefing on the safety rules. After that we were off to the actual shaft, where we were allocated overalls, helmets and yellow plastic boots. When I saw the contraption that would carry us 460 metres (yards) below ground, my excitement turned into fear. Back-breaking work The foreman referred to this square metal wagon as "the sink" partly because of the way it looks, but mostly because of the angular drop we would be making in it a few moments later. Four of us could fit into it during a single trip down below. We were the BBC crew together with the mine's chief geologist squashed underneath a steel bar, crouching as the wheels screeched into the dark pit. A school bell tolled when we arrived on the site. That was the signal the operators used for the pulley to either stop or go - quite basic. By local standards Tanzanite One is said to be the most modern and mechanised mine in a region that exclusively holds vast reserves of tanzanite crystals, a mineral unique to Tanzania. However inside the mine, we saw men working with shovels to load graphite into thick plastic bags. It is back-breaking work in hot and humid conditions. The shortage of technological features makes it clear that Tanzanite One has limited capital investments. A profitable operation? The company was once listed on the London Stock Exchange, but today it is a privately owned company in a joint-venture with the State Mining Company of Tanzania. Robert Grafen-Greany, affectionately called "GG" by the staff, is a British expatriate leading the prospecting and geology work being done on the mine. He was showing us around the mine and then explained the simple economics of the tanzanite trade. Even though this mine has the capacity to produce Tanzanite within a radius of 4km (2.5 miles), more exploration work is needed. At present, it seems that potential investors need further convincing that this rare Tanzanian gem could lead to profitable investments in the future. On the other hand, further exploration work cannot be done without more gemstones being sold, as that would boost the operating budget for the mine. It's a catch-22 situation. Nonetheless "GG" says that "historically it's been proven that it can be a profitable operation". "Despite the difficulties. I think that's what's drawing in the investments." The chief geologist also insists that irrespective of how sketchy things look on the surface, "in terms of regulation Tanzania has a solid mining code". Instead, "the trickiest aspect of mining this deposit is the adherence to the code by other partners and stakeholders in surrounding mining towns". This statement is a reference to the informal small-scale mines operating makeshift structures only a few hundred meters away from this big official mine. Achilles heel On the periphery of Tanzanite One is a network of small corrugated-iron huts, stone mounds and pits. These are artisanal miners digging for tanzanite stones. Most of them are individuals, both local and foreign, who have been granted mining licences. Many are alleged to be smugglers. It's a tricky situation, because small mines engender a culture of entrepreneurship and local ownership. Mining reviews suggest that the informal network employs 10 times more workers than the big mining house, and provides work for the rural communities in the region. The so-called smugglers however add a criminal element to a fledgling industry. They have been the Achilles heel along the tanzanite value chain. Back in Arusha, brokers and gemstone dealers ply their trade openly on a main road. They are noticeable by their resplendent red blankets typical of Maasai cultural costumes. When we approach them for comment, they insist that they will only speak on condition of anonymity. The man we meet looks to be in mid-30s, and says he's been "trading tanzanite for 10 years now". "The major challenge we are facing here, is harassment from the government," he says. It seems the government is trying to clamp down on the illegal trade in tanzanite stones. Experts suggest that the black market has distorted the price. It has also denied the government much needed royalties and sometimes led to violent crime in the sector. Rarer than diamonds Hasnain Sajan is the managing director of Tanzanite Experience. This is the retail arm of the mining industry. They polish, design, sell and market tanzanite products mainly to customers abroad. I ask him why it is that a gem which is claimed to be 1,000 times rarer than a diamond sells for lower prices and is less known. Mr Sajan believes that with time, the tide will shift in favour of higher tanzanite prices due to increasing extraction costs. "At the moment tanzanite is not found so deep under the earth but as it becomes exhausted we're having to go deeper," he says. "Going deeper is more expensive, that means the prices will rise." Currently global tanzanite sales amount to $50m (£33m) each year, whereas diamonds have been known to earn nearly $12bn in a single year. That is clearly a concern. 'People don't know what it is' However, what Mr Sajan finds more challenging is the lack of local awareness about tanzanite, despite Tanzania being home to this precious commodity. He says "most people don't even know what tanzanite is". In this regard, he urges the state to embark on a major marketing and publicity campaign. His view is that the state should also be doing more to protect those who are legitimate miners of the stone. "We need to have a fence in the area. We need to secure the area so that smugglers and criminals are kept away from the mines." However, he concedes that perhaps the authorities are overwhelmed. "The government is trying its best, but these are the small things they could do to make it better." This is a sentiment shared across the industry from the range of people we met, be they mineworkers, brokers or retailers. It may not be a simple fix but interventions in areas such as mine safety, security, formal brokering and better marketing of tanzanite, would ensure that Tanzania's most unique treasure is protected and sold for much more internationally.

हम सितंबर की ठंडी सुबह तंजानाइट वन पहुँचते हैं।


Loch Garten's 'soap opera' osprey lays first egg

Summary: A female osprey whose previous breeding seasons have been described as being akin to a soap opera has laid her first egg of the 2016 season.

The migratory bird of prey has returned to RSPB Scotland's Loch Garten reserve, near Grantown on Spey, for its 14th season. Nicknamed EJ, her previous drama-filled visits have included having her eggs kicked out of the nest by rival males. Reserve staff have compared her seasons to a TV soap.

एक मादा ऑस्प्रे, जिसके पिछले प्रजनन के मौसम को एक सोप ओपेरा के समान बताया गया है, ने 2016 के मौसम का अपना पहला अंडा दिया है।


Halloween stabbing: Boy, 17, hurt in 'ferocious' Hulme attack

Summary: A 17-year-old boy has been stabbed in a "ferocious" street attack as "children were out with their parents trick or treating", police have said.

The boy was found with stab wounds to his upper body and legs on Lingmoor Walk in Hulme, Manchester at about 19:20 GMT on Wednesday. Det Insp Mark Astbury said he was "lucky to be alive" and the attack had left families in the area "shaken". An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Det Insp Astbury said the attack was in an area "filled with families and elderly residents" which had "sadly... seen this type of violence before". "Last night, children were out with their parents trick or treating [and] they have understandably have been left shaken by this," he said. He added that the boy was in a serious but stable condition in hospital. Related Internet Links Greater Manchester Police

पुलिस ने कहा है कि एक "क्रूर" सड़क हमले में एक 17 वर्षीय लड़के को चाकू मार दिया गया है क्योंकि "बच्चे अपने माता-पिता की चाल या इलाज के साथ बाहर गए थे"।


EU Referendum: Theresa May predicts Irish border controls if UK pulls out of European Union

Summary: Home Secretary Theresa May has said it is "inconceivable" that there will not be any changes on border arrangements with the Republic of Ireland, if the UK pulls out of the European Union.

She was speaking on a visit to Northern Ireland to campaign for a remain vote in Thursday's EU referendum. She acknowledged that the British-Irish Common Travel Area pre-dated the EU. But she said that if the UK pulled out of the EU, this would lead to tariffs requiring some form of controls. Mrs May said peace in Northern Ireland is important and it would continue, whatever the result of Thursday's referendum. However, she said there were good security reasons for remaining inside the EU, such as the access to European arrest warrants. She had previously argued that the UK should withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, which is not connected to the EU but a treaty linked to the separate Council of Europe. Mrs May stood by her comments but made the point that the Human Rights Convention is not what people are being called on to vote about on Thursday.

गृह सचिव थेरेसा मे ने कहा है कि यह "अकल्पनीय" है कि यदि ब्रिटेन यूरोपीय संघ से बाहर निकलता है तो आयरलैंड गणराज्य के साथ सीमा व्यवस्था में कोई बदलाव नहीं होगा।


'I don't care if Trump paid off a porn star'

Summary: News that two former Trump advisers are facing prison time may have provoked a media firestorm in the nation's capital. But to the president's core supporters it's just a distraction from the good work he's doing.

By Rajini VaidyanathanBBC News "This is the sort of stuff that should be in People magazine," says James Montfort III, when I call him to ask what he makes of the legal turmoil surrounding Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen. "It's more important to get North Korea to give up their nuclear arms, it's more important to make sure Mexico is playing fair on trade - than it is to worry about whether Donald Trump had consensual sex with someone years ago." Whether or not President Trump directed Mr Cohen, his former personal lawyer, to pay porn star Stormy Daniels "hush money" is irrelevant to James from Virginia. He is far more interested in talking up what he says are the president's huge achievements in office. "This is not going to change my loyalty or dedication to him," he says, arguing that the national conversation should instead focus on issues such as low unemployment and a healthy economy. I wasn't surprised by James' unerring loyalty. Ever since I met him in August 2016, just weeks after Mr Trump was officially nominated as the Republican candidate, his support has been unwavering. James isn't an outlier. As I call a number of other Trump voters across different states, a pattern emerges in how they see the entire story. To them it's nothing more than a conspiracy against the man they elected. "Everyone wants to talk about sex," says Cathy De Grazia, who I met as she campaigned for Mr Trump in the state of New Hampshire in 2016. "I don't care if he paid off a porn star or a playboy bunny, that doesn't impact his policy making." Cathy says she doesn't watch TV much these days, and listens instead to talk radio hosts such as Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly. "Michael Cohen once publicly said he would always be loyal to 'Mr Trump'," writes O'Reilly in his latest blog to his audience. "But now Cohen opines that his friend of many years is a danger to the country. "Maybe Cohen is auditioning for the role of Brutus in the prison play." The narrative in some conservative media circles has been to portray Mr Cohen as a fall guy, a sentiment Trump supporters sympathise with. "He has been coerced and threatened," says Cathy, who believes both the Manafort and Cohen cases are the product of what she calls the "depth of corruption" in the FBI. "I think there's been a tremendous misuse of power and authority," she adds. Ever since Mr Trump took office he has railed against the FBI and intelligence services, and it seems that strength of feeling has filtered down to his base. A phone call to June Savage, a real estate agent and Trump loyalist in Miami, Florida, confirms this sentiment. "They went on a fishing expedition and they caught two big fish," argues June, who unsuccessfully ran to become mayor of Miami Beach last year. "This is all smoke and mirrors to create a negative atmosphere. The FBI can make up stories once they find a target," she argues. "This target was the president." In a throwback to conversations during the 2016 campaign, June believes the real target should be Hillary Clinton. "They [the Clintons] are one hair away from being investigated about everything that's been going on in this country," she says. "They wanted her to have a clean slate. They have double standards." The FBI ultimately cleared Mrs Clinton of criminal wrongdoing over her use of a private email server while she was US secretary of state. But that hasn't stopped Trump supporters citing the former Democratic presidential candidate's name as evidence of bias against their man. Several also mentioned the tax affairs of Reverend Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist and host on left-leaning MSNBC, arguing that if Manafort's past was examined, so should Sharpton's. And to the Trump base, there's still no proof the president is guilty of a criminal act, or indeed collusion. "I haven't seen anything that implicates Donald Trump in anything," Frank Ruppert, a retiree who lives on the Maryland-West Virginia border, tells me. I phoned Frank - whom I first met after Mr Trump took office - while he was catching up on the day's headlines on Fox News. "On some of the other networks they're talking about how Trump could be impeached for crimes he hasn't even committed, they've been saying that for two years," he adds. Some have accused Fox News of not focusing enough on the plight of Manafort and Cohen, going big instead on the arrest of a Mexican immigrant who is accused of killing a young woman from Iowa, Mollie Tibbetts. But for much of the Trump base, the agenda of some conservative news outlets merely reflects their own political outlook. "I'd vote for Trump again, just like everyone would've voted for Bill Clinton again," says Frank. "He's [Mr Trump] created jobs and economic growth, I can't see anything bad in what he's doing." And as long as his supporters and media allies feel the same, perhaps the president has nothing to worry about. Follow Rajini on Twitter @BBCRajiniV

यह खबर कि ट्रम्प के दो पूर्व सलाहकार जेल की सजा का सामना कर रहे हैं, हो सकता है कि देश की राजधानी में मीडिया में हलचल मच गई हो। लेकिन राष्ट्रपति के मुख्य समर्थकों के लिए यह उनके अच्छे काम से केवल एक भटकाव है।


George Zimmerman verdict: US media react

Summary: There has been wide-ranging reaction from the US media after George Zimmerman, the Florida neighbourhood watchman who shot dead unarmed black 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, was found not guilty on all charges. Below is a selection of the reporting on the case.

The New York Times' Lizette Alvarez and Cara Buckley write that this was a case that "began in the small city of Sanford as a routine homicide but soon evolved into a civil rights cause examining racial profiling and its consequences - an issue barred from the courtroom - and setting off a broad discussion of race relations in America". But after three weeks of testimony, what happened on the night Trayvon Martin was killed following a fight with Mr Zimmerman is still "a muddle", they conclude, with no clarity over "who had started it, who screamed for help, who threw the first punch and at what point Mr Zimmerman drew his gun". The Times notes that the prosecution's witnesses did not always help their case, especially Rachel Jeantel, the 19-year-old who was talking to Mr Martin on his phone shortly before he was shot and who "might have damaged her credibility by acknowledging she had lied about her age and why she did not attend Mr Martin's wake". "Prosecutors also were not helped by the police and crime scene technicians, who made some mistakes in the case," the paper notes, adding that while typically police testimony boosts the state's case, here "the chief police investigator... told jurors that he believed Mr Zimmerman, despite contradictions in his statements". 'It feels wrong' Writing for Slate, under the headline, "Zimmerman's Not Guilty. But Florida Sure Is", Emily Bazelon says we should "blame [Florida's] bad laws for Trayvon Martin's death" - a reference to the wide latitude the state gives citizens to use deadly force if they fear death or bodily harm. "It feels wrong, this verdict of not guilty for George Zimmerman. It feels wrong to say that Zimmerman is guilty of no crime. If he hadn't approached 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, if he hadn't pulled his gun, Martin would be alive. But that doesn't mean Zimmerman was guilty of murder, not in the state of Florida," Bazelon writes. "The jury could have faulted Zimmerman for starting the altercation with Martin and still believed him not guilty of murder, or even of manslaughter, which in Florida is a killing that has no legal justification. If the jury believed that once the physical fight began, Zimmerman reasonably feared he would suffer a grave bodily injury, then he gets off for self-defence." The Orlando Sentinel's Beth Kassab says that "like it or not, the jury got this one right". "Nobody wants to see two parents who already lost their teenage son also lose out on what they saw as justice. As painful as it may be, though, acquitting George Zimmerman was the only verdict the jury could logically reach. "The state simply didn't prove second-degree murder. Or manslaughter. As much as I don't like many of the choices Zimmerman made the night he killed Trayvon, the evidence presented at trial gave way to more than one reasonable doubt about Zimmerman's guilt." 'Trials can't answer wider questions' For Andrew Cohen, writing in the Atlantic, the "startling" verdict is a "blunt reminder" of the limitations of the US justice system. "Criminal trials are not searches for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. They never have been. Our rules of evidence and the Bill of Rights preclude it. Our trials are instead tests of only that limited evidence a judge declares fit to be shared with jurors, who in turn are then admonished daily, hourly even, not to look beyond the corners of what they've seen or heard in court. "Trials like the one we've all just witnessed in Florida can therefore never fully answer the larger societal questions they pose. They can never act as moral surrogates to resolve the national debates they trigger." 'White supremacy' The Miami Herald report of the case notes that "the verdict is the last chapter in a saga that started with distraught parents mourning the death of their son and grew into a national movement, powered largely by social media and a chorus of civil rights leaders". "Almost immediately, the case - and for some, the verdict - was viewed through the prickly lens of race: Zimmerman is a white Hispanic. Trayvon was African American." Writing for The Nation, Aura Bogado argues that "White supremacy acquits George Zimmerman". "Throughout the trial, the media repeatedly referred to an 'all-woman jury' in that Seminole County courtroom, adding that most of them were mothers. That is true - but so is that five of the six jurors were white, and that is profoundly significant for cases like this one," she writes. Ms Bogado adds: "Media on the left, right and centre have been fanning the flames of fear-mongering, speculating that people - and black people especially - will take to the streets. "That fear-mongering represents a deep white anxiety about black bodies on the streets, and echoes Zimmerman's fears: that black bodies on the street pose a public threat. "But the real violence in those speculations, regardless of whether they prove to be true, is that it silences black anxiety." 'No winners' For Erick Erickson on Fox News, "there is only tragedy" in the Zimmerman verdict. "There are no sides but justice to root for, but a justice that will leave one side unsatisfied and still empty. Both sides made mistakes in this awful mess. George Zimmerman may not be guilty of either murder or manslaughter, but he killed Trayvon Martin. "A 17-year-old is dead. A family has lost a son. And George Zimmerman must now now fear for his life because of hatred toward him stirred up by so many who politicized this mess. "There are no winners here save for Zimmerman's not guilty verdict. He will have to live with this for the rest of his life and, sadly, Trayvon Martin will never get that chance. There is only tragedy here. There should not be politics here."

17 वर्षीय निहत्थे अश्वेत ट्रेवॉन मार्टिन की गोली मारकर हत्या करने वाले फ्लोरिडा के पड़ोस के चौकीदार जॉर्ज ज़िमरमैन को सभी आरोपों में दोषी नहीं पाए जाने के बाद अमेरिकी मीडिया से व्यापक प्रतिक्रिया आई है। नीचे मामले पर रिपोर्टिंग का एक चयन दिया गया है।


A grim two weeks at the Hotel Caledonia

Summary: Crieff Hydro has joined the hotels shedding staff, as the hospitality industry looks ahead to limited revenue and rising furlough costs. The coming week brings the deadline for larger employers of deciding between paying towards furlough or redundancy. The Crieff Hydro group is well placed to pick up on leisure breaks when they're allowed again, but those positioned for corporate travel will find it tougher going.

By Douglas FraserBusiness and economy editor, Scotland Coming out of hibernation is when animals can be vulnerable, with their reserves of strength and food depleted. Nature provides a generous smorgasbord of goodies to greet them. Or at least, that's the idea. Not so with the current economy. Coming out of hibernation is going to be far riskier than staying in it. The coming week is likely to reflect that. Already, we're seeing hotel groups shedding jobs. They've looked at the terms of the second phase of furlough scheme. It's more generous than many expected, but it still forces questions and hard answers: will there be a market for these workers when we re-open, and if not, can I afford to take on the payroll costs until there is? That's why several landmark hotels last week announced they're shedding some of their staff, to match costs with expected revenue when they reopen. They included the Blythswood in Glasgow, and the George in Edinburgh. 'Drastic and devastating' This weekend, we've learned that Crieff Hydro Family of Hotels is doing the same - 241 jobs are "at risk". That means people could be out the door at the start of August. With 950 staff, all but 50 of them furloughed, owner Stephen Leckie says he's already spending £500,000 per month on keeping buildings secure and insured. The fifth generation of his family to run Crieff Hydro, he now operates 11 properties, including Peebles Hydro, and has borrowed to improve facilities and to expand his rural leisure-based product into Lochaber. Seeing it as a business built on the quality of its people, personnel feels personal: "When we closed our doors at the end of March, it was one of the darkest days in our 150 year history and this is another," says Leckie. "The impact coronavirus has had on our industry and business has been immediate and drastic. "As a family-run business built on the strength of our people, discussing potential redundancies is the toughest step we've ever had to consider. I am personally devastated for every one of our team who could lose their job." To help pay bills, he's taken on £6.5m of additional debt, most of that through the government-backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). That will take perhaps a decade to bring down to comfortable levels, he tells me, meaning other investments will have to be put on hold. And so it is for businesses across the economy, let alone the many expected to default on their share of more than £30 billion in loans backed by the UK government. Deadline looms So as Crieff Hydro burns through cash, it was one of the businesses asking about the additional Estimated £30,000 per month of costs that would come with National Insurance Contributions, pensions and holiday accrual from the start of August. Is there any point in paying that to keep people on the payroll, with little expectation there will be jobs for them come October? In September, employers will have to pay 10% of the furlough pay bill. From October, it's 20%. As November starts, the scheme is due to be over. And will the revenue be there for that? It doesn't look likely. At Crieff Hydro, they expect bookings to be down by 30 to 50%, and that revenue will be around 50%, or £17m down on last year. So if the answer is "no - there's no point" in keeping people on for that reduced demand, then redundancy is likely at the start of August. For a larger employer, with more than 100 people on the books, they have to give 45 days notice: for less than that, it's 30 days. So for the big companies, notice is going to be served in the next 10 days. Ghost at the banquet Don't expect Crieff Hydro to be the end of this, and particularly in hospitality. For hotels, restaurants and bars, they are now missing out on peak earning season. Even when they are allowed to re-open, they can't expect customers to flood back. People will be cautious about travel, about infection, and about household finances. However, Stephen Leckie, who is also chairman of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, points out that he's relatively lucky. More than 60% of his business is in the leisure trade, and half of UK leisure business is from Scotland. So he'll do OK out of staycations, and he was already well established for repeat business. The rest of income is from conferences, meetings, events and big dinners. He doesn't expect to see much of that, if any, returning this year. The banqueting team won't have anything to do, except plan for next year. So things look worse for those who don't have that balance, such as city hotels that rely on corporate travel, conferences, events and concerts. The sector is pushing hard to get the Scottish government to reduce the two-metre distancing rule, to one or 1.5m, as in most of continental Europe. Without that, few restaurants or bars could be viable. Air bridges Boris Johnson is expected to say more about that this week. The prime minister is reported in the Sunday Times to have realised only last Tuesday the severity of the problems facing Britain's tourism and hospitality industry. It's claimed Downing Street is pivoting to much more concern about the economy than about viral infection. The report goes on to outline changes to planning controls on outside dining and drinking in England, using the crisis to cut through bureaucratic delays. The creation of air bridges in and out of less infected countries are being prioritised, so that some Brits can avoid quarantine when they return from foreign holidays. If the PM chooses to ease the two-metre rule, it will raise pressure for the Scottish government to back business with a similar relaxation of infection controls. To help tourism, there would have to be an easing of the five-mile advisory limit on travel. The Scottish Tourism Alliance would like an extension of the school holiday in October. And depending how much it is willing to borrow, government could go further: for instance, a temporary VAT cut, as Germany has just announced, or a voucher for staycations, as in France.

क्रीफ हाइड्रो होटलों के कर्मचारियों की छंटनी में शामिल हो गया है, क्योंकि आतिथ्य उद्योग सीमित राजस्व और बढ़ती फर्लो लागत की ओर देख रहा है। आने वाला सप्ताह बड़े नियोक्ताओं के लिए फर्लो या अतिरेक के लिए भुगतान करने के बीच निर्णय लेने की समय सीमा लाता है। क्रीफ हाइड्रो समूह फिर से अनुमति दिए जाने पर अवकाश अवकाश लेने के लिए अच्छी तरह से तैयार है, लेकिन कॉर्पोरेट यात्रा के लिए तैनात लोगों के लिए यह कठिन होगा।


Setting the stage for Batman, Take That and Lady Gaga

Summary: Batman Live, an elaborate arena show starring the caped crusader, has begun its world tour in Manchester. Gotham City has been created on stage by set designer Es Devlin, who has also made live landscapes for Take That, Lady Gaga and the Royal Opera House, and is now working on the 2012 Olympics.

By Ian YoungsEntertainment reporter, BBC News A city filled with 12ft skyscrapers, an Alice In Wonderland-style mansion and an eerie lunatic asylum are among the sets created by Devlin that, together with big screen graphics, are the backdrops for Batman's adventures. "It's a bit like a big 3D film experience, only instead of putting on the 3D glasses you have people and props and objects popping out of the screen," she says. While working on Batman Live, Devlin was also busy dreaming up sets for Take That's record-breaking Progress stadium tour, The Trojans for the Royal Opera House and the Olympic Games closing ceremony. Meanwhile, her worlds have been put on stage in Bellini's opera, I Puritani, in Geneva and Mike Figgis' Lucrezia Borgia for the English National Opera this year. And she has worked on Lady Gaga's Monster Ball tour, major shows by Muse and Kanye West and dance productions at Sadler's Wells. Few people straddle such a spectrum of cultural pursuits, spanning theatre, pop and opera, with brows both high and low. A sense of imagination links all her creations, says Devlin. And with her work in demand, it is imagination to a deadline. "I will lie in bed until I've had an idea," she says. "Sometimes I won't get up until I've had an idea. I will not leave that spot. Which, with two children, one of whom's only 18 months old, can be a bit of a challenge." Speaking the day before the Batman premiere, she has just been e-mailing new stage designs to hip-hop star Kanye West, who has been e-mailing them back with scribbled amendments. "I know that by the time New York wakes up I have to have drawn a picture of what Lenny Kravitz's set is going to look like," she adds. "The show has got to start being built tomorrow. I have to have an idea. And that's that." Devlin started her career in theatre and broke into the world of pop in 2005 when Kanye West asked her to come up with a set for his tour just 10 days before the first date. She designed Lady Gaga's first major tour, which began in 2009, and praises the singer's drive and cultural appetite. "She was really well versed in theatre - her references are as wide as many of the opera directors and theatre directors that I work for," Devlin says. "She really knows her stuff." The stage "looked stunning but to be honest didn't really work", she now admits. "I think she felt a bit trapped in the box that I designed for her. It was a very sloping stage and her heels… there was one moment where she fell off it." Devlin first worked with Take That on their Circus tour in 2009 - which included a giant mechanical elephant - and is on board again for their current Progress stadium tour, which played to 1.8 million people on its UK dates alone. The centrepiece of the tour, which ends in Munich on 29 July, is a giant animatronic man who stands up and moves into the middle of the stadium as the show goes on. Or he is supposed to. "So far there have been two occasions where it didn't stand up," Devlin says. "Every other night, although it might not have done exactly the hand movements we'd programmed on two or three nights, as an audience member you wouldn't have known." Downsides to working with pop stars include their hectic schedules. "These people have barely time to go to the toilet, and if they phone you they often are going to the toilet because it's the only moment they've got," Devlin says. "You therefore have to accept that you're going to get feedback whenever they can squeeze it in, and you're going to have them changing their minds and thinking of ideas very late in the day. "Don't go into it if you're not prepared for them to walk in and say 'actually can I have something completely different?' And you just have to rock on. There's another good idea around the corner, let's sit down and have one before we need to feed the children." With Take That's creative director Kim Gavin, Devlin has just presented the preliminary plans for the Olympics closing ceremony to Games organisers. "We have the whole shape of it mapped out," she says. "I think it's going to be an extraordinary celebratory event." The project has caused Devlin to think about Britain's "anxiety" about national identity and national pride, she says. "I think it's an issue," she says. "I think it's an interesting area to explore. What do we think about the union jack? We feel uncomfortable about it." As a result, the designer has been doing "immense research into the uses and abuses of that potent little collection of red, white and blue lines and triangles", she says. The ceremony could be a chance to have "an impact on how we feel about that flag, and how we feel about national identity", she believes. But whatever the ceremony involves, there is one overriding priority. It must work. "You've got one moment. You can't have something that might not work." Batman Live is at arenas across the UK and Ireland until October.

बैटमैन लाइव, कैप्ड क्रूसेडर अभिनीत एक विस्तृत अखाड़ा शो, ने मैनचेस्टर में अपना विश्व दौरा शुरू किया है। गोथम सिटी को सेट डिजाइनर एस डेवलिन द्वारा मंच पर बनाया गया है, जिन्होंने टेक दैट, लेडी गागा और रॉयल ओपेरा हाउस के लिए लाइव लैंडस्केप भी बनाए हैं, और अब 2012 के ओलंपिक पर काम कर रहे हैं।


Ulster Unionist Party: Nesbitt rules himself out for leadership

Summary: The former Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt has ruled himself out from standing again for his party's leadership and revealed he has been dealing with a coronary condition.

By Mark DevenportBBC News NI Political Editor Robin Swann has announced he will not stand again for re-election at the party's annual general meeting. The meeting has been brought forward from February to 9 November. Mr Swann said the decision had been made "after consultation with family and close colleagues". South Antrim MLA Steve Aiken said he will put his name forward while Upper Bann MLA Doug Beattie is considering his options. It is understood Mr Nesbitt, who led the Ulster Unionists for five years, was considering running for a second term. However, the former UUP leader said he has been dealing with a coronary condition since 2015 and was recently advised by medical professionals to avoid extra stress. The former broadcaster has ruled out a second run for the party leadership, although he will continue in his role as assembly member for Strangford.

अल्स्टर यूनियनिस्ट के पूर्व नेता माइक नेसबिट ने अपनी पार्टी के नेतृत्व के लिए फिर से खड़े होने से इनकार कर दिया है और खुलासा किया है कि वह एक कोरोनरी स्थिति से निपट रहे हैं।


Why you need sackfuls of banknotes to shop in Venezuela

Summary: Last week Venezuela announced it would withdraw its highest-denomination banknote from circulation. Long queues formed outside banks as people scrambled to change theirs before they became redundant. The withdrawal of the 100-bolivar note has now been delayed until the start of January, but ordinary people must still grapple with spiralling prices and increasingly worthless notes, as Gideon Long reports.

"Have you changed money yet?", my friends asked me on my first evening in Caracas. I hadn't. "Well, don't," they said. "Not at the official rate. Give us your dollars and we'll change them for you." So I handed over a single US $100 (£80) note. The next day, I received two huge stacks of bank notes in return - and I mean huge. A thousand notes in each stack, 200,000 bolivars in total. I felt like I'd won the lottery. Except, of course, this is no lottery and there are very few winners. The losers are ordinary Venezuelans, whose salaries are losing value by the minute, and who have to queue for hours to buy basic foodstuffs that they can scarcely afford. All this in an oil-rich country whose citizens were once famous for their international shopping sprees. It doesn't add up. To understand the mathematics of the situation, you'll have to bear with me - it gets complicated. There are in fact three exchange rates in Venezuela. If you're importing essential goods like staple foods and medicine, and you happen to know the right people in government, you can buy a US dollar for the state-controlled price of just 10 bolivars - a bargain! Everyone else is supposed to change at the second government-controlled rate, currently 670 bolivars. But there's also a real-world, black-market rate, which has gone through the roof in recent weeks. In October, there were 1,500 bolivars to the dollar. By late November there were well over 4,000. The Venezuelan currency has strengthened since then but, even so, it's lost half its value on the black market in just a couple of months. My two towering stacks of bank notes were worth $100 when I entered the country. When I left two weeks later they were worth $50. The 100-bolivar note, the biggest in circulation, is worth just two US cents. So when heading out for a coffee or a bite to eat, you had to take a sack of cash with you. The central bank is now issuing bigger denomination-notes and new coins to make life easier, but that's causing its own problems. With bank notes so worthless, cash machines can't cope - they can only dispense a few dollars' worth of money at a time. I never saw an ATM in Venezuela without a line of people in front of it - unless, of course, it was out of order. "I come here every day," said Ramiro, a young man in a white T-shirt and red baseball cap, as he waited to withdraw a wad of virtually worthless notes from an ATM. "We're all wasting hours of our lives looking for cash." Even if you do have cash, you can't always buy what you want. Some staple foods - rice, flour, cooking oil - are sold at government-controlled prices. That makes them relatively affordable, but supplies are extremely limited, and you can only buy them on certain days, determined by the number on your national ID card. "Monday is my day," said my taxi driver Alexander, a big man with an uncanny resemblance to Venezuela's late president Hugo Chavez. "I go to the supermarket every Monday. But even then, there's often nothing to buy." Find out more No one even knows what the true inflation rate is in Venezuela. The government doesn't publish the figures any more. Last year, it was 180%. This year, the IMF expects it to hit 500%, and for GDP to fall by 10%. It's difficult to see how any economy can survive that. The government blames lower oil prices and a US-led conspiracy to undermine the economy. This week, President Nicolas Maduro blamed the mafia in neighbouring Colombia for fuelling Venezuelan inflation with big, cross-border money deals. But the truth is that Venezuela is suffering from its own chronic mismanagement. Zimbabwe, Argentina, the Weimar Republic - history shows us that when countries start printing money to prop up their economies, it seldom ends well. The festive lights are now on in Caracas. The reindeers, the snowmen, the sleds - all look very incongruous amid the city's luxuriant, tropical vegetation. But this will be a difficult Christmas for thousands of impoverished Venezuelan families, some of whom are now facing genuine hunger in what used to be one of the wealthiest countries in South America. As I sat in Caracas airport waiting to leave, I opened a local newspaper and found a cartoon. It showed a puzzled Santa, reading through a long Christmas wish-list. "But this is all food!" Santa is saying to an elf. The elf - grim-faced - looks back at Santa. "It's the Venezuelan list," he says. Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

पिछले हफ्ते वेनेज़ुएला ने घोषणा की कि वह अपने उच्चतम मूल्य के बैंक नोट को प्रचलन से वापस ले लेगा। बैंकों के बाहर लंबी कतारें लग गईं क्योंकि लोगों ने अपने नोट को बदलने के लिए हाथापाई की, इससे पहले कि वे अनावश्यक हो गए। 100-बोलिवर के नोट को वापस लेने में अब जनवरी की शुरुआत तक की देरी हो गई है, लेकिन गिडियॉन लॉन्ग की रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, आम लोगों को अभी भी बढ़ती कीमतों और तेजी से मूल्यहीन नोटों से जूझना होगा।


Squatters: Who are they and why do they squat?

Summary: For many people, the word squatter conjures up the image of a dreadlocked, middle-class, tree-hugging hippie eking out an alternative lifestyle in someone else's home. But with plans afoot to outlaw squatting, just who are today's squatters?

By Caroline McClatcheyBBC News Magazine "I don't feel I am freeloading. I am using something that was going to waste." Biz is a 24-year-old arts graduate who is squatting in a house in Bristol. She used to work in a bar but she could not get enough shifts to cover the rent. She is not claiming benefits and is earning a bit of cash by helping build furniture for a school's playground. With the government consulting on a proposal to criminalise squatting, one of the big issues will be defining just who squatters like Biz are. Many people's idea of squatters will be gleaned from media reports of young people occupying multi-million pound houses in the UK's most exclusive postcodes. Less frequently, there will be sensational stories about owners returning from holiday to find squatters in their house. The predominant media image is one of posh, anti-establishment eco-warriors who spend their rent-money on parties and devote their energies to sustainable living. The counter-argument from squatters is that they often endear themselves to neighbours by fixing up derelict properties and establishing cafes, art galleries and workshops in their new homes. But what is the reality? Organisations and campaign groups such as Crisis, Squash and the Advisory Service for Squatters say a significant number of squatters are homeless individuals and families, many of whom have mental health and addiction problems in addition to not having a roof over their heads. Opponents of the proposed criminalisation say it will hit the most vulnerable people in society at a time of government cuts and rising household bills. They claim the beneficiaries will be people who own commercial premises and leave them empty for financial gain, such as tax avoidance or property speculation. They also say it will burden the police and justice system. But there are other people who argue that squatters are rent refuseniks. Mike Weatherley is the MP for Hove and Portslade, a squatting hotspot, and he says it is a "myth that homeless people and squatters are one in the same". "For a lot of people squatting is a lifestyle. They move from property to property and are often anti-government, making some kind of protest statement. It is those people we have to stop." He says the squatters are often well organised and well aware of their rights, and many engage in anti-social behaviour such as drug taking and fly-tipping. There are no official figures for the number of squatters, let alone a breakdown of their age, location or educational background. While London stands out, by virtue of its sheer size, squatting is also an issue in many other cities including Bristol and Brighton. The government estimates there are 20,000 squatters in the UK but squatting groups say the real total is more. Squash, Squatters' Action for Secure Homes, points out that the number of people on local authority housing lists has nearly doubled since 1997 to five million and there are an estimated 650,000 empty properties in the UK. Reuben Taylor, from Squash, says these places can provide for some of the most vulnerable people in society, such as homeless people, former prisoners and those with addiction or mental health problems. "They are the majority of people who squat but they do so very quietly." Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people, carried out a study this year which suggested 39% of homeless people had squatted at some time. Katharine Sacks-Jones, head of policy at the charity, says squatting is another form of homelessness, especially as some squats are in "horrendous" conditions. "A lot of the debate is coloured by the so-called lifestyle squatters but this is very far from the reality for vulnerable homeless people who don't have another option." The UK has a long history of squatting. In feudal times, if a house could be erected between sundown and sunrise the occupants could claim the right to tenure and could not be evicted. Squatting was a big issue in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and again for the Diggers in the 17th Century. Founded by the anarchist Gerrard Winstanley, they were peasants who cultivated waste and common land, claiming it as their rightful due. After World War II, squatting was a necessity for some and people slept in all sorts of buildings. The next wave came in the 60s and 70s and while the country was in the grip of another housing crisis, there was also a cultural move towards trying out a different style of living. Professor Lorna Fox O'Mahony, an expert in property law, says there are three factors associated with spikes in urban squatting - rising house prices, a high proportion of empty homes and an increase in the homeless population. "The rise in urban squatting in the 60s and 70s was largely focused around council properties. Houses were lying empty rather than being allocated." She says a rise in the mid-2000s was also linked to rising house prices and a lack of affordable housing, particularly in the South East of England. Prof O'Mahony says as more and more people became home owners, they became increasingly upset by squatters. "People were paying mortgages and were horrified that people weren't paying their way." Groups such as Crisis and Squash are warning that squatting may become the only option for more and more people as cuts to housing benefits and other front-line services start to bite. Biz in Bristol says she will be homeless if squatting is criminalised, as will her 12 squatmates, some of whom are students who cannot afford to rent and people who are looking for work. She says she will continue to squat until she finds a job that she not only loves but which also pays the rent. Though she admits she will probably be evicted before that happens.

कई लोगों के लिए, स्क्वाटर शब्द एक डरावने, मध्यम वर्ग, पेड़ को गले लगाने वाले हिप्पी की छवि को दिखाता है जो किसी और के घर में एक वैकल्पिक जीवन शैली अपना रहा है। लेकिन स्क्वाटिंग को गैरकानूनी बनाने की योजनाओं के साथ, आज के स्क्वाटर कौन हैं?


Queen Diamond Jubilee visit to Wales: Send us your photos

Summary: Thousands of people are expected to turn out and greet the Queen as she begins a two-day tour of Wales.

The visit, with the Duke of Edinburgh, marks her Diamond Jubilee. After arriving on the Royal Train at Cardiff Central railway station, the royal party is to attend a service at Llandaff Cathedral. The royal party will then travel to Margam and Merthyr, followed on Friday by Aberfan, Ebbw Vale and Glanusk Park, near Crickhowell. The visit will include a meeting with Wales' Grand Slam-winning rugby squad.

वेल्स के दो दिवसीय दौरे की शुरुआत करते हुए हजारों लोगों के बाहर आने और महारानी का अभिवादन करने की उम्मीद है।