Japan seeks alternatives to its pay system

Summary: It's a simple task, if you're trying to spot the highest paid employee in a Japanese office. Just look for the oldest staff member. Traditionally, the longer you've been at a company, the more money you earn.

By Mariko OiBBC News, Japan In Japan's corporate culture, this is commonly referred to as the seniority wage system. It has been in place since the 1950s. During Japan's economic boom, the system worked well in combination with another unique aspect of its labour market - the guarantee of a job for life. And back then, companies could afford to raise salaries as a reward for the staff's loyalty. It is standard practice for businesses to offer a low remuneration package to fresh graduates, who are then trained on-the-job. Even today, the average starting salary in Japan is roughly 2.5 million Japanese yen or $22,000. In the UK it is £28,000 or $40,000. In America, the average starting salary is higher at $50,000. But Japan's seniority wage system started to crumble after the economic bubble burst in the 1990s. New system? Companies had to restructure their operations, trim expenses and, in most cases, implement job cuts. The redundancies came as a shock to many employees who had thought that their lives and livelihood would be well looked after until retirement. "It's like a couple who just found out that their partner was cheating on them. Workers felt betrayed," said Toshiaki Matsumoto director at the Society for Human Resource Management. Without the guarantee of lifelong employment, younger workers started to look for other options instead of accepting a low starting salary with the first company that would hire them. More and more are raising questions about the practice of rewarding older employees ahead of the younger ones, solely based on their age. "My manager was my father's age," recalled 29-year-old Takato Oku who joined a traditional Japanese company immediately after graduating. There were many layers of junior managers in between him and his supervisor. He knew that his turn for a promotion or pay rise was many years away. So he quit his first job and joined an online blog and advertising firm CyberAgent. Founded in 1998, it is known for offering a higher starting salary and its performance-based salary system. Within two years, Mr Oku rose through the ranks to become a manager. Strategy shift "At first, it felt strange to have staff who were older than me, or to have a boss who was younger than me, but I like how CyberAgent rewards its workers based on our performance, not our age," said Mr Oku. It was their company policy from day one, said Tetsuhito Soyama, executive manager of human resources at CyberAgent. "Many of our executives - including our founder - have worked at traditional Japanese companies before, which had the seniority wage system. But it felt odd because not everyone of the same age has the same ability." "Our model means more competition and it is natural for older staff to feel jealous or awkward to see their younger colleagues being promoted first, but because it has been our corporate policy from the start, I think it was easier for us compared with older companies," he added. Failed attempts Bigger and more traditional companies have been trying, too. Just as CyberAgent was founded in the 1990s, household names such as Sony and Hitachi also announced that they would abolish the seniority wage system. They decided to experiment with the Western model where salary is based on skills and performance. But it was met with strong opposition. Not only did some staff find it difficult to adjust, it was also a big change for managers to suddenly have to assess the performance of their staff more diligently, based on their accomplishments. For example, computer giant Fujitsu was one of the first to introduce the new salary system in 1993, but it was so unpopular, it had to reconsider. The timing was not great either. It was at the beginning of what's become known as Japan's lost decade - when firms were trying to revive their businesses. "Just revising the HR policy won't turn the business around, so unless companies could become profitable to properly reward the staff, they ended up creating unhealthy competition among their employees," said HR consultant Mr Matsumoto. Government push But in recent years, there has been a new push from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to shake up Japan's labour market. Big companies have once again announced their plans to shift away from the seniority wage system. The idea of jobs for life, which worked hand in hand with the unique salary system, is already coming to an end. In 2014, the government survey showed that half of young workers under the age of 35 were not working for their first employer, as mid-career job changes have become more common. But CyberAgent, despite overturning one pillar of Japanese corporate culture, is keen to retain the other - the job for life - after seeing a high turnover rate. "I don't think the two systems have to be intertwined," said Mr Soyama who is in charge of the company's human resources. "If you analyse Japanese companies which have done well globally, their strength has been the team spirit of the employees. So we have concluded that long-term employment works better for us." Today, the company offers generous and unique compensation. While men's right to take paternity leave has been debated at other companies, Cyber Agent even has specific leave for those who want to visit a fertility clinic. Mr Soyama says there have been two successful pregnancies. The seniority wage system appears to be on its way out. But instead of a wholesale adoption of the Western model, Japan Inc. needs to find a new system that works to its own strength.

यह एक आसान काम है, अगर आप किसी जापानी कार्यालय में सबसे अधिक वेतन पाने वाले कर्मचारी को खोजने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं। बस सबसे पुराने कर्मचारी सदस्य की तलाश करें। परंपरागत रूप से, आप किसी कंपनी में जितना अधिक समय तक रहेंगे, उतना ही अधिक पैसा कमाएंगे।


China and US wage duelling 'hearts and minds' campaigns

Summary: As the battle between the US and China over tariffs goes on, an age-old ideological feud is being waged, pitting Beijing's Communist Party against Washington-style democracy. It's not a fight for trade or for territory, it's for hearts and minds.

By Tara McKelvey and Zhaoyin Feng BBC News, Washington The term "influence operations" describes the way that government officials try to find out information about another country and also the way they attempt to sway the views of people who live there, according to researchers at the nonpartisan Rand Corporation. The subject received a great deal of attention earlier this year when Robert Mueller, a former US special counsel, compiled evidence about the way Russians allegedly tried to influence the US presidential election, partly through the social media feeds of millions of Americans. Yet information about the way that Chinese officials try to influence people's views is less well known. Here are five areas where Americans and Chinese are promoting their own political and cultural ideas - and are facing pushback from the other side. Use Twitter to influence people's views Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai said recently on Twitter that people should support the "One China" policy, which means Taiwan is part of China. He posted a stern warning against those who undermine the party's position: "Those who play with fire will only get themselves burned." People in Washington object to the way that Mr Cui and other Chinese officials use social media, saying that their posts serve as veiled threats to Chinese Americans who live here in the US and do not support the Chinese government's position. Other times, according to US officials, the Chinese use disinformation. Twitter and Facebook executives have taken down hundreds of Chinese-run accounts that were, according to the executives, part of "a coordinated state-backed operation" to promote Beijing's view of Hong Kong. The events in Hong Kong have been a particular flashpoint on social media. Chinese officials criticise people in the US who tweet in support of the Hong Kong protestors - and have at times accused US officials of provoking violence and acting in a hypocritical manner. As a rapper in a video on the state-run China Global Television Network said: "Hey Democracy / Yeah I'm talking about American hypocrisy". A debate about the relationship between corporate America and China came under scrutiny this week after the manager of US basketball team backed Hong Kong protesters in a tweet and got an angry response. China's state broadcaster, CCTV, said they would suspend broadcasts of the NBA's preseason games. Shape opinion through radio broadcasts China Radio International programmes are broadcast on radio stations such as WCRW 1190 in Leesburg, Virginia. Sarah Cook, an analyst at Freedom House, a pro-democracy nonprofit organisation in the US, says that the Chinese officials use these programmes as a way to soften criticism of their government. Sarah Cook, an analyst at Freedom House, a pro-democracy nonprofit organisation in the US, says that the Chinese officials use these programmes as a way to soften criticism of their government. The Chinese government has come under attack for its record on human rights, she explains, and the Beijing officials try to counter the criticism by emphasising their contributions to science and other realms. These and other achievements of the Chinese government are promoted in sunny, upbeat radio despatches. "They want to show a positive view of China," Cook says, describing their radio broadcasts. "They want people to think about pandas and high-speed trains." In turn, US officials broadcast their views on policy issues through Mandarin and Cantonese programmes on Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. These radio outlets are funded by the US government. Beijing officials sometimes jam them, as journalists who cover the entertainment industry have reported. The Beijing officials accuse the Americans of airing propaganda to influence the views of people who live in China. Influence people through newspaper articles Kenneth Geers, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a US think-tank, says Chinese officials attempt to "drive discussion" through English-language editions of state-run China Daily and Global Times. Articles may raise questions about US troops stationed in Japan and in this way, he says. "China can insert itself and affect what people are hearing." If support for the stationing of US troops in Japan were to erode, explains Mr Geers, US military presence in Asia might diminish: "China could conceivably win battles by changing how we perceive Japan or the South China Sea." Chinese officials say they are not trying to influence views in the US through news outlets or other platforms, citing their policy of noninterventionism, Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. This doctrine emphasises "mutual respect for sovereignty" between them and other countries. Showcase national culture through film Beijing officials believe that Hollywood films misrepresent the Chinese, and so sometimes they change the way the Chinese are portrayed. "Beijing's censors" edited Red Dawn, said US Vice-President Mike Pence during a speech in 2018, describing how the film was altered to make "the villains North Korean - not Chinese". For people in China, the changes made to Hollywood movies are a legitimate way to fight US bias. The US films, regardless of how they are edited, have an impact. Robert Daly, the director of the Wilson Center's Kissinger Institute on China and the US, says that through films, books and culture, the US has a presence in China. He believes US culture has influenced the way that people in China think and how they see the world. In comparison, he says, the impact of Chinese culture on the US has been negligible. "It's not even a fleabite," he says, compared to "how China has been influenced by America". Promote values through non-governmental organisations Pro-democracy organisations are funded through the US national endowment for democracy and operate openly in China. Americans view these activities as "utterly benign", according to Dartmouth College's William Wohlforth. Beijing officials disagree. Writers for China Daily accuse the US-based funders of these organisations of "using the tool of democracy" for nefarious goals. "China views US democracy promotion as a strategic threat," wrote Baogang He in Wilson Quarterly, and believe that the US officials are trying to isolate China "from Europe and elsewhere internationally - in part by consolidating US moral leadership". And so the debate over words and ideas continues. Find out more about the US-China row in a World Service Radio documentary The Spy of Raspberry Falls.

जैसे-जैसे शुल्कों को लेकर अमेरिका और चीन के बीच लड़ाई जारी है, एक सदियों पुराना वैचारिक झगड़ा छिड़ रहा है, जो बीजिंग की कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी को वाशिंगटन-शैली के लोकतंत्र के खिलाफ खड़ा कर रहा है। यह व्यापार या क्षेत्र के लिए लड़ाई नहीं है, यह दिल और दिमाग के लिए है।


Disney's Frozen and the 'gay agenda'

Summary: Does "letting go" mean coming out?

BBC NewsWashington, DC To Kevin Swanson, a pastor and host of a right-wing Christian-themed radio show, it does. Swanson slammed Disney's award-winning animated film Frozen, calling it the work of the devil. "Friends, this is evil, just evil," he said. Swanson contends the film indoctrinates young women to be lesbians and convinces people that homosexuality and bestiality are acceptable in society. While Swanson doesn't specifically cite what parts of the film he sees as promoting homosexuality, others have drawn parallels between the kingdom's rejection of the magical powers of one of the main characters, Elsa, and society's rejection of homosexuality. Many equate film's most recognisable song, Let it Go, with the experience of coming out and accepting one's sexual orientation. "Disney has a long history of fielding accusations of using its children's movies to advance one liberal agenda or another - whether it's gay rights, environmentalism or socialism," writes the Daily Beast's Caitlin Dickson. "However, there seems to be something about Frozen that has attracted more than the usual amount of controversy for a kids' cartoon." Kathryn Skaggs, a Mormon blogger, identifies what she sees as the film's attempt to normalise homosexuality. She writes: When mainstream society comes to the point where it celebrates that which is contrary to the commandments, taught in a movie presumably made for children, by awarding it the highest accolades within its culture, and good parents don't perceive it, but rather endorse it unwittingly, we are in serious trouble. She targets much of her fire on Let It Go, which she says hides a "subversive" message beneath a catchy tune: The words to Let it Go are clearly not Christian-values friendly, by any stretch of the imagination, when understood and heard. This is not an innocent song, with a catchy tune. It is rebellious. It mocks moral absolutes. It is careless. It is unaccountable. It is anti-obedience. It is regardless. It is selfish. And if you still disagree, then by all means, feel free to show me how I've misinterpreted the lyrics. Mark Saal, another Mormon blogger, disagrees with Skaggs' comments. "Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar," he says. If you look hard enough, he says, you can find a hidden homosexual agenda in almost any song, movie or any other work of art. Meanwhile, some members and allies to the LGBT community are claiming Elsa as their own. Ryan C Robert, writing for Qodda, argues that the film has given LGBT youth a character with which to empathise. He says the movie portrays unconditional sisterly love, and many LGBT kids need to understand that people will love them regardless of what happens. "Disney's Frozen may not have intended for one of the main characters, Elsa, to have a story that is such an easy parallel to the world of growing up in the closet, but it happened," he writes. "It happened, and now we're gonna celebrate." There isn't consensus in the LGBT community as to what the movie means, however. "It's time for a reality check," writes the Daily Dot's Rob Price. "I don't wish to dismiss anyone's interpretation, or tell someone they're watching a film 'the wrong way' - but for me at least, these claims just don't add up." While he says he would love Frozen to be a movie about coming out, it's not, he says. Frozen is a timid step in the right direction, but still sticks to plenty of societal standards. "Praising the film studio for the meagre animated scraps they're currently throwing to the LGBTQ community will only breed complacency on their part; it's about time they 'let it go' and come out the celluloid closet for good," he says. It seems like just about everyone wants a piece of Elsa. Perhaps the best thing to do is to act like the movie's lovable snowman, Olaf, and go looking for some warm hugs until the storm blows over. (By Kierran Petersen)

क्या "जाने देना" का मतलब बाहर आना है?


Man admits stabbing man to death outside Edinburgh City FC's social club

Summary: A 42-year-old man has admitted killing another man outside Edinburgh City football club's social club by stabbing him on the neck with knife.

Paul Smith is charged with murdering electrician Andrew McCarron on 21 July. He offered to plead guilty to the reduced charge of culpable homicide at the High Court in Glasgow but this was not accepted. Judge Lord Matthews set a trial date for 14 April at the High Court in Edinburgh. Mr Smith denies murdering Mr McCarron and assaulting Robert Smith to his permanent disfigurement by repeatedly striking him on the body with a knife in Edinburgh's Lochend Road South.

एक 42 वर्षीय व्यक्ति ने एडिनबर्ग सिटी फुटबॉल क्लब के सोशल क्लब के बाहर एक अन्य व्यक्ति की चाकू से गर्दन पर वार करके हत्या करने की बात स्वीकार की है।


Virgin Money delays flotation citing 'market conditions'

Summary: Virgin Money has delayed its planned October stock market flotation.

The company now expects admission to the London Stock Exchange's official list to happen when the markets are less volatile. "Virgin Money continues to perform strongly and we remain focused on delivering a successful initial public offering as soon as market conditions allow," said boss Jayne-Anne Gadhia. Virgin Money is hoping to raise £150m from the initial public offering. The financial services provider part-owned by entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson announced on 2 October that it would apply for a stock market listing, and expected the flotation to occur in the same month. But the FTSE 100 index of blue-chip shares has fallen 10% since September, wiping about £175bn off company valuations. Global stock markets have also been very volatile, making Virgin Money think investors may not have much appetite for buying its shares in the current climate. Virgin's move follows that of UK bank Aldermore, which also scrapped its flotation plans because of the recent stock market turbulence. It had been planning to raise about £75m through the flotation, which was set to value the bank at about £800m.

वर्जिन मनी ने अपने नियोजित अक्टूबर स्टॉक मार्केट फ्लोटेशन में देरी की है।


The McDonald's drive-thru at 30: A journey back to an exotic experience

Summary: It is 30 years since McDonald's opened its first UK drive-thru - 1986 being a year of firsts for a brand that now has 1,200 restaurants across Britain. The figures show consumers really are "lovin' it", yet the concept is also ubiquitous - a familiar, disposable and repeatable experience. So how was it for customers when McDonald's was still new? Was what is now commonplace ever thought a thrill?

By John NewtonBBC News It is 1975. UK cinemas are showing an advert for a brand whose name, at this point, is principally linked in the national consciousness to a nursery rhyme farmer. To the viewer, "golden arches" means nothing. They don't know chips by another name smell as sweetly. A Big Mac is just an oversized anorak. The ad comes a year after McDonald's opens its first UK restaurant in Woolwich, London. Few Brits, relatively, have visited. People are still using knives and forks. The past, as they say, is a foreign country - they do things differently there. Fast forward to 1983 and there are 100 McDonald's restaurants in the UK. The odds remain against most people seeing one. They literally do not know what they are missing. Then 1986 rolls around and three things happen to boost our acquaintance with the red-haired clown. In Middlesex, the first franchisee-run McDonald's opens. Another introduction is the Happy Meal, the very title of which suggests things have moved on from buying food to buying emotions - "eat this to feel like this". Chewing is so 70s. Things are now about experience. The standout concept in late-86, though, is the drive-thru - the missing "o", "g" and "h" letting Brits know they are through the looking glass. Or at least in Fallowfield, Manchester, where the first one opened, quickly followed before the end of the year by drive-thrus in Dudley, West Midlands; Neasden, London; and Coventry. "It seemed a wacky idea and one with technology my family didn't trust." This is the memory of 2016 McDonald's customer Chris Hammond - a West Midlands man born in the 70s and raised in the 80s; the sweet spot for those who remember the brand when it was new and Britain was a thinner nation. These were days when the BMI index sounded like the Argos catalogue's fancy mate. Chris gives an estimate of "mid-80s" for his first McDonald's visit, but it was not until as a teen in the 90s that he used a "space age" drive-thru, with its electronic ordering of goods via disembodied dialogue - a sort of early world wide web, overseen by teens in caps. "I think we were suspicious of the drive-thru," he says. "And friends who did use them back then didn't quite know the purpose; their parents ordered the food but ate it in the car park. It was driving through for its own sake. Now my car has a cup-holder as standard." Eighties child and Surrey resident David Jones, 41, has a similar memory. "Drive-thrus were other worlds that other people visited." But what was it that put on the brakes and left people confused as to whether to take home the food? How could things have ever appeared "other" and "not for me"? Formative years of McDonald's in UK 1974: First restaurant opens in Woolwich, London 1975: Ad appears on cinema screens 1982: Breakfast introduced to the menu 1983: Hundredth restaurant opens - in Market Street, Manchester 1984: Chicken McNuggets introduced 1986: First drive-thru restaurants open; the 200th restaurant opens in Ipswich; first franchisee-run restaurant opens; Happy Meals introduced 1988: CFCs removed from foam packaging; 300th restaurant opens in Dagenham In the mid-1980s a visit to McDonald's was so unusual it created doubt over how to be and feel - uncertainty that rubbed up against a thrill now difficult to imagine. This was a place where up was down and even falsehood had an air of glamour. "McDonald's was the first place I ever saw a fake plant," said David, nostalgic for lying yucca, glass and "curved corners". He said: "You can't imagine what a big deal the aesthetics were - staff in little white hats and food being eaten on two floors; this was not the chip shop, it was leaving Britain." The difference scrambled people's brains. Before McDonald's and its ilk - with Britain still decades from the gastro pub - kids' experience of eating out was limited. And social eating tended to happen at home, or school, or a friend's house. Yet here was a restaurant where they did not have to keep their legs still. It was a picnic inside. Christmas in July. The chance of a lunchtime. David thought once-a-year McDonald's "exotic", the Fillet-o-Fish "posh" and the taste secondary to going at all. Chris remembers it as an "event", an experience and destination unto itself. One that served a cultural shift by way of "a cowboy's food". "At first," he said, recalling plastic toadstools for seats, "McDonald's seemed to be only about children's parties - I couldn't conceive of people just going for something to eat, but after a while, I was one of them. "Before, I had been used to knives and forks, even ashtrays - that was Wimpy - but here you were out the house, yet using your hands without a plate - practice I thought was restricted to the home. And yet my parents felt the need to formalise it all by choosing what amounted to a starter, a main course and pudding." Mark Stinton, 40, from Birmingham, had the same experience and it meant hotter-than-the-sun apple pies every time he went - in those days as a "treat". "The pie was used, I think, to make it seem a proper dinner - there was a will to treat McDonald's as a complete meal rather than hangover food." But the balance of formality and convenience in the 80s played havoc with concepts of time. Fast food? It was not that simple. The fare may have had the delivery of a fast bowler but the customer was not in and out - this was the Test match batting of dining; an experience people did their best to stay inside. "We were never sure," Chris said, "about how quickly to get away. If anything, it was the opposite of fast food and we hung around. You wanted it to feel like it was a thing you'd set out to do." Time. It was once the marker against which party kids had to name the ingredients in a Big Mac. List the list quickly and win a prize. Above all others, it is the product the nostalgic are most excited to recall. The Big Mac - invented in 1967 by a US franchisee - is still going, of course. But it is now a background thing, rarely to raise an eyebrow, save for its discarded pickles; discs of funny cucumber left on a table top as if trying to relieve it of tired eyes. But 30 or more years ago, the Big Mac drew kids' gasps. In one sesame-seeded stack it seemed to rip up the rulebook. It was the knickerbocker glory of cow. With its two burgers and bread bridge, the top half mirrored the bottom; a sort of bun and beef palindrome for mouths that - crucially - were milk teeth-free. "I thought Big Macs were only for truckers and wrestlers," Chris said. "I thought there must be a rule about it." Mark and David did not try one until their teens, both having once also suspected a literal pecking order upheld by a man in a wig and yellow dungarees. "As a child," Mark said, "I was at a McDonald's party and, from my seat in a replica ship, I spotted a kid eating a Big Mac. I remember it being frowned upon by everybody - it was so gauche, he may as well have had a sparkler sticking out the top." It was typical of an early McDonald's experience: Confusion, newness and thrill all at once. It sounds like love. Or at least "lovin' it". "Lovin' it" in a different century.

मैकडॉनल्ड्स ने अपना पहला यू. के. ड्राइव-थ्रू खोले हुए 30 साल हो गए हैं-1986 एक ऐसे ब्रांड के लिए पहला वर्ष है जिसके पास अब पूरे ब्रिटेन में 1,200 रेस्तरां हैं। आंकड़े बताते हैं कि उपभोक्ता वास्तव में इसे पसंद करते हैं, फिर भी अवधारणा भी सर्वव्यापी है-एक परिचित, डिस्पोजेबल और दोहराने योग्य अनुभव। तो ग्राहकों के लिए यह कैसा था जब मैकडॉनल्ड्स अभी भी नया था? क्या अब जो आम बात है उसे कभी रोमांच माना जाता था?


Are Instagram stars facing a brand backlash?

Summary: Consumer goods giant Unilever has taken a stand against "influencer marketers" who exaggerate their social media clout to earn more money promoting products. Is this the start of a brand backlash? Are genuine influencers under threat?

By Mary-Ann RussonTechnology of Business reporter We've all heard about vloggers and bloggers earning big bucks promoting brands' products on their social media pages. Some of these "millennial influencers" with a million or more followers can earn $20,000 per post, says social insights firm Captiv8. A few have become minor celebrities in their own right. But it seems a number of them have been gaming the system, buying armies of "followers" from firms that use automated bots to create fake accounts and simulate interactions, known as engagement - a key metric to evaluate influencers. Consumer goods giant Unilever, one of the biggest advertisers in the world, has said it's calling time on influencers who try to cheat. It wants to see "greater transparency" in the influencer marketing industry, fearing that consumers may no longer trust influencers or the brands that work with them. Instagram says it blocks millions of fake accounts every day and works hard to build stronger relationships between brands and influencers. But some genuine influencers fear they may get caught in the crossfire. "I am so against bots," says New York-based Olivia Rink, 27, a fashion and lifestyle blogger who used to be a cheerleader. "It's very discouraging to compete with influencers that make the decision to use bots for fake engagement." Ms Rink, who has worked with more than 600 brands, says she spent four years building her blog audience. "I work extremely hard to create unique and authentic content that I know my readers will enjoy." But Unilever isn't the only brand getting fed up - several hotel brands recently told The Atlantic that they no longer want to work with influencers, after being flooded with requests for free all-expenses-paid stays, but failing to see a tangible return on their investment. Other resorts have now implemented an extensive vetting process to ensure that influencers actually have good organic engagement with their audiences and aren't using bots. In a further sign of disenchantment, it seems marketers are now ditching influencers from their marketing strategies, according to UK-based digital content marketing agency, Zazzle Media. The firm, which has 10,000 influencers on its books, found, amazingly, that not a single one of the 10,000 British marketers it surveyed planned to focus on influencers over the next 12 months. "We think there are two key reasons for this," Zazzle's founder and managing director says Simon Penson. "One, it's difficult to measure how influencers affect sales, and two, there's this underlying issue about bots behind it that's prevalent and growing." Natascha Glock, 25, a beauty and lifestyle Instagram influencer living in Frankfurt, Germany, says: "It is unfair for some influencers to use bots, but it is not easy to stop. "I think it is important that a brand likes my content and my work. It is more effective and you feel better when your followers are real, because you get real attention and real feedback." She has more than 51,000 followers - men and women, mostly aged 18-25, in Germany - and has worked with more 200 brands, including Unilever's brand, Dove. The influencer work provides a handy secondary income, she says, but it took about two years to build an audience big enough to appeal to brands. Toula Rose, a London-based fashion and lifestyle blogger, says: "I can see why some bloggers would do this, because there's so much pressure. And some brands only look at the number of followers and don't care about the engagement. "But it's obviously not right and it is unfair, more so to the brand if they work with someone and don't get anything back." All three women we spoke to stress that Instagram isn't just about snapping pretty pictures - it takes hours to produce and style the photoshoots, plan and create content, engage with readers, and pitch ideas to brands. "I work at least 70 hours every week on my blog," says Ms Rink. Despite its concerns, Unilever is not ditching influencers completely. In fact, it says this type of marketing is "an increasingly important part" of its overall marketing strategy. "The idea of endorsements is nothing new - you can trace it back to the days when Hollywood stars like Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner would appear in our soap adverts," says Unilever's chief marketing officer, Keith Weed. "But social influencers add a new and complex dynamic. We want to develop meaningful relationships with influencers who are as passionate about their audiences as we are about the people who use our products every day." Yet the firm admits that assessing the exact impact of influencers compared with other advertising media is tricky. Some brands believe quality not quantity is the key when it comes to social media. For example, Brazilian designer shoe brand Melissa, which has 270 stores worldwide, says it prefers to work with influencers who have smaller audiences but better interaction with their followers. "We prefer to deal with micro influencers who have 2,000 or 10,000 followers, but they are very strong in their own communities," says Raquel Scherer, Melissa's global marketing director. More Technology of Business "It doesn't matter if you have 100,000 followers but people are not engaging with your content." Although there is a lot more competition, Ms Rose feels there is still a place for people who want to create original content. "I don't feel threatened, it just motivates me to keep working while Instagram is still going," she says. "We don't know what the future holds for blogging - it's changed so much in the last few years."

उपभोक्ता वस्तुओं की दिग्गज कंपनी यूनिलीवर ने "प्रभावशाली विपणक" के खिलाफ रुख अपनाया है जो उत्पादों को बढ़ावा देने के लिए अधिक पैसा कमाने के लिए अपने सोशल मीडिया प्रभाव को बढ़ा-चढ़ाकर पेश करते हैं। क्या यह एक ब्रांड बैकलैश की शुरुआत है? क्या वास्तविक प्रभावशाली लोग खतरे में हैं?


In pictures: Eastbourne Pier fire

Summary: A fire has ripped through part of Eastbourne Pier, completely destroying a section of the roof. The blaze began in a part of the Victorian structure housing an amusement arcade. A section of the pier became engulfed in flames as the fire spread during the afternoon. East Sussex Fire and Rescue said about 80 firefighters had been sent to the scene of the blaze. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) sent lifeboats from neighbouring towns.

Eyewitnesses said the fire, which started at the promenade end of the 144-year-old pier, appeared not to have affected the sea end of the Grade II listed structure. Tourists and locals thronged the beach and promenade to watch the pier gradually become engulfed in flames. The fire service said the blaze was "being brought under control" shortly before 20:00 BST. Sussex Police said the 1,000ft-long (304m) pier had been quickly evacuated, that no-one was trapped and the fire was not believed to be suspicious "at this time". Lifeboats from Eastbourne, Hastings and Newhaven were launched in case anyone had jumped off the pier as the fire took hold. The crews were also on hand to help the fire service, an RNLI spokesman said. Eastbourne is due to host its biggest tourist event, the annual Airbourne air show on the seafront, which draws tens of thousands of visitors from 14 August. Eastbourne Borough Council described the blaze as "tragic", while Carolyn Heaps, cabinet member for tourism at the council, said: "Our first concern is for the safety of all those who work on the pier and those who were visiting the pier today." The town's MP, Stephen Lloyd, said: "I've spoken with the chief inspector, but as far as I know there are no injuries, no fatalities, at the minute but clearly this is a real blow and it couldn't come at a worst time frankly as we go into the summer season." David Tutt, the leader of Eastbourne Borough Council, praised the emergency services, saying they had managed to contain the fire to the front dome "so there's hope of getting the pier restored". Fire Minister Penny Mordaunt said it was "heart-breaking to see such a wonderful Victorian pier so damaged". She said she would visit Eastbourne "as a priority". Eastbourne Pier includes an amusement arcade, the Waterfront Cafe Bar, Victorian tea rooms, a nightclub and is also a wedding venue, catering for up to 180 guests.

ईस्टबोर्न पियर के एक हिस्से में आग लग गई है, जिससे छत का एक हिस्सा पूरी तरह से नष्ट हो गया है। आग विक्टोरियन संरचना के एक हिस्से में शुरू हुई, जिसमें एक मनोरंजन आर्केड था। दोपहर के दौरान आग फैलते ही घाट का एक हिस्सा आग की लपटों में घिर गया। ईस्ट ससेक्स फायर एंड रेस्क्यू ने कहा कि लगभग 80 अग्निशामकों को घटनास्थल पर भेजा गया था। रॉयल नेशनल लाइफबोट इंस्टीट्यूशन (आर. एन. एल. आई.) ने पड़ोसी शहरों से जीवन रक्षक नौकाएं भेजीं।


Nasiruddin Haqqani: Who shot the militant at the bakery?

Summary: At first it appeared as if two men had been injured in a gun attack at a bread shop in the eastern suburbs of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad - just a routine shooting, a senseless crime in a large city.

By M Ilyas KhanBBC News, Islamabad But eyewitnesses noticed a number of aberrations. Some told local press that the police who arrived at the crime scene collected bullet casings and other evidence and then washed the area down to clean away the blood stains. One of the injured was taken to a nearby house, witnesses said. Later, the injured man - or was he dead by then? - was put in a vehicle and driven away in the presence of senior police officers. Local police registered a report saying unknown assailants on a motorbike injured a naan-bread maker at a suburban market. When confronted by the reporters, they denied there had been a second injured man. The capital's main hospitals also reported only one casualty from the scene - one Mohammad Farooq, the naan maker. But by mid-afternoon on Monday rumours were swirling that the second mystery man hit in the attack was in fact Nasiruddin Haqqani, a key leader of the so-called Haqqani network, considered one of the deadliest Afghan Taliban groups fighting Western forces in Afghanistan. Confirming the rumours, a relative of Mr Haqqani told BBC his body had been spirited from Islamabad to the town of Miranshah in North Waziristan - roughly six hours drive across two provinces and one federal tribal territory, all dotted with heavily-manned military and police checkpoints. Militant's Islamabad residence There are obvious reasons for this cover-up. For years, Pakistan has been accused by the West of backing the Haqqani network to counter the influence of arch-rival India in Afghanistan, a charge it denies. So the idea that some of the group's key leaders were freely moving around in Islamabad - and even had a permanent home in the city, as has become apparent following the attack - could cause the country some embarrassment, a reminder of what it faced in 2011 when al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed by the Americans in a Pakistani city. Nasiruddin was the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran of the Afghan war against the Soviets in the 1980s who then set up the Haqqani network to fight the Americans in the post-9/11 era. He was also the elder brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who heads the Haqqani network these days. The Haqqanis belong to the Jadran tribe which is a native of eastern Afghanistan's Loya, or greater, Paktia region, and pledge allegiance to the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar. But they have their main sanctuary in Pakistan's tribal territory of Waziristan and maintain operational independence from the Afghan Taliban. The group is known for launching spectacular attacks against Western and Indian targets in Afghanistan. And it is known to have played a prominent role in seeking to bring the anti-Pakistan militant groups in the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) alliance to the dialogue table with Islamabad. Nasiruddin Haqqani was not central to the group's military operations, but had a vital role as a fundraiser and emissary who frequently travelled to the sheikhdoms of the Middle East to raise cash, and also, according to some reports, to look after his family business there. He also played a part in last year's efforts to set up a Taliban office in Doha for peace talks with the United States, although the Haqqani network was not a direct interlocutor in those talks. In addition, he was understood to be the group's main contact person for pro-Taliban elements in Pakistan, and was frequently seen moving around in Islamabad. According to local residents, some family members of Nasiruddin Haqqani had been living in the Shahpur area on Islamabad's eastern outskirts for well over four years. He was apparently using this base to organise financial and logistical support for his group and the Afghan Taliban. So there were a number of groups who could have wanted to see him dead. Fundraiser Analysts believe his assassination has dealt a blow to the group's fundraising activities, because they think Nasiruddin was the only Haqqani free to exploit his father's vast Middle Eastern contacts. The others are either dead, or engaged in operational matters. Some quarters also suggest he was Islamabad's main link to the TTP leadership in its recent peace overtures to that group. For these circles, the obvious suspects behind his killing would be either the Americans or the Afghans. But others point to growing unease within the wider Taliban community in the North Waziristan sanctuary as the time for Nato's drawdown in Afghanistan gets nearer. This unease is partly due to a fluid situation in Pakistan, where the political and military establishments are putting up a half-hearted battle against some right-wing politicians who appear bent on exploiting the anti-American feelings in the country to push it into international isolation. Tribal sources say there is a clear split within the TTP, with some ethnic Mehsud commanders accusing the Haqqanis of toeing the Pakistani line. The Haqqanis have also faced opposition from some Punjabi Taliban groups that were initially hosted and feted by them but have now sunk their own roots in the area and consider the Haqqanis to be as foreign to Waziristan as they are themselves. Analysts feel 10 years after it was created, the Waziristan sanctuary is readying for change, with dozens of groups realigning amid shifts in relations and tactical priorities concerning Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. For a while, there may be no clear friends or enemies in the area, they say.

शुरू में ऐसा लगा जैसे पाकिस्तान की राजधानी इस्लामाबाद के पूर्वी उपनगरों में एक रोटी की दुकान पर बंदूक के हमले में दो लोग घायल हो गए हों-बस एक नियमित गोलीबारी, एक बड़े शहर में एक मूर्खतापूर्ण अपराध।


Owen Evans appointed as new S4C chief executive

Summary: Owen Evans has been appointed as the new chief executive of Welsh language television broadcaster S4C.

Mr Evans joined the civil service in 2010 and is currently deputy permanent secretary to the Welsh Government. He will succeed Ian Jones in the role from October. S4C's chairman Huw Jones said Mr Evans was a "highly respected leader". Mr Evans was educated at Ysgol Penweddig, Aberystwyth. He graduated in economics at Swansea University. He was director of Business in the Community Wales, from 2008 and 2010, and a member of the Welsh Language Board from 2005 and 2010.

ओवेन इवांस को वेल्श भाषा के टेलीविजन प्रसारक एस4सी का नया मुख्य कार्यकारी नियुक्त किया गया है।


Do they know it's Christmas? Where are the new festive classics?

Summary: Perhaps you were buying groceries at the supermarket or flicking through radio channels on the way to work when you first heard it this year - the folksy opening bars of Fairytale of New York, Shakin' Stevens's sleigh bells or the warbling of Mariah Carey.

By Eleanor LawrieBusiness reporter, BBC News Whether it fills you with joy or makes you change channels, hearing that first festive song marks the beginning of Christmas for many. But our desire to stick with the traditional means almost all attempts to write a modern festive hit fall flat. Stuck in the past Looking at the most played Christmas songs of the past five years, the old standards dominate. Just one song from the past two decades, Leona Lewis's 2013 effort One More Sleep, makes it in to the top 20, according to data from PRS for Music, which licenses music and pays out royalties. Mariah Carey and East 17, who released their festive tunes back in 1994, come in at number two and number seven respectively. Other than that, songs from the 1970s and 1980s - and even earlier - still dominate the airwaves. Paul Clements, executive director of membership, international and licensing at PRS for Music, says: "As the way we celebrate the festive season continues to change and evolve, we can expect more contemporary Christmas songs to reflect that. "But sometimes, when a season of nostalgia powers the airwaves, you just can't beat a good classic." Peter Leathem, chief executive of PPL, which licenses the recorded music played in public, says: "Radio seeks to play what its listeners want played, with the most popular being the old classics. "[They] have longer to rack up airplay familiarity, whereas newer Christmas songs really have to fight for their place on the airwaves." Our favourite Christmas songs tend to be those that remind us of our childhoods, meaning few become instant classics. James Masterton, from Chart Watch UK, says: "You consider something like the Mariah Carey song - it was a huge hit back in 1994, but I don't remember it being particularly notable as a cultural touch-point for another 10 years after that. "It was only in the middle of the last decade that people began to wake up to the fact that, actually, this is a classic. "Maybe that Leona Lewis song will gain a second wind and become one of the nation's favourites, as the people who've bought it as teenagers grow up and become nostalgic for their bit of their childhood." Fragmented audience But perhaps there's more to it than that. Dr Richard Osborne, senior lecturer in popular music at Middlesex University, points out that the way we consume music has fundamentally changed. Pop's audience has become more fragmented, with no one family music show to provide a focal point. "When I ask my students what is the number one song in the charts at the moment, they just don't know. In the 1970s and 1980s - and to some extent in the 1990s - people knew what was in the charts and everybody listened to [BBC] Radio 1," he says. "A song wasn't just a hit with young people - everyone heard it and songs were more a part of popular life." Focus on singles In countries such as the US, Christmas albums are big news, a tradition stretching back to Elvis and the Beach Boys. This market is more receptive to newcomers, with original Christmas music from major contemporary artists Sia and Gwen Stefani making a dent on the charts this year. Earlier this month, Stefani told the BBC that she had felt the weight of expectation when writing her festive album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas. "It's hard, and you think about it, too, because you're competing with those songs. You're competing with people from the 40s and the 50s. It's pretty major. "I would say that, to me, You Make It Feel Like Christmas has that instant, fun, sing-along, up-tempo feeling to it. But I don't know." In the UK the focus has always been on hit Christmas singles, with streaming service Spotify placing further emphasis on the standalone hit. At the time of writing, there are 17 Christmas songs in the UK top 40 chart. Some of them - such as Ariana Grande's Santa tell me - are less well known. But the selection correlates almost exactly with the songs on Spotify's Christmas Is Coming playlist. In the digital era, it could be that bagging a spot on an influential playlist is the secret to producing a future Christmas classic. But as lecturer Richard Osborne points out, it's harder than it looks. "You need a song that appeals widely but isn't too cheesy- it's a fine line." Surviving the X Factor One songwriter who understands that tricky blend is Dan Hawkins, guitarist with The Darkness, and co-author of the band's 2003 hit Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End). It got to number two in the charts and has sold more than half a million copies. He brings up the elephant in the room - the X Factor. Between 2005 and 2014, seven of the 10 UK Christmas number ones were released by winners of the reality show "I'm sure Simon Cowell is quite a nice guy, but he has ruined Christmas for a lot of people, by taking the race for number one out of the equation," he says. Like Wizzard, Mud and Slade before them, The Darkness found that operating in the playful glam rock genre was a helpful route to writing a hit Christmas song. But the guitarist also attributes the single's surprise success to strong songwriting. "Some bands add the word 'Christmas' to a half-decent song that didn't make it on to their album and add some sleigh bells, but to write a good Christmas song you need to go at it and write it from scratch. "The truth is a lot of people are scared of putting their best songwriting in to a Christmas song, because it's a risk, and people don't like taking risks." The end of the road for Christmas songs? So does this mean the Christmas single is doomed? Probably not. Dr Osborne points out that classic Christmas songs seem to appear in cycles. Slade, Mud and Wizzard released three of the most popular UK Christmas songs within a year of each other in the early 1970s. The mid-1980s were also a bumper time for Christmas classics. Wham!, Band Aid, Chris Rea, The Pretenders, Shakin' Stevens and The Pogues all released festive songs within a four-year window that are still some of our most played 30 years later. Finally, the early 1990s were dominated by pop classics from Mariah Carey and East 17. "It goes through phases, and we are just going through a particularly long pause of not having one. "But it would make sense [for it to start up again] in this age where the music market is focused on individual tracks, and everybody's trying to write that one big hit." So if all you want for Christmas is to write a pop smash hit, this could be your year.

शायद आप सुपरमार्केट में किराने का सामान खरीद रहे थे या काम पर जाने के रास्ते में रेडियो चैनलों के माध्यम से फ़्लिकिंग कर रहे थे जब आपने इस साल पहली बार इसे सुना-न्यूयॉर्क के फेयरीटेल के लोक उद्घाटन बार, शकिन स्टीवंस की स्लीघ घंटी या मारिया कैरी की वार्बलिंग।


Boris the big spender? Scotland is watching

Summary: The new prime minister takes office with some big spending commitments from the campaign trail, and big uncertainties about how much money will be available. Some policy changes will affect Scotland directly. Others could force Holyrood ministers to take action to offset the implications. He'll have to be wary of the unexpected coming from the economy and from outside Britain, including storm clouds from Donald Trump's trade wars.

Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland Boris Johnson arrives in Downing Street today, with high expectations from his supporters. However, his lack of experience with anything resembling a budget or a spending department has business lobbies nervous, economists alarmed, and fiscal conservatives wondering what they've let themselves in for. So some questions. For starters, do the public finances offer much room for manoeuvre for Boris Johnson and his cabinet? They're in much better shape than they have been - much of that achievement as a result of the austerity years. The deficit is low, by historic standards, but still not down to zero. That was something targeted for 2015. Under Theresa May and Phillip Hammond, it was pushed back to the middle of next decade, and with Boris Johnson in charge, it now seems to be disappearing over the horizon. Debt, which is what you get from many years of deficits, should now be falling as a share of national income, which is the target that was set. Phillip Hammond, the departing Chancellor, has talked about headroom to deal with possible difficulties from Brexit. That's the amount before he'd begin to bump up against the ceiling of what he could achieve within his fiscal rules. But that's not to say the rules will still apply after today, when we get a new Chancellor. Eye-watering Boris Johnson, as candidate, has been eager to spend the headroom that he's got. He'd also like to spend the proceeds from not paying tens of billions which Brussels said is owed from commitments the UK has already made. He's been less willing to contemplate the huge cost to the government's finances, and to the economy, forecast for a no deal Brexit by, pretty much, every reputable economist. The Office for Budget Responsibility last week put out its assessment of leaving the EU without a deal. It was eye-watering, from lower output from the economy, starting with a recession, lower income and lower tax receipts, from a rise in unemployment benefit costs. There would be the requirement to support several sectors of the economy that are exposed to a sharp cut in trade. Yet Boris Johnson has been making some expensive promises on the campaign trail. How can he deliver on them? The first promise was to raise the level at which middle to high earners start to pay higher rate tax, clearly aimed at the Tory membership. The Boris campaign itself reckoned that would leave a £9.6bn hole in Treasury receipts. We later got a promise to cut tax for lower earners, including a higher starting point for national insurance contributions, which currently start being deducted from £8,600 in annual income. To get that up to £12,500, where you start paying income tax, would cost around £11bn. He's also got a shopping list for infrastructure, more police officers, schools spending, vocational education, broadband, replacing farm subsidies after exiting the European Union, increasing the minimum wage for over-25s and removing many homes from transaction tax, south of the border. He didn't hold back on the campaign trail. That's why Phillip Hammond had to issue a warning to candidates to rein it in with the spending pledges. It was all conspicuously, fiscally unconservative. If he is going to deliver on the expectations raised, he is going to have to start talking more cautiously in terms of priorities and when some of the promises might be achievable. An £80,000 threshold for higher rate income tax - except in Scotland, of course, where such threshold decisions on income tax are devolved - that threshold could become a target, over time. If he's going to fight an election soon, he'll need to balance that with attention being paid to lower and middle income earners, who have more votes, and are in marginal constituencies. Given he has very little knowledge of economics, but a big appetite for pleasing people with big gestures, my hunch is that there could be tensions ahead with the person he chooses to put into the Chancellor's residence in 11 Downing Street. What about Scotland? It's worth noting how all this affects Scotland differently. Some would apply, like a shift in the threshold for national insurance contributions. Others would force the Scottish finance minister to adapt to knock-on effects, including on homes transaction tax. There has been a warning that removing homes under £500,000 from English transaction tax would hurt investment in Scottish property. More significant would be the impact of a rise in Westminster's threshold for higher rate (40%) income tax, from £50,000 to £80,000. There's already a gap on that score between Scotland and the rest of the UK, and the rate is one percentage point higher in Scotland. If that threshold gap increases, the incentives for higher earners to shift their earnings or themselves into England would be significantly higher. Then, if he's spending more on schools and police in England, there should be a rise in the amount coming to Holyrood through the Barnett formula - though for MSPs to decide how it's spent. But as Mayor of London, he has criticised the Barnett formula as it distributes funds to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - saying you get more bang for your buck in Greater London. He'll have to clarify early on what his opinion is on that. 'Get a grip' message from business Business also has reason to mull over Boris Johnson's past statements, notably the recent, fruity one on what should happen to businesses that criticise the implications of Brexit. The election of the new Conservative leader saw a long queue of business lobby groups lining up to lecture the new PM on the need to look after business interests. In normal times, it shouldn't need to be said, at least publicly given the closeness of Tories and business. But recent years have seen unprecedented strains in those relationship. The key one they all want is to avoid a disorderly Brexit. They want more certainty. They have a long shopping list of changes to tax reliefs, reform to business rates and so on. But Brexit stands out as the big issue, on which they have ceased to be cautious in their language. Liz Cameron, at the Scottish Chambers of Commerce has a blunt message to Boris Johnson and the reshuffled cabinet to "get a grip". "The time for campaigning is over," she said. "We need to know, in concrete terms, what your government will do to avoid a messy, disorderly Brexit on the 31st of October. "The economy of Scotland and the UK is on a knife's edge." Carolyn Fairbairn, DG of the CBI, called for three things in the first 100 days; She's suggesting that getting a deal on Brexit doesn't just avoid trouble - it could unleash investment. The CBI is after early signals, from a more flexible approach to immigration and to infrastructure spending. As with any prime minister, it is unexpected events that can shape their economic record, including those from outside Britain and outside government. Just ask Gordon Brown. The CBI this week issued manufacturing survey figures, which are monthly, and which, for July are truly dire, with a sharp fall in new orders for both domestic and export markets. Uncertainty is weighing heavily on the British economy. Stockpiling for the March deadline for Brexit was then postponed, so the stockpiling unwound into de-stocking. We could now see stockpiling returning ahead of the Halloween deadline, disrupting advance orders for the Christmas shopping season. The European economy has slowed up recently, so that Britain doesn't look as bad relative to its comparators as it did. For the bigger picture, the oil market is nervy about tensions with Iran. America and China remain key drivers, and their trade war, driven by President Trump's use and threat of tariffs, remains one of the key concerns about sustained global growth.

नए प्रधान मंत्री ने चुनाव प्रचार के दौरान कुछ बड़े खर्च करने की प्रतिबद्धताओं और कितना पैसा उपलब्ध होगा, इस बारे में बड़ी अनिश्चितताओं के साथ पदभार संभाला। कुछ नीतिगत बदलाव सीधे स्कॉटलैंड को प्रभावित करेंगे। अन्य होलीरूड मंत्रियों को प्रभावों की भरपाई करने के लिए कार्रवाई करने के लिए मजबूर कर सकते हैं। उन्हें अर्थव्यवस्था और ब्रिटेन के बाहर से आने वाले अप्रत्याशित आगमन से सावधान रहना होगा, जिसमें डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प के व्यापार युद्धों से तूफान के बादल भी शामिल हैं।


Former Governor Mike Huckabee hints at 2016 presidential run

Summary: A review of the best commentary on and around the world...

What in the world?Pieces of global opinion Today's must-read It's looking increasingly likely that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is going to seek the Republican presidential nomination, writes the Washington Examiner's Byron York. And if polls in Iowa, which holds the first-in-the-nation caucuses, are any indication, he should be considered an early favourite. "Few frontrunners choose not to run," York writes. "And when Huckabee, not yet a candidate and officially undecided, invited a group of reporters to meet with him at a hotel outside Washington Monday, he certainly looked like a man preparing to jump into the race." York recounts how Mr Huckabee spent an inordinate amount of time talking about foreign affairs in general and Israel in specific - criticising President Barack Obama's handling of the Middle East. "The conversation wasn't a tour d'horizon of foreign policy, but it was clear Huckabee has been studying up - for a former governor steeped in domestic policy, often a sign of an impending run," he says. Since his 2008 campaign for the Republican nomination, in which he finished second to John McCain, Mr Huckabee has spent most of his time as a popular television host and commentator. The visibility, and financial war chest, that his media enterprises have provided, York says, would give him the ability to launch a serious candidacy. National Journal's Ron Fournier agrees with York's take on Huckabee's ambitions. He asked the former governor why 2016 would be different from the last time he ran. "He's not a creature of Washington and he is a favourite of social conservatives, a preacher-turned-politician who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008 before running out of steam," Fournier writes. "Should he choose to run in 2016, Huckabee said the path would be easier. He is better-known, battle tested and already drawing the interest of major donors." Name recognition, money and experience running in the harsh spotlight of a national campaign - those are the types of attributes that in the past have chalked up delegates and secured presidential nominations. Scotland Bitcoin could be a virtual national currency - In the lead up to Thursday's Scottish referendum, some critics have worried that the fledgling nation would not risk economic ruin without a reliable currency. Those who see the choices as staying with the pound, adopting the euro or creating a weak new currency are missing a fourth option, writes Ben Myers, chief analyst at YesOption.com - Bitcoin. "The exciting prospect of Scotland adopting Bitcoin would leapfrog its financial system ahead of other developed nations and increase the credibility and adoption rate of Bitcoin," he argues. The Scottish have experimented with alternative currencies in the past, he notes, as in the 18th and 19th centuries some of the region's banks issued their own legal tender that circulated alongside the pound. Rwanda The legacy of 9/11 - The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, were a wake-up call for the US, writes Kenneth Agutamba for the New Times, but many African nations had been confronting terrorism for years. Although the 9/11 attacks were tragic, Agutamba continues, they changed the West's perspective and brought greater support for African nations battling militants. "When a problem affects the US, it receives international prominence, and that's how terrorism became a global problem," he writes. Thanks to Western support, he concludes, popular Rwandan President Paul Kagame is able to make good on his promise to "go after any fellow, anywhere, who attempts to hurt Rwandans and destabilise Rwanda". Venezuela An undeserved UN Security Council seat - According to an Associated Press report, the Latin American and Caribbean nations in the UN have agreed to elect Venezuela as their representative to the UN Security Council. According to Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy at Americas Society/Council of the Americas, following through with this decision would be a serious mistake. Venezuela, he writes for US News & World Report, "has failed to meet the most basic conditions for membership including the institutional and political capacity to establish the essential national consensus to pursue Security Council decisions, the economic capacity to pursue and support council commitments and the political will and capacity to implement its decisions, which presumably include the protection of human rights". Sweden The rise of the far right - In Sweden's recent national elections, the right-wing anti-immigration Sweden Democrats garnered a surprising 13% of the vote, preventing any of the traditional power blocs from having enough seats to form a governing coalition. The rise of the Sweden Democrats, writes University of Colorado Nordic studies Prof Benjamin R Teitelbaum, is a "nightmare for a vast majority of Swedes, who see their cherished reputation for civilised politics challenged by the nativism of the far right and an increasing tendency on the far left to fight back with vicious personal attacks and a measure of violence". As tensions between the far-right party and their opponents grow, he writes in the New York Times, the values that Swedes have long treasured - "their homogeneity, egalitarianism and tolerance" - are at risk. BBC Monitoring's quotes of the day Global commentators offer their take on the upcoming Scottish independence referendum. "The Scottish referendum has reflected the unravelling of the West's unifying ability. The rise of new countries is slowly changing the West's sense of superiority, and this may damage the foundation of the West's social stability." - Editorial in China's Huanqiu Shibao. "UK Prime Minister David Cameron can expect one of two things: The first option is that Scotland becomes independent, in which case Mr Cameron's political death will be at hand. If the second option - the continuation of England and Scotland's union - is chosen, Mr Cameron will be chided over the spending in recent months on various English parties [supporting union between England and Scotland]." - Commentary by Alireza Sadeqi in Iran's Resalat. "The people of Scotland will on Thursday conduct a referendum that would determine the political fate of their country. If the result of the voting is the independence of Scotland then that would be a major historic event by all means, not only in Britain alone but in Europe and the world." - Editorial in Pan-Arab al-Quds al-Arabi. Have you found an interesting opinion piece about global issues that we missed? Share it with us via email at echochambers (at) bbc.co.uk.

दुनिया भर में सर्वश्रेष्ठ टिप्पणियों की समीक्षा...


In pictures: My toilet

Summary: According to the United Nations, 2.5 billion people do not have access to proper sanitation, including toilets. To mark World Toilet Day on 19 November, photographers from Panos Pictures have been working with Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) to produce an exhibition that documents women and girls with their toilets, showing the effect this has on their lives.

Australia Renee is an artist. She left her former home in the densely populated suburbs of Sydney to live a quieter life in bush surrounds, a one-hour drive north of the city. She has built a shed on 10 acres of land and has an outside toilet. Renee has no concerns about privacy as she is not overlooked by neighbours. Bangladesh Sukurbanu, 65, has lived in Rupnagar slum, in Dhaka, since her childhood. She uses a hanging toilet - a platform built over water - from which she recently fell. She says she often suffers from illnesses that she believes are caused by using these toilets. She lives with three daughters, who face long queues to use the toilets before they go to work in the mornings. Brazil Isabela, 33, lives alone in a penthouse in Rio de Janeiro. She has an MBA in environmental law and works as a fine artist. "My toilet means comfort to me. But I know what is behind it: water supply, sewerage, pollution of lakes and oceans. "The fact is that I do like to have a good shower, and for a Brazilian girl like me, it means at least 10 minutes of clean water being wasted. It's a privilege. I have a clean water supply, hot water and a comfortable toilet seat." Ecuador Fabiola, 69, lives in Cumbaya, a valley near Quito. Between the ages of seven and 21, she shared a toilet with 20 other people who lived in her condominium. Now she lives in an apartment, which has five bathrooms. Her bathroom is the biggest one and she is very proud of it. Ethiopia Meseret, a restaurant manager in Addis Ababa, shares a one-bedroom government house with her two children, two sisters and mother. She was widowed nine years ago when her husband was shot during the aftermath of the 2005 elections. Her shared toilet is a long way away, so for safety the family use the side yard next to their house. Ghana Ima, 47, is a toilet attendant in Kumasi. She lives in a rented room with her husband and four children aged 14-22. She is a very dedicated worker and relies on the income from her job to fund her children's education. She does not have a toilet at home. During the day, she uses the public toilet where she works, but at night she uses a plastic bag as it is not safe to go outside. Haiti Martine is 27 years old. She lives near a river in Cayimithe. "I don't have an enclosed toilet. My toilet is a hole in the ground by my house, which is now full and has become really dangerous. I only use it at night when I can have some privacy. In the daytime, I use a community toilet which is about 15 minutes away from my house." India Sangita, 35, moved to Delhi City 10 years ago. Before that she lived in a village where she used to go to the toilet in the fields, and says she felt ashamed of it. This made her adamant that she would have her own toilet in Delhi. Japan Eiko, 61, lives in Tokyo. "Since this department store is close to my home, I often come here for shopping. When I was a child, the public toilets were not clean and smelled bad, but every time I use the bathroom here, I feel so relaxed. I could spend many hours here." In this department store, the toilet is called a switch room to describe a special place where people can switch their mood and feel relaxed. The toilets have features like surround-sound music and heated seats. In the powder room next to the toilets, Eiko can charge her mobile phone, watch TV and have a foot massage. Kenya Eunice is the co-founder of Kasarani Academy in Naivasha. Previously, the school had only two toilets for 250 pupils. Tenants living nearby used the toilets as well and left them in a poor condition. Because of this, Eunice found that the children preferred to go in the open. Eunice and her husband Paul have now invested in child-friendly toilets. These tiny toilets have prevented adults using them as they cannot fit through the doors. "Parents will enrol their children here because of our child-friendly toilets," she said. Mozambique Flora, 19, is a high school student. She lives in Chamanculo C in Maputo with her mother, sister and niece. She shares a toilet with several other families living nearby. "I hate using the toilet. Sometimes men peek over the fence. There is no privacy." Romania Pana, 49, lives in Buzescu. Like almost half of the Romanian population, she lives in the countryside where there is no running water or sewerage supplied by the municipality. Pana does have a toilet inside her house, but it is used only by her nephews when they visit. She uses the outside toilet, even in the winter. South Africa Nombini has two porta-potties, which are used by the 12 people who live in her home. When she first moved to Khayelitsha in 2005, she did not have a toilet so she had to go in the bush, across a main road. "It was terrible in the bush - the cars hit you. When we were given a porta-potty in 2009, it was much better than going in the bush. Flush toilets are first class compared to the porta-potty though. My dream is to have a flush toilet." United States Mary is a writer who lives in New York City. "Living with two housemates, it is important to schedule our bathroom time and take turns cleaning it. I used to live in Beijing, where I had to use a public bathroom as my apartment didn't have a private toilet. While it was safe and relatively clean, I used to hate putting my coat on just to go to the bathroom in the middle of night during winter. That experience made me really appreciate the privacy and comfort of having a clean toilet at home." Zambia Susan, 46, is the founder of a community school for children with physical and mental disabilities. "It makes me proud and happy to teach disabled children so that in the future they can have a better life and not just stay at home. I was attacked by polio at the age of two. It's not easy being disabled in Lusaka. Using the toilet is a challenge, especially in the rainy season, as I have to crawl to the toilets on my hands." My Toilet: Global Stories from Women and Girls can be seen at the Royal Opera Arcade Gallery, London, from 17 to 22 November 2014.

संयुक्त राष्ट्र के अनुसार, ढाई अरब लोगों के पास शौचालयों सहित उचित स्वच्छता तक पहुंच नहीं है। 19 नवंबर को विश्व शौचालय दिवस को चिह्नित करने के लिए, पैनोस पिक्चर्स के फोटोग्राफर शहरी गरीबों के लिए जल और स्वच्छता (डब्ल्यू. एस. यू. पी.) के साथ एक प्रदर्शनी का निर्माण करने के लिए काम कर रहे हैं जो महिलाओं और लड़कियों को उनके शौचालयों के साथ दस्तावेज करता है, जो उनके जीवन पर पड़ने वाले प्रभाव को दर्शाता है।


The rise of genocide memorials

Summary: Members of England's European Championship squad have visited the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camps. This comes as memorials and museums marking the sites of mass killings around the world witnessed an increase in visitors.

By Clare SpencerBBC News A delegation led by Wayne Rooney and England manager Roy Hodgson took time out from training on Friday to visit the notorious death camp Nazi Germany operated on Polish soil after invading its neighbour during World War II. Another group headed by captain Steven Gerrard travelled to Oskar Schindler's factory in Krakow. The visits received a mixed reaction from commentators, with the Daily Mirror's Oliver Holt saying the "harrowing visit... made an extremely powerful statement" at a time "football is wrestling with new and grave concerns over racism among players and supporters". But for the Daily Mail's Melanie Phillips, it was a "deeply distasteful football PR stunt" , which was "intended to cleanse the besmirched reputation of English football". Yet England's players are not the first footballers to visit Auschwitz. Holland and Italy, who are also camped in Krakow, have already been, as have representatives of the German team. And they join the millions of tourists who have walked through the iron gates at Auschwitz bearing the legend Arbeit Macht Frei (work makes you free) to pay their respects. Last year, a record 1.4 million people visited the site, while Holocaust memorials all over the world are also seeing numbers soar. At the same time, other sites of massacres or genocide and cemeteries are becoming increasingly popular with tourists. Bosnia, Cambodia and Rwanda, are among the destinations on what has become known as the "genocide tourism" map. Ben and Nicole Lusher made it their mission to visit memorials when they took an unusual five-month trip around the world, starting at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial. Ben says that while the couple learnt a lot on their travels, it was Rwanda's main genocide memorial, overlooking Kigali, that stood out. "It was a new experience for us to be in a place where the genocide was still fresh and almost everyone we saw around the country had been affected," he says. The couple were both only 10 years old in 1994 when between 800,000 and one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed, so they were also learning about it for the first time. More typical visitors to Kigali's memorial are tourists who have travelled to Rwanda to see the wildlife and the mountains. Aegis Trust attendance figures state that more than 40,000 foreigners visited Kigali's memorial in 2011. Canadian Laura Maclean, who went to Rwanda to go trekking, says she made the decision to visit the memorial during her holiday because she thought "it showed respect". Tour guide George Mavroudis, who charters planes to fly Americans around Rwanda to see the gorillas, says most of his clients ask to visit the memorial. According to Mavroudis, who has been to the Kigali memorial more than 20 times, tourists believe it is important to understand the country they are in. The memorial is not the only tourist spot that marks this dark chapter in Rwanda's history. The Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda is based on the story of the general manager of the five-star hotel, Des Milles Collines, who sheltered Tutsis and moderate Hutus who were in danger of being slaughtered. The current manager, Marcel Brekelmans, says tourists turn up every day to get their pictures taken by the entrance sign, and there is no escaping the country's past. "It's not only about gorillas and beautiful lakes. Something happened here and everything you encounter here on a daily basis has a history," he says. Brekelmans, who grew up near one of the largest World War II burial grounds in the Netherlands, says from his perspective, it is necessary to "stop and reflect from time to time". But how memorials choose to mark such events is a contentious issue. The main memorial in Kigali has cabinets full of skulls, carefully lined up one after another. Other cabinets display pile upon pile of bones. Similarly, some of Cambodia's memorials to those killed by the Khmer Rouge regime display skulls in a clear pyramid called a stupa. But exhibiting human remains in this manner is controversial, and a topic that has been debated at length by the very people who oversee such museums. Dr James Smith is the founder of the Rwandan memorial centre and the UK's Holocaust memorial. He says when he set up the memorial he worried that displaying skulls recently dug up from mass graves could have threatened the dignity of the deceased. But he says he decided that it was important to create something where there could be no denying what happened. As a compromise, Smith uses low lighting to make the display cabinets look like burial chambers. "In terms of the bones we said, 'instead of stacking them on shelves, [let's] put them in a darkened room, underneath cabinets so it's like a grave that people can look into'," he says. There have been times when foreign visitors have been insensitive, according to Smith. He says he had to put up a sign outside the memorial asking people not to stand on the mass graves. So why are tourists increasingly visiting such memorials? Psychologist Sheila Keegan, an expert in cultural trends, says what people want to get out of a holiday has widened. While they still want the relaxation they get from sitting on a beach, they also want to broaden their horizons. "People want to be challenged. It may be voyeuristic and macabre but people want to feel those big emotions which they don't often come across. They want to ask that very basic question about being human - 'how could we do this?'," she says. Keegan says holidays are also used as a talking point so people want to see something they can discuss when they go home. "It's about creating your own history, reminding yourself how lucky you are." But Keegan has a word of caution. She says she didn't give much thought to her own decision to visit Cambodia's "killing fields" and took her daughter there when she was just eight years old because they "happened to be in the country". She says it is now an experience she regrets. "I hadn't thought it through. We were in the country so we just went because it was a feature of the country. But I hadn't expected it to be so graphic. "It was the mid-90s, not long after the civil war. There was still blood on the floor and shackles on the bed." In the past decade, tourist curiosity about Cambodia's "killing fields" has grown and so-called "dark tourism" is set to become big business.

इंग्लैंड के यूरोपीय चैम्पियनशिप दस्ते के सदस्यों ने पूर्व ऑशविट्ज़-बिरकेनाउ नाज़ी मृत्यु शिविरों का दौरा किया है। यह तब आता है जब दुनिया भर में सामूहिक हत्याओं के स्थलों को चिह्नित करने वाले स्मारकों और संग्रहालयों में आगंतुकों की संख्या में वृद्धि देखी गई।


How do book towns survive in the age of the e-reader?

Summary: Wigtown was named as Scotland's national book town in the late 1990s but the publishing world has changed completely since then. Is a collection of second-hand book shops still a draw in the era of the e-reader?

By Giancarlo RinaldiSouth Scotland reporter, BBC Scotland news website It seemed like a literary holy grail at the time. Wigtown beat off competition from Gatehouse-of-Fleet, Moffat, Dalmellington, Dunblane and Strathaven to secure the sought-after position as Scotland's book town, based on the model adopted so successfully by Hay-on-Wye. But as the town's annual book festival draws to a close, much has changed. Most notably, the rise of the e-reader device has transformed the industry, with Amazon recently announcing it now sells more books for its Kindle than it does physical copies. With such a change in the way people read, does being a book town still serve the purpose it first did? And, if not, how does it adapt to such a radical change in circumstances? Adrian Turpin, director of the Wigtown Book Festival, says it is, quite simply, the biggest thing to happen since the book town was born. And he believes they cannot stand still. "It is impossible not to come to the conclusion that the economic model on which book towns were set up has completely changed," he said. "In 1997, the idea was that by having a collection of book shops this would be a magnet." However, the days when second-hand book shops were the only place to find a book you could not get in a high street store are long gone. "Any model that relies on that is obsolete," said Mr Turpin. However, he says that does not need to mean the death of the book town any time soon. "I think we have to really start rethinking what these towns are about and, to some extent, that is being done already," he said. "I think the way forward for us is to think of a book town as not just about books as physical objects but as a place where ideas are traded - and not just literary ideas." High profile annual festivals already achieve that goal. But other means could be writing courses, mini-festivals and other events to draw people in. "There was a time when second-hand book sellers in book towns were first of all selling books and secondly selling the experience of browsing," explained Mr Turpin. "Now it is almost the other way around." In the home of the founding fathers of the phenomenon in the UK, Hay-on-Wye, there are clearly mixed feelings about e-readers. Earlier this year, one of the owners of Addyman Books, Derek Addyman, started a publicity campaign to ban the Kindle from the town. He laid the blame for a number of book store closures at the door of the device. However, Peter Florence, director of the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts, is less convinced. "E-readers tend to replace genre books you may not want to keep, and impulse buys," he said. "The book town trade is based on holiday makers browsing, or collectors looking for special editions. "It's a different market." He said that could be a boost for the book towns. "It's early days yet, but there's really interesting data coming from the Fifty Shades phenomenon that suggests that e-readers are restarting people into the book habit," he said. "If you look at the music industry model, iTunes and Spotify may have knocked out HMV and Virgin stores, but there are more and more independent vinyl specialists in every town, and that's what Hay and Wigtown play to." Back north of the border in Wigtown, Laura Mustian of Byre Books, said it might be too early to judge any impact of the e-reader. However, she seemed upbeat about the book town's future. "My own view is that anything that encourages reading can only be a good thing, that the electronic version will exist side-by-side with the real, and that the tactile, sensory appeal of the real book will win hands down in any long-term contest," she said. "Second-hand books by their nature have stood the test of time, and book lovers will continue to seek them out. "E-books, however convenient, are essentially ephemeral. "Speaking to writers who have published in e-format - they say it is only when they hold a real copy of their book that their work feels validated." For Laura Kvamme, vice-president of the International Organisation of Book Towns, the experience of Fjærland in Norway suggests e-readers might present new opportunities. "What we see is that more customers buy second-hand books via the net instead of visiting the bookshops," she said. "Our answer to this trend is, of course, to expand our net-sales in addition to keeping the bookshops open. "I think the book towns will be even more popular in the future, as e-reading becomes more common. "Holding an old book in your hand, and smelling it and leafing through it before buying, is something you can do most easily in a book town!" Attendances in Wigtown over the last 10 days would also seem to suggest there is still enthusiasm for the concept. So it should be a while before we need to write the final chapter for book towns.

1990 के दशक के अंत में विगटाउन को स्कॉटलैंड के राष्ट्रीय पुस्तक शहर के रूप में नामित किया गया था, लेकिन तब से प्रकाशन की दुनिया पूरी तरह से बदल गई है। क्या ई-रीडर के युग में पुरानी किताबों की दुकानों का संग्रह अभी भी एक आकर्षण है?


Four injured in 'brawl' at Wolverhampton wedding

Summary: Three people were taken to hospital after mass disorder at a wedding.

A teenage girl, who was working at the event in Wolverhampton, was taken to hospital along with two men. A third injured man was assessed at the scene. West Midlands Ambulance Service said it received "no fewer than nine calls" about the "brawl" at the Ramada Park Hall Hotel, on Saturday evening. Police said the three men seen all had facial injuries. Nobody had reported being assaulted. Latest news from the West Midlands Ambulance service spokesman Murray MacGregor said there were "suggestions that there were numerous casualties" so three ambulances, a paramedic, the hazardous area response team and the service's mental health car were all sent to the hotel. "Ambulance staff rapidly assessed a large number of potential patients. "In total, there were four casualties that needed further assistance," he said. The teenage girl was treated at the scene for a medical condition and injuries. She was taken to New Cross Hospital in the city, where the two men were also taken. Anyone with information is asked to contact West Midlands Police. Ramada has been contacted for comment.

एक शादी में सामूहिक अव्यवस्था के बाद तीन लोगों को अस्पताल ले जाया गया।


Blackpool baby death: Police launch murder investigation

Summary: A baby girl has died after she was found seriously injured at a house in Blackpool prompting a murder investigation, police have said.

The four-month-old was found at a property in Onslow Road, Layton, on Thursday. Lancashire Police said the baby died at Alder Hey Children's Hospital on Sunday. Jordan Lee, 28, of Onslow Road, appeared in court on Saturday charged with attempted murder. A post-mortem examination will now be carried out to establish the cause of the baby's death, police said. Det Insp Mark Dickinson said: "My thoughts remain very much with this baby's wider family and they are being supported by specialist officers," he added.

पुलिस ने कहा है कि ब्लैकपूल में एक घर में गंभीर रूप से घायल एक बच्ची की मौत हो गई है, जिससे हत्या की जांच शुरू हो गई है।


Oskar Groening trial: Loss of family I never knew

Summary: Former SS officer Oskar Groening, known as the bookkeeper of Auschwitz, is being tried in the German city of Lueneburg for being an accessory to murder. On Wednesday, co-plaintiff Judith Kalman from Canada gave the court an account of how her life had been affected by the deaths of her relatives, especially her half-sister, Eva Edit Weinberger, at Auschwitz in June 1944.

These are extracts from her testimony. Hungarian family The loss of my parents' loved ones, in particular the six-year-old half-sister Eva Edit I never knew, left me with a burden of inherited survivor guilt that has been a defining feature of my life. It informed my choice of life partner and the trajectory of my professional endeavours. Still, to address this court in the form of a victim impact statement, feels uncomfortably disproportionate. If I am at all a victim, it is largely in a titular sense. The effects of the Holocaust on my life cannot be put on a par with how it changed my parents and all those who suffered its ravages. The loss to me of Eva Edit Weinberger is as nothing set against the devastation her death wrought on our father. This father, hers and mine, was Gustav Weinberger Kalman. His family came from the village of Vaja in north-eastern Hungary. They ran a large agricultural operation based primarily on the production of tobacco and the distilling of grain alcohol for export. My father and his two younger brothers, Ferenc and Pal, grew up to take over this family business. When my father was called up for forced labour service in December 1940, he was almost 35, in charge of the finances and many of the administrative duties, and living in the nearby town of Nyiregyhaza where he had moved his young family. He had married Mancika in 1937. Their daughter Eva Edit was born in April 1938. My father escaped the sweep of Adolf Eichmann's net when the Jews of north-eastern Hungary were among the first to be deported to Auschwitz after the Germans occupied Hungary. He was away in forced labour, as was his brother Ferenc. Pal, home on leave, was deported with the rest of the family. Ferenc, having survived the death march out of ghastly conditions in the copper mines in Bor, Serbia, died in the Flossenburg concentration camp on 9 November 1944, one day before my father was to arrive home at the family estate near Vaja. My mother, Anna Swarcz, survived Auschwitz, slave labour in munitions factories in Germany, and the long, forced march that led them through Buchenwald - which they again miraculously survived - and eventually towards Dresden. Finally liberated by the Americans, she and her only surviving sister made a harrowing journey, mostly on foot, all the way back to Hungary. Since no other family member had returned to her town of Beregszasz, my mother left. She took with her nothing but the portrait of her favourite sister Magda, killed by Allied bombs at the munitions plant where the Jewish slaves had been turned out of the barracks so their guards could shelter within. Having nowhere else to go, she set out for Nyiregyhaza, home to her husband, Marton. She too had been married before the war, but only a brief, few weeks. Marton had been called to labour service and sent to the Russian front. He was not to reappear until after my sister Elaine was born, when our parents Anna and Gustav already considered themselves husband and wife. Gassed The annihilation of my parents' families, in particular the deaths of the children, shaped me even from the point of conception. I had been called after two dead children: Eva after my father's daughter from his marriage to Mancika; and Judit after my mother's niece. Both these children, Eva Edit Weinberger, aged six, and Judit Borenstein, 12, met their ends at Auschwitz. Not on the same day, but over the 57 days during which 430,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to the camp. The two girls were among the 300,000 gassed, as were: All told, my father lost close to 84 members of his 120 relatives. My mother lost her parents, Samuel and Ilona Swarcz, her sisters Rozsa Swarcz Borenstein and Magda Swarcz, her niece Judit Borenstein, and her nephew Tibor Weisz, among numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws. Oskar Groening - 'Bookkeeper of Auschwitz' Groening admits 'moral guilt' Seventy years since liberation of Auschwitz Leaving Hungary My parents settled in Budapest after the war. In 1956, at the time of the Hungarian Uprising, my father was 50, with a wife 13 years his junior, and two young children, my sister Elaine, 8, and me, Eva Judit, aged two. The revolution persuaded my mother that we had to leave Hungary. We moved to Montreal where my father lived and eventually died in 1990, leaving a wife, two daughters, and four grandchildren. Life in Canada Although I soon overtook Eva - we knew her as Evike - in age, I saw her as 16 years my senior, ever projected into the future to which she was entitled. As a child I formed a strange myth to explain the baffling circumstances of my existence. Early on, through my father's stories and my mother's startling revelations of horror, I absorbed the knowledge that innocent children could be murdered and whole families and communities eradicated by forces beyond their control. My sister Elaine was born in 1947. Before she was six, my father had filled her head and heart with frequent narratives about his dead loved ones. She could identify his photographs, reciting like a catechism the names of the dead. I cannot imagine how he was able to start a second family so soon upon losing everyone. After two years in Canada, my mother took a college course to re-certify herself as a school teacher so that she might work for the public school system. My father could not bring himself to do the same in his field. He was too old, he said, by which he meant his real life was behind him. The father of my childhood always claimed to be old, and it's true by comparison with the young, short-sleeved, cigarette-smelling fathers of my Canadian friends, he did look old. My father dressed for a different time and place. He was often mistaken for my grandfather. He mistrusted his new environment, always alert to danger. He worried about snowstorms and daughters walking home from the bus stop after dark. He didn't really believe it was safe to be Jewish anywhere. Second-generation survivor guilt Evike's death shaped my life so fundamentally, I wasn't to understand it until I was well into middle age and had experienced tragedy first-hand. As far back as I can remember realising that I think most clearly with a pen in my hand, I intended to write the story of my father's family. This at last would solve the riddle of my existence, why I was meant to be. Through my words, his dead loved ones would once again come to life. In fact, I've been able to write only the story of myself. In May 2000, two months ahead of his 44th birthday, my husband took his life. He had battled depression as long as I had known him, but in the last five years, the illness became unmanageable. At the time I had sought the services of a psychotherapist for guidance about how to manage with a very sick partner and two children. Following my husband's suicide, I tried to understand my marriage. These explorations led me to my half-sister Evike, drawing connections to her role in my make-up that I had never before considered. A child had died so that I might supplant her. How better to expiate such a debt than by saving someone who might otherwise not survive without me? My husband was hardly more than a 17-year-old boy when we met, shortly after he ran away from his family. I recognised him right away, one of the exceptional people, like the members of my father's family, who had been dealt a hand that was terminal. Of course I couldn't know that my husband's hand would prove terminal as well. What I understood was that it was my fate to save him. This was a role I never questioned, however it hemmed me in, consumed my mental and physical energies, and drew on my creative strengths. I was indebted, after all. I owed my life literally to the deaths of all the fine souls who had been unjustifiably murdered. The least I could do was save this one who also deserved his chance at life. Sole survivor Mine is not the voice of a victim. The last thing I would ever have imagined would be to use this voice to address a German court about the phantom child whose shadow preceded me through the years. I cannot fully express how liberating it feels to have her acknowledged so publicly, and to be heard on behalf of my father and mother: little people who bore the enormous weight of history without solace of recognition.

पूर्व एसएस अधिकारी ऑस्कर ग्रोनिंग, जिन्हें ऑशविट्ज़ के बुककीपर के रूप में जाना जाता है, पर जर्मन शहर लुएनबर्ग में हत्या का सहायक होने के लिए मुकदमा चलाया जा रहा है। बुधवार को, कनाडा की सह-वादी जूडिथ कलमैन ने अदालत को बताया कि जून 1944 में ऑशविट्ज़ में उनके रिश्तेदारों, विशेष रूप से उनकी सौतेली बहन, ईवा एडिट वेनबर्गर की मृत्यु से उनका जीवन कैसे प्रभावित हुआ था।


Tesco chief Philip Clarke is an optimist – he needs to be

Summary: The news on Friday that Tesco's chief financial officer, Laurie McIlwee, has resigned is likely to have come as something of a relief to at least some of the supermarket chain's key investors.

Kamal AhmedBusiness editor@bbckamalon Twitter For Philip Clarke, the chief executive, it marks the end of weeks of speculation about his right-hand man's position. After last October's profit warning took the market by surprise. There has been rumbling disquiet that, whatever its problems, Tesco needs to get one thing right - communicating with its investors. The last thing they like is being blind-sided by bad news. If that happens, it is often the chief financial officer who is in the frame. Although senior figures at the business are denying Mr McIlwee fell out with Mr Clarke over strategy - pointing out that it would be difficult for them to fall out over a plan they wrote together - there have clearly been tensions. Bad news over Tesco's failed American business, Fresh & Easy; the profits warning and an £800m property write down in the UK have all taken a toll. The share price is currently languishing below £3. In April 2010 it was at £4.50. Mr Clarke is an optimist. Many say he needs to be. In two weeks' time he will announce Tesco's full year results and it is expected that profits will be down once again. Analysts predict a drop from £3.2bn last year to £3bn. Stabilising Mr Clarke will say there is light at the end of the tunnel (maybe only pausing to argue that, no, it is not another oncoming train). Tesco Bank is about to launch its current accounts, the Club Card is going digital, the store refresh is underway, and Tesco's Europe business is stabilising. And this is all against a background of an improving UK economy. Will it be enough? There are still questions over whether Tesco truly understands how to take the battle to the discounters. It has cut prices on everyday staples such as milk and bread - what used to be called key value indicators. The full year's results will also be an opportunity to update the market on Tesco's pretty rich profit margin of above 5%. Expect that to be squeezed. Tesco's other card against the discounters is "differentiation". That's more staff to help customers, online delivery and higher quality products. Feeling the pinch Mr Clarke can also point out that the retail sector is tough for all the larger retailers - hit by a fall in consumer confidence and the arrival of the Aldi and Lidl juggernauts from Germany. Dalton Philips, at WM Morrison, for example, has issued two profit warnings and had a pretty disastrous Christmas. Even Sainsbury's, after 36 quarters of growth, is feeling the pinch. What Mr Clarke needs is that word often used in political circles - momentum. He says the good stuff is coming down the track, just give Tesco some time. Mr Clarke supports Liverpool. They are top of the Premier League, and some predict they may win the football league title for the first time in 24 years. Mr Clarke won't have quite that long to turn Tesco around.

शुक्रवार को यह खबर कि टेस्को के मुख्य वित्तीय अधिकारी, लॉरी मैकल्वी ने इस्तीफा दे दिया है, कम से कम सुपरमार्केट श्रृंखला के कुछ प्रमुख निवेशकों के लिए एक राहत के रूप में आने की संभावना है।