Prof Hawking: A fitting way to go

Summary: Stephen Hawking said that science would take us on a path to "the mind of God". By that he meant that we would know everything that God would know, with the caveat, "if there were a God, which there isn't. I'm an atheist."

By Pallab GhoshScience correspondent, BBC News, inside Westminster Abbey On the face of it the religious ceremony at Westminster Abbey was at odds with Prof Hawking's personal views. But hearing the choral works of Wagner, Mahler, Stravinsky, Elgar - and, of course, Holst's The Planets - filling the vast halls of the Gothic Abbey, one's mind was lifted beyond Earthly matters towards the ethereal. And that is what he did through his work, unravelling the mysteries of the Universe. As sculptures of playful angels and statues of austere gentlemen from the past gazed down, celebrities, scientists and school children alike heard tributes to a man whose work and determination to overcome his disability inspired so many. He was the world's most famous scientist, not just because of his research but also his humanity. A message from Prof Hawking was beamed towards the nearest black hole as his remains were laid to rest in London's Westminster Abbey. To futuristic music specially commissioned from composer Vangelis, Stephen Hawking said: "I have spent my life travelling across the Universe inside my mind. "Through theoretical physics I have sought to answer some of the great questions but there are other challenges, other big questions which must be answered, and these will need a new generation who are interested, engaged and with an understanding of science." Despatched by a European Space Agency antenna in Spain, his broadcast will reach the Black Hole A0620-00 in 3,500 years' time. When it arrives, this message of hope will be consumed and only released long in the future in a form of energy predicted and named after him - Hawking Radiation. What a fitting way to go. Obituary: Prof Stephen Hawking ❝A man of great humour, he became a popular ambassador for science and was always careful to ensure that the general public had ready access to his work.❞ Read the obituary in full

स्टीफन हॉकिंग ने कहा था कि विज्ञान हमें "भगवान के मन" के रास्ते पर ले जाएगा। इसका मतलब यह था कि हम वह सब कुछ जानेंगे जो भगवान को पता होगा, इस चेतावनी के साथ, "अगर कोई भगवान होता, जो नहीं है। मैं एक नास्तिक हूँ।"


Scottish Borders Council opposes Fallago Rig expansion

Summary: Councillors in the Borders have decided to oppose plans to expand a wind farm which was the subject of a six-year opposition campaign.

They had been expected to take a view last month but deferred a decision in order to visit Fallago Rig near Lauder. Developers wanted to build another 12 turbines and planning officers had advised the council not to object. However, they went against that recommendation, citing the cumulative effects on the landscape. The final decision on the project will lie with the Scottish government.

सीमा पर पार्षदों ने एक पवन फार्म का विस्तार करने की योजना का विरोध करने का फैसला किया है जो छह साल के विरोध अभियान का विषय था।


Space images: The best of 2020

Summary: There was stunning cosmic imagery to feast on in 2020, from Hubble's 30th birthday image to footage of a daring sample grab on an asteroid. Here's our pick of the year's offerings.

By Paul RinconScience editor, BBC News website Hubble's 'cosmic reef' The Hubble telescope, one of the most important scientific tools ever built, celebrated its 30th anniversary in April. To mark the occasion, an amazing image was released showing a star-forming region close to our Milky Way galaxy. In this magnificent Hubble portrait, the giant red nebula (NGC 2014) and its smaller blue neighbour (NGC 2020) reside in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located 163,000 light years away. Nebulas are vast interstellar clouds of dust and gas where star formation can take place. At the heart of NGC 2014 is a clutch of bright stars, which are each 10 to 20 times more massive than our Sun. The image was nicknamed the "cosmic reef", because astronomers thought the nebulas resembled an undersea world. A BBC Horizon documentary, broadcast to coincide with the anniversary, showcased stunning 3D visualisations of iconic Hubble images - such as the Pillars of Creation, part of the Eagle Nebula. See also: Hubble telescope's Universe revealed in 3D Asteroid grab This year, Nasa's Osiris-Rex performed a daring "touch-and-go" manoeuvre with the asteroid Bennu, in order to collect samples of rock and soil for delivery to Earth. Asteroids like Bennu are primitive relics from the dawn of the Solar System. They are the free-roaming building blocks of planets, and offer a window into how worlds like the Earth came into being. In order to collect samples, Osiris-Rex used a long boom with a ring-shaped collection chamber on the end. The spacecraft descended towards Bennu's surface, delivering a squirt of nitrogen when the boom made contact with the asteroid. This was so that the gas would stir up Bennu's surface, allowing fragments of the asteroid to float into the collection chamber. The strategy seems to have worked, as seen in the sequence of images above. Meanwhile, on 5 December, a Japanese mission to collect samples from a different asteroid returned to Earth with its precious cache. The Hayabusa-2 spacecraft released its sample return capsule, which parachuted down safely in the Australian desert. The samples will be analysed at a curation facility in Sagamihara City, Japan. Close-up with the Sun January saw the release of pictures taken by the Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) on Hawaii that showed the Sun's surface in unprecedented detail. The images show cell-like structures that are roughly the size of the US state of Texas. They are masses of hot, excited gas, or plasma. The bright areas denote where this material is rising; the dark lanes in-between are where cooler plasma is sinking. DKIST is a brand new facility on Haleakalā, a 3,000m-high volcano on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Scientists want to use it to uncover fresh insights into the dynamic behaviour of our parent star, in the hope that they can better forecast its energetic outbursts. These colossal eruptions of charged particles can damage Earth-orbiting satellites, harm astronauts, and even to knock out electrical grids. Jupiter fly-past Launched in 2011, Nasa's Juno spacecraft continues to send back stunning images from the Solar System's biggest planet - Jupiter. The probe captured imagery of the gas giant's swirling cloud decks as it performed its 27th close flyby of the world on 2 June. Citizen scientist Kevin M Gill then transformed the data into a video, which combines 41 still images taken during Juno's close pass. The stills were digitally projected onto a sphere, with a virtual "camera" providing views of Jupiter from different angles. Among other things, the footage provides amazing views of Jupiter's most noticeable feature, the giant red spot - which is actually a gigantic ongoing storm. Starship test Looking a little like a rocket ship from the golden age of science fiction, Elon Musk's Starship vehicle will - in due course, he hopes - transport humans to the Red Planet. In December, SpaceX tested the first complete prototype of the vehicle, sending it on a 12.5km flight straight up from its pad at the company's Boca Chica facility in South Texas. We're cheating a little with its inclusion here, since the images aren't from space, as such. But we might see it there one day, in the not-too-distant future. The test flight showcased some of the spacecraft's unique features, including its methane-burning Raptor engines and a flight trajectory which includes a belly-facing descent to Earth followed by a flip back to the vertical just before landing. It was at this stage of the test that the Starship prototype, named SN8, approached the pad a little too fast and hard, causing what Musk describes as a RUD - rapid unscheduled disassembly. A crash, in other words. But the flight will have given SpaceX vast amounts of engineering data to chew on, helping them improve the vehicle. And the next prototype - SN9 - is waiting for its turn on the launch pad. Follow Paul on Twitter

2020 में हबल के 30वें जन्मदिन की छवि से लेकर एक क्षुद्रग्रह पर एक साहसी नमूना लेने के फुटेज तक आश्चर्यजनक ब्रह्मांडीय इमेजरी थी। यहाँ वर्ष के प्रसाद की हमारी पसंद है।


China: The men who are single and the women who don't want kids

Summary: A once-in-a-decade population census has shown that births in China have fallen to their lowest level since the 1960s - leading to calls for an end to birth control policies. But some in China say these policies aren't the only thing that's stopping them.

By Waiyee YipBBC News Despite being hassled by her mum about it, Beijing resident Lili* is not planning to have children any time soon. The 31-year-old, who has been married for two years, wants to "live my life" without the "constant worries" of raising a child. "I have very few peers who have children, and if they do, they're obsessed about getting the best nanny or enrolling the kids in the best schools. It sounds exhausting." Lili spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity, noting that her mother would be devastated if she knew how her daughter felt. But this difference of opinion between the generations reflects the changing attitudes of many young urban Chinese toward childbirth. The data speaks for itself. China's census, released earlier this month, showed that around 12 million babies were born last year - a significant decrease from the 18 million in 2016, and the lowest number of births recorded since the 1960s. While the overall population grew, it moved at the slowest pace in decades, adding to worries that China may face a population decline sooner than expected. Shrinking populations are problematic due to the inverted age structure, with more old people than young. When that happens, there won't be enough workers in the future to support the elderly, and there may be an increased demand for health and social care. Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, said at a government presentation that lower fertility rates are a natural result of China's social and economic development. As countries become more developed, birth rates tend to fall due to education or other priorities such as careers. Neighbouring countries like Japan and South Korea, for example, have also seen birth rates fall to record lows in recent years despite various government incentives for couples to have more children. The severe gender imbalance But experts say China's situation could be uniquely exacerbated given the number of men who are finding it difficult to find a wife in the first place, let alone think of starting a family. After all, there is a severe gender imbalance in the country - last year, there were 34.9 million more males than females. This is a hangover of the country's strict one-child policy, which was introduced in 1979 to slow population growth. In a culture that historically favours boys over girls, the policy led to forced abortions and a reported glut of new born boys from the 1980s onwards. "This poses problems for the marriage market, especially for men with less socioeconomic resources," Dr Mu Zheng, from the National University of Singapore's sociology department, said. In 2016, the government ended the policy and allowed couples to have two children. However, the reform has failed to reverse the country's falling birth rate despite a two-year increase immediately afterwards. 'Who would dare have kids in this situation?' Experts say it is also because the relaxing of the policy did not come with other changes that support family life - such as monetary support for education or access to childcare facilities. Many people simply cannot afford to raise children amid the rising costs of living, they say. "People's reluctance to have children doesn't lie in the process of childbearing, but what comes after," Dr Mu said. She added that the notion of what makes a person successful has also changed in China - at least for those living in big cities. No longer is it defined by traditional markers in life such as getting married and having children - instead, it's about personal growth. Women in particular are still expected to be the primary caregiver due to gender norms. While China does in theory have 14 days of paternity leave, it is uncommon for men to take it - and even rarer for them to be full-time fathers. Such fears may lead to women not wanting to have kids if they feel that it could dampen their career prospects, Dr Mu said. On Chinese social media, the issue is a hot topic, with the hashtag "why this generation of young people are unwilling to have babies" being read more than 440 million times on microblogging platform Weibo. "The reality is that there aren't many good jobs out there for women, and the women who do have good jobs will want to do whatever it takes to keep them. Who would dare have kids in this situation?" one person asked. While some cities have extended maternity leave benefits in recent years, giving women the option to apply for leave beyond the standard 98 days, people say it has only contributed to workplace gender discrimination. In March, a female job applicant in Chongqing was forced by a potential employer to guarantee that she would quit her job as soon as she got pregnant. Is it too late to reverse the situation? Birth restrictions are expected to be lifted entirely in the near future, with sources telling Reuters that it may happen in the next three to five years. But some have called for China to scrap its birth control policies immediately. "The birth liberalisation should happen now when there are some residents who still want to have children but can't," said researchers at China's central bank, in a paper published on their website. "It's useless to liberalise it when no one wants to have children... we should not hesitate." But some experts point out the need to tread carefully, calling out the huge disparity between city dwellers and rural people. As much as women living in expensive cities such as Beijing and Shanghai may wish to delay or avoid childbirth, those in the countryside are likely to still follow tradition and want large families, they say. "If we free up policy, people in the countryside could be more willing to give birth than those in the cities, and there could be other problems," a policy insider told Reuters, noting that it could lead to poverty and employment pressures among rural families. It seems there is no one-size-fits-all solution, but demography expert Dr Jiang Quanbao from Xi'an Jiaotong University is optimistic that it is still possible for China to reverse its population woes. While fertility rates are sliding, the rate is "still elastic" because it remains the societal norm for the Chinese to get married and have children, he said. Provided that there are more measures to support families in childcare and education, for example, there is hope for change: "It is not too late." Even Lili* may be convinced to change her mind. "If it becomes less competitive for kids to get the resources they need, I might feel more mentally ready and less stressed about having a child. My mother would be so happy to hear this," she said. *name changed upon request

एक दशक में एक बार होने वाली जनसंख्या जनगणना से पता चला है कि चीन में जन्म 1960 के दशक के बाद से अपने सबसे निचले स्तर पर गिर गए हैं-जिससे जन्म नियंत्रण नीतियों को समाप्त करने की मांग की गई है। लेकिन चीन में कुछ लोगों का कहना है कि ये नीतियां ही एकमात्र ऐसी चीज नहीं हैं जो उन्हें रोक रही हैं।


Teen entrepreneurs: 'My friend's pug inspired my business'

Summary: As part of our CEO Secrets series, which invites business leaders to share their advice, we are focusing on start-ups that have launched during lockdown, looking at different types of entrepreneur. This week, we hear from teenagers.

By Dougal ShawBusiness reporter, BBC News The business journey of Phoebe Cosgrove began with a pug. The 19-year-old dental nurse apprentice, who lives with her mum in Beckenham, Kent, feared for her job prospects when the first lockdown started. Then while on furlough she had an idea. She began learning to sew, finding it a welcome distraction that was good for her mental health. A friend asked her to stitch a cartoon picture of her beloved pug so that she could wear it as a badge of pride on her jumper. When they saw the results, all her dog-loving friends wanted one too. Then the cat-lovers joined in. Her friends were sticking the results on their socials and all of a sudden Phoebe had more orders than she could keep up with. So she set up a business called Pretty Paws By Phoebe. Her living room became a production line and she set up an online shop on the craft platform Etsy. As orders came in from further afield, customers would send pictures of their pets for her to work from. She even had a request for a sheep (she's not sure if it was a pet). Occasionally it has gone beyond animals. "One of my favourites was when someone wanted the signature of their loved one who had passed away, stitched over the heart," remembers Phoebe. She also made face masks for a wedding (when they were allowed), stitching on the bride and groom's initials with the date - poignant mementos for guests. Being a young entrepreneur, it's second nature to her to use social media to tell her story and find customers. She shows off her techniques in TikTok videos and blogs about her business journey on YouTube. She was on the minimum wage as a dental nurse apprentice. She now makes on average £260 a week, though she made £800 in her busiest week. She says it didn't cross her mind to investigate universal credit. Although she never saw herself as an entrepreneur, she is determined to see if she can make this pet-themed business her future. Nineteen-year-old student Charles Robinson had his business brainwave on his commute in London in April, while inspecting his contact lens kit. He wondered if a cleaning container that came with the pack could be adapted for the Covid era. Hand sanitiser products were flying off the shelves at the time. The first-year UCL philosophy student contacted the factory in Italy that made the product and began negotiations to see if the same tech could be fitted with anti-viral gel. It turned out it could, so he ordered a "sizeable amount", even though this was something of a gamble - he didn't have anyone signed up to buy the new product yet. The result is a "gel card" that snaps to release a single dose of hand sanitiser. In less than a year, Charles and his co-founder Paul Schmitz-Gielsdorf say they have sold 900,000 cards, with sales of £155,000. Clients include large chains of hotels and restaurants (even though many are closed or under capacity due to lockdown). The idea of using cards is that they are more efficient at releasing gel than bottle dispensers and don't generate queues of people, who should be social distancing. However, the cards are also examples of single-use plastic. Charles is currently arranging to switch production to recycled plastic. His university's entrepreneurship hub helped him launch the business, but he's going "on leave" from his studies for two years and is not sure whether he will complete his degree. Before the pandemic he'd always thought of himself pursuing a steady, corporate-style career. "But now I can't imagine not running my own business and I need to focus on the opportunity I have," he says. He thinks many teenage entrepreneurs lack confidence because they fear lack of experience will count against them. But they have less to lose compared to older people, he points out, as many live at home with few overheads and financial responsibilities, and this can put them in a stronger position when it comes to taking risks. Young entrepreneurs in the pandemic Young people have been hit hard in the pandemic as work placements and graduate schemes dried up. Also, they tend to work in sectors like retail and hospitality, which faced some of the biggest job losses. But there is evidence that people in their late teens and early twenties have responded by getting entrepreneurial. Last year, 72% more 16 to 20-year-olds started a business than in 2019, according to a study by The Accountancy Partnership, which looked at people who had registered as sole traders. And around 44% of young people think starting their own business is more attractive since the pandemic, according to a survey of 16 to 25-year-olds commissioned by the Prince's Trust. It found that a quarter would rather work for themselves than for a company, with 62% of young people agreeing it would make them feel more in control of their future. "I never thought I could be my own boss," says Eloise Beesley, 19. "I always thought I had to be under someone else - and I was fine with that." She now runs her own baking business in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire and she too thinks she can turn it into a long-term career. When Covid struck, her life was in limbo. She had left school after A-levels in 2019 with an apprenticeship at an HR company lined up - but it fell through at the last minute. She struggled to find alternative opportunities and was still figuring out what to do when the first lockdown began. Feeling desperate, she decided to take matters into her own hands and set up her own business. "I was so reluctant," remembers Eloise. She had never seen herself as an entrepreneur. It took practical advice and encouragement from a friend who had recently set up a business to give her the push she needed. She also found confidence by focusing on something she was passionate about: baking. "It has been a way to relieve stress for many years," she explains. So she registered as a food business, organised public liability insurance, built a website and Beesley's Bakes was born. She started baking in her boyfriend's family's kitchen and quickly built up a local following. As demand grew in the run-up to Christmas, she even had enough orders to rent a bigger kitchen in a community hall - until it was turned into a Covid vaccine centre. She has a steady production line of cakes and cupcakes and is also now expanding into fudge, which she can sell through shops. A lot of her time is spent promoting her work on social media, a good way to reach new customers. In less than a year she is looking at sales approaching five figures, enough for her and her boyfriend to move into a flat together. The best thing about being your own is boss is you can "do something you love for a living", she says. You can follow CEO Secrets series producer Dougal on Twitter: @dougalshawbbc

हमारी सी. ई. ओ. सीक्रेट्स श्रृंखला के हिस्से के रूप में, जो व्यापारिक नेताओं को अपनी सलाह साझा करने के लिए आमंत्रित करती है, हम उन स्टार्ट-अप्स पर ध्यान केंद्रित कर रहे हैं जो लॉकडाउन के दौरान शुरू हुए हैं, विभिन्न प्रकार के उद्यमियों को देख रहे हैं। इस सप्ताह, हम किशोरों से सुन रहे हैं।


Man in court over 'naked toy shop attack' in Dundee

Summary: A man accused of running naked through a Dundee toy shop, abducting a six-year-old boy and hitting a woman with a cricket bat may not be fit to stand trial, a court has heard.

Przemyslaw Kaluzny faces a total of 13 charges over a series of alleged incidents in April. The 41-year-old has not yet made a plea, and Dundee Sheriff Court heard psychiatric reports were being prepared on Kaluzny's sanity at the time. The case was continued until next week. Kaluzny is charged with first stealing a mobile phone and baseball flat from a neighbour's flat, on 5 April, before intentionally exposing his genitals to her. He is then accused of stealing a car key before driving off in a Renault Laguna car from outside the Watson Street property, and driving to the Kingsway Retail Park without a licence or insurance, still with the bat, an offensive weapon, with him. Psychiatric report Prosecutors say he then went into the Toys R Us store and behaved in a threatening and abusive manner by removing his clothing, shouting, brandishing the bat, struggling violently with staff and customers and placing them in a state of fear and alarm. Kaluzny is further accused of running through the store naked, before abducting a six-year-old boy by picking him up and taking him from the shop against his will. He then allegedly assaulted the boy's 67-year-old grandmother by hitting her on the head with a cricket bat, to her injury. A final charge alleges that he wilfully destroyed property belonging to another by snapping the plastic casing and metal connecting bar of a pair of handcuffs while he was being taken to Dundee's police headquarters, Nicola Brown, defending, said investigations were ongoing as to Kaluzny's sanity at the time and his fitness to stand trial. She said a psychiatric report would be available by next week, and Sheriff Elizabeth Munro continued the case until then.

एक अदालत ने सुना है कि डंडी खिलौनों की दुकान से नग्न होकर भागने, छह साल के लड़के का अपहरण करने और एक महिला को क्रिकेट के बल्ले से मारने का आरोपी व्यक्ति मुकदमे का सामना करने के लिए उपयुक्त नहीं हो सकता है।


Sculpture erected to honour Army pipers

Summary: An eight-foot bronze sculpture has been erected as a lasting monument to recognise the sacrifice of all Army pipers killed in past conflicts.

The huge Army piper has been installed outside the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming at Edinburgh's Redford Barracks. It will be officially unveiled on Sunday. Internationally renowned Scottish sculptor Alan Heriot created the statue during a two-year project. Major Steven Small, director of Army Bagpipe Music, said: "Throughout history pipers and drummers have been inspiring their comrades through unswerving devotion to duty under the most testing of circumstances. "Their honour is now formally recognised and properly remembered. "It is with great pride that we see this fitting tribute to pipers and drummers completed."

पिछले संघर्षों में मारे गए सेना के सभी पाइपर्स के बलिदान को मान्यता देने के लिए एक स्थायी स्मारक के रूप में आठ फुट की कांस्य मूर्ति का निर्माण किया गया है।


Your memories of Keith Emerson

Summary: Fans of the legendary rock musician Keith Emerson, the co-founder and keyboardist of progressive rock group Emerson, Lake and Palmer, have been sharing their tributes after his former bandmates revealed that he had died at the age of 71.

By Hannah HendersonBBC News Many of them hail the flamboyant performer as a true pioneer of the British rock scene. Richard Jones from Chester says he was was blown away by Keith Emerson's on-stage presence, when he first saw him in 1968. "He led the charge to progressive rock as he was a consummate musician primarily. Showmanship was the icing on the cake" he said. "He rewrote the history of rock music, simple as that. Even Rick Wakeman [of the band Yes] would probably admit he was the best of the best." "The English pioneered the genre but Keith led the charge with complex reproductions of classical music for the Hammond [organ]. And of course the full size Moog [synthesizer] which no-one believed could be taken on the road! "He was never one of the populist musicians, and he did his own thing, but if you ever saw him he was quite a humble guy. He was not someone who followed the crowd. "On the way to my first concert I met a fellow fan of the band on the National Express bus. We are still friends today and still go to concerts together". Eddie Conway, from Milton Keynes, became a lifelong fan after seeing one of the band's first performances in the late 1960s. He said of Emerson: "He'd jam the keys of his synthesizer down with large knives while swinging it around, then hurl the knives into a door at the side of the stage. "I saw ELP several times through the years, and I was also lucky enough to see him at what would be his last gig at the Barbican last year. He will be sadly missed." Steve Crabbe from Milton Keynes went to see ELP at the Portsmouth Guildhall in 1971. "I was transfixed when they came on stage and started with Barbarian with its huge thundering fuzz bass line" he wrote. "In those days there was no limit on volume, so the whole place shook and my trousers flapped! Fantastic at the time and I still play their tracks at high volume to try and recapture the sheer exuberance of it all." Rick Stephenson from Norfolk got to know Keith while fundraising for charity. "I've been a lifelong fan and living in Norfolk I used to do some fundraising for Children in Need and because I was a fan of his I approached him to ask for his help. After that we corresponded quite regularly because we both loved playing keyboards and motorbikes. "He was a lovely bloke who loved being a dad and being a grandfather. I've always said that I have had two influences in my life one being my dad and the other was Keith. "When playing the keyboard, or piano, he could do stuff with one hand which I couldn't manage with two. He gave me some sheet music for his piano concerto although I have no hope of being able to play it. "He loved really deep and was a true gentleman."

प्रगतिशील रॉक समूह इमर्सन, लेक एंड पामर के सह-संस्थापक और कीबोर्ड वादक, महान रॉक संगीतकार कीथ इमर्सन के प्रशंसक, उनके पूर्व बैंड साथियों द्वारा यह खुलासा करने के बाद कि उनका 71 वर्ष की आयु में निधन हो गया था, अपनी श्रद्धांजलि साझा कर रहे हैं।


Misconduct probe MP Daniel Poulter returns to Commons

Summary: An MP who has been on sick leave amid an internal inquiry over misconduct allegations has returned to the House of Commons for the first time since the end of October.

The Conservative Party is investigating allegations that Dan Poulter MP behaved inappropriately towards female colleagues. Mr Poulter, MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, denies the claims. He appeared during a reading of a bill, but did not speak. Mr Poulter sat next to his fellow Suffolk Conservative Peter Aldous - the Waveney MP who introduced a private member's bill about the construction industry. The office of Mr Poulter said he would not comment on his reappearance in the Commons, but last week a spokeswoman confirmed he was about to make a "vigorous return".

दुराचार के आरोपों की आंतरिक जांच के बीच बीमार छुट्टी पर गए एक सांसद अक्टूबर के अंत के बाद पहली बार हाउस ऑफ कॉमन्स में लौटे हैं।


Rita, Sue and Bob Too: A snapshot of 1980s Britain

Summary: Billed as "Thatcher's Britain with her knickers down", British film comedy Rita, Sue and Bob Too was an unexpected hit when it was released 30 years ago. This darkly comic tale of two sexually confident working-class Bradford teenagers might have charmed the critics - but many closer to home failed to see the joke.

Originally written for the stage in 1982 by Andrea Dunbar, the story depicted life on the deprived Buttershaw estate where she grew up - and did not flinch from its portrayal of alcoholism, violence, poverty and a feckless benefit culture. The film featured teenage babysitters Rita (Siobhan Finneran) and Sue (Michelle Holmes), who both partially escaped from their lives on the estate by having an affair with married man Bob (George Costigan) who lived in a detached house in a smarter part of the city. It was an incendiary mixture. Tony Earnshaw, author of Made in Yorkshire, a study of filmmaking in the county, was one of the many who reacted badly to the Alan Clarke-directed film when he first saw it as a teenager. The city was attempting to repair a poor public image - and the film was seen by many as reinforcing negative stereotypes. "I didn't like it at the time, I wasn't mature enough to appreciate it," the author said. "I am a working-class lad and I was angry about how it misrepresented Yorkshire. I thought its makers were laughing at us." Such apparent sensitivity needs to be set against the backdrop of the time. Bradford's image had taken a battering in the 1980s: it had lost traditional industries and jobs, there were fierce arguments about race and education, and the city suffered one of the worst British stadium tragedies when 56 football fans perished in the 1985 Valley Parade fire. And then, of course, there was Bradford's most notorious son, Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, whose murderous campaign was finally halted by his chance arrest in 1981. The city had tried to lift collective spirits with Bradford's Bouncing Back, a feel-good marketing campaign launched in 1986, featuring a special poster by Bradford Grammar School alumnus David Hockney. Into this mix came the 1987 film, described by that doyen of film critics Roger Ebert as "a bleak, sardonic comedy about the violation of a taboo". Adelle Stripe, who has written a novel based on Dunbar's short life - the playwright died of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 29 in 1990 - said the film "really poured oil on the fire". "She [Dunbar] wrote her first play when she was 15 years old, she'd never been to the theatre, and this is what is remarkable about her: she dramatised what was happening in her life at the time, and was encouraged by her teachers at Buttershaw Upper School." Dunbar was asked by the BBC in 1987 whether the play was based on personal experiences. "Parts of it was, parts wasn't - but you see things happening on an estate anyway," she said. "But if you grow up on an estate, live there, you know everybody and I don't find it shocking to write about it." The play and film made Dunbar and the estate the focus of often unwelcome publicity, Ms Stripe says. "She got a lot of negative press. Press cuttings of the time always mention she was an unmarried mother with three children. Not a big deal for us in 2017 but she took a lot of flak for it then. "She liked having a drink... because you're working class and live on a council estate it therefore becomes a stick to beat her with. It was double standards, really." David Wilson, who is the director of Bradford's City of Film programme, points out Bradford has undergone huge changes since the 1980s. "Buttershaw is a different place now, some of the buildings and the low-rise flats on the estate have gone," he said. "We have moved on and often changed beyond all recognition. "But you can look back with a nostalgic view on the film, which was a social commentary that did not skirt some difficult issues." Mr Wilson believes Rita, Sue and Bob Too has many parallels with another film, the 1959 northern kitchen-sink drama Room at the Top. There were calls for that movie to be banned and it was given an X-rated certificate. Now it is widely praised as a classic British film, he said. He has recently rewatched Rita, Sue and Bob Too and was struck by the nostalgic fashions, furniture and architecture. Most importantly for him "it inspired another generation of filmmakers and, creatively, it has not hindered Bradford at all". This is a view that would most likely be shared by many Bradfordians, even those who were uneasy about the film on its release. Tony Earnshaw, certainly, says he feels very differently about Rita, Sue and Bob Too than he did as a teenager. "I've come to realise it is a very accurate portrait of life," he said. "There's a joie de vivre; the characters are not trying to escape from their lives, they are happy and don't aspire to anything more. "It's a celebration of a certain strata of society. It occupies its own space in time." Michelle Holmes, who played Sue, recalls the making of the film fondly. "We had a brilliant, brilliant time, seven weeks of absolute fun," she said. "It is crazy: who would have thought every single day somebody says something to me about the film? That's what I find incredible about it. "Now it is a snapshot of an age and it seems to have more resonance."

"थैचर्स ब्रिटेन विद हिज निकर्स डाउन" के रूप में बिल किया गया, ब्रिटिश फिल्म कॉमेडी रीटा, सू और बॉब टू एक अप्रत्याशित हिट थी जब यह 30 साल पहले रिलीज़ हुई थी। ब्रैडफोर्ड के दो यौन रूप से आत्मविश्वासी कामकाजी वर्ग के किशोरों की इस गूढ़ हास्य कहानी ने आलोचकों को आकर्षित किया होगा-लेकिन घर के करीब कई लोग इस मजाक को देखने में विफल रहे।


Ada Lovelace: Letters shed light on tech visionary

Summary: Ada Lovelace is a celebrated role model for women in technology.

In an article published in 1843, she imagined a future in which programmable machines would be essential to the progress of science, and might even be used to create art and music. We are now living that future. So is Ada Lovelace our first tech visionary? Or, as some critics now claim, was her contribution to computer science vastly overrated? Many of Ada Lovelace's letters are stored in Oxford's Bodleian Library and are about to be heard for the first time on BBC Radio 4, voiced by Oscar-nominated actress Sally Hawkins. The picture of Ada that emerges from her correspondence is of a passionate, ambitious and flawed individual. At times, Ada certainly had an exaggerated sense of her own destiny. Many of her letters are very long and self-obsessed and often a bit over the top. And it seems clear that she experienced many manic episodes. But despite, or perhaps because of, constant battles with her mental and physical health, Ada pursued her interest first in mathematics and later in Babbage's engines with passion and zeal. And, in many ways, Ada Lovelace anticipated our Digital Age, in Victorian times. It was an extraordinary leap of imagination. No surprise perhaps for the abandoned daughter of the romantic poet, Lord Byron. Ada's single mother, Lady Byron put her under a strict regime of moral and mathematical training from an early age, hoping it would counter any dangerous "poetical" tendencies she might have inherited from her notorious father. She also regularly prescribed "more maths" for her periods of mental instability. Surprisingly perhaps, Ada's passion for mathematics persisted. Aged 26, married with three small children, she embarked on a mathematics correspondence course. Letters to her distinguished tutor reveal that she was working at the level of a bright first year undergraduate. So, Ada Lovelace was a good, but not a brilliant mathematician. She first met Charles Babbage and one of his innovative calculating machines, the Difference Engine, at a party in his London drawing room, when she was 17. He was to change her life but not in the way most 19th century debutantes like Ada would have imagined. Years later, Ada made Babbage a bold proposal. She offered to work as his assistant. It was a remarkably pushy move, especially given the stifling social conventions that governed her world. And it worked. Babbage was now working on a design for a new machine, which he called the Analytical Engine. Unlike the Difference Engine, which could only add, the Analytical Engine worked much more like a modern computer and could be programmed to carry out almost any sequence of logical steps. The only published description of the Analytical Engine was a French-language article by an Italian engineer, Luigi Menabrea. Ada translated the article for publication in a British journal, and Babbage encouraged her to add a set of notes, describing more fully how the Engine worked. Ada's worked furiously on the Notes which ended up twice as long as the original article. And Babbage, an eminent mathematician as well as an inventor, was impressed. Ada's Notes on Babbage's engine include some visionary statements about its potential and limitations. "The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform…But it is likely to exert an indirect and reciprocal influence on science itself." Ada's Notes on Babbage's engine also include tables setting out the sequence of operations the machine would have to go through to find the solution to an algebraical problem, such as a sequence known as Bernouilli's numbers. This is why some contemporary writers have called Ada the "world's first programmer" but, strictly speaking, these tables were not computer programmes. She does, however, seem to have understood the significance of Babbage's engines better than he did. Some critics claim that Ada's reputation is based on Babbage's brilliance not her own. Ada and Babbage certainly collaborated closely. A series of fraught letters flew between them in the rush to get the Notes published. At one point Ada accused Babbage of losing Note G at the printers. But there's no reason to doubt that Ada wrote the Notes herself. Perhaps Ada's greatest talent was the way she combined an understanding of mathematics with a vivid and "poetic" imagination. She was the forerunner not of today's coders and hackers, but of the visionaries who imagine how the next generation of technology might change the world. She was a Victorian tech visionary. The letters of Ada Lovelace will be broadcast on Radio 4 on Monday 14th and 21st Sept at 11am. And are available to download here. Calculating Ada: The Countess of Computing will be broadcast on BBC Four on Thursday 17th September at 9pm.

अदा लवलेस प्रौद्योगिकी में महिलाओं के लिए एक प्रसिद्ध आदर्श हैं।


Hampshire County Council's chief executive to stand down

Summary: The chief executive of Hampshire County Council is to stand down.

Andrew Smith was appointed to the role in 2007 amid criticisms that his £190,000 salary was more than the prime minister. However, the council said he had significantly helped to transform the authority after the economic downturn. He said: "I have chosen to announce my departure... knowing that Hampshire remains one of the best performing councils in the country. 'Vision and contribution' "The challenges faced in public services, between now and end of the decade, make it a good time for the county council to look to the future and the opportunities that will be there towards the end of the decade and beyond." Roy Perry, leader of the council, said he had accepted Mr Smith's decision "with much regret". He added: "Andrew has led the county council in an exemplary manner through the most difficult times. "We owe much to his vision and his contribution." Mr Smith was awarded an OBE for his services to local government in 2006. He will stand down later in the year, with the search for a successor to begin shortly.

हैम्पशायर काउंटी काउंसिल के मुख्य कार्यकारी को पद छोड़ना है।


HS2 and the new North-South divide

Summary: HS2 - the proposed high-speed rail link - is supposed to help bridge the North-South divide. But the debate surrounding the controversial project has arguably opened up a divide between councils in the North, which welcome the scheme, and those further south which do not.

By Jenny ScottBBC News Set in a peaceful valley, surrounded by tranquil farmland, the hamlet of Lower Thorpe Mandeville, in rural Northamptonshire, has stood almost undisturbed for centuries. Yet residents are rapidly moving out, victims of what the government views as the march of progress. The hamlet lies on the route of one of the government's most cherished - and controversial - projects: the high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham and the North, otherwise known as HS2. Harriet Raitt is the only resident in her hamlet who does not qualify for compensation, despite the proposed route crossing a yet-to-be-built viaduct just 90m from the Victorian cottage she has lived in with her husband for 30 years. "The community will be untenable - in fact, it no longer is a community," she said. "The construction traffic will wreck the nearby villages. "I think everybody is now feeling incredibly ground down by HS2. It feels as if nobody is listening to anything we say." Mrs Raitt also harbours serious doubts about the worth of the scheme. "To claim HS2 will benefit the North, as the government does, is far-fetched," she said. "I have relatives in Manchester who are asking, 'Why would we want to go down to London?' "It will just suck everything down south again, instead of investing in infrastructure for the regions." Throughout Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and neighbouring Leicestershire, you can find people who think as Mrs Raitt does. Four major local authorities in the area - Warwickshire, Coventry, Leicester and Leicestershire - are all unanimous in their protest against the project, while Northamptonshire says it cannot support the scheme as it stands and is demanding a number of reassurances from the government. Staffordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Oxfordshire are equally opposed. Venture further north, however, and the mood changes. Councils such as Leeds and Manchester are welcoming the train to their towns. Even cities where HS2 is going nowhere near, like Hull and Newcastle, are supportive of the proposals. "The North East considers high-speed rail offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the economic geography of the UK," said Northumberland County Council in a statement. Neighbouring councils, such as Stoke and Crewe and Derby and Nottingham, are even locked in a tussle to get HS2's favours bestowed on them. The government insists HS2 will help bridge the North-South divide, in which economic activity in London and the South East dominates the country's output. But is the debate and contention about the controversial route in fact creating a new schism that lies somewhere between the Midlands and the North? Julie Carrier travels by train at least twice a week from Leeds to London in her role as a civil engineer at consultancy firm WSP which, in 2013, carried out an independent report for West Yorkshire Metro to review the economic case for HS2 in the Leeds and Sheffield regions. For her, HS2 cannot come fast enough. "Quite frankly, in the North our expectations of our trains are slightly different to those in London," she said. "In London, if a tube runs a minute late, they get a little bit irritated. Up here, we just want a train that is not too delayed and if we get a seat it's nice. "If we can just get somewhere on time, we're generally quite pleased." Ms Carrier's Leeds home is just a few miles from the proposed route and she said she understood people might be anxious about the line. But she feels the benefits of HS2 to the North, where journey times to London could be cut by an hour from Manchester and 49 minutes from Leeds, are worth the pain. "We need to learn the lessons of what transport has done for London and bring that further north," she said. "Overcrowding and congestion is a serious problem at the moment." It is perhaps hardly surprising that northern cities welcome major rail investment. "I suspect there is a bit of, 'we will take whatever we can get'," said Dr Alasdair Rae, a senior lecturer in urban studies and planning at the University of Sheffield. "The northern cities have suffered from years and years of neglect. "Many of the northern, urban authorities, which are Labour-supporting, have supported HS2 from its inception," said Will Rossiter, of Nottingham Business School. "For them, HS2 represents a major opportunity in terms of optimising their economic performance. "In the Home Counties, though, there's a huge amount of opposition to HS2. The perception is they will have to endure an awful lot of pain for few of the perceived benefits. And they already have pretty good connections to London." Considering the perceived lack of public support it is "strange", in Dr Rae's opinion, that a Conservative coalition government has adopted a policy that is so alien to its core voters. "We've got a Tory-led government pursuing a strategy for a train line that rolls through their core vote in the Home Counties to connect traditionally Labour-voting northern cities," he said. "HS2 is a highly symbolic investment," added Mr Rossiter. "But it is also an investment which is quite distant. "It does strike me that, from a political point of view, this is a way of the government demonstrating they are doing something about regional economic development at a time when they are drawing significant funds out of that arena. "It is hard not to see HS2 as a means of the government being seen to be doing something. "I suppose the government's calculation is that while southern voters might be brassed off, they are not going to be so brassed off they won't vote Conservative at the next election." However, Dr Rae said improved rail services between northern cities would be a better use of public money. "At the moment, the craziest thing is how difficult it is to get around the North," he added. "Getting from Manchester to Sheffield, by road or rail, is such a pain. "The rhetoric is about bringing the north up to speed but we currently have a railway line between Leeds and Manchester that was built with hand-tools and wheelbarrows. "Connecting the northern cities would be a cheaper and arguably more effective policy. If I were the Chancellor, that's what I would do." Correction 26 September 2014: This article has been amended to better balance the wide range of views and backgrounds of interviewees.

एचएस2-प्रस्तावित हाई-स्पीड रेल लिंक-से उत्तर-दक्षिण विभाजन को पाटने में मदद मिलने की उम्मीद है। लेकिन विवादास्पद परियोजना के आसपास की बहस ने यकीनन उत्तर में परिषदों के बीच एक विभाजन को खोल दिया है, जो योजना का स्वागत करते हैं, और जो आगे दक्षिण में नहीं हैं।


Former Guernsey Brewery site plans submitted

Summary: A developer hopes to turn the former Guernsey Brewery site in St Peter Port into 36 residential units.

Comprop has submitted plans for the project due to cost more than £20m and hopes to start work within six months. If approved the property at the bottom of Le Val des Terres will have 28 two-bedroom local market units and eight three-bedroom open market units. The developer said it planned to retain historical parts of the 19th Century building. The site was first used as a brewery in 1845 and was closed down during 2001-2003.

एक डेवलपर को सेंट पीटर पोर्ट में पूर्व ग्वेर्नसे ब्रुअरी साइट को 36 आवासीय इकाइयों में बदलने की उम्मीद है।


Chinese coal miners killed by carbon monoxide poisoning

Summary: Chinese state TV says 18 miners have died and five others are missing after a leak of carbon monoxide gas at a coal mine in the south-west of the country.

One person was rescued from the Diaoshuidong mine in Chongqing municipality, broadcaster CCTV reported. An investigation has been launched into the incident, which happened on Friday. Mining accidents in China are not uncommon and are often due to poorly enforced safety regulations. According to CCTV, the gas leak at the Diaoshuidong mine happened while workers were dismantling underground equipment. The mine had been closed for the previous two months. In September, 16 workers were killed at another mine on the outskirts of Chongqing when a conveyor belt caught fire, producing high levels of carbon monoxide. In December 2019, an explosion at a coal mine in Guizhou province, south-west China, killed at least 14 people. You might also be interested in:

चीन के सरकारी टीवी का कहना है कि देश के दक्षिण-पश्चिम में एक कोयला खदान में कार्बन मोनोऑक्साइड गैस के रिसाव के बाद 18 खनिकों की मौत हो गई है और पांच अन्य लापता हैं।


Appointment of new crime chief's exec 'appropriate'

Summary: Appointing a new North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner's chief executive after the previous chief executive was given voluntary redundancy was "appropriate", a review has found.

A complaint was made to the force area's police and crime panel after the commissioner, Winston Roddick, advertised the job. Previous chief executive Anna Humphreys received the payment after deciding not to return after maternity leave. Mr Roddick has welcomed the decision. Conwy county borough council's solicitor, Richard Jarvis, who investigated the complaint, found the payment was "proper and appropriate". It is a legal requirement for police and crime commissioners to have a chief executive who acts as a monitoring officer to ensure the commissioner acts within the law at all times. Mr Roddick said: "The criticism of my decision was driven by politics and not the public interest... it would have been unlawful and therefore totally irresponsible not to appoint a chief executive." Thirty-six members of staff, including Ms Humphreys, were approved for redundancy scheme set up by North Wales Police.

एक समीक्षा में पाया गया है कि पिछले मुख्य कार्यकारी को स्वैच्छिक अतिरेक दिए जाने के बाद एक नए नॉर्थ वेल्स पुलिस और अपराध आयुक्त के मुख्य कार्यकारी की नियुक्ति "उचित" थी।


Jordan farm fire: Pakistanis die as blaze sweeps through makeshift homes

Summary: Thirteen Pakistani nationals, including eight children and four women, have died in a fire at a farm in Jordan, the civil defence department (CDD) has said.

The fire swept through corrugated iron sheds housing labourers at the farm in South Shouna, a rural area west of the capital Amman, early on Monday. Three other people were injured. The Petra news agency cited the CDD as saying it believed the fire was caused by an electrical short-circuit. Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz expressed his condolences to the people and government of Pakistan, and called for an expedited investigation into the incident. Two families had lived in the makeshift buildings used as housing for immigrant labourers, according to the CDD. Thousands of migrant workers are employed by private farms in the Jordan Valley, many of them housed in poor accommodation.

नागरिक सुरक्षा विभाग (सी. डी. डी.) ने कहा है कि जॉर्डन के एक खेत में आग लगने से आठ बच्चों और चार महिलाओं सहित तेरह पाकिस्तानी नागरिकों की मौत हो गई है।


Peterborough Nene toad in the bowl toilet rescue

Summary: A rescue strategy was devised by country park staff after they found a toad firmly wedged under the rim of their office toilet.

The amphibian was found by David Radley at the Nene Park Trust, Peterborough, on Monday morning. Colleagues used rubber gloves and the toad was returned safely to the park. Conservation officer Chris Park said while he was used to looking after wildlife in the parks, he had "never had to do anything like this before". "We've no idea how it got there," Mr Park said. "Perhaps it fell into a sewer and then crawled up the u-bend. It might have been flushed a few times. It certainly looked very clean."

कंट्री पार्क के कर्मचारियों द्वारा एक बचाव रणनीति तैयार की गई थी जब उन्होंने अपने कार्यालय के शौचालय के किनारे के नीचे एक टोड को मजबूती से बंधा हुआ पाया था।


Crossing the border: US migrants seek refugee status in Canada

Summary: Asylum seekers are illegally crossing from the US into Canada in growing numbers hoping to receive refugee status. One small prairie town in southern Manitoba has become the nexus point for migrants who have lost hope in the US.

By Jessica MurphyBBC News, Emerson, Manitoba It was a cold Seidu Mohammed and Razak Iyal could barely comprehend. On Christmas Eve, they found themselves struggling through a waist-deep field of snow in a rash night-time bid to sneak across the Canada-US border. The two men had met just few hours before at a Minneapolis bus station and both faced deportation back to Ghana after being denied refugee status in the US. They had heard through a network of other refugees and African expats that if they could get into Canada, they had a second shot at asylum in the north. The path was straightforward: find a ride to the border from Minneapolis, MN or Grand Forks, ND, avoid patrols until you reach Canadian soil, and then turn yourself into Canadian authorities as an asylum seeker. Iyal and Mohammed decided to make the trek together, and paid US$200 each to a cab driver who dropped them near the international boundary. They kept to the road until they neared the border. "That's where we saw the big farm with the snow. Snow everywhere. We were seeing the light of the border far from us, but we are seeing the light," Iyal recalls. Soon they had lost their gloves in the snow. The wind stole Mohammed's baseball cap. "There is wind and cold," he says "And the wind is blowing the snow into our face. So I can't see nothing." By the time they reached Highway 75 in Manitoba, their hands had frozen into claws. They could not reach the phones in their pockets to dial 9-1-1 as planned. Mohammed's eyes had frozen shut. The only vehicles on the road before dawn on Christmas were transport trucks ferrying cargo between the US and Canada. Many passed, flashing their high beams at the two before blowing by, until one stopped to give them assistance. They have been receiving treatment at a specialised burn unit in a Winnipeg hospital since that 10-hour journey. Both had most of their fingers amputated due to the severe frostbite. Iyal says nurses had to chip away at the snow and ice between Mohammed's fingers. Their story has brought attention to a phenomenon that is not new but has been growing steadily in recent years. And it has not deterred others from making the cross-border trip. Record numbers of people have crossed near Emerson in the past few weeks. It is not just Manitoba. Quebec and British Columbia are also seeing more and more people illegally crossing the border to make refugee claims. In the prairie province, the influx is centred on Emerson, a municipality of about 700 people that borders Minnesota. The rural town, surrounded by farm fields, is about 625km (390 miles) up the Interstate from Minneapolis, which has the largest Somali population in North America. Word about the Emerson crossing has spread within the expat community, as far as down to Brazil. "We've always had people jumping the borders, for, I don't know, 30, 40, 50 years. Back then, it was people running away from something - usually the law," says town official Greg Janzen. But in recent years it has been mostly asylum seekers, hailing mainly from Somalia but also Ghana, Djibouti, and Ethiopia, who are finding their way across. Community workers say most have been denied refugee status in the US. Many have been met with generosity. Yahya Samatar, a former human rights worker in Somalia, fled threats from Islamist al-Shabab militants and sought refugee status in the US, where he spent seven months in an immigration detention centre. The US denied his status but said it was too dangerous to deport him back to war-torn Somalia, and released him with a warning that he could be sent back anytime. Like Iyal and Mohammed, he heard about the backdoor into Canada, and found himself in August 2015 on the banks of the Red River, which runs through Manitoba and between North Dakota and Minnesota. He stripped to his underwear and swam across. Shivering and covered in mud, he then walked into Emerson, where a resident gave him a sweater and called border services. "I was given clothes, I was given food, everything" by border agents, says Samatar, who has since received refugee status and lives in Winnipeg. But now in Emerson, a wariness is emerging. The municipality that has opened its doors to those seeking refuge is wondering how far town resources will be stretched and what happens if someone who comes across poses a danger. There are also concerns that someone will die trying to make the trek across frozen fields in temperatures that can easily fall to -20C (-4F). Many also expect the number of attempts to cross will increase with warmer weather. For now, they do not see what other option there is except to do what they can to help. "If we don't they'll freeze and starve, and it would be on our conscience wouldn't it?" says resident Walter Kihn, who lives on the eastern edge of Emerson. Mr Janzen says "most people in town are more concerned than scared" about the strangers wandering into town. In the last three weeks, almost 60 people made the trek, including 21 who crossed in the hours before dawn on Saturday morning. A group of 16 people, including women and children, rang doorbells in town seeking help. "They went to the neighbours and got everybody riled up there," said resident Ernie Neufeld. One house took in the women and children, while "the RCMP tried to decide what to do with" the men. The Manitoba-US border runs 500km (310 miles) along Minnesota and North Dakota. Authorities from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), which oversees the official border points, and the Mounties, which polices the rest, say they are confident in the border's integrity. And they say those coming are quickly spotted or turn themselves so they can submit refugee claims. Once apprehended, they are identified, searched and screened. If they are eligible to make an asylum claim, they are allowed entry and referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Settlement workers assisting with the newest claims are pointing to the political rhetoric south of the border for the recent spike. Rita Chahal, executive director of the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, has opened over 300 files since April 2016 for refugee claimants crossing near Emerson. "Anecdotally, many people do express that they are concerned about what they saw at the airports, what they are seeing in the US," she says. In fact, in a November speech in Minnesota, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump singled out the state's Somali community. "Here in Minnesota, you've seen first hand the problems caused with faulty refugee-vetting, with very large numbers of Somali refugees coming into your state without your knowledge, your support or approval," he said. Mohammed says he once viewed the US as a beacon for human rights and a place that welcomed newcomers but "when we came, we didn't see that". He and Iyal have hearings in March to determine whether they can stay in Canada. Their lawyer has told them not to divulge too many details about the specifics of their refugee claims but Iyal says he left Ghana for personal and political reasons. Mohammed left because of his sexuality - being gay is illegal in the African country. They say in the meantime they will continue to heal from their injuries and learn how to live with their disability. "We just wait, impatiently, for what is coming next," Iyal says.

शरण चाहने वाले शरणार्थी का दर्जा प्राप्त करने की उम्मीद में बढ़ती संख्या में अमेरिका से अवैध रूप से कनाडा में प्रवेश कर रहे हैं। दक्षिणी मैनिटोबा में एक छोटा सा प्रेयरी शहर उन प्रवासियों के लिए सांठगांठ का बिंदु बन गया है जिन्होंने अमेरिका में उम्मीद खो दी है।


Jimmy Savile abuse allegations: Timeline

Summary: Police say the late Jimmy Savile abused hundreds of victims over five decades. This timeline charts the presenter's rise to fame, the allegations against him and the the subsequent action by police and broadcasters. Most recent events appear first.

11 Jan 2013 Report on victims published 19 Dec 2012 Pollard report criticises BBC 12 Dec 2012 Alleged victims reach 450 10 Nov 2012 Director general resigns 1 Nov 2012 Freddie Starr arrested 28 Oct 2012 Gary Glitter arrested 25 Oct 2012 Police prepare for arrests 24 Oct 2012 DPP to review 2009 inquiry 23 Oct 2012 Entwistle appears before MPs 22 Oct 2012 Newsnight editor steps aside 19 Oct 2012 Criminal inquiry launched 15 Oct 2012 Labour calls for independent inquiry 14 Oct 2012 Savile 'was asked about rumours' 13 Oct 2012 Broadmoor inquiry 12 Oct 2012 BBC orders inquiries 12 Oct 2012 340 lines of inquiry 11 Oct 2012 More allegations emerge 09 Oct 2012 Savile 'a predatory sex offender' 3 Oct 2012 ITV Exposure programme broadcast 2 Oct 2012 Rippon blogs on Newsnight investigation December 2011 Newsnight investigation dropped 29 Oct 2011 Savile dies 2000s Investigations 1990s Knighted 1980s Charity work 1970s Jim'll Fix It 1960s Top of the Pops Early life Bevin boy to DJ Police: 'Savile groomed a nation' Nick Pollard's report criticises BBC Commander Spindler outlines Savile investigation BBC director general George Entwistle resigns Freddie Starr released on bail in Savile inquiry Savile discussed in Parliament Radio 1 boss asked Savile about rumours Broadmoor role investigated BBC director general George Entwistle launches two inquiries Flood of allegations against Savile Police pursue 120 leads Sir Jimmy Savile's obituary

पुलिस का कहना है कि स्वर्गीय जिमी सेविले ने पांच दशकों में सैकड़ों पीड़ितों के साथ दुर्व्यवहार किया। यह समयरेखा प्रस्तुतकर्ता की प्रसिद्धि में वृद्धि, उसके खिलाफ आरोपों और पुलिस और प्रसारकों द्वारा बाद की कार्रवाई को दर्शाती है। सबसे हाल की घटनाएं सबसे पहले दिखाई देती हैं।


Neo-natal ward visiting restricted at University Hospital in Coventry

Summary: Visiting at a Coventry neo-natal ward has been temporarily restricted after three babies tested positive for an infection which can cause colds.

New admissions to the unit at University Hospital have also been suspended temporarily as a precaution. Parents can visit, but siblings and extended family members have been asked not to go to the unit. ParaInfluenza Virus 3 does not usually cause harm in healthy adults or children, the hospital said. But it added that babies being treated in the unit were more susceptible. The situation is being reviewed on a daily basis and a deep clean of the unit and its equipment has been taking place. Chief nurse at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust Mark Radford said: "We apologise to anyone affected but hope they understand that this decision is taken as a precautionary measure so that vulnerable babies are not put at risk."

तीन शिशुओं के संक्रमण के लिए सकारात्मक परीक्षण के बाद कोवेंट्री नियो-नेटल वार्ड में जाने पर अस्थायी रूप से प्रतिबंध लगा दिया गया है जो सर्दी का कारण बन सकता है।


Karachi submarine case: Balladur faces trial in France

Summary: Former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur and an ex-defence minister are to stand trial over the so-called Karachi affair - a submarine deal with Pakistan in the mid-1990s which allegedly involved secret commissions.

Under that deal Mr Balladur, now aged 90, allegedly got funding for his failed 1995 bid for the presidency. His then Defence Minister, François Léotard, also faces trial. Both men categorically deny any wrongdoing. In 2002 a bombing in Karachi killed 11 French engineers. There are suspicions that the car bombing, which wrecked a bus, was an act of revenge after President Jacques Chirac had ordered payment of the secret arms deal commissions to stop. Attorney General François Molins announced that Mr Balladur and Mr Léotard would go before a special tribunal for present and past government officials accused of wrongdoing. The allegation is that Mr Balladur approved payment of the commissions to intermediaries in the sale of three submarines to Pakistan, and that from them so-called "retro-commissions" came back to France to fund his presidential bid. The kickbacks are estimated to have cost 13m francs (almost €2m, or £1.8m, in today's money). Mr Balladur was prime minister from 1993 to 1995. Both he and Mr Léotard were charged in May 2017 with "complicity in misuse of corporate assets and concealment" over the Pakistan deal. Pakistani authorities blamed Islamist militants for the 2002 bombing, which killed 15 people in total. The 11 French engineers who died were working on the Agosta-class submarine contract. Long-running investigations into the crime are continuing. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy - a conservative who was close to Mr Balladur - also came under legal scrutiny over the Karachi affair. He denied any connection to the deal. Separately, on Tuesday Mr Sarkozy lost his legal appeal to avoid facing trial over allegations that his failed re-election campaign in 2012 was financed illegally. France's top appeals court has returned the case to prosecutors to decide if Mr Sarkozy should be tried. He denies accusations that his party, known then as the UMP, used a public relations firm to hide the real cost of his presidential bid. The case is known in France as the Bygmalion affair, after the name of the public relations firm that allegedly provided false invoices to help Mr Sarkozy.

फ्रांस के पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री एडवर्ड बल्लादुर और एक पूर्व रक्षा मंत्री पर तथाकथित कराची मामले में मुकदमा चलाया जाना है-1990 के दशक के मध्य में पाकिस्तान के साथ एक पनडुब्बी सौदा जिसमें कथित रूप से गुप्त आयोग शामिल थे।


Would you pay a stranger to dump your partner for you?

Summary: Would you pay someone to break up with your partner for you?

By Catherine SnowdonBBC Business reporter That's exactly what 28-year-old Trevor Meyers did. "I felt like it was easier for someone else to take care of an awkward situation like a break-up," says Trevor, who lives in Canada. He has used the services of a company called The Breakup Shop more than once to end relationships. You can choose to pay a stranger to send a text, email or good old-fashioned letter to the person you are breaking up with. Or they can call your soon-to-be-ex to tell them it's over. "I used The Breakup Shop to end a couple of short-term things when things just didn't mesh with the way I live my life," says Trevor. "Overall I think they [those broken-up with] get it - it's pretty simple. I haven't had to use it often but I'm glad there is a service for it now." Ghosting The Breakup Shop was founded by Canadian brothers Evan and Mackenzie Keast in November 2015. The idea for the site came about when Mackenzie was "ghosted" by a woman. This is the term for when someone disappears from the life of a person they were previously dating or in a relationship with. "She stopped responding to messages and phone calls, she totally disappeared. She didn't have the courage to break up with him herself," says Evan. Within a week, The Breakup Shop was launched. Prices range from 10 Canadian dollars (£6) for a text or email, to C$80 for a "Breakup Gift Box", which includes cookies and wine. While the messages can be personalised, Evan is keen to stress the company would never relay anything "offensive or damaging". Over the past 18 months, the brothers have ended "hundreds and hundreds" of relationships while also working full-time jobs in technology and property development. 'Violation of norms' Evan acknowledges that some people are uncomfortable with the idea of The Breakup Shop but says times are changing. "We're living in an age of fast communication," he says. "Everything is sudden and abrupt, it's how the next generation communicates." Dr Bernie Hogan, a research fellow at Oxford University's Internet Institute, says the process of ending relationships has evolved in line with the shifting way they are formed. "People don't have a context in common with their partners anymore. When you meet someone on the internet or via a dating app, they aren't friends of friends or colleagues to whom you are connected. So when the relationship ends there isn't the added complexity of mutual friends to deal with," he says. This explains how ghosting can happen, as it's easier to make a clean break. So perhaps using a third party to end a relationship is better than not officially ending it at all, but Dr Hogan says it is still very much a "violation of norms". Though paying someone to break up with your partner may not be to everyone's taste, it's not the only personal task that you can pay someone else to do. Robot writers You don't get much more personal than sending a hand-written letter or thank you card. In this age of digital communication, such correspondence is becoming increasingly rare. Finding the time to write letters or even having stationery and a stamp to hand can be tricky. So how about getting a machine to do it for you? Sonny Caberwal is chief executive of Bond, a company that has developed a machine that can hold a pen and write. It can even learn your own style of handwriting. The average price for a note is around $5 (£4) and customers can send in the text to be transcribed from their computer, tablet or smartphone. Sonny says customers range from recently married couples needing help thanking their guests for wedding gifts, through to business people who travel too much to make it to the post office. While this novel use of technology is decidedly James Bond-esque, the famous spy isn't actually the inspiration behind the name of the company. "The whole idea of the company was about creating beautiful experiences that bond people," says Sonny. "Our target customers are the people that love writing notes but simply don't have the time to write them themselves." Waiting your turn Another thing that people don't seem to have the time for is queuing. Contrary to the popular perception of British people loving a good queue, we in fact do not like standing in a line, according to social historians (unless it's for tickets to the tennis at Wimbledon). But help is at hand. Online errand-running business TaskRabbit says people who will queue up for others - whether in person or online - are in popular demand on its platform. "We see hundreds of requests for London Taskers to wait online for the latest restaurant and theatre tickets, or wait for a BT or Sky technician to arrive, or even queue for five hours for the latest Yeezy shoe [Kanye West trainers]," says Ian Arthurs, TaskRabbit's chief operating officer. British users, however, tend to be a bit more reserved than their American counterparts, he says. "We had a task in LA where a customer was looking for someone to impersonate them at a party so they didn't have to go." Where matters of the heart are concerned, though, it's not just breaking up with a partner that some people seek help with. On a more uplifting note, Ian Arthurs points to an example of someone in New York seeking TaskRabbit's help to plan and execute a surprise public marriage proposal. Luckily, it worked. She said yes.

क्या आप अपने साथी से अलग होने के लिए किसी को पैसे देंगे?


Lewis Ludlow: How the Oxford Street terror plotter was caught

Summary: Lewis Ludlow has been sentenced after planning to kill 100 people in a London terror attack, having been instructed by the Islamic State group (IS) to make Britons "pay in their blood". Here's the story of how he was caught.

By Daniel De SimoneBBC News The amateurish video is sinister and alarming. A hooded figure calling himself "The Eagle", his face half-obscured, stares into the camera and makes a pledge. "We love death as much as you love life so therefore my allegiance is to Islamic State. I have nothing for this country of Britain. I spit on your citizenship, your passport, you can go to hell with that." In a halting delivery, the man - Lewis Ludlow, a 27-year-old from Rochester, Kent - rejects life in the UK and ends by stating: "May we destroy all of what you hold dear." The speech was filmed on a mobile phone, later recovered from a storm drain near Ludlow's home. Long a person of concern to police and MI5, Ludlow became the subject of intense surveillance early last year when he began preparations for a mass casualty terror attack. He made plans for a truck attack in central London - but had not learned to drive because he was "scared of crashing". Ludlow converted to Islam aged 16 and soon began associating with the hate preacher Anjem Choudary and other extremists. He attended demonstrations, proselytised in the streets and online, and was seen with Michael Adebowale - one of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby - and Siddartha Dhar, who became an IS executioner after moving to Syria. In a YouTube video he made, aged 19, the awkward but effusive Ludlow described a journey from neo-Nazism to radical Islamism, saying: "I used to hate black people and Asians and Arabs. I admired Hitler for his extermination of the Jews because I thought he did something good." Ludlow, who never moved away from the family home, spent years on benefits interspersed with brief periods of employment in charity shops and as a Royal Mail sorter. There were unsuccessful attempts to set him up romantically with women involved in Choudary's network. Four years ago, he was arrested on suspicion of being a member of the banned Islamist group al-Muhajiroun, which was once led by Choudary. 'Send something lethal' Despite not being charged, evidence showed Ludlow was in contact with a British IS fighter in Syria and had expressed the intention of travelling there. In one message found by police, Ludlow even suggested his Post Office role could be used for terrorist purposes, saying: "Royal Mail rarely check items… It's perfect to send something lethal." For 10 years there were attempts to enrol Ludlow in the government's de-radicalisation programme Prevent, but he resisted until October 2017 when he began a series of 17 meetings with an assigned mentor. Ludlow sought to create the impression he was positively engaging with the scheme, which appears to have been accepted by those managing his involvement, but in fact his terrorist activity was only increasing. In February 2018 he was stopped by police from travelling to an area of the Philippines where Jihadist groups are active. He was suspected of buying a plane ticket to Zamboanga in order to take part in terrorism. When questioned at Heathrow, Ludlow insisted he was going abroad for sex tourism and that, despite being groomed by "Anjem Choudary's lot" in the past, he had since distanced himself from them. Within days, detectives searched Ludlow's address and found a mobile phone he had hurriedly attempted to discard by throwing it over a neighbour's fence. The device revealed he had been using encrypted messaging applications to communicate with a Philippines-based IS militant and was planning to move there permanently. A subsequent official decision to revoke his passport angered Ludlow and he then switched his attention to planning an attack in the UK, encouraged and directed by the militant - a radicalised medic called Eyadzhemar Abdusalam who used the epithet Abu Yaqeen. In March 2018 undercover investigators observed Ludlow travelling to central London, where he took photos of landmarks and crowded areas like the Disney Store on Oxford Street, as well as printing off IS material at internet cafes. He also toured Westminster, passing the area where a deadly knife and vehicle attack had taken the lives of five victims a year earlier. The undercover team later recovered several torn-up notes from bins outside Ludlow's Rochester address. One note - headed "potential attack sites" - included Madame Tussauds and St Paul's Cathedral. It included the line: "Oxford Street busiest time between 11-12:00, particularly Fridays." Another note said a bomb-laden truck could be used to "maximise death…. it is a busy street, it is ideal for an attack. It is expected nearly 100 could be killed". Ludlow had also researched vehicle prices. But he did not have a truck and in one message to Abdusalam he had stated "driving isn't easy", adding he had not learned to drive "because it's expensive, plus a bit scared of crashing". A vehicle attack would therefore require an accomplice. At this stage an undercover officer, posing as a UK-based extremist, began communicating with Abdusalam on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram. The officer was told to engage in reconnaissance of potential targets - "scout the most crowded area, take pictures" - and to make a video pledging allegiance to IS. A photo of a written pledge by Ludlow was sent to the officer, who was informed: "The other wolf did this." In a reference to Ludlow, the detective was told he would soon "meet Eagle" and that they would "work as a team". The officer was constantly pestered for money and it emerged that Ludlow was using a fake Facebook page - called Antique Collections - to channel funds to militants. In April last year, Abdusalam suspected he may be under surveillance, prompting him and Ludlow to change their social media accounts. This development led to Ludlow disposing of the phone containing his IS pledge videos, which he had apparently been asked to film by Abdusalam. Such was the official concern about what Ludlow may do, he was placed under 24-hour armed surveillance and a decision was made to intercept him were he to head for central London. Within days he was arrested in a street near his home. When Abdusalam and his wife were arrested in the Philippines they were found to be in possession of weapons. They are currently being held in custody charged with explosives offences. 'I'm naive but not stupid' During police interviews Ludlow placed his head in his hands when detectives played the IS pledge footage, which he must have been hoping was hidden forever. When the indictment was read during his first court appearance, Ludlow stated "I declare myself innocent of that charge" in response to each count - but he eventually pleaded guilty to preparing acts of terrorism and terrorist fundraising. A dispute about the basis of his pleas meant he was called to give evidence in court. Ludlow insisted that - by the time of his arrest - he had disengaged from the terror plot and had become absorbed in a relationship with an Indonesian woman called Ummo, having met her online. Describing how he had changed his Facebook relationship status to "engaged" in order to placate his beloved, Ludlow explained: "I was considered quite a good-looking man on social media so she was a bit jealous." The court heard that Ludlow had autism and depression, but it was revealed he had been overheard telling another extremist: "I have been exaggerating my depression and they think I'm stupid. I'm naive but not stupid or mad." The court was also told he had agreed to "fake" his involvement in the Prevent scheme. Ludlow had actually carried out reconnaissance of attack targets on the same day as one of his Prevent meetings. The prosecution said Ludlow had stuck to the plot as long as he could and had lied in order to downplay his culpability and radical mindset. Despite attempts to stop Ludlow being radicalised in the first place and then to de-radicalise him after those efforts failed, he had persisted in his extremist activity and became involved in the most serious form of terrorism: a plot to kill dozens of civilians.

लुईस लुडलो को लंदन के एक आतंकी हमले में 100 लोगों को मारने की योजना बनाने के बाद सजा सुनाई गई है, इस्लामिक स्टेट समूह (आईएस) द्वारा निर्देश दिया गया था कि वे ब्रितानियों को "उनके खून से भुगतान करें।" यहाँ कहानी है कि वह कैसे पकड़ा गया था।


Aberdeen only major city to 'grow through downturn'

Summary: Aberdeen was the only major British city to grow through the worst year of the downturn, according to a new economic analysis.

Accountancy group UHY Hacker Young measured the gross value added - the measure of a region's contribution to the UK economy in goods and services. It found Aberdeen grew slightly during 2009, due to its oil and gas sector. The analysis showed Edinburgh and Glasgow joining Aberdeen in the top five.

एक नए आर्थिक विश्लेषण के अनुसार, एबरडीन मंदी के सबसे खराब वर्ष में विकसित होने वाला एकमात्र प्रमुख ब्रिटिश शहर था।


What would a Labour government do for you?

Summary: The next general election will take place in just under eight months. So, what did we learn about Labour's policies at the party's annual conference this week? If there is one thing Labour wants voters to remember, it's plans for the NHS...

By Kristiina CooperPolitical reporter, BBC News It promised an extra £2.5bn to recruit more staff. The money will come from three sources - a new "mansion" tax, clamping down on tax avoidance by big corporations and a new tax on tobacco companies. Labour has also said patients in England would get an appointment within 48 hours. If there is one thing voters tend to remember, it's policies on tax... Labour would tax people who own properties worth over £2m. It estimates that the "mansion tax" will bring in £1.2bn, although we've yet to be told how the tax would work. It didn't get much of a mention at conference but Labour also restated its promise to reintroduce a 50p rate of income tax for earnings over £150,000. And a symbolic (rather than deficit slashing) announcement - Labour would bring in a 5% pay cut for every government minister. For the prime minister, that's a loss of just over £7,000 a year. There was a promise of more money for the low-paid... There would be an increase in the minimum wage from £6.50-an-hour to £8-an-hour by 2020. Zero hours contracts would also be banned. Announced last year, Labour would also reintroduce the 10p rate of tax. (That was originally going to be funded by the mansion tax.) Welfare spending to remain tight... Rises in child benefit would be capped at 1% for the first two years of the next parliament. Winter fuel allowance would be withdrawn from the wealthiest pensioners. But Labour would get rid of what it calls the "bedroom tax" - the coalition's policy to cut housing benefit for people deemed to have a home bigger than they need, which it calls the spare room subsidy. Labour continues to talk about the "cost of living crisis"... Labour's remedies include forcing water companies to help customers struggling to pay their bills and a 20-month price freeze on energy. There would also be one million interest-free loans to help people insulate their homes. Rail fares would be capped and for private renters there would be a cap on rent increases. There would be more homes too, with Labour planning to build 200,000 houses a year by 2020. What about business? Previous years have seen Ed Miliband targeting business in his speech with attacks on predatory "asset-stripping" companies. We're yet to see how this might reflect itself in precise policy terms. What we do now know is that Labour would scrap a cut in corporation tax for big business in order to reduce business rates for small firms. Immigration is top, or near the top, of the list of issues for voters... This is one area where a host of Labour figures are happy to say the Blair/Brown government got it wrong. But they say, instead of an "arms race of rhetoric", they will offer practical policies that help. They include "stronger" border controls to tackle illegal immigration with "proper" entry and exit checks. Labour says there would be "smarter" targets to reduce low-skilled migration but ensure university students and high-skilled workers are not put off. And employment agencies who only recruit abroad will be outlawed while the fines for employing illegal immigrants will be increased. What about the kids? Labour says it will make sure all teachers would have to be qualified. Parents of primary school children would be guaranteed childcare from 8am to 6pm. The amount of free childcare for three and four year olds would be increased from 15 to 25 hours a week. Labour plans that by 2025, as many young people will be leaving school to do an apprenticeship as go to university. Getting greener Labour, which reckons David Cameron has made the environment "unfashionable", has promised to create one million green jobs - to make Britain a global leader in renewable energy. It would also create a Green Investment Bank, with powers to borrow money. Ed Miliband said tackling climate change was important to the economy and an important issue for him personally. That's it then. Or have we forgotten something...? Ah yes, it may have slipped Ed Miliband's mind during his speech, but what about the economy? The deficit remains rather large. Luckily shadow chancellor Ed Balls had covered that ground - Labour promised to get the current budget into surplus and the national debt falling "as soon as possible in the next parliament". It added that no proposals for new spending would be paid for by additional borrowing.

अगला आम चुनाव केवल आठ महीनों में होगा। तो, हमने इस सप्ताह पार्टी के वार्षिक सम्मेलन में लेबर की नीतियों के बारे में क्या सीखा? अगर लेबर एक बात याद रखना चाहता है कि मतदाता, तो यह एनएचएस के लिए योजना है...


Zimbabwe - once more on the brink of collapse?

Summary: The three women were in tears, distraught, and seemingly faint with hunger, as they sat in filthy prison uniforms in the dock in a magistrate's court in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, waiting to hear if they would be granted bail.

By Andrew HardingAfrica correspondent, BBC News In a country grappling not just with coronavirus but with a string of deepening economic and political crises - including rumours and denials of a coup plot - the extraordinary and deeply controversial case of opposition activists Cecilia Chimbiri, Netsai Marova and Joana Mamombe seems to point to something grim and fundamental about Zimbabwe's current struggles: an overwhelming loss of public trust in its key institutions. "We see a very jittery state that is at war with its citizens," said Fadzayi Mahere, a spokeswoman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who attended the bail hearing on Monday and argued that the women's humiliation was part of an overtly political strategy to instil fear in the public. The MDC activists are facing trial on charges that they lied about being abducted and sexually assaulted last month. Speaking from hospital after their ordeal, the women said unnamed state security agents had tortured them. But a string of government ministers immediately accused them of fabricating their stories to discredit the government and to distract from the women's own participation in an illegal protest march. "The three women were part of a group of MDC youths that defied the lockdown laws in the country and took part in an illegal demonstration," said the government's information secretary Nick Mangwana. 'Ugly, fractious legal case' One deputy minister, who was later sacked, suggested the women, one of whom is a member of parliament, were prostitutes. "The mask has fallen. They have no qualms about violating women and no interest in bringing the perpetrators to account," said Ms Mahere. But others in Harare have been left confused, and deeply cynical, about the allegations, unable to decide whom to believe. "We've been tricked before. Nothing is as it seems," said one hospital doctor, who often treats torture victims, but who asked not to be identified. This ugly, fractious legal case is playing out at a particularly tough time for Zimbabwe. The impoverished nation had seemed to be turning a corner three years ago, when President Robert Mugabe was forced out of power by the military and his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, promised tough economic reforms and a new era of transparency and accountability for the ruling Zanu-PF party. But today, half the country's population is struggling to feed itself, high inflation rates - which helped destroy the economy over a decade ago - have returned, and Zanu-PF has stopped telling the world that Zimbabwe is "open for business" and has reverted to its old habit of accusing unnamed Western nations of fomenting unrest and of conspiring with local critics to undermine the government and the economy. 15.6 millionsize of population 63%live below poverty line 23%of children have stunted growth 785.5% official annual inflation rate in May 387coronavirus cases since March Four coronavirus-related deaths "There is no coup in the making," said Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe last week, blaming such "rumours" on an elaborate conspiracy between local and international forces. His comments, presumably designed to reassure, appeared to have had the opposite effect. "We are facing a storm. A perfect storm. We are going into state failure," warned businessman Shingi Munyeza, during a recent Zoom call with a range of civil society activists alarmed about the deepening economic crisis and the threat posed by coronavirus. Is another coup possible? The jittery mood in Harare has been compounded by a recent and controversial move by the security forces to seize the opposition's headquarters, as well as by the unpredictable presence of troops on the streets apparently enforcing lockdown measures. One of Mr Mugabe's old allies, now in exile in South Africa (and accused of fuelling the rumours about another military intervention), said the situation was clearly fragile. "It is a very unstable situation. Any system built on weak foundations will always shake. This regime was built on a coup," said former minister Saviour Kasukuwere, accusing his old party, Zanu-PF, of "failing to deliver" on its promise of reforms. 'Forced to drink urine' In the meantime, Cecilia Chimbiri, Netsai Marova and Joana Mamombe are back in the notorious Chikurubi prison, on the edge of Harare, awaiting trial. The magistrate denied them bail, arguing that the state had produced compelling evidence, including video evidence, against the women, and that the three might seek to flee the country if released. You may also be interested in: Last week, speaking by phone from hospital, Ms Chimbiri said had been sexually assaulted and forced to drink urine by her abductors, but she insisted she and her colleagues were undaunted. "Our freedom will not be granted to us on a silver plate," said Ms Chimbiri. Refusing prison meals The MDC said the decision to deny the women bail was "extremely political," and that an appeal was being prepared. On Tuesday, at a national prayer service, President Mnangagwa urged Zimbabweans to repent "in the face of this deadly coronavirus pandemic", and to fight against injustice and corruption. "Forgive us for every act of injustice or corruption that has made the poor suffer or innocent to die. "Forgive us as individuals and as a nation even for the sins of which we may be unaware," he said. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has condemned what it calls "an escalating crackdown on the right to freedom of expression and the criminalisation of dissent" in the country. After the court appearance, the three women - one of them barely able to walk - were escorted back to a prison van and returned to prison. Citing fears of being poisoned, they have refused to eat prison meals, and are relying on whatever food the authorities permit their relatives and supporters to bring to them.

जिम्बाब्वे की राजधानी हरारे में एक मजिस्ट्रेट की अदालत में गोदी में गंदी जेल की वर्दी में बैठी तीनों महिलाएं रो रही थीं, परेशान थीं, और भूख से बेहोश लग रही थीं, यह सुनने के लिए इंतजार कर रही थीं कि क्या उन्हें जमानत दी जाएगी।


Monmouthshire glider crash: Man seriously injured

Summary: A man has been taken to hospital with serious injuries after a glider crashed in Monmouthshire on Saturday afternoon.

The fire service said the glider flipped over on take off at South Wales Gliding Club in Gwernesney, near Usk. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said it had sent a team to the scene of the crash at Lower Raglan Road. Police said they were called at about 12:45 BST. The man suffered serious injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening, Gwent Police added. The man was taken to Morriston Hospital, in Swansea. Fire crews from Usk, New Inn and Ebbw Vale attended.

शनिवार दोपहर मॉनमाउथशायर में एक ग्लाइडर के दुर्घटनाग्रस्त होने के बाद गंभीर रूप से घायल एक व्यक्ति को अस्पताल ले जाया गया है।


St Peter's Hospice gets more cash to help patients at home

Summary: A Bristol hospice says it will be able to care for more terminally ill people in their own homes thanks to a grant.

St Peter's Hospice has been awarded £15,000 from a programme financed by the St James's Place Foundation. Julia Di Castiglione, from the charity, said the grant meant it could continue to help seriously ill people live in comfort until they die. "It will also enable us to provide support for their family and friends," she said. "Last year our team cared for over 350 patients at home - it's great that we will be able to help even more people this year."

ब्रिस्टल के एक धर्मशाला का कहना है कि यह अनुदान की बदौलत अपने घरों में अधिक गंभीर रूप से बीमार लोगों की देखभाल करने में सक्षम होगा।


Channel Islands to UK ferries cancelled as Storm Barney hits

Summary: Fast ferry services between the Channel Islands and Poole have been cancelled or rescheduled due to adverse weather caused by Storm Barney .

Condor Ferries cancelled Wednesday's sailings as "wave heights are currently forecast to exceed our legal operating limits". A service is planned early on Thursday in a "brief break in the weather". Storm Barney, the UK's second named storm, is affecting parts of southern England with gusts in excess of 70mph. Sailings to St Malo will also be rescheduled to allow the Condor Rapide an extra sailing between the islands. Jersey Met has issued a gale warning for Tuesday evening.

तूफान बार्नी के कारण प्रतिकूल मौसम के कारण चैनल द्वीप समूह और पूल के बीच तेज नौका सेवाओं को रद्द कर दिया गया है या पुनर्निर्धारित किया गया है।