Far from home, Rohingya refugees face a new peril on a remote island

Summary: After fleeing a brutal crackdown which left thousands dead in their homeland of Myanmar, the Rohingya are once again under threat.

By Akbar HossainBBC Bengali In Cox's Bazar, the massive refugee camp in Bangladesh to which many of the Rohingya refugees fled, violence and drug and human trafficking are on the rise. The Bangladeshi government has begun relocating hundreds of the refugees, against their will, to the small remote silt island of Bhasan Char. On the first visit to the island by journalists, the BBC went to investigate what the future holds for the tens of thousands of Rohingya still living in limbo. It's been six months since 55-year-old Rashida Khatun has heard from her children. Khatun and her family live in Cox's Bazar, but in February, before the coronavirus had fully taken hold in Bangladesh, two of Rashida's children set off on a perilous journey. Driven by their belief in a better future, her 17-year-old daughter and 22-year-old son boarded a small fishing vessel with two dozen other Rohingya refugees and began the 10-day journey from Cox's Bazar to Malaysia. Sitting in her makeshift house of bamboo and plastic, with a white head scarf draped over her head and shoulders, Khatun described how her family fled from their homeland of Myanmar in 2017 after the military attacked her village in Maungdaw and burnt down her house. Three years ago, a military operation in Myanmar destroyed entire Rohingya Muslim villages. UN investigators say as many as 10,000 people were killed and more than 730,000 Rohingya fled the massacre for Bangladesh. The UN called it a "textbook ethnic cleansing". After years of living in temporary shelters, and with no hope of returning to their ancestral homeland, Khatun's sonand daughter had become desperate to escape the escalating violence and lack of opportunities in the camps. So they decided to flee to the Muslim majority country of Malaysia. "One of my relatives in Malaysia phoned me last year. He said that many Malaysian men want to marry Rohingya women," Khatun said. "He assured me my daughter would be able to get married there and that my son would be able to get a good job." Travelling by boat from Bangladesh to Malaysia has become the most common route out of the camps for young Rohingya, but it's a treacherous journey. In the same week Khatun's children departed, a fishing boat carrying dozens of refugees capsized just off the coast of Bangladesh. Fourteen people died. After 10 days at sea, Khatun's children - who we have not named to protect their safety - made it within sight of the Malaysian coast. But they were being tracked by the Malaysian Navy. Refused permission to dock by the Malaysian authorities, their tiny fishing vessel was left stranded for a month floating in the Andaman Sea. Eventually, Bangladesh's coast guard, bowing under the pressure from local media and human rights groups, intervened. Along with hundreds of other refugees who had also been refused entry to Malaysia, Khatun's children were not allowed to return home to the camps of Cox's Bazar, but were instead taken to the small island of Bhasan Char, in the Bay of Bengal. Back in Cox's Bazar, Khatun received a call from an unknown number. "My daughter sounded very anxious. She was crying when she told me that she was being taken to an island named Bhasan Char." It was the last time she spoke to her daughter. The Island The island of Bhasan Char, located 60km (37 miles) off the coast of Bangladesh, emerged less than 20 years ago from the sea. Situated less than 2m (6ft) above sea level, the island is made entirely of silt, Himalayan sediment washed down river and into the sea. For the past three years, the authorities have been building a new town, at a cost of $350m (£270m). Their aim is to relocate more than 100,000 refugees in order to ease tensions within the camps. Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has frequently defended her government's plans, urging the international community to understand that, with over a million refugees living in Cox's Bazar, the escalation in violence as well as both drug and human trafficking shows the camps are no longer safe nor sustainable. "The crisis is now becoming a regional threat. Besides increasing congestion and environmental degradation, it's also challenging health and security in the area," she said at the UN General Assembly last year. But for many Rohingya, Bhasan Char is closer to a prison than a refuge. All of the 306 refugees living on the island, including Khatun's two children, were relocated to the island against their will and none are allowed to leave. Under pressure from the UN Human Rights Council to stop sending Rohingya to the island against their will, the Bangladeshi authorities are now engaging in an all out marketing campaign to promote the island as a spacious and modern alternative to the conditions faced by those living in the camps. Their efforts include taking a small pool of journalists, including the BBC, on an exclusive media tour of the facilities, all coordinated by and under the watchful eye of the Navy and intelligence service. After three hours' travel aboard a Navy vessel, the small band of journalists were met by Commodore Abdullah al Mamum Chowdhury before being escorted around the newly finished site. The newly built town forms a giant grid, with hundreds of rows of red roofed houses. All that we saw stood vacant, waiting for an influx of refugees. Overhead, installed on every house and every corner, security cameras kept watch. Navy officials were keen to point out two schools, a mosque, two 40-bed hospitals and two community clinics, all currently under construction. "The infrastructure is eco-friendly," said Chowdhury. "There is plenty of open space. Here they will have electricity which they don't have in Cox's Bazar camp. The most important thing is education. We have constructed schools for Rohingya children where they will get better education." Earlier this year, Amnesty International released a damning report on the conditions faced by the 306 Rohingya already living on the island. The report contained allegations of cramped and unhygienic living conditions, limited food and healthcare facilities, a lack of phones in order for refugees to be able to contact their families, as well as cases of sexual harassment by both the Navy and local labourers engaging in extortion. Chowdry denied the allegations. "We are taking care of them as our guests," he said. "They are given proper food and access to all facilities." When Chowdry was asked about the whereabouts of the 306 Rohingya already on the island, he said none was available to meet the gathered journalists. As the tour continued beyond the vacant buildings and out into the fields, some signs of life emerged from the swathes of green grass. Hundreds of buffalo and sheep stood grazing, and watching over them was 50-year-old cattle rancher Tajul Haq, who said he had been working on the island for the past five years, caring for the buffalo. "I look after around 100 buffalo on behalf of the owner. The island is full of grass so suitable for buffalo. The land is also very fertile. You can grow anything," said Haq. The Bangladeshi government has long-promised the UN access to the island in order to carry out an official assessment of the long term safety and sustainability of Bhasan Char. But the Bangladeshi authorities are still holding the UN at bay, leaving the question of whether the land can provide enough food, facilities and livelihood opportunities to support 100,000 people unanswered. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees told the BBC that, with the arrival of 306 refugees, an onsite visit by the UN was now even more crucial to assess the conditions for those already living on the island. They said they had submitted their request to the government, but were yet to hear back. Many Rohingya are also concerned that the island, at just 6ft above sea-level, is extremely vulnerable to cyclones, monsoon rains and tidal surges. Commodore Chowdury said during a power-point presentation to journalists that not only had a 14km long seawall been constructed to protect the island, but that "experts" had established the risk of the island being hit by a cyclone as "very low". "No severe cyclone-eye has hit this area in the last 172 years," Chowdury said. He showed off what he said was 120 cyclone shelters capable of withstanding 260kph winds. But contrary to Chowdury's claim, there is evidence to suggest two cyclones did in fact track right across or very close to Bhasan Char in 1991 and 1997. And it is well documented the damage caused by cyclones frequently occurs many miles from the eye of a storm. Bangladesh experiences an average of more than one cyclonic storm every year, and the BBC's own internal weather experts said the likelihood of Bhasan Char being affected in the future was high, and that the topography and low-lying ground meant such storms could cause major flooding both from excessive rainfall and coastal storm surges. A house is not always a home The isolation of Bhasan Char is also something the Rohingya fear. Back aboard the Navy vessel after the commodore's tour, it was another three-hour rough ride back to the mainland. "The houses are good in Bhasan Char, but it looks like a prison," said Nur Hossain, a Rohingya camp resident who had seen pictures of the island, and spoken to Rohingya elders who visited. "In Cox Bazar we are living as a community," he said. "But on the island, our freedom would be restricted. We would have to live under Navy surveillance." For others in the camps, living so close to the border between Bangladesh and their homeland of Myanmar offers some solace. And the option of moving to a remote island feels like a shift even further away from their dreams of returning home. One community elder who was among 40 or so taken on a tour of the island in September, but who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, explained the importance of the camps being close to the border with Myanmar. "The Bangladesh government wants us [the elders] to speak publicly in the camps in favour of the island. However, the general population brand us traitors if we speak for relocation," he said. "They are dead against the plans to relocation to the island. It doesn't matter how beautiful the infrastructure is, Rohingya feel connected to their roots in Myanmar while staying in Cox's Bazar." Even for Khatun, the idea of leaving the camps to be reunited with her children is too much of a risk. Because for her, the camps were always temporary, and three years on her aim is still for all of her family to return to Myanmar. "I want my son and daughter back here," she said. "Why should I go there? Here, Myanmar is close. If we get justice, we shall go back to Myanmar as soon as possible. I'll not go to Bhasan Char." Photographs: Salman Saeed and Akbar Hossain. Producer: Claire Press

एक क्रूर कार्रवाई से भागने के बाद, जिसमें उनकी मातृभूमि म्यांमार में हजारों लोग मारे गए थे, रोहिंग्या एक बार फिर खतरे में हैं।


Intern scheme 'to open Westminster corridors of power'

Summary: Earlier this year, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg turned the spotlight on the secret army of unpaid interns staffing the offices of Westminster. Now a new scheme, set up by a former Labour minister and launched on Wednesday, is hoping to spell the beginning of the end for what many see as an unfair and exploitative practice.

By Victoria KingPolitical reporter, BBC News For anyone wanting a job in politics, unpaid work experience has become an essential - but often very hard to come by - prerequisite. Opportunities are often not advertised and those that are are hugely oversubscribed. As a result, the only way in is often a leg-up from a friend or relative. Even those who do get in will almost certainly not get paid - despite doing jobs for months on end that go way beyond traditional tea-making - so they'll need more help to cover food, travel and accommodation costs. This is the state of affairs that Nick Clegg says he is unhappy about and has vowed to outlaw - although he has had to back-track a bit on whether or when that ban will apply to Lib Dem HQ. Prime Minister David Cameron, however, has said he's "relaxed" about the idea giving friends a foot on the ladder. Now Hazel Blears, former communities minister, is setting up a scheme - small in nature but big in ambition, she says - to try to change things. 'If the cap fits' The Speaker's Parliamentary Placements initiative will open for applicants this summer and the first intake of 12 recruits will take up their posts from October. Each one will work for an MP for the whole parliamentary session - and they'll be paid the London living wage - £8.30 an hour - for their efforts. "I'm worried that all our politicians are coming from the same background," Ms Blears says, explaining her motivation. "They graduate, work for free for an MP, become a researcher, then a special adviser, and then get parachuted into a safe seat somewhere. "Everyone ends up being the same because you can't do that unless you've got money, live in London or have the right connections. We're creating a political class that excludes everyone else. "I remember when I first raised this in the Commons, I walked into cabinet afterwards and [former culture secretary] James Purnell said to me, 'Are you talking about me?' Then Ed Miliband said, 'Are you talking about me?' And I just said, 'Well, gentlemen, if the cap fits.'" 'Rhodes Scholar' The Commons Speaker John Bercow - the son of a taxi driver - has put his name to the scheme, describing the current situation as "bad for the House and bad for political life in general". "It contributes to the House being less socially inclusive than it ought to be, and more remote from the experience of large parts of the electorate," he said. The speak will be formally launched on Wednesday at the Speaker's apartment in the Palace of Westminster. By getting the Speaker's backing, Ms Blears has attempted to give her idea some clout. She also hopes to elevate it above party-politics, and to that end, has gained the support of Conservative MP Eric Ollerenshaw and Lib Dem Jo Swinson - and says plenty more MPs are keen to get involved. "The idea is it'll be a bit like a Rhodes scholar, something really prestigious," she says. "I'll choose the MPs very carefully because I don't want them just doing photocopying. I want the MPs to really buy into the big political message and to help the interns really get to know how Westminster works." The scheme will be run by the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF), a charity that works with sixth-form pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds who want to enter professions like law or journalism. The estimated cost for the first year is £175,000. The House of Commons is contributing £25,000 to get the scheme off the ground, but Ms Blears is looking to raise the rest from private sponsorship. Insurers AXA and Aviva are two of the firms most recently signed up and she hopes more City companies will see it as an opportunity to restore their post-banking crisis reputations. The SMF will draw up the selection criteria for the placements, but Ms Blears is clear about who she wants. "I want it to be people from working class backgrounds. I could have said low income backgrounds, but I want to be a bit more specific. "The image I have is of the woman behind the till in Tesco who is passionate about changing things. She's interested in helping her community, she might be interested in politics as a whole as well, but she has absolutely no idea where to start. "It could be somebody for whom education didn't work. It could be their second chance - and there's no age limit." 'New norm' Gus Baker, co-founder of campaign group Intern Aware, endorses the scheme wholeheartedly, describing the current situation in Westminster as "a flagrant breach of employment law". "We're hugely positive about it," he says. "Anyone who's offering paid opportunities for young people, especially from non-traditional backgrounds, has our support. "We hope it sets a new norm. If Hazel Blears can find money to pay interns then so can Lib Dem HQ and so can all other MPs." Ms Blears says she has her own very personal motivation for setting up the scheme. She tells a story about being an eager 21-year-old, fresh out of university and hunting for a job, but turned down by a top Manchester law firm because her father wasn't anyone "special" - in fact, he was a maintenance fitter. She describes it as "one of the seminal moments in my life". The Salford MP admits the scheme is a small step - and she'll have to turn a lot of people down - but she has grand ambitions in the longer term. "I hope it'll do two things. For the people involved it will be life-changing. They'll get amazing contacts, and whether they stay in politics or not, it'll make a huge difference to their future. "The second thing I hope it'll do is catalyse the mainstream so that it's no longer acceptable to have people work for you for nothing. Work experience is fine - four weeks or six weeks - but beyond that it's not on - it's not fair. "It means people who have money can do it and people who don't, can't. In fact, it's outrageous, it's like going back to Victorian times."

इस साल की शुरुआत में, उप प्रधान मंत्री निक क्लेग ने वेस्टमिंस्टर के कार्यालयों में काम करने वाले अवैतनिक प्रशिक्षुओं की गुप्त सेना पर ध्यान केंद्रित किया। अब एक पूर्व श्रम मंत्री द्वारा स्थापित और बुधवार को शुरू की गई एक नई योजना, अंत की शुरुआत करने की उम्मीद कर रही है जिसे कई लोग एक अनुचित और शोषणकारी प्रथा के रूप में देखते हैं।


Bonnie Pointer: Former Pointer Sisters singer dies aged 69

Summary: US singer Bonnie Pointer has died aged 69.

She and her sisters rose to fame as the Grammy award-winning Pointer Sisters, who were best known for the hits Jump (For My Love) and I'm So Excited. "Our family is devastated," her sister Anita told the Associated Press on Monday. "On behalf of my siblings and I and the entire Pointer family, we ask for your prayers at this time." Bonnie and her sister June Pointer originally performed as a duet and were later joined by their sisters Anita and Ruth. The Pointer Sisters became popular in the 1970s and won the first of their three Grammy Awards for the song Fairytale in 1975. Bonnie left the group to pursue a solo career two years later but the Pointer Sisters' success continued into the 1980s and they were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994. Earlier this year, Anita and Bonnie Pointer released a single in memory of their sister June, who died in 2006. Their sister Ruth is the only sibling still performing in the Pointer Sisters, joined by her daughter and granddaughter.

अमेरिकी गायक बोनी पॉइंटर का 69 वर्ष की आयु में निधन हो गया है।


El Salvador gang truce: Can MS-13 and 18th Street keep the peace?

Summary: In March this year El Salvador's most violent gangs - the Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street gang - agreed a truce. As a result, the murder rate of this small Central American country has plummeted - but can the peace last?

By Linda PresslyBBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents, San Salvador On a Sunday morning, the main street into Majucla, a poor community in the north of San Salvador, looks like any other. It is a dirt road, there are food stalls, and people walk up and down, many dressed for church. Some men stand around in groups of two or three, chatting - look closely and you will see the tattoos. One of them has artwork that starts on his skull, covers his face and neck and disappears under his T-shirt. On one cheek a large M is tattooed, on the other an S. All these men are members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, known as the MS. Until March this year, these men were at war with the 18th Street gang. Their deadly conflict pushed El Salvador's homicide rate to a high of 13 or 14 a day. Now the men with the tattoos - in communities like Majucla - bear responsibility for upholding a truce. "The time is right, and we are showing the Salvadoran people we can be peaceful," says an emotional Ismael Guererro. "I have lost too many friends and relatives in the violence. We don't want another war because we are thinking about our children." MS member Dany Mendez spent six years in jail in connection with three murders. He is just 25 years old. "Before the truce started we would go looking for our enemies - the 18th Street gang - to kill them," he says. "I killed our enemies. Sometimes it was in self-defence, but that's part of life. And then the truce started. I think it's good to enjoy some peace and tranquillity - not just in neighbourhoods like ours, but in the whole country." Mendez's sentiments are echoed by the leaders of his once-sworn enemies. At the prison of Cojutepeque, around 900 18th Street gang members occupy a jail built for 300 men. Jose Heriberto Enriquez, who is serving time for murder, was one of the leaders who sat down in meetings with leaders from the Mara Salvatrucha. "It was difficult," he remembers. "I mean, they see me in the street, they're going to kill me! So we had to agree that there would be mutual respect. "We know they've killed a lot of our people. And I guess they feel the same way, because our 'homies' did the same thing to them. "But in the end the main purpose of the truce was for us to stop the killings." The agreement was negotiated in a series of secret meetings with both gangs' leaders in El Salvador's prisons. It was facilitated by a Catholic bishop and a former rebel commander of the left-wing guerrillas - someone who battled the military in El Salvador's civil war in the 1980s. The truce has been in place now for over eight months, and the murder rate has fallen to around five a day. It is a dramatic result. The [FMLN] government of El Salvador insists it has "facilitated" not "negotiated" the truce. The man generally believed to be the brains behind the strategy is the minister of justice and security, Gen David Munguia Payes. "We found in research that more than 90% of murders were gang-related. So it was very simple - if we could get to the gangs we could control the killings," he explains. "And it isn't just the killing of gang members that's diminished... Now the gangs aren't at war, they don't need to enforce recruitment in schools, so the number of students being murdered is down too," Gen Payes says. In communities once dominated by bloody street battles, residents are now freer to go about their business. They can go out at night, send their children to the shops, and leave their front doors open. But many Salvadorans are still suspicious. Some believe the gangs have been paid to participate in the truce - an allegation denied by the government and the gangs. Others make more troubling claims - they believe local and Mexican drug cartels are somehow behind the peace. Gang warfare makes their business messy, and the traffickers need the truce to get their product north to the US market. "The truce and the negotiations that made it are a strategy of drug-traffickers, not the government," says Father Antonio Lopez Tercero, a young Spanish priest who has worked in Mejicanos, a gang-dominated community in the capital San Salvador, for more than 10 years. "The main problem in El Salvador and this region is not gang activity, it's 'narco-activity'." Father Antonio organises beauty, hairdressing and computer repair courses for his parishioners - positive alternatives to gang life - and he is cynical about the fall in the murder rate. "Of course there's been a drop - that's part of the strategy. It's what I call a 'mafia peace', that is, the end doesn't justify the means." Gen Payes denies claims of drug cartel involvement in the truce. "The gangs aren't involved in the heavy trafficking of drugs, although they are selling drugs locally," he says. "But if we don't divert the gangs away from crime, with more than 60,000 members and the control they have, they could turn into cartels with arms, money and power. "We must take advantage of this moment while gang members are showing a willingness to change." But how well is the truce holding? For some Salvadorans it is a cruel fantasy. Claudia - not her real name - has not seen her teenage son since he stepped out to buy some food one night in October. She heard five shots. One young man was killed - his body lay in the street. Claudia's son, who was associated with the 18th Street gang, disappeared. She thinks the Mara Salvatrucha kidnapped him. "I think they wanted to torture him, that's why they took him away. And they probably buried him in one of their clandestine cemeteries that they have around the country. I know he's dead. I'm only hoping to find his body." Disappearances like this put a question mark over the truce and they challenge the authority of the gangs' leaders - it is widely believed that those who violate the truce are themselves murdered. In the prison of Ciudad Barrios more than 2,500 members of the Mara Salvatrucha are serving time in miserable conditions. Since the truce, the most important MS leaders have been relocated here from the maximum security jail. Some of them - like their counterparts in the 18th Street gang - grew up in Los Angeles, refugees of El Salvador's civil war in the 1980s. Then the US began deporting convicted felons - many of them gang members who were strangers to El Salvador. It is a policy that has contributed to the size and influence of gangs here. Carlos Tiberio Valladares is a home-grown MS leader, serving 30 years for murder. He got his first tattoo at 16 - now his face is a canvas of blue ink. Many people would find him intimidating. "But appearances are deceptive," he says. "What counts is what's in your heart." Carlos wants to send a message to the people of El Salvador - especially those who are suspicious of what has happened with the gangs. "We're committed to the truce. We're giving you our word and we won't betray that." El Salvador is still holding its breath. Hear the full report on Crossing Continents on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday, 22 November at 11:00 GMT and Monday, 26 November at 20:30 GMT. You can listen again via the Crossing Continents website or via the Crossing Continents podcast.

इस साल मार्च में अल सल्वाडोर के सबसे हिंसक गिरोह-मारा साल्वात्रुचा और 18 वीं स्ट्रीट गिरोह-एक युद्धविराम पर सहमत हुए। इसके परिणामस्वरूप, इस छोटे से मध्य अमेरिकी देश की हत्या की दर में गिरावट आई है-लेकिन क्या शांति बनी रह सकती है?


Brexit: Does the UK need to hold European elections?

Summary: It is becoming a key question in this complex Brexit process.

By Chris MorrisReality Check correspondent, BBC News If the UK was to request, or be offered, a lengthy extension of its membership of the European Union (EU), would there be an obligation to take part in May's European elections? Both the UK government and the European Commission (EC) say that there would; but legal opinion is divided, and many lawyers argue that a satisfactory fix could be found. The elections are taking place between 23 and 26 May, although the new parliament will not sit, and new members will not be sworn in, until 2 July. That is why it has been argued that an extension of Article 50 until the end of June would not prove to be a problem. But what about a much longer extension - potentially as long as 21 months until the end of 2020? That takes the debate into much trickier legal and political territory. The issue has taken on renewed relevance after the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, wrote in a tweet that he will appeal to the 27 other EU leaders over the next few days "to be open to a long extension if the UK finds it necessary to rethink its Brexit strategy". What does the government say? Theresa May has indicated that she would only favour a "short technical extension" to the UK's EU membership, if that was necessary in order to turn a last-minute agreement into law. But a longer extension, she told MPs, "would undoubtedly require the United Kingdom to hold European Parliament (EP) elections in May 2019". And the European Commission agrees? Yes - as the "guardian of the treaties", the Commission has strong views on this. In a letter to Mr Tusk on March 11, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, said that if the UK is still part of the EU at the end of May "it will be legally required to hold these elections, in line with the rights and obligations of all Member States as set out in the Treaties". There is no question that the UK would be in breach of those treaty obligations if it failed to hold elections. But how much would that matter, if the UK was on a path out of the EU anyway? What do others think? That is an unresolved debate that may eventually have to be tested in court. A legal opinion issued by the German Bundestag's Europe Department says that Article 50 cannot be extended beyond the end of May unless the UK holds elections. It suggests that the European Commission might choose to begin treaty infringement proceedings against the UK for denying the vote to UK or EU citizens in the UK. The UK's Department for Exiting the European Union argues that the UK would have to take part in the elections because "the EU Treaties provide that EU citizens have the right to be represented" and the European Parliament "needs to be properly constituted… with duly elected representatives from all Member States" in order to perform its functions. But others disagree. A confidential legal opinion, written by the European Parliament's own legal service and seen by the BBC, argues that the new parliament could be legally constituted even if the UK had not taken part in the elections. "The potential infringement by a Member State of its duties and responsibilities under the Treaties and the Electoral Act cannot amount," the opinion says, "to an absolute bar to the regular functioning of the Institution." So what happens next? If the UK didn't take part in the elections, there would be considerable concern about legal challenges, either from those who might argue that their right to be represented was being denied, or from those who might argue that the UK was paying money into the EU budget without receiving all the benefits. But representation is not necessarily the same thing as holding elections. When countries join the EU, there have been periods when national MPs have been appointed to serve as representatives in the European Parliament until the next European elections take place. This happened with Romania and Bulgaria in 2007. Could a similar temporary measure apply as an existing EU member seeks to leave? Perhaps. Another alternative that has been suggested is that the UK's current MEPs could continue to sit in the next European Parliament until the end of the Article 50 period, or they could be granted some form of observer status. All of this is uncharted legal territory. But the UK's most senior lawyer at the European Court of Justice, Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston, seems convinced that a solution can be found. There would be a need, she wrote on Twitter, "to arrange for British MEPs to sit in the new (parliament) as additional members on a temporary 'Brexit-limited' basis". Any suggestion that the European elections represent an "insuperable obstacle" to a longer extension of Article 50 is, she added, "an oversimplified and ultimately fallacious presentation of the facts". Ms Sharpston emphasised that she was writing in a personal capacity, but her opinion clearly carries some weight. "If the political will to agree a longer extension of Article 50 is there, she concluded, "a legal mechanism can be found to accommodate that desire and 'deal with' the issue of the EP elections." Article 50 A legal solution could be found within Article 50 itself. It is already being used to offer the UK an extensive transition period after Brexit, even though it does not mention transition explicitly. "An argument could be made that extending existing MEPs also qualifies as a transitional arrangement," says Catherine Barnard, professor of EU law at the University of Cambridge, "The formal position is that the UK would need to hold elections," Prof Barnard says. "But it is likely that those MEPs would only serve for a maximum of two years, so it would be in the interest of both sides to find a creative solution. "One possibility is to see how far Article 50 can be stretched." Read more from Reality Check Send us your questions Follow us on Twitter

यह इस जटिल ब्रेक्सिट प्रक्रिया में एक महत्वपूर्ण सवाल बनता जा रहा है।


Trussell Trust food bank use doubles in Barrow

Summary: A food bank charity serving south Cumbria has been handing out more than twice as many boxes than it was 12 months ago.

The Trussell Trust said demand in Barrow had increased by 104%, to more than 4,300 parcels, for the first six months of the financial year. This compares to an average national increase of 38%. Organisers have put the increase down to a reduction in the stigma attached to using the service. Ann Mills from the trust said: "People might be in work, but it could be part time work only, zero contract hours only, minimum wages. "Before they wouldn't come for help because of the stigma attached to coming to a food bank."

दक्षिण कुम्ब्रिया की सेवा करने वाला एक खाद्य बैंक दान 12 महीने पहले की तुलना में दोगुने से अधिक बक्से वितरित कर रहा है।


News Daily: Coronavirus action escalates worldwide as UK firms seek more help

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By Victoria KingBBC News UK ramps up virus response The UK is waking up to a new reality as strict curbs on public life are recommended to try to slow the spread of coronavirus. Without them, our health correspondent James Gallagher explains, scientific modelling showed the country was on course for a "catastrophic epidemic" with up to 260,000 deaths. The hope is that if everyone takes the steps demanded that figure can be limited to the thousands or tens of thousands. Currently, it stands at 55. Read the new advice in detail here, but in a nutshell, everyone is being urged to avoid unnecessary social contact, to work from home where possible, and to stay away from pubs and restaurants. Sport has effectively been cancelled. If one person in any household has a persistent cough or fever, everyone living there must stay at home for 14 days. And by next weekend, those with the most serious health conditions must be "largely shielded from social contact for around 12 weeks". Schools will not be closed for the moment, but that is being kept under review. There has been anger from many in the leisure industry because the prime minister advised people to stay away from pubs, theatres and music venues while not forcing premises to close. The latter route could have given them financial protection. The sector will be listening closely when the chancellor announces more economic aid measures later. Help for the airline industry, crippled by travel bans and a collapse in demand, is also expected to be included. We have a wealth of information for you on coronavirus, all collected here. Among the most important pieces right now: what is self-isolation and social distancing, what are your rights to work from home and how can I protect elderly relatives? Latest global picture The situation is escalating around the world too. The European Union's external borders will be closed to travellers from Tuesday and France and Germany have announced enforced lockdowns, stricter than that in the UK. French President Emmanuel Macron has deployed more than 100,000 officers to police the measures and punish any infringement. The US has also introduced sweeping restrictions and President Trump has warned the crisis could last all summer. Africa has seen a sharp rise in cases too. The head of the World Health Organization is urging all countries to step up their testing programmes. Meanwhile, scientists around the world are fast-tracking research into coronavirus and in the US, the first human trial of a vaccine has started. We can't possibly bring you the full global picture here, so please check out our live page for much, much more. Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning Need something different? Understandably, very serious news is dominating our agenda right now, but let us point you towards some alternatives if you need them. If you'd like something uplifting, why not read about the amputee footballer dreaming of playing for England, or the Indian photographer documenting an unusual love story that looks beyond appearances? There's also the story of a trailblazing female playwright keeping black history alive. Less uplifting, but certainly interesting, read about the supposedly valuable fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls that have turned out to be fakes. Reducing brain damage in sport without losing the thrills By Sooraj Shah, BBC Technology of Business reporter From football to F1, professional sport has become more aware of the impact it has on the brains of athletes. The US National Football League (NFL) has acknowledged that it concealed the dangers of concussion from players, leading to a settlement with ex-players that is expected to cost the NFL more than $1bn (£800m) over a 65-year period. But damage to the brain is difficult to manage because it's difficult to measure. Often the effects are not felt until decades after players retire. So here is where new technology might help. Read the full article What the papers say The implications of the new UK coronavirus restrictions are set out in stark headlines. "Time to get anti-social" says the Metro, while "Britain shuts up shop" is the Daily Mail's take. The Sun says Boris Johnson has put up the closed sign on Britain - and Mother's Day this weekend is, in effect, cancelled. The Daily Star has a unique take as always, picturing Macaulay Culkin with the headline "Home Alone". The Guardian says the UK has brought in "unprecedented peacetime measures". The Daily Telegraph agrees it's "a dramatic escalation", but it points out that the UK's actions are still short of many other nations because they are officially voluntary. The paper also says there's confusion among parents after the government decided against shutting schools. Finally, the Daily Express tries to rally its readers with the headline: "We can do it together." Daily digest Early release Plan to extend prison scheme 'Rich to blame' Report hones in on climate change culprits Bake Off Why Mel and Sue quit on day one 'Caremongering' Kind Canadians start a trend amid virus turmoil If you watch one thing today How are TV soaps reacting to coronavirus? If you listen to one thing today Behind the Hong Kong protests If you read one thing today Breaking bad: The oil industry's dirty secret Sign up for a morning briefing direct to your phone Lookahead Today Uefa holds an emergency meeting to discuss the future of European football, including Euro 2020 09:15 MPs quiz representatives from the government's spending watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, on last week's Budget On this day 1984 The Boat Race is postponed after the Cambridge vessel sinks shortly before the start - watch the confusion that ensued. From elsewhere Should I go to brunch? An interactive tool for Covid 19 curve flattening (Medium) As a child of interracial adoption I'm still figuring out who I am (Refinery 29) Will Liverpool be allowed to win the Premier League? (CNN) In Manchester, walking tsar Chris Boardman is trying to rethink the zebra crossing (City Metric)

यदि आप ईमेल द्वारा यह जानकारी प्राप्त करना चाहते हैं, तो यहां साइन अप करें


Hu Jintao faces restive Hong Kong public

Summary: Chinese President Hu Jintao has arrived in Hong Kong to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the city's return to China, but he faces a noisy, unhappy public and an increasingly tense political climate.

By Juliana LiuBBC News, Hong Kong Integration with the mainland has brought Hong Kong much success as a global financial centre but it has also created problems. Those problems seem to be at their worst at any time since the handover, according to a series of surveys and opinion polls. The gap between Hong Kong's rich and poor is at a 30-year high, property rental prices have risen to record levels and residents are upset by daily news reports on corrupt lives of officials at the highest levels of Chinese government. An independent poll shows the Hong Kong public's mistrust of the Chinese government stands at a post handover high, largely because of a number of political scandals. These include the sacking of senior Communist Party official Bo Xilai, the plight of human rights activist Chen Guangcheng and, most seriously, the suspicious death of Tiananmen Square dissident Li Wangyang in June. "What happens in China very closely affects Hong Kong people, because we're all ethnic Chinese," said Frank Lee, a pollster at the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme. "That's probably the reason why, at this moment, many people don't trust the Beijing government. In fact, anger is at the peak right now." Wealth gap widens Despite a relatively strong economy and a string of financial incentives announced by Beijing to boost popular support in the semi-autonomous city, Hong Kong is a much more restive place than it was five years ago, when Mr Hu last came to visit, in a blaze of pre-Olympic glory. Ahead of the visit, Hong Kong's census bureau publicised data that showed inequality had widened to its highest level in three decades. According to US government rankings, Hong Kong's wealth gap now outstrips all other developed nations. It ranks behind highly unequal countries such as Colombia, Haiti and Sierra Leone. Monthly incomes for Hong Kong's poorest have fallen by about 8% over the past five years, while salaries for the richest have grown by about 25%, according to the newest census data. Sze Lai Shan, a social worker with the Society for Community Organisation, said as a result of integration with the mainland, Hong Kong's economic structure had changed. "The factories have moved to mainland China, and the government believes in the trickle-down theory where everyone benefits from overall economic development. So they have done little for the poor," she said during a visit to a cramped sub-divided flat. The first-floor flat is in the shadow of the glitzy commercial district of Causeway Bay. Inside two dozen people - mostly single middle-age or elderly men - reside in enclosed wooden bunks the size of a single bed. Locals call these coffin homes, because each is slightly larger than the size of a coffin. Rent ranges from HK$1,000 ($128, £83) to HK$1,400 per bunk. Lee Chi Wai, a 57-year-old cleaner with a warm smile, lives with his worldly possessions - a tiny television, a few compact disks, some plastic shelves and several shirts - directly below Wong Ching Po, 60. When not working, the two men watch television and engage in friendly banter. Both decry the lack of opportunities and inadequate public housing in Hong Kong. "It's very hard to find a job," said Mr Lee. "Most companies have moved to China. Those that stay want temporary workers not permanent staff. When the contract is over, I have to look for another job. That is why life is hard." Following the release of the census figures, Hong Kong's incoming Chief Executive CY Leung - who is to be sworn in on Sunday - announced he would chair a new preparatory task force to tackle poverty. 'Freedom issues' Besides anger over social inequality, Mr Hu will be greeted by two large-scale democracy protests over the weekend. The rally on Sunday is the annual human rights demonstration that traditionally starts at Victoria Park and ends at the Hong Kong government office in Admiralty. "Hong Kong people are very uptight about freedom issues on the mainland, because they reflect on us. If not today, then tomorrow. If it's not in Hong Kong's present, it's going to reflect on our future," said Claudia Mo, a member of the Civic Party. Last year more than 200,000 people took part. This year organisers hope the crowd will be even larger because Hong Kong residents feel the Chinese government is becoming more, not less, corrupt and repressive. The other rally on Saturday, due to finish at the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre in Wanchai, is timed to coincide with Mr Hu's dinner plans. Protesters will demand a reversal of the official verdict on Tiananmen Square, currently branded a counter-revolutionary activity, and a thorough investigation into the death of Mr Li, the elderly, disabled Chinese activist. Mr Li's suspicious death in early June in central China sparked outrage in Hong Kong. Chinese officials have promised a proper investigation, but Hong Kong people remain sceptical. Although Mr Hu's visit in 2007 coincided with pro-democracy protests, the political climate in China and Hong Kong was different at that time. Five years ago, China seemed relatively open to democratic reform, as it promised organisers who awarded Beijing the 2008 games. Restrictions were eased for foreign and Hong Kong journalists. Activists such as AIDS campaigner Hu Jia and pro-democracy campaigner Liu Xiaobo were given relative free rein to air their views. The country appeared to be edging ever so slightly closer to Hong Kong's core democratic values of clean government, the rule of law and freedom of speech. But this year the political atmosphere is strained as Mr Hu arrives bearing financial incentives to drum up public support. He is expected to stay until Sunday.

चीनी राष्ट्रपति हू जिंताओ शहर की चीन में वापसी की 15वीं वर्षगांठ मनाने के लिए हांगकांग पहुंचे हैं, लेकिन उन्हें शोर, नाखुश जनता और तेजी से तनावपूर्ण राजनीतिक माहौल का सामना करना पड़ रहा है।


The Asian women who defied the driving taboo

Summary: It was unusual for first-generation Asian women to learn to drive after arriving in England in the 1960s and 70s, but some were determined to ignore convention and get behind the wheel. Their stories are being told in a new exhibition.

By Susie Rack & Rebecca WoodsBBC News Landing a job in an infant school shortly after arriving in England from Punjab in 1968 was a dream come true for Suraksha Asar. The racist abuse she faced on the half-mile walk through West Bromwich to catch the bus home, however, soured the experience. Shockingly, among the perpetrators were some of her former pupils. "They used to swear and spit. It was very uneasy and unhappy," she said. Mrs Asar longed to be able to drive, but it was unusual for women in the growing south Asian immigrant community to do so. While many families adopted elements of their new English lifestyle, the patriarchy that spanned generations in India and Pakistan loomed large. Many women were encouraged to lead a life of domesticity, raising their children while the men went out to work. Driving just wasn't deemed necessary. Mrs Asar's husband was not keen for her to learn. "I asked him to take me out in his car but he didn't help me or give me advice. I had an accident with somebody's fence and he never took me out again." But Mrs Asar was undeterred. In secret, she took lessons during her lunch break at school. Unable to practise at home, it took 10 years and "five or six" attempts at the test. But in 1978, she finally passed and could drive the family Toyota. "I felt great. I told my husband 'I passed, I passed!' He was happy then," says the 84-year-old, who drives a Mercedes these days. Her story was discovered by artist Dawinder Bansal, who has spent two years finding similar accounts from the women she describes as the "invisible pioneers" of the south Asian community, paving the way for future generations of women. Ms Bansal was inspired by her mother, who never learned to drive because she was never encouraged. Discovering many other women faced cultural barriers, she decided it was a story that needed to be told. "They faced resistance from the community, sometimes from their own families, sometimes from their husbands, and sometimes from the women in their family as well," she said. The stories she discovered are being told in an exhibition called the Road to Independence. "I feel that they did that - this is a pioneering generation of women who really fought against tradition and people, and just wanted to go out there and drive. "They have given women like me the confidence to get an education, to be able to drive, to do all of those things we can do now." Among the people Ms Bansal spoke to was Jagdish Khaira, aged 64, who credits her "forward-thinking" father for giving her the opportunity to learn to drive. She was nine years old when her family left Jalandhar, Punjab, India in 1964 for a life in Leamington Spa. After leaving school, she blazed a trail in her community when she relocated to Portsmouth to do a pharmacy degree. "How do you know she's ever going to come back?" teased her father's friends at Leamington's Commonwealth Club. When she did return to the West Midlands, Mrs Khaira was intent on learning to drive to help her new career. "To begin with there was a lot of comments from the community saying, 'well she doesn't need to do it, she's had her education, let the in-laws look after her'," she said. "'It's not important', they used say to my dad, 'it's not important for her to learn to drive'. "In those days all we were expected to do was do manual work, use the buses to go wherever you wanted and driving itself was a luxury and you weren't expected to have luxuries. "You were expected to work, pay your bills, pick your children up and then go on to the next piece of work." But with the support of her late father, and uncle, Mrs Khaira did learn to drive. She even bought her own car - a metallic brown Datsun. "It was wicked. Imagine an Asian girl in those days going in to a showroom," she said. "That feeling of ownership and pride, it was amazing, absolutely amazing. "It's yours - in those days that was a big thing as everyone shared everything." Learning to drive "gave you that freedom to do what you wanted, to do not what you had to do," she added. When her marriage was arranged with a man living in India, she taught him the driving skills he would need to pass a test in England. "There was no system of learning to drive - look left, right and move, that's driving in India," said Charanjit Songh Khaira, who said he was usually "bumper to bumper" with other cars. During a trip to India in 1980, people were stunned to see Mr Khaira in the passenger seat as his wife took to the wheel. "They stopped their pushbikes and scooters to watch us," he recalled. "'How can she drive?' they'd say. "I was laughing. I said 'don't take any notice'. She's a very independent woman and I'm very proud of her." The women who dared to drive are "role models that went against the cultural attitudes of patriarchy", said Opinderjit Takhar of Wolverhampton University's Centre of Sikh and Punjabi Studies. "Many of them did not work so it was not seen as a necessity. "If they needed to go to the shop, they'd be taken to the shop. Schools would be close enough to walk to. "These were very close-knit communities - there was just this expectation that there was no reason for you to drive, but it deprived them of their freedom. "The ones who did drive are empowering lots of young women today." Ms Bansal wants to build an archive of stories of the women who dared to drive and has asked people to send in their own stories and photographs via the website www.asianwomenandcars.com Since launching the website she has had submissions from Australia, Dhaka and also France, a response she described as "phenomenal". "I feel so privileged that women are sending me their photos and stories. It's a great responsibility to have and I promise to honour and hold these stories in trust so that future generations of south Asian women can access a true historical record of south Asian women's history," said Ms Bansal. "My own mother was never able to drive, and it's because of her inability to drive that pushed me to get my licence and be independent. "I am forever grateful for her inspiration and sacrifices - of all the sacrifices of her generation of women." The Asian Women & Cars: Road to Independence installation and film exhibition, part of Sandwell photography festival Blast!, is free to visit until 29 June at The British Muslim School in West Bromwich. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

1960 और 70 के दशक में इंग्लैंड पहुंचने के बाद पहली पीढ़ी की एशियाई महिलाओं के लिए गाड़ी चलाना सीखना असामान्य था, लेकिन कुछ ने परंपरा को नजरअंदाज करने और गाड़ी चलाने के लिए दृढ़ संकल्प किया। उनकी कहानियों को एक नई प्रदर्शनी में बताया जा रहा है।


Clachnacuddin fire: Club to play first match since fire

Summary: A Highland League club is to play its first game since a fire damaged part of its ground on Christmas Eve.

Clachnacuddin FC's Grant Street Park in Inverness remains closed and Clach has been working with other sports clubs to find alternative venues. Friday night's match against Fort William FC will be played at Canal Park, the home of National Division One rugby club Highland RFC. The clubs will play for the Simon Shields Memorial Trophy. The 23-year-old, from Inverness, played for Fort William and Clachnacuddin. He died in 2011 after battling lung cancer.

क्रिसमस की पूर्व संध्या पर अपने मैदान के क्षतिग्रस्त हिस्से में आग लगने के बाद एक हाईलैंड लीग क्लब अपना पहला खेल खेलने वाला है।


Unusual jobs highlight restricted choices of Gaza youth

Summary: Newsnight's Tim Whewell talks to two young people's whose jobs highlight the peculiarities of life in the Gaza Strip - Muhammad, who works in the smuggling tunnels into Egypt, and Madeline, who is the only woman in a fishing fleet restricted to trawling the waters inside the Israeli blockade.

By Tim WhewellBBC Newsnight. Gaza It is not even dawn in Rafah, at the southern extremity of the Gaza Strip, when Busaina Ismail leans over her sleeping son Muhammad and tries, with difficulty, to rouse him. It is a duty she says she dreads because she is sending him for another day's work in a place where many young men have been buried alive - the network of smuggling tunnels that run under the Gaza-Egypt border. After two cigarettes and a glass of tea, he is just about wake. But not eager to go: "This work," he says. "It's criminal. No-one should do it. Have you ever seen anyone dig their own grave? While you are digging, the tunnel might collapse. It could collapse any time and kill you." Muhammad is just 18, but he has already been working full-time in the tunnels, digging and carrying heavy loads, for four years. He hates the job, but he has little choice. His father suffers from a bad back, so Muhammad is the main breadwinner in the family of eight. And with unemployment in Gaza running at 28%, smuggling is one of the few occupations that provide a viable income. Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the Gaza Strip, 22 miles (35km) away in the harbour of Gaza City, another 18-year-old is also setting off for a hard day trying to feed her family. Madeline Kullab is Gaza's only fisherwoman. She too has an invalid father. She has been going out to sea almost every day since she was 14, despite attempts by Gaza's police force, run by the Islamist movement Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, to stop her working in an otherwise wholly-male industry. Madeline, unlike Muhammad, loves her job. But both their stories show the hardships of growing up in a tiny overcrowded strip of land that has been blockaded by its neighbours Israel and Egypt for years, and was at war again with Israel only last month. The smuggling tunnels have flourished since Israel imposed its blockade, assisted by Egypt, in 2007, after Hamas came to power in Gaza. Although travel restrictions for people crossing the Rafah border were eased in 2011, the shipment of goods from Egypt into Gaza remains blocked. Israel also restricts what building materials it allows into Gaza, fearing Hamas might use them for military means, although smuggling tunnels are used to get round the blockade. Food and consumer goods have been allowed in legally from Israel for the past two years. But they are cheaper when brought underground from Egypt. Muhammad's shifts last 12 hours, with only a half-hour break. The work is so exhausting that, like many other tunnel workers, he started taking the painkiller Tramadol. But he says he soon became addicted: "I stopped eating, I stopped drinking anything," he says. "All I wanted to do was take Tramadol and work like a donkey. But it stopped working so well, so I increased the dose. Then one day I collapsed in the tunnel. I was carrying a big sack of flour. I started having a fit, I lost consciousness. That's when I decided to quit." Muhammad says that for two months after that, he barely slept or spoke to anyone. He says he even tried to strangle himself. Now he is cured he says, but he would rather do almost any other job. He hopes the promise made in the ceasefire agreement that ended last month's conflict - to open crossings and ease freedom of movement - will be fulfilled. That has not happened yet. But the ceasefire has already brought a small benefit to Madeline. Before, Israel - afraid of gun-running - only allowed Gaza's fishing boats to go up to three nautical miles offshore. Now, the limit has been extended to six miles. But Madeline's not impressed: "When they gave us another three miles, the catches got better. But in a week or two, the fish up to six miles will be used up too. Most fish are beyond even the new boundary." In her family's breezeblock house in the Jabaliya refugee camp, she also has to worry about repairing the asbestos roof she says was damaged by the shock-waves from Israeli rocket attacks last month: "We're very close to military targets, so there were a lot of attacks round here," she says. Like Muhammad, she was born in 1994 - the year after the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians. But peace seems further away to her than it did to her father's generations. He remembers how, years ago, he worked alongside Israeli fishermen, sharing the same house. But Madeline - like Muhammad - has never even spoken to an Israeli. "All I know is that we are born into war, we live in war, we'll die in war," she says. Muhammad's not optimistic either. "I hope the tunnels will close," he says. "And there will be jobs, so we can leave this kind of work. But as you see, nothing has changed. We haven't won yet." Correction 11 January 2013: This story has been amended to clarify that the shipment of goods into Gaza was blocked via Rafah, and restricted through crossings via Israel.

न्यूज़नाइट के टिम व्हीवेल दो युवाओं से बात करते हैं जिनके काम गाजा पट्टी में जीवन की विशिष्टताओं को उजागर करते हैं-मुहम्मद, जो मिस्र में तस्करी सुरंगों में काम करता है, और मेडलिन, जो मछली पकड़ने के बेड़े में एकमात्र महिला है जो इजरायल की नाकाबंदी के अंदर पानी को पार करने के लिए प्रतिबंधित है।


Carl Sargeant: Inquest witness 'may have lied' to coroner

Summary: A witness in the Carl Sargeant inquest may have lied to the coroner, the hearing has been told.

Mr Sargeant, 49, was found hanged by his wife Bernadette on 7 November at his home in Connah's Quay, Flintshire. A statement from Flintshire council's deputy leader, Bernie Attridge, said he thought "the sacking killed my friend". But Cathy McGahey, counsel for Carwyn Jones, said it appeared Mr Attridge had some "knowledge of behaviour that would have made Mr Sargeant anxious". Mr Sargeant was found dead four days after he was sacked as communities minister by the first minister. The Labour AM had been accused of behaving inappropriately towards women, which he denied, and the inquest was told "tangible" complaints were made weeks before he died. He left a letter apologising to his family and telling them: "I have failed you." Coroner John Gittins agreed to hear applications on the potential submission of new evidence which has come to light from witnesses including Flintshire council leader Aaron Shotton. Ms McGahey said: "Mr Shotton has come forward with a witness statement that contradicts some of Mr Attridge's evidence. "There is what appears to be a text message from Mr Attridge to Mr Shotton on November 1 2017... and it appears to refer to Mr Sargeant. "Mr Attridge bets he is shitting bricks... He refers to MPs in Westminster being exposed and it won't be long before AMs are... on the hit list." Ms McGahey said Mr Attridge went on to say, on 5 November, that rumours about Mr Sargeant were circulating in the Labour Club and he wanted to discourage people in the Labour group from saying anything in support of him. He then implied, she said, Mr Sargeant had done something "that could lead to imprisonment". "Mr Attridge and Mr Attridge alone will know exactly what he meant by those," she told the coroner, before adding: "It does appear on the face of it that Mr Attridge has not told you the truth. "Signing the statement of truth when you know something you are saying is not true, is a contempt of court." Mr Gittins heard applications from counsel relating to the submission of this new evidence, but he declined, saying he already had enough to do his job. Earlier, the inquest heard the first minister warned Mr Sargeant to "be careful" over conduct and drinking after an anonymous letter said he was "not fit to be around women". Speaking at the inquest in Ruthin, Denbighshire, on Wednesday, Mr Jones said he had received an anonymous letter in 2014 from someone in Mr Sargeant's Alyn and Deeside constituency. "I remember the words 'he's not fit to be around women', but the letter was anonymous. I showed it to Carl," he told the hearing. Mr Jones said he told Mr Sargeant in 2014: "You need to know... be careful, there's obviously someone who's watching you. "Be careful how you conduct yourself and how much you drink." He said Mr Sargeant "wasn't an alcoholic", but the company he kept was "quite a hard-drinking bunch". He told Mr Gittins the pair had known each other since 2001 and had "never had a cross word". Mr Jones did not know Mr Sargeant suffered from depression or had taken anti-depressants, the inquest heard. Tweet after dismissal Asked when he first became aware of rumours about Mr Sargeant's conduct, he said: "Rumours are plentiful in politics. Evidence is rare." He did not know what the rumours were, but became aware of them on 18 October 2017, the day he held a meeting with senior advisors to discuss the cabinet reshuffle. One of two complainants who had made allegations about Mr Sargeant put it in writing to the Labour party in October, dating from an event in summer 2017. Pushed by the coroner why he had not spoken to Mr Sargeant, he said: "Had I given him more details in terms of the allegations... he'd have known straight away, I suspect, who those people were and that was a risk I couldn't take." He said "the fact we had names" meant there was "an obligation to look further". Mr Sargeant tweeted a statement on the afternoon he was sacked - highlighting that it related to personal conduct - and Mr Jones said there was "no need to volunteer the information". Mr Gittins responded: "So that's what happens in politics? We keep secrets because it suits everybody to do so?" "It's not secrets. It's a gentler way of doing it," said Mr Jones. Ahead of the meeting between the pair, Mr Jones said he had "a feeling of dread going in that morning... I had lost sleep over it," but said it "had to be done". Mr Sargeant's response was "curious", and he said he "did not recognise" the allegations. "In politics, that's not a denial," Mr Jones said. He was "a little panicked but not distraught," but Mr Jones said there was "no reason to doubt that he understood the implications". He advised him to speak to his trade union for advice and "keep your head down". But following Mr Sargeant's tweet, he said the Welsh Government had to "firefight". "The press would speculate. Twitter is corrosive," he added. "Because of that tweet there was a media frenzy that made all manner of allegations about Carl that weren't true." The inquest heard audio of Mr Jones speaking on a BBC Wales news broadcast on 6 November, the day before Mr Sargeant died. In it, Mr Jones used the words "incidents". The coroner asked him if he saw the difference between that and the word "allegations". "It's quite clear from that news report that the news report is about allegations," he replied. Mr Jones had said the reshuffle happened on a Friday as Mr Sargeant had been away and if it was held mid-week he would not have had the support of his family on hand. Leslie Thomas QC, representing the Sargeant family, asked why it was necessary to draw Mr Sargeant's attention to the anonymous letter sent in 2014. Mr Jones felt it was right to let him know, as the letter had also been sent to Mrs Sargeant. He had not spoken to Mr Sargeant about a complaint from 2016 because "the complainant didn't want me to". The inquest heard Ann Jones AM acted in a liaison role between the Labour group and Mr Sargeant, and secondly in a pastoral role. Mr Jones said this happened on the afternoon following Mr Sargeant's dismissal and Ms Jones "wanted to make sure that Carl was okay from a personal level as well". Mr Jones planned to hold a reshuffle in November 2017 because he was in talks with an AM who had left his party, as well as wanting to offer new opportunities to others. 'Complete discretion' During the course of the discussions, he received the written complaints about Mr Sargeant. Prior to that, Mr Jones characterised rumours about Mr Sargeant as "tittle-tattle", according to evidence from one of his special advisors. Mr Jones said the written allegations, which came just days before the reshuffle on 3 November, "could not be ignored as part of the reshuffle process". Mr Sargeant, who was being considered for the role of leader of the house, was sacked that day. Mr Jones confirmed it was "wholly" his responsibility who was appointed or moved and he had "complete discretion" over the cabinet. Earlier, Mr Jones' senior special advisor Matthew Greenough was recalled to the inquest to clarify some of the evidence he gave on Tuesday, around the timings of allegations made against Mr Sargeant. The "tangible" complaints referred to alleged incidents in summer 2017, made by women known in court as Miss A and Miss B. These were reported via the Labour Party to Mr Jones in October 2017. One of two women involved later made a written statement. 'Rumours' about Mr Sargeant There had previously been two separate allegations in 2016, although one was in the form of an anonymous letter. Mr Greenough agreed one allegation by a woman known as Miss C could have been made in 2015, but he did not know about it until 2016. He told the court he was present in the room when the reshuffle where Mr Sargeant lost his job took place and no information regarding any of the women was discussed in his presence. He told Mr Thomas he did not believe Mr Jones could have had a conversation with anyone without him knowing. Special advisor Jane Runeckles confirmed there were "rumours" about Mr Sargeant, but he was still in consideration for leader of the house at a meeting on 18 October 2017. The coroner said he struggled to understand how that might still be the case. "The first minister was absolutely clear at that point that it was tittle-tattle. He had nothing to suggest otherwise," she replied. Mr Sargeant's sacking was precipitated by Mr Greenough receiving the written statement from one complainant on 1 November. Mr Gittins asked if that was "the deciding factor in terms of his removal from office", to which Ms Runeckles replied "yes", adding it would have been difficult to postpone a reshuffle. Mr Sargeant's brother Andy asked whether Ms Runeckles did anything to support him, and she said "no", explaining: "The whim of the electorate is something [politicians] subject themselves to... you go into it knowing that this kind of thing can happen to you." 'Setting the scene' Mr Thomas repeatedly questioned Ms Runeckles over the 18 October meeting and any discussion of the rumours around Mr Sargeant, particularly in light of the #MeToo movement and "political fallout" in Westminster. She told the court she did not enquire where the rumours had come from and said they were "not relevant", which Mr Thomas challenged. She agreed she could have spoken to Mr Sargeant about the matter, but did not. Mr Thomas asked if the reshuffle was "just a convenient way of trying to mask" the situation surrounding Mr Sargeant. "Absolutely not," she replied. The first minister was asked why, after allegations from Miss A and Miss B in 2017, Miss C - who made her original allegation in 2016 - was contacted to see if she wished to complain. He accused Mr Jones of "setting the scene" to "get rid" of Mr Sargeant. "I could've removed Carl from the cabinet for no reason at all," Mr Jones responded. He said he felt it was right someone who had come forward in 2016 should now be asked if they wanted to make a complaint.

सुनवाई में बताया गया है कि कार्ल सार्जेंट जांच में एक गवाह ने मृत्यु समीक्षक से झूठ बोला होगा।


Elderly Gwbert man missing after going out on boat

Summary: A search is under way for a 90-year-old man who is missing after going out on his boat off the Ceredigion coast.

Arthur Roy Taylor was last seen leaving to take his boat out to sea off Gwbert boat club at about 09:30 BST on Saturday. Dyfed-Powys Police said Mr Taylor's boat has been found but he is still unaccounted for. Police are coordinating a search of the area, working with the coastguard and RNLI. Mr Taylor has been described as 5ft 4in tall, of slim build with grey hair and was wearing a navy jumper and a dark grey waterproof jacket. Police have appealed for anyone who sees Mr Taylor or knows of his whereabouts to call 101.

एक 90 वर्षीय व्यक्ति की तलाश की जा रही है जो सेरेडिगियन तट पर अपनी नाव पर बाहर जाने के बाद लापता है।


£3m energy centre near Cranbrook completed

Summary: A £3m energy centre, which will provide power for a business estate and a new town in east Devon, has been completed.

The building will provide heat and hot water for the Skypark business estate and the town of Cranbrook, near Exeter. E.ON, which manages the centre, said between five and 10 jobs would be created when it opened. A company spokesman said it would start to provide energy for the business park and town and electricity for the national grid in spring 2013. Cranbrook is part of the East Devon Growth Point plan by Devon County Council, East Devon District Council, Exeter City Council and the Homes and Community Agency. A new science park, a hotel and a terminal at Exeter Airport, will be built nearby.

एक 3 मिलियन पाउंड का ऊर्जा केंद्र, जो पूर्वी डेवोन में एक व्यावसायिक संपत्ति और एक नए शहर के लिए बिजली प्रदान करेगा, पूरा हो गया है।


Batteries charged to play bigger role in UK energy grid

Summary: It's battery farming, but not as we know it.

In a big step forward for green energy, the government has said that low-carbon batteries will play a role in balancing the national grid for the first time. About 500MW of battery storage will come online by 2020-21, it said, helping to assure electricity supply at times of high demand. It follows a market-wide capacity auction that also saw agreements signed with gas and coal-power providers. Gareth Miller of energy research group Cornwall said the success of batteries in this year's auction was a "significant step". "It may represent only a fraction of total capacity but I think the role of batteries is only going to grow. And lithium ion batteries are a much cleaner way of storing electricity. "That said, the government must overcome a number of policy obstacles if it wants to speed this growth," he added. Centrica is among the energy providers who have signed deals to provide battery storage capacity in 2020-21. The firm has pledged to open a 49MW battery plant at Roosecote, Cumbria, which will be capable of holding enough power to meet the needs of around 50,000 homes. It says the plant will respond to fluctuations in electricity demand in under a second. "Falling battery costs and the increasing need for flexibility to support intermittent renewables has brought battery storage into commercial reality," said Jorge Pikunic, managing director of Centrica's distributed energy and power business. "Grid scale battery storage can play an important role in helping to manage second by second fluctuations in demand, helping to keep the grid stable," he added. Analysis: John Moylan, BBC industry correspondent The government has hailed this week's auction saying that new build gas plants and battery storage will ensure Britain's electricity demands are met in four years time. In truth, only two mid-sized new gas plants are likely to be built. These appear to be extensions or refurbishments of existing facilities. Most of the £1.2bn cost of the auction (which we'll pay via our energy bills) will go to existing generators - including EDF with its nuclear fleet which would have been operating anyway. And analysts say that some plants that failed to secure subsidies could now be at risk of closure. The arrival of battery technology to keep the lights on is an indication of how far that technology has come. But whether that all amounts to a coherent energy landscape fit for the 2020s is far from clear. Below expectations The government began its annual capacity auctions in 2014, looking to head off future power shortages as coal plants close and as low electricity prices dissuade investors from building new capacity. In short, plant owners are paid to make available back-up power at short notice. Over 52GW of electricity for 2020-21 was secured in this year's auction - which concluded on Thursday - including agreements for gas and coal power projects. E.ON, Scottish Power and Uniper were among 166 applicants provisionally awarded capacity agreements. However, prices came in well below expectations, casting doubt on how much extra capacity providers will commit to building to ensure the country avoids winter supply shortages. Prices cleared at £22.50 per kilowatt/year, while analysts have said a price of £35-45 is needed to spur new gas plant investment. However, Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said: "Our homes and businesses need an electricity supply they can rely on all year round. We've provided them with that certainty, at a low cost to bill payers, years in advance."

यह बैटरी फार्मिंग है, लेकिन जैसा कि हम जानते हैं वैसा नहीं है।


Who Won The War? Revisiting NI on 20th anniversary of ceasefires

Summary: I was initially approached by BBC Northern Ireland well over a year ago to ask if I would I be interested in making a documentary to mark the 20th anniversary of the IRA and loyalist ceasefires of 1994. We knew this film had to be about more than just the ceasefire. It should cover much wider issues raised by the conflict, the peace process and the eventual settlement.

By Peter TaylorBBC News The most effective way, we believed, was to revisit many of the key people from all sides who I had interviewed over my 42 years of reporting the conflict, show them extracts of what they had said at the time and ask them do they still feel the same. Our aim was to discover if their views had changed in light of today's Northern Ireland. At this planning stage I had brought along a photograph of a 12-year-old boy from Divis Flats in west Belfast who I had interviewed way back in 1974. Memorably, he had the initials IRA tattooed on the back of his hand. His name was Sean McKinley. He said he wanted to fight and die for his country. The image of Sean had haunted me throughout my career and I often wondered what had happened to him. We made it a priority to track him down and talk to him again. At the time I did not even know if he was still alive. 'Startling' I spent four months in Belfast making the film and revisiting some of the key watersheds in the conflict including Bloody Sunday (my initiation into the so-called "war"), the hunger strike and the election of Bobby Sands to Westminster which gave Sinn Féin its political impetus from the 1980s through to the present day. Some of the interviews I did were remarkable for their candour. Jim Prior, now Lord Prior, was Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Northern Ireland secretary who was dispatched to Belfast in 1981 to end the hunger strike. His interview was one of the most startling and unexpected. I asked him if he thought violence had worked. "I think violence probably does work," he said. "It may not work quickly and it may not be seen to be working quickly, but in the long run one has to look back and say, 'Yes, it did work.'" Norman Tebbit, now Lord Tebbit, made an equally surprising comment about the IRA ceasefire. As a member of Mrs Thatcher's cabinet he was severely injured in the IRA bomb attack on the Grand Hotel Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984. His wife, Margaret, was paralysed for life. Through gritted teeth he said: "I have no sympathy for those who declared the war. But one way or another, a ceasefire was achieved and to that extent, it was a price that was worth paying." Transformation Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, who made the astonishing journey from IRA commander to deputy first minister, stood in Derry's Bogside and, undeterred by a wasp that was about to settle on his eyelid, talked about joining the IRA in 1970 and being taken to task by his mother who had found his IRA beret in the house. "It traumatised her," he said. An equally remarkable journey was also made by the late Dr Ian Paisley - his transformation from "Dr No" to "Dr Yes" was explained by former Prime Minister Tony Blair in a revelatory interview. He described meeting Mr Paisley shortly after he had come out of hospital following a serious illness. He recounted what Mr Paisley had told him. "He'd been through a near death experience, he'd survived and it should be for a purpose. And if the purpose was peace and that was God's will as it were, then he should do that." And what about Sean McKinley, the little boy with the initials IRA tattooed on the back of his hand? We finally found him after wearing out much shoe leather on the streets of west Belfast. I got a shock when the once fresh-faced little boy of 12 opened the door to my knock. He was now 52 and looked many years older. His hand still bore the initials IRA. Sean had indeed "fought for his country" and as a result had spent many years in the Maze prison for the murder of a British soldier. I asked him what he would say to any little boy who said today what he had said 40 years ago about fighting and dying for Ireland. "I would advise him to forget it, because I know a lot of people who died, and they thought they were fighting and dying for their country, but it never worked out that way. It never worked out." Meeting Sean again was a sad and salutary experience. The documentary Who Won The War will be broadcast on BBC One NI on Monday 29 September at 21:00 BST.

मुझे शुरू में बी. बी. सी. उत्तरी आयरलैंड ने एक साल पहले यह पूछने के लिए संपर्क किया था कि क्या मैं आई. आर. ए. की 20वीं वर्षगांठ और 1994 के वफादार संघर्ष विराम को चिह्नित करने के लिए एक वृत्तचित्र बनाने में रुचि रखता हूं। हम जानते थे कि यह फिल्म केवल युद्धविराम से अधिक होनी चाहिए। इसमें संघर्ष, शांति प्रक्रिया और अंतिम समझौते द्वारा उठाए गए बहुत व्यापक मुद्दों को शामिल किया जाना चाहिए।


Financial glossary: A-C

Summary: The current financial crisis has thrown terminology from the business pages onto the front pages of newspapers, with jargon now abounding everywhere from the coffee bar to the back of a taxi.

Here is a guide to many of the business terms currently cropping up regularly, as well as some of the more exotic words coined to describe some of the social effects of the financial crisis. A AAA-rating The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower's debts, indicating that the risk of a borrower defaulting is minuscule. Administration A rescue mechanism for UK companies in severe trouble. It allows them to continue as a going concern, under supervision, giving them the opportunity to try to work their way out of difficulty. A firm in administration cannot be wound up without permission from a court. AGM An annual general meeting, which companies hold each year for shareholders to vote on important issues such as dividend payments and appointments to the company's board of directors. If an emergency decision is needed - for example in the case of a takeover - a company may also call an exceptional general meeting of shareholders or EGM. Assets Things that provide income or some other value to their owner. Austerity Economic policy aimed at reducing a government's deficit (or borrowing). Austerity can be achieved through increases in government revenues - primarily via tax rises - and/or a reduction in government spending or future spending commitments. B Bailout The financial rescue of a struggling borrower. A bailout can be achieved in various ways: Bankruptcy A legal process in which the assets of a borrower who cannot repay its debts - which can be an individual, a company or a bank - are valued, and possibly sold off (liquidated), in order to repay debts. Where the borrower's assets are insufficient to repay its debts, the debts have to be written off. This means the lenders must accept that some of their loans will never be repaid, and the borrower is freed of its debts. Bankruptcy varies greatly from one country to another, some countries have laws that are very friendly to borrowers, while others are much more friendly to lenders. Base rate The key interest rate set by the Bank of England. It is the overnight interest rate that it charges to banks for lending to them. The base rate - and expectations about how the base rate will change in the future - directly affect the interest rates at which banks are willing to lend money in sterling. Basel accords The Basel Accords refer to a set of agreements by the Basel Committee on Bank Supervision (BCBS), which provide recommendations on banking regulations. The purpose of the accords is to ensure that financial institutions have enough capital to meet obligations and absorb unexpected losses. Basis point One hundred basis points make up a percentage point, so an interest rate cut of 25 basis points might take the rate, for example, from 3% to 2.75%. BBA The British Bankers' Association is an organisation representing the major banks in the UK - including foreign banks with a major presence in London. It is responsible for the daily Liborinterest rate which determines the rate at which banks lend to each other. Bear market In a bear market, prices are falling and investors, fearing losses, tend to sell. This can create a self-sustaining downward spiral. Bill A debt security- or more simply an IOU. It is very similar to a bond, but has a maturity of less than one year when first issued. BIS The Bank for International Settlements is an international association of central banks based in Basel, Switzerland. Crucially, it agrees international standards for the capital adequacyof banks - that is, the minimum buffer banks must have to withstand any losses. In response to the financial crisis, the BIS has agreed a much stricter set of rules. As these are the third such set of regulations, they are known as "Basel III". Bond A debt security, or more simply, an IOU. The bond states when a loan must be repaid and what interest the borrower (issuer) must pay to the holder. They can be issued by companies, banks or governments to raise money. Banks and investors buy and trade bonds. BRIC An acronym used to describe the fast-growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Bull market A bull market is one in which prices are generally rising and investor confidence is high. C Capital For investors, it refers to their stock of wealth, which can be put to work in order to earn income. For companies, it typically refers to sources of financing such as newly issued shares. For banks, it refers to their ability to absorb losses in their accounts. Banks normally obtain capital either by issuing new shares, or by keeping hold of profits instead of paying them out as dividends. If a bank writes off a loss on one of its assets - for example, if it makes a loan that is not repaid - then the bank must also write off a corresponding amount of its capital. If a bank runs out of capital, then it is insolvent, meaning it does not have enough assets to repay its debts. Capital adequacy ratio A measure of a bank's ability to absorb losses. It is defined as the value of its capital divided by the value of risk-weighted assets (ie taking into account how risky they are). A low capital adequacy ratio suggests that a bank has a limited ability to absorb losses, given the amount and the riskiness of the loans it has made. A banking regulator - typically the central bank - sets a minimum capital adequacy ratio for the banks in each country, and an international minimum standard is set by the BIS. A bank that fails to meet this minimum standard must be recapitalised, for example by issuing new shares. Capitulation (market). The point when a flurry of panic selling induces a final collapse - and ultimately a bottoming out - of prices. Carry trade Typically, the borrowing of currency with a low interest rate, converting it into currency with a high interest rate and then lending it. The most common carry trade currency used to be the yen, with traders seeking to benefit from Japan's low interest rates. Now the dollar, euro and pound can also serve the same purpose. The element of risk is in the fluctuations in the currency market. Chapter 11 The term for bankruptcy protection in the US. It postpones a company's obligations to its creditors, giving it time to reorganise its debts or sell parts of the business, for example. Collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) A financial structure that groups individual loans, bonds or other assets in a portfolio, which can then be traded. In theory, CDOs attract a stronger credit rating than individual assets due to the risk being more diversified. But as the performance of many assets fell during the financial crisis, the value of many CDOs was also reduced. Commercial paper Unsecured, short-term loans taken out by companies. The funds are typically used for working capital, rather than fixed assets such as a new building. The loans take the form of IOUs that can be bought and traded by banks and investors, similar to bonds. Commodities Commodities are products that, in their basic form, are all the same so it makes little difference from whom you buy them. That means that they can have a common market price. You would be unlikely to pay more for iron ore just because it came from a particular mine, for example. Contracts to buy and sell commodities usually specify minimum common standards, such as the form and purity of the product, and where and when it must be delivered. The commodities markets range from soft commodities such as sugar, cotton and pork bellies to industrial metals such as iron and zinc. Core inflation A measure of CPI inflation that strips out more volatile items (typically food and energy prices). The core inflation rate is watched closely by central bankers, as it tends to give a clearer indication of long-term inflation trends. Correction (market) A short-term drop in stock market prices. The term comes from the notion that, when this happens, overpriced or underpriced stocks are returning to their "correct" values. CPI The Consumer Prices Index is a measure of the price of a bundle of goods and services from across the economy. It is the most common measure used to identify inflation in a country. CPI is used as the target measure of inflation by the Bank of England and the ECB. Credit crunch A situation where banks and other lenders all cut back their lending at the same time, because of widespread fears about the ability of borrowers to repay. If heavily-indebted borrowers are cut off from new lending, they may find it impossible to repay existing debts. Reduced lending also slows down economic growth, which also makes it harder for all businesses to repay their debts. Credit default swap (CDS) A financial contract that provides insurance-like protection against the risk of a third-party borrower defaulting on its debts. For example, a bank that has made a loan to Greece may choose to hedge the loan by buying CDS protection on Greece. The bank makes periodic payments to the CDS seller. If Greece defaultson its debts, the CDS seller must buy the loans from the bank at their full face value. CDSs are not just used for hedging - they are used by investors to speculate on whether a borrower such as Greece will default. Credit rating The assessment given to debts and borrowers by a ratings agency according to their safety from an investment standpoint - based on their creditworthiness, or the ability of the company or government that is borrowing to repay. Ratings range from AAA, the safest, down to D, a company that has already defaulted. Ratings of BBB- or higher are considered "investment grade". Below that level, they are considered "speculative grade" or more colloquially as junk. Currency peg A commitment by a government to maintain its currency at a fixed value in relation to another currency. Sometimes pegs are used to keep a currency strong, in order to help reduce inflation. In this case, a central bank may have to sell its reserves of foreign currency and buy up domestic currency in order to defend the peg. If the central bank runs out of foreign currency reserves, then the peg will collapse. Pegs can also be used to help keep a currency weak in order to gain a competitive advantage in trade and boost exports. China has been accused of doing this. The People's Bank of China has accumulated trillions of dollars in US government bonds, because of its policy of selling yuan and buying dollars - a policy that has the effect of keeping the yuan weak.

वर्तमान वित्तीय संकट ने व्यावसायिक पृष्ठों से शब्दावली को समाचार पत्रों के पहले पृष्ठों पर फेंक दिया है, जिसमें अब कॉफी बार से लेकर टैक्सी के पीछे तक हर जगह शब्दजाल की भरमार है।


Body discovered in garden behind Bromsgrove shop

Summary: The death of a woman found in a garden at the rear of a shop is being treated as suspicious, police say.

The body was found on Broad Street, Bromsgrove, on Tuesday morning and reported to officers at 06:45 BST. The West Mercia force believes it is that of 46-year-old Susan Kariuki from Bromsgrove. Police are appealing for information on her whereabouts between 15:00 BST on Monday and the body's discovery on Tuesday. Det Insp Gerry Smith said: "Any details no matter how small may be vital to our investigation." A post mortem examination is due to be carried out. Related Internet Links West Mercia Police

पुलिस का कहना है कि एक दुकान के पीछे एक बगीचे में पाई गई एक महिला की मौत को संदिग्ध माना जा रहा है।


Crossrail: Who wants to work in a tunnel?

Summary: The £16bn Crossrail project has dug out many miles of tunnels beneath London's streets. The company has taken on thousands of unemployed people and even created a special academy to train them - but who wants a job that takes you underground?

By Mario CacciottoloBBC News "I would do tunnels before I'd do the Shard, because millions of lives are going to be positively affected by what we are doing right now, for the next 120 years." Linda Miller, 53, originally from Arizona, is project manager at London's Farringdon site for Crossrail. She once took to the skies as a helicopter pilot for the US military, but these days is adamant that the most interesting jobs in construction are to be found below ground, working on tunnels. "Transportation infrastructure in particular feels really, really fantastic," she says. "Our work is more hidden, and that gives the people who work on it an even greater sense of meaning and purpose in what they're doing. When you're working hard underground to make new space that doesn't exist, there's a huge pride in that." Some 12,000 men and women are working on Crossrail over 45 sites, which will pass through 37 train stations and run 73 miles (118km) from Reading and Heathrow in the west, to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. It is due to be completed by 2018. One of the women working on the Farringdon site is Leanne Doig, who realised as a teenager that she wanted a manual job after her dad failed to put up shelves in her bedroom. "I was waiting about six, seven weeks," says the 22-year-old from Canning Town. "Ended up doing them myself. I thought, this is more like it. I liked the hands-on experience." Little did she know that this fledgling success with her hands would eventually lead her to working in the bowels of the capital on the biggest infrastructure project in Europe, up to 40m deep in places. Doig is a general operative, so can be asked to turn her hand to anything from digging holes to "working with the chippies" - the carpenters. Currently she is helping to build Farringdon station's ticket hall. "It's exciting for me. But sometimes it can be scary at the same time, because of all the procedures you'd have to go through if you were injured that far underground." Valerie Todd, talent resources director for Crossrail, says when the company was handed its contract for this enormous project, it was determined to hire local people - broadly defined as those within the radius of the M25 - regardless of whether they'd ever worked in tunnel infrastructure before. As part of this plan, it created the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy (TUCA), a purpose-built training facility which opened in late 2011 and teaches the sorts of skills required to work in tunnel excavation and underground construction. About 7,000 people have passed through the academy, 3,000 of whom were the locals Crossrail was keen on recruiting - but some other apprentices were hired directly by contractors. Having an academy was necessary, Todd says, as the UK had "lost its tunnelling skill base, because that comes from a mining discipline". The shrinking of the mining sector had taken a more general toll. Crossrail was looking to recruit people who were "unemployed, preferably quite a way from the job market, and for us to do everything that we could to bring them into the workplace" by giving them technical training and safety skills. But why would anyone want to work in a tunnel, away from daylight, in a career far removed from anything they'd done before? "The camaraderie you get when you work down a tunnel, the team work you get - it's amazing," Todd says. "Everybody looks after each other. It's almost like a family, like a little community. People don't feel like they're going into some nameless, faceless job, where they're just a number. "For example, people working on tunnel boring machines are on shift for 12 hours and for that time, the crew are your family." These machines are 150m long and dig the tunnels out, operating 24 hours a day and moving through the earth at a rate of about 100m per week. Each one is staffed by a 20-strong "tunnel gang" and comes with its own kitchen and toilet. Todd says tunnelling is an international career, taking people with that particular expertise on projects around the globe. This type of demand, and the skilled nature of the work, contributes to the "very good" pay on offer to tunnel workers. British tunnellers will not have to go abroad to stay employed, however. Projects such as the HS2 high-speed rail line, the Bakerloo and Northern Line upgrades on the London Underground and Thames Tideway, a major new sewer tunnel, mean that there's plenty of work on the horizon for those willing to work beneath street level. Firoz Patel, 23, from East Ham, has been working as an apprentice steel fixer at Crossrail for the past nine months, for 50 hours a week, meaning he fits the steel bars and mesh which reinforces concrete structures. Before that, he worked in retail, as a security guard and did admin in an office. "I'm a practical person so I thought it was time for a career change," he says. "When I was offered a job as a steel fixer I had to look up what it was. But then I came down here and saw the reality of it - it's pretty intense. "Crossrail is a big project and I'm proud to be on it. My work is hidden but I know I've done it. This is something that I see myself doing for a very long time." Sean Taylor, 21, from Brixton, has also been an apprentice steel fixer, for eight months. Before that, he was studying electrical installation at college. Both he and Patel work on the section of the Farringdon tunnel which will become the station platform. "This job makes you learn things, and you see things you've never seen before, certain machines for the tunnelling. Sometimes it amazes you. It's not a normal job. "People are quite impressed when I tell them what I do and always want to know what it's like down there. For the first two weeks when I started this job I had aches and strains. Then obviously you toughen up, you get stronger and it's easier from then on." As for Doig, she takes a personal pride in what they are doing. "It gives me goose bumps to think of what I'm a part of here. "I can say in 30 years, 40 years' time to my grandchildren - I worked on that Crossrail job." Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

16 बिलियन पाउंड की क्रॉसरेल परियोजना ने लंदन की सड़कों के नीचे कई मील की सुरंगें खोदी हैं। कंपनी ने हजारों बेरोजगार लोगों को लिया है और उन्हें प्रशिक्षित करने के लिए एक विशेष अकादमी भी बनाई है-लेकिन कौन ऐसा काम चाहता है जो आपको भूमिगत ले जाए?


Heathrow Terminal 2 evacuated over 'suspicious item'

Summary: A terminal at London's Heathrow Airport was evacuated due to "a potentially suspicious item", the airport said.

Passengers reported on social media that they had been told to leave Terminal 2 shortly before 13:00 BST amid a large police presence. A spokesperson for the airport said they had been evacuated "as a precaution" but the item was found to "not pose a safety risk". Operations at the airport "are now back to normal", the spokesperson said. They added: "We thank those passengers whose journeys were temporarily disrupted for their patience."

हवाई अड्डे ने कहा कि लंदन के हीथ्रो हवाई अड्डे के एक टर्मिनल को "एक संभावित संदिग्ध वस्तु" के कारण खाली करा लिया गया था।


Guernsey Electricity sorry for taking money too soon

Summary: Guernsey Electricity has apologised to some of its customers after removing funds from their bank accounts on a date earlier than advertised.

It follows what the company described as "an IT problem". The correct amount was deducted from the accounts of some customers who pay by direct debit, but seven days earlier than they had been notified. Operations director Bob Beebe said the company was working to rectify the issue.

ग्वेर्नसे इलेक्ट्रिसिटी ने विज्ञापन से पहले एक तारीख को अपने कुछ ग्राहकों के बैंक खातों से धन निकालने के बाद उनसे माफी मांगी है।