'My bank is shutting my account because of Brexit'

Summary: "I was shocked to receive a notification saying that my bank account is going to be closed in two months," says Sharon Clarke, a Briton who has been living in the Netherlands for 20 years and who banks with Lloyds.

By Darin GrahamMoney Box reporter "They said that unless I provide a UK address, my account will be closed and I'll have to cut up my card." She is one of thousands of British expats living in the EU who are being told their bank accounts will be closed because of Brexit. Lloyds Bank has written to 13,000 personal and business customers, saying it will no longer be able to offer banking services once the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December. And Money Box found Barclays, Barclaycard and Coutts - which is owned by NatWest Group - are taking similar action. Experts say it is because lenders will lose their EU banking licences, making operating in some countries too costly. However, HSBC and Santander say they have no plans to close British expat accounts in the EU. Ms Clarke says she has been given until early November to close her account and transfer all monies, standing orders and regular payments to another bank. She says she has never had any financial problems with Lloyds, having banked with them "for decades". Britons living in the Netherlands, Slovakia, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Portugal have all been sent similar letters. One of them is Robert Kane, who lives in Spain and has a Barclaycard credit card. "I find this an unbelievable situation that Barclaycard will lose so many thousands of customers because of Brexit," Robert says. "I don't have a UK address as I live in Spain and have done for the last 14 years. They did not offer me any advice other than cut up my card, cancel any regular payments and carry on paying outstanding balances." A source at NatWest, which owns Coutts, says it has no intention of closing accounts unless there is no other option and any customers who may be affected will be contacted. 'Postcode lottery' Sarah Hall, a fellow at UK in a Changing Europe, a research unit at King's College London, says that EU-wide banking rules will not apply to Britain after Brexit. UK banks will no longer be allowed to provide services to customers in the EU without the right banking licences. This is known as passporting, a system for banks in the EU which allows them to trade freely in any other state in the European Economic Area (EEA) without the need for more authorisation. Sarah said that although HSBC and Santander will still offer banking, others feel it is not worthwhile commercially. "Some UK banks decided the size and scale of the client base is small, not profitable enough to warrant a subsidiary, so they have determined they will exit that market. It's a potential postcode lottery. "This means the market will be harder to navigate as a customer. It's less certain and could mean less choice and maybe higher interest and lower saving rates because of less competition." Variable impact In a statement, Lloyds said: "We have written to a small number of customers living in affected EU countries to let them know that due to the UK's exit from the EU, regrettably we will no longer be able to provide them with some UK-based banking services." Barclays would not reveal how many accounts are going to be closed, but said it would be contacting affected customers. The UK trade body UK Finance said the finance industry had been working hard to get ready for Brexit. "Where possible, firms want to keep providing banking services to customers living in the EEA after the transition period. "The impact on each customer will vary depending on the operating model of their bank or provider, the product or service being provided, and the legal and regulatory framework in the country in which they are resident." You can hear more on BBC Radio 4's Money Box programme by listening again here. Follow Money Box on Twitter.

20 साल से नीदरलैंड में रह रहे और लॉयड्स के साथ बैंक करने वाले एक ब्रिटिश शेरोन क्लार्क कहते हैं, "मैं एक अधिसूचना पाकर हैरान था जिसमें कहा गया था कि मेरा बैंक खाता दो महीने में बंद होने वाला है।"


Disgraced Boston cardinal retires from new Rome job

Summary: Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign as archbishop of Boston in 2002 over a sex abuse scandal, has retired from his subsequent job as head of a major basilica in Rome.

The Vatican said in a statement Santos Abril y Castello from Spain would now take charge of St Mary Major Basilica. Cardinal Law was accused of having moved paedophile priests from parishes rather than confront the problem. Cardinal Law's Rome appointment was criticised by abuse victims. He celebrated a Mass of mourning for Pope John Paul II and remains an influential Church figure. He was the first and, so far, only US bishop to resign for mishandling cases of priests who sexually abused children, the Associated Press news agency reports. The Boston Archdiocese avoided bankruptcy by agreeing to sell land and buildings for more than $100m (£63m) to fund legal settlements for more than 500 abuse victims. As an 80-year-old, Bernard Law can no longer elect a pope in a conclave, but will remain a cardinal.

कार्डिनल बर्नार्ड लॉ, जिन्हें 2002 में एक यौन शोषण घोटाले को लेकर बोस्टन के आर्कबिशप के रूप में इस्तीफा देने के लिए मजबूर किया गया था, रोम में एक प्रमुख बेसिलिका के प्रमुख के रूप में अपनी बाद की नौकरी से सेवानिवृत्त हो गए हैं।


Bloodhound Diary: Building a 'bullet-proof' car

Summary: A British team is developing a car that will be capable of reaching 1,000mph (1,610km/h). Powered by a rocket bolted to a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, the vehicle will mount an assault on the world land speed record. Bloodhound will be run on Hakskeen Pan in Northern Cape, South Africa, in 2015 and 2016. Wing Commander Andy Green, the current world land-speed record holder, is writing a diary for BBC News about his experiences working on the Bloodhound project and the team's efforts to inspire national interest in science and engineering.

By Andy GreenWorld Land Speed Record Holder As we get closer to completing the most extraordinary straight-line racing car in history, it's easy to forget the most important part of building the world's first 1,000mph car. Getting to 1,000mph safely is not just about technology, it's about engineering expertise, an area where Great Britain is still among the best in the world. This is why I'm not worried about driving Bloodhound SSC later this year. Quite simply, I trust the Bloodhound engineers, because they are world class. This world-class expertise was recognised at the annual SEMTA Engineering Awards. Bloodhound's Chief Engineer, Mark Chapman, was elected to the SEMTA Hall of Fame, alongside some of the most famous names in engineering, including Brunel, Stevenson and Whittle. This is public recognition of true world-class quality - well done, Mark! Project Bloodhound is all about promoting engineering, and inspiring the next generation with the excitement of science and technology. The recent front-page feature and video by the Financial Times (among many others) highlights the "Bloodhound effect" of engineering promotion. But are we really reaching young people and creating an interest in engineering? The answer is a resounding "yes". To quote just one example, Castle Precision Engineering (which is making Bloodhound's wheels) is already seeing a huge difference. Castle's Managing Director, Yan Tiefenbrun, quotes the level of apprenticeship applications: when Castle started working with Bloodhound five years ago, "for eight apprenticeship positions, we had 50 applications". For a precision engineering firm like Castle, that's not really enough to guarantee the quality of apprentices they need. Now, thanks to Bloodhound, "We had six places for apprentices in 2014 and 600 applications". That's the Bloodhound effect at work. Castle Precision has previously made our "slow speed" (slow for Bloodhound means 200+ mph) runway test wheels. Castle has now begun machining the high-speed desert wheels for our 800mph runs later this year in South Africa. The BBC's Jon Amos was there to press the button and start the process: you can read his article on the wheels here. I was lucky enough to see these wheels starting life over a year ago, forged by Otto Fuchs from solid blocks of aluminium. Each quarter-tonne block was heated to 380C and then squeezed like putty in a huge 3,600-tonne hydraulic press. Repeated forging (squeezing) aligns the "grain" of the metal, making the wheels very strong. Watch the video here - it's an amazing process. These high speed wheels need to be incredibly strong. At 1,000mph, they will spin at over 10,000 revs per min, with loads of 50,000g at the wheel rim. We know they are strong enough to cope with these incredible loads, thanks to the high-speed testing of our first test wheel. In the fastest spin test ever conducted on their engine test rig, Rolls-Royce proved that the wheel would survive the 50,000g loads, and that our engineering predictions were spot on. You can watch the world's fastest wheel spin test video here to see why we've got such confidence in the end result. Despite this, our engineering team has gone a stage further and looked at possible failure modes for the wheel. It is just possible (although very unlikely) that a wheel could pick up damage on the desert surface, perhaps by hitting a stone buried just under the surface. If this happened, it's also possible (but even more unlikely) that a chunk of wheel rim could break off at maximum speed. What effect would this have on the car? Could this chunk of metal, travelling at around 1,000mph, punch a hole in the cockpit, for instance? To counter this risk, the cockpit sides have ballistic armoured panels and we've just tested them. Morgan Advanced Materials tested the armour in their firing range and the news is very good. The largest practical chunk that might fly off the wheel will easily be stopped by the armour. In fact, it's even better than that. The estimated maximum energy from a wheel fragment is around 22.5MJ (22,000,000 joules) of energy - enough to boil 60 kettles instantly and equal to the energy of a cricket ball travelling at 1,175mph. The test at Morgan Advanced Materials went further, firing a "sabot" (or bullet) at 2,300mph, giving an impact of 29MJ (equal to a cricket ball at 1,334 mph). As you can see from the test video of the firing, the sabot did not penetrate the armour, showing that the cockpit is safe from pretty much anything thrown up by (or thrown off) the front wheels. One of the challenges of driving on solid metal wheels is the low grip levels, particularly on the dry mud surface of our track in the Northern Cape of South Africa. For rubber tyres on a tarmac road, the coefficient of friction is about 1.0. In other words, the amount of sideways grip is the same as the weight of the car. For our dry lakebed track in South Africa, we're expecting a coefficient of friction of about 0.2 - about the same as driving on ice and snow. As a result, I was out in Switzerland last month to do a little bit of "top up" training on car handling skills, in the new Jaguar F-Type All Wheel Drive. It's slightly counter-intuitive to go to a winter resort to practise high-speed desert driving, but it was worth it, as I learned a huge amount about low-friction driving, steering, and car balance. It was also great fun and you can see the video here. The build of the rest of the car continues apace. This month we've installed the EJ200 jet engine in the completed upper chassis for the first time. This allows us to check all the clearances and mounting points. Everything worked as advertised, which represents another big milestone for the project. The other main power source for the car is of course the Nammo rocket motor. The previous rocket firing was impressive enough. In a few weeks' time, we'll be firing it at even higher pressures, using the Bloodhound SSC's pump system powered by the Jaguar V8 engine. We tested the pump last month, which showed that this 550hp pump system was more than up to the task of pumping a tonne of HTP (rocket oxidiser) through the rocket in 20 seconds. After the test, we stripped the rocket pump as a matter of course. It was slightly disappointing to find that the rear bearing had not fared well - we'd pretty much destroyed it. However, for fast-paced development engineering like Bloodhound, this kind of problem is normal business. We're fairly sure that the bearing problem was caused by a quirk of the test rig, which allowed loads to be transmitted along the pump shaft. To make sure, we're going to test it again shortly with a modified test rig. Then we're off to Nammo for the high-powered rocket firings, simulating the profiles that we'll be using later this year in the desert. An exciting time for the rocket programme - results to follow shortly. The bodywork build continues, with the front carbon fibre panels being fitted and gradually drilled off. This is not as simple as it sounds. Carbon fibre panels are laid up in a mould, using multiple layers of woven carbon fibre impregnated with resin. The mould is then put into an autoclave (large oven) and cooked for several hours, to set the resin. When the parts come out of the mould, they tend to "spring" a little bit, taking on a slightly different shape. This is perfectly normal (if slightly inconvenient) for carbon-fibre body panels. Each panel needs to be hand-fitted to the car's chassis, to make sure every piece fits perfectly. If 1,000mph of airflow gets under a panel, the air pressure will peel it back with a force of up to 12 tonnes per square metre. That will quickly make a huge mess of the bodywork, so this vital process requires absolute precision in every detail. It's great to see it coming together week by week. I can't help feeling excited as we watch it happen. In just a few months, we'll be starting our test runs at Newquay Aerohub (want to come and watch? Join the 1K Club now). I don't know about anyone else, but I can't wait.

एक ब्रिटिश टीम एक ऐसी कार विकसित कर रही है जो 1,000 मील प्रति घंटे (1,610 किमी/घंटा) तक पहुंचने में सक्षम होगी। एक यूरोफाइटर-टाइफून जेट इंजन को बोल्ट किए गए रॉकेट द्वारा संचालित, वाहन विश्व भूमि गति रिकॉर्ड पर हमला करेगा। ब्लडहाउंड 2015 और 2016 में उत्तरी केप, दक्षिण अफ्रीका में हक्सकीन पैन पर चलाया जाएगा। विंग कमांडर एंडी ग्रीन, वर्तमान विश्व भूमि-गति रिकॉर्ड धारक, ब्लडहाउंड परियोजना पर काम करने के अपने अनुभवों और विज्ञान और इंजीनियरिंग में राष्ट्रीय रुचि को प्रेरित करने के लिए टीम के प्रयासों के बारे में बीबीसी न्यूज के लिए एक डायरी लिख रहे हैं।


Jersey school pupils' return delayed in Covid spike

Summary: Jersey's government has delayed the start of the new school term in States amid concerns about a recent spike in Covid cases.

The island has 556 active cases, with new daily cases peaking at 124 on 18 December. The States said the delay to 11 January would allow time to test school staff and students in years 11, 12 and 13. Education Minister, Senator Tracey Vallois, said it was the "safest way forward". She said it "gives parents, young people, and our hard-working staff even greater security around their health and wellbeing". Related Internet Links Government of Jersey

जर्सी की सरकार ने हाल ही में कोविड मामलों में वृद्धि की चिंताओं के बीच राज्यों में नए स्कूल सत्र की शुरुआत में देरी की है।


Radar at Jersey Airport is affected by lightning strike

Summary: A lightning strike has affected radar equipment at Jersey Airport causing delays in and out of the island.

The radar was affected overnight but the first flights from Jersey to Gatwick and Southampton took off just before 1000 GMT. The first flights arrived on the island just after 1030 GMT, but most flights are delayed. On the website the airport states that "passengers are advised to check in on time." It also said regular weather and operational updates would be provided on its website.

जर्सी हवाई अड्डे पर बिजली गिरने से रडार उपकरण प्रभावित हुए हैं जिससे द्वीप के अंदर और बाहर जाने में देरी हुई है।


Energy firm SSE buys gas field stake

Summary: Energy company SSE has bought a 50% stake in the Sean gas field from BP for $288m (£177m) as part of its strategy to increase gas assets.

The deal will give Perth-based SSE access to reserves of about 1.7 billion therms over the life of the field. The Sean gas field is in the Southern North Sea close to some of SSE's existing upstream assets. The sale by BP is part of a broader programme of disposing of non-core assets that is doesn't operate itself. The acquisition of gas assets will help SSE reduce its dependence on the fluctuating wholesale gas market. David Franklin of SSE said: "We have made clear that SSE is proactively seeking new opportunities to increase our presence in upstream gas sector where assets can be acquired for a fair price, and that is exactly what this deal represents."

ऊर्जा कंपनी एस. एस. ई. ने गैस परिसंपत्तियों को बढ़ाने की अपनी रणनीति के हिस्से के रूप में बी. पी. से शॉन गैस क्षेत्र में 50 प्रतिशत हिस्सेदारी $288 मिलियन (£177 मिलियन) में खरीदी है।


RAF Lossiemouth personnel take part in Elgin parade

Summary: More than 130 RAF personnel have marched through the centre of Elgin in one of the largest parades the town has seen.

The Duke of York took the salute from the troops of 5 Force Protection Wing based at RAF Lossiemouth. It followed their recent return from a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. They had been providing ground security for airfields. Prince Andrew previously honoured personnel at the base in March. That was when the RAF's "Dambuster" squadron was temporarily disbanded as its Tornado aircraft were being withdrawn from service. The famous 617 Squadron will be reformed in 2016, at its new location, RAF Marham in Norfolk.

130 से अधिक आरएएफ कर्मियों ने एल्गिन के केंद्र के माध्यम से शहर की सबसे बड़ी परेड में से एक में मार्च किया है।


How the lives of Osama Bin Laden's neighbours changed forever

Summary: Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan in a dramatic and bloody raid by US Navy Seals on 2 May 2011. Five years on the BBC's M Ilyas Khan finds loose ends, unsettling and unanswered questions, and a neighbourhood changed forever.

It is a precarious life next to the razed Bin Laden home The open spaces that once surrounded the sprawling compound are fast disappearing. When I first saw it, just hours after al-Qaeda's leader-in-hiding was killed, it was an open and quiet suburban lane. Now new houses - small, box-shaped, concrete - have come up and it has the feel of an ill-planned and crowded neighbourhood. But the view opens up as you venture further down the street to where the tall walls of the compound once stood. That was all razed, just months after his killing. Bin Laden's death: How it happened Legacy of Bin Laden's death Fragments of the concrete beams from his home are strewn about. A small pipe jutting out of the ground continues to spout water, as if a natural spring even though it is actually connected to a deep well that once pumped drinking water to the Bin Laden household. The water is now used by neighbours in an area where shallow well water is brackish and not everyone can afford deep drilling. What is unchanged is the memory of the event - which rocked Abbottabad and the entire world in May 2011 - and the measures some still take to avoid discussing it. A construction worker who worked on the compound agreed to see me when I assured him we wouldn't reveal his identity. But when I reached his home, there was a padlock on his door. A neighbour said he took his children out the previous night. The old neighbour in and out of custody One man will talk. Zain Baba, 84, has the distinction of being the first, and closest neighbour of the Bin Ladens. His small house was across the street. Every morning he comes out and sits under a huge maple tree, a sort of assembly point for the retired men of the neighbourhood. Until that night, he and his son Shamrez Khan worked as night watchmen for Arshad Khan, an ethnic Pashtun who lived in the compound with his family and that of his brother. To the Americans, Arshad Khan was the same man as Abu Ahmed al-Kuwati, the Kuwait-born courier of Bin Laden, whose phone calls apparently led them to the hideout. Zain Baba and his son had access to some parts of the compound. They were picked up by Pakistani intelligence after the raid and kept in custody for two months. "They would tie our hands, blindfold us and take us for long drives from one place to another. They wanted to know if we saw Osama in the compound. We kept telling them that we didn't see anyone except the two brothers and some children." Five years later, he is still on the security radar. When foreign journalists come to the area, they want to talk to him, he says. "Men in plain clothes riding government vehicles" drop by to ask questions about the visitors, and to warn him against "talking to such people". He recounts how a French journalist who interviewed an aged neighbour of his was recently escorted away by security officials. The old man they had interviewed died later that night. The next day the men in plain clothes came to see Zain Baba and asked him about the whereabouts of his son, Shamrez. "I am tired of people asking questions. I don't want to give any more interviews to the media. Even when the media speak to someone else, the security people come asking for me." He has a wryness about him and a fatalistic approach, but ultimately no true fear. He believes little can happen to him now - it is a situation that tells more about the paranoia of the security agencies than his safety. The contractor who was never the same again Shakil Rafiq is a changed man. He used to be an amiable and responsive man who mixed with his neighbours. "He now walks with his head down, and if someone shouts a greeting at him, he just responds by waving a hand," says one neighbour. A small-time construction contractor, Mr Rafiq's business picked up after he was employed by Arshad Khan to supply labour and material for the construction of the Bin Laden compound. Mr Rafiq's life changed a few years later, after the US raid. Security agents raided his house and took him away. A neighbour who witnessed the arrest said the street was taken over by men in plain clothes and Mr Rafiq was escorted out carrying a shoulder bag. A security official who was part of the post-raid investigations says Mr Rafiq was picked up after it was found that various facilities were registered in his name. He didn't return for several months. In the intervening years, Mr Rafiq has disappeared several times for varying durations, the latest being just a few months ago, say neighbours and local journalists. He did not respond to several attempts by the BBC to contact him. One neighbour said: "Every time he walks out carrying a shoulder bag, it's a sign that he is going to be away for a while. Where exactly? Nobody knows." The policeman who knew too much? Did policeman Yasir Khan know more than he ought to? Did he have direct links with residents of the compound? Nobody will know. He was posted to Abbottabad's police intelligence department back in May 2011, and did not live far from the compound. He was often seen hanging around in the area in plain clothes, sniffing for information like all spies do, says one senior security source. His colleagues say he was at home around midnight on 2 May, when the Americans destroyed one of the helicopters that crashed during the raid. The sound of the blast alerted police, and Mr Khan was one of several officials called to respond. The next day he was picked up by men in plain clothes. He is among dozens of people taken away by men in plain clothes after the raid. He is the only one who has not yet returned. A security official says he was alive until a year ago, but did not say where he was being held, or by which intelligence service. His family never speak to the media, but their pain is not hidden from their neighbours. His mother is still alive and he has a wife and children still clueless about his fate. One of the first men on the scene Unusual but not extraordinary. That was how police interpreted the midnight blast of 2 May 2011. Abbottabad is a garrison town, and a helicopter crash, though rare, could be expected, explains a police officer who was among the first police officials who entered the compound. "In the dark, we couldn't make out if the burning helicopter was Pakistani or American." They found women and children crying and shouting. The compound was soon taken over by the military and the police couldn't probe the matter any further. He remained part of the military-led investigations, but will not share those details. "It was an embarrassing moment. We could neither admit nor deny that Osama was here. Our best option was to not to say anything." But staying silent on the matter has not helped the ghost of Bin Laden leave the town. "There is a continuing state of alert in Abbottabad," he says. What was on Bin Laden's bookshelf? The legacy of the most wanted man on earth The implications of that night resonated well beyond this neighbourhood. Would Bin Laden be turning in his grave over the way al-Qaeda has gone? Could he have changed things? It has been increasingly overshadowed by the so-called Islamic State in many parts of Africa and the Middle East. In the Afghanistan-Pakistan region - which is the original birthplace of militant Islam - al-Qaeda continues to have links with local groups but appears to be more of one-among-equals now. Many say that al-Qaeda is more decentralised, with regional groups acting independently of the central leadership. This could be partly because the leaders are not as militarily experienced, ideologically articulate or charismatic as Bin Laden was, and hence cannot inspire the same loyalty. But it could also simply be the changed security environment. In pictures: Osama Bin Laden's life Bin Laden files: Seven things we learned The embarrassment may be the key to the paranoia It was the fact that Bin Laden's home was spitting distance from a prime military academy that led to speculation about the lack of, or the extent of, Pakistani complicity. It has been a huge embarrassment for the Pakistani military, which literally runs the country's security policy - and so the response of officials has been silence. They have also kept tight vigil over those connected to the compound to prevent them from passing on any information to the media or "foreign agents disguised as journalists", as one official put it. Pakistani and US officials have publicly said that Pakistani authorities were not aware of Bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad, but many have contrary views. American journalist Seymour Hersch argues Bin Laden had been in Pakistani custody since 2006 and was killed after the country struck a deal with US. Part of his argument is the ability of US helicopters to fly nearly 200km over Pakistani territory to get Bin Laden, and fly back, without being interrupted. If true, then this "prisoner" also had enough freedom to travel around in the tribal region until as late as May 2010, as the BBC discovered on good authority. Official circles and independent analysts here say that while the Pakistani government could not possibly have had any knowledge of Bin Laden's whereabouts, that a handful of top officials in some powerful quarters may have known cannot be ruled out. Either way, the events of a small block of this mountain town five years ago not only changed the lives of those unlucky enough to be his neighbours, but also marked a moment with massive implications for the world as we know it.

अल-कायदा नेता ओसामा बिन लादेन 2 मई 2011 को अमेरिकी नौसेना सीलों द्वारा एक नाटकीय और खूनी छापे में पाकिस्तान के एबटाबाद में मारा गया था। बीबीसी के एम इलियास खान पर पांच साल के लिए ढीले अंत, अस्थिर और अनुत्तरित प्रश्न पाए गए, और एक पड़ोस हमेशा के लिए बदल गया।


Sandiacre death: Arrest after man's body found in street

Summary: A man has been arrested after a body was found in a Derbyshire street.

Officers were called to a property on Town Street, Sandiacre, at about 22:00 GMT on Friday and the area was cordoned off overnight. A man was pronounced dead at the scene but he has yet to be formally identified. A 42-year-old man has been arrested but police declined to say on suspicion of what or give further details of how the victim died.

डर्बीशायर सड़क पर एक शव मिलने के बाद एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Coronavirus: ‘My business could go bust if insurers don’t pay’

Summary: Businessman Simon Ager says his company, the Pinnacle Climbing Centre in Northampton, is at risk of being bankrupted because his insurer is refusing to cover losses as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.

By Dan AscherBusiness Reporter He is one of a number of business owners who have said they might take legal action against insurers Hiscox, which has said it will not pay business interruption claims resulting from the outbreak. Mr Ager's policy covers the climbing centre for losses of up to £100,000 if it is forced to close in certain circumstances, although he says the lockdown is likely to cost him more than that. Two clauses Hiscox's policy documents says it will cover financial losses for businesses which are unable to use their premises following "an occurrence of any human infectious or human contagious disease, an outbreak of which must be notified to the local authority". Marie-Claire di Mambro, a solicitor at Keystone Law, believes the clause should "cover any business that purchased this policy for any financial losses incurred as a consequence of Covid-19". A separate clause says the insurer will cover losses if an incident within a mile of an insured business means the government refuses access to that firm's premises. That could be a shop, factory or climbing wall, for example. Ms Di Mambro says this second clause should cover a business that cannot use its buildings because the government has forced companies to close as a result of the pandemic. But Hiscox says the insurance industry does not have enough money to cover all the losses that will emerge as a result of the lockdown. "Business interruption policies across the industry were never intended to cover pandemic risks," a spokeswoman said, noting that the insurer's lawyers do not think the pandemic is covered by its business interruption policies. Instead, the insurer argues that the policy was intended to cover incidents that occur only within a mile of a business - not across the whole country - or outbreaks such as Legionnaires' disease on the premises. Global events But Roger Topping - a claims assessor at TopMark Adjusters - who is also considering bringing legal action against the Hiscox, argues that is not what the policy says. "The policy actually covers notifiable disease that causes an interruption to the business," he believes. Insurance coverage is different from each provider. Allianz and Aviva say they do not cover any diseases that are not named in their policies, and Zurich said its policies "generally" did not provide cover for global events like the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Axa and RSA say some of their policies may cover businesses which suffer a loss because of a coronavirus outbreak on their premises. Hiscox, which is one of the UK's best-known insurance companies and is worth about £2.7bn, would not say how many policies it has issued including the wording in question. Emily Pringle owns a candle and fragrance company, Notes of Northumberland, which has been forced to furlough its three employees. She says she is having to use the government's financial help schemes, because Hiscox refused her claim. "They shouldn't have been offering this sort of cover, unless they were prepared to cover it in the instance that something like this happened," she says. Ms Pringle called Hiscox just days before she was forced to shut her business. She says the insurer assured her that it would pay her losses as a result of the decision to close, and even sold her extra cover to protect her business from the pandemic's impact. But when she approached the insurer to make a claim, she was told that she was not covered. Hiscox says: "We are investigating Emily's circumstances." While Ms Pringle says Hiscox may not have intended to protect against losses from an event like this when it wrote the policy, she thinks her contract's wording means the insurer is obliged to pay. She says that any accidental coverage under the policy is not the fault of small businesses. "It just doesn't seem fair that they're saving themselves and sacrificing all of us. It's their mistake, not ours," she says. Daniel Duckett opened Lazy Claire Patisserie in Belfast two years ago, and he now employs six part-time staff. The patisserie has been forced to close, but Mr Duckett wants to continue paying staff and also rent to his landlord, another small business owner. "In the spirit of supporting other small businesses around us, we want to try to pay the people who need the money the most," he says. But he says reopening the business after the lockdown will be more difficult because Hiscox has refused his claim. He has written an open letter to Hiscox's UK boss Bob Thaker, and Chancellor Rishi Sunak after the insurer emailed to say it would not pay his claim. Mr Duckett says the company's argument that contagious disease cover only applies to local outbreaks is different to the wording of his policy. He thinks Hiscox is arguing what its policy "should say". "What it should say and what they think it says is a matter of opinion, it's not a matter of fact," he tells the BBC. His letter to Mr Thaker and the chancellor says: "It is my belief that Hiscox have wrongly denied my claim and that of other businesses forced to close due to the government's direction." He quotes Hiscox, which tells prospective customers "we will always go the extra mile and always start by assuming your insurance claim is valid", and asks why the wording of his policy does not apply.

व्यवसायी साइमन एगर का कहना है कि उनकी कंपनी, नॉर्थम्प्टन में पिनेकल क्लाइम्बिंग सेंटर, दिवालिया होने का खतरा है क्योंकि उनका बीमाकर्ता कोरोनावायरस लॉकडाउन के परिणामस्वरूप हुए नुकसान को पूरा करने से इनकार कर रहा है।


Japan tsunami: Stories and signs of hope

Summary: A year after the biggest earthquake on record to hit Japan and the tsunami which followed in its wake, Roland Buerk visits some of the places hit by the disaster to see what progress has been made in rebuilding towns and lives.

The Otsuchi vending machines After the earthquake, then the tsunami, Otsuchi was ravaged by a fire which destroyed many of the surviving buildings. All that remains of the old town are the foundations. But roads into the town have been re-laid to make the clean-up a little easier - and vending machines installed for the workers have become a beacon of progress as the area struggles to return to normality. Japan's most famous tree The sea wall in Rikuzentakata was destroyed by the tsunami, and more than 3,000 people are still missing from the town. The search for bodies along the coast continues, with many families still hopeful they will get to give their loved ones a proper burial. But standing behind the new sea wall is a lone tree - the only survivor from a whole pine forest laid waste by the wave, and now a nationwide symbol of resilience and hope. The building where people's lives are stored Rikuzentakata's city hall looks as if the tsunami happened much more recently than 12 months ago. The building is littered with sand, debris and the remains of houses - and two smashed cars sitting in the lobby where the tsunami waters left them. Amongst the rubbish are school bags and photo albums, pieces of people's lives recovered from the wreckage outside and given shelter from the elements until their owners can come to reclaim them.

जापान में आए सबसे बड़े भूकंप और उसके बाद आई सुनामी के एक साल बाद, रोलैंड बुर्क ने आपदा से प्रभावित कुछ स्थानों का दौरा किया और देखा कि कस्बों और जीवन के पुनर्निर्माण में क्या प्रगति हुई है।


Syria chemical 'attack': What we know

Summary: More than 80 people were killed in a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in north-western Syria on 4 April.

Hundreds suffered symptoms consistent with reaction to a nerve agent after what the opposition and Western powers said was a Syrian government air strike on the area. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the incident was fabricated, while his ally Russia said an air strike hit a rebel depot full of chemical munitions. What happened? Witnesses and activists say warplanes attacked Khan Sheikhoun, about 50km (30 miles) south of the city of Idlib, early on 4 April, when many people were asleep. Mariam Abu Khalil, a 14-year-old resident who was awake, told the New York Times that she had seen an aircraft drop a bomb on a one-storey building. The explosion sent a yellow mushroom cloud into the air that stung her eyes. "It was like a winter fog," she said. She sheltered in her home, but recalled that when people started arriving to help the wounded, "they inhaled the gas and died". Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the pro-opposition Edlib Media Center (EMC), was reported as saying that he was awoken by the sound of an explosion at about 06:30 (03:30 GMT). When he reached the scene, there was no smell, he said. He found people lying on the floor, unable to move and with constricted pupils. Mohammed Rasoul, the head of a charity ambulance service in Idlib, told the BBC that he heard about the attack at about 06:45 and that when his medics arrived 20 minutes later they found people, many of them children, choking in the street. The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM), which funds hospitals in rebel-held Syria, said three of its staff in Khan Sheikhoun were affected while treating patients in the streets and had to be rushed to intensive care. Victims experienced symptoms including redness of the eyes, foaming from the mouth, constricted pupils, blue facial skin and lips, severe shortness of breath and asphyxiation, it added. A Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) medical team supporting the Bab al-Hawa hospital, near the Turkish border, confirmed similar symptoms in eight patients brought there from Khan Sheikhoun. How many victims? Rescue workers and opposition activists posted photos and videos on social media that showed victims exhibiting the symptoms described by doctors, as well as many people who had died. The EMC posted photos showing what appeared to be at least seven dead children in the back of a pick-up truck. There were no visible traumatic injuries. Another photo published by the group showed the bodies of at least 14 men, women and children on a street outside a hospital in Khan Sheikhoun. The opposition-run health directorate in Idlib province - which is almost entirely controlled by rebel fighters and al-Qaeda-linked jihadists - says at least 89 people were killed, including 33 children and 18 women. Another 541 people were injured. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, put the death toll at 86 and said it was likely to rise, with many of the injured in a serious condition in hospital. It was also not immediately clear whether anyone was killed when Khan Sheikhoun's main hospital was struck by a rocket on the afternoon of 4 April. The source of the projectile was not clear, but the EMC said warplanes had targeted clinics and the headquarters of the Syria Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are known as the White Helmets. What were they exposed to? The Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons said on 19 April that bio-medical samples collected from three victims during their post-mortems had been analysed by two OPCW-designated laboratories. The results of the analysis indicated that the victims were exposed to Sarin or a Sarin-like substance. Samples taken from seven survivors showed similar results. "While further details of the laboratory analyses will follow, the analytical results already obtained are incontrovertible," said OPCW head Ahmet Uzumcu. Mr Uzumcu gave no further details, but Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag said on 11 April that traces of one of the decomposition products of Sarin, a chemical known as isopropyl methyphosphonic acid (IMPA), had been detected in the blood and urine of victims brought to Turkey. A declassified report by French intelligence agencies published on 26 April said analysis of environmental samples collected in Khan Sheikhoun had also revealed the presence of Sarin, diisopropyl methylphosphonate (DIMP) and hexamine. The report concluded that the Syrian government had manufactured the Sarin because the process of synthesizing the nerve agent developed by the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) and employed by the Syrian armed forces and security services involved the use of hexamine as a stabilizer. DIMP was also known as a by-product generated by this process, it added. What does the Syrian government say? A Syrian military statement published by state media on 4 April denied the use of "any chemical or toxic substance" in Khan Sheikhoun, adding that the military "has never used them, anytime, anywhere, and will not do so in the future". President Bashar al-Assad subsequently said the incident was a "fabrication" used to justify a US cruise missile strike on Syria's Shayrat airbase on 7 April. "Our impression is that the West, mainly the United States, is hand-in-glove with the terrorists. They fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext for the attack," he told AFP news agency. Mr Assad insisted that it was "not clear" whether an attack had even happened. "You have a lot of fake videos now," he said. "We don't know whether those dead children were killed in Khan Sheikhoun. Were they dead at all?" What is Russia's explanation? Russia, which has carried out air strikes in support of President Assad since 2015, said the Syrian air force had struck Khan Sheikhoun "between 11:30am and 12:30pm local time" on 4 April, but that the target had been "a large terrorist ammunition depot" on its eastern outskirts. "On the territory of the depot, there were workshops which produced chemical warfare munitions," it added, without providing any evidence. "Terrorists had been transporting chemical munitions from this largest arsenal to the territory of Iraq." The ministry said the chemical munitions had also been used during the final stages of the battle for control of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo last autumn, asserting that the symptoms of the victims were "the same". Are those accounts credible? US intelligence agencies believe the Syrian government struck Khan Sheikhoun in response to a rebel offensive in northern Hama province, and that senior military leaders were probably involved in planning the attack. US military radar systems monitored Syrian Air Force Sukhoi Su-22 fixed-wing aircraft take off from the government-controlled Shayrat airbase on 4 April and fly over Khan Sheikhoun on two occasions - at 06:37 (03:37 GMT) and 06:46. Officials told NBC News that the radar systems picked up flashes on the ground, indicating that ordnance had been dropped on the rebel-held town about the same time that the first casualties with breathing difficulties were reported. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commanding officer of the British Armed Forces Joint Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear (CBRN) Regiment, said Russia's assertion that the strikes had hit rebel chemical weapons were "pretty fanciful". "Axiomatically, if you blow up Sarin, you destroy it," he told the BBC. The explosion resulting from an air strike on a chemical weapons facility would most likely incinerate any agents. Sarin and other nerve agents are also usually stocked in a "binary manner", which means they are kept as two distinct chemical precursors that are combined just before use, either manually or automatically inside a weapon when launched. "It's very clear it's a Sarin attack," Mr de Bretton-Gordon added. "The view that it's an al-Qaeda or rebel stockpile of Sarin that's been blown up in an explosion, I think is completely unsustainable and completely untrue." He also noted that chlorine was the only chemical believed to have been used in attacks in Aleppo over the past year. A recent report by Human Rights Watch said government helicopters had dropped bombs containing chlorine on rebel-held areas of Aleppo on at least eight occasions between 17 November and 13 December, killing nine civilians. It was also not clear why there was five hours' difference between the time of the strike reported by multiple witnesses in Khan Sheikhoun and that stated by Russia. Moscow's short account gave no evidence for its suggestion that a group was sending chemical weaponry to Iraq. So-called Islamic State, which has used the the blister agent sulphur mustard in Syria and Iraq, is not present in Khan Sheikhoun. Hasan Haj Ali, commander of the Free Idlib Army rebel group, called Russia's claim a "lie" and said rebel fighters did not have the capability to produce nerve agents. The report by French intelligence agencies supported that assertion, saying no opposition armed groups in Syria were believed to have the capability to employ a neurotoxic agent, or the air capacities required. It also said the theory of a staged attack or manipulation by the opposition was not credible, citing "the massive influx in a very limited time towards hospitals in Syria and Turkey, and the simultaneous, massive uploading of videos showing symptoms of the use of neurotoxic agents". What is Sarin? Sarin is highly toxic and considered 20 times as deadly as cyanide. As with all nerve agents, Sarin inhibits the action of the acetylcholinesterase enzyme, which deactivates signals that cause human nerve cells to fire. This blockage pushes nerves into a continual "on" state. The heart and other muscles - including those involved in breathing - spasm. Sufficient exposure can lead to death via asphyxiation within minutes. Sarin is almost impossible to detect because it is a clear, colourless and tasteless liquid that has no odour in its purest form. It can also evaporate and spread through the air. Has Sarin been used in Syria before? The Syrian government was accused by Western powers of firing rockets filled with Sarin at several rebel-held suburbs of the capital Damascus in August 2013, killing hundreds of people. President Bashar al-Assad denied the charge, blaming rebel fighters, but he did subsequently agree to destroy Syria's declared chemical arsenal. Despite that, the OPCW and UN have continued to document the use of chemicals in attacks. A joint investigation concluded in October that government forces had used chlorine as a weapon at least three times between 2014 and 2015. It also found Islamic State militants had used sulphur mustard in one attack.

4 अप्रैल को उत्तर-पश्चिमी सीरिया में विद्रोहियों के कब्जे वाले शहर खान शेखौन में एक संदिग्ध रासायनिक हमले में 80 से अधिक लोग मारे गए थे।


Mahanayakes for release of SB : UNP

Summary: United National Party (UNP) leadership said the Buddhist monks led by the Mahanayakes are signing a petition to demand the release of imprisoned former minister SB Dissanayake.

Addressing the thousands of supporters gathered to Colombo after a march from Hanguranketha, parliamentarian Rajitha Senarathne expected the petition to carry 10,000 signatures. Tuesday’s protest rally was organised by the UNP to demand the release of Dissanayake who was jailed for two years for contempt of court. SB and Chandrika Addressing the gathering, leader of the opposition Ranil Wickramasinghe said their struggle not only aimed for release of Dissanayake. “This struggle should not end with the release of SB,” Wickramasinghe said. It is for the “freedom” of the country, he said. Dissanayake’s wife Tamara recalled that her husband was instrumental in bringing the Peoples’ Alliance (PA) into power in 1994. “I think nobody else in PA or SLFP endeavoured as SB to sit Chandrika on the presidential throne,” she said.

यूनाइटेड नेशनल पार्टी (यू. एन. पी.) के नेतृत्व ने कहा कि महानायकों के नेतृत्व में बौद्ध भिक्षु जेल में बंद पूर्व मंत्री एस. बी. दिसानायके की रिहाई की मांग करने के लिए एक याचिका पर हस्ताक्षर कर रहे हैं।


'My daring grandfather took a bit of East Berlin for himself'

Summary: In 1982, a Turkish immigrant started a garden near the Berlin wall on a patch of East German land. Osman Kalin fiercely defended his small domain from any authorities who tried to take it away. Though he died this year, his family are still looking after the plot and the tree house he built there.

By Elaine ChongBerlin "When I was 17, my high school art teacher showed us famous buildings, explaining their historical significance," remembers Osman Kalin's granddaughter, Funda. "They showed us the Eiffel Tower one week, and the next week they showed my grandfather's tree house. "The boys in the class made fun of it because it looks a bit funny and misshapen - and being a teenager, I was completely mortified. My friend was about to reveal that it was MY grandfather who built it, when I shot her a look to shut her up." But that was 16 years ago. Now Funda says she is extremely proud of what her grandfather built. The garden Osman Kalin created stands on the border of Mitte (formerly East Berlin) and Kreuzberg (formerly West Berlin). Modern office blocks and high-rise flats now surround the overgrown garden and topsy-turvy house which is decorated with graffiti, its mismatched furniture cemented to the floor. But from 1961 to 1989 the Berlin wall divided the area, running along one of the garden's three sides. In fact, it was the creation of the wall that brought the garden into existence. Overnight in August 1961 concrete posts were set in the ground and strung together with barbed wire, while armed guards started patrolling the eastern side with attack dogs. But the construction workers cut corners. Officially, the border between East and West Berlin traced a right angle near a curved street known as Bethaniendamm, but the wall went straight across, leaving a triangle of East Berlin on the western side of the wall. It remained even when the wire fence became a fortified double wall with a mined and tripwired "death strip" in between. This meant that nobody could use the 350 sq m plot of land: the West German government didn't own it, and the East German government couldn't get to it. Pretty soon, the residents in the western neighbourhood of Kreuzberg began to use the area as a rubbish tip, dumping old bits of furniture and washing their cars there. The huge pile of rubbish sat there for nearly two decades until Osman Kalin, a construction worker from Yozgat in central Turkey, moved into the neighbourhood in 1982. Recently retired, he was looking for a project to occupy his time. But what? From his flat he could see the eyesore of the rubbish dump and decided to start there. He took it upon himself to clear up all the rubbish, and planted a garden - he just wanted somewhere to grow some vegetables, says Funda. "He had this countryside mentality," Funda says. "He had left behind a big house and land in Yozgat, with donkeys walking around, and there he was cooped up in an apartment - he really wanted to get out and move around." Kalin worked from dawn to dusk on his new project. His wife, Fadik, had to come down from their flat with food to remind him to eat. He planted fruit trees - peaches, apples - as well as his staple crops: garlic and onions. By then the East German border had armed the wall. It was common to hear soldiers patrolling it with their dogs and to see them in the watchtowers looking over it into West Berlin. Timeline: Berlin Wall Two weeks after Kalin started digging up the garden, the East German border guards came to visit him to see what he was up to, and to make sure he wasn't tunnelling. When they saw that he was simply starting a garden they allowed him to use the land, providing that he remained 3m (10ft) from the wall. Soon after that visit, the West Berlin police approached Kalin, demanding that he move off the land. "God gave me this land!" he shouted. "I'm not scared of you - you'll have to kill me before you can have my garden." The East Berlin guards watched this exchange from a nearby watchtower. They could see he was really annoying the West Berlin authorities - so to annoy them even more, the East Berlin authorities made sure that Kalin had free and full use of the land. The garden lay at one of the thinnest points of the death strip, meaning that many tunnel and escape attempts were made. Twice Kalin saw people get shot. The East Berlin guards became used to his presence. Every morning it was part of his routine to wave to them in the watchtower. He also gave them onions. Each year the guards wrote him Christmas cards, and sometimes even gave him a bottle of red wine. "My grandfather was a devout Muslim, so he didn't drink. He didn't know that my father would drink it instead," says Funda. "He was really friendly to everyone, he didn't care if you were a soldier sitting at the top of the wall, or a West Berlin police officer. If you wanted to have garlic, tea or some baklava he invited you to the garden. There were university students who would come and do their homework there." In the 1980s there was a huge alternative scene in Kreuzberg, and the anarchist punks in the neighbourhood respected Kalin. "They would come and sit with my grandfather because they thought he was really cool, anti-establishment, fighting with governments for this garden. My grandfather called them his soldiers, and said they would protect him and his garden. "It was amazing to see," says Funda. "They called him Leo, like 'Lion', because he was so strong and pugnacious." In 1983, the year after he took over the land, Kalin built a shed, and slowly a two-storey tree house began to take shape around a tree in the middle of the garden. It is fully wired, with electricity and running water, a bedroom and a study. It became known as the Treehouse on the Wall, das Baumhaus an der Mauer. Funda remembers a childhood of summer barbecues in her grandfather's garden. "He always had fresh onions and garlic in his hands, it was like his salt and pepper. He wouldn't start eating until the onions were on the table. Eating onions - I swear this is why he lived to be so old." "We use onions and garlic so much in Turkish food and the whole neighbourhood, all the Turkish ladies came to ask him for fresh stuff. He made the garden a little bit bigger and started to sell them at a street market. I remember my grandfather borrowed those baby pouch things, you know where you strap a baby to your front? He filled it with his onions and carried them like his babies to the market every week." In the beginning, Kalin brought water from his flat to water his vegetables, carrying two containers in each hand. But this proved to be really laborious, so when he found an old pump by a nearby church, he took water from there. However, this was not any old pump. It was one of the Landesbrunnen - part of West Berlin's emergency drinking water reserves. It is illegal to take water from them and Kalin eventually got caught. The fine was 600 euros (£530). As Kalin's German wasn't good enough to appeal against the fine, his son, Mehmet, took it upon himself, as Funda discovered later when she came across a handwritten letter from her father to the officials. It said: "Hallo, I am very sad because you say to my father, he is a thief. I'm very angry and sad you say to my father, not stole something in his life. He thought he was OK to take some water, for his vegetables, no money to pay you, thank you so much. Mehmet Kalin." Amazingly, it worked. "I couldn't believe that the German authorities saw this letter and they just waived the fine! I could have helped my father write a letter in perfect formal German, typed up, and they probably would have pressed the fine anyway, but here they just let him off." In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. Berlin was one city, Germany one country again. Kalin's garden was now suddenly back in Mitte, rather than Kreuzberg. By then, Kalin was a local hero, an old man known for going against governments, doing what he wanted and getting away with it. People felt that he embodied Kreuzberg's spirit. But in Mitte nobody knew who he was, they saw him merely as a squatter using public space. The Mitte council decided to evict Kalin, but when the people of Kreuzberg discovered this, they rallied in support, with crucial help from the church of St Thomas next door. "The priests helped us write letters to the council," Funda explains. "The church provided a document from the 1780s: an old map to show that the garden was on church land, which gave them the right to say that Kalin was allowed to use their land." The document was more than a century old, and probably would not have held up in court, but the fact that the community protested made the council pay attention. In the end, the council officially re-drew the border along where the Berlin wall used to run, moving the garden from the district of Mitte into the district of Kreuzberg - its spiritual and (now forever) geographical home. Kalin died in April, aged 96. As his memory failed in the last 10 years of his life he became more and more irascible, but on good days Kalin relaxed in his garden. His son, Mehmet, now tends to it and Funda uses the fresh onions and garlic as ingredients for her contemporary Turkish food business. Over the years the Kalins have rejected many offers to buy the land - not that it is theirs to sell. But as its value increases, developers may be harder to stave off. Kalin's fighting spirit appears to have secured a little corner of history but there was one battle he could not win - with nature itself. "You can see this tree that grows out the front?" says Funda. The tree in question is a Gӧtterbaum, or God's tree, an imported species that is fast-growing and invasive - qualities that have also earned it the nickname the "tree of hell". "My grandfather said, 'I don't need this tree, it takes up so much space.' It's really big and the roots grow through everything. He tried to cut out the roots, fighting for years with this tree. "The tree is like him, stubborn. He reluctantly accepted it in the end - he decided, 'OK, it has to be here.' It came through the house, broke the walls and now is part of the tree house - just like my grandfather." Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. You may also like: The East German secret police went to extraordinary lengths to track down people who wrote letters to the BBC during the Cold War. One of those arrested and jailed was a teenager who longed to express himself freely - and paid a high price. The German schoolboy jailed for writing to the BBC

1982 में, एक तुर्की अप्रवासी ने पूर्वी जर्मन भूमि के एक हिस्से पर बर्लिन की दीवार के पास एक बगीचा शुरू किया। उस्मान कालिन ने अपने छोटे से क्षेत्र को किसी भी अधिकारी से बचाने की पुरजोर कोशिश की जिसने इसे छीनने की कोशिश की। हालाँकि इस साल उनकी मृत्यु हो गई, लेकिन उनका परिवार अभी भी भूखंड और वहाँ बनाए गए ट्री हाउस की देखभाल कर रहा है।


Canada's NDP closes on Conservatives ahead of election

Summary: Canada's 2 May general election may trigger a political earthquake: Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives could be thrown out by a left-wing party that once trailed in the polls, reports the BBC's Andrew North from Toronto.

"You're from the BBC? You mean the BBC?" the Canadian voters we met typically asked. "Yes, the BBC," I said. "So what are you doing here? You should be covering the royal wedding." Hardly a vote of confidence in the importance of their own elections. True, Canada's third elections in only five years were always going to struggle for attention, even if Prince William and his bride had not been walking down the aisle. It is just possible, though, that Canada is on the verge of a political earthquake. 'Growing rebellion' With just days to go, opinion polls suggest the left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP), previously languishing among voters, has surged into a close second behind the incumbent Conservatives, led by sitting Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Instead of the majority he was hoping for, he is struggling to hold off what looks like a growing rebellion against Canada's political mainstream. Gains by the NDP could also push the other main party, the Liberals, to the margins. "This is the strangest election I've seen in more than 40 years," says veteran political journalist and broadcaster Dennis Trudeau. If Monday's results match the opinion polls, the NDP and its charismatic leader Jack Layton, who have never held power before, could even form a minority government and reverse Canada's rightwards, pro-US drift. Out on the stump in the constituency of Brampton-Springdale, one of the key battlegrounds, one could feel the change in mood. "I'm voting for this guy," says one elderly man, pointing to a campaign leaflet picture of the NDP leader, as the party's local candidate Manjit Grewal went door to door. With disgust in his voice, he admits that he voted for the Conservative Party in the last election. "They're only for the rich people, the Conservatives and Liberals," says Hazel Crawford, explaining why she intends to vote for the NDP. Mr Grewal, a local taxi driver and first-time candidate, acknowledges his surprise at the response he has been getting. Coming from behind The NDP came in a distant third here in the last election, in 2008. At the local Conservative campaign office in the city of Brampton, in Ontario, the party's supporters were trying to look upbeat. Conservative Parm Gill lost to the Liberals by only 700 votes in the last election. The party has brought a large amount of resources to Brampton, taking over a whole floor of a large office block and filling it with computers, phones and scores of election workers,all overseen by a senior campaign expert parachuted in from the party headquarters in Ottawa. Campaign leaflets have been printed in different languages to target the area's large minority populations. If the Conservatives can win places like Brampton-Springdale, a suburb of Toronto, Canada's largest city, they could be on course for a majority. But after the NDP surge, the result here is hard to predict. The Liberal Party here seems even more nervous - no-one would even talk to us. Unexpected race No-one saw this coming. Many Canadians viewed this election as a straight race between the Conservatives and the Liberal Party, which is led by former academic and journalist Michael Ignatieff. Together the two parties have dominated Canada's political scene. Despite the Conservatives facing accusations of sleaze, Mr Harper was banking on his economic record to secure him a third term. This time he hoped to be able to win outright, without needing the ad hoc support of other parties to pass legislation, as he has done since 2006. But both Mr Harper and Mr Ignatieff have failed to connect with voters. Analysts have said Mr Layton is seen as having the common touch, the kind of guy Canadians would want to have a beer with. While it has been cast as left-wing, many also seem to like the NDP's mix of policies, which draw from both sides of the political divide. For instance, it takes the same position as the Conservatives on Canada's budget, promising to balance it within four years. Critics, though, have said its plans do not add up. An NDP minority government would probably mean less support for the US, and a re-balancing of Canada's approach to the Middle East, say analysts. When we caught up with Prime Minister Harper at a rally near Canada's landmark Niagara Falls, it was clear how seriously the Conservatives are taking the NDP threat. Much of the rally was spent attacking the the New Democratic Party's plans. But these are just opinion polls. This sudden surge of support could melt away into the secrecy of the ballot box. It could help the Conservatives hang on to power by dividing the centre and left-wing vote. But political observer Dennis Trudeau says: "All bets are off." So keep a close eye on the elections this Monday. Canada could be about to enter uncharted political territory.

कनाडा के 2 मई के आम चुनाव एक राजनीतिक भूकंप को ट्रिगर कर सकते हैंः प्रधान मंत्री स्टीफन हार्पर के कंज़र्वेटिव्स को एक वामपंथी पार्टी द्वारा बाहर कर दिया जा सकता है जो एक बार चुनावों में पीछे रह गई थी, टोरंटो से बीबीसी के एंड्रयू नॉर्थ की रिपोर्ट।


What did the FBI inquiry into Kavanaugh result in?

Summary: On 4 October, the FBI handed over its report on sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The findings are not for public eyes - but here's what we do know about it.

Senators are taking turns reading the single copy of the report - which exists only on paper to prevent any leaks - in a secure room in the Capitol. The full Senate vote on whether Judge Kavanaugh gets a seat on America's top court was delayed while the FBI worked, and is now expected on Saturday. Who did the FBI interview? White House spokesman Raj Shah told CNN the FBI contacted 10 people and "comprehensively interviewed" nine of them. Official sources told US media the review focused on the alleged incidents involving Prof Ford and second accuser Deborah Ramirez. Here's who the FBI has interviewed, according to statements from their lawyers: Republican Senator Bob Corker said the report is 46 pages long, with nine pages focusing on Mark Judge. But Democrats have criticised the narrow scope and time limitation of the FBI's inquiry - especially as neither the judge nor Prof Ford spoke with the FBI. Senator Dianne Feinstein said what she saw of the report, it appeared to be "the product of an incomplete investigation". And who didn't they speak to? Federal agents reportedly did not look into the judge's drinking habits or the claims of his third accuser, Julie Swetnick. A number of Judge Kavanaugh's former classmates have come forward since the hearings, willing to speak with the FBI about his behaviour, but it appears they have not been interviewed. Here are the people who have submitted statements or otherwise tried to contact the FBI: In addition, Ms Ramirez's lawyers say they provided a list of 20 individuals with relevant information who have not been contacted by the FBI. Prof Ford's lawyers also shared a list of people who they said could support her claims. Judge Kavanaugh and Prof Ford were not interviewed. Has the FBI has reached a definitive conclusion? Not exactly. As many have pointed out, the FBI files a report but does not reach any conclusion regarding the credibility or significance of allegations. "They report any corroborating information that they obtain, or any contradicting information," former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told CNN, but added that "they do not make conclusions" in their reports. Former FBI Assistant Director Steve Pomerantz told Fox News: "Hopefully they provide enough information within their reports that allow a reasonable person to reach a conclusion based on the work that they've done." Because it is not a criminal inquiry, witnesses were not compelled to co-operate with the investigation, but lying to an FBI agent does carry the threat of federal charges. Hasn't the FBI checked out Kavanaugh already? Yes. The FBI has completed a traditional background check - provided to any federal appointee - on Judge Kavanaugh, who is currently a District of Columbia appeals court judge. In his confirmation hearing, the judicial nominee himself said he had been through "six separate FBI background investigations over 26 years". This was the seventh. But typical FBI background checks never look back as far as 36 years ago, when Prof Ford says the assault took place. Why did Trump order this FBI investigation? Mr Trump gave the order at the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee, after Arizona Republican Jeff Flake made such an inquiry his condition for backing the judge. The president's party has only a razor-thin 51-49 Senate majority. That means that if all Democrats vote against confirming Judge Kavanaugh, he can only afford for one Republican to join them - since in a tie, Vice-President Mike Pence would get the casting vote. One last thing... Why did this take under a week? The timing matters because Republicans are keen to get their Supreme Court nominee - who would serve for life - confirmed before the US mid-term elections on 6 November. And Democrats would profit from seeing that process delayed - or blocked altogether. The FBI's 1991 investigation into then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas over sexual harassment allegations was open and shut in three days. He was subsequently confirmed by the Senate.

4 अक्टूबर को, एफ. बी. आई. ने सुप्रीम कोर्ट के नामित ब्रेट कैवनॉग के खिलाफ यौन दुराचार के आरोपों पर अपनी रिपोर्ट सौंपी। निष्कर्ष जनता की नज़रों के लिए नहीं हैं-लेकिन यहाँ हम इसके बारे में क्या जानते हैं।


Union Terrace Gardens in Aberdeen closing for five weeks

Summary: Aberdeen's Union Terrace Gardens is to close for about five weeks.

Site investigations are to be carried out from Monday in preparation for a major revamp of the sunken park in the city centre. Councillors backed outline plans for the proposals in March. The plans, drawn up by LDA Design, include walkways, new buildings and tree planting. The site investigations will examine ground conditions and the heritage features.

एबरडीन का यूनियन टेरेस गार्डन लगभग पाँच सप्ताह के लिए बंद होने वाला है।


Coronavirus: How can 'Britain's best market' bounce back from lockdown?

Summary: Described as the "true jewel" in Norwich's crown, the city's market has been on the same site since it was founded by the Normans in the 11th Century. A bustling and vibrant focal point, it normally boasts 189 stalls and plays an important part to the local economy.... but then came lockdown and everything changed.

By Kate Scotter and Mariam IssimdarBBC News Just over a year ago it was named the "best large outdoor market in Britain" in the Great British Market Awards. But how is it coping with coronavirus restrictions and can it survive? 'You have to adapt' Brendan Read's family has run Mike, Debs and Sons fruit and veg stall on Norwich Market for more than 50 years. They reopened on 2 June, but had been doing home deliveries throughout lockdown. "More and more people are coming down but you need to have your restrictions," he said. The 29-year-old said they were keeping customers 2m (6ft) apart and touching the produce was prohibited. "Our customers have been very grateful that for the last three months we've done the home deliveries but now they can come out, they want to come out so they can see all the produce," said Mr Read. "Financially we've kept going, we don't worry as we know we'll be here next year and the year after. It's just a dip but we're not too worried about it." "Our overheads are low, we haven't got hundreds of staff, we are only a small family business, so we're doing well." He added: "You just have to keep going when you're a small business. "We are not going to be as busy as we were last year as we're missing the tourism and so many regulars that you haven't got at the moment. "It's just another year and you adapt the best you can." 'Regulars still like what they like' It's been business as "almost" usual for Zoe Brown and her mum Paula Taylor at the Cheese Man stall. "We prepared ourselves to close but then decided to stay open for a little bit as we still had some stock left and stock was flying out so we decided to carry on opening," said Ms Brown. "We've been open ever since lockdown. We opened originally just Fridays and Saturdays, just nine until two, and slowly we've added more days." You might also be interested in: She said business has been a little bit slower but they have been doing deliveries and the financial impact has "not been horrendous". Ms Brown said being active on social media had been key. "We're on Facebook and we update every time we're open. I think regulars still like what they like and we've had a lot of regulars still coming back and ordering for deliveries and that's helped us a lot," she said. Overall, she said it was a "very difficult" time for the market. "There's not really the social distancing space, there's arrows showing which way to go but there's not much more you can do, you need people to use their common sense and abide by the rules," she said. "I don't think anything is going to be that normal until at least the beginning of next year, we have our regulars so it's not going to be so bad. "But I think we'll still have to be doing deliveries until the end of the year because people aren't going to want to come out. "I think the market is going to struggle until at least after Christmas." 'Footfall a fraction of what it was' Scott Allen reopened his City Hats stall on 1 June, but up until then had to rely on savings to get by. The stall is the 41-year-old's only source of income and there "wasn't much" he could do while it was closed. As a result, he has decided to create a website "in case anything like this happens again". He said: "The footfall is a fraction of what it was, it's worrying times. "It's tough for everyone I think. Things aren't going to be normal for a long time now but it's nice to be back." Mr Allen has introduced a "one customer at a time" rule to maintain social distancing. He said survival will "come down to the rents and rates, and if we can get a little bit of leeway on those". "I just have to look at other avenues like online, that's the future now. "The market has always been a focal point for people but when people are worried about coming out then they are not going to as much." He added: "We need footfall, that's what we rely on, a vaccine would be the ultimate thing then people wouldn't worry so much about coming out. "Until anything like that happens it's just got to be common sense." 'The main thing is not to give up' It's been a challenging time for Alma Jakaj, who took over Jacket Spuds and More two years ago. The 35-year-old said she reopened the business on 1 June but "it's been terrible". "The last two weeks haven't been so great but we expected that. "On Monday things picked up really well because many other shops reopened and people were out shopping and came here for lunch." Mrs Jakaj said she received a small business grant from the city council but "otherwise we wouldn't have managed". She said she was hopeful her business would survive. "I do feel optimistic and the main thing is not to give up and to try your best and try your hardest," she added. As more and more stallholders return to trading, owner Norwich City Council said it was confident the market will continue for "many more years to come". It said almost every stallholder was eligible for a small business grant that will have proved a "lifeline" to many but "as with all businesses, this still remains an uncertain time". Matthew Packer, cabinet member with responsibility for markets, said: "The city is extremely proud of its market, a true jewel in its crown that is enjoyed by residents of the city as well as a major draw for visitors too... "Custom is essential to support market traders and in turn the local economy and we will make sure we continue listening and talking to the traders about concerns or ideas they have, so together we can all help ensure this unique place can thrive." Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk Photography by Martin Barber and Mariam Issimdar

नॉर्विच के ताज में "असली रत्न" के रूप में वर्णित, शहर का बाजार उसी स्थान पर रहा है जब से इसे 11वीं शताब्दी में नॉर्मन द्वारा स्थापित किया गया था। एक हलचल और जीवंत केंद्र बिंदु, यह आम तौर पर 189 स्टालों का दावा करता है और स्थानीय अर्थव्यवस्था में एक महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाता है.... लेकिन फिर लॉकडाउन आया और सब कुछ बदल गया।


Workplace harassment: Porn, sex toys, groping and tears

Summary: Parcels containing sex toys left at a work desk, a senior boss telling an employee he wanted to "ravish" her, and a young woman groped by an older colleague who told her she "loved it".

By Bernadette McCagueBBC's UGC and Social News team These are some of the experiences female readers have been sharing with the BBC after a survey suggested more than half of women say they've been sexually harassed at work. Many of those who told their stories also said they felt unable to report what had happened to them because they felt embarrassed or feared they would lose their job. Below are edited excerpts of more than 100 stories we received. Some names have been changed to protect identity. 'I left in tears and signed off sick' "I was sexually harassed at work by two men, who had worked there for a long time. One of them said they would like to put me over the desk and ravish me and they would look at my legs when I was walking past. I did bring this up with a senior manager, but he shouted at me and said it was my word against my colleague. He pushed a piece of paper in front of me harshly and said: 'Do you want to go ahead?' I left in tears and signed off sick. I only returned to work for a short period and then quit." Jane, London "I was sexually harassed in my place of work for a little over two years by a male colleague. This took the form of uncalled for personal comments and comments of a sexual nature, made when there was nobody else about. I like to think I have thick skin but I stupidly tolerated it. So sadly, these individuals did get away with it." Sarah, Oxford "For three years whilst at university I worked as a lifeguard. A male colleague only a year or two older than me would constantly grope me on the poolside in front of swimmers and other members of staff. I would constantly tell him it made me uncomfortable but he just continued and would joke that I 'loved it'. One evening, he followed me into the stockroom, with the door shut and the lights turned off. He immediately began aggressively groping my bum and grabbing my breasts and repeatedly asking me why was I snitching on him and why was I spreading lies about him. In tears I ran to my line manager to tell him what had just happened. The company did nothing." Imogen "I worked for local government in the grounds department. I was handed porn by a co-worker. I was bullied by another co-worker about my gender, and when I asked to move teams because of the behaviour, I was made to feel like I was the problem and forced to have a meeting with said bully. I refused as I felt intimidated. I was then moved teams. Later I was told by my line manager that I had blown things out of proportion, and it was a male environment and I needed to adapt." Clare "I was working at a part-time job during my A-levels. I started to date a guy who worked there and after a few months that relationship ended. After this, some of the other guys started mocking me for having a relationship with this male, and said how they 'wanted a slice' of me too. It was easy to laugh off a joke but it got worse, it became physical contact. So when I used to walk past them they would grab my bottom, they would make remarks like 'bend over for me'. I think the worst time was when I was on my knees cleaning a work top and one of the men grabbed my head and pushed it into his crotch. These guys were aged between 20-38-years-old. As a 17-18-year-old, I found it so uncomfortable." Becky "I worked near a lab and one of the scientists took a shine to me. What started as some low-key flirting turned over night into a sustained campaign of extreme harassment. He would leave official looking envelopes on my desk which were full of explicitly pornographic stories about me. This escalated into gifts of underwear. Then I would start to find parcels on my desk which contained sex toys. The thing is, I didn't tell anyone because I was just so embarrassed. How on earth do you show a pornographic story with you as the main character to your co-workers or boss?" Melanie "This happened to me recently. As a professional woman in my 50s I am ashamed to say I did not report it because I was embarrassed and felt stupid. I was also scared that no-one would believe me or that I was making a fuss about nothing. The person who did the harassing was very senior in the company and did it in a really creepy and horrible way - coming into my room and stroking my hair and kissing me without any encouragement at all. I was frozen to the spot and didn't say or do anything." Sharon, Grimsby Some of our male readers also got in touch with the BBC to share their experiences. "I frequently get touched on the upper arm, called 'darling' or 'sweetheart'. I do not like it, I do not invite it, and am unsure how to respond. I am male and the perpetrators are female. I would feel a wuss if I were to complain. This does not just happen to females." Simon "In my mid 20s, I was subjected to persistent sexual harassment by an older, more senior, female at work. Male colleagues thought it was hilarious watching us play dodge around their desks as she was continually trying to corner me and touch me. It was aggressive, very unpleasant, embarrassing and very difficult to manage. I only did so by avoiding her as much as possible. It went on for some years and never went through any formal process as the only reaction I got from anywhere was mocking and amusement. Having experienced this myself, I can imagine that it is difficult for anyone to deal with persistent harassment at work, particularly by senior colleagues, but also that it isn't just females, and may be even more difficult for males to deal with." Dominic

सेक्स खिलौनों वाले पार्सल एक कार्यस्थल पर छोड़ दिए गए, एक वरिष्ठ बॉस एक कर्मचारी को बताता है कि वह उसे "लुभाना" चाहता है, और एक युवा महिला को एक बड़े सहयोगी ने छुआ, जिसने उसे बताया कि वह "इसे पसंद करती है"।


What's the best thing to do with unwanted statues?

Summary: When a country has statues of people that no longer reflect its values, what is the best solution? Is there a way of addressing the past without erasing it? And is doing nothing an option? The BBC's Kavita Puri speaks to four people about possible lessons to be drawn from Iraq, Germany, India and the US.

It was a beautiful spring day in East Baghdad in April, 2003 and Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's neighbour came to him shouting, "The Americans are here." Abdul-Ahad went out into the street. He saw US soldiers in uniform pointing their guns. They were moving towards what was then known as Firdos Square, in the middle of which was an enormous statue of Iraq's President, Saddam Hussein, his right arm stretched into the sky, waving to his people. A crowd of Iraqis had now gathered in the square. "It became clear that the city had fallen," Abdul-Ahad says. Iraqi civilians moved towards the bottom of the statue. They tried to knock down the thick, concrete pedestal, but to no avail. Then an American armoured vehicle appeared. A marine got out and put a huge rope around the statue. He climbed to the top of Saddam's head, holding an American flag. Abdul-Ahad was watching the marine as he tried to place the flag, thinking, "No don't do that." The statue was pulled down by the crowd. It was dragged through the street. And the iconic image was then captured of men, taking their flip flops off, and using them to beat the statue of their former ruler. They were "just breaking that domination of the regime," Abdul-Ahad says. Baghdad's many statues of the country's leader had been a symbol of oppression, "the eyes and moustache of Saddam following you wherever you go" he says. The day they fell "was the moment, you realise that 30 years of oppressive rule has finally collapsed, that this person who had been dominating our lives - he was bigger than God for us - is finally gone and he's removed." Many statues were melted down, or sold to collectors. No-one really knows what happened to them all. They just disappeared. The plinth where Saddam's statue once stood was empty for a long time. As a sectarian war raged, no-one could agree what should be in its place - would it be a Shia, Sunni or Kurdish monument? It was finally removed altogether and is now a park. "We come here now, 2020, we don't see any images from the Saddam era and that helps the history to disappear," says Abdul-Ahad, now a journalist for the Guardian. He doesn't want the statue of Saddam to be in the centre of Baghdad, staring down at him as it used to. But he would have a liked it to be housed in a museum or a park in the country, otherwise he fears that period of history will be forgotten altogether. It's important he says that "the young generation, the children in 100 years' time, can look at it and say, 'Oh, so that was the dictator who ruled Iraq.'" If you walk around German cities you will find virtually no statues of the Nazi era. Many were destroyed by heavy bombing during World War Two - and later melted and reused during rebuilding. An order issued by the victorious Allies in 1946 decreed that any manifestation of the Third Reich, including statues, were illegal and to be destroyed. "How can a country go on with statues of oppressors and of dictators?" asks Daniel Libeskind, the architect of the Jewish Museum in Berlin. "You have to get rid of everything that offends justice and truth. And that's what Germany did." But getting rid of statues doesn't have to mean erasing the memory of history too. For Germany, remembrance did not happen immediately after the war. However, in the 1960s and 70s the country began to reflect on its difficult past. Now the teaching of the Holocaust and the Nazi era is mandatory in German schools. Almost all students have either visited a concentration camp or a Holocaust memorial or museum. Rather than maintaining statues, the country chose to focus on its crimes and their victims. Libeskind, the son of Holocaust survivors, originally from Lodz in Poland, believes Germany has made an "amazing statement" to the world that it's possible to face unspeakable crimes and be a successful democracy. In the late 1980s he entered a competition to design Berlin's Jewish Museum. He won and felt the weight of responsibility. "It was so much more than just the design of a building," he says. The challenge was to work out how historical truth could be communicated to generations who had never experienced that era. He began by creating a void, "which is the centre of the museum, which is an emptiness, an empty space where nothing is really exhibited, but you feel that this emptiness speaks to you about what happened in history, that cannot be exhibited," he says. So difficult history can be told without exhibiting statues. Even the word "statue" strikes Libeskind as old-fashioned. "I think it's about more than statues today. It's about creating spaces, public spaces that can make people care about things they didn't know about." In northern Delhi there is a large park. It's slightly overgrown, stray dogs wander around, sometimes children play cricket there. In it are statues, some covered in graffiti. After India won independence in August 1947, there was no clamour to remove the statues of monarchs and viceroys from the boulevards and roundabouts of the capital. Over time, some were sold to Britain and others moved to this place, known as Coronation Park. It had been the site where lavish ceremonies - known as durbars - took place when a new British monarch took to the throne. Today it is where effigies of former officials from the colonial era have been stored, "out of sight, out of mind", as AGK Menon, the founder of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, puts it. "And that's how it got the name," he says. "A graveyard of statues." The most iconic of the statues is King George V. At around 70ft tall, it stood in the heart of Delhi, near India Gate on the road leading to the Viceroy's House. Well over a decade after independence it no longer felt right to have the statue of a British King in such a prominent position. He was dismantled and taken to the place where he attended the Delhi durbar on becoming Emperor of India in 1911. AGK Menon wanted to use the statues to tell the history of Delhi. During the Delhi Durbar, George V had laid the first foundation stone of the new imperial capital in Coronation Park. Menon's aim was to open a new, refurbished version of the park on the centenary of this occasion in 2011, with plaques providing historical context. "We have to recognise the fact something happened. There was a colonial government, there was a decision to make Delhi, and this is where it took place. Let us celebrate the fact that this is where New Delhi started," he says. Work started, but then a new government withdrew support. The park remains derelict, containing the Raj-era statues. Perhaps it's a sign that it's still difficult for Indians to talk about their colonial past. "Some Indians are not comfortable with it; others are. But somehow it is still a very live political fuel," says AGK Menon. "So it does have a sort of energy that has not ended." There certainly still is unfinished business. The plinth of George V stands empty in the centre of Delhi. No-one could agree what should go there. Scattered across southern states in America are statues commemorating Confederate leaders and soldiers, who fought in the American civil war to continue the practice of slavery. They lost the war, but decades later these monuments celebrating notable Confederate veterans started to appear in town squares. Sarah Beetham, chair of liberal arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, says many statues were built on county courthouse lawns, where many African Americans would be judged. "And they very much borrow the language of victory monuments from the ancient Roman past." In theory, the civil war gave equal rights to African Americans, but in reality racial segregation persisted, so the South won what Beetham describes as a "sort of shadow war". "These monuments are victory monuments to winning that shadow war," she says. Statues such as the one of Confederate general Robert E Lee, erected in Richmond, Virginia, in 1890, were central to the continuation of the Confederate movement, and a permanent reminder of white supremacy, Beetham argues. These monuments were never completely accepted. Journalist John Mitchell, for example, wrote editorials in the Richmond Planet newspaper at the time, saying prophetically "that black workers had been conscripted to put the statue up and that one day they would still be there to take the statue down," Beetham says. The southern states defended the existence of the statues, arguing that they were paying tribute to Confederate military heroism rather than defending slavery. They also cast the war as a defence of states' rights, against the powers of the federal government. It wasn't until 2015 that the movement to remove these statues really took hold. It started after the shooting of nine black parishioners at the Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The killer was later discovered with a pistol and a Confederate flag, and Sarah Beetham pinpoints that as the moment when the Black Lives Matter movement explicitly linked such violent attacks to the long history of racism symbolised by Confederate monuments. Now, with mass protests across America following the murder of African American George Floyd, many protests have coalesced around these statues. In Virginia a number have been pulled down, including that of the former Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. Sarah Beetham says: "Statues aren't history. They are historical objects. The fact that people are attacking them today shows that we do care about them and that we see them in some ways as kind of reflection of ourselves and our own values." As long as there have been statues, she says, there have been people who destroy them. "There's something about a group of people taking out their anger against much broader inequalities but focusing it on an object that looks like a human being." She says the statue of the British King George III in New York is a good example. It was destroyed during the war of independence and the metal was melted into 40,000 bullets, which were then used against the British. Loyalists tried to preserve parts of the statue by burying them underground - remnants are are still occasionally unearthed today. Virginia's governor has said that the statue of Robert E Lee in Richmond will now be removed and put into storage. Although hundreds more statues remain, Sarah Beetham hopes the dismantling of this one, and perhaps others, means the country will now start to confront its past. "It says that maybe finally we're going to have some kind of reckoning about what the Civil War was actually about. And if Robert E Lee is going to come down now, maybe we're ready to atone for some of these things and to finally process them and figure out what they mean for us. And I really hope that that's true." You may also be interested in: We name buildings after people, or put up statues to them, because we respect them. But what if we then discover they did wrong? In what cases should the building be renamed, or the statue be removed, asks the BBC's in-house philosopher, David Edmonds. How do you decide when a statue must fall?

जब किसी देश में ऐसे लोगों की मूर्तियाँ हैं जो अब अपने मूल्यों को प्रतिबिंबित नहीं करते हैं, तो सबसे अच्छा समाधान क्या है? क्या अतीत को मिटाये बिना उसे संबोधित करने का कोई तरीका है? और क्या कोई विकल्प नहीं है? बीबीसी की कविता पुरी चार लोगों से इराक, जर्मनी, भारत और अमेरिका से संभावित सबक के बारे में बात करती हैं।