Anti-Syrian hostility in Lebanon spawns social media backlash

Summary: "Once upon a time one Lebanese called for racism while one thousand said no to racism". This is one of many slogans posted online as part of a campaign to fight alleged discrimination and racism against Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

By Faisal IrshaidBBC Monitoring According to the UN, since 2011 more than one million Syrian refugees have fled the conflict in Syria to neighbouring Lebanon, a country of about four million people. The refugees, seen by some Lebanese as a serious threat to the country's economy, social coherence and infrastructure, have fuelled a huge debate centred around the impact refugees may have on the country. One of the incidents that triggered the debate involved a recently painted graffiti that read: "To every despicable Syrian, leave". Activists crossed out the word "Syrian" and instead wrote "racist". Human rights campaigners and civil society organisations have launched an online awareness campaign in support of the refugees, using social networking sites to spread the word and to reach large numbers of Lebanese. Facebook The Facebook page The Campaign in Support of Syrians Facing Racism was one of the first to tackle the issue. Created only a week ago, the page says it "rejects all violence towards Syrians [in Lebanon], racist political rhetoric and the associated media hype". The page, which already has more than 10,000 "Likes", attracts a wide spectrum of followers. Many show solidarity with the Syrian refugees in Lebanon while others argue that the refugees pose a threat to Lebanon's economy. Activists have posted photos of themselves holding placards with anti-discrimination slogans written on them. One, Salam Kabboul, wrote: "I once met a Syrian who made us both proud." Another, Nazeer Rida, said: "Every Syrian brother is welcome. The racist is not welcome. No to racism." Nina Abou Sabha posted a photo of a placard saying: "He didn't escape death to die of humiliation." In contrast, many comments on the Facebook page argue that rent has gone up and salaries plummeted because the refugees accept lower pay than the Lebanese. Some Facebook users also blame refugees for an increase in crime and sexual harassment. Farah, one of the organisers and founders of The Campaign in Support of Syrians Facing Racism, said the "group was created to provide a platform for Lebanese people to express themselves and to show solidarity with the refugees". "We are telling the refugees that they are not alone and that they are welcome in Lebanon," Farah added. Lebanese local councils have now started to restrict the movement of refugees and impose a curfew from 21:00 to 06:00 every day. A few months ago, Al-Jazeera TV interviewed the mayor of a Christian-dominated suburb in Beirut who said that Syrians were issued with special cards. "They must finish all their work during the day and return to their residence at night," the mayor said. Politicians admit the conditions are not ideal, but believe that they are necessary under the circumstances. Earlier in March, former minister Nicolas Maurice Sehnaoui said at a news conference that Syrian refugees should be "shipped" back to Syria. The statement triggered more anger among activists who have now included Sehnaoui in their anti-discrimination slogans. Twitter On Twitter, Lebanese users have started using the Arabic hashtag #No_to_Racism to raise awareness about discrimination. The hashtag is rapidly spreading. More than 70 people have posted photos of themselves holding placards with messages addressed to "racists in Lebanon" calling on them to oppose discrimination against the Syrian refugees and to show solidarity with them. The campaign has been joined by journalists and intellectuals and has received backing from media outlets. A new phenomenon The issue of discrimination in Lebanon is not new. A year ago, the local "Anti Racism Movement" produced a short video in which a number of activists stood "against this insane, inhumane, racist, hate-inciting discourse that is being spread on traditional and new media". The activists apologised "for all the damage done [against the refugees]" and added that people who discriminate against refugees "did not represent the Lebanese people". The video resurfaced on the internet in March this year following the creation of the Facebook page. It is gaining momentum and is widely shared online. Tarek, a human rights activist in Lebanon, said: "There is so much that needs to be done to raise awareness, and spreading the word on social media is a good start". "More [Facebook and Twitter] followers mean more exposure," he said. Whether the awareness will change the tone and general attitude towards the refugees remains unknown. BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here

"एक समय की बात है कि एक लेबनानी ने नस्लवाद का आह्वान किया था जबकि एक हजार ने नस्लवाद को ना कहा था।" यह लेबनान में सीरियाई शरणार्थियों के खिलाफ कथित भेदभाव और नस्लवाद से लड़ने के अभियान के हिस्से के रूप में ऑनलाइन पोस्ट किए गए कई नारों में से एक है।


How 'condom snorting' turned into a pro-gun argument

Summary: "Condom snorting" - a dangerous activity that involves stuffing a condom up your nose until it comes out of your mouth - has been the subject of a number of recent viral news reports. It's a years-old trend that wasn't very popular even when it first surfaced - and now, in a bizarre twist, it's now being used as an argument against young gun-control advocates in America.

By Ammar EbrahimBBC Trending The furore started in late March when KABB, a local Fox News affiliate in San Antonio, Texas, reported on an educational project teaching teens about a range of dangers, including risky viral challenges and trends. One example caught on tape during the workshop was "condom snorting" - a supposedly viral trend that became a focus of the TV report. From there, the story took off, prompting headlines such as "The condom snorting challenge is an actual thing people are doing" and "Condom Snorting Challenge' Returns, Doctors Warn of Dangers". Although snorting a condom is indeed foolish and dangerous (for the obvious reason that a condom lodged in your nose or throat might make it very difficult to breathe), many reports gave the false impression that the challenge is going viral in 2018. You may also like: Trend debunked The fact-checking website Snopes noted that the vast majority of condom snorting videos online were more than a year old, with most dating from 2013. Even then, the site noted, "the phenomenon was never that widespread and gradually petered out." But the current supposed revival of the challenge has been used to make a political point. Like the "tide pod" challenge before it, it's been used as an argument in the heated online debate around gun control in the United States. Some gun-rights advocates argue that the kinds of stupid and dangerous stunts that sometimes catch on among teenagers discredit the arguments made by the young activists behind the #NeverAgain movement which sprung up after the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida in February. One social media star who started got a lot of comments on a condom challenge video that he uploaded four years ago, recently noticed that his old clip was suddenly getting a surge in traffic. "When I saw this I thought, 'I got to find out who is doing these challenges... is someone new going viral?'" he told BBC Trending. However, when he searched online he found no new examples of condom snorting. But the new surge in interest in his old video was being driven by gun enthusiasts. "I had hundreds of comments about gun control," he says. "It was like 'you're the generation taking away our guns and you're doing this?' It was hilarious. I'm Canadian and not very politically engaged but people were attacking me about gun control. "It doesn't make any sense as to why [these comments] are on my video in the first place. They're not related." He also adds that while his initial video was an attempt to grab attention, "it's a bad challenge that nobody should do." Do you have a story for us? Email BBC Trending. More from Trending: Two students brought together by gun violence Jackson goes to school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Alec lives near Parkland, Florida. Both of their lives were changed by school shootings.WATCH NOW You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

"कंडोम सूँघना"-एक खतरनाक गतिविधि जिसमें आपके मुंह से निकलने तक अपनी नाक में कंडोम भरना शामिल है-हाल ही में कई वायरल समाचार रिपोर्टों का विषय रहा है। यह एक साल पुराना चलन है जो तब भी बहुत लोकप्रिय नहीं था जब यह पहली बार सामने आया था-और अब, एक विचित्र मोड़ में, अब इसका उपयोग अमेरिका में युवा बंदूक-नियंत्रण अधिवक्ताओं के खिलाफ एक तर्क के रूप में किया जा रहा है।


Southampton flat death: Man charged with murder

Summary: A man has been charged with the murder of a 70-year-old man found dead at a flat in Southampton.

John Perry was pronounced dead at a property in Bursledon Road shortly after 21:00 GMT on Wednesday. Joshua Perry, 28, who lives in the same street, has been charged with his murder, possession of a bladed article and possession of a Class B drug, Hampshire Police said. He is due to appear at Southampton Magistrates' Court on Monday. A family statement had described John Perry as a "father, brother, grandfather and raver" with a "contagious hilarious personality".

साउथेम्प्टन में एक फ्लैट में मृत पाए गए 70 वर्षीय व्यक्ति की हत्या का आरोप एक व्यक्ति पर लगाया गया है।


Garry Talbot jailed for life after admitting killing his father

Summary: A man who admitted killing his 64-year-old father in a Nottinghamshire village has been jailed for life.

Garry Talbot, 45, was told he must serve a minimum term of four years for the manslaughter of his father Charles at Nottingham Crown Court. Charles Talbot was found injured in December 2012 at the home he shared with his son in Headland Avenue, Elkesley. He died later in hospital. Talbot pleaded guilty to manslaughter and a murder charge was dropped. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.

नॉटिंघमशायर गाँव में अपने 64 वर्षीय पिता की हत्या को स्वीकार करने वाले एक व्यक्ति को आजीवन कारावास की सजा सुनाई गई है।


David Walliams apologises for not replying to 'stolen post'

Summary: David Walliams has apologised if fans have not received replies from him, saying his post was stolen, including a "large box of letters from children".

The comedian, author and TV star apologised on Twitter, saying police had "just" told him about the letters, sent via his publisher Harper Collins. He added that those without a response should "please write again". A Metropolitan Police spokesman said a member of the public had found items of discarded mail in Camden on 8 April. He added that inquiries were continuing to identify if an offence had been committed. Walliams, who is currently on screen as a judge on ITV's Britain's Got Talent, has written six books for Harper Collins, with three becoming children's bestsellers. According to the publisher's website, he is due to release a new children's novel in September.

डेविड वालियम्स ने माफी मांगी है अगर प्रशंसकों को उनसे जवाब नहीं मिला है, यह कहते हुए कि उनकी पोस्ट चोरी हो गई थी, जिसमें "बच्चों के पत्रों का एक बड़ा बॉक्स" भी शामिल है।


Aberdeen Football Club wants 'glow-in-dark' new stadium

Summary: A planning application for Aberdeen Football Club's new stadium has been lodged with the city council.

The Dons hope to build the stadium, capable of holding about 21,000 people at a cost of up to £40m, at Loirston Loch in the south of the city. The whole facility would be lit by a red glow at night. AFC chief executive Duncan Fraser said: "The exciting design will create a modern, atmospheric stadium that offers the ultimate match-day experience." He said the move signified the "clear ambitions of the club". The application follows a public consultation.

एबरडीन फुटबॉल क्लब के नए स्टेडियम के लिए एक योजना आवेदन नगर परिषद के पास दायर किया गया है।


HMP Ranby inmate charged over fatal prison assault

Summary: An inmate at HMP Ranby has been charged with manslaughter following the death of a fellow inmate.

Thomas Axton, of Bracknell, Berkshire, died after an alleged assault in the Nottinghamshire jail on Monday. Four men, aged between 22 and 39, were arrested. Three have since been released on technical bail. The fourth man appeared before magistrates in Nottingham and was remanded in custody to appear at Nottingham Crown Court in July. HMP Ranby is a category C prison for men.

एच. एम. पी. रैनबी में एक कैदी पर एक साथी कैदी की मौत के बाद हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Horsemeat scandal: Reputational damage to the NI food industry

Summary: Horsemeat in beef products in County Down, pork DNA in halal pies in County Tyrone - it has not been a good few days for Northern Ireland's meat industry. But how damaging are such headlines to our global reputation as a food supplier?

Chris Elliot, Professor of Food Safety at Queen's University, Belfast, said the latest revelations were a "massive wake-up call" to the food sector on both sides of the Irish border. He stressed that the problem was a loss of consumer trust and confidence, not a food safety issue. However, he said the scandal would not help local the industry's efforts to sell products abroad, or Stormont's efforts to promote Northern Ireland's agri-food sector to Asian markets. "Our food products, not only beef but all our agriculture and food products, are sold on the pillars of safety and quality and here we have a big issue about the quality of what we are selling," Prof Elliot said. 'Very disappointing' Prof Elliot, who heads QUB's Institute for Global Food Security, said he expected the ongoing investigations into the contamination would be "rigorous" but added he had "a particular problem" with food labelling at present. "If it says on a label that it is a product of Ireland or it is a product of the United Kingdom, we all should expect to say that is where 100% of the material comes from. The fact that there has been material imported from other countries, and added to local produce to go into further processing, is very disappointing." The meat business forms a very significant part of the local economy so any threat to the supply chain must be taken very seriously. According to Northern Ireland Meat Exporters Association (NIMEA), up to 3,000 people are employed in the local meat processing industry, and it generates annual sales in the region of £1bn. NIMEA's chief executive, Phelim O'Neill, said the sector processes about 430,000 cattle a year, 90% of which are sourced from Northern Ireland farms. 'Positive credentials' The majority of the meat produced (up to 80%) is exported to supermarkets, restaurants and other businesses in Great Britain. Although Mr O'Neill agreed the negative publicity was "not good news", he argued that - depending on the response of businesses and regulators - the revelations could be used to "demonstrate the strength and positive credentials of the industry". "In the past we've had issues around BSE, we've had issues with foot-and-mouth back around the turn of the century, we had issues with dioxins a few years ago," the chief executive said. "All of those issues in the past were not good news stories on the day or at the time. The industry, by engaging constructively and very positively with the authorities in removing whatever problems existed, I think it enhanced in the long-term the reputation of the industry. "I suppose the good news is that we find them out for ourselves, it's not a customer that has come back and told us something, you know? They've all been identified by the regulatory authorities, or indeed as I understand in some of the cases, by the companies themselves." It has now been exactly three weeks since the horsemeat scandal broke. On the evening on 15 January, the Republic's Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) announced the results of DNA tests it carried out on a number of beef products on sale in a number of supermarkets. The FSAI tested 27 beef burgers and of that sample, 37% tested positive for traces of horse DNA, while 85% were found to contain traces of pig DNA. The amounts detected were very small, except for one beef burger from Tesco, that was found to contain 29% horsemeat. Food for thought Initially the problem appeared to be confined to two processing factories in the Republic of Ireland and one in Yorkshire, but there was no risk to human health, as the FSAI and others were quick to point out. However, the test results gave consumers and producers some food for thought as to how much we know about where our meals come from, and what actually goes into them before they reach our plates. Last weekend, it emerged that traces of pork DNA were found in halal pies supplied to UK prisons by County Tyrone company, McColgan's Quality Foods Limited. Twenty-four hours later, a consignment of beef in a County Down cold store tested positive for horse DNA. The samples taken from Freeza Meat in Newry were found to be about 80% horsemeat. It did not enter the food chain and investigations into the origin of the meat product are continuing. To date, there has been contamination and condemnation on both sides of the Irish border. Harmed Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, said the latest revelations were affecting our good image abroad as producer of top class meat. In the Republic, the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, said the Ireland's reputation as an exporter of high-quality meat products was being harmed and the main opposition party, Fianna Fail, has called for an independent inquiry. NIMEA is a trade association that represents large abattoir companies in Northern Ireland and a number of independent meat cutting plants. None of its members have been involved in the recent controversies. However, Mr O'Neill said added: "We have a responsibility as an industry to always supply the product that we are supposed to be supplying. If there is a specification there then we should be adhering to it. We should certainly not be introducing product that's not recognised and approved as part of that specification." 'Price worth paying' He would not be drawn on speculation that pressure from large retailers had encouraged local processors to source cheaper supplies form abroad. "Irrespective of market forces, as an industry we have an obligation to adhere to whatever contracts and specifications we have signed up to," he said. Prof Elliot from QUB said the substitution of "low quality, low value materials for the true foodstuff has plagued food production for centuries". "As we are now in a global food supply chain the chances of such events occurring have increased markedly." He said there must be "scientific verification" of the systems that food retailers' use to audit their supply chain. "The costs involved in undertaking high-level verification will ultimately be passed to the consumer. However, I believe this is price worth paying to ensure what we eat is what we think we have purchased," Prof Elliot added.

काउंटी डाउन में गोमांस उत्पादों में घोड़े का मांस, काउंटी टायरोन में हलाल पाई में सूअर का मांस डीएनए-उत्तरी आयरलैंड के मांस उद्योग के लिए कुछ दिन अच्छे नहीं रहे हैं। लेकिन खाद्य आपूर्तिकर्ता के रूप में हमारी वैश्विक प्रतिष्ठा के लिए ऐसी सुर्खियां कितनी हानिकारक हैं?


Coronavirus: Coming to terms with months on the front line

Summary: It was the worst day of Anthony Almojera's career.

By Alice CuddyBBC News In just one shift in early April, the veteran New York City paramedic had to tell a dozen families that a loved one had died from suspected coronavirus. But in the days that followed, this became his grim routine. When we first spoke to Anthony nine weeks ago, New York was at the forefront of the global Covid-19 pandemic, with the state reporting more diagnosed cases than any single country. Anthony, a lieutenant paramedic and vice-president of the Fire Department of New York's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) officers' union, talked us through the realities of a shift at a time when calls were at a similar volume to the day of the 9/11 terror attacks. Since then, five of his colleagues have died. Four contracted coronavirus and one took his own life after telling co-workers he was struggling to cope with all the death he was seeing. More than two million people in the US have been infected with coronavirus, and more than 30,000 in New York have died. This death toll is more than in Spain or France, two of the worst-affected countries. The number of coronavirus-related deaths in New York is decreasing, with 36 reported in the state on Wednesday - one of the lowest daily totals since the pandemic began. While paramedics in New York City are continuing to respond to patients showing symptoms of coronavirus, the volume of calls they are receiving is back to normal levels, and restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the virus are beginning to be eased. But Anthony, 43, is still coming to terms with what happened. At the height of the health crisis in New York, he says he was responding to between nine and 13 coronavirus-related cardiac arrests a day, on top of "normal" call-outs. "As a medic you see death, it's one of the things you have to navigate and deal with, but I went to more cardiac arrests in the past two months than I have in the past five years," he says. "The overwhelming majority of them were from Covid-19." In one case, he went to a house in the Bronx where he was told a woman was lying unwell on a couch. When he walked into the room, he knew instantly there was nothing he could do - she had been dead for a long time. The woman had been diagnosed with coronavirus and had been cared for by her son, but that day only her daughter-in-law was in the house. "I said 'What about your husband, how's he doing?' and she goes 'He died in hospital last week'. The woman died without knowing that her son had passed away," he recalls. While the majority of coronavirus patients Anthony saw at the height of the health crisis were over the age of 50, they were not all in higher-risk categories. In another case, he was called to the home of a 31 year old man who had been showing all the common symptoms of coronavirus before he stopped breathing. His family told Anthony the man had continued to show up to his job at a grocery store despite being unwell because "he couldn't afford to be sick" - he was scared of losing income that he needed to support himself and his seven year old daughter. In the house, the crew managed to get a pulse back and Anthony was hopeful that because of his age the man would survive. Anthony learned later that day that the man had died. Anthony's experiences were shared by first responders across the city, as New York struggled to deal with an onslaught of coronavirus cases in April. Funeral homes were overwhelmed. A navy hospital ship was docked in the city to ease pressure on local hospitals, though it ultimately received fewer than 200 patients. Wooden coffins were stacked in deep trenches on Hart Island. Anthony himself had to pronounce dead too many people with coronavirus symptoms to count them all, but each fatality left its mark. "As a medic, we're good at saving lives and we know if we didn't get someone this time we'll get them next time, but with this pandemic we weren't getting them," he says. "And then we started seeing our co-workers get sick in substantial numbers." At the height of the health crisis, Anthony says about 25% of the 4,200-strong workforce was out sick - almost all of them with coronavirus symptoms. "The sick leave report is usually about a page long. We were getting sick leave reports that were 10 to 12 pages," he says. He estimates that more than 50 of his colleagues were admitted to hospital. A few remain in hospitals or rehab centres today. One death hit Anthony particularly hard - that of his former partner Gregory Hodge, who died of Covid-19 in April, aged 59. Gregory was a veteran emergency medical technician, and was involved in recovery efforts following the 9/11 attacks. He was a determining influence on Anthony's own career. "He was a pilot and a respiratory therapist. When we first started working together I told him he could make way more money doing those things, and he said: 'Anthony, I do those things on the side so I can pay the bills. I do this because I grew up in Harlem and I get to help my community in my way.' "That really taught me something. Here's a guy who has the brains to do whatever he wants and he's choosing to do this. He does it because he's serving the community he was raised in. That's me now - I get to serve the community not too far from where I grew up." Like many people in New York and around the world, Anthony and his colleagues struggled to say goodbye to those they lost at a time of social distancing. "Normally when someone dies in the line of duty you get to really gather and be there for each other and give the person a genuine tremendous send off and really coalesce around each other," he says. "Because of the pandemic we couldn't do that. Everything was done on video and from a distance. Everything was sterile when really those moments shouldn't be sterile. Those moments should have people with their arms around each other." New York City began easing its coronavirus restrictions this week. Construction and manufacturing re-started, and non-essential retailers reopened, offering kerbside pick-ups. But as the city around them begins to re-open, Anthony and his colleagues are still dealing with the weight of all they have witnessed. "To have a front row seat and see it and experience it first hand - I try to not let it get me numb and non-emotional, that's a warning sign for healthcare workers when you don't feel it any more. I haven't gotten to that place. But I have struggled with feeling depressed." One of the biggest lessons that Anthony has taken from the pandemic is that "compassion has a limit". "I used to think I had all the compassion in the world to give. I didn't realise that in my lifetime I would have to give 90% and keep 10% for myself...There's a limit to being able to give and help people, while still being well mentally," he says. And despite the number of calls dropping significantly, paramedics in the city cannot escape the pandemic. "There's still Covid all over the news, and Covid is booming in other parts of the world and we're still seeing spikes in parts of the United States, so the people who are struggling mentally with what we went through and trying to recover from it don't have that gap in time to start the recovery process. "We still have some cases even though rates of hospitalisation have gone down. It's just a constant thing. And we're all concerned about it coming back," he explains. And with anti-racism protests sweeping the US and countries around the world after African-American man George Floyd was killed in police custody, there has been even less time for EMS workers to process what has happened. Anthony says he and his colleagues have gone from "Covid to Kevlar" as they don bulletproof vests while responding to the demonstrations. He is concerned about the impact a potential second wave of coronavirus could have on the EMS. But if it happens, he says he is ready to respond. "If there's a second round of this, we'll do it. We'll put our boots on one at a time and let's go."

यह एंथनी अल्मोजेरा के करियर का सबसे बुरा दिन था।


More than half your body is not human

Summary: More than half of your body is not human, say scientists.

By James GallagherPresenter, The Second Genome, BBC Radio 4 Human cells make up only 43% of the body's total cell count. The rest are microscopic colonists. Understanding this hidden half of ourselves - our microbiome - is rapidly transforming understanding of diseases from allergy to Parkinson's. The field is even asking questions of what it means to be "human" and is leading to new innovative treatments as a result. "They are essential to your health," says Prof Ruth Ley, the director of the department of microbiome science at the Max Planck Institute, "your body isn't just you". No matter how well you wash, nearly every nook and cranny of your body is covered in microscopic creatures. This includes bacteria, viruses, fungi and archaea (organisms originally misclassified as bacteria). The greatest concentration of this microscopic life is in the dark murky depths of our oxygen-deprived bowels. Prof Rob Knight, from University of California San Diego, told the BBC: "You're more microbe than you are human." Originally it was thought our cells were outnumbered 10 to one. "That's been refined much closer to one-to-one, so the current estimate is you're about 43% human if you're counting up all the cells," he says. But genetically we're even more outgunned. The human genome - the full set of genetic instructions for a human being - is made up of 20,000 instructions called genes. But add all the genes in our microbiome together and the figure comes out between two and 20 million microbial genes. Prof Sarkis Mazmanian, a microbiologist from Caltech, argues: "We don't have just one genome, the genes of our microbiome present essentially a second genome which augment the activity of our own. "What makes us human is, in my opinion, the combination of our own DNA, plus the DNA of our gut microbes." Listen to The Second Genome on BBC Radio 4. Airs 11:00 BST Tuesday April 10, repeated 21:00 BST Monday April 16 and on the BBC iPlayer It would be naive to think we carry around so much microbial material without it interacting or having any effect on our bodies at all. Science is rapidly uncovering the role the microbiome plays in digestion, regulating the immune system, protecting against disease and manufacturing vital vitamins. Prof Knight said: "We're finding ways that these tiny creatures totally transform our health in ways we never imagined until recently." It is a new way of thinking about the microbial world. To date, our relationship with microbes has largely been one of warfare. Microbial battleground Antibiotics and vaccines have been the weapons unleashed against the likes of smallpox, Mycobacterium tuberculosis or MRSA. That's been a good thing and has saved large numbers of lives. But some researchers are concerned that our assault on the bad guys has done untold damage to our "good bacteria". Prof Ley told me: "We have over the past 50 years done a terrific job of eliminating infectious disease. "But we have seen an enormous and terrifying increase in autoimmune disease and in allergy. "Where work on the microbiome comes in is seeing how changes in the microbiome, that happened as a result of the success we've had fighting pathogens, have now contributed to a whole new set of diseases that we have to deal with." The microbiome is also being linked to diseases including inflammatory bowel disease, Parkinson's, whether cancer drugs work and even depression and autism. Obesity is another example. Family history and lifestyle choices clearly play a role, but what about your gut microbes? This is where it might get confusing. A diet of burgers and chocolate will affect both your risk of obesity and the type of microbes that grow in your digestive tract. So how do you know if it is a bad mix of bacteria metabolising your food in such a way, that contributes to obesity? Prof Knight has performed experiments on mice that were born in the most sanitised world imaginable. Their entire existence is completely free of microbes. He says: "We were able to show that if you take lean and obese humans and take their faeces and transplant the bacteria into mice you can make the mouse thinner or fatter depending on whose microbiome it got." Topping up obese with lean bacteria also helped the mice lose weight. "This is pretty amazing right, but the question now is will this be translatable to humans" This is the big hope for the field, that microbes could be a new form of medicine. It is known as using "bugs as drugs". Goldmine of information I met Dr Trevor Lawley at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, where he is trying to grow the whole microbiome from healthy patients and those who are ill. "In a diseased state there could be bugs missing, for example, the concept is to reintroduce those." Dr Lawley says there's growing evidence that repairing someone's microbiome "can actually lead to remission" in diseases such as ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease. And he added: "I think for a lot of diseases we study it's going to be defined mixtures of bugs, maybe 10 or 15 that are going into a patient." Microbial medicine is in its early stages, but some researchers think that monitoring our microbiome will soon become a daily event that provides a brown goldmine of information about our health. Prof Knight said: "It's incredible to think each teaspoon of your stool contains more data in the DNA of those microbes than it would take literally a tonne of DVDs to store. "At the moment every time you're taking one of those data dumps as it were, you're just flushing that information away. "Part of our vision is, in the not too distant future, where as soon as you flush it'll do some kind of instant read-out and tells you are you going in a good direction or a bad direction. "That I think is going to be really transformative." Follow James on Twitter. Illustrations: Katie Horwich

वैज्ञानिकों का कहना है कि आपके शरीर का आधे से अधिक हिस्सा मानव नहीं है।


Wretton dog walker's suspicions lead police to hedgerow mannequin

Summary: Police investigating a dog walker's call about something "suspicious" in a hedgerow have said they are "pleased" it turned out to be "not as reported".

Norfolk Police were sent to a field in Wretton, near Downham Market, earlier after a figure in jeans and trainers was spotted kneeling in a hedge. However, officers discovered it was actually the abandoned bottom half of a mannequin. The force said whoever left the dummy may have been trying to be "creative". "If you're missing a set of mannequin legs... they are with us," a spokesman added in a tweet. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk Related Internet Links Norfolk Constabulary

एक हेजरो में कुछ "संदिग्ध" के बारे में एक डॉग वॉकर के कॉल की जांच कर रही पुलिस ने कहा है कि वे "खुश" हैं कि यह "रिपोर्ट के अनुसार नहीं" निकला।


Swansea to host Celtic Media Festival 2013

Summary: Swansea is to host the Celtic Media Festival in 2013, it has been announced.

The event aims to celebrate excellence in broadcasting and on screen from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and the Isle of Man. BBC Cymru Wales won five awards at this year's awards in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in April, including one for Rhod Gilbert's Work Experience. Last year, the festival was held in Stornoway, Scotland.

स्वानसी 2013 में सेल्टिक मीडिया महोत्सव की मेजबानी करेगा, यह घोषणा की गई है।


Journey through the Ebola heartland in Sierra Leone and Guinea

Summary: The current Ebola outbreak is the worst the world has ever seen. One reason it's been able to spread so quickly is because of where it first emerged: in the porous remote border area between Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

By Tulip MazumdarGlobal health correspondent We have just made the journey by road from Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, to Guinea's capital, Conakry, to see what impact the disease has had. Farewell Freetown It's 06:30 and we're getting ready to leave our hotel. This journey usually takes four hours, but we've been warned to brace ourselves for a much longer trip thanks to the number of Ebola checkpoints that have now been set up. On the car radio I hear an advert about Ebola. "Wow Vinta, you always have new facts on Ebola. They are so accurate, where do you get them?" "I rely on the web pages of the ministry of health, WHO and EbolaFacts.com." As we drive through the city, the streets are bustling. Women sit in front of their stalls selling fruits and vegetables. But on roundabouts and billboards lining the main Freetown-Waterloo highway, reminders of the outbreak are loud and clear. There are posters with warnings dotted everywhere. "ABC - Avoid Body Contact" proclaims one poster. By 09:00 we reach our first checkpoint. Soldiers carrying two different guns stop us. They have rifles over their shoulders and thermos temperature guns in their hands. Lt Martin Tejan holds his temperature gun to my head. I am 36.6 degrees and I am safe to pass through. "If you show more than 37.3, we will take you to the holding tent and ask you some more questions," Lt Tejan says. "Some people try and hide their sickness… some are trying to escape the city to go to their families to use traditional healers instead of going to medical centres here." Set back away from the road is a blue tarpaulin tent where very sick people are kept. Ambulances are supposed to take patients from here to a treatment centre within four hours. But the lieutenant says three people have died there while waiting for an ambulance. Quarantine zone By midday we arrive at Port Loko, where cases of Ebola have risen sharply in recent weeks. A government-imposed quarantine is in place, which means - in theory - that people living in the area aren't allowed to leave the district. We don't see anyone enforcing this though. We stop off at a treatment centre which is still under construction. "On the first day we had eight patients here," Peter George, the doctor in charge, says. "By the end of the week we were full. We are so busy here and need more international help." By lunchtime we are at our fifth Ebola checkpoint. The more sophisticated buckets of chlorine with taps have been replaced by ingenious makeshift wash bottles, which you "turn on" by pressing a stick with your foot, tipping the solution into your hands. My temperature is taken again, and I'm allowed through. When we reach the border, we are given a final temperature check and waved through. A soldier wearing sunglasses has a cigarette in his mouth and a rifle on his shoulder. "Bonjour madam, bienvenue Guinee," he says with a smile. Welcome to Guinea The change as we enter Guinea is immediate. The tarmac road turns into a bumpy red dirt track. We pass women with trays of eggs balanced perfectly on their heads, and men sitting in their roadside shops selling everything from bed frames to iron gates. People seem much more wary of our team. Another difference is that here, most people speak French. Hardly anyone speaks English. Guinea is where the outbreak started. A two-year-old boy called Emile, now known as patient zero, was the first person to become infected. He died last December but it wasn't until March that experts realised what had happened and declared an outbreak. Some 50 miles into the country, we come across a small Ebola holding centre. We wander inside. It's the first time we've been asked to wash our hands and have our temperatures checked since we arrived in Guinea. It's eerily quiet. There are around 15 staff, but no patients. I ask the doctor in charge why it is so quiet. "Some people prefer to die in the village rather than come here to get help," he says. 'Ebola isn't real' We continue our journey through the dusty winding roads. The landscape is stunning, lush green forest blanketed over mountains that fill the horizon. A couple of hours from the capital we stop at a roadside market in a town called Maferiah. Children are running around laughing, women are gossiping as they sell their watermelons, pineapples and oranges. But when we start asking them about Ebola, none of them want to talk. After asking a seven or eight people, a couple of men agree to chat to us. "I don't know about Ebola," says one of the men. "I have never seen someone killed by it. For me it doesn't exist." The second man echoes his friend's comments, "We don't have any Ebola here. I don't know what is killing all these people - but Ebola is not real." As we head into the city to find our hotel, one thing remains very clear: West Africa has far to go before Ebola can finally be stamped out.

वर्तमान में इबोला का प्रकोप दुनिया में अब तक का सबसे खराब है। एक कारण यह है कि यह इतनी जल्दी फैल गया है क्योंकि यह पहली बार गिनी, सिएरा लियोन और लाइबेरिया के बीच दूरदराज के सीमावर्ती क्षेत्र में सामने आया था।


The dangers – physical and psychological – of gender reveal parties

Summary: On Saturday, a woman died at a gender reveal party - a celebration announcing whether expectant parents will be having a boy or girl. A piece of shrapnel from a homemade explosive struck Pamela Kreimeyer, 56, in the head and killed her instantly.

By Rosie BluntBBC News Members of the Kreimeyer family had experimented with different kinds of explosive material, the Marion County Sheriff's office said. They built a contraption to release pink or blue powder revealing the gender of the new baby, which they aimed to film for social media. But instead, the device exploded like a pipe bomb, sending pieces of metal into the air that hit Ms Kreimeyer, who was standing 45 feet (14 metres) away. Some pieces of debris flew more than 100 yards. "This family got together for what they thought was going to be a happy event with no intent for anyone to get hurt," the sheriff's office said. "This is a reminder that any time someone mixes these things there is a high potential for serious injury or death." This is not the first time a gender reveal party has gone dangerously awry. Last year, a man shot a target so it would explode with either pink or blue powder, but sparked a 47,000 acre (19,020) wildfire in Arizona that raged for a week. A video of a man in Louisiana feeding his pet alligator a watermelon filled with blue jelly provoked concerns over the animal's welfare and its owner's safety. And in Australia, a so-called "burnout" - when a car emits blue or pink smoke - went disastrously wrong when the vehicle burst into flames. Critics of gender reveal parties argue their damage extends beyond the physical and environmental. 'Who cares what gender the baby is?' Even the woman credited with inventing gender reveal parties, Jenna Karvunidis, has spoken of her "mixed feelings" towards the phenomenon. In 2008, Ms Karvunidis baked a cake with pink icing on the inside to reveal she was having a baby girl. She wrote about it in a blog and sparked a new trend. But that baby girl, now ten years old, wears suits and short haircuts. Ms Karvunidis says her own perspective on gender identity has changed. "Who cares what gender the baby is?" Ms Karvunidis posted on Facebook in July. "Assigning focus on gender at birth leaves out so much of their potential and talents that have nothing to do with what's between their legs." What is a gender reveal party? Celebrated at an earlier stage in pregnancy than a baby shower, a gender reveal party announces whether expectant parents will be giving birth to a boy or a girl. Often this will be a surprise for the couple themselves. At their 20 week scan - the point at which it is usually possible to tell the sex of the baby - some couples will ask the sonographer to write down "boy" or "girl" on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope. They give this to a trusted friend or relative who organises their gender reveal party. Guests often demonstrate their gender predictions by wearing pink or blue, then play games before the big reveal. Although particularly popular in the US, the parties are a growing trend in the UK. Online retailer Party Delights reports an 87% increase in gender reveal-related products over the past three years and attributes the craze to social media and viral videos. Managing director Claire Grasby says customers are "looking for ever more creative ways to celebrate a pregnancy". Traditional reveals include a cake with blue or pink sweets hidden inside, a pink or blue confetti-filled piñata or a guest taking off a hat to reveal a pink or blue wig. But more dramatic and potentially dangerous announcements, including fireworks, smoke grenades and burnouts - are becoming more and more common. Helen, a mother of a transgender child, agrees. She says gender reveal parties enforce "hideously stereotyped boxes where girls equal pink princesses and boys equal blue cowboys". As children grow up, Helen says, these stereotypes prevent girls from studying traditionally masculine subjects like maths and science and instil in boys the belief that it is "feeble" to express emotions. "It's not just to do with gender," she says. "What if your child is born disabled or doesn't fit into a particular version of what a baby or child should be? " Helen says gender reveal parties prevent children from "being celebrated in all their infinite diversity. They are made to feel shameful if they don't fit into this gendered stereotype." 'I set off a smoke grenade to celebrate' Sara is from the UK and was the first of her friends to throw a gender reveal party earlier this year. She had a difficult pregnancy that caused her significant pain and difficulty walking. She said the party created happy memories that kept her going. "I don't know how my mental state would have been if I didn't have some kind of gathering like that," Sara says. She planned games and revealed the baby's gender by setting off a smoke grenade - a type of explosive. "I hadn't done anything like that before," Sara admits. She read all the instructions and made sure the grenade was lit on safe grounds away from the public. Although she says it was a good way to celebrate and nothing went wrong, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) advises future parents to be mindful of safety. Fireworks and smoke grenades "can seriously injure people and leave lifelong scarring and as such should be handled with care," a spokesman said. RoSPA advise anyone planning to use them to familiarise themselves with the Firework Code. And the gender of Sara's baby? A girl. She was born premature at 34 weeks old, weighing 4 pounds 10 but she is now doing well. Sara describes herself as a "girly girl" and is looking forward to doing "magical fairy stuff" with her daughter. She does not believe gender reveal parties reinforce outdated gender stereotypes. "People who are causing a scene I think are the ones causing the problem," Sara says. "It's not offensive." She says she won't mind if her daughter grows up to question her gender identity. "If she doesn't feel right when she's older that's fine. But people are trying to make you think or believe that you should change all the time."

शनिवार को, एक जेंडर रिवील पार्टी में एक महिला की मौत हो गई-एक उत्सव जो यह घोषणा करता है कि गर्भवती माता-पिता के पास एक लड़का होगा या लड़की। घर में बने विस्फोटक के छर्रे का एक टुकड़ा 56 वर्षीय पामेला क्रेमेयर के सिर में लगा और तुरंत उसकी हत्या कर दी।


Why have IS jihadists targeted Belgium?

Summary: In little more than an hour on Tuesday, Brussels was struck twice at its very heart. First in the departure hall of Brussels airport and then in a metro train at Maelbeek in the Belgian capital's European quarter.

By Pieter Van OstaeyenBelgian analyst on jihadism Only days before, Belgium's security forces had achieved decisive successes in their bid to take down the network involved in the 13 November attacks in Paris. Mohammed Belkaid, most likely a ringleader in the gun and bomb attacks, was killed during a police raid on a suspected safe house in Forest. Next to his body were a Salafist book, a Kalashnikov and a flag of jihadist group Islamist State (IS). The police were lightly armed and never saw others escape over neighbouring roofs. Days later Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in Paris, was arrested in Molenbeek, after Belgian media spread reports that his fingerprints had been found on a glass of water in the Forest safe-house. The Belgian government reacted with barely concealed delight: they believed they had finally wrapped up the network involved in the Paris attacks. So why was Brussels targeted on 22 March and how have IS jihadists been able to carry out their attacks? After Abdeslam's arrest, rumours spread that he might co-operate with Belgium's justice department even before he did. What is likely is that the same IS network that planned and executed the Paris attacks decided to expedite attacks that had already been planned in Belgium. As with Paris, these would probably have taken months to organise. At least 31 civilians were killed and another 271 were wounded, some severely. Emergency doctors said the shrapnel used in the explosives caused devastating injuries. IS followed one of their proven strategies, deployed in earlier attacks: The ultimate aim was to kill as many people as possible. The effect of such attacks is, as always, to be found in what al-Qaeda ideologue Abu Bakr Naji described as "tawahhush" (savagery or chaos). The idea is to destabilise society, create disorder and chaos and take profit from it. IS thrives on chaos and disorder and, in Belgium, hopes to drive a wedge between Muslims and non-Muslims. In a way, they hope for what Samuel Huntington described as the clash of civilisations. And by creating a sphere of Islamophobia, they seek to create a fertile breeding ground. Looking at how Islamist networks in Belgium have operated, there has always been one grievance they cite: the feeling that Belgium has treated them as second-class citizens. The ban on wearing the full face veil in public and the fact that ritual halal slaughter of animals is no longer allowed on private grounds have been named as reasons to leave the country by Belgian jihadist fighters. At the start, some went to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while others were enticed by family or friends. Now they leave to live, fight and die for the IS "caliphate". The most active networks in Belgium were Sharia4Belgium (with 79 ex-members in Syria or Iraq) and the Islamist cell around Khalid Zerkani (45 recruits including some of the Paris attackers). Their networks worked as catalysts and it is only because groups like these were active that Belgium now has per capita the highest number of jihadists from Western Europe. And in both the Paris attacks and the Brussels bombings, at the core of the Islamist cells were mostly Belgian or Belgium-based IS fighters. It would be easy to say the Belgian security forces made errors in their inquiry, however it is certain that no effort was spared in investigating the jihadist networks. Although the authorities always appear to be a few steps behind the IS networks, Belgium may not be to blame. Neighbouring countries may have failed to share essential information. Initially, Belgium was successful, interrupting an IS cell of Belgian jihadists in Verviers in January 2015. But that has changed with the Paris and Brussels attacks, and the threat is probably not over yet. It is highly likely that even now other IS sleeper-cells are waiting for the signal. More attacks may follow, whether in Belgium, France, the Netherlands or the UK. We will have to learn how to cope with a constant terror threat and above all learn from what went wrong. Pieter Van Ostaeyen is a historian and analyst on jihad in Belgium

मंगलवार को एक घंटे से थोड़ा अधिक समय में, ब्रसेल्स को उसके दिल में दो बार मारा गया। पहले ब्रसेल्स हवाई अड्डे के प्रस्थान कक्ष में और फिर बेल्जियम की राजधानी के यूरोपीय क्वार्टर में मेलबीक में एक मेट्रो ट्रेन में।


Refugee Week: Three Syrian stories from Eye on Wales

Summary: To deal with the ever-increasing flood of refugees and displaced people, the UN has launched the largest appeal in its history - seeking $5bn - £3.2bn - for humanitarian aid to Syria.

On the eve of Refugee Week - which aims to encourage a better understanding of Britain's history of giving sanctuary to people escaping persecution - BBC Radio Wales' Eye on Wales programme speaks to three Syrians who have found a home in Wales. Ronahi Hasan From the city of Kamishli in the north of Syria, she and her family fled the country in 2009 to escape the persecution of the Kurdish minority by President Bashar al-Assad's government. They now live in Cardiff. "The situation for the Kurdish people, it wasn't great. We were suffering. It was nothing new. For more than 40 years Kurdish people are suffering in Syria… especially after 2004 and the Kurdish revolution. Then the situation became worse and worse. "Imagine that you live in your own land, but you can't own it. You're not allowed to have the deeds. Imagine. It's unbelievable. It was too much oppression, so my family decided to flee. "It was a very very difficult journey. At every step there were massive fears. It was horrible. We had no choice. If you want to live in peace, be safe, you have to do it. Otherwise you don't know what your fate will be in Syria. "When I arrived in the UK I didn't speak English. Imagine, if you can't speak the language and you don't have any idea about the culture, the people, the way of life? It's very difficult. "Here you have to start from nothing; you have to build up from nothing. If you have qualifications back home - like me and my husband - you can't use it here. "We've become students, like we were in primary school. You have to learn English, step by step. It's a very long journey. "We try our best to participate in all aspects of public life. We want to be a part of this country and show how we appreciate that it opened its arms to us." From Aleppo, he came to study in Cardiff in 2000. He has not been back to Syria since 2006 when he refused to return to join the Army. Now the manager of the Dar Ul-Isra Muslim Education and Welfare Centre in the city, he helped set up a charity to raise funds for medical and educational supplied and has made three trips to refugee camps on the Turkish-Syrian border. "One of the camps was Atma camp, with 13,000 refugees. It is in no-man's-land, so there's nobody to look after it officially. There are people from small, charitable organisations there, but there is no Turkish or Syrian government to look after them. "We met mothers who said they hadn't had milk for a week. There's no electricity, the water is dirty, there are no proper toilets. I saw a child of 10 carrying a gun. It really isn't a safe environment at all. "When I returned I heard that the Assad regime had attacked that camp, with aircraft and shelling. "(For the second trip to a school) we collected art materials for educational workshops. We used to go early in the morning to 7pm, trying to draw a smile on the children's faces. "We asked them to draw whatever they think. They drew tanks and people fighting. Then we gave them a star or a heart or a butterfly - nice images - to change it. "It is a platform to talk about their experience. They talk about how they lost their mother or father or how their brothers are still inside Syria. "They all have stories about how they saw death in front of them." From Damascus, but now living in Cardiff. A campaigner for reform even before the Arab Spring reached Syria, he was arrested in the early days of unrest and given a choice between "martyrdom" or imprisonment or exile from the country. His parents remain in the Syrian capital. "You have a lot of checkpoints in Damascus. You may have to go through at least 12 checkpoints - which takes around an hour - just to travel a short distance. And it's not safe because you have some kind of bombing every time." "In many areas we have kidnappings. Some of my relatives were kidnapped. They had to pay a lot of money and they don't have it. They had to give them their cars or sell their shops in order to get back their family members. "A lot of people are lost - there are no records if they are arrested or dead or kidnapped. There are around 5,000 people with no records. You have at least 200,000 people arrested across the country. "More than 10m people are in basic need of food or fresh water in the country and surrounding countries. "That's why we really have to think about how to stop this conflict. As the conflict goes on, international donations and support are going down because the international community can't afford to support aid to Syria." Eye on Wales is broadcast on BBC Radio Wales at 13:30 BST Sunday 16 June.

शरणार्थियों और विस्थापित लोगों की लगातार बढ़ती बाढ़ से निपटने के लिए, संयुक्त राष्ट्र ने अपने इतिहास में सबसे बड़ी अपील शुरू की है-सीरिया को मानवीय सहायता के लिए $5 बिलियन-£ 3.2bn-की मांग की है।


Geek camp comes to Milton Keynes

Summary: At first glance, it looked like a typical summer festival was getting under way in Pineham Park, Milton Keynes - a haphazard collection of tents, distinctive portable toilets and a very well-stocked bar.

By Zoe KleinmanTechnology reporter, BBC News But not every festival has its own bespoke 300 megabits per second (Mbps) broadband connection, electricity almost literally on tap thanks to networks of specially adapted festival toilet cubicles called Datenklos and delegate badges that change colour according to who you are meeting. The very first Electromagnetic Field Festival, known as EMF, started at Pineham Park in Milton Keynes on Friday and runs until 2 September. Aimed at "people with an inquisitive mind or an interest in making things", events planned for the weekend include soldering and blacksmith workshops and the opportunity to learn how to build a mechanical Turing machine. "People just want to show off things they've made - the whole camp is about sharing and teaching others," said organiser Jonty Wareing. "There are hacker camps abroad but they are more focused on computers - there's more of a culture here for physical stuff." Mr Wareing and his team actively encouraged all attendees to bring their own creations and cheerfully admitted he had "no idea" what might arrive. Homegrown hacks Unsurprisingly, EMF had a distinctly homegrown feel. Local hackspaces and other groups set up large tents, and while the festival received some sponsorship (University College London, helped with funding the Arduino-powered delegate badges, for example) there was a notable absence of logos and corporate activity throughout the venue. Participants in a yurt-building workshop would be using fibreboard "rescued" from Winchester College of Art, and in another corner a makeshift geodesic dome made of plastic sheeting and duct tape billowed - but no corners had been cut in providing enough power to service even the most high maintenance of hackers. Two 30m-high masts were erected for the occasion, one at the campsite and the other in the car park of a data centre 2.5km away. They were linked by microwave but there was also a fibre connection between Milton Keynes and Docklands in East London playing its part. The infrastructure team had been hard at work on the tech spec since June. "As long as people don't complain about the internet being too slow, we're happy," said Nat Morris modestly. Mr Morris' real pride and joy was the network of adapted WCs, which opened to reveal rows of sockets and an all important wi-fi box. Despite their purpose they were all delivered fully stocked with toilet paper. The infrastructure team tent was a thriving mission control, with flatscreen monitors displaying usage graphs and a large server stack tucked behind a curtain possibly once designed to be denote a bedroom. "It's the kind of thing you'd normally find in a data centre, not a field," said Mr Wareing with a hint of pride. Eager inventors Engineering student James Glanville attended the festival without his creation - he built his own 3D printer but was deterred from bringing it by the logistics of the park-and-ride travel arrangements. "It probably cost about £300 to make but it's paid for itself three or four times over by selling things I've made from it," he said, pointing to a 3D-printed smartphone case. In the next tent Chris Simpson, an "ethical hacking" student from Northumbria University, was looking forward to learning how to solder. Jim MacArthur spent two years perfecting his mechanical Turing machine - powered by steam and controlled by ball bearings. It's a bit temperamental, he admitted, and "about a million billion times slower" than an average PC. "I just always wanted to build a mechanical computer," he said. Words of wisdom Veteran tech festivalgoers Loz and Ian came to lend their support to the new event, having previously travelled to CCC (Chaos Communication Camp) in Berlin and HAR (Hacking At Random) in the Netherlands, both of which take place every four years and attract around 3,000 attendees. They had encouraging words for the organisers. "Watch this space - in a couple of years EMF will be massive," said Ian. "Through the internet, space and time don't have the same restrictions." Before leaving, we paid a quick visit to the bar, which was constructed away from the tents, beneath the flyover of the M1 motorway. I asked the barman why they chose that spot. He fixed me with a long stare. "Because it's awesome," he said, and returned to stacking glasses.

पहली नज़र में, ऐसा लग रहा था कि पाइनहैम पार्क, मिल्टन कीन्स में एक विशिष्ट ग्रीष्मकालीन उत्सव चल रहा था-तंबू, विशिष्ट पोर्टेबल शौचालय और एक बहुत अच्छी तरह से भंडारित बार का एक अव्यवस्थित संग्रह।


The economic outlook for 2016

Summary: What can we expect in 2016 from the world economy?

By Andrew WalkerBBC World Service economics correspondent If the mainstream forecasters are right slightly better than last year. The International Monetary Fund, for example, forecasts growth of 3.6% this year after 3.1% in 2015. Last year's figure is rather sluggish; this year's stronger but still not all that impressive. The IMF will produce an updated forecast later this month, but in a guest article for the German newspaper Handelsblatt, the agency's managing director, Christine Lagarde, warned that this year will be disappointing. The recovery from the Great Recession, which followed the international financial crisis, continues. It's just not very convincing. This is just a forecast of course and like all such exercises it's surrounded by a cloud of uncertainty. So what are the big issues for next year, the factors that will determine whether things turn out better or worse than the IMF and others currently predict? Disruption from higher US rates? Once again, two factors dominate, and they come from the world's two largest economies: the United States and China. In the US the long haul back to a more normal interest rate policy began at the end of last year. The Federal Reserve finally raised its main interest rate target from the level of practically zero it has had since the end of 2008. There is certainly the potential for that to cause significant disruption to emerging economies. It's likely to lead to higher borrowing costs, and lower currencies, because money will be moved to the US to benefit from the rising interest rates there. That in turn will make it more expensive to repay loans in dollars. All this has already happened to some extent as financial markets moved in anticipation of the Fed's action. So far, there has been no emerging markets financial crisis. It could well stay that way, though there are certainly risks of turbulence. How worried should we be? Might we be looking at a new wave of emerging market crises like that of the 1990s and 2000s, which swept through East Asia, Latin America, Turkey and Russia? Prof Carmen Reinhart of Harvard has expressed some concern. She wrote in October: "Though emerging economies' debts seem largely moderate by historic standards, it is likely that they are being underestimated, perhaps by a large margin. If so, the magnitude of the ongoing reversal in capital flows… may be larger than is generally believed - potentially large enough to trigger a crisis." Then again, Nouriel Roubini, who made a name for himself by warning about the global crisis, argued that "widespread distress and crises need not occur". Many economists accept that emerging economies have improved their economic policy dramatically in recent years and are better able to withstand international financial storms today. Nonetheless some do face serious problems for other reasons, which can only be aggravated by financial market turbulence, for example, Russia due to the lower price of crude oil, Brazil due to a domestic political crisis, while Venezuela has both types of problem. China's slowdown The other big issue is China's slowing economic growth. It could not have been sustained indefinitely at the annual average of 10% that the official data shows for the 30 years up to 2010. Throughout the slowdown, which began around the start of the current decade, the question has been: will it be a smooth transition or not, a hard or soft landing? So far, no crisis, though there have been some sharp stock market falls in China. There were several weeks of volatility in the middle of 2015 and trading for this year got off to an inauspicious start, with a fall of 7% in Shanghai and trading suspended. One of the reasons for those latest falls was data pointing to a decline in manufacturing activity in December, more evidence in other words of the economy shifting down a gear. China's slowdown has been a central factor in another development: the recent falls in global commodity prices - oil, metals and foods. China is not the only factor, especially in the oil market, but it's an important one for many commodities. 'Muted' benefits of cheap oil The price fall has been good news for some countries. Cheap oil in particular is often likened to a tax cut for consumers. But it is equally bad news for countries that make a living exporting these items - soya from Argentina, oil from Saudi Arabia and copper from Zambia, for example. Oil prices have not rebounded during the course of 2015 as some analysts thought they might. In fact oil is now even cheaper than it was a year ago, and it's now about two-thirds down from the level it reached in June 2014. Prof Kenneth Rogoff, also of Harvard and a former IMF chief economist, says the beneficial effect of cheaper oil for global growth has been rather "muted" this time, in part because some countries are using it as an opportunity to cut subsidies rather than allowing consumers to get the full benefit. Rough patch for emerging economies? The broad picture since the financial crisis is that the rich countries have been through a slow and incomplete economic recuperation. Some are further into this process (the US, the UK) than others (the eurozone). For the emerging economies, growth has slowed every year since 2010. It is still faster than the rich countries, but this slowdown has raised a question posed by the World Bank: is this group experiencing a rough patch or prolonged weakness? The IMF predicts that growth for emerging and developing economies will pick up this year, from 4.0% to 4.5%. Still, the World Bank identifies a number of reasons for concern that they might be in for a more protracted period of relatively disappointing performance.

2016 में हम विश्व अर्थव्यवस्था से क्या उम्मीद कर सकते हैं?


Husband of Hollie Kerrell in court charged with her murder

Summary: A man has appeared in court accused of murdering his wife who had been missing for four days.

The body of 28-year-old mother-of-three Hollie Kerrell was found in Knighton on Thursday. Christopher Kerrell, 35, also of Knighton, appeared before Cardiff Crown Court earlier. Mr Kerrell was remanded in custody for a court appearance on 29 May where he is due to enter a plea. A provisional trial date has been set for 22 October.

चार दिन से लापता अपनी पत्नी की हत्या के आरोप में एक व्यक्ति अदालत में पेश हुआ है।


Inside Business: Weak euro affecting NI exporters'

Summary: The weakness of the euro is having a major impact on exporters in Northern Ireland, according to a director of a leading engineering firm.

Colin Clements from Powerscreen was speaking to the BBC's Inside Business programme. He said that firms operating in the Eurozone currently have a significant advantage. "The euro is a real struggle for us at the moment," he said. "We're much more expensive landed in a eurozone where our machines are sold by our dealers in euros compared to our European base competitors. "They also have a big advantage bringing product into the UK so they can undermine our very strong market share in the UK whilst we're struggling to maintain our share in the eurozone." Colin Clements' interview will be broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Business at 13:30 BST on Sunday 26 April.

एक प्रमुख इंजीनियरिंग फर्म के निदेशक के अनुसार, यूरो की कमजोरी का उत्तरी आयरलैंड में निर्यातकों पर बड़ा प्रभाव पड़ रहा है।


Driver dies month after A543 Pentrefoelas crash

Summary: A driver has died a month after a crash in Conwy county in which a woman was also killed.

A silver Renault Clio and a black Mercedes SLK collided on the A543 near Pentrefoelas just before 15:45 GMT on 27 February. The female passenger from the Mercedes, who was in her forties, died at the scene. North Wales Police said the driver of the car - also in his forties - died at hospital in Stoke on Wednesday. The driver of the Renault Clio was also taken to hospital but has since been discharged, police said.

कॉनवी काउंटी में एक दुर्घटना के एक महीने बाद एक चालक की मृत्यु हो गई है जिसमें एक महिला की भी मृत्यु हो गई थी।


Baroness Thatcher's lasting legacy in Middle East

Summary: Baroness Thatcher famously told President George Bush not to get "wobbly" after Saddam Hussein sent Iraqi troops into Kuwait in 1990. She had to watch the consequences of his firmness from the sidelines, as she had been removed from office by her own MPs in the last weeks before the American-led invasion of Iraq and Kuwait began in January 1991.

By Jeremy BowenBBC Middle East editor Lady Thatcher's belief in the importance of Britain's relationship with the United States was only part of the reason why she sent RAF aircraft to Saudi Arabia within 48 hours of the invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, and soon after started the deployment of what became a force of more than 53,000 British troops. Her response to what was happening in Kuwait was conditioned by her own experience of the war to recapture the Falklands Islands from Argentina in 1982. And Britain had its own reasons to protect oil supplies from the Gulf, and what had become a highly lucrative business relationship with Saudi Arabia. Britain had pulled its military forces out of the Middle East after the decision to retreat from east of Suez in the 1960s. The UK's Middle Eastern moment appeared to be over, so when the Thatcher government rushed troops to Saudi Arabia in 1990 the British army had to announce that it no longer had desert pattern uniforms. Embarrassingly, it emerged that it sold its stocks to Iraq in the 1980s. But Britain had retained big business interests. From early on in her premiership Mrs Thatcher had recognised the commercial possibilities in the Gulf. She was closely involved in the negotiations that led to the al-Yamamah arms deal, selling British warplanes worth tens of billions of pounds to Saudi Arabia. The deal has also been surrounded by allegations that bribes were paid to members of the Saudi royal family. Since the first war against Iraq in 1991, many thousands of British soldiers have spent time in the Middle East. Mrs Thatcher's government revived Britain's political and military role in the region, which continues. Since Margaret Thatcher's death was announced both Israel's president and prime minister have praised her support for their state. During her time in Number 10 though, Britain was one of the first Western countries to establish relations with the Palestine Liberation Organisation, pressing it to recognise the existence of Israel. In 1989 she sent William Waldegrave, then a junior minister in the Foreign Office, to Tunis to meet PLO officials and eventually the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. It was one of the steps that led to the Oslo process, the attempt to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s.

बैरोनेस थैचर ने 1990 में सद्दाम हुसैन द्वारा कुवैत में इराकी सैनिकों को भेजने के बाद राष्ट्रपति जॉर्ज बुश से "डगमगाते" नहीं रहने के लिए कहा था। उन्हें उनकी दृढ़ता के परिणामों को किनारे से देखना पड़ा, क्योंकि जनवरी 1991 में इराक और कुवैत पर अमेरिकी नेतृत्व वाले आक्रमण से पहले अंतिम हफ्तों में उन्हें उनके अपने सांसदों द्वारा पद से हटा दिया गया था।


Mold and Connah's Quay sites selected for council homes plans

Summary: More potential development sites have been identified as Flintshire council looks to build 500 new homes, including 200 council houses, over the next five years.

A report says 95 homes will be built on the flattened site of the former maisonettes in Flint. The former Ysgol Delyn school in Mold could now earmarked for redevelopment. The council expects to announce a partner to develop its housing schemes in May after drawing up a shortlist. The report said sites have already been cleared for use at the former Custom House School in Connah's Quay and a rural site in Leeswood. The council's cabinet committee is being asked to push forward plans on Tuesday.

अधिक संभावित विकास स्थलों की पहचान की गई है क्योंकि फ्लिंटशायर परिषद अगले पांच वर्षों में 200 परिषद घरों सहित 500 नए घरों का निर्माण करना चाहती है।


Will Salisbury ever recover from the Skripal poisoning?

Summary: Nearly two months have passed since the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were the victims of a nerve agent attack in Salisbury. Traces of military-grade Novichok were found at nine locations and a multi-million pound operation to decontaminate the locations could take months. Meanwhile, the city is still suffering the after effects.

By Mark BosworthBBC News Coming out of the railway station it is clear to see that Salisbury is a popular tourist destination. An excitable group of middle-aged Spanish tourists in puffer jackets fresh off the train are checking their maps while a quieter Japanese couple go in search of a taxi. "Ah, ver! La catedral!," shouts the Spanish group's leader, as they head towards the grand monument which boasts Britain's tallest spire and gives Salisbury its city status. It feels, however, more like a market town, with independent shops nestled between traditional pubs which line evocatively-named streets such as Fish Row, Silver Street and Pennyfarthing Street. Along Fisherton Street people are enjoying the sun and the cool breeze coming off the flowing River Avon, while others take photos of the 14th Century clock tower. On the opposite side is the approach to The Mill which has a number of new signs saying "shops open this way". These recently-erected signs are the first indication that all is not well. The blue and white signs give way to blue and white police tape fastened across the black metal fence outside The Mill pub, still deemed by government scientists to be at risk of contamination. Police in yellow high-visibility jackets stand guard in front of the boarded-up pub to ensure no-one crosses the cordon. "It's a strange feeling. We go about our business and then see this police line," says resident, Rosemary Duffy. "It's a bit frightening as it's an unknown quantity. It's a disgusting thing that's happened here but we've got to keep going." It is the first time Mrs Duffy has been to the Maltings shopping precinct since the Skripals were taken ill there on 4 March. She says she was tempted back by the free parking, laid on by the local council in a bid to get more people back into the city centre. Skripal poisoning sites clean-up begins 'It's just so quintessentially English' What are nerve agents and what do they do? Like most people driving to Salisbury, Mrs Duffy parked next to the 1980s-style shopping area made out of red brick. The walk to the shops is now lined by metre-high metal fences and police tape, blocking off the main route to the shops. Within the cordon there are some big name shops such as Superdrug, Robert Dyas and Greggs but there is also the small, independent B and R Textiles which faces the bench - now removed - where the Skripals were found unconscious. "I'm currently losing £12,000 to £15,000 a week," says manager Richard Wheeler, who has been providing soft furnishings such as blinds and curtains for 30 years. "Up until now this has been a very successful business but if this doesn't get sorted out soon it could be the end of it." Forced to close for a week, the 60-year-old was given permission to open his shop via the back entrance, which is outside of the police cordon, so he can fulfil existing orders and fittings. "Those take us up to the end of May but I don't know what I'll do after that." Customers such as Liz Hannah, 57, only discovered the shop was open after Mr Wheeler's daughter posted a message on Facebook. She describes the aftermath of the attack on the Skripals as "a bit surreal and frightening at first" but says people have got used to it. "It's happened and there's not a lot you can do about it. I think it will take Salisbury a while to get over it but people need to know that it's safe. "In a way the cordons makes you feel safer because at least you know they're being thorough and cleaning it all up. Salisbury will the cleanest city ever after this." But Mr Wheeler - who only has enough money to pay his six staff until the end of May - says he just wants things to return to normal. "It all seems very long-winded but there's obviously processes the authorities have to go through which do take time, but the most frustrating thing was that for the first five weeks we didn't know anything. "We saw nothing happening regarding a clean-up - that only started last week - and then it depends if they find anything during that." The frustration is also felt by the small independent businesses along Riverside Walk, on the other side of the Mill. "Because of the cordons we don't get our footfall along here and we don't have any business," says Lucy Reeves at the Crystal shop, which sells a myriad of brightly coloured gems. "It's been a massive shock. We now feel like the Maltings is a separate part of Salisbury, it's like there's a big wall up between us and the rest of Salisbury because it's so quiet now. "I'd say we're about 70% down on what we would normally be for this time of year which is quite scary. It could be really serious if this continues." Ms Reeves describes the cordons as "annoying" but says the police "are all really lovely". She adds: "It's nice having them around actually, it's someone to talk to." Poppy White works further down Riverside Walk at Ganesha Handicrafts. "Sales have been down, and some days we don't get anything at all," says the 23-year-old. The shop is now operating on reduced hours and is struggling to meet a quarter of its daily sales targets. But it is not just the shops that are suffering, it is also the people who work in them. Ms White has worked 55 fewer hours than normal over the past month. "That equates to a lot of money that I can't live without. It's a really difficult situation. "If this continues much longer I will have to find somewhere else to work and I don't want to do that because I like this job. "We have a lot of loyal customers but I've only seen two of those because it's scary." Tourism is big business in Salisbury. Nearly 10% of all jobs are tourism related, and it is estimated that more than five million people visited Salisbury in 2016, spending about £270m. VisitWiltshire, which promotes tourism in the city, says it has seen a drop in the number of visitors and revenue for March and April. It describes the picture as "mixed" with some businesses reporting losses of 40%. There are concerns about forward bookings and cancellations from the domestic market which is why VisitWiltshire was given a £200,000 government grant to promote its message that it is "business as usual". Undeterred by the headlines, John and Polly Goodman have visited from Reading. "I'm sure [it is] perfectly safe. I don't have any qualms about being here at all," says Mr Goodman. "They know what they're doing and they're cleaning it all up and I trust the authorities to get it sorted. It feels unfair to punish Salisbury because of a terrible attack." Fred and Cathay from Nice, France, are visiting the city for the first time as part of a tour around the UK, with their children Antoine and Louise. "I knew something had happened but I didn't know it was actually here. But frankly, we don't care at all," says Cathay. "We come from Nice where a man in a truck killed 80 people. Fred's mum was injured in that attack but she is ok. For us, we live and want to explore the world." Wiltshire Council has introduced free parking, free park and ride, and some free bus travel in an attempt to draw people back. Salisbury City Council leader, Matthew Dean, says a number of special events are also in the pipeline and a St George's day celebration held on Sunday in the Market Square attracted 2,500 people. "The affected areas from the attack comprise less than 2% of the city," he says. Allum and Sidaway, a family-run jewellers, faces Zizzi's - the restaurant where the Skripals ate before the attack and which is now hidden by a blue cordon. The shop's manager Paul Lewis is also a director of Salisbury's Chamber of Commerce, which represents about 500 businesses. "This January and February saw year-on-year growth - of 25% and 45% respectively - but since March when the incident happened I've had a 25% drop." He forecasts April will be worse for his shop. "I can expect that because there was a media circus going on right outside my door. It still doesn't feel like there's any sort of recovery." A few narrow streets away from the Market Square, the Salisbury Journal's editor Joe Riddle is preparing the latest issue of his paper. The journalist grew up in the city and believes it will recover. "A lot of people are fed up with how some sections of the national press are portraying Salisbury, giving the impression it is shut down and that the whole city is a no-go area. "There is frustration and they feel that is putting people off from coming here. "Most people in Salisbury have moved on and hopefully, once this has all blown over, it will be business as usual."

पूर्व रूसी जासूस सर्गेई स्क्रिपल और उनकी बेटी यूलिया को सैलिसबरी में एक तंत्रिका एजेंट हमले का शिकार हुए लगभग दो महीने बीत चुके हैं। नौ स्थानों पर सैन्य-श्रेणी के नोविचोक के निशान पाए गए और स्थानों को कीटाणुरहित करने के लिए लाखों पाउंड के ऑपरेशन में महीनों लग सकते हैं। इस बीच, शहर अभी भी बाद के प्रभावों से पीड़ित है।


London's overlooked rail project

Summary: It is a massive engineering project that will deliver a mainline railway through the heart of London with Tube-like service frequency.

By Laurence KnightBusiness reporter, BBC News It will connect multiple regional destinations on either side of the capital for the first time with a direct rail service. Yet it has been beset by controversy over its route, worries about its funding, and years of delay. Crossrail, right? Nope. It's the Thameslink upgrade. 'Gilded lily'? The north-south rail-link, first opened up in the 1980s, has been somewhat overshadowed by its more glamorous east-west cousin, even though the new-and-improved Thameslink will become an equally significant part of the southeast of England's railway infrastructure. "Crossrail's nice and shiny because it's a brand new line," says Gareth Edwards, editor of the London Reconnections blogsite. "People tend to see Thameslink as gilding the lily. But actually it's a lot more than that." The £6bn project - a third of the cost of Crossrail - will transform the cross-capital route. Peak train frequency will increase from the original 7-8 minutes, to 4 minutes currently, and 2-3 minutes by the end of the decade. And the current Brighton-to-Bedford route will add Cambridge, King's Lynn, Ashford and Eastbourne as destinations. "It will be a really fast and reliable turn-up-and-go rail service," boasts London assembly member Caroline Pidgeon. "Once it's up-and-running, people will say, 'Oh my God, this is amazing.'" She points out the new London Overground network as an example of how introducing a high-frequency metro-style train service on an old line can unleash an astonishing amount of suppressed demand. Indeed, the route is already overcrowded, and the project is set to deliver a switch from 8-car to 12-car trains by this December. "50 stations are being lengthened," says Simon Brooks of Network Rail, the company managing the project. "In all, we're building 4km of new platform." Underneath the arches But the upgrade has not been without controversy. Thameslink has driven a coach and horses through the middle of Borough Market. Around two-dozen Dickensian listed buildings - including a large swathe of the Victorian covered market itself - are being demolished to make way for a new viaduct. Local opposition was one factor behind the decades-long delay to a project that was originally conceived around 1990 and fate-temptingly named "Thameslink 2000". "People in the area thought: 'I've got a railway already, I've got loads of trains, I don't need any more,'" says Ms Pidgeon, who used to be on Southwark council. "They just saw it as a big nuisance, and understandably so." Yet Network Rail had little choice. If it wants to run a high frequency service, then Thameslink cannot afford to share its lines with anyone else. And Borough Market is a notorious railway bottleneck, with the same tracks serving trains into Charing Cross and Cannon Street. Deciding where to put the new viaduct - which will free up the old viaduct for Thameslink-only services - cannot have been much fun. The historic Wheatsheaf pub has lost its top floor, while the Globe pub now finds itself ignominiously wedged in between the brick arches of the old line and the steel frame of the new. "Wherever they put it, they were going to hit a significant number of listed buildings," says Mr Edwards of London Reconnections. Hard cheese But Ms Pidgeon says most locals have moved on, and few complain about the work in progress. That certainly seems to be the mood among the market's traders. "It's never as black as they paint it," says Maria, who now runs her cafe at a temporary plot right by the construction site. Her original cafe was compulsorily purchased by Network Rail, only for her new site within the market to fall within the viaduct's footprint, forcing her to relocate again. But she is far from bitter, praising their responsiveness to "teething problems" such as the odd power cut. "Considering the size of the job, it is surprisingly quiet," she says. "They're working now. Can you hear anything?" The only din is from a train rumbling out of London Bridge. "When you consider the immensity of the work being undertaken, it is amazing there is still a functioning market at all," says another long-time trader, whose cheese stall - like many others - has been rehoused during the interim in what used to be the carpark. He has nothing but admiration for the engineers. And although his relocation to a more obscure corner of the market has sapped business, he treats it as par for the course. The traders seem to accept that it is impossible to please everyone. A case in point is the work currently going on to put a bridge across Borough High Street. To avoid impeding traffic on the main road, the bridge is being assembled on top of the viaduct before being shunted across into place. But one trader said this just means they have periodically had to block off Stoney Street instead - an important access point for deliveries to the market. Joined-up thinking Perhaps the most eye-catching part of the Thameslink project to-date is the nearly completed relocation of Blackfriars station onto the railway bridge straddling the Thames. "Soon we will have the sexiest railway station in the UK, and I intend to make it our unique selling point," says Carol Anderson, events director at the Mermaid conference centre that borders the carcass of the old station. But she concedes that the station's temporary closure has hurt business in the meantime. The aesthetic impact of the new station is actually just a happy by-product of a concept that is entirely practical - namely to give access to the station from both sides of the river. That means it will only be a short walk for tourists from the Tate Gallery, the Globe Theatre and other South Bank attractions. Ms Pidgeon at the London assembly has been lobbying for the station to be renamed "Blackfriars and Bankside" in recognition of its dual location. "It's going to be a big plus," says the duty manager at the Founder's Arms, a riverside pub conveniently sat between Blackfriars Bridge and the Tate. She says 90% of their business comes from tourists that happen across the pub as they walk the Thames path. They plan a refurbishment to help them accommodate the expected crowds of customers, although the building work has ironically killed business in the short-term, as the riverside pathway has been cut off for two years. Shifting the station onto the bridge also helps Network Rail solve a logistical problem. The new Blackfriars will be reconfigured so that trains terminating there will not have to cross the path of the through-trains. In another startling innovation, these terminus platforms will be built on top of the bright red piers that are all that remain of the first Blackfriars railway bridge, demolished in 1985. And creative thinking has also gone into the construction itself. Barges have been moored under the bridge so that supplies can be brought in by river, avoiding the need to clog up the roads. Gordian knot Two stops up the line, Farringdon station is set to become one of the most important interchanges in the country. Sitting just north of the City financial district, it will provide the nexus between Thameslink and Crossrail - not to mention the Metropolitan line - making the station a doubly busy destination. That is certainly the hope of Kate, proprietor of the Castle pub, which faces what is now an enormous building site. "It's going to pump huge amounts of sales in," she says, noting plans to build a new shopping centre at the station. She bought the lease on the pub two months ago in anticipation of exactly that. But it has also been doubly painful during the building works. She says business is down by half, and complains about numerous unannounced weekend station closures, which have killed trade from revellers heading for the local nightclubs - one of which has already shut down. "Farringdon is hugely complex," explains Network Rail's Simon Brooks. "For example, there are three different electrical supply systems at the station." The Thameslink work has had to incorporate a lot of stage-setting for the deeper Crossrail line, such foundation construction and dropping lift shafts. To help co-ordinate the work with the local community, Mr Brooks said they hold quarterly meetings with businesses and community representatives at Farringdon. But on-site co-ordination has also been challenging, according to Mr Edwards at London Reconnections, with Network Rail, Crossrail and Transport for London often giving mixed messages about who is responsible for what. 'Catalyst' Farringdon illustrates an important distinction between Crossrail and Thameslink. While Crossrail has had to attract a big chunk of private sector money - hence the shopfloors being built above the new Crossrail ticket office - Thameslink has been entirely funded by the government. For a perilous few months last year, it looked as if the axe was about to fall on the project after the Treasury chose to spare Crossrail from the spending review. But in the end Thameslink was confirmed in full, albeit with a widely anticipated extra year's delay to 2019. Its reprieve may be partly because the improved rail service is a big selling point of many major commercial redevelopments in the capital, such as at Elephant and Castle in the south, or Brent Cross to the north. Mr Brooks claims the line upgrade has acted as a catalyst for urban regeneration. For example, the last stage of the project is the complete rebuild of London Bridge station, to increase the number of trains that can pass through the station. That work is intimately connected with the construction of the Shard - the UK's tallest skyscraper - right next door. Indeed, the Shard's developers are funding construction of a new bus terminal and station concourse with direct access into the tower. "Developers like to put a picture of a new station, and facts and statistics about the number of trains, in their brochures," notes Mr Edwards.

यह एक विशाल इंजीनियरिंग परियोजना है जो ट्यूब जैसी सेवा आवृत्ति के साथ लंदन के केंद्र के माध्यम से एक मुख्य लाइन रेलवे प्रदान करेगी।


Are you happy to share your health data to benefit others?

Summary: From automated eye scans to analysing the cries of new-born babies, faster drug development to personalised medicine, artificial intelligence (AI) promises huge advances in the field of healthcare. But major challenges remain.

By Matthew WallTechnology of Business editor At the recent AI for Good Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, we were told how AI could speed up the development of new drugs, lead to personalised medicine informed by our genomes, and help diagnose diseases in countries suffering from underdeveloped health services and a chronic shortage of doctors. But there are two main obstacles preventing access to this utopian destination. One is that the AI being applied to the world's health problems isn't quite good enough yet. The other related issue is the lack of good quality digital data - less than 20% of the world's medical data is available in a form that AI machine learning algorithms can ingest and learn from, the WHO estimates. As populations grow and age, more pressure is being put on doctors who are struggling to cope with the increase in administration that comes with more patients wanting to be seen more often. And in emerging economies, there simply aren't enough doctors to go around. So many companies have been developing health advice and symptom checker apps as a way of filling the gap. "Studies in the UK have found that 20% of people who go to the doctor don't really need to be there - the appointments are for minor ailments and injuries that could have been sorted by other means," explains Jonathon Carr-Brown, head of partnerships for Your.MD, a health information and symptom checker app. But the rise of such apps has caused concern among health professionals. Last year, for example, Babylon, the company behind the UK's National Health Service app GP at Hand, caused a row by claiming its AI-powered chatbot was as good as a doctor - a claim that was disputed. This is perhaps why companies like Microsoft, which has developed a chatbot or "virtual assistant" specifically for the healthcare sector, are being careful not to exaggerate the abilities of their creations. "It's certainly not a replacement for your doctor, more of a support," explains Hadas Bitran, head of Microsoft Healthcare Israel. "We want to help doctors decide who they need to help first. It's like a rule-based textbook for triage." The chatbot comes equipped with medical content provided by trusted third parties, general symptoms checking capability, and natural language processing that can discern whether or not a patient is upset. If it detects heightened emotion it will refer the case to a human, says Ms Bitran. Your.MD's Mr Carr-Brown also emphasises that his firm's app is not a replacement for a doctor. "Just because AI can diagnose, that doesn't mean it should always do it. We need to focus on next steps advice rather than diagnosis, so we're moving to being more of a guide and companion." It's a telling admission. Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) first chief scientist, believes there should be a global governance framework for AI in health. Indeed, the WHO and the International Telecommunications Union (hosts of the AI for Good Summit) have set up a joint focus group to look at how standards for AI in healthcare could be established. "There is a risk that unevaluated apps could end up doing more harm than good," she warns. But in emerging markets, where there are fewer doctors to go around, such virtual assistants and AI-powered apps could provide remote care, linking people up to doctors via video link and providing initial diagnoses, argues Ms Bitran, thereby preventing many wasted journeys over long distances. More Technology of Business "830 women are lost every day to problems in pregnancy and child birth, 90% in sub-Saharan Africa," says Alvin Kabwama, head of applied machine learning at Cognitive AI Tech Limited. "They don't get access to essential urine tests other mothers get routinely in other parts of the world." Sometimes the women have to walk 27km to the nearest health centre - a journey of five hours. "If she arrives late and the doctors have left, she has to walk back home," he says. So in remote areas, smartphones are increasingly being used as diagnostic tools, testing eyes, ears, skin conditions and so on, and AI-powered machines are speeding up the diagnosis of urine and blood samples. However, AI needs vast amounts of data to learn from and electronic health records are not the norm in many countries, making AI analysis even more difficult. "In Senegal there is still a big reliance on paper forms that are often incomplete or illegible," says Ibrahima Khaliloulah, a doctor working in the country. "Full electronic health records are essential, a goal Senegal hopes to achieve by 2030." But even in developed countries, lack of access to digital health data is a big problem. "Health data is a public good, but people have to trust the WHO and governments that it won't be used for commercial reasons without their consent or to discriminate against people," says the WHO's Soumya Swaminathan And this is the dilemma. People are particularly sensitive about sharing health data - even in anonymised form - yet AI needs as much data as possible to spot patterns humans can't, diagnose diseases more accurately, and target treatments more effectively. AI is good at finding molecules with the potential to be developed into drugs, but these eventually have to be tested on humans in clinical trials, and finding suitable candidates is hugely expensive and time-consuming. "About 80% of trials fail to meet their deadlines because they couldn't find suitable patients in time," says Microsoft's Ms Bitran, "and half never meet their recruitment targets". Huge global databases of anonymised health data could help match patients with clinical trial requirements much more efficiently, thereby speeding up how quickly potentially life-saving drugs come to market. So to maximise the undoubted benefits of AI in healthcare, we need to digitise as much health data as possible and persuade the world to share this data for the good of all.

स्वचालित नेत्र स्कैन से लेकर नवजात शिशुओं के रोने का विश्लेषण करने तक, तेजी से दवा के विकास से लेकर व्यक्तिगत चिकित्सा तक, कृत्रिम बुद्धिमत्ता (ए. आई.) स्वास्थ्य सेवा के क्षेत्र में भारी प्रगति का वादा करती है। लेकिन बड़ी चुनौती अभी भी बनी हुई है।