Was Neville Chamberlain really a weak and terrible leader?

Summary: Seventy-five years after the Munich Agreement signed with Hitler, the name of Neville Chamberlain, British prime minister at the time, is still synonymous with weakness and appeasement. Is this fair, asks historian Robert Self.

During his 21-hour filibuster denouncing President Barack Obama's healthcare law, popularly known as Obamacare, last week, Ted Cruz, the conservative Republican senator for Texas, claimed that Neville Chamberlain had once told the British people, "Accept the Nazis. Yes, they'll dominate the continent of Europe but that's not our problem." Admittedly Cruz's speech was notable more for its near record-breaking length than its historical understanding, but this derogatory reference reflects the continuing potency of a well-established conventional wisdom assiduously propagated by Chamberlain's detractors after his fall from the premiership in May 1940. As Churchill is once supposed to have quipped, "Poor Neville will come badly out of history. I know, I will write that history". In his influential account The Gathering Storm, published in 1948, Churchill characterised Chamberlain as "an upright, competent, well meaning man" fatally handicapped by a deluded self-confidence which compounded an already debilitating lack of both vision and diplomatic experience. For many years, this seductive version of events remained unchallenged and unchallengeable. As Cruz's comments illustrate, Churchill's caricature of the 1930s, painted in compelling monochromatic shades of black and white, good versus evil, courage in "standing up to Hitler" versus craven appeasement, continues to strike a responsive note even today. The Munich agreement, which later came to symbolise the evils of appeasement, was signed 75 years ago, in the early hours of 30 September. At Munich, Britain and France acquiesced in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia and the transfer of its Sudeten region to Germany in face of Hitler's increasingly bellicose threats of military action. Chamberlain's hopes that this humiliating sacrifice would satisfy Hitler's last major territorial demand and thus avert another catastrophic war were dashed within four months. After this monumental failure of policy Chamberlain's name became an abusive synonym for vacillation, weakness, immoral great-power diplomacy and, above all, the craven appeasement of bullies - whatever the price in national honour. Despite his many achievements in domestic policy, therefore, ultimately Chamberlain's reputation remains indelibly stained by Munich and the failure of his very personal brand of diplomacy. As he confessed in the Commons at the outbreak of war, "Everything I have worked for, everything that I have hoped for, everything that I have believed in during my public life, has crashed into ruins." Posterity has judged him accordingly - to the detriment of any more balanced evaluation of the man and the problems he confronted during the late 1930s. In retrospect, the depressing reality is that there was probably no right answer to the crucial problems confronting British policy makers at the time. By the mid-1930s Britain was defending a vast and vulnerable empire encompassing a quarter of the world's territory and population, with the dismally depleted military resources of a third-rate power. Worse still, since 1934 the Cabinet had grimly recognised that it was "beyond the resources of this country to make proper provision in peace for defence of the British Empire against three major powers in three different theatres of war". Furthermore, the threat posed separately by Japan, Germany and Italy was compounded by the conviction that war with any one of them would inevitably provoke opportunistic "mad dog" acts by the others. As the leader of a militarily weak and overstretched empire, such fears were crucial in shaping Chamberlain's strategy, but this meant steering a course within the relatively narrow parameters defined by a complex inter-related web of geo-strategic, military, economic, financial, industrial, intelligence and electoral constraints. Despite interminable scholarly debate, no consensus has emerged - particularly about the degree of choice enjoyed by policy makers in the face of such threats and constraints. Yet notwithstanding Chamberlain's personal predilection for negotiation, what is beyond question is that he perceived himself to be a prisoner of forces largely beyond his control. As he noted stoically in January 1938, "In the absence of any powerful ally, and until our armaments are completed, we must adjust our foreign policy to our circumstances, and even bear with patience and good humour actions which we should like to treat in a very different fashion." His pragmatic response to this conundrum was a "double policy" of rearmament at a pace the economy could sustain, while simultaneously seeking better relations with the dictators in the belief that only by redressing Germany's legitimate grievances would it be possible to remove the military threat - or failing that, to expose Hitler as an insatiable megalomaniac bent on world domination. As Chamberlain told Lord Halifax, his foreign secretary, the underlying strategy was to hope for the best while preparing for the worst. When seen from this perspective, Chamberlain faced a brutally simple choice at Munich. Was Britain prepared to threaten Germany with war on behalf of a state which it certainly could not save and which would probably never be resurrected in its existing form? There was the absolute certainty that any attempt to do so would provoke a ruinous and probably un-winnable war which would slaughter millions, bring in Japan and Italy, destroy the British Empire, squander its wealth and undermine its position as a Great Power. When confronted by this unenviable dilemma, Chamberlain concluded that such an outcome would be far more disastrous for the empire, Europe and the long-term victory of good over evil than territorial concessions in the Sudetenland which Britain could not prevent and to which Germany had some ostensibly legitimate claim. Despite the complete failure of his efforts to preserve peace, Chamberlain went to his grave in November 1940 confident that history would eventually vindicate his policy and rehabilitate his reputation. Alas, this was his greatest miscalculation of all. "Poor Neville" did come badly out of history - and largely because Churchill wrote that history to ensure his own carefully crafted version of the 1930s would become the one indelibly etched upon the collective consciousness. As Cruz's comments illustrate, the abiding popular image of Neville Chamberlain remains that of a naive tragicomic figure clutching a worthless piece of paper inscribed with the legend "Peace for our time". You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook

हिटलर के साथ हस्ताक्षरित म्यूनिख समझौते के पचहत्तर साल बाद, उस समय के ब्रिटिश प्रधान मंत्री नेविल चेम्बरलेन का नाम अभी भी कमजोरी और तुष्टिकरण का पर्याय है। इतिहासकार रॉबर्ट सेल्फ पूछते हैं कि क्या यह उचित है।


Sunday Igboho: The Nigeria car salesman going after cattle herders

Summary: In Nigeria, clashes between ethnic Fulanis and other groups have cost thousands of lives in the past decades and now a car salesman has emerged as a controversial national figure in this increasingly deadly conflict, as the BBC's Nduka Orjinmo reports.

Hailed as a hero by his supporters, Sunday "Igboho" Adeyemo is seen as a dangerous rabble rouser by his opponents, accused of inciting ethnic hatred and killing. Once only well-known in his part of south-western Nigeria, he has now become one of the most talked about - and divisive - figures across the country. Through a series of inflammatory statements, Mr Adeyemo has been thrust into the heart of one of Nigeria's most deadly ethnic divides - the conflict between Fulani herders and other groups, over access to land and grazing rights. Lionised in a feature film Last month after the killing of a politician, Mr Adeyemo felt he had seen enough and captured attention with his demand that the Fulani herders, from northern Nigeria, leave the south-west, seen as the home of the Yoruba ethnic group, for all their alleged crimes. But this self-styled defender of the defenceless, popularly known as Igboho - after his hometown in south-west Oyo state - is no stranger to controversy and deadly conflict. The 48-year-old has been lionised locally for his role, in the late 1990s, in age-old intra-Yoruba communal battles. His reputed exploits were acted out in a feature film that was a fantastical display of magic charms and juju. In one scene where rival gangs face off, the actor playing Mr Adeyemo arrives on a motorcycle, picks up a poisoned banana and calmly eats half of it without feeling any ill effects. He then plucks a machine gun out of thin air and fires at his opponents who flee in every direction. That film and other tales about him, such as that he walks around with a snake around his neck, have contributed to a local reputation of invincibility. Who is Sunday Adeyemo? It is not clear how he came into the car business that he operates out of the city of Ibadan but he seems to have made a success of it, selling everything from new Rolls Royces to second-hand Toyotas. His clientele include powerful politicians and governors and he is often seen with them in public. Mr Adeyemo achieved some national notoriety last October when he used the country's independence day to call for the creation of an independent Yoruba republic, although he was widely ridiculed for the idea. Now, though, as he has become a lightning rod for local grievances he is being taken more seriously. Land rights are at the core of those grievances. Fulani herders and their families walk for hundreds of kilometres from the extreme north to central Nigeria and beyond at least twice a year to find the best grazing land for their cattle. But this has often led to friction with local communities, who accuse their cattle of trampling on their crops, and sometimes accuse the herders of robbery and other crimes. Some of the herders are also employed by rich southerners who own the cattle but employ Fulani to look after them. A federal government plan approved in 2019 to solve the problem by creating ranches for the herdsmen was rejected by most southern governors who accused President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani, of hatching a plot to grab land for his people. In the past few years, clashes have become more deadly as both the Fulani and those opposed to them have set up armed self-defence militias. In the south-west, state governors established a regional security outfit, Amotekun, to help deal with the problems. Open grazing has also been banned in all six south-western states. Tensions were ignited in December after the killing of politician Fatai Aborode, in Oyo state. Mr Adeyemo decided to take matters into his own hands and told the Fulanis to go, without providing any evidence of their involvement in that killing or other alleged crimes. After his seven-day ultimatum expired in January, he held a rally in the area where the killing took place, after which the homes of some more settled Fulani, who had been part of the community for generations, were burned. 'I shiver when I hear his name' Abdulkadri Saliu, the leader of the Fulanis in the area, whose house was torched and who has now fled, accused Mr Adeyemo of instigating the trouble. "At the mention of Igboho's name I get scared and shiver," he said, adding he had never seen violence like it. He also alleged that his younger brother was killed. Mr Adeyemo denied responsibility for the trouble, saying that the police had been with him all through the time he was in the area. But he also travelled to Yewa in Ogun state to "evict" Fulani herders. There, he was received by a joyous crowd and whipped them up by saying that "killer herdsmen" had escaped justice "because the herdsmen are close to the federal government". "Any Fulani herdsman who engages in kidnapping should be flushed out," he added. Police say they are investigating both incidents but will not say if he is a suspect. You may also be interested in: His actions have been widely condemned, especially by groups in northern Nigeria who accuse him of inciting ethnic violence and engaging in the "unlawful eviction" of citizens. Some political leaders in the south-west have joined in the criticism but there has also been massive support for him in the region. Federal lawmaker Shina Peller wrote a message on Instagram saluting Mr Adeyemo's "courage, bravery, and participation in this struggle". A GoFundMe account to raise money for his cause received more than 10m naira (£19,000; $26,000) in less than 24 hours. 'Nigerians can live where they want' Mr Adeyemo's sympathisers accuse the federal government of not doing enough to stop the attacks on local communities by herdsmen. Benue Governor Samuel Ortom, whose state was until recently the epicentre of deadly clashes between the herders and farmers, believes that the crisis has been enabled by the leniency of the president towards the Fulani herders. Information Minister Lai Mohammed said he would not be drawn into a reaction on the governor's comments, telling the BBC that "Nigerians have a right to live in all parts of the country". Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka, who is from the south-west, also criticised Mr Buhari's silence on the activities of herders, saying it could develop into a civil war. "What do they expect of us now that the war is on our doorstep? Of course there will be mobilisation and if we keep waiting for this to be centrally handled, we are all going to become, if we're not already, slaves in our land," he told the BBC. Soyinka said Mr Adeyemo had responded to the situation in the way he knew how. Attempts are being made to quell the tensions and even Mr Adeyemo has said he is open to talks with the government. But some are now describing him as the saviour who rode up in a shiny car and rescued his people from the cattle herders. For someone who has compared himself to Biblical figures, it is a label he will bask in.

नाइजीरिया में, पिछले दशकों में जातीय फुलानी और अन्य समूहों के बीच संघर्षों में हजारों लोगों की जान गई है और अब इस तेजी से बढ़ते घातक संघर्ष में एक कार विक्रेता एक विवादास्पद राष्ट्रीय व्यक्ति के रूप में उभरा है, जैसा कि बीबीसी के एनडुका ओरजिनमो ने बताया है।


UK retail sales given fillip by sunny June weather

Summary: Retail sales grew last month at their fastest pace since March, thanks partly to sunny weather late in the month.

Sales rose 1.2% on a like-for-like basis, which ignores new store openings, compared with June 2009, up from 0.8% in June, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said. TV sales were buoyed by the World Cup, which coincided with the introduction of 3D technology in British stores. DIY and leisure sales also did well in the bright weather. Total sales, which include the effect of increased floorspace, were up 3.4% on last year, again the best result since March. Shoppers were also attracted by early summer discounts.

खुदरा बिक्री पिछले महीने मार्च के बाद से अपनी सबसे तेज गति से बढ़ी, आंशिक रूप से महीने के अंत में धूप वाले मौसम के कारण।


China blocks Hong Kong lawmakers in a reminder of who is in charge

Summary: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" is an 18th Century trumpet call for free speech, one often repeated by parliamentarians around the world… but never in China.

Carrie GracieChina editor@BBCCarrieon Twitter The message from Beijing to its unruly territory 2,000km (1,350 miles) south is, by contrast, "we disapprove of what you say and we hereby decree that you have no right to say it". China has now spoken on the question of whether elected members of Hong Kong's legislature can use that public platform to campaign for ideas offensive to China and the answer is a resounding no. In a unanimous decision by a panel of the Communist Party-controlled national parliament, Hong Kong has been reminded that the freedoms it enjoys are ultimately at the whim of Beijing. Today's "interpretation" of Hong Kong's mini-constitution is one of the most significant interventions in Hong Kong's legal system in two decades of Chinese rule. It is the first time China's parliament, without the request of either the Hong Kong government or Court of Final Appeal, has interpreted the mini-constitution at a time when the issue is under active consideration in a Hong Kong court. Why didn't China's politicians wait till after a court ruling on whether two legislators might be allowed to retake their oaths? Li Fei, the chairman of the Basic Law Committee of China's parliament, made the logic clear when he said the Chinese government "is determined to firmly confront the pro-independence forces without any ambiguity". The interpretation is a highly confrontational move which plunges Hong Kong into a new phase of its long running political and constitutional crisis. But Beijing's move comes in response to an equally confrontational move from the other side. The two lawmakers, Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching, who used their swearing-in ceremony to insult China and talk of a "Hong Kong nation" should have known that a Chinese government so sensitive to questions of national pride and dignity would feel it had no choice but to act. It was no surprise when China's parliament said their words and actions had "posed a grave threat to national sovereignty and security", with Li Fei adding: "The central government's attitude is absolute. There will be no leniency." A price worth paying The scope of Monday's interpretation will raise inevitable questions about whether China is interpreting Hong Kong law, which is allowed, or re-writing it, which is not. And apart from disqualifying the two young legislators at the heart of the crisis, it will raise a raft of questions about the way in which some of the other newly elected young democracy activists took their oaths. For example, does reciting the oath in slow motion or using eccentric intonation contravene the interpretation's insistence on "genuine" sincerity and solemnity? Who will decide? And if Beijing doesn't like the decision of a Hong Kong court, what will it do next? For that matter, where does Beijing's intervention leave the ongoing review of the oath taking question in Hong Kong's courts? The Hong Kong Bar Association warned in advance that an interpretation of the Basic Law by the Chinese parliament at this moment would be a severe blow to the territory's judicial independence. On Tuesday it plans a silent protest, yet another worry for police after Sunday's tense standoff with thousands of protesters outside a Chinese government office in Hong Kong. But for Beijing, all these problems are small ones. Its bottom line is that a handful of perceived troublemakers in a city of 7m people cannot be allowed to trump the needs of a Chinese nation of 1.3bn. A row over judicial independence, a constitutional crisis even, is a price China's leaders are prepared to pay to get the independence genie back in the bottle. Beijing sees any talk of independence as threatening Chinese sovereignty. Separatism is a crime and in Tibet or Xinjiang, campaigning for independence results in a lengthy jail term. When the leader of Taiwan's China friendly opposition party Hung Hsiu-chu visited Beijing last week, Taiwanese press reported Chinese President Xi Jinping as telling her that the Chinese Communist Party "would be overthrown by the people if it failed to properly deal with Taiwanese pro-independence". Fuelling the fire? Mr Xi knows that his credibility and that of the party will suffer if "the people" see an independence movement take hold among Chinese citizens in Hong Kong. In this context, to allow elected members of Hong Kong's legislature to use the public platform of the Legislative Council to insult China and talk of a Hong Kong nation is unthinkable. Two worldviews collide here. One in which Chinese identity trumps all others and where Mr Xi's "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" requires all compatriots to unite under one flag. The other worldview, shared by many young people in Hong Kong and Taiwan, is that democratic freedoms trump all else, including Chinese citizenship. If they can't have meaningful democracy under Chinese rule, then this constituency conclude that perhaps they should do without Chinese rule. These worldviews are simply not compatible. Worse, every time Beijing uses the stick rather than the carrot to bring Hong Kong to heel, it alienates young voters further. Until this year hardly anyone in Hong Kong talked of self-determination or independence, but now such ideas are gaining currency. As Beijing's interpretation of the law disqualifies their elected representatives, the question for Hong Kong's young democracy activists is whether they can capitalise on popular indignation, and where to take their defiance next.

"आप जो कहते हैं, मैं उसे अस्वीकार करता हूं, लेकिन मैं इसे कहने के आपके अधिकार की मृत्यु तक रक्षा करूंगा" यह 18वीं शताब्दी का अभिव्यक्ति की स्वतंत्रता का आह्वान है, जिसे अक्सर दुनिया भर के सांसदों द्वारा दोहराया जाता है... लेकिन चीन में कभी नहीं।


El Salvador: Where women may be jailed for miscarrying

Summary: El Salvador has one of the toughest anti-abortion laws in the world. A side-effect is that women who suffer miscarriages or stillbirths are sometimes suspected of inducing an abortion - and can even be jailed for murder.

By Nina LakhaniEl Salvador Glenda Xiomara Cruz was crippled by abdominal pain and heavy bleeding in the early hours of 30 October 2012. The 19-year-old from Puerto El Triunfo, eastern El Salvador, went to the nearest public hospital where doctors said she had lost her baby. It was the first she knew about the pregnancy as her menstrual cycle was unbroken, her weight practically unchanged, and a pregnancy test in May 2012 had been negative. Four days later she was charged with aggravated murder - intentionally murdering the 38-to-42 week foetus - at a court hearing she was too sick to attend. The hospital had reported her to the police for a suspected abortion. After two emergency operations and three weeks in hospital she was moved to Ilopango women's prison on the outskirts of the capital San Salvador. Then last month she was sentenced to 10 years in jail, the judge ruling that she should have saved the baby's life. Her lawyer, Dennis Munoz Estanley, says the legal system has an inbuilt "presumption of guilt" making it hard for women to prove their innocence. "She is yet another innocent victim of our unjust and discriminatory legal system which jails poor, young women who suffer obstetric complications for murder on the most flimsy evidence," he says. Xiomara's father describes the conviction as a "terrible injustice". He testified in court that his daughter had endured years of domestic violence at the hands of her partner. And yet the prosecution - which sought a 50-year jail term - relied heavily on this man's allegation that she had intentionally killed the foetus. Xiomara has not seen her four-year-old daughter since the miscarriage. El Salvador is one of five countries with a total ban on abortion, along with Nicaragua, Chile, Honduras and Dominican Republic. Since 1998, the law has allowed no exceptions - even if a woman is raped, her life is at risk or the foetus is severely deformed. More than 200 women were reported to the police between 2000 and 2011, of whom 129 were prosecuted and 49 convicted - 26 for murder (with sentences of 12 to 35 years) and 23 for abortion, according to research by Citizens' Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion. Seven more have been convicted since 2012. The study underlines that these women are overwhelmingly poor, unmarried and poorly educated - and they are usually denounced by public hospital staff. Not a single criminal case originated from the private health sector where thousands of abortions are believed to take place annually. Munoz has worked with 29 of the incarcerated women, helping secure the early release of eight. "Only one intentionally induced an abortion, the other 28 suffered natural obstetric complications but were jailed for murder without any direct evidence," he says. Last year when Maria Teresa Rivera suffered a miscarriage, she was sentenced to 40 years in jail for aggravated murder. Like Xiomara, Teresa, 28, had no pregnancy symptoms before sudden severe pain and bleeding, and was reported to police by the public hospital where she had sought emergency help. The scientific evidence was flimsy, according to Munoz who will soon lodge an appeal, and the prosecution relied heavily on a colleague of hers, who testified that Rivera had said she "might be" pregnant a full 11 months before the miscarriage. A textile factory worker, she was the family's only breadwinner and her eight-year-old son is now living in dire poverty with his grandmother. Cristina Quintanilla's story is different. On 24 October 2004, the 18-year-old from rural San Miguel was seven months pregnant with her second child, living with her mother in the capital to be near a hospital for the birth. Her boyfriend was working in the US, but the couple were excited, buying baby clothes and saving food tokens. "Around midnight I felt an immense pain, I thought I was dying," Quintanilla says. "I was banging on the bathroom door to get my mum's attention when I felt the baby drop out. The next thing I remember is waking up in hospital." Her mother called the police - a typical step for Salvadorans in an emergency, who took them to hospital. Quintanilla was given an anaesthetic, and interrogated when she came round. Then she was handcuffed to the hospital bed, charged with manslaughter and transferred to a police cell. The first judge dismissed the case, but the prosecution appealed, upgrading the charge to aggravated murder. Quintanilla was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in jail, where she was vilified as a child killer. Her son Daniel, then only four, spent four years living with his great-grandmother until Munoz succeeded in having the sentence reduced to three years. "The medical reports couldn't explain why the baby died, but the prosecutor made me out to be a criminal who could have saved my baby even though I had passed out in pain," she says. "I will never understand why they did this to me, I lost four years of my life and still don't know why I lost my baby." Morena Herrera from Citizens' Association for the Decriminalization of Abortion says these cases have had a chilling effect, with many pregnant poor women who suffer miscarriages or complications during pregnancy "too afraid to seek medical help". "I would be terrified to go a public hospital as there is no benefit of doubt given to young women, we are presumed guilty and jailed," says Bessy Ramirez, 27, from San Salvador. "We cannot even rely on health staff to put their prejudices aside and treat us confidentially." The strict abortion law has other serious human rights implications. Suicide was the most common cause of death in 2011 among 10-to-19-year-old girls, half of whom were pregnant, according to Health Ministry figures. It was also the third most common cause of maternal mortality. Earlier this year, the plight of lupus sufferer Beatriz, 22, attracted international condemnation after the Supreme Court refused to authorise an abortion, even though her life was at risk and the foetus too deformed to be viable. Beatriz's health deteriorated while the court deliberated for several months. She gave birth at 27 weeks. The baby died within hours. Individual members of the current FMLN government, particularly Health Minister Maria Isabel Rodriguez, criticised the abortion law during the controversy over Beatriz's case. But the government has made no attempt to repeal or relax the law since coming to power in 2009, as it remains popular with large parts of the conservative population, who revere the Church and pro-life religious groups such as Si a la Vida (Yes to Life). The Arena Party, which is strongly allied with the Church, is favourite to win next year's General Election. But Esther Major, Amnesty International's El Salvador expert, describes the country's abortion law as "cruel and discriminatory". "Women and girls end up in prison for being unwilling, or simply tragically unable, to carry the pregnancy to term," she says. "It makes seeking hospital treatment for complications during pregnancy, including a miscarriage, a dangerous lottery. "It cannot be in the interests of society to criminalise women and girls in this way." Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

अल सल्वाडोर में दुनिया के सबसे कठिन गर्भपात विरोधी कानूनों में से एक है। एक दुष्प्रभाव यह है कि जो महिलाएं गर्भपात या मृत जन्म से पीड़ित होती हैं, उन्हें कभी-कभी गर्भपात के लिए प्रेरित करने का संदेह होता है-और यहां तक कि हत्या के लिए जेल भी हो सकती है।


Amazon launches first online shopping site in India

Summary: Online retailer Amazon has launched its first shopping website in India.

The company took its first steps into the Indian market in February 2012 when it launched Junglee.com, a site which allowed customers to compare prices online but not purchase items directly. It will initially only sell books, films and TV shows but plans to offer mobile phones and cameras within weeks. India has over 50 million active internet users, about 40% of whom have previously made purchases online. Third party retailers will sell their goods through Amazon's site using a "marketplace" model, a familiar retail concept in India Sellers send their goods to Amazon's warehouse near Mumbai. When an order is placed, Amazon packs and sends the order to the customer. "Our vision is to become a trusted and meaningful sales channel for retailers of all sizes across India," said Amazon's Amit Agarwal, country manager in India. "We will do the heavy lifting for the sellers so that they can focus on core business functions like sourcing and pricing their products." Restrictions The company cannot stock and sell its own products because Indian regulations prevent multi-brand retailers from selling directly to consumers online. Multi-brand retailers are companies, such as supermarkets, that offer a wide range of different products. Laws in India were recently relaxed for overseas retailers. This allowed firms such as US supermarket chain Walmart to open physical stores in the country and sell directly to customers. However, restrictions still apply to goods sold online, which is why Amazon is forced to act as a third-party seller to India's online shoppers. 'Awesomely scary' Also, reports suggest that Amazon is planning to roll out an online grocery business in the US, a sector of the market which is still relatively small in the country. The company has plans to expand its AmazonFresh business, which has been operating for five years in Seattle, to Los Angeles and San Francisco before the end of the year, with some analysts suggesting that it could happen within days. If these are successful, the company has plans to expand to 20 other areas in 2014, some outside the US. Although food has low profit margins, Amazon could combine deliveries of groceries with higher value items such as electronic goods. "Amazon have been testing this for years and now it's time for them to harvest what they've learned by expanding outside Seattle," said US-based supermarket analyst Bill Bishop. "The fear is that grocery is a loss leader and Amazon will make a profit on sales of other products ordered online at the same time. That's an awesomely scary prospect for the grocery business." It is not clear whether AmazonFresh currently makes a profit, because the company does not disclose results from the business. Amazon's chief executive Jeff Bezos said that they had "made progress on the economics over the last year" at a shareholders' meeting in May 2013.

ऑनलाइन रिटेलर अमेजन ने भारत में अपनी पहली शॉपिंग वेबसाइट लॉन्च की है।


Aflred Munnings Yellow Jockey painting fetches almost £500,000 at Sotheby's

Summary: A Newmarket horseracing painting by East Anglian artist Sir Alfred Munnings has fetched £482,500 at auction.

The Yellow Jockey (c.1940) was last auctioned in 1975 when it fetched £12,941 in New York. The painting has been sold again at Sotheby's in London. Munnings was born at Mendham in Suffolk, trained at Norwich School of Art and worked at Dedham in Essex and he kept a studio at Newmarket racecourse in the 1940s. The artwork was expected to reach between £400,000 and £600,000.

ईस्ट एंग्लियन कलाकार सर अल्फ्रेड मुनिंग्स की एक न्यूमार्केट घुड़दौड़ पेंटिंग को नीलामी में 482,500 पाउंड मिले हैं।


How I tried to help Elliot Rodger

Summary: When a student, Elliot Rodger, went on a rampage in California in May, killing six people, one man began wondering if he could have prevented it. Hollywood screenwriter Dale Launer knew Rodger and had tried to help solve his problems with women.

On the night before the killings, at 21:18, Elliot sent me and 22 other people an email containing his so-called manifesto. I read the first 10 pages. It contained many of the complaints that Elliot had mentioned before about women and society but this was more focused and filled with anger. I was concerned for him - it was written in a way that made me think it could be a suicide note. I did think then, maybe he was becoming unhinged. The next morning I woke up and checked my email - a friend had sent me a message saying I knew the Isla Vista shooter. I hoped he hadn't killed anybody, but of course he had. I felt absolute horror and shock. I've never considered myself responsible but you can't help feeling guilty. Could I have done something to stop it even though there was no way to know what was about to happen? The Elliot portrayed in the manifesto and in the video he made was not the Elliot that I remember. The person in that video was cocky, arrogant and hateful - the Elliot I knew was a very meek, timid and awkward kid. I first met him when he was aged eight or nine and I could see then that there was something wrong with him. I'm not a psychologist, but looking back now he strikes me as someone who was broken from the moment of conception. It appeared to me that he had an overwhelming lack of confidence but not in a particularly endearing way. Sad, but not endearing. You were hoping that inside there was a normal kid wanting to come out - that he would overcome his shyness and bloom in some way. What became evident, only after reading the manifesto and watching that video, was that what he was actually hiding was this horribly twisted little monster. In the past, at times, he showed some bitterness and even some veiled anger but that anger wasn't remotely acted out in any way. He never raised his voice - he didn't even seem capable of raising his voice. He didn't slam doors or pound his fist. I couldn't imagine him making a fist. In retrospect, you can point out a few clues, a few cracks to the malevolence percolating underneath but they were overshadowed by someone who seemed incapable of any kind of action. He did not simmer or seethe. The boldness he showed in that video wasn't something I ever saw before. We met a few times and emailed a lot. He seemed convinced that women hated him but he could never tell me why. It seemed like he would perceive cruelness or hatefulness when in fact, I suspected, he was just being ignored. I remember giving him an assignment once so he could try to establish some kind of dynamic with a woman. I told him, "When you see a woman next time you're on campus and you like her hair or sunglasses, just pay her a compliment." I told him, "It's a freebie, something in passing, you're not trying to make conversation. Keep walking, don't make any long eye contact, just give the free compliment." The idea being you might make a friend if you make someone feel good. I said to Elliot, "In the next few weeks - if you see them they'll likely give you a smile - and you can smile back and eventually turn this into chit-chat." I got in touch with him a few weeks later and asked if he did it. He said "no". And when asked why not, he said "Why do I have to compliment them? Why don't they compliment me?" At that stage, I realised he was very troubled. How Dale Launer knew Elliot Rodger In one of the last emails I sent to him, I became quite frustrated. I pointed out that he had the choice to change his circumstances, and if he didn't make the effort then he had to take some of the blame. He insisted that, "I have to blame someone for my troubles, and I don't blame myself." People did try to help him, he was getting support, but he was such a sad little character - whenever you saw him he was always unhappy. I recall a mutual friend saying to me once, "I've never seen Elliot smile." One time there was a gathering at his parents' place and Elliot was his usual uncomfortable self. I asked Peter if Elliot was ticklish. Peter said he was, so I encouraged a couple of women to tickle him and you know, that was the only time I saw Elliot express any kind of joy. It seemed that, at least for those moments, he was a normal kid. Some people think the manifesto he wrote was a fairly accurate assessment of his life when in fact it was very skewed. He portrayed his stepmother as some kind of cruel, horrible character out of a fairy tale but she is a lovely, kind, decent woman. His brother and sister are normal, vibrant, charming children but, from reading his manifesto, that's something he seemed to resent. For his family, every day is now a bad day and they are trying their best to cope with it. It's such a difficult thing to have this kid that you loved his whole life and then he does this horrible thing that just makes you so angry. Trying to reconcile those two feelings is a very hard thing to do. When people like Elliot can go into a store and buy a gun that makes America less safe. I'm not anti-gun, I own guns myself but this is ridiculous. People like this should not be able to own guns. I hope things will change and we can find some way of ensuring that dangerous people can't access guns. But it's difficult because not until the very end did Elliot ever show his violent nature. You see people on TV every day whose anger is clearly out of control - he wasn't like that. Perhaps, looking back, there were glimpses of callousness that might have been a clue but mostly he was a very controlled, passive and retiring person. Since May, I've been asking myself what was wrong with Elliot - what made him do this? This is something I've been thinking about a lot. I remember my parents had a dog that gave birth to five puppies and four were just lovely, normal, happy, little puppies. Then there was a fifth puppy, called Pipper - he was smaller than the rest, sometimes he would tremble, he was never any fun, wouldn't play with the other puppies and would always seem afraid. I don't know what it is that made Pipper like that but whatever it is, that would describe Elliot. Dale Launer spoke to World Update on the BBC World Service Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

जब मई में इलियट रॉजर नामक एक छात्र ने कैलिफोर्निया में तोड़फोड़ की, जिसमें छह लोगों की मौत हो गई, तो एक व्यक्ति सोचने लगा कि क्या वह इसे रोक सकता था। हॉलीवुड के पटकथा लेखक डेल लॉनर रॉजर को जानते थे और उन्होंने महिलाओं के साथ अपनी समस्याओं को हल करने में मदद करने की कोशिश की थी।


Swiss journalist ordered to leave

Summary: Swiss National Radio says one of its journalists has been ordered to leave Sri Lanka within forty-eight hours.

The journalist, Karin Wenger, said she had been sent a letter telling her media accreditation had been denied even though she already had accreditation valid for several more weeks. Ms Wenger said she feared she had been asked to leave because she had asked uncomfortable questions at a government media conference. There has been no reaction from the Sri Lankan government. Meanwhile, the editor of the Lanka newspaper, Chandana Sirimalwatte has been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

स्विस नेशनल रेडियो का कहना है कि उसके एक पत्रकार को अड़तालीस घंटे के भीतर श्रीलंका छोड़ने का आदेश दिया गया है।


Why did the council 'house' me in a tent?

Summary: Theo had just turned 17 when he became homeless. He turned to the council for help - but was given only a one-man tent, writes the BBC's Emma Forde.

It was August 2016 when Theo's mum, Rose, received a phone call from Cornwall Council that made her feel physically ill. Her son had moved down south to spend time with his dad, but things hadn't been going well. Theo had been kicked out of school. He'd been arrested for dealing drugs and assaulting his dad. Now he'd been evicted from supported accommodation - again because of drugs. But still, Rose was taken aback by what the council had to say. "The manager of the team phoned me up. She said, 'Oh we've got an alternative for Theo, we're going to be putting him in a tent.' I was at work at the time and there was lots of going on around me and I just remember the moment. I felt sick. And I said, 'Well how is that even possible? How is it legal? Even you know he's so vulnerable in a tent. He's not well. I do not give you my permission for my child to be placed here.'" The council ignored Rose's objection and one of its staff went round to pick up Theo in a car. "They were like, 'Load the car up with your bags, we're going to a campsite,'" remembers Theo. "I was like, 'What? Why are we going there?' I was saying, 'How long am I going to be there? What's it going to be like?' "And they were like, 'Oh, only for a few days until the council finds you somewhere to live.' "And they were like, 'We've got you a tent!' "I didn't really know what to say, I couldn't say no. They gave me the tent and drove off. "I was pretty depressed at that point. I tried putting it up on my own. Luckily, this random guy started helping me put up the tent because he saw I couldn't." Months earlier, the council had been expressing concern about Theo's mental health and drug use. Officials produced an assessment which found he was at risk of "overdose, addiction and potentially death". Being homeless wasn't likely to improve things. The day before it gave him the tent, the council had offered Theo the option of another place in supported accommodation, but it was more than 30 miles away, so he'd turned it down, not wanting to leave the area he knew and where he was attending college. Faced with the prospect of living in a one-man tent, though, he appealed again to be housed. This time he was told his behaviour made the likelihood "remote". Theo was given food vouchers, credit for a mobile phone and a torch. He had a sleeping bag but no chair to sit on and no cooking equipment. Find out more Listen to My Homeless Son from Radio 4's File on 4 (October 2018) Trying to make the best of it, he bedded down for the night. "It was a campsite in the middle of the woods. Very spooky. I remember hearing rustling in the bushes and I thought, 'Someone's there. I'm not going out of the tent,'" he says. "I didn't get much sleep." Theo was determined to keep going to college but it wasn't easy. In the morning he would go to the shower block for a cold shower, and then walk for an hour to college. At night he would suspend a torch from a strap in the tent to do his college work. He was only at that campsite for a short time before he was moved to another - it wasn't clear to him why. But at the new campsite people were kind to him, he says. One man used to make him a bacon sandwich in the morning. Theo's mum, Rose, was desperate. She lived hundreds of miles away and was fostering some young children. But when she got the call she travelled to Cornwall, staying in a caravan near her son and imploring the council to provide him with proper accommodation. She was rebuffed. On one occasion the council told her that Theo needed to take "some responsibility for his behaviour" - a reference to his drug abuse, perhaps, or to his refusal to accept accommodation in a distant town. It wasn't long before that council officials had expressed concern that Theo might become addicted, overdose or die. Now children's services sent a referral to the council's housing department, which still described him as "extremely vulnerable", but went on to say that his "options with the local authority are limited due to his behaviour". These options would only increase, the referral said, "if he can evidence he wants to make some changes". Around this time, Theo was found in an abandoned building, where he had set fire to a mattress to keep warm. The fire brigade came out and he was returned to the campsite by police. Theo remembers one night in the tent when there was a violent storm. "It was real bad. I thought my tent was going to go over so I was constantly in my tent," he says. "Loads of wind, torrential rain and all my stuff got wet. Everything was wet. Even I was wet when I woke up." People on the campsite helped Theo patch up his tent and he told council staff it was leaking. The council's response? To buy him another tent. "It's pretty mind blowing. I thought it would be for a day or two and then I'd get housed," says Theo. "But it ended up months. It was a pretty traumatic experience for me because I've always lived in a house somewhere. They should have done so much more. They should have put me somewhere with a roof over my head." Towards the end of August, the council did make an attempt to find Theo a place in supported accommodation, but without success. It also said it could take him into care, but that idea didn't appeal to him. Rose had been forced to return home with her husband and foster children, but she continued to travel down to Cornwall at regular intervals, desperate to help her son. "I was back and forward every weekend where I could. I felt ill all the time, tired, exhausted emotionally drained, just barely able to function really," she says. At one point, Theo started sleeping in the entrance of some specialist housing for 16- and 17-year-olds, hoping for a place there. And then, after he'd spent five weeks living in a tent, social workers suddenly decided it was no longer safe - the risk of him being sexually exploited, or coming to harm from alcohol and drugs, was too great. So he was moved from a tent… to a caravan. "Then I got accommodation in this caravan. I felt like people were watching me through the windows. There was a lock on the door, but I made sure like all the windows were closed when I went to sleep," Theo remembers. He was walking home one night when a man stopped and offered him a lift. He then took the teenager to a dark car park where he sexually assaulted him. Afterwards he dropped him off at the caravan. Theo spent a further month in the caravan, petrified that the man might return. "I always had to be out at night time. I was worried because he knew where I lived," he says. Theo reported the assault but social care records show no evidence that the council even considered whether to take any action to protect him in the light of it. By October, Theo's condition was rapidly deteriorating - his drug use was out of control and he was threatening to kill himself. On 7 October he was finally found a place in some supported accommodation, run by a housing association that helps homeless young people. But he was only there for a few weeks. By then it was clear he was very unwell. He was experiencing psychosis, hearing voices and needed specialist help. He was detained under the Mental Health Act and went on to spend 11 months in a psychiatric hospital. Eventually, Rose's complaints about the treatment her son received were investigated by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for England, Michael King. He says the council failed to properly consider the risks Theo faced. "This is one of the most extreme cases I've seen in 14 years in the Ombudsman's service," he told the BBC. "It's deeply shocking both in terms of the impact it's had on that young man but also in terms of the depth of the failure. What we found was that the council offered him accommodation once. When he refused it, they didn't question whether that was a legitimate decision. He asked for help and asked for accommodation. The council didn't offer it to him. When they did offer him accommodation, they accommodated him in a tent for five weeks, they accommodated him in a static caravan for four weeks and he ended up sleeping rough for a period of time. None of that is acceptable." He added: "What we saw in the council's records was them taking a moral judgement and blaming [Theo] for some of the choices he'd made... And it's incumbent on the local authority to actually step in and help in that situation and take the bigger view. "He was homeless and he had a history of mental health problems and he was very vulnerable. He reported sexual assault, reported loneliness, he reported suicidal feelings. I mean, there was warning sign after warning sign, which the council should have acted on." Jack Cordery, Service Director for Children and Family Services for Cornwall Council acknowledges that the care provided to Theo fell short. "We're completely accepting that the services that this young man received and his mother actually were well below what we would expect. There's nobody, certainly not me who thinks that a tent on the best campsite in the world is suitable accommodation for a young person in that situation," he told the BBC. "What they hoped is that that would be for a very short period and that they would be able to get him into suitable accommodation. If a young person is refusing the offer of accommodation, it closes down those options really, really quickly," he says. "What I would say to Theo is that I will do everything in my power and in my authority to make sure this never happens again." The council has since apologised to Theo and his mother. Now 19 years old, Theo is taking things one day at a time. He's looking forward to getting settled somewhere permanent and resuming his college course. But he wants to make sure that no-one else goes through what he did. "Young people's homelessness, it's always gonna happen, but I want it to be sorted out quickly. I'm not just here to do my sob story. I just don't want it to happen to anyone else to be honest." Theo and Rose are pseudonyms You may also be interested in: At the age of 17, Sherry Denness tried to kill herself nine times in 10 days, and only then got the help she needed. Read: I tried to kill myself nine times before the NHS helped me Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

थियो अभी 17 साल के हो गए थे जब वे बेघर हो गए थे। उन्होंने मदद के लिए परिषद की ओर रुख किया-लेकिन उन्हें केवल एक व्यक्ति का तम्बू दिया गया था, बीबीसी की एम्मा फोर्ड लिखती हैं।


Butetown man pleads guilty to Grangetown attempted murder

Summary: A man has admitted the attempted murder of a woman in an attack near Cardiff city centre.

Ahmed Ismail Ali, 34, of Butetown, admitted the attack which took place at Stafford Road, Grangetown, on 24 February. A 26-year-old woman, believed to be known to Ali, was taken to hospital, although her injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. Ali will be sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on 30 May.

एक व्यक्ति ने कार्डिफ शहर के केंद्र के पास एक हमले में एक महिला की हत्या के प्रयास को स्वीकार किया है।


Why feeling like a fraud can be a good thing

Summary: If you feel inadequate or that you are likely to be "found out" at work, you're probably not alone. It's part of a phenomenon called the "impostor syndrome" and it's very common, writes journalist Oliver Burkeman.

"I have written 11 books but each time I think 'Uh-oh, they're going to find out now,'" the novelist Maya Angelou once said. "I've run a game on everybody, and they're going to find me out." Angelou was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and won five Grammys for her spoken recordings, plus a myriad other awards. But the "impostor phenomenon" - sometimes known as impostor syndrome - had her firmly in its grip. Public acclaim didn't dent the feeling that, deep down, she was a fraud, who didn't have a clue what she was doing. You've probably felt the same. Most of us have. Yet a crucial element of the impostor phenomenon is the sense that you're the only person to suffer. So you may not find it reassuring to learn that Angelou felt it too. "Sure," you tell yourself, "she thought she was a fraud - but I really am one. And any day now, I'll be rumbled." But the truth is you're far from the only sufferer. I have discovered the impostor phenomenon lurking in the minds of authors, artists, musicians, businesspeople - even a brain surgeon. "Part of you knows you're not as good as you're pretending to be," says Henry Marsh, a neurosurgeon and author of the memoir Do No Harm. "But you have to come across as being relatively competent and confident." Author Frances Hardinge won the 2015 Costa Book of the Year Award for her novel The Lie Tree - but still, she says, with every new project, there's a "part of my brain that tells me that this is the book… where I disappoint everybody, and people see me for the fraud I am." The underlying fear, says artist and musician Amanda Palmer, "is that someone's going to come knocking at the door. "I call these fictional people the Fraud Police, and they're just going to tell you: 'We figured it out, and we're taking it all away.'" It's long been noted that women seem to experience impostorism more frequently and acutely than men, probably because of pre-existing sexist stereotypes that call their professional competence into question. Also, according to impostorism expert Dr Valerie Young, women are more likely to explain setbacks and failures as resulting from their lack of ability, while men are more prone to blame outside factors. But nobody is immune - and though the phenomenon was first identified in the 1970s, psychologists say it seems to be ever more relevant in today's hyper-competitive, economically insecure world. "Despite often overwhelming evidence of their abilities, impostors dismiss them as merely a matter of luck, timing, outside help, charm - even computer error," Young writes in The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women. Find out more The Impostors' Survival Guide is presented by Oliver Burkeman and produced by Peter McManus. You can listen on BBC Radio 4 at 11:00 on Tuesday 26 April, and at 21:00 on Monday 2 May or catch up afterwards on iPlayer. iWonder: How do I stop feeling like a fraud? "They feel that they've somehow managed to slip through the system undetected [so] in their mind it's just a matter of time before they're found out." Perhaps the most frustrating irony is that getting better at your job won't make the phenomenon go away. The more knowledge you acquire, the higher corporate levels you reach, the more likely you are to find yourself in new terrain - and therefore feeling like you're winging it. The ultimate explanation for the impostor phenomenon lies in a fundamental fact about the human mind: we only know what's going on inside our own heads. We hear our own constant monologue of self-doubt, but never anyone else's - making it all too easy to assume that nobody else has one. As the saying goes, we "compare our insides with other people's outsides", and judge ourselves lacking as a consequence. It's a problem rendered more acute by social media, which encourages us to present to the world a "highlights reel" of our lives, rather than the messy psychological reality. Yet if it's terrifying to feel like the only fraud in your field or organisation, it's equally terrifying to confront the truth that everyone is winging it. That's another reason why it can be hard to accept that the impostor phenomenon is universal: we desperately want to believe that there are grown-ups in control - especially in fields such as government, medicine or law. Indeed, it has been argued that this is one reason people believe in otherwise ridiculous conspiracy theories. In some sense, it's actually more reassuring to believe that a sinister cabal is manipulating the course of history than that they aren't: that way, at least someone would be indisputably in charge. Is there any hope of escaping these ever-present feelings of fraudulence? Talking openly about the problem is a start, says Valerie Young; senior employees can help by being honest with more junior ones. But it's also a matter of "changing your thoughts, slowly over time", and taking risks in spite of the inner voice telling you you'll fail. "Do the thing that scares the heck out of you, realise you survived - or maybe you fell flat on your face. But you gave it your best shot." You don't need to try to eradicate the impostor feelings - but you also don't need to obey them, either. "I'm pretty proud of myself for having been able to befriend my own Fraud Police," says Amanda Palmer. She accepts that they exist, but she doesn't let them run her life. Ultimately, you should probably worry more if someone tells you they've never felt like a fraud. These ultra-confident people may simply be too incompetent to realise how incompetent they are. This cognitive bias is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, and the classic example concerns a bank robber who was astonished to be caught despite having smeared lemon juice on his face, which he believed made him invisible to security cameras. It was an idiotic belief, of course - but he was too much of an idiot to see it. The truly incompetent, in short, rarely worry about being truly incompetent. And this logic has a reassuring flipside for anyone grappling with impostorism: if you're sufficiently self-aware to worry that you might be a fraud… you may well not be. What is the Dunning-Kruger effect? BBC Future: The more inept you are the smarter you think you are Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

यदि आप अपर्याप्त महसूस करते हैं या आपको काम पर "पता चलने" की संभावना है, तो आप शायद अकेले नहीं हैं। यह "इम्पोस्टर सिंड्रोम" नामक एक घटना का हिस्सा है और यह बहुत आम है, पत्रकार ओलिवर बर्कमैन लिखते हैं।


Stephen Lawrence: victim of a race attack

Summary: Two men have been found guilty of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the black teenager stabbed to death by a gang of white youths at a London bus stop in 1993. The high-profile case has had a major impact on race relations in Britain. So who was he?

Stephen Lawrence was 18 when he died, and 18 years later his name is back on people's lips as Gary Dobson and David Norris are convicted at the Old Bailey. His death in Eltham, south-east London, was a tragedy for his family but also became an event which led the nation to reflect on attitudes to race and justice. A public inquiry into the unsolved murder - one of the most high-profile in Britain - accused the Metropolitan Police of "institutional racism" and incompetence. The Macpherson Report's recommendations in 1999 also triggered a major reform of the justice system in England and Wales. Film extra Stephen was born on 13 September 1974 at Greenwich District Hospital in south-east London to Neville and Doreen Lawrence, who had emigrated from Jamaica in the 1960s. He had two younger siblings - Stuart and Georgina - and the family grew up in Plumstead and attended Trinity Methodist Church in Woolwich, where Stephen was christened. Stephen's character at home and school was shaped by an ethos of tolerance, religious faith and education. His father Neville, now 69, was a carpenter, upholsterer, tailor and plasterer, while Doreen took a university course and became a special needs teacher. As a young child, Stephen was good at most subjects at school, but loved to draw and paint and favoured art and maths. By the age of seven he had resolved to become an architect - a career path he never deviated from. At 16, his interest in design led him to set up a small business with a friend, designing and selling T-shirts, caps and jackets of well-known bands, rappers and politicians such as Malcolm X. He loved music, particularly soul and R&B. As his confidence in himself and others grew, friends say he developed a good and trusting nature. At one time he worked as a film extra alongside actor Denzel Washington in the film For Queen and Country. Stephen also excelled out of the classroom. He was an active member of the Cambridge Harriers Athletic Club and once ran for Greenwich. As a Cub, then Scout, he won badges for everything from cooking to sailing. Like many teenage boys, he liked going out and girls. At the time of his death, aged 18, he was studying A-levels in English, craft, design and technology, and physics at Blackheath Bluecoat Church of England School. 'Rebellious streak' It was there that he met Duwayne Brooks, his close friend who witnessed the attack that led to Stephen's death. Mr Brooks told the trial he met Stephen on the first day of school aged 11, and that by the time of his death, they were best friends. He said he had begun a course at Lewisham College, while Stephen decided to stay on into the sixth form. Stephen planned to study architecture at university and after his GCSEs, his family helped him find work experience with architect Arthur Timothy's practice. The Royal Institute of British Architects later established an annual architectural award in his memory. The Stephen Lawrence Prize is intended to encourage fresh, emerging talent working with smaller budgets. Stephen's mother Doreen told Sir William Macpherson's judicial inquiry into the killing: "I would like Stephen to be remembered as a young man who had a future. "He was well-loved and, had he been given the chance to survive, maybe he would have been the one to bridge the gap between black and white because he didn't distinguish between black or white. He saw people as people." In 1998, Doreen set up the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, which gives bursaries to young people who want to become architects. Stephen had never been involved in crime, but the Reverend David Cruise - who led the church where the Lawrences worshipped - said it would be wrong to paint him as a saint. Speaking after his death, he said: "Stephen was no goody-goody. He had his rebellious streak. Mrs Lawrence asked me to talk sense into him when he hadn't been behaving well. "When I tried he just smiled his cheeky, knowing grin." Stephen was a normal young man gifted with maturity and charm, he added. "The irony is that the Lawrences behaved exactly how every black family is supposed to behave. They were law-abiding, close, stable, relaxed and upwardly mobile." Marion Randall, the Lawrences' neighbour in Plumstead for 13 years, said after his death: "I feel like I have lost one of my own. But though my kids and Stephen's friends are now grown-up, just who Stephen would have been we will never know." Stephen's father was 18 years old when he left his birthplace of Kingston, Jamaica, in 1960. And it was the Caribbean that the family decided should be the final resting place for the teenager killed on a London street. Stephen's remains were buried 35 miles (56km) west of the capital in Jamaica's Clarendon parish. He lies beside his great grandmother.

दो लोगों को स्टीफन लॉरेंस की हत्या का दोषी पाया गया है, एक अश्वेत किशोर की 1993 में लंदन के बस स्टॉप पर गोरे युवाओं के एक गिरोह द्वारा चाकू मारकर हत्या कर दी गई थी। इस हाई-प्रोफाइल मामले का ब्रिटेन में नस्ल संबंधों पर बड़ा प्रभाव पड़ा है। तो वह कौन था?


Pembroke Dock murder probe into death of Judith Rhead

Summary: A murder investigation has been launched into the death of a woman whose body was found in Pembroke Dock on Saturday.

The body of 68-year-old Judith Rhead was found at a property in Market Street. Police had initially said they were treating her death as "suspicious". Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed a 43-year-old man was arrested on Saturday night on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody. Related Internet Links Home - Dyfed-Powys Police

एक महिला की मौत की हत्या की जांच शुरू की गई है जिसका शव शनिवार को पेम्ब्रोक डॉक में मिला था।


The children sent to a DR Congo 'holiday camp' never to come back

Summary: A court in Belgium is investigating an orphanage for alleged abduction and trafficking of children from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Children were brought to Belgium and adopted by families who had been told they were orphans. Years later, DNA tests have proved that in some cases they were not.

By Joanna HeywoodBrussels Hundreds of miles north of DR Congo's capital, Kinshasa, is the village of Gemena. Most people make a living from agriculture or fishing; others are carpenters or shopkeepers. Abdula Libenge, a 34-year-old tailor, is the father of one of four families in the area who in May 2015 sent a child away to Kinshasa on what they thought was a holiday camp. Their children never came back. Without access to legal representation or assistance from local authorities, all they could do was wait. About two years after Mr Libenge's daughter disappeared, he received an unexpected visit that would finally shed light on what happened. Belgian journalists Kurt Wertelaers and Benoit de Freine had got wind of an inquiry beginning into adoption fraud in their country. How the two journalists uncovered a scandal The Belgian public prosecutor had strong indications that the biological parents of a number of Congolese children adopted in Belgium were still alive, and the pair had set out to find them. Their search led them from Brussels to Abdula Libenge's workshop in Gemena. He took them inside and produced a picture of his daughter. "Taken on the day she left for Kinshasa," he told them. "She was so happy. We'll never get the chance to go to Kinshasa. We can't afford the plane ticket. But she got the chance, and it made us proud." It was one of several photos of the group of three girls and one boy, then aged between two and four. One photo shows them with a young man from a youth organisation, their chaperone to the so-called holiday camp. "All we have left is this picture and a shoe," Mr Libenge continued, producing a tiny, white ballet pump for the journalists. Outside another home Suriya Moyumbe was waiting in tears, clutching a picture of her daughter, who was a toddler when she left and could not yet talk. "My husband's family blames me for giving her away for that holiday. I should never have done that. But we all thought it was a great opportunity," she told the reporters. Wertelaers and De Freine returned to Brussels to present their evidence and the public prosecutor then travelled to Gemena to gather DNA. Everything added up. The Tumaini orphanage in Kinshasa has since been shut down. Belgian-Congolese lawyer Julienne Mpemba is under house arrest and facing criminal charges for her role as head of the orphanage. Her lawyer, George Balon Perin, has said she "challenges in the clearest way the charges against her", adding that she is not being prosecuted in DR Congo, where the alleged events took place. Other people have been indicted both in Belgium and DR Congo, the lawyer has told the BBC. 'Slap in the face' for new families In Belgium, the news was broken to adoptive families one by one. Some adoptive parents had already voiced their concerns during the adoption process, and told the BBC the news confirmed their fears. "Knowing DR Congo's reputation, I was very afraid, but the adoption agency really pushed us towards it and reassured us everything would be legal," said one father, who declined to named. "It felt like a slap in the face when we heard. This is what I had always wanted to avoid. And now, despite myself, I have a stolen child." One mother described how the agency had poured water on her concerns every time she raised objections. Then one day, her adopted daughter had enough French to start talking about her biological family. "Once she said 'you're not my mummy, Mummy', when we were reading a fairy-tale. "I raised the alarm immediately but was dismissed. I thought she might have been talking about an interim, host mother that she had been living with before coming here. But no. It was her mum." When the story broke in Belgium, four children were involved. Now, the adoptive parents of a further 15 children are awaiting the outcome of DNA tests. Why international adoptions can be a risk "There are people who did not do their job, people who might have benefited financially or in some other way," says lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier, who is acting for three of the adoptive families. "You have to see all of these people collectively as a truly criminal organisation, that is well organised in DR Congo and in Belgium." Facts and rules According to child protection expert Nigel Cantwell, these are not isolated cases. "There is always a bit of anarchy in adoption when you're dealing with a country which is not party to the Hague Convention, as is the case for DR Congo. There are so many examples in recent years: Haiti, Guatemala, Vietnam, Cambodia. The list is just huge." He believes intermediaries, including children's homes, need regulating and, if possible, removing from the process. "They are the ones making money. Unless you control the money, you won't control the corruption." What will happen to the children? A Belgian family court will ultimately decide on the children's future. "It's case by case, but any solution should depend enormously on what the child says. We can't just go about taking decisions on what we think is good for a child without getting that child's opinion," explains Mr Cantwell. For everyone involved the next stage will be hard, and Mr Beauthier says the adoptive parents are preparing themselves for it. "There is this human reflex which is to say 'no, no. This is my child, I won't let her go.' No. That would be unacceptable, and my clients understand this full well." For one adoptive father there is no good outcome. "We really ask ourselves: what is best for this child? And we don't have the answer. But there isn't really an answer. We're all losers in this story." In Gemena, Abdula Libenge had little hope of his daughter coming home. "I know people will say that she is better off in Belgium. And you know, maybe she is, but I don't think it was up to anyone else to make that choice. And we didn't get one." You may also be interested in:

बेल्जियम की एक अदालत कांगो लोकतांत्रिक गणराज्य से बच्चों के कथित अपहरण और तस्करी के लिए एक अनाथालय की जांच कर रही है। बच्चों को बेल्जियम लाया गया था और परिवारों द्वारा गोद लिया गया था जिन्हें बताया गया था कि वे अनाथ थे। वर्षों बाद, डीएनए परीक्षणों से साबित हुआ है कि कुछ मामलों में वे नहीं थे।


Golden underwear and silver stages - MTV awards build-up continues

Summary: As fans queue up outside Belfast's hotels awaiting a glimpse of their music idols, BBC Newsline's Natasha Sayee looks at the backstage preparations ahead of this weekend's MTV European Music Awards in Belfast.

Well it is really happening now - Bruno Mars is in the city and more celebs are expected to arrive in Belfast later - including Justin Bieber, Jessie J and Selena Gomez. The stars will be whisked away to their hotels, but don't forget they are going to have to rehearse, and not all of them can do that at the Odyssey Arena, so there will be rehearsals popping up all over the city. The MTV set at the Odyssey is still very much a work in progress, but it is starting to take shape, with two chic silver stages and glamorous seating areas. The red carpet is out at the car park at the back of the building, but it is all covered over with the biggest of marquees. The entourages are arriving, and BBC Newsline has had a peek at the general wardrobe area. It is a huge room, with hundreds of outfits. The wardrobe girls are stitching away, running into Belfast shops for the last minute odds and ends - one of them was ironing golden underwear, but they couldn't tell us who it was for. I did spot a Gaga-esque white feathered mask and of course everyone will be wondering what the lady is wearing, but the staff in the general wardrobe don't know yet either. "I haven't got a clue but I predict it will be something amazing, she'll come with a whole entourage of people, so we probably won't even see her, nevermind alter her outfits, although it would be amazing if we did," said Jo Foster, a wardrobe assistant. Our access was heavily monitored by MTV and we couldn't even take a picture of the stage, because they don't want to ''ruin the surprise'' and so far the dressing rooms are also off limits to us, although I'm hoping we'll get a peek into one of those on Saturday. Springwater from Fiji I caught up with catering staff who provide the stars with beverages and snacks in their dressing rooms. They say they have the requests, but so far there's nothing really strange, just the usual ones for a certain champagne, although some of the stars have requested springwater from Fiji! The canteen was a massive industrial operation, with dozens of chefs preparing to feed the celebrities and the 1,000 staff who will be working on the site. The head chef Chris Desmond hopes everyone will get a taste for Northern Irish food. "We're using local suppliers from vegetable, meat and cheese companies, we've got a selection of local lamb, local beef and fish and we're really happy with the quality," he said. "Everyone used to think Irish food was just potatoes, turnips, cabbage, but it's not like that anymore, we've got some terrific produce in and around Belfast and we're making the most of it." Away from the Odyssey, final preparations are also taking place for the other MTV gigs on Sunday. Red Hot Chilli Peppers are taking the stage at the Ulster Hall, while Snow Patrol and Jason Derulo will perform with City Hall as a backdrop, with the music beginning at 18:00 GMT. At City Airport, fans have been queued from 04:30 GMT on Friday to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars, but who will be coming through? You'll have to watch BBC Newsline at 18:30 GMT to find out.

जैसे ही प्रशंसक बेलफास्ट के होटलों के बाहर अपने संगीत आदर्शों की एक झलक का इंतजार कर रहे हैं, बीबीसी न्यूज़लाइन की नताशा सई बेलफास्ट में इस सप्ताह के अंत में एमटीवी यूरोपीय संगीत पुरस्कारों से पहले मंच के पीछे की तैयारी को देख रही हैं।


North Wales Police test the most for drink driving

Summary: Motorists are more likely to get tested for drink driving in north Wales than anywhere else in the UK.

A new study shows that, on average, police in north Wales stop 72 out of every 1,000 motorists. Dyfed-Powys Police came second in the survey stopping 44 people in every 1,000. The research, carried out for insurer Direct Line, also found women were up to five times less likely than men to be breath tested on the roadside. The survey, which used figures from 2012, found South Wales Police tested 14 out of every 1,000 motorists, while Gwent Police breathalysed 12 out of every 1,000.

ब्रिटेन में कहीं और की तुलना में उत्तरी वेल्स में वाहन चालकों का शराब पीकर गाड़ी चलाने के लिए परीक्षण किए जाने की अधिक संभावना है।


Jersey's minimum wage rises by £2 a week

Summary: The minimum wage in Jersey has risen by 5p an hour, or about £2 a week, after the Social Security Minister agreed to the increase in December.

The new figure of £6.53 came into effect from 1 April. Senator Francis Le Gresley said a rise was needed, but it had to be tempered by the current economic climate. The trainee hourly wage, for employees on training schemes in the first year of a new trainee position, rose by 4p per hour to £4.90. A newly introduced second year trainee rate of £5.71, for those who have undertaken training for a year, has also been introduced. The increases to the minimum wage were put forward by the Employment Forum. It is made up of nine non-political members and offers recommendations on a range of employment related issues.

दिसंबर में सामाजिक सुरक्षा मंत्री द्वारा वृद्धि के लिए सहमत होने के बाद जर्सी में न्यूनतम मजदूरी में 5 पैसे प्रति घंटे या लगभग 2 पाउंड प्रति सप्ताह की वृद्धि हुई है।


Castle Huntly prisoner 'missing on home leave' is traced

Summary: A prisoner who allegedly failed to return from home leave has been traced.

Ryan Stewart, an inmate at HMP Castle Huntly near Dundee, was reported missing at 23:00 on Tuesday. Police said the 34-year-old was arrested in the Perth area on Saturday. Stewart is expected to appear at Perth Sheriff Court on Monday.

एक कैदी जो कथित तौर पर घर की छुट्टी से लौटने में विफल रहा, उसका पता लगा लिया गया है।


Royal Ascot: Day one's virtual racegoers

Summary: Royal Ascot fans across the globe have been donning their finest threads and hats to take part in flat racing's biggest meeting from the comfort of their own homes.

The Covid-19 pandemic has meant the action at Berkshire's famous racecourse is taking place behind closed doors with jockeys wearing face masks. But this has not stopped "virtual racegoers" using the hashtags #StyledWithThanks and #hatsfromhome to showcase their outfits on social media. They are also being encouraged by race organisers to donate to four front-line charities - The National Emergencies Trust Relief Fund, NHS Charities Together, The Care Workers Charity and the Berkshire Community Foundation Coronavirus Fund. All photographs copyrighted.

दुनिया भर में रॉयल एस्कॉट के प्रशंसक अपने घरों में आराम से फ्लैट रेसिंग की सबसे बड़ी बैठक में भाग लेने के लिए अपने बेहतरीन धागे और टोपी पहन रहे हैं।


Two charged over HMP Swaleside prison drone deliveries

Summary: Two people have been charged with using a drone to send phones and cannabis into a Kent prison.

Ingrid Edwards, 25, from Charlton, and Daniel Lee Kelly, 37, from Grove Park, south London, are both accused of two counts of sending prohibited items into HMP Swaleside in Eastchurch. It is alleged the items were sent into the jail between 16 March and 25 April. Ms Edwards, of Wolfe Crescent, and Mr Kelly, of Amblecote Meadows, appeared before Medway magistrates on Tuesday. They are due to appear before Maidstone Crown Court on 24 May.

दो लोगों पर केंट जेल में फोन और गांजा भेजने के लिए ड्रोन का उपयोग करने का आरोप लगाया गया है।


New year resolutions: Inspiring stories from 2017

Summary: It's no easy thing to stick to a new year resolution - it's a challenge, with the best will in the world. But whether it be emigrating to Canada, reclaiming your identity beyond motherhood, or tinkling the ivories with tunes from memory, here are some inspirational stories from around England to get you off to a good start.

'Becoming me again' Amy Jones made it her goal to rediscover herself after becoming a mum. "At the end of 2016 I found myself celebrating all of my family's achievements, yet didn't feel that I had any of my own. "I was a stay-at-home-mum for more than five years and made the classic mistake of somewhat losing my own identity. "I'd mostly notice it around friends who weren't in the same boat. "Conversation would often falter when they asked, 'what's new with you?' and my reply would focus on what was happening with my boys and my husband's work." Amy, from Ashtead in Surrey, set herself three goals - find her interests, start a hobby and find a job by the end of the year. She created a Facebook group in February where parents can share advice and tips and it now has almost 700 followers. "It's totally surpassed my expectations and the support of the other members has made it a pleasure to run." Amy also completed her first 5k race in August and got a job as a social media assistant. "Finally, in November I secured my first job since I became a mum - working from home, so I can still be 'mum' before and after school. "But in those hours in the middle, I feel like I've really achieved my resolution of becoming me again." 'By autumn I'd cracked it' Paul Thompson, from Manchester, learned to play the piano as a child but stopped when he left for college. After buying a cheap second-hand grand piano, he resolved to learn an hour of classical piano from memory - by autumn, he "had it cracked". "I'm in my 50s now and I'm sure this is the only time I've managed to see a New Year resolution through for the whole year. "To do it without interruptions I used to get up at 2:30am and even bought an electric piano to enable me to practise using headphones without waking the whole street. "By autumn I had it cracked, I could do an hour from memory - a variety of classical beauties including sonatas by Haydn and Mozart. "I've done this for myself, I don't plan to be a professional, I don't have anything like the time to devote to it, but I'm now satisfied with what I can do." Paul has vowed to continue playing next year, saying: "I've added a couple more pieces to the list and am working on those while trying to keep the remainder on the boil." Brexit 'spurred us into action' After Brexit, environmental scientist Charlotte Billingham, 32, decided to make good on her long-held ambition to emigrate to Canada. Along with her husband Fred, 33, she has now been accepted for permanent residency and they are preparing to swap Liverpool for British Columbia. Before applying, the couple had visited Canada eight times between them, including their honeymoon in 2012. "Though we always had the ambition to live abroad, we maybe lacked the courage to pull the trigger until last year," said Charlotte. "The pull factors of a better quality of life, stunning landscapes and adventure were always there." The former research assistant and project manager said she had always held EU-funded jobs and would have had to "reinvent" her career post-Brexit. "We admire Canada and its open-armed approach to immigrants - both skilled workers like us and refugees who are in desperate need. "The UK feels less compassionate and less happy than it did even 10 years ago." The pair received the "holy grail" - the confirmation of permanent residence document - on 18 August; their fifth wedding anniversary. Charlotte and Fred have been packing over Christmas, plan to put their house on the market in January and emigrate soon after. "It has been a rollercoaster year. We never expected we'd actually crack it within the year but I guess commitment, focus - and a bit of luck - does get results," she said. "My husband and I are not natural risk-takers, we're classic planner-organiser types, so this has challenged us hugely to ignore the fear and accept that you can't control everything." You might also be interested in: 'It really opened my eyes' Eleanor Bull was tired of having the same meals in the same places and became worried big chains would take over the restaurant world. So she resolved only to eat at independent restaurants. "If we don't support local and smaller businesses they will be driven to the wall and we will lose some really exciting food. "I found that with a little extra effort I could find places my friends were happy to try without them even noticing that I was avoiding the chains." She said for 2018, she plans to set a new resolution to extend her chain ban to cafes. "I tried some really great new cuisines that you don't get in the chains, such as Peruvian and Polish. It's also been a really good way to get to know a new place. "It's really opened my eyes to all kinds of different foods and places I wouldn't have been to before." 'Make sure you have passion' Rhys Hatherall signed up to a beginners' yoga class to combat a stressful time in his life. "The circumstances were a combination of recovering from injury, illness in the immediate family, and losing one of my best friends, Daisy the dog," he said. "I needed something to keep me active and offer some aspect of wellbeing or meditation. Trying something new and taking care of myself was quite important for me." Rhys said his biggest challenge was turning up on the first day having "no real understanding of how the next hour-and-a-half was going to pan out". "I was, of course, met with a bunch of smiling faces and mats just as new as mine." After a year of committing to the self-imposed task, he has a message to those thinking about doing the same. "Don't just make a resolution for the sake of doing it, make sure you have some passion before setting out. "The worst thing that will happen is that you will learn what you don't like doing, you might even find some you like."

नए साल के संकल्प पर टिके रहना कोई आसान बात नहीं है-यह एक चुनौती है, दुनिया में सबसे अच्छी इच्छाशक्ति के साथ। लेकिन चाहे वह कनाडा में प्रवास करना हो, मातृत्व से परे अपनी पहचान को पुनः प्राप्त करना हो, या स्मृति से धुनों के साथ हाथी दांत को छेड़ना हो, यहाँ इंग्लैंड के आसपास की कुछ प्रेरणादायक कहानियाँ हैं जो आपको एक अच्छी शुरुआत के लिए प्रेरित करती हैं।


1,800 respond to Swansea beach dog ban move bid

Summary: Plans to move an exclusion zone for dogs on Swansea's seafront has prompted responses from more than 1,800 people.

One section which bans dogs between May and September each year runs from near St Helen's rugby ground to west pier near the marina. Swansea council wants to shift it west to start at Brynmill Lane and end at the marina's observatory. It has extended its consultation until 31 October.

स्वानसी के समुद्र तट पर कुत्तों के लिए एक बहिष्करण क्षेत्र को स्थानांतरित करने की योजना ने 1,800 से अधिक लोगों की प्रतिक्रियाओं को प्रेरित किया है।


South Korea gaming: How a T-shirt cost an actress her job

Summary: The "Gamergate" controversy which roiled the world of video gaming has hit a new level. The name was coined as a row over whether Western gamers were mostly male and anti-women. Now, a similar row is rocking South Korea, arguably the country with the strongest culture of gaming in the world. As the BBC's Steve Evans reports from Seoul, it all started with a slogan on a T-shirt.

On the face of it, the slogan "Girls do not need a prince" doesn't seem that controversial. In many parts of the world, it would pass as the kind of thing any young woman might wear without prompting a second look. But when the actress, Kim Jayeon, tweeted a photograph of herself wearing the garment, she generated a storm and lost herself a job. She was the voice of one of the characters in a South Korean online game called "Closers". Gaming is very big in South Korea, as much a part of the culture as football. Fans of "Closers" inundated Nexon, the company which produced the game, with complaints. Many of the complaints, according to female activists, were offensive and anti-women. Nexon quickly bowed to the protesters and sacked the actress. It told the BBC that she would be paid in full for her work but her voice would not be used on the game. It issued a statement saying it had "recognised the voices of concern amongst the Closers community", adding that "we have suddenly decided to seek a replacement in the role". The company later told the BBC it had decided not to use the actress's voice because it didn't approve of the T-shirt and why it was being sold. Man-hating? The problem was that the slogan is associated with a feminist group in South Korea called Megalia, which campaigns against the misogyny which its (usually anonymous) members say pervades Korean life. The T-shirt was being sold by Megalia to finance lawsuits brought by women against men they alleged had ill-treated them. There's no doubt Megalia is controversial and confrontational. Its logo includes an image of a hand with a first finger and thumb close together - the common sign for smallness. The logo is taken by some men and Megalians as a derogatory and deliberately provocative reference to the size of Korean penises. Many men do not like Megalia. Some retaliate with online abuse - with "bitches" being one of the mildest words used. It was in this toxic atmosphere that the actress tweeted the T-shirt. with its slogan "Girls do not need a prince". She is not giving interviews and it's not known if she wore the shirt in the tweet without being aware of the context. 'Pigs' Megalians say the slogan was meant to decry a male idea that women need men to protect and support them. They argue that what Korean women really need is respect and equality - things they say are in short supply. One Megalia activist involved, Alex Song, told the BBC that a demonstration was organised against the sacking of the actress. A protest initially of 100 women quickly grew to 300. But some men held a counter-demonstration. She said she felt heavily intimidated. Some men took pictures of the protesters. Some feminists were called "pigs". South Korean feminists say it illustrates a wider problem. South Korea is a very traditional society which is changing rapidly. It has moved from a dirt poor, agricultural country to one of the world's most prosperous industrial societies in a few decades, a process which took Europe more than a century. Hence, there are contradictions: South Korean women are highly groomed and made-up. They meet conventional male expectations. Plastic surgery is routine. Old attitudes and expectations clash with new ones. And as they clash, there is anger. A blogger who writes under the pseudonym Emily Singh told the BBC she had taken her picture down from her own blog because she feared reprisals. She said that many Korean women were in such despair that they considered emigrating. One Megalian said she had direct experience of a recruitment company insisting that a translator for a conference be pretty. The recruiter had insisted on a full-body photograph, with weight and dimensions detailed. In another incident, a Korean version of Maxim magazine featured a staged picture on the cover of a man smoking coolly, leaning against his flash car with a lifeless woman, her heels bound, in the boot behind him like a victim of sexual crime. Earlier this year, a woman was murdered in a random attack in a public toilet. The male attacker had been lying in wait in the toilet, waiting for a woman to come along. After the murder, feminists demonstrated at the scene against anti-female violence - but some men also counter-demonstrated. Over-sexualisation Within the feminist movement, there is debate - often fierce debate - about tactics. Megalia is radical but even within its ranks there is a feeling that it may go too far, over, for example, whether to out gay men who marry women as a cover for their homosexuality. On other matters, there is less disagreement. South Korean feminist groups are unanimous in criticising the entertainment industry for what they say is the over-sexualisation of young girls (lolitafication), particularly in K-Pop groups. Megalia is one of the feminist groups confronting what its members say is hypocrisy. For example, the group highlights, very publicly, the practice of some Korean men having affairs with prostitutes while on business trips abroad. This controversy is given added zing in the online gaming industry which, in many parts of the world, has been accused of being dominated by males who sometimes seem anti-women. In the United States, there have been allegations that gaming is played sometimes by men who exhibit a deep and aggressive sexism. That sexism, Megalia activist Alex Song says, feeds off images of "sexually exaggerated" women on screen. The thought that one of the characters in the Korean game "Closers" should be voiced (out-of-vision) by someone who might wear a T-shirt with a feminist slogan was just too much for some. The company agreed. The actress' voice will not be heard in the game. In the real world, though, silencing feminist voices is harder. Update 13 September 2016: This story has been updated to include a later comment from Nexon.

वीडियो गेमिंग की दुनिया को झकझोर देने वाला "गेमरगेट" विवाद एक नए स्तर पर पहुंच गया है। यह नाम एक विवाद के रूप में गढ़ा गया था कि क्या पश्चिमी गेमर ज्यादातर पुरुष और महिला विरोधी थे। अब, एक समान विवाद दक्षिण कोरिया को हिला रहा है, यकीनन दुनिया में गेमिंग की सबसे मजबूत संस्कृति वाला देश। जैसा कि बीबीसी के स्टीव इवांस सियोल से रिपोर्ट करते हैं, यह सब एक टी-शर्ट पर एक नारे के साथ शुरू हुआ।


Is Ramadi the model for defeating IS in Iraq?

Summary: The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) raised their national flag over the Anbar provincial government headquarters in Ramadi on 28 December, marking the return of government troops to the centre of the city after many weeks of intense fighting.

By Michael KnightsWashington Institute for Near East Policy The self-styled Islamic State (IS) is now limited to hideouts in Sufia, the rural district to the north-east of the city, and in small "stay-behind" locations within the ruined urban centre. There will be ongoing IS harassment in the city, including occasional suicide car bombings and spectacular raids to disrupt stabilisation, but the jihadist group is unlikely to fully control the city again in the manner it has since May 2015. For IS the loss of Ramadi was inevitable almost from the start but permanent control was probably not their goal. Instead, IS has repeatedly used Ramadi to distract the ISF from attacking the Islamic State's stronghold in Mosul, 450km (280 miles) to the north. IS tried and failed to seize Ramadi at the same time as nearby Falluja fell in late December 2013. It fought a battle of attrition for 16 months from Ramadi's rural suburbs, tying down ISF units. Then, when the Iraqi military took Tikrit in April 2015, the Islamic State was able to crack ISF resistance in Ramadi and again use the city to draw ISF effort away from Mosul for 226 days and counting. With the Ramadi operation beginning to wind down, IS knows that the main event - the battle for Mosul - will now begin. IS could try another diversionary attack but the Iraqi and Syrian forces are now better prepared and supported with air power from the US-led coalition. More likely, the slow preparatory phases of the battle for Mosul will now unfold in the first half of 2016. First, IS' next defensive bulwarks will be ground down - the oil refining hub Qayyarah and other Tigris River Valley towns south of Mosul. Then the city will be slowly encircled in the summer and air strikes will intensify on IS leadership and logistical targets. Then the assault will begin once the summer heat dies down in the autumn of 2016. Professional force Though IS has benefitted from its use of Ramadi as a delaying operation, the ISF and coalition have also learned from the experience. Ramadi saw the ISF and coalition work closely together to build highly detailed intelligence on enemy locations and then use air power to precisely target those concentrations. Ramadi also saw the Iraqi army show off the training and equipment it has acquired from the coalition. "Combined arms breaching" is one new capability - the ability to clear scores of improvised explosive devices in a single manoeuvre with the aid of US-provided mine-clearing equipment. Combat engineers with US-provided bulldozers rapidly consolidated defences and allowed troops to beat away IS counter-attacks. The ISF showed that it could rapidly build new bridges to replace the ones that IS demolished. All these skills will be useful in Mosul. The battle is the latest in a series of operations that show professional military commanders, not militia leaders, in charge of major military operations. This was the case at Tikrit and Baiji, where militia leaders tried and failed to conquer the city for months. In the end, professional Iraqi special forces and army officers backed by coalition air power tipped the balance in both places within days. This dynamic is important because Shia militia commanders like Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a US-designated global terrorist, or Hadi al-Amiri will probably seek to play key roles in the liberation of Mosul. But local political dynamics - particularly the predominately Sunni Arab character of Mosul city - suggest that the Shia militias will not be welcomed as liberators, rather as foreign occupiers. This makes it important that the assault on Mosul - like the decisive operations at Tikrit, Baiji and now Ramadi - should be an operation commanded by professional ISF leadership under national command. Better prepared A related challenge will be the Iraqi government's stabilisation of Ramadi city as the battle slowly winds down. A newly-announced $50m (£33m) international effort to restore basic services in Ramadi plus plans to man the city's security forces with local Sunnis will have an important effect on resettlement of local people and the long-term stability of the city. The previous example of Tikrit gives reasons for encouragement. Tikrit was heavily damaged in the fighting to liberate the city and looted by predominately Shia militias thereafter. But the post-battle stabilisation has gone unexpectedly well. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is running a successful resettlement programme that has seen Internally Displaced Persons returning to the city and the militias have acted with restraint. Such a "day-after" resettlement and stabilisation plan will be doubly necessary in Mosul, a city 15 times as big as Tikrit and three times as large as Ramadi. As a result, Ramadi may have given the Iraqi government and security forces a rare opportunity to better prepare for the main battle and post-conflict period in Mosul. If Ramadi had not fallen, the ISF might have rushed to failure in Mosul. Although the process will probably be slow, the Iraqi campaign to liberate Mosul may now be on firmer ground. Dr Michael Knights is the Lafer Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He has worked in all of Iraq's provinces, including periods spent embedded with the Iraqi security forces. His recent report on the Iraqi security forces is available via the Washington Institute website.

इराकी सुरक्षा बलों (आई. एस. एफ.) ने 28 दिसंबर को रमादी में अनबर प्रांतीय सरकारी मुख्यालय पर अपना राष्ट्रीय ध्वज फहराया, जो कई हफ्तों की तीव्र लड़ाई के बाद शहर के केंद्र में सरकारी सैनिकों की वापसी को चिह्नित करता है।