The Dalai Lama on Trump, women and going home

Summary: He is, without a doubt, one of the best-known people on the planet. In an age where celebrity is worshipped, the Dalai Lama is a faith leader who has become a spiritual superstar.

By Rajini VaidyanathanBBC News, Dharamshala As he approaches his 84th birthday, the monk who has handed out millions of handshakes and crafted as many inspirational quotes, is candid and at times shocking. I met him at his residence high in the mountains, in the town of McLeod-Ganj near Dharamshala in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. For a man so revered - seen as superhuman by many - he was refreshingly down to Earth. As he entered the room wearing his trademark red robes, assisted by his aides, he emanated the air of an approachable Clark Kent rather than an unearthly Superman. And yet this is a man who has met world leaders and shared stages with pop stars and actors. A man who has long been a thorn in China's side. "One Chinese official once called me a demon," he said laughing, before raising his hands to his head to mimic horns. "When I first heard that, my response was - yes, I'm a demon with horns." "I pity their ignorance, their political thinking is very narrow minded," he added as he chuckled. The grudge with China is longstanding and has defined his entire life. The Dalai Lama was forced to flee his home of Tibet in 1959 after China sent troops into the region. He sought refuge in India and for six decades has been living in exile in Dharamsala along with some 10,000 Tibetans. His monastery - which overlooks the snow-capped peaks of the Dhauladhar range in the Himalayas - is breathtakingly beautiful. But the view is bittersweet. His life's cause - to return home - remains a distant dream, even if he insists it may yet happen. "The Tibetan people have trust in me, they ask me [to] come to Tibet," he says. But in the next breath he adds that India has also become his "spiritual home". An implicit acceptance, perhaps, that his goal of an autonomous Tibet is far from reality. While he "formally" stepped down from political responsibilities in 2011, as the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people he has continued to be their figurehead. There haven't been talks between his representatives and China for many years. The Dalai Lama told me China's President Xi Jinping had yet to ask him for a meeting. He did tell me that he had had some discussions with retired Chinese officials in the past few years, but none of these seem to have moved the dial. In the 1950s, when China first sent troops in, Tibet was poor. Now it is an economic behemoth and its growing influence has in many ways overshadowed the Dalai Lama's cause. There was a time when the Dalai Lama was the toast of capitals around the world as US presidents lined up to meet him. George W Bush famously presented him with the Congressional gold medal while Barack Obama met him on a number of occasions, including in Delhi in 2017 after he left office. But relations with the current occupant of the White House are very different. Despite being open to a meeting with President Donald Trump, the Dalai Lama told me that Mr Trump, who is close to China's Xi, had never asked for one. The Dalai Lama's advancing years may have curtailed his foreign travel schedule, but the spiritual leader says he hasn't received a call from Mr Trump either. In a scathing assessment, he said the 45th president's time in office was defined by a "lack of moral principle", a contrast to remarks made in 2016 when he said he had "no worries" about a Trump presidency. "When he became president he expressed America first. That is wrong," the Dalai Lama told me. The withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the migrant crisis are two big areas of concern. "When I saw pictures of some of those young children, I was sad," he said of the situation at the US-Mexico border. "America... should take a global responsibility." The Dalai Lama is keen to separate his relationship with the president, or lack of one, with that of other American politicians. He highlights the vice-president's support for the Tibetan people and the backing he has enjoyed from politicians in both houses of Congress. President Trump's apparent snub is reflective of the wider pressure Beijing is able to exert on those who engage with the Dalai Lama. In 2012, China temporarily froze relations with the UK after David Cameron met him and. last year, the Indian government cancelled its plans for a celebration to mark 60 years of his exile, for fear it would upset Beijing. The Dalai Lama's world view is inherently global. When we discuss Brexit he tells me that he is "an admirer of the European Union" pointing out that global partnerships have been key in avoiding major conflicts. But the world's most famous refugee has some surprising views on immigration. In a speech last year he said that refugees to the European Union should ultimately return home, adding that "Europe is for Europeans", a statement he stood by when I challenged him on it. "European countries should take these refugees and give them education and training, and the aim is return to their own land with certain skills," he said. The Dalai Lama believes the end game should be to rebuild the countries people have fled. But with some 70 million people displaced across the world according to the latest figures, what if people want to stay? "A limited number is OK, but the whole of Europe [will] eventually become Muslim country, African country - impossible," he said. A controversial viewpoint, and a reminder that while the Dalai Lama is a spiritual figurehead he is also a politician with views and opinions like everyone else. Later in our conversation I also challenged him on another remark he made in 2015, when he said if he was followed by a female Dalai Lama she would have to be attractive. In another surprise, he reaffirmed his belief that beauty matters as much as brains. "If a female Dalai Lama comes, she should be more attractive," he told me while laughing. His message seemed at odds for a man who preaches a message of tolerance and inner confidence, but the Dalai Lama told me that in Buddhist literature both inner and outer beauty matter. He also said that equality was important and was keen to stress that he supported women's rights and equal pay in the workplace. As the interview drew to a close, I was struck by how unexpectedly frank our discussion had been, which reminded me of something the Dalai Lama had told me earlier in the day. One advantage of not being able to return home to Tibet, he said, was that India is a free country where he can express himself openly. The Dalai Lama's message of unity is universal - but for a man famed for his compassion, he can also be controversial. Follow Rajini on twitter - @BBCRajiniv

वह, बिना किसी संदेह के, ग्रह पर सबसे प्रसिद्ध लोगों में से एक हैं। एक ऐसे युग में जहां सेलिब्रिटी की पूजा की जाती है, दलाई लामा एक धार्मिक नेता हैं जो एक आध्यात्मिक सुपरस्टार बन गए हैं।


First youth hostel for Portree on Skye

Summary: The Scottish Youth Hostels Association (SYHA) will open its first hostel in Portree on the Isle of Skye in March this year.

The association has been renovating the former Bayfield Backpackers property and the adjacent Bayview Guest House. It will have up to 18 rooms and self-catering facilities. SYHA chief executive Keith Legge said: "Portree has been on our list for a long time as an ideal location for a youth hostel." He added: "The Isle of Skye is one of the must-visit destinations in Scotland and we look forward to welcoming more guests to this beautiful island."

स्कॉटिश युवा छात्रावास संघ (एस. वाई. एच. ए.) इस साल मार्च में आइल ऑफ स्काई पर पोर्ट्री में अपना पहला छात्रावास खोलेगा।


Trans-Pacific free trade deal agreed creating vast partnership

Summary: The biggest trade deal in decades was struck on Monday.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) cuts trade tariffs and sets common standards in trade for 12 Pacific rim countries, including the US and Japan. It marks the end of five years of often bitter and tense negotiations. Supporters say it could be worth billions of dollars to the countries involved but critics say it was negotiated in secret and is biased towards corporations. The deal covers about 40% of the world economy and was signed after five days of talks in Atlanta in the US. Despite the success of the negotiations, the deal still has to be ratified by lawmakers in each country. What is the TPP? How did it start? With a trade agreement signed 10 years ago between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. How big is it? Pretty big. The 12 countries have a population of about 800 million and are responsible for 40% of world trade. What are the criticisms? That negotiations have been conducted in secret, and that it favours big corporations. Who benefits most? Japan stands to reap huge economic benefits from the deal, while for the US it is an important strategic move. What happens next? The agreement will need to be ratified by each of the individual member countries. More: What is the TPP and why does it matter? For President Barack Obama, the trade deal is a major victory. He said: "This partnership levels the playing field for our farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers by eliminating more than 18,000 taxes that various countries put on our products." But US Senator Bernie Sanders, a US Democratic presidential candidate, said: "Wall Street and other big corporations have won again." He said the deal would cost US jobs and hurt consumers and that he would "do all that I can to defeat this agreement" in Congress. China left out China was not involved in the agreement, and the Obama administration is hoping it will be forced to accept most of the standards laid down by TPP. He said: "When more than 95% of our potential customers live outside our borders, we can't let countries like China write the rules of the global economy. "We should write those rules, opening new markets to American products while setting high standards for protecting workers and preserving our environment." Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters the deal was a "major outcome not just for Japan but also for the future of the Asia-Pacific" region. Biotech dispute The final round of talks were delayed by negotiations over how long pharmaceutical corporations should be allowed to keep a monopoly period on their drugs. The US wanted 12 years of protection, saying that by guaranteeing revenues over a long period it encouraged companies to invest in new research. Australia, New Zealand and several public health groups argued for five years before allowing cheaper generic or "copy-cat" into the market. They said a shorter patent would bring down drug costs for health services and bring lifesaving medicine to poorer patients. Even though a compromise was reached, no definitive protection period was confirmed. Speaking at a press conference following the deal, US Trade Representative Michael Froman hailed the deal as the first to set a period of protection for patents on new drugs, which he said would "incentivise" drug producers. But the Washington-based Biotechnology Industry Association said it was "very disappointed" by the reports that the agreement fell short of the 12-year protections sought by the US. Tense issues The car industry was another area of intense negotiation with countries agonising over how much of a vehicle had to be manufactured within the TPP countries in order to qualify for duty-free status. Agriculture proved another sticking point with countries like New Zealand wanting more access to markets in Canada, Mexico, Japan and the United States. Canada meanwhile fought to keep access to its domestic dairy and poultry markets strictly limited. The issue and its impact on rural voters is particularly sensitive ahead of the federal election in two weeks time. Asked about potential job losses - a criticism of the deal - Canada's trade minister Ed Fast said: "We don't anticipate that there will be job losses. Obviously there will be industries that have to adapt." The agreement was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for Canada to shape outcomes and rules in the Asia Pacific region, Mr Fast added.

दशकों में सबसे बड़ा व्यापार सौदा सोमवार को हुआ।


Pedestrian seriously injured in Dundee road collision

Summary: A 34-year-old man has been seriously injured after he was hit by a car as he crossed a road in Dundee.

The incident happened at about 21:10 on Tuesday on Coupar Angus Road near its junction with Landsdowne Gardens. The man was taken to Ninewells Hospital where his condition is described as serious but stable. The 23-year-old male driver of the Citroen C1 and his 25-year-old male passenger were not injured.

डंडी में सड़क पार करते समय एक कार की चपेट में आने से एक 34 वर्षीय व्यक्ति गंभीर रूप से घायल हो गया है।


Black Country University Technical College Walsall move

Summary: Plans to relocate a college to a new site at a cost of about £6m have been announced.

Black Country University Technical College (BCUTC) said moving to Portland Street in central Walsall would "increase accessibility for students". Students would transfer from the current site in Vernon Way, Bloxwich, from April 2016 under the proposals. A planning application was expected to be submitted to Walsall Council later this year, BCUTC said. The proposed new site next to one of the college's sponsors, Walsall College, includes former workshops but is not currently being used.

लगभग 6 मिलियन पाउंड की लागत से एक कॉलेज को एक नए स्थल पर स्थानांतरित करने की योजना की घोषणा की गई है।


Mrs Trump's other famous quotes: "One small step for man..."

Summary: When Donald Trump was asked by Bill O'Reilly if he thought his wife would be nervous on her maiden campaign speech, the Presidential hopeful sounded relaxed. "She's a very confident person," Trump said.

By BBC TrendingWhat's popular and why Let's face it, Melania Trump's speech on the opening night of the Republican National Conference was always going to trend. It had been noted that she had made relatively few public appearances during her husband's campaign, when compared with other Presidential candidate spouses. And as Melania Trump took the podium at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland Ohio, and told the world why her husband should be the 45th President of the United States, social media didn't seem too concerned about her delivery or demeanour. But it had a lot to say about the content. Tweeters like Jarrett Hill began to notice a certain familiar ring to Trump's words. That's because some passages of the speech appeared to be almost word-for-word copies of Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Conference in 2008. (We won't compare side-by-side, our BBC colleagues have already done that here.) Political pundits noticed too. MSNBC's Brian Williams noted that it would "likely be a thing" by morning. It certainly was a thing. Within hours the world's top trend on Twitter was #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes, which has been used more than 400,000 times. Not shy of taking a digital jab when it comes to politics, Twitter users soon decided to weigh in, wondering what else Trump would claim to be her own words and soon began appropriating famous quotes to her. Maybe Neil Armstrong's iconic words from 1969 as he stepped foot on the moon? Or this, arguably more iconic (we're joking), line from Scooby Doo. Maybe Rihanna didn't really write her song "Work", maybe it was penned by Trump? Some also suggested that Mrs Trump's words weren't the only thing that seemed to have been borrowed. Some on social media wondered if she was deliberately copying the first lady, a graduate from Princeton University, who famously came from humble beginnings in Chicago. And it didn't go unnoticed that Trump had said earlier that she had written her speech with "little help". Trump's speech is not the first one to be accused of bearing striking similarities to others. Vice President Joe Biden withdrew from his own bid for the presidency in 1988 after he admitted plagiarising a speech by the then leader of the British Labour Party, Neil Kinnock. Then in 2008, President Obama gave a speech in Wisconsin during his first election campaigning where said stressed the importance of words. "Don't tell me words don't matter," said the President, 'I have a dream.' Just words. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' Just words. 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself.' Just words. Just speeches." It was quickly noticed that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick had used striking similar words in a 2006 speech. 'We have nothing to fear, but fear itself,' … just words. 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.' Just words. … 'I have a dream' … just words,'" he said, switching from FDR to JFK to MLK. Similarly Obama's 2008 campaign slogan, "Yes we can," was also identical to Patrick's phrase from 2006. President Obama's then rival, Hillary Clinton criticised him by saying, "If your whole candidacy is about words, they should be your words." Donald Trump's campaign have released a statement saying that "In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life's inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking. " Blog by Megha Mohan Next story: Handgun prizes for 'Fittest on Earth' causes controversy CrossFit enthusiasts outraged by sponsorship deal to award guns as prizes in their firearm-free sport.READ MORE You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

जब बिल ओ 'रेली ने डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प से पूछा कि क्या उन्हें लगता है कि उनकी पत्नी अपने पहले अभियान भाषण में घबराएंगी, तो राष्ट्रपति पद की उम्मीद शांत लग रही थी। ट्रम्प ने कहा, "वह एक बहुत ही आत्मविश्वासी व्यक्ति हैं।"


Guernsey's 'thinnest' rescue seal ready for release

Summary: The thinnest grey seal ever rescued by Guernsey's animal charity is set to be released back into the wild.

Temperance was injured and severely malnourished when he was rescued by the GSPCA in November. The seal has now tripled his weight and is eating more than 20 fish a day. "From just 11kg (24lb) last November to the healthy and nearly-fat-enough animal to be released, really warms the heart of all the team at the GSPCA," manager Steve Byrne said. The charity said it was "overjoyed" Temperance, who has also turned into the fastest swimming seal it has had, could be released in the next few weeks.

ग्वेर्नसे के पशु दान द्वारा बचाई गई अब तक की सबसे पतली ग्रे सील को वापस जंगल में छोड़ा जाना तय है।


Jai Shri Ram: The Hindu chant that became a murder cry

Summary: In many parts of India, Hindus often invoke the popular god Ram's name as a greeting. But in recent years, Hindu lynch mobs have turned Ram's name into a murder cry, writes the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi.

Last month, a video that went viral on social media showed a terrified Muslim man tied to a pole being assaulted by a lynch mob made up of Hindu men in the eastern state of Jharkhand. In the video, 24-year old Tabrez Ansari is seen pleading for his life, blood and tears streaming down his face. His attackers force him to repeatedly chant "Jai Shri Ram", which translates from Hindi to "hail Lord Ram" or "victory to Lord Ram". Mr Ansari does as told, and when the mob is finished with him, he is handed over to the police. The police lock him up and his family is not allowed to see him. He dies four days later from injuries sustained during the attack. Mr Ansari is not the only one to have been singled out in this manner. June was a particularly bloody month for Indian Muslims, who were targeted in several such attacks. In Barpeta district in the north-eastern state of Assam, a group of young Muslim men were assaulted and then made to chant slogans like "Jai Shri Ram", "Bharat Mata ki Jai" (long live Mother India) and "Pakistan murdabad" (death to Pakistan). In the commercial capital Mumbai, a 25-year-old Muslim taxi driver was abused, beaten up and told to chant "Jai Shri Ram" by a group of men. Faizal Usman Khan said he was attacked when his taxi broke down and he was trying to fix it. His attackers fled after a passenger called the police. And in the eastern city of Kolkata, Hafeez Mohd Sahrukh Haldar, a 26-year-old Muslim teacher at a madrassa (religious seminary), was heckled while travelling on a train by a group of men chanting "Jai Shri Ram". He told reporters that they made fun of his clothes and beard, and then insisted that he also chant the slogans. When he refused, they pushed him out of the moving train. Mr Haldar was injured, but lived to tell the tale. The slogan-shouting and heckling is no longer restricted to the mob and the streets. Worryingly, it has also entered parliament. When the newly-elected lower house convened for the first time on 17 June, Muslim and opposition MPs were heckled by members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when they stood up to take the oath. The attacks on the minorities have been condemned by opposition politicians. Rahul Gandhi, before he resigned as leader of the main opposition Congress party, described the mob lynching of Tabrez Ansari as a "blot on humanity". Many critics, including cartoonist Satish Acharya, have also expressed alarm over the rising number of such incidents. In villages across north India, devout Hindus have traditionally used "Ram Ram", "Jai Siya Ram" (goddess Siya or Sita is Ram's consort) or "Jai Ram Ji Ki" as a greeting. And many feel a sense of unease that these attacks and killings are being carried out in the name of a god revered by millions for his sense of justice and benevolence. But "Jai Shri Ram" has now been turned into a cry of attack, meant to intimidate and threaten those who worship differently. The invocation was first used as a political chant in the late 1980s by the BJP to mobilise the Hindu masses during the movement to construct a Ram temple at a disputed siteat Ayodhya. The party's then president LK Advani launched a march supporting the construction of the temple and in December 1992 mobs chanting "Jai Shri Ram" marched upon the northern town and tore down the 16th Century Babri mosque. The BJP believes the mosque was built after the destruction of a temple to Ram that once stood there. The campaign galvanised Hindu voters in favour of the BJP and helped turn Ram from personal to political. Since then, the party has consistently invoked the deity during elections and the 2019 polls were no exception. Critics say those who heckle minorities, inside parliament and outside it, see the BJP's sweeping victory in the April/May elections as sanctioning their behaviour. The party won more than 300 seats in the 543-member lower house, propelling Mr Modi to a second term. Mr Modi's first term in power was marked by violence against minorities. There were numerous incidents of Muslims being attacked by so-called "cow vigilantes" over rumours that they had eaten beef, or that they were trying to smuggle cows - an animal many Hindus consider holy - for slaughter. The prime minister did not condone such attacks, but has been criticised for not condemning them quickly or strongly enough either. But right after the BJP's stunning victory in May, Mr Modi expanded his earlier slogan of "sabka saath, sabka vikas" (development for all) to include "sabka vishwas" (to win the trust of everyone), giving rise to hopes that this term would be different. A few days after Tabrez Ansari's death, he told parliament that he was "pained" by the incident and that "the guilty must be severely punished". But many Indians doubt that any serious action will be taken against those who carry out such attacks. Several dozen people have been killed and hundreds injured since 2014 in mob attacks, but there have been convictions in only a handful of cases. In others, the accused remain free, often due to a lack of evidence, and some have been seen being feted by Mr Modi's party's colleagues. BJP leaders often downplay such incidents, calling them "minor" and accusing the press of "maligning the image of the government". One BJP MP recently told a news website that the popularity of the slogan "Jai Shri Ram" was a sort of protest by Hindus "against a certain bias and tilt of the polity towards minorities". "They are also asserting that we are Hindus and we count as Hindus," he said. But critics say that there are other - better - ways of doing that. Read more from Geeta Pandey Update: An earlier version of this article wrongly stated that Mr Modi had not condemned attacks on minorities.

भारत के कई हिस्सों में हिंदू अक्सर अभिवादन के रूप में लोकप्रिय भगवान राम के नाम का आह्वान करते हैं। लेकिन हाल के वर्षों में, हिंदू लिंच भीड़ ने राम के नाम को हत्या के नारे में बदल दिया है, दिल्ली में बीबीसी की गीता पांडे लिखती हैं।


Corbyn and Kinnock: Leading Labour in difficult times

Summary: When Neil Kinnock was elected Labour leader in the wake of the party's devastating 1983 election defeat, he told me privately that while he did not believe it possible for his party to recover sufficiently in the next four years, "if we don't win in 1987 it won't be through any fault of mine."

By Julia LangdonPolitical journalist And so it proved. Neil Kinnock took on the worst possible job in British politics, leading a raggle-taggle movement that was more at war with itself than with the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher it was meant to oppose, and by dint of firm leadership he did what he could to present his party as one that was fit to govern. Yes, he failed twice, in 1987 and 1992, but he did the groundwork that paved the yellow brick road for Tony Blair. And no, those two defeats were not his fault. The situation Kinnock faced all those years ago now seems extraordinarily similar to that ahead of Jeremy Corbyn today. The Labour Party was thrashed in this summer's general election, as it was then. An ascendant Tory party with an unexpected overall majority is revelling in its ability to do what it likes in government without the brakes of an effective parliamentary opposition in the House of Commons. Just as Thatcher found it. Labour MPs are divided among themselves about policy and principle and what to do next about anything. And just as the Social Democratic Party in the early 1980s was limbering up towards a potential for real power, so there is talk again of that fundamental split on the left between the Socialists and the Social Democrats to resolve the question that has never been answered in the Labour Party, then or now. Different politics today All this against a backcloth of an uncertain world, the growing threats of terrorism, economic inequality, how to meet the defence budget and how to pay the heating bills for global warming. And yet, despite these similarities, the politics of where we are today for Mr Corbyn as he reaches the 100th day of his leadership is profoundly different from that of yesteryear. A charming illustration of that was provided by Harriet Harman, for many years with a hand on the helm of the Labour Party, who recently tweeted a photocopy of her 1983 constituency report to illustrate the perceived historical coincidences. She wrote of the party's political collapse, the loss of the ideas battle, the threat of the political wilderness and the dangers of a drift to the right. But it was all as out of date as the typewritten script of her document. Labour MPs may be split among themselves but the greater division is between them and the Labour Party members. The one counter to the despair of today's bewildered Labour MP lies in the number of those who have joined the party since the general election and the subsequent choice of Mr Corbyn as leader. They are truly extraordinary: 183,000 between May and September and at least another 50,000 since. The Labour Party hasn't known anything like this since before Tony Blair. Jeremy Corbyn's first 100 days as leader 12 Sep: Elected leader of the Labour Party, winning a landslide 59.5% of the vote, after starting the contest as the rank outsider 14 Sep: Unveils his shadow cabinet, which includes his left-wing ally John McDonnell as shadow chancellor 16 Sep: Uses his first PMQs as leader of the opposition to ask David Cameron questions emailed to him from the public 12 Nov: Sworn in to the Privy Council, the historic group which advises monarchs, though Labour did not confirm whether Mr Corbyn, a lifelong republican, knelt before the Queen 2 Dec: Clashed with Mr Cameron as the Commons debated the case for air strikes in Syria, but did not impose his opposition to military action on Labour and allowed his MPs a free vote 11 Dec: Attended a fundraising dinner for the Stop the War coalition, despite calls from some of his MPs not to attend In principle, things really can only get better. The practical problem is that Mr Corbyn has to sort out how to harness the democratic authority he gained from his triumphant election success to a degree of parliamentary respectability. Someone who has enjoyed the luxury of principled rebellion over three decades as an MP, solely because no political responsibility rested upon his personal righteousness, has somehow got to demonstrate that he now concedes he understands the consequences of every stand he takes. If he can find a route to do that, his political authority would be enormous, his MPs would be obliged to fall into line and the Labour Party could begin to offer a coherent opposition. The doubts are about whether he can do it. At a recent gathering of the old left, in its historic cultural home, The Gay Hussar in Greek Street, the "Goulash Co-Operative" - formed to try to buy the restaurant from its current owners - held a celebratory lunch. To the tune of the folk song There is a Tavern in the Town (if you're unfamiliar with it, think of the children's song Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, which is sung to the same tune) they sang four verses of a newly penned pastiche, led by the impressive bass Welsh Valley thundering tones of one Neil Kinnock. "We'll put the Ed Stone up in Soho Square. "And blame it all on Tony Blair," they sang. I asked Mr Kinnock what he would do if he was Jeremy Corbyn. He said he wouldn't start from here. Julia Langdon is a political journalist, broadcaster and author. She is the former political editor of the Sunday Telegraph and Daily Mirror.

जब नील किन्नॉक को 1983 के चुनाव में पार्टी की विनाशकारी हार के बाद लेबर पार्टी का नेता चुना गया था, तो उन्होंने मुझे निजी तौर पर बताया कि हालांकि उन्हें विश्वास नहीं था कि उनकी पार्टी के लिए अगले चार वर्षों में पर्याप्त रूप से सुधार करना संभव है, "अगर हम 1987 में नहीं जीतते हैं तो यह मेरी किसी भी गलती से नहीं होगा।"


Trumplomacy: What happened to State Dept press briefings?

Summary: During this week of mounting civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria, I felt the absence of the State Department press briefing.

By Barbara Plett UsherState Department Correspondent, BBC News The Pentagon spoke about the issue at various times in various venues. But I was reminded of the bombing of Aleppo late last year. Every day on camera we had a chance to grill the State Department spokesperson about what the US was, or wasn't doing, to protect civilians. Then the blame was on Russian and Syrian warplanes, now it's on US airstrikes. But now, without a public, daily briefing watched closely by foreign governments and US diplomats alike, the exposure is different. Ten weeks into the Trump administration, the State Department is still vetting a spokesperson. Mark Toner, a career foreign service officer, stepped into the breach for three of them. He is now preparing for another assignment, although he may return to the podium briefly before he takes it up. To be fair, the slow pace of staffing under this administration has affected all government departments, not just State. And it's been slow before: Richard Boucher, who served as a spokesman or deputy spokesman in six administrations, said he briefed until May during the transition from George HW Bush to Bill Clinton. But it's not just the lack of a spokesperson: it's the cutting back of briefings when they are provided. There are only two on-camera briefings a week. It's the reduction in the size of the diplomatic press corps allowed to travel with the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. It's the secretary's own reluctance to speak to the public. That's shaped partly by his personality, partly by his experience in the corporate world, and partly by the current flux in policy formation: he argues that when he has something to share, he will share it. Even so, Mr Tillerson's aversion to the press has perplexed veterans of the foreign policy establishment, both Democratic and Republican. "I don't understand (it), exactly," George Schultz, who served as secretary of state in the Reagan administration, told CBS' Face the Nation recently. "He must have had some good reason for that." But he added that reporters help communicate a secretary of state's vision to the world. It's this aspect that worries Mr Boucher, more than the absence of a spokesperson, or any innate dislike of the press Mr Tillerson and his advisors may harbour. "They don't understand how to make policy in a modern world," he says. "Even in China you've got to work the public angles. "Making and explaining policy are intimately linked." Shy Melania braves spotlight for women of courage A chance to see reclusive US First Lady Melania Trump helped fill the hall to capacity at a State Department ceremony on Wednesday. In a rare public appearance, she helped present awards to 13 women from around the world recognised for demonstrating courage and leadership, often at great personal risk. A few journalists sitting to my left told me they probably wouldn't have come if she hadn't been on the programme. But the Colombian television reporter sitting to my right was more interested in the Colombian survivor of an acid attack, whose activism led to more hospital burn units and a tougher penalty for such crimes. And the audience rose to give standing ovations for each of the women as they received their awards. Mrs Trump was elegant, as usual, but rather stiff and awkward, clearly still trying on a role she didn't seek and doesn't seem to relish. During a speech that made the case for women's empowerment she focused intently on two teleprompters flanking the podium, turning her head from side to side without making eye contact with the audience. It would have helped had her text been less peppered with clunky jargon, over which she stumbled numerous times. During the presentation of awards there were two moments when I thought she seemed to let down her guard just a bit. One was with the honoree from Botswana, Malebogo Molefhe, who's an advocate for female victims of violence. Ms Molefhe was in a wheelchair having suffered a brutal attack from an ex-boyfriend, and Mrs Trump crouched down to her level for the official photograph. She also seemed to me more at ease when engaging with a Syrian nun who was recognised for her work with people displaced by that country's conflict. Perhaps we will see more cracks in Mrs Trump's famous reserve as she prepares to move to Washington from New York, where she has been waiting out the end of her son's school term. She is taking part in a number of events here this week and has just announced the hiring of a communications director. Perhaps with time and practice she will find a voice of her own. Or perhaps she will continue to avoid the spotlight that her husband is so very happy to fill. Is Trump actually good for Nato? Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told me last week that his job has in some ways been made easier by US President Donald Trump. That's because Mr Stoltenberg had already been pressing Nato members to pay their fair share on collective defence. Now "the very clear message" from President Trump has put the issue "even higher on the agenda", he said. This will be the main topic when Mr Stoltenberg visits the White House on 12 April, along with ways to refashion the Cold War alliance for the fight against terrorism. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be beating the same drum on Friday in Brussels. Five Nato members currently meet the target to spend 2% of their economic output on defence, and everyone else has promised to do so by 2024. But Mr Tillerson will push them to present a clear plan on how they'll do that, and to do it faster. A senior State Department official added: "Absolutely no apology about that." Defence Secretary James Mattis has said the US might moderate its support for Nato if there isn't a fairer sharing of the burden, but he's given no details. Neither did the official. "Our joint security requires it," he said when asked about Mr Tillerson's leverage, noting that the "trend line is up" on increased defence spending. Europeans have been rattled by Mr Trump's sometimes hostile rhetoric about Nato, not to mention his apparent ignorance about the alliance. His Twitter claim that Germany owed Nato and the US "vast sums" of money for defence elicited a sharp rebuke from Germany's Defence Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, who noted tersely that "there is no debt account at Nato". "He's not only critical of Nato, he doesn't seem to understand how it works," marvelled Jorge Benitez, director of NatoSource, a website covering news about the alliance. Mr Trump was more diplomatic today: the White House said he had called German Chancellor Angela Merkel and told her he looked forward to attending a G20 summit in Germany in July. He'll also be at the Nato summit in Brussels in May. And his administration has supported the tiny Balkan state of Montenegro's accession to the alliance. It will be present on Friday as an invitee, the State Department official told me. The kerfuffle over Mr Tillerson's initial decision to skip the foreign minister's meeting has been explained as a scheduling conflict. Senator John McCain attributed this to the top US diplomat's skeleton support staff: "You can't expect the secretary of state to conduct all his calendar appointments." The rescheduled event means Mr Tillerson will be able to meet his Nato allies before he visits the alliance's principal challenger, Russia, later in the month. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, on the other hand, has had to cancel a Friday visit to Moscow to make the new Nato date. This is a bit awkward since the invitation came from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. But perhaps also a happy coincidence for the Foreign Office that Mr Johnson can avoid engaging with the Kremlin so soon after mass arrests during protests led by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was jailed. State Dept's baffling jargon on Syria Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has casually dropped a loaded phrase into the confusion about President Trump's plan for defeating the Islamic State Group. The US, he said last week, would work to establish "interim zones of stability" in Syria to allow refugees to return home. His words brought to mind the debates within the Obama administration about safe zones. Those would have involved patrols by US warplanes to deter the Syrian air force from bombing civilians and rebel forces. President Trump, on the other hand, has promoted the notion of safe zones as a way to stop the tide of refugees pouring into Western countries, though without providing details. Today a senior State Department official fleshed out the phrase a bit. He said the Americans had in mind pockets of stability in Syria's two conflicts: areas where coalition forces had defeated Islamic State militants, and areas where ceasefires could "de-escalate" the civil war. The latter, he said, were being negotiated by Turkey, which backs some opposition groups, and Russia and Iran, which back the Syrian government, at talks in Astana, Kazakhstan. He said the coalition would look for ways to reinforce any such areas of stability to make them safe for civilians, especially near the borders of critical allies: Jordan in the southwest, and Turkey in the northwest. The official talked only of US humanitarian, not military support. But some sort of holding force would be necessary to secure the zones. Recently America's top military officer in the Middle East, General Joseph Votel, said safe zones are a viable option in Syria where areas have been secured, but he didn't say who would secure them. More likely he would have had US-trained forces rather than US troops in mind. The coalition has had some success at stabilising areas liberated from Islamic State militants in Iraq, and wants to transfer that model to Syria. But Syria is a much more complex war zone with no government partner, conflicts even between US allies, and peace talks bedevilled by collapsed ceasefire agreements. So at this stage, the "interim zones of stability" are more of an idea than a plan. Read more

इराक और सीरिया में बढ़ते नागरिक हताहतों के इस सप्ताह के दौरान, मैंने विदेश विभाग की प्रेस ब्रीफिंग की अनुपस्थिति महसूस की।


New round of spending cuts "horrendous", warns top Tory

Summary: Can you imagine Communities Secretary Eric Pickles as Father Christmas?

John HessPolitical editor, East Midlands On Thursday, many local councils and police forces will be watching his Commons statement on future funding, and hoping for some seasonal cheer. With a general election looming, the Communities Secretary may sprinkle some magic dust. But many in local government aren't raising their hopes. The Tory leader of Leicestershire, Councillor Nick Rushton, has described the scale of proposed spending cuts for his county council as "horrendous". Seven hundred more jobs, on top of the 700 already chopped over the last four years, face being axed as County Hall struggles with its budget. His council's having to find £91m in savings from April. Libraries, highway maintenance, transport and waste disposal are in the firing line. But the authority still has a funding cuts shortfall totalling £9m. "That means very tough decisions unless we receive extra government grants," said Mr Rushton. "We are the lowest funded county council. If we received the average level, we would get an extra £37m a year." The call for fair funding is also heard from Lincolnshire Police. Its chief constable Neil Rhodes voiced his concern over the scale of cuts in a letter to Home Secretary Theresa May, and then went public. The county's 1,100 officers cover the third largest policing area in the country. The chief constable warned that an additional funding squeeze will cut the number of his police officers by one-fifth. "In two or three years' time, we will be facing a reduction of just over £10m and that's simply impractical. It's a gap we can't bridge. It'll make this force almost unsustainable," he told me. In response, the Police Minister Mike Penning said: "Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary recently found that forces can successfully manage to balance their books while protecting the frontline and delivering reductions in crime. "The government is already conducting a fundamental review of the way funding is allocated between force areas. This work is ongoing." Lincolnshire's police and crime commissioner Alan Hardwick is pressing for urgent talks with government ministers. Once again, Lincolnshire - like Leicestershire - claims the funding formula puts their rural county at a disadvantage. "I would like to think we have given government ministers enough warning. It needs to be a very public warning so they can take a long, hard look at how police forces are funded," Mr Hardwick said. "The people of Lincolnshire don't want to see their police merged with another force or sacrificed." Both Lincolnshire and Leicestershire have considerable Conservative firepower to call on. Both counties have influential Tory ministers on their patch. Yet despite the heavy duty lobbying, the fair funding argument is still waiting to deliver. After the Chancellor's mini budget statement, local government and our police forces are destined for another bout of austerity for the duration of the next parliament. But it's nearly Christmas after all, and maybe Eric Pickles - in his spending announcement for local government - may spring a few surprises.

क्या आप समुदाय सचिव एरिक अचार को फादर क्रिसमस के रूप में कल्पना कर सकते हैं?


A mission to the Pacific plastic patch

Summary: A mariner who has spent years travelling "hundreds of thousands of nautical miles" to measure the impact of plastic waste in the ocean has estimated that a "raft" of plastic debris spanning more than 965,000 square miles (2.5m sq km) is concentrated in a region of the South Pacific.

By Dr Charlotte BrasseyScience writer Capt Charles Moore has just returned from a sampling expedition around Easter Island and Robinson Crusoe Island. He was part of the team which discovered the first ocean "garbage patch" in the North Pacific gyre in 1997 and has now turned his attention to the South Pacific. Although plastic is known to occur in the Southern Hemisphere gyres, very few scientists have visited the region to collect samples. Oceanographer Dr Erik van Sebille, from Utrecht University, says the work of Capt Moore and his colleagues will help fill "a massive knowledge gap" in our understanding of ocean plastics. "Any data we can get our hands on is good data at this point," he told BBC News. Capt Moore explained that the space occupied by sub-tropical gyres - areas of the ocean surrounded by circulating ocean currents - is approximately the same size as the entire land mass of the Earth, but they are now being "populated by our trash". The phenomenon of oceanic garbage patches was originally documented in the North Pacific, but plastic has now been found in the South Pacific, Arctic and Mediterranean. "It's hard not to find plastic in the ocean any more," Dr van Sebille said. "That's quite shocking". Capt Moore is the founder of Algalita Marine Research, a non-profit organisation aiming to combat the "plastic plague" of garbage floating in the world's oceans. For more than 30 years, he has transported scientists to the centre of remote debris patches aboard his research ship, Alguita. Dragging nets behind the vessel, the crew sieves particles of plastic from the ocean, which are then counted and fed into estimates of global microplastic distribution. Although scientists agree that plastic pollution is a widespread problem, the exact distribution of these rafts of ocean garbage is still unclear. "If we don't understand where the plastic is, then we don't really understand what harm it does and we can't really work on solving the problem," said Dr van Sebille. Eating rubbish Capt Moore and his crew hope to address this lack of data through their research trips. On this latest voyage, Capt Moore and his colleagues are also investigating how plastic in the South Pacific Ocean may be threatening the survival of fish. Lanternfish, that live in the deep ocean, are an important part of the diet of whales, squid and king penguins and the Algalita team says that plastic ingestion by lanternfish could have a domino effect on the rest of the food chain. Christiana Boerger, a marine biologist in the US Navy, who has worked with the organisation, told BBC News that the problem of plastic consumption in fish can be "out of sight, out of mind". She explained that "scientists need to actually travel to these accumulation zones" in order to bring the issue to the world's attention. Ms Boerger has seen the impact of oceanic garbage patches first hand, aboard the Alugita and she says that some fish species "have more man-made plastic in their stomach than their natural food". Globally, most of the plastic that ends up in the oceans comes from the land. Litter is typically transported offshore by currents, which then form large revolving bodies of water, or gyres. But Capt Moore says the South Pacific garbage patch is different from those in the Northern Hemisphere, because most of the litter appears to have come from the fishing industry. Elsewhere, scientists are shifting their attention away from remote mid-ocean garbage patches to locations closer to home. "If you think about plastic in terms of its impact, where does it harm marine life?" Dr van Sebille posed. "Near coastlines is where biology suffers. It's also where the economy suffers the most." Dr van Sebille also says that future research efforts need to focus on ecologically sensitive regions along the continental shelf. Even though the garbage patches cover a very large area "they are not that ecologically important", he said. His team has previously studied the risk of plastics to marine animals, including turtles and sea birds. "Every time, we found that the risk is mostly outside of the garbage patches," he warned. In the future, Dr van Sebille hopes to understand more about how plastic ends up on the coastline and is then subsequently transported to the oceans by storms. Interrupting this process might be an important mechanism for halting the growth of ocean garbage patches. "A beach clean-up might turn out to be a very efficient way of cleaning up the ocean," he suggests. In the meantime, humanity's love affair with plastic is unlikely to end soon. Plastic "will never be the enemy", concedes Capt Moore, "It has too many uses". He explained that plastic pollution travels across national borders, so dealing with it required international collaboration.

समुद्र में प्लास्टिक कचरे के प्रभाव को मापने के लिए "सैकड़ों हजारों समुद्री मील" की यात्रा करने वाले एक नाविक ने अनुमान लगाया है कि 965,000 वर्ग मील (2.5 मीटर वर्ग किमी) से अधिक में फैले प्लास्टिक मलबे का एक "बेड़ा" दक्षिण प्रशांत के एक क्षेत्र में केंद्रित है।


Lyra McKee murder: 27-year-old man charged with possessing firearm

Summary: A 27-year-old man has been charged in Londonderry as part of the investigation into the murder of journalist Lyra McKee.

The man was charged with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances. He is due to appear via videolink at Londonderry Magistrates' Court on Thursday. Ms McKee was shot in Derry's Creggan estate on 18 April 2019. The 29-year-old was observing rioting when she was shot. One man, Paul McIntyre, 52, from Kinnego Park in Derry, has been charged with Ms McKee's murder. He denies the charge.

पत्रकार लाइरा मैककी की हत्या की जांच के हिस्से के रूप में लंदनडेरी में एक 27 वर्षीय व्यक्ति पर आरोप लगाया गया है।


'We didn't think we were alive - all we could see was sand'

Summary: Eritrea remains on a war footing with neighbour Ethiopia even though a border conflict ended in 1998. While tens of thousands of people were killed, the UN estimates thousands continue to leave the country each month. Tsege Yohannes' husband was possibly one of these after he simply disappeared one night without warning. After she was put in jail, she escaped across a desert, warzone and sea to the UK. Here she tells her story.

We didn't think we were alive - all we could see was sand. For eight days and nights, no houses, only dust and sand. It was hard to breathe, this was perhaps the most difficult part of the journey. I had been living in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, with my husband and daughter, Naomi. But one night he just disappeared. The police came after me asking "where is your husband?" before they put me in prison and then followed me for two weeks after they let me out. I was scared they would arrest me again, so left in 2011 with my daughter who was three at the time. We travelled about 1,000 km, firstly walking and then by car to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, where we were able to stay for 18 months with my sister. But I didn't have the papers to stay there and soldiers kept asking for them. I wasn't sure if we could have made a life there, so I decided to try and get to Europe. My sister said Naomi could stay with her, so I decided to try to get to Libya through the desert. I can just remember it being windy and dusty and all I could see was dust for eight days and nights. We had no food or water and couldn't sleep, maybe getting four or five hours at night. When we got to Libya, it was very scary, very hard - there was no president and no peace. We were hiding in one room, about 100 of us and all we could hear at night was shooting and guns going off. About 250 of us - mainly from Eritrea - got on a boat to travel across to Italy. We were all really sick at sea, it was hard to breathe, and we spent four days in all before arriving. My daughter joined me in Italy and I wanted to stay but I couldn't get the status I needed to do so. That was when we travelled in the back of a lorry through Italy to France and Calais and across to the UK. When the lorry stopped, the air came out and my daughter couldn't often breathe. The driver couldn't open the doors until the police arrived. He said he had to pretend he didn't know we were in there and if he did that, they would know. It seemed so long without air in there. All I can remember of when the police arrived is them being very nice and asking how long my daughter hadn't eaten for. We went to London and then Cardiff before we arrived in Newport in 2014. I am extremely happy here, there is peace, Naomi has a nice school. We live, we learn and live peacefully. Before, I wasn't taught English, but now is the time to learn. I have another son now, Joshua who is three and is Welsh, and when they grow I want to go to college and train to be a nurse.

1998 में एक सीमा संघर्ष समाप्त होने के बावजूद एरिट्रिया पड़ोसी इथियोपिया के साथ युद्ध स्तर पर बना हुआ है। जबकि हजारों लोग मारे गए थे, संयुक्त राष्ट्र का अनुमान है कि हर महीने हजारों लोग देश छोड़ना जारी रखते हैं। सेगे योहानेस का पति संभवतः इनमें से एक था क्योंकि वह एक रात बिना किसी चेतावनी के गायब हो गया था। जेल में डालने के बाद, वह एक रेगिस्तान, युद्ध क्षेत्र और समुद्र के पार ब्रिटेन भाग गई। यहाँ वह अपनी कहानी बताती है।


Why is it so difficult to count dead people?

Summary: Think of the horror of people dying violently, and the war in Syria, or a mass shooting may spring to mind. Events like the massacre in Las Vegas highlight the sometimes surprising reality that there are many more people suffering violent deaths in countries "at peace" than there are in war zones.

By Dr Rachel KleinfeldCarnegie Endowment for International Peace Every violent death is a tragedy, but getting the numbers right matters. Reports of deaths in a war zone, a city suffering drug-related violence, or a country plagued by shootings, can drive how the world responds - from media coverage, to business investment, policy decisions and spending by governments and charities. The trouble is that coming up with accurate figures is extremely hard. Just one consequence is that although murders very probably kill far more people than wars, it is usually combat deaths that tend to get the most attention. How many people have died in Syria? Since the outbreak of war in Syria, the country has been devastated, global powers have been drawn in and huge numbers of people have died. By February 2016, after almost five years of fighting, the death toll from battle and other causes had reached 470,000, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research. Two months later the UN special envoy came up with a lower figure of 400,000 - far higher than the 250,000 the organisation had estimated eighteen months earlier, after which it stopped counting because it didn't trust the numbers it was getting. Another estimate came in March 2017, from the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, considered one of the most credible sources because of its use of on-the-ground reports. It suggested that the toll was closer to 320,000 - still horrific, but 150,000 fewer deaths than the upper estimates. Taken home and buried Those given the sad task of trying to count war deaths are forced to rely upon a variety of flawed methods. In Yemen, for example, the United Nations used reports from hospitals to estimate 10,000 war deaths by January 2017. However, many hospitals have closed and much of the fighting has taken place in rural areas that didn't have any to start with. Many of the dead are simply taken home by their families and buried. That could mean that 10,000 is a serious underestimate. On the other hand, since rural areas are sparsely populated, the UN figure may not be so far off after all. Elsewhere, some of the most meticulous researchers insist on being able to name a perpetrator before they count a death and use only English language newspapers, to ensure consistency. This makes details of confirmed deaths robust, and international comparisons simple. But deaths in messy conflicts where perpetrators are hard to pinpoint, or those which don't get media attention - a problem in rural areas, or under authoritarian regimes that control the media - can be missed. There can also be a problem where much of the reporting is not in English. In Colombia, for example, where most coverage is in Spanish, researchers at the Conflict Analysis Resource Center in Bogota estimated that international experts had captured fewer than half the deaths in most years of its guerrilla conflict. The wrong types of deaths Meanwhile, in all wars, many people die from disease, hunger, and other "indirect causes". Should these count as war deaths? The World Health Organization found that by August 2017, 2,000 Yemenis had died of cholera. If war hadn't destroyed hospitals and kept doctors from being paid, some of these deaths might have been prevented. Yet Yemen is a poor country, and even without a war, communicable diseases claim lives. Researchers at the Small Arms Survey, a think tank in Geneva, suggest that indirect deaths kill three to fifteen times as many people as fighting during conflict - depending largely on levels of development, and whether civilian infrastructure is targeted. In Ukraine, for example, the UN estimates that 10,000 people were killed in battle by the end of 2016 - on a par with Yemen. But in Ukraine, roads and hospitals still function and a cholera outbreak is unlikely to be very deadly. Finally, like war deaths, indirect deaths can be manipulated in an attempt to gain an advantage, as researchers suggest happened when Saddam Hussein tricked Unicef inspectors into reporting high child mortality in a bid to get sanctions lifted in the early 1990s. Thus, indirect deaths aren't usually included in war statistics. Jaw-dropping numbers By tending to focus on war, the media misses an even more crucial reality: homicides probably kill three to four times more people each year than conflicts. Between 2007 and 2012, homicides killed an average of 377,000 people a year, while about 70,000 died annually in conflict. Experts at the Geneva Declaration, one of the few think tanks that counts violence across both warfare and crime, estimate that eight out of 10 such deaths occur outside conflict zones. That may seem counterintuitive, but the number of wars worldwide is relatively low and homicides occur in every country. The numbers can be jaw-dropping. For instance, in 2015 the Brazilian Forum for Public Security reported more than 58,000 homicides - a year in which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights counted just over 55,000 deaths in the Syrian war. Astounding numbers of homicides are found in many other countries, with about 34,000 reported in India, 22,000 in Mexico and 17,000 in Nigeria in 2012, the last year comparable UN data is available. And the murder of 58 people in a mass shooting in Las Vegas has again highlighted the problem of violence in the United States. In fact, violent death rates in the US are currently at lows last seen in the 1960s, but have been ticking upward over the last three years. And even at all-time lows, the US remains an anomaly among similar developed democracies, with a murder rate four to five times as high as Western Europe. Even with Syria and Afghanistan causing war deaths to rise to nearly 100,000 a year today, they remain a fraction of overall homicide numbers. However, the use of overall numbers rather than a figure which takes into account the size of a country's population can sometimes make a country appear more dangerous than it is. After Brazil, which has about 10 times Syria's population, India has the second largest number of murders most years. But with a population of well over a billion people, its homicide rate is remarkably low: just 3.5 per 100,000, or about half the world's average, according to the United Nations Office on Drug Control. And the Igarape Institute, which begins with UNODC's numbers but then cross-checks these with local police, morgues, and think tanks for greater accuracy, puts India's rate at 2.8 per 100,000 - lower than Latvia's. No corpse, no prosecution Unsurprisingly, homicide statistics are as bad as war data. Most countries count homicides in two places - police stations and morgues. Researchers tend to trust morgue statistics more because police can be under pressure to keep homicide numbers low, whereas morticians tend to be more removed from political influence. Yet some bodies never make it to morgues, since a murder without a corpse can't be prosecuted. In Colombia, criminals use chop-houses to destroy bodies, while the Sicilian mafia used to dissolve bodies in vats of acid for similar reasons. Homicide numbers can sometimes be inflated due to poor record-keeping, but more often, countries have an incentive to downplay numbers. And only about half of all countries in the world report any homicide statistics at all. The United Nations does its best to mathematically model data for the rest, but in places like sub-Saharan Africa, where very few countries report, there is little to go on and a likelihood that available numbers underestimate the effects of war and rapidly growing populations. Rough but illuminating Given these problems, any statistic on violent deaths should be treated with caution. But thinking across the boundaries of war and crime can be illuminating, even if numbers are used as rough estimates. The results can be very surprising. In 2011, for instance, New Orleans' homicide rate of 57.6 per 100,000 was on par with the rates of homicides and conflict deaths in Afghanistan that year. Elsewhere, Mexico has struggled with drug-related violence, the number of homicides steadily increasing and - between 2007 and 2014 - reaching 164,000, according to the Mexican government. That puts it on a par with many wars and exceeds the number of civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan during the same period, according to UN and Iraq Body Count figures. No-one would say that New Orleans or Mexico were at war. But, as with other places experiencing large numbers of violent deaths, the word "peace" doesn't seem entirely appropriate either. About this piece This analysis piece was commissioned by the BBC from an expert working for an outside organisation. Dr Rachel Kleinfeld is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on issues of rule of law, security, and governance in post-conflict countries, fragile states, and states in transition. Edited by Duncan Walker

लोगों के हिंसक रूप से मरने की भयावहता के बारे में सोचें, और सीरिया में युद्ध, या एक सामूहिक गोलीबारी दिमाग में आ सकती है। लास वेगास में नरसंहार जैसी घटनाएं कभी-कभी आश्चर्यजनक वास्तविकता को उजागर करती हैं कि युद्ध क्षेत्रों की तुलना में "शांति से" देशों में कई अधिक लोग हिंसक मौतों का सामना कर रहे हैं।


Dutch crown prince red-faced over toilet-throwing stunt

Summary: The heir to the Dutch throne made a media splash by hurling a toilet for fun in a contest recently - but has now spoken of his shame.

Crown Prince Willem-Alexander said the event on Queen's Day last month was "a laugh", but he also felt "shame at the thought of some 2.6 billion people around the world" who lack toilets. He won a cup with a little toilet on top as a prize. The 30 April festivities were held in the eastern village of Rhenen. The crown prince's younger brother Prince Constantijn also hurled a toilet in the contest, but not as far. The annual festival marks the birthday of Queen Beatrix's late mother Queen Juliana. The crown prince is also chairman of the UN's water and sanitation advisory board (UNSGAB) and the Dutch government's information service later insisted that he was not ashamed of his involvement in the contest. He had taken part because the toilets were destined for a project in Gambia, it said.

डच सिंहासन के उत्तराधिकारी ने हाल ही में एक प्रतियोगिता में मनोरंजन के लिए एक शौचालय फेंककर मीडिया की सुर्खियां बटोरी थीं-लेकिन अब उन्होंने अपनी शर्म की बात कही है।


Badger cull will reduce cattle TB infections slightly

Summary: Farming groups claim that the proposed badger culls will reduce the incidence of TB in cattle by 30% or more. Critics of the plan say that the impact on TB rates is so small that the scheme is not worthwhile; some even describe it as "crazy". Pallab Ghosh assesses the science behind the claims and counter claims.

By Pallab GhoshScience correspondent, BBC News An eight-year trial carried out in the 1990s showed that a sustained and coordinated culling of badgers can slightly slow down the rate of increase in cattle becoming infected with TB in the immediate area. It also showed that there was an increase in TB infections outside the cull area. The so-called Krebs trial showed that there is a 16% reduction in the rate of increase for a 150 sq km area (60 sq miles) if more than 70% of badgers are killed in a series of culls held once a year for four years. If less than 70% of badgers are killed, the incidence of TB will not be reduced and may even increase because of the greater movement of badgers caused by the culling. Badgers move in to an area because of the greater availability of food and habitats following culling. Two pilot six-week culls have been given the go ahead by Natural England. These use a cheaper method of culling called "free shooting", which involves laying out bait and shooting badgers at night. The Krebs trail involved trapping badgers and shooting them in their traps cleanly and at close range during the day. An independent group led by Professor Chris Wathes of the Royal Veterinary College will assess whether the new trials kill enough badgers (more than 70%) and whether they are killed humanely. Effective and humane Professor Wathes is expected to produce his report by the end of the year. If he and his team conclude that the culls are effective and humane, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will be able to issue licences for culls across the country. Each will be six-week culls held once a year for four years. The scientist who designed the Krebs trial, Lord Krebs, has described the pilots as a "crazy scheme". One of his chief concerns is that Defra's current methods for assessing badger numbers for the pilots are extremely approximate, and unless they are improved it will be hard to assess whether more than 70% of badgers have been shot and therefore whether the pilots have succeeded or failed. Defra's Food and Environment Research Agency is attempting to find better ways of assessing badger populations. Opponents of culling argue that a 16% decrease in the rate of increase in infections gives a relatively small benefit and is not worth it, especially when the cost of licensing culls across the country and policing the anticipated protests are taken into account. Instead, they say that it is better to tighten up measures to identify and cull infected cattle, build better fences to stop badgers coming into contact with cattle and to find ways of making vaccination of badgers and cattle more effective. The Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies have opted for this approach (TB in cattle in Scotland is not a problem). But vaccines and increased biosecurity are unlikely to make much impact in the short term. TB will probably continue to infect increasing numbers of cattle across England. The National Farmers Union (NFU) and British Veterinary Association (BVA) say that something has to be done. Even if culling delivers only a modest benefit, it is better than nothing, they argue. Moreover, the farmers themselves believe that the benefit from culling to them is sufficient for them to be willing to pay for a large proportion of the costs. The cost of cattle TB TB in cattle is increasing slowly but surely, particularly in South West England. The number of cattle slaughtered in England in 2011 to control TB was 26,000. On average, the cost of a TB infection on a farm is £34,000. The government picks up the bulk of this cost, about £22,000, leaving the farmer to pick up the final £12,000. Defra estimates that it will cost farmers and the government a total of £1bn over the next decade if no further action is taken. Conflicting figures Spokespeople for the NFU often say in interviews that continuous and systematic culling can reduce instances of TB by 30% or more. This is the figure for the reduction in the incidence in TB in the fifth year after the cull first began - the best possible outcome that can be used to back the case for culling. But after the cull has stopped, the reduction in the infection rate is rapidly eroded as infected badger numbers recover. When challenged over the use of this figure, Philip Hudson, the NFU's head of food and farming agrees that the 16% figure for 150 sq km area is a more representative number. Defra, Lord Krebs and other scientists also prefer the 16% figure, which is an average over nine years, because it gives an indication of the long-term benefit - rather than a short-term effect. Perturbation effect The process of culling causes a movement (perturbation) of badgers that increases the infection rate just outside of the culling zone. This is why the licences require a minimum of 150 sq km, which is the threshold for culling to be effective: the bigger the culling area the smaller the proportion of area outside. Farmers have argued that because the pilot areas are 300 sq km (115 sq miles) - twice the size of the threshold - the reduction in the increase in infection rates will be higher than the 16% for 150 sq km. They are correct - but the extra benefit is modest at 19%. Pro-cull voices argue that because the pilot areas have "hard boundaries", such as rivers or motorways, the badgers will not be able to move in, and so infections will be reduced still further. The Krebs trial, however, used hard boundaries whenever possible, and so scientists who worked on that study doubt farmers will do any better than they did. Alternatives to culling Biosecurity measures have in the main failed to stop the year-on-year increase in cases. There is not yet a licenced cattle vaccine and the badger vaccine is relatively expensive. In any case, reduction in TB rates would accrue gradually because badgers infected before the vaccination programme would remain in the countryside. But in a few years, vaccines could offer huge benefits. Cattle vaccines cannot currently be used because it is impossible to tell the difference between a vaccinated animal and an infected animal, and so meat and dairy products from the animal cannot be sold. In the medium term, it will be possible to develop a cattle vaccine that allows infected and vaccinated animals to be distinguished, but the UK would still have to persuade trading partners to accept vaccinated products. A badger vaccine has been produced, but it has to injected and is therefore of limited practical value. An oral vaccine for badgers that would be much more practicable is said to be a few years off. Greater risks There is concern though that this night-time "free shooting" method increases the risk of accidental injury, especially if protesters attempt to disrupt the culling. With cage trapping, badgers were shot at very close range with very high accuracy. Shooting uncaged badgers raises the possibility of badgers being injured and suffering before they are killed. Defra's expert scientific advisory group has said that because the culling method used in the new trial is different to the one used in the Krebs trial, the projected reductions in cattle TB may not be the same: they may be greater or they may be less. Follow Pallab on Twitter

किसान समूहों का दावा है कि प्रस्तावित बैजर कल मवेशियों में टीबी की घटनाओं को 30 प्रतिशत या उससे अधिक कम कर देंगे। योजना के आलोचकों का कहना है कि टीबी की दरों पर प्रभाव इतना कम है कि यह योजना सार्थक नहीं है; कुछ तो इसे "पागल" भी बताते हैं। पल्लब घोष दावों और जवाबी दावों के पीछे के विज्ञान का आकलन करते हैं।


School bus slides off icy road near Moneymore

Summary: A school bus carrying 28 children left the road in icy conditions in County Londonderry.

There were no reports of any injuries in the accident, which happened on the Knockadoo Road near Moneymore on Wednesday morning. It is understood the children were from Lissan and Churchtown primary schools and Cookstown High School. The police asked parents not to go to the scene because of the treacherous road conditions.

काउंटी लंदनडेरी में 28 बच्चों को ले जा रही एक स्कूल बस बर्फीली स्थिति में सड़क से निकल गई।


Soggy Spring causing a real headache for our farmers

Summary: Actually soggy doesn't really do it justice. Depending on where in the Midlands you ask the question this is the wettest March for six or even eight years and it tops a pretty miserable start to 2018. All of this is having a huge impact on every sort of farming.

David Gregory-KumarScience, Environment & Rural Affairs Correspondent This week I've been talking to farmers about the weather and the impact this snow, endless rain and cold have been having since the start of the year. No farmer has emerged unscathed. For horticulture and arable farmers the ground is often too wet to work. You can't take heavy machinery out on to wet ground without damaging the soil. So orchards are untended and crops remain unplanted or undeveloped. Cuckoo barley On a farm outside Wolverhampton I saw green fields of oil seed rape that should be a good two foot taller and bright yellow by now. Seed potatoes remain unplanted and bare unploughed fields should be turning green with barley shoots. Farmers like to plant spring barley well before they hear the first cuckoo of spring. If the returning cuckoos beat them to it they actually call the result "cuckoo barley" and it has a reputation for being pretty ropey. At the moment the problem for arable farmers is that they are a month behind with everything. The longer-term impact will likely be lower yields as the time for the crop to grow will be shorter. Also any crops will have shallower roots as they've had less time to grow. So if things do warm up in the summer or we even enter a period of drought, arable crops will be less able to cope. Fodder bank For livestock farmers all this rain has caused real problems for lambing, with young lambs finding it hard to thrive in this weather. For farmers looking to calve at this time of year they're finding it's just too wet to turn cattle out from their winter quarters. This in turn is pushing up the price of straw for bedding and feed in general as farms run out before they can get animals on to spring grass. The National Farmers' Union has reopened its Fodder Bank to try and help. So it's not been a great start to the year, actually it wasn't a great end to last year either. Online, you can find people saying two "extreme springs" in six years is a worrying trend and a sign of volatility our government needs to think about as part of its post-Brexit agricultural policy. What is certain is that while warmer, drier weather will eventually start to arrive, all our farmers will be dealing with the fallout of our soggy spring for the rest of the year.

वास्तव में सोगी वास्तव में न्याय नहीं करता है। इस बात पर निर्भर करता है कि मिडलैंड्स में आप कहाँ सवाल पूछते हैं, यह छह या आठ वर्षों के लिए सबसे गीला मार्च है और यह 2018 की एक बहुत ही दयनीय शुरुआत है। इन सभी का हर प्रकार की खेती पर बहुत बड़ा प्रभाव पड़ रहा है।


Channel 'migrants' brought ashore after boat crossings

Summary: Suspected migrants who tried to cross the English Channel on board small boats have been brought ashore at Dover.

A number of people wearing life jackets and blankets were seen on board the Border Force cutter Seeker when it arrived at the Kent port. Immigration officers wearing face masks were seen dealing with the group. The Home Office has not yet confirmed how many people were brought ashore nor commented on their nationalities. Four migrants using shovels as paddles tried to cross the Channel on Wednesday on a makeshift raft made from two windsurfing boards tied together. At least 1,480 migrants have crossed to the UK during the coronavirus lockdown.

छोटी नावों पर इंग्लिश चैनल को पार करने की कोशिश करने वाले संदिग्ध प्रवासियों को डोवर में तट पर लाया गया है।


BAE's Striker helmet gives fighter pilots 'X-ray vision'

Summary: When a pilot in a Eurofighter Typhoon jet glances down, he doesn't see a steel-grey floor. Instead he sees clouds, and maybe sheep and cows in green fields below.

By Katia MoskvitchTechnology reporter, BBC News If he were to spot an enemy down there, or anywhere near the aircraft, he would not need to point the plane towards the target. He would simply look at it - through the solid hull of the plane - make sure that a tiny symbol displayed on his helmet's visor was aligned with the object, press a button and fire. The pilot is wearing BAE Systems' Striker HMSS helmet, the UK defence company's latest development. Putting augmented reality technology - as used in video games - to military use is the latest goal for helmet makers around the world. Cameras all around the aircraft are wirelessly linked to BAE's helmet; the system checks in which direction the pilot is looking, and then displays the exact view on the visor, in real time. Striker incorporates a helmet-mounted display (HMD), designed to help the pilot communicate with the plane. HMD is a step forward from the so-called head-up displays (HUD) - the transparent screens in front of the pilot that first appeared in the 1970s. They show key data, such as the altitude, speed and direction, allowing pilots to keep their eyes on the view ahead instead of constantly looking down to check their instruments. HUDs also display targets - but to aim, the pilot has to manoeuvre the aircraft accordingly. The military around the world started using HMDs in the 1990s; nowadays, they are becoming more and more advanced. "If a pilot wears a Striker helmet - which is essentially a helmet with an integrated display - when he sees something on the ground he can just turn his head, put a symbol across on to the point of interest, press a button, and the system will calculate the object's co-ordinates," says Alan Jowett of BAE Systems. "The aircraft can then turn its sensors, cameras or weapons in that direction - so it allows a dialogue directly between the plane and the pilot." Night vision Pilots from a number of countries routinely wear Striker HMSS on training exercises but it has not yet been used in combat. BAE Systems says its helmet is the most advanced in the world but there are other companies which can make a claim to that title. California-based Vision Systems International (VSI) has created a helmet-mounted display called HMDS Gen II, specifically designed for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter stealth jet, which is currently under development. The plane has been designed without a head-up display, so getting the right HMD is paramount. Like Striker, HMDS Gen II integrates infrared imaging, night vision and a virtual HUD, showing data right in front of the pilot's eyes. "All of the plane's sensors along with a set of cameras mounted on the jet's outer surfaces feed the system, providing the pilot with X-ray vision-like imagery," says David Cenciotti, a military aviation journalist and former Italian Air Force officer. "He can see in all directions, and through any surface, with all the information needed to fly the plane and to cue weapons projected on to the visor." "The most used helmet-mounted display in the world is JHMCS, also made by VSI." Playing the game In future, full-display helmets could lead to the deployment of unmanned drones from the sky, says Peter Robbie, vice-president of business development at European aerospace and defence firm EADS. "If you're flying a fighter plane with a helmet-mounted display, you could actually control a UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] equipped with weapons from the jet," he says. "The UAV would be an additional weapons carrier, and the pilot could pass targeting information to it. "So if he sees a target, by pressing a button it would become the unmanned vehicle's target. The pilot could authorise it to drop a missile and then monitor through his helmet where it is going to go. "This type of monitoring already happens now - the pilot has a laser pointed on to the target, and it is what the weapon goes after. If at the last minute he sees, for instance, an ambulance turn up, he can make the weapon miss the target." Such developments, along with the pinpoint accuracy of missiles on a modern aeroplane, could help save lives by reducing collateral damage. But one retired RAF pilot says that adopting too much technology worries him. "The biggest computer in my day, in the 1970s and 1980s, was the human brain. Now the human brain is in the business of managing all the data the plane is feeding to it," says Andrew Brookes, a former wing commander. "You're not flying - the computer does the flying. You just sit in an armchair, so to speak, and manage the battle space, manage all the inputs that are coming around from miles away, and a lot of it is fused under the screen in the helmet in front of your eyes. "And while the precision power is awesome, and the intelligence-gathering capability is awesome, you become an all-seeing being in the sky. "That's frightening when you think about it - as everything becomes more technological, there's less and less of the human flying element, and some people may not realise they are making a transition from a video game in their living room to a big video game in a conflict. "And in real life, there is simply no reset button."

जब एक यूरोफाइटर टाइफून जेट में एक पायलट नीचे देखता है, तो उसे एक स्टील-ग्रे फर्श नहीं दिखाई देता है। इसके बजाय वह बादलों को देखता है, और शायद नीचे हरे खेतों में भेड़ और गायें।


Africa debate: Is Nigeria ready to lead the continent?

Summary: Nigeria recently overtook South Africa to become Africa's biggest economy. But the country faces myriad problems - including a brutal Islamist-led insurgency, high levels of poverty, and widespread corruption. Can it now become the continent's leader? BBC Africa canvassed the views of both Nigerians and other Africans.

Simi Fajemirokun, Nigerian Nigeria is already leading Africa by the sheer size of its population, its emergence as the largest economy on the continent and its cultural prowess via its music and film industry across the globe. History provides further evidence of this in Nigeria's peacekeeping role in West Africa, which brought stability to the region, quelling the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia. So how well is Nigeria fulfilling its leadership role? At present, Nigeria's leaders lack a sense of awareness and purpose and this has led to confused policies and blunders such as the kidnapping of the Chibok girls, the passing of an anti-gay law and too many others to mention. Nigeria in numbers Population 167m $509.9bn (£307.6bn) GDP in 2013 68 mobile phones per 100 people 52 years life expectancy 57% adult literacy rate This poor leadership also overshadows the amazing things happening behind the scenes, but as the old gives way to the new, a better Nigeria is being unveiled. From technology to fashion to music, Nigeria's next generation have revealed the open secret - that Nigeria was destined to lead Africa. Nigeria's Afrobeats stars Nigeria facts and figures Inside Nigeria's secret gay club Simi Fajemirokun is a management consultant in Abuja Simon Allison, South African No, is the view from Johannesburg. Economically, Nigeria's newly inflated gross domestic product (GDP) means very little here. We know that these are just re-arranged numbers on some bureaucrat's spreadsheet, and that our economy is still more diversified, sustainable and ultimately attractive to investors. Our real concern is political. Nigeria and South Africa are locked in a fierce tussle over who will be the African superpower, and Nigeria has just robbed us of our most potent advantage. South Africa's pre-eminence in continental affairs, and its membership of institutions such as the G20 and Brics, as well as a potential permanent seat on the UN Security Council, rests on its claim to be Africa's largest economy. That title now belongs to Nigeria, which is also Africa's most populous country. So, who should be represented on these bodies? South Africa's concerns are compounded by fears, expressed privately by government officials and diplomats, that chaotic, corruption-prone Nigeria is unfit to assume the mantle of continental leadership. Most South Africans would tend to agree: The perception persists of Nigerians as drug dealers and 419 scammers, making it hard for Nigeria to be taken seriously here. The migrants doing business in SA townships South Africa facts and figures Simon Allison is Africa correspondent of South Africa's Daily Maverick newspaper Nicole Amarteifio, Ghanaian As soon as you expect one country to lead the entire continent, it is as if the other countries, numbering more than 50, are absolved of all responsibility. Whether a country has a population of 150 million people or three million people, each African country is responsible for the leadership of the continent - whether it is endowed with resources or not. It is like a relay race, where the team is only as strong as its weakest runner. In the same way, the African continent is only as strong as its weakest country. So, we should all find the weakest country in Africa, turn to it and ask: Are you ready to lead? Nicole Amarteifio is creator of the web series, An African City Antony Ragui, Kenyan When I launched the I Paid A Bribe website to document corruption in Kenya, my next country of focus was Nigeria. But bureaucracy and lack of goodwill was a barrier. Nigeria is infamous for weak governance, regulatory failure, weak leadership and an unstructured economy. This creates a gap for corruption to thrive. Nigeria is known for many things, some of them positive, like football, music and Nollywood movies. It also has a strong banking presence in Africa and boasts Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, a continent-wide investor. But it is also known for corruption and crime. Many Kenyans partly blame Nigerians for stricter immigration rules, particularly for travelling to the UK and South Africa. I recall being stopped by customs officers at Heathrow, the main airport in London. The reason? I was seen talking to a Nigerian who had just been arrested for ferrying drugs. All of this is detrimental to Nigeria's image as a leader of the continent. To take a leadership position, Nigeria must fix its foundations. Is Nigeria serious about tackling corruption? Africa viewpoint: Nollywood and religion Antony Ragui set up the I Paid a Bribe website in Nairobi Elnathan John, Nigerian Two overriding questions arise: Is Africa going anywhere? Is Nigeria ready to lead itself out of its own chaos? I would like to hope that the answer to both questions is yes. But hope, unlike faith, is premised on reason and justification. In spite of robust claims of a rising continent, countries still work at cross purposes, travel within the continent is prohibitively expensive, major powers antagonise each other, competing instead of cooperating, and poverty and conflict is on the increase. While there is undeniable proof of economic growth which has resulted in Nigeria becoming the largest economy in Africa, much of this growth has had nothing to do with government planning, policy or promotion, save for new billionaires whose rapidly acquired wealth flows from government contracts, monopolies and unfair business practices. This is possible only in a country where regulation is weak or openly controlled by cabals. When private business flourishes, it does so in spite of Nigeria's infrastructure - and political and social systems - being dysfunctional. Worse still, Nigeria is either callous or in denial about the crises which threaten its relative stability leading up to the 2015 elections - from the Boko Haram insurgency to clashes between farming communities and pastoralists. It seems all that a rational mind can have is faith. Boko Haram crisis in deadliest phase Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists? Elnathan John is a lawyer and writer based in Abuja Chibundu Onuzo, Nigerian Much has been made of Nigeria's inclusion into business guru Jim Neill's magic acronyms. Hurrah! Nigeria made it into the Mint club - Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey - which Mr Neill identifies as the emerging powerhouses, rivalling Brics - Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. Greatness is just round the bend. Already, we have started dressing the part. Last month, we hosted the World Economic Forum (WEF). This year, we rebased our GDP to show recent growth. But to ensure that ours is not a case of style of over substance, we must address the basics - education, health, security, electricity and roads. I have a relative who almost died from fake drugs. He swallowed pill after pill for a condition that steadily deteriorated until luckily he discovered his medicine was made of chalk. That was before Dora Akunyili became the head of the Nigerian Agency for Food and Drug Control in 2008. Under her leadership, the counterfeit products that flooded the Nigerian market were flushed out in a matter of years. Mrs Akunyili, who recently died, demonstrated how quickly transformation could take place in a sector when a leader is willing to step up to the plate. Nigeria has more soft power than any other country on the continent. Our culture is exported via film and music. I was in South Africa earlier this year and I met many Joburgers hooked on Nollywood films and there was no bar or cafe I stepped into whose playlist did not have Nigerian music. Thus in some areas, we already lead the continent. Yet, on issues like healthcare and education, smaller countries like Rwanda and Mauritius continue to consistently outperform us. Perhaps we overestimate size. Kwame Nkrumah, Thomas Sankara and Amilcar Cabral were all men from relatively small countries whose leadership improved the lives of their citizens and gave them standing in Africa and the world. Leadership can transform a country, no matter how narrow its borders or how shallow its natural resource deposits. One can only imagine the wonders that would take place if Nigeria's abundant wealth was paired with visionary leadership. Why are the Mint countries special? Chibundu Onuzo is a Nigerian writer studying in the UK Ronak Gopaldas, South African Investors are clamouring to get into Nigeria - and it's easy to see why. The country's compelling investment proposition, massive growth prospects, low public debt and a strong external balance sheet means that the country is well placed to become a regional leader and economic powerhouse. That is over and above the associated benefits of higher oil prices. Overall prospects for the economy remain robust despite the state of Nigeria's politics - volatile, complex and often messy. While high levels of poverty and unemployment will occasionally combine with the country's ethnic and religious cleavages to create a mixture that will spill over into outbreaks of violence, the country is unlikely to devolve into a failed state. Nigeria's influence is derived from a large population of more than 150 million people, abundant natural resources, an engaged and entrepreneurial diaspora, on-going reforms in the power and banking sectors, and emerging opportunities in the agricultural, manufacturing and services sectors of a rapidly growing economy. Despite the political logjams, and some expected and unexpected setbacks along the way, Nigeria will likely have more hits than misses in the long term. How Nigeria became Africa's biggest economy Ronak Gopaldas is a risk analyst based in Johannesburg Nigeria in a word What comes to mind when you think about Nigeria? Let us know using the hashtag #onewordnigeria. BBC Africa is also hosting a Google Hangout about Nigeria's image on Tuesday 24 June 2014 between 11:00 GMT and 12:00 GMT. The Africa Debate - Is Nigeria ready to lead Africa?- will be broadcast on the BBC World Service at 12:00 GMT on Friday 27 June and again at 19:00 GMT in Africa - and will be available to listen to online or as a download.

नाइजीरिया ने हाल ही में अफ्रीका की सबसे बड़ी अर्थव्यवस्था बनने के लिए दक्षिण अफ्रीका को पीछे छोड़ दिया है। लेकिन देश को असंख्य समस्याओं का सामना करना पड़ रहा है-जिसमें एक क्रूर इस्लामवादी नेतृत्व वाला विद्रोह, गरीबी का उच्च स्तर और व्यापक भ्रष्टाचार शामिल हैं। क्या यह अब महाद्वीप का नेता बन सकता है? बीबीसी अफ्रीका ने नाइजीरियाई और अन्य अफ्रीकी दोनों के विचारों का प्रचार किया।


Finns aren't what they used to be

Summary: No international education conference is complete without a reference to Finland.

By Sean CoughlanEducation correspondent Ever since it appeared at the top of international league tables more than a decade ago, it has been endlessly hailed as how to run an education system. Finland, which faces a general election this week, has been the poster child for education reform and overseas delegations have made pilgrimages to learn from its example. In particular it has been used to argue that you can have high results without an overbearing system of testing and inspection. It was the country where pupils did not have to start school until they were seven, enjoyed the longest holidays and then basked in the glow of global approval when they topped the tables in the international Pisa tests. But is the gloss coming off the image of Finland as an education superpower? More like an Asian tiger A study from Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, director of research at the Centre for Market Reform of Education, argues that Finland's education standards are in decline. He says it is a misunderstanding of Finland's success to attribute it to a liberal culture without league tables or a formal curriculum and giving much autonomy to teachers. In a report published by the right-wing think tank the Centre for Policy Studies, Mr Sahlgren argues that Finland's star performance in the 2000 Pisa tests was built on the legacy of an older, very traditional education system, which had been part of the country's process of nation building. But this wasn't the image of Finland wanted by education experts, he says. Instead, when Finland was the top performer in Europe, it was used as a "counter-argument" to the success of east Asian school systems in Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong. More stories from the BBC's Knowledge economy series looking at education from a global perspective and how to get in touch While they were seen as successful because of hard work and grindingly long hours, Finland was seen as the way to achieve success with a much more creative and less centralised approach. Mr Sahlgren, based at the London School of Economics, says there was "never any real evidence" for such an impression. "It was simplistic, looking at how Finland's system looked today, without looking at its history." Rather than being the opposite of east Asian countries, he says in many ways Finland was like those emerging economies. Compared with its Nordic neighbours, Finland was a "late developer", much poorer and with lower levels of education in the early part of the 20th Century. Finland's approach of investing heavily in education and seeing rapid improvements was in many ways more like the pattern of Tiger economies in east Asia than the more sluggish progress in western Europe. 'Fairy stories' Mr Sahlgren's research argues there is a reluctance to accept that Finland's education system, under which many of its successful teachers had trained, had been very structured and centralised. He quotes a research group from the UK visiting schools in Finland in 1996, a few years before the Pisa tests brought the world's attention to the country's schools. "We have moved from school to school and seen almost identical lessons, you could have swapped the teachers over and the children would never have noticed the difference," said the researchers from the University of East Anglia, observing Finnish classrooms. Another study challenges what it calls the "misconceptions and misrepresentations" about Finland's success in the Pisa tests. Tim Oates, director of assessment research for the Cambridge Assessment exam group, has published a study called "Finnish fairy stories", in which he debunks what he claims are myths about the Finnish system. 'Education tourism' He says the waves of "education tourism" that followed the success in Pisa tests failed to look at how the system had improved. "They got off the plane and asked the Finns about the system in 2000 - not what it was like during the 1970s and 1980s, when standards were rising." He also warns of a tendency for people to use Finland's school system as a way of confirming what they want to find. The claim that Finland does not have an Ofsted-style inspection and national testing is an incomplete picture, says Mr Oates. He says there has been a strong system of accountability and inspection and gathering of data. The difference from a system such as England, says Mr Oates, is how the information is used - for example in Finland exam results are not published in school league tables as they are in England. It is also misleading to think there are not high-stakes exams or academic selection, he says, with entrance to some secondary schools being determined by test scores. And Mr Oates argues it is "hopeless myopia" to see Finland's system as a model of high levels of autonomy. Finland is facing another set of controversial changes, away from traditional subject teaching. And Mr Sahlgren warns of a school system in decline. It is no longer in the top 10 for maths in Pisa tests, having been in second place in 2003 and 2006. Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's director of education and the creator of the Pisa tests, rejects this analysis. "In the 1960s, Finland was an average performer at best and that was when it had a very traditional education system," says Mr Schleicher. "Finland changed its system only in the late 1970s and 1980s and that's when we saw the results rise. The most recent decline is quite modest," he said. Mr Oates says the problem has been that people have used Finland as a way of discussing their own national education debates, without really thinking about what made Finland different. "People have been seriously misled by stories told by people who have looked at Finland through their own, restricted lens," he says.

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