E3: Nolan North wants to turn movies into video games

Summary: Nolan North believes more movies should be turned into games.

By Steffan Powell and Alysia JudgeNewsbeat gaming reporters The actor has voiced some of gaming's most iconic characters, including most recently God of War's Modi. Few films are made into games aside from tie-ins like Harry Potter or Spider-Man, which North says is a shame. "A video game is such an immersive experience," he says. "It's much more personal than anything you can go sit in a theatre and passively watch." Nolan, who's also voiced Uncharted's Nathan Drake and Assassin's Creed's Desmond Miles, was speaking to Newsbeat before receiving a BAFTA Special Award at E3 for "his outstanding contributions to games performance". "I have always felt that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would be a phenomenal video game," he explains. "I will work on a Swedish accent that doesn't offend the people of Sweden. I'd love to play Mikael Blomkvist." A-List celebrities like Gary Oldman, Mark Hamil, and Ellen Page have all taken roles as video game characters, something that North attributes to gaming's well-written stories that challenge actors in ways film doesn't. But he also says part of it is down to the freedom voiceover work offers. "I'm not limited to what I look like, especially in motion capture," explains North. "Motion capture is just digital theatre. We shot Uncharted in exactly the way they shot Avatar, or Planet of the Apes. The boundaries have blurred." As video games have grown, so too have roles that turn performers into character actors. While some games faithfully recreate a famous actor's appearance in the virtual world - like Rami Malek in Until Dawn - most offer total creative freedom. This variety of characters naturally leads to a diverse range of narratives, which North wants to see more of. "My next gamble will be trying to create. I want to go beyond just performing and try to create content and find stories, using this platform that I have to expand other things in my career." For North, that's a video game adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - it'd be "a female-driven game with a strong female character". The film is already an adaptation of Stieg Larsson's 2008 novel, but North believes gaming offers storytellers even greater opportunities than cinema. He argues that in David Fincher's film audiences "just sit and watch" the action, but in a video game they can live it. Nolan North's performances have cemented him as one of gaming's most recognisable figures - which he remains humbled by. "It's a privilege to be able to do this, and it's a choice," he says. "So tonight I'm hoping this isn't where they say 'hey, here's your Special Achievement Award, thanks so much, take care! We've had enough, you've got to go.' "I've still got so much to do." Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here.

नोलन नॉर्थ का मानना है कि अधिक फिल्मों को खेल में बदला जाना चाहिए।


Man dies in collision with van on A420 in Oxfordshire

Summary: A pedestrian has died in a collision with a van in Oxfordshire.

The 56-year-old man, from Gloucestershire, was struck on the A420 in Tubney, near Oxford, at about 05:15 BST. The vehicle involved was a white VW Crafter van, which was being driven in the direction of Faringdon. Thames Valley Police has appealed for witnesses. Related Internet Links Home - Thames Valley Police

ऑक्सफोर्डशायर में एक वैन के साथ टक्कर में एक पैदल यात्री की मौत हो गई है।


Seven countries with big (and small) population problems

Summary: A major new study published in the Lancet medical journal suggests falling fertility rates mean nearly every country could have shrinking populations by the end of the century, and warns of a "jaw-dropping" impact on societies.

We looked at seven countries facing some of the most dramatic population changes and the measures they are taking to combat them. Japan Japan's population will more than halve, from a peak of 128 million in 2017 to less than 53 million by the end of the century, the researchers behind the new Lancet study predict. Japan already has the world's oldest population and the highest rate of people over the age of 100. This has put strain on the country's workforce and the problem is only expected to worsen. Official forecasts say elderly people will account for more than 35% of the population by 2040. This, combined with a low fertility rate of just 1.4 births per woman, means that the number of people able to fill jobs in the country is in decline. Countries need a fertility rate of about 2.1 births to maintain existing population sizes. While Japan has traditionally been wary of immigration, it has eased rules in recent years in a bid to deal with the issue. However, there have been widespread reports of exploitation of migrant workers. Italy The Italian population is also expected to more than halve, from 61 million in 2017 to 28 million by the end of the century, according to the Lancet study. Like Japan, Italy is known for its ageing population. More than 23% of people there were over the age of 65 in 2019, according to World Bank data. In 2015, the government launched a programme offering an €800 (£725) payment per couple per birth to try to boost fertility rates. However, they still remain among the lowest rates in the European Union. The country also sees high rates of emigration. About 157,000 people left the country in 2018, according to official data. Several towns have introduced their own schemes to try to boost local populations and their economies. This includes selling homes for just €1 or even paying people to live in under-populated communities - if they set up a business. Towns with dwindling populations in Spain - which is also projected to see its population more than halve - have launched similar schemes. China In 1979, China famously introduced its controversial one-child policy to try to slow population growth amid concerns over the effect it would have on its plans for economic growth. Today, the world's most populous country is facing the issue of major declines in birth rates. The Lancet study predicts that China's population will peak at 1.4 billion in four years' time before nearly halving to 732 million by 2100. Official data showed the country's birth rate had fallen to its lowest level in 70 years in 2019. Some fear that the country is a "demographic time bomb", which will see a smaller working-age population having to support a bigger, retired population. As one of the world's biggest economies, this would have global ramifications. Concerns over China's ageing population led the government to end the one-child policy in 2015, allowing couples to have two children. But while this sparked a brief increase in birth rates, it failed to reverse the trend long-term. The one-child policy has been blamed for a severe gender imbalance in the country, with males still outnumbering females by more than 30 million in 2019. This has, in part, been blamed on some couples opting for sex-selective abortions. Experts also said that the easing of population restrictions was not accompanied by additional support for families, meaning many people could not afford more than one child. Iran Iran is also expected to see its population significantly decline by the end of the century. The country experienced a population boom after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, but went on to implement an effective population control policy. Last month, the health ministry warned that annual population growth had dropped below 1%. Without action, it said it could become one of the world's oldest countries in the next 30 years. State-run news agency Irna has reported that marriage and children within marriage are both in decline, largely because of economic hardship. In an effort to boost its population, Iran ruled last month that vasectomies can no longer be carried out at state-run medical centres and contraceptives will only be offered to women whose health might be at risk. Brazil Brazil has experienced a dramatic decline in fertility rates over the past 40 years, from about 6.3 births per woman in 1960 to 1.7 in the most recent estimates. The Lancet study projects that Brazil's population will decline from about 211 million in 2017 to less than 164 million in 2100. A 2012 study suggested that soap operas portraying small families had contributed to lower birth rates in the predominantly Catholic country. While overall birth rates are in decline, Brazil is actively trying to stem high teenage pregnancy rates, launching a campaign called "Adolescence first, pregnancy after". "We need to bring the numbers down. We had the courage to say we are going to talk about delaying the start of sexual relations," Damares Alves, the minister for women, family and human rights, told the BBC earlier this year. India India is expected to overtake China as the most populous country in the world by 2100, according to the new study. This is despite the fact that the size of its population is expected to decline from today's numbers - dropping from 1.3 billion in 2017 to less than 1.1 billion at the end of the century, researchers say. The birth rate in the country currently stands at about 2.24, down from 5.91 in 1960. While other countries are trying to encourage growing fertility rates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on people to have smaller families. "Population explosion will cause many problems for our future generations. But there is a vigilant section of the public which stops to think, before bringing a child to the world, whether they can do justice to the child, give them all that she or he wants. "They have a small family and express their patriotism to the country. Let's learn from them. There is a need for social awareness," he said in a speech last year. Nigeria Nigeria and other countries in Africa are bucking the trend of population decline. According to the new Lancet study, the population of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to treble in size to more than three billion people by 2100. Nigeria will become the world's second most populous country, with 791 million people, it says. The new study predicts that Nigeria will have one of the largest working-age populations in the world by 2100 and see big increases in GDP. But rapid population expansion puts a strain on infrastructure and social structures, and Nigerian officials have spoken out about trying to ease population growth. In a 2018 interview with the BBC, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said there needed to be a discussion about the country's birth rate - which is among the highest in the world. "We have a lot of families who cannot even feed the children they have, not to talk about good healthcare or even giving them good quality education, so we have to talk about these things," she said.

लैंसेट मेडिकल जर्नल में प्रकाशित एक प्रमुख नए अध्ययन से पता चलता है कि प्रजनन दर में गिरावट का मतलब है कि लगभग हर देश में सदी के अंत तक आबादी सिकुड़ सकती है, और समाजों पर "जबड़े छोड़ने" के प्रभाव की चेतावनी देता है।


Honda's Swindon factory temporarily suspends production

Summary: Japanese car manufacturer Honda has halted production at its Swindon factory.

The firm said the temporary shutdowns through Tuesday and Wednesday were due to "global supply delays". Production is expected to restart on Thursday, a spokesman said. It is the second time production has been affected in two months. Work was also halted in December because of congestion at ports caused by stockpiling. The spokesman said: "The situation is currently being monitored with a view to restart production on Thursday 7 January." Trade unions have confirmed staff will remain on full pay through the closure and praised management for being so open about the shipping delays. Honda's Swindon site is where the current Civic and Civic Type R models are produced. It currently employs about 3,000 people and creates up to 150,000 new cars per year, but will close permanently in July 2021. Related Internet Links Honda UK

जापानी कार निर्माता कंपनी होंडा ने अपने स्विन्डन कारखाने में उत्पादन रोक दिया है।


Reality Check: Are we living happily ever after?

Summary: Fewer people are getting divorced in England and Wales, figures released in June show. Is this a cause for celebration? Reality Check asks whether we are becoming a nation of couples living happily ever after.

In 2015, the most recent year we have figures for, 101,055 opposite sex couples divorced in England and Wales, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This was a fall of 9.1% from the year before and down 34% from a peak in 2003. But the important figure to look at is the rate. This is the number of every 1,000 people married who are getting divorced and will indicate how stable marriage is. The 2015 figures show that for both men and women the rate dropped to 8.5 per 1,000, from 9.3 the year before. You can see from the graph below that this rate has continued to fall since a peak in 2004. This suggests that marriage has indeed become more stable. So are we a nation full of happily married couples? Tying the knot Well, for the past 45 years, the number of people of the opposite sex getting married has largely been falling. In 2014, the last year for which we have data, there were 247,372 marriages between opposite sex couples in England and Wales. This was slightly up on the previous year, 2013, which saw the lowest marriage rate on record. Calculated per 1,000 population, the rate was 22.5 for men and 20.4 for women. The ONS think this was probably because of people avoiding the "unlucky" number 13. But there has been a general trend away from tying the knot that began from a peak in 1972, when there were 426,000 marriages. Living in sin So while marriage can be seen as more stable, fewer of us are tying the knot. This decline can be explained by a growing number of people who are single and a rise in the number of people living together without getting married. Cohabitation may no longer be seen as shamefully living in sin, but figures are harder to collate because, unlike marriage, there is no official record. Instead, we need to look at large household surveys. Although data is not directly comparable with annual marriage and divorce rates, this can provide a useful picture. Figures released by the ONS on Thursday show that 9.8% of the population of England and Wales were cohabiting in 2016. This is up from 6.8% in 2002. This rise in cohabitation can also be seen in the ONS Families and Households UK survey. This is a UK-wide report based on the Labour Force Survey which interviews 40,000 households every quarter. Here, the ONS definition of family includes same and opposite sex couples with and without dependent children. From their 2016 sample, the ONS calculated that there were 3.3 million cohabiting families across the UK, more than double the 1996 figure of 1.5 million families. This makes cohabiting the fastest growing family type over the past two decades. Of course, it will take time before this rise in cohabitation becomes evident in the population as a whole. In fact, married couples remain the most common form of family type at just under 12.7 million. Again, this includes couples with and without dependent children. To marry or not to marry? So the question becomes; are people living together happily ever after, even though they aren't married? We do not know how many people "divorce" from a cohabiting relationship each year but one way to build a picture of whether cohabiting couples remain happily together, is to compare them with married couples. In other words, are people who live together more or less likely to end the relationship than those who marry? Which is more stable - marriage or cohabiting? Finding an answer to this question involves using longitudinal household surveys that gather data over time. One useful place is The Millennium Cohort Study, which follows the lives of nearly 19,000 children born in the UK in 2000-2001. An IFS study of this data found that 9% of couples, married when their child was born, were no longer together when the child turned five, compared with 27% of cohabiting couples. This suggests that cohabiting couples with children are more likely to "divorce" than married couples. Harry Benson, of the Marriage Foundation, who advocates for marriage, and Prof Stephen McKay, from the University of Lincoln, looked at another large dataset from Understanding Society, which surveys 40,000 UK households. They found that the break-up rate for parents of children who were 14 or 15 in 2009-10 was 24% if the parents were married before the child was born. This rose to 69% in cases where the parents were not married before the child's birth and remained unmarried. However, both the Millennium Cohort Study and Understanding Society only have data for cohabiting couples with children. For cohabiting couples without children, we simply do not have good data. So are we a nation living happily ever after? Without complete data on cohabitation, it is impossible to know how many unmarried couples continue to live together. However, the declining divorce rate suggests that marriage itself is becoming more stable. Read more from Reality Check Follow us on Twitter

जून में जारी आंकड़ों से पता चलता है कि इंग्लैंड और वेल्स में कम लोग तलाक ले रहे हैं। क्या यह जश्न मनाने का कारण है? रियलिटी चेक पूछता है कि क्या हम खुशहाल जीवन जीने वाले जोड़ों का देश बन रहे हैं।


Sound of 2012: Skrillex

Summary: US DJ and producer Skrillex has come fourth on the BBC's Sound Of 2012 new music list, which showcases some of the most promising new artists for the coming 12 months. The list, compiled using tips from more than 180 tastemakers - made up of music critics, editors, broadcasters and bloggers - aims to highlight some of the most exciting emerging artists. We are revealing one artist from the top five in reverse order every day until Friday, when the winner will be announced.

By Ian YoungsEntertainment reporter, BBC News Sound of 2012: Skrillex Skrillex is the new superstar DJ, the latest rock 'n' roll star with a laptop instead of a guitar. His full-throttle synthesised symphonies take the most compulsive components from a decade of dance music and push them harder, faster, stronger. The bombastic concoctions have made him one of the hottest properties in American music. He plays to thousands of dedicated fans and crashed into the mainstream consciousness late last year when he received five nominations for the prestigious and normally sedate Grammy Awards. Energetic and self-assured, the 23-year-old Sonny Moore grew up in Los Angeles and puts his burgeoning success down to the fact that his fanbase includes hardcore clubbers, rock fans and casual thrill-seekers. "I can play a nightclub or I can play a concert or I can play a festival," he says. "I can do bottle service clubs in Vegas where there are models, and then I can do middle America in Alabama and it's like a Metallica show. I play what I want to play and it's always high energy and it's always a good time." As Sonny Moore, he emerged aged 16 as the screaming singer metal band From First To Last, who enjoyed some success in the US. There was an abrupt change in musical style, if not attitude, when he discovered dubstep, the bass-heavy dance genre that grew up in England in the early 2000s and travelled across the Atlantic later that decade. Along with the Grammy nominations, one sign of growing mainstream acceptance is a recent track he recorded with the surviving members of The Doors. "We all clicked together and drank wine together and jammed out," he says. But Skrillex has built his following with little support from the American media, he says. "I'm not played on daytime radio in the United States. I'm not played on daytime MTV. There's been not a dime spent on marketing for any record I've ever put out. "We've just toured our asses off. That's all we've done." On stage, Skrillex hops around behind a desk centre stage, his long hair flaying about, with one hand on a laptop and the other on the banks of knobs in front of him. His figure is silhouetted against a giant LED screen that flashes up giant spinning shapes and scorching colours at a mesmeric rate. Despite being described as dubstep, the music is a combustion of spleen-shattering bass, crunching techno beats, heightened house synths and twisted vocal samples, all delivered with the belligerence of a metal band. The most distinctive bits of the Skrillex sound, though, are the barrages of wobbling, pneumatic, oscillating noise - pure tones that are arranged into rhythms and which crash into songs with an irresistible physical force. The end result sounds like a combination of hyped-up video game effects and roadworks. It is also probably what prompted The Guardian to say his song First Of The Year (Equinox), which had 25 million YouTube views, sounded like "it was commissioned by the US military for use in Abu Ghraib". As well as attracting a legion of devoted fans, Skrillex has repulsed many who see his music as artless, hollow and as blunt as a battering ram. When I mention that British electro-pop star Example recently described him as "the new punk rock", Skrillex takes this as an affront, as an accusation of atonality. He is, it seems, fed up with being described as "noisy", insisting: "It's not noise. It's orchestrated. If someone says noise, right off the bat, you just don't understand it, you haven't given it a real chance." In fact, Example's remark was meant as a positive, suggesting that Skrillex was ripping up the old, established order and creating something fresh. Skrillex's mood lightens. One thing that does wind him up, though, is the mention of the critics who have become commonly referred to in Skrillex articles as "the purists" - the dubstep aficionados who have complained about what the DJ is doing to their beloved scene. The criticism was encapsulated by James Blake, number two in the Sound Of 2011 list, who attacked producers who appeal to a "frat-boy market where there's this machismo", which was "a million miles away from where dubstep started". "It's an illusion," says Skrillex, tetchily, in response to the general criticism. "You can get 200 people bitching about me in a chat room or you can get 100,000 people dancing to every single drop I play. All ego aside, that's just the truth, you know what I mean? "They can go bicker and waste their lives... You know what I mean? Good for them. Be purists." He may not be easy listening, but this 21st-Century punk may be on his way to muscling his way into the big time.

अमेरिकी डीजे और निर्माता स्क्रिलेक्स बीबीसी की साउंड ऑफ 2012 की नई संगीत सूची में चौथे स्थान पर आए हैं, जिसमें आने वाले 12 महीनों के लिए कुछ सबसे होनहार नए कलाकारों को दिखाया गया है। सूची, 180 से अधिक स्वाद निर्माताओं के सुझावों का उपयोग करके संकलित की गई है-जो संगीत आलोचकों, संपादकों, प्रसारकों और ब्लॉगर्स से बनी है-जिसका उद्देश्य कुछ सबसे रोमांचक उभरते कलाकारों को उजागर करना है। हम शुक्रवार तक हर दिन शीर्ष पांच में से एक कलाकार को रिवर्स ऑर्डर में प्रकट कर रहे हैं, जब विजेता की घोषणा की जाएगी।


Ben Kinsella stabbing: London 'still unsafe', says sister

Summary: Ben Kinsella was 16 when he was murdered as he celebrated finishing the last of his GCSEs. His death triggered a series of protests and led to stricter sentences for those convicted of knife crime.

By Sarah LeeBBC News Ten years on, with a surge of violent deaths in the capital, campaigners fear the fight against knife crime is being lost. On the evening of 28 June 2008, Ben was out with friends marking the end of exams at Shillibeers in Islington, north London. An argument had broken out in the bar between a youth called Alfie and a man called Osman Ozdemir. One of Ben's killers, Jade Braithwaite, was heard saying: "Tell your boy if he wants trouble, I've got my tool on me and it will open you up." When Ben and his friends left the bar, shortly before 02:00 BST, they were chased by Braithwaite and two other men. The three caught up with Ben - who was blameless in the row - and kicked him to the ground before stabbing him repeatedly. The attack only lasted seconds but left Ben with 11 stab wounds, including one to his heart and two to his lungs. Braithwaite, Michael Alleyne and Juress Kika, all from Islington, were jailed for life, with a minimum sentence of 19 years, after being found guilty of Ben's murder. Days after the teenager's death, hundreds of protesters - led by his friends and family - marched through Islington to the spot where Ben was killed, demanding an end to violence. His sister, the former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella, channelled her grief to campaign tirelessly against knife crime through the Ben Kinsella Trust. Following a passionate campaign, in 2010 the minimum jail term for knife murders was raised from 15 to 25 years in some cases - five years below the 30-year term for gun murders. But despite managing to help secure tougher sentences, Brooke feels the levels of knife crime have worsened since her brother's murder. "I've done a lot of work and campaigning, and I was hoping to say 10 years on from Ben's death that things have changed and we're in a better place and that our streets are safe, and sadly I can't say that. "Unfortunately, we're still hearing about it every day. "It's heartbreaking." Sentences for various violent crimes have been getting tougher over the years. New guidelines, which came into effect at the start of June, mean any adult convicted of possessing a knife or acid for use as an offensive weapon is likely to face a longer prison term. The recommendations of the Sentencing Council are that anyone over the age of 18 who is caught with a "bladed article" in a public place should be jailed for at least six months. For juveniles, the suggested tariff is four months. Patrick Green, of the Ben Kinsella Trust, said although appropriate sentencing was important, it would not solve the problem. He described the current levels of violence involving knives as "depressing", adding that it was "hard to have any positives about what is going on at the moment". "The sad thing is, it's not a flick of a switch, it isn't going to change overnight," he said. "Measures will take time to bear fruit and there needs to be significant investment from the public purse. "I also think prevention plays such a big role. No young person is born with a knife in their hand - it is learned behaviour. "If we do far more at the beginning to either help them understand better behaviours, or unlearn those [destructive] behaviours, then that will make a significant difference." So far in 2018, at least 49 people have been fatally stabbed in London, and during the first four months of this year there were 1,296 stabbings in the capital, according to Met Police data. Last year, 80 people were stabbed to death - teenagers accounted for a quarter of that figure. To help combat knife crime, the Ben Kinsella Trust has launched an interactive workshop that aims to educate young people by guiding them through five crime-themed rooms. "The final room is a prison cell, which features an actor who can be a bit unnerving," Mr Green said. "The children usually want to get out of the room quite quickly. But, what we teach is that you could be in a room like that for four or more years - and you don't get to pick your cellmate." On Saturday the trust is holding a 10km walk along Regent's Canal to celebrate Ben's life and legacy and to raise funds for the charity. A public memorial service will then be held in Islington. Friday 29 June, the 10th anniversary of the teenager's death, is being kept free of public events to allow his family to remember him. "Life without Ben has been life-changing," his sister said. "People say that time is a healer, but I don't think it is in these scenarios. We will all just continue to live his life for him. "We will never stop campaigning and trying to educate people about the dangers of knife crime. "We hope the walk will mirror our earlier peace marches against knife crime. "We want to keep Ben's memory alive and show as a society that there's still a problem in our city."

बेन किन्सेला 16 वर्ष के थे जब उनकी हत्या कर दी गई थी क्योंकि उन्होंने अपने अंतिम जी. सी. एस. ई. को पूरा करने का जश्न मनाया था। उनकी मृत्यु ने विरोध प्रदर्शनों की एक श्रृंखला शुरू कर दी और चाकू के अपराध के दोषी लोगों के लिए सख्त सजा का कारण बना।


How much do we really know about why we give to charity?

Summary: "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."

By Tim HarfordPresenter, 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy When economist Adam Smith was writing his highly influential book The Wealth of Nations, in the 1770s, his mail probably didn't include envelopes with arresting images of hungry children. And when he strolled around his home town of Kirkcaldy, Fife, he was not accosted by clipboard-wielding young women trying to sign him up for a monthly donation. These days, we are frequently spoken to not of our advantages but of other people's necessities. Charity has become big business, though it's hard to say how big: there's little good data. One recent study estimates the British, for example, donate 54p in every £100. That's three times more than the Germans but three times less than Americans give. By my reckoning, that's also roughly what Britons spend on beer, not much less than they spend on meat and three times what they spend on bread. In economic significance, the charity fundraiser is up there with the butcher, brewer and baker. 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy highlights the inventions, ideas and innovations that helped create the economic world. It is broadcast on the BBC World Service. You can find more information about the programme's sources and listen to all the episodes online or subscribe to the programme podcast. Charity, of course, is as old as humanity. The ancient religious custom of tithing - indirectly giving a 10th of one's income to worthy causes - makes modern donations of less than £1 in every £100 seem derisory. Still, taxes have replaced tithes and many modern fundraisers don't have the advantage of claiming to speak for God. They need to be professional about persuasion - and there is a man who's regarded as the father of the field: Charles Sumner Ward. In the late-19th Century, he started work for the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). He was "a medium-sized man," according to the New York Post, "so mild of manner that one would never suspect him of the power to sway hitherto reluctant pocketbooks". That power first gained wide attention in 1905, when his employers sent him to Washington DC to raise money for a new building. Ward found a wealthy donor to pledge a chunk of cash - but only if the public raised the rest. He then set an artificial deadline for this to happen. The papers lapped it up. Ward applied his methods far and wide: a target; a time limit; a campaign clock, showing progress; publicity stunts planned with military precision. In the modern world, they all seem familiar but when Ward came to London in 1912, they were novel. The Times was suitably impressed by his "knowledge of human nature, and an extremely shrewd application of business principles in securing the advantage at the psychological moment". World War One brought more fundraising innovations: lotteries; and flag days, which have modern equivalents in wristbands, ribbons and stickers that show you've given money. By 1924, Ward had a fundraising company and was advertising how much it had raised for everything from boy scouts to masonic temples. For the modern heirs of Charles Sumner Ward, what counts as a "shrewd application of business principles"? We can get some clues from advertising executives interviewed for the Guardian newspaper. Images of starving children don't rack up many "likes" on social media, they say, build your brand instead, engage and entertain. Economists have also studied what motivates donations. One theory is called "signalling": we donate in part to impress other people. That might explain the enduring popularity of wristbands, ribbons and stickers: they display not only the causes that matter to us but our generosity too. Then there's the "warm glow" theory, which says we give in order to feel nice - or less guilty, at least. Experimental investigations of these ideas have produced results that are - well, a little depressing. Economist John List and colleagues sent people to knock on doors; some asked for a donation, others sold lottery tickets for the same good cause. The lottery tickets raised a lot more; no surprise there. But the researchers also found attractive young women who asked for donations fared much better - about as well as the lottery sellers. As the study drily acknowledges: "This result is largely driven by increased participation rates among households where a male answered the door." That's evidence for the signalling theory of altruism - and you can see exactly what kind of pretty young lady these gentlemen were keen to signal to. More things that made the modern economy: Another economist, James Andreoni, studied the "warm glow" idea by asking what happened to private donations when a charity started getting a government subsidy? If donors gave purely from an altruistic desire to ensure the charity could function, then the donations should move to another worthy cause when the subsidy arrives. But that doesn't happen, which suggests we aren't purely altruistic - we just get a warm glow from feeling that we are. It's starting to sound like Adam Smith's logic applies to charity after all. "It is not from the benevolence of the donor that we expect a contribution," a fundraiser might say, "but from their regard to making themselves feel good or look good to others." But if charities are selling a warm glow and the ability to send social signals, that doesn't give them much incentive to do anything useful. They just have to tell us a good story. Some people, of course, take very seriously the question of how much good charities do. There's a movement calling for "effective altruism", featuring organisations such as GiveWell, which studies charities' effectiveness and recommends who might deserve our cash. The economists Dean Karlan and Daniel Wood wondered whether evidence of effectiveness would improve fundraising, and worked with a charity to find out. Some supporters got a typical mailshot, an emotional story about an individual beneficiary called Sebastiana. "She's known nothing but abject poverty her entire life," it read. Others got the same story but with an additional paragraph noting that "rigorous scientific methodologies" confirmed the charity's impact. The results? Some people who'd previously given big donations seemed impressed and gave more. But that was cancelled out by small donors giving less. Merely mentioning science seemed to have punctured the emotional appeal and cooled the warm glow. And this may explain why GiveWell hasn't even tried to assess the household names of the charity world - the likes of Oxfam, Save The Children, and World Vision. In an exasperated-sounding blog post, the organisation explains such charities "tend to publish a great deal of web content aimed at fundraising but very little of interest for impact-oriented donors". Or, as Adam Smith might have said: "Never talk to them of our own effectiveness". The author writes the Financial Times's Undercover Economist column. 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy is broadcast on the BBC World Service. You can find more information about the programme's sources and listen to all the episodes online or subscribe to the programme podcast.

"हम अपने रात्रिभोज की अपेक्षा कसाई, शराब बनाने वाले या बेकर की भलाई से नहीं करते हैं, बल्कि उनके अपने हित के प्रति सम्मान से करते हैं। हम खुद को उनकी मानवता के लिए नहीं बल्कि उनके आत्म-प्रेम के लिए संबोधित करते हैं और उनसे कभी भी अपनी आवश्यकताओं के बारे में नहीं बल्कि उनके लाभों के बारे में बात करते हैं।"


In pictures: Queen Elizabeth II at 90 in 90 images

Summary: On 21 April the Queen celebrates her 90th birthday and to mark the event we present an image from the archives of the Press Association from every year of her life.

1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 All photographs © Press Association Some of these images appeared before in a picture gallery when the Queen became the longest-reigning monarch in British history.

21 अप्रैल को महारानी अपना 90वां जन्मदिन मनाती हैं और इस कार्यक्रम को चिह्नित करने के लिए हम उनके जीवन के हर वर्ष की प्रेस एसोसिएशन के अभिलेखागार से एक छवि प्रस्तुत करते हैं।


Murder arrests over burned body in Southfields garden

Summary: A man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a badly burned body was discovered in the garden of a south-west London home.

Police and fire crews were called to Wimbledon Park Road shortly before 18:30 BST on Wednesday after receiving reports of a fire at the property. The body, which was too charred to work out the gender and age of the person, was found in the rear garden. Police said it appeared "attempts were made to dispose of the body". Det Insp Richard Leonard said detectives were "doing everything we can to identify the deceased". A 40-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman were arrested at the house and are in custody at separate south London police stations. Supt Peter Gardner said local police officers "will be patrolling in and around the area to help reassure residents". Related Internet Links The Met

दक्षिण-पश्चिम लंदन के एक घर के बगीचे में बुरी तरह से जली हुई लाश मिलने के बाद हत्या के संदेह में एक पुरुष और एक महिला को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Nottingham gateway to get £700,000 facelift

Summary: One of the main routes into Nottingham city centre is set to receive a £700,000 facelift after securing Heritage Lottery Funding.

Carrington Street, which links Nottingham Station and the Broadmarsh Centre, will have some of its historic buildings repaired and refurbished. The project is in addition to the £67m station plan and the recent £150m deal to improve the Broadmarsh Centre. Plans are being finalised but work should begin in 2015. Councillor Jane Urquhart, from Nottingham City Council, said: "Carrington Street boasts many high quality buildings from the turn of the century. "The street has already seen significant redevelopment and we hope this heritage-led regeneration approach will not only further improve the fabric of the buildings but also...make the street a more attractive destination."

नॉटिंघम शहर के केंद्र में मुख्य मार्गों में से एक हेरिटेज लॉटरी फंडिंग हासिल करने के बाद £700,000 का नया रूप प्राप्त करने के लिए तैयार है।


A year in fake news in Africa

Summary: The spread of fake news in Africa has been blamed for igniting ethnic violence, sowing confusion among voters and even causing currency fluctuations. As the BBC launches major new research into fake news in Africa, we break down five false stories that made a big impact on the continent in the past 12 months.

By Ashley LimeBBC Africa, Nairobi 1. Nigerian presidential candidate 'endorsed by gay rights groups' What was the story? When Atiku Abubakar was confirmed as a presidential candidate for the Nigerian elections in 2019, a fake Twitter account in the name of the opposition leader posted a message thanking the "Association of Nigerian Gay Men (ANGAM)" for its support. In the post, "Mr Abubakar" writes that the first thing he would do if he were to become president would be to scrap the country's controversial anti-gay legislation, signed into law by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014. Homosexual acts are punishable by up to 14 years in jail in Nigeria, while gay marriage and displays of same-sex affection are also banned. What impact did it have? After originally being shared on Twitter on 14 October, the story was picked up by two Nigerian blogs. Then 12 days later, two prominent Nigerian newspapers, The Nation and the Vanguard, both published stories with a very similar theme. They reported that an LGBT organisation called "Diverse" was also backing Mr Abubakar for president, considering him a truly "liberal candidate". A fake news story about a presidential candidate advocating for gay rights could be used to undermine them. Highly influential Muslim and Christian leaders in Nigeria, who were united in their support for the anti-gay legislation, could tell their followers not to vote for such a candidate. How do we know the story was fake? The Twitter account which was the source of the original story is not an official account for the politician Atiku Abubakar. This is his real account, verified with a blue tick by Twitter. There is also no evidence that the LGBT rights organisations quoted in the initial tweet, or the subsequent blogposts and newspaper articles, even exist. There are no official records of the organisations themselves, which would be illegal under Nigerian law anyway. And neither they nor their purported spokesperson (Spinky Victor Lee) existed online before the emergence of the first tweet in October, as detailed in this fact-check by the Agence France Press (AFP) news agency. 2. Top Kenya media personality shares fake praise What was the story? CNN business presenter Richard Quest was in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in October filming for his TV show. Former news anchor and media personality Julie Gichuru posted on her Twitter account on 25 October to discuss how much Mr Quest was apparently enjoying his time in Kenya. She posted the following quote, attributing it to Mr Quest. "Nothing beats the service industry in Kenya... Here I am surrounded by giraffes while having breakfast! In a country declared by the World Bank as the Preferred Investment Destination in Africa, what else can I ask for? KENYA IS MAGICAL!" What impact did it have? Julie has over a million followers on her verified Twitter account and 600,000 on Instagram, so within minutes thousands of people had seen what she had posted and believed it to be true. Many poked fun at her for falling for a hoax given her high profile and her long career in the media industry. How do we know the story was fake? The CNN journalist came across Julie's tweet and was quick to point out that he hadn't made any such statement. He replied to her original post. Ms Gichuru then had to go on Twitter to set the record straight to her followers, issuing a retraction and deleting her initial tweet. 3. Somalis 'pushed into shallow grave' in Ethiopia What was the story? In July, the US-based Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) station broadcast a video which it said showed ethnic Oromos in Ethiopia pushing the bodies of ethnic Somalis into a shallow grave. It claimed that the footage was taken in Ethiopia's Oromia region, where there has been deadly violence between the two groups this year. What impact did it have? The BBC's Afaan Oromo language service reported that the widespread circulation of the video on social media in Ethiopia resulted in deadly attacks on ethnic Oromo people living in neighbouring Djibouti and Somalia. Oromo refugees in neighbouring Djibouti told the BBC that they had been beaten and their shops looted because of the video. How do we know it was fake? The same unverified video was first shared in Cameroon, some 3,000km (1,800 miles) west of Ethiopia, in June, when it was said to relate to the current conflict between Anglophone separatists and the government. The version of the video which aired on ESAT TV without being verified had apparently also been doctored, with audio of what were supposedly Oromo youths chanting inserted on top of the video's original sound. As soon as it realised the video was fake, ESAT removed it from its platforms and issued an official apology on its YouTube channel. There is no suggestion that ESAT TV doctored the video or broadcast it knowing it was fake. Correction 23 November: This article has been updated to make it clear that ESAT TV was not responsible for doctoring the footage, or that it knowingly broadcast a fake video. 4. South African President Jacob Zuma's "resignation" What was the story? On 12 February, a correspondent for South Africa's national broadcaster SABC reported that then-President Jacob Zuma had agreed to resign. Citing "authoritative sources", Tshepo Ikaneng broke the story during a live report outside a high-level meeting of members from the ruling African National Congress (ANC), who were discussing his future. Another South African journalist uploaded the announcement on Twitter. Mr Zuma had been under immense pressure over multiple corruption scandals and had faced repeated calls from his party to step down. The country was waiting on news of his possible resignation. What impact did it have? The South African rand, which had gained about 1% on the expectation that Mr Zuma would resign on 12 February, gave up some of its gains after the spokesman dismissed the SABC report. Do we know it was fake? Mr Zuma's spokesperson came out to deny the reports, saying they were "fake news". But three days later, Mr Zuma resigned - this time for real. 5. Tanzanian leader 'backs polygamy to end prostitution' What was the story? An article claiming Tanzanian President John Magufuli had told men to marry more than one wife as a way to end prostitution went viral. It said that the president had addressed a "conference of about 14,000 men" telling them that "out of approximately 70 million Tanzanians, 40 million are women and only 30 million are men." This scarcity of men was leading to an increase in prostitution and adultery among women, the article claimed the president had said. What impact did it have? The initial story published in the English language Zambia Observer website in February 2018 didn't create much of a stir. But it was only when it was published in Swahili, the national language of Tanzania, on a website called nipasheonline.com that the story really started to gain momentum. From there it was posted on the popular JamiiForums website, where it became a hot topic of discussion and spread to other news websites in Kenya, Zambia, South Africa and Ghana. How do we know it was fake? Tanzania's official government spokesperson condemned the story on Twitter in Swahili, saying the president never uttered such remarks and people should ignore them. A fact-check by BBC Swahili exposed further reasons we know the article was untrue. In the fake article, "Mr Magufuli" refers to a population of 70 million, with 10 million more women than men. But the latest UN estimates put the total population of Tanzania at just under 60 million, with no substantial gender disparity. The website where the fake article was posted may also have sounded familiar to readers of the prominent Tanzanian newspaper Nipashe. But it has no connection to the real website for that newspaper, whose official home on the web is https://www.ippmedia.com/sw/nipashe. This story is part of a series by the BBC on disinformation and fake news - a global problem challenging the way we share information and perceive the world around us. To see more stories and learn more about the series visit www.bbc.co.uk/beyondfakenews

अफ्रीका में फेक न्यूज के प्रसार को जातीय हिंसा भड़काने, मतदाताओं के बीच भ्रम पैदा करने और यहां तक कि मुद्रा में उतार-चढ़ाव के लिए भी दोषी ठहराया गया है। जैसे ही बीबीसी ने अफ्रीका में फेक न्यूज पर बड़ा नया शोध शुरू किया, हम उन पांच झूठी कहानियों को तोड़ते हैं जिन्होंने पिछले 12 महीनों में महाद्वीप पर बड़ा प्रभाव डाला।


'How Pokémon Go has changed my life'

Summary: Pokémon Go was a record-breaking phenomenon when it launched in 2016, tempting gamers out of their homes to capture cute and colourful "creatures" outdoors. While some of its original players may have moved on to virtual pastures new, many others have continued to play, making it a permanent part of their lives.

By Susie RackBBC News 'I'm reversing my diabetes' Retired couple Pauline and Robin Tarry, from Earlsdon, Coventry, go to some lengths to stalk their prey. They play Pokémon Go for up to five hours a day, walking about 30 miles (50km) a week, and regularly take part in so-called Community Days. "We've been out at silly o'clock, we've been down the road at 1am to go in for a "Gym", so we've had extra exercise," said Mrs Tarry, 65. Mr Tarry, who was diagnosed with diabetes five years ago, has lost three stone and is on the cusp of remission, which would mean stopping medication. "My blood sugars are almost at pre-diagnosis level," added the 63-year-old. "I'm pleased but I can't get complacent." The couple are now constantly on the look out for rare releases, even when on holiday. "It was a Community Day... we were on a Greek ferry in the middle of the sea. We put "incense" on in the hope that we could catch something and we did," said Mrs Tarry, describing the mist players can activate to draw monsters out. The hobby has introduced them to new friends, some of whom they met during "raids". "We always have a social drink every Christmas. Last year there was some new Pokémon out and there were like 20 of us sitting in the pub and there was a new [creature] we could see in the distance," said Mr Tarry, a former English teacher. "Everyone took their phones and left Pauline just guarding the drinks while they ran down. We caught the new one and then went back to the drinking." What is Pokémon Go? 'Now I want to go out' Matthew Gibson, the proud collector of more than 500 Pikachu soft toys, "didn't want to go out much" before Pokémon Go launched. "I was like, 'mum it's a bit windy,'... or, 'mum it's a bit rainy,'... I didn't even want to go out in the sun because there was nothing to do," said 26-year-old Mr Gibson, who has cerebral palsy and autism. But he was "fantastically excited" when the game was released and says it has led him to places he would never have explored otherwise. "I've [found] things in my neighbourhood that I didn't know were there. I even go to places like the parks and the castles so I can do Pokémon while mum and dad are looking around." Mr Gibson's support worker Millie Knight has helped him set up a club at Drapers Bar and Kitchen in Coventry, where disabled gamers can meet once a month and swap trading cards. "Quite a few people with autism like Pokémon... it's a nice environment, we turn the music down and people can either play together or play separately," said Ms Knight. "It does help people go out in the community. It's just a really social thing." 'I can play with my grandson again' A year ago, Lesley Morgan would struggle to play with her six-year-old grandson, Sam, because she was "full of aches and pains." Then the youngster twisted her arm to download Pokémon Go when he stayed at her house on the outskirts of Coventry for the weekend. "[At first] I couldn't catch a thing," said the 65-year-old council IT worker. "Now it's me saying to him 'come on let's go and do this'." With the added bonus of a PokéStop two doors from her house, the gaming habit soon became "very regular" for Ms Morgan. Rewards for travelling long distances motivated her to start walking to work, catching Pokémon en-route. She began clocking up more than 30 miles (50km) a week and reducing her dependence on an inhaler. "My asthma nurse is so pleased I've got lungs again. I can run for the bus and not feel like I'm going to die. I've also gone down about two dress sizes." Sam is now the one she has to persuade to keep playing. "Sometimes when he's with me he can walk up to 6 miles (10km). He says, 'Grandma can we go home now? You're walking my feet off.'" You may also be interested in: 'It gave us new friends' "I never expected that I would meet other people through playing this game," says Shawnna Pomeroy, who moved to her husband's native West Midlands from California five years ago. She initially started hunting Pokémon with her nine-year-old old twin boys and 14-year-old step-son "to get the kids out and off iPads". But the Coventry University worker's own love for the game soon took over. "I was visiting my parents in the States once and I saw a dragonite nearby which is pretty rare... it's like I was more embarrassed about going out to catch a Pokémon than if I had been doing a drug deal," she joked. During a Community Day in Coventry she and her sons met the Sindon family. Her boys later pestered her to catch up again with their new friend, Milo, but realised they hadn't swapped numbers. "We found their house on Google maps and knocked on the door - since then we have been fast friends," said Mrs Pomeroy. "There are friends outside of Pokémon that really lead on to something special," added Rebecca Sindon. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

पोकेमॉन गो एक रिकॉर्ड तोड़ने वाली घटना थी जब इसे 2016 में लॉन्च किया गया था, जो गेमर्स को अपने घरों से बाहर सुंदर और रंगीन "जीवों" को पकड़ने के लिए लुभाता था। जबकि इसके कुछ मूल खिलाड़ी नए आभासी चरागाहों की ओर बढ़ गए होंगे, कई अन्य ने खेलना जारी रखा है, जिससे यह उनके जीवन का एक स्थायी हिस्सा बन गया है।


The five Alex Salmond row inquiries

Summary: Nicola Sturgeon and her government are facing multiple inquiries over the collapse of the investigation of former first minister Alex Salmond. How will these play out, and what might it all mean?

By Philip SimBBC Scotland News It's been quite a week. Last Tuesday, in the courtroom where he was sworn in as first minister, Alex Salmond scored a legal victory over the government he once led when it was forced to concede that it had acted unlawfully while investigating sexual harassment complaints against him. The row has since landed squarely on the doorstep of his successor, Nicola Sturgeon - literally, given the questions now being asked about meetings at her Glasgow home. In the seven days since Mr Salmond walked triumphant from the Court of Session, FOUR new inquiries have been set up to find out exactly what happened. All of those are in addition to ongoing police investigations. That is the only inquiry looking at the substance of the complaints, which Mr Salmond robustly rejects. An easy question, first - how did we get here? The short version is that two sexual harassment complaints were made to the government about Mr Salmond in January 2018, under a new complaints procedure drawn up by permanent secretary Leslie Evans, and signed off by Ms Sturgeon. Mr Salmond - who denies any criminality at any time - said the process was unfair, and launched a judicial review of how the complaints were investigated. He's also upset about how the whole matter became public - and to that end he has lodged a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office about the apparent leak of the allegations to the press. The government was initially up for contesting the judicial review. But days before the full hearing was meant to begin, it conceded that the investigating officer assigned to the inquiry had previously had some contact with the two women making the complaints, rendering the whole thing invalid. It's important to stress that none of this tells us anything at all about the merit or otherwise of the complaints - a separate police probe is ongoing into those, which means everything has so far, and is going to continue, to focus squarely on process. From day one, Mr Salmond was always clear that his issue was with Ms Evans, rather than his successor in Bute House. He was keen to make this point repeatedly outside the court, calling on her to consider her position over the government's "abject humiliation". An internal review is now examining exactly how said humiliation came about, and who is responsible. Shouldn't someone have noticed that the investigating officer had previously been in touch with both of the women making complaints, when the newly-minted rulebook expressly forbade this? The government's lawyers were keen to stress in court that the officer - a "dedicated HR professional" - would not be "held up as a sacrifice". So does that mean Ms Evans ultimately carries the can? Mr Salmond certainly thinks so. But as keen as he is to stress that he doesn't blame the first minister for the "botched mess" of a process, it is notable that Ms Sturgeon has placed herself squarely behind Ms Evans and that process - which, after all, she personally signed off. Ministerial code At Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon was quickly drawn into the row, after telling MSPs that she had discussed the inquiry with Mr Salmond on five separate occasions while it was still ongoing. After a couple of bruising Holyrood sessions where she was fairly peppered with questions by opposition leaders, the first minister referred herself to the independent advisers on the Scottish ministerial code, which Labour claim she has breached. And that wasn't the end of it - within days, a full parliamentary inquiry into the debacle had been confirmed, which unlike the code probe will take place in public. Ms Sturgeon insists she conducted herself appropriately throughout the matter. She may now be tasked with explaining this again and again in front of a whole series of inquiries. So, what's the deal with the ministerial code and those independent advisers? The idea of having such a system dates back to 2008, when an expert panel - initially comprising two former Holyrood presiding officers George Reid and David Steel - was appointed to adjudicate on complaints of ministerial wrongdoing. Currently, the independent advisers are a former Lord Advocate, Dame Elish Angiolini QC, and James Hamilton, a former director of public prosecutions in Ireland. Either one or both could be called on for this case. Ms Sturgeon has never faced an inquiry like this before, but Mr Salmond was all too used to them when he was first minister. He was referred to the advisers on six occasions, but was never found to have breached the code. These included several claims he had misled parliament during exchanges at weekly questions, complaints about him feting SNP party donors as first minister, and a row over legal advice about Scotland's potential membership of the European Union in the event of independence. What we can learn from these quite separate cases is that they take place behind closed doors, are quite tightly drawn in remit, and tend to last about three months from referral to report. This inquiry looks set to focus primarily on a meeting between Ms Sturgeon and Mr Salmond at her home in Glasgow on 2 April, 2018. This was the meeting where Ms Sturgeon says she was told about the complaints against Mr Salmond for the first time. It was arranged via talks between her chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, and Mr Salmond's old chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein. Mr Aberdein says himself and Ms Lloyd (and former SNP MSP Duncan Hamilton, a lawyer who later worked on Mr Salmond's judicial review) were all in the house for the meeting - but weren't "party to the conversation between Nicola and Alex". This brings us to the ministerial code, which states that "a private secretary or official should be present for all discussions relating to government business", and "the basic facts" of such meetings should be "recorded". The section of the code quoted by Labour in their complaint states that if ministers "find themselves discussing official business without an official present - for example at a party conference, social occasion on holiday - any significant content should be passed back to their private offices as soon as possible after the event, who should arrange for the basic facts of such meetings to be recorded". The first question that needs to be answered - and which might preclude many others - is whether the meetings between Ms Sturgeon and Mr Salmond constitute "discussions relating to government business". Ms Sturgeon insists that her discussions with her predecessor were strictly SNP business, between a party member and his leader. Opposition MSPs protest that they were talks between the leader of the government and a former leader of the government, facilitated by a government official, about a government investigation into complaints by government staff. If they weren't "government business", then it doesn't seem like there could have been any breach. Recorded meetings If they were, then that leads on to fresh questions - were any officials present? Ms Lloyd was seemingly in the house for the first meeting, but Mr Aberdein says she wasn't "party" to the talks. Next, were "the basic facts" of these meetings recorded? Ms Sturgeon flagged up the fact that she was aware of the investigation prior to the second meeting, on 7 June, and subsequent communications were all flagged up to officials. But what record is there of the meeting and the phone call that took place before that? This is what the independent advisers will be pondering. Here's one question we can answer, at least - if the advisers do decide there has been a breach, what might that mean? Looking back at the ministerial code, it underlines that "the first minister is the ultimate judge of the standards of behaviour expected of a minister and of the appropriate consequences of a breach of those standards". So the matter will remain largely in Ms Sturgeon's hands, as damaging as any finding against her would be. One thing that definitely won't be in the first minister's hands is the parliamentary inquiry. We don't know much yet about what MSPs will look at, although some have voiced confidence that Ms Sturgeon's meetings will form part of the remit. Parties have unanimously agreed that there should be an inquiry, at some point, and officials have gone away to think about how this would be structured. Holyrood's role A new committee would be set up - a question mark remains over who would be on it, and which party would get the chair - but not a huge amount else has been agreed. It might be some time before much is. The Lib Dems in particular have stressed that "the police investigation must be the priority", saying that the complaints "deserve to be thoroughly investigated by the police without political interference". It might be the case that parliament gets itself into position to hold an inquiry, but ultimately waits for the police investigation to run its course before taking any evidence. If nothing else, that emphasises that this won't be sorted out quickly. One last question. How big of a deal is this? To those outside the political bubble, it might all seem a bit procedural. With Westminster embroiled in the big Brexit conundrum and the Scottish government struggling to win support for its budget, is this really the burning issue of the day? Little things matter The problem is that in politics, it's often the little procedural things that get you. Henry McLeish lost his job as first minister over a point of procedure about the sub-letting of his constituency office - saying on his way out that he didn't want it to be a distraction to the "real and pressing business" of government. David McLetchie quit as Scottish Tory leader over taxi expenses. Wendy Alexander quit as Scottish Labour leader over an infringement on declaring donations which Holyrood's standards committee deemed worthy of a one-day ban from parliament. All of these inquiries mean one thing, this is not an issue that's going to go away quickly. It's guaranteed to become a saga, dragged out over months rather than weeks. Ms Sturgeon would far, far rather be talking about Brexit. Or the budget. Or, you know, the running of the country. Oh, and she's promised an update on a fresh Scottish independence referendum in the near future. Having this issue hanging around - an open question about her government's competence and her involvement in the debacle - is worse than a distraction. It's an open wound which her opponents won't hesitate to press into each and every time they want to inflict pain on her government.

निकोला स्टर्जन और उनकी सरकार को पूर्व प्रथम मंत्री एलेक्स सैल्मंड की जांच के पतन पर कई पूछताछों का सामना करना पड़ रहा है। ये कैसे काम करेंगे, और इन सब का क्या अर्थ हो सकता है?


Kamala Harris school plan: The two hours costing US parents thousands

Summary: Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris has proposed new legislation to address a thorny parental problem - how to care for children whose school days end hours before the workday. Journalist Kara Voght explains why it sparked such a reaction and how this issue affects parents worldwide.

In the US, the average school day is roughly seven hours long, beginning just after 8:00 and ending around 15:00, a vestige of an earlier era when it was less likely that both parents worked outside the home. Most schools begin their academic year in August and end it in June, with 180 schooldays in between. In the US, schools close for a two-day weekend and a handful of federal holidays, as well as an average of 29 addition days used for teachers' professional development, parent-teacher conferences, and additional vacation time. These specifications don't neatly align with the work demands most American parents face. Nearly 70% of parents with school-age children work a "9-to-5" schedule, and school closures during the year outpace what the average American has in holiday, vacation, and paid leave by nearly two weeks. Since fewer than half of all elementary schools offer after-school care, most parents either have to pay for private caregivers - which costs an average of $6,600 (£5,100) per year - or scale back their working hours to make up the difference. The professional sacrifice has typically fallen to mothers, a million of whom work less than full-time in order to provide caregiving responsibilities to elementary school-aged children. Low-income mothers and mothers of colour, whose jobs often grant less flexibility and time off, often shoulder even greater burdens that ask them to choose between caring for their children or having a job at all. Experts estimate that the United States loses $57bn in economic productivity each year thanks to the school calendar. Harris' proposal aims to address this discrepancy. Her bill, called the Family Friendly Schools Act, is a pilot programme that would give 500 schools that serve a high proportion of low-income families up to $5m dollars in grants to develop programming for students from at least 8:00 to 18:00 Monday through Friday. Schools would be expected to stay open every day of the school year except for weekends and federal holidays; if they want to close for any other reason, they need to provide a full day of enrichment activities for students. The longer day wouldn't require more classroom time, however; Harris imagines that school districts would work alongside community partners to develop "high-quality, culturally relevant, linguistically accessible, developmentally appropriate academic, athletic, or enrichment opportunities for students". In other words, this might be early, mid-day, or afternoon programming that looks more like after-school programmes that exist in some school districts now. Teachers and staff would not be expected to work more hours under Harris' vision; instead, the grant money would be used to hire additional staff or to pay teachers who volunteered to work more hours. When the news of Harris' proposal went live, the backlash was swift, ferocious, and, surprisingly bipartisan. Conservatives accused Harris of weakening the mandate of public education; National Review, a right-leaning magazine, took two swings at Harris' plan, asserting it would turn schools into daycare centres, destabilise community ties, and overexpose children to the exhausting social dynamics of their peers. Liberals, meanwhile, criticised Harris for finding a solution to what they think is the wrong problem. The school day isn't too short, they argued - the work day is too long, and children shouldn't have to bear the brunt of capitalistic ambitions by staying at school for extra hours. The concise criticisms on Twitter were even more scathing. For some, it was an issue of government overreach. "It is not, and should not be, the federal government's job to dictate local school hours," Matt Welch, editor at-large at Reason, a conservative magazine, said. "Teachers won't have enough time to Lyft and Doordash, though," one Twitter user wrote, a sarcastic flick at the fact that teachers increasingly pick up additional gig economy jobs to make up for stagnant wages (even though Harris' plan explicitly would not require teachers to take on any additional responsibilities). Others took issue with how Harris framed her argument. "Whose idea was it to pitch a pilot programme funding after-school activities as an extension of the 'school day'?" New Republic writer Osita Nwanevu wrote. "The bill literally bars teachers from working additional hours unless they volunteer." Though most of the outrage and jubilation had been directed at Harris and the politics of the Democratic primary, the reactions to this phenomenon were nothing new. A previous article I wrote for The Atlantic that called attention to the scheduling discrepancies went viral as it elicited a similar set of responses. Some motherhood-focused publications lauded the piece for naming a problem working mothers acutely felt. Others, like famed American psychologist and author Adam Grant, called for a shortening of the workday. "We can be as productive and creative in six focused hours as in eight unfocused hours," he wrote on Twitter. A worldwide parental plight The plight of the American working parent is a familiar one around the world, and countries have tried to address it to varying degrees. The UK has similar parameters on its school year and day - students attend school for 190 days per year and days generally run from 9:00 to 15:00. But like the US, schools generally don't provide free after-school care, leaving parent similarly scrambling for options. In Germany, students attend school for a brief five-hour day that begins around 8:00 and ends around 13:00. French students, who only attend school for 162 days a year, have a day that closely mirrors the French workday. They're in school from roughly 8:30 to 16:30, but get two breaks and a lunch period that lasts at least an hour and half. In both countries, nation subsidies help to pay for before- or after-school care available to most parents. In general, European nations also offer substantially more vacation time than the US. The European experience offers a sharp contrast to some Asian countries, where students spend much more time in school. School is in session in China from September to mid-July for a whopping 245 days per year. Their school days run long, from 7:30 to 17:00, but have a long two-hour lunch break in the middle. Parents, too, work long days, and care for children after-school historically fell to grandparents. These days, parents increasingly pay for expensive after-school tutoring to give their children an academic edge on their peers. The correlation between school day length and students' productivity is a tenuous one. China outperformed the US and European countries on an international assessment of students' science, maths, and reading, but not by much. Kara Voght is a journalist with Mother Jones based in Washington DC. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Nieman Storyboard, and Politico.

डेमोक्रेटिक राष्ट्रपति पद की दावेदार कमला हैरिस ने माता-पिता की एक कांटेदार समस्या को दूर करने के लिए नए कानून का प्रस्ताव रखा है-उन बच्चों की देखभाल कैसे की जाए जिनके स्कूल के दिन कार्यदिवस से कुछ घंटे पहले समाप्त हो जाते हैं। पत्रकार कारा वोग्ट बताती हैं कि इसने ऐसी प्रतिक्रिया क्यों पैदा की और यह मुद्दा दुनिया भर में माता-पिता को कैसे प्रभावित करता है।


Coronavirus doctor's diary: Will Covid be with us forever, like flu?

Summary: The antibodies that protect against infection with Covid-19 fade over time, so it's likely that vaccination will not provide a permanent defence. Covid could become an illness like flu, says Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary - one that flares up in society at regular intervals, and that people have more than once.

Four million people in the UK have now tested positive for Covid and one of the burning questions they are asking is: will they get it again? Some viral infections such as measles, mumps or chickenpox only infect us once. They trigger an immune response that provides a lifetime of antibody protection. Some viruses such as flu are masters of disguise, mutating rapidly to escape the detection from our immune surveillance. Other viruses like the common cold, and other endemic coronaviruses, have forgettable faces that fade from our immune memory and come back to visit us year after year. Just before Christmas I wrote about my surprise at having a possible reinfection with Covid. With 100 million people infected worldwide the number of reinfections appeared to be vanishingly small. As medical students we immerse ourselves in textbooks full of rare and exotic diseases and in our innocence we then spend our early years diagnosing them in all the patients that we see, only to be gently reminded by our teachers that what is common is common. There is an old medical aphorism for this: when you hear hoofbeats, don't look for zebras. So when I received my positive PCR result, my first instinct was to ignore the zebra and assume that my first positive antibody test, last summer, had found antibodies arising from common seasonal coronaviruses similar to Covid, not from Covid itself. Results from the recent national Siren study have made me rethink. Back at the start of the pandemic Susan Hopkins, an infectious diseases expert, realised that lots of healthcare workers were getting infected, but the lack of testing availability meant that they did not have confirmed PCR (antigen) results. She was being asked about the risk of reinfection and the possibility of issuing "antibody passports" that would allow people who had recovered from Covid to carry on their normal lives. She realised that she didn't have the answers and so did what all good scientists do, set up a research study, which got under way in June. Healthcare workers were among the most at risk during the first wave, so provide a rich soup to study Covid infections. She and her team devised a study of 10,000 NHS staff to follow up for 12 months and as the urgency of the research grew, the study expanded to include 50,000 staff all across the UK. Those in the study, which is still continuing, get PCR and antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2 every two to four weeks. In the first set of results, published in January, about one-third of them turned out to have antibodies for the virus, confirming previous infection during the first wave of the pandemic, and the remaining two-thirds had remained clear of infection. Susan Hopkins found that almost 1% of staff who had evidence of prior infection became reinfected in just the initial five months of the study. Most of these staff had been asymptomatic in their first infection, and so probably had mild infections with immune responses that that faded quickly, but about 25% had a full Covid syndrome and yet still got reinfected. So the severity of the initial illness did not necessarily protect against subsequent infection. Crucially, the study also highlighted that previous infection did not prevent the risk of future transmission of the virus. The study also found that some people lose their antibodies really quickly, and others lose them more slowly over time. These results are likely to be a precursor of what happens to our antibodies with vaccines, and so it is becoming clearer that we are unlikely to reach zero Covid. Rather, we will see ongoing outbreaks as our immunity waxes and wanes. One analogy being used foresees the current forest fire of cases becoming a bonfire, then a pile of smouldering embers, and after that just smoke - followed by small fires sparking up, perhaps in the winter months. Previous infection or vaccination will not necessarily protect you. It may become a feature of lives, like seasonal flu. Front-line diary Prof John Wright, a doctor and epidemiologist, is head of the Bradford Institute for Health Research, and a veteran of cholera, HIV and Ebola epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. He is writing this diary for BBC News and recording from the hospital wards for BBC Radio. This is likely to be an unsettling thought for those who had severe symptoms, for example Jennie Marshall-Hamad, a nurse manager in charge of a female Covid ward. When I last wrote about Jennie, in April, she had sent her four-year-old boy, Zedi, to live with her mother in order to dedicate herself to her work. A month later she caught the virus. She was unwell for two weeks, and had begun to recover when fatigue and breathing problems set in, keeping her off work for more than three months. She's still attending the long Covid clinic and taking care to get enough rest between shifts. "I've never been poorly in my life and it's such a big thing that's affected me massively," she says. The vaccine provides a degree of confidence. Jennie says she feels safer on the wards, but she remains careful. Like other hospital staff, she takes lateral flow tests twice a week "to reassure us that we're OK" and she still only sees her grandparents - who are in their 90s - from the garden. Eighty per cent of the staff on her ward have now had Covid, Jennie says, and they will all by now have had the vaccination too. So how will this combination of immune challenges - infection and vaccination - affect risk of future infection? The Siren study should be able to tell us this, while also showing how single doses of vaccines differ from two doses. It will also be able to investigate the risk of reinfection with new variants such as the Kent variant and help us understand to what extent our immune response to one type of virus protects us against others. But it seems highly likely that as more variants emerge across the world, the genetic mutations in the virus will make it a moving target for our body's defence system, and for vaccine manufacturers. Follow @docjohnwright, radio producer @SueM1tchell and @hamad_jm on Twitter

ब्रैडफोर्ड रॉयल इन्फर्मरी के डॉ. जॉन राइट कहते हैं कि कोविड-19 के संक्रमण से बचाव करने वाले एंटीबॉडी समय के साथ फीके पड़ जाते हैं, इसलिए यह संभावना है कि टीकाकरण एक स्थायी सुरक्षा प्रदान नहीं करेगा। कोविड फ्लू जैसी बीमारी बन सकती है, जो नियमित अंतराल पर समाज में भड़कती है, और लोगों को एक से अधिक बार होती है।


Sri Lanka rebels urged to negotiate

Summary: The Sri Lankan defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has urged the Tamil Tiger guerrillas to return to peace talks.

President Rajapaksa's younger brother has told Sunday Island that the government would not continue its military offensive against the LTTE if they resumed negotiations. The defence secretary said a negotiated political settlement would not be feasible as long as the Tamil Tigers retained the ability to launch attacks. He also ruled out any settlement that granted them the right to carry weapons. The defence secretary's remarks came the day before President Mahinda Rajapakse is due to make a speech at the United Nations.

श्रीलंका के रक्षा सचिव गोटाभाया राजपक्षे ने तमिल टाइगर गुरिल्लाओं से शांति वार्ता में लौटने का आग्रह किया है।


Carney: interest rates permanently lower

Summary: At a lunch for business leaders in Davos, Mark Carney made some remarks which showed that he does not want interest rates to rise for some time yet, even though unemployment is very close to the level where the Bank of England would in theory start to evaluate whether it is time for the cost of money to increase.

Robert PestonEconomics editor The governor of the Bank of England said that the central bank now believes that the unemployment rate consistent with stability in inflation is lower than it believed last summer. Then it took the view that there might start to be inflationary movements in wages once the unemployment rate fell to 6.5% - which is not to be confused with the 7% threshold for the Bank to start reviewing interest rates as part of its so-called "forward guidance" policy. Mr Carney said: "It now seems likely that the rate of unemployment consistent with stable inflation in the medium term is somewhat lower than the MPC assessed back in August." Although Mr Carney did not say what level of unemployment the Bank now saw as likely to have inflationary consequences, he will be seen as indicating that if he gets his way, the Bank's policy rate will stay at the record low of 0.5% for many months yet. I say "if he gets his way" because he is only one of the voting members of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, or MPC, and I am told that some members are beginning to think it might be wise to start raising interest rates, albeit gently. The current unemployment rate is 7.1% - and it has been falling sharply through 2013. Mr Carney also said: "The level of interest rates necessary to sustain low unemployment and price stability will be somewhat lower than before the crisis. "In the jargon, the equilibrium real interest rate, which has been negative for much of the period since the crisis, will eventually turn positive again, but it is likely to remain well below historical norms." Defended The persistence of low interest rates for years to come reflects the mountain of debt that was accumulated in the UK during the boom years - and the fact that non-bank debt in aggregate, namely business, government and household debts, have continued to rise since then. The former US Treasury Secretary, Larry Summers, has argued recently that for many of the developed economies, real interest rates - interest rates minus the inflation rate - may have to remain negative for many years. Mr Carney also defended the "forward guidance" policy he introduced in the summer, even though an important element of that guidance, the unemployment threshold, looks set to be breached much earlier than the Bank expected. He said the Bank's forward guidance had through the autumn given confidence to households and businesses that interest rates would remain low and stable, which had contributed to the current strength of the UK's economic recovery. Mr Carney said that the Bank would evaluate whether to change elements of its forward guidance in its February Inflation Report.

दावोस में व्यापारिक नेताओं के लिए दोपहर के भोजन पर, मार्क कार्नी ने कुछ टिप्पणियां कीं जो दर्शाती हैं कि वह अभी कुछ समय के लिए ब्याज दरों में वृद्धि नहीं चाहते हैं, भले ही बेरोजगारी उस स्तर के बहुत करीब है जहां बैंक ऑफ इंग्लैंड सैद्धांतिक रूप से मूल्यांकन करना शुरू कर देगा कि क्या यह पैसे की लागत बढ़ाने का समय है।


Three Brighton charged under new squatting criminal law

Summary: Three men have appeared in court charged under new anti-squatting legislation following a police raid on a flat in London Road, Brighton.

Alistair Cannell, 22, Tobias Sedwick, 22, and Dirk Duputell, 29, all of Brighton, were all charged with squatting in a residential building. The men, who are unemployed, are also accused of abstracting electricity and obstructing a police officer. Brighton magistrates bailed them to appear at the same court on 30 October. Related Internet Links Court Service

लंदन रोड, ब्राइटन में एक फ्लैट पर पुलिस की छापेमारी के बाद नए स्क्वाटिंग विरोधी कानून के तहत तीन लोगों को अदालत में पेश किया गया है।


E Make Brain! Emojis for Africa

Summary: Emoticons have become a staple for African mobile phone users, just as they have in the rest of the world. But anybody who has tried to say "please, don't make me laugh" with an an emoji will know a bright yellow smiley is not always up to the job. A new range of emoticons aimed squarely at Africans aims to solve that problem.

By Jason CaffreyBBC World Service "We tried to create an African app, that actually has really strong images - this is Disney quality animation here," Nigerian-American developer Ayoola Daramola told the BBC. His newly launched line of emojis - which sit in his app, Afroemojis - features men and women dressed in colourful African clothes, and local expressions in pidgin English, such as "Chai!" ("Wow!"), "Correct!" ("Great job!") and "No dulling!" ("Don't be slow!"). According to the US-based Pew Research Center, text messaging remains the most common activity for mobile phone users in Africa, and Mr Daramola says his Afrocentric emojis will fill a gap in the market by allowing users to express themselves using characters they can identify with, and everyday local phrases that mean more to them. Guide to West African pidgin •E make brain - It makes sense •Abeg no vex - Please don't be annoyed •Drop something - Tip some cash •How market? - How is business? •Oya shake body - Dance •U Don See Alert? - Have you seen the bank alert? •The parri don start? - Has the party started yet? •Wasere - You did great •Yawa don gas - We have a problem •U dey crase? - Are you crazy? Impressed by the high adoption rate that mobile phones have enjoyed across the African continent, he wanted to create an app that responded to the rapidly changing way Africans are communicating with each other, both at home and abroad. "This is basically 'send me an African-looking image', right? But I think the evolution of apps and cellphones is going to get a lot more localised. "You're going to have African apps that are really localised, African-based, really really local to you - chatting applications, video-chat applications, even mobile money-sending apps," Mr Daramola says. The mobile phones that Africans use have typically been designed and built in California or South Korea, and often the apps that run on them don't engage directly with African users - leaving a gap that Mr Daramola is trying to exploit with Afroemojis. And although his company is based in the US, he says Afroemojis is an African enterprise. Ayoola Daramola spoke to Newsday on the BBC World Service - listen to his interview here "It's a business and at the end of the day you do have to make a return on your investment," he says. "But you know, you hear this about Africa, you hear the other about Africa - but actually capturing things like this and making it look this good, it's just a step in the right direction for Africa as a whole. "It's a good technological step to show that we're not just dependent on everything else created outside of Africa. But we can actually do it from inside." As important as the images, is the African-English slang Mr Daramola's emoticons use. His hope is that Africans will prefer to use a character that says "Any better?", rather than one that asks "Anything good for me?". And while the 50 characters currently available are predominantly West African, he wants to expand the range of emojis to reflect different African cultures. Mr Daramola's hope is that millions of people will use and share his emoticons. But that may take a while. So far, he says, the app has had about 5,000 downloads on android, and on iOS, which is far less widespread in Africa, about 2,000. "We just launched," he says, "so it's to just watch it actually grow over time."

अफ्रीकी मोबाइल फोन उपयोगकर्ताओं के लिए इमोटिकॉन्स मुख्य बन गए हैं, जैसा कि उन्होंने बाकी दुनिया में किया है। लेकिन जिसने भी इमोजी के साथ "कृपया, मुझे हँसाएं नहीं" कहने की कोशिश की है, उसे पता चल जाएगा कि एक चमकीले पीले रंग की स्माइली हमेशा काम नहीं करती है। अफ्रीकियों को लक्षित करने वाले इमोटिकॉन्स की एक नई श्रृंखला का उद्देश्य उस समस्या को हल करना है।


Guernsey 'prepared' for blockade, says harbour master

Summary: Contingencies are in place in case Jersey fishermen go ahead with a threatened blockade of St Peter Port, Guernsey's harbour master has said.

Jersey fishermen claim introducing a 12-mile limit around Guernsey would threaten their livelihoods. Captain Peter Gill said the threat from Jersey meant a plan was in place, but to reveal details could jeopardise it. The island's main harbour has been blockaded by fishermen before, notably in 1997 by a fleet from Normandy. Currently there is a three-mile protection limit around the island, but a deal was agreed with the UK to extend it to 12 miles. Jersey Fishermen have expressed anger they were not consulted while this deal was negotiated.

ग्वेर्नसे के हार्बर मास्टर ने कहा है कि यदि जर्सी के मछुआरे सेंट पीटर पोर्ट की धमकी भरी नाकाबंदी के साथ आगे बढ़ते हैं तो आकस्मिकताएं हैं।


Murder accused in court after woman found injured in Castleford dies

Summary: A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a woman who was found seriously injured at a house.

Rebecca Simpson, 30, died in hospital on Monday after being found in Smawthorne Grove, Castleford. She was treated at Wakefield's Pinderfields hospital and later at Leeds General Infirmary where she died. Ricky Knott, 32, of Arnside Close, Castleford, appeared before Leeds magistrates and is due to appear at Leeds Crown Court on 2 September. More stories from Yorkshire Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.

एक आदमी एक महिला की हत्या के आरोप में अदालत में पेश हुआ है जो एक घर में गंभीर रूप से घायल पाई गई थी।


'Why economists get things wrong'

Summary: Economists have had a hard time in recent years, with Conservative politician Michael Gove famously saying that people were tired of "experts" during the Brexit campaign, branding them "distant", "unaccountable" and "elitist".

By Szu Ping ChanBusiness reporter, BBC News Today, trust in economists is barely above that of politicians. "Economists are always saying on the one hand - but then on the other hand," says Esther Duflo, professor of poverty alleviation and development economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). "That's why people are always looking for a one-armed economist," she jokes, quoting former US President Harry Truman's reputed comment. But Prof Duflo, who recently won the Nobel Prize in economics alongside her MIT colleague and husband Prof Abhijit Banerjee, and Harvard's Prof Michael Kremer, has certainly come off the fence in a new book that hits out at some of economists' prized myths. In Good Economics for Hard Times, Profs Duflo and Banerjee grapple with how to deal with some of the 21st Century's biggest challenges, and argue that economists are more important than ever in today's polarised world. What motivates us? Conventional economic theory doesn't focus on what people actually care about, they say. Money matters, but in reality people are more concerned about "purpose, belonging and dignity" than in making a few extra dollars - even when times are tough. This is a "huge blind spot in economics", says Prof Duflo, speaking to the BBC as economists often assume people will respond very strongly to financial incentives. Conventional economics maintains that "if you are in a job working in a clothes factory in some small town in the US, and that job vanishes because of competition from China, you will pack up and go miles away and take a job selling new clothes in a shop," she says. And it is not just economists. A separate study of 10,000 Americans by the husband and wife team showed 62% of respondents think the jobless should move to find work - even if the job on offer is 200 miles away. Yet when asked if they themselves would move for a job, only 52% said yes. Of those who were unemployed, only a third said they were willing to move. In reality many people don't move even after a factory has closed down. Money does play a role; moving house may be too costly, or any pay rise might be eroded by higher living costs, says Prof Duflo. And US population mobility is certainly decreasing. In 1985, census figures showed nearly 20% of Americans had moved house in the previous 12 months, but by 2018, this figure had more than halved. But there are more compelling reasons not to move, she says. A New York Federal Reserve study shows around half of Americans remain attached to where they grew up. This "rooted" group are disproportionately white, older, married and live in rural areas. "When bad news arrives in the form of greater competition from outside, instead of embracing it and moving resources to their best possible use, there is a tendency to hunker down and hope the problem will go away on its own," write Profs Duflo and Banerjee. "Workers are laid off, retiring workers are not replaced, and wages start to drift down. Business owners take a big hit on their profits, loans get renegotiated, all in order to preserve as much as possible of the status quo." More trade good? The idea that more trade is good is "deeply engrained" in many economists, says Prof Duflo. For example, when the US imposed thousands of tariffs on goods in the 1930s, over a thousand economists wrote to President Hoover asking him to veto the bill. Even today, the threat of tariffs sends wobbles through stock markets. Yet Prof Duflo cites research by MIT academics Arnaud Costinot and Andrés Rodríguez-Clare that shows that the gains to the US from trade are about 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP). "This is really not a lot," she says. "The truth is, if the US were to go back to complete autarky [not trading with anybody] it would be poorer. But not that much poorer." But not everyone agrees. Douglas Irwin, a trade historian and professor of economics at Dartmouth College, says the gains to the US from trade in Costinot's research, range from 1.8-10.3% of GDP. "Something like 10% is nothing trivial," says Prof Irwin. "I would say historical experience has shown that trade reforms in developing countries have improved their economic performance and resulted in significant poverty reduction." Prof Duflo says while countries like China have benefited massively from trade - the experience of other countries has been mixed. China has built a reputation for being able to make things cheaply, quickly, and reliably - making it harder for smaller countries like Ethiopia or Egypt to compete - even as Chinese living standards keep rising. Higher or lower taxes? Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to introduce a "fairer" tax system if he becomes the next UK prime minister. Labour has vowed to make the rich pay more tax, and some party members have even suggested there should be no billionaires in this country. Prof Duflo says the evidence suggests that rich people don't suddenly stop working because of higher taxes, but adds that just taxing the wealthy more won't necessarily generate extra revenue. "For example, if taxes on people making more than £500,000 a year are very high then companies will not feel the need to pay them those very high wages in the first place - because they would just go to the Treasury's coffers anyway." But slashing taxes isn't the answer either. In their book, Profs Duflo and Banerjee cite a US example when Republican leaders in Kansas passed deep tax cuts in 2012 in the hope these would spur the economy. The opposite happened. The state was left without enough money to pay for public services, and officials were forced to cut the school week to just four days. Prof Duflo says higher tax rates have to be matched by better services or targeted help for those who need it most. "Policymakers need to look at policies that will help the person who has lost their job in a factory because they got replaced by robots or because the the item is now made in China. "Unless we have a successful answer to this question, then just taxing the rich is not going to help because it's not going to make those people less angry." Listen to an extended interview with Esther Duflo on Business Daily for the BBC World Service.

अर्थशास्त्रियों को हाल के वर्षों में एक कठिन समय का सामना करना पड़ा है, जिसमें रूढ़िवादी राजनेता माइकल गोव ने प्रसिद्ध रूप से कहा कि लोग ब्रेक्सिट अभियान के दौरान "विशेषज्ञों" से थक गए थे, उन्हें "दूर", "गैर-जिम्मेदार" और "अभिजात्य" करार दिया।