The turbulent life story of Bhutan's happiness guru

Summary: In the 1970s, the king of Bhutan announced that the happiness of the population was more important than Gross Domestic Product. Saamdu Chetri has been charged with overseeing Bhutan's happiness - but his own life has had its share of suffering.

By Candida BeveridgeBBC World Service, Bhutan On the banks of a river in the remote Bumthang valley in the foothills of the Himalayas, Bhutan's first happiness centre is under construction. Among the workers breaking stones is Saamdu Chetri, dressed in monks' robes, wielding a pickaxe. At first the workers were puzzled at his hands-on involvement, he says. "Then they realised it's not just for them, I'm helping myself by being physically fit." Chetri chose this remote location because of its spiritual history and its beauty. "It's one of the most beautiful valleys in the country," he says. "This is a place of happiness for me where I find so much relation with nature - the place itself is so serene." For a man charged with bringing happiness to a nation, Chetri has suffered much in his life and comes from the most humble beginnings. "I was born in a cowshed," he says. "I was so attached to animals, plants - anything to do with nature. "My parents never thought about schooling. We had seven brothers and four sisters, they were all working and I thought I would also be one of the working persons." To his surprise, when he was nine years old his brother took him to school - something that worried his father a great deal. "I was the most loved child and they didn't want me to leave the house," Chetri says. "My father was very worried that I would become weak, so he sent a cow with me to school." He laughs at the memory. "Of course the cow couldn't stay long because it had to be fed and looked after, so he took back the cow and he started visiting me with a lot of butter, cheese and milk." He left school at the age of 14 because his brothers and sisters had left home and he felt a duty to help his parents. His day on the farm began at 04:00 when he would walk a kilometre to fetch water, after which he would feed the ox and begin to plough. Find out more He decided to carry on his education, but his life changed dramatically when his parents took him on a pilgrimage to Nepal. There, they befriended another family who had their eyes on Chetri as a potential son-in-law. He was only 15 at the time and knew nothing about it. Their intentions only became clear when one of the men from the Nepalese family invited them all to a family wedding. "The man took me to town, then they started measuring my finger - I said, 'What are you doing with my finger?'" The man explained that he was only trying the ring on because he was the same size as a boy who was going to get married the next day - the same happened with the wedding outfit. The following day the wedding ceremony began. Two ceremonial places were built, and Chetri and another boy were placed next to two empty chairs. "Then suddenly there are two men carrying two girls on their backs, coming towards us. One girl sat beside that boy, the other girl sat beside me. I tried getting up and they pushed me down on the chair," says Chetri. "Then my mum came and said, 'Sorry son, you have been duped.' "I felt I was dead - I wanted to die that moment. I was not only angry, I was so hurt. I couldn't do anything." Once the ceremony began, it was too late to escape. The couple were given a small hut to retire to, but Chetri was too upset to sleep. "I wanted to jump into the well and die, because this was something that I never expected my parents to do," he says. Chetri was climbing up to the well to carry out his plan when his wife's father caught him from behind, and broke into bitter tears. "Please don't blame your parents, it's me who has cheated everybody, because I found you would be a great husband for my daughter," the father said. Tradition He begged Chetri to think of his young bride. "If you die now, the repercussion that will happen on this little girl is that she will be widowed and nobody will marry her after that." Chetri and his wife had children, and she lived at home with her parents while he continued his education at college in India. However, traumatised by events in her own life, one day she disappeared, leaving Chetri with two young children. A female friend from college offered to help. Over time, their relationship grew, and they married. After a while his first wife came home. Chetri was faced with a dilemma. His first wife offered to go and live with his parents, but soon disappeared again. It was 19 years before Chetri discovered where she was. Now she is back in her home country, Nepal, and lives with a mental illness. It's something Chetri struggles with. "I still think about her, in fact last night I was praying for her." Despite his own share of personal grief, nowadays Chetri always has a smile on his face. He says he's a naturally happy person, but he never dreamt he would end up as the man responsible for Bhutan's happiness. His rise up through the ranks started when, freshly out of college, he was called on by government to bring about the the king's wish to develop Bhutan's newly emerging private sector. Working for the royal family wasn't an easy task. "For us, a king's wish is a command," he says. "You have to work very hard to meet their expectations." He would often work until 03:00, catch a few hours' sleep at home and be back at work promptly at 08:00. If he made a mistake, he would be punished - on one occasion the king's aunt called him and said, "Saamdu, I'm coming with a stick. Stand on the roadside." "If I got a scolding I would cry," says Chetri. "I always tried to be very straightforward, working as sincerely and loyally as I could, and if some blame came to me I felt always hurt - so I cried often." After many years of working in the capital, he retired to his village in the south of Bhutan - he wanted to go back to living among nature, which he had loved as a boy. But it was not to be. When Bhutan elected its first democratic government, he was summoned back to the capital, Thimphu, and asked to work for the cabinet office of Bhutan's first, freshly elected democratic government. Five years later he was the man chosen to head up Bhutan's first Gross National Happiness Centre based in Thimpu. Despite the focus on national wellbeing, Bhutan faces huge challenges. It remains one of the poorest nations on the planet. A quarter of its 800,000 people survive on less than $1.25 a day, and 30% live without electricity. It is struggling with a rise in mental illness and divorce. Chetri explained how Bhutan's nationwide happiness surveys are used to improve people's lives. "The research could come out and say: women between the ages of 30 and 55 are unhappy. The reasons could be because they have very little education, because they lose a lot of time collecting water from distant places, they have to collect firewood, and they have no education, no time for themselves." The solutions might be to bring on formal education, pipe the water closer to their villages, and provide efficient cooking stoves. Principles Five years after it was first announced, Chetri is about to realise his dream of creating a centre in a beautiful natural setting where people from Bhutan and the rest of the world can come to learn how to lead happier lives. Visitors to the GNH centre, finished this month but officially opening its doors to the public on 18 October, will learn three basic principles - to be part of nature, to serve others with kindness and compassion, and to discover their innate value. Chetri starts every day meditating and it's compulsory for everyone in his office to start the day this way too. "I wish I did not need to do anything but just to sit here and meditate," he says. "I would love that, but it's difficult to be looking after a centre where you have to do a lot of planning, a lot of administrative work. It irritates me a lot." Saamdu Chetri appeared on Outlook on the BBC World Service. Listen again to the interview on iPlayer or get the Outlook podcast.

1970 के दशक में, भूटान के राजा ने घोषणा की कि जनसंख्या की खुशी सकल घरेलू उत्पाद से अधिक महत्वपूर्ण है। सामदू छेत्री पर भूटान की खुशी की देखरेख करने का आरोप लगाया गया है-लेकिन उनके अपने जीवन में पीड़ा का हिस्सा रहा है।


Wycombe Wanderers promotion: 'You can feel it in the town'

Summary: Wycombe Wanderers have reached the second tier of English football for the first time in their 133-year history after a dramatic play-off final victory. BBC News went to the Buckinghamshire town the morning after the night before to see what promotion means to the area.

By Kris Holland & Phil ShepkaBBC News High Wycombe has only had a Football League club since 1993 and the team, nicknamed the Chairboys, narrowly avoided dropping out again on a dramatic final day of the season six years ago. But at a near-empty Wembley Stadium on Monday night, Joe Jacobson's penalty gave them a 2-1 victory over Oxford United in the League One play-off final. "The final whistle went and literally brought me to tears, the amount of stuff the club has been through," said 16-year-old Aston Bowring, who was still celebrating in the Buckinghamshire town on Tuesday. "You can kind of feel it in the town, we've already had people coming up and asking us how the game went. "We've put Wycombe on the map, we weren't on the map before." The promotion has certainly put Wycombe on the map, typified by Premier League winners Liverpool's manager Jurgen Klopp recording a message for striker Adebayo Akinfenwa following his memorable post-match interview. The outbreak of coronavirus suspended the end of the League One season, but Wycombe - who were eighth at the time - made the play-offs when the final standings were decided on average points-per-game. James Crawley, who watched the game in his garden, said "people needed something" to hold on to during the pandemic. "I spent the whole time just looking forward to the play-offs, as soon as it was announced everyone was like 'we can get through this - it's only four weeks to the play-offs', then sure enough it's counting down," he said. Wycombe - who were only promoted to the division in 2018 - began the season as one of the candidates for relegation back to League Two, but instead they will be facing teams with Premier League pedigree, players and stadiums to match next year. Mr Crawley, 21, said: "Even getting to League One and staying up was huge, and now we're in the Championship which is crazy. "We have a 10,000-seater stadium, there's silly money in the Championship and we'll be there with a fairly modest budget." Businesses in High Wycombe, like everywhere else in the UK, are coming to terms with how best to move forward as the coronavirus lockdown continues to ease. Melanie Williams, chief executive of High Wycombe Business Improvement District, said that footfall in the town had been "quiet" and they had expected the centre to be busier. She said she hoped promotion would "encourage people to come back to town and shop, trade locally again and celebrate together". "We've been in a period of international lockdown and international crisis as we know and we saw in that time a huge amount of community solidarity," she said. "We've been thinking a lot about how we can recover. I think this [promotion] just comes at a moment in time when we really want something to celebrate but also build on that community that we have seen be so effective." Say High to Wycombe Sources: Visit Buckinghamshire, Bucks County Museum, Health and Wellbeing Bucks Moving up into a division stocked full of well-supported sides, many of which have been in the Premier League, will almost certainly mean an increase in away support on matchdays when fans are allowed to return to games. Steve Langton, 75, runs a market stall selling martial arts-related items each Saturday and hopes the town could profit from the rise in away support. "We hope it will get busier," he said, adding: "Let's hope they'll spend." Fans also think the town centre should be getting a new feature in homage to the Chairboys' talismanic manager, who also moonlights as the lead singer with rock band The Cold Blooded Hearts. "I think Gareth Ainsworth's going to have a statue in the town centre sometime soon," Mr Crawley said. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

एक नाटकीय प्ले-ऑफ अंतिम जीत के बाद वायकोम्ब वांडरर्स अपने 133 साल के इतिहास में पहली बार अंग्रेजी फुटबॉल के दूसरे स्तर पर पहुंच गए हैं। बीबीसी न्यूज़ पिछली रात बकिंघमशायर शहर में यह देखने के लिए गया कि इस क्षेत्र के लिए पदोन्नति का क्या अर्थ है।


Peers discuss whether Wales should have taxation powers

Summary: Labour may be getting a bit hot under the collar over the UK government's reluctance to devote parliamentary time to a discussion of the Welsh government's revenue-raising abilities but peers have quietly got on with the job.

David CornockParliamentary correspondent, Wales Their lordships stole a march on the Commons today with a brief discussion - prompted by former Plaid Cymru leader Lord Wigley - about the Silk Commission report at question time. Baroness Randerson told peers that the UK government wants to "set in train" issues raised by the Silk Commission report on fiscal powers before the commission publishes its second report on the Welsh devolution settlement. Last week, her boss, David Jones, said the UK government would respond to Silk's 33 recommendations "in due course" - a phrase Lady Randerson repeated this afternoon. If "in due course" sounds rather vague, then the minister added that the 33 Silk proposals would be considered "with all due haste, speed but in a timely manner so that we give due and serious consideration to every recommendation". She did get more specific. The Silk Commission is about to start work on part two of its remit, looking at the devolution settlement. It is due to report in late 2013 and Lady Randerson said: "We want to set in train issues that follow from the part one Silk Report before publication of part two." She said the Silk Report's recommendations had very complex implications well beyond borders of Wales, some of which could be implemented relatively quickly without legislation while others required a substantial rewriting of the Government of Wales Act or new Treasury legislation. Lord Wigley said the UK government should quickly give the Welsh government borrowing powers to fund capital investment. Lady Randerson told him: "Since the report was published only last week it is very early to make decisions and I can make no firm comments about the outcome of the process that we are going through at the moment". But she said it was important to recognise that the UK government had agreed in principle to borrowing powers for the assembly and could anticipate giving the assembly the right to raise taxes to offset those powers. She said last month's agreement between Welsh and Treasury ministers meant borrowing powers could be given and the government should move towards those with all possible speed: "It is completely out of line with international situations for a legislature to have no powers of this sort". Labour spokeswoman Baroness Gale wanted to know when MPs and peers would have the chance to debate the report. She didn't get a detailed answer. Labour could, of course, devote some of the parliamentary time controlled by opposition parties to debate Silk in the Commons chamber but there is little sign of that happening - not even "in due course". Instead, Silk aficionados (would "groupies" be too strong?) will have to wait for the Welsh Grand Committee to debate the report - or make do with brief exchanges on the subject that are likely to occur during Welsh question time in the Commons tomorrow.

वेल्श सरकार की राजस्व जुटाने की क्षमताओं पर चर्चा के लिए संसदीय समय देने में ब्रिटेन सरकार की अनिच्छा के कारण लेबर थोड़ा गर्म हो रहा है, लेकिन साथियों ने चुपचाप काम शुरू कर दिया है।


Plan to boost Flint Castle visitor numbers

Summary: Efforts are being made to boost visitor numbers at a Flintshire castle.

Flint Castle, which attracts about 30,000 people each year, has been made a priority by the Welsh government. There are plans for improvements and new activities. Deputy Minister for Tourism Ken Skates said the Welsh government recognised "its potential to attract even more visitors due to its proximity to the English border and links to other Edward I castles in north Wales".

फ्लिंटशायर महल में आगंतुकों की संख्या बढ़ाने के प्रयास किए जा रहे हैं।


Myton Hospice nurse appeal raises more than £114,000

Summary: An appeal to to raise funds for more hospice nurses has collected more than £114,000.

BBC Coventry & Warwickshire's 12-month Myton Nurse Appeal started in October 2011 and has raised enough money to pay for three nurses for a year. Each new nurse will care for 43 extra patients, Myton Hospice said. Myton hospices in Rugby, Coventry and Warwick offer free care to 2,000 people every year and rely on donations of about £7m a year.

अधिक धर्मशाला नर्सों के लिए धन जुटाने की अपील ने 114,000 पाउंड से अधिक की राशि एकत्र की है।


Coronavirus vaccine: Short cuts and allegations of dirty tricks in race to be first

Summary: When Moscow announced on 11 August it had registered the first vaccine against Covid-19 and was naming it Sputnik V, the message was hard to miss. Back in 1957, the Soviet Union had launched the Sputnik satellite and won the race for space. Now, Russia was saying it was pushing the boundaries of medical science.

By Gordon CoreraSecurity correspondent But critics claimed it was pushing too hard. And the scepticism with which the announcement was met is a reminder of intense international competition. In this race, there have been accusations of short-cuts, espionage, unethical risk-taking and jealousy, amid talk of "vaccine nationalism". A Covid-19 vaccine is one of the most valuable and eagerly sought-after medical prizes in modern times. This is not just because of the life-saving benefits, but also the promise of ending disruption, and the glory and validation for those who succeed. "I have never seen the political stakes for a medical product being so intense," says Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University in the US. "The reason the Covid-19 vaccine has taken on such political symbolism is that the superpowers have seen the vaccine as projecting their scientific prowess, actually validating their political system as superior." There are currently about half a dozen leading candidates in late-stage trials according to the World Health Organization (WHO), including three in China; one in the UK; one in the US, and a German-US partnership. It normally takes years to develop a vaccine. And while all developers are seeking to speed things up, Russia's registration of Sputnik has raised concerns about short-cutting the normal process. In July, the UK, US and Canada accused Russia's spy agencies of hacking into vaccine research, something the Kremlin denied. The suggestion from intelligence sources at the time was that this was about stealing data rather than disrupting development. The following week, the US Department of Justice accused two Chinese hackers of targeting vaccine development on behalf of Beijing's intelligence services. China has strongly denied this and has said it has shared information about the virus and co-operated with foreign partners. The greater concern is about cutting corners in the normally slow, thorough world of medical testing. "There have been short cuts taken for sure, particularly in the Russian case," says Thomas Bollyky director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations. "It is not hard to develop a vaccine. It is hard to prove that a vaccine is safe and effective. And if countries are only interested in the former they can take short cuts." Russia's decision to register the Sputnik vaccine before large scale late-stage trials, without publishing research data, led to criticism in the West. Dr Anthony Fauci, one of the most prominent members of the White House's coronavirus taskforce, said he "seriously doubt[s]" the Russians had proven their vaccine to be safe and effective. In Moscow, such concerns were dismissed as "jealousy". Those behind the vaccine say they will soon publish data in a major international scientific magazine. Meanwhile, China has also fast-tracked some of its development. Chinese pharmaceutical companies have said senior executives have been given shots to "pre-test" their vaccine, a move intended to show willingness of those in charge to take risks and make sacrifices. In Russia, Vladimir Putin said his own daughter had been given a dose of the Sputnik vaccine. And reports that both countries plan to test the vaccine on their armed forces have led to ethical concerns, since those individuals may not be able to give proper consent. A vaccine being developed by Chinese firm CanSino, working with the People's Liberation Army, was approved for use on military personnel in June, before late stage "Phase 3" trials had been started. "We have a set of ethical norms for human participant research designed to protect against abuses," argues Prof Gostin. Fuel for anti-vaxers Given such unprecedented public demand for a vaccine, shouldn't a little corner cutting be expected? Failing to put a vaccine through full trials, and rushing it out, could lead to over-confidence from the public and so to the further spread of Covid-19. Alternatively, a drug which turns out to have serious side effects could fuel anti-vaccination movements. Most vaccine development programmes are commercial ventures and often based on international collaboration. But that has not stopped governments seeing them as a symbol of national prestige and scientific prowess and a means of countering criticism about how they have dealt with the crisis. "What has driven some countries to be particularly competitive about the development of a vaccine are largely domestic concerns around the perception of how they have performed in this pandemic," says Mr Bollyky. The Trump administration in the US has been under intense pressure in an election year. Like Moscow it has not been shy of space-based comparisons, naming its project to deliver a vaccine Operation Warp Speed - a reference to the TV series Star Trek. In the UK, a successful home-grown vaccine would boost Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government which has also come under fire. His Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, has said "Britain continues to lead the world" on vaccine development. The UK, like others, has hedged its bets by securing contracts to buy other vaccines in case they prove successful. But that has raised concerns about another aspect of the race. Vaccine nationalism "There is vaccine nationalism for sure among western countries," says Thomas Bollyky. "The form… you are seeing in the US and UK is about locking up large initial doses of supplies of vaccines." Of course, nationalism was rising even before coronavirus reared its head. But the disease has strengthened those forces. The initial rush to get hold of ventilators and personal protective equipment saw countries outbid each other with cash at airports to secure shipments, highlighting dependencies on foreign supplies and spurring a drive for more domestic capacity. For all the talk about a vaccine being internationally distributed, those that develop it first may be able to ensure they have priority to save lives and get their economies moving. Likewise, failing to secure supplies could lead to public anger and questions about competence. The head of the WHO issued a renewed call on 18 August for richer countries to join a global programme to share vaccines with poorer nations. "We need to prevent vaccine nationalism," he said. Countries may also be tempted to offer access to vaccines to other countries as a tool of diplomacy, to curry favour and build support. Mr Bollyky believe "every government with early supply will ultimately keep some of those supplies for a form of diplomacy". Being first to market does not necessarily mean a vaccine will be the most effective and experts caution that this is not a race where there will be a single winner or finish line. That means the rivalries over developing and supplying vaccines may only just be beginning.

जब मास्को ने 11 अगस्त को घोषणा की कि उसने कोविड-19 के खिलाफ पहला टीका पंजीकृत किया है और इसका नाम स्पुतनिक वी रखा है, तो इस संदेश को छोड़ना मुश्किल था। 1957 में, सोवियत संघ ने स्पुतनिक उपग्रह का प्रक्षेपण किया था और अंतरिक्ष की दौड़ जीती थी। अब, रूस कह रहा था कि वह चिकित्सा विज्ञान की सीमाओं को आगे बढ़ा रहा है।


The WW1 poet kids are taught to dislike

Summary: Jessie Pope is no longer a household name, but during World War One she was one of the most widely read poets. After decades in obscurity she has re-emerged to become a fixture on the English literature syllabus, but for all the wrong reasons.

By Marek PruszewiczBBC World Service Which war poets do today's English literature students know? A recent survey of 100 British secondary schools found that Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon were the two most commonly studied. But just behind those two chroniclers of the Great War's slaughter came a less familiar name - Jessie Pope. Pope's verses are apparently studied by more pupils than the works of a litany of towering writers from WW1. Ernest Hemingway, Vera Brittain, Robert Graves and Erich Maria Remarque are all read less by modern students it seems. It's unlikely though that Jessie Pope would relish her high profile. She is the war poet students love to hate. "Our modern judgmental teenagers have no doubt at all about what they think of Jessie. She is the villain of the war," says George Simmers, a retired English teacher-turned blogger on WW1 and English literature. He has marked plenty of A-level scripts with something to say about Jessie Pope, none of it good. "Many candidates have harsh words for generals. But the sins of the top brass fade into insignificance besides those of Jessie." Before the war, Pope was a popular writer of light verse, praised by London's Evening Standard for her "nimble wit" and "shrewd observation of life". When war started, she became a vehement supporter. Her verses encouraged young men to sign up, women to buck up and everyone to pull together. "Who's for the Game?" which first appeared in the Daily Express in November 1915, is typical: Who knows it won't be a picnic - not much- Yet eagerly shoulders a gun? Who would much rather come back with a crutch Than lie low and be out of the fun? Held up for comparison against the likes of Owen's Dulce Et Decorum Est - as it often is in English assessments - it's obvious why such examples of Pope's war poetry are ridiculed. With the benefit of hindsight, the sentiments now seem crass, even sinister, and the light, tripping style appallingly inappropriate. David Roberts is the editor of Minds at War, an anthology of World War One poetry used in schools which includes some of Jessie Pope's work. "Speaking as a former teacher, I think her status as a well-studied poet owes almost everything to Wilfred Owen, who was revolted by her attitude and lack of insight into the experience of soldiers in the trenches," he says. "Dulce et Decorum Est was originally written as a response to Jessie Pope and I think it's this fact which has led teachers to look at her poetry." Dulce Et Decorum Est But is it fair to single her out as a jingoist? Simmers doesn't think so. "Teachers will take a poem like Who's for the Game? and say this is typical of the people who were propagandising the war, which of course is completely untrue." Simmers argues that the patriotic sentiments expressed in Pope's verses were what many wanted to hear at the time, rather than those found in the "select canon" of war poetry, generally condemning the war, studied with reverence today. As well as hundreds of poems for the Mail and the Express, she published three books of verse - Jessie Pope's War Poems (1915), More War Poems By Jessie Pope (1915) and Simple Rhymes For Stirring Times (1916). There were warm reviews. "Apt and racy. Every one hitting a different point on the head with a sharp tap," was the verdict of the Times on More War Poems. It's also possible though to find darker tones in some of Pope's poems. The very first one, published in the Daily Mail, on 11 September 1914, was called Play the Game and urged the abandonment of professional football for the duration of the war, a deadly "game". Start and stiff 'neath a stranger's sky A few hundred miles away, War-worn, khaki-clad figures lie, Their faces rigid and grey" It's no surprise that Pope features so widely in English lessons, says Dr Ann-Marie Einhaus, lecturer in modern and contemporary literature at Northumbria University. She was one of the authors of The First World War In The Classroom, the project which examined how the war is taught in history and English literature lessons, particularly for GCSE and A-level students. "My theory is when you are teaching, especially at GCSE level, what you need is a clear message," says Einhaus. "So you travel the journey from jingoism to total disillusionment and Jessie Pope fits well with that. It's particularly handy to beat her with the stick of disillusionment." Roberts agrees: "I'm sure she is studied not for the quality of her poetry, but because she provides material to contrast and compare with the poetry of Wilfred Owen and others." But pushing Jessie Pope's lightweight work into the ring to face poetic heavyweights like Owen and Sassoon is a literary mismatch, argues Simmers. "There's not very much there. This is someone who was looking to entertain people, not a very good poet," he says. "Look at a poem like Into Battle by Julian Grenfell. That would make a far better comparison with Owen, two very good poets saying very different things." Einhaus says another factor also makes Jessie Pope an easy target, both for Wilfred Owen when he wrote Dulce et Decorum Est and now - her sex meant she couldn't go to war. "I wonder about the misogyny in the poetry of Owen and Sassoon, in poems like Glory Of Women or even Disabled. It isn't Jessie Pope's fault that even if she had wanted to go and fight - though I'm not saying she did - she couldn't have." The tendency of schools to use poetry analysis when exploring the literature of WW1 helps explain why Pope is singled out. Other writers and entertainers used their profile during the war to support it, but their roles have been forgotten. The music hall star Vesta Tilley was perhaps the most famous of all. Famed for impersonating men, she was nicknamed "England's Greatest Recruiting Sergeant" for singing songs like The Army of Today's All Right while dressed in uniform. If anything, the lyrics are even more unabashed than some of Pope's verses. Then the band played, and they all hoorayed "You've saved us" said Kitchener with delight I joined the army yesterday so the army of today's all right. Yes, it's right During her performances Tilley would encourage young men in the audience to enlist on the spot by tapping likely-looking recruits in the packed theatre on the shoulder. Tilley was hugely popular before, during and after the war, with no apparent dent to her reputation. Pope published one more collection of poems after the War, called Hits And Misses (1920). It included one called A Despot which again hinted at a greater realism. He scares every feminine breast, He brings - is it sorrow or joy? And he is - as no doubt before this you'll have guessed - The telegraph boy. Jessie Pope had largely passed into obscurity by the time she died in 1941, with another world war raging. Her books of war poems were not reprinted. It was another 40 years before she, and they, were "rediscovered". "I really don't think that she was well known or anthologised at all for the longest time. She makes a tentative comeback in an anthology of women's poems published in 1981, Catherine Reilly's Scars Upon My Heart," says Einhaus. A progression into other poetry anthologies followed. From there it was a short step to comparison essays with Owen and Sassoon. Christopher Martin edited the anthology War Poems, published in 2004, and one of those to include some of Jessie Pope's work. However he has a higher opinion of her than GCSE and A-level English students who use his book. "I personally think that Pope was a brave little person who earned her own living in that awful suffragette era when women were so abused and downtrodden," says Martin. Pope did indeed support herself throughout her working life with her writing and only married when she was 61. Perhaps most surprisingly, she played a pivotal role in the publication of one of the best-known works of socialist literature, Robert Tressell's The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists." Tressell tried and failed to get it published in his lifetime. After his death, his daughter showed it to Pope. She persuaded her publisher of its merits, and he in turn commissioned Pope to abridge it, though some critics would say she was too zealous in her pruning. The centenary of the start of WW1 sparked a new debate over how the war is taught in schools. Despite that, Einhaus says she can't see a more subtle approach benefiting Jessie Pope's reputation any time soon. "There's definitely a lot of willingness to teach a more nuanced view of WW1 writing, but teachers don't have much time, alternative texts are often quite difficult and it's also about what you already have in the store cupboard. "In the end, it's not the job of English literature teachers to teach history, it's their job to teach literature and language." It seems Jessie Pope is liable to suffer posthumous humiliation for a while yet. Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

जेसी पोप अब एक घरेलू नाम नहीं है, लेकिन प्रथम विश्व युद्ध के दौरान वह सबसे व्यापक रूप से पढ़ी जाने वाली कवियों में से एक थी। दशकों तक अस्पष्टता में रहने के बाद वह अंग्रेजी साहित्य के पाठ्यक्रम में एक स्थिरता के रूप में फिर से उभरी है, लेकिन सभी गलत कारणों से।


Bangor murder accused appears in court over death outside hotel

Summary: A 24-year-old man has appeared in court accused of murdering a man outside a Bangor hotel.

Brandon Sillence, of Bangor, is charged with killing 20-year-old Dean Skillin of Caernarfon, and causing actual bodily harm to Taylor Lock. Mr Skillin died in hospital following a "disturbance" near the Waverley Hotel in Station Road on Saturday night. Appearing at Mold Crown Court, Mr Sillence was remanded in custody until a further hearing on 11 December. A provisional trial date has been set for 22 March at Caernarfon Crown Court.

बांगोर होटल के बाहर एक व्यक्ति की हत्या के आरोप में एक 24 वर्षीय व्यक्ति अदालत में पेश हुआ है।


The radio station that wishes it could bring back laughter

Summary: Radio Alwan is a small, independent and politically neutral radio station set up in Syria in 2014 and now broadcasting in exile from Istanbul. Emma Jane Kirby has followed its progress closely - but when she made contact with its staff again recently, the latest news was not so good.

The thing I've always loved most about my visits to Radio Alwan is the laughter. In the kitchen, in the newsroom, even in the studio, there's always someone cracking a joke. It's almost, the special projects manager, Sami, once explained to me, the unwritten maxim of this little station. The situation in Syria after seven years of civil war is so horrific that you'd simply go mad if you didn't force yourself to think of something else. As I email Sami some proposed dates for my next trip, I catch myself grinning remembering how last time there'd been a hysterical bun fight in the newsroom as the staff squabbled over the cakes I'd brought from England. Sami's reply came quickly. He didn't say "don't come" - he's far too polite - but he made it clear that if I was coming to Turkey just for Radio Alwan, then there was really no point because the funding had dried up, the Istanbul office had closed and all the staff had been let go. There were just six local employees left, he added - and they were trapped in Idlib, waiting for whatever was to come. His tone was so uncharacteristically flat and despondent that I was almost frightened to call him. Like many non-profit organisations - NGOs - in north-west Syria, Radio Alwan has fallen victim to the Trump administration's decision last Easter to pull $200m of funding for Syria's stabilisation projects. That news, Sami recounts quietly, his voice reverberating a little over our Skype line, came completely out of the blue and felt like a "strike to the head". "We had so many projects and ideas developing - you remember them?" he asks rhetorically. "We even moved to bigger offices and suddenly, that's it - we found ourselves completely helpless." The creative energy that used to zip along the corridors and studios of Radio Alwan was palpable - it honestly made my fingers tingle. On my last visit I got a preview of their new drama about the White Helmets, I heard extracts of their comedy about old Syrian shopkeepers and I was allowed to sit in on their live phone-in on forgiveness with callers from Idlib. Having had their offices smashed and then one of their chief correspondents killed in an attack in Aleppo, Sami and his colleagues took the decision to set up afresh in Idlib because although it wasn't exactly safe, it was, as Sami recalls, "at least a bit safer". More about Radio Alwan The hard-hitting soap for a country at war The radio station giving hope to listeners in Syria Now, two female presenters, two male presenters and two sound engineers are stuck there, fearing, says Sami, a chemical attack, more bloodshed and more bombing. "They have very limited resources," he tells me. "And they are terrified. They don't know what will happen to them but we know it will be far worse than what happened in Ghouta and in Daraa because there are so many hundreds of thousands of people in Idlib. Turkey has closed the border. They cannot get out." Sami always speaks quickly and fluently but sometimes his voice sounds like it's separating - and his words sliver off and fragment into the airwaves. It's not a glitch on the line. "If they - if my Idlib team..." he starts. "If something happens to one of them..." Incredibly, the Idlib team is still broadcasting two programmes a day. Although listeners are given the latest reports from the ground, they're also treated to programmes about poetry and literature - there are regular discussions too about music, culture and women's' issues. And having somehow managed to get a smartphone to the team, Sami tells me proudly that from next week, the famous Radio Alwan phone-in will start up again. "You can't just expect people to hear news and analysis when they are in such a situation," Sami insists. "We need to divert listeners from the fear and worry." Sami is also adamant that the radio airspace must not be left open and empty for too long, in case radical Islamic groups claim it to broadcast hate speech and extremist ideas. That's the worst bit, he says, about losing their funding - it's taking away the moderates' voice. We end our call with a chat about Radio Alwan's showcase soap opera - Sami finds it funny that I've become such a fan - and he assures me that if things work out, if there isn't a massacre in Idlib, then a third series will definitely be made. Find out more And what about the humour, I ask? Will there still be a place for laughter on Radio Alwan? There's a long pause on the line. "It's not easy to keep the humour as we used to," he apologises. "Because we have lost so many staff and we have rather lost the ability to think and create with the situation in Idlib." I hear him sigh deeply. "Everyone wants this war to be over without bloodshed. Maybe, after that we can get back the humour and see how we can build on it. Maybe." Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

रेडियो अलवान 2014 में सीरिया में स्थापित एक छोटा, स्वतंत्र और राजनीतिक रूप से तटस्थ रेडियो स्टेशन है और अब इस्तांबुल से निर्वासन में प्रसारित हो रहा है। एम्मा जेन किर्बी ने इसकी प्रगति पर बारीकी से नज़र रखी है-लेकिन जब उन्होंने हाल ही में इसके कर्मचारियों के साथ फिर से संपर्क किया, तो नवीनतम खबर इतनी अच्छी नहीं थी।


The great dinosaur stampede that never was?

Summary: It's billed as the world's only known example of a dinosaur stampede - but new research is challenging the established version of events at Lark Quarry, in the Australian outback, almost 100 million years ago.

By Ari Daniel ShapiroPRI's The World, Lark Quarry, Australia Rewind the clocks 95 million years, and imagine the scene. You're at the edge of a watering hole in what today is north-eastern Australia. And you're not alone. More than 100 little dinosaurs are here, ranging from the size of chickens to ostriches. They're drinking peacefully, when - all of a sudden - a giant meat-eating dinosaur tears out of the brush. Its teeth and claws flash as it races in for a meal. The little guys scatter for their lives - their feet digging into the soft mud. It's a dinosaur stampede. "This incident would have taken five minutes, if that. It's a snapshot in time," says John Taylor, a tour guide at the Dinosaur Stampede National Monument, at Lark Quarry in central Queensland. "This event that you can see right here before your eyes, you cannot find anywhere else in the world," he says, pointing to the fossilised footprints scattered across a giant slab of rock. Thousands of visitors from around the world visit the site each year, and in 2004 it was added to Australia's National Heritage list. The tracks were discovered in the 1960s by a quarry manager - who at first thought they must have been bird footprints. In the 1970s, they were recognised as dinosaur tracks, and the area was excavated. More than 60 tonnes of rock were removed, revealing between 3,000 and 4,000 footprints, which in 1984 were identified by scientists as being the result of a dinosaur stampede. The idea of the great stampede entered into dinosaur folklore. The Australian Department of the Environment says it provides "scientific underpinning" for the stampede scene in Spielberg's Jurassic Park - though a consultant who worked on the film denies it was the inspiration. "Stampeding dinosaurs is a fantastic story," says Anthony Romilio, a graduate palaeontology student at the University of Queensland - and the young scientist now leading the challenge to the established version of events. "People love dinosaurs - and what's more exciting than having hundreds of dinosaurs stampeding?" But Romilio says the facts just don't seem to add up, and in a paper published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology in January, he and his co-authors argue there never was a stampede at Lark Quarry. Romilio didn't set out to challenge the traditional interpretation of the dinosaur footprints - he just wanted to work out how the dinosaurs moved their limbs. But he found himself hitting a brick wall. "It took me about six months of pure confusion, going, 'Look, my research - it's just going nowhere,'" he says. "My supervisor said: 'Look, just imagine you're the first scientist to come to the scene. How would you interpret it?'" So Romilio took a fresh look at all those footprints, and he thinks the scientists before him misinterpreted the evidence. First - remember that big, marauding dinosaur that thundered on to the scene? Romilio doesn't think it was a carnivore at all. Footprints of meat-eating dinosaurs have characteristic long, narrow toe impressions, while those of plant-eaters are short-toed and quite broad - and, Romilio says, the tracks at Lark Quarry match the latter. The most likely candidate, he believes, is the plant-eating dinosaur Muttaburrasaurus - known for its large knobbly nose, and big nostrils. The smaller dinosaurs would have had little reason to run away from this plant-eater. Indeed, Romilio thinks the other dinosaurs weren't running at all - but swimming. "This is one of the tippy-toe traces," he says, pointing at a 3D image of one of the tracks. Scientists had taken the large distance between each footstep as a sign the animals were running full speed, but Romilio argues that some are spaced out in this way because the animals were in water, and being buoyed along by it. The dinosaurs were swimming in a stream - over days or even weeks, he believes - not fleeing from a predator in a panic. His conclusions have sparked a lively debate among palaeontologists. Some scientists think Romilio is on to something - but he's got his critics too. "Just simply looking at the footprints isn't enough," says Scott Hocknull, the chief dinosaur expert at Queensland Museum. He says Romilio is confused because he didn't account for how the mud interacted with the dinosaurs' feet. "When you look at the footprints, they look like big, round toes, when in fact, that's the mud being squished out from below the toes - between the toes - as the animal is slamming its foot into the mud." Inside the museum's storage space, Hocknull wheels a mobile spotlight over to a cast of one of the big footprints, and lights it up from a low angle to reveal its subtle contours. "See this triangular piece?" he says. "That's the claw mark. There's only one type of animal that makes those sorts of footprints - and that's a meat-eating dinosaur." As for Romilio's argument that the little dinosaurs weren't running but swimming, that's very unlikely, says Hocknull - underwater, a footprint in mud just doesn't last. "I don't want poor scientific process to get in the way of an amazing story," he says. "If we simply just accept that all of the last 30 years of accepted stampede information, data and work is wrong - and that it's simply a Muttaburrasaurus wandering through some mud, and then a bit of a flowing river with some tracks - it really does take the significance out of the site." Tour guide John Taylor is also sceptical of the swimming theory. For the moment, he's sticking with the stampede story, but he says he's willing to change his tune if necessary. "If they have the evidence to back that up, then that's what we'll start telling people… because we're here as interpretive guides. We're not here to tell people our own personal beliefs." Regardless of how the science pans out, he doesn't think it will affect tourism. Lark Quarry remains one of the largest - and most impressive - concentrations of dinosaur footprints in the world. Ari Daniel Shapiro was reporting for The World and the PBS programme NOVA. The World is a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook

इसे डायनासोर भगदड़ के दुनिया के एकमात्र ज्ञात उदाहरण के रूप में बिल किया गया है-लेकिन नया शोध लगभग 10 करोड़ साल पहले ऑस्ट्रेलियाई बाहरी क्षेत्र में लार्क क्वारी में घटनाओं के स्थापित संस्करण को चुनौती दे रहा है।


Warning over Land Rover parts thefts

Summary: Land Rover owners in County Durham have been warned to check the security of their vehicles after two incidents of thieves stripping them of parts.

In the first case, in Wolsingham early on Monday, a door and the headlights were removed from a Land Rover Defender. Police think the thieves were disturbed as the items were left at the scene. Later, a car at a farm in Stanhope was targeted and two doors, the bonnet and wing mirrors were taken.

काउंटी डरहम में लैंड रोवर के मालिकों को चोरों द्वारा उनके पुर्जों को छीनने की दो घटनाओं के बाद अपने वाहनों की सुरक्षा की जांच करने की चेतावनी दी गई है।


General election 2019: Does UK hold clues to Trump’s fortunes?

Summary: All eyes in this week's UK election will be on constituencies like this one in North Wales, where Labour could lose power for the first time since 1935. Given that the Brexit vote in 2016 was followed by the election of Donald Trump months later, does the populist sentiment driving this change teach us anything about next year's US election?

Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter James Thomas, an ex-Marine who has lived in Wrexham his entire life, stands outside his town's football stadium at half-time and smokes a cigarette. Although he says his home has hit a bit of a lull, he thinks it has a bright future. Why he feels this way should deeply trouble the Labour Party faithful ahead of Thursday's general election. "When the Conservatives come into power, they'll sort it all out," he says. The 35-year-old mechanical engineer says both he and his 70-year-old grandfather - lifetime Labour supporters - are planning on voting Tory for the first time this week, and there's one main reason. "The Conservative Party will get Brexit done and get it out of the way, and then we'll move on," he says. Like 59% of the Wrexham constituency, Thomas voted Leave in the 2016 referendum on British membership in the European Union. He says he did so because he wanted to stem the flow of immigration into the country - and it's also why he's backing Boris Johnson over Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, whom he says "hasn't got a clue". "I don't want to come across as negative toward the foreign people coming across," he says. "If the foreign people coming across are doctors, then I'm all for that. But if they're coming across and just claiming all the taxes and all that and not working, then we should get rid of them." Corbyn, he says, is "all for the druggies, all the whiskey heads and all, giving money to the ones on the streets and all that". "What about us," Thomas asks, "the people who actually work?" "Get Brexit Done" is a common refrain for the Conservatives - a slogan plastered on billboards and signs that surround party leader Boris Johnson at the party's campaign events. The force of Johnson's personality, his iconoclastic manner, also has drawn voters like Thomas to the Conservatives, which he says is no longer the party for just the wealthy. "I tell all my friends that Boris Johnson will do what he says," he continues. "He's exactly the same as Donald Trump. Donald Trump says he's going to do something, he'll do it." Trump's 2016 supporters in the US said time and time again that his blunt truth-telling, even if it sometimes offended, was one of his most compelling attributes. It suggests the two Anglophone leaders have more in common than just their much-talked-about hair. Like Johnson, Trump also has an electoral slogan, "Keep America Great," that suggests work still to be done. It is a call to his electoral coalition to once again put him over the top. Faded glory There's no doubt Wrexham, a once thriving mining town in the north of Wales, has fallen on hard times. Unemployment is up. Poverty rates are rising. Drug addiction is a growing problem. Even on a Saturday night, the historic old downtown is largely empty, with people sleeping rough in the darkened alcoves of empty storefronts. The town still has its charm. The Pontcysyllte aqueduct, an elevated canal completed in 1805, is an engineering marvel. The local university, Wrexham Glyndwr, is expanding. And the town's football club, Wrexham AFC, with its long and storied history, is a source of local pride. The Red Dragons are the third-oldest professional football team in the world, with achievements that include winning the FA Trophy in 2013 and a stunning upset of defending champions Arsenal in a 1992 FA Cup third-round match. Like the town, however, the football club is currently struggling. While its stadium, the Racecourse Ground, is the oldest venue that still hosts international matches, it shows all of its 142 years. Many of the once bright-red seats have faded to a pale pink from exposure to the elements. The standing terrace, behind the east goal, is no longer open to the public and appears from a distance to be on the verge of a rusty collapse. The team itself has dropped out of the league and into the fifth tier of English football, teetering near the relegation zone once again. In its heyday, the stadium held more than 34,000 to watch a 1957 match against Manchester United. On a blustery afternoon last Saturday, roughly 3,000 die-hard fans watched them take on Solihull Moors. Two walls cracking Wrexham's parliamentary constituency is one of dozens held by the Labour Party that voted leave in 2016. Because the Conservative Party is firmly backing leave, while Labour is divided on the issue, these seats are being heavily targeted by the Tories as pick-up opportunities. Recent polling suggests the Conservatives may be on to something. According to an Economist survey conducted in late November, the Tories have an eye-popping lead over Labour in Wrexham, 44% to 29%. Victory in places like Wrexham - old, post-industrial towns and constituencies across central and northern UK - could hold the key for a Tory majority in Thursday's election. Much like the Democratic Party's "Blue Wall" of old industrial mid-western states in the US that chose Republican Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, Labour's "Red Wall" shows signs of cracking. One doesn't have to look hard to see parallels. Like Wrexham, places such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio in the US were once the nation's industrial heartland, where coal mining, steel production and manufacturing provided a stable livelihood. Now much of the region is struggling with economic uncertainty, drug addiction and decaying urban centres. In 2016, voter dissatisfaction in the US mid-west, and in large swaths of the central and northern UK, gave rise to an electoral earthquake. First it was the June Brexit referendum, where a narrow majority of UK voters opted to leave the European Union. Five months later, it was Trump's similarly narrow victory. In one case it was a man who served as the hammer that forged an electoral realignment. In the other it was a single-issue vote. But at the heart of both was a conservative populism centred around trade and immigration. This week's UK general election is a key test to see whether 2016 was a sign of a durable political shift in the UK. And, like the 2016 Brexit vote, there will be many in the US watching carefully to see if British politics once again foreshadows events to come in the US. Moving on Even among Wrexham's Labour voters, there are signs of Brexit fatigue - and a desire to put the whole divisive ordeal behind them. "The country was given the opportunity to vote," says Erfyl Jones, a Wrexham supporter who came to Saturday's Wrexham match from nearby Denbigh. "The people went out to vote. That result should be respected by everybody. We should move on." On Sunday afternoon, Corbyn finished up a two-day campaign blitz through Wales that included three northern towns. He skipped Wrexham, however, opting to visit constituencies currently held by Conservatives. During his stump speeches, Corbyn barely mentioned Brexit at all, instead attacking the Tories for their post-recession austerity policies and a willingness, he says, to sacrifice the National Health Service in trade negotiations with the US. It's a reflection of the delicate position Labour finds itself in during these last days of the general election campaign. The party supports leaving the EU, but it wants to renegotiate the terms of the exit and then submit the results to another national vote. It's an attempt to please both the remain and the leave factions within the party, but it could end up satisfying neither. "Brexit has really divided people," says Lyndsey Lynch, a Labour activist from Holyhead who attended a Corbyn rally in Bangor on Sunday. "Discussion has descended into name-calling, which is really disappointing." She says the parts of the UK that voted leave did so to disrupt the status quo - a sentiment she understands. "People have been left behind," she says. "They are feeling the pinch. People are more impoverished. It's very much understandable for them to say we're not having this anymore." Across the Atlantic, even some Democrats will acknowledge that a similar sentiment - to send a message to the nation's governing class - was a significant reason for Trump's 2016 success. And there have been calls among Democrats to "move on" from Trump, and instead talk about issues - like healthcare, education and the environment - rather than simply campaign against the current White House resident. With Trump on the ballot in 2020, of course, that will be a challenge. Democrats in Congress are also on the verge of impeaching the president, forcing a Senate trial for only the third time in US history. And even though Corbyn is focusing on his own slate of issues, Brexit is still unresolved three years later, with whether and how to leave the EU continuing to be a source of anxiety and anger. A moment of truth At the Wrexham game on Saturday, Mark Thomas sits in the bleachers with a smile on his face. "We're winning," he says. "That's good news for a change." A long-time Labour supporter, the lorry driver says he's not planning on voting on Thursday. "I can't see anybody that's going to do any different," he says. "The politicians will do what they want at the end of the day. They're not bothered about people sitting in this ground or any other." Thomas voted remain, and says he isn't bothering to vote because the only parties firmly behind remain - the Liberal Democrats and the Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru - have no chance of winning in Wrexham. If Labour hopes to hold off the Conservatives, it needs voters like Thomas, but he's probably not the only one who has decided to sit this election out. Thomas says the Wrexham voters who chose Leave didn't think things through. He understands, however, why they were confused. "There's a lot of scaremongering," he says. "If we're going to come out of Europe, oh we're going to be trouble. If we stay in Europe, oh we're in trouble. People don't know what to think." Beneath the stands, twin brothers Carl and Mark Davis swig beers and give voice to that confusion. While the ex-workers in the now-shuttered steel mill are dedicated Labour supporters, Carl voted Remain, while Mark chose Leave. "Vote Tory? I'd rather jump off the Eiffel Tower, if I can still get there," Mark says. "But you have to look out for the working people." On Thursday, Labour will have to rely on traditional party allegiances like those of the Davis brothers holding strong enough to keep places like Wrexham in its column, despite the tectonic shifts the Brexit referendum vote may be creating in British politics. Next year in the US, Democrats seek to win back the disaffected voters who switched to Republican in 2016. As many as nine million people who backed Barack Obama also voted for Trump. Mr Johnson's Conservative Party could be on the verge of creating a new electoral constituency unlike any that came before it. In November 2020, Mr Trump will try to prove that his conservative populism was more than just a one-time blip - but likewise a sign of a governing coalition that can endure. In the US, the final verdict is 11 months off. In the UK, however, the results will land in just a few days. Follow Anthony on Twitter

इस सप्ताह के ब्रिटेन के चुनाव में सभी की नज़रें नॉर्थ वेल्स में इस तरह के निर्वाचन क्षेत्रों पर होंगी, जहां लेबर 1935 के बाद पहली बार सत्ता खो सकती है। यह देखते हुए कि 2016 में ब्रेक्सिट वोट के बाद महीनों बाद डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प का चुनाव हुआ था, क्या इस बदलाव को चलाने वाली लोकलुभावन भावना हमें अगले साल के अमेरिकी चुनाव के बारे में कुछ सिखाती है?


How to slack off successfully at work

Summary: At some times of the year work feels more of a chore than at others. Summer is one of those times, when if you are stuck in the office, the mind strays to work avoidance strategies, writes Lucy Kellaway.

For inspiration I've been studying two colleagues, both the same age, both equally talented. One is a magnet for extra work, which gets dumped on him all the time. The other man never does any surplus tasks. He isn't exactly lazy, but only works on things that interest him. In his spare time he sits in his office watching the tennis on his iPhone. Which of the two is more handsomely rewarded for their unequal effort? Mr Obliging or Mr Not-so-Obliging? The sad truth is that the first has received no benefit from his drudgery, while the second has suffered no punishment for his shirking. I have been trying to understand how Mr Not-so-Obliging gets away with it. At first I thought it was a matter of saying no. Yet it turns out skilled work avoiders hardly ever say no. They do something far more ingenious - they avoid being asked in the first place. Be scary There are some well-known strategies for this, including bustling around with a clipboard looking busy or wearing headphones and staring intently at the screen forbidding anyone from approaching. Yet Mr Not-so-Obliging tells me his secret is far simpler - he simply reduces to the barest minimum the amount of time he spends in the office. If you aren't there physically it is extraordinary how little grunt work you get asked to do. The trouble with this trick is that if you are never in the office, people forget you exist. Fortunately there is another work-avoidance strategy that I have seen used to such great effect by some colleagues it amazes me that there is no body of literature supporting it, and no courses teaching you how to pull it off. It is to act frightening. Frightening people never get asked to do grunt work. The difficulty here is that scariness is partly an innate characteristic, and partly comes with seniority. However, at the margin it may be possible to make yourself a little more frightening by playing on your workmates' fear of the unknown. We are scared of people whose behaviour we can't predict, and so it might be an idea to alternate taciturn behaviour with bouts of garrulousness. People might think you scary - but then again they might just think you were going mad. Being hopeless can help The best work-avoidance technique of all is to be perfectly willing, but perfectly incompetent. This trick is much practised at home by my sons, who when asked to do the washing up take care always to do it so badly that it becomes a serious disincentive to asking them to do it again - especially if there is anyone more competent around to do it instead. The equivalent of the washing-up technique at work is to be hopeless at small tasks. To be late writing boring reports or to write scrappy minutes for meetings. Alas, this is a trick for the advanced class only - you should never attempt it unless you are considered to be very good indeed at the big stuff. Lucy Kellaway is an author and Financial Times columnist. Listen to her on Business Daily and World Business Report on BBC World Service every Monday.

लुसी केलवे लिखती हैं, "साल के कुछ समय में काम करना दूसरों की तुलना में अधिक कठिन लगता है। गर्मी उन समयों में से एक है, जब आप कार्यालय में फंसे रहते हैं, तो मन टालने की रणनीतियों पर काम करने के लिए भटक जाता है।"


Iceland's 'tenacity' lifts economy out of crisis

Summary: Whisper it - Iceland's economy is on its way back. The frozen island on the edge of the Arctic, which had 10 straight quarters of shrinking GDP, is suddenly on a steady run of seven quarters of growth averaging at 2.5% per annum - something that few European countries can boast.

By Joe LynamBBC Newsnight, Reykjavik Unemployment has fallen to just below 5% and confidence is returning. This nascent recovery from economic crisis is testament to the Icelandic character. The people here have for centuries clung to existence on a frozen remote island which is 70% tundra, and where in winter dawn breaks close to noon and dusk happens in the mid afternoon. These natural challenges have made the people here tough, tenacious, diligent and very hard working. "Essentially we're still a nation of farmers and fishermen," says Iceland's President Olafur Grimsson, who has been in office since 1996 and who has twice refused to sign legislation which would have repaid Britain the £2.3bn owed when Iceland's banking system collapsed in 2008, forcing the UK government to reimburse British savers who had Icesave accounts. "The economy is just not an echo of banks. It's a community of people. If they don't feel strong, it doesn't matter whatever tax measure you adopt," Mr Grimsson says. "This was shown via the referendum on the Icesave issue. Every Icelander was given a vote and got a new sense of self-worth; it made society stronger, this democratic thing helped give people empowerment." Soaring repayments But it has not all been without pain - quite the contrary. The macroeconomic statistics hide the reality of life for ordinary Icelanders. Higher taxes, spending cuts and a wave of repossessions have left many distraught. Thousands who had taken out mortgages in foreign currencies when the Icelandic Krona was strong suddenly found that their properties were worth a lot less, but that the repayments had soared. Worse was to come for others who had taken out index-linked mortgages. After the crash, incomes and house prices fell while inflation spiked upwards. Homeowners found themselves in negative equity, but with the outstanding amount even larger than the original home loan. "I've been paying every month for 150 months and I owe much more than I borrowed," says IT specialist and reindeer hunter Theodor Magnusson. "I borrowed 6m Krona (£28,850) and I now owe 9.7m Krona (£46,642). And I've already paid around 5m Krona (£24,000) in these twelve-and-a-half years." "It really makes me feel angry and sad because, you know, the country is made of people, the nation is made of people, and societies are made by people, for people. But now it seems like banks are running societies and that is horribly wrong." In many ways Iceland is a victim of its own success. Its standards of living are still very high and in order to maintain them in a post-economic crisis world, many here have two or three jobs. Working a 60-70 hour week is not unusual. Tax rises Neil McMahon has been in Iceland for 38 years. He is a teacher, tour guide and translator. Even with 35 years of teaching experience, he only earns £24,000 per annum. That is not enough to afford a comfortable life in Reykjavik. "I think for an outsider maybe just reading articles in the newspapers or watching brief coverage of Iceland on the TV, they might be fooled in thinking Icelanders have managed to extricate themselves very effectively from this crisis," Mr McMahon says. "However, there are still a lot of problems, and particularly with the younger generation; people who had huge mortgages and are now trying to deal with this situation." Polls suggest that many here are disappointed with the current coalition government which took power at the height of the crisis. And as is often the case in politics, the party which inherits the mess does not always get much credit for cleaning it up. "We faced this large gap in the public finances, so we had to increase taxes," Iceland's Finance Minister Katrin Juliusdottir says. "We have made difficult decisions, some were good, some were not that good, but overall I think we are well on the way to becoming a very strong economy again." The collapse of Iceland's major banks in 2008 dragged the public finances down and caused the worst economic rupture seen in Europe since WWII. The Krona fell 50% against all major currencies, unemployment, hitherto unheard of, soared to 10% and money flew out of the country at an alarming rate. But Iceland decided to deal with the crisis in its own, unique and somewhat irregular way. Brain drain reversed It imposed capital controls - banned in the European Union Single Market - to stop the haemorrhaging of cash. It introduced almost 100 new taxes and slashed spending. It also borrowed money from its Scandinavian neighbours and the International Monetary Fund. But crucially, it let its privately owned banks, which had caused the crisis, die. Investors lost everything which meant taxpayers were not burdened with their banking debt as well. Also and most controversially here, British and Dutch savers in Icelandic banks lost all their money (collectively worth €4bn) and had to be repaid in full by London and The Hague respectively. The medicine was tough and the response immediate. Growth collapsed, thousands emigrated and Iceland became an outcast in the international financial community having been downgraded to "junk" status. But then in the middle of the dark and cold winter of 2010 something happened. Iceland's exporters, which had struggled to recruit skilled graduates because they were being poached by bonus-paying banks for a decade, got the engineers, scientists, IT graduates and brainpower that they needed. Ossur, which manufactures the prosthetic running blades that athlete Oscar Pistorius has made famous, is one company which has benefitted from the crisis, now finding it easier to recruit skilled staff than during the reign of the banks. Its CEO Jan Siggursson has a message for Britain with its still dominant banking sector: "Don't depend on a phoney economy. It was not real and we understand that now. This was complete bubble. The financial business is necessary, don't get me wrong, but it is a very dangerous business because it sucks the best and it's not real. And the longevity of the financial business is not there. It's very easy to copy and it is not long term." Thermal power Iceland's president, Mr Grimsson, also says Britain could learn from the Icelandic experience by cutting its dependence on banking and finance, which draws talent away from more productive parts of the economy. But Iceland is not just blessed with an abundance of human talent; it also has a ready supply of cheap clean energy. Ninety-nine percent of the country's energy needs are supplied from hydroelectric sources or hot thermal springs. There are even plans to export this renewable power via enormous cables under the sea to Denmark or even Britain. That cheap energy has attracted financially important industries such as aluminium smelting, which requires vast amounts of electricity to turn bauxite imported from Australia into aluminium products in Reykjavik. It is now the second most important component in the Icelandic economy with UK-listed Rio Tinto one of the largest smelters. This cheap thermal energy also warms hundreds of outdoor pools across the land and most Icelanders start or finish their working day in one of them - irrespective of how cold it is outside. They have mastered the challenge of surviving on a frozen and volcanic island, now they appear to be weathering their biggest man-made calamity. Though many are paying a large financial price for that. Watch Joe Lynam's full report on Iceland's remarkable return to growth on BBC Newsnight on Monday 7 January 2013 at 10.30pm on BBC Two, then afterwards on the BBC iPlayer or Newsnight website.

इसे फुसफुसाएँ-आइसलैंड की अर्थव्यवस्था अपने रास्ते पर वापस आ रही है। आर्कटिक के किनारे पर जमे हुए द्वीप, जिसमें लगातार 10 तिमाहियों में सकल घरेलू उत्पाद सिकुड़ रहा था, अचानक प्रति वर्ष औसतन 2.5% की वृद्धि के सात तिमाहियों के स्थिर दौर पर है-कुछ ऐसा जो कुछ यूरोपीय देश दावा कर सकते हैं।


Will firing squads make a comeback in the US?

Summary: As the drugs used in lethal injections become scarce amid an EU embargo, some US politicians are suggesting alternative methods to execute criminals. Could they turn to an option seldom used since the end of the Civil War - the firing squad?

By Regan MorrisBBC News, Los Angeles Death by firing squad is rare in the United States - the last execution using this method was just four years ago in Utah. Since then, more than 150 people have been put to death by lethal injection. Convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner chose the firing squad as his method of execution. On 17 June 2010 his arms, legs and head were strapped to a metal chair and four bullets - from five sharpshooters, one whose gun was loaded with blanks - ripped through a target pinned over his heart. It was a swift execution, but critics called it barbaric. But a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma last month has brought back talk of firing squads. Convicted rapist and murderer Clayton Lockett was strapped to a gurney. The first drug in the three-drug lethal injection cocktail was supposed to sedate him, but spectators were stunned when Lockett raised his head and started moaning and writhing. Lockett died of a heart attack 43 minutes after officials stopped administering the drugs. Proponents of capital punishment say Lockett got what he deserved and suffered less than his victims. But opponents say it was clearly a case of "cruel and unusual" punishment, which is proscribed by the US constitution. The EU has implemented strict controls on exports of certain drugs to assure they are not used in executions in the US and elsewhere. This has caused a shortage of the drugs previously used in executions. States have turned to less-precise compounding pharmacies to create new drug cocktails, the details about which are closely guarded secrets in some states. Anti-death penalty activists who argue these drugs could cause a botched execution point to cases like Dennis McGuire, an Ohio inmate who took 25 minutes to die, and another who said he felt his body "burning" as the drugs coursed through his veins. Now some lawmakers are proposing a return to other methods of execution as a way to continue the death penalty. "I realize this may sound harsh," Oklahoma Representative Mike Christian told local reporters after Lockett's death, "but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions." In Oklahoma it is legal to use firing squads as a back-up method of execution, but only should lethal injections be declared unconstitutional by the state or federal courts. Executions in that state are currently on hold as officials evaluate what went wrong in Lockett's case. In Missouri a bill is being considered to allow firing squads. "This isn't an attempt to time-warp back into the 1850s or the wild, wild West or anything like that," Missouri state Representative Rick Brattin told reporters earlier this year. "It's just that I foresee a problem, and I'm trying to come up with a solution that will be the most humane yet most economical for our state." A similar bill recently was rejected by Wyoming's state legislators. The gas chamber is available in Wyoming as a back-up method, though the state does not have any gas chambers. Virginia legislators tried to reinstate the electric chair should lethal injection drugs be unavailable, but the bill stalled in the Senate. There have only been three civilian firing-squad deaths in the United States since the end of the Civil War - all of them in Utah. The state outlawed that method in 2004, but it remains an option to a handful of people remaining on death row who were sentenced before the ban became law. Richard Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, says talk of firing squads and electric chairs is more political theatre than real policy suggestion. "These are threats. The core is saying, 'If you interfere, if you make us reveal the sources of drugs, or make us obtain drugs from other places, then we may have to go back to other means,'" Dieter says. "It's a warning shot." Dieter thinks it is unlikely states will return to firing squads or other methods of executions. "If they did the public would be outraged - there would be smoke and blood and smells and people would be sick watching it," Dieter says. Franklin Zimring, a criminal justice scholar at the University of California-Berkeley, believes states would struggle to staff firing squads. "It carries connotations of enormous power, getting lots of people to shoot you. We have a hell of a time getting one or two people to press a button [to administer the drugs], so getting eight of them to shoot at the same time? It becomes a matter of state secrecy who done it," he says. "Very few families want to raise their first born to be an executioner." The next execution in the US is scheduled for 21 May in Missouri.

जैसे-जैसे यूरोपीय संघ के प्रतिबंध के बीच घातक इंजेक्शन में इस्तेमाल होने वाली दवाओं की कमी हो रही है, कुछ अमेरिकी राजनेता अपराधियों को फांसी देने के लिए वैकल्पिक तरीकों का सुझाव दे रहे हैं। क्या वे गृह युद्ध के अंत के बाद से शायद ही कभी इस्तेमाल किए जाने वाले विकल्प-फायरिंग दस्ते की ओर रुख कर सकते हैं?


Nepal quake: Relief operation faces challenges

Summary: Nepal has been expecting this earthquake for a long time.

By Joanna JollySouth Asia editor, BBC World Service Scientists have been mapping the seismic pressure building up along the fault lines under the Himalayas for the past few decades. The last major quake to hit Nepal's densely populated Kathmandu valley was in 1934. About 10,000 people were killed and there was widespread devastation. Since then, the population of the valley has swelled to more than 2.5 million. Kathmandu and the surrounding towns that dot the valley floor are now crammed full of new, overcrowded and often poorly constructed buildings. The fear was that when the big quake hit, not only would thousands of people die as these buildings collapsed, but that poor infrastructure and the valley's remote location would make rescue efforts almost impossible. As devastating as this quake is, this nightmare scenario of a totally isolated country unable to receive any aid has, thankfully, not come to pass. After being shut for several hours, the runway at Kathmandu airport is now open to aid flights which will bring in crucial supplies. The airport will also act as a base for helicopter flight to more remote parts of the country where the damage is still to be assessed. For the moment, the humanitarian response is being led by India, which will be keen to establish its dominance in this politically sensitive region close to the Chinese border. India will be working in conjunction with the Nepali government which, after the wake-up call of the devastating 2011 Haiti earthquake, has been developing an earthquake preparedness plan. Earthquake drills Most districts around the country now have earthquake committees. People have been educated on where to shelter during a quake, where to congregate afterwards and how to give basic first aid. Hospitals and schools have been retrofitted to withstand tremors. The police, army and local Red Cross have practised rescue drills. But the poor state of Nepal's infrastructure means it will still be an enormous challenge to first locate and rescue those buried alive, and then house and feed those made homeless. Right now it is not clear whether the few roads in and out of the valley are open or not. As some are close to the quake's epicentre, there is likely to be major damage from cracking and landslides. There is heavy-lifting equipment in Kathmandu, but despite a recent road-widening programme, many roads are still too small for the equipment to travel through. Outside the city, eyewitnesses report that people are trying to dig victims out of the rubble by hand because they have nothing else to use. Power and water The lack of electricity will be a problem over the coming days. Kathmandu is used to long power cuts all year round and many people do have generators. But it is unclear how much petrol the city has - and whether more can be trucked in through damaged roads. It's also unclear whether the country's hydroelectric plants have been damaged. Maintaining a clean water supply will become a major challenge for the rescue effort. Only some homes in Kathmandu have access to mains water. The rest rely on water tankers who drive in supplies every week, and who may not be able to reach the city. The city is no stranger to cholera, which tends to hit during the summer rainy season. There will be an acute risk of water-borne disease if people start to rely on the heavily polluted water of Kathmandu's Bagmati River and its tributaries. Water filtration plants will need to be established very quickly to prevent this. In addition, supplies of blood, medicine and food will need to shipped in quickly for those who are injured or left homeless. Remote As bad as this situation is, at least those in the valley have access to aid. The thousands of people in Nepal's middle hills and more isolated western towns will have to cope on their own without medical, food and water supplies until helicopters can reach them - and this may take days. This also applies to hundreds of climbers in the Everest region who have been hit by a deadly avalanche. Right now they will be relying on each other to rescue those trapped and bring them to safety. Nepalis are tough people used to living in extreme circumstances, but the next few days will be testing for everyone. And when the dust settles on the rescue effort, the focus will move onto the country's many historic buildings now reduced to piles of rubble. Nepal may have been expecting this quake for a long time, but its legacy will take even longer to cope with. Joanna Jolly was the BBC's Nepal correspondent from 2009 to 2011

नेपाल लंबे समय से इस भूकंप की उम्मीद कर रहा था।


US arrest warrant issued for Russell Brand

Summary: A warrant for Russell Brand's arrest has been issued after police say he threw a paparazzi photographer's iPhone through a window.

The comedian is accused of taking the phone and hurling it into a window of a nearby law firm. Russell then tweeted a message to fans saying he did it in tribute to Apple creator Steve Jobs. "Since Steve Jobs died I cannot see anyone use an iphone irreverently, what I did was a tribute to his memory." The New Orleans Police Department confirmed an arrest warrant. A spokesman said: "A misdemeanour warrant for simple criminal damage was issued." It is being reported that the 37-year-old star has offered to pay for the damage to the window. The actor is filming his latest movie in New Orleans, which is still untitled.

रसेल ब्रांड की गिरफ्तारी का वारंट तब जारी किया गया जब पुलिस ने कहा कि उसने एक पपराज़ी फोटोग्राफर का आईफोन खिड़की से फेंक दिया था।


Guernsey States savings call is withdrawn

Summary: A move asking the States of Guernsey to save £1.8m found from efficiency savings rather than funding new projects has been withdrawn.

Deputy Jan Kuttelwascher, who seconded Deputy Martin Storey's motion, said it was clear they did not have support from a majority of the assembly. He said it followed the Treasury and Resources Minister Charles Parkinson suggesting it would not be discussed. Motions have to have the support of at least seven deputies to be debated. The States Strategic Plan, which includes proposals for the funding of nine new projects, is due to be debated on Tuesday after the resignations of the Education Department.

ग्वेर्नसे राज्यों से नई परियोजनाओं के वित्तपोषण के बजाय दक्षता बचत से पाए गए 18 लाख पाउंड बचाने के लिए एक कदम वापस ले लिया गया है।


Bristol artist creates hand-drawn maps of the city

Summary: Artist Gareth Wood moved to Bristol in 2010 and "set his heart on" mapping the city - he is now close to completing the intricate hand-drawn images using black ink and white archival mount boards. He said he wants his maps to "connect with the viewer on a personal level".

The work has taken him more than 500 hours over about three years. He said he finds his inspiration by walking and cycling around Bristol and talking to local people. The drawings include famous landmarks such as the Clifton Suspension Bridge and other less well-known parts of the city, such as Montpelier and Stokes Croft. The 33-year-old said he has been interested in exploring since childhood. "The things you see in the map are not a perfect representation of what is there. "The places, objects and subjects are selected through all types of reasoning. It could be a reoccurring theme or conversation that I've had with certain people that makes me decide that something should be drawn," he said. He is "continuously researching" what he describes as "personal maps" or "psycho-geography". "It is not always the physical state but the emotions and trends that we all share with our habitats that excite me. I communicate experiences using very intricate and detailed work. "It often connects with people on a personal level, telling stories, opening conversations and provoking a variety of thoughts in the viewer," he said. Gareth wants to make the map a two-way conversation and has left one of the hot air balloons "empty" as it floats across the city. He's asking Bristolians what they think should be inside it. He said: "The city belongs to everybody and I'm looking for ideas for the final balloon." He said he was inspired to draw Bristol by its residents who are "in love with their city" which is "curvy with lots of hills". His drawing of the harbourside and old city shows a saxophone and old Victorian streetlight hovering by the Old Duke pub, famous for its live jazz. Gareth currently works as a video and film producer and creates his maps under the name Fuller. The drawings will be unveiled at It's All 2 Much gallery in Stokes Croft on 31 May.

कलाकार गैरेथ वुड 2010 में ब्रिस्टल चले गए और शहर के मानचित्रण पर "अपना दिल लगा लिया"-अब वह काली स्याही और सफेद अभिलेखीय माउंट बोर्डों का उपयोग करके हाथ से खींची गई जटिल छवियों को पूरा करने के करीब हैं। उन्होंने कहा कि वह चाहते हैं कि उनके नक्शे "व्यक्तिगत स्तर पर दर्शकों के साथ जुड़ें"।


How Benin's democratic crown has slipped

Summary: The small West African country of Benin was in the vanguard of a new wave of multiparty democracy which spread across the continent since 1991 but its most recent elections have tarnished its image, analysts say, after the opposition were barred, and the military opened fire against protesters.

What happened? The army is still patrolling the streets of Benin's main city, Cotonou, days after deadly force was used against protesters who had gathered close to the home of opposition leader and former President Thomas Boni Yayi. No official death toll has been given but the opposition says seven civilians were killed. Their anger was sparked by the exclusion of all opposition parties from parliamentary elections on 28 April. Turnout was at a record low, at only 27%. Internet access was restricted on the day of the polls, a move that rights groups and civil society organisations roundly condemned. "A blunt violation of freedom of expression," is what Amnesty International called it, adding it showed an "alarming level of repression". "This situation did not start with the elections," Adeline Van Houtte of the Economist Intelligence Unit told the BBC. "Over past year we have seen the constraining of civil liberties and crackdowns on protests." "Democracy has been planted in minds of citizens and has been for a long time, so this was a final blow. It has ruined Benin's image at the national and international level." What does it mean for democracy in Benin? After a Marxist-Leninist regime and a series of coups d'etat, Benin along with Zambia became one of the first African countries to introduce multiparty elections in 1991. Those polls saw Benin's former President Mathieu Kerekou become the first West African leader to admit defeat in an election. Since then Benin has been regarded as a democratic model, said the BBC's Rachida Yénoukunmè Houssou in Cotonou, with several African nations replicating its reconciliation body, the National Conference of Active Forces of the Nation. But new electoral laws introduced this year mean that a political party had to pay about $424,000 (£328,000) to field a list for the 83-seat parliament. "What's happening doesn't honour the democratic image of Benin," the president, Patrice Talon, admitted on state TV in April. "This situation brings discredit on our democracy and on me." Yet the presidency last week dismissed calls from the opposition to invalidate the results and start again - calls which they repeated at the weekend. Presidential spokesman Wilfried Léandre Houngbedji had labelled their actions "fear-mongering" and said the polls were conducted in line with the law, RFI reports. Analysts say this is a turning point for Benin. Gilles Yabi of Dakar-based think-tank Wathi, said Benin was in a "deadlock" that was tarnishing its image. "We're tipping over into violence," the Beninese analyst said. "It damages the image of the country, where political dialogue meant violence was avoided in the past. "With high numbers of people not turning out to vote, the National Assembly will lack legitimacy." It is also likely to see the government "ruling without checks and balances," Ms Van Houtte of the Economist Intelligence Unit said, "opening the way for further weakening of Benin's democratic credentials". "President Talon will have a free a hand now to pass through the constitutional changes that he has wanted to make over the past two years. Policy-making will be faster but on the other hand his cherished image of a modern president will be damaged." Why has it come to this? Five years ago voters in Benin could chose from 20 parties for the 83 seats in parliament, AFP news agency reports. The number of political parties has since risen to more than 200, which President Patrice Talon has sought to reduce ostensibly as part of a reformist agenda. MPs loyal to the president initiated two laws to this end - a new electoral code and a new charter for political parties. Under these new terms, all political parties have had to file administrative documents in order to be approved by the Interior Ministry. Only two parties met the criteria - Republican Bloc and the Progressive Union - both of which are loyal to the president. All the others were deemed inadmissible and so excluded from the legislative elections. Opposition figures said it showed that President Talon simply wanted control over parties and institutions. The African Union observer mission concluded that the "apathy of the Beninese people" was a result of the opposition ban. US Ambassador Patricia Mahoney said the polls were "neither fully competitive nor inclusive and do not reflect the Benin that we know". Who are the political rivals? Former President Thomas Boni Yayi and President Patrice Talon are old friends, said the BBC's reporter in Benin. Nicknamed the "king of cotton" thanks to the wealth he amassed in that sector, former businessman Mr Talon financed Mr Boni Yayi's successful 2006 and 2011 presidential campaigns. But relations between the two men had soured by the time of President Yayi's second term in office. First, a corruption scandal saw Mr Talon accused of misappropriating more than 18.2m euros ($20.4m; £15.5m) in 2011, then a year later, the businessman fled to France and was linked to a plot to poison President Yayi. France resisted an extradition order. But Mr Talon was later pardoned by the president in 2014, paving the way for his return to Benin. However, Mr Talon harboured political ambitions and their apparent reconciliation didn't last long. There were fears that Mr Yayi would defy constitutional term limits and stand for a third term in office. But in the end he didn't, and the 2016 presidential election saw Mr Talon defeat Mr Yayi's preferred candidate Lionel Zinsou. Now in opposition, Mr Yayi has been at the forefront of the demands to re-run the latest parliamentary elections, along with another former President, Nicéphore Soglo. What does the future hold? With the election results validated by the constitutional court, MPs are to be formally sworn in on 15 May. The opposition maintains that the results should be annulled and the elections re-organised. But so far their calls have been ignored by Mr Talon's government. "According to the courts in Benin they [the polls] were in conformity with electoral law," said Ms Van Houtte of the the Economist Intelligence Unit. "That's not something anyone outside the country can do anything about - other than condemn the use of force against protesters and the internet shutdown. "Anything else would be seen as interference."

पश्चिम अफ्रीका का छोटा सा देश बेनिन बहुदलीय लोकतंत्र की एक नई लहर के अग्रदूत था जो 1991 से पूरे महाद्वीप में फैल गया था, लेकिन इसके सबसे हाल के चुनावों ने इसकी छवि को धूमिल कर दिया है, विश्लेषकों का कहना है, जब विपक्ष को प्रतिबंधित कर दिया गया था, और सेना ने प्रदर्शनकारियों के खिलाफ गोलीबारी शुरू कर दी थी।


HMP Wayland officers injured in incident with prisoner

Summary: Four prison officers have been injured in an incident involving an inmate at a jail in Norfolk.

The officers from HMP Wayland, near Thetford, were taken to hospital on Saturday, although no further details were given. "Staff responded quickly to resolve an incident involving a prisoner," a Prison Service spokesperson said. "In responding to the incident four members of staff were injured and required hospital treatment." He added: "Violence in prison is not tolerated in any form and this incident has been referred to the police, who are investigating."

नॉरफ़ॉक की एक जेल में एक कैदी से जुड़ी घटना में चार जेल अधिकारी घायल हो गए हैं।


Car drives off with door lodged in windscreen

Summary: A driver crashed into a house and then carried on driving with the front door in the car's windscreen and roof.

The 18-year-old motorist was taken to hospital with head injuries after the crash in Ashworth Road, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on Friday night. Police said his Audi collided with a vehicle before crashing into the front porch of the house. Police said officers were speaking to the driver, who is not thought to be seriously hurt. Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk

एक चालक एक घर में घुस गया और फिर कार के विंडस्क्रीन और छत में सामने के दरवाजे के साथ गाड़ी चलाता रहा।


Swansea measles: Gareth Colfer-Williams inquest opens

Summary: An inquest into the death of a man who died while suffering from measles in Swansea during the current epidemic has been opened and adjourned.

Gareth Colfer-Williams, 25, was found dead on 18 April but a post-mortem examination was inconclusive. Tuesday's inquest was adjourned on to allow further tests to be carried out on his body. More than 940 measles cases have been confirmed since the outbreak began with updated figures due later. So far 83 people have needed hospital treatment since cases first came to light in November. Immunisation started in schools west of the main Swansea epidemic area for the first time on Monday. The MMR vaccination is being offered to up to 4,000 secondary school pupils in Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion over the next few weeks. Vaccinations are also continuing in schools around Swansea.

वर्तमान महामारी के दौरान स्वानसी में खसरे से पीड़ित एक व्यक्ति की मृत्यु की जांच शुरू की गई है और स्थगित कर दी गई है।