Chocolate: The rise of the cocoa purists

Summary: You can now buy 100% cocoa chocolate on the High Street and sales are said to be on the rise. It's a rather acquired taste, so why is it becoming more popular and does real chocolate have to be high in cocoa to be good?

By Denise WintermanBBC News Magazine A "demanding and very powerful experience" is one description of eating chocolate with 100% cocoa content. "Pretty gruesome" is another. The people who make it say it has flavour hints of anything from leather and tobacco to olive oil and oak. If that's what you want from a chocolate bar then you're in luck . Chocolate with a very high cocoa content is increasingly being stocked in High Street shops, having largely been sold by specialist or artisan chocolatiers in the past. Hotel Chocolat sells four different bars with 100% cocoa content in its branches, while Swiss company Lindt has 99% cocoa bars in UK shops and supermarkets. The companies don't release sales figures for commercial reasons, but say there is a growing demand for the stuff. "It's been a bit of a surprise success for us and at times we have found it difficult to keep up with demand," says Angus Thirlwell, co-founder of Hotel Chocolat. "The bars are now the strongest selling part of our premium range. "People often try the bars out of curiosity and stay with them, others gradually migrate up the cocoa scale to the nirvana that is 100%." Two of the nation's most popular milk chocolate bars, Cadbury's Dairy Milk and Mars Galaxy, have a minimum 26% cocoa and 25% respectively. Cadbury's dark chocolate Bournville has a minimum of 36% cocoa. It's what most people are used to eating, so what is with this growing obsession with 100% cocoa chocolate? "People are waking up to the fact that chocolate is not a generic product," says Willie Harcourt-Cooze, owner of Willie's Cocoa, which also produces 100% cocoa chocolate. "They are realising that different beans have different flavours, you can also use the same bean and change the way it tastes in the production process. "You get wine connoisseurs, you get cheese connoisseurs, now there is a growing number of chocolate connoisseurs. A chocolate can be as complex and specialist as a fine wine." It's helping boast the sales of most premium chocolate. Market analysts Mintel say "a notable pool of consumers are becoming more discerning when it comes to their choice of chocolate and are actively seeking out more top-end brands". And with chocolate sales reaching £4bn in the UK in 2011, according to Mintel, even a niche market can create big profits. But does a high cocoa content mean high quality chocolate? Does the rise in chocolate purism all come down to superior taste? Absolutely not, say experts. "The problem is people confuse the two things," says Alasdair Garnsworthy, head chocolatier with the Chocolate Society. "Chocolate with a high cocoa content can still be made using cheap beans. You can get chocolate with a lower cocoa content that is far better because it has been made with quality beans." Using the best ingredients is much more important than cocoa content, say chocolate makers. The origin of beans plays a big part, with certain types having a better flavour than others. Then there's how the beans are harvested and stored. After that they are roasted and blended, then "conched". This is a process when beans - and other ingredients if used - are kneaded. The longer you do it, the better the flavour, says Garnsworthy. "With cheaper chocolate the beans are conched for about 24 hours, with better quality chocolate it is done for around three days." A lot of people are wrongly influenced by cocoa content because they don't know enough about chocolate to judge if it actually tastes good or not, say connoisseurs. It was the same with wine in the 1980s and coffee in the 1990s. Better quality cacao tends to grow in places like South America, says Dom Ramsey, editor of Chocablog. "If you're going for a high percentage chocolate bar, you should look for one that mentions the origin of the cocoa bean too. Single origin bars, from one country or even a single estate, have unique and distinctive flavour notes where bulk beans have very few." The lower quality bulk cocoa beans are usually grown in West Africa, adds Ramsey. The trees produce a high yield but the beans don't have a lot of flavour. Manufacturers add a lot of sugar to them in order to make them taste good. But the higher the cocoa content, the less sugar can be added to disguise bitterness. "There is no place to hide when it comes to 100% cocoa chocolate," says Hotel Chocolat's Thirlwell. "The recipe is cocoa beans, nothing else. No sugar, no vanilla. You can have different flavour profiles with different beans but they all have to be amazing quality to taste good." Even among high-end brands, 100% cocoa chocolate divides opinion. Green & Blacks is acknowledged by some chocolate makers as "opening people's eyes to dark chocolate in the the UK". Its biggest selling product in Britain is a 70% cocoa dark chocolate bar. Again, it won't release sales figures but says in the last year it has sold a bar every 10 seconds in the UK. You do the mathematics. "We would never launch a 100% or 99% bar," says James Holloman, business leader for Green & Blacks in the UK. "This is because there is no balance in terms of the taste profile. "Balance is about that cocoa hit and then the smooth feeling after. You get this by adding some sugar, vanilla and other elements. We think any dark chocolate with over 85% cocoa loses that perfect balance." Others dismiss the increasing number of high-cocoa chocolates as "more of a gimmick" than anything else. One thing is for sure, you can't stuff it down. Hotel Chocolat say it is best to eat two small pieces in succession, the first prepares your mouth and the second reveals the flavour. Harcourt-Cooze, of Willie's Cocoa, says it is best used as an ingredient in food. He sells to many of the UK's top chefs who use it in dishes like venison with chocolate sauce. But in general, the makers and lovers of fine chocolate are welcoming the move of high-cocoa chocolate from artisan chocolate shops to High Street ones. "I think it's positive that the likes of Lindt has a 99% chocolate bar being sold in the local corner shop," says Ramsey. "Not because this particular bar is great, but simply because it raises awareness and opens people's eyes to the fact that there's a world beyond Dairy Milk." You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook

अब आप हाई स्ट्रीट पर 100% कोको चॉकलेट खरीद सकते हैं और कहा जाता है कि बिक्री बढ़ रही है। यह एक अपेक्षाकृत अर्जित स्वाद है, तो यह अधिक लोकप्रिय क्यों हो रहा है और क्या असली चॉकलेट को अच्छा होने के लिए कोको में उच्च होना पड़ता है?


Newhaven: Driver killed by timber falling from lorry

Summary: A man was killed when timber fell from a lorry and hit the car he was driving.

The 28-year-old, from Burgess Hill, died at the scene in New Road in Newhaven, East Sussex, at about 07:30 BST after the windscreen of his BMW was struck by falling timber. A 32-year-old man, from Eastbourne, has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and remains in police custody. The Health and Safety Executive have been informed of the death, police say.

एक व्यक्ति की मौत हो गई जब एक लॉरी से लकड़ी गिर गई और वह जिस कार को चला रहा था उससे टकरा गई।


Idris Elba joins Fast and Furious film scenes in Glasgow

Summary: Screen star Idris Elba has joined the filming of scenes for the new Fast and Furious movie on the streets of Glasgow.

The area around the city's George Square has been closed off for stunt sequences over the past few days. Glasgow is doubling for London in the spin-off film Hobbs and Shaw - which stars Elba, The Rock, Jason Statham and Vanessa Kirby. Roads will remain closed in parts of the city centre until Sunday. All images: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty.

स्क्रीन स्टार इदरीस एल्बा ग्लासगो की सड़कों पर नई फास्ट एंड फ्यूरियस फिल्म के दृश्यों के फिल्मांकन में शामिल हो गए हैं।


The surreal world of Pakistan's 'political circus'

Summary: When they first arrived on Islamabad's sprawling Kashmir Highway three weeks ago, the anti-government protesters were burning with the desire to tear down the citadels of power - and make short work of it.

By M Ilyas KhanBBC News, Islamabad They looked around, saw what seemed like a million heads as their leaders had predicted, and punched the air harder, shouting: "Down with Nawaz Sharif". But Pakistan's prime minister is still in place. Most of them have since lost interest and left the scene. Others, who still feel obliged to hang on, keep asking journalists: "Will it end soon? Will talks succeed?" The army 'umpire' Across the fence, beyond the shipping containers which are piled one over the other to create hurdles for protesters, saunter weary-looking, bored policemen. The days when thousands of them shuffled into line and beat their batons against their glass shields to create the overawing sound of battle are behind them. Their only wish now seems to be that the government gives them orders to finish the job and go home. Most of them have been shipped to Islamabad from hundreds of miles away, leaving behind their families, clothing, toiletries and daily routines. And it has been more than a month. The key to defuse the confrontation between these two sets of adversaries lies in the hands of their respective mobilisers - one controlling the seat of power, the other lodged in two shipping containers parked side-by-side on the road outside. There may be a third contender to the issue - the "umpire" - if one is to believe Imran Khan, one of the leaders in the containers. He has been elusive about what exactly he means when he talks about the "umpire" but most Pakistanis understand this to be a reference to the country's military. This scene in Islamabad illustrates yet again the enigma that the Pakistani state has become for many around the world. It is seen as a country marred by perpetual political instability, militant attacks, a separatist insurgency across more than 40 per cent of its landmass, and a country that is eternally on the verge of economic collapse. But it is also a country which has not descended into anarchy, can beat militancy at will, whose claim of being a "responsible" nuclear power is taken seriously in international power centres, and which continues to compete with India - which is ten times bigger - for strategic one-upmanship in the South Asian region. A coup history In the 1970s, and again in the 1990s, there were widespread protests across important urban centres aiming to bring down elected governments. In 1976, the bone of contention was the election, which the opposition alleged was rigged. In the 1990s, the protests mostly centred on the allegations of corruption. On all those occasions, the governments were toppled. In 1977, we had a military coup. During the 1990s, presidents backed by the military used special constitutional powers to topple four elected governments one after the other. The present stand-off more closely resembles the 1977 model, where the president did not have the special powers to sack the government, and so the military must stage a direct coup if it wants to intervene. But a coup has not come, even though the military has kept to its pattern of the 1990s; instead of throwing its weight behind the government, it has made noises that amount to providing both players with what some analysts call a "level playing field". So as the protesters and the policemen slug it out on the streets, it is the role of the army that has been central to most debates in parliament, the two shipping containers, the media and the drawing rooms of the chattering classes. Government not isolated The two protesting leaders have separate agendas. Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's PTI party wants "freedom" from what it sees as a faulty electoral system. It accuses Prime Minister Sharif's government of having stolen last year's elections, wants it to quit and wants fresh elections, but after electoral reforms. In the neighbouring container, cleric Tahirul Qadri is espousing a wider, "revolutionary" agenda; he wants "moral reforms" which would be undertaken by a set of "clean" individuals holding state power over a longer period of time. He also wants the Punjab chief minister's scalp for the 14 June police action in which 16 of his disciples were killed. The calls from the two leaders for the government's ousting have fallen on deaf ears, and have led the ruling and opposition forces in parliament to close ranks. This is unlike the 1990s, when opposition forces tended to gravitate to the protesters, isolating the government. So the residents of Islamabad, the audiences of the Pakistani news channels all over the country and the world are witnessing an extended version of what former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, used to call the "political circus". Every day has the same grinding pattern now. It begins with the parliamentarians in their rhetorical speeches warning against threats to democracy from the "container leaders" and the "institutions" - a euphemism for the military. The night begins with hyperbole from the "container leaders" calling the parliamentarians "thieves" and reiterating their resolve to stand their ground until the "umpire" lifts his finger, as in a cricket match when a batsman is declared out. Meanwhile, the protesters and the policemen have their eyes and ears on the on-again-off-again talks. A PTI leader said yesterday the government has agreed to 5.5 out of his party's six demands. Others say a rapprochement with Mr Qadri is also on the cards. But many are of the view that a resolution will come quickly once a set of completely different issues - concerning national security and regional policy - are settled with the country's "umpire".

जब वे पहली बार तीन हफ्ते पहले इस्लामाबाद के विशाल कश्मीर राजमार्ग पर पहुंचे, तो सरकार विरोधी प्रदर्शनकारी सत्ता के गढ़ों को गिराने और इसे छोटा करने की इच्छा से जल रहे थे।


Talisman awards Sodexo £300m five-year deal

Summary: Energy firm Talisman has awarded a £300m five-year North Sea contract to service solutions company Sodexo.

The deal, for food and facilities management services, spans 11 offshore installations, as well as Talisman's Flotta terminal, their Aberdeen office premises and the Gyda installation off Norway. It is said to have secured 300 jobs. Sodexo said its aim was for clients to enjoy the best quality of life wherever they were.

ऊर्जा कंपनी टैलिसमैन ने सेवा समाधान कंपनी सोडेक्सो को 300 मिलियन पाउंड का पांच साल का उत्तरी सागर अनुबंध दिया है।


Inside Europol

Summary: "When I started 10 years ago it was pretty quiet."

Danny ShawHome affairs correspondent@DannyShawBBCon Twitter In a light, airy office on the ground floor of Europol's brutalist headquarters in The Hague, David Ellero, one of its senior officials, is reflecting on how the organisation has changed since he joined in 2007. In those days, some people confused Europol with Interpol and others thought it was just an annoying part of the EU's bureaucratic machinery. "Our counterparts, or the investigators in the member states, didn't really know what we did," Ellero says. Now, the European Police Office, to give it its official title, is recognised across the law enforcement world, with a budget of almost £100m, and a workforce of more than 1000, to match. Its effectiveness certainly isn't lost on the UK government, which is preparing to start negotiations about Britain's role in Europol after the country leaves the EU. Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, has said that the agency plays an "incredibly important role in keeping us safe in Europe". "The phone rings quite often," says Ellero, with typical understatement. A former detective - much of his career was spent in Italy investigating Mafia killings - he now heads a department tackling the top organised crime groups across the Continent. "For a criminal to communicate with his counterparts across Europe it takes a second on WhatsApp. "We need to make sure that... police (can act) at the same speed even if they have different judicial set-ups and and even if they speak different languages," adds Ellero, pointing out that "even pickpockets" operate transnationally. The main function of Europol, which started work in 1999, is to act as a hub for the exchange of intelligence between 750 global agencies. It also oversees databases containing tens of millions of pieces of information on criminals, offences and suspect vehicles, and it helps co-ordinate crime-fighting operations against drug dealers, human trafficking gangs and terrorists. INTELLIGENCE Forty countries - including the EU member states and others such as the US and Australia - communicate via a system called Siena - hundreds of thousands of encrypted operational messages are sent every year. The agency's main intelligence database - Europol Information System (EIS) - keeps track of crimes, suspects and convicted criminals, including terrorism cases. Only Europol members have direct access to the EIS; other countries must put in a request. Europol uses a unique database known as the Analysis Work File (AWF). More than 100 specialists based in The Hague use AWF to help investigators across the EU better understand and tackle crime and organised crime groups - the system has more than 33 million active entries. Outside Europol, other pan-European intelligence systems help in the fight against crime including the Schengen Information System (SIS). Although the UK is not among the 26 countries that have open borders under the Schengen agreement it can access the database which records cross-border movements and associated intelligence. In 2015, the SIS was interrogated three billion times by law enforcement officers across Europe with 64 million "alerts" placed on the system every day relating to everything from stolen vehicles and missing children to foreign fighters returning to Europe from Syria and Iraq. Indeed, one of the fastest-growing areas of work at Europol involves countering the spread of propaganda from terrorist groups and extremists. A 26-strong team in the Internet Referral Unit spends each day combing the web for material and then persuading social media companies and service providers to remove it. The head of the unit, Vincent Semestre, likens it to "emptying the ocean with a spoon". He says they've identified 91 internet platforms that have contained extremist content, more than 50 of which have co-operated with Europol in deleting the material. Over the past 18 months the team's most intense periods of work have come after terror attacks in Europe, when it's had to act quickly to prevent the spread of extremist images, videos and postings. "You need to have capacity in-house, which is understanding this ideology in its original language: which means staff speaking Arabic, speaking Russian, speaking Turkish," says Semestre, who worked for the French judicial police before joining Europol. "Multiplying these resources needed by all the member states would be quite difficult. "You need to have continuous monitoring of the technological environment so it made sense to have this centralised in Europol in order to provide these centralised services to all the member states," he adds. Despite the serious nature of their work, there's a relaxed and friendly atmosphere inside the Europol building - it looks more like an art college than a police station. Nevertheless, security is tight: everyone is searched on entry, bags are X-rayed, identity documents are taken away to be checked. Around the atrium, blinds are drawn on the windows of meeting rooms, signifying that confidential briefings are taking place. On the second floor, there's another layer of protection, with extra ID checks and access possible only via a palm print scanner. It's known as the "secure zone" and it's here, and on the floors above, that each of the EU's member states, plus 14 other countries, have their own staff. In total, there are more than 200 of them - they're called liaison officers - and they specialise in crimes such as gun-running, trafficking and drug smuggling. The main benefit is that representatives of each country can meet in person to sort out the complexities of cross-border police work. For Britain's 17 liaison officers, who work from an office which neighbours the bureaux of Luxembourg, the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, an added advantage is that the language of Europol is English. Kenny Dron, who's in charge of the UK office, says there's no need for long-distance phone calls, texts... or emails. "Emails just don't work when you've got people to protect and lives to protect back in the UK," says Dron, who's spent 30 years in border policing and intelligence work. "So you've got to have that face-to-face contact to ensure that the other country and your colleagues understand the severity of the situation." Although Britain will almost certainly continue to have liaison officers at Europol after Brexit (America isn't in the EU and it has more than 20 staff based there) what's far less clear is the future of the 50 other UK law enforcement employees in the Hague. They're currently overseeing a range of cross-border policing operations, on child sexual exploitation, excise fraud and heroin trafficking, among others. One of the British officers, Laura Clark, seconded from the National Crime Agency to work in Europol's migrant smuggling centre, says it would be a "real shame" if Britain can't continue to play a major part in the organisation. "We would miss a lot of the intelligence that goes through. There's a lot of juicy intelligence that I see that wouldn't be able to get given to countries, a lot of support for investigations wouldn't happen," she says. In January, reflecting on Britain's likely relationship with Europol after Brexit, Amber Rudd told the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee: "I expect and hope us to have an active role going forward," pointing out that the UK was "one of the largest contributors" to the EU agency's database. Rob Wainwright, Europol's director since 2009, goes further, saying Britain is "rightly regarded as a natural leader" on security issues. "There is no doubt that if you look over the last 20 or 30 years the evolution of police co-operation in Europe, not just at Europol, there is a heavy British footprint around that," says Wainwright, who declares himself to be a "proud Brit". But he says the "fullest benefits" of the organisation go to EU-member states, and if, after Brexit, Britain has an arrangement with Europol akin to that of non-members such as the USA or Norway, Wainwright says there'll be "some diminution" in the UK's rights and responsibilities. They have limited access to intelligence and less say over operations and decisions. "The opportunity therefore to share that experience, the opportunity to leverage that influence, is going to change and maybe diminish and I think those in charge of running that in Britain will need to find alternative ways therefore of making sure that Britain can still have a real voice in European security affairs," he says. By then, Rob Wainwright, who's credited with introducing reforms to Europol that have enhanced its standing and effectiveness, will have left the Hague headquarters, as his contract expires in April 2018. His successor will inherit an organisation in good shape - but one that will have to adjust to a different relationship with the UK.

"जब मैंने 10 साल पहले शुरुआत की थी तो यह बहुत शांत था।"


Premier Foods, maker of Hovis bread, sees losses narrow

Summary: The maker of Hovis bread and Bisto, Premier Foods, has reported that losses narrowed to £23.5m in the six months to the end of June.

In the same period last year, it recorded a loss of £45.8m. Sales for its bread division rose 8.2% to £356m, but total grocery sales declined by 1%. Costs for reorganising the business totalled £12.4m, which included the closure of three bakeries and two distribution sites. In a statement accompanying the interim results, chief executive Gavin Darby said: "We have already completed the actions to deliver the promised £20m of overhead cost savings for 2013 and continue to keep a tight control over costs. "The restructuring of our bread and milling business is ahead of plan and we are taking the decisions necessary to create a more sustainable platform for this business."

होविस ब्रेड और बिस्टो के निर्माता, प्रीमियर फूड्स ने बताया है कि जून के अंत तक छह महीनों में नुकसान £ 23.5m तक कम हो गया है।


North Korea nuclear test: 'Tunnel collapse' may provide clues

Summary: North Korea has hailed its sixth "perfect success" of a nuclear test. The seismic readings indicate it is bigger than any other it has conducted, but the apparent collapse of a tunnel at the nuclear test site could provide valuable information, nuclear defence analyst Catherine Dill writes.

Seismic readings from the US and China place the explosion at a magnitude of 6.3, so we already know that this is likely to be the most powerful of North Korea's nuclear tests. This magnitude roughly corresponds to the lower end of predicted yields of a thermonuclear weapon - basically the second generation of nuclear weapon, which works in two stages by having one bomb set off another bomb to generate a larger explosion It is not yet clear exactly what nuclear weapon design was tested, but based on the seismic signature, the yield of this test definitely is an order of magnitude higher than the yields of the previous tests. Some estimates say that this latest test comes in at about 100-150 kilotonnes. For comparison, Hiroshima was about 15 kilotonnes. North Korea's last test in September 2016 was estimated at between 10 and 30 kilotonnes. We can guess this because equations have been developed that translate magnitude of a tremor into the estimated yield of a nuclear device tested, which is basically the strength of the bomb. But it also depends on the geology of the test site and how deep the tunnels are. We don't have all that information and that's why the information about the yields are all so preliminary. So what else can we tell from this latest test? This is where an apparent tunnel collapse reported at the nuclear test site could be very useful. The other way to learn is to monitor the composition of radionuclides released, which are the products of the nuclear reaction that are released into the atmosphere. In the past the tests have been very well contained as the tunnels where the tests took place were sealed. So we have not had much to analyse in recent years. But this explosion was large and it also looks like a portion of the tunnel collapsed. The US Geological Survey recorded a second event approximately eight minutes after the test. The USGS, as well as China, have assessed this event as a "collapse" of the cavity. Why would the tunnel collapse? It could be that the tunnel was not constructed sufficiently to handle an explosion of that size. It's also possible that they intended for this collapse to occur - a way of signalling to the world that this was an authentic test through radionuclide release, a serious advance. It is still too early to tell. What it does mean is that we are likely to get information to analyse this nuclear explosion to determine what happened under the mountains of the test site. This will take weeks or even months as monitoring sites run by the CTBTO detect these radionuclides. The information they give us may tell us the composition of the warhead: how much fissile material there was and what kind - was it plutonium or highly enriched uranium? North Korea produces both and has capability for both. North Korea's sixth nuclear test is not definitively a thermonuclear weapon from the seismic signature alone, but it appears to be a likely possibility at this point. This progress is not surprising, though the magnitude of this test is a stark reminder of the seriousness of the current moment. According to South Korean government seismologists, this test was five to six times more powerful than past tests. So what is next for North Korea and where could they go from here? Part of this depends on how the US responds. The concern among some analysts is that North Korea will feel compelled to prove this warhead they have just tested can actually fly on an ICBM. They could want to try a live firing exercise or even an atmospheric nuclear test, which was how the earliest nuclear devices were tested until that was banned. This would be among the most provocative gestures they could make in the testing arena. The timing of this test may or may not be politically significant. US-ROK joint exercises recently concluded. North Korea has been intimating that a test may occur this year, and the exact timing of this test may be for technical reasons more than political. And there is no doubt that they will glean useful technical information from this test and be able to make slight adjustments to the warhead to be confident it will work in the future. In the official state announcement after the test, Pyongyang claimed a successful test of a two-stage hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb ready to be deployed on an ICBM that Kim Jong Un inspected the previous day. Cautious analysts have reason to continue to debate the exact nature of the device, but with the results of this test it will be difficult for observers to continue to claim that North Korea does not yet have a working nuclear weapons program. Catherine Dill is a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

उत्तर कोरिया ने परमाणु परीक्षण की अपनी छठी "पूर्ण सफलता" की सराहना की है। भूकंप की रीडिंग से संकेत मिलता है कि यह किसी भी अन्य परीक्षण की तुलना में बड़ा है, लेकिन परमाणु परीक्षण स्थल पर एक सुरंग का स्पष्ट पतन मूल्यवान जानकारी प्रदान कर सकता है, परमाणु रक्षा विश्लेषक कैथरीन डिल लिखते हैं।


Ex Plymouth head pleads not guilty to sex abuse

Summary: A former head teacher has appeared in court over allegations of sexually abusing pupils in Devon in the 1970s and 1980s.

Neil Dyer, then known as Geoffrey Burley, pleaded not guilty to 28 counts of indecent assault on children under the age of 16 at Plymouth Crown Court. The 70-year-old was deputy head and later headmaster of Widey Court Primary School, Plymouth. He resigned in 1993. Mr Dyer, of Plymouth, was bailed to re-appear in court in March for his trial. Earlier this year Devon and Cornwall police said all the charges related to historic offences and no-one currently at the school was involved in the inquiry.

एक पूर्व प्रधान शिक्षक 1970 और 1980 के दशक में डेवोन में छात्रों के यौन शोषण के आरोपों पर अदालत में पेश हुए हैं।


Cambridgeshire school expansion delayed by newts

Summary: Great crested newts are holding up expansion at a school leaving pupils to be taught in mobile classrooms.

Cambourne Village College in Cambridgeshire planned a new wing for science laboratories, workshops, a business studies suite and restaurant. It will be ready by January 2020, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesman said the great crested newts, a protected species, would be moved to an alternative habitat. "Four, high-quality mobile classrooms will provide supplementary teaching space at the college until the new facilities are ready in January. There has been no impact on September admissions," the spokesman added. Great Crested Newts Source: Froglife/BBC

ग्रेट क्रेस्टेड न्यूट्स एक स्कूल में विस्तार कर रहे हैं जो छात्रों को मोबाइल कक्षाओं में पढ़ाने के लिए छोड़ रहे हैं।


Could Fifa really take the World Cup from Russia or Qatar?

Summary: Following Fifa's head of audit and compliance Dominico Scala's remarks that it was feasible for Fifa to strip a nation of the World Cup if corruption was proved, we examine exactly how this would work.

By James ReevellBBC News What needs to happen for them to lose the World Cup? Proof needs to be found that it was obtained by corrupt means. This would need to be a "smoking gun", and ideally proven as part of a criminal investigation. The consequences are so great - legal, financial, diplomatic - that nothing short of absolute proof would do. How would they do it? Essentially, Fifa's Executive Committee (the organisation's most powerful body) is the only body which can make this call. This is unprecedented territory and it all comes down to the interpretation of Fifa's rules. There is no obvious reference to corruption but there is a general clause for "unforeseen circumstances" that could be used. The problem then is defining corruption as "unforeseen circumstances," - leaving it open to interpretation what the burden of proof or level of corruption is required. How soon? The earliest it could happen would be at the Extraordinary Congress called to vote on Sepp Blatter's replacement as president. The BBC understands that this is likely to be held on 16 December. Does Sepp Blatter have a say? For now. As long as he remains president he could trigger a vote on it. The odds are that the Executive Committee will follow what he says, they normally have in the past. His successor could also announce their arrival by asking for a vote on withdrawing the rights to host the World Cup. However, it would be a bold move to make your first decision one that could potentially destroy your organisation. How would it work? In theory, very simply. Fifa would say it was tearing up the contract due to corruption. That would be quick, as long as Qatar or Russia accepted it. The problem is - they almost certainly wouldn't. So, then it would move to legal wrangling, and the injured party would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). This would not be a quick process, with several unknowns. Would CAS halt the process of removing the right to host whilst it heard the case, leaving the bid in limbo? And would whoever lost out at CAS, then appeal again to a higher Swiss court? This is so unprecedented we simply do not know. Could Russia lose the 2018 World Cup? Time more than anything means that in all likelihood Russia will keep the 2018 World Cup. The ball is already rolling and the draw for qualifying takes place in less than two months. If Russia were to be stripped of the tournament it would be in 2016 at the earliest, probably later. Television is the financial power behind the World Cup and by 2016 broadcasters will be starting to make detailed plans. Uncertainty is the last thing they want - this more than anything means Fifa is unlikely to make a change. Finding a replacement host at short notice would also be difficult. Nations such as Germany or England could host it quickly but would still need to upgrade many of their stadiums. In England, probably only Wembley and Arsenal's Emirates stadium fully meet Fifa's specifications. The rest would need investment to upgrade things such as broadcast facilities - certainly not impossible, but potentially time consuming and expensive. In addition to stadiums, a host nation would have to be ready for one million visiting fans, possibly more if it was held in central Europe. Would small cities really be able to handle 50,000 fans requiring bed and board at short notice? Fifa would also require hundreds of hotel rooms for it and "members of the football family". Even last year's hosts Brazil would struggle. Much of the infrastructure there was temporary - the Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha stadium in capital Brasilia is now a bus park. Sources: Stadium DB / media reports. Could Qatar lose the 2022 World Cup? In practical terms - yes. There is enough time before 2022 to find a new host, quite possibly one of the original bidders in the form of the US, or Australia. Legally - nobody really knows. The Qataris are bullish and will fight any move to take the tournament away from them with every legal resource at their disposal. However, the strength of their response to the corruption scandal suggests they must be nervous - and with Swiss and American criminal investigations examining their bid, they would be foolish not to be. * As outlined in original bid. In 2014 it was reported that Qatar could scale back plans to 8 or 9 stadiums. What about the money? Fifa has $1.5bn (£690m) in cash reserves and is an immensely powerful organisation, but it is going up against two nation-states. Both hosts have invested eye-watering sums of money into the tournament; Qatar is quite literally building cities to hold stadiums. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has estimated the cost of the Russian tournament at £13bn ($20bn). Qatar says its cost will be at least £23bn ($35bn). If a World Cup was removed from a host country which then successfully appealed and won compensation, Fifa could well be bankrupted. Diplomatic incident? Forget about the money, part of the allure of hosting a World Cup is prestige, a way of announcing yourself on the world stage. Qatar has systematically used sport to build itself as a global brand. It owns Paris St-Germain and sponsors European champions Barcelona; the World Cup was the final part of the jigsaw. For Qatar to be stripped of it in a mire of corruption would be humiliating. It would almost certainly damage its relations with the West, where it is a major investor. Russia is even more fraught. President Vladimir Putin has already described the US Department of Justice's corruption investigation as a Western plot to strip Russia of a World Cup. The countries that could all host at very short notice - Germany, Britain and the US - all currently have sanctions targeting Russia over the crisis in Ukraine. For the tournament to be taken away from Russia and handed to one of them would have enormous diplomatic ramifications.

फीफा के लेखापरीक्षा और अनुपालन प्रमुख डोमिनिको स्काला की टिप्पणी के बाद कि यदि भ्रष्टाचार साबित हो जाता है तो फीफा के लिए विश्व कप से एक राष्ट्र को छीनना संभव था, हम ठीक से जांच करते हैं कि यह कैसे काम करेगा।


Viewpoint: What Bernie Sanders has that Joe Biden doesn't

Summary: Never a favourite among his own generation, Bernie Sanders has raised a movement of young people who are ready for the first major presidential candidate in their lifetimes to call himself a socialist, writes Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University.

Standing in front of the library of the University of Michigan on Sunday, Bernie Sanders could be excused if he paused a moment to reflect on the estimated ten thousands of cheering supporters. It was 60 years ago at the University of Chicago that Sanders began what he later described as "the major period of intellectual ferment in my life". Sanders joined the Young People's Socialist League and other organisations and organised his first protest. He could only marshal a force of 32 students to occupy the administration building, but he ultimately prevailed. Sanders spent much of his life fighting for big ideas with small crowds. Now, he has not just the numbers but the movement that he always dreamt of. Indeed, he is the movement. While some might not want socialism, everyone in this crowd desperately wants Sanders. Watching from the edge of the massive crowd was one person who knew all too well what Sanders may have been thinking as he stood before this university crowd. Alan Haber smiled while holding fliers for Earth Day, wearing a tiny pin that simply read "SDS." Read more on Bernie Sanders The initials stood for The Students for a Democratic Society, a radical student organisation from the 1960s. Haber was its first president. Although others grew more moderate or conservative with age, Sanders and Haber continued to organise and agitate and wait for the crowd that might eventually form. Those crowds got smaller and smaller for decades. Now the crowd was finally here and waiting for the first major presidential candidate in our lifetimes to call himself an unabashed socialist. Most of Sanders' supporters would not be born for decades when he stormed the UChicago administrative building. However, they identified with this 78-year-old radical in a way that Joe Biden can only dream of. Before the rally, I found two students setting up the stage hours before Sanders would emerge. Arden Shapiro and Hazel Gordon are precisely why the Democratic establishment is so worried about this movement - and so seemingly incapable of tapping into its energy. While they would vote for Biden if forced to in an election against Trump, they see Sanders as the only true and clear voice in the race. Arden said that she was "really angry" about the level of corporate control in our system perpetrated by both parties. A trans woman, Hazel said that she saw Sanders as the only person truly fighting to help people secure medical insurance, particularly mental health coverage. Hazel said that she viewed Biden as taking the side of corporations and did not support anything she believed in. Arden would later help introduce Sanders at the rally and called on her fellow students to bring five friends to the polling places to secure a win in Michigan over the establishment. Others were even more direct. There were the guys distributing "Eat the Rich" T-shirts. Another supporter carried a sign reading "Make Racists Afraid Again". Those images unnerve many traditional Democratic voters who see this movement as potentially careening out of control. Sanders has never done particularly well with people of his own age. Many of those who once joined his causes in the 1960s are now worried about their 401k accounts and social security payments. Sanders had to wait for a new generation and they are here in droves. The problem for the Democratic party is that they are including leaders like Biden in their fight against the "establishment". Indeed Sanders drove home that point in his speech where he denounced Biden and his "billionaire backers" for trying to kill this movement. The only reference in the speech that drew greater boos than Biden was a reference to ICE raids. For them, the future lies with Bernie and younger voices like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who electrified the crowd. Whatever happens Tuesday, Sanders has found his audience and they are not going away. Sanders has shaped a rising generation that does not recoil from the term "socialism" and believes, as he did, that compromise only invites betrayal. Every establishment figure now appears lined up against Sanders and over a dozen people told me that the concerted effort has only angered them more with the Democratic party. While half insisted that they would reluctantly vote for Biden if needed, half were not sure or outright refused to support Biden. In other words, many are likely to stay at home. They are ready to storm the White House, the ultimate administrative building, for Bernie but not willing to walk into a polling place for Biden. One former Michigan graduate wearing a homemade "Socialist Butterfly" jacket with Bernie's picture on it said that she became a socialist after listening to Sanders in 2016. She is back again in 2020 with the same commitment. She still "feels the Bern" but feels nothing for Biden. The Democratic establishment is hoping that the hatred for Trump will fill that void, but the co-ordinated effort against Sanders is only reaffirming the view that it is the establishment writ large that is the problem. Jonathan Turley gives legal analysis for the BBC and is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He was called as a Republican witness to testify at the Trump impeachment hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.

जॉर्ज वाशिंगटन विश्वविद्यालय में कानून के प्रोफेसर जोनाथन टर्ली लिखते हैं, "बर्नी सैंडर्स ने अपनी पीढ़ी के बीच कभी भी पसंदीदा नहीं रहे, उन्होंने युवाओं का एक आंदोलन खड़ा किया है जो अपने जीवनकाल में खुद को समाजवादी कहने के लिए राष्ट्रपति पद के पहले प्रमुख उम्मीदवार के लिए तैयार हैं।"


Birds back at Loch Garten for ninth season together

Summary: Two ospreys have returned to a wildlife reserve in the Highlands for their ninth breeding season.

Female EJ and male Odin are the most successful breeding pair at RSPB Scotland's Loch Garten site near Grantown on Spey. Over previous seasons 17 of their chicks have fledged. EJ, who is 20-years-old this year, has been visiting the loch for 15 years and has reared 25 chicks over that time with Odin and other males. Ospreys migrate from west Africa to Scotland to breed and can be seen hunting for fish from rivers and lochs.

दो ऑस्प्रे अपने नौवें प्रजनन मौसम के लिए हाइलैंड्स में एक वन्यजीव अभयारण्य में लौट आए हैं।


Number of visitors to Wales from rest of the UK is up

Summary: Numbers of tourists travelling to Wales from the rest of the UK has risen, despite a dip in the number travelling in the UK as a whole.

Figures for 2013 show a total of 9.93 million visited to Wales, an increase of 3.4%. But the Great Britain Tourism Survey showed trips across the UK were down 2.5% compared with the previous year. It was published as a £68m by-pass opens making the journey to Tenby and Saundersfoot easier. Tourists to Wales spent £1.7billion, up 7% on 2012, while expenditure in the UK as a whole fell by almost 3%. Tourism Minister Edwina Hart said: "These figures will give the tourism industry in Wales an extra boost ahead of what is traditionally hailed as the start of the tourism season."

पूरे ब्रिटेन में यात्रा करने वालों की संख्या में गिरावट के बावजूद, ब्रिटेन के बाकी हिस्सों से वेल्स की यात्रा करने वाले पर्यटकों की संख्या में वृद्धि हुई है।


V&A at Dundee project designed to inspire creativity

Summary: The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design. Before the first bricks of the new V&A at Dundee are laid it has already set out a bold aim - to change the way people think about design.

By Philip SimTayside and Central reporter, BBC Scotland Construction work is about to get under way on Scotland's own branch of the V&A on the banks of the River Tay. Diggers and bulldozers are preparing the site so the first bricks can be laid, but project leaders have already built up an ambitious vision of the V&A at Dundee, years in the making - and it is a museum with a mission. V&A at Dundee director Philip Long hopes to change the way people across the country think about design and creativity, from their personal lives to business and enterprise - perhaps even inspire Scottish entrepreneurs to create the next Apple. The project can trace its roots back to 2007, when a group of organisations, initially led by Dundee University, entered talks with the Victoria and Albert museum to create its first outpost outside London, a world-leading centre of design and innovation. But the vision for this new facility goes far beyond bricks and mortar and touring exhibitions. "We want to be an international centre of design which has a mission," said Mr Long. "That is to really help people's understanding of the relevance and opportunity there is in design and creativity across all aspects of human endeavour, whether through creative expression or contributing to business and economic development. "For business and enterprise, design isn't something that just gets tacked on at the end, in marketing and graphics. "It's about developing a creative approach all the way through the business process - Apple would be an example of one company that's been extraordinarily successful in this approach." Mr Long can reel off a lengthy list of Scots currently leading their fields in design, including Ian and Moray Callum, Dumfries-born brothers who currently work as head of design for Jaguar and Ford respectively. The V&A at Dundee will not only celebrate Scotland's design heritage, running from the 1500s right up to the present day, but seek to inspire and inform the careers of future designers. Design competition It will do this from a building which is a landmark of design in itself. A competition to draw up plans for the museum on the banks of the River Tay attracted entries from right across the globe, and judges eventually chose a design by leading Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. The V&A will be his first major building in the UK, but his increasingly acclaimed firm already has offices in Paris and Tokyo and has won a host of awards. Such expertise comes at a price - by the time it opens its doors in 2017, the V&A at Dundee will have cost £45m. The funding for the project has been split into three chunks of £15m. The first third has already been committed by the Scottish government, back in 2012 when the project first won official support. The next third is made up of contributions from other public sources, such as the Heritage Lottery Fund, who contributed £8m towards the capital budget as well as cash for revenue costs, and the latest award from Creative Scotland. And Mr Long is hopeful that funding will soon be confirmed from the European Regional Development Fund to complete this part of the funding. The final third is to be raised from private donations, and local and national donors have already come forward with £6.7m. "We're on track and on target - we just have £8.3m to find over the development part of the project," Mr Long said. "It's a large target to find from private sources for a cultural development, but it's been heartening to see the interest locally and increasingly nationally for the project - even before being out on site, we're getting there." The V&A's new home in Dundee is right at the heart of the central waterfront, in a spot formerly occupied by the Olympia swimming pool, demolished earlier this year. The museum will form the centrepiece of a £1bn transformation of the waterfront, which is projected to bring millions of pounds of investment, hundreds of thousands of tourists and thousands of jobs to the city. "The waterfront ambition is a fantastic project in this country," said Mr Long. "It's going to be a fantastic asset for the city and for the region and for the country, and it's great that the V&A is at the forefront of all of that. "Let's not understate this, this is a lot of money coming from national agencies being given to a project born here in Dundee. "That's a fantastic sign of confidence in the project and in the city - we should all be proud of that, and I know I am."

लंदन में विक्टोरिया और अल्बर्ट संग्रहालय सजावटी कला और डिजाइन का दुनिया का सबसे बड़ा संग्रहालय है। डंडी में नए वी एंड ए की पहली ईंटें बिछाने से पहले ही इसने एक साहसिक उद्देश्य निर्धारित कर लिया है-लोगों के डिजाइन के बारे में सोचने के तरीके को बदलना।


Chikungunya revives herbal remedies in Antigua

Summary: Sira Berzas winces when she remembers the pain.

By Gemma HandySt John's, Antigua The acute ache started in her ankles before quickly spreading through her body, crippling her muscles, pounding her joints and leaving her hands and feet severely swollen. Last summer, the 38-year-old from Antigua and Barbuda was struck down with the debilitating chikungunya virus which has swept across the Caribbean infecting more than 800,000 people since it was first detected in the region in December 2013. The mosquito-borne disease, which originated in Africa and has no known cure, is characterised by the abrupt onset of fever, deep joint and muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and a rash. "I was fine when I went to bed," Ms Berzas says, "but when I woke up in the morning and tried to get up my ankles hurt so much I couldn't stand. It was very scary. After that I started getting different pains all over my body. Soon my hands were so swollen I couldn't hold anything." 'Nothing worked' Most patients recover fully although the pain can persist for several months or even years. In older people the disease can cause death. According to World Health Organization figures, 176 fatalities across the Caribbean, Latin America and US were linked to the virus in 2014. "I knew immediately it was chikungunya," Ms Berzas says. Chikungunya "I didn't go to the doctor as it's expensive and everyone I knew who'd been to their GP was just told to take paracetamol and rest. I tried painkillers but nothing worked. The mornings were the worst; my joints were so stiff I could hardly move." Ms Berzas is one of a growing number of sufferers who turned to natural remedies to alleviate the symptoms. Alternative approach In Antigua, where the minimum wage is just $3 (£2) per hour and a visit to a conventional doctor can set one back $44, herbalists specialising in "bush medicine" are often the first port of call. "When I got desperate I went to Dr Amu, the naturopath. He gave me two teas to drink and an oil to rub on my skin. It soothed the rash and diminished the pain a lot. It didn't go away but at least it was manageable," Ms Berzas recalls. It was four months before the aches finally abated. "Even now, 10 months later, my ankles still hurt in the morning. I don't know how I would have coped if it hadn't been for Dr Amu; I recommended him to lots of people. Nothing else worked for me," Ms Berzas recalls. 'Plant power' Self-taught naturopath Sylvester Tyrone "Amu" Motley prescribes a four-pronged approach to fighting chikungunya. The first is a tea to be drunk three times daily on an empty stomach. It contains echinacea to boost the immune system, and chaparral and burdock root to purify the blood, ease pain and soothe the rash, he explains. Second is a detox made by boiling five different plants in fresh spring water. "Arnica, soursop and cattle tongue are wonderful cure-alls," Mr Motley, who scours the local countryside looking for the plants, says. "Then there's neem, which is an antiseptic, and dandelion to cleanse the body. That should be drunk all day long instead of water." He also makes a special oil to be applied after bathing and at night on critical parts of the body. A staunch advocate of the power of plants, Mr Motley says he has not had the illness himself and believes that is largely due to his own intake of herbs. "It's tried to come a couple of times but my body fights it off," he adds. Scepticism In the absence of scientific evidence, conventional doctors are more sceptical. Dr Nick Fuller, whose GP practice is based in Antigua's capital St John's, told the BBC: "Herbalism is not proven so I couldn't recommend it. "But I don't see any harm in it," he adds. "At the end of the day, chikungunya is a virus and needs to run its course," he explains. With no antiviral medicines available yet to fight chikungunya, the only sure-fire way to deal with it is not to get it. The government is therefore trying to stem the outbreak in Antigua, which has seen 1,442 suspected cases to date, through preventative measures. They have stepped up insecticide spraying in communities and made bulk purchases of bed nets and repellent. A public education campaign urges residents to avoid mosquito bites by wearing clothes that cover the arms, legs and feet and to use repellents.

सिरा बर्जास जब दर्द को याद करती है तो वह खुश हो जाती है।


Racial Impostor Syndrome: When you're made to feel like a fake

Summary: In December, Hilaria Baldwin - the podcaster, and wife of actor Alec Baldwin - was widely ridiculed for seeming to fake being Spanish. Korean-American student Arden Yum says that, like Hilaria, ethnic minority children may also identify with a different culture. But there are crucial differences, she suggests.

There is a TV clip showing her struggling to remember the English word for cucumber, she has a Mediterranean accent, and calls her children "the Baldwinitos". Plus, her husband told talk show host David Letterman, "My wife is from Spain." So understandably, many believed Hilaria Baldwin was Spanish. It turns out Hilaria (she pronounces her name "Ee-lah-ree-ah") was born Hillary Hayward-Thomas. She grew up and went to school in Massachusetts, and went to university in New York. Her parents liked to holiday in Spain though, and retired there when she was in her late 20s. There was a moment in December when Hilaria became one of the main topics of conversation - and humour - on social media. Comedian Amy Schumer called the episode "insane and entertaining", adding, "You can't just pretend you're from Spain." Actress Salma Hayek, who played Alec Baldwin's girlfriend on 30 Rock, was more sympathetic. "We all lie a little bit," she said this week on talk show host Andy Cohen's pop culture channel, Radio Andy. While Hayek is Mexican, her mother's ancestors were Spanish, she pointed out, adding that Hilaria was "smart to want to be Spanish - we're cool." Defending herself on her Instagram page, Hilaria said: "We celebrate both cultures in our home. Alec and I are raising our children bilingual, just as I was raised. This is very important to me. I understand that my story is a little different, but it is mine, and I'm very proud of it." She told the New York Times that identity was personal. "Who is to say what you're allowed to absorb and not absorb growing up?" she said. On the surface, she could have been describing something that my friends and I have often spoken about - racial impostor syndrome. It occurs when your internal sense of self doesn't match with others' perception of your racial identity and gives rise to a feeling of self-doubt. It's usually experienced by people like me, living in countries where we are an ethnic minority. My parents are Korean-Americans and I was born in New York city in 2002. My younger brother and I grew up in Manhattan's crowded and lively streets. We moved around various neighbourhoods and played in local parks. We were lucky to experience childhood in this city filled with people from all backgrounds and of all ethnicities. Some areas are more diverse than others, though. The Upper West Side, sandwiched between the Hudson river and Central Park, is quiet, residential, and affluent. It's also 68% white. When you picture glamorous TV shows such as Gossip Girl and Sex and the City, they're usually set in the Upper West or Upper East Side. I go to a predominantly white school, where most students are wealthy and privileged. When I was younger, I often felt defensive when my friends asked questions about the Korean food I ate or the Korean dramas that were playing on our TV when they visited. They weren't being insensitive, but I didn't want my Asian heritage to undermine the identity I presented at school. The representation of Asians in American media recycles a handful of cliches. I'd see Mulan, a Disney princess-warrior, but I couldn't relate to her ferocity. And then there was the generic Asian kid in high school shows whose only purpose was to be the nerdy, shy side-kick with no storyline. They excelled at math. They played the violin. I resented their one-dimensionality. At school, people often assumed that I would fit the stereotype of the shy Asian girl, and this became a self-fulfilling prophecy. I was afraid to raise my hand in class discussions, or to reach out to new classmates, and my self-confidence plummeted. I became silent. I thought that I had to withdraw and whitewash myself in order to fit in. I wanted to scrub clean all of the Asian parts of myself. Even though I wasn't white, I wasn't considered fully Korean, either. I was trapped in what felt like an inescapable limbo. In seventh grade, a Chinese-American friend of mine used to lightheartedly call me a banana: white on the inside, yellow on the outside. I felt like an impostor. At the time, I hadn't ever been to Korea, and I couldn't speak more than five words in Korean. I was constantly questioning my identity - doubting that I belonged in either group: "American" or "Asian". But when I turned 15, everything changed. My family moved to Hong Kong for a year because of my mother's job with an art gallery. In my new adopted city and international school, I was fully immersed in a community with other Asian people for the first time. There were people from China, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea in my grade. Even though I had grown up in the US, I no longer looked or felt like an outsider. At lunchtime, my friends and I would sit on the landing of a staircase at the front of our school and pull out our bento boxes of home-cooked Asian food, which we ate with brightly coloured chopsticks. For once I wasn't carefully unpacking the racial undertones of every interaction. We went to the beach on the south side of Hong Kong, went out to eat dim sum and listened to local bands. Memories of Hong Kong replayed in my head when I returned to New York and decided to create The Peahce Project, a platform for Asian voices in the form of interviews, art, writing and podcasts. When quarantine began in March 2020, our Instagram page started getting a lot more engagement, and one topic that connected with our audience was racial impostor syndrome. Many people with immigrant parents seemed to identify with the concept of feeling like their internal identity is in conflict with what others perceive them to be. America has a long history of assigning identity, often making people of colour question themselves. A good example of this is the introduction of "blood quantum" for Native American tribes. "Blood quantum is a system of calculating blood introduced by the federal government in the early 19th Century as a means of restricting the rights of Native American," says attorney Brett Chapman, whose relative Standing Bear was the first Native American to win civil rights for his tribe in the United States. The idea of blood quantum was then adopted by some Native Americans themselves. Florida's Miccosukee Tribe, for example, requires someone to have 50% tribal blood in order to qualify as a member. This led many to question their identity, says Brett. Native American children were also separated from their tribes and forced to assimilate with white Americans and adopt their values, he adds. "Which meant that racial impostor syndrome was forced upon them. People were made to change who they were, and then feel divorced from their tribe." Maybe Hilaria Baldwin's internal identity is in conflict with the way others perceive her? Identity is fluid and people of any race can feel a kinship to a culture that they're not part of. But her experience is clearly very different from the experience of a person of colour in the US, or that of someone who looks Asian but has been brought up in New York. To me it's inappropriate for a privileged white person to adopt the identity of a Hispanic in the US. Hilaria Baldwin evidently identifies as Spanish rather than Mexican, Puerto Rican or Cuban, but most Spanish-speakers in the US are from these places, or from Central America - and according the Pew Research Center more than half say they have experienced discrimination. A white person who passes as Hispanic never has to worry about this. Many of us don't have whiteness as a safety net. The way to address racial impostor syndrome is to open more spaces for us to tell our own stories and share our unique experiences. It's more complex than stereotypes about maths prodigies and shy kids. As told to Megha Mohan, BBC gender and identity correspondent You may also be interested in: If you walk into a doughnut shop in California, the chances are it's owned by a Cambodian family. That's because of a refugee who built up an empire, and became known as the Donut King, only to lose it all. The Donut King who went full circle - from rags to riches, twice

दिसंबर में, हिलारिया बाल्डविन-पॉडकास्टर और अभिनेता एलेक बाल्डविन की पत्नी-को नकली स्पेनिश होने के लिए व्यापक रूप से उपहासित किया गया था। कोरियाई-अमेरिकी छात्र आर्डेन यम का कहना है कि, हिलारिया की तरह, जातीय अल्पसंख्यक बच्चे भी एक अलग संस्कृति के साथ पहचान कर सकते हैं। लेकिन वे सुझाव देते हैं कि महत्वपूर्ण अंतर हैं।


North Korea Profile - Leaders

Summary: First Chairman, National Defence Commission: Kim Jong-un

Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of previous leader Kim Jong-il, succeeded his father on the latter's death from a heart attack in December 2011. In 2010 he had already been unveiled as Kim Jong-il's heir apparent, and was made a four-star general despite lacking any military experience. Soon after the death of his father, North Korean state media lauded Kim Jong-un, the newly-appointed army supreme commander, as "a great person born of heaven" It also anointed him the "great successor" of the philosophy of juche (self-reliance), signalling a continuation of the personality cult of the Kim family into a third generation. In April 2012 he formally took over as leader of the ruling Workers Party, with the new title of first secretary, as his late father became "eternal general secretary". He also became first chairman of the important National Defence Commission, with his late father promoted to "eternal chairman". His grandfather Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994, is the country's "eternal president". He ousted army chief Ri Yong-ho, who had overseen the succession to power, in July 2012 and took the title of "marshal" for himself, marking the consolidation of his political and military power. Mentor executed It is widely believed that the task of guiding and mentoring Kim Jong-un when he assumed power was entrusted to his aunt, Kim Kyung-hee, and her husband, Chang Song-thaek. Mr Chang had been seen as close to Kim Jong-il and was thought to enjoy considerable influence over Kim Jong-un But in late 2013 he was found guilty of attempting to overthrow the state and was summarily executed, in what was seen as the biggest leadership upheaval since Kim Jong-il's death. In 2016, Mr Kim called the first congress of the Workers Party in nearly four decades, in a move aimed at further cementing his position as leader. Details of Kim Jong-un's early life are scant. Born in 1983 or early 1984, he is reported to have gone to school in Switzerland and later studied at Kim Il-sung University in North Korea. After becoming leader he began to display a more informal style in public appearances, but official media swiftly quashed any hopes that this might mean a relaxation in totalitarian controls. There are concerns about the young leader's health, given his obesity. State media reported that he was suffering "physical discomfort" in September 2014 after he had been seen limping for several months, and he disappeared from public view for six weeks. Under Kim Jong-un, North Korea has continued its policy of promoting the military at home while sending mixed signals to the rest of the world about its nuclear programme. The launch of a satellite in 2012, using rocket technology banned under UN ballistic missile sanctions on North Korea, boosted Kim's standing in the ruling elite while angering his neighbours, including sole ally China. North Korea's defiant third nuclear test in February 2013 earned it another escalation of UN Security Council sanctions, approved by China. North Korea in turn stepped up its bellicose rhetoric and announced it would restart all facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, including a reactor mothballed in 2007. In 2014, North Korea test-fired two medium-range Nodong ballistic missiles . The challenges the country faces under Kim Jong-un are the same as those it had to cope with during his father's reign - a moribund economy, international isolation and widespread poverty.

राष्ट्रीय रक्षा आयोग के प्रथम अध्यक्षः किम जोंग-उन


JCB Academy 'thrilled' with first GCSE results

Summary: A total of 99% of the first students to receive their GCSEs at the JCB Academy in Staffordshire have received grades A* to C.

The £22m academy in Rocester opened in September 2010, taking in 170 students from Staffordshire and Derbyshire. The core focus is on engineering with pupils, aged 14 to 19, also studying maths, English, science and German. David Bell, vice-chairman of governors at the academy, said he was "thrilled" with the results.

स्टैफोर्डशायर में जे. सी. बी. अकादमी में अपने जी. सी. एस. ई. प्राप्त करने वाले पहले छात्रों में से कुल 99 प्रतिशत ने ए * से सी ग्रेड प्राप्त किए हैं।


Brexit: How rebel MPs outfoxed Cameron to get an EU referendum

Summary: The Leave campaign's victory in the EU referendum made headlines around the world, but how did it all come about?

Mark D'ArcyParliamentary correspondent When the time comes to erect heroic bronze statues to heroes of Brexit, I have a couple of left-field nominations: Tony Wright and John Bercow. Between them they created the parliamentary channels through which a well-organised band of backbench guerrillas put relentless pressure on David Cameron to hold an EU referendum - systematically boxing him into the commitment which was fulfilled on 23 June. One of the key weapons in their Commons campaigning was the brainchild of Labour's Tony Wright. A politics professor, he chaired the Reform of the House of Commons Committee from 2008 to 2009. His brief, in response to the expenses scandal, was to devise a package of reforms to increase the standing of MPs. He came up with the Backbench Business Committee, which would have the power to choose subjects for debates on vote-able motions on the floor of the Commons - when previously all major debates had been staged by the government or opposition parties. It turned out to be crucial. "If we hadn't had the Backbench Business Committee, I don't think the referendum would have happened," said Brexit campaigner and Tory MP Peter Bone. At the time, I'm sure that the Labour and Conservative whips' offices expected the result would be a couple of thinly attended debates on niche issues at the fag-end of the parliamentary week. But others saw the potential. In particular, a group of hardline Tory backbenchers saw immediately that the Wright reforms could become a major instrument in their campaign to ensure Mr Cameron's coalition did not drift away from their version of true Conservative values, and in particular to ensure "soundness" on Europe. There was a core group of awkward squad MPs centred around Steve Baker, John Baron, Peter Bone, Douglas Carswell, Chris Chope, Philip Hollobone, David Nuttall and Mark Reckless, although others would drift in and out. They would meet for an hour, every Tuesday morning at 08:30 in Room R, an out-of-the-way committee room in the parliamentary office building, Portcullis House, to go through the Commons agenda, seeking opportunities to push their views, and agree on tactics. "It never, never, never leaked," Bone recalled. One point to note is the lack of big names - no grand ex-cabinet ministers or leadership candidates were part of this core operation; if they had been it would have looked like an embryonic leadership campaign for some King Over The Water, instantly alienating rival claimants for the leadership of the Tory Right, and their followers. So, while the group maintained diplomatic relations with the likes of David Davis and John Redwood, it avoided a full embrace of any of them. On the government side, the whips spotted there was an organised low-key insurgency under way, but, as one senior figure now admits, they didn't spot how organised and more importantly how strategic the whole exercise was. To some extent they dismissed the group as chronic conspirators with time on their hands, because they had no hope of preferment under the Cameron leadership. Early on, the group swooped to get Mr Bone and Mr Hollobone on to the Backbench Business Committee, along with the more maverick Philip Davies - where they would be well-placed to push for debates that furthered its agenda. And the other important figure was a sympathetic Labour MP in the chair, in the shape of Natascha Engel. For a while they bided their time, but behind the scenes they drew up a motion calling for a referendum and started accumulating signatures from MPs. They had to come up with a form of words which allowed all the Big Beasts to sign up - avoiding pitfalls like the idea of a two-stage referendum process, on the principle and then the terms of Brexit. 'Rebel Commander' When a convenient Thursday afternoon slot for a backbench debate appeared, with no rival contenders, Mr Hollobone suggested the moment had come to strike - and the referendum motion was put down. The group then had to launch a whipping operation to keep its supporters on-side - as the government countered by declaring a three-line whip against the motion and also rescheduled the debate from a Thursday afternoon to a prime-time Monday afternoon slot. The task for the Room R group was to hold the line against determined attempts to erode it. Here's an extract from a briefing circulated by Steve Baker - who led their whipping operation and was hailed by the Guido Fawkes website as "Rebel Commander": "Do people care enough about the issue? "In every constituency, voters are signing the People's Pledge, promising to support candidates who give them an In/Out referendum. More than twice as many people want a referendum on leaving the EU as wanted one on the voting system. More people attended the People's Pledge Congress on Saturday than have been protesting at St Paul's, notwithstanding the relative coverage. "On 25 September, at least 40,000 motorcyclists took part in Motorcycle Action Group's nationwide protest, 'EU Hands Off Biking. The only question that matters today is whether our position in the EU is a proper subject for a referendum. One way or another, all three parties have previously said that it is." What seems to have happened next is that a lot of Conservative backbenchers went back to their constituencies, talked to their association chairmen and returned, emboldened, to vote for the motion. On the day, 25 October 2011, the debate was opened by group member David Nuttall - a 2010 intake MP who had already established himself as one of the most rebellious occupants of the Tory benches. He rejected the argument that this was not the right time to discuss the issue and said even if the motion was passed, it would be years before a referendum was held. The three-line whip meant that any members of the government who backed the motion would have to resign and two unpaid parliamentary private secretaries, Stewart Jackson, and Adam Holloway, duly fell on their swords. They were among 81 Tory backbenchers who supported the motion - including some whose support came as a surprise to the core group. It was a classic example of a government winning a vote but losing the politics of an issue. In a previous parliamentary era, there would not have been such a direct route for the growing head of Eurosceptic steam inside the Conservative Party to manifest itself. Perhaps that pressure would have found another way to escape, but Dr Wright's creation allowed a Commons show of strength that the prime minister could not ignore and which clothed the Room R group in new credibility. 'Wafer-thin consent' It kept up the pressure. Another member, John Baron, launched a campaign urging Mr Cameron "to place on the Statute Book before the next general election a commitment to hold a referendum during the next Parliament on the nature of our relationship with the European Union". Nearly 100 Tory MPs signed a letter backing the idea - the thought being that while the Lib Dems and Labour might vote a referendum bill down, they would put themselves firmly on the wrong side of public opinion in the process, while the Tories would pre-empt UKIP and give themselves an important unique selling point at the general election. Finally in January 2013 the prime minister delivered his Bloomberg speech. He'd met group members at Downing Street the previous evening and told them they would like what he had to say. But even so the extent of his commitment came as a surprise: "Democratic consent for the EU in Britain is now wafer thin... "Simply asking the British people to carry on accepting a European settlement over which they have had little choice is a path to ensuring that when the question is finally put - and at some stage it will have to be - it is much more likely that the British people will reject the EU. "That is why I am in favour of a referendum. I believe in confronting this issue - shaping it, leading the debate. Not simply hoping a difficult situation will go away." Those words brought Mr Cameron a measure of peace (at least on Euro-issues, there were plenty of other rebellions) but no referendum bill would be approved by his Lib Dem Coalition partners. And here is where Mr Speaker Bercow enters our story, with a ruling on an apparently in-house issue that probably ranks as the single most important decision of his speakership. He allowed an extra amendment to the Queen's Speech, stretching the terms of Commons Standing Order 33 probably beyond breaking point in the process. Here is the explanation he gave when, ever so politely, his ruling was questioned by the Leader of the House, Andrew Lansley: "Conditions and expectations today are very different from those in October 1979, when that Standing Order was made. "I must tell the House that I have studied the wording of Standing Order Number 33 very carefully. My interpretation is that the words 'a further amendment' in the fifth line of the Standing Order may be read as applying to more than one amendment successively. "In other words, only one amendment selected by me is being moved at any time. Once that amendment is disposed of, a further amendment may then be called." That ruling cleared the way for the group to take the near-unprecedented step of moving an amendment to the Queen's Speech, regretting the non-appearance of any referendum bill. Cameron cornered A parliamentary chain reaction followed. It quickly became clear that more than 100 Conservative MPs would vote for the amendment, so Mr Cameron side-stepped and announced the Conservative Party would back a private member's bill to hold a referendum by 2017, and even published a draft bill. When the 2013 ballot for private members' bills was held, James Wharton was the top-ranking Tory - and within minutes he announced he would attempt to get the Referendum Bill into law. His bill did eventually clear the Commons, but ran aground in the Lords, and the following year a similar fate befell an identical bill from Bob Neill. By that time Mr Cameron was cornered into a referendum promise, which became a key plank of his 2015 election manifesto. And the rest is history. But there's also a lesson for the future. A small, smart, savvy group can exert huge leverage over Parliament, even in the teeth of every resource a government can deploy. And there's nothing in Commons Standing Orders that says only Brexiteers can do that.

यूरोपीय संघ जनमत संग्रह में लीव अभियान की जीत ने दुनिया भर में सुर्खियां बटोरी, लेकिन यह सब कैसे हुआ?


Algae fuel firms face moment of truth

Summary: Something green is growing in the state of Texas.

By Damian Kahya and Richard AndersonBusiness reporters, BBC News More famous for its oil prospectors than green entrepreneurs, it is home to a surprisingly large conurbation of algae start-ups. They are part of the latest generation of firms trying to solve the problems that have prevented algae making any meaningful contribution to the world's energy needs. Algae fuel is based on technologies which seek to use algae or bacteria to produce fuels by combining light, carbon dioxide, water and nutrients through photosynthesis. It is a dream which has arisen every time the oil price has spiked. Following pioneering research during the 1950s and 60s in places such as Berkeley, University of California, the US Aquatic Species Program was launched by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. The hope then, as now, was to use fast-growing, simple plant organisms to produce vast quantities of transport fuels. That programme slowly fizzled out, culminating in a report in 1998 which concluded that the price of oil needed to be far higher than the then $15-20 a barrel to make algae viable. By 2007, with the oil price well north of $100, interest in algae had risen again. "On paper, it's seven times more productive than terrestrial plants, it grows faster and the amount of oil exceeds that in terrestrial plants," says Adam Powell from the University of Swansea in Wales, which is backing a European research and development project, Enalgae. Scaling up That sort of logic, and laboratory experiments backing it up, saw a rash of start-ups around the world - and especially in the US - seeking venture capital funding based on promises of limitless, cheap, clean fuel. But none has yet succeeded in producing fuel commercially and at scale. Instead, many firms have shut down. In 2009, MIT spin-off Greenfuel Technologies closed after $70m (£44m) of investment to build its own mini-algae plant. "No-one knows how to grow any kind of micro-organism at very large scale - multiple hectares," says Prof Jerry Brand from the University of Texas in Austin, which is leading research in the field. "As you scale up, it's not that things get cheaper, but that new problems emerge." One problem is that despite being very small, you can't actually grow algae very densely. The algae closest to the light - or the surface of the water - block the light for algae lower down. Another is harvesting the green gloop, or the oil it produces. Ben Graziano is technology commercialisation manager at the UK's Carbon Trust and was in charge of the algae programme before it was scrapped as part of the government's spending cuts. "You need to find ways to harvest those particular strains that produce oil, and it so happens that those are quite challenging to harvest," he explains. Both of these make scaling up more difficult than many first thought. Currently, he says, only around 20,000 tonnes of algae are produced a year. To make any impact, it would need to be millions of tonnes. And algae's own mixed history has left the sector short on expertise. "There are probably only 10, maybe 20, people who know how to do it and you've got to go up from there," Mr Graziano says. Constant sunshine In the US, research is focused around the north-east, California and Texas. The University of Texas has curated one of the largest collections of algae in the world, with more than 3,000 strains. That, combined with the constant sunshine and plentiful local sources of carbon dioxide and dirty, brackish water have attracted firms trying to solve the seemingly intractable problems algae pose. One is AlgaEternal, which has set up its pilot on the university campus. The pilot consists of 120, 12ft-high tubes designed to make growing the algae more efficient than using shallow ponds. It isn't the only pilot of its kind - but given its high cost the idea depends on preventing contamination of the system. In the past, as Mr Graziano puts it, scientists have "woken up one morning, gone to the farm and discovered their whole system has crashed and they can't clean the tubes, and at that point you see a few bankruptcies". Another start-up, OpenAlgae, is also working with the university on a method of cost-effectively extracting the oil. But out of town, a test site has been set up for a slightly different solution, employing something which isn't technically algae at all - blue-green algae or cyanobacteria. Massachusetts-based Joule Unlimited claims that by genetically engineering the micro-organism to excrete fuel, it can avoid many of the problems that have bedevilled its rivals. "Rather than using sunlight and then water to grow up organisms which we can then harvest, we are engineering our organisms with pathways that are specific for the molecules of interest. In the case of alkanes we are making a diesel-like mixture of hydrocarbons," says Dan Robertson, the firm's senior vice-president of biology. The company, which is opening a second, larger, test site in Hobbs, New Mexico, says it eventually hopes to produce fuel at the equivalent oil cost of $50 a barrel - about half the current price of oil. Ultimately, the firm, like others, will be judged on its results. "Right now there are lots of people scaling up and growing different types of algae in the US," says Prof Peter Nixon from Imperial College London. "This is the year when they'll work out the sums - either these companies will make money or they'll go under." Roman baths In the UK, much of the research is focused on reducing the cost of algae and finding other uses beyond transport fuels. At the University of Bath, Prof Roderick Scott is working on a programme which uses waste water to lower the cost of producing fuel from algae. "We are very interested in using waste streams of various kinds, waste CO2 which is in abundance and which gives you [carbon] credits, and waste water which contains, depending on where its from, reasonably good levels of nitrates and phosphates," he says. The university is working with UK start-up Aragreen on the project, hoping to benefit from support for cleaning water and removing CO2. Prof Scott's team is also examining the local Roman baths for a possible solution to another problem faced by algae entrepreneurs - the fact that algae perform quite badly when hot. They have identified the algae which live in the baths and are testing to see if they are productive enough to produce fuel. But ultimately, success for algae in the short term may lie in the other, higher value, goods that can be produced from algae. One firm, Martek, has succeeded by producing key oils involved in baby food formula. Others are targeting the burgeoning field of nutraceuticals. "We'll see a lot of people moving into earlier, higher-value markets like proteins, fish oils, colourants and dyes," says Mr Graziano.

टेक्सास राज्य में कुछ हरा बढ़ रहा है।


Brazil candidate Fernando Haddad: The man in Lula's mantle

Summary: To say Fernando Haddad has had a busy few months is an understatement. Mr Haddad replaced former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the presidential candidate for the Workers' Party less than a month before the first round of the election. After he made it into the run-off which took place 28 October, his life got even busier as he tried - and ultimately failed - to win over voters to beat his right-wing rival Jair Bolsonaro.

By BBC MonitoringMiami team When Fernando Haddad stood in for Lula on 11 September after electoral authorities banned the former leader from running for president because of his conviction for corruption and money laundering, he was relatively unknown. The 55-year-old had served as mayor of São Paulo and also as education minister but had little name recognition outside São Paulo. Lula's wholehearted endorsement was therefore key for Mr Haddad. As Lula is serving a 12-year prison sentence, that endorsement came in the form of a letter written from his cell: "From now on, Haddad will be Lula for millions of Brazilians," it read. Key facts: A lot of voters who had backed Lula switched allegiances from Lula to Mr Haddad - he rose from 4% to 23% in the pre-election opinion polls - but he was not able to reach the almost 40% who had said they intended to vote for Lula. There is little doubt that Lula is a political godfather to Mr Haddad but despite the close links between the two men, Mr Haddad sought to project a slightly different image to that of the 72-year-old former president. Above all, Mr Haddad tried to portray himself as more of a moderate than the firebrand, working-class Lula. Part of Mr Haddad's campaign strategy was to try to woo the wider electorate with promises of gradual reforms. These promises came after turbulent years in which Brazil was rocked by an increase in violent crime and a huge political bribery scandal that has tainted the entire political class, ensnaring not only Lula but several other senior figures in the Workers' Party. In politically polarised Brazil, Lula's mantle proved as much a liability as a boost to Mr Haddad, and it was difficult for him to find the right balance.

यह कहना कि फर्नांडो हदद के कुछ महीने व्यस्त रहे हैं, एक अल्पोक्ति है। श्री हदद ने चुनाव के पहले दौर से एक महीने से भी कम समय पहले पूर्व राष्ट्रपति लुइज़ इनासियो लूला दा सिल्वा को वर्कर पार्टी के लिए राष्ट्रपति पद के उम्मीदवार के रूप में बदल दिया। 28 अक्टूबर को हुए रन-ऑफ में जगह बनाने के बाद, उनका जीवन और भी व्यस्त हो गया क्योंकि उन्होंने अपने दक्षिणपंथी प्रतिद्वंद्वी जायर बोल्सोनारो को हराने के लिए मतदाताओं को जीतने की कोशिश की-और अंततः असफल रहे।


Forest swallows the Beatles' Indian retreat

Summary: The ruins of a spiritual retreat in northern India have become a place of pilgrimage - but not because of the guru who once lived there. It's all about the Beatles, and the time they spent there meditating and writing songs in 1968.

By Soutik BiswasBBC News, Rishikesh In the wooded hills near India's holy city of Rishikesh, a 67-year-old British man trudges gingerly through a forest. He is on his way to a derelict ashram where his musical idols once stayed. He first saw the Beatles in the summer of 1963, he says, when he was one of about 200 people in the audience at a seaside resort. The ticket cost 7d (3p). Half a century later, he has brought his family from Wales to the ashram on the banks of the Ganges once run by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - one of the most flamboyant of the self-styled gurus to emerge from the era of hippiedom. The Fab Four were there, according to a newspaper report, for a course in "transcendental meditation, which the guru promises can cure anything that ails the Beatles or the world". "This place is a pilgrimage for Beatles fans," says the British tourist. "They come from all over the world. I had to bring my family here." The Beatles had planned a three-month-retreat at the sprawling 18-acre estate. According to some accounts, it descended into a fiasco. Ringo Starr went home after 10 days complaining about the spicy food - even though he had packed a suitcase full of baked beans. His wife, Maureen, also had a phobia of flies, and both missed their children. Paul McCartney stayed for a month, while John Lennon and George Harrison left abruptly after six weeks - there were financial disagreements, apparently, and there have long been unverified reports of the Maharishi groping another guest, the actress Mia Farrow. Lennon later wrote a scornful song, Sexy Sadie, about the guru. "Sexy Sadie, what have you done? You made a fool of everyone," goes one line. Other accounts are more upbeat. Paul Saltzman, author of The Beatles in Rishikesh, says the band wrote some 48 songs in fantastic burst of creativity, many of which made it on to the White Album. "I was there when they were working on Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," says Saltzman, who spent two weeks at the ashram. "Then it was grass and gardens. There were monkeys and emerald green parakeets in the trees." Today the ashram is a ghostly relic of those days. Mildewed and grotty stone and concrete buildings peep out of overgrown bushes and thick forests in a national park where some 1,700 elephants live, alongside tigers and leopards. But the place remains a big draw with Beatles fans. A dilapidated meditation hall christened The Beatles Cathedral Gallery, by fans has become the beating heart of the ruins. Its walls are ablaze with colourful graffiti, many of them riffing on Beatles songs, "And life flows on with you and without you," says one. The roof is peeling off and sunlight streams through the cracks. Fans sing and play guitar, and a cow lazily ambles out of the woods and across the hall. A bunch of teenagers in low-slung jeans and tight T-shirts, practise hip-hop dance moves. "We know this place is about the Beatles, but it is good for us too," one of them says. Outside, in another tumbledown building, a yoga teacher shoots a promotional video. A Russian fan talks about the Beatles' "positive energy", while an Australian student admires the graffiti and hails the band as "rebels". Legends about the Beatles' time here abound. One has it that Lennon used to live in an orb-shaped stone-floored hut. In reality, the ashram was pretty comfortable, with "ultramodern apartments tastefully furnished with hot and cold water" according to one account - and the Maharishi's residence was rumoured to have cost £35,000 ($55,000 at today's exchange rate). A helicopter flew guests in and out and a special European kitchen served up vegetarian meals three times a day. Among other star guests were singer Donovan and Beach Boy, Mike Love. According to Donovan, the Beatles wore "embroidered overblouses, fanciful brass pendants, cotton pyjama trousers broadly striped in bright colours, robes for all occasions". He adds: "They looked like gypsies." The Maharishi had promised to turn the pop stars into "fully qualified teachers or semi-gurus of Hindu meditation". One journalist reported that Lennon and Harrison were on a course of instant mysticism, and being "fed high-level philosophy in simple words". The ashram itself - leased to Maharishi by the government in 1957 - was abandoned by the guru and his followers in the mid-1970s and gradually reclaimed by nature. The yogi himself died in 2008. "The gods have left the place," says the guard at the main gate, "but the devotees keep on coming." The Beatles fly in The Beatles received a tumultuous reception when they landed in Delhi on their way to Rishikesh, in February 1968. A "hysterical mob of Delhi's teenagers gave the mop-headed, lovable Beatles a tumultuous welcome", reported the Times of India. "As soon as the announcement of their arrival came over the amplifier system, the teenagers ran helter-skelter, yelling and shouting: 'They are here, they are here.'" The Beatles were dressed in their "fancy shirts, their hair as shaggy as ever," The Statesman noted. In a Delhi hotel, the Beatles registered under the name of Brown and party. Reporters later found a Sikh sitar player giving lessons to George Harrison, while John Lennon was found trying to play a snake-charmer's flute. "Women are just beautiful here," said Lennon. "In what way?" the reporter asked. "Oh their saris and they just glide. And they are so different," Lennon replied. The Times of India reporter asked Lennon whether the Beatles would perform in Delhi. "Our instruments are not with us," he said. "Would you have given a performance if you had your instruments with you?" the reporter persisted. "We don't give performances just like that. They have to be arranged beforehand," Lennon said. Reaching the end of that line of questioning, the reporter asked about Beatles' ambitions. "We don't have any ambitions," said Lennon. "We are not a missionary group." Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

उत्तरी भारत में एक आध्यात्मिक विश्राम के खंडहर तीर्थयात्रा का स्थान बन गए हैं-लेकिन उस गुरु के कारण नहीं जो कभी वहाँ रहते थे। यह सब बीटल्स के बारे में है, और 1968 में उन्होंने वहाँ ध्यान करने और गीत लिखने में बिताए समय के बारे में है।