El Salvador: Digging to solve hundreds of gang murders

Summary: El Salvador is a nation riddled with gangs - and consequently has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Most crimes go unpunished, but one man spends his time in the mountains, digging up the forgotten victims.

By Will GrantBBC News, El Salvador It had taken a few furtive phone calls, but eventually Israel Ticas, known as The Engineer, agreed to meet me high up on a mountainside. I had wanted to interview him and see the latest site he was working at, but his bosses weren't having that. "I have been told off for talking to the media recently," he explained, his voice a hoarse whisper down the line. "I can talk to you but solely in a personal capacity." A couple of nights later, we drove up the snaking mountain roads to Juayua, a small town outside San Salvador. Surrounded on both sides by rich jungle, the altitude makes it the perfect environment for coffee plantations. And the perfect environment for hiding dead bodies. Although he doesn't like the title, Israel Ticas is El Salvador's only forensic archaeologist. A short, wiry guy with a dark, lined face, the result no doubt of so many hours working outside, he is shivering in the bitterly cold mountain air. We retire to a nearby restaurant to get warm. Still wearing his hard hat, the dig he has come from was no hunt for Mayan pottery or dinosaur bones. It was a mass grave. In El Salvador, Ticas is also known as The Engineer, a reference to the fact he initially studied computer engineering before turning his mind to solving murders. "Forensic archaeology was unknown here in El Salvador," he tells me, his hands cupped around a mug of hot chocolate. He learnt his skills as a criminal investigator abroad, particularly on visits to Africa where he worked on sites of mass killings and genocide. Then he brought the DNA and victim identification techniques he had seen back to his native El Salvador - until recently the country with the highest murder rate in the world. "What I did was fuse those methods," he says, "adapt and apply them to the criminal gangs and their modus operandi here." Certainly El Salvador's drug war has kept him in work. "I've identified 25 different methodologies of murder," he explains with the matter-of-factness of a scientist. "Every criminal mind is different. But each of them innovates too. "For example, when dismembering a body, if one person disposes of it in seven parts, someone else says 'I'm going to turn it into 20'," he says. It is a sobering thought, and over the course of our conversation, he reveals many more grisly details, most of which are far too gruesome to repeat. I want to know how such daily exposure to the country's extreme violence makes him feel - as a citizen rather than as a scientist. "It makes me sad," he says, his first reference to emotion. "I don't agree with anyone's right to take away the life of someone else - especially when it's a Salvadoran taking the life of another Salvadoran," he adds. But then, it's quickly back to the relative safety of empirical science. "I've worked on more than 2,000 crime scenes. Thanks to God for giving me this little bit of intelligence, I've been able to recover bodies from places no-one could have recovered them from. "I've recovered people who were buried 60 metres deep, got all 206 bones of the body back, all that evidence. That is what gives me professional satisfaction." Ticas was the subject of a recent documentary in which the filmmakers followed him as he exhumed remains from quarries and mines, shallow graves and deep pits across the country. Often, the grieving mothers of the victims come to urge him personally to find their missing loved ones, heaping further pressure on a man already under considerable strain. At times that strain begins to show. More than once he mentions the difficulty of working on the bodies of dead children, of holding a six-year-old's skull in his hands and having to think of it as just evidence, as "material". "I give conferences in university psychology departments and I tell them 'you should study me. What's wrong with me?' 'How can I work cleaning the face of a dead baby with a brush for two days and not feel anything?'" His rhetorical questions hang in the mountain air. "But then sometimes I might suddenly drop the brush, look to the heavens and ask God 'how can you allow this to happen?'" His morbid fascination could just be the natural by-product of work which has undoubtedly brought some closure to hundreds of families in El Salvador. An inherently private man, Ticas insists he is unaffected by post-traumatic stress. Yet something he said revealed a little of what it must be like to be The Engineer of El Salvador: "Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a film. But then, when I open my eyes, it's reality." How to listen to From Our Own Correspondent: BBC Radio 4: Saturdays at 11:30 and some Thursdays at 11:00 Listen online or download the podcast. BBC World Service: Short editions Monday-Friday - see World Service programme schedule. Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

अल सल्वाडोर गिरोहों से भरा हुआ देश है-और इसके परिणामस्वरूप दुनिया में हत्या की दर सबसे अधिक है। अधिकांश अपराधों को दंडित नहीं किया जाता है, लेकिन एक आदमी पहाड़ों में अपना समय बिताता है, भूल गए पीड़ितों को खोदता है।


Coronavirus doctor's diary: Why are some of Bradford's elderly refusing the vaccine?

Summary: Covid vaccinations have been administered at pace in Bradford, as in the rest of the UK. But data for December and January indicates a high level of refusal among those aged 80 or over in the Pakistani community. Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary asks why, and considers the implications.

By the end of January 67,000 people had received at least one Covid vaccination in Bradford including 82.5% of those aged 80 and above. It's an important achievement and a big step towards protecting the most vulnerable. However, dig a little deeper and there are some concerning numbers in the data. While within the White British and Mixed-race British ethnic groups 87% of people in this age bracket have been vaccinated, only 46% of the 1,800 people aged 80 and over in the Pakistani community have been vaccinated - and 23% have refused the vaccine. These figures are provided by GPs who have been calling people at home, and inviting them to come and get vaccinated. Among the 30% of those aged 80 or over in the Pakistani community who have neither been vaccinated nor refused the vaccine, it's likely that some - perhaps many - are undecided. I hope that we will yet persuade them to have the jab, because anyone who doesn't remains at risk as long as the virus is circulating, which is likely to be for some months yet. It's too early to say whether the same pattern will be repeated for those in their 70s. Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new. On the website of the Science Museum you can see a framed reproduction of some data about smallpox cases, published in the Times in July 1923. "Convincing Facts!" it reads. "Those who disbelieve in vaccination should ponder the following figures issued by the health committee of Gloucester." Below there is a small table. "Total admissions to hospital for smallpox - 350," reads the first line. And, under that, the key piece of information: "Unvaccinated - 319". It is sad that the people refusing the vaccine today will be some of the patients with severe Covid in hospital tomorrow. The over-80s - the highest-risk group in society - will be in particular danger if they live in homes with younger people, who go back to work or resume social contacts when lockdown is lifted. We were already aware, thanks to a survey by researchers at Born in Bradford and the Bradford Institute for Health Research, that South Asian and Eastern European communities were more likely to be unsure about the vaccine, or opposed to it, than others. Socio-economic status also plays a role, the researchers discovered, with these hesitant or sceptical attitudes more common in less well-off households. Overall they found that 30% of people were ready for the vaccine and 10% would refuse it, with the majority undecided. Interviews to explore these attitudes further showed that much of the hesitancy was nuanced and understandable. In many cases people realised that the vaccine was the only way out of this pandemic, but still had concerns. Front-line diary Prof John Wright, a doctor and epidemiologist, is head of the Bradford Institute for Health Research, and a veteran of cholera, HIV and Ebola epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. He is writing this diary for BBC News and recording from the hospital wards for BBC Radio. Some worried about safety, aware that this vaccine had been developed at speed - in 10 months rather than 10 years, which would be a more typical timeframe. Maurice Hilleman, the famous microbiologist responsible for developing over 40 vaccines - including vaccines for Asian and Hong Kong flu - famously said that he only breathed a sigh of relief when three million doses of a vaccine had been given. Our respondents echoed his anxiety. But now that nearly 12 million doses have been given in the UK alone, the evidence is overwhelming: the vaccine is safe. We need to find a way of getting this information across. Another group of people told the researchers that as they were young and healthy, and so unlikely to get serious illness from the virus, they didn't feel they needed the vaccine any more than they needed the annual flu vaccine. But while it's true that in most cases young people do not suffer badly with Covid, this ignores the risk of transmission to older relatives. The researchers also found a loss of trust in the government due to mixed-messages and contradictory rules - and worryingly this mistrust appears to have crept over to the NHS. Traditional media outlets were also thought to be acting as government messengers, with the result that people turned to other less reputable sources of information. The spread of misinformation was more prevalent in the South Asian and Eastern European communities, perhaps because they have strong internal links. To combat this misinfo-demic, we are working with people from within BAME communities. Faith leaders have endorsed the Covid vaccine by having the injection themselves. On Thursday a pop-up vaccination centre will open in a mosque in Keighley. Hopefully it will be the first of many. We have also set up a fantastic network of bright, young ambassadors from within the BAME community, to fight misinformation with truth. Very often those who are vaccine-hesitant have a limited grasp of the science; our ambassadors can help fill in the gaps in their knowledge, and provide reassurance. Jordan Lee, a 20-year-old studying clinical sciences at the university of Bradford, is one of them. He notes that his own family are more inclined to trust rumours they find on social media than information from their GP's surgery. If anyone can persuade them to change their mind, it will be Jordan. Sarah Hamaway, a student of pharmacy, has found that even colleagues in the chemist's where she has a part-time job have said they don't intend to have the vaccination. They've heard the rumours about the vaccine containing microchips, for example, and they are scared. She is trying to reassure them, and to correct these misconceptions. With convinced anti-vaxxers the chances of success may be slim, but the ambassadors could have some influence with that large group of waverers. Tom Ratcliffe, a GP in Keighley, north-west of Bradford, points out that there's a risk that Covid will remain endemic in pockets of the population where there is a low uptake of vaccination. Nearly a fifth of the population of the area covered by the Bradford District and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group (which provided the data above about vaccine refusal) falls into the Pakistani/British Pakistani category, and it's a group, Ratcliffe notes, that has been more vulnerable to the virus than some others. "This is a population at high risk and yet also at high risk of not being vaccinated," as he puts it. One plan is to hold single-sex vaccine clinics, which may encourage women in the Pakistani community to get vaccinated. He is also putting some faith in the pop-up vaccination clinic that will be held in the Keighley mosque. "In multi-generational households we find that everyone needs to reach consensus. In our Pakistani communities we have to try and persuade key people in those family networks. We need to gain the trust in families and we hope that the clinics in the mosque will help with that," he says. It could be that if the children of elderly first-generation immigrants can be convinced the vaccine is safe, then some of those in their 70s and 80s who have not so far responded to their GP's invitation will finally come forward. One of the least-expected pockets of vaccine hesitancy Ratcliffe has discovered is within a group of about 50 street drinkers. "They are largely living on the streets so they are very vulnerable," he says. "We run a clinic for them but again we have issues - they're refusing the vaccine and have bought into the crazy myths. Even though some of them inject all sorts of things, they won't have the vaccine." Regular readers of this diary may remember Abdul Majid, a science graduate whose father, Abdul Saboor, has been in intensive care since October. He says a great variety of conspiracy theories are swirling around, generating much discussion in Bradford's Pakistani community. Some are saying they will have the vaccination, others that they won't. "At this present time I'm scared to take the vaccine," he says. "So, you know, I'm just waiting to see what reaction people get." We must hope that as more people have the vaccination and show no ill effects, vaccine hesitancy will decline. And we must also continue with initiatives to reassure the undecided. Follow @docjohnwright and radio producer @SueM1tchell on Twitter

ब्रिटेन के बाकी हिस्सों की तरह ब्रैडफोर्ड में भी कोविड टीकाकरण तेजी से किया गया है। लेकिन दिसंबर और जनवरी के आंकड़े पाकिस्तानी समुदाय में 80 या उससे अधिक आयु के लोगों के बीच उच्च स्तर के इनकार का संकेत देते हैं। ब्रैडफोर्ड रॉयल इन्फर्मरी के डॉ. जॉन राइट पूछते हैं कि क्यों, और इसके प्रभावों पर विचार करते हैं।


Arrests after Highgate pupils given 'cannabis sweets'

Summary: Two people have been arrested after 17 children at a north London school were taken to hospital after eating what they believed were "sweets".

The La Sainte Union Catholic School pupils felt unwell after eating sweets believed to contain THC, an active ingredient of cannabis on Monday. A woman, 24 and a man, 41, were arrested on suspicion of possession of cannabis and child neglect. Nobody was found to be seriously unwell, police said. The arrested man was released on bail while the woman remains in police custody.

उत्तरी लंदन के एक स्कूल में 17 बच्चों को मिठाई खाने के बाद अस्पताल ले जाने के बाद दो लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Betaville lets New Yorkers play real-world Sim City

Summary: Looking like the Statue of Liberty's crown, five piers jut out of lower Manhattan's Battery Park. Filled with swirling waterways and trees, steps lead from the base of the crown to the top of its spiky, outstretched arms.

By Nastaran Tavakoli-Far BBC World Service Designer Levis Reyes hasn't faced problems with planning permission for his flamboyant Liberty Piers, expanding out of Manhattan's Southern tip. The development is made up of pixels placed onto a map of New York on his computer. Betaville is a multi-person open source platform which allows participants to build on empty spaces in New York City, like a real-life version of the popular game Sim City. Players can walk around New York's streets - or fly over them - and stop at empty spaces which are shown by inverted yellow pyramids hovering over the vacant spot. Users can also see the energy usage of some of the buildings in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as whether there is the capability of heating these using alternative fuels. As one person designs a building on a spot, others can not only see the proposal but can also modify it. And this isn't just a fantasy world of wacky ideas; Betaville's developers are hoping to turn these designs into real buildings in the city. Designer Carl Skelton came up with the idea for Betaville when he was the head and founder of the Brooklyn Experimental Media Center at New York University. The Toronto native had seen too many failed attempts at getting the public involved in urban developments, and saw games as a good way to resolve this problem. He says the success of Sim City - the classic city-building simulation - suggested the effort had potential. "One of the ways that Sim City was an inspiration was to see the number of human lifetimes that people paid for the privilege to be able to do this," Skelton says. "That told me something about the potential and the pent-up competence in these matters." Creative construction Betaville is one of several projects aiming to use games to involve communities in urban planning. In Participatory Chinatown players complete tasks on a model of Boston's Chinatown, and are able to comment on developments. Community PlanIt allows players to give feedback about their urban environment, placing its focus on Detroit and Boston. But unlike the other titles, Betaville allows users to not only comment but to show precisely how they would like their city to be constructed. It was developed with the help of a team at the M2C Institute for Applied Media Technology and Culture at the University of Applied Sciences, Bremen. The institute's founder Martin Koplin believes that by playing games we can tap into a different part of our creativity. "Things are somehow more intuitive," he says. "That is a very important part of play. "A lot of things go on and that's very efficient, and if we can use this efficiency in serious environments then it will be better than if we don't." Designer and Betaville fan Levis Reyes certainly believes the game unleashes his creative side. "When I use Betaville I see it more as a tool that pushes your boundaries in design," explains the New York resident. "It was never about what I was looking at but what could happen." Together with Liberty Piers, his other proposals include Aqua Pods, huge cylinders built between Manhattan and New Jersey, with the two land areas being connected by routes for cars. Long thin tubes, called convection zones, spiral up the inside of the cylinders, gathering nautical winds and generating electricity in the process. In the lower parts of the structure are spaces for cars to park and residents to live. Each pod towers over New York's already tall skyscrapers. Public approval One might assume that many architects would not want the general public encroaching on their area of expertise, but many support Betaville and believe that it can also help professionals to do their job more effectively. Jee Won Kim is an architect in New York specialising in the hospitality industry and residential spaces. He says that any project that affects the public requires their approval. Betaville gives people a chance to see these proposals in their given context and to better understand how new buildings can fit into their communities. "With enough renderings you can explain it," Mr Kim says, referring to meetings where architects show the public their proposals. "But it's not quite the same as people being able to walk around it, fly over it and look at it themselves." Mr Kim says the fact that people can not only view suggested schemes but also leave anonymous comments makes Betaville even more appealing. "It's a great way to test your ideas," he says. "The more that we can engage the public and get their support, the better chances we'll have to get the project built." In fact Mr Koplin laments the fact that without a program like Betaville the public only has the power to block proposals instead of actively moulding them. "They don't have the power to design things but they have the power to stop things," he says. Investors in Bremen for one are keen for citizens to be more involved in this process and there are plans to invite locals to use Betaville early next year. "You can ask these people before what they want to have, or you start your project and listen to them in court when they stop your project," Mr Koplin explains. "That is not something that we need in our time when people are emancipated. "People should have more chances to be involved in the processes which concern society."

स्टैच्यू ऑफ लिबर्टी के ताज की तरह दिखने वाले, मैनहट्टन के बैटरी पार्क के निचले हिस्से से पांच खंभे निकलते हैं। घूमते जलमार्गों और पेड़ों से भरे, सीढ़ियाँ ताज के आधार से इसकी तीखी, फैली हुई बाहों के शीर्ष तक जाती हैं।


Trojan Horse: Pupils 'stigmatised' by Islamic extremism claims

Summary: As Ofsted criticises five Birmingham schools for not doing enough to protect children from extremist ideas, parents of pupils at the schools in the "Trojan Horse" case say they fear their future prospects could be damaged by the allegations.

"There are genuine concerns that children will go to apply to universities or for jobs and when it is shown they attended Park View School, they will be seen as some Islamic extremist, even though nothing has been proved," says Arshad Malik. His 14-year-old son Imran's school, Park View, is one of the six schools put into special measures after Ofsted's inspection of 21 schools in the city. Mr Malik says he believes students' and teachers' reputations are being "tarnished". "Those kind of negative stereotypes can build up," he adds. "I think parents will think twice to send their children here even if they believe the staff and teachers, because of the stigma. "We need the clear facts to come out and if the school is cleared, they should change the academy name and move on." Ofsted said in its report Park View Academy "had not effectively raised students' awareness of the risks of extremism". It is run by the Park View Educational Trust, along with other academies, Golden Hillock and Nansen Primary, which are all to have their funding agreements terminated. Another parent, Farooq Ahmed, whose daughter attends Golden Hillock, says he is now "worried" about any cuts to funding. "The most important thing for me is she gets better results and can get better jobs and I would worry if the trust [Park View Educational Trust] had to go," he said. In the school's inspection report, Ofsted said: "Too little is done to keep students safe from the risks associated with extremist views." 'Children victimised' Meanwhile, Anoor Khan said he was considering transferring his 12-year-old son from Golden Hillock to another school. "This is is his first year but I'm thinking of taking him elsewhere," Mr Khan said. "I want him to be able to get grades... I don't want his education to be affected by politics at all." Oldknow Academy, which was also placed in special measures, has also been warned it could lose funding unless concerns are addressed. Shabina Bano, whose two daughters attend Oldknow, said that would have a "serious negative affect" on their future learning. "We need to know, on what basis can they take funding away? As parents we see no proof that the school is failing," she said. "Of course children are stigmatised by these accusations and the nature of the playground is that these children could become victimised when they leave to go to secondary school. "You're going to get children saying, 'are you part of Al Qaeda, are you from a Jihadi school?'. It's unfair on them."

जैसा कि ऑफस्टेड ने बच्चों को चरमपंथी विचारों से बचाने के लिए पर्याप्त प्रयास नहीं करने के लिए बर्मिंघम के पांच स्कूलों की आलोचना की है, "ट्रोजन हॉर्स" मामले में स्कूलों के छात्रों के माता-पिता का कहना है कि उन्हें डर है कि आरोपों से उनकी भविष्य की संभावनाओं को नुकसान हो सकता है।


Man charged with arson after West Moors house fire

Summary: A man has been charged with arson after a fire destroyed a house in Dorset.

Fire crews were called in to deal with the blaze at the detached house in The Avenue, West Moors after it broke out early on Tuesday afternoon. One man was treated in hospital for chest pains. Dorset Police said a 55-year-old man from Three Legged Cross has been charged with arson and harassment. He is due to appear before Poole Magistrates Court later.

डोरसेट में एक घर में आग लगने के बाद एक व्यक्ति पर आगजनी का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Mary Konye's row with Naomi Oni led to acid attack

Summary: A simmering row between former school friends ended in one dousing the other with sulphuric acid after they had traded insults over their looks. Mary Konye denied the attack but it was data from her mobile phone and Oyster card which helped a jury find her guilty.

Naomi Oni was on her way home from a busy shift at Victoria's Secret lingerie store in the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, London, at the height of the Christmas sales in 2012. The 21-year-old had just got off a bus in Dagenham when she felt a "presence" behind her. Mary Konye, wearing a face veil as a disguise, had followed her old classmate before flinging acid towards her face. "I immediately felt that someone was trying to kill me," Miss Oni said. "My instinct was to run as fast as I could to get home." 'Ugly monster jibe' Afterwards, Konye, also 21, posted a none too subtle reference to the attack online. She uploaded a photograph of Freddy Krueger's melting face from the film, Nightmare on Elm Street, and asked "Who looks like Wrong Turn now?" Snaresbrook Crown Court was told how, as school friends, the women would joke about the horror movie Wrong Turn, which features cannibals with deformed faces. The film was not Konye's only inspiration. Jurors heard how she planned a copycat attack on her childhood friend, knowing she was affected by the story of Katie Piper, the aspiring model and TV presenter partially blinded and burned by acid in 2008. Baljit Ubhey, the chief crown prosecutor for London, said Konye had originally denied being in the area or following Miss Oni, only for analysis of her mobile phone and Oyster card to prove otherwise. "The cell site analysis showed that her mobile phone was in the location where the victim lived," Ms Ubhey said. "She had texted the Transport for London number for bus times after the attack had occurred very close to the victim's address. "Her Oyster card also placed her on the bus, following Miss Oni home." In court Konye, a Hertfordshire University business and finance student, claimed she was the victim of a "conspiracy" and that the "attack" had been concocted in an attempt to find her friend fame and fortune. She eventually admitted following Miss Oni on 30 December, but insisted her former friend had used the attack on Miss Piper "as a reference" before pouring the acid on herself. The jury was told how Miss Oni had earned £3,000 after the attack for media interviews and that her laptop's internet search history disclosed regular browsing for articles on Ms Piper, other acid attacks and plastic surgery. Miss Oni suffered burns to her face and lost part of her hair in the attack. She has undergone skin grafts since. During the trial Konye's often fraught friendship with the victim was laid bare. Witnesses told how she threatened to throw acid over her as revenge for being called an "ugly monster" during a row about a text message sent to Miss Oni's boyfriend. The pair had a "rocky relationship", the court heard, and did not speak for months after the texting row in 2011. Konye was "obsessed" with Miss Oni and insecure about her own looks while Miss Oni admitted the pair had traded insults about their appearance. The day after the attack Konye sent a text message to Miss Oni saying: "OMG, can't believe it." Eight weeks later, she was arrested. Ms Ubhey said Konye, of Canning Town, east London, had "lied from the outset". "She's tried to adapt her lies based on the evidence that has come out," she said. "That someone who you regard as a friend could do this to you is very chilling and to almost brag about it afterwards… paints a picture of a very disturbed young woman. "That someone who you trusted and had a long friendship with would choose to do this to you because of their own insecurities is, I think, devastating."

पूर्व स्कूली दोस्तों के बीच एक गर्म विवाद एक दूसरे को सल्फ्यूरिक एसिड देने में समाप्त हो गया जब उन्होंने अपने रूप पर अपमान का आदान-प्रदान किया था। मैरी कोनी ने हमले से इनकार किया लेकिन यह उनके मोबाइल फोन और ऑयस्टर कार्ड से डेटा था जिसने एक जूरी को उसे दोषी ठहराने में मदद की।


Algeria's revolution: A child bomber with 'no regrets'

Summary: In July 1962, Algeria won its independence from France after eight years of violent struggle. Fifty years on, one revolutionary re-tells her story and says that, despite an explosion in which she lost both legs, she has never regretted a single moment.

By Chloe ArnoldBBC News, Algeria Yasmine Belkacem was just 14 years old when she joined the independence movement. The year was 1959 and the battle was well under way. Four years earlier, members of the fledgling National Liberation Front (FLN) had killed 123 civilians in the town of Philippeville. Known as "les pieds noirs" - black feet - they were settlers of French origin who had worked the land since France's occupation of Algeria, more than a century earlier. In retaliation, the French army and pieds-noirs gangs killed as many as 12,000 Algerians. But Yasmine was just a schoolgirl with a beautiful face and long black curls, living in the Belcourt district of the capital. It was a neighbour who persuaded her to join the cause and for months she carried messages between members of the FLN, along with money and food to the freedom fighters in prison. Her father had died three years earlier and her mother and elder sister knew nothing of her risky activities. "Then one day I was taken into the mountains to meet some of the leaders of the movement," she says. "They were making bombs to be placed in French cafes and police stations in the capital." Yasmine had a fierce desire to play a bigger part in the conflict and to help oust the occupiers who, she says, had forced her countrymen into poverty and humiliation. "I still remember the sign that hung over the entrance to one of the beaches near Algiers," she says. "It read, 'No dogs or Muslims'." She begged the FLN to let her plant one of the homemade bombs. Reluctant at first, they finally relented and dropped her off near a police station. With great care, she carried the bomb in a little black suitcase, towards the gendarmerie. But something went wrong. The timer malfunctioned and, before she got the chance to deposit the suitcase, it exploded in her hands. Two police officers were slightly injured in the blast. Yasmine, just 14, lost both her legs. We are sitting in Yasmine's house in the centre of Algiers, sipping freshly squeezed orange juice and looking at old black and white photographs of the war years. Outside in her garden, the bougainvillaea and hibiscus are in full bloom, and her collection of colourful canaries is chirping noisily. The tranquillity of her life today is a world apart from the chaos that followed the explosion which injured her, when she was imprisoned for two years. "Of course, after it had happened, I thought to myself, 'Now I will never be able to walk again, to swim or dance again'," she says, her hands smoothing her trousers which cover the prosthetic legs she had fitted in the US, two years after the bomb went off. "But I knew that I had done the right thing." It goes without saying that the families of those killed in attacks like Yasmine's might not agree. Yasmine was the youngest in prison but by no means the only girl. She was transferred to a jail in Paris. "There were more than 20 of us women in prison," she recalls. "The oldest was only 21. They were terribly kind, they used to carry me everywhere because I didn't have my new legs at that point." In 1961, months before a ceasefire was signed, Yasmine was released and an American doctor arranged for her to be treated in New York. "He spent $60,000 (£40,000) of his own money paying for my treatment," she says. "I was so grateful." On 5 July 1962, after the signing of the Evian Accord which ended the hostilities, Algeria won its hard-fought independence. Yasmine was not there to witness the celebration. "But the following year, sitting in my chair beside the president as he raised the Algerian flag, I just cried and cried," she remembers. "I was so happy." Fifty years on Algeria has, in some ways, disappointed the aspirations of the people who fought for its independence from France. They dreamed of building a just, democratic and peaceful state. The 1990s saw a bitter struggle between government security forces and Islamist insurgents bent on changing the direction of the country. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Today, the authorities maintain a tight grip on power and, despite the oil and gas the country exports, millions of people are unemployed and live in squalid housing. Though she could have done, she says, Yasmine never married. "I hated the idea that one day my husband would wake up and think, 'I married a cripple,'" she tells me. But despite everything that has happened since Algerian independence, for Yasmine it was worth the struggle. "It was what God wanted me to do," she says, brushing a little dust from another old photograph. "I have no regrets." How to listen to From Our Own Correspondent: BBC Radio 4: A 30-minute programme on Saturdays, 11:30 BST. Second 30-minute programme on Thursdays, 11:00 BST (some weeks only). Listen online or download the podcast BBC World Service: Hear daily 10-minute editions Monday to Friday, repeated through the day, also available to listen online. Read more or explore the archive at the programme website.

जुलाई 1962 में, अल्जीरिया ने आठ साल के हिंसक संघर्ष के बाद फ्रांस से अपनी स्वतंत्रता हासिल की। पचास साल बाद, एक क्रांतिकारी अपनी कहानी को फिर से बताता है और कहता है कि, एक विस्फोट के बावजूद जिसमें उसने दोनों पैर खो दिए थे, उसे कभी भी एक पल भी पछतावा नहीं हुआ।


Colbert: Who gets the last laugh?

Summary: A review of the best commentary on and around the world...

What in the world?Pieces of global opinion Today's must-read When you pick a fight with a man who stars in his own television show - particularly one who uses parody to self-consciously revel in his own glory - you have to be prepared for what might happen. The Colbert Report's Stephen Colbert, the target of a #CancelColbert Twitter campaign led by "hashtag activist" Suey Park, returned fire by exclaiming "the dark forces trying to silence my message of core conservative principals mixed with youth-friendly product placement have been thwarted". The show started with an extended dream sequence: Colbert imagines a world in which The Colbert Report is cancelled. Flowers wilt. Cities lie in ruins. An iconic Native American sheds a tear. All set to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, music that was famously used in the closing sequence of Oliver Stone's Platoon. "We almost lost me," Colbert intones. "I'm never going to take me for granted ever again." On the power of Twitter: "Who would have thought that a means of communication limited to 140 characters would ever create misunderstandings?" On accusations that he's a racist: "I am not a racist. I don't even see race, not even my own. People tell me I'm white, and I believe them because I just devoted six minutes to explaining how I am not a racist." He also gleefully noted the surge of coverage the #CancelColbert story provoked on television and in print. That surge hasn't quite subsided yet, as the quick-response articles give way to longer "think pieces", such as the one by author Jay Caspian Kang in the New Yorker. Kang wonders whether the media were duped by "the work of a master provocateur who held up a mirror up to the way that self-identifying liberals of all races respond to criticism from people that they assumed to be allies". He speaks with Ms Park, who tells him: "There's no reason for me to act reasonable, because I won't be taken seriously anyway. So I might as well perform crazy to point out exactly what's expected from me." Kang concludes: If we take #CancelColbert at face value, we can easily dismiss it as shrill, misguided, and frivolous. But after speaking to Park about what she hoped to accomplish with all this (a paternalistic question if there ever was one), I wonder if we might be witnessing the development of a more compelling - and sometimes annoying and infuriating - form of protest, by a new group of Merry Pranksters, who are once again freaking out the squares in our always over-reacting, always polarized online public sphere. As his performance Monday night demonstrated, Stephen Colbert is one of the masters of satirical humour. But has Suey Park taken the art to another level? Are we all just missing the joke? Russia Let Putin have Crimea - If the Crimeans want to secede from Ukraine and merge with Russia, writes University of Chicago Law prof Eric Posner, the West should let them do it. "Russia gains nothing from the annexation but an arid peninsula of no economic or military importance, and the distrust of its neighbours," he writes. "Putin's foolish move will be its own punishment." France The populist threat - The victory of the populist National Front in recent French elections indicates an unease that's growing Europe, write the editors of Spain's El Pais. "The best way of combating it is to address the anxieties in society and tackle the problems - unemployment, insecurity and integration - with realism and good sense," they write. Egypt Was Morsi an autocrat? - Nine months after a military coup toppled him from power, the view that Mohammed Morsi was a dictator in the making seems to hardening, write Shadi Hamid and Meredith Wheeler of the Brookings Institution. That's not the case, however. "Decades of transitions show that Morsi, while inept and majoritarian, was no more autocratic than a typical transitional leader and was more democratic than other leaders during societal transitions," they write. Philippines Americans are coming to town - The Agreement on Enhanced Defence Cooperation, which will allow the US military to occupy bases in the Philippines, is "legalised invasion", writes the Philippine Inquirer's Nelson D Lavina. "Weep for the motherland," he writes, "for having leaders whose foreign policy, written in stone, has been 'to follow the glistening wake of America' for more than a century now - blindly." BBC Monitoring's quotes of the day On Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in Paris to discuss the situation in Crimea. Russian media offer their take on the developments. "For the first time since the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine, Russia and the West have started to align their positions… Russia took a more flexible stance on the presidential election in Ukraine that is scheduled for May: Moscow may recognize the voting results... The US, for its part, recognized the legitimacy of Russia's calls for disarming radicals and clearing them from the buildings that they seized, protecting ethnic minorities and conducting a constitutional reform." - Yelena Chernenko in Kommersant. "Although they have not formally admitted it and they continue to say that they will never recognize it, in fact the Americans do not care much for Crimea now. What they are concerned about is that something like this could happen to East Ukraine." - Interview with pundit Vitaliy Tretyakov in Trud. "It seems obvious that the period of self-satisfaction from merging Crimea with Russia and from the fact that the 'Western partners' swallowed the merger is over. The question is how President Putin will fill the void that replaces his self-satisfaction." - Kirill Kharatyan in Vedomosti. Have you found an interesting opinion piece about global issues that we missed? Share it with us via email at echochambers (at) bbc.co.uk.

दुनिया भर में सर्वश्रेष्ठ टिप्पणियों की समीक्षा...


Aberdeen Royal Infirmary inspection widened out

Summary: An inspection of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is to be widened out to include obstetrics and gynaecology, BBC Scotland has learned.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland has told NHS Grampian that the scope of a review is to be extended. The inspection is already focusing on the emergency department, general surgery and care of the elderly The decision was been made following information the inspection team reviewed during a visit.

बीबीसी स्कॉटलैंड को पता चला है कि प्रसूति और स्त्री रोग को शामिल करने के लिए एबरडीन रॉयल इन्फर्मरी के निरीक्षण का विस्तार किया जाना है।


Builder appointed for science unit at Inverness Campus

Summary: A contractor has been appointed to build a £3m unit to provide space for life science research at the new Inverness Campus.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has appointed Morrison Construction to do the work. The building should be completed early next year. Construction of the new Inverness College UHI building on the campus is already well under way and is due to be opened to students autumn 2015.

नए इनवर्नेस परिसर में जीवन विज्ञान अनुसंधान के लिए जगह प्रदान करने के लिए 3 मिलियन पाउंड की इकाई बनाने के लिए एक ठेकेदार नियुक्त किया गया है।


Lloyds, the new TSB Bank and how customers are affected

Summary: The accounts of millions of Lloyds customers are being transferred to a new stand-alone bank, called TSB.

By Kevin PeacheyPersonal finance reporter, BBC News The new institution faces an element of uncertainty after a proposed deal to sell 631 branches to the Co-op collapsed. Instead TSB will be sold through a listing on the stock market, probably in late 2014. Antonio Horta-Osorio, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, says the transition for customers will be "seamless". It will not affect the key functions of their accounts, and they do not need to do anything at this stage. However, there have been website problems on the launch day.

लॉयड्स के लाखों ग्राहकों के खातों को टी. एस. बी. नामक एक नए स्वतंत्र बैंक में स्थानांतरित किया जा रहा है।


Have fish quotas had their chips?

Summary: The starting point for Europe's trade relationship with the UK has begun, separately from a trade deal, with "third country status" vital to keep agricultural goods flowing across the English Channel and North Sea. However, the European Union has taken out of that deal at least one crop, the seed potato, as a penalty for British refusal to align its business regulation and standards with those set in Brussels. That points to the use of political pressure on the Conservative government, and we can expect lots more of that to come.

By Douglas FraserBusiness and economy editor, Scotland We knew fish was a big issue for Europe's future dealings with the UK, and reportedly continued that way into the final hours before unveiling a trade deal. But chips as well? The humble tattie has become a part of the negotiation, and as a significant Scottish export, it's been targeted to put pressure on the government in London. This has to do with "third country" status being approved, as part of the UK's dealings with the European Union. That isn't part of a deal on removing tariffs and quotas as obstacles to trade, but instead a necessary starting point for any trading relationship that Britain has with the EU. It's particularly important for agricultural exports. And ahead of the trade agreement being unveiled, in all the glory of its technical jargon (watch out for cross-retaliation, a ratchet clause, data adequacy and pelagic zonal attachment), it allows exports of meat, dairy and crops to cross the border. But not all crops. At least one item has been left out of the deal, and deliberately so. Seed potatoes are not included, while "ware" potatoes are. Ware potatoes are the ones consumers buy and boil, or roasted with other trimmings with the Christmas turkey. Seed potatoes are sold to farmers in warmer climes, where yield on potatoes is affected by year-round bugs and disease. With its colder, wet climate, Scotland gives potatoes a disease-free start in life, and those seed potatoes are exported to Mediterranean countries, to replenish perpetually depleting production. North Africa has the biggest customers, while 20,000 tonnes - around a fifth of the UK's total exports - have gone to the European Union. The reason given, in a letter to the agriculture sector seen by the BBC, is that the UK has not complied with the EU's demands on "dynamic alignment". This has very little to do with tattie farming, and everything to do with the level playing field, which has been a major bone of contention in negotiations. It's about the EU's requirement that future upgrades in the levels of regulation for environmental or labour protection by the European Union should be matched by the UK. Carrot and stick The UK has pushed back, saying it doesn't want its standards to be set by the EU. That was the point of Brexit for many Brexiteers. There may be some compromise, but not enough for the Europeans, so they're exacting a price - and choosing to target seed potatoes. Why? Well, trade is about the incentive for both partners to become better off, but also about pressure for each other to give ground. The EU is experienced in picking the pressure points in its trading partners, such as the United States. That is why there's a 25% tariff on bourbon and other US whiskies, in retaliation against US tariffs on steel and aluminium. The Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, represents the whiskey distilling state of Kentucky. So when it sought a product that would put pressure on the UK government, it alighted on one that is grown mostly in the counties of Perthshire, Angus, Aberdeenshire and Moray. What do they have in common politically? They are where you're most likely to find Scottish Tories. The politics of Brexit doesn't finish with a deal. Much of it starts from a deal. As with Switzerland, the relationship with the European Union is going to be a near-constant negotiation - offering economic carrot and wielding a political stick.

ब्रिटेन के साथ यूरोप के व्यापार संबंधों के लिए प्रारंभिक बिंदु, एक व्यापार सौदे से अलग, "तीसरे देश का दर्जा" के साथ शुरू हो गया है, जो अंग्रेजी चैनल और उत्तरी सागर में कृषि वस्तुओं को प्रवाहित रखने के लिए महत्वपूर्ण है। हालाँकि, यूरोपीय संघ ने उस सौदे से कम से कम एक फसल, बीज आलू को हटा लिया है, जो ब्रसेल्स में निर्धारित अपने व्यापार विनियमन और मानकों को संरेखित करने से अंग्रेजों के इनकार के लिए एक दंड के रूप में है। यह रूढ़िवादी सरकार पर राजनीतिक दबाव के उपयोग की ओर इशारा करता है, और हम इसमें से बहुत अधिक आने की उम्मीद कर सकते हैं।


Cardigan RNLI crew win bravery prize at St David Awards

Summary: Three RNLI crewmen have been recognised for bravery after risking their lives to save two men cut off by a tide in a night-time rescue in Ceredigion.

It took four attempts in difficult conditions before Cardigan RNLI Lifeboat Station's Derek Pusey, Leonard Walters and Clive Williams saved them. They were honoured in the annual St David Awards in Cardiff on Thursday. The awards recognise the achievements of people in Wales in all walks of life. Categories include citizenship, culture, enterprise and innovation. Cyclist Geraint Thomas won the sport award after winning a gold medal in the road race at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. His parents collected the accolade on his behalf. Actor Michael Sheen won the international award for his role as a UNICEF UK ambassador.

सेरेडिगियन में रात के समय बचाव में ज्वार से कट गए दो लोगों को बचाने के लिए अपनी जान जोखिम में डालने के बाद तीन आर. एन. एल. आई. चालक दल के सदस्यों को बहादुरी के लिए पहचाना गया है।


Why is Scotland's Hate Crime Bill so controversial?

Summary: MSPs have given their initial backing to the Scottish government's new hate crime laws after ministers promised to make changes to the controversial plans. What will the bill do to protect victims of hate crime, and why has it proved contentious?

What is hate crime? A hate crime is a criminal offence that is based on prejudice against a specific group of people - for example attacking someone because of their religion or the colour of their skin. Scotland already has various laws in place that offer additional protection to people from crimes based on their disability, race, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. It means that crimes can be treated more seriously by the courts if the offender has shown "malice and ill-will" towards the victim based on their membership - or association with - one of the protected groups. What does the Scottish government want to do? The government asked a senior judge, Lord Bracadale, to examine all of the country's existing hate crime legislation to make sure it was still fit for purpose in the 21st Century. It then introduced the Hate Crime and Public Order bill to the Scottish Parliament in response to his recommendations. The bill adds hate crime based on a person's age to the list of protected groups, with hatred based on someone's sex potentially to be added in the future. It aims to simplify and clarify the law by bringing together the various existing hate crime laws into a single piece of legislation. And it creates a new crime of "stirring up hatred" against the protected groups - which is defined as "behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, or communicating threatening or abusive material to another person". The bill originally said that this could be "with the intention" of stirring up hatred against someone from a protected group, or "where it is a likely consequence that hatred will be stirred up against such a group". However, the Scottish government has now said that the bill will be amended to ensure that only people who intended to stir up hatred will be prosecuted. The bill also formally abolishes the offence of blasphemy - which has not been prosecuted in Scotland for more than 175 years. The government says the bill "makes it clear to victims, perpetrators, and communities and to wider society that offences motivated by prejudice will be treated more seriously and will not be tolerated by society". Why are some people not happy? Serious concerns have been raised about the potential impact on freedom of speech, with opponents arguing that the full implications of the proposed law have not been thought through. While supporting the principle of protecting people from prejudice, they argue that the definition of "stirring up hatred" is too vague and open to interpretation. There have been suggestions, for example, that the bill could lead to author JK Rowling facing a seven-year prison sentence for expressing her concerns about the impact of trans rights on women. And opponents say comedians could potentially be prosecuted for making a joke about a "Scotsman, and Englishman and an Irishman" walking into a bar. There have also been claims from the Catholic Church that the new law could make it illegal for people to oppose same-sex marriage or increased transgender rights on religious grounds. And there were even concerns that proposed laws on possessing "inflammatory material" could potentially lead to libraries and bookshops being prosecuted for stocking books that are deemed to be offensive. This section of the bill would have covered people who "have in their possession threatening, abusive or insulting material with a view to communicating the material to another person". However, the government has bowed to pressure and agreed to remove this section entirely. Many opponents have drawn parallels with the highly-controversial Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, which was eventually repealed by the Scottish Parliament. And the Scottish Police Federation has warned that the proposals would force officers to "police what people think or feel" which it says would "devastate the legitimacy of the police in the eyes of the public". How has the government responded? The Scottish government announced on 23 September that it would change the bill in a bid to ease some of the concerns about its impact on freedom of speech. Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf told the Scottish Parliament that the legislation would now only cover offences where the stirring up of hatred was intentional. He said: "I want people across this chamber and across Scotland to come together so we can ensure hate crime law can deal with the problem of stirring up hatred in an effective and appropriate way. "That is why I think it is important to put the concerns over the question of the operation of the new offences beyond doubt." But some, including the Scottish Conservatives, have said the changes do not go far enough - and have called on Mr Yousaf to rip up the legislation and start again. How big a problem is hate crime anyway? Figures released in June showed that the number of people charged with hate crimes in Scotland has increased over the past year. Racial offences remain the most commonly reported hate crime, with a total of 3,038 charges last year - an increase of 4% on the previous year, but still the second lowest since comparable records began in 2003/04 and 33% lower than the peak recorded in 2011/12. The figures also showed that: The increase in charges may suggest that victims have more confidence in coming forward - but many incidents still go unreported. What happens next? Members of Holyrood's justice committee were tasked with scrutinising the near 2,000 written views which were sent during a recent consultation period. They penned a stage one report on the bill which said it should proceed through parliament - but only if further changes were made. The government agreed to make additional alterations to the legislation, accepting the "overwhelming majority" of the committee's recommendations. MSPs have now backed the "general principles" of the bill, meaning it has passed its first parliamentary hurdle - but many warned they would want to see further amendments made if it is to continue through Holyrood and become law. The Hate Crime Bill will now return to the committee for even more amendments to be considered, before going back before MSPs for a final vote next year.

मंत्रियों द्वारा विवादास्पद योजनाओं में बदलाव करने का वादा करने के बाद एम. एस. पी. ने स्कॉटिश सरकार के नए घृणा अपराध कानूनों को अपना प्रारंभिक समर्थन दिया है। यह विधेयक घृणा अपराध के पीड़ितों की रक्षा के लिए क्या करेगा, और यह विवादास्पद क्यों साबित हुआ है?


Deepika Bhardwaj: The woman who fights for men's rights

Summary: In India, where crimes against women are rampant, a female activist and documentary filmmaker stands out for being a rare voice for abused men. The BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi profiles Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj as part of a series on the Asian women likely to make the news in 2017.

India regularly gets hauled over the coals for its shabby treatment of women. And rightly so. Every 15 minutes a rape is recorded, every five minutes an incident of domestic violence is reported, a bride is killed for dowry every 69 minutes and every year hundreds of thousands of female foetuses are aborted and infant girls are killed, leading to an appallingly skewed gender ratio. Girls and women also have to battle lifelong discrimination, prejudice, violence and neglect. In a climate like that, 31-year-old Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj knows she sticks out like a sore thumb, but she has some questions that are reasonable enough: "Are men not vulnerable? Do they not face discrimination? Can they not be victims?" And she goes on to add: "Just as you don't have to be a woman to fight for women, similarly, you don't have to be a man to fight for men. I don't talk about atrocities against women because there are millions who are talking about it." Her fight at the moment is against the misuse of Section 498A of the Indian penal code which is a tough anti-dowry law. Ms Bhardwaj is travelling across India, screening Martyrs of Marriage, her first feature-length documentary, in an attempt to persuade the authorities to re-write the law. Asian women to watch in 2017 India introduced Section 498A in 1983 after a spate of dowry deaths in Delhi and elsewhere in the country. There were daily reports of new brides being burnt to death by their husbands and in-laws and the murders were often passed off as "kitchen accidents". Angry protests by female MPs and activists forced parliament to bring in the law. "It was a law made with very noble intentions," agrees Ms Bhardwaj. "But a law that was made to save lives, has taken many lives." Ms Bhardwaj is not alone in her criticism. Over the years, Section 498A has acquired the reputation of being the "most abused law in the history of Indian jurisprudence". With cases of divorce in India steadily rising, campaigners say that disgruntled women, aided by unscrupulous lawyers, routinely misuse the law to harass their husbands and their relatives. It has also been questioned by the Supreme Court with one judge describing its misuse as "legal terrorism", warning that it was "intended to be used as a shield and not as an assassin's weapon", and the National Commission for Women expressing concerns over its misuse. As the law prescribes the immediate arrest of those named in a complaint, 2.7 million people, including 650,000 women and 7,700 children, were arrested between 1998 and 2015. The accused in some of the cases were as young as two years old and, in a particularly bizarre case, a two-month-old baby was hauled into a police station. Perturbed by such reports, in July 2014, the Supreme Court ordered the police to follow a nine-point checklist before arresting anyone on a dowry complaint. Ms Bhardwaj, a former journalist, says she began researching the subject in 2012 after "a very personal experience". "In 2011, a cousin's marriage fell apart within three months and his wife accused him and our entire family of beating her and demanding dowry from her. She filed a false case against us. I was also named as an accused, as someone who beat her and tortured her regularly," she says. Ms Bhardwaj says her family paid "a large sum of money" to buy peace, but "even though the case got over, I was not at peace". "The law has become a tool for extreme blackmail and extortion," she says. Her research took her to police stations and courts, and put her in touch with the Save Indian Family, an NGO fighting for the rights of wronged men. The documentary, which took four years to complete, has powerful first-person accounts from men who have been falsely accused under the anti-dowry law - from husbands who spent years in jail only to be acquitted later by courts; from the parents of young men who killed themselves unable to bear the harassment and ignominy of being labelled wife-abusers; a tearful video message from a husband recorded minutes before he hanged himself; and a suicide note from a young banker questioning the "one-sided law". We also hear from a retired Delhi high court judge who says the law is often "used as a leverage to settle scores"; a former Indian law minister who admits to the failure of governments to deal with the "abuse of this law"; one women's rights activist who believes the law must be amended; while a second insists that "cases of misuse are few" and the law must remain unchanged to protect women from dowry abuse. Ms Bhardwaj, however, insists that laws must be gender neutral. "You cannot deny it saying the number of such cases is small. In the past few years, thousands of people have reached out to me for help and I've referred them to the Save Indian Family. In Delhi, I'm told that 24% of calls to women's helplines are from men in distress. Lives are being destroyed. People are killing themselves." She now wants to organise a screening of Martyrs of Marriage for Indian MPs. "I have shown the documentary to judges, police officials and magistrates, activists and general public, men and women impacted by the law. I have received a tremendous response from the viewers. Now I want to take it to the parliament, to lobby for a change in the law to stop its misuse." In recent months, Ms Bhardwaj has also been speaking out against false rape cases. After the December 2012 gang rape of a young woman on a bus in the Indian capital, Delhi, and her subsequent death, India introduced Section 376, a tough new anti-rape law. Since then, there has been a surge in the registration of rape cases, amid reports from courts that many are filed by women after a consensual relationship has gone sour or to settle other disputes. Judges across India have warned against its misuse and the Delhi Commission for Women has said that 53.2% of the rape cases filed between April 2013 and July 2014 were found to be false. Ms Bhardwaj, too, has often taken to social media to speak up for men accused in false cases, attracting a severe backlash - she regularly gets trolled on social media, feminists and women's rights activists accuse her of bias, she's been called a "pimp for rapists" and is berated for her "love for rapists". Even her two-year-old niece has been dragged into the sordid debate by internet trolls who claim to feel sorry for the toddler "for having an aunt like her". But Ms Bhardwaj remains unfazed. "Some feminists say it's politically incorrect for me to fight for men, but I want justice for everyone, regardless of their gender. My work is not against women. My work is against injustice."

भारत में, जहां महिलाओं के खिलाफ अपराध बड़े पैमाने पर हो रहे हैं, एक महिला कार्यकर्ता और वृत्तचित्र निर्माता दुर्व्यवहार करने वाले पुरुषों के लिए एक दुर्लभ आवाज के रूप में सामने आती हैं। दिल्ली में बीबीसी की गीता पांडे दीपिका नारायण भारद्वाज को 2017 में एशियाई महिलाओं पर एक श्रृंखला के हिस्से के रूप में पेश करती हैं।


Enduring repression and insurgency in Egypt's Sinai

Summary: "They want to substitute me for the Muslim womans [sic] arrested in Egyptian prisons. These matters have to be achieved before 48 hours from now; if not, the soldiers of Sinai Province will kill me," said a man identifying himself as Tomislav Salopek in a video released on 5 August.

By Omar AshourUniversity of Exeter A week later Sinai Province (SP), a jihadist group that swore an oath of loyalty to Islamic State (IS) in November 2014, published what appeared to be a photo of Mr Salopek's decapitated body. The photo included a caption that said the 31-year-old Croatian was killed "for his country's participation in the war against Islamic State". Soft targets Mr Salopek had been working as a surveyor for a French geoscience company when he was abducted while travelling on a road west of Cairo on 22 July. His killing marks a significant change. It is not the first time that SP has targeted foreign civilians in Egypt, but it is the first time that an insurgent organisation has kidnapped a Westerner from the capital, and then transferred and executed him in one of its strongholds. For SP, targeting Westerners seems to make more international headlines compared to targeting Egyptian military posts. Foreigners and tourists seem to be seen as less costly, "soft" targets by the militants, a judgement that proved to be a miscalculation in the 1990s when the massacre of more than 50 tourists in Luxor engendered international outrage. SP, its predecessor (that is to say, most of the factions of the Ansar Bait al-Maqdis militant group), and other groups conducted more than 400 attacks between 2012 and 2015. The overwhelming majority targeted either military or security forces and took place in the coastal road between el-Arish and Rafah in the north-east of the Sinai peninsula. Other attacks were conducted against Israel or soft civilian targets, such as gas pipelines. SP was also able to carry out significant attacks outside Sinai, most notably in Cairo, the central Nile Delta, in the north of Upper Egypt and in the Western Desert, more than 1,000km (620 miles) away from north-eastern Sinai. Sophisticated weapons Between 2004 and 2015, the Sinai insurgency has grown from mainly an urban terrorism campaign of bombing soft targets (such as the Taba Hilton in 2004) to a structured, low-to-mid level insurgency, aiming primarily for "hard" targets (such as Battalion 101 Camp in el-Arish, the HQ of the military campaign, dubbed "Sinai's Guantanamo" by locals). In its attacks, SP has used anti-aircraft surface-to-air guided missiles to shoot down an army helicopter; 60mm and 120mm mortars; 12.7mm heavy machine-guns; Grad rockets to attack el-Arish's airport; anti-tank guided missiles; and various improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Since 2014, many of the attacks in Northern Sinai have been co-ordinated and simultaneous. The most sophisticated attack came on 1 July, and saw 15 military and security posts targeted. An estimated 300 SP militants briefly occupied the town of Sheikh Zuweid. SP has also captured a significant amount of weapons from military reinforcements sent to Sinai and displayed some of them in propaganda videos, including armoured vehicles. In none of the previous guerrilla campaigns in Egypt have militants been able to acquire such weapons, including during the 1990s in Upper Egypt. Counterinsurgency blunders These disturbing developments come after more than 18 months of extremely brutal but ineffective counterinsurgency activities by the military in North Sinai. More than 5,000 homes have been razed to the ground, not only in eastern Rafah - to create a buffer zone along the border with the Gaza Strip - but also far away from the border, in the middle of Sheikh Zuweid, as collective punishment for families of suspects. The regime in Egypt does not seem to recognise the new dangers. It is unwilling to review its counterinsurgency and counterterrorism policies. "Under control is not an enough to describe the situation [in Sinai]... the situation is completely and absolutely very stable," said President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi from an undisclosed location in Sinai, while wearing military uniform on 4 July. His statement seemed to contradict his outfit, as well as a previous declaration by his prime minister that Egypt was "in a state of war", and - most importantly - the simultaneous attacks by SP on 15 military targets three days earlier. The multi-dimensional, evolutionary nature of the Sinai crisis meant that it needed a complex counterinsurgency policy, involving a broader range approaches for the mid-to-long term. The political, social, structural, security and humanitarian dimensions of the crisis go back to the aftermath of the Israeli withdrawal in 1982. The security and social policies since then have essentially perceived Sinai as a threat rather than an opportunity, and its residents as potential informants, terrorists, spies and/or smugglers rather than full Egyptian citizens. Exacerbating the crisis The main consistent feature of these security-led policies was a mix of intense repression with attempts to co-opt selected tribal leaders. The main result of these policies has been to turn a limited security problem related to logistical support of various Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, into a local insurgency which has steadily grown in scale, intensity, capacity and legitimacy; and which has significantly altered its purpose to bring in a complex regional dimension. Part of Sinai's problem has to do with the structural deficiency in Egyptian civil-military relations. This is specifically related to the lack of oversight over national security policy formulation, its execution, in addition to the general lack of accountability when such policies fail or exacerbate a crisis. There has never been a thorough revision of the military and security policies in Sinai. The only open discussion that occurred regarding Sinai was in the brief transition period between February 2011 and June 2013, and it did not yield any executive policy and died out quickly following the takeover by the military in July 2013. Sinai's security crisis is likely to endure, as long as continuity, not change, is the main feature of military's policies in the peninsula. Dr Omar Ashour is a Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at the University of Exeter and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House in London. He the author of The De-Radicalization of Jihadists: Transforming Armed Islamist Movements, and Collusion to Collision: Islamist-Military Relations in Egypt.

5 अगस्त को जारी एक वीडियो में एक व्यक्ति ने अपनी पहचान टोमिस्लाव सालोपेक के रूप में बताते हुए कहा, "वे मिस्र की जेलों में गिरफ्तार मुस्लिम महिलाओं के स्थान पर मुझे रखना चाहते हैं। इन मामलों को अब से 48 घंटे पहले पूरा करना होगा; यदि नहीं, तो सिनाई प्रांत के सैनिक मुझे मार देंगे।"


Newmarket crash: Two men die and two women injured

Summary: Two men have died in a late-night car crash which also left two women seriously injured.

A Volkswagen Golf and a Renault Laguna collided on Exning Road in Newmarket, Suffolk, at about 23:50 BST on Sunday. A 43-year-old passenger in the Golf and the 20-year-old driver of the Renault died, police said. The injured women were taken to hospital in Cambridge. The road remained closed on Monday morning between Brickfields Avenue and Exning village. Police have appealed for witnesses. Related Internet Links Suffolk Police

देर रात हुई एक कार दुर्घटना में दो पुरुषों की मौत हो गई, जिसमें दो महिलाएं भी गंभीर रूप से घायल हो गईं।


The place that has wiped out grey squirrels

Summary: The red squirrel has been in severe decline in the UK but one island has completely eliminated grey squirrels to promote a red resurgence. Could it lead to a wider programme of eradication, asks Rachel Argyle.

Once common, red squirrels have declined rapidly in the UK since the 1950s, falling in numbers from about 3.5 million, to a current estimated population of around 130,000. Anglesey, an island off the north-west coast of Wales, declared itself a grey squirrel-free zone earlier this year after an 18-year cull. Now, it's been announced that a share of £1.2m of Heritage Lottery Fund money will see the cull of grey squirrels extend to the neighbouring county of Gwynedd, where no native nutkins have been spotted for nearly 70 years. Grey squirrels, said to have been brought to Britain from the US in the 19th Century, crossed the Menai Strait between Anglesey and mainland Wales in the mid-1960s. By 1998 the species had replaced the red squirrel almost completely, with only 40 red squirrels remaining. It's long been believed that greys act as carriers of squirrel pox - which kills reds. So in Anglesey a plan was hatched to cull the greys. "It began with the vision of Esme Kirby," says Dr Craig Shuttleworth, adviser to the Red Squirrel Survival Trust. "She was a conservation campaigner and undaunted in her fight to see the reds return to Anglesey and the UK as a whole. She never shied away from the issues involved with the cull of the greys and was open and transparent in her efforts." The island last had a sighting of a grey squirrel in 2013 and has now been declared the first area of the UK to become grey squirrel-free, says Shuttleworth. There are other areas of the UK that are regarded as free of greys but they have always been that way - thanks to natural barriers rather than conscious eradication. But the culling of one species in favour of another was never going to be an easy task. The challenges ranged from resource and technology issues to garnering landowner, public and political support. Live-trapping techniques were used to control greys and no poison or any type of spring (kill) trap were used. Captured grey squirrels were allowed to venture out from the wire trap into sacking that had been placed around the entrance. The squirrel would then be moved into the corner of the sack and killed by a single blow to the back of the head. This is regarded to be a humane method. Over 200 volunteers and a project team, as well as contractors, were involved. "The reds are rare and the general public wanted to see them," says Shuttleworth. "We needed to ensure that the reds were visible to help the ongoing support for the campaign." Anglesey's efforts received public backing but not everybody in Britain has welcomed culling projects in the same vein. There are plenty who regard the progression from wanting to preserve reds to a position of backing elimination of greys as irrational. Businessman Angus Macmillan and his family set up the Professor Acorn website in December 2006 to "redress the balance and seek the public's support for all squirrels, irrespective of their ethnic origin or the colour of their fur". "I feel it is morally wrong to slaughter members of one sentient species to protect members of another just because they are regarded as aliens," explains Macmillan. "We have support for our aims throughout the UK and abroad." A petition to "Stop the UK grey squirrel cull" has so far attracted almost 140,000 signatures. The opponents say the trapping and killing of grey squirrels is indiscriminate and cruel. "It causes stress to a wild animal, lactating females are killed leaving their kittens to die a slow and painful death and there is no guarantee that shooting a squirrel, which can easily move faster than the reactions of the shooter, will result in instant death," says Macmillan. The Professor Acorn campaigners are currently researching whether red squirrels are in fact native to the UK and attack the theory that greys are the cause of the decline of the reds. "Greys are blamed for the spread of the Squirrel Pox Virus because they have been found with antibodies - but antibodies don't mean they are all carriers all of the time," says Macmillan. "All it means is they have been exposed to the disease and fought it off. A bit like us if we get flu." But for the red squirrel conservationists the link is clear and the cull in Anglesey has demonstrated the positive effect on pox transmission and red numbers. "The cull was never a case of xenophobia," says Shuttleworth. "The greys are an invasive animal and they simply shouldn't be here. The red squirrel project acted as a litmus test for culls of other invasive species. If we couldn't succeed with these cute and furry animals, what hope would the less appealing species have?" Today Anglesey has the largest and most genetically diverse population of red squirrels in Wales with around 700 recorded on the island. Other strongholds for the native red include Scotland, the Lake District and Northumberland with some isolated populations further south in both England and Wales including Formby in Merseyside and the Isle of Wight, but will the UK ever be rid of the greys entirely? "Never say never," says Dr Shuttleworth. "When we first started out, we were greeted with a soundbite reaction that when you kill one grey squirrel, two turn up to its funeral. "Yet we achieved what we set out to achieve here on Anglesey and there is no reason why, if we take on the many lessons learned, we can't replicate this in other parts of the UK and one day, perhaps the country as a whole." Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

ब्रिटेन में लाल गिलहरियों में भारी गिरावट आई है, लेकिन एक द्वीप ने लाल पुनरुत्थान को बढ़ावा देने के लिए ग्रे गिलहरियों को पूरी तरह से समाप्त कर दिया है। क्या यह उन्मूलन के एक व्यापक कार्यक्रम की ओर ले जा सकता है, राहेल आर्गाइल पूछती है।


Bexhill death: Five people arrested

Summary: Four men and a woman have been arrested after a man was found dead at a property in East Sussex.

Sussex Police say the 22-year-old was involved in a fight at an address in Western Road, Bexhill on Wednesday. The cause of the man's death is unknown, but the force is questioning four men aged 30, 36, 41 and 48 and a 33-year-old woman. Sussex Police urged anyone with information about the man's death to contact officers.

ईस्ट ससेक्स में एक संपत्ति में एक पुरुष के मृत पाए जाने के बाद चार पुरुषों और एक महिला को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


New rules introduced to crack down on scam model agents

Summary: It's a scam that's gone on for years - you get stopped in the street, a model scout slips you a business card and suddenly you've signed up to a free shoot or casting session.

By Jim ReedNewsbeat reporter But of course it's not really free. By the time you've worked out the whole thing is a con, you've spent hundreds on agency fees or a bunch of grainy photographs. Now rules have come into force to crack down on that shady practice. Some campaigners though think the new law isn't strong enough and rogue agencies will still be able to operate. WHAT'S THE SCAM? It works in two ways. The model 'agent' will butter you up and tell you that it should be easy to find paid work. First of course you will need to pay an 'upfront fee' to cover administration and the cost of being listed in a directory. You cough up the money but you never get offered any work. Or you turn up at the casting session, get a makeover and someone takes your picture. It's made very clear that the grainy photos are your passport to success in the industry and paid work will, almost definitely, follow. You are pressured into paying a 'copyright fee' so the images cannot be used by anyone else and then extra cash for copies of the pictures themselves. By the end of the session you might have handed over hundreds of pounds. WHERE DOES THIS HAPPEN? Some people get stopped in the street by a scout and invited to a casting. Others read an advertisement in their local paper and turn up to a group session at a hotel or conference centre. These days it has also spread to the internet with some firms charging an upfront fee to appear in online directories. In most of these cases the person gets flattered and told they have the right look so it should be easy to get paid work. As soon as the money is handed over the agent vanishes and the work never materialises. ISN'T THIS ALREADY AGAINST THE LAW? It's a very grey area. As long as the agency doesn't actually promise to find work they could always claim the individual was unlucky and didn't get picked. This is especially true if they can prove a handful of people on their books do manage to get the odd job even though the vast majority are quickly forgotten about. Charging money for taking photographs is something hundreds of legitimate companies do all the time. Rogue agencies rarely mention the cost up front. Instead you are invited to a photography session, pampered for a couple of hours and told the grainy, unprofessional pictures they have taken are the key to success. Only then is a fee mentioned and it's often suggested you will quickly make that cash back as soon as clients see the pictures. Sometimes it's claimed the photographer is independent from the model agency arm so can't be charging a rip-off price. All too often this isn't true and the expensive photographs you are left with are next to useless. WHAT'S THE CHANGE IN THE REGULATIONS? From 1 October it is illegal for model agencies to charge any type of upfront fee before finding a client work. Any company trying to do that could face an unlimited fine or be banned from operating for up to 10 years. A 30-day cooling off period for photographic work is also being introduced. So if you fall for that trick and pay for a portfolio of pictures you no longer want, you have a month to change your mind and ask for your money back. SO THAT'S ALL SORTED THEN? Not necessarily. Critics say the new rules are not strict enough. The main complaint is technical. The law only stops model agencies from charging upfront fees, but allows firms to continue to ask for that money if they are representing actors or extras in TV commercials. So campaigners like Clive Hurst say rogue model agencies can simply change the small print on their contracts, claim they now offer TV and film work, and continue to operate as they have in the past. He also says there is no requirement for photographic firms to publicise the 30-day cooling period. So even though customers might be able to demand their money back under law, they might not be aware of their rights. I'M STILL BEING RIPPED OFF. WHO SHOULD I SPEAK TO? The body to speak to is the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate which is responsible for making sure model agencies stick to these rules. Make sure you keep any emails, texts, letters or paperwork from the agency as they may be useful in any future investigation.

यह एक घोटाला है जो वर्षों से चला आ रहा है-आपको सड़क पर रोक दिया जाता है, एक मॉडल स्काउट आपको एक बिजनेस कार्ड स्लिप कर देता है और अचानक आपने एक मुफ्त शूट या कास्टिंग सत्र के लिए साइन अप कर लिया है।


Chosen wans: Seven things linking Scotland to Star Wars

Summary: Auditions are being held for two lead roles in Star Wars: Episode VII. Glasgow's Science Centre will be the venue for casting sessions this weekend. Ahead of that event here are seven things linking Scotland with the films - as well as books, comics and the animated TV series

By Steven McKenzieBBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter The chosen wans Scots have secured starring roles in the films before. Denis Lawson played rebel X-Wing fighter pilot Wedge Antilles in the original film trilogy. Lawson's drama school class-mate, Carnoustie-born Ian McDiarmid, starred as the Empire's powerful emperor in 1983's Return of the Jedi and appeared in the most recent films: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. And Lawson's nephew - Ewan McGregor played a young Obi Wan Kenobi in the last three movies to be made. In The Phantom Menace, Glasgow-born Ray Park played Darth Maul, a fierce, horned warrior serving the evil Dark Side. Star Wars fans have been posting messages on Twitter urging Darth Maul to make an appearance in the new movie. Doctor Who actor David Tennant provided the voice for a robot in two episodes of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars that were screened last year. His character Prof Huyang is an ancient droid that oversees the construction of lightsabers for Jedi knights. The role won Tennant the Outstanding Performer in an Animated Programme award at this year's Emmys. Han Solo has been to Skye, not the Scottish island, but the fictional planet Skye. The smuggler narrowly escapes with his life from the war-ravaged world in the books, according to Wookieepedia: The Star Wars Wiki. Han Solo is one of US actor Harrison Ford's best known roles. Another is the whip-cracking, adventure seeking archaeologist Indiana Jones. In the third movie in that franchise, The Last Crusade, Jones pretends to be a Scottish lord to gain access to a castle where his father - played by Sean Connery - is being held captive. Yoda, the small green Jedi master, has not been to Skye of the real or imaginary version, as far as we know. But his namesake, musician DJ Yoda, has come pretty close on a number of occasions as a regular feature of the RockNess music festival at Dores on the shores of Loch Ness. DJ Yoda played a set at this summer's festival. Illustrator and designer Ralph McQuarrie, who died last year, produced concept art for many of the original Star Wars' characters and space craft. McQuarrie had Scottish ancestry, according to the Clan MacQuarrie Society in the US. It says census documents show McQuarrie's great-great grandfather Archibald went to Cape Breton in Nova Scotia from the Hebridean island of Eigg. The Eigg Heritage Trust, meanwhile, has census records listing a 10-year-old Archibald living on the isle with his sister Isabella, brother John and their parents Donald and Isabella in 1841. The family does not appear in a census 10 years later, suggesting that they left Eigg some time during that period, possibly for Canada as other families in the Highlands and Islands were doing at that time. For years Darth Vader, whose look was hugely influenced by Ralph McQuarrie's designs, has been linked to a story about the late British director Ken Annakin. Annakin made 50 films including It Began on Clydeside in 1946 which examined health problems afflicting war-time industrial workers in Scotland. The short film is in the Scottish Screen Archive. He also directed Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, The Battle of the Bulge and some exterior scenes for The Longest Day. Annakin was a friend of George Lucas and credited as being the inspiration for the name Anakin Skywalker, the young gifted Jedi who is seduced by the Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader. This connection between the British director and the "Chosen One" is recounted by Star Wars historians Ryder Windham and Peter Vilmer's hefty tome, Star Wars: The Complete Vader. However, following Annakin's death in 2009, Lucas' publicist told the LA Times that Annakin was not the inspiration for the Jedi. In the films, young Anakin Skywalker is played by actors Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen. Scots have helped to bring to life Star Wars stories in the spin-off comic books. Veteran Orkney-based artist Cam Kennedy illustrated Star Wars comic books Dark Empire One, Dark Empire Two and a 1995 comic about bounty hunter Boba Fett. More recently, Edinburgh illustrator Tanya Roberts has provided art work for Star Wars: The Clone Wars comics.

स्टार वार्स में दो मुख्य भूमिकाओं के लिए ऑडिशन आयोजित किए जा रहे हैंः एपिसोड VII. ग्लासगो का साइंस सेंटर इस सप्ताह के अंत में कास्टिंग सत्रों का स्थल होगा। उस कार्यक्रम से पहले स्कॉटलैंड को फिल्मों से जोड़ने वाली सात चीजें हैं-साथ ही किताबें, कॉमिक्स और एनिमेटेड टीवी श्रृंखला।


Man arrested after fatal cycle crash on A48 near Cowbridge

Summary: A man has been arrested after a cyclist died and two others were hurt in a crash involving a car in the Vale of Glamorgan.

South Wales Police said the 26-year-old victim died at the scene on the A48 between the Cowbridge by-pass and Pentre Meyrick. The road was closed for a number of hours following the 07:20 BST incident. A 36-year-old man is being held on suspicion of death by dangerous driving. The two other cyclists were taken by ambulance to Bridgend's Princess of Wales Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

वेल ऑफ ग्लैमॉर्गन में एक कार की दुर्घटना में एक साइकिल चालक की मौत हो गई और दो अन्य घायल हो गए, जिसके बाद एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


NRA convention: Glenn Beck and Ted Cruz wow gun fans

Summary: The National Rifle Association holds a different kind of convention.

Jonny DymondWashington correspondent@JonnyDymondon Twitter Where else would you find workshops entitled "Home Defence Concepts", "Refuse to be a Victim" and, my own personal favourite, "Advanced Sausage Processing"? There was a lot of politics at the NRA convention in Houston, Texas, and a lot of fundraising. But most of all there were lots and lots of guns - handguns, shotguns, rifles, airguns, vintage guns, lady-guns, guns, guns, guns and more guns. For the outsider it is a plunge into an unknown world populated almost entirely by white, very well-mannered and extremely opinionated NRA members. On the convention's first day, there was raw politics, and lots of it. Texas Governor Rick Perry was transformed - no longer the laughing stock of the Republican presidential primary race, instead he had the craggy looks and homely discourse of a young(ish) Reagan. Governor Perry talked of the first gun he owned, using a loving tone that his audience nodded along to but would leave much of the rest of the world utterly baffled. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a darling of the right wing of the Republican party, led the charge against what he called Obama liberals, striding the stage and whooping up the crowd as only a law professor knows how. And onetime Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum lauded the "heroic people who love this country for what it is and what it has been". For those who had the good fortune to follow the Republican presidential primaries and the Mitt Romney campaign, it was deja vu all over again. Obama liberals, media elites and Washington insiders were all in the firing line, while the faithful clapped and cheered. They were, the speakers told them, the real America. And if America is entirely white and very conservative, that is very true. In few places are the divisions between "red" and "blue" America, and America and much of the rest of the world, more sharply highlighted than at a convention like this. By midday on Saturday the vast exhibition floor was packed with NRA members. The air was full of the sound of guns being cocked, of bolts being slid and of eager salesmen explaining the new features of this or that weapon. Comfort amid change It was a family day out for many as children took their turns target shooting and admired the matt-black stocks of weapons that, if they were lucky, would one day be theirs. NRA-world is a comforting place at a time of bewildering change, where what one is constantly reminded are traditional American values reign supreme and modern life only intrudes in the form of biometric scanners for gun safes and laser-targeting on high-velocity rifles. Outside the convention centre, a pathetically small group reminded a largely uncaring world that guns are not just about hunting and self-defence but are part of the reason for the staggering loss of life on America's streets, in its homes, and in its schools. Some had come a long way, bringing the ghosts of their murdered relatives with them. Erica Lafferty, 27, worked in sales until mid-December last year. Her mother, Dawn Hochsprung, was the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School and was gunned down trying to protect her young students. Now Erica Lafferty's life is spent trying to cajole lawmakers into extending background checks to all gun purchases - something the NRA and its Republican allies managed to defeat in the Senate last month. "Stand and Fight" was the theme of the final rally of the convention, hosted by right-wing talk show host and rhetorical bomb thrower Glenn Beck. Before he even spoke he had received the longest standing ovation of the convention. "They want to regulate us until we comply," he told the adoring audience. "I will not comply." The crowd went wild. "The freedom of all mankind is at stake," he added. Erica Lafferty sees things differently. "My mother chose to stand and fight on December 14th," she says, "and she was brutally, brutally murdered in the hallways of her elementary school. Now I am going to stand on the opposite side of the road, to stand and fight." But the NRA is a canny and powerful opponent, able simultaneously to project enormous strength and to persuade its members that they are the downtrodden victims of liberal elites disconnected from the real America. Underestimating the NRA is a mistake that few politicians are now prepared to make. This weekend's convention was many things - political gathering, gun fair, social outing. But it was also a victory rally, and it will not be the last.

राष्ट्रीय राइफल संघ एक अलग तरह का सम्मेलन आयोजित करता है।


Handwashing: Why are the British so bad at washing their hands?

Summary: Faecal matter can be found on just over a quarter of our hands, new research suggests. In some cases the quantity of germs is equivalent to the number in a dirty toilet bowl. So why are the British so bad at washing their hands?

By Denise WintermanBBC News Magazine Poo, it's getting everywhere. Faecal bacteria are present on 26% of hands in the UK, 14% of banknotes and 10% of credit cards, according to new research carried out by hygiene experts from Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). It has been published to promote the UN's Global Handwashing Day. They say one of the biggest shocks is the level of germs. Findings suggest 11% of our hands are so "grossly contaminated" they are carrying as many germs as a dirty toilet bowl. It's the same for 8% of cards and 6% of notes. We already know faecal matter can be found on one in six mobile phones. "People may claim they wash their hands regularly but the science shows otherwise," says QMUL's Dr Ron Cutler, who led the study. The British are particularly bad, other research suggests. Many of us also lie and claim we have washed our hands when we haven't, especially after going to the toilet. In a recent UK-wide study, 99% of people interviewed at motorway service stations toilets claimed they had washed their hands after going to the toilet. Electronic recording devices revealed only 32% of men and 64% of women actually did. Even when faced with a serious health threat, many still don't bother. More newly published findings, this time from an international study by Harvard University, suggest only 53% of people washed their hands more frequently during the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It looked into how people changed their behaviour to reduce the spread of the H1N1 virus, and the British were the worst of the five countries studied. The British approach to hand washing is often "bizarre" and "peculiar", say hygiene experts. So what is our problem? A lot comes down to perception and how we see ourselves, also to a lack of understanding about the simplest hygiene. "It's peculiar but many people in the UK don't think they carry any diseases," says Dr Lisa Ackerley, a consultant in environmental hygiene and co-founder of Hygiene Audit Systems. "They live in a country with modern facilities and think things are clean." Most people are taught to wash their hands from an early age. When there is a major health scare, the Department of Health runs education campaigns, such as swine flu's "Catch it, bin it, kill it" campaign. But still some people don't link it with stopping the spread of germs. "People in the UK are worried about infections, we know that," says Dr Cutler. "But often they don't associate dirty hands with infections until they actually get ill, it's rather bizarre. They think their hands are clean." They're wrong of course. The average person's hands probably carry at least 3,000 different bacteria belonging to more than 100 species, according to US researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder. We all have our own unique "bacterial fingerprint", says Prof Noah Fierer, who conducted the research. "Bacteria on skin are like snowflakes, no two communities are alike," he says. That even goes for your left and right hand. The study found a person's hands share only 13% of the same bacteria. Also, while women wash their hands more than men, they have a more diverse selection of germs living on them. Scientists don't know why, but say differences in sweat, hormones and even the use of makeup might be involved. A lot of the different types of bacteria found on skin are not pathogens so do not cause disease, says Prof Fierer. Hand hygiene is more about not passing on the bad germs we pick up. "The benefit of hand washing is that it removes those transient taxa [organisms] that a doctor, for example, may pick up from a diseased patient, or a cook may pick up from using the toilet and then potentially pass onto another individual," he says. Sometimes bad hygiene is not down to laziness or a lack of awareness. Automatic behaviour is often subconscious and we simply don't think about what we're doing, says Dr Val Curtis, director of the Hygiene Centre at LSHTM. "People often genuinely think they've washed their hands after going to the toilet when they haven't. People think their behaviour is under conscious control, but often it's not. They are mindlessly doing things." Of those that who do wash their hands, often they're doing it wrong. A quick wipe with water is not enough. You should use soap wherever possible and follow certain steps, like rubbing around your thumbs. If you wash your hands correctly it should take you the same length of time as singing Happy Birthday twice, say experts. We should also do it more regularly, when we take out the bins or stroke a cat for example. The two most crucial times during the day are after toilet use and before eating. The study of bank notes and credit cards suggest only 39% of people wash their hands before tucking into some food. It might not seem that important but the consequences of not washing your hands can be serious. Faecal matter is one of the most dangerous around, says Dr Curtis. It can survive on hands and surfaces for hours, especially in warmer temperatures away from sunlight. "There are about one billion germs per gram in faecal matter," she says. "Even the smallest amount can leave millions of germs on your hands." The British Olympic Association warned Team GB athletes not to shake hands during the London games this summer in case they caught a bug that might ruin their chances of success. The UN says washing hands is the most cost-effective intervention for the worldwide control of disease. It estimates hand washing could save more than a million lives a year from diarrhoeal diseases and prevent respiratory infections, one of the biggest causes of child mortality in developing countries. So, how do you get more Brits washing their hands? Challenges facing public health organisations include the fact that our sensitivity to disgust varies. There are extremes at either end of the spectrum, but most people are somewhere in-between. What gets one person washing their hands may not change another's behaviour. Outbreaks of disease, like swine flu, can encourage better hygiene. During the swine flu scare there was an increase in clinical cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder, says Dr Cutler. But these are a few extreme cases and as Harvard's study shows, a pandemic still doesn't get all Brits washing their hands. But one tactic that has been shown to work in the UK is shaming people into doing it. The study conducted in service stations toilets found more people washed their hands when signs were put up asking: "Is the person next to you washing their hands?" "It makes people conscious of what others are doing around them and someone might be looking at them, they get embarrassed," says Dr Ackerley. "Social pressure is a powerful tool. "There are more notices in US toilets. I remember one that said, 'no poo poo fingers'. That was probably very effective." Dr Cutler agrees. "People obviously lie about washing their hands because they're embarrassed to admit the truth. Get them to feel embarrassed at the sink and they are more likely wash their hands," he says. So remember, no poo poo fingers from now on.

नए शोध से पता चलता है कि मल पदार्थ हमारे हाथों के एक चौथाई से भी कम हिस्से पर पाया जा सकता है। कुछ मामलों में कीटाणुओं की मात्रा शौचालय के गंदे कटोरे में संख्या के बराबर होती है। तो अंग्रेज अपने हाथ धोने में इतने बुरे क्यों हैं?


General election 2017: Have your say

Summary: Voters are gearing up for the general election on 8 June and the BBC wants to hear from you.

Have you always voted for a particular party and are now thinking about switching your vote this time? Perhaps you haven't decided on who you will vote for yet. Maybe you're voting for the first time. Or is your family split on who to vote for? We want to hear your views. BBC News is launching an exciting new video project and needs your help. If you're interested in taking part, here is what you need to do.

मतदाता 8 जून को होने वाले आम चुनाव के लिए तैयारी कर रहे हैं और बीबीसी आपसे सुनना चाहता है।