Energy bills: Will Ofgem review lead to cheaper bills?

Summary: The energy regulator was unequivocal: The current system is not working.

By Kabir ChibberBusiness reporter, BBC News Ofgem, in a review of the UK gas and electricity market following claims that suppliers were making excessive profits, decided that consumers are being "bamboozled". The "big six" - British Gas, E.On Energy, EDF Energy, Npower, Scottish and Southern Energy and Scottish Power - have been found to be stifling the market. The regulator says they must offer less complex tariffs to help consumers compare prices - or face the threat of being referred to the Competition Commission. But what will the changes actually mean for consumers? 'Not working' Firstly, Ofgem is recognising that the fault lies with the companies and not the billpayer. "What Ofgem has acknowledged today is that the market isn't working properly for consumers," says Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com. "The fact is that not enough people are using it. Incredibly, just one in ten households are paying the cheapest energy prices on the market." Around four in 10 households have never switched energy suppliers, she added. Ofgem feels that this is because our bills are too complicated, making it impossible to figure out what tariff you are on and compare it to other energy suppliers. "Because bills are so complicated, people almost ignore them when they come in through the post," says Scott Byrom, energy manager at Moneysupermarket.com. Terminology But he cautions that Ofgem is tackling the wording of the bills, rather than the level of prices in them. Consumers should not expect to see a drop in prices as a result of the review. What they should see, eventually, are less complex bill statements. But simpler explanations of the bills should help people to save up to £300 a year from the annual average energy bill of £1,108, according to Moneysupermarket.com simply by choosing other providers at existing prices. "We're finding that consumers look at the provider they're with, rather than the tariff they're on," Mr Byrom says. "If they are more educated on the tariff, chances are they're going to look around for a better deal." The regulator is also planning to ban the automatic rolling over of fixed contracts - where people pay a set price each month for their energy over the period of a contract. That should also force consumers every year to re-evaluate whether they are getting the best deal for them. New players? Ofgem also believes the "big six" are too dominant. It wants to force these firms to auction off up to 20% of the electricity they generate. This is an intriguing proposal - one that raises the prospect of the growth of new energy providers such as Ovo Energy, a small player based in Cirencester in Gloucestershire founded in 2009 that has around 40,000 customers. However, Mr Byrom is worried that it could lead to a situation like the retail insurance industry, where there are many brands but they are owned by a few players. "Only today we see yet another example of how the smaller energy companies are being squeezed out of the market," says David Hunter, an energy analyst from consultancy M&C Energy Group. "The official opening of a new gas-fired plant at Langage, Plymouth, is the first major new power station in the UK for five years. "Yet, it is owned by Centrica and all gas generated will go direct to the company's retail arm, British Gas, under a 'tolling agreement'." There are many barriers to entry for new players, so most are waiting to see if this measure to try to open up competition will ever become a reality. In any case, it is difficult to see whether a foreign company will be able to find a niche in the UK - with Germany's E.On and France's EDF already so dominant. While this Ofgem report has been welcomed by many consumer advocacy groups, it seems that it will only be when consumers read their bills - and understand them - that they could find the savings they are looking for.

ऊर्जा नियामक स्पष्ट थाः वर्तमान प्रणाली काम नहीं कर रही है।


Armed police respond after shots fired on Teesside

Summary: Armed police have sealed off an area on Teesside after shots were fired at two properties.

Officers were called to addresses in Tarring Street in Stockton and Victor Way in Thornaby on Monday night. Four men and a woman were later arrested in Port Clarence, Stockton, and the area has been sealed off. Cleveland Police said it had reassured residents and stepped up patrols in the area. It is believed the people involved know each other. Related Internet Links Cleveland Police

दो संपत्तियों पर गोलियां चलाने के बाद सशस्त्र पुलिस ने टीसाइड के एक इलाके को सील कर दिया है।


CPJ writes to President

Summary: The American-based organisation, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has protested to the Sri Lankan government over its policies towards journalists who write critically about the conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels.

In a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, trhe committee says that it has seen an increase in harassment, intimidation and detertion of reporters. It also alleges that police have not investigated the death of a television journalist, Paranirupasingam Devakumar, who was killed in the Jaffna peninsula last month in area under military control. The committee says that while it recognises that the Sri Lankan government is in an ongoing conflict with Tamil secessionists, the security of the nation will not be enhanced by policies that curtail the right to freedom of expression.

अमेरिका स्थित संगठन, कमेटी टू प्रोटेक्ट जर्नलिस्ट्स (सीपीजे) ने तमिल टाइगर विद्रोहियों के साथ संघर्ष के बारे में आलोचनात्मक रूप से लिखने वाले पत्रकारों के प्रति अपनी नीतियों को लेकर श्रीलंका सरकार का विरोध किया है।


Hull Truck aims to stage revival after cash crisis

Summary: In the 1980s, Hull Truck Theatre became a global success story. After the Yorkshire-based company got a new £15m building six years ago, it hit trouble. But now it is trying to get back on its feet in time for its home town Hull's year as UK City of Culture in 2017.

By Ian YoungsArts reporter When playwright John Godber attended his first board meeting as artistic director of Hull Truck Theatre in 1984, he was informed the company was insolvent. Godber's response? He wrote the plays Bouncers, Up 'n' Under and Teechers - all enduring hits that put bums on seats at home and won fans and awards on tour from London to Los Angeles. How Hull Truck could do with another Godber. In his day, the theatre was a scruffy former church hall. He ended up staying for 26 years and oversaw the company's move to a shiny purpose-built venue before leaving in 2010. That was meant to usher in a new era for Hull Truck, and so it turned out. Unfortunately it has not been a very happy one. It struggled to fill its new, bigger auditorium and has required extra funding from Arts Council England to the tune of £1.75m over four years to keep it afloat. The new Hull Truck may not have another Godber but it does have Mark Babych, who has been striving to turn around the company's fortunes since being appointed artistic director in 2013. He likens the six years since the launch of the new venue to "the world's most difficult birth". Babych says: "It feels like it's been in labour for such a long time. You now want your child to come off the ventilator and grow up and become part of the modern world. That's what it's felt like. "I've come in as the latest parent and have tried to nurture it back to health." Godber made Hull Truck famous with his boisterous and big-hearted tales of nightclub doormen, rugby league players and teachers at comprehensive school. "People knew what it was," Babych says. "That's not to say everybody loved it, but at the heart of it it had a specific artistic voice." 'Confusing' changes When the company moved, he says, shows that worked well in the old venue no longer worked so well any more. Audience members started tightening their belts as the recession kicked in, and there were also several changes of management. "Plus, with escalating costs, plus with changes in direction, plus with business plans changing, plus art changing, [that] completely confuses the audience. They stop coming," Babych says. "They couldn't find the same personal emotional connection to this concrete and glass building that they could find in the other place." Since arriving, Babych says he and executive director Janthi Mills-Ward have made changes to put the company back on an even keel. "We've really stabilised now and we are moving forward in a way which feels really good and feels natural and feels like people are starting to come back," he says. Babych is planning to focus the company's efforts on creating four home-made shows a year, including two co-productions, along clear artistic themes. Since Godber's departure, Hull Truck has "overstretched ourselves by doing too much and not enough quality", he says. There will be a trilogy of new plays about Hull and its history, starting with Dancing Through the Shadows, inspired by writer Richard Vergette's family experiences during World War Two. The trilogy is "looking at events from our city which in some way have shaped our identity, and maybe have held us back and reinforced a stereotype of what Hull is", Babych says. Hull hopes that stereotype will be wiped away in 2017, when it becomes UK City of Culture. The year-long cultural festivities will prove a point to those people who are "still talking about the same old rubbish" about Hull, the director predicts. "The eyes of the UK are going to be on us and we've got to put on a bloody good party." The only confirmed show for Hull Truck in 2017 is a historical farce about the city's role in the English Civil War by Richard Bean, who wrote One Man, Two Guvnors for the National Theatre. 'Game changer' That will be a co-production between Hull Truck and the Royal Shakespeare Company. "We're inviting people to make extraordinary work in the city that we wouldn't ordinarily get to see," Babych says. "The conversations are with major national and international theatres, as well as artists within the regions. "We're saying to people, 'Come and do your world premieres here but don't just rock up with your show - be in residence with us. Make work with us. Leave a legacy.' " Being City of Culture is giving Hull Truck better access to talent and major companies than it would normally have. "It's an enormous difference - it's a complete game changer," Babych says. "Obviously we couldn't do it without the extra financial investment that's coming with City of Culture. "There is an embarrassment of riches on the table and not everything will see the light of day." Feel-good play Before 2017, Babych is directing a new production of The Ladykillers, based on Father Ted writer Graham Linehan's adaptation of the classic Ealing comedy. The feel-good play is being co-produced with the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme, where it is currently running before moving to Hull Truck next month. Babych thinks the Hull company had been locked in to a mentality of only having plays with two or three actors. "So what we were looking for was a piece of work that would enable us to get some joy on the stage," he says. The Ladykillers is a familiar story, but one which "allows us to stretch ourselves a little bit artistically", the director says. "And [it] will give people a good night out, because we do want that. We do want this joy to come through the building. "It's important to have joy flowing through the building again." The Ladykillers runs at the New Vic until 2 May, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough on 5-9 May and at Hull Truck on 13-30 May.

1980 के दशक में, हल ट्रक थिएटर एक वैश्विक सफलता की कहानी बन गया। यॉर्कशायर स्थित कंपनी को छह साल पहले 15 मिलियन पाउंड की नई इमारत मिलने के बाद, यह मुसीबत में पड़ गई। लेकिन अब यह 2017 में यूके सिटी ऑफ कल्चर के रूप में अपने गृह शहर हल के वर्ष के लिए समय पर अपने पैरों पर खड़े होने की कोशिश कर रहा है।


Murder charge after body found at Northampton house

Summary: A man has been charged with murdering another man who was found dead at a house.

Andrew Pomroy was discovered in Littlewood Close, Northampton, at about 10:00 BST on Tuesday. Northamptonshire Police said officers had found the 53-year-old dead at the scene. Dale Peter Bates, 43, of Sulgrave Road in Northampton, has been charged with murder and will appear before magistrates in the town later. Related Internet Links HM Courts & Tribunals Service

एक व्यक्ति पर एक अन्य व्यक्ति की हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है जो एक घर में मृत पाया गया था।


Royston: Explosion carried out on 'suspicious' vehicle

Summary: A controlled explosion was carried out on a "suspicious" vehicle in a town centre, police said.

Hertfordshire Police said officers were called to the vehicle parked on Royston's High Street on Saturday. A cordon was put in place and the area was evacuated. The force said a bomb disposal team attended and carried out the controlled explosion as a precaution and an investigation into the incident was continuing. Related Internet Links Hertfordshire Constabulary

पुलिस ने कहा कि शहर के केंद्र में एक "संदिग्ध" वाहन पर एक नियंत्रित विस्फोट किया गया था।


The island that links Irish monks and jedi knights

Summary: A small rocky island off the coast of Ireland hit the headlines earlier this year when news broke that Star Wars: Episode VII was being filmed there. I couldn't resist the temptation to visit Skellig Michael - a place that felt strangely out of this world.

By Vincent DowdBBC World Service Study the advertising images used to promote Ireland abroad and often it's as if someone cranked up the colour. Trees and fields are a green beyond Technicolor - and surely not all Irish people have hair red enough to make a fox envious? The palette of colours on the 90-minute boat ride from the village of Portmagee in Kerry to Skellig Michael is more subtle. The exposed rock receding slowly behind us - the little vessel is sturdy rather than speedy - is a rich browny-grey. At a distance, ferns and foliage become dark olive green. A mile or two out, the Atlantic swells a deep Prussian blue. And then the glistening rains come. The boatman, Kav, emerges from the wheelhouse, his hair a tangle of matted blond. He slides a plastic crate of rain capes toward his dozen passengers, though he will remain throughout barefoot in a T-shirt. Finally the tall and craggy outline of Skellig Michael looms. As the makers of Star Wars have realised, nature has provided a perfectly cinematic wide shot. The ocean swell can be so strong at this point that the few boats allowed to land each day sometimes have to turn back. We're in luck - the sea is choppy but Kav is able to guide us one by one onto the concrete jetty. Experts believe the small monastery on top of Skellig Michael was built around the 7th Century but was fading in importance by about 1200. Nowadays fewer than 200 tourists a day, during the season, come to see its remains. First however comes a climb of more than 600 wet, uneven stone steps. Film scenes shot in Ireland Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) - key scenes involving Harry and Prof Dumbledore were filmed at Lemon Rock in County Kerry and also in County Clare Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Ballinesker beach in County Wexford stood in for Omaha beach in Normandy and Irish soldiers were used as extras Braveheart (1995) - County Meath played the part of London and York, while the Battle of Stirling Bridge was filmed in County Kildare The Italian Job (1969) - the prison scenes, starring Michael Caine and Noel Coward, were filmed at Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965) - Checkpoint Charlie, in Berlin, was recreated in Ardmore Studios in County Wicklow At the age of 80, Des Lavelle may be more familiar with those steps than anyone else alive. He's been arranging trips to Skellig Michael half his life. In the 1960s he'd be calling up hotels in Limerick and Killarney to find even half a dozen Dutch or American tourists intrigued enough to make the same journey the men of God made in the Middle Ages. They'd always ask the same question, he recalls: "What on earth made the monks come to this place?" To understand that, he says, you have to think the way people did then. In the 7th Century it was far easier to travel up and down Ireland by boat than by land. "The sea and the rivers were the main streets. So a small island it took a day's rowing to get to didn't seem so remote," he says. Once there were monks on almost every island along the west coast of Ireland, says Lavelle. "When I was young everyone said this was a God-fearing country. It was - but not like a thousand years before. Holy people devoted huge amounts of time to contemplating God. But Europe has changed - it's not how we'd pass our lives today." In wild weather, climbing to the top of the small island is not easy. A head for heights would come in useful. But the difficulty of getting there was in part why the monastery existed and why much of it survived. Bit by bit other monastic islands closer to shore had their masonry carried off for houses and farm buildings. By now half the steep path before me is lost under mist. Breathless, I consider abandoning the ascent. But I am shamed into continuing by a couple in their 60s who almost run past, pulled ever upward by a large dog on a lead. The monastic site is extraordinary - half a dozen beehive-shaped stone huts and two bigger oratories. There are stones marking the graves of monks who died here. But it's the location, high over the Atlantic, which makes the experience other-worldly. I ask Lavelle if after hundreds of visits he's ever bored with Skellig Michael. Not at all, he says - on a busy summer's day he can be surrounded by tourists but he'll always feel the power of the place. He can always spot the visitors who found the experience of no interest. "And the ones who get the most often didn't expect it. They're like me - you feel close to something, even if you're not sure what it is," he says. Watching my fellow visitors quietly and carefully make their way back down to the boat I sense he's right. Some of us aren't ready to step back into our own lives - not just yet anyway. How to listen to From Our Own Correspondent: BBC Radio 4: Saturdays at 11:30 Listen online or download the podcast. BBC World Service: Short editions Monday-Friday - see World Service programme schedule. Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox. Related Internet Links Skellig Michael - World Heritage Star Wars- Episode VII News

आयरलैंड के तट पर एक छोटा सा चट्टानी द्वीप इस साल की शुरुआत में सुर्खियों में आया जब खबर आई कि स्टार वार्सः एपिसोड VII वहां फिल्माया जा रहा है। मैं स्केलिग माइकल जाने के प्रलोभन का विरोध नहीं कर सका-एक ऐसी जगह जो इस दुनिया से अजीब तरह से अलग महसूस कर रही थी।


A widower 'full of regret' offers advice to a young woman

Summary: When a 21-year-old woman asked a weight loss forum for advice on how to deal with her boyfriend making comments about her appearance, one widower's response moved many to reflect on how we treat our loved ones.

George PierpointBBC News The widower replied to the young woman to share how he was full of regret for not being more supportive of his late wife when she struggled with her body image. The emotional exchange in the r/LoseIt area of Reddit has prompted many to consider the ways in which couples support one another. In a post titled "I'm losing weight but my partner is still giving me a hard time about my appearance", the woman explained that her boyfriend often made jibes relating to her weight. She wrote: "We were going swimming the other day and I commented that the water was cold, I was met with the response 'trust me you have more than enough insulation'". Many people responded to offer supportive words to the woman, with one person commenting "you can do and deserve better". A number of others suggested she leave her relationship and "run for the hills". You may also like: But it was the advice from an "old man" looking back on his life that really struck a chord with the Reddit community and produced an outpouring of emotional responses. The man, who uses the username EndlessEnds, wrote: "I am an old man now, and my wife is gone. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever known, inside and out... but she often struggled to see that." The man recalled how his wife "started dieting and working out extensively" and he said one of his biggest regrets was that he had sometimes "made her feel less than beautiful". "It still hurts me to think of the days and months where she was eating less in the hopes that I'd love her more," he wrote. "It makes me angry at myself." Admitting the mistakes he made, the widower offered some advice to the young woman: "I think you should let [your boyfriend] know how this makes you feel. If he loves you, I think he would be horrified to realize what his words do to you. If he does not realize that, you need to feed your soul a better diet." Many responded to the "beautiful post" to say it made them reflect on how they had treated their partners. Others urged EndlessEnds to go easy on himself: "Oh man, you're bringing me to tears. Please forgive yourself." Reddit user 'nocturne' wrote: "Your post is incredibly valuable for women whose partners disrespect them... because it helps them realize that there are people out there that care and want their partners to feel good." The widower thanked people for their kind words, and said the interaction had been "a really sad realization" of how he had treated his wife. "I was both the person who hurt her, and the one who failed in his duty to protect her."

जब एक 21 वर्षीय महिला ने वजन घटाने के एक मंच से सलाह मांगी कि उसके प्रेमी के साथ उसकी उपस्थिति के बारे में टिप्पणी करने से कैसे निपटा जाए, तो एक विधुर की प्रतिक्रिया ने कई लोगों को यह सोचने के लिए प्रेरित किया कि हम अपने प्रियजनों के साथ कैसा व्यवहार करते हैं।


El Salvador's jails: Where social distancing is impossible

Summary: Latin America has some of the most overcrowded jails in the world. With prisoners crammed into tiny cells by the dozen, social distancing is impossible and poor medical facilities mean any outbreak of coronavirus would spread like wildfire.

The United Nations has urged governments to do more to protect inmates and has suggested the most vulnerable be temporarily released to ease overcrowding. Chile, Colombia and Nicaragua have announced they will move thousands of prisoners into house arrest with priority given to the elderly, pregnant women and those with underlying conditions. Brazil has already started moving inmates over 60 into house arrest and Peru says it plans to give vulnerable inmates an amnesty. But the country with the second-highest per capita prison population after the US has not taken yet taken any such steps. El Salvador has been grappling with gang violence for decades and its prisons are bursting at the seams. Photographer Tariq Zaidi spent two years documenting conditions in El Salvador's jails before the coronavirus outbreak spread to the Central American nation. He gained access to six prisons as well as two police holding cells for a rare look inside the Central American nation's penal institutions. As well as one of the largest per capita prison populations, El Salvador has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world. But that rate has been going down from its height of 17.6 murders per day in 2015 to an average of 3.6 homicides a day in October 2019 and again to 2.1 in March 2020. President Nayib Bukele, who took office in June 2019, claims much of the credit for that drop. His zero-tolerance policy towards gang violence also extends to the country's prisons with jailed gang members allowed no visitors or phones and confined to their cells 24/7. If, on the other hand, the situation both inside and outside the jails is calm then normal hours and visitation rights are reinstated. Before Mr Bukele came to power, a programme called "Yo cambio" (I change) offered prisoners a chance to learn skills to boost their employability. Some even created their own designs and showed them off in prison fashion shows. Given El Salvador's severe gang problem and the fact that up to 80% of the attacks committed on the outside are believed to have been ordered from behind bars, many fear that releasing prisoners will further escalate gang violence. Prison guards routinely wear balaclavas to shield their identities so they and their families will not be targeted. But prisons with their mass overcrowding could also become hot spots for coronavirus infections. Respiratory diseases already have a higher incidence in the country's prisons. The rate of tuberculosis infection in El Salvador's prisons has been more than 50 times as large as that in the general population, according to the Pan American Journal of Public Health Study. Given that coronavirus and tuberculosis spread in similar ways, authorities are scrambling to prepare for what infectologist Jorge Panameño has called a "time bomb" waiting to explode. President Bukele has been making some changes to the Salvadorean prison system. On 26 December - before coronavirus spread to El Salvador - he announced that Chalatenango prison (pictured above) would be turned into a university. Six hundred inmates were transferred and the president said on Twitter - without offering any more detail - that the remaining 730 would be moved out in the following days. But while President Bukele was quick to order a nationwide lockdown and curfew to curb the spread of the virus, no official policy for prisoner releases has been announced. El Salvador's prisons have a capacity of 18,051 but the system currently holds more than 38,000 inmates. Extreme heat, unsanitary conditions and tuberculosis claimed the lives of many inmates even before coronavirus. The coronavirus pandemic thus presents a major problem to President Bukele. To prepare for a possible coronavirus in prison, the president has already had to lift some of the emergency measures he imposed to better control inmates. Moreover, judges in El Salvador have argued that those over 60 and with terminal illnesses should be temporarily released - however gang members would not be included in this move. The dilemma he faces is a stark one: release prisoners and risk a rise in gang violence he has fought hard to drive down or keep them behind bars and face a potential coronavirus explosion. All photos copyright of Tariq Zaidi. You can follow more of Tariq's work on Instagram, Facebook and his website.

लैटिन अमेरिका में दुनिया की कुछ सबसे अधिक भीड़भाड़ वाली जेलें हैं। दर्जन भर कैदियों को छोटी-छोटी कोठरियों में रखा गया है, सामाजिक दूरी बनाना असंभव है और खराब चिकित्सा सुविधाओं का मतलब है कि कोरोनावायरस का कोई भी प्रकोप जंगल की आग की तरह फैल जाएगा।


Is Russia targeting CIA spies with secret weapons?

Summary: Marc Polymeropoulos woke up in his hotel room with his head spinning and ears ringing. "I felt like I was going to vomit. I couldn't stand up. I was falling over," he recalls. "I have been shot at numerous times and this was the most terrifying experience in my life."

By Gordon CoreraSecurity correspondent Polymeropoulos had spent years in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan as a senior officer of the CIA fighting America's war on terrorism. But that night in Moscow he believes he was targeted by a secret, microwave weapon. After Russia's interference in the 2016 US presidential election, CIA leadership issued a "call to arms" and redeployed battle-hardened officers like Polymeropoulos to push back. He would eventually become acting chief of clandestine operations in Europe and Eurasia, working with allies to expose Moscow's activity, including the 2018 poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England. In December 2017 he visited Moscow, but not undercover. He wanted to use a regular "liaison" meeting between Russian and US spies to see the country for himself. He was not there, he insists, for any clandestine activity. The Russians had not been keen on him coming, but acquiesced. It was early on during the trip that he fell ill. On his return to the US the vertigo went, but other symptoms persisted to this day. "I've had a migraine headache for three straight years. It has never gone away," he told the BBC. He was unable to work a full day and took months off, starting a long medical journey. His suspicions arose because, from 2016, diplomats in Havana, Cuba, reported similar symptoms - as did some Canadians. Sometimes it was the sudden onset of a loud noise leading to intense pain, while others felt pressure on the head leading to dizziness and vertigo. The sensations seemed to come from a particular direction in a specific location. This became known as "Havana syndrome". What caused 'Havana syndrome'? "What happened to US diplomats in Cuba, happened to me in Moscow," he believes. But getting to the bottom of Havana syndrome has not been straightforward. The symptoms presented themselves differently in different people. Some speculated cases were unconnected or the result of a psychological illness. The first thorough assessment came from the US National Academies of Sciences in December 2020. Even though the clinical information was often fragmentary, a committee concluded symptoms were "consistent with the effects of directed, pulsed radio frequency energy", dismissing other possibilities including poisoning or a psychological cause. "We did find that a subset of individuals shared some very unusual and distinct clinical findings at the onset of their illnesses, and it was these findings that led us to our judgment," said Prof David A Relman of Stanford University, who chaired the panel. It did not conclude whether the pulse was deployed as a weapon or who was behind the attacks, he told the BBC, because that was beyond the committee's remit. When Polymeropoulos was initially screened by CIA medical officials he was told his symptoms were slightly different from those in Havana and they dismissed any link, leaving him feeling let down. He attributes differences to evidence that people are affected in different ways, and the possibility that what was used on people evolved. A spokesperson for the agency told the BBC the "CIA's first priority has been and continues to be the welfare of all of our officers". Other incidents reported beyond Cuba After being forced to retire due to ill health in 2019, Polymeropoulos decided to go public, to bring attention to the issue and try to secure treatment at a specialist hospital, which was eventually agreed. He says the operational side of the CIA took the issue more seriously once it became clear he was not the only potential victim. Reports have pointed to up to half a dozen other officials being affected and cases continuing. "It's happening to several other senior agency officials," Polymeropoulos says. "And some of the officers who have been subsequently affected seem to have been involved in some way in this pushback against the Russians. You have officers who are suffering in silence." Some incidents are reported to have taken place in countries other than Cuba or Russia, including China. GQ magazine, which first reported on the Polymeropoulos case, said a senior CIA official was affected on a 2019 visit to Australia (later confirmed by Australian media). Others were affected in Poland and Georgia. A White House official is also reported as feeling symptoms, including pressure in the head, while in a London hotel room in August 2019 - an event that British security officials are aware of, although it is unclear what exactly took place. There has been contact between London and Washington on the issue, although the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told the BBC it was not aware of any of its own staff being affected. One former UK intelligence official says any proof of Russian intent would be a "game changer". Is there evidence of Russian involvement? Media reports in the wake of the initial Havana incidents suggested classified evidence - including intercepted communications - pointing to Russia. More recently, it has been reported that the US intelligence community used mobile phone data to locate Russian intelligence officers in proximity to CIA officers affected in some locations. "That of course is a very interesting circumstantial case that certainly warrants additional attention," Polymeropoulos says, adding that his allegations are based on public information rather than knowledge of classified investigations after he left. None of that has proved conclusive enough for the US government to make a formal accusation. One possibility is that the damage to individuals was a side-effect of some kind of tool used to collect intelligence by bombarding electronic devices with microwaves to elicit information - a practice that began in the Cold War. "The Russian security services used to flood the US embassy in Moscow with concentrated microwaves and electronic pulses," says John Sipher, a former CIA officer who worked on Russia. He says Russia even had vans that could drive around a city to target individuals. He believes Moscow was responsible for the recent harm to CIA officers, although he is unsure of the exact motive. Another former CIA officer who served in Moscow also said he believed the Russians had used a directed energy attack, but could not be sure whether it was designed to cause harm, or whether the Russians simply did not care that harm was caused as a by-product of whatever else they were doing. Polymeropoulos says his original presumption was of some kind of intelligence collection. But the evidence, which he accepts is often circumstantial, has left him believing that the Russians used an "offensive weapon" to deliberately hurt people. Is it plausible? One theory is that, in Havana, Russia wanted to disrupt any improvement in relations between the US and Cuba - traditionally a close ally of Moscow - and then expanded its use to go after intelligence officers identified as working against them, like Polymeropoulos. This would take them out of action, eat up resources and make it harder for the CIA to operate. But this would go against an unspoken agreement that spy services do not target opposing personnel for physical harm. However, former CIA and MI6 officers point to the fact that the Russians have used a form of radioactive spy dust to track their movements in Russia, which posed risks to health. Polymeropoulos also argues Russia under President Vladimir Putin has been willing to push boundaries - for instance using nerve agent in Salisbury. "It's certainly an escalation, but it's not out of the norm for how the Russians really messed with our personnel," he says. In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry referred the BBC to comments in the wake of the US National Academies of Sciences report, which said: "We don't have any information about Russia having 'directed microwave weapons' or of incidences of the use of such a weapon. Such provocative, baseless speculation and fanciful hypotheses can't really be considered a serious matter for comment." Polymeropoulos wants Congressional committees to investigate. Some senators have taken up the issue. The scientist who led the official inquiry also wants more monitoring. "Not nearly enough has been done," Prof Relman told the BBC, saying previous efforts had been hindered by the complexity of the illness, the challenge of identifying a cause, as well as geopolitics. The new Biden administration has announced a review of Russia's "aggressive actions" and incoming Secretary of State Antony Blinken committed during his confirmation to sharing more information about "Havana syndrome". He also promised "accountability" if a state actor was responsible. New CIA director Bill Burns, a former ambassador to Russia, may also take a close interest. If it is proven that Russia used a microwave weapon against US officials, the consequences could be explosive. But, even if it were true, finding sufficient evidence to be confident in making a public accusation may prove difficult, leaving the issue unresolved. For Polymeropoulos, the truth is important even if it will not stop what he has to live with every day. "I'd rather I was shot. I'd rather there was an overt hole in my body that I knew that we could try to fix, as opposed to what's happening now."

मार्क पोलीमेरोपोलोस अपने होटल के कमरे में सिर घुमाते हुए और कान की घंटी बजाते हुए जागा। "मुझे लगा कि मुझे उल्टी होने वाली है। मैं खड़ा नहीं हो सकता था। मैं गिर रहा था", वह याद करता है। "मुझे कई बार गोली मारी गई है और यह मेरे जीवन का सबसे भयानक अनुभव था।"


Grammy Awards 2016: Key winners

Summary: Here is a list of selected winners at this year's Grammy awards, presented at a ceremony in Los Angeles. This list will be updated as winners are announced.

Note - the majority of awards have already been handed out at a pre-ceremony ahead of the main telecast. Album of the year Best new artist Best rock album Best rock performance Record of the year Song of the year Best pop vocal album Best pop solo performance Best traditional pop vocal album Best music video Best dance recording Best R&B performance Best R&B album Best urban contemporary album Best country album Best country song Best metal performance Best rap album Best music film Best song written for visual media A full list of winners is on the Grammys website.

लॉस एंजिल्स में एक समारोह में प्रस्तुत किए गए इस वर्ष के ग्रैमी पुरस्कारों में चयनित विजेताओं की सूची यहां दी गई है। विजेताओं की घोषणा होते ही इस सूची को अपडेट किया जाएगा।


CaSSIS mission: The camera capturing Mars' craters and canyons

Summary: It is a busy time for Mars at the moment.

By Samantha JaggerBBC News Online This month the Red Planet entered its new year, what is known as Year 36, and it has not long been overtaken by Earth in its orbit of the Sun. The distance between Earth and Mars constantly changes because of their different speeds around the Sun, therefore the optimum launch window for missions is just once every 26 months. Many are anticipating the touchdown of Nasa's Perseverance rover - the most sophisticated vehicle ever sent to land on a planet - on 18 February. However, the Red Planet is already being closely observed. Since its launch in 2016 and its subsequent orbit insertion around Mars, an instrument named the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) has been used to enhance scientists' knowledge of the planet's surface. The camera is travelling with the European Space Agency's (Esa) Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter, which is studying methane and other rare gases in the Martian atmosphere. The technical goal of CaSSIS is to look at potential landing sites for future missions - one being Esa's Exomars mission that is due to launch in 2022. However, as part of its scientific activities, it has also observed a variety of minerals, canyons, craters and other geological features on the surface. The images, which have been published on Instagram, also show frost deposits and dust storms. Prof Nicolas Thomas, from Oswestry in Shropshire, built the high-resolution instrument and leads the project at the University of Bern, Switzerland, which has now taken more than 20,000 images of Mars. "There are things that we already know about, but we have got lots more information by using CaSSIS. "The ability of CaSSIS to see sedimentary layering in some areas is very interesting," he told BBC News. "The other thing I like is we have seen remarkable numerous dust devil tracks on the surface on Mars. "It stands out in a way that it has never done when we used other instruments." Over the past few months, CaSSIS has been taking up to 300 images per week. The instrument has a strong colour capability so the team combines its findings with those of Nasa's ultra-high resolution imaging system, HiRISE, which flies on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. "We are very much working together right now in the scientific field," Prof Thomas said. An area of the Red Planet CaSSIS has photographed is a region near Sisyphi Tholus, where frost deposits have been documented. At high latitudes, carbon dioxide ice and frost develop, which can be seen with the cracks in the terrain. How does CaSSIS work? The team selects specific targets from a database before capturing them. CaSSIS flies over the surface at about 3km/s, so the images have to be taken very quickly. The exposure time for the images is only 1.5ms. "We get around 4.5m per pixel on the surface from a distance of about 400 km - so it is a little like looking at a bus in London from Liverpool," Prof Thomas explains. The camera uses false-colour imagery to enrich its findings. The colours differ from how they would appear to the human eye, but it helps the CaSSIS team search for different minerals that reflect sunlight in different colours. "We wanted CaSSIS to do science so we decided not to put simple red, green and blue colours into the camera system, but optimise the colours for science return," Prof Thomas added. One of the sites the CaSSIS team has looked at is the Jezero Crater. This is where Nasa's Perseverance rover is due to land next week before it starts its search for evidence of past life on the planet. Prof Thomas said the team typically has four to six opportunities per year to take pictures of sites like Jezero. Five days after the expected touchdown of Perseverance, CaSSIS hopes to capture its parachute and heat-shield discarded during the landing. "We've got permission, so if it touches down successfully on the surface then all is good and we should see its heat-shield. "However, if it lands upside down or in a wrong place somehow, then we will help search for it," Prof Thomas added. The camera will continue orbiting and is scheduled to assist ExoMars with its mission in 2022. Prof Thomas is hoping the project will run until at least 2025. Related Internet Links CaSSIS

यह इस समय मंगल ग्रह के लिए एक व्यस्त समय है।


Brazil: The 'El Dorado' for international migrants

Summary: The jungle state of Acre is a long way from anywhere. Tucked into the north-western corner of Brazil, it is closer to the big towns of eastern Bolivia and southern Peru than it is to the industrial heartland of southern Brazil.

Wyre DaviesRio de Janeiro correspondent Yet it is through here that many migrants looking for a better life or escaping persecution in their own countries choose to enter Brazil. On the edge of town, where the paved road runs out and where the jungle meets the last few buildings, several times a day small convoys of mini-vans come down the track and people get out. Like new arrivals anywhere, they look slightly bewildered, trying to get an immediate bearing on their surroundings. But they have little need to worry. Informal understanding For the time being, this is quite possibly one of the most welcoming places on the planet for a migrant or refugee to arrive. The people arriving here at the state migration centre in the town of Rio Branco are mainly from Haiti, Central America, Senegal and beyond. While many will claim asylum as refugees they are nearly all economic migrants and are recognised as such. It started as an informal, bilateral understanding between Brazil and Haiti - after Brazil's commitment to Haiti following the earthquake of 2010. Since then word spread and now many more of the people arriving here are coming from as far afield as West Africa. Some of them, like Matthew from Nigeria, have gone through an awful lot to get here. 'Forced to convert' "I came here to escape [the Islamist militant group] Boko Haram and the Muslim-Christian fighting in [the Nigerian town of] Jos," Matthew tells me, as he nervously holds on to his Bible. "My father was forced to convert but my mother was killed in our church. As for my sister, they took her and I've not seen her for a long time." Matthew says that he arrived here through Ecuador and Peru. The journey is long but thankfully not as arduous as that faced by African migrants fleeing through the Sahara towards Europe. More than 100 people a day are arriving at this holding centre just a couple of hours drive from the Bolivian border. Spanish, French, Patois - the languages and dialects are sometimes difficult to pick out. Everyone is processed, fed and given a mattress to sleep on. Among the migrants I spoke to was Jenny, from the Dominican Republic. "Brazil's well known as the place to come - the Haitians told us that," says Jenny, who has a pretty sure idea of what she plans to do next, now that she has made it to Brazil. "I'm going to the south to get a job in Santa Catarina. I already have friends down there." Unsustainable levels But, despite the smiles and optimism Jenny has made sacrifices. "I've got two kids, my mum and dad back home. It was hard to leave them but I have to earn money to send home." Brazil's policy so far has been to allow most if not all of the migrants and refugees in - partly because the borders here are so porous and there is a demand for migrant labour as the economy has boomed in recent years. Some residents and officials in the state of Acre are concerned that the constant influx of refuges will eventually reach unsustainable levels. Some even describe it as a "crisis". However, the Brazilian government does not generally talk about a refugee "problem", even though in recent years more than 20,000 migrants from Haiti alone have come here. According to official figures less than 1% of the population is made up of migrants. Ebola concerns Waldeci Nicacio de Lima works as a human rights co-ordinator here in Acre. "There's always been work for them because they'll accept the jobs Brazilians don't want," says the official. "Word has spread and for the migrants it's like a kind of 'El Dorado'." Nicacio de Lima also dismisses out of hand recent reports in some Brazilian newspapers that there were concerns about Ebola coming into Brazil through the camp. They were not being complacent, he said, but no-one was being sent away because of their nationality and they were confident that nobody had arrived from an Ebola-affected area. There is some tension here between the different nationalities and they all keep to their own parts of the centre but conditions are immeasurably better than at other migrant camp I have seen. As the day progresses, everybody is anxiously waiting for one thing - the appearance of Brazilian work permits, dozens of them. An orderly but excited group of people crowd around a small table set out in the shade of a huge tree as the names are read out. French sounding names from Haiti, a few Dominicans and several Senegalese are among those the Brazilian official struggles to get right, but no one seems to care. Less than two weeks after arriving many of these migrants now have extensive rights to live and work in Brazil, having secured temporary visas for a year. The lucky ones have few words but the smiles on their faces say it all. Most of them are planning to head south, in particular to Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina where there is still - reportedly - plenty of work for them, in agriculture and in factories. Although the work is invariably poorly paid and unstable, many of the people leaving here already have friends and family members in the south. Those whose names were not called out return to playing football or sitting in the shade. For those moving on, discrimination and a slowing economy will present challenges. As dusk falls over the jungle new migrants still arrive, just as bewildered and bleary-eyed after their long journey as the group who arrived that morning. And this will continue as long as Brazil makes them feel welcome.

एकर का जंगल राज्य कहीं से भी एक लंबा रास्ता है। ब्राजील के उत्तर-पश्चिमी कोने में स्थित, यह दक्षिणी ब्राजील के औद्योगिक केंद्र की तुलना में पूर्वी बोलीविया और दक्षिणी पेरू के बड़े शहरों के करीब है।


Spider-Man: What fans want to see in Marvel's eight-year plan

Summary: A new universe. 900 characters at your disposal.

It's the sort of thing super fans dream of. But for Spider-Man, it's now a reality. In an interview with Variety, Sony bosses announced an eight-year plan for the Spider-Man franchise, hinting at a load of new characters and even a television series. "I think a television series is a great idea. There are so many characters you could delve into," Claire Lim, contributor to the BBC's The Social, tells Radio 1 Newsbeat. "Spider-Man is such a relatable character, not just for nerds, but for everyone." Claire says his flaws make him one of the most-loved characters in Marvel's universe. "Whether you're a kid or not, he's just a human trying to do the right thing, trying to balance work life, personal life, 'Spider' life and learn from mistakes, really human mistakes." 'New' superheroes Sony is looking to build on the success of recent Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which brings back to life comic book characters that fans thought were forgotten. One of these characters could soon lead their own series. "We're pretty far down the road in terms of working through which characters we think could be their own star of a television series," Mike Hopkins told Variety. Who the fans want Peter Parker, the "Spider-Man we grew up watching" should have his own show, Jon Arvedon, associate editor of Comic Book resources tells Newsbeat. "He's whose action figures I collected and whose stories I've always gravitated toward." It's a "boring answer", Jon adds. "But I've never felt the same connection to other Spider-Man characters than I do to the original." GameSpot UK editor Tamoor Hussain wants to see Doctor Octopus centre stage. Not as the villain - but "where he is in the body of Peter Parker". A fan of Tom Hardy in Venom, Uproxx film writer Vince Mancini believes the anti-hero should be given his own series. Claire Lim wants to see the series appeal more to a wider-audience. "I'd 100% love to see Spider-Woman on screen, I think Spider-Ham could be super fun for kids," Claire says. "I'm sure Sony are more emboldened now to explore anti-heroes and villains, and the Spider-Verse has a lot of those, there are some really great characters there." Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here.

एक नया ब्रह्मांड. 900 वर्ण आपके पास उपलब्ध हैं।


Monk denies indecent assault at Downside School

Summary: A monk who taught at a Roman Catholic school in Somerset has pleaded not guilty to child sex offences.

Richard White, 65, denied one count of indecently assaulting a boy under 14 and four counts of indecency against a child at Taunton Crown Court. The offences are alleged to have happened in the late 1980s at Downside School in Stratton-on-the-Fosse. The trial date for White, of Hyde, Fordingbridge, Hampshire, has yet to be set.

समरसेट के एक रोमन कैथोलिक स्कूल में पढ़ाने वाले एक भिक्षु ने बाल यौन अपराधों के लिए दोषी नहीं होने का अनुरोध किया है।


Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The legacy of the teen heroine

Summary: Ten years after the cult TV series was broadcast on the BBC, what is Buffy the Vampire Slayer's legacy and why there are so few "daughters of Buffy": strong and complex fictional creations, who aren't simply the sole female lead in a predominantly-male cast.

By Naomi AldermanBBC Radio 4 Front Row Believe it or not, it's 10 years now since the last episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired in the UK. If it doesn't feel that long - and it doesn't - it's because the show was ahead of its time in so many ways: the quick-witted teen-speak which influenced conversation; the craze for stories about vampires who are in love with high school girls in a slightly disturbing way. Creator Joss Whedon's perfect management of "season arc" plots revolutionised television and is still spoken of with awe and wonder by writers today. And most importantly - but most disappointingly - Buffy still feels ahead of its time in its portrayal of women characters. And it's because of my disappointment about the lack of "daughters of Buffy" I chose to make a Front Row special about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her legacy. Lagging behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a small mid-season replacement show based on a terrible movie, which quickly outstripped its origins to become a cult hit and then a mainstream phenomenon. And in a way, Buffy's legacy is everywhere. It was the first show to perfectly balance a "monster of the week" plot - in which a single problem is encountered and defeated in every episode, so that new viewers can easily get the gist - with a season-long "arc" plot around a scary "Big Bad" villain who takes the whole 22-episode season to be brought to book. Everyone's doing this now, with varying levels of success; we can see it in everything from the new Doctor Who, Sherlock and Being Human to American shows like Sleepy Hollow and Fringe. Buffy was also incredibly creative, playful television, weaving what might have been gimmicks - a musical episode, an almost-entirely-silent episode - seamlessly into the story in a way which has often been imitated but rarely equalled. But in the crucial central aspect - the way the show dealt with its female characters - most television and movies are still lagging way behind Buffy's decade-old example. "But no!" I hear you cry from across the land. "The strong female character is a very common figure in all sorts of media now, from women kicking ass in videogames to sassy wisecracking super heroines in outfits which show off their toned buttocks and muscular, um, breasts. Just look at how the movie posters show off how strong they are!" Well, yes. Buffy was a "strong female character" in the sense she had super-strength and could push a stake through a vampire's breastbone with as little effort as most of us would expend pushing a toothpick into a festive canape. But her strength wasn't just about that - and that's where so many so-called strong female characters fall down, even today. For one thing, Buffy was written strongly - meaning she was a fully-rounded character, with weaknesses and vulnerabilities to go along with her super-powers. Not only was she physically strong, her role in the drama was also central - unlike so many female characters, she wasn't primarily there to be a man's love interest, or a femme fatale. She had relationships, she fell in love, had her heart broken, got dumped, and sent the love of her life to hell - well, who hasn't? - but those relationships weren't what defined her. Contrast that with Twilight's Bella Swan, utterly subsumed by her relationships with men. And equally importantly - she was surrounded by other strong, interesting, complex women. What's astonishing even now is to look at the cast line-up of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not just Buffy herself, but also best friend Willow the witch, Willow's girlfriend Tara, nemesis-come-wary-ally Cordelia, ex-demon Anya, mother-in-a-trying-situation Joyce and latterly, the mystically-created sister Dawn. So often now, a "strong woman" in a TV show or a movie will be almost entirely isolated from other women - from Katniss Everdene trying to survive the Hunger Games to Sandra Bullock's character in Gravity, from Carrie Mathison in Homeland to Daenerys Targaryan in Game of Thrones - female friendship, let alone having conversations with several women, seems utterly impossible for many of today's female characters. When I raised this question with show creator - and now Hollywood director - Joss Whedon, he agreed perhaps the wrong lessons had been learned from Buffy's success. "The romance and the supernatural and the lure of the vampire… all seemed to go over pretty well," he said. "The self-actualised female who was in charge of things didn't land quite as solidly…. I, too, have been somewhat disappointed… it feels almost like a backlash - we want to inoculate ourselves against this by giving you everything [Buffy] had without the feminism." Even its main cast of three friends, two women and a man - Buffy, Willow and Xander - was extraordinary. As Jane Root, controller of BBC Two when Buffy aired and now founder and chief executive of production company Nutopia, pointed out to me when I interviewed her, the set-up for sci-fi or fantasy is most often still "two boys and a girl". Think of Harry, Ron and Hermione, or Aidan, George and Annie in Being Human, or The Doctor, Rory and Amy in Doctor Who, or Walter, Peter and Olivia in Fringe. What Buffy showed us is that having one strong female character per show - even if she's well-written, interesting and complex - just isn't enough. After all, you can't pass the Bechdel Test with just one woman in the cast. When I first saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I naively thought it would spell the beginning of a new wave of television and movies - ones where the women characters could be written as well as the men, where women would take the lead as often as men and where they would be surrounded by many other female characters. It hasn't happened yet. But I continue to hope that it will. And until we've made TV like that, Buffy will continue to seem new, fresh and revolutionary. The Front Row special on Buffy the Vampire Slayer is on 26 December at 19:15 GMT on Radio 4.

कल्ट टीवी श्रृंखला के बी. बी. सी. पर प्रसारित होने के दस साल बाद, बफी द वैम्पायर स्लेयर की विरासत क्या है और इतनी कम "बफी की बेटियाँ" क्यों हैंः मजबूत और जटिल काल्पनिक रचनाएँ, जो मुख्य रूप से पुरुष कलाकारों में एकमात्र महिला प्रधान नहीं हैं।


Should you leave the room when you cough or sneeze?

Summary: US President Donald Trump set off conversations on cough etiquette after it emerged he asked an aide to leave the Oval Office for coughing during an interview. Plenty of people shared his irritation - so what is the right thing to do?

"If you're going to cough, please leave the room," said Mr Trump after Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff, cleared his throat. "You just can't cough... he's coughing in the middle of my answer. I don't like that." The online response to the #MulvaneyCough has been mixed, with some joking that it's the first time the divisive president has been relatable, while others say it shows what an insensitive boss he must be. Though Mr Trump's ire seemed mostly due to the interruption, his distaste for coughing isn't surprising - the president is a self-professed germaphobe. A 2005 book, The World According to Trump, quoted him as saying: "I mean, they have medical reports all the time. Shaking hands, you catch colds, you catch the flu, you catch this. You catch all sorts of things. Who knows what you don't catch?" But Mr Trump is not the only famous face with a distaste for coughing and sneezing - Vince McMahon, an American pro-wrestling executive, reportedly has a no-sneezing rule around him. And Obama-era Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also once scolded a journalist during a press briefing for not sneezing into his elbow, half-jokingly calling for hand sanitiser and a lesson on how to sneeze properly. So what is the best way to sneeze or cough in a public place? The etiquette of being ill... Crystal L Bailey, director of the Etiquette Institute of Washington, says: "The idea is to avoid people as much as possible when you do need to sneeze or cough. "There was a time when we would have used handkerchiefs, but if there's a tissue available or if you're able to sneeze into your elbow... make sure that happens. That you move yourself and your mouth and face in the opposite direction of anyone else." If that isn't possible - say, on a crowded train - Ms Bailey advises trying to get to an elbow, not a hand, so you avoid spreading germs on handrails or other surfaces people might touch. But if you do end up sneezing or coughing close to someone else, apologise with an "excuse me". And if you feel a coughing fit coming on in a cinema or theatre, leaving the room is probably best. Ms Bailey also noted that if you are sick, avoiding handshakes can be a respectable course of action. "You need to say something and not just decline someone's handshake without giving them an explanation because that's a big faux-pas," she notes. "But I think we would all appreciate not having to shake hands with someone who is sick." And if someone is not adhering to these rules of engagement, Ms Bailey recommends the gum approach. "Maybe to offer a tissue, or signalling by yourself using hand sanitiser - it's like [if someone has bad breath] taking a piece of gum yourself and then offering it and hopefully it won't come across too badly." "Other than that," she notes, "the only behaviour we can truly control is ourselves." ...and the medical reasons to follow it The best way to limit transmission is to contain it in something that can be thrown away, says Dr Tenagne Haile-Mariam, assistant professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University. "The best would be a tissue, and whatever you sneeze or cough is contained in that, then crumpled up with the contaminated side in." Direct contact with a sick person's bodily fluids - droplets or otherwise - is the most common way to catch a cold, but asking someone to leave a room to cough is not "the be all end all" to avoiding contracting their illness, says Dr Haile-Mariam, because "coughing is not the only way to transmit". If they come back into your area and they touch their nose and face, you are no longer protected. Small particulates, like viruses, can travel a maximum of six feet (1.8m) with a sneeze or cough, while larger droplets generally cannot go more than three feet, she says. But if someone coughs into their hand or an empty space, that matter can land on objects that others might touch. Most infectious particles do not survive outside the body for very long, but some can, like chicken pox or tuberculosis. What about other countries? But in order to fall sick, there must be a "critical amount" of bacterial or viral particles, she says. "We live in a world full of contaminants [but] your body's pretty good at getting rid of things unless it's overwhelmed." Dr Haile-Mariam's best advice? Wash your hands - even if you aren't sick. "Because you will touch a surface that someone has coughed or sneezed on or has put something they've coughed or sneezed into on," she says. "When we're sick we're diligent as good citizens about not wanting to infect other people and we wash our hands and throw our tissues and so on. But if we're not sick we need to be just as diligent about washing our hands."

अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प ने खाँसी के शिष्टाचार पर बातचीत शुरू कर दी जब यह सामने आया कि उन्होंने एक साक्षात्कार के दौरान एक सहायक को खांसने के लिए ओवल कार्यालय छोड़ने के लिए कहा। बहुत से लोगों ने उनकी जलन साझा की-तो क्या करना सही है?


Why mature dating apps are coming of age

Summary: Is your new year's resolution to find true love? If so, you may well be considering a dating app for your phone. Thanks to trailblazers like Tinder, online dating has gone mainstream. And mature daters want in on the action too.

By Dougal ShawBusiness reporter, BBC News Lorna is 62 and lives in Edinburgh where she works as a PA. She is a divorcee with children and grandchildren and is still looking for love. "You come home from work, you want to be talking to someone about your day, it's good for your mental health," she explains. "It's the reason why I'm still dating at my age." But it becomes harder to meet potential partners as you get older, she says. "For women of my generation you can't just walk into a pub by yourself, because that sends a certain message." She became an early adopter of dating apps like Tinder, drawn to the way you can build up a rapport privately through messaging, before committing to meet in person. It was exciting rather than frightening, publishing her profile for the first time, she remembers. She has met some lovely people, but the experience also left her feeling uncomfortable. "I was often approached by people much younger than me, people that are the age of my children. I found that creepy and unsettling. I didn't even like the thought that they've looked at my profile." So the idea of a dating app that was age-restricted appealed to her. She tried signing up to one called Lumen, which is for over-50s. It's just one player in a growing market for mature daters. Online dating is a billion dollar global industry that has enjoyed huge growth in recent years thanks to mobile phones. The industry is expected to grow by as much as 30% over the next two to three years, according to research group eMarketer. Tinder brought online dating into the mainstream after it launched in 2012, helping to remove any stigma around it. In the USA the number of people using dating apps shot up from 15 to 25 million between 2015 and 2018. Matchmaking companies used to cater primarily for people in their late 20s to early 40s, who were looking to get married or meet a long-term partner. The big growth now is at either end of the spectrum: the 18-24 market and those over 50. In the 2013-15 period, when Tinder was taking off, online dating tripled for that younger demographic; and in the same period it doubled for those aged 55-64, according to the Pew research centre. Lumen stands out because, like Tinder it only exists as an app. It is designed first and foremost for the mobile phone. "If you look on social media sites like Facebook, the audience is getting older, so it's a natural extension that they would meet people online for dating," says Charly Lester, founder of Lumen. She founded it in London in 2018, believing she had spotted a gap in the market. She knew lots of people in their 50s and 60s who were just as phone-fixated as the younger generation. Her app has attracted more than 1.5 million users in less than a year. It's free to join, but the company makes money by charging users for "premium" features. These include the ability to search potential partners with "advanced filters" like "height, children, smoking, politics and star sign" and the chance to see who has saved you as a "favourite". More established companies also cater for mature daters, like OurTime and Silver Singles. They began as website platforms but have now developed apps. OurTime says it has seen a 146% increase in active users in the past two years, with 63% of joiners registering by mobile. Some dating apps wouldn't let you sign up if you were older than 50, so people lied about their age, says Ms Lester. "Another reason we started the app is that a lot of women were complaining that men their own age didn't want to date them any more, they wanted to date significantly younger." You do find men in their eighties chasing the "youngsters" in their 50s, she says, but you can use age-range filters to set who can see your profile. So do mature daters behave differently to younger ones? There is a divergence in what men and women want in later life, says Nicola Fox Hamilton, who lectures in cyber-psychology at Dublin's Institute of Art, Design and Technology. Women are looking for companionship but without a caring role, because often they are just escaping from that and value freedom, she says. Men are more focused on committed relationships at this age, she thinks. And they are often struggling with more narrow social networks in real life, so online dating is a lifeline for them. It's also a myth that people are not interested in sex at this age, she says, with women placing only a slightly lesser value on it than men. Scams However, this age group is more prone to "catfishing" and romance scamming, she warns. Catfishing involves people creating fake profiles to lure people into a relationship. When this is a scam, the goal is to extract money from the unsuspecting person. People have lost anything from £50-£800,000, with many losing more than £5,000, says Ms Fox Hamilton. A typical scam account might involve an attractive man serving in the military - or any kind of scenario that explains why they struggle to meet in person. Many victims don't believe it has happened until the police tell them, she says, and even then they struggle to take it in. Many who do realise it has happened don't report it out of shame. Lumen acknowledges that scamming is an issue in this market. It combats it with artificial intelligence software, and a "selfie" registration system which makes users take a photograph of themselves when they register, and compares it to the profile photos they then upload to ensure they are genuine. A team of just 15 look after a site where 1.5 million are looking for love, and human intervention is sometimes required to spot people joining in bad faith. Back in Edinburgh, Lorna says she is always careful to follow the sensible safety precautions recommended by dating sites - she thinks would-be mature daters shouldn't be deterred. Many of her friends have found successful relationships through online dating, including marriage. She hopes she will be next and in the meantime she enjoys the excitement, she says. "Each time someone sends a message, my heart lurches," she confesses. "It's like when you see someone across the dance floor." You can follow Dougal on Twitter: @dougalshawbbc

क्या आपके नए साल का संकल्प सच्चा प्यार पाने का है? अगर ऐसा है, तो हो सकता है कि आप अपने फोन के लिए एक डेटिंग ऐप पर विचार कर रहे हों। टिंडर जैसे ट्रेलब्लेज़रों की बदौलत, ऑनलाइन डेटिंग मुख्यधारा में आ गई है। और परिपक्व डेटर्स भी इस कार्रवाई में शामिल होना चाहते हैं।


The downside of being a property guardian

Summary: A new sitcom centres on six young people living as property guardians in an abandoned hospital. The UK's housing crisis has driven people to unusual solutions and some think they're being exploited, writes Eleanor Ross.

The rocketing cost of rent in some parts of the UK is squeezing tenants so hard that property guardianship, or "legal squatting" as it has been dubbed, is the only way some can afford a roof over their heads. Guardians pay to take "licence" of a room or space within a vacant building for less money than a private rental agreement - earning the owner of the building cash and keeping genuine squatters away. The practice now forms the backdrop to a Channel 4 sitcom, Crashing. But low rents and a central location come with a catch. The vacant buildings aren't always primarily residential. Guardians live in buildings including disused police stations, garages, office blocks and pubs. Fiona, a 25-year-old guardian from London who does not want to give her real name, has lived in four different properties in two-and-a-half years. Most had problems, but a particularly bad experience was in a former police station in Marylebone that had been sold on. "Few people can say they've lived somewhere with a shooting range and a sports hall. Even so, the carpets were covered in raw sewage, there was poor lighting in the corridors, and flies in the showers. Perhaps it sounds minor, but these weren't cleaned for three months. The lighting was fixed a week before we moved out, and the flies? Well, we had to put up with those." Another property that Fiona lived in was a former maternity retreat in central London. She describes it as by far the worst experience as a guardian, and an "exploitative" setup. As so many guardians wanted to transfer to this property, prices increased to £865pcm from the advertised £450pcm over just two days. There was no hot water, stuffy airless rooms with windows that didn't open, broken showers, and a faulty ventilation system. As property guardian Matthew (again not his real name) discovered, buildings are required - according to some councils' guidelines - to provide running hot water alongside a toilet. "This was something I approached my company about but they showed no interest. Sooner or later I expect that somebody will realise how legally dubious this whole enterprise is and the companies will either have to become more accountable or the whole thing will come to a halt." Another property Matthew was staying in had been squatted immediately before he turned up. "Nothing had been done to spruce the place up. The room I moved into was strewn with clothes and heroin paraphernalia and I had to clean it up alone." Ed Moyse, 26, lived as a guardian in London while he set up his business. For just £300 per month he lived in an old pub that had previously been a restaurant in central London. He had to put up with invasions of exceedingly large rats. "At the worst point, we'd come home after a night out, burst into the kitchen, and discover 10-15 rats scurrying away in different directions. I thought they were like big mice, but they're more like small dogs. We'd come down to the kitchen in the morning to discover clocks knocked from the walls and bottles smashed on the floor." Property guardians don't have a lot of rights. Dr Sarah Keenan, from Birkbeck University's department of law, explains they are only licensees, not tenants. "Whereas a tenant has the right to exclude 'all the world' including the landlord, licensees have the lesser right of 'occupation', and are generally expected to allow the landlord access as and when he seeks it." Keenan is also critical of the role property guardian companies are playing in the housing crisis. "Guardianship properties are highly exploitative of the housing crisis. The situation guardianship companies are setting up is one that profits from buildings being left undeveloped and all but uninhabitable for long periods, and from the increasingly desperate situation of people who are unable to afford market rent. "It makes the crisis worse by normalising a situation in which landowners view their land as a purely financial asset rather than a limited and vital human resource, where non-owners live in squalid and potentially unsafe temporary accommodation." It is argued that renting out non-residential buildings to guardians is legal, at least once planning permission for change of use has been granted. Because property guardians are on licence agreements and not tenancies, their primary role is to secure the building on a temporary basis. Katharine Hibbert, founder and director of Dotdotdot Property, a small guardianship company, agrees that more needs to be done about the housing crisis. "What we really need is to build more good homes. Property guardianship can never be the whole solution - it's not right for everyone. But getting Britain's empty properties into use can definitely do a lot to ease the current housing shortage, and we're glad to help our guardians find good homes they can afford in the most expensive parts of the country." She emphasises that all the empty properties administered by Dotdotdot meet the same health, safety and fire standards as required for normal rental properties. Another company, Guardians of London, says it installs temporary fixes to make its properties habitable for residents. "For a small start-up fee, we'll install 'wheel in, wheel out' shower pods so we can provide temporary washing facilities," explains Gavin Handman, head of operations. "The guardians provide their own kitchen facilities, including microwaves and portable kitchen hobs that are no greater than 13 amps for fire safety reasons. "If it's a large building, we place guardians strategically throughout the building. If it's a big former office building, for example, we can put as many as 30 guardians in there if necessary, but we don't overfill our properties like some other guardian companies, so wear and tear is kept to a minimum." However, Richard Harding, director of communications, policy, and campaigns at Shelter, thinks it's no wonder many are trying to find alternative solutions. "That people are resorting to the unstable, unsuitable and often unsafe option of property guardianship is yet another symptom of our chronic affordability crisis." Guardians are aware of their lack of rights. Matthew describes the deal between company and guardian as "Faustian". He explains how guardians almost have to agree to having no rights. "Agreeing to live in one of these properties is not a rational decision but it is one made often by financial compulsion and not as the companies would like to have you believe, as an exhilarating bourgeois lifestyle choice." There are certainly positive factors. Cheap rent and a central location are clearly the main draws, but guardians also cherish the community spirit that comes with living in a shared building. Although guardians can, in some properties, be given just 24 hours to vacate, Moyse thinks that the flexibility can be seen as a bonus of sorts: "One of the great things about being a property guardian - it's typically difficult to find rent in London for anything less than a year, but we could leave at a month's notice if we wanted." Richard Blake, from Bristol, is mostly content with being a property guardian. "I'm not forced to see most of my wages go straight to rent and bills. I wouldn't be here after 18 months if the positives didn't outweigh the negatives and I don't think there is any other way that my girlfriend and I could get on the housing ladder while living in Bristol." Fiona sees property guardianship as a lifestyle choice. "You have to be prepared to walk in and clean before you unpack, and a little DIY knowledge goes a long way. It's all about the community you create - when I lived in Hertford we played ball games in the garden, and when I lived in Chelsea we'd eat and drink together. With the bad comes the good." Moyse agrees. Despite the rats, he found the people he moved in with were "great company". "It was one of the most interesting things I've ever done." More from the Magazine Why are so many British homes empty? (December 2015) Peep show and the stigma of flat-sharing in your 40s (November 2015) The last woman left on a derelict street (November 2015) The lowest rung of the housing ladder? (October 2015) Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

एक नया सिटकॉम एक परित्यक्त अस्पताल में संपत्ति संरक्षक के रूप में रहने वाले छह युवाओं पर केंद्रित है। ब्रिटेन के आवास संकट ने लोगों को असामान्य समाधानों की ओर धकेल दिया है और कुछ को लगता है कि उनका शोषण किया जा रहा है, एलेनोर रॉस लिखते हैं।


Profile: Abu Qatada

Summary: Radical cleric Abu Qatada, who gave up his battle against deportation from the UK, has been described as a "truly dangerous individual" and a "key UK figure" in al-Qaeda-related terror activity.

By Dominic CascianiHome affairs correspondent The Palestinian-Jordanian, whose real name is Omar Othman, fought for eight years against deportation to Jordan. He was finally flown out of the UK in July 2013, Less than a year later he was acquitted in Amman's State Security Court of conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts in 1998. His removal from the UK came after years of legal battles all the way to the European Court of Human Rights and back again. His initial defeat at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) in February 2007 had represented a major victory for the government's strategy of finding ways to deport terrorism suspects who it said could not be tried in the UK. Abu Qatada then appealed to the higher courts saying that evidence extracted through torture would be used against him in Jordan, where he faced a retrial in relation to alleged plots. That legal battle continued until May 2013, when the cleric accepted that his right to a fair trial in Jordan had been protected by a new treaty between the two countries. He agreed to drop his legal challenge, paving the way for his deportation. The scholar, who is in his fifties, arrived in the UK in September 1993 and claimed asylum on the basis that he had been tortured in Jordan. He had been living in Pakistan near the Afghan border shortly before his arrival in the UK. In 1994 he was recognised as a refugee and allowed to remain. Islamist scene He was among a large group of Islamists who sought refuge in the UK during the late 1980s and the 1990s as they fled from despotic Arab regimes that they had been seeking to overthrow. Abu Qatada became an important player in the London Islamist scene, later dubbed "Londonistan" by its opponents, because of his credentials as a scholar. He had developed militant views that put him firmly in the fold of hardline thinkers who provided the intellectual arguments for religiously-justified violence. Although his political relationship with al-Qaeda was never straight forward, his worldview became virtually indistinguishable. During his early years in London, Abu Qatada preached at the Fourth Feathers community centre near Regent's Park and held meetings in his own home, both of which became a hub for exiled Islamists. Abu Qatada advocated imposing Islamic government on Muslim lands. He said that Islamic law justified taking up arms against despots and foreign invaders because they were the enemies of Muslims. As the UK's security agencies tried to make sense of the Islamist scene, MI5 approached Abu Qatada on more than one occasion to ask for his help in minimising the threat to the UK. Security chiefs knew that his influence was broad, particularly among Algerian and Egyptian armed Islamists. His theorising went to incredible lengths in all areas of life. He once debated whether it was Islamically permissible to obey traffic lights in the West. It was one religious opinion during 1995 which led to devastating consequences. Abu Qatada concluded that it was Islamically lawful to kill the wives and children of "apostates", those who have rejected Islam, to stop oppression in Algeria. The practical effect was that armed Islamists in the country used his ruling to justify their attacks against civilians on the basis that anyone who was not with them was against them. 'Views hardened' The authorities realised his views were hardening against the West, particularly after a sermon targeting Jews. And by 2001, the cleric issued rulings justifying suicide attacks, as seen in a BBC Panorama interview the same year. A Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzon, described Abu Qatada as the "spiritual head of the mujahideen in Britain", so the question for the UK authorities was whether he now supported "martyrdom operations" against Western targets. The Security Service and police concluded that Abu Qatada was a threat. In a court statement they said he was providing advice that gave religious legitimacy to those "who wish to further the aims of extreme Islamism and to engage in terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings". The authorities said that a number of people arrested in connection with terrorism had described Abu Qatada's influence. Richard Reid, the would-be mid-Atlantic shoe bomber, and Zacarias Moussaoui, both jailed for involvement in terrorism, are said to have sought religious advice from him. The cleric's sermons were found in a flat in the German city of Hamburg used by some of those involved in 9/11. When Abu Qatada was questioned in 2001 over his alleged connections to a German cell, police found £170,000 cash in his home, including £805 in an envelope labelled "For the mujahideen in Chechnya". No charges were brought. But on the eve of a new law enabling the authorities to hold foreign terrorism suspects without charge or trial, he disappeared. He was later tracked down to a council house in south London and taken to Belmarsh Prison. The Law Lords eventually ruled such detention illegal and Abu Qatada was among those subjected to a control order, a form of house arrest. In 2005, he was rearrested and told he would be deported to Jordan, where he had been convicted in his absence of alleged involvement in a plot to target Americans and Israeli tourists during the country's millennium celebrations. Attitudes today What is not publicly clear is exactly where he now stands. Some influential Islamists have in recent years rejected al-Qaeda, in particular Libya's largest jihadist group. In December 2005, Abu Qatada made a video appeal to the kidnappers of British peace activist Norman Kember in Iraq. That recording, made inside Full Sutton prison, near York, where he was awaiting deportation proceedings, was broadcast in the Middle East. The question was whether this appeal was genuine, or simply tactical. In 2008 he was briefly allowed out of prison on bail, while continuing his deportation legal battle. Mohamed Ali, who runs the Islam Channel on satellite television, has known the cleric for years and held talks with him during that period out of jail. He told the BBC: "Abu Qatada has no links with terrorism [or] al-Qaeda and he never ever agreed or endorsed what was done in 9/11 in America or 7/7 in the UK. "He said that if he had known that something was going to happen, he would lock them up. He thinks that jihad is limited to either defending Muslim lands when invaders come to Muslim lands or if force is being used to overthrow dictatorship regimes. "He believes that the covenant between any Muslim coming to this country and the government stands - and it should be honoured by both parties." But Bob Quick, former head of counter-terrorism at Scotland Yard, does not buy this argument. He said: "I would describe Abu Qatada as very dangerous, a man with significant influence, significantly well networked in Europe and the Middle East with very extreme views, and prepared to promulgate those views and influence the views of others and their conduct. "He was very well networked, very well connected, with al-Qaeda. He was an active supporter of terrorism and extreme Islamist objectives through terrorism. "It might be dangerous at this stage to suggest his influence has waned. "It may have waned because he's been in custody, mostly, for the last few years but to suggest that he couldn't operate and pick up contacts and reposition himself in the future is probably a bold assumption." Such views were the reason that successive governments pursued Abu Qatada's deportation so doggedly - and he will never be allowed to set foot in Britain again.

कट्टरपंथी मौलवी अबू कतादा, जिन्होंने यूके से निर्वासन के खिलाफ अपनी लड़ाई छोड़ दी थी, को अल-कायदा से संबंधित आतंकवादी गतिविधि में "वास्तव में खतरनाक व्यक्ति" और "प्रमुख यूके व्यक्ति" के रूप में वर्णित किया गया है।


Fight breaks out in Nottingham's Victoria Centre

Summary: A fight involving teenagers - one maybe armed with a knife - broke out in a busy shopping centre on Saturday afternoon.

Eyewitnesses who saw the fight on the upper floor of Nottingham's Victoria Centre at 15:00 GMT said at least one person had a knife. Police said there were no reports of injuries and no-one had been arrested. They said the centre was busy at the time and appealed for more witnesses to come forward. Insp Paul Hennessy said: "Reports of this nature are concerning and we treat them extremely seriously. "The public will note a regular presence of officers in and around the city, especially during the festive period, when we see more people enjoying the city's attractions." Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.

शनिवार दोपहर एक व्यस्त खरीदारी केंद्र में किशोरों के बीच लड़ाई-एक शायद चाकू से लैस-शुरू हो गई।


The secret shame of having no sperm

Summary: There is an urgent need to tackle a decline in male fertility and address the "absurd" reliance on giving female partners expensive and invasive IVF treatments to try to overcome the man's lack of quality sperm, a leading fertility expert has said. For men, being told you are infertile can be a crushing and lonely experience.

By Adam EleyBBC Victoria Derbyshire programme Male infertility is now the most common reason for couples in the UK to seek IVF - but when Craig Franklin was told bluntly that he had no sperm, he felt alone and emasculated. "The GP essentially said, 'You're producing no sperm, you won't be able to have children. Out the door, away you go,'" the 39-year-old explains. "There was no support whatsoever." The effects hit him hard and almost led to him breaking up with his partner Katie. "I was very angry for a long time. I went mad with money," he tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. "My performance at work deteriorated quite significantly to the point that I lost my job late last year." "It broke my heart. I saw a man break, basically," says Katie. "He didn't feel like a man, and that's so unfair." Leading fertility expert Prof Sheena Lewis - chairwoman of the British Andrology Society that aims to improve care in men's reproductive health - says the lack of focus on male infertility within the health system is an "urgent" problem. "Men are not being looked after properly, not diagnosed, and not cared for," she says. The quality of men's sperm in the Western world is in decline, but little is known about how to improve it - and there are few treatments available on the NHS. This has led to an "absurd" case, says Prof Lewis, where women routinely have to undergo IVF - even if there is nothing wrong with their own fertility. "The woman actually acts as the therapy for the man's problem [of poor sperm]," she says. "We are giving an invasive procedure to a person who doesn't need it, in order to treat another person. That doesn't happen in any other branch of medicine." Prof Lewis adds that it is also a "huge expense for the NHS", at a time when IVF is being rationed in many parts of the country. DNA damage One couple, who spoke to the Victoria Derbyshire programme anonymously, might never have had their son had they not explored other options privately. On the NHS, they were given a round of IVF - despite the female partner having good fertility - but it failed due to the man's poor sperm. "It was really unpleasant. Injecting yourself with needles that don't go in the first time is not a walk in the park," she explains. So instead, the man sought the help of a private clinic and had an operation - cheaper than a round of IVF - to treat varicocele, an abnormality in the scrotum that affects up to 40% of men with fertility problems. His wife conceived naturally. For Stephen Harbottle, a consultant clinical scientist who helped develop the fertility guidelines for health watchdog NICE, while varicocele treatment will not work for every man, the NHS must ensure other options are explored before IVF is offered to a couple. This includes simple solutions such as dietary supplements, or tests to check for sperm DNA damage. The reason this does not happen currently, he says, is that "doctors don't have any other options available other than to refer patients for IVF". "Men in some ways are just being farmed through the system," he adds. Some men with fertility problems also report feeling sidelined by GPs, who they say focus on the women. Mark Harper - from Ilkeston in Derbyshire - has two children through donor sperm. But when he was originally found to have no sperm, it was his wife whom the doctor called with the news rather than him. "If you're talking to a male about his infertility problems, you ought to be talking to the male about it," he says. "I'm here, I'm a person, I was the one sitting in front of you, and I'm the one you need to be talking to." The Royal College of GPs said in a statement that its members were "highly trained to have sensitive, non-judgemental conversations with all our patients... including why someone might have problems with their fertility and the best options for them going forward". Men's biological clock Prof Sheena Lewis says the lack of attention on male fertility also means men are not educated on their reproductive health, and may wrongly take it for granted. "Men do have a biological clock. As time goes on, because of their lifestyle, there are more and more opportunities for mutations to occur in their sperm. "Men who are over 45 when they have children are more likely to have children who will have childhood cancers, or may have psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder or autism," she says, adding that she believes this is also likely to be the case for younger men with poor sperm quality. Katie and Craig say doctors presumed the reason they were not able to conceive was because of Katie - and she was tested before Craig's fertility was ever considered. The couple are now looking for donor sperm privately, having been denied IVF on the NHS. The stigma surrounding male infertility means this is the first time Craig has ever spoken openly about the issue - until now, even his friends did not know. "It's not a manly thing to discuss," he says. "It's boxed up... and not spoken about." The couple say it took them a year-and-a-half to come to terms with not being able to have children without donor sperm - made worse by the fact emotional support was never offered to them. But now they are coming through it. "We're stronger than ever," Katie says. "But other couples might not be as strong as us. They might not be able to work through that and I can see why - it's so hard for the man to be able to come to terms with not being able to give his wife a child." Watch the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 BST on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel in the UK and on iPlayer afterwards.

एक प्रमुख प्रजनन विशेषज्ञ ने कहा है कि पुरुष प्रजनन क्षमता में गिरावट से निपटने और महिला भागीदारों को पुरुष के गुणवत्तापूर्ण शुक्राणु की कमी को दूर करने के लिए महंगे और आक्रामक आईवीएफ उपचार देने पर "बेतुके" निर्भरता को दूर करने की तत्काल आवश्यकता है। पुरुषों के लिए, आपको बांझ बताया जाना एक क्रूर और अकेला अनुभव हो सकता है।


Cardiff electronics' centre is UK first

Summary: A Welsh company has joined forces with Cardiff University to set up the UK's first centre of excellence for compound semiconductors.

IQE will develop new technology for smart phones, tablets, healthcare and biotechnology. The partnership has the potential to create thousands of jobs in Wales, the company said. Vice-chancellor Prof Colin Riordan said the centre would put the university "ahead of our competitors". The UK government announced in March it was backing a new semiconductor research foundation at the university with a £17m investment, on top of £12m from the Welsh government. Last autumn, the university also announced it was ploughing £300m into new research and innovation facilities in the city.

एक वेल्श कंपनी ने यौगिक अर्धचालकों के लिए ब्रिटेन का पहला उत्कृष्टता केंद्र स्थापित करने के लिए कार्डिफ विश्वविद्यालय के साथ सेना में शामिल हो गई है।


Greenpeace protest on factory trawler fishing off Orkney

Summary: Greenpeace activists have boarded a fishing boat in the North Sea and prevented it from operating in what they said were protected waters.

The environmental group said the Helen Mary was fishing in the Central Fladen marine protected area east of Orkney. Activists boarded the German-registered factory trawler, which can process its catch onboard, from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza. They then hung a banner reading: "Ban supertrawlers now." Greenpeace said it used radio transmissions to ask the skipper to stop fishing and boarded after their pleas were ignored. Last year, the same vessel was detained at sea by Marine Scotland on suspected fishery offences.

ग्रीनपीस के कार्यकर्ता उत्तरी सागर में एक मछली पकड़ने वाली नाव में सवार हुए हैं और उन्होंने इसे संरक्षित जल में काम करने से रोक दिया है।


Ryanair cancels 600 flights over cabin crew strike

Summary: Irish airline Ryanair has cancelled up to 600 flights over two days next week due to a strike by cabin crew in Belgium, Portugal and Spain.

It will affect almost 50,000 passengers who had booked to fly to or from those three countries on Wednesday 25 July and Thursday 26 July. Ryanair apologised for the disruption. It has already contacted the affected passengers and said if customers have not received an email or SMS text, they should expect to travel as scheduled. The European cabin crew strike follows on from separate industrial action by Ryanair's Irish-based pilots. On Wednesday, the airline confirmed it had to cancel 24 flights between Ireland and the UK scheduled for Friday 20 July due to the pilots' strike.

आयरिश एयरलाइन रयानएयर ने बेल्जियम, पुर्तगाल और स्पेन में केबिन क्रू की हड़ताल के कारण अगले सप्ताह दो दिनों में 600 उड़ानें रद्द कर दी हैं।


Stoke-on-Trent death: Two arrests after body found

Summary: Two women have been arrested after a body was found.

The 30-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene and her death is being treated as suspicious. Staffordshire Police said they were called by West Midlands Ambulance Service to Watkin Street in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent on Thursday morning. The two 30-year-old women, from Stoke-on-Trent, held in connection with the incident, have been released under investigation. The force said one woman was being held on suspicion of administering a noxious substance and the other on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of drugs. A post-mortem is due to take place and the investigation is continuing, it added. Police said the deceased's next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specially trained officers, with formal identification set to take place next week Officers remain at the address, with door to door inquiries ongoing, the force said. Det Insp Adrian Webb, from Staffordshire Police, urged anyone with information to come forward. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

एक शव मिलने के बाद दो महिलाओं को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Lauren Griffiths death: Wrexham man charged with murder

Summary: A man has been charged with murdering a woman whose body was found at her flat six months ago.

The body of 21-year-old Lauren Griffiths was discovered at the property in Glynrhondda Street in Cathays, Cardiff, on 30 April. Madog Llewellyn Rowlands, 22, from Wrexham, has been charged with her murder and will appear at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on Thursday. Ms Griffiths was described as a "ray of sunshine" by her family

एक व्यक्ति पर एक महिला की हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है जिसका शव छह महीने पहले उसके फ्लैट में मिला था।