China: What happened to Mao's revolution?

Summary: No-one in China is lower in the pecking order than farmers and villagers. When they migrate to cities to work in factories, they often live in squalor. So what happened to Mao Zedong's communist revolution which was supposed to improve the lot of the rural poor?

By Mary Kay MagistadPRI's The World, Jiangxi province, China The rolling hills and rivers of Jiangxi province's Xunwu county in south-west China are picturesque, but this has long been one of the poorest places in the country. That's why Mao Zedong came here for a month in 1930 - almost two decades before taking power. He visited the county seat, Changning, which was then a dusty little village of about 1,500 people, to see how the class system worked here. The house where Mao stayed is now a museum. Visitors can gaze at the iron-frame bed where Mao slept, the desk where he worked, and the long table where he sat and talked with locals. Mao met farmers, merchants, local officials, an imperial scholar, even disaffected youth. He noted, in colourful detail, who felt oppressed by whom, how the classes interacted, and how control of property was key to wealth and power. Assisting Mao was a 24-year-old local named Gu Bo, the grandson of landowners. His family was renowned for sending many scholars over the centuries to serve the emperor. But Gu Bo wanted change. "He thought the old system was unfair," says his grand-nephew, Gu Anjian, who lives in a village near Changning. "So once he joined the Communist revolution, he burned down his grandfather's house." Gu Anjian chuckles affectionately. He's now a wizened 74-year-old, retired after serving 40 years as chief of his village. He sits at a round table in his kitchen with his brother, son and nephew, while the women in the family prepare lunch. ( See a slideshow comparing scenes from Xunwu county with modern Beijing ). He says Gu Bo and his brothers were all committed to revolutionary change in China. Four brothers went on the Long March with Mao. Three died. Gu Bo was killed in 1935 in an ambush, just a few years after working with Mao, believing that Communism was the best way forward to modernise China. China's Communist Party came to power promising to end the country's traditional class structure. As it turned out, it turned the class structure on its head. Scholars, landowners and merchants, the former privileged classes, were stripped of their rights, and sometimes of their lives. Villagers and workers were, for a time, elevated, in status and opportunity. More than 60 years on, farmers and workers are again at the bottom of the heap, and while there's a growing middle class, China has one of the world's biggest and fastest-growing rates of income disparity. The fortunes of the Gu family illustrate what's changed in China's class structure since Mao Zedong came here more than 80 years ago. The family used to have more than its share of imperial scholars. Today, none of the Gu men at the kitchen table stayed in school beyond the age of 15. Mao tried to abolish capitalism, but Gu Anjian's younger brother, Gu Anjia, is a keen capitalist: he traded steel abroad. I ask him what he thinks Gu Bo would have thought of him forging a career in capitalism. "How would I know what he'd think?," he says, a little defensively. "Anyway, it was a state-run trading company I worked for - at least at first." But in China, being connected to the state, or the Communist Party, doesn't mean you're not capitalist. More than 90% of China's richest people are Party members, according to the Hurun Report, which tracks the country's wealthy . China's national anthem may exhort the downtrodden, "arise, those who refuse to be slaves," but these days, those who want to get rich join the Party, and the Party wants the rich to join it. That way, wealth stays concentrated in the hands of its members, who have little incentive to change the system. The richest 75 members of China's legislature, the National People's Congress, have an average net worth of $1.2bn. The Gu family is not in those ranks. It may have sacrificed its sons for the Revolution, but the family now lives a simple village life. Gu Anjian's 36-year-old son, Gu Zisong, scoffs when I ask if the family is proud that their relative worked with Mao to try to make China more egalitarian. "Pride? What pride? If there were any glory in it, we wouldn't live here," he says. Gu Zisong makes his living growing oranges - a line of work that has helped pull many farmers in this area out of poverty, since it caught on seven or eight years ago. You can see their profits in the new concrete and brick houses rising up in the village. Gu Zisong admits life here is better than when he was a child. Back then, he says, the village consisted of mudbrick houses with no electricity or indoor plumbing, and dirt roads that turned to muck in the rain. Now, the roads are good, and most homes have refrigerators, TVs, even the occasional computer - which allows them to see that their lives might have got better - but the elite in China are doing far better still. Another member of the family, Gu Yuesheng, 34, runs a kindergarten down the street. He started out as a migrant worker, in a sweater factory in the city of Dongguan, 250 miles away. "I didn't really like the city," he says. "People looked down on migrant workers." He says workers were so underpaid and overworked that strikes and protests were common, even though independent trade unions in China are illegal. "My own boss was ok," Gu says. "But even in my factory, if you were a migrant worker, you could only move up so far. The good jobs went to local people." So, when Gu Yuesheng had made a bit of money, he came back here, and started his own sweater factory. At its peak, he says, it employed more than 120 fellow villagers, and produced four million sweaters a year. The factory had to close last year, when too many foreign customers went too long without paying. "It felt like falling off a cliff," he says, shaking his head ruefully. Still, Gu Yuesheng is proud of having helped his fellow villagers get a leg up, without having to go through the hardship and humiliation he experienced as a migrant worker. His efforts have also pushed him nicely into China's middle class. It's a mobility villagers here didn't have at the time Mao visited. But with wages and expectations rising, Gu Yuesheng doubts the next generation will find it as easy as it was for him, if they're not educated. That's what the kindergarten is about, he says - to help children from this village get a head start. Listen to more on this story atPRI's The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, Public Radio International, and WGBH in Boston. This story is one of a series called'Beyond Class: Societies in Flux' about changing class structures around the world.

चीन में किसानों और ग्रामीणों की तुलना में कोई भी निम्न स्तर का नहीं है। जब वे कारखानों में काम करने के लिए शहरों में जाते हैं, तो वे अक्सर बदहाली में रहते हैं। तो माओत्से तुंग की साम्यवादी क्रांति का क्या हुआ, जिससे ग्रामीण गरीबों की स्थिति में सुधार होने की उम्मीद थी?


Coniston Power Boat Records Week draws daredevils

Summary: Coniston Water is regarded by many as the "spiritual home" of record breaking - a five-mile lake where Donald Campbell strove to break the world water speed record and died trying. This week Campbell's successors are aiming to put themselves in the record books - but what drives these daredevils to risk their lives?

By Simon ArmstrongBBC News From all walks of life they come. Inspired by the feats of Campbell and his father, Sir Malcolm, they are taking to the water for Coniston Power Boat Records Week. For almost 100 years, Cumbria's lakes have played host to the seemingly fearless souls attempting to write their names into the record books. On Ullswater, Windermere and Coniston Water they have tried, spurred on by the likes of the Campbells and Sir Henry Segrave. The contest has run since 1970 and was moved to Coniston in 2005 when a speed limit introduced on Windermere forced them to look elsewhere. Adrenalin rush From small hydroplanes to circuit racers and offshore boats, dozens of determined entrants take on the clock over a kilometre (two-thirds of a mile) stretch of the famous lake. While junior categories will see speeds of up to 50mph (80km/h) reached, those at the top end have clocked in at almost 180mph (290km/h) in previous years. For most, the adrenalin thrills of the event, running until Friday, provide a stark contrast to their usual surroundings. "You want to be the fastest, it's that simple," says Jim Noone, matter-of-factly. The 55-year-old - the quickest man on Windermere after reaching 154.8mph (249.1km/h) in 2003 - may initially seem an unlikely world record holder. An analytical chemist based in Leeds, he spends most weeks testing the composition and quality of concrete. Formerly the owner of the business, he sold it five years ago and now acts as a consultant. "It's all done in holiday time," he says about his record-breaking attempts. "I leave on a Thursday evening and am back to work on the Tuesday." He said his work and play were "very different" although "they both require a very thorough approach - you can't leave anything to chance". Mr Noone, who lives just north of Barnsley, has a strong link with Records Week having attended the very first event 43 years ago, at the age of 12 with his father. Over his 25 years of competing, he has set several world bests and is now also a member of the organising committee. "Record-setting is much more intense than racing - you don't break records at half throttle," he says. "All your senses are heightened. It's like you're floating. You can't even see any spray." It's a similar story for 40-year-old Seattle roofer JW Myers. He has set 12 world records in 20 years, including a speed of 176.1mph (283.4kmh) at Coniston last year in the H1 Unlimited class - the fastest and most powerful category of race boats. "I've never taken drugs, but I imagine this has got to be way better," he says. 'Absolutely nerve-racking' Company director Neil Jackson - at the controls of a high-spec B23 "Batboat" costing around £20,000 - is another drawn to the extreme nature of the sport. The 50-year-old from Portsmouth, who has set a number of endurance records as well as the BCC Class 2 British best of 79.51mph (127.9km/h), spends his working week travelling up and down motorways visiting clients of the two firms he is involved with. "I grew up on the River Thames so I've always been interested in boats," he says. "I started 23 years ago and was involved in a safety capacity, but then I thought, 'I wouldn't mind a piece of that'. "Making a record-attempt is absolutely nerve-racking - you're on the rev limiter so quickly and you're putting your foot through the floor because you're wanting more speed. Eighty-something miles an hour on water is rapid." But it is not just adults who are taking to the water. Swapping the classroom this week for the majestic setting of Coniston is 13-year-old Ben Jelf. Following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and uncle, the pupil at Swadelands School in Maidstone, Kent, competes in the GT15 class - the entry level for nine to 16-year-olds. Classroom to Coniston He holds the world record for the category at 44.4mph (71.4kmh) and has triumphed in British and European racing championships. "As it's a specialist sports college, my teachers are very encouraging. The racing is always more exciting than school work though," he admits. But does he ever struggle to combine school work with his sporting activities? "I'm quite disciplined about getting my homework done," he says. "I always manage to fit it all in." The racers' passion comes at a price as equipment and running costs mount up. Mr Noone, though, said he was happy to make sacrifices. "I don't have holidays and I don't spend money on the house. Every penny goes on the boat, probably £5,000-8,000 a year." But while all are agreed the sport's high speeds and technical challenges are captivating, it is not without its risks - as Mr Noone knows all too well. His 17-year-old half-brother, BJ, was killed in 1997 when he was hit by another boat. And Mr Noone himself has suffered serious injury. He was left in hospital after a crash on Windermere in 1991 in which he injured his shoulders and back. "The nose lifted and the boat ended up 60ft clear in the air," he says. "I wasn't strapped in so was able to propel myself out. I knew I couldn't have it land on top of me." Undeterred, he made a return the following year when he had the satisfaction of topping 103mph in his one-litre inboard hydroplane - smashing the record he had been aiming for 12 months earlier. "I had unfinished business. I had to go back," he adds. "But it can go right or wrong in just 25 seconds and the slightest bump means you can go over. The end of the run is a mix of relief and elation." Related Internet Links Coniston Power Boat Records Week Jelf Racing Team Lake District National Park

कॉनिस्टन वाटर को कई लोगों द्वारा रिकॉर्ड तोड़ने का "आध्यात्मिक घर" माना जाता है-एक पाँच मील की झील जहाँ डोनाल्ड कैंपबेल ने विश्व जल गति रिकॉर्ड को तोड़ने का प्रयास किया और कोशिश करते हुए मर गए। इस सप्ताह कैंपबेल के उत्तराधिकारी खुद को रिकॉर्ड बुक में रखने का लक्ष्य बना रहे हैं-लेकिन इन साहसी लोगों को अपनी जान जोखिम में डालने के लिए क्या प्रेरित करता है?


Fukushima PM's anti-Wylfa campaign during Anglesey visit

Summary: The prime minister of Japan at the time of the Fukushima nuclear disaster is visiting Anglesey to campaign against the new Wylfa power plant.

Naoto Kan resigned after Fukushima was hit by a tsunami in 2011, causing radiation leaks. He has since become an anti-nuclear campaigner and will arrive in Wales next Wednesday to speak in the Senedd. He will then travel to Anglesey to urge residents to fight the planned £8bn Wylfa Newydd nuclear plant. An Anglesey council spokesman said that as well as hosting a public meeting on Thursday, Mr Kan will be addressing members of the authority. "During the meeting we will also be informing him about our energy island programme and its aims," the spokesman added. It is hoped the nuclear project will boost the island's economy.

फुकुशिमा परमाणु आपदा के समय जापान के प्रधान मंत्री नए वाइल्फा बिजली संयंत्र के खिलाफ अभियान चलाने के लिए एंग्लेसी का दौरा कर रहे हैं।


Maruti 800: India's iconic car bows out

Summary: The production of one of India's most iconic and best-selling cars, Maruti 800, has been stopped in favour of more modern vehicles. The Maruti 800 was more than a car - it symbolised dreams, aspirations and status for an entire generation of Indians. The BBC Monitoring's Vikas Pandey looks back at the history of this "little car".

Mohit Sharma goes down memory lane when I tell him that the Maruti 800's production has been stopped by its manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Limited. It was the Delhi-based property dealer's first car and it soon became an "important part" of his family. "It soothes the soul when I remember family holidays and picnics - the car was always there. I took pride in owning the car back in 1994 because not many people had it. It was my corner, my space in the world," he says. Mr Sharma bought other cars in the last decade, but could "never match the feeling of owning the Maruti 800". Cult status So how did this small car get a cult status in India? The answer lies in the early years of its production and sales. India was a closed economy in the early 1980s and buying a car was a distant dream even for relatively wealthy people. Two other cars - the Hindustan Motors' Ambassador and Premier Padmini - were available at the time but were bulky and expensive. The 800cc Maruti car, produced by the Indian government-backed Maruti Udyog Limited and Japanese firm Suzuki, entered the market in December 1983 and immediately caught the attention of the country. It was priced at 52,500 rupees ($843; £507). A generation of Indians, including legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, were in awe of India's "little car". The batsman, who owns a fleet of luxury cars today, dreamt of buying the Maruti 800 in his early years. In a TV interview last year, he said the Maruti was his first car and vividly remembered the thrill of buying and driving it in Mumbai. The car's popularity grew by leaps and bounds after India started opening its economy in 1991. As the middle class grew, so did their aspiration of buying a car. The Maruti 800 perfectly fit the bill - it was small, relatively cheap and sparked a feeling of pride. It revolutionised India's streets and happily co-existed among scooters, motorbikes and sometimes even horse carts. An editorial in the Deccan Herald perfectly explains why this car became a phenomenon and started the Maruti era. "When it was introduced in the country in 1983, and in the decades since then it brought down cars from the realm of luxury to within the reach of large numbers of people," it says. Goodwill The Asian Age remembers how this small car took on the might of established car companies in India. "The world's technology had first come in a tiny package to India, but it quickly sounded the death knell of the monopoly of locally produced cars based on ancient technologies sustained by the socialist ideologies of the time," it says. Maruti Suzuki India Limited, which is an independent firm now, still relies heavily on the goodwill it generated through the Maruti 800. The firm reinvented the car several times until 2010 to keep up with the fast-changing times in India. But it's the same pace of time that has finally sounded the death knell for the car. Today's Indian automobile market is a crowded place with many major international firms competing to woo buyers. The tiny car struggled to keep its market share and the firm finally decided to call curtains on this historic machine in January 2014. But will this be the end of the Maruti 800's history? Mr Sharma's answer is no. "The car will always keep its vintage value. Just keep it in good shape and you will be able to take it to any vintage car rally in the coming years," he says. BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.

भारत की सबसे प्रतिष्ठित और सबसे अधिक बिकने वाली कारों में से एक, मारुति 800 का उत्पादन अधिक आधुनिक वाहनों के पक्ष में रोक दिया गया है। मारुति 800 एक कार से कहीं अधिक थी-यह भारतीयों की एक पूरी पीढ़ी के सपनों, आकांक्षाओं और स्थिति का प्रतीक थी। बीबीसी मॉनिटरिंग के विकास पांडे इस "छोटी कार" के इतिहास पर नज़र डालते हैं।


How Amazon applied the Wall Street mindset to hi-tech

Summary: Amazon is so much part of its customers' lives that it may be about to receive the ultimate accolade - becoming a verb. "If I want to know something, I'll google it. If I want to buy something, I'll amazon it," one of the company's fans told the BBC.

By Charles MillerProducer On average, every person in Britain spends just over £70 a year on Amazon. That's an impressive result for a business started on a couple of computers exactly 20 years ago. Back in 1994, Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos threw in his promising Wall Street career to jump on the internet bandwagon, relocating from New York to Seattle to start his own dotcom. That he was also a computer science graduate makes Amazon the product of an unusual merging of two cultures: the hard-driving world of East Coast finance and the techie, laid-back ethos of Silicon Valley. 'Uncomfortable' mix Having Wall Street thinking at the very top of the company has given Amazon its edge in the ultra-competitive retail business. But that advantage is built on technology, where efficiencies in constructing its unique supply chain depend on incremental improvements in the algorithms that run the whole complex process. The West Coast geeks have not always appreciated Mr Bezos' East Coast mindset though. Shel Kaphan, Amazon's first employee, fresh from Silicon Valley, was key to building the company's early tech infrastructure. He fell out with Mr Bezos before leaving Amazon in 1999, and says the mix of Wall Street ways with what he calls the "hipster-saturated culture" of tech businesses was often "an uncomfortable combination". Mr Kaphan says that at previous start-ups he'd worked at "there was a lot more of a sort of convivial attitude… team spirit, rather than an intense, hierarchical, driven attitude about things". Another early staffer, Mike Daisey, found the punishing work schedule at Amazon hard to take: "The employees were willing to do absolutely anything to make things work." From management's perspective, "it's being able to inspire your employees not to have lives", he says. He points out wryly that the dotcom tradition of allowing pets in the office isn't so much a sign of a relaxed attitude to work as a recognition that it wouldn't be safe to leave them. "Those dogs would have died because their master would never have come home." Mr Daisey describes Amazon's annual company picnics as being the chance to be "let loose" with team games. Mr Bezos himself took part with gusto, which was "inspiring for people". It made them feel like they were "all part of one big dysfunctional family". Harnessing brainpower But the idea that the culture Mr Bezos has created is so demanding and abrasive that colleagues cannot stick it is not borne out by a look at his executive team, many of whom have worked with him for years And for all his Wall Street drive, there's more to Mr Bezos' mentality than a desire to crush the competition through hard work and discounting prices. There is also an intellectual ambition to get to the bottom of knotty problems by the application of brainpower. One of Mr Bezos' ideas is that when hiring new staff, "Amazonians" should always pick someone smarter than themselves. That way the overall level of intelligence at the company will keep on rising. (Apparently he has not found anyone smart enough to replace himself yet.) The focus on brainpower is seen daily in the way meetings are conducted. They typically consist of the reading and discussion of a six-page "narrative", which is the distillation of an issue and a proposed solution put forward by one of the participants. With narratives, arguments have to be made explicit in old-fashioned prose and figures, presented in detail so everyone can examine the case for themselves. So meetings often consist of people sitting and reading silently for 30 minutes, and making notes before cross-examining the author. Former manager Dave Cotter says: "It's a really intellectual exercise that, once you go through it a few times, you realise how powerful it is." Now that he has left Amazon, Mr Cotter says he has discovered "most of the world does not follow that kind of intellectual rigour". Mind-reading Mr Bezos' commitment to following arguments to their logical conclusion has taken the company in some unexpected directions. Its Kindle e-reader used its techie talent to develop a consumer product, which wasn't expected of Amazon, and its successful Amazon Web Services business rents out computing power to businesses large and small. And now Mr Bezos insists his long-term approach will one day turn the idea of delivering items by drone into a practical reality. If the drones idea seems far-fetched, many former Amazon staff have learnt not to underestimate Mr Bezos' ability to make technology do what the company wants. Talking to the BBC about Amazon in January, former editor James Marcus flippantly predicted: "I feel like we're six months away from them delivering [an item] before you order it, via some strange mind-reading machinery." He was wrong: it wasn't six months but exactly three days later that it was reported that Amazon had been awarded a patent for a system of "anticipatory shipping" that would start sending products to its customers before they had even placed an order. Watch Amazon's Retail Revolution, part of the Business Boomers series, on BBC Two on Monday, 21 April, at 21:00 BST or catch it later on the BBC iPlayer.

अमेज़ॅन अपने ग्राहकों के जीवन का इतना हिस्सा है कि यह अंतिम प्रशंसा प्राप्त करने वाला हो सकता है-एक क्रिया बनने वाला। "अगर मैं कुछ जानना चाहता हूं, तो मैं इसे गूगल करूंगा। अगर मैं कुछ खरीदना चाहता हूं, तो मैं इसे आश्चर्यचकित कर दूंगा", कंपनी के प्रशंसकों में से एक ने बीबीसी को बताया।


Shirebrook allotment murder: Victim named as Andrew Jackson

Summary: Police have identified a man found dead on an allotment.

Officers discovered the body of Andrew Jackson, 55, off Prospect Drive in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, at about 10:00 GMT on Sunday. Derbyshire Police said he had injuries which suggested he had been assaulted and the force had launched a murder inquiry. They want anyone who heard or saw anything between 22:30 on Saturday and 02:00 on Sunday to get in touch. Senior investigating officer, Det Insp Chris Marriott, is also keen to hear from anyone who lives in the area who may have CCTV or dashcam footage to contact officers. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.

पुलिस ने आवंटन पर मृत पाए गए एक व्यक्ति की पहचान की है।


UK Somalis 'racially profiled' over FGM

Summary: Parents are wrongly being arrested and having their children taken into care due to the stigma around female genital mutilation (FGM), members of the UK Somali community have told the Victoria Derbyshire programme. They say figures suggesting tens of thousands of girls are at risk in the UK are inaccurate.

By Rachel StonehouseVictoria Derbyshire programme "Social services with the police came to the house, removed our children and arrested my wife. We didn't know what the allegations were - nobody said anything, nobody asked us anything, it was just really a shock," said Yusef - not his real name. The father-of-five said he and his wife had a "good" meeting with their children's school to tell them the family was relocating to Somaliland for a while. But four days later the couple were arrested and their children taken separately into foster care, following a safeguarding referral by the school. They say they were wrongly accused of planning to take their children abroad for FGM. "Children must be safeguarded - but not if the danger is just assumed," said Yusef. "They are supposed to verify or investigate it properly, don't just presume something is going to happen based on someone's background or ethnicity." But police and health workers said safeguarding policies were there for a reason - and protecting children had to be a priority. 'Huge epidemic' FGM - intentionally cutting or injuring the female external genitalia for non-medical reasons - is understood to be practised in some African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries. It is illegal in the UK and carries a sentence of up to 14 years in jail - the first successful prosecution took place last year. In Yusef's case, the police took no further action and the children were returned. Slough Children's Services Trust has now apologised to the family and upheld seven of their complaints, and agreed to support the withdrawal of the FGM Protection Order, if this is supported by both legal advice and the courts. It said in a statement: "We appreciate that the process of a child being taken into care is always distressing and, unfortunately, due to the nature of safeguarding, can in exceptionally rare cases happen to families where no further action is taken. "It's never our intention to cause any family distress, only to prioritise child protection and to work with our partners to avoid the possibility of vulnerable children 'slipping through the net'." Both the police and the Trust said they could not comment on individual cases, but safeguarding was always the number one priority. UNICEF figures estimate 98% of women and girls in Somalia have undergone FGM. But Somalis living in the UK say this is inaccurate, and means they have attracted particular attention from FGM safeguarding policy. Research published by City University in 2015 suggested that 144,000 women were at risk of FGM in England and Wales. Mothers we spoke to in Cardiff said the message from education providers and the media suggested there was a "huge epidemic" of FGM involving their British-born daughters. Former social worker and Somali campaigner Zainab Nur, from the Hayaat Women Trust, said she knew more than a dozen cases where children were wrongly taken into care because of FGM risk. "These policies are having a massive impact," she said. "We're being victimised, we're being racially profiled as being at risk of FGM, and it's affecting us." She also says she knows hundreds of cases where families were wrongly being referred to safeguarding. One mother, Nimo, said she nearly died after undergoing FGM at the age of eight. She says health professionals sometimes made "automatic assumptions" because of her experience. "I have a diabetic daughter, she had a urine infection and the doctor says to me: 'Has she had FGM done to her?' My daughter she didn't know anything about FGM, she'd never heard of it. "These things do happen and we get asked because of the children. I was like, 'Oh my God', because I haven't spoken about FGM in a long, long time." 'Stigmatise families' Researchers at Bristol University spoke to 30 Somali mothers, fathers and young adults about their experiences with FGM safeguarding services. Dr Saffron Karlsen said increasingly the evidence suggested it was not as a big a problem as it was assumed to be. She said: "We want to see an end to FGM but the way the current system is set up appears to penalise and stigmatise innocent families, and families where's there's no evidence to suggest...that their children are going to be exposed to FGM." Protecting girls But Janet Fyle, policy adviser at the Royal College of Midwives, said she disagreed with the concerns, and that safeguarding practices were there for a reason. "Professionals have the right to ask," she said. "We know FGM is happening in this country under our noses - it is important to focus on this as that is the real issue. "Talking about this issue of stigma is distracting - the priority needs to be protecting girls." A spokesperson from the Home Office's FGM Unit said "any actions taken by public authorities in relation to suspected FGM are based on evidence. "We introduced tough safeguarding laws which compel certain professionals to report if they have encountered a potential child victim of FGM, regardless of what community they are from." And the National Police Chiefs' Council said police, health and children's services had a responsibility to protect young people from harm. Commander Ivan Balhatchet, lead for female genital mutilation, said: "When people tell us they have concerns for the wellbeing and safety of a child, police will always investigate, as the public would expect. "There will be cases where people have genuine concerns relating to children and they should always feel able to come forward and speak to police. We will treat each individual case sensitively and confidentially." Follow the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme on Facebook and Twitter - and see more of our stories here.

यू. के. सोमाली समुदाय के सदस्यों ने विक्टोरिया डर्बीशायर कार्यक्रम को बताया है कि महिला जननांग विकृति (एफ. जी. एम.) के बारे में कलंक के कारण माता-पिता को गलत तरीके से गिरफ्तार किया जा रहा है और उनके बच्चों की देखभाल की जा रही है। उनका कहना है कि यू. के. में दसियों हज़ार लड़कियों को खतरे में डालने वाले आंकड़े गलत हैं।


Castlewellan: Fire crews battle gorse and forestry fire burning for 24 hours

Summary: Fire crews are fighting a "significant" wildfire incident involving gorse and forestry in County Down that has been ongoing for 24 hours.

It broke out at about 13:30 BST on Friday on the Leitrim Road in Castlewellan. Almost 50 Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) personnel have attended, including seven pumping appliances and specialist teams. NIFRS has appealed for people to stay away. Officers from NIFRS' specialist wildfire team, high volume pump and specialist rescue teams have all attended the scene.

अग्निशमन दल काउंटी डाउन में गोर्स और वानिकी से जुड़ी एक "महत्वपूर्ण" जंगल की आग की घटना से लड़ रहे हैं जो 24 घंटे से चल रही है।


Lurgan: Man, 33, charged after security alert

Summary: A 33-year-old man has been charged with making and possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances.

Homes were evacuated as part of a security alert on Woodville Street in Lurgan in County Armagh on Sunday morning. He is due to appear in Lisburn Magistrates' court on Monday. A 35-year-old woman who was also arrested has been released on bail pending further police enquiries.

एक 33 वर्षीय व्यक्ति पर संदिग्ध परिस्थितियों में विस्फोटक बनाने और रखने का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Flood-hit Cheddar Gorge road to remain closed

Summary: Engineers in Somerset are working to restore access to Cheddar Gorge after last month's heavy rain and floods damaged roads in the area.

The B3135 - the winding, main route through the gorge - has been closed for nearly two weeks. Somerset County Council has said that until the road surface dries out repairs are impossible. Andrew Turner, highways manager said he had "not seen it like this, ever", during his time working at the council. "The trouble we've got here, is that where we've got flowing water there is no fix at this point in time," he added. "We've got areas of carriageway where the tarmac is gone [and] water's still flowing through it, and we can't make a repair."

समरसेट में इंजीनियर पिछले महीने की भारी बारिश और बाढ़ से क्षतिग्रस्त सड़कों के बाद चेडर गॉर्ज तक पहुंच बहाल करने के लिए काम कर रहे हैं।


Covid-19: Bristol community surge testing explained

Summary: Additional testing for the mutated variant of Covid-19 has been rolled out in Bristol and South Gloucestershire, with people "strongly encouraged" to get tested even if they do not have symptoms. Here's what you need to know.

What is the purpose of surge testing? Surge testing is the roll-out of additional community testing of people who do not have any coronavirus symptoms. It aims to help scientists and public health officials learn more about the mutated Covid-19 variant found in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. It will also help reduce the spread of infection by finding asymptomatic cases and prompting people to self-isolate. What are they testing for? Public Health England (PHE) have confirmed 11 cases in Bristol were the new Kent variant with the E484K mutation, which has already been seen in the South African and Brazilian variants. Christina Gray, director of public health for Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, said cases were first picked up as part of routine sampling. This testing aims to identify any further cases of the new mutation for "scientific teams to stay ahead of the virus", Ms Gray said. Who needs to get tested? Anyone over the age of 16, who does not have any symptoms of Covid-19 and who lives or works in one of 24 postcode areas can get a test. If you have symptoms of Covid-19 you should book a coronavirus test in the normal way via the government website. Has the mutation been found in those areas? Bristol City Council said it would not give locations of the cases, but the listing of an area does not mean the variant is necessarily present in that postcode. Where can I get a test? Adults who live or work in the specified postcode areas are being asked to take one test in this two-week period of additional testing. They can go to any of three testing sites which are open seven days a week, without booking, as long as they do not display coronavirus symptoms: From Tuesday an online booking system will go live to enable people to make an appointment at the sites. Eight libraries in Bristol and South Gloucestershire are also offering a 'collect and drop' service for people to pick up kits to do the test at home. What kind of test is it? The test is a standard PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test. It involves a swab of the nose and throat and is sent off to laboratories to be analysed. When and how will I get the results? Most people will get their test result the next day, but it may take up to three days and results will be sent by text or email via NHS Test and Trace. If you test positive, have any symptoms or are contact traced following contact with someone who tests positive, you should self-isolate. If you receive a negative result you should continue to follow national lockdown guidance. What's happening with case numbers in Bristol? Surge testing in Bristol comes as the daily number of coronavirus cases recorded in the city continues to fall. Ms Gray said: "The good news is that our rates of infection are coming down and we need to keep going on that. "Our case rates have reduced by 6% which is a really good drop and the south west R rate has now nudged below one." Ms Gray was keen to reiterate that surge testing was not an outbreak control response, but "an investigatory response" looking to see what they can find and sending that for national analysis. However she said they do expect the number of identified cases of the mutated Kent variant to increase "as a greater scientific focus is put on actively searching for it". Where can I find out more? You can find out more about community surge testing on the Bristol City Council website, including a full Q&A. Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk Related Internet Links Bristol City Council Community testing- Bristol City Council Coronavirus - NHS South Gloucestershire Council

ब्रिस्टल और साउथ ग्लूस्टरशायर में कोविड-19 के उत्परिवर्तित संस्करण के लिए अतिरिक्त परीक्षण शुरू किया गया है, जिसमें लोगों को लक्षण न होने पर भी परीक्षण कराने के लिए "दृढ़ता से प्रोत्साहित" किया गया है। यहाँ आपको क्या जानने की आवश्यकता है।


Beaten up by China for going fishing

Summary: Vietnamese fishermen say they are being attacked by China with increasing regularity. Their boats have been rammed, equipment broken and crewmen beaten up. Vietnam accuses Beijing of trying to force them out of waters in the South China Sea where their families have fished for generations.

By Humphrey HawksleyBBC News, Vietnam As the breaking dawn casts a red-orange rim around the horizon of the South China Sea, Vo Van Giau kneels on the front deck of the fishing boat and locks his hands behind his head. "That is what they made me do," he says, pushing his head hard down. "Then they beat me with steel rods and a hammer like this." He pulls a heavy wooden mallet from a bundle of fishing equipment and strikes himself softly on his shoulders and against his sides. Van Giau, who is 42, shows photographs of his injuries on his phone - huge, welling bruises and cuts. The attack lasted well over an hour and he needed hospital treatment. He tells how, in July, Chinese coastguards rammed into his wooden boat - badly damaging it - while he was fishing in waters near the Paracel Islands. They lie about 175 miles (280km) off the Vietnamese mainland - roughly the same distance they are from Chinese island province of Hainan. Van Giau lives on the small island of Ly Son - in the past year Vietnam says almost half of the island's boats fishing in this area have come under attack from the Chinese. "My father fished these waters, my grandfather and my great-grandfather. From ancient times they have belonged to Vietnam. Now China has claimed them and invaded them illegally," says Van Giau. This boat is owned by a friend, 62-year-old Vo Van Chuc who has had fishing nets and tackle, together with his catch of fish, stolen by the Chinese coastguard. "All of us are threatened every time we go out," says Van Chuc. The boat is small and cramped and cluttered. A faded Vietnamese flag flies on a mast at the front and another above the wheelhouse. Inside there is no state-of-the-art marine equipment, just a radio, a compass and old, rusting dials. The two fishermen and four young deckhands all come from Ly Son, 20 miles (32km) from the Vietnamese mainland. It is a dusty, underdeveloped community which only got a reliable electricity supply last year and for generations has lived from fishing. Ly Son fishermen have become so crucial to Vietnam's national security that they are exempt from the country's compulsory military service. Their job is to keep working far out at sea and face down the Chinese threat against Vietnamese territory. More and more are coming into head-on confrontation with the Chinese coastguard and navy. The island lies on the edge of what is referred to in Vietnam as the Cow's Tongue because of the horseshoe shaped area of some 90% of the South China Sea that Beijing says is its sovereign territory. The claim is not new. But in 2009 it lodged it formally with the United Nations. Since then it has tried to reinforce its case by building runways and ports on newly created islands in the Spratly archipelago where, in 1988, it attacked and occupied one of Vietnam's garrisoned islands with heavy loss of life. It seized the Paracel Islands in two separate military operations in 1956 and 1974, and in 2012 reinforced its control by announcing the new Sansha prefecture there - a civilian administration which is part of Hainan province. These waters between Vietnam and the Paracels are what Ly Son islanders call their traditional fishing grounds. Beijing has never published the exact geographical coordinates of the area it claims as its own, so the Vietnamese crews have no idea how far they can go without running into a Chinese naval or coastguard vessel. "Vietnamese fishermen do not scare easily," says Tran Ngoc Nguyen, chairman of the Ly Son island district. Drawing the line of the Cow's Tongue with a blue marker pen on the map on his desk, he brushes it right next to Ly Son island. "We will keep fishing in those waters in the same numbers. It is normal that we face attack from the Chinese and it is getting worse. Of the 50 boats that went into that area this year 20 were attacked." Close to Ngoc Nguyen's shabby office is a statue of three historic sentinel-like figures revered for protecting Vietnamese fishermen at sea over the centuries. Next to it is a small museum, filled with old maps from Britain, the United States and China itself. The idea is to show that none of these maps contain a reference to China's control of the South China Sea. The Ly Son fishermen are foot soldiers of this dispute, tasked by the government to make a show of resisting China's claim. Vietnam is also replenishing its outdated navy with submarines and warships from Russia, while steadily increasing its military contacts with the United States, Japan, Britain and other Western governments. "There is more intelligence sharing, so the Vietnamese have a better awareness of what the Chinese are doing," says Murray Heibert of the Centre for Strategic and International studies in Washington DC. "China's actions are definitely pushing Hanoi closer to America." The South China Sea, a crucial trade route for oil and freight, is fast becoming a test of wills between Washington and Beijing. More than 60% of Japan's, South Korea's and Taiwan's energy supplies come along this route. For its part, China says it has the right to enforce measures against boats that have illegally entered its waters. A foreign ministry spokesperson would not address directly the Vietnamese allegation of the fishing boat attacks but said that China "stays unswervingly committed to peacefully resolving relevant disputes with countries directly concerned". So far China has implemented an annual May to August fishing ban, arguing that it safeguards fish stocks, which Vietnam does not recognise. It is significant that Van Giau was beaten up in July while it was in force - although other attacks have been reported throughout the year. In Hanoi exhibits at the Military History Museum of captured helicopters, battle plans and crashed warplanes underline the point that Vietnam is not a country to be messed with. In its modern history it has taken on three of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and won each time - against France in 1954, the United States in 1975 and China in 1979. On Ly Son, Van Giau, Van Chuc and others live in a close-knit community. At a gathering of three generations at Van Chuc's sparsely furnished but spotlessly clean house, it is far from clear how long fishing will remain the bedrock of island life. Vo Van Giau has a 17-year-old son and two daughters aged 13 and eight. So far they have expressed no enthusiasm to follow their father's career. Vo Van Chuc's 36-year-old son, Phan Thi Hue, began work as a fisherman but has now gone into tourism while his wife runs a shoe shop. "Fishing is too hard with very little money," he says. "It is also becoming dangerous." Among the group is 81-year-old Phan Din who still crews on fishing boats. He has lived through all the conflicts of Vietnam's modern history and fully intends to keep fishing. "We are used to having enemies," he says. "But we are clever people. I began work under the French colonialists as a driver for their officers. I had to take them to the beach with their mistresses and make sure their wives didn't find out." As for Vo Van Giau, he has no plans to stop fishing. With his own boat repaired he will head out again to disputed waters. "We need to fish without this threat and we hope diplomatic negotiations quickly bring us peace," he says. "But we want the Chinese to stop attacking us." More from the Magazine In 2014 the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes travelled across the South China Sea in a fishing boat and became the first journalist to observe close-up how China is constructing new islands on coral reefs. In December he returned to the area in a small aircraft - provoking a furious response from the Chinese Navy. China's Island Factory Flying close to Beijing's new South China Sea islands Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

वियतनामी मछुआरों का कहना है कि चीन द्वारा उन पर लगातार हमले किए जा रहे हैं। उनकी नौकाओं को टक्कर मार दी गई है, उपकरण तोड़ दिए गए हैं और चालक दल के सदस्यों को पीटा गया है। वियतनाम ने बीजिंग पर उन्हें दक्षिण चीन सागर में पानी से बाहर निकालने की कोशिश करने का आरोप लगाया है, जहां उनके परिवार पीढ़ियों से मछली पकड़ रहे हैं।


PS Vita: The end of Sony handheld gaming?

Summary: Sony has officially ended production of its PS Vita games console.

The handheld console has been gradually phased out over the past few years - and this weekend Sony announced it would be discontinuing the Vita's final two models. The PS Vita struggled against rival devices as well as a surge in the popularity of mobile gaming. With no plans for a successor, games critics say a Sony version of the successful Nintendo Switch is unlikely. When the PS Vita launched, in Japan in 2011, it initially sold well. Independent research company Strategy Analytics reported sales of 300,000 units in the Vita's first week. But these figures dropped sharply. Sony is estimated to have sold only 10-15 million units in the Vita's entire lifetime. In comparison, Nintendo's Switch console has sold more than 32 million units, only two years after it first went on sale. "Now that the PS Vita has officially reached the end of its lifecycle, I think it's time to admit that Sony's handheld console was a bit of a misstep," says Nathan Spendelow, from the technology website Expert Reviews. "While the hardware initially represented a turning point for Sony, it struggled to achieve the same level of critical acclaim as Nintendo's DS family of portable gaming systems." The years since the Vita's launch also saw an explosion in mobile gaming, with smartphones and tablets becoming powerful enough to run graphically intensive apps. Although the Vita rolled out with high-profile titles such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation and LittleBigPlanet PS Vita, the beginning of the end came when Sony announced in 2015 that it would stop making its own games for the Vita - deciding to focus instead on titles for its PS4 console. In 2018, Sony said it would cease physical production of Vita games and that 2019 would be the final year the device was manufactured. A home for indie developers Even though blockbuster games all but vanished from the console, the Vita "found a niche as a home for indie developers and with Japanese gamers", according to Stefan Langford, editor of games website TheSixthAxis. He cites the Bafta-award winning games Thomas Was Alone and OlliOlli as examples. "They usually weren't exclusive to the Vita but there was something about indie games that often clicked on Vita more than on PS3 and eventually the PS4. It's something we're seeing again with indies flocking to Nintendo Switch," says Mr Langford. But despite its niche appeal, the Vita ultimately failed to live up to Sony's expectations, he adds. "It certainly comes as no surprise that the PS Vita has finally ended production, ultimately sounding the death knell of Sony's mobile gaming ambitions," says Mr Spendelow. While the PS Vita has been consigned to history, Sony is believed to be readying a new games console. Last year, company president and chief executive Kenichiro Yoshida told the Financial Times that it was "necessary" for Sony to work on next-generation hardware. He declined to say whether this machine would carry the name PlayStation 5.

सोनी ने आधिकारिक तौर पर अपने पीएस वीटा गेम कंसोल का उत्पादन बंद कर दिया है।


Books of 2014: A look-ahead

Summary: What are the cultural events to look forward to in 2014? The BBC's arts and entertainment team picks some of the big books , films , TV series , albums , exhibitions and shows for the new year. Click on the links or use the tabs above to navigate.

By Rebecca JonesArts correspondent, BBC News The literary landscape will look a little different in 2014. A new international book prize, The Folio, arrives in March. Then the Man Booker throws open its doors to any author writing in the English language - meaning US writers will be eligible for the first time. Whether you are a fan of literary competitions or not, the shortlists and winners inevitably become the source of much discussion and debate. So which authors will be talked about over the next twelve months? "Booker Bridesmaids" dominate - those writers who have been nominated for the prize in the past but have never won. Leading the pack is Sarah Waters, who has been shortlisted three times. Her new book, The Paying Guests, is set in London in 1922. Or could it be third time lucky for The South African writer Damon Galgut, who has been shortlisted twice before? Arctic Summer is about E M Forster's first trip to India in 1912. Colm Toibin is back too, with Nora Webster, set ten years after his Costa-winning novel "Brooklyn". David Mitchell returns with his first novel for four years, The Bone Clocks which is published in September. It is a novel in six parts, set between 1984 and 2043, which centres on one female character, although each section is told from a different point of view. Emma Donoghue follows up her international bestseller Room, with Frog Music. Again inspired by real events, it's a murder mystery set in nineteenth century San Francisco. And Martin Amis revisits the Holocaust in his new novel The Zone of Interest, which is set in an unnamed Auschwitz. Other familiar names returning in 2014 include Sebastian Barry, Ali Smith, Edward St Aubyn, Linda Grant and Philip Hensher And Kamila Shamsie, Ned Beauman, Adam Foulds, Xiaolu Guo and Helen Oyeyemi, who were all selected by Granta as Britain's Best of Young British Writers in 2013, have new books on the way. Among the American big hitters to look out for are Jonathan Lethem, with Dissident Gardens and E L Doctorow with Andrew's Brain. Marilynne Robinson's new book, Lila, is based on the same fictional world as the Pulitzer prize-winning novel Gilead and the Orange prize-winner Home. And while it may not win literary prizes, fans of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series can look forward to The Days of Anna Madrigal, which sees the 92 year old transgender landlady on a journey to the whorehouse she ran away from as a 16 year old boy. Haruki Murakami is back with Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage. Published in Japan in April 2013 it sold more than one million copies there in its first six months. And there is a new novel from the 2012 Nobel prize-winning Chinese literary superstar Mo Yan, called Frog. Set against the government's one-child policy, it is about a midwife in a rural community. Closer to home, look out for a new novel from Nick Hornby. which follows the fortunes of the co- stars of a 1960s television sitcom. There are big-hitting commercial bestsellers in waiting with new novels from Barbara Taylor Bradford, Jodi Picoult and Ken Follett; and new thrillers on the way from Stephen King and John Connolly and the King of Scandinavian crime Jo Nesbo. 2014 is a big year for anniversaries. There'll be plenty of non-fiction commemorating the First World War, including a new biography of the poet Wilfred Owen, by Guy Cuthbertson. In February it is one hundred years since the birth of the cult writer William Burroughs and Barry Miles's new biography has been sanctioned by the Burroughs estate. October sees the centenary of the birth of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas. His granddaughter, Hannah Ellis celebrates his life, work and legacy in a new collection. And more than a decade in the making, there is a major new biography of Beethoven, written by the composer Jan Swafford. So whatever your taste, plenty of books to look forward to in the coming months.

बी. बी. सी. की कला और मनोरंजन टीम नए साल के लिए कुछ बड़ी किताबें, फिल्में, टीवी श्रृंखलाएं, एल्बम, प्रदर्शनियां और शो चुनती है। लिंक पर क्लिक करें या नेविगेट करने के लिए ऊपर दिए गए टैब का उपयोग करें।


Eileen Limb death: Man denies causing Old Hutton crash

Summary: A man has denied causing the death by dangerous driving of a 96-year-old Cumbrian woman.

Shaun Ferguson was driving a Renault Scenic which collided with a car in which Eileen Lamb was a passenger at Old Hutton, near Kendal, in April 2015. Miss Limb, from Endmoor, died 12 days later as a result of the injuries she received. Mr Ferguson, 22, from Lancaster, pleaded not guilty at Carlisle Crown Court and was bailed until 21 November. Related Internet Links HM Courts Service

एक आदमी ने 96 वर्षीय कुम्ब्रियन महिला की खतरनाक गाड़ी चलाने से मौत होने से इनकार किया है।


Coronavirus: Isle of Wight reacts to contact-tracing app

Summary: Best known for its white chalk rocks and annual music festival, the Isle of Wight is now at the centre of a government trial that leaders hope will help bring the country out of lockdown. The coronavirus contact-tracing app goes live to all islanders on Thursday, but there are mixed feelings on the eve of its public release.

'I won't be a guinea pig' The app went live for local authority and health workers at 16:00 BST on Tuesday - two days before it goes live to the rest of the island. But parish councillor Daryll Pitcher has refused to download it. He said he did not welcome being used as a "guinea pig". "I am greatly concerned that this trial has been imposed on the Isle of Wight and I believe that the final say should have been local," he said. Mr Pitcher, who is the Covid-19 response co-ordinator for the island's Wootton village, said he had concerns regarding his civil liberties and data security, because the app traces anyone who has recently been in contact with someone with the virus. He said he felt the island was "not a suitable testing area" due to its demographics and geography, both of which vary from the UK's national average. "There is no point testing in an area you can be reasonably certain it will never work," he added. 'We have to do something' Shaun Davis, from Newport, said he was "all for" the app and believes there has been "a lot of positivity" about it from fellow islanders. Mr Davis, who works for a wholesaler providing materials to organisations including the NHS and Ministry of Defence, said he did not share other people's data security concerns. "Smartphones are traceable even without the app. We have to do something - the virus isn't going anywhere and we can't all remain in our homes indefinitely," he said. The 36-year-old told the Press Association that using the app could lead to the eventual easing of lockdown and strict social distancing. "I had to chuckle at Matt Hancock's comment, 'where the Isle of Wight leads, the rest of Britain will follow', because it has been joked that the Isle of Wight has always been a generation behind the rest of the country - so there's a first for everything." 'Could be a gimmick' A nurse living on the island, who wants to remain anonymous, said the app "needs to be part of an effective strategy, otherwise it's a gimmick". "The idea of using technology to support public health is an excellent idea," he said. "The issue for me isn't about privacy - what good is that if we're bankrupt or dead? It's about effectiveness and competence." The nurse said the NHS "doesn't have a strong history" of effective IT systems, noting that his own practice still uses paper for records, referrals and clinical requests. He said he would download the app "in the absence of an alternative", but was critical of how the government had managed the crisis overall. "I think this government wants to stamp a 'made in Britain' sticker on a final success," he said. 'Important to use' Ben South, a 999 call handler, was among a group of NHS workers observed by the media and Cabinet Office staff as he installed the app moments after it went live to key workers. He said: "Initially there's a screen to ask if you have any symptoms and if you don't, it will advise you to stay off the app and to come back when you do display any symptoms. "All you need to do is put in your postcode and then you're basically fully signed up and ready to go." Asked what he would say to anyone who had concerns or doubts about using the app, he said: "I'd just say how easy it is to use and how important it is to use - it's important to keep our NHS running and the country running." 'The Isle of Wight is ideal' Councillor Debbie Andre who leads the biggest opposition group, Island Independents, on the Isle of Wight Council, has downloaded the app on her phone and said people should get behind it. Mrs Andre said: "I think it falls to all of us to do everything we possibly can to conquer this virus and prevent a second spike coming back especially on the island, as we have one hospital who have been doing a fantastic job." And on the Isle of Wight being the centre of attention in the UK's response to the pandemic, she said: "We are unique in terms of the fact we are an island, but we are in close proximity to the mainland and to major cities. "So it makes us ideal, and it's not the first time we have been in the spotlight. "We have a long history of scientific innovation, marine technology - we are the boating centre of the world with Cowes - so the island is quite use to being in the spotlight in a way."

अपने सफेद चाक चट्टानों और वार्षिक संगीत समारोह के लिए जाना जाने वाला आइल ऑफ वाइट अब एक सरकारी परीक्षण के केंद्र में है जो नेताओं को उम्मीद है कि देश को लॉकडाउन से बाहर लाने में मदद करेगा। कोरोनावायरस संपर्क-अनुरेखण ऐप गुरुवार को सभी द्वीपवासियों के लिए लाइव हो जाता है, लेकिन इसके सार्वजनिक रिलीज की पूर्व संध्या पर मिश्रित भावनाएं हैं।


Douglas Carswell: Grandparents 'need more of a say' in adoptions

Summary: Nothing can be as emotive as a child being removed from its parents by the state. Although it is an unfortunate necessity sometimes, forced adoptions have come in for heavy criticism from Clacton MP Douglas Carswell.

Deborah McGurranPolitical editor, East of England The UKIP MP has called for special guardianship orders to be used more widely, which would allow more grandparents to look after children. "Family courts are presiding over monstrous injustices," the MP said when he called for the opening up of family courts in a Westminster Hall debate. Mr Carswell also made the point that some people manage the system better than others. "It seems that articulate, highly-educated people who have access to information are able to fight off the system, but people who do not have access to information and are not as eloquent as lawyers tend to be trampled," he said. "Many of the most tragic cases I have come across in Clacton involve people whose love for their grandchildren is as strong as anyone's, but who are just not very articulate and are therefore trampled over by the monstrously unjust and unfair system." Lucy Allan, the Conservative MP for Telford, agreed, saying: "This is an issue that is long overdue for debate in this House." The interest of the child Edward Timpson, the minister for children and families, was not unsympathetic. He said it was an important and sensitive area and set out the principle that the system of family justice in England was based on the premise that children live with their family wherever possible. He said the key was what was in the best interest of the child, and that local authorities must consider placing a child with relatives - including grandparents. "Where it is decided that it is not possible for children to remain with their parents, the law is clear that local authorities must consider placing a child with relatives, including grandparents and friends, before considering other permanency options," he said. He reminded Mr Carswell that the number of special guardianship orders have doubled since they were introduced in 2005. He concluded: "The president of the family division is consulting on the matter, and we look forward to his response, so that we may see what more we can do to ensure confidence in the family justice system." Many grandparents may be happy to hear that.

राज्य द्वारा एक बच्चे को उसके माता-पिता से अलग किए जाने जितना भावनात्मक कुछ भी नहीं हो सकता है। हालाँकि यह कभी-कभी एक दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण आवश्यकता होती है, लेकिन क्लैक्टन के सांसद डगलस कार्सवेल ने जबरन गोद लेने की कड़ी आलोचना की है।


Marvels of the deep and their superpowers

Summary: Maggie Georgieva is turning a jar of preservative around in her hands. "This is it," she says. "This is 'The Hoff' - the famous yeti crab with a hairy chest," referring to the object suspended in alcohol.

Jonathan AmosScience correspondent@BBCAmoson Twitter Most of us would be hard pressed to name a recently discovered creature from the deep, and this animal may even be the only one that triggers any sort of recognition. The Hoff made headlines in 2012 after being spotted living 2,000m down in a volcanic region of the Southern Ocean. A novel species, the researchers who found it joked that the crustacean's fluffy appearance had something in common with a certain American movie star. The nickname stuck. Of course, The Hoff eventually got a proper title and description. It's correctly called Kiwa tyleri. And, as is customary, reference examples were lodged at the Natural History Museum in London, which is how a specimen comes to be in the hands of Dr Georgieva. She's fascinated by hydrothermal vents. These are volcanic systems found along mid-ocean ridges - places where new sea-floor is created by the upwelling of magma. In some locations, water can get drawn through cracks in the hot rock and become loaded with dissolved metals and other chemicals, before then being ejected back into the ocean. Specialised bacteria are able to exploit these hot fluids (up to 400C), to provide the energy foundation for a beautiful and bizarre collection of more complex organisms. The Hoff, for example, "farms" the bacteria on its hairy chest. Comb-like mouthparts scrape up the microbes into a meal. Dr Georgieva has another jar in her collection of what are known as tubeworms. These do symbiosis in a slightly different way. The animals have no mouth parts, no stomach and no gut. Instead, they possess an organ called a trophosome which acts as a kind of shelter for the bacteria. The microbes pay their rent to the worms in nutrients. Yet another jar contains a little shrimp, Rimicaris. It nurtures the bacteria under its shelly hood, or carapace. Rimicaris will swarm around vents in vast numbers. Thousands per square metre. The shrimp needs to keep its farm of microbes in the optimum waters - close enough to make use of the scalding fluids and their chemical bounty, but not so close that there's a risk of getting cooked. Rimicaris has no eyes, just an "eye-spot" - a concentrated patch of the light-sensitive pigment rhodopsin on its back. The thinking is it can use this feature to detect thermal radiation. But this cliff-edge existence is nothing compared with the peril faced by the fourth creature in Dr Georgieva's vent collection - the Pompeii worm. It builds paper-thin tubes on the sides of the "chimney" structures where the fluids emerge. Temperatures inside these dens can top 80C. "Pompeii" seems an apt name and the worm uses a thick blanket of bacteria to help insulate it from harm. "The remarkable thing about hydrothermal vents is that they can produce these unique and strange adaptations in animals," says Dr Georgieva. "We're trying to get an idea of how quickly animals can adapt to these environments. The adaptations tend to be related to getting symbionts and dealing with the harsh conditions, obviously. "In order to get symbionts, one thing you have to do is make changes to your immune system - which you might expect because there'll be some bacteria you want to let in but others that you don't." One interesting question is how some of the creatures have spread so far around the globe. Vents are nutrient-rich oases in what is otherwise a resource-poor environment thousands of metres down from the sunlit surface of the ocean. And yet the likes of The Hoff and its five yeti-crab cousins have managed to reach widely separated volcanic ridges across the Southern Hemisphere. Their last common ancestor probably lived 30-40 million years ago in the eastern Pacific. What we see today is the result of successful colonisations of vents by dispersed larvae. (Females release mini-Hoffs in big numbers to drift through the water column, some potentially making it to the next vent system). It's all very precarious, to say the least, because vent systems are patchy. What is more, they will switch on and off through time, and when one dies so do all the local animals. Somehow a species must inhabit multiple locations - multiple stepping stones along a ridge - so that if one foothold is temporarily lost, the overall population will remain robust. It's like a game of Whac-A-Mole, says yeti crab expert Nicolai Roterman from Oxford University. Successful dispersion ensures a species can pop back up in a new location. But the worry now is that certain human activities might soon load the game in favour of extinction by widening the gap between the places where a species could re-emerge. It is one of the dangers posed by the proposed mining of metals at hydrothermal vents, believes Dr Roterman. "The critical thing is if you start ploughing through and bulldozing hydrothermal vents, this human activity effectively simulates what is already happening naturally. It's then possible you could get to a situation where a meta-population simply collapses because it can't be sustained anymore." The United Nations is meeting this week to begin discussions on the formulation of a treaty that would better regulate certain activities on the high seas - deep-sea mining among them. Some of the creatures described by Nerc-funded Dr Georgieva - such as the Pompeii worm - can be seen currently in the Life In The Dark exhibition at the Natural History Museum.

मैगी जॉर्जीवा अपने हाथों में परिरक्षक का एक जार घुमा रही है। "यह बात है", वह कहती है। "यह 'द हॉफ' है-बालों वाली छाती वाला प्रसिद्ध यति केकड़ा", शराब में लटकती वस्तु की ओर इशारा करते हुए।


AV voting referendum: Tim Farron's viewpoint

Summary: A referendum will be held on 5 May on whether to keep the first-past-the-post system for electing MPs or to switch to the alternative vote. The BBC is asking a variety of people to give their personal view.

By Tim FarronPresident, Liberal Democrats Did you know that most of us have an MP that we voted against? That our elections are decided by a small number of voters in marginal seats? That the worst expenses scandals occurred in safe seats, many of which hadn't changed party since the Second World War? Our current voting system, first-past-the- post, isn't fit for purpose anymore and is failing us. It means that most people's votes don't count; it's created a system of safe seats and jobs for life, and was at the heart of the expenses scandal. AV is a small change that would make a big difference. 'Seize the chance' Put simply, it allows you to rank candidates in order of preference and requires every MP to have secured the support of at least half of their constituents. It gives voters more power and politicians less, because it allows you to vote for the candidate you really want and not the one you dislike least to keep someone else out. It means all MPs will have to work harder for your vote by reaching out to more of their constituents. What could be possibly be bad about that? Opponents will say it will lead to more coalition government, when research clearly shows that's not true. They say it is complicated, but what could be simpler than ranking your choices 1-2-3? They say it will help extremist parties, yet the BNP are campaigning for a 'No' vote because they know it will make it harder, not easier, for them to get elected. You don't have to take my word for it. This issue is so important it has united my party, Labour, the Greens, Plaid Cymru, the SNP and UKIP. And the no campaign? The Tories, the BNP and the Communists. This is the first time we've ever been asked for our say on how we elect MPs. We need to seize the chance to change the way we do politics once and for all, because the alternative is business as usual, jobs for life, politicians who are accountable to a minority of their constituents and the opportunity for reform will be lost for a generation.

5 मई को एक जनमत संग्रह होगा कि क्या सांसदों के चुनाव के लिए पहले-अतीत-द-पोस्ट प्रणाली को बनाए रखा जाए या वैकल्पिक वोट पर स्विच किया जाए। बीबीसी विभिन्न लोगों से अपने व्यक्तिगत विचार देने के लिए कह रहा है।


Hartlepool mayoral referendum will take place in November

Summary: Voters in Hartlepool are to be asked whether they want to keep a directly-elected mayor.

Councillors have approved plans for a referendum, and the poll will take place on 15 November. Stuart Drummond, who originally stood as football mascot H'Angus The Monkey, has been elected for three terms since the post's introduction in 2002. The referendum will take place on the same date as the election of a Police and Crime Commissioner. Voters will be asked whether the current system should be replaced by committees of councillors. Mr Drummond is also currently the chair of Cleveland Police Authority.

हार्टलपूल में मतदाताओं से पूछा जाना है कि क्या वे सीधे निर्वाचित महापौर को रखना चाहते हैं।


Nazir Ahmed: Woman felt 'moral responsibility' to reveal alleged abuse

Summary: A woman who told police a former Labour peer attempted to rape her when he was a teenager and she was a child said she felt a "moral responsibility" to come forward, a court has heard.

Nazir Ahmed, 63, is on trial at Sheffield Crown Court charged with a number of sexual offences dating back to the 1970s. The woman claims Mr Ahmed tried to rape her more than once. Mr Ahmed, formerly known as Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, denies the charges. More stories from around Yorkshire 'Moral responsibility' The woman told detectives in 2016 she had become aware Mr Ahmed might have access to much younger relatives. During an interview with specially trained detectives which was played in court, the woman said: "They are at significant risk because he's going to do what he did to me. "They're so little and I now have a moral responsibility." She alleged that on more than one occasion in the early 1970s, Mr Ahmed held her down and tried to rape her before he eventually let her go. The woman said she told no-one at the time, explaining: "I thought I had let him do that to me and I felt dirty." She added: "I have never forgotten, I have tried. I have really tried to erase that memory and I cannot do it." She told police she had been through counselling and had talked about needing revenge. "I have not had justice for what he did to me," she told detectives. Mr Ahmed denies two counts of attempting to rape a girl under 16, indecent assault of a boy under 14 and raping a boy under 16, all in the early 1970s. His brothers, Mohammed Farouq, 70, and Mohammed Tariq, 65, also from Rotherham, are accused of indecent assault of a boy under 14, but are unfit to plead and face a trial of the facts. The trial continues. Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk. Related Internet Links HM Courts & Tribunals Service

एक महिला जिसने पुलिस को बताया कि एक पूर्व लेबर सहकर्मी ने उसके साथ बलात्कार करने का प्रयास किया जब वह एक किशोर था और वह एक बच्ची थी, उसने कहा कि वह आगे आने के लिए एक "नैतिक जिम्मेदारी" महसूस करती है, एक अदालत ने सुना है।


Kent schools warned over lead thefts

Summary: Kent Police have written to every school in Swale to warn that rising scrap metal prices has contributed to a rise in lead roofing thefts.

Officers said Holywell Primary School, Hartlip Endowed Primary School and Newington Primary School had been targeted in the past month. The total repair bill for the three schools is estimated to be £6,000. Adrian Fromm, a crime reduction officer with Kent Police, advised schools to use anti-climb paint to deter thieves. "Unfortunately the effects of metal thefts can be far-reaching," he said. "The theft of any lead can result in rainwater leaking through the roof into the fabric of the building, which can cause untold damage to schools."

केंट पुलिस ने स्वेल के हर स्कूल को चेतावनी देने के लिए लिखा है कि स्क्रैप धातु की बढ़ती कीमतों ने सीसे की छत की चोरी में वृद्धि में योगदान दिया है।


Teresa Colvin death: Southern Health NHS trust prosecuted

Summary: An NHS trust is being prosecuted over the death of a woman in its care at a Southampton mental health hospital.

Teresa Colvin, 45, died at Southampton General Hospital on 26 April 2012 after she was found unconscious at Woodhaven Adult Mental Health Hospital. Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust has been charged by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) with a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The trust is due to appear at Oxford Magistrates' Court on 20 November.

साउथेम्प्टन के एक मानसिक स्वास्थ्य अस्पताल में अपनी देखभाल में एक महिला की मौत पर एक एन. एच. एस. ट्रस्ट पर मुकदमा चलाया जा रहा है।


Car driver killed in Lichfield HGV crash named

Summary: A motorist who died when his car crashed into an HGV in a lay-by has been named by police.

Callan Neal, 21, from Walsall, was driving a white Renault Clio on the eastbound A5 Wall Bypass near to Wall Island, Lichfield, at about 02:00 GMT on Saturday. Specialist officers are supporting his family. Staffordshire Police is continuing to appeal for witnesses. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

एक मोटर चालक की मृत्यु हो गई जब उसकी कार ले-बाय में एक एच. जी. वी. से टकरा गई, जिसे पुलिस द्वारा नामित किया गया है।


Australia's wombats struggling to survive

Summary: The wombat is in trouble. Some are dying in bushfires, or being shot by farmers. Others are scratching themselves to death because of a mite infection. Only 115 of one species - the northern hairy-nosed wombat - remain alive in the wild.

By Georgina KenyonAustralia "He was quite some flatmate - he took over the house, moved my fridge, re-arranged the furniture and then dug a hole right through the living room floor," said Ian, a wildlife volunteer who works in the Blue Mountains, 60km (37 miles) west of Sydney. Ian was telling me about an infant wombat he had recently hand-reared, after its mother was hit and killed by a car. "You get so attached to the cute little babies," he admitted. "It is my own fault - I should have released him back into the wild earlier." Ian explained that the now-adult wombat had found new digs in the vast national park nearby. Wombats are marsupials and are endemic to Australia. They are found nowhere else. A wombat looks like an overgrown, stocky guinea pig, covered with thick grey fur and with a wide, flat, broad forehead. Fully-grown adults are about a metre long (3ft 2in) and about half a metre tall (1ft 6in). They weigh about 40kg (88lb). But while their looks are pretty straightforward, people throughout history have found it less easy to understand their behaviour. The Aborigines seem to have mixed feelings about them, using stories to try to explain why they are nocturnal and live underground. Legends describe the wombat as boastful, sometimes wise, but also stubborn and selfish. According to one story, the wombat was once a giant, who dared to boast he was more powerful than the sun. After a contest of might, however, the wombat lost, and so today hides from shame, deep down in a burrow. But another Aboriginal story tells of how wise the wombat can be. He comforts the other animals in the forest, after their friend, a cockatoo, has died, explaining to them all about forest spirits. Wombats are fearsomely strong diggers, with very muscular front legs and sharp claws, usually used to excavate winding tunnels for their homes. Yet despite their robust appearance, these animals are struggling to survive. Many have been infected by a foreign mite, from foreign foxes, introduced for hunting by the early English settlers of Australia. Scabby tissue forms over the wombats' eyes and ears, and infections occur, ultimately causing their death. Phil Borchard, a scientist, took me to see a family of Common Wombats living by the Shoalhaven river in southern New South Wales. "Many are literally scratching themselves to death," he told me. It was in the middle of the day, but still, one male wombat was out of its burrow, sick and looking for grass to eat. Its lovely, lush fur was all scratched away, leaving red skin, raw and sore. What is more, it is still legal for Australian farmers to obtain a licence to shoot wombats - even though they are officially a "protected" species. There are, in fact, three species of wombat: the Common wombat, the Southern Hairy Nosed and the Northern Hairy Nosed. Of these three, conservationists are now most worried about the survival of the Northern Hairy Nosed. There are only 115 left in the wild, living in just one forest in Central Queensland. This population of wombats is so small that the group is becoming inbred. Competition with cattle and sheep for grass to eat, drought, bushfires, as well as dingo and feral dog attacks have all whittled away wombat numbers. But fortunately, a group of committed volunteers and scientists, working with the Queensland state government, has now put up fences to protect the wombats from predators, made tunnels for extra shelter, and is working with zoos to create breeding programmes. These conservationists are well aware they have little time left. When I met up with Ian again, back in the Blue Mountains, he had another new flatmate. In his arms was a tiny Common Wombat in a blanket, rescued from the pouch of its dead mother, another victim of a car. "How can you not love this creature, and want to save it?" Ian asked me. The tiny wombat had its eyes shut, snoring, completely oblivious to the troubles ahead which are threatening his ancient family's survival. How to listen to From Our Own Correspondent: BBC Radio 4: Saturdays at 11:30 and some Thursdays at 11:00 Listen online or download the podcast. BBC World Service: Short editions Monday-Friday - see World Service programme schedule. You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook

वम्बैट मुसीबत में है। कुछ जंगल की आग में मर रहे हैं, या किसानों द्वारा गोली मार दी जा रही है। अन्य एक पतंग के संक्रमण के कारण खुद को खरोंच कर मर रहे हैं। एक प्रजाति में से केवल 115 प्रजातियां-उत्तरी बालों वाली नाक वाली वम्बैट-जंगल में जीवित रहती हैं।


Pitt Park: Four released after arrests

Summary: Three men and a woman who were arrested on Wednesday over an incident in Pitt Park in east Belfast have been released.

Dozens of masked men gathered in Pitt Park on 2 February and police said they were investigating links to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). A number of people have previously been arrested in relation to the incident. Police said the four individuals had been released pending reports to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) The investigation into the incident is ongoing. Police have previously appealed for anyone with information or footage relating to the incident to come forward.

पूर्वी बेलफास्ट के पिट पार्क में एक घटना को लेकर बुधवार को गिरफ्तार किए गए तीन पुरुषों और एक महिला को रिहा कर दिया गया है।


Plaque honours Leeds cancer fund-raiser Jane Tomlinson

Summary: A plaque in honour of Leeds fund-raiser Jane Tomlinson has been erected at a site which was a focal point during many of her gruelling challenges.

It has been unveiled at the Victoria Gardens in Leeds, the place she passed through on some of her bike ride fund-raisers. The gardens are also the finish line for Mrs Tomlinson's legacy event, the Leeds 10k, which is held every year. Mrs Tomlinson raised £1.8m for charity before her death from cancer in 2007. The married mother of three was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2000 aged 36. Over the next seven years she went on to record major achievements as she outlived her initial six-month prognosis. She raised money by completing a number challenges, including the Great North Run, London Marathon and the Ironman UK Triathlon. Along with supporters she also completed fund-raising bike rides across America and from Rome back to the UK. The plaque was erected by the Yorkshire Society in a ceremony attended by her husband Mike Tomlinson and daughter Rebecca.

लीड्स से धन जुटाने वाली जेन टॉमलिंसन के सम्मान में एक पट्टिका उस स्थान पर लगाई गई है जो उनकी कई कठिन चुनौतियों के दौरान एक केंद्र बिंदु था।


Corbyn reshuffle: End of the new politics?

Summary: Reshuffles rarely go as planned. Jeremy Corbyn already knows that - his team's first few days in the leader's office were marked by the fallout from a chaotic 24 hours as they struggled to put the shadow cabinet together.

Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter So after a frenetic fortnight of speculation of a "revenge reshuffle" where the leader was alleged to be planning to kick out those who disagreed with him over bombing Syria, what are the prospects of a smoother start to the new parliamentary term? The leader's team is starting to work the phones this afternoon to put together his new team. Parliament feels pretty deserted as MPs haven't yet returned from their Christmas break but what can be tortuous conversations are getting under way, with the possibility that the new look team will be announced on Tuesday. But if Mr Corbyn moves to sack those who have publicly disagreed with him, there's a danger it appears that he's given up on his much vaunted "new politics" - disagreement was meant to be allowed, discussions encouraged in the more grown-up discourse that he promised. Don't forget, Jeremy Corbyn built his own career by being a serial rebel, voting against his party leader again and again and again. For him to call for message discipline from the outset might have seemed ludicrous. And given the lack of support he had among Labour MPs, he was determined to try to build a team from all parts of the party to give him credibility in Westminster. So now, just four months on, if he embarks on dramatic changes, sacks those who have publicly disagreed with him, like the shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, there's a danger it looks like when his own authority is challenged he just can't take it. But it's likely, in fact, that the next 24 hours will see fewer of the shadow cabinet shoved out, and more just shuffled around. Do expect new occupants of the posts of shadow Foreign Secretary and shadow Defence Secretary - in those two areas the tensions over nuclear weapons and military action have proved too much of an embarrassment for Mr Corbyn. But don't expect a dramatic purge of the shadow cabinet, and any moderates shipped out. Jeremy Corbyn does still want to show he is committed to including a range of views around his top table, and it seems he is not planning for pyrotechnics. But then again, reshuffles rarely go according to plan.

फेरबदल शायद ही कभी योजना के अनुसार होते हैं। जेरेमी कॉर्बिन पहले से ही जानते हैं कि-नेता के कार्यालय में उनकी टीम के पहले कुछ दिनों में 24 घंटे की अराजकता के कारण गिरावट आई क्योंकि वे छाया कैबिनेट को एक साथ रखने के लिए संघर्ष कर रहे थे।


Julius Malema strikes a chord in South Africa townships

Summary: A dozen schoolchildren in blue and white uniforms beat their drums earnestly as they escorted Julius Malema's van down a dirt road and into the impoverished township of Itireleng on a hillside outside Pretoria.

Andrew HardingAfrica correspondent@BBCAndrewHon Twitter Within seconds, a mood of almost giddy excitement seemed to ripple through the crowd of perhaps 500 people who had gathered on a dusty football pitch in the hot afternoon sun to listen to South Africa's most divisive, boisterous politician make his election campaign pitch. An aide in a red beret - the catchy trademark of Mr Malema's party, the Economic Freedom Fighters - helped to haul the "Commander-In-Chief's" substantial frame on to the back of a truck, where two loudspeakers were already positioned in front of the crowd. Mr Malema is 33 and rarely out of the headlines here - a contradictory figure who provokes strong reactions. To some he is a laughable sideshow, egged on by the media and soon to be imprisoned. Others fear a bullying demagogue whose populist, Mugabe-esque economic plans threaten to wreck South Africa's economy. And plenty see him as one of the sharpest critics of all the ills that plague this nation 20 years after the arrival of democracy. I would settle for a slice of each. Today, Mr Malema - who faces fraud and racketeering charges as well as bankruptcy stemming from a tax investigation - was wearing his usual man-of-the-people jeans, offset by grey Louis Vuitton shoes, a Burberry shirt, Ferrari jacket and of course his own EFF beret. South Africa's President, Jacob Zuma, can thrill a crowd with his singing, dancing, and isiZulu wisecracks. But no-one can quite match Mr Malema for his mesmerising blend of thunder and comedy. In the course of an hour's unscripted speech, he mercilessly ridiculed Mr Zuma for the tax-payers' millions spent on upgrading his private home, and said Nelson Mandela would be spinning in his grave if he could see what the governing African National Congress (ANC) had become, and how a corrupt, narrow elite was profiting at the expense of a marginalised black majority. But between the jabs and the jokes, what he did most often and perhaps most effectively, was to make promises - to bring water and proper toilets to the area; to double the social grants upon which about 16 million South Africans depend; to seize white-owned land and redistribute it to the poor; to nationalise the mines. "You must give the ANC a wake-up call. Black people your time is now. Political freedom without economic freedom is an incomplete freedom," he said, to strong applause. After his speech, Mr Malema plunged into the township, along dirt tracks, past corrugated shacks, communal water pumps and pit latrines. The entire population seemed to surge along in his wake. Here, at least, it was hard to find anyone who didn't find the EFF's promises enticing - one way or another. "He's promising us better things. We're going to have jobs, and water, and toilets and houses. We have been in freedom but we have nothing - just promises [from the ANC]," said Millicent Tsategi. She shrugged off the fraud charges facing Mr Malema. "We are going to give him a chance so he can prove himself to us," she said. 'Let us reprioritise' Jerry Tlhopane, a veteran ANC activist who told me he had finally broken ranks with the party he still professed to love, said he would be voting tactically on Wednesday - for the EFF. "If I vote for ANC, I vote for corruption. The ANC has been infiltrated by people who want to get rich quickly. I'm not going to vote EFF because I believe it," he declared. Instead, he said he would vote for Mr Malema's party "because it is tough, it can challenge the ANC… I know the ANC fear them the most - that is the reason". As Mr Malema plunged deeper into the township's narrowing alleys, I asked him how he responded to critics who say his populist economic policies are a recipe for disaster. "There's no-one who is scared of me. People are happy to see me here. We are bringing a message of hope," he said, denying that his promise to increase social grants was unaffordable, and cheap populism. "Cheap populism is building houses for politicians. We must take the money and give it to the needy. We don't have to give politicians expensive cars. Let us reprioritise." Mr Malema dismissed the criminal charges against him as politically motivated - an attempt by President Zuma and the ANC to silence a man who had once been singled out as a future leader of the governing party before his expulsion. "I have no case to answer. If they had a case against me they would have locked me up in jail by now." As for nationalisation, he said: "This is our country - what we do with our country has nothing to do with those who are outside. We want our land back. We want our economy back. "I'm contesting to be government. I don't get in a boxing ring to be second best. I'm getting in to win. I'm fighting to win." Despite his claims, Mr Malema scares plenty of people in South Africa - not least in the ruling party. A few weeks ago I sat with a senior figure close to President Zuma, who described the EFF in almost frantic tones as "fascist" and a very real threat to democracy. Mr Malema has certainly captured plenty of headlines and will probably win several seats in parliament for the EFF at Wednesday's election. But polls suggest that nationally, the party is unlikely to gain more than 5% of the vote. An impressive start, but hardly an imminent challenge to the ANC. And yet it does seem likely that the EFF's radical, left-wing populism will have an impact on the ANC's own agenda, pulling it to the left, as the governing party tries to keep its increasingly shaky alliance with the trade union movement intact. And besides, who knows if the pollsters have underestimated Mr Malema's support among registered voters?

नीले और सफेद वर्दी में एक दर्जन स्कूली बच्चे जूलियस मालेमा की वैन को एक गंदी सड़क से नीचे और प्रिटोरिया के बाहर एक पहाड़ी पर इटिरेलेंग की गरीब बस्ती में ले जाते हुए अपने ढोल बजाते हैं।


Smithwick Tribunal: Taoiseach called bombing a 'political crime'

Summary: The Smithwick Tribunal has heard that in 1980, the Taoiseach, "from the outset of the enquiry decreed" that the Warrenpoint killings were a "political crime and no assistance would be given to the RUC".

By Jennifer O'LearyDublin reporter Eighteen soldiers died in the Narrow Water bomb attack close to Warrenpoint in August 1979. The bombs were detonated from a site in County Louth. Jack Lynch was the Taoiseach at the time of the attack in 1979. Charles J Haughey was the Taoiseach in 1980. The claim was made by Witness 68, a former deputy assistant chief constable of the RUC, who was also the chief investigating officer of the Narrow Water bomb attack. Witness 68 said that he attended a meeting between senior Garda, including Assistant Garda Commissioner McLaughlin, and senior RUC officers, including RUC Chief Supt Bill Mooney, at Dublin Castle in 1980. Witness 68 said that the meeting, which lasted an hour, became "acrimonious". "Mr McLaughlin said that the Taoiseach, from the outset of the enquiry decreed that the killings were a political crime and no assistance would be given to the RUC," he said. "Mr McLaughlin was very firm and said there was nothing further in relation to Warrenpoint and we were not to come back." Witness 68 described himself as a "bag-carrier" compared to others at the meeting in Dublin Castle. "I was investigating Warrenpoint, I was junior to all those who were present." The chairman of the tribunal, Judge Peter Smithwick, deemed that "for better or worse" the evidence of Witness 68 should be given following an objection by a legal representative of Ireland's Attorney General. Nuala Butler said the "public interest sought representation" at the tribunal in "exceptional circumstances" and was seeking to have the tribunal "restrain itself". "Given the sensitivity of the matter it is not appropriate for the tribunal to hear the evidence, and it is not related to the matters within the tribunal's terms of reference, it is of no public interest," she said. However, Judge Smithwick said the evidence should not be "smothered" on the grounds of its sensitivity. Devastating evidence Witness 68 also told the tribunal that the lives of "at least a dozen people in the border area could have been saved" had charges been brought against two men arrested following the Narrow Water atrocity. Brendan Burns and Joe Brennan were arrested close to Omeath, County Louth, as suspects but were released without charge. The former RUC officer said he was given to read, on Tuesday morning, a Garda forensic report on the County Louth scene. "For the first time I am getting an insight into evidence which I find devastating against Burns and Brennan," he said. "They were only charged with motoring offences. "Why were they not prosecuted under the explosives act, conspiracy to bomb? They walked away without any charges at all." "Mr Corrigan had an opportunity to do a great thing for the Garda Siochana that day but the fact of the matter is he did not. "Those two men killed at least a dozen more people along the border area. If Mr Corrigan did what he was expected those lives could have been saved." Mr Corrigan is one of three former gardai under the spotlight at the Dublin tribunal. He is now retired and denies all allegations of collusion against him. The Smithwick Tribunal is investigating allegations of Garda collusion in the 1989 IRA murders of two senior RUC officers, Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan.

स्मिथविक ट्रिब्यूनल ने सुना है कि 1980 में, ताओसीच ने "जांच की शुरुआत से ही फैसला सुनाया" कि वारेनप्वाइंट हत्याएं एक "राजनीतिक अपराध था और आर. यू. सी. को कोई सहायता नहीं दी जाएगी।"