Coventry IRA bombing: The 'forgotten' attack on a British city

Summary: On 25 August 1939, five people died and 70 were injured when an IRA bomb exploded in Coventry city centre. Yet 75 years after the explosion, the devastating attack has been all but forgotten. BBC News Online asks why.

By Jenny ScottBBC News Online It is easy to picture Elsie Ansell weaving her way through the Coventry crowds, her footsteps buoyant, her future full of promise. Elsie, 21, a shop assistant at Millets, was due to be married in a fortnight's time to Harry Davies, a local man. Friday was market day in Coventry and Broadgate, the main shopping street, thronged with shoppers and workers. Elsie paused, just for a second, to gaze into a jewellery shop window. In that second, the hands of an alarm clock, placed in the carrier basket of a bicycle which was resting on the kerb behind Elsie, moved to 14:32 BST and a 5lb (2.3kg) bomb exploded, shattering shop windows and lives. "For some time, Broadgate resembled a miniature battlefield," the Midland Telegraph reported. Elsie was killed instantly. The young girl, whose life had seemed destined for such happiness, was identifiable only by her engagement ring. She was later buried in the church where she was due to be a bride - one of five victims of the explosion. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Marie Jones, from Andover, the niece of one of the other victims, Rex Gentle. Rex, 30, was an identical twin from Newtown in Wales. Like Elsie, Rex was engaged. He planned to marry a girl called May from his hometown. He was doing holiday relief work at W.H. Smith and had only been in Coventry for a fortnight. "He loved a laugh and a joke and was known for his willingness to help other people," said Mrs Jones. 'Deal with the devil' Police investigations revealed the bomb had been planted by the IRA as part of what is now a largely-forgotten campaign of attacks on English cities known as the S Plan. Dr David O'Donoghue who has written a book - The Devil's Deal - about the campaign said: "The S stood for sabotage. The campaign started in 1939 and petered out in March 1940. "The official objective was to force a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland." However, Dr O'Donoghue believes the real motivation was to put on a "public display" to Nazi Germany about the IRA's capabilities. The Coventry bombing took place just nine days before the outbreak of World War Two and the IRA attacks on cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Oxford, Liverpool and London, continued until March 1940. "This predated the discovery of concentration camps and other Nazi horrors," Dr O'Donoghue said. "The IRA would have done a deal with the devil to get a united Ireland." Five people died in the explosion: Elsie Ansell, 21, who was walking back from her lunch break. John Arnott, 15, was the youngest victim. He had worked for W.H. Smith since leaving school. Newspaper reports described him as, "a curly-headed lad who wore glasses and must have served thousands of Coventry people with their papers and magazines". "He was full of life and well thought of by everyone that met him," said Jane Bant, his niece. Rex Gentle, 30, was an identical twin from Newtown in Wales. James Clay, 82, was a widower and grandfather. Newspapers said he was "well-known to an older generation of Coventry people" and "possessed the physical and mental energy of a man 20 years younger". A former printer, Mr Clay is described as a "deep reader, a great raconteur and a lover of Coventry, where he was born". He was a former president of the Coventry and District Co-Operative Society who described him as the "Peter Pan of the Midlands". He had been having lunch with a friend at a nearby cafe but had left earlier than usual, saying he felt unwell. Newspaper reports said: "It was the first time in six years Mr Clay [and his friend] had not left the cafe together." Gwilym Rowlands, 50, known as "Bill", was a road sweeper who was working on the pavement outside the shop where the bomb exploded. He was identified a few hours later in the mortuary by his wife, Mary Ann. Ted Cross, now 92, was the first ambulance driver on the scene. "The glass had been sucked out of all the windows and there were a great many casualties," he said. "The first gentleman I reached had terrible stomach injuries. I think the hub of the bike had blown into him. We took him to hospital but unfortunately he died shortly afterwards." Passer-by Robert Kinsella was thrown to the ground in the explosion. "I could see there had been terrible damage done," he said. "There were a lot of people lying about on the ground. The first person I went to was, I believe, old James Clay, whom I picked up. I could see from his injuries he was almost dead." About 70 people were injured - some of them seriously. Sheila Howe's friend from school Muriel Timms, 14, had an operation to remove a piece of steel implanted in her leg. "She never walked again without a limp," she said. "It was an awful thing for her. "She died when she was in her early 80s but the experience cast a dark shadow over her life." The bombers The man who claimed to have planted the bomb - Joby O'Sullivan, from Cork - was never caught. Mike Burns, an Irish journalist who interviewed O'Sullivan in 1969, said he had told him the fact the bomb was left on a busy shopping street was "a total accident". "The intention was to bomb the police station but the bicycle wheels kept getting stuck in the tram tracks so he abandoned it and took off," he said. "He said he wasn't caught because the cops were expecting him to head straight for the ferry at Holyhead. He took the train to London, dumped his clothes and hung around there for a few days until everything died down." Instead two other men, Peter Barnes and James McCormick - under the name James Richards - both from County Offaly, were convicted for the bombing and sentenced to death. McCormick had bought the bike from Halfords and stored the explosives at a house on Clara Street where he lodged. Barnes brought the explosives to Coventry by train. During his trial in Birmingham, McCormick insisted his orders were "not to endanger life". According to criminologist Steve Fielding, whose book Hanged at Birmingham covers the case, the two men were treated as martyrs in Ireland following their executions. "Their bodies were exhumed and reburied in Ireland," he said. Initially, Coventry's considerable Irish community found itself under siege. "Widespread feeling against Irishmen in Coventry - the vast majority of them entirely innocent of any sympathy with the IRA - has been aroused," the Midland Daily Telegraph reported. "Such is the feeling Friday's tragic incident has kindled that many Irishmen in lodgings were faced with requests they should obtain accommodation elsewhere." There were also threats of strike action if factory owners did not consent to an immediate withdrawal of Irish labour. Even Coventry's chief constable had to issue a denial he was Irish. "I am a perfectly good Somerset man," he said. But within days the attack had disappeared from the front pages of Coventry newspapers, replaced with the ominous rise of Hitler and by 3 September Britain was at war. In 1940 much of Coventry's centre was destroyed by the ravages of the Blitz. Even the site of the IRA explosion became unrecognisable, as many of Broadgate's buildings were destroyed. Today it is even difficult to work out where the bomb went off and there is no memorial to the victims. Historian Simon Shaw, who has meticulously studied the attack, said many people do not realise there was a pre-World War Two IRA campaign. "I get the impression a memorial may previously have been considered contentious but with the progress that has been made in Northern Ireland, I'm sure that wouldn't apply today," he said. The victims are only remembered by their families. Marie Jones, daughter of victim Rex Gentle's twin brother, said the story of the Coventry bombings is "something she has grown up with". "It brings tears to my eyes and I never knew him," she said. "But nobody in Coventry remembers the attack now. I would just like to see their names somewhere in the city." "It's one of the worst atrocities there has ever been in Coventry and yet nobody remembers it," added Jane Bant, niece of John Arnott, the teenager who died in the attack. "I think there should be a memorial."

25 अगस्त 1939 को कोवेंट्री शहर के केंद्र में एक आई. आर. ए. बम विस्फोट में पांच लोगों की मौत हो गई और 70 घायल हो गए। विस्फोट के 75 साल बाद भी, विनाशकारी हमले को भुला दिया गया है। बीबीसी न्यूज़ ऑनलाइन पूछता है कि क्यों।


Murder arrest over fatal stabbing in Birmingham

Summary: A man has been arrested over a fatal stabbing in Birmingham.

Bashir Mohamed, 26, was found critically injured in Shyltons Croft, Ladywood, just before 04:20 BST on Thursday and pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination found the victim, from Erdington, died from a stab wound to his arm. An 18-year-old man was arrested at an address in Highgate on Friday morning on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. Det Ch Insp Stu Mobberley, from West Midlands Police, said: "It's clear from our initial investigations that this is a complex case. "Our enquiries are continuing at pace and we now have a good understanding of what we believe led up to the man's death." The force said it was still appealing for witnesses or anyone with information about the killing to get in touch. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk Related Internet Links West Midlands Police

बर्मिंघम में चाकू से जानलेवा हमले के आरोप में एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Northern Ireland floods: Derry Airport closed

Summary: The City of Derry Airport has been closed after severe flooding hit the north west of Northern Ireland.

Heavy rain fell on Tuesday night, resulting in torrents of water entering the building. All flights in and out of the airport have been cancelled and passengers have been advised to stay away. Check in desks are likely to re-open at 13:00 BST on Thursday. Customers should contact their airline directly for advice. A spokesperson for Derry City and Strabane Council apologised for the inconvenience caused.

उत्तरी आयरलैंड के उत्तर पश्चिम में भीषण बाढ़ आने के बाद डेरी हवाई अड्डे के शहर को बंद कर दिया गया है।


The scars of the Windrush scandal in GAIKA's music

Summary: "When I think of Windrush now, I don't think of people standing smiling on a boat happy to arrive," says musician GAIKA , whose parents moved to the UK from Grenada and Jamaica in the 1960s.

By Hannah MooreNewsbeat reporter "I think of a scandal of betrayal and a hostile environment." Across the UK on 22 June, people of Caribbean descent will be celebrating Windrush Day. It marks the anniversary of HMT Windrush arriving in Tilbury Docks, Essex, bringing the first Jamaican immigrants to Britain after World War Two. To lots of people, it symbolises positivity - the beginning of Britain becoming more multicultural. But recently it has become of symbol of pain too. The Windrush scandal - in which Caribbean people have been deported or detained by the British government - has for Gaika confirmed things he says he "already knew". "My work deals with alienation, the alienation that we feel in being from somewhere but not really from there. I think the Windrush scandal kind of solidified that feeling. "It's like 'Oh wait a minute, you're going to deport my grandma because she didn't have exactly the right papers after she's worked here for however many years?'" Much of the Brixton musician's album Basic Volume is inspired by his dad's experience of trying to "fit in" when he first arrived in London. "My dad told a lot of stories about how he felt when he got here. He never really felt like he belonged, because he arrived from Jamaica when he was relatively old, like 16. "He felt the pressure to be a 'good immigrant' and the pressure that if you haven't 'made it' financially then you're not anybody." Charlton Phillip Tavares measurably did "make it" - working as a material scientist, and in his spare time amassing an enviable record collection. And his Jamaican musical roots helped inspire the tracks his son makes today, which underpin the catchy shouts and drum loops of dancehall with foreboding, rumbling basslines. That sound - which has won him fans including Radio 1's Benji B and 1Xtra's Jamz Supernova - isn't simple to define. Perhaps that's why his music often gets described in the media as "alien". It's not a definition GAIKA rejects, saying that as a second-generation Caribbean person, he has always felt slightly apart from mainstream British culture. His video installation SYSTEM, first shown at Somerset House in London last year, used footage from Notting Hill Carnival, the UK's biggest Caribbean street parade, to reflect his "outsider" status. "For me, carnival is inspirational because it's this mass gathering of people just like me, who've been designated 'alien'. "It's a celebration of a unique culture. To me that's political. "It's about holding a space where it says 'We're not going to run, we're just going to play this music really loudly and we're going to celebrate our culture so it can't be destroyed'." GAIKA is currently showing a new video as part of Get Up Stand Up Now, an exhibition of more than 100 black artists, also at Somerset House. By temporarily owning that space, something black artists aren't often able to do, GAIKA says that he and his fellow artists are making a political statement. It takes him back to the Windrush scandal. "It's only when we can create our own spaces that the pain in something like the Windrush scandal can become some way assuaged. "That will go hand in hand with black British people feeling a little bit more British because, right now, I'm not sure that we do." Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.

संगीतकार गैका, जिनके माता-पिता 1960 के दशक में ग्रेनाडा और जमैका से यूके चले गए थे, कहते हैं, "जब मैं अब विंडरश के बारे में सोचता हूं, तो मुझे नहीं लगता कि लोग नाव पर मुस्कुराते हुए खड़े हैं।"


Covid in Scotland: Boris's stick and Nicola's carrot

Summary: There's alignment between Downing Street's and Holyrood's approach to tightened infection controls, but also significant differences, including tone and motivation. While economic constraints are minimised, for now, the sectors worst affected, including pubs and restaurants, are crying out for a renewed surge of support funding, but hearing nothing from the Prime Minister. Getting the message of risk across to the public carries a risk of further dampening consumer confidence, to go out and spend, and to travel.

Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland The first minister has gone further than the prime minister on restricting household visits. That's a tough message socially, but it's got a low financial cost. Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs she might have reached a different position on curtailing business activity if she had the borrowing powers to offer different mitigating measures for the economy, businesses and workers. But without that, and for now, suppression is focusing on social interaction. The tightening of economic constraints are less severe and more closely aligned with UK policy. That's not to say they are cost-free. Keeping office workers at home will continue to deprive city centres of shoppers, diners and drinkers. More broadly, consumer confidence won't be helped by the stern warnings of infection risk. The risk message is necessary to keep people alert, but it also dampens the desire to go out and spend. Performing arts, sports and events are having to reset their expectations of when they can open up again, and it looks a long way off. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra today launched its winter season, and it's entirely digital. 'Catastrophic' The travel industry was already despairing, but the first minister has never been so blunt on foreign travel: don't do it this October break, she said. So who is going to risk a winter getaway, with resurgent infections overseas, a bug that likes the cold, and quarantine risk when you get home again? Alpine ski-ing anyone? The Scottish Passenger Agents Association responded that the FM's comments were "unnecessary, gratuitous and extremely damaging" as it heads towards the end of a "catastrophic" year. Pubs and restaurants will be hit hard by having less drinking time, as bars lock up no later than 10pm. Those rules will be enforced more rigorously, we're told. (Scots aged over 60 will recall a standard 10pm closing time meant a rapid swill in the closing half hour, which was not good for health, or the mood on the pavement outside as people had to leave.) 'Arms around people' But in the near term, the question for business is what support they can expect. While the political pressure is for furlough, the shopping list of tax cuts is getting longer; another year of business rates holiday for retail, leisure, hospitality and tourism: another quarter with VAT bills postponed: help to delay debt repayment: cuts in employers' National Insurance Contributions. But Boris Johnson has been refusing to say anything specific on the next phase of funding. Without his Downing Street neighbour, Rishi Sunak, going back to to the money markets to borrow lots more for grants and furlough payments, that makes it hard-to-impossible for many businesses to absorb six more months of losses, or no revenue at all. Even when the Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross urged the PM to give more support, Mr Johnson turned to the figures in his briefing on finances already provided to Scotland by the Treasury, along with a general pledge to support people in future. The government will "throw its arms around people". Flexible furlough Will that be enough? With pressure rising from business, unions, opposition and increasingly sharp challenges from the PM's own side, attention will focus even more on finding a successor to the furlough scheme. It has been successful in keeping people out of unemployment, even when there's no work for them to do - but at quite a cost. New figures published by the Treasury on Tuesday show it has cost £39.3bn, up by £4bn in a month. It has worked also in its more flexible form, with employers able to re-engage workers on a part-time basis, with part-time furlough pay. In its first month, July, there were 367,000 Scots furloughed, and 78,000 of them were on the flexible version. That came with new UK figures on the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, which had less success in reaching those in need of help. The first wave, to the end of July, paid out up to £7,500, and cost the Treasury £7.8bn for 2.7m recipients. The second pulse, of reverse tax payments through HMRC, came to £5.6bn, for 2.2m people. Mind games Another point where virus suppression meets economics is in psychology. The experts are feeding their judgements to political leaders on which messages work best in persuading people to change their behaviour or simply "dae as their tellt". That was evident in different messaging from the prime minister than the first minister on how long we should expect these renewed restrictions to be applied. Ms Sturgeon emphasised a three-weekly review. Mr Johnson is softening us up for about six months. My hunch is that they have the same time-frame in mind. The Scottish approach seems to be to keep people on board and supportive for short periods, which get rolled over, while keeping the public's attention focused. That assumes six months is too long for many to contemplate and stay supportive - particularly as those six months take us through winter, Christmas and New Year. Softer tone The other significant difference in tone, which has been emerging over recent days, is whether to use the carrot or the stick. Those who see others breaking the rules, and who blame young people for spreading virus, are likely to want to see a punitive response. The British see themselves as having a sense of fair play: if they're to give up their liberties, they really resent those who fail to play by those rules. That approach was most evident from the prime minister today and by others in recent days. There's a subtle contrast with the message from Holyrood, which takes a softer tone. The toughest talk from Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday was about enforcing 10pm closure and distancing rules in bars and restaurants. They have licences and face health inspectors, so the stick can be more easily applied. But for the wider public, the Holyrood carrot is held out as a sense of common endeavour: we owe it to each other, particularly the vulnerable: let's look after one another. That emphasises solidarity with the majority who obey the rules, rather than highlighting resentment at the minority who do not. We'll find out this winter which approach works better.

डाउनिंग स्ट्रीट और होलीरूड के सख्त संक्रमण नियंत्रण के दृष्टिकोण के बीच संरेखण है, लेकिन स्वर और प्रेरणा सहित महत्वपूर्ण अंतर भी हैं। हालांकि आर्थिक बाधाओं को कम किया गया है, अभी के लिए, पब और रेस्तरां सहित सबसे अधिक प्रभावित क्षेत्र, समर्थन निधि के नए सिरे से उछाल के लिए चिल्ला रहे हैं, लेकिन प्रधान मंत्री से कुछ भी नहीं सुन रहे हैं। जनता तक जोखिम का संदेश पहुँचाने से उपभोक्ता का विश्वास और कम होने, बाहर जाने और खर्च करने और यात्रा करने का खतरा है।


Dagestan - the most dangerous place in Europe

Summary: Once it was Chechnya, today it is the republic of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea that is the most explosive place in Russia - and in Europe. There are bomb attacks almost daily, shootouts between police and militants, tales of torture and of people going missing.

By Lucy AshBBC News, Makhachkala Two armed men in camouflage holding Kalashnikov rifles enter the shop and tell the customers to leave. The terrified cashier stumbles past as one of the men puts a bomb on the counter and sets the timer. He does not bother emptying the till, he just walks out of the door. Seconds later, the shop is filled with smoke. Attacks like this one caught on supermarket security cameras - in which Islamic fighters punish shops that sell alcohol - have become routine events in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala. The owners typically get a warning first, often delivered by text message, or on a USB memory stick thrown through car windows, or into a letterbox. If they ignore it, there may be a bomb or a shootout or the owners may agree to pay protection money. "The fighters like to portray themselves as so devout," says a lieutenant colonel in the anti-terrorism police, who I will call Bashir. "But many are just cynical criminals running protection rackets." I met Bashir at a football match, watching the Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto'o - reportedly the world's best-paid footballer - play for Anzhi Makhachkala. The atmosphere inside the stadium was relaxed, even joyful, with old men munching sunflower seeds and children waving flags, despite the heavy security outside. After the game, a smiling Eto'o told me he was proud to play in Dagestan - but he does not spend much time here, heading straight back to the safety of Moscow after every match. Puritanism In the centre of Makhachkala, there are armed police on almost every corner. Bashir drives me past a place where two car bombs recently killed a policeman and a young girl and wounded 60 police and passers-by. "When our guys rushed to the scene of the first explosion, a blast about 12 times more powerful went off," he adds. "It was a trap. They wanted to get as many of us as possible." He asks me not to use his real name, or to photograph his face. Government officials and policemen are the main targets of the increasingly ruthless Islamic insurgents. Many officers are too scared to go on to the street in their uniform. Police who have to stop and search cars often wear masks. But unlike some of his colleagues, Bashir seems to want to understand why so many young Dagestanis have joined the rebels and gone into hiding - known here as "going into the forest". At the university, I watch him lecture students about the dangers of fundamentalist websites. He tells them a cautionary tale about a young medical student who made some so-called friends online, and who later forced him to plant a car bomb. Bashir is joined by an imam, who urges moderation and compliance with Russian law. "If a man only gets secular education he will be heartless - if he only gets religious education he'll be a fanatic," the imam says. Most Muslims in Dagestan are Sufi but younger people are increasingly drawn to the Salafi branch of Islam, which is less mystical, more puritanical and, crucially, outside the control of the state. This is seen by the interior ministry as a problem, as I discover in the village of Sovietskoye, three hours south of Makhachkala. Murder Said Gereikhanov, the young imam at the village mosque, tells me about a day last May, when dozens of Salafi mosque-goers were detained and beaten by police. Plain-clothed security officers burst into the mosque in muddy boots, during Friday prayers, and told everyone to leave, he says. Outside, they found themselves surrounded by masked men with guns, and the whole congregation of 150 people, including 15 school boys, was taken to a police station in a neighbouring town. Police then summoned the headmaster of the village secondary school, Sadikullah Akhmedov. Said says he was shocked by the brutal treatment of the teenagers - and by Mr Akhmedov's failure to intercede on their behalf. He shows me photographs of bruised bodies and young men with half of their beards shaved off. On the night of 9 July, two months after the arrests at the mosque, there was a more serious incident - one which sent shock waves through Russia. Mr Akhmedov was gunned down in his own sitting room by unknown assailants. At the school nobody is keen to talk about it. The headmaster's distraught widow, Djeramat, tells me she has no idea why her husband was killed. But Said, the imam, says Mr Akhmedov banned the hijab in school and treated girls wearing them as if they "were armed with weapons". Said believes only the radical fighters could be responsible. He adds wearily: "You can't deliver justice through murders. They just make things worse. This war has already been going on for 20 years." Persuasion Like Bashir, Rizvan Kurbanov, Dagestan's deputy premier and the man in charge of police and security, is keen to reach out to disaffected youth. Clutching his iPad, Mr Kurbanov shows me his Facebook account. He says when more than 20 terrorist internet sites are putting pressure on Dagestan, the government has to reclaim cyberspace and use social networks to stop young people from being seduced by online jihadists. "No place on earth is safe from terrorism. Today the Caucasus, Dagestan included, is of heightened interest to terrorist organisations and they try to spread unrest here," he says. An energetic man with a mop of grey hair, he chairs a new commission to persuade fighters to lay down their arms and go back to their families. "The commission is like a bridge between a person who's lost his way, who's been duped and is in the woods, and society. He can walk across this bridge, say I've done this and that, please forgive me." This feels like a new approach in the North Caucasus where strong-hand tactics and repression have long been the rule, with the full backing of the Kremlin. In neighbouring Chechnya, forces loyal to President Ramzan Kadyrov have been accused of burning down the houses of suspected militants, leaving their families homeless. Mr Kurbanov, on the other hand, urges parents to track down wayward sons and bring them round a table where they can appeal for clemency. So far though the commission has only dealt with minor figures in the insurgency and government's leniency only goes so far, Mr Kurbanov says. "Those who don't understand, the ones I call non-people - because like animals they just crave blood and want to fight - they will be dealt with briefly by the necessary power agencies." You can hear Lucy Ash's full report on Dagestan in Crossing Continents on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 24 November at 11:00 GMT and again on Monday 28 November at 20:30 GMT. You can also watch her film on Dagestan on Newsnight on BBC2 on Thursday 24 November at 22:30 GMT.

एक समय यह चेचन्या था, आज यह कैस्पियन सागर पर स्थित दागिस्तान गणराज्य है जो रूस और यूरोप में सबसे विस्फोटक स्थान है। लगभग हर दिन बम हमले होते हैं, पुलिस और आतंकवादियों के बीच गोलीबारी होती है, यातना की कहानियां होती हैं और लोग लापता हो जाते हैं।


Confessions of a call-centre scammer

Summary: This week, the BBC showed scammers at work in an Indian call centre, recorded by an activist who hacked into the company's security cameras. Staff were seen laughing at their victims in the US and the UK. But who are these scammers, and how do they justify their actions?

By Rajini VaidyanathanBBC News, Delhi Behind a pair of mirrored sunglasses, Piyush is telling me how he made a quarter of a million dollars. "It was easy money," he says, detailing how he bought fancy cars and wore designer clothes. From a modest background, Piyush made a fortune by defrauding innocent victims at the other end of a phone. "To become a rock star we have to do something," he says. "Become a thief?" I ask. "Right," he replies coolly. Piyush meets me in a friend's apartment, in one of Delhi's richest neighbourhoods. The group of young men I've come to talk to all have one thing in common - they've worked in India's scam call-centre industry. The country is well-known for outsourcing jobs from Western countries to legitimate call centres, but there's also a thriving dark side. For nine years after leaving college, Piyush was part of it. "I wasn't getting a job anywhere else and the money and the incentives were good," he says. The company Piyush worked for ran what is known as a "tech support scam". It would send a pop-up to people's screens, telling them their computer had been infected by a "pornographic virus" or other malware, and giving them a helpline number to call. As panicking customers rang in, Piyush and his colleagues would milk them for money, to fix a problem that didn't actually exist. Piyush tells me that tricking people is an "art". "We used to target the old people," he says. "There are many old people in the US who don't have families, are alone and are disabled, so it's very easy to trick them." I look at this man sitting opposite me in his baggy jeans and hipster T-shirt and wonder how he could be so cold-hearted. How would he feel if his own grandparents were victims of scamming, I ask? "Yeah, I will feel bad," he says. "I did it because I needed money and that's it." Piyush tells me how once he forced a woman to hand over her last $100, just so he could meet a target. For her, on the other side of the world, it was Christmas. "I took that $100 and she cried a lot while making the payment. Yeah, this was the worst call I ever had," he says. Spying on the scammers Campaigner Jim Browning hacked into a Delhi call centre run by Amit Chauhan and recorded this video: Readers in the UK can click here to watch Rajini Vaidyanathan's Panorama documentary The call centre featured in the programme was raided by a police a few days later - Amit Chauhan, is now in custody Piyush went on to set up his own call centre. He tells me it was easy. He rented office space and told the landlord he was starting a marketing firm. His staff worked late hours due to the time difference with the US, so there were few other people around to ask questions about what they were up to. As the boss, Piyush was constantly thinking of new ways to con customers out of cash. He drew up a script for another fraudulent scheme, known as the IRS scam, which involved cold-calling people in the US and telling them they'd get a tax refund of thousands if they first handed over $184. "We used to tell them that the police will go to their house and arrest them if they didn't pay!" he says. When he started out, Piyush was paid one rupee for every dollar he made in sales. So for a $100 dollar scam, he'd only get $1.25 (£1). But once he became the boss the money flooded in. Some "lucky months" he took home $50,000 (£40,000). Another ex-scammer, Sam, got into the business unintentionally. Unemployment in India is now higher than it has been for decades, so when Sam was looking for his first job he thanked a friend for telling him about a place he could earn good money without working too hard. At the interview he was told it was a sales job, pitching products to customers in the USA. It was only while he was being trained in how to talk to customers that he realised what he was getting into. "After a month, when we actually made it to the floor, when we were supposed to go live, that's when we figured out the entire thing was a scam," he tells me. By that point Sam felt it was too late to back out. "I was making more money than an MBA graduate and I don't have a college degree," he remembers. "I used to drink a lot, party a lot, what are you going to do with all that money when you literally you don't have any future plans?" Like some other scammers I've talked to, Sam wrestled with his conscience but told himself he was only targeting the wealthy. "I just had to be sure that the customers weren't handing me the money for their food… so I always used to pitch to the big guys who can afford it," he says. He could work someone's income out, he says, from "the way they talk, the sort of things they have on their computer". "Is it OK to steal from people if you think they can afford it," I ask? "Yeah," he replies confidently. Sam says he's still in touch with some of the people he decided were too poor to be scammed, including a mother of three who worked in a fast food restaurant in the US. He now helps her with any computer issues she might have, and is on her Christmas card list. Sam says his high salary won him respect from his father, whom he no longer had to rely on for cash. As we talk, he leans over and shows me the watch on his wrist, worth about $400. It was a gift from his boss for meeting his targets. But his father - and friends - didn't know how he had come into such wealth. "When they asked what I did, I told them I worked for an IT company as a salesman," he says. Six months into the job, the call centre Sam worked at was raided by the police and was forced to shut down. Sam escaped arrest and within days secured employment in another similar business. His bosses were detained for less than a day and he believes they just restarted the business under a different name. It's easy for such companies to operate under the radar, he tells me, which is why they continue to do so. Sam now has a job with a reputable tech company and has long left the world of scamming. He says he decided to talk to me openly to appeal to others like him to pursue legal jobs, which offer better prospects in the long term - and where you don't run the risk of arrest. Unlike Sam, Piyush didn't hide his job from his family. "I told them everything. They knew I was earning a lot and were pleased," he says. As I glance down at his jeans, I can see a patch stitched on, with the words "take every chance". But after close to a decade of scamming he too quit, in fear of police crackdowns. He feels lucky he never got caught, and now regrets his actions. "I felt good at the time," he says. "In hindsight it doesn't feel as good." Piyush used his earnings to set up other legal businesses - but ended up losing it all. "After that it didn't go right," he says. "So, I would say it was karma." Piyush and Sam are pseudonyms You may also be interested in: She pretends to have a baby for adoption - can she get help to stop?

इस सप्ताह, बी. बी. सी. ने एक भारतीय कॉल सेंटर में घोटालेबाजों को काम करते हुए दिखाया, जिसे एक कार्यकर्ता ने रिकॉर्ड किया था, जिसने कंपनी के सुरक्षा कैमरों को हैक किया था। कर्मचारियों को अमेरिका और ब्रिटेन में अपने पीड़ितों पर हंसते हुए देखा गया था। लेकिन ये घोटालेबाज कौन हैं, और वे अपने कार्यों को कैसे उचित ठहराते हैं?


George Harrison's childhood home in Speke sells at auction

Summary: The childhood home of former Beatle George Harrison has sold at an auction at the Cavern Club for £156,000.

Harrison was six years old in 1949 when he moved into 25 Upton Green in Speke, Liverpool, with his parents. The three-bedroom mid-terrace home was where The Quarrymen held some of their first rehearsals before the band evolved into the Beatles in 1960. The fully-renovated property was sold to a Beatles fan from London for £56,000 more than the guide price.

पूर्व बीटल जॉर्ज हैरिसन का बचपन का घर कैवर्न क्लब में एक नीलामी में 156,000 पाउंड में बिक गया है।


Jimmy Savile and workplace culture today

Summary: When I was a cub reporter on my local newspaper in the late 1970s, I returned from the magistrates court with what I thought was a front page story. A councillor had appeared on charges of sexual assault on young girls, an alleged abuse of power that had left me shocked.

Mark EastonHome editor@BBCMarkEastonon Twitter But my disgust turned to outrage when the news editor told me they wouldn't be running the story. "Our readers don't want to hear about that kind of thing," he said. I remember he used the word "paedophilia" - a term I hadn't heard before. Whatever it meant, it was not a subject deemed worthy of space in that evening's paper. It is a reminder of just how attitudes have changed. Many readers will recall how, 40 or 50 years ago, children were warned about the uncle with "wandering hands", the local flasher who hung around the playground or the PE teacher who took particular pleasure in getting small boys to do naked press-ups (that happened at my school). But all too rarely were these kinds of concerns taken to the authorities. In fact, one suspects that the police would have regarded accusations of such improper behaviour as domestic or trivial. Rather like my news editor, the desk sergeant would probably have shrugged and suggested the complainant worried about proper crime. The Jimmy Savile story takes the sexual politics of the present day and applies them to another age. The teenage groupies in the 60s and 70s who hung around the pop scene, hoping a bit of the glamour and excitement would rub off onto their own lives, were entering very dangerous territory - a world where sexual liberation was colliding with traditional power structures. It is obvious now that many young lives were seriously damaged by powerful men who took advantage of the new freedoms and opportunities, exploiting their position without thought for their responsibilities. The sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll philosophy glorified hedonic pleasure, living for the moment and to hell with the consequences. But consequences there were for the victims, if not for the perpetrators. Today, of course, the word paedophilia is a familiar term in the news lexicon. Those found guilty of crossing the boundaries face the full force of public condemnation as well as the full force of the law. There is nothing trivial or domestic about the sexual assault or rape of children. A similar cultural change can be seen with the sexual politics of the office. Many career women over the age of 50 will have a story of being touched up or groped by some senior colleague at work. From the 60s until relatively recently, there existed a pervasive attitude that unwanted sexual advances were an irritant rather than a disciplinary matter or a crime. Although the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 did provide some protection for women in the workplace, it was not until the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 that employers were obliged to take seriously the issue of female staff being bullied or sexually harassed in the office. Bosses covered their legal obligations by introducing equal opportunities policies and training sessions, requiring staff to discuss and consider the meaning of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in the work-place. I think this open debate had a much bigger impact on male behaviour in the office than the threat of legal action. The Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations of 2005 provided clear protection for any woman subjected to "unwanted conduct that has the purpose or effect of violating her dignity or of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her". The TUC has said that law means "that if, for example, a colleague persists in making remarks about what nice legs a female employee has, or her boss promises her promotion if she goes away with him for the weekend, she should be able to claim that this is sexual harassment". At the time these laws were being debated, there were plenty of voices arguing they were unnecessary - more red tape binding business from the "right-on brigade". Today, I suspect few people would demand the repeal of such legislation. Office politics has changed markedly over recent decades. So, again, when considering the lecherous behaviour of disc jockeys and other pop celebrities in the past, we need to remember the cultural framework within which it happened. That is not to excuse the boorish, thoughtless or vile activities of powerful men who should have known better. But it is a reminder of how far we have come and how recent some of those changes have been. We sometimes fail to notice how civilizing forces are improving people's behaviour. Anyone with information into these allegations - or who needs support on the issues raised in this article - can call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk, or call their local police station by dialling 101.

1970 के दशक के अंत में जब मैं अपने स्थानीय समाचार पत्र में एक शावक रिपोर्टर था, तो मैं मजिस्ट्रेट की अदालत से एक ऐसी कहानी के साथ लौटा, जिसे मैं पहले पन्ने की कहानी समझता था। एक पार्षद युवा लड़कियों पर यौन उत्पीड़न के आरोप में पेश हुआ था, जो कथित रूप से सत्ता का दुरुपयोग था, जिसने मुझे चौंका दिया था।


A brief history of Liberal leaders

Summary: The Liberal Democrats name their new leader on Thursday. Either Tim Farron or Norman Lamb will follow in the footsteps of some distinguished and colourful figures, who have led the party and its Liberal Party forerunner through the peaks and troughs of their post-war history.

Prime Ministers and political legends The great Liberal prime ministers of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century - most notably William Gladstone, Herbert Asquith and David Lloyd George - achieved a status that perhaps none of their recent successors could have hoped to emulate, although Nick Clegg came closest as deputy prime minister. While their eccentricities and peccadilloes would not stand up to contemporary scrutiny, Gladstone led the country on a record four separate occasions and was prime minister when Britain's writ ran across much of the globe while Asquith and Lloyd George saw the country through the trauma of the First World War and its aftermath. The Earl of Rosebery and Henry Campbell-Bannerman are less celebrated, the former noteworthy for owning a Derby winner while in power and the latter for winning the 1906 election - the last time the party gained an overall majority. Clement Davies (1945-56) The Welsh barrister and politician became Liberal Party leader in the aftermath of Labour's landslide victory in the 1945 election. The result marked the end of an era for the party, which had been part of the wartime coalition government for five years. Its leader Archibald Sinclair, who had been Secretary of State for Air under Winston Churchill and had previously been a Cabinet minister in Ramsay MacDonald's national government, had lost his own seat and the party saw its parliamentary representation almost halved from 21 to 12 - its worst performance for more than 100 years. However, things were to get progressively worse under Mr Davies' leadership, with its share of the vote falling from 9.1% in the 1950 election to 2.5% a year later and 2.7% in 1955. By that point, the party had been reduced to just six seats. Originally viewed as a caretaker leader until the more charismatic Sinclair returned to Parliament - which he never did - Davies held the party together for more than a decade at perhaps its lowest point. Jo Grimond (1956-1967) Jo Grimond succeeded Clement Davies in 1956 after a coup by senior party figures. The Orkney and Shetland MP - whom leadership contender Tim Farron has named as one of his three heroes - put a spring back in the party's step and gradually rebuilt its standing in the country and its presence in Parliament. Although the party effectively stood still in the 1959 election, it fared much better in the two subsequent polls, winning nine seats in 1964 and 12 seats two years later, largely at the expense of the Conservatives. Its performance in 1964, when it won 11.2% of the vote, was its best for more than 30 years. It was during Grimond's reign that the party won the first and, by no means the last, of a series of sensational by-election victories, taking the seats of Torrington in 1958 and Orpington in 1962. Jeremy Thorpe (1967-1976) After leading the party into three general elections, Mr Grimond made way for a younger leader although, ironically, he was to step in on a temporary basis almost a decade later after Jeremy Thorpe's own resignation. Thorpe, the first Liberal leader to be elected, led the party through the most eventful period in its post-war history. While the party lost ground in 1970, when its number of MPs halved to six, it made spectacular progress in February 1974, winning almost 20% of the vote - although it only had 14 seats to show for its best performance since 1929. Edward Heath tried to strike a deal with Thorpe so he could stay in Downing Street, which could have seen the Liberal leader offered a cabinet post, but the negotiations came to nothing. Six months later, the Lib Dems repeated their feat - winning 13 seats and 18% of the vote. However, two years later Thorpe resigned the leadership to fight charges of conspiracy and incitement to murder amid allegations of an affair with a former male model, After a high-profile trial - which was interrupted so he could fight the 1979 election - he was acquitted of the charges but his political career was over. David Steel (1976-1988) David Steel overwhelmingly defeated John Pardoe to become Liberal Party leader in 1976 and his decade in charge of the party was characterised by huge shifts and realignments in British politics. Under his leadership, the Liberals effectively kept James Callaghan's Labour government in power for nearly three years, when its majority disappeared, although under the terms of the Lib-Lab pact, Steel never joined the government. The party did respectably in the 1979 election, winning 11 seats but when it joined forces with the new Social Democratic Party to fight the 1983 election as the SDP-Liberal Alliance, it briefly threatened to break the mould of British politics. Although together they won a spectacular 25% of the vote, just 700,000 fewer votes than Labour, this only translated into 23 seats, of which the Liberal side of the alliance won 17. Four years later, it repeated the feat, winning 22 seats - of which 17 again were Liberal. Robert Maclennan/David Steel (1988) After the Liberal Party officially agreed to merge with the SDP, David Steel and the SDP's Robert Maclennan acted as interim joint leaders of what initially was the Social and Liberal Democrats until a new leader was elected. Neither men chose to stand in the subsequent contest, in which Paddy Ashdown comfortably beat Alan Beith. Paddy Ashdown (1988-1999) The former royal marine took the party to a different level altogether, in terms of organisation and electoral performance, although his leadership opened a debate about the Lib Dems position in the political spectrum which still rages today. Paddy Ashdown fought two elections as leader. In 1992, the party effectively trod water, winning 20 seats in an election which was dismayingly familiar to critics of the two-party system. But that all changed when, in 1997, the Conservative vote collapsed in large parts of the country and the Lib Dems, particularly in the west country and the London suburbs, were the main beneficiaries. They won 46 seats - ironically on a lower share than in 1992. Despite having the largest third party presence in Parliament for over 60 years, the scale of Labour's landslide meant the Lib Dems were effectively marginalised. Pre-election talk of a realignment on the centre-left, and progressive co-operation in the shape of electoral reform largely disappeared and Paddy Ashdown stepped down two years later. Charles Kennedy (1999-2006) Charles Kennedy saw off four other candidates, the largest field in the party's history, to win the leadership in 1999. Establishing a principle of so-called equidistance between the two main parties, Mr Kennedy took the party to its post-war electoral pinnacle, winning 52 seats in 2001 and 62 seats in 2005 - when its vote share exceeded 22%. Mr Kennedy's opposition to the Iraq War gave the party a distinct identity and electoral asset it had perhaps lacked in the past and it started winning seats in places such as Solihull and Cardiff Central, which were virgin territory for the party. But, despite this success, there was a rebellion against Mr Kennedy - who had been fighting a drink problem - by MPs who thought the party should have done better and he was forced to resign less than eight months after the election. Sir Menzies Campbell (2006-7) Sir Menzies Campbell led the party for less than two years, winning a leadership contest in 2006 but stepping down voluntarily, albeit in the face of calls to quit, eighteen months later. The former champion sprinter, who competed in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, is the only permanent leader in the party's history not to have fought a general election. From the start, Sir Menzies was dogged by question marks over his age and whether the party needed a more youthful figure. But when he stood down, the then 66-year old was temporarily succeeded by Vince Cable, himself only two years younger. Nick Clegg (2007-2015) Nick Clegg achieved a series of notable firsts in his eight years as Lib Dem leader. The former EU official and MEP was the narrowest winner of any leadership election in the party's history, prevailing by just over 500 votes from Chris Huhne. He took part in the first ever TV general election debate and, most significantly, he took the party into government for the first time in 60 years, becoming deputy prime minister in the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition, in which the party had more than 20 ministers and influence over all its key decisions. He stood down after a series of electoral reverses, which culminated in May when the party saw its number of MPs drop from 62 to eight and its lowest vote share for 45 years. Who's going to be next? We find out on Thursday afternoon whether it will be Tim Farron, above left, or Norman Lamb, above right, who will be tasked with resurrecting liberal fortunes. Find out more about them and the leadership contest here.

लिबरल डेमोक्रेट्स गुरुवार को अपने नए नेता का नाम घोषित करेंगे। या तो टिम फैरन या नॉर्मन लैम्ब कुछ प्रतिष्ठित और रंगीन हस्तियों के नक्शेकदम पर चलेंगे, जिन्होंने युद्ध के बाद के अपने इतिहास के शिखर और गर्तों के माध्यम से पार्टी और इसकी लिबरल पार्टी का नेतृत्व किया है।


Five top tips for finding work

Summary: Almost a million young people are unemployed in the UK, according the latest figure. Newsbeat has brought together a panel of experts to give young jobseekers advice from application through to interview. Check back all week for the latest videos.

DAY FIVE: HOW TO LAND YOUR DREAM JOB Chris Samuels, 24, dreams of becoming an actor or television presenter. He says: "I know that media work is unrealistic because it is competitive, but I like making people laugh." The panel give him advice on networking and using contacts, and how to tailor his CV to suit the type of job he is going for. DAY FOUR: HOW TO BOUNCE BACK AFTER BEING LAID OFF Ben, 22, has been finding it hard to get motivated after losing his job and isn't sure what area he wants to work in. "I've been going for anything that I believe I can do basically. I've applied for retail, I've been trying to look for factory and warehouse work. I've lost count to be honest," he said. "Finding the motivation to just so much as get out of bed in the morning has become a real struggle for me since I got laid off." The panel help him come up with a plan to get studying again. DAY THREE: HOW TO MAKE YOUR CV STAND OUT Eighteen-year-old George from Bury has been looking for a job since leaving college in June. "I've found it difficult because all companies want experience," he said. "They just email back saying there are too many applicants and I haven't got through. "I am stuck in the house because I haven't got enough cash to go out and see my friends." George is having problems getting an interview, so dragons Shaf Rasul, Kavita Oberoi and Tom Mursell give him some hints and tips on writing a better CV and covering letter. DAY TWO: GETTING AN INTERVIEW Nina, 24, from Swindon has been unemployed since losing her job in January. She is now looking for work in a retail store but has only got through to the face-to-face interview stage on a handful of occassions. "There is a bit of a hurdle between applying for the job and getting the interview," she said. "In my area it is very difficult because the unemployment numbers are so high." Nina wants to know how to nail the perfect interview when she gets to that stage. DAY ONE: STANDING OUT Twenty-three-year-old Taahir from Leicester graduated this summer from De Montford University with a degree in marketing. He has been applying for jobs in the motor industry. "My passion is cars so I've been looking for a job in that area but companies are coming back saying I just haven't got the experience," he said. "It feels like employers are cutting marketing departments, especially in the recession." In a competitive jobs market he wants to know how to get noticed when he applies for a marketing job. Check back each day this week for more hints and tips from our jobs panel. NEWSBEAT'S JOBS PANEL Shaf is one of Scotland's best known entrepreneurs. He runs IT company E-Net Computers and says he earns enough to "justify buying a new Aston Martin every year". He stars in the latest online version of Dragons Den. Kavita is one of Britain's best known female entrepreneurs. She founded and still runs a healthcare business in Derby. Kavita has appeared on TV shows including The Secret Millionaire and The Apprentice: You're Fired! Twenty-year-old Tom Mursell runs a website for school leavers called notgoingtouni.co.uk. He was named as a Future 100 Young Entrepreneur in 2008, lives on the south coast and supports his local football club, Southampton FC.

नवीनतम आंकड़ों के अनुसार, यू. के. में लगभग दस लाख युवा बेरोजगार हैं। न्यूजबीट ने युवा नौकरी चाहने वालों को आवेदन से लेकर साक्षात्कार तक की सलाह देने के लिए विशेषज्ञों के एक पैनल को एक साथ लाया है। नवीनतम वीडियो के लिए पूरे सप्ताह वापस देखें।


Alderney 70th homecoming anniversary marked

Summary: A commemorative plaque marking the 70th anniversary of the return of islanders after the German occupation has been unveiled in Alderney.

The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by enemy forces during World War Two. Jersey, Guernsey and Sark were liberated in May 1945, but the people of Alderney were not able to return home until 15 December. Other events will include a musical play written for the anniversary. In June 1940 the entire population of Alderney - about 1,500 people - were evacuated to the UK on six ships. Shortly after Germans soldiers arrived on the island they set up concentration and forced labour camps where hundreds of workers died during the occupation.

एल्डर्नी में जर्मन कब्जे के बाद द्वीपवासियों की वापसी की 70वीं वर्षगांठ को चिह्नित करने वाली एक स्मारक पट्टिका का अनावरण किया गया है।


Janet Scott death: Man charged with murder.

Summary: A man has been charged with the murder of a pedestrian who died when she was hit by a car.

Janet Scott, 51, of Arnold, Nottingham, was pronounced dead at the scene in Peel Street. Simon Mellors, 56, of Berkeley Court, Nottingham, has also been charged with the attempted murder of a man, 35, who remains in hospital with non life-threatening injuries. Mr Mellors is due to appear before magistrates on Thursday.

एक व्यक्ति पर एक पैदल यात्री की हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है, जिसकी कार की चपेट में आने से मौत हो गई थी।


The Umbrella Academy: Where do superheroes on screen go from here?

Summary: You're in skin-tight lycra leggings, with a pair of brightly coloured y-fronts pulled over the top, and (other than the chafing) there's only one thing on your mind - fighting crime.

By Will ChalkNewsbeat reporter Being a superhero used to be so simple, these days it's anything but. Take the Netflix show The Umbrella Academy, the first series of which was watched by 45 million households. The show is more about a dysfunctional family wrestling with the effects of a cold and unloving father than about superhuman powers. As British actor Tom Hopper puts it: "They're all fighting against their powers, really - they're all trying to just be human". His character, Luther, is a human/ape hybrid with super strength who spent his formative years living on the moon, but he spends most of his screen time moping around because he's in love with his adopted sister. It makes you wonder: Just how human can you make a superhero before they stop being, well, super? "The characters represent a lot of people's issues in real life," Tom tells Radio 1 Newsbeat ahead of the release of the show's second series. It sees the seven heroes accidentally stranded in 1960s Texas with only 10 days to stop a nuclear apocalypse. Before they get to the small matter of saving the world, though, they've got to get to grips with a racist and homophobic society. "There's a lot of people in certain demographics that have these struggles and we represent them and then, on top of that, we've got to think about being a superhero," Tom says. "That's the problem in their life, their main issue is that they've got to be superheroes and that's why I fell in love with the script in the first place because, fundamentally, it's about them as people." People, though, as everyone knows, are complicated creatures. Take Klaus - played by Irish actor Robert Sheehan. Blessed (or cursed?) with the ability to talk to the dead, he ends up using drink and drugs as a way of getting them to shut up. "I suppose for each of the characters their superpower represents some some base level pain that they have to then deal with," Robert says. "For Klaus, he's never been bothered to really deal with the source, so instead it's just easier to kind of throw drugs down on top. "And that's a very human way of dealing with with a struggle." Every one of The Umbrella Academy's "base level pains" and "fundamental struggles", though, is balanced out by something completely bizarre; from talking monkeys and fish to what might be the greatest relationship between an old man and a shop mannequin ever committed to film. It's based on graphic novels by My Chemical Romance frontman and self-confessed comic geek Gerard Way, and it owes a lot to classics like X-Men and The Watchmen. Still - its significance to the genre as a whole could be huge. With massive viewer figures, it's arguably the most successful superhero franchise ever not to come out of Marvel or DC. Tom, though, insists taking on the big boys isn't on their minds. "I think that's probably part of the reason it works is that we don't see other superhero shows or movies as competition. "We're just in our own little world and I think that's what is quite enjoyable about The Umbrella Academy family." But, regardless of whether its cast like to think about the bigger picture or not, The Umbrella Academy has carved itself out a niche at what feels like a crucial time for the genre. With Netflix losing the rights to broadcast Marvel content last year, there's an appetite for new comic book adaptations. Then you've got Alan Moore, one of the most celebrated graphic novelists of all time, describing existing superhero culture as "tremendously embarrassing." In short, it's a good time to be trying something new. "There seems to be something about the moment we're in that seems to be pushing superhero narratives to the fore again, as maybe we look for heroes to help us solve problems," says Rayna Denison, a senior lecturer in film, television and Media Studies at the University of East Anglia. She specialises in superheroes and says The Umbrella Academy is one of the best TV adaptations of a comic she's seen in a while. "I like how all of the superhero archetypes get stripped down and deconstructed and broken and then put back together, and I think that's also something we're interested in as a society is figuring out the human responses to what to do when heroes fall. "We're getting serious social issues written into the characters now in ways that are creating a lot more diversity within superhero cultures, but also allowing superheroes to bear the burden of the difficult questions society is asking of itself. "And I think that's really important because it means that media that were once meant for children are now very much aimed to all of us." The Umbrella Academy season 2 launches on Netflix on 31 July. Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.

आप त्वचा-तंग लाइक्रा लेगिंग्स में हैं, जिसमें चमकीले रंग के वाई-फ्रंट की एक जोड़ी शीर्ष पर खींची गई है, और (चैफिंग के अलावा) आपके दिमाग में केवल एक ही बात है-अपराध से लड़ना।


Sexual assault: Can wearable gadgets ward off attackers?

Summary: There are a growing number of gadgets and apps on the market which aim to help keep women safe from sexual harassment and attack. But are they effective or could they merely reinforce the image of women as victims?

By Lorelei MihalaTechnology of Business reporter It was five o'clock in the morning. Alexandra Ceranek was cycling through "a lonely industrial area" on her way to work as usual. "I'm a saleswoman and I have to start my work very early in the morning," says the 48-year-old from Oberhausen, Germany. "Two men were standing there," she recalls. As she cycled past, one of them attacked her, grabbing her backpack and pulling her down off the bike and onto the ground. As she lay there in terror expecting a sexual assault, she kept saying to herself: "Pull the cord, Alex! You have to pull the cord!" She was wearing a pair of undershorts that incorporated an alarm activated by pulling on cut resistant cords made from the same material as bullet proof vests. "My heart was beating wildly, but I managed to pull the cord and set off the alarm," she says. "It made such a loud noise the two men ran away." These Safe Shorts incorporate a lock and alarm that also activates when someone tries to remove the garment by force. Safe Shorts founder Sandra Seilz says her own experience prompted her to develop the product. Returning from a run she was accosted by three men, she says, one of whom tried to pull off her leggings while the other held her down. "You can imagine what the intention of the third man was," says Ms Seilz. "But I was lucky. A man set his dog on them and the three men ran away." Assaults such as these are all too common for many women around the world, prompting many companies to come up with personal gadgets aimed at warding off attacks and alerting others. "Vendors usually come from a crowdfunding background typically with very similar product functionality," says Rishi Kaul, a research analyst for consultancy Ovum. "You click a button on the device and your GPS location is sent to preselected contacts, sometimes with an accompanying siren." For example, Safer, developed by Indian start-up Leaf Wearables, sells a pendant that doubles as a panic button. It is controlled by an accompanying smartphone app. Tanya Gaffney, 24, found it useful when walking to meet a friend in New Delhi, India, one evening. "I felt someone walking behind me and it just felt suspicious. Every lane I turned into he took the same turn which made me panic," recalls Ms Gaffney. "I was hoping to find a female figure or cop." But nobody was around. She sent an alert to her chosen group of "guardians" - her parents and two close friends - by pressing the back of her smart pendant twice. "Luckily, the first person to call me was my friend who I was on my way to meet at the market. He told me he was tracking me via GPS and that he was on his way to get me," she says. The man following her eventually took a different turn, but "the feeling of panic still terrorises me to this day," she says. Similarly, Nimb is a smart ring incorporating a panic button that sends an alert and your location to chosen recipients. The alert can also be forwarded to the emergency services. Nimb co-founder Kathy Roma was also a victim of crime 17 years ago. A man tried to strike up a conversation with her and stabbed her in the stomach when she didn't reply. Seriously wounded, she looked for help in a nearby building. She believes having a personal alert device would have brought help sooner. Other devices include Revolar, which enables users to "check in" and let loved ones or friends know you've arrived home safely with a single click. Three clicks sends a "help" alert. And at the more sophisticated end of the market, Occly has developed Blinc, a wearable security device that includes a "bodycam" to record video evidence of an attack, as well as setting off a siren, flashing lights and a call for help. According to the World Health Organisation, about one in three women have experienced some form of assault, whether physical, sexual or both. And nearly two-fifths of murders of women are perpetrated by their partners. These safety gadgets have obviously helped some women avert disaster, but not everyone is convinced of their merits. "We welcome anything that can be used to improve safety and help prevent sexual violence," says Fay Maxted OBE, chief executive of The Survivors Trust, an umbrella agency for 130 rape and sexual abuse support services across the UK. "But such technology can also be misused - it can be hacked or used by perpetrators to track or stalk someone," she warns. More Technology of Business And Ms Maxted also worries that products such as Safe Shorts could "play on the fears a woman might have about being out on her own, rather than making her feel safe. They reinforce the image that a woman is unable to protect herself. "Why should women have to wear clothes that are locked?" she asks. But as far as Alexandra Ceranek is concerned, her Safe Shorts prevented an assault from developing into something much worse. "I want a protection when there is a critical situation and someone wants to attack me," she reflects. Ovum's Rishi Kaul thinks women's safety wearables will remain a niche market, particularly since there are now plenty of smartphone apps offering similar functionality, some that can be triggered by a scream or simply by shaking the phone. "Women's safety wearables account for just 3.5% of the total wearables market," says Mr Kaul. "This function can simply be replaced by a safety app on the phone, which is why there hasn't been much success in this niche." But for Ms Maxted, the issue of women's safety is more about education than technology. "What technology solutions are there to teach potential abusers about consent and respect for women?" she asks.

बाजार में ऐसे गैजेट्स और ऐप की संख्या बढ़ रही है जिनका उद्देश्य महिलाओं को यौन उत्पीड़न और हमलों से सुरक्षित रखना है। लेकिन क्या वे प्रभावी हैं या वे केवल पीड़ित महिलाओं की छवि को मजबूत कर सकते हैं?


Troubled yacht in Isle of Man lifeboat rescue

Summary: The Isle of Man lifeboat was called out to rescue two people on board a small yacht which got into trouble near the south coast of the island.

The inshore lifeboat was launched from Port St Mary Harbour at about 19:00 BST on Thursday. During the rescue the craft, a laser dinghy, was towed to safety after losing a rudder in Bay ny Carrickey. An RNLI spokesman said both members of the yacht's crew were found standing in shallow water and were unhurt.

आइल ऑफ मैन लाइफबोट को एक छोटी नौका पर सवार दो लोगों को बचाने के लिए बुलाया गया था जो द्वीप के दक्षिणी तट के पास मुसीबत में पड़ गए थे।


Three men appear in court over Rhyl incident

Summary: Three men have appeared in court accused of possessing a handgun and conspiring to cause grievous bodily harm in Denbighshire.

They appeared before Llandudno Magistrates on Friday and were remanded in custody to appear at Mold Crown Court on 26 May. It follows what North Wales Police called "an incident" in Wellington Road, Rhyl, on Monday. A fourth man, who is in hospital, faces the same charges. Two of the men also face drugs charges, including conspiring to supply cannabis.

डेनबिघशायर में बंदूक रखने और गंभीर शारीरिक नुकसान पहुंचाने की साजिश रचने के आरोप में तीन लोग अदालत में पेश हुए हैं।


Turbulence in economy class

Summary: The demise of Thomas Cook has brought criticism of bosses and rival firms, and concern for its workers. The concerns may not stack as they seem. The departure of such a big player opens up opportunities for others. They'll require skilled travel industry workers.

Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland It would be a small irony if, amid unprecedented political turbulence and incompetence, the UK government successfully repatriated 150,000 holiday-makers from the collapsed Thomas Cook travel firm, and without too much hassle. We're much more attuned to fiasco. And there's plenty that can go wrong in hiring a fleet of planes from scratch, and transporting up to 17,000 people per day. If Chris Grayling were still transport secretary, what would the chances be of him contracting an airline without any planes? Day one, and the joint effort with the travel industry had 95% of those who had been scheduled to come home actually doing so - even though some were landing at the wrong airport. Signs of that apparent initial success for Project Matterhorn quickly turned attention to the loss of 9,000 jobs in Britain, and more than that again overseas, whose work depended on Thomas Cook custom. It turned also to the cost for flight-only passengers of finding a ticket that could get them home, finding that prices were soaring. They can keep rising even as they search and decide. And of course, it turned to the pay and bonuses of senior executives while the travel company traversed turbulent times and eventually crashed. Well, here are a few thoughts, many of them contrarian in nature. You'd expect little else, right? Long-term incentives On that executive pay, £8m in pay and bonuses for the chief executive over the past five years looks like the going rate for a company of this size. You might say the "going rate" is obscene. And compared with pay for cabin crew and others working unsociable hours, in cramped unhealthy aluminium tubes, and putting up with the rudeness of tanked-up British holiday-makers, then you'd have a point. It's neither my role nor inclination to defend executive pay, least of all in a company that's gone under. But much of these bonuses are usually paid in shares, which executives are, usually, not allowed to cash in for several years after they've been "earned". These long-term incentive plans are intended to encourage bosses to think, well, long-term. So if these millions in bonuses were tied up in Thomas Cook shares, then they're worthless now. Surges and spikes to flight prices On profiteering rivals, anyone who books an airline ticket online these days expects to find search engine software that digs out the lowest price and offers a wide range of choice. That has worked pretty well for the customer. If you don't believe me, book a British rail ticket now: compare and contrast. It's that same software that is causing prices to soar. Surge pricing is a feature of airline, hotel and Uber booking. If demand surges and supply falls, the algorithm kicks in and prices can go berserk. There may be means by which the algorithms' inflationary effect can be capped. But according to Skyscanner, the Edinburgh air ticket search company that knows a thing or two about this end of the industry, such spikes tend to be short lived. Prices quickly adjust back down. Yes, they'll probably be higher than they were. But if a large chunk of capacity has just been taken out of the air, by an airline going bust, then the laws of supply and demand mean you'll be paying at least some more. Headwinds from outside influences And that brings us to the opportunity that comes form Thomas Cook's collapse. It's clear that it had failed to adjust to changes in its marketplace, not least the move to online booking, and to personalised itineraries, with declining demand for conventional package holidays. One of its rivals, Tui, claims to have hedged against that, and against currency fluctuations that did so much damage to Thomas Cook, by vertically integrating. That is, it owns many of the hotels and cruise ships, rather than contracting with foreign-owned providers. It still has to staff and fuel them in foreign currencies, and it faces headwinds from the Boeing 737 Max grounding and from Brexit uncertainty. But in a statement to reassure investors on Tuesday, Tui was keen to distance itself from the Thomas Cook way of doing things. Its share price rose. So did the market valuation of Jet2, Ryanair, and IAG, owner of British Airways. Why? Because of that opportunity. Thomas Cook's failure does not mean the British have stopped wanting to go on foreign holidays. Not only were 150,000 Thomas Cook customers overseas when the company went bust, but a million or so more were booked for future holidays. And while they may have lost deposits and worse, these people still want a holiday to look forward to. Many more will book closer to the next holiday season. A dedicated workforce So the airlines and other travel companies that can grab market share have a big opportunity. You can safely bet they're hard at work on exploiting it. For airlines, the rebound may be subdued. For the past couple of years, there has been over-capacity in the lower-cost segment of the European market. The departure of Thomas Cook relieves some of the pressure on Ryanair and its ilk. For those successful in grabbing market share in this people-intensive industry, they will need to recruit skilled travel industry workers, from cabin crew to booking agents to foreign hoteliers. It's clearly very tough to lose one's job. And the evidence we're seeing is that Thomas Cook had a dedicated workforce, who deserved better. But in a tight labour market, there are much worse circumstances in which to be forced into the search for a new job. Nimble, innovative and lucky Not every sector can be so confident. While some see the demise of Thomas Cook as a victim of Brexit, others see it as an early sign of the corporate clear-out that comes with an economic downturn. If so, others will follow in other sectors. The harsh, sometimes brutal Darwinism of the marketplace will take the weak, goes the orthodoxy. It will clear space for growth of the more nimble, innovative and lucky. It may also re-shape the job market for those whose skills are aligned and adaptable to the future demands of fast-changing technology.

थॉमस कुक के निधन ने मालिकों और प्रतिद्वंद्वी फर्मों की आलोचना की है, और इसके श्रमिकों के लिए चिंता पैदा की है। चिंताएं शायद वैसी नहीं हैं जैसी वे लगती हैं। इतने बड़े खिलाड़ी के जाने से दूसरों के लिए अवसर खुलते हैं। उन्हें कुशल यात्रा उद्योग श्रमिकों की आवश्यकता होगी।


Comet owner OpCapita 'exploring sale'

Summary: Private equity firm OpCapita, which bought electricals retailer Comet less than a year ago for £2, is already exploring bids to sell the business.

The BBC understands that, while the business has not formally been put up for sale, it is examining a number of bids from interested parties. Comet was sold to OpCapita in February for the nominal sum of £2, with its previous owner Kesa also investing £50m into the retailer. Comet operates 240 stores in the UK. Sir John Clare, formerly chief executive of Dixons Retail, joined the business as chairman on the same day the Comet sale to OpCapita was finalised. Sir John had argued that the business could be turned around, despite analyst forecasts at the time of his appointment pointing to operational losses of £35m. Its sales had fallen much further that of its peers, Dixons and Argos, over the crucial Christmas period in 2011.

निजी इक्विटी फर्म ओपकैपिटा, जिसने एक साल से भी कम समय पहले इलेक्ट्रिकल्स रिटेलर कॉमेट को 2 पाउंड में खरीदा था, पहले से ही व्यवसाय को बेचने के लिए बोलियों की तलाश कर रही है।


Rimbaud and Verlaine: France agonises over digging up gay poets

Summary: President Emmanuel Macron is under pressure to strike a blow for sexual diversity by ordering the "Pantheonisation" - interment at the national mausoleum in Paris - of two of France's best-loved poets, Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine.

By Hugh SchofieldBBC News, Paris A petition signed by 10 former culture ministers, as well as a long list of artists and intellectuals, says the two poets - who had an intense but ultimately violent affair in the early 1870s - "were symbols of diversity". They suffered the harsh homophobia of their time. They are the French Oscar Wildes. "It is a question of simple justice to have them enter jointly into the Pantheon alongside other great literary figures like Voltaire, Rousseau, Dumas, Hugo and Malraux," the petition reads. Current Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot, while not signing the petition, nevertheless said she agreed. "Bringing these two poets and lovers into the Pantheon would have a significance that is not just historical and literary, but profoundly relevant today," she said. Arguments for and against moving the poets The call, however, has triggered an angry backlash, with opponents saying the poets are being made the victims of a 21st Century cultural power-grab, and that absolutely nothing in their lives or work suggests suitability for a patriotic Valhalla. Rimbaud and Verlaine are certainly among the most revered of French poets - and it is also true that of the 75 residents of the Pantheon, none is there for poetry. Victor Hugo was transferred for his political achievement. Supporters say there are both literary and moral reasons for their re-interment. Not only has "their genius nourished for more than a century our literary and poetic imagination", but also their current burial places - in Charleville-Mezieres, Ardennes for Rimbaud, in a cemetery off the Paris ring road for Verlaine - are "unworthy". There is also the homophobic persecution which Verlaine above all had to endure. Famously, the poets' relationship ended in 1873 when Verlaine fired a gun and lightly wounded Rimbaud in Brussels. Rimbaud refused to press charges, but Belgian police went ahead anyway and their report was heavily slanted by their distaste for the poets' relationship. Verlaine spent a year and a half in jail. Arthur Rimbaud: 20 October 1854 - 10 November 1891 France's culture minister says she sometimes arrives at cabinet meetings with Rimbaud's 1871 poem The Drunken Boat coursing through her head. As I was going down impassive Rivers, I no longer felt myself guided by haulers Yelping redskins had taken them as targets, And had nailed them naked to coloured stakes Paul Verlaine: 30 March 1844 - 8 January 1896 Lines of Verlaine's Chanson d'automne were used to warn the French Resistance of the imminent Allied landings in Normandy in World War Two. Les sanglots longs/ Des violons/ De l'automne (The long sighs of autumn's violins) Blessent mon coeur/ D'une langueur/ Monotone (Wound my heart in a monotonous languor) Society 'taking its revenge' But opponents of Pantheonisation say it would make a mockery of what the poets actually stood for - which was certainly not membership of the French establishment. Rather it was liberty, rebellion, and a refusal to kowtow to the cultural zeitgeist. "Everything about their lives, everything about their work shows them turning their back on society," writer Étienne de Montety said in French newspaper Le Figaro. "They were passionate for liberty, to the point of making transgression an art form." "Resenting the slight, today society is taking its revenge. With the help of academia and government, it is trying to co-opt them." Others have pointed out that support for the motherland was not exactly the poets' strong point. In the 1870 Franco-Prussian war, Rimbaud even said he would welcome a Prussian victory. And of the Pantheon itself, the poet once said that it was an "official acropolis which takes modern barbarity to new extremes".

राष्ट्रपति इमैनुएल मैक्रों पर फ्रांस के दो सबसे प्रिय कवियों, आर्थर रिम्बाउड और पॉल वेरलेन के "पैंथियोनाइजेशन"-पेरिस में राष्ट्रीय मकबरे में अंत्येष्टि का आदेश देकर यौन विविधता के लिए एक झटका देने का दबाव है।


Man faces court appearance over Sheffield tram-train crash

Summary: A man has been reported for summons for driving without due care and attention after a lorry and a tram-train collided in Sheffield.

The crash happened on Staniforth Road on 25 October, the first day of service for the new tram-train service. South Yorkshire Police said a 60-year-old man, from Rotherham, is due to appear at Sheffield Magistrates Court on 14 February. The force said he is also to be charged with contravening a red traffic light. The tram-trains run on the rail network and tram tracks between Sheffield and Rotherham.

शेफ़ील्ड में एक लॉरी और एक ट्राम-ट्रेन की टक्कर के बाद उचित देखभाल और ध्यान दिए बिना गाड़ी चलाने के लिए एक व्यक्ति को समन के लिए सूचित किया गया है।


Coronavirus: Jersey announces exit strategy

Summary: The government of Jersey has announced its exit strategy from coronavirus.

The island will move through four "levels" with increasing freedoms towards a "new normal", the Health Minister said. The 'Stay at Home' order is due to be lifted on 12 May, meaning people can spend an unlimited amount of time outside. Groups of up to five will be allowed to meet outside, with restaurants able to serve food in outdoor seating areas. Some shops will re-open and employees may return to offices if there is no risk of "close personal contact", the government said. Ahead of the reduced measures, islanders can spend up to four hours outside for any kind of activity from Saturday. This can include meeting up to two other people from outside their household. Details of each 'level' in the exit strategy include: Chief Minister John Le Fondre said the timings of each new level would depend on "how quickly and how far" the virus spread as relaxed restrictions exposed more people to infection. "Exiting safely from Covid-19 is likely to be a journey that takes a number of months, and we will progress more safely towards a full exit if we continue to work together."

जर्सी की सरकार ने कोरोनावायरस से बाहर निकलने की अपनी रणनीति की घोषणा की है।


Adam Levine: 'People thought Maroon 5 were a boy band'

Summary: It is 10 years since US pop band Maroon 5 scored their first hit with Harder To Breathe and, despite a few career hiccups, they have been a consistent presence in the charts ever since.

By Mark SavageBBC News entertainment reporter In 2011, they scored their biggest hit with the disco-funk anthem Moves Like Jagger, officially the 38th biggest-selling single in UK chart history. With the band's fifth album V ready for release, frontman Adam Levine is a little busy, to say the least. As well as marrying lingerie model Behati Prinsloo last month, he is also filming season seven of The Voice US, and starring alongside Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo in the hit film Begin Again. He spoke to the BBC last month, joining his bandmate James Valentine on the phone from California. Hello Maroon 5! Adam: Hello! James: Hi there! It's very handy that you have distinct accents, because I don't want to misattribute any quotes. If you do a phone interview with a boy band, it's impossible to tell them apart. Adam: I'm just glad you didn't think we were a boy band. Has that happened before? Adam: Early on in our careers, yes. People didn't know what to make of us, so they thought we were a boy band. Why was that? Because you're a good-looking band? Adam: Well, number one, thank you very much. Number two, I think people mistook our R&B and soul influences as pop. James: We didn't easily fit into a category at that point, and I don't think people understood that we wrote our own songs. Adam: It's weird because, to me, the thing that made a boy band a boy band was they didn't play any instruments and they choreographed their dance moves. If you don't do that, you're not a boy band. Even Hanson - they're a band. They were young, but they were just dudes who played in a band. A boy band is the headsets and the sparkly stuff and all those things. So you've never had choreography lessons? Adam: Not yet! It's three years since you last album, Overexposed. What's happened since then? Adam: Has it been three years, really? Yikes. Where does all the time go? Jack: I don't know. We're old men now. I sort of count this, today, as me and my girlfriend's anniversary. We had a day of interviews like this three years ago - and that's one of the first nights that we met. Adam: And we had a huge fight. James: A huge fight. Adam: It was brutal. James : That argument was amazing. We were having this screaming match in the hallway of the Roosevelt Hotel and this woman came out of her room angrily, to complain because it was late at night. The she recognised Adam and had a very confused response. She was all ready to yell at us for making noise and then she went, "Oh, hey, I love you on The Voice!" Do you argue often? Both: Yeah. James: Less now. I think we've learnt how to deal with stuff a little more diplomatically, but I've been in a band with him for almost 15 years, and he's been with some of these other guys for the last over 20 years. So stuff comes up. Songwriting partnerships often have that tension. James: If that tension isn't there, it means people don't care about what's happening. So what was the key argument behind this album? Adam: To be totally honest, we've been doing this a long time and, as far as the music is concerned, it kind of takes its own shape. Your last album had a lot of hits - Moves Like Jagger basically rescued your career. Was there pressure to live up to that standard? Adam: On Overexposed, there was a very conscious effort to have as many hits as we possibly could. It was very gluttonous in that way. The band had this new-found success from The Voice and then Moves Like Jagger and we were very excited because we hadn't had hits for a while. So we were very hit-drunk. On this record, we've balanced those things [by] adding a bit more thought into what would make a great album - instead of being just a collection of pop hits. Is there a song that epitomises that thinking - one you're proud of, but which would never work as a single? James: Most of the songs would work as singles. I don't think we'd put a song on a record any more unless it could be a single. It might seem to work against what we've just said - but… Adam: But quality control is the number one criteria to us: If a song doesn't feel special, we wouldn't include it. And we don't mean that in a cheap way. We mean that like, "Could this song connect with the world?" Then, after we decide that, we say, "but is this the kind of hit song we want to have on our record?" When the album hits iTunes in September, how long will you wait before checking Twitter? Are you sitting at home pressing the refresh button? Adam: Of course! Listen, our fans are going to love it. Obviously, you never know with the numbers… you can't calculate whether or not you're going to have a hit, but we know it'll be a hit with our fans and that's the most important thing. Social media means everything is declared a "hit" or a "miss" in an instant - but your first album, in particular, was a slow burning success. Does that snap judgement culture scare you? Adam: No. The best thing about our business is that critique never plays into any of it. The power and the potency of music will transcend any one person's opinion about it. People in the press only either say nice things or nasty things - but there's nothing we can do about it, except tell them to [expletive] off, I guess… Have you ever sent a furious email to the music press? Adam: No, no, no. I don't lose sleep over it. I just go on living my life. Adam, you recently starred alongside Keira Knightley in a musical drama - did you have to give her any singing tips? Adam: I told her that I thought she had a great voice but she didn't believe me! It was pretty intimidating working with her, as lovely and amazing as she is, because she's an actress. I was finding my way for the first time but she was great and she helped me along. It wasn't quite your acting debut, though. Didn't you have a role in American Horror Story? Adam: American Horror Story was a glorified music video, basically. It was more of a montage of things happening than it was me having intense dialogue. I got to have creepy sex in a crypt and I got my arm ripped off and I got shot in the head. That's what you want to do as an actor, isn't it? Get mauled in a gunfight or blown up by Darth Vader… Adam: That's my childhood dream - to get blown up by Darth Vader. How did you know? Have you thought about sending an audition tape to JJ Abrams for the new Star Wars? Adam: No, I haven't. I haven't compiled that reel yet for him. Or maybe he'd rather have a theme song... Adam: I know, James and I are writing it now. It goes DUR DUR DURRR DURRR, DUR DUR DUN DE DURRRR. James [joining in]: BLIP BLORP BLERGH. Both: DURRR DUN DER DERRRRR... DUH-DURRRRRR. [Raucous laughter]. Maroon 5's album V is due for release in September. The first single, Maps, is out this month.

अमेरिकी पॉप बैंड मरून 5 को हार्डर टू ब्रीद के साथ अपनी पहली हिट के 10 साल हो चुके हैं और करियर में कुछ अड़चनों के बावजूद, वे तब से चार्ट में लगातार मौजूद हैं।