MH17 crash: Dutch investigators' first findings

Summary: Dutch investigators say the damage to Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed in eastern Ukraine on 17 July, suggests it was pierced by a large number of objects from outside the plane.

They reveal that a few minutes before the plane went down, the pilots asked to move a few nautical miles north of their flight path because of weather conditions. The Dutch Safety Board says its preliminary report was based on the contents of the flight and cockpit data recorders, other communication with the plane, as well as forensic examination of the wreckage where possible. These are its key findings:

डच जांचकर्ताओं का कहना है कि 17 जुलाई को पूर्वी यूक्रेन में दुर्घटनाग्रस्त हुई मलेशिया एयरलाइंस की उड़ान एम. एच. 17 को हुए नुकसान से पता चलता है कि इसे विमान के बाहर से बड़ी संख्या में वस्तुओं द्वारा छेदा गया था।


Holy pension hole

Summary: The Old Etonian apparently due to be named as the new head of the established church has a huge, unsustainable financial deficit to shrink - which is perhaps redolent of the challenge faced by another Old Etonian who became head of government in 2010.

Robert PestonEconomics editor A bit like David Cameron who inherited a gap between tax revenues and public expenditure equivalent to a horrid 10% of GDP, one of the most pressing problems to be faced by Justin Welby as the new Archbishop of Canterbury is a massive hole in the fund that pays the pensions of retired clergy. I am told that the current Bishop of Durham, a former oil industry executive, is good with money. He will need to be. A new report on the Clergy Pension Scheme by the Archbishops' Pensions Task Group points out that the deficit in the fund -which is liable for all clergy pensions earned after January 1998 - ballooned from £262m to a peak of £507m in November 2011. The Task Group includes the First Church Commissioner, Andreas Whittam-Smith, an unusually saintly and numerate erstwhile hack - who gave me my big break in journalism, by recruiting me to help launch the Independent newspaper in 1986 (goodness it feels such a long time ago). He and his two colleagues believe the deficit has "fallen back somewhat", but that the December 2012 actuarially measured deficit will be somewhat greater than it was three years ago. How much greater? Well a research note by the pensions consultant John Ralfe calculates the hole at the end of last month as approximately £500m. This represents quite a potential burden for parishioners. Ralfe calculates that without further reductions in pensions payable to clergy, individual dioceses would have to make contributions to the fund equivalent to a staggering 60% of the value of salaries, up from an already high 38.2% (clergy themselves don't make contributions to the cost of their pensions; the liability falls on their employer). Now the Task Group is clear that it would be wrong to rush into draconian pension cuts or radical overhaul of pension provision. But it notes the need to "balance the financial pressures on funders with the obligation to protect the interest of future pensioners". There are a few salient points to make. First, clergy pensions would not be seen by many as lavish and egregious. For example, the pensions of the Archbishops of York and Canterbury will be in a range from £21,000 and £28,000, according to the annual report of the Church's Pensions Board - so perhaps 2% or 3% of the pension Mr Welby might have earned if he had got to the top of one of the oil companies that employed him in days of yore. Second, the Church is jolly unusual in retaining its faith in equities or shares. As you will know, there has been a huge shift by most pension funds out of shares and into bonds. And as the FT points out this morning, for the first time ever UK pension funds now hold more bonds than equities: the Pensions Regulator shows that UK funds hold 43% of their assets in gilts and fixed-interest debt compared with just under 39% in equities. But the Church did not join this herd galloping into the debt sold by governments and companies. On my calculations of the asset allocation in the Church of England Funded Pensions Scheme, 84% is held in shares, property and derivatives - or what are perceived to be riskier assets. As it happens, the Church's unfashionable refusal to abandon the cult of the equity has not gone wholly unrewarded: over the three years to the end of December 2012, the return on the assets was 7.1% per annum, which compares quite well with some mammon-obsessed hedge funds. 'Through the roof' The problem - characteristic of the pensions industry in general - is that liabilities have gone through the roof. And the proximate cause is the soaring price of bonds, and the collapse in the yield on those bonds. The explanation is that the earth-bound Pensions Regulator has less faith than the vicars in equities. So the way it measures liabilities is to calculate the quantity of assets a pension fund should ideally hold to meet future pension payments if all those assets were in low-risk bonds. What this means is that when the income generated by bonds falls, as it has been doing, any pension fund would theoretically have to hold massively more of those bonds to meet the cost of future pension payments. And the point is that for all the decent performance of the shares and property held by the Church's pension scheme, their aggregate value is several hundreds of millions of pounds less than would be needed if they were cashed in and converted into allegedly safer bonds. There is of course a very interesting question whether the risk aversion of the regulator is more or less rational than the priesthood's apparent appetite for risk. But the problem for the new Archbishop is that on this sort of non-spiritual, fiduciary issue, his authority is rather less than that of the officers of the state.

पुराना इटोनियन जाहिरा तौर पर स्थापित चर्च के नए प्रमुख के रूप में नामित होने के कारण एक विशाल, अस्थिर वित्तीय घाटा सिकुड़ने के लिए है-जो शायद एक अन्य पुराने इटोनियन द्वारा सामना की जाने वाली चुनौती का निवारण है जो 2010 में सरकार का प्रमुख बना था।


'Year of hell' for unintended victim of Witham acid attack

Summary: "It's been a year of hell. When I go to bed at night and take my t-shirt off, the scars will always be there in the mirror. The pain in my shoulder is still there. The skin graft sites are painful."

By Jodie SmithBBC News Wayne Ingold's life was turned upside down on 8 August 2014 when he opened the communal front door to the block of flats where he lived in Witham, Essex. Unbeknown to him, on the other side of the door were two youths waiting to throw acid in his face. A victim of mistaken identity, the 57-year-old was left with life-changing injuries and scars. He said: "I'd been at a friend's the night before and got back about 10:35am. I went to check my mail box and saw a figure outside the front door. "I opened it and the lad outside said "55", which was the number of the top floor flat. But another lad came round the round the corner with a bottle of what looked like fizzy drink. "He started throwing it in my face and within seconds I realised it was acid. "I put my right hand up to check my face, and that was burnt too. I ran inside thinking 'What do I do now?'. "I looked in the mirror, my face was yellow and looked like melting candle wax. I dialled 999 and the police and ambulance turned up not long afterwards. "The first policeman who saw me nearly fainted because of the state I was in." Mr Ingold said the quick actions of paramedics who washed his face saved much of his skin "or it could have been 10 times worse". He was taken to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, where doctors from a specialist burns unit performed skin grafts to repair the damage to his face and upper body. "They had to put up a chemical attack tent in the hospital. I was on morphine and pain killers," he said. "The surgeon told me the wound in my right shoulder was so deep they had to cut the flesh away and replace it with cow fat." The trial of two teenage boys charged over the attack heard Mr Ingold was in the "wrong place at the wrong time" when he opened the front door that day. "At first I thought, 'what was it all about, why me?' But now I know it wasn't me they were targeting," Mr Ingold said. Essex Police confirmed the intended victim of the acid attack had never been found. Mr Ingold said: "If I came face to face with them, I'd ask them 'Why did you do it? How would you have felt, your family felt, if someone had done it to you?' "Their arrogance and attitude amazes me. There's no respect. I could see them laughing and making faces at me in court. "When I gave evidence, I had to have a screen up so I didn't have to look at their faces while I was talking about what happened." The trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, which was just over a week long, also heard evidence from the accused - Aarron Isaac, 19, of Elverson Road, Lewisham, south London, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named due to his age. The teenagers were convicted after three and a half hours of jury deliberations and will be sentenced at the same court on 6 November. "Now I can move on with my life and put this whole sorry saga to bed", Mr Ingold said. "I've got to go back to hospital in November to see a specialist. Broomfield has been fantastic. I always give credit where it's due. "People say I sound a bit light-hearted when I keep saying everyone was fantastic. But being light-hearted is my coping mechanism." Mr Ingold said he had received counselling earlier this year and was still trying his best to recover from the attack. "It's horrific, but without the paramedics, I'd be a damn sight worse. "The mental scars will take a lot longer to heal. But you've got to carry on and get on with life as best you can."

"यह नरक का वर्ष रहा है। जब मैं रात में सोने जाता हूँ और अपनी टी-शर्ट उतार देता हूँ, तो आईना में निशान हमेशा रहेंगे। मेरे कंधे में दर्द अभी भी है। त्वचा के ग्राफ्ट साइट दर्दनाक हैं।"


Catholic leaders in Slovenia resign over finances

Summary: Slovenia's two most senior Catholic clerics have resigned over a financial scandal said to have cost the Church up to 800m euros (£700m; $1bn).

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the Archbishop of Ljubljana, Anton Stres, and the Archbishop of Maribor, Marjan Turnsek. They resigned under rules for bishops who "become unsuited for fulfilment" for their office, the Vatican said. The archdiocese of Maribor suffered the losses on investments in businesses. When news of the losses broke in 2011, Maribor's previous Archbishop, Franc Kramberger, resigned. Both of the current archbishops were involved in Maribor's finances but face no allegations of criminal misconduct, the Associated Press news agency reports. Pope Francis has preached against waste, financial or otherwise, since becoming head of the Church earlier this year.

स्लोवेनिया के दो सबसे वरिष्ठ कैथोलिक मौलवियों ने एक वित्तीय घोटाले पर इस्तीफा दे दिया है, जिसके बारे में कहा जाता है कि चर्च की लागत 800 मिलियन यूरो (£700 मिलियन; $1 बिलियन) तक है।


M25: 10 ways it has changed lives

Summary: The M25 is celebrating its 25th birthday. The 117-mile (188km) road that orbits London has changed life in the UK in many ways, says Radio 2's traffic news announcer Sally Boazman. Here are some.

It took more than 11 years to build, cost £1bn and used more than two million tonnes of concrete and 3.5 million tonnes of asphalt. The M25 is a monster of a road in many ways. The final section was opened by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in October 1986 to a huge fanfare. It has gone on to change many things, including our economy, environment and living habits. Here are just some: 1. Partying was changed forever for many young people. In the early 1990s the rave scene developed around the M25. Tens of thousands of young people would drive around it or gather at service stations, waiting for a phone call or someone to tell them which nearby field would be the location of that week's party. "All that needed to be known was that these raves would take place somewhere on the periphery of the M25. You basically set off in the direction of it," says DJ Judge Jules. The scene created headlines, spread across the country and resulted in changes to the law. 2. Business spread from the capital in a way that wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for the M25. Emma Goodford, a property consultant who specialises in the areas surrounding the M25, says that as a result of its presence a commercial market has developed outside central London. "I've seen it become a place where business really begins to happen. There's now in the M25 area 130 million square feet of space and that's the equivalent I suppose of 100 towers at Canary Wharf. And if you think the city of London in total is about 170 million square feet, this is a big, big catchment area in terms of employment." 3. Became a verbal reference when referring to London and the rest of the country. The phrases "inside the M25" and "outside the M25" are a common part of our language, both colloquially and officially. The Communications Act 2003 explicitly uses the M25 as the boundary. 4. Helped galvanise the anti-roads movement. Labelled by many as the "UK's biggest car park", the M25 got many questioning our relationship with the car. Soon after it opened traffic levels were exceeding maximum designed capacity. Several widening schemes have been announced over the years, sparking public inquiry after public inquiry. Some were carried out and others successfully challenged by protesters. "Its like digging a ditch in a bog, it always fills up," says Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport. 5. Increased house prices for many. Before the M25, areas just outside London were a mixture of small rural farms and commuter belt. But its arrival helped those commuters get on their way faster, pushing house prices in such areas higher. "We know from our research that house prices generally have gone up about 300% since the M25 opened in 1986," says Anthony Wardell from Knight Franks estate agents. On the western side of London, house prices have gone up nearer to 400%, he adds. 6. Built business empires. "They were talking about building this big orbital road and at that time I just thought it was another A road or a small motorway," says Ray Coleman of Lantern Recovery, a roadside recovery company. "We used to run probably at that time about 10 or 12 trucks. Once the M25 did open, I think on that particular day we did about seven jobs, from there on in it was an everyday occurrence. We operate now 220 trucks." 7. Got creative juices following. Novelist Iain Sinclair walked anti-clockwise around the motorway in 2000 for his book London Orbital. It also inspired the name of dance group Orbital, plus many of their songs. 8. Became a tourist destination. In its early days this great lump of tarmac held a strange allure for many. People came from all over the country to ride on it. Some even took coach excursions around it. 9. Changed the way people plan their lives, says M25 expert Chris Marshall. "You can get around London in ways that you couldn't do before and it doesn't just change the lives of people who lived around it before, or who worked around it before, you find that actually it changes the way that people plan their lives. So now not only does someone who lived in Harlow when it was opened have the opportunity to work somewhere else, but someone say who works say in Heathrow can buy a house on the other side of London." 10. A place of romance. In 1991 Chris and Sue Glazier held their wedding reception in a service station on the M25. The couple won a prize on a local radio station - a paid-for mystery wedding. "All we knew on the night before was that we'd been travelling at 50mph on our wedding night," says Sue. "We thought Orient Express perhaps, very romantic." They actually spent their wedding night on a coach going round the M25, although it did have a four-poster bed in it. How was the night? "Bumpy," says Sue.

एम25 अपना 25वां जन्मदिन मना रहा है। रेडियो 2 के यातायात समाचार उद्घोषक सैली बोजमैन का कहना है कि लंदन की परिक्रमा करने वाली 117 मील (188 किलोमीटर) की सड़क ने यूके में जीवन को कई तरह से बदल दिया है। यहाँ कुछ हैं।


Belladrum Festival to offer extra night's entertainment

Summary: The Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival is to host an additional night's entertainment next year.

Bella near Beauly has been a two-day event with acts performing on a Friday and Saturday. But organiser Joe Gibbs said because so many revellers arrive at the campsite on the Thursday, a headline performance would be put on that day next year. The festival, which was headlined this year by Sir Tom Jones and Frightened Rabbit, will take place on 6-8 August.

बेलाड्रम टार्टन हार्ट फेस्टिवल अगले साल एक अतिरिक्त रात के मनोरंजन की मेजबानी करने वाला है।


Sam Smith's Bond song gets first play and this is what people think

Summary: "It's a grower," said Sam Smith.

By Amelia ButterlyNewsbeat reporter "It takes a few listens," he explained, before you can fully appreciate Writing's on the Wall, the theme for the new James Bond film, Spectre. It got its first radio play this morning and #writingsonthewall and Bond immediately started trending on social media. Looking at the reaction, it's fair to say Sam has divided opinion. There seems to be as many people saying the track is "amazing" as there are calling it "astoundingly dull". Listen to Sam Smith's Writing's On The Wall here Stacy Redmond tweeted: "@samsmithworld the bond theme is fabulous. Well done, gave me goosebumps." Jonny Mann tweeted: "It took Sam Smith to write the new James Bond song in 20 minutes. You can tell." Radio 1 Breakfast Show host Nick Grimshaw spoke to the singer before the track debuted on air and Sam said he was nervous. "Its very scary. I just hope everyone likes it," he said. Grimmy tweeted: "VERY Bond-y well done @samsmithworld it's epic! *shoots a baddie* *gets off with bird*" When the pair spoke previously, Sam revealed he wrote Writing's on the Wall in just 20 minutes. "I wasn't feeling pressure at the time... Now I'm scared," he said this time. A Bond theme song has yet to make it to number one in the UK charts. "This song isn't a big pop song. It's a classic Bond song," said Sam. "I don't think it's a number one friendly song. I'm not looking for that. I just want to do it justice." Neave tweeted: "Sam Smith could've made such a good Bond theme but instead it's really bad." Paddy tweeted: "The new Sam Smith Bond track is incredible." "People have been saying that it reminds them of Goldfinger," said Sam. That track was sung by Shirley Bassey back in 1964. "The orchestration is unbelievable. I never head anything like it on one of my songs before," said Sam. And Radio 1 tweeted this: "Bond vs Earth Song. You made us do this. Sorry Sam." Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram, Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube and you can now follow BBC_Newsbeat on Snapchat

सैम स्मिथ ने कहा, "यह एक उत्पादक है।"


Coronavirus briefing: Retired medics and wage protection

Summary: If you want to get this briefing by email, sign up here

By Andy McFarlaneBBC News Call to retired medics It was mooted some time ago and now there's confirmation: retired doctors and nurses will be asked to return to the NHS to help the service cope with the coronavirus outbreak. "Lend us your expertise... you can help to save lives," is the pitch from Ruth May, chief nursing officer for England. The Nursing and Midwifery Council is writing to 50,000 nurses across the UK whose registration lapsed in the last three years, while the General Medical Council will contact 15,500 recently retired doctors. It comes as the government reveals which key workers will be allowed to send their children to school, after the education system closes today. Health Secretary Matt Hancock says protective personal equipment is being rushed to frontline NHS staff and social care providers, following concern workers were being put at risk by shortages. He's also pledged to ensure all hospitals have enough ventilators, revealing 1,400 companies - including Formula 1 racing teams - have pledged to switch operations to supply them. Jobs and unity After talks with unions and business groups, the chancellor is set to announce an employment and wage subsidy package to try to protect millions of jobs. It comes as the Queen urges unity in a message to the nation. "At times such as these, I am reminded that our nation's history has been forged by people and communities coming together to work as one, concentrating our combined efforts with a focus on the common goal," her statement says. Wondering how long this effort might have to last? While the prime minister suggests the UK might "turn the tide" on the virus within 12 weeks, our health correspondent James Gallagher finds no clear answer - or definite exit strategy - from the science community. Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning Keep up to date You can get an idea of the global picture via our visual guide and stay in touch with the latest developments at home and abroad via our live page. This weekend... Families might not be able to spend Mothering Sunday in mum's favourite restaurant but plenty are thinking up different ways to mark the occasion, as Kirstie Brewer reports. If you're wondering how to get the R and R - and fun - you need while observing social distancing, you might be inspired by our feature on the ways friends, pub quiz teams and even Brownies are spending time together online. And for those pining for the football, Newsbeat has details of an online charity FIFA 20 tournament - with stars from top clubs due to pick up video game controllers on Sunday. Still not clear on what social distancing involves? Watch this video explainer to find out. It's one of many on our dedicated coronavirus index, where you can also remind yourself of the symptoms and how to stay safe. Robots use light beams to zap hospital viruses By Adrienne Murray, technology of business reporter, BBC News "Please leave the room, close the door and start a disinfection," says a voice from the robot. "It says it in Chinese as well now," Simon Ellison, vice president of UVD Robots, tells me as he demonstrates the machine. Through a glass window we watch as the self-driving machine navigates a mock-hospital room, where it kills microbes with a zap of ultraviolet light. "We had been growing the business at quite a high pace - but the coronavirus has kind of rocketed the demand," says chief executive, Per Juul Nielsen. Read the full article One thing not to miss today... Lessons from Italy's 'red zone' Listen up The latest edition of the Coronavirus Newscast dissects the latest government advice on social distancing, namely: "Stop going to the pub!" Meanwhile, with all sorts of businesses - bars included - facing up to losing their customers, HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur asks Laurence Boone, chief economist at the global economic forum, the OECD, if enough is being done to prevent a recession. What the papers say Two statements dominate the front pages. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's suggestion the UK can "turn the tide" on coronavirus within 12 weeks is widely quoted in headlines. Most papers also feature what the Daily Mail calls the Queen's "Blitz spirit" message of unity to the nation. Meanwhile, the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph lead on the expected announcement from Chancellor Rishi Sunak of a plan to help British companies keep paying staff during the outbreak. Meanwhile, the prime minister comes under scrutiny in the Daily Star. It pictures a "lorry-load" of luxury loo roll being dropped off at Downing Street. From elsewhere A message from Italy: it's going to get worse. Much worse. (Slate) 'Everything is on hold': how coronavirus turned our lives upside down (HuffPost UK) Daily chart: How long can the novel coronavirus survive on surfaces and in the air? (Economist) Mother's Day: what people can and can't do to celebrate with their mums during coronavirus (Telegraph) Sign up for a morning briefing direct to your phone Need a little light relief? There's not been a lot of cheer in the news lately. If you need a diversion, watch this fascinating glimpse of the way children's TV looks in North Korea. Or hear Dr Radha Modgil - of Radio 1's Life Hacks fame - explain why it's so hard to stick to new habits. It's Friday, which means it's time to test your current affairs knowledge in our quiz of the week's news. Or, if you just want to do something really silly, see if you can tell a "clong, bong, doying" from a "wallop, clang, jangle" in a BBC Archive quiz based on its stock of 16,000 sound effects.

यदि आप ईमेल द्वारा यह जानकारी प्राप्त करना चाहते हैं, तो यहां साइन अप करें


Winter Olympics: Would Chloe Kim have made it as a South Korean?

Summary: Star snowboarder Chloe Kim's lightning moves won her Olympic gold on Tuesday , while her Twitter call-out for ice cream and admission of 'hanger' (angry when hungry) won her thousands of hearts on social media.

By Georgina RannardBBC News "I hate crying but I'll give myself a pass for this one," Kim tweeted to her large fan base after winning gold in the women's halfpipe. Her dad called her win his "American dream". The teenager's name was the most searched on Naver, South Korea's largest portal, as many swelled with pride at her performance. Kim's parents are South Koreans who emigrated to the United States in 1982. But some social media users in the country are keenly imagining alternative lives for the unstoppable 17-year-old Californian, asking could she have achieved gold if she'd been born in South Korea? "If she grew up in South Korea, she would be stuck on the bus going to academies (hagwon) all day," one Naver used commented, referring to the country's culture of encouraging long hours of studying and suggesting she would not have had the opportunity to become an athlete. Winter Olympics: Day-by-day guide "If you were born in my country, you would be doing extra study at this hour. Envy you, American," another wrote. Some suggested other careers for Kim, arguing that individual creativity is often stifled in South Korea. You might also like: "If she grew up in South Korea, she would just be a normal businesswoman," one user suggested, while another said "if she grew up in South Korea, she would be serving at a ski resort restaurant. Never become Korean. South Korea would bury your talent like a black-hole." Others were sceptical of why fellow South Koreans were only interested in Kim now she's famous. "Now they are trying to associate with these South Korean-Americans who they used to ignore. Why not just support them?" one wrote. Another suggested that the outpouring of love was misguided: "Please don't say she is South Korean. She is part of the US national team." But however dazzling Kim's charm, it could never win over absolutely everyone. "Chloe will positively affect South Korea's reputation… But some are saying her fame is meaningless," one user wrote, adding "Do you really think winning a medal for South Korea is only thing that matters?" There's always one. Additional reporting by William Lee, BBC Korean service

स्टार स्नोबोर्डर क्लो किम की बिजली की चालों ने मंगलवार को अपना ओलंपिक स्वर्ण पदक जीता, जबकि आइसक्रीम के लिए उनके ट्विटर कॉल-आउट और 'हैंगर' (भूख लगने पर गुस्सा) ने सोशल मीडिया पर उनका हजारों दिल जीत लिया।


Stan's Donuts: A farewell to a shop closed by coronavirus

Summary: The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a hard blow to businesses around the world. In the US alone, economists project that more than 100,000 small businesses have permanently shut because of the health crisis. Among those are iconic institutions that have survived for decades. Stan's Donuts in Los Angeles is one of them.

By Alice CuddyBBC News Stan Berman says there are three reasons his doughnuts were so good. The first was the sea air that blew into his shop from the Pacific Ocean some five miles away - he never used air conditioning, even at the height of the LA summer, to avoid spoiling the perfect atmospheric conditions. The second reason was the skill that went into making the doughnuts. And the third, simply, was love. Stan took over his shop in the heart of LA's bustling Westwood Village neighbourhood more than 55 years ago. The unassuming one-storey white-block building sits on the corner of two busy streets. Stan described it as "the smallest little shop you've ever seen". It was prime real estate: less than two blocks away from the UCLA campus and opposite the Fox Bruin and Fox Village cinemas where glamorous premieres would frequently take place. The exact date it all began is a matter of debate. He believes it was Christmas time 1963, while others in his family think it was 1964. What everyone can agree on is that it quickly made its mark. When Stan first took over it was called The Corner Shoppe - a distributor for pastries, pies, cookies and "everything else like that". Everything, that is, apart from doughnuts. Stan came from a long line of Jewish bread bakers. As a child, he would wake up before dawn to fry doughnuts at his father's little Philadelphia bakery, finishing them off with a generous coating of granulated sugar. When people came in to buy a loaf of bread in the morning, they'd pick up one of Stan's doughnuts too. He later learned how to make intricate European-inspired pastries. The Corner Shoppe had equipment for baking, but when Stan first took over it only sold other people's food. Then fate stepped in. One Sunday morning when the shop was closed, Stan popped in to clean up and, noticing the heavy footfall in the area, saw an opportunity. He called a friend in the bakery business who brought him flour, yeast and everything else he needed. He made a piece of dough and fried a batch of doughnuts, then sold them through the shop's window. It soon became a routine. Every Sunday, Stan would head into work at about 04:00 to make doughnuts; his wife would drive his three children down a few hours later to sell his creations; and with the money they made, the family would go out for dinner in the evening. On Monday mornings people started coming in looking for doughnuts. "They'd say 'Stan why aren't you making doughnuts?'" Stan, now 90, recalls. "And I'd say 'Well you know, we're not really doing that'. Then, before you know it, we were doing that." The Corner Shoppe became The Corner Donut Shoppe and eventually Stan's Donuts. Doughnuts were considered at the low-end of the bakery business, but Stan applied the techniques for making fine pastries learned in his youth to create a new product. "They were so different from most doughnuts, even though I used the same flour, and shortenings and toppings," he says. "My idea was I'm going to make something you really like. Tell me what you like and I'm going to try and make something for you as a doughnut so you will come in for yours - I did that for hundreds of people." He packed his array of flavours - cherry, chocolate, cinnamon, peanut butter - into a display case that "blasted" people when they walked into the tiny room. Before long, Stan was selling thousands of doughnuts every day. His growing reputation and proximity to the two LA cinemas meant some of Hollywood's biggest stars were among his customers. When one of her movies was playing across the road, actress Ali MacGraw and her partner Steve McQueen would frequently drive up to Stan's shop on a motorcycle, get a cup of coffee and a doughnut and sit outside on the kerb to watch people going into the cinema. Elizabeth Taylor - one of Hollywood's most glamorous women - ordered coffee and doughnuts with a group of friends. Not that Stan recognised her - a passer-by pointed her out. Willy Wonka actor Gene Wilder and Hollywood filmmaker Mel Brooks were also regulars. But Stan had one rule: he never took photos of the stars coming into his shop. "I wanted them to be comfortable to come in and share my doughnuts," he says. Cementing its place in Hollywood history, the shop's original signage was restored for a scene in Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In more recent years, Stan's Donuts has been frequented by a Nobel laureate and senior staff at the nearby UCLA - as well as many students. "For generations, numerous UCLA departments have shared boxes of Stan's Donuts to celebrate special occasions, myriad student groups have sold them as fundraisers for worthy causes, and so many on our campus have had their days brightened by one (or more) of your delicious treats," the chancellor of the university, Gene Block, said in a recent letter to Stan. When the animated show The Simpsons turned 20, producers ordered batches of Stan's Homer Simpson doughnuts - pink frosting, sprinkles - for Fox affiliates. Simpsons writer Carolyn Omine tweeted that the shop was among her first memories of LA. Stan's cherry cheesecake doughnut was her favourite. While the doughnuts themselves might have been the biggest reason for the shop's success, Stan also became a star in his own right, and he revelled in the attention. "We would bump into people all over the world, people who knew us from the doughnut shop," he recalls with glee. "We couldn't go to a movie, we couldn't go anywhere where someone wouldn't tap me on the shoulder and say 'Hey Stan'." His shop's success and longevity earned it iconic status in LA. The city declared 3 May 2014 "Stan's Donuts Day", and the shop was named a "Monumental Business". Looking back, Stan says he has had "the most unbelievable life and it all came from the doughnut shop". He believes part of his success was due to him always being "the finisher". Even in old age, he would go into the shop every day - he'd make the icing, clean the pots and sweep the floors. He was a perfectionist and expected the same attention to detail from his small team of staff. His favourite doughnut was his raisin buttermilk bar because as soon as he took a bite he could tell whether the fryer had been cleaned. It was also the doughnut he'd give away to customers after a friendly chat at his shop. He gave away plenty over the years - he could never bear to throw any away at the end of the day. But as well as being responsible for his successes, he says there were "one or two events" in his life where his shop caused problems. Stan's first employee was a close friend called Norman. Together they were known as "the doughnut men". But the pair fell out when Stan missed Norman's wife's funeral because he was making doughnuts. They were never able to reconcile. "The problem was that the shop was so important to me that I couldn't see other things around," Stan says. Stan was still frying doughnuts into his 80s, but he had a stroke about three years ago and was forced to take a step back from his business, going to the shop once a week with his son. Without Stan there every day, sales were not what they used to be. Despite the struggles, Stan hoped that he would still have the business when he turned 100. But he couldn't have anticipated the coronavirus pandemic, or the impact it would have on his little shop in LA. Restaurants in the city were ordered to close in mid-March in a bid to slow the spread of the virus, with only takeaways and deliveries allowed. UCLA moved its classes online. Sales dropped dramatically. Since 2014, Stan has been making money in royalties from Stan's Donuts & Coffee - a successful line of shops in Chicago with a range of doughnuts inspired by his Westwood creations. But that money has dried up in recent months, with business there also suffering under the pandemic. With so much uncertainty about the virus, Stan and his family worried how long it would go on for. "We did a bit of business, maybe 40%, but 40% didn't pay the labour," Stan says. His daughter Pam says coronavirus "killed the business". "We had to make the choice of whether to stay open by going into my father's savings and it wasn't worth it," she explains. Without the pandemic "we would have continued. The store would have stayed open until my father passed away." For Pam it has left a "sweet and sour feeling". "It was so much aggravation trying to run the store without my father there - that's what made it a bit easier to close the doors. But it's been very sad." With a stay-at-home order in place in LA, there was no party to bid farewell to the shop when it closed its doors in April. Stan has been left to settle reluctantly into retirement, while trying to come to terms with losing the two loves of his life - his doughnut shop and his wife of 68 years, Ina, who passed away in January. He has received scores of letters from people mourning the loss of the shop and celebrating their memories there. He likens it to witnessing his own obituary. His grandson, who has a tattoo of the shop's logo, took the equipment and is now learning to make doughnuts himself. "It's not going to be Stan's Donuts but he wants to continue my father's legacy with making and selling doughnuts. That's what he's hoping to do," Pam says. At the Westwood Village shop, a note announcing its closure remains stuck to a window - a quiet end to a business loved by so many. "I hope that you will remember how our donuts made you smile for many years to come," it says. The note ends: "With Love, Stan Berman."

कोरोनावायरस महामारी ने दुनिया भर के व्यवसायों को एक बड़ा झटका दिया है। अकेले अमेरिका में, अर्थशास्त्रियों का अनुमान है कि स्वास्थ्य संकट के कारण 100,000 से अधिक छोटे व्यवसाय स्थायी रूप से बंद हो गए हैं। उनमें से प्रतिष्ठित संस्थान हैं जो दशकों से जीवित हैं। लॉस एंजिल्स में स्टेन के डोनट्स उनमें से एक है।


Counter-terror police arrest four men at Luton Airport

Summary: Counter-terror police have arrested four men on suspicion of being members of a banned organisation hours after they flew into the country.

The four Sri Lankan nationals arrived at Luton Airport on 10 April and were arrested by police the next day. The Metropolitan Police said the men were stopped under the Terrorism Act 2000 and arrested under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. The four remain in custody at a police station in Bedfordshire. Membership of a proscribed organisation is contrary to section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

आतंकवाद-रोधी पुलिस ने देश में प्रवेश करने के कुछ घंटों बाद एक प्रतिबंधित संगठन के सदस्य होने के संदेह में चार लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया है।


'Have a stoma and live or don't have one and die'

Summary: Imagine being told that you have a life-threatening illness. Imagine having to relearn how to carry out previously straightforward tasks such as using a public toilet. Imagine not only having to come to terms with all of this but also facing hostility because you have a hidden disability.

Natalie Toper from London knows all about this. Three years ago, just before her 32nd birthday, Natalie was diagnosed with late-stage bowel and rectal cancer. She was told she would need an ileostomy, an operation involving the small intestine being diverted through an opening - or stoma - in the abdomen. A bag is then placed over the stoma to collect liquid and waste. The procedure can either be temporary or permanent. Before she even met the stoma nurses who would provide support, she was simply handed a stoma bag sample and told she would need to wear one permanently, for the rest her life. She had her operation in May 2014 - a date she commemorates each year with what she terms a "stomaversary" card. Deciding to do her own research, Natalie was horrified, disgusted and angry. "I felt like I was being punished for a crime I didn't know I had committed," she recalls. "But the choices were, 'Have a stoma and live or don't have one and die, and die quickly.'" Natalie opted for the former but discovered some new challenges, such as travelling on crowded public transport, especially when trying to get a disabled seat. Another is the need to carry around a large amount of sanitary equipment when out and about. As well as a stoma ring, which protects the skin, and a bag, the kit may include medical grade wipes, skin protector and a rubbish bag. Finding somewhere hygienic to change is often a major problem. The mother of one says she often faces hostility when trying to use public disabled toilets. Natalie explains: "Each and every time I have been met with verbal and physical abuse by both the able-bodied and visibly disabled communities, for trying to access facilities I am fully entitled to use." This has ranged from being manhandled to being rammed by disability-scooter users. She continues: "Every stomite [a person who wears a stoma] I have spoken to has experienced similar situations to myself. One of my friends even stopped going out because of the abuse." Natalie tries to get around this problem by drinking less and making sure she has put on a clean bag before going out. However, the most difficult challenge to deal with is dating as Natalie never knows how or when to say she has a stoma. "If I am upfront and say I have a stoma at the beginning of a relationship, and explain what one actually is, men will turn their noses up and walk away," she says. "If I wait a while, I get accused of taking the decision to date someone like me away from them, and again they walk." In a bid to change attitudes, Natalie has started a petition for stoma signs to be added on to disabled toilets. Conditions are starting to improve slowly. An example is the supermarket Sainsbury's promising to make its toilets more inclusive for their customers with stomas. Natalie says she fears if she doesn't campaign on the issue, no-one else will. By Bernadette McCague, UGC and Social News team

कल्पना कीजिए कि आपको बताया जा रहा है कि आपको एक जानलेवा बीमारी है। कल्पना कीजिए कि सार्वजनिक शौचालय का उपयोग करने जैसे पहले के सीधे-सादे कार्यों को कैसे पूरा किया जाए। कल्पना कीजिए कि न केवल इन सब के साथ समझौता करना है, बल्कि शत्रुता का सामना करना पड़ रहा है क्योंकि आपको एक छिपी हुई अक्षमता है।


Mexico's vigilante law enforcers

Summary: Insecurity dominates the lives of millions of Mexicans. Caught between the murderous drug cartels and absent or corrupt law enforcement, communities are taking the law into their own hands. In the state of Guerrero, a fledgling vigilante force has grown into an organisation numbering thousands.

By Linda PresslyBBC News, Ayutla In the market town of Ayutla on a sweltering afternoon, two rusty old saloon cars pull up outside a furniture store on a street corner. Men with their rifles pointing skyward tumble out of the vehicles. But one of them has no gun. Nor does he have any shoes. He is being detained, and is brought in roughly by the men with weapons - all volunteer members of Ayutla's self-defence force. This street corner is the group's makeshift, unofficial headquarters. There are a few old chairs, a table, a barrel and some sandbags. Behind them, wardrobes embossed with Disney princesses jostle with chests of drawers. The young man with no shoes has his hands tied behind his back with nylon rope, and is told to sit down. "We're not going to mistreat him, or be aggressive with him", explains Leonides Ramos Ortiz, a member of the self-defence force. "We're going to take care of him until the investigation begins." Since they became a force to be reckoned with earlier this year, this is just one of dozens of arrests made by untrained, armed civilians from Ayutla and its surrounding pueblos. But they have no legal authority, and they should not be carrying their guns in the street. This does not seem to be of concern to the steady stream of locals who come to the HQ to report crime. Dona Juana, a frail elderly woman, is having problems with a neighbour. He is trying to steal her land. "He says he's going to tie my husband up and drag him behind a horse, he's going to kill me, and kidnap my daughter", she says. Dona Juana has been to the police, the local council and the public affairs ministry, and nothing has been done. Her friend, Carmela, believes Dona Juana's only hope is the "community police" as she calls the self-defence force. "The regular police and the military are all being used by organised criminal groups to carry out their activities. They're not stopping crime. Now we have our own community police, everything is much quieter. In the last couple of months organised crime has begun to disappear." Guerrero is what is called a hot state. It has some of the most violently disputed territory in Mexico, and produces more than half the country's heroin. Drug cartels grow opium poppies and marijuana in the highlands of the Sierra Madre, and move cocaine towards the United States along the state's mountain passes. Acapulco on the Pacific coast is the Mexican city with the highest homicide rate. And murder is a regular occurrence in Ayutla. On the outskirts of the town, down a rough track, a cavalcade of armoured military vehicles and police pick-up trucks have come to a stop next to a small farm. Around the perimeter of the property, members of the self-defence force have taken up positions at five-metre intervals. Yellow police tape cordons off one area. "They found the remains of a body here, in an unmarked grave. It looks like it's a drug-related crime", says Gonzalo Torres, a large middle-aged man in a checked shirt, and one of the vigilantes. "Local people told us about the body, and we gave that information to the police." This is a role the self-defence force would like to play - important intermediaries between the community and Mexican authorities that are often regarded with suspicion by locals. The next day another three bodies are found close by. One of them was buried crouching, a young man with his legs tucked under his chin. Kidnap, too, is a common crime in Ayutla, a profitable sideline for the drug cartels and organised crime. Everyone knows someone who has been taken. In January, when the third of their commanders in as many months was bundled into a vehicle by an armed gang, hundreds of men, and some women, joined the self-defence force. They swooped and detained more than 50 people they claimed were guilty of serious crime. Eleuterio Maximino Flora was the first vigilante commander to be abducted. He did not think he would get away alive. "They said they were going to kill me. They kicked me, and used torture. They nearly drowned me." He says he did not know the men who held him. But he does know why he was taken. "We had detained some criminals. So the gang kidnapped me to use as a bargaining chip to get their people released. I was freed after Comandante Ernesto Gallardo Grande told them if they executed me he was going to kill 10 members of one of their families." But in this scary scenario, who were the bad guys? It is an illustration of what can happen when organised crime, an armed population and a power vacuum conspire to create an altogether toxic mix. And there are allegations of torture against the self-defence force too. Rafael Mendoza Ventura is a lawyer representing some of those who were detained by the vigilantes in January, and who are now in the custody of the state while they are being investigated. "While they were held by the self-defence force, electric shocks were applied to genitals, there were beatings, plastic bags put over detainees' heads - the same kind of practices the police use to extract confessions." Comandante Ernesto Gallardo Grande denies these allegations. Citizens' self-defence groups are now operating in 13 Mexican states. According to one newspaper, Reforma, they are present in more than 60 municipalities. But there are wider concerns about the growth of the vigilante movement in Mexico. Luz Paula Parra is a security expert at CIDE, Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas in Mexico City, and believes the state must take action to stop it. "In Ayutla, it's very dangerous, a very short-term gain to allow these groups because they will be Frankensteins. Little by little they will gain power and resources, and then it won't be easy to stop them." She points to examples elsewhere in Latin America, like Colombia, where self-defence groups morphed into paramilitary killing machines during the civil war. And what of the shoeless young man detained in Ayutla, tied up and investigated? Even though the self-defence force found him guilty of violence against his wife, he was not handed over to the police. Instead he was put to work sweeping streets and painting houses - part of a system of punishment and rehabilitation with its roots in indigenous culture, passed down from Mexico's original inhabitants. At the end of last month, in their largest show of force so far, more than 1,500 of Ayutla's self-defence volunteers surrounded the community of Tierra Colorada. They demanded the police arrest several officials after one of their volunteers was murdered. This is a movement that is growing in confidence. The risk is that it becomes yet another unaccountable, organised, armed group - one that threatens rather than enhances the security of the citizens of Ayutla.

मेक्सिको के लाखों लोगों के जीवन में असुरक्षा हावी है। जानलेवा नशीली दवाओं के गिरोहों और अनुपस्थित या भ्रष्ट कानून प्रवर्तन के बीच फंसे समुदाय कानून को अपने हाथों में ले रहे हैं। ग्युरेरो राज्य में, एक नवोदित सतर्कता बल हजारों की संख्या में एक संगठन में विकसित हो गया है।


CPJ protests attacks on Tamil media

Summary: A US based media watchdog has called upon the Sri Lankan government to investigate attacks on the Tamil-language newspaper Sudar Oli including the killing of a printing press security guard and assaults on reporters.

Condemning the spate of attacks on the Colombo based newspaper Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recalls that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse last week condemned the killing as an assault on freedom of expression. Calling the attacks "vicious" CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said "the government has a responsibility to ensure the safety of journalists whose lives are increasingly endangered by political violence." Four attacks On August 29, two men lobbed grenades into the building housing the printing press, killing a guard and injuring two other staff members. On August 21 two grenades were tossed into the paper's advertising office but failed to explode. On August 30 two parliamentary reporters V. Puththirasigamani and Arumugam Varatharajah were assaulted while they waited for a bus, according to the Colombo-based Free Media Movement (FMM) and international news reports. One was seriously injured. Photo journalist Yathurshan Premachchandran was set upon and robbed on August 23 while covering a rally of the Jantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in front of a large crowd including local and international journalists. Newsreader killed JVP activists turned the photographer over to the police accusing him of being an LTTE member. He was released the next day. A senior Tamil broadcaster and her husband were earleir shot dead by suspected Tamil Tigers in the capital, Colombo. Relangi Selvarajah, 44, a well-known newsreader worked for government owned Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporarion, and her husband were gunned down around 1300 SLT on 12 August. Military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake said the couple, Sinnathurai Selvarajah and his wife were in their shop when armed assailants shot them dead. Sinnaturai Selvarajah, who has been an activist of the Peoples Liberation Organisation for Tamil Ealam (PLOTE), has left the organisation in 1990 and started his own business in the capital.

अमेरिका स्थित एक मीडिया वॉचडॉग ने श्रीलंका सरकार से तमिल भाषा के समाचार पत्र सुदर ओली पर हमलों की जांच करने का आह्वान किया है, जिसमें एक प्रिंटिंग प्रेस सुरक्षा गार्ड की हत्या और पत्रकारों पर हमले शामिल हैं।


Leicester Square: Do London's cinemas face a fight for survival?

Summary: London's Leicester Square is home to some of the UK's oldest and most beautiful cinemas - but unlike the equally famous West End theatres nearby, none have listed building status. Now, with developers circling, many are worried how long these buildings will last.

By Duncan SmithBBC News The 1930s Odeon West End, one of Leicester Square's oldest picture houses, has already been approved for demolition despite being in a conservation area and opposition from English Heritage. There is nothing to stop others going the same way. Supporters fear they face a losing struggle to protect the most important cinemas in an area of central London hungry for ambitious new developments. "Cinemas should be protected - they are a hugely important part of the history of our 20th Century towns and cities," says Henrietta Billings, senior conservation adviser at the Twentieth Century Society. "Not only do they chart an interesting period of public entertainment - from their heyday as American Hollywood movie palaces, to slow decline in the post war years with competition from television - these enormous buildings were often fantastically elaborate 'Cathedrals of the Movies'." But why is the design of these buildings so important? Turn the clock back 70 years and many of the ambitious new developments were cinemas themselves. Great cathedrals for the silver screen were rising across the city, some of the most imaginative auditoriums ever seen, bringing the glamour of Hollywood to central London, as well as less glamorous areas of the capital and the rest of the UK. Gigantic and palatial auditoriums fit for Hollywood royalty themselves boasted the biggest screens ever seen; rows of velvet seats, palm trees and awe inspiring interiors ranged from Egyptian-inspired art deco to gothic-influenced design. "The cinemas were designed to take people into a kind of fantasy land," explained Richard Gray, chairman of the Cinema Theatre Association, a heritage group. "It was joining with the fantasy of the film that you were about to see. "I think the idea was to gobsmack the audience, in one way or another. Each cinema outdid the last one with a sensationalist interior." Leicester Square's cinema history So why do cinemas seem particularly vulnerable to the demolition ball now? Unlike their architectural cousins, the West End theatres, many cinemas lost their original features in the race to keep up with technology. First, in the 1950s, came the demand for massive curving CinemaScope screens. Then dawned the era of the multiplex. Picture houses that once housed one big screen and a thousand seats were carved-up to accommodate three or more small screens. Such changes were introduced sympathetically in some venues - as in the now Grade II* listed Odeon in Muswell Hill, north London, where most of the original auditoriums' features have been retained. At other times the alterations were more brutal, leaving little evidence of the cinema's glamorous past. For instance, the space that in 1967 housed Europe's biggest CinemasScope screen at Odeon Marble Arch is now filled with five smaller screens. Even one of London's most famous cinemas, the Empire Leicester Square, has succumbed to the most recent demands and installed an IMAX screen. The cinema, which was for more than 50 years the biggest auditorium on the square, was subdivided to accommodate the new screen. Changes like that make it difficult for a cinema to ever be granted listed status. Justin Ribbons, chief executive of Empire Cinemas, defended the changes made to the 130-year-old building. "With each regeneration there is obviously a balance between maintaining the historic building and installing the new technology and imperative film marketing," he said. "However, I think Empire Leicester Square is one of the best examples in London of sustaining both. "You can't preserve the old building in its entire original form and purpose without it becoming irrelevant to today's entertainment industry. For us the building is tantamount with the business, and from that point of view we will always cherish and preserve as much of the building as we can." English Heritage said it opposed the application to demolish the Odeon West End but explained that both the Empire and Odeon Leicester Square had been too significantly altered to be listed. "The concentration of both cinemas and theatres in the West End is something we naturally take into account, but we nevertheless have to judge each building on its own merits," a spokesman said. But despite the building's failure to meet English Heritage's standards, the Odeon Leicester Square (not to be confused with the Odeon West End, also in Leicester Square) is the biggest single screen cinema left in the UK, and remains a favourite among cinema aficionados. With its famous black marble tower, it remains a valuable piece of the city's heritage and one of the most impressive places to see a film in London, according to Mr Gray. "It has been emasculated and emaciated, compared to what it was... it did have this world class interior which was smashed to bits in the 1960s, but you still feel as though you are somewhere quite special," he said. Cinemas at risk Source: Cinema Theatre Association Duncan Reynolds, the managing director of Odeon UK, points to the recent refurbishment of the Odeon in Swiss Cottage, north London, as evidence of a commitment to preserving the best of the past. While the bulldozers may seem to be circling in the heart of London, elsewhere in the country there are a growing number of successful restoration projects. The Rex in Berkhamstead and the Odyssey in St Albans, both in Hertfordshire, and the Regal in Evesham, Worcestershire, were all saved from the shadow of the developer's digger to become thriving cinemas in fully restored art deco glory. In Stepney, east-London, the gigantic Troxy - a 1933 cinema and once a Mecca bingo hall - is now open again as an entertainment venue with occasional film presentations. Daniel Smith, business development manager at the Troxy, explained the enduring appeal of this elegant old cinema. "The 1930s was a very glamorous era where the environment that people were going to enjoy entertainment was just as important as the activity, and Troxy is a prime example of this," he said. "Fragrances used to be pumped into the venue through the ceiling ducts to keep the space smelling fresh and the stunning original 1930s art deco architecture speaks for itself." So while cinemas in Leicester Square may face an uncertain future, with a bit of imagination others have proved there's still life in the old picture palaces yet.

लंदन का लीसेस्टर स्क्वायर ब्रिटेन के कुछ सबसे पुराने और सबसे खूबसूरत सिनेमाघरों का घर है-लेकिन पास के समान रूप से प्रसिद्ध वेस्ट एंड थिएटरों के विपरीत, किसी ने भी इमारत की स्थिति को सूचीबद्ध नहीं किया है। अब, डेवलपर्स के चक्कर लगाने के साथ, कई लोग चिंतित हैं कि ये इमारतें कितने समय तक चलेंगी।


Three deny charges in modern slavery case

Summary: Three people have pleaded not guilty to modern slavery charges.

Robert Zaludek and Katarina Zaludekova, both 32, were charged with three counts of requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour. The defendants and Helena Zaludekova, 50, are also charged with arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to being exploited. They also denied theft charges and will face trial with five others who face theft and money laundering charges. The eight people were arrested following an investigation by Staffordshire Police and appeared at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on Thursday to deny all charges. The force said Mr Zaludek and Ms Zaludekova, both of Garnet Street, Stoke-on-Trent, were each charged in March with five counts of theft. Helena Zaludekova, of Cauldon Road, Stoke-on-Trent, faces two counts of theft. A fourth man, Bartolomej Zaludek, 52, of Cauldon Road, Stoke-on-Trent, was charged with two counts of theft. Emelia Simonokova, 23, of Victoria Road, Fenton, Rene Zaludek, 23, also of Victoria Road, Fenton, and Jan Pokuta, 32, of Harcourt Street, Shelton, were all charged with money laundering. A 17-year-old man from Stoke-on-Trent, who has not been identified because of his age was charged with theft. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk Related Internet Links HM Courts & Tribunals Service

तीन लोगों ने आधुनिक गुलामी के आरोपों के लिए दोषी नहीं होने का अनुरोध किया है।


Several offers received for Aberdeen's Pittodrie Stadium

Summary: Aberdeen FC's move to a new stadium has moved a step closer with the announcement that several offers have been received for Pittodrie.

The ground was put on the market after outline planning permission for 350 homes on the site was secured. The club says the sale of the 13.7-acre Pittodrie site is key to securing the £38m needed to build a new stadium, capable of holding about 21,000 fans. Consultants CBRE say they are now in discussions with several bidders. The new stadium would be at Loirston Loch on the southern outskirts of the city. It is hoped the stadium - which is planned to be an iconic landmark - could be ready for the 2013/14 season.

एबरडीन एफ. सी. का एक नए स्टेडियम में जाना इस घोषणा के साथ एक कदम और आगे बढ़ गया है कि पिटोड्री के लिए कई प्रस्ताव प्राप्त हुए हैं।


BG Group in £300m North Sea deal with Stork and Wood Group

Summary: UK gas producer BG Group has signed a deal worth about £300m with Wood Group PSN and Stork Technical Services for North Sea work.

The deal is for a range of specialist support over the next five years. This will be centred on BG Group's Armada, Everest and Lomond assets. Meanwhile, Chevron North Sea has awarded a £150m contract to Dolphin Drilling for North Sea work. The drilling program is expected to start in 2015.

ब्रिटेन के गैस उत्पादक बीजी समूह ने उत्तरी सागर के काम के लिए वुड समूह पीएसएन और स्टॉर्क तकनीकी सेवाओं के साथ लगभग 300 मिलियन पाउंड के सौदे पर हस्ताक्षर किए हैं।


Dubai's Sheikh Mohammed abducted daughters and threatened wife - UK court

Summary: Abduction, forced return, torture and a campaign of intimidation. On Thursday the damning allegations made against the billionaire ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, by his former wife, Princess Haya Bint Al-Hussain, became established fact, published in a series of judgements by the High Court in London.

By Frank GardnerBBC security correspondent, at the High Court Following a high-profile case that began eight months ago, the court has published a Fact Finding Judgement (FFJ) in favour of Princess Haya who fled Dubai last year, along with her two children, telling friends she was in fear of her life. Sheikh Mohammed had tried, unsuccessfully, to keep the judgement out of the public domain but his appeal was rejected after the case was ruled to be in the public interest. The ruler of Dubai was found to have "not been open and honest with the court". In a statement issued after the judgements were published, Sheikh Mohammed said: "As a head of government, I was not able to participate in the court's fact-finding process. This has resulted in the release of a 'fact-finding' judgment which inevitably only tells one side of the story." He insisted the case was a private matter. "I ask that the media respect the privacy of our children and do not intrude into their lives in the UK," he said. 'Young women deprived of liberty' After hearing extensive witness statements over a period of time, the court found Sheikh Mohammed to have been responsible for the abduction and forced return of two of his daughters from another marriage. The judge found that Sheikh Mohammed "continues to maintain a regime whereby both these two young women are deprived of their liberty". Princess Haya of Jordan, 45, a daughter of the late King Hussain and a former Olympic equestrian, married Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, 70, in 2004, becoming the sixth and youngest of his wives. They have two children, aged seven and 11. Initially she believed his explanations of what had happened to the two princesses, namely that they had been "rescued" and were now safe with the family. But by early 2019 Princess Haya had become suspicious and voiced her concerns. She had also begun an adulterous affair with her British bodyguard. A campaign of intimidation by Sheikh Mohammed's agents began and the court heard that a gun was twice placed on her pillow with the safety catch off. A helicopter landed outside her house with a threat to remove her to a remote desert prison. The judge ruled that "the father has therefore acted in a manner from the end of 2018 which has been aimed at intimidating and frightening the mother, and that he has encouraged others to do so on his behalf". 'A huge embarrassment' In April 2019 Princess Haya fled to Britain, taking her two children with her. The court heard how veiled threats from Sheikh Mohammed had left her terrified for her own safety, as well as fears that her children could be abducted and forcibly returned to Dubai. In May 2019 she said he told her: "You and the children will never be safe in England". He published a poem entitled: "You lived, you died". The court heard how the Sheikh had used his media contacts to generate a series of negative articles about Princess Haya, many of which were "wholly inaccurate". These judgements, and the allegations upheld by them, are clearly a huge personal embarrassment to Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum. It is hardly surprising therefore that his legal team tried their best to keep them out of the public domain. In his latest statement, he said: "The appeal was made to protect the best interests and welfare of the children. The outcome does not protect my children from media attention in the way that other children in family proceedings in the UK are protected." While his former wife, Princess Haya, has a relatively low profile, Sheikh Mohammed is a global figure in the horseracing world where he is the owner and founder of Godolphin Stables. He has often been photographed with the Queen. He is also a renowned figure across the Middle East, responsible for transforming the emirate of Dubai into the massive tourism, leisure and business destination it has become. The rulings have been welcomed by human rights campaigners.

अपहरण, जबरन वापसी, यातना और धमकी का अभियान। गुरुवार को दुबई के अरबपति शासक शेख मोहम्मद बिन राशिद अल-मकतूम के खिलाफ उनकी पूर्व पत्नी राजकुमारी हया बिंट अल-हुसैन द्वारा लगाए गए हानिकारक आरोप स्थापित तथ्य बन गए, जो लंदन में उच्च न्यायालय के फैसलों की एक श्रृंखला में प्रकाशित हुए।


Cybercrime shopping list study points to falling prices

Summary: Fancy a bank account with $300,000 (£184,000) in it? If you know where to look and you don't mind dealing with cybercriminals then the going rate is just $300, a study of the hacking underworld suggests.

By Paul RubensTechnology reporter For that you'll get the bank account details, plus online username and password providing you with full access to the money. For criminal buyers that price is a steal compared with the sums they were paying as little as two years ago. Back in 2011 the most they could have expected to acquire for $300 would have been a compromised bank account with just $7,000 in it, and probably less, the researchers say, The investigation was carried out by Joe Stewart, director of malware research at Dell SecureWorks, and David Shear, an independent researcher. The pair have monitored Russian and other criminal forums on the internet in which financial details are traded. Mr Stewart says that the price of all sorts of stolen financial information has fallen sharply over the past year on hacker black markets, and suggests this is the result of some large scale data breaches that have occurred during the period. The glut in supply could continue for some time. "I think that there is a lot further for prices to fall," he says. Secrets for sale It's not just the price of online bank account credentials that has fallen, Mr Stewart adds. For example, a full dossier of financial and other information about an individual that can be used to commit identity theft now costs just $25 for a US victim, or $30-40 for a British one. Two years ago these full dossiers - known as Fullz in hacker speak - changed hands for as much as $60 each. A typical Fullz contains a victim's: And one or more from the following: In fact, it now appears there is such a large supply of stolen credit card details that hackers have had to slash their prices and take even more extreme measures to sell them before they expire or are cancelled. "Hackers used to steal credit card details one at a time, but now they have figured out where to steal large numbers of details in one go," Mr Stewart says. "Sellers on these black markets will now usually give you a few credit card details for free so you can check them out, and then you can buy them in lots of about a thousand." The going rate is about $4 per card for US Visa or Mastercard details, and $7-$8 for UK or European ones, he says. Sophisticated scams The reason that stolen US information is worth less than UK or European financial information is partly because it is harder and more costly for criminals to transfer stolen funds from the US to where they are - which is usually Eastern Europe or Asia, Mr Stewart says. This usually involves using middlemen who take a cut to launder the money. The Fullz packages have only been available for a few years, and their existence indicates that criminals are getting more sophisticated in their offerings, according to Mr Stewart. "Previously they just offered lists of credit card numbers, but offering Fullz shows that hackers have got smarter and are now able to target places where a wide range of personal data is warehoused," he says. Cybercriminals have also become more sophisticated in the way they offer stolen financial data to prospective customers. This includes setting up websites with search facilities that allow them to search for stolen online details for specific banks. "They set these up as subscription services, and subscribers can then run as many searches as they like for accounts at specific banks that they can get cash out from most conveniently," he says. Not all prices are falling in the world of cybercrime world, however. Computer hackers try to identify and then exploit vulnerabilities in programs and operating systems to gain access to credit card details and other data. Bitcoin burglars Stefan Frei, research director at security consultancy NSS Labs, says that the price that cybercriminals are willing to pay for newly discovered vulnerabilities is rising and the more secure a platform is perceived to be, the more the hack would be worth. "People are putting more of their life on their computers, so the value to a hacker per computer is much higher than before," he explains. "An iOS vulnerability may now change hands for $500,000 or even $1m." Looking ahead, Mr Stewart believes the rise of Bitcoin - a virtual currency - could cause the thieves to change focus. Businesses are attracted to supporting the innovation as an alternative to cash because it is cheap to use, payments are almost instant, and the move gains them publicity. But the Dell researcher warns that digital wallets - the computer programs used to store bitcoins - make more tempting targets for hackers than real bank accounts. "Many Bitcoin users don't know much about security, and many protect their digital wallets with a user name and password that criminals can get past easily using malware," he says. "The beauty for a criminal is that if you steal a Bitcoin wallet you don't have to go through a middleman like you do with a real bank account to move the money. You can just cash it out instantly anywhere in the world."

यदि आप जानते हैं कि कहाँ देखना है और आपको साइबर अपराधियों से निपटने में कोई आपत्ति नहीं है, तो हैकिंग अंडरवर्ल्ड के एक अध्ययन से पता चलता है कि चालू दर सिर्फ $300 है।


Arab Spring: How the uprisings still echo, 10 years on

Summary: A single moment in Cairo 10 years ago made me think: "Wait, this is more than just another protest." It was a Friday, when the most important weekly congregational prayer for Muslims takes place, and it came a few days after the first demonstrations against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had started.

By Jeremy BowenBBC Middle East editor Mohamed ElBaradei, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for working to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, had emerged as critic of the regime. When he went to a mosque that Friday, everyone there expected trouble, even though Mr ElBaradei himself always urged peaceful protest. Hundreds of riot police were ready. Several thousand demonstrators were waiting. I was a little cynical about opposition to the President. I had seen a few demonstrations in the years before that, of brave, generally middle class protestors, who would chant slogans for as long as it took for the police to arrest them, usually violently. When the prayer ended that day, the demonstrators turned on the police. The moment I realised it was different was when I saw it was not the educated middle class who were protesting but desperately poor Egyptian men. They turned over police vehicles, setting them alight and taking on clubs and tear gas. Revolutions have no strength without the urban poor. It was a day of pitched street battles that culminated with crowds storming bridges across the Nile that led to Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the city. When Hosni Mubarak fell, exactly 10 years ago, the news roared across the crowds in the square who had by then fought off his supporters for 18 days. During the night the noise of clashes in and around the square rose over the silence of the curfew imposed by the regime. On one bizarre and violent day there was even a cavalry charge against the protestors by men on camels. The revolution had no real leaders, which made it feel popular and democratic. That was also its downfall. The young people who had become prominent in the protests could not find a way to organise themselves into an effective political force. It was understandable. Years of authoritarian rule meant they were starting from scratch. A free presidential election in 2012 came down to a fight between the candidates fielded by Egypt's two organised groups. On one side was the Muslim Brotherhood who had been working since the 1920s for a state based on the laws of Islam. They believed their moment, finally, had come. On the other was the Egyptian military, which had controlled Egypt since a group calling itself the Free Officers overthrew the monarch in 1952. Mubarak was a former air force chief, who was sacrificed by the armed forces to preserve their power, which in Egypt extends to the lucrative control of large sections of the economy. The Muslim Brotherhood won the election, but governed badly and rapidly alienated Egyptians who were not their natural supporters. The military did all they could to undermine the government. As Egypt sank deeper into instability and violence, the generals seized power in 2013. By the beginning of 2014 more than two thousand people, mostly civilians, are estimated to have been killed in political violence on the streets. I saw much of it: security forces levelling their weapons and directing deadly fire at a big and angry crowd outside the base where the deposed president, Mohammed Morsi, was being held; families trying to identify bodies laid out in a mosque and decomposing rapidly in the August heat after security forces killed at least 900 people as they broke up sit-ins by supporters of the Brotherhood; the dead from a huge demonstration in Ramses Square being sewn into burial shrouds at another mosque where the staircases were slippery with blood. Since then the armed forces have consolidated their control of Egypt. Their leader, Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, became president. He has imposed a more comprehensive and vicious police state than anything attempted in Mubarak's era. Tens of thousands of Egyptians have been thrown into jail for everything from direct opposition to the regime to simply ridiculing the president. Hundreds have been executed after trials condemned as unfair by human rights groups. The dethroning of Hosni Mubarak followed a popular revolution days earlier in Tunisia. The events at the start of 2011 in Egypt, traditionally the cultural and political hub of the Arab world, had within weeks inspired uprisings across the Middle East. The uprisings changed everything, but not in the way that protestors chanting for freedom and the fall of the regimes had been hoping. The hard men struck back. Hundreds of thousands have died and millions have lost their homes. Jihadist extremists prospered, providing their own version of the truth to young people oppressed by dictatorships fighting for their own survival. Removing entrenched authoritarian leaders is very difficult, particularly when regimes are supported by foreign powers that believe they make reliable allies. The regime in Egypt would have struggled to survive without financial help from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. President Sisi has also had vital political support from the west. In Paris last December President Emmanuel Macron of France decorated the former field marshal with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. The veteran Egyptian human rights campaigner, Laila Soueif, who has two children currently in jail for opposing the Sisi regime, told me in a Zoom interview that Western governments needed to change their ways. "I know that Western politicians are selling their people the line that they have to back the regime in Egypt and similar regimes around the area, because this is the only way to achieve the stability. And if you do not actually have stability, you will have millions of immigrants and you will have terrorism blah blah blah..." "Now this is their alibi. It's not true... British people should hold the government accountable for what it's doing or selling or how it's working for the benefit of arms and energy companies rather than people." While regimes have held on to power they have not restored stability, or consent. The Middle East is in a long and difficult process of change. The 2011 uprisings were fuelled by the anger of young people who were fed up with corruption, repression and unemployment. All those grievances still exist. More under-30s in Arab countries are jobless than anywhere else in the world. Anger smoulders across the Middle East. Already this year, there were big protests against mass unemployment in Tunisia, the only Arab country to emerge from 2011 with a new democracy. Demonstrators attacked public buildings in Lebanon, a country that is in economic and political collapse. The attitudes of the young matter, because they make up the majority of the population. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will amplify everything. The hopes of decade ago were crushed. History shows that repression works, until desperation overcomes fear, and then it doesn't.

10 साल पहले काहिरा में एक पल ने मुझे सोचने पर मजबूर कर दियाः "रुको, यह सिर्फ एक और विरोध से कहीं अधिक है।" यह एक शुक्रवार था, जब मुसलमानों के लिए सबसे महत्वपूर्ण साप्ताहिक सामूहिक प्रार्थना होती है, और यह मिस्र के राष्ट्रपति होस्नी मुबारक के खिलाफ पहले प्रदर्शन शुरू होने के कुछ दिनों बाद आया था।


Data watchdog probes £6,200 chocolate splurge

Summary: The UK's data-privacy watchdog is investigating why one of its corporate credit cards was used to spend £6,248.40 at luxury chocolate specialist Hotel Chocolat.

The charge was disclosed via a public declaration of the Information Commissioner's Office recent spending. It indicates the purchase was made the week before Christmas. The ICO is funded via a fee imposed on bodies that process personal data. It also receives a government grant. The internal probe was sparked by an investigation by news website Insider, which flagged the spend on Monday. 'High standards' "This payment is currently subject to an internal investigation," the watchdog said in a statement. "We believe that the transaction has been made contrary to ICO policies. "The ICO is committed to upholding high standards in all aspects of our financial management and controls. "Should a contravention of our finance policies be confirmed, we will take appropriate action, including ensuring the payment is reimbursed."

यूके का डेटा-गोपनीयता प्रहरी इस बात की जांच कर रहा है कि उसके एक कॉर्पोरेट क्रेडिट कार्ड का उपयोग लक्जरी चॉकलेट विशेषज्ञ होटल चॉकलेट में £6,248.40 खर्च करने के लिए क्यों किया गया था।


Apple v Google - the mapping wars

Summary: Three Californian companies - Apple, Google and Facebook - now dominate the internet and are in a battle for supremacy over our online lives. And last night we saw another important episode in the power play between these three giants.

Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent@BBCRoryCJon Twitter Tim Cook's opening keynote at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference had plenty to excite the real afficionados in the form of upgrades to the MacBook Air and Pro range of laptops, rather less to a wider world which pays attention to a new iPhone or iPad but not much else. But what was significant to the shape of the industry was Apple's growing love affair with Facebook and the deepening cold war with Google. The announcements about iOS6, the latest version of the mobile operating system which is now more important to Apple than the Mac OS itself, showed Facebook being welcomed inside the tent while Google was pitched out. When iOS6 comes along in the autumn, hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users will find that Facebook is heavily integrated into everything from sharing photos to contacts and calendar entries that mirror your social networking activity. Meanwhile, when you go to the Maps app, you will no longer find the Google product that has been there since the iPhone's launch, but a new Apple version. After buying up a mapping business last year, the company is now promising users "Apple-designed cartography, turn-by-turn navigation and an amazing new Flyover view". But not, you will note, the Google Streetview capability that has until now been available on its mobile devices. Last week, in an apparent attempt to gets its retaliation in first, Google unveiled a series of upgrades to its Maps service, including 3D mapping much like that Flyover view promised by Apple. Google and Apple used to be close allies, with the search firm's Eric Schmidt sitting on the Apple board. But, as was made clear in last year's biography of Steve Jobs, the iron entered the Apple founder's soul when Google launched its Android mobile operating system. As the internet goes mobile, there's a huge amount at stake for both companies, and maps are a key weapon in the battle to be top dog. The nascent mobile advertising industry is heavily focussed on location based services, so owning the dominant mapping system could prove very lucrative. The next move in this chess game is Google's. Presumably the firm will release a Google Maps app, complete with Streetview and 3D flyovers, for Apple's iOS 6 in the autumn. Unless Apple wants to take on the competition authorities, it will have to approve the app, and let users choose between the two mapping systems. But consumer inertia being what it is, most will probably stick with the default Apple option. What next? Google replaced by Bing as the default search engine on iPhones and iPads? Tim Cook may seem mild-mannered compared to his predecessor as Apple CEO, but he's already shown he has the stomach for a fight.

कैलिफोर्निया की तीन कंपनियाँ-ऐप्पल, गूगल और फेसबुक-अब इंटरनेट पर हावी हैं और हमारे ऑनलाइन जीवन पर वर्चस्व के लिए लड़ाई में हैं। और कल रात हमने इन तीन दिग्गजों के बीच सत्ता के खेल में एक और महत्वपूर्ण घटना देखी।


Tower of London poppies on show at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Summary: Thousands of ceramic poppies used in the Tower of London installation have gone on display in Yorkshire.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield will host the arch segment, also known as "Wave", until January. The installation in London last year marked 100 years since the start of World War One and drew more than five million visitors. Each poppy represents a British and Commonwealth death during the war. The Yorkshire Regiment raised 24 Battalions served by 65,000 men, of whom 9,000 died.

यॉर्कशायर में टॉवर ऑफ लंदन की स्थापना में उपयोग किए जाने वाले हजारों चीनी मिट्टी के पॉपी प्रदर्शित किए गए हैं।


Italy country profile

Summary: Take the art works of Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tintoretto and Caravaggio, the operas of Verdi and Puccini, the cinema of Federico Fellini, add the architecture of Venice, Florence and Rome and you have just a fraction of Italy's treasures from over the centuries.

While the country is renowned for these and other delights, it is also notorious for its precarious political life, and has had several dozen governments since the end of the Second World War. The Italian political landscape underwent a seismic shift in the early 1990s when the "mani pulite" ("clean hands") operation exposed corruption at the highest levels of politics and big business. Several former prime ministers were implicated and thousands of businessmen and politicians were investigated. There were high hopes at the time that the scandal would give rise to a radical reform of Italian political culture, but these hopes were dashed when the old structures were replaced by a new political landscape dominated by the multi-millionaire businessman Silvio Berlusconi, who himself became increasingly mired in scandals and corruption affairs. More recently, populist parties have made the political running, and formed a coalition government in 2018. FACTS Italian Republic Capital: Rome Population 61 million Area 301,338 sq km (116,346 sq miles) Major language Italian Major religion Christianity Life expectancy 81 years (men), 86 years (women) Currency euro LEADERS President: Sergio Mattarella Sergio Mattarella, a constitutional court judge and veteran centre-left politician, was elected president by parliament in 2015 to succeed Giorgio Napolitano, who stepped down due to old age. He was little known to the general public, but is a respected figure in political circles after a 25-year parliamentary career and several stints as minister in governments of left and right. Prime minister: Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte was sworn in in June 2018 as prime minister of Western Europe's first populist government, whose aim was to cut taxes, boost welfare spending and overhaul European Union rules on budgets and immigration. Mr Conte, a law professor, was the choice of the far-right League and the radical 5-Star Movement, which formed a governing coalition and ended three months of political deadlock following inconclusive elections. In August 2019, League leader Matteo Salvini withdrew from the government in the hope of triggering early elections and boosting his party's position in parliament. But the 5-Star Movement and centre-left Democratic Party frustrated this plan by agreeing a new coalition without the League, with Giuseppe Conte retaining his position as prime minister. MEDIA Italy's heady blend of politics and media has often made headlines at home and abroad, with concern regularly being expressed over the concentration of media ownership in the hands of one man - former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Mr Berlusconi's Mediaset empire operates Italy's top private TV stations, and the public broadcaster, Rai, has traditionally been subject to political influence, so that when Mr Berlusconi was prime minister, he was able to exert tight control over both public and private broadcasting. Between them, Rai and Mediaset dominate Italy's TV market and are a potentially powerful political tool, especially as 80% of the population is said to rely on television for its daily news - the highest percentage in the EU. TIMELINE 1861 - Italy becomes a nation-state under King Victor Emmanuel II. 1915 - Italy enters First World War on the side of the Allies. 1922 - Fascist leader Benito Mussolini forms government, moves country towards fascist dictatorship. 1935 - Italy invades Ethiopia. 1936 - Benito Mussolini forms an alliance with Nazi Germany. 1940-45: Italy fights in Second World War on the German side. Invaded by the Allies in 1943, it signs an armistice. Benito Mussolini is captured and executed by partisans as the war ends. 1948 - New constitution. Christian Democrats win elections. 1951 - Italy joins European Coal and Steel Community, the forerunner of the European Community. 1970s - Italy experiences a decade of political violence from the left and right. 1980s - Economy makes significant advances. 1994 - Media magnate Silvio Berlusconi forms first right-wing government after the "clean hands" scandal sweeps away the previous political elite.

बोटिसेली, लियोनार्डो दा विंची, माइकल एंजेलो, टिंटोरेटो और कारवागियो की कलाकृतियों को लें, वर्डी और पुचिनी के ओपेरा, फेडेरिको फेलिनी का सिनेमा, वेनिस, फ्लोरेंस और रोम की वास्तुकला को जोड़ें और आपके पास सदियों से इटली के खजाने का सिर्फ एक अंश है।


Inside the school for bullied children

Summary: Bullying blights the lives of many pupils, but what happens when children are left so sick with anxiety that they refuse to go to school? In the Midlands, a tiny specialist school has been helping youngsters rediscover their confidence and achieve their potential.

By Clare LissamanBBC News When you walk into the reception of Northleigh House School, Benji the school dog soon offers his paw, and there's the homely aroma of cakes being baked. New pupils here soon learn that teachers are to be addressed by their first names and discover that teaching is either one to one or in small groups. Pupils are encouraged to work at their own pace and new students start off gradually; in the early stages they are even allowed to sleep in an upstairs room if they choose. Lily Povey had changed primary school four times as a result of bullying and had not been in mainstream education for two years when she began attending Northleigh in 2015. One memory that endures from the days before Northleigh is of a girl spitting on her plate of food after being encouraged by another. The 18-year-old can't ever recall being happy at school before she left mainstream education. "I think it was the whole environment in general; I just didn't get along with it and I wasn't very social," she says. "I didn't like to talk to other kids and I just kept to myself. With primary school, some girls were quite nasty from about eight. "I had to be forced to go - I really hated it. I would cry and would make up any excuse not to go." Some girls who bullied her went on to the same senior school and encouraged others to put her down. "It got to the point that I couldn't go in any more; it would just make me feel sick." Aaron Kirsch's story is a similar one. Growing up in a small Warwickshire village, he was anxious about the move to a large senior school shortly after his 11th birthday. Diagnosed with dyslexia, he also worried about the workload. He was soon struggling with the change and his anxiety escalated after he was bullied on the bus home. "It was name calling from a main group of people," he says. "It was physical a little bit as well - it wasn't massive, just pushing and shoving. "I was already very anxious and that added to it." Aaron could no longer face the bus journeys and his parents began driving him to school. "I wouldn't even leave the house, so getting to school was always a struggle and some days I ran in front of the car as they were trying to pull away," he says. Near the end of his first term, in December 2011, he panicked after being dropped off. He remembers a teacher taking him to an office and locking the door, telling him to unlock it from the inside and go to class when he felt ready. "I had a massive panic attack when he left me on my own," he said. "I rang my dad and I told him what had happened and he picked me and I never went back again." Aaron's parents were able to get local authority funding so he could become one of the first pupils at Northleigh House. The school had been set up months earlier by retired couple Viv and Fred Morgan in their former B&B in Hatton, near Warwick. Mrs Morgan says the idea for the school stemmed from her picking up a newspaper left by a B&B guest and being shocked to read the story of Simone Grice, a vulnerable 15-year-old who left school through bullying and later took her own life. She ultimately decided to set up a school where vulnerable children could benefit from a "therapeutic learning environment". Seven years on and Northleigh House, which Mrs Morgan says gets a lot of support from the community and local firms, has taught about 70 youngsters. For Aaron, going there was a huge turning point. "I basically went straight to Northleigh and I loved it instantly," he says. "There was a fire lit and it has always felt very homely. It always felt safe because of that. "They won't make you do something if you are not ready and they focus on you as a person. "And they realise that if you are doing well mentally, then you'll do well at school." Receptionist Nikki Perks explains how some new children are so anxious they "will not get out of the car". She finds one of the most rewarding things about working here is seeing pupils' confidence blossom. The criteria for attending are simply "struggling and not going to school". "We don't know if they have been bullied because they don't tell you," says Mrs Morgan. The emphasis is on kindness and respect - "happiness first and learning after". Pastoral sessions are emphasised and children are encouraged to speak about their problems. Mrs Morgan says she has taken away some of the "structure" of mainstream education, in that her pupils work at their own pace, concentrate on subjects that most interest them and are "not shouted at". However, she insists this style of learning is "not a soft option". There are clocks in all rooms and pupils have to get to lessons on time. "We adjust to what they can do, and they do very well," she says. Woodwork and photography are among popular activities, as well as learning about nature from the school's wildlife pond. Ofsted inspectors rated the school satisfactory in 2012 and said areas such as pupils' progress and quality of education could be improved. But they liked its overall philosophy and said it was helping bullied children recover. Staff set about fulfilling inspectors' requirements and now Northleigh offers the full GSCE curriculum and some A-levels to its 30 children aged 11 to 17. It employs 25 teachers, including four who work full time. The school was rated good in 2016 in its last Ofsted report, which praised its "excellent pastoral care" and found staff were very skilled at helping children have more confidence in themselves and their abilities. "Pupils who were fearful and used to hide away are now starting to enjoy meeting others and learning from new experiences," inspectors said. A Centre for Social Justice report said it was estimated about 16,000 children between the ages of 11 and 15 were absent from state schools in England with bullying as the main reason. The Department for Education said schools should respond sensitively and do "all they can to ensure that all children can attend school in a calm and safe environment". In extreme cases, when a child cannot be reintegrated into school, it could mean a transfer to another mainstream school or "alternative provision". Lauren Seager-Smith, chief executive of charity Kidscape, says how each school deals with this is a "lottery" and they need more support. Educational provision across England for children who self-exclude because of bullying is "patchy" and dependent on where they live, she says. Lily certainly feels as though Northleigh has enabled her to have the education she was unable to receive before. At first, she felt scared at Northleigh and ate lunch alone, but gradually grew in confidence. She says she had "very low self-esteem" but was helped by pastoral sessions with a caring mentor. "I always remember my mentor continually reassuring me to believe in myself and telling me that I could do whatever I wanted to do, no matter what anyone else said," she says. "That has stuck with me since and always will - because she was right." Lily and Aaron have now left Northleigh, where not only did they find a love of learning, they also found each other. The teenagers have been in a relationship for 18 months. She began a hairdressing course at college last year, with Aaron waiting in the library on her first day to support her. Lily is enjoying college, where she is moving to a health and social care course, and is feeling positive about the future. "Before, I wouldn't speak to anybody really. I found it very difficult," she says. "I couldn't get my words out and was still very anxious when I went to college, but felt I could do it." Aaron has discovered a love of science, a subject he previously "hated". He started college in 2016 to study psychology and biology A-levels and is looking forward to starting a third A-level in his favourite subject, chemistry, in September. He hopes to go on to university to study medicine. "There was no chance I was going back to secondary school, so without Northleigh I wouldn't have even got my GCSEs," he says. "I don't know where I would be without Northleigh, to be honest." Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

बदमाशी कई छात्रों के जीवन को बर्बाद कर देती है, लेकिन क्या होता है जब बच्चे चिंता से इतने बीमार हो जाते हैं कि वे स्कूल जाने से इनकार कर देते हैं? मिडलैंड्स में, एक छोटा सा विशेषज्ञ स्कूल युवाओं को उनके आत्मविश्वास को फिर से खोजने और उनकी क्षमता को प्राप्त करने में मदद कर रहा है।


World War One theme for Saundersfoot New Year's Day swim

Summary: World War One was commemorated by swimmers in fancy dress who took to the cold water off the Pembrokeshire coast for the annual New Year's Day swim.

More than 1,500 people took to the sea at Saundersfoot at lunchtime, cheered on by a crowd of about 8,000. X-Factor finalist Jay James, who is from the town, started the swim. There was also a mascot race prior to the start of the main event, with Danny Dog of Heatherton Country Sports Park winning. Over its 31-year history, the swim has raised more than £500,000 for charity.

प्रथम विश्व युद्ध को फैंसी पोशाक में तैराकों द्वारा मनाया गया था जो वार्षिक नए साल के दिन तैरने के लिए पेम्ब्रोकेशायर तट पर ठंडे पानी में ले गए थे।


Dereham: Man and woman found dead in house 'smelling of gas'

Summary: A man and a woman were found dead in a house smelling of gas after neighbours checked on their welfare, police said.

Emergency services were called to Becclesgate in Dereham, Norfolk, shortly before midday, when the pair were found unresponsive. Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service entered the house first for a safety check and evacuated nearby homes as a precaution. Norfolk Police said it was investigating and was treating the deaths as unexplained.

पुलिस ने कहा कि पड़ोसियों द्वारा उनके कल्याण की जांच करने के बाद एक घर में एक पुरुष और एक महिला मृत पाए गए, जिनसे गैस की बदबू आ रही थी।