Fire and Fury: Winners and losers from Trump-Bannon feud

Summary: In the world of US politics, 2018 has arrived with fire and fury.

Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter Donald Trump has split with former top adviser Steve Bannon. The president's detractors are touting the revelations in Michael Wolff's explosive new book as confirmation of every suspicion they had about the man and his fitness for office. Mr Trump is back on Twitter, lashing out at the media, Democrats and critics everywhere. The White House is in full bunker mode, enforcing a workplace ban on personal mobile phones of staff members with new vigour. The president's lawyer is rattling off cease-and-desist letters like he's being paid by the word. As Americans hunker down on a frigid weekend to read the juiciest parts of Fire and Fury, the dust is settling from this latest political storm. Who are the winners and losers? Michael Wolff - WINNER During a television interview on Friday morning, the author - a man known in media circles but hardly a household name for most Americans - was basking in the glow of the national spotlight. He quipped that he should send the president a box of chocolates for giving him the kind of publicity money can't buy. Thanks to the frenetic response from the White House when excerpts of his book first started hitting the press earlier this week, Fire and Fury has shot to the top of the Amazon bestseller list. Some have groused that the author largely built his work upon prior reporting by major US media outlets like the Washington Post and the New York Times. Others have questioned the accuracy of details in the book. Trump supporter Sebastian Gorka, in an interview with BBC News, pointed to an author's note in which Wolff acknowledges that his work is based on occasionally conflicting accounts, some of which were "baldly untrue". Wolff says he sometimes allowed disagreements to remain in the text so reader could judge, while in other passages he "settled on a version of events I believe to be true". Wolff says he has tapes and notes to back up his assertions, although he has yet to indicate whether he will release them. It's clear, however, that the author is the currently the brightest star in the media firmament - and for a man who seems to adore being The Man, that's winning and winning big. Steve Bannon - LOSER The former White House chief strategist went from mastermind of Mr Trump's presidential victory and Time Magazine cover boy to "Sloppy Steve", as the president has now nicknamed him, in less than a year. It has been quite a reversal of fortune. In early 2017, Bannon boasted about how he was going to oversee nothing less than the "deconstruction of the administrative state" and usher in a new conservative populism, joining working-class Americans with evangelical conservatives to cement an enduring governing majority. After he was forced out of the White House in mid-August, he pledged to launch a movement that would try to unseat incumbent Republican senators he viewed as insufficiently loyal to Mr Trump and his nationalist policies. His first candidate was Roy Moore who, after being mired in allegations of sexual misconduct, became the first Republican senator to lose to a Democrat in deeply conservative Alabama in 25 years. That defeat may have been the beginning of the end for Bannon's influence. If there's one thing Mr Trump won't abide, it's a loser - and the president pointed to the Alabama defeat in his scathing letter repudiating Bannon after the Fire and Fury excerpts hit the press this week. Throw in that Bannon directed sharp, personal insults at Mr Trump and his family - calling daughter Ivanka "dumb as a brick" and saying Donald Trump Jr and son-in-law Jared Kushner may have committed treason by meeting with Russians during the presidential campaign - and his fate was sealed. According to reports, the White House informed its supporters that they would have to choose between the president and Bannon - and, by and large, they have fallen in line behind Mr Trump. Rebekah Mercer, a deep-pocketed benefactor of Bannon's, issued a statement saying she had terminated her support for his political efforts. Reports are swirling that Bannon may be forced out from atop conservative media empire Breitbart News. While US politics is full of second and third acts, 64-year-old Bannon - with funding disappearing and influence waning - is approaching a career nadir. If this is a Trump-Bannon war, it has been a rout. Mitch McConnell - WINNER Shortly after the president released his scathing statement in which he asserted that Bannon had "lost his mind", Mitch McConnell's campaign Twitter account sent out a short video clip of the Senate majority leader sitting at his desk, smiling broadly. No words were included. None was needed. The Senate majority leader had very publicly feuded with Bannon since the ousted presidential adviser declared it his 2018 goal to see Mr McConnell stripped of his leadership position and his Senate allies ousted. Now that particularly unpleasant thorn is gone from Mr McConnell's side. Senate Republicans running for election in 2018, many of whom had been nervously eyeing their right flank for potential - or actual - challenges from Bannon-backed insurgents, are breathing a sigh of relief. For Republicans, the 2018 congressional mid-term elections are going to be hard enough to manage in a political environment that appears to be trending toward highly motivated Democratic voters. If Republicans have to spend time and effort fending off primary challenges - or if fringe candidates end up winning primaries then flaming out, like Mr Moore, under the general election pressure - a bad year for their party could become much, much worse. For Mr McConnell and his fellow party faithful, that possibility just got less likely. Smiles are more than warranted. Donald Trump - LOSER This could have been, perhaps even should have been, a very good week for Mr Trump. The New Year marks the start of his reformed tax system, passed after considerable effort last month. The Dow Jones stock market index broke 25,000 for the first time in history, and unemployment numbers - while not quite as impressive as originally predicted - are still at healthy lows. A string of big corporations have announced at least temporary boosts to employee salaries, crediting the tax reform law. Doom-and-gloom predictions of economic disaster during the Trump presidency have been proven unfounded. If Americans tend to vote on economic concerns, this should be encouraging news for the incumbent party. Instead, the president has been beset by internal divisions. One of his closest allies not only gave credence to a Russia investigation Mr Trump had labelled a "witch hunt", he directly implicated the president's closest family members. Fire and Fury paints a portrait of a president wholly unprepared for high office, a man treated by his senior staff as a child, unable to focus on anything but "immediate gratification". It makes claims that Mr Trump may be suffering from diminished mental capacity, prone to repeating himself and sometimes unable to recognise even close friends. It doesn't matter if the allegations are fully substantiated by on-the-ground reporting or not, they will ring true for Trump's critics and feed the perception that he is temperamentally ill-suited for his job. Politics isn't beanbag, as the saying goes, and it certainly isn't always fair. At the very least, this has been a terrible distraction for a White House and a Congress facing some tight legislative deadlines in the weeks ahead. Every day spent on damage control is a day where Republicans are unable to advance their policy priorities on budgeting, immigration, health insurance, infrastructure spending and a host of other issues. Breitbart News - LOSER If Mr Trump was the big winner in 2016, right on his heels was the formerly obscure right-wing website Breitbart News, which became the voice of the nationalist Trump movement. Bannon, their once and future publisher, had a prominent position in the White House and their influence was at an all-time high. Now, however, the media empire is caught in a particularly unpleasant pincer. Their leader is out of favour with the president, and reporters and editors covering the feud have had to walk a fine line between the two parties. It comes as a time when they have been challenged to explain some of the president's departures from economic populist orthodoxy (a tax cut for corporations isn't exactly a working-class rallying cry, after all). The website had gone all-in on Roy Moore in December, sending reporters to investigate and potentially debunk claims made by women alleging misdeeds by the Republican candidate. Like Bannon, they shared in Mr Moore's stinging defeat. Breitbart may recover, but its upward trajectory has been blunted, at least for now. Fox News - WINNER If Breitbart is the upstart challenging to become the voice of conservative media, Fox News is the reigning king - and any expansion by the former came at the expense of the latter. And if Breitbart stumbles due to internal discord, Rupert Murdoch's news empire stands to benefit. Speaking of Mr Murdoch, he plays an interesting role in Fire and Fury. Before his latest project, Wolff penned an at-times contentious biography of the media mogul. In numerous passages of Fire and Fury, Mr Trump looks to Mr Murdoch with deference and respect despite run-ins over Fox's coverage of him during the primary campaign. The feeling, according to Wolff, is not always mutual, however, as Murdoch once reportedly remarked that the president is a "f***ing idiot". All this aside, Fox News has positioned itself as the president's closest media ally, and the president - a loyal viewer of numerous Fox shows - reciprocates the love, often citing the network's programmes and personalities in his daily tweets. Whether or not Bannon is forced out from Breitbart, he will likely be forever linked to the website in the president's mind. And, given recent events, that's not a good thing.

अमेरिकी राजनीति की दुनिया में 2018 आग और रोष के साथ आया है।


We Are Stoke-on-Trent: Holidaymakers react to Thomas Cook collapse

Summary: The BBC's We Are Stoke-on-Trent project is working with residents to tell the stories that matter to them. As news broke of travel agent Thomas Cook's collapse, would-be holidaymakers in the city have been sharing their stories.

For many, a holiday abroad can be the highlight of the year, where looking forward is half the adventure. But what happens when the trip is left up in the air with little time to find replacement flights? In Stoke-on-Trent there are a mix of views. Some are doing their best to find perspective, but for others, it is proving tricky to be anything other than disappointed, if not a bit angry. On Monday, Heather Plant, from Kidsgrove, was at another travel agent to rebook a holiday to the Canary Islands. She booked with Thomas Cook in January and was due to fly on Wednesday. "When I heard [news of the collapse], I was devastated," she said "I'm not sure how we are going to get our money back yet, it will take a while. "But we'll get it back eventually." Cath and Peter Malam, from Somerford, had booked direct flights through Thomas Cook to India, where they have a house. "We have rebooked flights with Qatar Airways but they aren't as fast and they are more expensive," Mrs Malam said. "It's the staff I feel sorry for." But not everyone is as hopeful of a resolution. Heidi Evans, from Tunstall, had two holidays planned through Thomas Cook and said she was likely to have lost them. She said she was not prepared to pay to re-book them. Ms Evans, co-owner of an independent travel agent in Stoke-on-Trent, said she had been giving regular updates to those who were not yet sure how they were going to get home. She said: "I spoke to an elderly couple who are in Majorca who were locked out of their hotel room by the hotelier and their medication was inside the room. "So I have been on to the Civil Aviation Authority to confirm with the hotel that they will be paid so they can get access." Friends Louise Hancock and Susan Winship, from Biddulph, spent 18 months planning a holiday to Florida, and were due to fly on Saturday. Ms Hancock said they had spent the morning in "panic" to solve the problem. "We knew all weekend that [Thomas Cook] could go bump and we have just been waiting for them to tell us so we could rebook our flights," she said. "Hearing this morning, it has just been worry and panic to try and sort the flights." But she said they had seen a steep increase in prices since the collapse. "We were looking on Saturday and there were flights to Tampa for £500, but we couldn't book them because we didn't know what was happening. Today those same flights are £1,100. "For nine people, that is like £10,000 or £11,000 just for the flights. "I think it is shameful organisations are profiting from people's emergency situations and it is not very nice, really." Get in touch What are you proud of about the city and what are the stories you think we should tell more people about? Have you got a question about Stoke-on-Trent you would like us to answer? You can use the tool below to submit your suggestions. Your contact info Please don't publish my name I am over 16 years old I accept the Terms of Service If you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC News Website to submit your question on this topic. For more information about We Are Stoke-on-Trent follow #BBCWeAreStokeonTrent on social media. You can also email us wearestokeontrent@bbc.co.uk Related Internet Links Thomas Cook

बीबीसी की वी आर स्टोक-ऑन-ट्रेंट परियोजना निवासियों के साथ उन कहानियों को बताने के लिए काम कर रही है जो उनके लिए महत्वपूर्ण हैं। जैसे ही ट्रैवल एजेंट थॉमस कुक के पतन की खबर आई, शहर में छुट्टियाँ मनाने वाले लोग अपनी कहानियाँ साझा कर रहे हैं।


Halifax says 'time to come home' after Yorkshire soldiers killed

Summary: Residents of the West Yorkshire town of Halifax - the spiritual home of 3 Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment - have been giving their reaction to the deaths of six British soldiers in one Taliban bomb.

By John HenryBBC News, Halifax, West Yorkshire And the response "enough is enough" is echoed by many. Five members of the battalion and one from the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment were killed in the blast in Kandahar province on Tuesday. Senior army and intelligence officials in Helmand province have told the BBC the troops were killed by a powerful bomb that had been planted recently. The historic colours of 3 Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, hang in Halifax Minster where a Book of Condolence opened on Thursday. In the town, news that four of the young soldiers were from West Yorkshire brought a united response: "it's time to come home." Cpl Jake Hartley, 20, from Holmfirth; Pte Anthony Frampton, 20, and Pte Daniel Wilford, 21, both from Huddersfield; Pte Christopher Kershaw, 19, from Bradford, were among the six killed. Douglas Holt, aged 85, who lives at Sowerby Bridge, served in the last two years of World War II in the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. He said: "We've been there enough time, it's time to pull out and come home. "We've got to look after our own first. The Russians tried out there for 10 years, it's ridiculous." Mrs Jutta Watson, who works in the town's market, said she thought the deaths had brought the Afghan campaign to a head. She said: "All these wars, it's terrible. "We should come out and accept enough service people and civilians have died, it is a ridiculous situation." In the streets around the town's market and Piece Hall there was an air of quiet resignation with some people saying they were too shocked and upset at the deaths of young soldiers from the area in Afghanistan to voice their reactions. "Sorry love, but not now", was a common response. But one market stall holder, Stephen Dill, a former Coldstream guardsman, said the deaths were felt deeply because of the Yorkshire Regiment's tradition of largely recruiting its troops in the area. He said: "It's always a tragedy when soldiers die, but it's especially so here because it's a close-knit regiment and people locally are affected. "I served in the Coldstream Guards who recruited from the whole of England, but this is bound to be felt by an awful lot of people here. "I know four or five people who served in the Dukes (previously Duke of Wellington's Regiment that became 3 Battalion Yorkshire Regiment). "I don't know yet if any of them have been affected." As the doors opened at the town's black stone church, Canon Hilary Baker, the vicar at the Minster, said officials at the regiment had previously contacted the church before their deployment to arrange a service of memorial to take place later in the year. Now the service will not only give thanks for the lives of those who have returned, but also remember the six who left for their deployment on Valentine's Day 2012 and will not be there to stand with their comrades in Halifax Minster.

वेस्ट यॉर्कशायर शहर हैलिफ़ैक्स के निवासी-3 बटालियन, द यॉर्कशायर रेजिमेंट का आध्यात्मिक घर-एक तालिबान बम में छह ब्रिटिश सैनिकों की मौत पर अपनी प्रतिक्रिया दे रहे हैं।


Ex-BBC boss Geraint Talfan Davies chairs pro-EU group

Summary: Ex-BBC Wales Controller Geraint Talfan Davies has been named as chairman of a group campaigning for the UK to remain in the European Union.

Wales Stronger in Europe argues EU membership keeps Britain safer, stronger and more secure. The group, which says it has cross-party support, held its first meeting in Cardiff on Monday. It is the Welsh arm of Britain Stronger in Europe, which includes former Plaid Cymru leader Lord Wigley on its board. Meanwhile BBC Wales has confirmed that its director Rhodri Talfan Davies would step away from any involvement in BBC coverage of the referendum campaign due to his father's involvement with Wales Stronger in Europe. "I believe nothing should be allowed to detract from the quality of our journalism or risk endangering the trust of our audiences," he said in an email to BBC Wales staff.

बी. बी. सी. वेल्स के पूर्व नियंत्रक गेरेंट टल्फान डेविस को ब्रिटेन के यूरोपीय संघ में बने रहने के लिए अभियान चलाने वाले एक समूह के अध्यक्ष के रूप में नामित किया गया है।


Round the world cyclist Jenny Graham reaches Mongolia

Summary: A cyclist from Inverness is a quarter of the way around the world in her bid to set a new world record for solo navigation of the globe in 110 days.

Jenny Graham, 38, is a month into her attempt which involves riding 18,000 miles (28,968 km) across 15 countries, unsupported, carrying all her kit. She started out from Berlin in Germany and went on to cross Russia in 23 days. She had covered 5,126 miles (8,249 km) by the time she rode into Khongor, Mongolia.

इनवर्नेस की एक साइकिल चालक 110 दिनों में दुनिया के एकल नौवहन के लिए एक नया विश्व रिकॉर्ड स्थापित करने की अपनी बोली में दुनिया भर में एक चौथाई रास्ता तय करती है।


The Mint countries: Next economic giants?

Summary: In 2001 the world began talking about the Bric countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - as potential powerhouses of the world economy. The term was coined by economist Jim O'Neill, who has now identified the "Mint" countries - Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey - as emerging economic giants. Here he explains why.

So what is it about the so-called Mint countries that makes them so special? Why these four countries? A friend who has followed the Bric story noted sardonically that they are probably "fresher" than the Brics. What they really share beyond having a lot of people, is that at least for the next 20 years, they have really good "inner" demographics - they are all going to see a rise in the number of people eligible to work relative to those not working. This is the envy of many developed countries but also two of the Bric countries, China and Russia. So, if Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey get their act together, some of them could match Chinese-style double-digit rates between 2003 and 2008. Something else three of them share, which Mexican Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Meade Kuribrena pointed out to me, is that they all have geographical positions that should be an advantage as patterns of world trade change. For example, Mexico is next door to the US, but also Latin America. Indonesia is in the heart of South-east Asia but also has deep connections with China. And as we all know, Turkey is in both the West and East. Nigeria is not really similar in this regard for now, partly because of Africa's lack of development, but it could be in the future if African countries stop fighting and trade with each other. This might in fact be the basis for the Mint countries developing their own economic-political club just as the Bric countries did - one of the biggest surprises of the whole Bric thing for me. I can smell the possibility of a Mint club already. What I also realised after talking to Meade Kuribrena, is that the creation of the Mint acronym could spur pressure for Nigeria to become a member of the G20, as the other Mints already are. This was something the charismatic Nigerian finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was keen to talk about: "We know our time will come," she said. "We think they are missing something by not having us." Meade Kuribrena went so far as to suggest that, as a group of four countries, the Mints have more in common than the Brics. I am not sure about that, but it is an interesting idea. Economically three of them - Mexico, Indonesia and Nigeria - are commodity producers and only Turkey isn't. This contrasts with the Bric countries where two - Brazil and Russia - are commodity producers and the other two - China and India - aren't. In terms of wealth, Mexico and Turkey are at about the same level, earning annually about $10,000 (£6,100) per head. This compares with $3,500 (£2,100) per head in Indonesia and $1,500 (£900) per head in Nigeria, which is on a par with India. They are a bit behind Russia - $14,000 (£8,500) per head - and Brazil on $11,300 (£6,800), but still a bit ahead of China - $6,000 (£3,600). A big question that guided my thinking on visits to these countries for the BBC was - "How do these countries actually feel on the ground, compared to my own expectations and the general consensus of opinion?" When expectations are low - as one might generally say about Nigeria for example (although not in recent years among specialist investors in Africa) - it is easier to be positively surprised. But the opposite is also true - and this could be a problem for Mexico, which financial investors are really quite excited about. I returned from my travels thinking it won't be so difficult for Nigeria and Turkey to positively surprise people, as many put far too much weight on the negative issues that are well-known - crime and corruption in Nigeria, for example, or heavy-handed government in Turkey. Indonesia, I am less sure about. The country's challenges are as big as I thought and I didn't hear too many things that made me go "Wow" in terms of trying to deal with them. The country needs more of a sense of commercial purpose beyond commodities, and has to improve its infrastructure. In Turkey, visits to white goods manufacturer Beko and Turkish Airlines, the world's fastest growing airline, definitely made me go "Wow", and in Nigeria, I was saying it all the time. The creativity in that place is so easy to get enthused about, at least it was for me, and I returned full of excitement about different personal investments I might follow up on. In Mexico I was all set to be disappointed, as expectations are so high, but the young president and his equally young colleagues are full of determination to change the place. If you thought Maggie Thatcher stood for serious reforms, these guys make her seem like a kitten. They are reforming everything from education, energy and fiscal policy to the institution of government itself. What about all the challenges and things that usually scare people? Well corruption is obviously one topic that all four would seem to share, and I had many interesting discussions about it in each country. In Nigeria, Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi argued that corruption rarely prevents economic development - and that the growth of the economy, accompanied by improvements in education, will lead to better governance and greater transparency. Such views are important to listen to, as an alternative to our often simplistic Western way of thinking. For many credible people in the Mint countries, corruption is a consequence of their weak past, not a cause of a weak future, and certainly not the number one challenge. It falls way down a list compared with the costs of energy and the breadth of its availability and, of course, infrastructure. Sorting out energy policy was seen in both Mexico and Nigeria as a top priority and each country has launched a major initiatives this year, which if implemented, will accelerate growth rates significantly. Here is an amazing statistic. About 170 million people in Nigeria share about the same amount of power that is used by about 1.5 million people in the UK. Almost every business has to generate its own power. The costs are enormous. "Can you imagine, can you believe, that this country has been growing at 7% with no power, with zero power? It's a joke." says Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote. He's right. I reckon Nigeria could grow at 10-12% by sorting out this problem alone. That would double the size of its economy in six or seven years. In Indonesia, the fourth largest country in the world, I would say leadership and infrastructure are the major challenges, though there are many more too. But challenges and opportunities sit side by side. In one of Jakarta's slum areas, Pluit, the land is sinking by 20cm per year because of over-extraction of water, but property prices elsewhere in the city are rocketing. I talked to a man building the country's first Ikea store, who reckons a third of greater Jakarta's population of 28 million (the third biggest conurbation in the world) would have sufficient disposable income to shop at his store. As he said: "We just know it's going to work." In Turkey of course, its politics and the combination of a Muslim faith with some kind of desire to do things the Western way is a unique sort of challenge. Some might argue the same challenge exists for Indonesia but I returned thinking this was not the case. In Jakarta at least, the Western way of doing things seems to be generally accepted - in striking contrast with Turkey. So can the Mints join the top 10 largest economies in the world, after the US, China, the rest of the Brics and maybe Japan? I think so, though it may take 30 years. I look forward to going back to each of them more regularly now I am helping to put them on the map, just as happened with the Bric countries 12 years ago. Listen to the first episode of MINT: The Next Economic Giants on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 6 January from 09:00 GMT, or afterwards on iPlayer. Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook On a tablet? Read 10 of the best Magazine stories from 2013 here

2001 में दुनिया ने ब्रिक देशों-ब्राजील, रूस, भारत और चीन-के बारे में विश्व अर्थव्यवस्था के संभावित पावरहाउस के रूप में बात करना शुरू कर दिया। यह शब्द अर्थशास्त्री जिम ओ 'नील द्वारा गढ़ा गया था, जिन्होंने अब "मिंट" देशों-मैक्सिको, इंडोनेशिया, नाइजीरिया और तुर्की-को उभरते आर्थिक दिग्गजों के रूप में पहचाना है। यहाँ वे बताते हैं कि क्यों।


Establish safe corridor - UN

Summary: The United Nations office in Colombo emphasise the need of establishing a safe passage for the civilians in Vanni to cross over to secure territory if they want to do so.

“Without proper safe passage trying to get across the front line would be extremely dangerous for any body,” the spokesman for the United Nations Colombo office Gordon Weiss said. “Now the government has admitted the possibility of a safe corridor, it needs to be negotiated with the LTTE” said Weiss. The UN said that the warring parties should respect the freedom of movement which is recognised under the international law. Responding to a question on the UN request to establish a safe corridor for civilians the spokesman said that according to his knowledge, the strict pass system enforced by the LTTE is still in place. The spokesman confirmed that the UN office in Colombo is in continues communication with the LTTE.

कोलंबो में संयुक्त राष्ट्र कार्यालय वन्नी में नागरिकों के लिए एक सुरक्षित मार्ग स्थापित करने की आवश्यकता पर जोर देता है ताकि यदि वे ऐसा करना चाहते हैं तो सुरक्षित क्षेत्र में पार कर सकें।


Coventry shooting: Teenager killed in street

Summary: A man who was shot in the back in the street has died.

The 19-year-old man was found seriously injured in Arnside Close in the Hillfields area of Coventry at about 14:30 GMT on Friday. He was taken to hospital where he later died, West Midlands Police said. The force has launched a murder investigation and said it wanted to hear from anyone who saw a black Volkswagen Golf R acting suspiciously in the area. Officers said the car had light coloured or silver wing mirrors and five spoke alloy wheels. "I am appealing for anyone with information on today's shooting to get in touch with us as soon as possible," Ch Insp Scott Griffiths said. "We are committed to finding those responsible and would urge anyone with dashcam or phone footage of what happened before or after the incident to speak to us." Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

सड़क पर पीछे से गोली लगने से एक व्यक्ति की मौत हो गई है।


Are some children's homes putting profit before child protection?

Summary: This week the government delivered scathing criticism of residential children's homes in England. Radio 4's The Report reveals that some of the private companies running these homes have reaped big profits in recent years, and asks are they putting profit before child protection?

By Simon CoxBBC Radio 4's The Report Children's homes - like the care industry as a whole - have undergone radical reform over the past couple of decades, where the provision of care has shifted from local authorities to private companies. Private companies now run 75% of children's homes in England and in recent years, some of the bigger players expanded significantly, with one running over 100 homes across the country. At present, the total cost of caring for around 5,000 young people living in residential care homes currently runs at around £1bn per year - caring for society's most vulnerable children is not cheap, and for good reason. But is this money being well spent? "There are some very fine private sector organisations, who try very hard," says Charles Sharpe, who has spent 40 years working in the care sector. "But where I struggle with the private sector is that in the good years, they can be good, but when the bad years come they have to scrimp and use less experienced staff and cut all sorts of corners," he tells Radio 4's The Report . "Child care for me is something that should never be done with a profit motive." However, it would appear that child care in England can prove very lucrative indeed. There has been little analysis of this sector's growth, but research conducted in 2006 reported that the top five children's home providers in England made a pre-tax loss of £3.5m. Figures compiled by Radio 4's The Report show that in 2011, the top five providers had turned a profit of £30m. I asked to speak to the management of three of these companies, but they all declined my request. Private equity ownership Many of the larger companies providing care are owned by private equity firms, which have links to long-term investment schemes, such as pension funds. This has not gone unnoticed by the government. "It would be crazy not to notice that there's been an increasing move into this market by private equity funds over recent years," says minister for children Tim Loughton. "We need to make sure they are there for the right reasons, that they are providing a consistently good quality of care and expertise for the children who need it," he told the BBC. Children's homes providing such care can charge up to £250,000 per year, per child - depending on the degree of support a child needs. Sitting at the computer of MP Ann Coffey, head of the parliamentary group on missing children, she shows me an advert placed online by a children's home - one she knows has had problems with children running away: "Homes are advertising very aggressively for children who are very damaged, who have histories of drug abuse, sexual abuse, alcohol abuse," she says. She has been campaigning for many years about the poor quality of some children's homes, and is concerned about the way some actively "recruit" the most troubled children - possibly because they earn the highest fees. "These homes are not offering to provide the resources to support that child," she says, "they're simply stating that they will accept these children. They expect the local authority in their area to provide the resources." This means despite an already significant outlay by local authorities who pay fees to the homes, there could be additional costs to the NHS, schools and the police who have to respond to, say, anti-social behaviour incidents involving children who should be in the care of a home. Cutting corners? The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Peter Fahy knows this too well - the north west of England has the highest concentration of children's homes in the country: "We have had instances where young people go missing - sometimes hundreds of times," he says. "If that person has been found, the children's home has minimal staffing and they can't release a member of staff to collect the child, and then they ask us to do the collection. It's not really our job... but we are the 24 hour service of last resort." Dealing with missing children from residential homes is estimated to cost police in England £40m a year. However, homes are not reaping big profits by cutting corners and passing the costs on to other parties, says Jonathan Stanley, chief executive of the Independent Children's Homes Association. "The majority are small and solo providers [and] analysis of the current accounts of providers would tend to suggest that the levels of profits remain very low - in fact the return on investment is becoming a concern," he says. Balancing the books is a daily struggle for the manager of one London home, I spoke to, which is currently caring for six teenagers. He tells me local authority cuts is why he has had to cut corners - not the search for higher profits. Lowering staff wages has been one way he has managed to reduce overheads - and this, inevitably, has had an impact on the quality of care: "Obviously, if you're paying low wages, you'll attract low quality people and we should really be looking at better qualified people to do a complex, difficult task," he says. "You need proper qualified, motivated people... and if you're talking about how difficult these children are, how traumatised they are, why are we not getting the best people to work with them?" The Independent Children's Homes Association says standards of care throughout the sector are high. It points to the fact that Ofsted, which is responsible for inspecting children's homes, found only 2% of homes were inadequate - although Ofsted's inspection criteria has recently been reviewed, and this figure is expected to jump significantly when new figures are published later this year. And as the government announced this week, there will be a more far-reaching review of the whole children's home sector - including the involvement of private equity firms: "I want the whole market of children's homes to be looked at rather more closely," says children's minister Tim Loughton, "because at the end of the day the most important thing is to make sure we have the best care for vulnerable children." Hear more on this story on The Report on BBC Radio 4 Thursday 5, June at 20:00 BST. You can listen again via the Radio 4 website or by downloading The Report podcast.

इस सप्ताह सरकार ने इंग्लैंड में आवासीय बाल गृहों की तीखी आलोचना की। रेडियो 4 की द रिपोर्ट से पता चलता है कि इन घरों को चलाने वाली कुछ निजी कंपनियों ने हाल के वर्षों में बड़ा मुनाफा कमाया है, और पूछा है कि क्या वे बाल संरक्षण से पहले लाभ डाल रहे हैं?


Duke of Cumberland's Stone: The rock with a hard place in history

Summary: After Culloden, the Duke of Cumberland's Stone, a relic of the last Ice Age, became forever linked to the battle's bogeyman. But is it deserving of the association and the abuse it has taken over many years?

By Steven McKenzieBBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter On 16 April 1746, William Augustus Hanover, the Duke of Cumberland, defeated Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobite army at Culloden. Cumberland's victory was followed by a campaign to crush further Jacobite opposition to the government and the Crown. Jacobite supporters were executed, others were imprisoned and the homes of sympathisers in the Highlands were ransacked and burned. The actions led to the duke being nicknamed the Butcher. While Cumberland is long gone, a more permanent feature of the battlefield landscape continues to be a target for outpourings of anger by some at what happened 267 years ago. Sitting just off the B9006 Culloden to Nairn road lies Cumberland's Stone, a big smooth lump of rock. The boulder is covered in moss and blue-green lichen. It sits in a little clearing on the edge of a small conifer plantation. In a corner of the site, a discarded juice bottle and snacks wrappers float in a muddy puddle. Stories tell of the Duke of Cumberland having breakfast, or his lunch, on the table-flat top of the boulder on the day of the battle. It has also been said that he stood on the stone to better survey the course of the fighting. The words "Cumberland's Stone" are thought to have been carved into the rock in 1881, and at some point four metal rungs were hammered into it so people could more easily climb up on to it. In more recent times the boulder has been sprayed with graffiti and a fire was even set against it in a supposed attempt to cause damage to it. But is the stone deserving of the abuse? Pudding stone If it was not for the last Ice Age, the boulder would not be there in the first place. The boulder is a glacial feature known as an erratic, meaning it is of a rock type that is different from the bedrock on which it sits. Members of the Inverness Scientific Society and Field Club made a visit to Cumberland's Stone in the 1870s. They determined the boulder to be a large block of conglomerate, also known as pudding stone. The bedrock beneath it is also conglomerate, but of a different type. Society members suggested Cumberland's Stone matched the geology of Stratherrick, which lies almost 20 miles (32km) south of Inverness. The rock was torn from the ground at Stratherrick as a huge ice sheet crept out of the west towards the Moray Firth coast. The rock's jagged edges were smoothed as the stone slowly rolled and shifted within the ice. It was plonked at Culloden 16,000 years ago when the ice eventually melted. Prof Colin Ballantyne, of University of St Andrews' School of Geography and Geosciences, said erratic rocks such as Cumberland's Stone help scientists to understand glacial geology. He said: "Erratic boulders like Cumberland's Stone are used by geomorphologists to trace the former directions of movement of the last ice sheet. "This ice sheet reached its maximum dimensions about 22,000 years ago. At that time the ice sheet covered all of Scotland, including the highest mountain summits, extended eastwards to join the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in the North Sea basin and extended westwards to the edge of the Continental shelf, about 50km west of St Kilda." Prof Ballantyne added: "Cumberland's Stone was carried a few tens of kilometres as part of a fast-moving body of ice within the last ice sheet known as the Moray Firth Ice Stream. "Some erratics have travelled much farther. Erratics from Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde, for example, have been recovered from glacial deposits in Wales." Paul Lang, a living history re-enactor who has had interest in Culloden since working at the battlefield as a teenager, believes the Culloden stone's notoriety is undeserving. He recalls how in 1996, on the 250th anniversary of the battle, it was spray painted and a small fire was set against leaving scorch marks on the stone. "To me the Cumberland connection is a myth," he said. "Cumberland at the time was not the most mobile man. He was carrying injuries. The idea of him climbing up on to the stone to have his lunch seems crazy." Mr Lang said the duke was recorded to have been on horseback during the battle and took up a position between the first and second lines of his regiments. "That's a good 400 to 500 metres from the frontline," he said, adding: "The stone is too far away for Cumberland to have been able to see what was going on during the battle." 'Party guy' Mr Lang said the stone's reputation could be rehabilitated by an older story about its part in bringing together early 18th Century high society lovers Duncan Forbes and Mary Rose, a baron's daughter. "Duncan Forbes had a reputation for being a boozer and a party guy and the baron was not happy about his daughter seeing him," said Mr Lang. "The couple are said to have met at a large stone on the edge of Culloden Estate not far from the road to Nairn. Today's road is not far from where the old one ran and the only big stone close by - and on the edge of the estate - is Cumberland's Stone." After training in law, Forbes married his sweetheart. Mr Lang said: "Duncan Forbes' attitude changed. He became focused on law and was dedicated to his wife, who died 10 years later." Forbes was law lord at the time of the 1745 Jacobite Rising, holding the title of Lord President. He supported the government and made efforts to convince some clan chiefs not to risk ruin by siding with Bonnie Prince Charlie. Mr Lang said: "After Culloden, Forbes was saddened by what happened to his fellow Highlanders. He died the following year, some say of a broken heart."

कुलोडेन के बाद, ड्यूक ऑफ कम्बरलैंड स्टोन, जो अंतिम हिम युग का एक अवशेष था, हमेशा के लिए युद्ध के बोगीमैन से जुड़ा हुआ था। लेकिन क्या यह इस संगठन और कई वर्षों से इसके दुरुपयोग के योग्य है?


Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: 'My little brother needs medicine'

Summary: With my 11-year-old brother suffering from cerebral palsy and epilepsy, I am extremely worried about whether he will get his medication following the outbreak of a new conflict in Ethiopia's already war-scarred Tigray region.

By Hana ZeratsyonBBC Tigrinya He lives in the regional capital, Mekelle, with my parents and siblings and - just days before the conflict started - I had what has turned out to be my last video chat with them about his treatment. As his medication is expensive and pharmacies in Mekelle often run out of stock, I agreed to send money to my family to pay for the drugs, while they were going to get the medication from the federal capital, Addis Ababa. I did a bank transfer from Kenya's capital Nairobi - where I live - to Mekelle, but with the state-owned National Bank of Ethiopia now shutting all of its more than 600 branches in Tigray because of the conflict, my family cannot withdraw the money. And even if they get the cash, they cannot get the medicines, as all passenger flights into Tigray have been halted, meaning that no-one can bring it from Addis Ababa. Road travel between the two cites, about 700km (435 miles) away from each other, has also stopped, leaving many Tigrayans stranded in the federal capital. The airspace is now restricted to military aircraft. Ethiopia's Prime Minster and Nobel Peace laureate Abiy Ahmed has warned people in Tigray to avoid holding gatherings as he has ordered air strikes to destroy the military arsenal of the regional government. He wants to dislodge it from power after accusing it of being illegally in office and of violently taking control of a federal military base near Mekelle, charges the Tigray government denies. The regional government has also heavily restricted road travel within Tigray, as fighting takes place, according to the UN, in eight locations, including in the sesame-growing area of Humera, where farmers are usually harvesting crops at this time of the year, helped by workers from the neighbouring region of Amhara, in a sign of how the fate of Ethiopians of all ethnic groups is intertwined. Now, fear and suspicion are growing, with some Tigrayans in the federal police and military telling me that they have been ordered by their superiors to hand in their weapons, and to stop reporting for work. Water rationed When news of the conflict broke in the early hours of 4 November - the day the world's attention was focused on the fiercely contested US election - I received a message from a colleague, saying: "Have you heard what's happened? Have you checked on your family?" I immediately dialled the numbers of my parents and siblings, but could not get through to any of them as the phone lines were down and the internet was shut, cutting me - and hundreds of thousands of others - off from our families in Tigray. I miss my little brother the most. As he cannot talk, I used to see him during video link-ups of my family. Now, I cling to the photos I have of him - and hope that the conflict ends soon so that he can get his medication. I had also been thinking of getting him over to Nairobi for further medical check-ups. I was also thinking of buying him a wheelchair as he has difficulty walking. All this will have to wait until the conflict ends, but what if it drags on? This is a real possibility as the prime minister has rejected mediation while the regional government - led by a former guerrilla movement, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) - is unlikely to give up power without a fight to the finish. What will then happen to my family and other families? Will there be a scarcity of food? Will prices rise? How will families cope with a shortage of cash, especially if they rely on remittances sent by relatives living abroad? There are already reports of a shortage of flour and fuel in Tigray - and, worst of all, water which was already rationed. In Mekelle, which has a population of between 400,000 and 500,000, homes used to get piped water once a week, but the supply has stopped. Families used to buy water from vendors, but with phones disconnected, they can no longer call to put in orders. On Thursday it was reported that a power-generating dam had been damaged in an air strike, cutting electricity. 'Never wear white' But my biggest worry is this: What if tanks roll into my home town or if it is hit in an air strike? I have vivid childhood memories of the 1998-2000 border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea - of being shielded by my mother in our home as we heard the terrifying roar of fighter jets and of being told never to wear white clothes to avoid being spotted. This aversion lasted until my teens, when I finally said to myself: "It really is OK to wear white." More on the Tigray crisis: Some of my friends - whose minds are also racing back to that era, a time which we thought we had left behind - are having worse flashbacks - of building bunkers in their school as four-year-olds; of an Eritrean air strike killing children at another school; of friends and neighbours never returning from the frontline. One friend's memory goes back even further - to the stories he had heard about how his mother fled to the outskirts of Mekelle in 1989 to escape air bombardments ordered by Ethiopia's then-ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam's Derg regime, and to how his grandfather survived the 1943 bombing of the city by the British Royal Air Force at the request of Emperor Haile Selassie. So, the people of Mekelle - like those in other parts of Tigray and Ethiopia - have lived through war after war. They are worried about another one, especially when the festive season is approaching. I had planned to go back to celebrate Christmas in January - as Ethiopian Orthodox Christians do - and to get married to my boyfriend, who continued to live in Mekelle after I moved to Nairobi a few years ago to work for the BBC. But my plans are frozen, as I find myself cut off from him and my family. It reminds me of my father, a humble carpenter, who lost all contact with his sister in Eritrea because of the war that the two countries fought. For two decades, he spoke of how much he missed her. When border crossings reopened - albeit temporarily - following the peace deal Mr Abiy negotiated with Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki in 2018, he was looking forward to seeing her, only to learn that she had died. For his peace efforts with Eritrea, Mr Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and, in his acceptance speech in Oslo, said: "It takes a few to make war. But it takes a village and a nation to build peace. For me nurturing peace is like planting and growing trees. Just like trees need water and good soil to grow, peace requires unwavering commitment, infinite patience and goodwill to cultivate and harvest its dividends." Like many others, I am hoping that Mr Abiy and Tigray's leader Debretsion Gebremichae now make peace. Otherwise, the seeds of hatred could grow, in a nation already hit by ethnic clashes that have left about two million people - including more than 100,000 Tigrayans - homeless in different parts of Ethiopia since 2018.

मेरे 11 वर्षीय भाई के सेरेब्रल पाल्सी और मिर्गी से पीड़ित होने के कारण, मैं इस बात को लेकर बेहद चिंतित हूं कि इथियोपिया के पहले से ही युद्धग्रस्त टाइग्रे क्षेत्र में एक नए संघर्ष के प्रकोप के बाद उसे अपनी दवा मिलेगी या नहीं।


How plastic became a victim of its own success

Summary: "Unless I am very much mistaken, this invention will prove important in the future." Leo Baekeland wrote those words in his journal on 11 July, 1907. He was in a good mood. Aged 43, he'd done well.

By Tim HarfordBBC World Service, 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy Born in Belgium, his dad was a cobbler. He'd had no education, and didn't understand why young Leo wanted one. He apprenticed the boy into the trade, aged just 13. But his mum had other ideas. With her encouragement, Leo went to night school, and won a scholarship to the University of Ghent. By the age of 20, he had a doctorate in chemistry. He married his tutor's daughter and moved to New York, where he made so much money from photographic printing paper that he need never work again. The Baekelands bought a house in Yonkers, overlooking the Hudson River, where Leo built a home laboratory to indulge his love of tinkering with chemicals. In July 1907, he was experimenting with formaldehyde and phenol. These experiments would lead to his second fortune. He became so famous that Time magazine put his face on the cover without needing to mention his name, just the words, "It will not burn. It will not melt." What Leo Baekeland invented that July was the first fully synthetic plastic. He called it Bakelite. 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy highlights the inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the economic world in which we live. It is broadcast on the BBC World Service. You can find more information about the programme's sources and listen online or subscribe to the programme podcast. And he was right about its future importance. Plastics would soon be everywhere. When Susan Freinkel wrote her book Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, she spent a day noting down everything she touched that was plastic: the light switch, the toilet seat, the toothbrush, the toothpaste tube. She also noted everything that wasn't - the toilet paper, the wooden floor, the porcelain tap. Unlimited potential By the day's end, she'd listed 102 items that weren't made of plastic, and 196 that were. We make so much plastic, it takes about 8% of oil production - half for raw material, half for energy. The Bakelite Corporation didn't hold back in its advertising blurb: humans, it said, had transcended the old taxonomy of animal, mineral and vegetable. Now we had a "fourth kingdom, whose boundaries are unlimited". That sounds hyperbolic, but it was true. Scientists previously had thought about improving or mimicking natural substances. Earlier plastics, like celluloid, were based on plants, and Baekeland himself had been seeking an alternative to shellac, a resin secreted by beetles that was used for electrical insulation. Yet he quickly realised that Bakelite could become far more versatile than that. Artificial explosion The Bakelite Corporation christened it "The Material of a Thousand Uses", and, again, that wasn't far wrong. It went into telephones, radios, guns, coffee pots, billiard balls and jewellery. It was used in the first atomic bomb. Bakelite's success shifted mindsets: what other artificial materials might be possible, with properties you couldn't necessarily find in nature? In the 1920s and 1930s, plastics poured out of labs around the world. There was polystyrene, often used for packaging, nylon, popularised by stockings, and polyethylene, the stuff of plastic bags. As World War Two stretched natural resources, production of plastics ramped up to fill the gap. And when the war ended, exciting new products like Tupperware hit the consumer market. But they weren't exciting for long: the image of plastic gradually changed. Shifting connotations In 1967, the film The Graduate famously started with the central character, Benjamin Braddock, receiving unsolicited career advice from a self-satisfied older neighbour. "Just one word," the neighbour promises, steering Benjamin towards a quiet corner, as if about to reveal the secret to life itself. "Plastics!" The line became much-quoted, because it crystallised the changing connotations of the word. For the older neighbour's generation, "plastic" still meant opportunity and modernity. For the likes of young Benjamin, it stood for all that was phoney, superficial, ersatz. Still: it was great advice. Half a century on, despite its image problem, plastic production has grown about twenty-fold. It'll double again in the next 20 years. That's also despite growing evidence of environmental problems. Some of the chemicals in plastics are thought to affect how animals develop and reproduce. When plastics end up in landfill, those chemicals can eventually seep into groundwater; when they find their way into oceans, some creatures eat them. More from Tim Harford: How fertiliser helped feed the world The hidden strengths of unloved concrete How the invention of paper changed the world Battery bonanza: From frogs' legs to mobiles and electric cars But there's another side to the ledger - plastic has benefits that aren't just economic, but environmental too. Vehicles made with plastic parts are lighter, and so use less fuel. Plastic packaging keeps food fresh for longer, and so reduces waste. If bottles weren't made of plastic, they'd be made of glass. Which would you rather gets dropped in your children's playground? Rubbish recycling rates Eventually, we'll have to get better at recycling plastic, if only because oil won't last forever. Some plastics can't be recycled - like Bakelite. Many more could be, but aren't. In fact only about a seventh of plastic packaging is recycled - far less than for paper or steel. That rate is lower still for other plastic products. What should be the 51st Thing? Tim Harford has discussed 50 things which he argues have made the modern economy. Help choose the 51st thing by voting for one of these listener suggestions: You can vote on the 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy programme website. Voting closes at 12:00 GMT Friday 6 October 2017, and the winning 51st Thing will be announced in a special podcast on 28 October 2017. Improving that will take effort from everyone. You may have seen little triangles on plastic, with numbers from one to seven. They're called Resin Identification Codes, and they're one initiative of the industry's trade association. They help with recycling, but the system's far from perfect. If the industry could do more, then so could many governments: recycling rates differ hugely around the world. One success story is Taipei, Taiwan. It changed its culture of waste by making it easy for citizens to recycle, and fining them if they don't. How about technological solutions? Revolutionary? Fans of science fiction will enjoy one recent invention, the ProtoCycler. Feed it your plastic waste, and it gives you filament for your 3D printer. It is as close as we can get today to Star Trek's replicator. In its day, Bakelite must have felt as revolutionary as that Star Trek replicator still feels to us. Here was a simple, cheap synthetic product that was tough enough to replace ceramic tableware or metal letter openers, yet beautiful enough to be used as jewellery, and could even replace precious ivory. It was a miracle material, even though - like all plastics today - we now take it for granted. But manufacturers today haven't given up on the idea that you can make something precious and practical from something cheap and worthless. The latest techniques "upcycle" plastic trash, mixing it with agricultural waste and nanoparticles to create new materials, with new properties. Leo Baekeland would have approved. Tim Harford writes the Financial Times's Undercover Economist column. 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy is broadcast on the BBC World Service. You can find more information about the programme's sources and listen online or subscribe to the programme podcast.

"जब तक मैं बहुत गलत नहीं हूँ, यह आविष्कार भविष्य में महत्वपूर्ण साबित होगा।" लियो बेकलैंड ने 11 जुलाई, 1907 को अपनी पत्रिका में ये शब्द लिखे। वे अच्छे मूड में थे। 43 साल की उम्र में, उन्होंने अच्छा किया था।


The trouble with using police informants in the US

Summary: Some law enforcement agencies in the US use informants in as many as 90% of their drug cases. But there are surprisingly few rules on how informants are used and a groundswell of calls for the system to be reformed.

By Rob WalkerBBC World Service, Florida "Snitches" are staple fare in Hollywood crime dramas, often working secretly with the police to bring down mafia godfathers or powerful drug cartels. The reality of informants in the US criminal justice system is usually rather different. Take the case of 46-year-old John Horner, a fast-food restaurant worker who was prescribed painkillers after he lost an eye in an accident in 2000. Three years ago he was befriended by a man called Matt (not his real name). "We kind of clicked right off the bat. One day he came to where I worked. We were standing there talking, and I realised he was in pain," says Horner. "He laid it out on me, 'Look dude, I can either pay my rent or go buy my prescriptions. I can't do both.' I decided Matt was a friend. I said, 'I'll help you out.'" What Horner didn't know was that Matt was an informant working for the Osceola County Sheriff's Office in central Florida. Over a period of several weeks, Horner provided Matt with four bottles of prescription pain pills - morphine and hydrocodone. He says he also lent him money. On the last occasion Horner handed over pills, he was arrested. "The next thing I know I got a guy's knee in the back of my neck grinding my face into the concrete. I'm told, 'You're under arrest for trafficking.'" According to Sheriff's Office documents, Matt paid Horner a total of $1,800 (£1,200) for the pills, in three separate payments. The money had been provided by agents who also recorded the transactions. Horner maintains he only received part of that money from Matt, and he believed it was a repayment of cash he'd lent him earlier. Whatever the case, under Florida law Horner now faced a minimum sentence of 25 years, if found guilty. "My public defender told me, 'They got you dead to rights.' So I thought, 'OK, I guess there's no need taking this to trial.'" Prosecutors offered a plea bargain of 15 years if Horner accepted a guilty plea. "I said, 'My youngest daughter will be 25 years old when I get out. I can't do that.'" That left him with only one option - to become an informant himself. Under the deal he signed with prosecutors, he agreed to plead guilty. But if he helped make prosecutable cases against five other people on drug-trafficking charges - charges carrying 25-year minimum terms - his own sentence could be reduced from 25 years to 10. That choice - put crudely, do the time or snitch - is one faced by thousands of Americans every year. "The use of criminal informants is often very helpful in penetrating organised crime, but that's not how we use criminal informants in this country - we use them everywhere," says Alexandra Natapoff, professor of law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "Every case is open to negotiation." The number of informants has exploded in the past few decades. The main reason is the tough mandatory minimum sentences introduced in the 1980s for even relatively minor drug crimes. Snitching offers one of the few escape hatches. "Every defendant facing a mandatory minimum sentence will be confronted with the reality that becoming an informant may be the only way to get out from under those very high sentences," says Natapoff. But Florida is one state where the snitching system has attracted criticism - and where attempts to reform it have begun. These were largely sparked by the case of Rachel Hoffman, a 23-year-old college graduate. In 2008, she was caught with marijuana and ecstasy in her apartment. To escape charges that could have resulted in a five-year prison term, she agreed to become an undercover informant for the Tallahassee Police Department. The police sent her out on a sting operation with $13,000 (£8,600) in cash to buy cocaine, ecstasy and a gun from two convicted criminals. But despite the presence of 19 undercover officers, and a surveillance plane circling overhead, police lost track of her. "She never had any police training, they never did a dry run of this, there was no tracking device in her car," says her father, Irv Hoffman, a mental health counsellor. Rachel Hoffman was murdered with the gun the police had sent her to buy when the suspects found a police recording device in her purse. Subsequent investigations were damning, listing a whole series of police failings and incompetence. But the botched sting operation opened a debate in Florida about the ways confidential informants were being used. "I got contacted by people from all over the state saying their kid had been put in a dangerous situation over a couple of marijuana cigarettes. They felt that confidential informants had no rights and that they were expendable," says Hoffman. According to Natapoff, the lack of effective regulation on police use of informants is a nationwide problem. "There are almost no rules constraining the government in its effort to persuade people to co-operate, the threats they can make to induce people to become informants, and how they are handled after that," she argues. But many in Florida's law enforcement community are keen to stress the crucial role that informants play. "An agent can't go up to an organisation and introduce himself and try and get in the door to be able to make a case to prosecute a trafficking organisation. It takes confidential informants to get you through that door," says Larry Zweig, director of Orlando's Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, which targets drug trafficking and organised crime in central Florida. He estimates that his officers use confidential informants in 90% of drug cases. "They made that life-changing decision to become part of the illegal drug trade and now that they've been charged and arrested and are looking at a conviction, this is an option that they have," he says. Horner says the problem for him, as someone with no previous drug arrests, was finding drug dealers to inform on. "You start running the streets. You go to the places where drug dealers go, trying to find drugs. "I had gotten to the point at the end, I was desperate, I didn't care who went to jail. I would have taken anybody down, just so I could be with my family," says Horner. Natapoff says this is the danger the informant system poses. "We've created thousands of little criminal entrepreneurs running around looking for other people to snitch on," she says. "And when they don't have information we've created a massive incentive for them to create it." Horner failed to make cases against drug traffickers. As a result, he was sentenced to the full 25 years in October last year and is now serving his sentence in Liberty Correctional Institution, outside Tallahassee. He will be 72 by the time he is released. Osceola County Sheriff's Office did not respond to requests for comment on Horner's case, including his assertion that Matt unfairly set him up by befriending and borrowing money from him, in the process of trying to buy drugs. The state attorney's office, which prosecuted Horner, told me that Florida law provides defendants with extensive access to evidence to help them decide whether to plead guilty or seek a trial, and that Horner had the benefit of a lawyer when he made the decision to plead guilty. Since 2009, Florida has introduced more rules on the use of informants than exist in many US states. That year, following lobbying from Rachel Hoffman's parents, the state legislature passed "Rachel's Law", which set out for the first time some minimum standards police have to meet when recruiting informants and assessing the risks they may face. But Rachel's father, Irv, says it's not enough. He's calling for a new law to provide greater protection for minors and those in drug treatment programmes. "People don't know their rights, they're coerced, bullied into doing things that are wrong, and we want people to know that they have rights," he says. There are also now some signs of a nationwide reform movement. "We're seeing around the country legislators grappling with this question: 'How should we permit the government to cut these deals with criminal offenders?'" says Natapoff. But Horner believes the first priority should be reforming the laws on mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes. "You bust the little man, the little man snitches on the bigger man, he faces 25 years, so he turns round and snitches on a bigger man. That's the way this law was written, for the drug cartel and the mafia," he says. "It was written so you could go up the chain of command. But that's not what it's doing. It's all the little guys at street level that are fighting each other." The irony is that if Horner been an experienced drug dealer, he may well now be serving a much shorter term than 25 years. "What snitching does is it rewards the informed, so the lower you are on the totem pole of criminal activity, the less useful you are to the government," says Natapoff. "The higher up in the hierarchy you are, the more you have to offer." Court records show that Matt, the person who informed on Horner, had a lengthy record of drug offences. At the point he informed on Horner, he was facing a minimum sentence of 15 years for trafficking. He was ultimately sentenced to just 18 months and is now free. Rob Walker's documentary Snitching in the USA is broadcast on the BBC World Service at 09:05 GMT on 28 March. Listen back via BBC iPlayer Radio, or browse the podcast documentary archive. You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook.

अमेरिका में कुछ कानून प्रवर्तन एजेंसियां अपने 90 प्रतिशत नशीली दवाओं के मामलों में मुखबिरों का उपयोग करती हैं। लेकिन आश्चर्य की बात है कि मुखबिरों का उपयोग कैसे किया जाता है और प्रणाली में सुधार की मांग के आधार पर बहुत कम नियम हैं।


Nottingham tram line foundations are being laid

Summary: The first tram track foundations have begun to be laid as part of an 11 mile (17.5km) extension to Nottingham's tram network.

The £570m project includes the construction of two new lines which will serve Wilford, Clifton, Beeston and Chilwell. The work started on Friday at a new park and ride site being built near the Bardills Island on the A52. Services on the new routes are expected to be running by late 2014.

नॉटिंघम के ट्राम नेटवर्क के 11 मील (17.5km) विस्तार के हिस्से के रूप में पहले ट्राम ट्रैक की नींव रखी जानी शुरू हो गई है।


Croatia's on-off love affair with the EU

Summary: Some 20 years ago, as Croats broke away from the former Yugoslavia in bloody fashion, it is estimated that perhaps three-quarters of all Croats yearned to join the European Union, or European Community as it then was. Today, in the run-up to Croatia's admission to the EU in July, the number of those who approve of the move is just 45%. Boris Pavelic, a reporter with the Balkan Insight website, asks why.

Go into the streets of the capital Zagreb, ask about joining the EU and you will get a range of views. "Croatia's legal system would become better, more efficient and hopefully more credible," says pensioner Veljko Jovanovic. Zagreb academic, Borka Lugaric, echoes this view on the EU "fixing" the legal system and eradicating Croatia's "omnipresent corruption". But he is generally against his country joining the EU, as it would "burden Croatia with a lot of financial obligations". Worries about the economy are shared by Antonija Letinic, a cultural manager, who hopes that "some kind of economic prosperity could emerge from Croatia's EU membership", but fears that the EU's own economic problems could undermine that. Fear of expansion Other reasons cited by those in favour are the freedom to study or travel abroad, or to find a job more easily. These sentiments reflect the general idea that EU membership could both broaden opportunities for Croats in Europe and that Brussels will keep their government institutions on the straight and narrow. Those against membership worry more about the cost of living. They fret that prices will rocket and that other EU citizens will arrive in numbers and occupy well-paid jobs. While it is unlikely thousands will make a bee line for Croatia, the country will face challenges from the moment it becomes a member. Sandra Svaljek, an analyst with the Zagreb-based Economy Institute, predicts "creative destruction" in the private sector once Croatia joins the EU. Croatia, she says, already has a "hard time" competing in the EU market. It exports little in any case, and for many exports its natural market is not even in the EU. "Generally, EU competition is too strong for the Croatian economy," Ms Svaljek says. Furthermore, Croatia's economy is already on its knees. Around 120,000 people have lost their jobs in the last five years, with unemployment rising from 14 to 20%. Whole sectors like construction have collapsed. Meanwhile, Croatia's credit rating has been cut twice in recent months. Foreign investors are turning their back on the country. According to official data, foreign direct investment has fallen 80% since 2008 and last year was back to 1999 levels. Since 2008 the country's GDP has fallen 11% and keeps falling, "with no light at the end of the tunnel", according to economics journalist Ivo Jakovljevic. When Croatia struck out on its own as the former Yugoslavia fell apart, any talk of joining the EU seemed a little contradictory, especially to those nationalists who drove the separation from the former communist federation. Yes, the EC, together with the UN, had helped extinguish the war in Croatia. But why, after struggling to become fully independent for the very first time, would Croatia want to join a "Euroslavia"? In the post-war years the issue of joining the European bloc did not arise. Croatia was internationally isolated by then, pressured by the EU and others to give up those of its citizens who were accused of war crimes. Unknowns When a raft of other former eastern bloc nations, including the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia, joined the EU in 2004 Croatia was only just beginning its own accession talks. Seeing Slovenia, its near neighbour, block Croatia's accession talks over a border dispute depressed support for joining the EU to just 29% in opinion polls. It has risen since to 45%, but those against or undecided are in the clear majority. Croatia's Foreign Minister, Vesna Pusic, is confident that the true numbers are those reflected in the outcome of the country referendum on joining. Held in January 2012, a full 66% of those who voted were in favour. The key to understanding this, she says, is the stability that membership offers. After a conflict that killed 10,000 of its citizens, Croatia has been left with its own scars, as well as atoning for the wounds it inflicted on others in region. "Durable political stability is a key objective for Croatia, since in the last hundred years every state in the Balkans has lasted no longer than an average human life," she says. Yet there remains widespread suspicion and ignorance about the EU. In March a man who erected an EU flag on his newly-built house was quizzed by neighbours as to "which Muslim country" the flag belonged to. A local newspaper even investigated whether it was legal to raise the EU's ring of stars. It discovered that it was. But if some Croats are not very knowledgeable about the EU, officials in Zagreb worry that the EU is not too clued-up on Croatia. The country's national football team, which has been among the 10 best in the world, is well known among sports fans. But few are familiar with Croatia's rich cultural, historical and arts heritage. To correct this, Croatia's ministry of culture is busy promoting the country in key EU capitals in a series of festivals. Paris hosted one last year. Germany has done so this year. Currently, it is London's turn. Highlights include lectures on Croatia's place in history, contemporary Croatian drama and how to set up a business in Croatia. It is all an attempt to overcome the association of Croatia with either sun and blue sea or, less sympathetically, nationalism and bigotry.

लगभग 20 साल पहले, जब क्रोएशियाई लोग पूर्व यूगोस्लाविया से खूनी तरीके से अलग हो गए थे, तो यह अनुमान लगाया जाता है कि शायद सभी क्रोएशियाई लोगों में से तीन-चौथाई यूरोपीय संघ या यूरोपीय समुदाय में शामिल होने के लिए लालायित थे। आज, जुलाई में यूरोपीय संघ में क्रोएशिया के प्रवेश से पहले, इस कदम को मंजूरी देने वालों की संख्या केवल 45 प्रतिशत है। बाल्कन इनसाइट वेबसाइट के एक रिपोर्टर बोरिस पावेलिक पूछते हैं कि क्यों।


Tomorrow's Cities: How Barcelona shushed noise-makers with sensors

Summary: In the heart of the bustling city of Barcelona is a square that at first sight seems like an oasis of calm. The Plaza del Sol, as the name suggests, is a suntrap and the perfect place to while away a few hours.

By Jane WakefieldTechnology reporter The problem is that the square is just too popular and for many of the city's young inhabitants has become the number one venue to meet friends and hang out until the small hours. One resident said it was like living in a permanent party. Even the shops around the square reflect its reputation for late-night carousing, selling beer, pizza and little else. The situation had become unbearable for those with apartments around the square, who have lived with unacceptable noise levels for the past 20 years. Step in Barcelona's fabrication laboratory, one of a network of 1,200 workshops around the world that allow people to test out new designs and ideas, and build products and new technology using a range of cutting-edge tools. Labs share their designs online so that something built in Boston can be replicated in a lab in Shenzhen. With the help of some EU money, the lab built low-cost, easy-to-use sensors that can detect air pollution, noise levels, humidity and temperature. "This was not only about being part of a scientific project but about enabling political action," said Tomas Diez, who runs the lab. Families placed the sensors on their balconies and were able to demonstrate that night-time noise levels - with peaks of 100 decibels - were far higher than World Health Organization recommendations. Armed with this information, the residents went to the city council, pressing them to rethink the use of the plaza. Police now move people on at 23:00. Rubbish lorries, which had previously cleared up when the partygoers left in the early hours, have been rescheduled for the morning, and steps that provided seating for gatherers have now been filled with plant boxes. "Now the square is not just for people who want to party at night," said Mr Diez. His vision for fab labs goes further, imagining them as a vehicle to allow cities to become truly self-sufficient. They can provide its citizens with technology to grow their own food, 3D-print new products whenever they need them and offer them the tools they need to fight the growing problems of urbanism. He, along with other technologists, designers and architects, is backing a project known as Fab City - a collective of 18 cities from Europe, India, China and America - that aims to create more sustainable and productive cities around the world in the next 30 years. The vision is partly idealistic, harking back to pre-Industrial Revolution days when people made their own clothes and goods and shopped locally. But it is also about improving the environment, moving from a globalised world where goods are shipped from China in huge container ships to a place where people can pick up a blueprint from a fab lab and create products in their own city. "We are trying to build a new productivity model for society, creating a new sustainable economy in cities where people can prototype and test ideas," said Mr Diez. The data collection in Barcelona was part of an EU project - Making Sense - that aims to empower citizens through "personal digital manufacturing". It is part of a wider attempt to rethink smart cities and put control back firmly in the hands of citizens. "We wanted to end this top-down approach where cities go to companies and ask them to build infrastructure and then pretend that is a smart city," said Mr Diez. And along the way, he hopes to build a new type of digital economy, one in which citizens own and control their own data - what he calls "citizen-based infrastructure". Giving teenagers a say It is not just fab labs that are hoping to use data to empower people. Sensors in a Shoebox was a project set up earlier this year in Detroit, aiming to give local teenagers a say in urban planning. The project provides compact sensor kits that allowed the children to collect a range of data from two different locations - one on the waterfront and the other in a local park. "We took the view that we can't have smart, connected cities without smart and connected young people," said Elizabeth Moje, dean of the school of education at the University of Michigan, which headed up the project. Air quality was important to the teens - a personal issue for many in a city where one in six residents lives with asthma. The children also learned the limitations of data collection. While they were able to measure the number of people who used a certain area, they also had to go out and see for themselves what type of person used the area, explained Prof Moje. "If there were more elderly people, you might want more benches - if there were young children, more play areas," she said. "The youngsters learned that a piece of technology can't answer every question." It was also important that the children saw that the data they collected and the observations they had made could have an impact on city planning. Their recommendations were passed on to representatives from the mayor's office, community groups and Citizen Detroit. "We have to teach children to be critical thinkers, as well as how to be good and productive citizens. This enabled them to learn about their communities, even if they don't go on to be engineers or social scientists," said Prof Moje. Dr Jennifer Gabrys leads the Citizen Sense project at Goldsmiths, University of London, which aims to research how effective citizen-led sensor projects are. Giving people the tools to collect their own data can sometimes be a "perfunctory gesture to make smart city projects more palatable", she said. "Cities increasingly have so many sensors generating so much data, some of which people have access to and some of which they don't. "People may not want everything monitored and who decides and shapes this agenda is a big question for future urban democracy."

बार्सिलोना के भीड़भाड़ वाले शहर के बीच में एक चौकोर जगह है जो पहली नजर में शांति के नखलिस्तान की तरह लगती है। जैसा कि नाम से पता चलता है, प्लाजा डेल सोल एक सनट्रैप है और कुछ घंटों की दूरी पर रहने के लिए एकदम सही जगह है।


Brinsford youth prison staff suspended

Summary: Four officers have been suspended at a young offenders institute near Wolverhampton.

The Ministry of Justice said it was investigating staff behaviour at Brinsford Young Offenders' Institute during four separate incidents. It said unrelated incidents occurred on 28 May, 16 June, 9 July and 13 July. Inmate safety was criticised by HM Inspectorate of Prisons in a report in June based on inspections at Brinsford in November and December. The prison workers have been suspended on full pay.

वॉल्वरहैम्प्टन के पास एक युवा अपराधी संस्थान में चार अधिकारियों को निलंबित कर दिया गया है।


Amazon rainforest fires: Ten readers' questions answered

Summary: Swathes of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil are on fire.

The sky in São Paulo turned black due to smoke drifting from the fires 2,700 km (1,700 miles) away. Politicians and environmental activists are taking a stand against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, blaming the fires on his policies. But it's a complex story, and online discussion of it has been riddled with misinformation, misleading photos and errors. We asked you to send us your questions on the Amazon fires, so we could fill in the gaps and clear up some common myths. We chose a sample of the many questions we received and where we didn't know the answer, we enrolled the experts. 1) Why are there fires? Is it Bolsonaro's men doing it to clear rainforest for mining/farming etc? - Alex Brazilian journalist Silio Boccanera argues that some fires at this time of year - the dry season in Brazil - are to be expected. But many of the fires burning through the Amazon are believed to have been started deliberately. President Bolsonaro has not condemned deforestation and supports clearing the Amazon for agriculture and mining. "So it's a combination of natural phenomena with locals feeling comfortable enough to do it because the government has not made any effort to prevent it," Mr Boccanera says. He thinks that smaller groups of people are more responsible for starting the fires than big corporations selling beef and soy, which could run the risk of being boycotted. Although the big corporations are not innocent, they are better informed, he says. But smaller groups - who benefit from destroying areas of the forest for farming - have gone ahead because they have not been stopped by authorities, Mr Boccanera explains. Although deliberate fire-starting has always been a problem, it has never been seen to this extent. Mr Boccanera says perpetrators now know that if they are caught, they won't be punished. 2) The number of fires seems like a bad metric, because the size of fires varies. Is there year-on-year data on the total area affected? - Peter This is a fair point. On 20 August, Brazil's satellite agency said there had been an 84% increase in the number of fires compared with the same period in 2018. It's the highest number since 2010, but significantly less than in 2005 during the same period, when the number of fires was at its highest. This year, the satellite agency detected more than 74,000 fires in Brazil between January and 20 August. Most of those were in the Amazon, and the New York Times reports most of those fires were on land already cleared for agricultural use. But does this mean more land is being burned than ever before? After all, we could be looking at tens of thousands of tiny fires. The truth is we don't know yet, but the evidence points towards more land being consumed by fire. We don't have the full picture at the moment, partly because many fires are still burning. We asked Copernicus, the European Union's earth observation programme, and they said the best way to assess how destructive these fires are is to look at how much carbon dioxide is being released. So far this year, the equivalent of 228 megatonnes has been released, according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. This is the highest level since 2010. At some point in the future, there should be more detailed satellite information about how much land had been burned, but that information isn't available yet. 3) What's being done to stop the fires? - Paul President Bolsonaro is coming under growing political pressure to end the burning of the Amazon - France's President Emmanuel Macron even threatened to scrap a huge trade deal between the European Union and South America as a result. But warnings by themselves don't put out fires, and a few days after the satellite data was revealed, Brazil's government stepped up its response. Mr Bolsonaro has called in the armed forces, who have more resources to tackle the fires, including the use of helicopters and aeroplanes to drop water. However, journalist Silio Boccanera believes the attitude at the top of government needs to change. Before, people believed deforestation needed to be prevented. But now "people are burning without fear", he says. 4) The coverage on this subject has only come to light recently because of the #PrayforAmazonas and #PrayforAmazonia hashtag. Why have you not reported it? - Jake We and other news outlets published several reports this summer about the extent of deforestation in the Amazon - here's one report we wrote on 2 July, another from 20 July and another from 2 August. But the extent of the fires has only recently become clear. It was not even being reported very widely in Brazil. The first real sign vast burning was taking place came when a daytime blackout, caused by smoke from the Amazon, hit Sao Paulo on Monday, 19 August. We first published an article a day later, just a few hours after our colleagues at BBC Brasil, and we've kept updating it ever since. The #PrayforAmazonas hashtag was first used in the early hours of Wednesday, UK time. This, and others such as #prayforrondonia have become trending topics around the world. 5) Is this a natural, healthy way the forest self-clears for new growth? - Lucy As Lucy suggests, there is a case to be made that some fire-adapted forests benefit from fires - they can help clear the forest and allow trees space to grow stronger. But this is not the situation right now in the Amazon, says Yadvinder Malhi, Professor of Ecosystem Science at the University of Oxford. "These are fires that we are concerned about," he says. The humid forests of the Amazon have no adaptation to fire and suffer immense damage. Almost all fires in humid forests are started by people. He believes the driving force behind the fire is human rather than natural. While statistics show that 2016 also saw a significant number of fires in the Amazon, this was considered a "drought year"- when there is naturally less rain so the forest is drier and therefore more fire-prone. But 2019 has not been a drought year. Professor Malhi says there is such a large number of fires because people have lit them. 6) How quickly does the Amazon rainforest regenerate after a fire? - Emily "The forest takes around 20-40 years if it's allowed to regenerate," says Prof Malhi. But any fires that are currently burning will leave the surviving trees more vulnerable to drought and repeated fires. Prof Malhi is worried that if the Amazon is hit by fires every few years large parts of it will shift to a degraded shrubby state. "Once you've had multiple fires there's the chance of permanent damage," he says. 7) If this current trend were to continue at its present rate, how long would the Amazon rainforest area survive? - Christopher "We are at an early stage where we can still do lots to save the forest," says Prof Malhi. About 80% of the Amazon is still intact. But he says that climate change and deforestation are a dangerous combination. A reduction in rainfall would create dry conditions for fires to spread. If 30-40% of the Amazon was cleared, then there would be a danger of changing the forest's entire climate, he says. In the years before 2005, Brazil had an extremely high rate of deforestation. "If Brazil were to return to that, it would take around 50-60 years to deforest 40% of the Amazon," Prof Malhi says. "But in eastern and southern Amazonia it would take only 20-30 years to reach that threshold." 8) What percentage of oxygen does the Amazon supply? - Tom Our colleagues from BBC Reality Check spent a whole day getting to the bottom of this. Many claim on social media that the Amazon produces about 20% of the world's oxygen. It's widely quoted - by campaign groups and well-known figures, including Emmanuel Macron and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. But academics say this is a very common misconception, and that the figure is less than 10%. Oxygen is released by plants during the process of photosynthesis, where carbon dioxide and water are converted into energy in the form of carbohydrates using sunlight. A large proportion of the world's oxygen is produced by plankton, explains Professor Malhi. He says of the oxygen produced by land-based plants, about 16% comes from the Amazon. But this isn't the whole story. In the long run, the Amazon absorbs about the same amount of oxygen as it produces, effectively making the total produced net zero. Professor Jon Lloyd from Imperial College London says although the Amazon produces a lot of oxygen during the day through photosynthesis, it absorbs about half of it back through the process of respiration to grow. Further oxygen is used up by the forest's soil, animals and microbes. The fires are also emitting carbon monoxide - a gas released when wood is burned and does not have much access to oxygen. 9) Will the smoke from these fires have an effect on global weather in future months? - David Prof Malhi says the immediate effect of the fires will be on the climate of South America. Reduced rain fall is likely, leading to a more intensive dry season. "The carbon emission could contribute to global warming," he adds, but the longer term global impact is "more difficult to pin down". In the long-term, scientists have told the BBC the fires could make the Paris climate target more difficult to achieve. The global treaty aims to limit average temperature rise to well below two degrees Celsius to avoid dangerous climate change. 10) How are these fires affecting the indigenous people? - Samantha In just one week in mid-August, 68 fires were registered in indigenous territories and conservation areas, the majority in the Amazon, according to Jonathan Mozower from Survival International, which campaigns for indigenous rights. "It's hard to overstate the importance of these forests for indigenous peoples," he says. "They depend on them for food, medicines, clothing and a sense of identity and belonging. But the incentives to steal these resources are high and "sadly it's not a question of one or two rogue actors", Mr Mazower says. He says this could be the "worst moment for the indigenous people of the Amazon" since the military dictatorship, which ended in the 1980s. This article initially stated there was a record number of fires in Brazil this year. After more satellite data was made accessible, it has been updated to reflect the fact the fires are instead the worst since 2010.

ब्राजील में अमेज़न वर्षावन के कुछ हिस्सों में आग लग गई है।


UPS drops 5.2bn-euro bid for TNT over EU competition

Summary: Package delivery firm United Parcel Service (UPS) has pulled out of its 5.2bn-euro ($6.8bn; £4.3bn) bid for Dutch rival TNT Express after discovering EU competition authorities would probably block the deal.

UPS said it saw "no realistic prospect" of approval of the deal from the European Commission. UPS had offered to buy TNT in March in a bid to expand its European business. UPS said it would pay TNT a 200m-euro break fee for dropping the deal. "UPS informed TNT Express that UPS sees no realistic prospect that [European Commission] clearance can be obtained and that UPS will not pursue the transaction on any other basis," TNT said in a statement. UPS had offered to sell parts of the company's small package operations and airline assets to try to appease the Commission's concerns, but said it had decided to pull out after a final meeting with regulators last week. "We proposed significant and tangible remedies designed to address the European Commission's concerns with the transaction," UPS chief executive Scott Davis said. Mr Davis said he was "extremely disappointed" with the stance taken by regulators. The Commission had been due to announce its official decision on the deal early next month. Shares in Amsterdam-listed TNT, Europe's second-largest delivery company after Deutsche Post's DHL, plunged 50% immediately after the announcement, before recovering slightly to trade 42% lower at 4.762 euros. TNT, which reported a 3m-euro loss for its third quarter in its most recent trading update, said the "protracted merger process has been a distraction for management". It said it would now focus on reassuring customers, encouraging employees and making money. "Management will provide an update on its strategy in due course," the firm added in a statement. Related Internet Links TNT Express

पैकेज डिलीवरी फर्म यूनाइटेड पार्सल सर्विस (यूपीएस) ने डच प्रतिद्वंद्वी टीएनटी एक्सप्रेस के लिए अपनी 5.2bn-euro ($6.8bn; £ 4.3bn) बोली से बाहर निकल लिया है क्योंकि ईयू प्रतिस्पर्धा अधिकारियों को पता चला है कि शायद सौदे को अवरुद्ध कर देगा।


Tottenham stabbing: Teenager charged with murder

Summary: A teenager has been charged with the murder of a 19-year-old man who was stabbed to death in north London.

Three men were discovered injured after police were called to Penshurst Road in Tottenham on Monday afternoon. One man died at the scene, while two 18-year-olds required treatment for non life-threatening injuries. The Met said a 17-year-old boy had been charged with murder. He is due to appear in custody later at Highbury Corner Youth Court. Related Internet Links HM Courts & Tribunals Service

एक किशोर पर उत्तरी लंदन में एक 19 वर्षीय व्यक्ति की हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है, जिसकी चाकू मारकर हत्या कर दी गई थी।


Four arrested in Bedford murder investigation

Summary: Four people have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man who was shot died.

A 20-year-old man was found with gunshot wounds on Leven Walk, Bedford, at about 21:40 BST on Saturday. He was pronounced dead shortly after. Bedfordshire Police said a woman, 54, and three men, aged 20, 22 and 26, were in custody and inquiries were ongoing. The victim's cause of death was not yet known as he had other injuries, the force added.

गोली लगने से एक व्यक्ति की मौत के बाद हत्या के संदेह में चार लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Cash machine stolen from County Tyrone filling station

Summary: Thieves have stolen a cash machine from a filling station in County Tyrone.

It happened overnight in the village of Donaghmore. Police say a digger and equipment found near the Emo filling station in Pomeroy Road may have been used in the robbery. Detectives have appealed for anyone who noticed suspicious activity in the area to contact them.

चोरों ने काउंटी टायरोन में एक भरने वाले स्टेशन से एक नकदी मशीन चुरा ली है।