South Africa: No safe haven for Somalis

Summary: Many thousands of Somalis have fled famine and warfare at home, braving a treacherous journey across the continent to reach South Africa but some feel their new lives in Africa's richest country are little better than the misery they left behind.

By Pumza FihlaniBBC News, Port Elizabeth "If we wanted to fight we would have stayed in our land. We didn't come here to die we came here to take care of our families," says Qorane Haji, 29, whose shop was looted and burnt down in recent months. Mr Haji has been living in South Africa for over five years. He owns a shop in Motherwell, a township in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province. More than 300 shops are owned by Somalis in the area, he says. Most of the Somali population in South Africa lives in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces. But business has not been easy. Poverty and unemployment are high in South Africa - many people in the poor communities believe that foreigners are "stealing their jobs". Somali-owned shops have been looted or burned down as a result. In 2008, South Africa saw a wave of xenophobic violence which shocked the nation and shook up the world's view of the "rainbow nation". Some foreigners were necklaced - set alight with petrol doused tyres around their necks - and their shops were burned down. Mostly Somalis, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans were targeted during the violence which left more than 100,000 foreigners displaced and at least 60 people dead. The government's response to the crisis was to increase police presence in affected areas and to send its officials to address disgruntled communities. But after a while the police patrols stopped and with them, the visits by officials. Those behind the attacks were never brought to justice - after some months it was as though the attacks had never happened. No brotherly love "When they came in 2008 my brother and I were sleeping inside the shop, he was in another room. A group of men came in, shot him and burned the shop down - I was lucky to escape," Mr Haji recalls. It took him more than six months to rebuild the store then but the attacks have now resumed. "Xenophobia is back," he says. A few months ago - some men burned down his shop again. He says the ordeal made him feel "unsafe and unwanted". His brother Anwar Haji, 28, agrees. "No-one can save us, we came to South Africa to be safe but are being killed just because we are foreigners," he says. Many Somalis own spaza shops - makeshift kiosks usually run from private houses or a shack of corrugated iron. The authorities have dismissed reports of xenophobia, saying the attacks are due to business rivalry. This has done little to allay the fears of foreigners, who say they are victimised daily by locals who call them "makwerekwere", a derogatory term used for foreigners. The Department of Home Affairs, in charge of registering refugees and asylum seekers says there are more than 32,000 documented Somalis living in South Africa. But some say this is an underestimate because many more have come into the country illegally. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says Somali nationals are the second largest group of asylum seekers in South Africa - after Zimbabweans. 'Unfair competition' The latest influx of Somalis has sparked fears that relations between Somali and local shop-owners could worsen, says Abdi Habarwa, 45 a spokesperson for the Somali community in the Eastern Cape. But Daluxolo Mpengu, 51, who heads the Nelson Mandela Spaza Forum of South Africa (NMSFSA), a new association established by South African businesses owners in and around Port Elizabeth, insists that foreigners are exploiting their market. "We have found that some foreigners own more than one shop in the same area which is bad competition for us," Mr Mpengu told the BBC. He says they don't condone xenophobia, but says foreigners need to abide by certain rules if that want to continue business in the townships or have their shops closed. NMSFSA says foreigners are not allowed to open a shop within 500 metres of an existing business selling the same wares. This rule will later extend to local shop owners, the association says. Many residents, however, don't want the Somalis to be forced to close their shops and are happy with the low prices and wide variety of goods they stock. Mr Habarwa also owns a shop in Motherwell and hopes the new guidelines will help to ease tensions. He says he uses some of the money he makes to support his relatives living in the world's largest refugee camp in north-eastern Kenya. "I am not the only one depending on the money the shops makes. This shop is helping me to give my family in Dadaab a better life," says Mr Habarwa. He fears they could suffer if the continued attacks mean he has to close down his shop.

हजारों सोमाली अकाल और युद्ध से अपने घर भाग गए हैं, दक्षिण अफ्रीका पहुंचने के लिए महाद्वीप में एक विश्वासघाती यात्रा का सामना करते हुए, लेकिन कुछ लोगों को लगता है कि अफ्रीका के सबसे अमीर देश में उनका नया जीवन उनके द्वारा छोड़े गए दुख से थोड़ा बेहतर है।


Will Gompertz reviews Russia, Royalty & the Romanovs ★★★★☆

Summary: This exhibition at The Queen's Gallery in Buckingham Palace starts with a huge painting of a huge man: the aptly-named Peter the Great of Russia, the first Tsar to leave his country in over 100 years.

Will GompertzArts editor@WillGompertzBBCon Twitter The catalogue says it presents us with "a tall, virile, handsome warrior". The diplomat Prince Boris Kurakin (1676-1727) was similarly enamoured with the artwork. He said: "The famed portrait of His Czarish Majesty standing in all his imperial armour and so attractive, that I have nowhere seen its equal." I do not share their view. Godfrey Kneller's very grand and historically significant picture depicts a bug-eyed, 6ft 7in, fey-looking 26-year-old who seems to be as much at home in his suit of armour as Ann Widdecombe was on Strictly Come Dancing. The painting was Peter's gift to the English king, William III, to mark his three-month-long fact-finding visit to England in 1698. The ambitious young ruler was keen to build a Russian navy from scratch to match those of the great European powers. So he rented a house in Deptford from the writer and diarist John Evelyn, a chum of Samuel Pepys, and set about learning all there was to know about shipbuilding at the local dockyard, while hoovering up tips on navigation from the nearby Royal Observatory at Greenwich. The trip was a tremendous success for Peter, who, by the end of his reign, had 28,000 men serving 49 ships and around 800 smaller boats. It wasn't so good for John Evelyn, though. His majestic tenant had a rock star's approach to renting: paintings were used for target practice, wheelbarrows as go-karts, and the furniture - that which remained - was left in more pieces than a jigsaw of St Petersburg. William III was happy to overlook the wayward behaviour of his Russian opposite number, seeing the empire-building emperor as an important strategic ally and valued trading partner. And so began a diplomatic relationship between the two monarchies that would span centuries, marriages, wars and the exchanges of many gifts and paintings. On the whole, it is the gifts and subsequent purchases of Russian objects made by the British Royal Family that are the stars of this show. The paintings are a mixed bag - some good, some bad, none great. Quite unlike the cabinets full of pieces by the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé, which are exquisite. His pair of late 19th Century decanters topped off with silver dolphins with mouths formed into spouts are wonderful. As is the gold and blue moire guilloche enamel cigarette case, which is decorated with a diamond-set snake biting its tail, a symbol of everlasting love (it was given to King Edward VII by his mistress, Alice Keppel). And then there are the three Imperial Fabergé Eggs, the most striking of which is the Mosaic Egg and Surprise. The lattice-like exterior is not only the most beautiful piece of craftsmanship, but is also a profoundly sad vessel encapsulating a tragic event. Inside the egg, the "surprise" is an enamel portrait of five children in profile, on the reverse of which is a basket of flowers and an inscription of each of their names. Tsar Nicholas II commissioned it for his wife Alexandra - Queen Victoria's granddaughter - as an Easter present. The children it depicts are theirs. It was made in the spring of 1914 shortly before Russia became embroiled in World War One. Nicholas was not a great leader, nor a popular figure. Millions of Russian soldiers died, leading to revolution and his forced abdication in 1917. The provisional government confiscated the Mosaic Egg and Surprise. The Tsar asked the British Royal Family to rescue him - after all, the families went a long way back, as this exhibition demonstrates. King George V declined. On 17 July 1918, Tsar Nicholas, his wife and all five children were executed by Bolshevik guards. Fifteen years later, George V purchased the Mosaic Egg and Surprise from Cameo Corner, London, for £250. This is but one of the hundreds of historical events reflected in the objects and paintings in this rigorously researched exhibition. It is a grand tale of international relations and inter-family arrangements, of cultural exchange and competing agendas. The major players line the walls in over-the-top gilt frames, while the objects that fill the exhibition spaces tell their stories. There are instances when the object is not as interesting as the piece of history it represents, but that is not the case in the sideshow of Roger Fenton photographs of the Crimean War that is connected to the main exhibition, which serves as a reminder that all was not always rosy in the 300-year Anglo-Russian relationship. Fenton's intelligently composed images of the soldiers and battlegrounds are as good as those produced on any subject since the birth of the medium. When you take into account the limitations of his equipment and the hostile environment in which he was using it, you quickly recognise that his photographs are remarkable. Having been commissioned by the print publishers Thomas Agnew & Sons to take pictures of British and French soldiers as source material for a studio painting by Thomas Barker, Fenton set off for the Crimea in the spring of 1855 with a makeshift, horse-drawn photographic van and an assistant. He organised group photographs, individual portraits and desolate landscapes strewn with the debris of war. The most famous photo is Valley of the Shadow of Death - a bleak and barren dirt track littered with cannonballs: an image of Armageddon. It is a haunting picture of war without any blood or bodies. His portrait of the unlucky Lord Balgonie, who stares out into the middle distance in wide-eyed confusion, is thought to be the first image taken of shellshock. There are few occasions in the exhibition where a Fenton photograph is hung beside a picture an artist has produced from it - and the comparison is illuminating. It brings home Fenton's genius for finding the truth in his subject, and the utter hopelessness of the artist attempting to do the same. When he returned home, his Crimea photographs were much admired by Queen Victoria and her tech-savvy husband Prince Albert, who had previously commissioned the photographer to take portraits of the Royal Family. Being sensible people, they bought the lot.

बकिंघम पैलेस में द क्वीन्स गैलरी में यह प्रदर्शनी एक विशाल व्यक्ति की एक विशाल पेंटिंग के साथ शुरू होती हैः रूस के पीटर द ग्रेट, 100 से अधिक वर्षों में अपना देश छोड़ने वाले पहले ज़ार।


Killing Eve: Will Gompertz reviews season two of the award-winning drama ★★★★☆

Summary: Killing Eve season two picks up where season one ended, which is to say… badly. After seven faultless episodes, the grand finale of the best TV series of 2018 was almost as underwhelming as Eve Polastri's marriage.

Will GompertzArts editor@WillGompertzBBCon Twitter All the delicious ingredients of the previous shows were still there (excellent acting, writing, soundtrack, and directing), but someone tweaked the recipe and served up a bit of dog's dinner with a distinctly hammy whiff. The smell lingers well into the opening episode of the new series, which is a little too knowing and, on occasion, close to becoming a pastiche of itself. Villanelle (Jodie Comer) is too predictable, Eve (Sandra Oh) is too wrung out, and Niko her husband, too needy. Thankfully, Fiona Shaw shows the way with understated class and intelligence, as Eve's boss Carolyn. The action begins 30 seconds after the last season finished. M16 agent Eve is standing on the staircase of assassin Villanelle's Parisian apartment. She is holding the bloody knife with which she stabbed the ruthless Russian psycho-killer, who has played her party trick and disappeared into thin air. There's a lot of hyperventilating and many a furrowed brow. That's on screen, and maybe off it as well in the writers' room. The daunting task facing Emerald Fennell and her scriptwriting collaborators was how to pick up where Phoebe Waller-Bridge left off and somehow re-juice a dried up drama. The mutual obsession between Eve and Villanelle, which is the key dramatic device driving the story, had climaxed at the end of season one in a disappointingly limp stand-off followed by a dull heart-to-heart and a half-baked fight. It put the show into intensive care, which is where Villanelle soon fetches up while Eve heads back to London to try to fix her marriage and find a new job. The quality of the acting, our investment in the characters, and some quickly laid new plotlines are enough to entice you to watch the second 40-minute episode. At which point Killing Eve returns gloriously to form, with a funny, clever script that starts to rebuild the sexual tension between agent and assassin. The two remain infatuated with each other but now there is some added spice. Villanelle has competition for Eve's attentions and it ain't coming from Niko. That's the hook, not the mysterious baddies The Twelve, who any one of the protagonists could belong to for all we know - or care. Needless to say, Villanelle still murders people with the regularity and sensitivity of an automated phone call asking if you've been in a car crash, but the killings are a side show. The real drama is in the relationships between the players: Carolyn and her son Kenny (Sean Delaney). Eve and Niko. Villanelle and her handlers. And, of course, between Eve and Villanelle. Will they get it together? Will one kill the other? Can a cold-blooded murderer become a vulnerable, compassionate human being? In other words, the same issues that kept us on tenterhooks in season one. It fell short. Will season two be better and succeed in delivering its punchline? You can find out later on Saturday when the entire series drops on the BBC iPlayer. I've seen the first four and my hopes are high. Killing Eve is top quality television. And not just from a British standpoint, it ranks with the very best shows coming out of Hollywood. It's no surprise the head of Netflix has cited it as the one title he truly covets. That it is superbly made is a given in these golden days of box office box sets. But that's not what makes it stand out; it is not the reason that Killing Eve will sit alongside Friends and Breaking Bad as an all-time TV classic. It is the balance it strikes between bone-dry humour reminiscent of the best of early James Bond, and an exploration of identity, sexuality, and isolation in the second decade of the 21st Century. For this, much of the credit must go to Luke Jennings, the Observer's dance critic. For Villanelle is his creation. He originally self-published the story as a series of online novellas before it was picked up by a canny TV producer. Once it had been commissioned for telly Jennings had his work cut out to do his day job while collaborating with Waller-Bridge on the television scripts, "I felt like Stalin, planning murder all day and watching Swan Lake in the evening," he wrote in the Observer last year. His background in ballet provides an interesting insight into his creation. The juxtaposition between beauty and the beast is what makes Killing Eve so compelling. As does the not-always merry dance he takes us on. You could argue that Jennings has written the most brilliant, exquisitely choreographed, blood-soaked pas de deux. Recent reviews by Will Gompertz Follow Will Gompertz on Twitter

किलिंग ईव सीज़न दो शुरू होता है जहाँ सीज़न एक समाप्त हुआ, जो कहने के लिए... बुरी तरह से है। सात त्रुटिहीन एपिसोड के बाद, 2018 की सर्वश्रेष्ठ टीवी श्रृंखला का भव्य समापन लगभग ईव पोलास्त्री की शादी जितना ही निराशाजनक था।


Israel and Saudi Arabia: What's shaping the covert 'alliance'

Summary: To all intents and purposes, Saudi Arabia and Israel are de facto allies in the struggle against Iran's rising influence in the region. It's a developing but highly sensitive relationship, but every so often there is a hint of what may be going on beneath the surface.

By Jonathan MarcusDefence and diplomatic correspondent Last week Israel's Chief of Staff, General Gadi Eisenkot, said in an interview with UK-based Saudi newspaper Elaph, that Israel was ready to exchange intelligence with the Saudis in order to confront Iran. "There are shared interests and as far as the Iranian axis is concerned we are in full accord with the Saudis," he said. A few days later, speaking after a conference in Paris, a former Saudi justice minister, Dr Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Issa - a close associate of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - told the Israeli newspaper Maariv that "no act of violence or terror that tries to justify itself by invoking the religion of Islam is justified anywhere, including in Israel". This was rare public criticism from inside the Arab world of attacks against Israelis. And just the other day a former senior Israeli military figure speaking in London told of two recent meetings with senior Saudi princes, both of whom said to him words to the effect that, "you are not our enemy any more". Such signals are not sent by accident. They are carefully co-ordinated and intended to warn Iran of the developing relationship as well as to prepare Saudi society given the likelihood that such ties may become ever more apparent. The Israelis - given the nature of their political culture - tend to speak rather more openly about the relationship than do the Saudis. We know little about its practical realities or its strategic content. But it is real and it is developing. Threat from Iran This is at one level "a coalition of circumstance". The destruction of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq in 2003 by a US-led coalition removed a Sunni Arab strategic counterweight to Shia Iran. The resulting Shia-dominated political leadership in the new Iraq has close ties to Tehran. It is no accident that Iraqi Shia militias have been active in the fighting in Syria supporting the government of Bashar al-Assad. Iran's decision to back President Assad in the Syrian civil war, along with Russian air power and equipment, helped turn the tide in his favour. It opens up the possibility of an Iranian corridor stretching all the way from Tehran to the Mediterranean - something that many Sunnis see as a foreign, Persian intrusion into the heart of the Arab Middle East. So the enmity between Iran and Saudi Arabia is both strategic and religious. For the moment Iran and its allies and proxies, like the Shia militia group Hezbollah in Lebanon, appear to be winning. So a strengthening of the relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia makes sense to both countries. Both insist that Iran should never be allowed to become a nuclear weapons state. Both are uneasy about aspects of the international agreement limiting Iran's nuclear activities. And both see an increasingly well-trained and well-equipped Hezbollah in Lebanon as a force for instability in the region. Trump factor But there is something more going on here as well. It is not just the problem of a rising Iran. Other crucial factors need to be considered too, notably the impact of the new Trump administration in the United States and the broader trajectory of the Middle East in the wake of the Arab Spring and the horrific war in Syria. At first sight neither Saudi Arabia nor Israel should have any complaints about the new administration in Washington. Mr Trump in visits to both countries seems to have embraced their strategic outlook and he too is deeply sceptical about the nuclear agreement with Iran. He is lavishing Washington's allies in the Gulf with new arms sales of ever more sophisticated weaponry. But empathy is one thing, practical strategy quite another. However welcome many of the president's words may be in Israel and Saudi Arabia, both governments know that US policy seems adrift in the region. The US and its allies have been out-gunned and out-played in Syria by Russia and Iran. For all the talk the US has not yet put forward a credible and coherent policy for containing Iranian influence. No wonder the Saudi Crown Prince has decided that his country must be more active in its own interests. There is a sense in which both Israel and Saudi Arabia are adjusting to a waning of US influence in the region and the return of old actors like Russia. Israeli fears And there is something more fundamental too. Prince Mohammed is embarking on a dual strategy of trying to confront Iranian influence while also re-shaping and modernising the kingdom. The latter is in many ways a response to the upheavals of the Arab Spring and the threat of Islamist violence. Prince Mohammed appears to have determined that the region must change if it is to have any future. And change begins at home. Reform may be as important as containing Iran. A number of private discussions lead me to believe that this is something that Israel buys into too. They recognise that Prince Mohammed's activism comes with many risks. But they have watched with horror from the sidelines of the war in Syria, not least at what some Israelis see as the "normalisation" of the use of chemical weapons; this prompting a very limited response from the wider international community with Moscow actually lending its protection at the UN Security Council to its Syrian ally. Israelis see Syria as "a laboratory" of what could be the region's future. Hence their willingness to stress the positives in what Prince Mohammed is trying to do. How far might this Israeli-Saudi dynamic go? Well that depends upon a lot of factors. Will Crown Prince Mohammed's bold attempt to change Saudi Arabia's course succeed? Might he over-reach in terms of Saudi Arabia's effort to exert regional influence? Fundamentally, if the Saudi-Israel relationship is to emerge blinking into the sunlight, there needs to be progress on the Palestinian front. The Saudis have long said this must come before they will openly recognise Israel. Without the renewal of a meaningful peace process that actually promises Palestinian statehood the Saudi-Israel "alliance" must remain in the shadows.

सभी इरादों और उद्देश्यों के लिए, सऊदी अरब और इज़राइल इस क्षेत्र में ईरान के बढ़ते प्रभाव के खिलाफ संघर्ष में वास्तविक सहयोगी हैं। यह एक विकासशील लेकिन अत्यधिक संवेदनशील संबंध है, लेकिन अक्सर इस बात का संकेत मिलता है कि सतह के नीचे क्या हो रहा है।


'Not safe': French Jews mull Israel emigration

Summary: The grim and violent climax to the Paris hostage crisis was followed with horror wherever the news is watched. Israel's community of French-speaking Jews followed the unfolding drama with particular sadness but without surprise.

By Kevin ConnollyBBC News, Jerusalem The mood was captured when Israel's Channel 10 interviewed one of the survivors of the siege at the kosher supermarket who had hidden in a basement cold room as the gunman murdered his victims in the shop above. Yohan Dumas described how the frightened little group had struggled to stay warm - but then broke off in mid-interview to announce that he had decided to move to Israel at the start of the next week. By way of explanation he said simply: "We're not waiting around here to die." Significant trend Not many French Jews make the decision to emigrate here in such public or such painful circumstances - but the number making the decision to migrate has increased in recent years. It is a trend which touches on one of the key arguments that lay behind the creation of Israel - the idea that a history of persecution and statelessness gave the Jewish people the right to a place of safety. It was an idea which was given renewed force in the aftermath of the Holocaust - the UN vote which led to the creation of the Jewish state was held just two-and-a-half years after the end of World War Two. In Hebrew, the phenomenon is known as "aliyah", and it describes the process when Jews born anywhere in the world take up their right to Israeli citizenship - it is a core value of Zionism and a right guaranteed under Israeli law. About 7,000 Jews came to Israel from France in 2014. That's around double the number that came in the previous year, and it meant for the first time in history more Jews came to Israel from France than from any other country. It may be a small proportion of the half-million or so Jews who live in France but it is a significant trend. 'Bad feelings' Now clearly all sorts of factors will lie behind every one of those individual decisions, but in Israel the rising numbers of French migrants will be seen by many as a kind of rough and ready measure of the level of anti-Semitism in French society. Retired businessman Albert Levy was born in Morocco a little over 60 years ago into a French-speaking Jewish family. When the time came to enter higher education it was natural for him to gravitate to Paris and he did so with no fears for his safety and security. A few years ago he, his wife Yveline and their three children came to Israel. Mr Levy uses a resonant but depressing phrase to explain the decision: the time of the Jews in Europe, he says, is over. Asked to explain he says simply: "Look, we [his generation] did what we did but for our children we had this strong feeling that the situation was going to get worse and worse and worse. Everyone has an instinct about this... "You either feel comfortable or you feel bad, you wake up thinking 'What's going to happen today?' Today I can say that every Jew in France has those bad feelings." It's only fair to point out that Mr Levy blames the media at least in part for the current atmosphere and argues that it has tended to demonise Israel in recent years in the wake of events ranging from the first Gulf war to the first and second Intifadas. That perhaps is a debate for another time - and it is worth pointing out that France naturally insists that its Jewish population can safely remain there. Changing atmosphere Israel is in the middle of an election campaign, and several party leaders - including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - have travelled to France in the aftermath of last week's attacks. Mr Netanyahu's message to French Jews was simple - Israel stands ready to welcome them with open arms if they decide to come. The body charged with overseeing the migration and absorption of Jews who exercise their right to live in Israel is the Jewish Agency, whose spokesman is Yigal Palmor. To convey his sense of surprise - perhaps shock - at the changing atmosphere in Europe he quotes his boss, agency chairman Nathan Sharansky, who was once a dissident in the Soviet Union, jailed to punish him for wanting to move to Israel. Mr Palmor says simply: " He [Sharansky] says he'd never have believed a time would come when Jews would feel safe to walk down the street with their head covered in a kippah in Moscow and not in Paris... We all share that surprise. How is it possible in Paris or London or Rome that Jews do not feel safe the way they used to and the way they're supposed to after World War Two? That's a mystery that continues to perplex us." The number of Jews making enquiries about moving from France to Israel reached 50,000 last year. As the funerals take place in Jerusalem of four of the victims of the Paris shootings it is hard to see anything on the horizon to reverse that trend or even slow it down.

पेरिस बंधक संकट के गंभीर और हिंसक चरमोत्कर्ष के बाद जहां भी खबर देखी गई, वहां दहशत फैल गई। इजरायल के फ्रांसीसी भाषी यहूदियों के समुदाय ने विशेष दुख के साथ लेकिन बिना किसी आश्चर्य के इस नाटकीय घटना का अनुसरण किया।


WWII Irish 'deserters' granted pardons

Summary: The Irish parliament has passed legislation granting a pardon to thousands of soldiers who left the armed forces to serve with the Allies during World War Two.

The Irish Republic remained neutral in the conflict between 1939 and 1945. In order to fight, thousands of soldiers left the country and the Irish army to join the British forces. The men were found guilty by military tribunals of going absent without leave and branded deserters. After the war they faced discrimination, lost their pensions and were barred from holding jobs paid for by the state. Last year, the Irish government apologised for the way they were treated. The legislation to pardon them was passed on Tuesday and will be signed into law by the Irish president within days. The bill also grants an amnesty and immunity from prosecution to the almost 5,000 Irish soldiers who fought alongside the allies.

आयरिश संसद ने द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध के दौरान मित्र राष्ट्रों के साथ सेवा करने के लिए सशस्त्र बलों को छोड़ने वाले हजारों सैनिकों को माफी देने वाला कानून पारित किया है।


Appeal judge 'criticised police'

Summary: The judge in appeal court hearing the case of the disappearance of lankaenews journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda criticised the state counsellor for not filing the objections on behalf of the police.

State counsel was pleading for a postponement of proceedings of the case citing that the police officers needed more time for their submissions. Saying that "this is an extremely important case", the judge Ranjith De Silva said that he is reluctant to postpone the proceedings due to lack of preparations of the police department. The counsel said the police had launched an investigation into the disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda. The judge said that it is not relevant to the current proceedings. Adjourning the case until the 18th of January, the judge set an ultimatum for the state to file objections to the court. The case filed by the journalist’s wife Sandhya Eknaligoda is against the Inspector General of Police and the officers in charge of Homagama and Koswatte police stations.

लंकेन्यूज पत्रकार प्रगीत एकनालिगोडा के लापता होने के मामले की सुनवाई कर रहे अपील अदालत के न्यायाधीश ने पुलिस की ओर से आपत्तियां दर्ज नहीं करने के लिए राज्य के काउंसलर की आलोचना की।


'My mum killed my dad with a hammer but I want her freed'

Summary: Sally Challen was jailed for the murder of her husband in 2011 but her solicitors believe a new law, recognising psychological manipulation as a form of domestic abuse, could be a defence in an appeal hearing next month. Her son David explains why he's backing the appeal and hopes to see his mother freed.

By Judith BurnsBBC News Sally's last words to David were supposed to be heartfelt but undramatic. "You know I love you, don't you?" she said, fixing his gaze through an open car door, as she dropped him off at work. A day earlier, she had killed her long-time husband, and father of David, in a frenzied hammer attack. But as he headed to his job, David knew nothing of Richard Challen's gruesome death. After that drop-off, she had planned to swiftly end her own life - jumping from the top floor of a nearby car park. When she realised the car park was closed, she pressed on regardless, driving to Beachy Head in East Sussex. There she planned to jump to her death off the chalky precipice. From the clifftop, Sally called her cousin to admit the killing. She repeated the admission to a suicide team and a chaplain, who had been called to help her. It took them two hours to talk her down from the edge. She was charged with her husband's murder, convicted and jailed for life. However, eight years on, lawyers acting for Sally Challen are hoping to make legal history, and David is working to help them. They hope to use a law passed in 2015, which recognises psychological manipulation, or coercive control, as a form of domestic abuse, to secure her release. Just as physical violence in a relationship has been recognised as a mitigating factor in a killing, her lawyers say her history of psychological abuse by Richard provides a defence of provocation. The circumstances around the killing itself give a taste of the sort of coercive control Richard exerted over his wife. In the wealthy suburban village of Claygate, Surrey, one wet Saturday morning in August 2010, Sally visited the house she had, until recently, shared with Richard, her husband of 31 years. He lived there alone since she had walked out on the relationship the previous November, after discovering he had been visiting prostitutes. David and his elder brother James, who prefers to avoid media attention, say their father inflicted years of psychological abuse on their mother. Having left Richard, the sons were adamant their mother should stay away from him. However, unknown to them, she had secretly begun seeing Richard again, hoping to patch up their marriage. What actually happened in the family home that morning was far removed from reconciliation. On this particular morning, she drove the short distance from her new home. In the car with her was a handbag and, stashed inside it, a hammer. Richard had wanted her to approve a post-nuptial agreement that would cut her rights to the £1m family home and impose stringent conditions, such as not interrupting him and not talking to other people when they were together in restaurants. There was no food in the house and Richard was hungry, so he asked her to go out and buy something for his lunch. As she headed back from the shops, Sally suspected Richard had had an ulterior motive for getting her out of the house. So, on her return she picked up his phone, rang the last number he had dialled and found it answered by a woman. In the family kitchen, Sally fried bacon and eggs on the hob. Richard sat with his back to her at the table. Counting Viagra pills She served him, and, as he ate, she pulled the hammer from her bag and hit Richard 20 times over the head. She then wrapped his body in curtains and blankets, left a note saying: "I love you, Sally," and left. She bought herself some cigarettes, drank some wine and composed a suicide note. But she decided to delay killing herself until she had seen David who, at 23, still lived with her. The next day, David remembers, his mother dropped him at work and, as he stepped out of the car, she made her heartfelt pledge of love. Later that day, David was summoned by his manager. "Then came round the corner, my cousin, followed by a police officer, uniformed, and rushed to me, grabbed me on both shoulders and said, 'your father's dead'." Charged with her husband's murder, 10 months later Sally stood in the dock of Guildford Crown Court. Her hair was a mess and her fingers stained yellow from smoking. David remembers the proceedings being hard to watch. "Anyone standing up who had anything worth saying was not saying enough, or not feeling as if they had enough time, or not being asked the right questions. She was being painted as vengeful and jealous." Here was a woman who counted her husband's Viagra and monitored his phone calls, the prosecution said. In court, Sally hardly spoke. But there was video evidence in which she admitted to the killing and testimony from the Beachy Head suicide prevention team. They recounted her confessing: "I killed him with a hammer. I hit him lots of times... If I can't have him, no-one can." Convicted of murder and jailed for life, all hope appeared to have expired for Sally. Then, in 2015, a law came into force that recognised psychological manipulation, or coercive control, as a form of domestic abuse. In March 2018, Sally Challen won leave to appeal against her conviction. Her solicitor, Harriet Wistrich, of the feminist campaigning organisation Justice for Women, says the new law should be accepted as "new evidence" in the case. "We're arguing, for the first time, that the framework for understanding domestic abuse that's set out in coercive and controlling behaviour which became law in 2015, provides a way of understanding Sally's actions which would support a defence of provocation." She believes this is the first time coercive control has been used as a defence in a murder appeal: "Our argument is that if this evidence is allowed as fresh evidence it renders the murder conviction unsafe therefore that murder conviction should be quashed." She says that the appeal court could reduce the conviction to manslaughter or order a retrial. The fact that the family want to see her freed - and none of Richard's friends or relatives has come forward to say otherwise - is significant, she believes. But she fears the fact Sally brought the hammer with her "with a conditional intent to use it", suggests some premeditation. This could mean the murder conviction will stand, says Ms Wistrich. Both grown-up sons back the legal challenge, with David clear that his father's treatment of his mother is a textbook example of coercive control. "It was tick, tick, tick - everything: financial abuse, psychological manipulation, controlling her freedom of movement, just controlling every facet of her mind... It was almost like she was a robot and he punched in the commands of what she had to do." Richard's psychological hold over Sally began early, David believes. Sally Jenney was 15 when she met Richard, five years her senior, in 1971. They were married in 1979. Sally had nothing but wide-eyed love for Richard, David says, but his father felt otherwise. "Seeing women, cheating on her, brothels." And when she challenged him, David remembers his father questioned her sanity: "'Sally, you are mad'. It was a mantra." There were petty rules. In restaurants she was not allowed to speak to other people. "He didn't like her having any independence in terms of friends, it was only friends together. It was total control." Insults about weight If she displeased him, Richard would restrict her car use to work travel only, and all household spending came out of her earnings. Neighbours have said he treated her as if she belonged to him. And Sally was subjected to constant criticism. "My father would refer to my mother as 'saddlebags', 'thunder thighs', really critiques of her weight... and that was something me and my brother witnessed and heard all the time. Not just in our own company but with other friends as well... It was just not right." At the original trial, it was suggested Sally attacked Richard in a rage, after realising he had called a girlfriend that morning. But David says he believes his mother's claim that she was unaware of her actions when she killed Richard. "She took that hammer and she killed my father. I recognise what happened but we have to recognise what psychological control does. I don't know why she took that hammer. She doesn't understand why," he says. David says his mother still loves Richard, something he and his brother "can't understand". "We don't know what to do with that... my father's not alive any more and he still has power over her." David says he hopes the appeal "will acknowledge my mother's mental abuse, will acknowledge what she suffered throughout her life". "The cause is not that she's a jealous wife," he adds. "She has been manipulated psychologically all her life, tied down by this man, my father. She deserves her right to freedom. She deserves for her abuse to be recognised." Additional reporting by June Kelly and Sally Graham

सैली चैलेन को 2011 में अपने पति की हत्या के लिए जेल में डाल दिया गया था, लेकिन उनके वकीलों का मानना है कि एक नया कानून, मनोवैज्ञानिक हेरफेर को घरेलू दुर्व्यवहार के एक रूप के रूप में पहचानना, अगले महीने एक अपील सुनवाई में बचाव हो सकता है। उनका बेटा डेविड बताता है कि वह अपील का समर्थन क्यों कर रहा है और उम्मीद करता है कि वह अपनी मां को रिहा देख पाएगा।


Secondary league tables 2013: Best advanced vocational results

Summary: This table lists the 100 schools and colleges in England with the best results in advanced vocational qualifications.

The schools are ranked on the average points scored per student. Ties have been broken on the number of students in the institution who took the relevant qualifications. Schools where the full-time equivalent of fewer than 30 pupils took the qualifications are not included. Best performing schools Average points score Average points per full-time equivalent vocational student

इस तालिका में इंग्लैंड के 100 स्कूलों और कॉलेजों को सूचीबद्ध किया गया है जिनके उन्नत व्यावसायिक योग्यता में सर्वोत्तम परिणाम हैं।


RNAS helicopter crew finds 'missing' dismasted catamaran

Summary: A catamaran which had been apparently missing for nine days, has been found by a search and rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose.

The crew from 771 Squadron found the dismasted vessel about 100 nautical miles off the Cornish coast. The Orinoco Flo, which was en route to Falmouth from Antigua, was last seen on 2 June but had been out of radio contact since. The skipper, who had rigged an improvised mast and sail, was unhurt. The catamaran's radio had been damaged when the mast fell, he said. The skipper told the helicopter crew he had food and water on board, but with his boat making "very slow progress" and poor weather forecast, he would accept the offer of a tow to the Isles of Scilly by the St Mary's all-weather lifeboat.

एक कटमरैन जो जाहिरा तौर पर नौ दिनों से लापता था, आर. एन. ए. एस. कल्ड्रोज़ के एक खोज और बचाव हेलीकॉप्टर द्वारा पाया गया है।


Can a Syrian cafe hold the key to the German migrant crisis?

Summary: Hassan Al Babi, a Syrian refugee from Damascus, is steadily carving slices of chicken shawarma off a gas-heated rotisserie. It's lunchtime in Oberhausen and the German city's first Syrian restaurant is doing a brisk trade.

By Howard Johnson and Tobias BrauerBBC News "It's not about the job as such," says Hassan. "It's about the fact that I'm working and producing and not waiting for help at the job centre." In the year since BBC News first visited Oberhausen, refugees have started to become part of the community. More than 2,500 refugees, many fleeing conflict in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, are currently settled in the city. The Royal Cafe opened in August this year. The €30,000 (£25,000; $32,000) start-up cost was covered by German-Palestinian, Omallah ali Maher. The café is managed by Mr Al Babi and another Syrian friend. It employs a further three Syrian refugees to serve its customers. Mr Ali Maher met them at the Red Cross camp in Oberhausen. "They told me that they wanted to work for themselves. They don't want to be beggars," he said. "We don't have a written contract. I just looked in their eyes I see they are really honourable people." All profits made by the business go towards paying the staff and paying back their debt. According to Mr Ali Maher, who helps the men by collecting supplies and doing their German paperwork, the café's model of using business to help refugees is the answer to Europe's migrant crisis. "We can be successful by solving the refugee problem in Germany, when we get people to work," he says. "I am 71 years old, I feel like 60 and I work from morning until the evening but I feel happy because I am doing a kind of nice work for those people and their families." Café Royal's success is a positive reflection of how refugees are adapting to life in Oberhausen. The city's new arrivals have now been moved from shared accommodation - blocks of flats used to house groups of migrants - and most are now in state-provided flats around the city. "I think we are on top of the situation completely," says Joerg Fischer of the German Red Cross. "Now a system is in place and is working well. Around 40 refugees arrive every week. This is nothing compared to last year when we had up to 300 a week. So we can manage this and the integration of those who've been here for longer." Oberhausen lies in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which took in 172,511 asylum-seekers in the first 10 months of 2016. That is almost 27% of the total number of people seeking asylum in Germany over that period, and more than double the number of the region with the next highest number of refugees, Baden Wuerttemberg. A BBC team first visited a year ago and returned last spring to speak to aid workers, residents and the asylum seekers themselves. How one German city is coping with migrant crisis - BBC visits Oberhausen in November 2015 Changing attitudes of a German city - BBC visits Oberhausen in April 2016 Settling into school In April this year Svenja Beyer's integration school in Oberhausen was struggling with a class made up of 34 pupils from nine different countries. There were problems with aggressive behaviour and fights between different ethnic groups. But now some of the older pupils have moved on to other schools and the number of pupils in her class has fallen to 12, although still of several different nationalities. "We have a different atmosphere now. It's calm, it's peaceful," she says. "The pupils are motivated and they learn very rapidly, they want to learn and so fewer children means more time for every child." For adults there are numerous state-run and non-governmental group initiatives aimed at helping them find work. But one that has made headlines is Serap Tanis's women's empowerment group, the Courage Project. The local group aims to help newly arrived immigrants and refugees realise their potential while living in Germany. Ms Tanis, the project leader, is herself an immigrant of Turkish descent. She moved to Germany from Istanbul when she was six years old. She compares herself to a pearl diver, believing that "there is a 'treasure in everyone hidden deep below". Through discussion groups she helps women to think about education and employment in a new light. However, Ms Tanis is keen to stress she's not trying to turn them into Germans or transform them overnight. "Empowerment is a process and we give them the courage to find their strength," she says. One of the women she is helping is Roudin Davo, a Syrian Kurd who fled from Kobane in Northern Syria after jihadist group Islamic State captured the city in October 2014. She arrived in Oberhausen in April 2016 after a treacherous journey through Europe with her husband and two young daughters. "We lost everything, but here we try to begin again from the bottom," says Mrs Davo. "Before [in Syria] I thought: I am a mother, I have to stay at home. But then my friends told me there is a school where they look after my girls and I can learn German." It's difficult to know whether schemes like the Courage Project have helped refugees into work, but unemployment in Oberhausen has fallen this year from 11.7% in March to 10.3% in October. That is still far higher than the 6% average across Germany. When BBC News last visited Oberhausen in April its Chief Police Inspector Tom Litges said there was a sense of fear towards refugees among some of Oberhausen's residents following the New Year's Eve sex attacks in nearby Cologne. Some of Oberhausen's residents even began calling for civil patrols. But nothing ever came of it and the fear has dissipated. "There haven't been any serious crimes related to migrants in the last six months," says Chief Inspector Litges. But right-wing activists have been targeting the city. Since April, there have been two anti-immigration rallies - made up of about 70 far-right protestors, mainly from neighbouring Essen. The right-wing nationalist party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), has been growing in popularity since it started in 2013 and now has MPs in nine of Germany's 16 state parliaments - although none in North Rhine-Westphalia. "Every now and then what we do have is [right-wing] demonstrations and usually those who are against the right-wing demonstrators are normally five, six, seven times more [in number], says Chief Inspector Litges. "So for that reason the people of Oberhausen show that they do not accept right-wing propaganda." The BBC will return to Oberhausen in six months to find out what happens next.

हसन अल बाबी, दमिश्क के एक सीरियाई शरणार्थी, लगातार एक गैस-गर्म रोटिसरी से चिकन शावर्मा के टुकड़ों को तराश रहा है। ओबेरहॉसेन में दोपहर के भोजन का समय है और जर्मन शहर का पहला सीरियाई रेस्तरां एक तेज व्यापार कर रहा है।


Seven people rescued in separate incidents in Snowdonia

Summary: Five men who became stuck on a crag on Snowdon had to be roped down to safety by rescuers on Sunday night.

The group were on the east side of Snowdon, which was covered in snow and mist. Llanberis mountain rescuers hiked up Y Cribau ridge and helped the team down the Llanberis path to a Land Rover. Meanwhile, a couple needed help from the Aberdyfi search and rescue team after they got lost on Cader Idris in Snowdonia. A spokesman for the rescue team said the couple, from Cannock, Staffordshire, had become disorientated and had come down the wrong side of the mountain after reaching the peak from the Minffordd side. Rescuers found them using information sent directly from their smartphone and walked the pair off the mountain.

स्नोडन पर एक चट्टान पर फंसे पांच लोगों को रविवार रात बचाव दल द्वारा सुरक्षा के लिए नीचे उतारना पड़ा।


Workers speak of their relief

Summary: Workers at the Jaguar Land Rover plants in Castle Bromwich and Solihull, both in the West Midlands, have faced a worrying time after hearing one of the plants could shut. They tell of their relief and happiness their jobs are secure.

The welder Paul Wootton, a body welder at the Castle Bromwich plant, said it seemed too good to be true. The 62-year-old from Shard End, has worked there for 11 years. He said: "People don't want to be messed around. "They need to know what is happening and now they do." The paint shop worker Mick Jones, 49, from Erdington, works at the Castle Bromwich plant. He described the news as "better than good". "It is far more than we could have expected and I am gobsmacked," he said. "It shows the company has faith in us." The newcomer Ali Khan has only worked at the Castle Bromwich plant for two months. The 31-year-old, from Highgate, said he was glad the company was putting money into the plant. It gave him and other workers security, he added. Mr Khan said he was an agency worker and could work elsewhere. The family member Yvonne Washbourne, from Birmingham, was waiting at Lode Lane to give a lift to a family member who works there. "That's fantastic news, not only for the workers but for the economy of Birmingham and the West Midlands, because obviously with the recession a lot of people are worried about their jobs and their future and their homes. "As the West Midlands has taken a rather big hit since the recession started, this will give a boost to the small companies that supply goods to the three factories." The plant convener Bob Nason, a plant convener at Solihull, said it was great news. "We've still got to get it to the membership. That ballot will take place in a few weeks' time, we've got the presentation next week, but I think it's good news. "Not only have we secured what we believe is a good pay deal, we've also secured the future of all three plants for the next 10 years. "It's all about securing job security not just for the three plants but for the component industry as well."

वेस्ट मिडलैंड्स में कैसल ब्रोमविच और सोलिहुल में जगुआर लैंड रोवर संयंत्रों के श्रमिकों को एक संयंत्र के बंद होने के बारे में सुनने के बाद एक चिंताजनक समय का सामना करना पड़ा है। वे अपनी राहत और खुशी के बारे में बताते हैं कि उनकी नौकरी सुरक्षित है।


'I was told I'd die if I had a baby'

Summary: Women who survive a heart attack caused by a condition called SCAD are usually told not to have children due to the risk of it happening again. Now the first babies are being born at the world's first clinic that helps heart attack survivors to have a baby.

By James MelleyBBC Victoria Derbyshire programme Hayley Martin, 47, vividly remembers the morning her life changed forever. "I woke up and I felt very, very poorly. I put my hands to my head and I was drenched in sweat. I knew straight away it was a heart attack," she told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. She was a healthy 38-year-old when she had a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD), a rare and often undiagnosed condition. It is the leading cause of heart attacks in women of childbearing age, affecting around 1,000 women a year. It occurs when there is a sudden tear in one of the coronary arteries, blocking the flow of blood to the heart. In hospital, Hayley, from Congleton in Cheshire, feared the worst. "I can remember saying to them, 'am I dying?' And they just kept saying, 'we've tried everything we can, but nothing is working,'" she said. 'I felt less of a woman' She survived, but like many women with SCAD, was told pregnancy would mean the risk of another heart attack. "I think it was another thing that was stolen from me, so I almost don't allow myself to think about it, because it could take you down a dark path of sadness," Hayley reflected. "I felt less of a person, less of a woman, more of a failure, like I was faulty." What is SCAD? Source: Leicester Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit Patient's decision Hayley is the kind of woman who consultant cardiologist Dr Abi Al-Hussaini is trying to help, with her clinic at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Dr Al-Hussaini assesses the damage done to the heart by the SCAD and reviews the patient's medication, generally lowering the amount they are on. She uses that information to advise the patient how risky a pregnancy could be. This does mean sometimes she has to advise that the risk to health might be very high, but the key is the patient makes the decision, rather than the usual blanket advice not to get pregnant. If one of her patients decides to proceed, they are referred to the pre-existing "high risk pregnancy team" at the hospital, who monitor them throughout the pregnancy. "I have seen a lot of patients over the last few years who have come to me unhappy that they have been told they cannot have a child ever again," she explained. "That's one of the reasons I established the clinic, to give these patients the correct advice and allow them to make an informed decision themselves." She believes a lack of research into the condition is why most cardiologists prefer the blanket advice. Sharp pain One of the first women helped by the clinic was Julie Murphy, 40, from Ruislip. Shortly before her honeymoon in 2013, she started to feel unwell, like she had flu. While on holiday in Kenya, the symptoms got worse. Then, while swimming, she had a sharp pain in her chest. When she got home, she had tests on her heart and, "the next day I found out I'd had a heart attack". The days and weeks that followed were very tough. "All the medication I was on really slowed me down so I couldn't even walk up the stairs when I came home from hospital. That was really difficult to get my head around," she says. Like Hayley, Julie was initially told she would not be able to have children. But she became part of a research project led by Dr Al-Hussaini and had her first daughter, Holly, in 2015. 'Awesome team' She then became one of the clinic's first patients when she became pregnant for a second time. "I was worried that they would say there's no possibility or it would be too dangerous for us to try to have a baby, that it might mean that I'm putting my life at risk," she said. Bella was born in April. "They're such an awesome team that you felt so looked after," Julie said. Despite the hope she is giving patients, Dr Al-Hussaini says she has encountered resistance from doctors around the world, in terms of what advice they give their patients. "In America, they are against becoming pregnant any time after a heart attack, or having had a spontaneous coronary artery dissection," she said. "But again, I think that's because there hasn't been a huge amount of research - but there is a growing amount of research at the moment that's been developed." Follow the Victoria Derbyshire programme on Facebook and Twitter - and see more of our stories here.

एस. सी. ए. डी. नामक स्थिति के कारण होने वाले दिल के दौरे से बचने वाली महिलाओं को आमतौर पर कहा जाता है कि वे फिर से होने के जोखिम के कारण बच्चे पैदा न करें। अब दुनिया के पहले क्लिनिक में पहले बच्चे पैदा हो रहे हैं जो दिल के दौरे से बचे लोगों को बच्चा पैदा करने में मदद करता है।


Budget 2021: Will vaccine rollout be the blueprint for recovery?

Summary: It's going to be an historic Budget because of the numbers. But between the fiscal fireworks and the extension of rescue packages, Chancellor Rishi Sunak was always going to have to point the country towards a changed economy.

Faisal IslamEconomics editor@faisalislamon Twitter Post-pandemic, post-Brexit and ahead of significant "net zero" decarbonisation challenges, the plumbing of the economy is about to change. The vaccine progress will obviously impact the timing, and perhaps the speed, of recovery from crisis. But I'm also told that the chancellor will make the argument at the Budget that the successful rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in the UK represents a model for transforming these profound medium-term changes in the economy into sustained recovery. It might be called the "OxAz model" of high science, big business, public participation, significant state funding and rapid regulation. Appearing alongside the head of the Oxford vaccine team at one of his pre-Budget events, the chancellor said: "Our regulatory system has proved to be more agile and nimble and much better joined-up, than others, perhaps around the world." He described the public-private partnership between government and AstraZeneca as a "success". Prof Sarah Gilbert, who designed the Oxford vaccine, suggested that the past year had disproved misconceptions that vaccine research was the preserve of Big Pharma: "There's an awful lot of research that goes on in universities and in small companies. "And we've seen some really creative partnerships really helping to move things forward." It's well known that the government poured money into various vaccine research programmes, funding them through early stage trials and even enabling the charter of private jets to help trials, at one point. A potential deal between Oxford University and a US drug-maker was blocked in favour of the UK's AstraZeneca, until then not a big player in vaccines. Trials took advantage of the integrated network of controlled testing available across NHS hospitals. Regulators pushed the system to allow for the same intensity of scientific trials - but in an extremely compressed timeframe. State-funded innovations We have seen the end product of publicly-funded science, state-brokered commercialisation, big business partnership, and the logistical efforts of the NHS and volunteers working together. Are there lessons for electric car batteries, financial technology, or even new forms of food? The argument has already been deployed in favour of the new Advanced Research and Innovation Agency, modelled on the US defence agency Darpa, which had a role well before the pandemic in funding the first mRNA vaccines that paved the way for the Pfizer vaccine. In announcing that, the government said it would have a "much higher tolerance for failure than normal", because the "freedom to fail is often also the freedom to succeed". Indeed such thinking may have been present throughout the last year's rolling responses to the pandemic crisis from sourcing ventilators, and protective equipment to the test and trace system and testing technologies. The success in vaccines was pre-dated by a more mixed picture in other parts of the pandemic response. Will the government be throwing equivalent sums of money at other forms of economic innovation, as it did for vaccines? It was a risk given that no human coronavirus vaccine had ever been approved, let alone within one year. But as the National Audit Office has reported, the initial £11.7bn spent upfront on vaccines was justified using a cost-benefit analysis by Alok Sharma's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). BEIS said the money spent would bring estimated potential benefits of between "£11bn and £231bn, excluding wider health and social benefits". The vaccine stands on its own on that score. But as well as saving lives and helping reopen the economy, the shot in the arm could have a far longer-lasting economic effect.

यह संख्या के कारण एक ऐतिहासिक बजट होने जा रहा है। लेकिन वित्तीय आतिशबाजी और बचाव पैकेज के विस्तार के बीच, चांसलर ऋषि सुनक को हमेशा देश को एक बदली हुई अर्थव्यवस्था की ओर इंगित करना पड़ता था।


Two rescued from capsized catamaran off Llanfairfechan

Summary: Two people were rescued after their catamaran capsized off the north Wales coast on Saturday.

A member of the public alerted the coastguard at about 14:30 BST after seeing the incident unfold from the promenade at Llanfairfechan, Conwy county. Beaumaris RNLI lifeboat, coastguard teams from Bangor and Llandudno and a rescue helicopter all responded. The casualties were brought back to the slip and did not require any treatment. The catamaran was also towed back to shore.

शनिवार को उत्तरी वेल्स तट पर उनके कटमरैन के पलट जाने के बाद दो लोगों को बचाया गया।


'Lack of investment' behind delayed court cases

Summary: When Louise Westra and her partner decided to adopt a child in November 2018, they were aware of the long process that was ahead of them, but they were not to know that the coronavirus pandemic would hold them back from completing the adoption of their son.

By Sooraj ShahTechnology of Business reporter On 27 March, their petition was due in court. As lockdown had taken effect, telephone conferencing would be used instead of going to court. However, after the phone call, Ms Westra received an email from her solicitor explaining that the papers had not been served to the biological parents of the child. This continued every month after lockdown, as it wasn't possible for the papers to be physically served. "It's farcical because one of them is the biological father who lives with the biological mother who has had her petition but the biological father hasn't and they live in the same premises," Ms Westra says. Serving papers has to be completed by post via Royal Mail or in some cases lawyers would instruct a process server to physically take the papers and hand them to the person. "It sounds very archaic but if [the person] won't take them by hand, the processor can drop the papers near them and tell them what the document contains and that's technically counted as full service," says Rebecca Ranson, a solicitor for Maguire Family Law. Unless a judge approves it, emailing or any other forms of digital communication are not considered valid - even though the majority of people in the UK have access to email and the internet. It is this kind of process, in need of a digital upgrade, that is frustrating for Ms Westra. Ms Westra's case is one of many that have been delayed. The number of outstanding Crown court cases was 43,676 on 26 July, and the entire backlog across magistrates' and Crown courts is more than 560,000. The Commons Justice Committee has announced an inquiry into how these delays could be addressed. The reality, however, is that there was already a huge backlog back in December, and Covid-19 has just exacerbated an existing problem. Cases like Ms Westra's have been affected by the pandemic, but many lawyers believe that the legal system could have been better prepared through technology investment over the years. "We've got people being held for longer than they otherwise would be, and for every person in custody waiting for trial or waiting on bail for trial, there are witnesses, and complainants and their families awaiting a resolution. Whether it's the lack of technology links in prison, using Skype and improvising or not having enough Nightingale courts - it all boils down to a lack of investment," says Joanna Hardy, a London-based barrister. More Technology of Business In 2016 HM Courts & Tribunals Service began a £1bn court reform programme. This included a video-conferencing tool called the Cloud Video Platform (CVP), which allows for a dedicated private conference area, so criminal lawyers can speak to their clients without visiting prison. A programme for testing and adopting video technology was planned out until 2022, but in the pandemic, the government had to get CVP up and running in 10 weeks. This has since been extended to civil courts. But this implementation has been challenging, as there are only a restricted number of physical video links allowed. "As we weren't ready for this huge technological revolution no-one had manned the tech rooms or built enough rooms on the other end in the prison. We can have as many laptops as we like, as much software as we like but if we can't put a prisoner into a room with a screen, the other end is pointless," Ms Hardy says. According to Ms Hardy, the waiting times to get these slots have been "completely unacceptable", and it has meant that sometimes hearings had to go ahead without the defendant present. "It's like human beings failing where technology could have bridged the gap," she says. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said that it had offered more than 400 CVP meeting rooms since the outbreak of coronavirus, but added that it is taking steps to increase the available capacity of video conferencing at some locations by extending operating hours. The spokesperson said that the MoJ is also undertaking urgent action to increase the physical number of video link outlets at critical sites. At the moment, criminal trials are going ahead using social distancing - meaning sometimes a second courtroom is linked by technology, but this is creating further backlogs, as it means one case is occupying the same space as two. Justice, the all-party law reform and human rights organisation, has trialled a virtual jury trial with a mock case, and suggested it should be considered as a possible option, but this hasn't been taken on by the courts. The issue with virtual jury trials is whether or not they could affect the outcome of a trial. Some lawyers feel like juries should see a witness, feel an exhibit and dispense justice to a fellow human being in the confines of a court room. "You can lose the impact of cross examination. When you're challenging their evidence in person it's easier to get them to trip up if they're not being honest, whereas if they're on video it might be easier for them to cover it up," says Jodie Hill, solicitor and managing director of Thrive Law, an employment law specialist. For smaller hearings, online alternatives could be here for the long term, as it means lawyers don't have to travel all over the UK unnecessarily. This doesn't mean that every hearing that can be done remotely, should be done remotely. "We don't want overkill. We think some cases still need to be in the room, particularly if you're dealing with vulnerable people or sensitive cases. It has to be a balancing act of harnessing the benefits of technology and thinking about the specific case," says Ms Hardy.

जब लुईस वेस्ट्रा और उनके साथी ने नवंबर 2018 में एक बच्चे को गोद लेने का फैसला किया, तो उन्हें पता था कि उनके सामने कितनी लंबी प्रक्रिया चल रही है, लेकिन उन्हें पता नहीं था कि कोरोनावायरस महामारी उन्हें अपने बेटे को गोद लेने से रोक देगी।


Chinese brands tap Hollywood in quest to go global

Summary: When Iron Man 3 is released this spring, moviegoers eager to see the latest adventures of Robert Downey Jr's playboy superhero may catch a glimpse of a 110in giant TV screen made by Chinese consumer electronics company TCL.

By Katie HuntBusiness reporter, BBC News, Hong Kong The film will also feature TCL phones and a scene where the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard is blown to smithereens. The landmark, which hosts many a red-carpet premiere, has just been renamed TCL Chinese Theatre as part of a 10-year $5m (₤3.2m; 3.72m euro) deal. "TCL has attached great importance to the collaboration with Hollywood," said Li Dongsheng, TCL's chairman, when the product placement deal was announced in January. His company is one of a growing number of Chinese corporations using Hollywood's marketing machine to promote their products to a global audience. Others are hitching their wagon to European football teams or the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States. It is an expensive strategy but one they hope will turn Chinese consumer brands into household names that trip off the tongues of shoppers worldwide. Double whammy Hollywood is particularly appealing for Chinese brands because it allows them to raise their profile in the global marketplace but, equally, it plays well at home, says Patrick Frater, the chief executive of Film Business Asia. Often the Chinese brands and products featured in Hollywood movies are not available outside their home market. For example, in 2011's Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, Shia LaBeouf wears a T-shirt made by Chinese clothing maker Metersbonwe and, in one scene, a character drinks a carton of Shuhua milk made by dairy group Yili. "I don't know whether this means anything to international audiences… but in a way that is not really the whole point," Mr Frater says. "The point is to establish to Chinese audiences that this is a big brand, big enough to be in Hollywood movies." The same factor is at play for soft drinks maker Wahaha, which, along with China Construction Bank, announced in January that it was sponsoring Premier League football team Manchester United. "I think it's one of the greatest soccer teams in history and it's wildly popular in China," says Lyndon Cao, Director, China Practice, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. "Chinese brands going global want to see some repercussions back home. They have their own agenda," says Mr Cao, who is based in New York. Some Western brands like BMW and Coca Cola have entered product placement deals with Chinese film directors, but navigating the the country's film industry can be tricky. Films released in China are subject to censorship as the makers of the latest James Bond film discovered when a key scene was deleted and dialogue altered in Skyfall for its China release earlier this month. Limelight Once content to be "hidden dragons", toiling in the shadow of high-profile multi-national clients, Chinese companies are seeking the global limelight for a number of reasons. While buoyant compared with much of Europe and the US, China experienced its slowest growth in 13 years last year prompting many companies to look for new revenue streams, says Shaun Rein, the managing director of the China Market Research Group. Some are taking their own brands overseas, while others are picking up established Western brands. The latter tactic is particularly favoured by Chinese property developers, which have also been constrained by government limits on real estate. China's Wanda Group bought US cinema chain AMC last year, while Fosun Group has made investments in holiday group Club Med and Greek luxury jewellers Folli Follie. Ego is also at play, says Mr Rein. "Entrepreneurs are very aggressive and ambitious. They want to become global brands and they want to be a global brand now." "They are not quite as patient as Japanese and Korean firms were." And the international aspirations of China's corporate elite have been quietly encouraged by Beijing, which is keen to be seen to have companies that compete at the multinational level. Challenges Despite their ambition, there are few examples of Chinese companies that have truly succeeded as a consumer brand outside their home market. Appliance maker Haier has found a niche selling dorm-sized refrigerators in the US. Lenovo's products are sold worldwide, although its brand recognition was helped by its purchase of IBM's ThinkPad brand in 2005. Li-Ning, which wishes to compete with Nike and Adidas, has struggled despite its sponsorship of NBA stars. Mr Rein said that customers might still pick an Apple or a Sony for other reasons: "Can they [Chinese companies] really back up their claims of coolness? I am not sure they can." Fertile ground Mr Cao at Ogilvy believes that the leading Chinese brands will become global names in the next 10 years just as Japanese brands such as Toshiba or Fujitsu, that once seemed strange to Western ears, now no longer raise eyebrows. However, he says Chinese companies may not necessarily do this by competing in mature markets like the US and Western Europe, where regulation and distribution is more challenging. "I believe at this moment some of the most fertile ground for becoming a global brand in China will be emerging markets," says Cao, who recently advised state-owned carmaker JAC Motors on its Brazil expansion. "They should seize the moment and reach out and compete against some of the established brands in this market and I believe they stand a good chance of winning there." It is a stretch to imagine that consumers will clock the strange logos cropping up in the latest Hollywood blockbuster and rush out to buy a TCL phone or Metersbonwe T-shirt, especially when such products are not widely available. But building a global brand is a long game and it is clear that it is a task that Chinese companies are taking seriously. "It's going to be a slow process," says Mr Rein. "I mean it took decades for Toyota and Sony to become viewed as anything other than (makers of ) cheap trinkets. "But you are going to see more Chinese brands penetrating the everyday lives of European and American consumers."

जब आयरन मैन 3 इस वसंत में रिलीज़ होगी, तो रॉबर्ट डाउनी जूनियर के प्लेबॉय सुपरहीरो के नवीनतम रोमांच को देखने के लिए उत्सुक फिल्म देखने वाले चीनी उपभोक्ता इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स कंपनी टी. सी. एल. द्वारा बनाए गए 110 इंच के विशाल टीवी स्क्रीन की एक झलक देख सकते हैं।


Scottish Borders Council considers wind farm bids

Summary: Three different wind farm applications have been considered by planning councillors in the Scottish Borders.

The first bid - for nine turbines at Shawpark near to the present Long Park wind farm - was rejected. No objection was made to moves to construct an 11-turbine extension of the Crystal Rig wind farm on the Berwickshire-East Lothian border. The same view was taken of plans for a 213-turbine offshore wind farm off the Angus coast. The closest turbine in that development is more than 30 miles from the Scottish Borders coastline.

स्कॉटिश सीमाओं में योजना पार्षदों द्वारा तीन अलग-अलग पवन कृषि अनुप्रयोगों पर विचार किया गया है।


Holyrood's tax choices

Summary: Consider it a menu of choices. But be warned: it's not a very appetising one.

Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) has provided a very useful guide to the tax questions so far dominating the Holyrood election campaign, and one that takes us beyond the yah-boo rhetoric. The newly-opened Scottish branch of this left-leaning think tank has crunched the numbers, using an income survey of 6,000 Scottish homes, the Family Resources Survey. It gives the manifesto writers - and us voters - what it calls a "£2bn challenge". That is: they are setting out the choices of how to use a significant boost to taxation and welfare powers, expected to reach Holyrood for the 2017-18 fiscal year. Not significant enough, say nationalists and - in another new report just out - Reform Scotland. It says the high emphasis on income tax powers make the package of reforms too blunt an instrument to have the desired effects. Corporation tax, national insurance and more of the welfare system need to be devolved, argues Reform Scotland. That would begin to look like the "devo max" idea, which would hand all tax powers to Holyrood, from which it would pay Westminster for shared services. IPPR Scotland is not arguing over more powers. It is looking at the ones already heading in Holyrood's directions. The biggest part of that £2bn funding question is what politicians plan to do about the £1.2bn cut in the spending plans for Scotland's devolved powers. That's the likely effect of current Westminster plans for devolved powers, unless Holyrood makes changes. With the economy faltering, tax take is likely to fall short of previous expectation. And with the Chancellor, George Osborne, wanting to get the budget into surplus by 2020, there could be a bigger spending cut on the way. We'll know more with his 2016 Budget on 16 March. Either way, the claims of being able to counter austerity come at quite a cost. Softening the blow Likewise, Westminster changes to the welfare system are expected to take around £600m out of Scottish household incomes, much of it masked by the introduction of Universal Benefit. IPPR Scotland says that 700,000 Scottish households will lose out by an average of £730. So what are the next Holyroodful of MSPs going to do to soften that blow? Finding the cash to see off the impact of the bedroom tax (spare room subsidy) was a start, but how much further can the next Scottish government afford to go? Ministers could counter the cuts to levels of in-work benefits. Keeping that at current levels would cost £300m, calculates the IPPR. The Department of Work and Pensions is more sharply tapering away entitlement to benefits as the Universal Credit is introduced. In other words, as you move up the income scale, benefit entitlements fall away at an earlier point than has been the case. To avoid that happening, and to keep things the way they have been, MSPs would have to find another £300m. There's a case for increasing disability benefits in line with earnings rather than inflation. That carries a £100m annual price tag by 2020. The smallest tranche of this set of challenges is in a change being planned at Westminster at the higher rate of tax. Conservative ministers want to do more for higher earners than they achieved in the past six years. The threshold for paying higher rate tax has been held back, and as incomes have risen, more people have drifted into that 40% net. Under the previous Labour government as well, the Exchequer benefited from this "fiscal drift". From next month, the threshold will be £43,000. By the 2017-18 fiscal year, when Holyrood gets its main bundle of new tax powers, that will likely be raised to £43,600. At the Treasury, George Osborne then wants that threshold to rise to £50,000 by the 2020 election. But he has not said how fast that rise would take place. We may hear more in his Budget this month. But it costs him money to reduce tax that way. He, could, meanwhile, confuse things further by taking a lesson from the Scottish Conservative tax commission, which recently suggested an intermediate band of tax - for instance, taxing the £30,000 to £50,000 range at perhaps 30%. Tackling inequality So what will Holyrood do in response to Westminster raising the threshold to £50,000? It will have control over that threshold of higher tax, so it will have to do something, even if it is to choose to follow the Tory agenda. It could decide that higher rate tax payers should pay more. There's been a lot of talk of tackling inequality, and taking a different approach to higher rate tax would be one way of doing so. That could be by retaining the lower level of threshold below Westminster's level, or by raising the 40% rate. IPPR Scotland reckons that raising the threshold in line with Tory plans would leave Holyrood short by £300m. Keeping it at £43,600 would raise £300m, as people move into that income bracket. So, of course, Holyrood's finance minister could set the threshold at a point in between - estimates of inflation would push it up to at least £46,100, for instance - and have a broadly neutral effect on revenue. Apart from raising the threshold, what about raising the rate of tax on earnings over the £43,600 level? The calculation here is that a 1p increase, to 41%, would affect 400,000 taxpayers in Scotland and cost them, on average, £300. And whereas a 1p increase on basic rate tax could raise about £400m, targeting it only at higher rate taxpayers would raise £100m. Then, there are the super-earners, on more than £150,000. On that income, you pay additional rate tax of 45%, under Westminster tax rules. Holyrood could choose to lower that threshold or to raise the percentage rate, or both. The IPPR Scotland report does not have a reliable set of figures for the impact of that. Because only 17,000 Scots fall into that top earning category, the Family Resources Survey does not reach enough of them. The guess is that a reduction in the threshold for paying the highest rate of tax were to drop £10,000, to £140,000, that could raise less than £10m. In other words, not much. A menu of tax options Source: IPPR Scotland Any change in income tax is likely to alter people's behaviour - how many hours they work, for instance, and to some extent, how, when or where they declare their earnings. The impact is all the greater at higher levels of income, at which people are relatively mobile, and they can pay for the smartest accountants. So it is particularly unclear what behavioural impact a change in additional rate tax would have. This behavioural effect could mean that higher tax rates actually lower tax take, and vice versa. The IPPR Scotland model has not taken that into account. Given the porous border between Scotland and the rest of the UK - in people, finance and goods - it's very hard to guess how big the impact will be of a cross-border tax differential. It is not just that higher rate taxpayers can move earnings south of the border and beyond to avoid higher rates in Scotland (or vice versa, should MSPs choose to make Scotland a low-tax haven): it is also that the new income tax powers do not capture earnings from savings and dividends. So, for smallish businesses that pay their tax through the income tax system - and there are a lot of them, including the self-employed - their owners can choose to shift at least some of their earnings from income (taxable in Scotland) to dividends (taxable at a UK level, and potentially at a lower rate). And another thing: this is not just a question of whether higher taxes push high earners and their earnings out of the Scottish tax jurisdiction. Higher tax also sends signals to potential incomers, such as inward investors, who are thinking of bringing business to Scotland. How big an effect? No-one knows. 'No detriment' A further interesting question thrown up by IPPR Scotland: it points out that the one income threshold that will continue to be controlled from Westminster is the starting rate for income tax. This year, that is at £10,600. The Tory manifesto last year promised to raise that to £12,500 by 2020. If it does so, it will cut back the tax take for the Scottish finance department by around £300m. That is a detriment to the Scottish budget. And the Smith Commission on devolution agreed there should be "no detriment" from a decision taken in one parliament that impacts on the finances available to the other. So would that £300m be paid as compensation? And returning to today's other report, from Reform Scotland, it is a reminder that national insurance is a fiscal lever that remains firmly controlled at Westminster. If the intention of policy on either side of the border is to reduce payroll taxes, to help the lower-paid, and to encourage job creation, then there is a diminishing return from raising the starting threshold for income tax. Instead, there is a strengthening case for cutting back national insurance contributions. If there is to be "no detriment", and a likely impact on welfare calculations, doing so could be messy in devolution terms. Passive to active These figures are only indications of the kind of options facing politicians and the electorate at May's election. But they point towards options that cannot be ducked. Sticking with Westminster tax rates is a choice to be made actively rather than tolerated passively. What these choices miss, only briefly mentioned by IPPR Scotland, is that variations to tax and spending are not the only options open to Holyrood. There are some measures that can be made to change the rate of economic growth - increasing the size of the pie from which taxes are taken. And public services can be delivered differently and more efficiently, if ministers are willing to push through reforms.

इसे विकल्पों का एक मेनू समझें। लेकिन सावधान रहेंः यह बहुत स्वादिष्ट नहीं है।


Cyclist pictured riding on Hampshire M3 hardshoulder

Summary: A man wearing a trilby hat and flip-flops was photographed riding a bicycle on the hard shoulder of a motorway.

The man, apparently using a folding bike, was pictured on the northbound M3 near Chandler's Ford, Hampshire, on Sunday. A man in his 60s was escorted off the motorway at 14:40 BST and given a penalty notice, police said. Motorists said online the speed limit was cut to 40mph because of "pedestrians", causing traffic queues. Police said they could not explain why the cyclist was using the motorway. In 2018, two cyclists blamed a navigation app when they were seen riding on the Aston Expressway and the M6 near Birmingham.

ट्रिली टोपी और फ़्लिप-फ़्लॉप पहने हुए एक व्यक्ति को मोटरवे के कठोर कंधे पर साइकिल चलाते हुए फोटो खिंचवाया गया था।


Weather warning: Strong winds could disrupt travel and cut power

Summary: Strong winds could bring disruption to planes, trains and ferries and lead to power cuts on Friday.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for wind for Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Swansea, Bridgend and the Vale of Glamorgan from 04:00 BST until 16:00. Drivers of high-sided vehicles on exposed routes and bridges have also been told to expect delays. Short term loss of power is possible. Spray and large waves are likely for some coastal communities, the Met Office said.

तेज हवाएँ विमानों, ट्रेनों और नौकाओं में व्यवधान ला सकती हैं और शुक्रवार को बिजली कटौती का कारण बन सकती हैं।


Game Of Thrones: The inside story with Bran Stark

Summary: Important: There are NO spoilers for Game of Thrones season eight below, but this article does contain some plot details up to the end of season seven. Game of Thrones has finally ended, thrilling and disappointing fans in equal measure, and bringing eight years of storylines to a close.

We know who lived, who died, who took power, and who got so angry they signed a petition asking for the whole thing to be filmed again in the precise way they wanted. The final episode revealed the fates of the remaining Stark children, including Bran Stark, who was played by Isaac Hempstead Wright. In April this year, Isaac told Radio 1 Newsbeat about his time on the show and how he'd been worrying about being bumped off since season one. A grisly demise was the first thing they looked for when they received scripts for each series, he says. He played Bran Stark since the first episode, when he was pushed from a tower and crippled by Jaime Lannister. Bran had a lucky escape that time, but Isaac was worried about his character being killed in every series since. "The first thing everyone would do when they got the script was check if they were dying," he says. "Then when they saw they were safe, they'd check if their friends were dying." And when the axe fell (quite literally, at times) viewing was as rough for the cast as it was for the fans at home. "You'd always be dreading any particular landmark scene that you knew was coming up, like the Red Wedding." If you haven't watched the show a) why are you reading this?! And b) that's a major event in season three when some major characters are killed off - most of them were Isaac's on-screen family, the Starks. "We all knew that was on its way and we were going to lose lovely Michelle [Fairley] and Richard [Madden] and Oona [Chaplin]. That was really sad." 'I nearly quit on the first day' Isaac turned 20 this year. He's been acting in Game of Thrones since he was 11. Bran survived unscathed through the first seven seasons, taking an extended trip from his family and home to travel "beyond the wall" and return as the Three-Eyed Raven - a time-travelling psychic who lives for centuries. But when he started the job, Isaac wasn't sure he could hack the pace. "I can remember the very first day and we shot in this beautiful place called Tollymore Forest, just outside of Belfast. It rained non-stop all day. "It was the scene where we find the direwolf pups and it was just relentless. "I remember going back to the hotel with my mum and saying, 'I don't know if I can do this, it's really hard'." And sure, things brightened up the next day, but the conditions rarely improved for the cast while filming the show for the best part of a decade. "It was a pretty good introduction to what weather we would be facing for the next nine years of our lives." 'No sex with your brothers or sisters' Starting on the show young meant that Isaac was exposed to things most people don't have any knowledge of until much later in life. Incest, extreme violence and sex are all recurring themes right from the start. Isaac's character Bran was pushed from a castle tower when he catches brother and sister Jaime and Cersei Lannister having sex in the first episode. He says there were parts of the early seasons he was too young to watch. But he says seeing some of the more shocking scenes in the show being filmed was less traumatic for him than they might have been for viewers. "When you are on set and you see a decapitated body and you see the guy hiding behind the chopping block pumping out blood from the prosthetic it takes all the magic away from it," Isaac says. "Sex-wise, it just meant my mum would give me endless embarrassing lectures on it, and say things like, 'So darling, no sex with brothers or sisters, that is wrong'." But while what happened on set didn't have an effect on him, it was what happened off set - back in real life - that made him understand the change Game of Thrones had made. "University was the first time I was like, 'Oh this is not much fun'," he says. Isaac dropped out of his maths and music course at Birmingham University in 2017 after just eight weeks because of the attention he received on campus. "I'd anticipated people would be excited but I didn't see that coming. That was really full-on. "I couldn't walk out of my halls without having to take a selfie, I was terrified to go out and get drunk because everyone would be watching and taking pictures." The end is 'terrifying' But while he's clearly more comfortable in front of TV cameras than being snapped by fans, Isaac's now ready to mark this moment and move on. "There was talk of everyone who made it from the pilot season to the last to get a tattoo," says Isaac. "There are only about eight of us from the original pilot who are still alive. "It is really bizarre - we all feel like we have lived an entire life and career but our lives have just started so it is a pretty amazing position to be in. "It's really exciting. It is terrifying, but it's exciting." There were some extra bits from our interview with Isaac that we really didn't want to cut out. Below are some bonus nuggets. Spoilers for Sean Bean Sean Bean had no idea what happened to his character Ned Stark in series one - until his co-stars broke the news. "We were shooting the pilot with Jennifer Ehle, who originally played Catelyn Stark and we were just chatting," says Isaac. "She said, 'Yeah you die at the end of the first book, Sean.' "He goes, 'What? Do I?' He didn't know he was getting killed off." His teachers loved it When filming was over and Isaac went back to school, it wasn't his classmates who were impressed with his TV job - they were too young to care about the land of Westeros. "It was the teachers who would get really excited," he says. "I had a really nice English teacher who was a massive Game of Thrones fan - he was really sweet. "I think it meant I could interact with them as an adult." Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.

महत्वपूर्णः गेम ऑफ थ्रोन्स के आठवें सीज़न के लिए नीचे कोई स्पॉइलर नहीं हैं, लेकिन इस लेख में सातवें सीज़न के अंत तक कुछ कथानक विवरण हैं। गेम ऑफ थ्रोन्स आखिरकार समाप्त हो गया है, रोमांचक और निराशाजनक प्रशंसकों को समान पैमाने पर, और आठ साल की कहानी को समाप्त कर रहा है।


Dutch Srebrenica ruling: The wider impact

Summary: Lawyers, politicians and generals alike will be looking with great interest at a ruling by a Dutch court that the Netherlands is liable over the killings of more than 300 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys at Srebrenica in Bosnia-Hercegovina in July 1995, writes Media and Criminal Justice Professor Jon Silverman.

As ever with legal rulings, the devil is firmly in the detail. It appears that the judges of the Hague district court made a distinction between the 300 Bosnian Muslims who were expelled from the UN compound before air support was requested and those, the vast majority, who were expelled later and subsequently murdered by Serb forces. Why is the issue of air support important? Because the failure to provide it was held to be a direct responsibility of the UN - not the Netherlands Dutchbat peacekeeping force and, standing behind it, the state. 'Important precedent' Relatives of the victims, campaigning as the "Mothers of Srebrenica", believe this is an artificial distinction and have already said they will appeal. The Dutch international criminal defence lawyer, Jozef Rammfelt, said the judgment had the potential to be of great significance. "Admittedly, this is a ruling of a lower court, but it follows a ground-breaking judgment of the Netherlands Supreme Court in 2013 that the state is liable to pay compensation for the victims of genocide," he said. "This set an important precedent that countries providing troops for UN peacekeeping operations can be held legally responsible for their actions. Other states around the world will have to take note and I imagine they will think twice about their legal liabilities." In the context of international law, this is yet another development in an ongoing debate about the UN's relationship with the conventions of international humanitarian law. According to the UN, when states assign troops to peacekeeping duties, the forces answer solely to the Security Council. And the UN Security Council is not a party to the Geneva Conventions and its various protocols. For at least two decades, this has provoked tension with bodies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, and in the absence of a controlling international legal regime and with sometimes ambiguous mandates, the burden of responsibility falls on field commanders on the ground. The Hague court ruling means that there is a growing acceptance that an individual state can be held liable for deaths in a UN-mandated operation. Professor Philippe Sands, of University College, London, argues that while the Srebrenica massacre has been accepted by international jurisprudence as an act of genocide "it is potentially very significant that the Hague court has ruled that the Dutchbat force should have been aware that a genocide might be perpetrated". Prof Sands is representing Croatia in a suit against Serbia for genocide during the 1991-95 conflict. After last year's Supreme Court ruling that the Dutch state was liable for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslim men expelled from the UN compound and subsequently killed, the government offered 20,000 euros ($27,000;£16,000) to each of the victims' relatives. This latest ruling will require a far larger amount to be paid out. But it is the consequences for existing and future UN peacekeeping operations where the true impact may be felt. Jon Silverman is Professor of Media and Criminal Justice at the University of Bedfordshire. Timeline of Srebrenica siege: 6-8 July 1995: Bosnian Serb forces start shelling Srebrenica enclave 9 July: Bosnian Serbs step up shelling; thousands of Bosnian Muslim refugees flee to Srebrenica 10 July: Dutch peacekeepers request UN air support after Bosnian Serbs shell Dutch positions. Large crowds of refugees gather around Dutch positions 11 July: More than 20,000 refugees flee to main Dutch base at Potocari. Serbs threaten to kill Dutch hostages and shell refugees after Dutch F-16 fighters bomb Serb positions. Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic enters Srebrenica and delivers ultimatum that Muslims must hand over weapons 12 July: An estimated 23,000 women and children are deported to Muslim territory; men aged 12-77 taken "for interrogation" and held in trucks and warehouses 13 July: First killings of unarmed Muslims take place near village of Kravica. Peacekeepers hand over some 5,000 Muslims sheltering at Dutch base in exchange for the release of 14 Dutch peacekeepers held by Bosnian Serbs 14 July: Reports of massacres start to emerge Timeline: Siege of Srebrenica

मीडिया और आपराधिक न्याय के प्रोफेसर जॉन सिल्वरमैन लिखते हैं कि जुलाई 1995 में बोस्निया-हर्सेगोविना के स्रेब्रेनिसा में 300 से अधिक बोस्नियाक (बोस्नियाई मुस्लिम) पुरुषों और लड़कों की हत्याओं के लिए नीदरलैंड जिम्मेदार है, एक डच अदालत के फैसले पर वकील, राजनेता और जनरल समान रूप से बहुत रुचि के साथ देखेंगे।