Crossing Divides: Can Nigeria's new tin mine heal ancient wounds?

Summary: Environmental changes have caused tensions between settled farmers and nomadic herders in Nigeria to flare into ethnic conflict. But could working together to serve the demands of modern consumers heal ancient ethnic rifts, asks BBC World Service correspondent Stephanie Hegarty.

As the sun sets over the stony hills of Jos, long-horn cows climb awkwardly down into a rocky gorge. They shimmy their bony shoulders, navigating a path worn into the stone over decades of this same grazing ritual. In this picture-postcard of serenity it's hard to imagine that until recently this community in central Nigeria was at war with itself. It's one of the world's most ancient conflicts. Across the northern part of Africa the desert is creeping outwards, swallowing up fertile green land and pushing Fulani herdsmen into conflict with farmers over grazing rights. "My people would kill them," says Henry Botson, a man in his 30s from the Berom tribe. He lives in Barkin Ladi, Plateau state, where in 2011 a brutal conflict flared between his people and their neighbours. "And if we passed into their own territory they would kill my people." Mr Botson is short and stocky, wearing a green beret with a miniature AK-47 assault rifle on a silver chain around his neck. And this is part of the problem. Since the collapse of Libya, guns have flooded into West Africa, most of them ending up in Nigeria. In Barkin Ladi, 268km (167 miles) east of the capital Abuja, the period of more than five years in which thousands of people were killed in ethnic clashes is simply labelled "the crisis". The death rate across central and southern Nigeria averaged more than 2,000 a year between 2011 and 2016, according to campaign group Crisis International. "The Fulani man destroyed the Berom man's farm, and the Berom man killed the Fulani man's cattle and the children rearing the cattle," says Farouk Abubaker, a tall, well-built Fulani man in a dusty beige tunic. "We saw them as very wicked people. We saw them as barbarians because they killed little children and women, even pregnant women. "A lot of horrible things happened - but all that is now history." Because two years ago, it stopped. Tin deposits were discovered nearby, just as global prices - driven by demand from electronic components manufacturers - were rising. Now Mr Abubaker and Mr Botson work together on the same mining shaft, digging for the metal along the same narrow gorge that Fulani herders and their cattle pass through every day. It's a hole in the ground as much as 40ft (12m) deep and just wide enough for one man to crawl into. Using a bucket, shovels and a pulley system made from tree-trunks and a cable, these men plunge into the earth pulling out balefuls of dirt. It's dangerous work - many have died when mine shafts have collapsed - and they have to trust each other. "I'm really surprised," Mr Botson says. "I didn't believe that we could live together like this; work together, talk together and do something like this together." From dawn, the mine buzzes with the sound of hundreds of men, women and even children. Some of them crouch over shallow streams, sloshing the ochre-coloured dirt around in buckets until a dark grey metal appears. Others sell head torches, tools and batteries, or clear plastic bags of water and freshly cooked food. Everywhere on this mine Fulani and Berom are working together in small teams. But how? When a new governor was elected in Plateau state in 2015, he promised to bring an end to the crisis. When he hired Joseph Lengmang, 42, as head of the Plateau State Peace Building Agency, many doubted whether a man that young would have the authority to summon local elders to sit down together. "This government inherited an almost anarchic environment," Mr Lengmang recalls. "It took quite some time. When it started they were shouting at each other, it looked like there would be violence. But we got experienced mediators... in the end we had a peace accord". Plateau state has been balancing on the precipice of a delicate peace ever since, with the ethnic conflict becoming a national crisis. Clashes occur across the country's Middle Belt almost every week, and six people were recently killed in Barkin Ladi. Many also blame local and national politicians for stoking the tension to rouse support as Nigeria enters an election year. It comes against a backdrop of three years of high inflation. While food prices have risen, so has the cost of fertilizers and fuel. And while many farmers rely on second jobs to subsidise meagre yields, unemployment has rocketed since 2013. Mr Lengmang believes operations like the one in Barkin Ladi have a part to play in keeping the peace. "It's very, very important... a means of livelihood to many people", he says. "They've learnt also in the experience they've had... if there is chaos and instability and violence, everybody loses". However, he adds that there can be tension even among those working together in the mines, if the proceeds of their labour are shared "fairly". Thomas Johji was one of a small group of Berom men who discovered this particular tin deposit a few months ago. As it was in the middle of a Fulani grazing area, it was crucial to get their neighbours' co-operation. So they invited Fulani people to mine with them. Mr Johji is in his 20s and doesn't remember how "the crisis" began. "Now we can even sleep here in the bush with the Fulani; wake up together, play together," he says. "The Fulani have forgotten about what happened, and we are trying to forget too." It may not be that easy for most people. A deep sense of mistrust persists between the ethnic groups. One Berom woman working at an older tin deposit nearby says she feels uncomfortable around Fulani people. She finds it difficult to trust those she says killed many of her friends and relatives. "Even now we are afraid - but it is up to God," she says, adding that she is here out of pure necessity. "If you stay home, how will you eat?" Mr Lengmang accepts Plateau state's uneasy peace is not yet sustainable. "There are legitimate grievances that have not been addressed and a deep-seated sense of mistrust between ethnic groups," he says. "The mining process has to be more inclusive." When tin deposits become scarce, fighting is bound to erupt over resources. Mr Lengmang says miners have a role to play in peace-building. His agency is exploring whether they could lead training in conflict resolution, or encourage parties to sign peace accords before they start work on a deposit. But Mr Abubaker believes the industry is already doing something to foster peace. "Mining promotes unity and understanding among the different tribes," he says, "just as football does." "It makes us happy. I pray - and hope - that we are able to sustain it." Crossing Divides Crossing Divides: a week of stories about people creating connections in a polarised world.

पर्यावरण परिवर्तनों ने नाइजीरिया में बसे किसानों और खानाबदोश चरवाहों के बीच तनाव को जातीय संघर्ष में बदल दिया है। लेकिन आधुनिक उपभोक्ताओं की मांगों को पूरा करने के लिए मिलकर काम करना प्राचीन जातीय दरारों को ठीक कर सकता है, बीबीसी विश्व सेवा संवाददाता स्टेफ़नी हेगार्टी पूछती हैं।


Middlesbrough's Transporter Bridge shuts for repairs

Summary: Middlesbrough's Transporter Bridge will be closed for several weeks to allow for essential repair work.

During an inspection of the rail tracks on the bridge's upper booms, maintenance staff discovered cracks in four locations. The bridge has been closed and will remain out of operation until the rails have been replaced. From Wednesday, a free bus service will operate from the Transporter to Port Clarence during the closure. Middlesbrough Council said it apologised for any inconvenience caused.

मिडल्सब्रो का ट्रांसपोर्टर ब्रिज आवश्यक मरम्मत कार्य के लिए कई हफ्तों के लिए बंद रहेगा।


Southampton acid attack: Woman 'was targeted'

Summary: A woman who suffered severe burns to her face, neck and arms when she had acid thrown over her was the victim of a targeted attack, police have said.

The 37-year-old was attacked during a night out near the Turtle Bay bar and restaurant in Southampton's Guildhall Square on Friday. She is still being treated at Southampton General Hospital. The police said it was "now treating this rare and isolated incident as a targeted assault against the woman". Police are still looking for the male suspect who fled the scene. An eyewitness said he ran towards Above Bar Street, and appeared to know the woman. A Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said: "Police are grateful to the public for the information provided about this incident. "A dedicated team of detectives continue to follow up all lines of enquiries."

पुलिस ने कहा है कि जिस महिला के चेहरे, गर्दन और बाहों पर तेजाब फेंकने से वह गंभीर रूप से जल गई थी, वह लक्षित हमले की शिकार हुई थी।


Tunisia attack: Profile of gunman Seifeddine Rezgui

Summary: Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire on a tourist beach leaving at least 38 people dead. But the people who knew him told the BBC he was polite, never swore, never fought and liked breakdancing.

In the midday sun, Seifeddine Rezgui pulled a Kalashnikov from a parasol and opened fire on the beach, sending holidaymakers fleeing for their lives. He threw explosives at the pool area before continuing inside the Imperial Marhaba hotel. Rezgui was not previously known to the security services. But Islamic State (IS), which said it was behind the attack, referred to him by a nom de guerre - Abu Yahya al-Qayrawani. Unlike many Tunisian radicals, he is not believed to have gone to Syria or Iraq to join militants fighting there. Tunisia's Interior Minister Najem Gharsalli said on Monday that officials are still trying to find out if he had attended a training camp in Libya, according to Reuters news agency. His neighbours say they never saw him wearing conservative Islamic dress. Full coverage of the Sousse attack Social media accounts thought to belong to Rezgui had postings about rap music and the Real Madrid football team, but also posts in support of IS, as well as several of their propaganda videos, UK newspaper the Telegraph reports. His last post on Facebook said Muslims should not celebrate New Year's Eve, according to Conor McCormick-Cavanagh, co-ordinator of the American Corner cultural centre in Tunis, who told the New York Times he viewed the page before it was taken down. Mr McCormick-Cavanagh told the newspaper it was surprising that Rezgui had posted openly and publicly about his support for Islamic State and had gone unnoticed. He grew up in his grandfather's house in Gaafour in Tunisia's interior. His family say they did not know about his Islamist beliefs. His grandfather, Mohammed Ben Sghaier, told the BBC that he never skipped school and was never rude. Similarly, Mohammed Ferchichi, who used to breakdance with Rezgui, said his friend never swore or fought on the street. Instead, Mr Ferchichi describes him as funny. "He was just a normal guy like us but the terrorism took him," Mr Ferchini told the BBC. A neighbour also described him as always polite. He was studying electronics in Kairouan, one of the oldest Islamic centres in the world, when he is said to have drifted into extremism. Rezgui shared a flat with four young men a few doors down from a mosque. But the BBC was told this mosque was too moderate for his liking. Instead he travelled to a poorer district to attend a mosque where a more extreme version of Islam was preached. Rauf Alsaaidy, assistant secretary-general of the General Union of Tunisian Students at Sfax University, has told the Telegraph that Rezgui was studious until he joined another Islamic student union with strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. According to Mr Alsaaidy, he got involved in an Islamist campaign at the student union elections and also used to preach in front of the university.

ट्यूनीशियाई छात्र सीफेद्दीन रेज़गुई ने एक पर्यटक समुद्र तट पर गोलीबारी की, जिसमें कम से कम 38 लोग मारे गए। लेकिन जो लोग उसे जानते थे, उन्होंने बीबीसी को बताया कि वह विनम्र था, कभी कसम नहीं खाई, कभी लड़ाई नहीं की और ब्रेकडान्सिंग पसंद करता था।


'Microbial birthday suit' for C-section babies

Summary: Those worried about the health impacts of Caesarean sections say babies born that way miss out on the health benefits of a natural birth. Now, as Alanna Collen writes in this week's Scrubbing Up, some experts are suggesting a simple swab could mean that doesn't have to be the case.

By Alanna Collen Biologist & author Shortly after his wife gave birth by emergency Caesarean section in 2012, US scientist Rob Knight waited for the midwives and doctors to leave the room, then rubbed his new baby daughter's little body with a swab coated in his wife's vaginal fluids. Although medical staff might have questioned his motives, Knight had good reason to believe his actions were in his newborn's best interests. As a scientist studying the impact of the body's microbes on health, Knight wanted to make sure his little one got off to a good start, and that meant seeding her skin and gut with the vaginal bacteria she would have encountered during a natural birth. Birth by Caesarean is increasingly common worldwide. In Britain, one quarter of babies are born this way. In New York, it's more like half of babies. And in some hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, rates of C-sections top 90%. Until recently, the potential downsides of C-sections were thought to be limited. But experts including Prof Knight, who is based at the University of Colorado in Boulder, have identified one that could be key to a baby's health - the lack of exposure to the microbes they would come into contact with during a natural birth. He is part of the so-called 'microbiome revolution' - the scientific recognition of the crucial role played by the body's microbes in promoting good health. Microbial 'birthday suit' Studies around the world are demonstrating an important link between disruption to the complex microbial communities living in and on the human body and many of the modern illnesses that have been on the rise in developed countries over the past 60 years. Allergies, autoimmune diseases, and obesity, in particular, are now thought to have their roots in a disrupted gut microbiota. Before his daughter was born, Prof Knight had been involved in several research studies into the impact of Caesarean sections on the colonisation of newborn babies with microbes during birth. For babies born naturally, life begins with a microbial birthday suit made up of vaginal and faecal bacteria. It seems disgusting, but this coating of microbes means a baby's body, both inside and out, is protected from harmful infections. What's more, the guts are colonised by bacteria that help the baby to digest milk and educate its naive immune system as to what is harmful and what is not. Babies born by C-section, on the other hand, start their lives with a coating of skin bacteria - from mum, dad and medical staff - as well as hospital nasties like Clostridium difficile (C.diff) and Pseudomonas. They appear to be more prone to picking up infections in the first weeks of life. And, as children and adults, those delivered by C-section appear to be at increased risk of developing allergies and autoimmune diseases, and becoming overweight. The question is, can we do anything to reduce these risks in babies born by C-section? Accompanied through history By swabbing his own daughter, Prof Knight hoped so. But he was keen to find out whether the technique really did make a difference to the gut microbes of babies. He teamed up with another microbiologist, Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello at New York University, to set up a small trial at a hospital in Puerto Rico. The technique was simple. Some of the mothers due to give birth by C-section had a piece of gauze inserted into the vagina one hour before surgery. The microbe-laced gauze was removed and placed in a sterile pot just before the C-section was performed, and immediately after each baby had been delivered, its body was wiped with the gauze, beginning with the mouth, then the head, and then the rest of the body. The results from this preliminary trial - now under peer-review - showed that babies who were exposed to their mother's microbes after delivery by C-section had gut microbes that were more similar to vaginally-delivered babies than the guts of C-section babies who had not been swabbed. Prof Knight and Dr Dominguez Bello are now working on a larger trial, and are planning to follow the babies as they grow to see if vaginal swabbing reduces rates of allergies and autoimmunity. Just as with a vaginal birth, there are concerns about transferring harmful microbes alongside the beneficial ones that must be considered. But if these and other trials prove a success, we could see vaginal swabbing rolled out as a standard procedure to ensure future generations continue to receive the beneficial microbes that have accompanied humans throughout our history.

सिजेरियन सेक्शन के स्वास्थ्य प्रभावों के बारे में चिंतित लोगों का कहना है कि इस तरह से पैदा होने वाले बच्चे प्राकृतिक जन्म के स्वास्थ्य लाभों से चूक जाते हैं। अब, जैसा कि अलाना कोलेन ने इस सप्ताह के स्क्रबिंग अप में लिखा है, कुछ विशेषज्ञ सुझाव दे रहे हैं कि एक साधारण स्वाब का मतलब यह हो सकता है कि ऐसा नहीं होना चाहिए।


Spectacular super bloom transforms South African desert

Summary: Each spring, for a few short weeks, kaleidoscopic carpets of wild flowers transform vast swathes of arid land along South Africa's western seaboard into a vivid explosion of colour. These "super blooms" occur in deserts and arid landscapes around the world, but few are as consistent or diverse as South Africa's flower season.

Typically lasting for just a few weeks between late July and late September, the flowers are annuals and will die with the first hot winds of the year, their seeds then lying dormant through the baking heat of summer until next year's rains. Photographer Tommy Trenchard captured this natural phenomenon. "It's was a pretty surreal sight" said Trenchard, who stumbled across the flowers by chance on an anniversary getaway with his wife in South Africa's Biedouw Valley. "And the short-lived, ephemeral nature of this natural display just makes it all the more special. People tend to think of South Africa as a destination to view wild animals, but its wild flower blooms rival anything you might see on a typical safari." Photographs by Tommy Trenchard.

हर वसंत में, कुछ छोटे हफ्तों के लिए, जंगली फूलों के बहुरूपी कालीन दक्षिण अफ्रीका के पश्चिमी समुद्र तट के साथ-साथ शुष्क भूमि के विशाल हिस्से को रंग के एक ज्वलंत विस्फोट में बदल देते हैं। ये "सुपर ब्लूम" दुनिया भर के रेगिस्तानों और शुष्क परिदृश्यों में होते हैं, लेकिन कुछ दक्षिण अफ्रीका के फूलों के मौसम के रूप में सुसंगत या विविध होते हैं।


Man found dead in Yardley caravan on Christmas Day

Summary: A man has been found dead in a caravan on Christmas Day.

The man, aged in his 50s, was found unresponsive in Rutland Drive, in the Yardley area of Birmingham, at about 09:30 GMT. West Midlands Police is investigating and his death is being treated as unexplained. His family has been informed. A woman, 49, arrested in connection with the death has been bailed while inquiries continue. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

क्रिसमस के दिन एक आदमी कारवां में मृत पाया गया है।


Jill Hibberd death: Man charged with assisting offender

Summary: A 22-year-old has been charged with helping a man accused of knifing a pensioner to death in her own home.

The body of Jill Hibberd, 73, was found with multiple stab wounds at a house in Roy Kilner Road in Wombwell, near Barnsley, on 31 May. Andrew Ashby, 22, of Woolgreaves Avenue, Wakefield has been charged with assisting an offender in connection with her death. He was bailed to appear at Barnsley Magistrates' Court on 12 September. Lee Trevor Fueloep, 40, of Willow Garth in Wombwell, was previously charged with murder, theft and burglary and is currently on remand.

एक 22 वर्षीय युवती पर अपने ही घर में एक पेंशनभोगी को चाकू मारकर मारने के आरोपी व्यक्ति की मदद करने का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Deeside incinerator plans rejected by Flintshire council

Summary: Plans for a waste incinerator in Flintshire which could produce enough energy to power 30,000 homes have been rejected.

Councillors voted 10 to six against the proposal on Friday due to concerns about the facility's size and type. The decision is expected to be referred back to the special planning committee. The proposed plant at Deeside Industrial Park could process 200,000 tonnes of waste from Flintshire, Conwy, Denbighshire, Gwynedd and Anglesey.

फ्लिंटशायर में एक अपशिष्ट भस्मक की योजना जो 30,000 घरों को बिजली देने के लिए पर्याप्त ऊर्जा का उत्पादन कर सकती है, को खारिज कर दिया गया है।


The North Korean spies who want to go back home

Summary: North Korea's growing diplomatic activities are being closely watched by one small and intriguing group, writes the BBC's Laura Bicker - former North Korean spies who hope it could mean they finally get to go home.

Kim Young-sik was in his early twenties when he felt he could not watch his country suffer anymore. He wanted to rid both Koreas of the foreign powers he believed had divided them. In 1962, he headed south on a North Korean spy boat as a radio engineer. "I hated that outside forces were splitting my country and making our people fight each other," he says. "I was young and I was very much in love with my family in North Korea. We were inseparable and had a lot of fun. "But despite all that I came to the South because my country was suffering." The spy boat took the long route to Ulsan to try to remain undetected, almost getting all the way to Japan before turning to make their way to the south east coast of South Korea. But before he could carry out his mission, his ship was captured and he was put in prison. He served 26 years in a South Korean jail. He is free now, and he's been given South Korean citizenship. But to him it has never felt like home. "Prison life was really hard. In South Korean society, you needed to convert your ideology. But since I said I would not, they kept torturing me for any small reason." Other North Korean spies also claimed they were tortured to force them to confess to being communists. This was during the decades South Korea was under authoritarian rule. 'I'll always say this is terrible' Mr Kim is one of 19 former North Korean spies in South Korea who want to go home. They see the recent sequence of summits involving North Korea as perhaps their only hope. At one point Mr Kim gets swept away as he lectures me on the benefits of Marxism. He is in his late eighties now, but his passion still drives him. "If you go to the border, they put barbed wire fences all throughout. Did we make those barbed wire fences? The foreign powers divided us, built fences, and stopped us from being able to travel freely," he says. He is talking about an agreement in 1953 to create a demilitarised zone which divided the Korean Peninsula in half. The armistice was signed by North Korea, China and the United Nations. "How can you say this is good? Even when I die, I'll always say this is terrible," he says. "Talk about denuclearisation, pfff…. The foreigners came and divided us and made us fight each other. So that's why we created nukes. If they were nice to us and helped us, why would we create nukes?" 'Bury my bones there' Yang Soon-gil is also pleading to go North, despite it not being his home. After the Korean War truce left the Koreas divided - but still at war - he took a trip to Pyongyang with his brother. South Korea carefully controls contact with the North, and on his return home, Mr Yang was arrested for violating national security laws. He maintains he was not a spy. He served 37 years in prison. Mr Yang has a wife and a family in South Korea, and yet given the chance, he would leave them to live in North Korea. I shake my head when he tells me this. I have met so many people desperate to bring their families south. This is the first time I have heard two gentlemen plead to go north. But he says I don't understand. "My home is where my convictions lie. I wish to live in a place that shares my ideals. I want to bury my bones there," he tells me. "A man knows his own mind and he should stick to his principles and proceed with one conviction. You may say I am brainwashed by socialism, but I am a voluntary communist, and my convictions grew further when I was in jail. " Shortly after our interview, the two men held a protest outside the Ministry of Unification in Seoul, which oversees interactions with the North. They want their case to be included in the discussions between the two Koreas in the hope an agreement can be reached to send them home. They have had no response yet from the ministry. But they remain hopeful they will see North Korea again. This kind of fervent communist ideology is what worries many right wing conservatives in the South. Anti-communism is deeply ingrained in South Korean society. The National Security Law was put in place as a legal mechanism to counteract those fears. In 1975 under Park Chung Hee, dozens of so-called dissidents were rounded up under the law and charged with taking part in communist activities - eight of them were executed within a day. The majority of South Koreans are now more moderate, but even they may find North Korea's brand of communism frightening. They have fought hard to win their current democratic values. They protest passionately, they give their opinions freely and they value their capitalist economy which has become the fourth largest in Asia. North Korea remains a secretive state, where speaking out against the ruler can can earn you time in prison. There is no press freedom and current economic conditions remain uncertain. The two sides have waited so long for peace. No doubt there will be celebrations on both sides of the heavily militarised border if they do manage to sign a long-awaited peace treaty to finally end the Korean War. But even if one day the barbed wire and the landmines are removed, the social and ideological gap between North and South may be much harder to overcome.

उत्तर कोरिया की बढ़ती राजनयिक गतिविधियों को एक छोटे और दिलचस्प समूह द्वारा बारीकी से देखा जा रहा है, बीबीसी की लौरा बिकर-पूर्व उत्तर कोरियाई जासूस जो उम्मीद करते हैं कि इसका मतलब यह हो सकता है कि वे आखिरकार घर जा सकते हैं।


Stranded yacht towed to safety near Eyemouth

Summary: A stranded yacht had to be towed to safety after its engine failed off the Borders coast.

Eyemouth RNLI lifeboat was called out to the incident shortly before 09:00 on Sunday. The yacht - with one person and a dog on board - got into trouble about two miles north of Eyemouth. The lifeboat was "quickly on the scene" and was able to tow the vessel to safety in the harbour before being stood down.

सीमा तट पर इंजन के विफल होने के बाद एक फंसी हुई नौका को सुरक्षित स्थान पर ले जाना पड़ा।


Jersey child abuse inquiry: Date set for first hearing

Summary: An inquiry panel investigating allegations of historic child abuse in Jersey's care system has set a date for its first hearing.

The year-long £6m inquiry will probe reports of abuse in the island's children's homes and fostering services from 1960 to the present day. Screens have been erected in Seaton Place, where the inquiry will be held, to protect witnesses' identities. The preliminary hearing will take place on Monday 16 June at 14:00 BST.

जर्सी की देखभाल प्रणाली में ऐतिहासिक बाल शोषण के आरोपों की जांच करने वाले एक जांच पैनल ने अपनी पहली सुनवाई के लिए एक तारीख निर्धारित की है।


Yarl's Wood: Women in 'small peaceful protest'

Summary: About a dozen female detainees at Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire were involved in a "small" protest on Tuesday night.

Operators Serco said it was a "peaceful protest" and it was talking to the women involved. Two members of staff had earlier been suspended following allegations of abuse. Undercover filming by Channel 4 News had shown staff referring to inmates as "animals", "beasties" and "bitches". The facility houses up to 400 women under threat of deportation. Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, Home Office Minister Karen Bradley told MPs Serco "immediately suspended" one member of staff and then another after seeing the footage. "The company has also commissioned an independent review of its culture and staffing at Yarl's Wood," she said. Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has called for an independent inquiry into conditions at the centre.

बेडफोर्डशायर में यार्ल्स वुड हिरासत केंद्र में लगभग एक दर्जन महिला बंदी मंगलवार रात को एक "छोटे" विरोध प्रदर्शन में शामिल थीं।


Irvine Welsh visits Trainspotting 2 crew

Summary: Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh has paid a visit to location shooting for the sequel to the hit Scottish movie.

An online teaser earlier this week confirmed filming on T2 had started, with a release due for January 2017. The original cast has been brought together, along with award-winning director Danny Boyle. Welsh was on set in Edinburgh - as was Robert Carlyle, sporting the white socks and loafers favoured by his bad boy Begbie character in the first film. It has taken 20 years to reassemble the cast of Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner and Carlyle.

ट्रेनस्पॉटिंग लेखक इरविन वेल्श ने हिट स्कॉटिश फिल्म के सीक्वल की शूटिंग के स्थान का दौरा किया है।


Isle of Man TT: Two arrested over race fan's bike theft

Summary: Two people have been arrested in Liverpool on suspicion of stealing a motorbike from a fan travelling to the Isle of Man for the annual TT races.

The Merseyside Roads Policing Team said a number of unattended bikes were stolen over the Bank Holiday weekend. A spokesman urged bikers to be vigilant and "secure their unattended bikes". More than 40,000 bikers are expected to travel to this year's festival with many travelling by ferry from ports in Liverpool and Heysham. Bikers have been advised to "lock and tag" their machines.

वार्षिक टी. टी. दौड़ के लिए आइल ऑफ मैन की यात्रा करने वाले एक प्रशंसक से मोटरबाइक चुराने के संदेह में लिवरपूल में दो लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


CEO Secrets: The aviation workers starting new businesses

Summary: As part of our CEO Secrets series, which invites business leaders to share their advice, we are focusing on start-ups that have launched during lockdown. Each week we will look at a different type of entrepreneur. This week, we hear from people who used to work in the aviation industry.

By Dougal ShawCEO Secrets Producer, BBC News Sophie Southwood, 37, was faced with a painful choice during lockdown, along with her Qantas cabin crew colleagues. When furlough came to an end, did she want to take redundancy, or go on unpaid leave for up to two years? She chose unpaid leave. She wanted to keep the door open to return to her old job - in case that became possible. "You see, I love the lifestyle," she explains. "It's all I've known since college." She felt pride wearing the uniform. She enjoyed "the razzmatazz, strutting through the airports", though much of the job was less glamorous. After more than 15 years with the company, Sophie, who lives in Guildford in Surrey, has even made the gruelling workload of long-haul flights fit in with family life. Her parents live nearby, and between them and her husband, they can take care of the children, aged six and two, while she travels across the world and back. "I'm not ready to give up on it and I hope my loyalty will pay off," she says. But in the meantime, she has bills to pay. So she has turned what was a hobby - floristry - into a business. Since August she has been making and selling front-door wreaths and running floristry workshops from her home. And she now has a small area in a local shop in which she sells her creations. Her business Scentsations Floristry breaks even and she hopes to make a profit when the Christmas period kicks in. Her ultimate goal is to return to the skies, though if that happens she would like to continue to nurture the business. Her advice to other people left stranded as the aviation industry goes into freefall is this: "Now is the time - why not take the risk? You have nothing to lose." She also thinks cabin crew like her have fine-tuned skills that can be ideal for running a customer-facing business. "A cabin crew's real talent is anticipating people's needs - it's ingrained in us." "I loved my job, it made me the person I am today," says Jasvinder Kalsi, "but I had to make a clean break to progress as a person." The 42-year-old from Buckinghamshire worked for two decades at British Airways as a customer service agent, dealing with passengers at check-in and departure gates. Like Sophie, she was offered redundancy in July while on furlough - but she decided to take it, though "hesitantly", because of the financial risk. She had been thinking of setting up a business for a while and even had a failed one behind her, selling a skincare product, that she ran as a "side hustle". Furlough gave her the "head space" to plan a better one. Another motivation is that she has a teenage daughter and she wants to inspire her by pursuing her business dream. "This time I realised it had to feel personal to me," Jasvinder explains. There was a ritual she used to enjoy growing up in a Punjabi household in Yorkshire. She used to mix turmeric powder with yoghurt and flour, then rub it on her skin to dry overnight. "When you woke up your skin was basically glowing," remembers Jasvinder, who used the same ritual the night before her wedding. Her new brand is called MĀRĪCĪ. "It means 'beam of light' in Sanskrit, which I feel is fitting in these very dark times," she says. Her balm is made by a factory in Peterborough, which mixes the turmeric with other substances like beeswax and sweet almond oil. The product will launch to the public in November. "I have times when I'm scared but I've decided to let fate take its journey," says Jasvinder. She is also very sad to have left British Airways. Her colleagues there were like family, she says. But she thinks her time with the company has given her lots of transferable skills. "When you deal with airline passengers, it's everyone from the rich and famous to regular families going on holiday," she says. "My time in the industry showed me what I can achieve. I wouldn't have my confidence without it." The past few months have been truly dreadful for people working within the aviation industry. Carriers around the world have been laying off tens of thousands of employees. Yet for many who work in the sector - particularly those who actually fly - it is a vocation. People often refer to the "aviation family", and there's certainly a sense of community in the industry. So why would people who hope to return to the skies be setting up businesses? It's partly because they have little choice but to do something different. And it's partly because they have a lot to offer. Pilots are trained to be focused and disciplined, even under the most intense pressure. Cabin crew are experienced in trying to keep hundreds of passengers happy on every flight. It isn't hard to see how these skills could be used elsewhere - or how businesses could benefit from them. How one town has been affected by the aviation industry's struggles Paul Green, 33, had dreamed of being a pilot since childhood, ever since his grandfather took him on trips to Leeds Bradford Airport to see Concorde land. He fulfilled his dream, but his aviation career has been a bumpy ride, through no fault of his own. He was a first officer with BMI Regional (later rebranded as Flybmi), but was made redundant when the company went into administration in early 2019. He was then on his way to becoming a captain with Flybe, when it too entered administration in March this year. Because of what had happened with BMI Regional, Paul had already had some thoughts about how to "pick up the pieces" if his flying dream ever fell apart. He wondered if he could use his pilot's training to help people in other walks of life to manage stress. He launched his consultancy, The Cockpit Method, in May from Bath, and so far has helped everyone from architects to accountants. "When you think of a pilot you think of a good decision maker," says Paul. "But actually it comes down to a well-rehearsed checklist and a procedure that focuses the mind. It's not an inherent skill." As well as teaching the pilot's decision-making model, he also instructs on issues like communication, risk assessment and people management. Ironically, he thinks coronavirus has created a demand for his new company. "As a pilot if you make the wrong decision, it's catastrophic and lives are on the line, and now with Covid that's what businesses are facing. If they make the wrong decisions with redundancies, it's people's lives on the line." A recent client is the NHS in Surrey, where he is helping managers develop coping strategies for staff who have suffered from stress and fatigue during the Covid-19 response. "They need a robust wellbeing strategy because there has been no downtime since March, so I'll devise for them simple, practical steps, like taking breaks for fresh air, or just taking a proper lunch break." He thinks the pilot's philosophy is well-suited to the business world, especially at the moment. "A lot of wellbeing and stress management courses will tell you to remove the stresses, or remove yourself from the situation, but if you are halfway over the Atlantic and you are on fire, you can't step away, you have to deal with it." Since starting in April Paul has delivered 30 consultations, the company is in profit and he hopes to win more contracts with big organisations like the NHS. But though he finds his new work very satisfying, like so many others in the aviation industry, he says he can't give up on flying. You can follow CEO Secrets series producer Dougal on Twitter: @dougalshawbbc

हमारी सी. ई. ओ. सीक्रेट्स श्रृंखला के हिस्से के रूप में, जो व्यापारिक नेताओं को अपनी सलाह साझा करने के लिए आमंत्रित करती है, हम उन स्टार्ट-अप्स पर ध्यान केंद्रित कर रहे हैं जो लॉकडाउन के दौरान शुरू हुए हैं। हर सप्ताह हम एक अलग प्रकार के उद्यमी को देखेंगे। इस सप्ताह, हम उन लोगों से सुनेंगे जो विमानन उद्योग में काम करते थे।


IDPs in 'open prisons'

Summary: A senior Tamil political leader in Sri Lanka has urged the president to review conditions in the government's camps for Tamils displaced by the fighting in the north.

In a letter to Mahinda Rajapaska, released to the media, the president of the Tamil United Liberation Front, V Anandasangaree, said some of the civilians felt that living in the camps was like being kept, under compulsion, in open prisons. The letter said a personal visit to the camps by the President was long overdue. Mr. Anandasangaree is a candidate at the forthcoming Jaffna Municipal Council elections. The former parliamentarian, a strong critic of the LTTE, is contesting to become the Mayor of Jaffna at 08 August elections.

श्रीलंका में एक वरिष्ठ तमिल राजनीतिक नेता ने राष्ट्रपति से उत्तर में लड़ाई से विस्थापित तमिलों के लिए सरकार के शिविरों में स्थितियों की समीक्षा करने का आग्रह किया है।


Scam text 'issues fine' to people leaving house

Summary: A scam text has been sent telling people they are being given a £250 fine because they have been out of the house "more than once".

The message claims to have been sent by GOV.UK and claims the fine is due to "irresponsible behaviour". It goes on to say the charge could increase to £5,000 and/or arrest and payment will be taken automatically. West Mercia Police advised anyone who received the text to report it to Action Fraud UK. The force did not say whether it was aware of anyone falling victim to the scam, or what the consequences were for those who had. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

एक घोटाले का संदेश भेजा गया है जिसमें लोगों को बताया गया है कि उन पर 250 पाउंड का जुर्माना लगाया जा रहा है क्योंकि वे "एक से अधिक बार" घर से बाहर रहे हैं।


Bill Bratton: How 'Supercop' cleaned up US cities

Summary: The American police officer advising the UK Government about crime in the aftermath of the riots has been characterised as "Supercop" in the British media. But is Bill Bratton really the tough-talking, zero-tolerance cop that his reputation suggests?

By Tom GeogheganBBC News, Washington DC When William Bratton became a police officer in Boston at the age of 23, it was the fulfilment of a childhood dream. Television police shows like Dragnet had fired the young Bratton's imagination and in 1970, he at last entered those hallowed ranks. British Prime Minister David Cameron was only four at the time, but 40 years later he is drawing on the wisdom of the American after nights of unrest in English towns and cities, despite opposition from senior British police officers. Due to an illustrious career in which he has arguably transformed the fortunes of three of America's biggest police forces, the 63-year-old Mr Bratton has been dubbed "Supercop" in the UK media. The phrase "zero tolerance" is not far behind, reinforcing the image of a no-nonsense, tough guy, much like the stereotype American "cop". That British perception stems very much from his time in New York, when he transformed the fortunes of the city by taking a very hard line on petty crime. In an hour-long speech to the Policy Exchange think-tank in London last year - one of many visits to the UK - he said New York resembled a "Mad Max movie" in 1990, with aggressive beggars, muggings and graffiti-covered subway trains. It was the "poster boy" of a country in disarray. Police had wrongly been obsessing about their response to crime, rather than preventing it, he said, and ignoring the "quality of life" issues that created fear in neighbourhoods. Appointed by Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 1994, he adopted the so-called broken windows theory that suggests tackling anti-social behaviour with a strong arm has huge benefits in preventing violent crime. But he also fully embraced the community policing phenomenon that emerged in the late 1980s - the belief that police officers should engage with the public, be seen on the streets and join as partners with the judiciary and community organisations. This dual approach, backed by the arrival of 5,000 newly trained officers, brought immediate results, with huge falls in crimes across the board, particularly murder. He had fewer resources at his next big job, in Los Angeles, which presented a different challenge - gang violence in a smaller city spread over a larger geographical area. The man who hired him was the mayor at the time, James Hahn. Now a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Mr Hahn recalls the bullish man he interviewed in 2001. "He said in the interview that he would reduce crime by 25% or he would leave. Each year he would do something I have never seen a police chief do. He called them 'stretch goals' and he would say 'I'm going to reduce crime by, say, 15%.' "Most people brag about it at the end of the year, but Bill would commit to this at the start of the year. And he would not only meet the targets but exceed them." In three years, he reduced crime in the city by 40%, says Mr Hahn, but just as importantly, his honest leadership restored morale to a flagging department. "We were losing officers faster than we could hire them. It wasn't a money problem, because they would go and work for other police departments with a better working atmosphere. "The rank and file at first was very suspicious of this outsider who had not come up through the ranks but they came to respect him because he's a no-nonsense, plain-talking guy." Community relations improved because he introduced a more diverse recruitment policy and the police were seen to be engaging with Hispanic and African-American communities. There was criticism about the time he spent away from the city, at conferences in other parts of the country, but Mr Hahn says he didn't care because he got results. "The thing I'm most proud of in my brief tenure as mayor was to reverse three years of rising crime, and Bill Bratton was the reason I achieved that goal." And as a person, he's charming and fun to be around, says Mr Hahn, with a self-deprecating humour which the British will appreciate. He appears to be a keen student of British policing, referring in the past to the "phenomenal wisdom" of Robert Peel, who he says shaped his thinking. And he has expressed a strong interest in the vacant position running the Metropolitan Police, although it is only open to Britons. An interview with the Guardian newspaper this week suggests he himself would prefer to emphasise his community-building skills, rather than his zero-tolerance methods. But his critics say his reputation is burnished by the fact that long-term crime trends in the US have been falling anyway, for a number of reasons. One of the country's leading criminologists, Professor Alfred Blumstein, prefers to give Mr Bratton credit, saying the drop in New York crime was greater than elsewhere and he repeated the trick in LA during a period when crime nationally was pretty flat. "I've developed a high regard for Bill Bratton. He brought some important innovations to New York, including the highly regarded and widely replicated Compstat management system. "That system used fast-response computerised information on crime to hold precinct commanders for reducing crime in their precincts, and that management shift was an important contributor to lowering crime rates in New York." His restructuring of the ethnic composition of the police department in Los Angeles and improving community relations there shows he can tailor his skills to different problems, says Mr Blumstein. "That wisdom and those skills will allow him to bring important insights to policing in the UK. "Also, he's a very low-key individual, so I'm confident he won't come roaring in as a Mr Know-it-all, which would certainly be a serious turn-off in the highly respected Scotland Yard. "I've talked to him about various aspects of crime and criminology and there's always a very open atmosphere in dealing with him. He's not like a Supercop."

दंगों के बाद अपराध के बारे में यू. के. सरकार को सलाह देने वाले अमेरिकी पुलिस अधिकारी को ब्रिटिश मीडिया में "सुपरकॉप" के रूप में वर्णित किया गया है। लेकिन क्या बिल ब्रैटन वास्तव में कठोर बोलने वाले, शून्य-सहिष्णुता वाले पुलिस वाले हैं जो उनकी प्रतिष्ठा से पता चलता है?


Viewpoint: Drones, modern war, and the US

Summary: Relatives of an American-born suspected al-Qaeda militant are suing US officials over his death in a drone strike. Is the long-running US drone programme legal - and are Americans legitimate targets?

By Gary SolisProfessor of Law, Georgetown University On 3 November 2002, the United States carried out its first known targeted killing. Over the desert near Sanaa, Yemen, an armed drone controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) targeted and killed Qaed Salim al-Harethi, a senior al-Qaeda lieutenant. His killing had been authorised by former President George W Bush. This was not the first use of an armed drone. In World War II the Nazis targeted England with several thousand V1 "buzz bombs" and V2 rockets. The Israelis practiced "focused foiling" throughout the late 20th Century, although most Israeli missile strikes were launched from manned helicopters. The US consistently criticised the Israeli practice as extrajudicial murder. After 9/11, however, America found targeted killing an effective tactic, and drones an efficient means of carrying it out. Collateral damage In the law of armed conflict drones and their missiles are lawful weapons, essentially no different than artillery, an historic weapon of war. Artillery employs spotters relaying information about targets - say, an enemy commander - to a site where large-calibre guns are aimed and fired at the distant target. Drones are the spotters that relay information about targets to command centres where targeting cells confirm the lawfulness of the target and, like firing an artillery piece, trigger the drone's missiles. In an important respect, armed drones are superior weapons to traditional artillery. Rather than firing multiple artillery rounds, often a score or more, drones fire one or two missiles. Artillery, with its dispersion pattern at point of impact, requires multiple rounds to assure a target hit. A missile is guided to its target with exacting precision. The potential for collateral damage - the unintentional killing of civilians - is greatly minimised by drone strikes. Ironically, a missile's very precision raises objection to drones in the civilian community: "Innocent civilians are killed by missile-firing drones!" That objection is seldom voiced regarding artillery barrages, which are greatly more likely to kill many more civilians than a Hellfire missile. Provisions within the Geneva Convention specifically do not bar military strikes when civilians are present. The rules are usually applied to preclude human shields, but are also applicable to artillery and missile strikes. Proportionality - the balancing of possible civilian death or injury against the immediate military advantage to be gained - is always an issue commanders must consider before authorising a strike. But the presence of civilians in a target zone is not in itself a prohibiting factor. Recognising the enemy Nevertheless, any lawful weapon can be employed in an unlawful manner. Targeted killing presumes a specific individual target in the course of an armed conflict: someone who by his or her actions, or position in an opposing armed force or organisation, is a confirmed enemy fighter. Such individuals may be placed on a military target list and lawfully be killed when located and identified. If the intelligence confirming their status as an enemy fighter is defective, or insufficient to positively identify that person, any subsequent strike would violate US rules of engagement as well as the law of armed conflict. Recently authorised "signature" missile strikes pose an increased possibility of targeting error. A signature strike is based on the target's intelligence "signature" - his pattern of behaviour detected through signals intercepts, human sources and aerial surveillance - indicating an important enemy individual involved in a plot against American interests. Assessing involvement in a plot contrary to American interests can cover a broad range of behaviour and be open to interpretation. No passport necessary Can American citizens lawfully be targeted by drone-fired missiles? Yes. Individual human targeting is based upon the target's conduct: Is she aiming a weapon at you? Does he clearly represent a threat to you or your fellow soldiers? If so, that person may be killed by an opposing combatant. Citizenship plays no role in targeting decisions. In World War II, numerous US citizens of German, Japanese, or Italian ancestry returned to countries of their heritage and fought for those states. There was no suggestion that it was illegal for US troops to kill them when they met. When an enemy fighter is about to fire on you, you need not ask to see his passport before killing him. When the targeting is via a drone, however, one must ensure that the target, American or otherwise, is indeed an enemy fighter. Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born Muslim cleric , was killed by a CIA-controlled two-drone missile strike in September 2011. Awlaki was described as an al-Qaeda operational leader, although the evidence supporting that assertion has not been released. Military targeting parameters are widely known, although there is no requirement in law or custom that they be made public. CIA targeting standards, however, remain secret. In the Awlaki case, that secrecy disturbs many who want assurance that he was not killed simply because he talked too much, too loudly, too long - which would be a war crime. In summary, drones and their missiles are lawful weapons, little different from artillery, naval gunfire, or close air support by manned aircraft. Because of the nature of the war on terrorism, in which the enemy does not identify himself in traditional ways, identifying lawful drone targets is difficult. It nevertheless is done with skill and professionalism by American and allied warfighters. Yet mistakes are made. Civilians are killed. To say that is the nature of war, and always has been, is not cynicism so much as a recognition of sad reality.

अमेरिका में जन्मे संदिग्ध अल-कायदा आतंकवादी के रिश्तेदार ड्रोन हमले में उसकी मौत पर अमेरिकी अधिकारियों पर मुकदमा कर रहे हैं। क्या लंबे समय से चल रहा अमेरिकी ड्रोन कार्यक्रम वैध है-और क्या अमेरिकी वैध लक्ष्य हैं?


Kaushalyan killing : Monks protest UN

Summary: Group of Buddhist monks belonging to National Bikkhu Front carried black banners, and took part in a demonstration outside the UN office in Colombo against the UN General Secretary Koffi Annan's expression of condolences on the death of a senior LTTE leader.

The President of the National Bikkhu Front, Ven. Dambara Amila says; the statement from the General Secretary was issued due to advice given by the local representative of the UN. "This is a death of a man who was a member of an organisation that is a threat to the Unitary State, The sovereignty and the authority of Sri Lanka. Expressing grief over a murderer of this calibre poses a threat to the independence of our country. It is clear, the local representative Mr. Miguel Bermeo is working to promote the LTTE." LTTE's Eastern leader Kaushalyan was shot dead on 07 January in the government controlled areas by unidentified gunmen. Ven. Amila named the UN as an organisation which does not promote separatism. "But if the local representatives are working as Cat's paws of the LTTE, that will ruin the good reputation of the UN and the credibility of the General Secretary." The President of the Bikkhu Front also said that it is different when the government expresses condolences towards the death of LTTE leaders. "But this kind of organisation should not do such things using the official avenues. These kind of activities by a reputable organisation will only give a boost to the LTTE."

नेशनल बिक्कू फ्रंट से संबंधित बौद्ध भिक्षुओं के समूह ने काले बैनर लिए हुए थे, और संयुक्त राष्ट्र महासचिव कॉफी अन्नान द्वारा एलटीटीई के एक वरिष्ठ नेता की मृत्यु पर शोक व्यक्त करने के खिलाफ कोलंबो में संयुक्त राष्ट्र कार्यालय के बाहर एक प्रदर्शन में भाग लिया।


Manslaughter charge over Huddersfield pub assault death

Summary: A man has been charged with the manslaughter of a man who was assaulted outside a pub.

Stephen Campbell, 42, died in hospital after being seriously injured on Tuesday evening outside the Boy and Barrel pub on Beast Market in Huddersfield. Paul McCabe, 55, of Ashenhurst Rise in Newsome, Huddersfield, was remanded in custody at Kirkless Magistrates' Court. He will appear at Leeds Crown Court on 19 October. Police also questioned and released a 52-year-old man.

एक व्यक्ति पर एक पब के बाहर हमला करने वाले व्यक्ति की हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है।


What is behind Pakistan's dramatic rise in executions?

Summary: In December 2014 Pakistan lifted a seven-year moratorium on executions in response to a deadly Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar . Since then more than 300 people have been put to death, according to Amnesty International and the Justice Project Pakistan. The vast majority were not convicted of terror offences.

What explains Pakistan's dramatic shift in death penalty policy? How does Pakistan compare with the rest of the world? The issue of capital punishment sparks heated debates around the world. Although 99 nations have abolished the death penalty, 22 countries carried out executions in 2014. China and North Korea are believed to be among the world's top executioners. However, specific figures are difficult to obtain because they are concealed by the authorities. Amnesty International does collate figures from other countries, which show Iran and Saudi Arabia have carried out many of the world's executions in recent years. Iran had carried out at least 694 executions as of July 2015, Amnesty told the BBC, many more than the figure acknowledged by the authorities. As of 9 November Saudi Arabia had executed 151 people in 2015, Amnesty said. That compares with 90 in the whole of 2014. Pakistan has quickly caught up - it had executed 316 people by 16 December, the anniversary of the Peshawar massacre. Who is on death row in Pakistan? Pakistan is believed to have the largest number of death row inmates in the world. The government said in October that 6,016 prisoners were awaiting execution - other estimates have put the figure at about 8,000. Many death row inmates have been in jail for more than a decade. Almost all are men, however there are some women - most notably the Christian Asia Bibi who was convicted of blasphemy in 2010. The mother-of-five was accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammed and sentenced to death, despite her insistence that the evidence against her had been fabricated. Some 27 crimes carry the death sentence in Pakistan, including terrorism, rape and adultery. Figures from the Justice Project Pakistan show most people facing execution have been convicted of a "lethal offence". However, in Pakistan's most populous province Punjab, for example, 226 prisoners were on death row for "non-lethal offences", the JPP told the BBC earlier this year. The latest case to attract global attention is that of Abdul Basit, a paraplegic who is on death row for murder. His execution has already been delayed twice over concerns that hanging him would be degrading and in breach of Pakistan's jail manual which does not set out how to put someone in a wheelchair to death. There are also concerns that up to 1,000 people convicted as juveniles are facing execution - something that is illegal under international law. But proving your age in Pakistan can be difficult, particularly in poor communities where many births are not registered. In June Aftab Bahadur was put to death, even though human rights campaigners said there was evidence which proved he was a minor when he was convicted of murder in 1992. They also said he had been tortured into giving a confession. And on 4 August Shafqat Hussain was executed, despite appeals from campaigners who said he was a minor when convicted. His execution was postponed four times before he was hanged. He was found guilty of killing and kidnapping a seven-year-old boy in 2004 - but his lawyers also maintained he was underage when the boy was killed. Why was the moratorium lifted? The massacre of 132 children in Peshawar last December was the catalyst for the reintroduction of the death penalty. Amid public anger, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced the moratorium would be lifted for terror convicts - before eventually resuming executions for all death penalty offences. No specific reason was given for the second decision. The move was condemned by the United Nations and human rights campaigners who warned it would do little to impede the Taliban. "The government is touting executions as the way of tackling the country's law and order problems," said Maya Pastakia, a Pakistan campaigner for Amnesty International. "But there is no compelling evidence that the death penalty will act as a particular deterrent over and above any other form of punishment. A suicide bomber won't be deterred by the death penalty." She believes lifting the moratorium was "a lazy response" to dealing with the huge numbers of people on death row. "We have seen a conveyor belt of executions. People who were implicated in terrorism crime, as well as people convicted for straight-forward murder, manslaughter and kidnapping. "The government seems entirely intransigent on this issue." Who has been executed and why? The first series of hangings took place at Faisalabad jail in December - and are now almost an everyday occurrence across the country. Many prisoners have been put to death for terror offences, including three Baloch insurgents who hijacked a passenger plane in 1998. Others were found guilty of political killings, like Saulat Mirza - a former worker for the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) - who was convicted of murdering the head of Karachi's power utility service. But some cases have attracted attention over concerns about the legitimacy of their trials. Shafqat Hussain "was at worst a common criminal", according to his lawyer Sarah Belal, yet his case was processed by an anti-terrorism court. "It goes to the heart of all the problems with the judicial system," she told the BBC. "He belongs to a poor community. He was not a terrorist." Ms Belal says Shafqat Hussain was tortured for nine days before giving a confession, which he later withdrew. All other evidence against him was "purely circumstantial". She says there has never been a credible investigation into his age or the validity of his torture claims. BBC correspondents say the authorities did allow for last-minute investigations into his age but in the end said there was no evidence that he had been a minor at the time of his conviction and his appeals for mercy were turned down. Cases like this are not uncommon, according to Maya Pastakia. "Trials are often characterised by lack of access to fair legal counsel," said Ms Pastakia. "Often the accused in the initial stages will be given a state appointed lawyer who is often poorly trained and lacks competence. "All judicial systems make mistakes and as long as the death penalty persists, innocent people will be executed. There is no going back." Interviews and additional research by Claire Brennan

दिसंबर 2014 में पाकिस्तान ने पेशावर में एक स्कूल पर तालिबान के घातक हमले के जवाब में फांसी पर सात साल की रोक हटा ली। एमनेस्टी इंटरनेशनल और जस्टिस प्रोजेक्ट पाकिस्तान के अनुसार, तब से 300 से अधिक लोगों को मौत की सजा दी गई है। विशाल बहुमत को आतंकवादी अपराधों के लिए दोषी नहीं ठहराया गया था।


Turkey and the PKK: The Kurdish women who take up arms

Summary: The execution-style killing of three women in Paris last week threw a spotlight on the murky struggle between Turkey and its Kurdish rebels. But how did women from such a conservative society rise to prominence in a paramilitary organisation?

By Yesim Yaprak YildizBBC Turkish Among the three women killed was Sakine Cansiz. Photographs soon circulated showing her in khaki military uniform, standing alongside the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan. She was one of the most visible symbols of women within the military and political ranks of the Kurdish movement. The PKK, which Turkey, the EU and the US list as a terrorist organisation for its attacks on Turkish security forces and civilians, is a highly capable force. It has battled the huge Turkish army for nearly three decades, in the name of greater Kurdish autonomy. And it contains one of the largest contingents of armed women militants in the world. This is in stark contrast to many insurgent movements in the Middle East. 'Movement within a movement' Women have been at the heart of the Kurdish movement almost since the formation of the PKK in 1978, when it was strongly influenced by Marxist-Leninist ideas. Under Ocalan, who is now in prison, the PKK attempted to reinvent itself as "a social movement with self-administration at local level, an alternative type of economy, ecology and feminism as central pillars". The group is perceived by many Kurdish women as a means of empowerment. They are prominent in the PKK's leadership council and there is a separate women's party with its own armed wing. Meanwhile, the main Kurdish party in the Turkish parliament, Peace and Democracy (BDP), applies a minimum 40% women's quota and always has a man and a woman as joint party presidents. But Dr Kariane Westrheim, a Norwegian academic who conducted field work among female PKK militants in the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq, says: "Even if the PKK had gender issues on the agenda, and also female co-founders, women have struggled hard to get their voices heard and to develop their own organisational structures. "In many ways, the organisation of women in the PKK became a movement within the movement". At a price The number of Kurdish women in the PKK grew in the 1990s, when the conflict intensified. Partly this is related to the PKK's increased mobilisation in both rural and urban areas, in universities and across Europe, and its emphasis on women's rights. According to Dr Handan Caglayan, an academic from Turkey who has studied the role of Kurdish women in the conflict, Ankara's handling of the Kurdish crisis - in which villages were razed to the earth, and family members were killed or disappeared - led to the increasing politicisation of women. Leyla Zana, 52, one of the movement's most famous and symbolic figures, became a campaigner for Kurdish prisoners in the 1990s, when her husband was jailed for 16 years following the 1980 military coup. According to Dr Westrheim, the most common motive for women joining the PKK is "the general oppression of all Kurds, male and female". But, she adds: "It is also about emancipation from the general oppression of women in Kurdish rural areas perpetrated by the state and by the traditional family structure." Dr Caglayan explains: "In a society where women were 'invisible', the PKK valued them as individuals and provided an atmosphere to express themselves." For traditional and conservative families, letting their daughters join the ranks of the PKK's armed wing was not a straightforward process. In the beginning, Kurdish families resisted the idea that their daughters would take up arms and live side by side with men. "However, the legitimacy gained by the organisation's struggle among Kurdish people eventually made it difficult for them to prevent their daughters joining the PKK," Dr Caglayan says. The PKK's policy of strictly forbidding its men and women to have sexual relationships certainly helped traditional families not to see their daughter's joining the organisation as an insult to the "honour" of the family. But, Dr Caglayan says, while the PKK's success in mobilising women has started to change attitudes in Kurdish society, within the family change is coming about much more slowly. Nevertheless, joining the Kurdish struggle has implied a human cost for these women - not only by leaving their family home, but often by giving up any hope of having families of their own. And for many, it is ironic that empowerment of Kurdish women has only become possible through taking up arms.

पिछले सप्ताह पेरिस में तीन महिलाओं की हत्या ने तुर्की और उसके कुर्द विद्रोहियों के बीच अस्पष्ट संघर्ष पर प्रकाश डाला। लेकिन इस तरह के रूढ़िवादी समाज की महिलाओं ने अर्धसैनिक संगठन में प्रमुखता कैसे हासिल की?


Frozen child: The youngest person to be cryogenically preserved

Summary: Earlier this year, a two-year-old Thai girl became the youngest person to be cryogenically frozen, preserving her brain moments after death in the hope that she will one day be brought back to life. The BBC's Jonathan Head visited her family outside Bangkok to ask why they chose to grieve this way.

The room where Matheryn Naovaratpong spent the last few months of her life is bare and white, furnished only with the drip-stand that helped sustain her, and her cot, also white. The only splash of colour in this austere setting comes from a small gold Buddhist statue, a few favourite stuffed toys, and a huge portrait of the little girl on the wall. It has the feel of a shrine to a young life tragically cut short. Matheryin, or Einz as her family nicknamed her, developed a rare form of brain cancer just after her second birthday. She died on 8 January 2015, just before she turned three. But by then her parents, both medical engineers, had made a decision that they hope may give Einz another chance of life. "The first day Einz was sick, this idea came to my mind right away that we should do something scientifically for her, as much as is humanly possible at present," says her father, Sahatorn. "I felt a real conflict in my heart about this idea, but I also needed to hold onto it. So I explained my idea to my family." That idea was to preserve Einz through technology known as cryonics. The body, or in Einz's case just her brain, is put into a deeply frozen state at the point of death, and kept that way until, at some point in the future, extraordinary advances in medical technology allow her to be revived, and for a new body to be created for her. "As scientists we are 100% confident this will happen one day - we just don't know when," he said. "In the past we might have thought it would take 400 to 500 years, but right now we can imagine it might be possible in just 30 years." 'This will happen one day' At first Sahatorn said it was difficult for the rest of the family to accept this idea, but as Einz's health deteriorated, they came round. "Matheryn had something special about her from the day she was born," he says. "She communicated with her love more than the other children, always wanting to be part of our activities." Sahatorn and his wife Nareerat have three other children. Nareerat had to have her uterus removed after the first birth, so Einz and her younger brother and sister were conceived through IVF. Technology, they say, played a central role at the very start of her life, and could well help restore it. The Naovaratpong family chose Alcor, an Arizona-based non-profit organisation that is the leading provider of what it calls "life extension" services, to carry out the preservation of Einz's brain. The family was closely involved in the preparations, designing the special coffin in which she would be transported to the United States. A standby team from Alcor flew to Thailand to supervise the initial cooling of the body. As the little girl deteriorated, she was moved from hospital to her own room. The moment she was pronounced dead, the Alcor team begin what is known as "cryoprotection"; removing bodily fluids and replacing them with forms of anti-freeze that allow the body to be deep frozen without suffering large-scale tissue damage. After arriving in Arizona her brain was extracted, and is preserved at a temperature of -196C. She is Alcor's 134th patient, and by far its youngest. A personality preserved Sahatorn's description of the procedure sounds like the stuff of science fiction, even brutally clinical, when you remember this was after all the moment of loss of a much-loved daughter. But the family are very clear about their feelings. "I tell you we still feel our love for her. Although we fought to be strong, when she had passed away, we were no different from other families; we cried every day. We still need time to heal." In his mind, Einz's thoughts and personality are preserved with her brain at Alcor, and may at some stage be enough for her life to be reconstructed. He and his wife also plan to have their own bodies preserved cryogenically, although he acknowledges there is little chance they will be able to meet Einz again in their new lives. They also plan to visit the Alcor facility, to see the steel container in which Einz's brain is being kept in what the company calls "biostasis". The Naovaratpongs say they have donated similar sums of money to what they have spent on Einz's cryopreservation to cancer research in Thailand. The science of putting off death Source: Alcor Life Extension Foundation And what of the future? That time, possibly long after their deaths, when technology might allow Einz to live again? The family is collecting pictures and recordings from her life and theirs, so that she will know something of her previous life. Alcor, in its contract with them, promises to supervise a careful re-entry into life for its patients. This doubtless makes uncomfortable reading for many people. It may not be easy understanding or accepting the reasoning given by the family for taking this path. You cannot help wondering whether this is just a way of avoiding the enormous grief of losing such a young child, or wondering how valid Alcor's pledges are for something that may not be possible for decades, even centuries. Yet Sahatorn and Nareera clearly are grieving, while at the same time holding out hope for a future most of us cannot imagine yet, in which Einz will live again. They have thought very deeply about it, and feel comfortable with what they have done. "It was our love for her that pushed us towards this dream of science", says Sahatorn. "Surely our society is moving towards a new kind of thinking that can accept this."

इस साल की शुरुआत में, एक दो साल की थाई लड़की क्रायोजेनिक रूप से जमे हुए सबसे कम उम्र की व्यक्ति बन गई, जिसने मृत्यु के बाद अपने मस्तिष्क को इस उम्मीद में सुरक्षित रखा कि वह एक दिन फिर से जीवित हो जाएगी। बीबीसी के जोनाथन हेड ने बैंकॉक के बाहर अपने परिवार से मुलाकात की और पूछा कि उन्होंने इस तरह से शोक करने का विकल्प क्यों चुना।


Migrant crisis: The volunteers stepping in to help

Summary: George Chertofilis was an ordinary physics teacher looking forward to a long summer holiday when the dinghies began to arrive, one after another, on the Greek island of Kos. Before long, hundreds of migrants were landing on the island every day.

By Joel GunterBBC News In sight of Turkey's coast, Kos has become one of the first ports of call for the mainly Syrian and Afghan migrants fleeing through Turkey to Europe. A member of the coastguard told the BBC that 750 people arrived on the island in the first few hours of daylight on Thursday morning alone. Aid workers estimate that there are about 7,000 migrants on the island - which ordinarily has just 30,000 citizens. And with no support forthcoming from local authorities, it is the island's citizens who have stepped in to help those arriving by sea. "We have no choice," says Mr Chertofilis. "People are starving, we cannot leave them like this. We cannot do that." So the physics teacher's summer holiday has been spent fundraising, cooking, and distributing food and clothes to the thousands of desperate people arriving on the island. His Kos Solidarity Project now has 50 volunteers and collects donations from many more. Led by Mr Chertofilis, ordinary men and women on Kos are working for hours before and after their day jobs, often from the break of dawn until late into the night, in an attempt to stem the humanitarian disaster unfolding on their doorsteps. Mr Chertofilis works for about nine hours every day after he finishes teaching. "We have to help them," he says. "They don't have clothes, they don't have shoes, they don't have food. If we don't help them, what will happen?" Kos residents have allowed migrants into their courtyards to sleep and into their homes to wash, he says. Many have donated food, clothes, and medicines and bought items to order on their weekly food shops. Taking the initiative The people of Kos are not alone - stories are emerging of citizens around Europe taking the initiative to help. Diana Henniges is a social worker in Berlin who could see first hand that not enough was being done to help, so she offered her time. She is working for a volunteer group called Moabit Hilft, answering the phone to people across the city who want to help. "People are calling from all over the city to help, to offer money, clothes and food," she says. They are also offering their homes - five people called in the first 15 minutes of Ms Henniges's shift on Thursday to say they will take someone in. "The refugees here need food, they need money and they need places to stay overnight," she says. "The people are trying to help where the state can't manage." Germany is the main destination for migrants arriving on the EU's eastern borders and German authorities say they are expecting about 800,000 asylum seekers in 2015, four times the number last year. The country has not committed to accepting a specific number, but has said it will no longer return Syrians to their first port of entry in the EU. Elsewhere in Berlin, a couple say they have been overwhelmed with offers after creating a website called Refugees Welcome, to match migrants and refugees with people willing to take them in. Described as an "Airbnb for refugees", the initiative has helped find homes for people fleeing Afghanistan, Liberia, Mali, Iraq, Somalia, Syria and many other countries. The site's two founders, Jonas Kakoschke, 31, and Mareike Geiling, 28, have taken in Bakari, a 39-year-old refugee from Mali, and they say a further 122 migrants have already found homes across Germany though their initiative. In Munich, volunteers have gathered at the city's Central Station to meet migrants with cheers of welcome and supplies of bottled water, bread, nappies, fruit and sweets. Banners were displayed with messages of welcome, echoing those held aloft at football matches across Germany last weekend. Hundreds of people in Munich have come every day to the station to offer their time, said Colin, a volunteer coordinator. So much was donated that police politely asked the volunteers to stop for the day. And the desire to help stretches beyond Germany. In the Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona, so many families offered to help that city authorities are creating an official register to match them with migrants. In the French port city of Calais, people have donated books and food and a family took in a 20-year-old Syrian boy who knocked on their door asking for water. In Hungary, where migrants were last week sprayed with tear gas by police, some locals set up a projector to screen Tom and Jerry for the children. An image of the boys, laughing brightly at the cartoon, was shared widely on Twitter on the same day a young Syrian boy drowned trying to make it to Kos. Citizen to citizen As the image of that young Syrian boy appeared on the front pages of all the UK papers, Elinor Mountain, from Kilkenny in the Republic of Ireland, arrived on Kos. She and her husband had already booked a holiday to the island when the images of its migrant influx hit the news. The Mountains starting raising money in Kilkenny with events and collections. "There was a huge desire to help," she says. "Somebody I just met at the leisure centre gave me a cheque for €250 (£180; $280)." The couple flew to Kos with €2,200 to give to the island's volunteer groups, including Kos Solidarity. "People are feeling helpless and they want to do something," says Ms Mountain. "They want to take action, citizen to citizen. They want to change the debate from one about fear to one about human beings helping human beings." The cash Ms Mountain took with her will be spent on tents, food and soap. The volunteers on Kos are a lifeline for refugees, she says. "There is a sense of humanity, people reaching out to these refugees with support." But ultimately, volunteers are not a solution to the problem, says Ms Henniges in Berlin. "The local authorities need to do more," she says. "There is so much more they could do, and they should but they don't. And volunteers are having to fill the gap." And from where George Chertofilis is standing, these individual stories, though heartwarming, simply don't match the scale of the crisis unfolding across the continent. "There are just too many people," he says. More than 350,000 migrants are known to have entered the EU between January and August 2015, compared with 280,000 for the whole of 2014. And that figure - an estimate from the International Organization for Migration - does not include the many who entered undetected. "We have solidarity but we are not the answer," says Mr Chertofilis. "We have not had any help from the authorities, not the municipality or the government. The mayor of Kos says the people will help the refugees." No one from the mayor's office was available to talk to the BBC, and Mr Chertofilis says he has had no response to his own inquiries for weeks. "The Greek authorities have to provide a solution," he says. "The European Union has to provide a solution. We are waiting until this day." But how long can you wait, I ask. "I don't know, I don't know," he says. "We will keep trying until the end."

जॉर्ज चेर्टोफिलिस एक साधारण भौतिकी शिक्षक थे जो एक लंबी गर्मी की छुट्टी की प्रतीक्षा कर रहे थे जब डिंगियाँ एक के बाद एक, ग्रीक द्वीप कोस पर आने लगीं। जल्द ही, हर दिन सैकड़ों प्रवासी द्वीप पर उतर रहे थे।


Homes lost after mortgage computer bug

Summary: A flaw in a US bank's computer software led to 625 customers not receiving government loan assistance to which they were entitled - and 400 of those went on to lose their homes.

The government scheme was designed to help people struggling to pay their mortgages. Wells Fargo told CNN Money there was no "clear direct cause and effect relationship" between the error and the loss of homes. However, compensation is being offered. The bank has set aside $8m (£6m) to compensate those affected by the software error, which existed between April 2010 and October 2015. Wells Fargo revealed the information in its latest quarterly financial report and said there were continuing efforts to identify other customers who might have also been affected. The bank is the third largest in the US. In April 2018, it was fined $1bn by two US regulators to resolve investigations into car insurance and mortgage lending breaches. It did not admit to any wrongdoing.

अमेरिकी बैंक के कंप्यूटर सॉफ्टवेयर में एक त्रुटि के कारण 625 ग्राहकों को सरकारी ऋण सहायता नहीं मिली, जिसके वे हकदार थे-और उनमें से 400 ने अपना घर खो दिया।


Pakistan 'honour' killing: Why clerics' call may fall on deaf ears

Summary: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) in Pakistan has declared that killing in the name of family honour is un-Islamic and against the law. The group, which advises the government on religious aspects of law and society, issued its statement after a recent spate of killings shocked many in Pakistan and around the world. Will anyone listen?

By M Ilyas KhanBBC News, Islamabad What did the clerics say? The Council of Islamic Ideology - which came under fire last month for suggesting husbands should be allowed to lightly beat their wives - said it had declared such killings to be un-Islamic in 1999, and made clear it was restating its position following a spate of killings in recent weeks. A working group formed to look into the matter has recommended that while "adultery, obscenity and immodesty are grave sins and Islam prescribes harsh punishments for them, it does not allow an individual to act in an extra-judicial manner". The CII said it was up to the courts to declare an individual guilty or innocent. Its statement says that anyone guilty of such killing should be tried under a range of existing laws that cover different categories of murder. These laws, it says, are in conformity with Islamic teachings and therefore no new legislation is required. Why now? There have been at least four cases in the past month in which a woman was killed in a marital dispute. It is alleged the murders were carried out by family members or relatives of a rejected suitor, either on their own or following the verdict of local elders. Last week a young woman, Zeenat Rafiq, was allegedly burnt to death in Lahore by her mother for marrying without family consent, triggering widespread anger. A week earlier school teacher Maria Sadaqat was set on fire in Murree near Islamabad for refusing a marriage proposal. She died of her injuries. And last month a teenager was burnt to death near Abbottabad on the orders of village elders because she helped a female friend to elope, police said. On Sunday, ahead of the CII statement, a group of Pakistani clerics issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, declaring honour killing to be against the teaching of Islam. How bad is Pakistan's honour killing problem? According to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), at least 109 people were killed for "honour" during just four months, between January and April this year. Human rights monitors say the incidence of such killings is on the rise. The HRCP reported 1,100 honour killing incidents in 2015, 1,105 in 2014 and 869 in 2013. Increased media coverage may be one reason but changing lifestyles amid continuing social conservatism are also a major factor. For example, women's education and their exposure to changing lifestyles and fashion in the media have been growing. Mobile phones and the internet have also empowered many women. But social norms continue to prevent them from practising this newfound liberation. Who carries out honour killings? In the overwhelming majority of cases, the killers are often close relatives - a brother, father, cousin, even a mother, or a maternal or paternal uncle. Most killings take place after the woman concerned is accused of having a pre-marital or extra-marital affair, marries a man of her choice despite her family's opposition, or refuses a marriage proposal brought by her family. What are the legal obstacles to prosecutions? Since honour killings are largely a family affair, most cases go unreported - so police rarely make arrests. Even in the reported cases the families involved often reach an out-of-court settlement and the alleged killers walk free. Under a 1980s law the next-of-kin of the victim have the right to pardon the person accused of killing them. Attempts to introduce stricter laws have often been abandoned following opposition from religious lobbyists. A law passed by the Punjab parliament in February which criminalised all forms of violence against women has still not been enacted after the CII said it violated Islamic teachings. Are there cultural reasons too? There is the sanction of society. Honour killing is a function of culture, and so it cuts across religions. One example is the recent murder of a Christian teenage girl in Sialkot. The police said that Anum Masih wanted to marry a Christian neighbour but her family was opposed to the proposal. On Sunday morning, her 23-year-old brother, Saqib Masih, smashed her head with a log, police said. In an article published in Dawn newspaper, Lahore-based intellectual Mushtaq Soofi explained the phenomenon by linking it to the origin of private property and the concomitant evolution of modern family in societies that have not progressed beyond feudal ethics. "Once consigned to the household, a woman was gradually reduced to a piece of property," he wrote. "And property if left unguarded is taken by someone else." This, he said, was also "the secret of endogamous marriage". Women also needed to be "monitored and controlled" because of their reproductive power. "She is considered a machine that makes men," Mushtaq Soofi added. "If she goes off with a man not accepted by her family, she in fact creates the male competitors who would challenge the family muscle."

पाकिस्तान में काउंसिल ऑफ इस्लामिक आइडियोलॉजी (सी. आई. आई.) ने घोषणा की है कि पारिवारिक सम्मान के नाम पर हत्या करना गैर-इस्लामी और कानून के खिलाफ है। कानून और समाज के धार्मिक पहलुओं पर सरकार को सलाह देने वाले समूह ने हाल ही में हुई हत्याओं के बाद अपना बयान जारी किया, जिससे पाकिस्तान और दुनिया भर में कई लोग हैरान रह गए। क्या कोई सुनेगा?


Shakira sets Facebook world record reaching 100m likes

Summary: Shakira has set a new social media record after becoming the first person to reach more than 100 million likes on Facebook.

By Frankie McCamleyNewsbeat Reporter She got the title just after posting a photo of herself at the closing ceremony of the World Cup in Brazil last Sunday. The image alone got more than 3.5 million likes, becoming the star's most liked Facebook post to date. Guinness World Records have confirmed the record. The new milestone adds to Shakira's existing record for most "liked" person on Facebook. The Colombian born singer-songwriter now has more likes than pop stars including Rihanna and Eminem. Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

शकीरा ने फेसबुक पर 10 करोड़ से अधिक लाइक्स तक पहुंचने वाली पहली व्यक्ति बनने के बाद एक नया सोशल मीडिया रिकॉर्ड बनाया है।


Viewpoint: Lessons Europe can learn from China's match-fixing scandal

Summary: The shocking news that more than 300 European football matches may have been fixed by Asian syndicates has created an intriguing prospect that few could have predicted - the possibility that China might have something to teach Europe about football governance.

By Rowan SimonsChairman of China ClubFootball FC Until the latest revelations from Europol, the great Chinese football scandal that played out from 2009-2012 sat humbly at the top of football's ignominious list of organised football corruption case studies. Not just because it revealed systematic abuse at all levels of the game by all its key guardians, but also because it resulted in some of the heaviest prison sentences ever handed down for 'sporting' offences. Like the current European crisis, China's scandal can be traced to Singapore, but for very different reasons. When mainland Chinese clubs were permitted to enter reserve teams into the struggling Singapore local league as a way to increase interest in the competition and provide Chinese clubs with an opportunity for their younger squad members to get match experience, it led to the same type of 'match-selling' (as opposed to match-fixing) that had already proved so profitable for unscrupulous club owners on the mainland. National task force In match-selling, the owner or controller of one club simply sells the points available in each match directly to his opposing number. In many cases, the fee received is then placed at an illegal bookmaker on the pre-arranged score. In a positive indication of how Singapore will surely react to the current European crisis, the local club owners swiftly condemned such approaches and the offending Chinese charlatan club owners fled back to China. There, they were picked up by Chinese police and spilled the beans. Following the many smaller refereeing and match-fixing scandals that have consistently affected Chinese football since the launch of a professional league in 1993, there was strong political pressure to deal with this latest national embarrassment and a national-level joint task force brought together all the required security, judicial and party branches. Once the investigation had started at this level, it was very hard to stop. Over a period starting in late 2009 and running through to the end of 2011, hundreds of senior people working in all areas of the game were silently lifted from their places of work and delivered to the investigation centre at a hotel in north China. During the period of arrests, the sometimes daily disappearance into custody of another Chinese Football Association (CFA) official, club manager, referee or player was heralded only by ominous press reports noting that "X has not answered his phone for two days" or "Y was not seen at training on Monday". At the investigation centre, the interrogated spilled yet more beans, requiring further arrests and continual broadening of the scope of the investigation. As one of the released detainees told me: "Nobody knew who had said what, so everybody gave up everything." By the end, nobody and nothing in Chinese football was left untouched and several new innovative ways of stealing from the game had been revealed. More than 50 people including two heads of the CFA, leaders from its regional branches, professional club owners, managers, coaches, referees, players, agents, sponsors and assorted middlemen were sent to prison, with the highest officials, including the head of the Referee's Committee, receiving over 10 years each. The professional league was only able to continue on the dubious grounds that several offending clubs were now under new (blameless) ownership. Press freedom Amazingly for China, throughout this campaign, local press coverage of the scandal was intense and largely unfettered. Condemnation of those responsible for polluting the country's favourite sport was universal and the actions taken by the authorities were applauded by the state press and endorsed by millions commenting via Chinese social media. So deep was the national feeling of betrayal that when former CFA chief Xie Yalong dramatically retracted his confession and accused the police of torture during his televised trial (an extremely serious matter), there was little public sympathy. Indeed, some bloggers called for an investigation into why the other defendants had escaped the same treatment. Whether or not you agree with Chinese tactics or the above sentiment, this is what happened in China. China still has everything else about football to learn from Europe, including understanding the Fifa constitution. However, if there is anything in this sorry saga for Europe to consider as it faces a scandal of much bigger proportions, it is first that corruption and bribery in sport must be taken very seriously at the highest level if anything is to be achieved. Once there is a concerted and united political and legal effort to root out corruption, please do not limit the campaign to match-fixing. Be prepared for the truth to reveal a disgusting web of greed that has infected parts of the game and people in the game who had previously seemed above suspicion. As China discovered, bribery starts at junior grassroots level and it reaches to the very top. Finally, and this is perhaps the most unexpected learning from China's experience, the media must reflect the feelings of the people and stand ready to use its full power to expose the industry and, where necessary, some of the personalities on which it relies for so much TV content and back-page copy. If there is one thing on which every honest stakeholder must agree, it is that nothing is more fundamental to sport than fair play. Rowan Simons is the chairman of China ClubFootball FC, the first independent grassroots football network in China, and the author of Bamboo Goalposts.

यह चौंकाने वाली खबर कि 300 से अधिक यूरोपीय फुटबॉल मैचों को एशियाई सिंडिकेट्स द्वारा तय किया गया हो सकता है, ने एक दिलचस्प संभावना पैदा कर दी है जिसकी बहुत कम लोग भविष्यवाणी कर सकते थे-यह संभावना कि चीन के पास यूरोप को फुटबॉल शासन के बारे में सिखाने के लिए कुछ हो सकता है।


Arvind Kejriwal: India's most attacked politician?

Summary: There's undeniably something about Arvind Kejriwal.

By Ayeshea PereraBBC News, Delhi The Delhi chief minister had ink thrown on him on Sunday during a thanksgiving rally following the "success" of his government's odd-even vehicle restriction programme that ended on 15 January. Indian politicians sometimes do have ink, eggs and shoes thrown at them by irate protesters, but very rarely has a single politician been at the receiving end of so many attacks of this nature. Apart from what the Indian media call "ink attacks", Mr Kejriwal has also had eggs flung at him and even been slapped at a public rally, prompting him to once tweet: "I am just thinking - why am i being repeatedly attacked? Who r the masterminds? What do they want? What do they achieve?" Here are some of those instances: A "thanksgiving" surprise A weekend rally by Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party to "thank" the people of Delhi for complying with its vehicle restriction programme saw some unexpected drama when a young woman threw ink at him to allegedly protest against what she referred to as a "CNG scam". The woman, identified as Bhavna Arora, told Indian media that more than 100,000 CNG stickers had been sold to non-CNG vehicles so that they would be exempt from the odd-even road rationing scheme. She has since been arrested by the Delhi police and Mr Kejriwal's supporters have called the incident a conspiracy by India's ruling BJP because they were "angry" at the success of the scheme. However, a world weary Mr Kejriwal told his supporters to let Ms Arora go. "Leave her. She is referring to some scam... CNG scam. Take the papers from her," he said. "Whenever something good is attempted in the country or in Delhi some forces create all sorts of hurdles. As Gopal Rai said, many forces had tried to ensure the odd-even scheme failed." Eggs Kejriwal An eggs-Kejriwal is actually an Indian dish comprising eggs, cheese and chilli, but is now a phrase more commonly used to describe the chief minister who has been pelted with eggs several times during his political career. One occasion was in January 2015 when a man threw eggs and stones at him while he was addressing a campaign rally in Delhi. The eggs missed Mr Kejriwal. He had escaped a similar attack in another Delhi constituency a month earlier as well. Welcome to Varanasi In what many termed an act of hubris, Mr Kejriwal decided to stand against prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from the north Indian city of Varanasi. During a large rally to announce his candidature, he was attacked with both ink and eggs. First, eggs were thrown at his car outside the Kashi Vishwanath temple, while vocal supporters of Mr Modi blocked his cavalcade. Later, while Mr Kejriwal travelled towards the grounds where he was scheduled to hold his rally, ink was thrown at him. News reports said that the ink had stained his face and clothes. The slap Mr Kejriwal was left with a swollen eye while campaigning in Delhi, when an auto driver who approached him with a garland leapt up and slapped him immediately after placing the garland around his neck. The 38-year-old attacker had accused him of not fulfilling promises. He later apologised to Mr Kejriwal. In a tweet at the time Mr Kejriwal said: "Is violence an answer to country's problems? Let them tell me place n time. I will come there. Let them beat me as much as they want... but will that solve the problems?" And this was not even the first time he had been roughed up. According to the NDTV channel, he had also been "punched" during a rally in Delhi a month earlier.

अरविंद केजरीवाल के बारे में निश्चित रूप से कुछ है।