Brexit: Government suffers second defeat in Lords

Summary: The government has suffered a second Brexit defeat in the House of Lords as peers backed, by 366 votes to 268, calls for a "meaningful" parliamentary vote on the final terms of withdrawal.

Ministers said it was disappointing and they would seek to overturn the move when the bill returns to the Commons. Lord Heseltine, one of 13 Tory peers to rebel, said he had been sacked as a government adviser on regional growth. The previous defeat was on the issue of guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens. Lord Heseltine, 83, who served as a minister in the Thatcher government, said he was informed by the Conservative chief whip in the Lords he was to be sacked "from the five jobs with which I have been helping the government". "This is entirely the right of the prime minister and I'm sorry that the expertise which I have put at the government's disposal over the last six years has now come to an end," he said. "However, in the last resort, I believe, as I said in the House of Lords, the future of this country is inextricably interwoven with our European friends. "It's the duty of Parliament to assert its sovereignty in determining the legacy we leave to new generations of young people." Lord Heseltine had been brought in by former Prime Minister David Cameron to advise the government on a range of projects, including schemes in east London and Swansea. 'Deal or no deal' After a three-hour debate on Tuesday, for the second time in a week peers amended the legislation that will authorise Theresa May to notify the EU of the UK's intention to leave and pave the way for official Brexit talks to begin. The turnout in the Lords for the vote was the largest since 1831, according to Parliament's website. The amendment, which was carried by a majority of 98, would require the final terms of the UK's withdrawal from the EU to be put to separate votes in the Commons and the Lords. Some peers believe this would amount to a veto but ministers insist the UK would leave the EU anyway irrespective of whether it was approved or not. As well as Lord Heseltine, 12 other Tory peers defied the government to vote in favour of the amendment, including former ministers Lord Deben and Viscount Hailsham. The issue will now return to the Commons to be reconsidered by MPs, who have already rejected calls for the "meaningful vote" clause to be included in the legislation, saying verbal guarantees given by government on parliamentary scrutiny are sufficient. The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg said ministers were adamant they wouldn't back down after the Lords defeat and it was genuinely hard to tell at this stage if MPs had the numbers in the Commons to defeat the government. Speaking in favour of the amendment, QC and crossbench peer Lord Pannick said it would enable Parliament to exercise some "control" over the process of withdrawal and fulfil its duty to properly scrutinise. "It must be for Parliament to decide whether to prefer no deal or the deal offered by the EU," he said. "It will guarantee that the government must come back to both Houses and seek approval for the result of negotiations." But government minister Lord Bridges said once Article 50 had been triggered, the process of leaving the EU was irrevocable and the amendment was totally unclear on what would happen if the UK and the EU were not able to agree a formal deal on the terms of exit. "We will leave with a deal or we will leave without a deal. That is the choice on offer." 'Not in the dark' Parliament, he insisted, would not be left "in the dark" during the two-year process and would be able to shape future legislation on the incorporation of EU law and potential changes to immigration rules. He also argued the amendment would tie Mrs May's hands and make her task in getting a good deal "more difficult from day one". Reacting to the defeat, Brexit Secretary David Davis suggested peers were threatening the UK's aim of getting negotiations under way as soon as possible. "It is clear that some in the Lords would seek to frustrate that process, and it is the government's intention to ensure that does not happen," he said. "We will now aim to overturn these amendments in the House of Commons." But Labour's Baroness Smith said that given the referendum campaign had been full of arguments about reasserting Parliamentary sovereignty, it was appropriate that Parliament should have the "final say" on the process. Lib Dems defeated And former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg urged MPs to "find the nerve" and ensure the requirement for a Parliamentary vote remained in the bill. "I would urge MPs of all parties, including Brexiteers who campaigned to leave on the basis of parliamentary sovereignty, to stop Parliament being neutered. "Parliament has a long history of ratifying treaties. What is the government scared of? If they cannot bring back a deal they are prepared to put before MPs, then it cannot be a deal that is good enough for Britain." Earlier, a Lib Dem amendment calling for a second referendum on the terms of exit was comfortably defeated by 336 votes to 131. Without a commitment to a second vote, the Lib Dems took the rare step of opposing the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill at its third and final reading although peers overwhelmingly approved the bill and sent it back to the Commons. Theresa May has said she wants to trigger Article 50 by the end of March but the Commons is unlikely to have an opportunity to consider the changes made by the Lords until the middle of next week as four days have been set aside for debate on the Budget.

सरकार को हाउस ऑफ लॉर्ड्स में दूसरी ब्रेक्सिट हार का सामना करना पड़ा है, क्योंकि 268 के मुकाबले 366 मतों से समर्थित साथियों ने वापसी की अंतिम शर्तों पर "सार्थक" संसदीय मतदान का आह्वान किया है।


The black victims honoured in Naomi Osaka's US Open masks

Summary: Naomi Osaka has been making a statement with her face coverings while competing in the US Open: for every round, she wears a new mask bearing the name of a black victim of alleged police or racist violence in the US.

The Japanese tennis star made the pledge at the start of the tournament. Now, she's reached the semi-finals. The families of some of these victims have publicly thanked her for wearing the masks, recording video messages which were played for her on the set of sports broadcaster ESPN. Osaka said the messages left her "really grateful and... really humbled". "I was just trying really hard not to cry," she told a press conference. "It's a bit surreal. It's extremely touching that they would feel touched by what I'm doing. For me, I feel like what I've been doing is nothing. It's a speck of what I could be doing." Osaka has worn masks bearing the names of Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin and George Floyd. These are their stories. Breonna Taylor On 13 March, police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, used a battering ram to break down the door to Breonna Taylor's apartment. They suspected her flat in the city's South End was being used to receive drugs by a gang based at a different address about 10 miles (16km) away. One of the suspects was an ex-boyfriend of hers, and she was one of three people named on the warrant, local media reported earlier this year. She was not the main subject of the investigation. But breaking down her door triggered a chaotic series of events and a barrage of police gunfire that left Ms Taylor - an unarmed, 26-year-old emergency medical technician - fatally shot. Ms Taylor's name, and a call to "arrest the cops that killed Breonna Taylor", became a rallying cry for justice in this summer's global Black Lives Matter protests. In June Brett Hankison, one of three officers involved in the shooting, lost his badge. Louisville Police interim chief Robert Schroeder said his conduct that evening was "a shock to the conscience", and accused him of "blindly" firing 10 rounds into Ms Taylor's apartment. Attorneys for Ms Taylor's family said at the time that they wanted to see the other officers - Jon Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove - fired as well. "We also look forward to these officers being prosecuted for their roles in her untimely death," they said. While Mr Hankinson lost his job, the police officers involved in the shooting have not been arrested or charged. Elijah McClain Elijah McClain was a 23-year-old black man who died in police custody in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, Colorado, on 24 August 2019. He was walking, unarmed, when he was stopped by three white police officers. A district attorney report later said there had been an emergency call about a "suspicious person" matching his description. There was a struggle as the officers tried to search him for a weapon. On body cam footage, Mr McClain can be heard saying: "I'm an introvert, please respect my boundaries that I am speaking." One of the officers then says, "he is going for your gun" - at which point they wrestle him to the ground and put him in a chokehold. The report says Mr McClain lost consciousness, was released from the chokehold and began to struggle again. The officers called for assistance, with firefighters and an ambulance responding. A fire medic injected Mr McClain with 500mg of the drug ketamine to sedate him. Mr McClain was then put in "soft restraints" on a stretcher and put inside the ambulance. The medic who had administered the drug then noticed that Mr McClain's chest "was not rising on its own, and he did not have a pulse". He was declared brain dead on 27 August. Mr McClain's family allege that the officers used excessive force for about 15 minutes as Mr McClain vomited, begged for them to stop and repeatedly told them he could not breathe. The officers also threatened to set a police dog on him, the family said. Immediately after the incident, the three officers involved were placed on paid administrative leave. Three months later, prosecutors announced that they would not bring charges against the officers, and they then returned to normal duty. In June this year, the officers were reassigned to "non-enforcement duties". Ahmaud Arbery Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was jogging in Brunswick, Georgia, on 23 February when he was shot dead by two white men - a father and son. In the moments before the fatal confrontation, Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis, 34, armed themselves with a pistol and shotgun and pursued Mr Arbery in a pickup truck in Brunswick's Satilla Shores neighbourhood. Gregory McMichael later told police he thought Mr Arbery looked like the suspect in a series of local break-ins. A 36-second video shot by another man, William Bryan, leaked online on 5 May, generating a nationwide outcry that was swiftly followed by murder charges. Mr Bryan filmed it from his vehicle while he was driving behind Mr Arbery. The clip appears to show Mr Arbery running down a tree-lined street as the McMichaels wait ahead for him in their vehicle. A tussle follows between the younger McMichael and Mr Arbery, who then falls to the ground. The three defendants were not charged until more than two months after Mr Arbery was killed. It was only when footage of the killing went viral that state police began investigating. Travis McMichael, his son Greg, and William Bryan were indicted by Glynn County's Grand Jury on charges including malice and felony murder. They have pleaded not guilty, and are awaiting trial. In a message to Osaka, Mr Arbery's father, Marcus Arbery Sr, said: "Thank you for the support of my family and God bless you for what you're doing and you supporting our family with my son. My family really, really appreciates that and God bless you." Trayvon Martin The killing of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, in 2012 - and the acquittal of the man who killed him - sparked the birth of Black Lives Matter. Trayvon Martin, 17, had just been to the shop to buy some Skittles and a soft drink when neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman spotted him. Believing the unarmed teenager was up to no good, Mr Zimmerman tackled him. Nobody witnessed what happened between them but a neighbour's call to the emergency services picked up cries for help, followed by the fatal gunshot. Mr Zimmerman's lawyer maintained that his client had been viciously assaulted by Martin. Gun laws in the US allow those who own firearms to shoot somebody if they feel they're in danger of being killed or seriously injured. Because of this, Florida police didn't arrest Mr Zimmerman for six weeks after the shooting, provoking mass rallies in Florida and throughout the US. US law allowed him to say he shot Trayvon in self-defence but the teenager's family and friends always insisted it was murder. Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said in a message to Osaka: "I just want to say thank you to Naomi Osaka for representing Trayvon Martin on your customized masks, and also for Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. "We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Continue to do well. Continue to kick butt at the US Open." George Floyd The killing of George Floyd reignited the Black Lives Matter movement this year, sparking what is believed to be the most widespread civil rights protest movement in US history. Mr Floyd, 46, was stopped by police on 25 May in Minneapolis. Officers were investigating the purchase of cigarettes with counterfeit money. Footage, which was later widely shared online, showed Mr Floyd's arrest - during which an officer pinned him to the ground. A white police officer, Derek Chauvin, was seen kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes. Mr Floyd was heard repeatedly pleading with him to stop, saying: "I can't breathe." He was pronounced dead in hospital. As the footage spread globally, protests erupted in Minneapolis - the first of a summer of Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the world. The four officers involved in his arrest were fired the following day, and later charged over his killing. They are expected to stand trial next year. All images copyright

नाओमी ओसाका यूएस ओपन में प्रतिस्पर्धा करते हुए अपने चेहरे को ढंकते हुए एक बयान दे रही हैंः हर दौर के लिए, वह एक नया मुखौटा पहनती है जिस पर अमेरिका में कथित पुलिस या नस्लवादी हिंसा की एक अश्वेत पीड़ित का नाम होता है।


Llandrindod Wells worst for UK drink and drug-driving rates

Summary: Four postcode areas of Wales are among the 20 worst across the UK for drink and drug-driving, a new study has shown.

Llandrindod Wells in Powys has the highest proportion of motorists with these offences with 1.98 per 1,000. Swansea is fourth with 1.76 convictions per 1,000, Cardiff is sixth with 1.71 and Newport is 12th with 1.62. The information came from analysing 11 million car insurance quotes by postcode over the past 12 months. The drink and drug-driving rate for motorists in the LD postcode is more than double that of some Greater London areas, according to the study compiled by an insurance comparison website MoneySuperMarket. The LD postcode includes Llandrindod Wells, Builth Wells, Brecon and Rhayader.

एक नए अध्ययन से पता चला है कि वेल्स के चार पोस्टकोड क्षेत्र शराब और नशीली दवाओं से गाड़ी चलाने के लिए पूरे ब्रिटेन में 20 सबसे खराब क्षेत्रों में से हैं।


The Indian villages desperate to change their names

Summary: Across the northern Indian states of Haryana and Rajasthan, many villages with "embarrassing" names have been pushing to get them changed for years now. BBC Punjabi's Arvind Chhabra talks to some of the people who have been leading this campaign.

"My village's name is Ganda [meaning dirty or ugly in Hindi]," Harpreet Kaur wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016 in an attempt to officially change its name. She added that just the name of the village was enough to prompt humiliating taunts from whomever she met. "The situation was so bad that even our relatives mock us relentlessly," she said. In 2017, Mr Modi directed authorities to change the village's name. Today, the renamed village of Ajit Nagar stands proudly in the northern Indian state of Haryana. The village council chief, Lakwinder Ram, said they had been trying for years to get the attention of the government and change the name. "When that didn't work, we thought that perhaps a young person writing directly to Mr Modi might move him," he said. "There was not a soul in the village who didn't want the name to change." Locals say that Ganda got its name when a flood ravaged the area decades ago. An officer who visited in the aftermath of the disaster saw all the debris that had been swept in and remarked that it was extremely dirty or "ganda". Since then, they say, the name just stuck. Mr Ram added that the name of the village also drove away potential grooms since they did not want a bride from a village that had such a humiliating name. "We are extremely relieved now," he said. But Ganda is hardly a unique case. Representatives from more than 50 villages have pestered the Indian government for a name change in the recent past. The reasons are varied - some names are seen as racist, others were just bizarre and a few more downright embarrassing for its inhabitants. "The requests of some 40 villages have been accepted and implemented," Krishan Kumar, a senior federal government official, said. Among these, is a village called Kinnar which means transgender in Hindi. That became Gaibi Nagar in 2016. And in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, a village in Alwar district used to be called Chor Basai. But since the word chor means thief in Hindi, the village's new name is now just Basai. But the process to get the name of a village changed is not that easy. To begin with, the state government must be convinced enough to take up the issue with the Indian government, which has the final authority. But before they can grant the request, the government also has to get clearances from other official units including the railways and postal department as well as the Survey of India. This is to ensure that the new proposed name does not exist anywhere else in the country. For residents of Lula Ahir village in Haryana state - a derogatory term for a disabled person in Hindi- the process has been fraught with bureaucracy. They first wrote to the state government in 2016, unhappy with the village name. "We wanted to change the name to Dev Nagar," village council chief Virender Singh said. They waited for a response for six months - only to receive a rejection letter since a village named Dev Nagar already exists somewhere else in the country. Back at the drawing board, the village council decided to try once again with another name - Krishan Nagar. "We wrote to the administration again and kept following it up with them," Mr Singh said. "But it just went from one department to another." In July, they thought their luck had changed when the state's chief minister announced that the village had a new name. Instead, they found out that the decision hadn't been formally implemented by the central government yet. Officials confirmed that the request is still "under process". "We have just been waiting and waiting ever since," Mr Singh said with a shrug.

हरियाणा और राजस्थान के उत्तरी भारतीय राज्यों में, "शर्मनाक" नामों वाले कई गाँव वर्षों से उन्हें बदलने पर जोर दे रहे हैं। बीबीसी पंजाबी के अरविंद छाबड़ा कुछ लोगों से बात करते हैं जो इस अभियान का नेतृत्व कर रहे हैं।


China's anti-corruption campaign expands with new agency

Summary: Tackling China's rampant corruption has been a personal mission of Xi Jinping's since he became president, and his campaign is now moving up a gear with the establishment of a new anti-corruption agency overseeing millions of people.

The National Supervision Commission (NSC) will oversee "all public servants exercising public power" - not just party members. It is thought the agency will supervise about three times as many people as existing watchdogs. But critics say the greatly increased powers held by this new body - which rank it higher than the supreme court - give real cause for concern. Amnesty International has called it "a systemic threat to human rights in China". What is the new anti-corruption agency? China taking aim at corruption is nothing new. More than a million Communist Party officials have been disciplined in recent years. But it's the scope that's now changed. Until now, the main watchdog was the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). It would sweep in to investigate allegations of bribery, embezzlement or other corruption, removing guilty people from their posts and sending them to court. There they would get jail terms or in extreme cases, the death penalty. Among the biggest names to fall under Mr Xi's campaign have been Zhou Yongkang, once the third most senior leader in China, and Bo Xilai, the former party chief of Chongqing who once seemed destined for senior leadership. Given that most officials are also party members, the CCDI already had a wide reach - yet there were still many low-ranking state employees that escaped its jurisdiction. The newly formed NSC - also referred to as the State Supervisory Commission - will go beyond that and cast its watchful eye over all management-level public servants, including at places like hospitals and schools. It will be led by Yang Xiaodu, who for the past few years has been the deputy chief of the CCDI. "The NSC is very much likely to work in tandem with the CCDI," Tom Rafferty of the Economist Intelligence Unit told the BBC. "Its establishment marks the beginning of an effort to enforce much more widely the drive against corruption, extravagance and indiscipline that we have seen within the party over the past five years." The agency ranks higher than the supreme court and will be in charge of supervision, investigation and also punishment. It will have the authority to interrogate and detain any government manager, as well as freeze his or her assets and seize their property. With its unprecedented power comes also a change in the detention system. Previously, a shadowy and extra-legal system called shuanggui was in place - an internal disciplinary procedure where party members were imprisoned for months without access to lawyers or family until they confessed. Under the NSC, the name has been changed to liuzhi and is now an official legal procedure. Liuzhi still allows for suspects to be held for up to six months without legal counsel. The Communist Party says the NSC will have the power needed to fight corruption, and that it will be subject to strict internal and external oversight. Why is it controversial? The existing campaign been described by some as a massive internal purge of opponents, on a scale not seen since the days of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution. Rights groups say the NSC's broad jurisdiction - along with the fact that Xi Jinping is now cleared to be president for life - is cause for concern. A group of Chinese lawyers even sent a rare open letter last year warning that it would be a crisis for the rule of law in China, and urging proper legal oversight. Critics worry defendants will be left with little or no ability to appeal against the agency's decisions and that without proper oversight, it could be open to manipulation for political ends. Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia director at Amnesty International in Hong Kong, said the changes are "systemic threat to human rights". "It places tens of millions of people at the mercy of a secretive and virtually unaccountable system that is above the law," he said in a statement. "It bypasses judicial institutions by establishing a parallel system solely run by the Chinese Communist Party with no outside checks and balances. The law eviscerates China's legal system." BBC Monitoring's Pratik Jakhar contributed to this report

शी जिनपिंग के राष्ट्रपति बनने के बाद से चीन के बड़े पैमाने पर हो रहे भ्रष्टाचार से निपटना उनका एक व्यक्तिगत मिशन रहा है और उनका अभियान अब लाखों लोगों की देखरेख करने वाली एक नई भ्रष्टाचार-रोधी एजेंसी की स्थापना के साथ आगे बढ़ रहा है।


Car plunges off cliffs into sea at Limeslade Bay

Summary: A car left the road and plunged off cliffs into the sea off the Gower coast.

The RNLI said it had sent a lifeboat to Limeslade Bay after the Coastguard was alerted at about 06:00 BST on Tuesday. When rescuers arrived they had "a small amount of debris" to help them find where the vehicle was. South Wales Police said a 37-year-old woman was assisted from the sea and detained under the Mental Health Act. She was taken to Morriston hospital.

एक कार सड़क से निकल गई और गोवर तट पर चट्टानों से समुद्र में गिर गई।


Croydon stabbing: Murder inquiry after teenager found dead

Summary: A murder inquiry has begun after a 19-year-old man was found dead with stab wounds in south London.

Met Police were called by an ambulance crew to Alpha Road, Croydon, just after 12:00 GMT on Wednesday. The teenager's family have been informed and no arrests have been made, police said. Crime scene restrictions remain in place as detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime South Command investigate. Related Internet Links Metropolitan Police

दक्षिण लंदन में एक 19 वर्षीय व्यक्ति के चाकू के घावों के साथ मृत पाए जाने के बाद हत्या की जांच शुरू हो गई है।


What a picture says about power in North Korea

Summary: Kim Jong-un presided over solemn memorials to mark the second anniversary of his father's death on Monday. One particular snapshot can provide us with insight into the leadership in the wake of the recent brutal purge of his uncle, Chang Song-thaek, explains North Korea leadership specialist Michael Madden.

Kim Won-hong Kim Yong-chun Pak To-chun Jang Jong-nam Choe Ryong-hae Ri Yong-gil Ri Sol-ju Kim Yong Nam Kim Jong-un Pak Pong-ju Kim Ki-nam Choe Tae-bok Yang Hyong-sop Kang Sok-ju Kim Kyong-hui Ri Sol-ju Kim Jong-un Choe Chun-sik Choe Ryong-hae Chang Song-thaek Hyong Yong-chol Kim Kyok-sik 1. Vice Marshal Kim Yong-chun Vice chairman of national defence commission 2013 status: A member of the so-called gang of seven who walked with Kim Jong-il’s hearse in 2011. One of the few survivors of that group, he was moved to another post and now runs the citizen militias. 2. Pak To-chun Party secretary 2013 status: Always present at public events. He is a crucial figure as he is charge of the daily management of production of weapons and WMDs. In 2012 he was standing right behind Kim Jong-un. 3. Jang Jong-nam Defence minister 2013 status: Was not prominent last year. He has received a recent promotion and his status is regarded as solid. 4. General Ri Yong-gil Head of North Korea’s conventional armed forces /commander of military forces 2013 status: Promoted in August. Is not visible in the 2012 picture. He is the fourth person to hold this job in two years, but his position is currently regarded as stable. 5. Choe Ryong-hae Head of the political corps of the army 2013 status: Considered extremely powerful. He has seen his influence increase over the last year. 6. Ri Sol-ju Wife of Kim Jong-un 2013 status: Is a regular fixture at major state events at the leader’s side. 7. Kim Yong Nam (Nominal) head of state 2013 status: Is a permanent fixture at such events. A symbolic figurehead with little real power. 8. Kim Jong-un Leader 2013 status: On the face of it, he appears to have tightened control after his purge, but some analysts see it as a sign of weakness. 9. Pak Pong-ju Prime minister 2013 status: Was not prominent in the 2012 picture, but has been promoted and is now in a position of favour and power. He is thought to have a similar reformist outlook to Chang Song-thaek and is believed to have visited South Korea to survey its economic development. 10. Kim Ki-nam Propaganda boss 2013 status: He is one of the old guard who has not been purged. One of the so-called gang of seven who walked with the hearse of Kim Jong-il in 2011. He features in the 2012 photograph. 11. Choe Tae-bok Korean Workers Party secretary 2013 status: Another one of the so-called gang of seven. A remnant of the old era and thought to be a reformer. In 2013 he was not visible. Analysts think that because he is ageing he may be permitted to shed roles and responsibility. 12. Yang Hyong-sop Vice president of supreme people’s assembly presidium 2013 status: Powerful and a member of the Kim family by marriage. He has moved up a row from 2012. 13. Kang Sok-ju Vice premier with responsibility for foreign policy 2013 status: Had a prominent role in six-party talks over the country's nulear programme. Was though to be close to Kim Jong-il and is clearly still a powerful force. Moved up a row from 2012. 14. Kim Kyong-hui Wife to Chang Song-thaek and Korean Workers Party secretary 2012 status: In 2012 she was in a position of great power as the younger sister of Kim Jong-il whose death they were commemorating. In 2013 she was absent following her husband Chang Song-thaek's execution. 15. Ri Sol-ju Wife of Kim Jong-un 2012 status: In December 2012 she was in her first year as the first lady of North Korea and had made a handful of public appearances by that time. This was one of the most important. 16. Kim Jong-un Leader 2012 status: In December 2012 he had been leader for a year and was still surrounded by the men appointed to oversee his transition to the leadership. 17. Choe Chun-sik President of the second academy of natural sciences 2012 status: In charge of the scientists and researchers in North Korea’s weapons programme. He had pride of place in 2012 because they had launched a missile just five days earlier. He and a number of his staff were invited to commemorate the anniversary as a mark of favour. They did not feature in the 2013 image 18. Vice-Marshal Choe Ryong-hae Head of the political corps of the army 2012 status: He was powerful in 2012, but appears to have gained more favour over the last year. 19. Chang Song-thaek Vice-chairman of national defence commision 2012/13 status: Kim Jong-un's uncle was regarded as a powerful figure in 2012 and was seen by outside observers as the new leader's mentor. He was known to be a proponent of economic reform. By December 2013 Chang Song-thaek had been executed - accused of multiple crimes, including forming a power base and attempting to overthrow the state. 20. Hyong Yong-chol Chief of military general staff – conventional armed forces 2012/13 status: In 2012 this was a powerful position. He has since been demoted and does not figure prominently in 2013 picture. 21. Kim Kyok-sik Defence minister 2012/13 status: Visited Cuba in July 2013, shortly before missiles were discovered on a North Korean ship which had left Cuba and docked in Panama. He has since disappeared and was thought to have fallen from favour. However, in an image of Chang Song-thaek being removed from parliament, he can be seen sitting in front of Chang. 22. Kim Won-hong Minister of state security 2013 status: He runs the secret police and is regarded as very powerful. He is likely to have played a key role in Chang Song-thaek’s demise. In 2012 he was in the second row, while in 2013 he has moved up to the front row. Early on 17 December, North Korea's elite paid homage at the Kumsusan mausoleum where the embalmed bodies of former leader Kim Jong-il and his father, the founder of the nation, Kim Il-sung lie. They did exactly the same a year ago - but it was a different group of people. Comparing the line-up this year with the photograph taken last year can give us some insight into the power play in this secretive nation. Conclusions are difficult to reach because the regime is both opaque and unpredictable, but there are possible clues about the future direction of Kim Jong-un and the men who surround him. The images may look virtually identical but there are many hidden signs of subtle but potentially significant changes among North Korea's top leaders. Power to the right? There are several new faces in the front row and more military uniforms. The military and security staff are on Kim Jong-un's right and the party people are on the left. This represents a reversal from last year. Some defector sources say that if you are on the right you are in a more valued position than if you are on the left. It is hard to say how true that is, but there is definitely an argument current among some that those on the Supreme Leader's right wield greater power. The most notable absence is what has dominated headlines - which is that of Chang Song-thaek, recently executed in an unprecedented public purge. Chang's widow Kim Kyong-hui is also missing from the picture, but few expected her to be present and it is difficult to know what to read into this. Some may see it as a sign she is out of favour but others have suggested that she may have even played a role in the purge. People that Chang had social ties with and associates with a similar reformist outlook were present - one is the current prime minister, Pak Pong-ju. He seems to have come to the fore in the last year and occupies a prominent position in the line-up. Two new names in 2013 stand out: General Ri Yong-kil and Defence Minister Jang Jong-nam - powerful figures to watch. Ruthless rising star China is the other silent presence in this picture. The men in civilian suits standing on the right of the picture - Kim Ki-nam and Choe Tae-bok - are all figures with ties in China and interests in foreign relations. These were people present in 2012 and so their inclusion projects a message of continuity - even if just cosmetic. Another interesting figure obscured on the left is General Kim Won-hong but he is not to be overlooked. He runs the secret police, thought to be very powerful and whose star is rapidly rising. He is likely to have played a key role in Chang Song-thaek's demise. In 2012 he was in the second row - he has now moved up to the front row. We may well see more of him. Three members of the so-called gang of seven - the old guard who accompanied the hearse of Kim Jong-il and were thought to be appointed to oversee the transition of power - are also visible at the front. Michael Madden runs the North Korea leadership watch website.

किम जोंग-उन ने सोमवार को अपने पिता की मृत्यु की दूसरी वर्षगांठ को चिह्नित करने के लिए गंभीर स्मारकों की अध्यक्षता की। उत्तर कोरिया के नेतृत्व विशेषज्ञ माइकल मैडेन बताते हैं कि एक विशेष स्नैपशॉट हमें अपने चाचा चांग सोंग-थैक के हाल ही में क्रूर शुद्धिकरण के मद्देनजर नेतृत्व के बारे में अंतर्दृष्टि प्रदान कर सकता है।


GHB: The killer drug used by Stephen Port

Summary: The Metropolitan Police has said it will examine 58 GHB-related deaths, following the conviction of serial killer Stephen Port, who has been given a whole life prison term for poisoning four young men with lethal doses of the date rape drug. But what is GHB and why do people take it?

By Emma Harrison & Kate PalmerBBC News "I had a cheeky shot here and there daily, but it gets to the point where you can't have sex without chems," says Charles, who says he became addicted to GHB. The 31-year-old from London says he used the drug for more than 10 years to help him to "let go" of body insecurities and inhibitions. But it was a friend's fatal overdose on Christmas Day 2015 that prompted Charles to stop using GHB, even though his friends continue to use it. "The look on people's faces when I say I don't take it - they treat it like I don't drink," he says. "I don't miss all the drama and accidents that happened with it." 'Very addictive' Charles says he's had some "horrible experiences" of friends who have passed out from the drug - what he calls "going under" - and thrown out of nightclubs while still unconscious. "'Going under' can last anything from 20 minutes to five hours and you don't know if that person might need an ambulance," he says. He says the drug is used in nightclubs and at "chill-out" parties and is "very addictive". GHB (gammahydroxybutyrate) and similar drug GBL (gammabutyrolactone), an industrial solvent that converts to GHB in the body, are usually sold as odourless, colourless, oily liquids in small bottles or in capsules. While prices can vary, on average a 30ml plastic container of GHB costs about £15 from a dealer or online. Commonly known as "G", it is often sold as "liquid ecstasy" because of its euphoric effects, but it has no relation to ecstasy (MDMA). While the Class C drug increases the desire for sex and reduces inhibitions - the risks include unconsciousness, coma and death. Those found in possession of it face up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine. Dealing can result in a sentence of up to 14 years. GHB was the drug that serial killer Stephen Port used to poison four young men. The judge told Port that he had carried out the murders to "satisfy his lust" for sex with young men who were rendered unconscious. 'Unconscious and vulnerable' GHB was brought under the Misuse of Drugs Act as a Class C drug in 2003, so dealers switched to GBL as a legal alternative. GBL was eventually made illegal in 2009. G is used on the "chemsex" scene by "a small proportion" of gay men to enhance sex, says consultant psychiatrist Adam R Winstock, the founder of the Global Drug Survey. Dr Winstock says GHB was first developed in 1964 as a general anaesthetic, but was never widely used. "In the 1980s it was popular on the gay dance scene in America," he says. "However, it will always be associated with the chemsex scene. It has been a gay drug for 10 to 20 years." He warned that a difference of 0.5ml can have a huge affect on a person's body. One in five GHB users last year reported to the Global Drugs Survey that they had passed out or overdosed, he says. Dr Winstock said of the 200,000 drug users surveyed worldwide, about 2,000 had said they had used the drug. He estimates there are more than 1,000 GHB users in the UK, but the drug "is not mainstream in the way cocaine and amphetamines are". People who take the drug and pass out "can be very unconscious and vulnerable to sexual assault," he says. Users also risk becoming dependent in a couple of weeks, he says, and those who are addicted should seek specialist help. Harry Sharpiro, director of drug information charity Drugwise, says the drug has been used primarily on the gay scene "for a while". "People assume it is part of a growing trend. It is not," he says. 'Difficult to measure' According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 10 GHB/GBL-related deaths registered in England and Wales in 2015, 12 in 2014, 10 in 2013, eight in 2012 and 10 in 2011. But Mr Sharpiro says: "Mortality figures are incredibly vague. "Quite often there will be multiple drugs involved and it is impossible to tell which is the drug that actually caused the death - so I am not surprised the figures don't match up [with the Met Police figures of 58 GHB-related deaths]. Neil Woods, an ex-undercover drugs squad officer, says: "Every single drug is more dangerous in the illicit market because you don't know what is in it. "But the specific problem with GHB is you don't know how strong it is and a few drops of liquid are difficult to measure, especially if its odourless."

मेट्रोपॉलिटन पुलिस ने कहा है कि वह सीरियल किलर स्टीफन पोर्ट को दोषी ठहराए जाने के बाद 58 जी. एच. बी. से संबंधित मौतों की जांच करेगी, जिसे चार युवाओं को खजूर बलात्कार दवा की घातक खुराक से जहर देने के लिए आजीवन कारावास की सजा दी गई है। लेकिन जी. एच. बी. क्या है और लोग इसे क्यों लेते हैं?


Zara uncovered: Inside the brand that changed fashion

Summary: I am seeing spots. More specifically polka dots, on a white maxi dress. Three women have walked by me - all wearing the same identical dress - in the half hour I've been sitting outside this café. I know it's from Zara, I've tried it on, and now I'm seeing those spots everywhere.

By Priya PatelBusiness reporter It is the dress of the summer, another viral Zara fashion statement, complete with a dedicated Instagram account set up by fans. Just one sign of how the Spanish clothing giant is bucking the trend of many of its struggling High Street competitors and posting record sales. Considering the success and size of the company, it might be thought of as a bit of an enigma. It doesn't advertise, it does little marketing and its boss, who was named best performing chief executive in the world by a business magazine last year, has not given any big interviews, until now. Pablo Isla recently laid out plans for Zara's future and said it was all about a digital and sustainable transformation. But is it possible for a company to be sustainable, when the entire business is about getting shoppers to buy as much fashion as possible? 'No contradiction' Speaking at their campus-like headquarters in northern Spain, Pablo Isla, the chairman of Zara and its parent company Inditex, tackled the sustainability issue. "There is no contradiction at all between sustainability and profitability of the company," he says. "In the next year, all our stores in the world will be efficient - this means their consumption of energy and water is significantly lower. If your energy consumption is 20% less, you have a return." In fact some of the key ways in which the business works helps with its sustainability goal. Mr Isla explains that Zara works with a "low level of inventory". This helps the retailer minimise waste and avoid discounting huge amounts of clothing. On my tour of the headquarters, I walk past rows of desks where staff are analysing instant data from Zara's store managers. They use this information to decide what to make each week - Zara's factories will only make what they know will sell. Most of Zara's clothes are manufactured at its sites in Spain or in nearby Portugal, Morocco and Turkey. 'Long-term relations' One of the key factories producing Zara's womenswear is just next to the head office. This way of working is all about speed, which allows Zara to get fresh trends into stores before their competitors. But it hasn't always meant being able to keep a close eye on standards. Two years ago, some Zara customers in Turkey found notes in clothes from workers saying they hadn't been paid and asking for them to back calls for better working standards. When asked about it, Mr Isla says working with these suppliers was an "evolution". He says "the most important thing is the idea of long-term relations with our suppliers" when it comes to keeping an eye on working conditions. Fashion Revolution is an independent organisation which monitors where clothes come from and how ethical they are. They say Zara needs to provide more information about where their clothes are made to be held accountable for standards. "Inditex, which owns Zara, remains one of the major fashion retailers that is dragging its feet on publishing a list of its manufacturers," says Fashion Revolution policy director Sarah Ditty. "Other brands have published a list and proved that doing so doesn't hurt them competitively. " Recycled plastics Back at headquarters, I wander through the pilot store built on-site - a perfectly-kept Zara shop where everything is in place - but there are no shoppers. This is where Zara test how everything should look and feel, from lighting to displays. They are aiming to reach zero waste in store - all packaging is made from recyclable cardboard and plastic. Recycling is a big theme for the clothes too. They have been working with the renowned US university MIT to develop ways of making fabric from recycled plastics. I take the opportunity to feel the texture of some of the latest recycled plastic clothes from their sustainable line. The cloth feels silky to the touch. Mr Isla has committed to 100% of the cotton, linen, and polyester used by Zara - and all of its sister companies - being organic, sustainable, or recycled by 2025. Sarah Ditty from Fashion Revolution says that while it is great to see Zara taking steps to incorporate more sustainable material into its ranges, it is essential action that all brands should be taking. However, she highlights that the real issue is all about the sheer volume of clothes they make. Inditex reported putting over 1.5 billion products on the market in 2017 alone. Even with more environmentally-friendly materials, producing that many items each year is unsustainable for our living planet. How much clothing we buy is a marker of just how much the industry has grown and changed in a short space of time. The UK has the highest rate of consumption in Europe, at 27.6kg per person per year. Customer decisions Indeed, Zara has an enormous turnaround, fashion influencer Jasmine Jonas tells me. "I feel confident walking into a Zara, [being] able to find something that will look good, fit well, and that I can afford. But across the board, demand for eco-conscience clothing is rising." It's not just Fashion Revolution - many campaigners say the only way to truly tackle sustainability in fashion is to make and sell less. But how can that be a solution for Zara and Inditex if they want to keep those record-breaking sales? "It's always the customers' decision of how much do they buy of each particular product," says Mr Isla. "I think our responsibility as a company is taking care of manufacturing our products in a very sustainable way. Each customer, each person, is free to decide how much would he or she like to buy at any point in time, if this person wants to spend money going to a restaurant or buying clothes... this is the freedom that each person has." "Should I, shouldn't I?" is the age-old changing room debate, but does it take on a new dimension if, as Pablo Isla says, it is ultimately in shoppers' hands to decide the crucial sustainability issue? In the meantime, Zara says it will do what it can to keep the environmental conundrum for customers to a minimum.

मैं धब्बे देख रहा हूँ। विशेष रूप से पोल्का डॉट्स, एक सफेद मैक्सी ड्रेस पर। तीन महिलाएं मेरे साथ चलती हैं-सभी एक ही तरह की पोशाक पहने हुए-आधे घंटे में मैं इस कैफे के बाहर बैठा हूँ। मुझे पता है कि यह ज़ारा से है, मैंने इसे आजमाया है, और अब मुझे हर जगह वे धब्बे दिखाई दे रहे हैं।


Cardiff's 'worst night' of Blitz remembered 70 years on

Summary: More than 2,100 bombs fell in the Cardiff district in nearly four years until the final air raid in March 1944. In total 355 were killed. Across Wales, the civilian death toll was nearly 1,000 over the course of the war, with Swansea and Cardiff enduring the worst casualties. Here BBC Wales news website speaks to three men for whom fate intervened on Cardiff's worst night of bombing during World War II in 1941.

By Steve DuffyBBC News website It is 70 years since the worst night of the Blitz for civilians in Cardiff - when a bombing raid saw more than 150 killed. The toll on the night of 2 January 1941 also saw 427 more injured, while nearly 350 homes were destroyed or had to be demolished. Chapels and the knave of Llandaff Cathedral were also damaged. The worst hit areas were Grangetown and Riverside. There, casualties included an estimated 50 killed in De Burgh Street, Riverside. Meanwhile seven relations who had been to a family funeral earlier in the day were killed when bombs wrecked Blackstone Street. The worst single incident was at the home of a bakers, Hollymans on the corner of Stockland Street and Corporation Road in Grangetown. Around 32 people were killed - including at least five members of the Hollyman family, neighbours and strangers - as they sheltered in the cellar. The bomb when it hit left an 8ft pile of rubble. The 10 hour air-raid, during a full moon, had started at teatime - 6.37pm - and Grangetown was the first area to be hit by 100 German aircraft. John Williams, a 14-year-old delivery boy for the bakery, arrived the next morning for his horse-drawn round to find his employer Bill Hollyman's baker shop reduced to rubble. Three generations of the family were among the dead. Around 20 unknown victims were buried at the spot in a mass grave. "I knew nothing about it until I got there about 8.30 in the morning," said John, now 84. "I just saw a big ruin. "The firemen were still spraying water on it and the water had turned to ice because it was so cold. They were starting to bring the bodies out on stretchers. "It was incredible but the horse, in the stable next door, was all right. The bomb had gone through three floors of the house and into the shelter and exploded." "I'd been in the shelter the night before. You'd walk down a few step into the cellar, there was seats inside and steel poles put in by the corporation to reinforce it. "I'd finish my final round about 6pm and I went down the shelter, and then was given a bowl of soup. "But that night, Bill Hollyman seemed to think there was a lot of activity overhead and said my mother would be worried and I should go home. It was fate." "It was a bad night. I lived in Devon Street [half a mile away] and we had an Anderson shelter at the back and I was in there with my father, mother, brother and sister. "Luckily, the nearest bomb to us was in North Clive Street, which landed on a wholesalers and blew the slates off the roofs in the street, but we were all right." Ken Lloyd, 12 at the time, was walking home from a children's meeting at the Ebenezer chapel in Corporation Road, when the air raid siren sounded. "You could hear the aircraft in the distance. Mr Hollyman was standing outside, calling people, all the children and anybody passing, into shelter in the basement," he recalled. "Quite a lot of the children who'd been at the Ebenezer went in but I only lived over in Warwick Street and so didn't have far to go so I said 'no'." "I'd been with the other children that day but everyone who went into that shelter in the bakery was killed outright." Trevor Tucker, who was six, had also been offered a place in the shelter, along with his mother and brother. "My father's job took him away from home a lot and the baker was very helpful offering us shelter if we were alone during a raid, especially at night. "But there was no electricity and the only light was from hand torches or candles, so I found it spooky and I told my mother, 'please don't take me there'." He remembers, with his older brother, their fascination when watching a body being removed from the debris the next day. Censorship meant restrictions in details of the air raids in the newspapers, with scant details and in the days to follow, few death notices were published. The death toll in Cardiff rose to around 165 after the raid. In the days following, there was an appeal for blood donations, as the injured continued to be treated. "A list of casualties would be posted outside City Hall," recalls Mr Tucker, now 76. "I remember being taken there by my father... But it was the rather macabre business of seeing a list of names and him reading down to see if he had lost a friend or neighbour." As for his own reaction to the bombing, Mr Williams said: "I just went home but you just got on with it in those days." One of the surviving members of the Hollyman family, Jack, who lived in Canton, started up the business again within a few weeks. The bakery building itself, like John's delivery horse, had survived. "Jack was heartbroken - he'd lost all that family," said Mr Williams. A hardware shop now stands on the Hollymans site in Grangetown but there is a plaque on the wall, erected by the local history society, to remember those who died there.

मार्च 1944 में अंतिम हवाई हमले तक लगभग चार वर्षों में कार्डिफ जिले में 2,100 से अधिक बम गिरे। कुल 355 मारे गए। पूरे वेल्स में, युद्ध के दौरान नागरिक मरने वालों की संख्या लगभग 1,000 थी, जिसमें स्वानसी और कार्डिफ सबसे अधिक हताहत हुए। यहाँ बीबीसी वेल्स समाचार वेबसाइट तीन लोगों से बात करती है जिनके लिए भाग्य ने 1941 में द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध के दौरान कार्डिफ की सबसे खराब रात की बमबारी में हस्तक्षेप किया था।


The rock band manager who swapped success for kangaroos

Summary: As a new documentary reignites debate about the kangaroo meat industry, the film has an unlikely ally in a former high-flying band manager. Rae Harvey explains her new life's mission to reporter Jenny Valentish.

It didn't feel like the most fortuitous day when Rae Harvey hit a possum in a 50km/h (30mph) zone in Victoria, Australia. The possum was long gone, but a frog sound turned out to be its joey. Wrapping it in her jumper, Ms Harvey called Wildlife Victoria, who directed her to a local carer. That moment, though she didn't know it yet, was her road to Damascus. The tough-as-nails (she would argue "passionate") manager was more used to wrangling musicians than wildlife. She established Crucial Music in 1995 as a touring company, bringing American acts such as Blink 182 and NOFX to Australia. By 2002 the company had morphed into artist management, with her roster including Gyroscope, Children Collide, rappers 360 and Pez. Her longest association has been with The Living End, whose arena anthems have earned them six ARIAs - Australia's top music awards - and multi-platinum status. Now Ms Harvey is selling off her personal memorabilia - alongside items donated from others in the music industry - to fund Wild2Free, the wildlife shelter she runs with partner Sayo Prentic in Bega Valley, New South Wales. The first auction, which took place on Friday, included one of those ARIA awards. Ms Harvey has packed up her Melbourne office, now just focusing on The Living End, surrounded by animal nutrition formula and pillow-case pouches, rather than platinum discs. Originally, the couple had planned to slowly set up the wildlife sanctuary while still working full time, but then a fire gutted their new property. "We were extremely calm whilst watching the house burn to the ground," she marvels. "I'd lost my life's work in the hard drives in the office, but we had the animals safe in the car with us and we had our lives. We just shrugged and said: 'Okay, we're starting again from scratch.'" The Living End put on a benefit gig, and music industry figures helped promote an online fundraising page. Thanks to these efforts and the insurance money, Ms Harvey was able to kit out a smaller property with the basics and - sooner than she had intended - has swapped late nights for early starts, caring for vulnerable eastern grey kangaroos. At their busiest, Mr Prentic will go to bed at 04:30 and Ms Harvey starts her shift half an hour later. "I wish that Australians had the slightest bit of insight into how special this animal is," she says, trying to explain the sacrifices she's made. "They're not like any other. They are emotional, sensitive, individual. They thrive on love. But let's be honest - a lot of Australians don't care." That's also the premise of a new documentary, which opened in selected cinemas in Australia this week, called Kangaroo. Local filmmakers Michael McIntyre and Kate McIntyre Clere set out to explore Australia's love-hate relationship with the animal; such as the use of the kangaroo as the emblem of Qantas and sporting teams, versus the attitude that the animal is a pest and a commodity. The film has faced accusations that it is against the kangaroo meat industry. The Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia (KIAA), which supports 2,000 licensed "harvesters", has responded with a statement addressing points made by the film, with seven points being labelled as false, five as partly true and two as true. Tony Mahar, chief executive of the National Farmer's Association, told Sky News: "The Kangaroo documentary is naive at best and offensive at worst… it's ridiculous to say kangaroos in Australia are endangered." He conceded that there were populations on the eastern coast and coastal areas that "we might need to look at". More on the kangaroo debate: Certainly Kangaroo has been more rapturously received in the US (where it has sold out premieres in New York and Los Angeles, and has been widely reviewed) than in Australia. Seeing a kangaroo in the wild is topmost of any tourist's to-do list. Whereas Australians have frequently cast kangaroos in sinister or bloody roles - such as in Wake In Fright, Snowtown, Wolf Creek 2, Welcome to Woop Woop, Alice to Nowhere, Razorback and Crocodile Dundee - international audiences often prefer feel-good fodder, such as Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. So Ms Harvey tries to appeal to an international audience. On Instagram she tells detailed stories of the animals and uses multiple hashtags to come up in as many global searches as possible. On Facebook, she'll do the odd advertisement and post videos, which are sometimes picked up by other sites and go viral. The stressful life of animal rescue isn't usually compatible with expert marketing, but as you'd expect from a music industry veteran, Ms Harvey has a few tricks up her sleeve. In particular, a sponsorship scheme - in which donors are sent a personalised email from their animal - has taken off. Ms Harvey and Mr Prentic document the kangaroos they have released, and provide a post-mortem for those that died, educating the public on parasitic diseases such as coccidiosis and babesiosis. She says it's not unusual for a kangaroo to arrive at the shelter suffering from myopathy, a result of being chased by dogs or running from shooters. It's a stress-related degradation of the muscles, which then turn rancid. Disagreements about populations, commercial harvesting figures, the accuracy of shooters and the suitability of meat have raged on for years. It means that, for Harvey, generating local support is a hard slog. Government funding for shelters is capped at A$3,000 a year, so she relies heavily on fundraising. She admits she's probably known in former circles as the crazy kangaroo lady. "Have I lost friends?" she queries, with typical candour. "Probably. Do I care? No." Jenny Valentish is a freelance writer based in the Goldfields region of Victoria.

जैसा कि एक नया वृत्तचित्र कंगारू मांस उद्योग के बारे में बहस को फिर से शुरू करता है, फिल्म का एक पूर्व उच्च-उड़ान बैंड प्रबंधक में एक अप्रत्याशित सहयोगी है। राय हार्वे रिपोर्टर जेनी वैलेन्टिश को अपने नए जीवन के मिशन के बारे में बताती है।


World War One: Chiseldon training camp's soldiers with VD

Summary: More than 400,000 soldiers contracted venereal diseases (VD) during World War One, despite warnings to "resist temptations" and "avoid intimacy". Those treated at an army training camp base in Wiltshire - known locally as the bad boys' camp - were kept behind barbed wire and forced to wear blue uniforms. But, they still managed to get female company.

By Jerry ChesterBBC News Almost nothing remains of Chiseldon Camp in Wiltshire, set up in 1914 as a training base for up to 10,000 troops at a time, before they went to the front. The surrounding countryside and the railway line running through the camp, linking it to the Midlands to the south coast, made it an ideal location. In 1915, part of it was developed into a hospital for wounded soldiers before, in 1916, it began to treat soldiers coming back from the front who had contracted VD. When war had been declared, Lord Kitchener had warned troops serving abroad "you may find temptations, but you must entirely resist them". He urged British soldiers to treat all women "with perfect courtesy", but avoid "any intimacy". But the blue-uniformed soldiers who, from July 1917, were kept behind 6ft-high barbed wire fences in a special area of Chiseldon, called L Lines, were proof that for some, Kitchener's appeals fell on deaf ears. In 1918 alone, more than 60,000 soldiers needed treatment for VD - compared to around 75,000 who were treated for trench foot in the whole of the war. 'Naughty ladies and bad boys' Sheila Passmore, of Chiseldon Local History Group, said that despite the barbed wire and guards, troops could still indulge the vices that led them there in the first place. A shanty camp known as Piccadilly sprang up alongside the perimeter fence with shops and cafes for the troops. "Ladies from Swindon used to get the early train, known locally as the meat train, and come down to Piccadilly and 'entertain' soldiers from the camp whenever they got the chance," according to Mrs Passmore. "There were one or two tradesmen in the village who would, rather naughtily, pick up the officers, because they were paid. "They would be covered up in the cart and would nip into Swindon to enjoy themselves. "So we had naughty ladies and bad boys," she said. Treating the VD cases had a real impact on the army's fighting strength, according to Professor Mark Harrison from Oxford University. "It was an enormous drain on manpower because troops would normally be treated for around a month and that took a lot of people away from the battlefield," he said. Soldiers who contracted VD would not be paid while they were being treated, and would also lose the right to take leave for a year. Mr Harrison said that initially the army also wrote to the soldier's family spelling out what he was being treated for. "That was stopped sometime around 1916, after a major committed suicide after his wife had been informed," he explained. Historian David Bailey, who has written a book on Chiseldon, said the soldiers being treated for VD were kept away from locals and other soldiers. "All four sides [of L Lines] were bounded by a six foot high barbed wire fence - effectively it was a prison camp." 'Wrong decisions' The railway line linking the camp to Southampton also cut off the VD wards from the rest of the camp. The treatments the soldiers received were "pretty horrendous", according to Mr Bailey, involving injecting arsenic and the use of a mercury-based cream - "substances that no-one would dare use nowadays". In other ways, the village benefited from the presence of the camp - the army set up a cinema which was also open to locals, with children sitting cross-legged at the front. But, those same children were warned to avoid men in blue uniforms, according to Mrs Passmore, with the military police summoned on occasions to round up any escapees. The camp continued as an army base after World War One, then closed in 1962 when national service ended, and was demolished ten years later. In 1992, the Chiseldon Local History Group put up a memorial plaque to "the men and women of all nations who passed this way". But Mr Bailey still has mixed feeling about the bad boys in blue uniforms. "I don't exactly sympathise with their plight, because like the army I think of it as a self-inflicted wound, but I can understand why they did it," he said. "A young boy, away from home, 18 or 19 years of age, about to go into battle, wants to sample life, and maybe he made the wrong decision."

"प्रलोभनों का विरोध करने" और "अंतरंगता से बचने" की चेतावनियों के बावजूद, प्रथम विश्व युद्ध के दौरान 400,000 से अधिक सैनिकों को यौन रोग (वी. डी.) हो गए। विल्टशायर में एक सैन्य प्रशिक्षण शिविर अड्डे पर इलाज किए गए लोगों को-जिन्हें स्थानीय रूप से बुरे लड़कों के शिविर के रूप में जाना जाता है-कांटेदार तार के पीछे रखा गया और उन्हें नीली वर्दी पहनने के लिए मजबूर किया गया। लेकिन, वे अभी भी महिलाओं का साथ पाने में कामयाब रहे।


Super Bowl 50: A troubled year for American football

Summary: The Carolina Panthers will take on the Denver Broncos for Super Bowl 50 - a historic milestone that an estimated 115 million fans are expected to tune in for. It promises to be quite a celebration, but it comes at the end of a troubled 12 months for the National Football League.

By Jessica LussenhopBBC News From the rumbling fallout from the so-called Deflategate debacle to the ongoing questions about the long-term health effect of head trauma, it has been a tough 2015 for the sport's administrators. BBC News asked four sports ethicists and historians to weigh in on the moral standing of the NFL on the eve of its 50th championship. 1. Concussions and player health This year, the issue of head trauma and the possible link to serious cognitive issues in former players hit the big screen in the film, Concussion. The film told the story of the doctor who originally linked a progressive degenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy with former football players who took repeated blows to the head, and the NFL's efforts to downplay the risks of concussions. In 2015, the doctors at Boston University who specialise in examining the brains of deceased former players diagnosed 23 cases of CTE. They have found the disease in 90 out of 94 players' brains, including, most recent, legendary Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler, who had "moderately severe" CTE. Meanwhile, concussion diagnoses went up by a third in the 2015 season, as the league tried various measures to make the sport more safe. But what long time sports ethicist Jay Coakley takes greatest issue with is to do with kids playing tackle football. The NFL invested in a training programme for coaches called Heads Up Football which certifies them in proper tackling technique and educates them on spotting concussions. Coakley finds ads for the programme that tug at parents' heartstrings troubling. "What we've seen in 2015 is a concerted effort on the part of the NFL to push that positive image in ways that I think push moral boundaries a little bit, in terms of communicating to people, 'We've made changes and now it's safe for your boys to go out there and play tackle football'. I think that's really a stretch," he says. A spokesman for the NFL referred BBC News to comments made by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to the BBC last week. "We are trying to make sure people have the facts so when they make the decision of which sports their children play they have the facts about the risk and what the rewards are. That's what all parents do, that's what I do," he said. "We want kids to participate in sports, there are risks to not participating and sitting on your couch. It's called obesity and it's one of the biggest epidemics we have in our world. We want them to play and be active." 2. Domestic violence This issue came back into the spotlight this week with police in Dallas investigating Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel after a complaint by his ex-girlfriend. The horrific elevator knock-out incident between Ray Rice and his wife dominated the debate over how the NFL handles domestic violence in 2014. Goodell suspended Rice for two games before public outrage crescendoed after the release of the tape from inside the elevator. Rice was subsequently suspended indefinitely. Since then the NFL has revamped its policies surrounding domestic violence, created a baseline suspension of six games and hired a former sex crimes prosecutor to perform internal investigations beyond that of local law enforcement. Player arrests dropped 38% in 2015. But there were other controversies this year, before the Manziel episode. For example, Deadspin obtained disturbing photographs taken by police of a former girlfriend of Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy. The photos shows extensive bruising all over the woman's body after she told police Hardy attacked her and threatened to kill her. Hardy was suspended for 10 games, but the punishment was later reduced to four games after arbitration. "He still played this year which I thought was outrageous," says professor Shawn Klein, author of the blog The Sports Ethicist. "I think they probably need to do more education and awareness with the players and team personnel about how to spot signs of domestic violence or potential precursors so there can be an intervention before something happens." 3. Doping In a bombshell documentary, Al-Jazeera linked Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and other players to the use of performance enhancing drugs, including human growth hormone. Manning categorically denied any wrongdoing, saying the report is a "fabrication", and one of the main sources in the film later recanted. However, Al-Jazeera stood by the story. Sports historian and Arizona State lecturer Victoria Jackson says that in the interest of transparency, the NFL should sign the World Anti-Doping Agency's code, which has been adopted by 600 other world sports organisations, and standardises which substances and processes are illegal for athletes. The NFL does test for HGH, but Jackson says an outside group needs to be responsible for oversight. "The NFL needs to defer to an independent agency," she says. "The league has too much invested in Manning. Doping has real health effects and the NFL Players Association should be pushing for the NFL to sign on to WADA." However, the NFL Players Association has gone on the record challenging WADA for its own transparency issues over how they test players for human growth hormone. "We rejected WADA participation into our drug policies precisely because they failed to be transparent with us over these very issues," a representative told Reuters. 4. Deflategate Then came Deflategate, when New England Patriots staff were accused of intentionally under-inflating footballs so that they would travel further during the 2014 Super Bowl. Quarterback Tom Brady was suspended for four games - before the punishment was nullified by a judge - and the team was fined $1m after an NFL investigation found that Brady likely knew about tampering with the footballs. However, Stephen Mosher, a professor of sport management and media, was more scandalised by the amount of time, money and attention poured into Deflategate. "It was great public messaging for the NFL - preposterously stupid," he says. "It was talked about as if it was the greatest moral sin ever committed." After the NFL released the results of its own investigation, other scientists took it upon themselves to re-create the tests used to prove that the Patriots had cheated - including a little girl who used it as the topic of a science fair project. The Atlantic called Deflategate a "sports scandal that's full of hot air" for many reasons, but Jackson says more than just football fans' time was wasted. "I think when a story takes over like that, my guess is if you're someone who's fearful of other stories you sit back and say, 'Oh, perfect! Everyone is spinning their wheels on a story that doesn't matter,'" she says. "But there are these bigger stories that deserve attention." The NFL is appealing against the judge's ruling on Brady's punishment and Goodell has stood by the results of their own investigation.

कैरोलिना पैंथर्स सुपर बाउल 50 के लिए डेनवर ब्रोंकोस से भिड़ेगा-एक ऐतिहासिक मील का पत्थर जिसके लिए अनुमानित 11.5 करोड़ प्रशंसकों के आने की उम्मीद है। यह काफी उत्सव होने का वादा करता है, लेकिन यह राष्ट्रीय फुटबॉल लीग के लिए एक परेशान 12 महीनों के अंत में आता है।


Cornwall man admits killing woman, 81

Summary: A man has admitted killing an 81-year-old woman who died weeks after she was attacked in a street.

Lesley Davies suffered head injuries in the attack in her home town of Par, Cornwall, on 19 July and died in hospital on 4 August. Brian Downie, aged 69, from Par, was charged with murder but the prosecution at Truro Crown Court accepted a plea of manslaughter after reading a medical report. He will be sentenced on 5 April. More news and stories from Cornwall

एक व्यक्ति ने एक 81 वर्षीय महिला की हत्या करने की बात स्वीकार की है, जिसकी सड़क पर हमले के हफ्तों बाद मौत हो गई थी।


First couple move into homes built on Ravenscraig site

Summary: A couple have become the first people to move into new houses built on the site of the former Ravenscraig steelworks in North Lanarkshire.

Tony and Gina Martin have taken up residence in one of 850 houses being built by David Wilson Homes. A total of 3,500 houses will eventually occupy the site. The £1.2bn Ravenscraig regeneration project is one of the biggest in Europe. Once complete it is expected to be home to more than 10,000 people. The partners involved in the project have estimated it could create about 12,000 jobs and attract in excess of £1.4bn of private sector investment over the next 15 to 20 years. Work on the first phase of the redevelopment has also seen the opening of the £32m Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility and a new £70m campus for Motherwell College.

एक जोड़ा उत्तरी लनार्कशायर में पूर्व रेवेन्सक्रेग स्टीलवर्क्स की साइट पर बनाए गए नए घरों में जाने वाला पहला व्यक्ति बन गया है।


Guernsey housing review 'may end in 2011'

Summary: Proposals for changing Guernsey's housing laws could be drawn up by the end of 2011, says the Policy Council.

It is reviewing the island's licensing laws which restrict occupation of island dwellings by incomers. It said that the review had taken longer than expected because of the complexity of the subject. Incomers currently get licences to occupy dwellings for periods of five or 15 years, but new proposals are for one, four, seven or 14 years. The review follows a report which suggested that changing the licence system might help the island's economy.

नीति परिषद का कहना है कि ग्वेर्नसे के आवास कानूनों को बदलने के प्रस्ताव 2011 के अंत तक तैयार किए जा सकते हैं।


Bauhaus in pictures: The architects exiled by Nazis

Summary: Established in 1919, in the wake of World War One, Germany's Bauhaus art school brought a radical new approach to design and aesthetics which would eventually go on to help inform modernist architecture around the world. Now in its centenary year, we look at a selection of some of the buildings shaped by the influential art school.

The Bauhaus was founded in Weimar by Prussian architect Walter Gropius (1883-1969). While Bauhaus translates as "building house", Gropius didn't want to build only houses; instead, he wanted to create artists who could turn their hands to anything. Students were taught pottery, printmaking, bookbinding, carpentry, typography and advertising. They were encouraged to look at the world around them in a new way, studying in hands-on workshops that were the opposite of the stuffy and elitist lectures of many contemporary design schools. In 1925, the Bauhaus relocated to the city of Dessau, where Gropius designed a new base for the school. With a steel frame structure and large walls of glass, the building featured many characteristics of modernist architecture. The Bauhaus aesthetic combined form, function and efficiency and soon became evident in buildings around Germany. Gropius left the Bauhaus in 1928 and was replaced as director by Hannes Meyer. With German politics polarising, Meyer soon stood down and was replaced by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), who began placing greater emphasis on architectural design. As support for the Nazis grew, the school began to be seen as being at odds with National Socialism and students and teachers fled to a new base in Berlin. When Adolf Hitler became chancellor in 1933, the school was closed down. Driven into exile, many key figures of the Bauhaus emigrated to countries such as the US and Israel, where their philosophies inspired generations of architects and designers. One hundred years later, the austere, modernist influence of Gropius and his cohort can continue to be seen in buildings around the world. The 100 Years of Bauhaus festival runs from 16 to 24 January 2019 at the Berlin Academy of the Arts in Germany.

प्रथम विश्व युद्ध के बाद 1919 में स्थापित, जर्मनी के बौहॉस कला विद्यालय ने डिजाइन और सौंदर्यशास्त्र के लिए एक क्रांतिकारी नया दृष्टिकोण लाया जो अंततः दुनिया भर में आधुनिकतावादी वास्तुकला को सूचित करने में मदद करेगा। अब इसके शताब्दी वर्ष में, हम प्रभावशाली कला विद्यालय द्वारा आकार दी गई कुछ इमारतों के चयन पर ध्यान देते हैं।


Judge orders Lindsay Lohan arrest

Summary: Judges in the US have issued an arrest warrant for actress Lindsay Lohan, who has admitted failing a drugs test just weeks after being freed from jail.

The 24-year-old star could be sent to jail for 30 days if she is found to have breached her probation. She was freed in early August after serving 12 days in jail for violating probation stemming from a 2007 drunk-driving charge. She is expected to appear at a Los Angeles court on Friday. Last week Lohan wrote on her Twitter feed: "Regrettably, I did in fact fail my most recent drug test." She said she was taking responsibility for her actions and was "prepared to face the consequences." "Substance abuse is a disease, which unfortunately doesn't go away overnight," she said. Lohan rose to fame as a child actor in Disney films such as The Parent Trap, but critics say her career has stagnated in recent years amid a series of high-profile scrapes with the law.

अमेरिका में न्यायाधीशों ने अभिनेत्री लिंडसे लोहान के लिए गिरफ्तारी वारंट जारी किया है, जिन्होंने जेल से रिहा होने के कुछ ही हफ्तों बाद ड्रग्स परीक्षण में विफल होने की बात स्वीकार की है।


Man and woman killed in A52 crash in Derbyshire

Summary: A man and woman were killed when their car left a dual carriageway and hit a tree.

Derbyshire Police said the pair's Vauxhall Insignia crashed near the M1 junction of the A52 in Derbyshire at about 16:55 BST on Saturday. The 37-year-old male driver, from Derby, and a 29-year-old female passenger, from Stapleford, both died at the scene. Police have appealed for witnesses and dashcam footage. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.

एक पुरुष और महिला की मौत हो गई जब उनकी कार एक दोहरे कैरिजवे को छोड़कर एक पेड़ से टकरा गई।


The shadowy climbers scaling Cambridge's college rooftops

Summary: "At this very moment there may be a dozen climbers on the buildings of Cambridge. They do not know each other; they are unlikely to meet. And inadvertently they will find what we found, a love for the buildings and the climbs upon them, a love for the night and the thrill of darkness."

By Orla MooreBBC News This is the passage that concludes The Night Climbers of Cambridge, a 1937 book that remains an influence on those with a head for heights in this famously low-lying city. The tome describes a familiar skyline: the four piercing spires of King's College Chapel, the tower of St John's, the pale Portland stone of the Senate House. And for decades, a clandestine group has sought distraction from the monotony of study by scaling some of these landmarks. "If you like mountaineering or rock climbing, Cambridge is probably the worst place in the whole of Britain to be," says Tom Whipple - now science editor at The Times - who tiptoed across the rooftops as a restless maths student in 2000. "I'm used to modern plastic drainpipes, but these were really sturdy cast-iron ones - you could get your hands behind them and climb. "Sitting up there in the fog, the clocks are chiming midnight; you cannot see anything of the modern world. "You flatter yourself; you feel part of this secret society, this continuum. I was hooked." Whipple talks of abseiling into the Trinity Ball in a dinner jacket - and the kudos to be gained from "leaving a wheelie bin on New Hall dome". "The fear of getting caught was more intense than the fear of injury," says Rebecca Wetten, who studied history of art between 2010 and 2014. She says her favourite climbs were at the New Museums Site and the Faculty of History, which is noted for its resemblance to an open book. "None of the climbs needed special equipment but you worked out a pattern to them; you needed someone who knew the way and would help you figure out shortcuts. That's why it was good to do it as a pair." And although membership of a club isn't necessary to partake in this renegade pastime, it does appear there is a shadowy group dedicated to night climbing. A reporter with Cambridge student newspaper The Tab, who in March 2016 followed a small group on the rooftops, claimed to have seen a list of 24 initiation questions for night climbers who hoped to join a secret society dedicated to the practice. These ranged from "How close have you come to dying?", "Do you ever have to consciously prevent yourself from deliberately jumping when you find yourself standing on a cliff or rooftop?", to the apparently irrelevant: "What do you know about central banking and currency laws?" Looking up at the rooftops, tourist Leo Hayes, 70, who is visiting Cambridge from Ireland, is incredulous to learn of the activity. "Just one word: mad," he says. "Risk your life for nothing except a dare? Jumping between buildings? Crazy." In 1899, British mountaineer and poet Geoffrey Winthrop Young was the first person to document the activity in his book The Roof-Climber's Guide to Trinity, written in part as a parody of an alpine guidebook. The third edition in 1960, edited by Richard Williams, describes the practice as "like cat burglary, but without the robberies". But 1937's The Night Climbers of Cambridge, by Whipplesnaith - the pseudonym of the author Noël Howard Symington - is the publication that is credited with inspiring generations of night climbers. It describes in detail the routes up particular colleges - and indeed the routes off them: the "Senate House leap" is achieved by jumping across the 6ft (1.8m) gap between the roof of Gonville and Caius College and the neighbouring Senate House. Jon Gifford, of Oleander Press, which reprinted later editions of Whipplesnaith's guide, says the work has "great literary appeal", with language that's "evocative of another age". "It is melodious and romantic," he says. "The thrill of being alive and one with nature, in many ways. "But it was also about civil disobedience, letting off steam, about risking lives." Tom Whipple, who was given a copy by his father, remembers a particular passage with fondness: "As furtively as the bats of twilight, they shun the eyes of the world, going on their mysterious journeys and retiring as quietly as they set out." Whipplesnaith also writes of injured backs and torn trousers, of near misses and scorched hands - although no-one is known to have been seriously injured or killed. Two students were rusticated, or dismissed, by their colleges for climbing King's College Chapel in June 1937. Another two were also "sent down" in the early 1960s after they were caught by police trying to scale the Senate House. "One moment we were protected, isolated students, the next we had been abandoned, jobless, penniless in the last stages of a degree course," one of them wrote. The Fleet Street photographer and filmmaker John Bulmer - an engineering undergraduate between 1957 and 1960 - was "asked to leave" King's College six weeks before his finals after one of his images "caused upset" when it appeared on the front of The Sunday Times. "It was a photo of a climber on King's College Chapel window. I was hauled up before the proctors," he remembers. "The college was dissatisfied that I was spending more time on photography than my studies." The image was part of a feature written for Life magazine, which saw Bulmer, armed with a Canon 35mm and "big old-fashioned flashbulbs", following Cambridge's night climbers. "It was challenging, but the aim with any photograph is always to kick the viewer in the gut," he says. These days, Cambridgeshire Police "strongly discourages" the practice on safety grounds, however the force says that no crime is being committed by night climbers, as long as damage isn't caused to the buildings. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has previously warned urban climbers not to let an "appetite for adventure" override safety concerns. It points out that any accident affects not only the climber, but their family, the emergency services and staff who work on the sites. Trespassing, police say, is mostly a civil offence, although night climbing can be considered a "public nuisance". That's certainly how it must have seemed to the university over the years - although it declined to comment for this article. In June 1958, a battered Austin 7 appeared on the roof of the Senate House overnight. Seven years later, a banner reading "Peace in Vietnam" was attached to the lightning rods on the spires of King's College Chapel. And in November 2009, climbers scaled an 80ft (24m) external wall of the chapel to fix four Santa hats on the pinnacles. Ian Gray, the porter at King's at the time, says he and the college chaplain went up on to the roof to try to poke off the festive headgear with a stick. "As it transpired the hats were on the very top of the spires and there was no way us less daring types were going to go up there and get them down," he says. "I remember at the time just saying, 'wow - that is quite a feat'." In the end, a steeplejack had to "rescue each one in turn at great expense". Andy Buckley, now a particle physicist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, was a night climber during his time as a physics student between 1997 and 2005. By the time he had arrived at Cambridge, the contours of the colleges had barely changed from the days of Winthrop Young, although CCTV cameras have been installed, as have wall-top spikes in a bid to deter nocturnal ascents. "I was secretary of the climbing club at the university, and it had this old book about night climbing, and I thought it was a good yarn," he says. "A lot of the building work was decaying and I felt bad about the possibility of damaging them. But you could shinny up the drainpipe and get a fantastic view into the inner sanctum of the university. "You feel very exposed up there but you see the structures very differently." You may also like: For Rebecca Wetten, scaling the heights of the Faculty of History is an enduring memory of her time in Cambridge. "I threw off my shoes and climbed it in my May Ball gown, in my bare feet, and saw the most wonderful sunrise," she says. "It was an amazing send-off for my final year. "No-one can take that from me." You can hear more about Cambridge night climbing and other stories on the theme of "Secrets" on the BBC Multi Story podcast on the BBC Sounds app or on the podcast's website.

"इस समय कैम्ब्रिज की इमारतों पर एक दर्जन पर्वतारोही हो सकते हैं। वे एक-दूसरे को नहीं जानते हैं; उनके मिलने की संभावना नहीं है। और अनजाने में उन्हें वह मिलेगा जो हमें मिला, इमारतों के लिए प्यार और उन पर चढ़ाई, रात के लिए प्यार और अंधेरे का रोमांच।"


Is private education the answer to Uganda’s ailing public schools?

Summary: Uganda's public education system is reeling from absent teachers, poor facilities and high dropout rates. Despite these challenges the country's ministry of education is pushing to close a chain of low-cost private schools, which says it is trying to offer solutions to these challenges.

By Patience Atuhaire BBC Africa, Kampala A few minutes off the highway skirting the northern side of Kampala, we go down a dirt path, in a neighbourhood of bare-brick buildings with corrugated iron-sheet roofs. The Bridge International Academies campus at Nsumbi, Nansana town in Wakiso district in the central region of Uganda, would blend right in, were it not for its bright green iron-sheet walls and roofing. The half-built brick walls and wire mesh on the front give the school complex the look of a farm house. A notice on a chalk-board at the gate reminds parents to pay at least half of their children's school fees, which range from $14 (£11) to $23 (£18) per three-month term. The school follows Uganda's public education system of seven years in primary school, with children starting from the age of six. Uganda's education crisis in numbers: Sources: Ministry of Education, 2014, Uganda National Examinations Board, 2015, Uwezo, 2015 Pre-installed lessons When we arrive, the primary five class are in the middle of a social studies lesson; learning about forests and their use as a habitat for animals. Answers are shouted out in chorus, on the teacher's cue. The lesson is scripted, the teacher seeming to recite every line. There is a set of signals for teacher-pupil interaction; her snap of the finger signals to a pupil to ask a question, or give an answer. All that comes pre-installed in an e-reader, or a teacher computer. "The tablet computers simplify our work. There is no need of writing up lesson plans," says Immaculate Nagawa, an English and Social Studies teacher. "But we are closely monitored. We have preparation books which we fill in every morning. "Some of the text books on the market have inaccurate information, but we don't fall victim to that because of the pre-installed content." The expansion of the schools I ask 10-year-old Alexa Rebecca Nakato what she thinks of this mode of teaching. "The subjects are the same as my former school. But there we used to take down a lot of notes. I find the teaching method at Bridge very simple," she says. Paul Kevin, her classmate, says his parents favoured the school so he could learn Kiswahili, East Africa's lingua franca. As I move around the campus, I start to wonder whether it's all work and no play here, as even the queue for lunch seems to be managed with military orderliness. In 2009, Bridge International opened its first academy in Mukuru, a slum in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. The US-founded company, which aims to lower the cost of access to "quality education", now runs 405 schools in the country. It also operates in India and Nigeria, and in January entered into a partnership with the Liberian government to run its primary schools. The education venture opened its first school in Uganda in 2015 and just 18 months later operates 63 primary schools, with 12,000 pupils. Why close the schools? But the school has courted controversy elsewhere. In Kenya, the teacher's unions and non-governmental organisations have publicly called for the closure of the academies, saying that the schools were compromising teaching standards. Bridge International, which calls itself "the world's largest education innovation company", receives funds from the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank, the Bill Gates foundation, Mark Zuckerberg's education venture and other organisations. The UK's Department for International Development (DfID) also funds Bridge International, a situation that has been criticised by the UN because it is supporting a for-profit company. A DfID spokesperson said it did not fund the Bridge Academies in Uganda and that: "When state provision is not delivering for the poorest, we work with low-cost privately run schools to provide an education to children who would otherwise get none." In Uganda, the education ministry ordered the closure of the schools in July, citing: The ministry declined to comment for this report. Children learning under trees Andrew White, the country director for Bridge International in Uganda, says that schools could not operate if they were run as a charity: "The money is like a soft loan and there is an expectation of a return in future. Bridge is not an NGO. The money we use to operate comes from the pockets of parents." He also denies suggestions that teaching is low quality, or is over-reliant on technology. "We have a residential program, where our teachers go through intensive training before they're deployed. Over 50% of our teachers are graduates of government teacher-training colleges. "The integration of information technology in our teaching may look a bit different, but we're teaching the Ugandan curriculum." He also argues that their buildings, which the education ministry has found wanting, were inspected and approved by the local District Education and Infrastructure Committees. But if quality education is measured through bricks and mortar, then the government should not be criticising other educational providers. Reports abound in the local press of public primary schools where lessons are conducted under trees or the children use anthills for desks. Mr White said Bridge had a system that addresses one of the biggest problems in Uganda's public school's - teacher absence: "Bridge has a computer system which will notify us if a teacher fails to show up for lessons. And we have a pool of substitute teachers. We can quickly deploy a substitute when we get the notification," he says. The ministry complained about poor sanitary facilities, which Mr White says are basic ventilated pit latrines as "used in many schools in Uganda". Twaweza, an education assessment NGO working in East Africa, found that children in Uganda's public schools aged eight-12 were unable to answer questions set for those aged seven. Court case Bridge International Academies says on its website that it aims to educate more than 10 million children across a dozen countries by 2025. Its managers in Uganda say they are willing to explore all lines of dialogue with the education ministry, which seems bent on teaching them a lesson. The schools are open for the moment, following an injunction issued by the High Court in September. The court case is expected to come for hearing on 28 October.

युगांडा की सार्वजनिक शिक्षा प्रणाली अनुपस्थित शिक्षकों, खराब सुविधाओं और उच्च स्कूल छोड़ने की दर से जूझ रही है। इन चुनौतियों के बावजूद देश का शिक्षा मंत्रालय कम लागत वाले निजी स्कूलों की एक श्रृंखला को बंद करने पर जोर दे रहा है, जो कहता है कि वह इन चुनौतियों का समाधान देने की कोशिश कर रहा है।


Hairy Biker University of Cumbria honorary fellowship

Summary: Dave Myers - one half of celebrity cooks The Hairy Bikers - has been awarded an honorary fellowship by the University of Cumbria.

The 58-year-old received it for his lifelong contribution to the media industry and his excellence in the culinary arts. Myers, who was born and lives in Barrow joined hundreds of students at their graduation at Carlisle Cathedral. Speaking outside the cathedral, he told the BBC he felt "very proud". Alongside his Geordie friend and colleague Si King he has starred in several TV series and published a number of books. Related Internet Links University of Cumbria

डेव मायर्स-सेलिब्रिटी कुक द हैरी बाइकर्स के आधे-को कंब्रिया विश्वविद्यालय द्वारा मानद फेलोशिप से सम्मानित किया गया है।