Scotland set for a budget, but not as we know it

Summary: There are significant gaps in the information available to the Scottish government as it sets out his draft budget for the financial year starting in April. The choreography of Westminster and Holyrood budgets has become ever more complex, with devolved taxation powers and the need for growth and revenue forecasts. However, the spending taps are back on at Westminster, easing the pressure of recent years. A deal will have to be struck with at least one other party to get the budget passed at Holyrood - and there's an election looming.

Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland It's a budget, but not as we know it. Kate Forbes, a late replacement for Derek Mackay, will get to her feet on Thursday afternoon, with a lot of pencilling, and the hope of ink next month. The finance minister doesn't know what size the Holyrood block grant will be for the start of April. And while forecasting income tax always requires a bit of guesswork, this time will involve more peering into the cloudy crystal ball than usual. Why? Brexit, of course. And the change of leadership in Downing Street. Red budget box To explain, some history, going back 21 years. There was an intention to do Holyrood's budgeting better than Westminster's. For most of those years, the draft budget would be set out in mid-September, and the whole of winter was available for MSPs to scrutinise each spending head in detail. That was the idea. Not everyone was impressed by the quality of their scrutiny. The finance bill was passed each year in the second half of February. This was seen as a much smarter way of budgeting than at Westminster, where the Chancellor of the Exchequer used to appear on the steps of 11 Downing Street in March with his (there's never been a woman in that role) red Budget box, and give MPs little time to object to, or even to scrutinise, his plans for the fiscal year beginning in April. Since the dawn of Gordon Brown's Chancellorship, the autumn statement would give some indicators of what to expect in March, though it grew into a second big budget event each year, partly to ensure the Chancellor doubled the amount of limelight while vying with Tony Blair. That changed from 2017. Then Chancellor Phillip Hammond shifted the budget to late autumn, followed by an update in spring. Holyrood felt the need to respond. The draft budget was moved from September, to take advantage of the higher level of spending detail with a draft budget in late November or early December. Clearly, this gives less time for scrutiny. Splurged And then came Boris Johnson and his Chancellor Sajid Javid. They splurged an unfunded spending announcement in September, to indicate they were for relaxing the austere restraints of their predecessors. When Brexit didn't happen on 31 October, as planned, the November budget date was abandoned. Along came an election, and with Brexit yet to be sorted, the budget was put back to 11 March. That's the date when Scottish councils have to set their budgets and council tax levels. So it was no longer an option for Derek Mackay to wait until Sajid Javid had declared his hand. There are two big numbers the Scottish government won't have. One is the block grant. Last year, that assumed a resource budget (the day-to-day or revenue costs) of nearly £28bn, adjusted downwards by nearly £12bn, which would be expected to come from income tax if Holyrood were to apply Westminster's income tax rates. However, through devolution, Holyrood can apply its own income tax rates, so the amount raised will be different from the Westminster calculation. That forecast for income tax revenue is harder to calculate this year. It is derived from the growth forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility, published on Westminster's Budget day. That figure would normally feed into the economic model operated by the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission. Moola The SFC assesses how much the economy is expected to grow, and how much he can expect to receive in revenues for income tax, and the lesser streams of moola coming from air passenger duty, business rates, aggregates tax and the like. Its track record at forecasting income tax revenue hasn't been all that great, largely because this stuff is new. Because of the combined undershoot in forecasts for income tax, by both the OBR and the SFC, a new and (for now) unwelcome element of Holyrood budget is introduced this year. An adjustment is made for the undershoot three years before. For 2020-21, that reflects the forecast made for 2017-18, on which the Westminster block grant was based. Because it came in at less than expected, £200m will be deducted for the year beginning this April. The deduction for 2021-22 is expected to be three times as big. Eventually, with experience, forecasting should become more accurate, and revenue may sometimes overshoot forecasts. More significant are the upwards adjustments from last September's Johnson/Javid splurge. These amount to £1.3bn more for Holyrood. More than half of that is due to higher health spending in England. There is more also for English schools, councils and police. It's up to MSPs how that money (the jargon is Barnett Consequential) is spent in Scotland. A lot of it is likely to go to the NHS. SNP ministers won't want to be seen to be underfunding it, but nor will they want to follow precisely where Westminster goes. Spending gaps Politics also comes into the tax rates and thresholds. By having a budget after Westminster, Holyrood finance ministers are able to tweak numbers to make political points. With a lower starting rate for income tax, they could claim last year that Scottish income tax is lower for lower paid people. By raising the rate and lowering the threshold on higher earners, they claimed to be more progressive, helping to plug the spending gaps left by austerity. But without knowing what Sajid Javid will do, no such claims can be made - yet. There's another number missing from the Scottish calculations, which will have to be filled in soon. It's the voting for the budget from Holyrood's 129 MSPs. The SNP doesn't have a majority. In recent years, it's done deals with Scottish Greens to get the budget passed. This year could be different. Scottish Tories have put forward proposals designed to be acceptable to the SNP. If a deal can be done, Conservatives could claim - as they have before -that they're a party of influence, and by implication, of government. They could also say they're ensuring the SNP doesn't have to go down the more radical demands being placed on it by Green MSPs. Tories don't' even have to vote with the SNP. To save embarrassment of being associated with each other, abstaining would do the trick. They're all keenly aware that this is the last full year of taxation and spending before the May 2021 Holyrood election. The draft budget will, almost certainly, see that long campaign step up a gear.

स्कॉटिश सरकार के पास उपलब्ध जानकारी में महत्वपूर्ण अंतराल है क्योंकि वह अप्रैल से शुरू होने वाले वित्तीय वर्ष के लिए अपने मसौदा बजट को निर्धारित करती है। वेस्टमिंस्टर और होलीरूड बजट की कोरियोग्राफी अधिक जटिल हो गई है, जिसमें हस्तांतरण कर शक्तियां और विकास और राजस्व पूर्वानुमान की आवश्यकता है। हालाँकि, वेस्टमिंस्टर में खर्च की नलियां वापस आ गई हैं, जिससे हाल के वर्षों का दबाव कम हो गया है। बजट को होलीरूड में पारित कराने के लिए कम से कम एक अन्य पक्ष के साथ एक सौदा करना होगा-और एक चुनाव आसन्न है।


In quotes: Joan Rivers

Summary: US comedian Joan Rivers has died at the age of 81. Throughout her career, she was renowned for her many acid-tongued pearls of wit which took swipes at other celebrities but also turned inwardly, mocking her own later penchant for plastic surgery.

She once said: "Never be afraid to laugh at yourself, after all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century." Here is a selection of her best one-liners. ON PLASTIC SURGERY "I wish I had a twin, so I could know what I'd look like without plastic surgery." "I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware." "I am definitely going to watch the Emmys this year! My make-up team is nominated for Best Special Effects." "Looking 50 is great - if you're 60." "The only way I can get a man to touch me at this age is plastic surgery." ON GETTING OLDER "You know why I feel older? I went to buy sexy underwear and they automatically gift wrapped it." "I said to my husband, 'my boobs have gone, my stomach's gone, say something nice about my legs'. He said, "Blue goes with everything." "When a man has a birthday, he takes a day off. When a woman has a birthday, she takes at least three years off." "You know you've reached middle age when you're cautioned to slow down by your doctor, instead of by the police." "I must admit I'm nervous about getting Alzheimer's. Once it hits, I might tell my best joke and never know it." "The fashion magazines are suggesting that women wear clothes that are 'age appropriate'. For me that would be a shroud." ON OTHER CELEBRITIES "Elizabeth Taylor was so fat that whenever she went to London in a red dress, 30 passengers would try to board her." "At my funeral, I want Meryl Streep crying in five different accents." ON RELATIONSHIPS "I said to my husband, 'Why don't you call out my name when we're making love?'. He said, "I don't want to wake you up." "I got a waterbed, but my husband stocked it with trout." "My best birth control now is just to leave the lights on." "My husband killed himself. And it was my fault. We were making love and I took the bag off my head." "Trust your husband, adore your husband, and get as much as you can in your own name." "My daughter and I are very close, we speak every single day and I call her every day and I say the same thing: 'Pick up, I know you're there.'" "When I was born, my mother asked the doctor: 'Will she live?'. He said, 'Only if you take your foot off her throat'."

अमेरिकी कॉमेडियन जोन रिवर्स का 81 वर्ष की आयु में निधन हो गया। अपने पूरे करियर के दौरान, वह अपने कई एसिड-जीभ वाले बुद्धि के मोतियों के लिए प्रसिद्ध थीं, जिन्होंने अन्य हस्तियों पर कटाक्ष किया, लेकिन प्लास्टिक सर्जरी के लिए अपने स्वयं के बाद के रुझान का मजाक उड़ाते हुए अंदर की ओर मुड़ गईं।


Dancing in the dark: The search for the 'missing Universe'

Summary: They say the hardest pieces of music to perform are often the simplest ones. And so it is with science - straightforward questions like "what is the Universe made from?" have so far defeated the brightest minds in physics.

By Peter LeonardBBC Horizon Until - perhaps - now. Next week, the Large Hadron Collider at Cern will be fired up again after a two-year programme of maintenance and upgrading. When it is, the energy with which it smashes particles will be twice what it was during the LHC's Higgs boson-discovering glory days. It is anticipated - hoped, even - that this increased capability might finally reveal the identity of "dark matter" - an invisible but critical entity that makes up about a quarter of the Universe. This is the topic of this week's Horizon programme on BBC Two. Dark matter arrived on most scientists' radar in 1974 thanks to the observations of American astronomer Vera Rubin, who noticed that stars orbiting the gravity-providing black holes at the centre of spiral galaxies like ours did so at the same speed regardless of their distance from the centre. This shouldn't happen - and doesn't happen in apparently comparable systems like our Solar System, where planets trapped by the gravity of the sun orbit increasingly slowly the further away they find themselves. Neptune takes 165 Earth years to plod around the Sun just once. This is what our understanding of gravity tells us should happen. Vera's stars racing around at the same speed were a surprise: there had to be more stuff there - providing more gravity - than we could see. Dark matter. Dark matter, then, is a generic term for the stuff (matter) that must be there but which we can't see (dark). But as to what this dark matter might actually be, so far science has drawn a blank. That's not to say that there's been no progress at all. It's now thought that dark matter isn't just ordinary stuff in the form of gas and dust and dead stars that are dark simply because they don't shine. It's now generally agreed that the dark matter is a miasma of (as yet unidentified) fundamental particles like (but not) the quarks and gluons, and so on, that make up the atoms with which we're more familiar. These "dark" fundamental particles are known as Wimps: Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. This acronym, like the term "dark matter" itself, is a description of how these theoretical dark matter creatures behave, rather than a definition of what they are: The "weakly interacting" bit means that they don't have much to do with ordinary matter. They fly straight though it. This makes them very tricky to detect, given that ordinary matter is all we have to detect them with. The "massive" part means simply that they have mass. It has nothing to do with their size. All that's left is "particle", which means, for want of a better description, that it's a thing. So dark matter is some form of fundamental particle that has Wimp characteristics. In theory, these Wimps could be a huge range of different things, but work done by Prof Carlos Frenk of Durham University has narrowed the search somewhat. It was Frenk and his colleagues who, at the start of their scientific careers in the 1980s, announced that dark matter had to be of the Wimp type and, additionally, it had to be "cold". At the time, it was a controversial claim, but in the years since, Frenk has added computerised flesh to the bones of the theory - by making universes. "It's quite a simple process," says Frenk. "All you need is gravity and a few basic assumptions." Key among these basic assumptions is Frenk's claim that dark matter is of the Wimp variety, and cold. The universes that emerge from his computer are indistinguishable from our own, providing a lot of support to the idea of cold dark matter. And because dark matter is part of the simulation, it can be made visible. The un-seeable revealed. "You can almost touch it!" enthuses Frenk. But so far, "almost" is the issue. The fact is that you can't touch it - which is why tracking it down "in the wild" has, to date, ended in disappointment. And yet it must be there, and it must be a fundamental particle - which is where Cern's Large Hadron Collider comes in. What happens in the LHC is that protons are fired around its 27km-long tube in opposite directions. Once they've been accelerated to almost the speed of light, they're collided - smashed together. This does two things. Firstly, it makes the protons disintegrate, revealing the quarks, gluons and gauge bosons and the other fundamental particles of atomic matter. There are 17 particles in the standard model of particle physics - and all of them have been seen at the LHC. Secondly, the collisions might produce other, heavier particles. When they do, the LHC's detectors will record them. In charge of one of those detectors is Prof Dave Charlton from the University of Birmingham. "Sometimes you produce much more massive particles. These are the guys we're looking for." Dave - and everyone else at Cern - is looking for them because they could be the particles that could be the dark matter. It all sounds highly unlikely - the idea that ordinary matter produces matter you can't see or detect with the matter that made it - but it makes sense in terms of the uncontroversial concept of the Big Bang. If dark matter exists, it would have been produced at the Big Bang like everything else. And to see what actually was produced at the big bang, you need to create the conditions of the Big Bang - and the only place you're likely to get anywhere near those conditions is at the point of collision in the LHC. The faster the collision, the closer you get to the Big Bang temperature. So there's every reason to think that dark matter might well be produced in particle accelerators like the LHC. What's more, there's a mathematical theory that predicts that the 17 constituents of the standard model are matched by 17 more particles. This is based on a principle called "super symmetry". Prof John Ellis, a theoretical physicist from Kings College, London, who also works at Cern, is a fan of super symmetry. He's hopeful that some of these as yet theoretical super symmetrical particles will show up soon. "We were kind of hoping that they'd show up in the first run of the LHC. But they didn't," he confesses, ruefully. Ellis explains that what that means is that the super symmetric particles must be heavier than they thought, and they will only appear at higher energies than have been available - until now. In the LHC's second run, its collisions will occur with twice as much energy, giving Prof Ellis hope that the super symmetric particles might finally appear. "When we increase the energy of the LHC, we'll be able to look further - produce heavier super symmetric particles, if they exist. Let's see what happens!" It's crunch time for super symmetry. If it shows itself in the LHC, then all will be well. The dark matter problem would finally be solved, along with some other anomalies in the standard model of physics. But if, like last time, super symmetry fails to turn up, physicists and astrophysicists will have to come up with some other ideas for what our Universe is made from. "It might be," concedes Prof Ellis, "that we'll have to scratch our heads and start again." Dancing in the Dark - The End of Physics? is broadcast on BBC Two on Tuesday 17 March at 21:00.

उनका कहना है कि संगीत की सबसे कठिन कृतियाँ अक्सर सबसे सरल होती हैं। और विज्ञान के साथ भी ऐसा ही है-"ब्रह्मांड किससे बना है?" जैसे सीधे-सीधे प्रश्नों ने अब तक भौतिकी में सबसे प्रतिभाशाली दिमागों को हराया है।


Coming face to face with Somalia's al-Shabab

Summary: Freelance journalist Hamza Mohamed recounts the day he was able to put a human face to the Somali Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab, in this article published in the latest issue of the BBC's Focus on Africa magazine.

There is shelling not far from the hotel where I am staying. At the break of dawn I will be making my way out of Mogadishu and into al-Shabab-controlled Elasha Biyaha, to meet the group's media coordinator. There I will request access to report from areas under al-Shabab's control. Earlier in the day I made a call to see if the coordinator could meet me the next day. Surprisingly, he agreed to a 09:00 meeting. Al-Shabab are notorious for denying access to foreign media - let alone granting a meeting at such short notice. It is just after 06:00 when Nur, my driver, turns up at the hotel, but there is no sight of Awiil, my fixer. Nur tells me that Awiil, who has a young family, did not want to risk being caught in Somalia's ever-changing front lines. After about 15 minutes of driving at break-neck speed and negotiating two chaotic government checkpoints manned by nervous-looking skinny soldiers, we reach Elasha Biyaha. This is a "pop-up" town that came into being when Mogadishu's residents left the anarchy of the city for the relative calm of its outskirts. Checkpoints and tinted windows In the distance we see a black flag hanging from a dried tree branch. Unlike the previous two checkpoints, there is no heavy presence of soldiers manning this one. It quickly becomes clear that this is one of the frontiers of the conflict: On one side the transitional government and African Union troops and on the other al-Shabab fighters. From the shade of an acacia tree two seemingly teenage boys - the younger-looking one with a shiny AK47 rifle hanging from his left shoulder - wave our 4x4 to the side of the road. What seems to be the elder of the two has a headscarf wrapped around his face. He stands back, letting the younger one approach our car. The tint on our car windows has attracted their attention. In Somalia, most 4x4s are tinted to keep the occupants' profile as low as possible. He is not impressed. Nur acknowledges our "fault" and explains that we have our camera kit on the backseat and leaving expensive gear in a car with non-tinted window in Mogadishu is calling for it to be stolen. In a soft and polite voice, the teenager explains to us that tinting is not allowed and walks towards a house 500 metres away, telling us he is going to seek advice from what we think are his superiors. Nur and I turn to each other asking what other rules we might be breaking. I notice Nur still has his shirt firmly tucked. He quickly untucks it. Out of anxiety, I ask whether the al-Shabab youth might also take exception to my Nike trainers and we both break into nervous laughter. All this time the elder of the two boys is standing not far from our car - listening but not responding to our small talk. After waiting for about five minutes, while replays of press reports of al-Shabab's notoriously harsh justice system run through my head, he comes back and tells us we are free to continue our journey but must wind down the tinted windows. Beehive of commerce We are at the frontline, but there is no sight of men in trenches. There is also no sight of pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns. It is hard to imagine how this very lightly armed checkpoint was stopping the heavily armed government and African Union troops. Perhaps there were more fighters with superior weapons waiting in the nearby bushes. After a short drive we reach the centre of Elasha Biyaha, a beehive of commerce and trade. Unlike the battle-scarred buildings of Mogadishu all the buildings here are new, with their tin roofs glowing in the mid-morning sun. On both sides of the only tarmac road in the town, stores sell goods from matchsticks to sacks of rice. Also noticeably different from Mogadishu is the absence of men with guns in the streets of the town - even though this is a "front line". People stop and stare at us, only for them to smile and resume their activities when I greet them in Somali. We head to the hotel where our meeting is scheduled to take place. We get there in time but there is no sign of our contact. A quick call and we find out to our surprise he is in fact in Mogadishu, a city controlled by government and AU soldiers, attending a funeral for two religious elders who died in the shelling the night before. Facebook profile After two hours' wait a tall, slim figure with a goatee and a broad smile comes walking towards us. With arms outstretched, he says my name and gives me a hug as if I am an old friend. I ask how he picked me out of the crowd in the hotel. He says: "You look like the picture on your Facebook profile." My heart goes into overdrive. How much more could he possibly know about me? What about my Twitter account? Does he read my tweets? After a few seconds of nervous silence, he gives a broad smile and soft pat on my shoulder saying: "Don't worry you look better in real life." Over freshly made mango smoothies, he apologises for not being on time. Probably in his late 20s, he looks nothing like you may imagine a typical Islamist insurgent to be. There are no robes or heavy beards. He is wearing a crisply ironed shirt and trousers with the Islamic scarf loosely resting upon his head, protecting it from the intense morning sun. As the main man of al-Shabab's media campaign you would think he would be escorted by heavily-armed and masked bodyguards - but there are no signs of security or even a pistol for protection. 'No stealing' As we are having drinks he notices I do not wear a wedding ring. The conversation changes to what kind of women I prefer, and why I have not married. He offers to assist me in finding a potential wife and he adds that if I cannot afford the dowry he will happily contribute. I had expected to be asked whether I pray five times a day, not about my taste in women. We talk until the midday call for prayers goes out, and I suggest we go to the mosque. Somalia brings out the fear of God in everyone. Nur and I are used to carrying our kit with us wherever we go, but he suggests we leave it in the car. Remembering that we were told to keep the tinted windows down, I say we are happy carrying the kit with us. He insists, assuring us if anything happened he would personally pay for our kit. After prayers we go to a restaurant for a lunch of boiled camel meat, rice and stew. Between chewing the tough camel meat and the soft basmati rice he gives me the news I have been hoping for - the freedom to report from al-Shabab-controlled areas. We return to our car after lunch; our kit is still there, albeit dusty from the strong wind and in full display to all the locals. "This is an al-Shabab area, nobody touches what's not theirs," the man tells me. As we begin our drive back to Mogadishu he reassures us of our safety. Feeling a bit more confident, I retort with a smile that while this may be true, we cannot be safe from drone strikes.

स्वतंत्र पत्रकार हमज़ा मोहम्मद बीबीसी की फ़ोकस ऑन अफ्रीका पत्रिका के नवीनतम अंक में प्रकाशित इस लेख में उस दिन को याद करते हैं जब वह सोमाली इस्लामी विद्रोही समूह अल-शबाब के सामने एक मानव चेहरा रखने में सक्षम थे।


Port Talbot Parkway's 400-tonne footbridge installed

Summary: A 400-tonne footbridge is to be lowered into place at a Neath Port Talbot railway station.

Cramic Way, Port Talbot, will be closed for the bridge to be lowered into place over the weekend using one of the largest cranes in the UK. Work will take place from 09:00 BST on Saturday until midday on Sunday followed by further work next weekend. Services at Port Talbot Parkway station will face disruption, with replacement bus services running. The bridge will house a new ticket office, waiting area, information points and steps and lifts to all platforms and forms part of an £11.4m regeneration project at the station.

नीथ पोर्ट टैलबोट रेलवे स्टेशन पर 400 टन का पैदल पुल बनाया जाना है।


British tourist Andrew Massey drowns in New Zealand

Summary: A British man has drowned after getting into difficulty in the sea at a popular beach in New Zealand.

Andrew Massey, 68, from Kent, was swimming with his family just before 18:00 GMT on Saturday, police said. He was brought to the shore at Ocean Beach in Tairua and CPR was attempted but he could not be resuscitated. The force said its thoughts were "with his family and loved ones" and said the death would be passed to the coroner.

न्यूजीलैंड के एक लोकप्रिय समुद्र तट पर समुद्र में कठिनाई में पड़ने के बाद एक ब्रिटिश व्यक्ति की डूबने से मौत हो गई।


GCSEs: Where are we up to with all the changes?

Summary: Hundreds of thousands of pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland receive their GCSE results on Thursday. Teenagers in Scotland received the results of their equivalent National 4s and 5s earlier this month.

There have been a lot of changes to exams lately. Have there been any changes to GCSEs this year? The exam regulator, Ofqual, says there were few changes to GCSEs this summer compared with recent years. Last year, however, saw the return to linear GCSE exams, with all pupils sitting their tests in the summer at the end of the two-year course, rather than taking exams on the various parts of the qualification at several points during their courses. One change this year is that GCSE English literature and history syllabuses required teenagers to study the full curriculum - some previous syllabuses had allowed for a narrower range of content to be studied. Has there been any change in entry patterns? While there are relatively few changes to qualifications this summer, there are some changes in entry patterns at GCSE. Ofqual says the overall entry for GCSEs in England has decreased from 5,085,000 in 2014 to 4,916,000 this year. Early entries (for students in Year 10 or below) has fallen over the same period by 32%, from 504,000 to 344,000. This reflects a government move to discourage schools from entering pupils early for exams. The number of students entering GCSE English literature or English has fallen when compared to last year, while the number of students entering IGCSE English language has risen. Aren't GCSE grades changing soon? Yes, GCSEs will soon be graded from 9-1, rather than the current A*-G. Students starting GCSE courses this September in maths, English and English literature will get the new grades when they receive their results in the summer of 2017. The new grades will come in for most other common GCSEs the following year. This will apply to subjects such as biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, languages, religious education, geography, music and history, which will be taught from September 2016, with exams taken in the summer of 2018. There will be a third wave of 9-1 graded GCSEs sat in summer 2019 for courses taught from September 2017. These include subjects such as psychology, ancient history, business, information and communications technology (ICT) and media studies. What should I do if I am getting my GCSE results on Thursday? You may get your results by text, email or in the post, but it's still a good idea to go to your school or college on results day. By doing this, you can get help and advice from your teachers. Do I have to stay on at school or college? If you live in England, yes. This summer's GCSE cohort in England (born between 1 September 1998 and 31 August 1999) is the second to have to stay on in education or employment with training until the age of 18. The Department for Education raised the participation age in England in two stages. The first stage meant pupils who left Year 11 in the summer of 2013 had to continue in education or training for at least another year until June 2014. The second phase saw pupils who left Year 11 in summer 2014 or later have to continue until at least their 18th birthday. However, if you live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, it is a different picture. In Scotland, if you turn 16 between 1 March and 30 September, you can leave school after 31 May of that year. If you turn 16 between 1 October and the end of February, you can leave at the start of the Christmas holidays in that school year. In Wales, you can leave school on the last Friday in June, as long as you will be 16 by the end of that school year's summer holidays. In Northern Ireland, if you turn 16 during the school year (between 1 September and 1 July), you can leave school after 30 June. If you turn 16 between 2 July and 31 August, you cannot leave school until 30 June the following year. What can I do if I don't have the grades needed for A-level or vocational courses? Try not to panic. If you don't get the grades asked for by the sixth-form or college of your choice, approach the staff there and see if they are prepared to be flexible. It's possible they will still give you a place or they might be prepared to take you on for different courses. Alternatively, approach other schools or colleges - you might find they will accept you. Can I resit? Students will be able to resit GCSEs in maths and English in November. Ofqual says there is an expectation that anyone sitting the examinations offered in November will be aged 16. The regulator says resits will not be available in November for any other subjects. Can I challenge my results? If you feel strongly that your grades are wrong and do not reflect your ability, you can ask for a re-mark of your papers. Requests for re-marking can only be done through your school or college. Make sure someone there is dealing with the matter. There is a fee for this service, which is reimbursed only if there is a grade change. The Joint Council for Qualifications has guidelines on the post-results service available to schools. Where can I go for more advice? You can call the national Exam Results Helpline on 0808 100 8000 or speak to an adviser from the National Careers Service on 0800 100 900. The government website Gov.UK might also help you make decisions.

इंग्लैंड, वेल्स और उत्तरी आयरलैंड में लाखों छात्र गुरुवार को अपने जी. सी. एस. ई. परिणाम प्राप्त करते हैं। स्कॉटलैंड में किशोरों ने इस महीने की शुरुआत में अपने समकक्ष राष्ट्रीय 4s और 5s के परिणाम प्राप्त किए।


Coronavirus: Isle of Man death toll doubles as two more die

Summary: Two more men have died with coronavirus on the Isle of Man, doubling the Manx death toll, the government confirmed.

Both of the latest victims had underlying health conditions and were being treated at Noble's Hospital. The total number of people to have tested positive for the virus stands at 256, an increase of two since Tuesday evening. The island recorded its first death on 1 April, followed by a second on Saturday. Of those to have tested positive, 151 are "presumed recovered" after observing the required period of self-isolation.

सरकार ने पुष्टि की कि आइल ऑफ मैन में कोरोनावायरस से दो और लोगों की मौत हो गई है, जिससे मैनक्स से मरने वालों की संख्या दोगुनी हो गई है।


Lisa Pathfinder: Gravity quest set to go into orbit

Summary: Europe is ready to launch its most exquisite satellite mission yet.

Jonathan AmosScience correspondent@BBCAmoson Twitter Lisa Pathfinder is a fundamental physics experiment that will test the technology needed to detect gravitational waves - what are sometimes referred to as ripples in the curvature of space-time. Scientists and engineers have declared the demonstrator ready to fly after more than a decade of development. It will likely go up in November on the European Space Agency's Vega rocket. The month marks the 100-year anniversary of when Einstein published the field equations that underpinned his Theory of General Relativity. Gravitational waves are a direct consequence of that grand idea. And although there is plenty of evidence to suggest the Universe is awash with these ripples, so far no actual detection has been made – either here on Earth or in space. It's not for want of trying, but the signal is expected to be very faint, even from the biggest sources. "Gravitational waves are essentially the mechanism that carries the force of gravity through the Universe," explained Esa's Lisa Pathfinder project scientist, Dr Paul McNamara. "They are produced by very large, violent events in the Universe – things like galaxies merging, where super-massive black holes in those galaxies come together. Supernovae, pulsars - any violent event where mass is moving. But for the space-based detectors, we're really looking at the very big things in the Universe – the super-massive; the million solar mass objects." Confirmation of the waves' existence and their subsequent routine observation would open up a new paradigm in astronomy. It is one that would no longer depend on traditional light telescopes to look at and understand phenomena on the sky. "The overwhelming part of the Universe is dark and will never be visible with electromagnetic radiation, but for all we know everything in the Universe interacts via gravity. So, ‘listening’ to gravity seems like the obvious thing to do to learn about the dark side of the cosmos," said Prof Karsten Danzmann, the co-principal investigator on Lisa Pathfinder. A new paradigm in the study of the Universe Gravitational waves should propagate at the speed of light, alternately stretching and squeezing space. And despite their delicate nature, their presence ought still to be apparent to an ultra-stable, super-fine measurement system. It is worth re-stating: Pathfinder's job is not to make a detection, merely to demonstrate the required metrology. To do this, it will try to put two small gold-platinum blocks into a near-perfect free-fall and then track their relative movement using lasers. The intention is to get these "test masses" following a "straight line" that is defined only by gravity. That's easier said that done because there are plenty of forces that want to push these blocks off course. There's the pressure of sunlight, the influence of magnetic fields, and the distortions introduced by changing temperatures. The spacecraft’s own gravity will also exert a slight tug on the blocks. "There are phenomena like collisional molecules," explained Pathfinder’s other co-PI, Prof Stefano Vitale. "Despite being under high vacuum, there are still residual molecules and they can hit the test masses. They’re very small but they communicate a force, and we are after forces that are less than the weight of a bacterium," he told BBC News. "We have a performance budget book with many, many entries, but the leading ones number 10; and we think now that after all we have tested, experimented and mastered in the lab - we think we can control these forces, but obviously nothing can substitute for a final test on orbit." The experiment has been designed such that disturbances to the blocks as small as just a few picometres should be noticed. One picometre is a fraction of the width of an atom. A system for ultra-precise measurement This level of sensitivity has long been achieved in Earth-bound set-ups, but never in space. And if scientists want to hunt the ripple signals associated with the mergers of super-massive black holes – and their low frequency means they can only be detected in space – then picometre sensitivity is what Lisa Pathfinder must achieve. If the satellite can successfully showcase this off-world capability, it will initiate the next step: an operational gravitational-wave observatory. Esa has essentially already committed itself to such a venture. The space agency has said that the billion-euro mission it will fly in 2030 will investigate the "gravitational Universe". There will be a call for science proposals that fit with this theme, but in truth there is really only one contender. Certainly, only one contender will come forward with technology that has already been de-risked to the tune of 430 million euros (and that is just the cost to Esa of Lisa Pathfinder; it does not include other sums spent in the agency’s member states). The more significant question centres on what sort of space-borne gravitational-wave observatory should be flown. The basic architecture calls for lasers to measure picometre changes in the positions of platinum-gold blocks that are separated not by 38cm, as in Pathfinder, but by millions of km. This involves putting the blocks in different spacecraft units and flying them in formation. In terms of the best science, the ideal scenario would be to have a trio of spacecraft with the lasers running between each of them. A three-armed laser interferometer. But when this architecture was proposed a few years ago, the cost frightened the Americans who at that stage were going to be partners on the project – and they pulled out. A simpler, Europe-only version was then devised that had just two laser arms. But its perceived inferior performance meant that it failed to win the support of the scientific community. So now the mission's chief proponents are pushing to go back to three arms, and an advisory panel convened by Esa looks set also to endorse such a configuration. Of course, the additional arm raises the price, adding perhaps another 100 million euros to the overall budget. If the Americans came back in, it would sort that issue straightaway. But Europe will not be held hostage again by the US, and it will start from the premise that it will have to pick up the full cost of any chosen architecture. "It's quite a long way into the future, so that really makes it a cash-flow problem. But I'm sure we could find a way," said Esa science chief Prof Alvaro Gimenez. Assuming nothing goes horribly wrong with the Lisa Pathfinder demonstration, industry will probably be asked in 2017 to begin to spec the observatory with definition studies. A formal implementation could then follow at the beginning of the next decade, ready for that 2030 launch opportunity.

यूरोप अभी तक के अपने सबसे उत्कृष्ट उपग्रह मिशन को प्रक्षेपित करने के लिए तैयार है।


Two more men arrested over Slough churchyard rape

Summary: Two more people have been arrested on suspicion of raping a woman in a churchyard in Slough.

The victim, aged in her 30s, was attacked in the grounds of St Mary's Church in Church Street, Upton, at about 19:45 GMT on January 30. A 42-year-old local man was arrested on suspicion of rape the following day. Thames Valley Police said they have now also arrested a 29-year-old man and a 38-year-old man, both from Slough, on suspicion of rape. All three men have been released on bail.

स्लॉ में एक चर्चयार्ड में एक महिला के साथ बलात्कार करने के संदेह में दो और लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Dounreay nuclear waste to be stored in 'big holes'

Summary: What have been described as the two biggest man-made holes in Caithness are being dug to store tonnes of low-level radioactive waste from Dounreay.

The larger of the two vaults involves the excavation of about 200,000 cubic metres of rock. The stores, being constructed at a cost of £100m, are separated by a spine of rock nine metres wide at the top. The waste will include paper, rags, tools, glass, concrete and clothing contaminated by radioactivity. Once inside the store it will be monitored for 300 years. After that period of time the radioactivity will have decayed by 95%. Dounreay, an experimental nuclear power complex built in the 1950s, is being demolished and the site cleaned up. The first phase of the work close to the nuclear power plant is being done by Graham Construction.

जिसे कैथनेस में दो सबसे बड़े मानव निर्मित छेद के रूप में वर्णित किया गया है, उसे डौनरे से टन-टन निम्न-स्तर के रेडियोधर्मी कचरे को संग्रहीत करने के लिए खोदा जा रहा है।


50 jobs for new Frog Bikes factory in Pontypool, Torfaen

Summary: A children's bike manufacturer has opened a new factory in Torfaen, set to create up to 50 jobs.

The 120,000 sq ft site in Mamhilad Park Estate, Pontypool, is Frog Bikes' first manufacturing facility in the UK. The Surrey-based firm has received £1.7m bank funding and support from the Welsh Government. It has opened the new factory to meet demand for its bikes following a rise in 2015.

एक बच्चों की बाइक निर्माता ने टोरफेन में एक नया कारखाना खोला है, जो 50 नौकरियों का सृजन करने के लिए तैयार है।


Murder arrest as man stabbed to death in Wisbech

Summary: A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a man who was stabbed to death.

A 46-year-old man was stabbed at a property in West Parade in Wisbech at about 21:45 GMT on Sunday. Cambridgeshire Police said the victim was treated by paramedics but died at the scene. A 49-year-old man, from Wisbech, has been arrested and remains in custody. Officers said they were treating the death as an isolated incident. Related Internet Links Cambridgeshire Police

चाकू मारकर हत्या करने के संदेह में एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


How the Pet Shop Boys accidentally made the best tour diary in pop history

Summary: Pop music, Brian Eno once said, isn't just about making music in the traditional sense of the word.

By Mark SavageBBC music reporter Instead, it's about "the creation of a new, imaginary world, which beckons the listener to join it". For the last 39 years, the Pet Shop Boys have been doing exactly that, making anthemic dance music that wryly scrutinises culture, politics, personal relationships and the nature of pop itself. On stage, they've created their own universe where theatre meets pop - pushing the boundaries of what a live show can achieve. And, along the way, they stumbled into one of the best biographies in pop history. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in a Chelsea electronics shop, where a chance conversation about music and synthesisers started a lifelong friendship and musical partnership. Four years later, in 1985, they scored their first number one - West End Girls, a walking pace disco track about the drama and excitement of late night Soho, where cultures meet and meld and clash surrounded by "faces on posters" and the ever-present threat of sex or violence - or both. From the beginning, a sense of mystery surrounded the band. They weren't showy or glamorous like normal pop stars. Tennant wasn't a natural vocalist. On Top of the Pops, they barely moved. No-one knew quite what to make of them, even as they built up an enviable discography of perfect pop singles. Hovering in the air was the eternal question: Was this all an ironic prank? The assumption rankled the band, as journalist Chris Heath discovered when he tagged along on their first ever tour. "Yes, I'm supposed to be the irony merchant," scoffed Tennant, who maintained, "most of what we do is meant totally sincerely". "When we started out we got into hi-energy and hip-hop music and we liked the power and the rawness and the excitement of it. And we've always tried to make records that had the same delirium and excitement, or a very strong feeling about them. "But, " he added dolefully, "my voice cannot sound 'up' when I sing. I literally cannot do it." This interview was captured in Heath's book - Pet Shop Boys, Literally - a phenomenal piece of observational journalism, cataloguing the group's first, tentative venture onto the stage in 1989. They'd planned and cancelled two previous tours, in 1986 and 1987, discovering that their ambitions for a theatrical live show weren't compatible with the economics of a pop concert. It was a generous offer from a Japanese promoter that finally got them on the road but, even then, they weren't convinced of the wisdom of playing night after night to actual fans. "Rock shows are really embarrassing. The audience can be embarrassing and the performers I find cringeworthy," Lowe postulates as they set of for Asia. Later, at a press conference to promote their shows in Hong Kong, Lowe tells the media: "We're not a live band, really." Heath's book offers unprecedented access to the band. He's there in hotel rooms and on tour busses, he dances with them at Japanese discos and takes a long walk with Tennant in the countryside. There are no drugs and no sex (except when they stumble across a couple in flagrante on a hillside). Instead, it's a frank and revealing peek behind the curtain. Tennant and Lowe are simultaneously bristling with self-confidence and racked with insecurities, not least because the tour hasn't sold out in the UK. They are also fantastically catty - slagging off Adam Ant, Piers Morgan, bobble hats, their tour promoter, and even their fans - while getting giddily excited that Jason Donovan might come to one of their shows (he doesn't). While they're wary of rock cliché, Heath doesn't spare them when things go a bit Spinal Tap. Before their first concert, Lowe flies into a rage because a backdrop curtain that should be black is, in fact, brown. When his mother comes to see them play in the UK, her first comment isn't about the music but his haircut: "I didn't know you'd become a Buddhist". Throughout the book, Tennant slowly starts to enjoy himself, finding that being a rock star sometimes is all its cracked up to be. "I have an obsession with teenage hysteria and just to find myself at the centre of it, I just find quite thrilling," he observes. But there's mock horror when the singer shouts "arigato", the Japanese word for thank you, at the end of one of the shows. "I thought 'How shameless,'" Lowe tells Heath. "I bowed my head in shame and thought, 'he's a tart'". No wonder that, when the band first read the manuscript in 1990, they declared themselves to be "more or less horrified". Sadly the book, and its 1993 sequel Pet Shop Boys vs America, have long been out of print... until earlier this week, when they were republished by Penguin books. "They've been in a weird netherworld," says Heath on the phone from the US. "Perversely, there's something quite nice about having these books that are unavailable and that people talk about like some mystery... But I'd rather people were reading them." Interestingly, the books were initially written off by reviewers who were sniffy about Heath's decision to delve into the minutiae of touring life, feeling it was all surface and no depth. The Face's Dave Haslam said Literally "isn't a book, it's a list" adding: "I'd have preferred a book that told a few truths, or even a few lies." But that misses the point, says Heath. The author - who, like Tennant, started his writing career at Smash Hits - believed there was value in close-up reporting, without having to explicitly state a grand intellectual thesis. "I always thought I was going to be able to tell a much deeper story [through] an incredible accumulation of detail," he explains. "No-one reads a novel and says, 'It's just a load of stuff that happens,' because they go in thinking there's a greater purpose to all this; that all of this stuff is being juxtaposed to do something greater than just telling us a series of events or a series of conversations. "Any great non-fiction book should be that - but somehow that wasn't the way that people went into a book about pop music." In the intervening years, though, the book's reputation has grown; and others have adopted Heath's style of reportage - most notably Bill Flanagan, who spent two years on U2's Zoo TV tour for the similarly-revelatory U2 At The End Of The World. The question remains, though: How did Heath get this unprecedented access? "There's not an incredibly simple answer," he says. "People took photographers on tour as a standard thing in the 80s and I think they thought, 'Why don't we take a journalist?' "I was friendly with them, and I'd written about them a bit, but I don't think they had thought about the end result, particularly." Censorship? In fact, discussions about the nature of the book form a recurring part of the narrative. "This can never come out," exclaims Tennant at one juncture, but surprisingly little was expunged from the record. "Famously, the thing that got cut out of these books is most of when they swear - but that's totally openly declared," insists Heath. "People imagine there's a whole other unexpurgated version of it - but why would you imagine that in a book that's already way more truthful and revealing than you'd normally expect?" Despite their horror at the original manuscript ("We're horrible, aren't we?" said Lowe after reading it for the first time) the band were sufficiently happy to ask Heath back on the road for their first US tour a couple of years later. It came at an interesting point for the duo. Their fifth album, Behaviour, had been critically-acclaimed, but failed to scale the chart peaks of their previous work. Their new single, a kitsch cover of U2's Where The Streets Have No Name, wasn't getting the expected radio play, meaning they were embarking on an ambitious tour, in a country that hadn't been their strongest market, from an uncertain base. It didn't help that the first night had to be cancelled due to sound problems. Then Lowe caused a minor diplomatic incident by walking off stage during a performance on Jay Leno's late night chat show, furious that the camera was focusing solely on Tennant and the backing singers. The band spend large portions of the tour fretting about their future. Heath captures one typical exchange backstage at Los Angeles' Universal Ampitheater. "We've gone off the boil with the public," sighs Neil. "It's all down to the album not being as good," says Chris. "I think we've lost some of the teenage audience," digresses Neil "I think we've got to write some simpler, hooky music," says Chris. "Yeah," says Neil. "That's what I think." "It was tough," says Heath, "touring America with a record that wasn't on fire, and with this incredibly complicated, expensive show - but I don't remember a huge despondency. "My more glib memory is that, pretty much always, they've been a mixture of a complete exuberance and [thinking] 'Oh it's all over, let's not bother.'" Ultimately, the Pet Shop Boys' Performance tour was broadly a success. The US press welcomed the high-concept, theatrical stage show as a revolution in stagecraft - the San Francisco Examiner called it "more performance art than rock concert" while the New York Daily News compared it to a Met Opera production of Satyricon. And, of course, Pet Shop Boys did go back and write some "simpler, hooky music". Their next album, 1993's Very, contained the hit singles Can You Forgive Her and Go West, and remains their biggest-seller. But while Heath's second book has a somewhat traditional "triumph-over-adversity" narrative arc, Heath says that's just a happy accident. "I've written other books where I've had pressure from the publisher to have some sort of 'moment' at the point where the book ends," he says. "And I'm not shy of expressing larger themes and showing powerful arcs of things changing; but lives don't end just because the book ends." Heath went on to write for Rolling Stone and GQ - where Paul McCartney told him he'd envisioned DNA before DNA was discovered while tripping on acid in the 1960s. He also wrote two painfully honest books with Robbie Williams, based on a similarly-unprecedented level of access. The key to obtaining such revelatory interviews, he says, is just to be interested in people. And, occasionally, to break with social conventions. "I always think," he says, "one of the hardest questions to ask, but one of the best questions you can ask is the one I'm about to say... … … … … "That was it." "It's really uncomfortable doing it. You have to deliberately force something that all your instincts are telling you, as a polite human bring, not to do. "But very often people have more to say, and you've just got to give them space." Pet Shop Boys, Literally and Pet Shop Boys vs America are out now. Follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

ब्रायन एनो ने एक बार कहा था कि पॉप संगीत केवल शब्द के पारंपरिक अर्थ में संगीत बनाने के बारे में नहीं है।


North Korea: What we know about the 'massive' new missile on parade

Summary: North Korea has unveiled a new ballistic missile whose "colossal" size has surprised even seasoned analysts of the country's arsenal. Defence expert Melissa Hanham explains what the missile is and why it is a threat to the US and the world.

To mark the 75th anniversary of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, the country threw an unparalleled military parade at the stroke of midnight. The heavily choreographed event featured all the pomp and circumstance the world has come to expect from North Korea's mass human performances. It also contained a surprisingly emotional speech from Chairman Kim Jong-un, who at times wept as he spoke about the country's struggles. Last, but certainly not least, it revealed North Korea's largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to date. Here are three things we know about the missile. Kim's promised 'strategic weapon' On 1 January 2020, Mr Kim gave his annual New Year's address wherein he announced that North Korea was "developing the state-of-the-art weapons system possessed only by advanced countries". He specifically referred to a "strategic" - meaning nuclear - weapons system under development. Mr Kim pointedly tied the weapon to the US, stating "in the future, the more the US stalls for time and hesitates in the settlement of DPRK-US relations, the more helpless it will find itself before the might of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which is growing stronger beyond prediction, and the deeper it will fall into an impasse". This new ICBM is Mr Kim's promised strategic weapon. It absolutely targets the US, and is delivered as a fait accompli in the face of failed negotiations with the Trump administration. A new threat to US missile defence systems North Korea already has two tested ICBMs. The Hwasong-14 was tested twice in 2017 and with a range of 10,000km (6,213 miles) can reach nearly all of western Europe and about half of the US mainland carrying a single nuclear warhead. The Hwasong-15, also tested in 2017, has a range of 13,000km, meaning it can deliver a single nuclear warhead anywhere in the US mainland. The new ICBM, which has yet to be tested, is also a two-stage liquid-fuelled missile, but with a greater length and diameter than the Hwasong-15. Until the engines are revealed or a test is carried out, it is unlikely we will know its exact range. However, the design makes North Korea's intentions very clear: they do not need to increase the range of their missiles anymore. Instead, they are focusing on trying to launch multiple nuclear warheads on a single missile. This would be yet another blow to the already struggling US missile defence systems, because for each incoming warhead, multiple interceptors need to be launched. States with advanced nuclear weapons have multiple independent re-entry vehicles - or MIRVs - and now North Korea is seeking to do the same. An urgent cause for concern There are several design questions remaining around the ICBM itself, which makes it uncertain when it will be tested or deployed. However, the truck underneath the missile is of immediate concern. One of the major constraints of North Korea's ability to engage in nuclear warfare is the number of launchers they have. After all, you can only launch as many missiles as you have launchers for. The US estimates that North Korea can launch 12 ICBMs at most. This calculation is based on the hypothesis that each of the six known launchers launch one ICBM and they scramble to quickly launch a second missile before the US retaliates. In 2010, North Korea illicitly imported six WS51200 heavy-duty trucks from China and modified them with hydraulics to turn them into transporter erector launchers (TELs). These TELs are what North Korea has used to parade, transport and erect their ICBMs. The trucks are so precious that they drive them away from the missile before launch, because they would be so difficult to replace if there was a missile failure. This parade represents the first time we have seen more than six trucks in action. These new trucks were modified heavily. It is therefore clear that North Korea is still able to get components for heavy-duty launchers despite sanctions and export controls. It is also clear that they have built up their manufacturing sector to indigenously modify - and now potentially produce - their own missile launchers. North Korea's new ICBM, produced in a year of great struggle, is a message to the world not to underestimate the state, its leader, or the technological ability of its people. Melissa Hanham, an expert on weapons of mass destruction and open source data, is the deputy director of Open Nuclear Network (ONN), a programme of One Earth Future Foundation

उत्तर कोरिया ने एक नई बैलिस्टिक मिसाइल का अनावरण किया है जिसके "विशाल" आकार ने देश के शस्त्रागार के अनुभवी विश्लेषकों को भी आश्चर्यचकित कर दिया है। रक्षा विशेषज्ञ मेलिसा हानहम बताती हैं कि मिसाइल क्या है और यह अमेरिका और दुनिया के लिए खतरा क्यों है।


Aberdeen City Council gets 205 baby ashes compensation claims

Summary: More than 200 claims for compensation from families affected by the baby ashes scandal in Aberdeen have been received by the council.

Baby and adult ashes were mixed together at Hazlehead Crematorium and given back to relatives of the adult. The parents of the infants were told there were no ashes. Aberdeen City Council said it had received 205 claims and the process for determining compensation was moving to the next stage. The date set for all claims to be lodged was 1 February. The council announced in December last year that it had approved a new financial compensation scheme for those affected. BBC Scotland revealed in 2013 that no ashes had been offered to the families of infants cremated in Aberdeen over a five-year period.

एबरडीन में शिशु राख घोटाले से प्रभावित परिवारों से मुआवजे के लिए 200 से अधिक दावे परिषद को प्राप्त हुए हैं।


Brexit: What does 'podiumgate' say about chances of a deal?

Summary: If the prime minister's team and the government machine of a small country can't agree happily on arrangements for a press conference, then it doesn't exactly feel like anyone is in the mood to edge a little bit closer to a Brexit deal.

Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter "Podiumgate", as it has inevitably been labelled, immediately gave a pantomime distraction - complete with a booing crowd - to Monday's developments in the bigger Brexit story. It's no secret that the Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel held the views that he was so happy to express. He has gladly - and candidly - expressed on many occasions his sadness that the UK voted to leave, and his frustration with how UK governments have handled it so far. But if what happened was an expression of the state of diplomacy between the UK and EU member states, then don't hold your breath for a breakthrough in understanding between the two sides that could lead us all to a new version of a Brexit deal. As ever with the UK's departure from the EU, there are two dramatically different interpretations of what happened. If you think that it's a bad idea and Boris Johnson is blundering his way to a crash-out, then the Luxembourg leader's protestation will have given yet more evidence to that cause - the suggestion that the UK has made a terrible mistake, the EU has tried its best, and yet the prime minister is insisting on carrying on and, to boot, failing to offer any real and new options that could provide a civilised exit. If, on the other hand, you reckon that the EU's leaders have looked for every opportunity to thwart the UK's reasonable efforts to deliver the referendum result, you may well think that it was another episode in the pantomime that demonstrates the continent's unwillingness to acknowledge the UK's decision to leave. Forget those two sides for a second. What do the last 24 hours tell us about the chances of a deal actually being done? Podiumgate tells us that both sides find it hard to present a joint front, and perhaps the relations of Brexit are so fractured that political leaders are not willing to observe the normal rules of diplomatic engagement. And if, in the months to come, either side is looking to apportion blame, Monday's events could play equally strongly into both sides' hands. More pertinently maybe, when we asked the prime minister how he actually intended to get a deal, he suggested that there was space to revise the arrangements around the controversial backstop but simply wouldn't elaborate on what those details might be. And when we asked, repeatedly, exactly how he intends to get round Parliament's decision to try to outlaw leaving without a deal he just would not say. Right now it seems the volume is rising, but the clock is still ticking down.

यदि प्रधान मंत्री की टीम और एक छोटे से देश की सरकारी मशीन एक प्रेस कॉन्फ्रेंस की व्यवस्था पर खुशी से सहमत नहीं हो सकती है, तो ऐसा बिल्कुल नहीं लगता कि कोई भी ब्रेक्सिट सौदे के थोड़ा करीब जाने के मूड में है।


Diamond Jubilee v Republican Britain

Summary: As much of the UK gears up to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, not everyone is happy. Republicans are stepping up their protest over the weekend - but who are they, and what exactly do they want?

By Holly WallisBBC News A group of volunteers is spending a long evening organising campaign material - stapling big white placards to wooden poles. The signs read: "Power to the People" and "Citizen Not Subject" in large black lettering. One placard asks: "9,560 Nurses or 1 Queen?" The answer, for members of Republic, is a no-brainer. They are preparing for 3 June, when the country will be celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee - marking her 60 years on the throne, and the first in the UK since Queen Victoria's in 1897. Thousands of onlookers are expected to flock to the Thames to catch a glimpse of their monarch forming the floating centrepiece of her own Jubilee River Pageant, a grand spectacle boasting seven-and-a-half miles of regal flotilla - just one of the main events in an extravagant four-day bank holiday weekend. One might be forgiven for believing that Britain was barmy for royalty. But just along from London's Tower Bridge on the south side of the river, Republic's protest, what they describe as "the biggest and boldest in modern times", will be floating a different idea. And this will be no riverside gala. "We're there to make a point," says Emily Robinson, 31, an academic from Hull who joined Republic in 2006. "For too long we've had a reputation for being a bit polite, but we also want to be firm and serious." After years as a low-key movement, Republic re-launched itself in 2006 as an official pressure group. In 2010 it had 9,000 members, but since the royal wedding announcement that year, they say registered supporters have increased to 21,000. "We're really getting our message out, considering our size," adds New Zealander Paula Feehan, an aid worker who settled in Britain 16 years ago. "We have one-and-a-half paid employees so we're definitely punching above our weight." 'Enormously wasteful' Republic wants to stir up some lively political debate. The mission is simple, says chief executive Graham Smith. "We want to get rid of the monarchy and have a republican constitution with an elected head of state." Republicans want a referendum because, for them, the monarchy is undemocratic. "It's not chosen by the people, doesn't represent the people, and as an institution it isn't fit for purpose," says Mr Smith. Just look at the "enormously wasteful" Jubilee, he points out. So who are the people behind the politics? "Republic has changed over the last few years", says James Gray, a 31-year-old writer from Essex. "It's younger, more evenly split between genders, and more diverse in terms of professions. We're ordinary people." So no Sex Pistols or punk-era vitriol then? "Punk anti-royalism wasn't really founded on principle", says James. "Our methods aren't controversial, but we're not afraid of getting into scraps. Not literally." Mr Smith believes Republic's first hurdle is public opinion, because political opinion will follow. Recent polls haven't provided him with good news here. One published by Ipsos Mori in May suggested 13% of Britons wanted a republic. But Mr Smith dismisses the accuracy of that. "It's clearly a blip because every other poll before and after shows about 20-25%." Mori has previously reported those favouring a republic averaged just under 20%, a slightly lower figure, but one that has remained consistent for 18 years between 1993-2011. Another poll this week by ICM for the Guardian suggests 22% of people believe the country would be better off without a monarchy, with 69% saying it would be worse off. Even after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, support for republicanism remained steady. "That stability", says Mr Smith, "shows that the issue hasn't been sufficiently engaged with in the past." And Republic's chief executive believes opinion is shifting: "The other 75% of the population aren't all monarchists", he says. Many are stuck in "default position" and "don't know how to change it". But does even half-baked tolerance mean Britain is ready for revolution? Royal commentator and Stirling University's professor of communications, Neil Blain, says criticism of the British monarchy is mainly found on social media. "Grumbling seldom finds a public voice," he says. "Republic is pretty much the only force for debate about the monarchy in Britain. And for this reason it's actually rather important." Its impact is another matter. "Republic is building political alliances, which it needs," adds Professor Blain. "Without this there's a danger it could look, not like a lost cause, but a becalmed cause. "Historically, there are periods when the monarchy was quite unpopular. Even in the 90s, broadsheets seriously discussed its future. "We've settled into a period of acceptance. People like spectacle and tradition; it's hard to upstage a royal wedding with micro-blogging. "The major challenge facing Republic is how do you market republicanism? But they're tackling this in an organised, strategic way, so I'd absolutely not write them off." Republic's real frustration is, as they see it, unbalanced, unfettered royal press coverage. They complain in particular about the balance of BBC reporting. By Ipsos Mori's previous reckonings, there could be as many as 10 million people in the UK who sympathise with Republic's view. "You just wouldn't know that from the print media," says the group's director and "full-time republican" Andrew Child. But not all anti-royalists share their position, among them author and former Labour minister Roy Hattersley. "I'm a staunch republican, but I think many of the ways that Republic promotes the position are silly. "They complain the media spends too much time reporting on Jubilee celebrations, but what else are they supposed to do? "There's a very substantial case for a republic, but unfortunately the organisation Republic trivialises it." But Mr Child believes in Republic's approach. "There's still a fear in Britain of openly criticising the Queen. We need to be trailblazers. If we get a proportionate slice of royal coverage, our numbers will go absolutely gangbusters." Back to the volunteers - in an office that cannot be named "because it's not relevant". How can "firm, serious" Republic fire debate if most people are fine, even happy, with the status quo? "It's about asking questions, getting people thinking, working from a premise of fairness and equality," says Paula Feehan. "And showing how a republic would affect a normal person in the street." "Republic isn't radical or scary. We're not counter-culture. We are culture." Republic is ready for the Jubilee. The challenge for them is convincing the UK to listen.

जैसे-जैसे ब्रिटेन के अधिकांश लोग महारानी की हीरक जयंती मनाने के लिए तैयार हो रहे हैं, हर कोई खुश नहीं है। रिपब्लिकन सप्ताहांत में अपना विरोध बढ़ा रहे हैं-लेकिन वे कौन हैं, और वे वास्तव में क्या चाहते हैं?


Guide: Christians in the Middle East

Summary: The Middle East is the birthplace of Christianity and home to some of the world's most ancient Christian denominations. But Christian communities across the region are declining in numbers because of a combination of low birth rates, emigration and, in some places, persecution and violence.

LEBANON Lebanon is the only Middle Eastern country where Christians were once dominant and retain considerable political power. The country fought a civil war from 1975-1989 largely along religious lines, and relations between the patchwork of Lebanon's religious communities remain delicate. The last official census was conducted in 1932, but current estimates suggest there are slightly more Muslims than Christians. There is a widespread perception among Christians that their numbers and influence are declining. The constitution dictates that the president is always Christian, the prime minister Sunni Muslim, and the parliamentary speaker Shia Muslim. The largest Church is the Maronite Church, which traces its origins to a 4th Century Syrian hermit, St Maron. The Church united with the Catholic Church in 1736, although it retains its own traditions and practices. The Greek Orthodox Church is also strong in Lebanon, and there is a wide range of other denominations. Most religious groups operate freely. Muslim-Christian relations have generally been calm in recent years. However, tensions increased in 2005 with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the withdrawal of Syrian troops and a wave of bombings in Christian areas. ISRAEL About 20.5% of the country's population are Israeli-Arab - and about 9% of those are Christian. As such the Christians are a minority within a minority, practising their religion and trying to maintain their identity as part of an overwhelmingly Muslim population group. The majority are from Catholic - both Eastern and Western rite - denominations and the Greek Orthodox Church. The remaining Christians include increasing numbers of immigrants from around the world. A vast number of denominations are represented, including Copts, Armenians, Russian Orthodox, Lutherans and a wide range of other Protestant groups. There are also Messianic Jews who consider themselves Jewish but recognise Christ as the Messiah, and Christian Zionists who profess strong support for the Jewish people. There is freedom of worship in Israel and proselytising is allowed. WEST BANK AND GAZA Christian communities in the West Bank and Gaza have been declining for several decades because of conflict, economic decline and low birth rates. The World Christian Database says they accounted for 5.3% of the population in 1970 and have dropped to less than half that now. Some Christian leaders also cite the rise of radical Islam in the area as a growing pressure on Christian communities. Christians are concentrated in and around the towns of Bethlehem and Ramallah. A pastor in Gaza City estimates there are a mere 2,000 Christians among the Gaza Strip's 1.3 million inhabitants. The two largest Churches are Greek Orthodox and Catholic, although the Assyrian, Armenian Orthodox and Syrian Orthodox Churches, as well as many Protestant denominations, are also represented. Christian-Muslim relationships are largely peaceful and Christians have reached senior positions in the Palestinian Authority, although some Palestinian Christians complain of harassment and discrimination. EGYPT Most Christians in Egypt are Copts - Christians descended from the ancient Egyptians. Their Church split from the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches in 451AD because of a theological dispute over the nature of Christ, but is now, on most issues, doctrinally similar to the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Coptic language - a derivative of the ancient Egyptian language, written mainly in the Greek alphabet - is still used for small parts of services. Christian-Muslim relations have deteriorated in recent years, with outbreaks of violence by radical Islamists against Christians and their places of worship. Egyptian Christians have accused the post-Mubarak governing military council of being too lenient on the perpetrators of the attacks. Copts also complain of discrimination, including a law requiring presidential permission for churches to be built. A plethora of other Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and Armenian Churches are present in smaller numbers in Egypt. SYRIA Syria has for much of the century had a sizeable Christian minority, making up at least 10% of the population. The proportion is thought to be declining due to emigration and low birth rates, although there are few reliable statistics. In recent years Syria has been considered one of the easier Middle Eastern countries for Christians to live in. Power is concentrated in the hands of the Alawite minority - a Shia sect considered heretical by many Muslims - which has clamped down hard on extreme forms of Islam. Although some Christians have been successful in professions and business - with a few rising relatively high in the administration - others have followed relatives to the West for economic reasons or to escape the general repression of the regime. The largest Churches are the Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic. There are also Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholic, Assyrian and Chaldean (see Iran and Iraq) Christians. JORDAN Jordan's Christian population has dropped from about 5% of the population in 1970 to the current estimated 3%. The main Churches are Eastern and Western-rite Catholic and the Greek Orthodox. There is generally freedom of religion, apart for Muslims converting to Christianity who sometimes face severe discrimination. All Churches must be recognised by the government. Nine of the 110 parliamentary seats are reserved for Christians. There are many missionary groups in the country, although proselytising Muslims is not allowed. Relations between Christians and Muslims in Jordan are largely amicable. IRAQ There has been a Christian presence in what is now Iraq since the 2nd Century. The largest groups are the Chaldean and Assyrian Churches. The Chaldeans are Eastern-rite Catholics - autonomous Churches of Eastern origin which retain their own liturgy and traditions, but recognise the Pope's authority. The Assyrian Church - the Ancient Church of the East, also sometimes referred to as the Nestorian Church - traces its roots back to 2nd Century Mesopotamia and is not Catholic. The traditional liturgical language of both Assyrian and Chaldean Churches is Syriac - a derivative of Aramaic, the language thought to have been spoken by Jesus and his disciples. Some Iraqi Christians still speak Syriac. Iraq also has communities of Syrian Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Copts, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholics, as well as Anglicans and Evangelicals. A rise in attacks on Christians after the US-led invasion in 2003 led to up to half the Christian population leaving, although there are no official statistics. In November 2010, 52 people were killed as security forces stormed a Catholic church in Baghdad to free dozens of people held hostage. A Sunni militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest such incident suffered by Iraq's Christians in modern times. Although the Iraqi government has made commitments to enshrining the rights of religious minorities in the country's new constitution, the lack of security makes these difficult to enforce on the ground. IRAN The largest Church in Iran is the Armenian Apostolic Church, which dates back to around 300AD. Its doctrines are similar to the Eastern Orthodox Church, although services follow traditional Armenian rites and the Armenian language is used. There has been an Armenian community in Iran for several centuries. The second-largest Church is the Assyrian Church (see Iraq). Iran's traditional Christian populations are recognised in the constitution, guaranteed freedom to worship and allocated seats in the parliament, but face some discrimination in employment and political rights. Numbers are thought to be decreasing. Evangelical Christians are not recognised and face heavy discrimination. GULF COUNTRIES All the Gulf countries have very few, if any, indigenous Christians. Most, however, have large populations of expatriate workers from around the world, many of which include sizeable Christian communities. In most countries the expatriates have freedom of worship but are not allowed to try to convert Muslims to Christianity. In Saudi Arabia, public expressions of non-Muslim religion are banned. Private religious gatherings are also prohibited, although the ban is only enforced intermittently.

मध्य पूर्व ईसाई धर्म का जन्मस्थान है और दुनिया के कुछ सबसे प्राचीन ईसाई संप्रदायों का घर है। लेकिन कम जन्म दर, प्रवास और कुछ स्थानों पर उत्पीड़न और हिंसा के संयोजन के कारण इस क्षेत्र में ईसाई समुदायों की संख्या में गिरावट आ रही है।


Antwerp: Belgium building collapses in explosion

Summary: An explosion has brought down a residential building in the Belgian city of Antwerp, killing at least two people, officials say.

The incident on the central street of Paardenmarkt was likely caused by a gas explosion, local media report. Police have ruled out terrorism. Three other buildings were also damaged in Monday evening's blast. Fourteen people were injured, one of them critically. Five were in a serious condition in hospital. Rescue workers found the two bodies on Tuesday morning. Earlier, three people were removed alive from the rubble, including a child. Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016.

बेल्जियम के एंटवर्प शहर में एक विस्फोट में एक आवासीय इमारत गिर गई, जिसमें कम से कम दो लोगों की मौत हो गई।


South Wales Police dog school: Training the canine cops

Summary: With elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) taking place on 15 November across Wales and England, we are taking a look at aspects of modern policing - including the role of the "canine cops".

By Gemma RyallBBC News They play a crucial part in the fight against terrorism around the world, their sensitive noses able to sniff out a "nanogramme" of explosives. But the use of police dogs to crack complex crime is largely due to the "pioneering" work of South Wales Police and their battle to stop Welsh extremists in the late 1960s. "South Wales Police were the first to train explosive search police dogs in 1969," said Sgt Ian Roderick, who has run the South Wales Police dog training school for 17 years. "At the time there was a huge issue with Welsh extremism and there were attacks being carried out by the Free Wales Army. "South Wales Police went to the Met [Police in London] and asked them to train the dogs to search for explosives. They said it couldn't be done - so we did it ourselves." The results were "astounding" and led the way for the 380 explosive dogs that now work throughout the UK. It also helped establish the South Wales Police school as one of the most prestigious in the UK, training dogs and officers from countries as far away as the the Middle East, Hong Kong and Bermuda. It has also trained dogs for all four Welsh police forces, others around the UK, the Army and the Prison Service. Around Wales there are now over 145 police dogs, who play an important support role for the police forces that will soon be overseen by the new Police and Crime Commissioners. Christmas trees The Bridgend-based dog school started off as a training ground for four German Shepherd puppies in August 1960 - Bruce, Bess, Cora and Carl - in the then Glamorgan Constabulary. The first dog-assisted arrest in the force area came a few months later when Carl helped stop three men stealing Christmas trees in Tonyrefail. Since then the dogs' skills have evolved to meet the demands of modern policing. Now, along with patrol dogs, which are usually German or Belgian Shepherds, specialist search dogs - typically gun dog breeds - are trained to find substances that humans often cannot. As well as explosives, South Wales Police have trained dogs to locate illegal drugs, firearms, currency, blood and bodies, passports and mobile phones and SIM cards. Despite the complicated cases they become involved with, training the dogs is relatively simple, Sgt Roderick said. "It's all based on positive rewards. We make it fun for them, we make it a game," he said. "They look for something based on a certain smell and if they find it they get a toy or a reward after it." He said the training could be adapted to find all manner of substances and that as new drugs and explosives emerge, the dogs can be shown how to find them. "I still don't think we have exploited or understand more than 5% of what a dog is capable of," he said. "Some of our dogs are capable of detecting nanogramme of substances. Scientists admit they can't recreate machines that can detect the same amount. It fascinates me even now. "We train the dogs to meet the needs of society. "The drug mephedrone - or meow meow as it's known - is a big thing now. It was something that was legal until a short time ago. That's what we're training the dogs to detect now. "We have always got to react to what's going on out there." Crowded stadiums Puppies are usually taken on by the school when they are just a few months old and are helped to adjust to their new working environment, such as being taken to crowded stadiums and airports. Then, when they are about 18 months old, they are given the training needed to gain their licence. Sgt Maria Henry, who is in charge of Gwent Police's dog section, said on average their dogs were responsible for detaining over 100 criminals each month, along with recovering thousands of pounds of drugs and stolen property. "The dogs are invaluable," she said. "One recent success story was when a dog and its handler responded to a call-out about a stolen vehicle in Newport. "The dog tracked some boys through fields and brambles and one of them was carrying a holdall with about a quarter of a million pounds worth of cocaine." Usain Bolt Police are not the only fans of their hero dogs. "Some of the specialist dogs went up to the Olympics," said Sgt Henry. "The explosives dog was searching the track area one evening after the crowds had gone home and he met Usain Bolt [Olympic 100m and 200m champion]. "Apparently he was fabulous with the dogs as he was missing his own. He asked if he could come and stroke them." And what of the police handlers who form "extremely close" bonds with their dogs? "All the dogs live with their handlers and they are very close as they have to trust each other," said Sgt Roderick. "When the dogs retire, they often continue to live with the handler's family. You get protective of them. They're your partner."

पूरे वेल्स और इंग्लैंड में 15 नवंबर को होने वाले पुलिस और अपराध आयुक्तों (पीसीसी) के चुनावों के साथ, हम आधुनिक पुलिसिंग के पहलुओं पर एक नज़र डाल रहे हैं-जिसमें "कैनाइन पुलिस" की भूमिका भी शामिल है।


Man arrested after being rescued from car in River Clyde

Summary: A 32-year-old man has been arrested after having to be rescued when his car went into the River Clyde at Port Glasgow.

Emergency services were called to the scene at Newark Castle at about 23:40 on Saturday. It is believed they found the man sitting on the roof of his car several metres out into the water. After being rescued he was taken to Inverclyde Royal Infirmary for treatment before being released. Police Scotland said a 32-year-old man had been charged in connection with the incident and a report would be sent to the procurator fiscal. Ch Inspector Graeme Gallie said: "We are currently working with the coastguard to the retrieve the vehicle."

पोर्ट ग्लासगो में क्लाइड नदी में उनकी कार के जाने के बाद एक 32 वर्षीय व्यक्ति को बचाया गया।


How Margaret Thatcher helped change media landscape

Summary: Baroness Thatcher has dominated the media this week - and is set to do so for several days to come. But it's a very different media world from the one she inherited on entering Downing Street - and not just because of the internet, Twitter and Facebook.

By Torin DouglasMedia correspondent When Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first woman prime minister in May 1979, The Times didn't report the fact. It had stopped publication because of an industrial dispute which closed it for 11 months. So had its sister paper the Sunday Times. Within three months, ITV was also on strike, blacking out all television advertising in the UK for 11 weeks. Those lengthy shutdowns are a reminder of just how different life was in 1979 and how the media business was transformed by her time in office: In 1979, as in many areas of industry, leaders of the printing, broadcasting and telecoms unions ruled the roost, as Rupert Murdoch recalled in a personal tribute to Margaret Thatcher in The Times this week. "We were stuck with an industry that refused to change its ways" he wrote. "There were constant threats to go slow, to stop the presses or to walk out altogether. It couldn't go on." The restrictive practices inflated the pay of union members (both in newspapers and broadcasting), reduced company profits and protected over-manning, in the face of new technology already commonplace in other countries. British newspapers were printed only in black-and-white (colour was confined to the supplements) and the number of pages and sections was severely limited. But it wasn't only the unions that imposed restrictions. Copyright on TV listings meant newspapers couldn't print the next day's programme schedules - let alone the next week's. Viewers had to buy both Radio Times (for BBC programmes) and TV Times (for ITV) to find out what would be on, protecting the broadcasters' lucrative publishing duopoly. And under Government control of the airwaves, ITV was the only television channel allowed to show commercials, which it sold through 15 regional monopolies. Only in London could advertisers negotiate with rival companies, Thames and London Weekend Television. But the seeds of the transformation had already been sown. Margaret Thatcher was elected with a public mandate to "tame the unions" following Labour's Winter of Discontent in 1978-9 - which left bodies unburied and mountains of uncollected rubbish. She introduced industrial relations legislation which outlawed closed shops, secondary picketing and made secret ballots compulsory instead of mass show-of-hands voting. Taking advantage of the new laws, Murdoch decided to break the unions' power, secretly moving his four national newspapers to a new plant in Wapping, east London, which used the new computerised technology. Mrs Thatcher had strengthened Murdoch's hand by letting him take over The Times and the Sunday Times, even though he already owned the Sun and the News of the World. The previous owners, the Thomson Organisation, had decided to sell after the 11-month closure. The last straw was when their journalists - who had received full pay throughout the dispute - voted to go on strike themselves. The Times had made losses for many years but the Sunday Times - with a large circulation and packed with advertising - was assumed to be very profitable. To many people's surprise, the Thatcher government permitted the takeover without referring it to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. The former editor of the Sunday Times, Sir Harold Evans, wrote: "A newspaper merger unprecedented in history went through in three days." The decision was formally taken by the Secretary of State for Trade, John Biffen, on the grounds that the two papers were not going concerns and could close if the takeover were delayed by an MMC investigation. The ruling was hotly criticised in parliament and the press. In his book Good Times, Bad Times, Sir Harold reported that Mrs Thatcher was the architect of the deal. "Normally the apostle of competition, on this occasion the lady was ready for turning: the U-turn she executed was in the expectation that Murdoch's affinity with her politics would impel him to ensure favourable coverage." For many years it was denied - not least in the official history of The Times - that the two had met in the run-up to the bid being cleared. But in 2012 it emerged, from papers released under the 30-year rule, that Murdoch had had a secret lunch with Mrs Thatcher at Chequers to put his plans to her. Evans wrote that the meeting "that never took place" was "highly improper". Mrs Thatcher's press spokesman Bernard Ingham - in a note of the meeting - claimed that she did nothing more than "wish him well in his bid" and noted the need to improve Fleet Street staffing levels and to introduce new technology. With four national newspapers - two daily, two Sunday, quality as well as popular - Murdoch was now in a stronger position to take on the unions at Wapping. In January 1986, he made his move. The resulting dispute - which led to violent battles between police and pickets - lasted months, reinforcing the media mogul's reputation as a hate-figure among the left. Eventually Murdoch won, not merely increasing his papers' profitability but helping his rivals to introduce the new technology, as well as new entrants to the market such as the Independent. Andrew Neil, then the editor of the Sunday Times, said on Radio 4's The Media Show this week that Thatcher played a crucial role in the publisher's victory, and not just by outlawing secondary picketing. He said Rupert Murdoch had told him that "he had squared Mrs Thatcher as far as the police were concerned, that he'd had a guarantee from her that enough police would be made available to keep the company going about its lawful business". He went on: "I remember it well because he compared it with New York - he had not attempted this with the New York Post because he didn't think the mayor could deliver on that and he didn't think he could count on the police if he tried to do the same there." The Thatcher government was also trying to shake up broadcasting. After numerous rows with the BBC, over issues such as the coverage of the Falklands Conflict in 1982, the Real Lives documentary on Northern Ireland terrorism, and the bombing of Libya in 1986, Mrs Thatcher hoped to cut the corporation down to size. She set up the Peacock Committee to examine whether the BBC could be funded by advertising, so the licence fee could be scrapped. "Ideologically she was very opposed to the BBC, perceiving it to be very left-wing," said Professor Patrick Barwise of the London Business School, who was advising the corporation at the time. On The Media Show, he said: "It took us a very short time to persuade the committee it wasn't a runner. If you'd had advertising on the BBC, the revenue would have come from ITV and you'd have had less money for programmes." Meanwhile, a new BBC director general, John Birt, was making radical changes at the corporation, which were highly unpopular with its staff. His supporters say that stopped the Thatcher government breaking up the BBC and selling off stations like Radio 1. Instead, she turned her attention to ITV. In 1987, at a Downing Street summit, Mrs Thatcher told ITV bosses that their industry was "the last bastion of restrictive practices". In her memoirs, The Downing Street Years, she wrote: "Broadcasting was one of a number of areas in which special pleading by powerful interest groups was disguised as high-minded commitment to some greater good." Attempts to break the powerful duopoly which the BBC and ITV had achieved - which encouraged restrictive practices, increased costs and kept out talent - were decried as threatening the 'quality of broadcasting'." The first shake-up came with the launch of Channel 4 in November 1982. An earlier government report had concluded that "the younger generation of producers is bubbling over with ideas which are not allowed to surface", and the Thatcher government decreed that most of its programmes should be provided by a new breed of 'independent producers'. Phil Redmond, creator of Brookside, was one of them. On its 30th anniversary, he wrote: "In 1982 there were only three television channels and the country was in the grip of a deep recession with Margaret Thatcher in power. Then along came Channel 4. It made a huge, immediate impact as it was given the remit to cater for minorities and find voices that were unheard - and it certainly lived up to that. It allowed new people to be seen on TV, with new ideas and voices." But the biggest shake-up in commercial television came from the decision to award ITV licences to the highest bidder, subject to a quality hurdle. It was highly controversial. One of ITV's most successful programme-making companies, Thames Television, was outbid by Carlton Television, led by Michael Green. He had earlier tried to buy Thames but been prevented from doing so by the regulator, the Independent Broadcasting Authority, as he described on The Media Show. The licence process had an unexpected - and unwelcome - outcome for Mrs Thatcher. The man often described as her favourite TV executive, Bruce Gyngell, had turned the ailing breakfast station TV-am into profit, and kept it on the air during a union dispute in 1987 - helping transform working practices in the industry. But TV-am was beaten by an unrealistically high bid from GMTV. Mr Gyngell later received a letter from the prime minister, which caused a sensation when he read it out at an awards lunch. "When I see how some of the other licences have been awarded," she wrote, "I am mystified that you did not receive yours, and heartbroken . . . I am only too painfully aware that I was responsible for the legislation."

बैरोनेस थैचर ने इस सप्ताह मीडिया पर दबदबा बनाया है-और आने वाले कई दिनों तक ऐसा करने के लिए तैयार है। लेकिन यह एक बहुत ही अलग मीडिया दुनिया है जो उन्हें डाउनिंग स्ट्रीट में प्रवेश करने पर विरासत में मिली थी-और न केवल इंटरनेट, ट्विटर और फेसबुक के कारण।


Man released over fatal Sheffield hit-and-run

Summary: A man arrested in connection with a fatal hit-and-run has been released while inquiries continue.

A 28-year-old woman died when she was hit by a grey Fiat as s at about 02:00 BST on Saturday. The car was later found burnt out in the Heeley area of the city. Police said a 51-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and failing to stop has been released. Latest news from across Yorkshire

घातक हिट-एंड-रन के सिलसिले में गिरफ्तार एक व्यक्ति को रिहा कर दिया गया है, जबकि पूछताछ जारी है।


Suspected Class A drugs 'worth £120,000' seized in Tobermore

Summary: Suspected Class A drugs with an estimated street value of £120,000 have been seized by police following a search of a house in Tobermore, County Londonderry.

Police said the search on Sunday was part of a "proactive investigation into organised crime". A 43-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of a number of drugs offences. Police have welcomed the seizure and said drugs cause "irreparable damage". Officers have appealed for anyone with information "about illegal drug use or drug dealing" to contact them.

काउंटी लंदनडेरी के टोबरमोर में एक घर की तलाशी के बाद पुलिस ने £120,000 के अनुमानित सड़क मूल्य के साथ संदिग्ध वर्ग ए ड्रग्स को जब्त कर लिया है।