Viewpoint: Europe must lead global peace drive - Barroso

Summary: The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has told the BBC that the Nobel Peace Prize gives the EU authority to lead peace efforts worldwide. Here is his viewpoint on the award, which he and other EU leaders are receiving in the Norwegian capital Oslo on Monday.

Being in Oslo to jointly receive this award on behalf of the European Union is an honour and a humbling experience. This is an award for the European project - for the people and the institutions - that day after day, for the last 60 years, have built a new Europe. It is a good moment to remind ourselves of what the European Union has done: I know that some have asked why, why now? Well, Thorbjoern Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, summed it up perfectly on the day of the announcement (and again just now - and I wish to thank him warmly for his words). "This is the right moment to give a clear message to Europe to preserve what we have achieved… This is a prize to have a better organised world, to have stability and peace." We will honour this prize and we will preserve what has been achieved. It is in the common interest of our citizens. And it will allow Europe to contribute in shaping that "better organised world" in line with the values of freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law that we cherish and believe in. The last 60 years have shown that Europe can unite in peace. Over the next 60 years, Europe must lead the global quest for peace. Mr Barroso spoke to the BBC Hardtalk programme in Oslo. You can watch the full interview on BBC World News on Monday 10 December at 0430, 0930, 1530 and 2130 GMT, on the BBC News channel on Monday 10 December at 0430 GMT and Tuesday 11 December at 0030 GMT. You can also watch the interview on the BBC iplayer and you can download a podcast. .

यूरोपीय आयोग के अध्यक्ष, जोस मैनुअल बारोसो ने बीबीसी को बताया है कि नोबेल शांति पुरस्कार यूरोपीय संघ को दुनिया भर में शांति प्रयासों का नेतृत्व करने का अधिकार देता है। यहाँ पुरस्कार पर उनका दृष्टिकोण है, जो उन्हें और अन्य यूरोपीय संघ के नेताओं को सोमवार को नॉर्वे की राजधानी ओस्लो में प्राप्त हो रहा है।


How children's services cuts are affecting one family

Summary: As Northamptonshire County Council makes £70m worth of spending cuts, how does it feel for a needy family to have support withdrawn?

By Hannah RichardsonBBC News education and social affairs reporter "Mum!!!! Daniel's outside in his pants!" cries Alex at the crack of dawn. "Is he out the front?" asks mum-of-four Torie Brooks, who had fallen back to sleep. "No, he's in the back garden," says Alex. "Well, that's all right then," she says, hauling herself out of bed yet again to attend to the younger of her two disabled sons. Torie is accustomed to early morning wake-up calls of this sort at the family home in the Northamptonshire village of Woodford Halse. Daniel and Alex both have a rare disorder called Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, in which the body is unable to produce suitable amounts of cholesterol. It has affected the way they have developed. Daniel also has ADHD, a heart condition and probably autism, while Alex has a pronounced curve in his spine. Like any other child, Daniel also has his interests - his main one being insects. "He gets up any time from 03:00. Suddenly he'll be in the room asking me where the bees are or something," she says. "And I don't know where the bees are!" In most families, it's the toddler who wakes mum and dad at an ungodly hour, but four-year-old Edward, though demanding, is the least of Torie's worries, "Edward's a handful now, but he will overtake Daniel in ability at some point," she says. "Daniel will never be able to live an independent life. He will always be at home. I've had to accept that. "Although he's nearly 12, inside mentally he is about a four or five-year-old." His interest in wasps and spiders is verging on obsessive. The plastic jar in which he collects them and feeds them is never far from his side. He claps enthusiastically when he manages to catch a new tenant. We are all asked to admire them. 'To be 'normal'' Older brother Alex, 13, will not grow any taller. He has had numerous operations on his spine so he can walk and hold himself up properly. Surgeons tried to correct the curve by fusing it. However, it is still bent and he shrugs in a matter-of-fact way when he shows me. "He is really quite clever," says Torie. There is an intensity about the teenager, who also has a rather dry sense of humour. He loves playing games on his phone and is often to be found in his gaming chair in his bedroom - a "normal" teenager in so many respects. . Then there's Annabelle, 15, who was struck and seriously injured by a falling tree when she was 10. This left her with eight fractured vertebrae, a bleed on the brain and a fractured eye socket. She had an operation on her face during which metal plates were inserted and she was required to wear a brace for six months. Annabelle came home from hospital needing to use a wheelchair, and started secondary school in one. She's no longer in the wheelchair but her mental health was affected by the accident and she is waiting for an appointment for support. Just before the accident, the family had been celebrating a really good start to the year, says Torie, a woman accustomed to bad news, with a smile. Children in care It's easy to see why a family like this needs help from its local authority. But since the financial crisis of 2008, councils have had to tighten their belts significantly. Northamptonshire, where the Brookses live, has fared worse than most. In February, it warned it may not be able to balance its books, and repeated this in July. It recently voted to make radical cuts to jobs and services to fill a £70m void and, as part of a plan to claw back cash, has had to end all further spending above that required by law. That includes non-statutory children's services. Northamptonshire County Council has said it is looking after more children in care than similar councils. This included youngsters who came into its care between 2013 and 2017 and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. A council spokesman cited "unprecedented demand for local services, rapid population growth and reducing levels of funding from central government" as reasons for its strapped finances. ''Such circumstances have meant that all services have had to be reviewed over the past few years to balance budgets," he added. ''However, we are determined to protect services for the most vulnerable in our communities while bringing the council's spending under control.'" The council has already closed or moved numerous children's centres, including the one attached to the school in the village where the Brooks family lives. And more are likely to close in the next round of cuts, as some were shifted to local libraries, some of which are now threatened with closure. In recent weeks, as the council's cash crisis has intensified, the family has been told Daniel will stop having occupational therapy and his autism assessment appointments are being postponed for two years. It is families like these who are at the sharp end of the cuts in the county. For Torie, the children's centre was a godsend in the early years. 'Heart-breaking' "I needed to get out with the boys,'' she said. "If I was at home on my own I would start to think about all the negatives. "Often we would go down there at 09:00 and stay there until it finished at 15:00." She adds: "There was one time when it had been snowing heavily and they came and got us!" Torie described how staff at the centre encouraged her to interact and stimulate the boys in different ways because of their developmental needs. "They actually came to the house and showed me how to play with the children." As new issues emerged with each boy, she was able to find the right place to go for help through the staff at the centre, she says. But that all changed with the closure of the centre. Torie says parents of children with additional needs have to fight for everything and the older boys' schooling was no exception, as Torie told the BBC in 2013. When Alex was eight, his primary school in the village called her in to say it was struggling to keep up with the boys' needs. "I came back and I cried. I was really upset. It's heart-breaking. "For want of a better word - I want the boys to be normal. I want them to be able to do what everybody else is doing. I wanted them to go to the school in the village like the other children." It was at this point, she says, that it really hit home that her boys were not going to live normal lives. "When he left mainstream it absolutely ripped my heart out." After the usual battling, Alex was finally offered a place at a special school over the county border in Oxfordshire. "We could see straightaway the difference in Alex and we knew we needed to get Daniel in there too," says Torie. "They have done remarkably well. They have already achieved more than we'd ever hoped for them." But not long after the boys settled in, letters arrived saying the council planned to move them to other schools. "We fought that hard. ''I said, 'For every one reason you say they need to go, I will give you one why they need to stay'." Daniel's heart condition means he needs to be within spitting distance of a hospital and Northamptonshire relented. Recently the family was told that Daniel's direct payments of £44.72 monthly, for specialist after-school clubs and much-needed respite care, are to stop. One activity the family uses this money to pay for is an animal-centred club, where Daniel does some gentle horse-riding to help with his core strength. After complaining, the family's social worker took up their case with the council. They've been told the payments are being reinstated. But there's another bigger battle ahead. The Brooks family had been approved for a grant to extend their house. This would have been to give Alex and Daniel the separate bedrooms they require as they grow older. ''Daniel wakes up at any time and just gets out of bed,'' Torie explains. "The other night he came in at 22:00 asking for breakfast. He doesn't understand the time thing." When Alex was able to sleep separately, the benefits were obvious, Torie adds. Both boys have meltdowns borne of the frustrations they face living with their conditions and, Torie explains, need a private, safe space to express those very real feelings. The council agrees the construction work is needed. Its own quote says the building work will cost £75,000, but the grant offer has dropped to £35,000. And although Torie's husband is working long hours, the family is unable to find the £40,000 shortfall. "We could probably get it done a lot cheaper by not going through a council contractor, but that is not allowed," she adds. "Sometimes," says Torie, it seems "forces are trying to frustrate what we've fought for". But she tries to keep positive, using her evident patience and sense of humour. 'Guilty feelings' "Being a parent of children with issues can be very, very lonely. Not everyone understands. Although I am fairly lucky in that I do have close friends. "But it isn't easy to find childcare when it's urgent. And sometimes you just need reassurance from someone that you are doing a good job. "There is a great deal of guilt behind it too. "I think every parent feels like that at some point anyway. But the guilt of wondering, 'Why your children, why you, and what did I do wrong?' is hard. "Although deep down you know it's just the way life has happened. It doesn't stop those feelings." 'Flame goes out' With regard to the cuts, it's easy to see how her family will be affected practically. But how does it feel? ''It takes a lot to pluck up courage and admit you need help," says Torie. ''But when there isn't any help it's like a flame that goes out. You fight and battle to get the help that's needed and it's not there.'' She also worries about the longer-term future. ''What happens when I'm not here to fight for the boys, or when I'm physically not able to look after them any more?'' And she feels angry too. ''Nobody deserves to be treated this way.''

जैसा कि नॉर्थम्पटनशायर काउंटी काउंसिल 70 मिलियन पाउंड के खर्च में कटौती करती है, एक जरूरतमंद परिवार के लिए समर्थन वापस लेना कैसा लगता है?


Supreme Court: Pictures from heated Commons debate

Summary: MPs returned to the Commons on Wednesday after the Supreme Court ruled that Boris Johnson's decision to suspend Parliament was unlawful.

Supreme Court president Lady Hale said on Tuesday that it was unlawful because "it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification." Attorney General Geoffrey Cox told the Commons that he was "disappointed" at the landmark ruling but respected the judgement. Here are pictures of some of the key political events this week. .

सुप्रीम कोर्ट द्वारा संसद को निलंबित करने के बोरिस जॉनसन के फैसले को गैरकानूनी ठहराने के बाद सांसद बुधवार को कॉमन्स में लौट आए।


Isle of Man homes without power after heavy snow

Summary: Up to 500 homes on the Isle of Man are without power for a second day after "extreme weather" caused damage to the island's electricity network.

Around 700 properties were cut off after snow fell on Friday, a Manx Electricity Authority (MEA) spokesman said. He said there had been more overnight faults due to "ongoing severe weather" in Fleshwick, Scard and Earystane. MEA aimed "to get the majority back on supply over the weekend", he added. "We are deploying all of our available resource to assess and repair the major damage to our network in those areas of the island affected by this extreme weather," he said. Some Steam Packet sailings have also been affected by the weather. All Saturday sailings between Douglas and Liverpool have been cancelled, though those between Heysham and Douglas are running as normal.

"चरम मौसम" के कारण द्वीप के बिजली नेटवर्क को नुकसान पहुंचने के बाद आइल ऑफ मैन पर 500 तक घर दूसरे दिन भी बिजली के बिना हैं।


Coronavirus: Is Putin rushing Russia out of lockdown?

Summary: It looks like Vladimir Putin has run out of patience with coronavirus.

By Sarah RainsfordBBC News, Moscow On Monday he sent millions of workers back to factories and building sites across Russia, declaring six weeks of full lockdown over. Regional leaders have been left to manage exactly how and when they lift the remaining restrictions, with the infection rate still stubbornly high - especially in Moscow. But by Thursday, Mr Putin was telling his government that life was "resuming its normal, familiar rhythm" and urging them to refocus on non-coronavirus priorities. The message from the top is clear: Russia's president wants to move on. Why the rush? "I think for the first time in his active political life, Putin is faced by a problem which is absolutely not under his control and which broke all of his plans," says Chatham House political analyst Nikolai Petrov. This spring that included a public vote on reforming the constitution, allowing Mr Putin to rule for another two terms. Instead, the 67-year-old ended up retreating to his residence outside Moscow, after an attempt to keep up his action-man image by visiting a coronavirus-hospital in full hazmat suit became a close-scrape with infection. The doctor who showed him round later tested positive for the virus. Tucked away in self-isolation, the hands-on president has been forced to conduct business via video conferences on a giant split screen. At 59%, his approval rating has slid to an all-time low and his tetchiness, even boredom, during the long calls has been visible. "Putin's eager to finish his plans," Nikolai Petrov argues, meaning the constitutional reform vote that is still widely advertised on state TV and giant city billboards. "It's like he was caught mid-jump over a fence. It's not a very comfortable position." So is Covid-19 really defeated? The day Vladimir Putin announced a formal end to lockdown, Russia recorded its biggest spike in new coronavirus cases. Since then, official numbers have fallen slightly each day but the total is now over 250,000, placing Russia near the very top of worldwide ratings. Politicians here have preferred to highlight another statistic, though: a mortality rate below 1%. "This shows that the quality of our healthcare is much better than in the USA," the Speaker of Parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, gloated on Wednesday, when Russia had reported just 2,212 coronavirus deaths. "We must give thanks to our doctors and our president, who works day and night to save lives," he gushed, to a smattering of applause from MPs mostly in facemasks. The low mortality has raised some sceptical eyebrows, but the suggestion that Russia is actively under-reporting fatalities was angrily denied by officials this week as "fake news". However, figures for the overall death rate in Moscow in April do suggest an excess mortality of up to three times the official Covid-19 death figure, calculated against an average rate over the past five years. Excess mortality is considered a better measure of Covid-19 deaths, as it includes people who may not have been tested and those dying outside hospital. At around 1,700 excess deaths, Moscow's tally in April was still considerably lower than many places - including London. The Moscow Health Department has since clarified that up to 60% of suspected coronavirus cases actually died of other causes, like strokes or heart attacks, a fact established during post-mortem examination. It denies any cover-up. What lessons have been learned? Russia did have more time to prepare for coronavirus to hit. Widespread testing, now over 40,000 a day in Moscow, early detection and earlier hospital treatment may be helping Russia avoid the distressing scenes of mass graves and overloaded morgues that played out in parts of Europe, though the epidemic here is far from contained yet. There may also be cultural differences: whilst UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson coughed his way through remote meetings with a raging temperature only to end up in intensive care, Vladimir Putin's spokesman battled his own fever for three days before being admitted to hospital with double pneumonia. In an interview with Kommersant newspaper, Dmitry Peskov describes falling ill despite extreme precautions at work, where Kremlin staff even disinfect paperwork before passing it on. Mr Peskov said he hadn't been in direct contact with President Putin himself for over a month. Delegating responsibility It's not clear when Russia's leader might judge it safe to return to the Kremlin. Many others in Moscow are also still "working from home" as most Covid-19 restrictions remain in place. It's down to the mayor to decide when they're lifted and Sergei Sobyanin is still refusing even to let residents out for a daily run. On Thursday, he described such decisions as the hardest he's ever made. The price, he said, was "people's health and lives". That's less about frustrated joggers, than the many workers now struggling. Official unemployment has doubled since the start of the epidemic and the independent polling firm Levada this month found that one in four people had lost, or were in imminent danger of losing, their job. A third have had their wages or hours cut. Russians don't save much, and state handouts to workers under lockdown have been limited, so pressure to ease the restrictions is building. "[Russia's leaders] know that the policy of no work and no money will provoke collapse, an explosion. So they ruled the pandemic over when it's far from the peak," political analyst Lilia Shevtsova argues. "They needed a victory over coronavirus, and fast!" she wrote in a blog for Ekho Moskvy radio station. But the virus, still spreading into Russia's regions, is oblivious to the political wishes of the Kremlin. And the damage to Russia's strongman leader may also be hard to stop. "Even if he gets the constitution vote he wants," Nikolai Petrov argues, "it won't change the fact that Putin is now much weaker."

ऐसा लगता है कि व्लादिमीर पुतिन का कोरोनावायरस के साथ धैर्य खत्म हो गया है।


The story of historically black colleges in the US

Summary: When Kamala Harris, one of the early frontrunners for the 2020 Democratic nomination, talked about the importance of the university she attended, she shone a spotlight on historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

By Cache McClayBBC News, Washington "When the federal government gives attention to HBCUs we end up having a profound impact on black people in America," said the California senator, when asked about her alma mater, Howard University, in an interview following the launch of her presidential bid. HBCUs like Howard, one of the top ranked and most well known historically black universities in the country, are recognised around the globe. Dr Gracie Lawson-Borders, dean of Howard's school of communications, says that for a lot of the students "this opportunity to be accepted at Howard, at Bennett or at any HBCU is just a part of their growing war chest of preparation to make a difference in this world". Why did the US need HBCUs? Historically black colleges and universities, commonly called HBCUs, were created to provide higher education to disenfranchised African Americans in the United States, who were otherwise prohibited from attending most colleges. The first and oldest HBCU, Cheyney University, was founded in 1837 in Pennsylvania. At the time, Blacks were not allowed to attend most colleges and postsecondary institutions, as a result of slavery and segregation. Under the 1965 Higher Education Act, HBCUs were officially defined as institutions of higher learning that were accredited and established before 1964. The act allocated federal grants and funding to those colleges and universities. These institutions would become largely responsible for the black middle class composed of doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers and other professionals. HBCUs continue to produce black celebrities, professionals, and leaders. The two oldest HBCU medical schools Meharry Medical College and Howard University are responsible for more than 80% of African American doctors and dentists practicing in the US today, according to the US Department of Education. Notable African American alum - like Senator Kamala Harris - aren't far and few. The long list of successful African Americans who attended HBCUs include civil rights leader Martin Luther King, the first African American US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, media mogul Oprah Winfrey and director Spike Lee - to name a few. Why have HBCUs been in the news recently? Bennett College, founded in 1873, made headlines in recent months after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges voted to revoke its accreditation due to financial instability. The university was then faced with a task of raising $5m (£3.8m) by February or permanently closing its doors, leaving only its legacy. Bennett College launched the campaign #StandWithBennett and surpassed their goal by February, raising more than $8.5m(£6.5m). Bennett College is one of 101 HBCUs, but its struggle to maintain accreditation is not unprecedented. While some HBCUs continue to thrive, others struggle risk accreditation and enrolment. In fact, five have closed completely since 1989. Why are they still relevant today? While the initial mission was focused on educating marginalised African Americans, today these colleges are comprised of all demographics. As of 2016, non-black students made up 23% of enrolment at HBCUs. Still, historically black institutions are considered safe-havens for African Americans. Many students at Howard, founded in 1867, say that HBCUs are one of the only places that transcend racism still prevalent in society. "It is necessary to hone in on black spaces where we can thrive, support and reach each other before stepping out into a society ruled by racism and built on keeping black people in last place," says Autasia Ramos, a recent graduate of Howard University. The lack of barriers allow students to learn about their history, see their potential through the lens of other successful African Americans who have come before them, and become resilient in a society that still struggles to appreciate them. Mara Peoples, Howard's student body vice-president who met Ms Harris when she launched her presidential bid, points to the California senator as an example of how HBCUs foster that potential. "I feel that I've found validation in myself going to an HBCU because I am able to learn more about my background and I have more opportunities that are geared toward me, as a black individual," she says. Professor Jennifer Thomas, an alumna of Howard University, who now teaches at the school, says she would not be where she is without the education she received at Howard. "The classes were rigorous, the professors were experienced, but most of all I felt I was in a nurturing environment with people who were committed to my success." Supporters of HBCUs say they are not only important for African Americans, but for all of society. Mark McCluskey, a white student at Howard, says for the first time in his life he is considered a minority, but shares his peers' sentiment about the value of preserving HBCUs. "HBCUs are really relevant in today's society because they can spread a lot of knowledge about the cultures that America has largely ignored over the past couple of centuries."

जब 2020 के डेमोक्रेटिक नामांकन के लिए शुरुआती दावेदारों में से एक कमला हैरिस ने उस विश्वविद्यालय के महत्व के बारे में बात की जिसमें उन्होंने भाग लिया था, तो उन्होंने ऐतिहासिक रूप से अश्वेत कॉलेजों और विश्वविद्यालयों (एचबीसीयू) पर प्रकाश डाला।


Galle festival controversy

Summary: The internationally renowned writers, Noam Chomsky and Arundhati Roy, have lent their voices to a call for equally famous authors including Turkey’s Orhan Pamuk to boycott a festival of writing that takes place in Sri Lanka next week.

They say that by attending the Galle Literary Festival, the writers will legitimise what they say is Colombo’s squashing of free expression. However the festival founder has criticised the boycott call, describing the event as a force for good. Arundhati Roy and Noam Chomsky have signed this boycott call launched by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders or RSF along with Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, a group of exiles. Disturbing A week before the Galle Literary Festival starts in southern Sri Lanka, RSF says it is “disturbing” that literature is being celebrated in a country where, it says, journalists, writers and dissident voices are victimised by the government. Monday marks one year since the disappearance of a pro-opposition cartoonist and writer, Prageeth Eknaligoda; and two years ago an outspoken newspaper editor was assassinated. There’s been no progress in investigating the cases. Dozens of Sri Lankan journalists have been beaten up, fled into exile or had death threats. Nobel Prize winner And RSF says that if the guest authors stay away they will be supporting those in Sri Lanka who cannot speak out. Among the festival speakers are the Nobel prize-winning Turkish novelist and free-speech campaigner Orhan Pamuk; China’s Jung Chang; and Nigeria’s Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The festival founder, Geoffrey Dobbs, described the boycott call as “badly informed and negative”. He said the festival, now in its fifth year, encouraged pluralism and free expression and that guest writers should come and judge things and speak out if they wanted to. A Sri Lankan website which highlights human rights issues, Groundviews, agreed, saying that if there were to be a boycott, India’s Arundhati Roy might just as well shun this week’s Jaipur Literature Festival over Delhi’s actions in Kashmir. The website said that the Galle festival helped to keep Sri Lanka country in the media spotlight.

अंतर्राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर प्रसिद्ध लेखकों, नोम चॉम्स्की और अरुंधति रॉय ने तुर्की के ओरहान पामुक सहित समान रूप से प्रसिद्ध लेखकों से अगले सप्ताह श्रीलंका में होने वाले लेखन उत्सव का बहिष्कार करने का आह्वान किया है।


Elderly cancer treatment 'shame'

Summary: The UK has some of the poorest cancer mortality rates in Europe in the over 70s. Recent years have seen efforts to reduce the number of cases of cancer and significant steps to diagnose cancers earlier. But in Scrubbing Up, Hazel Brodie, older people's expert at Macmillan Cancer Support, warns these measures don't go far enough and that more must be done to ensure older people get access to treatment.

By Hazel BrodieMacmillan Cancer Support Cancer survival rates are desperately poor among people over 70 who account for half of people newly diagnosed with cancer in the UK. While mortality rates are improving significantly for the under 75s, around 14,000 cancer patients over 75 are dying prematurely each year in the UK. But there are barriers to treatment. Research we have done shows older people are less likely to receive surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy than their younger counterparts. This difference in treatment rates cannot be entirely accounted for by medically justifiable reasons such as the presence of untreatable co-morbidities. We are deeply concerned that treatment decisions are too often being made on the basis of age, regardless of how fit patients may be, leading to under-treatment. 'Inadequate support' The older population is a varied one. One 85-year-old may tolerate chemotherapy well, while another may experience complications such as severe toxicity. Similarly, one 78-year-old may be bed-bound, while another may participate in half marathons. As such, older people must be treated as individuals. Clinicians require more information on frailty in order to make appropriate treatment recommendations which is why we are calling for more effective assessments to be used to indicate who will tolerate what treatment. Inadequate practical support to help older people at home, with transport, or with care for dependent spouses and other family presents another barrier to treatment. We have heard of older people having to turn down treatment because of this. Time and time again I hear older people recounting the difficulties they have in getting to and from hospital for their treatment or with meal preparation and shopping. One 81-year-old said "I didn't have chemotherapy, because they thought if I couldn't get to hospital to have it, it wasn't much good. "They didn't say that they would provide transport for me". 'Age equality' This is simply unacceptable. Patients should be provided with information about local services which can offer practical and social support during cancer treatment. An older person should never refuse treatment because they're having difficulties with transport or caring for a relative. Age discriminatory practices are also a barrier to older people getting the treatment. Britain is one of the worst in Europe for negative attitudes to the elderly. A recent survey undertaken by the British Geriatric Society showed that one third of geriatricians believed that the NHS was 'institutionally ageist. We want "age equality" within cancer services. Older people are all individuals with differing levels of frailty, mental attitude, and support. Each will tolerate cancer treatment differently. It is vital that steps are taken to ensure that the right people get the right treatment at the correct level of intensity, together with the practical support to enable them to take up and complete the treatment. Writing people off as too old for treatment is utterly shameful.

ब्रिटेन में 70 के दशक में यूरोप में सबसे खराब कैंसर मृत्यु दर है। हाल के वर्षों में कैंसर के मामलों की संख्या को कम करने और पहले कैंसर का निदान करने के लिए महत्वपूर्ण कदम उठाए गए हैं। लेकिन स्क्रबिंग अप में, मैकमिलन कैंसर सपोर्ट में वृद्ध लोगों के विशेषज्ञ हेज़ल ब्रॉडी ने चेतावनी दी है कि ये उपाय बहुत दूर नहीं जाते हैं और यह सुनिश्चित करने के लिए और अधिक किया जाना चाहिए कि वृद्ध लोगों को उपचार मिले।


Drivers rescued after three cars stranded in beach mud

Summary: Three cars became submerged on a beach in Somerset, prompting a warning for motorists to beware of high spring tides.

Crews from Burnham-based BARB Search & Rescue said they were called out "multiple times" by people who ran into trouble at Brean beach. BARB chairman Mark Newman urged people to check the tide times. One motorist was rescued on Friday while a further two became stuck on Saturday. Mr Newman added: "Always heed the warning signs and stay away from the muddy areas of the beach."

समरसेट में एक समुद्र तट पर तीन कारें डूब गईं, जिससे मोटर चालकों को उच्च वसंत ज्वार से सावधान रहने की चेतावनी दी गई।


Reality Check: What are the targets for mental health?

Summary: The government is consulting on introducing the same sort of targets for people to be seen by a mental health specialist as are currently in place for waiting times in accident and emergency units and for cancer treatment, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has told BBC News - but there are already some targets in place.

By Reality Check teamBBC News Psychosis The percentage of patients starting treatment for psychosis within two weeks of referral increased from 59% in December 2015 to a peak of 80% in February 2017 before dropping to 76% in July this year. And the target, 50%, will be raised to 60% in the next few years. The percentage of those waiting for early intervention in psychosis for more than 12 weeks fell from 7% to 1% during the same period. Children's mental health services The government set a target in 2016 that 70,000 additional children and young people each year should receive treatment for mental health until 2020-21. This would increase the NHS-funded treatment rate of the children and young people in England with diagnosable mental health issues from 25% to 35%. Recently, the NHS released a "one-off" data collection that put the rate at 30.5% - on track to meet the target. But the National Audit Office has raised concerns about "data weakness" around these figures. "We have further concerns about the equivalence of the 70,000 target to a 10% increase in access rates," the NAO report says. "It does not yet have consistent and reliable data available on the number and proportion of young people accessing treatment each year, so NHS England cannot be confident about the growth rates in access." Equally, the target is based on assumed prevalence of mental health problems in young people. So if more of them have mental health problems than previously assumed, the number required to meet the target will have to rise proportionately. Children with eating disorders Another target says children and young people with eating disorders in England should receive treatment within a week of referral, in urgent cases. This is also a relatively new target, starting in the first quarter of 2016-17, when 65% of children were seen within a week. In the latest quarter, this increased to 75%. Less urgent "routine" cases should be seen within four weeks. There have been improvements here too - from 65% to 81% since the statistics were published. Access to talking therapy For those referred for psychological therapies, there is a standard that 75% should start treatment within six weeks of referral and 95% should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral. This kind of treatment, for patients with disorders such as anxiety and depression, can range from cognitive behaviour therapy to online self-help courses. In 2016-17, there were 866,527 referrals to this kind of treatment who had their first appointment within six weeks, 88% of all referrals. The second target was also met - with 98.2% seen within 18 weeks. This is an improvement from the previous year - when the target was introduced - when 81.3% waited less than six weeks and 96.2% waited less than 18 weeks. Before these targets were established, data was given on how many received treatment within 56 days of referral. In 2012-13, 84% were receiving treatment in that time period. In 2016-17, this had increased to 94%. Funding As part of "parity of esteem" between mental and physical health, clinical commissioning groups - the organisations that deal with hospital and community health in a local area - are required to increase mental health spending relative to the amount their budgets increase. And there has been an increase in CCGs meeting this target - from 81% in 2015-16, when it was set, to 90% in 2017-18. On average, CCGs are spending 13.7% of their overall budgets on mental health. What do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch Read more from Reality Check Follow us on Twitter

स्वास्थ्य सचिव मैट हैनकॉक ने बीबीसी न्यूज को बताया है कि सरकार लोगों के लिए उसी तरह के लक्ष्यों को पेश करने पर परामर्श कर रही है जो एक मानसिक स्वास्थ्य विशेषज्ञ द्वारा देखे जाने के लिए हैं जो वर्तमान में दुर्घटना और आपातकालीन इकाइयों में प्रतीक्षा समय और कैंसर के इलाज के लिए हैं, लेकिन पहले से ही कुछ लक्ष्य हैं।


Nottingham knife attack leaves two seriously injured

Summary: Two men have been seriously injured in a suspected knife attack in Nottingham city centre.

Both men were taken to hospital after reports of a disturbance in Fletcher Gate at about 18:40 GMT. Witnesses reported seeing police cars and armed officers nearby, as well as ambulances. The public was urged to avoid roads around Halifax Place, and police cordons were erected in Fletcher Gate, Pilcher Gate and High Pavement.

नॉटिंघम शहर के केंद्र में एक संदिग्ध चाकू हमले में दो लोग गंभीर रूप से घायल हो गए हैं।


Chris Brown released from custody after assault charges

Summary: Chris Brown has been released from police custody in Washington DC.

The R&B singer was arrested early on Sunday morning after a man accused him and his bodyguard of breaking his nose outside the W Hotel. Prosecutors reduced an assault charge to a misdemeanour, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail, as a judge released Brown. After spending the night in jail, the 24-year-old left court on Monday surrounded by security, press and fans. The singer's lawyer, Danny Onorato said: "Christopher Brown committed no crime. "We understand that his security staff acted to protect Mr Brown and Mr Brown's property as he was authorised to do under District of Columbia law. "We are confident that Mr Brown will be exonerated of any wrongdoing." According to court documents, the man told police he'd tried to push his way into a picture Brown was taking with a woman and her friend. Parker Adams, 20 and from Maryland, claimed he was punched by both Brown and his bodyguard Chris Hollosy before Brown boarded his tour bus. The star is due back in court on 25 November. Chris Brown is still on five years probation for attacking his ex-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 before the Grammy Music Awards. He was cleared of hit-and-run charges in August after the judge ruled the singer and a woman, whose Mercedes he hit with his Range Rover, had reached an agreement over the case. In January, it was claimed he was involved in a fight with singer Frank Ocean over a car parking space outside a Hollywood recording studio. At the time, detectives said Brown was under suspicion for punching the victim but the case was dropped after Ocean decided not to press charges. The singer is set to release his latest album, X, later this year. Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter

क्रिस ब्राउन को वाशिंगटन डी. सी. में पुलिस हिरासत से रिहा कर दिया गया है।


Man charged after woman fatally stabbed in Enfield

Summary: A man has been charged with the murder of a woman who was found fatally stabbed in north London.

Police said they were called to a seriously injured woman at an address on Tennyson Close in Enfield on Saturday night. The victim, who was in her 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene. Criston Preddie, 28, of Tennyson Close, will appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court on Monday charged with murder.

उत्तरी लंदन में एक व्यक्ति पर एक महिला की हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है, जिसे चाकू मारकर मार दिया गया था।


Tory views: Clegg and coalition

Summary: The Conservative/Lib Dem coalition will soon be a year old - so what do grassroots Tory activists at the Tory spring conference in Cardiff think of it so far? And what do they really think about one of the men who made it possible, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg?

By Brian WheelerPolitical reporter, BBC News LINDA BLACKBURN I think it is early days. It is like anybody that lives together. They have to learn about each other and they have to put up with each other's idiosyncrasies. I think it is hard for party members from both sides to come to terms with the fact that neither of them is in charge. I think the Lib Dems feel particularly hard done to because they are seen as a sell-out by some of their supporters. But it is a coalition. They are having to take on some of the views and values of the Conservatives. It's a compromise. We don't live in Utopia. I think Nick Clegg is a very intelligent man who has had to make some great decisions. I think he is being unfairly picked on by the media. I think they have achieved a lot of things in a short space of time. More than if the Conservative Party had been elected on its own. There are complaints in some quarters in the Conservative Party but when you ask those people 'What is it that you wanted to do that you haven't been able to?' they can't answer. I think Nick Clegg has found it difficult. He has had some difficulties with his own party. Some Lib Dems are particularly left wing. It's going very well. I am very pleased there was a hung Parliament and I know a lot of my colleagues think that. The parties need to work together in the current economic situation. Cameron would have found it more difficult to do what he has done with a small majority of his own. People would have turned against him. I didn't like Clegg during the election campaign - I thought he was opportunistic. My view of him has changed but I am not sure what the future holds for him. I hope he emerges from this with honour. One option might be to join the Conservatives, another might be to leave politics, a third option is for his party to be taken over by someone else. I think the Conservatives have done more than they could have done with a small majority. It would have been more difficult to get some of the cuts through. Nick Clegg seems like a nice person. I don't think he is really a Lib Dem. He seems to be more in tune with a lot of Conservative philosophy. I don't think he ever really believed in tuition fees. He is not a proper Lib Dem but it would be difficult for him to defect to the Conservatives because he gets his power from being the Lib Dem leader. The coalition has had to take some difficult decisions in the national interest and the Lib Dems have been attacked for it, which is unfair and unjust. I have met Nick Clegg and he is a decent man, a brave man. People have suggested he did what he did to just to get power but I think that is unfair. He would be welcome in the Conservative Party any time, as far as I am concerned - as long he wears blue ties! Natalie: I wouldn't necessarily say the Conservatives have achieved more as part of a coalition than they would have done on their own. Everyone has had to make compromises, although the only thing I really wish hadn't happened is the whole referendum on AV voting. Emily: I don't think Nick Clegg was the right choice to be Lib Dem leader. They should have chosen Vince Cable. Clegg said a lot of things he thought people wanted to hear but didn't think he would have to follow through on it. A lot of my friends voted for him and they aren't very happy.

कंजर्वेटिव/लिब डेम गठबंधन जल्द ही एक साल का हो जाएगा-तो कार्डिफ में टोरी स्प्रिंग सम्मेलन में जमीनी स्तर के टोरी कार्यकर्ता अब तक इसके बारे में क्या सोचते हैं? और वे वास्तव में उन लोगों में से एक के बारे में क्या सोचते हैं जिन्होंने इसे संभव बनाया, लिब डेम नेता निक क्लेग?


The rise of the Comic Book Kids: Festival braced for youth invasion

Summary: Comics have always been made for children, but what about the children who are making the comics? The BBC spoke to three who will be displaying their work this weekend at one of the UK's most prestigious comic art festivals - and one teenager who is already making a living as a full-time cartoonist.

By Duncan LeatherdaleBBC News online 'They are people I wish were real' Fourteen-year-old Abi Kerner,from Wigan, started drawing when she was six, but it was only when she began attending the Lakes International Comic Art Festival with her parents that she fully realised the possibilities for comic book art. A fan of manga - a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels - Abi says that meeting artists at the gathering in previous years "encouraged me to see it as a career". "It's exciting to be going again and exhibiting alongside them," she says. "I'm hoping to get lots of advice, ideas and encouragement." Among the stars of the comic book world who will be at the festival this year are Alan Grant and Frank Quitely, as well as a creative talent better known for his crime fiction than his drawing, Ian Rankin. The process Abi uses to create her art sees her sketching in pencil before scanning her work, which she completes on a tablet. She has created several characters as one-off sketches but is yet to work out a full story for them. "They are people I wish were real," Abi says. She is also designing a window display around the theme of the Land Girls of World War One for the festival, which takes over the town of Kendal for one weekend every year. 'This is what I want to do when I grow up' Dundee is the birthplace of the Beano and the Dandy, so it is only fitting it also produced Drew Marr. He started reading comics when he was four years old. By the time he was six, Drew was drawing his own. "Comics have helped me a lot because of my dyslexia," he says. "Drawing has helped me organise my thoughts and ideas." His mother Kelly says: "With his dyslexia, he found looking at comics a really good way to follow a story." Drew is currently working on a 10-part series, The Rehabilitation of Doctor Eye, which documents the reformation of a super-villain - Kelly says her son has always been more interested in villains than heroes. He is a big fan of Marvel and wants to emulate comic book doyen Stan Lee - in more ways than one. "He has said that if one of his comics is ever made into a film he wants to have a small cameo part like Stan Lee does in all of the Marvel films," Kelly explains. "He has a good imagination and a really great sense of humour." Is drawing just a hobby or a career plan? "Both," Drew says. "This is what I want to do when I grow up because I enjoy it so much as a hobby." The Lakes will be his second convention having previously launched his comic book at DeeCon in Dundee in April, when he was only nine years old. "I'm really looking forward to meeting other artists," he says. Drew's books are currently being sold in six Forbidden stores across the UK and Ireland as well as his local shop Ahoy Comics. To see his work on a shop shelf "felt really good", Drew says. "I was quite proud." 'It's like this machine in my head' In four years of drawing comics, nine-year-old Alec Anderson has produced hundreds of pieces, according to his mum Sophie. In fact, the youngster from near Keswick in Cumbria is so prolific that his hands have started developing calluses like those of a professional artist. "He is constantly drawing for hours and hours day," Sophie says. "It's how he expresses himself. "He is amazingly talented but he really works at it to improve as well." Most ordinary books don't have enough pictures, Alec says. "Comics are a nice way of visualising the story." He started trying to draw characters he'd always liked but quickly realised he preferred coming up with his own, such as Wonderwear Woman, Water Man and Bionic Boy. "It's a bit easier to make it up myself - I do not have to worry about making the characters the same as in other books. "It's all stuff in my head mostly. It's like this machine in my head constantly spouting a billion ideas an hour which I have to draw." The Lakes will be the first time he exhibits and sells his work, although he does share some of his creations on Twitter. "The feedback he gets is lovely especially from other artists," Sophie says. "That whole community of artists are just a really nice bunch of people, very encouraging." 'It's a hobby I do for my job' Zoom Rockman had never seen a comic until, at the age of nine, he found a box of old Beanos at a car boot sale. "I'd always liked drawing and telling stories but had never realised there was a medium that let you do both," he said. He had soon produced his first comic, a collection of 20 of his best works, which was being sold in local shops in the area of London where he lives. At 12 he had been invited to contribute a monthly strip to the Beano - his creation Skanky Pigeon - which he did for four years. At 16 his work was used for the first time in the satirical magazine Private Eye, for which he is now a regular contributor. His works have won numerous awards and he is now getting high profile commissions, recently producing a series of portraits of Winston Churchill for one of the statesman's favourite restaurants, Simpson's-in-the-Strand. "It started as a hobby and it still is a hobby, just one I do for my job," he said. "I love doing it." Now aged 18, he is already a bona fide cartoonist and satirist. So what advice would he offer to youngsters wanting to follow in his footsteps? "Don't just talk about doing something, actually do it," Zoom says. "If you want to draw a comic, draw a comic. Enter competitions, go to the comic festivals. "When I first started going to the conventions I was the only young cartoonist around, there were not any others. "So it is really cool to see so many young cartoonists doing it now."

कॉमिक्स हमेशा बच्चों के लिए बनाए गए हैं, लेकिन उन बच्चों के बारे में क्या जो कॉमिक्स बना रहे हैं? बीबीसी ने तीन लोगों से बात की जो इस सप्ताह के अंत में यूके के सबसे प्रतिष्ठित कॉमिक कला समारोहों में से एक में अपने काम का प्रदर्शन करेंगे-और एक किशोर जो पहले से ही एक पूर्णकालिक कार्टूनिस्ट के रूप में अपना जीवन यापन कर रहा है।


Mum's marathon on broken leg for Machen autism den

Summary: When a new sensory den opened at a Caerphilly county primary school on Tuesday, it was the culmination of a journey - at times a very painful one - for a mother driven by the love of her autistic daughter.

By Gemma RyallBBC News When Claire reached the 17th mile in her first marathon, she felt a searing pain in her leg. She did not know it then, but she had broken her fibula and found it hard to stand, let alone run. But rather than pull out, she kept going for the final nine miles - until she crossed the finish line at 26.2 miles in four hours one minute. Throughout every torturous step, one thought kept Claire going - her 11-year-old daughter Lilly. Lilly has autism and Claire says every day for her is like a marathon. "School is exhausting. Just putting on the act almost all day of trying to be as normal as she can and trying to understand the social niceties and all the intricacies of how to behave as a girl - what you should say and what you shouldn't say and all of that - is just absolutely exhausting for her," said Claire, from Machen in Caerphilly county. "She just likes to come straight home, straight under a blanket with her cats and her animals and her comfort and almost recuperate for the rest of the evening to do it all again. "And often she will say 'I can't do it again tomorrow, I have done it today, I can't do it again'. "So when I was running my marathon, that's what I kept thinking. Sometimes I think every day must be like running a marathon for Lilly. "Life is incredibly hard for her." Claire pushed on to the end of the race knowing she was raising money to help children like Lilly. A few months before the marathon last May, she came up with the idea of creating a sensory den at her children's school, Machen primary. The den, which is in a specially-built pod in the school yard, is kitted out with bean bags, lights and sensory toys and is the culmination of fundraising and the generosity of local businesses and the community. It opened officially on Tuesday and Claire hopes it will provide a calming space for both pupils with autism and those who might find the school day hard to cope with at times. For children like Lilly - who has high-functioning autism - things as simple as noisy corridors and crowded halls can cause anxiety. "She's a clever girl and is in mainstream school but she has barriers to learning," said Claire, 39, who has two other children aged eight and five with husband Richard. "She has some demand avoidance, which means any demand put on Lilly makes her incredibly anxious, to the degree that she will do anything to avoid doing what that demand is, whether that means going in a book case or under a table. "It just racks her with anxiety. And children like that can actually come across as very manipulative because obviously they try to manipulate the environment and the situation to mask the fact that they are so incredibly anxious." Lilly can no longer benefit from the den as she started secondary school in September but Claire said she wanted to ensure other autistic children in the school would be catered for. "Every child with autism is completely different but they all have their own struggles," she said. For Lilly, life continues to be hard - she has found the step up to secondary school challenging and is currently only doing two hours there a day. "I think it's very much the social aspect," said Claire, who gave up her job as a research scientist to care for Lilly and now works part-time as a learning support assistant at Machen primary. "She doesn't really have a social life or friends and it's quite hard for an 11-year-old girl to go through that. "She just looks forward each day to coming home and being with her family and her animals." What is Autism? Information from The National Autistic Society Claire would love her daughter to make just one special friend and tries to help her by organising play dates with other children. But she appreciates that not everyone fully understands autism. "I think Lilly finds social interactions very difficult. She can over-compensate by coming across very 'ticky' so she will grab people and hug them or she will squeak or she will be over-excited," Claire added. "She can then misinterpret things that are said so she can think that people are being mean to her when they're not. "Basically it's all around understanding social interactions and when you're a girl there are so many subtle things - body language, what you wear, how your hair is. "There are so many things that constitute being popular or not and for her it's very, very difficult. "She will often think it's easier to stay in her room. She likes looking at things on her iPad. We have to make sure she experiences real life, not just the virtual life - the life that she would love to live that's on You Tube or something like that. "But I'm so proud of her - she's a lovely girl and she's very unique."

जब मंगलवार को कैर्फिली काउंटी के एक प्राथमिक विद्यालय में एक नई संवेदी गुफा खोली गई, तो यह एक यात्रा की परिणति थी-कभी-कभी बहुत दर्दनाक-एक माँ के लिए जो अपनी ऑटिस्टिक बेटी के प्यार से प्रेरित थी।


Why are fewer people visiting UK museums and galleries?

Summary: Did you go to a museum or gallery last year?

Figures show the number of visitors to the UK's major museums and galleries fell last year for the first time in almost a decade. The biggest drop in 2015/2016 was seen in educational visits and school groups, which saw a 6.9% decline on 2014/15. So why are figures dropping? It has been speculated that security fears over terrorism may be a factor. According to The Guardian, it may also be because there being fewer so-called "blockbuster" exhibitions like the V&A's David Bowie show in 2013 - the most visited show in the London museum's history. "There has been much speculation about the cause of the small decline in overall visitor numbers to national museums in England," said a spokesman for the Museums Association. "But it is too early to say for certain what the reasons are for the drop in numbers." The Department of Culture, Media and Sport's figures are based on attendance at the 15 museums it sponsors that provide free entry to their permanent collections. They include the British Museum, the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery Group, which includes Tate Britain and Tate Modern. According to the Museums Association, though, the figures "only cover England's national museums and therefore provide a partial view of the health of the UK's museums". "In fact, the government's own Taking Part Survey shows that museum visits are at an all-time high in England, with 52.5% of all adults visiting a museum last year." Tate Britain is expected to see a boost in visitor figures this year thanks to its eagerly anticipated David Hockney retrospective. The 79-year-old artist marked the exhibition's opening by redesigning the Sun newspaper's logo for Friday's "souvenir" edition. What else could be the hot tickets for this year? Here are some suggestions from BBC Arts editor Will Gompertz: 1) Tony Cragg: A Rare Category of Objects The biggest UK exhibition to date by leading sculptor Tony Cragg opens next month at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield. 2) Jasper Johns Opening in September, the Royal Academy's major retrospective of the American artist's work is tipped by Will to be "a sure-fire hit". 3) Cezanne Portraits The National Portrait Gallery brings together more than 50 of the French artist's portraits, including works that have never been on public display in the UK. 4) Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932 Featuring works by the likes of Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich, the Royal Academy's spring exhibition marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution. 5) Wolfgang Tillmans: 2017 The German artist's first exhibition at Tate Modern includes an "immersive" new installation in the gallery's cavernous South Tank. And Hull is also 2017's UK's City of Culture, and its offerings include hosting this year's Turner Prize later this year. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

क्या आप पिछले साल किसी संग्रहालय या गैलरी में गए थे?


Newspaper headlines: Test pledge as government admits to virus mistakes

Summary: "Everyone will hope Mr Hancock delivers on his promise".

By BBC NewsStaff That's the view of the Daily Mirror, which, like many papers, gives a broad welcome to the government's re-vamped strategy to increase testing for coronavirus. Only through testing can NHS staff know if they are safe to return to work, the paper argues, and only through testing can we judge when it will be safe to lift the lockdown restrictions. Should Mr Hancock fail, it concludes, the cost will not be his job but lives lost. The Sun takes aim at Public Health England, saying the crisis has laid bare its complacency and ineptitude. For years this monument to "bloated, sluggish bureaucracy" has banged on obsessively about obesity but facing the gravest crisis in a century, its failings have been hideously exposed. The Times believes that the government's call on Britain's extensive network of university and private-sector laboratories to join the national testing effort is the right strategy, but it should have been adopted weeks ago. It says blame for what it calls "this shambles" lies not with Public Health England but squarely with the government. It has been, the paper argues, consistently behind the curve in its response to the pandemic. Mr Hancock has made a big promise, it says. If he can't deliver, public confidence in the government will evaporate. According to the Daily Telegraph, public health officials in charge of defending the country from a major pandemic never drew up plans for mass community testing, despite warnings from the World Health Organization. It's been told emergency planners "did not discuss" the need for community testing because they wrongly believed a new strain of influenza would be the next outbreak to strike the UK. The Guardian highlights new data which suggests the coronavirus outbreak took hold earlier in the UK than previously thought. It says according to NHS England the earliest death occurred on 28 February, almost a week earlier than previously acknowledged. Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning The Financial Times leads on the economic shockwaves the virus is continuing to make around the world. It says about four million French workers have applied for temporary unemployment benefits during the past two weeks, while Spain has recorded the biggest jump in unemployment in its history, with more than 800,000 people losing their jobs last month. The New York Times says the reported loss of 10 million jobs in the US shows the scope of the unfolding economic disaster. It says hopes for a dramatic but brief downturn followed by a quick recovery have faded, and in their place are fears that the world may be on the cusp of an economic shock unseen since the Great Depression. It says the speed and scale of the job losses is without precedent. And finally, the Daily Mail is among the papers paying tribute to the comedian Eddie Large whose partnership with Syd Little spanned five decades. The two men met in a pub in Wythenshawe when Eddie heckled Syd during a stand-up routine before joining him on stage. After winning the talent show Opportunity Knocks, they went on to become one of the biggest acts of the 1970s and 80s. At their peak, the Guardian says, their weekly television show was watched by an enviable 15 million people.

हर कोई उम्मीद करेगा कि श्री हैनकॉक अपने वादे को पूरा करेंगे।


Russia refuses to have a gloomy New Year

Summary: The rouble's slump and warnings of a looming economic crisis have come at a bad time for Russians preparing for New Year festivities. But while some may miss foreign luxuries on the list of banned imports - Russia's response to Western sanctions - many remember how to make do, and refuse to be downhearted.

By Steve RosenbergBBC News, Moscow On 31 December, Nina will be doing something she has never done before on New Year's Eve. She'll be staying at home. "For the very first time I'll be seeing in the New Year in my own country," says Muscovite Nina, a brand manager for a Western drinks company. "All my life my family has flown to France or Germany for the New Year holidays. We have relatives there. But air tickets are so expensive now." Nina is not alone. The weak rouble has forced many Russians to change their New Year holiday plans. "In October, tour operator bookings slumped by 50-to-70%," says Irina Tyurina of the Russian Tour Operators Union. "When the rouble collapsed on 15 December, bookings dried up completely. Foreign tours are not a necessity. They are the first things to be rejected when there are economic problems." For Russians, 2015 looks like being a difficult year. Real incomes are expected to fall for the first time since Vladimir Putin came to power. People are bracing themselves for a deep recession - the economy is expected to contract by at least 4%. Inflation is forecast to reach 12-15%. None of this economic doom and gloom will stop Russians breaking open the champagne and celebrating - Novy god (New Year) is the biggest holiday of the year. But it may affect what they buy for the party. "Budgets are stretched," says Maria Kolbina, a consumer analyst with VTB Capital. "At the start of the year 33% of the household budget was spent on food. We estimate that has now risen to 41%. As a result people are 'trading down': they are buying cheaper versions of the food they normally eat." That's not good news for confectionery trader Vika. She has a stall in the centre of Moscow selling festive chocolate collections. Her table is packed with sparkly tins and boxes, including packs of vodka liqueurs. But business hasn't been good. "People aren't buying as much as they did this time last year," Vika tells me. "And when they do buy, they seem to go for the cheaper options." It's not just inflation that is influencing the festive shop in Russia. So are the "anti-sanctions" Moscow imposed on the West earlier this year. As a result, certain imported products which may have graced some new year tables here in the past are no longer available: like French cheese, Norwegian salmon, German sausage. But not all Russians seem worried about that. Elena Vladimirovna is determined to enjoy her New Year party. Elena is an atomic specialist in Moscow. When she talks about Novy god, her eyes light up: with her enthusiasm and optimism, she seems to me to have the energy of a nuclear power station. "None of these problems are going to affect my family," Elena tells me with a big smile. "For a start, we won't need to spend lots of money on alcohol: we make our own at home. "Then there's all the food we already have from our dacha. On the balcony of our flat we have a trunk packed with 80 jars - there are strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, marrows and pumpkins." These may be tough times. But Elena reminds me that they are nothing compared to what Russia has lived through. "My 88-year-old uncle was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. My mother and my aunt were in Belarus during World War Two. After what they experienced, nothing frightens them. "What's more, at home we've stocked up with everything we might need, from buckwheat to macaroni. That'll last us till the summer. To be honest, bread and water would do me fine." Russians are resourceful. Even in Soviet times, when there were regular shortages of certain food products, people usually managed to find everything they needed for their New Year parties. And Russia is not the USSR. Despite its current economic problems, shops here have plenty on the shelves. So, as Russians sit down to celebrate, tables will be bursting with traditional Olivier Salad (potato, chicken or sausage, eggs, carrots, cucumbers, mayonnaise) and Herring in a Fur Coat (herring with a layer of vegetables... and more mayonnaise). As midnight approaches, Russians will drink a toast to the passing year, and then to 2015 - in the hope that the new year will bring them happiness. Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

रुबल की मंदी और उभरते आर्थिक संकट की चेतावनी रूसियों के लिए एक बुरे समय पर आई है जो नए साल के उत्सवों की तैयारी कर रहे हैं। लेकिन कुछ लोग प्रतिबंधित आयात की सूची में विदेशी विलासिता को याद कर सकते हैं-पश्चिमी प्रतिबंधों के लिए रूस की प्रतिक्रिया-कई लोगों को याद है कि कैसे करना है, और निराश होने से इनकार करते हैं।


Long Eaton exorcism call-out surprises firefighters

Summary: Firefighters were left surprised when a call to a smoke alarm at a house turned out to have been triggered by burning sage during an exorcism.

Fire crews were called to the house on Kirkstone Court, Long Eaton, Derbyshire at about 12:00 BST on Monday. They said when they arrived, they saw a man dressed in a religious outfit who said an exorcism had been carried out to get rid of "an unwanted presence". Crews carried out a routine search but confirmed it was a false alarm. Watch manager Pete Hopkins, from Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, who attended the call, said: "We didn't find any fire or ghosts, which was a relief." The burning of sage is an ancient ritual, which some people believe can cleanse spaces. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.

अग्निशामक आश्चर्यचकित रह गए जब एक घर में धुएँ के अलार्म पर कॉल एक भूत भगाने के दौरान ऋषि को जलाने से शुरू हुआ।


Dingle knife murder: Farieissia Martin stabbed Kyle Farrell

Summary: A woman accused of stabbing a man to death at her house in Liverpool has been convicted of murder.

Farieissia Martin, 22, had denied killing 21-year-old Kyle Farrell, who was knifed in the chest at the house in Charlecote Street, Dingle. But a jury at Liverpool Crown Court found Martin guilty. She is due to be sentenced on 9 June. Mr Farrell died in hospital after suffering a single stab wound early on 21 November 2014. His family said he was a "devoted father and loving son" who will be missed by all his family and friends.

लिवरपूल में अपने घर पर एक आदमी की चाकू मारकर हत्या करने की आरोपी महिला को हत्या का दोषी ठहराया गया है।


Bicker World War Two Lancaster crash crewman's family traced

Summary: It is 70 years since a Lancaster bomber crashed at Bicker in Lincolnshire, killing all seven of the crew. Their families were never told where they died, but an appeal has now been launched to trace them. Here, the widow of one of the airmen explains how she finally discovered and visited her husband's resting place, more than 60 years after he died there.

By Caroline LowbridgeBBC News Kathleen Bannan was a newlywed, aged 23 and five months pregnant, when her husband was killed in a plane crash on 10 April 1944. Only one crew member's body was recovered, and Kathleen's husband is thought to have been buried with the plane when it penetrated the ground. To add to the tragedy, Flt Sgt Joseph Bannan's family were never told where the Lancaster bomber crashed. "It was a terrible time, and of course we couldn't find any information then because it was for security reasons," says Kathleen, now 93. "His parents were heartbroken and distraught because there were no remains to be buried in the family grave." Kathleen had met Joseph in May 1943 and they married in the September. "I had only known him weeks when he took me up to Cumbria to meet his parents," says Kathleen. "We said we would get married in September if he survived." They met while she was working in the post office at RAF Elsham Wolds in Lincolnshire, where he was stationed. "It was very romantic," says Kathleen. "Air crews came in the post office but I didn't meet him then. "I went to a pub in Scunthorpe, I was with my two WAAF [Women's Auxiliary Air Force] friends and he was with his crew. We sat together. "After that he came to the post office to see me and he asked me out." Working at the station meant Kathleen was fully aware of the danger Joseph was in. "Young men that would come in the post office, they would go and wouldn't come back," she says. Kathleen remembers worrying Joseph would not return from his operations either. "I used to go and think about him and think and worry, and in the morning when he was back I would be relieved," she says. "He did 30 and survived 30 and the last one, I was friends with a little Geordie girl, a WAAF, and she saw them come back in the morning." When Kathleen heard his plane had come back, she knew they would marry. Flt Sgt Bannan began training other air crew, and his family were relieved, believing he was out of danger. But seven months after marrying, Mrs Bannan received a telegram. "We didn't ask questions when the war was on and the CO [Commanding Officer] and padre both wrote to me and said for security reasons they couldn't give me information," says Kathleen. "We didn't know anything else, but that he was definitely dead, that the plane had come down and we found out that much. "We gathered it was in England. But as the years went on you just accepted it." The Lancaster ND 820 had been on a training flight which set off from RAF Downham Market, in Norfolk. The plane got into difficulties, possibly because of a problem with the autopilot, and caught fire flying over Swineshead in Lincolnshire. It eventually crashed at Bicker, 22 minutes into its flight. A tree took much of the blast from the crashing aircraft, saving a farm worker in the field behind it, and the tree still grows at an angle to this day. One crew member, who parachuted from the plane, was found hanging from the tree and was buried at Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery in Yorkshire. But the rest of the crew have never been recovered. Kathleen gave birth to her daughter four months later, in August 1944, and named her Josephine, after her dead father. She later remarried, becoming Kathleen Farley, and didn't discover where her first husband died until she was in her late 80s. She only found out because Josephine's son found details on the internet about a memorial at the impact point of the crash. It had been commissioned in 2004 by Lincolnshire Aircraft Recovery Group (LARG). "Whenever a plane crashed in the war little was said about it," says Dave Stubley, from LARG. "It was only the people very close to it that knew about it, or the local schoolboys used to bike out to it and have a look." Mr Stubley says there is still a dip in the road caused by the force of the crash. "It went directly down, straight down, and actually moved the road," he says. "The road was a vital road so they would make the decision, instead of taking weeks digging it [the wreckage and human remains] up by hand, they would have to reinstate the road. "Rather harsh, but it was wartime and that had to happen." Kathleen has visited the memorial herself and several members of her family are visiting again on Saturday, for a memorial service to mark the 70th anniversary. "I just felt so sad and so admiring of those young men who had made such an effort to have a memorial built," says Kathleen. The discovery has meant so much to her family that one of Flt Sgt Bannan's great-grandsons added Joseph to his own name, in tribute. "It's just so sad," says Flt Sgt Bannan's daughter, now 69 and called Josephine Maddox. "All I thought about was my father's parents. If they had only known where he had come down and been able to visit, it would have meant so much to them. "My grandsons are in their teens and I look at them and think it could have been them." LARG is legally prevented from contacting relatives of crew members, but the Mayor of Boston, Councillor Paul Kenny, has appealed for them to come forward. "It is sadly poignant to attend the memorial site and realise that six of the crew are still out there in the fields," says Mr Kenny. "I won't last much longer, I don't think," says Kathleen, "but for Joe's sake I would like other people to turn up."

लिंकनशायर के बिकर में एक लैंकेस्टर बम हमलावर के दुर्घटनाग्रस्त होने के 70 साल हो चुके हैं, जिसमें चालक दल के सभी सात सदस्यों की मौत हो गई। उनके परिवारों को कभी नहीं बताया गया कि उनकी मृत्यु कहाँ हुई, लेकिन अब उनका पता लगाने के लिए एक अपील शुरू की गई है। यहाँ, एक वायुसैनिक की विधवा बताती है कि कैसे उसने अंततः अपने पति के विश्राम स्थल की खोज की और वहाँ उसकी मृत्यु के 60 से अधिक वर्षों बाद उसका दौरा किया।


Man's body found in car on North Yorkshire country road

Summary: The body of a man has been discovered inside a car in a ditch on a country road.

Police said the black Peugeot 206 was found at a crossroads at Cliffe Common near Selby, North Yorkshire, at about 07:00 GMT on Saturday. Paramedics pronounced the 78-year-old local man dead at the scene. The death is not being treated as suspicious. The road was closed for a number of hours while officers conducted an investigation.

ग्रामीण सड़क पर एक खाई में एक कार के अंदर एक व्यक्ति का शव मिला है।


Bermuda profile

Summary: The islands' broadcasting scene is dominated by two commercial players, the Bermuda Broadcasting Company and VSB.

As well as home-grown broadcast media, most homes and hotel rooms have access to the multichannel, international offerings of cable and satellite TV services. There were 61,000 internet users by June 2012 (via Internetworldstats.com). The press

द्वीपों के प्रसारण परिदृश्य में दो वाणिज्यिक खिलाड़ियों, बरमूडा ब्रॉडकास्टिंग कंपनी और वी. एस. बी. का वर्चस्व है।


London Underground: How does the Tube compare globally?

Summary: Ticket offices on the London Underground could soon be a thing of the past. But, if the days of a uniformed worker sitting behind a pane of glass are numbered, how have other cities embraced the future?

By Nick TarverBBC News Transport for London (TfL) has announced that every ticket office on the Tube is to shut by 2015, with the loss of 750 jobs. The move has provoked the wrath of the RMT union, which has not ruled out strike action in the run-up to Christmas. Since the construction of the first underground railway line in 1864, other cities around the world have copied London's transport system. But in the 21st Century, is London's system still the envy of the world and how have other countries embraced the future? Seoul Metropolitan Subway It is consistently ranked as the best subway system in the world. The Seoul Metropolitan Subway introduced one of the first contactless tickets in 1996, whereas London's Oyster Card only began life in 2003. Commuters can also use their smartphones to pay for travel at ticket barriers. And, all carriages in Seoul have wifi, 4G access and TV screens. They even have heated seats in the winter. But despite this seemingly futuristic system, London is similar in one crucial respect - Seoul still has ticket offices at its stations. Believed to be the second most-used metro system in the world after Seoul, it is also perhaps the most beautiful. The lavish decorations at stations like Komsomolskaya were ordered by Stalin, intended to inspire awe in passengers. However, the metro service is not stuck in the past. It is thought to have been the first to completely phase out paper tickets, favouring the contactless payment system like London's Oyster. However, even with the latest announcements from TfL, paper tickets seem set to continue at Tube stations for the foreseeable future. It is unlikely that London's ticket staff, who will be moved out of the office and on to the platform, will be pushing commuters on to trains. But in rush hour Tokyo, attendants have to forcibly shove travellers into carriages to make the most of available space. Regular tickets are purchased there with automated vending machines, doing away completely with ticket offices. However, in a select few stations there are staff available to directly sell you multiple, or special season, tickets. With its driverless trains, Copenhagen is perhaps the paradise that many would like to see London Underground become. The fully-automated system operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a new circular line opening in 2018. A control room keeps watch over the trains as they travel on set arrival and departure times. Passengers also have the ability to make direct radio contact with the control room from the train. Despite the driverless Docklands Light Railway being in operation since 1987, other lines in London all have drivers. Mayor Boris Johnson promised driverless trains in London by 2012 to cut costs, with the current starting salary for a Tube driver being about £44,000.

लंदन अंडरग्राउंड पर टिकट कार्यालय जल्द ही अतीत की बात हो सकती है। लेकिन, अगर कांच के फलक के पीछे बैठे एक वर्दीधारी कर्मचारी के दिन गिने जाते हैं, तो अन्य शहरों ने भविष्य को कैसे अपनाया है?


Beirut blast: Picking up the pieces of a shattered city

Summary: Beirut is still shedding glass and tears.

By Tom BatemanBBC Middle East Correspondent, Beirut Eddie Bitar takes me into his apartment. Without windows. Strewn with the shattered debris. Deep cracks zigzag along every wall. He steps over rubble and wrestles the front door aside. It is smeared red and he points it out: "This is the blood of my brother." We walk in. His wife Yara recounts the day she can never forget, and weeps. This country was already wracked with crisis; people's savings and hopes were evaporating. Now grief and rage are Lebanon's new currency. "We will stay here, we will raise our kids here, stronger than ever. Nothing like this will ever [be allowed to] happen again," Yara cries. The explosion was like 15 years of war in 15 seconds, says Lebanon's team at the United Nations, comparing its impact to the devastation from the country's civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990. Now, amid financial meltdown and political turmoil, Lebanon has to undertake a single recovery effort of unprecedented scale. The level of destruction is hard to believe and it is everywhere. At the port, the grain silo that stored much of the country's wheat supplies is a tomb-like wreck rising from vaporised remains of the docks. Where people worked unloading ships there is now a flooded crater more than 40m (130ft) deep. Among the dead there were at least 43 Syrian workers, according to embassy officials. The homes and savings of many refugee families who lived in nearby industrial neighbourhoods have been destroyed. Further back in Gemmayzeh, where Eddie and Yara lived, I walk through streets carpeted with broken glass; where beautiful old stone buildings are now rubble heaps that crushed cars when they toppled. The destruction goes on and on; miles from the blast site apartments are wrecked and families left homeless. It's estimated 300,000 people do not have homes fit to live in. Many families need sanitation and hygiene supplies until basic services can be restored, according to the UN's humanitarian agency. Three major hospitals are out of action and less than half of all healthcare centres are able to provide full services. "The blast took everything," says Marc, who ran a shop near the port. "The metal was torn like paper, it was crazy. Two people died in front of our store." But the new symbols of Lebanon's famed resilience are everywhere. Squads of people with brooms and shovels are trying to sweep up a broken city. Near the port I bump into Fadi, a construction engineer who is rallying friends to try to make safe the scores of wrecked buildings. He points to a high-rise block. "If you take a look, see that balcony over there, that's almost another projectile [that could] fall from 30 floors." He is working with other engineer friends to photograph danger points, geo-tagging and sending them around so people can try to remove them safely. But these people will not be enough to restore a country brought even closer to collapse. Fortitude has its limits after the multiple shocks Lebanon has already endured; a currency collapse, mass anti-government protests, coronavirus. The explosion of thousands of tonnes of unsafely stored ammonium nitrate has come to symbolise the perceived mismanagement of an entire country. The political system was established after the civil war in an effort to enable power-sharing in a country of sectarian divides. But instead many see it as a front for patronage, cronyism and endemic corruption. When it comes to Beirut's residents the blast did not discriminate. More on the explosion in Beirut Gemmayzeh was hard hit. It is a wealthy area where there is strong support for the Lebanese Forces, one of the main Christian factions. The Sunni Muslim areas of the Corniche and Ain al-Mraysseh were damaged. Others have been searching for loved ones lost in the port - many Shia Muslim labourers whose families form a base of support for Hezbollah, the armed movement which dominates Lebanese politics. Amid growing anger at what many see as a corrupt political elite sharing out jobs and favours based on sect, and not merit, the explosion's aftershocks also risk aggravating divisions. Lebanese political analyst Sami Nader describes the system as a "cartel of political parties" which take advantage of sectarian division to establish their rule. In the wake of the blast he believes this establishment "will try their old tricks" to hold onto power. Anti-government protests are growing. In Martyrs' Square, groups of demonstrators gather each afternoon. They have been surging towards the parliament complex, trying to breach the barricades and met by riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets. The mass resignation of the cabinet on Tuesday marked the second fall of a government in a year. But it has done little to quell the fury - MPs must choose a new prime minister; involving the same sectarian politics as before. Another mass protest is planned for Saturday; the authorities have sent workers to weld giant metal plates to already blast-hit buildings close to the parliament. Back at Eddie Bitar's damaged apartment I hear how his wounded brother is recovering. Eddie blames the blast on incompetent "criminals". "They took our money, they put debts for the generations to come. They killed our forest, they burned them. They are killing our soul. But we are resilient people," he says. Amid the wreckage, he vows that Lebanon "will be ruled by the youth who did everything... to reconstruct our country". Follow Tom on Twitter @tombateman

बेरूत अभी भी शीशे और आँसू बहा रहा है।


Coronavirus funerals: Sri Lanka's Muslims decry forced cremation

Summary: Sri Lankan authorities are insisting on cremation for coronavirus victims - a practice forbidden by Islam. The nation's minority Muslim community says they are using the pandemic to discriminate, writes BBC Sinhala's Saroj Pathirana.

On 4 May, Fathima Rinoza, a 44-year-old mother of three from Sri Lanka's minority Muslim population, was admitted to hospital with a suspected case of Covid-19. Fathima, who lived in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, had been suffering from respiratory problems and the authorities feared she had caught the virus. On the day she was admitted to hospital, the family was "set upon" by the authorities, her husband Mohamed Shafeek said. "The police and military along with officials arrived at our door," he said. "We were kicked out and they sprayed [disinfectant] everywhere. We were all scared but they didn't tell us anything. Even a three-month-old baby was tested and they took us like dogs to the quarantine centre." The family was held for a night but released the next day and told to quarantine for two weeks, Mohamed said. By then, they had received news that Fathima had died, at the hospital, on her own. Fathima's adult son was asked to go to the hospital to identify his mother's body. He was told that her body could not be returned to the family, he said, as her death was linked to Covid-19. Instead he was forced to sign papers authorising her cremation, the family said - even though under Muslim law cremation is considered a violation of the human body. "He was told that her body parts needed to be removed for further tests. Why would they need body parts if she had corona?" said his father Shafeek, who feels the family were not fully informed about what happened. Fathima's family and others in Sri Lanka's Muslim community say the authorities are violating their rights by forcing them to cremate victims even though coronavirus victims can be buried. They argue it's the latest step in a pattern of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese population. A petition against the cremation rule has been accepted by the country's Supreme Court, which will begin hearing the case on 13 July. Many Muslims in Sri Lanka feel they have been demonised since April 2019, when Islamists linked to little-known local groups targeted high-end hotels and churches in Colombo and in the east of the country, killing more than 250 people in a spate of devastating attacks. Since the death of the first Sri Lankan Muslim from coronavirus on 31 March, some media outlets have openly blamed the Muslim community for spreading the disease, even though only 11 deaths have been officially recorded in the country. All 11 bodies, including Muslims, were cremated. Dr Sugath Samaraweera, the government's chief epidemiologist, told the BBC it was government policy that all those who die from Covid-19, as well as those suspected of dying from it, are cremated, as burials could contaminate ground drinking water. Dr Samaraweera said the government was following expert medical advice, and applying the rule to anyone suspected of dying from coronavirus, regardless of religion. "The WHO offers guidelines for the whole world. It is our responsibility to adopt or customise those guidelines suitable to our country," he said. But Muslim activists, community leaders and politicians have asked the Sri Lankan government to reconsider the decision. Ali Zahir Moulana, a former minister and senior leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress party, said the Muslim community was prepared to accept the rule "if there is evidence or scientific backing to prove that burial is dangerous to public health". But he questioned the science behind it, and accused the government of pursuing a "dark political agenda". Interim guidance published by the WHO in March says victims of coronavirus "can be buried or cremated", and does not mention dangers to groundwater. On the same day that Fathima died, 64-year-old Abdul Hameed Mohamed Rafaideen passed away at his sister's house in Colombo. The labourer and father of four had been suffering from breathing difficulties. His youngest son, Naushad Rafaideen, told the BBC that a neighbour from the majority Sinhala community died the same day. Because of lockdown travelling restrictions, local police asked the family to take the body of the neighbour, together with their father's body, to the hospital. At the mortuary, the doctor told Naushad he was not allowed to touch his father's body because of the risks of Covid-19, even though it wasn't clear whether the virus was the cause of death. Naushad, who cannot read, was asked to sign some papers which gave permission for his father's body to be cremated. He said he wasn't sure what would happen to him if he didn't sign, but he feared a backlash against his family and community if he refused. He said the Sinhalese family was treated differently, and allowed to pay respects to their relative at a funeral parlour, though the BBC could not independently verify this. Only Naushad and a handful of relatives were allowed to attend the cremation of his father, he said. Meanwhile, nearly six weeks after the death of his wife, Shafeek is unsure whether she ever tested positive for coronavirus, and he is struggling to come to terms with not being able to bury her body. One thing he was sure of, he said. "We Muslims do not cremate our dead."

श्रीलंका के अधिकारी कोरोनावायरस पीड़ितों के अंतिम संस्कार पर जोर दे रहे हैं-इस्लाम द्वारा निषिद्ध एक प्रथा। देश के अल्पसंख्यक मुस्लिम समुदाय का कहना है कि वे भेदभाव करने के लिए महामारी का उपयोग कर रहे हैं, बीबीसी सिंहला के सरोज पथिराना लिखते हैं।


Viewpoint: Will Pakistan ever stamp out extremism?

Summary: As Pakistan detains an alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, Ahmed Rashid argues that Pakistan needs a broader, better co-ordinated strategy from state institutions and a willingness to face up to unpleasant truths if it really wants to curb resurgent extremism.

Pakistan faces a renewed threat of rising Islamic extremism, vigilantism, attacks on minorities and a reluctance to face up to how these threats are internally rather than externally inspired. Also missing is the lack of a comprehensive narrative against extremism, articulated unanimously by all bodies of the state and civil society. The result of the failure to push forward a clear counter-terrorism and counter-extremism narrative that embraces the entire public domain is that some extremist groups continue to be tolerated by elements of the state. Just over two years ago, on 16 December 2014, an attack on an army-run school in Peshawar which killed 150 people - the majority of them children - galvanised the civilian government, opposition parties and the military to articulate the need for a comprehensive counter-terrorism plan. For the first time there emerged a 20-point National Action Plan - a list of pointers of what needed to be done, endorsed by the military and all political parties. However the 20 points were never turned into a comprehensive winning strategy or a common narrative and the fight against extremism has diminished ever since. The army's Operation Zarb-e-Azb, launched six months earlier, had cleared out North Waziristan, a key staging area for dozens of militant groups - many of them foreigners. Other military operations also took place, dramatically reducing terrorist bombings nationwide. But they were always going to be tactical operations, which still needed to be backed by a strategic plan carried through by the government. It was the task of the civilian government to carry out educational reforms, job creation, co-ordination among intelligence agencies, galvanising the legal system, a ban on hate speech and a clear strategy of de-radicalisation of the nation's youth. All these aspects of a strategy to be carried out by the government, as opposed to tactical military operations, have been missing, as the government has slipped into inertia and paralysis. At the same time the state gave a pass to those extremist groups who were supportive of Islamabad's foreign policy towards India and Afghanistan. The lack of a strategy and the state support offered to some groups has led to a growing mood of defiance among extremist organisations. In the past few weeks five bloggers have disappeared (three, including liberal activist Salman Haider, have now returned home), some threatened journalists and civil society activists have fled abroad, non-governmental organisations have been accused of being unpatriotic, the Ahmedi community has been ferociously attacked and minority Shia Muslims have been massacred. Hate speech has become a growing phenomenon in some media outlets, especially television, while increasingly journalists and others are threatened with being charged with blasphemy, against which there is little legal defence. Innocent lives are at risk as public incitement and witch hunts continue. Earlier this week, Hafiz Saeed, the cleric blamed by the US and India for masterminding the Mumbai attacks, was placed under house arrest. The move is being seen as a response to suggestions by US officials that the Trump administration may ban his Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity, seen by the US as a front for terrorists. However a military official said it was "a policy decision" and had nothing to do with any foreign pressure. A key aspect of the growing defiance of extremists is the insistence that Pakistan's neighbours are to blame for acts of terrorism rather than recognising that it is a home-grown problem. When former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif took over the army three years ago, he repeatedly said that the country must look into itself to counter extremism and not blame foreign powers. That was music to the ears of most Pakistanis, who hoped that the state would tackle the very real threats at home rather than blame outsiders. Yet over the past year the state has been insisting that all major acts of terrorism have been perpetrated by India or Afghanistan, rather than domestic terrorists. Meanwhile, the civilian government has been indecisive and hesitant as to who to blame, while in its home base of Punjab it has clearly been allowing extremist groups to flourish. The conflict between civil and military agencies has left the public bewildered, giving further space for extremist ideas to flourish. This confusion has clouded out the need for a common and united narrative as to how to deal with extremism. So far, the new army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa has not categorically restated that terrorism is a domestic rather than a foreign creation. Meanwhile, relations with India and Afghanistan have worsened and other neighbours have distanced themselves from Pakistan, leading to what many experts have claimed is the country's growing isolation in the region. If Pakistan is to defeat extremism, a comprehensive strategy and common narrative, jointly agreed upon by the military and the politicians, needs to be implemented. Both need to ensure that all parts of the state are fully carrying out their responsibilities. Most importantly, the narrative that government agencies build up must be consistent and carry forward badly-needed social reforms that will promote de-radicalisation of young people. Pakistan needs a single, inspired, pragmatic and inclusive narrative that is strictly adhered to and can raise the public's morale instead of adding to their confusion. Ahmed Rashid

जैसा कि पाकिस्तान ने मुंबई हमलों के एक कथित मास्टरमाइंड को हिरासत में लिया है, अहमद राशिद का तर्क है कि पाकिस्तान को राज्य संस्थानों से एक व्यापक, बेहतर समन्वित रणनीति और अप्रिय सच्चाई का सामना करने की इच्छा की आवश्यकता है यदि वह वास्तव में पुनरुत्थान चरमपंथ पर अंकुश लगाना चाहता है।


Nine Lives: Indian women with tuberculosis speak out

Summary: India is the tuberculosis (TB) capital of the world.

According to the World Health Organization, the country records 2.8 million new tuberculosis cases annually, of which more than 100,000 are multidrug resistant (MDR). The disease kills 485,000 Indians every year, and costs the government around $24bn (£19.2bn). The WHO also estimates that roughly 40% of India's population has latent tuberculosis - where they are infected with the M.tuberculosis bacterium, but do not have active TB disease. People with latent TB are not infectious, but could develop active TB in the future. The impact of TB is widespread. Treatment takes a financial toll on families, there are delays in diagnosis of the illness, drug resistant tuberculosis is often misdiagnosed and patients are stigmatised and shunned by society. Women in particular bear the brunt of this situation. With less access to nutrition and health services as well as emotional and mental support, it is often a harder fight for women. Many end up being abandoned by their families. The book Nine Lives by Chapal Mehra documents the journey of nine women survivors of tuberculosis. These are some of their views on the illness: "TB can consume your life. Until my diagnosis I was an extremely focused person who was hoping to stand out and achieve my goals. I felt invincible - like nothing could stop me. With TB I felt everything was slipping away." -Mansi, 22, Mumbai. "What we need is support, empathy and encouragement for TB patients. It's a physical battle but also a mental one where family and friends matter a great deal." -Durgawati, a 32 year old TB survivor from India's capital Delhi. "Isn't it worrying that even today we don't know the exact number of multidrug resistant TB cases in this country? Isn't it scary that most MDR patients are misdiagnosed and treated incorrectly? What is worse is that most Indians cannot access the right diagnostics or drugs. Why are we letting a curable disease become so powerful?" -Deepti Chavan, a 32-year-old from Mumbai. "If I reached a public space people would just leave, or they would loudly say 'she has TB, stay away, leave.'" -Tejal, 26 from Vadodara in the western Indian state of Gujarat. "I remembered thinking that my child would be motherless if I stopped this treatment. Who would care for her?" -Nur, 29, from Katwa in West Bengal. "What happens is that you get so frustrated that you are within these four walls, that you don't even have the energy to look outside the window, forget seeing another person. Within two to three months itself I had literally gone mad." -Debashree, 29, from the western Indian city of Pune. "We could afford the best treatment so we did. But it worries me that millions of Indians are affected by TB. So what happens everyday to them?" -Sarika, 32, from Mumbai.

भारत दुनिया की तपेदिक (टीबी) राजधानी है।