Forensic science: How pollen is a silent witness to solving murders

Summary: She is one of the world's leading forensic ecologists who has helped gather evidence for some of the highest-profile murder cases of recent years. But Prof Patricia Wiltshire's interest in the botanical world began during her childhood in Wales.

Ms Wiltshire, 77, remembers with fondness the walks she went on with her grandmother, Vera May Tiley, that introduced her to the natural world. She said: "We lived in a small mining village, Cefn Fforest, near Blackwood in the South Wales valleys. "We would go on walks and she would show me things in hedgerows; birds' nests, insects and plants we could eat, like hawthorn and wild garlic. "She was also a good gardener and keen to protect her plants from pests, so I learnt about plant diseases and how to grow food." Ms Wiltshire's interest in plants grew further after an accident when she was a young child. She said: "When I was seven, I decided to scare my mother by jumping out on her and shouting 'boo', not realising she was carrying a pan of hot chip fat. "I got badly burnt and ended up covered in bandages for two years. "I also suffered from pneumonia, measles, whooping cough and bronchitis, which left me with a chronic cough problem. "I missed a lot of school but had my encyclopaedias, which were my joy. "This was post-war Britain. The NHS had just been set up by Aneurin Bevan, and some of his family lived over the road, but access to treatment was still minimal." Despite her fledgling interest in plants and botany, Ms Wiltshire had little desire to make them her academic profession after she left Lewis Girls' grammar school in Hengoed. Instead, aged 17, she moved to London and began a job in the civil service. For the next decade, Ms Wiltshire trained as a medical laboratory technician at Charing Cross Hospital, learning histology (the microscopy study of tissue), bacteriology, and also biochemistry (the chemical processes in living organisms). She then studied for a botany degree, becoming a lecturer and expert in palynology - the study of pollen and spores. Pollen and spores can last for millions of years if conditions are right, even on surface soil and vegetation. So Ms Wiltshire began specialising in archaeological sites - taking soil samples and recreating the environment in and around Roman era sites such as Hadrian's Wall in northern England and Pompeii in Italy. 'Eureka moment' But in 1994, when she was in her fifties, she received a phone call which would change the course of her career. It was from a police officer in Hertfordshire asking if she could help with a murder. A charred body had been left in a ditch and there were tyre marks in the adjacent field. Police wanted to know if a car belonging to their suspects had been present in the field. Prof Wiltshire said: "I'd never done anything like it before, but I analysed everything in the car and found pollen from the pedals and footwell matched that of an agricultural field edge. "When police took me to the crime scene, I was able to identify the exact spot where the body had been dumped from the types of flowers in that section of the hedge. "It was a eureka moment for me because I didn't think it would be that specific." Despite her own initial scepticism of forensic ecology, she began working on more and more cases. In 2002, she helped police gather evidence in the case of murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire. Police had discovered their bodies in a ditch, but wanted to establish the approach path their killer had used. Ms Wiltshire was able to do this by analysing the re-growth of trampled plants leading to the ditch. Police then conducted a detailed search of her route, and found one of Jessica's hairs on a twig. Ms Wiltshire subsequently gave evidence in the trial of Ian Huntley who was convicted of murdering the two ten-year-olds. Other high profile cases she has been involved with include the child murders of Milly Dowler and Sarah Payne, and five women murdered by a serial killer in Ipswich in 2006. Ms Wiltshire has also worked on cases in south Wales. She said: "In about 2005, I was called to New Tredegar in the Rhymney Valley. "Two thugs had kicked a man to death, then dumped his body in some ferns. "It lay there for a few days, then they returned to burn it, but people saw the smoke and called the police. "They later arrested two men and wanted me to discover if they had been on the site." Ms Wiltshire matched the pollen from the men's shoes to that at the scene, but was still puzzled as the pollen she discovered was not normally found in Wales. Eventually she realised that the lorries that were trundling along the adjacent road were carrying topsoil from England, which was blowing onto the field and depositing pollen and spores. The fact that the pollen was so uniquely located - and matched both the suspects and the crime site - led to the two men confessing. In another case in Bridgend, a body was lain on some wet, peaty soil, which preserves pollen for a long time. Ms Wiltshire later found traces of walnut pollen in the soil and on the suspects' shoes, but she knew there was no walnut site close by. Again, it was eventually discovered that a walnut tree had been cut down by a farmer thirty years previously. The pollen had remained in the soil ever since. Ms Wiltshire, who published a memoir in 2019, said: "People may not realise it, but pollen and spores can tell us stuff that DNA and fingerprints simply can't. "Pollen isn't easily washed away and it stays on people's clothes and shoes. If you walk on soil or vegetation, you inevitably pick it up." Since her first Hertfordshire case, Ms Wiltshire has been able to use the wide range of subjects she studied to develop forensic ecology, which has helped solve many cases over the years. She said: "Sometimes the police call me a 'Welsh witch' because of the way I process a mass of data and come up with ideas. "But it's not magic, it's analysis."

वह दुनिया के अग्रणी फोरेंसिक पारिस्थितिकीविदों में से एक हैं जिन्होंने हाल के वर्षों में हत्या के कुछ सबसे बड़े मामलों के लिए सबूत इकट्ठा करने में मदद की है। लेकिन प्रो. पेट्रीसिया विल्टशायर की वनस्पति विज्ञान की दुनिया में रुचि वेल्स में उनके बचपन के दौरान शुरू हुई थी।


Is North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un rational?

Summary: Is Kim Jong-un rational? The new US ambassador to the United Nations thinks he is not. Nikki Haley said after North Korea's simultaneous launch of four ballistic missiles: "This is not a rational person." But is she right?

By Stephen EvansBBC News, Seoul Kim Jong-un may have many flaws. He is without doubt ruthless - the bereaved relatives of the victims of his regime, including within his own family, would testify to that. He may have driven through an economic policy that keeps his people living at a standard way below that in South Korea and, increasingly, China. And he seems to have personal issues, such as eating a lot - photographs show his bulging girth - and being a fairly heavy smoker. But whatever these failings and foibles, is he actually irrational - which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as "not logical or reasonable, not endowed with the power of reason"? Scholars who study him think he is behaving very rationally, even with the purging and terrorising of those around him. Prof Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul told the BBC: "He is perfectly rational. He sometimes overdoes it. He sometimes tends to apply excessive force. Why kill hundreds of generals when dozens will do? "Most people he kills would never join a conspiracy but he feels it's better to overdo it. It's better to kill nine loyal generals and one potential conspirator than to allow a conspirator to stay alive. "But he is rational." Prof John Delury of Yonsei University in Seoul said that even having his half-brother killed (as the allegation is - denied by Pyongyang) would be a rational act; not nice but rational. "A sad fact of history is that young kings often kill their uncles and elder brothers. It may be cruel, but it is not 'irrational'. If you don't take my word for it, read Shakespeare." On this assassination of Kim Jong-nam, allegedly at the hands of agents of the regime, Prof Lankov says it is similar to the Ottoman Empire, where concubines of the Sultan had countless children, any of whom had a bloodline that might one day legitimise a claim to the throne. Prof Lankov thinks that Kim Jong-nam was, accordingly, a threat, probably not that great a one but still intolerable: "Probably he was not that dangerous but you never know. He was definitely under Chinese control." Prof Delury said that there was nothing irrational about Kim Jong-un's drive to obtain credible nuclear weapons: "He has no reliable allies to guarantee his safety, and he faces a hostile superpower that has, in recent memory, invaded sovereign states around the world and overthrown their governments. "The lesson North Koreans learned from the invasion of Iraq was that if Saddam Hussein really possessed those weapons of mass destruction, he might have survived." This was compounded by the lesson of Libya, according to Prof Lankov: "Did American promises of American prosperity help Gaddafi and his family? Kim Jong-un knows perfectly well what happened to the only fool who believed Western promises and renounced the development of nuclear weapons. And he's not going to make that mistake. Once you don't have nuclear weapons you are completely unprotected. "Did Russian or American and British promises to guarantee Ukrainian integrity help Ukraine? No. Why should he expect American, Russian or Chinese promises to help him stay alive? He is rational." If he is rational, what does he want? On this, scholars are divided. Prof Brian Myers of Dongseo University in Busan in South Korea said that Kim Jong-un wants security but also a united Korea as the only way he and the regime can survive in the long term. "As every North Korean knows, the whole point of the military-first policy is 'final victory', or the unification of the peninsula under North Korean rule." A credible nuclear force would give him the ability to pressure the United States to remove its troops from the peninsula. "North Korea needs the capability to strike the US with nuclear weapons in order to pressure both adversaries into signing peace treaties. This is the only grand bargain it has ever wanted," said Prof Myers. And once the US troops had gone, on this argument, North Korean rule would be unstoppable. Prof Lankov doesn't agree with the emphasis. He thinks survival is by far the most important motive behind Kim Jong-un's actions: "Above all, he wants to stay alive. Second, economic prosperity and growth - but it's a distant second." So what's to be done? Prof Lankov sees no good options: "I don't see any solution right now." He thinks the best option is to persuade North Korea to freeze its development of nuclear weapons at a particular size of arsenal "but it will be very difficult and North Koreans may not keep their promises". And money would have to be paid. "But this deal isn't good from an American point of view because it means paying a reward to a blackmailer, and if you pay a reward to a blackmailer once, you invite more blackmail. "The second option which might work is a military operation but that is likely to trigger a second Korean war and will permanently damage American credibility as a reliable ally and protector. "Worldwide, a lot of people would see that it's better to have enemies than such friends."

क्या किम जोंग-उन तर्कसंगत हैं? संयुक्त राष्ट्र में नए अमेरिकी राजदूत को लगता है कि वह नहीं हैं। उत्तर कोरिया द्वारा एक साथ चार बैलिस्टिक मिसाइलों के प्रक्षेपण के बाद निक्की हेली ने कहाः "यह एक तर्कसंगत व्यक्ति नहीं है।" लेकिन क्या वह सही हैं?


The migrant girl, 9, detained by US for 531 days and counting

Summary: A mother and her daughter, both from El Salvador, have spent more than 500 days at an immigration detention centre in the US, despite a rule limiting the detention of under-age migrants to a maximum of 20 days.

By Patricia Sulbarán LoveraBBC Mundo Luisa* has the sweet voice of a nine-year-old girl, but she sometimes sounds wise beyond her years. She has had to write letters to legislators, asking authorities to release her and Ariana*, her mother, from a US government detention centre for migrant families. (*Both "Luisa" and her mother, "Ariana", are under assumed names in this report. They have asked to stay anonymous because they are at risk of deportation. ) As of 2 February, she has spent 531 days in US government custody together with her mother, as they try to avoid deportation following an unsuccessful asylum request. According to legal aid organisations operating in the country's three migrant family detention centres, Luisa, who is from El Salvador, is currently the migrant child who has spent the longest time in the custody of ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement). She has spent almost all that time at the South Texas Family Residential Centre, in Dilley, Texas. "All my friends left already. Me and my other friend, we are the only ones left," she says over the telephone. According to existing US rules, migrant children must be released after spending a maximum of 20 days in detention by ICE, following the so-called Flores Settlement Agreement of 1997. However, Luisa and four other children aged 3 to 16, together with their mothers, have spent more than 500 days at the same facility. 'Nobody can replace a mother' Luisa could have left the detention centre to stay with another relative in the US. But mother and child decided to stay together while they fight in the courts against government efforts to deport them. Ariana says: "Nobody can replace a mother. I can't leave my daughter with them [her relatives in the United States]. My daughter is very young, she needs me to take care of her. How could I leave her?" Immigration lawyers and advocates say that ICE should release the families instead of putting them in a position to decide to separate from their children while detained and at risk of deportation. During the past electoral campaign, US President Joe Biden spoke against family detentions and demanded in June that migrant children and their parents be released "immediately". Luisa's case shows the complications of an immigration policy that has often been described as "dysfunctional". 'Two Christmases' Luisa is tired of her situation. "I have spent two Christmases here," she says. "I miss cooking food. I would like to cook my own food. I have learned a little bit of English. I want to learn more at school, but away from here". Her mother says that the girl does not like the food at the detention centre, and that her behaviour has changed as time goes by. "She only eats fruit, and sometimes not even that," she adds. Ariana, who is 31 years old, adds that she herself has fallen ill from anxiety. "I am taking pills, and some time ago I experienced an attack. I did not know what it was. The paramedics told me it was an anxiety attack." "I sometimes feel like it is not me who is in there," she adds. Denied asylum Ariana says, without adding much detail, that violence in El Salvador led her to flee the country with Luisa, leaving two other children behind. On 21 August 2019 they crossed the US-Mexico border and on the 27th, they were taken to the Dilley facility, where they were interviewed by an official two days later. According to Mackenzie Levy, a paralegal for Proyecto Dilley who represents the family, their asylum petition was denied soon afterwards because they had not requested it earlier in Mexico or in Guatemala before doing so in the US. Her lawyers appealed the decision in September at an immigration court, which ratified the decision to deny asylum and order their deportation. Ariana's attorneys have asked the government to allow her to appear in front of a judge to present her case. ICE said it would not be able to comment about her case due to ongoing litigation. Near deportation Ariana explains that the government has tried to deport her and her daughter "at least five times", with lawyers avoiding their expulsion from the US, sometimes at the very last moment. The mother says that her daughter "understands more and more" the situation they have encountered when they have been taken to airports and faced imminent deportation to El Salvador. "It angers me that they take me away, then back in, then back out," Luisa says when asked about how she feels at the detention centre. One of the things that most worries Ariana is that she believes her daughter is falling behind in her education. "She does not learn enough here. It has been already two lost years," she says. Levy says that several of her clients criticise the quality of classes offered at the detention centre to the children, who "spend a lot of time on the computer, sometimes not learning anything at all". Levy added that, during the pandemic, children have received homework packets that "are supposed to last for a week and they would complete [them] in a day, within a few hours". ICE responded that the school at the Dilley facility reopened in-person classes in September and that "education packets were delivered in line with Texas directives for school closures due to the pandemic". The agency insisted that it "respects the dignity and humanity of families". 'Chaos and heartbreak' Last November, more than 60 migrant rights groups sent a letter to President Donald Trump and then-President-elect Biden, naming 28 children who have been detained with their families for terms of up to 15 months, demanding their release. ICE indicated in a statement released that same month that the families had enjoyed wide access to legal options and that it had been determined that they had no legal basis to stay in the United States. Of the 28 children mentioned in the letter, six have since been deported and 17 released. Five, including Luisa, are still in custody. "This type of policies creates more chaos and heartbreak," says Sarah Pierce, at the Migration Policy Institute, an independent think tank. "If you see it from the perspective of a person requesting asylum, what you find is layers and layers of bureaucracy." Five hundred and thirty-one days after her entry into the US, Luisa has not left detention. Her 10th birthday is coming up, and she is looking forward to it. "I want to be outside, at my aunt's house, on that day," she says, hopeful.

अल सल्वाडोर की एक माँ और उसकी बेटी ने कम उम्र के प्रवासियों की हिरासत को अधिकतम 20 दिनों तक सीमित करने के नियम के बावजूद, अमेरिका के एक आप्रवासन निरोध केंद्र में 500 दिनों से अधिक समय बिताया है।


Girl, 13, dies after being hit by car in Tamworth

Summary: A girl who died after being hit by a car in Staffordshire has been named by police as 13-year-old Jorja Deborah Fisher.

Police said she was hit by a Hyundai Tucson on the River Drive junction with Fazeley Road, Tamworth, on Friday evening. "Jorja suffered serious injuries" and died in hospital a short time after the crash, the Staffordshire force said. The teenager's family is being supported by specialist officers.

स्टैफोर्डशायर में एक कार की चपेट में आने से मरने वाली एक लड़की का नाम पुलिस ने 13 वर्षीय जोरजा डेबोरा फिशर के रूप में लिया है।


Furlough's further furlong

Summary: The Job Retention Scheme has been retained across the UK, while England enters a new month of lockdown. But it's not clear it will also be there if Scotland needs to deploy it at a time when England does not. Businesses welcome the return of furlough, but there's dismay in some sectors about the implications for their costs. Furlough has supported 9.6m people to stay in jobs, though 9% of them went on to lose their jobs. That goes for 19% of young people.

Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland Furlough goes on. We were due to be starting a new era of economic recovery and transition to a new jobs market from this morning. Ballet dancers were to reskill as cyber security consultants, at least according to the poster. But that's not how it's turned out. In mid-summer and many times after that, we were told Halloween would be the end of it, for sure. But less than five hours from the end of October, the prime minister announced that it goes on, at least to 2 December. That's with the announcement that England is going back into lockdown. We're back to the furlough scheme as it was in August. The government pays 80% of normal pay for those on furlough, and employers pay about 5% of their total pay bill in National Insurance and pension contributions. Plus employers can take furloughed workers back part-time. So that's more generous than September or October. Some important details: neither the employer nor the employee needs to have previously used the furlough scheme. That's important for many people who have shifted jobs in recent months, and for new firms. To qualify, you have to have been on the payroll and registered for PAYE tax before midnight on Friday 30 October. You can be furloughed for as little as seven days. There has previously been a three-week minimum. There are grants being paid to firms forced to close, and local councils in England are getting £20 per head of population to help out - a total of £1.1bn. There should be a share of that distributed through the funding formula for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There's no mention yet of what happens to the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, which was due to fall, from 1 November, to 40% of past year's profits to cover the next three months. That's for the limited number of self-employed people who qualify. Meanwhile, the Financial Conduct Authority, the industry regulator, said mortgage lenders should extend payment holidays to a maximum of six months. So if you've already taken a six month holiday from payments, you may not get that continued. Half a million closures We were due for a new system that required people in firms that did not have to close to work at least 20% of their normal hours. In that case the UK government would pay out nearly half of normal earnings. That system required two big revisions, and even after that, it is not being introduced, at least until early December. Meanwhile, furlough applies across the UK, though the need for it is lower in Scotland, for now. There's a lot less that has to close. I'm told that governments in Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland all asked for a return to full furlough support in order to let them put in place tight restrictions they deemed necessary to suppress viral infection. Downing Street said no as there isn't enough money. But now that England requires lockdown, there is enough money - borrowed money. That's clearly going to rankle and doesn't sound like a partnership of equals. There will be talks on Sunday between the Scottish government and the Treasury about how this is to apply, given that Scotland does not require closure of half million non-essential shops, car showrooms, betting shops almost all hospitality, pubs, bars, cafes, restaurants other than takeaways, most hotels, leisure, indoor entertainments, from bingo to bowls, hairdressers and beauty salons. And that's the issue raised by Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister saying that a crucial point is whether support on the scale announced for English businesses will be available if Scotland needs to impose further restrictions later - or if it is only available if Scotland happens to require a full lockdown at the same time as a lockdown in England. There's relief across business that furlough has been extended, but absolute dismay from some sectors about this happening in November. Shops are carrying a lot of Christmas stock, and they foresee a lot of business going to the big online retailers. People they were about to recruit but were not yet on the books will not qualify for furlough. The British Retail Consortium says the new English lockdown will cause "untold damage" in the run-up to Christmas, costing countless jobs, setting back the recovery and, it says, with only minimal effect on virus transmission. For Scottish shops, which can remain open, this raises questions about supply chains being disrupted. The UK Hospitality trade body says its members need more support than in spring. It'll have to sustain them through winter, and they're looking for a clear roadmap out of here. The Food and Drink Federation said the extended furlough scheme is "extremely welcome", but the lockdown decision still threatens calamity if they don't see a detailed rescue package within only three days. Independent retailers fear that there will be many more permanent closures, having lost quarter of shops from the first lockdown. And brewers face having to pour a lot of stale beer down the drain in December, with replacement costs. Fixed costs go on, even if the pay bill is covered by furlough, and they say the supply chain for hospitality tends to be forgotten. Let's not forget travel, which will affect those Scots who travel through English airports, now facing a ban on international travel, so flights are likely to be cut back sharply. Airports and airlines say they require an immediate additional economic support package throughout winter, and a roll-out of a traveller testing regime. Job search So far, the furlough scheme has helped 9.6m people stay in jobs, though not all at the same time. It's come down a long way from its peak. And it's cost more than £40bn. This week, we had interesting insights into what's happened to the people on furlough, from the Resolution Foundation think tank. It found 9% of people furloughed at some point had lost their jobs by September. Among young people, that's as high as 19%, so furlough had helped delay the point that were going to lose their jobs anyway. It found that, of people who were self-employed in February, 10% were unemployed seven months later, so they've been much less well protected. A really important finding from this research is that people have been losing jobs, as they did in past recessions, but much more than in the past, they've not been getting back into jobs. So there are big outflows from work, and poor outflows back into work. That's particularly true of young people. One of the reasons is that people are looking to get back into jobs like the ones they left, notably those in hospitality and leisure. The signs are that they're not going to sectors where there are recruitment shortages, such as social care. And that raises a big challenge about re-skilling people to have the skills and confidence to seek out the work opportunities that are out there.

नौकरी प्रतिधारण योजना को पूरे ब्रिटेन में बरकरार रखा गया है, जबकि इंग्लैंड लॉकडाउन के एक नए महीने में प्रवेश कर रहा है। लेकिन यह स्पष्ट नहीं है कि अगर स्कॉटलैंड को ऐसे समय में इसे तैनात करने की आवश्यकता है जब इंग्लैंड नहीं करता है तो यह भी होगा। व्यवसायों ने फर्लो की वापसी का स्वागत किया है, लेकिन कुछ क्षेत्रों में उनकी लागत के प्रभाव के बारे में निराशा है। फर्लो ने 9.6 लाख लोगों को नौकरी में रहने के लिए समर्थन दिया है, हालांकि उनमें से 9 प्रतिशत ने अपनी नौकरी खो दी है। यह 19 प्रतिशत युवाओं के लिए जाता है।


Third man arrested over 'serious' Staffordshire assault

Summary: An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm after two men suffered suspected stab wounds in a "serious assault".

Staffordshire Police confirmed that the man was arrested on Saturday. A 16-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were also arrested in connection with the incident which took place on Minton Street, Wolstanton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, at about 02:20 BST on Saturday. All three suspects have been released under investigation, police said. Two men, aged 20 and 50, were injured during the incident. The 19-year-old from Newcastle-under-Lyme was arrested on suspicion of assault, grievous bodily harm with intent and affray. The 16-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent was arrested on suspicion of assault, actual bodily harm and affray.

एक "गंभीर हमले" में दो लोगों को चाकू से घायल होने के संदेह के बाद एक 18 वर्षीय व्यक्ति को गंभीर शारीरिक नुकसान पहुंचाने के संदेह में गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Viewpoint: Is bloodied Syrian boy Omran Daqneesh just another image?

Summary: The iconic image of a bloodied Syrian boy in an ambulance has sparked international compassion but, asks Lina Sergie Attar, can it now transcend being just a hashtag or viral moment and become a movement to end the war?

"He looks like a statue." That's what my 11-year-old daughter said when she saw the video of five-year-old Omran Daqneesh covered in grey dust and fresh blood, sitting on a bright orange chair in an ambulance. He sits in complete silence, staring ahead with deadened eyes. The statue moves. He touches his bloody forehead and studies his hand with confusion. Then little Omran does what every parent has witnessed their child do. After a moment's hesitation, he wipes his hand on the chair. Except our children have done the same with ketchup, ice cream, chocolate. Not blood. Yearly tradition Once again, the world has been shocked by the image of a Syrian child. Omran was rescued with his family by the Syrian Civil Defence (also known as the White Helmets) after a reported Russian air strike hit his home in rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Wednesday. His photo has been featured on the front page of every major international newspaper, discussed on the news, and has gone viral on social media. It seems the end of summer has become a yearly tradition for the world to awaken to Syria's tragedy through the photos of its suffering children. Three years ago, it was the images of gassed children from the Ghouta region outside Damascus, who suffocated to death after a chemical weapons attack on their neighbourhoods - widely blamed on regime forces - as they slept in underground bomb shelters. They looked like perfect porcelain dolls lined up in a row, waxy and unblemished. One year ago, it was the photo of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi who washed up on a Turkish beach after drowning while trying to reach Greece with his family as they fled the war like millions of other refugees. Alan captured the world's hearts and compassion with his red T-shirt, navy shorts, and sturdy little shoes - a universal toddler outfit - and became the symbol of the plight of refugees. Omran is the Syrian icon of 2016. Unfortunately, every year these images are followed by millions of tweets, likes, and shares; they inspire public outrage and an outpouring of compassionate donations to aid organisations; and then, after a few days or weeks, the image and the crisis are forgotten. The world moves on. Air raids by the Syrian government and its allies continue to drop bombs of all sorts on civilians; so-called Islamic State (IS) continues to terrorise Syrians living under its control; the death toll rises and the refugee crisis continues to escalate. The international community and the UN wring their hands. And then about a year passes and another image goes viral. Over and over. Deafening silence Chemical weapons attacks, mass displacement, barrel bombs, air strikes, forced starvation, torture: every vile act of war imaginable has directly affected Syrian children since 2011. For children like Omran, all he has known in his life is war. For millions of Syrian children growing up during this gruelling conflict, their realities are bleak and their futures even bleaker. If they stay in their homes, they are sitting targets of bombs and missiles. They may suffer hunger and illness if they live in besieged areas. They may not have access to schools or even access to safe passage to school. If they leave with their families across Syria's borders to a neighbouring country, they may face being forced to work as child labourers to support their families. Moving beyond the neighbouring countries' boundaries poses even greater risks: of drowning on the way to Europe; being trapped in detention camps; and finally, after reaching safe havens, they still are subjected to discrimination and hate campaigns. Syrian children are unwelcome wherever they go. This week, one image, one boy, one moment, was elevated above the dozens of moments that have happened every single day in Syria for the past five-and-a-half years. Every day there are so many Omrans whose images you will never see and whose names you will never know. And unlike lucky Omran, those kids don't survive. This is not a hashtag moment. This is not a viral moment. This is a moment that must become a movement to end the war. He looks like a statue. He stares at the camera, at us, in complete silence. Literally shell-shocked. As if he already knows that silence is the only appropriate response to what has just happened. A child's crushing silence to match the world's deafening silence that Syrians know all too well. Lina Sergie Attar is a Syrian American writer and architect. She is the co-founder and CEO of the Karam Foundation, which provides humanitarian aid to Syrians. @amalhanano

एक एम्बुलेंस में एक खून से लथपथ सीरियाई लड़के की प्रतिष्ठित छवि ने अंतर्राष्ट्रीय करुणा को जन्म दिया है, लेकिन लीना सर्गी अत्तार पूछती हैं, क्या यह अब सिर्फ एक हैशटैग या वायरल क्षण से परे जा सकता है और युद्ध को समाप्त करने के लिए एक आंदोलन बन सकता है?


Libor: What is it and why does it matter?

Summary: Libor, the London inter-bank lending rate, is considered to be one of the most important interest rates in finance, upon which trillions of financial contracts rest. Here, the BBC explains some of the key facts.

1. What is Libor? A global benchmark interest rate used to set a range of financial deals worth an estimated: $450,000,000,000,000 The value of deals determined by Libor was revised down from $800 trillion to $450 trillion following new figures in the Wheatley report on 28 September 2012. 2. Why is it so important? As well as helping to decide the price of other transactions, it is also used as a measure of trust in the financial system and reflects the confidence banks have in each other's financial health. Mortgages Loans Inter-bank lending Indicator of trust Reflects health of banks 3. How is it set? Banks don't just lend money to one another whenever they like. There is a system. Every day a group of leading banks submits the interest rates at which they are willing to lend to other finance houses. They suggest rates in 10 currencies covering 15 different lengths of loan, ranging from overnight to 12 months. The most important rate is the three-month dollar Libor. The rates submitted are what the banks estimate they would pay other banks to borrow dollars for three months if they borrowed money on the day the rate is being set. Then an average is calculated. This is a simple example of how it works. 4. How have the allegations of manipulation arisen? Since the rates submitted are estimates, not actual transactions, it has been suggested that banks could have submitted false figures. It is alleged that traders at several banks conspired to influence the final average rate that results, the official Libor rate, by agreeing amongst themselves to submit rates that were either higher or lower than their actual estimates. During the past three years Barclays Bank, JP Morgan, Swiss bank UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland and Deutsche Bank have all been fined by financial regulators for this practice, which is seen as market manipulation and corrosive to trust in the financial markets. In August 2015, former city trader Tom Hayes was convicted of conspiracy to defraud for manipulating Libor. He was jailed for 14 years a sentence that had since been cut to 11 years. 5. Could Libor be manipulated now? After the allegations came to light the government commissioned a major review of Libor and how it was set. Oversight of Libor was passed from the British Bankers' Association to the Intercontinental Exchange - ICE. Rates are now based on actual transactions for which records are kept. Another key change is that there are now specific criminal sanctions for manipulation of benchmark interest rates.

लिबोर, लंदन अंतर-बैंक ऋण दर, को वित्त में सबसे महत्वपूर्ण ब्याज दरों में से एक माना जाता है, जिस पर खरबों वित्तीय अनुबंध निर्भर करते हैं। यहाँ, बीबीसी कुछ प्रमुख तथ्यों की व्याख्या करता है।


Appeal over Gwynedd council's refusal of 366 new Bangor homes

Summary: A housing developer which was refused permission to build 366 homes in Bangor because of fears over the effect on the Welsh language is appealing.

Gwynedd councillors also rejected the planning application by Morbaine because of concern about the impact on local traffic and schools. The developer wants to build the houses at Pen y Ffridd in Penrhosgarnedd. The planning inspectorate will consider the appeal before making a recommendation to the Welsh Government. The application for the houses was the biggest considered by Gwynedd council and was refused using new planning rules designed to protect the Welsh language. Residents had organised a petition against building at the 35.36 acre (14.3 ha) site raising concerns about overdevelopment and lack of infrastructure.

एक आवास विकासकर्ता जिसे वेल्श भाषा पर प्रभाव के डर से बांगोर में 366 घर बनाने की अनुमति से इनकार कर दिया गया था, अपील कर रहा है।


Lancaster bombers to appear at Jersey air show

Summary: The only two Lancaster bombers still flying are due to appear at Jersey's International Air Display in September.

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, based in Lincolnshire, is to join the other aircraft from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. Air show commentator Melvyn Hiscock said: "It's absolutely phenomenal and fantastic news." The two aircraft are expected to take part in a series of events during the summer months across the UK. The annual air display attracts thousands of visitors each year.

केवल दो लैंकेस्टर बमवर्षक अभी भी उड़ान भर रहे हैं जो सितंबर में जर्सी के अंतर्राष्ट्रीय वायु प्रदर्शन में दिखाई देने वाले हैं।


Kayakers safe after warship joins rescue efforts

Summary: Three kayakers have been rescued in an operation involving the RNLI, the coastguard, a Royal Navy warship and nearby fishing boats.

The kayakers had got into difficulty in Loch Torridon, near Shieldaig, in the north west Highlands at 11:17. Kyle Coastguard Rescue Team, Portree RNLI lifeboat and Stornoway Coastguard were sent to the scene. Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland and a number of fishing boats and other vessels also responded and assisted. A local fishing picked up one of the kayakers and the helicopter winched two others from the water. The coastguard said: "The casualties were safely rescued at the scene and later passed into the care of the Scottish Ambulance Service for further treatment."

आर. एन. एल. आई., तटरक्षक बल, एक शाही नौसेना युद्धपोत और पास की मछली पकड़ने वाली नौकाओं के एक अभियान में तीन कयाकरों को बचाया गया है।


The melodrama of Edinburgh's trams

Summary: After years of controversy, Scotland's capital city finally has a fully functioning tram line, with the first paying passengers boarding on Saturday morning. The long-running story has been a financial and political melodrama.

By David MillerBBC Scotland transport correspondent Month after month, year after year, the digging in Edinburgh's handsome city centre streets went on and on, as disputes raged and costs soared. Deadlines came and deadlines went. By 2011, the money had largely run out. The tram project was in crisis. Back then the tram project was stopped in its tracks. Many feared the launch day would never come. What exactly went wrong and, perhaps more importantly, how did bosses manage to avert a potentially humiliating failure? It fell to Edinburgh City Council's new chief executive Sue Bruce to resolve the bitter and expensive legal stalemate with the companies building the tram line. Days locked in mediation with the contractors proved vital. "History has shown that we have been able to make it work," says Ms Bruce. She says: "We have had zero disputes since mediation and I think it is very much about turning it into a cooperative way of working but nevertheless appreciating that the contractors had a wholly commercial view of it and we had very much a public interest view of things. And bringing those two things to meet in the middle somehow." Fast forward to 2014 and the trams are finally ready to carry their first paying passengers. The council was forced to borrow its way out of trouble. Interests payments on the final bill of £776m will take the total cost to over £1bn. But we still don't know when, or even if, the line will reach Leith and the waterfront. Calls for a public inquiry are growing louder. Prof Richard Kerley of the Centre for Scottish Public Policy is writing a book on the tram fiasco. He says: "We have spent an awful lot of money on this. It is worth spending a relatively small amount of money to find out what happened and how it could have been improved because we are going to do similar things in other cities, either in Scotland or elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and we should learn from everybody's experience." In Leith, support for the completion of the line appears to be strong but some have had enough and dread even the prospect of work on the line restarting. Local businessman Alan Rudland says: "Businesses will make hard decisions. They will spend money, if it is wrong they will stop. They will stop digging when they get to the bottom of the pit. "It seems to me however that the council are saying 'we are just going to keep on digging'. "This is a project that is never going to make money to recoup its build costs and it is simply not going to make money to replace itself. So it is nothing but a money pit." And there is criticism too from city centre residents who say their health is being threatened by traffic forced away from the tram route. Dr Ashley Lloyd, a spokesman for residents in the New Town, says: "What we have here, in the cobbled streets around the residential parts of Edinburgh, we have HGVs coming through at all times of the day and night. "We see at peak times here that traffic is so heavily congested that it is actually stationary for large parts of the time." At the tram depot of the city's western outskirts, final preparations are under way for Saturday's launch. Excitement in the city is building according to tram boss Tom Norris. He says: "There seems to be a real keenness to be part of day one. That goes across our staff but also the people who are keen to see what trams are all about in Edinburgh. "We want people to come and enjoy the experience. We expect it to be busy but we will be working very hard to make sure things go as smoothly as possible." And for one young tram driver it will be a day to remember. Craig Scotland will be at the controls of the very first service, starting at 05:00 from the Gyle shopping centre. He says: "I'm really excited but it comes with nerves as well. "When I left school I never thought I'd be doing something like this, making my own mark in history in Edinburgh." And so it is over to you, as the citizens of Edinburgh and the taxpayers of Scotland finally have the chance to get onboard and judge for themselves if the disruption and the cost really have been worthwhile.

वर्षों के विवाद के बाद, स्कॉटलैंड की राजधानी शहर में आखिरकार एक पूरी तरह से काम करने वाली ट्राम लाइन है, जिसमें शनिवार की सुबह पहले भुगतान करने वाले यात्री सवार होते हैं। लंबे समय से चल रही कहानी एक वित्तीय और राजनीतिक मेलोड्रामा रही है।


Inside the primary school class with 63 pupils

Summary: A primary school was thrust into the spotlight last month when it was revealed it was teaching children in classes of more than 60 pupils. BBC News spent the day at Broadclyst Community Primary School in Devon to get a flavour of what it's like to be taught in such an environment.

By Claire Gilbody-DickersonBBC News "Callum. Callum. Callum." With the help of her head-mic, teacher Bronnie Williams is carrying out the morning roll-call; the class is big enough that some name repetition is inevitable. Standing at the front of the three-row lecture theatre, she swiftly works her way through the list of 63 pupils. Projected on the main wall behind her is an image of the children's daily tasks. By 9am, the Year 6 children at the academy school near Exeter have spent half an hour getting on with unfinished homework or quizzes in maths and English and they're ready for classes to begin. Each child has an assigned seat and a £750 kit comprising a laptop computer, smart pen and mouse. The technology allows for their lessons to be uploaded to the cloud, making them accessible at any time. The class, led by two teachers and two assistants, stays together for at least three hours a day for core lessons in maths, English and history. For Gus, who's 10 years old, the super-sized class doesn't hold the children back. "Even though it's huge and there are a lot of us, we can all see the teacher because of the way the seats are arranged," he says. "It really allows us to socialise - that's one of the main benefits of this size." Fellow pupil Jess, also 10 years old, is another fan. "If you're in a class of 20 you wouldn't hear as many opinions or wouldn't have as many friends to choose from." She says all children have a mentor they see every week, who will set targets to work towards, "and if we have any problems they'll help us". Broadclyst's head teacher Jonathan Bishop says the lecture theatre offers a "futuristic environment fit for the 21st Century". He says 90% of his school's pupils have attained the necessary standards in writing, reading and maths - well above the 65% required by the government. Mr Bishop firmly believes smaller class sizes aren't necessary to provide a quality education. "I think there is a simplistic historic model that says one teacher for 30 children is the correct ratio, and there is no evidence that I am aware of that says 30 children gives quality education," he says. "Having that flexible space with the support of experienced, skilled educators to meet the needs of children is much more of a targeted approach than having a smaller class with 30 kids." The use of technology is central to the Broadclyst approach. It hosts the Global Enterprise Challenge, which gives children hands-on experience of marketing, web design and accountancy. The initiative connects the village school with classes around the world, from Israel and the Dominican Republic to Jordan and Spain, through cameras hanging from each corner of the lecture theatre. "It's really good that we've got access to this amount of technology as it allows us to hear lots of different opinions and see lots of different things," Gus says. After the core lessons, the class breaks up into groups of no bigger than 15. While keeping order might sound like an impossible task in a class of 63, the pupils' movements seem almost choreographed, with their smooth and snakelike exit being a spectacle in itself. Now they're in smaller groups, the children go on to lessons in science, art and music. PE classes range from sailing and mountain biking to climbing, football and dance. The government has enforced, with a few exceptions, a limit of 30 pupils to one teacher in infant classes, but there is no cap for older children. Unions advocate for the 30:1 ratio to be extended to all classes regardless of pupils' age, as they believe a smaller class size has a "powerful impact on pupils' educational experiences", and they also say there are health and safety concerns relating to larger classes. You might also be interested in: The National Education Union's South West representative Hannah Packham told the BBC it was "extremely shocking and disturbing" to hear of the 63-strong class. "Teachers in class sizes that are manageable are able to pick up some of the smaller issues that are difficult to highlight in a child," she says. "The ability to provide that pastoral support in a class of over 30, even arguably over 25, is really difficult." She says she fears there could be an increasing number of schools introducing larger class sizes, even when teachers might "feel very uncomfortable" with this. Asked whether his school had introduced the large class for financial reasons, Mr Bishop's response is that "this is not about money". "This is about the delivery of great education," he says. "They're sitting in a hi-tech, futuristic room with four adults in that room. So you could take a traditional classroom and have one teacher and 30 children and it would be cheaper than what we are delivering here in this room." Miss Williams, the main teacher in Broadclyst's Year 6, says class size does little to affect the teachers' workload. What has "really made a difference" for her has been the streamlining of tasks such as planning and marking. Outlining the benefits of working with another three adults, she says: "Because you're team-teaching you're able to embellish and add upon the other person's input during the teaching and support each other." She adds: "It [class size] definitely hasn't affected the support that we can give to children. "It's my fourth year and I really enjoy it; I actually can't imagine going back to teaching a different way." What does the research say? A link has been found between smaller classes and attainment during the early years of school, but that appears to be less the case as pupils get older, a Department for Education report states. According to the Education Endowment Foundation, while reducing class sizes can indeed help children, this is only the case when pupil numbers are below 20 or even 15. Dr Stephen Curran, a teacher for 35 years and a government adviser, argues that bigger classes can be "extremely good" in schools where resources are used "wisely and effectively". "This sort of rigid idea of having 30 in a class and that's the only unit you can ever teach, that doesn't really make sense to me." He believes technology can free teachers of the more tedious tasks so they can "use their expertise in the most efficient way".

पिछले महीने एक प्राथमिक विद्यालय सुर्खियों में आया था जब यह पता चला था कि यह 60 से अधिक छात्रों की कक्षाओं में बच्चों को पढ़ा रहा था। बीबीसी न्यूज़ ने डेवोन के ब्रॉडक्लिस्ट सामुदायिक प्राथमिक विद्यालय में दिन बिताया ताकि यह पता लगाया जा सके कि ऐसे वातावरण में पढ़ाया जाना कैसा होता है।


The 'bogus boss' email scam costing firms millions

Summary: It's a boss's worst nightmare.

By Marie Keyworth & Matthew WallTechnology of Business reporters You return from a trip to find that hundreds of thousands of dollars has been transferred out of company accounts - apparently at your instruction. But you have no idea what your accountant is talking about - you didn't give any instructions. This is what happened to Carole Gratzmuller, boss of a medium-sized French company called Etna Industrie. Her firm, which employs 50 people and has been making industrial equipment on the outskirts of Paris for nearly 75 years, was the victim of a specialised email phishing attack dubbed CEO fraud, or "fraude au president" as they call it in France. 'Confidential transaction' "My accountant was called on Friday morning," she tells the BBC. "Someone said: 'You're going to get an email from the president, and she's going to give you instructions to conduct a very confidential transaction and you're going to have to respond to whatever instructions she gives you'." The accountant was then emailed from an address with Ms Gratzmuller's name in it, saying Etna Industrie was buying a company in Cyprus. The email said the accountant was going to get a phone call from a consultant working with a lawyer, who would then give her instructions as to where to transfer the money. "Everything happened between 9 and 10 o'clock," says Ms Gratzmuller. "The accountant probably got about 10 emails in that time and three or four different phone calls. The fraudsters pressured her into acting quickly, without thinking - a standard feature of this type of phishing fraud. "They didn't give her a moment to sit back and think that this was unusual," she says. 'Vulnerable' Before noon the accountant had authorised wire transfers totalling €500,000 (£372,000; $542,000) to foreign bank accounts. Luckily for Etna Industrie, three of the wire transfers were held up by the banks, but one for €100,000 went through. The many faces of business email fraud The company got this money back after the bank in question was found to be at fault by the French courts. However, the bank is appealing against the decision. "It's like when your house or apartment gets broken into," says Ms Gratzmuller. "You feel vulnerable. People get into your life and they know things about you and you have no clue, and they take things from you." French connection But the case of Etna Industrie is small fry compared to the scale of "fraude au president" across France as a whole. French businesses have lost an estimated €465m since 2010, official figures suggest, with 15,000 firms falling victim to the scam, including big names, such as Michelin, KPMG and Nestle. The biggest fraud was for €32m, and a further €830m could have been stolen if more phishing attacks had proved successful, say French police. Matthieu Bares, deputy head of their financial crime division, says there are one or two attacks on French companies every day, but that "plenty of victims don't report the fraud". But why France in particular? Gilbert Chikli, a French-Israeli man, may have a lot to do with it. He defrauded more than 30 banks and companies out of €7.9m during 2005 and 2006, pretending to be, variously, company heads and secret service agents. Chikli fled to Israel in 2009 and in his absence was sentenced to seven years in prison last year. With no extradition agreement between Israel and France, Chikli remains living in Tel Aviv, and a film based on his life is being made - starring French president Francois Hollande's girlfriend, Julie Gayet. It is still predominantly French-Israeli gangs running the fraud, police say, and their ability to impersonate French bosses has seen France bearing the brunt of the onslaught in Europe. Global spread But CEO fraud is not just a French problem. In the US, the FBI's internet crime centre or IC3 has been tracking "business email compromise" scams, as it calls them, and reckons about 7,000 companies have been defrauded of more than $740m (£508m; €682m) over the last two years. The real figure is likely to be much higher though, given how reluctant many companies are to admit being defrauded in this way. "We think more than $2bn has been lost to business email scams over the last two years," says Aaron Higbee, co-founder and chief technology officer of PhishMe, a US security company specialising in educating staff about phishing attacks. One US company, Ubiquiti Networks, a wireless network equipment manufacturer, admitted to wiring $39.1m to fraudsters after falling victim to this type of scam repeatedly last year. "Fraudsters are increasing the intensity of attacks," says Amichai Shulman, chief technology officer at data security company, Imperva. "So it only takes a tiny percentage to get through to be effective. There are not enough policing resources in cyberspace to monitor them all." Social engineering But why is CEO fraud proving so effective? Mr Higbee suggests it because this type of email can more easily bypass spam filters and antivirus security systems. "It doesn't need attachments carrying malware, it's just a conversation," he says. "It's very low-tech and a big departure from the large, automated malware attacks we're used to." Fraudsters use publicly available corporate data gleaned from the internet to make the emails as convincing as possible, finding out who the bosses and senior financial officers are from social networks like LinkedIn, for example. Staff are less likely to question instructions purporting to come from on high, and it's this psychological manipulation - often accompanied by a sense of urgency - that is a major factor in the fraud's success. "It will spread because it's too good to be ignored," warns Jerome Robert from French cybersecurity company, Lexsi. "[Criminals] can make so much money in a very small amount of time, with minimal risk." Businesses should be on their guard. Listen to BBC World Business Report's How not to be a victim of internet scams Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter: @matthew_wall

यह एक बॉस का सबसे बुरा सपना होता है।


Undercliff Drive funding secured for landslide

Summary: Half-a-million pounds is to be spent on solving problems caused by a landslide on the Isle of Wight.

Councillors agreed on Tuesday to fund research into different options for repairing Undercliff Drive which was destroyed in February's severe weather. Nine homes were evacuated and residents have been living in rented accommodation ever since. The £500,000 will help decide which option to take including whether to build a low-cost road from the west.

आइल ऑफ वाइट पर भूस्खलन के कारण होने वाली समस्याओं को हल करने पर आधा मिलियन पाउंड खर्च किए जाने हैं।


Chip manufacturer Avago buys rival Broadcom for $37bn

Summary: Avago Technologies, one of the world's biggest manufacturers of semiconductors, is buying its California-based rival Broadcom for $37bn (£24bn).

Between them, the two firms employ more than 20,000 staff worldwide with combined annual sales of £15bn (£10bn). Avago, based in both the US and Singapore, said the deal was a "landmark" transaction. It is using a combination of cash and shares to pay for Broadcom. "The combination of Avago and Broadcom creates a global diversified leader in wired and wireless communication semiconductors," said Hock Tan, Avago's chief executive. Broadcom makes semiconductors for set-top boxes, mobile phones and network equipment, and its chips are used in smartphones made by Apple and Samsung. Avago has been expanding rapidly. Broadcom is the sixth company to be bought by Avago since the start of 2013.

अवागो टेक्नोलॉजीज, सेमीकंडक्टर्स के दुनिया के सबसे बड़े निर्माताओं में से एक, अपने कैलिफोर्निया स्थित प्रतिद्वंद्वी ब्रॉडकॉम को $37bn (£24bn) में खरीद रही है।


Car parts manufacturer Stadco cuts 60 Shrewsbury jobs

Summary: Car parts supplier Stadco has announced it will cut up to 60 posts from its Shrewsbury plant.

Stadco, which makes panels for vehicles, will lose part of its production on 27 July. It comes as part of the "constant flux" in the industry, a company spokesman said. Stadco is working closely with the unions and its 400 Shrewsbury employees to "reduce the impact of redundancies", he added.

कार के पुर्जों के आपूर्तिकर्ता स्टैडको ने घोषणा की है कि वह अपने श्रूसबरी संयंत्र से 60 पदों तक की कटौती करेगा।


Boy, 12, injured in St Helens swimming baths roof fall

Summary: A 12-year-old has been seriously injured after falling through the roof of a swimming baths.

He is in a "serious condition" in hospital after he fell at Parr Swimming and Fitness Centre in St Helens on Sunday night at 18:20 BST. He had been seen on the roof with two other youths on Ashcroft Street before he "fell through", police said. "Enquires are ongoing to establish the full circumstances," a Merseyside Police spokesman added.

स्नानागार की छत से गिरने से एक 12 वर्षीय बालक गंभीर रूप से घायल हो गया है।


Robin Williams: Doubtfire author owes 'tremendous debt'

Summary: Mrs Doubtfire earned actor Robin Williams a clutch of awards, including a Golden Globe. For the author of the book on which the film was based though, the success it enabled her to enjoy was more than she could have imagined.

Robin Williams' idiosyncratic Scottish nanny was not what Anne Fine had in mind when she wrote Madame Doubtfire in 1987. Ironically, considering Williams' depression and suicide, the star's portrayal of father Daniel Hilliard was less dark than she intended. But, the Barnard Castle author accepts "books and films are very different beasts" and says she owes him a "tremendous debt" for the way he played the part. "Any author is lucky to have that sort of exposure," she says. "Because that film was such an international success it went all over the world, which meant that the book got translated into languages you wouldn't dream of assuming you would usually get into." She was invited to Hollywood to watch the filming but did not go. She was busy writing at the time, but also conscious the author is rarely involved in a movie unless, like JK Rowling, they have a degree of control written into their contract. "It seemed like an awful long way to go just to say hello to people and then be on the sidelines," she says. She also declined an invitation to appear on the Parkinson chat show with Williams to publicise the film, having a prior engagement to speak to 300 librarians. "Children's librarians are actually an author's bread and butter so there was no way I was going to just back out of that at the last minute," she said. Mrs and Madame Doubtfire She arrived home in time to watch the live broadcast and "thank God I wasn't there". "He was clearly as high as a kite, on either his normal skills or God knows what," she remembers. "He was talking a blue streak - even Parky never got a word in edgeways." Convinced she would have been superfluous, sitting on the sofa "convulsed with laughter" but unable to squeeze in a contribution, she has no regrets she never got to meet Williams. But she is "tremendously grateful" to him. "Because of him I managed to pay off my mortgage," she says.

मिसेज डाउटफायर ने अभिनेता रॉबिन विलियम्स को कई पुरस्कार अर्जित किए, जिसमें एक गोल्डन ग्लोब भी शामिल है। हालांकि, जिस पुस्तक पर यह फिल्म आधारित थी, उसके लेखक के लिए, इसने उन्हें जिस सफलता का आनंद लेने में सक्षम बनाया, वह उनकी कल्पना से कहीं अधिक थी।


Scottish election 2021: Five unknowns which could decide the race

Summary: With one week to go until the Holyrood election, there seems to be little mystery about the final result - with only the SNP talking about forming a government. But there are still some key questions to be answered, which could have a huge bearing on Scotland's future.

By Philip SimBBC Scotland political correspondent Will the SNP secure an outright majority? Could they build a pro-independence majority with the help of other, smaller parties? Will the Conservatives hold off a Labour challenge in the battle for second place? And what are the factors which could help answer these questions? Who will actually turn up to vote? What could be key in this election isn't so much who votes for which party, but how many people turn out to vote at all. Generally, for Holyrood elections, only about half of those who are eligible to vote actually do so. The average turnout since 1999 has been 53%. That doesn't necessarily make things more unpredictable, although the Holyrood poll with the lowest turnout - 49% in 2003 - produced the "rainbow parliament" of seven different parties. And the SNP overwhelmingly won lower-turnout seats in 2016 - the 41 seats with the lowest turnout all elected an SNP MSP, while the party only won three of the ten highest-turnout seats - suggesting that the current party of government may have little to fear from a quieter polling day. The question is whether the voters who come to the polls in 2021 will be different from those of previous years. Older demographics are traditionally more likely to vote - but are also more likely to be adversely affected by Covid-19 and thus potentially nervous about leaving their homes. Meanwhile a record number of people have signed up for a postal ballot, but they are presumably fairly politically engaged types who would likely have voted in person anyway. People are also less likely to vote in elections where the result appears to be a foregone conclusion - and in this contest, only one party is actually talking about going into government. But who will prove the most successful in getting their supporters to show up and put a cross in a box on 6 May? What impact will smaller parties have? There are a total of 25 parties running in the Holyrood election. Everyone in Scotland will have at least 15 different choices on the regional lists, and in some areas the ballot paper will resemble a phone book. Small parties have run for parliament before with varying degrees of success, but in 2021 there seems to be more interest in the idea than ever before - chiefly thanks to former first minister Alex Salmond re-entering the political fray as the leader of the Alba Party. It is extremely hard to say whether Alba will have a breakthrough of its own and boost the pro-independence cause, or split the vote and cost the larger pro-indy parties seats. The same could be said of George Galloway's All for Unity group on the pro-UK side. To win a single regional list seat, a party generally needs about 6% of the vote in an area. The usual margin for error on an opinion poll is 3%: with smaller parties hovering in single digits, pollsters are essentially saying they don't really know. The other unknown about smaller parties is whether they have changed the narrative around the election. They are chiefly pitching for list votes, but while there are two ballot papers in a Holyrood election there is only one campaign. The SNP's plan for this election was to talk about independence essentially as a contrast between the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon and that of Boris Johnson. But the rise of Alba means Ms Sturgeon does not have complete control over the pro-independence side of the debate, and has found herself talking about borders, currency, the EU and all kinds of potentially sticky topics she would rather have put off until a future referendum campaign. This will have gone down well with her pro-independence base, but what does it mean for the larger cohort of voters in "middle Scotland" who are either yet to be convinced or simply are not as engaged by the issue? A modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. More information about these elections Who won in my area? Enter your postcode, or the name of your English council or Scottish or Welsh constituency to find out. Eg 'W1A 1AA' or 'Westminster' Who will win key marginal constituencies? There are 10 constituencies with a majority of less that 5% going into this election - and nine of them are SNP targets. These individual local struggles hold the key to parliament either continuing much as it is now, with a minority SNP government, or the party securing an outright majority. Can Labour hang on to its key marginal constituencies - which is actually really all three of them, in Dumbarton, East Lothian and Edinburgh Southern? Can the SNP claw back some of the seats the Conservatives took off them in 2016, like Edinburgh Central, Dumfriesshire and Aberdeenshire West? At the other end of the scale, could they be at risk of a focused Tory challenge in some of their own more marginal seats, like Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, Edinburgh Pentlands or Moray? If you consider any seat with a majority of under 10% to be in play, then 16 of the 73 constituencies could potentially change hands. Of those, 12 are contests between the SNP and the Conservatives, currently split evenly between the two. Once-dominant Labour are not in second place in a single seat with a single-digit majority, so will chiefly be focused on playing defence to hold on to what they have got. If they are to make gains, it will likely be via the regional lists. How many seats a party can win from a regional list is directly affected by how many constituency seats it takes in that local area, so how much success the SNP has in these first-past-the-post contests will be pivotal to the overall result. SIGN UP FOR SCOTLAND ALERTS: Get extra updates on BBC election coverage What about the pandemic? Circumstances have changed somewhat since the 2016 Holyrood election, when a historical figure named David Cameron was the prime minister. Both Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives have changed leaders twice since then. However the biggest upheaval has undoubtedly been the Covid-19 pandemic, which has changed the lives of everyone in the country. Lockdown and social distancing mean that a lot of campaigning has been happening away from actual voters. Door-to-door canvassing was only allowed from mid-April; there are still no big rallies or street stalls. Handshakes are out of the question. Parties have less contact with voters, and journalists and commentators are often watching the whole thing from home - it's hard to gauge the mood of the nation from such a distance, and harder still by scrolling through social media echo chambers. Now that lockdown is easing and people have one eye on the future, how might that play into how they vote on 6 May? Will they want to move on from the Covid-19 era, or stick with the leaders who saw them through it? Are they champing at the bit for change, or fearful about the precarious state of the economy and the spectre of a fresh wave of mutated infections? The pandemic and the impact it has had on the lives of everyone in Scotland will undoubtedly be to the forefront in voters' minds, but does that distract from other issues - from the constitution to bread and butter devolved topics like education, health and justice - or sharpen the focus on them? What's happening in regional strongholds? Polling might provide a top-down picture of Scotland as a whole, but the nation will not vote in uniform fashion on 6 May. Every party has its regional strongholds, areas which have traditionally voted one way or the other - and they can differ wildly from one end of the country to another. For example, in 2016 the Lib Dems held the two safest seats in Scotland - while also losing their deposit in the majority of constituency contests. They won more than two-thirds of the vote in both Orkney and Shetland, but hovered around 2% in a number of Glasgow and west coast seats. So the party polling at X% Scotland-wide tells you really very little about its chances in specific constituencies or even wider regions. You can actually see some of these effects writ large on the electoral map. Consider the whole of Glasgow turning SNP yellow in 2016, or the band of Tory blue spreading across the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway. Sometimes this can come down to a "personal vote" for a particularly popular local campaigner, or it can be driven by policy - like how the Greens poll well in leafy urban areas like Edinburgh, but have only once won a seat in the North East, an area more reliant on the oil and gas industry. So while party leaders and national campaigns dominate coverage, much of politics remains local. What will really decide the election is what is happening and how people are feeling in communities from Oban to Westhill, from Ayr to Dunbar to Elgin, and in every corner of Scotland.

होलीरूड चुनाव तक एक सप्ताह के साथ, अंतिम परिणाम के बारे में थोड़ा रहस्य प्रतीत होता है-केवल एसएनपी सरकार बनाने के बारे में बात कर रहा है। लेकिन अभी भी कुछ प्रमुख प्रश्नों का उत्तर दिया जाना बाकी है, जिनका स्कॉटलैंड के भविष्य पर बहुत बड़ा प्रभाव पड़ सकता है।


What would a Conservative government do for you?

Summary: The next general election will take place in just under eight months. So, what did we learn about Conservative policies at the party's annual conference this week? The Conservatives are promising income tax cuts for all - but they might not be for a while...

By Kristiina CooperPolitical reporter, BBC News The plan is for tax to start kicking in at £12,500 a year, instead of £10,500. That means no income tax at all for one million people. And a tax cut for 30 million - that's basically every taxpayer. It'll cost £5.6bn. The number-crunchers were quick to ask where such a big sum is going to come from. The answer is that cash will be freed up when there's more coming into Treasury's coffers than going out. When will that be? The Conservatives reckon they could eradicate the deficit - and even have a surplus - by 2018. A tax cut would follow by the end of the next parliament. That's 2020. There's another tax cut in the offing - for higher earners... David Cameron's big surprise was the promise that the higher tax rate, 40%, would start at £50,000 instead of £41,900 (again by 2020). A big gain for the better paid, with the cost to the Treasury around £1.6bn. Again, the Conservatives say it would be paid for by balancing the books via further spending cuts. One more to go... the Conservatives are to reduce tax on inherited pensions... It may have passed you by but there's a tax of 55% on some pension pots, when the owner of the pot dies. The Conservatives are abolishing this "death tax" on any remaining pension pot, which means more money for relatives and £150 million in lost income for the Treasury. It's actually being introduced next April - just before the election. Enough tax cuts... what about cuts to public spending? The Conservatives would make further cuts of around £25bn to public spending. They say it's the best way to finish the job of eliminating the deficit (the gap between the nation's income and outgoings). A lot of money...where is the axe going to fall? A Conservative government wouldn't increase benefits for working-age people for two years. That means less money for people receiving jobseekers' allowance, income support, tax credits and child benefit. Two thirds of the people affected have got a job. They rely on income support and tax credits to boost the low wages paid by their employers. The Conservatives say the benefit "freeze" would save about £3bn. Benefit cap cut... The maximum amount a household could claim each year would be reduced from £26,000 to £23,000. Jobseeker's allowance would be withdrawn from young people after six months unless they take part in "community projects". And 18 to 21-year-olds wouldn't be entitled to housing benefit. More apprenticeships.. The savings from these benefit cuts would be used to pay for three million apprenticeships for young people and some people, like White Dee (of TV Benefits Street fame) liked the plan to introduce pre-paid benefits cards to ensure claimants can't spend that money on alcohol, drugs or gambling. No cuts to the NHS Not wanting Labour to be seen as the defender of the NHS, the Conservatives promise not to seek savings in the health budget. There are promises of better services too. In England, everyone would be able to see a GP seven days a week by 2020. The Conservatives say they'll recruit 5,000 more doctors. Away from money matters... the Conservatives are staking their claim to be the party of law and order... A Conservative government would introduce banning orders and extremism disruption orders - or EXDOs. A banning order could be used to outlaw a group that incites hatred or causes fear. EXDOs are based on ASBOs. They would stop "disruptive" individuals from speaking in public or holding a position of authority. There would also be a new law setting out victims' rights. The police would be able to get hold of internet data... The Home Secretary Theresa May would bring in new laws to make it easier for the police to collect information about internet activity by suspected criminals. There are some forms of data that internet service providers don't obtain or store. The Conservatives are promising a Communications Data Act, requiring companies to start storing certain types of information. And on affairs of state... The Conservatives have several bold constitutional moves on the agenda. They'd introduce English-only votes on English matters in Parliament. On Europe, David Cameron is promising to renegotiate agreements on the free movement of people. There would be an in/out referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union. And the Conservatives would get rid of the Human Rights Act, introducing a British Bill of Rights instead.

अगला आम चुनाव केवल आठ महीनों में होगा। तो, इस सप्ताह पार्टी के वार्षिक सम्मेलन में हमने रूढ़िवादी नीतियों के बारे में क्या सीखा? रूढ़िवादी सभी के लिए आयकर में कटौती का वादा कर रहे हैं-लेकिन वे कुछ समय के लिए नहीं हो सकते हैं...


Iran protests: Telegram under fire as Tehran clamps down

Summary: The authorities in Iran blocked access to the messaging app Telegram over the weekend, as anti-government protests spread across the country. The BBC's Leyla Khodabakhshi looks at the role the app has played.

The demonstrations started last Thursday in Mashhad, historically a bastion of religious conservatism, and have now reached more than 55 cities and towns. Telegram - which has an estimated 40 million users in Iran, equivalent to almost half the population - is believed to have been the main platform people used to obtain and share information about the protests. Many Iranians use private Telegram groups to keep in touch with family and friends. More importantly, they subscribe to public channels to get the news that is not available on state media. According to researchers at Iran's Supreme Council of Cyberspace, an average Telegram user in Iran subscribes to more than 18 public groups with more than 5,000 members. It was not surprising, then, that on the fourth day of the protests, the Iranian authorities "temporarily" blocked Telegram, as well as the popular social media platform Instagram. On Wednesday, Communications Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi warned that the ban could become permanent if Telegram refused to suspend "terrorist channels". Telegram was one of the only social platforms not to have been blocked in Iran in recent years. In his re-election campaign last year, President Hassan Rouhani declared that he had been responsible for ensuring that it continued to be possible to access the app, as well as Instagram and WhatsApp, during his first term in office. And only one week before the current protests began, Mr Rouhani insisted that his communications minister would "not press the button that blocks social media". On Saturday, Mr Jahromi sent a message via Twitter to Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, asking the company to stop a channel "encouraging hateful conduct, use of Molotov cocktails, armed uprising and social unrest". Mr Durov said calls for violence were prohibited by Telegram and within hours, the channel the minister was referring to - @amadnews - was suspended. The decision brought sharp criticism from Iranian cyber-activists, who described Telegram's actions as "capitulation" to state censorship. US whistleblower Edward Snowden warned Mr Durov that the Iranian authorities might not stop at requesting the suspension of a channel. He was soon proved right, as access to the app was blocked altogether. Mr Durov said that was because Telegram had "publicly refused to shut down channels of peaceful Iranian protesters, such as @sedaiemardom". "We consider freedom of speech an undeniable human right, and would rather get blocked in a country by its authorities than limit peaceful expression of alternative opinions," he added. It is clear that the government has also been under pressure from the more conservative sections of the political establishment to restrict access. Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, an influential cleric whose followers have used Telegram to promote his views, asked for a permanent ban on the "rotten swamp". Iranian users turned to proxies to circumvent the ban or to using WhatsApp, which is not as popular in Iran as Telegram but still seems to be accessible. The restrictions on social platforms announced on Sunday did not stop the protests. People took to the streets of cities like Karaj, Khoramabad, Mahshahr, and Izeh on Tuesday night, despite assertions from officials that the unrest had ended. Many observers have also taken to Twitter - another officially blocked social platform - to try to make sense of the protests, which have been unprecedented in terms of their geographical spread since the Islamic revolution in 1979. Others have debated whether platforms such as Telegram have a responsibility during periods of political unrest to deal with misinformation and disinformation. They often create an environment of false equality, some believe, where every source is just another source and the losers are people in need of accurate information.

ईरान में अधिकारियों ने सप्ताहांत में मैसेजिंग ऐप टेलिग्राम तक पहुंच को अवरुद्ध कर दिया, क्योंकि देश भर में सरकार विरोधी विरोध प्रदर्शन फैल गए। बीबीसी की लैला खोडाबख्शी ऐप की भूमिका को देखती है।


Escaped snake: Hunt for Rosie who could be in Essex tree

Summary: A woman in Essex has has told police she is unable to find a pet snake that lives in her home.

Rosie the Royal Python, who measures about 4ft long, is housed at the woman's address in Butlers Way, Great Yeldham. Rosie has black and brown patches and an arrow-shaped head. She is "not aggressive". The owner said she had thoroughly checked her home and believed Rosie might be lurking in a tree outside.

एसेक्स में एक महिला ने पुलिस को बताया है कि उसे अपने घर में रहने वाला एक पालतू सांप नहीं मिल रहा है।


Did the Newbury bypass tree-huggers change anything?

Summary: In January 1996 an army of eco warriors took to the trees in Newbury to try to prevent the construction of the Newbury bypass. The road was eventually built, but 20 years on did the "Battle of Newbury" have a lasting impact?

By Linda SerckBBC News "In other, less-civilised parts of the world, they might have had the machine guns out." These were the words of the Under Sheriff of Berkshire, Nicholas Blandy, as he surveyed the Newbury bypass protesters clinging to trees, determined to thwart the bulldozers. The trees, 10,000 of them, were eventually cut down to make way for the road that would get rid of a notorious bottleneck on the A34. But this did not happen without a lengthy protest from eco warriors who doggedly chained themselves to trees, dug tunnels and caused a mass disturbance of a kind rarely seen before in England. Six-hundred security guards were brought in to police the site, at a cost of £25m - one fifth of the total bill for building the road. During the January protests, some 748 people were arrested. Anti-bypass protests had been going strong in Newbury since the 1980s, but the eventual evictions of the protest camps, tree felling and undergrowth clearance work began on 9 January 1996. The clash received widespread coverage and protesting figurehead Swampy ended up a minor celebrity who appeared on satirical news show Have I Got News For You. Twenty years on, Mr Blandy said he could now laugh at some of the memories. "They had a certain amount of robust contempt for me," he says of the protesters. "They had a big sound system rigged up in the trees playing Bob Marley's I Shot The Sheriff at loud volumes, which I thought was terribly funny." Two decades later, Mr Blandy has been reunited with one of the main protestors, Phillip Pritchard, who spent two years campaigning against the bypass. They both admire an old oak tree that survived the cull, and chat in an amicable way, though they maintain a distance while talking. "I had such extraordinary respect for you because it was just so cold," Mr Blandy told Mr Pritchard. "It was a bitterly cold winter and I do not understand those who stayed here in the ground or tree houses in the trees. "Some of the protesters looked so unhealthy because in those conditions you needed [up to] 5,000 calories a day in order to live and you weren't getting it. "Some people were getting visibly unhealthier as it went on. It was a very hard environment in which to live so to a certain extent I tip my hat off to you." "There was definitely a lot of passion," Mr Pritchard remembers. "[We] were trying to act like an antibody for the Earth - trying to protect nature, to protect what was being destroyed in beautiful places. "Often people did let themselves become quite ill, [but] there was an amazing network of people from the town. "People brought food out, people came and had showers and baths in people's houses, that was really amazing although it was hard for people to walk a six-mile round trip just for a bath sometimes." "At the time we felt quite cross towards the Under Sheriff of Berkshire but I can see you're a person, you were doing your role. "I think it's been a really powerful part of my life and to be here talking to you is an interesting thing." The intervening 20 years has not mellowed either of them in terms of their views on the situation. "The years haven't made me in any way regret doing what I did, because I continue to think it's very important that the law is upheld," says Mr Blandy. "In a democratic society governments ultimately have to take decisions that are unpopular to some and they have to be carried out." Mr Pritchard points out that the law became a "shifting beast" for the protesters. "New laws [in 1994] were brought in to make what had been civil matters, such as trespass, into criminal matters - aggravated trespass, which meant that the police came in and arrested people and hundreds of people got criminal records for things that in the 1980s wouldn't have been criminal." One protester who fell foul of this new law was Becca Lush, who was arrested three times in the first week of the January clash. "Anyone who was arrested was given bail conditions that prevented them from going anywhere near the protest site, so I was out of action quite quickly certainly at the beginning of the protest," she said. "But I was able to do all the other millions of jobs that enabled the protest to become prominent. "It was a national issue, we were all over the national media for months and months, and the whole country knew what the government were doing." Despite the campaigners losing, Ms Lush, who now works as a charitable giving manager for an organic cosmetics company, said there was a lot that was gained. The protest was "absolutely crucial in changing transport policy", she says. "After Newbury, the Labour government came to power with a manifesto pledge to stop road building and look at the alternatives, which they did do. "Although there were 600 road schemes proposed initially by the Thatcher government, over the protest years it was whittled down to 150. "By the time the Labour government came in 1997 the road programme was scrapped completely. "So by anyone's standard that was an enormously successful campaign - over five years to reduce the multibillion-pound road building programme down to zero." The protesters' legacy - Paul Clifton, BBC South Today "I spent months reporting the battles at Newbury. One of the biggest tree camps was at Tot Hill. Today, it's a service area with a hotel and a McDonald's. "Middle Oak became a symbol of the campaign: a solitary tree in the middle of cleared woodland was allowed to remain standing, a minor concession to the protesters. "Driving past today you can barely notice it, tucked into a bend of the slip road between the A34 and the A4. Around it, some of the 200,000 new trees planted to replace the 10,000 cut down are starting to mature. "The protesters lost the battle. But perhaps they won the war. "There is no doubt the tree climbers swayed public opinion and, later, political policy changed too. It virtually halted the construction of major new roads for a generation. "In the 20 years since the bypass was built, only two significant new roads have been created in this part of England: the Hindhead tunnel on the A3, and the Weymouth Relief Road. "As Newbury was being built, a tunnel past Stonehenge in Wiltshire and a bypass for Arundel in West Sussex were being talked about. Twenty years later, they are still only being talked about." And with the memories of 20 years ago still fresh in the minds of both the protesters and law enforcers, the legacy of the trees that were felled also lives on - albeit it not in Newbury. Mr Pritchard says: "We collected tree seedlings that had sprouted where the trees had been cut down, and planted them in other parts of the country. "Some of them are now way taller than me."

जनवरी 1996 में पर्यावरण योद्धाओं की एक सेना न्यूबरी बाइपास के निर्माण को रोकने की कोशिश में न्यूबरी में पेड़ों पर ले गई। सड़क अंततः बनाई गई थी, लेकिन 20 साल बाद "न्यूबरी की लड़ाई" का स्थायी प्रभाव पड़ा?


Plans for housing on BBC Wales site unveiled

Summary: The first images of a proposed new housing development on the site of BBC Wales' current headquarters in Cardiff have been unveiled.

The artist's impressions show how about 400 houses and apartments could look at the Broadcasting House and Ty Oldfield sites in Llandaff. If given planning approval, work could start in 2018 after the BBC relocates to new headquarters in the city centre. The images will be shown at a public exhibition in Llandaff on Thursday. Concerns have been raised by the plans, with Llandaff Society saying the character of the area "will be very difficult to sustain" with so many homes being built. The Taylor Wimpey development is expected to include a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments and three, four and five-bedroom houses.

कार्डिफ में बीबीसी वेल्स के वर्तमान मुख्यालय की साइट पर प्रस्तावित नए आवास विकास की पहली छवियों का अनावरण किया गया है।


Liberty Baker: Man in court over school walk death

Summary: A man has appeared in court charged with causing the death of a 14-year-old girl by dangerous driving.

Liberty Baker died in hospital after a car mounted the pavement as she walked to school in Witney, Oxfordshire, on 30 June. Two other 14-year-olds and a man were also hit in the incident on Curbridge Road and needed hospital treatment. Robert Blackwell, 19, of Hayway Lane, Bampton, is also charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth at Banbury Magistrates' Court. He was bailed to appear at Oxford Crown Court on 8 December.

खतरनाक तरीके से गाड़ी चलाकर 14 वर्षीय लड़की की मौत के आरोप में एक व्यक्ति अदालत में पेश हुआ है।


Youngest MP Mhairi Black joins pensions committee

Summary: The youngest MP at Westminster, Mhairi Black, is to take up a place on one of the House of Commons select committees.

The 20-year-old, who graduated with a first class honours degree in politics from Glasgow University last week, will sit on the Work and Pensions select committee. The party has confirmed that SNP MPs will sit on 26 select committees. There will be three members on the Scottish affairs committee, which the party also chairs.

वेस्टमिंस्टर में सबसे कम उम्र के सांसद, म्हैरी ब्लैक, हाउस ऑफ कॉमन्स की चयन समितियों में से एक में जगह लेने वाले हैं।