Eritrea President Isaias Afwerki 'both charismatic and brutal'

Summary: Saturday's visit of Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki to Addis Ababa, the capital of its neighbour Ethiopia, is a remarkable turnaround for the 72-year-old independence leader who has been isolated diplomatically and seen as secretive and paranoid.

A few weeks ago, Ethiopia and Eritrea were enemies, as they had been for the past two decades, yet now they are behaving as if they are the best of friends. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is set to reciprocate the welcome he received in Eritrea's capital, Asmara, last Sunday. There, the two men embraced warmly and declared an end to the state of war. This is a new phase in the president's relationship with Ethiopia, which has largely defined his life. He was born in 1946 in Asmara, which was, at the time, under British administration. In 1962 it was annexed by Ethiopia. In 1965 he went to Addis Ababa to study engineering at Haile Selassie University but left a year later to join the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), which was fighting for independence. Mr Isaias was among the first group of fighters to travel to China in 1967 for military and ideological training. On his return he, along with others, agitated for change within the ELF but then went on to form a new party, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front. 'Renaissance leader' After a decades-long David-and-Goliath struggle, Eritrea held a referendum on independence in 1993, which was approved by 99% of voters. Mr Isaias remains the only president the country has known. In the early years he was hailed as a new type of African president. Then-US President Bill Clinton referred to him as a "renaissance African leader". At an Organisation of African Unity summit in Cairo in 1993, he blasted fellow heads of state for staying in power for too long and rejected a cult of personality. More about Ethiopia and Eritrea: In Ethiopia, there used to be portraits of Marxist military ruler Mengistu Hailemariam on display everywhere and on coming to power, Mr Isaias made a conscious effort to reject this approach. Nevertheless he was greatly revered in Eritrea. He appeared austere, serious and scary from a distance, but some who met him had a different impression. They speak about a helpful and supportive man who had a good sense of humour and made people laugh. His reputation has since undergone a transformation. He has never been elected, has stopped any attempts to hold an election and in a 2009 confidential message from the US ambassador in Eritrea, he was described as an "unhinged dictator". Ambassador Ronald K McMullen wrote, in a document released in a tranche of Wikileaks cables, that President Isaias was "cruel and defiant". In the same year, the African Union urged the United Nations to sanction Eritrea over its alleged support of Islamist militants in Somalia. A charge that Eritrea denied. Some see his 2001 jailing of prominent leaders of the independence movement, who had been critical of his presidency, as a turning point. The detention of journalists and anyone who appeared to be an opponent gathered pace from then on. He also shut down fledgling newspapers which were beginning to find their voice. But he had given indications of this type of behaviour before. He was always charismatic and persuasive but was also "quite merciless and vindictive," says Andebrhan Welde Giorgis, a former Eritrean ambassador and struggle comrade of Mr Isaias, who now lives in exile. During the independence war, the need for solidarity when the rebel fighters were outnumbered and outgunned by Ethiopian government forces meant that criticism of him was kept in check, Mr Andebrhan adds. After independence, the expectation was that a democratic government would be established, but although a new constitution was drawn up in 1997, it was never enacted. The president used the 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia as an excuse to suspend any moves towards democracy and they were never restarted. Then the failure of Ethiopia to agree to a ruling by an independent border commission meant that Eritrea remained on a war footing and led to the indefinite conscription of tens of thousands of people. 'Split personality' Mr Isaias went on to "personalise power and having personalised power he abused it to the maximum", former Eritrean ambassador Mr Andebrhan says. He speaks about the president as if he has a split personality. On the one hand there is the inspirational leader and then there is the "dark and brutal" side. So how is this squared with the jovial scenes when Mr Isaias met the Ethiopian prime minister? "He was acting. Most dictators are good actors and he's able to suck people in," Mr Andebrhan says. While seasoned observers of Eritrea welcome the progress towards peace with Ethiopia, there are those who remain sceptical that he will bring change at home. Many want to know about the thousands imprisoned before they can be optimistic about the future of the country.

इरिट्रिया के राष्ट्रपति इसियास अफवर्की की शनिवार को अपने पड़ोसी इथियोपिया की राजधानी अदीस अबाबा की यात्रा, 72 वर्षीय स्वतंत्रता नेता के लिए एक उल्लेखनीय बदलाव है, जिन्हें राजनयिक रूप से अलग-थलग कर दिया गया है और उन्हें गुप्त और पागल के रूप में देखा जाता है।


Pain of capture at St Valery-en-Caux recalled

Summary: Old soldiers who saw action in France after hundreds of thousands of Allied troops were evacuated at Dunkirk were honoured at a civic reception in Inverness this week. The veterans had served with the 51st Highland Division, which recruited from communities across the Highlands and Islands. On 12 June 1940, about 10,000 men of the division were captured at St Valery-en-Caux along with thousands of French soldiers. Here, BBC Scotland reporter Iain MacDonald tells the stories of some of those taken and force marched to prisoner of war (PoW) camps.

Alec Wiseman is sitting in his sister's front room in a house above Inverness city centre. His eyes are on the middle distance and his lips form the words: "Los, los...left…left…left, right, left." Alec's body is in the year 2010, but his mind is back in France 70 years ago marching to Poland under German armed guard. Just over 14-years-old, he joined up by lying about his age. On the outbreak of war, he was a corporal and a champion bugler. "Good at the blowing," he says. "Still am." Historians increasingly concede that the "Forgotten 51st" was deliberately left behind as a third of a million were brought out at Dunkirk. They were left not just because they had been fighting further along the coast, but because Winston Churchill was being accused of running out on the French. As government spin was deployed to making Dunkirk a triumph, so British people were not told about the men left behind. Alec Wiseman was one of those. Today, dementia has claimed much of Alec's memory. But his recollection of those June days are still sharp. He recalls that final rearguard action alongside the remnants of the French army, fighting and running and fighting again till it ended at the coastal town of St Valery-en-Caux. Colleagues of Alec have told how it became an "outpost of hell" as shells and bombs and mortars fell in and around the buildings on the cliffs above the beach. Alec says it was like the end of the world. Some soldiers lowered themselves down the cliffs by tying together rifle slings and blankets and anything else they could find to make ropes. On the beach they hoped to find boats coming, like they had at Dunkirk, to take them home. But, politicians and military staff aside, Britain didn't know they were there. There was no armada of little boats this time. Others jumped from the cliffs and took their own lives convinced by propaganda that they would be shown no mercy if they surrendered. Threw food When the French commanders decided to surrender, the 51st were captured and their commander, the ironically named General Victor Fortune, handed his sword to a German general, Erwin Rommel, who would go on to become nicknamed the Desert Fox. The captured soldiers marched to PoW camps in eastern Europe. Alec's sister Frances says French civilians turned out by the roadside and threw food. He was upset, she says, when the Germans gave him a greatcoat and he realised it was full of holes. Somebody had been shot in it before him, but he wore it. Alec was eventually invalided home and immediately tried to join up again, though this time he applied to the RAF, reckoning it was a safer proposition than the infantry. They turned him down, and the only job he could get was sweeping the streets. But many of his colleagues were still in camps as the war drew to a close. The Russians were closing in from the east. Their guards marched them west. Ahead of them were Jewish prisoners from Auschwitz heading in the same direction. Peter Black, another veteran, remembers that if a Jew fell out of the line, a German guard would offer him the chance to get up before shooting him. In the end the Scots were surrendered to the Allies in Bavaria. There are happier stories associated with St Valery and the 51st. Tommy Fraser managed to escape a holding camp, stole a bicycle and escaped to Spain. Arthur Fraser escaped from the first march and was helped to safety by the daughter of a Scots exile. After the war she married him and they lived in Inverness, where they had a daughter called Valery. After St Valery, the 51st Highland Division was reconstituted and fought at El Alamein in Africa and defeated Rommel and his troops. In 1944, they marched into St Valery-en-Caux, as liberators. It was believed that decision was made by Churchill.

जिन पुराने सैनिकों ने डंकिर्क में सैकड़ों हजारों मित्र देशों के सैनिकों को निकालने के बाद फ्रांस में कार्रवाई देखी, उन्हें इस सप्ताह इनवर्नेस में एक नागरिक स्वागत समारोह में सम्मानित किया गया। दिग्गजों ने 51वें हाईलैंड डिवीजन के साथ सेवा की थी, जिसमें हाइलैंड्स और द्वीपों के समुदायों से भर्ती की गई थी। 12 जून 1940 को, डिवीजन के लगभग 10,000 पुरुषों को हजारों फ्रांसीसी सैनिकों के साथ सेंट वैलेरी-एन-कॉक्स में पकड़ा गया था। यहाँ, बीबीसी स्कॉटलैंड के रिपोर्टर इयान मैकडोनाल्ड ने उन लोगों में से कुछ की कहानियाँ सुनाई जिन्हें युद्ध बंदी (पीओडब्ल्यू) शिविरों में ले जाया गया और बलपूर्वक मार्च किया गया।


Hogging Covid vaccines endangers all nations, warns South Africa expert

Summary: As South Africa battles a highly infectious new mutation of Covid-19, the country's leading expert on the pandemic has urged wealthier nations not to hoard vaccine supplies, describing the behaviour as "unconscionable" and warning that "no-one is safe until everyone is safe".

By Andrew HardingAfrica correspondent, BBC News "Fundamentally, there's a mistaken belief by some countries that they can vaccinate their populations and they'll be safe. "It simply is not true. In this world that we live in, with this coronavirus, no-one is safe until everyone is safe," said Prof Salim Abdool Karim, chair of the government's coronavirus advisory panel. He warned of the risk of a long, international "cat and mouse" chase to defeat Covid-19 with constantly updated vaccines if the pandemic was allowed to keep spreading in countries which were unable to vaccinate their populations in good time. "There's no endgame that sees one country succeeding in controlling the virus while the rest of the world is dealing with rampant spread. For me, we all need to stand together. It's in everyone's interests. "To me it would be unconscionable that a country like the US or UK to start vaccinating low risk young people, when we here in Africa haven't even started vaccinating healthcare workers and the elderly. "At the rate at which things are going, that is what's going to happen," he warned. More on South Africa's Covid crisis: South African hospitals have been grappling with a huge second wave of infections caused by a variant of the virus, with 23 different mutations, first discovered here in November. "It took us aback. It suggests that if these kind of 23 mutations can occur just like that, it's going to occur everywhere else, and it's going to occur quite widely," Prof Karim told the BBC. "The scenario that we could just inject people once and there would be life-long protection may not actually apply." 'Mutations are wake-up call' The US and UK have introduced restrictions for travellers from southern Africa in response to the new variant, but the scientist who discovered the recent mutations has dismissed the move as ineffective. "I find it almost like silly - this trying to block a country, because we know how fast this virus spreads and in how many places," said Prof Tulio De Oliveira, a leading genetic scientist heading a surveillance laboratory in South Africa's coastal city of Durban. He said governments should avoid virus "nationalism" and focus instead on broad quarantine rules applied equally to all international travellers. Prof De Oliveira said the experience of discovering the virus mutations in South Africa was "basically a wake-up call to the whole world to treat the pandemic as a global problem, and that we work together… to stop transmission in the whole world otherwise these variants will keep appearing." Scientists in South Africa and other countries are currently analysing the 501Y.V2 variant discovered here to establish the extent to which it may be resistant both to current vaccines and to antibodies in people who have already been infected by earlier variants of the coronavirus. Results are anticipated within the next few weeks. "We're going to have to ensure our vaccines are able to neutralise [new variants] because if they're not that means we're back to square one and then we've got to play this cat and mouse game," said Prof Karim. Although there is frustration in many poorer nations about the unequal roll out of vaccines, Prof Karim said he remained optimistic that, as new vaccines and new supply lines emerged, "then the demand and supply will be in a much better position. "Then people will not have to scramble, hoard, behave abominably by trying to scoop up all the vaccines, because there's many more available, they all work, and you just buy what you need and use what you need." More on fair access to vaccines: Around the BBC Africa Today podcasts

जैसा कि दक्षिण अफ्रीका कोविड-19 के एक अत्यधिक संक्रामक नए उत्परिवर्तन से लड़ रहा है, महामारी पर देश के प्रमुख विशेषज्ञ ने धनी देशों से टीके की आपूर्ति को जमा नहीं करने का आग्रह किया है, इस व्यवहार को "असहनीय" बताते हुए और चेतावनी दी है कि "जब तक हर कोई सुरक्षित नहीं है तब तक कोई भी सुरक्षित नहीं है"।


Suicide vest nine-year-old tells her story

Summary: A young girl was detained at a checkpoint in southern Afghanistan wearing what officials said was a suicide vest. Spozhmai, who says she is nine years old, is now in the protective custody of the provincial government. This is her story in her own words.

It was late evening, the mullah was calling for prayers and my brother took me outside and told me to put on this vest. He showed me how to operate it, and I said: "I can't - what if it doesn't work?" And he said: 'It will, don't worry.' I was scared and he took the vest back from me and he hit me hard, and I felt scared. Then [he gave me back the vest and] left me near the checkpoint where he said I had to operate it. I realised it was a suicide vest because it was heavier than a normal one. He said: "If you operate this on the people at the checkpoint, they will die - you will not die." But I knew it was a suicide vest and I would die too. Then he went back home - the checkpoint is just near our house. After my brother left me… I slept in the desert and didn't see anyone that night. In the morning, a guy from the checkpoint came and took me to the checkpoint and said: "You need to tell your story to our commander." They found me, I didn't find them. When I told the commander my story he told me to go back home and I said: "No, they beat me there and I am not treated well." He said: "OK, well if you're not going home then we have to take you to the provincial capital." That's when they brought me [to Lashkar Gah and] I spoke to another commander, the senior commander, and that's how I come to be here. Even if the government says it will guarantee my safety I am not going back - the same thing will happen again. They told me: "If you don't do it this time, we will make you do it again." My father came here and told me to go back and I said: "No, I will kill myself rather than go with you." I don't have a mother, I have a stepmother and she was not very nice to me. I did everything at home. I cooked, I made bread, I washed clothes, I cleaned the whole house and they still weren't happy - they would treat me badly, as if I was a slave. I didn't go to school because they didn't let me. I can't read a word, I can't pronounce anything. It's because I wasn't taught - nobody taught me how… of course I want to go to school. My brother told me: "You're here in this world and you will die. You are not here to learn or to do other things or to expect that your word will carry any weight. You are here just to die and do your duty." Of course my Dad knew - they were all in it together. [This started with] my Dad first, and then my brothers were included. They were all in it together. I haven't spoken to [my brother] since the incident - I haven't seen him since. I want the government to let me stay here and not make me go back, otherwise the same thing will happen to me again. What can I say to [my family]? Even if I saw them again I would tell them: "I am not coming home. I am not coming with you." I have seven sisters and five brothers - three of my sisters are married and the others are little. One of my brothers is in the Taliban so I have never seen him, one of my brothers is married, and another one - a younger one, is the one who told me to do this. I can't tell his age but he's a big boy and has a beard. "Dozens of teenage boys who wanted to carry out suicide attacks have been arrested over the past few years, but Spozhmai is the first 'would-be female child suicide bomber' in the country held in protective custody," says Dawood Azami of the BBC World Service. "Initially, it emerged she was arrested at night when the police heard her crying on the other side of the river where she says she was forced to wear the vest. Then it was said she was arrested at home. But now, she says she spent the night outside on her own and was found by the police in the morning. "It was first reported that she was wearing a suicide vest at the time of her arrest. But later it emerged that she was not wearing it and her handlers fled with the vest. Her age is also a question of debate. The first official version said she was eight. Other officials later said she was 10. But now she says she is nine. "The Taliban have rejected all the allegations, calling them 'part of the usual propaganda campaign to defame them'. And they regard the appointment of children, especially girls, in their ranks as wrong." Spozhmai spoke to Newsday on the BBC World Service. Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

एक युवा लड़की को दक्षिणी अफगानिस्तान में एक चौकी पर हिरासत में लिया गया था, जो अधिकारियों के अनुसार एक आत्मघाती बनियान पहने हुए थी। स्पोज़माई, जो कहती है कि वह नौ साल की है, अब प्रांतीय सरकार की सुरक्षात्मक हिरासत में है। यह उसके अपने शब्दों में उसकी कहानी है।


Taj Mahal: Was India's 'monument to love' built out of guilt?

Summary: Often described as one of the wonders of the world, the stunning 17th Century white marble Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth.

By Geeta PandeyBBC News, Delhi But a new play which recently premiered in India gives a dramatic and unexpected twist to historical events. The production of Shah Jahan-o-Mumtaz suggests that all was not well in the lovers' paradise and questions the motive behind the building of the Taj. Everyone knows it as a monument to love, but could it in fact have been built out of guilt? The play was originally written in English in the 1970s as the Tale of the Taj by Dilip Hiro, a London-based author, playwright and expert on international affairs. "Conflict is the driving force in my script," Mr Hiro told the BBC. And here, he explores "the conflict between the couple whose mutual love is embossed on the popular psyche". "As an Indian, one is mesmerised by the Taj. The conventional story behind it is Shah Jahan's eternal love for Mumtaz. "To put it bluntly, there is no drama in sentimental mush praising beauty and so on, so the play had to be about achieving the supreme power - the imperial throne." The play is being performed for the first time in Urdu, a language extensively used by people during Shah Jahan's reign and still spoken and understood by large numbers of Indians today. Not a beautiful-dutiful wife? Mumtaz was Shah Jahan's third and favourite wife and their love story is legendary. It is generally believed that she was a beautiful and devoted wife who was content to have lots of children with her husband - she died giving birth to their 14th child. "But there was another side to her that's not well-known - that she was not at all the beautiful-dutiful wife. She was a very good chess player, far better than Shah Jahan, and that she was ambitious and ruthless," says director M Sayeed Alam of the Delhi-based theatre group Pierrot's Troupe. Historians agree that imperial women in the Mughal period exercised significant political authority. "Mumtaz wielded considerable political power and influence and there are plenty of historical documents confirming her involvement in administrative matters and government orders," Delhi University professor Farhat Hasan says. The play recreates 17th Century Delhi, buzzing with political intrigue where the fight for political power was often ugly and bloody. It opens with the rivalry for the imperial throne between Shah Jahan and his brother Prince Pervez, and Mumtaz plays a crucial role in her husband's victory by poisoning his rival. As the play progresses, different shades of Mumtaz's personality come to the fore - a devoted wife who is a guide and adviser to her husband, but at the same time with a mind of her own. "She's a far-sighted political thinker, an astute strategist and schemer, and the woman behind as well as ahead of her man," Mr Alam says. The play's great surprise centres on a high-stakes game of chess played one evening, when a pregnant Mumtaz nudges the emperor to bet his throne. When he loses the game she ascends the throne, giving free rein to her ruthlessness and ambition. The emperor then realises that his beloved queen must be stopped. A tussle over the royal seal ends with her fall from the throne, and soon Mumtaz dies in childbirth. But was it a mere accident or was she pushed? The play is open-ended - it doesn't say in so many words that Mumtaz was killed. But it does leave one with a lingering suspicion, that perhaps the emperor did have a role in her death. The departure from accepted historical fact certainly didn't trouble the audience the night I went along - they gave it a standing ovation, and there have been rave reviews. "The play focuses on the politician in Mumtaz rather than the lover boy in Shah Jahan," The Hindu said, describing it as a "great idea". The Deccan Herald welcomed the fact that "what has been etched in our memories" had been questioned and the audience challenged to look at events from a female perspective. So, as some critics are asking - is the Taj Mahal truly "a monument to murder"? Well, it really is a work of fiction - there is no suggestion in history that she could have been murdered. Mr Hiro says it is actually "faction" - where "fiction blends ingeniously with facts" to create interesting drama. The next performance of Shah Jahan-o-Mumtaz is at the Epicentre, Gurgaon, on Sunday, 29 June.

अक्सर दुनिया के आश्चर्यों में से एक के रूप में वर्णित, 17 वीं शताब्दी के आश्चर्यजनक सफेद संगमरमर के ताजमहल का निर्माण मुगल सम्राट शाहजहां ने अपनी प्यारी पत्नी मुमताज महल के लिए एक मकबरे के रूप में किया था, जिनकी मृत्यु प्रसव में हुई थी।


Fleeing from Sudan's Nuba Mountains

Summary: They arrive here in small groups - mothers with belongings balanced on weary heads, often carrying a baby too, with a few children dragging tired heels as they struggle to keep up.

Andrew HardingAfrica correspondent@BBCAndrewHon Twitter The families' water buckets are usually empty after days - sometimes weeks - trekking through the searing heat. On Wednesday, 616 people reached the Yida refugee camp in South Sudan - the highest number yet recorded - escaping hunger and conflict across the border in South Kordofan, a bitterly contested region of Sudan better known as the Nuba Mountains. "Hunger," was all 15-year-old Gisma Kafi could muster, sweat beading on her forehead, as she put down the pots and bedding she had been carrying on her head. "We ate bark and leaves," she added, after catching her breath. Gisma joined a bedraggled crowd slumped on the dry earth outside a straw hut where South Sudanese officials registered each new arrival and weighed the younger children - some with distended bellies and painfully thin limbs. "When they arrive, the children are very sick due to malnutrition and complications. Every day we are receiving more and more. Others are dying on the way," said Mohammed Sadik, a nutritionist working with the US aid organisation Samaritan's Purse. Halima Haroun, 30, who arrived two days ago after a 14-day walk, appeared to speak for most of the refugees when she explained why they had decided to abandon their villages in the Nuba Mountains and the nearby caves where many had spent months hiding. "The Antonovs [Sudanese military planes] bomb us every day. We could not go to work, or to the fields. A bomb killed my husband," she said. "There are no schools, and no food. I had to leave behind my two youngest children because they could not manage the journey." More than 23,000 people now live at the Yida camp, and that number is likely to rise sharply in the coming weeks before the annual rains turn the hard earth into swamps and make all movement impossible. "We are concerned. We're pushing against the clock to get enough food in for the rainy season," said the World Food Programme's Geoff Pinnock, roaming through the camp to check on the new arrivals. He said he was confident they would be able to feed people at the camp, but was more worried about those remaining inside the Nuba Mountains. "We're reaching them here. What we are concerned about is the condition north of the border. Over the last two weeks we've seen an increase in the number of arrivals and a deterioration in the conditions of some of those arriving - we're seeing… more people in a relatively bad state of malnutrition." Mr Pinnock said the conflict was "certainly disrupting livelihoods - they wouldn't be here if they were able to plant crops". Multiple accounts from refugees and others still inside South Kordofan appear to confirm that the Sudanese military - particularly through its bombing campaign - is seeking to target, terrorise and displace civilians as part of a wider, but currently floundering, attempt to defeat the rebel SPLM-N forces and reassert control.

वे छोटे समूहों में यहाँ पहुँचती हैं-माँएँ जिनके सामान थके हुए सिर पर संतुलित होते हैं, अक्सर एक बच्चे को भी ले जाती हैं, कुछ बच्चे थके हुए ऊँची एड़ी के जूते खींचते हैं क्योंकि वे बनाए रखने के लिए संघर्ष करते हैं।


HMP Woodhill: What can be done to cut prison suicides?

Summary: Last year seven inmates killed themselves at HMP Woodhill, more than in any other prison. A coroner has now called for the government to act, following an inquest into one of the deaths. But how unusual are suicides in prisons and what can be done to prevent them?

By Laurence CawleyBBC News The numbers It is not the first time spikes in suicides have been seen in prisons. Seven suicides were reported at HMP Wandsworth, in Milton Keynes, in 2000, six in Durham in 2003, Manchester in 2004, Leeds in 2006 and Birmingham in 2010. What makes HMP Woodhill different is that the number of self-inflicted deaths has been consistently high. Twenty inmates have killed themselves at the 819-capacity Category A prison in the past five years - the next highest suicide numbers were recorded at HMP Liverpool (1,300 capacity) with 14, and Leeds (1,212 capacity) with 13. Tom Morris One of those Woodhill inmates was Tom Morris. The 31-year-old, who was serving a short sentence for shoplifting, died in June 2016. Fellow inmates told the inquest into his death he was moved after throwing his television across his cell. He ended up in a single cell. The decision to move him proved fatal, according to his fellow inmates. "He shouldn't have been moved off the wing," said Peter Hance, who was on the same unit. "If he had been kept on the wing where people knew him, he'd have had someone to talk to." His father Ralph Morris told the BBC how he wrote to the prison in April 2016 warning his son was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. After Mr Morris died, dozens of inmates sent his father a letter which they also copied to the prison authorities. The prisoners stated that everyone knew that Mr Morris was ill: "And by everyone, we mean inmates and staff and health professionals". Senior coroner Thomas Osborne, who oversaw Mr Morris' inquest, said government intervention was required. He called for mistakes to be learned from and for systems to be changed if, and when, they fail. But do the issues go deeper than that? 'Systematic failings' The circumstances of Mr Morris's death - as with all suicides in prisons - were unique and particular to him. But there are common themes in such deaths, say groups involved in the justice system. "Too many of these deaths are preventable and highlight systemic failings in care," said Deborah Coles, director of the support charity Inquest. She believes deaths such as that of Mr Morris can only be prevented with "concrete, lasting change" within the prison system. "However, concrete, lasting change can only happen if there is a dramatic reduction in the prison population, an end to the criminalisation of people with mental health problems, and diversion from prison and investment in alternatives. "These problems are system-wide and the lack of learning and action continues to contribute to preventable deaths." Suicides in England and Wales Source: ONS Samaritans Prison numbers There are currently 85,863 people in English and Welsh prisons. According to the Prison Service's own data, 69% of prisons were classed as "overcrowded". "Until we get the sheer numbers down we will continue to have deaths, self-injury and violence," says Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform. She believes that procedures such as highlighting those deemed at risk of self-harm are important, but argues that relieving "overcrowding" is even more so. Glyn Travis, deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, says it is not just the numbers of inmates coming into the system but how often those prisoners have mental health issues. "The current system is not fit for purpose," he said. "There are far too many prisoners coming in with mental health issues and we have not got the staff to care for them. "The solution is about training, about awareness, it is about systems and it is about staff." 'Boots on the ground' "It's about boots on the ground," says Prof Pamela Taylor, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Forensic Faculty. "The level of suicides is now the highest since 1978 and only then because that was the year we started recording the numbers. "Since 2011 the number of prison officers have been slashed. No, you cannot prove one causes the other but it seems highly likely that they are related because of course with fewer staff you can do less things. "There are some very simple problems arising, like there not being enough staff to take inmates to mental health clinics, either within prisons or outside. "Clinics are reporting lots of cancellations. In severe cases with somebody in great distress, when a clinician will go to a patient's cell, you need several prison officers to open the door. For safety reasons, that's absolutely right - but when there are not enough staff it is a real nightmare." Time outside in fresh air, or simply to exercise or associate with other people are vitally important to sustaining mental health, argues Prof Taylor. "But even these basics are in short supply," she said. "And with so few prison officers you cannot do things like drug screenings, and people with mental health problems are particularly vulnerable both to taking drugs and being pressured by others to bring drugs in." Former inmate Jamie Blyde knew seven of the prisoners who took their lives at HMP Woodhill. Speaking previously to the BBC he said the quality of prison officers was also very important. "We're getting the wrong sort of staff," he said. "We used to get all the ex-forces, guys that could be annoying and hard to be around, but you knew where you stood with them. "They were safe and would do everything by the book. "We don't seem to have as many of them any more, we're getting a lot of under-qualified people, a lot of people that are not meant for the job." Giving evidence to Mr Morris's inquest, the current acting governor Nicola Marfleet highlighted issues with prison staffing. "I'm working with 50% of officers who are on probation or just off probation. Every time I check the database more staff have left, new staff have arrived. It's incredibly difficult. "We're still in deficit in (terms of) numbers and I'm seeing a regular trickle of resignations, which means we are routinely short of officers. "We use detached duty staff from other prisoners for three months at a time." Data from the past 15 years shows how rises in prison deaths are nearly always followed by a sharp reduction. "In any prison you can argue that when there has been a serious incident they do look at it and ask what can be done to improve the situation," says Prof Taylor. Such seems to be the case at Woodhill, where no suicides have been reported so far this year. "No-one has been able to identify the root cause of our clusters of deaths but something has changed," said Ms Marfleet. "I hope and pray that this turns into a year with no self-inflicted deaths, and then two years." Most at risk Newcomers are the most at risk of suicide in prisons, says Prof Taylor. It means staff shortages are felt most acutely in local prisons, such as HMP Woodhill, which have higher proportions of inmates on pre-trial remand. "You will have relatively more people becoming very distressed when they are experiencing prison for the very first time," she said. Inmates serving longer sentences not only develop into the routine of prison life, she said, but tended to be more able to take advantage of the various opportunities offered through the prison system, such as treatment programmes or educational courses. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said: "The safety of those in our custody is a priority and all prisons have procedures in place to support those at risk of committing self-harm or suicide. "We have increased the support available to vulnerable offenders - especially during the first 24 hours in custody - and have invested more in mental health training for prison officers. "We are working closely with NHS England and Public Health England to improve mental health services for offenders at all points of the criminal justice system and to address these issues in our establishments."

पिछले साल एच. एम. पी. वुडहिल में सात कैदियों ने आत्महत्या कर ली, जो किसी भी अन्य जेल की तुलना में अधिक है। एक मृत्यु समीक्षक ने अब सरकार से एक मौत की जांच के बाद कार्रवाई करने का आह्वान किया है। लेकिन जेलों में आत्महत्याएं कितनी असामान्य हैं और उन्हें रोकने के लिए क्या किया जा सकता है?


Smaller and better smartphone cameras are on the way

Summary: "Today's smartphone cameras can make a better image than cameras I paid NZ$10,000 ($7,110; £5,165) for only 20 years ago," says Tom Ang, an Auckland-based professional photographer and author of more than 30 books on digital photography.

By David SilverbergTechnology of Business reporter The cameras embedded in our smartphones have become so good, many of those too young to remember anything different would scoff at the idea of carting around a separate camera. While Mr Ang is still fond of his high-end DSLR cameras, most of us rely on smartphone photos and videos to capture our memorable events and duckface selfies. And there is plenty of room for improvement. Most smartphones use a stacked system of lenses, which adds both weight and bulk, and ruins a phone's sleek design on its backside. But that could all change in the near future with new lens technology, including improved camera zooming and features that mean brighter photos, all while reducing the space and weight this takes up on your handset. When you want to zoom in while using your smartphone camera, you have to pinch the screen. The phone's software is cropping the frame and blowing it up, so the image quality is getting worse and can result in blurry photos. At Scope Photonics in Ontario, Canada, they want to create lossless zoom for all kinds of images, which means any photo enjoying a close-up will remain consistently sharp. Chief executive Holden Beggs and his team have been working on a type of technology harnessing liquid crystals, made popular by liquid-crystal display (LCD) screens found in living rooms and retail displays across the world. More Technology of Business Scope Photonics has found a way to make liquid crystals "spin like tops" and reorganise themselves based on how light moves through them. The effect is to mimic a zoom lens system. So instead of a series of lenses, Scope's system can zoom in and out with just the one lens. The International Runner Up for the 2020 James Dyson Award, Scope is prototyping the lens technology on medical devices first, and aims to bring these lenses to smartphone cameras in three years. "I'm comfortable in predicting we can achieve 10 times zoom with our liquid crystals, but this innovation offers a lot of opportunity for growth so you never know where we'll be at in a few years' time," Mr Beggs says. Emerging from Cambridge, Massachusetts, another start-up wants to get rid of that "camera bump" found on the back of your smartphone and brighten and sharpen images at the same time. Our phones use plastic and glass lens elements stacked over an image sensor, but Metalenz's design harnesses a single lens built on a glass wafer between just one and three square millimetres in size. Its silicon nanostructures manipulate light rays in a way that allows for brighter and sharper images compared to standard lens elements. Chief executive Robert Devlin says Metalenz is also working on fine-tuning the focus application on cameras, including for video imaging. "We want to improve real-time auto-focus, so the camera is picking out the right object to put into focus," he says. Another sector Metalenz is eyeing is virtual reality and augmented reality, which require headsets and goggles made up of image sensors and lenses. "In virtual reality especially, those companies want to reduce the bulkiness of those headsets, and that's what we want to do, and it's what we do now with our very thin lenses," Mr Devlin says. In Utah, a group of researchers have developed a lens a hundred times lighter and a thousand times thinner than the iPhone 11's lenses. Rajesh Menon, associate professor in electrical and computer engineering at Utah University, says a common problem for current phone cameras is spotting out-of-focus reds and blues and correcting - that often requires an additional lens. The lens he helped create comprises thousands of microstructures instead of one large curved element. All these programmed microstructures focus light on an image sensor in the same way as thicker traditional lenses. "Its thinness is a feature, not a by-product," says Prof Menon. "When you can reduce the size of all the lenses you normally have in a camera, which are all designed to correct for colour aberrations, one single lens can simplify the process." Reducing the weight of imaging devices, even if it's just a fraction of a gram, can be a big deal for delicate technologies such as satellites and drones, he adds. Prof Menon predicts his team's lens technology will come to smartphones in three to five years. Currently, his technology is being tested on imaging projects led by the US Department of Defense. It is apparent lens innovation is moving at a quick pace, but firms also have to remember that smartphone users are accustomed to simplicity. "If you offer, say, true optical zoom on a smartphone that rivals proper cameras, you also raise the barrier to use. If people need an instruction manual for their smartphone camera, you've stuffed up," says Mr Ang.

ऑकलैंड स्थित पेशेवर फोटोग्राफर और डिजिटल फोटोग्राफी पर 30 से अधिक पुस्तकों के लेखक टॉम एंग कहते हैं, "आज के स्मार्टफोन कैमरे कैमरों की तुलना में बेहतर छवि बना सकते हैं जो मैंने केवल 20 साल पहले NZ $10,000 ($7,110; £5,165) का भुगतान किया था।"


Colombia: How would a peace deal change the country?

Summary: Peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), aimed at ending five decades of armed internal conflict, have been under way for two years.

By Vanessa BuschschluterBBC News Since the formal talks were launched in Oslo in October 2012, the two sides have reached agreement on three of the six points on their agenda. President Juan Manuel Santos has said that he would like to see a deal signed by the end of the year, but the rebels recently accused him of rushing the negotiations. With the talks now in their 30th round and attacks by the rebels continuing - unlike during previous negotiations the two sides have not signed a ceasefire - Colombians are getting increasingly sceptical about the president's ambitious timetable. Colombia's armed conflict •An estimated 220,000 killed •More than five million internally displaced •230,000 fled their homes in 2012 •6.2 million registered victims •About 8,000 Farc rebels continue fighting Sources: Unit for Attention and Reparation of Victims, Colombian government Meanwhile, President Santos has been trying to garner international support for a post-conflict Colombia. So how would Colombia change if a permanent peace accord were to be reached? Economy President Santos has predicted that "peace alone will bring almost two percentage points annually to our already booming economic growth". While Colombia's economy has been growing at a rate of about 4% in the past decade, analysts say that growth could have been double that if it had not been for the armed conflict. The Colombian Research Centre for the Analysis of Conflict predicts that a peace deal would "strengthen formal employment, hasten poverty reduction and improve quality of life". Unemployment continues to be a major problem in Colombia, which in 2011 had the highest levels in the whole of Latin America. Although the government announced last May that the unemployment rate had dropped to its lowest level in 14 years, at 8.8% it still remains almost double that of neighbouring Ecuador. In a study entitled ""What would Colombia gain economically from peace?", the think tank says that an end to the armed internal conflict would boost investment in particular in areas so far shunned by risk-adverse investors and drive up the value of land and assets in those regions. But peace, or rather what Colombian politicians call the "post-conflict process", also comes at a cost. Roy Barreras, who jointly chairs the peace commission in the Colombian senate, recently put this cost at $45bn (£28bn) over the next decade. He said major investment was needed in areas such as land distribution, registration and management, as well as in local government and agriculture, if peace was to be achieved in areas which for a long time have had a minimal state presence. But he told the senate that figures by the non-profit think tank, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), suggested this cost would be offset by a predicted $49bn in extra revenue created by investors' regained confidence in a peaceful Colombia. His sentiments were echoed by Daniel Mejia, director of the Research Centre on Drugs and Security at the University of the Andes in Bogota, who also thinks the cost of implementing a peace deal could be recouped within a decade. "We have to see the peace accord as an investment which is costly in the short run but which has very important benefits in the medium and long term," he told me. Security Although the two sides entered formal negotiations two years ago, there has been no bilateral ceasefire, despite pressure for one from the Farc. President Santos argued that a ceasefire agreed during previous negotiations held between 1998 and 2002 allowed the rebels to regroup and re-arm to emerge stronger than before. So while the talks have been going on in Havana, the Cuban capital, attacks have continued unabated. The Bogota-based non-governmental organisation, Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation, says that in 2013 there were on average 182 clashes per month between the Farc rebels and the security forces. The two sides have said that a permanent peace deal would trigger an immediate ceasefire and a decommissioning of weapons. Figures from the Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation suggest the Farc have been good at sticking to unilateral ceasefires they have called in the past. During a Christmas truce they declared between 20 December 2013 and 20 January 2014, there were only four violations, the foundations says. This suggests orders passed down from Farc negotiators in Cuba were largely followed by the fighters in the field, its researchers say, boding well for a post-conflict Colombia However, the Farc is not the only group that is a security problem in Colombia. Colombia's second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), commands some 1,500 fighters and is also involved in armed conflict despite having started exploratory peace talks with the government. But there is also a number of violent criminal gangs which engage in extortion, drug trafficking, illegal mining and murder. There are fears in the security forces that Farc fighters could be lured over to these gangs rather than surrender their weapons. Drug trafficking One of the three points on which the government and rebels have reached agreement is the illegal drugs trade, one of the main sources of funding for the Farc. The two sides said they would eliminate all illicit drug production in Colombia should a final peace deal be reached. Mr Mejia, at the Centre on Drugs and Security, thinks that a final peace accord could "drastically diminish the drugs trade in Colombia", provided the government manages to widen the state presence in areas that have been neglected for decades and implements the points it has agreed with the rebels on rural development. But security analysts fear the retreat of the Farc from the drugs trade could create a vacuum into which Mexican cartels could move. Civil society There is no doubt Colombian society has been adversely affected by five decades of armed conflict, with an estimated 220,000 people killed and more than five million internally displaced. Andrei Gomez-Suarez told me a peace deal could radically transform the social fabric of Colombian society. The lecturer on Colombian politics at the University of the Andes says a peace accord would create a context for sectors of Colombian society who still view each other with distrust, such as unions, businesses, and the security forces, to start working together to generate trust - an essential part of any healthy society. He says a peace deal would allow more room for leftist social movements - currently often stigmatised as guerrilla supporters - to express their concerns about the key problems affecting Colombian society. According to 2012 World Bank figures, Colombia is the seventh most unequal country in the world, with inequality levels similar to those found in Haiti and Angola. And while poverty levels have dropped from 47.7% in 2003 to 32.7% in 2012, income inequality, which fuels social tension, has remained virtually unchanged. The countryside has suffered most from the presence of the guerrilla, with a lack of investment in infrastructure and education leaving rural dwellers with little chance to better themselves. In the northern Colombian province of Choco, more than two thirds of the population live in poverty, according to Colombia's national statistics office. And in Cauca, where the Farc have a strong presence, poverty levels run at 62%. Mr Gomez-Suarez argues that a peace deal would allow Colombians to shift their attention from immediate security threats to more long-term goals and tackle these pressing issues. He thinks that a peace deal would allow the security forces to concentrate on fighting criminal organisations. The eastern border area has seen a growth in criminal gangs which smuggle subsidised goods from Venezuela to Colombia and drugs the opposite way. The presence of the gangs has increased insecurity in such border towns such as Cucuta and driven many into the illegal smuggling business as well as driving local producers and merchants out of business. Criminal gangs have also increased their presence in such places as the port town of Buenaventura. Residents have told the BBC they are afraid to go out after a spate of particularly gruesome killings and a growing number of disappearances. A peace accord and the shift of resources away from battling the rebels and towards fighting common crime could increase citizens' safety in such crime hotspots, Mr Gomez-Suarez argues. Increased security would in turn allow civic and community groups - targeted by criminals who see them as a challenge to their authority - to flourish and enrich the democratic process. Timeline: Five decades of rebellion •1964: Farc rebel group founded as an armed wing of the communist party •1965: Farc fighters seize the town of Inza, the first time they take control of an urban centre •1980: Farc rebels abduct 22 soldiers, the first time they use kidnapping as a strategy to further their aims •1984: Government of Belisario Betancourt and Farc sign a ceasefire •1986: Ceasefire crumbles when 22 rebels are killed by the military, the rebels retaliate with an ambush on soldiers •1991: Peace talks are held in neighbouring Venezuela and later moved to Tlaxcala, Mexico, where they fail in 1992 •1996-1998: Farc are at their strongest, kidnapping about 200 members of the police and military •1998: Government of Andres Pastrana engages in peace talks, agrees to grant the rebels a safe haven the size of Switzerland •2002: Peace process breaks down. Farc rebels seize presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt •2008: Senior rebel leader Raul Reyes killed in a bombing raid, Farc founder Manuel Marulanda dies of natural causes •2012: Farc announces end of kidnapping for ransom •Oct 2012: Peace talks are launched in Oslo and move to Havana, Cuba in November 2012

कोलंबियाई सरकार और देश के सबसे बड़े विद्रोही समूह, रिवोल्यूशनरी आर्म्ड फोर्सेज ऑफ कोलंबिया (फार्क) के बीच शांति वार्ता, जिसका उद्देश्य पांच दशकों के सशस्त्र आंतरिक संघर्ष को समाप्त करना है, दो साल से चल रही है।


Publisher DC Thomson buys rival magazine firm Aceville

Summary: Dundee-based publisher DC Thomson has bought a rival firm with nearly 50 magazine titles ranging across crafts, food, health and gardening.

The Scots family firm acquired Aceville as part of its plans to broaden its portfolio of business interests. DC Thomson owns the Courier and Press and Journal newspapers, as well as 24 magazines including the Beano and My Weekly. The Aceville deal could put it in Britain's top five magazine publishers. Mike Watson, chief executive officer at DC Thomson Media, said the company was "excited" to have acquired Colchester-based Aceville. He said: "We are looking forward to working together. The team at Aceville, and their portfolio, are a great fit for our business and this collaboration opens up a host of opportunities for both businesses. "This is a hugely exciting time for everyone at DC Thomson Media and Aceville."

डंडी स्थित प्रकाशक डी. सी. थॉमसन ने शिल्प, भोजन, स्वास्थ्य और बागवानी में लगभग 50 पत्रिका शीर्षकों के साथ एक प्रतिद्वंद्वी फर्म खरीदी है।


China's oil fears over South Sudan fighting

Summary: The stakes could not be higher for China, the largest investor in South Sudan's oil sector, as fierce fighting continues between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those of his former deputy.

By Yuwen WuBBC Chinese Some of the largest oil fields China operates are in areas controlled by fighters backing Riek Machar, the country's vice-president until he was sacked in July. Oil production has already dropped by 20% since the onset of the conflict three weeks ago and more than 300 Chinese workers have been evacuated. The spectre of their Libyan experience also weighs heavily on the Chinese minds - project after project now lies deserted because of heavy fighting during the Arab Spring uprising of 2011, inflicting huge losses on China. It is no surprise then that China is putting its full weight behind the peace talks in Addis Ababa. Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in the Ethiopian capital on Monday and made it clear that China wanted both sides to stop fighting and seek a reasonable and rational way out. According to media reports, he was even willing to mediate personally between the warring sides. It is unclear if Mr Wang has been able to do this, but his message was important, reports the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza from Addis Ababa. It demonstrates how seriously the international community is taking the crisis - with many diplomats present at the talks, he says. Apart from China's Africa envoy Zhong Jianhua, US special envoy Donald Booth and EU special representative Alexander Rondos are also attending. Fraught with risk China invested some $20bn (£12bn) in Sudan before it split into two countries in 2011, according to Chinese media reports. Another $8bn was pledged to President Kiir during his visit to China the year following secession, to be used for infrastructure projects and the oil sector. The heavy investment seems to have borne fruit, as in the first 10 months of 2013, China imported 1.9 million tonnes of oil (nearly 14 million barrels) from South Sudan, twice as much as China imports from Nigeria each year. Though amounting to less than 1% of China's total oil imports, it makes up roughly two-thirds of oil exported by the world's youngest nation and is expected to increase. Two years ago, China suffered heavy losses in its Libyan projects, including infrastructure, telecommunications and oil. Many constructions were halted and sites looted or destroyed during the revolution which toppled long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi. The total loss was estimated by several Chinese media reports to be in the region of $20bn, although no official figures exist. Compensation talks with the new Libya government stalled as their priority was very much on nation-building and improving the living conditions of the Libyan people. Economic boom Experts point out that China has taken tremendous risks in its search for oil. This is because the country's economic boom continues to require a great deal of oil - home production is limited and reliance on exports reached 56% in 2012. But all the known global markets have been dominated by Western companies or have been off-limits because of sanctions, leaving China with little choice but to adopt high-risk strategies. Nowadays, more than half of China's investment in the overseas oil sector is found in areas which are considered unstable, including Iran, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan and Venezuela. Chinese workers have been caught in the conflicts for control of oil by various forces in Sudan. In 2008, five Chinese oil workers kidnapped by rebels in Sudan's South Kordofan province were killed during a rescue attempt. Four years later, another 29 Chinese construction workers were abducted in the same province and were only released 11 days later after intense negotiations. The Sudanese rebels were quoted as saying that they did not want to harm the workers, but they aimed to send a signal to the Chinese government that they did not want them to be involved in the conflict over oil in Sudan. But what is currently happening in South Sudan seems far more serious than kidnappings. China must be praying for a quick end to the trouble so life on the oil fields can return to normal. In the meantime, some experts also predict that China might be forced into re-thinking its high-risk oil strategy.

दक्षिण सूडान के तेल क्षेत्र में सबसे बड़े निवेशक चीन के लिए दांव अधिक बड़ा नहीं हो सकता है, क्योंकि राष्ट्रपति साल्वा कीर के प्रति वफादार बलों और उनके पूर्व डिप्टी के बीच भयंकर लड़ाई जारी है।


Man held on suspicion of murder after Sheffield stabbing

Summary: A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after another man died following a stabbing in Sheffield.

The 21-year-old victim, who has not been named, was found with stab wounds to the chest on Piper Crescent at about 22:15 BST on Sunday. The man was taken to hospital but died from his injuries shortly after arrival. South Yorkshire Police said a 39-year-old man who had been arrested remained in custody. Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.

शेफ़ील्ड में छुरा घोंपने से एक अन्य व्यक्ति की मौत के बाद हत्या के संदेह में एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Can TV soaps like EastEnders and Coronation Street really change lives?

Summary: One night in 2013, 18-year-old Cian Pace was watching EastEnders as usual, and saw an episode in which Dexter was donating a kidney to Sam. At home in Sheffield, Cian turned to his dad and made a casual remark, as you do.

By Ian YoungsArts & entertainment reporter Cian's mum Margaret Hitchcock recalls: "He said, 'Oh I would be an organ donor. The only thing is I wouldn't donate my heart, because that's my essence, and my eyes. "And we laughed, and that was the end of it. We put it behind us because we didn't think that would ever happen." But weeks later, just after his 19th birthday, Cian was travelling in a car that crashed. He died three days later. "When he was in hospital on life support they said, 'Would you be interested in him being a donor?'" Mrs Hitchcock says. "And we both said, 'Yes we would.' "If it hadn't been for watching EastEnders, we wouldn't have known that." Cian's heart and eyes weren't donated, but other organs saved the lives of five people who needed transplants. "One was a two-year-old boy, one was a 14-year-old girl, one was a man in his 30s, and one was an older man," Mrs Hitchcock says. "That little boy might then go on to have a family, that young girl now can go to university, and they have a life." Some of those transplant recipients have written to Cian's mum. "When I get the letters, obviously it's bittersweet and it's very upsetting," she says. But she adds: "It lights me up because he's saved them. "I felt very sad but I felt very proud that he didn't just go to waste. He saved five people's lives." EastEnders' kidney donation storyline is one of many hard-hitting soap plots that have been designed to get people talking as well as to ramp up the on-screen drama. And while realism is often sacrificed for ratings-hungry plot twists, Cian Pace's casual conversation demonstrates that messages from TV shows can make a difference in real life. Soaps now routinely take advice from charities in an attempt to cover potentially tricky topics accurately and sensitively. The National Kidney Federation assisted the BBC in the Sam and Dexter kidney storyline. Here, four other charities explain how they have worked with soaps, and what happens when TV shows get it right - and wrong. Best way to get message across - Kidney Care UK Fiona Loud, policy director at Kidney Care UK, says TV dramas get through to viewers better than any official campaign or news report. "Soaps can reach those parts that public messages can't reach in the same way," she says. "The most important conversations - having that chat with your family - are far more likely to happen in a casual way at home when you're sitting around, having a cup of tea or something, rather than the horrible and very rare situation where you could be dying and you could actually become a donor." Loud advised Coronation Street on the storyline that saw Carla Connor, played by Alison King, have a transplant earlier this year. "It was mainly me on a Sunday afternoon reading through the scripts and trying to amend them to make them realistic enough," she explains. She was recruited after writing to producers to point out inaccuracies in a previous storyline. The Carla story was criticised by some who said she wouldn't have got a transplant as quickly as she did - but for Loud, those compromises were a price worth paying. "I put forward quite a lot of suggestions about the timeline, but overall we just said it's better to have this beaming into people's living rooms to raise awareness of a condition that not that many people know about, and to get to patients who needed help and were able to get help from us." And viewers did seek help, with record traffic to the charity's website, she says. The programme was also thanked for raising awareness during a parliamentary debate in February about a proposed law on presumed consent, meaning people would be organ donors unless they opt out. "At their best, soaps can play a huge part in helping to inform the public on such issues," Labour MP Sharon Hodgson told the House of Commons. Risks and rewards - Samaritans If soaps don't get it right, there can also be very real consequences. Research shows that the way suicide is shown can inspire copycat attempts. In 1999, a study showed that a Casualty storyline about a pilot who tried to kill himself led to increases in the numbers of people attempting to take their lives by the same method in the following two weeks. "There's an awful lot of risk in covering this topic, so it's important that it's done in a way that is safe," according to Samaritans media advisor Lorna Fraser. She advises programme-makers to take "particular care" when thinking about showing suicide methods. She worked with Coronation Street on the storyline surrounding Aidan Connor earlier this year - which didn't show how he killed himself, and didn't show his body. "They were very responsible," she says. "And in the aftermath, apart from showing the devastation caused to his loved ones and those around him, they also really focused in on the importance of talking." As well as having risks, portraying suicide can encourage viewers to reach out if they can relate to a character's struggles, see the grief and devastation that's left behind, or see positive stories of recovery, she adds. "Soaps have the power to engage with large audiences, and through compelling and engaging character storylines can touch those people and encourage them to reach out and seek help. For some, that can be a lifeline." Viewers are future jurors - Rape Crisis Next week, EastEnders viewers will see a storyline revolving around Ruby Allen, played by Louisa Lytton, being raped after a party. It chimes in with the debates that have been taking place about consent in the wake of the #MeToo revelations over the past 12 months. Producers have worked with Rape Crisis South London, whose chief executive Yvonne Traynor says they want to "dispel all the myths and stereotypes" surrounding sexual violence. She says: "Soap operas are watched by so many people that they have a responsibility to get it right, to portray any situation in the correct way as opposed to the old days… what did they used to call it? Artistic licence." Seeing characters go through their ordeals can prompt people to talk about - or report - their own experiences, Traynor says. "It gives them a licence to actually look for help when they see that it's happening, and it can happen anywhere," she says. "And they don't feel so isolated, so they come forward. "We run the National Rape Crisis Helpline and the calls escalate during the times that the programme's being aired. It's very, very clear. "We opened the helpline when Broadchurch was showing the rape. They [ITV] actually commissioned us to open for longer hours, so we opened from early in the morning until midnight. "And it was really busy from the moment we opened to the moment we closed. That's the immediate effect that these storylines have. "The long-term effect we hope is that ordinary members of society really understand what sexual violence is. And those ordinary members of society are going to be on juries. "So perhaps cases will go a different way and rather than a 54% conviction rate, that conviction rate will rise if people really understand and stop thinking that women who are drunk deserve to be raped, or it's their fault, or women who wear particular clothing [are at fault]." Psychiatrists get a lesson in EastEnders - Mind In the past, portrayals of people with mental health conditions have sometimes given a damaging impression to viewers, according to Jenni Regan, media engagement at Mind. "You'd see a character coming in for one episode and killing everybody and then it would turn out it was because of his schizophrenia or something," she says. Regan now advises soaps and dramas on between 60-70 stories per year. Things are "getting a lot better", she believes. An example of the power of soaps came in a 2014 study from campaign group Time To Change, which found that 31% of viewers who saw a character with mental health problems said it prompted them to start a conversation about the storyline with friends, family or colleagues. Regan has worked on stories including Stacey Branning's postpartum psychosis on EastEnders in 2016. Before those scripts were written, Regan took mothers with experience of the condition to meet actress Lacey Turner, the writers and producers. Speaking about the public reaction, Regan says: "People were saying, 'Oh, my God, I recognise that was me - that happened to me after I had a baby.' That was huge and I think it's still having a big impact now. "In fact, I went to a presentation at a psychiatrists' training conference and a lot of psychiatrists, when they're learning about postpartum psychosis, will actually use the EastEnders storyline. "So it's gone full circle - the storyline was informed by real life, and now real life has been informed by that." Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

2013 की एक रात, 18 वर्षीय सियान पेस हमेशा की तरह ईस्टएंडर्स देख रहा था, और एक एपिसोड देखा जिसमें डेक्सटर सैम को एक किडनी दान कर रहा था। शेफ़ील्ड में घर पर, सियान ने अपने पिता की ओर रुख किया और एक अनौपचारिक टिप्पणी की, जैसा कि आप करते हैं।


Don't have nightmares - crime is down

Summary: Recorded crime has always been an unsatisfactory way to measure crime trends and it is a mistake to think that improving recording practices will make it a more accurate indicator of whether particular crimes are rising or falling.

Mark EastonHome editor@BBCMarkEastonon Twitter Despite the assertion today from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) that police force crime data is an important factor in providing "as clear as possible a picture of the levels of crime", it does no such thing. In many ways, it paints a wholly distorted portrait of crime levels. That's not because the police are behaving badly, but simply the nature of the beast. If a police force decides to conduct a pre-Christmas drink-driving campaign, they will stop and breathalyse more motorists. It is likely they will identify more drivers under the influence of drink or drugs. Those incidents will see a spike in the number of drink-driving offences recorded. But no-one imagines that the rise is because drink-driving is increasing. It is simply that more of that crime is being identified by police. These recorded figures are, therefore, more a measure of police activity than crime trends. This can be seen with many offences. If police target knife crime, domestic violence, drugs or shop-lifting, it is probable that the number of recorded crimes will go up. But it doesn't mean that the scale of those crimes is getting worse. Indeed, these exercises are designed to reduce the number of offences and the number of victims. The point is that there is far more crime than ever crosses the sergeant's desk. We know this because the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), asking large numbers of people about their actual experience of crime, reveals almost twice as many offences as show up in the recorded data - 7.1 million offences compared with 3.7 million recorded by police. Since the police record many crimes that have no individual victim, (for instance drug offences, drink-driving, shop-lifting) the proportion of offences identified by the CSEW and recorded by police is well below half. A large amount of crime goes unrecorded because victims don't tell the police. With some offences, forces have worked hard to encourage people to come forward. For example, with sexual assaults and domestic violence, the police have tried to give victims confidence that their stories will be taken seriously. But the recent rises in the number of people reporting incidents of child abuse, for instance, does not mean those offences are necessarily increasing. Rather, a higher proportion of the vast number of offences is being reported and recorded by the police. The police figures are a very poor measure of real victimhood. Another example of this concerns rape. An official Overview of Sexual Offending published last year estimated that, on average, 85,000 women are victims of rape or sexual assault by penetration each year in England and Wales. (Around 12,000 men are also thought to be victims). However, the number of rapes recorded by police each year is about 16,000. Only 15% of women who told researchers they had been raped in the previous year said they had reported the matter to police. The report notes that there was a 7% increase in recorded sexual offences between 2009/9 and 2010/11 but that the rise "may in part be due to greater encouragement by the police to victims to come forward and improvements in police recording, rather than an increase in the level of victimisation". Once again, recorded police figures may tell us something important about the confidence of victims to report offences. Indeed, today's report says some forces could and should do even better. But the data are very little use in telling us whether a particular crime is rising or falling. There's another important reason for avoiding police data when trying to understand crime trends: officers may, consciously or unconsciously, mis-record what they are being told. Indeed, sometimes they may not record a reported crime at all. A mum comes to the police station with her six-year-old son who claims that another boy pushed him over in the playground. He has grazed his knee. Is this a crime that should be recorded as a violent assault? A young man comes to the station desk to report his mobile phone has been stolen, but the officer recognises him and has good reason to think that this particular "victim" is actually just trying to get a better model on insurance. Is this a crime that should be immediately recorded as a theft? A police officer, aware that there is a target to reduce the number of robberies in the area, is considering how to record a bag snatch in the high street. The victim says the culprit yanked her arm as he took the bag but, depending on the level of force, the offence could go down as a theft or a robbery. Which should it be? For all these reasons, recorded crime is a very poor measure of real crime levels and it is, therefore, slightly disappointing that the HMIC should say there is "appreciable public concern that real crime levels are not truly represented in the statistics, particularly those recorded by police forces" without stressing this point. It is equally disappointing that the shadow crime minister should use today's HMIC report to suggest the huge falls in crime Britain has seen in the last 20 years are somehow thrown into doubt. "This report," Labour's Jack Dromey says, "is the latest blow to the Home Secretary's repeated claims that crime is falling, when the reality is that almost one fifth of crime is simply not being recorded." The big falls in crime are identified by a much better measure - the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), which asks tens of thousands of people each year about their actual experience of crime. That suggests that overall crime, both personal and domestic, has more than halved since the mid-90s. It would be a tragedy if the consequence of today's report was to stoke the fear of crime at a time when the chances of being a victim are historically low. UPDATE 14:30 I have been reminded that drink-driving is not a notifiable offence and so would not appear within the national crime figures. However, figures on drink-driving arrests are regularly published by the Association of Chief Police Officers and being in charge of a vehicle while over the limit can result in three months' imprisonment.

अभिलिखित अपराध हमेशा अपराध की प्रवृत्ति को मापने का एक असंतोषजनक तरीका रहा है और यह सोचना एक गलती है कि अभिलिखित प्रथाओं में सुधार करने से यह अधिक सटीक संकेतक बन जाएगा कि क्या विशेष अपराध बढ़ रहे हैं या गिर रहे हैं।


Dundee City Council headquarters closed for second day

Summary: Staff at Dundee City Council's headquarters have been asked to work from home after the building was hit by a power failure on Tuesday.

The authority said limited public counter services would be available at Dundee House, but the majority of the building remained closed. IT services, including the council's website and email, which had previously been affected, have been restored. The council said updates would be issued on its social media pages.

मंगलवार को बिजली गुल होने के बाद डंडी सिटी काउंसिल के मुख्यालय के कर्मचारियों को घर से काम करने के लिए कहा गया है।


Grammy Awards 2020: List of nominees and winners

Summary: The nominees for the 62nd Grammy Awards have been announced in Los Angeles. Here's a summary of the key categories. Album of the year

Record of the year Song of the year Best new artist Best pop solo performance Best pop duo/group performance Best traditional pop vocal album Best pop vocal album Best dance recording Best dance/electronic album Best rock performance Best metal performance Best alternative album Best R&B performance Best urban contemporary album Best rap song Best rap album Best rap/sung performance Best country album Best Country Solo Performance Best Country Duo/Group Performance Best musical theatre album Producer of the year, non-classical Best music video Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

62वें ग्रैमी पुरस्कारों के लिए नामांकित व्यक्तियों की घोषणा लॉस एंजिल्स में की गई है। यहाँ प्रमुख श्रेणियों का सारांश है। वर्ष का एल्बम


Russell Bishop: 'Cowardly' killer's decades of lies

Summary: Russell Bishop's lies started even before his victims' bodies were found, when he turned out to help search for the two little girls he had killed. His deceit continued for decades, until a change in the law and advances in science led to his conviction for their murder.

By Tanya Gupta and Jon HuntBBC News Bishop was among the first on the scene when Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway - later known as the Babes in the Wood - were found dead in a woodland den in Wild Park, near Brighton's Moulsecoomb Estate, in October 1986. They had been strangled and sexually assaulted. The roofer went on to protest his innocence following his arrest and during the 1987 trial, from which he walked away a free man. Police still remember how he became a "cause celebre", fighting for "justice" for the schoolgirls after his acquittal. But within three years, he had kidnapped and sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl and left her for dead at Devil's Dyke on the South Downs. Former detective inspector Malcolm Bacon said Bishop had by then become a well-known figure in Brighton. "He was walking round, fronting marches, trying to find out who the 'real person' was who had killed the girls." But he said: "It was pretty obvious at that particular time that he was responsible." Mr Bacon said the 1987 acquittal directly led to the Devil's Dyke attack. "We didn't get the conviction, which is what should have happened. And it was as a result of not getting that conviction that the horrible events of February 1990 were allowed to occur," he said. The girl was snatched from the street, shut in a car boot and driven to the beauty spot, where she was molested, strangled and thrown into a gorse bush, apparently lifeless - but she survived. Barely able to stand, she managed to fight her way out of the thorns. Her rescuers spotted her by the roadside, naked, freezing cold and terrified, with her skin badly shredded by the gorse. This time, Bishop would not get away with his crimes. The girl was able to identify him as her attacker and he has been in prison ever since. It was after the 1990 attack that Phil Mills, then a crime reporter from the Brighton Argus, wrote to Bishop in jail to ask him if he had killed Karen and Nicola. Bishop chose not to answer the question. Instead, he sent back an account of his life in a top-security prison describing his own ordeal. Three decades on, Mr Mills says the letter shows Bishop trying to portray himself as a victim, a scapegoat, as someone deserving of sympathy. Bishop wrote of his misery, his fear and his despair and how his own children were helping to keep his spirits up - but it was an account that led to outrage in the community when it was published. In it, he described how he constantly had to watch his back, for fear of violence in prison. He wrote that at times he felt he couldn't go on and there was always a way out of jail "in a box or a bag". And he said: "I can't even go back to Sussex. It is a very hostile world now. At the end of all of this I can never be happy." Mr Mills remembers the paper was hoping he would confess. "We were hoping Bishop would have some modicum of pity for the families and, now that he was convicted and jailed for a similar offence, he would confess to the Babes' murders. "It didn't happen and we were left with his comments on life in prison and, quite rightly, some members of the public objected to the story, arguing why should this killer be given the oxygen of publicity that could generate some sympathy for him. "I understood their point of view as soon as the complaints rolled in." In contrast, the seven-year-old girl he attacked also wrote to the paper in 1990, but she used her letter to describe her recovery and send a "thank you" to her friends. The girl, who remained anonymous, wrote: "I am feeling very well now and all my scratches have gone. I am having a lovely Christmas and I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas from ?" During the second murder trial, Bishop said he was a victim of police brutality, claiming officers had bullied him into making a false statement, "totally destroying" him. He also told jurors his history of wrongful arrests included being held over Brighton's Grand Hotel IRA bombing in 1984. Bishop claimed that officers called him a "liar", that they had been "downright nasty", that he was "kept a prisoner". And he said in court: "I was having two police officers bullying and totally destroying me in that room. I'm dyslexic and I could not read or write. I had poor problem-solving skills." Bishop also told jurors he nearly threw himself and his two children off Beachy Head after the first trial, after he'd had numerous bricks thrown through his windows and firebombs through his letterbox. But prosecutor Brian Altman QC said Bishop had set out to create a "smokescreen" and that, in reality, he had killed Nicola and Karen for his own sexual gratification. After Bishop chose to give evidence but not to return during cross-examination, Mr Altman told the Old Bailey jury he was a coward. "You may conclude he showed you his true colours - an abusive, aggressive, controlling man," Mr Altman said. "He is a coward to refuse to continue his evidence before you and he is a cowardly paedophile who thinks nothing of attacking a seven-year-old child." Close to tears Barrie Fellows, Nicola's father, took the stand in the second murder trial after the defence made allegations against him. The girls' mothers, Susan Fellows - now Eismann - and Michelle Hadaway also gave evidence during the trial. Karen's father Lee Hadaway, died in 1998 from a heart attack. Court papers showed that in the first murder trial, Mr Justice Schiemann directed jurors to acquit Bishop if they were unsure of any one of three statements - that the girls were dead by 18:30; that Bishop had worn a Pinto sweatshirt on the night they went missing; and that the Pinto sweatshirt was worn by the murderer. In the second trial, the prosecution said DNA science not available in 1987 had linked the sweatshirt with Bishop and the girls, and also samples taken from Karen's arm produced a one-in-a-billion DNA match to Bishop. Mr Mills still remembers seeing Mrs Hadaway "frantic with worry" before her daughter's body was found. "I remember her not being able to stand still, sit still for more than a couple of seconds; she was up, out of the house, looking down the road, looking round the corner, hoping and waiting that her daughter would turn the corner and run into her arms," he said. He said while he welcomed the conviction and was pleased for the family, he did not believe it would bring them closure. "I think it brings them a sense of peace and a sense of justice," he said. "But how do you ever get over the loss of your daughter? "That lives with you every day."

रसेल बिशप के झूठ उनके पीड़ितों के शव मिलने से पहले ही शुरू हो गए थे, जब वे उन दो छोटी लड़कियों की खोज में मदद करने के लिए निकले जिन्हें उन्होंने मार डाला था। उनका छल दशकों तक जारी रहा, जब तक कि कानून में बदलाव और विज्ञान में प्रगति ने उन्हें उनकी हत्या के लिए दोषी नहीं ठहराया।


How Jeff Bezos took Amazon to the top

Summary: Perhaps Jeff Bezos had a crystal ball.

By Natalie ShermanBusiness reporter, New York Two decades ago, he foresaw a future when a click would conjure anything from pet food to caviar; malls would fade in popularity; and shops would have to offer entertainment or convenience to survive. Then he built an empire in that image. Amazon, which he founded in 1994, is now vying to become the world's first trillion dollar company, having transformed from niche second-hand book seller to global jack-of-all trades. But Mr Bezos, now the world's richest person, claims higher aims than just reshaping the world's retail market. He privately owns the Washington Post newspaper. His aerospace firm, Blue Origin, plans to sell tickets for space travel next year. He has also hinted he will announce philanthropic plans this summer. Years ago, his high-school girlfriend told Wired that she had always expected him to make a fortune, tracing his drive to an early dream of exploring outer space. "It wasn't about money itself. It was about what he was going to do with the money, about changing the future," she told the magazine. Space colonies Signs of Mr Bezos's ambitions emerged decades ago. The child of teen parents who quickly divorced, he was raised largely in Texas and Florida by his mother Jackie, and his step-father Mike Bezos, an Exxon executive who had fled Cuba as a teenager after Fidel Castro came to power. He displayed an early inclination for engineering and science, dismantling his crib with a screwdriver at the age of three, according to a 2013 biography by Brad Stone. In a high school graduation speech, he outlined a vision for establishing colonies in outer space. At Princeton University, Mr Bezos studied engineering and computer science, later using his skills at financial companies in New York, where he met his wife MacKenzie, now a novelist, at the hedge fund, DE Shaw. At the age of 30, he quit after coming across a statistic about the rapid growth of the internet. In a 2010 speech at Princeton, Mr Bezos recalled his decision to head west and start Amazon as the "less safe path". "I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all," he said. Cybercommerce king Mr Bezos's gamble, funded with more than $100,000 in personal and family money, quickly paid off. Within a month of Amazon's 1995 launch, it had already shipped orders to all 50 states and 45 countries, according to Mr Stone's book, The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. In Amazon's first five years, customer accounts jumped from 180,000 to 17 million. Sales skyrocketed from $511,000 to more than $1.6bn. Big-name investors flocked to the company amid the first wave of dot com enthusiasm. It went public in 1997, raising $54m and turning Mr Bezos, who once helped to box up the book orders, into one of the world's richest men before the age of 35. In 1999, Time Magazine named him one of its youngest ever 'People of the Year', dubbing him the "king of cybercommerce". Experimental Known for being an exacting boss, Mr Bezos has guided Amazon with what he describes as a long-term strategy and "heads down" focus on the customer. In practice, that has meant the firm is willing to spend money to make money, foregoing annual profit for 10 out of 23 years as it cut prices, offered free shipping and spent years developing new devices like its Kindle e-reader. But Amazon also hasn't hesitated to save where it could, making headquarters employees pay for parking, battling with suppliers, opposing efforts to organise labour unions at its warehouses, and avoiding taxes as much as possible. The firm experienced some failures, like early investments in sites like Pets.com that later lost money. But today even those look like a sign of its relentless competitive spirit and willingness to experiment. Amazon reported nearly $53bn in sales in the three months ended in June, with record quarterly profit of $2.5bn. The firm is expected to account for roughly half of all online shopping sales in the US this year - and nearly 5% of the country's overall retail market, according to research firm eMarketer. It employs more than 575,000 people - a force nearly the size of Luxembourg's population. It provides logistics, storage, loans and a selling platform to hundreds of thousands of third-party merchants and its profitable cloud computing division, which hosts huge swathes of the corporate world on its data servers, is the industry's global leader. Nor is Amazon's thirst for new ventures sated. Last year, it purchased upmarket grocer Whole Foods. This year, it announced the takeover of an online pharmacy. Executives say they are scouting for other deals. Backlash Amazon's rise, as former retail stalwarts like Sears, Toys 'R' Us and Barnes & Noble struggle, has drawn critics concerned about its monopoly power, its tax and labour practices - even its responsibility for driving up housing costs in its hometown of Seattle. When the firm announced last year it would build another major campus in North America, local officials scrambled to win the firm's commitment, even as protesters, angry about the prospect of tax incentives going to one of the world's most successful companies, mounted anti-Amazon campaigns. In the face of those critics, Mr Bezos has started to cultivate a more public presence on Twitter, where he shares photos of his parents and videos of dog sledding in Norway. Amazon has also fought back with cash, more than doubling its spending on lobbying since 2014 to about $13m last year, according to OpenSecrets.org. Twitter target Despite those efforts, the company has a high-profile critic: US President Donald Trump, who has accused Amazon of winning unduly low shipping rates from the US Postal Service and kept alive the threat of regulation by attacking it on Twitter as a monopoly. Mr Trump also frequently ties Amazon's activities to that of the Washington Post, although the newspaper is an independent, private investment by Mr Bezos, who purchased it in 2013. With a fortune worth about $150bn, the 54-year-old Mr Bezos has also faced questions about his relatively limited philanthropic activity. He recently hinted he will increase his giving, with an announcement expected later this summer. Last year, while soliciting ideas, Mr Bezos said he expected to approach philanthropy differently than he does his businesses, focusing on immediate impact, rather than the long-term. The world will be waiting to see if the new strategy still means success.

शायद जेफ बेजोस के पास एक क्रिस्टल गेंद थी।


ANZ's results a 'welcome relief' and beat expectations

Summary: One of Australia's biggest lenders, ANZ, has beaten expectations and posted a half-year cash profit of 3.7bn Australian dollars ($2.9bn;£1.91bn) in the six months ending in March.

The result marks a 5% rise on cash profits from a year earlier. The lender also said its after-tax profit rose $A3.5bn during the period, up 3% from a year earlier. The cash profit number strips out some one-off items and is the bank's preferred measure of performance. Forecasts were for a rise in cash profit to A$3.6bn for the period. Analysts said the results were a "welcome relief" as Australia's economy continues to face slowing growth and after rival Westpac bank posted disappointing results on Monday. ANZ's chief executive Mike Smith said the results were "well balanced" and that progress had been made in reshaping the lender's business in a "more challenging macro-environment". But Mr Smith noted the lender would be operating in a "lower growth environment" in the future, "in which there will continue to be occasional volatility and shocks". The bank's positive half-yearly performance numbers come as Australia's central bank meets later today to decide whether to cut interest rates to an historic low. 'Welcome relief' Analysts said investors seemed to like the latest numbers from the lender as the stock was up as much as 3.9% following the announcement. "The result from ANZ will be taken favourably, with cash earnings modestly above consensus," said Melbourne-based Chris Weston from IG Markets. "The result itself was of a better quality than Westpac," he said, "although investors will take little heart from either bank's capital position." Michael McCarthy of CMC Markets in Sydney said ANZ's results were "a welcome relief" after Westpac's flat result on Monday. ANZ and Westpac are among the top four banks in Australia, together with National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank. ANZ is the nation's third biggest bank by market value. Australia's banking sector, particularly the so-called top four, is regarded as being highly profitable. The country's big lenders made it through the global financial crisis relatively unscathed.

ऑस्ट्रेलिया के सबसे बड़े ऋणदाताओं में से एक, ए. एन. जेड. ने उम्मीदों को पछाड़ दिया है और मार्च में समाप्त होने वाले छह महीनों में ऑस्ट्रेलियाई डॉलर ($2.9bn; £ 1.91bn) का आधे साल का नकद लाभ दर्ज किया है।


Bloodhound Diary: Braking with confidence

Summary: A British team is developing a car that will be capable of reaching 1,000mph (1,610km/h). Powered by a rocket bolted to a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, the vehicle aims to show its potential by going progressively faster, year after year. In mid-2019, Bloodhound wants to run above 500mph. In late 2019, the goal is to raise the existing world land speed record (763mph; 1,228km/h) to 800mph. And in 2020, the intention is to exceed 1,000mph. The racing will take place on Hakskeen Pan in Northern Cape, South Africa.

By Andy GreenWorld Land Speed Record Holder Some disappointing news and some good news over the past few weeks. The disappointment is that we won't be getting to South Africa this year. The good news is that after nearly two years of discussions, we've just secured a formal endorsement from a key supporter - more to follow when they let us announce it! We are still putting the funding together for our record attempts and (as I mentioned last month) we have recently lost a couple of key suppliers. We still haven't sourced replacements for the parts and, with time running out, we've finally had to accept a delay. We have rescheduled "Bloodhound 500" for the second quarter of next year, rather than go late this year. While it's a little frustrating to have to wait for another nine months, it's a slightly cheaper way of doing the test runs, as it reduces the time (and set up costs) between Bloodhound 500 and the supersonic record runs late next year. The delay also gives us more time to prepare the car and, from my point of view as the driver, that's a good thing. With more time to get the car ready, we are now aiming to build a slightly different vehicle for next year's runs. Instead of a 500+ mph jet car for this year, which we would then upgrade to a jet-plus-rocket supersonic system for next year, we are already starting to prepare the supersonic car. Bloodhound 500 will be our 500+ mph jet-only test session next spring with this vehicle, then we'll simply "plug in" the rocket and target a new World Land Speed Record in the autumn. Our rocket team is going to hate me for saying "simply plug in the rocket" - yes, it really is rocket science and no, it's not simple - but you know what I mean. The "slow-speed" bodywork we fitted for the 200mph test runs last year is now being modified for high speeds. The Bloodhound build team has been hard at work adding the composite body panels to the rear sub assembly. They've had to drill almost 100 holes, by hand, with millimetre accuracy to seat the "top hats". Top hats are inserts that spread the load from each fixing point into the composite panels. They are cylindrical in shape with a circular flange at one end - in other words, shaped just like a top hat. Given the huge acoustic loads and aerodynamic buffeting that the rear bodywork will suffer, these little load-spreading devices are an essential part of keeping the back of the car in one piece. The build team is also test-fitting the airbrake mechanism, with the intent to get it working for our runs next year. Looking at the performance figures, the Bloodhound 500 test runs will be a great chance to test the braking aids (chutes and airbrakes), as the car can be stopped from 500+ mph even if we have a problem with one of them. Once we fit the rocket and start aiming for supersonic speeds, we are going to need help to stop the car, so these will be important tests. We are fitting both brake 'chutes and airbrakes to the car to give us multiple options for stopping. It's all very well being able to go fast, but we need to make sure we can stop every single time. So, using 'chutes and airbrakes is (at least as far as I'm concerned) the best solution. With Bloodhound 500 now scheduled for next year, it will allow us to test both systems at the same time, giving us more experience (and confidence) with the braking aids before we start going really fast. When we start running at high speeds we are going to learn a huge amount about the car and its performance. The biggest and most exciting area of research is, of course, the aerodynamics. While we've got the very best of cutting-edge computer science behind us, this is still a relatively "new" area of technology that Bloodhound's data will help to develop. The car is running with almost 200 aerodynamic pressure sensors on it for exactly this reason. Swansea University is already using Bloodhound for both research and for teaching its most advanced students. Some of the flow visualisations they are producing are simply stunning, but it does leave me with one concern. The simulations clearly show a huge supersonic shockwave sitting over the cockpit, which is exactly what's supposed to happen, in order to slow down the supersonic airflow to below Mach 1 (the speed of sound) before it gets to the jet engine. That's all well and good - but just how noisy is it going to be, exactly, sitting directly underneath this screaming banshee of angry supersonic airflow? The aerodynamics is just one area where Bloodhound's data is going to provide key information to attack our ultimate target of 1,000mph. Our latest Cisco BHTV gives a good summary of where we've been using data so far, and where we will be using it over the next couple of years. Of course, we're also planning to stream the data live to a global audience, so if you want a preview of what we're planning, or if you've ever wondered what a "digital twin" is, then have a look at the video. Finally, some good news about our track. After last month's extensive flooding, a recent satellite photo shows that the surface has already dried out. The picture shows the "moisture index" from Sentinel-2. While this carefully selected set of frequency bands looks like a piece of abstract art, it does show the outline of the desert if you look closely. The picture shows surface water as a dark blue colour, so it's obvious that Hakskeen Pan is pretty much dry. Now, we just need to get a supersonic car on to it...

एक ब्रिटिश टीम एक ऐसी कार विकसित कर रही है जो 1,000 मील प्रति घंटे (1,610 किमी/घंटा) तक पहुंचने में सक्षम होगी। एक यूरोफाइटर-टाइफून जेट इंजन के लिए बोल्ट किए गए रॉकेट द्वारा संचालित, वाहन का लक्ष्य साल दर साल तेजी से अपनी क्षमता दिखाना है। 2019 के मध्य में, ब्लडहाउंड 500 मील प्रति घंटे से ऊपर भागना चाहता है। 2019 के अंत में, लक्ष्य मौजूदा विश्व भूमि गति रिकॉर्ड (763 मील प्रति घंटे; 1,228 किमी/घंटा) को 800 मील प्रति घंटे तक बढ़ाना है। और 2020 में, इरादा 1,000 मील प्रति घंटे से अधिक है। रेसिंग उत्तरी केप, दक्षिण अफ्रीका में हक्सकीन पैन पर होगी।


Severn Trent Water invests £150m in repairs

Summary: An extra £150m will be spent over the next three year repairing pipes and sewers across the Midlands.

Severn Trent Water announced it was spending more on refurbishing sewers after pollution incidents rose by 21% last year. The amount of water lost through leaks has fallen by 7% in the year to the end of March - which has beaten the target set by the regulator. The firm had already pledged to spend £1.6bn on its network. Severn Trent Water supplies eight million customers across the Midlands.

मिडलैंड्स में पाइप और सीवर की मरम्मत के लिए अगले तीन वर्षों में अतिरिक्त 150 मिलियन पाउंड खर्च किए जाएंगे।