Marine Le Pen's French presidential campaign goes lift-off

Summary: The mood was somewhere between football match and rock concert.

By Lucy WilliamsonBBC News, Lyon Tiny brooches pinned to the chests of 3,000 supporters flashed blue, white and red in the dimmed auditorium; impromptu renditions of the French national anthem flowed across the crowd, interspersed with boisterous chants of "on est chez nous" - "we are at home" - the unofficial slogan of the National Front (FN). Marine Le Pen, or Marine as she is known in the party branding these days, has been trying to soften the FN's image to broaden its appeal. The party's election manifesto, launched this weekend, has dropped its commitment to bring back the death penalty and toned down its language on immigration and the EU. The euro is never once mentioned by name. But Ms Le Pen's core message was largely the same, an end to open borders, multiculturalism and free-trade. "The objective of globalisation is to turn people into simple consumers or producers," she told the crowd. "Countries are no longer nations but markets. Borders are erased… everybody can come to our country and this has caused a drop in salaries, cuts in social protection to be cut, and a dilution of cultural identity." Read more: Cultural identity plays well with many of her supporters; it was her condemnation of fundamentalist Islam that drew some of the biggest applause today. Some accuse her of building an "anti-Islam coalition" of voters, targeting women, gay couples and Jewish voters, to try and expand her base. Ms Le Pen's promises, to leave the euro, hold a referendum on membership of the EU and give French nationals priority when it comes to jobs and housing, have won her enough support, polls suggest, to win the first round of the presidential contest. Her problem, as always, lies in winning the second. In the run-off, her rivals have always managed to attract votes from other parties; Marine Le Pen has not. Now, with the centre-right candidate Francois Fillon currently battling a financial scandal, she could end up facing the liberal former banker, Emmanuel Macron - a man running his first ever election campaign. If so, France will be faced, in three months' time, with the prospect of choosing its next president from two political outsiders.

मूड फुटबॉल मैच और रॉक कॉन्सर्ट के बीच कहीं था।


Reaction as Justin Welby becomes Archbishop of Canterbury

Summary: The Rt Rev Justin Welby, the current Bishop of Durham, has been officially confirmed as the next Archbishop of Canterbury and will be enthroned in March. There has been reaction from a number of senior Church leaders and other notable figures.

The Archbishop of York, the Rt Rev John Sentamu "The tipsters and lobbyists' predictions can now return to silence. The appointment of an archbishop is neither akin to a horse race nor a presidential campaign, and it is a relief that the rumour-mill, which has been grinding out misinformation, has now ground to a halt. Bishop Justin Welby has many gifts and unique experience to bring to this daunting office. More importantly he, like Archbishop Rowan, is a man of God. I have been praying for him, will go on doing so with renewed vigour, and will continue to work with him as a brother and friend in Christ. He can count on the same brotherly affection and co-operation that I have given Archbishop Rowan. This country and our world need a missionary to share with them the all-encompassing message of the love of God in Jesus Christ, who rose gloriously from an ignominious death. That is the great role to which Bishop Justin has been called." The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols (Leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales) "I know that Bishop Welby will bring many personal gifts and experience to his new role. As the future Primate of the Church of England, I am sure that his ministry, like that of his predecessor Archbishop Rowan Williams, will provide an important Christian witness to this country over the coming years. In fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ's prayer that his followers may all be one, I hope that we will endeavour to strengthen the bonds of Christian friendship and mission already established between the Catholic Church and the Church of England. I look forward to working closely with Bishop Welby in the service of the common good and in the common witness we can give to all the people in our land." The Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks "I send warm congratulations to the Right Reverend Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, on his appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury. I wish him blessings and success as he takes on this important role and look forward to working with him closely, as I have done with his predecessors, to continue strengthening Jewish-Christian relations in Britain. Archbishop Rowan has served his office, and the Church of England, with great distinction, integrity, courage and grace. It has been an honour to work alongside him over the past decade and I consider it a particular privilege to call him not just a valued colleague in faith, but a true friend." Prime Minister David Cameron "The Church of England plays an important role in our society, not just as the established Church, but in the provision of education, help for the deprived and in furthering social justice. I look forward to working with the archbishop in all of these areas and I wish him success in his new role." Director of Changing Attitude, the Rev Colin Coward "He does need to take very seriously the desire of gay and lesbian Christians to have relationships blessed in church and honoured and recognised by the Church and that includes both civil partnerships and, ultimately, equal marriage. On the whole the Church is a safe place (for gay and lesbian Christians) but it's just that we are not fully equal alongside everybody else in the Church and it's certainly not a safe place in other parts of the Anglican Communion. Homophobia is having a disastrous effect in places like Uganda and Nigeria and that is something that Rowan Williams has had to try and confront, not very successfully, and I hope Justin Welby's steeliness demonstrates itself in relations to the Communion and that he has the confidence to say to people that such behaviour against lesbian and gay people really is intolerable. He is a man of real intelligence. He clearly is very thoughtful about things. He comes from a background in the world of oil and I hope that he will have learnt there that there are some things which are really intolerable, whether you are a Christian or somebody from the secular realm." The Bishop of Chichester, the Rt Rev Martin Warner "Bishop Justin has many gifts and a rich experience of life to this calling. "He faces a daunting task, but the priority he attaches to a spiritual life of prayer, to reflection on the Bible and dependence upon the holy spirit will sustain him, as will the love and support of his family and friends. To that support I add my own and my prayers for his future ministry." Andrew Carr, Church of England lay reader, Dartford, Kent "I... feel Justin Welby will inherit the Anglican Communion in an unhappy state, some of which is self-inflicted. There should be no issue with women bishops. If God calls people into ministry to serve in this particular way, and he does, then their gender is irrelevant. They have been called to serve, let them do so. Some of the best teaching I have received both verbally and in writing has been by women and the Church does itself great harm by blocking/ignoring their calling and ministry. Homosexuality remains an issue made complex by ignorance and prejudice. There are many gay people in the church I'm part of and serve in, and all are welcome. If we as Christians believe that Jesus loves us, died for our sins on the cross and rose again offering life to all who believe in him, then why do we the Church exclude so many on the basis of orientation?" The General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK, His Grace Bishop Angaelos "We are well aware of the significant challenges that face Bishop Justin as he takes on this new role, but are also prayerfully confident that, led by the Holy Spirit, the Lord will provide him with wisdom and discernment to faithfully serve the Church of England, the worldwide Anglican Communion, and above all, the Church of God. Based on the strong fraternal relations between our Churches in the United Kingdom, both as leadership and people, and on my own personal relationship with Lambeth Palace, I look forward to our continued collaborative efforts on matters that unite us and our congregations." Former Prime Minister Tony Blair "My Faith Foundation and I would like to express our delight at the appointment of Bishop Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury. He will bring to the Church of England and the Anglican Communion a rich experience and spirituality alongside a deep commitment to building harmonious interfaith relations. His knowledge of the Church in Africa, and particularly in Nigeria, will make a profound contribution to the life of the Anglican Communion in the years to come. We wish him well in the difficult task of leading the Anglican Church, healing divisions between people of faith, and continuing in the tradition of his predecessor of spiritual leadership in Britain."

आर. टी. रेव. जस्टिन वेल्बी, डरहम के वर्तमान बिशप, को आधिकारिक तौर पर कैंटरबरी के अगले आर्कबिशप के रूप में पुष्टि की गई है और मार्च में उन्हें सिंहासन पर बिठाया जाएगा। कई वरिष्ठ चर्च नेताओं और अन्य उल्लेखनीय हस्तियों की ओर से प्रतिक्रिया आई है।


China's drug habit fuels return of the Golden Triangle

Summary: By the end of this year Myanmar should have been free of narcotics. Instead, production of opium is soaring and the East Asian country, once part of the fabled Golden Triangle, is the second largest producer in the world. Axel Kronholm investigates why.

Proposing a toast at the end of a successful meeting is not an unusual practice in many parts of the world. A handshake suffices for most people. For others it may involve knocking back a glass of the local hooch. In Chin state, those attending a village meeting on agricultural development are invited to take a hit of opium. A rusty tobacco tin is passed round as village elders, farmers and even the staff of a local non-government organisation (NGO) use a toothpick to scoop up a tiny dark, gooey pellet of raw opium - and swallow. Scattered on the slope of a mountain, Mualpi is a village of 175 households overlooking the Manipur river in north-western Myanmar, also known as Burma. Small-scale opium cultivation has existed here for a long time. About half of the families in the village are involved in opium farming. The surrounding mountaintops are dotted with light green patches of poppy fields. It's been used as a medicine to treat diarrhoea, dysentery and other ailments. But over the last decade commercial poppy production has taken hold. Since 2006 opium production has nearly tripled in Myanmar. Growing trade The opium is refined into heroin inside the country and then exported to its neighbours. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Undoc) estimates the market value of last year's total production to be around $340m (£220m). As a result Myanmar can now lay claim to the dubious honour, after Afghanistan, of being the second largest producer of opium in the world. It now accounts for almost 25% of the world's total production. Right up until the end of the 20th century, the mountains of Myanmar, which was part of the so-called "Golden Triangle" with neighbouring Laos and Thailand, was the largest supplier of opium. The region was then overtaken by Afghanistan. Demand from China, but also Australia and Japan, is one factor behind the rise in production in Myanmar over the last decade. The single biggest driver in this turnaround is the growth of demand in China where Undoc estimates that 70% of the heroin produced in Asia is consumed by more than a million users. Another part of the puzzle is poverty. Ranked 150 out of 187 countries in the UN's Human Development Report, Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in Asia. Poverty is particularly grinding in rural areas, with insufficient investment in infrastructure and an underdeveloped agriculture sector. "Farmers see opium cultivation as a way to secure their income and provide for the family," says Tom Kramer from the Transnational Institute, a Dutch organisation that has reported on the production and trade of drugs in south-east Asia. "It's also a very useful medicine in areas with limited access to healthcare and other medicines." At the village meeting in Mualpi, several farmers said they grew opium. One of them, a man in his late 40s wearing a creased cap and a cheerful grin, says that for most people growing poppy is not a choice, but a necessity. "We do it to survive," he insists. "The income you get from growing maize or vegetables is very low, and can't compare with opium." Indeed, growing opium can reward farmers handsomely for relatively little work. The season is short - only four months from planting to harvest - and it's easy to transport the product. Buyers will travel to opium-growing communities to buy the drugs, while farmers must transport maize or other agricultural products to the market to turn a profit. "Some buyers will even provide the capital up front for farmers to cultivate the opium," adds Mr Kramer. But this lucrative business is not without risk. As opium is cheap and readily available in the communities that grow it, addiction has become an issue. Two hours south of Mualpi, in Tonzang, pastor Philip Suang Kho Thang has come to collect a building permit for a rehabilitation clinic for opium users. "There is no help available," the pastor says, as his trembling hands hold up photographs of seemingly unconscious and intoxicated youngsters. "It's sad to see how the youth is dragged down into this," he adds. "Old people suffer too, as their children stop providing for them and instead just smoke opium all day." A carpenter in Tonzang, who used to grow opium, says he stopped because he was worried his children would get hooked. "I still miss having all that money, especially when someone in our family gets sick or when the kids want a new toy," he says. "But at least I don't have to worry about my children getting addicted any more." While demand and poverty fuels the business, conflict and a corrupt and weak state makes it all possible. Opium is cultivated in remote mountainous areas, where long-term conflict between ethnic rebels and government forces has made law enforcement difficult. Furthermore, all sides - the army, rebels and militias - each take a poppy tax from the farmers, so have little incentive to end the activity. Mr Kramer argues that eradication programmes don't work. "There is no evidence that eradication actually reduces cultivation on a larger scale," he says. "Globally, opium cultivation levels have only increased in the last 30 or 40 years despite massive efforts of eradication. "It does however have many negative effects. It feeds corruption and hurts poor communities that are deprived of their main source of income." After the high, the downer As cultivation for this season's crop gets under way, further pressure on incomes is already being felt. At a meeting last week of researchers and opium farmers from across the country, growers said that falling prices and higher labour costs on top of more aggressive "tax" collection has made the business less profitable. The recent floods and landslides in regions like Chin state have further worsened the outlook. After failing to meet its own deadline of eradicating poppy production by this year, the government in Myanmar's capital city Naypyidaw has extended it to 2019. However, observers say, this pledge is as doomed as the last one. With few other sources of income available the farmers' options are very limited. The opium farmer in Mualpi says it would make the villagers' lives worse if the police managed to destroy their poppies. "What will we live off then? We would all be in debt and simply have to grow more opium next year to make up for the loss," he said.

इस साल के अंत तक म्यांमार को नशीले पदार्थों से मुक्त होना चाहिए था। इसके बजाय, अफीम का उत्पादन बढ़ रहा है और पूर्वी एशियाई देश, जो कभी काल्पनिक गोल्डन ट्राइएंगल का हिस्सा था, दुनिया में दूसरा सबसे बड़ा उत्पादक है। एक्सेल क्रोनहोल्म इसकी जांच करता है कि क्यों।


Coronavirus in South Africa: Inside Port Elizabeth's 'hospitals of horrors'

Summary: An exclusive, weeks-long BBC investigation inside filthy hospitals in South Africa has exposed an extraordinary array of systemic failures showing how exhausted doctors and nurses are overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients and a health service near collapse.

By Andrew HardingAfrica correspondent, BBC News With key staff on strike or sick with coronavirus in the Eastern Cape province, nurses are forced to act as cleaners, surgeons are washing their own hospital laundry and there are alarming reports of unborn babies dying in overcrowded and understaffed maternity wards. As doctors, unions and management fight over scarce resources, one senior doctor described the situation as "an epic failure of a deeply corrupt system", while another spoke of "institutional burn-out… a sense of chronic exploitation, the department of health essentially bankrupt, and a system on its knees with no strategic management". The revelations come just as South Africa - which held the coronavirus back for months with an early, tough, and economically devastating lockdown - now sees infection rates soar nationwide, prompting President Cyril Ramaphosa to warn that "the storm is upon us". Fear and fatigue The health crisis, focused on the city of Port Elizabeth, raises fundamental questions about how those extra months were used, or wasted, by officials. "There's a huge amount of fear, and of mental and emotional fatigue. We were working with a skeleton staff even before Covid-19 and now we're down another 30%," said Dr John Black. "Services are starting to crumble under the strain. Covid has opened up all the chronic cracks in the system. It's creating a lot of conflict," he said, confirming reports that patients had been "fighting for oxygen" supplies in a ward at Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth. Dr Black - one of only two infectious disease specialists in a province with a population of about seven million - was the only doctor in Port Elizabeth who agreed to talk to us on the record, but a dozen nurses and doctors spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing they would lose their jobs if they were identified. Rats feeding on red waste At Livingstone Hospital - designated as the main Covid-19 hospital in the district - doctors and nurses described scenes "like a war situation" with blood and waste on the floors, a lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), oxygen shortages, a severe shortage of ambulances, no ventilation and patients sleeping "under newspaper". Rats have also been spotted feeding on dark red hospital waste pouring into an open drain. "Doctors scrabbled to do the most urgent of surgeries, portering, scrubbing the floors, working with one or two remaining nursing staff. Matrons were washing linen," one doctor wrote by email. "Every day I come to work in fear," said a senior nurse who had just finished her shift. "The [infection] numbers are going up. Every day we've got chaos. There are a lot of pregnant women all over the wards," said another nurse. 'Mothers and babies dying' Several doctors said staff had been left deeply traumatised by a recent episode where a maternity ward at Port Elizabeth's Dora Nginza Hospital became so overwhelmed that several mothers and infants died. "I was personally involved in the delivery of two dead infants and know there were more. This is very unusual. To have several mummies and babies dying in one week in one hospital is totally unheard of and unacceptable," said one medic. They were convinced the deaths were almost certainly the result of severe understaffing, which left many pregnant women waiting for days, sometimes lying in corridors, for urgent surgery. Three other medical officials with knowledge of the relevant wards confirmed the reports of an unusual number of stillborn infants in recent weeks. The sense of a deepening crisis - also reported by South Africa's Daily Maverick, and other local media - has been compounded by a lack of proper management, which has seen departments turning on each other, and using Covid-19 as an "opportunity to air every grievance that ever happened", according to one official. Livingstone Hospital has been without a permanent chief executive officer or management team for a year and a half, after the last team was sacked for alleged corruption. "We've been rudderless for some time now," said Dr Black bemoaning the lack of "strong leadership" to stabilise escalating conflicts between different departments at the hospital, and, in particular, with local unions. South Africa's powerful unions have been extremely active in Port Elizabeth during the crisis. Laundry workers, cleaning staff, porters and some nurses have all - at various times - gone on strike. The sudden, union-backed, closure of smaller clinics, in particular, has pushed more patients towards the city's three big hospitals, quickly overloading them. "We have seen unions shut down hospital after hospital. Each time one staff member or patient tests positive, all staff down tools. While all these union demands are being met, nothing happens… for up to two weeks," one doctor complained. 'We cannot risk nurses' lives' Union officials have vigorously defended their members' actions. "It's not true at all that we're exploiting the situation," said Khaya Sodidi, provincial secretary of the nurses' union, the Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa. "Our nurses are overwhelmed, having to clean floors or cook because kitchen staff are not working. We cannot risk the lives or nurses. They're human beings." Several doctors defended the strike action, saying that frontline staff had been pushed to the limit, not just by Covid-19, but by years of exploitation. "I'm grateful to the unions right now. Sometimes they focus on the wrong issues but at least they're highlighting the problems," said one senior doctor. Another criticised the repeated closure of community clinics because of "one or two infections" as an "over-reaction," but said the situation needed to be put in context. "[Staff] have been chronically exploited, abused and neglected for years and now they're being asked to do something that could potentially kill them. There's an institutional burn-out," said the doctor. There is general agreement among unions and medical staff that the current crisis is the direct result of many years of systematic underfunding, mismanagement and corruption in one of South Africa's most notoriously badly-run provinces. Estimates vary, but Livingstone Hospital is currently fighting the pandemic with about a third of what's considered appropriate staffing numbers. "We have historic issues of staff-shortages, labour problems, lack of leadership and, sadly, corruption, cronyism, and fiscal mismanagement. Health services were circling the drain for 10 years. Now they've collapsed," said Cole Cameron of the Igazi Foundation, a local health non-governmental organisation. 'We are on track to fight Covid-19' Asked about these criticisms, the secretary general of the Eastern Cape's Health Department, Dr Thobile Mbengashe, acknowledged "a number of very critical structural issues that are really affecting our response", and said staff were "anxious, fearful… and overwhelmed." You may also be interested in: But he cited historic issues of underfunding dating back to white-minority rule, and insisted that his department was rising to the challenge of Covid-19. "It's very true that some of our teams are very stretched and actually stressed. But the health system in the Eastern Cape has not collapsed. We've really been building up [for the pandemic] and I think we are still on track and need to be given an opportunity to show we can do this," he said. The provincial government has cited the rapid construction of a giant new coronavirus field clinic in Port Elizabeth by the German car manufacturer, Volkswagen, as a sign of effective public-private partnership. But doctors at Livingstone hospital expressed some scepticism. "They've got 1,200 beds, but only 200 are oxygenated, and there are currently only enough staff for 30 beds," said one doctor, complaining that new staff were now being poached from Livingstone and other hospitals and that the VW facility had been opened before it was ready. The speed with which VW built the facility has, in the eyes of many, simply underlined the provincial government's own failings. Inability to take tough decisions Two people with knowledge of the situation confirmed that the provincial health department was generally seen as so inept and dysfunctional that private donors, businesses and charitable funds anxious to help in the fight against Covid-19 were refusing to deal directly with it. Bought 100 ambulance motorbikes for $600,000 (£480,000) Motorbikesfailed to meet criteria to transport patients Billsof $180m unpaid in 2019/2020 financial year Facing medico-legal claims of nearly $1.8bn this financial year More than50,000 Covid-19 cases and nearly 700 deaths in province "You can't administer anything through them because it'll go missing. It all boils down to the fact that the department is dysfunctional beyond belief and has no money," said one source. As infection numbers rise across much of South Africa, the dire situation in the Eastern Cape offers some important lessons for other provinces. One doctor cited a "culture of not wanting to discomfort your superiors which means people don't often tell it like it really is. "People just pretend everything's fine." Others spoke of a desire by government "to be seen to be doing the right thing", rather than making tough decisions, citing the recent decision to resume community testing for Covid-19, despite the fact that it immediately pushed the entire testing system - including, crucially at hospitals - into a week-long backlog that rendered it almost useless. But the clearest lesson from Port Elizabeth may well prove to be about human nature, and how we respond under extreme pressure. The dutiful, the fearful and the obstructive It appears that staff at Livingstone hospital, for instance, have split into three distinct groups:

दक्षिण अफ्रीका के गंदे अस्पतालों के अंदर एक विशेष, हफ्तों तक चलने वाली बीबीसी जांच ने प्रणालीगत विफलताओं की एक असाधारण श्रृंखला को उजागर किया है जिसमें दिखाया गया है कि कैसे थके हुए डॉक्टर और नर्स कोविड-19 रोगियों और एक स्वास्थ्य सेवा के पतन के करीब हैं।


Pennine Way: 'Backbone of England' reaches 50

Summary: Britain's first national trail, the Pennine Way, celebrates its 50th anniversary on 24 April. Presenter Paul Rose took a journey along the "Backbone of England" and considered the post-war social revolution which helped open it up to the public.

There's something deep within our DNA that makes us want to explore. I've been lucky enough to spend years running expeditions in Antarctica as well as diving some of the world's great oceans, but nothing prepared me for the challenge that's not far from my own front door. The Pennine Way measures 268 miles, from the Peak District to the Scottish Borders, and takes in three national parks and one area of outstanding natural beauty. It's 50 years old, but its roots go back much further than that. In 1935 a letter from the United States landed on the desk of Daily Herald journalist Tom Stephenson. He was the countryside correspondent for the paper and was being asked if there was a long-distance route - similar to the 2,500-mile-long Appalachian Trail - that could be tackled by two American women on a walking holiday in England. Tom knew only too well that the answer was a big no. Much of the uplands remained in private hands, but the mood was changing. The mass trespass at Kinder Scout in 1932 had shown that some walkers weren't prepared to back down from confronting landlords and gamekeepers. Hiking was becoming more popular. With more leisure time on their hands, workers wanted to stretch their legs in the countryside. Tom - who would later become secretary of the Ramblers' Association - spotted an opportunity. With social attitudes changing after World War Two he prodded, cajoled and convinced the authorities that a "long green trail" could be established across the North's rugged uplands. But even as the last footpaths and rights of way were being joined together, some landowners remained deeply sceptical of the whole idea. Walkers couldn't be trusted to cross wild areas of land without causing damage and leaving litter. Sylvia Franks was one of Tom Stephenson's close friends and she remembers the battle to get the route recognised. "They didn't want the hoi polloi walking on their land, that was the top and bottom of it. "But we'd fought for this country, we'd fought for the rights to be free men and we wanted to walk our countryside." On 24 April 1965 - 30 years after Tom Stephenson had the idea - the Pennine Way became a reality. At an opening ceremony in the Yorkshire Dales village of Malham, hundreds of hikers gathered. Sylvia Franks was there. "You could see hundreds of ramblers congregating and because the site was in a hollow you could see them coming down the hillsides to meet. It was exciting. It really was." Tom wanted the Pennine Way to be a significant test: an escape from the buzz of modern life. Fifty years on it certainly still achieves that and will take a fit, committed walker two to three weeks to complete. Most hikers tend to do the route south to north; starting in Edale in the Peak District and ending at Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. It takes in the Yorkshire Dales, Teesdale, the North Pennines and the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland. But the beauty of the Pennine Way is you don't have to do it all in one go. Some people do it in stages, taking a lifetime to complete the whole route. The Pennine Way comes with a fearsome reputation; after all, it's a journey along the backbone of Britain. The weather is legendary too. The Pennines get more than their fair share of rain, but the paths are now much better, and the signage has improved. For someone like me, who's been lucky to have adventures all over the planet, the Pennine Way was an eye-opener. It's beautiful and still retains an essence of the wilderness that Tom Stephenson wanted to capture. I think he would have been proud of what he achieved. The Pennine Way is broadcast weekly in four episodes from Friday 10 April on BBC One Yorkshire & Lincolnshire, North East & Cumbria, and the North West. It is also available nationwide on the iPlayer for 30 days thereafter.

ब्रिटेन की पहली राष्ट्रीय पगडंडी, पेनाइन वे, 24 अप्रैल को अपनी 50वीं वर्षगांठ मनाती है। प्रस्तुतकर्ता पॉल रोज़ ने "इंग्लैंड की रीढ़" के साथ एक यात्रा की और युद्ध के बाद की सामाजिक क्रांति पर विचार किया जिसने इसे जनता के लिए खोलने में मदद की।


Snow and ice shuts Norfolk schools for third day

Summary: Schools across Norfolk have been shut for a third day due to the severe cold weather.

Staff are blaming ice and poor travel conditions among the reasons to close but some are staying open for student exams. Greater Anglia is reporting rail delays between Norwich and London and Norwich and Great Yarmouth due to broken down trains. Temperatures in Norfolk are expected to remain below freezing all day. A full list of school closures can be found here.

कड़ाके की ठंड के कारण पूरे नॉरफ़ॉक में स्कूल तीसरे दिन के लिए बंद कर दिए गए हैं।


Regina Ip: The 'Iron Lady' who wants to lead Hong Kong

Summary: Regina Ip wants to become Hong Kong's most powerful politician - and she's not shy about it. The BBC's Helier Cheung profiles the straight-talking "Iron Lady" as part of a series on the Asian women likely to make the news in 2017.

Her uncompromising stance and her former role as Hong Kong's first female secretary for security is what prompted the media to nickname 66-year-old Regina Ip the "Iron Lady". While many of her likely competitors have been coy about their aspirations, Ms Ip has been openly ambitious for years. But then, she's always been more colourful - and confrontational - than many politicians. She has described Hitler as proof that democracy doesn't solve all problems, accused Filipino domestic workers of being sex workers for foreign men, and brushed off animal rights activists who criticised her for wearing fur, calling it "the same as eating beef". She went from being Hong Kong's most popular government minister to its most reviled, left Hong Kong for the US after a row over national security legislation drove 500,000 to the streets, and then returned to lose, and then win, popular elections. Asian women to watch in 2017 Now, many opposition politicians have rallied against her bid to be Hong Kong's next chief executive, saying she would spell "RIP" (a pun on her initials) for Hong Kong. But, Ms Ip told the BBC her unpopularity with some doesn't bother her, since she's "used to criticism" and has been "doing tough and thankless jobs for a long time". Pragmatic student The daughter of a trader and an actress, Ms Ip says her family struggled financially after her father's business ran into trouble. She studied English literature at the University of Hong Kong and the University of Glasgow, but despite her love of WB Yeats, she was pragmatic even as a student. "I wanted to be an academic," she says, "but academic jobs in that area were very hard to come by." So she applied to work in Hong Kong's civil service, knowing it would provide the "security of tenure and pay well", and eventually became Hong Kong's first female director of immigration. Mass protests But it is for her role as security minister, where she advocated for Article 23 - a controversial piece of national security legislation - that she is most well known. Article 23 would have prohibited acts of treason and sedition and given Hong Kong the power to outlaw groups banned in mainland China. Ms Ip was seen as out of touch when defending the bill. Ahead of a planned protest, Ms Ip said some might join the march for fun because it was a public holiday, rather than because they were actually opposed to the proposal. In the end, half-a-million protesters rallied in one of the territory's largest-ever demonstrations. Many chanted "Broomhead - step down!" - using a nickname Ms Ip had been given after critics mocked her bushy hairstyle. The government was forced to shelve the bill and Ms Ip resigned as security minister and went abroad to study at Stanford University. "People remember me for the national security law I championed and failed, but people have forgotten the contributions I made," she laments. She admits she "did not do a good enough job" explaining it to the public, but has few regrets. What concerned her more was the impact on her daughter, who was a teenager at the time. Ms Ip's husband died in 1997 and she describes balancing work and home life in the early 2000s as "truly very difficult, because I was a single parent". She says her daughter was teased at school, with classmates calling her "little broomstick". In the end, she sent her daughter to boarding school in the US, saying it offered a "less controversial environment", while she herself studied for a Master's - her third - at Stanford University. She says she needed the "three years outside government… to do some normal parenting", and her relationship with her daughter improved as a result. On her return from the US, she started a think tank and stood in legislative council elections. She lost out to Anson Chan, a popular pro-democracy candidate, on her first attempt, but went on to win seats in the next three elections - coming out top in her constituency in the most recent vote. Open ambition Ms Ip made a bid for the Chief Executive role in 2012 but had to drop out after failing to receive enough nominations. In March 2017's elections, she'll be competing against former judge Woo Kwok-hing. Two political heavyweights, ex-Finance Secretary John Tsang and Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, are also expected to throw their hats in the ring. So what sort of Chief Executive would Ms Ip be? She has pledged to improve Hong Kong's housing policy and narrow the income gap. More controversially, she has promised to revive the Article 23 bill, arguing that it does not threaten Hong Kong's freedoms. She also intends to implement a contentious political reform package proposed by Beijing - that would give Hong Kongers the right to vote for their leader - but only from a list of candidates approved by a committee dominated by pro-Beijing groups. That proposal was voted down by parliament in 2015. On social issues, she would like to legislate against LGBT discrimination, and supports Hong Kong's bid to host the Gay Games in 2022 - but has stopped short of stating her position (link in Chinese) on same-sex marriage. She says sexism still exists in Hong Kong politics and criticises the media for "focusing on a female politician's hairstyle, clothing and make up" rather than her work. She'd like to see more young women enter politics, and would consider reserving some seats on Hong Kong's election committee (the 1,200-member panel that chooses Hong Kong's leader) for women. Murky elections ahead If this were a popular election, Ms Ip's biggest challenge might be the perception that she is cold and out of touch. John Tsang is considered more popular with the public and his Instagram page is peppered with photos of locals taking selfies with him. By contrast, Ms Ip looked reserved and a little uncomfortable while doing a Facebook Live with the South China Morning Post, and her campaign logo was mocked on social media after people pointed out part of the logo looked like a Chinese word that means "slowness due to old age". Ms Ip has brushed off questions about Mr Tsang's popularity, saying that those who play nice aren't always the best leaders. She points out that out of all four expected candidates, she is the only one to have been through popular elections. But this is an election that will be decided by a small committee, and a majority of the electors will almost certainly vote for whichever candidate Beijing backs. The Chinese government hasn't made its intentions clear, but many analysts believe Ms Lam or Mr Tsang are more obvious choices for Beijing, with Ms Lam likely to be the favourite. It is clear that success for Ms Ip in next year's elections is far from guaranteed. On the other hand, the "Iron Lady" has shown time and again that she isn't someone who gives up easily.

रेजिना आईपी हांगकांग की सबसे शक्तिशाली राजनेता बनना चाहती है-और वह इसके बारे में शर्मिंदा नहीं है। बीबीसी की हेलियर चेउंग 2017 में एशियाई महिलाओं पर एक श्रृंखला के हिस्से के रूप में सीधे-सीधे बात करने वाली "आयरन लेडी" का वर्णन करती है।


Brit Awards aftershow parties

Summary: You may think that once Earls Court's caretaker has swept all the ticker tape away, they've packed up Lily Allen's sparkling zeppelin and herded Florence's army of harpists back into the tour bus that might be it for Brit Awards night.

By Greg CochraneNewsbeat music reporter Not the case. Once the curtain goes down a fleet of blank windowed people carriers whisk the great and good of the music world to the hot night spots of London. Newsbeat spent a long night going with them. THE OFFICIAL AFTERSHOW Taking into account the height of Lady Gaga's heels you wouldn't blame some of the girls heading to the official Brits after show as it is literally hosted a short stroll behind the stage. Whilst the celeb-count is low the entertainment is extravagant. A giant inflatable octopus, crazy golf, a dressing-up stall and, of all things, ukulele karaoke. Weirdly, shortly after Robbie Williams has wrapped up the official ceremony, a bunch of pearly kings and queens are stood watching a cabaret act. More of a theme park than a party then, and most people appear to have headed elsewhere. Best spot: Radio 1's Aled shouting down a phone. WAR CHILD Topping last year's party was always going to be War Child's biggest challenge this year. 2009's bash ended with members of U2, The Killers, Coldplay and Take That all on stage together. Tonight's show at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire isn't rivalling that - we get La Roux dueting with Heaven 17 and The Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding joining Kasabian - but it's still an all-star set up. Tom Meighan arrives will a sore backside after he took a tumble running to pick up Kasabian's award for best British group earlier in the evening. "I feel human for doing that," he laughs afterwards. "It's like Bambi on ice, it's like a Disney film." The gig itself is a celebratory lap for one of Britain's biggest rock bands. Best spot: Gemma Arterton and Sheridan Smith both dancing to Kasabian's Fire. WARNER MUSIC Meanwhile back in central London rumour is there are 800 invites circulating for this 350 capacity venue. The toilets have more mirrors than Alice In Wonderland, a DJ playing 90s rave and the finger food is exceptional. All the talk is of whether Jay-Z is going to show - and he does, surrounded by a ring of security but greets fans in a corner. Others who've turned out? Marina and the Diamonds, sporting a glittering all in one suit, is tucked in a corner eating mini burgers. Foals are here, Friendly Fires' Ed MacFarlane, Mike Bailey (Sid from Skins) and Tom Clarke from the Enemy all making the most of the free bar. Best spot: Jay-Z swaying to his own song Empire State Of Mind. UNIVERSAL The dozens of paparazzi bun-fighting outside tells you everything you need to know about the Universal party. It's an oriental themed bash, the room is decorated with bird cages, lanterns and there's a kitchen set up in the middle of it all, churning out duck pancakes. There's a lot to celebrate too. Florence Welch totters down the carpeted staircase, Lee from Blue, Calum Best, Keith Lemon, Last Shadow Puppet Miles Kane and Geri Halliwell are all milling about in the decadent surroundings. Louis Walsh, with now familiar bow tie, is the unlikely late entrant to the do, no doubt drinking to the the success of JLS. Nervous recipient of the critcs' choice award earlier in the evening, Ellie Goulding summed up the feeling felt by most people by tweeting: "Lady Gaga held my hand and we talked and I think I died." Best spot: Florence and the Machine lovingly clutching her Brit award for best British album.

आप सोच सकते हैं कि एक बार जब अर्ल्स कोर्ट के कार्यवाहक ने सभी टिकर टेप को हटा दिया है, तो उन्होंने लिली एलन की चमकती ज़ेपेलिन को पैक कर लिया है और फ्लोरेंस की वीणा बजाने वालों की सेना को वापस टूर बस में ले गए हैं जो शायद ब्रिट अवार्ड्स की रात के लिए हो सकती है।


'Please don't forget us': Coronavirus adds to court cases backlog

Summary: The coronavirus lockdown has added thousands more cases to the backlog faced by courts in England and Wales. It could take up to 10 years to clear this backlog, a new report says. So how does this affect people already tied up in the criminal justice system?

By Zoe ConwayReporter, BBC Radio 4 Today Emma describes herself as stubborn. She says it's the reason why she hasn't given up on the justice system. It's been nearly three years since she went to the police to allege she'd been raped. The suspect was arrested soon afterwards but it would be another two years before he was charged. She says the police have been incredibly supportive throughout but she still doesn't understand why the investigation has taken so long. "It's never been explained. Just that they're very busy." Her trial, which was finally due to start in June, has now been adjourned as a result of the pandemic, and she's been warned it might not start for another year. "It's really difficult. How are we supposed to move on when it's never finished? And it's not just me, it's my family and friends. It affects others." Through it all Emma has been supported by the charity Solace Women's Aid. They say there's nothing unusual about the delays she has faced. Even before the pandemic, government figures show that it's been taking, on average, 511 days to complete a case. For rape, robbery and fraud it's been taking on average even longer. When asked what she would like to say to those who might be in a position to do something to speed up the system, Emma starts to cry and says: "Please don't forget about us." 'Zombie case' John describes himself as a composed, professional person. But after three years of being tangled up in the courts system, he says he felt battered and calls the system broken. John's barrister nicknamed his case "the zombie case". John was charged with actual bodily harm in 2016. Having never been in trouble with the law before, he was desperate to get to court and clear his name. He was told to be on standby for a trial in March 2017. It didn't happen. Then he was put on standby for a trial the following month. Again it didn't happen. Then it got postponed for a whole year but it didn't happen in 2018 either. "I asked my barrister, is this normal? And he said, 'sadly, yes'. It was astonishing really," he says. The delays in John's case caused him so much stress that he thought about pleading guilty to a lesser offence. "I seriously considered it, even though I was innocent, just to end the matter." He was finally acquitted late last year, three years after the legal process began. In total his trial was postponed eight times. On seven occasions it was because of a lack of court time. He says each time he would build himself up for a court date. "There is anxiety, as you can imagine, and to have to do that nine times over, it brings unnecessary stress upon yourself and your family." The pandemic has exacerbated existing delays in the courts - even before it struck there were some 37,000 cases waiting to be heard in the crown courts and nearly 400,000 were in the queue for the magistrates' courts. Thousands more trials than usual have been delayed since the UK went into lockdown on 23 March. And a report by the watchdog, Her Majesty's CPS Inspectorate, says social distancing measures in courtrooms "will not allow" the existing backlog to be reduced. "Some estimates show that the current scale of increase in the backlog would take 10 years to clear at pre-pandemic rates," the report adds. The Criminal Bar Association, which represents criminal barristers, says that some trial delays have been caused by government cuts to the court budget which forced court rooms to stay shut last year. But the Ministry of Justice points out that the court backlog is not exceptional and has fallen markedly in the crown courts over the past 10 years. They also say that they planned before the pandemic to increase the number of days the courts sit. 'Hiding at home' Matthew hasn't been able to go to work in his public-sector job for the last three years because he's being investigated for allegedly committing a serious offence. He was arrested in 2017 but rather than being released on bail, which is time limited, he was released under investigation or RUI, which isn't. He then waited two-and-a-half years before being charged. He says that his mental health has drastically suffered as a result of what he calls an abusive process. The government is currently reviewing the use of RUIs. Matthew's lawyers fear that his trial, due in the autumn, will get postponed to next year as a result of the pandemic. But he is desperate to clear his name and get back to work. "Prior to the false allegation, my life was built around helping others in any way I could. During the pandemic, I have felt as if I'm hiding at home whilst my colleagues battle on the front line to beat this virus." Names in this article have been changed.

कोरोनावायरस लॉकडाउन ने इंग्लैंड और वेल्स में अदालतों द्वारा सामना किए जाने वाले बैकलॉग में हजारों और मामले जोड़ दिए हैं। एक नई रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि इस बैकलॉग को दूर करने में 10 साल तक का समय लग सकता है। तो यह उन लोगों को कैसे प्रभावित करता है जो पहले से ही आपराधिक न्याय प्रणाली में बंधे हुए हैं?


Appeal over 'Nazi salutes' at Oxford Union Bannon talk

Summary: Two men who appeared to mimic Nazi-style salutes outside the Oxford Union while Steve Bannon was giving a talk are being sought by police.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in St Michael's Street on Friday during the former Donald Trump aide's appearance. Two men tried to goad the protesters, causing "alarm and distress to those who were present", police said. They are being sought on suspicion of a religiously-aggravated public order offence. Det Sgt George Atkinson said officers were investigating after videos of the protests had circulated on social media. He said: "As part of the investigation I would like to speak to the two men shown in the images."

दो लोग जो ऑक्सफोर्ड यूनियन के बाहर नाजी शैली की सलामी की नकल करते दिखाई दिए, जब स्टीव बैनन एक भाषण दे रहे थे, पुलिस द्वारा उनकी तलाश की जा रही है।


Should 16-year-olds get the vote following referendum?

Summary: Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has called for the voting age in UK elections to be lowered to 16 by the 2015 general election. Labour leader Ed Miliband has said his party would give all 16 and 17-year-olds the vote. So should the voting age be lowered?

By Vanessa BarfordBBC News Speaking in the Scottish parliament for the first time since Scotland rejected independence, Mr Salmond said 16 and 17-year-olds had shown themselves to be "serious, passionate and committed citizens" in the referendum and there was an "overwhelming, unanswerable" case for giving them the vote in all future elections in Scotland and across the UK. "There is not a shred of evidence for arguing now that 16 and 17-year-olds should not be allowed to vote. "All parties in parliament should make a vow to urge Westminster to make it happen in time for the next general election," he said. Speaking at the Labour conference, Mr Miliband also addressed the issue, saying: "It's time to hear the voice of young people in our politics." He pledged to give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote if elected. There has been a long-standing debate on lowering the voting age to 16 - which would affect more than 1.5 million teenagers in the UK. The Lib Dems promised the change in their 2010 manifesto. The Conservative Party has historically opposed the move. Proponents of the reduction argue 16-year-olds can live on their own, get married, pay taxes and join the British army. They point to countries such as Austria, Germany, Norway, Argentina and Brazil where voting at 16 is common practice. Others argue there has been a generational shift in terms of slowing down the development of young people. People are going to school for longer, joining the workforce at an older age and getting married later. They also point to figures that suggest turnout tends to be lower among younger voters. It's too early to know exactly how many 16 and 17-year olds voted in the Scottish referendum. There were 109,533 youngsters aged 16 and 17 registered to vote - but the number who turned out on the day hasn't been tallied up yet. Nor do we know how they voted. A snap poll by Lord Ashcroft the day after the referendum - when Scotland voted against independence by 55% to 45% - found that 71% of that age group voted "Yes". But the sample size was only 14. There simply isn't any reliable data on how that age group - who were expected to make up about 2.5% of the electorate - voted because surveys that have been conducted so far won't have had a big enough sample size, according to polling expert Prof John Curtice, from Strathclyde University. However, he says it's not surprising that Mr Salmond has called for change following the referendum. "If you are looking for evidence to support the supposition that 16-year-olds should vote, you are going to do it when there's a high turnout - and this was the highest turnout in Scottish national history. "But what would happen in the UK government elections - when turnout is normally about 60% - is debatable," he says. Dr Jan Eichhorn, from Edinburgh University's School of Social and Political Science, agrees it's too early to take any lessons from the Scottish referendum results. But he says there are definitely signs things can be learned from the process. "There was a suggestion 16 and 17-year-olds would vote differently, be governed by national identity and ideology, but surveys ahead of the vote showed the most important thing to them was exactly the same thing that was most important to adults - the economy," he says. Some of the other criticisms - that young people would simply copy their parents - also didn't materialise. "More than 40% of 16 to 17-year-olds had a different view to their parents - young people made up their own minds," he says. He also credits the 16-year-old vote with increasing engagement among adults. "Young voters learned about the issues at school and went home and talked to their parents - it was dinner-time conversation," he argues. However, Philip Cowley, professor of parliamentary government at the University of Nottingham, thinks people should be very wary of trying to draw lessons from the Scottish referendum. "What we had in Scotland was very high-octane, very simple, an existential system where the stakes were incredibly high on both sides. You don't get that in general elections," he says. He also argues 18 is a "main indicator" in the UK. "You can't buy a firework until you are 18, you can't buy cigarettes until you are 18 - things are being nudged upwards rather than downwards." Cowley says he understands why it would be "a bit strange" to deny 16 and 17-year-olds a vote in the 2016 Scottish parliament election now, but argues it would be "bizarre" to make a UK-wide decision based on what's going on in Scotland. "There are 10 times more people in the rest of the UK than Scotland - the momentum is clearly growing but I cannot think of a better example of the tail wagging the dog," he says.

स्कॉटलैंड के प्रथम मंत्री एलेक्स सैल्मंड ने 2015 के आम चुनाव तक ब्रिटेन के चुनावों में मतदान की आयु को घटाकर 16 करने का आह्वान किया है। लेबर नेता एड मिलिबैंड ने कहा है कि उनकी पार्टी सभी 16 और 17 साल के बच्चों को वोट देगी। तो क्या मतदान की आयु को कम किया जाना चाहिए?


Did first female-majority legislature in US make a difference?

Summary: Nevada made history when it became the first state in the US with a female-majority legislature, with women holding 51% of the seats, in December 2018.

By Helier CheungBBC News, Las Vegas The moment was hailed as a great victory for women - but did having more women in power make a practical difference? Here are five areas Nevada legislated on in 2019 - which commentators say were helped by the fact there were more women at the table. 1. Compensating firefighters who develop breast, uterine and ovarian cancer Firefighters can be exposed to toxic contaminants and carcinogens at work - and studies like this one from the CDC show that firefighters have higher rates of cancer compared to the general population. Nevada's law provides compensation for firefighters who develop cancers as an occupational disease - but certain types of cancer - including breast, womb and ovarian cancer - were not covered until recently. "It had never been something that people thought of - but we have a lot of women serving as firefighters now," says Nicole Cannizzaro, the Senate majority leader. "They were exposed to the same types of chemicals - often cancerous - but were not covered for the same type of work as their [male] counterparts." The gap in the law had very real consequences for Las Vegas firefighter Robin Lawson, who was diagnosed with breast cancer twice - first in 1997, and again in 2005. When the cancer returned, her doctor believed it was due to her work as a firefighter. However, the government initially denied her workers' compensation claim - saying she could not prove there was a link - and it took a court battle of almost six years before Nevada's supreme court sided with her. "It was very hard physically and emotionally," Ms Lawson says. "I didn't do it for the money - I did it for the principle, that I had worked my butt off to get to where I was at, especially as a female firefighter." She thinks breast cancer hadn't been included in the statute because "back then it was seen as a man's job - who would have thought that women could do the job, and do it just as good as men?" Firefighters' unions argued that Ms Lawson's case showed that the legislation was out of date - and the list of cancers associated with firefighting was expanded in 2019. "I'm happy it's changed," says Dina Dalessio, deputy chief of fire operations at Las Vegas Fire and Rescue, who has worked as a firefighter since 1999. "Once you've had a 20-year-plus career, you look back and think of everything you've been exposed to, and just hope you can get through this career, and your life after your career, and be healthy... The language that has been changed gives us another level of protection and support." Of course, female politicians don't all share the same beliefs, and a large number of male legislators also voted for the bill, which additionally provided more protections for fire investigators and trainers. Nonetheless, Ms Cannizzaro believes having a female majority in the legislature meant there was a more considered debate. 2. Paid leave - including sick leave - for employees Five years ago, Jose Macias' mother collapsed from a stroke while she was cleaning toilets at a convention centre. She was rushed to hospital, but died shortly afterwards. "She felt sick that morning, but she still went to work," Mr Macias says, adding that she had worried about "who's going to pay the rent, who's going to buy the groceries?" "She never had the chance to go see a doctor, or take time off work and get a check up, and then it was too late... she was just working until she collapsed." In January, a new bill passed by the legislature took effect - requiring all companies with 50 or more employees to provide at least 40 hours of paid leave per year to workers. The leave can be used for any reason - including sick leave - and activists say this will help workers who would otherwise have to lose a day's wages to see a doctor or look after family members. Sondra Cosgrove, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada, and president of the League of Women Voters of Nevada, describes the law as one of the legislature's most important achievements. There's often an incorrect assumption that "women's issues [just] means abortion and equal pay", Prof Cosgrove says. She thinks the female majority helped the paid leave bill pass, because the "power that comes from being a legislator" enabled women to negotiate directly with the business community, and there was a recognition that workplaces "needed to be more family friendly". Meanwhile, Marlene Lockard from the Nevada Women's Lobby describes 2019 as "a banner year in legislation helping women and children", adding: "I think it definitely was because we had the majority." "Some of these issues, like paid time off, we'd been fighting for for years." 3. Equal pay legislation According to rights groups, Nevada women earn about $0.86 for every $1 that men make. Legislation that took effect in January means that companies who knowingly practise gender pay discrimination can now be subject to fines - and they'll also be required to pay workers for lost wages. Ms Cannizzaro says equal pay was discussed in the previous 2017 session but it was not until 2019 that there was a wider understanding of why legislation was needed, because most of the female lawmakers had seen real-life examples of the pay gap, she says. The bill's been welcomed by women in Nevada, including Brooke Malone, 29, who works in the non-profit sector, and Shelley Lyons, 57, a former chef who now works as a driver. Ms Malone remembers running a fundraising team of about 40 people - and finding out through office chatter that the three men she directly supervised made at least a third more than her. When she raised this with her superiors, one said it was because one of the men had a family - even though Ms Malone was also a parent. She managed to negotiate a pay rise - but says the experience was still damaging, and she opted to leave the company shortly afterwards. "I was so scarred I wasn't able to perform," she says. "Knowing that my bosses knew my situation - I had just divorced - and the fact they could have paid me more but didn't, affected my performance." Meanwhile, Ms Lyon recalls working in a kitchen where all the men, including a man she had hired, got a raise - while she was told she did not qualify because she was pregnant. "I've been fighting this fight my whole life," she says. "We cannot expect men to know the problems we have - it's time we went out and did it ourselves." 4. The 'Trust Nevada Women Act' The legislature passed a bill - nicknamed the "Trust Nevada Women Act" - that decriminalised some activities linked to abortion, such as providing miscarriage-inducing drugs. It also removed the requirement that physicians need to certify a woman's age and marital status, and explain "the physical and emotional implications" of the procedure, before performing an abortion. Instead, the physician simply needs to explain the "discomforts and risks" that could result. During the bill hearings, different views on gender and rights came to the forefront, but the bill ultimately passed almost completely along party lines, with all but one Democrat voting for it, and all but one Republican. Nonetheless, it made headlines - as it bucked the national trend during a year when several US states enacted abortion restrictions. The Guttmacher Institute says a total of 17 states passed anti-abortion laws that year - although most of the laws have been temporarily blocked by federal courts. Nevada's "bill sent a huge message - it's taking a pretty firm stand, especially when the national political environment is moving the opposite way," says Rebecca Gill, a political science professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who focuses on gender and politics. 5. Measures on sexual assault and domestic violence A series of laws related to domestic violence, sexual assault and sex trafficking had bipartisan support, and were passed unanimously. One bill increased penalties for domestic violence and the battery of pregnant women, while another doubled the length of time a temporary protection order for a victim of domestic violence could last. A third bill removed the statute of limitations for sexual assault prosecutions, where the identity of the accused person is established by DNA evidence. And the legislature also allocated additional resources to help victims of sex trafficking. Prof Gill says the fact that Nevada had the US's first female-majority legislature was "very prominent in legislators' minds" - particularly due to the media attention it received. "I think it did offer an opportunity to catch up on the kinds of legislation that, had women been at the table all along, would have been done before." She also argues that the sheer numbers of female legislators would have helped influence the debate: "When there are a whole bunch of women who can attest to why an issue is important, it gives these types of issues the gravitas they deserve." There were also more bills looking at sex trafficking and domestic violence, says Senator Julia Ratti. "With all of those issues, they just start a little further down the line when you have women sitting in the legislature - because they're not just a concept, but something many of us have experienced." How did we get here? Female representation in Nevada has been edging upwards for a number of years - the legislature was 39.7% female in 2017, and 33% female in 2015. However the growth so far has only been on the Democratic side, and there hasn't been a female governor yet. Experts say there have been concerted efforts to recruit and train more female candidates - and that the fact there are term limits in Nevada's legislature means there are more openings. There's also another factor - Nevada's legislature only meets for four months every other year, which means its representatives are part-time lawmakers who also juggle other jobs. "It's a lot of work, it's not much pay, and unfortunately these are the kinds of positions that women tend to be overrepresented in," says Prof Gill. Nonetheless, activists say the female-majority legislature has had a positive impact by inspiring more women to run for office. For example, the number of women running for judicial seats has already "increased over this cycle", says Prof Cosgrove. Judicial filing reports show that more than half of the candidates in Nevada's largest county, Clark County, are female, while women make up more than 40% of candidates in the second-largest county, Washoe. Electra Skrzydlewski from Emerge Nevada, a training programme for Democratic women who are running for office, says applications have increased. "This renewed sense of duty to get involved is not going to go anywhere," says Ms Skrzydlewski. "Women are taking stock of how they can shape the future."

नेवादा ने इतिहास रचा जब यह दिसंबर 2018 में 51 प्रतिशत सीटों के साथ महिला-बहुल विधायिका वाला अमेरिका का पहला राज्य बन गया।


Great Saling: Man charged with woman's village murder

Summary: A man has been charged with murdering a 41-year-old woman who was stabbed to death at a house.

Linda Vilika, who lived in Great Saling, was discovered at a property on The Street in the Essex village shortly before 14:25 BST on Monday. Wilfred Jacob, 42, of The Street, has been charged with her murder and will appear at Colchester Magistrates' Court on Saturday. A post-mortem found her provisional cause of death was stab wounds. Related Internet Links HM Courts & Tribunals Service

एक व्यक्ति पर एक 41 वर्षीय महिला की हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है, जिसकी एक घर में चाकू मारकर हत्या कर दी गई थी।


Grammy Awards 2021: List of nominees

Summary: The nominees for the 63rd Grammy Awards have been announced. 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 pop vocal album Best progressive R&B album Best rap song Best rap album Best melodic rap performance Best dance recording Best dance/electronic album Best rock performance Best metal performance Best rock album Best alternative album Best R&B 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.

63वें ग्रैमी पुरस्कारों के लिए नामांकित व्यक्तियों की घोषणा कर दी गई है। यहाँ प्रमुख श्रेणियों का सारांश है। वर्ष का एल्बम


Bloodhound Diary: A car festooned with sensors

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 will mount an assault on the world land speed record. Bloodhound will be run on Hakskeen Pan in Northern Cape, South Africa, in 2015 and 2016. Wing Commander Andy Green, the current world land-speed record holder, is writing a diary for BBC News about his experiences working on the Bloodhound project and the team's efforts to inspire national interest in science and engineering.

By Andy GreenWorld Land Speed Record Holder "Data is key to pushing the boundaries - work out what you need and build it in from the start." That was the advice we got from former Nasa astronaut Neil Armstrong when he visited the Bloodhound Technical Centre back in 2010. This was very much our plan, but it was great to hear it confirmed by the first man to walk on the Moon. The reality seemed a long way off at the time, but suddenly it's here and we're building the sensors into Bloodhound SSC. The plan for the whole car involves around 400 high-speed sensors, measuring everything from air pressure (in over 100 places, to validate our airflow modelling), through to structural loads, and even my heart rate while I'm driving at 1,000mph (I voted against this one, but I lost). Each one of these sensors will be recorded at 500 Hertz (500 times a second), so we can analyse the data in incredible detail. At peak speed in Bloodhound SSC, the air will be tearing past my "office window" at 450m/s, so working out what happens on each run will be vital. It was this sort of approach that got Neil to the Moon in 1969. Our previous world record, back in 1997 when Thrust SSC went supersonic, was the first time that this sort of data-intensive approach had been used for record breaking. The technology was a bit more basic, with just over 100 sensors measuring temperatures, pressures and loads at only 80 Hertz, or less. Still, that was enough for us to be able to keep the car safely on the ground, and to set the first supersonic World Land Speed Record. Data helps with more than just keeping the car on the ground. The straight line performance of the car - in other words, how fast it will actually go - can also be determined from the data. Since this is the whole aim of the World Land Speed Record, it's important stuff. But it's more fundamental than that. Our performance expert Ron Ayers has spent over two decades analysing performance data from every available source, going back to the 1920s. As a result, I believe he can predict more accurately than anyone alive just how fast a land speed car will go, and how long it will take to stop. It's Ron's huge expertise, honed during the Thrust SSC project, which gives us the confidence that we can reach the astonish speed of 1,000mph. His performance programme is based around a calculation spreadsheet 100 columns across and well over 1000 lines deep (yes, you did read that right, it's over 100 x 1000 = 100,000 cells in size). Have a look at our "Performance Curve" video to see how we can use the results. It's also based on real-world data, which makes it incredibly accurate, as I discovered. When we were record-breaking in Thrust SSC, Ron would give me very detailed figures about when to deploy the drag chutes and use the wheel brakes. The car stopped exactly next to the turn-round crew, every time. No-one else had been able to do that before - it was simply amazing. At this point you may be harbouring a small "so what?". Why does it matter where we stop? The reason is in the rules for the World Land Speed Record. In order to set a record, you have to do two runs within 60 minutes. For Bloodhound, that means doing a racing pit-stop on something as complicated as the space shuttle, in a desert. Stopping a mile or two from the right place will cost time you just don't have, which then puts the crew under huge pressure to hurry, which isn't safe when you're getting ready to do 1,000mph (again). Something as simple as stopping in the right place can make my job a lot safer. However you look at it, the data is key - Neil Armstrong was right in so many ways. Even before we run the car, it's going to be hugely useful. Our resident expert Mark, supervised by Steve from Straintek, has just finished fitting strain gauges inside the air intake, which will feed huge volumes of high-pressure air to our EJ200 jet engine. This is a safety-critical part of the car, as it will be subject to huge pressures at 1,000mph (around 1.7 Bar/25 psi), which will exert a "bursting load" on the intake of around 29 tonnes. If the intake bursts, then it will take the upper bodywork with it, which could then leave me… poorly placed. To make sure that the intake is up to the job, we're going to pressure-test it. As we inflate a huge air bag inside the intake, the strain gauges will measure the movement (or "strain") in the carbon fibre structure. This will confirm that it can cope with the full 1,000mph load, and more. These strain gauges (and a huge number of others) will remain in place for the life of the car, so that we can monitor structural health at every stage of its life. I've just been down to the Bloodhound Technical Centre to finalise the details of the drag parachute system, which will now undergoing final testing by Marlow Ropes and SES, before we fit the first system into the car. While I was there, we had a delivery - the first desert wheel has arrived! This 95kg disc will spin at around 10,300 times a minute (170 times/second) at 1,000 mph, subjecting it to loads of 50,000 times the force of gravity. Ouch. Wheels are another safety-critical item, so of course we're now going to test this one, before Castle Precision finishes and delivers the rest. Rolls-Royce is going to spin the wheel on its old engine test rig and, as you would expect, we'll fit it with instruments. This will validate all of our computer modelling and prove that the wheel will cope at over 1,000mph. When the wheels are fitted and we start running the car, we'll be monitoring them on every run. This will allow us to build up a picture of the normal "noise" that they generate running on the desert. By filtering this out, we can then listen for any changes or unusual "events" which might indicate a problem. Yet again, data is key to reaching this spectacular speed. Every key part of the car has been tested, is being tested, or will be tested, and they'll all be monitored during every run of Bloodhound SSC. There's a data mountain to build, and then to climb, over the next two years. It's a huge effort, but it's what will keep the car safe, so it's what we're going to do.

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 को बोल्ट किए गए रॉकेट द्वारा संचालित, वाहन विश्व भूमि गति रिकॉर्ड पर हमला करेगा। ब्लडहाउंड 2015 और 2016 में उत्तरी केप, दक्षिण अफ्रीका में हक्सकीन पैन पर चलाया जाएगा। विंग कमांडर एंडी ग्रीन, वर्तमान विश्व भूमि-गति रिकॉर्ड धारक, ब्लडहाउंड परियोजना पर काम करने के अपने अनुभवों और विज्ञान और इंजीनियरिंग में राष्ट्रीय रुचि को प्रेरित करने के लिए टीम के प्रयासों के बारे में बीबीसी न्यूज के लिए एक डायरी लिख रहे हैं।


Doing Business in China

Summary: I have always been fond of China, having gone there on holiday from time to time over the years, but it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I started going on business trips there for Jaguar Land Rover.

By Des ThurlbyGlobal human resources director, Jaguar Land Rover Des Thurlby has been director of human resources at Jaguar Land Rover since 2007, and helped negotiate the establishment of the firm's first overseas manufacturing joint venture, in mainland China. I immediately found the pace, the buzz and the excitement of the place intoxicating. The market there is growing extremely fast, so obviously there are huge opportunities, especially for upmarket Western brands. They simply love British luxury marques, with all their heritage and design history, and they want it all right away. In spite of this, though, I soon learned that you have to be patient to do business in China. Negotiate differently To begin with I found it daunting to operate in a country with a culture so dramatically different from that in the West. Everyone in business here is very considered and thoughtful, and they are very long-term in their outlook. You can't just fly into China in the morning and expect decisions by the afternoon, then leave. Meetings are very disciplined and everyone's very formal and polite, so I've had to learn to negotiate differently. It is vital that your opposite number does not lose face, so banging the table to get things done simply doesn't work. All negotiations must be win-win. One thing I learned early on is that when they ask a question, you'll have to go back [to them] to find out what they're actually concerned about. To them, asking questions is a way of exploring broader issues, so I'm always trying to work out what they actually want to know. At the end of the day, we want the same thing, though: They want us to make cars in China and so do we. We're working with Chery Automobile, one of the biggest carmakers here, on a joint venture to assemble cars in China. Negotiations have been concluded and we're waiting for government approval, so we're in the hands of Beijing now. But the authorities really want us to invest in China, so I'm pretty optimistic about the outcome. Made in China It's been great to see how we've evolved in China. We started out out as a sales organisation, importing cars from Britain. But demand is growing so fast that we could do with local production capacity. All our competitors are also localising, and that's another reason why we'll need to do it. Imported cars are more expensive than locally-made cars because of high tariffs and duties, so if we don't make cars locally we won't be able to compete. To begin with, we'll start with paint shops and an assembly line, though the cars won't be made from scratch in China. Design and research and development will stay in the UK, which is important given our identity as a British carmaker. Chinese authorities and customers recognise that Jaguars and Land Rovers are British designs. In time we'll probably do more in China, though, such as making engines, and perhaps we'll do some R&D as well. But it's important to point out that we're not shifting capacity from Britain; we're expanding at home too and about 80% of the cars we make there are exported to markets around the world. Anything we do in China comes in addition. Better understanding Expanding in China obviously means we'll need more and more Chinese people to come and work for us. Recruitment is done in very different ways here, though, and there's a real war for talent, so we have to do all we can to attract and hang onto the best people. Many of them are very ambitious and extremely hard working, and they expect the same from you. If you don't deliver, they'll go somewhere else. And it's not all about pay either. The family is very important here, and with the one child policy you'll often see one young person supporting two sets of grandparents. So as an employer, we do a lot for the families of our employees, for instance family fun days such as go-carting or football matches, or community activities such as helping decorate local schools. Many of our young employees get married while working for us, and we like to let them have a Jaguar with a chauffeur as a wedding car. Education and training is also both welcomed and expected; they just love to develop as people, and obviously we're keen to train our workforce and encourage good engineering or management. We are increasingly promoting Chinese staff into our senior management teams, not least because they understand the market and the consumer better, and many of them come to the UK to learn about the company and the country the cars come from. It is absolutely clear to me that the better we get to know one another the more we can learn from each other, and everybody will benefit. The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by the BBC unless specifically stated.

मैं हमेशा से चीन का शौकीन रहा हूं, जो कई वर्षों से समय-समय पर छुट्टी पर वहाँ जाता रहा हूं, लेकिन कुछ साल पहले तक मैंने जगुआर लैंड रोवर के लिए वहाँ व्यावसायिक यात्राओं पर जाना शुरू नहीं किया था।


Foot-and-mouth disease: Reporter Gilbert John reflects on the 2001 outbreak

Summary: It is 20 years since foot-and-mouth disease ravaged the countryside for seven months. It led to six million animals being culled across the UK, costing the taxpayer £3bn. In Wales, more than a million animals were destroyed, with the Army called in to help. BBC Wales' Gilbert John was among those who reported on the crisis, with his coverage affecting the official response. Here, he reflects on the outbreak of the highly infectious disease, which mainly affected cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, and plunged the agricultural industry into chaos.

By Gilbert JohnBBC News It was the distant pillars of smoke from hillside and valley as I drove through mid Wales which brought home the extent of the foot-and-mouth impact. Each pillar represented scores of animals killed and their carcasses burned in an attempt to prevent further spread of the disease. Each one a mini-version of the huge fire pits on the Epynt mountain near Sennybridge where tens of thousands of cattle were hauled, dumped and burned, leaving hot ash so thick it took months to cool. Controversial because it was argued simply carrying them from further afield was a risk. Worrying because the water table could be contaminated. And photographs of the piled animals in black silhouette against the flame became a symbol of the carnage. Lorry breach I was woken one Sunday morning by a phone call from farmers north of Llandovery in Carmarthenshire - alarmed because they had found a frightening breach of restrictions. There on an A40 lay-by north of town stood a lorry dripping pink liquid. To me it looked like blood. Later I was told it might have been disinfectant, but this was clearly a lorry which was travelling empty from the Epynt - potentially carrying foot-and-mouth into the huge disease-free dairy fields of south- west Wales, taking a shortcut on a route banned for such lorries. My broadcast, I understand, led to swift action. It was a time of wellies and disinfectant at the farm gate and grim moments like standing in an empty milking parlour near Brecon with a farmer. He was finding it hard to speak. He had known every one of his dairy cattle by name. Known them since birth and he had stood and watched them shot, one by one, and their carcasses hauled away. All were healthy. None had the disease, but an animal in an adjoining field had tested positive. Some farmers tried locking and barring their gates but they were futile gestures. We had no Royal Welsh Show at Llanelwedd in Powys. A rugby international was postponed and walkers and tourists were banned, so tourist businesses closed. Empty mountains I learned a new word - hefted - linked with sheep whose flocks had grazed the mountains for so many generations they knew exactly where their farm's common land boundaries lay, without fences, and grazed to that point. It was a word I heard the Prince of Wales use during a visit. Now the hills were bare of hefted sheep. How would any new replacement sheep become hefted with no older sheep to show them? I remember stopping at Libanus, near Brecon, by the bus stop and a roadside bench where two elderly women were sitting and looking up at the vast spread of the mountainside before them. They were dabbing the tears from their eyes. They had never seen the mountains empty of sheep before. "Will they ever come back?" they asked me.

यह 20 साल हो गए हैं जब पैर और मुंह की बीमारी ने सात महीनों तक ग्रामीण इलाकों को तबाह कर दिया। इसके कारण पूरे ब्रिटेन में 60 लाख जानवरों को मार दिया गया, जिससे करदाताओं को 3 बिलियन पाउंड की लागत आई। वेल्स में, दस लाख से अधिक जानवरों को नष्ट कर दिया गया, सेना ने मदद के लिए बुलाया। बीबीसी वेल्स के गिल्बर्ट जॉन उन लोगों में से थे जिन्होंने संकट पर रिपोर्ट की, उनके कवरेज ने आधिकारिक प्रतिक्रिया को प्रभावित किया। यहाँ, वह अत्यधिक संक्रामक बीमारी के प्रकोप पर प्रतिबिंबित करते हैं, जिसने मुख्य रूप से मवेशियों, सूअरों, भेड़ों और बकरियों को प्रभावित किया, और कृषि उद्योग को अराजकता में डुबो दिया।


The sex manual for ultra-Orthodox Jews

Summary: Sex is a touchy subject - not least among Israel's highly conservative ultra-Orthodox Jews. But an Orthodox therapist and an Orthodox teacher in Jerusalem have co-written a sex guide aimed specifically at this community.

By Daniel EstrinPRI's The World, Jerusalem There used to be a sex shop on the way to David Ribner's office in central Jerusalem. The sign is still there - with big red letters spelling out "Sex Shop, Sex, Love" - but you can barely read it because it's been scratched out. The shop went out of business. Now there's just one sex shop left in Jerusalem. No surprise for a city brimming with the pious. Things are quite different in Ribner's discreet office. Here, there is a row of boxes packed with lubricants, vibrators and massage oils, and an unusual collection of books on the wall - The Joy of Sex and The Guide to Getting It On sit side by side with volumes of Jewish religious texts. I tell Ribner I've never seen a bookshelf quite like it. "There probably aren't any," he says. Ribner was born in the US. In New York, he received both rabbinic ordination and a doctorate in social work. Then he moved to Israel, where he has been counselling devout Jewish patients for the past 30 years. He also founded a sex therapy training programme at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv. He says publication of a sex manual for Orthodox Jews was long overdue. Ultra-Orthodox boys and girls are educated separately, and have little interaction with the opposite sex until their marriage night, when they are expected to consummate their union. Physical touch with the opposite sex - even something like a handshake - is only permitted with one's spouse and close family members. Access to films and the internet is often restricted. "We wanted there to be a place where people could say, 'I know nothing and I want to know something,'" says Ribner. The Newlywed's Guide to Physical Intimacy, which Ribner co-wrote with Orthodox teacher Jennie Rosenfeld, starts with the very basics - explaining, for example, how the body shape of men and women differs. Ribner says Judaism regards sex as something positive, but it has become taboo to discuss it openly. "Sex is only appropriate within a marital context," he says. "Beyond that it's not talked about. Because of that, it's become very difficult for people to have any kind of dialogue about it." Orthodox couples often see pre-marital counsellors before their wedding to learn about sex and about Jewish religious laws of menstrual purity. But on their wedding night, many newly-weds still find themselves unprepared. "It's embarrassing to have to call a [pre-marital] teacher in the middle of the night... but many people do," says the book's co-author Jennie Rosenfeld. "Others suffer in silence and try to muddle through." In Israel's Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox community, there are manuals written for brides and grooms to be, to help guide them on the subject of intimacy in married life, but they employ allegorical, vague terminology and no explicit how-to instructions on matters of sexual intercourse. So Ribner and Rosenfeld's book enters uncharted territory. Flip through it though, and you see no illustrations. Instead there is a sealed envelope on the back flap, with a warning to readers that it contains sexual diagrams. If you don't want to look at them, you can rip off the envelope and throw it away. Ribner opens it up to show me what's inside. There are three diagrams of basic sexual positions. "We wanted to give people a sense of not only where to put their sexual organs, but where to put their arms and legs," Ribner says. "If you have never seen a movie, never read a book, how are you supposed to know what you do?" The sketches are simple: outlined figures with no faces. "We wanted this to be acceptable to the widest possible population with the least risk of it being offensive," he says. "We did consult many other sex manuals to see what kind of illustrations they use, and we felt they were just too graphic to be comfortable for people who had really had no contact with this aspect of their lives." Jerusalem-based sexologist Nachshon David Carmi has begun to keep copies of the book in his office and has recommended it to some of his patients. "It's a very useful book for people who were raised religious and have never received any form of sexuality education," he says. "What's unique about this book is that it speaks to the Jewish religious audience openly about sexuality." Sex is a fundamental part of a marital relationship for Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews - and having a lot of children is desirable. But most ultra-Orthodox children are educated at special religious schools, where they receive little or no sex education. This "silence" creates a "barrier of shame" over issues to do with sex, says Carmi - and those who seek to educate themselves on the subject can be seen as "subversive and rebellious". Ribner and Rosenfeld's book was released last year in English, and is about to be published in Hebrew - which will make it much more accessible to an Israeli audience. It took a while to find an open-minded translator of Orthodox Jewish background who could translate the book using language that would appeal to a devout reader, says Ribner. The book is direct in its language and touches on subjects that may be uncomfortable for some, including oral sex and masturbation. When the Hebrew edition is released in a few weeks' time, it could create quite a storm, says Menachem Friedman, a professor and sociologist who has written numerous books on Israel's ultra-Orthodox community. "I suspect it will meet tremendous negative reaction - at least within the most extreme elements of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community," he says. But he agrees that such a book is sorely needed, and foresees brisk behind-the-counter sales . For a newly married couple, it can be very traumatic, he says, to go from a lifetime of near-separation from the opposite sex to a full sexual relationship in just one night. To test out reaction, I take a copy of the book to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish study centre, where I meet a 22-year-old man in signature black hat and beard. We enter a side room and I show him a copy. "I don't know any books like this out there. But I think there is a need to explain this topic and to understand it, and to do it in the right way," he says. He takes me upstairs, where no-one else is around, to take a look at the illustrations. Just as he starts removing the diagrams from the envelope in the back flap, he changes his mind and stuffs them back into the envelope. "I'm not married yet," he says. "I'll wait until it's my time." Daniel Estrin was reporting for The World - a co-production of BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH in Boston - and for Vox Tablet Additional reporting by Cordelia Hebblethwaite You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook

सेक्स एक मर्मस्पर्शी विषय है-कम से कम इज़राइल के अत्यधिक रूढ़िवादी अति-रूढ़िवादी यहूदियों के बीच तो नहीं। लेकिन एक रूढ़िवादी चिकित्सक और जेरूसलम में एक रूढ़िवादी शिक्षक ने विशेष रूप से इस समुदाय को लक्षित करते हुए एक सेक्स गाइड का सह-लेखन किया है।


Father and son's '£65,000 whale vomit' is worthless fat

Summary: A father and son who tried to sell a piece of "whale vomit" they found on a beach for £65,000 have been told it is actually a worthless lump of fat.

Alan Derrick and son Tom found a rock they believed to be ambergris on a beach near Weston-super-Mare. Used in perfume manufacture, the wax-like rock, which smells like rotting fish, is very valuable. But lab tests proved negative, leaving Mr Derrick, who had put the item on eBay, "disappointed and very sad" "It smelled like it, looked like it, the colour was right and the aroma was right," said Mr Derrick. Despite being thwarted by boffins, the 67-year-old would-be vomit pedlar claimed he was taking the outcome in his stride. "I kept an open mind about it all anyway. I wasn't going to get too excited until the money was in the bank. "I'm sad but it's going in the deep fat fryer and I've had a whale of a time," he added.

एक पिता और पुत्र, जिन्होंने समुद्र तट पर पाए गए "व्हेल उल्टी" के एक टुकड़े को 65,000 पाउंड में बेचने की कोशिश की, उन्हें बताया गया है कि यह वास्तव में वसा की एक बेकार गांठ है।


Indonesia tsunami: Rock band Seventeen swept away by waves

Summary: One of the most shocking and heart-rending stories to emerge from the Indonesian tsunami is that of rock band Seventeen, who were performing in a marquee on the beach when waves came crashing through and swept them away.

If a lot of the soul-searching and commentary in Indonesia right now is about how there was absolutely no warning for the killer waves, this is the starkest illustration of that. The footage of the event is startling for how quickly a scene of about 200 people gathered around tables listening rapt to the band, became one of surging waves as the singing turned into screams. Three members of the band - the bassist, road manager, guitarist - and a crew member have been killed. The band's drummer remains missing. The lead vocalist of the band is the only known survivor from the band so far and has been posting heartfelt updates on his Instagram account. "We lost Bani [bassist] and Oki Wijaya [road manager]," said Riefian Fajarsyah in an Instagram video as he held back tears. "Please pray that my wife Dylan and Herman [guitarist], Andi [drummer] and Ujang [crew] will be found soon." One day later, he posted another picture to Instagram - with an update. Herman and Ujang had been found dead. "Rest in peace Herman and Ujang," he said in the caption. "Andi, hurry back. I'm living alone... bro, please..." Mr Fajarsyah's wife - Dylan Sahara - still remains missing. "Today is your birthday, I want to be able to wish you [face-to-face]," said Riefian in an Instagram post on Monday. "Hurry back darling." Others also posted about the ordeal with one crew member, named as Zack, reportedly describing his struggle underwater on Instagram Stories, saying he survived by clinging onto the stage that had been washed out by the wave. Seventeen were well known on the Indonesian rock scene with several popular songs. Tributes have been pouring for the band who are originally from Yogyakarta, including from other Indonesian music celebrities such as Tantri, vocalist of the band Kotak. The band had been performing on Tanjung Lesung beach in West Java on Saturday night. They were hired by state utility firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) to perform for 200 company employees and their loved ones for an end-of-year party. According to Mr Fajarsyah they were two songs into the set when the waves came. Some 29 PLN employees and their relatives were killed and 13 remain missing, PLN said in a news conference. "The water washed away the stage which was located very close to the sea," the band said in a statement to news agency Reuters. At least 281 people are dead and 1,106 injured after coastal towns on the islands of Sumatra and Java were hit by the tsunami on Saturday night. It is believed that undersea landslides from the Anak Krakatau volcano had triggered the tsunami. Anak Krakatau erupted again on Sunday - and there are fears that it could trigger a new tsunami.

इंडोनेशियाई सुनामी से उभरने वाली सबसे चौंकाने वाली और दिल दहला देने वाली कहानियों में से एक रॉक बैंड सत्रह की है, जो समुद्र तट पर एक मार्की में प्रदर्शन कर रहे थे जब लहरें दुर्घटनाग्रस्त हो गईं और उन्हें बहा ले गईं।


Exeter crash: Ambulance driver denies dangerous driving

Summary: An ambulance driver has denied causing serious injury to an elderly woman by driving dangerously during an emergency call in Exeter.

The 88-year-old suffered an injured hip and ribs in the crash at a pelican crossing in Cowley Bridge Road on 22 November. Student paramedic Paul Marder denied the charge at Exeter Crown Court, where he wore his ambulance service uniform and NHS lanyard. He will next appear on 27 November. The 47-year-old, of Beech Close, Crediton, is expected to face trial in July 2021.

एक एम्बुलेंस चालक ने एक्सेटर में एक आपातकालीन कॉल के दौरान खतरनाक तरीके से गाड़ी चलाकर एक बुजुर्ग महिला को गंभीर चोट पहुँचाने से इनकार किया है।