Princess Eugenie wedding: What's the cost and who's paying?

Summary: On 12 October Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank will be tying the knot in Windsor. Their marriage will mark the second royal wedding of the year following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's ceremony back in May.

By Tom EdgingtonBBC Reality Check So how much is it expected to cost and who pays? Providing security is likely to be one of the bigger expenses. That bill will be borne by the police - and, by extension, the taxpayer. Security inside Windsor Castle will be handled by diplomatic protection officers - a branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service. Security in the town of Windsor itself will be met by the local force, Thames Valley Police. It hasn't said how much it thinks that will cost. However, it has published some details about the sort of security measures it will provide - such as putting up anti-vehicle barriers, carrying out searches, using sniffer dogs and providing "a higher presence of armed and non-armed officers" in and around Windsor. Princess Eugenie's wedding comes five months after Prince Harry and Meghan also married at Windsor Castle. Not long after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's big day, Thames Valley's police and crime commissioner, Anthony Stansfeld, told the BBC that the estimated cost of policing their wedding was "between £2m and £4m". We also know that £6.35m was spent by the Metropolitan Police Service on security for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton back in 2011 - that's based on a Freedom of Information request released to the Press Association. We asked Mr Stansfeld's office to provide a similar estimate for Princess Eugenie's ceremony - but we were told this wouldn't be possible "until it has concluded". Eugenie's wedding is expected to attract a smaller crowd and there will also be a considerably shorter carriage ride. The BBC understands that logically, the cost to Thames Valley Police should be lower than that of Prince Harry's wedding - but until all the numbers are crunched they can't say for certain. Some newspapers suggest the security bill could be about £2m - but this is only an estimate and not an official figure. Special grants Initially, Thames Valley Police has to absorb the costs. After the wedding the police will be allowed to make an application to the Home Office for a "special grant" to recoup some of the money. Special grants - funded by the taxpayer - are available to all police forces in England and Wales to help with the cost of policing unexpected and exceptional events. The cost of the event must be more than 1% of a force's annual budget to qualify. In the case of Thames Valley this would be about £3.7m - based on last year's annual budget of £372m. The force has not yet claimed for Prince Harry's wedding, but deputy police and crime commissioner Matthew Barber says that Thames Valley Police will be doing so "in due course". The complexity of the operation, as well as the number of organisations involved, means that costs are still to be finalised, he said. Cost to the council Other organisations, such as the local council, will also be involved, and that will lead to additional public cost. A budget report on the Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council website shows that the local authority spent £1.2m on Prince Harry's wedding in May. This cost includes £495,000 on stewarding, £108,000 on providing toilets, and £75,744 on setting up a temporary car park. The council also received income of £73,332 - the majority coming from parking and media fees. In addition, the local economy is likely to have received a boost from the influx of people visiting the town - but the precise impact is hard to quantify. The report reveals that central government (again, by extension, the UK taxpayer) reimbursed most of the bill, meaning the final cost to the council was £92,891. Windsor and Maidenhead says it's too early to work out how much it needs to spend this time, but it is hopeful that it will receive another government reimbursement. Why do the royals get security paid for? Princess Eugenie is ninth in line to the throne - a "minor royal" in the eyes of some critics. Republic, which campaigns for an elected head of state, has set up a petition urging the government "to commit no public money" towards the royal wedding. So far it's received about 40,000 signatures. Republic's vice-chairwoman, Dani Beckett, argues that as Princess Eugenie is not a working royal - ie she doesn't carry out public duties as a member of the royal family - the wedding should be treated as a private event, and all elements (including security) should be paid for by the couple themselves. "No-one has forced her to have a carriage and a high-profile ceremony. There are other ways she could have chosen to have had a less lavish wedding," says Ms Beckett. Buckingham Palace says the cost of supplying security "is a matter for the police". So why are the police providing security - at public expense - for Princess Eugenie's wedding? Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, regardless of how major or minor the royal is, according to Dai Davies, a former head of royal protection. "In truth you have to look at the threat assessment and someone has to make a judgement," he says. "Will the couple in question attract attention and is there a potential risk to the public?" If the answer is yes, the police - according to Mr Davies - are obliged to provide security, no matter how major or minor the royal person is perceived to be. Other costs The private aspects of the wedding - such as flowers, entertainment and the dress - will be paid for by the royal family itself. But how distant a relative do you need to be to expect the Queen to pay for your wedding? "The Queen herself draws the line on which weddings the Royal Family chooses to pay for," says Dickie Arbiter, a former royal press secretary. So in theory the Queen can fund any wedding she chooses to, no matter how far down in line of succession. But in reality Mr Arbiter says she restricts it to her children and grandchildren. Every year the royal family gets a chunk of money from the annual Sovereign Grant worth £82m this year, paid directly by the Treasury. Some members of the royal family also benefit from additional income. For example, Prince Charles gets money from the Duchy of Cornwall estate, a portfolio of land, property and financial investments. But it's not clear from which "pots" the Palace will choose to fund Princess Eugenie's wedding. What do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch Read more from Reality Check Follow us on Twitter

12 अक्टूबर को राजकुमारी यूजनी और जैक ब्रूक्सबैंक विंडसर में शादी के बंधन में बंधेंगे। उनकी शादी मई में प्रिंस हैरी और मेघन मार्कल के समारोह के बाद वर्ष की दूसरी शाही शादी होगी।


Why are more Scots supporting independence?

Summary: A new poll from Ipsos MORI for STV has suggested that 58% now say that they would vote Yes in another independence referendum. Just 42% state that they would vote No, and thereby back staying in the Union. What conclusions can we draw?

By Sir John CurticeProfessor of Politics at Strathclyde University No previous poll has put ever support for independence so high. More importantly this is the ninth poll in a row since June to put Yes ahead. On average, these polls have put Yes on 54%, No on 46%. It is the first time in Scottish polling history that support for independence has consistently outstripped backing for staying in the Union. However, we should be careful about drawing the conclusion from today's poll that support for independence has now risen further. A poll from Savanta ComRes released over the weekend, the interviewing for which took place at the same time as today's headline grabbing poll from Ipsos MORI, put support for independence at 53%, one point down on the company's previous poll in August. We will need further evidence before we will know whether the higher level of support for Yes in today's poll represents no more than the kind of random variation that we might expect in the polls given that Yes are well ahead, or whether it signals a further significant shift in favour of independence. In any event, today's poll provides valuable further clues as to why Yes are now ahead. First, it confirms that over the course of the last year Nicola Sturgeon's popularity has soared back to the very high level she enjoyed in her early weeks and months as first minister. As many as 72% say they are satisfied with the way she is doing her job as first minister. Crucially, her popularity extends deeply into the ranks of those who voted in 2014 to stay in the Union, over half (55%) of whom are satisfied. In contrast, only 33% of No voters are satisfied with the job that Boris Johnson is doing. It looks highly likely that this contrast has persuaded some former No voters to change sides. Second, younger voters are firmly in favour of independence. No less than 79% of those aged 16-24 - most of whom were too young to vote in 2014 - say that they would vote Yes. No is still well ahead among the over 65s, but the foundations of support for the Union are seemingly gradually being eroded by demographic turnover. Gender gap disappears Third, the gender gap, which in 2014 resulted in women being markedly less likely to support independence then men, has seemingly disappeared. Today's poll, in which 60% of women back Yes compared with 57% of men, is in line with other recent polls, nearly all of which have revealed little or no gap. Fourth, the poll suggests that some of those who voted No in 2014 are now attracted by the prospect that an independent Scotland would be able to head in a different direction from England. As many as 38% of former No voters find this argument for independence convincing, while 28% are persuaded in particular by the fact that Scotland is being required to leave the EU even though it voted to Remain. However, only 15% of former No voters think the claim that Scotland's economy would be stronger outside the UK is convincing, while even among those who say they would now vote Yes as many as 30% believe that leaving the UK would be a major risk for Scotland's economy. There is evidently still plenty left to argue over in the debate about Scotland's constitutional future. John Curtice is Professor of Politics, Strathclyde University and Senior Fellow, ScotCen Social Research and 'The UK in a Changing Europe'.

एस. टी. वी. के लिए इप्सोस मोरी के एक नए सर्वेक्षण ने सुझाव दिया है कि 58 प्रतिशत अब कहते हैं कि वे एक और स्वतंत्रता जनमत संग्रह में हां में मतदान करेंगे। केवल 42 प्रतिशत कहते हैं कि वे नहीं में मतदान करेंगे, और इस तरह संघ में बने रहेंगे। हम क्या निष्कर्ष निकाल सकते हैं?


Illegal African migrants present quandary for Israel

Summary: In recent years, thousands of African migrants have crossed illegally into Israel along its border with Egypt, which stretches for 250km (155 miles). The Israeli government has now started building a huge barrier, costing more than $370m (£230m) to try to stem the flow. The BBC's Wyre Davies reports from the border.

We came across them by the roadside, no more than a couple of kilometres inside Israeli territory. Sixty-five people, including five children, who had just made the perilous journey across the Sinai desert and Israel's southern border with Egypt. The Sinai is tens of thousands of square kilometres of nothing but sand and emptiness - it must be one of the most inhospitable places on earth. But such obstacles had not stopped the desperate people I spoke to. They had risked everything - leaving behind homes and families in Sudan, Eritrea and other troubled African nations. Perilous journey Even though they had been caught by an Israeli border patrol and were not really sure what to expect next, they said they now felt relatively safe. That's because many migrants are fleeing persecution and poverty in their own countries, and even travelling across Egypt and the Sinai is fraught with danger. Human rights groups accuse Egyptian border guards of shooting indiscriminately at them. Although officials insist they only fire at those who ignore repeated orders to stop, since July 2007, at least 85 people have been shot and killed trying to cross into Israel. Many are also abused by the networks of trafficking gangs, who charge huge fees to transport them across the desert. Abdum, who said he had made the long journey from Eritrea, knew that after he was "processed" the Israelis would probably allow him to remain, albeit temporarily, and he might even be able to find work. "We came to Israel just to protect ourselves, to claim asylum," he said as he and his fellow travellers waited patiently under an awning outside an Israeli military base. "Coming here is a dream for me. I love Israel and I want to stay here." While some migrants say they are political refugees, many, like the dozens of men we later came across in the town of Eilat, are clearly looking for employment. It is thought that as many as 700 African migrants are crossing into Israel from Egypt every week. Unprotected border Long tracks across the desert indicate the well-worn routes taken by thousands of migrants across what is, in many areas, a completely unprotected border. Earlier this year, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to build a barrier. Work finally started last month. However, many in the local tourism sector say that is the wrong approach. They need cheap foreign labour and say more, albeit legal, migration should be encouraged. Increasingly, low-paid jobs that used to be done by Palestinian workers - who are now unable to enter Israel - are being filled by African migrants. They wait tables, clean rooms and keep the beachfront clean. "In the hotel industry in Eilat we need about 1,500 employees in those jobs. There are no Israelis who want to do the jobs even though we offer them wonderful conditions," says David Bloom, a senior manager for the Isrotel chain in Eilat. Even when the wall is completed, it will not extend to less accessible areas along the length of the border. Despite the many dangers along the route, desperate migrants are unlikely to be deterred by Israel's latest attempt to keep them out.

हाल के वर्षों में, हजारों अफ्रीकी प्रवासियों ने मिस्र के साथ अपनी सीमा के साथ इजरायल में अवैध रूप से प्रवेश किया है, जो 250 किमी (155 मील) तक फैला हुआ है। इजरायल सरकार ने अब एक बड़ी बाधा का निर्माण शुरू कर दिया है, जिसमें प्रवाह को रोकने की कोशिश करने के लिए $370 मिलियन (£230 मिलियन) से अधिक की लागत आई है। बीबीसी के वायरे डेविस सीमा से रिपोर्ट करते हैं।


Bluebell Railway to honour founder Bernard Holden

Summary: Volunteers at a West Sussex steam railway are to pay their respects to one of its founding members by taking his coffin down the line.

Bernard Holden, who was one of the leading figures in the Bluebell Railway, died on 4 October aged 104. His coffin will be carried on a special train from Sheffield Park to Kingscote on Tuesday before a family funeral. Bluebell Railway Chairman Roy Watts said: "We are giving him one final trip before we say farewell." He added: "We call him the founding father of the Bluebell Railway. "Without him we wouldn't have the railway that we have today." Mr Holden, who chaired the first meeting of the Bluebell Railway Society in 1958, was made an MBE for services to the organisation. The funeral will be at St Margaret's Church in Ditchling, East Sussex, before a private burial.

वेस्ट ससेक्स भाप रेलवे के स्वयंसेवकों को इसके संस्थापक सदस्यों में से एक के ताबूत को लाइन के नीचे ले जाकर उनका सम्मान करना है।


Leigh stabbing: Murder arrest after woman found dead

Summary: A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was found with fatal stab wounds in a house in Greater Manchester.

The victim, believed to be in her 40s, was found dead at a property on Manchester Road, Leigh, on Sunday. A 37-year-old woman has also been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. Police said the woman's death was being treated as an isolated incident, with no threat to the wider community.

ग्रेटर मैनचेस्टर में एक घर में चाकू के घातक घावों के साथ एक महिला पाए जाने के बाद हत्या के संदेह में एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Duke of Sussex: The party prince who carved his own path

Summary: The Duke of Sussex grew up in the media spotlight - from a young royal dealing with his mother's death, through his partying teenage years, to his career in the military.

Since then Harry has followed in his mother's footsteps, doing charity work across the globe. He has got married and become a father. Now he and the Duchess of Sussex will begin a new chapter: giving up their royal duties, HRH titles and public funding, and - it is expected - spending most of their time in Canada. Harry has tried to balance his public and private lives. At times, the publicity that comes with being sixth in line to the throne has helped him to bolster support for his charitable endeavours. But there have also been times when that attention has become too much, and he has fought fiercely for his family's privacy. Young life Born at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, on 15 September 1984, the prince was christened Henry Charles Albert David by the Archbishop of Canterbury in December of that year in St George's Chapel, Windsor. But it was officially announced from the start of his life that he would be known as Harry. The prince's childhood was cut short when his mother died in 1997. Princess Diana was killed in a crash in Paris, aged 36, as the car she was in sped through a tunnel followed by paparazzi photographers. Her death shook royal fans the world over, but it was 12-year-old Harry and 15-year-old William whose lives changed forever. The funeral, which featured the image of the boys walking behind their mother's hearse to attend the service at Westminster Abbey, remains one of the most-watched programmes on the BBC. "I can safely say that losing my mum at the age of 12, and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years, has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but my work as well," the prince said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 2017. He added: "I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and all sorts of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle." The prince followed the educational path of his older brother William, at Wetherby School in Notting Hill, before entering Eton in 1998. After leaving Eton with two A-levels in 2003, Harry took a gap year. He worked on a sheep farm in Australia and with Aids orphans in Lesotho, paving the way for the charity he later set up there. Life in the spotlight Attention from the press has been a constant in Harry's life. The front page of a 2002 edition of the (now defunct) News of the World roared: "Harry's drugs shame", and claimed Prince Charles sent his son to visit a rehab clinic as punishment for smoking cannabis. St James's Palace confirmed the then 17-year-old had "experimented with the drug on several occasions" but said the use was not "regular". Then in October 2004, there was a scuffle with a photographer outside a club. A royal spokesman said at the time the 20-year-old prince was hit in the face by a camera "when photographers crowded around him". When Harry pushed the camera away, "it's understood that a photographer's lip was cut", the spokesman added. The following year, an image of the prince dressed as a Nazi at a fancy dress party sparked outrage. Clarence House later said the prince had apologised for any "offence or embarrassment" caused and had realised "it was a poor choice of costume". And in 2009, video footage emerged of Harry using offensive language to describe an Asian member of his Army platoon. St James's Palace said the prince was "extremely sorry for any offence his words might cause" but said he had "used the term without any malice and as a nickname about a highly popular member of his platoon". Harry enjoyed lighter-hearted press coverage during the London 2012 Olympic Games, in his role as an Olympic ambassador. In the same year he spent a lot of time in front of the cameras for the Queen's Jubilee. As part of those celebrations Harry completed his first royal solo tour overseas with visits to Belize, the Bahamas, Brazil and Jamaica. However, that August, photos emerged of the prince and a young woman naked in a Las Vegas hotel room. The two photos, published on US gossip website TMZ and later in the Sun newspaper, were taken on a private break with friends, with the site reporting the prince was in a group playing "strip billiards". He later said he had "probably let myself down" but added: "I was in a private area and there should have been a certain amount of privacy that one should expect." There is, however, a saving grace to the scrapes Harry has found himself in. As the younger brother to the expected future king, Harry has relatively little responsibility. Like the Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, and Prince Charles's younger siblings, Harry is a "spare to the heir" - and a world away from the throne. So Harry's indiscretions have done little to dent public opinion of him. And he has perhaps had a freer existence because of it; security worries would have made active service in Afghanistan impossible for his older brother, for example. Army and charity Harry spent 10 years in the armed forces, becoming the first royal in more than 25 years to serve in a war zone. He was left disappointed in 2007 when Army chiefs decided not to send him to Iraq because of "unacceptable risks", but later spent 10 weeks serving in Afghanistan in 2008. Harry returned to the country as an Apache helicopter pilot from September 2012 to January 2013, before qualifying as an Apache commander in July 2013. He later described how he had shot at Taliban insurgents, and said that being in Afghanistan was "as normal as it's going to get" for him. When he announced he would be leaving the Army in 2015, the prince said his time in the military would "stay with me for the rest of my life". This is reflected in his charity work, which mostly concentrates on mental health and helping service veterans. Harry's most notable charity work so far is his founding and chairing of the Invictus Games in 2014. The Paralympic-style international competition for injured ex-service personnel has been held in London, Orlando, Toronto and Sydney. He has also supported the charity Walking With the Wounded, for injured veterans. The prince's other charity work includes supporting conservation projects in Africa and jointly founding Sentebale, a charity to help orphans in Lesotho. He has continued his mother's work helping children affected by HIV and Aids, and supporting the Halo Trust's work in clearing landmines. Diana captured global attention when she walked through a live minefield in central Angola in 1997. She died in Paris later that year, before seeing the full impact of her visit - such as the signing of an international treaty to outlaw the weapons - but Harry highlighted her achievements when he retraced her steps in September 2019. Tackling stigma In recent years, Harry has had counselling to help him deal with his mother's death. He was best man at his brother William's wedding in April 2011, and has since spoken of how hard it was not to have Diana there. In a candid interview with the Daily Telegraph, he described shutting down all of his emotions for nearly 20 years and refusing to thinking about his mother. This, he said, had a "quite serious effect" on his personal life and his work, and brought him close to a breakdown "on numerous occasions". He also said he would probably regret "for the rest of his life" how brief his last phone call with his mother was, and spoke of her "fun" parenting. She was a "total kid through and through", he said. Harry, William and the Duchess of Cambridge joined forces to focus their campaigning efforts on mental health. They founded Heads Together, which aims to tackle stigma and fundraise for new support services. 'Beautiful surprise' As one of the world's most high-profile bachelors, Harry's love life has drawn much interest over the years. In late 2016, he confirmed a new relationship with US actor, Meghan Markle, while issuing a statement accusing journalists of harassing her. He described "nightly legal battles to keep defamatory stories out of papers", attempts by reporters and photographers to get into her home and the "bombardment" of nearly every friend and loved one in her life. The pair had met on a blind date, organised by a mutual friend. Then after just two dates, they went on holiday together to Botswana. In September 2017, the year before their wedding, Meghan told Vanity Fair magazine she and Harry were "two people who are really happy and in love". And in an interview that November, when their engagement was announced, Harry admitted he had never heard of Meghan before his friend introduced them, and was "beautifully surprised". He designed the engagement ring for Meghan, including two diamonds from his mother's jewellery collection. The couple married in May 2018 at a ceremony at St George's Chapel in Windsor, and consequently became known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. On a 16-day tour of Australia that October, the duke and duchess announced they were expecting their first child, adding that they were happy to share the "personal joy" of their news. Baby Archie, described by Harry as "our own little bundle of joy", was born on 6 May 2019. The next chapter The duke's past year has been a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows. In March, he and his wife split their household office from that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. In April, the launch of the Sussexes' Instagram account amassed more than one million followers in record-breaking time (five hours and 45 minutes). The joy of becoming parents was followed days later by news Harry had accepted damages and an apology from a paparazzi agency which had used a helicopter to take photographs of his home in the Cotswolds. In June, the Sussexes announced they would split from the charity they shared with the Cambridges - fuelling speculation of a rift between brothers Harry and William. A 10-day tour of Africa at the end of September 2019 started well. Harry raised awareness for causes close to his heart, and the couple introduced Archie to anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But during the tour, the Duchess of Sussex launched legal action against the Mail on Sunday over a claim that it unlawfully published one of her private letters. In a lengthy statement Harry said "positive" coverage of the tour of Africa had exposed the "double standards" of the "press pack that has vilified [the duchess] almost daily for the past nine months". And in an ITV documentary, filmed during the tour and broadcast the following month, the duchess admitted she was struggling to adjust to royal life while the duke said his mental health was a matter of "constant management". Harry's charity work will no doubt continue. Buckingham Palace said he and Meghan will keep their "private patronages and associations". But much of the rest of his future - including where exactly he will live with his wife and son - is, for the moment, unclear.

ड्यूक ऑफ ससेक्स मीडिया की सुर्खियों में पले-बढ़े-अपनी मां की मृत्यु से निपटने वाले एक युवा शाही से लेकर, अपने किशोरावस्था की पार्टी के माध्यम से, सेना में अपने करियर तक।


Obituary: Fidel Castro

Summary: Fidel Castro ruled Cuba as a one party state for almost half a century.

As communist regimes collapsed across the world, Castro kept the red flag flying right on the doorstep of his greatest enemy, the United States. A divisive figure, his supporters praised him as a champion of socialism, the soldier-politician who had given Cuba back to the people. But he faced accusations of brutally suppressing opposition and pursuing policies that crippled the Cuban economy. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on 13 August 1926, the illegitimate son of a wealthy farmer, Angel María Bautista Castro y Argiz, who had emigrated to Cuba from Spain. His mother, Lina Ruz González was a farm servant who became his father's mistress, and later, after Fidel's birth, his wife. Castro attended Catholic schools in Santiago before going on to the Jesuit-run El Colegio de Belen in Havana. However, he failed to excel academically, preferring to spend his time in sporting activities. It was while studying law at Havana University in the mid-1940s that he became a political activist, honing his skills as a passionate public speaker. Marxism His targets included the Cuban government, led by the president Ramon Grau, which was mired in accusations of corruption. Violent protests became the order of the day and Castro found himself targeted by the police. He also became part of a plot to overthrow Rafael Trujillo, the right-wing leader of the Dominican Republic but the attempt was thwarted after US intervention. In 1948 Castro married Mirta Diaz-Balart, the daughter of a wealthy Cuban politician. Far from encouraging him to join the country's elite, he turned increasingly to Marxism. He believed Cuba's economic problems were a result of unbridled capitalism that could only be solved by a people's revolution. After graduating Castro set up a legal practice but it failed to prosper and he was continually in debt. He remained a political activist, taking part in a series of often violent demonstrations. In 1952 Fulgencio Batista launched a military coup which overthrew the government of the Cuban president, Carlos Prío. Attack Batista's policy of closer ties with the United States and the suppression of socialist organisations ran counter to Castro's fundamental political beliefs. After legal challenges had failed Castro formed an organisation called The Movement, which worked underground in a bid to overthrow the Batista regime. Cuba had become a haven for the playboy rich, and was run largely by organised crime syndicates. Prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking were endemic. In July 1953 Castro planned an attack on the Moncada army barracks near Santiago in order to seize weapons for use in an armed uprising. The attack failed and many revolutionaries were killed or captured. Castro was one of a number of prisoners who went on trial in September 1953. Castro used his court appearance to expose atrocities committed by the army which further raised his profile, particularly among members of the foreign press who were allowed to attend the hearing. Guerrilla warfare He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In the event he was released in a general amnesty in May 1955 having served just 19 months in relatively comfortable conditions. During his short time in prison he divorced his wife and immersed himself in Marxist texts. As Batista continued to crack down on his opponents, Castro fled to Mexico to avoid being arrested. There he met a young revolutionary named Ernesto "Che" Guevara. In November 1956 Castro returned to Cuba with 81 armed companions on board a leaking cabin cruiser designed to carry just 12 people. The party took refuge in the Sierra Maestra mountains. From this base Castro launched a two-year guerrilla campaign against the regime in Havana. On 2 January, 1959, the rebel army entered the Cuban capital and Batista fled. Hundreds of Batista's former supporters were executed after trials that many foreign observers deemed as less than fair. Ideology Castro responded by insisting that "revolutionary justice is not based on legal precepts, but on moral conviction". The new Cuban government promised to give the land back to the people and to defend the rights of the poor. But the government quickly imposed a one-party system. Hundreds of people were sent to jail and labour camps as political prisoners. Thousands of mainly middle class Cubans fled into exile. Castro insisted his ideology was, first and foremost, Cuban. "There is not communism or Marxism, but representative democracy and social justice in a well-planned economy," he said at the time. In 1960, Fidel Castro nationalised all US-owned businesses on the island. In response, Washington put Cuba under a trade embargo that was to last into the 21st century. Invaders Castro claimed he was driven into the arms of the Soviet Union and its leader, Nikita Khrushchev, although some commentators say he entered the USSR's embrace willingly. Whatever the motive, tropical Cuba became a Cold War battleground. In April 1961, the US attempted to topple the Castro government by recruiting a private army of Cuban exiles to invade the island. At the Bay of Pigs, Cuban troops repulsed the invaders, killing many and capturing 1,000. Fidel Castro had bloodied the nose of a superpower and it would never forgive him. A year later, American reconnaissance planes discovered Soviet missiles on their way to sites in Cuba. The world was suddenly staring into the abyss of all-out nuclear war. "A series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western hemisphere," warned President John F Kennedy. Bizarre The superpowers stood eyeball to eyeball, but it was President Khrushchev who blinked first, pulling his missiles out of Cuba in return for a secret withdrawal of US weapons from Turkey. Fidel Castro, though, had become America's enemy number one. The CIA tried to assassinate him, most infamously with Operation Mongoose. Getting him to smoke a cigar packed with explosives was one idea. Others were even more bizarre, including one to make his beard fall out and make him into a figure to be ridiculed. The Soviet Union poured money into Cuba. It bought the bulk of the island's sugar harvest and in return its ships crammed into Havana harbour, bringing in desperately needed goods to beat the US trade embargo. Despite his reliance on the Soviets' help, Castro put Cuba at the head of the newly-emerging Non-Aligned Movement. Shortages However, he also took sides, especially in Africa, sending his troops to support Marxist guerrillas in Angola and Mozambique. By the mid-1980s, however, global geopolitics were shifting. It was the era of Mikhail Gorbachev, glasnost and perestroika, and it proved catastrophic for Castro's revolution. Moscow effectively pulled the plug on the Cuban economy by refusing to take its sugar any more. Still under the US embargo and with its Soviet lifeline cut off, chronic shortages and empty shelves in Cuba were inevitable. Tempers grew shorter as the food queues grew longer. The country Fidel Castro called the most advanced in the world had, in fact, returned to the age of ox-drawn carts. By the mid-1990s, many Cubans had had enough. If earlier waves of exiles had been as much about politics as economics, thousands were now taking to the sea in a waterborne exodus to Florida and the dream of a better life. Many drowned but it was a crushing vote of no-confidence in Castro. Caribbean communism Yet Cuba registered some impressive domestic achievements. Good medical care was freely available for all, and Cuba's infant mortality rates compared favourably with the most sophisticated societies on earth. In later years, Castro seemed to have mellowed. 1998 saw a ground-breaking visit by Pope John Paul II, something which would have been unthinkable even five years earlier. The then Pope condemned Cuba for its human rights abuses, embarrassing Castro in front of the world's media. Fidel Castro had created his own unique brand of Caribbean communism which, in his last years, he was forced to adapt, slowly introducing a few free-market reforms to save his revolution. On 31 July 2006, just days before his 80th birthday, Castro handed over power temporarily to Raul after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery. His health continued to deteriorate. Early in 2008, Castro announced that he would not accept the positions of president and commander-in chief at the next meeting of the National Assembly. In a letter published in an official communist newspaper, he was quoted as saying: "It would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total devotion, that I am not in a physical condition to offer." He largely withdrew from public life, writing articles published in the state media under the title Reflections of Comrade Fidel. He re-emerged in July 2010, he made his first public appearance since falling ill, greeting workers and giving a television interview in which he discussed US tensions with Iran and North Korea. The following month Castro gave his first speech to the National Assembly in four years, urging the US not to take military action against Iran or North Korea and warning of a nuclear holocaust if tensions increased. When asked whether Castro may be re-entering government, culture minister Abel Prieto told the BBC: "I think that he has always been in Cuba's political life but he is not in the government. He has been very careful about that. His big battle is international affairs." President Obama's announcement in December 2014 of the beginning of an end to US trade and other sanctions saw the beginning of a thaw in what had been half a century of hostile relations between the two countries. Castro welcomed the move stating it was it was "a positive move for establishing peace in the region", but that he mistrusted the US government. While many Cubans undoubtedly detested Castro, others genuinely loved him. They saw him as a David who could stand up to the Goliath of America, who successfully spat in the "Yanqui" eye. For them Castro was Cuba and Cuba was Castro.

फिदेल कास्त्रो ने लगभग आधी सदी तक एक पार्टी राज्य के रूप में क्यूबा पर शासन किया।


US police shootings: How many die each year?

Summary: On Sunday morning, three police officers were shot dead in Baton Rouge. This attack came just 10 days after five police officers were killed in Dallas. Both events were revenge attacks for the killing of young black men by police.

The bloodshed has shocked the US, leading President Barack Obama to call for calm. But how many police officers are killed in the US in a normal year? And how many people are killed by police? Police killed "There's a widespread perception in the American public, and particularly within law enforcement, that officers are more threatened, more endangered, more often assaulted, and more often killed than they have been historically," says Seth Stoughton, a law professor at the University of Southern Carolina and former policeman. "I think it's a very strong perception. People truly believe it. But factually, looking at the numbers, it's not accurate," he says. FBI data on police officers "feloniously killed" - killed as a result of a criminal act - indicates that the numbers have been falling, he says. Looking at the 10 years from 2006 to 2015 the annual average number of police deaths was 49.6, Stoughton says, which he notes is "down significantly from the high". "The high was the 10-year period prior to 1980, when we had an average of 115 - actually 114.8 officers feloniously killed… in the line of duty every year." At the same time the number of police officers has increased dramatically in the US. At the same time the number of police officers has increased in the US. There are a quarter of a million more police officers working today than there were three decades ago. So when you consider the number of officers killed per 100,000, there has been a dramatic decrease. The annual per capita number of officers killed has dropped from 24 per 100,000 in the 10 years to 1980 to 7.3 per 100,000 in the 10 years to 2013 (the last year for which there is good data). This chimes with a bigger trend, which is a steady reduction in crime, including homicides. Killed by police Official data on the number of people killed by the police turns out to be remarkably unreliable. "We can't have an informed discussion, because we don't have data," FBI Director James Comey said in the House of Representatives in October. "People have data about who went to a movie last weekend, or how many books were sold, or how many cases of the flu walked into an emergency room. And I cannot tell you how many people were shot by police in the United States last month, last year, or anything about the demographics. And that's a very bad place to be." He had previously said it was "unacceptable" that the leading sources of this information were newspapers, the Washington Post and the Guardian. Find out more Although the FBI does gather some data on fatal shootings, police forces are not obliged to provide it, and only some of them do. This led the Washington Post to start tracking civilian deaths itself after the shooting of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson in August 2014, by monitoring reports in the media. "We looked at the FBI database, since that was the official government accounting for things. And saw that over the past decade, the average number of shootings that they counted was about 400. By the end of last year, we had almost 1,000 fatal shootings that we had captured," says Kimberly Kindy, an investigative reporter at the newspaper. "What we didn't know though, of course, as we went into this year and did it a second year was - was last year a normal year? Is 990 people being killed by police in a single year about what you would expect year in and year out?" So far, 2016 appears to be roughly on track with 2015, Kindy says. "In fact there's been an increase, a 6% increase in fatal shootings when we compare the first six months of last year to the first six months of this year… So that's about three people are dying a day, who are being fatally shot by officers." The Guardian has recorded even more deaths in 2015 and 2016, including deaths as a result of tasering, collisions with police vehicles and altercations in police custody. The Washington Post journalists also collect information about the race of those shot by police. According to Kindy, about half are white, and about half are from minorities, but adjusting for the size of the populations, Kindy says, "minorities are definitely being shot at a higher rate than whites". This is particularly noticeable in the case of the black population. "Blacks are being shot at a rate that's 2.5 times higher than whites," Kindy says. The big question is whether that is evidence that the police are discriminating against African Americans. There's an obvious argument that it is: African Americans are just 13% of the US population, and yet 26% of the people killed by the police. But there's another way to look at these numbers. Nearly 50% of convicted murderers in the US are African Americans. Why that number is so high is a difficult question to answer. So is the question why African Americans are also far more likely than whites to be murder victims. The point is that if African Americans are more likely to be involved in violent crime - both as perpetrators and victims - then the higher rate of police shootings may not be surprising. The truth is that the raw statistics can't tell us whether the police are treating African Americans differently from white people. To understand that, we'd need to look at more details about what happened in each incident. There's a big difference between a case where someone was shooting at the police, and a case where someone was passive and unarmed. One person who has tried to do that is an economist from Harvard University called Roland Fryer, the first ever African American to win the prestigious John Bates Clark medal in economics. This month Fryer released a preliminary study examining records from 10 cities and counties, with the best data coming from Houston - it's not yet peer-reviewed, but it has received a lot of attention in the press. Fryer's research suggests that African Americans and Hispanics are substantially more likely to experience force in their interactions with the police - such as having a gun pointed at them, being handcuffed without arrest, or being pepper-sprayed or hit with a baton. This racial difference is reduced, but doesn't completely disappear, when Fryer adds all sorts of statistical controls such as whether the incident was indoors or outdoors, in a high-crime area, took place at night, and so on. However, Fryer doesn't find any racial difference in the cases where police offers actually shoot someone. The debate over this continues, both on the streets and in academia. Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

रविवार की सुबह बैटन रूज में तीन पुलिस अधिकारियों की गोली मारकर हत्या कर दी गई। यह हमला डलास में पांच पुलिस अधिकारियों के मारे जाने के ठीक 10 दिन बाद हुआ। दोनों घटनाएं पुलिस द्वारा युवा अश्वेत पुरुषों की हत्या का बदला लेने के लिए किए गए हमले थे।


Brexit: Irish Sea border issues foreseen when deal was done

Summary: On 17 October 2019 Boris Johnson was in ebullient form.

By John CampbellBBC News NI Economics & Business Editor He had just sealed the Brexit withdrawal deal with the EU. At a Brussels press conference, the prime minister hailed the agreement as marking the beginning of a "very exciting" time for the UK. "I want to stress that this is a great deal for our country, for the UK," he said. "And what it means is that we in the UK can come out of the EU as one United Kingdom - England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, together. "And it means we can decide our future together, we can take back control, as the phrase goes, of our money, our borders, our laws, together." Prescient study Meanwhile civil servants were doing the work of turning the deal into domestic UK law - what would become the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill. Just four days after Mr Johnson's Brussels triumph, the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) had produced an analysis of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. It is that piece of work which shows that the problems with the Irish Sea border were foreseen virtually from the moment the deal was signed. The DExEU civil servants produced a prescient study that almost precisely describes the issues which have come into sharp focus over the past week. The Northern Ireland part of the deal - the Protocol - keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods and EU customs rules are enforced at its ports. That is to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland but at the expense of a new trade border within the UK. The DExEU report was clear about what this meant: "Goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will be required to complete both import declarations and Entry Summary Declarations because the UK will be applying the EU's custom code in Northern Ireland. "This will result in additional administrative costs to businesses. "Businesses that do not currently trade outside the EU will incur familiarisation costs as they have not had to engage with customs processes." 'Disproportionate effects' It went on to explain that the heaviest burden would fall on small businesses. "The proposals will have an effect on all UK businesses that move goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, irrespective of the business's size. "Economic theory suggests that a 'one size fits all' approach for business trade requirements is likely to have a disproportionate effect on small and micro businesses (SMBs) in particular. "There would be both fixed and variable costs for firms as a consequence of the Protocol, consequently these costs are likely to be a larger proportion of SMBs' operating costs and therefore disproportionately affect them." It is the trade in food and plant products from Great Britain to Northern Ireland that has faced the greatest disruption since 1 January. The DExEU report devotes a lengthy section to that issue and again spelled out the implications. "There will be additional documentation required on all agri-food goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland to ensure that they comply with the necessary regulations," it stated. "These could include Export Health Certificates for products of animal origin, fish and live animals; and phytosanitary certificates for plants. "This would result in an additional administrative cost to businesses moving goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland." 'Symbolically separated' DExEU was not the only government department with a clear view of what was coming. During the 2019 UK general election campaign the Labour Party released a leaked Treasury presentation. The language in the document was even blunter. It said: "The Withdrawal Agreement has the potential to separate Northern Ireland in practice from whole swathes of the UK's internal market." It also correctly anticipated the way in which the Protocol would be perceived by many unionists: "Northern Ireland symbolically separated from the union/economic union undermined." Northern Ireland is of little interest to most voters or journalists in Great Britain so the issue sank without trace during the election campaign. After winning that election, the government did act to mitigate the looming impacts of the Protocol. Some potential requirements for new processes on Northern Ireland-Great Britain trade were negotiated away in further talks with the EU. About £500m is being spent on a Trader Support Service to help with customs and a Movement Assistance Service to help with the certification costs of agri-food goods. There are "grace periods", meaning some of the new processes are being phased in. But the fundamental character of the Protocol has not changed since those DExEU officials explained it all more than 15 months ago.

17 अक्टूबर 2019 को बोरिस जॉनसन उत्साहपूर्ण रूप में थे।


Guernsey reservoirs full despite lower March rainfall

Summary: Reservoirs in Guernsey are full despite lower than average rainfall in March, according to the island's water company.

March's rainfall was about 69% below the seasonal average for the month over the past 10 years. However, the total for the previous year was 2.5% above average. Guernsey Water said, with 4,400 megalitres in storage it puts the island in a good position ahead of the summer. During the month of March, the company supplied 396 megalitres of water - about 2% more than the March average.

द्वीप की जल कंपनी के अनुसार, मार्च में औसत से कम वर्षा के बावजूद ग्वेर्नसे में जलाशय भरे हुए हैं।


South West Trains employee suspended over 'vote out' sign

Summary: South West Trains has suspended an employee after a message appearing to support Brexit was put up on the side of a train.

The words "Vote Out" appeared on a digital sign on a train travelling from London to Woking on Monday. South West Trains said the company had "no position" on the issue of the upcoming EU referendum. It said any referendum message would have been put on without the company's knowledge or authorisation. An internal investigation is to be carried out into the matter, the company said. The in-out referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union takes place on 23 June. Related Internet Links South West Trains

दक्षिण पश्चिम ट्रेनों ने एक ट्रेन के किनारे पर ब्रेक्सिट का समर्थन करने वाला एक संदेश लगाए जाने के बाद एक कर्मचारी को निलंबित कर दिया है।


The Battle of Cambrai: 'We had a sense of victory for the first time'

Summary: After years of tiny gains at the cost of appalling casualties, Cambrai, fought 100 years ago, was heralded as the longed-for victory on the Western Front. But did a battle that left both sides almost where they started really change the course of the war?

By Greig WatsonBBC News L/Cpl Alfred Brisco recalled in the aftermath of the fighting that his battle, inside the tank "Hotspur", came to a sudden and violent end: "There was a terrific roar and Hotspur shuddered from stem to stern. "I saw our left caterpillar track fly in the air. Our left nose was blown off. If that last shell had landed two feet closer the officer and I would most certainly have both been killed." Other crews nearby were not so lucky. "A tank close to our right received a direct hit and burst into flames. I only saw one man roll out of a side door," Brisco said. "The tank on our left also had a direct hit. I did not see anyone get out of that." It was a terrible end to what had actually been a day of great progress for the British, who advanced further in six hours than in three months at Passchendaele. After months of planning, the largest tank force so far assembled in the war - nearly 480 machines in all - had on 20 November smashed a seven-mile wide, four-mile deep hole in the Germans' toughest defences near the French town of Cambrai, just 25 miles from the Belgian border. "It was a stunning success," said Bryn Hammond, head of collections at the Imperial War Museum. "For the first time since the war had begun, the church bells were allowed to ring." Tanks, first used only 14 months before, were still distrusted by many. They had struggled in the mud of Passchendaele and were hellish places in which to serve. Lt Kenneth Wootton, of the Tank Corps, wrote in his account of the war: "The noise inside was absolutely deafening; the eight-cylinder engine was going at full speed, both six-pounder guns were firing as rapidly as possible and I was emptying drum after drum from the machine-gun. "Any order I gave to the driver, who was close beside me, had to be shouted in his ear.... everything else had to be done by signs." But this battle was different. Dr Hammond said: "The key was surprise. "There had been no week-long artillery bombardment; everything had been brought up in secrecy. "And it was an integrated battle plan: tanks, infantry, artillery and aircraft all had a specific role to play." Supporting the tanks were 1,000 artillery pieces, 110,000 infantry and 300 aircraft. Belts of wire 50ft thick, which would have taken weeks to cut through in a traditional attack, were crushed by the tanks. Accusing as I do without exception all the great Allied offensives of 1915, 1916, and 1917 as needless and wrongly conceived operations of infinite cost, I am bound to reply to the question, 'What else could have been done?' And I answer it, pointing to the Battle of Cambrai: 'This could have been done.' Winston Churchill Men and armour poured through the gaps. German defenders were overwhelmed. Soldiers described the advance as "a picnic" and "a cakewalk". Commanders were left giddy by the success. In his memoirs, Maj Richard Foot, of the Royal Field Artillery, said: "That first day was a day to be remembered. We really had the sense of victory for the first time." But there was still savage fighting, as another officer, Maj William Watson, recalled finding in nearby trenches. "The trench-boards were slippery with blood and 15 to 20 corpses, all Germans and all bayoneted, lay strewn about the road like drunken men. "A Highland sergeant... who was in charge of the place, came out to greet us puffing a long cigar." But the punch of the first hours, which had taken months of planning and resources, could not be maintained. Tanks broke down, men became exhausted. Deborah - The lost tank of Flesquieres A six-year "obsession" led one man to uncover one of the most striking and poignant reminders of the Battle of Cambrai. A tank named Deborah had made it through the village of Flesquieres but was one of nearly 40 that were destroyed as the tide of the battle turned. Cambrai resident Philippe Gorczynski said: "An old woman told me about a tank being buried in the village after the war, and I just had to find it. "I looked everywhere, I went 'hunting' in the woods and 'fishing' in the lakes - my wife said she had to share me with another woman! "I looked at hundreds of aerial photographs and these, along with ground-penetrating scans, showed us where to go. "The day we found Deborah was like finding the Grail. Here was an emblem of the battle, a tribute to all the men who served." Historian John Taylor researched the crew and found the commander Frank Heap, 20, from Blackpool, had survived and won the Military Cross. But George Foot, 20, from north London, William Galway, 25, from Belfast, Joseph Cheverton, 20, from Cambridge, and father-of-three Fred Tipping, 36, from Nottingham, all died in the flaming wreck. Mr Taylor said: "It is important to remember these were men from typical towns, who fought in terrible circumstances but achieved remarkable things." Deborah is now the centrepiece of a museum that will open to mark the 100th anniversary of the battle. Dr Hammond said that after the Germans - who had no tanks of their own - had got over the "initial shock", they fought back bravely, "almost hand to hand". "Bundled grenades were thrown under tracks, rifles fired through vision slits, even guns physically held down so they would fire into the ground - it got that close." Another week of fighting hardly moved the front lines but cost thousands more men. The British army, exhausted by Passchendaele, simply did not have enough soldiers, guns and tanks to exploit the gap in the defences. Then on 30 November the Germans, backed by flamethrowers, counterattacked. By 7 December, the armies held roughly the same amount of ground they had started with. The British army had suffered more than 44,000 casualties, with nearly 180 tanks destroyed. The Germans had lost a similar number of men. Had it all been for nothing? Dr Hammond said: "The attack did not realise its potential due to lack of support, but these were the tactics which shattered German defences on the Western Front in 1918. "It was a landmark in warfare. It establishes the principle of surprise attack, using each weapon in the role for which it is best suited, still used in the Gulf War. "The era where the deadly combination of machine-guns, barbed wire, artillery and trenches defined the character of the battlefield was over."

भयावह हताहतों की कीमत पर वर्षों के छोटे लाभ के बाद, 100 साल पहले लड़े गए कंबराई को पश्चिमी मोर्चे पर जीत के लिए लंबे समय से जाना जाता था। लेकिन क्या एक ऐसी लड़ाई जिसने दोनों पक्षों को लगभग वहीं छोड़ दिया जहां से उन्होंने वास्तव में युद्ध की दिशा बदल दी?


The Pakistani tribe that is taking on the Taliban

Summary: The BBC's M Ilyas Khan is one of the few journalists in recent months who has been able to travel to the remote north-western Pakistani tribal district of Kurram, where members of the Turi tribe are waging a war of attrition with the Taliban.

A couple of miles east of Alizai town in the Kurram tribal district, north-western Pakistan, boundary walls of two large compounds are rising fast. Elders of the region's largest tribe, the Turi, say they are building homes for eight families from western parts of Kurram who have volunteered to resettle here. "Apart from a house, each family will get four acres of land for agricultural use," says Haji Hashim Ali, a Turi elder and in charge of the community project. "We hope to attract more than 200 families to this colony in a year's time," he says. Community volunteers The idea is to boost Turi presence in an area that belongs to the tribe but where the population has thinned out. That has allowed others to step in and bring Taliban militants with them, Mr Ali explains. The Turi tribe, which belongs to the Shia sect of Islam, has traditionally abhorred the Taliban - who adhere to a hardline Sunni form of the faith and many of whom consider Shias to be non-Muslims. Two years ago, the Turis fought a major battle with the Taliban in the surroundings of Alizai. They are now consolidating their hold on the region. To the south of Alizai, across the Kurram river, the tribe is building a 14km (8.6 miles) road to link Alizai with the Turi stronghold of Parachinar in the west. The Shurko road detours the Sunni-dominated town of Sadda, which is located on the region's main road that links Parachinar with Alizai and the rest of Pakistan. In Parachinar, the district centre, and all along the Shurko road, community volunteers man checkpoints and also guard the region's airport. There are no military checkpoints anywhere in the Turi lands from Parachinar to Alizai - and no Taliban. To a casual observer, this comes as a surprise because Kurram is the most important strategic site from where to launch guerrilla attacks inside Afghanistan. Its western tip is only 90km (56 miles) from the Afghan capital, Kabul. Local people say that Taliban started pouring into the area in 2006 and set up base at a mosque in Parachinar. "When we came to know of their presence, we took up the matter with the authorities, but they refused to expel them, saying the decisions were taken at a much higher level," says Ali Akbar Turi, another local elder. Bombed Fighting between the locals and the Taliban erupted in April 2007, and dozens of people were killed over the next year. Devoid of local support, the Taliban were forced to retreat to their bases in Sadda and Alizai in eastern Kurram, but from there they enforced a blockade of Kurram's only road link to Pakistan. "Our traders lost millions of dollars worth of merchandise when our trucks were bombed and burned down, and dozens of our people were beheaded," recalls Haji Hashim Ali. In August 2008, local elders decided that if the army wasn't prepared to deal with the Taliban, it was time to raise a tribal force and storm the militant bases themselves. Najib Hussain, a Kurram resident, fought on a front that finally led to the fall of Bugzai, a village that housed the Taliban's main base in the region, just across the river from Alizai. "We had about 100 to 150 fighters. We would rotate them in four hourly shifts," he says. "Fighting was intense. During the first 27 days I only came down twice from my position on the hill to take a bath. On the 27th day, I was hit and had to be carried away to the hospital." It took the tribal force 46 days of fighting - and the loss of around 400 fighters - to inflict a final defeat on Taliban. Nearly two years after the war, this entire area remains free of Taliban. 'Trapped' But further east, the Taliban continue to block their exit route. People can only leave Kurram in convoys, and only when the government provides security. Even then, they are regularly attacked. In the last attack in July, suspected Taliban gunmen killed 18 people travelling in a passenger van from Parachinar to Peshawar, the regional capital. Syed Abid Jan, 75, was one of four survivors. "We started in the convoy but our van fell behind," he says. "In Charkhel area, some 20km (12.4 miles) east of Alizai, about 10 gunmen fired at the van, causing it to overturn. Then they came closer and fired at the passengers trapped inside from all sides." Mr Jan was hit in the back. "When they went away, I looked around. My grandson was dead. He had fallen on me. I had fallen on my wife. She was also dead." After three years of road blockades, the intensity of war has left a mark on the people of Kurram. Trading and development work have come to a halt, much of the infrastructure of health, education and agriculture has been destroyed, and there is of course the emotional toll. "A friend of mine told me to beware of going mad. I think that warning has kept me from going mad entirely," says Aqeel Hussain, the owner of a petrol station in Alizai. "But sometimes I think I'm half mad. My blood pressure shoots up sometimes. It never used to happen before." After the fall of Bugzai, the Taliban twice offered to guarantee the safety of the road from Kurram to Peshawar in return for access for their militants through Kurram into Afghanistan. But this is an offer which the people of Kurram say they are determined never to accept.

बी. बी. सी. के एम इलियास खान हाल के महीनों में उन कुछ पत्रकारों में से एक हैं जो सुदूर उत्तर-पश्चिमी पाकिस्तानी आदिवासी जिले कुर्रम की यात्रा करने में सक्षम हुए हैं, जहाँ तूरी जनजाति के सदस्य तालिबान के साथ संघर्ष कर रहे हैं।


Rethink: Caleb Femi says 'creative thinking' is key to students' future

Summary: Caleb Femi, the first young people's laureate, says students must think creatively to secure a better future. He says that with the cancellation of this summer's major exams because of coronavirus, relying on the existing education system may no longer be the best option for future progress.

The British education system has covered itself in a veil for centuries. The veil is the promise that at the end of the road of education, there is security and even prosperity. We are told to trim the fat of our potential. Students turned up every morning for 39 weeks a year. They studied and they learned for tests and they sat those tests. They shrank their imagination and the autonomy of the learning process because there was that promise that you leave with a qualification, an emblem that said you were a capable member of society. This was the veil. But Covid-19 was the storm that tore that veil apart for most students in the UK. When the lockdown was imposed, schools had to close and students taking A-levels and GCSEs, as well as some from Years 9 and 10 in the middle of exam prep, were told that they wouldn't be able to take their tests. Imagine that, after years of classroom exercises, homework, coursework, mock tests, parents' evenings and sacrificing so much because of that promise of a qualification, of security. Instead your worth, the value of your qualification, your supposed future prospects are going to be based on a calculation of what is called your predicted grade. Take note that statistically, black students are under-predicted and generally exceed their predicted grade in their real exams. So what many students learn during this lockdown period is that society is an uncertain landscape. Job sectors are volatile, and then they begin to question themselves. They question the tools that they have to be able to survive in the wild that is adulthood. You don't have to be David Attenborough to know that the absolute that is security does not exist in nature. The ones who survive, the ones who thrive, are the ones who have the tools and the skills to adapt. So, as a student you then question yourself - do I have the tools that are required to survive in this society? These tools are problem solving, creativity innovation, the autonomy to envisage a new possibility and a new future. Also, the mental dexterity to make careers for yourself and make society a more efficient place, a more equal place for everyone. Tools that you need to have to survive in such an uncertain landscape don't match up. Going forward, it means that it's ultimately a job for you, the individual, alongside the community, to think in ways that put you in the driving seat of your own learning. New approaches need to be made where students are encouraged to think creatively, to exercise their imagination, to problem-solve in unique, innovative, exciting ways. That is what a post-lockdown relationship should look like. BBC Radio 4, Radio 5 Live and World Service have come together for a unique collaboration: BBC Rethink. It asks how society and our lives can change for the better after the Covid-19 crisis. You can hear the BBC Rethink episodes on BBC Sounds. Read the other essays:

पहले युवा पुरस्कार विजेता कालेब फेमी का कहना है कि छात्रों को बेहतर भविष्य के लिए रचनात्मक रूप से सोचना चाहिए। उनका कहना है कि कोरोनावायरस के कारण इस गर्मी की प्रमुख परीक्षाओं को रद्द करने के साथ, मौजूदा शिक्षा प्रणाली पर भरोसा करना भविष्य की प्रगति के लिए सबसे अच्छा विकल्प नहीं हो सकता है।


Cairngorms funicular repairs next summer 'at earliest'

Summary: Repairs to the Cairngorms' funicular would not begin until May next year at the earliest, its owner Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has said.

The UK's highest railway has been out of action for almost a year due to structural problems. Last month, HIE said fixing the funicular would be a cheaper option than having the structure removed. Built at a cost of £26m, it connects a base station with a restaurant 1,097m (3,599ft) up Cairn Gorm mountain. HIE said specialist structural engineers have been carrying out a further detail examination of issues affecting the beams of the railway, near Aviemore, this week. Repairs are required to almost half of the railway's piers, almost 300 bearings need to be replaced and joints and connections on beams need to be reinforced. The Scottish government will have to approve the repairs once the final cost is known.

केयर्नगोर्म्स के मालिक हाइलैंड्स एंड आइलैंड्स एंटरप्राइज (एच. आई. ई.) ने कहा है कि केयर्नगोर्म्स के फनिकुलर की मरम्मत अगले साल मई तक जल्द से जल्द शुरू नहीं होगी।


Woman dies in Ingoldmells bar fight

Summary: A woman has died in hospital after being injured in a fight outside a seaside bar.

The 52-year-old woman, from Nottinghamshire, was involved in an incident at Buzz Bar in Sea Lane, Ingoldmells. Lincolnshire Police were called to the scene at about 23:25 BST. Police have begun a murder inquiry and appealed for witnesses. They have asked for dashcam footage recorded in the area around the bar.

समुद्र तटीय बार के बाहर लड़ाई में घायल होने के बाद एक महिला की अस्पताल में मौत हो गई है।


Sackler-owned Purdue Pharma settles opioid lawsuit for $270m

Summary: Purdue Pharma, the drug-maker owned by the billionaire Sackler family, has reached a $270m settlement in a lawsuit which claimed its opioids contributed to the deaths of thousands of people.

As part of the deal, the US firm will fund a new centre to study addiction. Purdue is one of several firms named in the claim which alleged they used deceptive practices to sell opioids. The deal is the first Purdue has struck amid some 2,000 other lawsuits linked to its painkiller OxyContin. The lawsuit filed by Oklahoma claimed that in order to persuade doctors to prescribe their painkillers, Purdue, and other companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Teva Pharmaceutical, allegedly decided to "falsely downplay the risk of opioid addiction" and "overstate" the benefits of their drugs to treat a wide range of conditions. The companies deny the claims. On average, 130 Americans die from an opioid overdose every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2017, of the 70,200 people who died from overdose, 68% involved a prescription or illegal opioid. Purdue said that the settlement with Oklahoma "resolves all of the state's claims against" against the company. The family, who were not named in this lawsuit, said: "The agreement reached today will provide assistance to individuals nationwide who desperately need these services - rather than squandering resources on protracted litigation." 'Profound compassion' The Sackler family, who are worth $13bn, according to Forbes magazine, also said: "We have profound compassion for those affected by addiction." Under the settlement, Purdue will pay $102.5m towards the creation of a National Centre for Addiction Studies and Treatment at Oklahoma State University. The Sacklers themselves said that they will contribute $75m over five years to the centre. The dynasty has increasingly been under the spotlight because of the wave of legal action the company and individual family members are facing. They are prolific philanthropists, having contributed millions of dollars to the arts. However, a number of major galleries recently announced that they would not accept donations from the family, including the Tate in the UK and the Guggenheim in New York. 'Reckless criminals' A lawsuit filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey recently released a number of potentially damning documents, including some that present former Purdue boss Richard Sackler as someone who does not view OxyContin as contributing to opioid addiction but instead blames the individuals themselves. He wrote in an email: "We have to hammer on the abusers in every way possible. They are the culprits and the problem. They are reckless criminals." Commenting on the settlement, Purdue's chief executive Craig Landau said: "Purdue has a long history of working to address the problem of prescription opioid abuse and diversion. "We see this agreement with Oklahoma as an extension of our commitment to help drive solutions to the opioid addiction crisis." Alexandra Lahav, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, told Reuters it was likely that Purdue was in talks to settle other lawsuits. "This may be the start of the dominoes falling for Purdue," she said. But the Sackler family said that the agreement with Oklahoma "is not a financial model for future settlement discussions". Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Teva Pharmaceutical had attempted to delay a trial over the claims made by Oklahoma state which is seeking $20bn in damages. However, on Monday the Oklahoma Supreme Court refused and the trial against the other defendants will go ahead on 28 May. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, said: "The addiction crisis facing our state and nation is a clear and present danger." He said one of the goals of the state's legal action was to ensure "a dramatic abatement of the sale of pharmaceutical opioids". He added that as part of the settlement with Purdue, Oklahoma has put an injunction in place to stop the company marketing analgesic opioids within the state.

अरबपति सैक्लर परिवार के स्वामित्व वाली दवा निर्माता पर्ड्यू फार्मा ने एक मुकदमे में 270 मिलियन डॉलर का समझौता किया है, जिसमें दावा किया गया है कि इसके ओपिओइड ने हजारों लोगों की मौत में योगदान दिया है।


Benjamin Lay: The Quaker dwarf who fought slavery

Summary: He stood only about 4ft (1.2m) tall, yet what Benjamin Lay lacked in stature he made up for in moral courage and radical thinking. He was a militant vegetarian, a feminist, an abolitionist and opposed to the death penalty - a combination of values that put him centuries ahead of his contemporaries.

By Nic RigbyBBC News For the hunchbacked Quaker was not a product of the 1960s counter-culture but of the Essex textile industry of the early 18th Century. The BBC charts the achievements of an extraordinary man, from his early life in eastern England, to the sugar plantations of Barbados and the British territory that would become the USA. In September 1738, six years after arriving in America, Lay went to the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Quakers with a hollowed-out book inside of which was a tied-off animal bladder containing red berry juice. You might also like: Lay told the gathering, which included wealthy Quaker slave-owners: "Thus shall God shed the blood of those persons who enslave their fellow creatures." He then plunged a sword into the book and the "blood" splattered on the heads and bodies of the horrified slave-keepers. As his biographer, University of Pittsburgh historian Marcus Rediker, says: "He did not care whether people liked it or not. "He wanted to draw people in; he was saying: 'Are you for me or against me? Are you for slavery or against it?' "He lost the battle with the elders of the church but won it with the next generation." Lay's journey to become perhaps the most visionary radical in pre-Revolutionary America - he was one of the first people to boycott slave-produced products, in the same way campaigners today shun products made in sweat shops - began near Colchester in England. Born in 1682 in Copford, he trained as a glove-maker in Colchester which had a major local textile industry and was a hotbed of radical thought. "He was a third-generation Quaker from an area with a strong history of religious radicalism," said Dr Rediker. He later became a sailor, and his experiences were to shape his views on slavery. "Lay first learned about slavery through hearing stories from his sailor friends, some of whom may have been slaves themselves," the historian said. "There was also a radical seafaring tradition, a sailor's ethic of solidarity, which connects in Lay to the radical tradition." After returning home to the Colchester area, Lay found himself in trouble with the Quaker community because he felt the need to speak out against those who fell short of his high moral standards. "He was a troublemaker at every moment of his life," said Dr Rediker. "He had a powerful sense of his convictions and would speak truth unto power." From Colchester he went to Barbados with his wife Sarah Smith, also a Quaker and a dwarf, to open a general store, but his experience "was a nightmare". "It was the leading slave society of the world," said his biographer. "He saw slaves starved to death, he saw them beaten to death and tortured to death, and he was horrified," The Quaker spoke out against the plantation owners and, angered, they told him to leave. Lay's odyssey next took him to Philadelphia, where he befriended the polymath Benjamin Franklin, a future Founding Father of the USA, who would publish Lay's book, All Slave-Keepers That Keep the Innocent in Bondage, Apostates. While in America, he continued to defy conventional wisdom. Lay crafted his own cottage in a cave, lining the entrance with stone creating a roof with "sprigs of evergreen", said Dr Rediker. His home was apparently quite spacious, with room for a large library. Lay also planted an apple tree and cultivated potatoes, squash, radishes and melons. Lay's favourite meal was "turnips boiled, and afterwards roasted", while his drink of choice was "pure water". The committed vegetarian made his own clothes from flax to avoid the exploitation of animals - he would not even use the wool of sheep. His moral certainty meant he could not allow the slavers in his midst to go unchallenged, and he would often attend Quaker meetings to denounce slavers. Dr Rediker said they "flew into rages" when Lay spoke out against slavery. "They ridiculed him, they heckled him... many dismissed him as mentally deficient and somehow deranged as he opposed the 'common sense' of the era," he said. He was during his long life disowned by the Abington Quakers in Pennsylvania, as well as groups in Colchester and London. In November 2017, almost 300 years after his denunciation, the North London Quakers recognised the wrong they had done in their treatment of Lay, accepting the group had "not walked the path we would later understand to be the just one". "It has righted an historical injustice," London Quaker and writer Tim Gee said. In 1758, the year before Lay died aged 77, the Philadelphia Quakers ruled they must no longer take part in the slave trade. "Lay understood from this that it was the beginning of the end," Dr Rediker said. The Quakers would go on to be at the forefront of the campaign against slavery, which would ultimately be abolished in the US in 1865. For Mr Gee, Lay's lasting legacy is that he had "a vision for a better world". "He could see basic injustices in society which were seen as normal and dragged the injustices into the light."

वह केवल 4 फीट (1.2 मीटर) लंबा था, फिर भी बेंजामिन ले के कद में जो कमी थी, वह नैतिक साहस और कट्टरपंथी सोच में उसकी भरपाई करता था। वह एक उग्र शाकाहारी, एक नारीवादी, एक उन्मूलनवादी था और मौत की सजा का विरोध करता था-उन मूल्यों का एक संयोजन जो उसे अपने समकालीनों से सदियों आगे रखता था।


Boston Stump Christmas services on despite flooding

Summary: Christmas services will go ahead as normal at a Lincolnshire church, despite it being damaged by flooding earlier this month.

St Botolph's Church, known as Boston Stump, was flooded with over a foot of water when the Haven burst its banks on 5 December. Restoration work was already under way before the church was flooded. Princess Anne, patron of the restoration appeal, visited Boston to view the damage caused. Boston Stump was closed while the church was cleaned and dried out. As well as the Christmas services, the church intends to hold a service of hope and renewal in the new year.

इस महीने की शुरुआत में बाढ़ से क्षतिग्रस्त होने के बावजूद, लिंकनशायर चर्च में क्रिसमस की सेवाएँ सामान्य रूप से आगे बढ़ेंगी।


Road in Pendeford evacuated over 'suspicious device' find

Summary: A road in Wolverhampton has been evacuated after a suspicious device was found, police said.

Wheatsheaf Road in Pendeford was evacuated after the device was found in an empty property by a council worker, Wolverhampton Police said. In a tweet the force added an explosive ordnance disposal team were being sent to the scene. Residents have been temporarily relocated to the Dovecote Housing Office on Ryefield. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

पुलिस ने कहा कि एक संदिग्ध उपकरण मिलने के बाद वॉल्वरहैम्प्टन में एक सड़क को खाली करा लिया गया है।


Harmondsworth immigration centre protest sees arrests

Summary: Eleven people have been arrested during a protest against migration controls outside an immigration detention centre near Heathrow.

Members of the No Borders network said they were trying to stop a flight to Ghana to deport illegal migrants. Scotland Yard said the demonstration at Harmondsworth involved about 30 people and lasted from 18:00 GMT on Tuesday until 01:30 on Wednesday. The UK Border Agency said it could not comment on deportation flights.

हीथ्रो के पास एक आप्रवासन निरोध केंद्र के बाहर प्रवास नियंत्रण के खिलाफ विरोध प्रदर्शन के दौरान ग्यारह लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Bomb disposal team detonates mine on Southwold beach

Summary: A World War II mine found at a Suffolk beach has been safely detonated.

A swimmer found the spherical explosive device, which coastguards said was 12in (30cm) across, on Tuesday evening on Southwold beach. A Royal Navy team of bomb disposal experts went to the site and detonated the mine shortly after 1800 BST. A small area of the beach had been cordoned off while the team examined the mine. The device is thought be have been British made.

सफ़ोक समुद्र तट पर पाई गई द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध की एक खदान में सुरक्षित रूप से विस्फोट कर दिया गया है।


PIP assessments: 'Lack of trust' in benefits systems

Summary: Failings in disability benefits assessments - including claimants being asked when they had "caught" Down's syndrome - have led to a "pervasive lack of trust" in the system, MPs say.

The Commons Work and Pensions Committee said reports by private contractors for the two main disability benefits, PIPs and ESA, were "riddled with errors". And it said contractors "universally missed" the set performance targets. A government spokesman said the assessments worked for the "majority". 'Shocking and moving' The committee said it had received an "unprecedented" number of responses from people who had claimed Personal Independence Payments (PIP) or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Almost 4,000 claimants detailed "shocking and moving, credible and consistent" accounts, the report said. A recurrent complaint was that claimants did not believe the companies' assessors could be trusted to record evidence of their conditions accurately. Examples given by the committee included: A former benefits assessor told the BBC some of her ex-colleagues "copy and pasted" their assessments. The unnamed woman told Victoria Derbyshire: "The nurses (assessors) were under a lot of stress and I think it led to a lot of mistakes." The MPs' report said ministers should consider taking the process back in-house from Capita, Maximus and Atos when contracts come up for renewal in 2019 and 2020. 'Professional and compassionate' Committee chairman Labour MP Frank Field said the shortcomings were causing "untenable" human and financial cost. "No-one should have any doubt the process needs urgent change," he said. A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "As the Work and Pensions Select Committee highlights, assessments work for the majority of people, with 83% of ESA claimants and 76% of PIP claimants telling us that they're happy with their overall experience." The DWP had already accepted more than 100 recommendations from five independent reviews of the Work Capability Assessment and commissioned two independent reviews of PIP assessments, he added. Capita said it was "firmly committed to delivering a high-quality service" and that its qualified healthcare professionals were "dedicated to delivering professional and empathetic assessments for all claimants". The Maximus-operated Centre for Health and Disability Assessments said it had achieved its quality standards in January but was "fully committed to making further improvements". And Independent Assessment Services - formerly known as Atos Healthcare - said its focus was on providing a "professional and compassionate assessment service".

सांसदों का कहना है कि विकलांगता लाभ मूल्यांकन में विफलता-जिसमें दावेदारों से यह पूछा जाना भी शामिल है कि उन्हें डाउन सिंड्रोम कब "पकड़ा" गया था-ने प्रणाली में "विश्वास की व्यापक कमी" को जन्म दिया है।


Who will vote for police commissioners?

Summary: Here's my report on fears of a low tour-out for the first-ever elections for police commissioners. My question to would-be voters: "Are you excited about the PCC vote?"

Mark EastonHome editor@BBCMarkEastonon Twitter With less than a month to go before the first ever elections for police commissioners in England and Wales, there is still some concern that poor publicity will lead to a low turnout. They will be elected on 15 November and replace police authorities in each force area in England and Wales, making police directly accountable to voters.

पुलिस आयुक्तों के लिए पहली बार होने वाले चुनावों के लिए कम दौरे की आशंकाओं पर मेरी रिपोर्ट यहां दी गई है। भावी मतदाताओं से मेरा प्रश्नः "क्या आप पी. सी. सी. के वोट को लेकर उत्साहित हैं?"


End Sars protests: Why Anthony Unuode gave his life for a better Nigeria

Summary: More than 6ft (183cm) tall and well-built, Anthony Unuode, 28, dreamed of serving in the Nigerian army, but was killed by thugs breaking up protests against police brutality in the capital Abuja, writes the BBC's Nduka Orjinmo after attending his memorial.

As hundreds of candles burned into the night, friends, family and strangers spoke about Anthony and his selflessness, while some shuffled their feet in grief, heavy with the burden of his death. "Have we betrayed the dead?" asked one man, who said he did not know Anthony personally but, like many others, felt a kinship had developed between them during the protests against police brutality that rocked Nigeria last month. The protests were held under the #EndSars banner, a reference to demands for the disbandment of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad, whose officers were repeatedly accused of criminal activity ranging from extortion to extra-judicial killings. "He died fighting for the same thing we are fighting for," said another speaker, who followed Anthony on Twitter. Protesters said that Anthony was brave. When thugs suspected to be hired by politicians to crush protests attacked them on 13 October at the Berger roundabout in Abuja, he stepped forward and shielded those he could, escaping with a minor injury on his arm. Four days later, the thugs launched another attack with machetes, daggers and wooden sticks to disrupt a march along Abuja's Kubwa expressway. It is unclear whether Anthony was among the marchers or just happened to be walking in the area, but, his friends say, he suffered deep machete wounds to his head. 'These were the things he fought against' With blood gushing from his head, he removed his shirt, wrapped it over his wounds and ran for miles seeking help, finally collapsing in front of his friend Muazu Suleiman. "I put him in the car and drove as fast as I could to the national hospital, but when we got there, there were no hand gloves, no cotton wools, no drugs. I had to go and buy these things from outside," said Muazu. "When they wanted to do surgery they were using their phone lights, some of the tools they needed were locked behind glass," he added. Hospital spokesman Tayo Hastrup denied the allegation, describing it as a "lie". But Anthony's elder brother, Austin Unuode, also complained about the hospital, saying medics "couldn't run some of the tests because there was no electricity". "These were the things he fought against, he believed that things needed to change in Nigeria," he added. Mother misses funeral Eze Divine, who attended the candlelight memorial held at Anthony's home, called for justice. "It's bad that those that killed him may never get arrested because these are state-sponsored thugs. "If we are asking for an end to police brutality and they are sending thugs, it says a lot about the government. It could have been me, it could have been anybody," he said. The police told the BBC that they were investigating Anthony's murder, and no arrests had yet been made. You may also be interested in: A graduate in education at the Nasarawa state university close to Abuja, Anthony was a reflection of young Nigerians in many ways. In a country where millions of graduates are unemployed and get little support from the state, most young people create their ways of earning a living. At the time of his death Anthony was running three online betting shops. He was also a small-time estate agent and "did anything that would bring legitimate money", said his brother Austin. "It's a big loss, because since my father died, he has been the breadwinner of the family. "My mother is not even around to see his last remains lowered as she travelled abroad," he added. It was not only armed thugs who had been deployed to crush the protests, but also soldiers who - two days after Anthony's death - shot protesters at the Lekki toll gate in the commercial hub of Lagos. Although the military has denied that troops opened fire, Amnesty International and multiple eyewitnesses are adamant that they killed at least 10 protesters there. Ironically, Anthony, before his death, had applied to join the army, believing it was his patriotic duty to help in the fight against militant Islamist group Boko Haram, which has been waging a brutal insurgency in the north of the country for more than a decade. "He always talked about joining the army to fight Boko Haram. "He was passionate about Nigeria and Africa and always wanted to give his quota," said Anthony's brother. Unlike many protesters, Anthony had never been a victim of police brutality himself but he joined the demonstrations because he wanted a better Nigeria. "When he saw the youths coming together, he called me and said this was a turning point," said his close friend Shedrack. What next for the #EndSars protests? The day after Anthony was buried, the leaders of the protest movement and thousands of others held an online session for more than four hours to map a way forward following the end of the mass protests that saw Nigeria's massive young population demonstrate its power. "What next? Where do we go from here?" asked moderator Ebuka Obi-Uchendu as he opened the Zoom session after a minute's silence in honour of the dead. In his response musician and lawyer Folarin Falana, better known as Falz, said: "I dare say things will never be the same in Nigeria again. "The work now lies in citizen education, letting people know about their rights and the laws." Other speakers urged the youth to get involved in politics, and use their numbers to elect capable representatives. "What we have seen is that we can gather and we can organise," said Feyikemi Abudu of the Feminist Coalition, one of the main protest groups. She is referred to as "the president" by her thousands of followers online for her exceptional organisational skills that made the demonstrations a success. "Things that we didn't think could be done in months or years were achieved in weeks and it is that energy that we need to keep," she said. Anthony's friends agree, pointing out that he had written on his private Instagram account almost prophetic words before his death. "To my generation of Nigerians. I love you and you have earned my maximum and genuine respect. "The powers that be are truly against us and are doing everything in their power to stop this movement. It will get worse, but please let us never back down," Anthony had written. Additional reporting by the BBC's Chukwuemeka Anyikwa

6 फीट (183 सेमी) से अधिक लंबे और अच्छी तरह से निर्मित, 28 वर्षीय एंथनी उनुओडे ने नाइजीरियाई सेना में सेवा करने का सपना देखा था, लेकिन राजधानी अबुजा में पुलिस की बर्बरता के खिलाफ विरोध प्रदर्शन को तोड़ने वाले ठगों द्वारा उनकी हत्या कर दी गई, उनके स्मारक में भाग लेने के बाद बीबीसी के एनडुका ओरजिनमो लिखते हैं।


Bhutan's 'Shangri-La' caught between two rival superpowers

Summary: With its scenic mountains and stunning Buddhist monasteries on hilltops, Bhutan is a traveller's dream and described by some as the last Shangri-La - a mystical beautiful place where everything is perfection.

By Anbarasan EthirajanBBC News, Thimphu The country's capital, Thimphu, is a refreshing delight to those who are tired of traffic and pollution in mega cities. The fresh air and the lush green mountains and snow peaks in the distance offer a visual treat. Men, women and children calmly walk around in the country's traditional attire. It is probably the only country in the world where there are no traffic signals - just traffic police officers giving hand signals. But beneath the surface, this picture-postcard country has been experiencing an undercurrent of tension and nervousness since last year. Sandwiched between two Asian giants - China in the north and India in the south - the Himalayan nation, with a population of about 800,000, was anxious when troops from the two military powers squared up to each other over their border dispute. The flare-up was in a strategic plateau called Doklam - situated in the tri-junction between India, Bhutan and China. The remote mountainous region of Doklam is disputed. Bhutan and China both claim the area. India supports Bhutan's claim over it. When China started to expand an unpaved road in June 2017, Indian troops went across and stopped the work, triggering a face-off between the two sides. Delhi argued that the road had security implications. The fear is that in any future conflict, Chinese troops can use it to seize India's strategically important Siliguri Corridor, known as the Chicken's Neck, which connects the Indian mainland with its north-eastern states. Some experts said the fears were far-fetched. But many Bhutanese were unaware of the strategic importance of Doklam. "Doklam was insignificant until it became a controversial issue a few months ago. Most Bhutanese don't even know where Doklam is," says Namgay Zam, a multimedia journalist in Thimphu. She adds: "It became a matter of contention and discussion only after it blew up as a controversial issue between China and India". The tense stand-off between Chinese and Indian troops in Doklam raised concerns among many Bhutanese that it could trigger a war between the two Asian giants. Beijing angrily denounced what it described as a "trespass of Indian troops". After weeks of hectic diplomacy by the Indian and Chinese leadership, the 73-day face-off was brought to an end. Indian troops finally withdrew. The Bhutanese government refuses to publicly discuss the Doklam stand-off, but it issued a cautious statement last August welcoming what it described as "the disengagement by the two sides". Many in Bhutan say the flare up was a wakeup call. There was a passionate discussion on social media over whether it was time for Bhutan to settle its border dispute with China and follow an independent foreign policy. Some even argued that Bhutan should come out of India's influence. After Tibet was invaded and annexed by China in the 1950s, Bhutan immediately turned south - towards India - for friendship and security. Since then it has been under India's sphere of influence. India provides economic, military and technical help to Bhutan. The Himalayan nation is the largest recipient of India's foreign aid. India gave nearly $800 million to Bhutan's last five-year economic plan. Hundreds of Indian soldiers are stationed inside Bhutan and officials say they offer training to Bhutanese troops. Its military headquarters is in the western town of Haa, about 20km (12 miles) from Doklam. While many Bhutanese are thankful to India for its assistance over the decades, others, particularly the young, want the country to chart its own course. Bhutan's foreign policy takes India's security concerns into account because of a special treaty, signed first in 1949. The treaty was revised in 2007 but it gave Bhutan more freedom in areas of foreign policy and military purchases. Some here feel India's influence has been overbearing and stifling. "As we mature [as a democracy] we have to get out of India's shadow. India also should not think of Bhutan as what some people refer to as a 'vassal state'. Let Bhutan decide its own political future," argues Gopilal Acharya, a writer and political analyst. Bhutan and China have disputes over territory in the north and in the west. There is a growing feeling within Bhutan that it is time for the country to reach a settlement with China. "Bhutan actually needs to resolve this issue with China at the earliest, that's what I feel. After that we may be able to move forward diplomatically or otherwise this [Doklam] problem is going to reoccur," says Karma Tenzin, a political commentator. "We cannot afford to have two superpowers lock their horns at the doorstep of a peaceful nation like Bhutan." Several people who I spoke with in Thimphu argue that India could have shown restraint and avoided a face-off with China. They think India's stance might have an impact in Bhutan's efforts to solve its long-standing border dispute with Beijing. India has been unable to stop the Chinese making inroads into other south Asian countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Bangladesh. Bhutan is the only country in the region which has no formal diplomatic relations with Beijing. There is also resentment among several Bhutanese who feel that India has been unfairly treating them in exploiting its natural resources. Delhi's "big brother" attitude, they say, could lead to people calling for more trade links with China. They point to Nepal playing the China card vis-à-vis its relations with India. "For us, our future is with India. But we should forge a new kind of relationship which is equal between India and Bhutan. We have to look for new areas of engagement on equal footing," says Mr Acharya. While India grapples with the challenge of a rising China, both militarily and economically, it is also in danger of losing its allies if its foreign policy is not based on mutual respect. Bhutan may be a tiny Himalayan nation but it holds a strategic card. It does not want to be squeezed in India-China rivalry. The last thing they want to see is Chinese and Indian armies squaring up to each other once again near their border.

अपने सुंदर पहाड़ों और पहाड़ी की चोटियों पर आश्चर्यजनक बौद्ध मठों के साथ, भूटान एक यात्री का सपना है और कुछ लोगों द्वारा अंतिम शांगरी-ला के रूप में वर्णित किया गया है-एक रहस्यमय सुंदर जगह जहां सब कुछ परिपूर्ण है।