'I was shot in the knee as a punishment'

Summary: Campaigners in Northern Ireland have expressed concern about a resurgence of so-called "punishment attacks" including assaults using everything from iron bars and sledgehammers to electric drills and kneecapping.

By Greg DawsonVictoria Derbyshire programme The number of reported incidents is at its highest since 2010 and in 2016-17 there were 94 reported casualties of shootings and assaults - up 30% on the previous year. The self-appointed men in charge - in both Protestant Loyalist areas and Catholic Republican communities - mete out "punishment" for things like drug use and anti-social behaviour. Since 2009, 47% of attacks have targeted people aged 25 and under - some of them children - according to figures from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Teenagers James and Thomas - not their real names - were willing to tell the Victoria Derbyshire programme their stories. Thomas "I used to be a happy child - always up and bouncing. Then I did one or two bad things and they were just picking on me and picking on me. I was trying to change my life around and they were still picking on me." In some cases, the parents of victims are faced with a dreadful dilemma: protect their child or hand them over to paramilitary groups for so-called "appointments". That's what happened to Thomas. "My mummy visited me and said 'Listen I've been talking to someone to try and sort it out to get someone to give you an easy shooting'. I put my shoes on straight away and said 'Yes, let's get it over and done with'. "On the night it happened I was told to walk up the street and I looked behind me and two men were there. I turned around and said to them, 'there are 10 times as many people out there doing worse than me'. "He just said, 'listen kid, I'll look after you'. How's that looking after you? I know people in the organisation who were stealing cars and selling drugs, still selling drugs. They're scumbags. "The first time they shot me I only moved a bit but the second time they shot me I was screaming. It went right through and hit my main artery. It busted my whole knee bone." Thomas says the incident worsened his mental health problems. "I've actually lost count of how many times I've tried to kill myself." James "They got in contact with someone in my family. They told me that I had to go and meet them. I changed my trousers, went out of my house and went to the pub. I had two pints and then I got the text message that I had to go, so I walked over on my own. "And that was it. I walked to the place they told me to go and they were standing there. They showed me the gun and told me to lie down on the floor." James was then shot in the leg. "It's a burning sensation for like two minutes straight and then it stopped for 30 seconds - then it started again. It was burning and burning." He admits he had done something wrong, but says it had already been dealt with legitimately through the courts. "I was punished for what I did, there was no need for them to shoot me. A court of law is for punishment. There was no need for them scumbags to do anything to me." James says he is "disgusted" by what happened to him, adding that the people who shot him had committed worse crimes than him in the past. The number of these attacks has drastically reduced since the height of the Troubles, but campaigners believe more could be done to eradicate them. Church leaders across Northern Ireland have released a statement condemning the threat against young people, timed to coincide with UN Universal Children's Day on Monday. "We need to ask ourselves whether the legacy of violent conflict here has caused us to feel powerless to challenge the culture that supports the continuation of this type of violence," it says. 'Terrible toll' Paul Smyth has helped to establish the Stop Attacks forum, a coalition comprising youth workers, academics and activists. He says these attacks have devastating mental health consequences for victims. "I know of several examples where young people have been shot or beaten by paramilitary organisations and within a matter of weeks they've taken their own lives. It's a double tragedy for families and it's a terrible toll that our society is taking for this ongoing problem," he says. A joint taskforce comprising the PSNI, the National Crime Agency and customs officers has recently been established to tackle paramilitary activity. Det Superintendent Bobby Singleton, from the PSNI, said the attacks were an attempt by some of the groups to continue to exert their influence within communities. "This is one area where they see a degree of populism and they see it as a way to re-establish and promote legitimacy within communities. I'm committed to denying them any oxygen in that respect." In the wake of the 2015 Fresh Start Agreement, a £50m programme designed to tackle paramilitarism and organised crime was established by the UK government and the Stormont executive. As well as funding the joint task force, the programme also focuses on trying to change attitudes in communities where paramilitaries operate. A UK Government spokesperson said: "The overall programme of work to tackle paramilitary activity will require political support, as well as support from the police and the community. "The brutal shootings and serious physical attacks, often on young people, that have been happening in communities to intimidate people was never justified in the past and cannot be justified. " Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.

उत्तरी आयरलैंड में प्रचारकों ने तथाकथित "सजा हमलों" के पुनरुत्थान के बारे में चिंता व्यक्त की है जिसमें लोहे की छड़ें और स्लेजहैमर से लेकर बिजली के ड्रिल और घुटने टेकने तक सब कुछ का उपयोग करने वाले हमले शामिल हैं।


Greener commuting is encouraged for Jersey businesses

Summary: Businesses in Jersey are being encouraged to create travel plans to enable their staff to choose greener ways to travel to work.

The Eco-Active toolkit created by the States if Jersey gives ideas to businesses on how to enable their employees to walk, cycle, or car-share. One of the suggestions is for firms to acquire facilities such as showers and bike racks for the office. It is hoped the toolkits could improve employee health and reduce traffic. Head of health improvement Andrew Heaven said: "We found that although about 60% of staff were travelling to work by car, over half would consider walking, cycling or coming by bus." The States of Jersey Sustainable Travel Policy aims to reduce peak-time traffic on the island by 15% over the next five years.

जर्सी में व्यवसायों को यात्रा योजना बनाने के लिए प्रोत्साहित किया जा रहा है ताकि उनके कर्मचारी काम पर जाने के लिए हरियाली के तरीके चुन सकें।


Gloucester Prison site to go up for sale

Summary: A former prison in Gloucester which closed in March last year after 222 years is being put up for sale.

The property developer involved with the sale of the three and a half acre HMP Gloucester site said it expects a "considerable" amount of interest. Jones Lang LaSalle said despite some being listed, it hopes the buildings can be converted and modernised into housing. The site lies in the heart of the city adjacent to Gloucester Docks. A Jones Lang LaSalle spokeswoman said the sale has no guide price set at present.

ग्लूसेस्टर में एक पूर्व जेल जो 222 वर्षों के बाद पिछले साल मार्च में बंद हो गई थी, उसे बिक्री के लिए रखा जा रहा है।


M11 crash: Man arrested over motorcyclist's death

Summary: A man has been arrested following a hit-and-run crash in which a motorcyclist died.

The 37-year-old suspect, from Harlow, Essex, was taken into custody following the crash on the M11, near Stansted, at about 05:00 GMT on Wednesday. He was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and driving unfit through drink or drugs. The 63-year-old motorcyclist, from Dunmow, died at the scene of the crash. His identity has not been released by police yet.

एक व्यक्ति को हिट-एंड-रन दुर्घटना के बाद गिरफ्तार किया गया है जिसमें एक मोटरसाइकिल सवार की मौत हो गई।


SL govt regrets Minister Solheim's comments

Summary: The Sri Lanka government says that it deeply regrets comments made by Norwegian Minister of Environment & International Development Erik Solheim to 'Aftenposten' newspaper website.

The comments were made with regard to the recent video footage showing Sri Lanka army allegedly killing unarmed men. "The Sri Lanka government deeply regrets the baseless comments contained therein and is perturbed by such statements being made by the Norwegian Minister against a friendly government", Sri Lanka government said in a statement. It is unbecoming of Minister Solheim to attribute blame on alleged atrocities, contained in an unsubstantiated video footage, without any recourse to an exchange of views and total disregard to the position of the Government of Sri Lanka on the issues in question, that statement said. The Government says it hopes that a formal response would be received from the Norwegian Government with regard to the attributed comments by a Minister of that Government.

श्रीलंका सरकार का कहना है कि उसे नॉर्वे के पर्यावरण और अंतर्राष्ट्रीय विकास मंत्री एरिक सोलहेम द्वारा 'आफ्टनपोस्टेन' समाचार पत्र वेबसाइट पर की गई टिप्पणियों पर गहरा खेद है।


Playground dog ban plan in Carmarthenshire moves forward

Summary: Plans to ban dogs from playgrounds in Carmarthenshire have moved a step closer after being approved by a council committee.

Dogs should also be kept on leads in public places such as parks and beaches, the environmental and public protection scrutiny committee said. A public consultation prompted 620 responses, with 69% saying dogs should be excluded from play areas. But 70% did not want to see dogs excluded from beaches. The council's executive committee will now consider the proposals.

कार्मार्थेनशायर में खेल के मैदानों से कुत्तों को प्रतिबंधित करने की योजना एक परिषद समिति द्वारा अनुमोदित होने के बाद एक कदम और आगे बढ़ गई है।


Conference interview: David Cameron on Wales and more

Summary: What can you do in two-and-a-half minutes?

David CornockParliamentary correspondent, Wales Even Delia Smith would struggle to soft boil an egg in the time allotted for our prime ministerial interview this afternoon. The time limit was understandable when you think David Cameron gave 26 back-to-back interviews to BBC and ITV nations and regions. I started on council tax. The UK government is giving councils in England enough money to freeze it - if they stick to spending limits - and there is cash for the Welsh government too. The Prime Minister believes Welsh ministers should follow their English counterparts, although he went out of his way to stress it was a devolved decision. I then asked about the cut in MPs. The number of Welsh parliamentary seats is being reduced from 40 to 30 and, behind closed doors at a conference reception, Mr Cameron told party members he didn't want to hear of "blue-on-blue" (Tory) disputes between Tories fighting for the same seat. He gave the impression that "red-on-red" (Labour) arguments were to be welcomed - fuelling Labour suspicions of partisan motives behind the changes. Finally, (two-and-a-half minutes goes quickly), I asked about Secretary of State for Wales Cheryl Gillan's opposition ("insane" according to a Cabinet colleague) to a high speed rail link through her constituency. How could she remain in government while opposing transport policy? You can see the answers in the video above. Meanwhile, two off-camera snippets. The Prime Minister told his Welsh members to call him "David W D Cameron" to follow the house style set by the Tories' leader in the Welsh assembly, Andrew R T Davies. And a tip for runners at the conference from the Downing Street runner: head for the canals but beware towpath cobbles and the geese - the latter are no respecters of political authority.

आप ढाई मिनट में क्या कर सकते हैं?


All Nippon Airways cancels more Dreamliner flights

Summary: Japan's All Nippon Airlines (ANA) has cancelled an additional 368 flights in February, as the "no-fly" order on Boeing's 787 Dreamliner continues.

ANA has now cancelled over 1,200 flights since safety regulators grounded the entire fleet of Dreamliners on 16 January following concerns over the plane's battery. More than 100,000 of ANA's passengers have been hit by the cancellations. January's disruption alone has lost the company 1.4bn yen (£9.5m) in revenue. The 50-strong fleet of Dreamliners, of which ANA has 17, was grounded after a battery on a Japan Airlines 787 caught fire, and a malfunction forced an ANA flight to make an emergency landing. But investigations into the battery have so far proved inconclusive.

जापान की ऑल निप्पॉन एयरलाइंस (ए. एन. ए.) ने फरवरी में 368 अतिरिक्त उड़ानों को रद्द कर दिया है, क्योंकि बोइंग के 787 ड्रीमलाइनर पर "नो-फ्लाई" आदेश जारी है।


Cash machine blown off the wall in Newtonhill raid

Summary: A cash machine at a Tesco's Metro store in Aberdeenshire was blown off the wall in an attack in the early hours of the morning.

The ATM at the store on Newtonhill Road, Newtonhill, was believed to have been damaged by a gas explosion. People in the surrounding area reported a loud bang at about 03:00 on Saturday morning. Police said inquiries were at an early stage and they did not know how much money had been taken.

एबरडीनशायर में टेस्को के मेट्रो स्टोर में एक कैश मशीन को सुबह के शुरुआती घंटों में एक हमले में दीवार से उड़ा दिया गया था।


Homes evacuated in Milnathort after unexploded bomb reports

Summary: Homes were evacuated in Perth and Kinross following reports of an unexploded bomb.

Police cordoned off an area on Victoria Avenue in Milnathort while specialist teams carry out examinations. The item, believed to be an unexploded ordnance device, was found on Friday afternoon. A police spokeswoman said the homes were evacuated as a "precaution" and the item was removed without injury or damage to property.

एक बिना फटे बम की सूचना के बाद पर्थ और किन्रोस में घरों को खाली करा लिया गया था।


How leisure time is changing for North Korea's privileged

Summary: While the majority of people in North Korea live in poverty, experts say there is a growing middle class with money to spend and free time to enjoy. From dolphin aquariums to shopping centres, this is how the country is changing to meet the demands of its most wealthy citizens.

By Gareth EvansBBC News When Jayden first used the internet he was overwhelmed by what he found. "I had access to information that enlightened me. Every day was a surprise to me because I could get completely different perspectives that I'd never thought about. It made me outraged and sad," he says. Jayden (not his real name) is a North Korean defector who fled to South Korea five years ago. Only a small number of people manage to escape the country, so his successful defection puts him in a privileged minority that mainly consists of young people such as him. He recently finished an English-language course in Australia where he discovered YouTube and a host of online news sites. These were new experiences because North Korea is one of the world's most repressive countries where basic freedoms, such as accessing foreign media, are severely restricted. But while he was living in North Korea, Jayden frequently defied these constraints and accessed prohibited entertainment. "I spent my spare time playing football and computer games or watching movies," he says. "Although, there were many restrictions on what could be done. Many of the movies and games were illegal but I did these things on the sly." Secret fun Unsurprisingly, there is a flourishing market for foreign entertainment in a country described as an "information black hole" by Reporters without Borders (RSF). "The most popular pastime for North Koreans is also one of their biggest open secrets," says James Pearson, co-author of North Korea Confidential. "Most North Koreans secretly watch foreign media, particularly South Korean dramas." "These shows offer Koreans on both sides of the border an escape from the pressures of daily life, the difference being in North Korea they're consumed in secret." But not all forms of entertainment have to be enjoyed secretly. In fact, for North Korea's most affluent citizens, the very concept of free time is changing. Vanity projects A report by the Korea Development Institute noted a boom in the construction of shopping malls, sports, and cultural centres. It also noted that North Koreans who live in Pyongyang now have a widening range of places to spend their extra money and spare time. There are new water parks and even a dolphin aquarium, according to Curtis Melvin, a researcher who has spent years monitoring satellite imagery of North Korea and mapping construction sites. "Satellite imagery is perhaps the most thorough way to monitor changes, as we can keep tabs on parts of the country that are not accessible to foreigners," he says. "This has allowed us to monitor the growth in North Korean markets, changes in transportation, infrastructure, and the proliferation of renewable energy. We can see and measure these things in a way that was not possible a decade ago." This new technology has given him a fascinating insight into how life in North Korea is changing. He has recorded an increase in amenities and buildings that are designed, on the surface at least, to bring enjoyment to the North Korean people. "Since Kim Jong-un took over when his father died in late 2011, he has initiated construction and beautification projects that have substantially altered the character of Pyongyang," he says. "He has focused on construction projects that purport to raise the living standards of the people - such as new housing projects, a dolphin aquarium, new shopping options, new sports facilities, new amusement parks, water parks, 3D cinemas and a ski resort. Some of these types of projects are also being rolled out in the provincial capitals and special cities as well." So why has Kim Jong-un decided to construct these leisure facilities? One suggestion is vanity. "Part of it is to modernise Pyongyang and make it more of a 21st Century showpiece," says Andray Abrahamian, a visiting scholar at the Center for Korean Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. "The labour is practically free, done by military conscripts, and the materials are mostly domestically sourced, so costs are pretty low," he says. Although a booming leisure industry may seem positive, only a privileged minority are likely to benefit. A different world Income inequality in North Korea is rife, and the economy is mainly geared towards supporting a large military. This means the showpiece projects such as water parks, sports facilities and 3D cinemas can only be enjoyed by wealthy, usually urban-dwelling, citizens. As Andray Abrahamian says, Pyongyang's entertainment is only available to the better off: "If you're privileged you may play squash, take yoga classes, enjoy nice restaurants - including a couple of decent Italian and Japanese spots - and sip cappuccinos at cafes. In a way, being privileged in Pyongyang is like being solidly middle-class in a wealthier country." But this middle class, with their appetite for Pyongyang's finer elements, are a relatively new phenomenon. "The rise of the 'donju' - literally, masters of money - has created a new, moneyed, middle class that has a healthy thirst for consumer goods and spending," says James Pearson. "This has in turn given rise to more restaurants, bars, and even coffee shops in relatively rural or provincial towns which had very little before." So to a large extent, the rise in places where North Koreans can spend their money and enjoy themselves is down to a growing middle class. But the gulf in living standards between urban and rural areas in North Korea remains stark. "People outside of Pyongyang live in a different world," James Pearson says. "They work hard to make a living with little supporting infrastructure. Farmers still have rigid production quotas to meet. Many do not have access to clean drinking water or reliable electricity. They have standards of living well below people in the capital." And when Jayden thinks back to his time in North Korea he remembers this wealth divide clearly. "I think there is an immense gap," he says. "Not many, but some people can enjoy their lives by having dinner at restaurants or visiting some places. But many people worry about their next meal. I saw various people in many social statuses and I realised the rich-poor gap was quite severe." This means leisure time is a luxury only available to the richer residents of Pyongyang. For those living elsewhere, the introduction of amenities such as cinemas and ski resorts is likely to go unnoticed.

जबकि उत्तर कोरिया में अधिकांश लोग गरीबी में रहते हैं, विशेषज्ञों का कहना है कि खर्च करने के लिए पैसे और आनंद लेने के लिए खाली समय के साथ एक मध्यम वर्ग बढ़ रहा है। डॉल्फिन मछलीघर से लेकर खरीदारी केंद्रों तक, इस तरह से देश अपने सबसे अमीर नागरिकों की मांगों को पूरा करने के लिए बदल रहा है।


Aberdeen Christmas village event to move to new location

Summary: Councillors have approved moving Aberdeen's popular Christmas village event to a new location this year.

The Union Terrace event - including food stalls and entertainment - began in 2015 and returned again in 2016. Councillors have approved the change from Union Terrace to Broad Street - which will be partly-pedestrianised - and the Castlegate. Tens of thousands of people have visited the attraction since it began. Related Internet Links Aberdeen City Council

पार्षदों ने एबरडीन के लोकप्रिय क्रिसमस गाँव के कार्यक्रम को इस साल एक नए स्थान पर स्थानांतरित करने की मंजूरी दी है।


Fassbender tackles 'the Scottish film'

Summary: "The Scottish play" - as William Shakespeare's Macbeth is known among actors - has become "the Scottish film" starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as the infamous couple who murder their way to the throne of Scotland.

By Emma JonesEntertainment reporter But the movie, directed by Australian Justin Kurzel and which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this weekend, has a new interpretation of Shakespeare's tragic hero and why he sets out on his doomed path to power. "He's suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder," claims Michael Fassbender. "I'm aware that it's a completely modern interpretation of his actions and it's only now we know what the condition is, we were just as puzzled by soldiers returning from World War One with PTSD, society didn't know what to do with them. "I had never thought of Macbeth in that way, but Justin nudged me and said, 'it's obvious, isn't it' and it fell into place. It's actually in the text, in the banquet scene, where he sees the ghost of Banquo, Lady Macbeth has to step in and say, 'he's known to have these bouts and fits.' "To me it all makes sense - you can't be away at war, all the time, killing people, you don't see your wife, it's in the text that they've lost at least one child, and it was the key to Macbeth for me - I understood his hallucinations, the erratic behaviour, the fits of madness. Strange how Shakespeare understood post-traumatic stress too. "And to counter-balance it, I see Lady Macbeth not as the ambitious and power-hungry villainess of history, but someone who is desperately trying to reconnect with her husband and thinks that perhaps if they carry out this enormous act of murder together, it will reconnect them. I find it a more interesting theory than the power-crazy woman. It's less about power and more about filling a void." Macbeth has been adapted several times for TV and film, including by Orson Welles in 1948, when Welles starred in the title role, and most famously, by Roman Polanski in 1971, months after the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, at the hands of Charles Manson's gang. 'Worst luck' This may have set the seal on the traditional superstition among actors that mentioning the name Macbeth is unlucky; Fassbender refers to it by "that name" and says that "strange things" happened among the crew during shooting. "It very quickly became 'the Scottish play' for us, " he says. "But the worst luck we had was the weather. That was terrible." Justin Kurzel, who made his directing debut in 2011 with independent hit The Snowtown murders, adds that there was "a supernatural element to filming in Skye in January, it seemed to be a place where spirits walk". "We just wanted a very traditional Macbeth - one that would fit in 11th Century Scotland, not a modern re-imagining of it, set in New York or London, so that's where we went - and it poured down nearly every day of the shoot. I'm amazed the crew didn't desert us, having to carry equipment up and down the mountains every day, and these poor extras just standing in the rain in their wool costumes. "However unlucky it might be though, we're all reuniting - myself, Marion and Michael - for the film Assassin's Creed next year, so it can't have put us off that much." French actress Marion Cotillard, who won an Oscar for her performance in La Vie En Rose in 2007, believed that "one day I would play Lady Macbeth, but I thought in French, and maybe on the stage." She was not asked to find a Scottish accent for the role, "because it gives Lady Macbeth a sense of otherness, of being an outsider. Being asked to work on delivering the original verse in English - that was the most challenging aspect of it for me." 'All afraid' Even Fassbender, who was nominated for an Oscar for his part in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, said he was "daunted" by the thought of performing Shakespeare. "But we were all afraid," he adds. "Me at the thought of playing a Shakespearian hero, Marion at tackling the English verses, and Justin because it was his first big feature film. The tension that created actually helped the shoot. "I don't feel I have to do Shakespeare or anything just because I'm an actor," he qualifies, "but he's inherent in our culture and I just felt privileged at the thought of getting asked to do it. His language and his complexity - that's why he survives, there are so many avenues of interpretation to go down. "I think it might be time for me to do something on stage soon, in a few years perhaps, but that's not necessarily going to be Shakespeare. I would like to though. I know that so many teenagers are forced to do Shakespeare for their English exams, and Macbeth is always a big favourite. "So that's almost why I decided to do it - I hope 15 or 16 year olds are going to see it one day, and relate to Macbeth in a way they hadn't before, and see him and his wife as real people."

"द स्कॉटिश प्ले"-जैसा कि विलियम शेक्सपियर का मैकबेथ अभिनेताओं के बीच जाना जाता है-"द स्कॉटिश फिल्म" बन गया है जिसमें माइकल फासबेंडर और मैरियन कोटिलार्ड ने स्कॉटलैंड के सिंहासन तक पहुंचने के कुख्यात जोड़े के रूप में अभिनय किया है।


Drawing the horror of a Syrian detention centre

Summary: A Syrian artist who was accused of being an opposition activist and tortured in a detention centre has drawn pictures of his experiences - and described how he became numb to death, as dead bodies were piled up in the cell he shared with dozens of other naked prisoners. Some readers will find his account disturbing.

By Lina SinjabBBC News It is dark, cold and there is an overpowering smell of death and disease. Nearly 70 men are cramped in a room measuring 3m by 4m - one of hundreds of cells inside Syria's notorious detention centres. The men are skinny, naked and shivering with fear. They have no dignity. Day in day out, death and fear surrounds them till they accept it as normal. "They used to bring the bodies from the basement and pile them in front of us," says the artist, whom I will call Sami. "Every day there would be about eight new bodies. After a week I managed to get closer and count the number written on a body's forehead. It was 5,530 - and after a month and a half, the number on another body was 5,870. "I got used to it. The first night I saw a dead body and smelled it, I felt so sick and sad I couldn't sleep. But later on we were eating while a dead body was next to us. I remember leaning on a dead body and thinking, 'When are they going to remove it so I can have more space?'" Sami was arrested twice in the years after the Syrian uprising in 2011. His crime was coming from a town, a religious group and a family that had revolted against President Bashar al-Assad. "I had long curly hair when I was detained for first time. This modern look was a sign for the government that I belong to the co-ordination committees that organised protests. The security officer dragged me by my hair and told his boss, 'We've got one of the co-ordinators sir,'" Sami told me. "I was picked up on my way to work, my head was covered and I was put in a car. I don't know where they took me but they put me in a hall while my hands were tied with wires. They started beating me up madly. Then I reached the detention centre. I was bleeding, bones broken, ears damaged so that I couldn't hear properly. The place was like Dante's inferno. You are constantly tortured and you hear the cries of people being tortured. I was kept in the basement maybe seven storeys down." Sami's second period of detention was even worse. He spent three months in a detention cell before being referred to terrorism court, set up under an anti-terrorism law issued in 2012. He was accused of inciting terrorism and threatening state security. He was imprisoned awaiting trial for nine months. Eventually, Sami was able to bribe his way out. He paid nearly $15,000 to get out of prison and later out of the country. "Your family pays money to find a key person inside the detention cells who can help keep you alive," he says. "Money is paid so that prisoners are transferred from a detention cell to prison, where they are referred to the terrorism court." His wife, Fidaa (not her real name) had the difficult job of finding the right person to bribe. It took $3,000 simply to find out where Sami was being held. Then she had to pay money to ensure that Sami would not continue to be tortured. One of the people who promised to help ensure Sami's release disappeared after a week, forcing her to look for another contact who might help. Then one day she got a call from a relative saying that Sami was in fact being held somewhere else. "That moment I was terrified," she says. "I felt I had lost track of him and lost him forever. I spent the next 18 days in a terrified state until I managed to locate him." Then more payments were required to get him transferred to a terrorism court. At that point she was taken to see him by her contacts. "They called his name," she says. "Someone appeared in the room. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a different person - almost a third of his size. When he ran towards me I realised it was him. "He came to see me through the viewing barrier, he wanted to kiss me and touch my hands. I didn't know what to do, cry or laugh." But it took nine months. During that time Fidaa made 38 dangerous journeys to Adra prison to see him. "The road to the prison was horrifying," she says. "The whole area was brutally destroyed. You want to cry and you can't - it was dead body of a city. The car was driving so fast. We were told there were snipers. So you go to visit a prisoner, and you might end being killed." Sami has lost 40 members of his family, all killed by the regime. He moved home twice inside Syria looking for a safe place to live with his wife and daughter. His own house and another belonging to his family were burned down by government forces in the Damascus suburb he comes from. For nearly two years before his second period in detention he went everywhere he needed to go in Damascus on foot, rather than using a car, to avoid being picked up at checkpoints. The Syrian government says it is fighting terrorism, but Sami says none of the people he met in detention were terrorists. "I didn't see any Islamists or jihadists or radicals in prison. I just saw ordinary Syrians," he says. "Needless to say, almost everyone in prison is Sunni." Some prisoners were treated worse than others, he says. "They look at you and decide what treatment you get. Men from the city with money are treated differently than those coming from poor and rural areas. The more money and connections you have, the less tortured you are." Many have argued that this sort of treatment drives poor young Sunnis into the arms of Islamist radicals - though Sami says he personally never encountered any Islamists in Syria. The threat to him, he says, came exclusively from the Assad government, and it was the government that drove him eventually to leave the country. He and his wife and daughter are now in Europe, where Sami is recovering from his ordeal. "I try to get over my fears by drawing or playing music," he says. "This is the only way I can survive." February 2019: The artist has now asked to be identified as Najah al-Bukai Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

एक सीरियाई कलाकार, जिस पर एक विपक्षी कार्यकर्ता होने का आरोप लगाया गया था और एक हिरासत केंद्र में प्रताड़ित किया गया था, ने अपने अनुभवों की तस्वीरें खींची हैं-और वर्णन किया है कि कैसे वह मौत के लिए सुन्न हो गया था, क्योंकि दर्जनों अन्य नग्न कैदियों के साथ साझा की गई कोठरी में शवों का ढेर हो गया था। कुछ पाठकों को उसका विवरण परेशान करने वाला लगेगा।


The mystery photos of a 1957 gay wedding

Summary: Decades before gay marriage became legal anywhere in the US, same-sex couples were committing themselves to each other in front of friends and loved ones. Few records of these ceremonies existed - until now, writes Jonathan Berr.

In 1957, a man dropped off a roll of film at a pharmacy in Philadelphia. But the developed photos were never returned to their owners. The pictures appear to depict a gay wedding, nearly 50 years before same-sex marriage was legal anywhere in the US and almost 60 years before it became a federally-recognised right. Now, a trio of gay producers and writers are trying to identify the grooms to learn their story and to find out whether a pharmacy employee balked at providing the snaps because they objected to their subject. The writers are documenting their efforts in a reality show The Mystery of the 1957 Gay Wedding Photos. The programme, which doesn't yet have a platform to call home, is being produced in conjunction with Endemol Shine Group, whose shows include Big Brother, The Biggest Loser and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. "It's a passion project for us," says Michael J. Wolfe, a Los Angeles-based writer. "We are turning over every stone, interviewing dozens of people in the Philadelphia area and beyond, and consulting with investigators, historians, and experts across many different fields." The photos were acquired by a collector a few years ago who had bought them at an online auction. He realised their significance and donated them to ONE Archives at the USC Libraries in Los Angeles and at the Wilcox Archives in Philadelphia. The couple in the pictures appear to be in their 20s or 30s, so they would be in their 80s or 90s if they were alive today. The grooms and their guests are dressed up in dark suits with flowers in their lapels. The celebration took place in a modest flat with the blinds drawn. It featured a ceremony officiated by someone who appears to be a member of the clergy. The grooms are shown kissing, cutting their wedding cake and opening presents. Mr Wolfe and his partners, filmmaker PJ Palmer and TV writer/producer Neal Baer, have not identified the mystery couple yet. They request any tipsters to contact them through their website and Facebook page. For Palmer, the pictures were especially moving. "We are recovering amazing, important stories all sorts of them... and more gay history that's been buried," he says. "There is a very rich history that's been suppressed… I wish as a child [that] I had seen family photos of a marriage like this... I would have felt more normal as a kid. I would have known that I was okay." Couples who fell in love sometimes committed themselves to one another in unions that were not acknowledged by either governments or religions. The US Supreme Court didn't recognise the right for gay people to marry the person of their choice until 2015, 11 years after Massachusetts did so. "We don't know how common or uncommon it was for couples to hold ceremonies to marry each other [because] there is so little photographic or film record of how people actually lived," says Eric Marcus, host of the Making Gay History podcast. "It's important to remember that people found ways to live their lives quietly away from the prying eyes of the straight world." Of course, that was easier said than done. Several years before the wedding took place, President Dwight Eisenhower signed an executive order banning gays from working for the federal government. In 1952, The American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as a "sociopathic personality disturbance" in the first edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), the listing of known psychiatric disorders. After considerable lobbying by activists, the APA removed homosexuality from the second edition of the DSM in 1973. The Stonewall Riots, considered to be the birth of the modern gay rights movement, had happened a few years before that in 1969 - 12 years after the wedding. It's not just the passage of time that will hinder the search for the grooms. The filmmakers believe the Aids crisis may also be factor - about 700,000 Americans have died since the start of the epidemic in the 1980s, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. "We are talking about a generation of people who were decimated by Aids," Mr Wolfe said. "There are a lot of missing people who otherwise would have made a search like this much easier. All of that happened before social media." If the couple is ever identified, they would certainly add another chapter in the history of gay rights for doing something extraordinary that is now becoming increasingly ordinary.

अमेरिका में समलैंगिक विवाह के कानूनी होने से दशकों पहले, समलैंगिक जोड़े दोस्तों और प्रियजनों के सामने एक-दूसरे के प्रति प्रतिबद्ध थे। जोनाथन बेर लिखते हैं कि इन समारोहों के कुछ ही रिकॉर्ड मौजूद थे-अब तक।


Identity 2016: How are you changing?

Summary: This year the BBC is examining the concept of "identity".

We would like you to take part, using your videos, photos, drawings and animations to show how your identity is changing. We will showcase some of your submissions across the BBC, and you can get involved in the global conversation by using #BBCIdentity. Do you define yourself by where you come from? Or does technology make you feel connected to people outside of your immediate environment? In this changing world how is your identity changing? You can submit your vision of identity from 14 March to 18 April 2016. How to enter We would also like to know your name, age, nationality and contact details, including phone number and Skype account if you have one. Ground rules Please read our terms and conditions. As people become increasingly connected and more mobile, the BBC is exploring how identities are changing. Learn more about the BBC's Identity season or join the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #BBCIdentity.

इस साल बी. बी. सी. "पहचान" की अवधारणा की जांच कर रहा है।


Man, 73, released after Eastbourne murder probe dropped

Summary: A man arrested on suspicion of murdering a woman in Eastbourne has been released with no further action to be taken.

The 73-year-old was held after the body of Denyse Harvey, 62 was found in a house in Weatherby Close on Friday. Det Insp Claire Gill, from Sussex Police, said Ms Harvey's death was no longer being treated as suspicious following a post-mortem examination. She said: "Our thoughts remain with all those involved at this tragic time."

ईस्टबोर्न में एक महिला की हत्या के संदेह में गिरफ्तार एक व्यक्ति को रिहा कर दिया गया है और आगे कोई कार्रवाई नहीं की गई है।


Coronavirus: Three new cases in Northern Ireland

Summary: Three more cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Northern Ireland.

They are all adults who had recently travelled from Italy and are linked to a previous case. It brings the total number of cases to seven. Health officials said further positive tests had been expected and the region remained in the containment phase. Meanwhile, a number of football teams are taking precautions after a player recently tested positive, with training and fixtures set to be cancelled. The three new cases in Northern Ireland come as another case was confirmed in the Republic of Ireland, bringing the total there to 19. That new case involves a male in the east of the country who had returned from Italy, which has the most serious outbreak in Europe. Northern Ireland's Department of Health said staff were working to identify people the patients may have been in contact with to prevent further spread. The test sample from the latest cases will be sent to a laboratory in England for verification. Information and advice can be found on the Public Health Agency website. Three phases The first person to be diagnosed in Northern Ireland - which was confirmed last week - was a woman who had returned from northern Italy. That was followed by confirmation of two more cases on Wednesday - one of those was a postgraduate student at Queen's University in Belfast. A group of students at the university were asked to self-isolate as a precautionary measure as a result of that case. The fourth case, announced on Friday, is an adult who had recently returned from Italy - their diagnosis had been linked to a previous case. Other developments include: The UK's strategy on responding to the virus has three phases - containment, delay, and mitigation - alongside ongoing research. Up until now, the containment phase has involved catching cases early and tracing all close contacts to halt the spread of the disease for as long as possible. Moving into the delay phase could see the introduction of "social distancing" measures, such as closing schools and urging people to work from home.

उत्तरी आयरलैंड में कोरोनावायरस के तीन और मामलों की पुष्टि हुई है।


Derby Museums cash appeal for Joseph Wright paintings

Summary: Derby Museums has appealed for help to raise £11,000 to buy two paintings by the 18th Century Derby artist Joseph Wright.

The Museum Trust has already collected £111,000 to buy the portraits of industrialist Francis Hurt and his wife Mary, from a private collection. Francis Hurt was a key figure in the economic development of Derbyshire. Stuart Gillis, from Derby Museums, said the paintings are an important part of the city's heritage. "The purchase is incredibly important to the people of Derby and Derbyshire," said Mr Gillis. "Wright lived and worked in Derby all of his life and his name is as synonymous to the city, like Lowry is to Lancashire and Constable to Suffolk. " The Museum Trust has until 31 March to complete the fund-raising.

डर्बी संग्रहालय ने 18वीं शताब्दी के डर्बी कलाकार जोसेफ राइट की दो पेंटिंग खरीदने के लिए 11,000 पाउंड जुटाने में मदद की अपील की है।


Reading bus fares reduced to boost passengers

Summary: Fares in an area of south Reading have been reduced by more than 20% in a scheme designed to boost passenger numbers.

The price of single tickets along the busy Northumberland Avenue and Basingstoke Road routes are being cut from £1.80 to £1.40. The trial scheme, which will run until the end of December, is being funded by Reading Borough Council. James Freeman, from Reading Buses, said it should lead to more passengers. He added: "The thinking is that changing the prices in those areas will have a big impact on people's ability to travel and therefore we should see some very considerable increases in demand."

यात्रियों की संख्या बढ़ाने के लिए बनाई गई योजना में साउथ रीडिंग के एक क्षेत्र में किराए में 20 प्रतिशत से अधिक की कमी की गई है।


Fleeing Dunkirk: A 1940 holiday in hell

Summary: Christopher Nolan's World War Two thriller Dunkirk hits the screens in the US and the UK this month, dramatising the daring rescue of 300,000 Allied troops from the approaching German army. But as they escaped across the English Channel, thousands of civilians were left to fend for themselves. This is the story of one family.

By Nadia RagozhinaBBC News It was May 1940 and Eva Zusman, her husband Stanislas and four-year-old daughter Anita had arrived in the Belgian beach resort of De Panne from their home in Antwerp. They were joined by Stanislas's father and close family. It was a holiday arranged at the last minute to celebrate Eva's return from her hometown of Geneva, where she was visiting her family. German advance De Panne was ideal for a family summer holiday. White sandy beaches stretched as far as the eye could see. But the day after their arrival on 10 May, Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. For Anita - who is now 80 and living in Geneva - the news came from a local police warden carrying a drum. Belgium's resistance did not last long. Thousands of Nazi troops were marching across the Low Countries towards northern France and the coast. Eva and Stanislas hesitated, aware that as Jews they would be among the first to be targeted in occupied Belgium. After several days they joined others making their way on foot towards France. The pace was slow. Born with a deformed hip, Eva limped heavily while her father-in-law, Abraham, needed a wheelchair. Anita and her cousins, at first terrified of what was happening, were soon distracted by views of the sea and ran ahead. Stanislas bought a car and hired a young local man to drive the Zusman family towards the border. Once in France, they stopped at a guesthouse to rest. They left their suitcases in the car and paid for their driver to spend the night at the guesthouse with them. In the morning they were to continue their journey south. Eva would not be separated from the fur coat that she had bought in Geneva the previous winter. It was to accompany her every step of her journey. In the morning both car and driver had disappeared. Their only means of transport and their belongings had gone. Dunkirk under siege By 15 May the Netherlands had surrendered to Germany and the Zusman family were on their way to Dunkirk. When they arrived days later, the city felt unnaturally quiet. Bomb explosions could be heard in the distance and smoke was visible to the north. Eva searched for provisions and a place to stay, and found both in a farmhouse on the outskirts of the city. What happened in Dunkirk was to haunt Eva for many years after the war and she wrote down her memories in her diary. "We didn't know that the entire British army was back in Dunkirk as they were trying to escape back by the sea. We spent a terrible night under bombardment in Dunkirk, we didn't know what awaited the soldiers on the beach. Stanis thought we should board one of the boats heading to England too." By 21 May, British, French and Belgian troops were in effect trapped along the French coast. A French division had held the Germans near Lille and given the Allies time to gather in Dunkirk, but time was running out. Prime Minister Winston Churchill had called for small private boats and ships to gather along the coast to take part in the evacuation. Escape from Dunkirk Stanis and his family joined other civilians fleeing the bombardment. They headed south-east, hoping for a train to take them away from the fighting. Bikes, carts, horse-drawn carriages, trucks, prams, young and old, women and children fled south in whatever way they could. Nobody knew how long the journey would last or where they would spend the night. More than 20,000 civilians were to lose their lives in France in May and June 1940. Anita still remembers the warmth of her mother's fur coat. She slept on it and covered herself with it when it was cold at night. It became more of a treasure than Eva could have ever imagined. Then came the separation. Stanis decided to buy a motorcycle with a sidecar. A young man was found to drive it and Eva was to go in the sidecar with her daughter, while Stanis would follow with his father and his brother's family. Their aim was to head south to Lyon, from where they thought they would take a train. The journey was slow because of the crowds of refugees. Eventually the petrol ran out and mother and daughter continued on foot. Even now Anita remembers the hunger. They went for days with little or nothing to eat, sometimes buying bread and vegetables from locals. Eva wrote in her diary: "I will never forget a farmer who gave me an egg for Anita and a lady who wanted to snatch it from me to give it to her elderly husband. I kept it for Anita, I was able to boil it, she ate it very happily and she vomited it straight away." Under attack Most people on the roads slept under trees and in the bushes, but Eva hoped for a safer place. One night she knocked on the door of a farm, asking for food and a place to sleep. But the farmer was overwhelmed by the number of refugees on his doorstep. Turned away, they sheltered in nearby fields and awoke to the siren of an approaching German Stuka dive-bomber. Stuka bombers terrified the local population at this time, their sirens a warning of imminent attack. Eva watched the plane dive as it approached its target, its machine-gun spraying bullets everywhere. Then it dropped a bomb and the farm went up in flames. Eva and Anita ran as far as they could, to escape the heat of the flames, and the danger that the fire would spread to the dry fields nearby. Eva threw herself on the ground, trying to cover Anita with her own body. What would happen to her child if she died, she thought. It would be better if they died together. The German checkpoint was barely visible, as so many people were attempting to get through. Face to face with the invaders Long lines of trucks, carriages and those on foot had found their journey brought to an unexpected stop. Eva had heard rumours that the Germans were coming. But no-one realised that the occupying army was already everywhere. At the checkpoint Eva came face to face with the first Nazi soldier she had ever seen. Unsure how to address him, she decided on German, to do everything in her power to get herself and her daughter out of the French fields and back to the Belgian capital, Brussels. While Eva had been talking, Anita had been picking daisies and came to her mother's rescue. She handed him the bunch of flowers she had picked and remembers the scene to this day. "He took me in his arms with the flowers, and told my mother that he had a daughter my age at home. He asked us where we came from and what he could do to help. When my mother said Switzerland, he laughed." There were no open roads into neutral Switzerland, but he did help get them to Brussels. As the rest of the queue looked on in envy, Eva and Anita got into a chauffeur-driven German Volkswagen and were taken to Brussels. After six weeks on the road they were finally reunited with Stanis. The Zusmans returned to their lives in Belgium, but as anti-Semitic laws intensified in Brussels, Anita was put on a Red Cross train to Switzerland, and was followed by her mother. Stanis tried to join them but was caught and eventually murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz in February 1943. Nadia Ragozhina is a distant cousin of Eva Zusman and is working on a book on her family's past through the 20th Century.

क्रिस्टोफर नोलन की द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध की रोमांचक फिल्म 'डंकिर्क' इस महीने अमेरिका और ब्रिटेन में प्रदर्शित हो रही है, जिसमें करीब आ रही जर्मन सेना से 300,000 मित्र देशों के सैनिकों के साहसी बचाव का नाटकीय चित्रण किया गया है। लेकिन जैसे ही वे इंग्लिश चैनल के पार भाग निकले, हजारों नागरिकों को खुद को बचाने के लिए छोड़ दिया गया। यह एक परिवार की कहानी है।


Prince Philip: How deaths of public figures can affect others

Summary: Following the Duke of Edinburgh's death, tributes were paid to the man millions of people have known from afar for decades. According to his son, Prince Andrew, "we've lost the grandfather of the nation", but what sort of impact could his death have on those who never met him?

By Jules Hyam & Steve MellenBBC News Bristol For some people who have been bereaved before, the duke's death will have triggered feelings of grief they might have felt for a family member or friend. Prof Tony Walter, from the University of Bath, said there could be "an almost instinctive sense of gap when someone in the public eye dies", even if they had never met. But different people's deaths can trigger a variety of emotions within different parts of society, he added. "When Princess Diana died, I am sure it raised all sorts of anxieties in families with children," Prof Walter, director of the university's Centre for Death and Society from 2011-15, continued. "When the Queen Mother died it was more a reflection on the end of an era. "Now, with Prince Philip, I am sure it is touching a lot of people who, like the Queen, are widowed in old age." The biggest single group who have died with Covid-19 has been older men, but any death could trigger previous bereavements, he said. Rosemary and Roger Cullimore, from Somerset, had been married for 49 years when he became ill and died, aged 94, in March 2019. In the immediate aftermath she experienced many emotions but it was the practical things that floored her. "I wish I had paid more attention because he did all the little DIY jobs around the house and he put the rubbish out. Then all of a sudden I was having to do everything by myself," Mrs Cullimore said. Although 19 years her senior, the 77-year-old said Mr Cullimore was more agile than her and was very active until his last year. "I wish I had had a dog or something, especially with lockdown," she said. "We had had our pets but because of our age, we had decided it wouldn't be fair for a dog if we had to give it up when we got older. "But now I wish I had a pet because the main thing I miss is companionship. We did everything together. "When my friends are doing something they will say come along, but then you are the odd one out, a third in the group. "My family has been my saviour, my children and grandchildren." The Queen has four children and eight grandchildren and was gifted two new corgi puppies during lockdown. Throughout history there has been far more mourning for public figures, leaders, kings and queens than there has been for "ordinary people" Prof Walter said. "I shed a tear when I heard the news," Mrs Cullimore said. "Prince Phillip has always been in my life. He had always been there for the Queen but he had always been there for the country too. "I never met him but I identified with him and her." The death of a public figure also "reminds us that we're not going to be around forever," said Dr Nilufar Ahmed, who works at the University of Bristol. The social sciences lecturer said the duke's death had "raised feelings of my own losses and my own grief". She said there was also a natural connection, especially in light of the past year when people have been unable to experience the social interactions they might otherwise have done. "When we see a connection, we feel safe; it reminds us who we are. Especially in lockdown, with so much uncertainty, we are looking for any point of connection that we can make," she said. For some, an emotional connection might be forged between people who have entertained others throughout their lives, which is broken by their death. The deaths of Big Brother star Nikki Grahame this month and TV presenter Caroline Flack in February 2020 could have had a profound impact on people who follow their lives online. "With Prince Philip, we only know what we're allowed to know. With Nikki [Grahame], Caroline [Flack] - they're so human, accessible, posting on social media. "So you feel a connection, and when you realise they're fallible it takes your breath away," said Dr Kate Woodthorpe, who also works at the University of Bath's Centre for Death and Society. "Success doesn't come with a guarantee of long life. There's a huge sense of injustice, a sense that they had so much more to give." Posting on Twitter, one person commented: "Still so heartbroken by this. Fighting a disease for over 30 years and it still wins. It's just so sad. #NikkiGrahame." Others on Twitter commented how triggering it was for them personally. Counsellor Emma Cavinder, from Taunton, said the presence of some public figures was such, that "you feel like you do know them". Her job brings her into close contact with bereaved teenagers and she says although young people can relate to stars, any sudden loss can be difficult to come to terms with. Tom Aplin, from St Peter's Hospice in Bristol, said there was no fixed model people could turn to, to deal with grief. He leads the emotional and psychological support team at the hospice, and said: "It all comes down to how grief is processed. "If someone has been ill for a long time then their partner, consciously or not, is preparing to lose them." Carole Henderson, from Grief UK, said it was "entirely natural" for people to have "overwhelming and conflicting feelings... even if it feels unnatural". She said if people were feeling upset, they could perhaps "try to connect [with people] in every way that we can, using technology or being in the same outside space" so people can make eye contact together. Mrs Cullimore, whose husband died two years ago, said keeping in touch with friends, even during lockdown, by text or phone, was a source of great comfort too. "I'm so grateful that Roger died before all of this virus happened," she said, adding: "We might not have been able to visit him in hospital and the funeral would have been so different. "I feel for those people experiencing loss now. It must make everything so much harder, even if you are the Queen." Around the BBC As it happened- 'Duke's legacy will live on' - BBC News Animated Thinking: Grief and the Pandemic Griefcast with Cariad Lloyd

ड्यूक ऑफ एडिनबर्ग की मृत्यु के बाद, उन व्यक्ति को श्रद्धांजलि दी गई जिन्हें लाखों लोग दशकों से दूर से जानते हैं। उनके बेटे, प्रिंस एंड्रयू के अनुसार, "हमने राष्ट्र के दादा को खो दिया है", लेकिन उनकी मृत्यु का उन लोगों पर क्या प्रभाव पड़ सकता है जो उनसे कभी नहीं मिले?


Who are the nationalist Finns Party?

Summary: Results from Finland's parliamentary elections last month have focused attention on the populist and Eurosceptic Finns Party, which won the second largest number of seats and may join talks with the Centre Party about forming a coalition government.

By Jan SundbergProfessor of politics, Helsinki University But what does the Finns Party stand for, and how might its involvement in government change the Nordic country's relations with other EU states? Anti-immigration rhetoric is one of the signature themes of the Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns. The party says immigration to Finland from outside the EU should be permitted only in cases where it brings economic advantage. It says social and health care should be primarily for Finns, and it dismisses some EU immigrants such as the Roma as "criminals" and others as people seeking to take advantage of Finland's welfare services. Refugees should flee to, and remain in, countries neighbouring their own and not come to Finland, it says. The country's aid budget should be abolished entirely and the money handed over to voluntary organisations. In an earlier manifesto, from 2011, the party suggested how demand for labour might be met without immigration. Young women should be persuaded not to study and instead give birth to Finnish babies who would eventually fill the demand for workers, it said. Language Several Finns Party MPs are active members of nationalist organisations campaigning to change bilingual Finland (where Swedish is an official language) to a unilingual citadel of Finnish. Much of the rhetoric on this issue is highly charged. One of the campaigners' aims is to end mandatory teaching of Swedish in Finnish schools. An initiative to make Swedish voluntary was voted down in parliament during the winter. However, a new policy, supported by the Finns Party, is being tested in municipalities close to the Russian border, where instead of mandatory Swedish, Finnish pupils will have mandatory lessons in Russian instead. The move has been applauded by Moscow, but it sends odd signals to the rest of the EU. History The party's origins lie in a split in the Centre Party (then known as the Agrarian League) in 1959, when charismatic former cabinet minister Veikko Vennamo resigned in protest at what he saw as Finland's too-friendly relations with the Soviet Union. After a period of instability and several name changes, he established the Rural Party in 1966. Basing its appeal on defending "forgotten" small-scale farmers, the party jumped from one seat to 18 in the 1970 election. After another split, triggered by a dispute over Mr Vennamo's leadership style, the party bounced back in 1983, winning 17 seats. Led by the founder's son, Pekka, the party criticised its established rivals as mired in bureaucracy and corruption. Policy focused on providing care and support for the poor and unemployed, with a dose of nationalism mixed in. But joining the government proved to be disastrous for the party. It was unable to keep its promise to abolish unemployment within months and fell into another political downturn. By 1995, the party was in ruins, and the True Finns Party was established from its ashes. Leadership With only one MP in parliament and the party in severe financial difficulties, Timo Soini took over as chairman in 1997. For three successive elections, the party failed to win significant support. But opportunity came in 2008 with EU economies in crisis. Mr Soini repeatedly accused the government of perpetrating a fraud on the Finnish people, above all for, as he saw it, bailing out spendthrift countries of southern Europe. Beneath the strong Euroscepticism lies a brand of Finnish nationalism that targets refugees, immigrants and the Swedish population in Finland. The 2011 election was a triumph for Mr Soini, whose party won 39 of the 200 seats in parliament, becoming the third biggest party but refusing to join a pro-bailout coalition. In last month's election, the party dropped one seat to 38, but emerged as the second largest party. Mr Soini, whose masters thesis was on populism, is a skilful speaker, talking in a way that appeals to many ordinary Finns. The Finns Party is set to form part of a new coalition government, along with the Centre Party of the likely next Prime Minister, Juha Sipila, and the conservative National Coalition Party. Mr Sipila has begun coalition talks and hopes to announce a new government by the end of the month. With Mr Soini in government, the Finns Party's opposition to any fresh bailout for Greece could complicate Helsinki's relations with Brussels. Whether Mr Soini's party, with its history of splits, will hold together when the next government announces inevitable spending cuts is another story.

पिछले महीने फिनलैंड के संसदीय चुनावों के परिणामों ने लोकलुभावन और यूरोसेप्टिक फिन्स पार्टी पर ध्यान केंद्रित किया है, जिसने दूसरी सबसे बड़ी संख्या में सीटें जीती हैं और गठबंधन सरकार बनाने के बारे में सेंटर पार्टी के साथ बातचीत में शामिल हो सकती है।


How are the Tories going after young people?

Summary: With viral campaign videos, the backing of grime MCs, and even an unofficial uniform of a bootleg Nike T-shirt - Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party were the undisputed winners of the youth vote at the general election.

By Leila NathooPolitical correspondent, BBC News The British Election Study - the most detailed of its kind - found 62% of 18-25 year olds surveyed voted Labour - compared with just 18% Conservative. In fact, the study showed Labour was more popular among all age groups right up to the age of 45. The grassroots group Momentum - which grew out of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership campaign in 2015 - has been credited with helping the surge in youth turnout, to its highest level in 25 years. Though it is not formally affiliated to Labour - through its savvy social media campaign and ground army of activists, Momentum was crucial to helping the party defy expectations in June. So how are the Conservatives responding? There's certainly been a lot of soul-searching since the election result and as the dust settles, some ideas are beginning to take shape. The Tories have long had youth wings. The Young Conservatives, in its heyday, boasted tens of thousands of members and some prominent alumni - William Hague, for example, who made his name as a 16-year-old giving a rousing speech at the 1977 Tory party conference. Over the decades, the group became divided, unpopular and troublesome to the party and it was William Hague - by then party leader - who, in 1998, decided to rebrand it as Conservative Future. But two years ago, Conservative Future was itself engulfed in a scandal. One of its activists, Elliot Johnson, took his own life after complaining about bullying at the hands of Conservative supporters. It led to, among other things, the entire leadership of Conservative Future being suspended by Tory HQ. Although the organisation was commanding no more than about 20,000 members in recent years - they had been active in previous elections, campaigning across the country. Lack of message This time round - there was a gap. How detrimental was that to the party? "Its relationship with young people within the party was a lot weaker than it should've been," says Stephen Canning, who was vice chair of Conservative Future at the time its national executive was disbanded. "There was no real incentive or message for young people in the party to stand up and shout for the party like there was for the Labour Party. There was no real concerted effort to get young people out there and doing stuff for the party and there wasn't really something for young people to believe in," he says. He admits that when he was one of those in charge, Conservative Future missed a trick. "We took too long to reform the organisation, we didn't see what we should be doing… it's much like the big tech companies - we've essentially been disrupted by a young start-up that is Momentum." The Conservative Party is now drawing up proposals to reform and restructure Conservative Future - focusing on training young members in policy development, campaigning and media skills. A spokesperson for the Conservatives said the party was continuing to support and work closely with a growing number of young members and volunteers. But there are many within the party who think a structured youth wing has had its day, and that more organic, unaffiliated groups are the way forward. And there are a number of them springing up. Just this week a group called Activate declared itself as a "national grassroots campaign organisation that seeks to actively engage young people in the right of centre politics". Though it has already been subjected to online mocking - a possible £500 membership fee for over-25s might be a bit too eye-watering to really get the movement going - it does illustrate a trend. Activist dialogue Another group, formed last year, is Conservative Progress which also has the aim of becoming a real grassroots organisation. "We saw a genuine need within the Conservative family for a constructive dialogue between the grass roots and the parliamentary party," says Nabil Najjar, one of the group's co-founders. "We saw an opportunity there to take a leading role in training up-and-coming activists and providing a forum for Conservative Party volunteers to get involved in political discussions, to network and to try to develop a counter measure to all of the grassroots activity that Labour are currently involved in." But can these new groups - disparate as they are - really hope to rival Labour's activist army? Ben Howlett - himself a former chair of Conservative Future - was the Tory MP for Bath from 2015 until he was unseated by the Lib Dems this time round. He's now turning his attention to the grassroots too: "I think there's an opportunity to grow a movement. Not a right-wing Momentum incarnate - I think that's a nonsense idea and frankly no one would turn up wearing fields of wheat T-shirts brandishing banners of Theresa May's face, it's just not going to happen. "But there is an opportunity to get young people pushing a new type of direction within their own political parties." And that will be telling - whether any of these new groups can develop to actually influence the direction of the Conservatives - in the same way that Momentum's support has helped solidify Jeremy Corbyn's leadership and vision for the Labour party. 'Sounding authentic' Within the Tory party, there is now also a recognition that the Conservatives have for too long relied on the support of older voters and now need policies that directly appeal to young people, already largely disillusioned by Brexit. "We need to look at the structure of tuition fees, the interest rate - there's some policy work, on housing as well," says MP George Freeman, who chairs the Conservative Party's Policy Forum and the Prime Minister's backbench Policy Board. "Also campaigning, I think, [there are] some big questions- we were beaten soundly on social media. And I think thirdly there's a message about a new spirit of politics. I think people are distrusting of big machine politics, the repeated mantra, the line to take and I think they want a more authentic, personal political form of communication." It's fair to say that when it comes to appealing to young people, the Tories have somewhat struggled with an image problem. And this year's "strong and stable" election campaign didn't do the party any favours in the cool stakes either. George Freeman is organising an "Ideas Festival" in September - to try to stimulate some "fresh thinking" and new ways of communicating within his party, he says. In thrashing out how the Conservatives should best respond to the huge mobilisation of young voters - the answer is unlikely to feature the words "Tory Momentum", even if the Labour-supporting group is the inspiration.

वायरल अभियान वीडियो के साथ, ग्रेम एमसी का समर्थन, और यहां तक कि एक अवैध नाइके टी-शर्ट की एक अनौपचारिक वर्दी-जेरेमी कॉर्बिन की लेबर पार्टी आम चुनाव में युवाओं के वोट के निर्विवाद विजेता थे।


France's autism treatment 'shame'

Summary: In many countries, the standard way of treating autistic children is with behavioural therapy - stimulating and rewarding them to develop the skills they need to function in society - but France still puts its faith in psychoanalysis. And an increasing number of parents are now demanding change.

By Hugh SchofieldBBC News, Paris For autism campaigners, it is one of the most serious health scandals of our times. How for decades France turned its back on the latest scientific thinking, and treated autism as a form of psychosis. How, as a result, tens of thousands of children were misdiagnosed - or not diagnosed at all - and consigned to lives of misery. And how, to this day, in its approach to autism, the French medical establishment continues to believe in the powers of psychiatry and psychoanalysis - long after the rest of the world has switched to alternative methods of treatment. "It is an out-and-out disgrace," according to Daniel Fasquelle, a member of parliament who campaigns on the issue. "Every day I am contacted by parents with the same story - how their child's autism was not detected in time, so they never had the treatment that they needed. "Thousands of children could have been saved. They do it everywhere else. Why not here? It is France's shame." The row over autism in France has festered unreported for years. But recently it has become public. Independent associations have been created, lobbying for a move away from psychoanalysis and psychiatry, and over to the "behaviourist" treatments that prevail elsewhere. In early March, these groups scored an important victory - with a ruling from the health ministry that calls into question the use of psychoanalysis as a treatment for autism. But the psychoanalysts are not taking it lying down. From their point of view, behaviourism is a form of superficial social conditioning that does not address root causes - and they resent the way they have been typecast as the villains of the piece, when their aims are as sincere as those of their opponents. "One thing that never pays in the field of autism is triumphalism," said Lauriane Brunessaux, a child psychiatrist. "Autism is far too complex, and we understand it so badly. "Today it is the behaviourists who are being triumphalist." The behaviourist approach to autism was developed in the 1970s and 80s in the US and Canada, and it is now the norm in most of the world. Under the so-called ABA method (Applied Behavioural Analysis), autism is treated as primarily an educational - rather than a medical - problem. With a set of rewards (which can be granted or withheld) - and with plenty of individual attention - children can learn to function in society, and be much less of a burden on their families. "If you diagnose early, and then give the right treatment between the ages of two and seven, 70% of autistic children can acquire functional language skills. Here in France, we are way off that figure," says Fasquelle. "And the same pattern continues later in life. In the UK, there are 17 times more university students with autism than in France. It is unacceptable." The blame - Fasquelle and autism associations argue - lies with a medical establishment that remains fixated with Freud. "Today everyone knows that autism is a neuro-developmental problem. It is not a psychosis or mental disorder," says Muhamed Sajidi, president of the association Conquer Autism. "But in France it is the psychiatrists - heavily influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis - who remain in charge. And they have shut themselves off from all the changes in our knowledge of autism." Sajidi set up the association after his life was "destroyed", as he puts it, by the medical establishment's failure to diagnose his son Sami's autism. For him, as for many others, one of the worst aspects is how blame for autism has been laid at the door of the child's parents, and more especially of the mother. "The first time I went to see a doctor when my (autistic) son Gael was three and we thought there was a problem, the psychiatrist asked me if I had wanted him - if it had been a wanted pregnancy!" says Candy Lepenuizic, a British woman married to a Frenchman. "Then she asked what sort of dreams I had had while I was pregnant with him. And suggested the whole family have a course of psychotherapy. "At that point I got up and walked out. It was only because I had been warned this might happen that I did not burst into tears." Such horror stories are typical in French families of autistic children. "The whole idea was that it wasla faute à maman(the mother's fault). It was the 'refrigerator mum', or there was some problem with the family dynamic," says Lepenuizic. "They thought that if the child was failing to communicate with the outside world, it was because of some trauma in the womb or in very early life. There was a family malfunction, and we had to cure it!" Critics say this emphasis on psychoanalysis and relationships meant that autistic children were not spotted till far too late. And that, in turn, meant that their chances of effective treatment were sharply reduced. Some 60% of autistic children in Sweden attend school, Sajidi says. "Today only 20% of autistic children in France are in school, and often only part-time. The rest are either in psychiatric hospitals, or in medico-social centres, or living at home - or in Belgium," says Sajidi. "Many families are sending their children to Belgium, where it is much easier to set up behaviourist treatment centres. "Things are changing now, because parents are refusing to be taken for a ride by the professionals. But the real tragedy is with France's autistic adults, many of whom are in a state of total incomprehension or even self-mutilation. "Seventy-five percent of families with autistic children end in divorce, and normally it is with the mother that the autistic person stays. "Today these poor elderly women are looking after their adult children with no knowing what will happen when they die." If Sajidi and other campaigners are beginning to feel the wind turn, it is because the health ministry is finally beginning to fund pilot schemes for behaviourist schools, as well as early diagnosis centres. In its recent report, the ministry also effectively outlawed a practice known as "packing" where autistic children are wrapped in damp cloths in order to reconnect with their bodies. Campaigners say the treatment is both barbaric and ineffective. The fundamental problem, campaigners argue, is that the psychiatric profession is resisting calls for change, because the fewer patients there are, the less they earn. "They have a financial interest in institutionalising autistic children," says Sajidi. Lepenezuic says: "The state pays. The child doesn't get any better - but who cares? It's being looked after by the state, and the doctors are making a lot of money. Why would they change the system?" But on the other side of the fence, such charges are deeply resented. Child psychiatrists like Lauriane Brunessaux believe that the associations have grossly distorted the debate, and are engaged in a battle to "discredit psychoanalysis and the whole notion of the unconscious". Defenders of the French system argue that the situation was never as one-dimensional as the behaviourists have claimed. First of all, they say, there have been plenty of success stories emanating from a psychoanalytical treatment of autism. They just have not been so loudly trumpeted. Secondly, it is not as if the behaviourist approach is itself beyond criticism. In the US and Canada, argues Brunessaux, there have been studies that raise serious questions over its true scientific validity. "The only real scientific reference for behaviourism is the electric shock experimentation on rats carried out by (US psychologist) Burrhus Skinner in the 1940s. "Obviously the methods of reward and punishment today are totally different. But that is the background to behaviourism," she says. For leading French psychoanalyst Eric Laurent, there is a deeper problem. "Changing behaviour is one thing. But what do you do with the trouble that lies behind it? It is all very well to focus on the skills that can be transmitted via an intensive behaviourist approach, but that leaves a whole dimension out of the picture," he says. As for the charge that psychoanalysts are responsible for family breakdown, Laurent is equally dismissive. "The idea that you had to wait for psychoanalysts to come along for there to be hatred inside families is ridiculous. Hatred has always been there. "Psychoanalysis is being used as a scapegoat - though we should not perhaps mind that, as being a scapegoat is part of the role of psychoanalysis," he says. What angers people like Brunessaux and Laurent is that while on their side of the debate they are quite prepared to admit the effectiveness of behaviourism - as one of several possible approaches to autism - the behaviourists are dogmatically tied to their system and theirs alone. Whoever is ultimately in the right, what the autism row perhaps shows most clearly is the changing nature of French society. Once, families did what they were told. The state was ultimately benevolent, and had massive resources to dispense. If doctors chose institutionalisation, then who was to argue? Today it is different. Thanks to the spread of knowledge, the internet, consumerism and the decline of the collective spirit - families for the first time feel emboldened to think, and act, for themselves.

कई देशों में, ऑटिस्टिक बच्चों का इलाज करने का मानक तरीका व्यवहार चिकित्सा है-समाज में काम करने के लिए आवश्यक कौशल विकसित करने के लिए उन्हें प्रोत्साहित करना और पुरस्कृत करना-लेकिन फ्रांस अभी भी मनोविश्लेषण में अपना विश्वास रखता है। और अब माता-पिता की बढ़ती संख्या बदलाव की मांग कर रही है।


Peacekeeping, African warlords and Donald Trump

Summary: A change of attitude towards peacekeeping under US President Donald Trump could spell disaster for places like the Central African Republic, where the presence of a UN mission is trying to keep notorious warlords in check, writes the BBC's Fergal Keane.

They are the masters of the fearful day. I have met them in the Balkans and Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Their habitat is the failed or failing state where the most cunning and violent carve out fiefdoms. There, they remain free to terrorise and extort from defenceless civilians. They thrive best in places about which the world cares little, or at least does not care enough for the most powerful nations to send their troops to enforce a long-term peace. Welcome to the world of the warlords. We may be seeing a lot more of them if President Trump keeps his promise to scale back American support for UN peacekeeping. Currently the US supplies 28.57% of the total budget for UN deployments. There are very influential figures in the Trump administration with a visceral ideological dislike of the UN. At the very least, the new UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, faces an uphill fight to persuade the US to keep paying its current share of the peacekeeping budget. It was a debate much on my mind travelling in the Central African Republic (CAR). Red lines drawn At the moment, the UN's deeply-flawed mission (Minusca) is the only thing standing between that country and genocidal anarchy. In fighting last weekend, UN attack helicopters engaged militia who were attempting to advance on the town of Bambari. This very dilapidated, dusty town on the banks of the Ouaku River has become the first big test for UN peacekeeping in the age of Gutteres. In an arc to the north, several militias are threatening to advance on Bambari. The UN has drawn red lines, pledging to fight if the militias advance. There are thousands of frightened displaced people in and around Bambari who are depending on the international community to keep its word. But matters are complicated by the presence in Bambari of warlords like Gaetan Boade, known as "General Boade" a leader of the Christian "anti-Balaka" militia. Gen Boade has never had much faith in the blue helmets of the UN. Nor does his more genial aide de camp, "General" Tarzan, a nickname given to him by his troops. Their stronghold is on the Christian side of Bambari, across the Ouaku River among the narrow lanes of mud houses, a place whose poverty is indistinguishable from the dismal circumstances of their Muslim enemies. Gen Boade wears a crumpled, mustard-coloured cotton suit and brown, buckled shoes. He looks more like an out-of-work musician than a feared militia leader. But he is admirably frank when I ask if he is a warlord: "Yes. I have 28,000 men who are ready to protect the people." This is a substantial exaggeration but his men are regarded as a danger to the peace should they decide to fight. The young toughs who make up his militia hid their guns during our visit. But they are well armed and their leader is openly dismissive of the UN's ability to protect Christians. "If the Minusca were able to protect us they would stop the guy who commits exactions, who takes people as hostages, who kills in front of their eyes. Has Minusca really come to protect us?" No fear of blue helmets Bambari is filled with weapons despite the UN declaring it a non-militarised town. Nothing displays the limits of UN power quite like the swagger of Gen Boade's enemy, the Muslim leader of the Union for Peace in Central Africa (UPC) militia, "General" Ali Darassa, and his gun-toting army. Gen Darassa lives directly opposite the UN headquarters in Bambari. Like his enemy, he stands accused of sending his men on killing sprees in the surrounding countryside. But he has no fear of arrest by the blue helmets. Nor are they about to ask his militia to hand over the weapons they brandish during our interview. Like Gen Boade, Gen Darassa describes himself as a protector of the people. I put to him that there is another view, and that is that he is a ruthless killer. I caught a faint smirk as the question was translated. His reply was delivered in a calm monotone: "If I were a ruthless killer, people could not live peacefully near me. "I know that people are fleeing the other side to settle next to me. It is because here, there is peace; there is free circulation; there is social cohesion." Murderous momentum The latest fighting north of Bambari has come about because of an alliance between Muslim and Christian militias who want to dislodge Gen Darassa. The clashes illustrate the growing complexity of the crisis. Gen Darassa is an ethnic Peul, nomadic pastoralists who are being targeted by both Christian and Muslim militias on the basis of their ethnicity. Competition over resources, including gold, diamonds and cattle has created murderous momentum. The UN has drawn red lines in the past and failed to enforce its will. There is nobody more alert to weakness or disarray in the international community than the 21st Century warlord. He has studied the UN failures in Rwanda and Bosnia and other ruined places. He has seen the resurgence of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the struggles of the UN-backed government in Somalia. He has concluded that until such time, if ever, that the UN uses force to stop him, he will continue to act like the real power in the land. That means being free to kill his enemies, and the civilians who belong to that religious or ethnic group, and to plunder and extort along the roads. Warlords summoned The deputy chief of the UN mission is a former British diplomat, Diane Corner. She came to Bambari to tell Gen Boade and Gen Darassa what would happen if they started fighting. For weeks now, UN intelligence has been tracking the movement of convoys of armed men moving towards Bambari. The fear is of an outbreak of fighting in the town which would cause chaos for civilians. The warlords were summoned to a prefabricated office in the UN headquarters. They would not meet with Ms Corner together, so Gen Boade waited while Gen Darassa was told of the will of the international community. There were no photo opportunities. Ms Corner is a realist who understands the limits of a UN mission which must deal with complex regional politics, limited resources, uneven quality of troops, and a new occupant of the White House who believes in the mantra of "America First". The first thing she makes clear is that the UN had not come to negotiate with the warlords - rather to remind them that the red lines would be defended. "I reminded them that the international community was watching, and of their responsibilities towards the civilian population whose rights must be respected," she said. Ms Corner is a relatively recent recruit to the UN. She seems anxious to confront the bureaucratic and political challenges that routinely dog peacekeeping missions. The fact that UN attack helicopters were deployed at the weekend proves this. Not only in the CAR, but in trouble spots across the globe there will be warlords and beleaguered civilians watching what happens next. Read more about CAR:

अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प के तहत शांति स्थापना के प्रति दृष्टिकोण में बदलाव मध्य अफ्रीकी गणराज्य जैसे स्थानों के लिए आपदा का कारण बन सकता है, जहां संयुक्त राष्ट्र मिशन की उपस्थिति कुख्यात सरदारों को नियंत्रण में रखने की कोशिश कर रही है, बीबीसी के फर्गल कीन लिखते हैं।


More buck for your Big Bang Theory: What justifies a $1m pay packet?

Summary: The principal cast of US sitcom The Big Bang Theory have tripled their pay-packets, negotiating reported salaries of $1m (£600,000) per episode after organising a walk-out during the first week of production.

By Mark SavageBBC News entertainment reporter "They earned it," the show's creator, Chuck Lorre, told Entertainment Weekly. "It's a great cast. It's their time. "Everybody should be very successful and happy and rich." And rich they will be: With The Big Bang Theory commissioned until 2017, the show's three biggest names, Jim Parsons (Sheldon), Johnny Galecki (Leonard) and Kaley Cuoco (Penny) are guaranteed to earn $72m (£42.6m) each over the next three seasons. Their co-stars Mayim Bialik (Amy) and Melissa Rauch (Bernadette) have also secured pay rises, albeit for substantially lower salaries. Simon Helberg (Howard) and Kunal Nayyar (Rajesh) are expected to sign new deals later this week. Unsurprisingly, the cost of producing the sitcom has spiralled. TV network CBS is paying about $4m (£2.3m) per show before factoring in the cast's pay - that's more than a single episode of Doctor Who costs the BBC - but the actors went into negotiations knowing they had the upper hand. The series, about four nerdy men and the women who tolerate them, is a ratings smash, averaging 21.3m viewers per episode last year. Not only is it the highest-rated comedy in the US, but it is head and shoulders above its rivals. The closest competitor, Modern Family, has a weekly audience of 14.5m. Equally importantly, the geek-com scores well with younger viewers. Excluding sports, it is the number one show for both 12 to 17-year-olds and 18 to 34-year-olds, and that draws in lucrative advertising dollars. So the pay deal is "a studied appreciation of the show's potential for enduring popularity," says Toby Earle, TV critic for London Live. "In the short term there might be a financial dip in the money made from that programme - but if you look at global sales and syndication, they'll make that back. "Over a period of time, what seems like a huge outlay will be dwarfed by what they recoup." Highest-paid TV stars Salary per episode $1.8m for Charlie Sheen - Two and a Half Men (2010) $1.7m for Ray Romano - Everybody Loves Raymond (2003) $1.6m for Kelsey Grammer - Frasier (2002) $1.25m for Tim Allen - Home Improvement (1998) $1m for the main cast of Friends (2002) and Big Bang Theory (2014) The pay deals have inevitably been compared to those of the cast of Friends, who also got $1m per episode in 2002 - or $1.46m (£865,000) in today's money. Their pay packets actually ended up costing TV network NBC, who made a loss on the sitcom's final series, despite charging $473,500 (£280,000) for a 30-second advertising slot. But Ross and Rachel's bosses could take the financial hit because they knew the audience would stick around for the next show, and the one after that. "You can't pay too much for a hit show, although networks don't like to tell that to producers," Tim Brooks, co-author of The Complete Directory of Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows told the Los Angeles Times as the Friends juggernaut came to a halt in 2004. "At one point, Little House on the Prairie paid for the entire prime time NBC schedule, so one show can make a tremendous difference." And hit shows keep making money long after the cast moves on to bigger and better (or smaller and worse) projects. Once a threshold of 85-100 episodes is reached, a show can be sold into syndication, running in perpetuity on smaller cable channels. "A really good example of this is Seinfeld, which has made about $3bn over the years in syndication," says Toby Earle. "Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld have pocketed $400m each through syndication rights alone." The Big Bang Theory reached the syndication threshold in 2011, and it is consistently the most-watched re-run on US television. Not only that, but when the repeats started screening on the TBS network, viewing figures for the new episodes jumped by 21%. It's worth noting that the star's agents have negotiated a larger share of those syndication profits as part of their new contracts, too. So how has The Big Bang Theory come to dominate the sitcom field? If you look at the Emmys, it's apparently not a beloved show - consistently coming second to The Office, Modern Family and 30 Rock in the best scripted comedy category. But unlike all of those shows, it's a broad, traditional sitcom, filmed in a studio with multiple cameras and a laughter track. It employs several familiar tropes, from Penny and Leonard's will-they-won't-they relationship to the "odd couple" set-up of room-mates Sheldon and Leonard. But Ken Levine - a writer on M*A*S*H and Cheers - says it all comes down to the quality of the writing. "Big Bang Theory makes you laugh. They have jokes, jokes that are funny," he wrote on his blog. The secret, he continued, is hard work. "Shows like Big Bang Theory don't assign scripts to individual writers. The entire staff sits around a table and cobbles the draft together." But Toby Earle is less complimentary about the show's success. "It's pretty unthreatening," he says. "The funny thing for me about Big Bang Theory is that, on the surface, it celebrates nerd culture - but for me, it's taking the mickey out of these people. "It's saying 'we might not be that smart, but look at these guys, aren't they socially awkward and somewhat embarrassing? They can't even get girlfriends and when they do, they're kind of weird!' "Don't get me wrong, this programme is clearly doing something very right, but we're not talking about something smart - ironically enough, given its topic." In other words, for all of the jokes about particle physics and obscure Star Trek references, the show is more familiar than your facecloth - something its newly-wealthy star readily admits. "There's not anything to keep up with," Parsons told New York Magazine earlier this year. "You don't go, 'I didn't see the first three seasons, and now they're off with prostitutes, and they no longer work in the Mafia, and I don't understand what happened'. "People have so many choices on TV now, so no one's asking for you to marry us. You can enjoy our show without a weekly appointment."

अमेरिकी सिटकॉम द बिग बैंग थ्योरी के प्रमुख कलाकारों ने उत्पादन के पहले सप्ताह के दौरान एक वॉक-आउट का आयोजन करने के बाद प्रति एपिसोड $1 मिलियन (£6,00,000) के वेतन पर बातचीत करते हुए अपने वेतन-पैकेट को तीन गुना कर दिया है।


Cold-calling America - my 12 year-old son tries polling

Summary: I haven't even made it to America yet but my head is full of its electoral maths after two days working out Donald Trump's potential routes to power on the BBC's giant election touchscreen. We have a calculator button which is great fun and highly useful for the innumerate among us. It imagines the way a candidate can get to the White House once they've lost a big swing state along the way.

Emily MaitlisPresenter, BBC Newsnight What's already clear is that Clinton - on current poll projections - has many ways of getting there. Let's call it a five-lane highway. Trump's path is pretty narrow - more of a country lane - and almost automatically fails without either Florida and Ohio/Pennsylvania. It's tight. On election day, the first state-wide polls shut at 19:00 Eastern Time, and we will wait for results then from Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. The safest seats should come pretty quickly - based on a mixture of real ballots and exit polls. Places like Virginia - where it's closer - will take much longer. It was never actually called last time around. Don't be surprised if Trump seems to quickly take a lead in terms of his electoral votes tally - the "deep red" states like Kentucky and South Carolina should come pretty quickly. Anything that doesn't come soon means - possibly - it wasn't as predictable as we thought. And that's where the races get exciting. This stuff can become slightly contagious. Last night, I got home to find my 12-year-old had spent his penultimate day of half term - and my phone bill - cold calling the US to do his own telephone polls. We posted the findings on Twitter, where many of you asked to know more about his choice of states and approach. Who is ahead in the polls? So here's what I gleaned of his methodology over breakfast: He and his friend Dom went to a website called 50states.com It appears to contain a lot of American phone numbers. Data nirvana. They borrowed Dom's mobile phone. A Nokia brick. And looked up the state dialling codes. They thought up funny fictional people (Pete Griffin from Family Guy) and hunted down real people with the same name (in Rhode Island). They put on (appalling - I've heard them) American accents and told those whom they called that they were students (not technically a lie in the broadest sense). They woke people up in Oregon as they forgot the time difference. It seems even when disturbed in their beds, Americans were extremely friendly or at least receptive to phoney phone pollsters and no-one slammed the phone down. Questions: They asked them their profession, ethnicity, marital status and level of education. They promised them "aminomity" - which I'm informed is akin to anonymity if you're speaking in a cod American accent. They yielded some interesting new demographics: ie the white-female-married-lumberjack for Hillary (I guess that's what happens if you call Oregon, I guess not many pollsters do). They seemed to focus more on safe states than swing states for reasons best known to themselves (but may have something to do with the aforementioned quest for Funny Fictional Characters in Real Life Places). I offer up some of their data below: So? The big question - who comes out on top? Well, truth be told, my son Milo admitted he thought his polls were skewed as he hadn't found enough, "Sandistas or powerful Republicans". Nope, I didn't entirely understand it either. But I'm not getting involved. And Dom, I imagine, is running away as fast as he can before his Nokia brick takes another long distance battering... If you're reading this and you're American and you answered the phone, thank you. If you live in Oregon and never got back to sleep, I apologise. You were still a tremendous help. Emily Maitlis is presenting BBC Newsnight's coverage on the US presidential election. You can follow her on Twitter here, and watch more of her reports here.

मैं अभी अमेरिका भी नहीं पहुँचा हूँ, लेकिन बीबीसी के विशाल चुनावी टचस्क्रीन पर डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प के सत्ता में आने के संभावित मार्गों पर दो दिनों तक काम करने के बाद मेरा सिर इसके चुनावी गणित से भरा हुआ है। हमारे पास एक कैलकुलेटर बटन है जो हमारे बीच के असंख्य लोगों के लिए बहुत मजेदार और अत्यधिक उपयोगी है। यह कल्पना करता है कि एक उम्मीदवार रास्ते में एक बड़े स्विंग राज्य को खोने के बाद व्हाइट हाउस तक कैसे पहुंच सकता है।


Road painters misspell school at Wolvercote Primary

Summary: Children in Oxfordshire have been left doubting their text books after seeing a botched road marking outside their school.

A bungling road painter has left the word "schoul" written on the street outside Wolvercote Primary. An Oxfordshire County Council spokesman blamed BT contractors for the error. In a statement BT said: "All we can say at the moment is that our contractors are investigating whether they carried out this work on BT's behalf."

ऑक्सफोर्डशायर में बच्चे अपने स्कूल के बाहर एक खराब सड़क चिह्न को देखने के बाद अपनी पाठ्य पुस्तकों पर संदेह कर रहे हैं।