Aww-some animals: Why do baby mammals melt our hearts?

Summary: A newborn elephant at West Midlands Safari Park recently pressed a "cute button" across the world when its picture was shared on social media around the world. But why do photos of young animals pull on the heartstrings so much?

By Bethan BellBBC News It is a well-known phenomenon frequently exploited in marketing. It is arguably not rational to choose your insurance based on an anthropomorphised meerkat or your toilet roll because you like puppies. But emotional advertising works. Cuddly creatures turn cute into cash. Baby animals have the edge - fubsy lion cubs are cute - but their adult counterparts are, no matter how handsome, menacing. There is an obvious evolutionary explanation as to why we are drawn to human young - they need looking after or our species will die out. But why do we have the feeling towards most baby mammals? Nobel prize-winning Austrian academic Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989), who studied the evolutionary and adaptive significance of human behaviours - human ethology - pointed out many animals, for reasons entirely unrelated to enticing humans to be their caregivers, possess some features also shared by human babies but not adults: Large eyes, snub nose, bulging forehead and retreating chin. Lorenz believed we are tricked by an evolved response to human young and we transfer our reaction to the same set of features in other mammals. Anthropologist Andrew Marlow argues this reaction boils down to the way we, as humans, develop. He suggests the bar for triggering the nurturing impulse is very low in humans, because human babies are ill-equipped to survive and need an enormous amount of looking after. "It is partly an evolutionary battle between the pelvis and the cranium," said Dr Marlow. "We are the only animal which walks exclusively on two legs. It freed our arms for using tools, weapons and gathering food. But the trade-off is that to accommodate our bipedalism, pelvises shifted position and became narrower. "A modern woman is not physically capable of giving birth to anything larger than the head of a baby. "Therefore the human brain has to develop a lot after birth, rather than in utero. "Human babies are very vulnerable." Lorenz pointed out we judge the appearance of other animals by the same criteria as we judge our own - although the judgment may be utterly inappropriate in an evolutionary context. For example, new born chicks - despite appearances - are probably not yearning for a cuddle; and camels, with their noses in the air, are possibly not actually haughty. Even aquatic creatures provoke the response - many of us see a dolphin, with its bulbous forehead and smiley face, as "cute". Conversely, a shark, which is not a mammal, seems to have a cruel mouth and mean eyes. Nothing is inherently attractive or ugly, argues evolutionary biologist Simone Fellowes. "It is our response which interprets it so. If babies began being born with long noses and narrow heads, or even horns, we would start to find those features appealing. "In a more distilled way, it is why parents tend to believe their own offspring are more attractive than other babies. "There is an inherent instinct to preserve our own lineage. With a narrow focus, it means our own specific DNA. A wider focus means all human young. An even wider focus means all mammalian young." It means that although we are unlikely to confuse an infant human with a seal pup, we still have an impulse to care for the little fluffy creature with its big, imploring, black eyes. This desire can even go as far as inanimate objects. Cars marketed as "cute", such as the VW Beetle or Mini Cooper, have rounded bodies, prominent headlights and a short front end - or a chubby tummy, big eyes and a snub nose. "This is deliberate," said designer Ben Crowther. "Especially in a quickly-growing market of female buyers, friendly [looking] cars are increasingly popular. "It follows on that a significant proportion of these cars are given nicknames, further anthropomorphising them, bringing affections, and therefore loyalty." With their tough grey skin, beady eyes, flappy ears and visually ridiculous noses, elephant calves should not appeal - but they do. Again, it could be ascribed to identifying with human babies, said Mrs Fellowes. Elephant calves, although not similar in looks to human young, have the elements of other behaviours - they look clumsy, playful, fragile (next to their craggy relatives) and innocent. They stay close to their mothers, a survival instinct, but we interpret it as love. "We see infantile behaviour, interpret it incorrectly, and transfer our affections," said Mrs Fellowes. So when we find something adorably cute and aww over an elephant, or coo over a cub - we are not rationally responding to something which needs looking after; we could actually be compensating for a narrow birth canal and a poorly-developed brain. Which, in terms of human survival, is a very cute trick indeed.

वेस्ट मिडलैंड्स सफारी पार्क में एक नवजात हाथी ने हाल ही में दुनिया भर में एक "प्यारा बटन" दबाया जब उसकी तस्वीर दुनिया भर में सोशल मीडिया पर साझा की गई। लेकिन युवा जानवरों की तस्वीरें दिल की धड़कन को इतना क्यों खींचती हैं?


Token Homes: The sculpture that sums up the housing crisis

Summary: Can't afford to buy a house? Perhaps you'll be able to afford to buy one of the 400 miniature empty homes in a new sculpture that has been made as a comment on the UK's housing market.

By Ian YoungsArts & entertainment reporter Matthew Plummer Fernandez's 3m (10ft) artwork was made with a 3D printer. It has been unveiled as part of the first York Mediale digital arts festival, and was inspired by the artist's own struggles to buy a home. The 36-year-old Londoner is planning to put each of his 400 units up for sale. Anyone who buys one will own a share of the sculpture, and the prices will be pegged to the house prices in the place where it eventually ends up. Plummer Fernandez wants his artistic housing block, titled Token Homes, to be seen as a comment on the way many homes are built and bought firstly as investments, rather than to live in. "Housing units and flats become nothing more than a vehicle for investing money and generating a return, or having that as the savings account," he says. "And that value tends to equate to the value of where they're situated. "So I wanted to create a housing estate where the housing function is removed. No-one actually lives in these homes - they're just financial vessels, they're just these little units that you can buy and sell." Plummer Fernandez had the idea for the sculpture after scrolling through property websites, he says. "I'm definitely generation rent. Buying a property is extremely difficult and unfathomably expensive. "And when you look into it, you realise a lot of it is fuelled by property market speculation, and that a lot of the schemes that are being built are not for us, not for residents. "I live in London and you see buildings going up everywhere, but a lot of them are aimed at overseas investors, and a lot of these houses remain empty. "They're just there as financial devices, rather than homes. I've had moments when I've tried to buy a house and then just found it impossible." In 1995-96, 65% of middle-income 25 to 34-year-olds owned a home, but just 27% did in 2015-16, with the biggest drop in south-east England, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Meanwhile, the number of households in the private rented sector in England rose by 80% in the decade after 2006/07, government statistics show. You may also be interested in: Plummer Fernandez hasn't put the sculpture's 400 miniature homes on the market yet and their price will depend on the artwork's eventual permanent home. "I wish York would adopt it," he says. "That would be great. But there are no plans to fix it there yet." Anyone who eventually buys one will become a co-owner of the sculpture. Artworks, like houses, are often bought as investments. "There's a direct parallel there and I'm playing a little bit with that as well," Plummer Fernandez says, adding that art is "another form of parking money". The sculpture was 3D-printed by North Yorkshire-based Stage One after Plummer Fernandez spent a six-month residency with the architectural design company. It has been placed in Kings Square for the duration of York Mediale, which opened on Thursday and runs until 6 October. The festival was created following York's designation as a Unesco City of Media Arts in 2014. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

घर नहीं खरीद सकते? शायद आप एक नई मूर्तिकला में 400 लघु खाली घरों में से एक को खरीदने में सक्षम होंगे जिसे यूके के आवास बाजार पर एक टिप्पणी के रूप में बनाया गया है।


The Photographic Life of Bill Jay

Summary: A new film, Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay, is about to premiere in Bristol. It explores the life of Bill Jay, one of the most influential figures in British photography. Grant Scott, lecturer and writer and one of the film's editors and producers explains why Jay is such an important figure.

To suggest that Bill Jay was the spark that lit the fire beneath British photography in the late 1960s and helped form the idea of photography as contemporary practice in the 1970s is no exaggeration. His seminal lecture at Manchester Polytechnic in the autumn of 1971 certainly did that for the now established then student photographers Martin Parr, Daniel Meadows and Brian Griffin. Jay's promotion of the work of Tony Ray Jones, saving of the Francis Frith collection, creation of the Photo Study Centre at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London and involvement in creating the first photographic gallery - the Do Not Bend Gallery - among so many other initiatives cannot be easily dismissed when assessing the photographic landscape of 1970s Britain. Bill Jay said of himself, in an editor's letter in Creative Camera in 1969: "The fate of photography in this country is at stake. And that is more important than my opinions, or your opinions of me." Yet as of a couple of years ago I had only the vaguest knowledge of his work and impact. My own opinion of him came last year when I sat down to read his book, Occam's Razor. It was like someone had switched on a very bright light. Jay's way of writing and beliefs concerning photography were an echo of my own. What happened next I have no explanation for, but I instantly decided that I would make a film about Bill Jay. I knew nothing about him, his life or his death. All I knew was that I would make a film. The journey to discover Bill Jay had begun. And during the following months of reading his books and articles and talking to everyone and anyone I could find who had known him, I was presented with a story filled with intrigue, missing links, beliefs, misunderstandings, memories and perhaps most importantly a sense of commitment, passion and enthusiasm for the subject he devoted his life to, that of photography. Evangelical in his zeal in sharing his passion for the medium and a mercurial force of energy when it came to his teaching and lecturing, he ignited the fire beneath British photography in 1968 with his editorship of Creative Camera magazine and fanned its flames through his self-created Album magazine. He was the first director of photography at the ICA, in 1970, and an intrepid visiting speaker and arranger of talks at the Royal Photographic Society, local camera clubs and polytechnics across the land before he decamped to the University of New Mexico and on to Arizona State University for a life of academia. His lectures and teaching created a generation of American photographers, teachers, curators and publishers. While teaching, he wrote 20 books and more than 400 articles on and about his beloved medium. He was addicted to coffee and cigarettes, built cabins in the woods, had a fondness for guns, lived in a nudist colony and was bitten by a rattlesnake. And so my co-producer and director, Tim Pellatt, and I set out to make a film of his life. Each time I spoke to someone about Bill Jay another piece in the jigsaw of his life would fall into place or as was more often the case another question for me to answer would be posed. Perhaps the most constant of these questions was just why was he like he was? What drove his passion and his dedication to the medium of photography? And the answer to that, which we believe we have found, is what takes our film away from being focused solely on photography and perhaps is the one thing that successful films have, a universal connection with all of our personal experiences. A controversial figure until the end of his life, Bill Jay has provided us with a story to tell - but his is not the only story yet to be explored. Now is the time to find and tell the stories that interest and connect with you. I can only encourage you to turn those stories into films and share them. A lack of budget does not have to be an issue. Today with filmmaking, anything is possible. The film, Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay, premieres at the Martin Parr Foundation on Friday, 20 April. Further screenings with panel discussions featuring Grant Scott and Tim Pellatt will take place in collaboration with the Royal Photographic Society on 8 May at The Frontline Club and the Oriel Colwyn Gallery on 11 May, where an exhibition of Jay's work will be on show until 30 June. The Scottish premiere of the film will take place in collaboration with Stills, Edinburgh, Street Level, Glasgow and Edinburgh Napier University in September. You can find out more about the film at www.donotbendfilm.com. You can follow Grant on Twitter and on Instagram @UNofPhoto.

एक नई फिल्म, डू नॉट बेंडः द फोटोग्राफिक लाइफ ऑफ बिल जे, ब्रिस्टल में प्रीमियर होने वाली है। यह बिल जे के जीवन की पड़ताल करती है, जो ब्रिटिश फोटोग्राफी में सबसे प्रभावशाली हस्तियों में से एक है। ग्रांट स्कॉट, व्याख्याता और लेखक और फिल्म के संपादकों और निर्माताओं में से एक बताते हैं कि जे इतने महत्वपूर्ण व्यक्ति क्यों हैं।


Why no-one heard the Grenfell blogger's warnings

Summary: When fire engulfed Grenfell Tower nearly six months ago, with the loss of 71 lives, many were astonished that a London tower block could burn so quickly and with such devastating results. But one of the building's residents foresaw it all too clearly - he just couldn't find anyone to listen to his warnings.

By Gemma NewbyBBC News Last November, on a grey Sunday with the rain drizzling constantly outside his window, a man sat at his computer on the 16th floor of his West London tower block and began to write a blog. "It is our conviction that a serious fire in a tower block... is the most likely reason that those who wield power at the KCTMO [Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation] will be found out and brought to justice!" Six months later, on 14 June, London woke up to the news that a fire had blazed through Grenfell Tower on the Lancaster West estate in North Kensington, killing dozens of residents. By the following night the blog had received more than two million hits. "You know when you just get the pen and just write?" says the blog's author. "That's what happened that day, and looking back it's like a premonition that's so awful. I would never have written that had I known what was going to happen." The man behind the blog is Edward Daffarn, a 55-year-old social worker who had lived on the estate for 16 years. He was in his flat two-thirds of the way up Grenfell Tower when the fire took hold. Luckily, a neighbour called him in time and urged him to get out. He wrapped a wet towel around his head and ran into the smoke that had already filled the building. That night he lost his home, all his possessions, and the community he loved. Daffarn is understandably emotional when reflecting on the last few months, but more than that he is angry. Angry with the way he feels Grenfell residents were treated by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation - the people who were entrusted to maintain the estate and keep its residents safe. Angry with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council, which was meant to scrutinise the KCTMO. Angry with a society which didn't seem to care about people like him - people who live on housing estates - until it was too late. "The reality is if you're on a housing estate it's indifference and neglect, two words that sum up everything about the way we were treated," he says. "They weren't interested in providing housing services, keeping us safe, maintaining the estate. They were just interested in themselves." Daffarn and fellow Grenfell resident Francis O'Connor had been blogging on behalf of the Grenfell Action Group since 2012. They wrote about issues that concerned their tight-knit community - air pollution, the closure of the local public library, and their fears that corners were being cut during the refurbishment of the tower. "We wanted to record for history how a community on a housing estate in the fifth richest country in the world could be ignored, neglected, treated with indifference. We never thought we could make change. We just wanted to record what was happening," he says. Daffarn and O'Connor shared a theory that Kensington and Chelsea - a London borough more widely known for its museums, designer shops and flower shows - actually wanted its council estates to go into decline, so that the residents would leave and expensive flats could be built in this sought-after location. For this they were described as fantasists. "We weren't fantasists," he says, visibly hurt. "We were trying to raise genuine concerns about how our community was being run down." The natural consequence, he concluded, would be loss of life. Which is why on 20 November 2016, frustrated and desperate, Edward wrote the blog post KCTMO - Playing with fire! "It is a truly terrifying thought but the Grenfell Action Group firmly believe that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord." A few months earlier a fire had ripped through five floors of a tower block in Shepherd's Bush, just down the road. Edward was worried that if a fire broke out in his tower block residents wouldn't know what to do. They had been given no proper fire safety instructions from the KCTMO. There were no instructions on individual floors on how residents should act in the event of a fire, there was only a recent newsletter saying residents should remain in their flats - advice which in the case of the Shepherd's Bush fire would have led to fatalities. In March 2017 the KCTMO installed fire safety instruction notices in the entrance hallway to Grenfell Tower and outside the lifts on every floor of the building, again urging residents to "stay put" unless the fire was "in or affecting your flat". It wasn't the first time the Grenfell blog's authors had raised concerns about fire safety. Before the blog began, when a school was built on the only green space the residents had, they wrote to the borough pointing out that access for fire and emergency vehicles had been compromised. Later they blogged about the blocking of a fire exit with mattresses during the refurbishment and the power surges in 2013 that manifested in flickering lights, computers and stereos blowing up, and entire rooms filling with smoke. These continued for three weeks, Daffarn says. "We were tenants we weren't fire safety specialists but we were switched on enough to feel this was important and it was not being dealt with on our estate and that's why we were blogging. It wasn't for us to tell the council what they should be doing., We were just trying to raise an alarm." An alarm that went unanswered. The November 2016 blog post represented the last moment at which something might have been done to avert the disaster which followed six months later. But why didn't anyone heed or investigate Daffarn's claims? Hidden within the story of the Grenfell blog is another story of the decline of local media. There simply was no local press on the ground in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea scrutinising the authorities and helping to amplify the voice of people like Edward Daffarn. The last time he had the attention of a local journalist was in 2014 when Camilla Horrox, the reporter for the Kensington and Chelsea Chronicle ran front page stories about Grenfell residents' concerns regarding the possible presence of asbestos on the site of the new school and about the power surges. She had met Daffarn several times, and had been concerned about KCTMO's dealings with the residents of the properties it managed. But when the newspaper was closed down later that year Horrox was made redundant and all her Grenfell articles disappeared from the web. The Kensington and Chelsea Chronicle was incorporated into a website that reports on 29 west London districts. Horrox's replacement was expected to report on three boroughs - Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham - while based in Surrey, an hour's drive away. Some residents of the borough might have been under the mistaken impression that they did have a local newspaper. In 2015 a free paper, The Kensington and Chelsea News, was established to fill the gap left by the closing of the Chronicle. But when I tracked down its reporter he explained that he was the sole reporter working on the paper, and on two other local newspapers - his salary was £500 a week and he did almost all his reporting from home in Dorset, 150 miles away. He made it to the borough only twice in two-and-a-half years, and the one story he ever published about Grenfell was from a council press release about the installation of the new cladding. Find out more Local News: What Are We Missing? was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Listen again on iPlayer. Though he always searched for a "good front page splash" for each of the three editions, he also made sure to find two pages of royal stories and two pages of entertainment stories. Edward Daffarn didn't take his concerns to the media in November 2016 because he no longer thought anyone would listen. But the blog was out there for everyone to see, he points out, if only they had been looking. "We'd been blogging for three or four years and you go back over that time there's a lot of abusive behaviour evidenced forensically about what was happening to our community, but it wasn't sexy so it never got picked up." For Edward, what was going on at Grenfell wasn't just a local story, but a national one. A story about invisible people in a society that cared more about celebrity and wealth than its most vulnerable residents. Close to tears, he admonishes the nation's journalists. "If you look back now our whole community of North Kensington, the policy that the local authority was taking every public space and privatising it, that that could be missed by the BBC, by Channel Four, by these wider news agencies... The question should be for you, why did you miss it? "Why aren't our lives important enough for you?" 'Our residents deserve answers' Responding to Edward Daffarn's allegations, a spokesman for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council said: "The Tenant Management Organisation was responsible for managing and maintaining Grenfell Tower. Our residents deserve answers about what went wrong and the public inquiry will help provide these. "We're changing our Council and the way we work with our communities, ensuring residents are at the heart of everything we do. We will provide all households from Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk with the best offer of new housing possible - and we are listening to what they want and moving at their pace." A spokesman for the Tenant Management Organisation declined to respond to specific allegations because of the public inquiry and police investigation into the tragic events at Grenfell Tower. He added: "As a resident-led organisation we want to fully understand what happened at Grenfell Tower. We recognise our responsibility to ensure that the public inquiry and police investigation processes are not hampered or undermined in any way; to that end we are co-operating fully with them and are determined to continue to help with these processes." Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

जब लगभग छह महीने पहले ग्रेनफेल टावर में आग लगी थी, जिसमें 71 लोगों की जान चली गई थी, तो कई लोग आश्चर्यचकित थे कि लंदन का एक टावर ब्लॉक इतनी जल्दी जल सकता है और इतने विनाशकारी परिणामों के साथ। लेकिन इमारत के निवासियों में से एक ने यह सब बहुत स्पष्ट रूप से देखा-उसे अपनी चेतावनियों को सुनने के लिए कोई नहीं मिला।


Why Brexit is getting laughs at the Edinburgh Fringe

Summary: Britain's departure from the EU is a hard topic to get away from, even at the Edinburgh Fringe. But has anyone in Edinburgh found anything new and, more importantly, anything funny to say about it?

By Vincent DowdArts reporter, BBC News Kieran Hodgson admits he's a nerd when it comes to 1970s British politics. The actor and comedian, who's made a name for himself in BBC Two sitcom Two Doors Down, says that's why he based his Brexit show at this year's Edinburgh Fringe on the largely forgotten first referendum on UK membership of the Common Market. The 1975 vote came down heavily in favour of continued membership - 67% to 33%. Hodgson says he's drawn to larger-than-life characters - and "the 1970s were rich in them. My favourite was Tony Benn, but also there were people like Roy Jenkins and Barbara Castle [all originally Labour MPs]. "They'd grown up addressing public meetings, so they were more theatrical than many politicians today." Hodgson's one-man show, called '75, looks at parallels with the 2016 referendum. It introduces his mother as a pro-Brexit voter to contrast with his own Remain opinions. "I knew there was a danger of making the piece dryly political, so the family relationship gives a warmth," he explains. There's a lot more shows about Brexit at this year's Fringe. Many of them feature Remain-inclined performers talking about their parents having voted to leave the EU in 2016. One of the most extravagant is Jonny Woo's All Star Brexit Cabaret, in which burlesque performer Woo and guests use songs by Richard Thomas, composer of Jerry Springer: The Opera, to explore the 2016 result. Woo is passionately in the Remain camp, but says he wasn't interested in simply telling off Brexiteers for getting it wrong. "Pretty much any politicians are fair game for satire and comedy," he says. "But our cabaret's also about how ordinary voters treated each other during and after the referendum. "My father is a Brexit voter, and the way Remain people can talk about the other side in such a blanket way I sometimes find appalling." The show applies the glitz of drag and burlesque to both sides of the campaign. Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel are ridiculed equally. Woo says the drag element helps reassure punters they're not in for a dreary political rant. Richard Thomas says he tries to avoid the term satire entirely. "Often people mentally file satire away under 'just not funny'," he explains. "We have to make it work as comedy. "We're hoping to do it beyond Edinburgh. I'd love to see it on TV on the [UK's] last night in the EU next year." Geoffrey Brown's show It's a Dog's Brexit is a long way from Woo's spangly costumes. But it's a sign of interest in the topic that he's drawing a daily audience to an illustrated lecture on Brexit, delivered with charm and a touch of humour. "I use slides to set out the story so far and to indicate what may happen after March," he reveals. "I'm a Remainer, but I still try to give all sides of the argument. "This is the third year I've done the show, and I think people have woken up more to the options ahead of us. The majority of people who come are probably also Remainers - for one thing we're in Scotland which voted 62% to stay in. But we all benefit from being reminded of the facts." Stand-up Jacob Hawley is a newcomer to Edinburgh. His show, Howl, also draws material from the voting schism in his own family. On stage and off, though, he talks with warmth about his parents' pro-Brexit politics. "Some left-wing publications blamed working-class people for the referendum and took the view they had to be re-educated," he says. "But my family weren't anti-immigrant and they looked sceptically at the promises politicians were making. "But they did want to shake up the country, and voting to leave was the way to do it. So I do try to throw some light on why people voted the way they did, and to avoid the cliches." One show about Brexit - called, er, Brexit - isn't stand-up at all but a comedy drama by Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky. It stars Timothy Bentinck - David Archer in The Archers - as a Conservative prime minister trying to negotiate his way out of a prolonged post-Brexit transitional period. Salinsky says that while he was sure Brexit was the right topic for 2018, "it was a tough play to write. You want it to be searingly topical, but there's also a danger of writing something that goes out of date. "That's partly why the play's set in 2020." Then there's A Very Brexit Musical, an energetic romp presented by students from Cambridge University. With the luxury of eight musicians on stage, Molly Cook and Anthony Gray's show has "Joris Bohnson" as its comic lead and tells how politics and journalists need each other deep down. Matt Forde, probably the best-known of the Brexit satirists in Edinburgh this year, has no hesitation in saying he voted Remain. His one-man show, Brexit Through the Gift Shop, offers sharp political stand-up with choice impressions thrown in. "There's a natural chaos at the heart of Brexit so it makes for great comedy," says Forde, who hosts the political comedy show Unspun With Matt Forde on Dave and is surely one of the few people who can claim to have appeared on both Mock The Week and Question Time in the same year. "It's about jealousy and ambition and career, which is often the meat of political satire anyway," he continues. "I notice people are much keener now to seek out political comedy than they were," he continues. "Compared to the coalition years in the UK, people are just more interested in what's happening. "Everyone can see how inevitably it will affect their own lives, whether they were pro-Brexit or not. Every few years, when there are these big binary choices being made, it can be a great time for political comedy. "So in that sense only, long may the chaos continue." The Edinburgh Festival Fringe continues until 27 August. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

यूरोपीय संघ से ब्रिटेन का अलग होना एक कठिन विषय है, यहां तक कि एडिनबर्ग फ्रिंज में भी। लेकिन क्या एडिनबर्ग में किसी को इसके बारे में कुछ नया और सबसे महत्वपूर्ण बात कहने के लिए कुछ मजेदार मिला है?


Uwic changes name to Cardiff Metropolitan University

Summary: A south Wales university is starting out life under a new name.

From 1 November, the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (Uwic), will be known as Cardiff Metropolitan University. Last month the institution rejected a call to form a super-university with the University of Wales, Newport and the University of Glamorgan. In a statement it said it looked forward to a bright future as a strong, student-centred university. Uwic can trace its history back to 1865 when the School of Art opened in the Old Free Library Building on Cardiff's St Mary's Street. In 1996 it became one of the colleges of the University of Wales. Eleven thousand students from more than 125 countries attend the university which offers over 100 undergraduate courses. It revealed its plan to re-brand last month in an email sent to staff and students saying it wanted its own degree-awarding powers. 'Recognised brand' The decision came in the wake of controversies surrounding the University of Wales (UoW). A BBC Wales investigation uncovered a student visa scam at colleges offering UoW-validated qualifications. The university said that as Uwic was a well-recognised brand in Wales the name would be incorporated with the new name Cardiff Metropolitan University for the foreseeable future. "By handling the process internally we have been able to keep the costs of rebranding to a minimum," explained the university. "Overall we look forward to a bright future under the new Cardiff Metropolitan University name as a strong, student-centred university focused on the economic, social and cultural well-being of Cardiff and south east Wales." The proposed super-university merger was suggested by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (Hefcw), which said Wales's current 11 universities should be cut to six. Uwic had previously declined to merge with Swansea Metropolitan University and Trinity Saint David as The University of Wales, announcing in July its "regret" over the decision. It later rebuffed a possible merger with the University of Glamorgan.

साउथ वेल्स विश्वविद्यालय एक नए नाम से जीवन की शुरुआत कर रहा है।


Hathras case: A fatal assault, a cremation and no goodbye

Summary: On the last day of September, India woke up to the disturbing news that authorities had forcibly cremated the body of a 19-year-old Dalit (formerly untouchable) woman who had alleged gang rape and died a day earlier.

By Geeta PandeyBBC News, Hathras, Uttar Pradesh The news caused global outrage, leading to accusations that the young woman - who was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men and had fought for her life for two weeks - was treated as shabbily in death as in life. The police in Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh state, where the attack took place, said the family had consented to her cremation. But her family and local journalists, who were present in the village when her funeral pyre was lit at around 2:30am, have contested the claim in interviews with the BBC. I travelled to Bhulgarhi village in Hathras district to find out what exactly happened on the night of 29 September. What emerges is a story of an unequal balance of power between the might of the state and some of its most disadvantaged citizens, officials' disregard for protocol, and their seeming unconcern for a grieving family trying to come to terms with a tragedy. Where's the body? "My sister died at 6:55am on Tuesday [29 September] in Delhi's Safdarjung hospital. Around 9am, they asked us to sign some papers so the body could be taken for a post-mortem," says the victim's younger brother. "That was the last time we saw her body," he adds as we sit chatting on the floor, our backs to the wall in the outer area of his home. The courtyard is overrun with dozens of journalists and politicians of all hues, who are visiting the family one by one to offer condolences. The victim's brother, his father and two other male relatives had accompanied the victim when she was moved a day before her death to Delhi from the hospital in Aligarh city where she had been treated since 14 September - the day she was attacked. A few hours after her death, when they went to the forensic department to check when they could collect the body, he says they received conflicting replies from the policemen and officials. "One said the body had already been released, another said it had reached Noida [a town on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border], yet another said it was in Hathras. "I asked them how can you take the body without our permission?" Soon, their relatives arrived and began a protest outside the hospital, demanding the body be handed over to them. They were joined by activists of the Bhim Army, a party that fights for the rights of Dalits who are at the bottom of the unforgiving Hindu caste hierarchy. Back in the village, the family had already begun mourning. "They called in the morning to say she had died," says the victim's sister-in-law. "They were crying on the phone. Everyone began crying here too. "We asked when will you bring the body home?" The drive back to the village At around 9:30pm, the dead teenager's brother says the police forced him into a black SUV along with his father and began driving them back to their village 200km (125 miles) away. "On the way, our car was stopped and senior police and administration officials came to talk to us. Among them was Hathras district magistrate Praveen Kumar Laxkar who told us that we would be taken directly to the cremation ground." He says they had no idea where the body was or what time the ambulance carrying it had left the hospital. Hathras superintendent of police Vikrant Vir told my BBC Hindi colleague Dilnawaz Pasha last week that the post-mortem was completed by 1pm. "But for some reason her body couldn't be brought back immediately. It was late night by the time the body arrived in the village. Her father and brother had travelled with the body." Last Friday, the state government suspended Mr Vir for "negligence and lax supervision". Four other policemen were removed too. Calls have also been growing to remove the district magistrate, Mr Laxkar. Preparations for funeral While the family was waiting for the body to arrive, police and administration officials had already begun preparations for a late-night funeral. "They had brought in a generator, lights were installed, logs and fuel were brought in," the teenager's sister-in-law says. Journalists present in the village say barricades were erected on the roads leading to the family home and the dirt track that led to a small patch of the field where the funeral was to happen. A white ambulance carrying the body arrived in the village at around midnight. "Besides the driver, there was a policeman and a policewoman in the ambulance. There was no family member in it," says the victim's aunt. "It was parked nearby for an hour. We asked them to let us at least see her face," she tells me, tears streaming down her face. The black SUV, carrying the victim's bother and father, reached the village at around 1am and was driven straight to the cremation ground. Attempts to claim the body "Hindus don't cremate at night," the brother says. "I told them we can't have the cremation without rituals and in the absence of our family. When we went home, we heard that the ambulance carrying her body had already arrived in the village." Officials followed them home and tried to persuade them to go and light the pyre. "The women of the family fell at their feet, begging them to hand over the body so they could perform the rituals. But they were unmoved," he says. Videos shared widely on news TV channels and social media show the dead woman's female relatives making several attempts to claim her body. In one video, her mother is seen weeping with her head on the bonnet of the car. In another, she's sitting on the road in front of the ambulance, wailing and beating her chest. She's heard repeatedly pleading with officials to hand over the body to her so she could take it home one last time - and perform some rituals. "We wanted to put turmeric and sandalwood paste on her arms and legs, dress her in new clothes, adorn her with flowers. She wouldn't have seen it, but by doing the rituals we would have been able to say a proper farewell to her," says the teenager's sister-in-law, fighting back tears. Her aunt shows me bruises on her elbows, "They flung us aside and drove away with the body. Many of us fell down. I fell into a field." The funeral pyre is lit Even though the family had refused to cremate the body, the 19-year-old was still consigned to flames that night. "We didn't want them to take us forcibly and light her pyre so we locked ourselves in," says the young woman's brother. "We had no idea what was happening outside." Local journalists, who witnessed the cremation from a distance, said the funeral pyre was lit around 2:30am. The police formed a human chain to keep the villagers and journalists from getting close. "Why did the police cremate her? Was hers an unclaimed body?" her mother asks. "I carried her in my womb for nine months. Do I not have the right to see her face one last time? Do I not have the right to grieve? Do I not feel pain?" The hasty cremation has caused outrage in India and abroad. Opposition parties have called it "a gross violation of human rights", "illegal" and "immoral". Protests have been held across India and by Indians in several American cities. The UN, too, has weighed in, expressing "profound sadness and concern at the continuing cases of sexual violence against women and girls in India". On Tuesday, the Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court that they had cremated the body at night due to "extraordinary circumstances and a sequence of unlawful incidents". They said there was an "international plot" to cause caste and religious riots in the state and topple the government of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, one of India's most controversial right-wing politicians. They also claimed that the victim's family was present for the cremation and had "agreed to attend to avoid further violence". Earlier, too, the police in Hathras had shared a video showing three men throwing wood into the pyre as it burned. But the family told the BBC that those in the video were neighbours and distant relatives and the authorities were trying to pass them off as immediate family. A pile of ash Three days later, anti-rape activist Yogita Bhayana visited the family and persuaded a relative of the 19-year-old to visit the site and collect her remains. "I'm picking them up because in case these are really my sister's remains, they won't be defiled by stray dogs," he told a news channel. "She had to go through a lot of torture while alive. I want to ensure it doesn't happen to her in death." A week after her funeral pyre lit up a dark night in Bhulgarhi village, I visited the tiny patch of farmland where the 19-year-old was cremated. All that remains of the pretty teenager with a shy smile and long dark hair is a rectangular pile of ash. And her family's hope for justice. "I want to see all of them hanged," says her sister-in-law. "I am waiting for that day. She used to live with me 24 hours a day. I can't get her face out of my mind." Read more on our coverage of the Hathras rape case:

सितंबर के अंतिम दिन, भारत इस परेशान करने वाली खबर से जागा कि अधिकारियों ने एक 19 वर्षीय दलित (पूर्व में अछूत) महिला के शव का जबरन अंतिम संस्कार कर दिया था, जिसने सामूहिक बलात्कार का आरोप लगाया था और एक दिन पहले उसकी मृत्यु हो गई थी।


Bishop of Norwich to ordain 15 new priests and deacons

Summary: Fifteen new priests and deacons who will serve in Norfolk's parishes are to be ordained by the Bishop of Norwich.

The Rt Rev Graham James will oversee the ceremonies at Norwich Cathedral on Saturday, 2 July. Seven deacons and eight new priests will be ordained throughout the day at services starting from 11am. The new clergy includes Derek McClean, who will serve as a priest for Drayton and Taverham, and Lynn Chapman who will serve as a deacon at Sheringham.

पंद्रह नए पादरी और धर्माध्यक्ष जो नॉरफ़ॉक के पैरिशों में सेवा करेंगे, उन्हें नॉर्विच के बिशप द्वारा नियुक्त किया जाना है।


Pembrokeshire council leader candidate Jamie Adams withdraws

Summary: Unaffiliated councillor David Simpson is on course to become the new leader of Pembrokeshire county council, after his only opponent withdrew.

The council is due to elect its new leader next Thursday. Jamie Adams, former leader and member of the Independent Plus Political Group (IPPG), has removed his name from the contest. The IPPG has led the council since 1996 but lost 20 councillors in the local elections earlier this month. Mr Simpson left Pembrokeshire's cabinet and the IPPG in 2014 over disagreements about the way the group was being run by Mr Adams. It followed a row over an investigation into former chief executive Bryn Parry Jones. Mr Simpson has already won the backing of the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative members in his leadership bid.

असंबद्ध पार्षद डेविड सिम्पसन अपने एकमात्र प्रतिद्वंद्वी के हटने के बाद पेम्ब्रोकेशायर काउंटी परिषद के नए नेता बनने की राह पर हैं।


Isle of Man horse trams begin 139th season despite promenade plans

Summary: The Isle of Man's horse tram service has begun its 139th summer season, despite fears a £21m overhaul of Douglas promenade would see it stopped.

Government plans will see twin tracks used by the trams removed from the centre of the promenade and replaced with a single track on the walkway. The service has been in operation since 1876 and is one of the oldest horse-drawn tram services in the world. A Douglas Council spokesman said it was "business as usual." The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway, which was built and originally operated by Thomas Lightfoot from Sheffield, runs along the promenade for 1.6 miles (2.6 km) from the Strathallan terminal to the Sea Terminal. Horse trams will take the route between 09:00 and 17:20 until 13 September. About 62,000 passengers used the service in 2014, a 3.6% increase on the previous year, but despite the rise, it ran at a loss of about £250,000.

आइल ऑफ मैन की हॉर्स ट्राम सेवा ने अपना 139 वां ग्रीष्मकालीन मौसम शुरू कर दिया है, इस डर के बावजूद कि डगलस सैरगाह के 21 मिलियन पाउंड के ओवरहाल में इसे रोक दिया जाएगा।


Mozambique: From Marxism to market

Summary: British journalist Paul Fauvet came to Mozambique in 1980 just as the country was plunged into a civil war. He has witnessed every key event since. Here he describes the transformation of his adopted country from revolutionary Marxist state to embracing the market and the exploitation of its resource riches.

After its independence in 1975, Mozambique became known for the colourful and militant murals decorating public buildings in Maputo. Workers, peasants and soldiers were shown marching firmly towards the socialist future. "Long live Marxism-Leninism!" declared some of the slogans. The Maputo of the 21st Century also has murals. But now the walls bear images, not of clenched fists or of AK-47s, but of the ubiquitous Coca-Cola bottle, or of smiling faces boasting the virtues of one or other mobile phone company. Comparing the iconography of Maputo walls today with those of the late 1970s gives some idea of the ideological distance the country has travelled. 'Struggle against the bourgeoisie' The high-water mark of Mozambican Marxism was in the early 1980s under the single party rule of Frelimo, the successor to the Mozambique Liberation Front, which had won independence from Portugal. At the Frelimo Fourth Congress in 1983, the call went out to "Defend the Fatherland, Overcome Underdevelopment, Build Socialism". The national anthem of the time promised to make Mozambique "the grave of capitalism and exploitation". Frelimo's own anthem described party members as "soldiers of the people, marching forward in the struggle against the bourgeoisie". It was not to be. Mozambique faced a powerful enemy in the shape of the South African apartheid regime, which used the rebel Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) as a surrogate army, to bring the Mozambican state to its knees. Some would say that when the country's first President, Samora Machel, died in October 1986 in a plane crash at Mbuzini, just inside South Africa, the dream of a socialist Mozambique died with him. But history is never that simple. Marxism-Leninism quietly dropped Unable to obtain sufficient assistance from the Soviet bloc, Mozambique joined the World Bank and the IMF in 1985. Western donors, even friendly ones in Scandinavia, made it clear that a programme with the IMF was a condition for continuing assistance. The first structural adjustment measures, known as the Economic Recovery Programme (PRE), passed by the Mozambican parliament in January 1987, were clearly drawn up when Machel was still alive. Some may have viewed it as a temporary diversion, assuming that the march towards a classless society would resume in the near future. But the deal with the IMF and the World Bank meant major shifts in economic policy, including repeated devaluations, the elimination of most controlled prices, and a wide-ranging programme of privatisations. But in 1989, Frelimo quietly dropped Marxism-Leninism from its statutes. The following year a new, pluralist constitution was adopted and the very name of the country changed. It was no longer a "People's Republic", but just "the Republic of Mozambique". Foreign investment When a peace agreement between the government and Renamo ended the war in October 1992, the country was in ruins. Renamo had burnt down schools and clinics throughout the countryside, roads were impassable, bridges and electricity pylons blown up, railways sabotaged and the economy was kept alive with massive injections of aid. Yet the patient survived. Contrary to a widely held belief at the time that parties which had run one-party states could not win democratic elections, Frelimo not only won the 1994 presidential and parliamentary elections, but every general election held since then. The economy grew at a rapid pace, at rates of 7-8% a year. Large-scale foreign investment was attracted - best exemplified by the $2bn invested in the Mozal aluminium smelter on the outskirts of Maputo. Now the country has made huge mineral discoveries. The coalfields in the western province of Tete proved much larger than expected - under Portuguese colonial rule, no thorough geological surveys had been undertaken. Despite logistical constraints in moving the coal to port, Mineral Resources Minister Esperanca Bias still talks of exporting, by 2020, as much as 50 million tonnes a year. Even more impressive are the discoveries of natural gas in the Rovuma Basin, off the coast of the northern province of Cabo Delgado. The results from wells dug by the Texas-based Anadarko, and the Italian energy company ENI suggest recoverable reserves in excess of 150 trillion cubic feet. This could make Mozambique one of the world's major producers of liquefied natural gas. Plans are afoot to build LNG plants on the Cabo Delgado shore, and production could start by 2018. Income from natural resources will greatly reduce Mozambique's dependence on foreign aid. Already economic growth, and the resulting increase in domestic tax revenues, has reduced dependence. The latest Finance Ministry figures show that in 2012, only 27% of public expenditure was funded by foreign aid. A few years ago, over half of the Mozambican budget depended on foreign grants and loans. Economic growth But a growing criticism is that the benefits of economic growth are not being spread throughout society, and that poverty reduction has faltered. In the decade following the end of the war, very considerable improvements were made in living standards. The household surveys by Mozambique's National Statistics Institute showed that the number living below the poverty line fell from 69% in 1997 to 54.1% in 2003. But the next survey, in 2009, suggested that the government's efforts to alleviate poverty had stagnated, and that the poverty rate was now 54.7%. National averages hide severe disparities. The survey showed that urban households spend twice as much as rural households, and that households in Maputo spend five times as much as households in the poorest province, Zambezia, in the centre of the country. A growing gap between rich and poor is evident from the boom in luxury housing built in the fashionable parts of Maputo, and the explosion in car ownership. Traffic jams, unheard of 20 years ago, are now a regular feature of Maputo life. But the majority of Mozambicans still live in huts or shacks, and depend on buses for their transport. There has been a rapid expansion of the Mozambican electricity grid, and the latest figures show that 36% of the population have electricity, either from the grid or from solar panels, in their homes, a high figure by sub-Saharan African standards. But 64% still have no electricity. The country remains acutely vulnerable to natural disasters. Torrential rains and severe flooding on several major rivers, notably the Limpopo, in January and February, cost 113 lives and displaced about 140,000 people who took shelter in temporary accommodation centres set up by the government. Even in Maputo city, poor drainage and illegal building meant that the rains caused mudslides that destroyed houses and blocked roads. Electoral success Poverty occasionally erupts onto the streets. Thus severe rioting against rises in prices, particularly for bread, effectively shut Maputo down for two days in September 2010. The government broke with economic orthodoxy and introduced a subsidy for wheat flour to keep bread prices low. The World Bank and the IMF did not object. They regarded Mozambique as a success story and had no wish to push it over the riot threshold. Frelimo policy may have somersaulted in the past three decades, but the party's grip on power remains strong. President Armando Guebuza, once a Marxist intellectual and now a figure close to the business elite, won the 2009 election with 75% of the vote. He is not eligible to stand again, but, given the weak and fragmented state of the opposition, whoever Frelimo chooses to succeed him is almost certain to win the next presidential election in 2014. Memories of the country's Marxist past have faded, and even Frelimo's trademark slogan "A Luta Continua!" ("The Struggle Continues!") is rarely heard nowadays.

ब्रिटिश पत्रकार पॉल फौवेट 1980 में मोजाम्बिक आए थे जब देश गृहयुद्ध में डूबा हुआ था। उन्होंने तब से हर महत्वपूर्ण घटना को देखा है। यहाँ उन्होंने क्रांतिकारी मार्क्सवादी राज्य से बाजार को अपनाने और इसके संसाधन धन के दोहन के लिए अपने गोद लिए गए देश के परिवर्तन का वर्णन किया है।


The fake pictures of the Rohingya crisis

Summary: The plight of Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar was thrust into the spotlight last month after thousands of migrants were left stranded at sea - but not all the images being shared online are what they seem to be.

BBC TrendingWhat's popular and why The Rohingyas are a distinct Muslim ethnic group mainly living in Myanmar, also known as Burma. They are not recognised as citizens of Myanmar and face persecution in the majority Buddhist country, where many live in crowded camps. Powerful and seemingly genuine pictures and videos emerged of what Rohingyas must endure in Myanmar after thousands of migrants were left adrift with low supplies of food and water last month. But BBC Trending found some of the images being shared online don't show Rohingyas at all - but instead come from other disasters and news events. Many of these images are graphic and disturbing. One of the photos, for instance, that shows up in search results shows Buddhist monks standing among piles of body parts. On Facebook and Twitter, the photograph has been cited as an example of Buddhist violence against Rohingyas. But the picture is not from Burma at all - it was actually taken in the aftermath of an earthquake in China in April 2010. Another picture shows a man on fire running across the road. One group that shared the photo on Facebook suggesting the man suffered horrific abuse - that he was chopped up and burnt alive. But the real story is much different. In fact, the photo is of Jamphel Yeshi, a Tibetan activist who set himself on fire in Delhi in 2012 to protest against the Chinese president's visit to India. There are many disturbing pictures of children circulating as well. One shows a boy tied to a wooden pole, with the marks of beatings visible across his back. While online posts call him a Rohingya boy, he's actually a seven-year-old Thai child who was beaten up by a relative for stealing sweets earlier this year. Then there's this photo which has been widely shared, particularly in India and Pakistan, showing a motorcycle riding across the hands of school students who are lying on the ground with outstretched arms. The incident was actually a stunt by a martial arts trainer in south India: Other misleading images traced by BBC Trending using online photo search tools include a large crowd of people laying on the ground (actually of protesters being detained in Thailand in 2004), one showing burnt bodies (in reality from an oil tanker blaze in 2010 in the Democratic Republic of Congo) and a grisly photo of children with bloodstained clothes which apparently comes from Sri Lanka's decades-long conflict. These and other images have been shared thousands of times on Facebook mostly by people hoping to support the Rohingyas. "We appreciate everyone's concern but encourage everybody to always check carefully before using images," says UK-based Rohingya activist and blogger Jamila Hanan. "Whenever the Rohingya hits media headlines these same photos are redistributed with some new ones included." "There are so many genuine images of tragic scenes of the Rohingya that are genuine, there is simply no need for anyone to fabricate anything," Hanan told BBC Trending. "The most tragic images are the real ones." Blog by Samiha Nettikkara Next story: Is it OK to humiliate your child online? Amidst a deluge of child shaming videos, one American dad's anti-humiliation film has been viewed millions of times. READ MORE Follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook.

म्यांमार से भाग रहे रोहिंग्या मुसलमानों की दुर्दशा पिछले महीने सुर्खियों में आई थी जब हजारों प्रवासी समुद्र में फंसे हुए थे-लेकिन ऑनलाइन साझा की जा रही सभी छवियां वैसी नहीं हैं जैसी वे लगती हैं।


Regal rules: The dos and don'ts for meeting the Queen

Summary: Canada's governor general has been forced to defend his actions after a "slippy" carpet led to a breach of royal etiquette with the Queen. But how do you avoid a protocol slip-up?

David Johnston raised eyebrows on Wednesday as he was seen to be lightly touching Her Majesty's elbow as she descended some steps, at an event in London. Mr Johnston said he was simply concerned about the Queen's safety and made the judgement that a breach of protocol was appropriate "to be sure that there was no stumble". To avoid any future mishaps, however, here is a reminder of the traditional dos and don'ts. Do: Don't: These rules aren't steadfast and those in breach need not fear exile. The official website for the British Monarchy states "there are no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting the Queen or a member of the Royal Family". It hastens to add: "Many people wish to observe the traditional forms." The choice is yours.

कनाडा के गवर्नर जनरल को अपने कार्यों का बचाव करने के लिए मजबूर होना पड़ा है क्योंकि एक "फिसलन" कालीन के कारण रानी के साथ शाही शिष्टाचार का उल्लंघन हुआ था। लेकिन आप एक प्रोटोकॉल स्लिप-अप से कैसे बचते हैं?


Tomlinson's Dairies plans decision deferred by councillors

Summary: A decision on plans for a £14m dairy expansion has been deferred by Wrexham councillors pending a site visit.

A council report said extra production space was needed to meet demand at Tomlinson's Dairies, Minera, which had outgrown its facilities. Bosses want to double production to 195 million litres of milk a year. They have said about 60 extra staff would be needed The dairy currently employs about 170 staff. Wrexham planners had recommended the proposals get the go ahead. But councillors voted to hold a site visit on 14 October before making a decision. The business was established in 1983 by brothers Philip and John Tomlinson, expanding from a doorstep round using milk from the family dairy farm at Minera.

14 मिलियन पाउंड के डेयरी विस्तार की योजनाओं पर निर्णय को रेक्सम पार्षदों द्वारा स्थल की यात्रा के लिए स्थगित कर दिया गया है।


Elections 2021: Will Corby's voice be heard at new council?

Summary: Corby was the only old council to oppose Northamptonshire's move to replace the two-tier council set-up with two new unitary authorities. With the first ever North Northamptonshire Council elections taking place on 6 May, the BBC asks candidates if they feel the town will have a voice on the new authority.

By Craig LewisBBC News Online How eight councils became two In 2018, after effectively going bankrupt twice and being condemned in a government-ordered inspection, Conservative-run Northamptonshire County Council was told it would be scrapped. That decision also spelt the end for the county's seven borough and district authorities. The plan was to replace them with two new unitary authorities, one in the north and one in the west of the county. In August 2018, the eight doomed authorities voted on whether to adopt this system. Seven said yes. Only one - Corby Borough Council - said no. Labour-controlled since 1979, Corby was an anomaly in Northamptonshire, with all the other councils being Conservative-run. Despite Corby's opposition, the government approved the unitary plans and on 1 April 2021 the two new councils were born. Residents will vote for the authorities' first-ever councillors on Thursday, 6 May. Corby has five wards with each returning three councillors to North Northamptonshire, which will have 78 councillors in total. 'Read the Domesday Book' As Corby Borough Council's Labour deputy leader, Jean Addison had been at the heart of things, rebuilding - she says - the town after the closure of its steel works between 1979 and 1981. Pointing to projects such as the Corby Cube, international swimming pool and cinema as signs of her party's success, she worries being part of North Northamptonshire Council will see Corby's residents lose their voice. Although Corby has consistently voted Labour, the rest of North Northamptonshire has been firmly blue. Mrs Addison fears a Conservative win will mean "facilities we have built will be outsourced". "I can see them looking at the pool," she says. "It isn't a money-maker, but it is providing swimming lessons for thousands of children, and for people with disabilities and Alzheimer's." Mrs Addison says some politicians from outside Corby who could end up in prominent positions on the new council "think this is a run-down place, but they probably haven't even visited". "I recently spoke to one person who said 'Corby has no history'. I had to remind him to read the [11th Century] Domesday Book. "We are the fastest-growing borough outside London; we have more council houses than Manchester. That will be lost." 'Corby will be integral' The BBC approached Conservative councillors in North Northamptonshire and Corby, but were told to speak directly to the party's local association and send questions by email. In a statement, the party says the town is "an integral part of the new authority". "For many years under both parties, Corby residents have felt the county council had steered decision-making on significant strategic issues, such as social care, education and transport, by representatives from distant parts of the county," the statement reads. "That will no longer be the case in Corby and elsewhere - decisions about North Northamptonshire services will be made directly by North Northamptonshire councillors, directly-elected by North Northamptonshire people." 'A united Corby front' Liberal Democrat Chris Stanbra says he is not prepared to stop fighting for either North Northamptonshire or Corby. That's despite his conviction Conservative central government's decision to go with two unitary councils in Northamptonshire, coupled with the electoral boundaries it drew up, is an attempt to ensure local counterparts would control the new authorities. "Undoubtedly the structure of local government we have now was rigged," he says. "But if opposition parties campaign hard and have a good message - and we will never have a better one - then now could see a different result. "If you get a decent number of non-Conservatives on the council from Corby, and they have any influence, the council will be more considerate of the political traditions of the town. "It will be important councillors who represent Corby work together as a united Corby front." Mr Stanbra fears Corby could be controlled by councillors from East Northamptonshire, Kettering or Wellingborough. He suggests whoever wins should choose Cabinet members "from a wide geographical area," making sure those with power have experiences of all areas in North Northamptonshire. 'Forty years of Labour' 'It's not Corby against the rest' The Green Party's Lee Forster does not see himself as political. "I'm an environmental campaigner," he says. "We have got issues in Corby with incinerators. "I have been campaigning for cleaner air for about 10 years." Mr Forster says his efforts fell on deaf ears at Labour-run Corby Borough Council. "That's why I haven't got a problem with this," he says. "Other councillors are open to what we are saying." He admits the new council may end up with "lots of Conservatives," but says it will be up to other parties to provide strong opposition. "You need strong candidates who have their voices heard for the unitary, not just the town. "It is not Corby against Kettering, or Corby against Wellingborough. We have to join the dots." He says Corby will "definitely" maintain its own voice. "We are the heart of the county. It is a lovely place. The community spirit is brilliant," he says. A full list of candidates for election is available on the North Northamptonshire Council website. ENGLAND'S ELECTIONS: THE BASICS What's happening? On 6 May, people across England will vote for new councillors, mayors and police and crime commissioners. Register to vote here. Why does it matter? When parties win control of a council, they decide policies for your area which could affect services ranging from social care to rubbish collection. Find out more about what councils do. Who can vote? Anyone who lives in England, is registered to vote and aged 18 or over on 6 May is eligible. Find your local election here. A modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. More information about these elections Who can I vote for in my area? Enter your postcode, or the name of your English council or Scottish or Welsh constituency to find out. Eg 'W1A 1AA' or 'Westminster' Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk Related Internet Links North Northamptonshire Council

कोर्बी एकमात्र पुरानी परिषद थी जिसने नॉर्थम्पटनशायर के दो-स्तरीय परिषद की स्थापना को दो नए एकात्मक प्राधिकरणों के साथ बदलने के कदम का विरोध किया। 6 मई को होने वाले पहले नॉर्थ नॉर्थम्पटनशायर परिषद के चुनावों के साथ, बीबीसी उम्मीदवारों से पूछता है कि क्या उन्हें लगता है कि शहर के पास नए प्राधिकरण पर आवाज होगी।


NI 2010 review: dissidents republicans pile on pressure

Summary: It was a year in which dissident republicans developed the expertise needed to detonate large-scale car bombs and the government warned of possible attacks in Great Britain. BBC NI home affairs correspondent Vincent Kearney assesses the threat posed by Northern Ireland's terror groups.

It was an easy target. There were no security barriers or checkpoints to negotiate as a car packed with around 250lbs of homemade explosives parked outside Newry courthouse on 22 February this year. A short time later, as police officers were still trying to clear the surrounding area, the bomb exploded. No-one was killed or injured, but the shockwaves could be felt more than 40 miles away in the headquarters of MI5 in Holywood and the PSNI in east Belfast. Two months later, shortly after midnight on 12 April, just minutes after policing and justice powers were transferred to the Stormont Assembly, a similar device exploded outside Palace Barracks, where MI5's huge new offices are located. Those explosions were described by senior security sources as "game-changing events". They demonstrated that, after a long period of research and testing, dissident republicans had "got the mix right" - the term used by police to describe the process for successfully constructing and detonating a bomb made from fertiliser. Capability The threat posed by dissidents had increased dramatically. Senior police officers said they regarded it as the most severe since a Real IRA bombing campaign in 1997-1998, when large devices exploded in a number of towns, including Banbridge and Moira, before 29 people were killed in the attack in Omagh in August 1998. The dissidents' increased technical capability was just one of the issues that alarmed the police and security services during the past year. There was also increased co-operation between members of the various - previously rival - dissident groups, working together on acquiring weapons, logistics, and planning and carrying out attacks. The numbers had also grown, with an estimated 600 people believed to be involved. The PSNI arrested around 80 people in connection with dissident activity during 2010, and Gardai uncovered a number of bomb-making factories and made dozens of arrests, but the dissidents continue to pose a serious threat. They know that they don't have to mount large scale bomb attacks to have an impact. Police officer Paedar Heffron lost a leg when a lunch-box sized device exploded under his car last January. A number of officers and the partner of another had lucky escapes in attacks using similar under-car booby traps. Real IRA member and alleged informer Keiron Doherty was shot dead, and others suffered shattered legs and arms in a series of paramilitary assaults on alleged drug dealers. But it was the technical capability that set alarm bells ringing in London. In September, the head of MI5 said the security services may have initially underestimated the threat posed by dissident groups, which he warned might try to extend their attacks to Great Britain. Just over a week later, Home Secretary Theresa May announced that the official threat level had been raised from "moderate" to "substantial", meaning an attack in Great Britain was a "strong possibility". "They have wanted to mount an attack in Britain for a long time now, just like the Provisional IRA did," a senior security source said. "The difference is that they now have the technical ability to cause large-scale damage. "Whether that means they also have the operational structures to do so is another matter, but now that they can produce the package, the next step is to work on how to deliver it." Serious Publicly the police have consistently said the threat is serious and growing, while stressing that it should be kept in context. The reality is that while dissident groups have demonstrated that they can kill and maim and detonate bombs, they don't have anything like the capability and capacity of the Provisional IRA during the troubles. Privately, Chief Constable Matt Baggott spent much of the last year lobbying government for access to more than £200m of additional funding from the Treasury's emergency's reserves to combat the threat. Some of that funding could be used to employ additional police officers to guard stations and provide close protection for individuals considered to be at high risk of attack. MI5 has also devoted increased resources to countering the activities of dissident groups. There has been little overt dissident activity in recent months, but security sources fear further attacks early in the New Year because targeting and planning have continued, and a number of competent bomb-makers are believed to be operating within their ranks. The groups may never achieve the level of capability and capacity of the Provisional IRA, but they don't have to. Their continued existence and occasional activities are enough to cause security and political concern, and to be a constant irritation to Sinn Fein. The police and security services now talk privately in terms of a five-year strategy to combat the threat. Some look slightly further ahead to 2016, the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, an iconic date in the history of republicanism and one that senior security sources fear will provide a focal point for those groups opposed to the political process. That level of planning, together with the ongoing discussions about funding arrangements, clearly demonstrate that the dissident threat continues to grow, and could continue to do so for some time to come.

यह एक ऐसा वर्ष था जिसमें असंतुष्ट गणराज्यों ने बड़े पैमाने पर कार बम विस्फोट करने के लिए आवश्यक विशेषज्ञता विकसित की और सरकार ने ग्रेट ब्रिटेन में संभावित हमलों की चेतावनी दी। बीबीसी एनआई गृह मामलों के संवाददाता विंसेंट केयर्नी ने उत्तरी आयरलैंड के आतंकवादी समूहों द्वारा उत्पन्न खतरे का आकलन किया।


Channel 4 move makes Leeds the new media city

Summary: Channel 4 has officially opened a new base in Leeds, which it says will make it better able to reflect life across Britain. What difference will it make, and why is West Yorkshire currently the hot place for the TV industry?

By Ian YoungsEntertainment & arts reporter Channel 4 will have around 250 of its 850-strong workforce in Leeds by next year, based in the nightclub that inspired The Kaiser Chiefs song I Predict A Riot. Fifteen years on, the banner hanging from the Majestic's facade announcing Channel 4's arrival predicts a media revolution (which doesn't have the same ring to it, granted). The broadcaster's partial relocation will not only give the traditional home of Emmerdale, Countdown, Jimmy's and Fat Friends more screen time, but has already sparked a flurry of activity in the city's TV and film industry. Channel 4 will broadcast a new live daily lunchtime show from Leeds, and C4 News will regularly be co-presented from the city. The channel's heads of drama and sport, plus other commissioning editors, are based there, as is a new Digital Creative Unit. Meanwhile, a number of independent production companies have sprung up in the city, and their trade association Pact has opened its only out-of-London office, saying Channel 4's move made it the "logical" place to be. There are also plans for a major new film and TV studio, and the National Film and Television School is opening a Leeds branch in January. Channel 4 is currently in a temporary office until its new "national headquarters" in the Majestic is finished next summer. Smaller "creative hubs" in Bristol and Glasgow, with around 20 staff in each, will officially open in the next two weeks. Another 500-odd will stay in London. 'A broader range of stories' "Ultimately, we want this to have an impact on screen," says Sinead Rocks, C4's managing director of nations and regions. "We want to be as reflective of life in the UK in its entirety as possible. "If we have commissioners based in different parts of the country, who are rooted in different communities with different life experience, that's going to give us access to a broader range of stories and different perspectives." Channel 4 chose Leeds over Birmingham and Greater Manchester - despite the latter being home of MediaCityUK, to where the BBC moved a number of departments eight years ago. "Leeds took the top spot because it had a very young population and a very diverse population - both things that we want to try to tap into," Rocks says. "There's a very healthy digital creativity sector here. There's also a reasonably strong independent production community here, and one that we think could actually grow further." Writer Kay Mellor's production company Rollem has been making shows like Fat Friends and The Syndicate in Leeds for almost two decades. When the company started, it was a "solitary" presence, apart from ITV's old regional outpost Yorkshire Television, she says. Her home city has always been "slightly the poor relation" - but Channel 4's move and developments like the planned studios and a new post-production facility are changing that, she believes. "It's amazing that these things are happening. We are playing Manchester at their own game, and bigger and better." It all means staff are less likely to need to move to London to further their careers. "The very fact that Channel 4 is here means our students don't necessarily have to leave Leeds to get a job in the media," Mellor says. "It's a growing industry here in Leeds, right on our doorstep. We won't get that talent drain that we've experienced such a lot." The TV and film industry in Yorkshire had already established solid foundations thanks to people like Mellor and Screen Yorkshire. When a network of subsidised regional screen agencies was abolished in 2011, Screen Yorkshire was among the only survivors. The following year, it used £15m of European Union money to launch a fund to attract productions to the region. The Yorkshire Content Fund has now invested in almost 50 films and TV shows, on the condition that they are at least partly filmed in the region. The first investment was in the first series of Peaky Blinders - meaning it was mostly filmed in Yorkshire rather than the show's spiritual home of Birmingham. In fact, after seeing Yorkshire steal a march on his native Birmingham, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight last week announced a new screen agency to lure TV and film producers to the Midlands. Yorkshire's film and TV industries grew faster than anywhere else in the UK between 2009-2015, Screen Yorkshire has said. With Channel 4 also planning to increase the proportion of programmes it makes outside London from 35% to 50% - worth £250m a year - Screen Yorkshire chief executive Sally Joynson thinks Leeds is the obvious destination for production companies outside the capital. 'London is full' The TV and film industries are booming in Britain - in fact, they helped prevent the country from going into recession this summer. "London is very busy, and studios are full," Joynson says. "And that means that there is a great opportunity to get some of that production coming out of London by opening really great facilities that can compete with the very best in London, and a workforce that can compete with the very best in London." Just after Channel 4's announcement last year, Lime Pictures, which makes Hollyoaks and The Only Way Is Essex, announced a new Leeds-based non-scripted subsidiary called Wise Owl. It is run by Mark Robinson, one of the few TV executives to have always been based in the north of England - although he says he has travelled the equivalent of twice around the world to pitch programmes to executives in London over the past two decades. His office is walking distance from Channel 4's new HQ. "There's nothing like just nipping down the road to see somebody in Leeds, if you're a production company in Leeds," he says. Robinson began his career at a time when ITV's regional divisions, including Yorkshire TV, Tyne Tees in Newcastle and Granada in Manchester, were their own mini production powerhouses. "You could do game shows, sports shows, studio entertainment shows, politics shows, you could do the news, and I learned my trade working on all those sort of shows in regional television," he says. "Now if you're 24, you haven't got the option, because the regional ITV stations have been reduced on the whole to news satellites." ITV does still have more than 650 staff in Leeds, including Emmerdale, news and factual entertainment plus a number of behind-the-scenes operations. Robinson, who is currently making a series about the Tyne and Wear Metro for ITV, also hopes C4 is true to its word when it comes to making more shows in the north-eastern quarter of the country. "It's a massive area full of stories. It's often a part of the country that can get underrepresented on TV." Channel 4's move should redress the balance in the age-old Manchester/Leeds rivalry, almost a decade after the opening of MediaCity, he believes. "As a Leeds person myself through and through - and I loved working in Salford - I could see that the balance of power had very much shifted to west of the Pennines, and there was an awful lot of TV work in Salford and Manchester and less in Leeds. "That hasn't always been the case - Yorkshire Television used to be a massive broadcaster. There's a feeling here for all companies that it's our turn to shine, it's our turn to be in the spotlight and to show what we can do." Follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

चैनल 4 ने आधिकारिक तौर पर लीड्स में एक नया आधार खोला है, जिसके बारे में उनका कहना है कि यह पूरे ब्रिटेन में जीवन को बेहतर ढंग से प्रतिबिंबित करने में सक्षम होगा। इससे क्या फर्क पड़ेगा, और वेस्ट यॉर्कशायर वर्तमान में टीवी उद्योग के लिए गर्म जगह क्यों है?


US-Mexico border: Step into the shoes of a migrant

Summary: Since October, almost 700,000 people have been detained crossing the border from Mexico into the US, a huge jump on previous years.

The reasons people give for trying to reach the US are varied - family, better economic opportunity, or the chance to escape the threat of violence. In the interactive bot below, we have focused on the story of one woman, Maria, who represents many of those seeking to make the journey. Maria is fictional. But everything that happens to her here is based on the real experiences of migrants who have travelled to America, experiences that have been documented by rights groups, journalists and lawyers. See for yourself the decisions and dangers a migrant like Maria may face. Follow Maria's journey Share this chatbot. Produced by David Molloy and Roland Hughes

अक्टूबर के बाद से, लगभग 700,000 लोगों को मेक्सिको से अमेरिका में सीमा पार करते हुए हिरासत में लिया गया है, जो पिछले वर्षों की तुलना में एक बड़ी छलांग है।


Budget 2021: Bedford's High Street hoping for 'booming summer trade'

Summary: Rishi Sunak has unveiled a £5bn scheme to help High Street shops and hospitality firms recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The BBC went to Bedford to speak to people about what they believe will help businesses survive and thrive after lockdown.

By Sarah Jenkins & Ben SchofieldBBC East 'The High Street is dying' Dominic Simmonds jointly runs the oldest shop in Bedford High Street, Harrison & Simmonds, which his grandfather started in 1928. "The High Street is dying," he says. "It's sad to see." He says the business has "diversified" to survive three lockdowns and adapt to the way shoppers' habits are changing. "Surprisingly, we are keeping going with mail order and click and collect services," he says. "It's what we are relying on." The gentleman's emporium owner says the closure of Marks & Spencer in 2019 was "a huge loss". "We saw a definite fall in footfall," he says. "With the big names going there's less of a reason for people to come into town." Mr Simmonds says a big help for his business would be a rates cut. "We need anything to help small businesses get back on their feet," he says. "There are so many that have been hit hard and they're not going to survive. "Even the lucky ones that do - it's going to be a real struggle." What has the chancellor announced for businesses? 'We must spread the word' Helen Patterson started a campaign group to save the town's Marks & Spencer, but after its closure she transformed the group to one which champions existing businesses. She says more needs to be done to "spread the word" about the range of independent businesses, which comprise 60% of shops in the county town. "We need to do a better job of promoting these. One woman had lived here for 50 years and only recently discovered our butchers," she says. Ms Patterson adds that she had fought to save the M&S as she believed "flagship stores bring people to a town while the independent businesses keep them coming back". Speaking about the plan for non-essential shops to reopen from 12 April, Ms Patterson says for many businesses it will be "a struggle". She fears people may venture out at first, but retreat back to online shopping if Covid-19 infection rates rise again. Ms Patterson says Bedford has the potential to be as successful as nearby market towns such at St Albans and Harpenden, but more work is needed. "Some days the High Street feels quite depressing," she says. "But it is a beautiful town and if we worked on making shop fronts more attractive it could encourage more people to explore the town and its businesses." 'We are confident we can make it work' Beckie Fry opened Bridges Espresso Bar in Riverside Square in September, after signing the lease two weeks before the country was plunged into its first lockdown in March last year. The 35-year-old is positive about the future. "People still want to go out and enjoy nice things," she says. "They want to have nice food and drink, so we are confident that if we supply that people will keep coming back." She says she is looking forward to what she hopes will be "a booming trade come summer". "We have lots of space for outdoor seating and will create a nice al fresco sort of vibe," she says. Ms Fry adds it has been a "very daunting" experience opening a business during a pandemic. "Restrictions were changing all the time, but we had no other option that to just go for it and keep changing as we needed to - but it's been great and we are confident we can make it work," she says. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

ऋषि सुनक ने हाई स्ट्रीट की दुकानों और आतिथ्य कंपनियों को कोरोनावायरस महामारी से उबरने में मदद करने के लिए 5 बिलियन पाउंड की योजना का अनावरण किया है। बीबीसी लोगों से बात करने के लिए बेडफोर्ड गया था कि उन्हें क्या लगता है कि लॉकडाउन के बाद व्यवसायों को जीवित रहने और पनपने में मदद मिलेगी।


Kateri Tekakwitha: First Catholic Native American saint

Summary: The first ever Native American saint has been canonised by the Roman Catholic Church in a ceremony at the Vatican. Kateri Tekakwitha - sometimes known as Lily of the Mohawks - died more than 300 years ago, but is thought by some to have performed a miracle as recently as 2006.

By Cordelia HebblethwaiteBBC News, New York state "It's a third-class relic," says gift shop manager Joanne Wiesner, wide-eyed as she holds a small Kateri Tekakwitha prayer card in her hand. Embedded within the card is a little piece of cloth which has touched a fragment of bone, a first-class relic, from the soon-to-be saint. "I get goose bumps every time I think about it," says Wiesner. The prayer cards are selling like hot cakes at the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, set amid the beautiful wooded hills of what was once Mohawk land. It was in a village here, then called Ossernenon, that Kateri Tekakwitha - a Native American Mohawk woman - was born in 1656. This was a time of huge upheaval, violence and disease, says Allan Greer, a professor at McGill University in Montreal who has written a history of her life, Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits. There was fierce fighting between rival Native American communities - Kateri's mother was an Algonquin who had been captured in a raid by the Mohawks. But Dutch, English and French colonialists were also competing for control of the territory, bringing with them both guns and disease. When a smallpox epidemic struck, it killed her parents and younger brother. She survived, but the disease left her face scarred and her sight seriously impaired. The Mohawk word "Tekakwitha" roughly translates as "the one who walks groping her way". Seeing so much death and disease in their midst, the Mohawks believed French Jesuit missionaries were responsible, and held them accountable. Just a few years before Kateri was born, three were caught, tortured and then brutally killed in her village (they were themselves later canonised). But when Kateri was young, a peace deal was struck with the French, and part of the deal was that missionaries would be allowed to work within the communities. By this point, Kateri was living over the river in a small village called Caughnawaga, which is the only Mohawk village anywhere to have been substantially excavated. Set on a hill for protection, so that the Mohawks could see their enemies coming, coloured poles today mark the plots where they lived in traditional longhouses, with bunks to the side, and fires inside to cook and keep warm in the bitter winters. "It's a place of peace and healing," says Friar Mark Steed, who is in charge of the site, known as the National Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine, in the village of Fonda. "This is where she lived. It's the land where the Mohawk people lived. It's a sacred place," he says. "Being on this land is like being in a church." It is a short walk through the woods to the echoey well and the water where Kateri Tekakwitha was baptised into the Catholic Church at the age of 20, on Easter Day 1676. She is sometimes said to have been one of the only members of her community to convert to Catholicism, but up to half of her village may have converted, according to Allan Greer. For some, it was as much a practical and strategic move, as a religious one, he says. "The Mohawks were walking a delicate balance trying to align themselves with allies, without becoming dependent. "It was a kind of diplomatic alliance in many ways." But Kateri appears to have been penalised for converting. Her uncle, the chief of the village, is said to have been unhappy with her decision, and her refusal to marry a Mohawk man he had selected for her. Kateri ended up travelling 200 miles (320 km) by foot and canoe to a Jesuit-run Native American missionary village near Montreal, called Kahnawake. There she proved herself to be pious in the extreme. She took a lifetime vow of chastity, and subjected herself to a harsh regime of self-punishment, which included walking barefoot in the ice and snow, placing hot coals from the fire between her toes until they cooled, and lying on a bed of thorns. Jesuit missionary Pierre Cholenec, who lived in the Kahnawake community at the time, wrote: "She tortured her body in every way she could think of: by toil, by sleepless vigils, by fasting, by cold, by fire, by irons, by belts studded with sharp points, and by harsh disciplines with which she tore her shoulders open several times a week." The Jesuits felt she was going too far, says Orenda Boucher a Mohawk academic and researcher from Kahnawake, which is still a Native American community today. Mohawk men would conduct all sorts of tests of strength and willpower before going into battle, she says, and Kateri Tekakwitha was probably influenced by this, effectively fusing her native beliefs with her newfound faith - practising what Greer calls a kind of "intense indigenous Catholicism". Kateri Tekakwitha died when she was just 24 years old - and it was upon her death that reports of miracles began. Jesuits at the scene said that the scars on her face vanished entirely, and soon after, a number of people reported seeing visions of her. The Jesuits believed her to be a saint and catalogued all they could of her life, making her the most well-documented indigenous person in the history of the Americas, says Greer. But some Mohawks in Kahnawake today are ambivalent about their ancestor, says Boucher. Many people don't identify with her story of life as a virgin - it's a culture where motherhood and caring for children is seen as central to a woman's role - and some associate her with the bitterness of colonisation, loss of land, and Mohawk tradition. Many in the community there are in fact moving back towards their traditional beliefs, and away from the Catholic Church, says Boucher. But there is a sizeable Native American Catholic contingent in the US - 680,000 according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, out of a total population of 2.5 million, and in some areas, the vast majority of Native Americans are Catholic. And for decades, a dedicated group of Native American Catholics across the US have been praying - first for her beatification, which came in 1980, and since then for her canonisation. "It meant a lot to learn about this young Mohawk woman. She is one of us," says Sister Kateri Mitchell of the Tekakwitha Conference, a body that represents Native American Catholics in the US. "People have become very intrigued about her life - how this young woman of the 17th Century has influenced the lives of so many in the 21st." Sister Kateri visited the shrine many times with her parents as a child, and played a part in the recent reported miracle that secured Kateri Tekakwitha's canonisation. This was in 2006, when Jake Finkbonner, a five-year-old half native Lummi boy from Washington state fell playing basketball and hit his lip against some metal, contracting a potentially deadly "flesh-eating" bacterial infection, necrotising fasciitis. Sister Kateri Mitchell put the word out for people to pray to Kateri Tekakwitha for his recovery. She then went to his bedside in the hospital in Seattle with a piece of Kateri's wrist-bone - a first-class relic - which she placed against his body, and together with his parents, prayed. Jake, now 12, still needs some medical attention, but he made a recovery considered by some, including the Vatican, to be miraculous. At a retreat at the Auriesville shrine almost everyone has a story of help or healing that they attribute to Kateri Tekakwitha - from helping a small burn to heal, to curing someone's mother's kidney disease, or helping a girl born blind to see. Even some Catholics are sceptical about miracle stories, but since December when Pope Benedict XVI announced that Kateri Tekakwitha would be canonised, busloads of curious visitors have been arriving at the shrines. "When I came here, it was a very quiet place. And I like things quiet," laughs Friar Mark Steed at the shrine in Fonda. "Then all of a sudden they make this announcement that she's going to be a saint, and the world explodes around you." He says he wants to avoid a "circus" developing around the shrine, and to keep it as a simple place of prayer - one that is also true to the saint's Mohawk roots. "As a child I remember just being in awe of that place. I've always had a spot in my heart for Native American history," says teacher and artist Bob Renaud, who lives just over 100 miles (160 km) north in Carthage, and who has painted images of Kateri Tekakwitha - one of which looks set to become part of the Vatican collection. "There's a special feeling you get at that place. You can definitely feel the spirit. "She stood up for what she believed in, and she stood strong. "She's local. She's not in France - she is of America. We are pretty honoured to have her so close."

वेटिकन में एक समारोह में रोमन कैथोलिक चर्च द्वारा पहले मूल अमेरिकी संत को संत घोषित किया गया है। कटेरी टेकक्विथा-जिन्हें कभी-कभी लिली ऑफ द मोहॉक्स के नाम से जाना जाता है-का 300 से अधिक साल पहले निधन हो गया था, लेकिन कुछ लोगों का मानना है कि उन्होंने हाल ही में 2006 में एक चमत्कार किया था।


Bag packed but Russian activist avoids jail

Summary: Anastasia Shevchenko spent the past week packing a bag for prison and recording voice messages for her children to listen to in case she was jailed. The prosecutor had requested five years behind bars for the single mother of two, in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

By Sarah RainsfordBBC News, Rostov-on-Don, Russia So when the judge declared her guilty but announced a suspended four-year sentence, it came as a moment of relief for the family in court. Her mother, Tamara, cried quietly as the judge read out her ruling. The opposition activist was placed under house arrest over two years ago, accused of links to a pro-democracy group based in the UK and banned in Russia under a controversial 2015 law on "undesirable organisations". The judge on Thursday also lifted her house arrest. "I'm not afraid, but I worry about my family," the 41-year old activist had told me on the eve of the verdict, as she sorted through the large bag of items for prison that she was taking with her to court. She had been banned from entering most shops under the terms of her house arrest, so her teenage daughter Vlada collected everything together - including a notebook to keep a prison diary, warm socks and cockroach traps. 'Threat to state security' The case against Anastasia Shevchenko stemmed from a political seminar and an authorised protest in 2018, when she stood in a central Rostov park with a banner declaring she was "fed up" with Vladimir Putin. The investigator claimed that she was acting on behalf of a banned organisation, with "criminal intent", and that her actions constituted a "threat to state security". For months, the English teacher was kept under surveillance with a secret camera installed above her bed. Her lawyers said no evidence of foreign-backed subterfuge was ever captured as a result. The defence team also argued that the Open Russia opposition movement Ms Shevchenko belonged to, which is legal, has no formal ties to a very similarly named organisation based in Britain which was founded by the Kremlin critic and tycoon-in-exile Mikhail Khodorkovsky. "Debates, seminars, political rallies are our right to express our opinion!" Ms Shevchenko argued of the activity that led to her arrest. "I don't know where I committed a crime. I really didn't. But they treat me like a very dangerous person." Tolerance of open dissent has sunk even lower since Ms Shevchenko's detention in January 2019. The jailing of the opposition politician Alexei Navalny last month sparked the biggest street protests this country has seen in years. President Putin now talks even more frequently of foreign agents and outside "meddling": he argues that the West is trying to destabilise and weaken Russia, using the opposition as a tool. Many people linked to Navalny have been charged with a myriad of crimes. Anastasia had been steeling herself for the worst, since the prosecutor in her own case asked for a five-year prison sentence - more than expected and even longer than term handed down to Navalny. "I recorded a message today telling you I love you," she told nine-year old Misha, as he lay on his bunk bed playing computer games. She had also filmed videos for 16-year-old Vlada with instructions on things like reading the electricity meter and turning on the oven, just in case. The family have been sharing a bed lately, anxious to be as close as possible for whatever time they've got. 'Be more responsible' In her final speech to the court last week, Anastasia Shevchenko asked whether the state hadn't "sucked enough blood" from her family and called on the judge to "be human". Her eldest daughter, Alina, who was severely disabled, fell ill while Anastasia was under arrest and the activist only got permission to see her in hospital shortly before she died. She still hasn't been able to scatter the ashes. "I asked them to be more responsible. To realise what they are doing to our family," Ms Shevchenko told me, adamant that the case against her was "absolutely false".

अनास्तासिया शेवचेंको ने पिछले सप्ताह जेल के लिए एक थैला पैक करने और अपने बच्चों के लिए ध्वनि संदेश रिकॉर्ड करने में बिताया ताकि वह जेल जाने की स्थिति में सुन सके। अभियोजक ने दक्षिणी रूसी शहर रोस्तोव-ऑन-डॉन में दो बच्चों की एकल माँ के लिए पांच साल की जेल का अनुरोध किया था।