Shrien Dewani trial: Hiring a hitman in South Africa

Summary: The apparent ease with which contract killings can be set up in South Africa was highlighted during the trial of Shrien Dewani, who has been cleared of arranging the murder of his new bride Anni on honeymoon in Cape Town.

By Rhiannon BeachamBBC News Mr Dewani was earlier cleared of arranging the killing, which happened after the couple's taxi was hijacked in the township of Gugulethu. Prosecutors had argued he conspired with taxi driver, Zola Tongo, to set up the murder within half an hour of arriving at the airport. Tongo had told how he helped set up the killing for the following evening, despite having no criminal experience or contacts. But the defence successfully argued his evidence was "not only highly improbable but is also riddled with contradictions". Unemployment and hunger mean it is easy to find a hitman in South Africa, according to freelance journalist Sandiso Phaliso, who lives in one of Cape Town's townships, Philippi. Following the murder of Anni Dewani in 2010, when Mr Phaliso was working for West Cape News, he was asked to find out how easy it was to hire a contract killer. He says he found three in half a day. "It's easy to find one," he said. "It's easy for me because I live in the township, I know gangs, people involved in gangs." "It's common because the country has a high rate of unemployment and the government is not doing enough to cut unemployment. "People come up with many ways, schemes, to put food on the table. They are doing it for the money." He said people in South Africa were willing to work for 2,000 rand - about £110 a month. "For anything beyond that, 3,000, 4,000 rand, they are willing to take that offer, they are willing to take the job," he added. "These are people for who a month goes by without them earning anything, so 1,000 rand for two days work or a week they will do it." The 29-year-old said contract killings in South Africa were a daily occurrence. "I'm not exaggerating," he said. "Mostly what happens is people do it for an insurance policy. When it's 'accidental', someone is shot or killed by a car, the money doubles. "Now it's happening more because a wife wants to kill a husband or a husband wants to kill a wife." But he said many of these killings went unrecorded. "It's not unusual. Sometimes when a hit happens, people are hired for arson to burn houses, sometimes people are hired to kill someone in an 'accident'. It happens more often, but these cases are going unreported." Gareth Newham, head of the Governance, Crime and Justice Division at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, said he was not aware of any research or statistics on contract killings in South Africa. "Unless the police solve the case and prosecute those involved, these crimes do not come to the fore," he said. It had been alleged in Mr Dewani's trial that he set up Anni's murder through taxi driver Tongo. Tongo told the court that, while he was "not involved in any such activities", he knew someone who might know someone who was. According to his evidence, he then spoke to Monde Mbolombo who immediately found him the two hitmen - Mziwamadoda Qwabe and Xolile Mngeni. But William Booth, of the South African Law Society, said he did not think it could be so easy. Mr Booth, a criminal defence lawyer, said: "One of the things I've found very amazing is Dewani could get off an aeroplane and in a short time speak to someone like Tongo and engage him to kill his wife. It's something that bothered me all the way through the trial. "Yes, people who are approached who are unemployed are more readily willing to assist with crime and there's major unemployment in South Africa and people earning low income so that kind of temptation is there. "But, look at Tongo. He was earning a good salary according to the evidence in court, he had a motor car which was valuable. It wasn't as if he was desperate for money, but people are greedy. "It's a fact people are poor and the unemployed more readily agree to commit crime, but crime doesn't mean they're prepared to shoot someone, that's a big jump to make." Mr Phaliso agreed it would be harder for a tourist to find a hitman as they would need to befriend someone first who has criminal contacts and could act as a middleman. "It's not going to be easy for someone they don't know to talk to them, someone they don't trust," he said. "Sometimes police go undercover and pretend to be someone else." "A lot of the time, a week will be enough [to organise a hit], it can be 48 hours," he added. "A week is the longest time it will take for them to do that. "For me, living in South Africa, it's scary because anything can happen at any time. You could be dead, there could be no trace, and if you're not a well-known person the police won't solve it. "It's not easy for the courts to convict someone when you're killed."

दक्षिण अफ्रीका में अनुबंध हत्याओं को स्थापित करने की स्पष्ट सहजता को श्रीन देवानी के मुकदमे के दौरान उजागर किया गया था, जिसे केप टाउन में हनीमून पर अपनी नई दुल्हन एनी की हत्या की व्यवस्था करने से मुक्त कर दिया गया है।


North Korea: On the net in world's most secretive nation

Summary: What is it like to surf the Internet in the most secretive country on Earth? The short answer is - strange, at least by the rest of the world's standards. But as North Koreans begin to put their lives at risk just to connect to the outside world, it could mark a dramatic moment in the country's history.

By Dave LeeTechnology reporter, BBC News There's a curious quirk on every official North Korean website. A piece of programming that must be included in each page's code. Its function is straightforward but important. Whenever leader Kim Jong-un is mentioned, his name is automatically displayed ever so slightly bigger than the text around it. Not by much, but just enough to make it stand out. It's just one facet of the "internet" in North Korea, a uniquely fascinating place. In a country where citizens are intentionally starved of any information other than government propaganda, the internet too is dictated by the needs of the state - but there is an increasing belief that this control is beginning to wane. "The government can no longer monitor all communications in the country, which it could do before," explains Scott Thomas Bruce, an expert on North Korea who has written extensively about the country. "That is a very significant development." Year 101 There's just one cybercafe in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang. Anyone logging on at the cafe would find themselves at a computer that isn't running Windows, but instead Red Star - North Korea's own custom-built operating system, reportedly commissioned by the late Kim Jong-il himself. A pre-installed readme file explains how important it is that the operating system correlates with the country's values. The computer's calendar does not read 2012, but 101 - the number of years since the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country's former leader whose political theories define policy decisions. Normal citizens do not get access to the "internet". That privilege is left to a select number in the country, known as elites, as well as some academics and scientists. What they see is an internet that is so narrow and lacking in depth it resembles more an extravagant company intranet than the expansive global network those outside the country know it to be. "The system they've set up is one that they can control and tear down if necessary," explains Mr Bruce. The system is called Kwangmyong, and is administered by the country's lone, state-run internet service provider. According to Mr Bruce, it consists mainly of "message boards, chat functions, and state sponsored media". Unsurprisingly, there's no sign of Twitter. "For a lot of authoritarian governments who are looking at what is happening in the Middle East," says Mr Bruce, "they're saying rather than let in Facebook, and rather than let in Twitter, what if the government created a Facebook that we could monitor and control?" The Red Star operating system runs an adapted version of the Firefox browser, named Naenara, a title it shares with the country's online portal, which also has an English version. Typical sites include news services - such as the Voice of Korea - and the official organ of the state, the Rodong Sinmun. But anyone producing content for this "internet" must be careful. Reporters Without Borders - an organisation which monitors global press freedom - said some North Korean "journalists" had found themselves sent to "revolutionisation" camps, simply for a typo in their articles. Beyond the Kwangmyong intranet, some North Koreans do have full, unfiltered internet access. However, it is believed this is restricted to just a few dozen families - most directly related to Kim Jong-un himself. 'Mosquito net' North Korea's reluctance to connect citizens to the web is counteracted by an acceptance that, as with trade, it needs to open itself up slightly if it is to continue to survive. While China has its infamous "great firewall" - which blocks out the likes of Twitter and, from time to time the BBC website - North Korea's technology infrastructure is described as a "mosquito net", allowing only the bare essentials both in and out. And it's with mobile that the mosquito net is most porous. While there is an official mobile network, which does not offer data connections or international calls, North Koreans are increasingly getting hold of Chinese mobile phones, smuggled across the border. The handsets generally work within about 10km (6 miles) of the border between the two countries - but not without considerable danger. "The level of risk that people are taking now would be unthinkable 20 years ago," says Nat Kretchun, co-author of a groundbreaking report into the changing media environment in North Korea. The paper, entitled A Quiet Opening, interviewed 420 adults who had defected from the country. Among their stories was a glimpse at the lengths people would go to use these illegal mobile phones. "In order to make sure the mobile phone frequencies are not being tracked, I would fill up a washbasin with water and put the lid of a rice cooker over my head while I made a phone call," said one interviewee, a 28-year-old man who left the country in November 2010. "I don't know if it worked or not, but I was never caught." While the man's scientific methodology is questionable, his fear was certainly warranted. "Possession of illegal cellphones is a very major crime," explains Mr Bruce. "The government has actually bought sensor equipment to try and track down people who are using them. "If you use them, you want to use them in a highly populated area, and you want to be using them for a short amount of time." Honest information During his leadership, Kim Jong-il would parade hundreds of tanks through the streets to show himself as a "military genius". Many observers say that his son, Kim Jong-un, must in contrast show himself to have an astute technological mind, bringing hi-tech enhancements to the lives of his citizens. But each step on this path brings the people of North Korea something they've not had before - honest information, which can have a devastating effect on secretive nations. "I don't see an open door towards an Arab Spring coming that way any time soon," Mr Bruce says. "But I do think that people are now expecting to have access to this technology - and that creates an environment of personal expectation that cannot be easily rolled back." With thanks to Flickr user comradeanatollii for the image of Red Star OS.

पृथ्वी पर सबसे गुप्त देश में इंटरनेट सर्फ करना कैसा लगता है? संक्षिप्त उत्तर है-अजीब, कम से कम दुनिया के बाकी मानकों के अनुसार। लेकिन जैसे ही उत्तर कोरियाई बाहरी दुनिया से जुड़ने के लिए अपनी जान जोखिम में डालना शुरू करते हैं, यह देश के इतिहास में एक नाटकीय क्षण को चिह्नित कर सकता है।


Fantastic beasts and the science of identifying them

Summary: Birds that create storms when they fly, long-snouted "mole-like" creatures who have a talent for sniffing out treasure and "ape-like" animals who have the power to become invisible - yes, the fantastic beasts have arrived.

By Gemma-Louise StevensonBBC News In the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a spin-off of the Harry Potter series, Newt Scamander uses magizoology, a science studied in JK Rowling's imaginary wizarding world, to help him understand these strange creatures. But does such a branch of science exist in the "muggle" (or non -magical) world? Perhaps cryptozoology, the science which identifies and describes creatures from folklore and fossil records, could give us some clues. Anthony McAtamney, 44, is from County Armagh and describes himself as an "ordinary bloke" who has "a life-long interest in the paranormal and cryptozoology" He said: "It's an enigmatic field that few scientists delve into and it's not just about the myths and what-ifs. "Remember the giant squid - referred to as the Kraken in cryptozoology before it was renamed by scientists upon its discovery - was not photographed or filmed live until 2004." A cryptozoologists' guide James Newton, a university disability advisor by day, is the founder of The London Cryptozoology Club and offers his advice to any budding cryptozoologists. "I would say read books, don't get all your info off the internet - there's a lot of good information on the internet but you have to sift through a load of rubbish too." "I would also say research older materials," he said. "Lots of contemporary resources - books, TV shows etc - are very fast-paced but with little depth. "If people are really interested in zoology in general and cryptozoology in particular I would advise them to make inroads wherever possible into mainstream science and work on getting at least certain aspects of the study more credibility. "Don't be embarrassed about your interest - it's what makes you a thinking and interesting individual." Anthony cites one of his heroes and main influences within this field as Dr Karl Shuker. "In my mind he was balanced and provided the folklore and the facts where he could around the sightings but also gave alternates to the sightings where possible," he said. "He also gave examples of how such creatures may exist which almost inspired a romantic notion in me that the world has more to offer even as we become more modern. "Whilst he does have a scientific approach he doesn't openly ridicule - his work is thought provoking and well researched." The cryptozoology behind the characters From Murtlaps to Mooncalfs JK Rowling has added a whole menagerie of magical creatures to the wizarding world in this, the first of the Fantastic Beasts film franchise. And Anthony can see parallels with certain animals identified in cryptozoology, known as cryptids. One such creature is the Thunderbird, described on Pottermore as "a magical American bird closely related to the phoenix" who can "sense danger and create storms as it flies." Thunderbirds also have one of the houses of the American school of witchcraft and wizardry, Ilvermorny, named after them. "People sometimes equate Thunderbirds to modern day sightings of Pterosaur that we hear from in Ohio, New Mexico and Papa New Guinea," Anthony said. "However the Thunderbird is a North American cryptid and has basis in legend with the Native Americans. "So her [Rowling's] linking it to Native Americans is very good and indicative of her research. "There are theories that Thunderbirds were large birds that used the currents from storms, much like eagles, to whip up warm updrafts to aid them in flights, hence they may have been spotted following paths of thunderstorms which in turn gave rise to the flapping of the wings creating thunder." He can see parallels with the "ape-like" Demiguise and many cryptids based on ape-like creatures such as Bigfoot and the Ebu Gogo too. Although Anthony also believes that there are characteristics of standard zoological apes present in this character as well. "There are so many real species of monkey and especially the marmoset monkey which I think it resembles," he said.

पक्षी जो उड़ते समय तूफान पैदा करते हैं, लंबे समय तक "तिल जैसे" जीव जो खजाने को सूँघने की प्रतिभा रखते हैं और "बंदर जैसे" जानवर जो अदृश्य होने की शक्ति रखते हैं-हाँ, शानदार जानवर आ गए हैं।


Home schooling: Why more black US families are trying it

Summary: Until recently, home schooling in the US was mostly practised by white families, but a growing number in the black community are now also turning their back on the public school system and educating their children at home. Why?

By Brian WheelerBBC News, Washington "There were lots of fights and people getting shot," says Sonya Barbee. "It was just too much. To me, it's not a good environment for a kid and even though I work full time, so it's really hard for me, I still feel like it's the right decision." Sonya has not made life easy for herself. A single mother, who works for the US government, she now has the added burden of being a teacher to her 11-year-old son, Copeland. It was not the violence, or even the fact that he was being bullied, that finally led to the decision to remove Copeland from his public school in what she describes as a "really bad area" of Washington DC, but the fact that he was "losing his love of learning". Now, with the help of her mother, who looks after Copeland two days a week while he works online, and a home schooling co-operative, she is hoping to "rekindle the fire". She herself teaches him after work and in the holidays. Her only regret so far is that Copeland is not more enthusiastic, saying he misses the "madness" of the classroom - although, she stresses, it is early days. Until recently, Sonya's story would have been highly unusual in the United States. About two million, or 4%, of American children are home-schooled, according to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) - a rough estimate, as families do not have to register with the authorities in some states. But home-schooling has traditionally been dominated by white Christian families in the rural south, who object to what they see as the public schools' liberal agenda on sex education and Darwinism. The number of inner-city parents choosing to educate their children at home, for educational rather than religious reasons, has been growing for a while, but until recently few black families were thought to be among them, according to NHERI director Dr Brian Ray. "For the African-American community there was a huge amount of pressure against it, because in America, the grandparents of today's home-schooled children fought for desegregation of schools. They thought, 'The public schools are going to save us,'" he says. But Dr Ray, who regularly interviews black home-schoolers as part of his research, says attitudes are changing fast - and it's also a lot easier today for black families to try it than it was 20 years ago, he points out. Joyce Burges, co-founder of National Black Home Educators, who home-schooled all five of her children, aged 16 to 35, says the practice is growing "exponentially" in the African American community. "The failings of public schools have caused all of us, whether we are white or black, to come up with creative ideas about how we can educate children. "That explains the rise of the co-ops and African Americans seeing that this is not just a white thing any more." Despite the desegregation of schools, the attainment gap between African-American and white students in American schools has barely changed since the 1960s. The problem is particularly acute among black boys. According to a 2008 study by the Schott Foundation: "Over the last 25 years, the social, educational and economic outcomes for black males have been more systematically devastating than the outcomes for any other racial or ethnic group or gender." Monica Utsey, who runs a home schooling co-operative for African American children in Washington DC, says: "African-American mothers, especially those who have boys, have a lot of trouble in the school system. The way the classroom is designed is more conducive for girls." For her, though, the main motivation was cultural - she wanted her sons to learn about their African roots and not "to believe that their history begins with slavery". Home-schoolers are scathing about the way public schools teach to the test, at the expense of providing what they see as a rounded education. Another common complaint is that teachers are too ready to blame behavioural problems on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and encourage them to medicate their children with drugs such as Ritalin or Adderall. "The teachers are always telling the parents they have to drug their kids, like they have some kind of problem. It's just crazy." says Sonya Barbee. "You don't want your kid to be a zombie." Home-schooling co-operatives, where lessons are held in mixed age groups by parents, have sprung up in cities across America in recent years, helping to break the social isolation critics of home schooling often warn about. But even its most ardent advocates concede that home schooling is not for everyone. Only the most committed parents, who want to be involved in every aspect of their child's development and enjoy spending time with them, can make it work. Not all parents can keep up with the demands of the curriculum, particularly if they want their offspring to go to college. Many children who are home-schooled in their early years return to the class room when they reach secondary school age. It is also does nothing to address standards in public schools which, some experts say, will fall still further if highly-motivated and engaged parents start taking their children out of them, harming the African-American community as a whole. Joyce Burges believes the day could soon be approaching when the local home-schooling co-operative, run by a group of committed parents, could be a real alternative to the public school, for children of all ages and ethnicities. The demand certainly appears to be there. "I get emails and phone calls from people all the time who want to know if there is someone that can home-school their child," says Monica Utsey. "I tell them that it doesn't work like that. It's really the parents' responsibility."

हाल तक, अमेरिका में घर पर स्कूली शिक्षा का अभ्यास ज्यादातर गोरे परिवारों द्वारा किया जाता था, लेकिन अश्वेत समुदाय में बढ़ती संख्या अब सार्वजनिक स्कूल प्रणाली से भी मुंह मोड़ रही है और अपने बच्चों को घर पर ही शिक्षित कर रही है। क्यों?


Runcorn murder: Boys charged after teenager dies outside club

Summary: Two teenagers have been charged with murdering an 18-year-old man who died following a "disturbance" outside a Royal British Legion club.

Eddie O'Rourke, from The Clough, Runcorn, died in hospital after being found with a "serious injury" in Halton Village at about 20:30 BST on Friday. Two boys, aged 17 and 15, have been remanded in custody and are due to appear at Warrington Combined Court. A 16-year-old boy who was also arrested on suspicion of murder has been bailed.

रॉयल ब्रिटिश लीजन क्लब के बाहर "अशांति" के बाद मारे गए एक 18 वर्षीय व्यक्ति की हत्या का आरोप दो किशोरों पर लगाया गया है।


Saltdean Lido: Vandals target pool weeks after reopening

Summary: A Grade II*-listed lido has been vandalised just three weeks after it reopened to the public following a seven-year £3m restoration project.

Stones were thrown at toughened glass panels surrounding the outdoor swimming pool in Saltdean on Sunday night, causing one to shatter. The intruders are also thought to have gone for a swim during the break-in. Sussex Police said three teenage boys were arrested on suspicion of committing criminal damage. A spokeswoman said about £1,225 worth of damage was caused. In a statement, Saltdean Lido said the vandalism was "incredibly sad" for the volunteers and supporters who had worked hard to "bring the pool back from the brink so that generations of young people can experience what it is like to swim in a historic pool".

सात साल की 3 मिलियन पाउंड की बहाली परियोजना के बाद जनता के लिए फिर से खोले जाने के ठीक तीन सप्ताह बाद एक ग्रेड II *-सूचीबद्ध लिडो को तोड़ दिया गया है।


Milton Keynes Centre:MK bomb hoax: Man bailed

Summary: A man, arrested on suspicion of causing a bomb hoax at a shopping centre, has been released on bail.

Shops and restaurants at the Centre:MK in Milton Keynes were closed for five hours on Monday after two "suspicious packages" were found. The shopping centre said the packages were unattended bags which "contained clothes", but Thames Valley Police asked the public to "remain vigilant". The man, 33, was also arrested on suspicion of possession of a knife.

एक शॉपिंग सेंटर में बम की अफवाह फैलाने के संदेह में गिरफ्तार एक व्यक्ति को जमानत पर रिहा कर दिया गया है।


Murder charge over Ancoats stab death 26 years ago

Summary: A 75-year-old man has been charged with murder nearly 26 years after a man died in a stabbing.

Jason Comerford, 21, was stabbed in the neck on 25 February 1994 in George Leigh Street, near Great Ancoats Street, in Manchester. Police investigated but no suspect was identified and the case remained open. Geoffrey Strike, formerly of Manchester, was charged with murder and will appear at Manchester City Magistrates' Court later. Related Internet Links Greater Manchester Police

छुरा घोंपने से एक व्यक्ति की मौत के लगभग 26 साल बाद एक 75 वर्षीय व्यक्ति पर हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Don't let the bedbugs bite

Summary: "Night night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite…" It's long been a favourite rhyme to send children off to sleep. But with experts warning of a worldwide bedbug pandemic, will any of us be able to sleep once we've turned out the light, asks Tom de Castella.

Vampire fiction may be all the rage. But the true bloodsuckers after twilight are not charismatic updates of Dracula but tiny insects living in our mattresses, headboards and pillows. Yes, bedbugs are back and pest controllers are warning of a global pandemic. A recent survey of a thousand pest control firms around the world by the University of Kentucky and the United States' National Pest Management Association, appears to show that the bedbug problem is increasing everywhere. "The results of the global study suggest that we are on the threshold of a bedbug pandemic, not just in the United States, but around the world," said Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for NPMA. A study led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine last year found the number of complaints about bedbugs in the capital grew annually by an average of 28.5% between 2000-2006. And there's no sign of the problem abating with Rentokil reporting the number of bedbug call outs has gone up by 24% in the first half of the year. Some British hotels have even taken to employing the services of a sniffer dog in a bid to root out infestations of the tiny insects (see box, right). The problem is already big news in America. The nation's Environmental Protection Agency last month warned of an "alarming resurgence" of bedbugs, a creature the EPA says causes painful itching, allergic reactions, not to mention mental health problems and negative economic consequences. New York is the worst affected city with office buildings, cinemas and shops - including a branch of expensive lingerie chain Victoria's Secret - having to close. Pop singer Lauren Hildebrandt detailed her trauma in a press release this week after being bitten by the insects while staying at an "upscale" New York retreat. "I couldn't sleep at night, because I kept thinking they were in my bed. I was unable to wear a bathing suit or even a tank top during this hot summer!" Politicians have been forced to act. In the past week New York's state government has passed laws requiring landlords to tell prospective tenants of any bedbug infestation within the past year, and ordering schools to inform parents of any outbreak. Experts have known about the resurgence in bedbug populations for the last decade but it's only now wider society has woken up to the problem, says Mike Potter, professor of entomology at the University of Kentucky. Part of that is because bedbugs are not disease carriers like mosquitoes or rats. And then there's the fact that they are seen as a bit of joke. "For years people have belittled the problem of bedbugs but now they're beginning to understand this is serious," he says. "Sleepless nights, constant anxiety, the expense of extermination and then not knowing if you've got rid of them, all creates a huge amount of emotional stress that shouldn't be pooh-poohed." Even the term bedbug is misleading now with the creatures popping up in laundries, shops, children's nurseries, schools and hospitals. Bedbugs may not be able to fly or jump but they have a natural ability to stow away in luggage, beds or sofas and come out to feed when they find themselves close to someone sleeping. Prof Potter fears for the future unless urgent action is taken. "There's absolutely no reason to think that this bedbug problem is going to subside on its own. When you look at where we'll be in two years' time and the rate of increase it's going to be very serious. This is the most challenging pest problem for the developed world in a generation." But why are their numbers on the march again? Clive Boase, a British entomologist who runs a pest management consultancy, says we grew complacent after tackling the last great outbreak before World War II. In the 1930s there were large swaths of London where every house was infested. It took an investigation by the Ministry of Health and the Public Health Act of 1936 to force councils to take action. "Then from the late 30s their numbers declined. The introduction of DDT in 1946 is the reason normally given for wiping out bedbugs but by then the problem had been more or less treated. DDT was just the final nail in the coffin for bedbugs." The 60s, 70s and 80s were the "golden years" in Britain with bedbugs beaten back. Climate change and growing international travel, have been cited as reasons for the bedbug's comeback. But Mr Boase rejects both explanations. It is far more likely that bedbugs have become resistant to commonly used insecticides in the West, he argues. Interestingly the global survey showed pest control firms in Latin America and Asia where stronger, organophosphate chemicals are permitted, found it easier to control bedbugs, he says. Mr Boase says there is an urgent need to develop new, more effective bedbug-killing insecticides which are also environmentally acceptable. "We can still get rid of bedbugs from premises here even with the problems we've got with resistance to insecticides. But we just need to work harder." In the meantime householders need to be more vigilant in reporting the problem early. Richard Mosely, technical manager at the British Pest Control Association, says the apparent harmlessness of the insect is another reason for their return. Because bedbugs are not lethal like the hospital infections policymakers feel there's no need to act. "You may not get the emphasis you would with MRSA. That is a killer. This bug draws blood but doesn't spread disease."

"रात को, चैन से सोओ, बेडबग्स को काटने मत दो"... बच्चों को सोने के लिए भेजना लंबे समय से एक पसंदीदा कविता रही है। लेकिन विशेषज्ञों द्वारा दुनिया भर में बेडबग्स महामारी की चेतावनी के साथ, क्या हम में से कोई भी प्रकाश बंद करने के बाद सो पाएगा, टॉम डी कैस्टेला पूछता है।


Donald Trump and the politics of paranoia

Summary: One startling feature of the latest race to become the next president of the US - which begins in earnest with next week's Iowa caucuses - is the runaway success in the opinion polls of the outspoken billionaire, Donald Trump. But this should not be so surprising, says Michael Goldfarb, as Trump is just the latest example of a tendency in American politics that goes back a very long way.

Fear. The simple four-letter word that works if you want to get elected. Political professionals know that playing on people's fears - going negative - is the way to win. Paranoia. A somewhat fancier word that is used to describe excessive, irrational fear and distrust. It, too, works from time to time - in American politics, at least. This current presidential season is one of those times. Donald Trump has surged to the front of the pack competing for the Republican Presidential nomination by giving voice to outsized fears many in America have - of illegal immigrants, of Islamic terrorists, of free trade agreements shipping American jobs to China. Trump promises to make America Great Again - as if the US somehow was no longer the most powerful country in the world - by simple solutions: deporting all 11 million illegal immigrants, banning Muslims from entering the US, and forcing the Chinese government to back down through tough talk. The phrase "paranoid style in American politics" was coined by the late historian Richard Hofstadter. He defined the Paranoid Style, "an old and recurrent phenomenon in our public life which has been frequently linked with movements of suspicious discontent." In a country that at its best radiates an infectious optimism, it is interesting how often fear has stalked the American landscape. Richard Parker, who lectures on religion in the early days of America at Harvard's John F Kennedy School of Government, traces paranoia in American public life back to the Salem Witch Trials in the late 17th Century and even before that, to the religious politics of the Mother Country. It's easy to forget how closely tied the first colonies were to England, particularly in Massachusetts. The Pilgrims were dissenting Protestants who sided closely with Cromwell in the English Civil War. When the Commonwealth was overthrown and the Stuarts restored to the British throne, there was renewed struggle with Catholicism - and the religious suspicions surrounding the court of James II were magnified out of all proportion on the other side of the Atlantic. Add in the daily struggles with nature, fighting with native Americans, and millennial religious practice that thought the end times were approaching and you have, Parker points out, "a community primed to be fearful". And so in the town of Salem, people turned on their more free-thinking neighbours, and accused them of being witches. At this time, the idea of witchcraft was not something from fiction. People really did believe, in Parker's words, "dark spirits could inhabit souls and bodies. It was the basis for primitive psychology and physiology." He adds that it's no surprise that in 1953, playwright Arthur Miller set his classic drama, The Crucible, in Salem during the witch trials. The early 1950s was a time of another outbreak of fear in America, this time of communists in high places everywhere including the entertainment industry. There were blacklists of suspected communists and former communists in Hollywood. The House Un-American Activities Committee summoned the famous to Washington to testify against artistic colleagues. Careers were ruined. Miller, summoned by the committee in 1957, refused to name names and had his passport revoked. Another source of fear that recurs in American history is of the secret society in league with foreign powers. Many of America's first presidents were Freemasons and masonry was closely associated with the French Revolution. Later on the concern was cabals of foreign bankers trying to destroy the American working man's livelihood. But religion is the playing field for most of these fears. In the early days of the Republic, Roman Catholics were suspected of being the vanguard of a Papist plot to take over the country. The fact that in the first census, of four million citizens only 25,000 were Catholic didn't matter. In the late 1840s, a huge wave of Catholics fleeing the famine in Ireland only inflamed suspicions. A new political party was formed, called the Know Nothing party. It grew out of a secret society, whose main creed was anti-Irish immigration. Its members were told to say, if asked about it, "I know nothing." Hence the name. The next group to be suspect was the Jews, whose great immigration wave came at the turn of the 20th Century. The entire Jewish immigrant population, some of whom were socialists, many of whom came from Russia, became conflated with the Russian Revolution. By the 1930s, in his weekly radio broadcast, a Catholic priest, Father Charles Coughlin, an Irish Catholic, was whipping up fear about Jews and their "communising the factories and the fields and the mines". Following World War Two the fear shifted to the Soviet Union. Leaders of the far-right vied with each other to see who could turn up the most Communists. This led Robert Welch, the founder of the ultra-right John Birch Society, to claim that President Dwight D Eisenhower was "a tool of the communists". Welch was disowned by American conservatives for that assertion, yet his organisation became the foundation of a grassroots political movement that has dominated American politics for the last four decades. In her book, Suburban Warriors, Harvard history professor Lisa McGirr charts the rise of "movement conservatism" in the new suburbs of Orange County California, just south of Los Angeles. Find out more Listen to Michael Goldfarb's radio documentary, Trump and the Politics of Paranoia, on BBC Radio 4 at 20:00 on Monday 25 January, or catch up later on the BBC iPlayer. Many of these conservatives had no problem with the Birch Society's extreme fear-mongering about an imminent Communist takeover of the US. It was observing the growth of this new movement that led Richard Hofstadter to write his seminal 1964 essay, The Paranoid Style. But McGirr disputes the idea that their "apocalyptic strands of thought" were a form of paranoia. "Hofstadter makes a mistake in presenting an overly psychological, clinical portrait, which has the tendency to lead to a dismissive characterisation of their ideology," she says. "I think it is linked to religiosity: evangelicalism and fundamentalism which have deep strands in American life," she adds, echoing Richard Parker. "Hofstadter wanted to write them off but they cannot be written off, they are an important strand of American life which survives to this day." Writing off Donald Trump was the default setting of most pundits and political professionals in the first months of the campaign. It isn't any more. Trump understood more than they did that a significant chunk of American society is fearful. He plays to those fears - whether they are rational or not. He doesn't speak in what he calls "politically correct" terms. In South Carolina, recently, I met a gentleman named Robert Sandifer. In his 70s, well-educated and well-off, he had retired to a lovely island just south of Charleston, one of the nicest cities in America. "Trump has instilled hope in people," Sandifer told me. "Hope? Sounds to me like desperation," I told him. Sandifer politely disagreed. "If he does what he says he's gonna do, we would be less fearful." He added, for emphasis: "We fear the federal government very much." More from the Magazine Donald Trump is the frontrunner in the Republican race to be the presidential nominee for next year's election. What are his policies and beliefs? 22 things Donald Trump believes (Dec 2015) Michael Goldfarb is the author of Emancipation: How Liberating Europe's Jews from the Ghetto led to Revolution and Renaissance. Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

अमेरिका का अगला राष्ट्रपति बनने की नवीनतम दौड़ की एक चौंकाने वाली विशेषता-जो अगले सप्ताह के आयोवा कॉकस के साथ उत्साहपूर्वक शुरू होती है-मुखर अरबपति, डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प के जनमत सर्वेक्षणों में भगोड़ा सफलता है। लेकिन यह इतना आश्चर्यजनक नहीं होना चाहिए, माइकल गोल्डफार्ब कहते हैं, क्योंकि ट्रम्प अमेरिकी राजनीति में एक प्रवृत्ति का नवीनतम उदाहरण है जो बहुत लंबा रास्ता तय करता है।


Are most victims of terrorism Muslim?

Summary: After the Charlie Hebdo attack, a Paris imam went to the scene and condemned the murders. "These victims are martyrs, and I shall pray for them with all my heart," said Hassen Chalghoumi (above). He was also quoted as saying that 95% of victims of terrorism are Muslim. How accurate is this statistic?

By Ruth Alexander and Hannah MooreBBC News The claim is similar to one in a 2011 report by the US government's National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC), which said: "In cases where the religious affiliation of terrorism casualties could be determined, Muslims suffered between 82 and 97% of terrorism-related fatalities over the past five years." However, the report did not say in what proportion of cases it had been possible to determine the victims' religious affiliation - or whether these cases were representative of the others. The answers are not easy to obtain, because the report is no longer produced. Another US-based team, the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) at the University of Maryland, does still compile terrorism statistics - but it doesn't attempt to determine the religion of people killed or injured. To do so would be "very difficult" says the GTD's Erin Miller. The reason is that most of the raw data comes from news reports, and these often don't mention the religion of the victims. In about 50% of cases the GTD doesn't even know who carried out the attack. Miller does point out, though, that between 2004 and 2013 about half of all terrorist attacks, and 60% of fatalities due to terrorist attacks, took place in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan - all of which have a mostly Muslim population. So while she doubts that 95% of terrorism victims are Muslim, she thinks the truth might not be far off. "It's not out of the realm of possibility, given the extreme concentration of attacks in majority-Muslim countries," Miller says. Defining 'terrorism' The GTD defines a terrorist attack as the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non‐state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation. Global Terrorism Database 2014 Codebook (p8) When people in the West think of terrorist attacks, they may think of Charlie Hebdo, or the 7/7 London tube and bus bombs, the Madrid train bombs and of course 9/11 - and although some Muslims did die in these attacks, most of the victims wouldn't have been Muslim. The overall number of deadly terrorist attacks in France, the UK, Spain and the US, however, is very low by international standards. Between 2004-2013, the UK suffered 400 terrorist attacks, mostly in Northern Ireland, and almost all of them were non-lethal. The US suffered 131 attacks, fewer than 20 of which were lethal. France suffered 47 attacks. But in Iraq, there were 12,000 attacks and 8,000 of them were lethal. Erin Miller says there is another reason why she would advise against focusing on the religious affiliation of victims, quite apart from the fact that reliable data is hard to find. "It's tempting for many people to try and turn it into almost a scorecard, trying to figure out which religious groups are more violent than others, and boil it down to this grossly oversimplified keeping of score, like it's a football game," she says. This is a mistake, she argues. Most terrorist attacks are rooted in geopolitics, she says. "Religion is certainly a part of them, but it is not the only part." Listen to More or Less on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or download the free podcast Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

चार्ली हेब्दो हमले के बाद, पेरिस का एक इमाम घटनास्थल पर गया और हत्याओं की निंदा की। हसन चलघौमी (ऊपर) ने कहा, "ये पीड़ित शहीद हैं, और मैं उनके लिए पूरे दिल से प्रार्थना करूंगा।" उन्हें यह कहते हुए भी उद्धृत किया गया था कि आतंकवाद के पीड़ितों में से 95 प्रतिशत मुसलमान हैं। यह आंकड़ा कितना सटीक है?


Truth Project: Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry calls for younger participants

Summary: Lucie was 10 when she was first sexually abused.

By Imran Rahman-JonesNewsbeat reporter She was groomed online before she ever met her abuser in person. "The conversation might slightly change one day to talk about sexual things, and then it might be talking about sending sexual photos," she tells Newsbeat. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse wants more people like Lucie - not her real name - to come forward with their stories. It wants to hear from younger survivors of child sexual abuse to be able to give the most up to date recommendations to the government. If you are affected by any of the issues in this article, click here for advice. The inquiry, which was set up by the government but is not run by it, started after hundreds of people had come forward to say that Jimmy Savile had abused them as children. It's trying to find out how victims and survivors of child sexual abuse were treated by authorities including the police or care homes. For Lucie, 21, it was a failure of the law to convict her abuser. Laws which covered sexual messages didn't exist at the time. Her abuser still walks free now. Although the abuse became physical in Lucie's case, a conflicting witness statement meant prosecutors felt there wasn't enough evidence to continue the case. Lucie says that online grooming can be hard to spot when it's happening - after all, chatting to your friends online is pretty normal. "It's very slow manipulation that people might not recognise," she says. "But they have to remember that if there's anything that they're uncomfortable with, then it's OK to to block that person and move on." For her, the grooming "was over two or three years, until we met in person and it became physical sexual abuse. "I didn't ever tell anybody," says Lucie. "When I was 14, my mum found photos on my phone." That's when the police got involved. "At that time, the evidence they gathered from my phone and his phone - they weren't able to prosecute because the law didn't exist." "He had told me that if I went to the police they wouldn't do anything, I had gone to the police and they didn't do anything. "Everything that he'd threatened me with had just come true. So it then continued, despite the police being aware." The abuse went until Lucie was 16. Now 21, she still has flashbacks and night terrors. "I have a diagnosis of complex PTSD. I am now on medication for that, and I probably will be for the rest of my life. "It's damaged me in a way that is irreparable I think." But Lucie now works with organisations including the NSPCC and the Truth Project to share her story and speak to other victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. "It can help to come forward and it can help people in different ways. For me, sharing my story in the media is how it's helpful to me. "I just wanted to give young people the confidence that actually you can come forward," says Lucie. "Online grooming and texting and sexual abuse in that way is a very new thing, and it's important that we share our stories because the abuse that's happening now is very different." The Truth Project is the part of the inquiry that confidentially listens to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. It's not part of the main investigation, which means "the people who come forward get to own what happened to them," says Michael May, who leads its work with young people. "I hope that people hold on to that idea - the idea that when they come to us, they can be agents of change." "We have to be really clear that online grooming in itself is a form of sexual abuse," he says. "The signs are that something happened that made you feel really uncomfortable, that left you in a place where you questioned its appropriateness." The Truth Project is going into universities to try and reach younger people. Michael says that there are some questions people should ask themselves before they come forward: "Have you thought about why you want to come? Have you thought about what it might feel like? Have you thought about where you have support already and what support might be necessary to make you feel safe in doing it?" If you are affected by any of the issues in this article, click here for advice. Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here.

लुसी 10 साल की थी जब उसका पहली बार यौन शोषण किया गया था।


Aerobatic display abandoned at show

Summary: A display by the French aerobatic display team at the Royal International Air Tattoo was stopped after a technical emergency.

It is after one of the Dassault-Dornier Alpha jets flown by the Patrouille de France team had technical problems. A technical emergency was declared and fire engines were deployed when the aircraft landed. No action was needed. The team was due to fly to Paris afterwards, to perform a flyover at the end of the Tour-de-France.

रॉयल इंटरनेशनल एयर टैटू में फ्रांसीसी एरोबेटिक डिस्प्ले टीम द्वारा एक प्रदर्शन को तकनीकी आपातकाल के बाद रोक दिया गया था।


JNU: Protesters bring top India university to its knees

Summary: Thousands of students protesting a hostel fee hike have brought one of India's most prestigious universities to a standstill for almost a month. BBC Hindi's Vineet Khare spent a day at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), to find out more.

"I told the policeman I was a blind student. I asked him to stop hitting me as I couldn't even run away. But he said why did you join the protest if you were blind?" Shashibhushan Samad is lying on the bed at his JNU dorm room, recounting a protest rally on Monday where thousands of students clashed with police. Many received injuries and had to be taken to hospital. In a video that has since gone viral, Mr Samad can be seen removing his glasses to show policemen that he cannot see, but he is still pulled away. "I was crushed under their feet. Someone hit me on my knees and stomach. They stomped on my back," he says, baring his torso to show me the marks. For almost four weeks now, students have been protesting against an increase in accommodation fees at the top university. Under the new proposed fees, students will have to pay between 1,800 rupees ($25; £20) and 3,600 rupees ($50; £40) every year for housing on campus. They were previously paying between 120 rupees ($1.60) and 240 rupees ($3). They will also have to pay for other services - such as electricity and sanitation - which they say they have never had to do before. Many say that the new structure is prohibitive, particularly for students from poorer backgrounds, and will affect its standing as an inclusive institution. A renowned centre for teaching and research that provides education at a fraction of the cost charged by its private counterparts, the government-run JNU is a highly coveted university. Its alumni hold sway in the bureaucracy, journalism, the police and a host of other public and private sector jobs. Private education in India is still unaffordable for the majority of the country's population and jobs in government institutions are limited. JNU, its supporters say, plays an important role in remedying that. "The democratisation of the elite has long-term consequences for the healthy development of Indian society. So we need a lot more institutions like JNU," said former vice chancellor Dr YK Alagh. Ali Javed, a student, has surveyed 463 students on campus and his findings are doing the rounds among the protesters. The survey claims that a "significant percentage (42%) of students fall below the annual household income of 144,000 rupees ($2,000)". "There are students who go hungry, walk miles instead of hiring a taxi and wear damaged shoes to save money. Some work shifts to pay back family debts. Can we not have an institution where students from the marginalised communities can study?" Mr Javed said. The JNU administration says a revision of fees had been due for years and that dorm room rent had not been "revised in the last three decades". Nearly 8,000 students study at the university, of which about 60% live on campus, say students. At an earlier protest, students gathered outside an auditorium to attract the attention of a federal minister who was inside but they were forced away by security forces who used water cannons to disperse them. Things went south at the latest stand-off on Monday, where police used barricades and a large force to scuttle a planned student march to the parliament. The police response led to scores of injuries among students. MS Randhawa, a senior police officer in Delhi, said that police "exercised maximum restraint" and "students may have been injured as they tried to break down barricades". But the university, seen as a bastion of the political left by many, has long been in the thick of controversy. Students at JNU have been reviled by critics - most of whom are from the upper-middle classes - for being "freeloaders", "parasites" and a burden on taxpayers. These narratives have resurfaced following the latest student protest. The present chaotic situation at JNU has meant that many students are left uncertain about their future. For Jyoti Kumar, who is pursuing a masters degree in Russian, the hike in fees may force her to drop out. Her father is a farmer, who earns between 70,000 and 90,000 rupees ($975 and $1,253) every year. "My father hasn't been able to process the fee hike," she said. "My younger sister and brother also want to study at JNU, but how can they study here with this fee hike?"

छात्रावास शुल्क वृद्धि का विरोध कर रहे हजारों छात्रों ने भारत के सबसे प्रतिष्ठित विश्वविद्यालयों में से एक को लगभग एक महीने के लिए ठप कर दिया है। बीबीसी हिंदी के विनीत खरे ने अधिक जानने के लिए जवाहरलाल नेहरू विश्वविद्यालय (जेएनयू) में एक दिन बिताया।


Tour de France Grand Depart diary

Summary: With the world's biggest bike race starting in Leeds on 5 July, BBC Yorkshire's Tour de France correspondent Matt Slater rounds up the best of the gossip, opinion and stories, on and off the bike, and also tries to explain some of cycling's unique lingo. TOP STORIES

Did you know that it was the 25th anniversary of the release of Kevin Costner's best film last Friday? No, not Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, or Waterworld, I'm talking about, Field of Dreams. If you cannot remember the movie - shame on you - you probably recall the line, "If you build it, he will come", or any of the "build the field and they will come" variations that have entered the common phrasebook. This certainly seems to be the best way to describe what is happening in Yorkshire on 5-6 July, as it has been confirmed that the region has scored a young royals hat-trick with Harry, Kate and Wills all coming to see Le Tour. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have previous with cycling, they witnessed Britain's gold rush at the Olympic Velodrome, while Harry just loves sport. Full story: Everybody, but I am going to give The Times of India its Grand Depart diary debut. Follow that, I hear you say. OK, how does a hops-based joint venture between Ilkley firms Wharfedale Brewery and Fat Lad At The Back grab you? The brewery, which owns the tremendous Flying Duck pub on Church Street, is rebranding its Wharfedale Blonde as "King o't Mountains Blonde" in honour of the big bike race. New cycling clothing brand Fat Lad At The Back, or FLAB, is "partnering" the brewery in this rebranding, which sounds like a euphemism for drinking it. The FLAB USP is that it makes stylish cycling gear for the riders who struggle to fit into it more typical offerings. Riders who drink too much "King o't Mountains Blonde" perhaps. Full story: Ilkley Gazette Continuing with the joint-venture theme, good friends of the diary Leeds Gallery Munro House and Café 164 deserve a quick plug for "#CYCLISM", an exhibition "of all things pedal-powered on two wheels". The launch night is on Friday, 27 June. Full story: The Leeds Gallery CYCLING ROUND-UP Another day, another twist in the Team Sky selection saga… or in this case, more of a stick, than twist. As mentioned previously, Sir Bradley Wiggins is riding in this week's Tour of Switzerland, when he really wanted to be at last week's Criterium du Dauphine with all the other Tour de France cool kids. That is not to say that the Swiss race lacks cool kids - it doesn't - it is just that his team sent their cool kids to the other race, the background to this being that Wiggo is very unlikely to be selected for Sky's Tour team. There was, perhaps, a tiny opening for him if he had a blinder in Switzerland. Sadly, Monday's display ended any prospect of a blinder, as he trailed in two and a half minutes behind the race's coolest kid, Slovakian star Peter Sagan. Wiggins' demeanour as he crossed the line was one of cool indifference. It was as if he was saying 'I told you they were setting me up to fail here', as he has already let it be known that he has spent the last couple of weeks training for the very different demands of track cycling. All he can do now is knuckle down and support his teammates in Switzerland, and hope for better legs in Friday's time trial. TWEET OF THE DAY "Busy day ahead. Going to check out the Tourmalet & Hautacam. Been up there before in 2008 but that feels like a lifetime ago now!" While Wiggo endures his Swiss exile, Team Sky colleague @chrisfroome continues his preparations for the Tour de France with some Pyrenean reconnaissance. TODAY'S TOUR TRIVIA In honour of Eddy Merckx's 69th birthday today, the diary wants to take you back to the 1969 Tour de France, the Belgian's first. Merckx utterly dominated this race, winning six stages and every jersey - not bad for his debut. But looking back at this race now, it is the sheer quantity of racing that stands out. The riders did 23 consecutive days of racing - no rest days - which included three split stages, days when they rode A and B stages. They also went 300 miles further than the 2014 field will. Merckx was the toughest of a tough bunch. THE COUNTDOWN - 18 DAYS TO GO With highly-fancied Belgium making their World Cup 2014 bow on Tuesday, it is only fitting that the diary mentions the country's proud record in their other favourite sports event, Le Tour. Belgian cyclists have won 18 Tours between them, to put the country second on the all-time list behind France, and for a period either side of WWI, Belgium dominated. The wins have dried up of late, though, with Lucien van Impe's 1976 victory being the last.

5 जुलाई को लीड्स में शुरू होने वाली दुनिया की सबसे बड़ी बाइक दौड़ के साथ, बीबीसी यॉर्कशायर के टूर डी फ्रांस संवाददाता मैट स्लेटर बाइक के अंदर और बाहर गपशप, राय और कहानियों का सबसे अच्छा दौर पेश करते हैं, और साइकिल चलाने की कुछ अनूठी भाषा को समझाने की भी कोशिश करते हैं।


Elections 2021: Conservatives hold control of Norfolk

Summary: The Conservatives have kept control of Norfolk County Council.

The party needed 43 for a majority and won 58, three up on the last local elections in 2017. Seats were gained in Holt, Wells-next-the-Sea, King's Lynn North & Central and Yarmouth North & Central, although one was lost to an independent in Gayton and Nar Valley. Council leader Andrew Proctor held on to his Blofield and Brundall seat, his share 1% down on his last victory. The Green Party gained three seats from Labour in the Norwich area: Mancroft, Nelson and Thorpe Hamlet. Norfolk's police and crime commissioner (PCC) result is expected to come in on Saturday evening. The county elected Conservative PCC Lorne Green in 2016, but he is not standing this time. A modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. More information about these elections Who won 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' The declaration by Norwich City Council is not expected before Sunday afternoon. The city council is Labour-run, and 13 of its 39 seats up for election on Thursday. A modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. 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 Norfolk County Council Norwich City Council Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk

रूढ़िवादियों ने नॉरफ़ॉक काउंटी परिषद पर नियंत्रण बनाए रखा है।


Press aghast at Pussy Riot verdict

Summary: There is almost universal condemnation in the press worldwide of the two-year sentences imposed on members of Russian punk group Pussy Riot. In Russia itself, many mention the Dark Ages and one commentator calls the verdict "Bolshevist". A French editorial calls the trial "a travesty of justice" and the Washington Post says the sentence is excessive. But a newspaper in Belarus argues that the authorities have done Pussy Riot a favour by making them more popular.

Russia Igor Maltsev on Izvestiya daily's website: The next step would be to burn anyone who says that the earth is round. That would be nice. After smashing justice up with a god's hammer, after mixing paganism, communism, commissars and papacy together, what we suddenly received is another Afghanistan-1980. Stanislav Minin on the website of centrist daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Two years in jail is probably not too harsh, as 'things are tougher in some countries'. Of course they are. In some countries people get pelted with stones and in others, I think, they still get eaten. But there is little honour in looking more humane than a man-eater. Mikhail Rostovskiy on the website of Moskovskiy Komsomolets tabloid: The Pussy Riot verdict - two years - is a totally Bolshevist outcome of a thoroughly Bolshevist trial caused by a 100% Bolshevist act by the defendants... The Pussy Riot case is a huge moral and political defeat suffered by the Russian authorities and society alike. Aleksandr Grishin in Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda: Who would have thought six months ago that the verdict for three fools tried for hooliganism would almost become the main political event in a huge country. Liberal social activists, people of non-traditional sexual orientation, arts intelligentsia and circles close to it threw themselves to defend members of the infamous Pussy Riot band. Belarus Editor-in-chief Pavel Yakubovich on the website of Belarusian official newspaper Sovetskaya Belorussiya: They are quite ordinary young ladies trying to kill time and attract some attention... By convicting Tolokonnikova, Samutsevich and Alekhina, the authorities did them a huge image favour. I won't be surprised if they are declared 'prisoners of conscience' and the Mandelas of our time, while grey-haired Scandinavian dignitaries nominate [Pussy Riot member] Tolokonnikova for the Nobel prize. France Editorial in Liberation, headlined 'Gulag': This case is indicative of the power system under Putin and his puppet Medvedev. A travesty of justice and democracy. Russia is not a country of the rule of law, it has nothing to do alongside the G8 democracies. Spain Editorial in El Pais: Perpetrators of a similar act would have also been punished in another country, but not by two years in prison. But Russia is a country that is more than dubious as far as freedoms go. Putin's regime... mistook the punks' challenge for a threat, and by acting like it did has turned these girls into global icons of the challenge to his authority. Germany Peter Storm in German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: From the beginning, the trial has been used to show the opposition that even harder times are about to begin... The political climate in Russia is approaching freezing point. How long can Putin preserve his system? Julian Hans in centre-left daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung: The process was a bizarre spectacle, the conviction fits Putin's calculations: By convicting the three Pussy Riot activists to two years in prison, Russia shows the world that it has abandoned its path to the rule of law and democracy. Commentary by Uwe Klussmann on Spiegel Online International edition website: With the harsh verdict on the harmless artists, Russian President Vladimir Putin has committed a serious mistake: He is provoking the opposition to more aggression towards the state... By turning basically harmless artists into criminals, the regime has transformed the trial against Pussy Riot into a political time bomb. Poland Commentary by Dorota Jarecka on Gazeta Wyborcza website: By handing down a two-year sentence the authorities are showing their power. The sentence means: public opinion and truth are of no importance. And also: those wanting to criticize the authorities must think twice. Because it may be considered a blasphemy. Italy Anna Zafesova in La Stampa: Usually, in similar situations - like the case of Khodorkovsky - Putin has so far always taken a hard line. This time, the reduction of the sentence by one year compared to what was sought by the prosecution, after the president said he hoped for a sentence that is 'not too severe', suggests a sudden sensitivity to criticism. Riccardo Noury in Corriere della Sera: [The verdict] today does not only represent an attempt, unfortunately successful, to silence three young voices of dissent. It is also a warning to all the others: here is what will happen to you if you dare to challenge the power. USA Editorial in Washington Post The trial of Pussy Riot was a farce in which the defendants were locked in a glass cage and the judge repeatedly refused to let the defence call witnesses... Whatever one thinks of the band's deed, the sentence is over the top... It would have been sufficient to sentence them to time served and let them go free. What really has occurred in this case is that Pussy Riot was singled out to discourage others from challenging the establishment. Steve Chapman in Chicago Tribune: Vladimir Putin is a famously tough guy - a former KGB agent who knows karate, plays hockey and gets photographed shirtless on horseback. But the Russian strongman is not really so strong. Evidently he's scared to death of three women who play in a punk rock band with the unforgettable name of Pussy Riot... Only corrupt dictatorial leaders have grounds to fear the complaints of their citizens. Putin is the archetypal strongman - shielded by security forces and afraid of people armed with nothing but guitars and truth. Canada Editorial in the Globe and Mail: "Sentencing the three young women in a Russian punk band to two years in jail, for singing a protest song in a church, is a disproportionate punishment by any standards... The trial's outcome will only serve to further polarize Russian society, and cement Mr Putin's international reputation as an anti-modernist autocrat, in spite of his pledge to free his country from Communism's legacy. BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here

रूसी पंक समूह पुसी रायट के सदस्यों को दी गई दो साल की सजा की दुनिया भर में प्रेस में लगभग सार्वभौमिक निंदा की जाती है। रूस में ही, कई लोग अंधेरे युग का उल्लेख करते हैं और एक टिप्पणीकार फैसले को "बोल्शेविस्ट" कहता है। एक फ्रांसीसी संपादकीय में मुकदमे को "न्याय का उपहास" कहा गया है और वाशिंगटन पोस्ट का कहना है कि सजा अत्यधिक है। लेकिन बेलारूस के एक समाचार पत्र का तर्क है कि अधिकारियों ने पुसी रायट को और अधिक लोकप्रिय बनाकर उनका पक्ष लिया है।


Map: Who's making the most out of parking?

Summary: A survey of English councils has revealed that some are continuing to make huge cash surpluses from parking charges.

The study for the RAC foundation is based on annual returns to the Department for Communities and Local Government, and includes revenue from on-street parking permits, off-street charges and parking penalties for 2012-2013. These are offset against the cost of running parking operations, leaving some councils with a deficit. Not all councils made a large surplus, but only 15% reported a deficit.

अंग्रेजी परिषदों के एक सर्वेक्षण से पता चला है कि कुछ लोग पार्किंग शुल्क से भारी नकद अधिशेष बनाना जारी रखे हुए हैं।


Quiz of the Week: Whose raspberry might be golden?

Summary: It's the weekly news quiz - have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world during the past seven days?

If you cannot see the quiz, click here. To try last week's quiz click here. Why not test yourself on our 2018 Quiz of the Year? 2018 Quiz of the Year 1: Jan - Mar 2018 Quiz of the Year 2: Apr - Jun 2018 Quiz of the Year 3: Jul - Sep 2018 Quiz of the Year 4: Oct - Dec Picture credits: Getty Images, PA Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

यह साप्ताहिक समाचार प्रश्नोत्तरी है-क्या आप इस बात पर ध्यान दे रहे हैं कि पिछले सात दिनों से दुनिया में क्या हो रहा है?


Viewpoints: Despair among children and youngsters

Summary: Two major reports this new year have painted a bleak picture of children and young people's mental health. A study by the Prince's Trust suggested as many as three quarters of a million young people in the UK felt they had nothing to live for and ChildLine said it had seen a large increase in concerns about online bullying and self-harming.

So is life tougher for today's youth or are children's views just better heard these days? Andrew Webb, President of the Association of Directors of Children's Services The idea that "children should be seen and not heard" is thankfully, consigned to history. These days the thoughts, feelings and wishes of young people have become increasingly important and increasingly sought by professionals. The introduction of a children's commissioner to promote the views and best interests of children was a milestone in the journey of listening to the child's voice. Local authorities have developed many innovative ways to ensure that the views and needs of children of all ages are taken into account when designing and delivering services to meet their needs. We have learned our lessons from not listening to the experiences of the youngest in society. We have learned that we must not only listen, but we must also hear what a child tells us, and act on their experiences to ensure we meet their individual needs. Providing children with access to support when they need it is something local authorities must continue to work on, but children's wellbeing and happiness is not just the business of statutory services. As a society we need to continue to encourage the development of responses in ways which are relevant to children and young people, and that provide positive messages and support. Times have changed and childhood is not the same as it was, but rather than hanker for times past, we must help our children adapt to being children in modern times. We must instil in them a sense of confidence and adventure, of trust and independence while addressing issues surrounding the increased early sexualisation of youngsters, the pervasive nature of modern technology and the challenges that both online and offline bullying bring. Only if we get the balance right will we begin to see the happiness and wellbeing of our children improve. Christian Guy, Director of the Centre for Social Justice The majority of people look back on their childhoods with fondness. But there is little doubt that children and young people live under some intense pressures today. Whether it is a rampant culture of materialism, exams, bullying or the internet, many feel vulnerable under the strain. Some of these have been challenges for generations, while others - such as texting and online access - are in their infancy. And another pressure, often hidden behind Britain's front doors, has been the explosion of family breakdown. This can have a detrimental impact on children - they tend to do worse at school and are more likely to live in poverty as a result of instability at home. Supporting families and the professionals around them is the best place to start in the quest for better childhoods. Getting it right for parents and children builds resilience and protects against the inevitable rollercoaster that is our early years. Philip Treleven, Operations Director at The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Following their education, young people should be able to readily establish themselves as young adults and lay the foundations for a productive and satisfying life; namely, through gaining employment and engaging in activities that give a sense of achievement, fulfilment and enjoyment. Unemployment undermines this and, while there are a large number advancing down their chosen career and life paths, young people excluded from reaching their potential can experience a negative impact on their physical and mental well-being. The statistics appear to tell us that youth unemployment has increased. However, instead of debating whether things are better or worse, the focus should be on the fact that youth unemployment exists and is a tragedy for the individuals affected. Dr Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers Life has improved tremendously for young people in the UK since World War One. They have better nutrition, better health, they are all entitled to free education to the age of 18, they are listened to and have far greater opportunities and options in life. However, today's young people are under a great deal of pressure from parents and schools to do well and achieve high exam results. Many worry about getting the grades to go to university, and/or finding a job which is proving difficult even for graduates. Many fear they will be saddled with student debt for life and will never be able to buy their own home. Many children lead constrained lives, ferried everywhere and not allowed out on their own by parents worried about drugs, alcohol, gangs, and traffic. And many children are worried about fitting in and being accepted by their peers - with pressure from social media causing problems. Parents can help by allowing children more freedom, with support when they need it. Government can and should do more by recognising that all children are different, encouraging a better balance between vocational and academic subjects, and ending the excessive emphasis on testing. It should also provide more support for disadvantaged families so they can better support their children, and help children to stay in education past 16. It should reverse cuts to funding for education for those over 16, provide better careers guidance and do more to promote good quality apprenticeships. Enver Soloman, Director of Evidence and Impact at the National Children's Bureau The latest data on well-being from Unicef, which compares a number of different countries, suggests children and young people in this country say their well-being is not too bad - but that pre-dates the onset of the recession. For children generally, there are greater pressures to growing up today that are different than in previous times - whether it is issues related to social media and the dynamics of bullying, for example, which have changed. It used to take place in the school environment, now it can take place anywhere if the child has a mobile phone or tablet. For children experiencing poverty, the expectation is that the number will rise from 3.5 million in 2013 to 4.1 million in 2015. By 2020 it will have risen to over 4.7 million by 2020. So we know that over the next six years the number of children in poverty will increase by over one million. Inevitably this will mean hardship for a large number of children. We know from research that when children are living in homes where there is a financial shock - someone leaving their job or the impact of separation - it does have an impact on what children say about how they feel about life. And issues of mental illness, particularly among teenage boys, are greater than 10 to 15 years ago. But if we look at all children as a whole I don't think we can say life is worse for all of them.

इस नए साल की दो प्रमुख रिपोर्टों ने बच्चों और युवाओं के मानसिक स्वास्थ्य की एक निराशाजनक तस्वीर पेश की है। प्रिंस ट्रस्ट के एक अध्ययन ने सुझाव दिया कि यूके में दस लाख युवाओं में से तीन चौथाई ने महसूस किया कि उनके पास जीने के लिए कुछ नहीं है और चाइल्डलाइन ने कहा कि इसने ऑनलाइन बदमाशी और आत्म-नुकसान के बारे में चिंताओं में बड़ी वृद्धि देखी है।


School banding: Welsh government school scores revealed

Summary: This table, produced by BBC Wales, ranks all secondary schools in Wales by the total score they were given by the Welsh government.

It is an assessment of a school's performance in the academic year 2011-12, where the lowest scores represent the best performance. The scores were derived by assessing school performance within categories including GCSE results and attendance. Within each category, a school's score is modified to take into account the percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals. Most of the categories also take into account progress over time, to reward schools that are making improvements in performance. The scores are used by the Welsh government to rank the schools into five bands. School banding information is also available from the Welsh government website.

बीबीसी वेल्स द्वारा तैयार की गई इस तालिका में वेल्स के सभी माध्यमिक विद्यालयों को वेल्श सरकार द्वारा दिए गए कुल अंकों के आधार पर स्थान दिया गया है।


Talks over 2 Sisters' job cuts plans at Anglesey

Summary: Union leaders are holding further talks with bosses at an Anglesey factory where hundreds of jobs are under threat.

The 2 Sisters chicken processing factory in Llangefni ends its staff consultation on Wednesday amid plans to cut a whole shift, affecting 300 jobs. Unite union officials put proposals to factory managers on Tuesday and they are due to meet again on Thursday. Around 800 people work at the site, including a number of agency workers.

संघ के नेता एंग्लेसी कारखाने में मालिकों के साथ आगे की बातचीत कर रहे हैं जहां सैकड़ों नौकरियां खतरे में हैं।


Coronavirus: Dutch shocked to be EU vaccination stragglers

Summary: The Dutch army is cleared to help hospitals, intensive care units borrow beds from other wards, patients are sent to Germany for treatment, routine operations are postponed, a nationwide lockdown is in place - and still no vaccinations.

By Anna HolliganBBC News, The Hague In a proudly well-organised country, with a well-funded health service, the first Dutch nationals will receive their coronavirus jabs on Wednesday - ten days after their European neighbours and nearly a month after the UK. The Dutch government has come in for stinging criticism. One former public health director, Roel Coutinho, warned the country's "shameful" vaccination strategy was "going to cost lives". During an emergency debate in parliament, opposition politicians called the approach "chaotic and confusing". "Striking mismanagement by government," was the assessment of Tim, a doctor in general practice here. "We've almost had a year to plan ahead, arrange logistics and update software. But it's all coming down to the last moment." "Embarrassing," lamented Arjen Joosse, a Dutch oncologist. "Too slow in preparation and wrong choices." One of the main delays was caused by an IT system which needed to be upgraded to allow local health authorities to track appointments and check which vaccine each patient has received. The systemic delays since the start of the pandemic are symptomatic of the Netherlands' bureaucratic health service, set up for efficiency but with many disparate elements making it inflexible. Covid-19 has exposed it as sluggish when required to respond to rapidly shifting realities. Tim, the Dutch GP (he declined to give his full name), told me: "We're lacking a crisis commander in what is essentially a war-like situation". Alan Wouda, a 23-year old student, said the Dutch were "blinded by our nuchterheid (sobriety) - too stubborn to acknowledge we made mistakes". Another student, Joelle Hibbel, asked "is it possible to be baffled and raging with anger at the same time?" "That's how I feel about how the Dutch government is handling the pandemic in general and the vaccination process in particular." What else went wrong? The embattled health minister, Hugo de Jonge, said the Dutch were "prioritising safety", and suggested some countries like the UK had cut corners to start vaccinating sooner. The UK gave emergency approval to the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, but the EU's European Medicines Agency took longer to issue a conditional marketing authorisation. Mr De Jonge initially defended the late start and dismissed criticism by saying "it's not a competition". Mass vaccinations will be available in all 25 Dutch local health authority locations by 18 January. The Netherlands assumed the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine would be ready for use first. Unlike the Pfizer one, it does not need to be stored at extremely low temperatures and so can be administered more easily by local medics. But that meant the logistics were not in place to distribute the Pfizer/BioNTech drug when it arrived in the Netherlands on 27 December. Mr De Jonge eventually conceded this week that he could have acted faster. "We have proven insufficiently agile to be able to accommodate the changes," he said. "I could have asked the health boards earlier to prepare... because of their knowledge and expertise with large-scale vaccination campaigns." Anti-vax pressure With parliamentary elections on 17 March, some parties are keen to appeal to voters anxious about the rapid development of these vaccines. Rival hashtags like #ikwildieprikniet (I don't want the jab) and #ikwildieprik (I want the jab) have been routinely trending on Twitter. Neighbours in The Hague have received calling cards stamped with QR codes through their letterboxes, with a link to anti-vaccination propaganda. Activist groups like "Virus Truth" have staged regular protests outside parliament. The leader of the populist Forum for Democracy Party, Thierry Baudet, is among the most staunch and influential sceptics. He continues to claim in tweets that Covid is hardly worse than the flu. But Covid is five to 25 times more deadly than a seasonal flu infection, despite the ongoing myths. A recent Ipsos survey of 1,000 people in the Netherlands found initial reluctance to receive the vaccine subsiding, with approximately 75% now willing to be immunised. Read more on the Dutch coronavirus crisis: 'Time will tell' The Netherlands brought in a relatively relaxed, so-called "intelligent" lockdown during the first Covid wave. But it is now facing record high infection rates and has been forced to introduce stricter measures, some of which it had initially ruled out. Face masks only became mandatory inside public places last month. "Judge us in six months time" was among the responses to my report last April that the Dutch were gambling with a high-risk strategy. As the vaccines roll out, once again the request is: don't judge us yet. The first Dutch person to be inoculated will be Sanna Elkadiri, a 39-year-old care home nurse. Seventeen of the 124 residents in her institution reportedly died within a month. Ms Elkadiri will receive the jab in Veghel, one of three locations where vaccination will start on Wednesday. The Dutch health ministry has made an initial 30,000 vaccines available for a select group of healthcare workers. When asked about the delay, the ministry told the BBC it had been busy upgrading IT systems and training call-centre staff on the scripts to use with people booking their vaccinations.

डच सेना को अस्पतालों की मदद करने के लिए मंजूरी दे दी गई है, गहन देखभाल इकाइयाँ अन्य वार्डों से बिस्तर उधार लेती हैं, रोगियों को इलाज के लिए जर्मनी भेजा जाता है, नियमित संचालन स्थगित कर दिया जाता है, एक राष्ट्रव्यापी लॉकडाउन लागू होता है-और फिर भी कोई टीकाकरण नहीं होता है।


Knut: A polar bear story

Summary: The death of Knut, the world's most famous polar bear, has reopened the debate on the ethical minefield of man's relationship with wild animals. So should polar bears be kept in zoos, asks Tom de Castella.

Knut was born in Berlin Zoo in December 2006. Rejected by his mother, he was put in an incubator and brought up by humans. His abandonment, cute looks and close relationship with the charismatic zookeeper Thomas Doerflein, turned him into a huge star. He became an environmental symbol, acting as a mascot for the German government's campaign against climate change and being superimposed into a photograph with Leonardo DiCaprio for Vanity Fair's Green Issue in May 2007. But news of his premature death at the weekend has spurred on those who question both the way Knut was treated and the very fact polar bears are in zoos at all. While polar bears can live to 30 years old, Knut was only four years and three months when he died. A post-mortem examination suggested the cause of death was brain damage, but already there have been accusations from animal rights groups. From the word go, Knut's life was controversial. Shortly after his birth, the German media reported that an animal rights campaigner was calling for him to be put down rather than brought up by humans. It prompted a huge groundswell of sympathy for the bear, which never went away. For Andrew Linzey, director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, it is a tragic tale from start to finish. "Frankly, it would have been better for Knut not to have existed at all than live such a miserable life." Those who questioned the implications of Knut's hand-rearing have suggested he suffered inevitable behavioural problems as a result both of his treatment and the crowds at the zoo. But Linzey, author of Why Animal Suffering Matters, believes the issue is not whether the zoo was right to hand rear Knut. Once the cub was born, the management had a duty to hand rear him because a zoo is an artificial, "controlled environment". The fundamental problem is wild animals being kept in captivity at all, he argues. "Zoos impose unnatural lives on most of their captives. People just see a cuddly bear and they want to gawk at him, but what they should see is an animal deprived of its natural life, exhibited for entertainment and profit." And profit became a big part of Knut's short life. In 2007 alone Berlin Zoo made an estimated five million euros through increased ticket and merchandising sales. Hundreds of fluffy white toys were sold every day across the city, newspapers offered Knut figurines for 148 Euros and in 2008 a movie, Knut and His Friends, opened in cinemas across Germany. Knut's life was about celebrity rather than natural history, says Ian Redmond, a consultant to the Born Free Foundation's polar bear project in Canada. "It does seem to highlight the dichotomy of people who love this one polar bear in particular and those who care about polar bears right across the species." He sees little point in keeping large powerful animals in captivity. Not only do they lead "unfulfilled lives", but bears bred in zoos cannot be reintroduced to the wild as they lose the skills necessary to survive. And those creatures bred in zoos become less and less like the wild animals we admire from natural history programmes, majestically leaping from ice floe to ice floe. "As you breed in zoos down the generations you're getting further and further away from polar bear behaviour in the wild," argues Redmond. "You might be breeding out the traits that allow it to survive in the wild. What's the point? If you want cute cuddly bears for merchandising then that's a commodity." In Knut's case critics suggested he had developed odd behavioural traits and had come to find the presence of the crowds necessary. In recent years all but one British zoo has stopped keeping polar bears, a decision Redmond urges Berlin to follow. But at the Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore, Britain's only zoo to have polar bears, they are going in the opposite direction. The park has an elderly female and a young male, and when the former dies there are plans to bring in a young female so that mating can begin. Douglas Richardson, the zoo's animal collection manager, says they have learnt lessons from the past. In the 1980s polar bears became "the poster child" for anti-zoo movement after being kept in cramped concrete pits whose only attempt at recreating the bear's eco-system was white paint. "I came up with a design that gives the animals between five and six acres of fenced off rolling landscape in the middle of the Highlands." Richardson said that that much of the criticism of Berlin Zoo - such as over their merchandising policy - was unjustified. "The European Zoo community pumps the money it earns from merchandise back into conservation in the field. I guarantee that when we have cubs the giftshop here will be full of fluffy polar bear toys and that money will be going to conservation. You have to take advantage of the situation. The money is not going to line someone's pockets." The wildlife broadcaster Chris Packham acknowledges that a polar bear in captivity loses the ability to relate to bears in the wild. And he believes that if wild polar bears die out there is no point keeping some alive in zoos. But he argues that zoos have a crucial advocacy role for animals in the wild. And if a zoo is treating the bear well - as he believes Berlin Zoo was with Knut - then keeping some in captivity is a price worth paying. "We don't need many polar bears in captivity. But sacrificing those animals is justified as they become ambassadors for their species, striking awe into the hearts of humans. We don't want bears and tigers to go extinct." The immediacy of zoo animals will always wow children and adults in a way that television documentaries cannot, he says. "I can still remember aged 12 going to the zoo and seeing a tiger for the first time. I could barely speak I was so in awe of the animal." That has benefits not just for raising awareness about wild polar bears but for dramatising the issue of climate change. Many people might find it hard to visualise abstract notions such as a two degree temperature rise in 50 years' time. But the polar bear losing the ice it relies on for hunting seals, is a story that we can all understand, he says. "The long-term prognosis is tough for polar bears. So I'd argue that if Knut attracted a million people to see him and they were impressed by what they saw that is the most important role that a zoo can play."

दुनिया के सबसे प्रसिद्ध ध्रुवीय भालू नट की मृत्यु ने जंगली जानवरों के साथ मनुष्य के संबंधों के नैतिक खान क्षेत्र पर बहस को फिर से खोल दिया है। टॉम डी कैस्टेला पूछते हैं कि ध्रुवीय भालू को चिड़ियाघर में रखा जाना चाहिए।


Sri Lankan General to contest election

Summary: Former Army Commander General, Sarath Fonseka, has said he will run for the country's presidency in elections set for January.

General Fonseka addressing National Lawyers Association in Colombo said that he will contest the upcoming Presidential election as a common opposition candidate and will work towards abolishing the Executive Presidency. "I would definitely defeat the incumbent President Rajapaske", responding to a question he said. His announcement sets the scene for a stand-off with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who's called the election two years ahead of schedule. General Fonseka is reported to be at odds with the government over who should take credit for Sri Lanka's final victory over a decades-long Tamil Tiger insurgency. Two main opposition parties have said they will support the former military chief.

पूर्व सेना कमांडर जनरल शरत फोंसेका ने कहा है कि वह जनवरी में होने वाले चुनावों में देश के राष्ट्रपति पद के लिए चुनाव लड़ेंगे।


Donald Trump and the US economy in six charts

Summary: Donald Trump took his place in the White House exactly one year ago. Since then he has repeatedly claimed to be behind a new rise in the American economy. Here, six charts explore his relationship with US growth, the labour market and trade.

By Daniele Palumbo Data journalist 1. The American economy is growing Donald Trump has spoken of his desire to turbo-charge the US economy to a growth rate of as high as 6%. The latest figures, released by the US Department of Commerce in December, show that it grew at an annual rate of 3.2% in the third quarter of 2017. However, after the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, raised interest rates for the third time in 2017 in December, it is possible growth will slow in the coming months. 2. US stocks have had a record run The Dow Jones Industrial Average - which follows the shares of 30 major US companies - has risen to record highs throughout the past year in a run that stretches back to August 2016, just before Mr Trump's election. Other US stock markets, including the Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Nasdaq index, have also reached historical highs. Mr Trump's supporters argue that his corporation tax cuts, passed shortly before Christmas, helped to boost US shares, along with his US-centric policies, his clampdown on bureaucracy and his promises of infrastructure investment. 3. Unemployment is falling US unemployment is falling - down to 4.1% in December - and is close to its lowest-ever recorded level of 3.9% in 2001. It is less than half the 10% peak of 2010, reached after the global financial crisis. However, this downward trend began during President Barack Obama's time in office. When Mr Obama left the White House, unemployment was 4.8%. 4. Wages remain relatively flat Despite other positive economic indicators, US wage levels have flattened since Mr Trump took office. Wage growth has stayed between 2.5% and 2.9% without showing any meaningful rise in the last 12 months. Economists are, in fact, struggling to understand why low unemployment hasn't led to an increase in wages. However, the general forecast for 2018 is that wages will rise if unemployment continues to fall. 5. Workers yet to return to the jobs market One possible explanation for stagnant wages is that the number of workers who left the US workforce following the 2007-2009 recession was higher than first thought. The labour force participation rate refers to the number of people who are either employed or are actively looking for work. Following the global economic crash, the labour force participation rate in the US fell dramatically and now stands at 63%. It has remained stable since Mr Trump was elected. 6. The trade deficit is rising President Trump has made improving US trade a priority of his administration. However, the country's trade deficit - when imports are higher than exports - has actually risen to a level not seen since 2008. Part of the explanation for the deficit could be that the continued growth of the US economy, and an increase in consumer confidence, have led to an increase in the goods bought by US shoppers from overseas. However, the negative trade balance could put increasing pressure on the Trump administration, with the country now out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal and amid renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta). Produced and written by Daniele Palumbo.

डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प ने ठीक एक साल पहले व्हाइट हाउस में अपनी जगह ली थी। तब से उन्होंने बार-बार अमेरिकी अर्थव्यवस्था में एक नई वृद्धि के पीछे होने का दावा किया है। यहाँ, छह चार्ट अमेरिकी विकास, श्रम बाजार और व्यापार के साथ उनके संबंधों का पता लगाते हैं।


Man dies after being pulled from sea in Cornwall

Summary: A man his 40s has died after being pulled out of the sea in Cornwall.

Emergency services were called at Pedn Vounder beach, near Porthcurno, at about 12:40 BST on Saturday to reports of a man in the water needing help. An HM coastguard helicopter and lifeguards took part in the rescue but they were unable to revive him. His next of kin has been informed. In June a man in his 30s died at Porthcurno after getting into difficulty at sea.

कॉर्नवाल में समुद्र से बाहर निकाले जाने के बाद 40 साल के एक व्यक्ति की मौत हो गई है।


Swindon CCTV cameras to catch fly-tippers

Summary: CCTV cameras are due be installed in Swindon's Railway Village to help catch fly-tippers.

The borough council says it has to clear waste including mattresses, ironing boards and bags of rubbish from the streets every week. The Household Waste Recycling Centre in Cheney Manor industrial estate is less than two miles from the site. The authority says it will write to every resident in the area to ask them to report any fly-tipping.

फ्लाई-टिपर्स को पकड़ने में मदद के लिए स्विंडन के रेलवे गांव में सीसीटीवी कैमरे लगाए जाने हैं।


Alton Towers Smiler ride shut for second time

Summary: A new £18m rollercoaster ride at Alton Towers has been closed for the second time in the past fortnight.

The 14-loop Smiler was shut for four days from 21 July after a piece fell off the track and 48 people had to be rescued. The amusement park said the ride was closed again on Tuesday due to a "technical issue". The ride, which opened in in May and includes a drop of 30m (98ft), reopened on Sunday morning.

पिछले पखवाड़े में दूसरी बार एल्टन टावर्स में 18 मिलियन पाउंड की एक नई रोलरकोस्टर सवारी को बंद कर दिया गया है।